Kleen - Project 50: Under Construction

When I read ‘Ghost Pepper’ I actually cringed. I know we enjoy a lot of similar foods, but the hot stuff is something I just have no interest in!
 
When I read ‘Ghost Pepper’ I actually cringed. I know we enjoy a lot of similar foods, but the hot stuff is something I just have no interest in!
Yeah, it is pretty spicy, It was my first time trying it too. It would have been better had i added a can of stewed tomatoes for a little more flavor which would bring the spice level down just a tad. I would definitely say it was pretty spicy and got me sweating a little. Just needed more flavor. With stewed tomatoes it would just be a mild spiciness. Still a decently bold spice level even for something saying it is hot. Normally I am underwhelmed by things that say they are really hot, and a lot of the time the stuff is pretty weak and just has the name to get attention.

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9/26/23 - Upper Pull - Perceived Effort 1-0RIR - Tempo 4-2-1-1

Arsenal Lat Pull Down - 90x10, 9, 8
- These were brutal, this thing really pulls me into a stretch at the top and the freemotion handles allow for me to pull down and out, and then out during the negative really lighting up my lats and making the stretch very intense at the top.

Cable Row Neutral Grip Bar - 100x17, 15, 13 - I added a thoracic retraction to this to strengthen my thoracic up a bit so I can do more robust back thickness work at some point.

Arsenal Reverse Fly = 60x0RIR x 3 sets - The third set had 2 extra myorep sets added on.

DB Curls - 10x25 x 3 sets - I started doing some single arm preacher curls but my left biceps had a sting near the elbow even after an extra warm up set. So I opted to just push some blood into the biceps and see if I could work through that sting. By the end of the 3rd set I could barely feel the sting any longer so I was pretty happy with that and chose to stop their to fight another day.

Although there was not as much volume here as last time it was by design. I would say my back is probably my best feature. So I am going to work hard on it but it will also be the body part I give the least volume to going forward to allow room for recovery elsewhere. That is a lot of meat back there so it should allow for more recovery of my other body parts.

Here are my macros from yesterday. The fat and protein targets are my current targets, but the carbs are set to show the bottom level, and the top level is whatever fits into my training day calories. With my extra walking yesterday that put me down to 2308 and right at 2700 should be my current maintenance.

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9/27/23 - Morning Weight 202.4 - Weight dropped a pound even after 300g carbs yesterday. Really hoping to start seeing some traction here but also know the 300mg cruise dose is surely doing something a little extra here as well. Just going to keep following the process.

I have legs again tonight, ready for a serious session here. My back felt pretty decent yesterday even though I worked my erectors and thoracic area pretty intensely. So I am happy with that. I am most likely going to do a short meso of 4 days a week this month while I finish up focusing on leaning with a side of muscle growth. Get in a little more frequency for upper body now that things are lining themselves out more with my back. I couldn't push that frequency before but feel like i am there now and it will help me to adjust a bit to moving to a PPLPPL or PPL rest PPL rest type of set up depending on how my joints hold up.
 
sometimes I don't realize how hot it was till the stomach hurts the next day lol
Haha, yeah every once in a while I get that the day after but I definitely know it was that hot beforehand. Many times I expect to be wrecked the next day and am surprisingly okay.
 
Oh yeah, all of those bands are great live. I do really enjoy BB as well though. Thanks on the wife, I agree, she is too pretty for this ol mug of mine.

Yeah, I definitely look leaner in the face. Although I am not seeing tons of progress on the scale weight I do feel I have been recomping a bit.

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9/26/23 - Morning Weight 203.1 - I broke my fast early today to get the feeding started. Had some Ghost Pepper Curry Chicken with a cup of rice and .3 cups fage greek yogurt. Just ate lunch which was a serving a turkey chili with 1 tortilla and 1/3 cup Fage greek yogurt. Protein and carbs decently on point for the day so far. I will be going and taking a walk or getting on the elliptical here shortly then will be doing a pull session tonight.

I am not sure if it is just me pushing my limits as I go closer and closer to 0RIR or the lower caloric levels, but I have been getting a little bit of DOMs almost every time I train the last 2 weeks. It heals in time and everything but it is also something I am not that used to. I imaging it is a bit of both things converging on one another.

Also very sweet news, my goodies cleared customs and are on their domestic transit to the reshipper. I should have them within the week. If I don't have them on the 1st then I will just bump test for the first week and use a little more AI with the larger shot to get things going.
Yeah man, always a good week when the goodies arrive….looks like you’re about to kick in the turbos.💪
 
Yeah man, always a good week when the goodies arrive….looks like you’re about to kick in the turbos.💪
Yeah, I keep going to the tracking site. I was stoked to see when it went through customs. It is out for delivery to the reshipper now, so I think realistically some time early to middle of next week. The original bump was going to be 200 mast a week so Sunday I will just add 100mg Test e to my shot to get things going as planned and hopefully can drop the other 100mg via Mast on Wednesday. If not then I will do another shot with 250mg test e and get the mast started Sunday.
 
Mast would be the perfect compound to add in, with where your at and your goals.👍
Yeah, this will actually be my first time using masteron. I am pretty excited to see how it treats me.
 
Tell the little lady to get ready….for many, including me it offers a little libido boost.
As they say “and she’ll like it too.😎
Haha, I think that would frighten her! I am a horndog as it is.
 
9/27/23 - Lower Body - 1-0RIR - Tempo 4-2-1-1

Arsenal True Squat Facing Out for Quads - 110x10, 9, 8
- Whew this was some serious work. The long pauses in the stretched position are so brutal to come out of the hole from. Right knee was a little annoyed during this movement today.

Walking Lunges for Quads - 20x9, 8, 6 - I really focused on getting all my weight on the working leg during the negatives and pause. These just lit me up.

GHR - started to do these but the back of my right knee was stinging a little at full extension. So I chose to stop them here.

Arsenal Single Leg Curl 50x10, 9, 8 - Once I got the setting right this machine was pretty damn awesome. Great contraction and made sure I worked both legs the same resistance. I feel like one leg does more work than the other when I do leg curls at the same time so this was a nice way to make sure that didn't happen.

Hack Squat Calf Raise - 50x1RIR x 3 sets - I got a cramp when I first started these so rather than working my way up I chose to do nice and slow raises with a 5-10 second stretch in between each rep. My calf finally loosened up and I had a great pump in the end.

Between my knee being annoyed, and everything just feeling heavy I decided it is time to back the intensity back down. So I am going to take a couple recovery sessions Friday and Saturday then go to a 3RIR next week and work my way back up over the next 3 weeks then take a deload and start a new meso. I am switching my session for the next month to an Upper / Lower Split so I can get more frequency for upper body stuff. I feel like my disc issue is in a good spot to move on to the next phase. Otherwise chest, and back have basically only been getting trained once every 6 days which is probably plenty to maintain to be honest but I need to start testing recovery with a little higher frequency before I go full bore at the end of my cut.

Nutrition was pretty good yesterday, hit maintenance again but had an hour walk that is not considered part of my usual TDEE so I created a deficit. I am going to have to pay a little more attention to some nutritional factors that the Cronometer is making visible to me. It is pretty cool all the things it tracks and kind of brings to your attention. If you aren't hitting your RDA on things it is right there in your dashboard so you know you aren't hitting them and should make some adjustments.

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9/28/23 - Morning Weight 202.6 - Another good day leading me to believe I have found my maintenance calories or very close to them. Today is a Burn day, and I am going to do another 36 hour fast. I will be walking around the block a couple laps a few times today, and then will either go for a walk at lunch or hop on the elliptical across the street.
 
9/27/23 - Lower Body - 1-0RIR - Tempo 4-2-1-1

Arsenal True Squat Facing Out for Quads - 110x10, 9, 8
- Whew this was some serious work. The long pauses in the stretched position are so brutal to come out of the hole from. Right knee was a little annoyed during this movement today.

Walking Lunges for Quads - 20x9, 8, 6 - I really focused on getting all my weight on the working leg during the negatives and pause. These just lit me up.

GHR - started to do these but the back of my right knee was stinging a little at full extension. So I chose to stop them here.

Arsenal Single Leg Curl 50x10, 9, 8 - Once I got the setting right this machine was pretty damn awesome. Great contraction and made sure I worked both legs the same resistance. I feel like one leg does more work than the other when I do leg curls at the same time so this was a nice way to make sure that didn't happen.

Hack Squat Calf Raise - 50x1RIR x 3 sets - I got a cramp when I first started these so rather than working my way up I chose to do nice and slow raises with a 5-10 second stretch in between each rep. My calf finally loosened up and I had a great pump in the end.

Between my knee being annoyed, and everything just feeling heavy I decided it is time to back the intensity back down. So I am going to take a couple recovery sessions Friday and Saturday then go to a 3RIR next week and work my way back up over the next 3 weeks then take a deload and start a new meso. I am switching my session for the next month to an Upper / Lower Split so I can get more frequency for upper body stuff. I feel like my disc issue is in a good spot to move on to the next phase. Otherwise chest, and back have basically only been getting trained once every 6 days which is probably plenty to maintain to be honest but I need to start testing recovery with a little higher frequency before I go full bore at the end of my cut.

Nutrition was pretty good yesterday, hit maintenance again but had an hour walk that is not considered part of my usual TDEE so I created a deficit. I am going to have to pay a little more attention to some nutritional factors that the Cronometer is making visible to me. It is pretty cool all the things it tracks and kind of brings to your attention. If you aren't hitting your RDA on things it is right there in your dashboard so you know you aren't hitting them and should make some adjustments.

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9/28/23 - Morning Weight 202.6 - Another good day leading me to believe I have found my maintenance calories or very close to them. Today is a Burn day, and I am going to do another 36 hour fast. I will be walking around the block a couple laps a few times today, and then will either go for a walk at lunch or hop on the elliptical across the street.
That’s pretty cool it tracks and gives your percentages on nutrients.
 
Walking Lunges for Quads - 20x9, 8, 6 - I really focused on getting all my weight on the working leg during the negatives and pause. These just lit me up.

I always find lunges to be a bit of a surprise in how effective they are even at very very light weight
 
That’s pretty cool it tracks and gives your percentages on nutrients.
Yeah check out how in detail it goes just below that. The protein is cut off but it is the BCAA's and EAA's. If you pay the one time purchase price of 50 it will actually suggest foods to you to hit the things you are low in too. So midday you are low on something you can ask for a suggestion and add that to the day or to your next meal plan. It's pretty sweet.

It also doesn't allow unverified nutrition information to be published in the database. You can make your own personal entries but they won't add them to the database until they verify it is actually correct. So you don't have to sift through a bunch of incorrect information like on MFP. The other thing that is super cool is that you can scan a UPC to get the info even with the free version and I know that is a paid feature on MFP. This is definitely superior to MFP no doubt about it. I do need to see about adding in my health supplements to have it fill in some of the blanks.

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I always find lunges to be a bit of a surprise in how effective they are even at very very light weight
Oh yeah, especially since I know how to do them with a hypertrophy focus now. Before I was just lunging, and it was hard and taxing work but nothing like how I do them now. I know for a fact I could grow some nice legs with just lunges now if I had to. The other thing that is cool is seeing my quad veins starting to bulge as I lower myself then hold myself in the stretched position. Was actually pretty cool.

Oh yeah, I did some flexing in the gym lighting last night while I had a good pump and I feel like my legs are looking pretty good. Separation everywhere, a nice sweep, adductors touching several inches down my thigh, and hamstrings looking a bit rounded even when just standing up straight. I will have to post up some pics as I get a little leaner and get some feedback on what people feel I need to work on. I have a thing about my legs where I always feel like they are small but I know they aren't small at all. I just don't know if they are big enough for a classic bodybuilder yet. It is hard to tell because from the hips down I look like I am 8%, and I never really get soft looking legs. Even at 25%+ I have separation in my quads and between my quads and hamstrings. I do feel like medial and rear delts have made some progress, and as I get leaner I am starting to see some capped delts, but I still need more.
 
Yeah check out how in detail it goes just below that. The protein is cut off but it is the BCAA's and EAA's. If you pay the one time purchase price of 50 it will actually suggest foods to you to hit the things you are low in too. So midday you are low on something you can ask for a suggestion and add that to the day or to your next meal plan. It's pretty sweet.

It also doesn't allow unverified nutrition information to be published in the database. You can make your own personal entries but they won't add them to the database until they verify it is actually correct. So you don't have to sift through a bunch of incorrect information like on MFP. The other thing that is super cool is that you can scan a UPC to get the info even with the free version and I know that is a paid feature on MFP. This is definitely superior to MFP no doubt about it. I do need to see about adding in my health supplements to have it fill in some of the blanks.

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Oh yeah, especially since I know how to do them with a hypertrophy focus now. Before I was just lunging, and it was hard and taxing work but nothing like how I do them now. I know for a fact I could grow some nice legs with just lunges now if I had to. The other thing that is cool is seeing my quad veins starting to bulge as I lower myself then hold myself in the stretched position. Was actually pretty cool.

Oh yeah, I did some flexing in the gym lighting last night while I had a good pump and I feel like my legs are looking pretty good. Separation everywhere, a nice sweep, adductors touching several inches down my thigh, and hamstrings looking a bit rounded even when just standing up straight. I will have to post up some pics as I get a little leaner and get some feedback on what people feel I need to work on. I have a thing about my legs where I always feel like they are small but I know they aren't small at all. I just don't know if they are big enough for a classic bodybuilder yet. It is hard to tell because from the hips down I look like I am 8%, and I never really get soft looking legs. Even at 25%+ I have separation in my quads and between my quads and hamstrings. I do feel like medial and rear delts have made some progress, and as I get leaner I am starting to see some capped delts, but I still need more.
I’ve always thought lunges were very effective at developing the legs, and it’s always good when you start seeing that separation.
I’m going to have to get that app. That’s one of the best ones I’ve seen.
 
I’ve always thought lunges were very effective at developing the legs, and it’s always good when you start seeing that separation.
I’m going to have to get that app. That’s one of the best ones I’ve seen.
Yeah, they are, but are also grueling to do. It is hard to believe how tiring walking lunges are. Somehow doing them single leg is far less taxing, but I also want the benefit of athletic movement. Now for a Front Foot Elevated Lunge or Split squat I do one leg at a time but that is because it is just a better stimulus with that specific movement for me.

Yeah, I agree, definitely the best nutrition tracker I have used, and comes highly recommended by many coaches on youtube.
 
9/29/23 - Morning Weight 200 on the dot.

My legs are not sore but are definitely beat up. Walking up the stairs at work is hitting my glutes and hams pretty well. One flight has me like damn my legs are done! Definitely happy to be slamming down some nutrition this morning.

One of the attorneys here asked if he could take me to lunch today to catch up. So I am not sure where we will eat or what but that will be cool. I will aim for something nutritious for sure.

Started the morning out with some ground turkey and rice casserole, and a bowl of grapes, pineapple, and strawberries.

Tonight is an upper body recovery session. Just kind of going in to get a slight pump on everything and head home without pushing too hard. Probably 2-3 "work sets" on each exercise and not approaching anything close to failure on any of them.
 
Lunch went pretty good, I had some baked salmon with asparagus and cilantro rice. It had a little cream sauce so fat was probably a little higher but the portions were small so I would guess in the 500-600 calorie range. Just waiting to get out of here today so I can go train!
 
Lunch went pretty good, I had some baked salmon with asparagus and cilantro rice. It had a little cream sauce so fat was probably a little higher but the portions were small so I would guess in the 500-600 calorie range. Just waiting to get out of here today so I can go train!
That lunch sounds pretty dang good! Cilantro rice is one of my favorites.
 
9/30/23 - Morning Weight 199.2 - Not to shabby after a full day of eating. Down another lb and looking tighter.

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As you can see protein was down yesterday, but I am sure the carbs helped out with sparing protein. I am not worried about it, this still gets me over .8g/lb of LBM at my current weight from 10% up. So didn't fall short of the important stuff.

Training was just 2 work sets around 4-5RIR with about half the usual weight. Really just going until it started to feel like work then stopped.
Mega Mass Lat Pulldown
Arsenal Incline Chest Press
Arsenal Standing Lateral Raise Machine
EZ Bar Cable Curls
EZ Bar Cable Triceps ext.


I got a nice upper body pump and headed home for the night. I did take my shirt off to check out the pump and I am definitely looking tighter. I am also starting to get a little of my loose skin on my abdomen so I know I am leaning out in the right places now. My lower chest fat is starting to get a little better, a couple more %BF loss over the month should give me a better idea of how much is pseudo gyno and how much is actual gland that I will have to shrink for the comp. Right now it has come down enough enough not to be obvious in a shirt or a relaxed position but you can definitely see it in a front double biceps shot with downlighting. I am pretty confident that at this point I should be okay so as long as I don't make things worse along the way I should be good.

I am going to get a few meals in me today and then decide if my legs are recovered enough for a recovery session yet. They never got sore but they were still very fatigued yesterday. I am still fasting now but about to go make some food.

I am going to start a new log either today or tomorrow. The title on this one doesn't really make sense for a permanent log and the goal is new. So I am going to start a road to the competition log now. I will post up the link in here.

As promised here is a picture of where I am as of this morning. I took a few others but will post them up in the new thread as my starting point for the big push! I am putting myself right around 14-16% right now.

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9/30/23 - Morning Weight 199.2 - Not to shabby after a full day of eating. Down another lb and looking tighter.

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As you can see protein was down yesterday, but I am sure the carbs helped out with sparing protein. I am not worried about it, this still gets me over .8g/lb of LBM at my current weight from 10% up. So didn't fall short of the important stuff.

Training was just 2 work sets around 4-5RIR with about half the usual weight. Really just going until it started to feel like work then stopped.
Mega Mass Lat Pulldown
Arsenal Incline Chest Press
Arsenal Standing Lateral Raise Machine
EZ Bar Cable Curls
EZ Bar Cable Triceps ext.


I got a nice upper body pump and headed home for the night. I did take my shirt off to check out the pump and I am definitely looking tighter. I am also starting to get a little of my loose skin on my abdomen so I know I am leaning out in the right places now. My lower chest fat is starting to get a little better, a couple more %BF loss over the month should give me a better idea of how much is pseudo gyno and how much is actual gland that I will have to shrink for the comp. Right now it has come down enough enough not to be obvious in a shirt or a relaxed position but you can definitely see it in a front double biceps shot with downlighting. I am pretty confident that at this point I should be okay so as long as I don't make things worse along the way I should be good.

I am going to get a few meals in me today and then decide if my legs are recovered enough for a recovery session yet. They never got sore but they were still very fatigued yesterday. I am still fasting now but about to go make some food.

I am going to start a new log either today or tomorrow. The title on this one doesn't really make sense for a permanent log and the goal is new. So I am going to start a road to the competition log now. I will post up the link in here.

As promised here is a picture of where I am as of this morning. I took a few others but will post them up in the new thread as my starting point for the big push! I am putting myself right around 14-16% right now.

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You definitely have made good progress….you can really see your 6 pack now, and everything is tightening up really well.👍💪
 
You definitely have made good progress….you can really see your 6 pack now, and everything is tightening up really well.👍💪
Thanks, what is crazy is that I can look so flat after a 300g day of carbs! My muscles ate right through it.

Okay so this is the official closing of this log. Thanks for everyone who followed along, now it is time to move on to the next phase.

My road to competition log - come joint in!
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