Dear Diary... my life on a cut

g'em

Alrighty then, I guess it's my turn now that Dragan has paved the way. Like himself, I've been around these parts for a while now, having been bitten by the lifting bug about 2 years ago. However, it wasn't until January of this year that things got a little more serious and organised, and I decided to properly educate myself on the physiology of lifting and the science behind it, and more importantly realised that you're only ever going to make gains if you feed yourself properly.

As time went on I made more and more adjustments to my training and my diet, and all along the way I toyed with the idea of getting into BBing competition. It wasn't until recently though, after humming and hawing for months, that I finally decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and planned out an 8 week trial pre-comp cut. I guess I have the advantage over some women in that I'm coming into this on the back of quite a bit of heavy lifting- my lean muscle mass is high and I'm very strong (for a guurrrl!!) so this cut is all about losing body fat and maintaining the muscle I've worked hard to build over the last 18 months or so.

Here I'll be posting an abridged version of my on-line journal as quite frankly, I talk a lot. No, I mean really an awful, awful lot One of the other posters on Team Test did a 4 week cut at the beginning of the summer and it was one of the inspirations behind me doing this. But Dragan and I decided that we wanted to look at more than just the physiology of such an extreme diet- we wanted to track the mental aspects of it too. So here I'll be giving the basics for my training, but if you really want to see whats going on in my head just check out the full journal on the Team Test website, linked in my sig.

One word of warning- I can't emphasis enough that this is not any old weight-loss diet. It's very, very extreme and not something that I would have embarked on had I not spent weeks planning it and set aside the time to do it. It is not a quick way to lose weight. It's expensive. It's all-consuming and it's pretty much taken over my life. It is not unhealthy, but it's not very pleasant either. As I sit here and type this I feel like my brain is in a permanent state of fart-ness. But it's necessry for me to do to find out if I have what it take to compete in the future, both physically and psychologically. See what I mean about talking a lot?!!! Alrighty then, time for me to get copying and pasting...

Bear in mind that I've been doing this for just over a week now so I'm going to have to go back in time a bit to give you all the full picture of whats happening...

Edit: oops, it'd probably help to give some stats from the beginning- 5'7", 164lbs, bf ~22-23%, 26yo

g'em

Sunday 27th August: The day before the cut begins...

For the next 8 weeks I’ll be following a cutting and shredding plan, designed to seriously reduce bodyfat levels whilst maintaining and hopefully increasing lean muscle mass. I’ll be following a macronutrient ratio of 40% protein, 50% fats and 10% carbs, with a daily calorie allowance of 10 cals per lb bodyweight (which means I start out at 1640 calories a day ± 50 cals- my normal daily calorie intake is anywhere from 1800-2100 cals/day). No, you’re not seeing things, that’s 50% of my daily calories coming from fat. This pretty much equates to four tablespoons of oil a day, with some avocado thrown in for good measure. It's pretty much based aroudn the Get Shredded Plan by Dr. John Berardi on t-nation, with a few of my own tweaks made based on what Ii know about how I react to certain macronutirent ratios and workouts.

The 8 weeks will be broken into 4 × 2 week progress blocks, at which stage I’ll be taking measurements, taking pictures, and taking weight accordingly. If the weight loss is too slow the calories go down to 9cals/lb, possibly even 8cals/lb, if it’s too fast (water loss notwithstanding) it’ll be pushed up to 11cals/lb.

There are three feed-up days allowed, during which I can eat 3-3.5 times normal amounts i.e. 4900-5700 calories but this is also to include a workout and cardio session. I start teaching again on 16th October at which stage I’ll be close enough to the end that I’ll be able to keep going and it won’t interfere too much with training (erm, that’s a bit sad really isn’t it? I’m more concerned with work interfering with lifting than the other way around… such a gym bunny).

Lifting will be four times a week, two leg days, one chest and one back maintaining heavy, compound lifts for the first four weeks in the 8-12 rep range with a reassessment of any possible strength losses at that stage. If I find my recovery times are too long I’ll lower the weights and work in the 10-15 rep range. Cardio is 5-7 times a week, mostly LIT.

Designing the diet was a nightmare in itself, and I got a headache just looking at the food spreadsheet. There is some MAJOR planning involved in this thing. Four meals a day with oodles of supplementation to keep me functioning properly (ZMA, CEE, BCAA, Green Tea Extract, Fish Oils, fibre capsules, multivitamin). It’s not going to be an easy diet by any means, and will get harsher over the weeks, eventually resulting in going completely ketogenic at the halfway mark. I will be relying extremely heavily on fat-burners for appetite suppression and an extra helping hand shifting the flubber. I’ve tried to include as many wholefoods as possible, owing to their thermogenic properties and slower digestion rates, but it’s hard when you’re working on such a tight macronutrient scale.

g'em

Monday 28th August Day 1:
Well, it’s started. Breakfast this morning was a very unusual combination of ¼ cup oats, one whole egg, one white and two spoons of oil. The oil stopped it from feeling altogether cardboardy and I get the feeling I’m going to enjoy having so much of the slimy stuff in my diet. I’m going to miss those carbs when they’re gone so I might as well make the most of them while I still can!

Head’s in a very, very good place. Strangely enough, even though I have plenty to waffle about today, I don’ have a very great need to write it. I think it’s the difference between the ‘have to’ and the ‘should do’ sides of training. Up until now all my training has been the latter. Up until this point its been a case of... oh, I’ve only worked out twice this week, I really should go to the gym tomorrow… ooh, I really should go for a walk this evening… um, I shouldn’t have another biscuit, but I’m going to anyway… Whereas now, it’s “I have to go to the gym four times a week, I have to do this much cardio, I have to eat this number of calories every day”. And I don’t want those ‘have to’s’ to sound negative, because they aren’t at all- I just mean that I’ve now accepted what needs to be done in order to reach my goal and I don’t question them in any way.

I know I have tough times ahead of me, but I don’t think about that. I’ll just have to deal with those moments as and when they appear. Took all my measurements this morning and did some pics- I should really use them as screensavers to remind me of how I don’t want to look anymore. Not training today, just spending today getting settled and organized. Oh, one thing though- my BCAA tablets aren’t so much tablets as horse-size servings of nastiness. 6 huge tablets three times a day… eugh.

So this is what I’m eating today and would be very typical for what my daily diet will consist of:

7.30am
oats 1/4 cup
olive oil 2 tablespoons
egg 1 whole
egg white 1 white

11.30am
whey 30g

2.30pm
chicken 3oz
cauliflower 1 cup
olive oil 1.5 tablespoons
broccoli 1 cup
spinach 2 cups

6.30pm
tuna 1 can
carrots 1 medium
olive oil 1 tablespoon
lettuce 3 cups
tomato 4 cherry

10pm
cottage cheese 50g
avocado half fruit
flax 1 tablespoon

Total calories: 1535.75
Total Protein: 130.2g
Total carbs: 55.24g
Total fat: 97.74g

Bear in mind that today I didn’t train, but on days when I am in the gym there’ll be a ½ serving of x-plode at 9.45am and the 11.30am whey serving is pushed back to 12.30pm so it’s taken after the gym.

And then the supplement plan looks like this:

7.30am Brekkie + BCAA
9.45am CEE
(10.30am Training)
12.30pm Supps: whey + BCAA
2.30pm Lunch
4pm Supps: BCAA + Green Tea Extract + Fish Oils + Fibre + Vit C
6.30 Dinner
10pm: Pre-Bed meal + ZMA

I’ve upped my fat-burners to 5 caps a day: 2 first thing, one mid-morning and two before lunch. They seem to be doing the job nicely, and I’m making sure I fill myself up with gallons of green tea and black regular tea. I’m peeing like a mofo!!!

g'em

Tuesday 29th August Day 2:

Righty-ho so, yesterday finished up fine. Dinner was actually quite easy- 3 cups of lettuce actually amounts to quite a lot so I was able to eat a big portion of salad and tuna for tea which satiated me nicely. And even better was my before bed feeding- avocado and cottage cheese?? Yummy!!! Slept like a baby, a much needed rest, and I’d say I’ll be needing my sleep more and more as the days and weeks go by. Going to bed at 9.30 or 10 will become the absolute norm for me I would imagine, maybe even earlier.

I can feel myself starting to ‘deflate’ now, as my belly is emptying. It’s a nice feeling actually, and one I know I’ll have to get used to. Breakfast this morning wasn’t quite as tasty as eggs n’ oats yesterday- low-fat yoghurt, whey and 2 tbsp oil... hmmm… artificially sweet oiliness . “Interesting” is probably the most appropriate word to use. Anyways, I was in quite a contemplative mood on the DART this morning (I’m allowing myself to use my brain as much as possible right now while it still functions) and I was trying to decide what it is that feels different this time round in my eternal quest for self-improvement that has me so convinced and determined to do this. Most times, when I start these things I find them hard, and I give up after a few days, because dealing with the difficulty and the nasty feelings it brings is just too hard. But then I thought, ok, well what if I just went straight to the shop a bought a bar of chocolate? How would that make me feel? Initially it’d be fantastic- all that cocoa-sugary-serotonin-inducing goodness. But no sooner had I finished licking the last melted crumbles off my fingertips and I’d feel like ****e again. Only this time it would be feeling guilt, which is probably the most lingering and difficult of all the nasty emotions, and remorse and utter- and a feeling of failure and self-loathing. Is momentary pleasure worth it? Hell no. So while the feelings may be tough over the course of the next few weeks (who am I kidding? Tough doesn’t even begin to describe it…) at least there’s an eventual goal in mind. At least those feeling won’t be in vain. And ffs, I get a re-feed every 2 weeks so I’m hardly completely denying myself for 8 weeks solidly now am I??!? And it’s because I’ve realised this that I think I should be able to get through my cravings. And that’s the difference between being able to do it and not. Sure everyone can spout motivational messages at you “nothing tastes as good as being slim feels”… “minute in the mouth, lifetime on the hips” yadda yadda yadda… but until you really, truly believe those things you won’t give yourself the strength to succeed. But I’m not saying someone who doesn’t believe them isn’t able to do it, because its just that they don’t believe it YET. And right now, I do.

I’m making no sense now am I? Meh, what’s new… feeling a bit groggy today. Possibly (probably?) the lack of carbs. And tired too. Will try and take it handy if I can. But off for some leg action in the gym now, should be interesting!!!!…

(A couple of hours and some heavy lifting later). It seems the newbs are starting to make a reappearance in the gym… Wonder how many of them will last til the beginning of term?!?!?


Squats: 4 × 15(60)
Leg Press: 3 × 20(50)
Hang ATG Squat Clean: 3 × 8(30)
Walking Lunges: 4 × 20 steps (15 DBs)

g'em

Wednesday 30th August Day 3


Chest day today…

DB Press: 4 × 10(17.5)
Superset
Incline DB press: 3 × 10(15)
Incline DB curl: 3 × 8(8 )
Superset
Cable fly: 3 × 8(13.5)
EZ bar bicep curl: 6(bar + 10) 10(bar + 5) 8(bar + 7.5)
Pec Fly Machine: 3 × 10(5pl)
Concentration curls: 8(9) 5(9) 8(7)

The gym is quickly becoming the one place where I feel at ease during the day. Working out means my appetite is non-existent and I can actually see the fruits of my labour. I’m still a narky cow even when I workout though … feeling better having lifted heavy stuff I have to admit.

g'em

Thursday 31st August Day 4
Oooh… it’s getting hard now.

Went for a run last night with my new running buddy. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed my run, it pretty much wiped me out and I was in bed within an hour of getting home. Sleep comes easily to me these days (thank fcuk) and in the mornings when I take the Lipo-6 it does a very good job of waking me up, so I don’t feel overly groggy. Having to swallow 6 horse-pills first thing after waking isn’t quite so pleasant though. Seriously, these babies are over an inch long, and nearly as thick. In fact the other day as I counted out my supplements for my 4pm dosing I realised there was enough of them to make a smiley face…

Every day I take:
12 Amino Acid (w/ BCAAs) capsules
2 BCAA
5 Lipo-6
1 multivitamin
2 Fish Oil
2 Vitamin C
3-4 Fibre tablets
2 Green Tea Extract… jeez, that’s a total of 29-30 capsules every single day.

Like I said, things are beginning to get significantly harder. I’ve entered space cadet territory and I feel as if I’m moving in slow-motion most of the time. I have no hunger pangs to speak of (honestly, that Lipo-6 is a wonder supplement, there is truly no way I could be doing this without it). This morning’s breakfast left me feeling rather queasy (two tablespoons of olive oil and a low-fat yoghurt anyone??) and it was taking much longer than normal for my brain to kick into gear. I left the house and got to the train station before realising I’d left my lunch at home, and nearly burst into tears on the DART when it took me 15 minutes to untangle my earphones!!!! But there’s no question of me quitting this, don’t get me wrong. I’m just adjusting to everything still. This same brain fog is also providing me with a wonderful sense of calmness, and my stress levels are pretty low.

g'em

Friday 1st September Day 5

It seems that I get pretty tired and groggy in the mornings but I perk up by lunch time, or at least that’s the pattern that’s settling in for now. Still feeling good, and had a few more moments of ‘acceptance’ about what I’m doing. Met up with Emmet last night to talk about a new training program to help me reserve as much strength as possible throughout the cut- he’s not just a bendy guy y’know, he’s pretty damn knowledgeable and could easily teach me a thing or three. We’ll play around with some new ideas over the next couple of weeks, which will be a good laugh, if even for no other reason that to stave off the boredom. Legs Day II today and I wanted to try something slightly different...

Monster-set
Leg curls: 12 (8pl) 12 (9pl) 12 (10pl) 12(11pl)
Leg extensions: 12 (7pl) 12 (8pl) 12(9pl) 12 (10pl)
Abductor: 12 (14pl) 12(15pl) 12 (15pl) 12(15pl)
Adductor: 12(16pl) 12(15pl) 11(14pl) 12(14)

DB Press: 6(17.5) 8(15) 8(15) 8(15)
Lat raises: 4 × 10(8 )
Rear-delt raises: 3 × 12(8 )
Calf-raises: 10(bar +)(60) 8(60) 8(70) 8(70)

(Oh btw, a monster set is when, after performing an exercise for one body part, instead of resting, you immediately perform an exercise for another body part, so in this case I did each of the four exercises one straight after another with a 1 minute rest between cycles). Heehee!!! Monster sets are… well, they’re interesting to say the least. That’s my kind of workout- hard and fast baby. This is more of a cardio leg day than anything. And yes, yes, I know I’m not usually a big fan of abductor and adductor machines, but this is isolation day it’s not like they’re replacing squats or anything crazy. Mind you, I must admit, it’s a very empowering feeling as a woman knowing you can squeeze that much solid iron between your thighs (or to quote babypink it's a "very, very, vey, very, very, very, very good thing" - yes there were seven "very's" he was quite adamant about his point!!) Of course by the time it came around to doing shoulders I was pretty tired, but I got it done anyways. My left shoulder is giving me ****e still though…

Energy levels are fine during the day, but I’m noticing that the evening cardio is really wiping me out. After going for a late walk last night I was totally bunched and literally fell into bed afterwards. But sure ‘tis all good for now. Still a member of the happy camperino brigade.

Edit: scratch the first sentence of that last paragraph. I think I'm gonna slip into a coma of tiredness any second now at 4pm... is it just end of the week tiredness? is it the cut? who knows. But I'm gonna have to go home and have a nap before I get my cardio-groove on tonight...

g'em

Saturday 2nd September Day 6

Another day, another gym session. Had a ‘lie-in’ this morning… didn’t get up until.. ooh, 8.30!!! Well in fairness I was asleep by about 11.30 last night so I got a flipping (and much needed) good rest. Back day today:

Deadlift: 10(60) 8(80) 6(100) 8(80)
Superset…
Bent over DB row: 3 × 15(10)
Dips: 3 × 10
Superset…
Lat Pull-down: 10(7pl) 8(8pl) 8(8pl)
Push-downs: 10(8pl) 8(9pl) 8(9pl)
Superset…
Narrow grip pull-downs: 8(8pl) 8(8pl) 7(8pl)
DB OH extensions: 10(15) 10(15) 8(15)

Oooh I was pooped after that. Couple of things to note- the small of my back was feeling really rather uncomfortable during the DL’s hence the reason why I didn’t go any further in weight. Dips though were significantly easier than normal- already I’m feeling the difference with the weight loss.

Still trying to maintain that ‘one day at a time’ mentality, and trying hard to view this ordeal in blocks, the first one finishing up with the re-feed this day next week. All in all feeling fine, much of which is thanks to a little help from my friends.

g'em

Monday 4th September Day 8

Anyhoodles, Saturday was naaaaasty. I didn't actually get any work done after the gym, and instead went home and had a complete brain and body meltdown. You know when you're so over-tired that you feel like you're existing as opposed to living? That you can sit in one place and just watch time going by? That no matter hard you try, your brain just will not allow itself to be used for anything other than the most basic of functions (breathe in, breathe out… blink, now once more… lift hand to shoulder and scratch…)? Well that's how I was early Saturday afternoon. A vegetable. I came home and crashed on the sofa and fell asleep, only to wake up in time to take my supplements, watch half an hour of telly and then go back to sleep until I had to great ready to go out. It was horrible. Doing cardio and training together wasn't a good idea at all, and isn't something I'll be doing again in a hurry. To be honest I've done cardio every day for the last seven days, and it might just be a bit too much. Maybe 4-5 times in the week is plenty. But hey, this is all a learning process and I'd rather have done too much than too little.

Legs day today, and given that I’m still suffering über-DOMS in my adductors after my monster-set on Friday- I swear it feels like I’ve been straddling an elephant all weekend- it was going to being kind of high on the interesting scale.

Squats: 4 × 15(60)
Leg Press: 4 × 25(40) high tempo
Walking Lunges: 4 × 20(15)
Bulgarian Split Squats: 8(15 DBs) each side… and then I gave in to exhaustion

High tempo leg presses and walking lunges together are an eeeevil combination!!! Session totally pooped me out, and even though I didn’t get a huge amount done it’s fine as I’ll have an isolation session later in the week. Groin DOMS were a beatch tying to do the walking lunges, but I’m getting a massage done tomorrow so hopefully that’ll ease them out a bit. Oh and I'm not doing any cardio today. Anyhoodles, that’s all for now!!!

g'em

Wednesday 6th September Day 10

Yesterday was an aboslutely awful day, really truly horrible. It was the first day I experienced any real negative effects of the cut and it knocked me for six. I spent most of the day totally spaced out and my mood swings were phenomenally bad, even by my standards. If it's a sign of things to come I may just have a rough ride ahead of me over the next 7 weeks.

Today though I feel fine, really grand, and back to normal in every sense. Chest and Biceps today, my most horriblific day. One of my TT boys was training alongside me and we had great fun checking out how my lumps and bumps are starting to really show through now that the bodyfat is getting stripped off…

DB Press: 4 × (20)
Superset
Pec Dec: 3 × 8(7pl)
EZ Bar curls: 3 × (bar + 10)
Superset
Lying cable curls: 3 × 8(13.5)
Hammer curls: 6(10) 6(8 ) 8(8 )
Superset
Cable cross-overs: 8(13.5) 8(18 ) 7(18 )
Cable crucifix curls: 3 × 8(9)

Nothing particularly exciting really, as always my bicep strength sucks bums, only difference is now my arms look good when they’re failing me

g'em

Thursday 7th September Day 11

It's getting to the stage where I can actually see my body changing on a daily basis, it’s really quite exciting. My upper body is coming on quicker than my lower half is, but I pretty much expected that. I would imagine it will take a good bit of hard work in the latter half of this cut to really see the changes I want to in the whole bum area tbh. Having gotten on the scales again this morning (I can’t help it!!!) I’ve found I’m now lighter than I was before I went to on holidays i.e. lighter than I’ve been in three years or so. And quite frankly some of my clothes are hanging off me. Depending on what my weight is on Saturday morning I’m going to have to re-jig some of my meal plans and drop the calories accordingly, probably sticking to sub-1500 cals/day (that’s ¼ of what babypink eats!!!) with four × 300 cal meals and the rest made up from whey, x-plode and supps.

Sleep isn’t coming as easily to me as I’d like which is a bit of a pain in the rear end, but there’s very little I can do about that. Mood-wise I seem fine, the evenings get a little difficult when the Lipo 6 has worn off, and sitting in front of the telly doesn’t provide much of a distraction, so I’ve taken to knitting again meh, you may laugh, but anything that keeps my head occupied and my hands busy is a definite bonus in my eyes. So knitting and walking are more oftn than not what I get up to on my evenings these days. It also negates the need for me to indulge in the ‘fasted cardio or not’ debate- quite simply walking for 60 minutes in the evening is a whole hour that I don’t have to worry about food and instead I sleep longer in the mornings. So you can spout all the scientific and anecdotal evidence you want at me and tell me that one method is better than the other, but logistics are dictating that an evening walk is the way to go for me, so that’s what I’m sticking to.

Legs Day II and shoulders today:

Monster set (all wts are plates)
Leg curls: 12(9) 12(10) 12(11) 10(12)
Leg extensions: 12(8 ) 12(9) 12(10) 12(11)
Abductors:12(13) 12(14) 12(15) 12 (16)
Adductors: 12(13) 12(14) 12(15) 12 (16)

Leg Press calf raises: 3 × 10(12 pl)
BB shoulder press: 6(35) 2×8(30) 6(30)
Lat raises: 3 × 8(10)
Hang squat clean: 4 × 10(30)
Rear delt DB raises: 3 × 10(10)

Wow, looooads done, but in no more time than usual (around the hour mark). For sheer time economy monster sets rock!! And hehe, I’m only 3 plates away from stacking out on the leg curl machine which gave me a giggle.. oh yeah, girls are sooo not strong . In fact got so much done by the end of the session I was getting dizzy every time I lifted something up so I called it a day. All in all, I’m happy. Yay!!

g'em

Saturday 9th September Day 13

Heeheehee!!! Food food food food food food!!! Yayayayayyayayay!!!

Yes, as you may have guessed today is feed-up day. Now this is quite possibly the most important day so far for me, for oodles of different reasons. It’s my reward for staying 100% clean since the beginning of the cut, it’s a swift kick up the arse for my metabolism to remind it what burning real food is all about, but it’s also going to test my resolve and my determination when the sun sets and ketogenesis begins.

Took all my meaurements and the news was good, very good. All the trouble areas are down but I'm maintaining size on my arms and calves and my weight is down from 164lbs to 155lbs. Waist is down by two inches. Callipers readings are all down too. Very, very happy with the results so far!!

Did back and triceps today and then followed it with 30min LIT- will be walking again later so didn’t want to go overboard.

Deadlifts: 10(60) 8(80) 6(100) 12(80)
Bent over DB row: 3×10(15)
Dips: 3×10
Narrow grip pull downs: 8(8pl) 8(9pl) 7(pl)
Push-downs: 10(8pl) 8(9pl) 7(10pl)
t-bar row: 8(40) 8(37.5) 8(35)
OH DB extension: 3×8(17.5)

Spent the evening with Dragan, eating pizza and burgers and generally filling my belly, which in reality didn't take very much seeings how my stomach has shrunk beyond belief. Felt pretty nasty after eating that much food, but it reminded me how unpleasant a feeling over-eating is and will just help to strengthen my resolve. Happy, happy days.

g'em

Monday 11th September Day 15
I guess today is the inevitably crash after the jubilance of the weekend. It’s also keto-rific. Brain fog has set in with great severity and I’m slowly muddling my way through the day. It’s not altogether unlike the feeling I had on my really nasty day last week, but I guess I’m not so freaked out by it this time because it was expected. Doesn’t make it any easier, just less scary. Multi-tasking is absolutely out of the question and concentration levels are coming and going in waves. Amazing how violently your moods can swing from being so high to so low in such a short space of time. Going training tonight with Emmet so he’s promised to show me some new fanciness to shake up my routine a little so looking forward to that (I think!!)…

Box squats: 5(80) 4(90) 2(100)
Back squats: 4(100) 1(110) [both PB’s!!]
3 sets of Ghironda (sp?) leg curls with isometric hold for 10 sec supersetted with leg extensions with 10sec isometric hold for 3 sets
One-arm DB snatches: warm up with 10kg then 3(17.5) each side for 2 sets and 3(20) each side
One-leg leg extensions with toes pointed out (stabilizer strength): 3 sets of 10 each side.

I have to admit, I’m well happy to have got the PB’s, and given that I’m on the third week of a cut, I think it’s a pretty damn good achievement. Yay!

g'em

Tuesday 12th September Day 16
Felt good this morning, still on a bit of a high after last night’s squatting fun and I was borderline hyper going into the gym. Chest and bicep days today:

DB Press: 10(17.5) 8(20) 8(22.5) [PB for reps] 5(25) [PB for wt]
Superset
DB fly: 3 × 8(12.5)
EZ bar curl (bar +): 8(10), 2× 8(12.5)
Superset
Cable cross-overs: 8(18 ) 10(18 ) 10(18 )
DB curl: 5(10) 6(10) 5(10)
3 sets push ups to failure

Erm.. yeah, more PB’s really quite confused about what’s going on here, delighted, but quite confused. Seems keto agrees with me quite well, at least in the short term. But anyways… YAY!!!

g'em

Friday 15th September Day 19
Wednesday and Thursday were cardio days, walk on Wed and a very angry run on Thursday which annihilated me and probably affected my training in the gym on subsequent days.

Went to the gym today quite fired up, but physically I couldn’t follow through. I know I’ll be grand in a couple of days, this is just another dip in the long road.

Monster set:
Walking lunges: 4 × 20(20 DB)
Adductor: 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl) 10(16pl)
Abductor: 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl) 10(16pl)

Superset:
Lat raise: 4 × 8(10)
Rear delt raise: 4 × 8(10)

BB push press: 5 × 5(30)

g'em

Saturday 16th September Day 20

(Day 20 ooh- feels like quite a milestone as I write it actually…). Nothing particularly remarkable about today. Went to a party last night, food everywhere, it was painful, but I didn’t succumb, just kept reminding myself that I had half an avocado and some cottage cheese waiting for me at home that would no doubt be infinitesimally tastier than the cocktail sausages, chicken goujons, garlic bread, deviled eggs, chocolate cake, cashews, pistachios and various crudités on offer… yes, much tastier

Back and Tri’s today…

Deadlift: 10(60) 5(100) 3(110) fail(120) 5(100)
Dips: 8(bw + 10) 6(bw +10) 8(bw) 8(bw)
Bent over DB row: 4 × 8(20)
Seated Row: 10(9pl) 8(10pl) 8(11pl)
Push downs: 10(9pl) 8(10pl) 6(11pl)
Lat pull downs: 6(10pl) 3 × 8(9pl)

25 mins LIT x-trainer
15 min incline walk

…and I’ll probably go for a 35 min saunter down the pier later too. After a late night last night and doing cardio and weights at the gym today I'm fully expecting to completely crash and burn this afternoon, just like I did two weeks ago, although this time I'm prepared for it. In fact an hour after leaving the gym I can already feel it coming on.

As I said, not a very strange or abnormal day, it’s funny how this has all just become my ‘normality’ now

g'em

Monday 18th September Day 22
Got a really nice surprise in the gym this morning when I noticed that the separations in my quads are starting to show through. My legs are by far and away my weak spot and to be finally seeing progress on them is very, very satisfying indeed. And my calf definition rocks which doesn’t hurt either . Tbh I sort of wanted to check on leg strength again today, being at the NABBA's last night and checking out the physiques of the female competitors reinforced just how much work I have to do on them, and as well I wanted to check how well my strength maintenance is going. I got the 110kg again (with a spot) so I’m happy enough. Plenty of dizzy spells and I was knackered by the end of the session. Happy days. Legs today:

Squats: 8(60) 6(70) 5(80) 3(100) 1(110) 10(60)
Leg Curl Isometric Hold supersetted with Leg Extension Iso Hold with increasing weight for four sets, 10 sec hold.
One Arm DB Snatch:5(12.5) 5(17.5) 2 × 5(20)
Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 × 8 each side (15)

g'em

Tuesday 19th September Day 22
Hmm, it seems I’m actually getting to grips with my mood swings. It’s not that they’re any easier or anything, but they’re just less scary these days as I know what to expect when one hits. Yesterday for example after doing heavy legs I was absolutley shattered and a hungry mofo, so from 12 til 1.30 (I’m not supposed to eat til 2 but I gave in early) I was in a naaaasty mood but had the impression that I’d be fine once I’d eaten, which was exactly the case. Very ordinary day otherwise, and cardio still sucks monkey balls.

Chest and biceps today:
DB Press: 8(17.5) 8(20) 5(22.5) 8(20)
Incline DB Fly: 3×12.5
EZ Bar Curl (bar +): 10(10) 8(10) 8(10)
Pec Deck:8(7pl) 8(6pl) 8(6pl)
Cable cross-over (with a nice squeeze at the contraction on each): 3×(18 )
BB Curl:3×8 (last two on each negatives)
Hang Clean: 5(40) This was just too heavy and so I dropped the weight and did a more explosive…
Hang ATG Clean: 3×8(30)

Needless to say quite exhausted and tired afterwards, chest is already sore, grip is completely shot, but je suis un happy camper. ‘tis all good.

g'em

Wednesday 20th September Day 23

Went for a run last night. Well, a staggered run split into four 8 minute stages with 1-2 min walking between. Didn’t feel the need to kill myself on the back of two days’ worth of heavy lifting.

I am FED... UP... with this cut. I am sleeping, eating, breathing and thinking training and it sucks ass. I'm angry and tired and hungry and ****ty. I don't want any answers or solutions. I'm going to snap any second. I don't want t be told "you'll be fine after feed up day". That's three days away. Right now that feels like a month. I'm bored of having no life. Exactly what am I going to do with myself once I've finished this? It's a fuggling waste. It's not like anyone’s actually going to see me. I'm frustrated to hell and I'm emotional and it sucks donkey cock. I'm sick of it, really, really sick of it. Frankly I don’t care anymore if I sound weak-willed or stupid, this is the ****tiest, hardest most unbelievably soul-numbing thing I have ever done and I’m not sure why I’m doing it any more. And I’m not even at halfway yet. Eugh. This is my normality? Ha! My oversized backside it is. This is living hell. I walked around all morning with tears pricking the back of my eyes. I feel awful What’s worse is that now there’s someone who could really do with my help at the moment and I just don’t have the energy or the strength to take care of them.

When these moods hit it’s like a sledgehammer to the head, or even worse, the heart. Every semblance of reason and sanity is thrown out the window and you’re left wondering how the hell putting your body through something like this could possibly be worth it.

And right now I’m not sure that it is. But like I said, my sanity has gone for a siesta and what’s left of me is too stubborn and pig-headed to entertain any notions of giving up. I just hope that side of me doesn’t prevail to the detriment of my health.

Nnnnrrgghhhhh…

Speaking of doing nasty things to my health, I went for a massage this morning. I’ve never had my legs seen to before.. Oh.. My.. GOD the pain. My calves have been at me a good bit over the last week or so and putting it simply I now know it’s because they’re in tatters. I thought getting back work done was bad? Pfft, walk in the park compared to calves.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to find a rock to crawl under and hide for the rest of the day.

g'em

Thursday 21st September Day 24
I’m doing much better today, thank GOD. Two days in a row like yesterday would surely have broken me. One thing that’s bothering me though is that it’s taking me a long time to get to sleep in the evenings- I’ll usually be lying awake for an hour or so before I nod off. I’m still getting 7 hours of sleep, but I don’t think its enough. Eight or eight and a half would suit me better right now I think.

Ok, legs day 2 and shoulders today.

Monster set:
Walking lunges: 4 × 20(20 DB)
Adductor: 12(13pl) 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl)
Abductor: 12(13pl) 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl)

The Bear: 5 × 3 rounds (30) [damn you daveirl for putting that idea in my head ]

Monsterset:
DB Front raises: 6(8 ) 8(8 ) 8(8 )
DB Lat raises: 6(8 ) 8(8 ) 8(8 )
DB Rear Delt Raises: 8(8 ) 8(8 ) 8(8 ) [damn you Dragan for putting that idea in my head ]

BB Military Press: 10(bar) 8(bar + 5) 6(bar + 7.5)


Thoughts:
I think I’ve killed my shoulders :eek:

g'em

Saturday 23rd September Day 26
Well today did NOT get off to a very good start. After sleeping quite badly (and getting woken at 4am by my housemate falling through the front door) I woke up groggy and not feeling too hot. Lipo six down the throat, go for a pee, and then it was onto the scales to the fortnightly progress check. So up I get on the scales and… 154lbs.

What in the what now??? One friggin fugglin miserly stooped goddamn sucky assed lb lost in the last two weeks?? ONE POUND??? I know I put on five pounds after the last feed up but I thought that overall it’d have come down more than that…

Aftre a 40min pre-brekkie run it was back home and I filled my belly with oaty, yoghurty goodness then sat down and stuck the numbers of truth into my spreadsheet to see was progress really as slow as my 1lb weight-loss suggested…


Dang baby!!! Woohooo!!! And that would be the difference in size loss vs weight loss Three and a half inches around the chest (under the boob-line that it, the ladies haven’t just shrunk beyond redemption ) yay!! And were starting to see progress on the lower half too thank goodness: just over two inches gone from the hips and over an inch from the arse crease- no wonder my bum is getting lots of nice comments these days!! And as for the calliper readings… well, I don’t take the %bf as verbatim (well, maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but personally I think my bf is lwoer than the 20% the callipers would suggest...), but the readings are down enough for me to get tentatively excited, and the mm readings are looking great, big losses all round. So all in all- yayay!! It’s coming along nicely merci buckets

Needless to say that put me in a much better mood, and then it was off to the gym for some lifting action and yet more cardio (I ended up doing 80 minutes of cardio today, and it pooped me out big style).

Deadlift: 8(60) 8(80) 8(90) 8(100) [PB for reps]
On arm bent over row: 3 × 10(17.5)
Dips: 3 × 8(bw)
Seated row: 8(10pl) 8(11pl) 8(12pl)
Push down: 8(9pl) 8(10pl 8(10pl)
Assisted pull-ups: 8, 6, 8.

I’m reasonably happy with this. After my early morning shenanigans I was quite tired to be honest, and I just didn’t feel up to heavy DLs. But I was made up about repping out on the 100s.Feed up day #2 was a resounding success, and it was a lovely, lovely day. I once again got to feel that overly-bloated, full of gas, nasty feeling in my belly that’s just one of the most uncomfortable and rank feelings out there, again reminding me how flat tums are the only way forward. I got to eat some of my favourite foods, making the next two weeks of deprivation a little easier.

g'em

Monday 25th September Day 29
today heralds the beginning of the second half of the cut. I’m now officially over 50% of the way through. It sort of feels like I’m in unchartered territory or something. Knowing that someone else (t-ha) had already done a 4 week cut was something of a comfort blanket to me for the last few weeks, but now I’m out there on my own. Ooh, and it also means I only have one feed up day to go. Scary.

I’ve also figured out that so far, four weeks in, I’ve done 20 hours 25 minutes of cardio. How’s that for ass-suckiness???? I flew home from Hawaii in less time than that. Anyhoodles, ‘twas legs day in le gyme today:

Back squat: 5(80) 5(80) 4(90) 3(100) 2(110)
Leg curl + Leg Extension Isometric Holds: 3 × 10 sec holds supersetted
One-arm DB Snatch: 5(15) 4(20) 5(20) 3(22.5)
Bulgarian split squats: 3 × 8(15)
Weighted Cable Crunches: 3 × 8(6pl)

Oooh, I got an extra rep out @110kg- yay!! This workout doesn’t look like a lot on paper but it took quite a while to get done. But I like it, I really do. The heavy squats are fun to bang out at the beginning, and then the snatches and split squats make you work your ass off and get all sweaty and panty

g'em

Tuesday 27th September Day 31
Today I did chest as outlined for me by one of the other board members When I started the cut one of the things I was concerned about was huge amounts of strength loss (which thankfully don’t seem to be happening) but Amazing One kindly offered to put a few ideas down to give me some new training ideas. These mainly revolve around CNS training as opposed to a traditional split bodybuilding routine, but being completely honest he'd need to explain the ins and outs of it to you. The first one of these I tried was the leg plan, which resulted in me getting a new PB in week 3 of the cut, so needless to say I was quite impressed. My chest however, is by far and away my weakest of big bodyparts, and a different story altogether.

BB Press: [1(65) 5(50)] [1(60) 5(50)] [1(60) 5(50)] – I only realised once these were done I was supposed to do 6 reps not 5.. oops
Seated Row: 3 × 6(14pl)
One-arm alternating DB Press: 8(17.5) 10(15) 10(15) 10(15)
Cable crunches: 8(6pl) 8(7pl) 8(7pl)

Well first off my benching sucks ass, big time. Bleugh. Stoopid weak chest. And the alternating DB press is hard. Buuuut, I can say that after this workout my chest felt much more… activated? Primed? Energised? I’m trying to find the right word for it… well it just felt more ‘alive’ than it has done after doing my normal chest routine. After the usual sets of DB pressing and flies my chest tends to fell quite dead but today my pecs felt all tingly or something, it was pretty cool. I’ll be interested to see how I go with it over the next few weeks. The only drawback is that I absolutely have to have someone around to spot me when I’m doing it, so I’m gonna have to time this day right. It seemed to be quite a short workout, and I was sorely tempted to add in a few flyes but resisted. In fairness though I was in the gym for around 50 or 55 minutes- you need to take adequate rest time between sets so its not as dynamic a workout as I’m used to, but I’m putting my faith in Emmet for now

It was a good workout. I’m not going to lie and say I thoroughly enjoyed it, because I still hate benching, but it was less boring than my other chest days, so I’m content enough with that!!

Thursday 28th September Day 32
today was explosive day in the gym…

Deadlifts: 10(75) 10(70) 10(70) 10(70)
Depth Drops: 4 sets of 10
Box Jumps: 3 sets of 10
Shuffle Jumps: 4 sets of 10
One-arm DB Snatch: 3(15) 3(20) 3(22.5) 3(22.5)

Well this was very different. For the deadlifts I was meant to be working at a 60% of 1RM weight, which going on my last 1RM would be around 78kg, but when I tried with 75 I just couldn’t get any explosive power behind it so I dropped to 70 which I was able to move with enough speed that I could feel the fast drive in my hips properly. Depth drops were only done off a step aerobics step and don’t actually ‘feel’ like you’re doing much. I’m going to have to figure out how to get a secure higher platform to jump from. The box jumps (which I sorta threw in myself Emmet, hope that’s ok) felt pretty good, and the shuffle jumps pretty much made everyone in the gym stop what they were doing and stare at the blond eejit hopping from one side of the mat to the other in quick succession, but once I got into the swing o them they felt really good and I increased my jumping length at each set.

Originally the plan was to do one-arm DB cleans, but when I gave these a go I found I just couldn’t keep myself balanced with the DB at shoulder height and forfeited them for snatches instead. But I’m not sure about doing snatches twice in one week… may need to find an alternative.

It feels really strange doing a gym session without very much lifting in it, and at first I felt a bit hard done by, but as I left the gym I noticed that just like yesterday, my body didn’t feel anyway near as tired as it normally would and it felt much more primed for action, like as if my nerve endings were all on high alert or something?? I’m now genuinely curious to see how this programme progresses over the next few weeks. Happy days!!!

I'm now on about 900 calories of solid food a day, the rest made up of whey, pre-workout drink and oil. And yet I feel surprisingly normal. Which in itself is probably the most abnormal thing in the whole process

g'em

Saturday 30th September Day 34
Lack of sleep is my biggest bug-bear right now. It’s still taking me forever to nod off and I wake up at the slightest interruption. It means I’m slow and sluggish in the mornings and I’m crashing harder in the afternoons. My moods are for the most part ok, but when they're bad they're reeeeally bad. This is really one of the hardest things I've ever done. My daily calorie allowance is now what most of my guy friends eat for breakfast Today was (supposed to be) a small random clean up day to hit some of the parts that my new program don't devote as much attention to as I'd like.

Monsterset:
DB Front raises: 3 × 8(8 )
DB Lat raises: 3 × 8(8 )
DB Rear Delt Raises: 3 × 8(8 )

Military BB press: 8(bar) 8(bar + 5) 8(bar + 7.5)
Push-downs: 10(9pl) 8(10pl) 8(10pl)
EZ bar curls: 3 × 8(bar + 10)
One-arm DB OHS: 3 × 5 each side(15)
Superset:
Jack-knife push ups: 3 × 8
Chins: 5, 5, 4

Oooh- my ability to chin is back!!! yay!!

Tried to do cardio afterwards but my body was waaaay too pooped and ten minutes in I just had to give up. Seems I’m paying for the run I did last night. Oh and the calorie deficit probably has something to do with it too Looking back on it, that wasn't really a small session at all. Oops, no wonder I'm so knackered. And I still have cardio to do tonight. Hmm... Dear God let me sleep well tonight after all this exertion!!!

g'em

Monday 2nd October Day 36
The end is finally in sight. Only 5 sleeps left til my last feed up day and it’s plain sailing (well, probably with a few squalls thrown in) from there. But for now, take cover boys and girls, there’s a rant on the way…

Today reminded me why I’m not a fan of working out in the college gym in the evening- I’d spent all day at teaching training and by the time it was lifting hour I was tired and cranky and probably overstimulated after taking my Lipo-6 later than normal and a Spike on top of it to combat the exhaustion I was feeling (I woke at 5 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep… eugh).

Why is it so strange for guys to see a girl in the free weights area lifting something heavier than 5kg? In the same way I've suspected in the past (and been proven right) that people here on the board think that I'm some muscle-bound she-male going on the weights that I lift. I nearly lost it this evening when two guys came over and stood right in front of me when I was doing the snatches and started making big noises about how much they were going to bench, wihtout actually realising that I was lifting with one arm what they were about to put on the BB. ffs, each to their own and I'm not going to start claiming I'm hugely stronger than anyone, but leave the Testosterone and the ego's at the door boys, and use the energy to lift something heavy. I've resisted doing this until now, but just to show you that a girl can routinely lift twice her body weight and look pretty reasonable doing it, here's the most recent pictures of my back and my front- I have a 28 inch waist and am a size 12 in jeans. That's not big by anyones standards now is it? Ok, so I'm more muscular than most girls, but I like it that way, and anyone who doesn't like it... well I couldn't give a flying fart frankly

The only, and I mean only, saving grace of the influx of new people in the gym is that not one of them knows what a squat rack is for so I had it to myself. That and I’m snatching heavier. Oh and I racked out on both the leg curl and leg extension machines for my iso holds. So maybe three saving graces. Sweet.

Back squat: 5(80) 5(80) 4(90) 3(100) 3(100)
Leg curl + Leg Extension Isometric Holds: 4 × 10 sec holds supersetted
One-arm DB Snatch: 5(20) 3(22.5) 3(25) 3(25)
Bulgarian split squats: 3 × 8(15)
ATG Clean + pull: 5(30) 2(37.5) I got too tired/ dizzy to keep going at this stage.

Happy about some things, not so much about others. But it's still progress, which I genuinely wasn't expecting to happen while I was on such an extreme calorie deficit. Looking into a few different routes for my maintenance diet when I finish this up, and the less I'm eating them, the less important I think carbs are to me. Some well-planned starches and simple sugars at the right times of day should be enought to keeping me tip-top and it'll be proteins, fats, veg and fruit for the most part.

Vegeta

my god you are strong

I was going to say you are strong for a girl but no, you are just strong.

justsomebloke

Vegeta wrote:

my god you are strong

I was going to say you are strong for a girl but no, you are just strong.

and this is why the kids where looking at her like a freak, it just happened that she was a female lifiting the weight, if it was a guy lifting that much they still would of thought he was a freak for lifting that much

Vegeta

jsb wrote:

and this is why the kids where looking at her like a freak, it just happened that she was a female lifiting the weight, if it was a guy lifting that much they still would of thought he was a freak for lifting that much

I think it is class, all that power in a well maintained feminine body. She should be some form of spy or ninja.

Jumpy

Vegeta wrote:

I think it is class, all that power in a well maintained feminine body. She should be some form of spy or ninja.

Or ninja-spy.

Well done there g'em. Thats one hell of a set of shoulders. How much has the cut brought definition out? Were they as defined before you started?

g'em

@ Vegeta- lol, yeah, most people have dropped the "for a girl" by now, it's just the "you lift heavy" bit that applies

Jumpy wrote:

Or ninja-spy.

Well done there g'em. Thats one hell of a set of shoulders. How much has the cut brought definition out? Were they as defined before you started?

hmmm.. ninja-spy eh? I could work with that

I had reasonaby 'big' shoulders to start out with, they gained mass well over the last 18 months, especially since I introduced olympic lifts like cleans + push presses into my lifting. You could make out the three delt heads before I started the cut but they've come into their own since the body fat came down and striations are starting to appear, which I'm pretty made up with. And thanks!

justsomebloke

g'em wrote:

hmmm.. ninja-spy eh? I could work with that

sorry but no you couldn't, It would be worse then an austin powers sketch all they would have to do to catch you would be put a really nice pair of expensive shoes in a giant mouse trap and you'd be caught and even at that point you'd just be going, emmmm pretty shoes

g'em

jsb wrote:

sorry but no you couldn't, It would be worse then an austin powers sketch all they would have to do to catch you would be put a really nice pair of expensive shoes in a giant mouse trap and you'd be caught and even at that point you'd just be going, emmmm pretty shoes

yeah but... no, actually you're totally right.

Wednesday 4th October Day 37
I was giddy today, for no apparent reason, but it was great to be in such a silly mood!! Teaching begins on Monday, and already I haven’t got time to scratch my arse. Insomnia is still annoying me, woke at 5 this a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep (until 5 mins before the alarm went off ) but am actually too busy to worry about it, and haven’t time to be tired. Also means I’m going to have to take extra care of myself to prevent burnout.

BB Press: [1(62.5) 6(50)] [1(62.5) 6(50)] [1(62.5) 6(50)]
Seated Row: 3 × 6(17pl)
One-arm alternate DB Press: 3 × 8(15)
Cable 7 sec Iso Hold: (13.5) 3(18 )
Jack-knife push-ups: 3 × 10

The bench felt much more comfortable this week and my weight was up, albeit only a little. I’m fully expecting my bench strength to increase in small increments, but I’m getting steadily closer to my bw, so that’s all good. Couldn’t figure out why the row was a little tougher than normal, but I’ve only just realised I thought I’d used 16 plates last week, when I’d actually used 14, so there’s an extra 13.5kg on my row :rolleyes: je suis un muppet…

g'em

Thursday 5th October Day 38
Lack of sleep is driving me crazy (possibly quite literally) so I’m having accupuncture today. I've been promised I’ll be all sorts of happy afterwards (he lost me at Liver Qi and blood deficiency tbh…) so fingers crossed. :rolleyes:

Today was my last lifting session til Monday which is going to be a bit weird, but actually I think a bit of a break will do the body good. Only problem is that I’m supposed to lift on feed up day (this Saturday) but I’ll be in France so it’ll be cardio only. I don’t think it’ll have way to much of an impact in the grand scheme of things though I'll just have to be a little careful with my diet (i.e. no gorging).

Deadlifts: 10(7) 10(70) 10(70) 10(70)
Depth Drops: 3 sets of 10
Box Jumps: 4 sets of 10
Shuffle Jumps: 4 sets of 10
Chins: 4 sets of 3

- The deadlifts started off a bit weird, but by the 3rd set I was knocking them out like I was pulling on a bag of sugar.
- Box jumps are fun and I can actually jump quite high!!
- Depth drops, not so much fun, mostly because they feel weird.
- Chins were very, very easy. Considering I was having trouble getting pairs of chins at the start of the cut that makes me a happy bunny. Kept the reps low as I remmeber reading that when you’re CNS training it’s better to do chins that way (high set low rep) instead of to failure. Of course I could be totally wrong. It happens on occasion, like of seeing Halley’s Comet frequency.

g'em

Monday 9th October Day 43
There was a guy wearing flip-flops in the gym today. And he was doing DB work. :eek:
There was a guy in the gym today wearing a lifting belt to do seated rows. And they weren't heavy. :rolleyes:
There was a guy in the gym today who went to great pains to step into the squat rack when I was done and did squats with the weight I'd left on it (100kg). He kept high fiving his training buddy. They were quarter squats.

My gym is teh funny

Leg day today:
Back squat: 5(80) 5(80) 4(90) 3(100) 3(100)
Leg curl + Leg Extension Isometric Holds: 4 × 10 sec holds supersetted
One-arm DB Snatch: 3(17.5) 3(22.5) 3(22.5) 3(22.5)
Bulgarian split squats: 3 × 8(15)
Chins: 4 sets of 4, one done between each leg exercise crossover.

The snatch sucked, for some reason my form was kinda off and my grip kept failing. The squats were goooood- there was absolutely no-one around who I would have felt comfortable with/ trusted to spot me so I had to bang them out on my own. Got the 100's no problem (after posting about it last week I kept thinking about what t-ha haid said about driving through the hips, something I forget to do sometimes, but forced myself to remember today- thanks dude!!), and really, really wanted to go for 110kg, but without a spot I was just too nervous. Chins felt easy. Miss doing higher rep work though for my legs. Miss completely destroying them from time to time. Reasonably ok day, nothing exciting, fairly solid.

Oh, and i did a weigh-in/ measurement day on Friday- I'm still losing weight/ size- yay!!!! 27 inches around the waist now- 5 inches down from the beginning of the cut and weighing in at 151lb, nearly a stone lost, and strength still being maintained- woohoo!!

g'em

Tuesday 10th October Day 44
I’m growing to hate chest day.

BB Press: [1(62.5) 6(50)] [1(6o) 6(50)] [1(60) 6(50)]
Seated Row: 3 × 6(16pl)
Cable-fly Iso Hold: 3 × 7 sec holds (18 )
Pec Dec: 6(7pl) 5(8pl) 6(7pl)
One-arm alternate DB Press: 3 × 8(15)
Cable crunches: 3 × 8(7pl)
Dips: 4 × 5

HIIT: 6 × 30 sec intervals on x-trainer.

Bleugh, I had to drop the weight on the bench, I had no strength to push with. Bleugh. But I actually did quite a lot today looking at it now. I was getting everything done quite quickly and I was in the mood for annihilation- I’d been missing that feeling with this new CNS program and I may well have contraindicated all the intended effects of the workout, but psychologically I needed to work my butt off, which I think I succesfully did. Actually the cross-trainer was hilarious- last time I did intervals (a few months ago before Mexico) I used to do the intervals on level 12. I was doing them on level 16-18 today. Mwahahahaha!!!! There’s just no escaping it, my legs will always be big, but meh, they’re strong as hell. And honestly, I’m growing to prefer it that way.

g'em

Thursday 12th October Day 46

My body has now decided that 5.15am is the best time for me to wake up and stay awake. That's three mornings in a row now

Deadlift: 5(80) 5(90) 4(100) 3(110) 3(115) 6(100)
Seated Cable row: 8(72) 8(77) 8(82) 8(89)
Bent Over DB Row: 3*8(17.5)
Superset:
A-bar pull downs: 7(8pl) 6(10pl) 8(9pl)
Assisted pull-ups: 7, 5, 4.

Stupid, crappy, motherfu**ing, couldn't pull a bloody coke-can open, weak-as-muck pathetic back.

g'em

Saturday 14th October Day 48

Had a training day with some of the other TTers today. As always, working out with fellow lifting friends was a great laugh and it turned into a bit of a full body workout day for me- there were some squats, lat raises, pull downs, bicep work, dips, chins, snatches, and, of course, deadlifts. My back was still aching after doing back work two days ago, but training with big D always brings out my competitive streak!! Me and D have great training chemistry, and we unfailingly manage to bring out the best in each other when it comes to lifting. Today was no exception. I started doing a warm up with 60kg for the DLs and D strolls in and starts to do rows with the same weight. Oooh, ye show off!! So we decided to make things interesting- a competition to see could we match eachother rep for rep with weight, me doing DLs, him doing rows, aiming to go to failure on 100kg. So it was 60kg for 8, 80kg for 6, then 100kg… now my previous PB for reps was 8, which I’d done once before. I’d forgotten that though and thought my best was 6, so I was aiming for 8… but today I got… 12!!! YAY!!! 12 reps of 100kg, I’m really quite chuffed with that!! (And nice to have done given the horrible back day I'd had on Thursday)

g'em

Sunday 15th October Day 49

Training with D again today and also with another very experienced (and competing) bodyubuilder in Total Fitness today. It was a fantastic session, and a brilliant learning curve for me. My comfort zone was smashed to pieces and it opened my eyes to training above and beyond normal physical limits.

Hammer press: 8(30) 8(40) 6(45) 6(50) 6(40) 9(30)
DB fly’s: 3 × 8(8 )
Seated Fly machine thingy: erm, don’t really remember weights- 4(30)? 4(30) followed straight after by 6(20)? (I think)
Bicep curls (or more aptly torture curls as D calls them): 8(7) 6(10) 4(10)
Preacher curls: 3 × 4(8 )
Forced negative Preacher curls: 3 × 3(10)

HIIT: 6 intervals of sprints- well, actually no, in fairness the first three were runs as opposed to sprints- I was shattered

Now , the weights don’t look like much. But it’s the way each exercise is executed that’s key- lots of negatives, partial ROMS, concentrating on each muscle group- basically I got told what to do and tried as best I could to do it!!! And of course when you’re lifting with two guys who would use the weights I can lift as rehab weight for a banjaxed body part, it makes for a very, very humbling experience!! But it was lots and lots of fun- I got to train in a new gym (i.e. shock the pants off more poor blokes in the free weights area) and with two fantastic lifters, which will always help to step up your performance. And now, a few hours later, I’m absolutely and utterly exhausted. I mean proper, barely keeping my eyes open, thank God for spell-check coz my fingers won’t go where I tell them to, how long before I can go to bed knackerdom. And I love it!!!

g'em

Monday 16th October Day 50

I'm not training today (taking well deserved break after a weekend of heavy lifting!!) but there were a couple of things I wanted to mention in my journal, in light of some of the recent things that have been going on with the fitness board and some misconceptions that seem to have appeared about what I'm doing.

This isn't a quick weight loss plan in the traditional sense. This isn't Liptorim or Atkins or the Cabbage Soup Diet (although the metabolic processes behind what I'm doing are very similar to the first two). It's not soemthing that you'll ever see advocated by e-diets for housewifes who want to look good for party season. The thing is, I was a healthy weight before I ever began this diet. I ate well. I didn't need to lose any weight. The reasons for why I'm doing it are a little varied, some are personal, but mostly I decided to do it to see would I have what it takes to get on a stage. I wouldn't for a second recommend what I'm doing to anyone who was looking to shed a few extra pounds. There are easier ways to do it than this, you just need patience. That's not to say that what I'm doing is unhealthy- it's not at all, it's just quite extreme and definitely not for the faint hearted.

I have had to put aside much of my social life for the last seven weeks to concentrate on the cut. You have to dedicate yourself to it 100%. Your meals are timed exactly, your calories and grams of macroutrients are planned in advance, you have to be aware of where you'll be at any time for 24 horus in the future. And besides which, you have to be comfortable functioning on well below maintenance calorie levels, so you spend a good bit of time groggy and tired. But there's also a great mental clarity that comes with cleansing the system like this. Feed up days aside, everything I've eaten for the last 50 days has been very, very good for me: lean meats, healthy fats, green veg, eggs and small amoutns of dairy. For anyone who reads this and thinks 'yeah, I could do what she does' I'm not going to stand in your way. All I will say is take a look at your diet. How clean is it right now? Do you eat any processed foods, sweets, chocoaltes, soda's, enough fruit and veg, any take aways, do you drink? Do you knwo what your macronutirent ratios are, do you know how your body responds to different ratios of fats and carbs? Have you got a good, solid weight lifting and cardio plan in place (you need both for this)? Do you know what whey, creatine, BCAAs and various other supplements do for your body (as you'll be takin htem in abundace to maintain lean muscle mass)? Challenge yourself to proper clean eating for 14 days and see how you go first. Going straight into a cutting diet like this from a sub-optimal diet is like jumping into the deep end after taking two swimming lessons- you'll have the right idea but you'll more than likely flail around a little, and then it'll be sink or swim time. I came into it as an advanced swimmer who wanted to get to a racing level. I don't want that to sound facetious (even though it probably does) but what I mean is that I've spent a long time reading about and implementing good nutritional information. I'm no cleverer or wiser than anyone else, I've jsut had a good bit of self-education behind me and I still have a LOT more to learn. I was under no illusions from the beginning about how difficult it was going to be, and believe me, it's been very hard. I know of very few people who've stuck to this particular plan for longe than 6 weeks, with four weeks usually being the point where people just don't want to do it anymore and pack the whole thing in. Luckily I have "the determination and drive of a well-aimed bulldozer"- those are Dragan's wordsd, not mine

For anyone who does really want to do something like this in all seriousness, pm me if you have any questions. That's the one thing that's helped me more than anything- good support, something that should never, ever be underestimated.

Anyways, that' all I wanted to say. Seven days left now, it's getting quite exciting

Odysseus

Hi Gem, some interesting thoughts there, tbh I don't understand a lot of the stuff you lifters [forgive the term] talk about, however, your comittment shines throught it. As I said I don't understand a lot of the excerises or the terminology however, I do know when a person is pushing boundaries, and that makes for interesting reading. Keep up the good work.

g'em

Thanks Odysseus, I really appreciate that, it means a lot. And I don't mind being called a lifter at all- it's what I do!!

Tuesday 17th October Day 51
Holy Moly. Five Days left. A few things to note: my skin has cleared up no end. I'm fairly sure it’s a result of coming off the ZMA but also likely due to the increased water intake (around 4-6L a day now). My former ‘skinny’ jeans are not so much skinny on me, as baggy and falling around my ankles. Ok, maybe not quite falling down, but very, very loose and a good 4 or 5 inches too big at the waistline. I’m now moderate sodium, high potassium, high Vit C. I’m a walking chemistry experiment.

I also have the attention span of a baby hamster. On reflection, the strangeness that t-ha was exhibiting on the last week of his cut doesn’t seem strange at all. In fact it’s nothing compared to the loopiness going on in my head right now. Thoughts aren’t coherent, normality has ceased to exist, a deep fog has descended and there doesn’t seem to be any signs of it abating until the weekend. I’m at the stage now where I’m trying to write down anything and everything I need to do over the next few days- as soon as I think of something, it tends to get replaced by a random notion of nonsense a few seconds later and unless my little gem of wisdom is written down instantaneously it gets lost forever in the murky labyrinth of my keto’d brain. But we’ll wait and see how it progresses. It’s the waiting part that’s killing me though.

I knew there was no way a formal, structured leg day was going to work for me today- I’m too jittery and impatient, so I came up with my own little plan. There’s no scientific background to it, no ideas of hypertrophy or ideal timing, no ratios of max effort and rest times, none of that nonsense. It’s sole purpose is to lift heavy stuff and annihilate my legs. I call it “20 rep day”. Three guesses for what it encompasses:

Pick a weight that’s 75% of your 1RM and do one set of 20 reps for each exercise.

Back Squat: 80kg (what a bitch of a way to start the workout)
Adductor: 12 pl (should’ve gone up to 14pl, could easily have handled it)
Front Squat: 60kg (had to pause for 10sec @ 11 and 17)
Abductor: 14pl
Calf Raises: smith bar + 70kg (mother-of-divine… ouch)
Leg Curl: 12pl for 10 then 11 for 6 then 10 for 4 (cue wave of nausea #1)
Leg Extension: 15pl for 12 then 14 for 2 then 13 for 6
Deep Leg Press: 12 pl (and this was pukey-pukey moment #2)
Walking lunges: 20kg DBs
Bulgarian Split Squats: 15kg DBs
Standing BB Lunges: 25kg
OH Squats: 25kg

I should have gone higher weight for the BB lunges and OH squats, they were notwhere near 75% of my 1RM but I gave in to exhaustion. I am now thoroughly, thoroughly pooped. I know I’m going to pay for it at some stage too. Ah well. I did what I set out to do, my legs are fried. Now all I need is my sanity back and I’ll be sorted.

g'em

Thursday 19th October Day 53
*hushed voice* And so it begins…

It’s final hurdle time. The beginning of the end is nigh and I’m starting to manipulate my body for the final day of the cut. Even that in itself is an achievement for me- to be in a position where I’ve created a ‘clean slate’ as it were. My body fat is low enough now that any minor changes I make to my diet will be practically instantly recognizable physiologically and that’s an exciting feeling. Today will be the last day of high water and some sodium, and the fun will really begin tomorrow when my water levels start dropping. As such (and out of sheer curiosity) I got on the scales this morning to check how they read with all this extra water in me – the needle swayed and then stabilized firmly between the 149 and 150lb mark. I’ve broken through 150lbs!!! So that’s 15lb lost since the start of the cut- YYAAYAYAYAYYAY!!!! As if that wasn’t enough of a great way to start my day I then got to eat porridge for my brekkie- never before have complex carbs tasted so, so good. My belly is now toasty warm and full of oaty goodness.

My legs, however, are still protesting. A lot. But that’s hardly surprising given the battering I gave them the other day. I was still in no mood for the same ol’ same ol’ lifting before I hit the gym today and whilst trawling the archives of the interweb for inspiration I came across this little ditty by Alwyn Cosgrove. I’m quickly becoming a fan of Cosgrove’s no-nonsense, no BS attitude, and he’s Scottish which gives him a big thumbs up from me (there’s something inherently fabulous/ hard-as-nails/ damn well sexy about Highland men) and so when I saw this, I knew it was just the thing to kick my ass and give me something to play with in the final few days of the cut. It was a choice between doing either back + HIIT or something else, and one look at this told me there was no way HIIT would be called for if I did it right:

Perform the following as a complex (one exercise straight after the other, in Bear style fashion) with a moderate weight:
Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Bentover Row
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Good Morning

Perform 6 reps of each (48 total reps). It should take about 60 seconds. Rest 90 seconds, then perform 5 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 4 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 3 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 2 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, and then do 1 rep of each.

Oh-HolyMoly-Sclamoly-Mother-of-:eek: This is a seriously hard workout. Feic x-fit, this was pushing me to my lactic acid threshold and beyond. I did it with 30kg and it was truly killing me by the end. It takes it’s toll on you big style and puts quite a lot of stress on your back- by the end my lower back was niggling at me quite a bit doing the bent over rows. It’s designed as a workout in its own right, as it works virtually every muscle group in the body for when you're stuck for time, but I was done after 15 minutes and so I threw a few more things in for the craic (can anyone say overtraining?? )

A1: chins: 5, 4, 4
A2: t-bar row: (bar +) 6(27.5) 6(30) 6(30) 8(22.5)

B1: 3 * farmer’s walk: 20m w/ 30kg DBs
B2: BB military press: 6(30) 8(30 8(30)

Dips: 3 × 8

I started to do one-arm DB snatches too, but by then my arms and shoulders were completely fried and I left it. I’m well chuffed with the farmers walk- that’s the highest weight I’ve ever used without wraps so hopefully my grip is slowly but surely improving. Oh and supersetting the fw and BB press left my traps and shoulders hy-ooooooooge by the end of the workout- it looked fantastic!!! It was a fun day, and needless to say, I’m now pooped to the nth degree. But it’s all good

g'em

Friday 20th October Day 54
Hit chest and biceps in the gym today, but it was a struggle and I was very very tired. I'd initially planned to get some HIIT in, but I think my body is just beginning to say NO to all these crazy ideas I have after the torment of 20 rep leg day and the Cosgrove Complex yesterday, so all in all today was much more of a 'normal' gym session:

A1: Incline DB Press: 6(17.5) 6(17.5) 7(15)
A2: Flat DB Press: 6(17.5) 8(15) 6(15)
A3: Push-ups: 12, 10, 10

Pec-deck: 10(8pl) 8(9pl) 6(10pl)
EZ-bar curls: (bar +) 8(10) 4(12.5) 4(12.5) second two sets done reeeeal slow with neg's
Preacher-curl Neg's: 2*3(12.5)
Jack-knife push-ups: 3*8

well if the vascularity that's showing in my arms right now is anything to go by, I'm gonna be a veiny mofo when I'm dry Have to teach one class today, then I think it's homeward bound and get some LIT in this evening, and debate whether I have the energy to go to a 'do' I'm invited to. Can't see it happening though.

g'em

Saturday 21st October Day 55
Drying out suuuuuuuuucccckks. It really, really does. Today my diet consists of dry muesli and dry potatoes. No fats, no protein, no friggin water. EEUUUUGGHGH. I've been feeling random bouts of nausea and discomfort but one look at my arms and I know it's working. I'm still going to the loo regularly but my pee (sorry for being so crude) is getting more and more concentrated as the day goes on. Took some measurements this morning and the numbers are interesting to say the least. Very good interesting that is!!! But I want to do them again tomorrow to see what, if any, effect a day of drying out compeltely has on them.

No idea how I managed it, but I took a trip to the supermarket this afternoon, and to be honest, the only thing in my shopping basket that differed from the last 8 weeks was oats, bananas and satsumas (I can eat whole bags of these bad boys in one sitting- yummy, watrey, citrusy NYOM-ness). I genuinely have no interest in 'cheaty' foods, nor did I have any great desire to buy breads or pastas or rice. So we'll see how it goes from here on in.

Anyways, my energy levels are below zero right now, but I'm trying hard not to nap as it'll probably mean not sleeping tonight (I was awake at 6 watching a DVD this morning ffs :eek: ). twenty-four hours from now however I will more than likely be pished as a fartiscle and divulging my innermost secrets to a dictaphone being egged on by D. I'm a bit crap (or good, depepnding on how much info you need to get out of me) like that.

This is dehydrated, and very nearly shredded, g'em signing off. Be good y'all xx

g'em

Sunday 22nd October Day 56 - the LAST DAY!!!!

In the final 36 hours of the shred I drank two tiny sips of water. I was in desperate need of hydration!!!! But first there were important things to do, like take my measurements, the final ones…



Well, there you have it. Over the course of 8 weeks I reduced my waist size by 5.3 inches, and dropped 17lbs in weight. But more importantly when I figured out the relative bodyfat loss: lean muscle mass increase I figured out that with a starting point of about 23% bodyfat (I was never 30% to begin with in fairness) and a finishing up bf of about 12% it works out that I lost about 20lbs of fat and put on around 4lb of muscle which I’m absolutely ecstatic about. And from looking at the pictures it looks like most of those 4lbs were directly on my abs!!!!

After a walk in the morning it was time to carb up, so it was a mixture of (dry) PB + Honey + bread and dear God it made me feel so nauseous. But the sugar rush hit me with a bang and for about half an hour I was running around like a mad woman. Then it was time for the boys to come over and after a couple of shots of whiskey (on an empty dry tummy!!!) it was time to disrobe and do the photos. The photos are on the TT website though, so if you want to see them... well you'll have to ask but just for the recod, here's a couple of of my back 'after' photos

Posing is actually quite tiring and draining and by the time we were done I was pooped but ready for the celebrations to begin. And celebrate we did!!! Due to the dehydration, sluggish metabolism and general undernourishment I think I must have stayed pished as a fart for a good 15 hours long after I’d stopped drinking- in fact my classes on Monday morning were a bit of a haze for me

Anyhoodles, it’s all done. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this whole experience over the next few days, but for now I’m off to polish off the left over ice-cream and enjoy the results of my experience. Thank you all for joining me in my journey- if anyone wants to know more about the diet or the training or how to try and stay sane when doing something like this (ok, so I didn't quit succeed at the last bit but I can tell you what NOT to do!!!) just drop me pm or post up here. This is unshredding g’em, signing off

brianthebard

Holy ****!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

That's all I could think for the first few minutes when I saw that pic. I mean I knew you were going to be muscular, but damn....

Well that's just given me a kick in the arse to train ten times harder than I have done...

It's also made me not want to post pics of my progress for the next year....

Well done though, it must be a great feeling to know that your body is better than about 99% of the country!

yomchi

g'em wrote:

Sunday 22nd October Day 56 - the LAST DAY!!!!

In the final 36 hours of the shred I drank two tiny sips of water. I was in desperate need of hydration!!!! But first there were important things to do, like take my measurements, the final ones…



Well, there you have it. Over the course of 8 weeks I reduced my waist size by 5.3 inches, and dropped 17lbs in weight. But more importantly when I figured out the relative bodyfat loss: lean muscle mass increase I figured out that with a starting point of about 23% bodyfat (I was never 30% to begin with in fairness) and a finishing up bf of about 12% it works out that I lost about 20lbs of fat and put on around 4lb of muscle which I’m absolutely ecstatic about. And from looking at the pictures it looks like most of those 4lbs were directly on my abs!!!!

After a walk in the morning it was time to carb up, so it was a mixture of (dry) PB + Honey + bread and dear God it made me feel so nauseous. But the sugar rush hit me with a bang and for about half an hour I was running around like a mad woman. Then it was time for the boys to come over and after a couple of shots of whiskey (on an empty dry tummy!!!) it was time to disrobe and do the photos. The photos are on the TT website though, so if you want to see them... well you'll have to ask but just for the recod, here's a couple of of my back 'after' photos

Posing is actually quite tiring and draining and by the time we were done I was pooped but ready for the celebrations to begin. And celebrate we did!!! Due to the dehydration, sluggish metabolism and general undernourishment I think I must have stayed pished as a fart for a good 15 hours long after I’d stopped drinking- in fact my classes on Monday morning were a bit of a haze for me

Anyhoodles, it’s all done. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this whole experience over the next few days, but for now I’m off to polish off the left over ice-cream and enjoy the results of my experience. Thank you all for joining me in my journey- if anyone wants to know more about the diet or the training or how to try and stay sane when doing something like this (ok, so I didn't quit succeed at the last bit but I can tell you what NOT to do!!!) just drop me pm or post up here. This is unshredding g’em, signing off

Well done G'em, looking very good indeed. Your dedication is fantastic.

g'em

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. And the thing is, for once in my life I really do enjoy the way I look. Meh, it's not everyday you manage to get abs like this for yourself But anyways, that was two weeks ago. The week directly after the cut I continued to lift and enjoy getting my life back. Then last week was a week off, but it's back to business now. I have two choices: I can sit back and let go of all my hard work and effort, or I can keep going and try to better myself again. Take a wild guess which option I'm likely to go for?!!??

So I'm going to hang on to my diary for now.. waffleicious as ever I'm actually quite busy with work so I'll only be posting up my journal intermittendly when I get time, so it's likely to be quite a long read- hope you don't get too bored!!!

Saturday 4th November
The aftermath of GGS. This is where I knew things could get little bit sticky if I didn’t watch myself. I could ether learn from the whole GGS experience or turn my back on it and let old habits creep back in.

Took my measurements this morning for a 2 week update and I was very, very pleasantly surprised. It’s also a prime example of how the scales are not always a good reflection of progress. I finished up GGS at 147lb. I was also dehydrated and quite starved. This morning I was 151lb. But my measurements, with the exception on an inch back on around my waist, are exactly the same, and hilariously, my calliper readings are still going down. So that 4lbs is rehydration and muscle. Fan-tastic

So I did learn my lessons after all, and I’m going strong (literally!!). Diet for 85-90% of the time has been clean as a whistle, and I plan on keeping that figure above 90% for the forseeable future. I’m still eating many of the same meals as I was on the shred, there’s just a bit more of them, and I eat 2-3 pieces of fruit a day and of course, I have my oats first thing.
Breakfast: P + C,
PWO: P + C,
Late Lunch: P + F + C (but starchy carbs only on training days, otherwise its just veg/ salad),
Dinner: P + F (usually with veg/ salad),
Pre-bed: P + F.

I’m also trying to keep my fluid intake up to about 3.5-4L a day (water + green/ herbal teas).

My insomnia has disappeared, I sleep solidly for 8 hours a night, I’m off the Lipo-6 and the creatine, my skin has cleared up, and my sense of well-being is back on par. Today was just a final random day in gym before I start my full-body workout plan next week. I’ve been taking it easy the last week, but I knew damn well there’d be no way I could stay out of the gym entirely for a week, but 2 gym sessions in 10 days is as much of a rest as I can take!! Also starting the RAM today, and given how I’m feeling straight after the session, I can tell it’s going to be given a real test!

Cosgrave Complex: (DL, RDL, BOR, HC, FS, PP, BS, GM): 6 rounds descending reps 6-1(30)
A1: Dips: 3 × 10
A2: Close-grip lat pull-down: 10(10 pl) 8(11pl) 6(12pl)
A3: Push-ups: 3 × 12
Walking lunges: 3 × 12 steps (25kg DBs)
Hang clean ATG: 2 × 8(30)

And then I was pooped!! Lovely little workout, lunges were 5kg up in each hand; absolutely mofo-ing killed me.



Monday 6th November
New workout to try today – woohoo!!! It’s a full-body plan that’s kindly drawn up for me which revolves around 3 days lifting/ one day conditioning. My initial thoughts on seeing the program were… “This program is gonna kick my ass!!!!” Really looking forward to giving it a go though and I think I’ll get a lot from it. It basically goes:
Monday – Day 1
Tuesday – conditioning: complexes/ crossfit type stuff etc
Wednesday - LIT
Thursday- Day 2
Friday - HIIT
Saturday – Day 3
Sunday - Off

Basically for each lifting day the first two exercises are heavy compound strength builders and the other exercises are more cardio orientated and every day has about 8 exercises in total. Woohoo!! (not!!). It’s going to be quite different to anything I’ve ever done before but I’ve learnt that I enjoy and respond well to complexes so I guess this is a natural progression, and a chance to put a new training regime to test. I’m going to give it hell for leather between now and Christmas (7 full weeks) so we’ll see what happens.

Squat: 10(60) 8(80) 6(90) 5(100) 20(50)
Barbell Flat Bench Press: 10(40) 8(45) 7(50) 6(55) 20(30)
Lat Pull Downs: 12(6pl) 14(6pl) 12(7pl)
Bent over rows: 12(30) 15(30) 12(35)
DB Lateral Raises: 10(9) 12(7) 12(7) 12(7)
Tricep Pushdowns: 15(8pl) 12(8pl) 15(7pl) 12(7pl)
EZ bar curls: 12(17.5) 12(17.5) 12(17.5) 12(15)
Weighted Cable Crunch: 25(7pl) 25(7pl) 25(7pl) 18(7pl)

My initial reaction to the program was entirely accurate. My ass has been whooped 17 shades of nasty. It’s a big program so I’m just going to make a note of a few things:

- PB for reps @ 100kg on squats. As D says, “noice!!” but I need to remember to keep that ass down, I wasn’t as low as I should have been for the last couple.
- the most agonising and painful of all the exercises was the set of 20 reps on the bench press. I’ve repped out on squats and DLs before, never for chest work, and it sucked arsicles to the nth degree. It was horrific and painful and I felt like a weakling n00b by the end.
- BOR was good i.e. my traps are fried, but I can up the weight next time, didn’t push myself as much as I could have. Although my lower back gets a bit niggly towards the end.. not so good…
- the lat raises weren’t done as well s they could have towards the end of the sets- I was pausing too much and so pooped the thought of dropping weight didn’t even cross my mind. Same can be said for ez-bar curls- too much pausing.
- tricep psuhdowns were fine, and I got into a ‘groove’ with my weights, and I seemed to do well with the way I structured it. Will try and incorporate that with more of the lifts.
- on the final set of crunches it was actually my arms and not my abs that stopped me finishing, they were just too sore to keep going.
- my abs already hurt
- in fact most of my upper back and arms are beginning to scream in agonising pain. The RAM definitely has its work cut out for it.
- my arms are hyoooooge and feel like I’m walking around with two limbs of bulging veins and hard round muscles attached to my sides. I like it. No honestly, we’re talking one of the best pumps I’ve ever felt, *ever*!!!!

But overall? I loved this workout, I really did. It’s intense and it’s pretty hardcore, but I like that a lot. It’s going to take a lot of getting used to, and it means I’m going to have to mind myself and make sure I get plenty of rest for recovery, but I think it’s going to suit me.

The only issue I can see with this program isn’t to do with the program at all, it’s to do with me- I need to give this thing it’s dues every time I step into the gym, anything less won’t do it justice or do me any favours at all. So… well I guess I just need to give it hell for the next 7 weeks I suppose.



Tuesday 7th October
Conditioning Day. Someday I want to try some proper GPP for this- sledge hammer work, log lifts, ooh and *definitely* some tyre flipping, that would be soooo much fun!!! Anyhoodles, made up my own circuit today with a bit of help from D.

5 DB swings (12.5kg)
10 thrusters (Oly bar)
15 Push-ups
0.25 mile run
For four rounds

Waiters walk: 4 × 40m (25kg)

– must increase the DB weights next time, my hip drive can withstand a lot more weight than that, even at cardio pace
– need to lower thrusters bar weight, maybe try it with an ez curl bar instead, can’t afford to poop my shoulders out on a non-lifting day
– push-ups are slowly improving, got the first two sets of 15 no probs, then two slight pauses after 10 on the second two sets (but, as has been quite rightly pointed out, I was bold to do these the day after heavy benching )
– I set a decent pace with the runs, was doing the quarter mile in just over two and a half minutes
– the next time some muppet stands in your way when you’re holding a 25kg plate over your head and forces you to step around him instead of making way.. just do the world’s gene pool a favour and ‘drop’ (fling) the weight in his general genital area.

This was a grand little plan I made up, not too taxing (for me anyways, I guess it’s quite an evil circuit) and not too little. As D said to me earlier “cross-fit who??!?, it’s all about g’em-fit!!!” :cool:

I’d normally punish myself quite a bit on conditioning days, but this new full-body plan won’t let me do that. I have to stay on the ball and ready to tackle whatever evil-ness is in store with the lifting plan, which means I need to shift my thinking into ‘overall outlook’ mode. I woke up this morning feeling as if a herd of wild boar had trampled me during the night and my upper back and arms are screaming at me. But not much going on in the legs interestingly after the heavy squats. This, however, will change after Thursday’s workout. I have a new type of walking lunge to do and I know it’s going to leave me quite incapable of sitting down afterwards. Is it totally wrong that I’m masochistic enough to actually be looking forward to this!?!?

One weird thing that’s happening right now is that I actually think my body looks better now than it did two weeks ago at the end of the shred. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the photos turned out amazingly but now I understand what it means to be flat vs being pumped. These days I’m very definitely the latter and my arms look like they consist of three solid lumps of hard muscle sitting one on top of the other. It could be all the extra water I’m getting in (I’m drinking between 4-5L a day), it could be the reintroduction of small amounts of starchy carbs (1/4 cup oats every day, 75g potatoes on training days), it could be that I’m resting better (8 hours isn’t enough now!! a huge change from my 4-5 hours of sleep a night a few short weeks ago) or it could be a combination of lots of other things. Whatever it is, I love it, and I’m loving eating clean and lifting hard. This is the type of g’em I want to be for a very, very long time… strength and lean-ness gains notwithstanding

Rest day tomorrow… and by God am I going to need it… having just looked over the plan for Thursday I’m actually quite nervous!!! Bring… it… on

g'em

Thursday 9th November
I knew I was busy at the moment, maybe too busy, but I hadn’t realised the effects the stress were having on me and as a result my head was in a strange, dark place going into the gym today. In fact so much so that I made a completely stupid, n00bish mistake by loading up the bar for DLs incorrectly- it was 5kg over on one side. I’m praying that I haven’t done any damage to myself as a result of it, but on the plus side, it does mean I was lifting 5kg higher than I thought which, as you’ll see, turned out to be a perfect example of how the limitations we set on ourselves can hold us back sometimes.

But onto the lifting. Day 2 of my full-body plan.

Deads: 10(65) 8(85) 6(105) 5(120) 20(65)
Walking lunges: 3 × 12 steps (15)
Incline DB press: 10(12.5) 8(15) 6(17.5) 8(20)
Seated Arnold/Military DB Press Super: 12(10) 12(10), 12(8 ) 12(8 ), 12(8 ) 12(8 )
Hang Cleans: 3 × 12(30)
OH DB extensions: 10,7 (10) 12,12 (8 ) 8,10(8 ) 9,10(8 )
DB curls: 4 × 10 each side (8 )
Hanging Leg Raises from pull up bar: 4 × 15

This workout didn’t just kick my ass. This workout grabbed my ass (well I’ve no balls so I have to improvise) and threw me into the middle of next week, ensuring I landed on a mix of barbed wire, thumb tacks and stinging jellyfish. There were not enough curse words in the English language to fuel my tirade of expletives for the duration of it and it, quite literally, brought me to tears throughout my workout. A run-down:

- DLs: I knew something wasn’t right when I did these, I could feel an imbalance, but for some unknown reason I didn’t cop on that one plate was 20kg and the other side had a 25 on it. Idiot. But anyway, when I went for my final heavy set I initially loaded up what I thought was 110kg. Having had problems lifting heavy on my DLs for the last few weeks I thought that 5 @ 110 would be as much as I could handle. But then I decided to put an extra 5kg on just to give it a shot. The thought that I could bang out 5 on 120kg never even crossed my mind- well, it did, but I dismissed it as quickly as I thought it. I convinced myself I wouldn’t do it. As it turns out, I was wrong, and 120kg for 5 it was. Funnily enough I was delighted with the thought I’d got the reps with 115kg so needless to say when I realised it was actually more I was frigging ecstatic. But I know I’m going to pay for it. My back was already still kind of tight after Mondays session, and I could feel my back rounding out a little too much on the last two reps. The DOMS are going to crucify me come Saturday morning.

- walking lunges: these weren’t normal lunges, these were double lunges- step out, lunge down, back up and down before stepping out again. Burning quads, fried grip, shoulders being pulled out of their sockets… along with a nasty case of backs DOMS I also have an inability to sit down properly to endure over the next few days. To hell with it, I need to use wraps for this, my lack of grip strength stopped me from giving the extra 10%.

- Inc. DB Press: this was great and I felt strong. I’d normally shy away from 20’s on this but it felt great, I got my 8 reps on the final set and I could probably have gone heavier… which of course I will do next week.

- AP/ MP superset: this is where everything went a bit pear shaped. This was absolutely and utterly, shoulder crushingly horrible (and even more humbling when you realise the weight you're using is less than half of what you normally heavy rep for). It was a nasty, nasty superset. I have to be honest and say it wasn’t all done in cardio-like intensity either, there were a few 5 sec pauses thrown in – my shoulders truly felt as though they were liable to fall out of their sockets at any given stage.

- hang cleans: I’m happy with these as I used a weight I’d normally only do 8 reps with and there was very little recovery time between sets.

- OH DB ext.: awful, really really awful- my form was crap, it looked crap, it was pathetic and I fell well short of the required 12-15 reps on all sets. I may need to find a better tricep exercise here.

- DB curls: fine, pumper-ific.

- Leg raises: I initially tried to do these from a full hanging position but couldn’t and used the dip bars to lie my forearms on. Really concentrated on using my abs vs my hip flexors to bring my knees to my chest.

So there you have it. In truth it wasn’t done as quickly as Day 1 was, but I can still say with utter honesty that I gave everything I had in me today to it. A friend of mine was in the gym and when I told him what was going on with me that had me in kinda crappy form he asked what the hell I was doing in the gym? Why wasn’t I off having a pint and taking it easy? But the truth is there’s nowhere else I would have rather been. The gym is where I belong now whether I like it or not. Roll on Day 3…

g'em

Friday 10th November
I think the only reason I woke up this morning was so that my body could tell me, in excruciating detail, how much pain I inflicted on it yesterday There is one down-side also to be a newer, über-fit g’em- it’s costing me a fortune to rebuild my wardrobe!!!

HIIT:
3 min warm-up
4 × 30 sec x-trainer ‘sprints’
5 min 4mph walk
4 × 30 sec x-trainer ‘sprints’
5 min 4mph inc 3 walk

Had to take the break in the middle, I was pooped and very, very fatigued. May have to play this day by ear in future, it’s tough going between two full body days.

Later that day… it’s now 4pm and I am tiiiiiiired. Last time I felt this way was when I crashed during GGS. Hmmm… this program is tough.

Later still that day… oopsidaisily. It seems I’ve had an unscheduled carb-up. After my crash that afternoon I came home to chill out. There was one over-riding theme being pumped into my ears no matter how much I tried to distract myself: eat, eat, eat. I was ravenous. Now, thankfully my kitchen has been shed of any naughty foods so my feat was big, but pretty clean: muesli (a good brand), low-fat yoghurts, bit of low-fat cheese, fruit, (all on top of my ham and egg omelette for tea) and a pretty damn tasty pre-bed ‘snack’ of cottage cheese, vanilla whey and a good healthy spoonful of honey. I think my body was just feeling the effects of all the hard training during the week, and I allowed myself to indulge.

Saturday 11th November
Day 3 of the full-body program. After my carb-up last night last night I was expecting great things from today

Chins/ Pull Up [first 2 sets chins, second 2 pull-ups (asst.)]: 6, 4, 4, 5
Horizontal Press: 10(100) 8(120) 6(140) 5(160) 20(100)
DB flyes/DB push ups super: [12(12), 12] × 3
Front DB raises/DB rear delts super: [10(8), 12(8)] × 3
Dips: 10, 6, 5
Cable curl Drop set: [8(8pl) 12(3pl) 12(1pl)] [8(7pl) 12(3pl) 12(1pl)]
Jack-knife push-ups: 25, 25, 20
Plate held squats: 15(10) × 3
DB snatches: 12 each side (15) 12 (17)12(17)

- Chins/ pull-ups: lats must have been fried from the previous days’ of work, found the chins very hard. But doing the pull-ups straight after was worse, my forearms were protesting in a big way. Something weird happened on the last set- I started to do them, and then realised that D was pushing my legs at all… I think I may just have done two free pull-ups on my own!!! But I’m not going to count my chickens, I’ll wait till I can do it again before I start saying I can do pull-ups all on my lonesome

- Leg press: hehe, I have stroooong legs!!!! Chuffed with this, 160kg for 5 reps was sweet, I normally do horizontal leg press but this was a 45 degree one, and I like it. In fact I think I could probably have gone heavier, but as it was a new machine to me, I didn’t want to push it.

- Flyes/ push-ups: oooh, nasty. Killed me, and ended up doing some of my last push-ups from the knees.

- Raises + rear delts: fine, but subsequently my shoulders were knackered.

- Dips: triceps were totally banjaxed. Came in well under the required 12-15 reps for bw and as there was no graviton I couldn’t do assisted dips. Ploopy.

- Cable curl drop set: mother-f***in holy crapazola this was teh suck big stylee. By far and away the most pain I have ever inflicted on my biceps in a workout. Seriously, I was struggling to finish 12 reps with one 5lb plate ffs. Utter, agonising pain.

- Ab work: oops, went over the required reps on jack knifes (think the blood had left my brain and was trying to salvage some feeling in my arms…) but they felt good. And plate squats are haaaaaard!! But really getting some quality ab work done, and finding it easier to concentrate on doing the movements using my abs instead of my hip flexors. Dammit I’m going to get that 8 pack if it kills me!!

- Snatches: again, went over for reps, but no bother. I’ve decided these are my “you want to know how good girls can look when they lift? Watch this for ****s n’ giggles!!” As D said there’s a point during the snatch that, if we could freeze frame it, shows my traps in monster big mode, my abs under tension and brilliantly tense, my legs are primed and pumped and my shoulders… well there’s just more striations in them than is physically natural Plus they’re just fun!!!

Good day, I enjoyed it. Again it took longer than it should have, but I’m not overly concerned as this week I just needed to get used to the sequence of lifts involved as opposed to getting everything perfect. But I do think this workout will be the longest of them all, so it’s probably a great thing that it’s scheduled for a Saturday when I have more time on my hands.

My shoulders are totalled, my triceps are in ribbons, and I get the feeling drinking anything or doing stuff that involves lifting my hand to my mouth/ head level is going to be sore and difficult for a few days.

I love the gym


Sunday 12th November
Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow … I’ve been assured that I’ll (eventually) get used to the intensity and volume of these workouts. But for now… ow ow ow ow…

g'em

Monday 13th November
I’m still sore Day 1:

Squat: 10(70) 8(90) 6(100) 5(110) 20(60)
Barbell Flat Bench Press: 10(40) 8(45) 6(50) 5(60) 18(30)
Lat Pull Downs: 12(7pl) 12(8pl) 12(8pl)
Bent over rows: 12(40) 12(50) 12(55)
DB Lateral Raises: 12(8 ) 12(8 ) 12(7) 12(7)
Tricep Pushdowns: 12(9pl) 11(9pl) 12(8pl) 12(7pl)
EZ bar curls: 15(17.5) 12(17.5) 15(15) 12(15)
Weighted Cable Crunch: 17(7pl) 15(7pl) 15(7pl) 15(7pl)

- squats were great. I think I’m slowly making good progress. The final 20 rep set of 60 might as well have just been the bar it felt so light.

- Bench: as soon as I started these I regretted it- my chest is in tatters after the fly/ push up superset and my triceps aren’t far behind. But once I got into it my strength reappeared (although the pain never subsided). Decided to go a bit mad and try for the 60kg for my final set, but didn’t have a great spotter (I can’t stand it when people hold the bar- if I need help, you’ll know all about it, otherwise don’t touch my f***in iron dude) so I can’t in good conscience call them my own. But I think on a rested, strong day I’d get them easily enough.

- Bent-over rows: made a huge leap here after last week but only because I inaccurately overestimated what last weeks’ lifts were in my memory!! 50kg was fine, but my form was suffering on the last 5 or so reps with 55. I’ll need to stick to 50 and keep it solid next week.

- Lat raises and curls were marginally better than last week, not as much rests and pauses. Got over-ambitious with the push-downs.

- Crunches: These were so awful I left the gym in a stormer of a bad mood!! I don’t like them at all- they’re fine in low volume, but they just felt nasty and wrong today. My forearms were literally in searing pain (from the pull-ups??) and it was them, and not my abs, that stopped me well short of finishing each set (although my abs are really quite horribly sore today). Besides which I’m doing a lot of direct ab work and I’m not entirely convinced I need it. I’d nearly be more inclined to go with an extra leg exercise as I’m not sure they’re being worked enough. Hmmm... will have to have a chat to himself about that…

But all in all, my arse is still getting kicked, and I'm still enjoying it, so it's all pretty damn good