So I've decided to do a routine reverse. I'm currently a student in college at the University of Louisville however I'm going on a couple exchanges in the near future. Next spring semester (January - May) I'll be going to school at the University of Arizona in Tucson and in the following September (if everything goes correctly) I'll be taking Spanish classes in Valencia, Spain.

I've always been extremely athletic. I played at one time or another 5 different sports through high school and was even named my classes most athletic despite always having a few extra pounds packed on. Since coming to college I managed to put on some extra muscle but a nice thicker layer of fat came along with it.

Goals
1. Weigh 155 lbs or less (assuming that around that point I will be nearing 10% bf)
2. Maintain/Add as much muscle as possible (strict diet, intense weight sessions)
3. Increase flexibility/core strength to prevent injuries

Nutrition
My nutrition is going to be fairly basic though I do drink 2-3 protein shakes every day. Here's a general rundown:

6:30: Protein Bar
9:00: Sandwich/Wrap or Shake
11:30: Grilled Chicken w/ vegetable
3:00: Sandwich/Wrap or Shake
5:30: Either food or Surge after lifting
8:00: Small meal w/ low carbs & small shake

Supplement wise I have a bottle of Hot-Rox that I've yet to really use, so I'll probably be taking those on days I don't run in the AM. I'll also be taking a good multi-vitamin and fish oil pills.

Overall caloric intake will usually end up around 10x my bodyweight, perhaps a little more on lifting days due to the Surge. Also due to the shakes I'll usually end up closer to a 20f/30c/50p split.

Training:
I'll be following Chad's set exercises as close as possible given the equipment/rules at the gym while implementing an additional light core training program on running days. This basically works out to:

Monday: Weights
Tuesday: HIIT & Core
Wednesday: Weights
Thursday: HIIT & Core
Friday: Weights
Saturday: HIIT & Core
Sunday: Rest

The Core training is as follows:
Iso-Abs Prone: Held 30-60s
Side Bridges: Held 30-60s each side
Ball Supine Twist: 15-25
Floor Bridges: Held 30-60s

This is done for two sets. The program I have increases in difficulty and I may try to follow that depending on how I feel from the workouts.

Measurements:
Starting:
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 174

Start of Phase II:
Weight: 166 (Net: -8)

Note: This is including the extra week I took in Phase I to get acclimated to lifting again.

Start of Phase III:
Weight:


So this is the plan. It's not going to be easy, especially with the parties and trips to the bar that happen frequently after you turn 21 but it will be worth it. It may bother my friends for a little while but I think they'll lighten up when they figure out that they have, more or less, a permanent DD for the next couple months. Any comments or suggestions to me I'd love to hear, I've got plenty of time to get this right and I'd like to do it properly without getting injured like has happened on a couple other threads I've had like this.

This is what I'll be doing for the first two weeks.

WEEKS 1-2

DAY 1
Sets: 4
Reps: 6
Load: 8RM
Rest: 60s between pairings
Note: Don't rest between arms or legs with single limb exercises. Start with your weakest side first.

A1 Hang Cleans or Front Squats
A2 Reverse Crunches on Slant Board (or floor)

B1 Standing Alternating DB Shoulder Press
B2 1 Arm DB Row

C1 Bulgarian Split Squats
C2 Single Leg DB Deadlift

D1 Dips or Decline DB Bench Press
D2 DB External Rotation

Stretching

DAY 2
HIIT - 16 minutes (90s walk/30s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 3
Sets: 3
Reps: 12
Load: 14RM
Rest: 70s between pairings

A1 DB Romanian Deadlifts
A2 Sit-ups

B1 Incline DB Bench Press
B2 Standing Calf Raise

C1 DB Upright Rows
C2 Lunges or Step-ups

D1 DB External Rotation
D2 DB Pullovers

Stretching

DAY 4
HIIT - 18 minutes (90s walk/30s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 5
Circuits: 3
Set Duration: 2 minutes
Load: ~25% of 1RM
Note: Each set uses a load that's approximately 25% of your 1RM. But if you're not being challenged (ie, drastically increased heart rate) by the end of the set, increase the load for the next set by 5%. Each set should be performed with as many reps as you can muster in the 2 minute period.

A1 BB Deadlift
Rest 90s
A2 Push-ups
Rest 90s
A3 Back Squat
Rest 90s
A4 Lat Pulldowns
Rest 180s

Repeat sequence twice more.

Stretching

DAY 6
HIIT - 20 minutes (90s walk/30s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 7
Off!

DAY 8
Same as Day 1 but decrease the rest periods 5s (load remains constant).
Stretching

DAY 9
HIIT - 16 minutes (80s walk/40s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 10
Same as Day 3 but decrease the rest periods by 5s (load remains constant).
Stretching

DAY 11
HIIT - 18 minutes (80s walk/40s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 12
Same as Day 5 but increase the duration of each set 10s (load remains constant).
Stretching

DAY 13
HIIT - 20 minutes (80s walk/40s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 14
Off!

Well yesterday didn't go quite to plan...

I work at a power plant and for the entire 8 hours of work yesterday we were without power as incredibly ironic as that is. At our plant we have auxillary water pumps to keep water pressure to the offices but those were knocked out along with everything else thus I had no water to make shakes. Seeing as a large part of my meals were then unable to be eaten I went out to Subway for lunch with the other co-ops.

I still made my workout later at about 7 and had my ass kicked. I usually work out at a pretty high tempo but I had forgotten how hard that C pairing was. I was literally dripping with sweat during it so I'll probably have to start bringing my own towel for that reason.

The last bad news of the day is that the gym I like to use isn't open on the weekends so that throws out the Saturday workout. I was hoping that there would be less people there than a Friday but I guess I'll just have to deal with it. As a result I'll be doing my Thursday workout today so that I get everything back on track.

My. God.

Note to self: Never do two of those workouts in consecutive days again. I'm barely able to walk today. The plan was to do the HIIT in the morning but I could barely get myself down the steps from my room. I don't plan on skipping it but I think that I'm going to do an elliptical version today.

I haven't been keeping the tight control over my diet like I'd hoped but I know that I haven't even come close to having it get out of control. This weekend will be a little difficult to get everything in order due to a road trip up to see Say Anything in concert.

Friday already??

Did my HIIT yesterday about an hour after work. I warmed up on the elliptical, then stretched for a while, then did another short warmup and I was still pretty tight for the first 6 or so minutes. By the end I was cranking out the sprint sections as fast as that elliptical would let me. I can kind of see why those days are in between, it was a nice "break" from the lifting and I definetely felt better afterwards.

Today I'm probably not going to be able to do any workouts. I'll be getting off work at the normal time but then I'll have to make the hour/hour and a half drive to get up to Covington for the concert. I was originally going get a ride up but I'm probably going to end up driving myself and staying through Saturday afternoon and doing the Day 5 workout as best as I can with the weights we have there.

Oh a side note, somehow I've managed to get more excited about seeing Polysics in concert than Say Anything. I'd love to get a pair of those crazy sunglasses they wear. Hellogoodbye should be pretty good, especially considering the amount of girls that are probably going to show up just to see them.

I'm stoked :D

Wow, this week has gone by pretty fast.

Monday: Ate pretty well, probably should have eaten more to tell the truth. The workout was much better and I was able to use heavier weight on almost every single exercise.

Tuesday: Ate a little more than I should have, I had Whole Wheat Ravioli with a light pasta sauce and a "light" garlic bread for dinner. Had to try and fix my ex-girlfriends computer and was over there till about 12 or and didn't really get anywhere. I think it might be the only time in my life I've been as stuck as I was trying to get everything back to normal. Still managed to do my running which was much nicer without my legs feeling like they were going to fall off.

Wednesday: Had a big chicken breast, mashed potatoes, and corn for dinner. I ended up buying too much candy for the kids and ended up eating about 3 or so pieces. Usually I'm eating handfulls of the stuff so I'm pretty proud of holding myself back. I did my workout, was actually able to use all of the equipment I needed and still increased weight on almost every exercise.

I played a soccer game at about 9:30 as well. Slightly disappointed in how the game worked out but I still played pretty well. Had one or two assists but never managed a goal (still sort of amazed by that). I did realize that I'm seriously lacking in my sprint speed. For the past two weeks I've been doing the HIIT on the elliptical to save my legs some punishment but I might need to rethink that to maybe get some sprint endurance/speed back.

:wave: Hello
Good luck with your routine and reaching your goals.
I'm insanely jealous about the Spain thing. Hope it all goes to plan.
I would love to have the time to take a spanish class. I am just trying to teach myself at home for the time being though.

:wave: Hello
Good luck with your routine and reaching your goals.
I'm insanely jealous about the Spain thing. Hope it all goes to plan.
I would love to have the time to take a spanish class. I am just trying to teach myself at home for the time being though.

Me too. UofL likes to keep their engineering students on a very strict graduating plan and I've been having a tendency to get way way off that plan. It might take me an extra year to graduate but I'm determined to do these things while I can. Once I get a job and family I won't be able to take any long trips like this to another country. Now where I'm going to get the money is going to be interesting :lol:.

So today is the dreaded day 5. I'm going to get to the gym early so hopefully there won't be too many people there. The plan is to get to lock up the squat rack with the right weights then put my towel on the Lat machine. I'm going to do DB Deadlifts so that I don't leave there too much and pushups I can do on the floor. The gym isn't a very big place so it's very very difficult to take up too many machines without people getting angry.

I'm still not doing too great on my diet. It's much better than it has been in the past couple months but I keep staying up/out too late. There is really (other than this workout and work) no real consistency to what I do. All it would take is to every 2-3 days sit down and workout my meals and make sure that the main ingredients are ready to go in the morning. Oh, and I'm having a big piece of chicken breast thats been marinating with some green beans and corn tonight for dinner, I'm pretty stoked about it.

Once again I didn't do too well on the food thing this weekend. Not writing down things ahead of time is killing me. It's all pure laziness. In the time I'm sitting and watching some random show I could be getting food ready for work the next day. Instead I've been eating too much and have managed to turn the last 3 weeks I've been lifting into a bulk even though I wanted it to be a cut.

Well it has to change. I made sure to make my meals last night and plan out the next couple days. No more going to Kroger to get a LeanCuisine and/or a protein bar. Chicken, Beef, vegetables, fruits, and the only processed thing being my protein shakes.

I'm going to be quite busy today. I'm hitting the gym immediately after I get home, I have to meet Brittany to give her sunglasses back and buy tickets to a concert, then finally I have a soccer game at 9:20. I'm going to need to get everything done early so that I hopefully get to bed by a decent hour to wake up and run in the morning. Oh and I managed to seriously jam my right thumb playing soccer the other day, gripping the weights should be interesting today.

I'm unbelieveably sore and tired. I was doing my workout Monday and was really struggling through the first pairing. I'd move up weight a little bit but not enough to be as hard as it was. Didn't think much of it until I went to do the shoulder press in the next pair and realized that there was no way I could do it. Turns out I was doing 12 reps instead of 6, no wonder the front squats were kicking my ass!

Yesterday (Tuesday) I did my running after work. I woke up in the morning to go run but I can't stand to run so early when it's so cold. If you couldn't tell I hate cold weather thus the reason for Arizona. My legs were pretty cooked after the weights the day before and especially so after the running. Didn't manage to get much rest though with a socer game at 7:40 that night.

Today is Day 3, shouldn't be too hard really. I'm going to try and get a nap in after the workout though since I have another soccer game tonight at 10 so I won't be able to get to sleep very early.

So...tired... didn't get to bed until around 11:30.

I'm so tired that it's even actually changed the way I play soccer. I usually play striker and look for quick 1-2's and through balls to beat people with speed. Well, my legs are so worn out before the game even starts that I just can't play like that for more than a half. Instead I've started playing more like a target forward, checking back to midfielders and either speeding up or slowing down our attack. I act as the main link setting up the attack. I've only 2 goals in 3 games but I've compiled around 7 assists so I can't complain too much. The biggest problem is that I have practically no power on my shots any more. After doing front squats, 1-legs squats and deadlifts your legs don't have much in the form of power only 2-3 hours later.

I did notice something pretty awesome this morning. I'm starting to get what resembles abs. I can really tell when I'm lifting that I've put on some muscle (I'm doing 50lbs easy on the Inc. Bench and had trouble doing 40 a month ago). I haven't really lost much weight at all but I've definetely got more muscle on my frame and my abs are starting to be a little more defined. Amazingly, I've actually managed to put on muscle and lose fat in the process so far in these past 3 weeks.

I ate very well yesterday, didn't miss a meal and I even remembered to take my PWO shake. I've had that Surge laying around for a month now so I've decided to start taking it after every workout. I'd really like to keep that muscle I've put on. As for the workout, everything went really well except for the step-ups. My smartass almost dropped the weight so I only did a little more than a half on the 2nd set. Moved up weight in every single category except for the upright DB rows but even then I managed to do more reps than last time.:flex:

Today is another running day but no soccer until Sunday so I'll have some time to get a little "extra" rest in!

Man thats a tough workout. I must look like an idiot when I'm stumbling back to the lat machine after doing squats though.

Anyways I moved up in all of the weight (well except in the pushups), and still did pretty well. I could tell that I was much better this week than last week. I might post up my finishing weights for this week tomorrow so that I have a nice electronic copy.

I might be heading home tomorrow which is good and bad. Good that I won't be here to go on the hayride and basically be forced into a drinking situation but bad because I'm going home and my parents tend to make tons of food whenever that happens.

I'll be back to post tomorrow after I hit the cardio, gotta head out so I can buy Orange Box for my 360. I'm pumped.

Well I decided to switch these two days. I haven't really had any rest and having soccer games after doing these workouts has really killed my energy. So I took Saturday as a rest day and instead of doing the HIIT on Sunday I just counted the two soccer games in 3 hours (playing the entire game) as my cardio workout.

I didn't eat that great on Saturday since the mum decided to make chicken alfredo though it was delicious. 1 extra meal like that won't really hurt especially considering I won't be home for another two weeks for Thanksgiving so hopefully I can keep away from cheat meals until then.

So on to Phase II:

WEEKS 3-4

DAY 1
Sets: 6
Reps: 4
Load: 6RM
Rest: 60s between pairings (A1, rest, A2, rest, A1, rest, A2, rest, etc)
Note: Don't rest between arms or legs with single limb exercises. Start with your weakest side first.

A1 Step-ups or Reverse Lunges
A2 Bent-over BB Row (palms up grip)

B1 Push Press
B2 Cable Crunches or Swiss Ball Crunches

C1 Deadlift-Shrug
C2 Standing Calf Raise

Stretching

DAY 2
HIIT - 16 minutes (75s walk/45s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 3
Sets: 3
Reps: 15
Load: 17RM
Rest: 70s between pairings

A1 Pulldowns (palms down grip)
A2 Front Squat

B1 Sit-ups
B2 Back Extension

C1 Decline BB or DB Bench Press
C2 DB External Rotation

D1 BB Back Squat
D2 Lying or Seated Hamstring Curls

Stretching

DAY 4
HIIT - 18 minutes (75s walk/45s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 5
Sets: 1
Reps: 100 (total)
Load: 50RM (25% of your 1RM)
Note: Use a load that allows you 45-50 reps before failure. Stop one rep short of failure after the first set of 45-50. Rest 15s, perform as many reps as possible, rest 15s, perform as many reps as possible. Continue until you reach 100 reps.

Sissy Squats or Bodyweight Squats
Rest 120s
Standing DB Press
Rest 120s
DB Romanian Deadlift (use straps, if necessary)
Rest 120s
Seated Cable or Chest-supported Rows
Rest 120s

Stretching

DAY 6
HIIT - 20 minutes (75s walk/45s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 7
Off!

DAY 8
Same as Day 1 but decrease the rest periods 5s (load remains constant).
Stretching

DAY 9
HIIT - 16 minutes (70s walk/50s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 10
Same as Day 3 but decrease the rest periods by 5s (load remains constant).
Stretching

DAY 11
HIIT - 18 minutes (70s walk/50s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 12
Same as Day 5 but increase the number of reps to 105 (load remains constant).
Stretching

DAY 13
HIIT - 20 minutes (70s walk/50s sprint)
Stretching

DAY 14
Off

Note: Any of the HIIT workouts can be used with running outside, running on a treadmill, or on a bike.

DAY 1
Sets: 6
Reps: 4
Load: 6RM
Rest: 60s

A1 Step-ups X 185 lbs
A2 Bent-over DB Row X 50

B1 Push Press X 55 lbs
B2 Swiss Ball Crunches X 6 (times)

C1 Deadlift-Shrug X 75 lbs
C2 Leg Press Calf Raise X 450

I was able to do all 6 sets on each of these weights, Push Presses and Step-ups being far and away the most difficult. DB Rows became pretty difficult in the last two sets. I've never done 6 sets before and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be. I like just cranking out 4 hard reps, short and sweet.

Finally decided to weigh myself today. It wasn't how I normally do but it came up as 166. When I started lifting a month ago I was around 176 so I'm at about a 10lb loss but I feel that I've managed to put on some muscle during that time as well. So far I'm pretty satisfied with my progress even though I haven't been as good as I've wanted in the nutrition segment. I have 9 weeks left until the dorms open so theres still plenty of time to continue improving and as long as I make smart choices with the holidays coming up I don't see why I can't hit my goals.


My food intake today:
Protein Bar
Chicken Wrap
Protein Shake
Chicken & GB & Banana
Turkey/Ham Sandwich
Fish (cooked w/ Olive Oil) & Veg

1600 calories (I could use more..)
22.5/33/44.5 f/c/p

Did my HIIT but once again couldn't use the machines that I like due to there being so many random people in there. I just pumped the resistance up on one of those weird trainers and used that instead.

Also I switched around my meals for tonight. Instead of that sandwich/banana and fish/vegetable meals I picked up some ingredients from Kroger and made my own super meaty lean chili. I used 96/4 lean beef, half of the beans in regular chili, and a mix of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. It's pretty damn good! :tu:

I probably came close to my calorie limit for the day seeing as I ate almost half of it, couldn't help myself :drool:, but it was about as healthy as chili can get.

Friday should be an interesting day coming up. Since I'm going to a concert up in Cincy I'll have to leave pretty early since we're probably going to stay up there. My plan as of right now is to just work an extra hour or so each day and take a half day on that Friday so that I can fit in my workout and make it up there with plenty of time.

That last pairing was tough. Super tough. Most of the workout wasn't that bad and it didn't feel near as hard as some of the days last week but then he goes and throws a squat-hamstring curl pair at you and it just decimates all of your energy right before you're done. As much torture as it was, I think deep down I really liked it just because it forced me to really push myself and hit all of the reps. I did fail pretty badly at the DB Bench though, I overestimated how much weight I could do with 15 reps and ended up having to move down some.

I finished off the chili I made, seriously it was just too good, and ended up probably going closer to 1800 calories for the day which is a little higher than what I've been aiming for. Shouldn't matter too much considering that I also had a soccer game that night at 7:30 (also scored a hat trick + an assists woo!) so I burnt some more calories. Honestly it probably helped me today by easing the leg soreness I would have had.

Ended up staying at my ex's house last night though so I was a little late to bed and late to wake up therefore a little late to work :mad:.

Sets: 3
Reps: 15
Load: 17RM
Rest: 70s between pairings

A1 Pulldowns (palms down grip) X 60lbs
A2 Front Squat X

B1 Sit-ups X 15
B2 Back Extension X 30lbs

C1 Decline BB or DB Bench Press X 65 (but failed), X 60 (also failed..)
C2 DB External Rotation X 15lbs

D1 BB Back Squat X 155lbs
D2 Lying or Seated Hamstring Curls X 70

A nice HIIT day today which is good considering I'll be at work extra late. 18 minutes @ 75/45 splits. I'm hoping that I'm not forced to use the horrible machines I was last time and can actually get an elliptical.

Nutrition is going to be a little different for most of the day. Don't have my own lunch with me at work so I'll have to go out to get some. I was thinking about maybe getting a wrap from Arbys or just going to Kroger again and picking up a LeanCuisine or something like that, we'll see I guess. Regardless I'm not going to get anything unhealthy and I'm not going to over eat, I haven't been watching my intake all week to kill it because I woke up late.

A strange thing has happened to me lately, something that I've yet to ever have in my entire life. This entire week I've genuinely looked forward to going and lifting weights. Before I would skip some days that I was a little tired, maybe not go because I had a soccer game, but lately I can't wait to get out of work just so that I can hit the gym. It's a nice change :bb:

A strange thing has happened to me lately, something that I've yet to ever have in my entire life. This entire week I've genuinely looked forward to going and lifting weights. Before I would skip some days that I was a little tired, maybe not go because I had a soccer game, but lately I can't wait to get out of work just so that I can hit the gym. It's a nice change :bb:

Good to hear. Personally I feel great after going to the gym despite my life being full of uncertainty at the moment. Once you enjoy your workouts a great body cannot be far off :tu:

Good to hear. Personally I feel great after going to the gym despite my life being full of uncertainty at the moment. Once you enjoy your workouts a great body cannot be far off :tu:

I sure hope so. Granted my willingness to go starts to wane as the week progresses but thats mostly due to just being incredibly tired and not because I don't want to go (which I always force myself to do anyways).

It does make you feel great after you do go though. Sure, I guess I could sit on the couch and play a video game but I got my ass up and went to the gym trying to make myself a healthier person. Plus these workouts I'm doing really push you.

Today should be an interesting day. I'm leaving work about 3 hours early ( I did already work an extra 3 though) so that I could workout and still make the trip up north to the concert this weekend. I'm pretty excited about this workout from what I've read in other peoples journals. Seems short and sweet but also intense.

I ended up having an intramural soccer game yesterday at 9 I didn't know about until about an hour before so I ended up getting in some extra cardio. I was completely gased by the end of it but I did end up getting a goal to tie the game which we eventually won in PKs. Somehow I've managed to get out of my goal funk and I've scored 4 out of my teams last 5 goals (and I had the assist on the one I didn't:cool:).

Sets: 1
Reps: 100 (total)
Load: 50RM (25% of your 1RM)

Sissy Squats or Bodyweight Squats
Rest 120s
Standing DB Press
Rest 120s
DB Romanian Deadlift (use straps, if necessary)
Rest 120s
Seated Cable or Chest-supported Rows
Rest 120s

So Thanksgiving wasn't very good to me. I avoided deserts for the most part however it's very difficult to not take in too many calories when you're eating Thanksgiving food for 4 days in a row. Not only that but I went to the bar and had some drinks on Saturday so that didn't help. Only good news regarding the beers is that I felt so terrible on Sunday that I don't want to drink again untill I'm in Arizona.

Anyways to the reason I haven't updated this thing. About a week ago I managed to strain my bicep tendon getting out of bed (yeah, embarassing). I've been pretty limited in my left arm movement because of that and haven't been able to lift any weights. While it's feeling much better it's still a little tight so it'll be at least another week before I can lift again (even then I'll have to go light on the shoulder/bicep work). I haven't completely decided yet what I'm going to do for this week but as of right now it's looking like this:

Monday: HIIT
Tuesday: LISS
Wednesday: Soccer
Thursday: Weights (Legs)
Friday: HIIT
Saturday: LISS
Sunday: Nothin'

I'm doing the 75 walk / 45 sprint split in HIIT and taking it very easy in the LISS. Also I'm going to go a couple days on the V-diet. I'm toying with the idea of going V-Diet for 3-5 days each week and mixing in regular food on the other days. I think that plan is pretty sustainable and should help me keep losing fat despite being limited in the gym.