Building Back Up

Hyde said:
By the time Smont is bulked up to 210 again, Dustin will probably have earned his 405/315/500 lifts and already be happily cutting down to 189 for a beach vacation, entirely content to eat half a basket of chips once a week before going back to greens and water (while his biceps somehow get larger in appearance) 😂
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Jokes aside, 200lb BW and hitting those numbers is a good goal for next year.
 
akboom87 said:
Are you checking scale everyday? My advice to help keep sanity of watching numbers, pick a day Saturday morning for example, check scale that morning every week.
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even better if you have a renpho or a self logging scale is to check every day, twice a day, but only let the scale log the low numbers on those days you spent a half hour in the sauna and skipped all liquids.
 
akboom87 said:
Are you checking scale everyday? My advice to help keep sanity of watching numbers, pick a day Saturday morning for example, check scale that morning every week.
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This or just weigh multiple times a week then use the average for the week to make sure you are going in the right direction. Many days things fluctuate based on hydration, and just how the body is responding to different things that happen throughout the week. So the average gives you a solid picture of what is going on overall.
 
Weight: 205.0

I'm going to guess the creatine is what caused the few lb gain after all. It surely has shown up in face bloat, even with only ~3g creatine hcl which defeats the purpose of the cut.

Down to 5 hours sleep last night, so clearly the deficit is in.
 
akboom87 said:
Are you checking scale everyday? My advice to help keep sanity of watching numbers, pick a day Saturday morning for example, check scale that morning every week.
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My approach generally is to weigh in on a consistent basis, regardless of what you pick. So for me, that means 3x / wk on lifting days specifically, post-WO, pre-meal and pre-shower. I try to keep the time and conditions similar across.

Then, I usually still pick beginning and end of week as "true" weights. So I can see basically how did my weight change week to week - most important - and often how did the weekend impact my weight, in case I need to course correct.
 
GreenMachineX said:
Weight: 205.0

I'm going to guess the creatine is what caused the few lb gain after all. It surely has shown up in face bloat, even with only ~3g creatine hcl which defeats the purpose of the cut.

Down to 5 hours sleep last night, so clearly the deficit is in.
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It absolutely does not!!! It is helping performance, and strength, and is a 2-3 days without it situation for you to drop water bloat and reveal the new more cut and dryer version of you. If you want to optimize your training, muscle retention and the like keep it in and cut it out when you are ready to see the final results. Also try increasing water intake so you can pee more of it out.

In the end do what you want and what makes you feel comfortable with the process, but the bloat doesn't defeat the purpuse of the cut if you look better once the cuts is done due to having it involved and having better training and higher IGF levels in the muscle through the deeper parts of the cut. It's the long game mindset.
 
GreenMachineX said:
It surely has shown up in face bloat, even with only ~3g creatine hcl which defeats the purpose of the cut.
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no it doesn't hurt a cut, water retention doesn't mean fat retention and it could be contributing to more lean mass which in theory could make you look leaner without even losing any fat, but also in theory could increase your NEAT. I find it hard to really belivee that 3g of hcl could cause face bloating, although I have had really really shitty mono that definitely made my fingers miserablly puffy. I have had zero issues with steves hcl though.

do you drink at all or are you 100% abstaining from alcohol? cause a single IPA or red wine would be a far more likely culprit for some temporary face puffiness. or menstration.

Segansational said:
My approach generally is to weigh in on a consistent basis, regardless of what you pick. So for me, that means 3x / wk on lifting days specifically, post-WO, pre-meal and pre-shower.
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I am the same way, I weigh in every single morning after I take a leak. I usually will look again when I get home from work, postWO out of morbid curiosity to see how my body changed or dehydrated etc but its the morning weigh-in at 4:30am that counts to me, and if I'm on a cut my goal is always that Friday is the lowest of the week, assuming that I have refeeds on Saturday and maybe extra salt leaning towards a heavy monday weigh-in
 
MrKleen73 said:
It absolutely does not!!! It is helping performance, and strength, and is a 2-3 days without it situation for you to drop water bloat and reveal the new more cut and dryer version of you. If you want to optimize your training, muscle retention and the like keep it in and cut it out when you are ready to see the final results. Also try increasing water intake so you can pee more of it out.

In the end do what you want and what makes you feel comfortable with the process, but the bloat doesn't defeat the purpuse of the cut if you look better once the cuts is done due to having it involved and having better training and higher IGF levels in the muscle through the deeper parts of the cut. It's the long game mindset.
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looks like we had the same thought at the same time lol.
I remember back in my younger/leaner days I'd drop creatine like 2 weeks before a beach vacation thinking it would lean me out more as though it were causing some extra retention but every time I cycled it I NEVER noticed a change. The only time I ever noticed a change was that time we used the cheapo mono which made it just unbearable. I kinda think it was optimum nutrition that caused it for me cause I recall the container looked like this;


1792160026405.webp



I typically can mega dose creatine, 10-20g of mono with zero issues so for one to make it pretty miserable told me it was probably garbage (or maybe the best I ever had, lol)
 
Dustin07 said:
looks like we had the same thought at the same time lol.
I remember back in my younger/leaner days I'd drop creatine like 2 weeks before a beach vacation thinking it would lean me out more as though it were causing some extra retention but every time I cycled it I NEVER noticed a change. The only time I ever noticed a change was that time we used the cheapo mono which made it just unbearable. I kinda think it was optimum nutrition that caused it for me cause I recall the container looked like this;


View attachment 263840


I typically can mega dose creatine, 10-20g of mono with zero issues so for one to make it pretty miserable told me it was probably garbage (or maybe the best I ever had, lol)
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I remember there was a period where there was some tainted stuff for a bit, had some impurities that might have caused that.
 
MrKleen73 said:
It absolutely does not!!! It is helping performance, and strength, and is a 2-3 days without it situation for you to drop water bloat and reveal the new more cut and dryer version of you. If you want to optimize your training, muscle retention and the like keep it in and cut it out when you are ready to see the final results. Also try increasing water intake so you can pee more of it out.

In the end do what you want and what makes you feel comfortable with the process, but the bloat doesn't defeat the purpuse of the cut if you look better once the cuts is done due to having it involved and having better training and higher IGF levels in the muscle through the deeper parts of the cut. It's the long game mindset.
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Dustin07 said:
no it doesn't hurt a cut, water retention doesn't mean fat retention and it could be contributing to more lean mass which in theory could make you look leaner without even losing any fat, but also in theory could increase your NEAT. I find it hard to really belivee that 3g of hcl could cause face bloating, although I have had really really shitty mono that definitely made my fingers miserablly puffy. I have had zero issues with steves hcl though.

do you drink at all or are you 100% abstaining from alcohol? cause a single IPA or red wine would be a far more likely culprit for some temporary face puffiness. or menstration.


I am the same way, I weigh in every single morning after I take a leak. I usually will look again when I get home from work, postWO out of morbid curiosity to see how my body changed or dehydrated etc but its the morning weigh-in at 4:30am that counts to me, and if I'm on a cut my goal is always that Friday is the lowest of the week, assuming that I have refeeds on Saturday and maybe extra salt leaning towards a heavy monday weigh-in
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You guys get me every time 😂
Let me rephrase…the temporary water retention from the creatine has erased previous “Facegains” I’ve made which is disappointing because i know creatine is extremely valuable. I did still take my dose today for the record.

Dustin, yeah, ive taken some extra 2-3g c mono post workout also, so my average is higher than just 2g creatine hcl. I’m using Con-Crete btw, probably 2-3 weeks left of this bottle, then I’ll switch to Steve’s.

@MrKleen73 ive tested creatine so many times in the past, and every time it happens, but i can’t recall…does the water retention go away in just days? Or should i give it a full week off before wanting to look my best?
 
GreenMachineX said:
You guys get me every time 😂
Let me rephrase…the temporary water retention from the creatine has erased previous “Facegains” I’ve made which is disappointing because i know creatine is extremely valuable. I did still take my dose today for the record.

Dustin, yeah, ive taken some extra 2-3g c mono post workout also, so my average is higher than just 2g creatine hcl. I’m using Con-Crete btw, probably 2-3 weeks left of this bottle, then I’ll switch to Steve’s.

@MrKleen73 ive tested creatine so many times in the past, and every time it happens, but i can’t recall…does the water retention go away in just days? Or should i give it a full week off before wanting to look my best?
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Mine is usually within 2-3 days, especially if you increase fluid. You would be surprised what increasing water intake would probably do for you now. Even if not dehydrated at all slight overhydration will change the hormonal balance and tell your body to start to flush water retention. I bet if you added a liter or two of water a day you would see that come right off even now. Plus probably feel better from being better hydrated.
 
Figured out a new way to do DB lateral raises after watching a guy on Facebook go over optimal ways to work the lateral delt head. He was bending over slightly, leading with the elbow and shoulders mildly pronated, but the kicker was raising into the scapular plane instead of directly to the side, therefore avoiding impingement. Between that and crossbody lateral raises, i might be able to build some shoulders like a real man. 😏
 
Seated BBOHP 4 x 6 x 145
NG Pullups 4/4/4/3+2-
Dips 10/10/8
Dual Pulley Cable Row 3 sets
Crossbody Cable Lateral Raise 3 sets
Seated DB Scapular Raise 1 set
Incline EZ OH Extension 3 sets
Incline Machine Press 2 sets

If the last set of pull ups is confusing, it means i did 3 plus 2 negatives.
 
Dustin07 said:
ahhh I had no idea, that very well could be the issue. I've been doubling doses with steves stuff with zero issues lately.



and you're down like 20lbs with time to facemaxx, you're welcome 😂


clavicular over here maxxing out
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Lol I’ve only recently learned who clavicular is, and randomly heard the phrase face gains in a Reddit post. I didn’t know they were related 😭
 
GreenMachineX said:
Lol I’ve only recently learned who clavicular is, and randomly heard the phrase face gains in a Reddit post. I didn’t know they were related 😭
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LOL I recently saw someone post Clavicular and Lindsay Clancy side by side with this study:

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1792169094381.webp



I think about it a lot and then remember life is supposed to be hard lol
 
Wow what an interesting correlation!
 
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