Where's that 6-pack?

rocky

As if... never had a six-pack, hopefully will some day..

Male, almost 32, 188cm/100 kg.

Want to lose some weight, be about 90 kg by July 10th (going on holidays), then go to maybe 85 kg and start a clean bulk... here's hoping.

On the 21st of May I weigh in at 100 kg, today I'm 97.4

I'm using fitday to track my calories, eating about 1700-1800 a day, trying to keep carbs and fat down. Will see how these calories work, and adjust accordingly - with the advice I'll get from your good selves...

My training routine currently consists of full body workouts, starting with
- squat: 20kg x3, 40kg x5, 60x5, 70x3, 70x2
- bench: 20x10, 40x10, 50x4x2, 60x3
- should do deadlift but avoided them because I've DOMS for 3-4 days afterwards
-chinups - can only do 'sets' of 1, about 4-5 times

then HIIT on treadmill for 15 minutes, 1.5 minutes run at 6-7mph, 1 min rest at 2 mph - some would say that's not real HIIT hardcore, this is my current level of fitness - after the effort intervals, HR at 152 max (and dying), decreases to 110 during rest

Today's diet:


calories seem a bit low today (fitday recommended for my 90kg goal to eat about 1300 calories, I don't care much, I listen to my body...) for lunch I didn't have the normal chicken and rice/mash combo, I had a tuna sandwich,the bread was the nutty doorstop one, was unsuccessful in getting nutrition info on the net, will try tomorrow.

Questions, comments, advice (especially ) let me know

Peace.

rocky

Oh yeah, thread that started it all:

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055510319

I need to improve in the sleep area, can't seem to get more than 6-6.5 hors of sleep a night, I'm used to it at this stage after years of doing the same routine...

rocky

Small disappointment this morning, weight was 97.8. - Will get the Psylium Husk for fibre, that should clear up a few things - I'll check Evergreen in Galway.

Difficulties today to source macronutrients values for 'seafood mornay' :rolleyes: the alternative was chicken breast, and I'm having that in the evening. I'm normally of the oppinion that you can never have too much chicken (and banoffi pie, I kinda changed my mind on this last one...)

If all goes well (i.e. no rain tonight), I'll hit the gym, will update after.

For now, planned diet for today is:




At the moment I'm just after the seafood, will get the chicken breast when I get home, then gym, then PWO with protein and will get same carbs probably.

Question - If I want to lose fat, do I need to get fast carbs PWO? Or will this affect the muscles in a negative way, if I only get the protein?

Then, cottage cheese before bed... nyom :cool:

Pugsley

rocky wrote: »

Question - If I want to lose fat, do I need to get fast carbs PWO? Or will this affect the muscles in a negative way, if I only get the protein?

Fast carbs post workout aid in recovery primarily, usually go for a tuna pasta salad myself, yummy.

(and cottage cheese is disgusting stuff! :pac:)

rocky

Nah, I love cottage cheese ... I used to eat it (or something like it) with polenta (corn porridge) in my childhood.

Training tonight:

Bench: 20x5, 40x6, 60x2x5, 70x5 (last one assisted)
Squat: 20x5, 40x5, 60x5, 70x3, 71.25x3 (had different style 20 kg plates and the right felt heavier, so I added 1.25kg to the left :pac:
Chinups: 3x1, 1x2

HIIT 20 minutes on the treadmill

Knackered after this, I could barely cycle home, the HIIT almost killed me :pac: me likey.

rocky

may as well post here too, the 'before' pics - at 97.7 kg:

rocky

Still recovering from the long weekend, went hill walking on Sunday(Blackhead - The Burren)

Gym tonight:

Squats: 20kg x 5, 60 x 5, 60 x 3(wide stance), 80 x 3 new PB
Bench: 50 x 7, 60 x 3 x 2 - felt particularly weak today
Deadlift: 50 x 5, 70 x5, 70 x 4
Chin-ups: 2x1, 1x4 (touching feet on ground between reps for a fraction of a second), 1x3

Various other auxiliary exercises, leg extensions, hamstring pulls (?), lower back extensions
I'm uploading some videos and will post them later.

Eating around 1800 cals a day - except yesterday when I had 2350. Watermelon must have a high GI, I had 3 wedges then the sugar crash hit and had to eat something...carbs are evil I tells ya! :pac:

Beside glucose, is caster sugar ok for my PWO protein shake? I had 1 1/2 scoops (45g) whey with 20 grams sugar tonight...

rocky

Form check:

This is the way I normally squat - narrow stance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW4VmC-5Ppw

Wide(ish) stance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvVExhnopn0

I feel more comfortable with the narrow stance, would that prevent me from going much higher weight wise?

deadlift, 70kg x 4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oY1JEiOAjY

FunkZ

Dude eat more! You seem to have great motivation and you're gonna be a good addition to teh forum!

You're squat form seemed flawless to me. But maybe someone else will give their opinion.

I think you're weightloss targets are pretty unrealistic though. And I know you're using a tape so I'd use that as your main tool, it's definitely better.

Congrats on your squats PR, I'll be watching ya!

cardio,shoot me

Awesome squat form man!
I cant really give you any critique cause if theres anything wrong with it i didnt see it. A lil bit of advice though, Try to drive your elbows under the bar, i noticed that on the way back up doing this helped me keep my chest up.

rocky

I know what you're saying Funkz, but I've "eaten more" my whole life, so I'd like to see how my body responds to a little less calories. It's not like I'm starving myself, I'm not hungry, the amount of protein I get from chicken, tuna and cottage cheese keep me satiated, and the energy levels seem the same or better with the "buzz" of finally doing something that makes a difference.

I'll try and give this a go for a few weeks if I can.

This morning: 96.7 kg, 23.3% fat, as long as it's going down, all's good. May look into a tape measuring thingie...

@cardio,shoot me: I'm surprised I can get my elbows under the bar as far as I am, previously I used to have elbow and wrist tighteness after a heavy squats session. I saw kevin's advice and will see if I can improve.

Thanks.

bigstar

your squat fairly good form wise, just try breaking at the hips first, sit back and down. your knees seem to move first, and push your knees outwards a bit it may help with the wide stance. its fairly good though, well done.

Pugsley

Apart from the elbows going pretty much parallel with the floor the form seems grand. Should be trying to get the elbows closer to vertical, under the bar. You also look have your thumbs around the bar, which is probably why your elbows are so high. Try a thumbless grip, should get rid of the tightness in your wrists and allow for your elbows to come down.

+1 for bigstar too, breaking at the hips first stops the weight from going onto your toes (bad for the lower back!).

rocky

Still feeling sore today, more so in the legs, so went for a higher volume upper body workout; not sure about the name of some exercises, I'll just use my creative side: :pac:

Bench Press: 20kg x 10, 50kg x 5 x 3
Barbell shoulder press: 20kg x 5, 40kg x 3 (died ), 30 kg x 5 x 2
Standing cable row/pull: 31kg x 10
Seated cable row: 31 x 12, 38 x 12, 48 (full weight on the machine) x 10
Chin-ups: 1x3, 2x1
Bench press again: 50kg x 5, 50 kg x 10

Eating ~ 1900 calories

There was a guy in the squat rack doing barbell curls, lucky for him it wasn't my squat day ... nah, he looked big and mean

C'mon squats!!!

...and deadlift !!

rocky

Legs today:

squat: 20kg x 5, 40 kg x 3, 60 kg x 5, 80 kg x 3, 60 x 3, 40 x 5
deadlift: 50 x 5 x 2, 60 x 5, 100 x 1, 100 x 1 - glad I didn't break anything

chin-ups: 1x5 (with touching the floor), 1 x 3, 1 x 2

seated hamstring curls, quad extensions...

Think I'll progress more on the deadlift than squat, hopefully this will help me with the squat too... The feeling of deadlifting 100 kg,, all my muscles know about it

Weight this morning: 95.7 kg

rocky

Monday, after the last workout, I felt a general CNS fatigue (not that I'm sure that was it) - it felt like overtraining, but only for a day - I pushed myself a little too far maybe, can't promise I won't do it again tho'. Then on Tuesday the real DOMS in legs, could barely walk.

Enough excuses... upper body today:

benchpress: 20kg x 10, 40 kg x 7, 50kg x 7, 60 x 3 x 2
cable rows: same as previous UB workout
seated barbell press: 20kg x 10, x5, 30 x 5 x 2
chinups: 1x4, 1x3, 2x1

Diet holding up well, no sweets/cheat meals in a few weeks, since I started this log. Only high GI carbs I have are dates post workout.

I've read somewhere it takes 3 weeks to break the bad habits, I gave up sugary stuff without craving it after 1 week ... here's hoping this continues.

Will post today's diet next.

rocky

95.2 kg today

rocky

95.1 KG last Sunday

I had another workout on Sat, then got sent to the US for 3 weeks...

I got 4 gym sessions for 20$ in LA Fitness which is prety good I think... Tonight I went for the first time, working most everything... can't say weights in pounds... I'm tired anyway.

I used a pec dec machine, always wanted to try one... nice. For the squats, I had to step way back because I squat so deep and would touch the lateral bars otherwise.


How much for a pint of Ben&Jerry's? (~420-470 ml?) $2.50. => The day before yesterday was my carb up day :pac:

Hope to remain under 100 kg by the time I get back

rocky

Reset.

Bad weather, got a cold, so on so forth.

Today - still feeling sore from my first (after the break) workout on Sat.

cable flyes - 11kgx10x2, 13kg10x x 2
bench press - 40 kgx10 , 50kgx4x3
deadlift - 50kgx6x3, 50 kg x 10

EZ curls :pac: 20kgx 5-6 x 2, then my right bicep upper insertion started feeling sore so I stopped. Stupid exercise anyway.

Starting with a bit of high volume for a bit see how that goes.

Planning to train every second day (got a car n stuff so a bit of rain does not put me off training anymore - had to cycle everywhere previously)

rocky

PS. Diet not very good - gonna get a cottage cheese now to round up the day.;)

rocky

2/10/09

squat: 20kg x 10, 50kg x 5 x 2 (1 front), 70kg x 3, 80 x 3 x 2
bench press: 40kg x 10, 50 x 5 x 2, 60 x 4 (last rep assisted)
deadlift: 50 x 5 x 2, 70 x 3 x 2

expecting the mother of all DOMS tomorrow evening.

Tonight in the Kingfisher gym there was me, my gf and 8 hyuuuge Polish guys.
That was it.

rocky

I got maximum DOMS yesterday morning, 36 hours after exercise.

Today 5/10/09

squat: 20kg x 5, 50 x 5 x 2 (1 front), 60 x 3 x 3 (last one front)
felt a soreness in my left knee so took it easy for the rest of the session
bench : 20x 10, 50x 5 x 2, 60 x 3 x 2
deadlift: small weight, left it for next time.

My legs are not recovering properly between sessions, thinking of alternating between squats and deadlift and see how that goes.

Still need to get diet in check but lack motivation on that front...

rocky

8/10/2009

Bench 50 x 5x3, (after deadlift) 60 x 3 x 2
deadlift 50 x 5 x 2, 70 x 3, 90 x 2, 90x 1, 100 x 1 x3
cable flys
body inverted rows (I think) x10, x 5

Felt too relaxed at the beginning of the session, but managed to concentrate on the deadlift then did another few bench sets. Pretty happy with deadlifting 100 kg, that's my bodyweight!!

Next session will do squats.

rocky

11/10/2009

Squats: 20 x 10, 40 x 5 x 2 (one set back, one set front squats), 60 x 5, 80 x 5, (front: )80 x 1, 80x 1, back: 80 x 2
Bench: 50 x 5, 50 x 5, 50 x 4, (after squats: ) 60 x 5, 60 x 4, 50 x 3, 60 x 2

First time trying front squats with 80 kg (previous high was 60 I think) - really felt them in my lower back.

The wider stance squats are still causing problems, some pain in the knee and the quads 'exterior' muscles, maybe narrow stance and very deep is the physiologically correct form for me...

SIX PACK

rocky wrote: »

Legs today:

squat: 20kg x 5, 40 kg x 3, 60 kg x 5, 80 kg x 3, 60 x 3, 40 x 5
deadlift: 50 x 5 x 2, 60 x 5, 100 x 1, 100 x 1 - glad I didn't break anything

chin-ups: 1x5 (with touching the floor), 1 x 3, 1 x 2

seated hamstring curls, quad extensions...

Think I'll progress more on the deadlift than squat, hopefully this will help me with the squat too... The feeling of deadlifting 100 kg,, all my muscles know about it

Weight this morning: 95.7 kg

i do more or less the same as that but the Squatting Or dead lifts i just hate because of my back...
but they are the best for getting the testosterone levels up...

rocky

I love them... mainly because I suck at benching (well I suck at squatting and deadlifting, just not so much )

What's wrong with your back? squats and deadlifts are supposed to strengthen it, unless you have a serious medical condition...

Today I went swimming, not sure I'll recover for the session tomorrow. stay tuned

rocky

14/10/2009

bench:
20kg x 15 - warmup
50 x 7
60 x 5
65 x 4
65 x 3 I thought this was a PR, but I looked back in this log and I benched 70kg x 5 some time ago...
60 x 3

deadlift
50 x 5
60 x 4
90 x 3
110 x 1
110 x 1
110 x 1 this looks like a new PR !

SIX PACK

Car crash 2yrs ago got rear ended going to work 1 morning on the M50... sudden traffic calming due to road works was hit behind at 80kmh. The driver who hit me wasn't paying attention. Thaught i was ok but a few days later nerves around my vertebrae started playing up had a bit of whiplash aswel but more or less right now get the odd twinge if i push the boat out as they say:).

rocky

Haven't updated this in a while... still going to the gym 4 times a week.

Wed 18/11/09

db presses: 26kg dbs, x10, x8, x7, x5
deadlift: 50kg x 10, 90x5, 90x5, 110x3, 110x3

I'm working chest every time I go, seems to be recovering much better than legs. I progressed from 18 kg dbs to 26 kg in the space of one month (granted, I may have started quite low). When I get to 3sets x 10 reps I'm moving up 2kgs.

Deadlift has progressed nicely, first time I lifted 110kgs some months ago felt sick for 2 days, now I'm doing 3 rep sets.

Also tried a 130 kg deadlift last week, from the resting position about 15cm above ground (not full ROM), was hard but doable.

At the end of the workout I'm spending 10-15 minutes streching and doing abs with a weighted 5kg ball, bouncing it off a trampoline at the top of the movement. Saw this exercise being perfomed by a polish guy I assisted with DB presses, and thought I'd give it a try.

Diet not too bad, but I'm not losing any weight. I'm increasing my lifts, so muscle mass is increasing, which means my fat is going down. Not by a lot, but so far I'm happy with my progress.

rocky

Long time no post...

I restarted my weight loss in June, at 103kg :eek:

In the first month or so, I only ate in a deficit, with no grander theories or plans. I gave up lunch time desert, the 3pm sanwich and I had only 300g cottage cheese in the evening.

I recently discovered Lyle McDonald (www.bodyrecomposition.com) and Martin Berkhan (www.leangains.com).

I read 4 of Lyle's books (UD2.0, PMSF Rapid Fat Loss, The Ketogenic Diet, The Protein Book) and, while I wasn't looking to follow any of the diets, there's plenty up to date information in them.

At the moment I'm using a modified version of Intermittent Fasting, from which I took the skipping of breakfast as the most eye-opening of moves. I guess IF only validated what I knew and gave me permission not to feel guilty when not having breakfast.

I weighed-in this morning at 90.1kg. Still some way to go, every Saturday I'm measuring my bf% with calipers, I'm at 13% now. While the going is good, I'll try losing some more fat, then maybe get into a slow gain phase (when I will probably need to re-introduce breakfast).

I'm losing a steady 1 kg/week, even though my calories are possibly lower than they need to be, at least in theory, but I find that estimating my caloric needs based on formulas produces overlarge results.

In the gym, most notable progress is with chinups, started at 103kg barely managing 1, now I start with a set of 5. My weight loss may have something to do with it

I get a full body workout every second day, sometimes legs every second workout, when they are not fully recovered after 1 rest day.

rocky

90.1 kg today, 12% fat, although feels more like 15 looking in the mirror.

I did a quick calculation, I burned 2522 calories/day in the last week.

(Sum up the calories consumed + 9 x 700) /7 = 2522

(900 grams weight loss, assuming all is fat (yeah right), 700 calories deficit for each 100g)

rocky

Pics this morning:

rocky

8 chinups in the first set yesterday - yay!

'm thinking of changing my chin-up routine a bit, go for 5 reps for as many sets as possible, rather than giving my all on the first one, then attempt max reps every couple of weeks.

Also increasing calories a little bit by getting some fat from EV olive oil

I hope to be under 90 kg this Saturday for the first time in... some years!

rocky

89.3 kg, -0.8 kg this week

I increased my calories, eating 2000 cals/day and the weight loss does not seem to have slowed down. I burned 2674 cals/day.

Measured bf% 11.5%, mirror says ~14%.

I've added peanut butter whenever I'm low on any given day, 570 kcals/100g yum! Also made protein bars using the recipe from another thread. Got the Myprotein choc nut whey, tastes like a Ferero Rocher shake

JJayoo

2nd pic = Badass traps

rocky

Am I estimating my bf correctly, 14%? Even though calipers give 11.5%, I've read that the Jackson-Pollock formula that I use here:

http://exrx.net/Calculators/BodyComp.html

normally underestimates by up to 3% when compared to a DEXA scan.

Warning trap pic! :pac:

rocky

Thought I'd post my lower body workout today:

Squat
warmup bar x 10, 50kg x 4
worksets 70kg x 5, 60 x 6, 50 x 7

Deadlift
warmup 50 kg x 10, 80x 4
worksets 100x 5, 90 x 6, 80 x 7



I started into Reverse Pyramid training, after warmup, directly the heaviest set x 5-6 reps, take 10% off, x 6-7, take 10% off x 7-8.

Knees are acting up so I;m not pushing squats too heavy, I'm only trying to maintain muscle mass while on the diet.

Previous Leg workout I did sumo deads because of dodgy right knee.

Measurements tomorrow morning

rocky

Still sore from the leg workout, probably will postpone the upper body to tomorrow. I'm thinking of buying a foam roller, some people seem to get good results from it, and Kingfisher Renmore doesn't have them. Maybe I should ask will they buy some...

89 kg yesterday, -0.3 on last week. Slower than I would like, but the mirror shows good improvements. Calipers resulted in a bf% of 10.2% :rolleyes:, so I'm going with ~13.5%

yesterday's macros:

calories 2,220
Fat 99.5 (40%)
Carbs 143.0 (26%)
Protein 187.6 (34%)


On Thursday I'm off to a 1 week carb-up in Tenerife

rocky

Upper body

Chinups: 7, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2 a few times between other exercises

Benchpress:
60kg x 5
60 x 5 wider grip
60 x 4 narrower grip
50 x 8
50 x 7

various shoulder presses, 3 sets of 40 kg x 3

rack pulls
50kg x 8
80 x 5
100 x 5
120 x 3
130 x 3
140 x 1

Wanted to see what 1.5xBW feels like... heavy.

Maybe I'll join the race to 170 for rack pulls :rolleyes:

rocky

Sep 8, before holiday: 88.6 kg
Sep 16, after 1 weeks holiday: 91.1 kg
Sep 18, 3 days later: back to 88.6kg, lost water weight

Today Sep 25: 87.7 kg
BF% measurement: 8.71
Reality: 11.7

We had a huge meal in Tulsi last night (Chicken Pasanda, pilau rice, garlic nan), after eating only ~550 calories for the day. Same weight today as yesterday morning, so all good.

0.9 kg lost in a week, a bit much, but at the starting point I probably still had some water weight after the breakfast and dinner deserts. I'll continue with 2k- 2.2k cals a day for the next week.

Today I'll train fasted for the second time. First time was on Thursday.

rocky

rocky

2pm-fasted workout

3pm-30 grams hazelnut choc whey

4pm-meal1: 150g fried salmon, 120g mash potato, 200g cottage cheese, 100g Tiramisu

8pm-meal2: 4 scrambled eggs with 2 tbsp yogurt, 100g grilled chicken breast, 200g low fat cottage cheese, small piece of bread

11pm-smoothie: 75g frozen raspberries, yogurt, 125g skim milk, 30g choc whey

Totals: 2,164 calories
protein 211.4 40%
fat 91.3 38%
carbs 121.7 22%

rocky

Your BMI:
24.81

A BMI between 18.5 and 25 is considered healthy.
The healthy weight range for your height is between
144.2
lbs and
194.8
lbs.
Your weight is within this healthy range.

Looks like I was overweight until today.

Raze_them_all

BMI can't differenciate between fat and muscle. Pay it no attention. Body fat % is what matters

rocky

Updated pics:

rocky

full body workout:

Chins: BW x5, x5, x5, x4
Dips: BW x 5, x10, x10, x8
Squats: 50kg x 8, 70kg x 7
OH press: 40 kg x 8, x6, x5, 30 kg x 10, x 10
hang cleans: 40 kg x 10, x8, 30kg x many

Keeping all muscles exercised more important than increasing weight while dieting. Happy enough with the dips, seem to be progressing nicely.

Only had 30g whey before workout, not sure if this almost fasted training is working out as smootly as I'd like - felt really tired a few times during the workout.

Also started the OH presses and hang cleans one or 2 weeks ago, I like the pump I get in the shoulders.

I'm not doing deadlifts atm because of the ungodly recovery time I need after.

rocky

re-starting the log to keep track of weights session to session.

full body yesterday

DB bench press
24kg x 8, x7
26kg x 6, x5

chinups
x5, x5, x7, x4

squats
warmup, 60kg x 3, 70kg x 3, 80 kg x 3

smith BNP
30kg (not counting bar) x7, x7, x7

cable crossover
warmup, 16.?kg x10, 18.?kg x7, 21.?kg x7, x5

barbell row
60kg x10, x10

abzzz 55kg x5, 65kg x8, 75kg x8

rocky

Upper

DB press
24kg x10, x10, 26kg x 6

Incline DB press
26kg x 6, x6

Cable xover
21.kg x 10, 23kg x8, 23kg x5

Chinups
x5, x5, x5, x5

BB row
50kg x10, 60kg x10, 70kg x10

Back extension
55kg x13, 105 kg x10, 85kg x10

Abzzz x many

rocky

Bench Press
40kg x13, 50kgx 10

Chinups
x10, x6, x10

Squat
50 x6, 60x3, 70x3, 80x3, x3, x1, x1

cable xovers
13kg x10, 16 x10, 21 x10, 23x8, 26x8

rocky

DB bench press
26kg x7, x7
28kg x7, x6

Chinups
x8, x10, x8, x5

Squats
50kg x6, 60kg x3, x3, 70 x4, 80x4, 90x2

BNP 30kg x7, 7, 7

Cable xover
13 x10, 16x10, 23 x8, 26x8, x7

rocky

incline DB bench press
26 x7, x7
28 x7
30 x7

chinups
x10, x5, x8

BB row
50 x12, 60x12, x10

squats
70 x5, x5, x5

cable xover
13 x10
18 x8
23 x10
26 x8
26 x6

abs