Current Events > The Fitness Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Bout to start my fitness lifestyle tomorrow, officially, after a year long hiatus of eating like shit, not working out, and gaining weight. I'm not obese or anything. I'm roughly the same weight where I started last year when I started working out, which is like 180lbs at 6'0.

I have a few goals, first and foremost its cardiovascular health, second is aesthetics, third is lifting thresholds.

Going to work out on a 4 day cycle: PPLR, and it'll alternate low reps (4-6) for a cycle, then high reps (8-12) for a cycle. Will do abs every other day.
Going to start with lower weights and will probably cut volume for the first 6 weeks.
Also going to go on a calorie deficit for the next 3 months. I'm thinking 500 calorie deficit per day. My maintanence is roughly 2500, so I'll aim for 1900-2000 calories per day and adjust after a few weeks.

I'm also working night shift for the next few months, so thats a twist in all this.

Nice, calorie deficits are a pain when you first start them! Are you doing a high protein diet?

Ive been on a cut for about 2 months now, trying to get to 8% bodyfat or below, at about 9.5% now


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Damn Im so sleepy. Bootstrap time...

Whats second?

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It always comes up so: cardio does not kill gains

I make a point to get 7-10 hours of cardio a week. I returned to lifting and have put on 6lbs of muscle in the last 5 months

It's all about diet. 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight is my "trick"

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Njolk posted...

It always comes up so: cardio does not kill gains

I make a point to get 7-10 hours of cardio a week. I returned to lifting and have put on 6lbs of muscle in the last 5 months

It's all about diet. 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight is my "trick"

How do you fit your cardio in with lifting?

Thats my issue. Was gonna start with 0.5mi every day as a warmup before lifting. I need to do that anyways cuz I work out in my garage with no insulation or heating. Was thinking I could do cardio after lifting on my Push and Pull days.

I have weights in my garage, a treadmill, and a punching bag. On my rest days I wanna do some work on the punching bag - not til I'm exhausted or anything, just to work on technique and stuff.

The_Dan_Haren posted...

How do you fit your cardio in with lifting?

Thats my issue. Was gonna start with 0.5mi every day as a warmup before lifting. I need to do that anyways cuz I work out in my garage with no insulation or heating. Was thinking I could do cardio after lifting on my Push and Pull days.

I have weights in my garage, a treadmill, and a punching bag. On my rest days I wanna do some work on the punching bag - not til I'm exhausted or anything, just to work on technique and stuff.

I divide them as much as possible, 6 hours at least

I tried to run 3 mi to the gym and back and it was a horrible session

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The_Dan_Haren posted...

Njolk posted...

It always comes up so: cardio does not kill gains

I make a point to get 7-10 hours of cardio a week. I returned to lifting and have put on 6lbs of muscle in the last 5 months

It's all about diet. 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight is my "trick"

How do you fit your cardio in with lifting?

Thats my issue. Was gonna start with 0.5mi every day as a warmup before lifting. I need to do that anyways cuz I work out in my garage with no insulation or heating. Was thinking I could do cardio after lifting on my Push and Pull days.

I have weights in my garage, a treadmill, and a punching bag. On my rest days I wanna do some work on the punching bag - not til I'm exhausted or anything, just to work on technique and stuff.

I'm time-constrained so I reduced 3 of my 6 lifting sessions to add cardio after the shortened workouts. It's definitely not ideal, but it is the only way I can consistently work it in.

This week is gonna be light, just getting in the groove. Did 0.5mi jog today, then deadlift, rows, chinups, barbell curls. I went easy on the weight. My first few weeks will be like this where I just get into a schedule, go through the motions, but the actual weight is going to be relatively easy. Then once I'm in the groove of things, I'll start ramping up the weight.

For being so into fitness, we always let these topics just die. Still /tagged

Anyway, I use these more or less to blog:
Currently nursing a rotator injury that I noticed like a month ago. Not even sure exactly how I did it. Just went to do a ohp and my body told me it wasn't interested. I had apparently done something the session before.

I've been on a lighter routine since then. It's healing up. Just taking some time. At least I'm fine for normal life movements.

My chest/shoulder lifts are definitely going to take a hit once I can work out properly. I had wanted to cut but I don't want to risk the damage to my gains. Instead I'm just kind of spinning my wheels. I figure I won't be back to normal until after the new year.

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Dont you need a caloric surplus if you want to put on muscle? Can you put on muscle with a deficit

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SauI_Goodman posted...

Dont you need a caloric surplus if you want to put on muscle? Can you put on muscle with a deficit

You can still gain muscle on a deficit, as long as you eat enough protein. Its just a lot more difficult to balance, so you dont have too much of a deficit and burn muscle. However its a bit easier when you have a long break from lifting, with newbie gains and extra fat to burn

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AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

You can still gain muscle on a deficit, as long as you eat enough protein. Its just a lot more difficult to balance, so you dont have too much of a deficit and burn muscle. However its a bit easier when you have a long break from lifting, with newbie gains and extra fat to burn

This is what im banking on

I'm at 146g carbs, 51g fat, 171g protein = 1780 calories. I'll probably stop here for the day.

Tomorrow again, warmup run, then push day + abs

Splurged for desert last night. Had cake and 2 different pies. Although each serving was small. With that it probably put me at 2700 calories for the day.

Today is my 3rd day working out. Did my PPL, tomorrow is "rest" where I'll just do cardio and boxing.

I started making this breakfast shake: 2 scoops optimum whey, 2 tbsp flax seed, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 rasberries, and I eat 2 capsules of fishoil with that. The nutrition on that is: 389 calories, 22g carbs, 10g fat, 54g protein, 9g fiber, and its mostly omega-3 fats. Didn't realize rasberries have so much fiber. I won't be hungry til lunch now.

Also, I dont think I can keep up the green tea in the mornings on an empty stomach. I get alittle bit of unset stomach drinking it on an empty stomach. The tannins in the tea can cause that.

Ran a hilly 13mi in the snow today, feel totally fine like I didn't even run

Shoulders are also filling out. Cardio does not kill gains!

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Did solid yday except for a large slice of peacan pie that put me over the top.

No more sweets today.

Can't wait to start too. At the gym.

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I think I may need to stop deadlifting in running shoes. I felt off-balance today.
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Tagging for later

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Njolk posted...

It always comes up so: cardio does not kill gains

I make a point to get 7-10 hours of cardio a week. I returned to lifting and have put on 6lbs of muscle in the last 5 months

It's all about diet. 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight is my "trick"

That's an absurd amount of protein. I'm pretty light, and I would have to eat 140lbs of protein on your plan.

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Hoping I can get back into my routine Monday after a 4 month layoff. Thats the bad thing teaching and coaching football an hour away from homenot much time for anything else.

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TerraSeeker posted...

That's an absurd amount of protein. I'm pretty light, and I would have to eat 140lbs of protein on your plan.

Grams, not lbs. Not that hard actually, there are easy ways to boost the amount of protein in your normal meals. Two protein shakes is 100 g, add in a chicken breast and some eggs and you are over 150, with some meals to spare

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Day 5 today. Legs are sore af. Did Squats on friday for the first time in a year, did a light jog yday. I can barely sit on the toilet.

Found this article on body dysmorphia that completely sums up how I feel and is making me think I need to speak to some professional help. I still have this feeling of being large despite dropping a ton of weight. It sucks ass.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31489881

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TerraSeeker posted...

That's an absurd amount of protein. I'm pretty light, and I would have to eat 140lbs of protein on your plan.

1g protein per 140lbs = 140 grams

??

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I meant grams not pounds.

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TerraSeeker posted...

I meant grams not pounds.

@TerraSeeker

Then yes, 140g protein = 560 calories. It's not that hard to reach and has huge effects

There's a pretty recent study of amateur female bodybuilders who ate varying amounts from 0.4g to 1.5g per lb and the higher groups had something like 50% more muscle growth, even when they weren't training

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Splurged for lunch today at work. They ordered tacos so I got 3 street tacos. Then I ate a donut. I'm guessing each taco is about 300 calories. They were just double corn tortillas, meat, cilantro, onion.

Ate some fruit, skim milk, and greek yogurt for dinner. I still stayed under 2000 calories somehow.

Push day today.

I'm clearly getting old. I somehow irritated my shoulder closing a car door and have to take some time off from the gym to recover.
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I realized I sleep significantly worse when I have even 1 drink of alcohol. I think I might be getting sleep apnea, so with even 1 drink it exacerbates it. Without any alcohol, I sleep great.

Eating super clean but not enough carbs. I'm eating a cup of quinoa, vegetables, fruits. What more can I add for more good carbs. I'm thinking bout just eating another cup of quinoa just cuz it fits my macros well.

To add carbs, I usually do
brown rice
oatmeal
low calorie wheat bread
low calorie wheat tortillas

Another easy way to get carbs is add Karbolyn to your protein shakes

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The_Dan_Haren posted...

Eating super clean but not enough carbs. I'm eating a cup of quinoa, vegetables, fruits. What more can I add for more good carbs. I'm thinking bout just eating another cup of quinoa just cuz it fits my macros well.

Some plain yogurt works too. Mix it with some of those fruits so it doesn't taste awful.

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I actually like any plain dairy product - plain yogurt, greek yogurt, cottage cheese...I eat lung at work every day so it always tends to be high in fat. Thats why I limit how much fat I eat when I eat at home.

I also just realized, I can mix in a second serving of flax seed into greek yogurt and it'll give me an additional 4g fiber and

My diet has been on point for the last week, aside from 2 cheat meals for thanksgiving which honestly weren't even that bad and I made it fit my macros and remained in a deficit.

My normal is: Breakfast shake, lunch turkey sandwich, dinner chicken/broccoli/quinoa.
Tomorrow I switch to night shift. I'm thinking, wake up, work out, breakfast shake, then I'll take chicken/broccoli/quinoa to work with me for middle of the night meal, and in the morning I can make eggs, toast, avocado - and adjust the servings to fit my macros. It'll be a nice switch I miss eggs.

I do fully body workouts but my main goal is shoulders

My only shoulder exercises are 3xOHP and 3x lateral raises (3x per week)

Should I add more? Different exercises? As I understand OHP is mostly an anterior delt exercise

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You should add in some rear delt exercises. Bent over lateral raise, rear pec dec fly, and face pulls are good. I have also gotten better results when incorporating drop sets into lateral raises or OHP, compared to the standard 3 sets of 10 reps or w/e

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AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

You should add in some rear delt exercises. Bent over lateral raise, rear pec dec fly, and face pulls are good. I have also gotten better results when incorporating drop sets into lateral raises or OHP, compared to the standard 3 sets of 10 reps or w/e

Ah good call, drop sets really helped my traps

Ok I'll do OHP, rear delt flys, lateral raise drop sets

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these Greek yogurts are really good. Lots of good flavors too.

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I do alot of greek yogurt....I'm a big dairy guy

If you have a Kroger store near you, I fricken love Carbmaster milk and Carbmaster yogurts. 60 calories, 10g of protein, 3g carbs per cup of milk. Coupled with Magic Spoon Cereal, these have been a godsend for my diet

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I'll try to find that, I regularly go to Kroger. I've been getting Fairlife fat free milk - 1 cup is 80 calories, 13g protein, 6g carbs, 0 fat.

So last night had a drinking session. Drank alot. Pretty sure I went over my maintanence by like 500.

Visited my in laws over Thanksgiving and binged on probably 4000-4500cal/day for 5 days

I ended up noticeably losing some bodyfat and all of my lifts went up, my muscles were screaming for the calories! Bodies are interesting

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I've been flat for the last 2 weeks w/ a 4 day all inclusive Mexico trip, and then Thanksgiving the week after. Hopefully I can get back on the cut for a few weeks before Christmas. Getting really close to my goal of less than 8% BF

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Yeah, I'm currently what I consider chubby but I'm going on a cruise soon. So I'm waiting until January to do a cut. Sitting around and waiting is killing me. On the upside my rotator issue is steadily healing up so I should be able to dive in once I'm able

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6:25 mile today!

I've dropped 35 seconds in two months! So cool, I really hope I can make it to 5:30 by the summer

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Started adding blackberries to my morning shake, it added like 4g of fiber for just a little bit.

So morning shake is now: Water, strawberry protein powder (ON), blueberries, rasberries, blackberries, and ground flax seed, and I take some fish oil with that.

Weight checks are sorta unreliable for me. I started at 181 and I'm now at 184 1 week later of eating clean and lifting. I'm fairly certain whats happening is my muscles are just retaining more water as I started lifting. So hopefully next few weeks it starts to trend down.