A couple years ago I was big into lifting heavy and getting as big as possible, which included eating anything and everything. I went from a high school senior of 185 lbs benching 185 and never squatting to a college junior weighing 220 and benching 300 with a front squat of 315. Because of many reasons (one of them being laziness), I stopped lifting consistently.
Just recently, I’ve decided it’s time to get back in shape. I’m eating very strictly and the goal is to have a 6 pack on April 11. From there, I will bulk cleanly and try to get my weight and strength back where it used to be.
I’m keeping a log here to help track my own progress and get advice from all of you. I’m going to post pictures, my diet will be posted, and post my workouts.
Morning Supplements: 6g fish oil, glucosamine, multivitamin
(Cal, Protein/Carb/Fat)
Breakfast - 370, 37/5.5/18
Snack 1 - 622, 25/22/47
Lunch - 345, 41.5/38/1
Snack 2 - 600, 58/7/19
Dinner - Whatever my parents are making that night (will not eat high carb though)
Night - Chicken or cottage cheese for snack (High protein, low carb)
Two times not during my workouts I will take 5g BCAA and 5g creatine.
Sorry, the total for my daily nutrition is: 1887 cal; 162g protein; 74.5g carbs; 91g fat
**Not counting Surge on workout days or Dinner with family
Also, at the moment I am 6’2" 205 pounds
My workout will go as follows:
Monday - Legs and Shoulder Press
Tuesday - 45 minutes of cardio (Slight elevation walking) with AB ripper
Wednesday - 45 minutse of cardio with AB ripper
Thursday - Back and Bi’s
Friday - Neural Charge Training with AB ripper
Saturday - Chest and Tri’s
Sunday - P90X Core Synergistics
**I will also try and do one another AB session at night somewhere throughout the week
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are rough for me because I have my Nursing School Clinical from 7am-7pm and I live an hour from the hospital. However, I still got my meals in and I have decided to take the cottage cheese out of my breakfast and put it as my nighttime snack.
Today, I also ate this “New World” Chili for dinner. About 30g carbs, 25g protein, and 300 calories. Was my only meal that have a significant amount of carbs.
Cardio only today - 4 mph @ 4.0 inclince for 40 minutes. Just noticed that’s weird.
One Legged Hamstring Curls
35x10
25x10
30x10 (just right!)
Seated DB Press
55x10
60x9
65x6
70x5
75x3
Rear Delt Fly (Bent over)
20x10,10
25x10
ss w/ lateral raises
10x25,25
15x25
Jump Rope/ One Legged Dumbbell Hop
JR 1 min / 15lbs x 30 sec. each leg x 3 (really good!)
I have a day devoted to doing neural charge time workouts and have really enjoyed it, but I think I’m going to start doing some weighted carry stuff also! Pretty excited to try that!
Dude, your training reminds me of what a lot of guys I used to swim with did: an ernest effort but misguided priorities.
First off, the Ab Ripper thing has gotta go. The Abs are just like any other muscle. Tony Horton doesn’t have any secrets for you.
Second, you gotta emphasize the lower body. Doing Shoulders and Legs on the same day doesn’t really do your Legs Justice. While you’re still handling the weights you are now for squats, you can easily train your legs multiple times a week.
Finally, 40-45 minutes of cardio is unnecessary. Bodybuilders only do that much cardio when they’re deep into their contest prep. And every other athlete, whether they throw javlin, fight, play ball, or even run the 1 mile, won’t be found doing cardio for 45 uninterrupted minutes.
Your rank as a Novice in the training world is based off how you respond to training stress. To a novice training isn’t very stressful since he cannot yet handle sufficiently heavy weights to demand a long recovery. So a young 20-something squatting 315 for multiple sets of 5 might be a novice because this isn’t that stressful, whereas a 45-year-old man whose best 5RM is 185 might not be able to train as a novice because his training is more stressful to him. It’s not an ego thing. Being a novice is good.
And at 6’2" 200ish pounds you won’t be able to put on Muscle and get strong eating under 2000 calories a day.
Getting on a regimented diet takes a lot of dedication. So much that you might be better off just eating sensibly, making sure you get in a lot of protein, and going by feel for the rest of your food. This works well for a lot of people. Hell, it works well for a lot of world champions.
But if you’re determined to follow a formula-based diet I would advise you to pick up a book. Maybe the Zone Diet. Maybe the Warrior Diet. Maybe the Paleo Diet. A book on one of these diets will get you eating the appropriate amount of food.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Dude, your training reminds me of what a lot of guys I used to swim with did: an ernest effort but misguided priorities.
First off, the Ab Ripper thing has gotta go. The Abs are just like any other muscle. Tony Horton doesn’t have any secrets for you.
Agreed. I always hated doing abs because they were my weakness and the ab ripper was easy because it laid out an exact plan for me. Last night I actually started doing other ab exercises after reading a lot on T-Nation. These include ab wheelers, swiss ball crunches w/ weight, prone pikes w/ swiss ball, and some others. I have always been “that guy” who thought that crunches x 100 were the way to go. I’m trying to change my ways!
Second, you gotta emphasize the lower body. Doing Shoulders and Legs on the same day doesn’t really do your Legs Justice. While you’re still handling the weights you are now for squats, you can easily train your legs multiple times a week.
I do this because I’m in an accelerated nursing program so time isn’t on my side, but maybe instead of the cardio on the one day I’ll throw in another leg day. I just never thought about it. Thanks.
Finally, 40-45 minutes of cardio is unnecessary. Bodybuilders only do that much cardio when they’re deep into their contest prep. And every other athlete, whether they throw javlin, fight, play ball, or even run the 1 mile, won’t be found doing cardio for 45 uninterrupted minutes.
The only reason I do this is because of these:
I realize both of these guys are more advanced than me, but I thought it would still be a good idea.
My main goal is to get as lean as possible by April 11 (my brother’s wedding). I used to lift hard and eat a ton, but that just made me big. I’m trying to start over by getting lean and starting to build from a better foundation. I liked how much I could lift, but didn’t like my appearance.
Your rank as a Novice in the training world is based off how you respond to training stress. To a novice training isn’t very stressful since he cannot yet handle sufficiently heavy weights to demand a long recovery. So a young 20-something squatting 315 for multiple sets of 5 might be a novice because this isn’t that stressful, whereas a 45-year-old man whose best 5RM is 185 might not be able to train as a novice because his training is more stressful to him. It’s not an ego thing. Being a novice is good.
And at 6’2" 200ish pounds you won’t be able to put on Muscle and get strong eating under 2000 calories a day.
Completely agree. I got on the scale today and realized I am losing weight too fast. I’m gonna try and get it to about 2500 per day while still staying lowish carbs and high protein. Right now the diet is just an experiment to find out how my body will respond. Thanks though and I do understand that calories this low are going to be counter-productive.
Getting on a regimented diet takes a lot of dedication. So much that you might be better off just eating sensibly, making sure you get in a lot of protein, and going by feel for the rest of your food. This works well for a lot of people. Hell, it works well for a lot of world champions.
But if you’re determined to follow a formula-based diet I would advise you to pick up a book. Maybe the Zone Diet. Maybe the Warrior Diet. Maybe the Paleo Diet. A book on one of these diets will get you eating the appropriate amount of food.
I have thought about getting a diet book, but didn’t know where to start. Thanks a lot!
This is an article on Carb Cycling. In it there is an easy-to understand chart for figuring out your macro needs. [/quote]
I’ll definitely look at this later tonight when I have some down time. Thanks a lot for your advice. This whole being sensible about what I eat/ trying to lean up thing is very new to me and I appreciate any advice and/or criticisms.
So I just spent some time revamping my diet. Here’s what I came up with.
Breakfast:
2 eggs
1/2 c. egg beaters
1 c. spinach/ other veggie
1/4 c. mozz. cheese
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 c. cottage cheese
Total: 500 46/10/23.5
Snack:
2/3 c. almonds
Celery
2 tbsp. peanut butter
Total: 732 26/28/63
Lunch:
8 oz. tuna
2/3 c. walnuts
Salad w/ olive oil
Total: 740 60/4/34
Snack:
2 scoops Low Carb Protein
Total: 220 50/3/1
Post Workout:
2 scoops Surge
Total: 330 25/44/4/5
Dinner:
Whatever is cooked…just eat sensibly
Night:
1/2 c. cottage cheese w/ fruit
Total: 80 13/4/1.5
Total for day: 3202 220/93/127.5
The calories are a little high I think, but depending on how I feel I can always cut the tuna back to 6 oz. and cut the nuts from 2/3 cup to 1/2 cup to get rid of some calories. I will see how I feel though after a couple days eating like this.
