Training Log: Bodybuilder in China

[VaginaBoob89]

On your comment about not doing leg extensions, is that due to knee pain?

Yes, I have torn my right patellar tendon twice. It doesn't feel right on this leg extension machine, but it's felt okay on others. Not a huge loss, loving my leg press.

 

[Nate Dawg]

Yes, I have torn my right patellar tendon twice. It doesn't feel right on this leg extension machine, but it's felt okay on others. Not a huge loss, loving my leg press.

I rarely have access to a leg extension any more, but they seem to make my knees more sore than my quads as well. Partially tore my left patellar tendon last summer. Weird deal about that was at that point when it happened my knees were feeling the best they had in a long time.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Trained legs last night

Hamtstring curls: 40x12x4
Leg press: 3ppsx20, 4ppsx20, 30ppsx20x3
Hack squat: 1.5ppsx10x3
Paused SLDL: 70kgx10x4
Hamstring curls: 30x12x5, 25x12x2

I don't like hack squats, I just don't feel it in the muscle/no pump. I'll stick with paused barbell squats which I feel a lot in my glutes and a little bit in my outer quad.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

I rarely have access to a leg extension any more, but they seem to make my knees more sore than my quads as well. Partially tore my left patellar tendon last summer. Weird deal about that was at that point when it happened my knees were feeling the best they had in a long time.

I think they're very overrated. There's better ways to target that tear drop, including leg press or single leg squatting movements. Maybe they connect will for other people; for me they never really have.

I'm switching back to 4 days per week instead of 5. I'm going to pair delts with arms rather than with chest, however. Also going to train on Saturday/Sunday. The experiment of training monday-friday has basically been a failure, my sleep gets too badly affected. So:

Saturday Back+bi
sunday Chest+tri
Wednesday Legs
Thursday Delts+arms

still high volume slow eccentrics and a bit less rest.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Ten cases in my city and gyms have closed down. Show isn't cancelled but I'm pulling out of that one. If there's a miracle and I can train and diet regularly, I'll do a later show, but I have a feeling this will be impossible unless China changes course from 0 covid strategy. I had a few emotional cheat meals last night, but I'm gonna keep the diet very clean during this indefinite time away. I plan to take 2 weeks fully off and then hopefully gyms are open right away after that, but I think this is unrealistic and they'll probably stay closed a long time. I do need some time off to let my left shoulder truly heal. We have a small powerlifting gym and we're working on a way to get in some secret training, but it will probably only be 2 or 3x week and equipment is really limited. Not even a leg press.

I really can't complain as there are people dying because of anti-covid measures and being denied medical treatment for more serious conditions in Shanghai. Others are literally starving because of inadequate food, and children as young as newborns are being seperated from their families. That's the price of choosing to live in an authoritarian dictatorship. It has advantages and disadvantages. I've been on my job search for more crypto related stuff and I'd like to leave in the next few months, although I may complete my contract for June 2023 if things improve. I thought after omicron China would get on board with 'live with the virus' approach. I was wrong, but they will have to reverse eventually. Most people are predicting after November 2022 when Xi gets his third term; he can't reverse courses or he gives political rivals ammunition.






A few shots at what would have been 12 weeks out at 96kg. I think it's safe to say I was ahead of schedule.


When I get back to training I plan on cutting but at a slower pace. Whether a show happens or not, I'd like to be considerably leaner than in these pics before I start a real bulk.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Quick update:

I got sick, covid test was negative. I'm recovering though and doing alright. Our powerlifting gym is going to try to secretly re-open. I can definitely do a push/pull/legs kind of routine there with minimal equipment. I'll have to do fewer exercises and more sets, but that's okay. No leg press definitely sucks, but the boys have a belt squat setup. The boys are going to train tomorrow night but I'm going to take a few more days off because I need to turn in my exam grades by Tuesday at the end of work and recover from this cold. I was binge eating for 3 days straight, but today I've gotten things back under control and eating chicken and rice+avocado and oatmeal+peanut butter as my main meals. I'm going to keep cruising and don't get back on clen+t3 until the situation is fully stabilized and I know I'm going to have a gym to train at. I can compete at a different show in Shenzhen where my cousin lives at the end of July instead of in Chongqing (which is much closer) at the end of June. I would just need to hop back on for like 9-12 weeks and have plenty of time to get shredded as fuck as long as I don't gain back a shit ton of bodyfat over the next few weeks.

Definitely going to push/pull/legs 6 days per week and having much much shorter workouts; legs under 60 minutes and push/pull under 45 minutes. Will do bis+tris on back day and shoulders on push day. The gym is about a 25 minute bike ride away, so going there and back 6 days per week and my cardio is done!

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Secret training at the powerlifting gym last night. All the restaurants near the gym were re-opened and nobody snitched on us despite having like 13 people there with music and powerlifters deadlifting. Ostensibly normal gym should be re-opened within the next 3-4 days as well...

Back+arms
Pullups: bwx15,12,11
Underhand rows: 60kgx12,8,10
Hammer curls: 12.5kgx3 sets failure
Tricep pushdowns:???x4 sets failure
db seated curls: 7.5kgx3 sets failure
DB skullcrushers: 7.5kgx3 sets failure

BW came way back up to 97.25. I looked okay doing some posing. REALLY full and vascular, but also watery and regained some bodyfat. I restarted clen+t3 today and restarted caloric deficit like 2 days ago. I need to exercise some discipline and avoid pressing exercises for a little while longer... at minimum another week, but maybe even 2. Shoulder still didn't quite feel right, but huge improvements from before this time off.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Back on the grind... I'm not going to train push at all for at least another 2 sessions. The chest press machine at our powerlifting gym is terrible, the cable machine is terrible, we only have two racks and I can't set up for incline bb, there's no smith machine, no machine for flies or any other chest equipment so I can't even really do that many chest exercises there anyway so may as well take more time off that and let the shoulder get more fully healed.

Did legs last night. Depressing training legs after a long time of not training and having to move baby weights and feeling super stiff and immobile. It's my own fault for not sitting in an air squat a few minutes a day.

Paused HBBS: 80kgx10x3
Hyperextensions: bwx10x3
Rotator cuff exercises
Hangs from a pullup bar: ~5 minutes over the course of 3 sets.

Still got a bit of a cough so I'm taking it easy. Saturday back workout with the powerlifting crew, then sunday legs again. Hopefully by next week my normal gym is open again and I can train push.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Pull+arms
Chinups: bwx15, 12, 7 (rested too little)
Plate loaded high rows: 1.5ppsx12,8,6
DB CSR: 18kgx3 sets fail
EZ curls//pushdowns: 4 sets/3 sets
DB skullcrushers//db curls: 4/3

Not very serious training today, powerlifters were doing their light accessories/mobility and wanted to socialize lol. Tomorrow I'm going to go earlier and try to be more serious in squatting. I'll do squat, some sort of unilateral work, then paused sldl.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Still truckin along slowly. I'm less eagerly anticipating gyms re-opening realizing that I still need a long time with light weights before I'm really back in the swing of things.

4/18/22
Paused HBBS: 80kgx10x4 1 minute rests
Incline db press: 20kgx15x4
flat db press: 20kgx10x2

Left shoulder still didn't feel right on flat. Mostly okay on incline but I can tell it needs more rest/time with very light weights. Tomorrow I'll hit a heavy back session.

J00cy drama gossip, the powerlifting crew had to kick out a member. Northern Irish girl randomly stopped training with them and started posting tons of instagram photos from the bar several nights a week on weeknights and then asked to come back when all gyms were closed and they gave her the boot LOL. A little bit paternalistic and might actually make her alcoholism worse... I'm glad I'm still welcome there.

A lot of "fempats" in China fall into alcoholism. The western ones just abjectly refuse to have any relations with Chinese guys and even though there are probably 5:1 male expats to females, so many of the males end up dating Chinese locals and there aren't enough western single guys to go around for every female westerner. So they often end up depressed lonely alcoholic cat ladies slutting it up for the very few western men who will glance their way desperately trying to lock them down. IMO it's their own fault; they're just too close minded to interracial/intercultural dating. And while you'd love to blame innate biological immutable preferences, you never see this with eastern European expat females, who are way more likely to date Chinese guys than western expats. And if somebody is biologically wired to just not be attracted to Asian people, wtf did you move to China for lol? The only western female I interact with is a 62 year old South African colleague; I don't think I've even spoken to an American woman in about 4-5 years. GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAADDD RUBBISH!!!!

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Quick update:

I am not competing in Chongqing in June. It's too risky.


Long version: Foreigners are being arbitrarily quarantined on train/plane trips. I just had a buddy go from Nanning to Guangzhou to get his passport renewed, but then on the way back to Nanning they pulled him aside to quarantine him in a facility for 2 weeks. None of the ethnically Chinese people were even checked on their QR codes, they didn't even check his and just immediately decided to quarantine him for being the wrong race. Most Chinese people believe that this is an American bioweapons attack and a high % of westerners in China are foreign agents trying to deliberately spread covid to hurt China. Yeah... I can't travel under those circumstances where some dipshit can decide I need to go to quarnatine after i've prepped for a bbing show for 18 weeks.


I'm not going into offseason though, gonna continue getting lean until beginning of July.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Still dieting. Maybe our covid situation changes such that there is no risk of being arbitrarily quarantined for being the wrong race while travelling. It's looking very grim though. Food shortages/high food prices are likely because the northern harvest is delayed. They couldn't get their fertilizer in Dongbei region due to lockdowns in Shanghai plus restrictions and lockdowns in Jilin province. This is going to be a tough few years; I don't think covid 0 policy ends in 2023, most likely several more years of this in China. Foreigners are leaving in droves, expat population will probably be halved within 12 months.

Pull+arms
NG chins: bwx18, 12, 8, 7
Underhand rows: 70kgx15, 8, 8
SS 1
EZ curls 20kgx12,10,9,9//Pushdowns: 5 sets

SS 2
db skullcrushers//DB seated curls: 6kgx5 sets and 4 sets

HAnging from a pullup bar: 90 seconds, 41 seconds
buncha rotator cuff exercises.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Digging this 2 shorter leg workouts thing. Lifesaver so I don't feel so exhausted after each one. Got a great pump and left the gym not hobbling.

04-21-22
Hamstring curls: 35kgx15,15,10,10
Calf raises on hack squat: 4 sets
Leg press: 20s up to 3.5ppsx20x2
Paused SLDL: 80kgx10x2


Today is 04-22 and I'm not having a great day in personal life. It's supposed to be a high carbohydrate day and I just feel too worried and stressed to pound these carbs back. I introduced the tren about 10 days ago once I started training again at the secret gym so I'm sure that's making me feel worse.

No dramas with girls or family/health problems, just a lot of existential anxiety about where I live and whether or not a long term future is possible here along with the anxiety of separating from a place that has become my identity. I mean it's literally in the fucking titles of my training log... the necessity of resisting some toxic woman is near constant at this age that it barely provokes any additional anxiety. Just wish I could say the same about China covid policy the past few months and what the future of that is looking like...

It's like I'm simultaenously desperate to leave and desperate to stay... just wish I could get in a time machine and this place was exactly as it was in 2015-2018. Even pre covid around 2018 it started to turn a little bad, then 2020 and things just keep getting worse and worse. I don't blame them or blame the government even really.. they're doing the best they can in the ways they know how in a really difficult situation. I don't attribute any malice to it...

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Chest+delts
Machine press: 42.5kgx15, 12, 10
Incline pause db press: 20kgx12x3
Machine flies: 3 sets failure
Delt raises with dbs: 4 sets

Taking things light coming back into pressing movements.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Pull
Chinups: bwx15,12,11
Plate loaded high rows: 4 sets failure
DB Chest support rows: 15kgx3 sets failure

Skipped arms because I had a bday party to attend plus my triceps were still very sore. Today gonna hit hamstring curls, paused squats, and leg press in that order with some calves at the beginning and at the end. Discovered calves on hack squat machine work great.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Legs
Calves on smith: 4 sets failure
Hamstring curls: 35kgx15x4 think I did 15,15,10,10 last time so big pr
Paused hbbs: 80kgx12x3
Leg press: 3ppsx20x3
shoulder prehab

Felt great. God damn I'm digging this training program and style. Feels like I was getting too much stimulus per session last time and now I finally understand how much is enough per session for a guy with my work schedule and recovery habits. BW shot up to 96.6. Probably going to have a lot of variation in water/glycogen as I just came back to training regularly a while ago after that forced time off.

Shoulder is feeling great and I hope it maintains that way going into next push session tomorrow.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Push workout:
Chest press machine: 42.5kgx20,15,12
slight incline db press: 25kgx13x2, x11
Incline cable fly: 3 sets failure
Prone side delt raises: 3 sets failure
Machine shoulder press: 1ppsx10, 1.5ppsx12x2

Shoulder feeling very healthy, had 0 pain on anything except the machine press ironically.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

4/26 Pull+arms:

NG chins: bwx17,13, 9, 8
Underhand rows: 70kgx15,10, 9
Row machine: 3 sets
Hammer curls//tricep pushdowns 12.5kgx4 sets/5 sets
seated db curls//db skullcrushers: 7.5kgx4 sets/4 sets

4/27 Legs:

Hamstring curls: 37.5x15x4
LEg press: up to 3ppsx20, 3.5ppsx20x2
Paused sldl: 80kgx10x3

buncha calves

 

[VaginaBoob89]

I had somebody who hasn't seen me in a while ask if i'd gone off the juice because I look slimmer/healthier but also much smaller muscles. I'm really flat... but despite this I'm going to delay this high carb day that's normally scheduled for friday. I'm going out to a middle eastern restaurant on Sunday (today's friday) so probably I'll just diet as normally and have a clean cheat/refeed with some more meat and rice.

Sam's club finally started carrying boneless skinless chicken thighs for the equivalent of $8 for 1.6kg. This is a fucking gamechanger... god thighs are so delicious. It's weird to me, but Chinese people generally like bones in meat so these are unavailable at most grocery stores and ordering online risks spoilage with packages generally being a lot slower with covid stuff these days. I don't like to change courses mid stream but wow do I wanna add like two 300g chicken thigh+vegetable meals with no carbohydrates. It's just so much more satisfying eating a huge portion of boneless skinless thighs without carbs compared to 200g chicken breast with carbs and added fat even though same calories. I won't do anything drastic though... 2 oatmeal+whey+nut butter meals, 2 chicken breast+rice meals, and one chicken thigh+vegetable meal daily. Mayyybeee I'll get spicey and swap one chicken and rice meal for 2nd chicken thigh+vegetable meal.

 

[VaginaBoob89]

Push session today. My bodyweight is getting way down faster than I wanted or expected. But at the same time I'm getting so psychologically reluctant to refeed at 8 weeks out...This is probably where I'd benefit from a coach to have a sanity check. But at least erring on the side of too little food is probably better than too much for 99.x% of people at the amateur level and still 50%+ of people at the pro level so whatever. and honestly who gives a shit I'm not going for a pro card during this (academic) year; this cut is mostly to prime for an ultimate megabulk with 20-30iu lantus every training day along with humalog pre and post. Get as lean as possible to facilitate a bulk and just get my feet wet on the stage again after 4 years, then hopefully the academic year of 2023-2024 is the year where I try to compete for pro status.

Machine press: 50kgx18, 12, 10
slight incline paused db press: 25kgx15, 12, 10, 9
cable flies: 3 sets of 10-15
DB prone delt raises: 5kgx4 sets failure
Machine ohp: 3 sets

Okay my left shoulder is doing better but now my right shoulder and my right pec tendon are a little bit sore. I've learned DO NOT TRY TO FUCKING PUSH THROUGH THIS, TAKE DAYS OFF IMMEDIATELY. I will take next scheduled push session off completely then deload and probably only train 3 days the week of the deload... maybe 4 because I feel like my lower body can handle a lot more and is both having nothing hurt and strength isn't dropping off a fuckign cliff like it is for pushing exercises. After I deload that'll put me at 6 weeks out so 5 weeks training, last week before comp deload, then hopefully able to compete without any obscene racially motivated quarantining.

Got a fairly experienced classic physique guy help me with posing. His level of development isn't any better than mine, markedly worse... but he definitely knows his way around the stage a lot more so I'll do a few sessions with him. It's a bit annoying getting contradictory advice regarding posing from different experts, so at some point you gotta pick and choose from what you're hearing.