Josh Niemi..."The Journey"

[triplewhammy]

I feel your pain lol. I've done both but a quick reverse is my favorite so far. In 2009 my reverse left me craving for almost 2 years post show. Never again!!!

Haha yeah I tell you what though..the absolute bloat I felt after Thanksgiving is enough to keep me away from too much food even if mentally I have cravings LOL! I went shopping with my wife that night and I was just waddling around Toys R Us hoping the food would just digest already HAHA...

Thanks guys! I appreicate the support! Glad someone could take something from my ramblings...

Josh, man you dug that pic out of the archives. I remember it snowed the night before that contest because it was mid-April in northern Michigan. That was also the show when a guy in our class about crapped himself when he saw that I had downed an entire gallon of water before prejudging that day. Good times man. Keep crushing it in the gym and the kitchen!

Of course bro, I love getting knowledge-bombs dropped on me, that's why I'm always asking for people's input.

Yeah dude, that snow was NOT COOL at all. I don't plan on ever going that far north at that time of year again for a show...was just terrible lol...

[triplewhammy]

Well, Wednesday was a fantastic cheat day. I call them cheat "days" because of the fact that I am basically an IIFYM'er so it really comes down to calories for the day that make it a cheat rather than a particular meal or food choice. At any rate, the day looked something like this...

3:00am - 2 scoops whey isolate, 1 packet oatmeal, 2/3 banana, handful of grapes, 1 slice toast with peanut butter
4:30am-6:30am - BCAAs (intraworkout)
7:00am - 1 slice of breakfast casserole (eggs, sausage, bread, cheese), half protein bar, 1 scoop whey isolate
9:00am - 2 TV Dinners (turkey, peas, mashed potatoes), 1 scoop whey isolate
11:30am - 1 turkey sandwich on whole wheat croissant, 1 pack honey roasted peanuts, 1 bag Cool Ranch doritos, 1 bag microwave popcorn, 1 scoop whey isolate
1:30pm - BCAAs
3:30pm - Protein Shake (1 scoop whey isolate, 8oz milk, 2 tblspns crunched up Heath bar)
5:30pm - Mexican restaurant (7 fajitas + chips and salsa)
7:30pm - BCAAs
9:30pm - Protein Shake (1 scoop casein, 8oz milk), bowl of cereal

So overall it wasn't crazy-ridiculous but I definitely threw down and made the most of the occasion! Sleep is always so incredible after days like that and Wednesday night was no different. Slept a solid 8 hours and woke up refreshed. Thursday rolled around and I was back on my 2000 cal diet as if nothing happened the day before haha. Took the day off from the gym to recover from all the workouts, especially after thrashing Legs so much.

Woke up today at 2:30am (even without my 5-month old human alarm clock!) and the scale showed 167.6, not too shabby. I threw down a digestive enzyme, GDA, and then my preworkout meal. FYI: using those two supplements is a great way to get your food rocking and rolling quickly for those of you that have problems with timing an early AM workout. Another "trick" is to take a portion of your preworkout drink since it will be on an empty stomach and have a stronger effect. Otherwise, typically you will notice that the food you eat will blunt the effects of it unless you give yourself a long time for the food to digest, which would mean waking up even earlier.

After that, I took an irresponsible amount of stims and then hit up Gold's Gym just minutes after it opened at 4am. Hit up Shoulders/Tris/Bis for 2 hours of straight supersets and just completely thrashed them. Some of my isolation lifts are approaching offseason PRs (such as Standing Barbell Curl, 1-Arm Machine Curl, and Tricep Extension Machine) which is just fantastic. One thing I learned a few years ago after following Marc Lobliner's log here on bb.com is to stop tracking sets so much and just go until you can't go any more (not sure if he still trains this way but many of his workouts used to be like that). I think in the past I really limited my growth by trying to hit "x" number of sets and then stopping rather than just going by feel and trashing the muscle groups as much as I could. Typically I will end up with near the same amount of sets each time anyway, but I definitely keep the flexibility to just keep hammering them if things are ticking along nicely.

So, I lifted from 4-6am, then put in my 15 minutes of cardio on the Elliptical. But, I had a bit more time and I figured I was going to be ravenously hungry today so what I did was reset the Elliptical after that and then did a second session of another 15 minutes and noted how many burned calories it approximated and will use that for a bit of additional food (yes I realize it's not entirely accurate...).

*POTENTIAL BROSCIENCE ALERT*: I think between the thermic effect of food, the more intense/longer workout sessions, and improved hormone levels, my metabolism is really cranking up so I'm looking forward to tomorrow not only for some more epic cheat meals but also for notching my reverse-diet calories up to 2200/day for the coming week. I feel like my body is tracking really well so far to keep the fat down to a minimum and put these new calories to good muscle-growing use.

[swimmer32]

Woke up today at 2:30am (even without my 5-month old human alarm clock!) and the scale showed 167.6, not too shabby. I threw down a digestive enzyme, GDA, and then my preworkout meal. FYI: using those two supplements is a great way to get your food rocking and rolling quickly for those of you that have problems with timing an early AM workout. Another "trick" is to take a portion of your preworkout drink since it will be on an empty stomach and have a stronger effect. Otherwise, typically you will notice that the food you eat will blunt the effects of it unless you give yourself a long time for the food to digest, which would mean waking up even earlier.

Interesting. I've never tried a digestive enzyme with my preworkout meal. How much time do you have between your preworkout meal and your workout? Can you tell the difference between days when you take the enzyme and when you don't?

After that, I took an irresponsible amount of stims

haha!

[triplewhammy]

Interesting. I've never tried a digestive enzyme with my preworkout meal. How much time do you have between your preworkout meal and your workout? Can you tell the difference between days when you take the enzyme and when you don't?




haha!

Well, today I got up at 2:30 and nearly immediately took ProSupps I-Load (Glucose-Disposal Agent), then at about 2:45 I started my preworkout meal with a digestive enzyme. Finished up around 3:00. Then drove to the gym from 3:25 to 4:00, while sipping on my preworkout drink. I think the enzyme and GDA do a very good job of helping move food through in a faster time frame, highly recommended. And I can DEFINITELY tell when I have cheat meals with vs without enzymes

[The Solution]

What time do you go to bed? up at 2:30 A.M.
No thanks!

[triplewhammy]

What time do you go to bed? up at 2:30 A.M.
No thanks!

Haha I know for real! Last night was 8pm... the 2:30am thing is the worst it gets...6 feels like sleeping in now though haha!

[Frankdaddy]

LOL I was laying across from Bob the night before my show, no homo, and It was around 3am and I was watching cartoons per usual and I am like "Dang, I wish I could have fell asleep at 11pm" True story LOL

[triplewhammy]

LOL I was laying across from Bob the night before my show, no homo, and It was around 3am and I was watching cartoons per usual and I am like "Dang, I wish I could have fell asleep at 11pm" True story LOL

hahaha....one word: MELATONIN

[The Solution]

LOL I was laying across from Bob the night before my show, no homo, and It was around 3am and I was watching cartoons per usual and I am like "Dang, I wish I could have fell asleep at 11pm" True story LOL

This post is full of homo......

[triplewhammy]

UPDATE 12/1/2012

STATS
Weight: 165.4 lbs

TRAINING
CHEST DAY: Chest/Triceps/Calves (Primary Exercise: Flat DB Press or Flat Bench)
BACK DAY: Back/Lats/Biceps (Primary Exercise: Corner Row)
LEG DAY 1: Heavy-Weight Legs (Primary Exercise: Squats)
SHOULDER DAY: Shoulders/Arms (Primary Exercise: HS Shoulder Press)
CARDIO: Treadmill/Stepmill/Elliptical
LEG DAY 2: High-Volume Legs (Primary Exercise: Leg Press)

DIET
Reverse-dieting is loosely following this plan (I am beginning Post-Contest Week 3 now):
Post-Contest Week 1: 1800 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 2: 2000 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 3: 2300 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 4: 2500 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 5+: ????

After Week 4 I will evaluate my weight gain and see if I should continue to bump up calories (most likely, but I won't force it). At 2500 cals/day I will finally be to the point where I don't feel starving all the time so that won't be a factor in whether or not I want to increase.

Cheat meals/days are typically planned and intentional. Regardless, they are kept reasonable. Although I don't really discriminate between "clean" vs "dirty" food sources anymore, there are some cheats that I simply don't do because I feel they are simply devoid of nutritional justification not to mention will make me feel terrible (physically and mentally!). For example, a box of Krispy Kremes will never happen on a cheat day. But a plate of fajitas or a huge order of Chinese beef and broccoli will most certainly be on the menu. I don't even mind things like ice cream or pizza from time to time but by and large at this point I much more enjoy putting together a massive protein shake and a big ol' bowl of oatmeal and just go by satiety without counting the calories.

SUPPLEMENTATION
Performance:
Omega Sports Trinitine
Omega Sports T-Force
Ultimate Nutrition BCAA 12000 (for between-meal amino dosing)
Dymatize Elite Recoup (for intraworkout amino dosing)
Nutrex Hemo-Rage UC

Support:
Optimum Nutrition 100% Egg Protein
Universal Nutrition Casein Pro
Vitacost Whey Iso
Swole Whey Swole
Controlled Labs Gold Feast
USPlabs Super Cissus
Multivitamin
Fish oil
Glucosamine HCL
Melatonin

THOUGHTS
Ummm.... REVERSE DIETING. FOR. THE. WIN.

It's days like today where I wake up, step on the scale, see it show 165.4 and think to myself "are you kidding me?!" This is sheer craziness. I've never been able to control a post-contest diet like I have so far. Only up 2 lbs after a contest carb-up, Thanksgiving, and several cheat days. I think there are many factors involved both physiologically and psychologically. Not only am I don't post-lifting cardio every session, working out just as frequent (even more intense), but also mentally I am nailing my diet and overlooking the hunger I'm still feeling I think in part because I remember how much pain the 33 weeks of dieting was! I do love lifting lean and seeing the muscle contract but I'm also looking forward to putting on some size, especially my legs which need a lot of work. If I can keep this up and start to lean bulk (actually gain weight haha), I will have the best of both worlds.

So at this point I'm just still grinding out the early-AM workouts partly because of my daughter who likes to wake up incredibly early and play around as well as the fact that it seems like if I wake up and feel hungry it's pretty much all over -- I have to get up and start my day. Strength is slowly climbing back although it is definitely going to be awhile before I'm back at peak offseason strength -- recognizing of course that at 165 pounds I'm simply not going to be pushing the same weights as when I was 220 LOL! I am enjoying the early workouts for now although at some point they definitely need to come to a close. The whole "2:30am" thing is fine for now but that can't go on forever. Once my daughter hits 6 months old we will let her cry more during the night and just ignore it so that combined with the inevitable stim-break that I will be taking in a few weeks will probably push my workouts back to the PM.

As far as supplements go, I'm winding down some of my bigger stacks this week and for the next few weeks it will be the basics (protein, fish oil, glucosamine, cissus) + a preworkout. Black Friday and Cyber Monday treated me pretty well so at the moment as far as protein powders go I can throw back either whey isolate, whey concentrate, egg, or casein at will. Speaking of this, I'd love to hear others' opinions but for whatever reason I really feel like egg protein works well for me. I don't know what it is but it "feels" like it sticks to my bones and leads to better muscle growth than whey...I know this is completely bro-tastic but that's just how it seems. My boss at work swears by milk and egg protein too. Anyway, I also got stocked up on BCAAs for quite awhile...pretty excited about this.





Today I got up at 4:45am (felt like I was sleeping in haha), and went to the gym for some solid cardio -- 20 min Elliptical, 5 min Bike, 20 min Treadmill (2.51 miles), 10 min Bike (half HIIT, half cooldown). I am taking my family out of town this weekend to treat my wife to two days of shopping in Woodfield Mall as a combination of her birthday, our anniversary, Christmas shopping for others, and just a celebration of contest prep being over. So, there will be quality family time, good food, and good times coming up for us and I figured I would get my cardio in today to prepare my body for the epic anabolic rebound from a couple cheat days. I'm definitely excited to do something nice for her after all the hard work she's put in to support me. I love her so much and you have no idea how thankful I am that God brought her into my life at such a young age (we met our Freshman year of college and got married the following summer -- been married for 7 years now!).

As always, if anyone has any thoughts/tweaks to my game plan I am all ears.


Josh

[swimmer32]

You'd better be planning on downing some deep dish Chicago pizza. Otherwise your entire weekend is going to be a waste.

You guys were married before your sophomore years? Craziness! I married my wife after her junior year, and I thought we were unusual! haha

Oh - and very impressive supplement stack!

[Frankdaddy]

Awesome write up. Bro I am happy for you and your reverse diet going so well, keep milking it out and enjoying it as the weight gain will come over time. If mentally you have no issues with it then you are in full control, but like you said you endured much worse during prep than now. I am happy for you and your wife/family for being married for such a long while now, my girlfriend and I have been dating the same, not ready to pull the plug yet LOL, but I am glad everything is in a tight spot. Like you said enjoy yourself with her, even if you gain a few pounds it will be worth it to her to have those "free" moments that she knows you're only doing for her. The problem is in most peoples relationship I believe with bodybuilding is they never develop a balance, some are either too strict or don't let the other one know what their goals are, and are never clear. Most women will not deal with our setup what so ever, no matter how much we work with them LOL.



Some people just do not digest whey as well, so maybe that is why your respond better to milk/egg protein better.


Lol I dated my girlfriend since she was a freshman in high school and I was a senior (14 & 17), beat that

[triplewhammy]

You'd better be planning on downing some deep dish Chicago pizza. Otherwise your entire weekend is going to be a waste.

You guys were married before your sophomore years? Craziness! I married my wife after her junior year, and I thought we were unusual! haha

Oh - and very impressive supplement stack!

Haha I know right?! We'll see!

Sorry I guess I stated that wrong, we got married the summer between our Sophomore and Junior years haha...but yeah we were the oddballs! Oh man, the Cyber Monday deals were solid!

[triplewhammy]

Awesome write up. Bro I am happy for you and your reverse diet going so well, keep milking it out and enjoying it as the weight gain will come over time. If mentally you have no issues with it then you are in full control, but like you said you endured much worse during prep than now. I am happy for you and your wife/family for being married for such a long while now, my girlfriend and I have been dating the same, not ready to pull the plug yet LOL, but I am glad everything is in a tight spot. Like you said enjoy yourself with her, even if you gain a few pounds it will be worth it to her to have those "free" moments that she knows you're only doing for her. The problem is in most peoples relationship I believe with bodybuilding is they never develop a balance, some are either too strict or don't let the other one know what their goals are, and are never clear. Most women will not deal with our setup what so ever, no matter how much we work with them LOL.

So true man. I will be bringing along some protein powder but other than that there will be no focus on bodybuilding, no working out tomorrow either. So important to get the balance right. Just gonna enjoy the time!

[The Solution]

DIET
Reverse-dieting is loosely following this plan (I am beginning Post-Contest Week 3 now):
Post-Contest Week 1: 1800 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 2: 2000 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 3: 2150 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 4: 2300 cals/day

I would do this at the max... yes the scale may be playing games, but remember slow and steady wins the race!
Smaller bumps and riding it out as you continue to grow = Winning! Its not about the scale its about the mirror and adding weight to the bar!

Egg Protein - its personal, you may think it feels better for you, but honestly there is not much research at all to support it out there over others depending on what settles for that individual and what they tolerate most.. remember the body is not a textbook!

[triplewhammy]

I would do this at the max... yes the scale may be playing games, but remember slow and steady wins the race!
Smaller bumps and riding it out as you continue to grow = Winning! Its not about the scale its about the mirror and adding weight to the bar!

Egg Protein - its personal, you may think it feels better for you, but honestly there is not much research at all to support it out there over others depending on what settles for that individual and what they tolerate most.. remember the body is not a textbook!

Good lookin out for me Bob. I guess someone needs to back me away from Calorie Cliff before I jump hahaha! Alright, we will modify and go with 2200 cals/day. Anything less than a 200 cal bump and I may lose my mind. I'm feeling pretty good so far and I am already leaps and bounds ahead of last offseason...I guess I'm just impatient, wanting to get back to that offseason strength I enjoyed all throughout 2011.

[TheLiftLife]

Glad to hear the reverse is going great. Been following since about midway through your prep and have found it a great source of information and motivation,
You should check out my first ever log when ya get a chance josh! forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=150065143&pagenumber=
Hope your days off with the family are going great!

[The Solution]

Good lookin out for me Bob. I guess someone needs to back me away from Calorie Cliff before I jump hahaha! Alright, we will modify and go with 2200 cals/day. Anything less than a 200 cal bump and I may lose my mind. I'm feeling pretty good so far and I am already leaps and bounds ahead of last offseason...I guess I'm just impatient, wanting to get back to that offseason strength I enjoyed all throughout 2011.

You even wrote your own problem. i would wait to see what 2200 does for a week before jumping another 200. 200 weekly is fast. while it still is small, remember rome was not built overnight.

[triplewhammy]

Glad to hear the reverse is going great. Been following since about midway through your prep and have found it a great source of information and motivation,
You should check out my first ever log when ya get a chance josh! forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=150065143&pagenumber=
Hope your days off with the family are going great!

Glad you are getting something out of all this craziness! I subbed.

You even wrote your own problem. i would wait to see what 2200 does for a week before jumping another 200. 200 weekly is fast. while it still is small, remember rome was not built overnight.

Well like you told me awhile back, I was dieting so incredibly low that to jump 200 cals or so each week really only puts me back in a barely normal range. Plus for how much more intense my workouts are (and still doing lots of cardio), 2200 cals really can't be much at all. I just need to get back to a sane caloric intake. Not going to bed starving and eating a normal dinner with my family are two things that would be nice to see happening again. There's just no way I can see myself bumping by only 150 cals each week, even if it means putting on just a touch more fat. Either way I will evaluate at the end of each week, I won't increase just for the sake of increasing. If my weight starts to pick up then I will pause and ride it out for a bit, and I think once I'm 2500+ per day I can drop down to just 100 cal/week increase. I think the reverse is going pretty well either way...

[triplewhammy]

Well after a couple days of epic feasting (especially at Olive Garden), the scale was showing 170.6! I know it's just a fluke reading but I wasn't feeling the love, so it motivated me to put in a solid 30 min cardio post-lifting today. Doing two days of straight shopping helped mitigate the weight gain though. Between Saturday and Sunday I pushed a double stroller around a three-story mall for a combined 6+ hours so there had to be some decent calorie-burning going on LOL! Lots of diaper changes and snack breaks, but it was worth it to spoil my wife and give her some good shopping time.

Had a fantastic Back/Lats/Biceps workout this morning (another 4am session), upper body just blew up. Breadstick pumpz FTW.

Corner Rows:
1p x 15
2p x 12
3p x 10
4p x 10
5p x 8
6p x 13
5p x 10
4p x 17

Standing Barbell Curl
50 x 12
65 x 10
80 x 8
95 x 8
110 x 8

3 sets Bent Over DB Row
6 sets Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
3 sets V-Grip Lat Pulldown
3 sets Hammer Curl
4 sets 1-Arm Machine Curl
3 sets DB Shrugs
30 min Elliptical

[Frankdaddy]

That is one thing you mentioned that is important, the fact is that you have a supportive family. A supportive family is supportive for something you want to do, but you can bet they would appreciatea few meals in the evening together if that is the normal thing in a house hold. In my girlfriend and mines house we never enjoy the same foods and I normally end up eating 3/4 of her meal because she cannot eat a lot, so it is no big deal if I eat her cooking. My problem is food tastes better than it ever does post contest, and that is when I want to enjoy it before the feeling disappears. Controlling how many bites after is my problem


Do you guys christmas shop for each other or just do things for the kids? If so what did you ask?

[nads786]

Very sick workout! 6 plate T-bar rows is insane at your weight, don't the plates pull you forward at only a 165lbs?

[triplewhammy]

That is one thing you mentioned that is important, the fact is that you have a supportive family. A supportive family is supportive for something you want to do, but you can bet they would appreciatea few meals in the evening together if that is the normal thing in a house hold. In my girlfriend and mines house we never enjoy the same foods and I normally end up eating 3/4 of her meal because she cannot eat a lot, so it is no big deal if I eat her cooking. My problem is food tastes better than it ever does post contest, and that is when I want to enjoy it before the feeling disappears. Controlling how many bites after is my problem


Do you guys christmas shop for each other or just do things for the kids? If so what did you ask?

Yeah, contest-prep basically destroyed family dinner time for the final 2 months or so... I definitely agree food tastes better post-contest, even basic things like protein shakes in milk and oatmeal really hit the spot for me.

Yeah we Christmas shop for each other. Not usually together at stores though. A lot of it is done online these days. I usually tell people to get me supplements or workout apparel and they roll their eyes. My wife gets me various things, normally clothes that I need or just other random stuff. I dunno, I really don't want much these days. Electronics and entertainment don't have a pull on me like they used to, I don't really watch much TV (despite owning a 65'' lol...), haven't been to a movie theater in a long time, don't own a smartphone, etc etc. Just training, working, raising kids, spending time with my wife, and studying the Bible are how I spend most of my days. So I always have a hard time coming up with gift ideas. Plus we are on the Dave Ramsey financial plan (Baby Step 2 Debt Snowball), so I prefer that she spend very little on me anyway.

Very sick workout! 6 plate T-bar rows is insane at your weight, don't the plates pull you forward at only a 165lbs?

Thanks bro! Nah, doesn't seem to pull me forward actually. I'm pretty good at "sitting" into the exercise I suppose. The last 2-3 reps got a bit sloppy using momentum but other than that it was legit.

[triplewhammy]

Woke up at 3:30am, popped my GDA and digestive enzyme, fed my daughter a bottle, and threw down a couple beef softshell tacos and cinnamon-Splenda toast. Then drove into the gym to smash Legs.

7 min Elliptical (warmup)
3 min Bike (warmup)

Back Squats:
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8
315 x 4

Front Squats:
135 x 8
155 x 8
185 x 8

Machine Squat Press:
270 x 15
360 x 12
450 x 10
540 x 9

6 sets Lying Leg Curl
4 sets Hamtractor Machine
15 min Elliptical

[Frankdaddy]

Interesting about the plan you guys follow, never thought of doing something a long those lines as far as keeping funds in check. I am just a pretty tight spender besides food and traveling, those two things are one thing I would go broke on and usually do, LOL. I agree with you on the buying part, I don't require much at all. In fact I would rather just get a small amount of money in a card and I go buy groceries. I did want a pair of adipowers for this Christmas and those run almost 200$ and that price cringes me. The fact I am actually fixing up my own place right now to move into beginning of the year I find myself buying counter tops and decorative items as Christmas gifts lol.

[triplewhammy]

Interesting about the plan you guys follow, never thought of doing something a long those lines as far as keeping funds in check. I am just a pretty tight spender besides food and traveling, those two things are one thing I would go broke on and usually do, LOL. I agree with you on the buying part, I don't require much at all. In fact I would rather just get a small amount of money in a card and I go buy groceries. I did want a pair of adipowers for this Christmas and those run almost 200$ and that price cringes me. The fact I am actually fixing up my own place right now to move into beginning of the year I find myself buying counter tops and decorative items as Christmas gifts lol.

Ooh yeah getting your own place is definitely going to cost you LOL! We've lived in our house for a little over 5 years and they say that's about how long it takes before you start making money on a place...we've sunk thousands into various broken appliances and utilities. I highly recommend the Dave Ramsey financial plan (his NY Times Bestseller is called "Total Money Makeover").

Yeah those Adi Power shoes look sweet, I've been tempted to get a pair for awhile now. Just don't like the idea of having to have a different set of shoes for running, general lifting, and squatting/deading. Seems like overkill and would be annoying if I changed my mind at the gym of what I wanted to train and then I don't have the right footwear...

[Frankdaddy]

Ooh yeah getting your own place is definitely going to cost you LOL! We've lived in our house for a little over 5 years and they say that's about how long it takes before you start making money on a place...we've sunk thousands into various broken appliances and utilities. I highly recommend the Dave Ramsey financial plan (his NY Times Bestseller is called "Total Money Makeover").

Yeah those Adi Power shoes look sweet, I've been tempted to get a pair for awhile now. Just don't like the idea of having to have a different set of shoes for running, general lifting, and squatting/deading. Seems like overkill and would be annoying if I changed my mind at the gym of what I wanted to train and then I don't have the right footwear...

Lol I received a pair of Inzer squat boots that I love, and they are very uncomfortable to keep on after long periods of time. I love them because of how well they feel during squats and the hardcore boot style to them. I do however hate taking them off for deadlifts, but I normally keep them on during other leg exercises and light elliptical work. The adipowers seem to be a bit more comfy as they are not a boot style, sexy look to them, and still have the raised heel/support. That would suck but it wouldnt be a bad thing if you wanted to do upper body, but cardio might not work out for you!!! If not chucks are the only thing Ifind acceptable during leg exercises, or bare footed, which I love on both squats/deadlifts.

[triplewhammy]

Lol I received a pair of Inzer squat boots that I love, and they are very uncomfortable to keep on after long periods of time. I love them because of how well they feel during squats and the hardcore boot style to them. I do however hate taking them off for deadlifts, but I normally keep them on during other leg exercises and light elliptical work. The adipowers seem to be a bit more comfy as they are not a boot style, sexy look to them, and still have the raised heel/support. That would suck but it wouldnt be a bad thing if you wanted to do upper body, but cardio might not work out for you!!! If not chucks are the only thing Ifind acceptable during leg exercises, or bare footed, which I love on both squats/deadlifts.

Haha gotta love the gangster boots...hardcore! So yeah...I squat in Asics LOL!

[triplewhammy]

Woke up today at 167.0 lbs. Feeling particularly hungry so today will be a cheat day, granted it will be pretty mild (nothing like this past weekend LOL). Hit up Chest/Triceps/Calves this morning around 5am and did 30 min cardio after lifting to mitigate any excess calories. Heaviest lifts were Flat DB Press 110s x 7 and Incline DB Press 90s x 7. Definitely not loving the lack of strength but it is understandable, just gotta stay patient and keep grinding!

[The Solution]

Better he some ice cream on the menu son
Let's keep
Progressing in here