Stencil's cutting & building madness

[stencil]

Estevan: Sounds familiar - I've been stuch around the same weight, but I've learned to pay more attention to how I look, how my clothes fit, and my BF% calipers rather than the scale. The scale, at this point, is more of an overall judge to figure out LBM. For example, this morning I weighted in at 178. Hmm. Did I lose two pounds, is that water loss, is that random, did I lose fat, etc.

I do around 3 HIIT sessions a week, not including two sessions of martial arts. I find that mixing up the cardio type (HIIT and endurance) really works - mixing it up shocks the body into all sorts of things.

You say "slowly but surely," and that's the key here, I think. As much as I'd like to look perfect tomorrow, I know it'll take discipline and time. Compared to how I looked a year ago, I'm not about to complain.

Good work on your end - do you have your routine posted on here anywhere?

[estevan]

I think you hit the nail right on the head-displine and time. I think it is important to put fitness in teh proper perspective too-you cant beocme Mr. Universe overnight.

I had a journal on here for a few days but I felt that I was just talking to myself. Anyway, my routine is as follows:

M-Chest, Triceps
T-Back, Shoulders, Biceps
W-OFF
Th-Legs, Abs
F-Chest, Triceps
Sa-Off
Su-Off
M-Back, Shoulders, Biceps
T-Chest, Triceps
W-Off
Th-Legs, Abs
F-Back, Shoulders, Biceps
Sa-Off
Sun-Off

I try to get in 3-4 high intensity cardio sessions a week. I, like you, have found that mixing up my intensity and activity [bike, run, row, etc.] Seems to be the trick.

I'm not sure about the whole diet thing. Sometimes I am tempted to change it, as I know this is the key. I was eating 2000 cal/day [25%f/42%c, 33%p] with ok results then I stalled out and strated cycling with an average of 2000cal/week same nutritional balance. Will see how that goes.

[stencil]

Yeah, the diet is the big part. I'm pretty much on autopilot these days - I even checked my calories last night just to see if I still "get it" and I was spot-on. It might be good to change things up a bit to tweak the system. I've been on this 40/40/20 diet for a couple months now.

Oh. Last night. Karate. Not too strenuous, but that's a good thing since my right shoulder is still a bit tender. Tonight will be back & triceps.

[stencil]

Wide-grip lat pulldowns: 140 x 8, 140 x 8, 120 x 12*
Seated upright rows: 135 x 10, 135 x 10, 135 x 10
Skullcrushers: 70 x 10, 70 x 10, 70 x 10
Tricep pushdowns, flat bar: 130 x 10, 130 x 10, 130 x 10
Shrugs: 165 x 10, 165 x 10, 165 x 12
Lever low rows: 90 x 10, 90 x 10, 90 x 10
HIIT: 20 min, elliptical, 30 / 30

*Bicipital tendonitis is making some exercises difficult. Will do DB curls today and see how it's doing directly, but I might need to take a few days off from certain exercises.

[stencil]

Stiff-leg deadlifts: 155 x 8, 155 x 8, 155 x 10
Squats: 175 x 8, 155 x 8, 155 x 8, 175 x 6
Dumbell standing curls: 30 x 10, 30 x 10, 30 x 10
Flat bar curls: 65 x 10, 65 x 10
EZ bar curls: 65 x 10
Lying leg curls: 110 x 10, 110 x 10, 110 x 10
Seated leg extensions: 120 x 10, 120 x 10, 120 x 10
Back extensions (+10): 10, 10, 10
Side extensions (+10): 10, 10, 10 both sides
External rotator exercises: 12 x 10, 12 x 10, 12 x 10
Internal rotator exercises: 10 x 10, 20 x 10, 20 x 10

[stencil]

Ahh, Sunday was a blissful rest day. Sat around all day in the air conditioning, playing videogames, watching baseball (damn Sox), snacking on jerky... pure bliss.

Back to the gym tonight for chest & shoulders. Need to be careful about the tendonitis, that bugger of all maladies.

[stencil]

Flat bench press: 135 x 8, 135 x 8, 135 x 8
Chest flies: 30 x 10, 30 x 10, 30 x 10
Shoulder Press: 40 x 8, 40 x 8, 40 x 8 (new weight)
Reverse flies: 20 x 10, 20 x 10, 20 x 10
Front shoulder raises: 25 x 8, 25 x 8, 25 x 8 (new weight)
Incline bench press: 135 x 6, 135 x 4
Pec deck: 120 x 10, 120 x 10
Reverse peck deck: 110 x 10, 110 x 10

[stencil]

Karate tonight, good class, but a bit short (maybe 70-75 minutes). Got some good cardio from some sparring, but it's getting to the point that I feel like I could go to the gym AFTER karate now. It used to wipe me out.

Must not overtrain.

Gonna try to start going to the gym in the morning. Going around 7pm is a nightmare - so many people, so many dorks curling 20 lb dumbells at 100 reps... I mean, there's nothing wrong with curling 20lbs, but 100 reps for an hour?! Cmon. You're wasting both your time and mine.

[stencil]

Oh! And bodyfat % is supposedly down to around 11.4%. Not sure if I believe that, so I'll measure again tomorrow, but that was consistent a few times today. If that's true, crap. That's too good to be true.

[stencil]

Skullcrushers: 70 x 10, 80 x 8, 80 x 8 (new weight)
Seated rows: 140 x 10, 150 x 8, 150 x 8 (new weight)
Wide grip lat pulldowns: 140 x 10, 140 x 8, 140 x 8
Tricep pushdowns, v-bar: 130 x 10, 140 x 8, 140 x 8 (new weight)
Shrugs: 175 x 10, 175 x 10, 175 x 11 (new weight)
HIIT: 12 minutes (treadmill 5.0-8.0)

[stencil]

Grr. If it isn't one thing, it's another. Broke my toe at karate last night. Yay. It's not too bad, so I'm still going to try to work my legs this weekend. We shall see.

[stencil]

Well, after thinking about it, getting lectured by the girlfriend, and thinking straight, I rested all weekend. Iced the toe, taped it up, and kept my activity to a minimum. Was hard to do, but the time off will be good for me. I hope to get back into the gym tonight. We shall see. Otherwise, I'm taking the whole week off and calling it a day.

Heh. Calling a week a day.

[stencil]

So I did it - I busted through, and I had a decent amount of energy, and the toe was just fine.

Squats: 175 x 10, 175 x 10, 175 x 10
SLDLs: 165 x 10, 165 x 10, 165 x 8
Seated calf raises: 100 x 10, 100 x 10, 100 x 10
EZ bar curls: 70 x 10, 70 x 10, 70 x 10
Dumbell curls, standing: 30 x 6, 30 x 8, 30 x 6*
Leg extensions, seated: 120 x 10, 120 x 10, 120 x 10
Weighted crunches: 110 x 10, 110 x 10, 110 x 10

[stencil]

Skipped karate tonight to let the toe heal a bit more.

But - went to the gym!

Flat bench press: 135 x 8, 135 x 8, 135 x 8
Chest flies: 35 x 8, 35 x 8, 35 x 8
Shoulder press: 40 x 10, 40 x 8, 40 x 8
Reverse flies: 20 x 10, 20 x 10, 20 x 10
Front raises: 25 x 8, 25 x 8, 25 x 8
Decline bench press: 135 x 8, 135 x 8, 135 x 6
HIIT: 12 min

[stencil]

BF%: 11.4%
Arms: 15"
Waist: 33"

Tried the maltodextrin in my post-workout shake last night. Wow. Talk about a carb high / crash. Gotta look into that.