Well I've been saying for ages that I'm actually going to get off my lazy backside and do a challenge so I figure it's about time I take the plunge and get involved.

About me

Up until a couple of years ago I'd never even been in a gym but decided that I'd give it a go and found it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought! The only problem is my consistency - I've always had a pretty active social life which meant late nights, poor food choices excess consumption of alcohol and nicotine and no real progress when I did train.
In the times when I have managed to train properly I've been able to find results fairly quickly. Before I went on holiday last year I was about 195lb and just under 10% bf and looked great for it. This year I did a couple of road races and clocked in some decent times but at some point I started smoking and drinking like I used to and seem to have gained a bit of lard and dropped a fair amount of muscle.


What I'd like to achieve

I've not been at all consistent with my training for at least 6 months now so I really need to start hitting a regular programme. I've also decided to quit smoking and to that aim, won't be drinking during the first month (at least) of the challenge.

Ultimately (though probably not surprisingly!) I'd like to add some muscle and lose some fat. I'd like to stay around the same sort of weight (~13.5 stone) but with a bodyfat of about 10%. Given my current weight this means I'm basically talking about adding a stone of lean muscle and losing a stone of fat - adventurous, I know!!

I also want to get back to running so my initial instinct is to spend the first month or so bulking and then start cutting at the same time as I start running again so that I don't reduce my hypertrophy potential by doing too much CV.

The measurements

Height		74" / 6'2"
Waist:		34”
Neck:		15”
Chest:		39.5”
Left Thigh:	22.5”
Right Thigh:	22.5”
Left Calf:		15.5”
Right Calf:	15”
Left Bicep:	13”
Right Bicep:	13”
Left Forearm:	10.5”
Right Forearm:	10.5”
Weight:		188lb
Body fat %:	14% (according to The US Navy - but I reckon I'm actually somewhere around 18-20%

Bulking Phase

I'm planning on doing a 5x5 training phase with a 3 day per week workout during the bulking phase. I'm only going to do two major lifts per day and then 2 supporting exercises at 2x8. This programme was devised by John Berardi and Mike Mejia and looks like this:

Monday
5x5 Front Squat
5x5 Incline Bench Press
2x8 Bulgarian Split Squat
2x8 One arm row (elbow out)

Wednesday
5x5 Chinup
5x5 Hang Clean and Press
2x8 Cable Pull throughs
2x8 Weighted situps

Thursday
5x5 Deadlift
5x5 Dips
2x8 Cable Rows
2x8 Reverse Hypers

I'm also going to add in 2 days of HIIT work - 20 minutes of sprinting / rowing on a Tuesday and Thursday.

Diet:

Training Day
05:45 Pre workout shake
06:00 Peri workout shake
07:00 Post workout shake
09:00 Chicken breast with hummus & spinach in wholewheat pitta, Apple
12:30 400g plain yoghurt with 30g chocolate protein. 50g almonds
15:30 Chilli con carne
18:30 Roast chicken breast & 5 portions veg
21:30 Smoothie

Non Training Day (including HIIT days)
07:00 Porridge & apple and honey
09:00... as per workout day


Since I'm verging on the the longest post in Mansized history I'll finish by saying good luck to everyone else in the challenge!

Dave

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Good luck Moonstick!

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Moonstick and STE have got practically the same body, but it deffo isn't the same person as their hairlines are different - how bizarre!

Good luck, mooney!

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You must have looked closely then Ben. I think I have bigger shoulders and my arms are bigger hehe.

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Lol - I must have missed the thread where people wondered STE and me were the same person!?

I've got a bit of internal rotation around my shoulders so it's not the best angle to see my disco muscles... honest!! ;-)

Cheers for the support guys!

Dave

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Looks like a solid program yo. What are your daily calories like? How tall are you again? Good luck with the quitting smoking, should help on your bulk ;).

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Added height to my measurements - I'm 6'2". I'll work this out property but reckon off this lot I'll be hitting about 3800kcal per day on training days and about 3200kcal on days off. Each week I'm bulking I'll probably bump up my calories a bit - add a tablespoon of peanut butter in with the yoghurt and maybe some more nuts somewhere else etc.

I'm hoping the smoking isn't going to be too much of a problem - I've stopped before and not found it too hard. Think staying out of the pub for a while is going to be the key!!

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You'll gain muscle mass of that program, but it's not very hypertrophy specific? You coul dgain more with less work. It looks like a powerlifters standard routine. Good exercise choices though.

You need to eat pre workout too. Add in the porridge at the first pre workout shake. Add egg whites to it.

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Surely you should be staying in the pub, where you are not allowed to smoke! :-P

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What would you suggest to change? I'll be looking to work at about 85% 1RM and it's only 12 sets (2 mins rest on 5x5, 60s on 2x8) so I should be in and out in under an hour.

Each of the shakes is basically 60g maltodetrix, 40g protein (posted about this recently) - one before, one during, one after (the last one has 5g creatine as well) - so about 1000kcal all in. Surely I wouldn't need more than that?

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