Adarq.org

I'm doing the program and diet from the book "Scrawny to Brawny" in order to bulk up before track. I'll try to post here every day of the program until the end of Phase IV. (I'm on Phase II, Day 2, I'll start from Day 1 of Phase II)

Day 1: This is my first real day training since I tore my deltoid. My morning smoothie didn't sit too well with me and when I got home from my workout I threw up, just a bit. I'm still getting used to the extra calories I'm taking in, eating when you're not hungry isn't too easy for me. After my morning workout I felt like I hadn't done enough, but I remember it was explicitly written in the book not to add to the weight lifting. Sure enough, when I went to bed I started feeling my quads get sore along with my outer chest.


Day 2: I woke up a little later today in favor of doing my interval cardio workout towards the evening. Sleep was worth it, but I think work is going to slow me down as far as eating goes. I can't really have my snacks when I need to and my lunch and snack come a little too closely to eat comfortably. I'll have to space my meals a little better. When I did my sprints I started feeling pretty bad and I threw up after I was finished. It was most likely because I hadn't followed a good schedule with my food and I wasn't as well hydrated as I should have been. Right now just running hurts even my chest because of how sore it is.

That's all for today. I'm also starting a picture a day thing, at the end of the program I'll make a video to show my progress. I hope to get a lot of insight from other members and I also hope to make really good progress all the way through. Thanks for reading!

1. Scrawny to Brawny is a training and nutrition book written by John Berardi. It has excellent information every hardgainer like myself could use.

2. The training actually calls for HIIT (high intensity interval training) twice a week, it isn't written exactly how I'm doing it, but it's fairly close and I'm in track so the sprinting intervals will actually benefit me later while still allowing me to follow the program.

3. Thank you.   

Haha, I'll keep the videos the same, but I'll probably be getting a better camera soon. The pictures will all be in the same place around the same time of day, so in a few months I'll try to make a morph video.

My deltoid tear was actually pretty serious, I didn't do any lifting at all for a couple months after and the first few weeks I even stopped sprinting because even running made it hurt. Right now it's actually recovered quite well, inclined bench Monday wasn't at all painful like other times when I had attempted.

My kcal intake is over 4,000 right now, and I'll be upping that next week. (something like 4700)
I'll definitely do those short sprint starts, my start needs some help, especially for the 110m hurdles. Top speed needs to come sooner.

I'm pretty interested in seeing my progress as well, haha. I seem serious now, I used to think I was serious but my kcal intake was never high enough and my weight training wasn't really organized, so I never really got anywhere. This time it'll be much different. 

Yeah, the tear was... excruciating at best, the first few days I couldn't even lift my arm to drive, I had to drive and shift all with my right. Trying to sleep was the worst, very few positions were comfortable. Not being able to walk sounds like... not fun haha.

Thanks again for the tips, I really think typing up a journal every day and others helping me out will really keep me motivated.

1. 4000+ calories isn't uncommon, it's not just in the book. The high intake is necessary for high activity and to sustain energy during high intensity training. The calorie intake itself isn't for mass, it's for energy. Think about Michael Phelps who takes in 12,000 a day while training. Also, people like me tend to not eat enough, and a 2,000 calorie diet really only supports moderate exercise for a so called "average" person.

2. HIIT, if done with running, helps with sprints and endurance for races like the 400m. Actually, during track a lot of the 400m workouts are very similar to HIIT, the only difference is HIIT normally only goes to around 30 seconds of high intensity to 90 seconds of rest, whereas my times will vary up to about 1 minute for intensity and 3 minutes for rest because I increase distance in a pyramid up to 400m.

HIIT is not beneficial to gaining mass, though it is to cardio which is very important to me as a 300m hurdler and 400m runner. I have the kcal intake to support the energy and I'm not doing it for an extended period of time so it doesn't really impact my recovery very much.

4. They did, but don't worry about it, I'm not offended easily at all.

Your one cent is appreciated.

1. I agree, Barardi's listed diet seems to prescribe a lot of protein, it almost seems like to much meats for me, and from some reviews I've seen some people who've actually increased body fat during the training. I'm not taking in quite as much protein in diet as is written, but I am supplementing with whey protein. Currently about 160 or so grams per day which is plenty for me since I only weight 136 lbs right now. I'm taking in just over 4000 kcal/day right now and it seems fine.

2. Based on what happened yesterday with my HIIT session I probably won't be doing quite as much as I did. I will still be doing the cardio, but for now I'm not running more than 200m in sprints and I'll probably be doing short explosive sprints to help with the blocks like adarqui suggested. I will also focus on hypertrophy like you said, the HIIT I planned didn't work out quite like I expected so I will be doing less of it. Total time spent on my cardio sessions will be about 15-20 min. Besides, right now the muscle gain will help me more than just sprint work.

My weight this morning actually dropped to 134 lbs. I'm going to guess it's because I haven't done any real exercise in the past few months and the weight dropped was water and fat. I'm not too worried about it though since weight does fluctuate.

Yup, probably water. Keep on keepin' on, with a surplus that high and the beautiful natural anabolic state that is the teenage years, you'll gain weight like gangbusters. Wish I'd taken better advantage of my teenage years, I could be huge like Tam.

(It might also have to do with throwing up after my HIIT session yesterday)

At least you know you're doing the HIIT right!    Most people shuffle back and forth, barely taxing themselves, and then complain how hard they worked when all they did was dick around and waste time. I'm still not a huge fan in most cases but if you're gonna do it at all, it should hurt like crazy. We used to do interval sprints for ultimate in college and at least half the team would puke or at least dry heave at the end.

Which reminds me...

Phase II Day 4 (Day 4):

Despite eating much more than I'm used to, I wake up even more hungry in the morning. It's a little strange for me to eat so much and be more hungry in the morning than when I eat less.

Today is a rest/cardio day. I've decided to switch HIIT sessions to only once a week, but I'll be playing ultimate frisbee and doing some short sprint and start work on the second rest day.