1 Year of Progress; Goals for '09

So, 2008 marks the year when I finally managed to be consistent with my diet and my training.

I’m extremely proud of my progress, I lost a considerable amount of bodyfat while staying at 195lbs all the time.

My goal for the fist quarter of 2009 is to get to 8%bodyfat at 195lbs. I also plan on drastically improving my functional strength, start working on my big lifts, improve my flexibility and my anaerobic conditioning.

Here’s a pic from February 2008

Here’s a picture I took this morning.

why so serious?

Good job sexy…I mean sexy animal…I mean sexy_animal. I wasn’t referring to your attractiveness considering I like women :wink:

That was a bad joke wasn’t it?

Well, jokes aside, you look good. Vast improvements in body composition!

Keep up the good work :slight_smile:

[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
why so serious?[/quote]

Lets put a smile on that face!

You looked skinny fat before. Now you look lean and mean! Great job!

Just curious…are you gonna try a bulk anytime soon? You seem like you would be in a great position to do one and make some really good progress.

Thanks y’all!

I just want to be really ripped and strong at 195 for now. If I’m going to bulk, I want no change in my bodyfat.

I’m 26 years old, I’ve been wanting to have a six pack since I was 13.

I just want to get the damn thing and just enjoy it.

PS: THe smile…well…I take my progress pictures first thing in the morning, it was just waay to early. I don’t do mornings!

[quote]sexy_animal wrote:
Thanks y’all!

I just want to be really ripped and strong at 195 for now. If I’m going to bulk, I want no change in my bodyfat.

I’m 26 years old, I’ve been wanting to have a six pack since I was 13.

I just want to get the damn thing and just enjoy it.

PS: THe smile…well…I take my progress pictures first thing in the morning, it was just waay to early. I don’t do mornings![/quote]

The smile thing was a joke…did you see The Dark Knight?

Congrats on the hard work! Keep it up.

Just don’t let an old fat guy outlift you. :slight_smile:

Do it up man! Good job… :slight_smile: How tall are you??

great progress! keep on going

[quote]sexy_animal wrote:
So, 2008 marks the year when I finally managed to be consistent with my diet and my training.

I’m extremely proud of my progress, I lost a considerable amount of bodyfat while staying at 195lbs all the time.

My goal for the fist quarter of 2009 is to get to 8%bodyfat at 195lbs. I also plan on drastically improving my functional strength, start working on my big lifts, improve my flexibility and my anaerobic conditioning.

Here’s a pic from February 2008[/quote]

Not to sound like a dick, but that looks like progress that could be a achieved in a few months of dieting, since you’ve added little-to-no-muscle at all (from what I can see in the photos).

How tall are you? How do you improve “functional strength”? What are your current lifts and how have they improved?

You’re not sounding like a dick because what you’re saying is true. Someone with good eating and training habits could easily have achieved that in a few months. However, I didn’t have those habits in place, so that’s why I’m proud of myself.

Gaining muscle was never really a goal for me, I was really just concerned with getting lean.

Let me explain; I am/was a recreational soccer player. A couple of years ago, I managed to screw up my knee pretty good, so I couldn’t play soccer as much as I’d like to, and I got fat as a result. So, I just wanted to drop my bodyfat.

My new hobby is boxing, so I just want to be as fit and as ripped as possible for that. I’m not really a bodybuilder, but I definitely look to bodybuilding for advice on how to manipulate my body composition.

I’m 6’2, and I want to be crazy ripped, extremely well balanced, strong, have plenty of muscular endurance and be as injury-proof as possible for sports. I figured 195lbs would be an ideal weight for me at about 8% b/f.

I’m going to decline posting my lifts, because I haven’t exactly been training them as much as I should. I’ve been doing a different type of training; sandbag drills, pullups, core exercises, rotational strength exercies. I like kettlebells and medicine balls and things like that, basically shit that’s a bit more sport specific than bodybuilding exercises. But I definitely want to get strong on these lifts; squat, bench press and standing military press.

“I’m 6’2, and I want to be crazy ripped, extremely well balanced, strong, have plenty of muscular endurance and be as injury-proof as possible for sports. I figured 195lbs would be an ideal weight for me at about 8% b/f.”

Hmm

That statement is a too shotgunish.

You are going to have to add a lot more muscle before you look decent at 8%. Most guys cut way before their time losing their small strength gains. However that’s not to say that you will not be able to make “lean gains” however it is a slower progression. Just don’t focus too much on keep the abs “ripped” but by all means keep them showing ie you can still locate them.

You say that you want to do sport but you don’t say which one? Hinting at endurance and your height implies that maybe basketball maybe up your alley. Sports specific training is going to have a lot of impact on how your look.

Dude, you weren’t fat - far from it in fact. If you addded some muscle at the same bodyfat level, your would effectively be adding muscle and reducing fat at the same time.

At 6’2, I’d aim for 220lbs for an ideal weight. You underestimate your height to size ratio. You also need to focus more on the weights, your can’t be a boxer and not be strong.

[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
why so serious?[/quote]

haha I thought the exact same thing…

[quote]sexy_animal wrote:
Gaining muscle was never really a goal for me, I was really just concerned with getting lean.

My new hobby is boxing, so I just want to be as fit and as ripped as possible for that. I’m not really a bodybuilder, but I definitely look to bodybuilding for advice on how to manipulate my body composition.

I’m 6’2, and I want to be crazy ripped, extremely well balanced, strong, have plenty of muscular endurance and be as injury-proof as possible for sports. I figured 195lbs would be an ideal weight for me at about 8% b/f.

[/quote]

This is really dumb. If you want all this, then gaining muscle should be a goal. You don’t have to be a fucking bodybuilder, just lift some weight. You will look alot better then being ripped with no muscle and looking like a scrawny ass fucker which is just ugly.

Oppps missed the boxer bit :S

You need to get strong, check out WS4SB III as it has some nice dynamic components.

Nice work with leaning out! It is hard to get lean and get really strong at the same time. I think you would struggle to get really strong while on a calorie deficit diet.

What kind of programs are you looking at?

Wow, that WS4SB III looks good!

Actually, fellas, I do lift, but I do it in more of a cross training way.

I’m following my own program that borrows a lot from the MMA strength & conditioning program that I found in a Jason Ferruggia’s book called “Fit to Fight”.

So, I usually do push/pull type of of strength training. Usually when I lift it’s for 2 body parts at once.

I usually go for 4x6 reps with a heavy weight and when I get comfortable with that, I go for 4x8 a couple of times before adding more weight.

This is kind of what I’ve been doing so far:

chest/back day:
incline db press,
1 arm punch press/serratus press
pullups (from a dead hang)

shoulders:
standing military press
pullups with my feet propped up on a medicine ball so my body is horizontal (for the rear delts)
db shrugs

arms:
chinups
tricep push press

legs:
goblet squats (I have a knee injury)
calf raises

In almost every workout I incorporate abdominal, core, and lower back training.

I do HIT cardio after working out 3 times a week.

I do an hour of steady state cardio once a week

I do a bodyweight conditioning circuit once a week.

So, I guess I will be looking to restructure my workouts a little bit to build them around the major lifts.

I want to start deadlifting real bad, but I don’t know how my knee will react to it, I have a torn meniscus that doesn’t respond well to certain types of movement.