I'm not trying to get down to 11% body fat anymore..
I got low.. Maybe not THAT low..
But estimates from my progress pics I posted were in the definite sub 15% category.. Alan Aragon and Leigh Peele both gave me 15's..
So that's close enough, I feel..
Don't want to get TOO scrawny..
And now I know I have what it takes to cut, and cut HARD..
For those that don't know, I just got finished loosing 40+ lbs..
I started lifting seriously (read "having a clue") in September of '08.. The advice was to start with Starting Strength, so that's what I did, and I saw good progress.. I kept adding plates, and I gained about 25 lbs (maybe about 1/2 of that was muscle).. After about 6 months or so though my strength started to plateau.. From what I read at the time, to bust through the plateau I would have to eat more.. BUT I was already up to 23% fat (sloppy diet)..
So I decided that before I started eating for more mass (which I figured then equals more strength) I should first get in the best possible condition for adding as little fat as possible while eating for bulk, which meant I needed to get my body fat to that 11-15% sweet spot..
So for 3 months I ate at a 500 cal deficit, and lost about 25 lbs..
After that I got worried about metabolism issues, and was sick of treading water at the gym (I kept up with the SS during that time), so resolved to loose the rest of the weight as fast as possible.
So for 6 weeks I did Lyle McDonald's RFL diet, and lost the rest. I got down to 187 (from 230).
It's been 40 days since then, and I've managed to stay pretty much the same weight (I'm 192 this morning)..
I'm sure my body has adjusted to the increase in cals (I was eating 1200 cals a day, with weekly 3200 cal refeeds) by now, and I'm good to go for bulk..
But the plan will be a controlled bulk of 500 cals over maintenence, and hopefully I won't need to cut, but can keep my fat at an acceptable level while adding muscle..
But if I have to do some quick and dirty cuts ala RFL along the way, I have to..
Long story short..
It's time to start a new training log..
Some background, for those who don't want to wade through my "11% body fat or BUST!" journal..
To add as much muscle as I can, while gaining as little fat as possible.
1 lbs a month of LBM is the goal, but I'm not sure how I can keep my weight gain at such a glacial pace..
Hopefully I'll get plenty of tips here..
Now, I subscribe to Alan's AARR, and have read and re-read his "culking" articles..
BUT I've asked him about my particular situation, and he agrees that the formulas for estimating maintenence calories, etc is not going to do me much good..
What's my particular situation, you ask? Well, I have been using this thing called a GoWear Fit.. And I've been going by it's estimate of what my calorie expenditure day in and day out is, and what I need to eat in order to maintain my weight..
SO I shouldn't really have to bother with any formulas as to what my maintenance calories are. The assumption being the GWF is more accurate, and from what I can tell from sources here and Leigh's review, it's good to within 15-30%.. A pretty wide margin, to be sure.. But I have to believe it's better than a formula.. I tried to test it out for a few weeks (eating at what GWF gave for my caloric burn), but things happened, and I couldn't really be as strict with intake as I wanted, and uploading the GWF was a bit sporadic.. So, I'll just take the leap that it's fairly accurate, and adjust downwards if I gain too quickly..
I asked Alan how to go about a bulk with my GWF, and he said 20% over maintenence (or 500 cals) is a good place to start. He also said that I don't need to bother with carb cycling (where you eat less on your off days, at the expense of carbs), as a linear intake will work just as well..
It WILL be cyclical in the sense that my calorie burn from day to day is all over the place.. Some days I'm feeling lazy and will only burn about 2800 cals.. Some days I'll be on my feet all day and will have a workout
Workout Routine
I'm currently 1 month into my NROL Hypertrophy I program. I try to hit the gym every other day, alternating btw upper and lower body workout as per the program, but take 2 day breaks when my body tells me to..
I try to add 5 lbs of weight to each excersize every workout.
The workouts alternate btw. stregth, hypertrophy, and endurance..
ie. one WO will be 5x5, the next will be 3x15, and the next will be 4x10.
I haven't been doing any dedicated cardio.. Just lots of brisk walking and NEAT.. I should get on that, though..
Here's what I did yesterday:
NROL Hypertrophy I B(5) Lower Body
SQUAT
BARx5x2
95x5x1
145x3x1
195x5x5
DEADLIFT
135x5x1
185x5x1
235x5x2
235x5x2 (hurt my back.. Supposed to do 5 working sets)
BULGARIAN SQUAT
90x5x5
STEP UP
100x5x5
ROMAN CHAIR LIFTS
10x3
Here's what upper body workouts look like:
NROL Hypertrophy I A(5) Upper Body
Alternating Sets
DB incline bench: 120 5x5 Cable Seated Row: "15" 5x5
Alternating Sets
DB Shoulder Press: 90 3x15 Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown: "15" 5x5
Alternating Sets
Barbell Close Grip Bench: 145 5x5 High Pull: 80 5x5
Swiss Ball Crunch: 3x15
Diet:
I'm trying to add more veggies, and will also try to keep the "cheat" meals to 2x a week.. I like to have protein shakes at least once a day, as that keeps me from craving "bad" sweets, AND I can stick my Creatine in there, and maybe some spinach if I feel it's been a while since I had some veggies..
For macros the plan is 30/35/35..
For pre and post nutrition the goal is go by Alan's formula of .25g/lb of target body weight of protein and carbs (in my case 47.5g) with about 15g of fat 30 minutes (if it's a shake) to an hour (if it's a solid meal) before my workout, and the same 15 minutes after (always a shake).
Best of luck! I stopped my diet a few weeks before you and started by attempting to eat at maintenance (or what I think is maintenance...2800 cals.) on weekdays and getting a little looser on the weekends. But, so far I've put on a good bit of weight that way. It hasn't helped that I've made some less than stellar food choices. So, I'm still figuring out how to eat at maintenance. Especially as my job has me in a car for about ten hours a day.
I do have to say, that the extra food has had a big impact on my performance in the gym!
and started by attempting to eat at maintenance (or what I think is maintenance...2800 cals.) on weekdays and getting a little looser on the weekends. But, so far I've put on a good bit of weight that way.
This is a concern, for sure.. I had a few house-warming parties after we got moved in, and I gained 5 lbs without even trying, so I had to eat at below maintenence for 2 days to balance it out..
With this bulking routine, and especially with the GWF where it's telling me my burn is 3800 one day, and 2800 the next, I'm going to be all over the map, consumption-wise, unless of course I can achieve some kind of consistency with my NEAT as well.. But like I say, some days (most all of them after a WO), I don't feel like moving around much at all.. Others I get myself moving out of sheer force of will and manage to burn up quite a few calories through just walking or mildly strenuous NEAR.. I'm just going to play it by ear, and if I gain 5lbs over the course of the week, I have to shave 200 calories from whatever the GWF gives for my burn, and see what happens with that next week..
I've done pretty well playing it by ear.. I've been without my GWF for 20 days, and while I knew how many calories I ate, I had to guess at what my calorie burn was, based on those weeks I had with the GWF prior to my internet mishap...
I'm up only 5 lbs from what I was at the end of RFL 40 days later, so I'm going to take the leap and try a bulk, see what happens..
If I crash and burn, at least I can always RFL it off again.. LOL
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It hasn't helped that I've made some less than stellar food choices
That reminds me..
Something's been bugging me..
Say you eat 2800 cals worth of ding dongs, and another person eats 2800 cals of tofu..
Wouldn't the results be the same (weight loss or gain)??
I know eating healthy is better as far as health goes.. But isn't 2800 cals - 2800 cals, as far as fuel?
Why would one build muscle, and the other build fat, assuming your eating the same amount of calories?
Quote:
A Gowear Fit may or may not be accurate.
Yes, maybe I should really do a 3 week trial of maintenance eating before I hazard a bulk with the GWF as my only maintenance indicator...
I tried, but things came up, as I said, and the whole thing was a wash, unfortunately..
Like I say, I'll try bulking with it, and err on the side of caution..
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
Good luck!Question: what the heck are 'ding dongs' .. I've seen the term more often but have no clue what they are.. a fantasy junkfood or is it for real?Saw your Q this morning & formulated an answer but didn't write it down. Not sure for body recomp but I am sure that health is not going to do well on a diet of ding dongs. Tofu wouldn't be my first choice either as too much soy is not healthy either.. so both are not optimal choices.
Well you certainly have done your homework.... Why do you feel you have to do cardio? I did not do cardio for the entire time I bulked and even into my cut I never did it. I am only now doing it because I my goals are peformance related instead of body comp change related. I would think most cardio and gaining muscle would conflict somewhat...
__________________
The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Why do you feel you have to do cardio? I am only now doing it because I my goals are peformance related instead of body comp change related. I would think most cardio and gaining muscle would conflict somewhat...
Same reason.. I want to up my cardiovascular endurance a bit.. No HIIT or anything.. Just a bit of steady state jogging after my workouts.. Want to be able to do more than 5 minutes.. LOL
I tweaked my back doing deadlifts the day before yesterday.. Aggrevation of an old injury..
So instead of giving myself a good week to fully recover, I try to do an upper body workout 2 days later..
I figured I'd be working mostly my chest and my lats, against a solid surface (was planning to do sitting shoulder presses, rather than standing, and omit the high pulls in favour of chinups), and after that I could do 2 days off, giving me 4 days till my next leg and lower back day..
Not smart..
I felt the strain soon into my first excersize (db incline press), from lifting the weights into position..
Dumb move #946.. I ignore the warning signs, and push on..
As soon as I lean over to grab the bar for my cable seated row, my back gives me another, higher decibel warning spasm.. I push on.. One more set of db presses, then back to do another set of rows.. This time when I reach for the bar I get the "game over" spasm..
And now I'll be out of commission for the week, at least..
Stupid, stupid, stupid..
Nothing but walks, ice, rolling out of bed (literally), 10 minutes to put on my socks, muscle relaxants, and McKenzie excersizes/stretches for at least 7 days.. Fun........
Boy, this bulking routine sure went of with a whimper, didn't it? LOL
I'll up my protein a bit, in favour of carbs, and eat at maintenence.. I'll keep up with the walks, and keep the bending to an absolute minimum.. I'll also drop by the physio place and the chiropractor when we go to PG next week, see if they can do anything, suggest anything I'm not already doing..
Good luck on the lean bulk, sorry to hear about the back...I have the same nagging injury that pops up from time to time. I'm sure you know it now, but you probably should have ditched the seated row if your back was a little shaky. The only row tougher on the lower back would probably be the BB bent over row.
Maybe when your back starts feeling better, you might want to hold off the the conventional deadlifts for another week or two. I had a little tweak in my lower back a few weeks ago so I stopped the conventional pulls and did romanian deads and good mornings for a little while, starting lighter and working my way up to make sure it didn't hurt. I did a few conventional deadlifts today for the first time in a while and felt good and didn't get any weaker. A couple weeks off deadlifting isn't going to cause you to lose a bunch of strength. Good luck.
The only row tougher on the lower back would probably be the BB bent over row
Yeah, I was hoping the seated row would be a good alternative..
And it is.. Alot better than bent over rows.. When my back isn't touchy, that is..
But I was liking chin ups even better..
But hard to do past 10 reps, for sure..
What would you suggest, instead of rows?
I just have to concentrate harder on keeping my abs tight and my back arched as much as I can (at 6'2" it's a bit of a stretch.. literally) when doing those blasted deads.. And maybe don't do squats and deads on the same day?
Excellent advice, thanks..
I was pretty much done NROL Hypertrophy I.. I was on my 5th WO for both A and B..
So maybe when I get back into it (I'll ease into it after 7 days with push ups, chin ups, etc) I'll do a NROL program that doesn't call for conventional deads..
Hypertrophy II would be preferable..
But I'd have to switch something out for the reverse grip bent over row (seated row?), the snatch grip deadlift (Romanian deads?), and BB shoulder press (seated db press?), and figure out how I'm supposed to do 25 chin ups in a row.. LOL
I'm going to really commit to doing core strengthening work on my off days, too.. Wobble board stuff, bird dogs, etc. nothing too strenuous so I don't mess with my WO recovery time..
Also going to see about getting me one of those inversion tables.. I'll see what the physio guys think of them..
Do you have a way to do chest-supported rows? They might be easier on the lower back.
Maybe you don't have to find substitutes for all those exercises, put NROL of hold for a short bit and just do what you can. Eat at maintenence and just do what exercises you can without causing too much stress on the lower back. Then when your back is feeling better, you can do NROL and eating more.
I never really do squats and deads on the same day. If I were to do squats as my main leg exercise, do something like RDL, good mornings, pull throughs, glute-ham raises, etc...I'm just not a big fan of squats and deads on the same day.
Do you have a way to do chest-supported rows? They might be easier on the lower back.
There IS a machine at the gym that I could use.. Dunno if they'd be better than one arm free weight rows, though..
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Maybe you don't have to find substitutes for all those exercises, put NROL of hold for a short bit and just do what you can. Eat at maintenence and just do what exercises you can without causing too much stress on the lower back. Then when your back is feeling better, you can do NROL and eating more.
Well, that's what I am planning to do.. Nothing for a week, then a week maybe of some body weight stuff (push ups, bosu squats, chin ups), then back to NROL with the back excersize substitutions..
I remember trying inverted rows, and they were pretty hard to do, and I can see how they'd be near impossible to do in the reps they say you need to do for hypertrophy..
But hey, there was a time I could only do 3 chin ups, too, so I should just sack up and progress on them, too (after my back feels better)..
Or maybe I'll start with one arm rows and work up to them..
Man, I stuffed myself like a goose today.. Had to go on 3 big walks to even get close to matching consumption!
The boys were out of school today, and wanted pancakes, so I made oatmeal pancakes for breakfast, and for some strange reason I didn't want to guess at splitting up the ingredients 4 ways, and so I just made a whole batch for myself (after I whipped up a batch for the rest of the family).. LOL
I couldn't finish it all in on sitting anyways, of course.. So I had the rest for lunch with some scrambled egg whites, turkey sausages, and a cafe mocha.. Mmmmm.. good!!!
Took 2 walks within a couple hours of each other to atone for it all..
AND today was also homemade pizza day..
Sooo that meant a 3rd three mile walk after dinner, and no before-bed snack..
Hopefully I under-estimated how much my 1/4 of the pizza was, calorie wise..
I can't remember the last time I had just 3 meals in a day...
I remember trying inverted rows, and they were pretty hard to do, and I can see how they'd be near impossible to do in the reps they say you need to do for hypertrophy..
Try these progressions to get the range you want.
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Inverted Row Progression from easy to hard.
1. Knees flexed with feet on floor
2. knees extended with feet on floor
3. knees extended feet elevated on bench
4. knees extended feet on bench with weight on chest
5. side to side inverted row
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Or maybe I'll start with one arm rows and work up to them..
Good plan. Or do both. Each on different days. Inverted rows are an important movement. A lot of bang for the buck
Bulgarian Split Squats, 70x10x4
10x5 push ups
5x6 chin ups
Push ups and squats are fine on the back.. Worst are the chin ups.. I try to brace my core as best I can, but I still feel it most after this excersize.. have to do SOME back work, though! Not risking any ab MORE ab work, than what I'm already getting kinda from the chin ups and push ups..
I tried to run on the treadmill after this, but my back wasn't liking the bouncing..
I started taking Creatine again today.. 10g per day for this week..
I'll get back into the habit of having an EFA pill with meals, too..
Dunno wether I should try eating at a surplus or not..
Bulgarian Split Squats, 70x10x4
10x5 push ups
5x6 chin ups
Push ups and squats are fine on the back.. Worst are the chin ups.. I try to brace my core as best I can, but I still feel it most after this excersize.. have to do SOME back work, though! Not risking any ab MORE ab work, than what I'm already getting kinda from the chin ups and push ups..
I tried to run on the treadmill after this, but my back wasn't liking the bouncing..
I started taking Creatine again today.. 10g per day for this week..
I'll get back into the habit of having an EFA pill with meals, too..
Dunno wether I should try eating at a surplus or not..
Doug's Lean Bulking Attempt (Advice definately wanted!)
One more set of db presses, then back to do another set of rows.. This time when I reach for the bar I get the "game over" spasm..
Linear Mode
