This evenings workout, pre work.
Walk to gym (long circuit)
Warm up complex x2 rounds, 1 @ 55lb and 1 @ 60 lb.
Simple workout :
Rear barbell squat 99lb 5x10 done as circuit training ‘round’ with 5x10 press ups and 5x5 chins.
Continous and high intensity so a bit shaky at the end.
And so to work…
If ever you fancy a longer rucking session, I have a log burner!
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
If ever you fancy a longer rucking session, I have a log burner!
[/quote]
Long walk though but !!
End of week 1 report…numbers…
Bit of a disappointment at the end of the week when our pt friend brought her magic body fat measurement machine round and did my numbers for me.
A couple of months ago my bf measured in at 19.8& and having seen my belt gradully getting looser assumed that things were improving, however the machine says 19.2% which is disapointing. Body weight started around 83.6 and finished at 83.4kg.
I did also think i would see a classic dramatic water dump and immmediate water weight loss drop with the atkins style eating induction–didn’t happen either.
However at end of week 1 things may be kicking in a bit as weight on getting up pm today was a better 82.8 )and starting to dump some water).
Well…i worked the plan : clean diet. lots of fasted and other walking, had 2 decent lifting session ans 1 as an epoc producing circuit.
With a referenc to Kent and Bretts comment about cookies and walking ie 1 hour of walking is only the equivalent of 4 oreo cookies…well i rckon to have ‘burned’ the equivalent of at least 88 cookies just by that estimate alone.
In fact when i estimate the numbers by a weight/speed estimate i may have used closer to 7.000 kcal just from the walking alone .
Kind of reminds me of a jewish banker joke ,yhe punch line of which goes something like : a million here, a million there and soon you are almost talking real money.
Well maybe : a cookie here,a cookie there etc and soon we will be talking real (fat)weight loss !
Oh well, onto next weeks plan.
I don’t see how these numbers are adding up. Your bodyweight isn’t that much, you’ve built muscle, yet somehow you have almost 40 lbs fat???
I wouldn’t worry too much about the BF measurement. So many things can throw it off. When I went in the last time the first time he took it was 18.4 after being 18.1 the last time and I had dropped 8 pounds. I was pissed for two days until I had someone else retake it and then it was 14%…
If the tape is losing inches in the right direction and the mirror is looking better, that is all that matters!
[quote]cavalier wrote:
I don’t see how these numbers are adding up. Your bodyweight isn’t that much, you’ve built muscle, yet somehow you have almost 40 lbs fat???[/quote]
35 lbs according to my calculator !!, making a 6lb dent at this point over 5 weeks or so doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
[quote]Colin Wilson wrote:
I wouldn’t worry too much about the BF measurement. So many things can throw it off. When I went in the last time the first time he took it was 18.4 after being 18.1 the last time and I had dropped 8 pounds. I was pissed for two days until I had someone else retake it and then it was 14%…
If the tape is losing inches in the right direction and the mirror is looking better, that is all that matters!
[/quote]
Colin thanks.
As an ex icu nurse i find it very hard to resist working to ‘numbers’ especialy when they come from fancy machines !!.
Waist measurement has also stalled for a while and there is an obvious lump of flab there which i would really like to shift once and for all !!
Some bits are leaning very gradually (face,upper bod).
For some reason i have got a real mission on with this one–i think it will be the driver to really smarten up on diet particularly.
Week 2 plan and execute !!.
The fat loss plan is a bit clearer now, goals a lot more specific so instead of chasing 2 things at once i actualy think i have got an idea of where i am trying to go.
Main plan is to get rid of around 6lbs of fat over the next 5 weeks and secondarily to hang on the gains that i have made.
Last week i hit the fasted walking and walking i general with 5 fasted walks and a total of 23 hours actual trail walking–added to that a slightly easier than my usual lifting week but + a harder conditioning day and some heavy load carries while out on the trail.
This weeks plan then :
Diet–lean and clean again, protein at around 140gm as top priority, low carb.Second part of diet plan is to eat within an 8 hour window and do an IF just about every day.
Lifting --3 days , usual rolling programme but straight in after sunday night/monday morning shift which could be a toughie !
Conditioning–increase to 2 sessions plus a day doing heavy outdoor work (cutting and splitting) and load carries.
Walking–aiming for 5 fasted walks and as much other walking as time will allow.
As last week i will keep it all in one long post.
08.30 straight to gym, warm up complexes x 2, then set a new deadlift pr (135kg/297 lbs) matched my previous best bench and nearly set a new bench pr. And i thought i was concentrating on fat loss-not new weights !!
10.00 post workout shake and post work out ommelette.
10.30 walk home 40 minutes.
Breakfast and bed.
Sleepathon.
Tuesday.
Am weight 83.3 !!
10.00 green tea and straight into fasted walk 1hr 30 with load carry for last 20 minutes.
12.00 brekfast, protein shake , bacon,eggs.
13.00 bwe. heavy load carries 1hr
14.30 protein shake,dates,banana
15.00 load carry 1hr
16.00 chickn drumstick
19.00 protein shake, fish in breadcrumbs,salad of broccoli,cauli,toms,springies, fried off pepper.
(total carry load 122.5kg)
20.00 evening walk 40 min
Wednesday.
Weight 82.5kg, scale shifting at last. Feeling beaten up and flat this morning.
Green tea and protein shake pre walk.
11.00 fasted walk and short load carry
12.00 breakfast, cottage cheese,berries,creme fraiche,honey,banana (pre workout fuel up)
12.30 walk to gym,35 minutes, warm up, lifting today = squats and bwe (chins) really hard effort. Post workout shake,ommelette.
14.30 walk home 1hr 20.
15.00 chicken drumstick
17.00 cottage cheese,i digestive biscuit (pre run fuel)
18.00 run,walk and sprint intervals. 4x hill sprints 6x run/walk i minute on/off,total 50 minutes.
Restless irritable night. Occaisonal aftertaste ‘flat metallic’ wonder if this is ketosis.
Thursday.
Weight 82.1kg dry.
11.00 green tea,protein shake,1 rhodiola capsule. Fasted walk 1hr 20.
13.00 bacon &eggs
14.00 walk 40minutes
15.00 chick dumstick.
16.00 walk to gym 1hr 30, warm up complex x2, squat,chins and press ups circuit at pace, finishing with kb swings and kb squats.
19.00 Post work out shake, dates, banana
19.00 walk home 40 minutes
21.00 breaded fish filet,rosti, slaw. (deliberate adding of carbs to see if i can get over the disturbed night problem)
Total steps on pedometer=28.200
Overnight : much better night,better sleep quality.
Woke up feeling half human.
Friday.
Weight (dry) 82kg
11.00 green tea, protein shake, i rhodiola capsule.
11.00 fasted walk 1hr 30.
13.00 bacon & eggs.
Afternoon off, out for coffee and cake treat.
15.30 chicken drumstick (teabreak’s over–back on yer head’s boys)
16.00 protein shake.cottage cheese, berries,creme fraiche,honey
17.00 walk to gym 1hr 20. bench,deadlift,rows and bwe finisher
19.30 post workout shake,dates
20.30 chicken,green leaf salad,small amount potato salad.
(total steps on pedometer=25.000)
DOMS very apparent but have lifted 3 days in a row.
Overnight…at work,stiff from sitting down too much.
02.00 hungry–apple.
06.00 breakfast ! cottage cheese, berries,banana.creme fraiche,peanut butter,honey.
08.00 home to bed.
Day in bed ,up around 15.00 ,crap sleep.
DA
Day off in terms of eating, couple of pieces of toast and a couple of digestives when i woke up.
Poor transition to nights but pretty knackered after the weeks training and straight into shifts.
Probably ought to plan for a rest day soon.
Sat/sun nights.
At work.
Walking with the pedometer on.
Fri total 28.200
Sat total 27.000
Sun total 25.00
Saturday food day off with extra carbs.
Walking to work/walking home.
Just saying high. You’re doing great!
Congrats on the PR. I’ve been able to PR while dropping weight as long as it wasn’t a long diet.
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
Congrats on the PR. I’ve been able to PR while dropping weight as long as it wasn’t a long diet.[/quote]
Thanks joe.
Hiya Don
I wasn’t going to post yesterdays workout as a separate post rather just going to keep it within the weeks work, however it was one of those that come completely out of nowhere.
Just before leaving work ‘management’ managed to seriously piss me off after a shitty weekend and i walked (stomped) over the road to the gym in a really agressive frame of mind,cranked the ipod up and totally hit it !.
I wasn’t expecting great things, just work out some aggression, warm up complex even felt a bit weak !.
However ; set up to deadlift and bench superset.
Deadlift warm up with 60kg (132 lb) seemed to say that back was fine so went through my usual ramp up through 80 90 and 100kg jumps, 100kg (220lbs) pulled so easily that i jumped to 110 (242lbs), looked at it again, jumped to 120kg (264kg) thought about about putting on the little iddybiddy plates to bring it upa bit ,then thought fuck it and brought it past my previous pr to 272 lbs–easy and smooth-jumped to 130kg (286 lbs) then went for it with 135kg (297lbs) …heavy but it came up.
could have quite happily danced around the gym screaming yesssss…
New deadlift pr 297lbs
Meanwhile i ripped through my usual bench routine topping out with an easy repeat of my current best, in facy had to look to see that i had the right plates on.
Went back to the dl bar just to check how much weight there really was on there, yep that’s really 135kg so tried for the equivalent of 3 big plates (140kg).
And…
Couldnt budge it !!.
just couldnt break it off the ground.
completely out of energy.
Walked home a bit shaky, probably burning off the adrenaline.
Todays work.
Am fasted walk.
Walk to gym, usual barbell complex to warm up.
Main work : squats.
Kb goblet warm up 24kg x10
Barbell warm up 40kg x10.
Main sets barbell 50kg 3x10
Then barbell 60kg 3x5 and dumbell goblet 40kg 2x5,
7-8 Sets of 5 chins in between sets.
Where my last workout was bordering on the euphoric this one was it’s bastard twin : grim right from the start, breathing and sweating hard throughout, almost called it a day early.
When i got home i went to unload my kit and the smell was quite rank–don’t know if it’s something to do with the diet and fat loss but i have felt i gave been pretty ‘rank’ all week !!.
Oh well…punch the ticket…walk home.
Pm : hill sprints x4 and run/walk intervals to get home one minute on/one minute off.
Todays work.
Weight 82.1kg dry.
Am fasted walk and secobd walk.
Pm longer walk to gym . Busy time at gym.
Warm up complex x2 1@ 55lbs 1@ 60lbs.
Main work was repeat of yesterday as that workout was such a shambles !, so :
Front squat (learning) 66lb 1x10 77lb 1x10
Rear squat sets alternating with sets of chins (5) and press ups (10) done at pace as circuit.
99lb 1x10
110lb 1x10
121lb 1x10
132lb 1x5
132lb 1x6
143lb 1x5
Finishing work
Kb swings 2x10 (35lb)
Kb squats 2x10 (35 lb)
Felt much smoother.
Also took rhodiola for the first time today.
Perhaps smoother all round.
What’s Rhodiola? some sort of stimulant?
Sent you a PM
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
What’s Rhodiola? some sort of stimulant?
[/quote]
Brett.
Rhodiola is a supplement , it is regarded as an ‘adaptogen’ ie helps the body adapt to stress.
It’s from a plant known to the vikings (rhodiola rosea) which grows in northern lands.
A few months back (before i started 'questions and answers) i posted a question on Christian Thibadeau q&a thread about on eof the early problems that i was having ie really crap workouts in the transition from my night shifts back to ‘normal’ daily life and vice versa.
Digressing a bit i already had a strong idea that it was the physical and mental stress in my job and shift patterns that was a big part of why i was so overweight and unfit .
All cortisol related -.
I got quite into the biochemistry of this, why for example i would easily store body fat under the conditions i was working in+comfort eating at the wortst times.
Anyway…Christian was very kind to answer and said that yes ,the shift pattern and stressy situation would be having a direct influence on my workouts especially as a beginner where i didn’t have the experience under my belt of just being able to go and get the job done .
On of his suggestions was to use rhodiola as an adaptogen in my situation.
I couldn’t find a good reliable source in the uk so got some in from Biotest.
For me it’s part of the ‘excuse reduction’ exercise ie just take out as many potential excuses as possible–all part of trying to find strategies to deal with the work life that have, like having short effective workouts because thats the time that i have.
It’s also why i have had to learn to design my own training programme–just has to be that bit more intuitive to run with the regular up/down pattern…and that’s why i like dan john so much and with all due respect why i honestly can’t work to jim wendlers 531 much as it is respected around here.
End of week report.
Ok so it’s the end of week 2 of 5 weeks intensive fat cutting mode.
Best weight (dry) just before the transition back to night duty was 82.0 (starting weight 83.6)-actual veryend of week is 83.3 but that is with night duty water retention, if i didn’t know how my body responds i would be weeping right now !!.
Other measurements : havn’t measured waist yet but have had to reef my belt in a bit which is all to the good, skin folds feel looser all around. I may end up with some very loose skin for a while like this but that is far better than the solid fat deposits which seem to be breaking up in some areas.
Troublsome area is still upper abdomen/lower back which doesn’t feel any different.
Diet : worked out pretty well, managed 4 ‘ticks’ in the journal for days when i got the whole thing as planned–doesn’t work as well when i transition onto nights but doing my best !.
Plenty of protein in…bit of carbing up at this end of the week to re-fuel for the next week.
Feel–had a rough couple of days ans some poor/disturbed sleep during the week, havig something to eat at night or just before end of shift in the morning seems to help–current thought is to have a protein shake just before leaving work in the morning.
Training : 1 exceptional workout (but very angry) and ripped through my previous best pr easily, one really shaky/scrappy workout and 2 average .
Actually only planned for 3 so 4 was a bonus !!.
Conditioning…first week of adding in hill sprints/runs…strong DOMS after that.
Lots of walking : 4 good fasted walks and around 18 hours total trail time.
Not bad considering…felt that i have done as much as feasible this week.
Week the third begins.
This weeks plan :
Diet as before, experience so far seems to indicate that i should add a little bit of carbs to bring this up to around 100gm day and definitely have a protein shake before bed, especially on work days.
Diet supplements : up on protein shakes, continue with the rhodiola, fish oil as usual, vitamin d now that we are seeing hardly any sun and mg++ add in as well.
Training, going to be a heavy week : 4 lifting days planned usual roling cycle.
Conditioning to go up a bit with EPOC generating sessions on work days–pre work . 1 session of hill sprints/hill runs although this gave me furious DOMS last week.
Fasted walks…every non working day. Lots of other walking as previous weeks.
Load carry walks if time allows.
Supplementary sessions : this weeks main change will be to add in a daily workout ‘extra’ session away from the main work. This will be based on Chad Waterburys PLP 60 day challenge but will start today with 5 reps each exercise (and push,pull squat )as that is about my worst rep count on pull ups.
Monday (at work)
01.30 chicken drumstick, green salad, dressing.
05.00 flapjack–ok fell off wagon !!
0700 cottage cheese,berries,cf.pb
0800 walk home,protein shake and so to bed.
16.00 coffee and db
16.30 day 1 PSP set at home : 5x press up,pull up and squat (should have been this morning but forgot when i got home)
16.30 main meal, shake, chicken and sald.
17.00 walk to gym, usual warm up,EPOC circuit based on squats (6x10) and chins/press ups as circuit, second circuit of kb work :swings ,squats.
19.00 post workout shake, to work, last night of 4.
Total steps 20.00.
Overnight at work
Tuesday
01.00 breaded chicken jobbie, salad mixed,dressing
06.00 usual breakfast + small amount of oats.
08.00 home to bed, no training.
Toast x2 x2 x2 !!!
Complete day off, no weights,no walking,no worries over diet.
zzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Diet crash…
Wednesday.
Huge sleep deficit dealt with.Finally up feeling worked over–typical post nights over sleep and aches n pains. Horrible transition off nights-1 day off and straight back for 2 more.
10.00 green tea and straight out for fasted walk 1hr 20 (just under 10.000 pace)
12.00 protein shake, bacon & eggs
13.00 walk to gym, usual warm up, whole body workout (accidental) : squat, deadlift, bench and row. (forgot which workout i was supposed to be doing and ended up doing most of 2 instead !!.
15.00 post workout shake,banana,fj for fast carbs.
16.00 walk home–vicious sleet/hail shower.
17.00 main meal, breaded chicken jobbie, thick home made tom sauce, roast mediterranean veg.
18.30 walk to work—here we go again !!
Overnight ;
Snacks : apple, walnuts, dates,almonds.
Main night meal : piece of chicken (salad had gone off)
Total walking : 28.000 paces.
Am. Breakfast at work : usual breakfast of cottage cheese,berries,cf,dab of hoey.
08.00 walk home.
09.00 2 x zma caps and so to bed.
Thursday.
16.00 awake (ish) minging headache and groggy, probably dehydrated.
18.00 main meal : 2 x quality burgers and rest of home made tom sauce. 2 x fish oil 1 x vitamin d.
18.30 walk to work, took ages to get organised , still feeling a bit rough so no training, instead did some ‘stair sets cardio’ on site.
Overnight :
Walking total : 30.00 paces>
01.00 main meal : potato salad & walnuts
Overnight snax : dates< almonds>
06.00 usual breakfast
08.00 home to bed.
zzzzz, day off.
Second transition off nights in same week !!.
Friday …zip all rest.
Total paces 14.000.
Saturday. (83.3kg)
Late start .
10.00 ZMa 2 caps. green tea, fasted walk 1hr 30.
12.00 breakfast, cottage cheese, berries, banana.creme fraiche.
13.00 and so back to the gym, walk in, warm up x 3, front squat, chins, press ups, bench, finisfer with kb work
15.00 post workout shake, dates, fj and walk home.
19.00 main meal : breaded fish, salad. proteein shake.
Sunday. 82.4 kg
11.00 green tea, zma x 2 . fasted walk 1hr 30
13.00 breakfast : sausages, 2 eggs,beans, 2 skices toast
13.00 walk to gym 1hr 20
Pm workout… meathead challenge (32 reps) then lat pull downs circuit with press ups an dips.
16.00 post workout , protein shake and fj
Walk home 1 hr
20.00 main meal fish,rosti,pea mash.
End of week 3.
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Monday measuerements.
Weight 83.4 kg waist 36" ok–just noticed i use kg for one and inches for the other.
Hang on a mo…
183.4 lbs.
So far that is about 38 lbs of fat loss and 8 inches off my waist in the 18 months that i have been working on it although only 5 months into lifting.
Not able to do a bf measurement but the skin/fat fold that i use as my main guide (difficult to describe but ant/lat diagonal belly ) is 22 mm.
So a fair bit of fat to go yet, i can see a target weight beginning to appear at somewhere below 180 lbs (175-178) if i can keep it to fat loss and keep the apparent gains in lifts going up.[/quote]
I’m impressed. Went for a walk with my nurse tonight (my wife and I do a four mile loop a few nights a week).
But you are really making excellent progress.
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Monday (at work)
01.30 chicken drumstick, green salad, dressing.[/quote]
Wow, you’re dedicated. I’d eat my hand if that was my meal.