Nerd Up and Cut Down

[Emmet]

Right, gonna try this log business to try keep me focussed. Was making great progress with the oul Body before the snow and exam period, which severely impacted my ability to get to the gym / eat properly, and then Christmas did what it does every year and rounded me out again.

I started the Stronglifts 5x5 programme in September, and made pretty decent lifting gains in it, however, was in the gym Monday and today, and found I'm back a fair few kgs from what I had been lifting.

I'm also going to throw in some of my study goals, and time spent studying "properly" over the next few months, as I don't want to fall into the cram trap once again, which is why I couldn't keep my fitness regime during the exam times.

Current Me
Height - 175cm
Weight - 81.7kg (went from 85->78 between Sept and December before exams took over my life)
Bodyfat% - Too much (have to get this checked)

Goal Me
Weight - 73kg
Bodyfat% - Less

Stronglifts 5x5 is simple stuff. Two sessions, three times a week.
The plan is to lift the heaviest weight you can (while maintaining correct form for the lift) for 5 reps, rest and repeat 5 times.

Current Weights
Squat - 75
Bench - 60
Overhead - 40
Deadlift - 50 (Can lift far more than this, but only did it for first time in 2 months today).

Diet
Today was a baaaad day dietwise.

Breakfast
Flapjack (woke late, rushed to bus, grabbed something I could eat during lecture)
Lunch
2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 bacon, 2 hash browns
Dinner was good
Chillies, Peppers, Sugar Snap Peas, Baby Sweetcorn, Turkey Breast pieces. 2tsp of Green Thai Curry sauce and a splash of milk
Snacks
Nuts (probably too many )
Sliced Ham
Cucumber and light vinegarette salad dressing.

Gymwork

Did Routine B
I'm going to try get back into the Keto diet starting as soon as I get my sleeping pattern fixed. Few heavy gym sessions and no booze during this week should sort me out I think.
Keto = no carbs pretty much. Target Calorie intake ~ 1800

Study work

5 hours of lectures, little to no work done since

[Keane]

Good luck.

[bustamoves]

gl man. i want your motivation

[Jackyback]

Best of luck with it Emmet.

[Mellor]

Best of luck, SL is pretty similar to my own program (did it myself), a few assitaance and iso excercises added.

D1: Bench/Pull-ups/Bench variation/Bent over row/Chest assistance/Inverted row
D2: Squat/Press/Deadlift/DB Press/Leg assist/Front Raise

I'll keep an eye on progress.

[Lurker23]

GL Emmet.

It takes a brave man to do stronglifts + keto together. Possibly an insane one...

[Emmet]

Spent a while last night trying to make sure I was doing all the stronglifts exercises properly, noticed a video called "so you think you can bench" on youtube, which taught me that my technique was all wrong, and was probably the source of my shoulder pains at Christmas.

Also paid particular attention to Lurker's log and also the stronglifts site for a better idea of how to stretch and warm up, something I had completely neglected so far.

As a result, I decided to lower the weight on my squat, and perform the lift better. "Ass to the Grass" style.


Diet
Thursday
Breakfast
2 Sausages, 2 Rashers, 3 scrambled eggs
Lunch
Panini - Ugh, forgot which campus I was going to, no decent lunch options.
Dinner
Green Thai curry as per post #1
Snacks
Nuts
~40g Ham
~40g Cheese

TODAY

Diet
Good day

Breakfast
2 Rashers, 2 Sausages
Lunch
3 egg omelette with 40g ham, 20g cheese and 3 sundried tomatoes
Dinner was good
Steak 70g Brocolli, 70g Cauliflower, 20g cheese
Snacks
~ 40g Nuts
200g Turkey (post gym)
80g Sliced Ham

Gymwork

Did Routine A

Really struggled with the bench after so many reps of squats, never done near to that many before! Same with the warm up on the bench press. Technique is more rounded now I hope.

Super Set the Push ups and Crunches, which proved disastrous as mid way through my second set of crunches, I pulled a "whitey", got dizzy and was close to spewing. First time its ever happened, so took it handy afterwards and just did some stretching to cool down.

Study work

2 hours of lectures, 1 Tutorial sheet completed after

[Lurker23]

noticed a video called "so you think you can bench" on youtube.

Ah! Dave Tate is awesome and so is the elitefts site.

Really struggled with the bench after so many reps of squats, never done near to that many before! Same with the warm up on the bench press. Technique is more rounded now I hope.

Good stuff. Setting the correct neural pathways for the lifts requires loads of warm-ups and is particularly important as a beginner.

Super Set the Push ups and Crunches, which proved disastrous as mid way through my second set of crunches, I pulled a "whitey", got dizzy and was close to spewing. First time its ever happened, so took it handy afterwards and just did some stretching to cool down.

Welcome to my world

[Mellor]

I think you might be doing too many warm up sets which is why you failed towards the end of benching, but the numbers look good,

[Emmet]

I think you might be doing too many warm up sets which is why you failed towards the end of benching, but the numbers look good,

Yeah I felt tired when I started the sets at my work weight.

Previously, every time I've lifted, I just turn up, throw the work weight on, and plough through.

Definitely feel that this isn't the way to do it at all though. Warming up was fairly essential imo, but I think we may have overdone it.

[Emmet]

Ugh, bad weekend in terms of activity or study, fine for diet though. Too much sport on to be doing anything but vegetating.

Sat Diet was pretty much a copy of Fridays, except missed lunch cause I'd a lie in. Scrambled eggs with my sausages and rashers. Finished the steak and went to town on the brocolli and cauliflower again. About 12 cups of tea too.

Sun Diet was something like
Breakfast
2 Sausages, 2 Rashers, 3 scrambled eggs
Dinner
Green Thai curry as per post #1
Snacks
Nuts
~40g Ham
~40g Cheese

Today Diet was
Breakfast
30g of Own Brand Bran Flakes (way less sugar, still kinda carby though)
100ml of Whole Milk
Lunch
2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 rashers
Lunch 2
Leftover Green Thai Curry from yesterday.
Snacks
~60g of Pistachios and a Pain au Raisin after gym (felt faint and needed a boost).
100g of Turkey Breast.

Gym work
Bit of a disaster doing the OHP, think I over extended my arm on the "up" of the second rep of the second set and my left shoulder completely zapped of all strength. Not a chance I was going to be able to lift one more rep. Took a short break and deloaded to the bar for set 3, 30 for set 4 and back to 40 for set 5, but my shoulder wasn't in great nick.

Impacted upon my chin ups, which I have to admit, I'm absolutely pathetic at. I'm using the assisted machine, and am only really lifting less than half my bodyweight, and still struggling with this big time. Just can't seem to get anywhere with these exercises tbh. Is there any supplementary stuff I could be doing to improve my performance here?

Lost weight since day 1, but will keep it to a weekly thing to help track progress, weigh in Wednesday instead so.

[Lurker23]

Is there any supplementary stuff I could be doing to improve my performance here?

Try negatives for the chins. Hang from the top and lower yourself slowly to a count of 10 = 1 rep. Lower yourself slower if you're a sadist. Be prepared for a massive amount of soreness the following two days. Try 3 sets of 5 or something in that general area.

[Moneymaker]

Gl Emmet. Looks like you're a bit too fond of bad food though.

[Emmet]

Gl Emmet. Looks like you're a bit too fond of bad food though.

?

Think my diet is pretty clean, still need to iron out a few things before I'm in ketosis. Do you mean that its high in fat?

Edit : This is what I'm aiming to get back to.

SPOILER

Leaves room for the 12 cups of tea a day I'm getting through.

[Moneymaker]

?

Think my diet is pretty clean, still need to iron out a few things before I'm in ketosis. Do you mean that its high in fat?

I just seen sausages and bacon. All right as a treat(100% pork if you can), not something to be eating regularly, but sure you know this. Looks spot on otherwise. I'm not really one for measuring and counting calories tbh. I just eat good food and fast from 8pm Sat to 8am Monday to maintain a calorie deficit.

Hate prone bridges but they're a great exercise.

[Emmet]

Yeah it's an odd looking combo, but need high fat foods as well as high protein to get into ketosis.

Sausages rashers steaks pork belly etc are essentials.

[Moneymaker]

Yeah it's an odd looking combo, but need high fat foods as well as high protein to get into ketosis.

Sausages rashers steaks pork belly etc are essentials.

Absolutely. Tend to stick to Omega 3 eggs and Flaxseeds for natrual fats though. Eat steak by the truckload though

[Emmet]

What kinda stuff do you do with flaxseeds? I bought flaxseed meal and was able to make a "bread substitute" with it, but I wouldn't shout about it really.

Was an excellent source of fibre though!

[Moneymaker]

What kinda stuff do you do with flaxseeds? I bought flaxseed meal and was able to make a "bread substitute" with it, but I wouldn't shout about it really.

Was an excellent source of fibre though!

Just spray a handful on my Jumbo oats or natural yogurt typically.

Very good for your plumbing too.

[Emmet]

Tues Diet was something like
Breakfast
2 Sausages, 2 Rashers, 3 scrambled eggs
Dinner
150g Turkey breast
60g Mange Tout
1/2 Red Pepper
60g Baby Sweetcorn
3 finger chillies (woah)
A dash of Soy Sauce
Snacks
~50g Pistachi Nuts
~40g Ham

Today Diet was
Breakfast
2 Rashers, 2 fried eggs
Lunch
Salad - 2.5 boiled eggs, peppers, cucumber, lettuce, 1/2 tomato

Dinner
2 Pork Chops
80g Brocolli
80g Cauliflower
30g Cheese

Snacks
~50g Cashews
Slice of Homemade Bread
2 slices of Ham
1/2 bowl of Bran Flakes

Gym work
Another bad day of gym work, wont be going near the gym without eating properly again. Literally had no strength whatsoever. I'd consider it my worst gym session since I started in August. Struggled with everything, had nothing in the tank. I realise this could well be part of the keto/low carb side of the diet, and will have to do a "carb day" to replenish the oul muscles, or else risk hurting myself with the bar.

Squats went terribly, I knew full well when I lifted my 3rd warm up weight that I wasn't going to be able to lift much more. Tried to lift the 77.5 that I was due to attempt, but managed one and struggled at that. Dropped to 72.5, and the same held through. Forced out 5x5 at 67.5, for a dramatic 7.5kg loss on previous days effort.

Was annoyed/tired/disappointed starting the bench, and almost same thing happened again. Managed to do my first set of 60kg, then failed spectacularly on the 3rd rep of the second set. Took a breather, went to go for it again at 60 and couldn't get the bar off my chest at first time of asking. Dropped the weight back to 55kg for another big loss, and struggled badly to force out the rest.

Bodyweight exercises went fine. Superset the pressups and crunches and pulled a whitey again, struggled through as I knew there was nothing in my stomach so if I threw up it wouldn't matter!

Weight - 80.5kg (good drop for a week)
Strength - Puny
College - Lot of work to do, will be a busy weekend.

[Jackyback]

It is going to be hard for you to progress up the weights at the start as the carb depravation will make you feel so weak at your sessions. You will be grand once your body adapts back to becoming a fat burning engine

[Mellor]

I really think you should cut your warm up lifts to one set of each.
Doing 40 x 2, 60kg x 2 verses x1 might not seem like much but its makes a difference and will increase performance on work sets (which are the ones that give you gains remember)

[Lurker23]

Agree with Mellor here.

Just look at the total volume for your squat warm-ups:
Bar x 2 x 5 = 200
40 x 2 x 5 = 400
60 x 2 x 5 = 600

That's 1200kg before you start your work sets of 75kg or the equivalent of 16 workset reps (I know loading is different etc for these but go along for argument's sake).


If I was squatting 75kg I'd do more or less do this:
Bar x 2 x 5 = 200
35 x 4 = 140
50 x 3 = 150
65 x 2 = 130

Total of 620kg. That should make a big difference on your worksets but you'll still be warmed up. It's no harm doing a few more reps as a beginner or on days where you're just not feeling it. A bit of getting to know you're own body applies here to so that's what works for me.

The rule of thumb for weight progression between warm up sets is workset weight divided by 5 iirc. Once I got to a 100kg squat I didn't really make bigger jumps than 20kg though.

[Emmet]

Decent two days, body's been in Ketosis since Saturday, so Carbing up today a bit.

Thurs Diet was something like
Breakfast
2 Sausages, 2 Rashers, 3 scrambled eggs
Lunch
Gammon Steak and 50g Brocolli
Dinner
2 Turkey Breast steaks
80g brocolli
80g Cauliflower
40g Cheese

Today Diet was
Breakfast
Porridge - Hurried and Carb replacement
Lunch
3 egg omlette, 80g ham, 30g cheese, 3 sundried tomatoes
Dinner
1 portion (1/3 of)
3 breasts of chicken
1 tin chopped tomatoes
basil/oregano
100g Cheese
200g Wholemeal Penne pasta

Gym work - Lunch time routine was far easier than evening I think!

Superset the Pull ups and bridges cause I was in a rush to get home, fed and then back to class.

[Rufio]

Nice thread Emmet, I'm going to start one up myself as a result!

Keep up the good work.

[Emmet]

Friday turned into a disaster diet wise. Cooked the dinner above for me and two friends, one brought a homemade cake over, so would've been rude not to have some!

Stayed up way past my bedtime railing TG rape the FT on Stars, and messed my sleeping pattern up royally.

Sat diet wasn't great
Breakfast
2 Sausages
2 Rashers
Lunch
3 egg omlette with ham cheese and sundried tomatoes
Dinner
Shitload of Brocolli
Shitload of Cauliflower
Cheese
2 Pork Chops
Snacks
~100g of pistachios - way too much

Sunday - shocking
Breakfast
Bran Flakes - maybe 3 bowls worth ugh.
Lunch
none
Dinner
Steak
180g Baby Sweetcorn/Mange Tout
Snacks
2 Wispas
2 Pastries
(was watching the NFL with friends, and one treat led to another far too easily)

Didn't sleep Sunday night cause NFL ran on so long, and college day started so early, so was a mess on Monday.
Breakfast
2 Sausages, 2eggs, 2 rashers
Lunch - none
Dinner
Pizza - (had 0 energy to do anything).

Back on Track today
Breakfast
2 eggs/sausage/rasher
Lunch
2 panfried fillets of pollock
Dinner
200g steak
~300g Brocolli/Cauliflower
30g cheese
Snacks
I TBSP Peanut Butter.
~40g Sliced Ham

Need suggestions for low/no carb things to eat straight after the gym to get some energy back?

Gym was good today (usually Monday)

Superset the last two as per usual.

Haggis in the oven now, will have some today and some for breakfast in morning too!

[Mellor]

Haggis in the oven now, will have some today and some for breakfast in morning too!

Kinda want to try Haggis tbh.
Its prob heathly enough, depending on whats added in. It there any data on the packet

[Emmet]

Kinda want to try Haggis tbh.
Its prob heathly enough, depending on whats added in. It there any data on the packet

Seems like a serving should be about 80g by my reckoning.

http://ccm.about.com/detail?fid=74464

Dumped it after tbh, was lovely, but it a weird lookin yoke, had no idea what to do with it the next morning. Will buy smaller ones if I'm to get it again.

I'm tryin to figure out something I can bring with me to the gym that I can eat immediately after working out, any suggestions?

Also, anyone have any sneaky ways of cooking eggs? Just trying to mix it up a bit.

[Mellor]

After workouts, protein shake is the simplest. Beef jerky is good too. Fruit also. After a workout you can get away with anything as you body eats it all up

Eggs are great imo. Boiled is best to eat on the go, but takes longest. Fried are quick, use little oil. Poached are the nicest. You can add other bits like tomatoes onions meat cheese to make an omlette or scrambled into more of a meal

I mix them with oats to make oat pancakes, can post recipe if you want

[Emmet]

Yup I'm a big scrambled egg/ omelette fan and go for hard boiled eggs for snacks. Poached eggs are amazing, but need toast for then really? And I don't buy bread.

Trying to keep carbs to a minimum/ non existent, so are oat pancakes a good shout in that regard? Love to see the recipe for carb reload days though.

Same q re protein shakes, are they not quite high in carbs? I'm a whole foods kinda guy, is there nothing to fill the void before I cycle home from the gym that's a quick fix, with good macros?

[Mellor]

I'll post up the recipe later, a bit tricky from the fone

some shakes are carb heavy, but they are really mass gainers rather protein shakes. There are plenty that have essentially no carb. I'll link when on the PC

I'm whole food too but live 5min from the gym. So i might have cottage cheese when i get home. Best carb free options would be nuts jerky or some chicken, cook it before work or gym and bring it in a mini lunch box'

edit:
Here's the oat pancake recipie

http://www.irishpokerboards.com/forum/showpost.php?p=241975&postcount=130

As for protein shakes,
MyProtein is popular, and prob the best value for money. The Impact whey isolate is the lowest carb option;
Per 30g:
Energy: 111.0Kcal
Protein: 27.9g
Fat: 0.3g
Carbohydrates: 0.2g

But even the protein blends only have like 1.8g/30g serve

Optimum Nutrition is popular, its one of the few big brand names that isn't over priced.

[Emmet]

Happy with my diet since Tues, similar to most of my cleanest days, so won't bother posting the lot.

Hit a pothole on Tuesday and was thrown off the bike, cut my elbow,shoulder and knee up a bit, was crazy stiff on Wednesday and Thursday, so had to skip a session. Only 2 this week.

Did the gym work at lunch time yesterday again, got a 3 hour break in my classes. Feel a lot stronger and more able for it than my usual 6/7pm sessions.

Superset the Pull ups and bridges cause I was in a rush to get home, fed and then back to class. Overhead press was a pain as my left shoulder felt like there was a knot in it, spent ages before squatting trying to loosen it up doing IYWTs and others, but still couldn't get anywhere with it. My friend spotting me made me lower the weight cause he said my left arm was going to give in on the 3rd set, so I lowered to 40 and took a longer break in between.

Still going nowhere with the pull ups, moved down a counterweight on the assisted machine and gave it socks, but my arms just seem to get wrecked very very quickly.

Bodyweight - 80.4kg. No big loss on last week, but from photos, big change. Zero/low carb cuts you quite quickly I think.

[mocata]

Poached eggs go very well with Asparagus and bacon, like a low carb eggs benedict. Big pile of spinach can be good to and some cheese.

[Emmet]

Diet's been really very clean since last week, and that's shown in weight at this week's weigh in.
Doing Tues/Thurs/Sat this week as 6N Fri night gets in way of schedule.

Had my first Squat fail today, which surprisingly, I enjoyed. I was in a good squat rack, with supports on both sides, and I am trying to do full squats as much as possible, so was very very low when I failed. Just sat backwards and 2 inches later the bar was in the supports and I was fine.

Kind of recommend anyone doing squats to maybe take an enforced fail, as it seems like a bizarre situation to get out of if you'd never done it before. Capsizing in the canoe is your first lesson, maybe the same should be with squats.

Felt really good on the bench, took longer breaks than usual, and concentrated on technique a lot more, spotter said my 3rd set was probably the best set he'd seen me do since we got here. Going to have to keep concentrating on form for all exercises as much as possible.

Lowered the Inverted Row down in the rack, so found it much tougher! Elevated Feet to add even more burn. Its not really as comfortable doing it so low, maybe reverting to previous and putting a weight on chest would be better?

Press ups and Crunches went well too, blasted them out.

Good week!
Weight - 79.5kg
Feb 1st - Booze Ban lifted. Will be drinking on Saturday watching the 6N, and hopefully that means I'll be asleep before 11 and not heading out.
Study - Nowhere near enough, going to have to kick myself for this, because I can see myself going down the same path as last semester and leaving it all until the end. Going to have to regiment library like gym. Mon/Wed/Fri Gym. Tues/Thurs/Sat or Sun Library.

[Emmet]

Couldn't get to gym on Thursday night because we had a storm here, would've been pretty retarded to leave the flat.

Diet was good all week, then the dreaded alcohol return kicked in on Friday. Ate well, but 5bottles San Miguel and 2 Pint bottles of good Scottish Ale was added to the carb and calorie count.

Saturday early gym session was rushed so that we'd make it to the pub in time for the Ireland game (priorities, I know).

So we kept to just two compounds and left it there. Squat racks were all being used, so started with the OHP.

Felt good, did the usual warm ups, bar, 30, 40 and then work weight 42.5. Reps were 5,3,3 and then managed to do the 5x5 at the work weight, so time to move up on that.

Squats were really good, there was a guy giving a class on front squats about 8 feet from us and I was listening/watching in between my sets, picked up a few little tips and helpful things.

Warm ups went bar, 35, 50, 65, 80 with 5 for the bar and 3 for the rest.
Work Weight of 87.5, managed the 5x5 so again we're moving up a weight next time. Actually enjoyed doing the Squats, was really focussed on form, and ignored the weight to some extent. That's the mental side of it, but my body was going nuts doing them, and I was fairly shattered after the sets. Great exercise.

Another feed of pints and a bottle of Baileys for the craic yesterday, and probably a few cans tonight watching the SuperBowl too.

Gym at 5pm tomorrow, and diet back on track for another week I guess. 6N time isn't the easiest to be sober!

EDIT: Weight at 78.8 kg btw.

Not sure that I can actually go as low as 73, but will give it a shot anyway!

[Emmet]

Feel a bit vain having one for exercise and one for SnGs now...

Good gym session this evening, PBs on Squats and Bench, though the bench was tough work! Squats felt very comfortable, stepping up through the warm up weights is a huge help I feel. Diet not great, Carb cravings after the weekends boozing, need to up the discipline here again

[Emmet]

Diet gone to pot. Weight gone up. College catching me again...

Played soccer with class after college, left me rushing to get to gym, closes at 9:30, only made it at 8:30 so didn't get enough done.

Squats going really well, feel I've a lot left in the tank.
OHP is going so slowly, never feel like I'm getting anywhere with it!

[Emmet]

Weekend of drinking and over indulgence to work off. Weight back at 81kg, very disappointing really. Might kick the booze again for a bit, as it seems to really mess things up!

Good session though

[Emmet]

Good day yesterday in the gym.

PBs on everything
Squatting 95
OHP finally beat that cunt of a 42.5, hate this exercise, moving so slowly through it.
Deadlift 80, not been doing these very often, need to move up quickly and keep them in my sessions!

Horrific night of drinking, not enough sleep, and bound to do it again tonight. Gonna play some poker now, head to library at 4ish for a few hours, and rinse and repeat tomorrow.

Next session on Monday.

[Emmet]

Been slacking recently, need to get it together, with college/diet/gym work. Friend arriving tomorrow till Monday is a bit of a pain in the hole tbh, hope he doesn't mind spending time alone while I'm studying/gymming!

Had a small session tonight, was in a rush as college was a late one.

Gym was packed, big queue for the squat rack, so had to start with bench.

Standard enough warm up
Work Weight - 62.5kg, managed 5,5,5,4,3 at this. Lost rhythm on this, wasn't concentrating properly.
Squat - 97.5kg - 5,5,5,5,5. Ready to break the milestone that is 100kg on Friday. Reps weren't quite low enough, but I'm ensuring that I'm completing a full squat on each of my warm up lifts, which went all the way to 90kg.

[Mellor]

OHP finally beat that cunt of a 42.5, hate this exercise, moving so slowly through it.

OHP is a tough one to make progress on.
Basically it's the weakest of all the lifts, generally;
press < bench < squat < deadlift

So numbers are lower and the 2.5kg you try to add is relatively bigger. I've been considering findingmicro weights getting two plates at .5kg
So the jumps go 42.5kg-43.5kg-45kg-46kg-47.5kg

It ends up being 1kg and 1.5kg alternating, .625kg works out better, if you can get/make one

[Emmet]

Haven't checked in in a while. Gym sessions have been sporadic, and diet has been similar story. Weight is fluctuating around the 80kg mark, but body shape is already a lot better than when started.

Current Workweights
Squat - 95kg (Dropped back to 80 to work on form and am moving back up slowly again)
Bench - 65kg (Getting increases slowly but surely)
Deadlift - 85kg (need to do this more often, the other lads aren't fans of it at all, and we always end up skipping it)
OHP - 45kg (47.5 next session, was delighted to finally get over that 45 "hump")

[Emmet]

Homework for tomorrow

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkF9QD7oCIA[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6cgnxY8ld4[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q36wb3PgTQ4[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBxYSAxxajc[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzlsAmFJNaU[/ame]