Thread: Phos's last goodbye (to BS excuses)

Good start & good luck!

Still hammering out the details of the diet and tweaking things. I will be adding and subtracting a few things after I do a little more research over the next few days - something that will optimize my gains while minimizing excess. No sugers allowed and low in starches and unwanted carbs. No cheat days. I will mix it up every 2-3 weeks to lower the chances of stagnation and burnout. Sofar, it is as follows:

Meal #1
1 whole eggs + 5 egg whites
5 oz. 93% lean beef or chicken
1/2 cup oatmeal before cooking
1 TBS Flax Oil
Meal #2 (pre-post workout)
Protein Drink: 2 Scoops Protein powder, Glutamine
Creatine Potion (during workout)
Meal #3
8 oz. chicken (before cooking)
6 oz. sweet potato
1.5 cup vegetables (broccoli, etc.) or salad with 2 TBS. Low Cal Dressing
Meal #4
4 oz chicken breast and 4 oz beef
2 cups Broccoli
1/2 cup raw almonds
Meal #5
8 - 10 oz. 93% lean beef, chicken, turkey, fish and once or twice weekly sirloin steak
2 cups vegetables
1 TBS Flax Oil
Meal #6
4-oz chicken breast and 4 oz beef,
2 cups Broccoli
1/2 cup raw almonds
Meal #7
Cassien Shake


Any recommendations on tweaking based on my goals and stats is welcomed!

Cool bro good luck!

good luck

Thanks guys. I am pretty damned stoked on the whole thing and have most of the details worked out. As I progress, please critique my workouts, timing of supps, type of supps to take, diet concerns and wotnot.

Workout Schedule:

Typical week
Monday: Chest/Tri/Shoulders/Stomach
Tuesday: Back/Bi/Calves
Wednesday: Legs/Stomach
Thursday: Chest/Tri/Shoulders/Calves
Friday: Back/Bi/Stomach
Saturday: Legs/Calves
Sunday: Off

This is a typical, traditional schedule where the types of workouts for each bodypart will be changed every 2-3 weeks to throw a monkey wrench into stagnation. I will introduce other workout elements into the mix after i get into the rythem and feel I can step it up. It is a VERY tough schedule to accomplish and will be toned down and changed depending on soreness and delays in healing - If it doesn't hurt the next day, I pussed out on my workout.

Cardio may or may not be introduced sometime during the 3 months depending on where my BF% is. If there are any tips or tricks of keeping the cardio from eating into my muscle, please let me know. I heard glutamine right before cardio and a bit during would keep your body from eating into muscle stores, but do not know how valid these claims are. I hate cardio, but will do whatever it takes to achieve my goals.

Very, very sore right now, trying to get past the initial 'break-in' phase before I start to really pound weights. Tomorrow I suspect the soreness will peak, then taper for my workout on Friday. After the initial break-in, regular daily workouts will commence. I will start to document the weight lifted and reps, but this is difficult for me to record in the gym because walking around with a notepad is considered metrosexual at best around here - plus I would rather get the next set in instead of screwing around with that crap.

I have 2 days off to recooperate - today and tomorrow. I believe I will go ahead and try my stomach if I can get through it without too much difficulty.

Being at work, time slipped by and I believe I skipped a meal or two - big nono. I will really work to refine my timings to no more than 3 hours intervals.

Meals:
meal 1: protein shake; 2 scoops
meal 2: almonds, spinach, chicken breast
meal 3: chicken breast, spinach
Meal 4 (coming up): lean ground beef, brocolli, almonds
meal 5 (coming up, before bed): casien shake

Change of plans for Friday, legs are feeling better - so I will hit those hard along with my stomach. Biceps healing good - but will hold off before hitting those until my back is healed. Lats, Traps, Shoulders and Tri's are in misery and loving it. I missed the soreness and the feeling I get with a job well done.

Plan on doing the sled and see what weight I can get up to without blowing a knee or gasket. I may invest in leg wraps again. The odd thing I found doing the sled was that if I packed on the 45's, the knees would not hurt - not sure if this happens with anyone else. In earlier days, I had 720lbs x 8reps - I will push myself to see where I am at. I will forego regular squats for now - I would rather not screw up my lower back again like from before. One time was with a spotter and the other time was unassisted. My legs will just lose all strength and virtually shut down with little warning. I will follow up the sled with leg extensions, calf raises and stomach work. I will start bringing a notepad or ipad to document my incremental increases (hopefully no decreases).

Calling a doc tomorrow for the tendonitis in the elbow, right arm and get in there stat for a cordizone shot. The last time I tried, the doctor prescribed me zoloft - no shot. May as well have given me an enima as well for kicks, since niether would would alleviate my pain. If anyone has experience in peptides and knows of one that could help with tendonitis, please help a brotha out. I have been reading up on IGF-1 lr3 and it looks promising for my condition.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by phosphor

Thanks guys. I am pretty damned stoked on the whole thing and have most of the details worked out.

Yeah I'm pretty stoked too.

Glad to see you upbeat about it, Chill!

I took off today, I had off work today, but had some important pressing personal/legal issues to get squared away. Could not get to the gym and even missed a meal today. Maybe I started the day off on a bad note. I went this morning to take my 3yr old daughter to the grocery store for a donut and saw that they had protein bars for sale. Bought a Colossal big 100 because it said it had 32g protien. Downed it before reading the contents - 24g of sugar. WTF, that is just dumb. My diet is completely anti-sugar, so I better watch it a bit closer in the future. Stayed on track on everything else however.

I did manage to get straps for my knees over a Dicks with my wife, so I will be ready to continue the progress first thing tomorrow and gauge where I am at leg-wise. My wife has already noticed a difference in what little I have done sofar. It will take me about another week to be on a regular routine, since this is break-in and exploratory phase.

cool bro ur diet looks pretty good

phosphor, do you have a journal?

Originally Posted by x~factor

phosphor, do you have a journal?

Not officially in the other forum. I may start one there when I can correctly and accurately log reps/weight - or just keep it here? Noticed others are doing it here already, but can do it in the official section if that is the proper thing to do.

Was in the gym on Saturday for a while and it was packed compared to when I was in there the last few times - had to wait on a few machines/benches to clear up. Next week I will get the membership to have 24hr access, but for right now I am limited to business hours.

I felt a bit sluggish and did not get a great sleep last night. Triceps/Chest/Shoulders day. I had not done a regular bench in literally 4+ year and now I find my strength levels wholly marginal compared of yesteryear to say the least. I expected my strength diminished, but not this much. My original benches were 260+ (limited by a shoulder injury) and now 160 - kids stuff. I felt like crying and hiding in the gyms broom closet out of shame. Every excercise seemed to be the same story in regards to strength loss, but no more pronounced than my regular bench. I also found that in some excercises/muscle groups, that when trying to close out the last sets in the last reps, I had an odd energy loss. As much as I tried, it seemed like there was nothing there towards the end - and I really wanted to at least tear up the muscles for what little weight I was pushing. I was drinking an creatine/oxide potion throughout the workout, but seemed to help very little.

I did 2-3 excercises per bodypart. Today I am a little sore (not much). Tommorow is another day. When I get the membership next week, I will be going early in the morning to see if the energy levels are different - in the past, this is when I excelled. I am at work posting this, so I do not have the breakdown of the excercises/reps/sets - I did no more than 4 sets with 8 reps or less (depending on failure).

My diet is still pretty solid, with a cheat meal last night (with my usual meal) - 1 slice of pizza and a small bowl of ice cream I finished off that my daughter didn't eat. I washed it down with an excess of water. Most of the time, my diet is good and stick to things pretty well.

phosphor's photos have been added

nice photos phosphor, loooks like you got a great base to start with

Originally Posted by newkid

nice photos phosphor, loooks like you got a great base to start with

Thanks, much appreciated! Although, I really think I am at the low point physically in my life right now with very low energy and strength to the point where anything physical was taxing to me..

Thankfully, I am starting to come around with some minor snafu's, but thats expected. I was just so damned sick and tired of being sick and tired that I made up my mind to really make some life changes last month - then the stars aligned and IML and their generous sponsors decided to hold this challenge. Kudos to them and anyone willing to give this a go!

I agree, you got an excellent base. Lift heavy and hard and get shredded!! I'll be right there with ya...

Today was stomach/back/biceps

cable grip pulldown 8@150/8@165/5@175/6@165
cable front lat pulldown 10@160/8@175/6@175/5@175
weighted oblique extension w/35 lbs 15/14/12/12 (slow)
cable biceps curl 8@115/6@120/6@120/5@120 (slow on negatives)
one-arm cable back curl 8@60/6@65/6@65/5@70 (slow on negatives)
cable kneeling crunch 10@140/6@165/6@170/5@170
hanging straight leg raise 14/14/13/10

I see noticable differences in my body composition - even my wife made comment in passing. Sure, I was a bit swelled after the workout, but I'll take it. 190lbs / 15.4% bf
I was eating good and clean today but was hungry throughout. I will be taking a look at my intake closer tonight. I have noticed the initial burn-in phase of being sore for days is diminishing now, so I will up my frequency. When there are days when it just wont happen due to soreness, I will adjust as needed. I will try not skipping a day or meal routine just because 'I don't feel like it'.

Just bought my membership officially at the gym today for 24hr access - which will be used starting tomorrow morning @ 5:00am. Will be hitting legs. Got wifey on the same deal - maybe I can convince her to do the contest with me? I will try, but she is already looking good. It would help when there are lull days to have that motivation.

congrats on snagging the gym deal bro! i got very lucky by me a golds gym had a special new year price to match planet fitness 10 a month so I lucky early on as well

Good Luck Pho!

Originally Posted by newkid

congrats on snagging the gym deal bro! i got very lucky by me a golds gym had a special new year price to match planet fitness 10 a month so I lucky early on as well

Thanks, new kid! That's a great deal you got. Mine, not so much, but it beats the mega-YMCA down the road ( twice what I'm paying now, no 24hr).

On a side note, asked the wifey and it's a no-go on her entering the competition. It's all good, since she's basically my avatar. She will be going to the gym, but at different times since we have a tribe of kids.

Originally Posted by phosphor

Name and social security number tattooed on your back, too?

Seriously, wishing you success in reaching those goals, Phos! But why you wanna leave notBig status behind, brother? lol

Legs today. Yesterday, I was happy to put a new gator belt on my camaro - no more squeak, thankfully. Drove that to the gym to wear it in a little.

Blasted calves by doing separates then combining to wear them out. Good pump going. Usually have an issue tearing up calves - little would I know, tearing is the correct definition.

Went onto leg presses. stacked first with 490lbs, easily did 10. 580x8. went onto 670 - on the 6th rep, heard a pop over my earbuds and a slight pain in my right calf. wtf... really? I must have strained my calf so hard while pushing the weight, it blew a gasket. My legs were going great and was going to move to my old weight of 760lbs.

Sitting here, the pain is minimal. The apprearance of my calf is fine and looks identical to my left. Maybe an internal tear?? I do not want to get surgury unless absolutely nessessary - I really don't want to even go to a doc and want to see if this shit heals in quick succession. I don't want to be a complete idiot though - anyone experience a similar situation? What did you do? This has never happened to me - age must be catching up with me, but doing my leg presses I felt great.

I won't stop on my diet and other excercises regardless. I will limp my failing body to each machine while I still draw breath. Getting an icepack ready so I can relax with it in the problem area to see if that helps. Until next post, peace out.

Good luck, you can do it

Called the doc's office yesterday and setup an appointment for next tuesday to get something done with the tendonitis and check out my calf. It's a helluva lot more sore today - to be expected. Hitting the gas pedal makes me want to piss myself.

Had the alarm wake me up at 4:30am and found the bodyparts I hit a few days prior much more on the sore side and decided to pass it to tomorrow morning. Hitting heavy on chest with a completely sore back isn't the best way to rip-up my chest. Sometimes I feel like I am making great strides, other times I look in the mirror and want to slap myself and push harder. I am an impatient one.

Found my diet lacking in overall calories, hence very little weight gain. Sure, I have lost some fat, but as it stands, for all the hard workouts thusfar i should be gaining more. I am at a bit of a loss as to what to add. I am injesting around 150g+ of protein (per the 1.5 calculations), but I need to include other elements that are clean to get the overall calorie intake up. I have not included too many carbs yet, so maybe thats key? 2 regular protein shakes, 1 casien shake - with 3-4 regular meals with lean proteins with loads of vegs. I started to put in flax oil in the shakes (makes them taste like crap imo) to get the cals up. Also still hitting sweet potatoes at least once a day.

PLEASE let me know what I can change to reach my goals. For the interim, I will be babying my leg at work and take it easy for the morning workout.

Originally Posted by phosphor

Meals:
meal 1: protein shake; 2 scoops
meal 2: almonds, spinach, chicken breast
meal 3: chicken breast, spinach
Meal 4 (coming up): lean ground beef, brocolli, almonds
meal 5 (coming up, before bed): casien shake

based on this diet and if you're lookin to gain weight, id say add in some carbs such as oats, brown rice, and sweet potatoes like you say.. if you dont want to higher the carbs, you must likely need to higher your fat intake, because you are not gettin enough total cals it looks like.. veggies are great an all but arent gonna get you to add weight, need some heavier carbs imo

wow.. log is lookin good.. Wish you the best!