Bear in the square

Antisocialiser

Age: 24
Height: 5”9
Weight: 84kg

Diet:
Breakfast: Bowl of Special k/Crunchy Nut with whole milk. Protein Shake with whole milk.
Lunch: Fry-up – 3 eggs, 3 bacon, 2 rounds of wholemeal/white toast.
Dinner: Usually nice piece of chicken of beef with rice, pasta or veg and a sauce.
Evening: Turkey Sandwich and white/wholemeal bread
Snacks: A few pints of whole milk and probably some biscuits.
Post-workout – Ill have a protein shake with water after my work out 3 times a week.





Starting Strength Current lifts –
Deadlift – 110 kg 1x5
Squat - 90kg 3x5
Bench press – 72.5kg 3x5
Military Press – 50kg 3x5
Here's my log http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056021057&page=3


Results of GAA team fitness tests (15 Dec 2010):
Max Pullups: 7 (slightly above average)
Max squat jumps onto a bench in 30sec: 25 (technique was poor and lost rhythm – below average)
Max reps of 40kg bench press: 34 (above average)
Spider test – 5 markers over 21m (30sec on / 30 sec off x 6) Total score: 55 (below average most people scored around 60)
Roughly 90m in 20sec with 5 sec rest (if you miss the line you fail) Total runs: 6 (badly below average – top guys running 16 or so)

Goals
We are being tested again on the 2nd of Feb (roughly 7wks) and the plan is to vastly improve my scores. As I said ive been doing starting strength and Im finding it brilliant for improving my overall strength. I also need to lose a lot of weight as you can see from my pictures (excuse the wall to wall carpeting ) so I was thinking of doing a 2 week no carb “caveman” diet probably around the start of the new year. Does this seem plausible?

Also what can I do to make me VASTLY better at running faster for longer? The first two runs of the spider I was actually leading the group but from there I died a horrible death and all turning technique went out the window too. Also as ive been doing my weight training fri – sun – tues where is the appropriate time to fit them in? On a side note I squatted, benched and did pull-ups the day before the test so this may have had some effect on my scores.

I understand that the likes of the bench press test might seem a little silly but these are the benchmarks the coaches are judging us on. Im hoping someone can suggest a way I can continue get stronger but also get leaner and fitter at the same time…. Or at the least strike a happy medium which improves me as an athlete.
Thanks in advance

mrpink6789

Hey man, been following the log, fair play on the lifts. Kicking my ass on the bench and press!

Have you entered in your diet to fitday.com to see your calories, carb intake and protein intake? For your goals to drop weight I would increase protien and cut down on a lot of carbs. Theres a lot in there between bread, pasta, biscuits. Stick to the eggs and for snacks try and throw in a bit of tuna, mixed nuts.

To increase fitness maybe throw in a HIIt session after your lifting, thats what I do and have found it dropped the body fat and increased the fitness by a huge amount.

legend365

Jogging improves stamina and fitness. DO IT!

deadlybuzzman

legend365 wrote: »

Jogging improves stamina and fitness. DO IT!

that it will although as youre training for a sport thats consists of a ton of sprints being able to run all day isnt much good if it takes all day to get there, (no offence previous poster) Hill sprints are v v tough but excellent for fitness, explosive starts and mental toughness. Combine that with sprint drills on the flat and youll see a big difference-ill look for a link...

deadlybuzzman

developing real athletic speed..
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/sports-training/developing-real-athletic-speed/


6 ways to increase your sprint speed
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/sports-training/top-six-ways-to-increase-your-sprint-speed/

I thought this is very relevant too-its all very good and well being able to be fast but in the likes of GAA its useless unless you can stop quickly too
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/sports-training/speed-trainings-dirty-secret/

Antisocialiser

@mrpink6789 ive been following yours too! here's me thinking nobody reads mine Yeh my rough plan was to continue with starting strength and eating for the next 2 weeks with perhaps a metcon or HIIT thrown in. Then for the next 2 weeks after continue with starting strength and HIIT following a no-carb diet. Im kinda worried that my lifts will stall here though. How did you find the HIIT and diet effecting your recovery?

@legend365 i had considered doing C25K but as deadlybuzzman said i need to be able to be faster and fitter and ultimately sustain my speed for the 1st run of the spider test right to the 6th!

@deadlybuzzman should i be doing the sprint drills to mirror the fitness tests i.e. in order to get better at the spider test and the full 3g pitch runs just use my rest days to slog my guts out at them?

Thanks for the advice lads keep it coming!

deadlybuzzman

Antisocialiser wrote: »

@mrpink6789 ive been following yours too! here's me thinking nobody reads mine Yeh my rough plan was to continue with starting strength and eating for the next 2 weeks with perhaps a metcon or HIIT thrown in. Then for the next 2 weeks after continue with starting strength and HIIT following a no-carb diet. Im kinda worried that my lifts will stall here though. How did you find the HIIT and diet effecting your recovery?

@legend365 i had considered doing C25K but as deadlybuzzman said i need to be able to be faster and fitter and ultimately sustain my speed for the 1st run of the spider test right to the 6th!

@deadlybuzzman should i be doing the sprint drills to mirror the fitness tests i.e. in order to get better at the spider test and the full 3g pitch runs just use my rest days to slog my guts out at them?

Thanks for the advice lads keep it coming!

If making the grade on the fitness tests are the main hurdle to get over for now then yeah Id be inclined on doing runs similar to them. Obviously its all about match performance ultimately but for now get a stopwatch(theyre v cheap in tescos) and do a log on your times and over a few weeks monitor the progress.
1 point of note-be mindfull of allowing your body to recover between sessions, if you see progress stall or maybe your legs feel heavy keep the sprint sessions short-you want to stay strong not end up trudging along at half pace.

Mellor

Antisocialiser wrote: »

Diet:Breakfast: Bowl of Special k/Crunchy Nut with whole milk. Protein Shake with whole milk.
Lunch: Fry-up – 3 eggs, 3 bacon, 2 rounds of wholemeal/white toast.
Dinner: Usually nice piece of chicken of beef with rice, pasta or veg and a sauce.
Evening: Turkey Sandwich and white/wholemeal bread
Snacks: A few pints of whole milk and probably some biscuits.
Post-workout – Ill have a protein shake with water after my work out 3 times a week.

First of all what are you goals apart from fitness. lose body fat, or increase muscle mass. Your diet isn't great and needs to be tweak for both imo.

Dinner is fine as long as the rice portion is huge (ie take away sized) the veg is decent and the sauce isn't some crap out of a jar full of sugar and all sorts.

Special K/crunchy Nut aren't great BFs. Loads of sugar added. Try oats/porridge/homemade museli (store bought can have lots of sugar)

Lunch: Eggs are great, bacon not so much, grilled would be better, and leaner cuts like cammon better again. Bread is empty caloris, I advice swapping out a slice for an extra egg

turkey sandwich is fine, if you are trying to cut fat i'd drop the bread here and have turkey with some lettuce, tomato

Milk is fine through the day if you are bulking, if you are cutting then you want to cut it out, lots of everything in milk really (carbs, fats,protein, and therefore calories)


Can't detail too much more unless i know if you want to go up or down in weight, (or stay the same but drop fat which is two step really)

Antisocialiser

Mellor wrote: »

First of all what are you goals apart from fitness. lose body fat, or increase muscle mass. Your diet isn't great and needs to be tweak for both imo.

Dinner is fine as long as the rice portion is huge (ie take away sized) the veg is decent and the sauce isn't some crap out of a jar full of sugar and all sorts.

Special K/crunchy Nut aren't great BFs. Loads of sugar added. Try oats/porridge/homemade museli (store bought can have lots of sugar)

Lunch: Eggs are great, bacon not so much, grilled would be better, and leaner cuts like cammon better again. Bread is empty caloris, I advice swapping out a slice for an extra egg

turkey sandwich is fine, if you are trying to cut fat i'd drop the bread here and have turkey with some lettuce, tomato

Milk is fine through the day if you are bulking, if you are cutting then you want to cut it out, lots of everything in milk really (carbs, fats,protein, and therefore calories)


Can't detail too much more unless i know if you want to go up or down in weight, (or stay the same but drop fat which is two step really)

Hey Mellor, thanks for the reply. Ultimately i want to lose bodyfat and improve my fitness but if possible I would like to continue getting stronger (dont feel i need to be getting bigger really). I have been sort of bulk eating to encourage progress on my lifts and i understand if i have to halt that to a certain extent to achieve my bodyfat and fitness goals.

I think i will start to implement the diet changes that have been suggested until the new year. From there ill do a strict 2wk paleo cut and see where i end up. How does that sound?

Training wise i was thinking of this schedule:

Monday - Crossfit 10-20min workout
Tuesday - Starting Strength
Wednesday - Spider test HIIT 30/30 for 6 runs. 90m in 20sec until fail (5-10sec rest).
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Starting strength
Saturday - Crossfit 10-20min workout
Sunday - Starting Strength

How does this sound? Should i be doing more running?
Crossfit/metcons are not something i have really done before but i have a pullup bar at my house and should be getting a 16kg kettlebell for christmas so that leaves me with plenty of options right?

mrpink6789

My recovery was shocking as I did kettlebells in the evenings and got up at 6am to do 5X5. Stopped that now and only want to do 5X5 3 times a week with HIIT afterwards, maybe a game of squash on top of that. I was also on a calorie deficit which wasnt good for gains, this week I have changed my diet but with all these work xmas parties and what not its hard to get up to the gym! I'll see how I do after a few weeks.

Antisocialiser

Snow followed by sickness has foiled my flying start! Im acquiring a dipping belt in the next week or so. Having seen my pullup and chinups stall should i apply the 5reps for strength principle to these and say do 3x5 adding 2.5kg each session?

deadlybuzzman

to be honest I thought your chin up were comin along nicely until ya had the gap of a few weeks and maybe its the lack of routine since thats held them back? It might be an idea to bring up your bodyweight only numbers 1st before going onto extra weights as adding extra weight means less reps and you could do with being slightly higher rep range before that happens.
I notice you do most of your reps on the 1st set, if youre to/near failure on this set its kinda the opposite of the explosive type strenght you should be aiming for. try this
whatever your total reps in your last workout was divide it evenly into 3 sets and do with good form from a dead hang if possible. on your last set if you can do more than the planned amount.
maybe once youre doing 3 sets of 8-10 using weights would be the next step.
personally I do enjoy doing weighted pull ups but if Im tired and forms sloppy ill go back to bodyweight and ill still feel it the next day

Antisocialiser

Thanks for the advice deadlybuzzman ill stick to that format from now on! Cheerios