Ladies and gentlemen, it is time.

I am ready to take things to the next level and with that, I will begin SGX. No more bs-ing myself on whether I am doing well with a bulk or cut and not seeing the results I want to see. I've done well, but with the professional help of SC I know I can crush what I have done over the past year and a half.

I'm ready to learn from SC and ready to get more lean than I ever have before. I am excited to see what I can become on SC's program and I would like to share my journey with you all.

I will be posting weekly pics as well as any commentary that I want to contribute as I embark on this SGX journey. By the end of all of this I want to truly surprise myself. With SC's help, I know that I can do it.

So with that, I will most likely begin Sunday or Monday depending on how quickly I can prepare for my new nutrition/training program (I will receive my info on Saturday). The first pick will come the first day of SGX and continue on a weekly basis from there.

I'm pumped for this people! This should be fun...:nod:

Good luck and enjoy Bigpapi!

I look forward to keeping track of your progress and results.

Inspire me mate....inspire me :nod:

Good luck Bigpapi! Im relatively a noob to the program, in my second week. I hope to see you on the Wall of Fame!

Welcome to SwoleGenix and welcome to a soon to be new you! :cool:

See you @ my forums!

~SC~

Today is day one (4.9.06)

I received my information from SC last night and am very excited! At this point I'm just trying to figure out how I will work with what SC gave me in terms of the training and nutrition plan. I'm heading to the grocery store today so I can be fully prepared for the upcoming week.

Here is the pic for week 1:

http://img309.imageshack.us/img309/7122/4906iii8ja.th.jpg (http://img309.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4906iii8ja.jpg)

Good luck! SUP2 or SGX?

SGX. Gonna get cut up for summer!

SUP2 will come after that.

I feel you will do very well on the protocol given to you after looking at your starting photograph.

Do it big PAPI! :D

~SC~

What??? I thought you were Dominican or something because of the way you love Big Papi. Who was that in your old avatar? That guy was Dominican I think. I thought it was you.

Great starting point!!!

What??? I thought you were Dominican or something because of the way you love Big Papi. Who was that in your old avatar? That guy was Dominican I think. I thought it was you.

Great starting point!!!
Come on dude, he's our biggest enemy -- Big Papi. That was David Ortiz!


Good luck Big P!

Come on dude, he's our biggest enemy -- Big Papi. That was David Ortiz!


Good luck Big P!

Didnt look like him without that uniform. I am glad your not a fat Dominican like I saw in that picture.

Didnt look like him without that uniform. I am glad your not a fat Dominican like I saw in that picture.
I agree, at first glance I'll admit I didn't notice either and thought it was a pic of him too. Then when I saw he was a Sox fan, I put 2 and 2 together.

VVVVV badgolfer
EDIT: Don't wanna derail any more, so I'll just edit. Let me just add that although it certainly came off that way, I was not trying to be an ass (I just come off as one naturally sometimes), I was just saying that's when I realized it was Big Papi himself. :D

I put 2 and 2 together.

::dig at Badgolfer::

You probably owe me one anyway so I will let it slide.

Bigpapi,

As a fellow Bostonian and Red Sox fax, I am behind your decision to "trade" your current exercise regime for the "swole" package. I can't wait until you start posting your new results.
:tu:

Didnt look like him without that uniform. I am glad your not a fat Dominican like I saw in that picture.

Me too. :lol:

Today is 4.16.06. It is the end of week one and I must say SGX has been pretty amazing so far. I feel as if I have been on it for months at this point, but it really has been a very small amount of time.

I feel pretty damn good and have been transitioning well into the program. Another week or two and I feel everything will just be routine as usual, except now with SGX I know that results are truly going to come.

Here is the pic for the end of week 1:

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6545/41606ii3qv.th.jpg (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=41606ii3qv.jpg)

I can't wait to see the difference between this week and next week!

Wow there's already quite a difference in just one week. I'm very tempted to hire swolcat soon!

Looking good, keep up the diligent work! :)

~SC~

Congrats, man. Looking good after only one week. I start SGX next Monday, the 24th. I need to start a progress thread here like this. :gl:

Yes, please do so. Those on SGX who begin threads here and at my forums use them as further motivation and they seem to help in that regard.

Can't wait to see you transform over the weeks! ;)

~SC~

Thumbs up! SGX is a great program as you will find out.

Today is 4.22.06. Check in days will now be on Saturday since I like to have my cheat meals on Saturday.

It is the end of week 2 and I feel like I am progressing well. For some reason every time I cut though I always feel small. I don't know why. I know that I am looking more lean and defined, but for some reason it just bugs me. I am happy with things though. I really want to bulk and I know that I should be pretty lean before I go down that route.

SGX nutrition is pretty easy to follow and I feel that I am dialed in at this point. Today's cheat meal is gonna be good though: Pizza...:drool: :eat:

Here is the pic for the end of week 2:

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/2808/42206iii7gl.th.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/my.php?image=42206iii7gl.jpg)

Lookin good bigpapi! Keep up the good work. I will be posting my week 4 pics tomorrow morning. Cant wait for measurements and pic progress.

As far as feeling little while cutting I find the opposite to be true for me anyway. I've been gaining alot of strenght while still cutting. Which I didnt think I would. I figured on pretty much maintaining current strenght while cutting fat. I actually gained about 3 lbs my first 2 weeks while losing almost an 1 and half of the waist and same on chest. Different strokes for diff folks I guess:D :D

Anyway keep up the good work. Youre lookin good!

Oh damn! Two weeks and you're already lookin' chiseled! Seriously, you look about 20% tighter in the two week picture than your start photos. Some of it may be the light but your right shoulder looks bigger and I don't think that's a light issue. Same with the cut at the base of your sternum.

Great freakin' work! :bow: Can't wait to get to week 2 myself. :spaz:

M@

P.S. How 'bout that SGX Leg Day, huh?

Oh damn! Two weeks and you're already lookin' chiseled! Seriously, you look about 20% tighter in the two week picture than your start photos. Some of it may be the light but your right shoulder looks bigger and I don't think that's a light issue. Same with the cut at the base of your sternum.

Great freakin' work! :bow: Can't wait to get to week 2 myself. :spaz:

M@

P.S. How 'bout that SGX Leg Day, huh?

Thanks for the kind words M@ and Fender!

2 Weeks in and I can definitely see and feel notable differences. I'm already more lean now than I ever have been in my life and I think SGX is truly disciplining me in the right direction in terms of nutrition and how it relates to my goals. Once you are on SGX you realize, "oh. This is how it's suppose to be done." Not saying that you can't get lean in other ways or without SGX, but those of us who hire SC are looking for that answer and SGX definitely fills it in.

I was told yesterday that I am starting to get that surfer look. Not really sure how to take that. Surfers are typically very lean, but not big. It once again comes back to my thing with cutting and feeling small, but I realize that this stuff takes time. I'm only 25 and have plenty of years left to lift and get bigger and more lean. It will happen. Too many people want the quick fix and as a result straddle back and forth between a cut and a bulk and never really get anywhere. I really don't want to play that game anymore and I think this is the way to do it.

And M@, yes leg day is something that you just can't put into words. Oh wait...today is leg day...:cry: :)

I actually started eating these little guys before my leg workout::evil: You should try it. They help. :D

Today is leg day for me too, so I am right there w/you! :tucool:


~SC~

Today is 4.29.06.

Three weeks in and I'm pretty impressed with how I am changing. I can see much more definition in my body and when lifting the pumps make me look super ripped. It is really cool. Last week I said that I felt I was looking small, but I'm starting to not feel that way so much. I mean, I didn't start SGX having to lose an extreme amount of weight so even losing a couple pounds will not drastically change how big I am. With more muscle definition I think I might even look a little bigger. :)

My weight actually went up 1 pound from last week. I'm not really concerned about it. Might be muscle, might be the big big pizza cheat meal I had last week. Won't be doing that again. It was great, but my cheats will now consist of one small unclean meal and the rest of the day eating clean, but replenishing meals to help my body.

Last night I feel like I almost hit a wall. I worked out and had all my meals, but was just bugging out mentally wanting more food. I also felt a bit run down. I don't know, I feel a little better today, but still a bit run down. That is also part of the reason I am changing the concept of my cheat meal/day. I would like to make that day as physically and mentally satisfying as possible to keep me going for the rest of the week. In saying cheat day I definitely am not going crazy and eating everything I can find. In fact my calorie intake won't be nearly as crazy as if I had a gluttonous unclean cheat meal, and even the unclean cheat will chosen wisely if that makes any sense. I just want to refuel myself all day long...Especially with leg day the next day!

So that's it for now. Here is the pic for week 3. I like the change that I am seeing.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5346/42906iii6fs.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=42906iii6fs.jpg)

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to add this. As I continue on SGX I am realizing that probably the most important thing that I have learned from this program is discipline. Not that I didn't have it before. I don't miss meals, I don't miss workouts. I just don't. But in terms of a cut, I don't think I have ever been this disciplined in sticking with something. Knowing that what has been given to me by Swole has kept me on track even when I might not be feeling it that day. For all those people considering SGX, you must know/learn how to discipline yourself. Regardless of SGX, doing any cut is not easy, but if you keep at it and stay disciplined you might surprise yourself with how your body transforms.

Very cool to see/read BigPapi, keep up the great discipline! :cool:

~SC~

It's SGX leg day and I just put together a crazy metal mix for my ipod. Gonna blow some speakers and do a crazy amount of squats now..:guitar:

Go for it!

I had my leg workout yesterday myself, feelin' it today!!!

~SC~

Today is 5.6.06 (End of week 4)

My energy levels have been great this week. Last weekend I hit a serious wall and pretty much laid in bed the whole weekend except for when I trained. I think the rest definitely helped because I felt really good this week and had some very nice workouts. The only exeception was my arms/delts workout and that was because the Red Sox/Yankees game was on and I was getting MAJORLY distracted! It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get the workout done and at the end I was like, "god damn red sox game distracting my workout!" :lol: (And on a side note, Damon shouldn't be surprised that he was booed. Come on man, you jumped ship! You are a yankee now. You will be booed. And to all those that said that it was classless to boo him...F that! I more than respect Damon for what he did while on the Sox, but he MOST DEFINITELY got cheered the entire next season and at the ring ceremony as a member of the Sox. He was definitely appreciated. But when you leave to go to the Yanks and then try and force the applause of the crowd by tipping your helmet especially when you are already getting booed. F that! Ok. End rant...:) )

Last week I weighed in at 154.6 and when I weighed in today I found the same number on the scale. That's cool by me. I'm not really judging by the scale at this point and neither does SC. :nod:

I think I have improved since my last picture. I can't believe I'm half way done with SGX. I guess time flies when you are cutting. Hmmm...I'm sure I have something else to say, but I just can't think of it right now. Oh well.

Anyway. Here is the pic for the end of week 4:

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/2505/5606iii9yp.th.jpg (http://img55.imageshack.us/my.php?image=5606iii9yp.jpg)

Awesome progress man! :tucool:

Big difference from last week. :tucool:

I'll echo what George said. That's EXCELLENT progress for just one week.

.:tu:

Thanks everyone!

You know, it's tough when you see yourself every single day to know whether you are making progress. I was questioning this week if I was really making improvements, but I do see a difference when I look at the weekly photos.

Progress photos are very very important. :nod:

Definitely leaning out nicely!!!

~SC~

Today is 5.13.06. (End of week 5)

I have been cutting for 5 weeks now and I think I have progressed fairly well over that time. I'm not sure how much longer I will cut. Having a truly defined 6 pack is not really something that I feel I have to have and I do like where I stand at this point. I will have to see where I stand next week and see how I feel from there. To me, being lean is really the most important thing. I feel like some people stress too much over the whole "must have a 6 pack" thing and forget that they have done a pretty damn good job of getting themselves lean already.

My lower back is feeling a bit overtrained. Because I workout at home and am doing splits for my training I think I am getting too much lower back work between my back workout and my leg workout (no leg curl/extension so I have to do things like SLDL, Good Mornings, etc.) I am going to be careful about this because a healthy lower back is crucial to successful workouts and continuing to make progress.

Oh, I have also stopped taking an EC stack. Well I'm sticking with caffeine (love coffee!), but I'm done with ephedrine. In the beginning I liked it a lot, but it also made me feel too chemy and after a week or two I noticed that my body was becoming really dependent on it for a pick me up. I don't really want to feel dependent on anything and I just feel better (mentally and physically without it). I now just do caffeine and green tea extract. I think that is just fine. :nod: It will be interesting though to see if fat loss slows down without it.

SGX has been very good for me. As I stated in a previous journal entry, SGX is more about discipline than anything else. At this point, I am confident that I could go without SC, make modifications to my diet, keep cutting, etc. because I have learned to stay disciplined with this cut. Now I'm not saying that I would change a bunch of things with SGX because the more research I have done based upon what I have learned from SGX, there are certain things you need to be consistent with to truly see results.

SC provides you with a formula for success, but it is really up to you to get the work done. I was reading an article on t-nation the other day and it talked about something pretty important that many people overlook. It stated that with so much information available on the net in regards to diets, nutrition, macronutrient breakdowns, people often get so worked up with the abundance of info that they forget to actually just do the work. Makes sense to me. If you change things constantly you will never know if something is actually working or not.

I guess that's it from me. It's raining like crazy here. I think today will be a very chill day.

Here is my pic for the end of week 5:

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8265/51306iii9ml.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=51306iii9ml.jpg)

I guess that's it from me. It's raining like crazy here. I think today will be a very chill day.
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I'm in Boston too. I'm actually downtown at work right now. It's truly miserable.

I'm in Boston too. I'm actually downtown at work right now. It's truly miserable.

Yeah. It's a bummer. It's not gonna stop for almost a week too. :doh: :cry:

Lookin' seriously shredded BP. :tucool:

M@

BP, you look great. I am only into week 3 of SGX and I have never taken the EC stack, just caffeine. For those of us who didn't need to lose a lot of weight, I think this is just fine. By the way, your picture (which looks great, by the way) is huge. You might want to re-scale it.

I just want to note that since I stopped taking ephedrine my energy levels, lifts, and overall feeling of wellness have improved dramatically. I noted in my previous post how I decided to stop taking it because it was making me feel rather "chemmy" and a little dependent. I did not like that and made the right choice to stop taking it.

I know that this is only my experience with ephedrine and many others probably have very good experiences with it, but it is not for me. You do not NEED ephedrine or any other fat loss stack. Cutting fat comes down to diet, cardio, and training. If you do those three things you will do very well for yourself. Remember you are suppose to do the work, not a pill. :nod:

Cutting fat comes down to diet, cardio, and training. If you do those three things you will do very well for yourself. Remember you are suppose to do the work, not a pill. :nod:

Bump to that :tucool: Just wish more would believe it.

You know what it takes to get the job done, that's why you've done such an excellent job.

Nice work! :tu:

~SC~

Today is 5.20.06 (End of week 6)

Hmmm...I'm deep in thought about where I stand. I feel like I might stop with my cut at this point. I have made some nice progress over the course of SGX and must thank SC for showing me the correct path. :tucool:

I don't know, I'm sure that I could keep going for X amount more weeks if I wanted to. I'm not really sure I want to though. Reading John's post about getting to a certain point just to look good in a picture that doesn't represent how you look the rest of the day really hit me. I mean, I'm not even close to the 6-8% that John was referring to, but I'm not doing this to compete or anything. I really like the way I look now and am very happy when I see the difference between the first pic and my current pic. I'm even happy with my overall look throughout the day.

As many of you know I have said numerous times that I feel small. I still do and part of me wants to work on adding some lean mass right now to get that crap out of my head. It has weighed on my mind for a while and I might be ready to head down that road.

Ugh, this shouldn't be that hard to figure out. :bang:

Regardless of everything above, SGX has been awesome. I have really learned how eat correctly to get the best out of my body. I didn't know how to do that before and I feel good about my training/nutrition for the future.

I'm gonna continue thinking on all of this. What do you all think?...:confused:

Here is my pic for the end of week 6:

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/402/52006iii8lw.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=52006iii8lw.jpg)

Oh Carguy, I saw your post about the pic size. I just choose this one because it's what imageshak recommends for message boards. The other sizes seem kind of small. Anyone know any better image hosting sites?

Boy, Bigpapi, I could have written your latest post. I feel exactly the same way, but at the end of 4 weeks with SGX. I don't think I'll go into detail but I will pm you.

START SUP2 PLEASE. Add some MASS. you are def lean now!

START SUP2 PLEASE. Add some MASS. you are def lean now!
why does he need more mass? :confused:

As many of you know I have said numerous times that I feel small. I still do and part of me wants to work on adding some lean mass right now to get that crap out of my head. It has weighed on my mind for a while and I might be ready to head down that road.

I'm gonna continue thinking on all of this. What do you all think?...:confused:


I'm in the same boat. I've run through all but the last week of Waterbury Summer Project doing the t-dawg 2 diet and am down probably at 10-11% bf. I'm 6'1", 178 right now, which I'm beginning to think is too small a number. I've dropped 3 lbs of fat, gained 2/3 lb of muscle, and dropped bf% by 1.6% or so since 6/25.

But a scale number is psychological.

While I know I've still got maybe 1/2 inch or so I could easily stand to lose at my waist, my top 4 abs are shadowy almost all the time now.

Is there really a point to losing that last little bit right now other than to prove something to myself? Will it help me stay leaner as I start putting some mass back on, or is it vanity that will just slow down the overall goal to end up at 190-195 at around 9-10% bf before really reevaluating?

I definitely want more size, so am I just wasting time continuing to get down to a vanity pic that nobody will see? It isn't like I hang out at public places with my shirt off.

Sorry for the ramble, but I'm basically saying I understand where you're coming from.

I'm in the same boat. I've run through all but the last week of Waterbury Summer Project doing the t-dawg 2 diet and am down probably at 10-11% bf. I'm 6'1", 178 right now, which I'm beginning to think is too small a number. I've dropped 3 lbs of fat, gained 2/3 lb of muscle, and dropped bf% by 1.6% or so since 6/25.

But a scale number is psychological.

While I know I've still got maybe 1/2 inch or so I could easily stand to lose at my waist, my top 4 abs are shadowy almost all the time now.

Is there really a point to losing that last little bit right now other than to prove something to myself? Will it help me stay leaner as I start putting some mass back on, or is it vanity that will just slow down the overall goal to end up at 190-195 at around 9-10% bf before really reevaluating?

I definitely want more size, so am I just waisting time continuing to get down to a vanity pic that nobody will see? It isn't like I hang out at public places with my shirt off.

Sorry for the ramble, but I'm basically saying I understand where you're coming from.

No worries on the ramble. It's so damn tough to find the best of both worlds in being lean and having a good amount of muscle. It seems for me atleast, there hasn't been that perfect balance where I am happy with both aspects of my physique.

Currently I am in a weird place with my training/nutrition. I started a slow bulk right after SGX and things had been going extremely well. I then hit the injury bug which is still affecting me now. Both my wrist and knee are beat up. Throw in the fact that moving is going to be the big priority in my life, it is going to be hard enought to get 5-6 meals in during the day let alone concentrating on a slow bulk. I feel as if I have taken a major step back with everything and am not too happy about it, but it is almost out of my control right now. I can't magically heal injuries. The move IS going to happen.

Mannishboy, you are pretty lean from what I saw in your pics. With fall rolling around it would be a great time for you to start on a slow bulk and really hit those weights hard. With your knowledge and intensity of training I'm sure you could put on some decent muscle gains. I guess if you know that you would be happier with more muscle at the same bodyfat % you might have to just sacrifice on the vanity aspect as you said and really target your goals for lifting.

You're definitely looking lean yourself. I think with the move, I'd step back and try to maintain until that settles out a bit. Don't give up, but don't beat yourself up if you don't keep to 6 meals a day, or miss an occasional workout. You've proven to yourself that you can get there, so a month won't kill you.

And yeah, I'm going to start a clean bulk at some point, I'm just trying to decide if I take another couple of weeks or a month still restricting calories and keeping carbs down, or do I just up calories to what I think my maintenance is, reintroduce my fruits that I've limited to once a day, back down my fats a bit, and sit for awhile in the 178-180 range to stabilize, then gradually work my calories up while reducing some of this volume I've been doing with WSP?

I think my navel gazing this morning is related to me finally starting to feel the effects of a cut in some workout numbers in a hard workout this AM, although I made a similar post a couple of days ago in my journal.

Thing is, I'm happy overall, but not satified (if that makes sense). I think back to what was going on last year and feel so great about where I am now, so this is all a luxury to have to worry about :).

Wow! great progress BP!!!!