Day 11

Just got back from a great lift doing Shoulders and Arms.  Felt super tired this morning and didn't want to go to the gym but once I got there and got into the workout everything got way better, and now I feel great.

It's funny because when I look at myself in the mirror at home I feel like I look skinny.  But when I get to the gym and start lifting, especially on arms days, I tower over all the other dudes in the gym.  Those guys who look big but are 5'10" or so look small next to me when I actually go and walk by or stand by them.  It's funny how important a frame of reference is.  I am starting to really enjoy my body, thanks to lifting, and am loving how everything is filling out and chiseling down, slowly but surely.

Keto is also AWESOME.  I'm eating super satisfying foods, not counting calories, just eating til I'm satisfied.  And I'm losing a little BF every day.  I'm keeping my protein very high because I do not want to lose any muscle mass.  I am still very sore though, which means I'm not recovering as well as I was when drinking carbier PWO drinks, but I can live with that.  I had a Muscle Milk today, which had about 10g carbs, today, which is better than the zero carbs PWO yesterday so I should recover a tad better.  Still contemplating whether or not I am going to do the carb up this weekend or not.  Can't really tell if I am in ketosis yet.  Maybe I should wait another week until next weekend. But maybe not.  I am doing a hike/trail run on Saturday so I will need the carbs.  Maybe I'll just fast up until the hike then take in the carbs during it.

Day 10

Had a little lapse in internet connection there for a couple days but I'm still going strong.  Down to 190lbs and getting leaner by the day.  Keto has been very enjoyable!  I love eating steak, cheese, chicken, and sour cream all the time.

Just bought a huge jug of ON Whey (Chocolate) at Vitamin Shoppe.  Tastes really good.  I made some great power almond butter the other night mixing 7 scoops of the protein in with two containers of natural almond butter.  It is tasty and super nutritious.  High in fat and protein.  Each serving (2 tbsp) is 222 calories and has 15g FAT and 16.5g Protein and 6g carbs.  Great for a snack or treat after dinner or whenever I need those extra calories.

Today I got to the gym and did a leg and back workout, which basically consisted of a ton of HEAVY leg pressing and calve work and a ton of pullups and ab work (mostly leg raises).  I'm super sore right now, which I'm certain has to do with the low carb thing, but it's not too bad.  I can handle it.  Trying to keep my carbs under 30g per day to get into/stay in ketosis.  Don't know if I'm there yet but whatever.

Okay, I'll check in again tomorrow.  Planning on hitting a Shoulders/Arms workout pretty hard tomorrow morning.

Day 7 - Keto Begins...

Today's my first day with the Keto experimentation.  I am enjoying it so far.  Definitely not hungry; the fat and protein combo sure fills you up.  Here are the numbers I will be shooting for on a daily basis: I need around 170g Protein to maintain my muscle mass, <30g trace carbohydrate, and about 210g Fat per day.  This should put me between 2500-2700 cal/day, which with daily training/movement, will result in a fat loss (obviously coupled with the fat burning effects of the keto as well).

Here's my nutrition for today:

10: 5 eggs, 9 strips bacon [800 cal, 65g Fat, 56g Protein]
1130: Vermont summer sausage [500 cal, 45g Fat, 36g Protein] + some random sample cheese @WFoods
115: package of bacon [630 cal, 50g fat, 35g protein]
5: 3.5oz pork rinds +diet soda [420cal, 27g fat, 48g protein]

Totals = [about 2500cal, 190g fat, 180g protein]

Pretty good for the first day!  Definitely enjoyed my choices.  I've been exhausted today though.  I crashed and had to take a 3 hour nap this afternoon.  My heart was racing pretty fast and I was hot.  But that also may have something to do with the fact that the room I was sleeping in had the sun shining in thru a huge window.  Feeling a tad bloated, but really not too bad, I think just because of the high salt in the bacon and pork rinds that I was eating today.  I will have to find keto choices that are lower in sodium.  I'll continue drinking a lot today and hopefully flush a bunch of it out.  I'm sure once the flood gates open I'll be peeing every 10 minutes.

I had a great idea for a good food to eat on this diet.  I want to find a good raw macadamia nut butter (WF doesn't carry any, surprisingly) and make a power nut butter.  I'll take that jar of mac nut butter and mix it with 4-5 scoops of chocolate protein powder and some ground flax seeds (for fiber) and maybe some heavy cream and water.  It should make some awesome, thick, creamy power nut butter, high in protein and fat that I can enjoy eating.  It'll be high in calories and satiating which will be nice because I prefer a small eating window every day on LeanGains fasting and I'll need some really high quality calories about an hour after my workouts during the week.  Should be great!

Day 6 - Leg Press PR!

Today's been a great day, this week has been great actually.  I PR'd on my leg press today, doing 8x855lbs.  Went for 905 but couldn't get it up ... that's what she said.  I thanked my father for his strong farm-boy genes.  Anyways, also this week, my friend and I think we've uncovered a large-scale Ponzi scheme, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars or more, I gave an essentially off-the-cuff presentation in Spanish, and will be finished with my summer course on Monday.  I worked out every day and kept a solid diet all week.  (I told/texted all of this to a girl who I've been talking with recently when she asked how my week was, and I haven't heard back from her.  Maybe I scared her?  Haha, whatever.) We've also been moving forward quickly at the company; Life is Good.

So here's today:

Walk/bike warm up ~10 minutes.
Leg Extensions 6x300lbs (Maxed out the machine)
1x210 Leg Curls (left hamstring is sore from yesterday's sprinting so I didn't do any more)
4x8 squats
Leg Press - worked my way up to 8x855lbs (about 15-20 mins total)
Calf raises 4x10 heavy DBs
Walk CD

Nutrition:

1030: PWO berry smoothie w/2 scoops protein
1130: Cobb Salad from Chopped Greens
145: bag of Pork Rinds
6: All-u-can-eat salad bar (lots of greens, bacon, cheeses, apples, olives, 3 whole eggs, sprouts, etc)
730: bag of pork rinds

...

And tomorrow begins my Keto Diet experience for cutting.  I've read most of the stuff (of any quality) that I can find on the internet and I'm looking forward to it.  Hoping to get real cut with it.  Basically just have to drop my fruit from my diet, and can still even keep the berry smoothies PWO apparently as long as they are minimal on the berry side.  I'll post a pic of myself tomorrow morning at the one week mark.

Paleo Infographic

Keto Diet

So I've been reading a bit about the Keto Diet on bodybuilding.com over the last few days and I think I may give it a shot.  Honestly, I don't think it will be that difficult.  I already eat "Primally" for the most part and focus most of my intake on protein anyways.  I'll just have to make the shift from the fruits that I eat regularly over to more fat.  Eating enough fat will be the most difficult part I think.

So as I understand it, the Cyclical Keto Diet entails the following:

1.  Sunday through Friday you consume next to NO carbohydrates (<30g/day), getting them mostly from greens, veggies, and trace carbs associated with the meat and fat products.
2.  You workout normally, lifting regularly, and consume a whey protein shake religiously after the workout.  You shouldn't consume fat right after the workout, just protein.  (I've also read opinions that you should have carbs with your PWO shake).
3.  You eat whatever the f--- you want during that Sunday-Friday period as long as it is fatty, has no carbs, and can get around 175-200+g of Protein daily as well.
4.  On Friday night thru Saturday night, you consume the vast majority of your intake from carbohydrates (I've read as much as 1900-2000g!!) in order to reload your glycogen stores and therefore allow yourself reserves to draw from during your workouts the following week.
5.  You get cut as shit because you essentially "hack" your body into burning fat as fuel, not just dietary fat, but obviously your body fat as well.  Then on your carb reload day, you don't eat any fat but your body continues using fat because it needs to reload glycogen and it has been programmed to burn body fat now.

Sounds like a good gig for me.  I love eating fatty meats, eggs, and pork rinds.  Like I said, the hardest part for me will likely not be the carbs, it will be getting enough fat in my diet.  I get super nauseous every time I look at (and obvi consume) coconut oil so that is out of the question.  I like butter but don't really cook anything that would require it.  I LOVE bacon, so I'm gonna eat a shit ton of that with eggs.  I love chicken skin as well, so I guess I could eat whole chickens from the market.  Okay well, I am going to begin it on Sunday, my rest day.  Tomorrow I will just do what I normally do.  I'm planning on doing a double in the gym so I will not want to shock my body too much.

However, on the CKD, I predict that I will not be doing much or any cardio...just won't have the energy.  I walk about 3 miles every day anyways around the city so that will be a good amount of cardio for me.  I won't need to (or probably want to) do the sprints and stuff anymore if I stick to this.

Day 5 - Cheat Meal

Today is Friday and I wanted to do my cheat meal today, but I didn't want it to be a full-on junk food binge obviously, so it is actually pretty healthy, and I am satisfied, which I think is what we ultimately shoot for with the cheat meal, a psychological alleviation from otherwise more stringent guidelines.

Here's my nutrition for today:
1230: Small Green Apple
1-145: 20x100m sprints in the field
2: smaller berry smoothie (2 scoops protein) + small green apple
5: Whole Foods: 2 large turkey burgers w BBQ sauce + large sweet potato w/walnuts on top, 88% dark chocolate bar, bag of pork rinds ... mmmm
6: berry smoothie with 3 scoops protein

Total I estimate around 2400-2600 kcal... actually pretty great!  Still gonna drop BF today, especially after the sprinting!  Protein is probably around 210g, so right around where I need to be.  Needed higher carbs today because of the sprinting, plus it was my cheat meal so of course it's going to having more carbs.  The great thing is that it ended up being all low-GI carbs.  Great!

The sprints today were great.  My body needed a rest from the iron; my back and arms are pretty sore from yesterday, which is why I skipped my planned swim this morning too.  I find the extra sleep a lot more beneficial than anything.  I admit that I probably don't rest enough anyways so skipping that morning cardio is probably not a bad thing.  I don't want to have more rest days though because I love to workout every day; it is what I look forward to.

Quotable

"The Brave may not live forever -- but the cautious do not live at all!" 

Day Four

Rolling right along.  Today was Back & Biceps day, one of my favorite combos to work.  Got a nice pump right away.  Here it is:

• T-bar rows – 4×8-12 2 drop sets on the last set
• Reverse grip pulldowns – 3×12
• Standing DB rows – 3×12
• Seated cable narrow grip row (superset) – 3×12
• Behind the neck pulldowns – 3×12
• Deadlifts superset with straight bar standing pulldowns – 3×5-12
• Standing BB curl (superset) 3×10-12
• Cambered bar rollouts 3×10-12
• Standing Concentration curls (superset) – 3×10-12
• Rope crunches – 3×10-12

More or less.  I added stuff to it, like more reps and more sets on certain exercises and got pretty heavy with some of the stuff.  I supersetted most of the back exercises with BB bicep curls.  Arms and upper back are toast right now.  Had a difficult time turning the steering wheel in the car, haha.  That's how you know you got a killer workout.  

Here's my nutrition for today: 

1230: Protein Shake, 2 scoops w/water 

1-2: Lift

230: Berry/Protein smoothie (2 scoops protein), large wild grouper steak, grilled

330: Blue Cobb salad from Chopped Greens + Diet Coke
630: 2 Bags of Pork Rinds ...mmm

FULL

Total today is around 2200 kcal, 270g PRO, 70g CARB, 85g FAT

Hoping this will expedite the cut and maintain muscle b/c of how I am eating big around my lifts.  I'm going to try and think more about my state-of-mind and certain things that I am thinking about when I go to train every day, just so I can start making these posts more interesting.  However, what I did and what I ate ARE pretty useful, especially when looking back on this to see how I got to where I am about to go.  

Weekly Plan for 6/28/2011 - 7/3/2011

I'm jumping the gun a little bit here with posting next week's plan right now, since it is only Weds, but my motivation is up and I may as well put it here so I don't forget or lose it.  Here's the plan:

Monday: Chest and Back

• 75 wide grip chins to start, focusing on form and contraction, as many sets as needed to complete # of reps.
• Dumbbell press, T bar row superset: 4X10
• Incline dumbbell press, deadlift superset: 5×5 HEAVY
• Wide grip pulldown, close grip pulldown, seated incline cable flye superset: 4×8-12
• Seated cable row, pec deck superset: 4×8-12
• Dips: 5 sets to failure.

Tuesday: Bi’s/ Tris

• Straight Bar Curls- 3 sets x 8-10 reps
• Alternating Dumbbell Curls- 3 sets x 8-10 reps
• Alternating Dumbbell Hammer Curls- 3 sets x 8-10reps
• Cable/Rope Hammer Curls- 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Close Grip Barbell Press- 3 sets x 8-10 reps
• Ez Bar Cable Press Downs- 3 sets x 8-10 reps
• Rope Extensions- 3 sets x 10-12 reps
• One Arm Reverse Grip Cable Extensions- 3 sets x 12-15 reps

Wednesday: Legs

• Squats: 6×8-12
• Dumbbell lunges: 5×15 HEAVY
• Leg press, jump squat superset: 5×8-12
• Leg extension, hamstring curl superset: 5×15
• Instinct calf training for 30 minutes, variety of rep and set schemes, light to heavy weight
• Instinct ab training for 20 minutes

Thursday: Shoulders

• Dumbbell press, upright row superset: 3×10 HEAVY
• Behind the neck Smith Machine press: 3×10 HEAVY
• Front raise, rear delt machine flye superset: 4×8-12
• Lateral raise triple drop set: 5×15-10

Friday: Arms

• Tricep dips 3×10 (giant sets)
• Close grip bench 3×10 (giant sets)
• Close grip E-Z bar curls 3×10 (giant sets)
• Concentration curls 3×10 (giant sets)

Saturday: AM Misc

• Plyometrics for 20 minutes, Sprints 10x100m
• Ab instinct training for 20 minutes
• Calf instinct training for 30 minutes

PM Full Body

• Clean & Jerk
• Leg Press – HEAVY, go for PR
• Romanian Deadlifts
• BB Shrugs – HEAVY
• Calf Raises - HEAVY

Day 3

Another day in and a decent workout.  It has got to be around 100*F outside today and very humid here in Durham.  I began the workout with 10x100m sprints outside across a soccer field then did 3x10 each of burpees, pushups, ATG squats.  The first couple sprints were pretty difficult thanks to those really heavy leg presses yesterday.  By the end of that I was in a flop sweat...good warm up.

After that I went inside to lift and did a Chest and Triceps workout:

*Chest cable flys 3x10, 3x8
*Incline DB Press 3x8x50lb
*Flat DB Press 3x8x65lb
*Decline DB Press 2x5x65 (getting pretty tired by this point).
*50 pushups
*Tricep Pulldowns 4x8x60lb
*30 pushups

After that I was pretty tired and ready to be done.  Here is my nutrition for the day, around 2800 kcal total:
AM: Fast
1230PM: 2 small Granny Smith Apples
1245-145PM: Workout
2PM: SMoothie, bag of berries, 4 scoops protein
245PM: 5 eggs, 11 strips of bacon
330PM: Cobb salad from Chopped Greens
FULL (Gotta love Leangains.)

I've been super tired lately b/c of a ton of mental strain with classwork and work-work issues and a ton of thinking, so while I've been meaning to do a morning workout, I haven't yet been able to pull myself out of bed that early to do so.  Tomorrow I will make another attempt and head to the pool for a swim to do 50m sprints.  There are few better feelings in the world than the feeling after you've had a satisfying swim.  This will also rev my metabolism up for the entire morning and keep me burning that stubborn BF in my abdomen, basically the only area I need to lose fat in.

My arms are beginning to striate with veins, a good sign that BF levels are dropping and muscles are growing in them.  I'm still experimenting with LeanGains and what the most optimal way to eat on a daily basis is.  I'm going to go back to the site and review the protocol once again.

Day 2

This blog is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to update throughout the day, and I am looking forward to my workouts in the gym each and every day.

Today was much better diet-wise, completely "clean." Here's what I had:

AM: Fast - Premium Insurance Caps by Hammer Nutrition for all my vitamins & amino acids
1245PM: 2 medium sized chicken breasts
1-215PM: Lift [Shoulders and Calves]
230PM: Post-workout Smoothie -- 1/2 bag frozen strawberries, same with blackberries, 3 scoops protein powder, water
3PM: 2 small chicken breasts w/salsa, 1C oats with 2 scoops protein
8PM: 2 Chicken Breasts

Here's my workout (Shoulders & Calves Focus):

*Upright Rows 4x8x50lbs
*Lateral raises 4x10x10lbs directly after rows

*3x15 explosive jumps

*Shoulder Press 4x8x40lbs ...directly to...
*DB Shrugs 4x10x90lb DBs

*DB front raises 4x10x20lbs
*Leg Press (Calf focus) 4x warm-up sets, then 2x8 @765 lbs (can do more apparently, still testing out my leg strength, my legs are pretty strong from all the cycling I've done).

*Upright Rows 3x8x50lbs

*Lateral raises 3x10x10lbs directly after rows

*Shoulder Press 3x8x40lbs ...directly to...

*DB Shrugs 3x10x90lb DBs

*DB calf raises 3x10x90lbs

*Then did a few minutes on the stair climber, but bailed on that fast and walked 10mins back to my apartment, also walked to the gym. 

It's not about how hard you can hit ...

... It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.

Day One Down

Just got back from the gym, showered, and ate my evening meal.  Sitting here digesting so I thought I'd post an update.

Had a very solid lift today.  Did arms & abdominals...

• Standing BB curls (superset) x3 6-12 reps
• Two arm overhead seated db extension x3 6-12 reps
• BB preacher curls (superset) x3 8-12 reps
• Rope press downs – x3 8-12 reps
• Hammer curls (superset) x2 10-12 reps
• Close grip bench press x2 10-12 reps
• Seated concentration curls (triset) x2 10-12 reps
• Reverse grip barbell curls x2 10-12 reps
• Close-grip pushups x2 10-12 reps
• Hanging Leg Raises (giant set)
• Rope crunches
• Oblique floor twists
• Weighted sit ups x2 to failure

I split the exercises into superset doubles where I'd rep them back-and-forth, back-and-forth.  Got a great pump very quickly.  Ended with a 20 minute walk around Duke's East Campus.  As for nutrition today, not great, but not too bad either.  After giving a presentation on West Campus, I got a text from my friend that he was going to pick me up for lunch; we were headed to Pan Pan Diner, this cheap all-you-can-eat Southern Buffet.  Needless to say, I was conflicted.  Heading to a place like this is NOT the best way to begin a cut.  My stomach has been hurting for the last few days because of how awful my dietary habits have been, so I restrained myself here to two small salads with ham and bacon bits and some BBQ chicken and a few ribs.  It seemed like they actually killed the animals themselves by drowning them in BBQ sauce, so I wiped much of that shit off.  Never seen so much sauce in my life.  

That food was pretty low quality, but I guess that's what you get when you pay $7.99 for a buffet.  After the gym I made an awesome berry and protein smoothie and had two curry chicken breasts for dinner with Diet Coke to drink (another vice, but definitely my least harmful one).  I don't plan on eating any more today. I am full and satisfied.  Trying to focus on drinking a lot to flush out all of the bad shit that I've been eating so I can start fresh soon.  Drank a whole half gallon of iced green tea this morning and had some apples to try and flush with the fiber.  So here's my nutrition for the day:

10am: 2 apples + half gallon of iced green tea

1pm: 2 small salads (ham, bacon bits, cucumbers, tomatoes) + 1/4 BBQ chicken + 2 BBQ pork ribs

215-345pm: Lift - Arms and Abdominals + walk

4pm: Strawberry and Blackberry smoothie with scoop of Pea Protein and Choc. Hammer Whey

430pm: 2 4oz Chicken Breasts

Been feeling exhausted and moody lately.  Definitely diet-related.  On the right track to getting back into the swing of things though.   I plan on heading to either the pool for some 50m sprints in the morning or outside for some 100m running sprints and some HIIT work.  I'll fast through it then come back to the gym in the afternoon for Shoulders/Calves/&Cardio.  

One-Month-Cut

Going to begin my one month cut tomorrow (today is Sunday, my rest day).  I've been cooking my chicken breasts in the Foreman grill this afternoon and will store them in a big Tupperware in the fridge so they're readily available and I won't have to cook later.  This batch is seasoned with yellow curry, mmm.

My friend and I were talking about it, and we agree, if I am to get down to my goal BF of being shredded at under 7%, then I'm going to have to make some changes.  I'm ditching the dairy and gluten, they just make me bloat, as well as all of the BBQ sauces and fatty cuts of meat that I eat a lot of.  I still need to maintain a source of healthy fat in my diet, but it probably shouldn't be from dozens of BBQ wings, if you know what I'm saying.

I'm not big on peanut butter like a lot of other people, but I do like avocados and bacon.  I'll pick up some bacon tomorrow at the grocery and have bacon & eggs for dinner a couple nights this week.  Eating in will be the biggest change for me, and it will help a lot.  I've been too into eating out, even when I get tired of the options.  I guess I just love the flavor.  But flavor is not everything, especially when attempting a serious cut.  It's also SO expensive and I am on a stipend for food right now.  If anything, all the money I save on food can go toward my favorite past time, reading.  I always love buying new books!

However, I don't necessarily believe that I'll have to sacrifice flavor on this cut.  I'll be using tons of herbs and spices to keep things interesting.  Like I said, I'm already employing the curry powder as I type this post, and it smells great.

So, to the right is a pic I just took of myself today, June 19th.  Let's see the improvements on July 19th.  Actually, I will take a pic every Sunday and put it up to see a more consistent progress.

I'm probably around 9-10% BF right now.  This is after 2 weeks of BodyBuilding training, but really NO discipline in my dietary habits.  At the point of this pic, I am actually coming down off a two-day shitty food binge.  Feeling pretty bloated and gross.

So all that being said, let's get to it.  I'm shooting to look like this guy, Pham Woodbridge, in a month or two.  He's got the most perfect aesthetics I've ever seen (IMHO).

Athlete Profile: Tyler McPeak

Tyler is very inspiring to me, not only because his the physique he maintains naturally, but also because of how he has overcome his struggle with binge eating.  He is an impressive guy.  And he has begun using the LeanGains dieting protocol, with much success I might add...

You can find a link to a great interview of his on SimplyShredded.com HERE.

And you can find a link to his personal website HERE.

Cleaning House

I'm lactose- and gluten-intolerant.  Does this mean I avoid foods with these ingredients?  Sadly, no.  And my GI system has been paying the price.

Also, in my quest for ever-dropping body fat levels, I think my BF loss is also paying the price by slowing to a halt.  I feel sorry for my roommates as well ... eating as much dairy as I've been consuming recently certainly doesn't produce the greatest smells...

So, now that I've gotten my feet on the ground training-wise with this whole bodybuilding bit, I feel it is time to start locking-in my nutrition and cleaning it up a bit.  I'm not one for making too drastic of changes, so I have no plans of eating nothing but oats and chicken breasts for the rest of my life, but I do think I need to re-exorcise the dairy and gluten from my diet.  Quite frankly, I won't miss it after the first few days.  The bloating and farting is not pleasant.  Time for a change.  I'd also like to start getting really cut and these two food allergens are notorious for getting in the way.  They are addictive and inflammatory and provide no real tangible benefits.  I can get my calcium from broccoli, thank you very much.

I'm a big proponent of Martin Berkhan's LeanGains approach to Intermittent Fasting, http://www.leangains.com/, so I plan to continue fasting through the morning hours.  It is quite enjoyable and only enhances my workouts because I feel so light and ready-to-go.

I just bought frozen strawberries and some pea protein (no clue how good this is/how it tastes, hopefully the berries will mask any bad flavor) for my protein smoothies post-workout.  I'll basically eat lots of chicken (which I LOVE, thanks Mom ...I've eaten chicken every night since I was 2 ... slight exaggeration, but not by much) in the form of whole rotisserie-style and breasts (we have like 10lbs of frozen breasts that no one ever eats), Proats (protein-oats), sweet potatoes, berry smoothies, eggs and bacon, and probably some apples.  I also love chicken wings and cobb salads so I'll probably splurge on these every once in a while; I'll just cut out the bleu cheese (sadly).

So here's roughly what a normal day for me looks like, using IF'ing.

Fast through the morning (cup of coffee is very enjoyable and does wonders for energy during the fast ... you don't get hungry btw) sometimes I'll do a short workout in the morning ...  HIIT or light sprints or walking
- Around 1 or 2 pm, eat a salad, chicken, or some proats
- Pre-workout BCAAs
- Lift
- Post-workout, 50-75g protein with berries to taste, blended as a smoothie with water
- Dinner (soon after the smoothie ... I generally get pretty hungry within an hour of lifting), whole chicken, or several breasts with marinara or salsa, a sweet potato, and maybe another smoothie, some fruit, or chocolate proats for dessert. I try to shoot for around 150-200g of protein in my dinner.
Drink lots of water, maybe an evening coffee or diet soda.  Let the food settle in your stomach and fill you up.


Generally I aim to fast for at least 16 hours, but I like to push it, sometimes going up to 24 hours when I'm feeling saucy.  It really isn't that difficult after you get used to it.  And you maintain muscle really well while simultaneously shedding fat, but you have to make sure you eat hearty and healthy post-workout or you may run into a different scenario.

Weekly Plan for 6/20/2011 - 6/27/2011

I don't mess around.  Leave the bullshit at home ...

____________________________________________________________________________

Monday

[AM] HIIT & Sprints

[PM] Arms/Abs

• Standing BB curls (superset) x3 6-12 reps
• Two arm overhead seated db extension x3 6-12 reps
• BB preacher curls (superset) x3 8-12 reps
• Rope press downs – x3 8-12 reps
• Hammer curls (superset) x2 10-12 reps
• Close grip bench press x2 10-12 reps
• Seated concentration curls (triset) x2 10-12 reps
• Reverse grip barbell curls x2 10-12 reps
• Close-grip pushups x2 10-12 reps
• Hanging Leg Raises (giant set)
• Rope crunches
• Oblique floor twists
• Weighted sit ups x2 to failure

Tuesday

[AM] Swim Sprints

[PM] Shoulders/Calves/Cardio

• Seated sideways on bench one arm db lateral raises – 3x 10-12
• Upright rows 3×10-12 (2 drop sets on last set)
• Standing DB Laterals – 30lb x 10 (drop sets)
• Reverse pec dec – 3×12 (one drop set on last set)
• BB shrugs – 3×12
• Dumbell front raises – 3×12
• One arm cable shrug – 3×12
• Standing calve raises – 3×12
• Jump rope 10 minutes

Wednesday

[AM] HIIT

[PM] Chest/Triceps/Cardio

• Pec dec – 4×12
• Incline barbell press – 3×12
• Flat hammer press – 3×6-12 one drop on last set
• Decline press – 3×12
• Flat dumbbell fly superset dumbell pullovers – 3×12
• V-Bar press down superset with overhead one arm extension – 2×10
• Run 20 minutes intervals
• Stair climber – 5 minutes level 8.0

Thursday

[AM] Swim Sprints

[PM] Back/Biceps/Abs

• T-bar rows – 4×8-12 2 drop sets on the last set
• Reverse grip pulldowns – 3×12
• Standing DB rows – 3×12
• Seated cable narrow grip row (superset) – 3×12
• Behind the neck pulldowns – 3×12
• Deadlifts superset with straight bar standing pulldowns – 3×5-12
• Standing BB curl (superset) 3×10-12
• Cambered bar rollouts 3×10-12
• Standing Concentration curls (superset) – 3×10-12
• Rope crunches – 3×10-12

Friday

Sprints 100mx20

Saturday

[AM] Legs

• 10 minute bike warm up
• Leg extensions 3×12-15
• Squats 4×8-12
• Lying leg curl 4×12-15
• Leg press 4×12-15
• Stiff leg deadlifts with dumbells x20 (superset)
• Walking lunges x20
• Seated calf raise 4×12-15

[PM] Whole Body

Sunday

OFF