Eating to Grow

Verse of the day: I will praise You with an upright heart as I learn Your righteous laws. -Psalm 119:7

In order to make changes to your body, you have to eat accordingly. During a contest prep, the goal is to lose body fat while maintaining muscle mass to shape and bring out the lines- so the calories are restricted to accomplish that goal. During the "off-season" the goal is to build muscle (I don't like like the term off-season, because it is by no means off- that's when you build your physique.) So you have eat to grow quality muscle. You don't want to eat junk, you need quality calories, but you need calories. I aim for about 1 1/2g of protein, 2g carb and 1/2-3/4g fat per pound of body weight- so it's about 270-330g protein, 350g carb and 100-150g fat. It's a little different every day, but this is a good model (this is what I ate a couple days ago):

5am: 5 eggs; 1cup oatmeal; 1 apple
7:30am: chicken breast; sweet potato
10:30am (post workout): whey isolate, glutamine, Shaklee Performance, sweet potato
12:30pm: chicken breast with bbq sauce, spinach, little cheese, tomato
3:30pm: chicken breast; sweet potato, spinach
6pm: 5 eggs; potato + a little cheese
8pm: whey isolate + glutamine

October17/16, chest/back super sets

Verse of the day: Blessed are they whose walk is blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Psalm 119:1

Last week we had a hurricane (for those who didn't know) so I was pretty busy. But I still got in all the muscle groups, I just combined 2 so I had 4 workouts. I just super set chest and back. This is very challenging, as it is 2 large muscle groups, and really the whole upper body is working the whole time. Here's how it looked:

Inclined dumbbell press: 25s-25; 50s-10; 75s-8; 100s-6; 120s -6
   Super set with wide pull down: 55-25, 80-12; 10"-12; 165-10; 210-6,6 + 3 drop set s

Flat dumbbell press: 70s-12; 80s-10; 90s-6
   s/s bent over dumbbell row: " " "

bent over cable fly (for upper chest): 70-12; 80-10; 90-6
   s/s machine row: 155-6,8,8

dip: 12,12,6
   s/s v-grip pull down: 140-12,10,8

pullover: 65-10,5

Tue., 10/04/16, Chest

Verse of the day: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the LORD, as the water covers the sea. -Habakkuk 2:14

Yesterday's workout was a little less volume than what I've done recently, because I had a fairly exhausting weekend. But it was a great workout with medium volume and a decent intensity. My goal, as always, is maximum muscle stimulation with the least impact on the joint- that is the reason for all the dumbbell motions:

incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 50s-8; 75s-6; 100s-6; 120s-8
bent over cable fly (for upper chest): 70-12; 80-10; 90-8
high incline dumbbell press: 75s-8,6
low incline dumbbell press: 75s-8,8
flat  dumbbell press: 90s-8,8
   + dip: 12 / cable crossover: 60-14 / cross-bench pullover: 65-12