jhawkin1

I have been weight lifting and trying to eat healthy here for 2 years now, and have recently been struggling with sticking to a plan. So, I figured I give a journal a shot at keeping up with tracking what I eat and also posting my workouts.

I start teaching here in less than two weeks at a junior high school, and I wanted to practice what I will be preaching to children. I am a huge fan of whey protein, and have cut milk completely out of my diet while supplementing with calcium pills (1,000 mg a day). My goal is to cut body fat, keep lifting heavy weight, and eat more foods in their original state. I will also put milk back into my diet, but will not drink the recommended 3 glasses a day. Also, I will start eating more of a variety of veggies and not just spinach all the time.

I have had a plan that I have done in the weight room that has been very successful. I try and lift at least 3 times a week and up to 5 days a week, with my 3-day splits like this:

Monday: Chest/back
Tuesday: Arms (Bi's/Tri's/Shoulders)
Wednesday: Legs/lower back
Thursday: off/light cardio
Friday: Chest/back
etc.

My set/reps are usually 6 sets 6 rep range with a 3 second eccentric movement (slow on the way down), and sometimes a 4 to 5 second eccentric movement with weights.

I switch tempos/exercises/angles of lifts on each of the 3-day splits that I have. Most exercises are with free weights and barbells.

I will post my diet here and workout regime as often as possible, most likely being daily.

I am very excited and hope to achieve my goals!

jhawkin1

I apologize, I left out my statistics! I am 23 years old, weighing in at 155 pounds with 10% body fat ratio. My goal is to get in aroung 6-7% body fat and either maintain or build upon my strength while keeping a steady diet of healthful choices!

Pylon

Good for you. I remember my gym teachers were always woefully out of shape. You'll give your own teaching more validation if you practice what you preach.

Do you get to create your own curriculum? I remember we did very little that was "fun", which made everyone hate gym class. Given the state of physical fitness (or lack thereof) in this country, we could use some quality teaching at that level.

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority." - R. W. Sockman

Built

155 - how tall?

So you're cutting with this programme - correct? How's your diet, and how fast do you intend to lose?

jhawkin1

Myself and another PE teacher (a woman) are straight out of college, but we have another man that has been there for 5 years and he has a curriculum set out. We are starting out with cross country to get kids into shape from their summer vacation which is great!

jhawkin1

To be quite honest, I have been trying to cut for years, never really wanted to bulk. I have read (including your articles) that diet is 80% of the fight, and I totally agree. I am 5'7" by the way.

jhawkin1

My diet will be posted concluding today...here is just my breakfast and snack thus far:


Breakfast:
- banana
- 3 egg whites
- one whole egg
- sprinkle of cheddar cheese (eggs were scrambled)

Snack:
- one handful of almonds

Built

Ah, that's cool - thanks for reading my posts!

Now, when I ask about diet, I mean what calories, how many grams protein, carb and fat? I don't actually care what the menu choices are.

What exercises do you perform for your workouts?

jhawkin1

That's my one flaw...I have tried to keep a fitday schedule to keep count of my total calories, but I can never really seem to keep up and find the foods. I guess I could give it a try again.

Workouts for these last 3 weeks:
Chest/back- 1 minute rests in between sets
1a. 10 degree incline dumbbell bench
6 sets/6 reps- 4 second tempo lowering weights back down (60'S, 60'S, 60's, 60's)

1b. Pull up regular overhand grip grip (do not have weight belt to hold weights so use BW)
6 sets/6 reps with a 5 second tempo on the way down (BW, BW, BW, BW, BW, BW)

2a. Dumbbell Flys
4 sets 8 reps (30, 30, 30, 30)

2b. Seated cable rows
4 sets 8 reps (135, 135, 135, 135)

2c. Back Flys
4 sets 12 reps (10 lb free weights)


Arms- 1 minute rests in between sets
1a. Reverse curl (Ez curl bar= 25lbs)
6 sets/ 6 reps (3 second tempo)- 65 lbs

1b. Dips (bw)
6 sets/6 reps (5 second tempo)- BW

2a. dumbbell alternate curls
4 sets 8 reps (4 second tempo)- 35LBS

2b. Lying dumbbell tricep extension
4 sets 8 reps- 35 LBS

3a. Standing dumbbell shoulder press
4 sets 8 reps- 40 lbs

3b. Lateral raises
4 sets 8 reps- 15 lbs

3c. Functional shoulder rotator cuff w/ DB.
4 sets 8 reps- 15lbs


Legs- 1 minute rests

1a. Med ball squats (med ball on back and ball against wall) squat with free weights
6 sets 8 reps- 35 lb DB

1b. Single Leg Curls
6 sets 8 reps (5 second tempo)- 50 LBS

2a. Leg press
4 sets 10 reps- 190, 200, 210, 220

2b. Good Mornings (barbell)
4 sets 10 reps- 95, 95, 105, 105

3a. Calf raises (machine)
4 sets 35 reps- 175, 180, 185, 185

3b. Back extensions
4 sets 12 reps w/ 45 lb plate

Built

This seems like an odd split to use for cutting. But then, you don't really have your cutting diet in place.

If you can't find a food in fitday, you program it in. I use the usda nutrient database to look stuff up, like raw chicken breast and so on.

Your leg workout is in a very odd order. You do high-rep, light leg work THEN you do leg press rather than using a free weight; then high-rep GMs with a light weight, THEN weighted hypers. I'm confused as to your goals.

Nate K

I don't like that split. If your going to lift 3 days a week don't waste a day doing arms you goon.
you can hold d.b.'s with your feet during dips and possibly pullups if the bar is right for you.
I don't like the lower body exercises you chose

jhawkin1

I worked for a major college basketball team and I was really good friends with our strength and conditioning coach. I got the split from him, and we worked out as work out partners so I got most all my ideas from him and have gotten stronger from it. I am ready for a change though, I would say all-together.

jhawkin1

Meals for the day:

Breakfast:
- 3 egg whites
- 1 whole egg
- sprinkle of cheddar cheese
- 1 large banana

Snack
- handful of almonds

Lunch
- grilled chicken ceasar salad: lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, grilled chicken breast, cesear dressing

Workout: Ab ripper x: 11 moves 25 reps each

Snack: 1 and 1/2 scoop whey protein (30g protein) with 1 glass of skim milk

Dinner: 1/2 bag of spinach leaf with chicken breast

Built

FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal

Please enter your food and post up the macros if you'd like some feedback on your diet.

I agree with Nate K - I don't like your split in general; for a cut it's really sub-par.

jhawkin1

I will work on fitday first thing tomorrow. Any suggestions on my splits/how I can improve them? Anything brief would be great, my legs day is tomorrow morning so I am not sure if my workout is counterproductive?

Built

Try 5x5 heavy barbell squats, 5x5 RDLs, and 3x8-12 split squats or walking lunges. Maybe 3x12 SHELC at the end. I don't like calf work on leg day, preferring to tuck it in between sets on an upper body day, but that's me. If you want to do calves, do 'em standing, one leg at a time, 3x10 per leg with a three second pause at the bottom of each rep.

jhawkin1

Okay so I've got 5 sets of 5 reps for my heavy barbell squats, RDL's are one of my personal favorites- 5 sets 5 reps heavy weight also, and I chose the Bulgarian Split Squats with 3 sets of 10 reps with a moderate weight.

How much rest time is ideal? Also, no super-sets combining two of the exercises together in between rests?

Built

I'm not sure why you'd want to superset on a cut, but if you wanted to, you could train squats and RDLs as antagonist pairs, resting between movements:

Set of squats, rest, set of RDLs, rest... until all squats and RDLs are completed.

Rest as long as you need to so you can lift as heavy as you can. On a cut, you drop volume and do what you can to keep the heavy on the bar. Basically, you turn into a powerlifter on a diet. Low volume, low reps, heavy. Long rest breaks, on less food you need 'em.

jhawkin1

Again, superset idea comes from the trainer. His train of thought with the superset and low rest is you are increasing your heart rate and lifting heavier weights at the same time so it helps to burn more during the resistance training as well as the effects afterwards from the repairs your muscles have to go through.

Same with the tempo, the 3-5 second tempos and the explosion back up say with a bench press, he believes will trigger more of my fast-twitch muscle fibers which is how I've gained so much strength over the past 6 months or so. But it is time for change!

I will just do each exercise individually like you set out, and rest as much as needed instead of timed. Try to increase weight each time also, obviously the first time I won't know where I am at so all my weights should go up after each set. Thanks again, I will keep you updated! Going to do it here early afternoon.

jhawkin1

8/10/2008

Legs

1. Barbell Squat
5 sets 5 reps: 95, 100, 105, 110, 115

2. RDL's (barbell)
5 sets 5 reps: 95, 115, 125, 130, 135

3a. Bulgarian Split Squat (using bench and dumbbells)
3 sets 8 reps: 20, 25, 30

3b. Back extension
4 sets 12 reps: 45, 45, 45, 45,

Built

Here's a tip: don't try to exercise off the fat. It doesn't burn enough calories to be worth the trouble. Diet off the WEIGHT, train heavy to convince your body to keep the muscle around. If you do mostly circuit-type training for a cut, you will convince your body that there is no need for big muscles, since they only ever lift small weights over and over again.

You see the problem.
Cool.

Looking at your workout now...

I'm not sure why you felt the need to do hypers. You did RDLs, wasn't that enough?

Are these weights heavy for you? Or would you consider this to be a light workout?

Nate K

I like builts advice on training while cutting...unless you want to eat more, then you have to move more but either way still keep weight training heavy for strength.
I like the bulgarian squats. you lift 3 days a week?
why not do week 1- upper/lower/upper, week 2- lower/upper/lower

or maybe chest and hip dominant and back with quad dominant.

jhawkin1

The workout was just fine for me. I am still working on my range of motion with my squats. My hip flexors are still a little tight, but I've been working much on my stretching and it is improving.

I liked that work out, but need advice on the rest of my splits is my guess. I want to work out tomorrow but not sure which body parts and what exercises. Any quick suggestions like last time? Thanks!

jhawkin1

This sounds like a very interesting split...maybe I will try it. I am considering today as my first day because it is a whole new program so I used lower body. Anything you could come up with would be great! The more ideas I have under my belt the better. Thanks!

jhawkin1

Diet 8/10/2008

Breakfast:
- 3 egg whites
- 1 whole egg
- banana

Post workout
- 1 & 1/2 scoops whey protein
- 1 cup skim milk
- banana

Lunch
- 1/2 bag spinach leaf
- chicken breast
- low fat vinegarette dressing

Snack
- almonds
- mudslide= WOOPS!

Dinner
- Steak Filet on grill
- corn on the cob

Snack
- two handfuls of almonds
- 1 & 1/2 scoop whey protein
- 1 cup skim milk

jhawkin1

08/11/08
Breakfast:
- 1 & 1/2 scoop of whey protein
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 bowl of flax plus

Snack:
- handful of almonds

Lunch
- 1/2 bag of spinach
- chicken breast
- dressing

Snack
- 1 & 1/2 scoop of whey protein
- cup skim milk

Dinner
- 1/2 bag spinach
- chicken breast
- non fat vingearette dressing

Built

What calories are you running with this, jhawkin1?

jhawkin1

Now that I have started to record my daily intake in terms of just general food, I have found that I have not overeaten especially my last couple of meals which I just used to eat 2-3 protein bars a sitting because they tasted so good (or protein shakes till I was full). I know for a fact that my caloric intake has decreased as a result by at least 200-300 calories. Previously, I was really just maintaining my weight, and now I can start to see a bit of a difference only in a couple of days. I will try hard to get fitday into my daily routine.

We just had a "school information day" and I had the chance to meet most of my 7th grade students and their parents so it was a pretty long day, but my diet, portions, and food choices were dead on (besides 2 protein shakes throughout the day instead of eating a real meal). I will work on plugging the numbers in though!

jhawkin1

Workout: 8/12/08

1. Bent over barbell rows
5x5: 115, 135, 155, 165, 175 (4x)

2. Single arm dumbbell rows
3x8: 35 (warm up), 45, 55, 60

3. Flat barbell bench
5x5: 155, 165, 175, 175(3x) finished set with 155 3x, 165

4. Low incline dumbbell bench
3x8: 45, 55, 55

Built

How did it feel?