What I did to go from 202 23%BF to 175 7% BF to 189 8%bf in 4 months NOT BSING

[lifequest]

I am seeing some really strange (in a very good way) results from my training I felt I should share. This is open for anyone to comment on. Let me know if I’m an idiot but this worked really well for me. It was hard for me to find something where some one had cut through all the BS out in the internet and just said what actually works, here’s my attempt at it. I’ve been coming to this website for quite awhile and have learned so much from it. Thanks to all those who help people with questions, you are helping more then just the asker. I’m going to spell out exactly what I’ve done in the last 4 months to get from 23% BF down to 7-8% and gain strength and muscle, also I’d like criticism and help as to how I can improve.

**note: this is just what worked for me I have no idea if it would work for others.

Brief Overview:

I am some kind of mixture between a mesomorph and endomorph. I started working out when I was 14 for athletics. At one point I was 185lbs benching 225X2 squatting 405X4 and dead lifting 465X4…then I went to college, stopped working out/running completely. Drank and ate way to much to often. Lost most of my muscle and got a bulging beer belly in just a year and a half. I got a great job and continued my habits for a month while working. I was depressed and sick constantly and decided I was done living this way and started doing research on the web. Feb 1 2005 I started the dumbass “Atkins diet” it sucked, I lost about 7 lbs but was miserable. I just hate how that diet makes you feel. Then I found a great book “Burn the fat feed the Muscle” http://www.burnthefat.com/?hop=cjburm read that and did everything it said. Next I found John Stones website http://www.johnstonefitness.com/php/training.php and implemented his advice as well as Max-OT. I have a lot of information I’m going to try and lay out. I’ll do my best to put it in an organized fashion.

Motivation/mindset:
This seems stupid but it seriously is absolutely critical. You must have ways of knowing you are succeeding, nothing feels better then accomplished a goal that you worked your ass off to get to. It feeds your ambition and makes you strive for more and more. Just do it, seriously.

So I wrote out a detailed goal sheet with short, mid, and long term goals. I read my goal sheet at least 3 times every day and imagine what it will feel like accomplishing them every time I read them(I think this is what helped the most).I have a problem with motivation. In college I would think I was fat and decide I should work out. I would for a couple week and then get busy lose interest and quit. If you take this part very serious everything becomes easier. It should not be a choice on whether or not you’re going to work out, just as you can’t chose to go to work or school whenever you feel like it one day and not the next. You should need to work out to feel like you have completed your day. Making a good goal sheet will accomplish this, I feel horrible if I miss a workout. I only get to work out a muscle 4 times a month and if I miss one I’m failing, that’s how I look at it. I took the books advise and made a detailed goal sheet with goals like this:

I am so happy and thankful now that my body fat is in the single digits. I am now 9% body fat and I look great!

By April 21st, I fit comfortably into size 34” pants without having to inhale
I am surprising (and shocking) my friends and family who I have not seen in a while by the way I look.( I crushed this goal, my friends actually walked right past me when I came home for a big party, they thought I was just some random guy, the jaw dropped shock looks were an experience that made all the hard days worth it, I smile just thinking about it)

I am keeping up these lifestyle changes

I am reaching my ideal weight and body fat composition by April so I can show off my new body in the summertime.

I always carry my goal card with me at all times and read it as often as possible (at least three times a day).

By Christmas, I am so happy that I have lost 30 pounds of fat and my
body fat has dropped by 6%! I look awesome, I feel great, and I'm ready for some summer fun. (the 30 lbs was killed in 4 months 6%should be done soon)

I am buying all new clothes to show off my new, lean body: Killer suits, nice shoes, nice
casual stuff.

*!*! I am now leaner than I was 30 minutes ago (after finishing every cardio workout)

Heads are turning when I take my shirt off.

I look good with my shirt off

I am taking on being a body builder and learning about body building (for tone and definition, not massive bulk).

I eat six, moderately sized meals every day, each with a serving of lean protein and a complex, all natural carbohydrate and I prepare my food in advance every morning.

Some advice:
Use present tense, not future. When you read it as if it’s already happened its easy to visualize and seems more attainable.
Set specific goals
Set measurable goals
Set big goals.
Establish the emotional reasons why you want to achieve your goals.

The last one was huge. Before I started several people were saying things like “Jesus! what happened to you? you have really gotten fat” I wanted to punch them in the face but desided they were right. Also when I got my id badge for work I looked at it compaired to my freshman student id where I was 30 lbs lighter and decided things had gotten outa hand. I look a the badge every day and it keeps me motivated, I never want to look like that again. These may be petty, but who cares it was something that fueled my fire and kept me from quitting when I otherwise may have. Be passionate about your goals and you will always succeed.

I also put other goals I wanted to accomplish in my life on my list…I have a long goal list. If you don’t have goals in your life how can you ever expect to accomplish anything?

Some of these goals were accomplished way faster then I thought possible. Things I thought would take a year took only a few months. The one that I love is “I am now leaner then I was 30 minutes ago” this helps me kick my ass every time in cardio.

I then planed a detailed diet with specific calories and protein/carb/fat break down, I use (40\40\20)

Before I would eat anything infront of me. Also I would not eat because I was to lazy to make food and would just wait till I was starving and then go and gorge once or twice a day on Wendy’s or pizza or burgers or something. Also I’d have about 6 beers a night. Basically I did everything exactly wrong. You couldn’t do it any worse if you tried. I needed a drastic change.

The thing that really hit home with me was when someone explained this to me with a metaphor. If you want a fire to burn as hot as possible what would be better? Throwing piles of wood chips in the fire every 10 minutes or throwing a big log in every hour, same amount of wood. The wood chips would burn way faster and hotter then the big log. The same is true with your body(the fire), food(wood), and your metabolism (heat). 6 small complete meals are way better as opposed to 3 big ones, even if it’s the same amount of food for both days

continued...

[lifequest]

To me dieting isn’t really what you do eat…it’s what you don’t. I am some kind of freak because I don’t really enjoy candy or sugar, cakes or chocolate. Spicy food and good meats are my candy. Basically anything that is a mixture of fat and sugar is the worst (donuts, ice cream, cookies) and fried food/fast food is the devil. Watch “Supper size me” and see if you ever want chicken Mcnuggets again, I want to vomit just thinking about it. Ask yourself if what you're eating is helping you toward your goal or pushing you back. I like thinking of food as time on the elliptical. A sausage egg biscuit at McDonalds is 500 calories. That 30 minutes of hard core wheezing wana die cardio…suddenly it doesn’t seem so appealing anymore. This way of thinking prevents me from drinking soda, eating sweets, cookies, cake, and ice-cream, the cost of elliptical time far outweighs the 20 seconds of pleasure it would bring me.

I’m extremely lazy and since I am supposed to eat 6 times a day that a lot of cooking and work!! So someone had this great idea that I use, every 2 weeks I bake 2 10 lbs turkey breasts. And a big ass bag of brown rice and measure out portions of 3.5 oz of cut up turkey and about half a cup to a cup of brown wholegrain rice(make about 20-25 meals). I put these in little tuber ware containers and stack them in my fridge. I eat 3 of these a day…I know your thinking Jesus that would get so boring. But not really. I put some water in, microwave for 2 min, put pepper, Tabasco sauce and some barbeque sauce and stir and it tastes awsome to me. I just make Sunday my chores day, thaw turkeys, put in oven, do laundry, clean place, do dishes, make a weeks worth of tuna for sandwiches, get groceries, take turkey out, cut up, measure with rice. Do dishes again. Once you get going before you know it you’ve done everything in 3 hours.

Every week day:

Meal 1 (7am): 2 scoops run of the mill whey protein(160) and banana(108) = 268

Meal 2(930am): Turkey(150), rice(200), apple(80) = 430

Meal 4(12:30pm): turkey sandwich on whole wheat(350) toast small amount of mayonnaise, 10 or so Fritos(50)(these are bad but I love tuna and Fritos and just can’t eliminate them), natural peanut butter, celery = (500)

Meal5(415pm): Turkey(150), rice(200), natural peanut butter, celery(100)=450

Meal 6(7pm):2 scoops protein = 160

Meal 7(9pm):Turkey, rice, natural peanut butter, celery = 450

Total = roughly 2258 cals per day

I follow that religiously during the week, this is a little low for someone my size I should be at 2400-2600 but this seems to work well. Also the creatine shakes are 130 cals each which usually gets me to 2600. Also I only drink water (about a gallon and a half a day). No alcohol, soda or juice. As for the weekend I do whatever I want on Friday night and Saturday. I try to be pretty good but I usually drink some beers and have pizza or a big burrito and chips, only eat 2 or 3 big meals…very bad, but in my opinion if you stick to a diet without a little controlled breakage you’ll go nuts and quit. I also feel like it recharges my body and mind and keeps me from going in starvation mode (sloppy carb cycling I guess). Many may not be able to do this but it has worked for me.

Workout:
This has been an evolving process.

At first I was working out 3 days a week doing my old Football workout. 8-10 reps 3 sets 3 exercises per muscle, little to no warm up, increase weight every set, had a lot of isolation exercises. I saw marginal strength and muscle gains with this approach. I did some research and found John Stones page and discovered MAX-OT(link: http://www.johnstonefitness.com/misc/MAX-OT.pdf) . In a nut shell this is just heavy weight. 4-6 reps 2-3 sets, 3 exercises per muscles. It has a very structured warm up and only wants the bread and butter compound exercises (bench, squat, deadlift, pull-ups ect.). With this workout I’ve seen incredible strength and muscle gains in the very short time I’ve been using it as well as very little change in fat.

Max-ot Squat example(2 min between sets):
Warmup 1: 135X12
Warmup 2: 185X8
Warmup 3: 225X6
Weight Acclimation set 1: 265X3
Weight Acclimation set 2: 295X1
SET 1: 315X6
SET 2: 315X5
SET 3: 315X4

Just follow this pattern of really light, light, not hard, kind of hard, wow that’s heavy, HARD, HARD, HARD. On your hard sets the last one should be almost imposible you should have to convince your totally spent body that it can not fail. Once you warm up the muscle you do not have to warm it up on the next exercise, so when you go do leg press right after squats just go right into you hard sets. This is pretty much Max-OT. I read that 165 page adobe book on it but this is really all I took away from it. It works great, I enjoy my work outs, they’re short, and get great results. Click the link and read the book(it's free) for specific workouts and more details just realize they wrote that book as a promotional tool so be wary of all the supplements the book is pushing, the rest of the info is good though.

**side note: Max-OT is very taxing, if you are a beginner you could really hurt yourself and probably don’t understand what going to maximum possitive failure with good form actually is. If you feel you have been lifting long enough to do this correctly have a 2 week transfer period where you figure out what weights you should/can use without hurting yourself. You will need a spotter for this or you aren’t really going to failure, you should seriously doubt whether you can get that weight 6 times but you should definitely get 4.

Cardio:

Here my progression:

Week 1: treadmill 10min 6mph– one mile just about killed me
Week 2: treadmill 15min 6mph
Week 3: treadmill 15min 6mph
Week 4: treadmill 15min 7mph
Week 5: treadmill 20min 7mph
Week 6: then I got bored of treadmill and discovered the miracle that is the elliptical. I used to think they were only for women or gay guys but one day all the treadmills were taken so I used it and found out it was much better.

I continued gradually increasing the speed distance and resistance on the hill program. I then was having trouble getting my heart rate up. I tried a program called Kilimanjaro, and it is a kick in the nuts. It starts easy and gets harder every 4 units of time or “blips” (if you set it for an hour a blip is one minute, 20 minutes a blip is 15 sec). So halfway through you have 4 blips of the hardest intensity and then it gets easier but your heart rate is still going strong. I got to the point were I would do this for an hour every weekday (level 15 7-8 mph) after I worked out (this is a cardinal sin to many people but I wasn’t too concerned with losing some muscle as long as I lost fat).

At that point I was to lazy to get up and do it in the morning (which I do now). I had my heart rate at 180-200 for about the last 40 minutes (if you don’t know what that means, basically when your heart rate hits 180 you want to stop, 200 you think your gona pass out). Doing this was a serious test of will and right now I’m in amazing cardiovascular condition because of it. I’m kind of hard core and people in the gym probly thought I was insane (imagine some guy going full speed dripping wet when you get to the gym and still going when you leave…haha that was me). I would literally be soaking wet and have to scrub the machine to get all the spray and splash off. The machine said I was burning 1000+ calories, I actually had to up the rice in the turkey meals to a cup+ instead of half a cup because I was losing 4 lbs a week which is very unhealthy. This cut it back to 2 lbs a week and I kept this up till I got down to 175 7% Body fat.

It seems like there’s a huge debate on this website about whether HIIT or low intensity long term cardio should be used…I did a mutant form of cardio I guess. I did high intensity long term cardio right after my workouts. And the fat just crumbled away and I gained muscle, maybe I’m a freak I don’t know, but all I know is it worked great for me.

[lifequest]

Now in the beginning I was 202 at 23% (I measured body fat with calipers at the iliac crest which is about one inch above the right hip bone) that mean there were 46.5 (202 x .23 = 46.46) lbs of fat on my body and I had a lean body mass of (155.5)

At 175 and 7% body fat I had 12.25 lbs of fat on my body and a lean body mass of 162.75. Meaning even though I was literally running myself into the ground after my workouts I still gained 7.25 lbs of muscle and lost 34.25 of fat (this is with the workout I was doing before max-ot)

This is where I decided I was beginning to look scrawny so I looked at various “bulking workouts” I started max-ot a month ago and am now 189 at 8% body fat meaning I have 15.2 lbs of fat on me and 174 lean body mass. Gain of 12 lbs of muscle in one month and only 3 lbs of fat. Also my abs seem to be coming through more every though I’m not any leaner. The hard fat is almost gone. This seems very strange to me, I’ve never seen gains like this and don’t really know what to credit it to. I do not take anything crazy like steroids. My theory is the creatine mixed with max-ot shocked my body into huge gains, also perhaps some regrowth from football and cut back of cardio helped. If someone has any input on why this happened let me know.

Now I started doing HIIT (High Intensity interval training) cardio in the mornings instead of running for long periods. Simply put HIIT is:
Warm up 3 minutes
Sprint as hard as you can for a minute
Jog 1 minute
Sprint as hard as you can for a minute
Jog 1 minute
Sprint as hard as you can for a minute
Jog 1 minute
And so on for 16 minutes
2 minute cool down

I do this on the interval setting on the elliptical, meaning not only do I increase the speed on my sprint but also the resistance goes from max and min every minute. it’s basically hells form of cardio. After 2 sprints you’re ready to stop. This is supposedly beneficial because it jacks up your heart rate the whole day. I fell great, wide awake, and am more productive the days I do this in the morning. My heart rate was at 56 resting before I started running in the mornings and taking thermo burst, currently its at 72 resting. It’s really not that hard to set your clock an hour earlier, put your shoes on and run in the morning. If you want the best results you just need to do this. I bet you’d rather eat fried chicken and watch TV all day too. You have to make sacrifices to lose weight. An hour of sleep should be no different. Your body will adapt to the change in a week and in 6 weeks you won’t be able to imagine not running in the mornings.

I did not change my diet I still eat exactly the same thing every weekday. But I’ve seen crazy muscle gains. I’m not sure what happened but I think it’s a combination of everything I changed, the creatine definitely helped a ton though. Instead of going up one or 2 reps each work out I went up 10 or 20 lbs on almost everything. I want to say some of it was just mental (the placebo effect) because I thought I should be able to do more. But I was working as hard as a possibly could the week before and really don’t think I could have done more. I’m going to continue taking it and see how it goes.

Now for the supplements I use and how I like them.

Whey protein – you get what you pay for, this is almost always true with anything. If you by 5 lbs for 15 bucks you’re probably just buying sawdust. Don’t be cheap, at least get a good reputable company. Should be about 20-30 bucks for 2 or 3 lbs

Glutamine – everyone says this is good, I’ve always used it so I have nothing to compare it to.

Multi vitamin – these are just important. Do it. Make sure you get a fat soluble(mega men) one and not water soluble, if you drink a lot of water the water soluble one(centrum) is out of your system in 2 hours.

Flac seed oil – gives you the good fats you need
---
Started with max-ot:

Thermo burst – first day I took this I was jittery as hell and couldn’t stop tapping my foot and felt strange all day and couldn’t sleep at night. After that my body stopped freaking out and I am just awake and comfortable all day. seems to be a good product. It tastes like ass when you burp though…

Creatine monohydrate – EAS phosphogen – I tried it in high school with ok results but holy hell did I see a jump in numbers with this stuff this time. I did a week of loading 20-25 grams per day and now take 10 grams per day for maintenance. It’s premixed with some sugary stuff which is supposed to be best for delivery right before the workout. The fruit punch one tastes exactly like sweet tarts, it’s crazy.

Timeline:

Start Feb. 1st 2005

Weeks 1-4 202 lbs 23% BF diet:Atkins

Lost weight but hated life, felt terrible every day, worked out MWF did 8-10 reps for 3 exercises per muscle no warm up, ran after workout.

Weeks 5-12 started ratio of 40 carb/40 protein/20 fat, same workout, increasing running at end or workout in some way every time(speed, distance, resistance).

Weeks12-15started max-ot, work out 5 days a week, 1 or 2 muscles per day, do HIIT in the mornings, jog for 20 minutes after work out. Started taking creatine, and thermo burst.

This has kind of just been a learning and evolving process, if I had it to do over again I would definitely start with what I’m doing in weeks 12-15 it just works so well.

I’ll post my work out progression later, I have it all written down and the creatine jump week is ridiculous.

Some other stuff I did:
I get 6-8 hours of sleep almost every night sometime more sometimes less. The more you sleep the less sore you’ll be the next day.

Weigh myself in the mornings under the same situations

Try and learn more everyday

Some thing I didn’t do that I should have was take a lot of pictures, I wish I had so I could show them off, I’m gong to start now, your eye can trick you, cameras can’t. I have pictures of me before Christmas that disgust me though, so I can compare to those.

Clearly if you’ve read this far you are serious about fat loss. Make your goals out, keep education yourself. That book is a great resource as well at john stones page. If you have any questions for me I’ll answer as fast as I can.

Questions I had:

Basically I like where I’m at in body fat% except for my lower abs, up top they are popping out but the lower part is strange. Everywhere else on my body when you pinch the fat is smooth and thin. When you pinch right around my belly button it is hard, sort of lumpy fat. It was much worse, it’s almost gone, but it’s the only place on my body where the fat is like this. Any input into this would be helpful? I’ve heard people call it “brown fat” but when I researched that it said that’s only on newborn babys and adults have none.

Am I a genetic freak with these most current gains?

How do you deal with the extreme soreness after leg days while doing cardio. My legs give out way before I feel tiered.

My biceps are not proportional, the right is much fuller and has a better peak but they lift the same weight they look like the arms of 2 different people, wtf?

I’m curious to hear what people think, be honest.

[sword chucks]

hmm... I didnt read all of that but nice job! 189 8% bf is pretty big!

[Du510]

Lifequest = Tom venuto??

[DaEagles4Life]

Extremely well written I just wish that more people could read this...to show that it is possible to get in shape...

[BRADP2]

hmm... I didnt read all of that but nice job! 189 8% bf is pretty big!

haha, yeah, didnt read a damn word, but i think you said you lost some weight or something, good job

[RugbysFinest]

Yeah i didnt read it all but read the important parts i think... Well anyways the point is that it is possible and if oyu stick to it you can accompish you goals. Great Job!

[lifequest]

Ha I knew someone was going to b*tch about me mentioning that book but its what helped me so I felt I should give credit where credit was due. I don’t want to come off as a salesman though because I don’t give two sh*ts about that and it annoys me when other threads push products and books. I won’t mention it any more Glad to see people think what I wrote looks like its good but didn’t read it ha!!

Anyways here’s what I did yesterday

6:08am - woke up drove to gym did HIIT on the new elliptical on the interval setting for 23 minutes on level 15 out of 25. 3 minutes warm up, try and keep it at 5.5 mph for “rest” and 8+ mph for sprinting, towards the end I’d do 9-10+. (Keep in mind the resistance jumps from min during rest to max for sprints…it sucks). 2 min cool down

7:00 am – 2 scoops protein and a banana, creatine shake added glutamine

7:15 am – 2 thermo burst pills, mega man vitamin, flax seed oil pill

8:00 am – get to work, fill up my 1 liter water bottle for the first time

9:45 am- Turkey, rice, apple = 430

Noon – fill up water bottle again

12:30 pm - Turkey sandwich on whole wheat toast small amount of mayonnaise, 10 or so Fritos

3:00 pm - fill up water bottle again

430 pm - Turkey, rice, natural peanut butter

5:00 pm – Creatine shake

5:30 pm - work out

7:15 pm: 2 scoops protein

9pm - Turkey, rice, 8 honey roosted peanuts

Work out (chest & abs):

Barbell Bench:
Warmup: BarX12
Warmup: 95X8
Warmup: 135X6
Weight acclimation : 185X3
Weight acclimation : 205X1
Max-OT set: 225X4
Max-OT set: 205X6
Max-OT set: 205X4

Dumbbell incline:
75’s X 6
75’s X 5
75’s X 4(this was very hard)

Decline barbell bench
185 x 6 (could have done more, still a little shaky on this exercise)

Abs (all exercises are very slow and controlled):

Crunches on a decline bench (entire movement is about 30 degrees, do not come all the way up or let my back touch at the bottom)

10 (no weight) for warm up

Holding a 45 plate with center hole above my forehead head x 15

Leg raises with hands under ass with a 20 lbs dumbbell between feet x 10
(this is probly funny to watch because that’s just enough weight to almost tip me up like a seesaw so it’s hard as hell to control myself)

Holding a 35 plate with center hole above my forehead head x 10

Leg raises with hands under ass with a 20 lbs dumbbell between feet x 8

Holding a 25 plate with center hole above my forehead head x 10

Body weight X 10

Cable crunches
160(whole stack)X 10
160(whole stack)X 10
160(whole stack)X 8

Some Ab machine where you sit upright and crunch down

150x8
130x8
130x6…completely spent

Hop on the elliptical and do the “manual” program at level 13 out of 25 resistance and run at about 7-8 mph, do this till it says I burned 400 cals…about 23 minutes I think. This is not hard at all but I feel better after I do it

I noticed this morning in the mirror the bottom lines of my lower abs are coming through. This has never happen in my life so that’s kinda exciting. Also I may have been over zealous with my weight yesterday the scale said 184 today. I find I see a substantial drop in weight from Monday to Tuesday (probly all the eating/alcohol/water retention of the weekend). I don’t want to give false info but since my abs are getting better I’m losing fat as well. I really just want to finish up my abs before I really do a serious bulk. Also I’m not sure how much more bulky I want to get. All my smaller shirts are now getting uncomfortably tight (now in the shoulder arm area rather then the bulging stomach…guess I can’t complain to much) and I’m not looking to be a monster. But it is fun to increase weight every week.

Maybe someone will actually read it today…ha

[pu12en12g]

Outstanding, solid, detailed thread (regardless of WTF "lifequest" is or means)

[msaskin]

Agreed! It's great to see someone who was in a similar boat to where I am (college student, once in shape, now definitely not in shape) making progress.

Keep it up. I just started my working out and lifting again yesterday...I know I'll end up with results like this in due time

~matt

[lifequest]

Outstanding, solid, detailed thread (regardless of WTF "lifequest" is or means)

Preciate the good words Pu, as for the name I guess I coulda done something “harder” like BENCH_CRUSHER or SQUATINATOR or something with random letters and numbers…but what I was shooting for was that I’m going to try and continue the good habits I’ve established for the rest of my life. I’m on a quest to be bigger, stronger, faster, and leaner, everyday(except Friday and Saturday where I completely blow it…ha).

[lifequest]

Agreed! It's great to see someone who was in a similar boat to where I am (college student, once in shape, now definitely not in shape) making progress.

Keep it up. I just started my working out and lifting again yesterday...I know I'll end up with results like this in due time

~matt

Good to hear Matt. I’m sure by starting to get yourself back together you will feel better and be happier. Keep me posted on your progress. And make sure you write out exactly what your goals are. This will help more then anything when you come to the point where you ether quit or tough it out. I kept quitting in college because I never was truly motivated and going and getting hammered at a bar with friends was so much more appealing then cardio. You really are going to have to be strong to accomplish your goals.

Another thing I noticed today. I know I’ve done a good cardio in the morning when for the majority of the day I feel a weird sensation of being hot. Right now it’s about 69 degrees in my office but I’m hot and kind of sweating just sitting here. Pulse is at 80 and I’ve been sitting for an hour. Where yesterday it was 72 under the same situations. I account this to me working harder this morning because my legs weren’t sore any more and I could push myself harder

[AceRx]

Great job man! The thread is kind of long, but it's good to hear all the nitty gritty details of your weight loss. I need to get motivated myself to lose some weight and better my health. Do you have any progress pics of your weight loss bro?

[Gaz[]v[]atrix]

Great work, very motivational...

[lifequest]

Great job man! The thread is kind of long, but it's good to hear all the nitty gritty details of your weight loss. I need to get motivated myself to lose some weight and better my health. Do you have any progress pics of your weight loss bro?

Sortof... I just have random picture of me when I was at my worst. I’ll try and take some current pictures to compare and critique tonight. Sorry the thread is long but I wanted to get everything I’ve done/learned all into one spot to refer my friends to. I get asked what I do a lot and there’s no way to just say/remember all that in a conversation (even though it seems like people lose interest when I don’t say I took acme carb blocker and the fat just melted away in 2 hours…no body seems to want to work, I’m glad I found this site). I spent a good bit of time on this and really hope people read it despite its length and get something out of it. Keep moving weight, later on - S

[lifequest]

Alright I got my roommate to take pictures of me…it was kind of awkward but oh well. I put my fatass pictures and after pictures together. Feel free to critique me. Right now I know my left bi is messed up, I hurt it in wrestling a long time ago and it’s never looked right. My back didn’t seem to come out to good. Honestly I have no clue how to pose so they don’t look all that good but I’m happy with it so far. I wish I had a before picture that showed the beer belly better. hope this works

[lifequest]

Ok I wrote out my progression in bench and squat and some changes in other exercises. The rest just follow the same basic trend. Max-ot signifies where I switched workouts, and CR is when I started creatine.

Flat BB BP - 95x8,145x8,155x8 | 145x10,145x9,155x8 | 145x8,155x8,165x8 |155x10,155x9,155x8,185x4| 155x8,165x8,175x5,185x3|135x8,155x8,175x6,195x4|
Maxot – 225x2,205x3,185x4|205x5,195x4,185x5| CR 225x3,205x6,195x4| 225x4,205x6,205x4|

BB Squat – 245x8,275x6,275x5|225x10,245x9,275x8|225x8,255x8,2 85x8|245x10,275x9,295x8
Max-ot - 315x2,275x6,275x6|CR 315x5,295x6,295x4

Incline db – started 45, just did 75x6x3
Cable Tricep push down - start 70x7x3, just did whole stack+45 = 205x4,185x8,185x7

I might type it all out later but those were the ones that seemed to jump out at me. Max-ot is amazing

Todays workout (back shoulders):

pull ups 10,7,5…I suck at these and started only being able to kick and scream my way to 2 of them. I consider this good progress

Cable row with the v grip(hands are about 1 inch apart, middle knuckles facing each other) back stays completely stationary I do not do the lean way forward lean way back rowing movment(death to low back), all slow controlled arm movement
(lastweek 170x7,180x6) 190x6, 190x5

T bar rows, I think I’m going to switch this to BB rows because its really award and It getting to be a pain just lifting the 4 plates into position
160x7,180x7

close grip pull down with v-bar

(last week 170x7,180x5) 190x5,180x5
Shoulder db press –last week 55x6,55x6,55x5, just did 60x8,65x6,65x8

Straight bar military press(this exercise makes me nervous I can’t really tell what I need to be doing on it and fell weird doing it.
(Last week115x3) 95x6, 135x4 felt strange

side laterals(my shoulders felt like a red hot nail was driven though them from all the lactic acid, I tried 30s and couldn’t lift them, rested another couple minutes and stretched then did this
(last week25x6,25x6,25x6) 25x6, 30x4, 25x8…I was pissed about the 30’s…damnit

ran 3 miles on elliptical on level 13 in about 22 minutes = 400 cals heart rate held steady at 165-170…I could have done this with my mouth closed breathing only through my nose. I’ve never been in this good of cardiovascular shape

more tomorrow, I’m beat and have HIIT to do at 6 am woohoo!!

[imdopenbed]

awesome post man! keep it up!

[lifequest]

I’m cheap as hell and what I do is Bake 10 lbs turkey breasts. The frozen ones are pretty cheap, like 10 bucks or so and I cook two of them at a time and make a huge bag of whole grain brown rice. About 25 bucks total and makes about 20-25 meals with 3.5 oz of turkey and ½ cup to cup of rice. About 400 cals all good. Seen lots of success with this. Also add a little Tabasco sauce, pepper and barbeque sauce makes it taste awesome. At a buck a meal it’s the best/easiest thing I’ve come up with. Buy a chefs thermometer (2 bucks). Submerge in warm water to thaw quicker(2 hours) Cook thawed turkey at 325 for about 2 and a half hours or until 1 cm from breast bone is 170-180 degrees, baste regularly. Let cool for awhile then I just rip it off and cut it up measure it out in little tuberware things with rice…easy. I friggin love turkey and this is really easy

[lifequest]

Someone mailed me this question and thought it might help others:

DUDE!
damn, that is some radical change, I am in the same boat you were. Right now, I do one day of stair master for 22 mins. and the next day 12 mins then I lift. what did you do to get ride of the gut? I eat clean since a year now an still cant get rid of it.

Hey man,

A few comments. I hate Stairmaster. The elliptical burns the most calories and seems the easiest. Stairmaster is miserable…ahhhh

Also never ever do cardio before lifting (except in the morning which is several hours before you lift…preferably 8 hours)

Like I said in my journal I’m kind of insane once I get my mind set on something. My belief is that cardio is the key. I run, then I run, then I run harder. But the trick here is not to over do it because then you’ll burn away muscle and look like the Ethiopian distance runner. Read up on HIIT cardio. Do this in the mornings on and empty stomach(imo). You should almost be falling down after it. I do this so hard that I make people in the gym nervous that I might pass out…literally. Like completely exhausted in 16 minutes. I’m can’t think of a good example but think of a time where you were completely exhausted and shoot for worse then that every day. If you do, you will be in amazing shape in no time. I used to wrestle and you do some insane cardio for that so I have a high pain threshold when it comes to cardio. I have how to do hiit in my journal. Make sure you read it all and make a goal sheet.

Next I do max-ot work out…more muscle, faster metabolism, more calories burned. If I don’t eat every 3 hours I go crazy, get angry, and am in pain because my metabolism is roaring now. Also if you’ve been cutting for a year your body may have adapted to the low calories. Meaning it’s now running off 1700 cals instead of 2500. This is what causes plateaus and is why I give myself a break on the weekends…read about carb cycling).

You have to make sure your body doesn’t think it’s starving. If you’ve really restricted your cals you may need to take a few weeks and eat more CLEAN food and increase cardio just so your metabolism kicks back up. I strongly believe the theory BURN the fat with cardio and FEED the muscle with calories is a great outlook…don’t starve anything. I eat about 2400 cals a day and burn 800 a day by doing HIIT in the morning and doing a fairly easy jog in the evenings after working out. This may be to much for many people but it’s working really well for me. ALWAYS CHECK AND MAKE SURE THE WEIGHT YOUR LOSING IS FAT AND NOT MUSCLE!!! (use calipers…take measurements). If your losing muscle you need to change something immediately, probably eat more.

A good analogy I read somewhere is imagine your body is an empty room and fat is a bunch of boxes. When you start putting boxes in the room you place them in the very back and stack them up and out until the room is full. When you empty the room you take the box closest to the door and slowly work your way back. The stomach area is the very first box you put in the room and the last to come out. It will be the hardest thing to get rid of. The face is the first thing to make noticeable differences.

If I’m not getting results for just one week I know some things wrong and I make adjustments. If something isn’t working do not continue the same failing approach. Try new things constantly, some will work well, some will be complete BS. This is how I found a combo that works really well for me. Good luck man

[AceRx]

I like how detailed you write everything......keep up the posts and pics for updates. We'll check back man....

[lifequest]

I like how detailed you write everything......keep up the posts and pics for updates. We'll check back man....

Thanks for letting me know this is at least interesting, maybe even helpful, to you Ace. I really think it can help people but no one wants to seem to read it. Everybody seems to just go to the ones with 5 stars and 1498269 posts. Any suggestions on how to make it more popular? I wasn’t really sure anyone was reading this but oh well ace I’ll just keep pounding it out for you. Everybody else let me know if you are reading it or subscribed to the thread or whatever, it will help me stay motivated, just pm me.

Onward…

More big gains today. I really have never seen anything close to this in my life and I can’t explain it. I shock myself with how much more I can do each week. MAX-OT is far far better then anything else I’ve ever done.

6:20am did HIIT elliptical interval level 16 first half level 15 last half. 16 and 15 are a world apart holy hell I thought my legs were going to lock up and fall off so I pussed out and bumped the resistance down…damnit!!.3 min warm-up 2 min cool down 22min total

Today’s workout: bi’s tri’s lat’s

Close grip BP (hands about 8 inches apart lower to about 2 inches above chest, explode up, 2 seconds down)

Last week(185x7, 195x4, 185x4) this week 195x6, 195x6, 195x5

Cable pushdown with ez bar or whatever it’s called(standing straight up or very close to it, no cheating lean)

Last week Whole stack 160x8, 205x4, 185x5 | this week 205x4, 195x6, 185x4
(I could have done another one or 2 on the first set but the 45 I had sitting on a pin added to the whole stack slipped off and almost destroyed me…everyone laughed including me and especially the extremely hot chic also doing tricep extension behind me…damnit damnit!! probably thinking (look at that dumbass trying to do to much weight) I had good form though with elbows in explosive down slow up.

Seated Dumbbell over the head tricep extension to get this in position I literally have to hump the barbell and swing it up over my head…it must look ridiculous but oh well it works)

Last week(80x8, 100x6) this week 110x6 100x5

Before last week I’d never gone past 80 but when I did it I could have probably done 12 it felt ridiculously light. So I felt like living dangerously and skipping right past the 90 and then I simply crushed the 100. This week I bumped it again and did 110x6 some how but the last one was ugly and probably took 5 seconds to get up on both sets. Two things happened during this time in my work out

1) a guy whos always there and seen me there from day one was doing the same exercise when I walked up…he was using a 40 and really making faces about it. He saw me grab the 110 and get ready to put it in position he had a “no f*ckin way this guys doing that” look on his face. This just made it better and when I was doing them he stopped his set and just stared at me with the what the hell is going on look…haha loved it.

2) On my last set my arms were about done and this new guy walks up and right as I get it up above my head and sit down (literally shaking with exertion). He stands directly in front of me and starts doing curls..ass about one foot from my face on my hardest set…this really messed me up and I only got five. For some reason it really pissed me off that he would do that…don’t be that guy…everybody hates that guy.

Onward…
Barbell curls
Last week 95x6, 85x5 this week 105x3, 95x6, 95x4

Cable curls with same bar used for triceps pushdown (slight lean back, maybe 3-5 degrees full range of motion)

Last week 130x4, 110x6 this week130x6, 130x4, 110x6

Tried something new I’d like input on next. I usually do hammer curls next but I want to get my left arm caught up to my right its lagging by almost half and inch…damnit. so I only did them with my left 3 sets of 20x8, will this work? Guess we’ll see.

Traps-started these this week because of input on my pics saying they were lagging.
Bbshrugs 145x12, 225x15, 225x15
DB shrugs 75x12, 75x12

3 mile jog 400 cals 22 mins level 13 elliptical.

Every day my abs get more defined. Last week there was no middle line to speak of on the lower abs now it easily distinguished and the curves of the sides are poping out, I am so close I can taste it. Wish me luck--S

[lifequest]

Alarm clock sucked this morning…I’m pushing my body pretty hard and can feel that it’s weary and needs a break, this weekend at cedar point should be good…

Managed to suck it up and go do HIIT though. The drive was one big yawn though if I hadn’t of run this morning I’d be passed out on my desk right now

3 min warm up, 17 min HIIT Training at level 16(the whole time) 2 minutes cool down

Now at level 16 it feels like your trying to push through sand. my jogs were at about 4mph and my sprints right around 8 mph. It was truly a b*tch. I had system of a down full volume trying to motivate myself and block out everything. It’s strange how music can drastically change your willpower. When one song would stop id realize how tiered I was and want to quit but as soon as another one started that was good I’d be fine. I just invested (a **** load) in an ipod and that little thing is amazing I feel naked without it 11500 songs on it 60 Gigs (that about a month of continuous music) if you can scrounge up the cash I’d get one.

Leg day today…I’m interested to see if beating them up so much in cardio has affected their strength. I did them on tuedays last week and was sore for almost a week. Which really messed up my cardio. I decided to do them last this week so that I could do more not sore cardio. I’ll let you know how it goes. out

[Jesin]

Awesome thread....best jounral on here....good job bro

[lifequest]

hey i'm just clicking around and this is a fantastic link full of good information. just another persons outlook and saying what works for them.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpo...2&postcount=20

[lifequest]

Typo: meal 4 should be tuna sandwich not turkey...that would just be to much damn turkey

Also here’s what I use to measure fat because I’ve gotten some questions on that:

Works well. And is essential in order to know if the weight your losing is fat and not muscle http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/

To many people concentrate on the weight the scale says. Really you should just hide your scale from yourself except once a week. Use the mirror, pictures, and these calipers because they are what tell you what’s important. This week alone at the exat same time every morning I’ve weighed
189
184
182
185
and I’m betting this Monday I’ll be 190. I could give two sh*ts about it though. All that matters to me is that my abs are coming through...meaning I’m losing fat. Your scale weight can very so much depending on water retention, food in your system, if you dropped a duce today.

point of rant...get calipers

[lifequest]

Holy hell what a day. Did legs and accomplished one of my goals on my goal sheet.

“I can squat 315 for 3 consecutive sets”…done

BB Squat:

Last week(315x5,295x6,295x4) this week: 315x6,315x6,315x4

I had to use the squat rack that was pushed right up against a mirror. My face was so ridiculous I almost made myself laugh. I crushed the first set and considered putting on more weight…I’m glad I didn’t. 2nd set I was shooting for 5 and got that and just randomly decided to do another one and came very very close to failing. Went down to parallel fired up…and the chamber was empty, ha. 5 seconds of shear will power later I had it up and in the rack. However I could not avoid the annoying scream of exertion that everyone laughs at in the gym. My form is usually text book and I take pride in it but that last one was ugly. Oh well, I got it that’s all that matters. This scared me so I asked a guy who looked like a nice guy if he could spot. Asking for a spot in squats is extremely awkward but I wanted to get my goal so I just manned up and did. Didn’t need him, got 4 more just fine and that was it. Guess the next goal is 365.

45 degree leg press:

Last week (250x6,250x5) this week: 270x5, 270x6??

Head wasn’t in it the first one. Put on a good song and the second set was way easier…weird

Stiff leg Dead lift

(back straight, knees not locked out, just bent a little, keep the bar as close to the shin/legs as possible without touching, go from standing position to where the plate barley taps the ground

last week(135x6,155x6) this week(185x6, 225x6)

I think I’m just being a wuss. This exercise intimidates me for some reason I feel like I’m going to mess up my back. I’m use to doing deadlifts in a weird bar where you stand in the middle of a circle loaded with weight and handle bars right by your hips. You could just stand straight up. The straight bar is so awkward. I’ll get the hang of it though.

Calfs
This is just a personal preference but I think huge calfs look…odd. I like where mine are at. They’re in good proportion with the rest of my body so I just load up the 45 degree leg press and do calfs with that and do a kind of break down thing. I see guys doing so many exercises for calfs and they never grow. I honestly know nothing about how to make them grow so that’d be something to look up else ware.

Light jog. Legs were dead so I took it real easy 3 miles, elliptical, 25 min, 400 cals, level 13

I’m done for the week. Have an 8 hour drive tomorrow after work. I don’t want to be tiered so I’m going to sleep in and obviously can’t work out after work. I think a 3 day break will give my body the rest it definitely needs at this point. I’m happy to see the journal made it to 5 stars. I’m going to really try and record everything I do because I think I’m going to change a lot in the next few months. Please comment, I like getting feed back PM me or just reply I don’t care. Lift heavy, later on - S

[lifequest]

Someone questioned my work out and said it was a bad idea. It think this explains a lot and is helpful:

Some guy:
not a good idea to train your arms the day after your train chest and back cus you use your arms a lot in your chest and back exercises. IMO, if you are gonna do a 3 day split I would stick with the traditional push/pull/legs routine....especially if you wanna add size. doing chest and back, two big muscle groups, on the same day isnt a good idea. also, doing arms, two small muscle groups, on the same day isnt a good idea either.

I will respectfully disagree with you. I understand your point and have tried it (back bi, legs,chest ti, shoulder abs). I am unable to do a successful Max-OT doing this because the bi’s and tris are fatigued after being used to support the larger muscle. Also I tried back tri, chest bi but doing this ruined one of the larger muscles work out the next day because the smaller muscle was exhausted the day or 2 days before. I planed my work out for very specific and thought out reasons

Chest abs, I have the most energy Monday and am really targeting my chest and abs

Back shoulders– for most this would be a leg day but I’ve found that after legs my cardio sufferes from the soreness and fatigue. I do legs last since fat loss is really my primary goal. If I do shoulders before chest or on the same day as tris one suffers dramatically.

Bi tri. Both muscles have been worked the days before, yes…I agree. But they have had time to recover and restore all glycogen stores and they weren’t worked to the point where they need drastic muscle repair. They feel fresh and there is no soreness. I am able to lift substantially more weight with bis and tris this way as apposed to the traditional way you suggest.

Legs - I do these last so I can heal them over the weekend and be fresh for all cardio next week.

This system is ideal from my body and goals. To say it is a bad idea is not true…it’s just not a good system for your goals. Again this is all respectful. I am always looking for constructive criticism and if you still see flaws please point them out. Thanks for the suggestions - S

[lifequest]

Woke up this morning an hour and a half later then usual and it was great. Feel rested. I definitely don’t think doing HIIT this morning would have been a good idea. My quads gluts and low back are tight and I can tell they will kill tomorrow. My shoulders and traps are extremely sore and my body just feels weary…it’s awesome. I know I’ve done everything I could this week to make myself bigger, faster, stronger, leaner. The fat calipers are stopping right before 6% bf…probably around 6.3 or so…where it was right on 8 two weeks ago. I know this is not my true bf. For some reason I have less fat around my iliac crest but I take the measurement the same way in the exact same place so I know that I am losing fat while gaining strength. At this rate I think I’ll be at my peak in about a month. Off to enjoy my 3 days of healing - S