# Bilal123's Journal



## Bilal123 (Aug 27, 2010)

Hello forum,

First I wanted to thank Prince for sending me a bottle of *Super DMZ RX* about a week ago. I plan on starting that as soon as Ramadan ends for me. I doubt there would be much in the way of results if I started right now, so I'm putting that on hold.

I just figured I would start logging in the workouts I've been doing right now until then. Not sure how everyone else has done this, so I'll just start with some basics about myself...

I'm 24 years of age and have been working out for several years now. I ran track in HS and also in college (800m, 1500m, 5000m), but towards the end of my junior year in college I decided to switch up diciplines. I got really big on doing calisthenic exercises and was able to work my way up to doing different tricks on the pull-up and dip bars. Something like the guy below.






YouTube Video











I brought my weight up from about 155lbs to 170-175lbs with the calisthenics, but I knew if I wanted to get bigger, then I would need to incorporate the weights. I started making up my own routines and after several weeks, I began getting bigger. I got really geeked when several people at work asked me if I had been working out, lol.Just yesterday at work (I work parks and rec) a little kid came to the park, saw me, and then bolted back to her mother (I'm a monster I tell ya, lol).

I've always enjoyed working out because it gives me a healthy outlet to express myself and stave off depression. I've been dealing with that off and on for about 5 years because of different childhood experiences that still affect me even today. Knowing that I have control of my body and can tweak it in whatever way is humanly possible is a very liberating feeling to me. I've always enjoyed physical challenges and doing certain things that other people either can't or don't have to will to accomplish. 

I was up to about 205lbs by early August, but my goal is to be a solid 230-240lbs. I'm down to 197lbs right now because of the fasting, but no worries... I should be back and at it soon enough.

I'll start posting some other stats, diet, routines, etc in the following days as well as a current picture so everyone can see my progress.

Take care everyone.


----------



## Bilal123 (Aug 27, 2010)

Got some free time on my hands so I'll post some more stuff. Here's a simple outline of what I am doing at the moment. I will step up the intensity in a couple weeks and start adding some regular cardio. I do enough walking around at my job though. I usually have to go up about 1200 steps a day and walk several miles, so that has to count for something. 

Mon - Chest, Back abs
Tue - Biceps, triceps, forearms
Wed - Legs, abs
Thur - Chest (Light) 
Fri - Cardio (If I'm up to it), abs
Sat - Delts
Sun - Rest

You'll start noticing when I show the workouts in more detail that I incorporate calisthenics into all of my exercise routines. In between sets I will do 10-15 push-ups, dips, or pull-ups and variations of them. I might even do 50 of each of those things to warm up my muscles before hitting the weights. This usually end up with me having knocked out about 150-200 push-ups, etc...

There are several reasons for this: Firstly, I just like the stuff! Secondly, I've seen really good gains when using this new method of training. Thirdly, it keeps the heart pumping and it gets to the point where it's almost like a cardio workout in the gym. Fourthly, I'm just kind of odd like that.

Not only this, I've been told by friends that this method has helped them in the past as well. My old boss mentioned the same thing to me a couple weeks back about himself. He's about 55 or so now, but in his prime he was 5'7", 160 lbs w/18" arms and benching well over 340 lbs. He told me he hasn't worked out on a consistent basis for about 15 years, but he still looks very fit. He credits it to using this method of exercising as well. I'll talk about this some mroe when I get the time.

When Ramadan ends I'll start adding more cardio, but for now I just sticking with this.

When it comes to my diet, it is very sporadic at the moment. I can't eat or drink anything from about 5am to 7:45pm so my pre-dawn meal usually consists of oatmeal w/honey, dates, water and a shake. I've been throwing casein protein in my shakes as well as bananas and peanut butter. It all usually comes out to about 85-100g or protein.

The meal I eat in the evening varies depending on where I am. Sometimes I'm eating West African food (Tons of fish and veggies ), Af. American food (Greens, cornbread, turkey necks), Indian food, etc. I always make sure to get at least 100g from this meal as well. On a sidenote, can anyone tell me what role carbs are supposed to play when one is trying to bulk?

Gotta take off, so I'll probably post something else tomorrow.

Take care.

Corny training montage GO!






YouTube Video


----------



## Bilal123 (Aug 28, 2010)

I tried to get in a workout this afternoon, but I ended up getting a flat. Got that fixed, but now I'll have to hit the gym this evening. Here's what's planned though:

Behind the neck seated press - 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell side lats - 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell shoulder press - 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Shrugs - 3 sets of 15 reps
Upright rows - 3 sets of 10 reps

In between each set I also do 10 dips which will add up to 180 dips. I might just throw on an extra 20 to make it 200 even. It depends on how I'm feeling later.

Here's a pic of how I look as of today. I've lost much in the way of mass because of fasting, but I'm not complaining. I am able to put weight on pretty fast if I make a concerted effort to do so.

At the moment I'm about 195lbs and just trying to keep what I have for these last 10 days coming up. 

Take care everyone.


----------



## Bilal123 (Aug 31, 2010)

Rested on Sunday and did a light chest routine in Monday afternoon that looked something like this:

Some bench work 
2 warm up sets of 10 with 1 plate on each side
4 sets of 10 reps at 185lbs
1 set of 5 reps at 225

Cable crossovers
3 sets of 15 reps

*In between sets I would do "slow push ups" on my knuckles (Take about 3-5 seconds to go down, hold it there for 3-5 secs, then go back up in 3-5 secs). I would do 5 of these between sets.

Later on that evening I worked on my back. The workout went something like this:

Lat pull downs
4 sets of 15 reps at 165lbs

Seated Rows
4 sets of 15 reps at 210lbs

Don't know the name of this machine, but it's similar to seated rows... the difference being that you can do one side at a time.
4 sets of 20 at 125lbs each arm

Threw in some crunches as well at the end. Nothing too special... I had to take off soon after that because I had some stuff to handle back at home.

Now a video for some motivation. This guy is a solid 300 pounds and getting it in!





YouTube Video











Take care everyone


----------



## Marat (Aug 31, 2010)

Good stuff. Do you have any squatting or deadlifting in your routine?


----------



## Bilal123 (Aug 31, 2010)

m11 said:


> Good stuff. Do you have any squatting or deadlifting in your routine?


 
I work on my legs tomorrow actually.  I've just started doing deadlifts and squats on a consistent basis (For the past 3 weeks) because my legs are usually drained from work(I walk up tons of stairs and several miles per shift). I've also gone back to working out at Sand Dune Park in Manhattan Beach (I'll do a post about this great place tomorrow) My quads are really large because of that and while I have tons of endurance in my legs, I lack the power I'm looking for.

I'll post my leg workout when I knock it out tomorrow.


----------



## Bilal123 (Sep 2, 2010)

Here's Tuesday's workout 
Alt. bicep curls (sitting)
3 sets of 10 reps
Preacher curls 
3 sets of 10-12 reps
Cable curls
3 sets of 10-12 reps
*In between sets I do 10 pull ups or chin ups (the latter really make your biceps burn) which gives me a grand total of 90 altogether. 

On to triceps... I usually do more on my triceps because they seem to be much weaker and smaller than my biceps.
One arm cable pull downs
4 sets of 12-15 reps
One arm tricep extensions
4 sets of 10-12 reps
Skull crushers
3 sets of 10 reps
*In between sets on these I do 10 pull ups with a 1 minute break between sets

Wednesday was my leg day. 
I'm just starting to incorporate squats and deadlifts because my legs are usually already shot from work. I like to get in a low - impact workout at Sand Dune Park though. It's basically a huge mound of sand that people walk up and down for exercise. It's not letting me upload it right now, so that will have to wait. If you google it though I'm sure you'll find it.

So I went to the PD station's gym to work on my legs for a bit and it consisted of:
Romanian Deadlifts
4 sets of 10 reps
Squats
3 sets of 8 reps
*In between sets I did 10 sissy squats

After this I drove a couple blocks to the dunes and did a workout there which consisted of:
3 sets of frog leaps for 50 feet up the hill
3 sets of frog walks for 50 feet up the hill
3 sets of bounding for 50 feet up the hill
2 sets of walking backwards for 75 feet up the hill
1 short sprint to the top.

I've been working out at this park since 2003 and since I've been there, I've only seen about 10 people including myself run up the hill nonstop. I think when Ramadan ends I'll put a video up of me running up. I can do it now, but I don't have the energy to get up there like I usually do. My fastes is about 29 seconds but I've fallen off to about 40 (+20 pounds and fasting will do that to you, lol)

Take care everyone.


----------



## Bilal123 (Sep 3, 2010)

Decided to make Thursday a day where I mostly focus on calisthenics. My body is taking longer to recover from workouts because I'm not putting anything in it right now. I've always liked using my own body weight because there are no aches and pains on the following days. 

Headed to the PD station to use their gym and this is what followed.

Warm up
Dirty 30s (10 push ups, 10 pull ups, 10 dips)
I did this 5 times with a 1 minute break in between each 30.

Burpees
5x20 
Wide grip pull ups
7x15
Dips
5x15
Push variations
10x25 
*There was a 1 minute break between each set.
Some stomach work at the end to wrap it up.

I'm going to hit the dunes today in about an hour. The workout is really straightfoward, but very difficult for many people to actually complete.

For about an hour straight you run halfway up the dune, walk the other half, then jog back down to the bottom in order to do it all over again. There are no breaks unless you want to consider the jog back down as being one.

Take care everyone.


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 2, 2010)

It's been a pretty long time since I've updated this journal. But I thought it would be a good time to do so in order to track my progress... as well as keep you guys updated on this Super DMZ Rx product that Prince was nice enough to let me test out.

I started taking it yesterday, one pill in the morning and the other in the evening. We'll see if it starts kicking in after about a week or so. I'll make sure to note any gains I make during the 30 days I'm taking it.

Anyways, I went to the PD/Fire station to use their gym yesterday. I'm not LE, but my job gives me access to their facility. It was chest and tris today and the workout went something like this:

Chest
Barbell press 3 sets of 185x10 and 1 set of 225x5
(15-20 wide pushups b/t sets)
Cable cross 4 sets of 40x8 (Slow and controlled) 
(10 push ups on knuckles b/t sets. Slow and controlled: 3 secs going down, 3 secs holding at the bottom, and 3 secs going back up)
DB press
4 sets of 65x8 
(20 pushups b/t sets)

Tris
DB tri extensions: 4x8 
(10 dips in b/t every set. Very slow and controlled)
One arm cable pulldowns 4 sets of 30x10
(10 dips in b/t sets)

I'm just about done when one cop comes in and starts hitting the weights w/ another guy. They're doing delts, but I decided to throw that in as well. I know the cop is on something (The guy is almost a senior citizen, but he's huge), but I'd never ask him where he got his stuff from, lol.

Seated military DB press:
25x10
30x10
35x10
40x10
45x10
50x10
55x10
60x10  

I guess it was the fact that the breaks were so short in between that wore me out with the last workout.

Today I'm hitting the dune and doing back and bis, so we'll see how that goes.


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 5, 2010)

Gotta keep up with this journal. Tuesday went like this:

45 mins at Sand Dune Park - mostly short sprints, crawls, and some bounding drills. Top that off with a sprint all the way to the top nonstop.

Here's a pic of the park. 








Later on that evening I worked on my back and biceps. It consisted of this:

Warm-up of 50 pull ups (5x10 with a 30 second break in between each one)

Seated rows (negatives) - 3 sets of 8x195 and 1 of 5x210
Lat pulldowns (negatives) - 2 sets of 8x150, 1 of 8x165, and 1 of 5x180

*Don't know the name of the machine, but you sit in it and pull back one arm at a time. Anyways I did 3 sets of 10x90 on each arm, then 1 set of 10x115 on each arm.

Topped it off with some pull up variations which amounted to about 100 pull ups.

For the biceps I did:

Concentration curls - 4 sets of 8x50
Seated alt. bicep curls - 4 sets of 10x50
Hammer curls (although this focuses on the forearm more, I decided to work that too) - 3 sets of 8x55


Threw in some stomach work at the end and that was it for Tuesday.


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 5, 2010)

Wednesday was my leg day. I was short on time, so I couldn't do what I wanted to that day. Here's what I was able to knock out.

Squats - 2 sets of 10x225, 1 set of 8x275, 1 set of 4x300 

(I still need to work on squats b/c I've never felt comfortable with them. I would like to improve my deadlift as well. Ever since this bad experience I had during this hang clean exercise when I was running track, I stayed away from those 3 things. I know that if I want to really improve my legs I'll have to put those exercises into practice though) 

Leg extensions - 3 sets of 10x180 and 1 set of 7x210
(Sissy squats in b/t sets)
Lunges - 3 sets of 10x35 and 1 set of 8x40
(Sissy squats in b/t sets)
Leg press - 2 sets of 10x565 +25 calf raises, 1 set of 10x615 + 25 calf raises, and 1 set of 8x635 + 25 calf raises

That was it for Wednesday

*On a sidenote I would like to point out something I noticed that has been working very well for me. I read an article not too long ago (I think from Min00 Lee) about the difference between lifting weights and bodybuilding. I've been using many of the techniques I found in there with great results. I've lowered the amount of weight I usually do and have now focused on form and isolating whatever muscle I happen to be working... It has me aching all over!

If any bbing newbies come across this article, I would recommend they take a good look at it.


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 6, 2010)

Thurday I just did calisthenics.

300 push ups, 300 pull ups and  300 dips. Nothing fancy, just that. 

Friday was my rest day so I just posted up at the house and got some Jamaican food down the street later on. It's not much of a cheat meal because it's really healthy (cabbage, plantains, talapia, brown rice, and ginger beer), but I don't eat out that much.






YouTube Video











Take care everyone


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 9, 2010)

Saturday was shoulders and traps. I screwed up my wrist so I couldn't go as hard as I wanted to originally. I think the Super DMZ RX is starting to kick in as well. My muscles are full and I have some more vascularity.

Anyways, here's my workout:

Seated barbell press - 2 sets of 185x10 and 2 sets of 200x8
Front DB raises - 30x10, 30x10, 35x10, 40x7
Side DB raises - 25x10, 25x10, 30x8, 30x8
DB military press - 25x10, 30x10, 35x10, 40x10, 45x10, 50x10, 55x10, 60x10

(I was not tired at all with this last workout. Earlier this week I was struggling with it, but it was cake when I did it this time. I would have went up in weight, but my bum wrist wouldn't let me)

My wirst started acting up a little more after this, so I had to leave out the lat stuff.

Sunday was another rest day... Just chilled at the house and had a bunch of hot wings... I also took to nursing my wrist.


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 14, 2010)

Sorry for the lull in posts, but I still kept track of what I did each day.

Monday went well for me. The Super DMZ is giving me a bunch of energy during my workout. Both in and outside of my workouts my muscles are full and pumped... Nothing new with respect to vascularity, but I'm not complaining. The added strength has been helping.

Monday went something like this:

Bench Press- 10x185, 10x205, 10x225, 4x245
Incline Press- 10x155, 10x175, 6x185, 4x205
DB Press- 10x65, 10x75, 6x75, 4x85
(I did push ups on my knuckles between sets)

Some ab work as well was thrown in towards the end. I was short on time, so I didn't get to hit my triceps, maybe later this week.

Tuesday was back and biceps. I also went to the dunes and worked out with a friend. We did different jumping drills for about an hour. After all that, we sprinted up to the top nonstop. 

50 pull ups for a warm up (10x5 with a 30-45 second break in between)
Seated rows- 10x195, 10x210, 8x225, 4x240
Lat Pulldowns 10x180, 10x195, 8x210, 6x225
One arm pulls 10x115, 10x135, 8x135
50 more pull ups for good measure

Bicep curls- 10x40, 10x45, 8x50, 8x55
Concentration curls- 10x45, 8x50, 8x55
Hammer Curls- 10x60, 8x65, 6x70

That's it for now.


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 14, 2010)

Wednesday went something like this:

Squats- 10x275, 6x300, 6x300, 4x315
Leg Extensions- 15x210 (I just started doing one leg at a time because I was using the whole stack for both legs) 10x130, 10x140, 8x150
Leg Press- 10x615 + 25 calf raises, 10x635 + 25 calf raises, 6x635 + 25 calf raises
(I did sissy squats between sets)

Hit the dune for a couple sprints and chilled until later that evening.

Went to 24 later on (Super DMZ gives me a bunch of energy!) to work on my hams, calves, and abs a bit more.

Leg Curls- 10x140, 10x150, 10x160, 8x170
Calf raises (Feet straight, toes out and toes in)- 2 sets of each with 10x65
Alt. Lunges - 10x40, 8x45, 6x50 

Thursday I was caught up with work, so I ended up making that my rest day.

Friday was my calisthenics day. I did over 300 push ups on my knuckles and crawled up the dune several times.


----------



## Bilal123 (Nov 14, 2010)

Saturday went great for me! I worked on my delts, traps, and forearms. I don't know if it's the DMZ or what, but I've been having this tightness in my lower back. It just feels really stiff, but other than that no worries. I was going hard for a little over 2 hours in the gym. I could have done more, but I didn't want to push myself too hard.

Military DB press - 15x65 (I wasn't expecting it to be so light today, so I uped the ante a little bit) 10x75, 10x75, 6x80, 6x80 
Pull downs (behind the back for rear delt)- 10x150, 10x165, 10x180, 10x195, 8x210
Front DB raises - 10x35, 10x35, 10x40, 10x45, 8x45
Lateral DB raises - 10x30, 10x35, 10x35, 4x40
Military Barbell press - 8x155, 8x155, 6x175, 4x185
Barbell press - 10x135, 10x185, 10x205, 10x225
(I did 10-15 pushups on my knuckles between each set b/c it works on my medial delts)

Shrugs - 12x75, 12x80, 10x85, 10x90
Farmers carry - 5x65 around the entire gym

Reverse wrist curls w/barbell- 15x60, 15x65
Wrist cable curls - 15x30, 15x13, 15x40
Hammer curls - 40x10, 45x10, 50x10

Today I just relaxed at the house. I still have some tightness in my back though. Other than that, no complaints .

I'm going to switch up my routine and lower the number of reps while increasing the volume next week, so we'll see how that goes. Everything is going to be in the 6-8 rep range w/the exception of a handfull of exercises.

Really looking forward to that.


----------

