wow, just read some of this log, great prgress!
wouldn’t worry too much about the db press, hard to move up on dbs
one thing I did when I wasn stuck on those is I took elastic bands and attatched 2.5 plates to each db when, I was actually stuck at the same weight as you are at the time lol, so I hit up the 77.5 ers for a bit haha.
[quote]acelement wrote:
Yeah I gotta try to eat more.
I don’t do any cardio, and I’m actually quite sedentary.
So yeah, today was shoulders-tris.
Made progress except for DB press…can’t get above 6 reps for 75lb dumbbells. I’m starting to stagnate.
Shit.[/quote]
Lower weight, keep reps higher (8-15 or so)
And eat more 
graduated from grad school yesterday, and thus had friends visit for the week. so i wasn’t at the gym. hence my absence. i’m ok with it.
going to travel for the next 8 weeks until work starts at the end of july. also ok with that.
need to find a way to keep these workouts going on the go.
also need to sleep.
I’M BACK
Summer was awesome: Miami, Columbia (SC), San Francisco, NYC…friends and good times.
Started work exactly a month ago.
Moved into my new place 2 weeks ago, joined a new gym that’s a 30 sec walk to my apartment (has foam rollers, wrist rollers, the kind of shit most gyms don’t have…on top of a plethora of racks and benches and barbells).
Heavy bills from moving in and getting settled have left me with little money to play too much. So to cut back on bills, I’m doing the VDiet 3.0. Cost me $190 for 6 weeks of food/supplements (buying in bulk from a competitor in this economy = SWEET).
So yeah, not totally psyched about doing a cutting diet at 195 lbs, but I mean, at least I’ll have less body fat so when I bulk again, it’ll be a leaner gain.
Anyway, day 2 of diet and following it to a tee (everything from the leucine and HOT-ROX to the reps and sets) and I mean…yeah, people will think I shouldn’t be cutting…well fuck em. This is the best situation for my current lifestyle right now…I’ll do the VDiet, get ripped cause I’ve got a tight budget…and then I’ll bulk again!
I’ll keep you guys posted on my workouts and all of that goodness.
It’s good to be back!
FRIDAY’S WORKOUT (45 sec rest = INSANE)
Sumo Deadlift: 275 x 10, 6, 5, 5, 6, 5, 3
Decline DB Bench: 130 x 10, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 4, 5
Pull Ups: bw x 8, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4
Hanging Leg Raise: bw x 8, 8, 13, 13
K so I think I just finished up day…4? Day 5? of the V Diet.
Switching to casein-based protein was the right choice. I’ve yet to be hungry. I can feel the fat melting off.
Unfortunately, eating nothing but protein shakes leaves me nauseous/bloated a great deal of the time. Mint tea helps settle my stomach.
5x5 with only 25 sec rests really kicks your ass. But its fun.
9 days on vdiet now?
for the first week, i was alloted 38 meals. i cheated twice (one solid meal, one drinking with friends at night). 36/38 = 94.7% compliance
this week i’ve already cheated twice, also in the exact same manner. so no healthy solid meals this week i guess…i will stick to 94.7% compliance for week 2. week 3 looking for 100% compliance…replacing the solid meal with a vdiet-compliant one, and seeing if i can manage to go out with friends and not drink at all.
its easy to do on weekdays because i can give two excuses:
- i can’t get drunk off of 1-3 drinks (typical amount friends usually drink on a weeknight, if they go out) so why bother and
- i’ve got work in the morning and want to stay focused
none of that holds any weight friday and saturday…but luckily my friends only go out drinking one weekend night a week, so there’s only one night of temptation…and i’ll just have to see if my will is great.
so 94.7%, 94.7%, hopefully 100% on week 3.
week 4…traveling to see the girlfriend for the long weekend. friday afternoon-monday morning will be all solid meals…uh oh…help?
Just finished up week 3 of Velocity Diet. At 12.8% bodyfat at 191 lbs. About 166 lbs of mass…down about 8 lbs of mass since the spring…but well that’s what happens when you take 9 weeks off I guess. No big deal…also realized that when I counted my meals, I forgot that 1 of those meals each week counted towards my solid meal. Unfortunately, I got 2 cheat meals this week, and 3 last week so it looks like:
ADHERENCE (by week)
Week 1 - 97.4%
Week 2 - 92.1%
Week 3 - 94.7%
Week 4 - ???
So we’re getting over 90% adherence every week, which is basically success in Berardi’s book. For the transition, I gotta grab some more green tea. I also gotta grab some HOT-ROX for my transition over to the Get Shredded Diet, when I will take the fat loss to the final level.
Then, my weight gain will be slow. I’m in no rush. Carb cycling woot woot!
2 days left on V-Diet
Lookin like a total of 10 lbs lost over the course of 4 weeks, pretty much all of it fat.
Anyway, since I’m doing the Get Shredded Diet (and I ran out of protein)…I don’t feel the need to do the 2 week transition program…seeing as how I’m not transitioning really to more food or more carbs…which is the point of the transitional 2 weeks. Here’s the longterm plan:
| WEEKS | FOOD PROGRAM | WORKOUT PROGRAM |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | V-Diet | V-Diet |
| 4-6 | Get Shredded | V-Diet Transition |
| 7-10 | Get Shredded | Destroying Fat (War Room Strategies) |
| 11-18 | Carb cycling for mass | Doggcrapp-like training |
Should be down to 8% by the time I’m at my mass phase. Sweet.
Middle of week 5…somehow on week 6’s transition. I dunno, I started on a Friday instead of a Monday, so its all messed up.
In the right light, I can see all 6 abs. This is the leanest I’ve ever been. The VDiet is the perfect platform to launch yourself into the Get Shredded Diet…simply because going back to solid food is enough to make this diet easy.
Get Shredded is easy as hell when you’ve had nothing but shakes 95% of the time for the last month. I’m loving this diet, I’m loving the results…and the carb up days every 2 weeks are going to be killer. I fully expect to be a raw 8% by the time I’m done.
Monday I start my new training program (Destroying Fat). Totally excited…and I haven’t even been checking calipers or the scale. I just know I’m getting leaner when I look in the mirror. It’s only getting better and better, because I know that as the weeks are progressing, my G-Flux is increasing and I’m implementing more strategies for fat loss (including new introduction of thermogenics, green tea, MCTs, circuits and sprints). So as my body becomes more adapt to this fat-busting state, I’m just throwing in more and more things gradually to keep my body from being satisfied with this under-caloried state.
Middle of week 6…1.5 weeks into Get Shredded and down to 11.3% @ 190 lbs. Weight hasn’t changed too much probably because I’m back on creatine, so I’ve most likely got water bloat and thus weight gain…but the calipers do not lie!
According to the readings, I’m at almost exactly .5% drop in body fat per week…perfect! With the new switch to GetShredded, increased cardio and better training methods…this delta should hopefully increase! Either way, if it remains at only .5% / week (average), I’ll still be at just over 9% by week 10. Which is still good enough for me.
My thoughts for post Get-Shredded are to simply re-introduce a strict PWO regimen (and vary the levels based on the intensity of the workout…aka carb cycle), which should add enough carbs and calories to bring me up to a healthy maintenance level (and perhaps further build muscle/drop fat). Do that for a month or so to get my body used to the new levels of leanness…then up the calories slightly to begin a carb-cycling mass phase.
The workouts are going awesome. 285x10 in the sumo dead (which is weaker than my regular dead, putting me roughly at the same strength as when I was gaining)…185x9 in the front squat (my best ever prior was 225x4, which works out to nearly the same weight!) and 180x5 in the DB press (also identical to my old best, which was 100x2). My old bests were when I took the picture in my profile…basically in the spring when I maxed out on my deadlift at 405 but was way up past 15% body fat.
IN OTHER WORDS: I am almost exactly the same strength as I was when I was 15+ lbs heavier, which means I’ve probably dropped over 15 lbs of pure body fat.
F U C K I N G S W E E T
Uh oh. 2 weeks later and I’m only at exactly 11%. I guess I’ve slowed down to like .15% a week. Gotta ramp up cardio for sure and cut cals slightly. But I am getting stronger.
95 lb dumbbells for 5 on the bench and 35lb external weight added to my pullups for 5. And I’m pulling like 350x5 on the dead and 210x5 on the front squat.
On my last week of Berardi’s get shredded. Somehow up to 194 lbs but down to 10.1% body fat. I’m guessing its extra water weight or something…but that basically means in 10 weeks I went from 203 @ 15+% down to this…which means I lost 10 lbs of fat and gained 2 lbs of muscle.
Phenominal! And I still have an entire week left!
Next week I’ll switch to the Physique Transformation stuff from CT with carb cycling…up my carbs a bit and try to level off for a while, and enjoy my new leanness!
Pictures?
I’ll take pics tomorrow. I’m at 10.5% body fat and down to 190 lbs. My plan is to drop 5 lbs fat and add 5 lbs muscle. So if I can get down to <185, and then work my way back up, I’ll be happy.
My worst muscles are definitely arms (tri/bi/forearm). I’ll be working them out every 5 days to bring them up to proportion (hopefully) while cutting.