I have been away from the forums for a long time.
I first joined back at the beginning of 2005. I was en route to getting in the best shape of my life. By July of 2005, I was around 193lbs and had gotten down to 8% body fat and my strength was at lifetime highs on virtually every exercise.
Things were great! I had my Titan delivered in August of 2005, and was looking forward to bulking that fall and early winter.
Well, you make plans and then life happens. I was in a terrible car accident...some of the highlights:
- Tore all three ligaments in my right ankle
- Fractured my right foot
- Tore the meniscus tendon in my left knee
- Pulled my right arm out of the shoulder socket (apparently from holding onto the steering wheel)
- Totally laid up for about 4 weeks... I couldn't even get around on crutches because of my shoulder...
Fortunately, I did not have head and back injuries.

Now for some (lame) excuses...
I was getting back to things (lightly) in the summer of 2006, and my wife and I had our first baby at the end of September. The ensuing couple of months were caring for the baby and my wife after her C-section.
This winter/spring/summer were tremendous for my career but awful for my health.
I got a position as Chief Financial Officer of an environmental technology company. I had been working like a maniac since March trying to raise major capital for the company.... The end is in sight and I have begun to try and add some balance back in my life. My weight peaked around 225lbs and I have no idea what my body fat was... I recently had my body fat measured and the results were very sobering. Not only had I climbed to 17% body fat, according to my trainer's calculations, I had also lost about 9lbs. of muscle! :mad: I have a *lot* of work to do.


Planned interruption in my program:
Going to the Caymans (Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac) for some scuba diving December 22 - January 6.
I will eat as clean as I can and consider it a maintenance time period. I do not plan on shopping and cooking while we are there. I will just eat as clean as I can off the menu... fish, veggies, etc...

It lends itself two two phases in my program and therefore two sets of goals.

Phase 1 Goals: November 1 - December 21
- Slow, clean, cut (I want to add muscle as I drop body fat)
- Target weight 205-208 (Depends upon how I can add muscle as I drop the fat)
- Target body fat: ~13-14%
- Workouts will be more geared toward elevated heart rate as I need to get my general fitness level back to a reasonable place
- Weights will probably be moderate with higher reps during phase 1

Phase 2 goals: January 7 - March 31
- Slow, clean, cut (I want to add muscle as I drop body fat)
- Target weight 190-195 (Depends upon how I can add muscle as I drop the fat)
- Target body fat: <10%
- In phase 2, I am going to start adding weight to the bar and lowering the reps a bit, I really want to get my strength back

I hope to post here regularly as to what I am eating and doing in the gym.
First, I will post general information about what I was doing in November.
I will follow with getting caught up on food logs. Once I catch up, I will begin posting food logs and training logs.

There are vast resources on this site and I am glad to be back...
I consult with my personal trainer weekly to overview my entire regimen but I look to my fellow JSF members to critique what I am doing as there is always room for improvement....

Please participate as I look to get back to where I was, and beyond!

As a quick general overview my training regimen will look like this:
Monday - Back and Traps (Morning weights) (Basketball at lunch)
Tuesday - Core and Abs (Lunchtime weights)
Wednesday - Chest and Shoulders (Lunchtime weights)
Thursday - (Basketball at lunch)
Friday - Quads and Hams and Calves (Lunchtime weights)
Saturday - Biceps and Triceps (Lunchtime weights)
Sunday - Rest

I will post more detailed logs on training days.

It is my personality type that makes it so I simply *CANT* run on a treadmill for cardio. So, I play hoops twice a week for some interval training, and when I workout with weights I wear a heart rate monitor and strive to keep my heart rate between 120 and 170.

Welcome back to the fold!

'Chef

Welcome back to the fold!

'Chef

Thanks!

Had a great workout today.

Warmup:
- lateral raises - 1x20
- flat BB bench - 1x20

Flat BB bench 3sets 8-12 reps

DB military press 3 sets 8-12 reps

DB incline press 3 sets 8-12 reps

DB lateral raises 3 sets 8-12 reps

Superset: 3 sets 8-12 reps
- standing cable flys
- DB bent over rear lateral raises

Threw in some leg lifts and crunches as a superset during first 4 exercises.

This is the first day that I seriously started tracking everything I ate and drank.
The calories are too low and I would like some feedback on my Macro ratios and, well, everything about what I ate....



EDIT: If you are new to my journal, please do not take these early food logs to heart. I have improved my macro ratios and the all around balance of my dietary regimen. For a better representation of what I am doing now, please fast forward to page 5 of my journal. The food logs there are way better.... At this point in my program, I was not consistently getting enough calories....



.

Calories still too low.
I tweaked it a little to reduce the carbs a little and bring up the fats.

As always, advice is appreciated!

This seems to be getting more in line with where I want to be.

Thursdays are not weight training days for me. However, I got some excellent interval training while playing basketball at lunch today.
According to my heart rate monitor my HR ranged between 100-160 with an average of 133. I'm pretty happy with an average HR of 133 for 60 minutes... *MUCH* better than running on a treadmill (for me anyway).

My eating will be slightly off tonight. Instead of meals at 2:30, 4:30, 7:00, and 9:00, I will have a meal at 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00 with the 6:00 meal being larger than normal for me... It will be on the order of an 8oz serving of salmon or filet mignon and 2 cups of broccoli or green beans.
However, I think that the 3 meal spread (instead of 4) will help with the overall picture.

My eating will be slightly off tonight. Instead of meals at 2:30, 4:30, 7:00, and 9:00, I will have a meal at 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00 with the 6:00 meal being larger than normal for me... It will be on the order of an 8oz serving of salmon or filet mignon and 2 cups of broccoli or green beans.
However, I think that the 3 meal spread (instead of 4) will help with the overall picture.

OK. So last night's dinner was not as bad as I thought.
I had an 8oz filet mignon
A small serving of asparagus
A wedge salad (a hunk of iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato, and some vinagarette dressing on the side)

Unless nutritiondata.com is lying to me, I fared pretty well...

My calories ended up being lower than I wanted and the percentage of calories from fat got a little high, but it is back to the regularly scheduled program today.

Meeting my trainer today to do his "core and ab routine."

The core abs ab workout was like nothing I have done before.
We used a balance platform and an exercise ball.
Most of the exercises were to challenge the stabilizer muscles in the legs and arms.

I think it is going to be awesome for getting the strength back in my wrecked ankle.

Next time, I think I will follow it with some traditional ab exercises.

Both my trainer and I forgot about the BF measurement until after the workout... We're scheduled for next Tuesday...

Calories got a little low again.
In addition, my trainer wants me to up my carbs significantly.
He wanted me to go all the way to 30/50/20 (P/C/F)

I think I will first tweak to 40/40/20 and monitor progress.

Nice workout.
It has been quite a while since I did arms in the same workout.
Got a monster pump though....

Warmup:
- 1 set standing curl with EZ curl 20 reps
- 1 set skull crushers 20 reps

4 sets stading curls with EZ curl bar 8 -12 reps

4 sets close-grip bench press 8-12 reps

3 sets DB hammer curls 8 - 12 reps

3 sets skull crushers (hammer grip) 8 - 12 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets Concentration Curls 8 - 12 reps
- 3 sets Tricep Pushdowns 8 - 12 reps

I was looking forward to my first cheat meal...
I had a nice Italian style dinner last night at a company Christmas party. Other than the veal being breaded (That's why I only ate two ounces..) I think I fared pretty well and certainly did not "go overboard."

Today is a rest day (no gym) and I hope to get out to the new house today to check on progress...The granite is in and the master bath is supposed to be coming together. If I have time, I hope to start posting some pics.

I need help hitting my traps with different angles....advice please!

With a small time crunch I had to superset a little more than normal this morning. It ended up being a good thing because I had a hard time getting my heart rate up into the target range at first. That is also why I did more reps than normal.

Warmup:
- Cable pulldowns - 2x20
- DB shrugs - 2x20

Superset: 3sets 12-15 reps
- Cable Pulldowns
- DB Shrugs

Cable Rows (Close Grip) 3 sets 12-15 reps

BB Shrugs (Behind the Back) 3 sets 12-15 reps

Superset: 3 sets 8-12 reps
- Bent Over One-arm DB Rows
- Standing front-raise-under-the-chin-things with EZ-Curl Bar

Well, I'm finishing up my PW shake and Oatmeal....time to get to work.

Good luck digitalnebula. Your progress so far is encouraging to me, as I'm in the middle of a comeback myself!

Thanks Burn. I propose we keep tabs on eachother.
Nothing beats having an "accountability coach"!!!

:tucool:

Well, my eating was clean and my macros were good, but I definitely did not get enough calories. I made the mistake of going to WalMart for groceries on a Sunday afternoon... I hope I will never make that mistake again. It was so freakin' busy!!! Oh yea, and there were 4 (out of 43) checkout lanes open! AAAAHHH!!!!! I ended up missing a meal all together.

Really nice day for food.
Everything worked out really nice. The only thing I would tweak would be to bring up the carbs just a hair to begin approching that 40/40/20 Macro split. I hope to get things dialed in over the next couple of weeks....

Time for bed...

I'll tell you. Almost nothing beats getting 9 hours of sleep. Especially for a raging insomniac like myself....

The wife took the baby to Breckenridge to have a couple of "girls days" up there.

I took an Advil PM at 9:00 PM. Turned the phones off.... and holy crap did I sleep!

Feeling awesome and looking forward to a core and ab routine with my trainer after work today.

Met with the trainer at 6:00 after work for his core and abs routine.
Before the workout we remembered to do the bodyfat measurement.
It came in at 14.2%...YYYeeeaaaahhhhh!!!!!! :spaz:

Then we got into the workout. It was a gooood one!
My average heart rate was nearly 140 for the 45 minute routine.
We did a bunch of stabilization type exercises using an exercise ball, a balancing platform thingy, and one of those squishy pancake looking things that you balance on one foot with. This time it was different... we added some dumbells and cables to the equation. (When I have more time, I will try to add videos of what we are doing.) And for the last 10 minutes, I requested that we blast my abs...and did we ever. He absolutely killed them in about 7 or 8 minutes by supersetting weighted cable crunches, those lift your legs and butt things, and weighted torso twists on the cables... I was gasping for air and my HR exceeded 170... It was awesome... (Yes, I am a masochist :evil:)

Anyhoo, I just finished dinner and am looking foward to my bedtime protein shake. I hope I can sleep like I did last night! It is my last night as a bachelor... the wife and baby return tomorrow from Breckenridge...

I'm jealous of the sleep you are getting. I can never seem to get more than 6. I might have to try a Tylonel PM sometime. Glad to see the cut is still going well. Keep it up!

I'm jealous of the sleep you are getting. I can never seem to get more than 6. I might have to try a Tylonel PM sometime. Glad to see the cut is still going well. Keep it up!

I like Advil PM. It helps with the swelling in my bad ankle and shoulder and also helps me stay asleep. I am usually the type of insomniac that wakes up at 2 AM and can't fall back asleep because I can't turn my brain off...

My usual routine got a little screwed up yesterday.
1. I worked out after work instead of at lunch
2. I had a morning meeting that WOULD NOT END!! Mainly because this moron on the conference call would not shut his hole. I think because he liked the sound of his voice and wanted to sound important....:bang:
The result... missed a meal in the morning and ended up short on my calories by about 300 or so (which proportinately reduced the P/C/F). Everything else went well for the food though, good macros, just not enough of each...

Well, that was yesterday. Today has started off right.
Oh yea, time to get some oats....

Awesome job!! 3 lbs and 3% in 1 month. You are gaining mass on a cut, thats the only possible explanation. :tucool: :bb:

Awesome job!! 3 lbs and 3% in 1 month. You are gaining mass on a cut, thats the only possible explanation. :tucool: :bb:

Thanks Loop....
I need to get the exact numbers from Chris (my trainer), but he said I had a gain of something like 5lbs. of lean mass.
Obviously it is not all muscle though.... I started incorporating Creatine and L-Glutamine back into my supplementation about the same time as the previous BF measurement... So I'm sure a decent portion of the "lean mass" gain is water... But I was thrilled with the fat loss....

That being said, I have seen the difference in the mirror and what I am lifiting in the gym... Me likey!! :nod:

O.K. Got my butt kicked a little today.
I'm thinking my caloric deficit screw ups caught me a little today.
I struggled to keep my HR up and felt a little weak by the time I got to incline presses... I added a little volume to try and make up for the perceived weakness...

Warmups:
- 1x15 lateral raises
- 1x15 BB incline press

3 sets BB military press (Smith Machine) 10-12 reps

3 sets BB bench press 8-12 reps

4 sets lateral DB raises 10-15 reps

4 sets DB incline bench press 8-12 reps

Superset: 3 sets 8-12 reps
- Standing cable flys
- DB bent-over rear lateral raises

1 set arnold presses 8 reps (Because I felt like a total wuss....):o

Going to try and up the calories and carbs a hair the rest of the week to see if that helps... I got leg day on Friday and need to be ready!

Wow! Way to come back from a hardcore car wreck!

Wow! Way to come back from a hardcore car wreck!

Thanks man. :tucool:
There were some very depressing times... and it has changed the way I do many things. I brush my teeth left handed now!

I am very grateful to be back to where I am and able to do most of the things I used to... It will really be interesting to see how my body reacts when I turn up the volume on the weights in January...

Got my calories up nicely and preserved some good macros.
Very pleased with yesterday's menu...
The Cal/P/C/F was 2418/265.5/221/51.5
The ratios were: P/C/F = 43.9%/36.6%/19.2%

With the caloric deficit screw-ups I have had the past several days, yesterday felt like a refeed...

Question: Are raisins a useful carb source?
I tossed in a serving to try and help get my carbs up, but I was wondering if they were junk.... they have a ton of sugar, but so do most fruits...

Just curious.

Well, off to make some oats so I can have something to eat during this 9:00 conference call... I don't want that same missing a meal BS that happened on Tuesday...

Calories looked good.
Macros...so so. My fat got a little higher than I wanted.

Wanted to up the calories a little again to get me ready for leg day tomorrow....

I put up an avatar tonight.
It is my daughter when she was about 4 days old.
Those are my hands... I can't believe how small she was...

Talked to my builder this morning. More delays.
Fuck...
I had a perfect plan in place.
- Give the person moving into the ranch house a free months rent for January
- Let her corrdinate the move of the majority of our stuff (namely the big stuff) with Two Men and a Truck movers while the wife and I are in the Caymans.
- Finish moving over the first couple of weeks in January when we get back

Well, that's all shot to hell.

Stan, (my builder) now says they won't finish until the first week of Jan....

I'm getting tired of my money going down the drink toward interest while I am sitting on the sidelines unable to enjoy the place...

Hope to pool up all this fury for leg day today.

My pent up fury inspired workout paid off... I had a killer leg workout.

Warmup:
5 minute walk on treadmill to get the heart moving
1 set leg curls 20 reps
1 set leg extensions 20 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets Leg extensions 12-15 reps
- 3 sets Lunges with DBs 20 strides (10 each leg)

Superset:
- 3 sets leg curls 12-15 reps
- 3 sets DB sort of sumo squat thingy 15 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets Smith machine calf raises on platform 20 reps
- 3 sets BB squat 10-12 reps

3 sets Dead Lift 10-12 reps

3 sets step-ups 10 reps each leg

Most power guys will say, WTF, when they look at my traing log...
My trainer has me pre-fatiguing my quads and hams before doing the squat and dead power moves. My knee and especially my ankle try to get in the way of good form (due to limitations in the range of motion) and he says we do this to lower the weight required to hammer my legs during the deads and squats...He says in another month or so, we will start with them as we begin to ramp up the weight... I certainly can't wait!

Question: Are raisins a useful carb source?

Fruit sugars are complex carbs, so they're definitely useful. I live by the belief that one cannot eat too many fruits or veggies. Gotta be careful with dried fruits, though ~ as some have bad sugars added.

Fruit sugars are complex carbs, so they're definitely useful. I live by the belief that one cannot eat too many fruits or veggies. Gotta be careful with dried fruits, though ~ as some have bad sugars added.

Interesting.. and good to know.
I put raisins, bananas, and blueberries into the diet to get my carbs up...

This is the closest I have gotten to the 40/40/20 macro split... It's pretty much balls on.

I cut the calories back a little today...
Cal/P/C/F = 2127/217/206/48

Yet another unbelievable pump when I did them together....

Warmup:
- Standing DB curls 20 reps
- Standing tricep pushdowns 15 reps

3 sets Standing EZ-bar curls 10-12 reps

3 sets close grip BB bench press 10-12 reps

3 sets standing DB hammer curls 10-12 reps

3 sets standing tricep pushdowns 10-12 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets Seated DB curls 8-10 reps
- 3 sets skull crushers with hammer grip 8-10 reps

Had a great cheat meal last night.
The wife and I went for some chicken fajitas...
One good thing was that the entree had calories listed on the menu of 680.
I did not quite finish the meal, but with chips and salsa thrown in, I'm sure I was in the 800 calorie neighborhood.
By forgetting my nighttime shake, I think my calories for the day came in under 2000.... too low.

Moral of the story. yesterday ended up being pretty cobbled together... I need to plan my Saturdays better when I am having my cheat meal...

Woke up feeling a little off... I'm feeling the hints of a sore throat.
However, once I got moving in the gym, I started feeling way better!

I decided to reduce the rep range a little this week to start guaging where my strength is... Man it felt awesome to rip off 8 reps with 185 on the bench...felt goooood.

Warmup:
- 1 set DB lateral and front raises (mixed) 20 reps
- 1 set BB bench press 20 reps
- 1 light set BB bench press 15 reps
- 1 set light BB military press 15 reps

4 sets BB bench press 8-10 reps

4 sets BB military press (smith machine) 8-10 reps

3 sets DB incline press 8-12 reps

3 sets DB lateral raises 8-10 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets cable flys 8-10 reps
- 3 sets DB bent-over rear lateral raises 8-10 reps

Ok. Here are my first progress pics.
On the left is a pic taken when I was in Curacao in August. Probably the highest weight I have ever been... around 225 and probably in the 18-20% BF range...
On the right is one taken this Saturday (My trainer measured me at 14.2% BF last Tuesday)

Here are a couple more.....
Before I celebrate too much though... the second one shows I have plenty of work still to do!!!
(I took these last Tuesday night right after my BF measurement and core/ab routine with my trainer)

Holy cow... You look big, especially for being 6'5". Are you trying to cut right now, or just put on muscle with minimal fat gain? Or "culk" as they say :P

Holy cow... You look big, especially for being 6'5". Are you trying to cut right now, or just put on muscle with minimal fat gain? Or "culk" as they say :P

Thanks Double!!

My main goal is to drop the body fat. I want to get down in the 8-10% neighborhood by spring. I have managed to add lean mass while dropping about 8lbs. of fat over the last month... Of course a lot of the lean mass gain is water...(I put creatine back into my supplementation)...

I have been running a mild caloric deficit with high protein in hopes of pulling off a "culk" as you put it. :nod:

I ended up playing basketball for an hour longer than normal yesterday...
It was fun, but I missed a meal and my hip started acting up... getting old sucks.
The doc told me that I may be getting arthritis in my right hip (yet another fun side-effect of my car accident). :(

Anyhoo, the calories were a bit low, but my macros worked out nicely...
Cal/P/C/F = 1890/215/175/36 = X/45.5%/37%/17%

I woke up this morning to a scale reading of 208. Maybe some dehydration from hoops? Maybe got rid of a little more of the bad stuff...
I'm going to do another BF measurement when I get back from the Caymans the week of Jan 7-11 to see where I am after two weeks of scuba, fun, sun, and "maintenance"...

Great transformation so far! Keep up the good work! Also - your avatar is awesome!

Nice thing about arthritis is that it can be overcome. My dad used to have serious arthritis of the hands. He cleaned up his diet, for the most part, and drank specific blends of fresh vegetable juices, and over the course of a few years, his arthritis has been completely eliminated. Fresh vegetable juice is powerful stuff!

Great transformation so far! Keep up the good work! Also - your avatar is awesome!

Thanks IROC!!!
What part of Wisconsin are you in?
The wife and I have a cottage on the Mississippi river in Stoddard (near La Crosse).

Nice thing about arthritis is that it can be overcome. My dad used to have serious arthritis of the hands. He cleaned up his diet, for the most part, and drank specific blends of fresh vegetable juices, and over the course of a few years, his arthritis has been completely eliminated. Fresh vegetable juice is powerful stuff!

Maybe I can get the recipe to his potion...
I fear the crazy chemicals put out by the drug companies... My doctor wanted to put me on a mild arthritis drug. I refused to take it because the potential side effects were way worse than just living with the achy hip...

Worked out with the trainer last night after work...
Had a learning experience...
1. I love power cleans. What an awesome compound movement. Legs, back, traps, core, everything!
2. Doing back and traps together is a mistake. My grip was *SO* blown by midway through the workout that even straps were not enough to help toward the end.
3. I am going to reorganize my split for when I get back in January. I don't want my grip to be the limiting factor in my training regimen.

Warmup:
- 5 minutes on the treadmill to get the heart moving
- 1 set power cleans 15 reps

4 sets power cleans 8-10 reps

3 sets BB stiff-leg deadlifts 8-10 reps

3 sets DB one arm shrugs (alternating) 10 reps

3 sets cable pulldowns 8-10 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets straight arm pull/push down things on the cables 6-10 reps
- 3 sets cable rows 6-10 reps

The overall volume looks smallish but it totally kicked my ass!!!

Well, calories were a little low again.
I forgot to take a couple things to work yesterday, so my afternoon snack was a little light.
Still got good macros though.
Cal/P/C/F = 2078/237.5/185/42.5 = X/45.7%/35.6%/18.4%


As always, I would love some feedback on my dietary regimen...Especially when it comes to timing of the macros.
- I'm wondering if spreading the carbs out throughout the day is going to be a problem.
- I'm also wondering if I should be doing alternating low-carb and refeed days.
- Or are these type of adjustments personal decisions that are being made by individuals because it is what works best for them

Maybe I can get the recipe to his potion...

Google "vegetable juice recipes". vegetables and fruits each have different benefits. Horse radish clears the sinuses, cucumber juice is a natural diuretic, melons are cleansers, carrots are natures "multi-vitamins", garlic encourages detoxification, and so on. Fresh juice does wonders for the health!

Warmup:
- Crunches 20 reps
- Hyperextensions 15 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets Weighted cable crunches 15 reps
- 3 sets point legs and butt up and out thingys 6-10 reps

3 sets cable swing thingys (like swinging a baseball bat) 10 reps per side

3 sets DB side bends 10 reps per side

3 sets weighted legs lifts 12-15 reps

3 sets leg raises (in the slings) 10-15 reps

Kinda boring just doing abs.... another thing I'm going to mix up when I change my split for January.

Thanks IROC!!!
What part of Wisconsin are you in?
The wife and I have a cottage on the Mississippi river in Stoddard (near La Crosse).

We are in the northeast part of the state. We are probably about 3 hours away from Stoddard. We don't get out that way very often, but it is a beautiful area. Right on the Mississippi!!!!! That sounds awesome!:tucool:

- 3 sets point legs and butt up and out thingys 6-10 reps



:lol:

:lol:

Yeah... No idea what they are called. :o

They absolutely maul my upper abs though.

Seems to be the theme of the week, but macros good again, calories too low...

I met a client in the morning and grabbed a non-fat no sugar carmel macchiato at Starbucks. The meeting pushed out my second meal and put me in no mans land for the third. I pulled my workout earlier in hopes of getting it in after the gym....

Well, I worked out and forgot. I got the great idea to try and cram in some Christmas shopping on my lunch hour.

Once again, a missed meal and low calories.

Cal/P/C/F = 1969/237/159/40 = X/48.2%/32.3%/18.3%

Well, basketball got scratched today... bunch of tables on the floor for a Christmas luncheon or something... I guess it will give my hip a needed break and rest for leg day tomorrow.

Soooooo, I ran out to the house to check on progress instead.
Finally, it looked like some things were really getting done...
Backsplashes in the kitchen, mosaic in the master bath, paint guys working on trim, faux finishes going up in the entry, stone on the great room fireplace, stone being finished on the exterior pillars, etc...

Good stuff. I'm almost afraid to leave while things are cranking...

Well, calories were a little low again.
I forgot to take a couple things to work yesterday, so my afternoon snack was a little light.
Still got good macros though.
Cal/P/C/F = 2078/237.5/185/42.5 = X/45.7%/35.6%/18.4%


As always, I would love some feedback on my dietary regimen...Especially when it comes to timing of the macros.
- I'm wondering if spreading the carbs out throughout the day is going to be a problem.
- I'm also wondering if I should be doing alternating low-carb and refeed days.
- Or are these type of adjustments personal decisions that are being made by individuals because it is what works best for them

You're getting good results so temper what I say with that, granted its a lot easier to go from the HIGH teens to LOW teens than from the LOW teens to SINGLE digits. If I were you and felt I needed a change, this is what I would do:

#1 Yes, going by your 12/18 sample day your kcals are too low. You're 209 lbs AND have a very good looking healthy amount of muscle too feed. Personally, on a day that I workout if I were cutting I'd consume about 1900 AND not even bother counting kcals from things like green beans and broccoli..and I weigh 160 with an LBM in the low 140's. Yes I eat them, loads of them..but for nutrients not macros.

#2 Timing and Quality of carbs. EEk! Sorry I see no quality carbs in that sample day. The Kashi oatmeal maybe, I'm not familiar with it. If it only had 4 grams or so of refined sugars I might eat it if I were bulking but not cutting. If it has more I'd call it junkfood.

Tortillas are generally junkfood. My suspicion is that out of the 18 grams of carbs probably 10 or so are dietary fiber if they are calling them "low carb". and then you shouldn't even be counting those kcals since they are fiber and not "net" carbs lowering your kcal count even further (going back to #1). so you get all the crap that comes with processed food and only a few grams of "real" carbs.

Rice, oats, potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes...real carbs!! put them post workout..like 50-90 NET grams of them in your 9:00 pm meal for a guy your size. you've got too feed your muscles, you aren't a tiny guy.

move your 9:00pm shake to immediately post workout and move your meal to 9:00 pm. PWO you want a quickly digestable source of protein and carbs, a shake is great. the skim milk is ok but the casein in milk isn't quickly digestable so make sure your powder is whey (ie fast acting). the 13g of lactose from the milk is good but your carb serving for this liquid meal is more along the lines of 50g minimum. throw some dex in there or waxy maize too.

#3 so you've moved your carbs to primarily PWO which is where they belong. Up your healthy fats during the day! Where are your Omega 3's?? Flax, fatty fish, udos. If you're gonna eat almonds (which are great btw) a decent serving for a guy your size is 25 almonds not 5, combine that with an adequate amount of protein and you've got a meal.

------
I'm writing this on a friends laptop so I can't really review it easily and I apologize that it may be poorly organized.

couple more things I noticed:

-eat more real foods.

-velveeta... :confused: seriously.? I eat cheese everyday when cutting, but I call it what it is, a FAT with great proteins to boot, so I eat a 1+ ounce serving as part of a protein/fat meal with chicken, pork tenderloin, turkey or whatever. I think it probably tastes much better than velveeta, has more nutrients and is REAL FOOD. don't eat it PWO though.

-why not fresh green beans?

-tuna and broccoli is a great start but isn't a meal--add a healthy fat--or some CHEESE!! :drool:

I have a tendency to be a little bold when I don't review and edit my musings, so plz don't be put off by anything I've said here, I'm just a lil' "Merk"ish naturally...don't tell him I said that...:neener:

You're getting good results so temper what I say with that, granted its a lot easier to go from the HIGH teens to LOW teens than from the LOW teens to SINGLE digits. If I were you and felt I needed a change, this is what I would do:

I have a tendency to be a little bold when I don't review and edit my musings, so plz don't be put off by anything I've said here, I'm just a lil' "Merk"ish naturally...don't tell him I said that...:neener:


Man. Good stuff Loop!!!
This is exactly the kind of information I have been looking for.

Diet and especially timing of carbohydrates is something I am really uneducated in.
Also, maybe a 40/40/20 macro split is not best for cutting.

Should I be on a low carb day then high carb day rotation?
Or should I try to stick to a good consistent daily routine?
I have SSSOOOO much to learn. The last time I got to single digits I did it all wrong. I lost too much muscle as I went from 10% to 8%.

Again, thanks for the help. :tucool:
I love getting assistance from someone who really knows the game.
From your transformation, it is obvious that you do, you got totally shredded this year!

I want to get everything really dialed in when I get back from the Caymans in early Jan... Please stop by from time to time in Jan and feel free to help get me dialed in.
BTW, I am very receptive to, and even look forward, to constructive criticizm. Without it, I would be piloting my ship with a blindfold on!

Got some great advice from Loop today.
Awesome tips about macro timing and the fact that some of the things I am eating are just garbage...

The advice will not be reflected in yesterday's food log...which I am posting now.

Diet seems to be everyones downfall. I hope your new plan goes well for you. I'm just trying to maximize my protein intake for now. I want to try SGX starting April :)

No problem buddy :D Yeah those are the same kind of mistakes that I made last year. And I know that we've BOTH read here on JSF to EAT the healthy fats and put the carbs PWO. But reading it amongst all the other stuff we see here and takng it to heart and actually implementing it into our diets are two different things.

I want to try SGX starting April :)

You guys want a comprehensive, complete, foolproof protocol I cannot recommend Swolecat enough...

No guesswork, no anxiety, no bullshit. The man will have you shredding fat on a 24 hour basis.

Out of curiosity.. How is that Black Powder stuff working out for ya? Thats one of those nitric oxide booster things right?

Out of curiosity.. How is that Black Powder stuff working out for ya? Thats one of those nitric oxide booster things right?

I like it. A lot.
I make a preworkout cocktail that includes a scoop of the black powder, a teaspoon of L-Glutamine, and a teaspoon of creatine.

Get huge pumps and it gives me the expolsivity on my heavier sets.
I did legs today, which includes dead lifts of course... and after my PWO shower, I simply had to flex in the mirror because my traps were absolutely blown up (from deads)... even had some veins popping. (Which for me is pretty rare).

Now I'm sure that some would argue that it is all mental...but I like it anyway.

Had an awesome leg workout...

Warmup:
- 1 set body weight squats 20 reps
- 1 set bar-only deadlifts 15 reps

4 sets squats 6-10 reps

4 sets deadlifts 3-10 reps

3 sets calf raises 12-15 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets leg extensions 8-12 reps
- 3 sets leg curls 8-12 reps

Superset:
- 3 sets hip adduction 10-12 reps
- 3 sets hip abduction 10-12 reps

I put 205lbs on the bar for one last heavy set of deadlifts and got 3 really good reps. I wanted to see if my right shoulder could handle a heavier load... it did. And now I'm *REALLY* looking forward to ramping up the weight in January....

For those who stop by to visit my thread, a quick word to let you know that I'll be taking my family to the Cayman Islands for Christmas and New Years... Of course if you have read my story, you already knew that. ;)

I doubt that I will be posting while I am there.

SSSSoooooo, until January 7th, here is to hoping everyone has some great and safe holidays!

I'll be sure to say hi to the turtles and spotted eagle rays for you!! :cool:

-Michael

For those who stop by to visit my thread, a quick word to let you know that I'll be taking my family to the Cayman Islands for Christmas and New Years... Of course if you have read my story, you already knew that. ;)

I doubt that I will be posting while I am there.

SSSSoooooo, until January 7th, here is to hoping everyone has some great and safe holidays!

I'll be sure to say hi to the turtles and spotted eagle rays for you!! :cool:

-Michael

Happy hoildays to you and your family! Have an enjoyable vacation!:tu:

For those who stop by to visit my thread, a quick word to let you know that I'll be taking my family to the Cayman Islands for Christmas and New Years... Of course if you have read my story, you already knew that. ;)

I doubt that I will be posting while I am there.

SSSSoooooo, until January 7th, here is to hoping everyone has some great and safe holidays!

I'll be sure to say hi to the turtles and spotted eagle rays for you!! :cool:

-Michael

Whoah! Awesome vacation! Have a blast!

Had a great time in the Cayman over the holidays!!!
Good weather, good scuba diving, just plain 'ol good times....

However, after two weeks away, it is good to be home as well. I have really been looking forward to getting back to the program...

I am intentionally not going to step on a scale this week. I do not want that lying contraption to try and discourage me. I know I put on a couple pounds down there but how much of it is water and how much of it is real fat is not yet possible to guage... So, I will do my first weigh in on Saturday after several days of eating clean and follow with a body fat measurement in a couple weeks.

Edit: I couldn't stand it. Got on the scale this morning...207

While in the Caymans, I decided to go forward with my original plans.
Starting today, I will continue my slow cut and shift gears in my weight training from the endurance program I was doing for November and December and go to one geared toward strength and power....

What can I say, I'm superficial like that. I like challenging myself to lift more and more...

I have also found myself falling in love with the power lifting movements during the month of December. Cleans, squats, deadlifts, etc...
I have never really done power-lifting (or heavy leg lifting for that matter) before in my life. During high school and college basketball I was always told not to train my legs heavy as it would make me slower and take a bite out of my vertical leap. (True or not, I don't know and I don't care, its in the past)

I am going to approach the power lifting movements just like I am approaching my cut. I'm going to progress nice and slowly in order to do it right. Being a newbie to REAL powerlifting means that I still have much to learn about form and technique. I also need to guage how my ankle and shoulder are going to handle an escalating load....

My short-term goal is still to dip under the 10% body fat number. I'm hoping to get there by the end of March or in that neighborhood.

Hope everyone had great holidays as well! See you on the forums...

Had an awesome shoulder workout this morning.

Warmup
- 2 sets lateral and front raises 15 reps

Smith machine military press
80lb x 12
120lb x 10
150lb x 7
170lb x 3
140lb x 6

DB Lateral raises
15's x 10
20's x 12
25's x 10
25's x 10 (last two were cheat reps)

DB Rear lateral raises
12.5's x 15
15's x 12
15's x 10

DB Arnold presses
40's x 7 .....totally smoked me.....

It's official.... I have the grip strength of a 12 year old girl...

My traps got cheated today because by the time I got to shrugs my grip was BLOWN! I was even using lifting straps! I will need to go to hooks for shrugs next time.

Warmup:
- BB deadlifts bar x 15
- Lateral and Front raises with plates 10's x 10

Power Cleans
95 x 10
115 x 10
135 x 8
155 x 4
165 x 3 (Missed the 4th)

I was totally sucking wind at this point.

BB front raises
bar x 10
65 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 9
95 x 7

BB Shrugs
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 8 (Grip failure)
225 x 6 (Grip failure)
225 x 6 (Grip failure)

Weighted Cable Crunches
60 x 15
80 x 15

Cable Swings
15 x 10

I was absolutely dying at this point and decided to stop...I was past the point of diminishing returns.

How's that meal plan comin' buddy?

How's that meal plan comin' buddy?

Thanks for the follow up.... Keep me on track...

Monday and Tuesday looked pretty much like my old menu...but I ended up relying on supplements too much as I have not yet taken the proper time needed to get a stock of foods cooked.
I am changing some things up this week as I look to integrate whole grain brown rice and potatoes into my diet instead of those carb sense tortillas as carb sources. Also going to get some real cheese in there. I finally got to the grocery Monday night and need to get to cooking.

I have not yet done the calculations to see how the Cal/P/C/F is going to work out, but I'm thinking a daily menu may look something like:

Typical (workout at lunch) day:
7:30 AM
1 cup egg whites
4oz red potatoes
1/2 oz 2% milk cheese

9:00 AM BCAA's

10:00 AM
6oz chicken breast
1/2 cup whole grain brown rice
1/2 oz 2% milk cheese
Fatty Acid Blend (Omega 3/6/9, CLA&MCT)
1 cup cauliflower

11:30 AM - Pre-Workout cocktail (Black Powder, Creatine, L-Glutamine)
11:35 - 12:45 Workout

1:00 PM
Protein Shake (35g)
1 Packet Oatmeal
1 or 2 tbsp. Natural Peanut Butter

3:30 PM
4oz 96% lean ground beef (Or a can of tuna)
4oz red potatoes
16 almonds
1 medium banana

6:00 PM
6 oz Tilapia
1/2 cup whole grain brown rice
2 oz avocado
1 cup broccoli

9:00 PM
8oz skim milk
1 scoop protein powder (casein/whey blend)
1/4 cup blueberries

It's going to look something like that. Like I said, I need to eventually add everything up when I get the time... I'm sure some tweaking will happen once I see if I am getting enough of the macros....I went to one of those BMR calculator sites a couple weeks back and found that my BMR=2050. With an activity multiplier of 1.55 I get 3177.5. At a 15% deficit, I get 2700 calories. That will be my target.

Something that became clear this morning....I'm looking to do deadlifts today...but I'm sore from power cleans.... Conclusion: I need to change my workout split.

I have joined both the 350lb deadlift challenge and the 300lb squat challenge. In order to give myself the best chance at getting good gains on my deadlift, I will be putting them on back day instead of leg day and need to get them away from trap day because of power cleans. I want to give proper attention to each of the powerlifting type movements...

The best I could come up with is this:
Monday - Back - Deadlifts, Rows, Pullups
Tuesday - Chest and Abs - BB Bench, DB incline, Cable flys, Ab stuff...
Wednesday - Traps and Triceps - Power Cleans, BB Shrugs, BB front raises, Tricep stuff...
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Legs - Squats, SL Deads, Calf Raises, Leg Ext, Leg Curl, hip Add/Abd.
Saturday - Shoulders and Biceps - Military Press, Lateral Raises, Rear Lat. Raises, Curl stuff...
Sunday - Rest

I'll miss doing arms on the same day, but it is the only way I could get a split that will let me seperate things the way I want to.... Deads away from power cleans away from squats. Shoulders away from chest and traps. Although I could do Shoulders and arms on Saturday as I have more time on the weekend....hmmmm :confused:

Well, today was the final confirmation I needed for changing my split.
Todays workout totally destroyed me and the volume in doing chest and back on the same day is just total insanity...unless you are on crystal meth or PCP...

Deadlift (My first lifts in going for the 350 club)
45 x 12
95 x 12
135 x 8
185 x 6
205 x 4 (With hooks) (Grip still suffering from yesterday)
225 x 8 (With hooks)
225 x 8 (With hooks)

BB Bench Press
45 x 15
135 x 10
165 x 8
195 x 6
205 x 4
185 x 4

I was fatiguing at this point....

Superset:
Cable Rows (Close Grip) / DB Incline Press
100 x 12 / 40 x 12
120 x 10 / 50 x 10
140 x 8 / 60 x 10
140 x 7 / 60 x 10

Superset:
DB Rows / Cable Flys
40 x 10 / 20 x 10
50 x 10 / 25 x 8

Diminishing returns hit...I literally felt sick at this point. :cry:

I woke up with a sore throat today. If it gets worse tomorrow morning, I'm going to the doc. Maybe a little sickness was contributing to my fatuige...?:blank:

One benefit of doing these exercises all together is that I felt like a freaking monster in the mirror when I was done....

Mirrors are great for pumps, aren't they?? :D

ating plan sounds solid, and seems like enough to keep you full, too!

Mirrors are great for pumps, aren't they?? :D

ating plan sounds solid, and seems like enough to keep you full, too!


Yeah...I look around the forums and my cutting diet looks a lot like some folks' bulking diet... Oh well, I guess there are some advantages to being 200lbs...:cool:

That is until I went to get into my rental car last time I was in Beijing....:lol: It looked like an experimental yoga exercise...

Well its official. I'm sick.
Felt a little off on Tuesday. Got totally gasses about 1/3 the way through yesterday's workout, and played about 20 minutes of hoops today and was completely fatigued...
I just feel like absolute ass....

My throat felt better this morning and I thought I was beating it. But after hoops, on the way up the stairs to my office, I caught myself huffing and dragging myself up the last flight....

There are few things I hate worse in life than being sick. :mad: Probably got some kinda funk on the effing airplane...:rolleyes: friggin disease bags with wings those things are...

I have had a good run though. The last time I was legitimately sick was back in April when I got the flu....

Good macros. Not enough calories.

I incorporated some of Loop's advice by getting better carb sources in there.
I went to whole grain brown rice and red potatoes instead of my carb-sense tortillas. I also went to one portion of oatmeal instead of two. I am also trying to go to 6 meals. 7 meals got to the point where I was spending too much time cooking and eating 4 meals at work. So I am trying to limit it to 3 meals at work....

This was my first experiment with modifying my diet, so I am very happy with it. I just need to add 400 more calories or so so I can protect my muscles as I continue my cut.

Cal/P/C/F = 2160/229.5/213.5/45.5 = X/42.5%/39.5%/19%

Questions:
- Do I need to tweak macros on any specific meal?
- Not enough post-WO carbs?
- Do I need a pre-WO fat?
- Do I have carbs in a bad place? Am I missing carbs at a really important time?

Please, anyone reading this that has some quality insight, leave comments. Dietary regimen is by far my weakest area... You will not offend me. Feel free to tear it apart and rebuild it if you so desire... I consider myself a living experiment.
(If you are new to my thread, welcome, my goals are outlined in my first post to this thread. My first progress pics are at the top of page three)

Thanks in advance.
- Michael

Had a humbling workout today.
I think I may be at the peak of my ear/nose/throat funk at this point...
I got so freakin' gassed today....

Warmup:
- Fast walk on treadmill 5 min.
- Mild stretching

Leg Extensions: 8-12 reps 4 sets

Squats
95 x 15
135 x 12
135 x 10 (Hesitation at bottom)
185 x 5 (Hesitation at bottom)
185 x 5 (Hesitation at bottom)
135 x 8

Leg Press (Not sure what the sled weighs....weights listed are pounds added to the machine)
270 x 10
320 x 10
320 x 9
270 x 6 drop to 180 x 4....died....

Leg Curls: 4 sets 8-12 reps

Squat machine thingy:
100lbs x 12
140lbs x 8
160lbs x 4

I hope I can recouperate this weekend....

Good macros. Not enough calories.

I incorporated some of Loop's advice by getting better carb sources in there.
I went to whole grain brown rice and red potatoes instead of my carb-sense tortillas. I also went to one portion of oatmeal instead of two. I am also trying to go to 6 meals. 7 meals got to the point where I was spending too much time cooking and eating 4 meals at work. So I am trying to limit it to 3 meals at work....

This was my first experiment with modifying my diet, so I am very happy with it. I just need to add 400 more calories or so so I can protect my muscles as I continue my cut.

Cal/P/C/F = 2160/229.5/213.5/45.5 = X/42.5%/39.5%/19%

Questions:
- Do I need to tweak macros on any specific meal?
- Not enough post-WO carbs?
- Do I need a pre-WO fat?
- Do I have carbs in a bad place? Am I missing carbs at a really important time?

Please, anyone reading this that has some quality insight, leave comments. Dietary regimen is by far my weakest area... You will not offend me. Feel free to tear it apart and rebuild it if you so desire... I consider myself a living experiment.
(If you are new to my thread, welcome, my goals are outlined in my first post to this thread. My first progress pics are at the top of page three)

Thanks in advance.
- Michael

Oh yea. Forgot to attach the effing spreadsheet!!!

Here it is.

Pretty good day for food yesterday.
I got my calories up 400 from Thursdays...

Cal/P/C/F = 2530/249.5/245/64 = X/39.4%/38.7%/22.8%

Still a bit unsure about my previous questions. I will continue doing what I am doing unless someone sees a problem in my diet.

As always, please take a look at my attached spreadsheet and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Well, being sick totally blows.
I didn't do much of anything yesterday and have no real plans for today other than recovering, eating, and hopefully a nap. It has given me time to reflect on the past couple of months, my progress, and more importantly, my goals.

I have been watching quite a bit of video on powerlifting form. Namely the deadlift and squat. Well, there is a bunch of information out there to say the least. Some good, some bad, and some rather entertaining... However, I wanted to specifically point out a collection of videos that are absolutely terrific in their instruction and professionalism. They are directed toward the squat, their related lifts, stretches to correct issues, and on and on.... If there is anything you want to know about squatting better, go here and watch the Squat Rx videos:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?p=r&user=johnnymnemonic2&page=2

Start at Squat Rx #1 and just start watching...

The baby has had a bit of a fever since Friday night.
It has made her very restless. Satrday night, she woke up several times and last night did the same. The final straw for me was the 4:00 AM wake up. We got the baby back to sleep, and the wife is back to sleep, but I have been up since. Not exaclty what I was hoping for in fighting off my cold....shit.

Well, I'm going to have my egg whites and red potatoes and then head to the gym for some deadlifts....

Today should be interesting. I just wanna make it to 4:30 and I'm going home early....

Well, once I got moving in the gym, I felt a bit better.

Deadlifts
Warmup:
- some body weight squats
- 95 x 15 squats
- 95 x 12 deadlifts
- Stretching
135 x 12
185 x 10
225 x 6 (With hooks)
245 x 4 (With hooks) *New PR
265 x 4 (With hooks) *New PR
225 x 6 (With hooks)

Seated Cable Rows
80 x 12
120 x 10
140 x 9
160 x 7
130 x 8

Cable Pulldowns - Close and Supinated grip
120 x 12
140 x 8
150 x 6
140 x 5

Although I got minimal sleep last night, I guess you could say I pulled though it...
Bwahahahaa.....:spaz:

I hope your baby gets well soon! What does "New PR" mean?

I hope your baby gets well soon! What does "New PR" mean?

Thanks!
PR = personal record

Good food day yesterday.
Woke up to a scale reading of 206.
Scheduled to meet the trainer tomorrow. We are going to spend the first half of our appointment doing a BF measurement, analyzing my food logs, and reviewing my workout split. I told him about my participation in the 350lb deadlift and 300lb squat challenges. The challenges are consistent with phase 2 of my program....
Any modifications to my split will be started on Monday 01.21.08.

Anyway, back to the food....
Cal/P/C/F = 2252/262/200/43 = X/46.5%/35.5%/17.2%

Calories a bit low and need to bring up the carbs a lot and the fats a little too.
The carb shortage is due to the fact that I have a hard time choking down a cup of rice with a meal... I will be scouring JSF today to see what I can do to make the rice better....

Warmup:
- Some front and lateral raises to lube up the shoulders

BB Bench Press
95 x 10
155 x 8
205 x 5
225 x 3
225 x 3+1 (I had a spotter this set. Got three, missed the 4th)
185 x 8

Weighted Cable Crunches (Upper abs)
50 x 15
90 x 10
100 x 8
90 x 10

BB Incline Bench Press
95 x 12
135 x 10
155 x 6
135 x 7

Cable Swings (Obliques)
15 x 10 per side
15 x 10 per side
20 x 8 per side

Standing Cable Flys
20 x 12
25 x 10
27.5 x 6 (missed 7th)

Weighted Leg lifts (Lower abs)
0 x20
7.5 x 15
7.5 x 12

First time since my car wreck that I benched two plates per side! w00t!

Don't like rice? Why not get veggie carbs? You could up the fat and the carbs by going with veggies and dip!

Don't like rice? Why not get veggie carbs? You could up the fat and the carbs by going with veggies and dip!

Just getting sick of it I guess. I was trying to choke down a 1 cup serving twice a day. I have cut it back to 1/2 cup twice a day and added a 3/4oz slice of 2% swiss cheese yesterday and it made the rice *WAY* better.

I have also added red potatoes. I eat a 6oz portion twice a day. Fortunately, I don't think I'll ever get sick them....

I think I have settled into a nice 2500 calorie routine that allows me to rotate my meats and veggies to keep it interesting.

I think I am in the groove on diet... unless anyone has something to critique.
As always, I solicit feedback, especially when it comes to timing of macros....
I basically eat protein, carbs, and fat at every meal. If it is wrong to do so, let me know. I hear people allude to having a protein and fat meal before working out and a protein and carb meal after a workout. Is the other macro to be excluded? For instance, should I not put nat. PB in my PWO oatmeal?

Anyway, yesterday was a good one for food.
I attached the spreadsheet. (Ooops. It is in the next post....)
Cal/P/C/F = 2415/253.5/246.5/51.5 = X/42%/41%/19%

Not sure why it is 102%...some rounding I guess.

Oh yea, the spreadsheet....

Again, power cleans rule! What an aerobic workout....
I mean, there is simply no reason to do cardio when you can do exercises like these...

Warm up:
- Deadlifts 45 x 15
- Front raises 45 x 15
- Power cleans 95 x 12

Power Cleans
135 x 10
155 x 7
155 x 6 (missed seventh)
135 x 8

BB Front Raises
45 x 15
65 x 10
85 x 8
85 x 7

BB Shrugs (I'm guessing at the weight because I had to use the Smith machine today. I am going with the bar weighing 25lbs...)
165 x 10
205 x 10
235 x 10
255 x 8

Wasn't a great training day. I forgot my straps and the power cleans blew my grip...by the time I got to shrugs, my grip was failing before I got max exertion out of my traps....

Had my trainer Chris do bodyfat today.
Here are my numbers for all three measurements:

Day weight BF% lean mass fat mass waist size
10.29.07 222 ? ? ? huge
11.15.07 212 17.7% 174.48 37.52 39
12.11.07 209 14.2% 179.33 29.67 38
01.16.08 205 12.4% 179.58 25.42 36.5

Sorry about the lame table. I don't know how to do one in html.
I am attaching a jpg that I just made....see below



Needless to say, I'm stoked! :claphigh:
I maintained my LBM while shedding another 4 pounds of fat. And this includes a two week vacation to the Caymans!!
I need to get some pictures to go along with this update....

Great day on food yesterday.

Cal/P/C/F = 2549/269/249/61 = X/42.2%/39%/21.5%

These logs take quite a bit of time out of my morning. Unless demanded by the masses, I am going to stop making the spreadsheets. I will just track everything in my old school (hand written) log..... When anyone wants to see what I am eating, just ask! But until requested, I am going to stop taking the time each morning to make the Excel spreadsheets....(I notice that nearly noone views them anyway)

I eat the exact same thing every day for breakfast, I have oatmeal, protein shake, and natty PB everyday after exercise, and then I just shuffle around my meats and veggies in the other three meals. Pretty straight forward.

No gym today. Hoops at lunch which is my version of cardio/interval training. :jumping:

Later!

Yesterday's food was really nice:
Cal/P/C/F = 2583/276/244/61 = X/42.5%/37.5%/21%

Today in the gym:

Warmup:
- Bodyweight squats x 15
- 45 x 10

Squats
95 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
205 x 4
225 x 1 *New PR
185 x 5

Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
45 x 10
95 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 6
185 x 7

Superset: Leg ext. / Leg Curl
100 x 12 / 100 x 12
120 x 10 / 120 x 10
140 x 8 / 140 x 6

Smith Machine Calf Raises (Assuming smith bar = 20lbs)
115 x 15
165 x 15
205 x 12
205 x 10

Leg Press (#plates x reps)
4 x 10
6 x 10
8 x 10
8+25's x 6 drop set to 6 x 8

The 225 squat felt good. But not quite good enough to try for two since I didn't have a spotter...

Very nice progress! Keep up the good work!:tucool:

Very nice progress! Keep up the good work!:tucool:

Thanks IROC!! Hard to believe that I've been cutting for almost three months now...

I converted from Smith Machine Military Presses to standing BB presses... Wow. Very humbling. I could typically press nearly 200lbs on the smith machine. On standing presses, half of that was challenging.... I worked out yesterday and cannot remember the weight that I used on every exercise, so I'm just posting the exercises and rep ranges. (And I gotta get to cookin!!!)

Here is the exercise:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html

EDIT: Upon further review, I was supposed to be doing push presses:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PushPress.html


Standing BB Military Press
4 sets 6-10 reps

Superset: EZ-Curls / Dips
4 sets each 8-10 reps / 15 reps

Lateral Raises
4 sets 8-12 reps

Superset: Skullcrushers / DB Hammer Curls
3 sets each 8-10 reps / 8 reps per hand

Moved my cheat meal from Saturday night to lunch today and had a great order of ribs....MMmmmm:drool:

I forgot to post this last week...When I met with the trainer to go over food logs, do body fat measurements, and examine workout logs, he decided to put me on a new workout split. One more tailored for increasing my strength. (You know, phase 2 of my program, read post #1)

There are two workout styles for each given day. One is designed for straight sets and the other is circuit style for muscle endurance...I just pick which one I want to do but must do the circuit style at least every third time....

Monday - Back, Traps, Triceps - Straight sets
BB Deadlifts
Tricep Pushdowns
Cable Rows (A-frame)
BB Shrugs
Stright-arm pulldowns
Cable pulldowns

Monday - Back, Traps, Triceps - Circuit Style
Circuit #1
Straight-arm Pulldowns
Tricep Pushdowns
Lat Pulldowns

Circuit #2
Dumbell Row
Skull Crusher
Back Extension

Circuit #3
Cable Row (Supinated Grip)
Dips
BB Deadlift
------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday - Chest, Delts, Biceps - Stright Sets
BB Bench Press
EZ-bar curls
BB Push Press
Cable Flys
DB Hammer Curls
BB Incline Press
DB Lateral Raises

Wednesday - Chest, Delts, Biceps - Circuit Style
Circuit #1
DB Flys
DB Chest Press
DB Curls

Circuit #2
DB Lateral Raises
BB Push Press
DB Hammer Curls

Circuit #3
Cable Flys
BB Bench Press
BB Curls
--------------------------------------------------
Friday - Quads, Hams, Claves - Straight Sets
Squats
Siff-leg Deadlifts
Calf Raises
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Leg Press

Friday - Quads, Hams, Claves - Circuit Style
Circuit #1
Leg Extension
Leg Curls
DB Lunges

Circuit #2
Split Squats
Calf Raises
DB Squat

Circuit #3
Seated Calf
Leg Press
BB Squats
-------------------------------------------------
Saturday - Abs, Stretch, Misc. (I added this)
Weighted cable crunches
Weighted cable swings
Weighted Leg Lifts
Stretching and whatever random exercise I wanna do....

Woke up late...good thing its a holiday and I'm probably the only maniac working today...

I slept wrong on my left arm/shoulder in some fashion Saturday night. I have a nasty pain where my lat goes into the serratus area. Its very strange. I was worried all day yesterday and this morning because today was back day. :( It is almost like a bruised or separated rib. (Not that bad though...)

I warmed up at the gym this morning and went straight into deadlifts and did not seem to be hindered by it, so I did my workout pretty much like I normally would and had a good one.

Since I had gobs of time this morning, I opted for the straight sets.

Warmup:
- Squats 45 x 15 / Deadlift 45 x12 (Superset)
- Squats 95 x 10 / Deadlift 95 x 10 (Superset)
- Deadlift 135 x 10

BB Deadlift
185 x 10
225 x 8
275 x 6 *New PR weight
275 x 5 *New PR weight
225 x 8
Tricep Pushdowns
50 x 12
60 x 10
70 x 7
65 x 8
Cable Rows (A-Frame)
90 x 12
120 x 10
130 x 8
130 x 8
BB Shrugs
135 x 12
185 x 10
225 x 8
225 x 8
Straight-arm Pushdowns
40 x 10
50 x 8
50 x 7
Cable Pulldowns (Wide Grip)
120 x 10
140 x 9
150 x 7

Whew! The volume will take some getting used to. That's where having Tuesdays off will help me recover....

Wow! You keep setting records for yourself ~ way to go! Got fancy with your formatting, too, I see :P

Here is an updated picture.
It compares me at my BF measurement in December (14.2%) and last week's. (12.4%)

The fat in my midsection is noticably reduced...sweet! :tucool:

Lookin nice my man! :tucool:

*If* you stall then I would definitely look into making the changes you talked about in this (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showpost.php?p=564741&postcount=93) post

It'll make pushing hard in the gym a lot harder, but emptying your glycogen tanks and adapting to fat as a fuel (upping fats/lowering carbs) will help you push through any plateauing. Your trainer won't like this at all :lol: I would only try it if you stall (cause you're doing great now), but IMO its a surefire path to low bf%.

I know you hate it, but a 45 min fasted am cardio session will double your rate of bf% loss--safely. I put my stationary bike in front of my TV and zone out, hardly boring at all.

nice pulls btw!

Lookin nice my man! :tucool:

*If* you stall then I would definitely look into making the changes you talked about in this (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showpost.php?p=564741&postcount=93) post

It'll make pushing hard in the gym a lot harder, but emptying your glycogen tanks and adapting to fat as a fuel (upping fats/lowering carbs) will help you push through any plateauing. Your trainer won't like this at all :lol: I would only try it if you stall (cause you're doing great now), but IMO its a surefire path to low bf%.

I know you hate it, but a 45 min fasted am cardio session will double your rate of bf% loss--safely. I put my stationary bike in front of my TV and zone out, hardly boring at all.

nice pulls btw!


Thanks Loop! Thanks for stopping by. I value your input! :nod:

I know going under 10% is when it's gets really hard...The last time I did it, I did it wrong and sacrificed too much muscle...
When we get moved into the new house, I'm gonna look into a spinning bike or a stationary bike. For now, basketball is gonna have to do for my half-ass cardio/interval training twice a week.

Yesterday's diet was nice and clean, just low on cals:
Cal/P/C/F = 2319/258.5/203.5/58.5 = X/44.6%/35.1%/22.7%

No gym today...Tomorrow is chest delts and biceps.

Headed out to the house to check on progress. The latest from the builder is that we'll be moving in the first weekend in Feb. :rolleyes:

Later.

Wow, nice work! :tu:

Those workouts are paying off. I also think you should hit the cardio and hit it hard. It will help you tremendously. 5 more days until my monthly pictures and I hope I see an improvement!

Keep up the good work! :bb:

Great disappearing act on the mid-section!. Chest looking bigger, too. Hard work is paying off for you, brother.:tu:

Wow, nice work! :tu:

Those workouts are paying off. I also think you should hit the cardio and hit it hard. It will help you tremendously. 5 more days until my monthly pictures and I hope I see an improvement!

Keep up the good work! :bb:

Thanks doc! Definitely will be incorporating cardio when I go sub-10... I don't think it will be much of a choice...

Great disappearing act on the mid-section!. Chest looking bigger, too. Hard work is paying off for you, brother.:tu:

Thanks man! I'll be looking to do the Carguy deluxe (gain 20 pounds) this spring. I'll be hitting you up for some pointers. I've been lurking in your bulking journal and you are totally rockin' it!!:guitar:

Cheers fellas for the words of encouragement!

I forgot my (old school) log book...crap! So I'm just putting in the numbers that I remember...

Cal/P/C/F = X/41%/39%/20% = 2450/?/?/?
Sorry for the brain fart...

However, thanks to my handy-dandy journal, I can go back a couple posts and look at my scheduled Chest/Delts/Biceps workout routine for today...




Oh yea. Woke up to a scale weight of 204.

Warmups:
- BB bench 45x12
- DB lateral raises 7.5 x 10
- BB Bench 95 x 10
- BB Bench 155 x 8

BB Bench Press
185 x 8
225 x 3 + 1 (Spotted rep)
225 x 3
205 x 6 drop to 155 x 6
Standing EZ-Curls
40 x 12
70 x 10
90 x 7
90 x 6
Push Press
95 x 10
115 x 8
125 x 5
125 x 4 (missed 5th)
115 x 5
Superset : Cable Flys / DB Hammer Curls
20 x 10 / 27.5 x 8 each hand
25 x 8 / 35 x 8
27.5 x 7 / 35 x 7
25 x 6 / 30 x 8
DB Lateral Raises
20 x 10
22.5 x 10
22.5 x 8
22.5 x 6 drop to 15 x 5
DB Incline Press
40 x 10
50 x 8
50 x 7

I got a little over exuberant with my BB bench... The miss at 225 and barely locking out the 3rd rep on the second set took a little extra something out of me...I need to move back to 205 for good working sets until I can get 3 sets for reps...

Yesterday: Cal/P/C/F = 2350/270.5/192/57 = X/46%/32.6%/21.8%

Macros a bit off, but if I do so, I'm glad I made errors on the side of protein...

Today: Legs

I have come to the conclusion that I need lifting shoes...On my 4th working set of squats, I felt like my right leg wanted to drift outward (because it felt like my right foot was rolling to the right) and to compensate, I sort of good-morning'ed out of the last rep. In other words, the rep was extremely difficult, and my form went to shit because I felt unstable.....not good.

Warmup:
- Superset: Squats/SL Deadlifts
- BWx15 / BWx15
- 95 x 12 / 95 x 12
Squats
155 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 5
205 x 5
185 x 6 drop to 135 x 8
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
135 x 12
185 x 10
205 x 8
185 x 8
Superset Leg Ext. / Leg Curl
100 x 15 / 100 x 15
140 x 12 / 140 x 11
160 x 10 / 150 x 6
Smith Machine Calf Raises
160 x 15
200 x 12
220 x 10
220 x 10
Leg Press (# plates x reps)
4+25's x 15
8 x 10
10 x 0 :mad: Didn't really budge it
8+25's x 4
8 x 8 drop to 6 x6

One of the things that sucks about being tall is the design of some of the equipment...For instance, the leg press. As it rests on the stops, it is absolutely at the bottom of my range of motion. I have to start by coming out of the hole...sux! The only difference between 8+25's and 10 plates is 40 pounds. I couldn't get 10 plates out of the hole, but I repped 8+25's 4 times...:rolleyes:

I have come to the conclusion that I need lifting shoes...On my 4th working set of squats, I felt like my right leg wanted to drift outward (because it felt like my right foot was rolling to the right) and to compensate, I sort of good-morning'ed out of the last rep. In other words, the rep was extremely difficult, and my form went to shit because I felt unstable.....not good.


Well, I think that rep did more to me than I originally thought... I went to the gym to do some abs, obliques, and random stuff today. While doing some bodyweight squats, I noticed the pain in my right knee became very prominent....shit.
Hopefully today and tomorrow off will get it ready for deadlifts on Monday....I was hoping to do breathing squats on Monday too...hopefully I can get through Monday because then the legs/knees are resting until Friday... keep your fingers crossed.

Yesterday's intake: Cal/P/C/F = 2453/252.5/239.5/64 = X/41%/39%/23%
(Still keeps adding up to over 100%... Hmmm...:confused:)

Holy crap ~ your progress is awesome! You've got that center ab-line thing going on :) The whole 6-pack is very close!

I've always lifted in skate shoes, they work great for me. I'll bet if you cut back on the weight and upped the reps your joint pain would reduce or go away. I was doing 5x5's for a while and my left elbow and shoulder started acting up bad. I went to 3x12's and the pain went away completely, but I still made gains. Joints take longer to adapt than muscles is what I was told.

Holy crap ~ your progress is awesome! You've got that center ab-line thing going on :) The whole 6-pack is very close!

I've always lifted in skate shoes, they work great for me. I'll bet if you cut back on the weight and upped the reps your joint pain would reduce or go away. I was doing 5x5's for a while and my left elbow and shoulder started acting up bad. I went to 3x12's and the pain went away completely, but I still made gains. Joints take longer to adapt than muscles is what I was told.

Thanks Double! The full blown six pack should arrive in a few weeks...

I got a pair of wrestling shoes today. Nice, flat, comfy...
If my knee is still pissed off at me on Monday, I'm gonna take the week off from basketball and cut way back on the poundage until it goes away. Monday should be a good test. Deadlifts and breathing squats. Since it is my first attempt at breathing squats, I'll probably go with something *REALLY* light. Maybe even just the bar....

I started a media gallery tonight. I'm posting pictures about my family, our advenures, and whatever else I feel like posting...

The link is now in my signature. (Members only....:lol:)

A back shot taken last weekend.

Hey, I did have deltoids under all that fat! :lol:

The baby woke up at 3:00 Am this morning. I finally got back to sleep around 4:30 and then got up at 5:45 to get to the gym....

1st priority was to do a sanity check on my right knee that got a little tweak in Friday's leg day during squats... I did a bunch of bodyweight squats to warm up and see what my knee was thinking. It definitely let me know it was still there. So, I started messing around with my stance a little during the last set of body weight squats and deadlift warmups. By closing my stance a little, I was able to vastly reduce the pain I felt in my knee, which let me get through deadlifts.

I ended up having a VERY intense workout. I went a little slower on my reps and ultra-concentrated on form which made the deadlifts really grueling.

Today's workout was one of the best I have ever had. I nearly crawled to the locker room after breathing squats.

Some moron was doing BB curls in the squat rack, so I had to start elsewhere...

Triceps Pushdowns
50 x 15
60 x 12
70 x 10
80 x 10

Warmup:
- BW Squats: 3 sets 15 reps
- Deadlifts: 45 x 15, 135 x 12
Deadlifts
185 x 10
245 x 10
265 x 8
285 x 4 drop-to 245 x 5 (took several breaths between sets)

Superset: Skullcrusher / Cable Pulldowns
50 x 12 / 120 x 12
70 x 10 / 160 x 10
80 x 7 / 180 x 8
70 x 8 / 180 x 7

Shrug acclimation set: 135 x 15
Superset: Cable Row / BB Shrugs
120 x 10 / 185 x 10
130 x 8 / 205 x 9
130 x 7 / 205 x 7

Breathing Squats
95 x 20reps (I think)

Let me tell you, this was the first time trying breathing squats...it was extremely difficult to keep my concentration. My traps were tingling, I was sucking air like a freight train, I got light headed, my arms were tingling, it was intense!
Next time, I need to focus a little better on my counting. While counting my breaths, and trying to keep focus because my body was screaming at me, I lost count on the number of reps completed. It was somewhere between 18 and 22 though...

Conclusions:
- My legs are shamefully weak
- My endurance/fitness is like a bad joke
- I need to take the advice of my colleagues here...suck it up and do effing cardio!

Yesterday's intake = Cal/P/C/F = 2297/257.5/176.5/59.5 = X/45%/31%/23%

No weights today.

Have a dentist appointment though...yeehaw. :rolleyes:





(I hate the dentist)


.

Yesterday's intake: Cal/P/C/F = 2056/239/178.5/47.5 = X/46.5%/34.7%/20.8%
Calories too low...not sure how that happened...

Today: Chest, Delts, Biceps

My knee is really getting into my head. I watched a couple Squat Rx videos on YouTube last night again... Now I'm wondering if my flexibility is causing problems...(I have always fought tight hamstrings and lower back. One of the sucky things about being tall)
I know I have an issue coming out of the hole on squats. The load wants to shift forward. I can feel it want to shift to the balls of my feet away from my heels. At heavier loads I can feel myself doing a bit of a good morning out of the hole.

On Friday, I am going to try and remember the video camera so that I can do some analysis. This week, I am going to skip basketball on Thursday to give my knee some more rest. I am also going to greatly reduce the weight but compensate by doing additional volume. Instead of doing 4 heavy sets of 5 or 6 reps, I'm going to try 4 or 5 working sets of 10 to 12 reps and see what happens. If I am still having issues, I may have to move to the smith machine. That way I can get the load back on my heels without the worry of falling backward until I can get my knee healed up. Naturally, I would rather figure it out by doing real squats though...

Anyway, I'm rambling on, but my knee (hence squats) is really getting into my head...or did I mention that already? :whistle:

Warmups:
- Some lateral and front raises with 7.5lb DBs
- BB Bench 45 x 15
- BB Bench 95 x 15
BB Bench Press
135 x 12
185 x 10
205 x 6
185 x 5 drop to 135 x 6
Standing EZ-Curls
50 x 12
70 x 10
90 x 6
70 x 8
BB Push Press
45 x 6 (Warmup)
95 x 10
115 x 8
135 x 4 (Miss 5th) 115 x 6
Superset: Cable Flys / DB Hammer Curls
25 x 10 / 30 x 10
30 x 7 / 35 x 8
27.5 x 7 / 35 x 6
Superset: DB Incline Press / Lateral Raises
45 x 12 / 20 x 8
50 x 10 / 20 x 7
55 x 6 / 20 x 5

The incline/lateral superset murdered me....

Yesterday's intake: Cal/P/C/F = 2236/250/166/57 = X/45%/30%/23%

Scale weight 203.

Got some decent DOMS in my chest today.
For some reason, I don't really get it in my deltoids...never really have.
Been thinking about ways to hammer them better...I want them to GROW!!

Got a 40%-off flyer from Beverly International...

I ordered about 6 months worth the goodies I use...I even bought some stuff for the bulk I'm gonna start in late March-early April....

Holy delts, Batman! You don't get DOMS in your delts cuz your delts are all like "Hmph, 450 lbs? Ah sneeze atchu."

Just curious, are you following any particular lifting plan?

Just curious, are you following any particular lifting plan?

Not really. In that it was not based off Mark Rippetoe or some other famous guy. However, I am working off of MY lifting plan geared toward MY goals... My trainer gave me a basic split as a start point:
Monday: Back, Traps, Triceps
Wednesday: Chest, Delts, Biceps
Friday: Legs

He gave me a basket of exercises to choose from and I added some of my own...like breathing squats on Monday...and I am still tinkering around with some of the "other" exercises. My focus of late (since I got back from vacation) has been the powerlifting movements because my legs are *WAY* behind. Due to the car accident aftermath and, well, neglect...

The foundational exercises will probably not really change any time soon though:
Monday: Deadlifts and Breathing Squats
Wednesday: BB Bench and BB Push Press and/or Power Cleans
Friday: Squats and SLDLs

I am trying to decide where to park dips. Monday on tricep day or at the end of Wednesday on Chest day....:confused:
The other possibility would be to go back to a 4-day split where arms would be done on Saturday. That would be a great spot for dips and nice and separated from chest... Anyway, I continuously change things around when it comes to "other" stuff. But I keep my foundational exercises pretty fixed...

I know, I'm a weird guy. I like to add muscle while cutting and I like doing powerlifting while I am body building..... I guess I just want it all! :nod: :rolleyes: Its my nature...

That's what I was wondering, if you had setup your lifts ahead of time. For months, I would just decide what lifts I was going to do on a lift day right before starting.

You could do incline BB presses and chest dips on wednesday for a great chest workout.

All around progress is nice, eh?

I know, I'm a weird guy. I like to add muscle while cutting and I like doing powerlifting while I am body building..... I guess I just want it all! :nod: :rolleyes: Its my nature...

Nothing weird about that. Too many people 'settle' for things in all aspects of their life.

That's what I was wondering, if you had setup your lifts ahead of time. For months, I would just decide what lifts I was going to do on a lift day right before starting.

The foundational lifts don't really change. But the "other" stuff I mess around with a little...for example, sometimes cable pulldowns, sometimes wide-grip pullups, sometimes chin-ups... or, sometimes cable rows, sometimes BB rows.... but always deadlifts


You could do incline BB presses and chest dips on wednesday for a great chest workout.

I like that. I'm gonna try dips on Chest day for a couple weeks. If it works great, if not, I'm going back to a 4-day split and do 'em on arm day Saturday...but either way, I need to get them back in there.

All around progress is nice, eh?
Thank man! So far, so good. But I am now headed into dangerous waters...as I approach and dip below the mystical 10% mark (mystical for me anyway), I will be fighting my body and genetics in a classic war to gain/preserve muscle while continuing to drop fat...it's gonna be interesting... and fun!!!

Nothing weird about that. Too many people 'settle' for things in all aspects of their life.

Agreed. An advantage I have is patience. Not many people are willing to lose 3 pounds in a month...everyone wants it right now!! and when they don't, they quit and settle for what they got for their efforts. /end rant...

Trust me, I am not preaching here...I learned what little I know through many mistakes and trial and error... I have pieced some things together from what I have learned, taken some advice from people that are more knowledgeable than I am (like some of the good folks here), and put it together for what I am doing now. However, I am always trying to improve things...so I try to pick up tidbits here and there...

But I think that you and I are on the same page there partner!

I rearranged my sets a little today.
After last week's knee scare, I decided to put squats last and go for higher volume on them.
I ended up having an unreal workout.

Warmup:
- 4 minute treadmill walk 5% incline
- bodyweight squats x 15
- Leg press: 2 plates x 15 reps, 4 plates x 12 reps
Leg Press
6 plates x 10 reps
8 x 10
8+25's x 8
10 x 8
10+25's x 6
10 x 6
Stiff-legged Deadlift
45 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 8
225 x 8
225 x 6
185 x 10
Smith Calf Raises
160 x 15
200 x 15
220 x 10
200 x 10
Superset: Leg Extension / Leg Curl
80? x 12 / 120 x 12
120? x 12 / 150 x 10
130? x 10 / 150 x 8
Squats
Bodyweight x 15
Bar Wall squats x 15
Demo for trainer guy Bar x 15
95 x 15
135 x 15
135 x 15
135 x 15

A couple things went awry today....
1. I was feeling superhuman during leg extensions...upon finishing my third set, I noticed this strange knob where it controls the load...it was set to lightest...WTF!?!? So, I'm totally guessing at the weight on leg extension. Where I put 80? I had it set on 120. Where I put 120? I had it on 160.. and so forth...
2. The squat volume killed me. Again, my legs are weak and my endurance is awful... I'm going to keep going for high rep volume until I get better at them! The 300 pound squat club is on hold indefinitely until I get better at them...

Good news.
1. My knee did not feel bad...We'll see how I feel in the morning.
2. My leg press and SLDL exploded. I'm sure it is due to order...but it felt great putting 500 pounds on there and repping it 6 times... :flex:

Keep at it! Trust me, you will get better at the squats. I've found that the taller guys usually have the toughest time finding the right groove for squatting, but once you find it - you will master the squat!:tu:

Keep at it! Trust me, you will get better at the squats. I've found that the taller guys usually have the toughest time finding the right groove for squatting, but once you find it - you will master the squat!:tu:

Nah... It's hard for us short guys, too :doh:

Nah... It's hard for us short guys, too :doh:

seconded..lol

Keep at it! Trust me, you will get better at the squats. I've found that the taller guys usually have the toughest time finding the right groove for squatting, but once you find it - you will master the squat!:tu:

Yeah. I have never had so much trouble with an exercise...Sometimes, I think I may be overanalyzing things, but other times I have a "scare" like I did a couple leg days ago.... But thanks for the encouragement. :nod: I'll stick to it, and I WILL master it...

Nah... It's hard for us short guys, too :doh:

seconded..lol

No doubt...there are just soooooo many mechanics going on at the same time.... sometimes I think I'm going to melt my brain thinking about it...:lol:

Along the lines of the above post, I have determined that another GLARING weakness of mine is flexibility. My wife is doing P90X right now, and they have a video called X-Stretch. (It is a 60 minute torture routine for someone like me...) I did the routine with her last night and found out that I am grotesquely behind the curve when it comes to flexibility. There are a couple that I cannot even do. One because of my jacked ankle, and a couple because my hamstrings and lower back are tighter than piano cords... I was almost sickening...

I am certain that improving my flexibility with help me with many exercises....especially squats! Not to mention feeling better in general...

So, I am going to do the X Stretch routine every Tuesday night and Saturday from now on...it is going to take me months, but I am determined to get all of the tightness and kinks out of my body that are left over from my near death experience....

For the second week in a row, the baby woke me up at 4:00 AM on Monday morning and I could not get back to sleep....but it didn't matter at the gym this morning...

I had a great workout. I'm really starting to reap the benefits of going to a 3 day split. Every time I go to the gym I am recharged and absolutely scorch it...

Warmup:
- Bodyweight squats x 15
- SLDL 45x8 immediately followed by Deadlift 45 x 7
- Power cleans 95 x 10
- Deadlift 135 x 10
Deadlift
185 x 8
225 x 8 (With hooks)
275 x 6 (With hooks)
305 x 2 (RAW!) **New PR**
275 x 6 (With hooks)
225 x 10 (With hooks)

Tricep Pushdown
60 x 12
70 x 10
80 x 8
Wide-Grip Pullups
52lb assist x 10
BW x 8
BW x 67
22lb assist x 7
BB Shrugs
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 9
245 x 6
225 x 8
Superset: Skullcrushers / Cable Rows
70 x 10 / 120 x 10
80 x 10 / 130 x 10
80 x 7 / 140 x 8
Breathing Squats
100 x 22

I pulled 305 for the firt time this morning...raw. No straps, no hooks.
I got two good reps, had a third but failed to lock it out as I fely my grip going so I had to dump it.

I also added 5lbs. to my breathing squats and got 22 reps this week. Sweet!
The breathing squats were basically limited to my pain tolerance in my traps. I had more in my legs, but my traps were smoked from shrugs and the bar was just murdering them (with a pad)...

Oooh, stretching bites...

Way to go with the 305 DL!!! And twice, at that!

Talked with my builder this morning to go over the very short list of things that need to be completed on the house and he informed me that the final inspection is tomorrow... AT LAST!!!
So I have scheduled movers for Saturday to get the big stuff.
In preparation for the movers coming first thing Saturday morning, I will be taking Friday off from work and will be moving Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
This will be the impact on my program:
- Miss Friday's workout
- May miss Monday's workout (Not sure if I will be up for deadlifts after three days of moving sh!t)
- Diet will remain as clean as possible. I am just going to see how things play out. But I will not be stopping every three hours to cook and eat...I will fit in meals when I can. Those days may involve extra reliance upon portein/meal replacement type drinks...

The good news is that we are not under any type of pressure to move. We are keeping our current house and will be looking to rent it out in April or May. However, I want to move as much as possible this first weekend so that we can make the leap and start living in the new place Saturday night.

you know neb, it might be just a personal tolerance type of thing but I do *great* on as many as 3 MRP's a day that I make from either pro/flax or pro/dex or pro/oats, mostly pro/flax shakes if I'm cutting. Whole food is great, but you don't HAVE to cook 6 times a day. just a thought...

you know neb, it might be just a personal tolerance type of thing but I do *great* on as many as 3 MRP's a day that I make from either pro/flax or pro/dex or pro/oats, mostly pro/flax shakes if I'm cutting. Whole food is great, but you don't HAVE to cook 6 times a day. just a thought...

Yeah. Definitely don't cook 6 times a day. I should have said re-heat 6 times a day. I am the microwave KING!!! :lol: Cook a couple times and store in tupperware...

But yeah, will definitely be trying out some of the samples I have been getting lately.
Have MRP samples from Beverly, Met-Rx, GNC, and Muscle Research. I guess it will be a good taste test for when I'm bulking in the spring. I have trouble getting down 2500-2700 calories now... I can't imagine having to eat another 1000 when I bulk.... I will be supplementing with MRP/weight gainers/portein waxy maize type shakes.

I know where you are coming from though...MRPs are super convenient. :nod:

Good luck with your move!

As far as the MRPs over the weekend go: I've had to do that several times over the last couple of years, and I haven't had a problem. Try to get in at least two half-way decent meals per day, and then use MRPs accordingly.:nod:

Best wishes!

Good luck with your move!

As far as the MRPs over the weekend go: I've had to do that several times over the last couple of years, and I haven't had a problem. Try to get in at least two half-way decent meals per day, and then use MRPs accordingly.:nod:

Best wishes!

Thanks Iroc...

Speaking of food...I forgot to bring my goods to work for the first time in three months...
D'Oh!! :doh:

Today is going to be a bit of a carb load day...I have oatmeal, protein, green beans, and tuna fish at work in my cabinet...Gonna have to make do...




Scale said 202 today...



.

Scale said 202 today...


Whoa! Upping the kcals worked good no?

Today is going to be a bit of a carb load day...I have oatmeal, protein, green beans, and tuna fish at work in my cabinet...Gonna have to make do...



Are you on the anabolic diet? How are your energy levels? If you're missing Fridays lift, I bet you're going to be pretty amped on your next workout! One plus side to the bummer of a missed lift :)

Whoa! Upping the kcals worked good no?

It's actually down one pound since last week. Which is the pace I'm going for...:)
Losing about a pound a week has given me great results. However, the next BF measurement will tell the story. If I drop another 4lbs of fat and gain another 0.5lb muscle, I would be elated... However, if I lose any lean mass, I (might) consider it a plateau and change up the diet or put in REAL cardio... Got my fingers crossed for next week.


Are you on the anabolic diet? How are your energy levels? If you're missing Fridays lift, I bet you're going to be pretty amped on your next workout! One plus side to the bummer of a missed lift :)

Since getting back from the Caymans I have taken some advice from some folks that are smarter than me in the diet arena (thx loop ;)), and gone to no carbs before exercise on workout days and then follow the workout with a couple of carb loaded meals.
Example workout day:
Meal 1: 7:00 1 cup egg whites, 4 strips turkey bacon, 1oz 2% shredded cheese :drool:
Meal 2: 10:00 Can of tuna or 6oz chicken/beef/fish and 2 cups broccoli
Workout 12:00 - 1:00
PWO shake: 1:05 (immediate, I make it AT the gym) 2 scoops nitrean, 1 scoop waxy maize, 5g creatine powder, 5g l-glutamine powder
Meal 3 PWO "snack": 1:20 (as soon as I get back to the office) Oatmeal
Meal 4: 3:30 Usually 6oz 96% lean ground beef, 1/2 cup rice, 4oz potatoes, 1 cup green beans
Meal 5: 7:00 protein/veggies
Meal 6: 8:30 Bedtime shake: 1 or 2 scoops nitrean, 2 tbsp natty PB

On non-workout days, I basically eat similar to the above but don't worry as much about the nutrient timing/mixing as much...

My energy levels have been awesome. It seems like I am getting stronger every week. Going to a 3-day split was the best thing I ever did... I am fully charged when I workout and have been having some really intense workouts.

Warmup:
- BB Bench: 45 x 15, 95 x 12, 155 x 10, misc lateral raises

BB Bench Press
185 x 8
225 x 4+1 (Had a spotter assist on missed 5th rep)
205 x 4
185 x 6 drop to 135 x 8
Standing EZ-Curls
70 x 12
90 x 6
80 x 6
BB Push Press
95 x 10
115 x 7
125 x 5 (miss 6th) WTF!?
115 x 6
95 x 8
Superset: DB Incline Flys / Bent-over Concentration Curls
27.5 x 10 / 27.5 x 10 each hand
30 x 10 / 30 x 8 each hand
35 x 7 / 35 x 6 each hand
Superset: Dips / Lateral Raises
BodyWeight x 15 / 20 x 10
BW x 15 / 22.5 x 6
BW x 12 / 20 x 7

Summary:
1. Push press was a little disappointing. The bench must have taken a little more out of me than I thought...
2. Haven't done dips in a while. Maybe it is because I did them last, but I felt kinda weak....
3. I feel like my deltoids are lagging...I may put power cleans in on leg day Friday as a sort of burn out exercise at the end. Not sure if I could handle them in addition to what I am already doing on Wednesdays...


Additional note: It should be against the law to do BB curls in the squat rack. I'm not sure anything else pisses me off more.... :mad:

On a lighter note, the chest guy was there today....No sh!t, we sta