Uthinkso guilty of over thinking...

[Uthinkso]

Ok new plan here and hew journal. My measuring tape and digital calipers finally showed, so I check my body fat today and damn near lost all faith. Of course losing faith is for the weak and feable, so this moment lasted less than ten seconds.

That being said I'm at 25% Body Fat. Yes I know, it sucks to the power of twelve. However everyone I know has been telling me that I look smaller and more fit, and my clothes feel looser. So I have to believe that I was larger before this all started ten weeks ago.

I've been reading a ton lately, Patricks blog on an almost daily basis. I have read the stickies in both the training and diet and nutrition forum. I have a become a student of all things fitness.

What I have discovered is that I lack consistency. My meals need more balance to them, the end result and caloric intake are inline but the meals individually are not as balanced as they could be. Still a far cry from my former diet, but why bring that up. I'm stunned that way of life didn't kill me.

So all that off my chest the bitching done, my feet securely back on the ground and off my soapbox. Here is my game plan.


Firstly I have already changed over the training routine. I do cardio 30 minutes a day five days a week. I do HIIT on two minute intervals, I run at 6.0 and walk at 3.8 and it is brutal. On three of those days I weight train and I am doing a push/pull/legs routine. Every excercise is down in dropset form of 12-8-6 and I do one ab excercise per training day. Planks, hanging leg lifts, and crunches. So the training is under control and doing very well since the change from a split routine two weeks ago.

As for the diet. I have read a lot about having meals for training days and meals for non-training days. I'm going to address carbs in a high-low type of plan.

So it would look like this.

Mon
Low Carb Day (50g carb w/first 4 meals)
300g of protein (50g per meal)
14-20g of fat with meal 4 & 5

Tues (training day)
High carb day 100g of carbs with first four meals & 50g for last two meals
250g of protein (40g per meal)
No fat on high carb training days
(Insulin levels will be high in the body so any fat taken in has a good chance that it will be stored as fat. At least thats what I've gathered from my reading.)

Wed
day 1

Thurs
day2

Fri
day 2

Sat
day 1

Sun
day 1

Now I just need to figure out what foods I will use to make up those meals and off I go. I'll be honest it seems like a ton of food, but its what makes sense per my reading so I'll give it a whirl.

 

[Uthinkso]

Ok on a high carb day today and push day at the gym later.


Any thoughts on the above post?

 

[Uthinkso]

Caught myself a touch of the flu sunday and that kept me out of work monday, and the gym today. Strange thing to me, is that I am living healthier now but have gotten sick three times in the last 90 days. I'm typically not sick three times a year. I'm not sure if my immune system has been weakened or if my body is still getting used to things.

I'm going to the gym tomorrow, its pull day. I need to really work hard this week and finish the month strong.

 

[Double D]

Whats your routine look like? Oh and P's blog is a great place to start!

 

[Uthinkso]

Whats your routine look like? Oh and P's blog is a great place to start!

I'm on a push/pull/legs routine now, as I mentioned above and then will be going to a full body routine in roughly six weeks. The plan is to change every three months.

I borrowed the arrangment of excercises from AKIRA and tweaked it a bit. It works pretty well for me.

Push...
Bench Press
OverHead Press
Incline DB Press
Arnold Press
Dips
Skull Crushers

Pull...
Barbell Row
Wide Grip Pullups
DB Row
Chin Ups or pulldowns
Cable Rows
Barbell Curls

Leg...
Squat
Deadlift
Leg Press
Leg Extensions
Hamstring Curls

 

[Uthinkso]

Stepped on the scale today just for grins, 243lb still. No change there, but visually a lot of changes.

I need to take some update pics, far from having a physique worth showing off. However they will serve as good comparatives at a later point.

That being said, I have noticed two things about myself lately that I can only assume have to do with metabolism increase. When working out, I sweat 200% more than when I was out of shape. I have also notice that my energy level is more sensitive to what I eat. If I am tired, I eat a meal and bam I have energy in twenty minutes. Before I'd eat a huge meal and then want to nap.

Leg day tomorrow. Going to pay special attention to the form on deads.

 

[Double D]

I'm on a push/pull/legs routine now, as I mentioned above and then will be going to a full body routine in roughly six weeks. The plan is to change every three months.

I borrowed the arrangment of excercises from AKIRA and tweaked it a bit. It works pretty well for me.

Push...
Bench Press
OverHead Press
Incline DB Press
Arnold Press
Dips
Skull Crushers

Pull...
Barbell Row
Wide Grip Pullups
DB Row
Chin Ups or pulldowns
Cable Rows
Barbell Curls

Leg...
Squat
Deadlift
Leg Press
Leg Extensions
Hamstring Curls

Thats not really a routine. A routine also has reps, sets, tempo's, and ri's. What do you got for those?

 

[Bakerboy]

Stepped on the scale today just for grins, 243lb still. No change there, but visually a lot of changes.

I need to take some update pics, far from having a physique worth showing off. However they will serve as good comparatives at a later point.

That being said, I have noticed two things about myself lately that I can only assume have to do with metabolism increase. When working out, I sweat 200% more than when I was out of shape. I have also notice that my energy level is more sensitive to what I eat. If I am tired, I eat a meal and bam I have energy in twenty minutes. Before I'd eat a huge meal and then want to nap.

Leg day tomorrow. Going to pay special attention to the form on deads.

That's a good sign. The point of eating is to get energy and to refuel. Sweating and drinking plenty of water is good too to help flush the toxins out. Sounds like your on track.

 

[Uthinkso]

Thats not really a routine. A routine also has reps, sets, tempo's, and ri's. What do you got for those?

I do three reps of each excercise in a dropset form or 12-8-6. I rest one minute in between each set.

 

[AKIRA]

I'm on a push/pull/legs routine now, as I mentioned above and then will be going to a full body routine in roughly six weeks. The plan is to change every three months.

I borrowed the arrangment of excercises from AKIRA and tweaked it a bit. It works pretty well for me.

Push...
Bench Press 3-4 sets of 6-10
OverHead Press 3-4 sets of 6-10
Incline DB Press 3 sets of 8-12
Dips 2-4 sets of 6-12 (depends if its chest directed or tricep directed)
Skull Crushers 2 sets of 10-15

Pull...
Barbell Row 3-4 sets of 6-10
Wide Grip Pullups 3-4 sets of 6-10
DB Row 3 sets of 8-12
Chin Ups or pulldowns 3 sets of 8-12
Barbell Curls 2 sets of 10-15

Leg...
Squat 4 sets of 6-12
Deadlift 4 sets of 6-12
Leg Press 3 sets of 8-12
Leg Extensions 2 sets of 10-12
Hamstring Curls 2 sets of 10-12

Id keep the RI 2-3 minute on the compounds and anywhere from 30 sec to 2 min on the isolations.

Bare in mind, you got a pretty good idea of what to do. Id move the Arnold Press to after dips. Dips are a pretty good compound, even if its triceps youre trying to 'target.' Because of the supination/pronation of the Arnold's, I wouldnt go heavy.

Use common sense with the schemes chosen. If you do 4 sets of a compound, use a higher intensity, lower rep, longer rest. 3x10-12 is a real basic tried and true concept, but can get boring fast.


I like the Pull day the most. Leg day may be JUUUUST right. I am not a fan of leg extensions...or curls for that matter. But to each his own.

In any case, thats a good rep scheme to get you started on a healthier you. With the cardio and the diet in check, this should jump start some fat burning fires. When you switch to P's total body, the rep scheme should change too, though it doesnt have to.

 

[AKIRA]

Hmm..or

Push...
Bench Press
OverHead Press
Incline DB Press
Arnold Press not sure you really even need this..
Dips
Skull Crushers

Pull...
Barbell Row
Wide Grip Pullups
DB Row
Chin Ups or pulldowns
Cable Rows or this..
Barbell Curls

Leg...
Squat
Deadlift
Leg Press
Leg Extensions how about lunges?
Hamstring Curls

Hah, this is the 3rd Edit Ive done.

I couldnt get the volume just right with all those exercises. It can be done, but I just wouldnt recommend it.

Arnolds and Cables can be something you can use every other week in place of other exercises. Unless its an area that is lacking, I dont think you need to fire upon it as much....which is why you might just be getting winded (from your other thread).

 

[Uthinkso]

My leg day beats my ass right now, and with the dropset rep range of 12-8-6 I move heavier weight as I go. So I am seeing strength gains, but not really putting on any size and still burning fat like mad.

 

[AKIRA]

My leg day beats my ass right now, and with the dropset rep range of 12-8-6 I move heavier weight as I go. So I am seeing strength gains, but not really putting on any size and still burning fat like mad.

Are you using drop sets on every exercise?

 

[Uthinkso]

Are you using drop sets on every exercise?

I sure am.....mistake?

 

[AKIRA]

Id say so. Your CNS will get shot to shit and thus, you will be overrtained.

Ill quote P here. Everything Works. Nothing works forever.

A drop set on one exercise is ok, not all of them, especially on compounds.

 

[Uthinkso]

Hah, this is the 3rd Edit Ive done.

I couldnt get the volume just right with all those exercises. It can be done, but I just wouldnt recommend it.

Arnolds and Cables can be something you can use every other week in place of other exercises. Unless its an area that is lacking, I dont think you need to fire upon it as much....which is why you might just be getting winded (from your other thread).

Yeah the movement of the Arnold Press is strange to me, so no problem nixxing that.

I'll try 3x10 today and see how it suits me. I'll use dropsets on isolation movements and see how that works. Doing push today. I'm going to write everything down so I can post the whole workout later.

 

[AKIRA]

Ok goodie. I have a boring day at work for another 6:30 hours, so ill be here.

The arnold press isnt too shabby, but the incline DB Press and the Overhead Press would do plenty before you got to the Arnold. If you wanted, you can replace the overhead press with the arnolds, but do the incline DB Press before them.

 

[Uthinkso]

Ok I as I stated earlier in this thread, today was push day.

DB Flat Bench
50lbx8
60x6
65x2 (first time ever moving 65's)/55x6
50x8
-rest between sets was two minutes

DB Incline
30lbx10
35x10
35x10
-rest was two minutes between sets
-really went for form here as I have a tendency to arch my back off the bench with heavier weight.

Assisted Dips
100lbx10
100lbx8
100lbx6
100lbx5
-deffinitely the excercise I struggle the most in, tricep is my weakest muscle and I feel the reason my bench lacks so much.
-rest interval was two minutes between sets
-could really feel a burn and got a good tip that my elbows were pointing away from me rather than inline with the handles. I moved them after the second set, and as you can see good form took a toll on my numbers. I'll take form any day though.

Tricep Pushdown
50lbx10
70lbx10
80lbx10
-one minute rest in between these
-I do pretty well I think, on the pushdown but every other tricep excercise suffers.


Military DB Press
30lbx10
30lbx10
40x3/35x6
-again watched form close here, but as I found out with the 40's I was at my limit for what I could push at this point.

Overall I felt very good with the work out. I still feel a good pump in my arms and chest, and a good burn too. I made sure to stretch out a ton. I have been struggling to find my rythm since changing over from a split routine, now I think I've at least got the push and legs sorted. Get the pull down and its six hard weeks before I change again.

In other news I walked for 5 min as a warm-up to my cardio after weight training, and about 30 seconds into my run I fealt pain in both knees. I stopped and tried a different type of treadmill and pain was still there. So I left cardio alone for the day. I've started running five days a week for the past two weeks, so my knees are getting more abuse than they ever have.

The poor guys deserve a day off, I'll be sure to stretch good and ease into it tomorrow.

Ok so that is my push day, critique away.

 

[AKIRA]

Ok. The setup doesnt seem so bad really. However, why the hell did you do pushdowns before military? That could be dangerous. I mean you did dips too before military. Not the best route. Had you done the militarys before the pushdowns and dips, those 40s may not had been so hard. At least a possible 3 sets of 6-8, hopefully 8.

Speaking of dips, do you want triceps to do most of the work or the chest? When your elbows are close to your sides and you stay upright, its triceps. When your elbows bow out and you lean forward, your chest is doing most of the work. (I am actually a big fan of these)

The first DB press, are you using any kind of warm up? The workout itself doesnt seem bad. You tried some limits and failed, no big deal, now you know what to aim for, its just another small goal.


Bottom line, do you want to have some strong dips? Ive seen you speak about them more than once now. I am now wondering if you are in fact, "thinking a lot." Lots of goals can become frustrating. Stick to whats important and other things will follow.

Good workout. Dont worry about the knees. Well actually, at your job, do you stand up a lot? If yes, switch to a cycle or a eliptical, unless you want to keep doing HIIT, which it sounds like your having good results from. Just giving some options and possible reasons why your knees would hurt more than you think they 'should.'

 

[Uthinkso]

Ok. The setup doesnt seem so bad really. However, why the hell did you do pushdowns before military? That could be dangerous. I mean you did dips too before military. Not the best route. Had you done the militarys before the pushdowns and dips, those 40s may not had been so hard. At least a possible 3 sets of 6-8, hopefully 8.

Speaking of dips, do you want triceps to do most of the work or the chest? When your elbows are close to your sides and you stay upright, its triceps. When your elbows bow out and you lean forward, your chest is doing most of the work. (I am actually a big fan of these)

The first DB press, are you using any kind of warm up? The workout itself doesnt seem bad. You tried some limits and failed, no big deal, now you know what to aim for, its just another small goal.


Bottom line, do you want to have some strong dips? Ive seen you speak about them more than once now. I am now wondering if you are in fact, "thinking a lot." Lots of goals can become frustrating. Stick to whats important and other things will follow.

Good workout. Dont worry about the knees. Well actually, at your job, do you stand up a lot? If yes, switch to a cycle or a eliptical, unless you want to keep doing HIIT, which it sounds like your having good results from. Just giving some options and possible reasons why your knees would hurt more than you think they 'should.'

For DB press I do two sets of 10 using 25lb as a warm up. Didn't mention that since I don't include it as a working set.


In short yes I over think, this I know. This board is great because it spoils me for choice when it comes to information. Information, can be of a detrement at a point though.

Initially I have one major goal, lose fat. As soon as I get to about 15%, I'm going to start bulking. I'm in this for the long haul, so I might as well start sculpting the body I want.

HIIT works well for me, and while I am on my feet walking around the shop and such I'd say 70% of my day is spent on my can in the lab.

My strength goals that I have set for myself varry for each excercise, I want to bench 225lbx10, I want to do 3x10 for dips, I want to squat 315x6, etc. To answer your question, I want my dips to hit my tri's. Even when I start with dips as my first excercise, I still have 80lb on the assist to get 10 reps. Even when I worked out a ton back in the day, weighed 173lb, I could only bench 185lbx3 and 2x10 for dips.

I did flat bench, incline, and incline cashed me pretty good. Rather than just walk around and rest for ten minutes I figured I'd go work tri's and then come back to military. I see that military also recruits the tricep to push the weight, but not as directly as dips or pull downs.

Today felt good, it was a good workout but certainly not a great work out. I'm but a novice in this crazy world of fitness, I can only get better.

 

[Bakerboy]

Looks like you are working hard at it. If you want to warm up your chest and triceps you could do pushups as part of your warmup. You should test your max pushups and then test them again in a few weeks. If you just did pushups in place of your benching you would almost be better off because it sounds like you need to work on your core stability. The thing about only bench pressing is that you are always being supported with pushups you support your own weight. I think getting to a point where you can do 50 full ROM pushups for 2-3 sets, for you, is a more useful goal than a 225 bench and your core will probably be stronger. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass, I'm just telling you some tips that you can take or leave because I want you to succeed.

 

[Uthinkso]

Looks like you are working hard at it. If you want to warm up your chest and triceps you could do pushups as part of your warmup. You should test your max pushups and then test them again in a few weeks. If you just did pushups in place of your benching you would almost be better off because it sounds like you need to work on your core stability. The thing about only bench pressing is that you are always being supported with pushups you support your own weight. I think getting to a point where you can do 50 full ROM pushups for 2-3 sets, for you, is a more useful goal than a 225 bench and your core will probably be stronger. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass, I'm just telling you some tips that you can take or leave because I want you to succeed.

You mean theres people that can do 50x3 push-ups. I can do 20 if I'm lucky on my best day.

you sir may have just hit the nail on the head.

 

[Uthinkso]

So I can now rest a little easier. I've got my diet figured out perfectly. I have my 2200kcal, 2400kcal, and 2600kcal days dialed in with foods I like to eat. Also they meals are balanced. Its a say to celebrate indeed. I eat 2600kcal on training days and 2200kcal on non training days.

Day off today, then my buddys bachelor party tomorrow. I'm the best man, oh happy day, this will be fun indeed.

Leg are on Sunday I will post that routine as well after leg day for critique

 

[Double D]

Your doing well buddy, keep it up. The strength will come it just takes time. I quit weight training for about 6 months a few years back. I got fat and couldnt even do a dip! I was shocked and felt horrible. Within a few months I was knocking dips out again! Besdies that I dropped about 50lbs! So that was a savour as well!

 

[Uthinkso]

Your doing well buddy, keep it up. The strength will come it just takes time. I quit weight training for about 6 months a few years back. I got fat and couldnt even do a dip! I was shocked and felt horrible. Within a few months I was knocking dips out again! Besdies that I dropped about 50lbs! So that was a savour as well!

Thanks D-squared!!

The hardest part for me, has been getting two food days designed with balanced meals. I've never, I repeat NEVER, eaten a clean diet. When I trained before I ate lots of chicken and fish, but it was from McDonalds or Burger King. So kind of defeats the purpose considering its source of orgin. Although I was 20 years old and ran five miles a day after weight training. So I had youth and metabolism on my side. Now almost eight years later, its time to change things.

The thing I knew within myself, is that I had to make the diet feel comfortable. If it was robotic, where I ate the same foods everyday I'd go bonkers. I do eat 80% of the same foods everyday (ie:chicken, turkey, eggs, cottage cheese), but I am learning to change my carb and fat source to keep things interesting. Also dabbling with seasonings.

Looking back today is the 3-24, and I joined the new gym on 1-15. http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/diet-nutrition/74971-ok-i-super-sized-myself-now-what.html I stepped on their scale at 257lb, I now step on their scale at 242lb. So 15lb of total mass gone, however the miror tells a story of losing much more than 15lb, and more importantly fat. Its education and a smart way of looking at things. It really fuels me, when people at work ask me if I'm losing weight or how much I've lost. These folks see me every day 50hrs a week, and if they notice then hell, I'm doing something right.

Ok off on a little tangent there, but hey thats what journals are for.

 

[AKIRA]

I see that military also recruits the tricep to push the weight, but not as directly as dips or pull downs.

Anytime you straighten your arm, or more to the point, extend the elbow, the tricep is on full force. Contralaterally, anytime your bend your arm or flex the elbow, your bicep is on full force. This simple physiological fact is why compounds supercede (sp?) isolations. So anytime you do a pullup or a row, your bicep is getting a workout...and of course, anytime you bench or military press, your triceps are getting a workout.

So in totality, your triceps were working "full force" on ever single workout on push day. Its quite reasonable to notice your arms are fried towards the end of the workout.

Whats funny about the dipshits in the gym, who never read up on this shit nor ever want to change their routine, is that they kinda know this fatigue fact subconsciously. Thats why "back" is on one day and "arms" is on another. Why? Cuz they know how spent their arms are on "chest" and "back" day. Which is why, working on bodyparts rather than movements just doesnt balance well.

I was one of those assholes.

 

[AKIRA]

Looks like you are working hard at it. If you want to warm up your chest and triceps you could do pushups as part of your warmup. You should test your max pushups and then test them again in a few weeks. If you just did pushups in place of your benching you would almost be better off because it sounds like you need to work on your core stability. The thing about only bench pressing is that you are always being supported with pushups you support your own weight. I think getting to a point where you can do 50 full ROM pushups for 2-3 sets, for you, is a more useful goal than a 225 bench and your core will probably be stronger. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass, I'm just telling you some tips that you can take or leave because I want you to succeed.

I was considering doing push ups as a decondition from the P/RR/S template. Push ups and all their varieties are great for strength and even cutting!

 

[Uthinkso]

On my next push day in lieu of flat bench I am going to do do 25x4 of push-ups. We'll see how it goes, of course I will journal the findings after my outing.

Legs tomorrow though. I love that day, I've really found a soft spot for deads and squats. I don't move a ton of weight but really still get pumped on doing a great excercise with good form.

 

[Double D]

I have seen a lb of fat before. It wasnt real, but it showed it. Its about the equivalent on a softball! Now take 15 of those off of you while sparring muscle mass! Thats impressive.

 

[Uthinkso]

I have seen a lb of fat before. It wasnt real, but it showed it. Its about the equivalent on a softball! Now take 15 of those off of you while sparring muscle mass! Thats impressive.

Man now that you put it that way, that makes me feel even better. Man next time I need an ego stroking I know where to go