Biggaz's getting his ar@e in gear

[biggaz]

Where to start?

Twelve months into my "lifestyle" change, and where am I?

Fitter? Yes, Stronger? Yes.

Bigger? Well yes I suppose I am, but at Christmas 2006, I had problems in my life. I finished work and headed to the nearest pub. I never left until the place shut. Night after night, that was my routine.

Weekends were party time!

January 2007, I weighed in at a little over ten stone, not a lot for over six foot. So, a little more than a year on, I?m a lot bigger, but probably only a little over my natural weight.

At the end of this summer, we,re planning on spending a few days in New York, our first visit to the States, to meet at least one one member of this forum.

Of course, workouts are planned. So I need to be bigger,pain has already been promised

I need to eat more, much more than I do know. I?m not lazy, I?m almost religous in keeping to my workout schedule, but food, that I struggle with. My partner, Kath, eats pretty much the same as me but wants to lose a couple of stone, even the dog?s overweight.



So today?s my first day to bulk, for want of a better word. (need to get organised on Fitday to actually work my calories out). It was strange this morning, packing food to take to work. Kat grabbed a weightwatchers, microwave meal, I?m stuffing chicken, tuna, bananas and almonds into a coolbag, then stopping to pick a couple of liters of milk on the way to work.

I,ve got home, taken sirloin steaks out for our late dinner, then cooked some rice and trout for my early dinner. I feel I?ve depleted the animal kingdom today lol



Guess this is all pretty rambling, just trying to put some thoughts into words, to remind myself where I started and to encourage myself "to get my arse in gear" to get to where I want to be

[IronIc]

Hi Gary! Good luck to you and Kath on your goals

[bodyhard]

I will be watching this journal very closely.......

[biggaz]

Originally Posted by IronIc

Hi Gary! Good luck to you and Kath on your goals

Thankyou Penny :-)

Originally Posted by bodyhard

I will be watching this journal very closely.......

Though you might lol. Lot of hard work, eating, in front of me ;-)

[alkell]

Hi, lol at the depleting of the animal kingdom, I often think of all the food I eat and that it's probably more than my fair share

Good luck, I'll check in to have a look at your workouts when you post them.

[bodyhard]

hmmm are you working out nights or mornings? Where is the workouts and diet?

[biggaz]

Thanks Alkell, I'll post workouts as I go along.

I usually train evenings, I'm just not a morning person.

I have been doing an upper/lower body for a couple of weeks, but it doesn't seem to be working, you know, it just doesn't feel right. The last time I trained upper body was on monday.

I'm going back to a four day split, pyramidding weight up and reps down. I did this about a year ago and seemed to make decent strengh gains.

Last night was back and I love back work, 3 working sets per exercise, normally 10,8 and 6 reps. Final set shown.

Bent over rows, 140lb x 6 (increase to 150 x6 next.)
1 arm d/b rows 35kg x6 (40kg next)
Close grip pulldowns 184Lb x6 (bit of a struggle as I was pulling myself up
rather than the bar down)
Lat pulls 173 x6 struggled
Seated cable rows 173 x6

I'm still using the lat stack, with high and low pulleys, too much. I drew some plans up a while back for a wall mounted pull up bar and dip station, along with a T bar row, and gave them to a mate to weld up. I'm seriously short of space so have to have taylor made to fit.

Anyway he lost the plans, so I'm back to scratch. The cable stack only does 140lbs, so I've adapted it to add free weights, which are kgs, hence some of the odd weights.

I was planning delt's tonight, but my lats are a bit tender so I'll rest tonight. A lot depends on how heavy a day i have at work, some days involve lots of lifting and climbing and I know I'll waste my time going into the gym. This should get better in the next few weeks as my strength and stamina return.

Anyone any suggestions for additional or substitute exercises, feel free to post ;-)

[alkell]

I love back work too, I think it's because I like the look of a muscular back (with all the bumps and muscles).

[bodyhard]

Originally Posted by biggaz

Bent over rows, 140lb x 6 (increase to 150 x6 next.)
1 arm d/b rows 35kg x6 (40kg next)
keep one of the two add deadlifts
Close grip pulldowns 184Lb x6 (bit of a struggle as I was pulling myself up
rather than the bar down)
Lat pulls 173 x6 Remove add Pull-ups
Seated cable rows 173 x6

My suggestion in bold

[biggaz]

Bodyhard,

But deadlifts are hard lol j/k I do them on leg days. I don't know why, but have always considered them more of a leg exercise.

Suppose it wouldn't hurt to continue d/l's with legs and add them to back day too. (Usually get 3-4 days between back and leg days, so I'd be rested enough)

I,ve still no pull up bar, like I said above, so thats not an option at present. I know my back w/o's are lacking without it.
I'll ask at work, see if I can use their welder and get that pull up/dip station made up.

Thanks for the suggestions John :-)

[biggaz]

DELTS TONIGHT.

W/O tonight. pyramid sets. Last set shown.

Push Press 55Kgx3, PB
Upright Row45kg x6
rope pulls 110lb x6
Side lateral raise 10kg x6
D/b raise 20kg x6


Not great weights but steadily improving for me.
Thing is,I tweaked my back,cleaning the bar for my push press on an earlier set, (30 kgs I think). Its only light, I forgot form, and ouch.

I'm mad at myself now, for being lazy and taking things for granted, my backs nagging at me. With good form, while I was still warm, I lifted more than I ever have, so I know I can do more.

Legs tomorrow ;-(

[bodyhard]

Originally Posted by biggaz

Bodyhard,

But deadlifts are hard lol j/k I do them on leg days. I don't know why, but have always considered them more of a leg exercise.

Suppose it wouldn't hurt to continue d/l's with legs and add them to back day too. (Usually get 3-4 days between back and leg days, so I'd be rested enough)

I,ve still no pull up bar, like I said above, so thats not an option at present. I know my back w/o's are lacking without it.
I'll ask at work, see if I can use their welder and get that pull up/dip station made up.

Thanks for the suggestions John :-)

Dead are NOT for legs trust me when I tell you this, when you and I workout together I am going to show you how to perform a deadlift and a SLDL this is really driving me nuts!

You can do SLDL on leg days those are for your legs. Don't worry stick with me, you wont go wrong, if after we train together you feel otherwise than OK but lets get together.

[biggaz]

We will John ;-)

You can't believe how much I'm looking forward to it. You Know I train at home, learning from here and videos an books. So I know I'm making mistakes, just finding my way.... But at least I'm trying.

Might just not be me your teaching either lol. Couple of others on here are talking about meeting up when we come over.

[IronIc]

Originally Posted by biggaz

Legs tomorrow ;-(

Are you tellin' us you don't like to train legs???

You know, leg day used to be my favorite, but now I'm really loving shoulders, especially since I'm beginning to see results

[bodyhard]

Originally Posted by biggaz

We will John ;-)

You can't believe how much I'm looking forward to it. You Know I train at home, learning from here and videos an books. So I know I'm making mistakes, just finding my way.... But at least I'm trying.

Might just not be me your teaching either lol. Couple of others on here are talking about meeting up when we come over.

Understood, just want to give you a head start when we hit it up.

Depends on who the others are, might be some of the people here I want to slap up a little and I am not ready for that yet

[gbg]

Oh **** Biggaz has a journal going!!! This is gonna be fun
Biggaz I think we're both gonna learn a lot here with johns input, what's up with Deads on leg day
Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[biggaz]

Originally Posted by IronIc

Are you tellin' us you don't like to train legs???

Heresy I know. I don't mind legs as a whole but I hate squats. They just plain hurt me and I'm always nervous of hurting my back. (Twenty years of lower back pain and slipped discs)

Truth is I've pulled a sickie cos my bags still nagging from last night, so I'll do legs in the AM and try to get a chest workout in later in the day to keep on schedule.

Been food shopping instead :-), bought 65 chicken breasts and some steak and prawns. Freezer is full, well for a week or two.


[QUOTE=bodyhard;141147301
Depends on who the others are, might be some of the people here I want to slap up a little and I am not ready for that yet [/QUOTE]

Surely not John, :-), but gbg and Tank have expressed an interest.

Originally Posted by gbg

Oh **** Biggaz has a journal going!!! This is gonna be fun
Biggaz I think we're both gonna learn a lot here with johns input, what's up with Deads on leg day
Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Ssshh, don't tell anyone lol
With regard to d/l's I think I've missed something somewhere, but what John's saying is normal deads are more of a back exercise, I know I feel it more in my back anyway.

SLDL's obviously targets the ham's. My idea of what he means anyway

[gbg]

I do deads on back day, they work back as well as legs and core there a great compound exercise that works a lot of different muscle groups but I do them to strengthen my back and for overall power and strength, I can't do them on leg day, legs wipe me out and I don't have the strength or the power needed for deads so if you don't like squats doing deads on led day might not be a good idea.

[biggaz]

Well, I'm adding deads into my back day next week, as advised. Its an exercise that I should persevere with.

I'm adding sldl back into my leg routine tomorrow, I used to do them and not really sure why I stopped! edit, checked my logs, swopped for deads (huh?)


Also adding d/b lunges. Used to include BB lunges but stopped them too. (Guess cos I didn't like em much I got lazy) Like the thread title says, gotta get my ar@e in gear. lol

[bodyhard]

Originally Posted by gbg

I do deads on back day, they work back as well as legs and core there a great compound exercise that works a lot of different muscle groups but I do them to strengthen my back and for overall power and strength, I can't do them on leg day, legs wipe me out and I don't have the strength or the power needed for deads so if you don't like squats doing deads on led day might not be a good idea.

Anyone who is doing deadlifts and squats on the same day is not giving 100% intensity to both, one of the two is going to suffer. Unless you are using "help" I just can't see going all out on both of these exercises on the same workout.

Originally Posted by biggaz

Well, I'm adding deads into my back day next week, as advised. Its an exercise that I should persevere with.

I'm adding sldl back into my leg routine tomorrow, I used to do them and not really sure why I stopped! edit, checked my logs, swopped for deads (huh?)


Also adding d/b lunges. Used to include BB lunges but stopped them too. (Guess cos I didn't like em much I got lazy) Like the thread title says, gotta get my ar@e in gear. lol

This is a really good idea, and you will notice that you will be stronger on both if you seperate the two.

[biggaz]

No more legs for another week yeah....

Seriously though, I'm always glad to get my squats finished.

Squats, atg 40kg(88Lbs)x10, 50(110)x8, 60(132)x6, 70(154)x6

Obviously legs aren't my forte, but I'm happy with today and I know I can raise the weight next time out.

SLDL's Haven,t done this for ages and apprehensive about the back pains I've had for the last few days, so a pleasing final set of 65Kgs(143)x4 Again something I can improve on next time.

Standing Calf Raises, Final set of 80(176)x15 I think I need to go way heavier on these and/or add them to another w/o as well.


D/B Lunges, epic fail, just managed 1 set 20kg bells, legs were shaking, spots in front of my eyes, the works lol. Tried a b/w set but gave up. Think i used all my energy in the squats lol

I'm going to persevere with em, maybe add them to my delts day, just until I can build some strength and stamina, for now I can't do them and squats together.... wuss, I know lol

[gbg]

Might want to try moving the lunges up in your workout if you are fatiguing,
go for the larger muscle groups first. If legs are your weak point try getting them in twice a weak, and vary the exercises each time. Legs are tough on me as well and the only way I see improvement is to train them harder and more often and the strength will come, it will be tough in the beginning but well worth the feeling that you finally conquered the dreaded leg day. If you train 2x's a week do squats one day and lunges the next workout, give yourself enough rest between sets and eventually work up to squats and lunges in the same day when you see the difference that will give you the motivation you need to keep kicken ass! (feel your pain)

[biggaz]

LOL. John,s promising me pain and now I'm getting off of you too :-)

So I have legs to look forward twice a week lol. You're probably right though and It may just reduce the pains the following day. I can't understand why my legs are so poor, I'm on my feeting all day, either climbing or carrying weight, so they should be better ;-(

I'll work something out later, off food shopping again, then to pick up a pull up/dip station, just in time for my chest w/o this PM. Think I spend more time purchasing food than I do in the gym. ttfn

[Hibiscus09]

Sorry I'm slow welcoming your to journal land. Good luck to you, Kath and the doggie losing some weight. Cute avatar!

Oh -- and that's exciting about your first trip to the states. Are you going anywhere besides New York? I'm heading there this Tuesday to take my son to check out New York University. Fun!

[gbg]

Your legs could just be fatigued from using them all day,what do you do? might want to arrange your leg training around work days, if there are days when your "lighter on your legs" at work train legs those day's. Also lifting weight is different than using the muscles to climb or run, different muscle fibers.
You sure go food shopping a lot!

[biggaz]

Originally Posted by gbg

Your legs could just be fatigued from using them all day,what do you do? might want to arrange your leg training around work days, if there are days when your "lighter on your legs" at work train legs those day's. Also lifting weight is different than using the muscles to climb or run, different muscle fibers.

I'm a tree surgeon (arborist), so I'm either clambering around trees or carrying them out of some-ones back yard, its all manual work.

You sure go food shopping a lot!

LOL, That cos I try to eat a lot

Yesterday was due to a client, who goes to a gym, telling me about a chinese wholesalers, open to the public. We called in a bought a 15kg (33lb) box of large chicken fillets, about 10lb of steak n 5lb of prawns. (all I could manage to fit in the freezer.

Today was just for fruit, veg, salmon, eggs n milk. Still have to go midweek to restock anyway. Joys of bb'ing I guess

[bodyhard]

Originally Posted by biggaz

No more legs for another week yeah....

Seriously though, I'm always glad to get my squats finished.

Squats, atg 40kg(88Lbs)x10, 50(110)x8, 60(132)x6, 70(154)x6

Obviously legs are my forte, but I'm happy with today and I know I can raise the weight next time out.

SLDL's Haven,t done this for ages and apprehensive about the back pains I've had for the last few days, so a pleasing final set of 65Kgs(143)x4 Again something I can improve on next time.

Standing Calf Raises, Final set of 80(176)x15 I think I need to go way heavier on these and/or add them to another w/o.


D/B Lunges, epic fail, just managed 1 set 20kg bells, legs were shaking, spots in front of my eyes, the works lol. Tried a b/w set but gave up. Think i used all my energy in the squats lol

I'm going to persevere with em, maybe add them to my delts day, just until I can build some strength and stamina, for now I can't do them and squats together.... wuss, I know lol

Good start, you might want to take out lunges all together till your strength comes up on your squats.

[biggaz]

Hi John, as gbg suggested, going to add an extra leg day in somewhere, and I think I will stick to the squats instead of alternating. I think half the problem is fatigue, I seem to tire real quick on squats.

[IronIc]

Good luck with the squats, Gary!

John suggested to me once to do light pyramided leg extensions before doing squats, and it helped the knee pain I was experiencing go away.

[biggaz]

[QUOTE=IronIc;
John suggested to me once to do light pyramided leg extensions before doing squats, and it helped the knee pain I was experiencing go away.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the suggestion Penny, but luckily I don't suffer with my knees, its the top of my quads, my right one now feels bruised (as if I've been kicked by a horse lol) and tender. If I persevere and increase the frequency I'm hoping it'll improve.

CHEST AND TRI'S
Bench Press, 40kgx8, 50x6, 60x4, 65(143Lbs)x4 My bench sucks ;-(
Incline BP; 30x8, 35x8, 40x6, 45x5 Slightly up
Dips b/w 5,8,6,5
Incline flyes15kgx8, 17.5x6, 20(44lb)x3
Tri rope pressdown, 70lbsx8, 70x6, 80x6

The dips fried my arms as I haven't done them since last year. The new dip/pull up stations going to get a lot of use lol