Jin's first bulking cycle

[Jin]

Feeling great and looking much better since e2 coming down. Eating my face off to try to keep in the mid 270's, but the weight I've lost is all water weight and it doesn't seem that I've lost any strength along with it.

Pretty good deadlift and back day.

Warm up 135-315
1x3 @ 405
1x2@455
1@495
2x1@545
1x11@405

I had enough muscle strength to rep out 12 or 13 @ 405, but it was good I didn't cause I nearly passed out stopping at 11. Even though the 545 was a PR I was more impressed with the last set.

DB rows 6x15
Cable rows 6x15
Cable pull downs 6x15
HS pull downs 6x15

Supersetx6
HS high rowx15
HS low rowx15

Hammer curls 6x15

Post WO meal

5 eggs
5 egg whites

4 servings of steel cut oats
1/4c maple syrup
1c strawberries
1tbsp butter
1tbsp half and half

1 piece of corn bread

1,720cal 216c/53f/82p

 

[Assassin32]

Just curious, what's your fascination with your weight? I weigh myself maybe once a month.

 

[Jin]

Just curious, what's your fascination with your weight? I weigh myself maybe once a month.

Ive been weighing in once a week. Recently I've been monitoring weight closely because I've upped my ai dose and my e2 is coming down from 138. Curious to know just how much water weight I was/am holding. I'll get bloods again Friday.

Also, I'd like to hit mid/low 280's this cycle. Eating 6K cal is hard. Weighing myself often gives me motivation to eat more

 

[Jin]

Chest day

Flat bench- weak sauce, but getting better
3x15@205
3x15@225

Incline DB press
6x15

Decline bench
6x5

Superset x 6
High to low cable flys x 20
Tricep rope over head ext x 20

Superset x 6
L2H cable fly x 20
Tri push down x 20

Cable flys
6x20

Got in a little over 6,500 cal yesterday
View attachment 3684

Water weight from e2 is still coming off, looking leaner and abs are slightly visible.
Bloods tomorrow.

 

[Maijah]

Looking good

 

[Jin]

Weather was super warm yesterday so I went out and about in town with a tank top. I have to purposely walk around with a big goofy smile or people are too intimidated to interact with me. At the checkout line a younger girl was ringing me up and her older coworker says "I'm sorry, but I have to ask: are you like a wrestler or something?".
I said "Why? Do I look familiar?"
"Yeah, maybe" she said.
I told her I did porn and maybe that's where she's seen me. As she vehemently denies ever watching porn, the young girl checking me out turns bright red and cannot make eye contact with me as I get my change. Priceless.

Did heavy rack pulls today along with arms.

 

[BRICKS]

Weather was super warm yesterday so I went out and about in town with a tank top. I have to purposely walk around with a big goofy smile or people are too intimidated to interact with me. At the checkout line a younger girl was ringing me up and her older coworker says "I'm sorry, but I have to ask: are you like a wrestler or something?".
I said "Why? Do I look familiar?"
"Yeah, maybe" she said.
I told her I did porn and maybe that's where she's seen me. As she vehemently denies ever watching porn, the young girl checking me out turns bright red and cannot make eye contact with me as I get my change. Priceless.

Did heavy rack pulls today along with arms.

That's funny, Jin, and strong work on the grind. I get Steve Austin'ed occasionally. Last month on vacation at the resort is got asked if I was in the WWE. I'll have to borrow that porn line sometime.

 

[Jin]

The wife snapped a picture of our friend holding our kid my arm slipped in the edge.
I'll get real pics up soon as I know my e2 is low enough.

 

[John Ziegler]

Oh hell ya jin lookin good sir

High 5

 

[ECKSRATED]

The wife snapped a picture of our friend holding our kid my arm slipped in the edge. View attachment 3699
I'll get real pics up soon as I know my e2 is low enough.

No your wife took a pic of your arm and the baby slipped in the edge. Lol

 

[Jin]

No your wife took a pic of your arm and the baby slipped in the edge. Lol

My arm looks huge because of the perspective and also my friend in the background is 130 lbs. also because my arm is pretty big

 

[Jin]

Pretty grueling chest and leg day.

Wanted to start with bench on a Monday cause it's usually Thursday's after a shitload of volume M-W. Hadn't hit 315 since my 20's and wanted to rid my self of that mental barrier.
Warm-up then some lighter working sets.
6x275
3x315
2x335
355- miss

Squats
1x15@225
2x15@245
3x15@275

I'd have never jumped to 275 but my lifting partner pushed me to it. Pretty happy with today's weight.

Flat DB press 6x15
Leg press 6x25

Supersetx6
Pec dec x 15
Seated leg curl x 15

Leg extensions 6x15

Not the highest volume workout, but I'm completely fried right now. Hopefully blood work results will be in tonight.

EDIT: blood work in. E2 dropped from 139 to 68 (ref 7.6-42.6 pg/mL) took another whole 1mg Adex today and will continue with .5mg eod from here on out.

Does that sound reasonable or should I up the Adex to .5mg 4x/wk?

 

[Jin]

Weight 275, have lost a lot a of bloat, you can tell there are abs under there- somewhere.

Deadlifts and back

Pulled 405 from a 4" deficit 7x5

BB rows 6x15
DB rows 6x15

Superset x 6
Seated cable rows x 15
Lat push down x 15

Superset x 6
HS Lat pull down x 15
HS high row x 15

Consistently getting in 5,500-6,500 cal/day.

 

[Jin]

Last Thursday early morning chest session before I headed to the Midwest to visit family.

Finally got 225 for all 6 sets, 15 reps.

Found a gym in Milwaukee that bills itself as a "Hardcore Bodybuilding Gym". Fair enough. Did an early morning arm session there on Friday with a bunch of senior citizens.

Off day Saturday.

I usually take off Sunday, but the bed I'm sleeping in sucks and my back needed some blood flow. Hit Chest/Back.

Today was legs. I strayed from my normal 6x15 routine. This is the first gym that I've worked out in the has chains so I played around with them on my squats.

3x10@225
2x10@225+40lbs chain
2x6@315
3x6@315+40
1x365
1x385
1x405

Right now I'd guess my max squat is in the mid to high 400's, but 405 is a PR. That was barefoot with no belt.

I don't consider myself a good squatter, but the gym owner and a powerlifter both commended me on my form.

 

[Jin]

I've been sick as all hell. Bad cold/cough/congestion. Stayed in bed until 1pm on Wednesday. Hit chest on Thursday and Deads/back today.

I've been a little over 280 the last two days. I've upped my Adex to .5 5x/wk and I think this is a good dose for this amount of gear. I'll probably run one more set of bloods so I can know for sure what my best Adex dose is for future cycles.

That said, I've lost a lot of "fluffiness"; looking a lot leaner and feeling much better. High e2 is no fun.

Did modified workout bc I don't have the lung capacity to go 6x15.

Today I pulled 495 for 3 and 545 for 1 both w/o straps. October 2015 I was maxing out at 315 for 5 reps, so I've come a long way. Being hypogonadal didn't help.

There's a 21 year old powerlifter in my gym. Dude is 165 and was pulling 455 for sets of 3.

Next week is deload.

 

[Jin]

Haven't had morning wood since week 4 of the cycle, assuming it went away due to elevated e2 levels. But now it's back. And I don't pee all the time. So I sleep more. Life is good.

I've been going hard since October without a break so I'll be deloading this week. Going to keep the intensity up (60 sec btw sets), but reduce the weight and go 5 sets of 10 rather than 6 sets of 15.

The following week I'll be going heavy. Maybe 6-8 sets of 6.

The next 4 weeks I'm undecided as to whether to keep going 6x15 or do something different like reverse pyramid: 2-4-6-8-10-12-15-20

Any opinions on this? I've been progressing nicely with adding weight to my 6x15. Should I finish out the cycle with high volume or change things up?

As soon as I pin my first TRT dose in May I'll be going heavy.

 

[Jin]

Here's how I woke up this morning at 285



After 6 more weeks of bulking, then 2 months at maintenance, plan is to drop down to 260 or so.

EDIT: any BF estimates? I guess around 20%.

 

[Jin]

Deload week

Yesterday was legs
Squats 5x10@225 1 min rest btw sets
Leg press 4x25
Extensions 5x10
Curls 5x10
Also did 3 exercises of biceps.

Shoulders today
Standing BB press 5x10
Side raises 5x15
Rear flys 5x15
Cable side raises 5x10
3 exercises of tri's

All the weights were light and easy, but I kept the rest to a minute or less btw sets

20 min of cardio

Now that I'm in the 280's I'm slowing down on my eating. I'm aiming to eat around 4,800-5k, which is about 500-700 over TDEE.

 

[Jin]

4 exercises for back and 3 for biceps all 5 sets of 10.

Did some form/speed work with 225 DL.

Snow day yesterday, the Porterhouse was just under 2lbs. View attachment 3730

 

[TrickWilliams]

4 exercises for back and 3 for biceps all 5 sets of 10.

Did some form/speed work with 225 DL.

Snow day yesterday, the Porterhouse was just under 2lbs. View attachment 3730

Dam good looking steak my man!

I like a picture of a big slab of meat (no homo). No greens ruining it.

I could really use a glass of wine.