Yet Another Ostarine Mk-2866 Cycle Log

[Jimmy88]

Cycle:
Plan on taking 20mg daily for six weeks. I have the tablets rather than liquid form.

Workout:
5x5
Workout A Squats/Deadlift/Pullups
Workout B Squats/Benchpress/Shoulder press

Diet:
+10/15% on workout days (mon/wed/fri)
-20/30% on rest days (tue/thu/sat/sun)
Will aim to have one third of all calories from protein at minimum

Stats:
173cm
69kg
15% BF (ish)

Lifts:
Squats - 100kg 5x5 real deep!
Deadlifts - 120kg X 5 130kg X 3
Bench - 75kg (bad shoulder, only got back to benching recently)

Goals:
Drop to 12% body fat
Increase strength - hitting PBs would be nice
Any added lean mass would be great, especially chest

 

[Jimmy88]

Today is day one - I took 10mg this morning. Feeling a bit light headed but that's probably psychosomatic.
Will up to full 20mg dose (whole pill) tomorrow if there arent any adverse effects.
I missed Wednesday's workout this week, so I'll be working on Thursday and Friday.
I'll do Chest and Squats today. Deadlifts and pullups tomorrow.

 

[Jimmy88]

Obv nothing special in the workout today.
100kg Squats 5x5, felt quite heavy today.
5x5 70kg bench (had no squatter)
Followed up with some shoulder strengthening exercises.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 2

Nothing much to report.
Feeling a slight headache, but I cannot attribute that to the Ostarine with any certainty.
Generally feeling more fatigue however that's more likely due to coming off the EC Stack.

Deadlifts 5x5 110kg
3 Pullup sets (15, 10, 5)
2x5 Seated rows (Machine, 65kg)

 

[Jimmy88]

Weekend update

First signs of it kicking in - I had two horribly sleepless nights.
I've read that's a common thing and that it should pass in a few days.
If anyone reading this had experienced this and has a remedy please chime in!

Other than that I'm feeling much hungrier all the time, but that again could be attributed to me coming off the EC stack.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 5

Nothing much to report.

5x5 Squats 100kg
5x5 Bench press 70kg
Shoulder strengthening exercises

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 6

Did 30 minutes of low intensity cardio, felt a bit more energetic than usual, endurance and stamina seemed rather elevated today.
After three sleepless nights I finally slept well last night. Hopefully the insomnia effects are behind me.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 7

Feeling a general sense of well being (which isn't typical for me)
I seem to be recovering faster as well - usually my chest is sore for 2-3 days after a chest workout, and today (worked chest Monday) my chest felt ready for another workout.
So I started the workout with some bench press and 75kg felt pretty light. Will increase weight next workout.

5x5 Bench Press 75kg
5x5 Squats 100kg
1x5 Dead lift 110kg
3x Pullups (12, 5, 5) -> did get tired there
2x Seated Rows (machine) 65kg

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 9

Still no change in vesicularity or body composition. Early days still I guess.
Definitely recovering much faster.
I do enjoy the gym more as well, I seem to have more energy and I certainly felt much stronger on the Bench Press again today.

5x5 Bench Press 77.5kg
5x5 Squats 100kg

... and some shoulder exercises plus some triceps and 20 minutes cardio as I felt like it.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 12

Another good workout -
5x5 Bench Press 80kg
5x5 Squats 102.5kg
1x5 Deadlifts 110kg
3x Pullups (15, 7 , 5)

Taking Friday off so will go gym mon-tue-wed-thu. Normally I'd have hard time recovering in time however I feel that won't be a problem.
Still cant say for sure the stuff has kicked in, but there's certainly some circumstantial evidence.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 14

Decent arms workout yesterday.
Today
5x5 Bench press 82.5kg - will go for PB (85kg) on the next workout (Tuesday)
5x5 Pull ups

Will work Squats and Deadlifts tomorrow before a long weekend break.

Considering I'm in a caloric deficit making gains on the Bench (from 70 to 82.5 in two weeks) aint too bad. Real test is whether I can push 85kg+

In terms of weight I still fluctuate around 69kg with my electronic scales showing 15-17% body fat, so not much (any) improvement there yet.
I find that sometimes fat/weight loss seems to be stalled, but then I lose 2kg in a week. So hoping that's the case here.
FWIW, instead of 15%+ 30%- diet I'm trying a constant 20-30% caloric deficit every day, with Saturday being a cheat day.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 20

Chest, shoulders and triceps workout.
Hit a PB on the bench press, managed 3x5 @85kg unassisted, two other sets assisted.

Feels like I dropped some BF (scales still show 16%) and weight dropped to just under 68kg.
My diet had been spot on so I dont know how much of it can be attributed to the Ostarine.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 21

Squats 5x5 105kg
Deadlifts - working on my form so dropped weight down to 90kg
Pullups (20, 12, 5) -> 20 is a PB
Seated rows
Short jog

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 22

Bench 5x5 85kg
Triceps
Shoulders

Not recovering as quickly as before, however I have been training harder this week (and doing four workouts instead of 3).

 

[Jimmy88]

Week 4

On holiday so not doing my usual routine, however still went 3 times to the gym this week, and for the first time I had some serious pumps.
Appearing a bit more vascular too. Will confirm on scales when I get back but it certainly looks like my chest had gained some size while looking leaner overall.
Sex drive and balls are all normal so far as well.
Will do a proper workout tomorrow and report back.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 35

Nothing new to report - still looking more vascular and toned that usual, and while maintaining a caloric deficit not losing any strength.
Will try a new PB on bench press Friday.
No adverse effects to report of.
I seem to have 10 more pills to go, I'll be sure to give a proper summary once I've finished this cycle, plus an update after I finish a few weeks of PCT.

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 40

Did 5x5 Bench Press at at 87.5kg which is a new PB

Got two days left - will post before/after pictures tomorrow

 

[Jimmy88]

Day 41

Here are my before and after pictures. Apologies for the poor quality.
I guess it doesn't look like much but it sure feels like I've put on a bit of mass and leaned out a little.
I'm obviously flexing in both pictures and both pictures had been taken on the same the day of the week and around the same time.

Before (taken 8-Aug-13):
View attachment 553734
After (taken 17-Sep-13):
View attachment 553733

 

[Jimmy88]

End

Tomorrow is the last day of the cycle, decided to sum up these past six weeks today:
In terms of raw stats - I used my electronic body fat scales (I realise they aren't accurate but at least they seem to be consistent) for weight and body fat.
When I started I fluctuated around 15-17% BF (mostly around 17%) and now the reading is 14-15%. So potentially a loss of up to 3% (probably 2%).
In terms of weight I've gone down from 69kg to 68kg, which considering the caloric restriction I've been on is a little less than I had expected.
What I'm unable to measure however is how much (if at all) lean mass I have gained.
It certainly "feels" like I have gained some. And since none of my lifts have suffered, and some (mainly bench) have seen a dramatic improvement, I "believe" I must have gained 1-2 pounds of lean mass.
Most notably my bench had gone from from 75kg to 87.5kg. While cutting.
My goals were:

Drop to 12% body fat - I dont think I'm quite there yet... Scales show 14-15% which seems about right.
Increase strength - hitting PBs would be nice - Certainly achieved that on bench, and pull ups.
Any added lean mass would be great, especially chest - My chest had definitely objectively grew in size.

 

[Jimmy88]

Weekly Rundown

Week 1:
A few sleepless nights. An increased sense of well-being.
Week 2-3:
Started to feel some increased strength and stamina.
Week 4:
Finally started to feel the "pump".
Week 5-6:
Feeling more muscular and certainly more vascular. Sense of well-being however is all but gone, if anything feeling moodier than normal.

The effects, for me, seemed to have kicked in finally in week 4, and continued thru weeks 5 and 6.
Gives me the impression that next cycle I should try running this for 8 weeks.