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A Change in Direction

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  • A Change in Direction

    Hey guys. The last time I kept any kind of log was starting last April. It had been about a year after I started working out and I made the decision to bulk a little bit since I was sick of eating to lose weight, though I guess it worked well, since I dropped about 120 pounds.

    Since then, I've gone from 162 pounds to 178 pounds, and increased my lifts a lot. I feel like it's a good time to trim out a little bit as it (hopefully) starts to get warmer. I always like to start things with a new week, so I'll be making this switch on Sunday.

    First off, I'm changing my diet a bit. I've been eating about 3500 calories. I plan on decreasing that until I hit about 2800 calories or so. I'm decreasing carbs by a good amount and fats by a bit.

    Second, I'm changing my training program up. I've been using a five day split program and have basically tried to just make it as brutal as possible (and to be honest, it's worked pretty well). I'm moving back to a four day split and adding one more day of heavy cardio. I'm also changing the type of cardio I'll be doing. I've been just doing long runs, for the most part. I've been focusing on endurance in that area. However, recent trouble with my right ankle have led me to abandon running/treadmill, so I'm going to attempt a mixture of stepmill, elliptical, and stationary bike. I don't know if I'll be burning as many calories as before, but the lower calorie intake should make up for that a bit.

    Third, I'm switching some supplements. I have been taking a mixture of CL and Universal products, but for this, I'm moving to an all-CL line-up, aside from some of the more generic products. I've loved REDuction PM, so for this phase, I'll add the AM portion. Since I work out first thing in the morning, that will be enough stimulant pre-workout. I have some White Blood to use with it. Along with that, I'm giving Green Bulge a try for the first time, and I don't think I'll give up Blue Gene any time soon. A scoop each of Purple WrAAth and Purple InTrain will be the during-juice. Orange Triad will round out the CL party. Add in protein isolate, fish oil, and green tea extract, and that's all she wrote.

    I'll update as much as I can!
    We'll see how this goes...

  • #2
    I think this change will be good for me in another way. We all know that it's much better to focus on form rather than weight, but let's face it, at some point we all like to pick up the heavier DBs or slide another plate onto the bar. With this program, I'm going to be doing a number of lifts that I haven't done before, or at least haven't done in a while. I'm going to have to back off the weight and force myself to get everything right before I bump the weight.

    Pride will be swallowed, but hopefully progress will be made.
    We'll see how this goes...

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    • #3
      In for this !

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      • #4
        Originally posted by AlphaBrass01 View Post
        I'm moving back to a four day split and adding one more day of heavy cardio. I'm also changing the type of cardio I'll be doing. I've been just doing long runs, for the most part. I've been focusing on endurance in that area.
        =


        Originally posted by AlphaBrass01 View Post
        However, recent trouble with my right ankle have led me to abandon running/treadmill, so I'm going to attempt a mixture of stepmill, elliptical, and stationary bike. I don't know if I'll be burning as many calories as before, but the lower calorie intake should make up for that a bit.

        long slow cardio will limit your bodies ability to build muscle at the cellular level if the adaptations take place. This will also be more noticable due to cumulative effects of restriction in muscle growth/recovery due to the low carb/fat nutrition protocol you plan to employ. You will basically be over loading the body with protein, which could be detrimental to the organs, the low carb intake will severly limit energy production all day long and most importantly during training, while the limited fat intake will reduce testosterone production (I believe your a male, so this is very important)


        How anyone plans to add muscle and/or lean out on a caloric defecit is beyond me... they just dont understand the science and are basically employing advanced bodybuilding protocols that are way over what their training age should dictate.

        I can eat near 7-8K calories and still lose bodyfat -- I've read Michael Phelps eat's something like 10K calories while in training... if your activity level is high and you hope to significantly alter your body composition/muscular performance for the better, you must fuel the body accordingly.

        Imagine trying to take a corvette for a trip with only 5 galloons of fuel.. unless you're trip is all down hill you won't get very far. Sure, your body might not be a corvette, but the ford focus still needs sufficient amoutns of fuel to get from point A to point B - the better the fuel the quicker you'll get there (car will run great on oil, but not on urine)

        Take home story: Fuel your body for performance with quality nutrient dense whole foods (not pills, powders, or starvation)
        When it comes to training: limit long slow endurance cardio, unless your goal is to be a long slow endurance athlete, look like one (see attachment), or destroy your ankles/knees/hips through repetitive overuse injuries multiplied by reactive ground forces (hence popularity of biking/elliptical - people can waste time without destroying their joints)
        for fat loss/conditioning purpose: learn how to eat healthy, and do it -- include loaded conditioning (barbell complexes/circuit training)
        Attached Files
        Last edited by jiritt0; 02-14-2010, 10:54 AM.

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        • #5
          That's part of the reason I'm changing the way I approach cardio. As far as diet goes, I'm not aiming for anything that's close to low carb or low fat. What I was trying to say was that the decreases are more in those areas than protein. I'll still be eating between 2800 and 3000 calories a day, which should not be a deficit for me. Believe me, I spent more than enough time eating well under maintenance when I was first losing weight.

          Also, with regards to high calorie diets like Michael Phelps', they are a LOT more active than I am. I work hard when I'm at the gym, but that hour-and-a-half or so is pretty much what I get. I work in a sedentary job - there's no real way to be active for the rest of the day. I dare say that if Michael Phelps only worked out for ninety minutes and ate what he eats, the results would be less than optimal.

          I agree completely with lack of enery and results using deficits. I talk to people all the time who are aiming for 1200 or even 800 calories a day and then wonder why they're too tired to work out. I'm definitely not looking to go that direction.

          Anyway, I was performing at a church in a nearby town this morning, so did not get to the gym in the morning. Instead, I went after the services were over. This gave me a chance to see what the AM pill of the REDuction set felt like without a workout right after it. There was energy, but nothing jittery or over the top - a very good thing. Performances went well. When I did get into the gym, I warmed up on the stepmill and then did intervals on both the elliptical and bike. Afterwards, I was beat. I'm happy with the day...except for the lack of plans for this evening, but oh well.
          We'll see how this goes...

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          • #6
            New leg day this morning, and I'm pretty beat. To keep it short and sweet, here's what it looked like:

            Back Squats
            Hack Squats
            Leg Extensions

            Stiff-leg Deadlifts
            Lying Leg Curls

            A little on the elliptical to unwind my legs
            We'll see how this goes...

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            • #7
              I don't usually really feel soreness in most muscle groups too much until the next day, usually the next afternoon. This is especially true of legs, since everything gets wound up and then I sit at a desk for hours. I'll tell you what, my legs are definitely screaming right now after yesterday morning. I could tell it would be like this when they were a little sore yesterday. Following squats with hack squats really gets my quads better than leg presses ever did!
              We'll see how this goes...

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              • #8
                the only use for a leg press is to put it on your back and squat it.

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                • #9
                  Today was a little bit disappointing, but I guess there's a good reason. My left wrist is pretty bad off following a bit of an incident moving some furniture at work on Monday. I couldn't really do much, will probably go really easy for the rest of this week to let it get better before trying to push it. I'll start up with the log again seriously once I feel like I can actually lift. Yesterday, it hurt to turn the steering wheel in my car using only my left hand. It's a lot better today, but hopefully the improvement continues...
                  We'll see how this goes...

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                  • #10
                    The wrist is feeling better every day. We'll see how things go this next week. Hopefully it gets back to normal quickly. It just seems like wrist issues take so much longer than some other issues to fix themselves.
                    We'll see how this goes...

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                    • #11
                      Alright, I know it's been a long time since I last posted. I've been taking some things easy just to e sure the wrist gets better. I wouldn't want to end up with this causing continuous problems. The good news is that it's pretty much back to normal. The only thing that doesn't feel good at the moment is the "clean" movement, which I don't use all too much anyway.

                      On the progress front, I've kept intensity high during workouts without stressing the wrist, so I don't feel like I've lost ground. My weight is down from 176 to between 170 and 172. I'm sticking with this setup for another month or so. I'll start to update this thing again.

                      One thing I did change is to increase my caloric intake a little bit. 2800 was a little low, so I've been sticking around 3100. I know it's not a huge difference, but it feels better.

                      Also, being the person I am, I always think pretty far ahead, so I'm already thinking about what to change in a few weeks. I'm pretty sure that it's a good idea to take some time off stims, so I'll be dropping REDuction AM. I'm very interested in GlycerGrow, and I'm considering moving WB to night time and taking GG pre-workout. For those of you who have used GG like this (without another pump/NO product pre), how did you feel it compared in the pumps department? I've been using WB with BG and GB, and I'd basically be replacing the WB with GG. Let me know!
                      We'll see how this goes...

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                      • #12
                        Actually right now Im taking GG by itself. I myself dont care about getting pumps so I havent really paid attention but I did notice a strength change. I myself think its a pretty great product. Even on it own
                        "Greater love hath no man, than to lay down his life for a friend" John 15:13
                        CFD

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                        • #13
                          Monday was a great leg day. Same setup as described a few posts back. Hit 315x6 on my squat

                          This morning was pretty good for chest and biceps - incline bench, machine fly, dumbbell bench, barbell pullover, EZ bar curl, and rope pull hammer curl. I pushed to exhaustion on both chest and bis.

                          As far as body weight goes, getting close to 170 (my lowest has been 162).

                          I'm enjoying everything so far. The little tiny bit of leaning out is actually providing a good bit more definition visually, which is the most important measuring factor for me.

                          Back day tomorrow.
                          We'll see how this goes...

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                          • #14
                            The back workout was very good this morning. I think this is the area I'm making the most progress. I really like the set of exercises I did this morning - bent over rows, underhand t-bar rows, seated cable rows, lat pulls, and hyperextensions, with some seated calf presses added in.

                            It feels good!
                            We'll see how this goes...

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                            • #15
                              I wish I could keep everything going forward with my shoulder workouts. It always seems like something is strong and something else suffers. Yesterday, I did really good work on my military press and seated dumbbell press, but for some reason, delt flyes stalled a bit. Maybe I was just worn from pushing to failure on the presses beforehand. Either way, it's a bit frustrating.

                              Eh...I guess it's just another reason to keep pushing!
                              We'll see how this goes...

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