Training Diary- Maximum Mass Program- Phase 1- Wk 1.

So I'm finally back to training, I haven't lifted a piece of iron for just over 3 weeks. I did a week or 2 with the program mentioned here, just to keep some work going while my back was recovering. Speaking of, my back feels good, and I started back on Monday and it felt good. The program I'm following is from Jason Feruggia's book "Muscle Gaining Secrets", which is a pretty basic e-book, but solid in it's principles and justification for such. I thought I'd give it a try, as Feruggia's training philosophy is a little more on the functional side than Poloquin's was, which is personally, what I need.

I definitely felt the last few weeks off, I actually, almost vomited, hence why the last few sets of Split Squats and Hammer Curls were on the light side, I was literally doing reps and holding down vom! The people waiting for the "6 weeks to a 6 pack" course saw me after, I looked ratshite! But continue we must, I have another session tomorrow morning so hopefully I should feel better, and be able to lift heavier. *Addendum to that*- I had my session Wednesday morning and did fine. I'm cautious of my back, I'm protecting it. Ferrugia suggests taking it easy in the first week, so easy I shall go. No back tweaks yet, but my body just wants to lift heavier, it's hard to resist that urge!

I did a little warm up: some upper body mobility, some light stretching, and some basic bodyweight movement plus a warm up set, but I plan to get a big lower body stretch going tomorrow morning. Haven't felt any pain in the lower back at all, no discomfort of any kind, so that's good, this program should be good, as it's entirely reduced on the volume, and follows undulating periodization, which will be nice, and hopefully keep me from injury.

I have also done some extensive lower body and back stretching, continued my upper body mobility and have generally felt pretty good. I actually wonder if it isn't the early morning sessions that are causing me some problems. As in getting up at 4 am, getting to the gym by 5, doing a 15 minute warm up, then getting into some weight training might not be allowing my core enough time to activate (especially as I'm not doing any activation). This is pure laziness yes, but I might try and start training at night, after work for a while, see if that makes a difference.

Rob Max Mass
Phase 1
Day 1	S	R	R	Wk1
1A: Dip	3	8*	90	BW+20kg, BW+20kg, BW+22.5kg
1B: Inverted Row	3	8*	90	BW, BW, BW, BW
2A: DB Split Squat	3	8*	90	20kg, 20kg, 22.5kg
2B: Hammer Curl	3	10*	90	17.5kg, 17.5kg, 17.5kg
Day 2	S	R	R	Wk1
1A: 1 Arm DB Row	3	6*	75	30kg, 30kg, 32.5kg
1B: DB Inc Press	3	6*	75	27.5kg, 30kg, 30kg
2A: CG Bench Prss	3	6*	60	60kg, 80kg, 80kg
2B: Rack Deadlift	3	6*	60	60kg, 80kg, 80kg
Day 3	S	R	R	Wk1
1 Squat	4	4*	150	60kg, 80,kg, 80kg, 90kg
2A: Chin Up	4	4*	60	BW, BW+15kg, BW+15kg, BW+15kg
2B: DB Militry Prs*	4	4*	60	17.5kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg
3 EZ Bar Curl	3	7*	90	37.5kg, 42.5kg, 42.5kg, 42.5kg
*+ 2 reps if possible
* Military Press Palms In

As far as diet goes, well it's been horrible over the last couple of weeks, I basically dropped my vegetarianism in Canberra (and boy did I feel good!), but as I'm back into training it's been tightened up... somewhat. I've discovered these "Quorn" products so I've been having some of the lasagne and sausage rolls, it's crazy, they taste just like meat.They're not technically good, though they're not super horrible either (I'm sure there's a debate about that in there). I do wonder, if you're eating a vegetarian product, do you need to add vegetables? As in, of course, it'd be great to add them, but since you're consuming a vegetarian product, is it essential?

I've stopped the creatine for the moment, I was only at about 4 weeks when I was using it during the German Volume cycle, and I had pretty good results with both that program and the creatine.  I've had about that time off, so I might start in a few weeks, I just wanted to get back into it, get back into a routine before I started supplementing to seriously.

Breakfast: I've been having my smoothies for breakfast this week (refer to meal before shift), just to try and get more veggies and fruit in.

Post workout shake: x2  up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500-700mL of water during training. 

Post workout meal: This week, instead of eggs, I had some of the "Quorn" products, oh and nachos (once).
 
Meal before afternoon shift:  Smoothy- 1/2 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear/apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts/cashews, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the leftover one the next day.

Dinner: Various vegetarian options such as vegetable sausages, bacon,  "Quorn" products etc.

Pre bed snack (sometimes): Second vegetable smoothy, otherwise nothing. 

Supplements. 3-8 fish oil tabs with my afternoon smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin supplement once-twice a day.