Hey guys. I just wanted to post what I am currently doing, along with some of my current goals, in order to get a little feedback on anything I’ve missed, since two sets of eyes are always better than one…
First, a little background. I have been lifting for about 8 years, been on T-Nation for about 4. I know quit a bit from reading and personal experience, but am always willing to try and learn new things. I am 5’10", and currently 250 lbs. I was fat in high school, began lifting harder and about 2 years ago got down to 10% bf and a size 31 inch waist. Since then, I have lifted very inconsistently and eaten very poorly, due in large part to being in college. I have recently realized how big I have become, and started lifting and eating hardcore again. Part of the issue I have is I tend to be an all or nothing person, so I have done the velocity diet and others in order to cut down, but as soon as I cheat, I lose it. Right now, I’m attempting to follow general guidelines, watching body fat and scale weight, in order to better develop habits and a healthy lifestyle I can continue well into my senior years. This plan is a focus on fat loss, but I am also trying to regain my strength. I really do not need any more size, so by keeping the weights heavy and calories low with sufficient protein, I hope to lose fat, and possibly gain a little strength along the way.
As far as nutrition goes, I am still a college student so I am eating on a budget, but am attempting to follow the Anabolic Diet, as my body seems to respond best to this form of eating. I carb-up between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday, for a total of 48 hours possible, but usually closer to 36. I am not currently counting calories, just eating a little every couple of hours while staying within diet guidelines, focusing on getting 200g of Protein a day, and close to 60g of fiber a day.
Exercise is basically, doing aerobic cardio in the morning and then lifting followed by intervals in the afternoon. I am on a 4 on, 1 off schedule, with one exercise for Abs every day. The basic split is Chest and Abs(Heavy), Back and Abs(Light), Legs and Abs(Heavy), Arms, Shoulders, and Abs(Light), Off, Chest and Abs(Light), Back and Abs(Heavy), etc. I also do Bike intervals on chest day, elliptical intervals on back day, treadmill intervals on leg day, and barbell complexes on arm and shoulder day. I currently do 1 min off, and 30 seconds on for 9 minutes, and then a 1 minute cool down at the end.
I am running in the mornings, right now to get back up to being able to run 2 miles, and eventually trying to improve my time. I also run on a 4 on, 1 off schedule, however the day off of running is on leg day.
I am currently taking HOT-ROX, Flameout, Se7en, ZMA, Superfood, Power Drive, Surge, a Multi, BCAAs, Vitamins C & E, and REZ-V. I tend to recover well, but don’t sleep as well as I should and then become over tired for the next day, hence the antioxidants and ZMA.
A typical schedule goes like:
8 AM-Wake up, 30 oz water, 2 HOT-ROX
815 - 6 BCAAs, DanActive
820 - Run, 25 Pushups, 25 Situps
840 - 1 Apple, 2 scoops Whey in Morning Spark, and Se7en
930 - Meal, Multi, 2 Flameout, 2 fiber tablets
11 - Vitamin C & E with a mouthful of Surge
1130 - Workout with 1 scoop Surge + 5g Creatine
1215 - Intervals
1230 - 1 scoop Surge and 5g Creatine and 25g Glutamine
130 - Superfood, Power Drive, Metamucil, Special K Protein Water
4 - HOT-ROX
430 - Meal
730 - Meal and Se7en
9 - ZMA
10 - 2 scoops Metabolic Drive, 2 tbsp Milled Flax Seeds, 2 Flameout, 2 fiber tablets
12 - Sleep
As far as goals, I currently have a 37 inch waist, and want to get back to a 31 like I had 2 years ago. I also want my weight to return to around 200. I have specific strength goals, such as a 405 deadlift, a 365 squat, a 315 bench, and 225 military, 5 sets of 5 Wide Grip Pull Ups with bodyweight, a 15 minute 2 mile run, and I want to improve my interval times, both lowering off time and raising on time, as well as improving resistance/speed. I want to get my 6 pack back, or improve on it as my lower abs were never defined, and improve my biceps, triceps, forearms, and calves to simply look better and be more defined.
My training, along with my current weights used, looks like:
Chest-
5x5 DB Flys (20,30,40,45,50)
5x5 DB Bench (60,70,80,85,90)
1x18 Pec Deck (80)
1x18 Push Ups
1xFailure Chest Dips
Abs-
Heavy-5x5 Decline Bench (10)
Light-3x10 Decline Bench with twist
Back-
5x5 Pull Ups (-50,-40,-30,-20,-10)
5x5 Bent Over Row (0,45,95,115,135)
3x10 DB Shrugs (60,70,80)
3x10 Seated Low Row (100,130,150)
2x15 Good Mornings (65,65)
Abs-
Light-3x10 Medicine Ball Crunches with a twist
Heavy-5x5 Medicine Ball Crunches with a twist (10)
Legs-
5x5 Deadlift (45,135,185,225,275)
5x5 Squat (45,135,185,225,275)
3x10 Leg Curls (80,90,100)
3x10 Leg Extensions (80,90,100)
Old School Calf Blast Workout for my calves
Abs-
Heavy-5x5 Machine Crunches (0,5,10,15,20)
Light-3x10 Hanging Leg Raises
Shoulders-
5x5 Rear Delts (75,80,85,90,95)
5x5 DB Military Press (50,55,60,65,70)
Arms-
3x10 Machine Preacher Curls (25,50,75)
3x10 Triceps Pushdown with Rope (75,90,105)
5x5 Reverse Curls (20,30,40,50,60)
Abs-
Light-3x10 Hanging Leg Raises
Heavy-5x5 Machine Crunches (0,5,10,15,20)
The basic idea is I do well with low reps and have a decent tolerance for volume, so the first 2 or 3 sets are warmup/feel sets. As soon as I am one rep short of failure or I actually fail, the exercise is over. Also, I can only go up by a maximum of the last raise. For instance if the first set I do 100 lbs, and then the next I do 130 lbs, I can raise the weight for the next set by a maximum of 30 lbs (130 lbs - 100 lbs = 30 lbs). Since this is a fat loss focused plan, I rest 15-60 sec in between all sets, so I am still breathing hard all workout.
I won’t keep the weight the same for two consecutive sets except under certain circumstances, and I will never go down in weight on the same exercise. Right now I can do 9 dips before failure on chest day, and I want to be doing 5x5 of 100 lb DBs for bench, and then get 30 reps of dips at the end.
If I achieve my weight loss goals before the strength ones, I will add in a few calories and lower cardio until I reach those goals, then once again diet down, etc. As I said earlier, I am trying to improve for life, so this general type of plan will give me guidelines for improvement, but any of the exercises can be swapped out or changed in order to keep improving and the diet can be tweaked as well.
Please let me know if you have any questions, or more importantly, if you have any suggestions that I implement in order to reach my goals better. One thing, I do not have any pictures as I do not currently own a camera. Suffice it to say I still look big, but have stretch marks around my lower abs and obliques now from a year and a half of bad habits. Needless to say, I am desperately in need of any and all help if necessary. Thanks.