3 Months of Progress: Opinions?

Before pictures:

Front

Back

Side

After:
Front

Side

Back

Wheels

The purpose of this post is to put up my pictures, diet and progress for the last 3 months and get some feedback on how to proceed with my regiment. I am 6 feet tall and 32 years old. I started my diet and training July 1st.

I was about 210-215 lbs and 23% BF according to Omron handheld device. My goal was to lose weight without losing muscle. I�??ve loosely achieved this goal so I plan on bulking for the next 3 months.

First, I�??ll list some info on my diet and then my background and training program.

This is the diet I had to lose fat while keeping muscle. I eat clean about 90-95% of my meals. I eat 5-6 times a day and a typical day�??s meals look like this:

8am cup of nonfat yogurt:
10am metrx pure protein bar (3oz), cup of skim milk
12:30 tuna(lowfat mayo) or turkey on wheat, 1 medium apple
3pm 4 egg whites
5 pm 4 oz of turkey or chicken cold cuts
7 pm 6 oz of chicken, salad with nonfat dressing
10 pm ON whey shake w skim milk, 4 egg whites

I logged every single meal on fitday.com over the last 3 months. The average daily intake summary is as follows:

Calories: 2047
Fat: 50 grams (22%)
Carbs: 195 grams (36%)
Protein: 177 grams (36%)
Alcohol: 16 grams (%6)

As you can see the alcohol is higher than it should be. Its because I love going out on weekends and unfortunately won�??t be giving up the beers. Too much fun :wink: .I�??d say I go out every Saturday night and have 7-10 beers. But that is the only time a drink. I don�??t have a single drop any other day of the week.

Following this diet I went from about 213 to 190 lbs. My measurements over this time period are as follows:

July 1 Oct 1
Weight 213 190
Bodyfat 23% 15%
Waist 39 35
Chest 43.5 42
Bicep 13 13.5
Legs 23 23
Calves 16 16

I lost 23 lbs total but my lean body weight only dropped about 4 lbs. My 1 rep max on bench went from 205 to 245.

Workout

Day 1: shoulder, triceps
Day 2: Back, Biceps
Day 3: Chest
Rest Day, Repeat

Stretching every day, abs 3 times a weak. Don�??t work out legs�?�yet.

My short term goal is to bulk over the next 4 months and put on 15-20 lbs. At least 10-15 lbs of muscle. Then spend the next 2-3 months cutting for the summer. I�??d like to be at 10% BF by June, bigger than I am now, but nice and cut.

I�??d love some feedback on what you guys think I might have did wrong with my diet. Honest opinions on my progress would be great so I know if I�??m training hard enough. And of you think my goals are plausible.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Just for pre-emptive clarification. The pictures aren’t the same exact poses because I took the before pictures before I knew about T-Nation. I just took them for motivation and to see how bad I used to suck.

"
Workout

Day 1: shoulder, triceps
Day 2: Back, Biceps
Day 3: Chest
Rest Day, Repeat

Stretching every day, abs 3 times a weak. Don�??t work out legs�?�yet.
"

Not sure I understand this. Why so much direct ab work and no leg work at all?


This is a testimonial for all people who don’t work legs: I got my abs by doing legs. In fact the only time I do direct ab work is when I am getting back pinching from too many cleans.

You need bf<10%, but the thickness I have means I can still tell I have abs when I am >10%… Work your damn legs! If you have been reading T-Nation, you will know what we say! Squats, deads!

[quote]forevernade wrote:
This is a testimonial for all people who don’t work legs: I got my abs by doing legs. In fact the only time I do direct ab work is when I am getting back pinching from too many cleans.

You need bf<10%, but the thickness I have means I can still tell I have abs when I am >10%… Work your damn legs! If you have been reading T-Nation, you will know what we say! Squats, deads![/quote]

I hear ya, forever. I’d love to do deadlifts and squats but I have 2 bad disks and doing those exercises right now makes it worse. I’ve been undergoing physical therapy since March and thats the reason for the daily stretching and direct ab work. Picture keeping your legs straight and trying to reach your toes. I feel pain by the time I get to my kness.I’m a big fan of compound exercises. My favorites are bench,pullups, and dips. Once I get past the back problems I have, I’ll move on to squats and DL’s.

I do think my legs are bigger and out of proportion with the rest of my body. Especially my calves. But that is one of the reasons why I started this topic. For your objective opinions. And honestly, I appreciate the feedback.

[quote]njrusmc wrote:
"
Workout

Day 1: shoulder, triceps
Day 2: Back, Biceps
Day 3: Chest
Rest Day, Repeat

Stretching every day, abs 3 times a weak. Don�??t work out legs�?�yet.
"

Not sure I understand this. Why so much direct ab work and no leg work at all?[/quote]

1 herniated disk , 1 bulging. It’s based on the recommendation of my physical therapist. She does have me doing alot of stretches of the hamstrings, glutes and lower back. And most recently gave me the OK for doing body weight squats. I tried squats with some weight on the other day, and it really did a lot more harm than good. So for now , I can only do leg curls and leg extensions one leg at a time. But I do that more like a stretch than strength training. No real progresssions and only once a week or every 2 weeks.

You really do look like youve made progress big time even though theyre not the same poses. You can tell youve been doing work. Some of the old folk in the gym complain about backs and feet and stuff so they don’t gotta do legs :wink: but make sure you get at it once you can. cause thats like the best way to bulk

[quote]BJammin wrote:
You really do look like youve made progress big time even though theyre not the same poses. You can tell youve been doing work. Some of the old folk in the gym complain about backs and feet and stuff so they don’t gotta do legs :wink: but make sure you get at it once you can. cause thats like the best way to bulk[/quote]

Hey, I’m not old. My back just thinks I am. haha

I’m going to talk to my physical therapist this week about alternatives to dead lift and conventional squats. I tried some 135lbs deadlifts this weekend and while they weren’t so bad, I did feel slight pain on the couple reps where my form was s little off. So its still a risky exercise at this point. I may experiment with the 1 leg variations of the exercise and see if that feels better.

how’d you develop the motivation to log every meal for 3 MONTHS? shit
i stuck with a food log for about 3 weeks to a month but gave up cause it was becoming too hard

Ummm your having trouble deadlifting 135?

[quote]droozie wrote:
how’d you develop the motivation to log every meal for 3 MONTHS? shit
i stuck with a food log for about 3 weeks to a month but gave up cause it was becoming too hard[/quote]

I work in IT so I spend tons of time in front of the computer. Plus I’m the type of person that needs to see the actual results on paper to stick with it. You can say logging the meals and work outs provides me the motivation to keep at it based on the results.

[quote]elano wrote:
Ummm your having trouble deadlifting 135?[/quote]

Its not so much trouble getting the weight off the floor. If my back was healthy, I could do alot more. The problem is when I’m lowering it, I’m not always keeping proper form and I get a sharp pain in the lower back. I’m actually thinking of going down to 95 lbs and practicing with that over and over until get the proper form down.

I spoke with my physical therapist today and he said I can try to include deadlifts in my workout as long as my form is perfect. Otherwise, I’m just going to fuck my back up worst like I almost did the other day.

sam, I also have 1 herniated, 1 bulging (odd huh?) I still manage to do a LOT of walking lunges, overhead lunges, for high reps. Bodyweight good mornings can be good too, if you can tolerate them. Calf raises are still good to go. Squats and deads are out, I have not done them since July yet I went from 22.5" to 24" legs since then and gained 10 lbs.

great progress so far, keep up the hard work! just wondering if you could post the exercises that your doing each workout.

Congratulations on having a consistent food log for 3 months, that takes some dedication.

Also, I definitely saw improvement in all area’s. Keep it up!

Excellent job man! keep it up, hope that back of yours pulls up alright.
Like the others, I’m impressed with your food log and diet.

Have you decide on your new program yet?
How many sets, reps and exercises do you do per muscle group?

[quote]Doyle wrote:
Excellent job man! keep it up, hope that back of yours pulls up alright.
Like the others, I’m impressed with your food log and diet.

Have you decide on your new program yet?
How many sets, reps and exercises do you do per muscle group?[/quote]

Thanks man.

My new program isn’t that much different. Just going to lift heavier and do less reps.

Day 1 (Shoulders/Triceps)

Dumbell Press (5x5)
Front dumbell raise (3x6)
Dips 5 sets to failure
Tricep Extension 3x6

Day2 Back/Biceps

pullups 4 sets to failure
Chinups 4 sets to failure
Rows 5x5
Shrugs 3x5
Dumbell Curl 3x6

Day3 Chest

Bench Press 5x5
incline dumbell press 5x5
Close Grip Bench 5x5
Dips 5x5

Day4 Core, Legs

Leg Press 5x5
Leg Curls 5x8
Crunches 3x50
Hanging Knee Raise 3x20
Hyper extension 3x10
Planks
Very Lite weight deadlifts 3x6 (till back heals)

Rest 1 day, Repeat

I’m not focusing on calories just yet. I just make sure I hit 250 g of protein while eating clean. After 1 month I’ll evaluate my progress. I still log every work out and meal on fitday.

Looks good, I notice you don’t have any shoulder exercises for rear delts, is that because you feel you work them hard enough on back day?
You mentioned on my thread that you want to bring your shoulders up a bit, have you changed wat your doing for your shoulders much from wat you did before?

[quote]Doyle wrote:
Looks good, I notice you don’t have any shoulder exercises for rear delts, is that because you feel you work them hard enough on back day?
You mentioned on my thread that you want to bring your shoulders up a bit, have you changed wat your doing for your shoulders much from wat you did before?[/quote]

The only thing I changed for shoulders was moving from the ISO machine shoulder presses to dumbell presses. And going from 4x8 to a heavier 5x5. I’d like to get my shoulders stronger but don’t know of any good exercises for rear delts. Is there one that works for you?

definitely looking leaner keep it up