GuerillaZen Gets Better...(BBB)

Training Logs
1

This log is just about personal improvement. I have been inspired by Alpha’s log and decided to start my own. I am not in the same stratosphere as he is though, or in that of a lot of people on this site.

I started 2 yrs ago @ around 290 lbs of fatassedness. I worked my way down to around 200. Currently sit at 225. I am still too fat, too weak. Spending most of my lifting time on fat loss I did not make the strength gains that I could have. As a result, that is my focus right now. Eating lots of solid foods and getting stronger. I am not even weighing myself. As long as I am getting stronger, I am not worried about anything else right now. I have decided that I will never look the way I want until I can put some weight on the bar.

Here’s a few of my last sessions just to give an idea of where I am and to help track progress.

6/6 - Incline BB - 135 x 10; 155 x 7
Flat BB - 185 x 4; 205 x 2
Flat DB - 60 x 10; 50 x 12

6/8 - BB Rows - 175 x 9, 6
CG Bench - 155 x 9; 175 x 5; 185 x 4
1 arm DB row - 80 x 8,5; 55 x 14
Dips - plus 45 lbs x 10, 10
Deads - 315 x 2, 1, 1, 1,

I am pathetically weak, I know, but that is what this is all about. I also ran a mile this morning. I hate cardio w/ a passion, but am forcing myself to ease into actually doing it. I love to lift weights, but have struggled w/ the mental aspect of the cardio.

Below I will post today’s log.

2

Today:

6:00 AM - ran 1 mile. Hate running.

11:30 AM workout

BB Curls - 95 x 7,6 ; 100 x 4 (this was a decent improvement. last session was 95 x 4-4-3)
Face Pulls - 180 x 10, 9; 200 x 4
Preacher Curls - 50 x 12, 11
BB Shrugs - 195 x 16, 235 x 8,8
Hammer Curls - 45 x 17, 12
Abs

Finished w/ 2 x 5 comlpex w/ 75 lbs of (picked up the complexes from Alpha’s log):

Rows
Cleans
Front Squats
Military Press
Back Squats

3

BB Bench - 185 x 6; 205 x 3

Incline Bench - 155 x 8; 165 x 3,5,1,1

Incline DB - 60 x 6,5

4

SLDL - 205 x 10,8; 225 x 5
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50 x 10; 55 x 5
Push Press - 135 x 5,5
Front Squat - 185 x 3,2

I realize this log isn’t real exciting or inspirational. But I am busting my nuts in the gym and the kitchen to get better. Hopefully, over the next couple of yrs I can make some big gains. God willing, I am going to do my part.

5

Catching up on the last couple days of training.

6/12/09

Lat Pulldown - 90 x 12; 100 x 11,8
Chest Supported Row - 130 x 13; 170 x 10
BB Row - 135 x 13, 10
Neutral Grip Pullups - 3,2,2,2 (9)
T-Bars - 205 x 6

6/13/09 - OFF

6/14 - Had a basketball game

6

I am soliciting advice from anyone actually reading this log. I am about 6’3, 225 lbs. ABout 20% BF after having cut down from about 285 to 205 then back up to 225 w/ too much fat accumulation. For a while now (few months) I have been maintaing 225 within a pound or two and focussing on strength gains. My question is newbish in nature, but important to my future direction. My preference would be to continue maintaining this weight, getting stronger, and recomp this way. However, I am not sure it is possible to significantly change your body while staying around the same weight. Would I be better off getting down to 190 at 6’3 and building back up? I have too litte muscle to spare, as is, and this thought scares me. I am not fat. More like skinny fat w/ a little gut.

What would be your choice of action?

7

BB Curl - 95 x 10; 100 x 5, 5 (Significant progress is happening here. I guess that should be expected since I neglected training bi’s for a long time.

Face Pulls - 200 x 7,7,5… I feel face pulls work pretty well for me. Underrated movement IMO.

Incline DB curl - 30 x 13, 35 x 9, 50 x 2 … got a little ambitions going for the 50s and subsequently looked like a bitch. Oh well… in time.

BB Shrugs - 185 x 20, 235 x 10, 255 x 5

Hammer Curls - 45 x 16, 50 x 5… must’ve been burnt from the first set.

ABS.

Complex: 2 x 8 at 55 lbs.

Rows
Cleans
Military Press
Back Squat

8

[quote]GuerillaZen wrote:
I am soliciting advice from anyone actually reading this log. I am about 6’3, 225 lbs. ABout 20% BF after having cut down from about 285 to 205 then back up to 225 w/ too much fat accumulation. For a while now (few months) I have been maintaing 225 within a pound or two and focussing on strength gains. My question is newbish in nature, but important to my future direction. My preference would be to continue maintaining this weight, getting stronger, and recomp this way. However, I am not sure it is possible to significantly change your body while staying around the same weight. Would I be better off getting down to 190 at 6’3 and building back up? I have too litte muscle to spare, as is, and this thought scares me. I am not fat. More like skinny fat w/ a little gut.

What would be your choice of action?

[/quote]

I guess that would depend on what your goals are. Are you training for a PL meet? Or a BB Comp? If not, than I would forget all about your actual Bodyweight and concentrate on your bodyfat levels. And a lot of times, you can drastically change your BF% without much change in your weight at all, due to muscle gain and water retention ect.

In my personal opinion, I donâ??t think that it is too hard to gain a reasonable amount of muscle while loosing bodayfat, I have never really understood why so many people get roped up about this. If you are getting in the gym consistently and working your tail off, then go home and are eating clean, with most of your carbs coming from vegetable sources You can easily put on some lean body mass, while essentially â??Dieting downâ??. You can easily gain 10-20 lbs a year of muscle if you are willing to put in the work and discipline.

If I were you this is what I would be trying to, if fact it is how I train all of the time. I donâ??t really bulk or cut, I just keep my bodyfat reasonably low (around 10%) and just work hard. My body weight stays within 10lbs give or take, just my body comp changes.
Then again I am not really looking to change my body size too much, more trying to build more strength at this weight, and just seeing where I can push my limits to.

I am not saying that you are going to be gaining 20 lbs a month with this approach but depending on what your training and diet look like, you could make some great gains that I am sure you would be Happy with.
Thanks for asking brother!

9

[quote]Alpha wrote:

I guess that would depend on what your goals are. Are you training for a PL meet? Or a BB Comp? If not, than I would forget all about your actual Bodyweight and concentrate on your bodyfat levels. And a lot of times, you can drastically change your BF% without much change in your weight at all, due to muscle gain and water retention ect.

In my personal opinion, I donâ??t think that it is too hard to gain a reasonable amount of muscle while loosing bodayfat, I have never really understood why so many people get roped up about this. If you are getting in the gym consistently and working your tail off, then go home and are eating clean, with most of your carbs coming from vegetable sources You can easily put on some lean body mass, while essentially â??Dieting downâ??. You can easily gain 10-20 lbs a year of muscle if you are willing to put in the work and discipline.

If I were you this is what I would be trying to, if fact it is how I train all of the time. I donâ??t really bulk or cut, I just keep my bodyfat reasonably low (around 10%) and just work hard. My body weight stays within 10lbs give or take, just my body comp changes.
Then again I am not really looking to change my body size too much, more trying to build more strength at this weight, and just seeing where I can push my limits to.

I am not saying that you are going to be gaining 20 lbs a month with this approach but depending on what your training and diet look like, you could make some great gains that I am sure you would be Happy with.
Thanks for asking brother!

[/quote]

Thanks for stopping by bro! Means a lot. This is what I was hoping to hear actually. I am not training for a contest of any kind - just for myself and to be the best that I can be. Corny, but true. Again, I am glad you think this approach is the way to go. I am sick of dieting. Up to this point, I have been beating the logbook every single session. My diet is fairly clean. I do eat a fair amount of 85% lean beef and not just grilled chicken. But the only carbs I get are .5 cup of oatmeal w/breakfast and 1 cup of milk and some fruit (immediately post-workout) and almost never have ANY carbs other than Spinach after noon. Still digging your log, dude and I hope you’ll keep checking in on me from time to time!

10

[quote]GuerillaZen wrote:
I am soliciting advice from anyone actually reading this log. I am about 6’3, 225 lbs. ABout 20% BF after having cut down from about 285 to 205 then back up to 225 w/ too much fat accumulation. For a while now (few months) I have been maintaing 225 within a pound or two and focussing on strength gains. My question is newbish in nature, but important to my future direction. My preference would be to continue maintaining this weight, getting stronger, and recomp this way. However, I am not sure it is possible to significantly change your body while staying around the same weight. Would I be better off getting down to 190 at 6’3 and building back up? I have too litte muscle to spare, as is, and this thought scares me. I am not fat. More like skinny fat w/ a little gut.

What would be your choice of action?

[/quote]

Well, I can definitely relate to your situation, haha. :wink:

Here’s my take… We’re always in a perpetual battle within our own minds about our physique, because of the self-consciousness we’ve accumulated in our development stages of our lives. There’s a good chance we’re far too critical about ourselves compared to most people. Think about if you’d be comfortable in public without your shirt on - but before you get apprehensives, remember what an average American looks like these days. We put ourselves up to a higher standard, not only because of our new-found perspective, but also because of the involvement on websites like these. You see great and inspirational physiques on the website, so when you’re actually making progress, you can’t notice it as easily because you see yourself in the mirror every day.

That being said, if you feel like you really need to lose some fat, I’d try maybe lowering carbs a bit for a while. Give it some time. I lowered mine down to 3,000-3,2000 (normally) from about 4,000 and I still feel good in the weight room. Instead of really cutting, try being in a maintenance/slightly on training days, and maintenance/slightly below on off days. Or instead of being fussy about your diet just add in decent cardio sessions throughout the week. 4-5, IMO.

Something I like to do, FWIW, is making a threshhold for myself. Before my bulk, I said to myself that if I almost outgrew my work pants before “X” amount of time that I’d definitely have to re-assess where I’m at.

11

[quote]SSC wrote:
GuerillaZen wrote:
I am soliciting advice from anyone actually reading this log. I am about 6’3, 225 lbs. ABout 20% BF after having cut down from about 285 to 205 then back up to 225 w/ too much fat accumulation. For a while now (few months) I have been maintaing 225 within a pound or two and focussing on strength gains. My question is newbish in nature, but important to my future direction. My preference would be to continue maintaining this weight, getting stronger, and recomp this way. However, I am not sure it is possible to significantly change your body while staying around the same weight. Would I be better off getting down to 190 at 6’3 and building back up? I have too litte muscle to spare, as is, and this thought scares me. I am not fat. More like skinny fat w/ a little gut.

What would be your choice of action?

Well, I can definitely relate to your situation, haha. :wink:

Here’s my take… We’re always in a perpetual battle within our own minds about our physique, because of the self-consciousness we’ve accumulated in our development stages of our lives. There’s a good chance we’re far too critical about ourselves compared to most people. Think about if you’d be comfortable in public without your shirt on - but before you get apprehensives, remember what an average American looks like these days. We put ourselves up to a higher standard, not only because of our new-found perspective, but also because of the involvement on websites like these. You see great and inspirational physiques on the website, so when you’re actually making progress, you can’t notice it as easily because you see yourself in the mirror every day.

That being said, if you feel like you really need to lose some fat, I’d try maybe lowering carbs a bit for a while. Give it some time. I lowered mine down to 3,000-3,2000 (normally) from about 4,000 and I still feel good in the weight room. Instead of really cutting, try being in a maintenance/slightly on training days, and maintenance/slightly below on off days. Or instead of being fussy about your diet just add in decent cardio sessions throughout the week. 4-5, IMO.

Something I like to do, FWIW, is making a threshhold for myself. Before my bulk, I said to myself that if I almost outgrew my work pants before “X” amount of time that I’d definitely have to re-assess where I’m at.[/quote]

Thanks for the insight bro. I am doing my damndest to add in as much cardio as I can force myself to do. I am getting better at it too… considering I lost all of the initial 85 lbs with weights only and almost no cardio at all.

12

6/16

Flat Barbell Bench - 185 x 10!!! WHOO!!! Hellz yeah, bitches! Added 4 reps at 185 since previous session. Also did 205 x 4 (+1)

Incline Barbell - 155 x 9 (+1); 165 x 6(+1); 175 x 1

Flat DB Bench - 60 x 13;7

Cardio - Treadmill for 15 minutes. 12 degree incline, 2.5 mph

Overall, I feel great about the big leap forward on bench since last time. I’ve had an incredibly difficult time getting the bench to go up and this might be my biggest single workout jump ever. Can’t wait to get back tomorrow and keep the momentum going.

13

BB Row - 175 x 10,8,7; 185 x 5
1 arm DB Row - 80 x 10,8; 60 x 15
Deads - 325 x 1,1,1

14

CGBP - 155 x 11, 185 x 5, 2,2,2
Hammer curls - 50 x 6,6,5
BB Curl - 70 x 12
Left hand DB Curl 25 x 10

This wasn’t a real go at it workout obviously. MY typical daily schedule and routine schedule got a little jacked so I did a little arms with some pump training to be doing something.

15

SLDL - 205 x 8 -4… this sucked. Not sure if I was warmed up enouch or what, but this blew.
Seated DB Press - 50 x 12, 55 x 8
Push Press - 135 x 9, 6
Front Squats - 185 x 4,3,2,2

Overall, I feel pretty good about making some good strength gains. Not sure what happened w/ the stiff legs, but once I got rolling things well.

16

Catching up from the weekend:

Sat - OFF

Sun - Basketball - broke my left foot in the championship game of the local mens league

Mon - BB Curl - 100 x 8, 5; 105 x 2
Face Pull - 200 x 10, 9, 8
Incline DB Curl - 35 x 11; 40 x 6, 5
BB Shrugs - 235 x 15; 255 x 9, 275 x 5
Hammer Curls - 55 x 9, 6

Going to keep pressiong on, but heavy squats and deads are going to have to go on the back burner for a couple of weeks until this foot heals up a little bit.

17

BB Bench - 205 x 6,3; 225 x 1
BB Incline - 165 x 8; 175 x 3
DB Bench - 65 x 13, 8

Pretty happy w/ the way strength gains are going.

18

BB Row - 185 x 8, 6… 205 x 3
1 arm db row - 85 x 6,6… 65 x 13
Lat pulldown 150 x 7…

Not sure how to calculate the pulldown progress. I was working out at my school gym instead of my normal gym and it had a very different pulley. The one I was using felt much lighter than the normal one and so I used A LOT more weight. Not sure how to translate it.

19

This has been an incredibly frustrating week. First, I cracked a bone in my left foot playing basketball on Sun. and that has really limited what I have been able to do w/ my lower body. Then this morning I woke up w/ a very sharp pain in my lef elbow. It hurts just in general and is also extremely sensitive to the touch.

I have been training 5 days a week for a couple of weeks as an attempt to overtrain/push the limits before I take a week off for my family vacation (2 wks from now. However, this strategy has back fired and I learned some important lessons about my body. I will be taking tomorrow, Sun, and Monday off completely. Then I will pound the gym hard four days next week.

I leave for a weeks vacation next Sunday. Hopefully, this will allow my body to heal and maybe even get some good growth from a deload, which is something I usually do not do.

20

Turns out, the pain in my elbow was a cellulitis infection. I received a shot on Fri. night and have been on antibiotics since. I have to go back to the Dr. in a couple of hours and will probably get another shot. This is weird, but at least it is not tendonitis, and I should be back in the weight room tomorrow.