Progress Update – Summary of weeks 1-4

So I’ve officially entered my 6th week of my first 16 week bulk cycle. So far I would have to say that things have gone as planned. The last couple of weeks have been hard as I’ve made the transition from having nothing to do all day to being back at school. Last semester I found it extremely difficult to manage working out and eating well while being at school but this semester my situation has greatly improved.

I’m 2 weeks into the strength/power portion of my workout routine and below I’ve summarized the results from my first 4 weeks in.

The Results (Week 1 – 4) – Hypertrophy Specific Phase

8 pounds gained in a 4 week period. I will HAPPILY accept that. I never thought I’d progress this fast in such a short amount of time. My personal goal was put on 4lbs I honestly didn’t think anything more than that would be realistic. I don’t quite think I’ll hit my goal of 185lbs in this 16 week cycle. Realistically I think I might need 2 or 3 16 week bulk cycles to get to a nice lean 185 so I still have a lot of hard work to do.

Nutrition

I’m baffled at the fact that I’ve only been targeting 3000 calories a day and yet I’ve somehow put on 8 pounds. In the past I’ve eaten as much as 3800 -4000 calories with little results. I think the primary difference is the quality of foods I’ve been eating. For one, I try my absolute best to eat low glycemic foods at all times. Instead of eating 100% starchy carbs I’ve added a lot of fibrous carbs to my diet. Lastly I’ve stuck to high quality fat sources thus far.

There are some days where I’ve struggled to hit 3000 calories but I’ve accepted that fact that I’m not going to be perfect through out this bulk. I figure as long as I try my best things will workout.

As of late I’ve been stuck at around 170lbs but I was expecting that. I plan on staying at 3000 calories for the time being. I’m more concerned with putting on quality mass so I’ll continue to monitor my diet and hopefully the progression continues.

Supplements

If you’ve taken a look at my transformation page you might have noticed that I have a growing stack of supplements.

Everything I put into my body has a specific purpose. I’ll talk more about my supplementation on another day but I will say so far my energy and power levels are at an all time high. My overall focus has also improved greatly due to my supplementation.

I’m also excited to report that I’ve discovered a new supplement called Cissus Quadrangularis that will apparently help with my tendonitis. I’ve ordered a tub of this stuff and it should be in sometime next week.

My body

Last time I mentioned a back strain that was giving me a little bit of a problem. Well, its still there so I made a few alterations to the exercises I’ll be doing for the next 4 weeks. I don’t think it’s serious enough to stop me.

My tendinitis has been giving me a few problems but I’m back in physiotherapy so I’m going to work with my athletic therapist to correct any damage I’ve done to it. I’m aggressively rehabbing it in the hopes that I’ll be able to add a bench press and shoulder press back into my routine.

As far as body composition my legs and back have show the greatest improvement. I won’t go as far as saying that I’ve noticed significant changes but I’d definitely noticed the thickness in my   back and legs.

Besides that, overall I feel great. I haven’t been doing a great job with sleep as of late but I’m going to work on it. My stress levels are up but that comes with being a student so I’m working on it too

The Rest

As I already mentioned, my last semester at school was a total disaster when it came to nutrition. I surrounded myself around people who were not into fitness or nutrition and this sapped my motivation to eat well at school. This semester the people I’m around for the most part are into healthy eating and staying fit so I’ve found it easier to be open about my enthusiasm for fitness.

I have big plans for the up coming weeks. My number one goal is to get clearance from my Athletic Therapist to resume bench pressing, shoulder pressing and direct triceps exercises. It’s driving me crazy that I haven’t been able to hit these muscle groups the way I’d like to due to my current injury. I’m going to attempt to slowly work them back into my routine.