how much longer do you have? like 3 weeks? Good work man the progress in your pics is awesome.
.greg.
[quote]gregron wrote:
how much longer do you have? like 3 weeks? Good work man the progress in your pics is awesome.
.greg.[/quote]
Thanks greg. I have 20 days left (3 weeks from yesterday). I can’t wait to be to 10 days… and then 5 days when i start water manipulation. And of course I can’t wait to til it’s over (and I get paid!!!) so at least so I can start bulking.
Hell yeah man… Gettin paid gettin paid! Hopefully you win that shit. With the rest of the time, water manipulation and some extra tanning you should be looking legit (no homo)
.greg.
No training today due to a deadline at work and was feeling a bit off/verge of sick yesterday. I think the timing of the deadline was good as it cause a well needed break. Went low on carbs to compensate, although I’m not eating that many carbs on most days anyway 
I noticed the 8 pack is showing through a little bit. I’m hoping it pops when I do my photos, however ridiculous that may sound, I think it’s vital to this type of contest. And btw greg, thanks for the tips.
With regards to water manipulation I started a thread on it Forums - T Nation - The World's Trusted Community for Elite Fitness so I’ve got that mapped out pretty well I think (a little more research to do on my part), and also, I’m doing a some tanning too. I don’t want to get BBer dark though as they are looking for marketability. Thanks.
yeah I hear ya on the no BBer dark… Is it going to be a professional photo shoot or are you doing it yourself?
.greg.
They’re doing it. There are a ton of people weighing in one after another (that is if the same number of people show up for the weigh in that signed up at the beginning) as it is a gym wide contest - so it’s not like a professional shoot where they can make all the lighting perfect and what not. Let’s hope they realize they are dealing with a serious contestant and try to get the shot just right when they take my photo(s) 
Good work!
I am working on a cut for end of May, no contest just cruise with the wife. There is alot of good info in here and motivation.
Good luck with your contest.
Thanks Papa Nick. Good luck with your cut too. I’ve been pretty busy lately and haven’t had time to post, but I’ve still been working out! I’m about to go hit the gym now! It’s going well and the weight is coming down nicely (186 after my workout this morning), but unfortunately I think I’m losing a good bit of muscle mass lately as my arms are down to 16" (down about a half inch from several weeks ago). I honestly feel that I gained muscle throughout the process until this point, but I think getting in single digits may make muscle loss inevitable without assistance. They got up to 16.5 at one point but are down a bit now. Anyways thanks for checking it.
I wouldn’t worry too much about muscle loss on your arms. You said you’ve been eating TKD and fairly low carb so I bet a good bit of the “loss” is glycogen and water. Keep up the HOT-ROX as they are great at sparing LBM on low cals. I use EC now for a similar reason.
If you truly are losing muscle, after your pictorial date do you plan on staying lean or raising cals to a surplus? A weekly refeed once you reach single digits with your current diet would be extremely beneficial.
Thanks phatkins. It’s probably true about glycogen since I’ve been on keto for about 5 days now. My form of a refeed is TKD, and I don’t really bump my cals up much more than that provided from the additional carbs from the finibars that I take. I’ll probably do 1.5 finibars tomorrow before noon and PM sessions.
After the piture is taken, I’ll slowly raise the calories and proceed into a bulk after a few weeks of reintroducing carbs. I’ll probably more or less attempt to stick to my current TKD plan with no post workout carbs - although I will have finibars and or pre-workout carbs and some carbs with breakfast every other day or something. Not that I’m carb phobic, I just really like the strength results I’ve got from this diet and training program, so if it worked on low carb, it will certainly work when calories are increased.
I’d really like to start training MMA again, so perhaps after that bulk phase (planning on getting to only 200 lbs as lean as possible), I’ll likely do a cut again, and think about getting to fighting weight of 170 (182 would @ 5% bf would be a good place to be, the remaining 11-12 pounds would be water weight).
Great progress in the pics man! Less than 20 days to go? I’ll be following this to see how you do with the contest. You’re doing really good so far buddy, keep it up!
-Adam
Thanks for stopping by Adam. I’ve got 15 days (Two weeks from tomorrow), although I had myself convinced yesterday that it was only a week that I had left, but oh well. I think I’m ready for the weigh in although I’m both scared for it to be over.
Just a quick update - worked out 2 times Saturday and 3 times Sunday (yesterday). I did a combo of some heavy lifting, circuit training, and cardio (intervals and steady state). The majority was weights, but I did about an hour each day of cardio split up with HR averaging about 140 bpm.
Missed the gym this morning but will make it at lunch.
If you don’t mind, how did you come across 2 aday lifting? I’ve tried to find ways of doing it, some suggest hitting the same body part in both sessions, while others says to hit something like chest am then back pm. Do you have a link or anything?
Also curious as to what your cals are set as. Seems like you wouldn’t have them TOO low since you’re puting in so much work in the gym. Best way to go about it if you ask me.
Thanks man
-Adam
Hey Adam. I hope this answers your questions:
Training: My training style for this cut was based on CT’s program that he was doing in the thread “What I’m doing now.” If you search that or read through my log there is a link. But as CT himself admits, training split is about the least important aspect of training.
Diet: Honestly I have not counted cals. Not once. I estimate I’m between 1800 and 2500 on all days. Even at 2500 though I would be in a deficit even if not training. I get about 500 cals a day from Casein Hydrolysate protein, although I wouldn’t suggest for others to get this much protein from whey. If I didn’t have CH, I would simply go with a serving of Surge Recovery before my workout and Grow after once per day (or grow at both before and after). I like most of my protein to not come from whey though. I get the other ~half of my protein from chicken breast, fish (wild Alaskan salmon or other wild caught fish from Alaska - I don’t trust fish from Thailand, China, Mexico, etc - farmed fish especially - the FDA does not test these products, well they do test approx 1% - the fish farmers DO very often use dirty tricks (chemicals and antibiotics) on their crops that are very dangerous to make their business make more money - and it’s because they get away with it - US farmers will get slammed as they get tested and have more regulations to prevent this thus it’s generally safer IMO - Rant Over… oh and the waters in some areas of the world are more polluted, and certain fish contain more of the bad stuff, etc.), lean pork, and shrimp (again, same precautions about the fish).
I am however completely conscious of approx. how many cals I’m eating, but more importantly I’ve been very careful about exactly what foods I eat. As for calories, I go by feel assessing my energy and hunger levels. I do eat some nuts, but I’m very aware that it’s easy to go “nuts” on them and so I either count them, or weigh them into snack bag ziplocks. I also employ tricks like TKD - I time my macros in a very logical process which helps with body composition. Also the supplements I take also help with body composition in that they also naturally optimize certain hormone levels (insulin, GH, test, estrogen, etc)
Monday, March 22, 2010 -
Upper Body Push
[i]Today was a re-carb day after about 5-6 days of ~30 grams carbs per day (carbs only from veggies - this is a super low amount of carbs). For the carbs-up (if you can even call it that) I have 1.5 FINiBARs prior to each workout making my daily total probably about 150 grams or a little lower of carbs. Of course I take them with Receptormax (actually I use my own mix so I can get the amounts tailored how I like them.
I may try Receptormax in the future, as it’s a great product, but I like what I do now, it’s just a little tedious to have the extra bottles for each ingredient in the formula). I’m up to 200 mg 4-hydroxy and 600 mg cinnulin PF (and 100-300 mg R-ALA) for each time I have 60-80 grams carbs (the amount in 1.5-2 FINiBARs) preworkout.
As I reported earlier, I was worried that 200 mg 4-hydroxy and the other stuff would have on my blood sugar, but at this dose my blood sugar seems stable, although I worked up to this dose, so reader beware. Find what works for you. I only put the amounts I use because I wrote it earlier, but otherwise I generally don’t like to list amounts like this when it’s me coming up with the dosage, because I’m no expert and I don’t know if these amounts will work for anyone else.
note: 4-hydroxy also actually blocks absorption of some of the carbs, but I have no idea how much this effect is.[/i]
AM: Too sleepy to get my ass out of bed. But honestly I needed the sleep.
Noon: Shoulders
WU:
5 min bike (HR to 130)
5 min intense heavy bag work
Shoulders:
- Behind the neck press from pins (pins set at ear level):
1A) Ramped to 185X4
1B) 135X6 X5 superset with
1C) DB laterals: 25X6
[i]notes: Strength felt good. It was not very intense (obviously from the volume) compared to the workouts yesterday and saturday. Weighed 186.6 after the workout. I suspect I’ll gain another .5 pound tonight (water weight from the carb up). But I’m going to do 20 minutes of interval training after the weights so it may level back off (intervals burn a lot of glycogen - the purpose of timing them like this (after my workout on a high carb day) is to get me back to being keto as fast as possible - then I plan to do another medium carb day on Wednesday which is a leg day.)
I try to time the carb timing such that it’s on a day where I need a lot of energy and afterward I try to get keto again asap. IMO this is very effective for fat loss and makes fasted steady state the next morning even more effective as well.[/i]
PM: Chest and Triceps
- DB Incline: ramped to 110X5
- Superset: X4
2A) Low to high cable flies: 4X12
2B) Bosu Ball Push Ups X12 - BB Decline Negatives: 285X4 X3, 285X3 (only lifted the negative portion and about 25% of the positive, i.e. “upward” lifting, portion)
- Machine Chest Press ??X15-6 X4 (15-6 X4 means a traditional pyramid rep structure going from 15 reps with a light weight to 6 reps with a heavy weight. I usually stop 1 rep short of failure on all but the last rep)
Triceps:
- Rope Overhead Exts. (mechanical drop set - harder/strict form until failure, i.e. a) first 10-15 reps are performed strict such that hands are 8" apart until form begins to get too loose to maintain another proper rep, b) hands are brought together and as many more reps as possible are performed) 120-140 X max reps (around 25 in total) X4
- Straight bar pressdowns with meachical failure: too tired to describe this now, inquire if you care to know - 120X25 X4
Tuesday March 23, 2010
I’m really upping the cardio in the last two weeks. I saw an ad last night in a magazine of a guy who lost 44 pounds in 12 weeks, and I’m only at 35 at this point. If someone can lose 44 pounds and look great in the same time frame, then obviously others can do the same, so this has me worried. My intention is nothing less than winning this contest and getting completely shredded/diced/peeled.
AM: Cardio
- 30 minutes fasted intervals (HR @ ~155). I didn’t go too intense on them and I know there is a lot of potential to burn muscle doing them, but I’m just trying to do whatever it takes in the next few weeks
- 8 sets high rep machine bench (neutral, palms facing each other, grip): with minimal rest [75X40, 90X30, 105X20, 120X10] X2 Rested about 20-30 seconds between sets.
- 5 minutes intervals HR @? planned on 15 minutes here such that the workout would have been about an hour in total, but I got pretty tired.
Notes:
A) Very low on carbs and calories today. I’m trying nothing but MAG-10 and some EFAs including fish oil, and FA3. I might be crazy.
B) I didn’t sleep enough last night (5.5 hrs) and now I’m drained.
Noon: Cardio
- 15 minutes intervals HR 155-160 avg
- 5 minutes stairs
PM: Back and Biceps
Back:
- Pulldowns: Ramped to 270X3
- Machine Chins (on pulldown machine): ramped to 300X3
- Superset:
3A) T-Bar rows (with BB): 195X10, 240X10, 285X10
3B) pullups: 10XBW X3 - Straight Arm pulldowns: 140X15 X4
Biceps:
- DB Curls: 35X8, 40X8, 50X8(alternating curls in minisets of 2 per side), + giantset - 60X2, no rest 50X3, 40X8
- Lying back on bench cable curls: 140X10 X4, last set supersetted with chin/pulldowns 270X8
Low Carbed and low called it all day, had mostly CH shakes, although I had a finibar before the weights session though.
Dead tired, although I only slept 5 hrs last night. We’ll see what a good night does for me.
Wednesday March 24, 2010
AM: cardio (~15-20 min??) intervals on the stairs in my building (fasted)
Noon: cardio
-
15 minutes intervals (peak HR was 178 I think)
-
Back stuff: 10 minutes
2A) Close neutral grip pulldowns - 160X25,8,8 little rest
2B) Straight Arm Pulldowns: 60X15 X2? Can’t remember
2C) 1 arm DB Rows: 75X6, 85X6 X2 -
Heavy Bag (aka upper body sprints): 10 minutes (intense)
No carbs today to this point. I had a few 20 gram (total protein) MAG-10/CH shakes (5 grams HMB added to each), also “splurged” and had a MD shake and a few (6) almonds. I weighed 185.5 after the workout. Lunch I had a couple cups of raw cabbage with a few grams of EVOO and a TBS of vinegar, salt and pepper. Will have cabbage with a can of tuna @4:00, then I’ll have a finibar @6:00 and MAG-10/Anaconda @6:30 before the evening Leg session. It’s going…
PM: Legs
- Machine hack squats: ramped to 465X3 (3 45s and 3 25s per side) - 135X8 X 2, 145X8, 225X3, 275X3, 315X3, 365X3, 415X3, 465X3
- BB Front Squats (on free motion smith machine where war can move up down front and back but cannot tilt - pretty cool): Ramped to 355X3 - 105X6, 195X3, 245X3, 295X3, 335X3, 355X3
- BB RDLs: ramped to 355X2 - 105X8, 195X3, 245X3, 295X3, 335X3, 355X2
4a) Leg Press: ramped to 8 plates per side X5, 315X5, 405X5, 495X5, 585X5, 675X5, 765X5
b) Strip set (partner helped with one side, so i rested between sets as long as it took me to get up and strip one of the sides): 765X5, 675X5, 585X5, 405X5, 315X10 pause (don’t rack or lock out) 315X8 pause 315X6, 225X10 pause 225X8 pause 225X6 pause 225X30
Freaking dead. No energy for calves.
Thur. March 25, 2010
AM: Cardio 30 minutes HR 140 (fasted)
Noon: Upper Body Push
Chest:
- DB Incline Press: ramped to 110sX5 - 45X8, 55X4, 65X3, 75X3, 85X3, 95X3, 110X5
- Cable Flies (high to low): 120(per stack on a double pulley apparatus)X8, 110X6, 90X6, 120X6 with press down finisher, 60X6, 120X6 with press down finisher
- Leaning forward dips: BWX12 X3
- Partner assisted tricep dips (legs bent at 90 degrees and partner holds feet): BWX15-25 X3
Triceps:
- Superset: X2
a) Pullovers (PJRs): 75X16-22
b) Skull crushers: 70X6 - High Rep pressdowns*: 120X20 strict + 10 cheat reps, 180X12 strict + 100X10 cheat reps
*leaning forward and elbows are pointed toward the weight stack away from the body
PM: Shoulders
- Standing shoulder press: ramped to 185X3
- Standing behind the neck press: 95X5-6 X5
- Seated (iso) Shoulder press machine:
a) 90X6, 180X6, 230X6
b) 250X6, 230X6, 180X6 pause 4 pause 3, 90X2 pause 2 pause 2 pause 2 - DB Side Laterals: 20sX5-6 X5
Cool log. Great progress between the pics on 2/5 and 3/14. Good luck with the judging.