Major Rebuild, Well Kinda.....

[Sophos9]

About Me
Well I currently live feeling a bit paranoid about myself, 5ish years ago I was built well, 196lbs and 8% BF - all natural. I got to close to all the detail and was swallowed into the complexity of understanding detail like you would not believe. Needless to say, I quit it for a breather... Well that breather turned into 5yrs of badness man, I mean some serious eating!

You know, sometimes knowing a lot is a bit of a problem. I'm good with nutrition - this means like alcoholic, I can sort it at any time right? Wrong...

Over the last few weeks I've been planning, I have a good gym lined up (looks like a 1950's prison, no frills and men only), nutritional plans and goals are set, workout is almost there.

2 days ago I kicked off the nutritional tracker, in those 2 days I've dropped 1.8kg - its easy at the beginning!

So, today I'm 209lbs at approx 25% BF and living in obese heaven...

Goals
So I have goals over the short, medium and long term so I'll only cover the short. In a sentence, I'm going to drop fat, at worst maintain current lean muscle mass, increase strength and wake up my metabolism. The goal is going to be met by using the lifting programme as anaerobic CV (dont have a CV heart) and maintaining a sensible diet. Ideally I would like to get to 15-18% BF before initiating phase 2

Phase 2 is all about driving lean muscle mass and hyper acceleration of fat loss

Phase 3 is hypertrophy using cutting / bulking cycles

Diet & Supplements
Nothing really to write home about here, focussing on a 40/40/20 split of macro nutrients split across 6 meals. I should be shooting for around 2900kcal per day in my current state (not exercising) however I've reduced this by 1000kcal (excluding exercise), this will give me a caloric deficiency of 7000kcal per week which should amount to approx 2lb of fat if I dont do anything. Of course, when I start weight training, I will factor the extra caloric expenditure and increase my target intake.

Diet looks something like:

Breakfast - 300g semi-skimmed milk, 4 eggs (2 yolks), 40g protein, 100g proper oats
Mid - Home made protein flapjack (or chicken, rice, veg - dependant on workout)
Lunch - Clean rice/meat on a 40/40/20
Afternoon - Fruit
Dinner - Normal 40/40/20
Before Bed - 300g semi-skimmed milk, casein with vits

The above will all move around dependant on if I'm working out. If I am I will go for pre workout food, post workout cocktail shake followed by 40/40/20 meal

Supplements are dead straight forward
ON Whey protein
1000mg vit C post workout to help reduce cortisol
Glutamine powder 45mins before and after work out then before bed
Flaxseed/omega 3 oil

Not going to bother with creatine and others yet - need to get the body working first

Workout
More info to come on this but will initially be based around a 3 day split, probably
Legs / Shoulders
Chest / Biceps / Traps
Triceps / Back

Focus will be on compound at the beginning of the session and if I've got anything left after that, a tiny bit of isolation. I will be bringing the most efficient exercises to the front of the session

Will post the spreadsheet tracker up later on, will start light and progress ASAP to heavy. I'm kinda lucky as I find it difficult to get injured, seem to have a good tolerance to it - I've got a golden rule though now I'm starting, EVERY exercise gains weight the following week. Don't care if its 0.5lb, everything will go up and if I plateau, I'll change the entire routine!

So, as an overview - thats it! Will go into more details as things progress, cannot start the new gym until Monday 6th so wont be major update until I'm plagued with DOMS!

Please feel free to comment!

Welcome back.

Your initial post here reminds me of a lot of new members who start off strong, even though you are not really a new here. Loaded with detailed goals and plans. More often than not these people fizzle really quick, many never to be found after the newby zeal wears off.

Hopefully that will not be your case.

The trick for me to sustained fitness is daily practice, and I have cultivated a daily practice with the help of daily journaling, even if my entry is as simple as posting that it was a rest day.

Your current condition, a little off from where you were in your prime, proves once again that we are only as good as our last workout and we are what he eat.

Stay on the fitness saddle this time and don't fall off.

Now get to work!

[LiftGirl]

All looks good, except that you could use more veggies.

[Sophos9]

Thanks for the comments, all very true. Am sorting the greens and I dont intend to 'fall off the wagon' although thinking about it, I dont think I ever made a concious decision to do so

No gym induction today, will be tomorrow so first day will be Wed. Eating has been pretty good, had a take out Indian yesterday so I'm countering the increase in average over the next few days. One of my bog mistakes last time was to totally stop doing the things I enjoyed, now I'm going to reduce the frequency and think a bit more long term.

Lost about 1.6kg this week in all, pretty happy with that. I've introduced a weekly BF % check just so I can see what the weight lost actually is, muscle or fat. The first time measured 22.2%, not that far off what I thought...

Gym routine is in place (on paper) so looking forward to Wednesday!

[Sophos9]

So small update...

Things in the gym got held back a little due to inductions and stuff - had my induction yesterday then spent the rest of the time finding settings, getting familiar and finding my 6 rep maxes.

Today will kick start the proper training programme - triceps and back, may throw some forearms in if I have anything left at the end of the routine...

Diet is spot on, 40/40/20 - will be getting 100g oat, 35g whey protein, 5g glutamine 1hr before work

Post-work out shake will be 35g whey, 1000mg vit c, 5g glutamine followed by a small meal (steak and chow mein noodle today)

I ache after induction, Saturday I will ache more - aching suddenly feels good!

Back & Tri Routine - 3 x 6 reps:
Dips
Pushdowns
Deadlifts
Tricep Extensions
Lat Pull Down
Forearms

[b063063]

Is this a variation of the Push/Pull Workouts I have seen? Chest-Tri and Back-Bi with legs split between the two?

Also was wondering if you were including any cardio with your workout?

Seems like a solid work out. Like the nutritional information you provided...did you use somone's formula to come up with those specs that you mention or are you a nutritionist?

Would like to know

Bob Brooks

[Sophos9]

Hi

Yep, the split is based on legs on a Monday, that way you get 2 days rest from your last workout before killing yourself on heavy compound legs, each split is focused on compound exercises with a small bit of isolation at the end. I'm still playing around with it but the whole purpose is about strenghening your actual core.

No cardio, I try and walk a fair bit in general - I work on a 6th floor which is 120 steps, averaging 8inchs per step - 24m of climbing at 45' elevation so I try and use the stairs several times a day, probably do about 40-50mins walking per day

Ahhh nutrition! Thats a speciality subject, I've spent years and years going real in depth on nutrition. Sometime ago I did start formal training in nutrition but never took it to a formal qualification.

A good diet will contribute to approx 80% of your gains - weight lifting provides the other 20% thus I split the time accordingly when researching...

[Sophos9]

Workout went awesome for a n00b!

Was able to hit the 3 x 6 dips at full bodyweight which was good and did a lot more than what I thought I would on the others.

Glad to notice a cable crossover in their today, will make a few ammends to Chest day!

I think tomorrow I will be experiencing DOMS pretty bad, in a strange way I'm looking forward to it!

[CliffA74]

Originally Posted by Sophos9

Workout went awesome for a n00b!

Hey, you are never a beginner twice!

Keep up the good work!

[Sophos9]

Originally Posted by CliffA74

Hey, you are never a beginner twice!

Feel like one today!

Today is DOMS day, triceps are hurting and quads, glutes and hams are killers. Keeping good food up today to ensure my body has the essentials to repair.

I know leg Monday will be a total killer - I'm looking forward to it!

Aside, will get some photos on Monday of the gym.... its awesome!

[Sophos9]

So today is leg day, looking forward to it. My legs have calmed down after the deadlifts on Friday, a weekend of house refurbishment did not go down well!

Pre-workout today is 35g brown rice and 50g king prawn with spinach and sugar snap peas followed by 35g whey, 50g oats and 5g glutamine

Post workout is 35g whey, 5g glutamine, 1000mg Vitamin C, 75g dextrose/maltodextrine mix over approx 45 mins - this will force the adrenal cortex to reduce release of glucocorticoids and get the pancreas flooding insulin putting me in an anabolic state which will assist in amino synthesis and muscle absorbtion. This will be followed by 35g brown rice and 50g king prawn with spinach and sugar snap peas to calm the blood glucose levels and help the pancreas chill out a bit

The main aim of the above pre/post nutrition is to reduce the catabolic state to a minimum and promote an anabolic state

Tommorow is going to be pain, my legs are weak however this will work in my advantage as gains should be pretty good in the early days!

[Sophos9]

Things have been going good. Friday was back and tri's which went well. Deadlifts have gone up to 70kg so not bad for my second workout in a few years. Overdid the shrugs a bit and pulled my trapezius on the 3rd set.

A day after, its starting to repair nicely - got good movement which is good.

Right, photos...









Lots of kit.....