Never slip again

[Bronc1031]

Those Who Ignore History....

I'll never slip again because this last one might have been severe enough to keep me in the gym as a lifestyle for the rest of my life.

About six years ago, I shed 20 lbs of body fat and crushed all my strength goals. I had never been stronger or leaner and the difference was noticeable to everybody in my life. There was a time when I inspired others to work out. That was a great feeling.

I had some pretty intense changes (mostly good) happen in the last 5 years and I was stupid enough to ignore my routines and my diet got completely out of control.

I'm finally past the turning point of allowing it to ever happen again. We have kids now (5th on the way in November) and it's time to set a better example for them. I'm also starting to worry that if I DON'T change, that I might cut my time with them shorter than I'd like.

I hope you enjoy my journal and I'm happy to accept advice and support from anybody who stops by. I'd like to thank the brave folks who post their progress on these boards and share their stories of how to transform their bodies because I'm using some of that experience to transform my own.

[Bronc1031]

DIET

'Induction' cycle - aiming for ten weeks.
Keto-variant. Loads of water. Low-sodium, <100g of clean carbs, with the balance split between protein and fat. Somebody recommended myfitnesspal.com and I'm using that site to keep track of daily calorie deficiencies.

I don't like to think too much when I go through these diets so I'll probably rotate some simple meals, spaced out during the day, and restrict my food intake in the evenings. For those who have been there (and live there) that means lots of:

chicken, broccoli, fish, eggs, tuna, whey, brown rice, leafy greens, cucumbers, oats and a nice steak every once in a while.

I live next to some of the finest breweries in the world, but I'll have to sample them some other time. I've had my share anyway.


EXERCISES

Six days a week. A-B-C-Rest-Repeat (Workouts listed below)

I trimmed the classic-and-oft-ridiculed Arnold workout down a bit as I had good success with this routine the last time I took this seriously. I've tried Rippetoe's and felt I was over training. As I progress I'll be hitting my core with heavier weight, but for now I'm easing into things. One thing about Mark Rippetoe's science and philosophy that my body tends to agree with is that isolating specific muscles doesn't seem as effective for strength gains than doing the core muscle groups.

This workout is pretty intense and requires lots and lots of rest and good food. I denoted some exercises with a (*) because those are the ones I usually sacrifice if I know I'm heading into a flat workout. Sometimes its better to scale back than burnout and get injured. I also vary my weights for the same principle.


Warmups include brisk cardio and stretching and a warmup set for each exercise listed below.

Workout A
BB Bench (3x5)
BB Incline (3X5)
BB Rows (3X5)
BB Deadlift (3X5)
*Pullups (50...?)
Cable Crunches (5X25)

Workout B
BB Clean&Press (3X5)
*DB Lat Raises (3X5)
BB Curls (3X5)
Std BB Tris (3X5)
Push Presses (3X5)
Vert Bench Crunches (5X25)

Workout C
Squats (3X5)
Lunges (3X15 steps each leg)
*Calf Raises-varied positions (3X8)
Leg Curls (3X5)
Twists (until I get bored)

Cardio seven days a week, with at least a four hours spacing from lifting (varied: HIIT, jogging, kickboxing, etc.) That may seem extreme to some, but I'm stealing a page from some of oldseuperman's cut advice for when he was a little less superman looking.

[Bronc1031]

Date: Jun 4, 2011

Notes: First workout. Hardest part is showing up. Great music helps and I had tons of energy once I got past warming up. Gym was a tomb (beautiful day outside) so I didn't push myself early with a spot. Took it nice and slow.

Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip (135x5) (155X5) (175X5)
Barbell Incline Bench Press - Medium Grip (120 x 8) (160X5) (160x3)
Chin-Ups: 28
Bent Over Barbell Row (145x 5) (145X5) (145 x 5)
Cable Crunch (180 x 25)
Barbell Deadlift 3 sets (195x5)

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Date: Jun 5, 2011

Notes: Still a little sore from yesterday but felt pretty good. Gym was a tomb yet again but no matter - had the place to myself to go crazy. Solid warmup. I felt ready after 10 minutes of stretching and 5 minutes of MIIT. I felt awesome after this workout. I love doing press exercises with a barbell.

Warmup sets for all listed exercises, of course.

Clean and Press (65x8) (85x5) (95x4)
Seated Lats (40x10) (60x7) (60x5)
I went a little psycho there...gotta drop the weights for better form.
Barbell Curl (55x10) (75x8) (75x7)
Standing overhead BB Triceps (75x5) (75x5) (75x5)
Push Presses (65x5) (75x5) (95x3)
Abs (125ish motions around different machines)

PROGRESS NOTES: I'm starting to remember that I used to lift: 2days-Rest-2days-Rest2days. I'm going to stick with the current plan for at least two weeks, though and find my other workout journal.

DIET NOTES: Pretty strict so far. I 'cheated' with a couple scoop of Peanut Butter tho only because I was going to eat my arm off while waiting for the steak to finish on the grill. I've spaced my meals out a bit better for the upcoming work week.

SUPPS: Creatine, Whey and Animal Paks. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some other Universal supps for the weeks ahead.

THE QUESTION: Cut....or bulk? I know you can't do both and my body is telling me to get strong and throw the scale away for a bit. I'm leaning towards a bulk right now but let's see if I can keep my ass in the gym for a couple weeks before I commit either way.

[Bronc1031]

I took a rest day on the 6th, which I needed. Muscles were sore and was jacking up the Glut and added some milled flaxseed to my evenings shakes to help recovery. Diet has been clean and mean. Drinking loads of water. So far so good.


Date: Jun 7, 2011

Notes: Leg workout. I love these. I made my mind up to hit these HARD without mercy. By the end of this routine I was pretty wiped but feeling awesome. The one squat rack in the gym was pretty busy so I had to settle for lying presses, but I'll be changing my schedule to allow that to not happen again in the future. As a result, I decided to punish my legs further with some drop set action.

Warmup: 5 minutes on the treadmill and lots of stretching - especially hams and quads.

Leg Extensions: 2 sets of about 10-15 reps light warmup with about 130lbs...just to get the blood flowing.

Lying Leg Press: Dropset 1: 320X15, 270X15, 180X12, 90X15
Dropset 2: 360X10, 270X15, 180X12, 90X15
Basically I did my first set, jumped up, peeled a plate, repeat...until all 4 sets finished

Leg Extension: Dropset 1: 150X10, 110X10, 70X10
By now my legs were starting to feel some good pain
Dropset 2: 150X8, 110X7, 70X11

Single DB Lunges: 3 sets (10-12 reps each)
Going deep on these was actually tough..I have to stretch more but I'll get back to form in time.

Leg Press: 1 set (Stack until fail - drop pin about 6 plates and to failure)

Seated Hamstring Curls: 130lbsx15 and then X11

Then I stretched some more and hit the treadmill for 20 minutes.

Thoughts: I'm excited to actually see strength gains so I'm scrapping a cut. Heading for a clean bulk. I'll be changing my workout entirely to incorporate more overall reps and tonnage to the week. I'm happy for a friend who can fit into a medium tshirt after being overweight for years, but I don't feel like falling through a drain anytime soon.

I'll still do cardio, however. It's too important so I'm looking for a SLOW but lean bulk if that makes sense. We'll see if it works.

The only adjustment to the diet will involve more meals, something like this:

M1: Egg whites, oatmeal/porridge
M2: Eggs, potato
M3,4 and 6: 10-12oz meat/tuna, rice, handful of greens
M5: (pre-WO) Shake + potato (sweet most likely)
PWO shake operates as another 'meal' I suppose. Adding some oats and dextrose to the whey with some glut to help recover.

More on supp plan once I figure it out.

[Bronc1031]

Date: Jun 8, 2011 (from memory)

CHEST AND ABS

Notes: Came into workout feeling great. I feel better with the diet.

Warmup sets for all listed exercises, of course.

Incline DB Flyes (Dropset)
Incline BB Press (Dropset)

Superset:
*Atrainer Flyes and PeckDeck

Heavy set of DB Incline Press

Ab Circuit (15 reps over 4 different exercises)
I also did some calf work (seated raises...3 plates until failure for three sets)

*You can find these on this site with some diligence. I learned about them a few years back and was blown away about how effective they were.
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Date: Jun 9, 2011 (from memory)

ARMS

Notes: My nephew came to town so I took him with me and got him started on Rippetoe's starting strength program. So, I spent the first part of the gym training him and then I PUNISHED my arms. Craploads of volume and intensity. I don't rest much between sets on arm days.

Tricep Pulldowns (2 Double dropdown sets)
BB Skullcrushers (2 setsx15...3rd set until failure)
DB Tri-Extensions (overhead)
Rope Pulldowns (dropsets...3 or 4 until my arms couldn't take it anymore)

BB Curls (Dropset ... 3 or 4 dropsets of these until absolute failure)
Preacher curls (slow and strict form)
Hammer Curls (2 dropsets)

Payoff: Forearms...rest of the arms so blown out that forearms were easy to target. BBell curls. I read somewhere that somebody would work their forearms out by trying to turn screws into a block of wood with a plain screwdriver. Might have to try that one out.

I also did a pretty cool exercise on the preacher bench where a training partner drapes a towel over your wrists and pulls down, while you try to curl up. The trick is to have your partner provide lots of resistance while you try to pull up. You reverse the process on the way back down. I should youtube it.

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June 10, 2010

Rest day and cheat meal day. Time to let loose ( a little) for the carbs. No beer :/ Added a handful of fries but mostly just fried fish and a couple handfuls of the family popcorn during the movie. Other than that, rest of the meals were clean and lean. I've learned in the past to enjoy your cheat meal day but to not go overboard. Others can survive such blowouts, but not me, especially as I get older.

I have visible progress, but will post progress pics in a week.

[Bronc1031]

Mega-Update. I'm throwing in the exercises according to my notes and a log. I'll update a body blog after this week with workout particulars.

This website has nice tools when you make time to use them and with family visiting and lots of summertime kids stuff going on, I neglected to record the last week.

Here's to a better week ahead.

Date: Jun 11, 2011 (from memory)

SHOULDERS and CALVES

Notes: Came into workout feeling great and my nephew tagged along.

Machine Side Lats - 3 sets + dropset
Seated Smith Press - 3 sets + dropset
1-arm rows - 3 sets per arm
Upright rows - 3 sets + 1 hvy
Side Lat raises - 3 sets + dropset

Leg Press Calf Raises - 3 sets plus a 4th set until failure
Standing Calf Raises on Smith Machine - 3 sets

Diet still strong and clean.
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Date: Jun 14, 2011

LEGS

Similar to June 7 workout and believe me, I'm glad a take a full week between these.

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Date: Jun 15, 2011

Cardio, lots of stretching and the June 8 workout. It was after this workout that I realize that I need to reorganize my routines a bit more to space out the body parts.
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Date: Jun 17, 2011

ARMS workout form June 9
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Date: Jun 18, 2011

Workout B

So far so good. I'm excited to present progress pics after this week. The wight is coming off nice and slow and steady. I've dropped about 4 lbs, which is fine. I'm still looking to add more clean calories to support greater muscle gains. Just listening to my body and keeping things under control.

[Bronc1031]

Date: Jun 20, 2011

BACK and CALVES (with some forearm work)

Notes: Tremendous energy. Diet is working awesome. It was time to sweat and I was psyched.

Chins - 3 sets
Front Lat Pulldwons - 4 sets + dropset (simulate chinup)

SUPERSET 1
Seated wide grip rows - 2 sets
Pulldowns - 2 sets

SUPERSET 2
Heavy Rows - 3 sets (135,135,155)
V-Bar Pulldowns - 3 sets

Leg Press Calf Raises - 5 sets plus a 6th dropset
I did forearm work in between these 5 sets
I was managing 12 reps of 520 on the 5th set which is where I started a few years back.

Seated Calf Raises - 5 sets plus a 6th dropset (185 avg)

Its time to switch gyms where I can find a Hammer Strength Pulldown machine and I'll make the switch next month.

sample diet:

1 - 5 egg whites, oats, supps + creatine
2 - chicken and rice
3 - tuna + whey
4 - pink salmon packs (when I find time :/)
5 - steak and potato and greens
*workouts have been good an hour after dinner
6 - liquid shake-thing (PWO)

Plus a rain barrel of water a day (it feels like)