# Buzz's Journey Back



## BuzzU (Jun 16, 2004)

Hey guys  , thought I'd start a journal since I am able to start lifting again.  Still fairly new around these boards, so feel free to chime in if you have any comments, ideas, or just want to chat  .

Background:  I'm 19 years old and gonna turn 20 next month.  Weight about 130-132 currently.  First started lifting back in highschool about 4-5 years ago but didn't take it too seriously about 1 1/2 years ago when I went from 170 to 125, but lost *alot* of my muscle in the process.  Then I did a lot of reading and got my diet in check (did the atkins diet when I lost the weight and my strength  ).  Was seeing good progress in getting my strength back until Christmas when I screwed up my shoulder  and had to have surgery in March.  

Now I can finally start benching again and rest the bar on my traps to squat so I figured now is a good time to start up a journal.  It sucks though b/c the weights I have to use are pathetic, even though they were before, LOL; oh well.  

Goals:  My primary goal is to gain strength to optimalize my athletic performance.  It should be noted though that I am *very* anal about how I look, and about gaining much fat so I still don't want to gain much fat in the process.  At one point I was even bullimic I guess you could say b/c I would binge and purge a few times a week, but no worries now b/c my diets in check and I don't do it any more.

Lifts:  Before I lost the weight and most of my muscle my maxes were: Bench: 235, Squat: 325, Deadlift: 365, Power Clean: 230, and my vertical was 35 inches all @ a weight of 165.  After I lost the weight and muscle, but before my injury, my maxes were Bench: 180, Squat: 250, Deadlift: 320, unsure of power clean, and my vertical was around 26 inches.  Now currently I am working out with Bench: 89 lbs for 8 reps, Squat: 179 for 8 reps, and power clean: 111 lbs for 4 reps.  These are not maxes or anything, just trying to get my body back into lifting again after the long layoff, and for rehab for my shoulder.

The Plan:  I plan on doing a full body routine consisting of bench, squat, power clean, and 1 exercise of choice for triceps, biceps, and a rowing motion every third day until July 5th or 12th.  Then I plan on starting a westside routine, and am looking very forward to this.  It will be my first go at doing westside, but have only heard great things about it and I like its set up so I thought I would give it a go.  Any input yall have on my routine would be greatly welcome since I am a rookie at it.

Diet:  Right now I am eating roughly 1700 calories on inactive days, and around 1850 on lifting days.  This is in an effort to cut as much fat off me before I can start lifting heavy again.  Then I will of course bump up the calories when I start the westside routine in July.  I'll try to post up my diet each day.  I have some pretty crazy meals and my family always makes fun of me for some of the things I come up with and do, but its all good  .

Shew, that was long.  Well, I guess that's about it for now.  If you have anything to say feel free to post.  The more feedback the better.


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## BuzzU (Jun 16, 2004)

Did a little lifting today after meal 1:

* Explosive Box Squat: 8 reps @ 89 lbs
8 reps @ 111 lbs
6 reps @ 111 lbs for 2 sets
8 reps @100 lbs

** Powerclean: 6 reps @ 89 lbs
6 reps @ 100 lbs
4 reps @ 111 lbs for 2 sets
8 reps @ 100 lbs

Bench Press: 8 reps @ 67 lbs
8 reps @ 89 lbs for 3 sets

supersetted with

Seated Cable Row: 10 reps @ 66 lbs
8 reps @ 88 lbs

Skullcrusher: 8 reps @ 50.5 lbs
6 reps @ 50.5 lbs
8 reps @ 45 lbs

supersetted with

Incline db curls @ 15 degrees: 8 reps @ 20 lbs each
6 reps @ 20 lbs each
10 reps @ 15 lbs each

* First time I have done box squats in over a year  . Didn't feel akward though. The box is about 10 inches high, I think 10 and 3/4 to be exact. I just built it last week on my own; I'm suprised I didn't hack something off in the process LOL  .
** I need to get some 25 lb bumper plates. Only got 45 lbs ones currently and can't do those again yet b/c of the injury.


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## BuzzU (Jun 16, 2004)

*Todays Diet:*

*Meal 1:*
cals fat/carbs/protein 
3 strawberries 20 0/5/0
1 apricot 16 0/4/0
1 small-med apple and 1 med-large apple 175 1/45/0
1/3 cup frozen oatmeal w/ cinnamon and stevia * 100 1.5/18/4
Eggwhite and ham quesadilla ** 125 1/1/28
                                                                      Totals:   436  3.5/73/32
* This is one of my wierd things I was talking about in my intro. thread. What I do is cook 1/3 cups of dry oats in 1 cup of water. It is real runny but that's okay because it thickens when it cools in the fridge to a stable shape. I let it cool about 15 minutes then add the cinnamon and stevia to it. Then I put it in the fridge. I make usually 5 of these at a time and store them all in the fridge. When I wake up in the morning I take one and put it in the freezer then take my shower. When I get out I stir it up because the top freezes more then the middle then set it back in the freezer. By the time I am done eating the rest of breakfast it is frozen just enough. This is very strange I know, but I love it this way  .

** This is another thing my parents think is strange. I take three egg whites and cook them on the stove, and when they are cooked solid I add 1.5 ounces of deli ham to half of it evenly and fold the other half of the eggs onto it to make a quesadilla shape.

*Meal 2:*

3 strawberries 20 0/5/0
1 med apple 81 0/21/0
1/2 cup homemade turkey chilli 120 1.5/14/14
1 homemade buffalo chicken quesadilla 125 2/10/18
                                                               Totals:   346  3.5/50/32
*Meal 3:*
couple strawberries and blue berries 20 0/5/0
1/2 sm la tortilla 25 1/6/3
1/4 cup ff cottage cheese 40 0/2/8
2/3 cup black beans 75 0/13/5
2 Tblsp salsa 10 0/2/0
1.5 cups brocolli 45 0/8/4
                                                               Totals:   195  1/36/20
*Meal 4:*
3 grilled chicken strips 100 1/0/23
6 Pecan halves 75 8/2/1
1 Tblsp Natural Peanut butter 70 6/2/3
3 cups broccoli 80 0/15/8
Frozen SF Jello   8  0/1/1
                                                               Totals:   333  15/20/36
*Meal 5:*
Protein Shake 240 8/9/32 *
Fish oil & Udos Oil capsules 30 3/0/0
                                                               Totals:   270  11/9/32
* Tonights shake consisted of 1.5 scoops of VPX Cappuccino flavored Micellean protein with about 2/3 Tbsp almond butter, 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum, 1 tsp fiberclear, liquid stevia to taste, and a lot of ice and water. The xanthan gum gives it a really nice texture that makes it like ice cream.

6 CLA capsules taken through spread out w/ meals 1, 2, & 4.  = 6 grams fat.

*Daily Totals:   1634  37.5/188/152  *


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## BuzzU (Jun 17, 2004)

No workout today, probably gonna shoot a little hoops later just to move around some.

Meal 1:

Strawberries
1 lrg. apple
1 apricot
1/3 cup oatmeal
egg & ham quesadilla

Meal 2: 

99% ff turkey burger on WW bun w/ lettuce, onions, tomato, ketchup & mustard
1.75 cups Brocolli
1 sm-med apple & couple strawberries

Meal 3:

3 egg whites & salsa
Stirfry consisting of brocolli, mushrooms, cabbage, and peppers & onions
1/2 portabello mushroom cap w/ ff cottage cheese & low carb/cal b-bq sauce

Meal 4:

same as yesterdays

Meal 5:

Protein shake made w/ 1.5 scoops Malted muscles flavored Glycerlean and .65 Tblsp almond butter, orange and vanilla extract, stevia, and 1/2 tsp xanthan gum in lots of ice and water.

*I'll try to post the totals later as I am at work now and slacking off at the moment  .


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## gwcaton (Jun 17, 2004)

Buzz,

Good luck !  You seem  to have everything lined out . Good deal.  Got to have goals and plan to get there !


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## BuzzU (Jun 17, 2004)

Thanks for the vote of confidence gw.


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## PreMier (Jun 17, 2004)

PL routine eh?  Looks like you have your diet in check.  Good luck with gaining


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## BuzzU (Jun 18, 2004)

Thanks Premier.  Yeah, gonna be my first go at a real PL routine, so we'll see how well it goes  .


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## BuzzU (Jun 18, 2004)

Diet for today:

Meal 1:

Same as yesterday macronutionially wise, just changed up a couple things

Meal 2:

1 cup spaghetti squash w/ grilled chicken, ff mozarrella cheese, and spaghetti sauce
1 sm-med apple and 4 strawberries
1/2 sm la tortilla w/ black beans, ff cottage cheese, salsa, and lettuce

Meal 3:

1/2 lrg la tortilla w/ ham, tomato, onion, lettuce, spicey mustard, and no cal vinagrette sauce in a sandwich wrap form
vegetable stirfry w/ broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, and peppers in low cal/carb teriyaki sauce and chilli powder and paprika

Meal 4:

Same as yesterdays

Meal 5:

Protein shake made w/ 1.5 scoops Designer whey's chocolate Glycerlean, 3/4 imitation vanilla butternut flavor, .65 Tblsp almond butter, 1/2 tsp xanthan gum, and stevia in lots of ice and water.
few fish oil and Udo's Oil capsules


Thoughts:
Still a little sore from doing the powercleans a couple days ago and I didn't even go that heavy, LOL. I'm just happy I can finally do them again though, so no complaints here  .

Was going to go out on the lake today with some friends but a bad storm came out of nowhere around 11 so that ruined that  . Not sure on what's on tap for tonight. Might go see that dodgeball movie, I think that's coming out tonight. Dodgeball rules!!!  Back in school I was always one of the first picked and was the shizznit at it!!!

Exercise:

Not much really, did a little running on the treadmill and hit the abs.  For abs did:

weighted crunches 3 sets:  started w/ 22 lb plate then drop setted w/ 11 lb plate.

Supersetted those with leg raises.

Finished off the abs w/ couple sets of the ab roller.

That's pretty much it for today.  

Plan on doing another full body w/o tomorrow if all plans go right.


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## PreMier (Jun 18, 2004)

There sure are a lot of PL's on the board now


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## BuzzU (Jun 19, 2004)

Today's Workout:

After 3 warmup sets of squats: 4 sets of 5 reps @ 167 lbs ATF 

    *(Sets were suprisingly harder then I anticipated before I started.  I mean they weren't to failure or anything but still thought it would have been easier than it was.  Oh well, guess it's okay for my 1st time doing them ATF in 3-4 months.)

Power cleans after warmups:  4 sets of 4 reps @ 111 lbs

     *Went up easier than last w/o.  Motion was smoother and didn't bug my shoulder as much as last time either, was happy w/ these even though the weights are laughable  .

Bench Press after warmups:  89 lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps

                        SUPER-SETTED  w/

Wide-Grip lat pulldowns:  77 lbs x 8, 88 lbs x 7, 77 x 8

Skullcrushers:  50.5 x 8, 45 x 8, 45 x 8

                         SUPER-SETTED w/

15 degree db incline curls:  20 x 8, 20 x 6, 15 x 8

Pretty good w/o overall.  Shoulder bugged me less on the cleans today, but seemed a litted more bothersome during the bench then last w/o  .  Oh well can't complain after not being able to doing anything at all previously.


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## BuzzU (Jun 19, 2004)

Diet:

Meal 1: 

Same as previous practically

Meal 2: (Post-W/O)

99% ff turkey burger w/ homemade chilli & mustard
1 sm-med apple and few strawberries
1.5 cups broccoli
Orange Sorbet *

* Made the orange sorbet for the first time when I got the idea from a commercial for Minute Maid O.J. this morning.  Turned out okay actually.  I'll post the recipe in the recipe section later, it was really just some crystal light and xanthan gum to give it volume.

Meal 3:
1/2 sm. la tortilla w/ black beans, ff cottage cheese, pace chunky salsa, & lettuce
few strawberries
1/2 portabello mushroom cap w/ ff cottage cheese & low cal/carb b-bq sauce

** I'll post what else I eat later b/c unsure as I might go out w/ some friends.


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## Rocco32 (Jun 19, 2004)

Looking good man! Welcome. When you did the Atkins diet did you have refeeds or not?


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## BuzzU (Jun 19, 2004)

Thanks rock.  Nah didn't do any refeeds when I did it.  Pretty much did the first phase which is the induction phase, which is just a ketosis diet where you eat under 20 grams of carbs daily, for about 7-8 months.  If I were to redo it I would never have done that type of diet though.  It gave me a lot of bad sides  .


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## BuzzU (Jun 19, 2004)

Rest of todays Diet:

Meal 4 was same as yesterday

Meal 5:

Protein shake.  Got a new type of protein today and have to say it is my favorite yet, definitely gets a thumb up .  It was VPX's Graham Cracker flavored Micellean.


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## BuzzU (Jun 20, 2004)

Diet:

Meal 1:
sm apple, few berries
1/3 cup oatmeal
ham and egge quesadilla

Meal 2:
1/2 sm la tortilla w/ black beans, ff cottage cheese, salsa, and lettuce
an apricot
1.5 cups broccoli

Meal 3:

small apple and some berries
1/2 lrg la tortilla w/ pastrami, onions, tomato, spicey mustard, and no cal vinagrette
2 cups smashed cauliflour w/ no cal butter spray and garlic salt
some orange sorbet made w/ crystal light
2 egg whites scrambled w/ salsa

Meal 4:
Same as yesterday

Meal 5:
Same as yesterday

Exercise:

Did a little running and some ab work.  Nothing really intense on the run.  

Thoughts:  

Pretty boring day around here.  Went to church, and that was the only time I left the house.  Dad and my brother are gone to Omaha for my bro's baseball tournament and got to see a couple of college world series games while they are gone.  Gonna celebrate father's day next Sunday since he's out of town today.  Well guess that's it for today.


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## BuzzU (Jun 22, 2004)

Didn't get around to posting yesterdays diet, but it was pretty much just the norm.  Pretty boring day yesterday  .  Didn't workout or anything really.  Had to go pick up my dad and 2 of my bros b/c they got back from their baseball tournament.  They wound up winning and got a trophy that's like 5 ft tall, pretty neat.  Shoulder was bugging me some yesterday.  Just kind of a jolting pain would come on out of nowhere, kinda like a spasm, but it was different   hard to explain.  Doesn't seem to be doing it today though so I should be good to go with my workout for today.  Anyway onto today...

Diet:

Meal 1:
The usual

Meal 2:
99%  ff turkey burger w/ turkey chilli, onions, and mustard on whole wheat bun
1 med apple
some chocolate pudding (own recipe, not the unhealthy store bought stuff)
some orange sorbet
1.5 cups broccoli

Meal 3:
2 scrambled egg whites w/ salsa
few strawberries
1/2 sm. La Tortilla w/ black beans, ff cottage cheese, lettuce, and salsa

Meal 4:
Same as yesterday

Meal 5:
Protein shake w/ 2/3 Tblsp almond butter and few fish oil caps

Workout:

(Did couple warm-up sets for each exercise B4 listed sets and reps)

Box squats on 10" box:  111lbs: 4 sets of 6 reps, 100 lbs:  2 sets of 8 reps
Power cleans:  111 lbs:  4 sets of 4 reps
Hang cleans:  100lbs:  2 sets of 5 reps
incline bench:  67 lbs: 3 sets of 8 reps
seated rows:  82.5 lbs:  3 sets of 10 reps
seated tricep db extension:  36 lbs: 3 sets of 8 reps
BB preacher curls:  56 lbs: 6 reps, 50.5 lbs: 2 sets of 8 reps

* 1st time I did incline bench since surgery so went *really* light.  Didn't bug me too much, but a little more than normal bench seems to though.

** 1st time using a barbell to curl since surgery.  Really suprised at how hard 56 lbs was, apparently the layoff effected me more than I had hoped it did.  Oh well.

Thoughts:

Started raining this afternoon pretty hard out of nowhere  .  Was hoping to go shoot some hoops later, but I guess that isn't happening now.  Probably just gonna be lazy and take it easy the rest of the day  .


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## Rocco32 (Jun 22, 2004)

Don't sweat the weight being heavy buddy. Completely normal. Be smart about lifting, don't get hurt (I'm one to talk ) and you'll be past where you were before you know it. Your muscles have muscle memory and will pick up the weight quickly!


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## BuzzU (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks for words Rock.  Yeah, I know that; I just got to keep pounding it into my head and try not to rush things b/c I know if I do I'll just screw it up again and be in worse shape then I am now.


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## BuzzU (Jun 24, 2004)

Didn't get around to posting yesterdays activities, but in short nothing unusual diet wise and didn't have a w/o so I'll just pick up with today...

Diet:

Meal 1:

The usual

Meal 2:

Pastrami sandwich wrap w/ 1/2 lrg la tortilla w/ tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and no cal vinagrette dressing
med apple
SF chocolate pudding
portabello mushroom cap w/ FF cottage cheese and low carb b-bg sauce

Meal 3:

teryaki flavored vegetable stir-fry containing broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, and cabbage

2 scrambled egg whited w/ salsa

Meal 4: 

The usual 

Meal 5:

chocolate protein shake w/ imitation butter nut flavor, stevia, and .67 Tblsp almond butter and few fish oil caps.

Plan on running some tonight and doing a little ab work also, nothing major.

Gonna start spliting up my w/o routine a little bit more now since I can pretty much perform all excercises, just some not w/ heavy weights yet.  Previously I had been doing the same full body routine every third day, but think I will now go with a 2-type routine split doing 1 routine every other day.  This will probably last for 2-3 weeks and then maybe I can finally start a westside routine!!!  

The timing is actually pretty good b/c next week is gonna be really busy for me any way.  Going to a "school" in downtown Atlanta, about a 1 hour to 1 1/2 drive from my house, from Monday-Friday about selling cars.  My dad owns a chevrolet dealership and I'm probably going to get into the business when I am out of college so I thought it would be a good idea to work in different areas of the dealership to know how it is run.  Gonna probably start selling cars for him in a few months.  Kinda funny b/c I can't stand any of his salesman.  All of them are such jack asses and act so fake.  Hope I don't turn into one, LOL.  Anyway the classes run from 9 in the morning till 5 in the evening each day, so I'll be gone from like 6:30-6:30 every day.  Gonna really suck, but I'm getting paid as if I'm on the clock so I should get a good pay check for once  .


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## BuzzU (Jun 25, 2004)

Workout:​​Power cleans: 89 lbs for 6 reps, 111 lbs for 5 sets of 4​​Bench press: 89 lbs for 10 reps, 100 lbs for 4 sets of 5 reps, 111 lbs for 3​reps *First time I went above 100 lbs on bench since my injury.  I'm slowly progressing.​​lat pulldown: close grip:  88 lbs for 2 sets 8, wide grip: 77 lbs for 2 sets 8​​db flies: 20 lbs each: 2 sets of 8 reps, 2 sets of 6 reps​​Diet​​meal 1:​​the usual​​Meal 2:​​1/2 sm la tortilla w/ black beans, ff cottage cheese, salsa, and lettuce​med apple and few strawberries​1/2 portabello mushroom cap w/ ff cottage cheese and low carb b-bq sauce​2 scrambled egg whites w/ salsa​​Meal 3:​​vegetable stir fry and egg whites w/ salsa​​Meal 4:​​the usual​​Meal 5:​​VPx Capuccino micellean protein shake w/ .67 Tblsp almond butter and few fish oil capsules​​Pretty pleased with today's w/o overall.  Moved up the bench weight a little and it didn't seem to bother my shoulder any more so I was pleased with that  .  Not much else went on today except work  .​


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## BuzzU (Jun 27, 2004)

This is most likely the last post I'll be able to make for a week in here  .  Gonna be a busy week and not gonna have time to hang around here like usual.  I'll still be doing my rehab workouts though and eating right so everything should still happen as planned.


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## myCATpowerlifts (Jun 27, 2004)

everything lookin good man
come back soon


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## Rocco32 (Jun 28, 2004)

Good luck buddy, have a good week!


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## BuzzU (Jul 8, 2004)

Finally got a chance to post back again since life's back to normal.  No real updates or changes to mention.  Gonna give military presses a shot in tomorrow's w/o for the first time since my surgery.  Hopefully if all goes well, I'll be able to start lifting heavy in 2 weeks maybe and finally start a westside routine.  I'm so ready to start bulking.  I feel like a little girl at 130 and my lifts do too


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## BuzzU (Jul 9, 2004)

Today's w/o was very pleasing even though the weights were laughable.  Workout went:

speed bench:

8 sets of 4 reps @ 72.5 lbs

seated BB military press:

56 lbs for 10 reps
61.5 lbs for 7 reps
61.5 lbs for 6 reps
61.5 lbs for 6 reps

DB chest flyes @ 20 lbs:

2 sets of 8
1 set of 6

db lateral raise:

3 sets of 8 reps @ 10 lbs for right
3 sets of 10 reps @ 5 lbs for left

calf presses on leg press machine:

3 sets of 12-15 reps @ 288 lbs

Some notes on the w/o:  Thought I'd try some speed bench to get used to it since I'll be utilizing it in the upcoming westside routine.  Bugged my shoulder a little more than benching at normal speed but that was expected.  Very pleased with the military presses and lateral raises.  My shoulder wasn't practically experiencing discomfort at all during the lifts   .  

Tomorrow gonna do lower body and arms.  The lower body exercises at a dynamic effort pace also.  Hopefully all should go well.  Until then,   .


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## BuzzU (Jul 10, 2004)

Today's w/o:

power cleans:

8 sets of 3 reps

lunges:

1 set of 10 reps, 1 set of 8 reps, 1 set of 7 reps, 1 set of 6 reps
tricep overhead ext.:
3 sets of 10, 8, and 7 reps

db spider curls:
3 sets of 7 reps

db hammer curls:
3 sets of 7 reps


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## kvyd (Jul 10, 2004)

Your story sounds good bit like mine plus I had wrist surgery.  Where at in the dirty south?


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## BuzzU (Jul 11, 2004)

*KV:* Hey, thanks for stopping by.  I'm from north Georgia too.  To be exact in Cumming.  It's like 40 miles NE of Atlanta in Forsyth Co.  Where in N GA do you live?


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## kvyd (Jul 11, 2004)

Its actually right around Canton...so we are about 25 mins away


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## BuzzU (Jul 12, 2004)

*KV:* Cool, that isn't far at all.

Didn't do anything yesterday really.  No w/o or nothing, just went to church and took it easy.  Today's w/o went well.  Almost no noticable pain in my shoulder when benching.  Was able to use 116 lbs at my highest weight for reps on bench this week which is 5.5 more than last so I'm slowly progressing.


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## BuzzU (Jul 16, 2004)

Been a few days since I last posted, been more hectic than expected but didn't miss any w/o's os it's alright.  Think I'm gonna start the Westside routine this upcoming week instead of waiting a couple more weeks.  Think my shoulder's ready finally; didn't hurt when I tried dips on a parallel bar  so I think I'm ready to go   .  I took some pics this morning with my digi cam that marks the end of my cut and will mark the beginning of my new plan.  I'll try and post them if I can figure out how.  My final stats are: 5'8", 130 lbs, waist @ navel: 29 6/8", waist @ widest point: 30 5/8", rt bicep: 11 5/8", rt quad: 18 6/8 ", rt calf: 12 5.5/8", chest: 38"  I'll post my starting maxes later today. Body fat measured with a pair of accu-measure calipers put me @10.5% BF.  Only took the average of 3 measurements @ the suprialliiac point; came up with 10 mm, 11 mm, & 10 mm.  

Glad to be done cutting finally.  Today's a good day to stop it too b/c today's my birthday!!! Turning 20, one more year till the fun begins, LOL   .  Gonna go out tonight w/ friends but not sure what we'll do.  Definitely have some cake and ice cream though!!!


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