One man's Journey to becoming Richard B Riddick

[Decosta]

This is the start of a new determined me. I did Ok in 2006, got down from 20 stone down to 17stone 12lbs. I got stronger and I reduced my waist size down from 46" down to 40/42".

So 2006 wasn't a total waste. I also got to know some good people here and enjoy reading their journals.

But 2007 is going to be the year for me, no messing around, hardcore all the way. I want to be stacked, I want muscles to be showing. First, I need to lower my bodyfat. Hey, if I can be 17 stone 12lbs of pure muscle, then that is good.

It's about body composition rather than being lighter/heavier.

Stats are

Height: 6'0"
Weight: 17 stones 12lbs
Waist: 42"

When I get a tape measurer, I'll post up my measurements.

I plan to do a 4/5 day split with the weekends off.

What I plan to do is

Mon: Cardio + arm work (triceps and bis)

Tuesday: Squats, Bench Press (Sitted down to normal bench press), Good Mornings, Deadlifts,

Wednesday: Cardio (lat pulldown, leg extensions)

Thursday: Military Press, Bent Over Rows, Shrugs, Power Cleans. + Capoiera

Friday: Cardio if I don't go Capoiera.

This is just the way my time is going to be spent. Both work gyms, Mon,Wed and Fri are in Gym 1 (basic machines and cardio machines, max 1 hr in morning before work). Gym 2 is the more complex gym (max 2 hrs after work) - Tuesday and Thursday.

If anyone has a better split then please advice. I'm not afraid of working hard. My PB on squats is 105kg and bench - I'm maxing at 80/90kg. I want to go heavier in both. On deadlifts, my pb so far is 100kg.

I want to be taxed, I want to go home crying. I want to get that buzz back.

My diet is where I need more help, I can eat most things (except large quantites of milk, bad stomach reaction. I can eat the same things day in and day out and not get bored. I work an office job so eatting at set times is easy, just need to figure out what to eat.

This is what I look like so far (granted you can't see anything), but just to give you an idea of build.

I'm in 1 and wouldn't mind getting to look like 2.

P.S - Hopefully having surgery later to get rid of gyno, so want to really shape up before I had to get cut up..The better I'm in shape, the less cutting and scarring there will be.

[Decosta]

Today was the first day of my renewed gym and diet.

Got up at 5:30 and went straight to work so that I could go to the gym there. Got there about 7ish and did the following:

20 minutes on the Cross trainer on Level 10. After 20 minutes, I had done 1.67 miles.

Then I went on the treadmill, started the speed off at 4mph @ 5.0 incline. Then for every 1 minute, the incline was increased by 1 to the maximum at 15. Was at 15 incline for 2 minutes before cooldown.

With Cooldown, 1.13 miles and done in 18 minutes (278 cals).

When I got home, I took the dog for a walk for about a mile.

I have to say getting up that early and working out did make me awake for the rest of the day.


-------------------------
Tomorrow is Gym 2 which has all the free weights so I'll be hitting the upper body.

Therefore I will be doing

Deadlifts
Standing Military Press
Good Mornings
Bench Press (Incline through to decline).
Upright Barbell Row
Negative Pullup


My menu needs some serious tweaking. This is what I had today.


8:30 - Breakfast (after cardio @ gym) - Porridge with apple + Green Tea
10:30 - 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds + green tea
12:00 - Large Chicken and Tuna Salad + apple
15:00 - Sardines + apple + green tea
18:30 - Sausage Casserole with Chicken Rice + 1 slice of wholemeal bread.

Fitday says I've only had 1753 cals with 28% fat, 47% carbs and 25% protein. Seems like I need to increase cals. How do I figure out my maintence?

It's 22:16 - Might grab a bowl of oatmeal

[Decosta]

Just measured with tape. These are the results

waist - 40
hips - 42
chest - 44
shoulders - 49
biceps - 15
forearm - 12.5
thigh - 29
calf - 17
neck - 17

All numbers were in inches.

Here is the results from my last measure:

Taken on the 24th August 2006

Age 28years
Activity Level Active
Sex Male
Weight 249.00lbs

Hips 43in
Calf 17in
Neck 16.5in
Shoulders 49.00in
Arm 15.00in - this one is wierd, but i think it depends on when I measured (i.e post w/o, as my arm is 17" flexed).
Chest 44in
Forearm 12.50in
Waist 40.00in
Thigh 30in - Hoping that's due to squats

The thighs have gone down an inch as well as the waist size. That's good considering that my body hasn't changed that much in 4 and a bit months.

If anyone has a good workout split that involves lifting heavy and with the compound exercises, then let me know

[Rune]

Originally Posted by Decosta

Mon: Cardio + arm work (triceps and bis)

Tuesday: Squats, Bench Press (Sitted down to normal bench press), Good Mornings, Deadlifts,

Wednesday: Cardio (lat pulldown, leg extensions)

Thursday: Military Press, Bent Over Rows, Shrugs, Power Cleans. + Capoiera

Friday: Cardio if I don't go Capoiera.

Routine looks good as far as movements are concerned, but you may get a bit worn out with squats and deadlifts being on the same day, I also may suggest alternating deadlifts/power cleans on the Thursday if you find you can't put as much energy into them on Tuesdays. Also, if your able to do chinups(even if they're assisted), I would highly recomend them. For the days w/ cardio and weightlifting I would suggesting lifting first to get your heartrate up initially, and then do whatever cardio you have planned.



Now for the diet... Here are some key guidelines that should really help you.

-For your weight(250), I would start around 2600-2700 calories.
-Make proteins a priority at every meal, it is the one macronutrient least likely to store as fat, and it promotes many positive effects in the body (I would aim for atleast 40% of your calories or around 250-300g of protein a day).
-Watch your fat intake, by this I mean what kinds of fat, you want a lot of poly/mono unsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, avacado, etc), but also a decent amount of saturated fats as they will promote production of the anabolic hormones. Stay away from trans fats at all costs!
-Your carb sources look good, but also make sure to eat green veggies(spinach, broccoli, green beans), they are rich in nutrients and fibre. And will fill you up without too many calories.
-Try to take in the majority of carbs either in the morning (before 1 or 2pm) or immediately post workout, this is when they are most effective to the body.

Also taking a daily multivitimin is a really good idea if your not all ready.


I'll be keeping an eye on your log for sure man, try to make any suggestions I can to help you on your way. Best of luck!

[Decosta]

I did write this out, but then there was a dB error and I lost it all.

05:45 - Get Up, 30 minute walk wit the dog
7:00 - Porridge
08:30 - Green tea = Apple
10:19 - 1/3 cup of seeds + water
11:37 - Cheese Salad + mustard sandwich
12:!5 - 1 cup of mushroom soup + croutons
15:08 - Green Tea + Banana
17:00 - 19:00 - Gym*
20:00 - 1.5 Jackat potato with tuna + beans


Gym
----

Deadlifts - 10 x 80kg, 8 x 90kg, 6 x 105kg
Good Mornings - 10 x 10kg (Bar), 10 x 40kg, 10 x 60kg, 10 x70kg

-ve pullups - 5 x bodyweight
-ve chinups - 5 x bodyweight

Close grip rows - 10 x 32kg, 5 x 54kg, 5 x 64kg
Wide grip rows - 10 x 32kg, 5 x 54kg, 5 x 64kg

Standing Military Press - 10 x 10kg, 10 x 30kg, 10 x 30kg
Frontal Raises - 10 x 4.5kg, 10 x 9.0kg, 10 x 13.6kg

Bench Press - 10 x 10kg, 10 x 50kg, 5 x 80kg, 3 x 90kg, 1 x 100kg

Ab Crunch - 10 with legs raised, 10 side crunches (eac side).

Planks - 10 seconds held repeated 3 times
Hanging Leg Raises - 3 x 5

--------------------------

Thanks Rune, I'll take your advice into consideration and over the weekend, I will tweak my diet and routine to take those factors into account. How did you calculate my rough calorific needs?

Wednesday entry coming up.

[Decosta]

5:30 - Get Up
7:00 - 8:00 - Gym*
8:30 - Porridge + Green Tea
9:00 Protein shake
12:00 - Tuna Sandwich and cup of sweetcorn + red pepper soup
13:00 - Apple
15:00 - Green Tea + Sunflower seeds
17:30 - Hour walk with dog (covered about 2 miles or more)
18:00 - Beef Casserole with onions and carrots.

Gym
----

Seated Chest Press - 10 x 86.4kg, 10 x 96.4kg, 8 x 96.4kg, 1 x 106.4kg
Pec Deck - 10 x 26kg, 10 x 29kg, 10 x 35kg, 5 x 41kg

Bicep Curl (No idea of weight - assuming 1 slab equals 10kg) - 10 x 20kg, 10 x 30kg, 10 x 40kg, 10x 50kg

Lat Pulldown - 10 x 38kg, 10 x 45.5kg, 10 x 53kg, 10 x 60.5kg
Seated Row (No idea of weight - assuming 1 slab equals 10kg) - 10 x 40kg, 10 x 60kg, 10 x 70kg

10 minutes on the bike.

So far so good, feel good, but as mentioned before, will sit down and see if I can improve what exercises I do on each day with the resources I have.

Next Thursday 11th jan

[Decosta]

5:30 - Get Up
6:30 - Walk dog for 20 minutes
7:00 - Porridge
8:30 - Green Tea + Banana
12:30 - Cheese Bread + Beef Casserole + Apple
13:30 - Cheese Bread (was yummy)
15:07 - Green Tea
17:00 - 19:00 - Gym
20:00 - Scrambled eggs with beans on toast

Just to note that everyday I have a cod liver oil tablet.

Gym
----

Dumbell Lunges - holding 10kg - 10 reps for 3 sets
Leg Raises - 10 x 50kg, 10 x 70kg, 10 x 90kg, 10 x 110kg, 7 x 130kg

Hammie Stretch - 2 sets of 15 seconds
LB Stance 3 sets of 20 seconds

Arse to Grass Squats - 10 x 10kg, 8 x 30kg, 8 x 50kg, 5 x 80kg (I can do 100kg, but felt that lighter was good for getting lower).

Calf Raises - 10 x 50kg, 10 x 60kg, 10 x 70kg
Leg Curl - 10 x 13:60kg, 10 x 18.14kg, 10 x 23kg

While I was aching after all this, this morning, I feel nothing. Maybe thats a good thing.

Oh, one more thing, tried 5 reps of Romanian Deadlifts as I read it was good for butt and hammies, I just couldn't get it right, I had the curve in back and knees slightly bend with me bending at waist. Maybe I need to read more.

Anyone know of good exercises for hammies and the glutes?

Now fitting into 40" trousers, and weight is going down slowly.

[Rune]

Originally Posted by Decosta

Thanks Rune, I'll take your advice into consideration and over the weekend, I will tweak my diet and routine to take those factors into account. How did you calculate my rough calorific needs?

Wednesday entry coming up.

Not a problem my friend, I'm more than happy to lend a helping hand/advice to anybody!

For a very rough estimate you can go with BWx15 for maintainence, for a better estimate you take your LBM(lean body mass)x15, I took a rought shot at bf% from the picture/measurements you had(I said, around 25% or so) to give me 250x.75x15=2812.5, then you have to concider daily activity level, etc, so eating around there(or slightly under as I had said 2600-2700).

[Rune]

Originally Posted by Decosta

Oh, one more thing, tried 5 reps of Romanian Deadlifts as I read it was good for butt and hammies, I just couldn't get it right, I had the curve in back and knees slightly bend with me bending at waist. Maybe I need to read more.

Anyone know of good exercises for hammies and the glutes?

I think once you get RDL's down you'll find them quite good, with them useually if you go too heavy you won't feel them right as your form can get messed up a bit. Heres a basic idea of how you should be doing them.

-Keep your shins upright through the movement
-To begin the movement start by pushing your ass backward and slightly bending at the knee, you will feel your hamstrings stretching a little
-Once you feel a good stretch in the hamstrings drive forward with your hips by engaging the hamstings and glutes

This is a great video that should demonstrate proper form to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoXhAnnRwhI

Try a couple without any resistance, just bench like you should be(as in the video), you should feel the hamstring stretch even like this, just practice this a little, then give em a try next time around!

[Rune]

Just using your last posted day as an exmaple these are some things your really going to have to work on, all of them in bold.

Originally Posted by Decosta

5:30 - Get Up
6:30 - Walk dog for 20 minutes

7:00 - Porridge
You really really really need protien here, your body is very catabolic first thing in the morning due to the fact you haven't eaten in useually around 8 hours - Eggs, A Shake w/ some milk, cottage cheese, anything!

8:30 - Green Tea + Banana
Again, just carbs here, you need a lot more than that to constitute a meal - proteins, fats!!

12:30 - Cheese Bread + Beef Casserole + Apple
I can't imagine cheese bread is the healithiest thing ever, but I'm happy to atleast see some meat here!

13:30 - Cheese Bread (was yummy)

15:07 - Green Tea
Is this what your noramlly do before the gym, I can't imagine your energy can be too great on this. Aim for a nice lightish meal about an hour and a half to an hour befor eyour workout(some oats, and a shake or some kind of light protein), don't want to over eat, but jsut get something in for energy.

17:00 - 19:00 - Gym
Do you have any kind of post workout nutrition? You've just done a good workout, dammaged tissues, etc. You have to refuel your body man!!

20:00 - Scrambled eggs with beans on toast

The main things here are somewhat as I've stated before

-I'm not sure your eating enough calories.
-Not enough protein.
-Pre/Post workout meals are very important.

Do you have a list of foods that you normally get when you go grocery shopping? If not, I would suggest making one, it will help keep your diet a little more consistant, and help you plan out ahead a little what kind of stuff you can cook for the week.

[Decosta]

Originally Posted by Rune

Just using your last posted day as an exmaple these are some things your really going to have to work on, all of them in bold.



The main things here are somewhat as I've stated before

-I'm not sure your eating enough calories.
-Not enough protein.
-Pre/Post workout meals are very important.

Do you have a list of foods that you normally get when you go grocery shopping? If not, I would suggest making one, it will help keep your diet a little more consistant, and help you plan out ahead a little what kind of stuff you can cook for the week.

5:50 - Wake Up (A bit of a lie in)
7:00 - Porridge
8:30 - Green Tea + Apple
12:30 - Lots and Lots of Beef with salad + mustard in a sandwich
14:00 - Chicken and Mushroom Soup
15:00 - Green Tea
19:30 - Rest of Beef with chicken salad and toast.

Thing to note is that from 8:30 till the end of the day I was snacking on some beef I had shredded (think fresh beef strips - have to say it filled me up quite good, would this be good for the protein part of each meal?


---------------------------

Taking on board what you are saying, I shall incorparate some eggs or a shake into my breakfast. So it might be porridge + shake (with milk) or porridge and eggs or maybe all 3.

What would you suggest. 8:30 is when i start work, I've been on the road for 45 minutes and just about to settle in for the day. This is the tea run (same with 15:00 - what snack would you suggest - I do have sunflower seeds, which you recommend something more).

Before the gym, I tend to drink the tea and have a couple of peices of fruit whether it be a banana or an apple. As a matter of fact, my energy is pretty good, I haven't flagged for ages now. Always awake during the day.

Usually my post workout nurition is my dinner and a shake when I get home. So if I leave the gym at 7:00, my body gets it's fuel at 7:45-8pm.

I'm not sure your eating enough calories. - Same here, hence the tweaking part, once I figure out what I need to eat, the rest will be easier.

-Not enough protein. - Hopefully the snack meat strips,etc will help that.

-Pre/Post workout meals are very important - What do you suggest.

Can you post up a sample menu of what you would have during a typical day.

As for the shopping list, I have the tuna, meat, sardines, cottage cheese, peanut butter, veg,etc.

Thansk for the help Rune

[Rune]

Ah ok, I had though you were listing all of the stuff you ate, beef is deinitly good, around how much during the day would you eat? - a 3oz potion(around the size of a deck of cards) should be around 20-25g of protein (depending on how lean the beef is).

As for my diet, this is quite typical of what I'll eat during the day -

6:30 - Wakeup
7:00 - 3/4 cup of oats, 1tsp honey + cinnimon; 300ml skim milk + 2 scoops whey
10:00 - some times the same as meal 1; some times rice + chicken breast(8oz or so)
1:00 - Can vary here again; generally meat + a salad w/ olive oil vinaigrette(olive oil, dijon mustard, vinegar)
3:30 - 1 scoop whey in 250ml skim milk, some natural peanut butter
4:30 - Gym
5:30 - 500ml kool-aid(for sugars post workout), followed by 2 scoops whey in water about 10 mins later
6:30 - Dinner, veggies and meat for the most part, maybe a little rice or potato (yesterday was Salmon + salad)
9:00 - 2 scoops whey in 300ml skim milk, peanut butter
11:00 - Some celery sticks, peanut butter and about 1 cup cottage cheese

As you can see I eat quite a bit.

I aim for around 550-600 calories per meal, with about 50-60g of protein.

[Rune]

Originally Posted by Decosta

What would you suggest. 8:30 is when i start work, I've been on the road for 45 minutes and just about to settle in for the day. This is the tea run (same with 15:00 - what snack would you suggest - I do have sunflower seeds, which you recommend something more).

Something easy, nutritious but still fast, I've tried little pre-packaged pouches of tuna, their quite nice, good protein and not too pricey. Either that or you could give a shot at making your own "meal" bars, there are some pretty good recipes kicking around the nutrition section

Originally Posted by Decosta

Before the gym, I tend to drink the tea and have a couple of peices of fruit whether it be a banana or an apple. As a matter of fact, my energy is pretty good, I haven't flagged for ages now. Always awake during the day.

Ah ok, yeah the carbs in the fruit is just as good as oats or anything like that, energy would not be a problem in that case!

Originally Posted by Decosta

Usually my post workout nurition is my dinner and a shake when I get home. So if I leave the gym at 7:00, my body gets it's fuel at 7:45-8pm.

That's not bad, but if you could squeze the shake in on the ride home or something like that it's a better option.

Just keep working hard man, you'll get there, if you have the motivation it's easy to accomplish whatever you want to!

[Decosta]

5:30 - Get Up
6:15 - Protein Shake
8:30 - Museli + Green Tea + Banana
10:46 - Protein Shake
11:20 - Pork Sandwich
11:50 - Sweet Potato + watercress soup
15:15 - Seeds + Green Tea + Banana + Protein Shake

Gym
----

5 minute skipping
20:00 minute concept 2 Rowing (Level 7) - 3978 meters = 2.47 miles

This was a good workout, I'm going to see if I can do 5k in 20:00 minutes.

[Decosta]

5:50 - Get Up (What a lay in)
6:30 - Porridge + Eggs
8:30 - Green Tea
9:30 - Seeds
10:55 - Protein Shake
12:00 - Chilli w/cheese + small baguette
15:00 - Green Tea + Apple
15:22 - Seeds
17:00 - 19:00 - Gym
19:00 - Protein Shake
20:10 - Chilli

Gym
----

Deadlift - 5 x 50kg, 5 x 80kg, 5 x 100kg, 5 x 110kg (PB) - All Touch & Go DL

Standing Military Press - 5 x 10kg, 5 x 30kg, 5x40kg (PB)

Good Morning - 10 x 10kg, 10 x 30kg, 10 x 45kg, 10 x 70kg (PB)

Bench Press - 10 x 10kg, 10 x 50kg, 5 x 80kg, 5 x 100kg (3 on my own, compared to 1 last week *Yeah*, 2 assisted)

Oblique Twists - 10 x 10kg x 3

Closed Grip Rows - 10 x 54.43kg, 10 x 54.43kg, 10 x 54.43kg

Wide Grip Rows - 5 x 45.36kg, 5 x 45.36kg, 5 x 49.90kg

Pullup - 5 x assisted pullups (Wide) (x2)

I like my tuesday, feels like I've really worked my upper body. Also love doing deadlifts. Felt good lifting that much and getting a new PB. The weights only go up to 135kg, so I'm going to get to a point where I need more weights.

[Decosta]

5:30 - Get Up
7:00 - 7:50 - Gym
8:30 - Museli + Banana + Green Tea + Protein Shake
12:15 - Potato with tuna + spoonful of beans
15:00 - Tea + Egg Mayo sandwich
15:30 - Protein shake
18:30 - Salad + Mushroom quiche and chicken

Note that I walk the dog every day for about a mile or two. I also play an hours worth of table tennis Mon-Fri. I have to say, it's amazing how you can get quite teh sweat going on in Table Tennis. From the outside, it doesn't look that energetic, but it's alot of explosive movements from side to side. Lots of footwork.

Gym
----

Lat Pulldown - 10 x 53kg, 10 x 60.5kg, 10 x 68kg (PB)

Overhead Lat Pulldown - 10 x slab 9, 10 x slab 12, 10 x slab 12 (assume that each slab weighs 10kg. - Next time I'm there, I'll take a picture of it, because I have no idea what the machine is called.

Tricep Pulldown - 10 x 8kg, 10 x 23kg, 10 x 30.5kg, 10 x 30.5kg

Skullcrushers - 10 x 7kg (each arm) (x2)

Bicep Curl - 10 x slab 4, 10 x slab 5, 3 x slab 6 (I'm assuming that I must be curling about 30kg. Possibly 40kg.

Pec Deck - 10 x 29kg, 10 x 35kg, 10 x 38kg

[Decosta]

Well did my first proper pullup yesterday, I can defintely feel the difference when I go and lift myself up.

I have to say that it's all down to the work that I've been putting in with good mornings, deadlifts,rows, lat pulldowns, bicep curls, standing military presses and all that. So I'm dead chuffed.

Even manage to deadlift 100kg pretty easily (I tend to do 5 reps). Always makes me feel better when I do that.

Going to concentrate on cardio for a while, esp on the concept 2 rower. PLan to get my running into check.

Need to get some more money so I can do capoeria, it sucks having to do it only now and then.

Other people have started to notice the weight loss and poeple are asking me and my mate how to do stuff in the gym.

Also fit into trousers I haven;t worn in about 5, if not more years and I have to go by a new belt as the other was to big.

Anyway, be back later as I got my chicken waiting.

[Decosta]

Well I finally broke my weight plateau of 4 months and hit new lows with my weight this week. I can now fit into 40" trousers and my weight has dropped to 17stones 5 lbs. So everything is good

I can also do 1.5 pullups now, just need to work on my chinups.

Feels good to be getting fitter, I can see the changes now.

Just need to work on my abs, traps and shoulders, everything else is coming along nicely.

[Decosta]

Nothing much to report, just eatting well and going to the gym.

Talking about that, the wife wants to join a gym so I went to the induction and it's not bad, not the best but it's ok. So if the wife goes, I'll join to support her.

As usual, my goals are immense body strength(good core, powerful legs) and good flexibility. Does anyone know of a god resource to improve your ROM and flexibility?

Last night, got a book called Capoeira Conditioning, some good exercises in there, did 175 cocorinha squats, some back bridges, ginga. Doing all that definitely works the body.

Still working on my cartwheels (au)