Oooh, cold front coming through these last few days.
My basement gym was a smoking hot 41 degrees Fahrenheit!
Doesn’t matter, after a few sets I am sweating due to keeping a brisk (pun intended) pace and using active rest exercises.
MALTESE CROSS
On another note, I am falling in love with the maltese cross now that I am putting my arms back towards my sides. Absolutely no pain and great muscle stimulation.
Any one else trying this?
This is a cool thread man, its cool to see that you get in an insane amount of calories. If i were to take in that much, I’d probably end up looking like Kevin James after a year or so.
[quote]Sarev0k wrote:
This is a cool thread man, its cool to see that you get in an insane amount of calories. If i were to take in that much, I’d probably end up looking like Kevin James after a year or so.[/quote]
Thanks for checking in.
I am doing another refeed today and will probably bump up my normal daily carb/calorie intake because I just seem to be dropping weight like it’s going out of style.
Weighed in at 178.5 this morning. Was sitting at around 181.5 before that and the goal for this week was to remain right around 181. I really don’t want to be this low right now, plan is to gradually get to mid 170’s by mid April.
Did L-sits holds superset with weighted serratus crunches last night, had a nice pump in the abs and had veins showing in multiple places.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Q: When was the avatar pic taken and how do you feel it relates to your intended condition for the show?
I ask because you are IMO competition lean in your avatar and I would be impressed if you got significantly leaner.
Glad you got to look up ‘ischemic’. I like that word 
BBB[/quote]
Great question.
That avatar was taken October 2010 (more like it in this thread: Thanks CT! These Methods Work! - Christian Thibaudeau Coaching - Forums - T Nation )
I was 170 pounds in that photo.
I am sitting around 181 right now, and objectively, I am in almost identical conditioning. Some areas are better and some need some work, but most are right on. For example, my hamstrings look better right now IMO, however, my back doesn’t quite have the “fan” striations yet. Abs and obliques are nearly identical, same with chest/arms and delts. I hope to bring even better conditioning with a few extra pounds of muscle as well.
I don’t think I will be significantly leaner, but it should be visible. In particular, I do hope for my legs to show more definition and I hope the added size along with better conditioning makes for nice overall improvement since my last cut.
I will post some more pictures for reference.
I don’t have the fan striations seen in this picture.
However, my hamstrings are better (and I hope my arms are bigger, lol!)
Glutes (not that you can see them) are still holing some fat that wasn’t there when I was at 170.
I’d say my side pretty much looks like this (i.e. delt, arms, obliques)
DEADLIFTS WITH CHAINS ARE AWESOME
I’ve been working with right around 340 for my regular HFS sets, so I thought 290 plus 50 pounds of chains would be a great start. Even though it should have been easier since the begining of the ROM was lighter, between the accomodating resistance and this being my first attempt at chained deadlift, it was a nice challenge. I was still explosive, but it took a much more focused effort (or intellectually involved as CT would say) to make sure my form was solid and that I finished hard with my glutes/hams. I really enjoyed it.
I feel like I have been intellectually involved in my lifts, but the chain experience helped improve that concept.
DROPPING WEIGHT
I think I finally get why I am dropping weight:
So three factors burning more energy while I continued to take in the same amount, equals a greater deficit than I had planned for.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
That is a damned impressive picture my friend, well done!
I have a long way to go, to achieve that. However we did take pics in the gym tonight, which I will (finally) post in my thread.
BBB[/quote]
Thanks! Looking forward to seeing your pictures.
I believe in G-Flux but haven’t given much thought to how it applies to my current diet versus my previous diet until Serge mentioned the term in a recent conversation.
G-FLUX AT IT’S BEST!
At nine weeks from my previous “contest”, I was training almost daily like I am now. But the difference in explosiveness and other factors such as workout density (I use a lot of supersets/active rest now) have created a scenario where I am burning a ton more calories. More in, more out, equals more G-flux and better body composition in my book.
At nine weeks out, I weighed the same that I weigh now, 180-181. However, I was eating:
2265 calories, 86 fat, 172 carbs, 201 protein
Now I am eating:
3142, 123, 291, 220
However, even that doesn’t paint an accurate picture, because I’ve had to have about 4 refeed days in the past 2 weeks. Refeed looked like this:
4763, 133, 632, 261
Plus, I made an extra bowl of outmeal on about 3 afternoons with about 380 to 400 calories.
Factoring in the refeeds and oatmeal, I actually averaged:
3687 calories and 397 grams of carbs over the last 2 weeks.
1400 more calories and 225 more grams of carbs than last diet at the same weight and same time frame!
And in the last two weeks, my bodyweight average was 186.1 on January 30th and 182.1 on February 13th. During the previous cut, I went from 182.4 on July 19th 2010 to 181.0 on August 2nd.
So it is not like I am comparing apples to oranges either. In fact, I had MORE WEIGHT LOSS while consuming more carbs and calories.
NUTRIENT PARTITIONING
There’s no point in eating more if you aren’t trying to drive the nutrients where they are supposed to go. I’ve tried my best to become a nutrient partitioning machine in the last year and a half, by doing such things as:
Condensing nutrients around workouts
Intermittent Fasting
Chromium
Fish Oil
Apple Cider Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Explosive Lifting
The only attempts at nutrient partitioning I was doing in 2010 were using Chromium and Fishoil. I wasn’t really condensing nutrients around workouts, rather I was eating spaced out meals as I had always assumed I should. I hadn’t even heard of Intermittent Fasting yet, apple cider vinegar and lemon juice, while probably small players in fat loss/overall health, weren’t in my mix. And while I tried to lift smart, I definitely grinded out more reps than I should have.
What a difference a year makes!
CHAINS ARE AWESOME!
OK, so I said deadlifts with chains are awesome in a post above. Well, chains in general are awesome. I’ve been benching with chains almost exclusively for over three weeks (so about 9 bench sessions). Switching back to regular bench, I was SUPER explosive. It was great, the chains really helped.
Also, I tried squats with chains today, they were the easiest of the big three for me. I guess they naturally complement not only the strength curve of the exercise but my natural strength curve.
ISCHEMIC FUN - (thanks BBB!)
Took an occluded walk last night, it was raining and not conducive to tire dragging since the wet roads cuts down on friction too much and makes it easy. I wrapped my upper thighs super tight and after about 1 minute was feeling the tension in my legs. 29 minutes later, I finished my walk and struggled to get up my steps. It was awesome.
Also got in my L-sit/Serratus Crunch superset and posing practice.
Tim,
What kind of wraps do you do for this. Sounds very interesting.
@ Colin
Just regular red line knee wraps. However, instead of wrapping your knees, you wrap your upper thigh nice and snug.
Google:
Occlusion Training
The first result you will get is a Layne Norton article describing it in Ironman Magazine. He outlines a basic protocol which I use for weight training occlusion.
Also, Google:
Practical Occlusion Training
The first result you will get is a scientific paper. It discussed the benefits of occluded walking which I did last night.
Great post about Gflux and workouts. Completely agree. Been doing a lot of the same thing with Carb backloading and even taken that to a further extreme in nutritent partioning (or attempted.) Eating anywhere from 400-600g carbs every day and 4000 cals. I am recomping. Not really my goal but cool to see. Keep up the good work man. You will be insanely shredded.
[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Great post about Gflux and workouts. Completely agree.[/quote]
Thanks for the compliment.
[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Been doing a lot of the same thing with Carb backloading and even taken that to a further extreme in nutritent partioning (or attempted.) Eating anywhere from 400-600g carbs every day and 4000 cals. I am recomping. Not really my goal but cool to see.[/quote]
I’d love to hear more about your attempt at extreme nutrient partitioning. I do try to keep up with your log and I’ve read that you aren’t sharing diet info right now after a recent discussion with CS.
Regarding your log, your abs are looking unbelievable! Great work! I’d let you know in your log, but I can’t post there.
[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Keep up the good work man. You will be insanely shredded.[/quote]
I hope so, that’s the plan!
Yeah the no posting in there. Appreciate the compliments.
The diet doesnt agree with the Biotest dogma of lots of supps so that makes CS disagree with it right away. Basically it can really only be done by someone with a crazy appetite. Its mostly and IF with carb backloading. So fast from 930-12 or 1ish. Have a salad. Then i see how long i can make it after that and have some sort of higher fat meat about 6-8oz. 20min pre training i have some hydro whey and BCAAs. During training nothing. After training is where is the fun begins. I end training around 6ish then start pounding food (mostly carbs) to 930 or so. 400-600g of carbs in that window along with a modest amount of pro. I dont really add fat but from my counting i come out to 60+g so i dont really see a need to add more. The carbs are mostly rice/potatoes/oatmeal (insane quantities) and then some low fat ice cream or kids cereal if i still feel like i want some extra carbs. Basically 90% of my daily calorie are coming in post workout in about 3hrs.
[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
@ Colin
Just regular red line knee wraps. However, instead of wrapping your knees, you wrap your upper thigh nice and snug.
Google:
Occlusion Training
The first result you will get is a Layne Norton article describing it in Ironman Magazine. He outlines a basic protocol which I use for weight training occlusion.
Also, Google:
Practical Occlusion Training
The first result you will get is a scientific paper. It discussed the benefits of occluded walking which I did last night.[/quote]
I read it and will definitely try it. Have you ever tried it on calves and if so how?
Hope the prep is going well. I am still cutting at about 1lb per week, slow and steady. Waist has already shrunk 1.5 inches and I’ve yet to cut cals/carbs or increase activity.
@ Ryan
Sounds awesome to me! Can’t go wrong with tons of rice/potatoes/oats after a hard session.
@ Colin
Glad you read it.
Yes I tried it with calves, honestly, doesn’t seem to do as much for them. Probably because there is less to restrict. When you wrap your thigh, you are really restricting blood flow, but for calves, you wrap you knee area so there doesn’t seem to be as much tissue you are restricting.
Glad your prep is going well. Milk it for all it’s worth before cutting calories or increasing activity, you’ve got the right idea.
Here’s what I have been up to lately
Video is:
Squats with Chains - from two angles
220 (+50) x 3 reps, paused at bottom, trying to explode up
Maltese Cross Progression Practice - 1 set, 3 “reps” so to speak
(Hopefully you can see how I try to bring my arms back at about a 45 degree angle)
Tire Sprint forward followed by Tire Drag backward
New Posing Video:
Went through the poses a little quicker so the video wouldn’t be so long.
Definitely getting more comfortable with the posing. Looking good.
S
