Memoirs of a (non)bodybuilder - Reconstructing BFG

[BFG]

Well a new sheet is required and its time to start again. So after the unwholly mess of injury and crap physio advice I am starting again after a 6 month training sabatical.

Where do I stand right now?
Well I am ashamed to say that I currently sit at 203lbs thats 14 stone 7 with body fat guestimated at about 22% (I am getting a measurement done in a few weeks time)

Whats my primary goal?
Well with a holiday coming up at the end of May I dont have expectations of a beach ready body but less of a paunch! That gives me 5 weeks of hard training and diet and Im looking at roughly getting to 13 st 10 or 192 lbs in that time so thats roughly 11bs loss in 5 weeks.

What are my limitations?
Well despite the sabatical the leg is absolutely no better so running and associated CV is still out of the question. Time is limited as I am not retruning from work early enough so it will be have to be diet led with hard training in between. Now as for gym Im averaging 2 gym based sessions a week and I have crap weights at home and no spare pennies!!!

So I am having to focus on the following:

When I hit the gym I am using alternating full body programmes focussing on different aspects. Gym sessions are normaly Wednesday and Saturday or Sunday, something I swore I would never do! Knowing what works best for me I will be using slow training method to failure of 5/5 cadence as at the second my priority is to get the body fat down and then revaluate the training approach to take forward from there.

In my home based sessions as I have very limited weights in fact at the second my largest weight is a paultry 6 kgs! The bar is 10 kgs and I have 6 2 1/2kg weights. I will be using them also to do full body workouts but to maximise effort shall be using a 10/10 cadence and until I can afford more weights shall just simply have to up the reps until failure is achieved. Alongside the full bodys I shall be incorporating some body weight exercises as well.

thats training now the diet
Again shall be approaching this on a macro split of 60/25/15 C/P/F and water consumption shall be upped to 4 litres a day.

I shall be calorie cycling and starting at 2000 having gradualy but unchartedly chipped away at it the last few weeks to get in at around 2500.

So the cycle will be

2000 to 1400 (weekly cycle of 200 down 100 up).

Thankfuly I still have all my old eating logs so that shouldnt be too hard, but educating the other half is a nightmare and causing untold arguments when I refuse to eat prepared food.

Im also teetotal again now from this point onwards alochol is a luxury I can ill afford. I realise from this if nothing else I have limited self control when it comes to food and drink so whilst I am not avoiding choice I am going on the mindset now of "I am far happier with a lower body fat and do not need it. The mental satiety people often associate with alcohol and unclean food in my opinion is not as strong as the feeling I get from keeping the body fat low." I will work this into a mantra



Initial observations
At the second I dont feel I could fight my way out of a wet paper bag which is gutting. But I know it will come back. My legs as usual have retained 80% of their strength which is one saving grace.

I tried a rather ad hoc home session last night and it was pretty good. 10/10 technique seems to last a life time though! Must scrape my pennies together and buy some decent weights when I can but space is an issue.

I shall draw up a full routine this week and welcome input and suggestions.

[UpNorth]

Good to see you back!

[BFG]

cheers

good to be back

[OldGuy]

Hey Steve, welcome back. No doubt you'll get back to where you were. You know how to do it, it's just the dedication that needs to come back.

When home you could try some bodyweight circuits in between the gym days. BW circuits are a good way to get some HIIT in.

[laxcdn]

Good luck. Hope you get better soon.

[BFG]

Originally Posted by laxcdn

Good luck. Hope you get better soon.

cheers for the input guys yeh may try that Oldguy but am limited as to how and what I can do.

lax I think this is my lot now to be honest as 2 years to recover and no major improvement so best to make the most of it as I can

[StevieG]

Good that you're getting back in control! You gave me some good advice and info when I cut from 28% bf to 11.5% over on Mansized! You still in touch with Anthony to give you a boot every now and then?

[EdChap]

Nice to have you back, dude!

Kick some ass.

[Frank.S]

Good luck man,

I think you take a very different approach then most people do with the high(er) carb intake and low calories (1400!! ahhh). But hey, if it works for you, thats excellent.

I think on your home workout days you could throw in alot of bodyweight stuff and see good results too.

[RobLL]

BFG - why don't you do a series of pictures as your body fat goes back down, it really would be fascinating to watch. And good luck with the reconstruction. By the way, I had a great week visiting London museums in February. Rob

[BFG]

cheers Guys and yeh Stevie meeting up with Anthony tonight, good to have you here by the way

Rob my best mates over too and she is the queen of Bodyweight involved heavily on Warrior Training am gonna be looking at some interesting combos with her

Nah Rob I did that under the spot light way too much over thepast two years this time I am taking the hassle factor out hence not posting daily worjouts up but will do a Monday over view of the week and key points.

I know what I must do its a case of this log will keep me on track to do it.

Frank I aint looking forward to the 1400 weeks but they work and by the time you get there it aint so bad. Im not cutting down to a pack this time tho Im getting down to a respecatble figure and then going for a clean bulk, heck I may even use shakes this time to keep the fat content low but only if I can find a soy based one that dont look or smell like something that has come out of a baby! Any reccomendations anyone????

[jj]

Good to see you back BFG. Hope the training goes well!

[StevieG]

Hey BFG!
What shakes do you mean? You can get Soya choc milk from Holland and Barret if that's what you mean (not sure that's what you're after though!) Otherwise, why not make your own? I remember you being pretty adventurous in the kitchen so why not grab a blender, some fruit and make yourself a fat bustin' cocktail!

[Lost Dog]

Steve, if it's lactose that's the issue, there are protein powders that are pretty light in the lactose dept. Here's a thread where we discussed it.

You could also try rice, pea, and hemp protein powders. But, milk based ones are a lot cheaper.

[BFG]

cheers for that LD missed that one

[BFG]

OK time for an update, or a little over due in fact!

Sorry bear with me as its been mad at work with long hours and not much chance to get on here.

Well I have got the bug again and the great news is I found a branch of my gym round the corner from my office. Good news is for a city gym its reasonably well equiped and doesnt get too busy.

bad news is it was designed to maximise space by someone that doesnt have a clue about workout order. So far I have only flattened 3 people running between exercises so may have to rethink my HIT philosophy

Well its amazing, or not really, after 6 months of no weights how much strength you really lose. If I count this as week 3 of training now I am back to where I was 12 months ago on my weight levels which is shocking. The good news is that progression week to week is good and I am pushing myself to my max as I know what I can achieve.

And yep I puked again! :p But it was a hard workout this week and I should have known better! But its two weeks to my holiday and I shouldnt assume maximum fitness levels after only a few weeks back at it! My heart beat went of the scale and it was a case of honk or hit the floor!

Anyhow Im not gonna bore you with stats mainly cos Im ashamed of them and secondly as I dont have my folder to hand! But I am now hitting 4 sessions a week, averaging 40 minutes a time and progression as I say is normaly up by 10-15% on session repetition (Im alternating on 2 full bodies with different emphasis).

Im carrying on with this routine until I hit my hols on 25th. Diet wise is going pretty good on the whole but the excessive work hours are playing hell with some of my food choices. So its a case of averaging my food intake but maintaining under 2000 cals. Far from ideal but I cant always plan what food Im gonna take with the hours Im on at the second.

As for thw weightloss I will veridy that on Saturday but the changes are not massive but noticeable as I now look like I actualy work our rather than a couch potato 37 year old!!!!!!!!

[Lost Dog]

Sounds like you're making some solid progress, Steve.

Nice to find a decent gym, even if you have to change your routine a bit.

[laxcdn]

Keep it up.

[Jimbo]

Way to go Steve. With your determination, you will, without a doubt, reach your goals. And keep in mind..we're all watching.

[Mahler]

Hey, Steve is posting again.
Good luck, my friend and rebuild the empire.