My War Against Genetics

[Stonecoldtruth]

** Format shamelessly stolen (with permission) from pu12en12g...

Intro:

The war against genetics.. the battle lines are drawn and you have to choose a side. There is no draft, and you have no choice... we are all active duty... we are all in the fight OF our lives... FOR our lives... every day.

The teenager is sitting on the bench wondering why all his friends are bigger, taller, and faster. The "skinny dude" secretly wonders what he's doing wrong.. he's gaining strength, but not weight. Your overweight sister has tried all the fad diets, has no appetite, and hardly eats a thing, yet she continues to gain fat...she's depressed and out of ideas. Your friend asks you for advice because every time he increases his calories, he gains fat, not muscle. Your grandfather works hard all his life to save for retirement, only to watch his body fall apart as soon as he has any free time... to ENJOY life.

My story is fairly simple, I got fat… if you were expecting some reason or excuse, I got nothing for ya. After high school I managed to balloon up near 400lbs. I knew I was fat, but tricked myself with the entire ‘in good shape for my size’ and ‘I’m packing quite a bit of muscle under the fat’ comments when I looked in the mirror. Knee problems, wedding pictures, and the words ‘morbidly obese’ from my doctor forced me to realize the dire seriousness of my situation, and thus began the war.

Over the past 8 months I’ve managed to drop down to 288lbs, which is nearly 100lbs from my highest ‘accurately’ recorded weight. However, those battles are past now, and the war wages onward. I’ve supplemented with various fat burners, protein powders, and other various bodybuilding supplements. After tinkering for long enough with various workout programs and diets, I’ve laid down the BATTLE PLAN.. As a wise man once said, Obstacles are what you see when you let yourself be distracted from your goals… ... the war against genetics starts here... the war against genetics starts now....


About me:

Name – Josh
Location – Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Age – 24
Marital Status – Married (sorry ladies, haha)
Occupation – Hotel Auditor
Bodytype – Endo
Motto – Eat, Lift, Sleep… Repeat

THE BATTLE PLAN:

Workout – Customized 5x5 routine aimed at strength gains.
- M – Chest, T – Back, W – Legs, Th – Shoulders, Fri – Arms
- Cardio a MINIMUM of 4 days.

Diet – 3000 calorie intake, 50P/30C/20F breakdown
- Around half of protein intake consumed from Whey.
- Majority of fat intake from EFAs and some from lean ground turkey.
- Majority of carb intake from oats and fibrous veggies.

Supplementation –
CL Green Bulge
CL Red Acid
CL Blue UP (stim free)
CL Glycergrow
CL Purple Wraath
ON Whey (Post Workout)
TP Custom (MRP)
Basic Multivitamin
L-Carnitine
Taurine
Potassium
NOW ZMA
Fish Oil
Flax Oil
Scivation Sesamin

More to be added later.

SCT

[King of the Misc]

Finally you got a journal! I'll keep an eye on this one

[DawnMarie]

*subscribed*

Another awesome Stonecold log! I'm in

[pu12en12g]

Nice strategy... awesome battle plan.. and congrats on hitting 288

"Accept the challenges, so you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
- George S. Patton

[Stonecoldtruth]

After 10 hours in the airport yesterday, today was a day of rest and reflection. This past week I spent in Kentucky, visiting my dad's side of the family. It has been nearly 6 years since I spent more than a day around my family, and it made me realize that I'm not ready to be back there yet.

I'm not yet ready to be surrounded by daily temptations and reminders of the days of old. I've made bounds of changes to my behaviors and appearance, but in the eyes of my family I am still the soda loving junk food eating Josh of old. I fear that I will always be such in their eyes. I can't blame them though, it took many years of a certain behavior to build up that image of me, and it will take just as many to break down those walls. It was a good reminder that by surrounding yourself with negative things, you foster failure. However, by avoiding negative things you breed success.

The road to greatness is paved with sacrifices.

Cheers,
Josh

p.s. Tomorrow is chest day at the gym, and grocery day!

[Stonecoldtruth]

Today was chest day at the gym. The gym parking lot was packed when I pulled in. I could barely make it into the weight room due to seeing like 30 people I haven't seen in a while. Finally I told a few of the guys to meet me in the sauna to chat, that I had to get warmed up.

After a few minutes in the Sauna I walked to the battlefield:

DB Bench Press - 5x5
Incline Barbell Bench Press - 5x5
Decline Barbell Bench Press - 5x5
Pec Flies - 3x10

Mind/Muscle Connection was on point today, even though I managed to somehow break my MP3 player while at the gym today, it was very sad I ended up chugging my protein shake, and heading home. Cardio will be performed after this update, I'm going to the park to do some stair-intervals at a local park. This will henceforth be known as Rocky-Cardio, not sure how often I'll use this method, but at least for today, hehe.

(As you can see the weights aren't listed, because I don't feel they are important. Current 5RM, in order are: 75s, 145, 185, and 115 on Pec Flies.)

Diet has been spot on today, my body is loving the reintroduction of carbs after being on a Ketogenic diet for so long. I'm going to do grocery shopping post-cardio

Cheers,
Josh

p.s. Feel free to ask any questions about my current diet/workout, or make any comments about things you'd like to see here. This log is a way to keep me accountable and share information.

[King of the Misc]

lol let me guess you smashed the mp3 player with the circular bit of the db? I did that to mine 2 weeks ago, luckily its not dead yet hehe

Good luck with the rocky-cardio, but is there any specific reason you don't want to list your weights? It might be helpful in the long-run to track your progress or idenitfy lagging areas for which to be improved. Just a suggestion

[Rune]

CL Green Bulge
CL Red Acid
CL Blue UP (stim free)
CL Glycergrow
CL Purple Wraath
ON Whey (Post Workout)
TP Custom (MRP)
Basic Multivitamin
L-Carnitine
Taurine
Potassium
NOW ZMA
Fish Oil
Flax Oil
Scivation Sesamin

Do you own a supplement store now or something

Any ways, subscribed to ANOTHER of your journals Best of luck as useual (although I know you don't need luck)

[Stonecoldtruth]

lol let me guess you smashed the mp3 player with the circular bit of the db? I did that to mine 2 weeks ago, luckily its not dead yet hehe

Good luck with the rocky-cardio, but is there any specific reason you don't want to list your weights? It might be helpful in the long-run to track your progress or idenitfy lagging areas for which to be improved. Just a suggestion

I can list my weights if anyone is interested. I just know that when I personally read logs I don't look at the weights, unless it is like a PR. However, if there is an interest I will certainly list them.

The rocky cardio was EVIL.. omg those stairs are longer than I remember. I'll have to take a picture of them soon.

Do you own a supplement store now or something

Any ways, subscribed to ANOTHER of your journals Best of luck as useual (although I know you don't need luck)

MOST of my supplements were bought with topic/workout of the week winnings, it is a nice way to save the bank account, heh.

This will be my last log for a LONG time, I'm going to just stick in here for a few years, muwhahaha. I won't be applying for any tester positions, so this is my new home.. quite cozy if you ask me.

Off to cook some egg whites, later taters!

[Stonecoldtruth]

Daily Thoughts:

Today was an interesting day trying to find the appropriate macronutrient balance. I'm so used to avoiding carbs that it is hard to get my carbs in. I will end the day at 2950 calories with a 49P/29C/22F breakdown. I think that the key is adding more oats in the future, go OATS!

The elevator here at work is broken so I get to climb even more stairs tonight!

Ramblings:

Sun Tzu's Art of War has a line that reads:

In conflict, straightforward actions generally lead to engagement, surprising actions generally lead to victory.

This saying is the motivation for adding a 2nd session of daily cardio (on all days but leg days) By suprising my body with something above and beyond my usual, I hope to shock it into submission.

Cheers,
Josh

[pu12en12g]

Awesome updates so far !!

[Stonecoldtruth]

Today was Back Day at the gym, which is probably my favorite lifting day, EVAH.. I got the mp3 player replaced and loaded it with lots of Scotish music. Nothing like the Braveheart soundtrack for motivation, mixed in with some Hulk Hogan Real American theme.

I ended up scaring a few of the older members when doing my rack pulls, apparently my grunt on my last rep of Rack Pulls sounded very forceful. Also, doing rack pulls with 3 plates really makes you feel like a beast.

LIFTING STUFF:
Rack Pulls - 185x5/225x5/275x5/295x5/315x5
Single DB Rows - 70x5/80x5/90x5/95x5/100x5
Lat Pulldowns - 180x5/195x5/195x5/210x5/225x5
Seated Rows - 180x5/195x5/210x5/225x5/240x5

After my lifting I encountered one of my major enemies in this war.... pre-cardio depression. I know that sounds cheesy, but I just did NOT want to do cardio today. I told myself I'd do it later, but that doesn't really work when it is a 2x cardio day, heh. So, in an effort to defeat the enemy, I bribed myself. I told myself if I completed my cardio, I'd stop by the strip club on the way home. Yes, you heard it right, the STRIP CLUB.

Cardio Stuff:
20 minutes EFX, Resistance 8, Hill Mode
15 Minutes Walking, 4.0mph

Strip Club Stuff:
I only spent $12 and the hottest chick on stage 'accidentally' got a handful of me... *twiddle* She wanted to go to the couch dance area, but I was smart and only went in with $15 total. Oh yeah baby, I actually left the strip club with money left.

Diet Stuff updated later when I've had more meals!

Cheers,
SCT

[King of the Misc]

Good session, impressive numbers here and I hope you got good MM connection.

Nevertheless, I'm sure you were focussed during your post gym antics!

[Stonecoldtruth]

Good session, impressive numbers here and I hope you got good MM connection.

Nevertheless, I'm sure you were focussed during your post gym antics!

The mind muscle connection during workout was phenomenal. I find that while on Red Acid my focus is just off the charts.

I was thinking with the other head at the strip club though, muwhahahahhaa.

[pu12en12g]

Strip Club Stuff..... only went in with $15 total

Awesome !!

[Stonecoldtruth]

While engaged in any war, it is essential to ensure your body receives the nutrients it needs. Being on a constant battlefield I am required to pack a box of food with me, today's box included:

Ground Turkey
Whole Wheat Pita
Lowfat Sour Cream
Tuna
12 Grain Bread
Zero Calorie BBQ Sauce
Lowfat Swiss Cheese
4 scoops of ON Whey
1 gallon Jug of water

and this is just what I consumed at work, muwhaha.

Macronutrient breakdown was a bit different today, as I had to use 2% at work for my protein seeing as I forgot the skim at home...

Protein - 50%
Carbs - 25.5%
Fat - 24.5%

I have the next two days off of work, so I might get inventive with some of my meals. I'm considering making a low-fat turkey chili to freeze and reheat at work.

Cheers,
SCT

[pu12en12g]

While engaged in any war, it is essential to ensure your body receives the nutrients it needs. Being on a constant battlefield I am required to pack a box of food with me, today's box included....

I love the "theme" posts.. they put mine to shame ! I never know how the posts are going to start and then I'm like... "hellz yea..."

[DawnMarie]

Woo-hoo!! Go Stonecold! You are on a roll!! You ARE a beast, look at all those PRs!! (again!!) And 2x a day Cardio! You are putting my cardio to shame! LMAO at the strip club reward for the cardio...that is a good one! Whatever motivates, right? *thinks she should come up with a reward for herself too, great idea* Glad you had some fun, you deserve it! You are working really hard!!

Love your log, you always keep it interesting, full of info and very entertaining too.

[Rune]

Nice job with the rack pull bro. Just wondering what you've got in that TP Blend? I've been going with a 75% Micellar Casein and 25% Whole Egg blend for a while and I love it (working a lot better then just whey even PWO).. just interested in what you've got is all.

[Raffael]

*subscribed*
wow... awesome bro ... awesome... perfect motivation, i got stuff with cardio, so i promised my self some beach time! lol... it really was worthit... doesnt beat the strip club idea though!

keep it at...

[Stonecoldtruth]

It is said that the deadlist of all battles occur when the terrain is not level. That there is some advantage to being on the 'high ground'. Today I took the battle to the high ground, it was a long climb but the view from the top was priceless..

Today was cardio day, 2x cardio day to be exact.. *shiver* I hit up the gym to do my first session, after watching The DaVinci Code' (good movie)..

Cardio:
20 minutes EFX Resistance 7 Hill Mode
20 minutes Treadmill, 3.0mph, 12-15% incline

It had been a while since doing treadmill on that kind of incline, god I love it
In the morning will be 'Rocky Cardio' on the stairs. For those who don't know/remember, that is my H.I.I.T cardio on the stairs at the local park. I'm going to take a picture of it tomorrow, the stairs.. not me..

IN OTHER NEWS, I'm now a Moderator over at Controlled Lab's Forums for the Fat Loss section. I never thought I'd be worthy to give other people advice on how to lose weight/fat, but for some reason it just feels right. Tank said to me today, 'You are a CL guy now..' it made my day/week/year.

ANOTHER UPDATE LATER....

*subscribed*
wow... awesome bro ... awesome... perfect motivation, i got stuff with cardio, so i promised my self some beach time! lol... it really was worthit... doesnt beat the strip club idea though!

keep it at...

Thanks for the encouragement bro! I have issues with cardio as well, but I think that it becomes an issue of willpower. The truth is though that after a cardio session I've never said, 'Boy was that a mistake...' instead I'm always like, 'I'm glad I toughed through it.'

Nice job with the rack pull bro. Just wondering what you've got in that TP Blend? I've been going with a 75% Micellar Casein and 25% Whole Egg blend for a while and I love it (working a lot better then just whey even PWO).. just interested in what you've got is all.

Josh's MRP TP mix

30% Whey Protein Isolate Ion-exchange
30% Micellar Casein
20% Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Concentrate
20% Egg White

I'm liking it pretty well so far too This was my first time EVER making my own formula, future ones will probably be different.

And 2x a day Cardio! You are putting my cardio to shame! LMAO at the strip club reward for the cardio...that is a good one! Whatever motivates, right?

Hehe, I had to step it up a notch due to some intense IMPC competition. The strip club was good motivation, but in the end it always ends up being less than expected. You go in, pay money to get turned on, then leave with blue balls.. muwhahaha.

[DawnMarie]

Hehe, I had to step it up a notch due to some intense IMPC competition. The strip club was good motivation, but in the end it always ends up being less than expected. You go in, pay money to get turned on, then leave with blue balls.. muwhahaha.

LOL..well how about this...you do the cardio and the motivation is that you look so great, YOU wanna strip! My guess is that'll make the wife happy and prevent the unpleasant side effects from a visit to the strip club - and...it's free!! Can't beat that! I think I'm gonna go with that one myself. hehe

P.S. Hubby just read the DaVinci code book and wants to see the movie, I'll have to tell him it's good. He said today he read alot of bad reviews. Not that we ever get to go to the movies but you never know. And of course, keep up the awesome job! Time for night, night...later

[Stonecoldtruth]

LOL..well how about this...you do the cardio and the motivation is that you look so great, YOU wanna strip! My guess is that'll make the wife happy and prevent the unpleasant side effects from a visit to the strip club - and...it's free!! Can't beat that! I think I'm gonna go with that one myself. hehe

P.S. Hubby just read the DaVinci code book and wants to see the movie, I'll have to tell him it's good. He said today he read alot of bad reviews. Not that we ever get to go to the movies but you never know. And of course, keep up the awesome job! Time for night, night...later

If I ever get a 6-pack I thought about stripping for some quick cash, hahahaha. My wife, as very few people know, isn't really into the physical side of life. She is an emotional girl who likes to cuddle, but not really into the sex. But thats ok with me, sex just means I have to shower even more often than I already do.. hehe.

I never trust movie reviews, they are all self-righteous asshats who write them (Note - I did movie reviews for a local paper for a while, haha)

[Stonecoldtruth]

Soldier's Entry, May 19th 06..

It was a calm night.. Our enemy was not expected until morning, so the watch tonight was merely staying awake until the battle. I managed to 'doze off', only awaking just now.. 6 hours after the battle. The enemy showed, but we did not. Now the enemy thinks they have an edge over us, we will have to sneak up on them today..

Translation - I fell asleep after the CL forum crashed, just woke up. So I have an extra cardio session to do today

Plan for the day:

Morning Weights (Shoulders)
Morning Cardio (Elliptical for 30)
Evening Cardio (Rocky Cardio for 15)



Cheers,
PFC Stonecoldtruth

[Stonecoldtruth]

In every battle there are bound to be some wounded, some casualities along the way. It is a sad fact of any battle, but it should not deter us from our goals. No war ever stopped because I soldier fell in battle. No, instead we grab our dead and fight on..

Today I tweaked my right shoulder (the same one which just had a torn RC) on the last set of the day.. thank god it was then otherwise I'd have had to stop. After doing cardio I came home and iced it. We'll see how it fairs on the morrow. I'm not too worried, if I reinjured it then I'll be back to legs/cardio, if not then I'll be lifting hard and heavy.. The battle rages onward, TO VICTORY!

Weights:
DB Military Press, 40x5, 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, [color=blue]60x5
Single Cable Front Raises, 20x10, 20x10, 20x10, 25x10, 25x10
Single Cable Lateral Raises, 20x10, 20x10, 25x10, 25x10, 30x10
Barbell Shrugs, 180x5, 230x5, 270x5, 280x5, 300x5
Reverse Barbell Shrugs (behind back), 180x5, 230x5, 250x5, 260x5, 270x4

This was my first time doing Reverse Shrugs, which sucks that I hurt myself on them. I'm not sure if I'll keep these in, we'll see.

Cardio:
30 minutes EFX Resistance 8 Hill Mode

I'm off to play self-medic and see if we can get this shoulder back to 100%.

SCT

[Stonecoldtruth]

In any battle communication is KEY, which is why we have message carriers who deliver important information between generals. These men are expose to many dangers, and misinformation, all in their quest to perform one of the most important and yet underappreciated jobs in wartime.

I failed to realize that the park where I do my Rocky routine would be LOADED with kids on a Saturday afternoon, so much so that I decided to go to the gym. Then I failed to remember that the gym closes at 6pm (it was 8ish)... However, I did find a high school track that was barren. So I walked 2 miles on the track. My friend Melissa came out to walk with me, she brought her newborn baby Jack. It was nice having someone to talk to while walking. I didn't get as intense of a cardio session in, but it was refreshing to have someone to talk to.

The reality of it all is that I don't have any friends I see on a regular basis. My cell phone book is all family and work related, which is sad. I don't have a life right now, aside from my marriage and the gym. But I'm ok with that, I've realized that right now I have to sacrifice everything to get what I want.

War is filled with sacrifices, the celebration comes after the victory

Josh

p.s. Tomorrow is arm/abs (if shoulder is doing ok) and more cardio!

[Stonecoldtruth]

Sun Tzu touched on the importance of speed in his novel 'Art of War' , What is of the greatest importance in war is extraordinary speed: One cannot afford to neglect opportunity.

This shall be one of my focuses over the next few weeks, as I manual YET AGAIN rehab my shoulder. I do not think the injury is serious, but it does warrant caution.

The plan for today is some HIIT Cardio before work (ie in about 10 minutes) followed by some EFX Cardio after work (about 7am) I'm going to spend the night doing some research on anything I can do to tweak my diet as I believe it will be the key to the rest of my journey.

Cheers,
Josh

[btmoney]

keep it rolling SCT. People who have the motivation and desire to lose 50, 60, even 100+ lbs are an inspiration to me. I used to be 140lbs of nothing. 171 of raw steel (well, not yet) now and I keep going. I'll check into this guy all the time.

[Stonecoldtruth]

keep it rolling SCT. People who have the motivation and desire to lose 50, 60, even 100+ lbs are an inspiration to me. I used to be 140lbs of nothing. 171 of raw steel (well, not yet) now and I keep going. I'll check into this guy all the time.

Thanks bro, comments like that make it easier to scarf down this tuna I have sitting in front of me, heeh.

[pu12en12g]

In every battle there are bound to be some wounded, some casualities along the way. It is a sad fact of any battle, but it should not deter us from our goals. No war ever stopped because I soldier fell in battle. No, instead we grab our dead and fight on..

Hell yea !!

Keep up the awesome work man !!