780 Reasons You Should Know Cocoa Espresso

Training
121

Nadia, not even funny ;D

Thanks Aqua, and yeah I’ll have to consider that. Before my grip didn’t suck so much, but it seems to get worse day by day :stuck_out_tongue:
Now after one warm-up set of DLs, I can barely hold the pen to write in my log.

Training today:
Chest/Shoulders/Triceps (supposed to be bis and tris, but I didn’t feel like training this afternoon. I think I turned into a morning gym-person… bah. But got the “important” arm work in anyway)
Shoulders wasn’t in my original split, but another day won’t hurt. They need the attention anyway.

Bench Press SS with 10 wide-grip pull-ups (1 foot on the bar! I’m not that cool yet ;D )
65 x 8
95 x 5
125 x 3
135 x 1
135 x 3 Half range motion

Hang Clean and Press
Bar x 12
65 x 12 +2 reps PR
75 x 5 +1 rep PR

DB Overhead press
20s x 12
30s x 12
40s x 5 x 2

Rear delt fly
10s x 12
15 x 10 x 3

FST-7 Lateral Raises
10 reps each set with 10 lb DBs

Pullover Press
45 x 12
55 x 10 x 2

EZ Bar French Press
35 x 10
45 x 7

Tricep Pressdowns
40 x 12
45 x 10

Switched to using a rope, didn’t write down the weights though

Then intervals on stairmill for 15 minutes, 1 minute 50 SPM, 30 seconds 162 SPM

10 minutes steady state on elliptical

I’m running on E right now. I’m just waiting for my pizza cheat on Thursday. “It’s coming” is what I tell myself every hour of the day ;D

122

just stopped in to say ‘Hi’

Hi Nikki!

Kaybainow!

123

10 WG pull-ups! Wicked!

124

Dammit! LS, that’s with 1 foot on the bar.

Oy, I feel like a liar. This is what I get for rushing.
On my way to edit now…

125

A sudden drop in grip may be one way your body is saying that something is not right.

126

[quote]AquaCruzer wrote:
A sudden drop in grip may be one way your body is saying that something is not right.

[/quote]

Maybe saying “I want a damburger!”
From Pink Panther, get it?

Er, nevermind.

Really though, the diet really does take it’s toll, right now I’m celebrating the fact that I’m even MATCHING old PRs.
So grip is just weakness and me being a cry-baby through everything.

127

[quote]Nikki9591 wrote:

[quote]AquaCruzer wrote:
A sudden drop in grip may be one way your body is saying that something is not right.

[/quote]

Maybe saying “I want a damburger!”
From Pink Panther, get it?

Er, nevermind.

Really though, the diet really does take it’s toll, right now I’m celebrating the fact that I’m even MATCHING old PRs.
So grip is just weakness and me being a cry-baby through everything.[/quote]

Lol at the Pink Panther reference.

Well it’s pretty good that you’re tying PRs on a diet :slight_smile:

128

“Oh can’t forget the fasted walk to the gym, 50 minutes, ankle weights again.
I’m starting to dig this FMC. I never advised it before because of light-headedness and losing muscle thing, but 1) the new TN article restored my confidence in it and 2) I found that coffee and thermogenics before and drink 0 calorie ****** during helps a lot. I blanked it out so as to not impose my products on you guys :stuck_out_tongue:
So now I’m starting to love it.”

I don’t like this at all. Fasted cardio has been debunked, at least as far as natural bodybuilding goes. Buck that!

129

[quote]Chi-Towns-Finest wrote:
“Oh can’t forget the fasted walk to the gym, 50 minutes, ankle weights again.
I’m starting to dig this FMC. I never advised it before because of light-headedness and losing muscle thing, but 1) the new TN article restored my confidence in it and 2) I found that coffee and thermogenics before and drink 0 calorie ****** during helps a lot. I blanked it out so as to not impose my products on you guys :stuck_out_tongue:
So now I’m starting to love it.”

I don’t like this at all. Fasted cardio has been debunked, at least as far as natural bodybuilding goes. Buck that![/quote]

From what I have read it has not been debunked as long as you support yourself with some BCAA’s and are not doing sprints and what not. Nice LISS cardio nothing crazy…
why do you think its not helpful in loosing fat?

Nikki, you have so much drive! You are an inspiration for sure my girl!!

130

I love reading your training. Honestly, you train enough volume for the both of us leaving me free to sit around and watch you some days. Like today!

131

[quote]coyotegal wrote:

[quote]Chi-Towns-Finest wrote:
“Oh can’t forget the fasted walk to the gym, 50 minutes, ankle weights again.
I’m starting to dig this FMC. I never advised it before because of light-headedness and losing muscle thing, but 1) the new TN article restored my confidence in it and 2) I found that coffee and thermogenics before and drink 0 calorie ****** during helps a lot. I blanked it out so as to not impose my products on you guys :stuck_out_tongue:
So now I’m starting to love it.”

I don’t like this at all. Fasted cardio has been debunked, at least as far as natural bodybuilding goes. Buck that![/quote]

From what I have read it has not been debunked as long as you support yourself with some BCAA’s and are not doing sprints and what not. Nice LISS cardio nothing crazy…
why do you think its not helpful in losing fat?![/quote]

Layne Norton, PhD writes:

[quote]Cardiovascular exercise has several myths surrounding it. The largest myth being that one should perform low intensity cardio in a fasted state. The logic being that if one is in a fasted state, their glycogen levels will be low and will force their body to burn fat. Unfortunately, this idea is misguided.

While performing cardio in a fasted state may indeed increase the amount of calories that are burned from fat stores, it will also increase amino acid oxidation. Cardiovascular exercise while in a fasted state is a great way to increase cortisol release. Cortisol will liberate amino acids to produce glucose (glucose cannot be synthesized from fats) and can lead to muscle loss.

Additionally, I find it ironic that many people take such great care to time their meals so that they do not go for more than 2-3 hours without eating in order to prevent muscle loss. However, they purposefully induce this state and then perform work on top of this!

Research has shown that the type of substrate used during cardiovascular work makes little overall difference on fat loss. This is most likely due to the fact if one relies mostly upon fat stores during cardio (i.e. low intensity cardio), the body will burn predominantly glucose at other times of the day. Likewise, if one mainly utilizes glucose for energy during cardio (i.e. high intensity cardio) the body will customarily rely on fat at other times of the day in order to spare muscle glycogen.[/quote]

Conclusion: Empty stomach cardio is nonsense, it does not burn fat any better than high intensity cardio.

132

GHRs on Smith Machine

how?

I heard that taking ones fish oil before otherwise fasted cardio can help the body get into the spirit of using fat for fuel. one of the articles here… can’t remember which one… FWIW (I only pay half attention to such things - but I gotta learn sometime!)

133

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=835725

Probably ignore what I said about the fish oil unless you find somebody credible saying it lol.

134

I’ve been doing intermitant fasting and have been dropping bodyfat pretty well.

I am all for fasted morning cardio and I wouldn’t use BCAAs, unless they are natural, as in natural flavor, no sweetners, and even then I’d leave them out, pointless to do FMC when you spike insulin.

FMC as coyotegal (not sure if it’s coyote as the animal, or just a clever way of spelling cute), but should be LISS.

I am a strong believe in eating how I was genetically made to eat and this has been something recent I’ve come to discover, but I am already seeing body comp changes in a short amount of time and the results seem promising for both fat loss and muscle gain.

I won’t go into too much detail, but I think the 6 small meals a day for fat loss is a load of shit, yeah it works but other things work just as well if not better.

135

Does someone pick you up from the gym when you are done?? :slight_smile:

My only concern would be getting TOO much extra activity in( even if its just walking) this far out from the show.
I’ve heard you should save the extra stuff for when you really need it during those last weeks?

136

Thanks sweethearts!

Alexus, I put a bench in front of the smith machine, load up the bar with a lot of weight so I don’t go flying off, hook my ankles under the bar with knees on bench, and do them. I also hold a bar for support.

Sometimes I get picked up MiM, but not always.
It’s not exactly extra stuff, if I want to walk to/from the gym as cardio, I do it in 50 minutes. If I just want to chill and get there whenever, I can take as long as 1.5 hours.
It’s not pulling out big guns too early, it’ll be like saying that I can’t go grocery shopping because I’ll be walking casually through the aisles for an hour.

Ok, so today I’m resting completely, and diet is not in my vocabulary. I figure hitting it hard for 6 days, and 1 day off is a nice trade-off
I updated my RMP thread:

But I still had that breakfast a few hours before. It was so good :slight_smile:

I wish I had more time to check in on everything that is TN but I got some running around to do so I’ll be back this evening.

Happy Wednesday =D

137

Woah! You made some progress! I even think I see the lats coming in (out?) a teeeny bit. Go you!

I like how someone said, “Your extremities are definitely your strong suit.” Made me lol. Not sure why quite frankly.

btw, your face is gorgeous! And I love those glasses, you hot-for-teacher style.

And FTR, new yorkers actually walk quite a lot. I probably walk a good 40 mins a day. 50 mins back and forth is A LOT though, but its not too bad. I mean, you’re not power walking (do people still do that?) or anything too crazy. Maybe once you get closer to the comp you can start “rucking” or something similar (btw Alpha should pay me for the amount of times I mention this).

keep at it sexy!

138

Thanks Maschy, I think my lats like the frequency, they seem to get wider each day. But it may just be the constant pump of doing the pull-ups everyday.

Thank you! Your face is gawgeous-er.

Yep, I’m from NY and I definetely walked more than 40 minutes a day. More than an hour even. Walk to get food, to the store, laundromat, mall, everywhere. So I’m used to it.

Cheat day (yes, I said ‘day’, I’m so naughty) was AWESOME!

Damn, I just noticed that I didn’t post the pic of breakfast. Let’s see if I can get it right this time.
So, that was my first dirty meal. Then for lunch, because I’ve been wanting to try the new Jalapeno burger from BK for EVER, I got that. It sucked. Wasn’t worth the total of a day’s calories.

For dinner, had to have my pizza and zeppoli. That’s a given.

So, that gave me a good amount of energy for today =)

Fasted morning cardio, 1 hour.
Either my heart is getting better conditioned, or all the fried crap helped me push through.

Scheduled workout today:
Back Thickness/Triceps

Did back thickness, did some width exercises, and biceps in addition to triceps since I skipped biceps the other day.

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
60 x 15
75 x 15
90 x 15
105 x 10 x 2

10 Wide Grip Pull-ups (foot on bar… haha! I finally remembered to say that)
superset with BB Rows

Sadly I didn’t have my belt, so had to try REALLY hard not to irk my back on the rows

65 x 12
95 x 8
115 x 7
135 x 5 x 2

Inverted Rows, foot on bench
BW x 10
BW +25 x 7 x 2 sets

Chest Supported Incline Shrugs
30s x 10 x 3

DB Pullover
50 x 10
55 x 10 x 2

100 band pull-aparts

Back felt wicked!

Pullover Press superset with Reverse Curls (EZ-Bar)
45 x 12
55 x 10 x 2
*Numbers are the same for both exercises

OH Tricep Cable Extension XX Cable Hammer Curl
20 x 10/10
25 x 8/10
25 x 10/10

Single hand reverse grip pressdown SS single cable curl
5 x 12/ 15 x 12
5 x 10 with resistance from hand/ 25 x 10

Dips
BW x 10x 2

I was spent. I tried to do cardio but legs didn’t oblige. Tried to walk home, made it 30 minutes before I decided to get picked up.

I think that I’m REALLY starting to morph into a morning gym-goer. Argh.

139

Loved your pictures! Arms especially. Definitely you are making good progress.

140

You’ve got some wicked delt definition.