One Week Down: Observations

Unknown

Okay, observations after one week of bulking:

• It's a lot of food
• I feel like a *kitten* eating cookies after I've hit my protein macros for the day and have 300 calories left.
• I'm having really intense DOMS from the volume I was able to put in at the gym. This hasn't happened in a while.
• Scale is up four pounds, which I assume is some undiscernable combination of fat, muscle, water, and "other".
• Fat calipers show fat loss -- which is impossible.
• Photo shows no change

So I'll give it another week and see what's up.

Unknown

Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.

Unknown

keithcw_the_first wrote: »

Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.

That's nice right there. It's frustrating for me how slow the progression on that lift is

Unknown

I've also had weird results - I gained 1kg this last week. I thought maybe its just all that extra food sitting in my stomach. It really is a pain to eat so much, but that's good because I don't want it to become a habit once I've reached my target. I can't see any difference body fat or otherwise.



edit: why doesn't my ticker show my weight gain? I've added the numbers in settings.

Unknown

schpitt wrote: »

I've also had weird results - I gained 1kg this last week. I thought maybe its just all that extra food sitting in my stomach. It really is a pain to eat so much, but that's good because I don't want it to become a habit once I've reached my target. I can't see any difference body fat or otherwise.

[...]

So you raise an interesting point, one that I feel like I've noticed too. I'm, at this point, pretty much used to the extra food. And watching the scale swing five pounds in three days and then swing back.

But I still feel like it's inconvenient to eat this much. Programming in extra snacks when I'm not hungry kind of sucks. It's fun to be looser with the stuff I get, but it's not fun to have to constantly eat and worry about whether I'm going to have to make up 600 calories at the end of the night.

I hope that mentality can carry me through my eventual cut.

Unknown

MrM27 wrote: »

keithcw_the_first wrote: »

Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.

That's nice right there. It's frustrating for me how slow the progression on that lift is

You should tell that to the guy in the power rack next to me. Warmed up with two plates on the OHP. Then grabbed two more. Then two more.

Then two more (three on a side now).

Then two 25's.

He was doing really quick sets of 3 and even heavy singles but... still. I was shocked. I know I couldn't have even unracked the bar. With the help of his spotter he managed to get a single OHP of 365. That's some next level *kitten*.

Unknown

keithcw_the_first wrote: »

MrM27 wrote: »

keithcw_the_first wrote: »

Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.

That's nice right there. It's frustrating for me how slow the progression on that lift is

You should tell that to the guy in the power rack next to me. Warmed up with two plates on the OHP. Then grabbed two more. Then two more.

Then two more (three on a side now).

Then two 25's.

He was doing really quick sets of 3 and even heavy singles but... still. I was shocked. I know I couldn't have even unracked the bar. With the help of his spotter he managed to get a single OHP of 365. That's some next level *kitten*.

was he over head pressing or was he doing a push press?

Because a strict OHP is different than a push press. (I mean- 365 is pretty impressive either way- but they aren't they same movements)

Unknown

I just started my bulk a little over a week ago. This last Saturday I weighted 190. This morning I weighed 196. Obviously, that's not real. But it is weird. Experiencing the same kind of deal as the you guys. Trying to fit extra food in when I'm not really that hungry. Cottage cheese with almonds and a scoop of protein powder in some milk has been my go to "extra" snack lately. I've never done a 5x5 program before, so it is a bit of an adjustment for me. It's been a while since I've done squats and deadlifts. I don't think I've ever done the standing military presses. Holy crap do those work your body! I've always been decent at bench. I did 235 for 5 on Sunday. Starting to begin feeling stronger again. It feels good. My plan is to bulk for a couple of months. If I'm happy with the results, I'll cut a little again. If not, continue bulking until I am happy. I'm almost more happy that I will get stronger again. I lost a lot of muscle losing 75lbs from a bit over a year ago. Good luck to everyone!

Unknown

JoRocka wrote: »

keithcw_the_first wrote: »

MrM27 wrote: »

keithcw_the_first wrote: »

Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.

That's nice right there. It's frustrating for me how slow the progression on that lift is

You should tell that to the guy in the power rack next to me. Warmed up with two plates on the OHP. Then grabbed two more. Then two more.

Then two more (three on a side now).

Then two 25's.

He was doing really quick sets of 3 and even heavy singles but... still. I was shocked. I know I couldn't have even unracked the bar. With the help of his spotter he managed to get a single OHP of 365. That's some next level *kitten*.

was he over head pressing or was he doing a push press?

Because a strict OHP is different than a push press. (I mean- 365 is pretty impressive either way- but they aren't they same movements)

It wasn't a strict OHP I don't think. He definitely wasn't locking out over his head. Actually I think if he was locking it out over his head he would quite nearly have died. Probably a push press then. Still, super impressive.