Primalkid's Journal, 19 September 2014

Doing great! The higher protein diet is going well and I don't smell like ammonia and I am having excellent gym progress. I just finished phase 1 of my bulk cycle, and this Sunday will begin phase 2 - Strength / Hypertrophy. I changed some of the exercises and dropped my reps on my main lifts from 6-8 to 5. Additionally, my auxiliary lifts dropped from 12 to 10 reps, and I replaced some of the dynamic abdominal work with more stability-oriented exercises. For example, replaced the double-crunch that would be performed after the cable crunch as a burnout set with the extended plank (elbows below ears w/ posterior pelvic tilt), and replaced the standing cable twist with the cable Palloff Press.

Circumference measurements increased on all body points except the forearms, with the most significant gains being in the chest (+2 inch), waist (+1.5 inch), hips (+1 inch), & thighs (+1 inch). My neck also grew by 1/2 inch, which means that my bridges are working good. In terms of skinfolds, I had less increases than I thought I would and I literally did about five measurements per body part thinking I may have screwed up. Accordingly, my body composition changed as follows from the beginning of phase 1 to its ending (all in pounds except body fat %):

Body weight 159 --> 166 (+7 lbs; just under 1 lb / week)
Lean body mass 151.1 --> 156.3 (+5.2; 74% of gains)
Fat mass 7.9 --> 9.7 (+1.8; 26% of gains)
Body fat percentage 5% --> 5.9% (+0.9%)

Now there is no doubt that the calipers are giving a measurement error. One that is really annoying because the DXA scan also agrees with the skinfold numbers. However, I am obviously not this lean. Regardless, the actual number is not important and their main use is to track progress since the error should be roughly the same each time. With that in mind, I would say that Phase 1 of my bulk cycle went very well. Whether this was from the higher protein diet or not is up for debate, but my guess is that it is a combination of three factors:

-- High protein diet w/ plenty of carbohydrates and fats
-- Active lifestyle with over 10,000 steps daily
-- Smart routine programming

166.0 lb Lost so far: 14.0 lb.    Still to go: 0 lb.    Diet followed reasonably well.

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3231 kcal

Fat: 89.86g | Prot: 272.17g | Carb: 342.71g.   Breakfast: Macadamia Nuts, Beef Eye Of Round (Lean Only, Trimmed to 1/8" Fat, Select Grade), Life Extension Super Omega-3, Coconut, Egg. Lunch: Bison Meat (Lean Only), Apples, Carrots, Sweet Potato, Trader Joe's Organic Greek Style Nonfat Yogurt - Plain, Myotropics Physique Nutrition ThermiCarb, Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum, Bob's Red Mill Organic High Fiber Oat Bran Hot Cereal. Dinner: Dagoba Organic Chocolate Unsweetened Cacao Powder, True Nutrition Complete Milk Dairy Isolate - Flavored, Bison Top Round (Lean Only, 1" Steak), Red Potatoes (Flesh and Skin), Sunrise Growers Organic Antioxidant Blend. more...

3126 kcal

Activities & Exercise: Standing - 12 hours and 30 minutes, Resting - 1 hour and 50 minutes, Walking (moderate) - 3/mph - 1 hour and 40 minutes, Sleeping - 8 hours. more...