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Stats for Oct 2009

So it has been a month since I started bulking up. How am I doing so far? Here are the raw numbers

Exercises
  • Squats: 170 lbs, 8 reps
  • Deadlifts: 185 lbs, 10 reps
  • Bench Press: 110 lbs, 4 reps
  • Pull ups: Body weight + 25 lbs, 7 reps
  • Overhead Press: 75 lbs, 6 reps
I am doing well in all exercises except bench press. The exercise that is already closest to my goal for end of december is my pull-ups. I can already do 7 reps with 25 lbs hanging off my waist! You can check out my previous post for the goals I have set.

Body weight and fat
  • Weight: 120.8 lbs
  • Fat %: 12.2%
I am able to add weight as expected. But my body fat % shot up too much. My goal for end of december was to weight 125 lbs at 12% body fat. But I am already over the limit for my body fat %. So I have to lower it and at the same time increase my weight. Very unlikely. I might have to revise my goals, but I will see how it goes and hope to make better predictions for my next bulking phase. It is not at all easy to keep the fat down while gaining weight. For my weight and fat goals check out my previous blog here.

Comments

  1. That is very nice progress Chandan! Hats off to you! You actually lift way more than I do even though we weigh the same (and we are of the same height)! Looks like the difference in body fat % (I am 20 and you are 12) means you have more muscle mass than I do which accounts for the greater strength - I don't know if it is appropriate to draw a conclusion that way since I didnt consider frame size and various other factors. Anyway I think this is really good progress. So how much was the total increase in body weight last month? Do you take body measurements too? Do you find significant increases in those numbers? Post them if you have a log. I am curious to see. BTW thanks to your suggestion to cut my calories, I am able to keep my BF% almost constant as I build strength. Your Body fat measurement post was a real help for me! I will post updates from my log soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi again Chandan, this is in response for your comment on my post about getting an email from my blog saying there is a comment on it (I am confusing you here :) Did you try clicking on the "Subscribe by email" link just below this comment box? I think that should send you an email when I respond to your comments. I hope that made sense. (and I hope that works!)

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  3. Thank you :). I still have a long way to go. But it looks like a good start. I am still waiting for your logs. Yeah the difference in muscle has a lot to do with how much we can lift. There are probably other factors too, but main the muscle. So I have about 106 lbs of lean mass and you have about 96 lbs. I will write another post about the relation between muscle and weight lifting, but in general you can squat about 4 times the difference in muscle mass. So if you can squat 130 lbs (170 - 4 x 10 lbs) you are at the same strength to weight ratio as me :)

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  4. Oh yeah good point about subscribing to comments, but I will have to remember to do it with every post that I comment to. I will give that a try.

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  5. I did not finish answering all your questions now did I? I gained about 3 lbs of weight last month. More about that in my next post. I did not take any other measurements. But I probably should. From looking in the mirror I don't think I can see any big improvements in any measurements. I think 3 lbs won't make a difference. More like 10 should do something.

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  6. Yeah. you are right - it would take at least 10 lbs of complete muscle to see a good difference in the mirror. I hope a time like that will come soon for both of us :)

    Your strength-to-weight ratio is an interesting point. But I am not squatting 130 lbs yet since I started squating using the right form and technique only a couple of weeks back. I hope to reach that weight soon.

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  7. Chandan, I get an error when I open your site. It says "Internet explorer cannot open your site. Operation aborted." I tried it on two different computers and it shows the same error - I am unable to view the latest post (the one with the pics). Any idea why?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Did you try http://skinnytostrong.blogspot.com ?

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  9. Yes I just tried it but it is showing me the error message and taking me back to a blank page saying "IE cannot display the webpage"

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  10. Hmm, It is very strange that you can comment on this post but you cannot see the blog? I presume you tried other browsers as well. I am able to access the blog from 3 different computer (linux, windows and mac) in chrome, firefox and safari (although I did not try IE on any of them).

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  11. I think I fixed the problem. Try it again now.

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  12. Yup it works now. what was the problem?

    ReplyDelete

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