Countdown to Summer

[dice77]

Time for a new journal with warm thoughts! My nuts have been frozen to my leg for the past month.

Summary of the last year or so…
I recomped with Skip from July 2012 to April 2013. He got me leaner than I had been in over 20 years. Great experience and results. Can’t say enough good things about it.

When my time ended with him I made some mistakes, especially with the intensity of my training and being mindful of how my daily activity level and calories were fluctuating.. I did not progress as well on my own as I hoped. After having surgery in July 2013, I bounced back in the fall, added some cals to my diet and have had a fairly successful “lean bulk” the last few months.

Now it is time for some new goals. By Memorial Day (18 weeks) I’m going to get myself ripped. Probably not contest shape (we shall see what I can do)but less than 10% body fat. Over the few days while I am still deloading/cruising I’m going to talk about how I plan to accomplish this using the tools that Skip gave me along with things I have learned about myself the last few months.

[dice77]

DIET
Keep It Simple Stupid. I am very simply going to create a calorie deficit daily. I have a Fitbit to measure my daily activity level and calories burned. A big problem I had last spring/summer with my progression was my daily activity varied so much and I didn’t take that into account. Some days I’d be on my feet most of the time while other days I’m sitting at a desk or in a meeting. Now I have some technology to help me track that better.
For now, my training day meals will look something this:
-PCF
-PCF
TRAINING
-PC
-PC
-PF
-PF

My fat intake may vary in the last two meals depending on how many calories I have left that day. Veggies may be consumed in those meals as well. I will utilize a weekly Skipload, usually on Saturdays. Non training/cardio only days will have less cals and carbs than weight training days. As time goes on, adjustments will be made.

[dice77]

2/2
Returned to the gym after a week off. Starting with leg day

HOIST leg curls: 5x15 (1 min rest between sets)

Barbell Squats: 5x5 ramp up sets, set of 8, set of 12
Felt pretty good. Slightly lost form on a few reps. Think it was a combination of returning to the gym and finding my groove and all of the leg curl reps beforehand.

Leg Press: 1x30, 1x20, 3x10., (1 min rest between sets)
I can't remember the last time I did squats AND leg presses in the same workout bc I've been doing low volume for so long. It felt good. I handled the shorter rest time between sets better than I thought I would.

Treadmill: 20 min, THR of 130+
Usually don't do cardio on leg day but my time restrictions may force me to do so.

Baseline weight: 224.1.
Post Skipload weight. 229.2

Started Heckman Flush last night. Kept ingredients lower than prescibed but will slowly increase over the next few days

[dice77]

2/3
Calves and abs
Mondays I will need to get to the gym during prime time hours. At least everyone is doing chest.

Standing Calf Raises: DC Stretch Style

Machine Crunches: 4 sets, reps 15-30
I have progressed to the point where the weight is bothering by shoulder. I'll do these last and lighter next time

Standing Calf Raises: 4 straight sets, 1 partial sets
Felt strong with these today. Week off did me good. Tells me I really banged em up last blast. Not undertraining them

Hoist Calf Extensions: 3x10, 3x12 plus drop sets

Machine side Crunches: 3 sets

Machine Double Crunches: 3 sets
I will start with these next time

20 minutes incline treadmill with THR 130+
Decided I'm going to do a minimal of 3 sessions per week but if I can do more I will.

Even though I dislike going to the gym in the evening, it was nice to give calves and abs the attention they deserve and knock them out early in the week.

Bodyweight: 225.8
Pre Skipload: 224.1

[dice77]

2/4
Chest & Tris
First time in years I did a higher volume chest and tri workout. Very pleased today.

Incline Barbell Press: 4 x 12. The Smith Machines were full so I decided to warm up with the barbell. The shoulder felt great so I went with it.

Flat DB Press: 4x8. Another exercise I have not done in years. Really happy with the improved health of my shoulder. It got sore but it wasn't an injury soreness. More of a "WTF are you doing to me?" soreness. Stablizers need work

Dips: 4 x 12. Big reason I decided to do chest and tris together was this exercise

Machine Fly: WM + drop sets

Barbell Skull Crushers: 4x12. Super pumped

Rope Pushdowns: 2x12, 2x8 + drop sets

1 minute rest between all sets. I really got a lot done in a short period of time. I NEVER trained this fast. Very happy. Joints felt great, muscles were working hard with lighter weights, and I did a lot of exercises I could not have done a year ago.

Today's weight: 224.7
Baseline: 224.0
Should baseline easily. Especially after this soreness water drops off my legs. Heckman Flush is helping as well even though I think that is more with quality, not quanity

[dice77]

2/5
Back and Biceps
Holy shit am I sore. I'm usually sore the week after returning from a cruise but the added volume/switching up routines is really beating me up. My upper back/traps were sore today and the only upper body work I've done so far this week was chest. With that being said, I wasn't looking to set any PRs today.

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 4x12

HOIST Seated Rows: 4x12

HOIST Pull Down Rows: 4x8

3 sets of Hypers

Barbell Curls: 4x15. Changed my grip postion every set. Worked very slow.

Alternate DB Hammer Curls: 3x8

Close Grip Chin Ups: 3x8

20 minutes of cardio on the treadmill with a THR of 130+

I was really in a groove with my back training before my cruise so changing things up is going to take some getting used to. Not a bad workout...just different.

Weight was slightly up this morning (about half a pound). I'm attributing that to soreness water. The leg soreness has somewhat started to disapate this afternoon so I'm hoping for a nice drop into the weekend.

Had the day off today and just did a few things around the house. The Fitbit really showed how less inactive I am at home compared to work. Something I did NOT consider last spring/summer which I believe led to my progress slowing down. Definitlely will be taking in less calories today than I did all week.

[LKQSJH]

How many carbs are you shooting for on training days? I recently upped my carbs and dropped fats but not sure how well that is going to work out with skiploading yet.

[dice77]

How many carbs are you shooting for on training days? I recently upped my carbs and dropped fats but not sure how well that is going to work out with skiploading yet.

About 200 which is more than what I was getting when I was recomping with Skip last year.

80 post workout (which i will eventually reduce as needed)and the other 120 spread out over 3 meals.

I do a 10-11 hr Skipload on Saturday. Will reset that to 4 hrs and build from there if weight loss ceases

This Friday I don't train so I'm going to try super low carbs to throw my body off. Just mixing things up.

What do you take in on training days? Is it always 250ish?

[dice77]

2/6
Delts and Traps
Seated Military Press: 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps. Kept this as 2 minute rest between sets. Everything else was 1 minute rests. Wanted to beat reps from previous workout and I did. Rear delts were sore from yesterday's back work. Body is really reacting to higher volume

DB Raises: Alternated beween side and front. 4 sets of each x15, 12, 10, 8. Halfway through delts were burning. These were awesome and on my "to do" list

Reverse flys: 3x15....rear delts throbbing

Barbell Shrugs: 3x15.....years since I've done these

Cardio: 17 min of walk, jog, run intervals
Mixing it up. Last day of training until Sunday so I intensified the cardio.
Weight: 224.2 which is just about baseline. Would like to see a nice drop tomorrow morning. Went into old journals and figured out my activity level really dropped from January to July but my diet did not change. Figuring some stuff out...

[dice77]

2/7
I weighed in at 225.2 this morning which is a pound heavier than last Friday. This was disappointing at first because I trained hard this week and ate super clean. However, there is no need to panic.

Last week I was cruising and I ALWAYS drop weight when I don’t exercise BUT eat clean. I’m super sore this week so I’m sure water is involved. I also added Ndure and BCAA back into the mix and whenever I use any type of supplements I seem to hold more water. Plus I usually train around 12:30 every day and I’m done carbs by 5:00. Three days this week I trained in the evening (including last night) and had post workout carbs up until bedtime.

I felt lean this morning and my jeans (fresh out of the dryer) fit better than they have in weeks. I am however still going to cut some carbs and a little bit of fats next week because I’m going to be aggressive with dropping weight. Calories will not exceed 2600 on training days and will be much lower on days I don’t train.

Today I am eating almost no carbs and I will be Skiploading tomorrow. I will keep the load high because I don’t want to change too many variables. Plus when I was dropping weight last winter my loads were always high to the point we considered having me start the night before.

Using what I have learned to hopefully make good decisions….

[LKQSJH]

I hate the scale. Its so unpredictable for me because days when i don't expect to drop it does and then when i think it should it goes the other way. I always compare to 2 weeks before just to keep my sanity.

Do you keep your loads long because you can't eat a ton at once? I have not worked with skip but from what experience i have trying it on my own i have to get at least 8-10 hours in to get down a decent amount of carbs. I'm just not one of those that can do 500g at one sitting and then eat again in 2 hours.

[dice77]

I hate the scale. Its so unpredictable for me because days when i don't expect to drop it does and then when i think it should it goes the other way. I always compare to 2 weeks before just to keep my sanity.

Do you keep your loads long because you can't eat a ton at once? I have not worked with skip but from what experience i have trying it on my own i have to get at least 8-10 hours in to get down a decent amount of carbs. I'm just not one of those that can do 500g at one sitting and then eat again in 2 hours.

Yeah the scale does get on my nerves. I really use my clothes as an indicator a lot of the time. I found the waistline of my pants more reliable when I was recomping. LOL

My loads built up to 14 hours last year during recomp just because I needed it. I was taking in large amounts of carbs every 2-3 hours.

When I switched to more of a lean bulk in the fall I still kept them 10-12 hours (determined by hunger) but the amount of food was not near what it was in the spring. I probably should have cut them to 6-8 hours but the extra calories were helping my workouts and my weight gain was still slow.

I probably should go back to 4-6 hours to start right now but I don't want to change too many variables in my diet. Plus I'm basing it on my previous experience of what I needed when I was running below 150-200 g of carbs a day.

[dice77]

2/9
Was happy the weight dropped slightly yesterday to 223.8. Only had green carbs on Friday and the Heckman Flush was working it. Skiploaded yesterday and I'm back up to 231 this morning. Full for leg day!

Seated HOIST Leg Curl: 5 x12. Really liked how these felt today. First two sets were easy but by the end my hammies were burning. Got a great squeeze with every rep.

Barbell Squats: 5x5 ramp up sets, set of 8, set of 10. Despite the fact my knee has been tight since I ran on the treadmill Thursday night, these went well today. Happy with my form and depth.

Leg Press: 3x15, 1x 20, 1x30. Really like high reps on the leg press. Feel like my muscles really get hit compared to when I go heavier and feel it in my back and hips. I only took a minute between each set and was shaking by the end.

Did 20 minutes on the treadmill.

Great start to the week. Dropping some carbs and cals this week. Nothing too drastic. I could tell yesterday that I was much more depleted than I had been in a while based on the amount of food I took in. Looking forward to this week of training!

[v1hyp]

Good luck Dice!!

[dice77]

Good luck Dice!!

Thank you, sir! Looking to do things I've never done before.