The Master Plan

Training Training Logs
121

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
My main issue is that i hold a lot of weight around my love handles, ass and thighs and its always the last place to go as well. So even though my upper body is starting to look better, its the least of my concerns. My lower body is what needs to be sorted out. [/quote]

When you get lighter (say closer to 210lbs), you may want to start doing HIIT sprints (if not sooner). By far one of the best methods to lean up/lose fat the quickest (and many, including myself, find that much of the midsection fat melts away quicker than most other exercises).

I can’t pinpoint what it is exactly that makes it so effective, but I’ve compared many (could be the fact that more larger muscles are “activated” during sprinting, besides the fact that you can exert yourself more, thus stimulating more fat burning hormones).

I usually try to find a long hill/road (doesn’t have to be too steep, something like 20 degrees), and sprint up it for 10-15 seconds, then walk down it for 45-50 seconds…so it’s like sprinting a distance, and then walking the distance to recover before the next sprint.

If you wanted to start it soon, you would do 2-3 sessions per week (this amount is easy enough to recover from without overly impacting weight training recovery…especially if you aren’t training more than 4 days/week). 15-20 minutes a session is the usual amount (although for me, I get results from just two 10 min sessions per week!). Try to organise it so that you don’t sprint the day before leg training.

When you compare the “return” from HIIT and slow paced cardio, HIIT wins hands down, and not only is it not boring, but it can feel quite good and invigorating too! That’s not to say don’t do slow paced cardio (any energy work contributes to fat loss), but I like to use HIIT as the main “burner” besides calorie control.

122

About fat distribution; don’t worry about it! Just about everyone I know has a problem with that (fatty thighs/lower back etc), and it’s no use being concerned about where fat is stored while you are still close to 20% bodyfat. I’d be surprised if you DIDN’T have fatter areas than others when over 15% bf lol.

If you want the brutal truth; it won’t really show that much sign of improvement until much leaner (depends on the individual, but to be on the safe side I’d say below 12% for most people before the higher fat deposit areas start to shrink and things start to look more in “proportion”).

And I hate to tell you this (it’s better to be forewarned), but the balance of fat, or the appearance, may actually get worse before it gets better (e.g. your love handles or whatever you have, will look worse between 12-15% bodyfat than it did at 20% bf). This is because A) there’s less overall fat to “smooth it out” and B) because your muscles are “deflated” while dieting, thus won’t stretch the fat out as much and won’t give better proportions compared to when gaining/“inflated”.

So yeah, it simply is a case of patience (and faith in what you’re doing! haha). For now, concentrate on keeping the digger out (for the majority of the landscape), before you worry about the trowel for the garden bed :slight_smile: Don’t concentrate on it, it’ll mess with your head!

There are methods to use closer to the time when it’s more appropriate, like fish oil/HIIT etc, to enhance the fat loss of stubborn fat, but still, it’s nothing that the basics won’t fix over time. Besides that, the anabolic diet is probably one of the best diets to be on for long term hormone balance (something that your body has to adjust to and “even out” when it’s leaner).

123

I was guna start adding hiit into my routine actually as well. I understand where ur coming from with the fat. I’m not guna worry about it and just carry on with what im doing. I’m in no rush now, hopefully im travelling to back to the UK for xmas so i wana look good for then. That’s my overall deadline so i’ve still got around 18 weeks before which should be more than enough time to get down to 200 or even below.

124

Yeah with a loss of 1-2lbs a week that goal ^ is definitely doable.

Realistically, with minimal muscle loss, you’d need to be around 190lbs to be around 10% bodyfat…at which point personally I’d maintain for some time (maintenance calorie intake while getting a little stronger each week), then go back into gaining for at least a while.

It’s hard to maintain muscle/strength far below 10% bf. Not only would it serve your muscles well to steadily start gaining again after getting that lean, but also it will help “rev up” the metabolism again.

125

[quote]its_just_me wrote:
Yeah with a loss of 1-2lbs a week that goal ^ is definitely doable.

Realistically, with minimal muscle loss, you’d need to be around 190lbs to be around 10% bodyfat…at which point personally I’d maintain for some time (maintenance calorie intake while getting a little stronger each week), then go back into gaining for at least a while.

It’s hard to maintain muscle/strength far below 10% bf. Not only would it serve your muscles well to steadily start gaining again after getting that lean, but also it will help “rev up” the metabolism again.[/quote]

Yeah i kinda figured i’d have to get to around 190 to be a true 10% but i dnt really have a problem being between 10-13, but im guna try and get as lean as possible, maintein for a while so my body can get used to it, then raise my calories slightly to try and gain a few pounds of muscle a month. Once i start gaining to much fat i’ll reel it in a bit, maintain and then cut again.

126

So i fell off the wagon today… i ate 3 small mangoes. I know i’m not aloud fruit but my dad has a mango farm here. All his fruit is organic as well. From the tree, to the fridge then washed and eaten. Absolutely the best mango you will ever taste in your life. They only come out for weeks every year, end of july till the end of august. So i through caution to the wind and ate them bad boys! Total carbs for today was 109 grams. Still quite low in my opinion. But well worth every bite! :slight_smile:

127

Lol, I wouldn’t be that concerned, so long as you stick to it over-all (don’t start to rationalise though - “well, I ate this or that yesterday, I may as well eat this today…can always start again on Monday” haha).

If it makes you feel better I’ve been treating myself to Ben and Jerry’s ice-scream the past 3 nights mmmmm…Then again, you can get away with that sort of thing when closing in on 6% bodyfat :slight_smile:

128

Ye definitely, not coming of this diet for a while and don’t plan on goin bk to my old ‘one more meal won’t harm me’ approach. Its funny, i consider a few mangoes falling off the wagon when i used to consider falling off the wagon a 3 week binge of maccies, pizza, ice cream and fried chicken. Weird how your perception of good and bad food can change, i’[m in the zone.

129

Hey guys, not posted for a few days, don’t worry my fruit eating didn’t turn into a full on carbicide binge. Just been a bit buys. Today is the start of 6 weeks, 7 weeks left in my original plan and i’m not progressing as much as i hoped.

The diet doesn’t even feel like a diet any more, i don’t have to think about what i’m going to eat, i just do it and it comes natural. I’m not even interested in going back to eating a moderate carb diet daily any more. I’ve noticed on carb days when i do eat them i feel lethargic and lazy afterwards, a feeling i don’t like at all.

the problem is the weight loss has stalled for the last 2 weeks, on the scale and the tape. This is getting to frustrate me now. But not to the point where i’m willing to quit.

I’m thinking i may have gone to extreme to quick and this is my body getting used to it and stagnating. Or my carb up days are too free and i’m cancelling out the work i did in the other 6 days? Should i remove the carb up days and go for a prolonged low carb? Or would a slight increase in carbs during the week help me out? hmmm fuck my life.

I don’t want add hours and hours of cardio, this would destroy me. I would much rather adjust my diet.

Any ideas?

Starting to get pissed off now.

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Finally progress shots. After 5 weeks and 18 lbs dropped. I didn’t take start pictures of me, however i have pictures from almost exactly 1 year ago at pretty much the same weight.

To be honest im not impressed at all with the progress. In the last 12 months there was a stint with abuot 4-5 months of no training and the diet wasn’t consistent either. Going off the numbers i have around 11lbs more lbm now than i did then. I’ll post the pics from september 09 first and todays pictures 2nd.

Pretty happy with the muscle gain considering 90% of my diet and training is geared towards fat loss and most of the time im in a calorie deficit. Just imagine what i could do if i bulked and trained for hypertrophy and ate like i was trying to gain?

Sept 2010 @ 224lbs

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August 2011 @ 224lbs

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Comparison

133

I think the most obvious change is in my stomach and my lat width. I think if i can carry as i am, get my waist as tight as possible i could have a freaky back.

134

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
I think the most obvious change is in my stomach and my lat width. I think if i can carry as i am, get my waist as tight as possible i could have a freaky back. [/quote]

Not to be rude, just simply honest, after looking over your stats and your pictures I’m surprised that you were let into the T-Cell, and even more surprised that you continually post with such a sub-par physique.

Hopefully that will serve as some fuel for your motivational fire.

135

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
I think the most obvious change is in my stomach and my lat width. I think if i can carry as i am, get my waist as tight as possible i could have a freaky back. [/quote]

Not to be rude, just simply honest, after looking over your stats and your pictures I’m surprised that you were let into the T-Cell, and even more surprised that you continually post with such a sub-par physique.

Hopefully that will serve as some fuel for your motivational fire.[/quote]

I’ve already got my fire burning. The last 5 weeks have been really good for me. I agree that my physique doesn’t show much but my passion makes up for it. I work our hard and I’m quite knowledgeable its just applying it that I had trouble with. Now that has changed and I’m trying to apply what I’ve learnt from this site to changing my body. I imagine within the next 6 months I would of changed significantly and hopefully I’ll be worthy of posting in the T-cell.

The reason I post is because i’m passionate about it, and i wana make a change. Yes i agree with outwardly i’m not the most shredded guy on this site by far, but it doesn’t mean i don’t know how to lift. It’s all diet, that’s why i look like shit coz my diet was out of sync.

6 months from now there will be a huge difference.

Thanks for the input, it is much appreciated!

136

[quote]Marzouk wrote:

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
I think the most obvious change is in my stomach and my lat width. I think if i can carry as i am, get my waist as tight as possible i could have a freaky back. [/quote]

Not to be rude, just simply honest, after looking over your stats and your pictures I’m surprised that you were let into the T-Cell, and even more surprised that you continually post with such a sub-par physique.

Hopefully that will serve as some fuel for your motivational fire.[/quote]

I’ve already got my fire burning. The last 5 weeks have been really good for me. I agree that my physique doesn’t show much but my passion makes up for it. I work our hard and I’m quite knowledgeable its just applying it that I had trouble with. Now that has changed and I’m trying to apply what I’ve learnt from this site to changing my body. I imagine within the next 6 months I would of changed significantly and hopefully I’ll be worthy of posting in the T-cell.

The reason I post is because i’m passionate about it, and i wana make a change. Yes i agree with outwardly i’m not the most shredded guy on this site by far, but it doesn’t mean i don’t know how to lift. It’s all diet, that’s why i look like shit coz my diet was out of sync.

6 months from now there will be a huge difference.

Thanks for the input, it is much appreciated!
[/quote]

Looking forward to the product 6 months from now.

137

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]Marzouk wrote:

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
I think the most obvious change is in my stomach and my lat width. I think if i can carry as i am, get my waist as tight as possible i could have a freaky back. [/quote]

Not to be rude, just simply honest, after looking over your stats and your pictures I’m surprised that you were let into the T-Cell, and even more surprised that you continually post with such a sub-par physique.

Hopefully that will serve as some fuel for your motivational fire.[/quote]

I’ve already got my fire burning. The last 5 weeks have been really good for me. I agree that my physique doesn’t show much but my passion makes up for it. I work our hard and I’m quite knowledgeable its just applying it that I had trouble with. Now that has changed and I’m trying to apply what I’ve learnt from this site to changing my body. I imagine within the next 6 months I would of changed significantly and hopefully I’ll be worthy of posting in the T-cell.

The reason I post is because i’m passionate about it, and i wana make a change. Yes i agree with outwardly i’m not the most shredded guy on this site by far, but it doesn’t mean i don’t know how to lift. It’s all diet, that’s why i look like shit coz my diet was out of sync.

6 months from now there will be a huge difference.

Thanks for the input, it is much appreciated!
[/quote]

Looking forward to the product 6 months from now.[/quote]

Yeah me too, u not think this site would be boring as hell if every guy looked like jay cutler?

I mean the site is here to help people progress and changed their bodies, hopefully i can be one of those people.

138

MODS:

Should this be moved to training logs instead of being in here?

139

[quote]Marzouk wrote:

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]Marzouk wrote:

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
I think the most obvious change is in my stomach and my lat width. I think if i can carry as i am, get my waist as tight as possible i could have a freaky back. [/quote]

Not to be rude, just simply honest, after looking over your stats and your pictures I’m surprised that you were let into the T-Cell, and even more surprised that you continually post with such a sub-par physique.

Hopefully that will serve as some fuel for your motivational fire.[/quote]

I’ve already got my fire burning. The last 5 weeks have been really good for me. I agree that my physique doesn’t show much but my passion makes up for it. I work our hard and I’m quite knowledgeable its just applying it that I had trouble with. Now that has changed and I’m trying to apply what I’ve learnt from this site to changing my body. I imagine within the next 6 months I would of changed significantly and hopefully I’ll be worthy of posting in the T-cell.

The reason I post is because i’m passionate about it, and i wana make a change. Yes i agree with outwardly i’m not the most shredded guy on this site by far, but it doesn’t mean i don’t know how to lift. It’s all diet, that’s why i look like shit coz my diet was out of sync.

6 months from now there will be a huge difference.

Thanks for the input, it is much appreciated!
[/quote]

Looking forward to the product 6 months from now.[/quote]

Yeah me too, u not think this site would be boring as hell if every guy looked like jay cutler?

I mean the site is here to help people progress and changed their bodies, hopefully i can be one of those people.
[/quote]

This SITE is one thing, the T-Cell Alpha is another.

I am in complete agreement that this SITE should exist to help people achieve their goals, but I believe that the T-Cell Alpha should be limited to discussions and progress reports by members in the upper echelon of physical fitness within this community.

140

^^ understand your point, but i asked to join t-cell so replies in my log could be limited to people who are better than me, instead of it turning into a cluster fuck like it would elsewhere on the site. 140lb guys with abs yelling cut!