roger, next week i’ll take a board to put under my toes…
is there any benefit from the extra calf work?
[quote]Jermicide wrote:
roger, next week i’ll take a board to put under my toes…
is there any benefit from the extra calf work?[/quote]
Growth?
Strength?
The main problem with coming up on your toes when squatting is that it makes for a very unstable position to move a bunch of weight on. Cross sectional area leads to stability. Stability leads to higher weight and safer squat. coming up on your toes decreases cross sectional area.
I may have misinterpreted the above statement, but don’t bring a board to put under your toes to keep your heels on the floor. That will also lead to a decreased cross sectional area touching the floor. Instead, mentally monitor your squat to make sure you feel the weight in your heel and not your toes.
And… it’s totally possible your calves got worked out from squatting correctly. They play a role in the squat too. You ever got an arm pump from doing rows? Same principle.
cool, i’ll just count the calf exercise as a bonus then! i’m pretty sure my heels are staying on the floor. I will make certain of it next time, thanks.
scratch the board, i was wondering how i’d explain bringing a 2x4 with me into the chrome-gym anyway.
[quote]Jermicide wrote:
dad was a metal worker… his personal best was flipping 1000+ pound sheets of steel up on end, built like a bull with hands like a bear, he could deadlift over 700 pounds, 750 is the target i’m going for.
dad has never been in gym, came about it the hard way, feeding the family.
[/quote]
Now THAT is awesome! I wish you much luck in reaching that goal!
Drop carbs to almost nothing except before workout. The body preferentially uses carbs for energy because they are cheap to break down. Incoming fats and unused carbs are stored as fat, the carbs being lipidized through the mediation of insulin. Insulin is anabolic for proteins AND fat. Makes muscle grow bigger and fat grow bigger. Insulin occurs as a response to high blood sugar and blood sugar levels are almost directly related carb intake. Eating Fat does not make you fat - carbs do.
Drop carbs, increase fats and protein. Eat a carb/protein mix of food or shake before the workout (10 min to 1/2 hour before) and continue light carb/heavy protein 4 hours after workout. Protein and low fat, veggies and fruit only after that.
By doing carb depletion during non-exercise hours you are forcing the body to burn fats for fuel, decreasing cellular insulin resistance and setting up to create an muscle anabolic state. Weight training sends the signal to the body that it needs to retain the muscle tissue so it will burn fat for fuel by de-lipidizing it and converting it to glygogen instead of breaking down muscle to do it.
Carbs to 10% or more ideally 5% of diet. There will be an initial carb-craving period and then you will find that your body has a nice even flow of energy through the days when it starts burning fat for fuel.
And 10x10 on any exercise is NOT for beginners as a rule, though some can handle it at the beginning. 2-5 sets of 5-12 reps 2-3 times a week might work better for you
What Skidmark just wrote is right on. Low-carbing it is the way to go when cutting.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1615551
Here is a link to an article by Christian Thibadau. You may have read it before. The point I wish to bring to your attention comes when he’s talking about carbs during a cutting cycle. Specifically, he recommends 30g or less each day, for the reasons stated above my Skidmark.
So when people’ve mentioned ‘your diet needs work’ I’m assuming (and I could be wrong) they’re pointing out that your carb intake, while low, is high for the goals you’re reaching for. Drop the bread, the Special K bar, and replace them with veggies and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Good luck. You’ve got one hell of a time in front of you.
Man, when I saw your pic I wondered how somebody got an old picture of me and why didn’t I remember having that one taken. No shit… you could be my twin right down to the beard.
I started trying to get back in shape last summer and just floundered until I found this place.
These guys are dead on. Go low carb.
I had trouble trying to lose weight and build strength all at the same time and just about wasted all last Summer and Fall. New years day I was 43, 5’10", and weighed 278. I could squat 180, and clean and press about 150. I’m down to about 250, can squat 250 5X5, and did my first 200 pound clean and press tonight.
I was in pretty bad shape… I still am. But here are some things that have worked for me so far and I wish I had started like this.
Go low carb. Sometimes I even go to the point of just eating 4-5 cans of tuna or chicken a day for 3 or 4 days and go no carb. I can’t seem to lose weight steady, but I can lose it in spurts. In between, try to keep your carbs below 35gr a day. Get a lot of fats. Look up the Anabolic diet.
I have a hard time with volume late in the week on a low carb diet. So I do 5x5 on Monday, 3x3 on Wednesday with the same weight I used Monday as a recovery day, and try for a PR every Friday for a low volume heavy day doing 1x3-4
Pick a couple of compound exercises and stick to just them. I like squats, I rotate between power cleans and clean and push press, bent over rows, and I deadlift on Fridays.
Pick one of these exercises to focus on for a couple of weeks… say squats. Do them first in your rotation, and work your ass off on them. Then just do as much as you can with the other couple of exercises you are doing. After a couple of weeks pushing squats as hard as you can, do the power cleans first for a while. After a couple of weeks of that, spend a couple of weeks really focusing on your diet and fat lose. Still lift while you are doing it, but for those few weeks while you are losing fat back off some so you aren’t about to shit a kidney when you squat.
Brother, I am in the same boat as you are. Best of luck!
[quote]sofort99 wrote:
Man, when I saw your pic I wondered how somebody got an old picture of me and why didn’t I remember having that one taken. No shit… you could be my twin right down to the beard.
I started trying to get back in shape last summer and just floundered until I found this place.
These guys are dead on. Go low carb.
I had trouble trying to lose weight and build strength all at the same time and just about wasted all last Summer and Fall. New years day I was 43, 5’10", and weighed 278. I could squat 180, and clean and press about 150. I’m down to about 250, can squat 250 5X5, and did my first 200 pound clean and press tonight.
I was in pretty bad shape… I still am. But here are some things that have worked for me so far and I wish I had started like this.
Go low carb. Sometimes I even go to the point of just eating 4-5 cans of tuna or chicken a day for 3 or 4 days and go no carb. I can’t seem to lose weight steady, but I can lose it in spurts. In between, try to keep your carbs below 35gr a day. Get a lot of fats. Look up the Anabolic diet.
I have a hard time with volume late in the week on a low carb diet. So I do 5x5 on Monday, 3x3 on Wednesday with the same weight I used Monday as a recovery day, and try for a PR every Friday for a low volume heavy day doing 1x3-4
Pick a couple of compound exercises and stick to just them. I like squats, I rotate between power cleans and clean and push press, bent over rows, and I deadlift on Fridays.
Pick one of these exercises to focus on for a couple of weeks… say squats. Do them first in your rotation, and work your ass off on them. Then just do as much as you can with the other couple of exercises you are doing. After a couple of weeks pushing squats as hard as you can, do the power cleans first for a while. After a couple of weeks of that, spend a couple of weeks really focusing on your diet and fat lose. Still lift while you are doing it, but for those few weeks while you are losing fat back off some so you aren’t about to shit a kidney when you squat.
Brother, I am in the same boat as you are. Best of luck![/quote]
Sofort,
Great first post. Some solid advice there. Couldn’t agree with you more about lowering the carbs. Good job with your own efforts, and welcome to T-Nation.
[quote]sofort99 wrote:
Man, when I saw your pic I wondered how somebody got an old picture of me and why didn’t I remember having that one taken. No shit… you could be my twin right down to the beard.
[/quote]
a shitty beard i must say, unless of course it was on a big and cut guy.
lol, oops I really didn’t mean to sound like a dick on that last post. B/c of those damn internet barriers i couldn’t express my joking demeanor through body language, anyways just keep working hard… and stick to it for more than fucking 3 weeks.
there i go again…
[quote]daneq wrote:
a shitty beard i must say, unless of course it was on a big and cut guy.[/quote]
haha yes… the FAT GUY GOATEE to try and FOOL THE WORLD INTO THINKING WE STILL HAVE A CHIN!
yeah, when i get in shape, i’m definitely losing the goat first thing
Egg, whole, cooked, poached ( 2 large egg )
Fish Oil Geltabs ( 2 serving )
EAS Whey Protein Scoops ( 2 serving )
Cobb salad with dressing ( 2 cup )
Crustaceans, crab, alaska king, imitation, made from surimi ( 2 oz )
EAS Whey Protein Scoops ( 2 serving )
Spinach, raw ( 2 cup )
Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted ( 1 breast, bone and skin removed )
Fish Oil Geltabs ( 2 serving )
EAS Whey Protein Scoops ( 2 serving )
Egg, whole, raw ( 1 large )
i get a grand total of 1757 kcals, 72g fat, 42g carb, 234g protein
that’s 7% carbs, but still higher than Thib’s recommended 30g limit… The cobb salad had 11g, could’ve cut back on that a bit, but we were stuck out for lunch unexpectedly, and it was the healthiest thing i could find at the diner.
i really didn’t ever think “i’m hungry” today, felt pretty full all day… Thinking i need another couple hundred calories somehow, just now sure how.
i can finally walk without locking my knees after wendesday’s squat & deadlift routine! chest & triceps are sore from friday, but back & biceps are fine, guess i need to go heavier on back & biceps.
breakfast is 3 eggs fried in olive oil, slice of provolone & lean canadian bacon 30g fat, 3g carb, 31g protein for 414 kcals.
scratching the english muffin really helped that fall in line.
throw in the protein at mid morning and the ratios are falling in line much better today!
looking forward to hitting the gym tomorrow, was really surprised at the bench presses and stuff on friday, i think i might manage to squeeze out some dips.
Very good.
It’s incredible to see you put the information from the articles into practice so soon.
not really, one thing i do KNOW for a fact, what i’ve tried in the past DIDN’T WORK…
that being the case, I’ll give someone else’s idea a shot.
I’m stoked there’s good information here…
Waking up, 3 hardboiled eggs and a cup of coffee for breakfast… Body is thankful for the weekend off, today i’m doing uppers, dips and assisted pullups or pulldowns or whatever i manage.
Legs feel back to almost normal, been stretching them every day prepping for the utter annihilation on wednesday. Hoping i won’t be as crippled for 4-5 days this time, but at the same time, i love feeling the muscle ache. The soreness helps me visualize that muscle in my mind, instead of seeing the fat covering it. When the chest, shoulders, arms, thighs, and calves are all sore and fatigued from a good solid workout week, it’s like radar pinging out from underneath that fat, letting me know they’re there. Muscles growing, drinking the calories from the fat conversion my increasing metabolism is throwing out.
It’s only been a week and my pants are fitting better and i slipped a notch on the belt, despite very little movement on the weight scale. I’m stoked, I’ll trade a pound of muscle for a pound of fat ANY DAY! If the fates were kind and the gods of iron smile upon me, i’ll trade 50-60 pounds of fat for muscle!
oh yeah, and
WEEK 2 BEGINS!
WEEK 1 IS AWESOME! 242 down to 238 in the first week, I’ll take it considering I was way high on my carbs for the first half of the week,
I’m sitting right at 50g fat 29g carb and 249g protein for the day, a little more fat and protein feeding in for tonight.
Feeling awesome after my 5x5 assisted dips and chins too. I did a sort of NEPA walk on the treadmill after, not a whole lot of time for the gym, on a death march project here at the office I’m afraid, wish i could’ve spent some time in the steam room.
I’m guessing yesterday is typical of your current diet. If so, eat more fat.
I realize this sounds like a strange thing to say, over half your total caloric intake is from protein. While this may SEEM cool, it isn’t, because your body starts using protein for fuel instead of to rebuild muscle tissue. This is both
- Inefficient, because fat is a MUCH better fuel source than protein (hence some mental fogginess and lethargy even AFTER you’re fat adapted- should come in 10 days) and
2)Dangerous to any LBM you have, because it’ll look to catabolize muscle tissue for it’s protein.
I think CT recommends getting a 50/50 split between carbs and fats, whic’d mean you’d need to… pretty much double your fat intake.
EDIT: Yeah, I’m a moron. 50/50 split between protein and fats. I got 4 hours of sleep the day before I made this post.
I’m starting to sound like Aragorn.
Sorry about that.
raise fats… ok got it… I am taking the fish oil, but the needing significant fat as fuel source while low carb intake does jive logically.
4 strips of bacon with my eggs this morning, fat should be good today, heh. I sure wanted those hash-browns too, but I want the body more!
I really appreciate the pointers while I get this dialed in!