# 6 month update with pics



## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Don't post much much but log on regulary to follow several journals.

Started back on the weights last November after a 10 year break and as you all seem to like progress pics thought i would post a couple up.

Have managed to put on just over 30lbs in the last 6 months albeit with with a fair bit of fat(got a bit carried away with the eating) so will ease off on the carbs to maintain before starting diet in June ready for hols at end of Aug.

1st pic is from my main summer holiday last year.

Hoping to get get into the same condition in my 40's as i did back in my 20's


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## G-man99 (Jul 15, 2008)

Well done mate, got some good solid gains there :thumb:


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## control (Jun 15, 2008)

Looking strong mate.


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## Rudedog (Jan 14, 2009)

Looking good mate put on some good size will look good when you cut


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## Ryan16 (Feb 8, 2010)

Good solid gains mate  well done  :thumb:


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## Lois_Lane (Jul 21, 2009)

Muscle memory is great is it not!

Great recovery of muscle mate.

Were you a lot bigger in your 20s?


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks for the comments guy's.

Much appreciated

Con was about another stone heaver than this but tighter at my peak at the end of my 20's.

Never really had a problem getting to the size i have wanted,its geting rid of the fat that I found the most difficult.

Saying that when dieting in the past i never used to do any cardio,did'nt eat anything after 6pm in the week and pigged out on junk food and alcohol at weekends so dieting should be much easier with a more structured approach.

Will try and update with progress pics every 4 weeks or so once i start dieting.


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## NickC (Apr 6, 2010)

Very good progress mate, looking big!


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## Bri (Jul 15, 2009)

Mate well done, even i n the 1st pic you look in ten times better shape than me and most members on the board, and that was with a ten year lay off! crikey.

you're going to look great dieted down mate and you've made brilliant progress.

You natty?


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## skinnyfat (Mar 30, 2010)

once you cut you'll look great, well done you look huuuuge


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## dave_jenks (Aug 13, 2009)

awesome dude, keep it up, can you give us some stats?

how old are you in your avi? looks wicked


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## jonb19 (Jan 14, 2010)

Looking good dude, what age are you ??

Im going to get some pics on the same as you to get motivated for me holidays....good to see another 40's looking good though, im at 44 next time round and feel as good as ever, just need to lose the belly bit and prob will look as good as i did in my 20's (must try dig some old pics out)....now that would be funny...

Anyway, well done and keep us posted.

J.


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## suliktribal (Apr 4, 2010)

Wow. Very impressive, man.

Just goes to show what can be done in 6 months, with hard work.


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## Dave 0511 (Feb 13, 2009)

Bri said:


> You natty?


if he isnt natural will that make you respect his achievements less?


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Bri said:


> Mate well done, even i n the 1st pic you look in ten times better shape than me and most members on the board, and that was with a ten year lay off! crikey.
> 
> you're going to look great dieted down mate and you've made brilliant progress.
> 
> You natty?


Yes at the minute.

Will be doing a simple 12 week cycle once I start dieting.

During my 20's the 1st 5 yrs training were natty and went from 9 to 12stone,2nd 5 yrs did about 5 or 6 basic 6-8wk cycles and went from 12 to 15 stone.


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## Críostóir (Dec 12, 2009)

Your Grrrrrrrrreat; you should be proud of yourself


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

dave_jenks said:


> awesome dude, keep it up, can you give us some stats?
> 
> how old are you in your avi? looks wicked


Cheers

5'6"

200lb in pics

Arms 17.5"

Legs 24"

Not sure on body fat-15 to 20%?

Would of been about 29 in avi.

Hopefully can replace it with an up to date one at the end of the diet.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

jonb19 said:


> Looking good dude, what age are you ??
> 
> Im going to get some pics on the same as you to get motivated for me holidays....good to see another 40's looking good though, im at 44 next time round and feel as good as ever, just need to lose the belly bit and prob will look as good as i did in my 20's (must try dig some old pics out)....now that would be funny...
> 
> ...


Cheers.

Am 42 next.

My life is much more structured and i have far more patience now than when i was younger.

I am also eating much better nowdays and with all the information available on sites like this am hoping to get back into good shape for this summer.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Four weeks into the diet now so though I would post a couple of progress pics.

Spent May cleaning the diet up and finding my maintenance level which was about P-300/C-300/F-50 so have kept the protein and the fats the same but reduced the carbs to around 200 and added in fasted am cardio as required in order to loose 2lbs per week.

Now down to 190lbs.

Been reading up on the Keto diet and am going to try this over the next 4 weeks.


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## Mikazagreat (Apr 10, 2009)

Great progress mate, don't stop training again.


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## stevens (Feb 1, 2010)

looking good mate.can defo see a differance.keep up that cardio.look forward to the next update.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Well 2 weeks in Keto and 6 weeks into the diet.

Did'nt bother with a refeed after the first week so ready for a good cheat day tomorrow:thumb:

Cardio been increased to 45min am now.

Diet same.

Managed to drop another 4lbs over the last 2 weeks.

Pic this morning after Cardio.


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## 1Tonne (Jun 6, 2010)

Looking big man, keep it up


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## BenM (Sep 12, 2009)

Looking really good mate, leaning out nicely. I would be interested in seeing a sample of your daily diet and training programme if you don't mind sharing. Whatever you're doing is working well for you, and as a previous reply stated muscle memory is fantastic.


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## bensation (Dec 20, 2008)

What routine you doing mate, Great progress aswell!


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## nws (May 18, 2009)

Great progress, keep up the good work!


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## LukeCrossan (Mar 27, 2009)

Looking great mate


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks for the replies guys.

Good bit of extra motivation.

Diet as follows:-

07:00-6 whole eggs,whey protein,tablespoon peanut butter

09:30-whey protein and handfull of mixed nuts

12:00-2 chicken breast with salad,cheese and olive oil

14:30-whey protein and handfull of mixed nuts

17:00-2 chicken breast with salad,cheese and olive oil

20:00-steak with green veg followed by strawberries and double cream

23:00-whey protein,tablespoon peanut butter

Training split as follows:-

Chest and Triceps

Back and Biceps

Shoulders and Hamstrings

Quads and Calves

Train Mon,Wed and Fri so start each week with a different bodypart.

Training is basic movements with excercises/rep ranges that suit my body type.

Tend to do a good warm up then hit each bodypart with my maximum weight for 1st set then either drop weight and do same reps or same weight but decrease reps depending upon how i feel.

Sets would be 12 for major bodyparts and 6 to 9 for shoulders and arms.

Pic of front after training chest last week.

Will post update pics at 8,10 and12wks.

Know its going to start getting harder to loose the 2lb a week.

Might have to loose the strawberries and double cream


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Took some inspiration from a few on here "Weeman/BigJoe" etc and decided to try a proper cheat (normally have a nice meal with a sweet followed by biscuits)on Sunday after 2 weeks on keto.

Anyway started at 1pm and really struggled as got full very quickly but managed BBQ,Magnum Ice Cream x 2,Flapjacks x 2,Kopparberg x 2, Diam bar x3,Half Family Pizza,Egg Custard,Biscuits approx 15,Protein drink,Peanut Butter on toast and a bag of crisps.

Ended up on the settee at half eleven feeling very lethargic surrounded by various packets of biscuits trying to get as much down me before bed.

Anyway weight before bed was 8lb up from that morning,the following morning 4lb up from pre cheat weight and back to pre cheat weight the morning after(today) and think my metabolism is still racing as this is the first day of the diet where i have been really hungry all day.

Had a great back and bicep session at the gym Monday feeling nice and strong(pulled 180kg for 10) and got a great pump on biceps so much so i only needed to do 5 sets for these in total rather than my normal 9.

So you could say i am converted but need to try harder as still had lots of food left that i could'nt manage(swear i would of been sick) that the kids are going to have to polish off for me this week.


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## DEJ (Mar 11, 2007)

Awesome mate, is the cheat going to be a weekly thing now then or every so often?!


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## Ash1981 (Jun 16, 2009)

looking great mate

are you following a specific keto? such as lyle mcdonalds ckd or have you just done your own style, cutting carbs at re carbing at the weekend?


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

DEJ said:


> Awesome mate, is the cheat going to be a weekly thing now then or every so often?!


Cheers

Going to have another one this weekend.

Already starting to think about everything i am going to buy when i go food shopping:thumbup1:


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

ash1981 said:


> looking great mate
> 
> are you following a specific keto? such as lyle mcdonalds ckd or have you just done your own style, cutting carbs at re carbing at the weekend?


Thanks Mate.

Nothing specific just no carbs through week and refeed on a Sunday.

Think i am quite sensitive to carbs so the diet seems to be suiting me.


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## Ash1981 (Jun 16, 2009)

ok mate thanks for the answer.

Are you getting into condition for a show or are you just trying to get down to a low % bf?

what ratio did you use for protein/fats through the week? 60/40 p/f or did you not bother to do it like that?


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

No problem Ash

I have about 400g of Protein and 100g of fats each day so that would be a 80/20 split.

Diet is for main summer holiday and also to see if i can achieve the same level of conditioning i managed in my 20's.

I can change my avi then.


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## DEJ (Mar 11, 2007)

Rotsocks said:


> No problem Ash
> 
> I have about 400g of Protein and 100g of fats each day so that would be a 80/20 split.
> 
> ...


haha brilliant goal to have, i'm reduced to having Dave Draper as mine because i'm a fat mess lol


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## Ash1981 (Jun 16, 2009)

Rotsocks said:


> No problem Ash
> 
> I have about 400g of Protein and 100g of fats each day so that would be a 80/20 split.
> 
> ...


Ive just finished drawing up something similar to what you are doing with regards to diet as i have been carb cycling up till now

im going to spain at the end of august/start of september and want to get as low bf as i can before i go, then come back and up the calories abit

very inspirational thread mate.

been subscribed since i first read through. :thumbup1:


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks again bud.

Get stuck into the diet.

You cant beat being in good shape for your holidays.

I will be relaxing the diet on hol and have a think about what to do when i get back.

Either stop on keto but increasing the fats or add carbs am only as want to keep bodyfat in check while trying to make some more gains for next year.


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## muzzy2kuk (Jun 21, 2010)

Hey mate, sorry to bug you with questions!

I understand a cheat meal can help with cravings! But why do you have a day of eating loads of carbs? I am also on a no/low carb diet and wondered if it would be beneficial for me to do this, just dont understand the thinking behind it! cheers!

You look awesome by the way good work!


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Cheers Muzzy

From my reading a weekly refeed is required when on CKD in order to replenish glycogen supplies for the following weeks training.

It also stimulates your metabolism and gives you something to look forward each week.

Have a look at some of BigJoes threads on here as he seems to be very knowledgable in this area.


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## Ash1981 (Jun 16, 2009)

Rotsocks said:


> Thanks again bud.
> 
> Get stuck into the diet.
> 
> ...


are you currently on cycle aswell?

my diet i have written up is quite similar to yours apart from i have some tuna in there and a little less shakes.

im going to try out anmal stak along with this diet to see how much strength i can keep or even gain if im lucky.

I plan on having a month off taking any(again something i read on one of cons posts) supplementation so i will need to up my chicken and tuna intake again soon


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Yes have been using 500mg of test e p/w whilst dieting.

Swapping to test prop for last 4 wks to see if it makes any difference to conditioning.

Shakes are more convenient for my working day.


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## kirkelliott (Jul 22, 2009)

looking food mate i did keto last time round and worked well for me! keep it up bro =]


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks for dropping in Kirk.

Just subscribed to your journal.

Are you using Keto for this prep.

Started MT2 last week.Great Stuff.


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## Kyusho (Aug 24, 2007)

Looking good mate. You have awesome arms, they seem to be naturally pretty big (look larger than average in your start pic). My arms are really weak, just wondering what exercises you do for yours and what you've found works best?


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks mate.

TBH a lot of my arm size is down to genetics.

No matter how i have trained them over the years they have grown.

IIRC they were just over 10" when I started training and peaked at 19" bulked which isnt bad for a dwarf.

Currently 17.5" which is the same size as when i started dieting.

Have done low reps/high reps/super sets but have always stuck to basic movements and don't do any isolation work.

I would say the best growth i have had is when i have super setted bi's and tri's which i will be going back to when bulking again.

The only down side is none of my shirts fit my arms anymore so its t-shirts when i go out now.


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## Kyusho (Aug 24, 2007)

Aha, i'd say that is a nice problem to have! I also superset bi's and tri's myself! Mine seem very reluctant to grow; I normally use a lighter weight with perfect form, only using the bicep on bicep curls etc. But I see some people like to use a really heavy weight and use the legs to help get the barbell up when curling, but control the weight in the negative phase. What are your thoughts on this?


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

TBH I think intensity is the key and that as long as you are stimulating a muscle enough then providing it with adequate food and rest it should grow.

I tend to go as heavy as i can using strict form to failure then use a bit of body swing to get an extra couple of reps.

I have also started finishing of arms with one set of FST-7's

I think that if you have a lagging bodypart you have to put more focus and effort into that area so I would suggest prioritising your arms by training them on there own say on a Monday when you have had the weekend off so are nice and fresh and can smash them.

Find the excersises that give you the best pump and then maybe alternate between low,high rep and superset sessions.

Let me know how you get on.

Good phisique in avi btw.

Andy


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## PHMG (Jun 15, 2010)

Rotsocks said:


> TBH I think intensity is the key and that as long as you are stimulating a muscle enough then providing it with adequate food and rest it should grow.
> 
> I tend to go as heavy as i can using strict form to failure then use a bit of body swing to get an extra couple of reps.
> 
> ...


Agreed. The priority principle has worked wonders for my chest which was lagging (still is a bit but not as bad).


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

I know spent years when I first started training doing heavy benching and just ended up with bigger shoulders.

Once i started focussing on chest specifically and trying different things like pre exhasting with flys and also using dumbells for pressing i started to get some gains.

Forgot to mention lost another 2lbs last week and had another big cheat this weekend.

As i struggled getting all the food in last weekend i started a bit earlier this Sunday.6am after cardio to be precise.

Wont bore you with the details of food intake but 18hrs later i was 13lb up on the mornings dry weight:lol:

Following morning 6lb up

Tue 2lb up

Wed 1lb less than pre cheat weight

This morning 2lb less that pre cheat weight so 2lb for week already done.

Got an all day stag due this Sat so gonna have to start cheat early to get as much crap down me before we start drinking at 2pm


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Gonna be busy tomorrow so thought I would post my 8wk progress pic's tonight.

Continued to drop 2lb per week so down to 182lb now.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

A couple more


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## muzzy2kuk (Jun 21, 2010)

Can i just ask on ur cheat days? Do u try and eat whatever u want before a certain time? or u just eating carbs? etc etc! This would really help me out as i have a cheat planned for 2moz!

btw looking awesome in ur pics!


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Cheers mate.

Getting there.

On the cheat days i have just been eating anything i want.

For example last sunday over the 18 hrs was:-

Full English with 2 slices bread and butter.

Large Bowl Porridge with dried fruit.

Whole Carrot Cake

Magnum ice cream

2 Flapjacks

Took kids to a local carnival and had steak in pitta and an ice cream.

Toblerone

Bag Crisps

Special Foo Yung and fried rice

Small tub Strawberries and Cream Haagan dazs

Daim Bar

Assorted buiscuits and cakes the kids cooked

Peanutbutter on toast.

Protein Drink with milk.

probably missed a few bits but you get the jist


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## muzzy2kuk (Jun 21, 2010)

Bloody ell thats crazy, and how come u shed all that weight back off within 2 days? just cuz u got so much muscle? metabolism is in full speed mode?

I'm scared that if i go all out i'm gonna gain the 7lbs that i just spent 2 weeks losing lol!


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## BenM (Sep 12, 2009)

Diet looks to be working well, serratus and intercostals showing nicely. And hanging on to good muscle size. Keep it up fella.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

muzzy2kuk said:


> Bloody ell thats crazy, and how come u shed all that weight back off within 2 days? just cuz u got so much muscle? metabolism is in full speed mode?
> 
> I'm scared that if i go all out i'm gonna gain the 7lbs that i just spent 2 weeks losing lol!


I know takes some getting your head round.

I never cheated like this in the past,its something i tried after following some of the threads on here.

Obviously with the keto you need a decent refeed once per week and i was the same as you and wary of eating so much so 1st refeed was only half a day followed by the 18hrs last Sun.

This definitely kicked the matabolism in and i really noticed the difference in how hungry i was the week following the big cheat.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

BenM said:


> Diet looks to be working well, serratus and intercostals showing nicely. And hanging on to good muscle size. Keep it up fella.


Thanks Ben

Had a bit of a set back this morning.

On my way home a from an all day bender at 2am and landed badly jumping over a fence damaging my ankle.

Slept on it but this morning it was all swollen and i could nor bear any weight on it so nipped up to A&E.

The doctor could not determine whether there were any broken bones from the X-Ray but would get the consultant to check it tomorrow.

In the meantime they have told me to pack it in ice and rest it so i have spent the rest of the day with my foot up and the missus bringing me food every 2-3hrs-Great

Will carry on with the diet reducing overall calories to take into account the lack of activety and just train my top half untill foot has healed.

Hope its just bruised and swollen.


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## DEJ (Mar 11, 2007)

Jeez man thats swollen to hell, hope nothings broke tho!


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Me to. Its still swollen this morning.

Have had to take the day off work to rest it up.

Will call the hospital later to see what the consultant thinks.

Tried a bit of cardio this morning but too painfull so looks like surfing and trying out the HD box i upgraded to last week.


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## DEJ (Mar 11, 2007)

Hows it going mate? Ankle any better?


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Good news its not broken.

Just badly swollen and bruised.

Swelling going down and bruising coming out now.

Not been able to train legs or do any cardio this week so have dropped protein and fats to compensate but think i wil be struggling to drop any weight this week.

Going to try cardio again in morning.

The only positive is that not doing cardio or training legs seems to have improved seperation in my quads.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

.


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Put on half a pound last week with no cardio.

Managed to start cardio again this week and have dropped 1.5lb so only 1lb down from last pics.

Still not able to train quads properly(just doing extensions and light presses)

Suppose I could of doubled up on the cardio to loose a bit more but have got neither the time or the inclination to do that for a holiday


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## Rotsocks (Jan 1, 2010)

Few more.


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