Bacardio's TNT Transformation

[bacardio]

I put a video of myself doing Romanian Deadlift. Could you guys critique my form.

Thanks

Romanian Deadlift

[bacardio]

Day 45 (2-20-08):
Weight: 182.8 lbs
BF%: 19.1

Diet:

- holy crap, wasn't paying attention to calories
-but, the intake levels are probably more to the amount that Adam recommends in the TNT book.

Exercise:
- nothing --- took too much time putting a poly coat on the new windows, workout moved to tomorrow morning

[bacardio]

Day 46 (2-21-08):
Weight: 182.0lbs


Diet:

-pretty good levels

Exercise:

missed Thursday night TKD, got home late. I make up for it by going to kickboxing Saturday morning.

- did plan B instead of plan A today, need more time to work on Romanian DL, so pushed that workout until Saturday.
- the fourth set was brutal.... I was feeling tired early, so was wondering if I was going to make it. I did, but I was fried. And so was my swiss ball, unable to do SB jackknives, due to SB started losing air. It wouldn't "roll"

[mel]

BA, you asked about how to determine the intervals for HIIT.

First, let me say that I am not an expert by any means, and it might be a good idea to do some googling.

I got to my formula now two ways. First, I used the formula that Alwyn put into NROL and tweaked it for myself. Second, I watched a video Natalia had linked to over in the NROLW forum in a thread on HIIT, which is truly worth watching.

Basically, I didn't use any formula to figure my sprint speed. I found a time, started with 9 mph, that made me breathe heavy and got my heart rate up. I could go a little harder without dying, but not much.

The first set of intervals I did, I scaled and went 8 9 10 with 2 minutes of 3mph walking in between each. I did that two times through for the run.

The next time, I dropped the 8s. The next time, I dropped the 9s and went all 10s

Then, I added in one 11, and this last time, 2. So, I just played with the numbers, making it a little harder each time. I may even try lowering the numbers a little and going longer.

Right now I'm only running 15 mins.

The trick that I learned that really has benefited me is to jump off the belt at the end of 1 min and then scale the time down. On the video, he said it is important to go from sprinting to walking. It creates a metabolic spike. I think this is working because I am usually starving after I run HIIT.

Hope this helps,
mel

[bacardio]

Thanks mel.

I am "use to" this type of increasing intervals from the days I tried "Body for Life", but never found a good explanation on "how" someone should determine their "levels".

Trail and error pretty much looks like the name of the game, but I will look into the info you gave me first. That will give me a good starting point, but I think like your doing make sure that the final "level 10" really is your max output and everything should fall into place.

Been trying to figure out how I might do this on a heavy bag using TKD punches and kicks as my cardio, but I don't think there is anyway I can do it for 20 minutes without my arms and legs falling off half way through.

Thanks again

[bacardio]

Day 47 (2-22-08) and Day 48 (2-23-08):

Diet:
- too busy staining my office to eat, so tracking was near impossible. Overall, when I did eat I did pretty good. Did have some candy that slipped in, so I will pay for that in the form of glycogen, if I didn't burn it off already.

Exercise: (2-23-08)

- was trying to get the Romanian DL done, so this workout really sucked. Tired as hell when I completed by no real rhythm to it. Still feel ackward doing the RDLs, so I am posting a couple more videos for critiqueing.

Things I Learned:
- I plan to redo this whole week (phase) of lifting. Didn't feel like it went good enough. Want to give the RDLs a try again, and want to be more consistent with the lifting.

- Weight and bodyfat is still moving in the right direction. Hope to be 180 on the next challenge posting day.

[bacardio]

Day 47 (Friday 2-22-08): OOPS!!!!

Diet:

- more calories than I should have but, overall good

Exercise:
- TKD sparring night: 80+ of sparring and drills --- good sweat!!


Things Learned:
Goofed up previous tracking post: Previous post was for Saturday 23rd and Sunday the 24th

[RedLefty]

Sounds like you're more satisfied by the progress lately -- good job!

[mom2w]

Originally Posted by bacardio

.
Been trying to figure out how I might do this on a heavy bag using TKD punches and kicks as my cardio, but I don't think there is anyway I can do it for 20 minutes without my arms and legs falling off half way through.

What about doing tabatas? I don't know if you could do a full 20 min on/off, but there has to be some way to do a warm up, series of tabatas, rest longer, 2nd series and a cool down.

[bacardio]

Originally Posted by RedLefty

Sounds like you're more satisfied by the progress lately -- good job!

Yeah, I am feeling better, I just need to get through this wall. Not certain if the results will show in the pictures, but approaching my 180 barrier makes me feel like there is progress being made. I will feel a ton better when the 180 barrier is broken and it is not just water weight that caused it.

PS: Thanks a bunch for the help and encouragement you have given me. It is appreciated!!!

Originally Posted by mom2w

What about doing tabatas? I don't know if you could do a full 20 min on/off, but there has to be some way to do a warm up, series of tabatas, rest longer, 2nd series and a cool down.

I just saw something this weekend in some other post about tabatas. I have no idea what they are. But they sound like they would taste good, with extra hot salsa on them .

Honestly, any good references on them, I would like to check into them

[mom2w]

Try this:

MUSCLE WITH ATTITUDE - The Tabata Method

[RedLefty]

Originally Posted by bacardio

PS: Thanks a bunch for the help and encouragement you have given me. It is appreciated!!!

You're welcome! Sorry I haven't been around your log more lately. Was a little self-focused for a while there but am snapping out of it.

[bacardio]

Originally Posted by RedLefty

You're welcome! Sorry I haven't been around your log more lately. Was a little self-focused for a while there but am snapping out of it.

I completely understand and there's no need to apologize here. I have been reading your log, and I was pretty freaked out when the doctor's could figure out way my HDL scores were dropping like a rock , even though my health is better and all my other blood work was in excellent shape.

Still I little freaked out about it now.

[bacardio]

Day 50 (2-25-08):
Weight: 182.2 lbs
BF%: 18.6

Diet:

- busy meeting.. used sugar to stay awake.. It worked but screwed up food levels for the day

Exercise:
- hockey 60 minutes (6-3 L)

[bacardio]

Day 51 (2-26-08):
Weight: 184.6 lbs
BF% 18.3%

Diet:

- too many calories, too much sugar the past few days.

Exercise:

- Holy crap, I hate SB Jackknives, they were obviously invented by someone who disliked humanity.
- Its amazing how much harder 4 sets are over 3

Things Learned:
- I was expecting after yesterdays hockey that I would finally break the 180 (lbs) mark, but instead of going down the last lbs or so, I went up. BF% is staying consistent, so at least I got that going for me.
- I'll get there surely but steadily. Since the rest of the fitness challenge group are training so hard they keep injuring themselves. I just need to stay on track and not overtrain.

[RedLefty]

I only injured the lower body -- no biggie. Like strong legs were gonna win this beauty pageant anyway.

As long as you keep up the good work recomp should continue. Makes the scale almost irrelevant in the short-term.

[bacardio]

Originally Posted by mom2w

Try this:

MUSCLE WITH ATTITUDE - The Tabata Method