PaulB's Transformation Challenge

Hi everyone,

I'm Paul from Salford near Manchester in the UK.

I'm 5'7 & 200lbs. I am a former airport firefighter who had to medically retire 15 years ago after a back injury at work. I grew fat & lay & scared to do anything to aggravate my back. In 2007 I had a disc replaced & felt fantastic for 6 months, but the pain returned. I'm on a number of medications every day & still use a walking stick occaisonally.

Last year I decided to sort my health out for good & lost 56lbs & started at the gym. I'm probably more healthy now than anythim in my life. I've put some muscle on & want to keep doing so whilst getting rid of the last of my gut.

I'm using this contest to spur me on for the next phase of reclaiming my health.

PaulBrig's photos have been added

You can do it man! Firefighters are strong guys

Good luck with the back too :) looking forward to see the progress.

You sound pretty determined! i don't think you will let your back stand in the way of your health. So good luck! :thumb:

Will be following, good lick!

Calories today 3700 - bit too much fat, but will tweek the diet.:pissed:

Workout - Push

Superset 5 sets of each
Bench press
Tricep pushdown

Superset 5 sets of each
Military shoulder press
Leg press

Superset 5 sets of each
Squats
Calf raises

10 minutes on the rowing machine & 15 mins on the cross trainer.

2 hours walking the dog! :hiya:

Day 2

Calories today 3800

Workout - Push

Supersets 5 times each
Lat pulldown
Dumbell Bicep curl

Seated row
Lunges

Stiff legged deadlifts
Shouldershrugs

Cardio - 11 mins rowing (2000 metres) 10 mins HIT bike

Day 3

Calories 3500

Rest day today - just walking the dog for about 1 1/2 hours!

Forgot to mention that I'm following the Kyle Leon Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer programme.

Day 4

Calories 3500

Workout - Push

Supersets - 5 sets of each

Incline bench press
Tricep rope extension

Rear delt dumbell fly
Leg press

Pec deck
Skull crushers

Cardio - 10 mins rowing, 20 min cycle

Day 5

Rest day

Calories 3600 - protein down a bit today, bank holiday here, eating has been all over the place.

Day 6

Calories 3500

Workout - Pull

Supersets - 5 of each

Lat pulldown
E Z bar curls

One arm dumbell rows
One leg lunges

Stiff legged deadlifts
Preacher curls

Cardio - 5 mins rowing, 20 mins cycle

your routine is so different and interesting... I am going to check into that system you are following. to get to know it better :)

Day 7 - was too busy to log on yesterday to update!

Calories - not sure! Was OK till late afternoon when we had a BBQ with the neighbours, hard to keep track like that. But was clean food & no alcohol!

Workout - Push

Supersets - 5 sets of each

Incline bench press
Tricep rope extension

Rear delt dumbell fly
Leg press

Pec deck
Skull crushers

Cardio - 20 min cycle , big long walk with the dog!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PaulBrig

Calories today 3700 - bit too much fat, but will tweek the diet.:pissed:

Workout - Push

Superset 5 sets of each
Bench press
Tricep pushdown

Superset 5 sets of each
Military shoulder press
Leg press

Superset 5 sets of each
Squats
Calf raises

10 minutes on the rowing machine & 15 mins on the cross trainer.

2 hours walking the dog! :hiya:

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PaulBrig

Day 7 - was too busy to log on yesterday to update!

Calories - not sure! Was OK till late afternoon when we had a BBQ with the neighbours, hard to keep track like that. But was clean food & no alcohol!

Workout - Push

Supersets - 5 sets of each

Incline bench press
Tricep rope extension

Rear delt dumbell fly
Leg press

Pec deck
Skull crushers

Cardio - 20 min cycle , big long walk with the dog!

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Excellent! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...arking_dog.gif

Day 8 yesterday was a rest day

Day 9

Calories - have struggled keeping track over the last 2 days following a long bank holiday weekend of BBQs etc. So not too sure what my calorie intake has been, but have tried to be good!


Workout - Push

Supersets 5 times each 10 reps each
Lat pulldown
Dumbell Bicep curl

Seated row
Leg press - I'm supposed to do hamstring curls here, but my gym doesn't have the machine, suggestions welcome!

Stiff legged deadlifts
Shouldershrugs

Cardio - 15 minutes of cross trainer

Day 10

Rest day today - 3500 calories

Day 11

Rest day - 3500 calories

Was supposed to go to the gym, but had to be interviewed for my own job due to redundancies. So felt pretty shitty so didn't work out.

Day 12 - yesterday - rest day

Day 13

Workout - Push

Supersets - 5 sets of 10 reps each

Incline bench press
Tricep rope extension

Rear delt dumbell fly
Leg press

Pec deck
Skull crushers

Cardio - 20 min cycle

Need to sort my diet out, am not keeping track of my calories properly over the last few days & have run out of protein powder! My supplier has struggled to get it in due to the bank holidays we've had here (4 day off in the last 2 weeks).

Day 18

Not been on here for a few days; have not really had chance to get to the gym & still have uncertainty over whether I will have a job or not! Bad times. :geewhiz:


Calories - no idea, but managed to buy more protein powder today. :winkfinger:
Workout - Pull

Supersets - 5 of each

Lat pulldown
E Z bar curls

One arm dumbell rows
One leg lunges

Stiff legged deadlifts
Preacher curls

Cardio - 12 mins rowing, 15 mins cycle, about 1.5 hours dog walking.

Day 20 - looks like I will now be unemployed, but will be starting my own business soon.

Calories 3,600

Cardio day, 1 mile run, 2000m row & 20 minute cycle

Day 21 - actually yesterday

Calories today 3600

Workout - Push

Superset 5 sets of each, 10 reps per set
Bench press
Tricep pushdown

Superset 5 sets of each
Military shoulder press
Leg press

Superset 5 sets of each
Squats
Calf raises

20 mins cycling, 1 hour dog walking!

Day 22

Rest day. Approx 3700 calories. Have put 10 pounds on since starting, mainly muscle, though my pants are getting a bit tight. Will carry on bulking up on this programme before trying to lose the fat.

Day 24

Calories - ?? a bit down today I think?

Workout - Push

Supersets 5 times each 10 reps each
Lat pulldown
Dumbell Bicep curl

Seated row
Legs

Stiff legged deadlifts
Shouldershrugs

Cardio - 2000m row.

looking good.... I undersand the unemployment stuff, I am self employed and it is sometimes the same as unemployed....

On the down side, I've just been made redundant - lost my job - & I've not trained or eaten properly for a few days.

On the up side, I start a 6 week course to train to become a Personal Trainer starting on Monday. The aim is to eventually be self employed working especially with people with long-term health conditions who need support around their health, diet and exercise.

I'm also starting a children's birthday party business with a friend. Organising birthdays around bushcraft type activity - building dens, lighting fires, climbing trees etc.

good luck

make it happen....good work

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PaulBrig

On the down side, I've just been made redundant - lost my job - & I've not trained or eaten properly for a few days.

On the up side, I start a 6 week course to train to become a Personal Trainer starting on Monday. The aim is to eventually be self employed working especially with people with long-term health conditions who need support around their health, diet and exercise.

I'm also starting a children's birthday party business with a friend. Organising birthdays around bushcraft type activity - building dens, lighting fires, climbing trees etc.

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One door closed and another opened! Cool

I've not logged in for a few days as I've been getting to grips with my course. It's pretty intense, but I'm getting there.

Have started training to deliver spinning classes & my legs are killing me, also started running a bit, something I've not really done for years.

My diets been nothing special this week, but I'm starting to cut from Monday. I've bulked up a fair bit now & as I'll be hitting various machines hard this week as part of my course, thought it was a good time to see what's under the fat.

Will be looking to get to about 190 pounds, then try to stay there whilst carb-cycling to continue to build some muscle. I've redesigned my body completely over the last year, with losing the 56lbs last year, so now know what I'm moving towards.

OK, low carb diet is going fine, will be carbing up for 1 meal every fourth day. There's a machine at the gym that measures weight & bodt fat etc, so will track that over the next few weeks.

Exercise on my course is starting to happen now. 45 minute spinning class this morning & going over a mock work out that I'm being assessed on, on Friday.

Will be training to do boxercise classes and circuit training as well as spinning classes over the next few weeks. Going to try to slip in some more time in the gym when the course finishes at the end of each day as well.

Just texted out to various people to see who might be interested in me starting a circuit class for them & got a good response, so am a happy bunny!