Liftin' Iron n Leanin' Out

celestial

OK guys so my goals are:

1) Lose the rest of my belly flab en route to a six pack
2) Bulk up nicely

Stats:

Height - 5'9"
Weight - 85kg
Waist size (jeans) - 34 inches

I want to keep track of my diet and workouts so that I can ensure I am upping the ante with each workout and to get your feedback and comments, of course.

Tues 18 March:

Diet:

Breakfast - porridge, weetabix, two slices wholegrain brown bread toasted (one slice with marmalade), fruice orange juice

a little later - porridge with a v small amount of sugar

Workout: 1 hour

Warm up-

15 push ups
15 prisoner squats
15 push ups
15 prisoner squats
10 push ups

Main:

Barbell bench press 6 sets (3 x 10, 3 x 6)
Dumbbell rows 3 sets x 10 reps
Lat-pull down 3 sets x 10 reps
Dumbbell squats 6 sets x 10 reps
Barbell bicep curls 2 sets x 10 reps
Military press 2 sets x 10 reps


15 mins bike - 6.7km (10 mins fast pace, 5 mins cool down)


Post-workout:

bowl of cornflakes
three slices wholegrain brown bread with ham and a little full-fat mayo
bowl of fresh avonmore vegetable soup
small amount (literally 6 chips) oven chips with peas and chicken
cup of black tea

A little later tonight I'll have a bowl of weetabix (2), or maybe a slice or two of brown bread.

Anyone got any ideas how many calories that looks like? Would ideally want my daily intake to be less than 2500kcal

Al_Fernz

Without guessing any of the Macro breakdowns in your diet, I can say that your diet consists of too many starchy carbs and not enough protein. Get some eggs, fish and more meat in there. Also some more veggies wouldn't go amiss.

You can track your Kcal intake on fitday.com. Hope this helps.

celestial

Al_Fernz wrote: »

Without guessing any of the Macro breakdowns in your diet, I can say that your diet consists of too many starchy carbs and not enough protein. Get some eggs, fish and more meat in there. Also some more veggies wouldn't go amiss.

You can track your Kcal intake on fitday.com. Hope this helps.

Yeah - my rule of thumb is to keep starchy carbs to breakfast time and to close to pre and post-workout, but looking back at yesterday if was fairly carb heavy - I'd normally eat more veg and throw in a plain yoghurt and nuts instead of the cereal (this is when I am working, I'm off this week so it has slipped a bit).

celestial

Not a very active day today - 30 minute intervals on bike outside. There was a fair bit of wind resistance and my glutes were pretty stiff after squatting yesterday, but was happy enough.

Diet-wise:

Breakfast: 2 slices wholegrain brown bread toasted, 1 with marmalade
Porridge with honey
2 Weetabix
Fruice orange juice

Workout: the 30 min intervals

Post-workout: 2 slices wholegrain bread with ham and mayo

Dinner: Spuds with butter and sausages (fried, eek) and beans

Later evening: 4 Weetabix with a little honey

As mentioned, diet is a little different due to being off work, gonna be getting some plain yoghurt tomorrow to substitute for weetabix (which I never eat ordinarily).

Big workout coming up in the gym tomorrow too.

celestial

Pretty good workout today:

Warm up: 20 push-ups, 15 prisoner squats

Main: Stationary bike, 45 mins, 22.67 km

******

Going to up the cardio a bit over the next few weeks, the weeks up until week beginning April 14 will look like this:

Monday: high-volume weights session with some cardio (see Tues of this week for an example).

Tuesday: 45mins - 1 hour cardio. First 20 mins will be intervals, followed by moderate - high intensity cardio on bike.

Wednesday - MMA training for 2 hours

Thursday - as Tuesday.

celestial

Today pretty much identical to yesterday:

Warm up: Prisoner squats 3 sets x 15 reps
Push-ups: 1 set x 15, 2 sets x 10 elevated reps

Stationary bike, 45 mins, 22.56 km.

Will do some bodyweight exercises tomorrow plus some more cycling.

Rest day Sunday as will likely be out Sat night, be hitting the weights hard again then on Monday.

celestial

Resurrecting this - bit of a lay off and had a lingering cold but back flyin it now. Good weekend for training:

Friday: weights -

warm up on rower
dbell bench flat and incline
dbell squats
dbell rows
dbell fly
lat pull downs

bike 30 mins approx

Sat:

bike 40 mins moderate pace with a few 50 second intervals, followed by:

10 mins run on treadmill - 1.3km (is that good after 40 mins bike)?

5 min warm down walk

Sun: approx 1 hr 20 min of tennis

Week ahead looks like this:

Mon - weights + cardio
Tues - cardio (want to improve my running and cardio endurance a bit more)
Wed - MMA class
Thurs - weights

Also plan to get up in the morning and get a 25 min cycle in, wake me up, as well as my metabolism.

celestial

Today:

Feckload of lifting:

Flat bench press - approx 9/10 sets
Incline bench - approx 8/9 set

Both with weights in the 12kg - 16kg range (dbells)

Dbell rows 8 sets (4 each arm) with weights in above range

Dbell military press 1 set x 8 with 12kg bells

One arm military press 2 sets x 8 with 12kg bells

Bicep curls 2 sets x 8 reps approx, with 12kg bells

5 mins bike cool down, stretches

All in all a heavy enough session on paper, 30+ sets. I didn't actually feel tired after it though (?) - wonder how I'll feel in morning. I haven't had DOMS of any consequence in ayyges so felt I needed to up the ante tonight...

celestial

Jaypers there's a hell of a lot less tumbleweed round these fitness logs part than usual - some influx of training loggers! It's the same story in my gym - noticeably more busy since late last week. That summer feelin is in the air!

Anyway, good session today:

Squats and lunges: Lots n lots of em. Approx 6/7 sets of weighted squats with dbells, 14kg each hand for 2 sets, 12kgs for the rest. Lunges 1 set bodyweight, 2 sets with 12kg bells.

Bodyweight squats - 6 sets x 15 reps approx

Bike: 40 mins moderate intensity

BossArky

Why don't you record the weights you lifted in the log? That way if you look back in 6 months you'll see if you are progressing or not.

celestial

BossArky wrote: »

Why don't you record the weights you lifted in the log? That way if you look back in 6 months you'll see if you are progressing or not.

The weights are in the above post, albeit in a not very clear format;) But yeah, need to add them in to every post, that was just a slip - usually have them in there. In my entry for 07-04, does it look like I did a lot, sets wise? I felt volume was high there but I had no DOMS at all - think I need to up the weights - I'll be using 20kg bells next time and working my way up.

BossArky

I missed the weights the first time

Yeah that is a lot of volume alright: approx 8 on both flat and incline bench seems a bit much. I would up the weight (as you said) to like 20-25kg and do 3 to 5 sets of 5 reps. Try heavier military pressing too perhaps. I suppose you just have to go by feel, not necessarily to failure... but heavy enough to be knackered after 3 to 5 sets.

I'm no expert though.

celestial

BossArky wrote: »

I missed the weights the first time

Yeah that is a lot of volume alright: approx 8 on both flat and incline bench seems a bit much. I would up the weight (as you said) to like 20-25kg and do 3 to 5 sets of 5 reps. Try heavier military pressing too perhaps. I suppose you just have to go by feel, not necessarily to failure... but heavy enough to be knackered after 3 to 5 sets.

I'm no expert though.

Cheers man, yeah defo think I need to up the weight - I have a tendency to underestimate how heavy I can lift but I had worked up to 20kg bells previously and would say I could easily do 3-5x5 with 20kg/22kg or even higher, so will do that next time and we'll see how many I can crank out overall.

celestial

Wed 9 April

MMA training - 1 hour. Involved

Warm up and stretches
Push-ups maybe 4-5 sets of 15 reps
Pad-work
Sprint up 8 flights of stairs in the building we were training in! Wrecked!
Back down in the lift and approx 20 mins of sparring, 3 min rounds

Thursday 10 April

1 hour of tennis - quads quite stiff since Tuesday

Tomorrow, Monday will be a total body heavy weights session, need to get a nice bit of volume in as won't get to gym again til Saturday, away for most of week.

Happy to report am seeing more changes in the mirror, triceps and shoulders have gotten bigger and more mass all over, also the belly definitely seems to have shrunk that bit more. Lot more definition! I should post up some photos soon, have one from June 07 where I just look FAT!!!

celestial

Today:

1 hour or so of weights:

20 push-ups warm up
5 sets x 10 reps dbell flat bench- 18kg bells
5 sets x 10 reps incline bench - 18kg bells
5 sets x 10 reps dbell rows - 18kg bells
2 sets x 15 reps bodyweight squats
4 sets x 8 reps barbell squats - 40kg (could have gone a fair bit heavier but never really do barbell squats as it's just easier to dbell it as area is rarely free - so took it easy just to get form down)
1 set x 6 reps dbell squats - 18kg bells
1 set bicep curls - 14kg bells
Lat pull-downs 2 sets x 12 reps@ approx 70kg

Good session, wanted to get a nice bit done as won't get back to gym again this week - will get some cardio in on Saturday most likely.

celestial

Right back into it today after last week when I was away with work and couldn't get to gym. Still ate pretty clean when away and am finding these days that junk/greasy food just doesn't appeal any more, even after a night of boozing (which I'm also content to cut down on too, incidentally).

Not a great session today though - was out of the office all day and didn't get some proper food into me before the gym, so energy levels were lower than usual-

Warm up- 30 push-ups, 1 x 20, 1 x 10 reps

Dbell bench:
2 sets x 8 with 14kg bells
3 sets x 6 with 18kg bells
1 set x 5 with 20kg bells

Front raises: 2 sets x 8 with 6kg bells (never do these)
Same with lateral raises

Incline dbell bench:
4 sets x 8 with 18kg bells
1 set x 8 with 20kg bells

Shoulder press:
1 set x 8 with 16kg bells
1 set 5 (approx) with 16kg bells

20 mins bike @ approx 130 HR

All in all not one of my better sessions, need to be more prepared food-wise tomorrow so that I have enough in the tank for a strong workout.

celestial

Today - 40 minutes stationary bike ~50-60% of max HR.

Tomorrow - MMA training. Nothing as good for fitness as some boxing training imo!

celestial

Right I'm knackered right now. 2 hours MMA training-

Warm up and stretches
Drills
Sparring

Sparring took up the bulk of the session. Hard bloody work, and didn't have as much energy as I normally would for the session - partially down to the weights session on Monday when I lifted a bit heavier than usual, plus I don't think I ate enough before training (think that has more to do with it).

It's also hard learning to box! Just getting used to the MMA style ain't easy, and I will reiterate that I am not surprised that boxers are among the fittest - if not the fittest, and most conditioned, athletes on the planet!

celestial

Few days off there as was away on a trip. Thought it would be exercise free but pleasantly surprised to realise I got a nice bit both on Friday and Saturday - Friday was an approx 45 min walk, moderate - fast pace, and Saturday walked from Heuston station to home which took 50 mins, moderate-fast pace again. So happy with that.

Also happy with workout today - I intend to mix things up a bit more.

Today was something like this:

Warm up 6 mins on bike fast pace, 2 mins fast on rower
15 regular push ups, 10 wide, 10 close

15 bodyweight squats
1 x 10 reps weighted squats 12kg bells

3 x 10 reps with 12kg bells dbell bench press
dbell rows, 3 x 10 reps, 12kg bells

2 x 10 reps weighted squats - 12kg bells

10 mins crosstrainer - moderate pace
20 mins bike, moderate-fast pace

Want to get more cardio in over the next week and adopt a more circuit style of training to get the heart rate way up - today involved lower rest periods and really got my heart pumping. I intend to do a little experiment and up the cardio significantly and do more circuits and see if it speeds up fat loss or not.

celestial

Today - 50 mins cardio:

20 minute intervals on bike, 5 min warm, then flat out for 30secs/1min, rest 90 seconds, repeat.

Rower: 7 mins fast pace, feckin tiring, should probably have done this before the cycling.

Treadmill: 3 min jog, don't like running-kinda blows! Made for the bike again.

Bike: 20 mins high intensity.

Some heavy weights tomorrow by gum. Got my copy of Starting Strength Vol 2 today - man what a beast of a book!

Food today:

Breakfast: Bowl of porridge with a little honey

Mid-morn: 2 plain natural yoghurts, half-handful of nuts

Lunch: Meat and veg, vegetable soup with 1 slice wholegrain bread

Mid-afo: Apple, cup of green tea

Later-afo: Wheatgrain sandwich of ham and cheese, 1 glass of Lucozade in pub, no beer as knew was heading to gym.

Post gym: 20g protein shake with water, 3 small tins of tuna with wholegrain slice of toast, 2 plain youghurts.

Comments on the food intake welcome. Am trying my darndest to lower carbs and up protein, mainly by cutting down on bread and cereal - have replaced cereal with yoghurt and nuts. Will aim to replace bread, which I use to fuel my workouts, with a banana and maybe a glass of milk.

celestial

Today - 35-40 minutes of weights and 50 mins cardio:

Warm up - 1 set x 15 wide stance push ups
1 set x 10 narrow stance push ups

Weights:

Dbell bench: 16kg bells 2x10
Dbell flat bench rows (what they called again, when you're lying flat face down on bench and rowing upwards?!) : 16kg bells 1 x 10
Dbell rows: 16kg bells 2 x10
Dbell incline bench: 16kg bells 2 x 10
Dbell incline bench: 20kg bells 2 x 6
Dbell bench: 20kg bells 2 x 6
Dbell rows: 20kg bells 2 x 8
Military press: 12kg bells 1 x 8 (tiring), 10kg bells 1 x 6
Dbell bicep curls: 12kg bells 2 x 6 approx
Tricep dips: 1 x 10 reps

Cardio:

40 mins on bike at moderate-fast pace
10 mins at slower pace

Ends.

I'm finding the cycling fairly easy - could have gone on for far longer if I'd wanted, and that was having done nearly an hour of cycling on top of the weights. Think a 15-20 min burst on the rower or fast running on treadmill might be a better (and quicker) option...

Also gonna aim to be lifting 22kg bells from now on, need to start working my way upwards again...

Slowly but surely (I think!!) my abs are coming out to say hello, they're pretty shy but I think I can make them more extroverted over the coming weeks.....

celestial

Today:

MMA training 1 hour. It's normally 2 hours but wanted to catch Champions League.
Stretches and warm up then drills for a bit followed by 2 rounds of sparring. Def feel myself progressing, even as compared to last week. Holding my guard a LOT better and confidence when punching and in general is growing..

Tomorrow: Squats and cardio.

General comments: While I do seem to be making progress on the fat loss front, it seems painnnnfully slow sometimes. Standing in front of the mirror my belly is almost flat but there's still a nice bit of abdominal fat there, which is the last to go and the hardest to shift. I can make out the six pack shape on me though, the upper abs, especially in the morning. Also in the gym I find it hard to get tired out (a good sign in one way, I know, as it means I'm getting fitter and fitter!), need to push it more and more each time to make sure I'm not adapting too much.

celestial

Yesterday: Rest. Probably the first day in 3 or 4 months when I just came home from work and did nothing! Think I needed the break.

Today:

Warm up with 12 push ups with swiss ball (pushing down then bringing the ball in to the abs and back).
Bodyweight squats

Weights:

Dbell bench...plenty of sets. Started with 18kg bells, moved to 20kg bells and then up to 22kg bells. Did approx 8-10 sets overall and alternated with squats 3 x 8 reps with the 20kg bells.

Then 4 sets of rows also with 18kg and 22kg bells. Also did 2 x 4 reps 60kg barbell bench. Lat pull down 70kg for 4 sets, 80kg for 2 sets. Bodyweight back extensions 3 x 10 reps.

After approx 3 sets on dbell bench went to barbell to see what I could crank out. Did what I mentioned above, reckon I'd have done a fair bit more if I had gone in fresh, without the dbells first. I'd say my 1RM on the bench is about 65kg, but not certain, only one way to find out next time I go!

Feeling kinda fried after today's workout - maybe its CNS exhaustion or something from upping the weight - Hanley any ideas?!

Hanley

celestial wrote: »

Yesterday: Rest. Probably the first day in 3 or 4 months when I just came home from work and did nothing! Think I needed the break.

Today:

Warm up with 12 push ups with swiss ball (pushing down then bringing the ball in to the abs and back).
Bodyweight squats

Weights:

Dbell bench...plenty of sets. Started with 18kg bells, moved to 20kg bells and then up to 22kg bells. Did approx 8-10 sets overall and alternated with squats 3 x 8 reps with the 20kg bells.

Then 4 sets of rows also with 18kg and 22kg bells. Also did 2 x 4 reps 60kg barbell bench. Lat pull down 70kg for 4 sets, 80kg for 2 sets. Bodyweight back extensions 3 x 10 reps.

After approx 3 sets on dbell bench went to barbell to see what I could crank out. Did what I mentioned above, reckon I'd have done a fair bit more if I had gone in fresh, without the dbells first. I'd say my 1RM on the bench is about 65kg, but not certain, only one way to find out next time I go!

Feeling kinda fried after today's workout - maybe its CNS exhaustion or something from upping the weight - Hanley any ideas?!

Read the first line of the quoted texted, then read the last line. Draw your conclusions!!!!

I sincerely doubt it's CNS fatigue. Generally that's only gonna happen with experienced guys who are pushing really hard on sets of 1-5 reps (more so 1-3). I'd say you've just been pushing too hard for too long and need a break or a week off now.

celestial

Hanley wrote: »

Read the first line of the quoted texted, then read the last line. Draw your conclusions!!!!

I sincerely doubt it's CNS fatigue. Generally that's only gonna happen with experienced guys who are pushing really hard on sets of 1-5 reps (more so 1-3). I'd say you've just been pushing too hard for too long and need a break or a week off now.

Yeah wasn't really being serious, I'm not that hardcore...yet!:D

You're prob right bout taking a break, remains to be seen whether I'll take one or not.

celestial

Had been resting since Friday when I had my last workout and wanted to do something tonight - something light just to keep me ticking over.

Went out for a run - great day and got runners that suit my running gait, great support and cushioning in them. Figured if I was going to be doing any amount of running I should get the right shoes. So off I went running for about 15-20 mins.

Into the gym then and kept it light enough volume wise:

Dbell rows 1 x 15 14kg bells (or 16kg, can't rem!), 3 x 10 reps 20kg bells
Dbell bench press 3 x 10 reps 20kg bells
Dbell incline press 3 x 10 reps 20kg bells

Stretches and done. Happy enough as wanted to take it a bit easier this week.