TOPIC: Ostarine/MK-677 Cycle Log

'Sup Losers.

This is my official log for the 12 bulking cycle I'm starting. I began daily dosing of Ostarine at 25mg yesterday, and will add on 25mg of MK-677 once it arrives. The goal is to put on as much muscle as possible while maintaining ~8% body fat.

I will post my stats here every Sunday, which will include weight, body fat, and a photo. To kick it off, I am starting at 139.6 lb and 7.1% estimated body fat. Photo uploaded here .

I will also include my lifting stats, which will be the heaviest I have lifted 5x5 for all the compound lifts I am doing. My starting stats are:

Squat: 95 kg (209.4 lb)
Bench: 62.5 kg (137.8 lb)
Deadlift: 85 kg (187.4 lb)
Overhead: 42.5 kg (93.7 lb)
Row: 50 kg (110.2 lb)

Diet

I have estimated my maintenance calories to be around 2600 kcal/day. So I'm targeting ~3000 kcal/day for a surplus. I may go higher than that as the cycle progresses, depending on results. Here is the meal plan I have laid out. I don't have too many carbs yet (most are in the post-workout). I want to feel out how sensitive I am fat-gain-wise to healthy complex carbs and start out low-moderate.

Training Days

Early Morning Snack (Pre-Workout)

Iced Latte (espresso + whole raw milk)
1 Banana

Breakfast (Post-Workout)

Berry Protein Smoothie (protein powder + greens powder + acai puree + blueberries + kale + coconut oil + coconut milk)
2 Sweet Potatoes with Butter

Morning Snack

3 Hard-Boiled Eggs

Lunch

1 Chicken Breast
1 Avocado

Afternoon Snack

1 Cup Full-Fat Greek Yogurt + 20 Blueberries

Dinner

8 oz. Salmon
Salad (spinach + cherry tomatoes + white onion + garlic + jalapeno + extra virgin olive oil + vinegar)

Totals:

Calories: 3244 kcal
Fat: 197g
Protein: 209g
Carbs: 163g



Non-Training Days

Early Morning Snack

Iced Latte (espresso + whole raw milk)
1 Banana

Breakfast

Berry Protein Smoothie (protein powder + greens powder + acai puree + blueberries + kale + coconut oil + coconut milk)

Morning Snack

10 Strawberries + ½ Cup Cream Cheese

Lunch

1 Chicken Breast
1 Avocado

Afternoon Snack

1 Cup Full-Fat Greek Yogurt + 20 Blueberries

Dinner

8 oz. Salmon
Salad (spinach + cherry tomatoes + white onion + garlic + jalapeno + extra virgin olive oil + vinegar)

Totals:

Calories: 2902 kcal
Fat: 179g
Protein: 191g
Carbs: 131g

good luck! post starting pics if u want! i think with ostarine n mk677 u can gain alot of muslce while staying lean! like 15-20lbs in 2-3months

Training

I am doing 45-60 minutes of heavy compound lifting 3x a week, following the StrongLifts protocol. From the research I've done, it seems like the distinction between strength and hypertrophy training is really only significant for intermediate/advanced lifters. Given my stats (listed above), I am still a beginner lifter, so I think five sets of five reps will still make me bigger and stronger. I tried moving up to ten reps/set for a week and a half, but I had to reduce the weight so much I decided I didn't want to continue doing that. Also, my form was going to shit around the 7th rep. I want to get my squat up to 150 kg and my bench up to 100 kg before I start increasing the volume.

I alternate between the following two workouts:

A:

Squat
Bench Press
Barbell Row

B:

Squat
Overhead Press
Deadlift

All five sets of five reps, except deadlifts which is one set of five reps. Every time I complete 5x5 with good form (no half-squats!), I add 5 kg next time (10 kg for deadlift). Otherwise I repeat the weight, and if I fail to get 5x5 three times in a row, I deload by 10% the next workout then try again at the failed weight. Lately it usually takes me two workouts at a certain weight to progress (except deadlifts, I'm still progressing linearly with those). I've never had to deload yet. I've been doing StrongLifts for a few months now. It helped me preserve lean mass during my cut, and gave me the opportunity to get consistently good form.

After a week or two I'm going to add in pull-up, chin-ups and dips to the end of the workouts. I want to do those weighted, I just need to get the necessary gear to attach weights to myself.

good luck! post starting pics if u want! i think with ostarine n mk677 u can gain alot of muslce while staying lean! like 15-20lbs in 2-3months

If I can put on 15 lb on muscle in this cycle that would be fucking awesome! Last year I was able to put on 12 lb in 5 months "natty" under the direction of a personal trainer.

Pics will be included in every stat update. There's a link to the "starting" pic in my first post.

Hey,
as I've said in your previous thread I'll also start an Osta cycle soon so I'll be following your progress closely.
You're already pretty lean, whereas I'll try to lose some bodyfat while maintaining muscle and proportionally to bodyweight we're both pretty similar in strength, so it'll be interesting to see how a bulking cycle helps you and a recomp/cut helps me.
Good luck to you mate

Awesome! Looking forward to the updates

Week 1 Stats:

Picture here (I look a little bloated, I ate a carb-heavy meal before taking it… from now on I want to keep the pics first thing in the morning for consistency)

MK-677 arrived on Thursday, so I’ve been taking 25mg pre-bed every night starting Thursday night. So from then on the stack is 25mg Ostarine + 25mg MK-677.

Weight: 142.6 lb
Body Fat: 7.2%
Lean Weight: 132.3 lb
Fat Weight: 10.3 lb

Lean Weight Diff: +2.6 lb
Fat Weight Diff: +0.3 lb

Don’t get too excited about those numbers. They’ll become more meaningful as the trend (average diff) comes in. In fact, on the next update, I’m going to average my daily measurements over the week instead of just using the last measurement. Still, the scale is consistently higher and the caliper measurements aren’t changing much, so things appear to be moving in the right direction. My diet was sloppy for a few days this week though (pizza and beer on Monday, had a going away party for a coworker, fast food dinners and restaurant food last two days), so I’m being risky. I’ll make sure to clean it back up this week.

All lifts are maxed out the same, except deadlift is up to 90 kg. I’m closer to 5x5 on +2.5kg on most other lifts though. I haven’t attempted 97.5 kg squats yet since the 95 kg squats are brutal and while I got 5x5 again on Saturday, I failed several times on Monday and de-loaded on Thursday. I had bad insomnia Monday and Tuesday and didn’t sleep much on Wednesday, so my Thursday workout was sub-par.

Adjustments:

Workout days moved from M-W-F to T-Th-Sa. The Saturday workout takes the pressure off needing to get home in time to get to work on time. I’m adding three additional exercises to the StrongLifts main lifts. After Workout A, I’m adding weighted dips, weighted declined crunches and weighted back extensions. After Workout B, I’m adding weighted chin-ups and the same core exercises. These will give my arms and core extra work to help make my arms and abs bigger. I’m following the same rules: 5 sets of 5 reps, add 2.5 kg if I make 5x5. I think this is a good way to increase my training volume without increasing reps/decreasing weight on the compound lifts.

Diet-wise, I’m cutting out the milk and banana early morning/preworkout, and replacing it with the protein shake. For breakfast, I’m switching to steak and eggs (plus sweet potatoes on workout days). Expensive (since I’m a food hippie and buy meat at Whole Foods) but solid nutrition. No coconut oil in the shake on workout days. Drink it 1 hour before hitting the first lifts at the gym. Cutting out the morning snack and moving the avocado at lunch to the morning snack. New plan totals:

Workout Days:

Calories: 3131 kcal
Protein: 227 g
Fat: 191 g
Carbs: 124 g

Non-workout Days:

Calories: 3046
Protein: 223 g
Fat: 207 g
Carbs: 72 g

Your schedule+diet looks good. I remember when I was doing strong-lifts Medhi recommended 5 minutes b/w sets. Have you been doing shorter rest periods for faster workouts? Good luck on the gaining, its all in the food.

Week 2 Stats:

Picture here .

Measurements (averaged from daily):

Total weight: 144.1
Body fat %: 7.0
Lean Weight: 134 lb
Fat Weight: 10.1 lb

Here are the average measurements from Week 1:

Total weight: 141.9
Body fat: 7.1%
Lean Weight: 131.8 lb
Fat Weight: 10.1 lb

Lean Weight Diff: +2.2 lb
Fat Weight Diff %: +0.0 lb

Good results!

Training:

Squats: 100 kg (220 lb)
Bench: 65 kg (143 lb)
Row: 55 kg (121 lb)
Overhead: 45 kg (99 lb)
Deadlift: 95 kg (209 lb)
Chin-ups: 2.5 kg (5.5 lb)
Inclined Crunches: 5 kg (11 lb)
Back Extensions: 5 kg (11 lb)

Adjustments:

Instead of adding more exercises to the ends of the main lifting days, I’m going to add in a fourth lifting day. So in addition to the alternating StrongLifts days, the fourth day will be 5x5 weighted chin-ups, 5x5 weighted dips, 5x5 weighted inclined crunches, and 5x5 weighted back extensions. Plan is to do this M-W-F-Su, but since I got behind last week I am doing Tu-Th-F-Sa this week with the “lighter” day on Friday.

Have you been doing shorter rest periods for faster workouts?

Yes, I usually rest 1-2 minutes between sets, but for squats and now benches, I'm resting closer to 3-4 minutes. Otherwise I start failing reps and have to repeat the weight next time.

Week 3 Stats:

Picture here .

Measurements (averaged from daily):

Total Weight: 147.5 lb
Body Fat %: 6.9
Lean Weight: 137.4 lb
Fat Weight: 10.1 lb

Lean Weight Diff: +3.4 lb
Fat Weight Diff: +0.0 lb

Awesome!

Training:

Squats: 100 kg (220 lb)
Bench: 65 kg (143 lb)
Row: 55 kg (121 lb)
Overhead: 47.5 kg (104.7 lb)
Deadlift: 95 kg (209 lb)
Chin-ups: 2.5 kg (5.5 lb)
Dips: 2.5 kg (5.5 lb)
Inclined Crunches: 5 kg (11 lb)
Back Extensions: 5 kg (11 lb)

These are all the same except overhead press, which I increased by 2.5 kg.

I had a shitty week training-wise. I missed a workout and the other ones I had to cut short. I had really bad insomnia for several nights. That's been happening intermittently since I started the cycle (I often have mild insomnia, but this is like full-blown up all night or only sleeping 2-3 hours). I'm focusing now on dealing with that, since sleep is super important for muscle gain (and lots of other stuff). I think I screwed my cortisol rhythm up again because I'm tired during the day then get wired at night, which was probably from overdoing caffeine (like last Winter). I'm taking a full break from caffeine, and taking some adrenal support supplements to get that corrected ASAP. And I'm taking stuff for sleep (including melatonin) regardless of how I feel.