Fat Kid looking for input

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I just found T-MAG and T-NATION a couple of months ago and I am very impressed with all the info and members. After months of research I am going to try and put the knowledge attained to work for me and my body. After trying BFL last year, I shedded a bunch of scale weight and absolutely gained 0 strength and muscle.
I am 27 years old and weigh 197 pounds with a bf% of 22%. I do not care what I weigh. I just want that bf% down to 10-13%. I know that is a hefty goal but I am sick and tired of feeling horrible about my body and I am ready to do this T style. I will list my plans below and would greatly appreciate any advice you guys and gals can give me. One note, I have a surgically reconstructed shoulder, so exercises that are extremely hard on the shoulders are tough for me to accomplish. Well, here we go:

Workout
3x10,8,6 unless noted
Monday
Barbell Bench
Incline Bench
Military Press
Side Raise
French Curl
Overhead Tri
Crunch 3x20
Knee Ups 3x20

Tuesday
Full Squat
Leg Curls
Lat Pulldown
Shrugs
Straight Barbell Curl
Hammer Curls
Standing Calf Raise 3x20
Seated Calf Raise 3x20

Thursday
Wide Grip Barbell Bench
Close Grip Barbell Bench
Upright Rows
Front Raises
Triceps Pushdown
Triceps Kickback
Side Raises 3x20
Russian Twists 3x20

Friday
Deadlift
Lunges
Seated Cable Rows
Reverse DB flyes
Incline Curls
Preachers Curls
Single Leg Calf Raise 3x20

Cardio
HIIT 20 minutes on Wed and Sat

Diet
T-Dawg 2.0
1800-2100 Calories
290 G Protein a day
100 G Carbs on Lifting days
70 G Carbs on Non-lifting days(Most carbs to be eaten in the morning)
70 G Fat
6 meals a day 2.5-3 hours apart(7 on lifting days)

Supplements
Hot Rox(Hopefully Red Bands soon!)
Low Carb Grow
Surge
Creatine
multi-v
Fish Oil

Well there it is. I am starting Monday so if I get any adivce I can change things. Thank you to all the members and the T-Mag staff. Hopefully I’ll have guts to post some pics of my progress from beginning to end.

2

If you’re dieting, you need to lower the reps to something like a 5x5 scheme and reduce the exercises! The 3 x 10,8,6 scheme tends to give you lots of muscular soreness and if you try to do that with HIIT… you’ll cry.

Look at a program like ABBH for cutting.

3

I’d suggest doing less than 10 reps per set. I’m no expert, but I’ve read a lot about how keeping to low reps/heavy weight while cutting will help you maintain your strength and muscle mass. The high reps cause more muscle damage, and since you’re not eating much, this isn’t something you really want to do.

4

Welcome to T-mag eastierock.

Looks good to me. Most muscles you train with two exercises but Tuesday you have only squat for quads, I would increase the sets a bit to 6-7 and exchange legcurl for romanian deadlifts. I would also ditch the triceps kickbacks, IMHO they are quite useless!

These are just MY oppinions, try the program and tweak it as you go.

Good luck. The only limitations you have are the ones you’re giving yourself.

5

Yes, fewer exercises, lower rep range, more sets per exercise, and a little energy systems work…

And by the way, congratulations on your decision, you say it will be difficult, and it will, but I think you can do it because you have something very important going for you…discomfort. To make a big change like the one you are pursuing you need to be very uncomfortable and it sounds like you are…

Best of Luck

6

i would suggest trying a program like fat to fire or meltdown training. dropping that much body fat will take awhile, so do not rely on one training method. start with higher reps and after 8 - 10 weeks change it up, ala john berardi’s training protocol. i would also suggest morning cardio on mon, tues, thur, fri, sat, with sunday and wednesday completely off. you can alternate between hiit and regular cardio, depending on how you feel. finally, you should drop the amount of lifts to start and if you feel like adding more, go ahead.
i am at about the same stats as you and am looking to lose the same amount of fat. i did bfl 2 years ago, lost 36 pounds of fat and added 4 pounds of muscle. i have not given training the same enthusiasm since, but i feel the same as you!

7

First of all, its awesome to see you’ve made the first step and posted on here. Posting your goals here will make it harder for you to quit!
I’m not one for technical advice, but what i can say is this. Doing this can be frustrating and exciting at the same time, but just dont expect to see results so soon! too many people dont see anything after a few weeks and give up. It you are persistent and determined, you will see the results you are looking for eventually. Just dont give up man!

8

good job. what was previously said, i wont repeat anything. but i do think that you program would be better if u did specific body parts on specific days, not all over the place. but hey, this is good too.

9

I have torn labrums in both shoulders, and while they’ve never been reconstructed, they are both pretty unstable. I notice you do a lot of barbell benching. What I found, as far as my shoulders, were concerned, was that inc bb bench KILLED my shoulder (hell, thats how i hurt one of em in the first place.) My solution was to switch to DBs for a long time, which seem to have helped as I’ve gone beck to BB benching recently since i just started WSB. I dont know why, whether it brought up my stabilizer muscles, or whether the limited range of motion ( i went to upper arms parallel to ground, not dbs to chest) but any wya, id advise that. as long as youre looking for body composition change and not powerlifting style strength, who cares what your ROM is? finally, with DBs you can turn your palms in for a semi supinated grip, thats if your shoulders are really messed up, mine were never that bad. Anyone disagree with any of that?

10

Lift Heavy. Do compound movements. High sets. Low Reps. Stay consistent. Fat loss will come with diet manipulation. It’s that easy.

11

Hey,

Yeah about everything everyone else said.I dunno I jus finished an 8 week OVT and have gotten the best results over an 8 week period as I’ve ever gotten,even including when I first started.Might be something to think about,I dunno where your just kind of starting out might be a bit intense for ya.Also I agree with the guy who said lose the kickbacks.I too think they are kinda worthless,theres a ton of better tricep excersises.Maybe decline DB extensions or something like that.They are probably my faves.

12

As always, its what works best for you and quite honestly, with as much room for improvement as you have, no offense, you can do quite a lot to get results, you don’t need the best plan to make progress.

If you can honestly stick to what you have, terrific, go in there, bang it out, and knock that fat off. The important thing is to get started. That being said, I would agree with most people on the following: You will lose or gain weight based on your diet, not your work out regimen. You will lose muscle or fat based on your work out, not your diet. Most people tend to agree that your best bet when going into a cutting phase is low reps and more sets. I am not saying sets of 3 but I wouldn’t really do more than 6 to a set with a few exception, eg ab work.

Also, I would up your HIIT to 4 times a week. If you knock down your reps of each set, you’ll have a little extra time to take on 15 minute cardio sessions to the end of work outs. If you are dead after your sessions, do the cardio later (or much ealier), however you like, but I would definitely suggest a more cardio.

Ultimately though, considering this is your starting point, you have a lot of room for adjustment and error in the begining. When you start to plateau and stop gaining/losing, then yes, a more efficate or perhaps all together new stimulation is needed but for now, pick something you can stick with and get in there.

Also, unless you already have it/you have money to burn, you don’t have to start with Hot-Rox. Again, you are in no need of help right now, just sound nutrtion and exercise. Spend the money when you are at 10 percent and want to drop to 7 and want to keep the muscle, but now? Well its your choice but I would get the cornerstones in place first before spending money on catalysts. Best of luck!

J