Old Guy Doing 5/3/1

[OTHSteve]

@muskratlifts

Sounds like a damn good lunch. Do you have any particular weight / body composition / measurement goals you want to hit for the T-ransformation challenge?

Yeah, my wife takes pretty good care of me food-wise, and she’s working on cutting weight with me (she wants to get from about 120# that she’s at now to 108#, I think). As far as challenge goals, my initial goal was to hit 180#, but ultimately I want to get my abs back, and as I progress I’ve come to the realization that I’ll probably have to go lower than that to get a 6-pack. It looks like I’m on track to hit 180# some time in April, though, so I’ll have time to keep cutting if necessary. When I weighed 170# in my early 40’s during my Crossfit phase I had most of a 6-pack, and I’m carrying more muscle now, so I think 175# will get me the abs I want to see.

2/23/19 food for today

Breakfast: Shake = 1 cup whole milk, 1 large egg, 1 scoop quick oats, 1 1/2 scoop protein powder. 2 medjool dates.

Lunch: The rest of the leftover homemade chicken fajita bowl = chicken breast, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, black beans, corn, cheese. Less than a half serving was left of that, so I finished the rest of the wife’s J. Gilbert food after she ate her leftovers for lunch = 1/4 of a crab cake, about 1 oz of filet mignon, and a little bit of Brussels sprouts.

Snack: 1 cafe latte (4 oz whole milk). 1 serving (1/2 cup) of caramel popcorn with peanuts (moose munch) = 200 calories. It’s amazing how little of this stuff it takes to hit 200 calories.

Dinner: 2 broiled pork chops. Braised snap peas. Steamed carrots.

Bedtime: 1 scoop protein powder with creatine.

Totals for today 2059 calories, 190g protein, 154g carbs, 67g fat. 131 calories below baseline. Macros were good today, except way too many of my carbs (85g) was sugar, between the dates with breakfast and the moose munch for a snack. Polished off all the leftovers in the fridge today, then made a whole batch of pork chops, so we have leftovers for another meal from that. The pork chops were excellent, as were the snap peas. The carrots were carrots.

[jackolee]

Getting awfully close to those 180’s man!

[simo74]

@jackolee took the words out of my mouth. So close to 180’s @OTHSteve great work. Soon be calling you a skinny old git!!! Lol

[OTHSteve]

2/25/19 morning weigh-in 191.2#. Matched my lowest weight from last week, now I need to keep it going in that direction.

@jackolee

Getting awfully close to those 180’s man!

Looking at probably 2 weeks before my average weight is in the 180’s, but we’ll get there.

@simo74

Soon be calling you a skinny old git!!! Lol

I’ve never been called a git, old, skinny or otherwise, but I suspect I actually am a git, whatever that is, and it’s just geography that has kept me from being called one…

[Frank_C]

@OTHSteve

As far as challenge goals, my initial goal was to hit 180#, but ultimately I want to get my abs back, and as I progress I’ve come to the realization that I’ll probably have to go lower than that to get a 6-pack.

I’m in the same boat. I’m getting really close to my goal weight but I don’t see the definition I was hoping to see. It kind of freaks me out to think I’ll need to get down to 200 lbs to reach my goal. I’m only 5-8 lbs from my goal of 215 and I feel skinny already.

But on the other hand, while I didn’t feel skinny at 250, I also didn’t achieve my goal of being The Rock. I think there’s some sort of disconnect between my brain and reality

[OTHSteve]

@Frank_C

I think there’s some sort of disconnect between my brain and reality

I think some degree of body dysmorphia is inevitable when we’re tracking performance and aesthetic goals as closely as we are, especially when we have examples like @jackolee to keep us humble…

[jackolee]

We’re each always going to be our worst critics. It’s just how we’re wired. I try to think that I just need to be a little better today than I was yesterday and your clearly doing that man. You’ve been killing your workouts and sticking to your plan and it’s showing. Can’t wait to see that check in that starts with 189!!!

[OTHSteve]

You’re right, of course, but we also always want the results NOW. I think I’m going to see numbers in the 190 range this week, with 189 the following week, but you never know, I might have another abrupt drop.

[simo74]

I think the pump is our worst enemy. I always finish a training session and think “hmm I don’t look too bad”. Only to wake up the next day and think “what happened”.

[OTHSteve]

@simo74

I think the pump is our worst enemy. I always finish a training session and think “hmm I don’t look too bad”. Only to wake up the next day and think “what happened”.

Ain’t it the truth. The pump shows you what you can be, and then it’s gone…

2/25/19 5/3/1 full body giant sets cycle 2 day 3 squat primary/press secondary

Warmup: barbell complex x3 with chin-ups 1/1/1

Giant set 1:

Squat:
10x45#
5x95#
5x135#
Working sets:
5x195#
5x225#
10x245#

Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
working sets:
5x105#
5x125#
5x145#

Chin-ups 2/3/4/5/6/7

Accessory giant set:

1 arm DB press:
10x65#
10x65#
10x65#

Krok rows:
10x75#
10x75#
10x75#

Zercher squats:
5x155#
5x185#
5x205#

Conditioning: 20 minutes elliptical, 233 calories burned. I set the program at lvl 11 when I was at lvl 12 last time, so I couldn’t pedal fast enough to get the same calories, but I definitely worked harder than last time.

2/25/19 food for today:

Breakfast: Shake = 1 cup whole milk, 1 large egg, 1 scoop quick oats, 1 1/2 scoop protein powder. 1 navel orange.

Lunch: Large salad = spinach, broccoli, bell pepper, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots, radishes, onion, olives, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar. 1 can of tuna with Frank’s Red Hot.

Snack: 1 small tin of sardines with Franks Red Hot. 1 apple.

Post workout snack: 15g cajun mix (nuts, chiles, sesame sticks)

Dinner: Sonic jumbo popcorn chicken, medium.

Bedtime: 1.5 scoop protein powder with creatine.

Totals for today 2181 calories, 182g protein, 171g carbs, 79g fat. 9 calories under baseline, 933 calories under accounting for calories burned in training.

[OTHSteve]

2/26/19 morning weigh-in 191.0# . Another new low, progress continues to happen.

[Rizla81]

Good going Steve. Its always great when the progress is constant. What was your starting weight again ?

[losthog]

@OTHSteve

Conditioning: 20 minutes elliptical, 233 calories burned. I set the program at lvl 11 when I was at lvl 12 last time, so I couldn’t pedal fast enough to get the same calories, but I definitely worked harder than last time.

This is huge! Well done.

[littlesleeper]

@simo74

I always finish a training session and think “hmm I don’t look too bad”.

@OTHSteve

The pump shows you what you can be,

I keep teasing my coach and saying he needs some mirrors in his gym (there are none) because “Coach, I’m wasting a good pump right now”. He just shakes his head.

[OTHSteve]

@Rizla81

Good going Steve. Its always great when the progress is constant. What was your starting weight again ?

Thanks! I started at 204# on January 1st. I dropped 4-5# within the first 2 weeks, just from starting back to the gym, and cutting crap like sodas and junk food out of my diet. It’s been more gradual since then, and I’m averaging about 1#/week since I started weighing at the same time every morning with the same scale, and a little better than that since I started tracking my food with an app.

@losthog

This is huge! Well done.

I almost had myself convinced to do a Crossfit ‘girl’ WOD rather than the elliptical, but the giant sets with minimal rest time are wrecking me almost as much as a Crossfit workout anyway, so I wimped out and went with the boring elliptical.

@littlesleeper

I keep teasing my coach and saying he needs some mirrors in his gym (there are none) because “Coach, I’m wasting a good pump right now”. He just shakes his head.

Both of the gyms I go to have mirrors, but I don’t flex and check out the pump that often, although I do notice it. My avatar pic is my favorite pump pic, I took it at the gym at work when I was the only one there, after presses and Kroc rows, and had a nice back and shoulder pump even though the muscle is somewhat obscured by fat.

[liftangryordie500]

Getting stronger here.

[OTHSteve]

Thanks. Right now I’m trying to reclaim strength I lost over my layoff between October and the new year, while getting rid of this excess padding so I can see my abs. Then, after June 1st, I’m going all-in on strength.

[Frank_C]

@OTHSteve

Then, after June 1st, I’m going all-in on strength.

What’s that mean for your diet? Are you going to maintenance or a surplus?

[OTHSteve]

@Frank_C

What’s that mean for your diet? Are you going to maintenance or a surplus?

That depends on where I end up weight-wise on June 1st. I want to compete at 180#, so I’ll either eat at maintenance or go on a clean bulk with a slight surplus and try to stay lean.

[OTHSteve]

2/26/19 food for today:

Breakfast: Shake = 1 cup whole milk, 1 large egg, 1 scoop quick oats, 1 1/2 scoop protein powder. Forgot a fruit.

Lunch: Large salad = spinach, broccoli, bell pepper, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots, radishes, onion, olives, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar. 1 can of chicken with Frank’s Red Hot.

Dinner: 3 homemade tacos = corn tortilla, sour cream, guacamole, ground beef taco meat, onions, tomatoes, cheese. 8 oz whole milk.

Bedtime: 1.5 scoop protein powder with creatine.

Totals for today 2179 calories, 183g protein, 146g carbs, 96g fat. 11 calories under baseline. Dinner was the biggest block of calories today, of course, and the reason why even though my calories were almost perfect, I was a little heavy on the fat. Not feeling a bit guilty about that.

Oh, and since I don’t have a workout to post today, here’s a picture of 2 of my babies chilling in the front yard, that I took Sunday. Sorry for the lens flare.