For those that don't know me, I'm a fat kid that used to be a skinny kid but really prefers to be a fat strong kid. I'm also the Internet bully of the fitness industry; Leigh Peele especially hates me but can't help laughing at how funny I am.
Right now, my goal is two-fold:
1) Preserve/develop strength in my favorite lifts
2) Stop being fat
I started out at a hefty 214 lbs at 5'9, which means that most insurance companies consider me a huge fat health risk. I'm probably legally dead to some of them.
I spent two weeks doing Lyle McDonald's PSMF diet, which got me down to a hair under 200 lbs.
Right now, after getting 600ish grams of carbs yesterday, I'm sitting right at 200, which is a happy medium on my frame. Estimating that the BF% has dropped from ~20% to ~14%. The end goal will be ~10%.
I use the ~ a lot because I like to be precise.
Current Plans
Anyways, I'm switching away from the PSMF for a bit because it sucks to be on. I'm moving to more of a carb-cycling/intermittent fasting style of eating which tends to work well for me as a balance between lifting good and body composition.
Strength-wise, I'm doing a program adapted from Steve Justa's Rock, Iron, Steel. This particular plan is set up as follows:
Day 1 - 2-board Press, Front Squat
Day 2 - 2-board Press, Deadlift
I'm alternating between these on a MWF schedule. The pressing will be done for 12 singles each time (3x/week). Squats and deadlifts will each be done for 25 singles (every other session). Working weights for both are supposed to be ~70%, with 10 lbs added to the pressing and 20 lbs to the FSQ/DL each week. After three weeks you test new maxes and start over at 70% of those.
At the end of the workout I'll throw in some goodness for the upper back and the gun show.
For a little history, I'm using 2-boards since my shoulders are a wreck. Scap and thoracic mobility was utter crap, which I've been fixing since the summer. I can actually press again without shoulder pain, but I don't want to risk it w/ full ROM bench.
Friday's session:
2-board Press, 12 singles/195 lbs
Deadlift, 25 singles/315 lbs
Chinups, 3 sets of ISO holds, 3 positions for 6s each
BB Curls, 2 sets
I started conservative, since I'm really out of shape and a workout like this will wind you but good. The pressing weights were too light, while the deadlift was probably on target for my conditioning, even though the weight itself was light-ish. I was going on semi-conservative maxes of 275 on the 2-board and 455ish on the pull, so this coming week I'll up the weights.
Diet-wise, non-lifting days will be keto-ish, with protein and some fats only. M and W will have 200-300g of carbs, while Friday will load up with 500-700g, mostly to support the workouts and recovery.
I hate cardio tons, but I might do some on off days*.
* This means I won't be doing any cardio.
Other than that, lets open the betting pool on how long I'll actually maintain this journal.
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The deadlifts were easy. The front squats, maybe not so much. I PRd at 315 on those, with a moderately difficult but not quite true 1RM, not too long ago.
70% is going to be ~225. For 25 singles. Monday will be pain, oh yes.
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The deadlifts were easy. The front squats, maybe not so much. I PRd at 315 on those, with a moderately difficult but not quite true 1RM, not too long ago.
This is the power of the OMEGAWAVE!!!!
How long are you resting in between singles?
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"The strongest steel goes through the hottest fires."-Anonymous
"When you begin to believe nothing is heavy, all weights become light." -Rossbow
"Just remember, somewhere there is a little Chinese girl warming up with your max."-Jim Convroy
"It's a round hole, dammit. Everyone fits."--Anonymous Mod at Strengthmill
No set time, but as briefly as possible. I end up kinda clustering things, doing a few with very little rest then resting a bit longer. Usually just long enough to get my wind back, though.
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Articles | Blog | Pirate my book. "Yeah, but you did your post grad thesis on trolling, so you don't count."
-JP, endorsing how awesome I am
Diet plan on non-lifting days is shaping up to be nice, which is strange because historically diet is the worst thing for me to stick to. It's been a good four weeks now of being "consistent enough", which may be some kind of record.
Yohimbine HCL + caffeine in the AM, for whatever good that may or may not do, then kicking in with protein and fats later in the day; staples have been protein powder (a nice MPI/whey blend I have here), tuna, almonds, low-fat string cheese, and my favorite mix of 8oz ground beef and 3 whole eggs with a little coconut milk.
Lots of fluids, mostly in the form of green tea, but I must confess I'm really loving my sugar-free Rock Star or Red Bull in the AM.
Tomorrow's going to be the 2-board/Front Squat single-rep jamboree, complete with a small carb refeed. As planned that will be some oatmeal, honey, and an apple preWO, and some low-fat Velveeta shells N cheese for postWO, along with the requisite pre/postWO protein intake.
The next three weeks should be somewhat less miserable anyway.
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Articles | Blog | Pirate my book. "Yeah, but you did your post grad thesis on trolling, so you don't count."
-JP, endorsing how awesome I am
Well shit, you got a journal. Definitely keep an eye on this in the background. Good to see what you are up to.
Best of training to ya'
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"If you do most of your training on a balance board, a Swiss Ball, or a Bosu ball, you'll have a tremendous core and a small, weak body that we'll all laugh at."
TC Luoma
Matt, you said you want to preserve or develop strength. I know you said you used to be stronger... Is it a lot easier for one to get stronger again vs getting stronger than you ever have been?
Many of us around here are getting strong(er) for the first time around (like me). When we are on a deficit, should we be getting stronger, too? Or is simply not losing strength a better expectation?
Matt, you said you want to preserve or develop strength. I know you said you used to be stronger... Is it a lot easier for one to get stronger again vs getting stronger than you ever have been?
Usually this is the case, yes. It seems that both the muscles and nervous system have some mechanism in place that makes it a lot easier to regain a state you've held before; this is very poorly understood, but it's a commonly observed thing.
In contrast to getting to that point in the first place, it's a lot easier.
Quote:
Many of us around here are getting strong(er) for the first time around (like me). When we are on a deficit, should we be getting stronger, too? Or is simply not losing strength a better expectation?
In my case, the strength loss has more to do with the factors that go into pulling maxes. At this point being optimistic I could pull 500 for a rep or three; which isn't *that* far off my all time best, but it's still a significant drop. A lot of that is pure mental. I get scared of the big weights and stay away from them.
Coming up to bust PRs for the first time on a diet will be mostly/entirely contingent on how "trained" you are. If you're relatively new and haven't adapted all that much to training (in terms of adding muscle and adding strength), then with a properly designed program and moderate deficit it's certainly possible.
If you've put on a chunk of (muscle) weight and are relatively strong, I'd say not so much. Same case for people on a more harsh deficit. You won't have the resources in play to recover from that kind of workload, and the body will respond accordingly.
Most of what I'm doing in this case is simply residual from past peaks; I lose a lot off the top-end max strength, but in the scheme of things I still hold quite a bit of muscle from where I started. Strength in that middle zone, such as what I'm doing here, tends to be more inertial at this point, taking quite a while to really detrain.
I don't respond well to high-intensities anymore over the long term, either. At this point I'm just too beat up and too skittish of getting hurt again. Doing higher volumes with more moderate weights and infrequent testing of maxes seems to suit me a lot better.
If you're less trained, this may not be a concern so quicker/more dramatic strength gains are certainly possible.
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Articles | Blog | Pirate my book. "Yeah, but you did your post grad thesis on trolling, so you don't count."
-JP, endorsing how awesome I am
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Am I Still Fat?
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