Jay's Diary

The Last couple months....

Since February I have been going to the gym pretty regularly... During that Time I did get sick and didnt do anything for a 2 week period... Its amazing after being off for 2 weeks and starting back I went through the some pretty serious soreness while I was getting back into it... Since January or so, I started taking Hydroxycut Extreme... I cant say it worked other then the fact that it did give me a jolt of energy. But I stopped taking it when I got sick and since then. it has been recalled.... Im thinking I will try another brand. When I stopped taking everything (creatine, hydroxy cut, etc..) I went from 220lbs down to 211 lbs... I am now back up to about 215/216 on a daily basis... I wonder what the make up of the weight i lost/gained is... whether it is water weight, fat, or muscle.....I guess I'll never know.. I am stilll trying to lose about 15lbs of fat... I think I would be pretty happy once I attain that goal... but I seem to be stuck...

I religiously drink a protein shake before and after my workouts... A couple people keep teling me that consuming those calories before my workout is counter productive to me losing body fat... I need to look into this further... Anyone have any insight into this.. because many place Ive read state that you should have one pre and post, but perhaps that is when your only goal is to put on mass... Im not sure...
 
You might want to check out this video about when to eat:



Basically he says that it doesn't matter when you eat.

Welcome back!
 
It amazes me, over the course of a few days my weight can fluctuate anywhere from 211 to 220lbs.... I have no idea what me real weight is... Oh well, My overall goal is not so miuch of a weight oriented one as it is a low body fat% one. I am slowly seing improvements in my physique although I think I get a little impatient with the time it takes to see the changes... I just keep reminding myself that this stuff doesnt happen overnight. Yesterday I had a long session at the gym.. It lasted about 3 hours. of which 20 minutes was cardio and maybe 10 more spent talking. I recently started to use a timer betweeen sets so that I dont rest too long. but it seems I may be in the gym too long. it doesnt seem long when im in there as time flies, but it was a long time. Yesterday, I did quads, calf, and abs.... I dunno... my routine is a work in progress I will refine and try to cut my rests down so that I can be lifting for no more then 90 minutes..

Yesterday I changed up my approach to cardio. to date I have been doing steady state treadmill running. Averaging about 6 miles an hour and doing that anywhere from 20 minutes to (on occasion) an hour but more often 30 minutes at a clip. Yesterday, I did Intervals, Not sure if it would qualify as HIIT. I ran 1 minute at 4.3 miles/hour followed by one minute at 9 mi/hour and each of the higher speed minutes I would increase it by .2 or .4 miles such that my last high intensity minute i was at 11 mph. I was exhausted after 20 minutes of doing this, which would mean I did about 10 pretty intense minutes of running.. Im thinking part f the reason I was soo beat was because yesterday was a leg day as well.... I am going to try and continue using this pattern for the next two weeks and see what kinda results i get if any...
 
Did a pretty intense bicep workout today... It felt pretty good... I thenfollowed that up with 40 minutes of interval treadmill running in which i was able to run approximately 5 miles during that time. i still cheat a bit by holding on to the sides of the treadmill some of the time.... hopefully i will be able to go through the whole routine without holding on at all sometime soon. my goal at the moment is to do 21 days straight of 40-60 minutes of cardio with at least 20 minutes of it being pretty intense.... i think that will help me to shed some of the excess body fat that i am trying to get rid of....
 
so today i decided i would do a little morning run before work... and then my regular workout after work. i ran a .8 mile circuit around my community which i was doing last june when i was running every day.... half is up hill and half is down hill. to date, my best time was 7:47 today after all my treadmill running for the last 3-months or so, i was able to run it in 6;30 seconds... i think i will be able to get it under 6 minutes if i keep at it... it was really nice and unexpected to see a minute shaved off of my time... wohoo1
 
Worked my shoulders and abs tonight... then attempted to do some cardio... my legs are so fatigued I was only able to eek out 10 minutes of interval running going about 1.25 miles... followed by another 5 minutes for .5 miles... then I just had to stop... I wanted to do 21 days straight of cardio... but i think I need to take a day off and let my legs recuperate.....
 
I tookyesterfday off... parts of my body were sore and overall i was just tired... I think I needed some rest.... but I will be back in the gym today....
 
I just read through your diary, how is you BF% going ? well done with the improved running time :)
 
Trusylver said:
I just read through your diary, how is you BF% going ? well done with the improved running time :)
Click to expand...


Its kinda hard to say... I started at about 238/240 and now on any given day i am between 211 and say 218 or so.... I have one of those little hand held machine which, when im at 211 it says im at about 14.9% but when im at 220 it says more like 17% seeing as how my weight can fluctuate so much within a few days i find it hard to believe that my bf% is going up and down sooo much... especially since i try to eat relatively well.... my goal at this point is to lose about 10-15 lbs of fat.... I think I would be pretty darn happy if i could accomplish that goal but it seems like if its happening at all, it occuring pretty slowly.....


btw: thanks for stopping by and reading my story thus far....
 
Friday I did a pretty intense chest workout... Didnt do any cardio as i ran short on time. Saturday I did back and tris.... I think I might want to switch the order up because i think I have some overlap of muscle use with the compound exercises ive been doing... and though the overlap isnt the target muscles per se, i wonder/think that it might be affecting my overall performance.... Did 15 minutes of cardio...1.5 miles... need to do more this week....
 
the biometric impedance method of measuring is not very accurate and can be thrown off by a number of factors including how much water you have had to drink etc. but it ok to see trends just not exact numbers.

what does your weight training program look like ?
 
Day 1 Legs

3-4 x 10 sets squats
3-4 x 10 sets deadlifts
4 x 10 leg press
4 x 10 leg extensions
4 x 15 Hip adductions (I max this machine too easily)
3 x 10 Standing Calf raises
4 x 10 sitting calf raises

Day 2 Biceps

4 x 10 barbell curl
3 x 10 preacher curl
2-3 x 10 reverse arm curl
4 x 10 wrist curl
4 x 10 hammer curl

Day 3 Shoulders

4 x 10 shrugs
3-4 x 10 behind the neck press
4 x 10 upright row
4 x 10 shoulder press

Day 4 Chest

4 x 10 Bench Press Barbell
2-3 x 10 dumb bell press
4 x 10 incline press
2-3 x 10 incline dumb bell press
4 x 10 decline machine press
3-4 x 10 pec dec flyes or 3-4 x 10 Flyes (cable)

Day 5 Back and Tris

4 x 10 chin up (Front, wide grip)
2 x 10 chin up (rear, wide grip)
4 x 10 bent over row (barbell)
4 x 10 bent over row (dumb bell)
2 x 10 tricep extensions (barbell)
4 x 10 tricep dips
4 x 10 close grip bench press
4 x 10 tricep push downs

Abs Work (done every other workout)

4 x 10 Parallel bar straight leg raises
4 x 10 crunch machine (weighted)
4 x 10 decline bench weighted twists (i made that name up.. not sure what its called)

Cardio which I guess im averaging every other workout, but i would like to be more consistent with is about 30 - 60 minutes doing intervals 4.3 miles/9.0 - 11 mph

Thats about it for now... lol
 
My first impression is that you may be overtraining, unless your aiming at endurance and using lighter weights.

I am prone to over training as well lol I am always getting in trouble from one of my coaches for not resting enough.

The adduction machine exercises are probably not doing much good. How wide is your foot position on your squat ? a wide foot position will bring your adductors into play more during the squat.

the style of deadlift will also have an effect with the sumo stance working the quads and adductors more intensly but works the back less than a conventional deadlift.

working each muscle group only once per week usually isn't efficient except for possibly beginners. Are you looking to bulk (when you get your BF% down) or are you aiming for strength ?
 
My goal after getting my bf down would be 70/30 strength to bulking.... I play(ed) football for most of mylifeandstopped2 years agowhen i tore my achilles, butmy intention is toplay again this year.... I am also a martial arts instructor, so while i do want to get bigger, I dont want to get "too" big.... I was under the impression that overtraining was a result of attempting to workout a body part more then once in a week without giving it enough time to rest from the last session...(48 hours being the minimal time that i have read in many places) I am definitely open to switching up my routine btw....

oh and my squat stance has been feet as wide maybe a smidge wider then my shoulders.....

I just started squatting again about 4 weeks ago... I had left that one out cuz i always hated getting used to the bar...again....
 
I did something i dont do very often... I got up early and went to the gym at 7:30 in the AM... I didnt have as much time as I normally do... so I cut down my rest periods. I didnt make it through every leg exercise but i did most....
 
you can also over train by doing to many sets for an individual muscle on the same day especially of you don't rest enough


reps for building mass is in the range 6-20 but usually aroud 10-12 reps. For strength is usually 2-6 or 8-12 for a beginner. you are doing to many different exercises for each muscle for strength gain, your program looks more like a bodybuilding program. Rests between sets need to be long when training for strength rests between fast power sets is short.

long rest = 5-10 minutes depending on exercise when training for strength less if training for size, short rest = 40 seconds

the way my current program is set out (peaking cycle in prep for nat titles for bench)

Tue - Heavy legs, Light Back (speed and power)
Thu - Triceps and shoulders, light chest (speed and power)
Fri - Heavy Back, Light legs (speed and power)
Sun - Heavy Chest, triceps, biceps, shoulders

Off days I do cardio and abs with a rest on sat

giving each group a workout twice per week with good rest in between

if you widen your stance a little for your squat you will notice a difference in the muscles used and with a little practice will develop a more powerfull squat.

What kind of matial arts are you teaching ? I have been heavily into Judo in the past but also do a little Muay Thai.
 
thank you... I will modify my workout and incorporate some of the info you laid out... I study/teach jeet kune do (jkd) the style developed by Bruce Lee... which borrows a lot from other styles including judo and muy thai....
 
I switched up my routine yesterday... I didnt have enough time to doeverything I wanted...
So I need tofigure out if i am going to go whole body 3 days a week or half body 3 days and the other half in 2 days....


Here was my workout (short rests, included warm up sets)

chest
bench press barbell 1 x 10, 1 x 5, 1 x 4
bench press barbell incline 1 x 9, 1 x 3
decline press barbell 1 x 10, 1 x 7, 1 x 5

back
chin ups wide grip 1 x 12, 1 x 8
row 1 x 10,1 x 6, 1 x 4

bis
arm curl barbell 1 x 6, 2 x 5
arm curl dumbbell 1 x 5, 1 x 6

tris
cable push downs 1 x 10, 1 x 9, 1 x 4
Tricep dips 1 x 10, 1 x 8
 
So I ave been doing my new routine now fo a couple weeks... i think I like the results... I think I am in a state of limbo as far as my body goes... Im stuckin the conundrum many are... with building muscle mass vs toning up scenario... I think I lift to create mass but I dont think I take in enough calories to support growth... or maybe im just not waiting long enough to see the results... My diet isnt the best at the moment.. but I dont eat that much to begin with..... but I religiously drink a protein drink before and after working out... which is a good 600 calories and 80g of protein almost daily... I guess i should outline my goals and prioritize them accordingly....

goals:

Reduce body fat
increase muscle mass
bench 315
do 25 wide grip pullups
 
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