INSAIYAN

That keto pizza looks mighty tasty, but yes, needs bacon

Monday, May 5 & Tuesday, May 6, 2014: Goal 1: StrongLifts 5x5 Monday Rest Day Tuesday Squat - 5x5 @ 330lbs OHP - 3x5 @ 130lbs, 1x3 @ 130lbs, 1x5 @ 125lbs Deadlift - 1x5 @ 275lbs Squat went smoothly, but I have to rest for over 5 minutes between sets after the first two. It seems that my years of smoking are coming back to haunt me now that I'm really starting to exert myself. My lungs feel like they're on fire and I'm hacking a lot between sets. OHP continues to cause me grief, but I think that it's simple matter of switching my focus to form over increasing the weight. Unlike the other lifts, adding 5lbs makes the lift significantly more difficult. I also feel myself leaning back too far and throwing my back into the lift too much. Deadlift - Using chalk and an alternating grip, this wasn't too difficult. On the last two reps, I had to readjust my grip before beginning the rep. I need to record a form check for this and OHP (hell, why not all my lifts while I'm at it?). I don't have a small camera, just my phone, so I'd need someone to record me. I've been trying to convince my wife to join me lifting, but she's not interested at all. She'd rather run on the home elliptical for an hour . Looks like I'll have to call on the help of a random. Goal 2: Tracking Calories/Macros for Cutting Monday Intake: Calories - 2085kcal Protein - 239g Fat - 92g Carbs - 84g Margins: Calories - 59kcal under Protein - 1g under Fat - 4g under Carbs - 4g over Tuesday Intake: Calories - 2155kcal Protein - 249g Fat - 94g Carbs - 86g Margins: Calories - 11kcal over Protein - 9g over Fat - 2g under Carbs - 6g over So far, so good... Hitting these goals is a lot easier than the bulking goals. I consistently overshot those. I am missing my carbs already, but it did not seem to impact my workout on Tuesday. Granted, I've been compensating my for lower energy by drinking more coffee. My main frustration is the lack of support that I am receiving from my wife. Comments like "If you're going to be eating like this, I just won't include you in events where our friends are eating like normal people" are annoying, but I have my own friends so... whatever lol. She reneged on her original offer to make pasta for my refeeds, but I've been reading that other sources of carbohydrates are more effective for refeeding than pasta, so no loss. I'm not exactly sure what her trip is, but she clams up when I try to prod her on it, only saying that "this isn't a normal way to eat, and I don't like it." She has her own weight issues and attacks them with the eat salad and do lots of cardio method. Every time she sees me drinking a protein shake or eating a can of tuna, she gives me a look and shakes her head. This was after she emailed me a bunch of papers that she claimed proved that my high protein consumption will lead to renal failure. I read a few of them and a high protein diet can make an already unhealthy kidney worse, but there was no evidence that it will negatively affect a healthy kidney. /rant off - I don't have the time or inclination to convert someone as stubborn as her and I'm sure as hell not going to allow her negativity to impact my goals. Goal 3: Warm Up and Stretching Monday Rest day. Tuesday Warm up: Squat - 1x10 @ 135lbs, 1x5 @ 225lbs OHP - 1x5 @ 115lbs Deadlift - 1x5 @ 225lbs I could definitely stand to do more of a warm up on OHP to practice form. My legs are always so fried from squats at this point that doing more than one warm up set on deads would likely wear me out too much for the workout set. I do my deadlift warm up without chalk and with double overhand grip to work on my grip strength. When I got home, my wife and I went for a cool down walk around the block and stretched each other. At least we have one fitness activity that we can bond over. Life Goal: Job Search I have list of jobs to apply to, but I'm slacking here. The situation at my current job has improved in the past week (granted, I still have no intention don't to stay here long-term), but my bulk of my focus has definitely shifted towards losing fat. You might say that I'm a bit obsessed.

I visualize my goals and imagine how rewarding it will feel to achieve my ideal body. Knowing that I need to perform my routine consistently to get there is what gets me through the "I don't feel like it" phase. It took some time, but I'm now addicted to working out and those "don't feel like it" days are few and far between. It works similarly with food goals. Use being there for your daughter as motivation. I'm sure it will give you the push that you need.

Thanks for the input, Demon!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention refeeds in the "change to cut" post, but I had them in mind. An article on bodybuilding.com suggested refeeding once a week, 2 days prior to the hardest lifting day. My wife makes some bomb pasta sauce and ravioli and she said that she's more than happy to make it if I give her notice, so yay . When you say 25% is a hard cut, do you mean that in the sense that it will be hard to stick to due to being unpleasant and having less energy?

I'll definitely scope out Donar and Waldo's material. The IIFYM diet is simple enough for me to adopt now while I have a lot of fat to burn. I can get more scientific with it later. The next few weeks will allow me to see how I react to a caloric deficit. I'm not so much concerned with building muscle at this point as I am maintaining the strength gains of the past few months. Keto sounds interesting and I'm glad that you like it so far. I agree with low-fat sucking. IIFYM has you eating your bodyweight in grams of protein and 0.4 x bodyweight in grams of fat, then filling in the rest with carbs. And thanks for the reminder to take measurements!

Mid-Challenge Course Correction: From Bulking to Cutting I've been formally bulking since the beginning of this challenge, but effectively bulking since the start of my first challenge 9 weeks ago. I didn't have a dietary goal during the first challenge other than to eliminate soda. I wasn't counting calories, tracking macros, or any of that fun stuff. I was, however, gobbling down ribeye steaks, homemade cheeseburgers, chicken breasts and beef jerky with reckless abandon. When I started tracking this challenge I started out overshooting the goals by significant amounts. Only during the past week did I start hitting the calories consistently within 200kcal margins. When I first joined nerd fitness, the crappy little electronic scale in my bathroom put me at 230lbs. At the beginning of this challenge, it put me at 240lbs. Even though I was fat, I decided to follow a bulking routine, because I was addicted to seeing my strength increase rapidly. I noticed last week that I am not fitting into my work clothes that well. I look stuffed into them, like a large sausage into a small casing. I've ripped two pairs of said work slacks when sitting down (yeah squat gains!!!). My gut is large and in charge and my face looks bloated. The scale broke (not my fault, I swear) since the beginning of the challenge and I forgot to use the one at the gym last night. By visual inspection, I'd guess that I'm at around 250. I'll weigh in at the gym tomorrow. Luckily I'm not an amorphous blob thanks to my musculature, but this is way too heavy for someone who's 5'10. I'm happy with what I've achieved in strength gains, and am OK with slowing the pace there, if necessary, to shed some fat. It's time to cut! The Method I will again be using the IIFYM.com calculator as a basis for the program. Since I'm not exactly sure how much I weigh, I just used the same inputs as before, but adjusted the program to reckless weight loss. IIFYM is clearly not an exact science, but it's a good place to start for the rest of the challenge. Here are my new goals: Calories - 2144kcal Protein - 240g Fat - 96g Carbs - 80g Now besides the fact that I'm probably going to feel hungry a lot more than I'm used to, this also has implications for my workout goal. Less carbs means less energy, so there is a good chance that I won't be able to progress as quickly as I have been. From what I've been reading, there is a real chance of losing muscle while cutting, so I need to make sure that I am hitting my macros on the nose. I've developed a daily meal plan already that does just that, but if I want to deviate, I need to run the calcs beforehand. Additionally, I need to plan so that I eat the bulk of my carbs before I workout, so that I have the necessary energy to continue pushing heavy weights. My lifting goal is now to not lose any strength and increase when I can. If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it. I'm not a nutritionist by any means. I know that I have the mental fortitude to handle the reckless (25%) calorie deficit, but am I going to lose my hard earned muscle even if I hit the macros and weights?

That sounds awesome!!! What an achievement! Congrats!!! Once I develop some semblance of a cardiovascular system, this sounds like the kind of crazy thing that I would enjoy. A major WOOT to you!

Those are some solid lifts, SD. Keep at it!!!

Nice work conquering an old goal! It's always a rush.

I'm all about functional strength

Week 3 Summary: Wednesday, April 30 - Sunday, May 4, 2014 Instead of a separate write up for each day, I'm going to do a quick summary. I want to keep this current, but don't have much time to write. Goal 1: StrongLifts 5x5 Wednesday: Rest Day Thursday: Squat - 5x5 @ 320lbs OHP - 5x5 @ 125lbs Deadlift - 1x5 @ 265lbs Friday: Rest Day Saturday: Rest Day Sunday: Squat - 5x5 @ 325lbs Bench - 4x5 @ 220lbs, 1x4 @ 220lbs BBRs - 5x5 @ 115lbs I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I moved to a Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday routine to better fit my workouts to my schedule. Squats and BBRs continue to progress linearly. Bench continues to require more than one workout to push through to the next level, although I was one rep short of nailing it this time. Deadlifts have become easier since I started tweaking my form and using chalk and alternating grip on the workout set. Goal 2: Tracking Calories/Macros for Bulking I'll keep this brief, because I've switched to a cut starting today (Monday, Week 4) - more on that in an upcoming post. Wednesday Intake: Calories - 3477 Protein - 268g Fat - 112g Carbs - 373g Margins: Calories - 193 over Protein - 28g over Fat - 16g over Carbs - 8g over Thursday Intake: Calories - 3437 Protein - 255g Fat - 101g Carbs - 374g Margins: Calories - 153 over Protein - 15g over Fat - 5g over Carbs - 9g over Friday Cheat day - Between my ribeye steak dinner and my usual protein rich food choices, I'm sure that I got more than enough protein. Fat intake was probably through the roof. Saturday This was the day that I decided that I was going to start cutting on Monday. I did not track, but ate about the same amount and types of food that I had been during the bulking. Sunday I didn't track, but had a huge homemade pasta dinner, compliments of my wife. I had read about refeeding - eating a large carb laden meal once a week while cutting to keep yourself sane and your metabolism going. It seemed proper to end my bulking phase with such a meal. Goal 3: Warm Up and Stretching On lifting days, I warmed up for every exercise except for BBRs, as usual because the weights are still light enough that it doesn't feel necessary. I'm always so exhausted after squatting and benching hard that it feels nice to finish with an easier lift. It also feels like a lift where my form will suffer greatly if I jump the weight too much too soon. I also stretched after each workout with an occasional walk around the neighborhood with my wife. Life Goal: Job Search Saturday consisted of kicking back marathoning Dragon Ball Z with my wife and cats and I didn't get anything done. Between Sunday's chores, errands, watching Star Wars, and planning the cut, I managed to find 3 viable jobs to apply to tonight (Monday). In my next post I'll discuss my decision to transition from a bulk to a cut, my methodology, and assess the success of the bulk.

I just realized that last night I hit 800 on the nose with my SL 5x5 workout! Squat 5x5: 320 Bench 5x5: 215 Deadlift 5x5: 265 I plan to go for 1RMs tomorrow and hopefully I can get my wife to record them with my phone.

Nice squat! Crushing PRs is a rush.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the woots! I like the way you think.

Burly lifts there, man. Congrats on the PRs! Here's hoping for a swift recovery on the callus.

Thanks, albeus. I wooted it!

He's got my vote. That's for sure.

Yeah, 25s and 35s make the bar look more imposing too. I'm sure that the 2.5s book-ending the three plates will look goofy tomorrow.

Thanks, mattyboy. Nice work there, yourself. Adding more weight is always nice, but there's definitely something more invigorating about adding a plate.

I finally squatted 5x5 @ 315lbs! This has been a goal of mine for a while and seeing the three plates on each side made me feel accomplished. I hope to continue to reach new heights with my squat and apply the same motivation to my other lifts. WOOT!!!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014: Goal 1: StrongLifts 5x5 Squat: 5x5 315lbs Bench Press: 5x5 215lbs BBRs: 5x5 110lbs This was a glorious day for lifting. I finally hit the 315lb milestone on my squat 5x5 and completed a full 5x5 215lb bench press. Having stalled at this weight for a while, it was a rush to finally push through it. I'm definitely upping the weight on BBRs by more than 5lbs next time. I barely feel worked at this weight now that I have the form down. Goal 2: Tracking Calories/Macros for Bulking Intake: Calories: 3398 Protein: 248g Fat: 110g Carbs: 383g Margins: Calories: 114 over Protein: 8g over Fat: 14g over Carbs: 18g over I'm pretty happy with these margins. Goal 3: Warm Up and Stretching Did two warm up sets with increasing weight before both squat and bench. I didn't warm up before barbell rows per usual, because they're easy for now. When I got home I went for a walk around the block with my wife to cool down my legs and followed up with some stretching. I hope to have more days like this!!!

Monday, April 28, 2014: Goal 1: StrongLifts 5x5 Rest day. Goal 2: Tracking Calories/Macros for Bulking Intake: Calories: 3403 Protein: 244g Fat: 122g Carbs: 311g Margins: Calories: 119 over Protein: 4g over Fat: 26g over Carbs: 54g under I kept my calories in check by eating less carbs to compensate for going over budget on fat. The quest to cut the fat continues. Goal 3: Warm Up and Stretching Rest day. Life Goal: Job Search Perused LinkedIn and found some places to apply to this weekend. Summoning the willpower to apply on weeknights is a serious challenge. I happy that I at least did some searching.