Current Events > How are your fitness goals coming along, CE? Part III

(+) Yeah! (+)

Balrog0 posted...

I'm being gluttonous today. Skipped working out, had pancakes with a shitload of syrup and alcohol for brunch. Overall I'm pretty disappointed in myself

Eh, don't be. We all have to stop and enjoy ourselves from time to time.

I can count a couple of times where I binged on a cheat week instead of a cheat day. xD

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Balrog0 posted...

I'm being gluttonous today. Skipped working out, had pancakes with a shitload of syrup and alcohol for brunch. Overall I'm pretty disappointed in myself

Once a month that is OK, maybe twice a month if you want to really test your luck.

You know, I made some salmon with onions a few days ago covered in olive oil and had a banana for dessert and it was absolutely satisfying. I eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and it's destroyed my urges to consume coca cola. I drank some a few weeks back and it made me kind of sick. I guess when you're used to sugar from fruits that straight up high dose of table sugar tastes really funky.

I'm going to post a log of my food today, it's a long post, but if anyone would like to help me figure out a practical way to consume more fat I'd really appreciate it.

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15 miles a week has been my standard for a while. Walked 9.4 miles, much of that on the side of the highway, in semi-humid 100~ degree weather. I was happy I accomplished that

Down to about 157 which is where I think I'm happy at. Was 185-187~ or so last August.

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Here's my diet today, I rounded the calories up. I'm fairly sedentary and I weigh 250lbs roughly, so my TEE is 2500-3000 calories a day (weight multiplied by 10-12). I consume on average 1500-2000 calories per day, the grilled cheese, nuts and fruit I consume daily, the protein shake I consume daily, sometimes I have two big dinners like the one I listed today instead of 1, like once a week I have 5 meals instead of 4. The problem I was having is that I was consuming an extra 200-300 calories of carbohydrates from honey, but even then I should have still been losing a little bit of weight unless my metabolism adjusted to my diet, but on top of this calorie deficit I walk at least 1 mile, which is about 20 minutes of walking, walking burns roughly 8 calories per minute, so I burn an additional 160 calories daily as well.

Below is what I consumed today. As far as I can tell I need to up my fat intake, by a lot, today was a relatively good day in terms of consuming fat but I have a bit of a phobia with fat. That's why I upped my fish oil intake to 4 grams, but that is still only 40 calories of fat, I need at least like 35% of my calories to come from fat. Any tips on how I can consume more fat? Should I just douse all the food I eat with olive oil?

Food log

Breakfast 7:45am

1 handful of mixed nuts - 120 calories

1 slice of cheese - 70 calories

1 slice of whole grain bread - 80 calories

2 clementine - 70 calories

~350 calories
4 grams of fish oil - 40 calories

8:35am
10:15am

1 cup of milk - 130 calories

1 banana - 100 calories

1/2 scoop of whey - 50 calories

~350 calories
2:35pm

Chicken breast - 200 calories

Mixed veges with olive oil - 180 calories

Quinoa - 120 calories

~ 550 calories
7:10pm

1 slice whole grain bread - 80 calories

1 slice of cheese - 70 calories

1 peanut butter packet - 180 calories

1 clementine - 40 calories

~400 calories
Total calories consumed: ~1650

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Hey thanks team. Much better day today! Had a good to great workout

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My running is stalling out a little because it's been so hot, but I did 10 chin-ups with a 30-pound backpack for the first time! It's funny, I tried a normal chin-up afterward and I feel light as a feather.

Finally a new 5k best after a couple days of failures!

5/11: 26:52
5/14: 26:05
5/21: 25:35
5/24: 25:32
6/3: 25:17
6/9: 24:46
6/13: 24:36
6/22: 24:03

Felt good today, though I was pretty gassed afterward.

Pretty good Monday workout.
Got up to 80lbs dumbell bench press. My last set started to break down in form quite a bit at the end because I struggled initially getting into position. I dont think I'll be able to do any sort of increase soon, but im happy with my current increase. I was working with 60s a few months ago.

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swapping my 30 miles per week goal into 4 hours per week goal (which is generally around when i would hit 30 miles for the last couple of weeks). the heat is slowing me down significantly.

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Got a pb on deadlift today, 2 sets of 250 x 10. Started intermittent fasting and am down to 240 now, not sure if I want to recomp at 210 or 190 tho. I'm 5'10" so 210 would be crazy shredded, but we'll see how things feel. Almost all of my clothes are too big now, which is a bummer cuz I just bought some new shit like a month ago, but is awesome because I look so much better!

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Doubled my squat effort from 3 weeks ago, went from 385x3 to 385x6, plus 5 sets of 10 on hacks. All while cutting carbs. Ill be back at 500 next month for sure. Should be at 545 or better by August, which was my max last September before I hurt my knee and ankle.

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finished insanity forever now its time to eat cake and ice cream every day
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Got the best mile time of my life this morning! 6:32, just edging out my previous best of 6:33 I set like 5 years ago. For a runner it's nothing to write home about, but I'm proud of it.

Nope, no weights and bars anywhere

Fuck dis
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Tried dancing for my exercise and ending up feeling sick. Why is my stamina so bad...
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NotYou posted...

Got the best mile time of my life this morning! 6:32, just edging out my previous best of 6:33 I set like 5 years ago. For a runner it's nothing to write home about, but I'm proud of it.

Heeell yeah buddy

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LumaRosalina posted...

Tried dancing for my exercise and ending up feeling sick. Why is my stamina so bad...

Not enough practice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzALZjoIx0g

Fuck I want to get a pr on something

Maybe if my grades are good enough

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no gym since March, bought a bunch of resistance bands online, the heavy ones. I rather like them, but I will be going back to a dif gym in the fall once it's no longer nice enough to run outdoors

NotYou posted...

Got the best mile time of my life this morning! 6:32, just edging out my previous best of 6:33 I set like 5 years ago. For a runner it's nothing to write home about, but I'm proud of it.

I truck through miles at like a ten minute pace. It's impressive to most people.
LumaRosalina posted...

Tried dancing for my exercise and ending up feeling sick. Why is my stamina so bad...

Lmao
I did a friend's cardio routine which is all dance stuff with them once. I felt like I was gonna die by the end. Turned out that was just the first half and they do that shit every day. Your experience reminds me of that.

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Got 365lbs for 6 on bench...up two reps from 3 weeks ago. My bench is slowing down so Im close to my old max, plus cutting carbs. Little progress is better than no progress.

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Better today than last workout. Put up 180 for 7 (+1) on squat and 135 for 8 (+1) compared to earlier this week. Making fine progress on my accessory work. Weight is stuck around 155 but I guess that's ok


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jeffhardyb0yz posted...

I miss the gym. Home workouts suck ass

true

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I actually want more people to be in the gym so I can afford the rack and plates I wanted to buy lol

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Are pushups good for strengthening your back?

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solosnake posted...

Are pushups good for strengthening your back?

Indirectly. Holding your body straight strengthens the lower back and core.

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solosnake posted...

Are pushups good for strengthening your back?

only minorly. mostly just lower back like other guy said. if you wanna work out most of your back you need to do pull exercises

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Man I did a pull workout two days ago and a full body yesterday and now its another pull because I did things out of order ugh

feeling tight though

scorpion41 posted...

Got 365lbs for 6 on bench...up two reps from 3 weeks ago. My bench is slowing down so Im close to my old max, plus cutting carbs. Little progress is better than no progress.

be careful, I'm catching up to you ;) that's crazy good though. how many did you do 365 for before you hit 405? I could probably do 4-5 if I went all out, but that might be pushing it.

had a nice squat/deadlift workout yesterday. worked up to a top set of 455x3 on squats and 500x2 on deadlifts with volume afterwards. bench workout today.

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NightMarishPie posted...

be careful, I'm catching up to you ;) that's crazy good though. how many did you do 365 for before you hit 405? I could probably do 4-5 if I went all out, but that might be pushing it.

had a nice squat/deadlift workout yesterday. worked up to a top set of 455x3 on squats and 500x2 on deadlifts with volume afterwards. bench workout today.

Thats whats weird about me, my ability to rep a weight rarely translates to an accurate max. Like I could do an even 500 on bench a few years back, but could only push 455 2,maybe, 3 times. But, just guessing you should hit 405 comfortably if youre doing 365 5-6 times. You would just need to get over the mental aspect of it being 405. My max on bench is in that 440-450 range. Ill see better next week when I do my sets of 3.

And good job with the squats and deads. My lower body strength is slowly coming back. I had a high ankle sprain and a grade 1 LCL sprain back in September that kept me from squatting heavy until recently. I also have zero cartilage in the same knee from an ACL tear back in college. My right leg is fucked...

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Looking for a new routine.
Currently 178 lbs, bench is like 150, squat 180, deadlift like 200. Those are not maxes, just working weight, and its approximate. I started at like 95 lbs for bench and squat and just been steadily adding weight every week. My previous maxes several years ago were more like 200/275/315. But at that time I put on alot of fat with dirty bulking. I used to be super skinny before that and I had no knowledge of nutrition.

Long story short, I have 2 goals and 1 time-frame. Goals: 1. Look aesthetic 2. Hit certain benchmarks on my lifts (Bench 275, Squat 365, and Dead 405). Time-frames: 2 years - in 2 years exactly I will move back to california and be back around my family and friends, so I wanna go back yoked.

So I've been doing a PHUL type of workout, but I want to do something a bit more structured. I want to get my lifts up. I've been looking into: GZCL, 5-3-1 for beginners, 5-3-1 BBB, Texas Method, Juggernaut Method, etc. I just can't decide.

If I run 5-3-1 BBB or beginner for 2 years, that's 24 cycles, I can add a lot of weight to my lifts and get bigger.

Should I run this while recomping or clean bulking? Or should I recomp til I stall then start bulking?

I honestly don't like jumping around to different programs, once I have it modified to fit everything I want.

If you're making progress why do you want to switch routines? What do you mean by something more structured?

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I like 531 for beginners but it's much slower than your current progress though

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531 works for intermediate/advanced lifters as well. Ive been doing Wendlers 531 after discussing it with another user here a while back with solid results. In my experience the key is good auxiliary programming. If you dont do enough work after doing the 531 sets, you wont see much result at any level.

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Now Im making some progress. I got a new bike (actually, its a Japanese road bike thats about 40 years old), so Im getting more exercise. I have to limit myself because the sun is so harsh and Im at almost a mile altitude. Definitely losing weight, though.

I guess ur right @Balrog0 my progress is somewhat stalling but I think partly it's because I feel so weak while cutting and partly it's that my sleep deprivation is adding up and I feel worse and worse in the mornings. I think if I switch to bulk and sleep better I can keep progressing. But my progress has been roughly 10-15 lbs every 4 weeks. 531 beginner is 10 lbs per cycle and it runs 2 cycles back to back before a deload. So it's roughly the same rate.

I switched from straight sets to reverse pyramid and I feel like my lats are about to fall off

I think I've been going waaay too easy. Maybe that's why there are intermediate programs

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Billy__Beane posted...

I guess ur right @Balrog0 my progress is somewhat stalling but I think partly it's because I feel so weak while cutting and partly it's that my sleep deprivation is adding up and I feel worse and worse in the mornings. I think if I switch to bulk and sleep better I can keep progressing. But my progress has been roughly 10-15 lbs every 4 weeks. 531 beginner is 10 lbs per cycle and it runs 2 cycles back to back before a deload. So it's roughly the same rate.

Your working bench sets went up 55 lbs in, iirc, 3 months or less. That's like 5 lbs a week and not just in your 1rm

Your squat is like 8.5 a week, that's way more than 10-15 every month. Depending on your working sets it's like 2x that much

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But I would say if you fix your diet and sleep and are still stalling then it would be good to switch over

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i'm pretty much just cutting these days. I realized I'm losing muscle without the gym, so I might as well be skinny and weak than fat and weak

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decided to rest today

knees are feeling a bit iffy and i did 2 days in a row

might do some stretches or something later tonight

Yea but I arbitrarily started at 95 on squat and bench. In reality I could've started higher. I just wanted to pace myself and make steady progression and of course manage DOMS. So it's hard to judge that initial progress.

Im tracking everything in detail on excel.

I think what I will do is simply keep going hard, keep cutting, and eventually bulk and see how much I can progress. I already know diet and rest is the source of all my problems. I'm pretty dedicated and am pretty good at squeezing out every ounce of energy I got.

Only fine details I have to sort out is how I cna maximize my energy in the mornings when i lift fasted. Hence when my progress sorta slows down eventually I might start creatine.

Ive been opposed to creatine because when I stop taking it I get pretty bad mental fog and fatigue for about a month or so. But I think I'm ready for it soon.

I can run a mile and a half, and Ive lost almost 20 pounds working on more

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Billy__Beane posted...

Yea but I arbitrarily started at 95 on squat and bench. In reality I could've started higher. I just wanted to pace myself and make steady progression and of course manage DOMS. So it's hard to judge that initial progress.

Im tracking everything in detail on excel.

I think what I will do is simply keep going hard, keep cutting, and eventually bulk and see how much I can progress. I already know diet and rest is the source of all my problems. I'm pretty dedicated and am pretty good at squeezing out every ounce of energy I got.

Only fine details I have to sort out is how I cna maximize my energy in the mornings when i lift fasted. Hence when my progress sorta slows down eventually I might start creatine.

Ive been opposed to creatine because when I stop taking it I get pretty bad mental fog and fatigue for about a month or so. But I think I'm ready for it soon.

So how do you know your actual progress? I mean it's whatever to me man, I'm just saying based on what you've shared that it seems like a big change in pace unless you've been stalling consistently

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ThyCorndog posted...

i'm pretty much just cutting these days. I realized I'm losing muscle without the gym, so I might as well be skinny and weak than fat and weak

Lift sandbags? Do pullups? You don't need iron bars

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Creatine is super cheap btw, like I'm talking a $45 container will last more than a year. It's definitely worth it if you can remember to take it consistently

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Pulled 405x6 on deadlifts...wasnt too bad but I ran out of gas fast.

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Took the day off with the gf, went out and had a picnic. I might not do my bike today

Pretty happy with my progress in general though. Next week is week 2 of my 4th 531 cycle

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