Dave's Second Journey to Fitness

[Dave76]

This will be the first time I've ever attempted to keep a journal. Truthfully, I'm just horrible with paperwork. I absolutely hate it and keeping a journal seemed too much like paperwork to me. After reading lots of feedback about how helpful a journal can be, I thought I'd give it a try.

I'm not the type of person to start a project and then quit in the middle. Rather than start a journal and then quickly let it die, I decided to ease into it to see if I could make myself do this. About two weeks ago, I started keeping a bodyblog. This website is pushing these things but it seems that no one looks at them much. I thought it would be an easy way to quietly start keeping an online log. After two weeks (not really much time), I find that it's not as onerous as I thought it might be. I thought I'd transfer all my blogs to this journal.

My main problem is my diet. It's not that I don't know what to do, it's that I can't make myself do it. After reading Namtrag's posts and seeing his major success, I decided to hire Todd Payette to help me with the diet. I've been following Todd's advice for the past two weeks. It's all psychological, but I find I can follow a diet if I pay for it and have someone say "here, do this".

It's only been two weeks but I'm finding the diet very easy to follow. So far, I am nothing but pleased with the results. My weight is only down two lbs and my waist measurement is down 1/2 inch. It doesn't sound like much but I did start taking creatine for the first time ever when I started the diet. From all that I've read, creatine will cause some water gain. If that's true for me, then I wouldn't have expected to lose any weight over the last two weeks.

[Dave76]

Cut and paste from bodyblog:

I've fought the battle of the bulge all my life. My earliest childhood photos show the early stages of my spare tire. I jokingly tell people that I've lost over 300 lbs. I've never been severly obese, I've just lost the same weight over and over again. The proverbial yo-yo.

In late October 2003, I weighed in at a flabby 250 lbs. I decided to get in shape for my 50th birthday in September 2004. I was wildly successful. By my 50th birthday, I was down to 180 lbs and for the first time in my life, the love handles were gone.

After my birthday, I decided to go on a slow, clean bulk. It worked pretty well for about six months but I slowly slipped back into my old habits. By April 2005 my training had dwindled to a once per month thing. By July 2006, I was right back where I started.

On July 30, 2006, I looked in the mirror and was stunned to see a fat old man once again. I couldn't believe I had let myself slip so low. It was enough to immediately send me back to the gym and get me started on a clean diet. Most people only go through one body transformation. I'm lucky enough to get to do it twice. The good new, if there is any good news, is that I learned a lot the first time around.

I am currently back down to 225 lbs and my strength is higher than it's ever been. I was down to 220 before Thanksgiving 2006, but the holiday season, combined with a 7 day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands, put a bit of a stall on my progress.

About a week ago, I decided to get very, very serious about the diet. I am determined that the last traces of love handles will be gone by summer. This time, they will be gone forever!! I've learned my lesson.

[Dave76]

Cut and paste from bodyblog. Originally written March 2:

I am a member of the Wichita Falls Athletic Club. When I returned to the gym in July 2006, I once again considered myself to be a novice. I went through Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program for the second time. I stayed on that program through early February 2007.

At that point, I switched to Madcow's 5x5 intermediate. It is an aggressive program for me and I know that. I refuse to use my age as an excuse but I will say that it's difficult to build strength and cut fat at the same time. I decided to try the program, as written, with 2.5% weekly increases in weight. The first 4 weeks are nothing but a deloading period. I knew I could get through those four weeks. Once I hit week 5, I'd be hitting new PRs every week. The way I viewed it, if I could make it through week 5, I would have hit some new PRs. Even if I couldn't go any further, at least I would have made some progress.

Today was the last day of week 5 and I made every lift. From that standpoint, I already consider the program to be a success for me. I know that a 2.5% weekly increase is overreaching for me and I can't sustain it long. When I plateau, I'll back up a couple of weeks and try to progress on 1% weekly increases. The progress may be slow but I'll take any progress I can get at whatever speed I can get it. I don't have any deadlines to meet.

[Dave76]

Monday February 26
Squats: 5X110; 5X140; 5X165; 5X195; 5x220 (5RM PR)
Bench: 5X85; 5X105; 5X127; 5X150; 5X170 (5RM PR)
Pendlay Row: 5X80; 5X100; 5X120; 5X140; 5X160 (5RM PR)

Tuesday February 27 Treadmill, 3.7 mph, 10 degree incline, 45 minutes

Wednesday February 28
Squat:? 5X110; 5X140; 2X5X165
Military Press: 5X65; 5X80; 5X95; 5X108.5 (5RM PR)
Deadlift: 5X205; 5X245; 5X285; 5X325 (5RM PR)

Thursday March 1Treadmill 3.5 mph, 10 degree incline, 45 minutes

Friday March 2
Squat: 5X110; 5X135; 5X165; 5X195; 3X225; 8X165
Bench: 5X85; 5X105; 5X127; 5X150; 3X173.5; 8X127
Pendlay Row: 5X80; 5X100; 5X120; 5X140; 3X163.5; 8X120

Saturday March 3
Treadmill, 45 min, 3.8 mph, 10 degree incline

[Dave76]

Week 6 madcow's 5X5

Monday March 5, 2007
Squat: 5X115; 5X140; 5X170; 5X200; 5X225
Bench Press: 5X85; 5X110; 5X135; 5X150; 5X173.5
Pendlay Row: 5X85; 5X105; 5X125; 5X140; 5X163.5
Top sets are all PRs and were all fairly easy.

Tuesday March 6
Treadmill, 35 min, 3.5 mph, 10 degree incline

Wednesday March 7
Squat: 5X225; 5X140; 2X5X170
Military Press: 5X70; 5X85; 5X95; 5X110
Deadlift: 5X205; 5X250; 5X290; 5X330

Thursday March 8
Treadmill 40 min, 3.7 mph, 10 degree incline

Friday March 9
Squat: 5X115; 5X140; 5X170; 5X200; 3X233.5; 8X170
Bench: 5X85; 5X110; 5X135; 5X150; 3X178.5; 8X135
Pendlay Row: 5X105; 5X125; 5X140; 3X167; 8X125

Saturday March 10
Treadmill, 40 min, 3.8 mph, 10 degree incline

This completes week 6 of 5X5. All lifts were successfully done.

[pastorgbc]

Hey Dave,

Welcome to the journals! It is great to have you with us.

I like the looks of your workouts and the goals. It is nice to see some real and attainable workouts and goals.

It will be fun following your progress. Good luck and stay with it!

Ray

[Hibiscus09]

Welcome, Dave! Looks like you're on a roll heading towards your goals. Nice workouts!

[Dave76]

Pastor and Hibiscus, thanks for the kind words and encouragement. It is very much appreciated!!

Sunday Morning Weigh In and Measurement
225 lbs, down 2 lbs from the beginning of my new diet.
Waist measurement at navel: Down 3/4 inch

I'm very happy with the results thus far. I started supplementing with creatine at the same time I started the new diet. It's my first time with creatine so I wasn't sure what to expect. In fact, I'm still not sure what I'm getting. I was expecting to gain water weight so any downward movement of the scale is a surprise to me. I only bought a small container. I'll cycle off the creatine when it's gone and see what happens then.

Diet
The diet has gone really well over the past week. I stayed with it faithfully until last night. There was a pot luck dinner at church. I thought I could get through it without overeating. I was mistaken. I'll need to figure out something here as there's a pot luck dinner every Sunday night. Skipping church is not an option for me. It's our contemporary service and I'm the one and only guitarist in the church. When I do have to miss, I get a bunch of comments about how the guitar is really needed in the band. I think I'll try to take my own meal with me next time. Still, it's really hard to pass up the food that's brought in. I'll need to develop a little more a little more self control.

Workout March 12, 2007, Week 7 Madcow's intermediate 5X5
Squats (ATG)
5X115
5X145
5X175
5X205
5X230

Bench Press
5X90
5X110
5X135
5X155
5X178.5

Pendlay Row
5X85
5X105
5X125
5X145
5X167

Accessory: Crunches, 180 Hypers

The top sets were all 5 rep PRs for me. The fifth rep was a real struggle on both the bench and squats. One more lb on the bar and I don't think I'd have made it. Despite that, I'm still happy with the progress so far. At least I haven't stalled yet. Honestly, I didn't think I'd make it this far without stalling. Cutting and gaining strength don't exactly go hand in hand.

[Lifting N Tx]

Dave, I already have too many subscriptions, but couldn't pass up subbing to your log. You've been one of the most helpful and astute people in the Workout Programs forum since you started here.

Plus, although I hang out there, I'm close to joining you in the "working on our 2nd half century club". So I'm legit in this section .

Good luck pushing the 5x5 as far as you can. I made it 9 weeks before stalling, and I was not losing weight, so you're doing well.

[Dave76]

Thanks for stopping by LNT. I had no idea you were pushing the second half century!

[Hibiscus09]

Very nice workout! I imagine it would be difficult to pass up pot luck dinner at church. Oh, the temptation at church! LOL Too funny.

I vote for taking food with you, but it will be difficult! You can do it!

[Lencho]

Holy ****, Dave. How did you get a female the caliber of Hibiscus to post here on the first day of your journal? You old dog, you!

*subscribes*

[Dave76]

Originally Posted by Lencho

Holy ****, Dave. How did you get a female the caliber of Hibiscus to post here on the first day of your journal? You old dog, you!

*subscribes*

I'm sure that would be because Hibiscus is friendly and helpful to all of us in the Over35 section. If I read your journal correctly, you're pushing that age yourself. You should join in over here every now and then. Especially on the days when the trolls are running rampant in the Workout section.

BTW, I don't know if you've seen my other post, but Rippetoe fell on the floor laughing at your video.

[Hibiscus09]

Originally Posted by Lencho

Holy ****, Dave. How did you get a female the caliber of Hibiscus to post here on the first day of your journal? You old dog, you!

*subscribes*

Wow -- you have all sorts of moving pictures in your bodyspace. I enjoyed!

Thanks for the compliment!

Thanks to you too, Dave!

[Dave76]

I spent 45 minutes on the treadmill last night. Instead of my normal steady speed at 10 degree incline, I changed it up a little. I used my heart rate monitor and let the machine choose the incline to keep the heart rate between 110 and 125 bpm. I hate to say it, but that was my way of trying to keep this just a little bit interesting. I've always hated cardio and I guess I always will. I put cardio in the same category as dentist visits. I know it's good for me and it's something I need to do.

The diet has been Ok for the past 24 hours. If anything, I under ate. I'm in sales for a living and was on the road all day yesterday. It's really hard to eat right and drive and keep appointments. At least I was able to keep myself out of an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch!! That can be problematic when you have to let the client pick the restaurant.

Today is dead lift day. It's strange how I stay psyched up all day in anticipation. Half of me is excited about attempting another PR. The other half of me dreads the thought of even attempting another heavy lift. Without a doubt, deads are my favorite exercise. It's the only time I ever get to put three plates on each end of the bar!

[IR45N]

Darn impressive journal for someone who says they're 'horrible with paperwork'. Killer w/o sessions and great lifts too. Good read!!!

[Lifting N Tx]

I looked forward to DL day when on Madcow Int 5x5.

I rarely travel on the job, but when you're on expense account and eating out I'm sure it can be hard. I shoot for over 200gms protein, and have been going for around 2500-2700 calories, trying to be a little below maintenance. I find that pretty stringent to get that much protein and still be low on calories. Usually, I try to be a few calories under at the end of the day to allow for an adult beverage or small sweet. Any more slippage than that, and I'd be over my target.

[Dave76]

Thanks, IR45N, I appreciate the encouragement.

Adult beverage, LNT? Sounds good as I haven't had one of them in a while. When cutting I try to stay with red wine in small doses.

Workout Wednesday March 14 (Pi Day!) Week 7 Madcow's 5X5
Squats ATG
5X115
5X145
2X5X175

Military Press
5X70
5X85
5X100
5X113.5

Deadlift
5X210
5X255
5X300
5X340

Accessory: skipped the abs after DLs

This was the light day for squats so they were a breeze. The military presses weren't much harder which surprised me. The last set was a PR. It feels a little scrawny to say that 113.5 is a PR at anything!

The DLs were tough but I made it through them. The last set was another PR. I've been thinking a little (a dangerous thing for me to do) and I've realized that my best progress has been on the DLs. I used madcow's spreadsheet to set up my progressions. I was coming off of Starting Strength so I used my numbers from that program as my maxes. Of course, in SS, I was doing 3X5 with those numbers. In effect, I underestimated my 1X5 max. That means that I really had more than the normal 4 week deload for the squats, military, and bench. It only makes sense that I should have gone well past week 4 without stalling on those lifts.

The DLs are a different story. I entered my true 1X5 max to set up the progression. Not only that, but my warmups on SS were NOT 5 reps each. On SS, I'd do something like 5, 3, 2, 1 rep warmup sets. So, I'm not only setting new PRs now, the volume is much higher.

Having said all that, I just barely made the PR lifts for the squat, bench, and DL this week. I'm sure to stall on one or all of them next week. Oh well, if I get them I do, if I don't, I don't. Stalling is to be expected sooner or later.

[BigBT]

Very nice deads. You are steadily moving up on those.

[mjw8204]

Dave! You didn't tell me you finally started a journal...and in the oldies section. (just kidding - no geriatric gang negging, please. )

In all seriousness, I'm glad you started the journal. You're doing great thus far. I've seen you mention on more than one occasion that you are progressing much better than you expected. Maybe it's time to start expecting a little more. Good luck with the diet; it looks like you're on the right track with everything. Don't sweat the weekly pot luck. Just behave the rest of the week and you'll be fine. Who knows, maybe you'll be the first person to ever be kicked out of a church pot luck.

Definitely suscribed. Oh, and it's always nice to have a fellow guitar player around. *simulates playing air guitar and makes random wailing noises*

[Dave76]

BigBT, thanks for the compliment!

MJW, yes, you're the one who shamed me into starting a journal. I guess I don't give myself enough credit sometimes but I am cutting and I'm just not eating enough to support a bunch of gains. I'm eating around 2000 cals/day and my main goal right now is the fat loss. My immediate goal with the weight training is to minimize or prevent muscle loss.

As I think about it, I haven't had a week off since before Christmas. I'm giving serious thought to taking a full week for a deload. I'll go to the gym and do all the exercises but do something like the Wednesday recovery routine. Stop at the third set or something of that nature. After that, I'll reset the entire routine with my new maxes and start again from week one.

I'm on a roll right now with the new PRs and I hate to stop now. I fully expect to stall next week but I'm going to give it a try. I don't see much sense in slowing down until I have to. I'm just making plans for what to do next. Besides, I've been a little tired this week. Maybe it's just the daylight savings time adjustment or maybe I need a little rest.

[Tifflex]

Nice workouts Dave and welcome to the O 35 Journals. Good Luck with you goals.

[Lifting N Tx]

Originally Posted by Dave76

I'm eating around 2000 cals/day and my main goal right now is the fat loss.

How much under maintenance calories is that for you? Everyone's metabolism is different, but I'd think that's likely well below it. I can understand you being tired. Seems like you've been doing well for running a significant deficit.

If it comes down to it, I've read that muscle mass can be maintained on 1/2 or less of the volume if you keep the loads high. I'm just thinking of ways to keep the training effective if you get too tired on low calories. I don't know what Rippetoe would think of that, though. He seems pretty big on high frequency.

Anyway, maybe you're just getting to the point that you need that deload.

[Dave76]

Originally Posted by Lifting N Tx

If it comes down to it, I've read that muscle mass can be maintained on 1/2 or less of the volume if you keep the loads high. I'm just thinking of ways to keep the training effective if you get too tired on low calories. I don't know what Rippetoe would think of that, though. He seems pretty big on high frequency.

Cutting is one place where Rip isn't an expert. When you've spent an entire career training young athletes and competitive power lifters, cutting is not something you have to think about. Cutting is a body builder activity and Rip will be quick to tell you that he's not a body builder. I guess I could ask him about his thoughts on the amount of work needed to maintain, though.

I reallly think that most of my problem comes from some work related stress. At this point, it really is just a minor problem. It's not like I'm so tired that I can't make myself go. Of course, when I stop and think about it, I complained about being tired the day after heavy deads. There just might be a correlation there.

[Hibiscus09]

Morning, Dave!

Nice job on the workouts! I think those are pretty low calories also. You might want to boost those babies up a bit -- even if you are cutting. I'm having 1,800 calories and I'm a pipsqueaky 120.8 lbs.

[Dave76]

Originally Posted by Hibiscus09

Morning, Dave!

Nice job on the workouts! I think those are pretty low calories also. You might want to boost those babies up a bit -- even if you are cutting. I'm having 1,800 calories and I'm a pipsqueaky 120.8 lbs.

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Perhaps my calculations are off. As I said earlier, I am following Todd Payette's advice. I trust his recommendations completely. From his pictures and the results he's had with other clients, I have no reason to think otherwise. It was out of curiosity that I took a daily menu and calculated calories. If 2000 is too low, I tend to think that I miscalculated. In other words, I'm blaming the student (me) and trusting the teacher (Todd).

[Hibiscus09]

Originally Posted by Dave76

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Perhaps my calculations are off. As I said earlier, I am following Todd Payette's advice. I trust his recommendations completely. From his pictures and the results he's had with other clients, I have no reason to think otherwise. It was out of curiosity that I took a daily menu and calculated calories. If 2000 is too low, I tend to think that I miscalculated. In other words, I'm blaming the student (me) and trusting the teacher (Todd).

Sorry -- I don't want to step on Todd's toes -- and didn't know he was helping you. I think if you have someone that you've trusted enough to ask them to help you, then you should follow their advice 100%.

Happy Friday!

[ChocoChick]

Sorry I am late to the party... I spend way too much time in the main Over 35 board and neglect the journals.

Nice deadlifting, there.

As for your potluck, I'd just make sure that the food you bring is clean. Also, try eating your meal before you leave home so that you are not hungry. Then, even if you indulge in a few tastes, it's not likely to lead to over-eating.

[Dave76]

Originally Posted by Hibiscus09

Sorry -- I don't want to step on Todd's toes -- and didn't know he was helping you. I think if you have someone that you've trusted enough to ask them to help you, then you should follow their advice 100%.

I know, I didn't take it as a knock on Todd. I just wanted to make certain that I wasn't needlessly giving Todd any negative press. I think namtrag's progress speaks volumes for Todd's knowledge.

I will say that I hired another well known internet trainer a couple of years ago. His clients also show spectacular progress. The problem was that his diet recommendations were impossible to follow for an extended period of time. It was something you could do for perhaps a month or two when trying to get ready for a contest, but nothing that I could live with long term.

Todd's advice is geared more towards real life day to day living. I could eat like this forever. I've been nothing but pleased with the results after only two and a half weeks.

[Hibiscus09]

Originally Posted by Dave76

I know, I didn't take it as a knock on Todd. I just wanted to make certain that I wasn't needlessly giving Todd any negative press. I think namtrag's progress speaks volumes for Todd's knowledge.

I will say that I hired another well known internet trainer a couple of years ago. His clients also show spectacular progress. The problem was that his diet recommendations were impossible to follow for an extended period of time. It was something you could do for perhaps a month or two when trying to get ready for a contest, but nothing that I could live with long term.

Todd's advice is geared more towards real life day to day living. I could eat like this forever. I've been nothing but pleased with the results after only two and a half weeks.

Great! I felt that way when I worked with Pam. She was able to get me extremely lean without major suffering involved (the last couple of weeks were not the best in my life, but other than that it was all good). Thank goodness she wasn't anti-carb.