The Detailers Cafe
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kitzy on November 11, 2013, 10:18:07 PM
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Guys, I'm sure you have seen me mention the gym and working out in the shout box before. I recently shouted again. For the last few days I've barely been able to walk or even sit down on the crapper. I've been pushing myself extremely hard and I'm starting to see results.
A little background. A few years back I got fed up with being a fat piece of crap. I was hovering around 300lbs and had enough. I'm 6'3" by the way. I signed up to a gym with a buddy which got me started but he soon bailed on me and I kept at it. I got down to 240lbs with a year. I felt great. Then multiple injuries crept up that I couldn't fight through anymore, including a severe wrist, severe elbow and bad neck injuries. I could barely turn my head for months. Picking up a water bottle was very painful and time consuming. That coupled with life getting in the way for a while, I ended up taking a year off minus a few small bouts here and there. Nothing serious though. I gained back over 20lbs in the mean time. This April I started hitting it hard again. The last few months even harder than ever. I've taken it very serious. I'm currently in a bulking phase trying to gain mass rather than drop body fat. For the new year, during the winter when I'm laid off I will concentrate on my diet and preparing the proper meals so I can cut. That said, here is a picture I took today before leaving the gym. I'm very proud of my progress and it has motivated me to continue and push even harder.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/12/murupa4e.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/12/e4y5a7e7.jpg)
I'm going to try to finder a picture from around last winter sometime. Some kind of before picture. And for a better long term comparison, I'll post up a picture of two pictures, four years apart. They're my license pictures. I occasionally look at them for motivation. Huge difference.
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Well I can't find anything from last winter. Best I could do was September 2012. And one from July 2012. I gained a bit more weight between these and April 2013 but you get the point.
September 2012
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/12/ny3uha7u.jpg)
July 2012
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/12/atehu7yz.jpg)
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Good for you Kitzy! It's tough to keep up the Gym Routine. :cheers:
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Thanks! Its definitely hard. Especially days like yesterday. I work a minimum 10 hour days so I'm up at 515 each morning and at work by 630. Finished work at 6pm yesterday. Got ready for the gym at work and went straight to the gym. I got home at about 915.
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He's a very intimidating man when you stand next to him! Even when he wasn't going to the gym!
Great work man glad I'm on the friend side haha =p :die:
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Thanks, Pockets! I didn't realize how out of shape I had gotten again until I looked for those before pictures. I think we met right before I started getting in better shape the first time. I think I was still on the very heavy side at first.
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Looking good POP-POP . That is a lot of weight loss and muscle gain. You should be proud.
Some of us struggle with 15-20 lbs (that is my yearly swing) Winter is my nemesis.
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Thanks, Jason!
Winter is my nemesis as well. I'm laid off and there's very little active things to do when its below freezing outside. This winter though I plan to spend a good deal of time at the gym. I enjoy it, it kills time and it gets/keeps me in shape.
Here is the picture I mentioned I wanted to post. My license photo from 2008 next to 2012. 2008 was close to my worst while the 2012 photo was during injuries and on a slow climb back up in weight but close to my best weight.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/14/4ane3asu.jpg)
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Great work, Congrats! :clap:
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So I got a little too relaxed with my bulking phase. I really wasnt eating clean enough. That's over now. Its a new year and I have a new goal. My bulking phase is over for now and I'm on to my cutting phase. It started Sunday. I do not have a set weight in mind I plan to reach. I'm just cutting my calories back to below 3000 per day which is low for my size and introducing cardio again in addition to switching over to strength training as apposed to training for increased mass. I weighed myself late tonight, not the best time but I was curious, and tipped the scales at 266.4 lbs. Down about 6 lbs which I'm assuming is because I cycled off of creatine for 3 weeks. Back on it as of today so that number may increase before it decreases. Also begin taking a new faT burner tomorrow.
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This is mostly for my own motivation. Keeps me honest and on track.
That said, I documented every calorie I consumed today be it protein shakes combined of powder and milk... calories added from both... to everything I ate and had to drink. Total calorie count for today is right at or within a few of 2000 calories. Protein is right around 239 grams. I need to add a meal in there somewhere. The calories are a little low for my size and I'd like to see my protein consumption over 300 grams. I'm not even at body weight yet for my protein consumption.
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A little weekly check in. I forgot to weigh in before breakfast for continuity purposes. Weighed in after at 262.6. Almost a full 4 lbs since a week ago.
The fat burner I am taking is made by iForce. There is a company rep at the gym I go to. Directions on the bottle say take one full pill in the morning and after a week or two you can graduate up to another 4-6 hours later. He told me take half and half as its too powerful, at least until you build a tolerance. Well, a week into it and I woke up to late and didnt want to chance taking a half a pill too late in the day because i may have to work tomorrow (currently laid off for winter) and Ill have to be at the shop by 5am so I took a full pill this morning. A half hour after waking up I started to be able to feel my heart beat in my head. Could almost hear it in my head. Got shakey. Kind of gives you some terrible anxiety. I'm trying to control it through deep controlled breath. All of which the rep warned me about. He said his stim junky body building friend had to leave the gym because of what a full dose did to him. I believe it. I may not be doing this again. This just took me like 10 minutes to type because I'm shakey. Haha.
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Well, my diet has been getting harder, not easier like I thought it would. Also, I missed the last two days of the gym due to a snow storm that had me shoveling my ass off for two days and exhausted me. I'm used to working 20-26 hours in two days but even only 15 hours of shoveling in 0 degrees with negative wind chills is just brutally exhausting. Anywhooo, I stepped on the scale this morning to see 260.2. Pleasantly surprised given my lack of cardio this past week. And its just the motivation I needed to keep going. Staying motivated is half the battle.
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Wish you lived closer to me I would have a gym buddy that might actually hurt me if I don't go haha
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Pleasantly surprised given my lack of cardio this past week. And its just the motivation I needed to keep going. Staying motivated is half the battle.
Wouldn't you consider operating the business end of a shovel cardio of some kind ( especially that much )
- I would put it as a mix of aerobic and anaerobic depending on your cadence.
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At least it is shoveling that side-tracked you. At least you are getting some exercise.
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True, I wasn't exactly just sitting around but I also wasn't pushing myself. I prefer heavy resistance and elevated heart rate, intense cardio. Battle ropes are my weapon of choice with the heavy bag mixed in between rope sets.
Pockets, its great working out with someone. That's what got me started. The only thing that keeps you going though is yourself. You can only rely on yourself. There's times where your partner can't make it or just doesn't feel like it. My original partner bailed after a few months. But it was enough to get me started and in the right direction. Sometimes I do better on my own now. It is nice having company though.
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Pockets, come get some! We'll get you looking like Mr Hyde from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen! It'd be fun to have your body type. You have a fast metabolism. You could eat and eat all day and just get bigger with little fear of getting fat. Just packing on muscle. Granted, you would have to eat far more than your body is going to want you too.
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Mr Hyde. Do you see the resemblance?
(http://www.sheepsclothingproductions.com/files/LXG/League3.jpg)
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Mr Hyde. Do you see the resemblance?
([url]http://www.sheepsclothingproductions.com/files/LXG/League3.jpg[/url])
Looks like one of my Great Stuff Foam snards.
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So part of my diet has me taking casein protein mixed in milk right before bed. For the past couple of weeks I've been having pretty vivid dreams. It dawned on me last night what changed in my life and a little research confirmed the combo of kill and casein to be the culprit.
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257 this morning.
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257 this morning.
Keep up the good work Mike!
I almost hate to say it, but my scale showed 193 this morning.
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I'm guessing thats bad? Haha. I hope my scale never says that. At least not when I step on it. I'm thinking 220... maybe. We will see. Last time my call 240 down from 300 and when I hit that, while happy I hit my goal, it wasn't enough. Then I just fell off, injuries and whatnot. I'm making gains now though. I had a great day at the gym today. I managed to dumbbell press 140lb in each hand for 4 reps. Not bad for being in a calorie deficit. And I had a guy today who is known and respected at the gym tell me I looked like I was getting serious. A little more motivation to knockout that extra rep or two.
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Nah, 193 is pretty good. I'm down from 218 about a year ago. I'd kind of like to see maybe 190 or a little less someday.
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That's great, Tom! 25lbs is awesome.
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...<snip>.... I managed to dumbbell press 140lb in each hand for 4 reps. Not bad for being in a calorie deficit. A...<snip>...
I just got done working out at lunch and realized I need to go to CVS, they are having a sale on napkins and I am not talking about the diner kind.
I am on a 3x5 program right now and after the 1st cycle I have incline dumbbell press with 45# on each side. I thought WOW 140# each side, ship the bed !!!
That is awesome !!
- I don't think at my peak at 39 I was even close to 140# each side on incline dumbbell press, slightly over both side combined is more like it..
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I appreciate it. My incline numbers are a little lower. I've actually stopped using dumbbells for incline after a shoulder injury. I'm not sure if it was the reason or not. I actually think it was poor form on all of my presses that caused it but I never really went back to it. I tried DB pressing once on the incline bench since which was a couple months ago.. It was for reps though. I think I knocked out 8 with 110 lb DBs. My shoulder felt a little tweaked so i went back to the barbell. My barbell numbers seem low to me for incline. I managed 5 reps at 235 lbs. This was after my flat bench DB press and Chest flies on the pec dec. The pec dec I am maxing out the machine at 295 for 10-12 reps depending on how I feel that day. I might try incline db press first next week just to see where I stand realizing that this will negatively affect my flat bench numbers.
Today was shoulder day. It was an ok day. Upright rows at 145 lbs for 5 reps. Shrugs at 585 lbs for 12 reps. That's down 50 lbs from last week. I just didn't have it in me today. Overhead press done on the Smith machine 200 lbs loaded on to the bar. I figure the bar somewhere around 15 lbs. The guy next to me yesterday was shoulder pressing with dbs, another thing I stopped when I injured my shoulder, and I watched him press 130 lb dbs like they were nothing. He didn't even drop them at the end of his set. He just stood up and put them back.
Tomorrow is leg day where all of my numbers are unusually low for someone my size. That's definitely a work in progress.
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Those are very impressive number.
For the shoulder press, don't know if it fits into your sets, I do Cuban Presses. It is a combo shoulder / trap exercise.
BB.com in the exercise database has the motion in case you call it something else.
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That's interesting. Its a combination of a few things. But I feel like I'd be limited on the weight of the overhead press if I did that. And its be adding an additional similar movement. I already have side and front laterals as well as face pulls to go with the previous mentioned exercises.
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Had a good day at the gym. Its my favorite day, back and triceps. Its a heavy day. I've been struggling with deadlifts big time. My form has been terrible. So I've lightened up and focused on fixing that. My max a couple of years ago was 405 lbs. I'm nowhere near that lately. I had a good day a few weeks ago and hit 345 lbs for 3 reps but they were good reps, good form. Had a bad week last week but this week I pulled 385 lbs very clean for 3 reps and probably had another two in me had I not lost my focus. With that out of the way, I moved on to close grip bench press. 255 racked on the smith machine, add whatever the bar figures to be and I managed 3 solid reps. Four reps at 295 lbs for T-Bar rows. And my personal best, weighted dips with 135 lbs chained to me for 2 reps. I was very happy with that. The rest is all whatever. Tricep push downs 105 lbs/12 reps. Lat pull downs 220/5. One arm bent over dumb bell rows 140/6. I hadn't done then much ever so that was just a test to see what I could do. I think I had 150 in me. Weigh-in in a few days.
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Awesome day. you had, good on you mate.
After I got done sitting down to pee, I tried the battle rope that came yesterday.
I needed to find something other than the heavy bag, it was starting to be annoying after a decade, and I put it down for ~ 18 months.
30' 2" rope I only made 6 sets of 30 on, 60 off and it was very similar to when I started with the heavy bag.
- All I have to do is wave this rope up and down for 30 second.
-- 21 seconds later..how long have I been doing this 2 weeks ?
This has nothing on the elliptical..
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I can go all day on the elliptical. I used to do 8 miles in 60 minutes with the last 4 being at level 15 or above. Its boring though. Mentally I just can't take much of it. The heavy bag, when I'm in the zone its a blast. Today... it was slow going and my head wasn't in it. The ropes though... man, they are exhausting. And there are so many different combos you can do with them. Alternating, same time, side to side, swing, circles. Do some circles and some some horizontals where your arms come in to meet each other and back out almost like a chest fly. Brutal! I managed a minute at a steady pace but the problem with trying to measure time wise is you're intensity has to remain the same to measure accurately. So I just hit it hard and do what I can.
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Elliptical is one of those things I can do at lunch with the tablet on the Pro-clip stand.
- I mounted a raised quick change plate so I can go from phone mount to tablet mount and get work done if I need to.
The other thing that helps is having the old Tivo up there, I have 30 episodes of NCIS at any time off USA network on it to watch.
To time the ropes I got one of the new round timers for the heavy bag.
The new ones have more range for selecting the rest and round times.
- I use a 30 sec rest and 1 min round backwards for 7 rounds to get 6, 30 sec rounds out of it.
I am just starting on the ropes, I think I might have made a mistake going with the 2" instead of the 1.5" one.
- Figured I was 20' short off the usual 50' rope so I needed to make up the weight delta.
I have planned for vertical wave, horizontal wave, circles to the inside, circles to the outside and the body slam.
Once I stood up form peeing, I found out I could only get the waves done day 1. :wow:
See what happens next round for them.
I don't think I am getting back to them until TUE next week. SAT is going to be weights, SUN is platelet donation and MON is packed with meetings all day.
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I think its better to stick with the 2" so you have what you need even if its rough starting out. What I meant by timing being difficult and hard to measure and compare is that one round/set may be of higher intensity than a previous or later round/set or even a round/set from a different day all together. 30 seconds of high intensity ropes is much different than 30 seconds of more casual, steady, laid back ropes. You have to be fairly consistent in your approach to be able to gauge and compare. Unlike an elliptical or similar where you set speed, incline, distance, yada yada. That's why I tend to go until I feel like I can't pick up my arms for another second, and then I try to tap in to that mental state and push it for another 10 seconds. Its not unusual that I fall to one or both knees upon dropping the ropes.
By the way, NCIS is one of my weaknesses.
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What a crappy week. We got hit with two major snow storms. I killed a work truck. All in all I've had no time to make it to the gym. I finally got there yesterday, 4 days late. Yesterday morning I woke up and weighed in, a week and a half since last weigh in, to a measly one pound loss at 256. I was very disappointed. After spending most of the morning working out what to do with the work truck, I ended up staying at our shop and replacing all of my rotors, pads, putting the new wheels and tires on and changing the oil in my truck. It was a little late in the day but with the weak weigh in and running out of time before I leave for Tennessee for five days or so, I forces myself to go. The weigh in really motivating me, I got there, heart pounding with a definite elevated heart rate ready to burn some calories and move some weights. Today I weighed in at 255, making me feel a little better, but man, my chest and biceps are FRIED! Destroyed the shoulders today. Shredded my hands doing shrugs and couldn't complete my last set, my max set, of 635 lbs. Content with 585 lbs I kept on but my hands really hurt and mentally taxed me every time I grabbed a weight. Let day tomorrow. Bring it!
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Keep at it Mike!
The Wife and I have been getting back to the Gym. I find it tough with travel to keep on top of things, but really I just have to suck it up and do it.
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That's it man. That's what it is. Just gotta suck it up. It gets easier. Getting started is always the hardest part for me. Once I'm in to it, I can't wait to keep going. When you see results, you want to go even more. I love it. It is hard with travelling. Its even more important to keep the diet on track since you're not burning many calories and then getting back go the gym is like starting over again, so it feels anyway. Its hard just get there some days when I've been off for a while. Once I step foot back inside though I'm good to go. Go get it! Use this thread as motivation. Post up anything you want. Other people can be a great motivation. You can motivate me just as well. Steve, too. Everyone. I like to read some of the stuff on bodybuilding.com forum because seeing others results and others exercises and stuff gets me pumped up and motivated.
This thread kind of serves as accountability for myself. Keeps me honest and pushing myself because I don't want to post up anything stating I'm going backwards in my progress.
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Leg day today. During my stretches I did some body weight squats trying to loosen up and discovered some knee pain I was previously unaware of. I kept the weights light and focused on my form, especially on squats where I'm trying to increase my range of motion and improve form. After legs I moved on to the heavy bag for a bit, focusing on little combos and my footwork, circling the bag and what not. The high point of the day was hanging the battle ropes from the rings hang from and creating my own climbing rope. That was a good workout. I was pleasantly surprised I was able to do it using only my arms and at my body weight.
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Wife and I did OK over the weekend. We always do 20-30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill or the thing that is kind of like an eliptical, but more of a step machine???? Saturday was legs, various weight machines and then free-weights with squats and such. Yesterday was arms after the treadmill.
Today will be an hour of solid cardio.
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I have no idea what that machine is called. I don't like it. My girlfriend loves it. Its nice because unlike the treadmill, there is no impact on the joints. However, my stride seems to long for the machine so it feels awkward.
I'm waiting out the 3-5pm crowd right now so I can go kill my back and triceps today. Tomorrow is chest and biceps. Its a little screwy because of trying to cram one more day in before my little vacation but oh well. I'd really like atleast a day or two between these two days but I just don't have it.
Look in to pre weight training cardio. I'm a believer of cardio following weights. Cardio first burns off too much of your energy levels and zaps you for moving weight. Not to mention you burn off most of your sugars and not so much of your fat. Lifting first will give you full energy to blast the weights, burning through your sugars so when you jump to cardio is will target mainly what you want it too. Some people like cardio to warm up. I guess I can understand getting the blood flowing and whatnot but I'd keep it shorter. 5 minutes or so. Personal thing I guess.
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Check out my rigged rope climb. This was two days ago. I'm curious to see if it was taken down or not.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/11/7asy7ave.jpg)
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Well my rope was taken down. Haha. Oh well.
Had an overall good day. I put a lot in to my deadlift. I was feeling good at the time but it zapped me. Ended with 395lb@3 reps. Close to my personal best of a couple years ago of 405lbs. I couldn't get in the mental zone for dips but I did have 3 sets of 135lbs@2 reps on the dip belt. It makes me wonder if I can drop down to about a 225lb (currently 253) body weight if I can add a 4th plate for 180lbs total. I know the math doesnt work out but given steady strength progress, by the time I get to that weight...
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I had a terrible day the day before I left for Tennessee. Just awful. The day prior I had done back and tris and it completely zapped me. Usually I follow that day up with Saturday and Sunday off. However, the snow and the time crunch had me attempt to squeeze as much in as possible before I left. That meant chest and bis the very next day. Terrible idea that will. Ever happen again. I had nothing. All of my weights were waaaay off. After a week I hit it hard today again for the first time back. Chest and bis. Didn't miss a beat. The best part was I tried out my new heart rate monitor that my girl got me for vday. Its a Polar something. More info can be had if wanted. After entering all of my info... height weight age... I hit it. This was the result. Time over calories....
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/20/myhy3aby.jpg)
Time to get this diet in check and see where I really stand.
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I do the same stupid stuff, in a hurry and don't listen to the schedule due to XYZ Excuse ( I like to think it is a reason, but we know better ).
Don't kick yourself, I just did the same thing last week with 2 days in a row that should have been every other day.
- Top it off I tried some rope work on the 2nd day, I didn't do any good with that idea.
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I haven't touched the battle ropes in a while. Haven't had time. It was a struggle just getting through my workouts with everything I had going on. The heart rate monitor is neat though and opens your eyes a bit. I didn't think my heart rate was so high during certain lifts and it motivates you to keep your pace up as you watch it fall during rests. It wasn't uncommon to see it hit 176 during my workout. I did a very rough counting of calories for yesterday. I had french fries which i felt very guilty about. It was hard to calculate given the foods I ate so I founded up for most of them. My figures have me around 2700 calories and 260 grams of protein. Calories are about 100 calories high and protein is 100+ grams low. I shoot for the upper end of 1-1.5 grams per lb of body weight. I'm aiming for 1000 calorie deficit on training days. My BMR is about 2400. Figure an average of 1200 burned at the gym. The rest of my day is fairly relaxed. So 3600 calories burned, probably a little higher. A 2600 calorie intake should offset some of my off days not burning as much. Going to hit back and tris today, maybe a shoulder exercise or three... missed that day this week and leg day but dont have time for everything if I want to get back on schedule.
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Just walked out of the gym. Having a protein/creatine shake and taking a breather in the truck. Threw some shoulders in on top of a heavy compound back and tris day. Spent way too much time here but I feel good. Just spent. Keep in mind some of that time was talking to people and some was an emergency run to the bathroom. You don't mess around with that kind of stuff at the gym. It will not end well!
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/22/ubu4ubah.jpg)
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Oh and I forgot to mention I pulled 405 for 2 reps on my dead lift. Finally!
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405#, that is awesome !!!
congrats
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Thanks! Its been a while. Maybe 3 years since I've done it. Time to set a new goal.
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Chest and bis day. I love this day. Switched my preworkout a little to an old trusty mix of one scoop C4 and one scoop N-Zero. That handles the stimmed side of things, with an added half pill of my fat burner DexaprineXR. On the non stim, pump side of my pre is two scoops of Hemavol and 4 potassium nitrate pills, both from iForce. If you can get a good pump going on that then youre probably dead. Altered my first flat dumbell working set a little because someone broke one of the 100# dumbbells in half. No spotter today so I couldn't push for the extra rep with the 140# dumbbells but I got 3 clean reps so I was pretty happy. Especially considering I had a MAJOR hip cramp for the whole set. That's the worst. Did some ropes, monkey bars and some speed bag to finish things up and burn off some more calories. Today's count...
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/25/yga9yted.jpg)
I just realized how close that was to my last one.
I weighed myself the other morning at 254. I didn't quite understand where the extra pound came from in 2 days. Only thing I can think of is I havent been real "regular" since travelling. If I havent been in the gym ive been in the bathroom today so hopefully thats straightened out. Going to see where i stand in the morning. Hoping for 252. Hoping for 250 by the end of next week.
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Annndddd... 252.0 it is. The scale was messing with me. It kept jumping between 251.6 and 252.0 before finally locking in at 252.
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Mike...been trying to keep up with this thread. Pretty cool to watch your changes...and the "regular" part you speak of, since I started running here and there and biking again...went from 1 time to up to 4 times per day...so I know I am moving "product" through the system...which translate to metabolism is kicking in.
LOL How old are we, that "regular" is a topic on weight loss.....
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I don't know about you but I'm only as old as I feel. Sooooo, late 70s, early 80s on any given day depending on what part of my body you ask. I'm pretty sure my grandma was walking faster than me the other day and she uses a cane.
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I know what you mean.
I did squats, ropes and hip exercises ( same ones I got after the replacement ) on Sunday and monday night for the life of me I could not figure out why my knees and quads were sore when we went to Target.
the Mrs reminded me that I went all in on Sunday.
- You did XYZ yesterday, think that has something to do with it.."
Monday was a very long day for me. Heck FEB has feels like it has been a quarter...
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Squats will do it. I havent worked legs directly for almost three weeks. I did however do deadlifts last friday and have been paying for it since. Today is the first day I can walk pain (soreness) free since and it is leg day. Go figure.
I have been doing ropes, speed bag and monkey bars as cardio this week. Its fun, gets my heart rate up and burns those extra calories. I had trouble during weights yesterday getting my heart rate up. Maybe its just a product of shoulder day. I need to be more efficient in my time. My logs on my heart rate monitor are showing a decline on calories burned per minute letting me know my work outs have been a little less intense. I need to change that.
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Oh boy... squats may become squirts today. Yeah... its that kind of day.
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Oh boy... squats may become squirts today. Yeah... its that kind of day.
Too Much Information! :wow:
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Haha. All went well.
Seemed to have stressed the area around the left elbow. Can't tell if its tricep, joint itself, or a form arm muscle. It could 2/3 or even all. I think its just inflamed though because it seems to be getting better now that I'm not using it.
So a new guy came in to the crossfit room where the ropes are while I was in there. A buddy of his was training him. I was using the ropes at the time while they were doing something else. I was going for about a minute and a half. They started talking about the ropes and how hard they are. Their goal was 20 seconds. The new guy, big heavier guy, was shooting for 5 seconds. Good guys though. They worked their butts off. It must shows how intense the ropes can be. Especially if you don't pace yourself. They didn't like my idea of throwing body squats in while using the ropes to really up the intensity.
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Don't even mention squats. That's the one move that really causes me significant pain with my right knee. But, surgery is scheduled for next Thursday morning. Hoping to be at least 90% recovered in time for starting back full time at the marina April 1st.
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I injured my left knee pretty bad the summer before my freshman year of high school. It ruined football for me. I don't know what the damage actually was. They never really told me come to think of it. They just put me in physical therapy. Its never been the same though. Weight training is the only thing that ever seems to help. It really strengthens it. I only wear my knee brace for volleyball now. The doctor wanted me to wear it for everything including just walking the halls at school.
I cringe every time I witness a knee injury.
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Deadlifts should be interesting today. My legs are on fire yet from Wednesdays leg day.
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Absolutely killed it today. I was disappointed once with my close grip bench press. With 250lbs racked on the smith machine I could only complete 4 reps on my 4th set. I really wanted to try for 3 45lb plates on each side but I refused to do it unless I could get 5 reps first. Maybe next time. Killed deadlifts. 405lbs for 2 reps relatively easy. Managed 3 reps on the next set of 405lbs so that was a personal best. T-bar row was at my max of 295lbs for 4 reps. Haven't hit that in a while. Another personal best was weighted dips. I finally got the 3rd rep with 135lbs chained to me. Tricep push downs were another high note. The rack tops out at 95lbs so I had to add the rubber 5lb plates to it. Most ive done previously was 3 additional plates. Ran out of room for more today and rigged up a 5th one for all 12 reps which put me at 120lbs. Then hit the ropes hard for two of what I consider complete sets.
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Nothing of note today. Had a good workout but no real strides were made. If anything I would say the highlight would be my chin ups. I've made real progress on them and managed just shy of 10 reps today. Thats night and day from where I started. Other than that I'm killing the battle ropes. It helps going in with a plan. I'll use this link to help explain my set. http://touch.artofmanliness.com/all/2013-10-17-battle-rope-exercises?ref=&mediaKey=artofmanliness&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.artofmanliness.com%2F2013%2F10%2F17%2Fbattle-rope-exercises%2F&oswts=1393890865742&width=640&height=283&size=small&olcts=1393890866652
I start with what I consider the easiest and continually get more difficult...no stopping until all 130 reps are finished.
Alternating waves - small - 10 reps
Alternating waves - large/intense - 10 reps
Double Arm Wave - small - 10 reps
Double Arm Wave - large/intense - 10 reps
Inside Circle (as opposed opposed to outside shown in the link) - small - 10 reps
Inside Circles - large/intense - 10 reps
Claps - small - 10 reps
Claps - large/intense - 10 reps
Double Arm Slam - 10 reps
Double Arm Slam 45? angle - 10 reps
Double Arm Slam 45? angle opposite side - 10 reps
Grappler Hip-to-Hip Toss - 20 reps (note 20 - 10 per side)
This has my heart rate through the roof and me about ready to pass out and fall over... literally, no joke. I almost hit the floor today and often have to fall to one knee to catch my breath.
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I timed the ropes today. Right about 1m30s per set. Sometimes I can get away with the same amount of time for a rest before I hit it again. Since I have nothing else to note as of today, here is a picture of my stash I took in mid January. I ran out of some stuff and placed a small order today. Should be here tomorrow.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/05/y5ysudan.jpg)
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Its been a little. No updates. Lowest I've seen the scale read is 251. Progress has kind of stalled. I've removed milk from my diet. I was using it in my oatmeal and shakes. The milk alone was adding around 500 calories a day. Using water doesn't taste as good as milk but I will sacrifice. We will see. I made the switch half way through yesterday. No time like the present. Otherwise I feel great. I'm sore 24/7 but its a good pain.
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Feeling good. After a bad weekend diet wise, the scale is showing 250. That's a good thing. Started a new shoulder routine today because quite frankly, my shoulders suck. And now, my shoulders are exhausted. I hammered them today. Bring on tomorrow.
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Ok, dump question time from Steve ( I know, big shock ).
I have been trying to figure out what the sets are that you are using by the rep - set - weight combo.
Also seems HST or GVOT of sorts ?
- Maybe I am missing it is simple progressive sets ?
I am just about to finish my 45 days of 3x5s and looking for something to move to next.
- I really hate doing 6x12s, but I think that is what I should do next before moving to the next sets.
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I'm currently doing a what I consider a 5x5 for compounds and a 3-5x12 for isolations.
For compounds, I start off light, about half of my max set. I will do anywhere from 8-12 reps just to get the blood flowing and the muscle(s) warmed up. Then I will gradually move up from there to my heaviest set. My goal is always 5 reps but I will settle for 3. Anything less than 3 and I will lower my weight. My flat bench dumb bell press is a good example... sort of. The warm up set is a little heavier than half but in this example but that rule is a general one. Anyway, warm up 80lb DBs for 8 or so slow controlled reps. Then I grab the 100s (actually 95s right now because someone broke one of the 100s in half) for 5 reps. 110s for 5. 120s for 5. 130s for 5. And then finally 140s for 3-4 currently.
Same basic thing for isolations but different rep range...8-12. Example from today is shrugs. Again the warm up rule is general but I start light and control them. Warm up with 225 for 12. 315 for 12. 405 for 12. 495 for 12. 585 for 12. 635 for 8-12 (10 today I think.)
Depending on the exercise I may only do three sets, not counting the warm up.
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thanks for the info.
So you are increasing the weight, not the reps.
Some at BB.com do the compounds as increasing the reps in the set instead of upping the weight.
This is more like GVT where the weight is increased.
- Some do GVT as increase the weight and decrease the reps as the sets go on, so it is 50% 1RM for 15 reps, then add 5% and do 12, add another 5% do 10 add another 5% do 8 type of work out.
This is why I was asking, I am looking for something different to do. You know how it gets, pounding plates the same way day in, day out can get boring, and decrease drive.
- i.e. the "crap not 3x5 should sets again today... :dope:
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Yes my reps remain the same. I only increase the weight but not until I reach the max set of reps for a set with that given weight. For example, dumb bell presses. I'm currently at 3-4 reps with 140# DBs As soon as I can complete 5, I will move up to 150# DBs.
Now my new shoulder routine actually includes some of what you're talking about. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-siege-how-do-i-build-bigger-rounder-stronger-shoulders.html?mcid=facetraining04031414. The routine is laid out near the end of the article.
I only really get bored when doing high reps and when I'm unable to progress on weight. Switching from 8-12 reps to 3-5 reps with heavier weight has made the gym a lot more fun and allows me to progress faster.
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I did up the start of a new set ( my con call started early ).
do you have an idea on the starting weight of 5x5 progressive when compared to a 3x5 std set ?
If you do 3x5s at 75% of 1RM do you start the progressive 5x5 at the same 75% of 1RM ?
I did this, and with the triceps rope push down, by time I got to rep 2 on the 3rd set, I could not move the stack at all ( it just came to a stop ).
just curious if I should stay where I am at and work into it, or if I should back down to ~ 60% of 1RM and work more reps in each set.
Instead of ask Siege, I am going with ask Kitzy.. :redneck:
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You know what, there probably is some general rule to this. I've seen other numbers thrown around in similar situations. Here's the thing though. Everyone is different. I say just hit your reps with as much weight as possible. If you get to set 3 and feel you cant progress in weight for the next set or two, just stick with that weight for the next two sets as long as you can still hit your rep numbers. The more heavy working sets you can do... the better. That's assuming you're doing 5 sets. The reason I try to progress through all of the sets is just to build up to my final weight rather than jump too fast to a heavy weight. I do sometimes hit my low side rep number (3 of 3-5) on set 4 in which case I stick with it for the 5th set. Just push yourself and have a set of rules or a routine that you follow moderately strict. Sometimes on that final set you may be having a bad day and tell a rep short. It is what it is as long as you give it everything you have. If I'm really unhappy and feel disappointed in myself, I sometimes immediately drop to a slightly lower weight just to hit my reps.
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OK, the higher rep ( out of 5 ) is better, so I should drop back the weight from my 3x5s as the starting point.
I was tossing around the hand grenade math of 75% 1RM as the 3x5, I can't say if it is that, but I think I have too high of a starting point for doing 5x5 with progressive weight increases.
Time to change the dry-erase marker on those, back them off ~ 5% and see what happens. :clap:
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I weighed in at 248. That's a good thing. Hit a new personal record for myself. Been struggling to get 3 reps of weighted dips with 3 45# plates. Somehow knocked 5 out no problem so I tried 4 plates. I struggled but got 1. Very happy about that.
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I took the info you posted in the URL above, and did progressives on the flat around the world.
WOW !!!
- that is a mother having never worked the chest that way.
I am going to do the seated versions on the next shoulder day, and see how those go.
Only 3 work out days in on your 5x5 progressive, and those hit hard ( more so that GVT or HST ).
Thanks for the suggestion, seems to do as much damage as the HST and no where near the sets as HST or GVT :clap:
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Glad you liked it and it seemed for work for you.
I didn't try the flat bench version of Around The Worlds. I did the seated version and I gotta tell ya... it killed me. I started off with 45# dumbbells but couldn't keep my form strict enough. I dropped down to 35s and did a few sets. What I didn't realize until the next morning was how the super slow negative I was doing trying to control the motion was absolutely destroying my lats. That was wednesday and they still havent recovered 100%. I will be doing them again for sure!
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I am doing seated around the world ( like the video Siege did ) on FRI with shoulders. See how that goes.
- I am using my dumbbell lateral / alternating shoulder press weight amount as the starting point to see how it goes ( right now it is the last item of the day, might move it up the chart ).
Dumb question time, do you still follow the every other day rule for weights ?
- I am still somewhat stuck in the 80s with the Joe Wieder actions.
I have an every other day action ( actually 4 days, so THUR / FRI are in a row ) on weights with off days being the elliptical ( do battle ropes after weights on those days ).
Just curious if I should be going every day, with the alternating groups
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I'm not 100% sure I follow you on the doing weights multiple days in a row. I am going to assume that you mean weight training in general, as just using weights at all two days in a row. This is my routine, for better or for worse. It might be a little unorthodox but its certainly not uncommon. Many people have an arms day (bis and tris) while some prefer to split the two muscle groups and combine bis with back and tris with chest. I am NOT of that camp and let me explain why. When doing back, you are indirectly working your bis. Think any sort of row or pull up (not chin ups [chins-palms face you/pull ups- palms face away from you similar to a lat pull down]). When you work chest, you hit the tris as well... think bench press. And coincidently when you train tris you often hit chest like when doing close grip bench press and dips (mainly the type where you lean forward a bit/the more vertical you remain then the more focus is placed on the tris.). My theory is to seperate those as to give each muscle group full focus and not preexhaust my bis by doing back or my tris by doing chest. As for an Arm day and a back/chest day... for me its too much to do back and chest on the same day. Too many heavy lifts. That long explanation out of the way... here it goes:
Monday : Chest and Bis. Usually alternating muscle groups as i go so that I can give them a chance to recoup before the next set. For example: flat db bench - standing easy bar curls - incline bench - seated incline rotating db curls - pec Dec - crazy triple set of chin ups/cable rope hammer curls/cable easy bar curls - followed by whatever I feel like depending on energy levels and what not. But you get the point.
Tuesday : Shoulders followed by forearms (essential for grip strength)
Wednesday : Legs
Thursday : rest day
Friday : Back and tris - same concept as chest and bis - no neex to explain but i can if youre curious of my routine.
SAT/SUN : off days - this is crucial after back and tris as its my heaviest day and i have nothing left. I need the time to heal up.
Ideally I should switch Tuesday and Wednesday because I'd like more separation between squats and deadlifts but I'm stubborn and dont want to alter what has been working. The other benefit to switching those days is that all of the shoulder pressing exercises recruit the tris as well so it would be nice to space it out from chest (which means indirectly tris). Goes for forearm as well. Forearm exercises recruit the bis. I think you get the point.
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That is what I was trying to get at.
I am :
SUN : Chest
TUE : Arms
THUR : Back
FRI : Shoulders
I do not do a dedicated legs day, I do squats between sets on SUN, but I don't hammer them with a full day.
- I do what the doc told me was OK, but I don't want to test his life time joint replacement design and go too heavy on it.
I was asking if the every other day was still needed, or if I could :
SUN : Chest
MON : Arms
TUE : Back
WED : Shoulders
THUR : Chest
FRI : Arms
( think you get the idea )
This is getting in more sets / Month but I think with carry over between focus groups I might not be giving enough recovery time.
- This is the 80s Joe W concept plenty of recovery time.
That is why I was asking if you hit harder than you do, and it seems the Joe from the 80s is still the suggested route.
Thanks for the clarification on it
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I would just caution your example, whether you follow that or it is indeed just a sample. And here's why.
Sunday - chest - tris as a by product.
Monday - arms (bis/tris) - chest as a by product to tris depending on exercises. You've now just worked that muscle two days in a row.
Tuesday - Back - bis as a by product. Bis two days in a row.
Wednesday - Shoulders - no real problem here.
Thursday - chest - bench pressing hammers the anterior delts (front shoulder muscle.)
The point behind my routine is to give each muscle sort of their own primary day to hit it as hard as possible with as much focus as possible and allow a break for that muscle before I hit it again as even a secondary muscle (by product so to speak.)
You do need to give your body a rest. How much is going to depend on your intensity. I like at least two days a week. Not only is it a physical break but also a mental break. Its kind of like a cheat meal on a strict diet. Sometimes you just need to relax and indulge.
As for legs. Squats are the primary exercise. Even going semi light is better than nothing. Just go for reps instead. There are different versions as well and you can even try substituting them with leg press instead though not as good as squats. Maybe do some hamstring curls. If your knees are bad, leg extensions are a great way to build quad muscles around the knee to support the patella (?knee cap.). I have this problem and only caution to go light and be careful. I went too heavy and almost hurt my knee. It buckled at the top of the movement. Lunges are great if you can do them. Step ups to a platform as high as you can manage, they've been killing me lately especially if I have a bar across my shoulders. Calves! Hit em and hit em hard. They can take a lot. Seated or standing. Preferably both as they hit the muscles different. Just things to consider if you're able to. If age or injury is a concern then by all means be careful and only do what youre capable of.
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That is what I thought, the recoup ( even for secondary ) is still the best idea.
I was just asking, as I still have some 1980s habits laying around, that is why I have the SUN, TUE, THUR, FRI routine. Some things like GVT might change, but the basics are still there.
- Guess the same as detailing, KB made a "new" method of defect removal, but at the core is it really any different than a multi pass ?
Legs : I had a total hip replacement on my left. I don't want to see if I can grind up the cross linked polymer cup the Ti ball sits in. That is why I do not go crazy with them.
- Maybe I should start being more religious about leg lifts, after 1 hr on the elliptical with the circuit training, I feel it in my knees the next day walking up stairs with my briefcase ( leather and I carry a ton of stuff - side effect of having your office on your shoulder ).
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Replaced body parts are completely out of my league. I'm not touching that. That's going to strictly be left to doctors.
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Well, proof that days off are required.
I did arms today, and the first set out was curls.
Good lord did my chest hurt after the flat around the worlds on SUN.
- Guess I hit the chest pretty hard if I am still feeling it today...
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I did around the worlds today. Upright seated version. It was shoulder day. I also stepped away from the smith machine dor my shoulder presses. I started using it when I injured my shoulder. I switched back to DB shoulder presses today and quickly realized that the accompanying stabilizer muscles have weakened. So no more Smith machine for me. May ditch it for close grip bench as well.
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I don't have one ( I have a half rack and bars / plates ) but I thought the smith machine just guide the bar with plates on it.
- Is is more like a bench press machine ?
Or is this a case that the guide for the bar is actually what you are talking about with the stabilizer mussels ( the lack of movement from the smith machine does away with the need for them ?
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That's exactly what the smith machine does but in addition to being on a track it is also on a cable and pulley for reasons I'm not really sure of. There's no resistance. At least not until the track get gunked up and hasn't been greased in a while. But it keeps that same plain of motion no matter what therefore completely removing the need for all of the smaller muscles that help support and steady the weight. I went from over head pressing almost 250# to being very unstable with 50# dumbbells and struggling with 75# dbs.
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wow that is a shock. I would not expect that much delta.
- Thought you were 80# dumbbells ( + ? ) with dumbbell presses before the injury.
The biggest shock is you are down in my weight range for dumbbell presses.
- Think I start the 5x5s at 45# each, I'd have to look at the chart in the basement to know for sure and mine are incline ( ~ 70* bench ) not free seated like a military press; which could explain a chunk of it.
At least a non greased track can act like chain bench presses :redneck:
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Well the way the DB shoulder presses went was like this...
# per each hand
50# warm up. Extremely shakey. Struggled.
75# Manage 4 before realizing I needed to work back up.
60# shakey but warming up. Got a little steadier. 10 reps maybe?
70# got even more steady. Surprising managed 12 reps.
80# struggled to get up into starting position but complete 10.
90# failed to get in to starting position twice. Called it quits and moved on to something else.
The problem is definitely with the stabilizer muscles. That's where the shakey, uncontrollable feeling comes in. I'm hoping it was a good sign that I was able to work up to it a better weight. Overall I was still very disappointed. Those 90#s are going to haunt me though because I think if I had a spotter to help me get in to position that I could have completed 8 reps. I believe my max was 85# and that was a long time ago. My shoulders have gotten much stronger but the stabalizers have not kept up. There are usually a handful of guys that I've developed a decent gym-buddy-friendship with at any given time that I can ask for a spotter but it was dead yesterday.
Off topic. An order I placed for protein and protein bars came in yesterday. Quest bars are awesome. I've tried Apple Pie, Mixed Berry Bliss, White Chocolate Raspberry, and Banana Nut Muffin. I decided to try some new ones so I went with a known good one with a box of apple Pie again and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cookies and Cream. Being on a diet, the occasional sweet tooth is killer. The CCCD... amazing. Almost exactly like the real deal. I'm in love! So much I haven't even tried the C&C yet.
Today is exactly 12 weeks since the start of my diet. I didn't get a chance to weigh myself this morning so tomorrow morning I will and see where I'm at. I'm hoping for 246!
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12 weeks in to my diet and I'm down to 245lbs for a total of 27lbs lost!
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12 weeks in to my diet and I'm down to 245lbs for a total of 27lbs lost!
Now that's the kind of weight loss you must really feel! Keep up the good work!
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12 weeks in to my diet and I'm down to 245lbs for a total of 27lbs lost!
Now that's the kind of weight loss you must really feel! Keep up the good work!
I would say so, I have noticed putting on 25lbs! :funny:
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Thanks! My goal is 225. So hopefully in another 3 months I will be there. From there... who knows. I'll have to see where I stand at that point and decide whether I continue to cut or if I should start planning my next bulk. I originally planned on starting my bulk in October or November. We will see.
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Ok . I was disappointed today. My favorite day, back and tris. I attempted three times to make a video doing dips with 4 45# plates and I failed all three times. Very disappointing coming off of one rep last week. But I did hit 5 with 3 plates so not a total failure.
Well since it was my 12 week mark of my diet I took a picture today. No flexing or anything. Just good posture.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/29/pe8yna9a.jpg)
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Daily dumb question from me.
Is there a reason you don't use 3 45# and a 25# or 35# plate, instead of using multiples of 45# s ?
BTW : shoulder day for me, did the seated around the worlds. WOW. Ever have that workout where you know you are going to be special sore tomorrow and even more so the following day ?
- What am I saying, you just did this < 1 week ago...
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YES! I have had those workouts. It was the first day of that shoulder routine. I had been using cables for side laterals for a while because the constant tension cables provide is a great workout. Switched to dumbbells for this routine. It was the first exercise. I was feeling good. Short rests. Then I got to the last set, the run the rack set. You start with your high weight you did for your normal sets and drop set 5# at a time until you run the rack out at 5#. Never in my life has 5# felt so heavy that I couldn't do more than 6 or 7 reps. Started at 35# and dropped by 5 all the way down to 5 doing as much as possible with each weight, no rest. Side delts were official blasted! After Around the worlds... I knew I was in trouble. Haha. Usually it takes two days for DOMS to set in for me. When I was feeling it just hours after my workout I knew it was going to be a long few days (ended up being a full week of DOMS).
Anyway, back to the 45# increments. I initially started with a 25#. Moved up to 45#. Then a 25# and a #45. On to 2 45#. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I started increments of 45#. I really don't know why. I guess part of it is the way my legs rest against the plates isn't good. Bruises my knees bad and 45# are the broadest, giving the most flat area to stabilize my legs against so they don't swing. Not to mention just trying to chain them all together the 45# center holes sit level straight through. Now I just warm up with no weight for high reps. Then each set I add a plate and shoot for 5-6. 6 on the lighter weights just to get and keep the blood flowing. Prime the muscles for heavier weight so to say.
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I was at Vitamin Shoppe yesterday because my girlfriend wanted some stuff. I grabbed some more protein bars from Quest. Double Chocolate Chunk and some Mixed Berry Bliss. I already have three other boxes of flavors at home. Great snack and a "clean cheat" that treats the sweet tooth.
I also picked up another new pre-workout to try. I've heard a lot about Mr Hyde by Pro Supplements. Its a stim junkies dream which his right up my alley at 419mg of caffeine per scoop. I only took one scoop as two is crazy for anyone, even me. It was a big scoop though, a slightly rounded scoop. It didn't hit me fast at all. I took it about 15 minutes prior to getting to the gym. After about a half hour of being there (walking in, getting my stuff together, stretching a bit and racking my weights) I was about half way through my dead lifts when it finally hit me. The focus wasn't really there as much as i liked. I found myself hovering over the bar before a heavy set (405#) for a good while before even attempting. Once I did it though, I killed it. 5 reps no problem. Loaded up another 10# and knocked out two reps for a new PR!
Completely bombed dips today. Weak day for those. Maybe the pre-workout doesn't last quite as long or maybe it was the lack of focus.
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Back up the thread you tried the creatine and it made you jittery, but you don't have that with Mr Hyde ?
I like the creatine I use, I can feel it through out the day ( I do 2 to 3 doses on the weight days and one on CV days ). No bonking on the brand I use, but from the reviews I have seen on Mr Hyde at BB.com, what I use does not have as much POWW !! out of the gate.
I have been looking at this with some others, might get off my creatine for a week, and try this to see how it goes.
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Hmm, I don't follow.
I don't remember mentioning creatine before. Mr Hyde only has I believe one gram of creatine. I actually take creatine on workout days (4 days a week.). I dose roughly 5 grams post workout in a protein shake. I use Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Monohydrate. 3-5 grams is the normal dose. Mr Hyde having 1 gram already I kept it just a tad lower post workout but didn't actually measure it properly. Just a best guess based off of past measuring.
What you may be remember is BPIs 1MR Vortex I mentioned I started taking recently for a preworkout. That stuff had me feeling pretty good. Focused with plenty of energy. I just felt like trying something else. In comes Mr Hyde. To be fair, Vortex has 200mg of caffeine per scoop. I dose two rounded scoops which is probably real close to one leveled off scoop of Mr Hyde.
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I'm not sure what you take supplement wise. I have, I've taken, and I've tried quite a bit.
Daily staples are:
Multivitamin - Just switched from Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men to Orange Triad. OT is supposed to be better and also included joint support.
Fish Oil - haven't switched yet because I'm using what I have but am using ONs fish oil but am switching to fish oil from makers of Orange Triad. Again,, supposed to be better.
Flax Seed Oil - ON brand but once I'm out I'm dropping that all together.
Green Tea Extract - not even sure on the brand right now. whatever has the most EGCG.
Preworkout Non-stim:
iForce Hemavol - Non-stim PWO for pump.
iForce Potassium nitrate - pump pills. Just eh. I ran out and don't feel enough benefit to buy again.
Preworkout Stimmed (only one of these paired with he above):
In order of preference...
BPI 1MR Vortex - 2 scoops, good focus and solid energy
Mr Hyde - 1 scoop, jury is still out. Delayed energy, lack of focus, but can't deny the dead lift PR so bonus points for that. Will try a bit longer.
Cellucor C4 + Cellucor NZero + Cellucor M5 Reloaded - M5 is technically non-stim and is for gaining mass. Its pricey but I liked it. Added it to the same amounts of C4 and NZero as below. I did not take with Hemavol.
Cellucor C4 + Cellucor NZero - 2 scoops + 1 scoop, will break down each further but this is a killer pump and energy combo, overly stemmed.
Cellucor NZero - Max dose (2scoops?), great for pumps with a bit more energy than C4. Geared more towards lean, hard gains.
Cellucor C4 - 2 large scoops/2.5 scoops, more than recommended. Its a low stim pwo. Average all around but nothing spectacular.
iForce Conquer - Max dose (2 scoops?) Good focus. Not much in terms of energy.
Jack3d (original formula) - honestly, deserves to be on top but its no longer available because of banned ingredients. Ridiculous@3 scoops.
I think that's it.
Protein in order of favorites (brands not flavors):
Whey
Cellucor CorPerformance Whey - Taste great, bonus is it mixes well with water which is great while dieting. Tastes better with milk though.
Dymatize Elite Whey - Tastes great. Not so much with water. Great for oatmeal. No real complaints except not as good as Cellucor with water.
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey - I only really like the Vanilla Ice Cream Flavor but I really like it. But... only with milk.
Generally I buy whatever good, QUALITY protein is on sale.
Casein protein
Dymatize Elite Casein - Taste good.
Optimum Nutrition Casein - just OK.
Intraworkouts/BCAAs:
Scivation Xtend - Tastes good. Mixes well. Won lots of awards for best intra. Good profile.
iForce Compete - Better taste. Really depends on what I feel like drinking that day.
Creatine:
Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Monohydrate - flavorless. Doesn't mix well which is normal of micro creatine mono. Really as long as its creatine mono just use whats priced the best.
This is off the top of my head. There may be more.
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Maybe I am confusing creatine with something else.
You were trying something new that you got jittery from taking.
- You started out on the low side and it did not work well for you ??
- carnitine fat burner or a different type of fat burner ??
I do better than average on recalling things, but this has been a long week for me, maybe I should not have been channeling myself at this point :redneck:
I have switched to Musclepharm for a few items after my last batch of ON ran out.
- This is Creatine, Carnitine and Casein.
Right now I am off protein replacements and back to turkey / chicken and eggs. I cannot get as many grams in a day, but what I am getting is the basic blocks.
I have nothing to back this up with, I just like to cycle off the replacements and to food based protein.
I got the ( hairbrained ) idea from the joint supplements, where your body gets used to the one you take, and should change which one it is. Sort of the body getting used to it and building a tolerance.
- Just some studies I read on them some time back, it could be washed out as junk science by now.
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I was using iForce Dexaprine XR for the first two months of the year. Its a fat burner. The bottle recommends 1 pill upon waking up. However, a company rep that goes to my gym recommended me half a pill upon wake and another half later. Well after a week I tried a full pill and had a crazy heart rate and bad anxiety. Just sitting down to eat breakfast I could feel my heart beating in my head... like a throbbing/pulsating pounding. It took a couple hours to come down. Maybe that's what you were referring to.
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That is it. I crossed up the products...
Thanks
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OK I ordered up some stuff that came in the 1st part of the week.
I have been trying them one at a time, until today.
- I could not stand the MusselPharm s#!% tasting drywall compound paste anymore.
Think I might have double stacked with MusselPharm Carnitine Core and Mr Hyde within 1 hour.
- Carnitine Core then Mr Hyde.
I have not tried Mr Hyde solo, so it could be that.
I did 1 scoop of Mr Hyde planning to wait 30 min to work out. At the 15 min mark, my ears and forehead started itching :dunno:
Then I felt it hit me, wow. I figure if this is how I feel at the 15 min mark, I am not going to play around with it, I hit the weights.
All I can say is wow, that combo ( or if it is Mr Hyde solo ) rocks !!
1st 3 sets of 5x5s, I was doubling up on the weight add between the individual sets. 1st set was my starting weight, felt so easy I added 2x the weight on the 2nd set ( so I was at the weight on the 3rd set ). By time I hit the 5th set I was doing what would have been the weight from normal adds on the 9th set.
I got through alternating shoulder presses, anti gravity press and incline dumbell press before I started to feel any sign of slowing down.
I pushed to the last set of exercises, and could not do the 5th rep in the 3rd set ( or the 4th or 5th ).
Might not have helped that I put on the 30# weight vest and did roman chain back lifts after the anti gravity press. I never took the vest off, wore it doing the sets.
- I have never done that much on the Anti Gravity press since I started it ~ 30 days ago.
Wow, this must be what a crack or PCP addict feels like. :slow: :wow:
SUN if I am not doing donations, I am going to try Mr Hyde by itself, so see if acts the same or if it was the stack I accidentally did.
One thing I found, the ON stuff ( I also get the vanilla versions ) goes real well in Very Vanilla Silk ( Soy Milk ). Tastes so much better than mixing it in water. Also the Atkins Vanilla Protein drink also does about as good a job as the VV Silk does.
- Just something you might want to try.
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First, the forehead itching... those are the beta alanine tingles. They're weird but after a little while they don't hit you as hard and you barely notice them. I haven't looked the ingredients but I'm sure it has beta alanine because I've been getting the same tingles/itchiness. I know with Cellucor C4 I get it because of the BA. Its perfectly normal.
My biggest gripe with Mr Hyde is it seems to hit me late and then fade off pretty quickly but when its peaking its awesome. BPI 1MR Vortex seems to last through the entire workout. I've noticed though that if I keep my pace up then Mr Hyde doesn't have that fall off.
Secondly, I mix all of my protein with water. ON isn't great with water but its delicious with milk. I cut out the milk because it was adding too many calories and I'm cutting so it was a bad mix. I'll use milk again when I bulk. I want to try Silk almond milk. Cellucor For Performance Whey is delicious even in water and it has a good profile to match. The new Mint Chocolate Chip is awesome. I just bought six tubs during the but two get one free sale. I think its still going on.
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thanks for the info, thought I did myself in.
- good to know I did not try killing myself.
I actually had it hit me sooner than the 30 min prior, but that might waiver as I start to use it more often.
9:40 AM is when I took it, ears started in at ~ 9:55 and I was working out by 10:00 ( only have to walk into the basement ). I pushed myself pretty hard, and did not feel like rubber until 10:55.
Don't know if you are talking short as in 60 min ???
Thanks for the info, good to have someone to bound these things off of. :clap:
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As for it not lasting long... I guess I'm comparing it to other per workouts which may be unfair. It may also be a mental thing which is why I will continue to use it. It seems on days I'm at the gym unusually long... 3 hours or so... it fades by the time I get to certain exercises where other preworkouts I felt still provided me that extra energy and dive. However, Hyde seems to peak a lot higher than the others. If it would continue all the way through my workouts I may not actually get to sleep on nights I train after work. So it may be a good thing.
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What is your opinion on chain on bench work ?
- Decline bench press, military press, std bench.
Wanted to ask your thoughts before I go out and purchase 100' of 3/8" or 7/16" chain.
- Cost and what the heck to do with it :wow:
I keep reading routines where people use this and they like it.
The concept seems like it would work well, but I wanted to see if you had any 1st hand on it.
Thanks
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Honestly, I'm now sure what you're doing with it. Using it as extra weight?
I've seen people hang weight off of the ends of bars before but not with chains. I've also seen people use chains around their neck for body weight exercises like dips, pull ups and chin ups. Now where I can see a chain being kind of neat for something like benching or other barbell exercises is that if its long enough, as the bar gets closer to the floor the chain will start to rest more and more on the floor effectively removing weight from the bar as you go down and adding weight as you press the bar up. I'm just thinking outloud here and we might not even be on the same page. Here's my thought on this though. Let's use the barbell bench press. Its a compound hitting both chest and tris (front Delta heavy as well.) When you lower the weight to your chest and begin pressing you are utilizing mostly chest vs tris until the second half of the movement. Then tris taking over for the second half of the set. So really the chest is getting ripped off a little since near the bottom more chain would be lying on the floor. Same goes for bands as well. I see people use rubber bands attached to dumbbells or plates to add resistance but the more they stretch the more resistance. I think the added benefit comes in the eccentric movement where instead of gravity allowing the weight to fall, the bands are pulling the weight down making you fight harder for a slow controlled eccentric.
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Sorry, I was referring to the increasing weight as the bar is higher and more of the chain is being picked up.
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS_0Z__W15VI_yJuyJfBknsVN5xrEyOBt8F9EExikj-SVjy7JmqqQ)
-Not that you have insight to this, I have a weight vest for adding weight doing step & stair work ( still getting the hang of the new style vest on the roman chair ).
So I could do it, but it is more so Tri work on benching, which is not an issue.
Chest work I am a fan of exercises like the flat around the worlds. This is building nice for me in a flat manor. This and the other chest day sets I am doing are build nice a flat over the whole area, rather than more top heavy like I had in the past.
- I don't need my chest to get anymore top heavy, I already have problems with my suits getting the "Dolly Parton" spread at the top, and they start as a 52L before the tailor cuts the sides and lower back in.
Maybe I'll try the bands. I did not see this as an option, I only found Chain write ups. Could be from searching for bench press chain :slow:
This is why I wanted your opinion / insight in this.
- I am searching for nails, as I only have a hammer. Straps showed me there is a phillips screw driver in there too :redneck:
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OK so we were on the same page then. Like I said, I've never seen it done. It may be very beneficial. But the way I analyze what it going on it would definitely seem to me that the tris would benefit more. Maybe I'm wrong. I just feel like you could add more plates on to get the same continuous weight throughout the movement rather than chains which are going to be progressive as you move through the movement.
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The chains would probably be really good for close grip bench press.
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There is that point where you cannot add more weight down low in the bench movement ( cannot push them away ) but once the movement is started and it switches from Chest to Tri, that is where the additional weight comes into play.
The max weight you can get moving ( in the 5x5 set ) is due to the down low side / close to the chest side of the movement.
At least reading that is what my take away was. :dunno:
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If you can't push more weight in the lower end of the movement then maybe your chest muscles just aren't up to the task yet. Maybe you just need to get them stronger.
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That is exactly the issue.
The chest is not up to the task of more weight, where the Tri's could do more if there was a way ( which is the use case for chains ).
It is a maximizing the exercise type of item.
I am going by HD to get some and give it a try and see how it goes.
- I might find out my Tris are not where I think they are...
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What do you do for chest? What do you do for tris?
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Here is an example of what I do for chest and tris. I don't do them together. They are each paired with something else and that other body part is alternated between exercises. For example Chest-Bis-Chest-Bis and so on.
Chest - Flat dumbbell press (5x5), incline barbell press (5x5), and flies/pecdec (3x12).
Tris - Close grip bench press (5x5, hands shoulder width-arms completely straight up and done while lying down to get position.) Dips (reps have been everywhere but I keep it high for light sets and up to 5 for heavy sets-5x5 is the idea though) triceps cable push downs with attachment of choice (5x12) and another random Tricep exercise - either skull crushers or kickbacks usually for 3x12.
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Sorry on the road for 1.5 days.
Chest day ( all 5x5 ) - Sunday
Flat Around the World
Dumbell Flyes - Flat
Decline Barbell Bench Press
Dumbell Flyes - Incline
Wide-Grip Decline Barbell Pullover
Arms is a short day ( typical schedule ) of 5x5s - Tuesday
Barbell Curls
Bench Dips
Seated Incline Dumbell Curl
Triceps Pushdown - Rope
This is why I was looking at the trying chains next week, to see if it helps with Tri work.
TUE & THUR ( if I am local ) I don't have a lot of time to devote to working out, so I have abbreviated schedules to include CV work.
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That's an interesting chest workout for sure. No flat bench-bench press, either dumbbells or barbell? That's like a staple. No incline press either? I'm not judging, I'm just inquiring because its strange that some of the key lifts are left out but different things work for different people. I'd say keep it pretty simple. A flat press, an incline press and a fly either on a machine like the pecdec or a just a bench and dumbbells. Add in anything else you want. If you do standard dips at all you can leave out decline pressing because it will somewhat accomplish the same thing.
For tris, the mass and strength builders are your dips and your close grip bench press. Work around those with whatever else you like. Rope push downs are good since you already do those. If you can do standard dips I would say do bench dips. Two benches. One for your hands and one for your feet. Add weight as needed by stacking weight on your legs. If you can't do either then you may need to start off assisted. If you don't have access to something for that maybe a band rigged to pull your weight upward from down around your legs if they're bent at a 90. Just an idea until you build the muscles to get used to the movement. And for your bis, this was told to me by an IFBB guy at my gym, one of those curls should be rotating curls. Rotate your hand as you curl the weight. One of the bicep muscles key jobs is to twist your arm. If you bend your arm right now at 90° and just rotate your wrist, you will see the ball of your bicep muscle move around. Adding incline seated rotating dumbbell curls to my working has really improved the look of my bicep. It has a better peak and i get a crazy pump.
At the end of the day, do what works for you but don't be afraid to switch it up and see what happens. If you think you can't do something, try to find a way go start off slow. I used to think I could do dips now I'm doing 4 plates on a good day. My girlfriend always said she couldn't do them either and that they hurt her elbows. She started off slow eventually with assisted and now she's a champ at them. But know the difference between pain and weakness. Dont confuse the two.
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I'd have to look up the thread, the flat bench came out of rotation when the flat around the worlds went in. Some time up the thread you brought those up for shoulders and the flat is a nice overall chest builder, I can notice the lack of strength building it is making up for.
It was just time to swap out flat bench, doing it way too long and I get too much bulk up high on the chest mussels, needed something to flatten them out.
- I already wear a 52L jacket, I don't need to toss those and go for a 54L by increasing the bulk more.
Incline dumbbell press I have on shoulder days now, not sure how it got moved there.
- main on that is chest, WTF was I thinking here.
I am going to check my charts again when I redid them at the around the world time, ~ 30 days ago ??
- Obviously put one on the wrong day, sure there are more.
I switched to bench dips when I had a twinge in my left shoulder some time back on the dip stand.
- After that I had problems carrying my garment bag on my left left shoulder. Made for strange luggage carrying the 1st trip to SFO after that happened. Now it is not bothering me, so I am going to stay away for a bit.
The roman chair has the handles on it for doing bench dips to feet on the std bench.
- This is one of the reasons I did not go with the Ironmaster roman chair adapter.
(http://www.ironcompany.com/ProductImages/stamina/20-2015_sm.jpg)
I have a weight vest for adding weight, the type that is over the shoulder with the weight on the chest and back not the more vest like ones where it is around the stomach.
When I check the charts today I am going to swap in those Rotating Dumbbell Curls.
In the past I had the cross over hammer curls, but just moving my around around while reading, it makes more of a difference than hammer curls. Thanks for the suggestion.
Do you think it would be any better to do this on a preacher stand instead of incline ?
- Thinking about the ability to focus on the rotate more ???
As long as I am going to edit it, this is back day, can you offer some options here as well ?
all 5x5 incremental weight add
V-Bar Pulldown
Seated Cable Row
Standing Dumbbell Upright Row
Lat Pull ( d-ring lat bar )
Shotgun Row
Any input is great, you already gave me a suggested item I think is going to work great and caused me to double check my chart and move one back to the correct day :clap:
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I have a quick break here so I will respond to your back question. Dead lifts are a staple and important compound. Some kind of bent over row. I like tbar row. Lat pull downs or pull ups (hands facing away from you). Bent over one arm dumbbell rows. Those are some that come to mind but all have variations that are similar.
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I keep looking at getting a t-bar adapter.
- There are ones that go under the sq tube on the half rack.
Squats, nothing more than the ones I do with 15# out in front of me, due to the total hip replacement.
- What I do for squats that used to be called a deep knee bend ??
No dead lifts either, no need to find out if I can grind that cross linked polymer into dust.
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I figured that much as far as the dead lifts (and squats) were concerned. I just had to throw it out there because I this one of the best exercise. If you cant do them though then you cant do them. No much else hits the lower back like that though and if if does then you risk the similar movement. You can try hyper extensions which is body weight. You can add weight to it by holding it in your hands. You could also do Good Mornings which are a sort of hyper extension variation. Both of those will hit lower back and hamstrings and have you wishing you never did them by the following morning or two. I don't have much time to explain them right now. This is kind of a drive by posting fitting it in where i have time. I'll touch on it more later.
Quick edit - for that rows, research the attachment you prefer. KT doesn't necessarily have to be a straight bar. You can use a narrow neutral grip handle for cable rows or something if you can hook it around the bar. The tbar machine I has has trips for both but if making do with a barbell which works awesome too then use whatever gets you the grip you like. I've heard narrow neutral grip is best for pulling power. Sometimes I like to hit it different and do a wide regular grip. Usually its narrow neutral though. But whatever.
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This time next week I hope to be at my lowest weight in probably 10 years. 240 was my goal last major diet and I hit it and stopped. I've been a steady 2# a week and weighed in at 241 yesterday for a total of 31-32# so far since January 2nd.
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This time next week I hope to be at my lowest weight in probably 10 years. 240 was my goal last manor diet and I hit it and stopped. I've been a steady 2# a week and weighed in at 241 yesterday for a total of 31-32# so far sing January 2nd.
That is just unreal ! :clap:
You going to stick with the cutting phase activities for a bit ?
- Thought I recalled reading; through the summer ?
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Unfortunately, I am going to stick with it. Haha. I say unfortunately because I just want to eat like there's no tomorrow. I want to get back in to my bulking phase so that I can really start increasing my weights. Its hard to progress on a lack of calories. Especially an estimated 1000 calorie deficit a day. I've been lucky enough to not lose any strength or reps. This week has been rough though with work. I can't tell if I'm just spent by the time I get to the gym (12 hour work days) or if its the calorie deficit. I know the cut is important to get the physique I'm after. Its a necessary evil. I was originally going to cut until sometime in October or November. Now, however, with the progress of my diet I may start bulking sooner. Maybe September. It all depends on my progress in the cut and if I'm happy with my body at the time or if i feel I need to lose a bit more. The goal was 225. At this rate I am about 8-10 weeks out. 10 if I'm being realistic and including a couple bad or slow weeks. But 10 weeks puts me at the end of June. I will reevaluate myself as the time gets closer. I may post an old picture of myself up. Its embarrassing yet motivational.
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Here is the that adapter I was talking about that goes right on to a barbell. I don't like this one particular because if you notice, its on in reverse because other wise the horizontal bar bits my chest too soon and limits my range. Its very similar to the machine I use normally but I went to a different gym today because of my location and they don't have it. The problem with this one is the plates hit my chest before I can pull it back far enough. The picture is mainly for the grips though. Gives you an idea of the narrow neutral grip.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/19/8yjajaqa.jpg)
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Picture of me from anywhere from 7-10 years ago. Not sure of the year.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/19/banyqysa.jpg)
Everyone in this picture is still in my life except the girl my arm is around. Oddly enough that's her family but they all like me more. Haha. She has been substantially upgraded.
PS... I'm the fat one.
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I hood rigged together a T bar.
I slid the bar into the loop on the 2" car strap that is under the half rack ( my leg hold down for Lats ) and into a corner made by the bench and half rack.
- Can't slide back, and it cannot come more than 2" off the ground if something goes sideways.
I used a large snap ring on my rope adapter ( pulldown and rows ) over the bar, spun down a collar on it and then loaded on some test weights. Works well with the rope, my only other option at the house is the V bar or spend 60.00 + to get a t bar handle ??
Works well, I just need to stand on my adjustable steps to make sure I don't bottom out at the bottom.
Next I am going to try to figure out to do it on the bench set to a 45* incline. Might be a bit tricky but I think I see how it would work.
BTW : Some reason there are problems with the tapatalk pictures are not showing in your posts. I had to click quote and copy the URL out of them
- the front img tag only has the open bracket, the rear ] is missing off the leading IMG tag ???
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Weird about the pics. They loaded and showed up fine for me. No problems to be seen on my end.
Sounds like you managed the tbar setup it not sure how well a rope would work for a grip. Maybe pretty good. Hard to imagine.
I've seen a lot of people use this attachment or similar for tbar rows. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00132NR9A/ref=redir_mdp_mobile. Now obviously this is only useful for a narrow grip.
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Rope seems to do well, it is not as wide as a std t-bar adapter.
- Thought about hooking the lat bar to it to get a wider grip.
That is what I was calling the v bar attachment.
- guess the real name is double d ??
Just moving my arms and pulling my lats together when I do it I can feel the difference between double d and something in the 24" range.
I'll try the lat bar next time and see what happens.
- I'll just add a few links of chain so it is not right next to the plates, as not to smack myself in the head.
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I had no idea what they were called honestly. I doubt most people know. I usually just call it the handle for rows. Everyone always knows what I'm talking about. There are all kinds of attachments that can be used and will all work similar but slightly different. Whatever works. The gym I usually go to had a slightly different tbar grip. Its like the one I took a picture of except its wide grip handles are bent in like a lat bar instead of completely straight.
Tapatalkin...
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OK quick update. I said I hoped to be at my lowest weight in probably 10 years around this time. I was hoping for 239. I weighed in at 235 this morning. That may sound good but that's 5-6 lbs in one week. That's too much. I thought I was eating more so I assume its my crazy work schedule plus the gym. I will weigh in again tomorrow or Sunday to see if it was a fluke. If my calories are really that low it would explain why my max lifts have dropped or gotten harder.
Tapatalkin...
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So the next day I weighed in at 239/240. It must be that my digital scale doesn't always display all of the numbers correctly that I mistook one for something else. Kind of a relief really.
Today was my first day back at the gym in about a week. I have been working 12-14 hours and have not had time after work. Its a rainy week so I'm back at it and loving it. Maybe I needed a break to appreciate it again.
I'm not where I want to be yet. I may weigh in tomorrow morning for the heck of it. I don't expect much loss if any. It was a bad weekend for my diet. You need that sometimes though. Even though I'm not finished with my cut, km already looking forward to my bulking phase. This cut has left me feeling small. I know I'm not as small as I feel but its hard to accept that feeling. If I could see some more definition then I would be happier. There are a few new supplements I want to check out. A little more research needs to be done on them and the ingredients before I take anything which is fine since I'm not bulking for months yet. One of them isn't released yet. Its called Clear Muscle from Muscle Tech. It has outrageous claims so we will see. It should be out any week now. The product is finished and the label is done. People will be logging it soon. The other one is Black Lion Research's Follidrone. Its recently released, getting rave reviews and is a little on the unbelievable side as well. I may try Black Lion Research's fat burner soon. It sounds promising. Its called Incinderine. That would be perfect for my cut. Back to bulking, I want to start using Cellucor M5 Reloaded again. I enjoyed it before but its pricey.
/diary entry
Tapatalkin...
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238 this morning. I'm claiming today as the official lowest I've weighed in I think 10 years.
I think the week off was needed. I came back refreshed. Feeling good. My muscles feel like they're being hit harder than ever. Switched up a couple exercises today for shoulders and hammered them. I felt like I could really see some progress and definition in my shoulders today. That's the kind of motivation I need. My girlfriend keeps telling me my back is getting huge. That's a major goal of mine. I want a big shredded back.
Tapatalkin...
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Good for you Mike, sometimes you need to take a break from something to rekindle the enjoyment of it. The wife and I are back at the gym on a daily basis which is good. I'm now at 208lbs, that's the heaviest I've been since being 18 and it's not the same as I was working on a farm everyday...
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Good for you Mike, sometimes you need to take a break from something to rekindle the enjoyment of it. The wife and I are back at the gym on a daily basis which is good. I'm now at 208lbs, that's the heaviest I've been since being 18 and it's not the same as I was working on a farm everyday...
Thanks! Its amazing how the same exact weight can look and feel so different.
Tapatalkin...
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congrats !!
- See taking a huge #2 before weigh in always works wonders :redneck:
I'd have to look back up the thread, but that puts you within 13# of your target ????
I always mess with the sets I do, just to keep some interest in the program.
- That is why I am asking you the nagging 'are we there yet' questions.
This month quite a few days were abbreviated due to work load ( end of quarter for me ).
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congrats !!
- See taking a huge #2 before weigh in always works wonders :redneck:
I'd have to look back up the thread, but that puts you within 13# of your target ????
I always mess with the sets I do, just to keep some interest in the program.
- That is why I am asking you the nagging 'are we there yet' questions.
This month quite a few days were abbreviated due to work load ( end of quarter for me ).
Thanks! And yes, my current goal is 225. Whether it remains that as I get closer is yet to be determined but gotta set the number somewhere.
Oh the days after work... yeah they get shortened sometimes. Maybe drop a set off or leave a similar exercise out that's close to something else. Gotta do what you gotta do to get through it.
To elaborate on my change in shoulder routine. I switched my overhead presses out temporarily. I went to Arnold presses for dumbbells to help get my strength up on the lower portion of dumbbell shoulder presses. And I am doing seated barbell shoulder press (military press). Those replace standard dumbbell shoulder press and standing barbell shoulder press.
Tapatalkin...
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I finally stepped up and bought a heart monitor today, we'll call it motivation.
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I finally stepped up and bought a heart monitor today, we'll call it motivation.
What did you go with? You're going to love it. IG really helps keep you moving and on your toes. And its get at helping you dial in your diet.
Tapatalkin...
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It's a simple FT4 by polar, seems to work well so far and pairs with the treadmill and elliptical.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
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It's a simple FT4 by polar, seems to work well so far and pairs with the treadmill and elliptical.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
I think that's what I have as well. I didn't know it paired with elliptical and treadmills though. I guess I would have to use those machines first.
Tapatalkin...
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It's pretty cool and you can set the equipment to maintain a certain heart rate.
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It's a simple FT4 by polar, seems to work well so far and pairs with the treadmill and elliptical.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Cool.
My Precor EFX546 does not have that feature, it is the hand grip style. It is a used one off lease from a YMCA a few years back.
- Think I got it mid 2009, which would put it 2006/2007 MY. It is a beast compared to the ones that Hilton has in the exercise rooms now days, which seem to no longer have the motorized ramps :dunno:
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It's a simple FT4 by polar, seems to work well so far and pairs with the treadmill and elliptical.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Cool.
My Precor EFX546 does not have that feature, it is the hand grip style. It is a used one off lease from a YMCA a few years back.
- Think I got it mid 2009, which would put it 2006/2007 MY. It is a beast compared to the ones that Hilton has in the exercise rooms now days, which seem to no longer have the motorized ramps :dunno:
This one is a pretty good deal @ $65. I prefer the monitor that mounts to your chest, more accurate from what I have gathered.
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Monitor-Watch-Silver/dp/B001U0OFCS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398969405&sr=8-2&keywords=FT4+Polar (http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Monitor-Watch-Silver/dp/B001U0OFCS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398969405&sr=8-2&keywords=FT4+Polar)
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No loss at all this week. I ate terrible though. In the blast two days I have had nothing but tacos, pizza and chocolate cake. Gotta buckle back down next week. I have a friends birthday tonight where much more pizza will be consumed. So starting tomorrow. Or sunday. I have a party tomorrow with a pig roast.
So 237 I remain. Only news is that I broke down and purchased new straps. My last straps came apart while shrugging. I had 675# when I heard the rip. I've gone without any for weeks. Over a month probably. Some of the weight is really starting to chew my hands apart. Mainly shrugs and dead lifts. And I've been wanting these straps for a while. I finally bought a pair of Versa Gripps Pro. I can't wait to try them out.
Tapatalkin...
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Yesterday I worked out in the yard ( as in worked outside not "worked out" ) and by time I got done with moving plants around, setting a few new plant pot pavers and turning up the hose lines on the north side of the house, I was done for the day ( got done ~ 30 min before the cow pissing on a flat rock rain started ).
I was looking at what I did not do yesterday, and got the itch to change things up again.
Question on lower chest
Decline bench press with dumbbells or barbell ?
I have been doing barbell, but "air lifting" I am thinking I should change this to dumbbells.
Thoughts ??
Thanks
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I personally think dumbbells are a superior exercise. That said, do whatever you're more comfortable doing. If you find it difficult to get setup with the dumbbells then stick to barbell.
Tapatalkin...
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Next sunday I will give it a try.
I have the hooks on the dumbbell handles ( the ones that they have a lifting contest every year to show how strong they are ). I use them on the barbell as the starting point.
I keep looking at the Ironmaster dumbbell Spotting Stand for the bench, but it is a good amount of money for what it is.
(http://www.ironmaster.com/images/D/d_89.jpg)
I'll stick with the hooks for now. I have been doing this for some time, so I am used to getting the hook up off the bar and returning them with inclines. Decline should be easier, instead of reaching a slight bit behind me, it will be more inline with my chest to start off.
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Honestly, that picture doesn't look all that easy either. Its all fine and dandy when you're moving 40-50# give or take but when you're trying to toss up 100# dumbbells or more I don't think I want to start at that level. Then again I like to start from the locked out position. Arms fully extended.
Today was a real test for me. Mentally and physically. Ever since going back to work I have been taking a preworkout. I cycle off every 2 months or so for two weeks. Those two weeks are tough sometimes when I was laid off let alone working 10+ hours. Today was day one of no stims. No caffeine, yohimbe... nothing. I'm happy to say that while I felt mentally exhausted the entite time, I was able to push through and power through and did t miss a beat. Still managed 140# DB flat press for 3 reps. Managed 12 chin ups. 50# alternating dumbbell curls. I struggled a little bit but pulled everything off.
This stem break may be a week or so premature but I'm prepping my body for a possible new cycle if I can get the products.
Tapatalkin...
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Small entry here. Straps came in on Monday, way earlier than expected. I got to use them for shrugs which was great but I couldn't barbell shrug because all of the racks were taken. I had use the shrug machine. Not the end of the world. Straps worked great. Managed 7 plates on each side for 20 reps with #20 being a few second pause. Focus was in the traps and not my grip for a change so straps seem a success. Will know more after back today. See how pull ups go.
Weight is at 235 after multiple weigh ins this morning to make sure. That's 2lbs after a horrible weekend of my diet but I put it back in check this week. There was no loss last week so I remained at 237 and add to that I ate terrible for 3 days straight. I can't complain I guess.
I don't know what it is. Maybe its my head being all over the place lately. The stress from different angles. Being overly busy. I don't know but I feel I'm not progressing like I want to be and its frustrating. The numbers say otherwise so I think its mental but I just feel fat. I don't like the way I look. And its getting frustrating not improving my weights even though I know during my cut I'm not supposed to be. Oh well. I will press on because I know I need to.
After emailing Black Lion Research, I don't think I will be able to start the stack I want to after my stim break. Their fat burner isn't back in stock yet anywhere and they didn't give me a time. Just said they are working on it. Their other product however might be available in time. We will see. I really wanted to try their fat burner. Luckily their Mabel isn't a prop blend so maybe I can get the ingredients individually and go from there.
Tapatalkin...
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233lbs this morning. Today should be the last day of my stim break. I may stretch it one more week because I don't know how much I will make it to the gym next week because of work. Maybe a good thing because I did something to my shoulder Wednesday. Yesterday I couldn't even adjust the volume while driving. Today its about 50% better.
Tapatalkin...
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Congrats.
Under 2 hand fulls to go !!
The week before mother's day I had a case of the ass and was doing Hyper Extensions on the Roman chair with 50# plates and I tweeked my left knee pretty good.
I have not done the chair yet, and it is much better now, so I know how you are.
I am going to look for a new roman chair, so I can adjust the leg pads, to behind the knees instead of putting force against my knees the wrong direction with the added weight.
- I do miss doing hyper extensions, really works the lower back nice !
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Thanks!
I have not done hyper extensions in a very long time. Brutal exercise that will have your back feeling tighter than ever for a few days. It just doesnt fit in to my back day.
225 isn't going to be enough. I'm thinking a little more realistic goal is going to be 210-215. That's just crazy for me to think about. 225 is still step one though. I put on an old shirt today for around the house kind of stuff and it was huge on me.
The shoulder is hurting quite a bit today. We will see what happens.
Tapatalkin...
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Frustrated! My shoulder is really bothering me. Doesn't help I was throwing footballs around all day yesterday with friends and their kids. I think that was a set back. Ugh. Press on...
Tapatalkin...
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Frustrated! My shoulder is really bothering me. Doesn't help I was throwing footballs around all day yesterday with friends and their kids. I think that was a set back. Ugh. Press on...
Tapatalkin...
You think ?
You know better than that. That is going to cost you another week, at least.
- You might be best served by laying off weights, and stick to CV for at least a week, to give your shoulder a chance to heal.
I have not done anything that has my knee bending a lot or put a lot of weight on my knee.
- Normal standing weights I have been sitting down for the past week.
Obviously I have to walk for work, but I ice it at night, and this weekend I did some work out in the yard, I had knee braces on both knees and came in and iced them straight away. This AM, my left knee feels fine. Right is bothering me a slight bit, but I was really favoring my left, so I am sure I beat on it pretty good.
Give it a week off, stick to treadmill or elliptical this week only.
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Eh. We will see what happens. I might not even make it to the gym at all this week so it may get a break anyway. But if I do make it to the gym I will probably test it out.
Tapatalkin...
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Well guys, I was back up to 198 before starting back at the marina in April. (But that was down from 218 when I retired from Kodak.) I stepped on the scale this morning and saw 192.6. Maybe I can hit 190 this summer.
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Well guys, I was back up to 198 before starting back at the marina in April. (But that was down from 218 when I retired from Kodak.) I stepped on the scale this morning and saw 192.6. Maybe I can hit 190 this summer.
Nice! Way to go, Tom! Keep it up!
No gym for me today. I was falling asleep at stop lights on the drive back to the ship. My shoulder isn't right but it feels like it took a huge leap forward over night. Going to try to hit legs tomorrow and then if things go right with work I will be in Maryland for two days. Next week is a new week.
Tapatalkin...
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Well guys, I was back up to 198 before starting back at the marina in April. (But that was down from 218 when I retired from Kodak.) I stepped on the scale this morning and saw 192.6. Maybe I can hit 190 this summer.
See what getting out from behind a desk and doing manual labor can do for weight loss. :clap:
- that is my problem, my ass is formed to the seat of my truck. Take customer to lunch, drive to next appointment, take customer to diner, drive back home for 2.5 hours.
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Thanks guys. If you saw what I do at my current job, you'd be very surprised that a 58 year old guy does it day in and day out. Physical doesn't come close to describing it. And yes Steve, getting out from behind a desk was the best move I've made in 35 years.
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Thanks guys. If you saw what I do at my current job, you'd be very surprised that a 58 year old guy does it day in and day out. Physical doesn't come close to describing it. And yes Steve, getting out from behind a desk was the best move I've made in 35 years.
Good for you Tom! I do miss my "outside" jobs. One of my favorites was minnow trapping in the middle of nowhere, we used canoes, boats, Argo's and even a small plane (J-5 and Super Cub). It was awesome being outside every day.
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Man, my body is all messed up. I took a 3 week stim break. No caffeine or other stimulants. Last week I didn't go to the gym at all. The plan was since I couldnt get a full week in because of work and my shoulder was messed up that I would just take the week off. The out of town job got pushed back so I took the week off for nothing but my shoulder is better so whatever.
Now the plan after the stim break was to come back with some new supplements I wanted to try. Well, I can't seem to get my hands on Follidrone since it sells out within minutes and I never know when its back in stock to time it so that's out I might have a chance in a few days again but I probably will miss it again. I wanted to take the fat burner Incinderine but that isn't really even close to being back in stock. I really wanted to use a fat burner again because I like the morning mood and energy boost and the appetite suppresent. I looked around and decided to try Hydroxycut Hardcore Elite. I liked the profile. Problem is I wanted it for Monday morning when I went out of town and couldn't get it in time. So I remembered I got a free bottle of Dialene 4x from Scivation a long time ago. Scivation makes great products so I figured it would get me through a couple days. I jumped right to max dose like always. Felt good. Destroyed my appetite. I don't even want to eat. Problem is now I don't think I'm eating enough and I'm light headed. So I have to dial it in. My workout showed today in reps and weight. Way down. But I also woke up at 5:30 and gym time 12 hours later I had maybe 800 calories in me. Not enough at all. And now, my new fat burner came in so I'm trying that tomorrow.
Tapatalkin...
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Day 2 of Hydroxycut Hardcore Elite. Seems OK. Nothing mind blowing. I think appetite suppression was better with Dialene 4x. Energy might be a little better with HHE though. But the weird part and the reason for the post is that the HHE might be raising my aggression level or making me irritable. Its hard to say off of one day but if you asked the guy from the landscaping place yesterday that was working near us in a development, he would probably tell you I wasn't exactly the nicest person on the planet. I really tore in to him. He deserved it but I don't usually do that. Although, I did do it last week to another landscaper on a different job so maybe it has less to do with supplements and more to do with my general mood, wrong place-wrong time kind of thing. Some of it might be frustration in my personal life carrying over to other aspects of life and some of it might be that I'm exhausted with dealing with stupid people day in and day out so my patience is running out. More time will hopefully tell.
Tapatalkin...
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Hmm. Well, I snapped a picture this morning. It took a few tries because I was too slow or didnt have phone ready. So I had to step on the scale a few times in a row and it read clear as day every time... 227.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/07/evu8aty7.jpg)
That actually says 227.0 not 227.8. It just looks like an 8 in the picture. While this may not come as a surprise since I've been working at it for some time now and it was inevitable, here is why its a milestone, goal of 225 aside. I had some rough times with my diet lately for one. Two, I missed a bunch of time in the gym for work and an injury (shoulder is good now.) Third, the last time I weighed in it had appeared I went in the wrong direction from I think 233 to 234. So yesterday I got in the scale but my scale is stupid and doesn't display clearly all the time. H
Parts of each number are missing but the scale is accurate and is a good benchmark for progress since not all scales are calibrated to be the same as each other so I stick with this one. So I tried to weigh in again this morning and there it was, clear as day, and just a little better than what I thought it said yesterday. And I expected no less than 230 at the very best. That's 7 lbs since last weigh in which is crazy.
I took a couple pictures at the gym yesterday for progress pics but a lot of them are blurry. Camera phones in poor lit areas are hard to take good pics especially when you're shakey from your workout. Maybe I'll throw one or two up then.
Tapatalkin...
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Congrats on making it this close with the no gym time.
I think I found those 7 pounds you lost this month :redneck:
The big item you do not point out is you lost that weight while gaining mussel mass.
- Given the additional mussel mass gives you body more to burn with, the ratio of fat to mussel and going down it huge :clap:
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Thank you! I've actually lost a bit of size. It makes me sad. Haha. Its all part of the process though. Last time I measured my arms they are about .25 to .5 inches smaller. I notice it a lot but I've thinner out and I'm finally starting to tone up. My phone is damn near impossible at taking pictures in the gym and anywhere there is proper lighting is too far from a mirror. When I try to take the pictures I look too small and far away and often blurry because my hands arent steady enough for the lighting. Here goes nothing though. The only two pictures maybe worth a damn. Keep in mind I'm still working on it.. haha. And also keep in mind bow far I've come. Through a lot of ups and downs and injuries I've come pretty far. The first major weight loss was 300 to 240. This time I'm currently at 227 from 272 5 months ago. I'm still not happy. Far from it. Happy with the progress, not the final result. I'm procrastinating because I'm still shamed of my fat levels but here it is.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/08/yvu3y5u2.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/08/azaja2up.jpg)
Tapatalkin...
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...<snip>.. I'm procrastinating because I'm still shamed of my fat levels but here it is.
...<snip>..
Ashamed of your fat levels ?
- I am not even going to show my face if you are ashamed of that.
Be very proud of where you are from 300# or even 272#.
- That is 70# total from the top, while gaining mussel mass.
Aside from weight and % body fat, I would bet your CV system is in much better shape too.
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...<snip>.. I'm procrastinating because I'm still shamed of my fat levels but here it is.
...<snip>..
Ashamed of your fat levels ?
- I am not even going to show my face if you are ashamed of that.
Be very proud of where you are from 300# or even 272#.
- That is 70# total from the top, while gaining mussel mass.
Aside from weight and % body fat, I would bet your CV system is in much better shape too.
Thanks but I'm chocking most of it up to the lighting. I'll see if I can't find some in worse lighting. I tried to take a back shot but it was very difficult. It will show more of what I'm talking about. See the ol spare tire? My skin is also loose in the belly area to go with my still there gut and my moobs (man boobs to those unaware.)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/08/hu7ydagu.jpg)
Tapatalkin...
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After weeks of nagging the owner of Black Lion Research on Facebook and on the verge of giving up, must the other day he said 1000 bottles of Follidrone were shipped out to retailers. For the past 3 days I have been checking the websites for all of their retailers and finally found one today stocking it. I immediately ordered 3 bottles. Previously this product has been selling in under 10 minutes at all of their retailers.
They are making some pretty wild claims. Many of which are being backed up in non-sponsored logs. So it should be interesting. Im not really sure what the scale is going to show after I start this. Many people have reported looking much leaner while gaining a few pounds even while on a calorie deficit (cut).
Tapatalkin...
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Well I'm down and out for today and it will be day by day. I managed to smash my knee cap harder than I ever imagined possible. Maybe not that hard but pretty freakin hard! I did it between clocking out of work and getting ready for the gym (which I do at work.) I attempted the gym and just couldn't do it. I can barely walk. Its swollen all around but appears to be swelling from behind the knee cap. I'm pretty sure its just a crazy bruise but until the swelling goes down I'm pretty much laid out.
Tapatalkin...
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Shitty deal Mike! It should heal up quick at least.
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Yeah. Like I said, just a bruise I think. I woke up and went to get out of bed like everything was normal, not thinking and just yelled. Man does it hurt. I can walk on it though.
Tapatalkin...
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Wow, I know the feeling. My left knee is just starting to feel slightly better ( still hurts like a mother ).
I have kept a knee brace on it if I am going to be walking a lot. The swelling had been down since mother;s day, but I did cabinets at my sister's house last week and messed it up good again.
- Carried a dead TV up from her basement, lots of walking back and forth and carrying the cabinets and the oven ( put that pig in an oven cabinet ).
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I don't think I could put my brace on if I wanted to. The bruising and swelling would be too painfully irritating.
Tapatalkin...
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Today was leg day. The knee is still bruised but it held up great. It only hurts if something bumps into the kneecap.
I got my camera yesterday and my Follidrone came in on Monday. I'm waiting until Sunday or Monday to start that cycle. I am going to take before and after pictures to compare. Should be interesting.
Tapatalkin...
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So my knee still has a slight bruise to it but its equivalent to a black and blue anywhere else. Now,the reason for the post. This may be premature but I'm on day 2 of Follidrone and I just feel different at the gym. I don't want to put the weights down and I hate looking at them on the rack. I don't want to rest. My rest periods have shortened dramatically. At least that's how it seems. I'm pushing harder through every set. Yesterday was chest and biceps. Today my chest is very sore which doesn't happen much anymore. And its bad. Haha. Which is good. Today was shoulders. I've been home for an hour and they're already sore. My traps are dead. Tomorrow is going to be a long day at work.
Its only been two days but I am assuming it is the follidrone. Maybe all the hype is giving me a placebo affect. Regardless, my workouts are more intense the last two days than they have been.
Tapatalkin...
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could be the supplement, or it could be that you took a week off the gym and a vacation.
- Taking a break always amps me up when I start up again.
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I went all last week to the gym. I actually squeezed all 4 days in in a row just so I could go up to Watkins Glen for the weekend and not miss gym time. I did miss back/tri day the week before with the knee problem. I'm leaning on it being the supplement though not sure if legit or placebo at this point.
Tapatalkin...
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Nothing but good to report still. I'm looking and feeling fuller. Harder even. Pretty neat really. Struggled with squats today for legs but killed the rest of the workout plus forearms. Day of tomorrow and then back and tris!
Tapatalkin...
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Trying to keep up with this thread....very positive results....like others Saud sometimes a week off is good. I am on the wagon to drop 10-15.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
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Goodluck, Jason. I wish I only needed to lose 10-15 lbs. Even still, its the last 10-15 that are the hardest. I'll weigh in in the morning.
Tapatalkin...
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Interesting enough I expected to see about 222 lbs this morning judging by last week and the way I look and feel. Last week was 224. I weighed in at 227. As hard as it may be to believe, i actually look leaner than I did a week ago but I'm 3 lbs heavier.
Tapatalkin...
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I've been thinking about it. Even thought I weighed in at 224 last Friday that wasn't the case on Tuesday when I weighed in again prematurely for the start of my Follidrone cycle. In reality it looks more like this.
Friday - 224lbs
Monday - start of Follidrone but forgot to weigh in. I did however take mrasurements
Tuesday - 225 lbs
Friday - 227 lbs
Is it possible I gained a pound during one day of Follidrone for my Tuesday weigh in? Normally I would say not from the supplement but this supp seems to be actually working. However, I'm still not convinced. In fact I also have to admit to being pretty blocked up lately which could be adding a pound to the scale. Also a semi relaxed diet over my short vacation weekend. So there are possibly two pounds that can be accounted for while leaving one pound on the table for Follidrone. Or... its entirely possible all 2-3 lbs are from Follidrone but that just seems insane.
Tapatalkin...
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I do know one thing though, endurance is through the roof. I was killing it on back and tri day. I added a couple extra sets and exercises. One extra exercise was bent over single arm db rows. 80lbs for 12, followed shortly by 110lbs for 12, followed shortly by 140lbs for 8, followed IMMEDIATELY by 150lbs for 3.
Tapatalkin...
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So my body is dead. I think that's a good thing. I just finished four days straight at the gym which I don't really like to do because its a little hard on the body but the gym had stupid hours today so it was my best option. There's not really much to update. Endurance is still fantastic. Vascularity is really starting to show through. Im really noticing it in my forearms and my biceps when at the gym. My triceps yesterday I feel looked the best they ever have. They just looked ridiculous.
This morning, I stepped on the scale and it read 222.2 lbs. That is exactly 50 lbs lost since January 2 when I started my transformation.
I had to edit this post because of a couple things I discovered and sort of found funny. First, I never thought I might need to buy new boxers. Haha. I think that might be the case though. For some reason I find this funny. And I just tried on a shirt given to me by a company we have done some work for, its a regular XL, and it fits like a champ.
Tapatalkin...
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Congrats on 50# in 7 months !!!
I don't think you give yourself enough credit either, that is 50# lost, but you do not take into account % body fat.
I would guess you have dropped at least another 5% in body fat at the same time, that is something big.
- Just think about what you weight sets have changed from start to current.
Again congrats on 50#
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6 months! Haha. Month #7 just started. That's actually crazy to think about. And thank you!
Tapatalkin...
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Little teaser shot of my progress. Its shoulder day so no major pump anywhere else.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/18/mamepemu.jpg)
Tapatalkin...
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OK. Update time. This is an update based on the supplement Follidrone. A lot of people are calling it a placebo affect. The major thing I notice is improved endurance, that ability to push further in to a set. Its supposed to be an anabolic supplement, so it should build muscle. That's important to note because a month in and I have actually lost size. I will post measurements later. HOWEVER, a month in and I have really noticed a difference. I don't even believe what I see when looking in the mirror anymore. A lot of people are commenting on how much I've changed and I'm getting recognition (head nods and what not) from some of the pros in the gym. I should also meantion all of my lifts are significantly lower weights as my diet has really killed my strength. Par for the course so I'm not complaining.
Let's get on to the measurements. I'll start with January 31st, the first time I took measurements. Apparently I didn't note my weight at the time though I could probably back track through posts to figure it out.
Anyway, Jan 31:
(Edit: Jan 27 I was 257 lbs)
Biceps - 17.25"
Chest - 48"
Quad - 25"
Forearm - 13.5"
Waist - 43"
Stomach (just under belly button/around love handles) - 44"
On to day 1 of Follidrone.
June 23: 224 lbs
Biceps - 16.75"
Chest - 45"
Quad - 25.25"
Forearm - 13.25"
Waist - 40"
Stomach - 39.5"
Most recent measurement.
July 25: 216 lbs
Biceps - 16.25"
Chest - 43.75"
Quad - 24.5"
Forearm - 13"
Waist - 38.25"
Stomach - 37"
Tapatalkin...
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Great Work Mike!
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that is awesome. The numbers show what I was trying to get at before with BMI.
You did not have a BMI done to know for sure, but just taking a SWAG from those numbers you are 10% + down, I would suspect more with the waist to love handle ratios.
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Sorry guys. Been burning myself out all week between work and front loading the gym for the week so I don't miss any days when k head out of town for a few days. Thanks for the compliments.
I looked for my fat caliper the other day but couldn't find it. Not that they're real accurate anyway but it would be ballpark. I'm thinking of shooting for maybe 200lbs now. I'm hungry. Real hungry. At least the last couple days. Haha
Tapatalkin...
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I started a break from all stimulants on Saturday. Usually it doesn't hit me hard but its killing me this time around. I think my stims, notably caffeine, was a lot higher per day than in the past. Caffeine levels were probably close to a gram (1000mg) per day. Im pretty sure I'm in withdrawal. I had a headache for 4 days straight, bordering on a migraine, that no amount of advil would help. And I've been extremely tired. I'm getting through it though and everyday is getting better. Threw my diet out the window for the weekend while I was on a mini vacation at the lake. Back go the grind this week and hitting it hard.
Tapatalkin...
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Ouch, that does not sound good.
Do you think it is a good idea to put yourself through this for the cycles ?
I have been off everything for abut 6 weeks with the MCL injury, and did not have this type of withdrawal. i am not using the level product you are on.
I am about 1 week on mild step work ( 1 riser ) and the elliptical. I feel like a blob.
- I have new trees going in ( all our Ash trees got hit with the Ash bore ) and I am paying the nursery to plant them, I am being so careful.
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Good idea? I don't know. Worth it? To me it is. One week out of 10 weeks I have to deal with this to get to where I want to be... I can deal. I have a pounding headache right now but most of today and some of yesterday were headache free. I wasn't nearly as tired as I was either. So I'm on the upswing.
I ran out of some stuff so had to place an order. What seemed liked a short while ago I had upwards of around 20lbs of protein. I ran out this morning. BUT, my order came today as well. So I picked up some iForce vanilla and chocolate whey protein. When my off cycle is over I will try iForces new fat burner, Thermoxyn. This will probably be my final 2 months of my cut before I go back to bulking so I can get bigger and stronger... and eat again! Otherwise I just stocked up on some Hemavol and Compete. I just need to pick up a new preworkout for after my off cycle because I'm all out of everything. Again, I'm going to go with iForces new Max Out. Looks and sounds promising. If I don't like it i will go back go either Bodybuilding.com Scream or Jym Pre Jym. When my cut is over, my caffeine will drip significantly. The fast burners have a healthy dose and are dosed twice a day so that's what is pushing me over the top.
A typical day is
5:15am - hydroxycut hardcore elite @200mg
11:15am - dose 2 of hydroxycut hardcore elite @200mg
Whenever I get off work (4:30-6:30pm) - preworkout (last used was scream) @300mg per level scoop, I use a heaping scoop.
Sometimes on the drive to the job, maybe 7/730am-ish I will have a monster.
Green tea extract - 3 per day @ 16mgs each
I would guesstimate ~900mg/day
So 900 to 0, cold turkey, apparently has some side affects. Go figure.
Tapatalkin...
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So tired of being hungry. I can't wait to start taking this new fat burner to curb my cravings again. Its like I can eat forever. I shouldn't have any problems bulking though I see a very large food bill in my future.
Tapatalkin...
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Gotta love when DOMS sets in. As the night winds down I'm finding it increasingly difficult to move. Haha. Back and triceps are brutal from yesterday.
It was my first day back on stims and a brand new per workout to kick it off. Iforce nutrition Max Out has really smooth energy and awesome focus. I pushed extremely hard in the gym and im paying for it now. I love it... sort of. Haba.
New fast burned probably starts Tuesday morning. Finishing up some night shift and am trying to wait for my schedule to go back before I start it. Might need the extra kick to make the drive home after tomorrow nights shift and right after I am supposed to go to a court hearing for the little bastard that broke in to my truck.
Tapatalkin...
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Nothing new to report. I am two months in to follidrone. I have progress pics of the day I started, one month and two months in if anyone is interested.
My life is sort of a wreck right now. I'm all sorts of stressed out and messed up. I push on though. I was starting to look for a cortisol suppressant of some sort to fight the fact that my levels are probably high and affecting any gains. Then I decided not to mess with my hormones and to just try to fix the problems. I picked up a product called 3Z to help me stay asleep. Its been great. Other than going to the bathroom I don't wake up at all. Its a strange feeling actually sleeping longer than 45 minutes at a time. I'm thinking of trying to find time to meditate or something. Some quiet alone time to fight stress.
I didn't lose any weight in the last month but my measurements all moved in the right directions. I'm still cutting. Still hoping to lose more weight. I picked up a fat caliper to get an idea. It out me at 12%. I got to talking to an ex bodybuilder and a personal trainer at the gym about my body fat. I guess 18%. Trainer guessed 15%. Body builder guessed 8-10% without lifting my shirt up. The bit of excess skin makes things difficult to really tell. I'd like to be in single digits before I start bulking.
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Hang in there Mike it was really good to see you! You can always come up here if you want to hang out you know I'll never say no =) :drive:
I hadn't seen Mike for a few months probably more and it was unreal how he looks!
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Thanks, Chris! I will be visiting eventually. The Macungie shows are too far apart.
So I was talking to an iforce nutrition rep/friend at the gym. I was telling him how I don't like their new fat burner Thermoxyn. He recommended I increase the dose to above label recommendations. I doubled the morning dose the last two days and its been great since. Finally some appetite suppression. I'm going to give it a week and a half or so and see what my weight does.
Tapatalkin...
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Good lord, DOMS has fully set in in my legs! I'm still trying to dial in this new preworkout properly. Different body parts require different amounts of preworkout. This was never more apparent than yesterday. Leg day! apparently too much pump is a bad thing. Its very restrictive during your workout and if you can manage to work through it, you WILL pay for it.
Tapatalkin...
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Looking at my last post I have to laugh. It was a rough week. My legs were sore right up until the morning of leg day the following week. Only my calves are sore now because of the way I work them. I'm still using Ben Pakulski's calf workout which is picking a weight for standard calf raises that you struggle to do but can maintain good form and do 10 weighted, step off and 10 bodyweight, 10 weighted and 10 bodyweight until you reach 100 reps. Its killer! I also do a few sets of seated calf raises. Allow me to show you a picture of BPaks calves.
(http://nevergup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/l1.jpg)
So anyway, after a long month of stress and poor diet, I finally seem to have straightened out the diet part and have gotten back in to the dieting frame of mind this last week and a half to two weeks. I weighed in last week at one pound less a d this week at an additional two pounds less. I am currently 213 lbs and I am about to start my final 4-5 weeks of cutting. I hope to see 205 by then. I have two weeks before my remainder of Follidrone runs out and I take my final after picture of the cycle (though progress pictures are going to continue from here on out regardless of shops).
Tapatalkin...
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I was really looking forward to this mornings weigh in. I thought I had my diet really dialed in this week. Protein was on point and calories were kept low. I had a previous week of high carbs (lots of pizza) to replenish and satisfy my craving body. I still managed to lose a pound that week. So I had high hopes of an additional two pounds this week. Nope. Another single pound. I'm pretty disappointed really. My only hope is that part of it is because I haven't had a good bathroom session in a few days. I actually can't remember the last time I went. I will weigh in again tomorrow after a hard gym session tonight and hoping clearing myself out at some point today. Currently sitting at 211 lbs. Original weight was 272 lbs so I'm still pumped about that. I finished up my Follidrone on Monday so I am just trying to finish this week up strong so I can take my last Follidrone progress pic which will show day 1, after one month, after two months and finally after 3 months. Progress pictures will continue throughout my training as a tool to gauge what I need to do, what I need to work on and where I need to improve. Basically making sure I am progressing in some way, shape or form and not just wasting my time spinning my wheels. I really wanted to be finished with my current cut so I could move on to bulking but I'm not so sure now. I'm not satisfied with where I'm at.
Measurements, pictures and body fat% to come tomorrow hopefully.
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Ok guys. Here it is. Here is the progress pics of the last three months of work and dieting. It's so weird posting shirtless pictures after being so fat for most of my life that I didn't even like taking my shirt off. And for the record, I do have pants on in these pictures. They're just pulled down slightly to expose my hips for the pictures. No worries. In the last picture, you can see why bodybuilders tan. I had lost some of my tan and it made it look like I lost definition.
(http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w337/ESF521/Follidrone-Progress-3months_zpsfdf6077c.jpg)
(http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w337/ESF521/9-27-1402_zps9fcb0f62.jpg)
(http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w337/ESF521/9-27-1401_zps903ad603.jpg)
(http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w337/ESF521/IMG_20140912_120323_022_zpsvcco0fzk.jpg)
So here is where I'm at now. I have 5 days left of my fat burners. No big deal really. I don't like them anyway. I have some others I will use to get me through the week just so I can end a full week with something. The thing is, I'm not really liking the way I look. I do for the most part. I'm very happy with my progress and what I've accomplished but I feel like I'm getting too small. I was going to continue to shoot for 200 lbs but now I'm thinking I may just finish this week off and then start my bulk. The whole reason for posting that last picture was because it was the first picture that I noticed how small my chest seems. That is one of the reasons for wanting to bulk. I want to increase muscle size and I can't do that on my current diet.
Any opinions?
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Well I ordered some things to begin my bulk. Thing is, I'm not sure if I should start it or not. I had flip flopped back and forth and thought I settled on bulking. Then I went to the gym yesterday and everyone seemed to come up to me and tell me how great I look and how far I came so I tossed the idea out there to a few people and it seems nobody sees what I see. I got the feeling they think I should continue with what I'm doing. Which isn't a bad thing really. I just want to be able to enjoy food again... in surplus... slight surplus. Haha.
Eh, decisions decisions. I have a few days to figure it out yet. If I decide to bulk I plan for it to be a 6 month bulk with a cut planned for April. Unless I get carried away and pack on too much fat before that.
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A little pissed off. I found out today that I will be out of town for work for the next two weeks. Home on the weekends. It completely messes up my gym routine. I don't even know if I can make it. And at a terrible time because I'm trying to transition between cutting and bulking. It looks like I'm going to try to maintain my cut until the job is finished. I don't want to be eating in a calorie surplus and not be able to make it to the gym.
Tapatalkin...
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Damn dude that is ONE HELL of a transformation.
:nw:
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Damn dude that is ONE HELL of a transformation.
:nw:
Thank you, sir!
Tapatalkin...
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I officially unofficially started my bulk. 6 months of trying to add as much muscle mass as possible. That means.... EATING!!! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared to gain the weight back. Going to monitor my weight weekly to make sure its not skyrocketing and continue with my monthly progress photos to see what my body is doing, is storing too much fat or what.
Also, started abs for the first time in a long time. They are so sore it hurts if someone else sneezes. Rock on!
Tapatalkin...
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It's been a while. I'm a month in to my bulk. I have been eating a lot and a good bit of it is not the healthiest. But man does it taste good and is very welcomed after 9 months of pretty strict dieting and low calories intake. Oddly enough, even though I feel like I'm already gaining some pudge back and I feel that it's noticeable, people at the gym keep telling me I look great and asking me if I'm still trying to lose weight.
I honestly have not stepped on a scale to properly weigh myself since I started my bulk. I'm a little scared. It's been almost two months since I weighed in at my lowest weight of 209. I'm guessing I'm closer to 220 now. We will see in about a week.
I switched back to a low rep scheme for my compound lifts and my strength seems to be returning quickly and even surpassing what it was in some exercises back before my cutting cycle.
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Pulled my heaviest weight deadlifting to date. 425lbs for two reps. Last week I did 405lbs for 4 reps but it was a little sloppy. I did 5 clean reps of 405 this week and felt great so I jumped up 20lbs. Felt awesome.
Tapatalkin...
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It's been over 2 months. I was feeling good today. Did a killer shoulder workout. After talking with a guy at the gym who has been in the bodybuilding business as a competitor and a trainer for an long time and is very well known, I was feeling reenergized the last couple days and and trying to incorporate some new things. My diet has been eat everything in sight. Semi clean but not clean enough. Bulk ends in the next month or month and a half. Then its hardcore diet time. I snapped a few pics so here they are. Lighting is terrible so i have to find a good spot and can't use a flash. What you can see is that I put on some size. I got wider in a good way but my diet also has me washed out and lacking the definition I worked so hard for last year. One thing at a time though.
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/10/54d66e494afd1de6f629d53cc624ac70.jpg)
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/10/6bc2170152b802df0cb98c63b09e519c.jpg)
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/10/4502b0229d49a6b03102316716c2a8a4.jpg)
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Here's a quick shot from about 11 months ago. It's the most similar picture I could find. I only got smaller from there.
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/11/f4a927aef82aed3ae158c29c99a1520d.jpg)
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Great job Mike, I am continually impressed with your ability to stick with it!
We just put a Treadmill and Bowflex (Ultimate 2) in the new place and I have enjoyed using them and not having to go to the Gym. I am just working towards a 10k run in April and getting back in shape for the mountain bike, nothing crazy.
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You say the word run and say nothing crazy. I hear the word run and think you must be crazy. Haha.
I'm one of those people that enjoy the gym atmosphere. I don't know that I could get the same workout at home even with The same equipment. It also helps that my main gym is only maybe 2 miles away.
It's funny though, I thoroughly enjoy going to the gym yet I look forward to those off days to give the body a break. Then half way through an off day I find myself missing the gym. Haha. Maybe I'm weird.
Tapatalkin...
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yeah second that, admire that perseverance and dedication.
Looking sharp there bro.
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I third that - if that's actually possible. The last time I spent any serious time in the gym, I was in high school. And you don't want to know who was President back then.
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It's been almost a year since an update. Still going. It's been a busy year. I went to Tennessee twice. I was killing it before I went back in August. I was doing hill springs every day. Was dropping weight at a nice pace. Then right as I came back from Tennessee work picked up and I just couldn't make it. I was out of the gym for 3 months or so. Got back at it in December. Been going strong since. I'm very dedicated to putting on size right now. That means moderately heavy weight for 12 reps. It's mentally exhausting and I miss heavy weight for low reps but its the way it works.
This post was spawned by a picture from 3 1/2 years ago I came across. I had lost weight but never realized I was so small. So here is that picture followed by two from today.
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160120/2ce73a747f38807a9e51ecd4d4ee7479.jpg)
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160120/f8c6878183d9cc35df84210a6d95f5ba.jpg)
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160120/718f9575ab4f5e36bc68b6f2d5b8d0bb.jpg)
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I am NOT lean in this picture. It's not that time of the year. Haha.
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I am the biggest I have been....like EVER
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It happens. Sometimes its had to find the time to put in work. That's why I was out of the gym for 3 months. No time. That said, I feel really good about where I'm at and even have a few abs showing if I try hard enough. It's a good start for when I cut back down.
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I am the biggest I have been....like EVER
\\
I suppose noting that I was up a couple of pounds to 197 the other day (at age 59) wouldn't help anything here?
Hang in there JP, you'll get it back in line!
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Congrats on the progress.
I went back to standard 3x5s last JUN, I don't need to add any size. I do just fine with that myself.
- 54L jacket.
Last year I removed the dedicated chest day, and replaced it with a core day.
- arms - shoulders - back - Core are the days with weights.
I am trying to think back to the last time I weighed 197#
After a full month in Europe I came back down to 199, but that was back in JAN-2005 :wow:
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200 is the lowest I remember being and that was in 2002? 300 being the heaviest. I don't know what I weigh now.
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Great work Mike, I'm impressed with how you have been able to stick to it. :cheers:
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Thanks! I somehow missed this before.
It's easy to stick with it because I enjoy it. I look forward to it and even miss it on those much needed off days.
Well, its that time of year. I've been cutting for I think almost 5 weeks now. Trying to get back down to 210 (from 252) so I can compare pics of my previous best. Currently sitting at 239. Not sure how accurate thst is because I was laid up this weekend and didn't want to eat a thing and was dehydrated. I weighed in the day after as that's my day to weigh in.
Anyway, still at it and feeling good. Been doing intermittent fasting and its really fits my lifestyle.
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Do you do 4 x 12s ?
I just changed up from 3x5s to tri sets
- 2x12s of 3 exercises - Arms, Shoulders and Core are 2 sets of 3.
I need a step to 4 x 12s, I tried shoulder day copying Dwayne johnson's Herc sets, and I thought I got my ass kicked up and down the block.
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Sorry. Crazy work day. We are doing a job for a major supplier of ours who have people from their European office here and everything is being videoed. Which is annoying enough but its also just an annoying job to begin with. Having 100 people watching you all day and videoing you just makes it worse.
Anyway, enough bitching. I'm doing everything in sets of 5, 12+ reps each. Bent over dumball rows being the exception. Those reps are in the 6-8 rep range. And now with working again, I am not restricting myself to certain exercises. I try to hit 3 or more per body part but I'll do different variations depending on what's open because I can't wait for equipment. This past chest and bicep day was fun. I wasn't in the mood to lift too heavy so I just chased the pump. Short rests, moderate weight, and lots of reps. It bells I was buzzing off of 400mg of caffeine from my preworkout and I hadn't consumed a single calorie in about 20 hours.
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Thanks for the info.
I was going 4 x 12 ( 4x14 and 3x10 and 3 x failure ) like the Rock, but that was an ass beating I was not ready for.
the Tri Sets is putting a good pump on, without being a beating.
- I have to shower and get back to work after working out.
It is not the 5 x 12s that you are doing, but it is the quick succession on a mussel group with 3 different exercises.
Example : Yesterday was back:
Wide grip lat pull downs ( 12 ) right to back hyper extensions ( roman chair like device with 20# weight vest 12 reps ) then right to Australian pull ups ( 12 reps ), then a 60 sec rest and back at it for another set.
I figure that I am working the fat burn a bit more with this than 3x5s.
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Love wide grip lat pulldowns. I don't do them enough. My 5x12s are usually a warm up set or two, and then increasing the weight 3 or 4 times until I am at a weight that's usually my max weight given the targeted amount of reps and I will do 3 sets at that weight which usually ends in failure each set and I will occasionally drop down a weight or two and bang one last lighter set out until failure after I fail with the previous heavy set. Example...
Dumbell flat bench press
60s x12 right in to 70s x12
80s x12
90s x12
100s x12
110s x12
And then 2-3 sets of 120s until failure because I can't reach 12.
Sometimes dropping back to 110s or 100s for a final set of as many as I can muster just to finish off the pump.
This is how much of my major compounds go.
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That is more like an 8 x 12 or 9 x 12 :clap:
For chest day how many different exercises do you do ?
- assuming that with dumbbell flat bench press being primary chest alt shoulder / tricep, this is a chest day.
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I don't count warm ups. Haha.
That would be done on a chest/biceps day. I usually alternate between a chest exercise and a biceps exercise until I run out of chest exercises then I just hammer biceps until I'm content or I need to hurry home to eat before my window closes.
Flat DB Press
Some kind of standing bar curl using fat grips. Either straight or EZbar
Incline bench usually hammer strength machine often superset with seated incline DB curls to get that full stretch.
Chest fly on the pec deck.
DB Hammer curls
Preacher bench curl machine
Behind the back cable curls
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Damn. First day back in a week and a half. 12-13 hour days and I've spent everyday since Friday visiting someone in the hospital after those long days of work. Felt good to be back. I have a lingering lower back pain that even that time off didn't fix so I'm not sure what's going on there. Deadlifted and squated through it today but could only manage 365 for 4 reps on deads. Hamstrings crapped out on me during squats because of excessive pump. Pushed through that but I'm hurting. Going to make a rare Sunday visit to the gym tomorrow to try to get back on track. Weigh in Monday morning. Last weigh in was 236. I need a new scale though. Parts of the last number are missing sometimes so its hard to tell the difference between 3s, 6s, 8s, and 9s.
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234 lbs this morning
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Not to brag, but this old guy weighed in at 198 today. :om:
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Not to brag, but this old guy weighed in at 198 today. :om:
I'll see you there, Tom!
Well, maybe not. But I won't rule it out either. I will reevaluate at around 210. Not sure how I'd look under 200.
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Not to brag, but this old guy weighed in at 198 today. :om:
I'll see you there, Tom!
Well, maybe not. But I won't rule it out either. I will reevaluate at around 210. Not sure how I'd look under 200.
I'm trying to get to 195 - or maybe even 190. Gotta look good for the wedding (whenever that happens) you know.
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Gotta look good naked!
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Gotta look good naked!
At my age, that would involve nothing less than Photoshop.
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Haha
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Still at it. 222lb as of yesterday morning. Been struggling to drop the weight but feel like I'm making the right changes. Weird. Numbers never tell the whole story though. I just started doing intense cardio. Two reasons. First is to drop some weight since I'm stalling out. Second is that in less than a month I have a 5k to do and I'm in NO type of shape for it. Also started doing 100 pushups every day.
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Mini vent...
I now believe in over training and CNS fatigue. I never did before. Started feeling really tired, weak, slow and just not in the right frame of mind tonight. I just figured maybe the day caught up with me and I was being a wuss so I pushed on even harder to snap myself out of it. Left the gym and headed to my spot to do hill sprints, feeling the same way and struggling to find the motivation, I convinced myself I was just being a wuss again and hit it harder and harder. Now I'm paying for it. I couldn't even choke down food. Started getting major chills in the shower. Tried to burn it out of me with hot water but got bad anxiety and claustraphobia set it. Feel like crap but coming around a bit. I guess you gotta listen to your body sometimes. There's a fine line between too much and not hard enough.
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I hear ya, I was on Vacay and did nothing but drank Beer and fished for two weeks (although I did get in a little swimming and Jet skiing).
When I came back, I hit the trials on the Bike, then did "The Grind", Then Dragon Boat Racing, then 5km run, then biking again. My body felt very fatigued and I was weak. Couldn't eat or sleep properly either.
Here is what the "Grind" is. I did it in 1hr and 10 minutes this time (fastest time was 51:08). It killed me the whole way up. Heart Beat was pegged. I burned 1631 Calories and my Average Heart Beat was 167. Max was 193.
Trail Facts
Length: 2.9 kilometres (1.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet)
Base: 274 metres above sea level (900 feet)
Summit: 1,127 metres (3,700 feet)
Total Stairs: 2,830
Statistics: Annually, over 150,000 people hike the trail.
Average Time: On average it takes up to an hour and a half to complete the hike. For novice hikers, two hours is recommended.
Participants: Hikers range in age from 7 to 90, with an equal male/female split.
Linky
https://www.grousemountain.com/grousegrind (https://www.grousemountain.com/grousegrind)
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That looks intense. I'd give it a whirl. How do you get back? I only want to go one way.
I try to keep my heart rate above 170 if possible. It spikes at 215 the other day. Hoping that was a glitch in the monitor because that's high.
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I used to be ambitious and go back down the trial after we would rest, eat and have a couple of beer. It wasn't smart and was really hard on the knees.
Now we just take the gondola down, runs every 10 minutes. I don't think I could have made it back down last week if I tried. I was fired.
Good to know that I'm not the only one that runs a higher heart-rate. I always have, but I don't like breaking 190.