# The long hard road - training journal



## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I'v never done a training journal so I thought it was time I got my act together and stopped ****ing about. This year I am looking to tighten up my diet and training and I am looking to gain 10 to 12lb of lean muscle. Not a lot but I think its possible. I hope by using this journal I will be able to moniter how things are going and see what is and isnt working. Also it will act as a great motivation tool.

Iv been training for over 5 years and after an inital spurt gains have slowed down over the past year or two. I have always loved the training but struggle with diet. Shortly before Christmas I started a push pull leg system and I intent to use this system along with a bulking type diet to reach my goal.

I curremtly weigh 182lb at 17% bodyfat, I know the bodyfat is high but this was only 14% before Christmas.

Over the Christmas holidays I sat down and looked at my diet and have decided to give the 40% carb 30% protein 30% fat system a try. Based on what I have read to gain I need to consume 3000 cals a day which is what I am working with. I have divided the macros equally into 6 meals a day. Typical diet looks like this.

m1 eggs & oats

m2 chicken salad wraps

m3 tuna, sweet pot & brocolli

m4 shake, oats & nuts

m5 family meal at home

m6 cottage cheese, banana & nuts.

This meal plan I use mon to fri but weekends are difficult as most meals are on the run. I think once I get the weekends sorted things will start to improve.

Training.

Usually 3 days a week. push,pull,leg. I will post workout as and when done.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

This weeks workouts so far.

Tuesday legs.

Squats

60kg x 12

70kg x 12

80kg x 12

90kg x 10

100kg x 4 (I think I did too many warm up sets so had nothing left for final set)

Leg Press

200kg x 12

220kg x 12

240kg x 8

260kg x 5 (strip set removing 40kg each time)

Romanian Deadlifts

30kg x 12

40kg x 12

50kg x 12

60kg x 12 Only the second time I have done these so still getting the form correct, not worried about weight.

Seated leg curl.

37kg x 20

42kg x 15

47kg x 12

All done, left the gym feeling extreamly sick and could hardly walk. Good workout.

Thursday - Push

Inc DB Press

30kg x 12

34kg x 12

36kg x 7

38kg x 5 +2 reps spotted/ 28kg x 5 / 18kg x 12 drop set

Inc Flys

12kg x 20

14kg x 15

16kg x 12

Seated DB press

20kg x 12

24kg x 9

26kg x 6

24kg x 6 + 2 spotter reps / 18kg x 5 / 12kg x 8 strip set.

Clean and Press. Never done these before.

20kg x 12

25kg x 12

30kg x 12 again not about the weight just getting used to the movement.

Dips

Body Weight x 20

+4 kg x 8

+4kg x 7 dont know why I found these so difficult today, could have been the drop sets for chest and shoulders.

Overhead Tri Ext

20kg x 20

25kg x 15

30kg x 13.

Job done.

Reps are a little low on some sets but this is due, I think to the 10 day christmas holiday.

Pull day tomorrow. Bring it on.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Was going to train pull today but legs still sore from tuesday and chest is also sore so I will give it an extra days rest.

Diet went well today and I will be using fitday this evening to sort out my food for this weekend. I need to get my sat/sun diet sorted as I am sure it is the week link. Unlike most people I dont tend to over eat at the weekend I find I dont eat enough. I will try and get all my macros into 4 or 5 meals whick will be far more convenient, and once I get it sorted I can stick to it every weekend.

I hope to update this journal as often as poss and please feel free to chip in.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No training today as wife is at work and I'm looking after the kids. I had a good diet day today and managed to almost hit my targets.

M1. - 702 cal 44pro 67carbs 26fat

2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 80g oats with milk.

M2. - 630cal 44pro 68carb 21fat

300g jacket potato (normal not sweetpotato - tasted like crap), tin of tuna, 30gnuts.

M3. - 633cal 55pro 46carb 26fat

1.5 scoops of whey 60g oats 30g nuts.

M4. - 594cal 44pro 60carb 17fat

chicken, cuscus, chick peas, spinich 0.5 scoop of whey.

M5. - 329cal 33p 17carb 15fat - last meal of the day so low carb.

300g cottage cheese, 20g almonds.

Total 2888cals - 218 pro - 258 carb - 105 fat.

Not a bad days work.


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

See your squats where you think you do too many warm ups,i got a different warm up off another site which would go something like.

Bar x 20

20kgx12

40x8

60x5

70x3

80x1

90x1

Then your not too knackered for your top weight sets.It works well for me anyways.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

maxie said:


> See your squats where you think you do too many warm ups,i got a different warm up off another site which would go something like.
> 
> Bar x 20
> 
> ...


I will give this a try on both squats and deadlifts as I think I am also burning out on them too. What sort of reps are you getting on your final set ? I am aiming for 8 reps on my final working set. Once I do 8 I increase the weight for the next week.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Sunday is weigh-in day so here we go.

Iv lost a little weight this week which seemed at first to be a problem but after working out my bodyfat % was not an issue. Acording to my measurements my bodyfat has droped from 17% to 15% and my lean body mass (LBM) has increased from 150lb to 151.6lb win-win situation. I think this is due to the fact that Iv sorted out my diet after over eating during Christmas.

BF 15%

LBM 151.6LB

FAT 27.4LB

Also trained pull muscles today.

Bent Arm Pullovers

20kg x 20

24kg x 15

28kg x 12

I use the pullovers as a warm up to get some blood into the lats and shoulders.

Hammer grip pull downs.

45kg x 12

50kg x 12

55kg x 10

60kg x 6 then drop to 50kg x 6 and then 40kg x 6.

Bent over one arm row.

32kg x 10

34kg x 10

36kg x 10

38kg x 8 form on last 2 reps was a little poor but still ok. will stick with this weight for next week and correct form.

Deadlifts

80kg x 12

100kg x 10

110kg x 8

120kg x 6 almost threw up after the final set.

Barbell shrugs

50kg x 12 behind body then 12 in front

50kg x 10 behind 10 in front

50kg x 8 behind 8 in front.

Was going to do some bi's but didnt have time and was knackered any way.

Monday off then back to legs on tuesday. Will try reducing the reps on the warm up sets for squats and see what I get on the final set as last week final set was sh*t, considering last year I was doing 5x5 squats with 110kg and 3x8 with 100kg. Need to up my game and stop ****ing about.


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## andymc88 (Aug 18, 2011)

Why don't you try less warm up I always start with a 20 plate a side go slow and deep then after each set I stretch read this helps with doms I only do maybe 1 or 2 sets of warm 2nd warm up maybe 2x20 a side then 5 working sets of 6-12 reps first work set of 3x20 a side, plus good look will sub this as I think it might help me keep check or start my own when I decide what to do, also what bf measurement tool you using needing to get some I no people say use the mirror but I'd still like to no


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just took some photos of how I am today. Photos taken cold, not pumped from gym.

I will update photos every 8 weeks to check progress (if any).


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

Looking good there mate you just need to be consistent i think,keep the weights going up and the food going down.

I used to do a similar leg routine years ago it was taking my legs a week to recover,i do less volume now they still get trained but not annhialated. i could hardly get out of bed the next morning sometimes after them workouts!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from the gym and today was leg day. Used the advice from above and cut down on the amount of sets and the number of reps on my warmup sets and I must say I am happy with the results. (Typing this up now as I dont think I could stand up in the shower and deff couldn't bend down to get the soap).

Todays workout log.

Squats

60kg x 12

70kg x 12

80kg x 10

100kg x 8 (5 more than last week)

100kg x 8 (last rep took a lifetime too get up but did it - just)

Leg Press

200kg x 12

220kg x 12

240kg x 8 (3 more than last week)

Romanian Deadlift

50kg x 12

60kg x 12

70kg x 12

80kg x 12 (last few reps hurt like hell)

Seated Leg Curl

32kg x 20

40kg x 12

45kg x 7

A very pleasing but also very taxing workout. Happy with the improvements on squats. Not sure if I will go up in weight next week or try for more reps with 100kg. I'll see how I feel on the day.


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## Wardy211436114751 (Jan 24, 2011)

Hey mate looking good in ya pics lats look ya best feature 

I think you could up to like 3250 kcals a day just to make sure how much is 3000 above ya maintenance?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

maxie said:


> Looking good there mate you just need to be consistent i think,keep the weights going up and the food going down.
> 
> I used to do a similar leg routine years ago it was taking my legs a week to recover,i do less volume now they still get trained but not annhialated. i could hardly get out of bed the next morning sometimes after them workouts!


Thanks for the posstive feedback. I'm realy working on my diet as I think this is the key. If I try and do all the small thing right every day then in the end they should make a big difference. Also need to sort out my water intake as I feel its a little low. I aim for a min of 3l a day, but this may be too little. I will look it up later.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Wardy21 said:


> Hey mate looking good in ya avi lats look ya best feature
> 
> I think you could up to like 3250 kcals a day just to make sure how much is 3000 above ya maintenance?


My lats are the area I'v been working on, thanks to uk-m and a thread I started I am now training them more effectivly.

My maint cals were around 2500 ish so I went for 3000 to start. But my diet is slightly diff on gym days as I add an extra scoop of protein and 50g of oats post workout. As soon as the weigh stalls I will up it again to 3250. Just need to keep an eye on bodyfat.

Thanks for the feedback, it all helps.


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## andymc88 (Aug 18, 2011)

Great to see the weight n reps getting better


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

andymc88 said:


> Great to see the weight n reps getting better


All thanks to some good advice from you guys :thumb:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Iv noticed that since I started my new diet I'm spending a lot more time on the loo. I have been for a dump at least 4 times today already and I'm producing enough gas to keep a wind farm going. Wife is NOT happy, told me if it don't stop its the sofa for me. Need to get a dog so I can shift the blame. Also my **** is a little smelly, smells slightly like chicken, not sure why? oh well.

Push day tomorrow.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from the worst workout ever. what a total fuc88ng waste of time. Couldn't lift sh8t. Left feeling totally deflated and pis8ed off. Started badly and got worse. I left feeling good after a pleasing leg workout on tuesday so was expecting big thing, didn't get them.

Push

Inc db press

26kg x 20

30kg x 8 (hit 12 easily last week)

34kg x 6 (not happy as this is my warm up weight)

32kg x 6 (had to drop down from 34kg just to get some reps. last week got 5 reps with 38kg)

Flat bench (dont do this often but thought I would give it a go after a poor inc press)

60kg x 6 (yes thats correct 6, this was ment to be a warmup set)

50kg x 12 (had to ask for a spot as I wasn't sure I would be able to lift it, left the bench after 2 sets out of embarrassment)

Seated db press

22kg x 7 (again this was ment as a warm up, had to drop the weight for the next set, last week did 6 reps with 26kg)

20kg x 7 (poor)

18kg x 8

Clean & press (the only high point in the session)

30kg x 12

35kg x 10

40kg x 5 + 3 extra cleans when I couldn't press overhead.

Dips

Body +4 x 14 (this was actually more than last week so the problem with the press couldn't have been my tri's)

Body +2 x 9

Body x 10

Skull Cruchers (not done these for a while)

15kg x 15

20kg x 12

25kg x 8

Went home a broken man!!!!

I have no idea why the session went so wrong and I just hope next week is a vast improvement. Time to eat.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Feeling posative again, trained pull movenents today and went well. I have decided that this week will be a shock week to give my body a rest and hit the muscles a different way. Today I did all super sets with reps in the 10 to 12 range.

Wide grip pull dows super set with narrow grip.

W 20KG X 20 N 20KG X 20

W 30KG X 20 N 30KG X 20

W 60KG X 9 N 60KG X 6 DROP TO 50KG X 4

W 55KG X 10 N 50KG X 5 DROP TO 40KG X 5

BENT ROW SUPER SET WITH CABLE ROW. GYM DOESN'T HAVE A CABLE ROW MACHINE SO HAD TO IMPROVISE WITH A CABLE CROSSOVER TYPE MACHINE.

B 50KG X 12 C 30KG X 12

B 70KG X 10 C 34KG X 12

B 72KG X 10 C 38KG X 12

DEADLIFTS SUPER SET WITH SHRUGS

D 70KG X 10 S 40KG X 10

D 100KG X 10 S 50KG X 10

D 110KG X 10 S52KG X 10

EZ CURL SUPER SET WITH HAMMER CURL. HAVEN'T TRAINED ARMS DIRECTLY FOR A WHILE.

E BAR ONLY X 20 / H BAR ONLY X 20

E 20KG X 10 H 13KG X 10

E 20KG X 10 H 13KG X 10

NOT HUGE WEIGHTS BUT FELT EVERY LAST REP.

LEFT THE GYM FEELING GOOD AFTER FRIDAYS POOR SESSION.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

weight back up to 182lb and bodyfat down to 14%. lbm 156.5lb

I will be increasing my cals by 250 per day from tomorrow. To do this I will be replacing one egg white with a whole egg and add a scoop of whey into my oats. I will follow this all next week and see how it goes.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Mid week again and that means Legs.

Mixed it up this week to shock the muscle. All supersets and I am fooked, can hardly walk and feel sick and light headed. Thats what leg press does to you.

Legs

Squats super set with Romanian Deadlifts. This has to be the most demanding super set ever.

S 60KG X 10 / RD 40KG X 10

S 70KG X 10 / RD 50KG X 10

S 90KG X 10 / RD 80KG X 10

S 90KG X 10 / RD 80KG X 10 (this sounds bad but after this set a small amount of sick came up)

Leg press super set with DB Lunges

LP 220KG X 10 / LU 12KG X 10

LP 220KG X 10 / LU 12KG X 10 (my lunges and legs were on fire)

Leg ext super set with Leg curl

LE 35KG X 12 / LC 40KG X 15

LE 35KG X 10 / LC 40KG X 12

Finished off with 10mins stretching as if I dont I get restless leg syndrone when in bed.

Short session but an absolute killer.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Push day today and after last weeks poor showing I was hoping for an improvement. Again as with legs and pull this week will be shock week. I will be doing pre-exhaustion super sets which I like for chest and shoulders. This session was aimed at hypertrophy so I was trying to keep the reps in the 8 to 12 range.

Push

Flat DB flys super set with flat db press.

FLY 10KG X 25 / PRESS 20KG X 20

FLY 16KG X 12 / PRESS 32KG X 7

FLY 18KG X 10 / PRESS 28KG X 8

Dec bd fly super set with inc bd press

FLY 16KG X 12 / PRESS 28KG X 4 DROP WEIGHT TO 24KG X 4

FLY 16KG X 12 / PRESS 24KG X 7

Side lat raise super set with standing mill press.

SL 6KG X 12 / MP 40KG X 8 (used a little leg drive on the last 2 reps)

SL 8KG X 10 / MP 35KG X 7

SL 8KG X 10 / MP 30KG X 7 (couldnt control the weight on the last rep and dropped it, good job I was in the power rack)

Rear delt on cables super set with upright row on cables.

RD 2.5KG X 10 / UR 20KG X 8

RD 2.5KG X 10 / UR 15KG X 10 (good reps with a pause at the top and lowered slowly)

While I was at the cables and as the workout was going quickley I added another super set which I wasnt planning.

Front raise on cable super set with swiss ball shoulder press.

FR 10KG X 8 / SP 10KG X 10

FR 7.5KG X 10 / SP 9KG X 8 ( shoulder gave out again, had no problem pressing the weight up but couldn't control the negative)

Skull crushers super set with rope tri ext.

SK 18KG X 15 / RE 6.5KG X 12

SK 23KG X 12 / RE 7.5KG X 10

As I didnt feel the chest section of the workout was the best to finish I did 3 sets of cable cross overs. Not sure of the weight but reps were 20 / 15 / 12. Good pump and workout over.

Not sure whats going on with my weight. I seem to have gained 2lb since wednesday but this can't be the case. Oh well I'm sure it will sort itself out.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Woke up sat morning with a stinking headache, sore throat and runny nose, this could only be one thing MAN FLU !!

Didn't really feel like eating but forced the food down anyway. Felt a little better this morning but the bad head was still there. Wasn't sure if I should train or not but by late afternoon I felt well enough to hit the gym. My energy levels were low so I decided to just do the basic movements and get in and out as quickley as possible.

This week is my strength based week so I will be aiming for 4 sets of 6 on all exercises.

PULL - STRENGTH

Lat Pulldowns

40GK X 20 (warm up)

40GK X 20 (warm up)

70KG X 6

70KG X 6 (last 2 reps form was a little off so reduced the weight for the next set)

65KG X 6

65KG X 6 / 55KG X 6 / 45KG X 6

Bent over DB Row

24KG X 15

38KG X 6

38KG X 8 (wanted to keep the reps low so increased the weight for next set. Also never done 40kg before)

40KG x 6

40KG X 6 / 36KG X 6 / 32KG X 3

Deadlifts

90KG x 12

130KG X 3 (a little too heavy so drop weight)

120KG X 6

110KG X 6

After the last set of deads my energy has gone, just wanted to get out of there. I was happy with the pull downs and rows but the deads were a little poor. May look at doing them first next time so I can give them my all. That being said I was glad I got my ass of the sofa and did something.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Had a crap few days, my cold has got onto my chest and I'm weezing like a 90 year old coal miner. I suffer from asthma so its realy playing up at the moment. My chest is very tight and my inhalers aren't helping a great deal. My back is hurting because I'm breating so heavily and my ribs hurt from coughing. Not much chance of getting to the gym for the rest of this week, I'll just rest up and come back at full strength next week.  This is always the way you make some progress and then something like this happens.


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## Wardy211436114751 (Jan 24, 2011)

get well soon mate! try and force as much food as you can.downya even if its mostly shakes and plenty of water and vits


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

Dont worry about it i take a week off whenever i need one usually every 4-6weeks,i just had one off last week with a chest infection myself.I dont lose any strength and was right back where i was.

It was something i would never do when i was younger and i reckon it was a big mistake.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

maxie said:


> Dont worry about it i take a week off whenever i need one usually every 4-6weeks,i just had one off last week with a chest infection myself.I dont lose any strength and was right back where i was.
> 
> It was something i would never do when i was younger and i reckon it was a big mistake.


I have no idea what I'v got it seems to move around my body. Yesterday my throat was hurtin so badly I could hardly drink. Today my throat isnt too bad but I have started bringing up green sh*t when I cough. Went to the pharmacy and got some cough med and the pharmasist advised I go to the docs as I may need antibiotics and some streiods for my breathing. I find it difficult to not train but my body needs time to recover so I will give it a miss for a few more days. I havent trained now since the 22nd jan and its getting

me down as its my main release and the only time I have to myself. Oh well next week I should be back on form and eating correctly.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I finally went to the doc's today as over the last two nights I have had very little sleep due to the pain in my face and neck. The doc looked me over and said I has both a sinus and chest infection (lucky me). I was given a 7 day supply of amoxicillin which should treat both conditions. I started the treatment today so by this time thursday I should start to fell better. I will take the rest of this week of the gym and then next monday I will start back. For the first week I plan to do just full body workouts with light weights to get myself back into things again. After that I will start a push-pull split so that every muscle group is trained three times every two week. I'v never tried this before so not sure how it will go.

My first week back full body workout will be squats, deadlifts, bench, mill press, bent row and pulldowns. This will be enough to get me back into it.

Following my first week I start push pull. My push workout will be squats, bench, clean and press and dips ( or along those lines ) and my pull workout will be deadlifts, bent row, pulldowns and curls, I may through in some leg curls also.

As I have not been training I have changed my diet slightly by reducing my carbs, my protein and fats are the same but I have lowered the carbs by about 20 to 30% to prevent fat build up.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Feeling 100% better today so took a trip to the gym. Didn't want to over do it so I did a full body workout with light weight. All of the sets were basically just warm up sets but I went super slow and held the contraction at the top. I didn't go anywhere nere failure and stopped every set at 12 reps even though I knew I had more in me. I did notice a slight discomfort in my left elbow / shoulder area. I only felt it on flat bench, skull crushers and ez curls, not buring shoulders which I find strange ?

Workout as follows. Didn't note the weights but did 2 sets of 12 on all exercises.

Squats

Flat Bench

Bent Row

Clean and Press

Pulldowns

Romanian Deadlifts

Skull Crushers

EZ Curl.

A realy nice workout and all done in 45 mins.

Weighed myself and despite lowering my carbs I have put on a little bodyfat, only about 1.5lb, nothing to worry about and I didn't loose any muscle which is great. Once I get back into training the fat will drop off in a few weeks. I will keep my carbs lower this week then when I start training properly again I will up them to the previous level.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained full body again on sunday but this time I increased the weight slightly whilst still doing 2 sets of 12. I did find that towards the end I was getting a little fatigued and rushed my deadlifts a little so on my next session I will do deadlifts first instead of squats. I'm enjoying the full body training so I may stick with it for a few more weeks. Following fridays workout I had a slight niggling pain in my left forearm which I think was what gave me the disscomfort during the workout so this session I replaced skull crushers for dips and the problem has gone. I have has problems with skull crushers in the past so maybe there not for me.

Woke up this morning and my quads were a little tight, nothing major put a nice worked feeling which was a shock as I didn't go heavy and went no where near failure.

I will be off now until Wednesday when I will again train full body this time adding another few lb's to each movement.

I am back on the diet again and have managed to eat a meal every 2.5 hours today which I am very happy with. Not sure of exact macros but should be roughly as previous. I have also started having a casein shake right before bed so this should help.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Started back training hard today after my killer man flu. I'v been reading up on different training systems and decided to give "doggcrapp" a go. As today was my first session I didn't quite get the weights correct. Chest and shoulders were ok but went too light on dips and far too heavy on chins (which I will swap next time round for machine pulldowns). Deadlifts were a little light to but managed to get past the rep ranges so will add a little weight next time.

Diet wise over the last week I have been eating every 2.5 hours and my body weight has increased to 186lb (13st 4lb) but my bodyfat has increased to 16% which is over where I want to be so next week I will drop the carbs a little. Taking the bodyfat into account my lean bodymass is 155.5lb which isn't great. I need to tighten up my diet over the comming months. There is no point adding weight if that weight is fat. I know some fat will be added when bulking but I want to keep it to a minimum. As the DC sessions are a little shorter I will be able to add some cardio in after my weights only 10 mins but 10 mins of HIIT shold be more than enough.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I trained arms and legs on sunday following the dc training method. A very hard session and I am still finding it hard to select the correct weights but its only the first week. I didn't feel the stretch in my bi's either so I had to imporvise. My bi's and hammies are hurting today but nothing major. Here are the weights and reps from my first 2 sessions.

A1

SMYTH INC PRESS 80KG 11 REPS

SMYTH SH PRESS 50KG 20 REPS *

DIPS WITH BODYWEIGHT 23 REPS *

CHINS WITH BODYWEIGHT 5 REPS (CHINS ARE MY WORST MOVEMENT SO NEXT TIME I WILL USE THE ASSISTED CHIN MACHINE)

DEADLIFTS FROM FLOOR 120KG 8 REPS * 100KG 14 REPS *

B1

STRAIGHT BAR CURL 25KG 27 REPS *

HAMMER BAR CURL 25KG 17 REPS

LEG PRESS CALF RAISE 70KG 15 REPS* I haven't done calfs for a while so started super light and will build up.

ROMANIAN DEADS 70KG 20 REPS * I did 20 reps straight off so, no rest pause. I will add weight next time and rest / pause.

SQUATS 105KG 6 REPS / 60KG 20 REPS

As said above I am still finding the weight. Looking forward to wednesday A2 session.

I am planning on running dc for a 6 week blast followed by a 10 day rest period. I hape to make some progress and after the blast I will update my photos. I just need to sort the cardio out and make some time to get it in.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The * symbol after the reps indicates that the weight will be increased next session.


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

Its a good way to train but very hard,i did it for a couple of years a while back,i wouldnt worry too much about getting your weights right as a few weeks breaking yourself in will do no harm.

Best of luck with it i enjoyed it a lot when i did it and its surprising how fast the weights go up,i used to get some funny looks doing the deep breaths though and from the twenty sets a bodypart lads.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The 20 set boys already think I am strange for doing push pull legs so dc will fry their brains. I was going to train tonight but my hams and biceps are still hurting so will have another days rest. I'm hoping that dc will help me reach my goal of getting to 14 stone. I have never been above 13st 10 so 14 stone will be a big ask but I'm determined to do it.


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

I only trained mon wed friday when i did it on the two way split.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

maxie said:


> I only trained mon wed friday when i did it on the two way split.


I will do the same but my days change around due to shifts. I normally train Friday Sunday and either Tuesday or Wednesday. My gym is packed on Mondays so I don't bother training then. I'm looking forward to the dc training and the hard work suits me.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

just back from my third dc session, workout A2. The weights were a little better this week as most of the movements were ones I use regularly. I did make an error on the bent row as I did it as a rest pause set not a straight set as advised, but to be honest I think that the danger of rest pause sets is only an issue on deadlifts and not bent row where you use far less weight. I think I will stick with the bent row as a r-pause set and keep the deads a straight set.

Weighed my self today and I'm up to 188lb (13st 6lb) which means I have gained 2lb since friday. This could be water or the scales may be a little off but I will take it either way. Body fat is still a bit high but I have starteed to add a little cardio after the weights. If the fat doesn't shift I will have to drop some carbs, but for now I'm just happy to be gaining weight at last. As a last resort I will have to do some low impact cardio on my off days.

My protein intake is consistantly hitting 300g a day at the moment which is good, but the weekends are still a strugle diet wise as there is little structure when you have children. I do try my best but its never perfect. I just try and get mon to fri spot on and relax a little at the week end.

Workout A2

INC DB PRESS 30KG 20*

SEATED DB PRESS 16KG 28* far too light

SKULL CRUSH 28KG 25* again too light

PULLDOWN WIDE GRIP 60KG 20*

SMYTH MC BENT ROW 50KG 26*

I will need to increase the weight on all movements next time but the session went really well. The stretches were also far better.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from the gym and the session was a mixed bag with some good and some not so good. I will list the weights and exercises with comments to explain.

Workout B2

EZ CURL 27.5KG 21 REPS * Felt good and the weight was just about right. Nice start.

PIN WHEEL CURLS WITH DB 8KGDB 31 REPS * Weight far to light and felt like a nothing movement. Didn't cause any muscle fatigue and stpped the sets when I got sick of doing them. May be better with more weight or I may swap to reverse grip curl.

STANDING CALF RAISE ON SMYTH MC 60KG 10 REPS * Again went easy on calfs as Im still not ready to hammer them.

STIFF LEG DEADLIFT ON SMYTH MC 70KG 26 REPS * I used the smyth mc for this as I was already there after my calfs but next time I will use free weights as every other rep the hooks kept catching the pins. I also felt this in my lower back more than my hamstrings.

LEG PRESS 300KG 6 REPS * My saving grace. Never really go heavy on leg press but on the dc system the reps are set so I gave it a go and to be honest I could have gone heavier. The 6th rep was fairly easy, should have gone for 7 or 8.

LEG PRESS 120KG 20 REPS * This was sheer pain from about rep number 12 but there was no way I was giving up and I mnaged all 20.

So the session started and ended well with dip in the middle but this is often the way on a new workout programe. I'm more than happy with the leg press. :thumb:


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

The 20 reppers on the legs are a killer,especially as youll be blasting the weights up prepare yourself for some serious pain !,im doing 20 rep squats only on 80kg but its going up 2kg a week at the minute,anyone who says high reps dont build muscle has never done it.

I could never get away with the pinwheel curls myself,been doing hammer curls lately and done ok off them,set off on 7.5kg for 20 odd reps ,on the 17.5kg now for 14 brachialis muscle has grown ok,well worth a go.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will give hammer curls a go as an alternative. I think the 20 rep sets are harder than the heavy sets on deads and square. The burn is amazing and it's just mental determination that gets you through. Went heavy on leg press but my quads are fine today, but my tri's are still hurting from wednesday. Looking forward to tomorrow's workout (A3). Sundays are a good day as I workout early and I get a good days food in after.

Thanks for the feed back.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Workout A3 today and it went very well, pushed my self on every movement and left the gym feeling good. I'm getting used to this style of training now but have to keep telling myself not to hold back and give every set 100%.

I am gaining a little too much bodyfat at the moment so I have decided to lower my carbs slightly on non training days. I will still have carbs with every meal just slightl less.

Todays workout detail.

DEC DB PRESS 32KG 21 REPS * First set felt good and strong, second was harder but on the last set it felt like my pecs were going to rip off my rib cage. A good feeling.

STANDING MILL PRESS 40KG 20 REPS * Again the first set was fine but I find on delts that the strength just goes, one rep seems easy and the next rep you just hit a wall.

CLOSE GRIP BENCH ON SMYTH MC 50KG 26 REPS * A little light and I had a slight niggle in my right shoulder not a major problem but I will keep an eye on it.

CLOSE GRIP PULLDOWNS 55KG 19 REPS. As i didnt hit 20 reps I will use the same weight next time. I realy like this movement as I can feel the lats working well. I don't always feel the lats on chins but pulldowns do the trick.

BENT OVER DB ROW 34KG L17 REPS / R17 REPS. No need to add weight on this. Again I did this as a rest/pause set at I feel there is no safety issue with this movement if done correctly.

So there it is 50mins of pain and all done. Got monday and tuesday off training but I may go for a brisk walk in the evening to shift some of this fat.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I have now run through all 6 workouts on the DC training system so here is where the real hard work starts. The first 2 weeks were just getting the weights correct and getting the feel for the DC method. Now I have to start beating last workouts reps, although this wont be strictly true as on some movements the weights were way off so over the next 2 weeks I should get them spot on for the rep ranges.

Today was B3 workout and it went well, didn't think it would as the gym was packed but by 8pm most of the people had finished up and fuc*ed off. Se here are todays lifts.

ALT DB CURL 16KG 18 REPS

ROPE HAMMER CURL 17.5KG 17 REPS

SEATED CALF RAISE 90KG 12 REPS As my gym have very little equipment I had to improvise by using the smyth mc, a bench and a foam pad used for squatting. But i worked well and my calfs were on fire.

SEATED LEG CURL 35KG 45 REPS. Did this rest pause but weight was way too light.

SMYTH MC SQUAT 115KG 6 REPS / 65KG 20 REPS. On this I placed my feet roughly 6" forward to try and simulate a hack squat. I like using the smyth as I feel safer.

So there we have it. In and out in 50 mins jog done. Didn't have time for cardio as gym closes at 9 and I spent time waiting for equipment. Oh well.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I am not 2 workouts in to the second run through of the DC cycle and things are looking good, strength seems to be up on all lifts. Also the slight change in diet is working as body fat has dropped from 16% to 14% whilst weight has stayed the same which must mean a gain in lbm (was 155.5lb now 158.7lb ). As I'm using skin fold calipers there is some room for error, but I can just see the outline of a set of abs so there is something going on down there. Most of my fat seems to be around my hips and lower back (muffin tops).

Any way here are friday and sundays workouts. The values in brackets will be the increase in weight or reps.

Friday A1

INC SM PRESS 80KG 15 REPS (+4 REPS)

SEATED SM SH PRESS 65KG 16 REPS (+15KG - although the first week was far too light)

DIPS +2KG 23 REPS (+2KG)

CHINS BODY WEIGHT 8 REPS (+3 REPS)

DEADLIFT 125KG 8 REPS (+5KG)

I was happy with the chins most of all as these really are my weekest lift.

Sunday B1

STRAIGHT BAR CURL 30KG 22 REPS (+5KG)

HAMMER BAR CURL 28KG 16 REPS (+5KG)

LEG PRESS CALF RAISE 90KG 14 REPS (+20KG)

ROMANIAN DEADLIFT 100KG 20 REPS (+30KG)

SQUATS 105KG 8 REPS (+2 REPS)

I realise that some of the weight increases are large but this is due to the weights used in the first cycle were too light. On the next cycle I will get a far more acurate measure of progress.

I also took some body measurements so for good or bad here they are.

waist 35.5" ( I know  )

thigh 25.5"

calf 15.5"

bicep 15.5"

chest 43"

So there we have it, this is me at this current moment in time.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Remeasured my waist this morning and it is actualy 34.5" not 35.5. Last nights measurement was after a sunday roast with apple pie for pudding so had a rather full belly. 34.5 is still too high but better than 35.5.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Another good week of training and diet. Started doing cv on off days to keep fat down. Didn't get any in today but spent most of the day running after kids so that must count.

Weight has stayed the same this week which may be due to the cv but I'm feeling better for it. Have decided to bulk for a further 14 weeks then will start to cut.

This weeks workout detail.

Workout A2

INC DB 32KG 20 REPS (+2KG)

SEATED DB PRESS 20KG 20 REPS (+4KG)

SKULL CRUSH 30KG 12 REPS (+2.5KG)

PULLDOWN 65KG 14 REPS (+5KG)

SM BENT ROW 60KG 24 REPS (+10KG)

WORKOUT B2

EZ CURL 30KG 21 REPS (+2.5KG)

HAMMER CURL 12KG DB 21 REPS (+4KG)

STANDING CALF 80KG 11 REPS (+20KG)

STIFF DEADS 80KG 26 REPS

LEG PRESS 300KG 8 REPS (+2 REPS)

Very happy with the progress in weight just hope body weight starts to increase a little.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained early today and mannaged to get in 10 mins HIIT ater weights so happy with that. Kept my diet fairly clean today as has sat as my cheat day.

WORKOUT A3

DEC DB 34KG 16 REPS (+2KG)

MILL PRESS 42.5KG 20 REPS (+2.5KG)

CLOSE GRIP BENCH 60KG 18 REPS (+10KG)

CLOSE GRIP PULLDOWN 55KG 21 REPS (+2 REPS) Felt my lats working on this movement more than I have ever felt them. Finaly got the burn feeling for the first time.

BENT 1 ARM DB ROW 36KG 6 REPS / 30KG 12 REPS Did these as 2 straight sets this week to see which feels better straight or rest pause. Will go back to rest pause next week.

Very happy with progress so far on the DC system, but it is early days. I will run through the different workouts once more then have a deload week to recover then I will start back for a further 6 to 8 weeks.


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## zero2hero2013 (Jun 20, 2011)

8lbs in 2 months sounds like something is working, keep at it!

ive got a question mate, when you first switched from normal or cutting diet to bulking, how much weight did you gain? im at the end of my first week of bulking and eating pretty much double what i was previously, around 2000 cals normally/cutting and now im eating 3500, im 6ft 2 and in a sedentary job. i am asking as i have gained around 2.5-3kg in a week, hoping its from water weight, food weight, etc. and my stomach has bloated out from 34.5'' to close to 36''. is this normal, did you experience it in the first week?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

It is normal to gain weight on the first week. After a comp some people gan gain 10+ lbs in a few days but these guys are at extreamly low bodyfat and low hydration. The bloat may be due to too much fiber as a sudden increase in fiber can cause the intestine problems, or it could simply be increased fat. When you diet you body becomes very sensitive to sugars and will release large amounts of insulin when they are present in the blood stream. Once your liver and muscles are full the extra sugars will be shunted into your fat stores. A gradual increase in carbs is a far better option than simply upping the quantity over night. Your body is starved of sugars and so will store them with great effect. Try reducing the carbs a little sa the weight gain is still there but at only 1lb a week. Your body can store fat at a far greater rate than build muscle so slowly does it.

I'm still learning myself and have had to lower my carbs recently as I was getting a little too fat.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Time for a quick update.

Diet has been good again most of this week, but did have an off day today but not too worried. Weight has gone up this week by 1lb which I what I'm after. Now topping the scales at 188lb with bodyfay at 15% giving a lean mass of 159.2lb.

I'm still getting in HIIT when I can and also had a low carb day on thursday to help keep the fat down. Training went well on Wednesday but Friday was a bit flat, which I think may have been due to the low carb day on Thursday.

Wednesday Workout B3

DB CURL 16KG X 22 (+4 REPS)

ROPE CURL 17.5KG X 19 (+2 REPS)

SEATED CALF 90KG X 14 REPS (+2 REPS)

LEG CURL 45KG X 22 REPS (+10KG)

SWITH SQUATS 115KG X 8 REPS (+2 REPS) / 70KG X 20 REPS (+5KG) Squats went well and could have got 9 reps.

Friday Workout A1

SMITH INC BENCH 82.5KG X 12 REPS (+2.5KG)

SMITH SH PRESS 67.5KG X 11 REPS (+2.5KG)

DIPS BODY WEIGHT + 4KG X 20 REPS (+2KG) Getting there slowly.

CHINS BODY WEIGHT X 10REPS (+2 REPS)

DEADLIFTS 130KG X 4 REPS (+5KG) / 110KG X 11 REPS (+5KG) Wanted to get 5 reps for a new pb but just couldn't move the bar

Training again on Sunday and will be doing 110kg on squats, anything more than 6 reps will be a pb. No preasure.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well training went well on sunday and I did manage to get a new personal best on squats so I'm very happy with that. No training or cv tonight as wife is working but will do some sprints tomorrow and back to the gym on wednesday.

Sunday Workout B1

STRAIGHT BAR CURL 32.5KG X 20 (+2.5KG) move up next week.

HAMMER BAR CURL 28KG X 20 (+4 REPS) move up next week.

LEG PRESS CALF RAISE 90KG X 15 (+1REP) move up next week.

ROMANIAN DEADLIFT 105KG X 20 (+5KG) move up next week.

SQUATS 110KG X 7 (+5KG)

The only down side to sundays session was I got a pain in my inner elbow joint when doing curls so I will keep an eye on that. If it continues or gets worse I will swap to another exercise that doesn't cause any pain. I have had this before when curling which is why I hardly ever trained my biceps. Dumbbells and ez curls dont seem to cause any problems so could be the straight bar grip.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its been a while since I updated but I have been busy sorting our holiday out.

Diet is still the same as normal and I am still getting in a minimum of 2 cardio sessions a week.

DC training is going well but getting harder to increase the weight/reps but just managing it every session.

Here are the workouts for last week.

A2

inc db press 34kg x 17 (+2kg)

seated db press 22kg x 17 (+2kg)

skull crushers 30kg x 14 (+2 reps)

wide grip pull down 65kg x 15 (+1rep)

bent row 65kg x 22 (+5kg)

B2

ez curl 32.5kg x 16 (+2.5kg)

pin wheel curl 14kg x 20 (+2kg)

standing calf 80kg x 12 (+1 rep)

stiff deadlift 90kg x 24 (+10kg)

leg press 320kg x 7 (+20kg)

A3

dec db press 36kg x 15 (+2kg)

bb mill press 45kg x 19 (+2.5kg)

close grip bench 60kg x 19 (+1 rep)

close grip pulldown 60kg x 16 (+5kg)

db bent row 36kg x 20 (+2kg & + 3 reps)

Weight has stayed the same and not sure about body fat but have had a few too many little treats last week.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its been a long time since I updated. This is due to some very serious family issues which are now being sorted. Due to stress at home I havent trained for over 4 weeks and I have lost over a stone. But now I am starting to feel better and started training and eating correctly again. I will be focusing on cutting for the next 10 to 12 weeks. I will be adjusting my training to a 3 day split as I feel that DC training will be just too much whilst dieting. I will be following the TKD diet and training 3 days a week with possibly the odd cardi session added in for good measure.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I need to get serious about this now, its half way through the year and I'v made no progress so time to sort myself out.

I will be posting some pics later and then training and dieting like a mad man for 4 weeks when I will take more photos and hopefully their will be some progress. I will also update my training and diet more often so I can see what is and isn't working. So here goes.

50 mins fasted cardio this morning to get the ball rolling.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

todays pics


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Second day of 4 week diet run.

Just finished 35 min cardio - steady state jog on roads. Made me feel super hungery, not good on a diet.

Todays meals.

meal 1.

1 whole egg, 3 egg whites, 1 gerrn tea tab.

meal 2 & 3 the same.

Chicken salad (100g chicken) splash of salad dressing, tea spoon of peanut butter.

meal 4

whey shake, tea spoon of peanut butter.

meal 5

mince beef fajitas

meal 6 (post cardio)

250g of quark (fat free cottage cheese)

meal 7 (30mins before bed)

my protein bedtime extream shake.

Gym tomorrow for leg session.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

pic missed from yesterday.


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## robc1985 (Jan 28, 2010)

aad123 said:


> View attachment 84658
> View attachment 84659
> View attachment 84660
> View attachment 84661
> ...


Will follow this thread fella. I want to.initially cut down to about this, pos more. Be good motivation for me by following someone else. Im gonna post some pics up at some point.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks for taking a look. My main plan is thet I will be cutting down to about 8% if poss then start to introduce carbs again slowly and try to get back to my previous weight of around 13st 10 or even up to 14st.

Trained legs last night using a high volume & rep system. Weights were low but every rep was done in a very slow controlled manner with a slight pause at the bottom followed by an explosive drive.

goodmornings

20kg x 20

40kg x 12

50kg x 12

60kg x 8

Seated leg curl

35kg x 22

37kg x 11

37kg x 8 brop set.

Smith mc squats

30kg x 20

50kg x 20

70kg x 12

90kg x 8

Box step ups

bb x 20

5kg x 20

10kg x 20

20kg x 12

Abbs

decline abb bench

25

20

20

jobe done.

Not a bad workout but dont seem to be hurting today which may be due to the high reps. I will add weight next time I do these exercises.

Chest tomorrow.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Time for a quick update.

Thursday trained chest and tri. Light weight hight rep session aimed at burning cals and maintaining muscle.

Flat bench - this is by far my worste exercise and one I hate doing.

40kg x 20

50kg x 20

60kg x 10

70kg x 6 strength just went on 5 rep - prob due to the previous sets being to failure.

Inc DB press

18kg x 15

20kg x 12

22kg x 9

24kg x 7

Dec DB press

16kg x 15

18kg x 13

20kg x 10

22kg x 6

Cable crossovers

5kg x 20

10kg x 8

7.5kg x 8

5kg x 10

Tri super set

Rope pull, v bar pull, close grip press ups.

not sure of weights used but 3 sets 20 x 15 x 12.

Friday was a rest day so went to gym for some cardio, started watching super league and ended up doing 45 mins on tread mill.

Today (sat ) is my refeed day where I have normal carbs and my diet is a little more relaxed. Trained back today.

Latpulldown on hammer machine.

40kg x 20

50kg x 20

60kg x 13

70kg x 9

Bent row on smith machine

40kg x 20

50kg x 20

60kg x 15

70kg x 9

Deadlift

50kg x 12

60kg x 12

100kg x 8

130kg x 5. Form went on last rep so stopped.

DB precher curl

8kg x 15

10kg x 12

12kg x 9

14kg x 6 + 2 spotted reps.

Hammer bar curl. Focus on holding the contarction for 5 seconds and lower slowly.

10kg x 12

12.5kg x 12

15kg x 9

Back on the diet tomorrow.

Todays measurements

weight 176lb - 80kg

Bodyfat 11%

LBM 155lb - 70kg

With a little look and some hard work I hope to drop my bodyfat but maintain or even gain a little muscle.

Tomorrow shoulders and poss some fasted cardio (if I can be bothered to get my lazy ass out og bed).


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The calipers were only cheap and may not be the most accurate but I can only go by the measurements they give me. The problem may be the site Im using to input the measurements "scoobysworkshop" or I could be measuring incorrectly.

All that being said if the measurement is out (and it may well be) the reading are going down which indicates I have made some progress. I will have a good look around and find a few sites that can give a more accurate reading, then I will be able to take an average and get a true reading.

If you were to estimate my % what would it be ????


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> I would say 15-16% TBH, at 11% you would have much more visible separation between muscle groups and vascularity in the upper arms and possibly front delts.
> 
> What is your waist measurement at the moment 34-35 would be my guess?
> 
> Also are you looking to cut now?


I measured my waist this morning and it was slightly over 33" I know looking at the photos it looks a lot bigger.

I am looking to cut to a point where my abbs are visible, around 8% would be nice.

I'v just been looking into the BF% calcs on line and from 4 sites I got 9 different readings ????

Healthy Forms.com 19% - height / weight / waist.

About.com 17.8% - height / weight / neck / waist.

BMI Calculator 15.96% - height / waist / hips / forearm

Linear software.com - various results

Jackson Pollock 7 - 12.74%

Jackson Pollock 3 - 13.5%

Jackson Pollock 4 - 12.02%

Parrillo 9 - 15.34%

Durnin/Worersly 4 - 16.51%


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The first 3 sites were based on using a tape measure but Linear Software site used the calipers. The number following the measurement method/name is to indicate the number of positions on the body the measurements were taken from. So Parrillo 9 was measured in 9 positions.

Taking an average fom the Linear Software site I am currently 14%, which is a little dissapointing as I thought I wasa lot lower. Oh well I'll just keep plugging away with the diet and training and with a little look my next set of pics will show some improvement.

I thought it was going a little too well.

Thanks for taking the time to read the journal anyway. At least now I know where I stand.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

What would you say your BF% is in your AVI.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> The Parillo one looks to be the most accurate I'd say, but just pick one and roll with it otherwise you'll get information overload and lose focus.
> 
> Hell you could even just run with a weekly waist measurement and suprailliac and forget the actual %, that's what i'd do, then wait until you have made some significant progress then do a percentage measurement.
> 
> What is your diet like at the moment, if you need help setting it up just PM me as I've helped a few friends cut down in the past with good success (not contest ripped but 8-10% range)


Currently on a Keto diet so high fat and protein very low carbs sunday to friday evening and sat Is a high carb low fat refeed day.

My basic diet is as follows

m1 1 whole egg 3 whites, little cheese or bacon or both.

m2 Chicken salad or chicken and broc, both with a tea spoon of peanut butter.

m3 Tuna salad or Salmon and green beans.

m4 whey shake and another teaspoon of PB

m5 this changes every day but some kind of meat with veg.

m6 300g cottage cheese with table spoon of EVOO

m7 myprotein bedtime extreme shake.

This is mon to fri but as I said sat is refeed day and sundays are always a little messed up eating wise but still low carb and eat every 3 hours.

The diet seems to be working fine and I find it very easy to follow. Never hungry and dont have any cravings, and if I do crave something I just have it on sat and everything is fine. If I were to change anything I would poss up my protein but Im happy with things at the moment. If you have any ideas on how to improve diet please feel free to let me know.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I am always happy for some help with my diet. In the past when trying to bulk I found that I gain fat extreamly easily but find it almost impossible to gain muscle, even on moderate carb intake I seem to gain fat. Are there any diet methods you would advise I look into or any ideas you have that would improve things. Im always ready to give anything a try to see how my body reacts to it. If I dont see any results then I can always change thing around a little.

Please feel free to post as all feedback is welcome.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Training update.

Sunday - shoulders

Seated shoulder press mc

10kg x 20 warm up

20kg x 20 warm up

30kg x 15

40kg x 8

50kg x 6 (shoulders were on fire)

Seated side raise. Pre-exhaust with heavy partial reps then superset with lighter weight.

14kg x 8 / 6kg x 12

14kg x 8 / 6kg x 12

14kg x 6 / 6kg x 12 (had to rest for a few seconds on last few reps)

Rear delt on cables

2.5kg x 20

3.7kg x 17

5.0kg x 10

Inc bench lying DB front raise

2kg x 20

3kg x 15

4kg x 12 (never done these before and didnt realy feel the movement)

Mill press

30kg x 10

40kg x 8

50kg x 6 then drop set, reducing weight by 10kg each time I reached failure. finished with empty bar.

12 minh HIIT cardio. 1 min sprint 1 min rest.

Monday

40 mins fasted cardio out doors. 2 mins fast jog / 2 mins walk.

Mat do some more cardio later but having a rest day from weights today and tomorrow (no choise as gym is closed tomorrow and I have to work).


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

enjoy your chicken dinner


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Never used PM so not sure this will work. Do I just use your user name "Klach79" ?

If you dont get anything send me reply on this thread as I can not get hotmail at work.

Yeah that what I said AT WORK.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

no joy. system says you are not able to receive PMs

Could you just post on thread ?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will send you an e-mail later when Im at home as no hotmail at work.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> Didn't hear from you yet. Did my email show up ok?


Just sent a mail, should be with you soon. Let me know if you get it or not.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

After receiving advice on diet and training I will be changing thing around with a new diet and exercise plan.

My new diet will be 40% p / 30% f / 30% c and my daily cals will be aprox 2300.

My training will be 4 days a week hitting each muscle group twice a week.

I aim to post my workout weights and reps after each session along with a weekly weight and waist measurement to ensure things are moving in the right direction.

I'm still looking to get below 10% bodyfat and once I get there I will be looking to do a clean bulk. No particular weight I'm aiming for on the bulk but I'v never been heavier than 13st 10 so why not go for 14st.

For the rest of this week I will be trying the exercises to get a feel for the weight I need to be using so on sunday I can hit the ground running.

I may also post some starting pics to see if there has been any change over the last 3 to 4 weeks since my last set of pics. :sad:


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## Porkchop (May 24, 2012)

Sounds like a well thought out plan. Good luck


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## zero2hero2013 (Jun 20, 2011)

il be following you too! smash it mate! and hope you get the results your after!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks for all your support guys and thanks to Klach for all the help in setting things up. :thumb:

I think I'v got my diet sorted just need a visit to the supermarket to get some items so I can make a start on training and diet on sunday. I have started by adding aprox 20g of carbs to every meal for the rest of the week so this will be an extra 120g of carbs a day. I have also lowered my fat intake slightly to allow for the additional carbs. If the diet isn't quite right I can make minor changes along the way. Really looking forward to the challange and will be giving it 100%.

I will be training tonight and aim to determin weights for next week, I will post training log later this evening.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Finished my trial session of the new programme and it went well, didn't get a huge pump but that is no indication of a good workout. The workout took a little longer than I thought so the number of exercises may need to be adjusted.

Exercises used

Flat bench

Inc db bench

Side raise

Rear felt

Squat

Stiff leg dead lifts

Seated calf raise.

2 working sets per exercise rep range 5 to 8.

I will speak to my exercise guru for some advice.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> How long did it take to get through everything?


The entire session took just less than 50 mins, and this was the 2 sets of 5 to 8 so the 5 sets of 8 to 12 would take considerably longer. There was some messing about finding dumbells and loading bars etc but this would be the case with any workout.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No weights tonight so did some cardio instead. Was going for a jog along an old train track near where I live but it started to rain so went to the gym. Did 10 mins on each on the rower, x-trainer, treadmill, arm cycle and bike. After that lot I did some abbs for 10 mins and then home for a shower. Tomorrow will be my trial of my B workout so I'm looking forward to that.

Still haven't fully started on my new diet, but I have added 15 to 20g of carbs to each meal and my muscles are feeling fuller already, only a small change but I can feel the difference even if its not visible.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

It was half planned and half accident. I didn't want to jump from 5 / 10g of carbs per meal to 30 /35g in a big jump as I didn't want to rebound from the low carb diet, also as there are no high carb foods like brown rice, sweet potatoes in the house I couldn't have even if I wanted to. I will fill the cupboards when I go shopping so I can start the diet on sunday.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Workout 1B competed last night and another good session, made even better by the fact the gym was empty due to the football. England should play every week !

Total workout took about 50 mins but I was messing around with the weight to see what weight to use next week when the programme starts for real.

Workout 1B 2 sets 5-8 reps

Pulldowns

Bent row

Shrugs

Curl

Forearm

Skull crusher

Lying leg raise

Of to Asda now to stock up on sweet potatoes and brown rice ready for next week. I woo check on fit-day to ensure my macros are correct and then draw up my diet sheet.

Ready for the next stage of by progresion.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well its day 1 of the new programme and here are my starting stats and also my first workout.

The following measurements were taken first thing this morning.

Calf 15"

Thigh 24.25"

Wasit 33.5 :confused1:

Chest 42"

Arm 13 flat / 15 flexed

Suprailiac skin fold 10mm

Umbilicus skin fold 15mm

Weight 176lb - 80kg

These measurements are a little dissapointing but they are a good starting point to build from. With a little luck and a lot of hard work I should be able to turn things around.

Today was my firt proper workout of the new system and after spending last week sorting how much weight to use the session went well and was completed in 40 mins. The only down side was that I couldn't get to use the squat rack so had to do legg press instead.

The weights used are very low as I think the low carb diet has taken a lot out of me, but things will start to move up over the comming weeks.

Session 1 workout A1

Flat Bench 75kg x 7 then 72.5kg x 6

Inc DB press 30kg x 6 then 28kg x 5

Seated DB side Raise 8kg x 6 then 6kg x 6

DB Rear Delt 6kg x 6 then 4kg x 10. Next time I will try to use the cables as I felt nothing with the dumbells

Romanian Deadlift 105kg x 7 then 100kg x 7

Leg Press 220kg x 8 then 200kg x 8. This felt quite easy, could have done more.

Calf Raise on L-Press 130kg x 9 then 130 x 9.

All of the reps on every exercise were done in a slow controlled manner. I could have loaded more weight onto every exercise but the form would have been poor. I will post some pics tomorrow as I need to format them tonight. To be honest they are not the best but again I intend to cover the whole process so even if the starting pics, weights and measurements are not mind blowing they are a clear indication of where I am currently.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

[/ATTACH]


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## RowRow (Nov 17, 2011)

Buddy you have some great genetic shape to your legs, be awesome when they're fully out!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

RowRow said:


> Buddy you have some great genetic shape to your legs, be awesome when they're fully out!


To be honest my legs are the one area that my body responds well to training. Although 15 years of rugby training has hepled a lot, there is no room in the middle of a scrum for week legs or back.

When I train my legs I can really feel the muscles working, I don't get the same feeling from most other muscle groups. I do feel the muscles working but legs are just so intence.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just spent an hour working out today's diet and I have gone a little overboard on my carbs. To reach my target of 2300 cals I should be having 172g of carb but today's macros were.

2542 cals

92g fat

227g carbs

220g protein

My only saving grace is 40 mins of cardio earlier this evening. Will get back on track tomorrow.


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## RowRow (Nov 17, 2011)

aad123 said:


> To be honest my legs are the one area that my body responds well to training. Although 15 years of rugby training has hepled a lot, there is no room in the middle of a scrum for week legs or back.
> 
> When I train my legs I can really feel the muscles working, I don't get the same feeling from most other muscle groups. I do feel the muscles working but legs are just so intence.


Totally the same mate, my mind muscle connection with my legs is by far the best, my quads particularly.

Rugby definitely helped, heavy low 6" box squats were my secret weapon for the front row


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

RowRow said:


> Totally the same mate, my mind muscle connection with my legs is by far the best, my quads particularly.
> 
> Rugby definitely helped, heavy low 6" box squats were my secret weapon for the front row


I'v been playing hooker for the past 4 to 5 years. Started playing there to help out one weekend and this turned into a weekly thing. I got away with my size because the two props knew what they were doing so it gave me a fairly easy ride ( some of the time ). This deff helps with leg and back strength, and also posture as a rounded back in a scrum is an injury waiting to happen.

I think that when I train legs I tend to go slightly higher in reps and normaly have to end the set due to the burn, its not very often I go to muscular failure.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> Don't sweat it too much, always takes me a few days to sort out a new diet schedule


I'v been on fit day this morning and jiggled things around. The problem yesterday was that I had not allowed for the extra carbs in the milk I drank and this soon added up to over 35g of carbs.

If I eat as planned for the rest of the day then I'm looking good.

2310 cals

82g far (32%)

158g carbs (27%)

233g protein (42%)

It would be nice to hit this every day.


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## RowRow (Nov 17, 2011)

aad123 said:


> I'v been playing hooker for the past 4 to 5 years. Started playing there to help out one weekend and this turned into a weekly thing. I got away with my size because the two props knew what they were doing so it gave me a fairly easy ride ( some of the time ). This deff helps with leg and back strength, and also posture as a rounded back in a scrum is an injury waiting to happen.
> 
> I think that when I train legs I tend to go slightly higher in reps and normaly have to end the set due to the burn, its not very often I go to muscular failure.


Yeah scrums were amazing for development 1.5 years after stopping playing my right lat and quad and neck are all still bigger than the left, due to scrummaging IMO.

When I played I did 2x 4 hour leg sessions a week of about 1000+reps a pop, figuring if I can train legs for 4 hours nearly non stop I can play rugby for 80 minutes ha!

It backfired, I developed a really strong mind muscle connection with my legs and the result was the pumped up painfully within about 20minutes of game time :/


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

That's a lot of leg work, I'm amazed you were able to play after that lot. It would take me a week to recover after a 4 hour leg session, 40 mins is bad enough.

I am planning on playing a lot more next season as I missed most of last due to work, with all this cardi I should have the legs and if all goes well the strength too. But my game was never about size it was built more on speed.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Another good session despite feeling a little rough. Had a fuzzy head most of the afternoon, feeling dizzy and not quite myself, but I'm not going to let anything get in my way. I'm a man on a mission.

Tonight's session was again 40 mins long.

Pull down

75 x 8

75 x 8

Bent row

65 x 8

65 x 7

Shrug

65 x 8

65 x 7

E. Z curl

25 x 8

22 x 8

Skull crush

27 x 8

25 x 8

Forearm curl

22 x 12

26 x 8

Finished with 10 mins HIIT on treadmill, 30 seconds sprint / 30 seconds recovery followed by 5 mins cooldown.

Job done.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No training or cardio tonight as I still have a strange dizzy feeling and a humming in my ears. I think it's some kind if virus as my wife also has a bad head. I hope it clears up soon as I don't want any set backs.

My diet has been good again today and I have been feeling full most of the time, this could be due to the reintroduction of carbs making my digestive tract work harder to process all the fibre. I'm also farting like a trooper, wife is not happy.

Today's macros look like this

2175 cals

82g fat (34%)

148g carbs (27%)

210g protein (40%)

Apart from feeling like my head is in a vice a good day.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Another good session in the gym and also a good food day. Went very slightly over target cals but I will let myself off with 31 cals.

Fat (34%)

carbs (28%)

protein (38%)

cals 2331.

It was the first of my higher rep sessions so every exercise was set at 2 sets of 9-12 reps. I can tell you one thing for sure my legs are fcuked. Iv never thrown up after legs but I was close tonight, not looking forward to the 3, 4 & 5 set weeks. I also under estimated how much to drop the weight on the second set of some exercises so fell short of my target reps. Not a major problem as it's only week 1. So here is today's workout.

Flat bench

72 x 12

70 x 8

Inc db

26 x 8

24 x 8

Side raise db

6 x 12

5 x 12

Rear delt on cable

2.5 x 10

1.8 x 12

This felt far better than the dumbells.

Rom deads

100 x 9

90 x 11

Leg press

200 x 12

180 x 10

Took about 5 mins to recover.

Seated calf

120 x 12

110 x 14

Weights done in apron 45 mins with a fair bit of talking between exercises. Don't get out much so take the opportunity to have a natter at the gym from time to time. Also my head is still a bit fuzzy, if it carries on I will have to go to doc's. Not that they ever do a great deal.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> How are you finding energy levels and hunger on the current set up?
> 
> The fuzzy head thing is weird, hopefully it will clear. Did you say your wife was feeling it too?


Energy levels are fine, get the 3 pm slump at work but this is normal. Hunger is not a problem as I feel full most of the time, in fact its some times a struggle to get all the food down.

I have had the dizzy head in the past and I don't think its related to diet as Iv had it on and off for a while now. Doc's just take blood preasure and o2 sats and say its not a problem.

Looking forward to sunday to see how things are going.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

A very quick update.

Diet

2347 cals

Fat 30%

carbs 31%

pro 40%

Training

Pull down

75 x 12

72 x 10

Bent row

62 x 12

60 x 12

Shrugs

62 x 10

60 x 9

E.z curl

20 x 12

18 x 12

Skull crush

25 x 12

22 x 12

Forearm

25 x 9

20 x 9

A good session, happy with pull downs and bent row but shrugs didn't feel perfect. Need to work on form before adding more weight.


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## RowRow (Nov 17, 2011)

klach79 said:


> I find that shrugs are one that I have to really load the weight on and bang out the reps fairly fast with a little squeeze at the top.
> 
> I use between 100-130kg on bb shrugs at the moment
> 
> I wouldn't worry about being super strict on these, it's an excercise you'll get more from when form is a little loose.


Agreed a power shrug type movement works wonders for your traps. When I was shrugging 300kg+ my traps were at their best.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

RowRow said:


> Agreed a power shrug type movement works wonders for your traps. When I was shrugging 300kg+ my traps were at their best.


would i be correct in thinking that a power shrug is done by raising the weight in a swift upwards movement then holding at the top before lowering slowly ?

If this is not how to do then please explain the correct method.

I have a confession to make. Iv just had a sneeky KFC. In my defence we had been shopping for about 4 hours and I was starving and the wife and kids wanted some KFC and I knew we would be out for at least an hour more so I gave in. I had 3 boneless fillets and a corn piece, no fries and only a quick slurp of coke. Im not sure but the board in KFC said that a boneless combo was 950 cals but as I didn't have the fries or drink the cals may be lower ? I think this well and truly classes as my cheat meal. I will try and find out how many cals of the KFC website and put the values into fitday and see what my daily cals were. I think that even with the cheat meal I wont be to far off my target as I hadnt eaten a great deal today. If I cant find the macros of the website I will just add an extra 900 cals to todays total.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just been on the k.f.c website and found the nutrition values and its not as bad as I thought. My little feed only sent me 172 cals over my target.

So radars macros are

2472 cals

Fat 34%

carbs 30%

Pro 37%

I think 4 hours roaming around the shops will have burned of the extra 172 cals.


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## RowRow (Nov 17, 2011)

aad123 said:


> would i be correct in thinking that a power shrug is done by raising the weight in a swift upwards movement then holding at the top before lowering slowly ?
> 
> If this is not how to do then please explain the correct method.
> 
> I have a confession to make. Iv just had a sneeky KFC. In my defence we had been shopping for about 4 hours and I was starving and the wife and kids wanted some KFC and I knew we would be out for at least an hour more so I gave in. I had 3 boneless fillets and a corn piece, no fries and only a quick slurp of coke. Im not sure but the board in KFC said that a boneless combo was 950 cals but as I didn't have the fries or drink the cals may be lower ? I think this well and truly classes as my cheat meal. I will try and find out how many cals of the KFC website and put the values into fitday and see what my daily cals were. I think that even with the cheat meal I wont be to far off my target as I hadnt eaten a great deal today. If I cant find the macros of the website I will just add an extra 900 cals to todays total.


how I did them was with a slight leg drive to intiate the movement as slow a negative as possible. I never squeezed on shrugs as my neck would always cramp and spasm if i did so.

Its a very ballistic, fast movement. The best trap movements for me were quarter deadlifts, power shrugs, tbar rows, behind the back shrugs, close grip upright rows. although its a shoddy pic, this was me at 17yrs old:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

As I said it did fall into my macros (just) so I'm not to bothered.

The clip of the power shrugs was fairly close to what I had thought. I will give them a go on Tuesday to see how they feel. My traps never seem to grow, they blow up when I do side raise and rear delta but soon deflate. I would love to have the kind of traps that are visible when you have a t- shirt on, when i see someone with visible traps I think wow that guy works out. Huge arms don't impresss me as much as a wide back and thick traps.

After taking the wife shopping and buying dinner I'm sure I'm due a small reward. A little early evening cardio


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well its the end of week one and a mixed bag of results.

On the plus side I have increased weight on every exercise and the training is going great. Today was my first week doing 3 sets per exercise and it felt good. Got the weights slightly wrong on some movements but thats because my strength has increased and the starting weights were too low. I measured my upper arm this morning and there has been an increased of 0.25", I know this is not a lot but every little helps. My legs, chest and shoulders seem to have a little more definition and I feel like I have more energy. I have managed to stick to my diet and have consistently hit my 40% protein marker although my cals have some times been a little high, but again this has only been 100 to 200 cals out.

On the negative side I also measured my waist this morning and it has also grown 0.25" and my weight has increased by 1lb. This may be muscle but most likely its just fat.

I'm not feeling to down about the weight and waist as its only the end of week one and with a fewe adjustments to the diet I'm sure I can get things moving in the right direction.

Todays workout was

F.Bench

75 x 8

70 x 8

65 x 7

Inc DB

30 x 6

26 x 6

22 x 7

I didn't add any to this but the extra set on flat bench had a knock on effect in the inc press.

S.Raise

8 x 9 / x9 / x9

R.Delt

2.5 x 8 / x8 / x8

R.Deads

105 x 8

100 x 8

90 x 8

L.Press

240 x 8

220 x 8

200 x 8

C.Raise

140 x 9 / x 9 / x 9.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Following last weeks results I will now be reducing my daily cals on non-training days to 2000 and on training days they will remain at 2300. This should get things moving again. I will also be trying to get all protein from whole foods and reduce my reliance on protein powders, this should keep me feeling fuller for longer which is a good thing on a cutting diet. I will also cut the size of my cottage cheese portion as I have been informed that it can cause bloating and is also very high in sodium. I am struggling to see where I will get the extra protein from as the cottage cheese and whey equate to approximately 50g of protein which will need to be found from other sources. I will go onto fit.day this evening and look at my options.

Today is a non training day so my macros are

1997 cals

Fat 25%

carbs 32%

protein 42%


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Diet has been good again today, I increased my portion size slightly on my meals and have reduced the amount of whey but still hit my 40% protein @ 2300 cals. I am aiming for 150g portions of meat or fish in each meal and am now having 3 whole eggs for breakfast instead on 1 whole 2 whites. If I need any more protein I will increased eggs to 4. Back to fit.day to see how this will stack up.

Trained tonight and it went really well. No time to input weights and reps now so will do it tomorrow.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Not a lot to report tonight, diet was almost spot on 2000 cals. Fat % was a little high at 37% but protein was 40% again. No weights tonight so went and did 30 mins cardio followed by some core work. Just need to keep my diet in check ready for Sunday's weigh in. Updating this journal daily helps keep me motivated and on track.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No training tonight as I seem to have picked up a slight injury. I'm not sure how it has come about but my left foot is realy tender. The pain seems to be around the outer section of the foot, starting just before the heel and running up my achilles tendon. There is no swelling or bruising but its quite painfull to walk on. The only thing I can think that may have caused this is using the cardio machines at the gym. It may be the rowing machine as I dont use it very ofter and it does seem to pull on the foot when you are fully extended. I will see how tomorrow goes and with some luck, or pain killers I will be training tomorrow evening. This just means I will only have trained 3 times which is a little dissapointing, but what can you do? On the plus side at least I get an extra days rest and will give 110% tomorrow to make up for missing tonight, and I have also had an extra day on the lower cals.

On a slightly different note I have noticed that I seem to have far more veins appearing on my legs, chest and shoulders. This could be either the warm weather or an indication that I'm loosing some body fat. Not sure which it is but I will go with the latter although I do feel a little fatter ( could just be in my head).

Final thing. Just cooked 200g of chicken and 200g of steak for tomorrow, kitchen smells amazing, cant wait to tuck into that lot :thumb:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Woke up this morning and my foot is still hurting and my ankle has swollen, still hurts a little to walk on but nothing major. I will be going to the gym tonight put instead of leg press I will just do seated leg extensions and I will also swap sldl for seated leg curl. That way I will still be hitting my legs but it will give my ankle a little time to recover. I will have to drop calf raises for this week.

Diet wise things are going fine, I have hardly noticed the drop in cals and my energy levels are as normal, I can't say that I have felt hungry over the last week. Just looking forward to sunday to see if all the work has paid off. I am trying to stay posative and even if I haven't dropped any fat I an sure I have stimulated some groth as my weights in the gym are going up.

The steak was very nice, sat there eating steak and sweet potatoe an the guy next to me tucked into a soggy cheese sandwich :thumb:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Yet again a good session in the gym. Weights weren't huge but had a training partner for a change so hammered chest and shoulders, sadly the guy I was training with is one of the " I don't need to train legs as I ride to work" types. Ankle still not brilliant so did leg curl / extensions in a superset. Felt nice to walk out of the gym normally after a leg day, most of the time I can hardly get down the stairs after legs.

Diet was good again today so feeling posative for Sunday.

Tuesdays gym.

Pulldowns

70-9. 75-8. 70-7

B.row

70-9. 65-8. 60-8

Shrugs

70-9. 75-9. 70-8

S.crush

30-8. 30-8. 27-8

E.z curl

27-8. 25-8. 22-8

Forearm

25-8. 30-8. 30-6

Tonight's session

Bench

75-9. 70-8. 62-9

Inc db

26-9. 24-8. 20-10

Side raise

8-12. 7-10. 6-10

R.delt

3.7-12. 2.5-12. 2.5-12

Leg curl

45-12. 45-10. 40-10

Leg ext

45-12 all 3 sets.

No gym tomorrow and certainly no K.F.C.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Will it's the end of week 2 and things are looking up. Weight has dropped along with some body fat but I feel I have also gained some muscle.

Waist 33.25 was 33.5.

Arm 15.25 was 15

Weight 175lb was 176lb

Suprailliac skin fold 8mm was 10

Umbilicus skin fold 10mm was 15.

I may of lost more weight but as I have gained muscle the weight loss will be less.

All in all a good week.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

A good start to week 3. Training has been going well and weights on all lifts are up from the previous 2 weeks. Starting to feel fuller and and leaning out a little. Diet wise things are still on track although I am still a little low on protein and have had to have the odd shake to make up my macros. Cardi is still ongoing but I have avoided the rowing machine to allow my ankle to rest.

Trained legs last night and decided to do leg press to see how my ankle would hold out. Went slowly and did 4 warm up sets to make sure everything was ok. No pain at all in my ankle but my left calf was hurting which could have something to do with my ankle ? Went for it on the heavy sets and everything was fine, apart from my quads being on fire and me wanting to puke. Decided to give calf raise a miss again but will try a few light sets next session.

Energy levels are still heigh and I cant wait till my next session, be it cardio or weights. All in all things are moving along very nicely :thumb:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Was going to train tomorrow and rest today but couldn't hold my self back and had to go for it. Glad I did as I feel great now, could go back and do it all again, if I could move my arms I would. It may sound silly but I got home from the gym and spent 10 mins posing in the mirror ( sad fool that I am ).

Feeling posative about training and life in general.

Day of work tomorrow so will sort my diet properly so I can remove the need for whey, seem to be getting my portions a little wrong so I will have to look at that


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well its the end of week 3 and things are still going well. Diet and training have been close to perfect and things are comming together nicely.

This weeks measurements are

Waist 33" -0.25"

Arm 15.35" +0.15" only a tiny gain but any gain is good.

Weight 175.5lb +0.25 but as I have lost on my waist and superiliac skinfold Im claimimg the gain as muscle.

Superiliac skin fold 7mm -1mm

Had a chest meal this afternoon and will be following the same diet as last week for the comming week, if its working then why change it. I hoping to get in 2 cardio sessions this week as I only managed one last week due to my ankle. This weeks training will be 4 sets per exercise so the rest periods will have to be 1 min and no longer, not looking forward to leg press but it has to be done.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No weights tonight as Monday is cardio night. Was talking at work today and one of the lads said when he was training he used to do 5K runs in 25 mins, so there was my challenge. Decided to give it a go on the treadmill. I don't normally run for a set time or distance so was looking forward to the challenge. I didn't manage to beat the 25 mins and came in at 28.31 and I was totally fcuked, dripping wet and trying not to puke. I didn't do it at a steady pace instead I did a HIIT type session but as I got more exhausted the spring times reduced. I will keep on trying until I get to 25 mins but may try steady pace next time. I find that if I have a goal I become more focused so this challenge will keep me hitting the cardi with high intensity.

Week 4 and the sets are up to 4 for the next 2 weeks. I will only be training 3 times this week as my wife has to work late on Friday so I will have to make every workout count.

Just watched a programme with a man who is 100 years old completing a marathon and I struggled to do 5K, how bad no I feel.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

First session of the week and start of the 4 set section and I can say my legs are totally blasted. Been home for 2 hours now and they are still like jelly. Im just sitting here and they are aching, god only knows what they will be like tomorrow. Managed 8 reps with 280kg whick Im extreamly happy with.

I was also happy with my flat bench also as I managed 7 good reps on 80kg. I have always struggled on flat bench and so tended to leave it out of my programmes but Im determined to stick with it. I always found that I could feel the DBs better in my chest and on flat bench with the BBell I never got the same feel. I found that my shoulders and tris gave out before my chest but this may be due to poor form due to trying to lift too heavy but with the higher reps I feel the movement working and on my final set tonight it felt like my chest muscles were going to rip off my rib cage (in a good way). I also managed 7 reps with the 30kg DBs which isnt far off what I was lifting when I was 10kg heavier so my strength is comming on nicely. Im very happy with the progress Iv made over the last 3 weeks I just hope that when I take my next set of photos in a few months there will be some noticable changes.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

My legs are hurting today but nothing too bad, although my glutes are rather tender. I was looking at some pics last night and I think all the leg work is paying off as there is some noticable change in the size of my quads. I always find my legs respond well to training and training them twice a week is working realy well. As you may see from the photos there has been an improvement. The first pic was took on 27/05 and the second on 17/06.

If only the rest of me grew as well.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I think although Im on lower cals my overall diet is better and because Im having carbs with my meals the protein I am consuming is being used for groth and not being burned for energy. As I have more energy I am also able to train with graeter intencity so that will stimulate groth also. A win win situation.

On the negative side I just munched my way through 180g of steak and my jaw is killing me. Cold steak for lunch is NOT the way forward.

I will get the tape measure out later and Im sure there are some measurements on here somewhere.

Just looked back over the thread and on 17/06 my upper leg was 24.25" so I will check tonight.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Training didn't go quite as planned tonight and I have picked up an injury in my left trap, the pain is shooting up my neck which is making it painfull to move my head. I felt a slight pull when I was doing bent rows, nothing serious and I was still able to complete the rest of my sets. I felt it a little doing shrugs but again it wasn't too bad but as the workout went on I hardly felt it. I didn't really notice any disscomfort untill driving home and during the rest of tonight it has got worse. Iv just put some ibuprofen gel on it and we will see how it goes tonight. Its just typical of my luck, I start making some progress and then something happens to set me back. If the pain persists then I may have to drop the bent rows for a week or so and do some machine rows, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Other than that it was a good workout.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I dont think its my traps but the muscle in the side of my neck that runs to the base of my skull. I can lift and rotate my shoulders with no problem but turning my head is uncomfortable and looking down is also painfull. Iv got this evening and tomorrow to rest so hopefully things will be fine for sunday. I will have a look for some info on the book.

Diet is going well though although I am having slight cravings for odd stuff. This morning I saw some corned beef in the fridge and wanted a corned beef and tomato sandwich. This is not a thing I would normaly eat, so who why crave it now ??? I didn't give in but it just seems odd to want something you dont perticularly like anyway. What makes it even stranger is that at work yesterday there was a table full of cakes and chocks left there all day and it didn't even bother me.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Up bright and early today and my neck pain has died down a lot. Still a very slight twinge but nothing too bad. I may see if I can get in an extra gym session later to get me up to 4 this week. Gym is next door to Asda so could duck in before or after shopping. I'll tell the wife to put her feet up and I'll take care of the shopping. That way everyone's happy and I get to train. Better sort some b'fast out now, not sure what to have as we have ran out of eggs. All the crap in the fridge and someone has had my eggs, not happy !! Might have to take a trip to the local shop or might just have some whey mixed into my oats, not great but better than nothing.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its been one of those days where everythink seems to get on top of you. Started with no eggs for b'fast and didnt get much better. I normally go shopping in the morning and sort the lunch out but I had to take the kids swimming as the wife was suffering after a girly night out. As a result she was left to sort out lunch and what did she come up with, some protein packed super foods, no, bloody pizza and pasta. And because I had not been shopping there was nothing else to go with it. After that she decided the house needed a good clean so we spent the next few hours doing that and when I said I wanted to go to the gym she was not impressed.

By the time I had finally been shopping it was 5.25 and the gym closes at 6 on sat so I did manage to get in half a session (chest and shoulders) but it felt a little rushed.

Got home and started dinner and thought sod it we will just have cottage pie as I wasnt in the mood for cooking 2 different meals. The pie was lovely and as I used 500g of leam mince, most of which I ate, there was plenty of protein in there. No idea what todays macros were but Im sure they cant be good.

Iv also been feeling sleepy and a little short tempered all day, this could be down to over doing it in the gym or just me being ****ed off about the crap diet today. I will just relax for the rest of the evening and start over tomorrow. :confused1:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I dont often have bad days but today was crap. The only good thing was that the chest and shoulder training did feel good, I really felt my shoulders on the lateral raise, I normally get a good pump from them but I could feel the muscle working today. I also did flat bench on the smith so with the help of the safety bar I took all 4 sets to failure, my chest was super tight after but it did take it out of me for the inc press a little so I just dropped the weight to get the reps. Supper time now and as I didnt have my eggs for b'fast they are now on the supper menu. And tomorrow is indeed another day and it WILL be a good one. :thumb:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

After a poor day yesterday I was dreading today but things are not too bad. Measurements are going in the right direction and I havehad a good breakfast so I'm good to go. Also my chest and shoulders are hurting so the workout must havedone the trick.

This weeks measurements are

Waist 32.75" down 0.25"

Arm relaxed 13.5"

Arm flexed 15.5" up 0.15"

Sup skinfold 7 mm no change but difficult to measure, will get wife to check.

Still making slow steady progress.

I will update weight later after training.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from gym and had a good session. No problems with neck or traps. Did some looking on YouTube and found a dorion Yates clip showing how to do bent row and tried to improve my form. Felt a lot better and really hit my lats, with no pressure on my lower back. Did the rows first and as a result the pulldowns felt good,

My lats were on fire after 4 sets. The extra set makes a huge difference and I left the gym totally destroyed. Felt amazing!

Weight has increased slightly to 176lb but as waist is down it's all good. I'll take tomorrow off and hit the gym hard on Tuesday. Training is hard but it is working so I don't mind a bit of hard work.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No training or cardio today, Iv decided to just have a quiet evening and allow my body to recover and grow. Diet has been good today almost 2000 cals spot on. 42% protein, 26% carbs and 32% fat. Iv started using a little trick to ensure I hit my targets. I sit down before my last meal and log all my food for the day and whatever I need to reach my target I will have as my last meal. It makes for some strange meals but it gets the job done. It may seem a little anal but if Im giving it 100% in the gym then I would be letting myself down by not doing the same for my diet. This way if things stop working I have a very clear starting point from which to make changes. I think its the engineer in me coming out, just need a few spreadsheets and a flow chart or two. I really am a sad bastard. :no:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Amazing session today, left the gym feeling on top of the world. :thumb:

Benched 80kg for 9 reps which is a new pb and the rest of the sets were also strong and I increased reps and weight on every set. Inc db press was also strong and although the first set was the same as last week the other 3 sets were improved.

Following the good results on bench I thought I would run out of steam on legs but the strong session continued and I got another pb on leg press 8 reps on 300kg. If only every session was like that. I think it may be due to the extra days rest as I didnt do any cardio on monday and so may have been fresher, if thats the case then I may skip the cardio more often.

On the down side the ringing in my ears is still there and seems to be getting worse and Iv had a fuzzy / dizzy head for a few days now. I think its time to give the doc a call. I think it may be related to my sinuses and there is a lot of preasure around my eyes and upper jaw. My wife has a friend who had the same symptoms and she had to have an op to sort it out. Ill just have to wait and see.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will give the docs a ring in the morning but they have some crazy system where you need to ring between 8 and 8.30, which is when I have to leave for work, and when you FINNALY get through they give you a time when the doc will ring you back to see if you need to go in. Not too happy about discussing my medical problems in an office full of people. If the doc thinks you need to go in then you can finally get an appointment. A complete ball ache from start to finish, who dreams up these stupid systems ???


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Had a good session this evening, was a little worried about the bent rows after the neck injury but using the new technique (Yates Row) there was no issue and I managed the weight with relative ease. I think I am starting to get towards my upper limit on the pulldowns as the weights are increasing slowly now but still pushing myself on every set. Once I can move the full stack I will then start doing chins. I know chins are a better exercise but to gain some strength Im sticking with the pull downs for now as I couldn't manage more than 6 reps with just my body weight to start so it will be interesting to see if the pulldowns have helped.

I had a training partner for the shrugs and arms and we really pushed each outer which was a real help. I normally train alone so having someone there was a bonus especially on skull crushers as there was the added safety factor which allowed me to go to complete failure on the final set. Im sure I will pay for it tomorrow......


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

5 weeks in now and the diet and training are still working well, although the 4 set weeks have been very intence and draining Iv made it throught them and Im ready for the 5 set week next week. The leg work is a total killer and my quads have been aching solidly for the last two weeks but its a good feeling. Wasnt going to train on friday but pulled myself together and got to the gym and had a good session. The one thing I need to focus on is my flat bench as Im still not hitting my reps on the 12 rep sessions. I think I need to drop the weight slightly.

This weeks measurements are,

Waist 32.5" -0.25"

Arm straight 13.25" -0.25

Arm flexed 15.5" no change

Suprilliac 6mm no change

Umbilicus 11mm +1mm

Weight will be posted after training.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Weight 174.5lb after training.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Back from the gym and I had the best session for a while, amazing energy and worked every set as hard as possible. Finished the workout and didn't want to leave. Not ensurely sure why I felt so good ? I did have a cup of coffee about 30 mins before but don't think that would have made such a difference, who knows.

Finally went to see the doc and he said I was suffering from migraine attacks ??? He gave me some pills and said to take one when I feel a headache coming on, not a prob as iv had a headache every day for about 6 weeks or more. Took one pill and it didn't cure the headach but I felt like I'd been drinking all day. After reading up I'm sure my problem is not migraine but I will give the tabs one last go. If they don't work then it's back to see the doc, again!!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its almost the end of my 6 week cycle of training and diet and on the whole Im very impressed with myself and very thankfull for all the great advise I been given along the way. When I started the cycle I wasn't sure what to expect but I decided that if I gave 100% to training and diet and see what type of results I would get. After a slight adjustment to my daily cals in the second week things started to move along nicely. The diet was different to anything I had previously tried and I wasn't sure it would work for me as I tended to gain fat easily on moderate carb intake, this was proven to be incorrect and I have managed to loose body fay whilst consuming carbs. I would say that the diet aspect has been fairly easy and to be honest it doesn't even feel like Im on a cutting diet as I dont think in the entire 6 weeks I have felt seriously hungry and the weekly cheat meal is a def bonus (2 quarter pounders with cheese, 2 large fries a twirl chock bar and a ring doughnut followed an hour later by 2 slices of pizza a 6 inch garlic bread and a cup of coffee with sugar - that was todays little lot)

The training has been intence and exhausting at times but as the weight and reps seem to increase every week this gave me the drive to push through the pain and set some new PBs. Im not sure exactly how mush fat I have lost but the change has been noticeable to me and others and over the last week or two people in the gym have been commenting on how lean I am looking which spurs me on even further. Measurements wise my waist has reduced from 33.5" to 32.5" and my upper arm has increased from 15" to 16" and although I cant measure them my shoulders and traps have increased in size. My weight hasn't changed a great deal, was 176lb and now 174.5lb but this is due to the fact that there have been two processes going on at the same time. I am loosing fat consistantly whilst simultaneously gaining muscle this is evident by the weekly increase in strength on almost every exercise.

My flat bench, which I know is my weekest lift has increased from 75kg for 6 reps to 82.5kg for 7 reps. My leg press has increased from 220kg for 8 reps to 320kg for 5 reps, lat pull downs from 75kf to 90kg, bent row from 65kg to 85kg the list goes on...

Tomorrow is my final measurement and weigh in so I will see where I am after that but Im currently very happy with my results :bounce:

And a huge thanks to Dave for all the help, couldn'thave done it without your support. :beer:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The attached pics show the progress to date. The first set were taken on 27/05/2012 and the second set tonight 28/07/2012. The difference is clear.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Who ever thought 5 sets of 12 reps on leg press was a good idea needs shooting  I have never felt pain like that in a gym in my life. I couldn't even get off the machine for about 5 mins after my last set. Had to get on my hands and knees to pick up my pad and couldn't bend my knees for the rest of the session. It was total agony but there was no way I wasn't going to complete all 12 reps on the final set. After a shower and a good sit down the pain was gone but the sence of achievement was still there and that felt great.

Just cooked 400g of steak for tomorrow and it smells so good I might just eat it now, only problem is if I do its tuna tomorrow instead and I hate tuna, still get through 3 or 4 cans of the stuff a week but I'm not a fan.

Well better get some sleep so my lags can grow and grow they will after today.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> Really impressive progress especially considering the minor change in bodyweight!


I think the extra weight is all in my legs, seriously they are still hurting a little now and it's been over 9 hours. Looking forward to tomorrow up and down stairs all bloody day.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Haven't trained since tuesday and I feel like Iv wasted this week, diet has been a little hit and miss over the last few days due to being on antibiotics for a suspected sinus infection which is what the doc thinks is causing the dizzyness, headaches and ringing in the ears. I haven't over eaten but have missed a meal here and there due to feeling sick. Forced the food down today and hit my macros and cals. I will be training tomorrow come hell or high water as I feel like Iv gone back a step or two. Feeling a little bloated and fat but this prob all in my head and an effect of not training. I think once Im back in the gym I will start to feel ok again.

I was shocked on Tuesday when I was talking about diet to a lad in the gym and he told me that at my age I need to be careful about what I eat. At my age ??? I pointed out to him that my waist was a good 4 to 5" smaller than his and that maybe he needed to look at his diet a little more closely. Cheeky young tike.

Well time to eat supper now and plan for tomorrow, just remembered Ivbeen boiling some chicken for about half an hour now mg:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

After a poor week of both diet and training didn't expect things to have gone too well. Still felling a bit ill but this should get better soon I hope. Trained legs and chest on Friday and it was better than expected managed 6 x 320kg on leg press and moved up to 32kg db on inc press. Flat bench is slowly increasing and will be moving up to 85kg next week, as said before flat bench is my worst exercise but would love to finally move up to 100kg. Think that 100kg is a big benchmark and it wont be easy but I plan on getting there at some point. I have done 102.5 for 1 rep in the past but dont know what I could do now. Maybe one session I will see what my rep max is on 100kg.

Measurements

Weight 173.5lb

Waist 32 and a bit

Arm relaxed 14"

Arm flexed 15.75"

Will take skin fold measurements later on


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Skin folds

Superilliac 4mm

Umbilicus 10mm

Trained back and arms today and ran out of steam big time. The poor diet and a few late nights last week have caught up with me. But diet has been far better sat and Sunday so should be fine for Tuesday's chest leg session.


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## Monkey skeleton (Jul 8, 2012)

Always enjoy reading your journal, and the real ups and downs of weight training. Looks like you've been making good progress recently. Keep up the good work, helps me from giving up hope for myself! Lol

I always find multiply your 10 rep max by 1.3 for upper and 1.50 for lower gives a reasonably accurate guide to your 1 rep max.

Cheers


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Monkey skeleton said:


> Always enjoy reading your journal, and the real ups and downs of weight training. Looks like you've been making good progress recently. Keep up the good work, helps me from giving up hope for myself! Lol
> 
> I always find multiply your 10 rep max by 1.3 for upper and 1.50 for lower gives a reasonably accurate guide to your 1 rep max.
> 
> Cheers


Thanks for the reply monkey, I sometimes think to myself " why do I bother with this journal, no one reads it anyway" so it's nice to get a reply from time to time. I'm so needy lol.

There are certainly many ups and downs but that is the beauty of this game. If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing and even with all the downs there in never a point where I would consider giving it all up. I'd better stop now or I may cry..

Once I start bulking again I will give the one rep max thing a go. No point on low cals as strength gains should be better when bulking.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

What a top journal; just catching up with it now... if you want more hits and members to comment I can move the journal to the main journal section if you wish (let me know if you do), but one of the things that makes this thread so good to read is the lack of invasion by people posting nonsense :lol: You'll undoubtedly get more responses there though because many people (to their loss IMO) don't check this section of the forum much.

Anyway, can clearly see the progress you have made, and like your approach both to training and diet... good to see a fellow natty doing things methodically and sensibly.

Will try to pop in regularly, and any help you need, if I can, will be happy to give it.


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## pumphead (Feb 9, 2011)

i have been following this journal for months. it is by far the most honest & un-invaded one on here. keep it going aad-123, good on ya.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

pumphead said:


> i have been following this journal for months. it is by far the most honest & un-invaded one on here. keep it going aad-123, good on ya.


The natural's section is so quiet in respect of needing any moderation, and some of the other sections so busy, that I have found myself hardly coming in here and just haven't checked this journal properly for a while... but I agree, is a very honest and good training log.


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## Monkey skeleton (Jul 8, 2012)

Dtlv74 said:


> The natural's section is so quiet in respect of needing any moderation, and some of the other sections so busy, that I have found myself hardly coming in here and just haven't checked this journal properly for a while.
> 
> That's cos us nattys aren't all hepped up on goofballs!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks for the replys guys. Its nice to know my crazy rambles are being read by someone.

Been away for the last few days in London with wife and kids. Took the boys to all of the major sites and we even go to see some of the Olimpic events, they loved every second of it and the eldest wasn't happy that the games were over as he has realy took to them. Most of the time the only sports on TV are football or motor sports which Im not a big fan of so its nice to see different events. The only down side about being away ( and this is not a comment on my family ) is that staying with family can be a little difficult when you are on a fixed diet. Trying to get 200+ g of protein a day is very difficult when not at home so I ate the best I could and just thought that come Tuesday I will be back at the gym and back on the diet. So I will be back training tomorrow ( or tonight if I get time) and Iv just spent a fortune on food so there can be no excuses.

Time to catch up on Milky's journal, I think I am an addict. He is the only guy on here who seems to have as many problems as me.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks for the reps, but what are they ??? I understand the "likes" system but Iv never used "reps".


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well I didn't get to the gym and I feel like a lazy git. I feel like over the past week or so I have let myself down a little too often. After a really good run for six weeks things have started to go down hill. I'v missed a few sessions and a few have fallen short of the mark. I am of work now for the next two weeks and I need to get my act together or I will be right back at the start again. Im not sure why I have let things slip but its getting silly now. This journal is turning into a list of reasons why Im not doing what I should be and that isnt what I want to be writing about. Time to pick myself up and get thing moving again. It will soom be christmas and I want to look back over this and say that I have had a good year and at this rate that isn't going to happen. Taking the kids camping over the weekend so I have tuesday to friday to get into the gym and sort this out. Not sure how the diet will go while camping but I will feel a lot better if I have a good week running up to the trip.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

aad123 said:


> Thanks for the reps, but what are they ??? I understand the "likes" system but Iv never used "reps".


Reps are given by clicking the star like shaped thingy at the bottom left of each post... they are similar to likes in that they are given for posts that are seen as helpful or useful, but supposedly are more impactful and given with more consideration... strictly, a members rep score (as indicated by hovering the mouse pointer over the green bars under their avi) indicates that persons contribution to the forum as a whole in respect of posting quality training information, but in reality many people give rep points also for banter or off topic talk too.

You can also give 'negative reps' for posts deemed particularly offensive or that are deliberately misinformative, but neg reps are controversial and generally lead to squabbling when given.



aad123 said:


> Well I didn't get to the gym and I feel like a lazy git. I feel like over the past week or so I have let myself down a little too often. After a really good run for six weeks things have started to go down hill. I'v missed a few sessions and a few have fallen short of the mark. I am of work now for the next two weeks and I need to get my act together or I will be right back at the start again. Im not sure why I have let things slip but its getting silly now. This journal is turning into a list of reasons why Im not doing what I should be and that isnt what I want to be writing about. Time to pick myself up and get thing moving again. It will soom be christmas and I want to look back over this and say that I have had a good year and at this rate that isn't going to happen. Taking the kids camping over the weekend so I have tuesday to friday to get into the gym and sort this out. Not sure how the diet will go while camping but I will feel a lot better if I have a good week running up to the trip.


Sounds like you need to take a little pressure off yourself, clear your head and reset. It doesn't matter if the last few weeks/months have been less than optimal, what matters is what you do next. Set backs happen constantly... it would be easy if we could train and do the things we love in a bubble, but in reality life just seems to get in the way a lot, and it's hard even for the most dedicated and organised people to stay on top all of the time. I don't think you have messed up anything like as bad as you think you have, nor do i think you have been making excuses. Things going wrong are often the catalysts for better success later on and are often the best learning experiences anyway... it's not about how many times we fall over, it's about how many times we get back up.

I would say just have a pressure free break for a week, and then assess again where you are and where you want to get to and what you think you need to do to get there. Also take a look at how you might want to restructure things in ways that make training/diet more fun or less pressured... the main benefit of training should always be good health and higher self esteem, and that comes from enjoying what you do. Also remind yourself of how far you have come, despite any apparent set backs... is obvious you have achieved one helluva lot, and you should deservedly tap yourself on the back, genuinely mean that.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will be having a week off 10th to 14th Sept as wife will be away on a training week and so I will be looking after the kids every evening.

I think if I get a good week in this week I will feel a lot better, its always difficult during holidays as things are not as structured as when Im at work. During the working week I cook all my meals in advance and have set break times and dont take any money to buy cr$p from the vending machines so my diet is spot on but during holidays I have more time to cook food, which should be a good thing but i just find myself snacking on rubbish food. The one thing I do find is if I train early in the day I tend to eat better so I will try and get into the gym early this week and eat as clean as possible.

As for training it is never normally a problem and I have changed a few exercises for my next 6 week cycle so that should spice things up a little. Im still hitting the same muscles but in a different way. Last Thursday I forgot my training book so just had a cheat session where I still trained the same muscle groups (back and arms) but I just did what ever exercises I wanted. I didnt record reps or sets just had some fun and it was great but I generaly like to use my book as a guide and try and beat the previous sessions reps, as I train alone I find this helps to push me on.

Looking forward to tomorrow and getting back on track.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Had a good day today started with a good breakfast followed by an hour in the gym. The diet has been far better today and I hit my cals and macros for the first ime in a while.

The gym session wasn't amazing but I was happy with the chest and shoulders section. I did struggle with the leg press and I dropped a few reps since my last leg workout but I just lowered the weight on the second and third sets and left feeling like I had put in some good hard work. Any leg session where you cant walk down the steps to the car park is always a good one. My weight has stayed at 173lb but my waist has increased to 32.5" but this must be due to the huge amount of carbs I have eated over the weekend. I will have to hit the green tea tomorrow and try and shift some water.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well today has been a extreamly good day, helped in part by a 10oz steak for lunch, which was amazing. Diet has been almost spot on again 2389 cals 40% protein, 30% fat and 30% carbs, can't really ask for better than that. Did have to have a whey shake to hit the protein macro but its not the end of the world.

Changed a few thing around in the training, only minor changes to the exercises used but it has injected a little interest back into things and I enjoyed this evenings session. I finished with 10 mins to spare before the gym closed so I did some cardio. Not the normal machine type stuff but some exercise where you simply throw a 8kg medicine ball as hard as you can onto the floor catch it on the way back up and repeat. It was amazing to get rid of all the frustration and take it out on the ball, may not have burned many cals but it made me feel better after 10 mins of pounding away.

What a difference a few days can make. :thumb:


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Sounds good buddy. Plyo exercises with a medicine ball can be surprisingly hard work, especially if you go all out at them... only issue is the funny looks you get for doing it :lol:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No training today as had a day out with the family. Took my own food so diet was good again and if you class 5 hours of walking around a theam park as cardio I did well. Back to gym tomorrow morning with my new training routine so looking forward to that, again no changes to the muscles worked just new exercises. Found some old photos taken a while back before I started any kind of cutting cycle, at the time they were taken I thought I looked fairly good. Boy was I wrong.

Although the belly is quite impressive ( for a darts player ). aad-the power-123


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained chest and legs this morning and it was a very pleasing session. Moved up to 90kg on the bench for 4 reps, which is a new pb. After the flat bench was inc DB press and again I moved up a weight to 36kg DBs for 5 reps. Its been a long time since I used the bottom rack of the DB stand and it felt good to be using weights that I had been using when I was a good 6 or 7 kg heavier and a good deal fatter. I changed skull crushers for dips as my tricep exercise and I got a little carried away after the flat and inc bench and went straight in at 10kg. I climbed onto the dipping bars and lowered myself slowly for the first rep, my mind knew what to bo but my body wasn't playing ball and I managed to push out a few reps then decided to start with body weight for the rest of my sets, its amazing how quickley you loose strength in an exercise but I know in a few weeks Ill be back up the weights.

Leg press felt fairly good and I managed to add a rep to my last sessions results, still not where I was but an improvement.

One thing Iv noticed over the last few months is that the guys who train with super heavy weights for single rep sets seem to be far smaller and less developed that the 8 to 12 rep guys. The weights they lift are very impressive but they seem to offer little groth stimulus. The guy who was using the leg press before me was pressing 460g for single rep sets but his legs were nothing impressive. There is another guy who trains around the same time as me and he easily benches 140kg for 1 rep but if you looked at him you wouldnt even know he trained. When I started I saw these guys training this way and thought that that was the way to do it so I blindly followed but this year I have made more progress using lighter weights for more reps and I also get far less injurys. I sometimes train next to guys using far more weight than me and I look in the mirror and think " I may be using less weight but this time next year I will be bigger than I am now and you will still be pushing heavy weights and look the same" ( well thats the plan anyway).


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

This weeks measurements are :

Waist 32.25" +0.25"

Arm relaxed 14"

Arm flexed 15.75"

Supp skin fold 4mm

Umb skin fold 13mm

Weight 175.5lb

Had a good day yesterday and go in two cardio sessions. In the afternoon I took the kids to play in the woods, climbing trees, building dens and generally having fun. We were out for a good two hours and wanlked about 3 miles. Then in the evening I went out for a steady jog, I changed my route to make it a little longer and ended up being out for an hour. Diet was good but went over my cals limit by 200 cals but with all the walking and jogging Im not too bothered.

Rugby season will be starting in 2 weeks so I will be doing more cardio in an attempt to get at least some small level of fitness back. I am planning on doing some HIIT type sprints mixed with some steady pace jogging as this will mimic game play. I may have left it a little late but as I now play for the vets team I can get away with it a little more as the average age is 40+ and Im classed as a youngster. Old mans rugby is great its like real rugby but in slow motion. As our old captain used to say " the rugby is crap but the morale is great " and thats how sport should be, if it isn't enjoyable why do it ?

Todays plan is to hit the gym for a high rep 8-12 pull session (back & bis) then off to see Mom for a nice sunday roast. No pudding this week as Iv had far too many cheats over the last few weeks and need to get back on track.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Good workout buddy, keep it up 



aad123 said:


> One thing Iv noticed over the last few months is that the guys who train with super heavy weights for single rep sets seem to be far smaller and less developed that the 8 to 12 rep guys. The weights they lift are very impressive but they seem to offer little groth stimulus. The guy who was using the leg press before me was pressing 460g for single rep sets but his legs were nothing impressive. There is another guy who trains around the same time as me and he easily benches 140kg for 1 rep but if you looked at him you wouldnt even know he trained. When I started I saw these guys training this way and thought that that was the way to do it so I blindly followed but this year I have made more progress using lighter weights for more reps and I also get far less injurys. I sometimes train next to guys using far more weight than me and I look in the mirror and think " I may be using less weight but this time next year I will be bigger than I am now and you will still be pushing heavy weights and look the same" ( well thats the plan anyway).


In respect of training with heavy weight low reps there is some individual difference between how much hypertrophy will come from it... depends slightly upon each persons proportions of slow and fast twitch muscle fibres; if you are predominantly a fast twitch guy then it's the heavy loading and low reps that will work best, but if a slow twitch dominant guy then higher reps will work.

Is also about relative effort though... even if someone is a heavy load/low rep responder, if they don't train hard enough within that rep range but do train hard with a higher rep range they'll do better with the higher reps... you don't have to go to total failure but you do have to take sets to the point of 'extreme effort' where individual muscle fibres are failing, and this principal applies at all loading levels.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I do find that different body parts respond to different weights and reps. For back I find higher reps seem to do the trick as I can really focus on the muscle working, the same applies for chest and biceps. Things like squats, leg press and deadlifts seem to respond to slightly more weight. As I swap rep ranges for every workout I have all bases covered. I don't normally drop below 5 reps and very rarely go above 12, but once in a while I think is fine to go below and above these limits.

I think that at the moment Iv gone a little of the boil and I need a little something to get me going again. My fat loss seems to have stopped, it's like I'm just treading water. No one to blame but me, I'm the one shoving the food in so I'm the one who needs to sort it out. But that said the diet has been far better this week and the training is going well so we will see where we are next week. I may need to lower my non training day cals a little and see how that goes, trouble is I don't want to go too low and start loosing muscle. I will see how this week goes and only change thing if required.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Very good day today. Diet went well and training was great. Still feeling fat but at least Im doing something about it. MAY go for some fasted cardio tomorrow morning as wife is going out in the evening so no chance then. Just see how I feel when the alarm goes off.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

aad123 said:


> I do find that different body parts respond to different weights and reps. For back I find higher reps seem to do the trick as I can really focus on the muscle working, the same applies for chest and biceps. Things like squats, leg press and deadlifts seem to respond to slightly more weight. As I swap rep ranges for every workout I have all bases covered. I don't normally drop below 5 reps and very rarely go above 12, but once in a while I think is fine to go below and above these limits.
> 
> I think that at the moment Iv gone a little of the boil and I need a little something to get me going again. My fat loss seems to have stopped, it's like I'm just treading water. No one to blame but me, I'm the one shoving the food in so I'm the one who needs to sort it out. But that said the diet has been far better this week and the training is going well so we will see where we are next week. I may need to lower my non training day cals a little and see how that goes, trouble is I don't want to go too low and start loosing muscle. I will see how this week goes and only change thing if required.


Yeah I vary between bodyparts too... generally arms and legs for higher reps and chest for lower, back and delts kind of work ok with anything.

Lowering kcals just on non training days is a good way to go IMO - is what I tend to do and it works for me very well. Muscle loss is unlikely with a modest calorie deficit unless you are sub 10% bodyfat... despite what is commonly believed you can still maintain or even gain a little muscle in kcal deficit if your kcals are still higher than your BMR (the kcal restriction is less than your kcal needs for activity only), your protein intake is adequate and your bodyfat levels are high enough... is only when very lean that muscle inevitably becomes catabolised in kcal restriction.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Got up bright and early this morning and went for a 45 min walk before b'fast. Didn't see the need for jogging as had plenty of time so just a good long walk. Felt nice to be up out and showered before 8. I normally get up and feel groggy for a while but non of that today, feel good 

Diet today will be good, already put my meals into fitday and we are looking at 2000 cals, 44% protein, 30% fat and 26% carbs. Planning on doing some core work later this evening as I missed it yesterday.

"despite what is commonly believed you can still maintain or even gain a little muscle in kcal deficit if your kcals are still higher than your BMR "

I would agree with the above as during my cut I haven't lost a huge amout of weight but my skin fold and waist measurements have fallen so there must have been some muscle groth. I think its a result of a good diet and a better method of training ( thanks to Dave ). I was previously training each muscle once a week which was great for a good pump in the gym but now I train each muscle group twice a week they seem to be responding. As a natural trainer it is difficult to maintain muscle so more frequent training prevents muscle loss, also when you spend an hour training a single muscle there is a risk of over training. I think this may have been my problem in the past, but now Iv reduced the volume and increased the frequency I THINK it is having a posative effect. I have been told by a few people that Im looking bigger and leaner so it must be doing something.

Dtlv74 is it still possible to move this journal into the main journal forum as I enjoy reading comments and receiving advice from others on UKM. There are hundreds of people with a huge amount of knowledge on here so why not utilize them.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

aad123 said:


> Got up bright and early this morning and went for a 45 min walk before b'fast. Didn't see the need for jogging as had plenty of time so just a good long walk. Felt nice to be up out and showered before 8. I normally get up and feel groggy for a while but non of that today, feel good
> 
> Diet today will be good, already put my meals into fitday and we are looking at 2000 cals, 44% protein, 30% fat and 26% carbs. Planning on doing some core work later this evening as I missed it yesterday.
> 
> ...


Yes mate, agree totally that if nutrition is righ and you aren't overtraining it is possible... plenty of studies to prove it as well as people with subjective experience of it.

I'll move your journal now into the main journals section


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

You are a true gentleman :thumb:

Time to pick kids up and cook the tea or wife will let me have it when she gets in from work....


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Another fasted cardio session in the bag. Tried a different approach this morning and did more of a HIIT type session. Didn't have a watch so used my breathing as a guide, did 30 breaths fast jog followed by 30 breaths fast walk. Did this for the entire run which lasted just over 40 mins. The only problem is that now my left knee is aching, this is due to an old sports injury that has never healed. I have a tiny tear in my carilage on the outer area of my left knee and I have been told that it will never get any better and surgery may well make it worse so I just live with it. I was advised that the best thing to do was strengthen the muscles in my leg to support the joint so this is what I do. It only hurts occatsonally and never gives my amy problems in the gym as its fine in a straignt line but turning or changing direction suddenly can be a problem.

Anyway enough of me moaning. The plan for the rest of the day is to eat well and train back and bis tonight.

I hope all this effort pays off come sunday.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just been and purchased myself a bike. I have been out with the eldest lad on his bike a few times and he gets a little annoyed having to stop and wait for me all the time so now we can both go for a good long bike ride together. I will also be using it to go to and from the gym and when the rugby seson kicks in I will use it then. Just need some lights for the dark nights and a bike lock and were good to go. Gym is only 1.5 miles away so will probably take the same time as driving allowing for traffic and sunday drivers.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained back and biceps this evening and had a super session. Moved up in weight on every exercise and felt like I had loads of energy, back to the old me. Decided that chins aren't for me as over the last few sessions of doing them I didn't really feel the lats working so tonight I went back to the pull down machine and I felt every last rep. I have put the increase in strength down to being back on the diet and eating correctly. Although strength was up I have lost 1 lb this week, but that's not for sure as my weight changes by a pound or two throughout the week so I will wait till friday to see for sure.

On the down side my knee has go progressively worse throughout the day and is so bad I have started to struggle to walk correctly, which is putting pressure on my calf and glute. I don't think this fasted cardio is for me as it doesn't give my body time to warm up properly. I will stick to my normal evening cardio as I have never had this type of problem with that. I will try and rest the leg tomorrow and may have to give the leg press a miss until next week, no point making things worse.

Oh and the bike is going back tomorrow as the gears keep slipping.

So all in all not a super day but the training made up for the other stuff. These things are sent to test us...

Time for some pain killers and bed.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

My knee is still a litte sore this morning but not as bad as last night. I plan to take it easy today and rest as much as possible, as a result no fasted cardio. Had a rough night last night as youngest lad was sick in the night and so had to clean him and his bed. He had a high temp so the wife said that it would be best if he stayed in our room for the night so guess who got to give up his bed and sleep on the floor ????


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Couldn't help myself and had to do some cardio. Only a 40 walk this evening just to keep my hand in. Only tomorrow to go before this weeks weigh in so will give it hell at the gym and see where I am.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Wasn't planning on getting up early this morning but kids had a different idea so thought sod it I'll do some fasted cardio. 40 mins brisk walk followed by 3 sets of crunches. Time for eggs and oats now then gym this evening.

Bloody kids are asleep now, typical....


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## Monkey skeleton (Jul 8, 2012)

Yeah, kids and weight training are a mix made in Hell! Lol I'm sure mine take it in turns to make sure I get no sleep on the days I train. Wouldn't want me making any progress now, would we?! Lol

How's the knee doing now?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Still a little sore, but it only hurts when I am sitting down, good job the kids dont let me do a lot of that. I wont be doing leg press this evening as I want it to ease off a little. Dont think my quads will miss one session and if I make it worse it will take even longer to recover.

Kids do make it difficult to train sometimes but my eldest is old enough to be trusted on his own, just the 3 year old is a little thug and as soon as the two get together the trouble starts. They dont need a dad they need a referee at times.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well its time for my weekly measurements. Diet has been extreamly tight this week and not a cheat in sight, Im really happy with this weeks effort and I couldn't have done any more, hit my macros and cals almost spot on every day. Training has also been good, apart from not being able to train my quade due to my knee. Weights on all lifts are slowly increasing which is also pleasing as it may be an indication that new muscle is being generated. I may still lower my off day cals by 200 just to see what happens in terms of hunger and energy as I still feel I could be dropping the fat a little faster but if this causes an issue with my hunger and energy in the gym I can always increase them back to 2000 on non training days.

Measurements

Waist 31.9" finally below 32" (-0.35") I was expecting more due to all the cardio Iv done this week. Happy to be below 32" but still not over the moon.

Arm relaxed 14"

Arm Flexed 15.5"

Sup skin fold 3mm (-1mm)

Umb skin fold 12mm (-1mm)

Weight 173.5lb (-2lb)

Todays plan is to train early afternoon then off to mothers for a big old roast dinner which is my weekly cheat meal. Back to work on Tuesday so need to get my food cooked ready. God I hate cooking chicken, turkey and steak :cursing: but its just another part of the process that needs to be done.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Cheat day almost over, I didnt go crazy but feel like Im now ready for next weeks strict diet. I have decided that on my non training days I will keep my protein intake at 200g as normal but reduce 200 cals from carbs and fats ( 200 in total not 200 from each ). I wont be able to do any fasted cardio as there is no way Im getting up an hour early on a work day, I will however be able to get some in of an evening as I feel its an important aspect of my fat loss goal that I may have been neglecting. Im looking to get down to 31.75" this week so its all out till this time next week.

Trained back and bis today and another good session although I wasnt really feeling the bent row, which is odd as its normally one of my best movements. Still gave it 100% but it just didnt feel right. Straight bar and rope hammer curls on the other hand certainly hit the spot and my bis were on fire during my final set. Seated shrugs were also very good and I felt my traps working well.

So at the end of another week and a fairly good week it was, not purfect but thats never going to happen.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Made the most of a couple of free hours this afternoon and had a good session in the gym. Trained chest, shoulders and tris, didnt train legs as knee is still a little sore. Will start leg press again on next push session, nothing heavy just a few light sets to test the waters. Following the weights I did 15 mins core work followed by 40 mins on the treadmill. Did a good long 10 min warm up to ensure my knee was ready and then did 20 mins interval training, 30 seconds fast pace followed by 30 seconds rest. Instead of going for flat out speed I used the incline as this took the preasure off my knee. Following that I did a 10 min cool down. When I left I was wet through but felt good.

Just cooked 400g of turkey and 400g of chicken ready for the next few days meals so now Im ready for going back to work after 2 week off. Not looking forward to going back to work but it pays the bill.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just been to look at a new gym that has opened just down the road from me, only 0.5 miles away to be exact. Brand new equipment and a good selection of free weights and machines. The guy who owns the place is a big old lump so may pick up a few tips from him. Booked a free session for tomorrow so Ill see how it goes. Only £20 a month which is a bonus.

Waiting for my dinner to settle then off to do some cardio. Feeling lean today for a change, probably due to all the coffee at work today. Been p1ssing like a race horse all afternoon. May have to cut back a little tomorrow but I needed the boost on my first day back.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

40 mins cardio in the bag. 20 mins on treadmill and 20 mins on cross trainer, total 400 cals according to the machines. Kept pulse at 140 bpm for most of the work out.

Also dropped cals to 1800 but still maintained +200g of protein.

On a side note when I got back before I had a shower I got the hair clippers out for a trim but went a little crazy and now, according to the wife I look like a criminal. On well it will soon grow back.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Went for my free trial of the new gym and it is a really well equiped, clean and tidy gym with everything you could need. Plenty of free weights and machines and no waiting around to use the equipment as there is two of everything. The only down side is that there was no atmosphere because there were only a few people in there. This is a double edges sword as you dont want it too busy but its nice to have someone in there to chat to or spot you. Im still undecided as what to do, I could stay where I am and put up with waiting to use equipment ever now and then but also have someone to chat to and someone to spot or I could go where there is no waiting but no one to chat to etc....

Trained back and bis and although it was in the new gym it was a good session and the hammer strength plate loaded equipment was great. Well see how I feel tomorrow.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Back from training chest, shoulders, tri's and legs. Session went well and did a few sets of light leg press. Really annoyed at my bench, everything seems to be improving apart from flat bench. If anything the reps are going down not up. I will stick with it and just lower the weight a little and work on form. The strange thing is that on incline D.B press the weight and reps are moving along nicely.

Oh well it's about building muscle not power lifting.


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## Monkey skeleton (Jul 8, 2012)

Bench is a b#tch, mines gone down about 5-7kg over the last 18month after a year of slow but steady improvement. Since joining this forum I think I've stopped the rot and will hopefully build it back up to and beyond the girly level a had achieved before.

What's your basic routine at the moment?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Monkey skeleton said:


> Bench is a b#tch, mines gone down about 5-7kg over the last 18month after a year of slow but steady improvement. Since joining this forum I think I've stopped the rot and will hopefully build it back up to and beyond the girly level a had achieved before.
> 
> What's your basic routine at the moment?


I currently train chest, shoulders and tris on the same night to allow full recovery. I alternate between low rep sessions 5 to 8 reps and high rep sessions 9 to 12. I start with flat barbell bench press for the required reps and sets then I move onto incline dumbell press for the required reps and sets. I work on a 6 week cycle where each week the number of sets moves up and after the 6th week I start the cycle again. My inc db press is fine but flat bench just doesn't seem to improve, Iv started a thread to discuss the benifits and drawbacks of flat bench with barbell and dumbells. I may move to dumbells in the future and see how things go, but to be honest its difficult to know whats working as Im currently cutting and so strength increases will be minimal.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Went out for a meal last night with the wife and it was a total disaster 

Had a table booked at a nice restaurant and planned a lovely evening out as we dont go out as a couple ofter without the kids. Started well enough and as a nice gesture I stopped off on the way home from work to get the wife a bunch of flowers. Got home and got ready to go out, wife looked lovely and I looked acceptable. On the way we stopped off at the bank to get some money and this is where it all went wrong. Opened my wallet to get my card but there were no cards to get. Bank card, driving licence the lot all gone and I only had £10 and a bit of change left. The wife had to get some money out and was annoyed as it was going to be my treat.

Got to the restaurant and after a drink we both settled down a little and eventually ordered the food. I normally go for steak but fancied a change so I went for duck to start and lemon sole as a main. The duck was very nice and things started to go well. Finished the starter and waited for the mains to arrive. When the did I was presented with a whole lemon sole covered is some kind of dressing and topped of with prawns and a small rocket salad. The only food I will not eat is prawns, just the thought turns my stomach so I just pushed them to the side and waited for the rest of my meal, potatoes veg etc. These never came and I was informed that the meal did not come with anything else but side dished were available at a tidy price may I add. Totally pi55ed off by now I just ate my fish and salad and ordered a pint of Guiness, followd by another and another. When we finally finished we were presented with a bill for almost £60 which was the final nail in the coffin. We were planning to stay out after the meal but by now I was ready to go home. Got home and cancled my bank card and went to bed.

Got up in the morning and went to the bank to get some money out from the till, stood in line for about 20 mins but got there in the end. I then went to the shop where I got the flowers on the off chance and they had found my missinf cards which must have fallen out of my wallet while I was looking for some change. I was so happy that I went and had a huge Asda b'fast, but Im still not happy about paying £16 for a bloody fish on a plate :bounce: with nout else.

On the plus side it was a low carb meal......

Oh also trained today, it was good !


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its sunday again and time for my weekly measure.

Waist 31.5" -0.4" 

sup skin fold 3mm - 1mm 

umb skin fold 13mm -1mm 

Weight 172.5lb

Good results but todays workout was hard going. Just had no energy and struggled through the session but this may be due to the fact I lowered my off day calories and I have trained 6 times in the last 8 days. I will TRY and take Monday and Tuesday off from weights and come back strong and rested on Wednesday. I will still do some cardio but just a light walk.

Im now going to watch X-factor then bed as Im totally [email protected] out.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Having a well deserved day off today, feet up watching tv with a nice cup of tea. Diet has been good 1800 calories 40% protein 30% fat & carbs. Gym tomorrow I think.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will e-mail this evening as I have no access at work.

I have made a minor mod myself, nothing major but I was finding that my triceps were always getting hammered in every workout so I moved them into my chest / shoulder / leg session to allow them chance to recover a little. To accomodate this I moved hamstrings into my back workout. I could change back if required but it just allows me more recovery time and less warm up time for triceps.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Just had a quick scan through this, good work mate, you can definitey tell the progress you making from the pics alone!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> Just had a quick scan through this, good work mate, you can definitey tell the progress you making from the pics alone!


Cheers pal, but most of the credit goes to klach79. I just do as Im told, he's the brains in this outfit Im just the gym monkey. 

It makes a huge difference when you are working with some one who is pushing you along. I have been far more focused as a result as I dont want to let anyone down. If some one has taken the time to help me out Id be stupid not to take the chance and give 100% back in return.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Kudos to klach79! 

I'll keep popping in to see how you're doing


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> Kudos to klach79!
> 
> I'll keep popping in to see how you're doing


Thanks a lot, feel free to chip in anytime you like. Any comments are most welcome.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Sundays refeed and mondays rest day have had a positive effect on my training as I smashed it in the gym this evening. Increased weight on every single lift and had loads of energy. Changed things a little in my workout as advided by Klach and the pump was amazing my lats, traps and biceps were on fire.

Dont normally post lifts but I think its a good idea every now and then to see how the weights have progressed. I know strength increases done relate directly to size but its good to track progress.

Pulldown on Mc

95kg x 8

90kg x 8

85kg x 7

60kg x 14

Yates Row

90kg x 6

85kg x 8

80kg x 8

60kg x 15

Seated Shrugs

75kg x 8

72kg x 8

70kg x 8

50kg x 25

Romanian Deadlift

105kg x 8

100kg x 8

95kg x 8

62kg x 20

Barbell Curl - straight bar

40kg x 4

37kg x 8

35kg x 6

25kg x 9

Hammer Rope Curl

18kg x 8

15kg x 6

13kg x 8

8kg x 20

Jobe done.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Nice workout,do you always do your sets going heavy to light?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> Nice workout,do you always do your sets going heavy to light?


I do a few warn up sets then straight into my heavy set and reduce the weights to maintain the rep range. If my heavy set is easy and I go over my rep range then I will use the same weight for the following set but as a rule I always drop the weight. Works very well for me.

Its a total killer on leg press, 5 sets of 12 reps at near max load on every set is not for everyone. Iv been close to being sick on several occations.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained push muscles tonight and decided that recently I was rushing my leg press so to address this I did a leg press / flat bench super set. Worked out quite nicely as the leg press is next to the bench and I was able to join in on both pieces of equipment as the gym was not too busy. Got a good leg workout although the knee did play up a little but nothing major. Chest was also good and as super setting my pulse was kept elivated. The final sets were a total filler and took the wind out of my sales a little. Incline DB press was a little off the pace but this must have been due to the final pump set on flat bench. Shoulders were on fire when I finished and all in all a good workout. Didnt smash any records but worked to my max so happy with that.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Wasn't too sure about last nights work out but today Im having difficulty walking and my chest is killing me so must have done some good. Just waiting to use the microwave at work to heat my chicken and brown rice, my god it looks so boaring.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

aad123 said:


> Wasn't too sure about last nights work out but today Im having difficulty walking and my chest is killing me so must have done some good. Just waiting to use the microwave at work to heat my chicken and brown rice, my god it looks so boaring.


Spices are an amazing creation!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I normally maranade my chicken and oven bake but was in a rush so plain old boiled chicken and I forgot my green beans. Every thing is easier to eat with green beans, they give a little texture and make the meal moist. Wasn't too bad to be fair.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from first game of rugby for this season and no amount of work in the gym can prepare you for a game. Fitness wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but still a little short of the mark. Managed to get in under the posts from about 30 meters out and had a few good runs so plenty to be posative about. First up tackels were poor at best so need to improve there. Managed to come home with a 1.5 inch gash on my forehead but club medic sorted that and made it back on for second half. Starting to get a headace now though.

I always find after a game I'm super hungry so waiting for my lamb, lentil and sweet potato curry to cook. Then it's x- factor and as is normal on sat after rugby I will probably fall asleep on the sofa and wake up watching match of the day. I'm so rock and roll !


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

back progress first pic taken 27th may, second 4th sept. Good results.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Very good progress, very much on the delts! great work mate


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

waist 31.25" -0.25

Sup skin fold 3mm no change

Umb skin fold 12mm -1mm

Arm relaxed 14.5"

Arm flexed 15.75" +0.25

weight 173lb +.25

A good result this week considering I did no cardio ( apart from the rugby ). I will keep everything the same next week and will soon be at 30" waist.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks guys. I guess I'm just lucky that my genetics have given me broad shoulders, which is a good starting point to work from. Shame that I also got the fat ass gene too.

Iv introduced squats back into my programme as I feel my legs were not responding to the leg press, the strength has increased but no size so back to good old squats.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just read a thread about natty bashing, boy thoes users are not keen on us....don't know what we have done to upset them ?

Oh well Ill jusk keep plodding along with my 3lb of muscle a year.

Trained pull last night and I was on fire again. All lifts up and felt great.

Taking today of training completely as I feel Im over doing it a little and need a rest to allow my body to recover.

Too tiered to type anymore, us nattys just dont have the balls to type.


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## Wardy211436114751 (Jan 24, 2011)

Great results mate. Now stop being a b1tch and chasing a 30' waist its winter now time to bulk and as you're in ruggerz season let that take care of conditioning, fitness and bf and just eat!

Oh and yeah a lot of natty bashers on here not entirely sure why... you think you'd be feeling pretty content with yourself if you had 19' guns and 5 times the test of us mere natty mortals :lol:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Wardy21 said:


> Great results mate. Now stop being a b1tch and chasing a 30' waist its winter now time to bulk and as you're in ruggerz season let that take care of conditioning, fitness and bf and just eat!
> 
> Oh and yeah a lot of natty bashers on here not entirely sure why... you think you'd be feeling pretty content with yourself if you had 19' guns and 5 times the test of us mere natty mortals :lol:


Firstly thanks for popping in and thanks for your kind words. It help the motivation when you get positive feedback.

For now Im determined to get into the 30" waist bracket. Iv set myself a goal and I need to hit it just to prove to myself that I can do it. Once Im there then the lean bulk can start, Im not looking for anything major but Iv always had 14 stone in mind, not sure if I can get there but Im going to have a bloody good go at it. I think Im currently 12stone 5lb so 14 stone is a huge ask but if I can get from a 36.5" waist to a 30" waist then if I apply the same work ethic and dedication I could do it  with an insane amout of hard work and some good luck.

As for the 19" guns, only 3" to go.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Keep up the great work and use your recent pictures for motivation, i know it would certainly help motivate myself! 

How tall are you mate?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Im only a little fella, just 5ft 8". I think at my height if I got to 14 stone I would look like a monster if I managed to keep the bodyfat down.

Oh you just reminded me of a thread idea I had.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm only 5'8 to bunch of short ****s!  that would be a big weight,i think i'm around the 12 stone mark, but i'm still cutting until next month


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

5.8 is a good height in my opinion for body building. If your too tall you need to be truly huge to look big, if that makes sence. I know a guy who is 6.6 and about 19 stone but he still looks skinny, but on the opposite side of the scale I know a lad who is 5.5 and 12 stone and is a beast. Strange thing is they both lift the same weights, although the short guy is chemically enhanced.

How is your cut going and what type of training and diet do you do ? Have you got a journal ? If so what is it's title, I like to see what others who are my size are doing. I'm just nosey....


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained push muscles this evening but I was a little pushed for time so I had to strip the workout back to the basic essentials. 4 sets each of squats, flat bench, military press and dips. A good hard old school workout straight out of the retro school of training. To be honest I really enjoyed it and it was real hard work. Had a training partner for bench so did a few assisted reps. I normally train alone so it was nice for a change, but I wouldn't want to do it every time.

Didn't go crazy on squats as iv only just reintroduced them and my legs are still sore from rugby on sat.


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## Wardy211436114751 (Jan 24, 2011)

aad123 said:


> Firstly thanks for popping in and thanks for your kind words. It help the motivation when you get positive feedback.
> 
> For now Im determined to get into the 30" waist bracket. Iv set myself a goal and I need to hit it just to prove to myself that I can do it. Once Im there then the lean bulk can start, Im not looking for anything major but Iv always had 14 stone in mind, not sure if I can get there but Im going to have a bloody good go at it. I think Im currently 12stone 5lb so 14 stone is a huge ask but if I can get from a 36.5" waist to a 30" waist then if I apply the same work ethic and dedication I could do it  with an insane amout of hard work and some good luck.
> 
> As for the 19" guns, only 3" to go.


Yeah 14st is a good aim and fair enough about sticking to your goals but a 30' waist really? You'll be getting thrown round the rugby pitch like a rag doll :lol: I'm trying to stay the same weight and get stronger atm but think I'm putting on weight which is actually annoying for me haha


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The fat bastards have got to catch me first :tongue: .

I know 30" is small but as long as I'm sub 31" even by 1/16 I will still be in the 30" bracket. During my cut I haven't lost a lot of weight but the fat is going so I must be adding lean mass at the same time. I think I will lower my sights a little and go for 13 stone 7 lb. I have been up to 13.10 but its not good when your belly sticks out more than your chest so this time it's slow and steady with minimal fat gains. When I got up to my max weight I just ate anything and everything and gained fat faster than building muscle. I'm learning more about diet now so hopefully I won't make the same errors again :confused1:


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## Wardy211436114751 (Jan 24, 2011)

aad123 said:


> The fat bastards have got to catch me first :tongue: .
> 
> I know 30" is small but as long as I'm sub 31" even by 1/16 I will still be in the 30" bracket. During my cut I haven't lost a lot of weight but the fat is going so I must be adding lean mass at the same time. I think I will lower my sights a little and go for 13 stone 7 lb. I have been up to 13.10 but its not good when your belly sticks out more than your chest so this time it's slow and steady with minimal fat gains. When I got up to my max weight I just ate anything and everything and gained fat faster than building muscle. I'm learning more about diet now so hopefully I won't make the same errors again :confused1:


yeah fair enough mate. You might find though with adding squats back in your waist won't go much lower than what it is now and may even get bigger. Its the true mass building exercise and puts on size around the legs hips ass lower back and even abs/core but you'll be stronger and bigger so who cares about waist size anyway  for the record I'm probably 33-34 inch waist which is the real reason Im hating onyou for having a small waist


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Yeah but looking at you avi your back is huge so your waist looks tiny, I seem to just go straight up and down so I'm trying to create the illusion of a wide back.

I know what you mean about the squats, today was only a light session and my ass was hurting, wife will be happy as she says iv now got a skinny ass. I'm not sure what Dave has got in store for me during my bulk but I would think compound movements will be the order of the day. I love squats, deads and rows so I have no issues there, just hate bench, always have and always will. Doesn't help that I bench like a granny. Oh well we all have our good and bad areas.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/member-journals-pictures/88485-sis-training-log-13.html

^^ this is my journal, feel free to pop in anytime


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will be finishing week four on sunday. I was thinking of finishing this cycle and then do one more and after that I will start my bulk phase so that will take me to early November. Maybe a little earlier if I get inpatient :whistling: I was thinking of doing a slow bulk to prevent excessive fat gains, I'm enjoying the lean look ATM.

I'm not too worried about my back width, well no more than any other area. I don't have a huge amour of lean mass so I need to add size all over. I don't consider any area more or less important I just want a well proportioned look.

As for bench you are either good or bad at it, guess I fall in the latter. But I learnt that the weight isn't important so I don't get too down about it.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Woke up this morning with a banging head ache, sore throat and a chesty cough, this can mean only one thing MAN FLUE :bounce:

Chances are it will turn into either a chest or sinus infection as it always does. Just took 2 paracetamol and a multi vitamin so with a little look it will clear up Over the week end. If it's not one thing it's another, so frustrating :cursing:

On a good note I'm having today off and I am planning a nice cheat meal this afternoon as a little pick me up.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

There isn't much worse than the man flu in this world, unfortunately the female species do not recognize this!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> There isn't much worse than the man flu in this world, unfortunately the female species do not recognize this!


They just play the child birth card. Everyone knows that man flue is 100 times worse that that. I don't think they could cope with a bout of man flue. They just don't understand.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Cheat day is going well not sure how many cals but so far today iv got through 3 eggs, 2 toast, 2 big macs, large fries, large milkshake, 2 pints of guinesss, packet of crisps and kitkat crunches and currently cooking a big old spag boll. That's how I'm rolling today. The trouble with junk food is it just doesn't fill you up, think the spag boll will do the job.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Oh o forgot the homers Simpson donut.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/member-journals-pictures/88485-sis-training-log-13.html
> 
> ^^ this is my journal, feel free to pop in anytime


Subbed, I will have a read later too busy eating today :thumb:


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## Keeks (Oct 22, 2010)

aad123 said:


> Cheat day is going well not sure how many cals but so far today iv got through 3 eggs, 2 toast, 2 big macs, large fries, large milkshake, 2 pints of guinesss, packet of crisps and kitkat crunches and currently cooking a big old spag boll. That's how I'm rolling today. The trouble with junk food is it just doesn't fill you up, think the spag boll will do the job.


 mg: Thats a darn good cheat day there!  Enjoy the spag bol, but know what you mean about junk food, really doesnt fill you up, just bloats but it tastes so good, worth the bloat! 

And hope you're recovering from the dreaded man flu, I've heard how bad it can be so can only imagine the suffering caused by man flu, Im glad Im a woman so can never get it! Phew!!!! 

Hope you're ok anyway and trainings going well.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Keeks said:


> mg: Thats a darn good cheat day there!  Enjoy the spag bol, but know what you mean about junk food, really doesnt fill you up, just bloats but it tastes so good, worth the bloat!
> 
> And hope you're recovering from the dreaded man flu, I've heard how bad it can be so can only imagine the suffering caused by man flu, Im glad Im a woman so can never get it! Phew!!!!
> 
> ...


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Hello stranger, how's the contest prep going ? how long have you got left ?

Iv been making some good progress, I have some pics a few pager back if you fancy a look. I made some changes to my diet and training and they have made a huge difference. Iv also got a guy who is helping me out and it's working great, iv found it great to have someone to lead me through this journey. Makes me work harder and focus more.

Iv killed the man flu with food. There is no room in my body for a virus it's too full of food.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

??? I-pod has just gone crazy ???


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## Keeks (Oct 22, 2010)

aad123 said:


> Hello stranger, how's the contest prep going ? how long have you got left ?
> 
> Iv been making some good progress, I have some pics a few pager back if you fancy a look. I made some changes to my diet and training and they have made a huge difference. Iv also got a guy who is helping me out and it's working great, iv found it great to have someone to lead me through this journey. Makes me work harder and focus more.
> 
> Iv killed the man flu with food. There is no room in my body for a virus it's too full of food.


Just seen the pics, very impressive change, well done you! :thumb: Yeah it can make you work harder if theres someone else pushing you, and its certainly working, keep at it!

Lol, hope the spag bol was good, Im now craving spag bol but had pasta about 2 months ago as a cheat and I flaked out after, complete carb coma, put me off until after preps finished anyway. And glad you've helped the man flu on its way, again Im just so relieved Ill never suffer from anythings as horrendous as the dreaded man flu.

Preps going well thanks, changed feds and class now and not doing bikini class anymore but doing Nabba toned figure. So first comp is a month today, then another 2 weeks after then another tewo weeks after that but am very excited and things going well at the moment, touch wood!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Iv had a quick look at your journal ( i will catch up later in full ) and I see you have sponsorship. Please tell my your sponsored by quark. That would be totally amazing. QUARK proudly presents their newest and brightest star Keeks. I can see the bill boards now.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

This weeks measurements are a little strange but could be due to re-introducing squats and romanina deadlifts and the huge cheat day I had yesterday.

Waist 31.5" +0.25

Arm - no change

sup skin fold 2mm -1mm

umb skin fold 10mm -2mm

It seems that my skinfold measurements have fallen but my waist has increased, but this is due to changes in exercises. I have noticed that my legs are looking a little more defined, only slightly but I can see a difference. I think this is either due to the squats or the slightly lower body fat.

Todays plan is to train push movements this afternoon then relax ready for work tomorrow.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just weighed myself and I'm up to 175.5 lb that's a 2.5 lb increase. Probably water from yesterday so I'm not too bothered.

Finished workout and it was a good session, increased reps on every exercise for upper body. Not going heavy on squats just yet, I'm building back up slowly. Today I did 4 sets of 12 with 70kg. Ass to the ground on every rep and to be honest I didn't fancy the final set. The problem wasn't my legs it was my lungs. After the last 2 sets I had to just hold the bar for a while to stop me falling over. I think the squat is not just a good mass builder but a great conditioning exercise to. Should help with my rugby fitness and bodybuilding. Doesn't mean I have to like them though.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Squats hit you at every angle possible, got to love them!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Not sure I will ever love squats, especially high rep sets. The pain just goes on and on, heavy weight, low reps aren't too bad as the sets are over fairly quickly but 12 reps is just a killer. That said I do think they are one of the best all round exercises.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I only ever do 8 reps or less when i do them anf then i do higher volume on everything else in regards to legs, i just find it better that way


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I only do one exercise for quads and one for hamstrings. I alternate between high and low reps to get a balance between strength and hypertrophy. High rep sessions are always tough on squats but great for burning cals and you get a huge pump. Hard work but worth it.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Got my weeks a little mixed up as this is actually the start of week 6 on my training cycle, this means 5 sets of pure pain. Today was pull day and low rep day also. This is the toughest workout of the entire cycle and boy does my back know it. It was a good and bad workout. The gum was busy so I had to swap things a little and started with bent row, which was strong. Lat pulldowns were next and I did struggle on the first set due to doing bent row first. This was easily sorted by lowering the weight on the remaining sets by 5kg each. Did shrugs on the smith machine behind my back, no real reason just saw a lad do them on Sunday and thought I'd give them a go. The only problem with tonight's workout was time. Die to the number if sets I only had time to do 3 sets of curls and these were rushed as the instructors cleaned around me watching the clock. I think I will def join the jym that's open to 10 as I have had to rush a few workouts recently. Moan over.

Quick shower, eat, bed, grow.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

What did you think to the shrugs?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Shrugs would have been better if my fat ass wasn't getting in the way :whistling: . Seriously they were ok, held the peak contraction for a second on every rep and felt good, the only down side was that due too the angle of the smith machine they did put a little preasure on my lower back. Im always trying to find the one killer exercise that will make my traps explode, but as yet no luck.

Edit 1.28pm

Just had an itch on my right trap and it was so tender to touch, must have done the job on the old smith machine.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Not sure what happened today but at about 3pm I started to get abdominal cramps. I thought it was hunger but it got worse throughout the afternoon. Managed to force a bit of food down at 6ish but diet won't be super today. Obviously no training tonight, I'll just rest and come back stronger tomorrow ready for a big squat day :thumb:


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I have the problem with the old derriere when doing shrugs like that, so i now use cables instead, you can get quite a good workout using them and if the weight is too light simply put a dumbell on top!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Can't remember ever having DOMS in my traps but I have today, only a slight ache but still there. I think I will continue doing them for my next cycle. Iv always admired a physique with large traps, more impressive than huge arms in my view. Big traps and lats for me every time.

Oh and no dumbells on the machines in our gym, they had a big poster up that no onee took any notice of so now they have had plastic covers fitted that only allow you to move the pins.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Started today feeling fine but come 3 pm the cramps were back. Didn't have any rice today so cant be that. I'm thinking it's just plain old hunger, but not sure why as iv been eating the same cals for a while now. Just eating dinner now so I'll see in they go away. I may have to increase my lunch at work to see if that works but this will mean lower cals on other meals. If this doesn't work then I will be starting my bulk early. I don't mind slight hunger pangs but this is a little more than that. Tried increasing water but made no difference. Any ideas will be greatly received.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Wasnt feeling great yesterday evening, still got a cold and now its got onto my chest and Im getting short of breath whick is not helping with my asthma. That coupled with the abbdominal cramps left me feeling a little crappy. Decided to go to the gym anyway and it was a total disaster. I had no strength or energy and my mental focus was non existant. Started with squats which were ok but after that it was down hill all the way. I got so ****ed off that in the end I just thought f**k it and went home. I will have today off and may have friday off also. There is no point training if I feel like this, I think my body needs a rest so I may take a week off completely. I will see how I go over the next few days. :no:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Probabily shouldn't post this but I did set out to record the entire journey warts and all. The abbdominal cramps have settled down a little today, still there but no where near as bad as the last two days but now my rectum has become super itchy. I think it may be some kind of digestive tract infection but Im no expert, if it persists I will be visiting the doctors. I was going to google it but who knows what results I would get.

On a lighter not I have increased my cals today to 2300 which is the same as on my training days. Im hoping this will give my body a little help in fighting my man flu and I also hope a few days rest will allow my CNS a little time to recover form all the work Iv been putting in at the gym.

Edit 20/09/2012 22:36

Just googled my symptoms and I have a whole host of problems to choose from including thrush, threadworm, streptococcal infection, anal fistula and anal or bowel cancer. I hope to god its not the latter two. My wife thinks the itching could be thrush due to the antibiotics I had a few months ago, but not sure how that relates to the cramps ? For the final two on the list the other symptoms included sudden weight loss, change in bowel habbits and blood in stools, non of which I have experianced.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Today has been a total wash out. Iv eaten so much crap its gone past a joke. Bacon and egg roll, 2 chees & onion rolls, packet of crisps and a twirl chock bar. I now feel like a lazy fat c*nt. This is made worse by the fact I havent trained today. With my bad chest and now sinus problems I thought there is no reason going to the gym when just walking up the stairs gets me out of breath. I will never recover if I dont give body chance to rest properly. The only posative has been no cramps today and my itching has reduced.

With a little luck I will be back on track sunday and I will be able to complete the final 2 workouts of the 6 week cycle and then it will be my deload week, which will be greatfully received. I will contact Dave when he's back of holiday and sort out the programme for my bulk.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

When you are poorly you shouldn't be so hard on yourself regarding diet and training, sometimes a short break from both can actually benefit you in my opinion, so just recover and then hammer the gym once you have recovered!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I always feel bad when I miss the gym but at the moment I need to admit defeat. I was planning on going today but I think a sofa day is called for. As for diet it's not a problem as it's just the foods I would normally eat and when I feel rough I don't eat a huge amount anyway. Even with the last few days being a little off track I still haven't gained any extra body fat. All measurements are as last week.

With a little luck I will be training later this week.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

As today progressed I started to feel a lot better, even thought about a quick gym session but decided against it. I will see how tomorrow goes and may train in the evening all being well. I'm not looking forward to weighing myself as I sit here looking down on a rather large round belly. I will see what Daves view is as I have struggled on week 6 of the cycle both times. I seem to get some kind of illness but I'm not sure if it's just coincidence or due to over training. It may be I need to reduce the number of training sessions a week or reduce the time of each session. It's just annoying as hell I have 5 good weeks then 1 poor one. I just need a good run till Christmas with no problems.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Made it to the gym tonight for a deload session. All exercises were done 2 sets of 8. Just a light easy session, no where near failure.

Exercises were,

Lat pull downs

Machine row

Shrugs on smith

Deadlifts

Barbell curl

Rope hammer curl.

Felt nice to leave the gym not feeling half dead. I don't normally mind but as I'm still not 100% it was nice to just have a steady session. Tomorrow will be a rest day and I will train push on Wednesday. Feel a lot better now iv trained. I will contact Dave later this week to find the bulking programme. Now the rugby season is here I need a little extra padding to take the blows and the extra strength always helps. I have added deadlifts and squats back in as my back and legs takes a hammering in the contact area and they are both good for conditioning. I find the bodybuilding helps the rugby and the rugby helps the bodybuilding.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just a quick update.

Feeling far better today, still a little chesty but generally fine. Looking forward to gym tomorrow, push session and I will go a little heavier that Monday. I will take the final set of each exercise to failure, apart from squats as I'm still building them back up.

Diet has been on track today with plenty of veggies. 1800 cals, 44% protein, 30% fat and 26% carbs.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Had a trial session at my soon to be new gym. Only had 45 mins as son was doing a street dancing class in one of the dance studios above the gym. Although it was a fairly short session it was very enjoyable and I had a play on some of the new equipment. I didn't record theweights but did the following exercises

Squats

Inclind DB bench

Seated hammer shoulder press

DB side raise

Close grip bench

Machine dips

Standing calf raise

All were 2 sets of 8

The new gym is a lot smaller than my current one and a little rough around the edges but it is very well equiped and has at least 2 of everything so no waiting around. Its owned by a guy who works out so knows what equipment is required where as my current gym is run by the council and half the equipment isnt used. Should be starting the new gym full time in November when my current membership runs out. :thumbup1:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

A positive report for a change. 

Been feeling a lot better today so hit the gym full of beans. Decided to do a low rep heavy session to get the boiler going again. Had a fantastic session and by the amount of sweat on my t-shirt worked hard as well. Here are the main highlights.

Lat Pulldown Full stack 100kg x 5.

This is not a mormal lat machine but one where the arms rotate around a fixed bearing so you start with you hands almost touching and rotate the arm around and down. I will try and find a pic. (edit - seeabove)

BenOver Row 100kg x 5.

Last rep wasn't the best as I stood a little upright.

Deadlifts 120kg x 5.

Not a super weight but Iv only started doing them again recently. Left a nice puddle of sweat on the floor when I finished. Every time the weight hit the ground so did a few drops of sweat.

Straight Barbell Curl 45kg x 6.

2 more reps than last week so happy. Could have gone harder but arme were already fairly shot from the back movements.

Rope Hammer Curls on cables 25kg x 5.

Rope Shrugs on cables 25kg x 12.

Did these at a 45 degree angle really pulling the shoulders back and up. Worked well as I fely the traps working and burning on the last few reps.

A very enjoyable workout, looking forward to Sunday and the start of the 3 set week. Bring it on.....


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will mail you tomorrow. Hope you had a good holiday and you feeling better after your chest infection.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from rugby and 12st 5 is not a good weight for a front row player. Played hooker as regular guy was working and Iv played there in the past, won't be doing it again in a hurry. The guy against me was a good 5 or 6 stone heavier than me and he used his bulk to good effect. Bent me all over the place and now my neck and shoulders are a little tender. Could have faked an injury but that is just not in the spirit of the game, this is rugby after all not football.

Anyway I have now made my mind up and I will be starting my clean bulk as soon as I receive instruction. My main aim is to obviously add muscle but also to increase functional strength.

Oh and well done Stoke RUFC 3s a well deserved win.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Went outlast night with wife and a few friends for a curry. Being a good boy I said I would drive as I didn't want to impact on my training today :innocent:

The plan was a nice meal followed by ONE drink then home. Imagine my delight when Im stood there stone cold sober as they all get drunker and drunker. Finally at 1 ish I decided I was going home, with or without them. Why is it when you go out people seem to think that you have to be drinking, its like they have a mission to get you drunk. Just leave me alone if I want to drink I will, but I dont so *&%$ off. :cursing:

Spent most of the night in the loo with deli belly. Feeling better after 2 imodium and will be having some food soon.

Plan for today is hit the gym about 12 ish for a nice push session, just need to create a new spreadsheet to record my lifts. I print it out and take it to the gym. I record weight and reps for every set and the following week I try to add reps or weight to every lift. Its a good way of pushing yourself when you train alone.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Was it atleast a good curry?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The curry was very good.. Shame about the after effects. Toilet roll in the fridge time.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Started phase 2 on Monday. Diet and workouts modified to suit. My main aim is to try and get to 14 stone, but if fat gains get out of control I will re-evaluate and adjust as required. Diet will take a week or two to get spot on as the macro split is a little different. I will have a play on fit-day later to try and create a blue print of the diet.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

The great winter bulk?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Winter, spring and most of next year I expect. I have never been above 13 stone 10 lb and even then I was a bit of a fatty. With a little luck and some very good training and diet I will get there sooner or later. Still getting to grips with the diet at the moment, protein is roughly the same so no propblem there but carbs have increased so I just need to get the ballance right. Didn't help that I was in a meeting from 11.30 till 3.00 yesterday. There was a buffet provided but not exactly bodybuilding food, I tried to have the best options I could but would have preferred to bring my own food. Diet has been a lot better today so I will see what my macros look like later on fitday. Once I know how much of everything to have it will become a lot easier.

The training has remained almost the same with a few changes in exercise selection. I have added skull crushers back into the routine and my good can I tell. I havent been able to straighten my arms fully since Monday. I hope the skull crushers will help with my benching as its very poor currently. I was hoping to get to 100kg bench this year but it seems to have stalled at 87.5kg x 5. I have tried 90kg several times but can only ever get 2 or 3 reps. Im not too bothered about the weight as I know its not important for muscle development but I think this has become a kind of mental sticking point. Once I start adding muscle I will hopefully get to the 100kg mile stone.

Today is my rest day then tomorrow its high rep push and Friday is high rep pull. Im looking forward to both as previously both high and low res sessions were the same exercises but now they are different each time to add a little variaty.

My starting weight as of Monday was 171.5lb (12st 3.5lb) or 78kg. WTF that means I need to gain 24.5lb....


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Do you do skull crushers using a straight bar or the e-z? I always used the e-z before but i tried the straight bar again at the weekend and felt it a heck of a lot more!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I use the ez bar or sometimes I use a kind of hammer bar. Its kind of like a chain link shape with 2 bars welded into it.



I will give the straight bar a go and see how I go. My triceps are still a little tender now.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from the gym and I had a really good session. Trained high rep push movements and started with shoulders for a change as I normally do chest first. Also did a few sets of incline flys which I haven't done for a long time. I find these an exellent isolation movement for the chest, they burn like hell but get the job done. Also did a few sets of lunges after squats and again the burn was intence, struggled to walk down the stairs after.

Diet has been better today, still just a little low on carbs but hit my calorie target.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No gym last night as wife wasn't feeling well so I took the evening off to be with her. As a good husband I said I would no go to rugby today to help her out with the kids. Small children and feeling like crap are not a good mix. My only request was an hour off to go to the gym, that way everyone is happy. Today will be high rep pull workout, lots of new exercises in this one so looking forward to it.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Haha good luck with the kids mate!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just took the kids down to watch the rugby as I wasn't playing. They love it, they can run around and make as much noise as they like, jump in the puddles and pretend they are playing. By the time the game was over they were more muddy than the players, just give them a lucozade each and off they go.

Training wise this morning session went very well, short and intence, left the gym feeling good and ready for the next session which will be tomorrow or monday. Diet hasn't been purfect but it is the weekend and I tend to be a little less strict. Not a lot else to report, just relax in front of the tv and then bed.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The great winter bulk week 1

As last week was a kind of practice week I will start my records from this point.

My starting measurements are:-

Waist 32"

Arm straight 14"

Arm flexed 15.5

Chest 42"

Thigh 24.5"

Sup skin fold 4mm

Umb skin fold 11mm

Weight TBA will do at gym tomorrow.

No training today as my back was very sore today following yesterday's pull workout. I think an extra days rest will do me good as I still haven't shifted this bad cold I have had for the last month. It's not getting worse but just won't shift.

Been a fairly good food day today but did have a nice bowl of apple crumble and custard after my roast. Back on the chicken, rice and green beans tomorrow.

Could do with some advice on carbs late on in the evening. The situation is that as I train late I need to have carbs post workout but there is a lot of talk about not eating carbs late. I have taken the stance that the carbs post workout are required so they need to be consumed even if it's late on. Is this the correct thing to do?


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm kind of the same way of thinking as regards to not consuming too many carbs late night, however i have also heard that it's not that serious and you should just focus on getting in the macro's during the day


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained today and if the scales are correct I am now 175lb which is a 3.5lb increase on this time last week. This seems a little high but is most probably water due to the extra carbs. Also if the scales were 1lb lighter last week and 1lb heavier this week which must be within tollerance then its only a 1.5lb increase. Im happy either way :thumb:

Tonights session was very good, I lowered the weight on bench as last week was too heavy and it felt far better. I also added 3 reps to my squats which Im happy with, just need to concentrate form and dont worrry too much about the weight.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Diet today has been almost spot on, macros (+-2%) and 2447 cals which is close enough for me. I'm getting used to the amounts of food to consume and enjoying the extra calories. It may be just a mental thing but I do feel a little bigger, especially in my legs and lats. I think I may have this bloody cold on the run at last, still not 100% but getting better.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

klach79 said:


> Also with reference to the timing of the carbs just get them on PWO as normal regardless of the time


As I thought.. Its more important the have the carbs postworkout.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Good workout this evening, managed to add a few reps to deads and bent row even got an extra rep on chins. I'm determined to stick with chins but at the moment it's slow going but I'm happy with an extra rep, every little helps.

Diet has been on target again today so I'm happy all round. Tomorrow will be a rest day and then high rep push Friday followed by high rep pull either Saturday or Sunday.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from gym and had a fantastic session tonight. Increased weight or reps on every exercise, particularly happy with Inc db press. Just managed 12 last week with the 30s but this week easily did 12 reps with 32s. Inc flys were the same 12 with 16s last week and 12 easily with 18s this week. Added 3 reps to my squats also buy this was more about me being able to breath better not the weight. Only down point was I didn't get to finish my lunges because the gym shuts at 9. Won't be a problem soon as I start at my new gym next Sunday.

Time to shower and eat now.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

its great when you beat last week's session, really gets me motivated when i do this, great work mate!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Iv been increasing on most lifts for the past few months, even whilst cutting. I always record my lifts in my log book and try and beat them on the next session, works on everything apart from flat bench.

My shoulders and chest are aching today, not painful put a dull heavy feeling. Looking forward to tomorrow's pull session.

Week 2 weigh in tomorrow so I'll see if it's working.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from a nice meal out with the wife and kids. Had a lovely 16oz t-bone steak, thought I would struggle with it but to be honest could have ate it twice :thumb:

Just about to sit down for an evening in front of the box rubbing my tummy with a bid mug of green tea, I'm so rock and roll !!!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Week 2 Measurements.

Chest 43"1/16 +1"1/16

Waist 32"3/8 +0"3/8

Arm1 13"3/4. -0"1/4

Arm2 15"3/8. -0"1/8

Thigh 24"5/16 -0"3/16

Calf 15"3/8

Umb skin 13mm +2mm

Sup skin 4mm. No change.

This week I have been far more accurate with my measurements as any changes over a one week period will only be very slight so recording in half inch increments just won't work.

I think last weeks chest may have been incorrect as I don't think I could have gained an inch in a week.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I take it your heavily one handed!?


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## Wardy211436114751 (Jan 24, 2011)

Si Train said:


> I take it your heavily one handed!?


The different between your right and left arm is ridiculous lol! Good work though youre making good progress man


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> I take it your heavily one handed!?


I'm not some kind of cave dwelling freak with one big arm and one little arm. The first measurement is with my right arm relaxed and the second is with my right arm flexed. I thought this would be obvious you fools. :tongue:

Or is it that I curl with one are whilst updating uk-m with the other. You should see the size of my right hand index finger!!! Flexed obviously...


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Was feeling a little off colour this morning and was going to give the gym a miss but picked up after lunch so thought I will just go and see how I feel when I start. I'm glad I did as I had another good session. I added at least 2 reps to every single exercise, if fact on some I could have done maybe one or two more reps but the form may have slipped.

I weighed my self whilst at the gym and I'm up 1lb to 176lb.

Dave, this coming week will be week 3 (4 set) but due to gym times I will repeat last weeks 3 sets. This won't be a problem after next week as I start my new gym and it's open late so I will be able to complete all sets on weeks 5 and 6.

Calories this week were 2500 a day @ 40%c / 35%p / 25%f.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well another good session under the belt. Again managed to add reps to every lift, with the exception of flat bench. I decided to leave my ego at the door and instead of trying to bench weights that were too heavy for me I would lower the weight and work on my form. Did three good sets of seven reps, slowly and under control and I felt the chest working. As with squats I will gradually build up again and not fall into the bad habit of adding more weight when I cant complete my required reps with the previous weights. I do this with every other exercise but ego takes over on flat bench. Time to take control!!!

On squats I went up by 2.5kg this week and still managed to hit 8 reps so I'm happy with that. All in all a good evenings work.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Great choice with the ego, i roo have had to do a similar thing in the past, always remember form > weight


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just spent 15 mins typing in today's workout and the computer crashed.

Basic result was :thumb:

Lifts of the day

Deadlift 120kg x 6

Bent DB Row 38kg x 8 for all 3 working sets.

I'm happy with that..


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Week 3 Measurements

Chest 41"4/8.......-1"9/16

Waist 32".......-0"3/8

Arm1 14".......+0"1/4

Arm2 15"3/8.......no change

Thigh 24"5/16.......no change

Calf 15"1/4.......+0"1/8

Umb skin 10mm.......-3mm

Sup skin 4mm........No change.

Not sure what to take from above, some loss of bodyfat but no real muscle gain. Diet has been ok during the week but there have been a few days where I didn't check everything I ate, but that being said I have been eating almost the same foods all week so there is no real reason to check every single day.

As I have lost bodyfat and not gained any muscle it must be time to increase my calories so as of today I will increase my daily calories to 2700 a day.

Not sure if I will be training today as I had a knock to the head yesterday playing rugby and Iv been up since 6am this morning with a splitting headache. I will use the extra time to sort out my new diet.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Are you trying to lean bulk? How many calories is that above your maintenance level? The gym is not the place to be if you have a headache! Good call lol


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well based on last weeks results I would say that my maintenance calorie level must be roughly 2500 as I didn't gain this week.

I will up my intake by 300 for next week to 2800 a day. Still at 35%P, 40%C & 25%F. I have been on fitday for the last 30 mins and have put together a blue print of my new diet at 2800 cals. I will try and keep 4 meals the same every day and the only change will be my 6pm evening meal, this is the only time we eat together as a family so I have to cook something everyone will eat, try as I may my 3 year old just wont eat boiled chicken, brown rice and green beans. What ever I have for this meal will be figured into that days macros and my final meal will be modified to ensure I hit my targets.

I am currently at the start of my clean bulk and just finding my feet really, its difficult to know where to start your bulking calories so rather than starting at a level that is too high Dave has set the level low to begin with and we will gradually increase till we get to where we need to be. Im finding the diet fairly easy currently but Im sure it will become harder as we go. Im normally fairly hungry most of the time but not looking forward to having to eat 3500+ calories a day, unless pizza and chocolate become the new bodybuilding wonder foods.

Head is still hurting but not as bad as it was. My darling wife had the following to say "Its you own fu**ing fault, running around like an idiot at your age" she's so compassionate.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Haha i see your point regarding the family meal lol! I think you are doing right by starting with a smaller increase in calories, how long do you plan on bulking for? The best thing that has helped me get the extra calories in (even though i'm hungry ALL the time!) is to drink more milk. I drink at least 3 pints a day at the moment so that's about another 750 cals just there for me.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I plan to bulk up to around 14 stone. I have been up to 13st10 in the past but at a high bodyfat %. this time I want to keep the fat down as low as I can and once I get to my target I will try and maintain my extra muscle whilst cutting down to a lean 13st7lb. Well that's the long term plan anyway. I'm not sure how long it will take but I'm in no rush.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

First session at my new gym and it went well, it will take a few weeks to settle in and get used to the new equipment but I enjoyed tonight. It was nice to finish my workout and not have to rush. Trained push tonight, 4 sets of 8 to 12 on everything, final set of each exercise was a killer but I managed them all. Wanted to give up on squats but just took a deep breath and pushed on. I will pay tomorrow....


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Good man! whats your new gym called?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

It's called elite 2000. Only a small place but everything I need and it's quiet after about 8 so purfect for my needs. Although there is no foam pad on the squatting bar so I will have to man up and take the pain (grrrrrr).

Just back from there and they have a new plate loaded pull down machine and I can say that for the first time in a while my lats were hurting whilst performing a lat exercise. This may sound daft but I don't normally fell pull downs or chins in my lats but today they were on fire.

Need to get used to the DBs as they go up in 2.5kg jumps not 2nd like the old place.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I gave up my "MAN CARD" the day I got married. Anyway I may give up soon as the weights are making a mess of my nails and the sweat is ruining my hair do. Might take up cross stitch, far less taxing.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Were all the same..

Night off tonight, just eat and rest :thumbup1:


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Haha and you were taking the P!ss about the foam roller!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Real men use foam pads when squatting !!!!

Gym tonight for heavy push, looking forward to having a go on the plate loaded chest press machine. I will be able to safely go to failure on my own.

I will have to pop into B&Q before the gym to get hold of some pipe insulation :no:


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Not sure how to rate tonight's session. Chest machine was good and felt it burning, Inc DB press was as normal. Had a go on a side raise machine but didn't really feel it to be honest, rear delt machine did the job though. Might go back to DB side raises next week.

Added another 5kg to squats which was not too bad. Four sets of lunges and I was done, nearly fell out of the gym my legs were so wobbly.

Oh and no foam pad again.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Do you have the flat machine or the incline at your gym? Both are good, i like to use them last on my chest day and do a triple drop set!

good work on the squats, and you survived without the pussy pad!?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its difficult to describe and its kind of both. As the pivot point is above your head you are pushing in an upwards arc so the bar starts around nipple area and finishes level with your upper chest. It felt good but the only down side was the frame is a little narrow so my elbows caught the side3 a few times.

Found a pic of the exact machine.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Yeah we have that one too, but we have one next to it which has an incline and is much harder to do, great machines you can get a great squeeze!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

We have a shoulder press my the same manufacturer and it's a great bit of kit. I don't normally like shoulder machines but this one feels natural.

Trained pull on Friday and I think I over did it with the coffee as I didn't want to leave the gym. Even four heavy sets of deads didn't slow me down, even through in an extra few sets of seated row as I didn't feel the t-bar rows did the trick.

Another rest day tomorrow and then back to the gym on Monday. Could easily train tomorrow but I think that rest is also important.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Week 4 Measurements

Last week............. this week

Chest 41"1/2.........42"1/2 (+1")

Waist 32".............32"1/2 (+.5"0

Arm1 14".............14"

Arm2 15"3/8........15"1/4 (-1/8)

Thigh 24"5/16......24"1/4 (-1/16)

Calf 15"1/4..........15"1/8 (-1/16)

Umb skin 10mm...10mm

Sup skin 4mm......4mm

No major changes this week, waist has increased by 1/2" and chest has gone up by 1", everything else is almost the same. In not sure what the next step is, do I increase my cals and risk gaining more bodyfat or stay on the same cals and not grow ? My diet has been consistant and my training has been spot on, I just feel a little let down as Iv bust my butt all week and dont seem to have made any progress.

Below is an example of my daily diet but please note meal 4 changes daily but all other meals remain the same. This is just what I ate on friday.

* 3 eggs, 50g oats, 50g muesli.

* 2 wholemeal bread, 1 tin tuna, 1 tasp mayo, 1 apple.

* 150g chicken, 125g rice, green beans, 1 banana.

* 200g pasta, 150g lean mince, pasta sauce.

* 50g whey, 50g oats, 50g muesli.

2850 cals 79g fat (25%) 291g carbs (41%) 229g protein (33%)

The final meal is my post workout meal and to be honest at 10pm I just can not be bothered to cook so whey is quick and easy.

Any ideas ????


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I've never had mince with pasta before, what do you make?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

My body is a complete mystery to me :confused1:

When dieting I struggled to loose weight on 2300 calories, but now I'm bulking ( well trying to ) on 2800 calories my weight seems to be coming of nicely. :cursing:

Iv lost 1lb this week for some quite unknown reason. The only thing I can put it down to is that now iv moved gyms I am now able to complete all my workouts in full where as before I had to rush and drop exercises if I ran out of time. The extra exercises and sets must be burning more calories ????

I will see how this week pans out but if I loose any more weight I'm going back on a cutting diet to build some mass.

Rant over....

Apart from that had a good session almost squatted till I puked and not a foam pad in sight.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Weight problem may be due to dehydration. Just been to the loo and my p was dark yellow despite drinking over a litre of water at the gym. I normally have 3 litres a day at work but being off today iv drank hardly anything. I will increase my water intake to my normal level tomorrow and weigh myself again tomorrow evening.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Check out our pumpkin. All done with my own fair hand.



Nothing to do with this journal but I like showing off. 

Won't mean a lot to those without kids.


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## Monkey skeleton (Jul 8, 2012)

Is that the truck off Rory the racing car? If so, very impressive. If not.... Still, very pretty! Lol

Not looked in for a while, but I'm gonna have a catch up.

I also seem to have better ab definition (I don't weigh myself etc very often) when I'm piling the food in. I wondered weather it fires up the metabolism?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

It's the truck of the Disney movie Cars. It's called Mater. My kids love the film so I thought I would give it a go.


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## Monkey skeleton (Jul 8, 2012)

aad123 said:


> It's the truck of the Disney movie Cars. It's called Mater. My kids love the film so I thought I would give it a go.[/quote
> 
> That's it! CARS!!! My mistake, bloody good carving!


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

That's the b0llox mate, wish I could do that for my kids!

Gonna keep an eye on this journal mate


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

faultline said:


> That's the b0llox mate, wish I could do that for my kids!
> 
> Gonna keep an eye on this journal mate


Thanks a lot for popping in and feel free to input.

I think the pumpkin carving is going better than my bulking.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

If you're still not gaining weight and actually losing weight, that's the license to be able eat more! 

Great pumpkin by the way!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> If you're still not gaining weight and actually losing weight, that's the license to be able eat more!
> 
> Great pumpkin by the way!


I think it was lack of water that made my weight drop, but I'm all for more food.

Just back from gym and finished with biceps. They are feeling pumped and just measured in at 16" dead. Obviously this is not a true measurement as they won't stay pumped for long but for now I'm happy.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

That's much better than my 'guns'!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Im ready for thegym tonight having had 4 days with two kids who just do not stop fighting I need to vent some anger :cursing:

Why do they have so many school holidays, Im sure its for the teachers not the kids and certainly not the parents.

Today will be push workout and I will be trying 100kg squats for the first time in a while, not sure how I will go but Im ready to give them a go. At the start of the year I was pushing 8 reps out at 100kg so if I can get 9 it will be a new PB for this year...fingers crossed.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Good luck on the squats mate, I know what u mean about the kids I've got 2 boys, 3 + 5, one minute playing the next world war 3, wouldn't change em for the world tho


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

At times I feel more like a refere than a dad but boys will be boys. I'm sure I was just the same at that age ( and well beyond ).

I didn't get the 9 reps but managed a very strict 7 so I'm more than happy. I could have pushed for 9 but the form would have been shocking and the risk of injury just isn't worth it. The rest of the session went well but took a little longer than I would have liked as I was in there for well over 1.5 hours.

Deadlifts tomorrow, oh what joy. 5 sets of pure pain.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

aad123 said:


> At times I feel more like a refere than a dad but boys will be boys. I'm sure I was just the same at that age ( and well beyond ).
> 
> I didn't get the 9 reps but managed a very strict 7 so I'm more than happy. I could have pushed for 9 but the form would have been shocking and the risk of injury just isn't worth it. The rest of the session went well but took a little longer than I would have liked as I was in there for well over 1.5 hours.
> 
> Deadlifts tomorrow, oh what joy. 5 sets of pure pain.


5 sets of fun!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Not sure what your idea of fun is but 5 sets of deads isn't mine. I will also be attempting chins with additional weight for the first time, I'm quite happy with my progress on chins because a few months ago I could only manage 3 with my body weight. I'm still pondering the t-bar or DB row question. I will have a look for a form guide on youtube as I think I was doing them all wrong last time.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Very happy with this evenings workout, weights weren't spectacular but my focus was on form and feeling the muscles work. Managed chins with 5kg additional weight and after watching a few vids on YouTube I decided to go with t- bar rows and I felt every rep. Next up deadlifts and after watching a rippetoe instructional video got my form sorted, reset after every rep and left the bar feeling sick. Finished with shrugs and biceps then home to eat.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Sounds like a great workout, can't beat the feeling of an awesome workout can you!? well done


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Iv done my measurements a day early this week a I will be having a pizza and a beer later, can't be 100% strict all the time.

Week 5 Measurements

Last week............. this week

Chest 42"1/2.........42"5/8 (+1/8")

Waist 32"1/2........32"1/8 (-3/8)

Arm1 14".............14"1/4 (+1/4")

Arm2 15"1/4........15"1/4

Thigh 24"1/4........24"1/8 (-1/8)

Calf 15"1/4..........15"1/8

Umb skin 10mm...11mm

Sup skin 4mm......4mm

Another week over and there has been some slight improvement, chest and triceps seem to be responding well. I have also lost a little around the waist. The results are as expected as towards the end of the week Iv had a bit of a dodgy tummy so I have missed a meal on both thursday and friday. I will be back at work next week so my diet will be far better. The comming week will be my final week of the 6 week cycle and as the volume will be high I dont expect to increase a great deal but if I continue with the diet on my deload week the lower volume will mean I will have more calories available for groth.

I will post my weight on Monday after the gym, forgot my wallet on friday so couldn't weigh myself.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> Sounds like a great workout, can't beat the feeling of an awesome workout can you!? well done


The workout was amazing, but the feeling totally trashed after is never nice but at least you know you have given 100%.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I must be weird, i like that feeling lol


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Si Train said:


> I must be weird, i like that feeling lol


Its the feeling of achievement, not many outside this sport ever feel it.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Iv been advised to lower my volume for the next two weeks and stear clear of training to failure. The past 5 weeks have been fairly demanding and my CNS could do with a little time to recover as I may be comming close to over training. This may explain my lack of progress even though Im on increased calories. I will still be training four times a week but at a far reduced intencity whilst also maintaining my current diet.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

How long have you been training mate?

And is your current routine training to failure on all sets or just the last set?


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

aad123 said:


> Iv been advised to lower my volume for the next two weeks and stear clear of training to failure. The past 5 weeks have been fairly demanding and my CNS could do with a little time to recover as I may be comming close to over training. This may explain my lack of progress even though Im on increased calories. I will still be training four times a week but at a far reduced intencity whilst also maintaining my current diet.


Have you thought of doing a deload week or just taking a week off the gym to let your body recover and then resume your normal training?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Iv been training on and off for many years. In the past I would train like crazy but my diet was terrible and I enjoyed the odd beer far to often. At one point I would go to the gym then go home and sink 4 cans of beer, not ideal for building mass. Around 18 months ago I was looking around on the web and I came across an american site called iron magazine forum and it was only then I started paying attention to my diet, back then my waist was around the 37" mark, I was fairly strong but totally out of shape. I put a post up about post workout nutrition and it all started from there.

This time last year I discovers UK-M and started my journal to track my progress, which has always been very slow. Since then my diet has improved no end and I'm finally starting to get somewhere near where I want to be. I did have a serious set back in march this year where I lost over a stone and didn't train for almost a month but after some help on diet and training I managed to get back

on track and over the past 5 months I have been totally committed to trying to achieve my goals.

The training is based on a 6 week cycle where the number of sets increases fortnightly with the final week being 5 sets. The majority of sets are taken to failure, by failure I mean the point where the form goes and the rep can not be completed with near purfect form. Obviously this can not be done on all exercises for safety reasons but where possible I go to failure. This system has worked very well and I enjoy this type of training but obviously as the weights and number of sets increases the body becomes a little over worked so this is why we have a low volume deload week after the final week of the previous cycle.

Sorry for the long winded reply.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Ah i see well first off well done for getting back on track, its not easy! You could try kind of the same method of training however maybe have 1 or 2 'strength' sets in your plan where you will go to failure (these will usually be compounds) and then stick to a certain rep range with the other exercises, maybe using pyramids? This way you shouldn't burn out as quick.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I will be deloading for the next 2 weeks with no failure and following that we will be trying a slightly different training approach. I think I can train hard but my recovery ability is not as good as it could be and my CNS needs a little time to recover.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

During my deload weeks I will take the opportunity to try a few different exercises that I either haven't done before or I haven't done for a while just to spice things up a little. I will still do my main compound lifts but try some different ancillary exercises. This is mainly because my new gym has a lot of new equipment that I want to have a play with. Iv had my eye on the hack squat machine for a while now...


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

No training tonight as Im on CNS rest. I think I will only train 3 days this week to allow a little additional recovery time, also the muscle that connects to my left collar bone is hurting (name ???). Not sure why or how but I just get a slight twinge every now and then. I think my old body is just getting worn out.

Diet has been fairly good today and after supper in a while I will have hit my target again so Im happy with that.

Weightd myself last night and I was 12st 5.5lb or 173.5lb so my weight has dropped a little but with a good week of hitting my target Im sure this will improve.

After a chat with the gym owner last night we agreed that I may have been over training last week as I did 4 sessions with every set taken to failure and each session lasted over 90 mins. I just dont think my body can cope with that amount of work. I need to either reduce the number of days I train or reduce the length of my training sessions. For example in one session I did 8 exercises all for 5 working sets and every one of those sets was to failure so thats 40 sets. This is not a normal week but it was very demanding and my body just couldn't cope.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Mate I would defo cut back on those sessions, a natty can't handle that kind if training IMO.

As I've been advised, keep workouts under an hour, 10-15 sets for larger muscle groups, 5-8 sets for smaller muscle groups.


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## j.o.s.h (Sep 6, 2012)

Have you tried upping your kcals to help in general recovery?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The thing is I dont mind the training, the sessions are great but if they aren't giving me any results then its just wasted energy and time.

One thing I did notice on monday was that because of the lower volume on chest and shoulders my triceps were lifting extreamly well. I smashed through my weight with ease. Not sure how I will go tonight with back and biceps but Im looking forward to it.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

The main thing to remember is every single person is different in regards to training, you need to find what suits you. For me, high volume and intensity works but it may be the low volume that works for you, just need to find the right balance.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

As it's my deload week I have done a push pull leg week. This wad not my intension but as the squat rack was busy on Monday it's just worked out that way. So tonight was leg day and I forgot how good it feels. Warmed up with leg ext follower by aa few sets of squats. After squats came Romanian deadlifts follower by lying leg curls and to finish standing than seated calf raise. The whole session took about 45 mins and was most enjoyable.

I weighed myself and my weight is up a little to 12 stone 6.25. So that's an increase of 0.75 lb, not huge nut I'm happy with that after last week. I will measure on sat morning to get a true picture.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Progress is progress!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I'll take anything I can get at the moment.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Well it's the end of my first week of deload and tomorrow is measurement day. I really don't know what the results will be ?

I have trained hard but it feels strange not going to failure but I will just have to see how things have gone.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Week 6 Measurements

Last week............. this week

Chest 42"5/8.........42"3/8

Waist 32"1/8.........32"1/4

Arm1 14"1/4.........14"1/8

Arm2 15"1/4.........15"1/4

Thigh 24"1/8........24"1/4

Calf 15"1/8..........15"1/4

Umb skin 11mm...11mm

Sup skin 4mm......4mm

Again some very slight improvement but nothing major, I am seriously considering just having a week of eating what ever I want as sticking to a diet doesn't seem to be working :cursing:

Im just a little frustraited as after 6 weeks I seem to have made no real progress..


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Week 1.....................Week 6

Waist 32"..................32"1/4 +1/4"

Arm straight 14".......14"1/8 +1/8"

Arm flexed 15.5........15"1/4 -1/4"

Chest 42".................42"3/8 +3/8"

Thigh 24.5"..............24"1/4 -1/4"

Above are my starting measurements and todays measurements.

As you can see there is very little progress for 6 weeks of hard work. Either my calories are too low or my training is not working but something needs to change as Im beginning to loose heart. I wasn't expecting miracles but I seem to have made better gains whilst cutting.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

If anything mate take that week of eating anything just to get your morale back up, just make sure your protein is high, as you know, and eat eat eat sometimes it does you good 

Don't be too hard on yourself mate the stats are not bad at all, sometimes you just have to change things up!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I just feel like Im putting in a lot of effort for little reward. A fresh start may do me good, this game is all about finding what works for the individual and there is something about what Im currently doing that isnt working so I need to look at diet and training and change something and see what happens. After next weeks final deload week I will be starting a new training system so perhaps that will be the change I need, something new and fresh to get me on the move again.

:thumb:


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Definatly Mate, I constantly feel like I make alot of effort for little reward but it's a slow process for us nattys, and it's all about winning the battles week in week out in the gym and you will eventually win the war

Search on YouTube for train with Kai and listen to what he has to say about volume and the weight that we use, very interesting


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Ref Kai Green vid clips.

Just watched one of the vids and they make a good point about the weight not being important and the emphasis being on the muscle contraction. Also about the higher reps forcing nutriants into the muscle and sparing the joints and tendons from the stress of heavy lifting. Some very good points.

This week I think I will carry on with the PPL 3 day split but after watching the vid I will lower the weight and try and focus more on contractional force.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Mind muscle connection!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just a quick update pic. Looking at the two pics is clear to see there is less definition but my upper chest seems to have shown slight improvement so its not all bad.

The strange angle in the second photos is due to my collor bone being painfull in that position and not allowing me to pull my shoulder down. Its been playing up for a week or two. Im sure it will heal with time.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Decent progress there mate, what's the difference in weight between both photos?

Def look a bit bigger in 2nd pic


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

There is only about 4 pound difference in the photos and the measurements haven't changed a lot but there is a visible difference.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained upper body push last night and lowered the weight and really contracted the muscle at the top of the movement, also tried a few different exercises. I didn't take any sets to failure but the last few reps of each set were very difficult to complete and the burn was amazing. I can really feel my chest, shoulders and triceps today. Due to family stuff I will be training again tonight and it will be upper body pull. I will follow the same principle as last night and hold the contraction and not go to failure. With luck I will have a similar pump to last night.

Diet was fairly good yesterday and so far today it's been ok. Iv ran out of whey so need to sort out my post workout meal, probably go with eggs and oats.

If I have time and energy I will record my workout later.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained upper body pull last night and had a fairly good session. Focused on the contraction and gave a good squeeze at the top. Didn't go to failure but got a reasonable burn a few times. No DOMS today from my pull session but my triceps and shoulders are still hurting from monday.

Diet has been off today as I was in a meeting most of the day and so had a buffet lunch, once I started I couldnt stop. Not sure how much I ate so I wont even guess what my calories were today. I plan to rest this evening and then train legs thursday. Again I will be aiming for 2 sets of 12 reps but not to failure.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

If you want the DOMS mate do 4x12 especially on the larger muscle groups like back,quads,hammys,chest etc

Give em a good hammering without really going to failure


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

This week Im keeping the volume low but in the past I have dome 5 sets of 12. Its a total killer on squats, deads and rows.

I will be starting a new training system next week with a little luck so I will wait and see whats in stall for me there.

Diet has been interesting again today. Currently eating 200g of rice, 200g of chicken followed by a huge slice of pork pie. If after this week I have lost weight then I will give up bb and take up knitting or cross stitch.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Trained legs last night and had a good session, hard, but good.

3 sets each of leg ext (to warm up) followed by squats, hack squats, SLDL, lying leg curl, standing leg curl, standing calf raises and donkey calf raises. Sounds like a lot but only took 50mins, legs felf a little shakey after and are starting to stiffen up now.

Today my diet has been a total mess. I just eaten whatever I like, still had plenty of protein but Iv had crisps, choc and biscuits. All of this will have to stop next week when I start my new training prog so this is why Im enjoying it for now. Ill be interested to see what happens on sundays measurements as although I havent been going to failure and eating junk I have still been training extreamly hard and keeping my protein intake high so I will wait and see.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

How'd the hack squat go? Would love one of them at my gym!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Hack squats felt a little strange, not in a bad way. I sometimes find on normal squats my lower back gets a little too involved but as you are on a back rest with the hack squats it takes that away and I felt my quads more as a result. I only went light but made sure I took them as deep as possible. 3 sets of 12 was just about right after my back squats and my quads were burning on the last set. Not sure if they were as effective as lunges but a good exercise never the less. I wouldnt go heavy on them and for safety I would stay short of failure but as a finishing exercise they are a good choice.

After todays "pig-out" I feel like my insides need a clean. Im not used to eating crap foods and couldn't do it all of the time but as a one off it wont hurt and now im ready to start the next chapter in my journy having go it out of my system.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Week 7 Measurements

Last week............. this week

Chest 42"3/8.........42"5/8 +1/4

Waist 32"1/4.........32"3/8 +1/8

Arm1 14"1/8.........14"1/8

Arm2 15"1/4.........15"1/8 -1/8

Thigh 24"1/4........24"3/8 +1/8

Calf 15"1/4..........15"1/4

Umb skin 11mm...13mm +2mm

Sup skin 4mm......5mm +1mm

Another week of very little change, Im thinking it may be time to up my calories to 3000. I wasn't expecting major changes but in the time frame I would expect a little more. The only thing that has changed since my cut finished is Iv gotten a little fatter, dont seem to have gained any muscle.

Once I get my new routine and with the increase in calories I should start to get moving again.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just done some reading around and found a thread on diet and the guy used the Harris-Benedict method to calculate daily calories.

It was rather a long winded process but from the numbers I provided the formula determined that I need 2545 calories a day just to maintain my current weight, this seems fairly consistant with my current findings. As a result I will be increasing to 3000 cals a day from monday.

Formula

66+(13.7*weight in kg)+(5*height in cm)-(6.8*age) = A

A * activity level = calories to maintain weight.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

More food = Stronger


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Stronger is not a problem its BIGGER Im struggling with. I will be increasing my calories next week and see how I go. I think my maintance level must be around 2800 as I dont seem to be gaining any size or weight but the weights keep going up in the gym ?


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Yeah defo up them cals, I hit 3200 day in day out for months and I went from 12 stone 2 to 13 stone 12, dropped it to 2500-2600 last few weeks for a recomp n hovered around 13.8-13.10 so the increase in cals DOES work!!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I think the super slow progress is due to the diet as the training has remained the same as during my cut and it worked well then. I will record what I eat everyday for 2 weeks and see how it goes.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm consuming 3300 cals per day and i'm gaining slowly but still getting stronger without too much fat gain, so that seems a good number for me, i think if you are trialing different total cals you should give them about 2 weeks to see if its working.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Not sure what today's cals will be but I will be over 3000 for sure. I will work them out on Fitday later.

Been a funny day today, been feeling extremely low all day. Not a training related problem just family stuff. I didn't feel Like training to be honest but there is no point just sitting around feeling sorry for myself so I got my ass up and put all my problems aside and trained. As I have not yet started my new routine I went for a D.C style training session. I have used this system in the past and enjoyed it so I thought I'd give it a go.

Only 5 exercises but a hard session.

Inc mc bench

Seated shoulder press

Skull crushers

Lat pull down - wide grip

T-bar row.

Enjoyed tonight and it's lifted my mood a little.

Saw a lad I used to train with and he is now a beast. Asked me for a spot in seated DB shoulder press. 13 reps with the 50kg dumbells. Said we could train legs together on Wednesday..god knows what he squats now ? Could be fun.


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## j.o.s.h (Sep 6, 2012)

aad123 said:


> Not sure what today's cals will be but I will be over 3000 for sure. I will work them out on Fitday later.
> 
> Been a funny day today, been feeling extremely low all day. Not a training related problem just family stuff. I didn't feel Luke training to be honest but there is no point just sitting around feeling sorry for myself so I got my ass up and put all my problems aside and trained. As I have not yet started my new routine I went for a D.C style training session. I have used this system in the past and enjoyed it so I thought I'd give it a go.
> 
> ...


Good to see you've upped the kcals buddy! Seems to be working?!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Not sure about today, just started some medication and the side effects include nausea and poor appetite. So far today I had a slice of toast and a cup of coffee. I feel like crap but I will just have to force the food down and hope it stays there. I will have my chicken and rice in a few mins and will have to make up my calories later when I feel a little better.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Been feeling better today, no nausea and my appetite is a little better. Iv had two meals so far today and I will be having my lunch very soon. I will hopefully make it to the gym this afternoon or evening. I will be doing legs and biceps as part of my DC type training session. I need to read up on DC training as its been a while and Im not 100% sure of the method for legs.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Upping my volume in the last couple weeks has sent my appetite through the roof, I've had 1800 cals already today and I'm restraining myself.

Never looked into this dc training before, you've interested me to have a read later


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

It might be worth a read, its a simple method of training but I enjoyed doing it. Takes a while to get used to after a more mainstream split but you don't know till you try.

Quads are a killer. One heavy set followed by a set of 20 reps, burns like hell.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Last 3 days have been a washout due to sides from medication. Starting to feel a little better today but still far from my normal self. Mood seems to go up and down in waves, one min I feeling good then an hour later I feel like crap again. Have tried to keep food intake high and clean as possible but far from where I should be. I may go to the gym tomorrow if I feel ok.

With a little luck I will start to feel better next week and my appetite will return.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

What meds u on mate?

You'll soon be back in there throwing them weights around


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its called Sertraline. From what Iv read it works well but I will have some side effects for a while until my body gets used to it.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The medication has been really kicking my ass for the last few days. Iv just felt tired and sick all the time. Im having real trouble concentraining and everything seems like a major hassle, mood has been really low today. Iv been getting about 4 to 5 hours sleep a night which isnt helping any. Obviously there will be no training today but I have made an effort to eat as best I can. I just want the side effects of the medication to wear off and then Im sure I will start to feel myself again.

Tried to have a sleep about mid day but the house opposite has got builders in and just as I finally dropped off the phone rang so I just gave up trying to sleep and went for a walk instead.

Im trying to think of a positive note to finish on but at the moment there just doesn't seem to be one.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Mate we all have these hard times when we can't train/eat properly, I went through a hard time in august and September but came out the other side more motivated, more determined and since then I believe I've made more progress than I did in the months before that.

Chin up, your time will come......


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I can't wait to get back in the gym and start feeling good about my self again. This journal is called the long hard road which is more of a comment on life than training. Times are very hard at the moment but there is always a glimmer of hope to try and cling onto and these times help you become stronger as a person. It doesn't make them any easier but I just have to work my way through it.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, i'm sure you will come out of this all guns blazing!


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Im hoping so.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I'm feeling a little better today so I'm planning a visit to the gym later. Nothing major just to get me out of the house.


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Good idea pal, you'll feel better for it, get some tunes on and kill it


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Iv reached the point where I think "FCUK IT" life is to short to sit about feeling down. Time to take contol.

I think the meds must be kicking in.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just back from the gym and it went very well. Just did a basic all body workout 3 to 4 sets of everything.

Deadlifts

Military press

Chins

Inc bench

Leg press

Weighted dips

Not a great deal nut enough as I'm knackered now.


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## Si Train (Jul 21, 2009)

Bet it felt great to be back in the gym?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Sure did feel good to be back and Im on my way back tonight. Another full body workout again, compounds all the way.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Went old school 5x5 tonight.

5 sets each of:

Squats

T-bar row

Inc DB press

Seated military press

Job done, nice and simple!


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## faultline (Feb 5, 2010)

Nice session mate, have the meds kicked in? You feeling more up for it?


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

The meds are starting to work but Im still getting the side effects. The main problem is the nausea, but this generally passes about mid day. I just have a simple bowl of cerial for breakfast just to stop the hunger then as the day goes on and I feel better I increase the food. Im back at work next week so should get back into some kind of rhythm again.

As I never know exactly how I will be feeling Im going to stick to the full body workouts for a while until I feel 100%, that way if I can only make the gym twice a week at least Iv trained every muscle. If I was on a split and only trained twice I would be missing a lot of body parts.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just a quick update.

Still not 100% yet but starting to get my appetite back a little, mood has improved a slightly but its still up and down.

I have been making an effort to get to the gym and have started on a 5x5 system but Im still sorting the detail out at the moment and playing around with exercises to see what works best for me. For the time being Im just exercising for enjoyment as I dont need the added preasure of intence training and diet.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its been a while so I thought Id post a quick update. Things have started to improve slowly and I have started a new workout system. For the next 12 weeks I will be doing a 5x5 routine. I have started a mini-journal to track progress and record weights and reps etc.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Its been a tough old year with one thing and another and I will finish this year not where I wanted to be. I started the year at a slightly podgy 13 stone and I will be finishing at a leaner 12stone 2 (ish). Not what I was expecting but with the year Iv had Im happy just to be still training.

I have had some success during the year and have learned how my body reacts to different training and diet systems so will be bringing the positive aspects of 2012 into the new year and with a little dedication I will be in a far better position this time next year.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

Just a note to let you all know I have started a new 2013 journal that I will be keeping up to date with all my trials and tribulations.

Its called "2013 a new start for a new me"


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