Accountability. My word to focus on throughout this journey.
Stats -
Male
30 years old
5’11"
200 lb
BFS: 20% (was 18 on some, but I am going with the high number to push my motivation)
PRs -
Bench - 200 lb x 4 (215 lb x 1, but I prefer getting the reps apposed to just 1 time.)
Squat - 250 lb X 5 (I do not know my 1 rep max as I do not have enough weights at home to find out.)
Deadlift - 230 x 5 (250 x 1, but again, reference the above.)
Skill Level -
Workouts - Beginner: To elaborate further, I have been working out off and one for 12 years. Only in the past 24 months have I began to dial in a focus. And in those 24 months, the last 12 months have been me refining what I need to do. With the help of a few members on another post, I have really felt I have found my good spot in a routine.
Diet - Beginner: The past 12 months, I have been trying to make good choices, but I am nowhere near to where I want to be ergo 20% bf. With the help of a few members on another post I made, I believe I am starting to dial this in as well to where it needs to be.
Goals: At first, my goals were just to get back in shape from where I was when I was 20 years old (5’11" 185 lb and a cardio/push up/ situp master), but in the last few months I have begun to realize that I do not want to be like I was when 20 years old. I have come to realize that I would like to, for the first time in my life, see how strong/big I can get while also dropping to around 15% bf.
Background - Just a little background about me, at 19 years old I joined that Army (Infantry for life!). I did 2 tours (1 to Iraq and 1 to good ol’ Afghanistan). Throughout this time I did a lot of your typical Army workouts (push ups, sit ups, run forever, and lift weights every now and again). On my second tour to Afghanistan (2011), I was blown up on a foot patrol and had my arm shattered at the elbow. Thankfully, the Army doctors put me back together again with the help of some screws and rods. This took a year to fully recover from and when I did “recover” my arm just was not the same. Any workout that involved any weighted push or pull, made my elbow “click” due to calcium deposits.
Sooooooo, I got out and fell into depression. I wouldn’t sleep, eat like shit, pain pills, psyk pills, and drink like a fish (went up to about 225 lb after I kept telling myself "well as long as I do not hit x pounds I am good). This continued till about 2017, when I hit rock bottom. And I mean rock bottom. Talking straight jacket at the VA rock bottom right here. And I suppose that is what it took for me to wake up. After I got out, I made changes and made myself accountable for everything. I quit drinking as much (1 drink a month) and no more pills of any kind. I started just working out as much as I could. I found a woman who loves me for me and cut all the bullshit out of my life.
So move forward to 2018, that woman and I are married and have a wonderful girl. I have a job. And everything is right. I know, I know, this seems like sob story fluff, but that point is I know it was time to drop the excuses because I did not have any anymore. It was time to “Charlie Mike” aka “Continue Mission”. 100% accountability. No more pills. No more ‘it hurts to much’. No more drinking. I want to be better than I was in the Army and new me. Time to put up or shut up. To stop being a bitch. Get your ass out into the garage every day you are suppose to and beat the work out (not let the work out beat you).
Workout Type -
4 day split
Day 1: Upper Body Focus - higher weight - lower reps (3x5)
Day 2: Lower Body Focus - higher weight - lower reps (3x5)
Day 3: Rest (Will sometimes throw in some light abs here to keep them on par)
Day 4: Upper Body Focus - lower weight - higher reps (3x10,8,5 and will do some resistance band exercises)
Day 5: Lower Body Focus - lower weight - higher reps (3x10,8,5, walking lunges, some resistance band exercises, and hit abs hard)
Day 6: Rest (Will do a 15 to 30 minute cardio)
Day 7: Rest
Side note: All workouts are done at home with a bench/squat rack with barbell and weight plates (250 lb worth). I have dumbbells (adjustable ones for ease). Resistance bands.
Diet (today) -
Breakfast - Peanut butter Oatmeal (12g of protein)
Snack - Greek Yogurt with Natural Valley crushed up in (17g of protein)
Protein Shake (24g of protein)
Lunch - Stuffed Bell Pepper Turkey Meat and white rice (42g of protein)
Pre Workout to Workout
Post Workout - Protein shake with creatine (24g of protein)
Dinner - Chicken stir fry with veggies no rice (43g of protein)
Total = 162 g of protein
Supplements -
Animal Pack - multi vitamin
Whey Protein
Creatine
Full discloser - I pulled a weak ass mental move and did a cycle which I am finishing in the 8 week of now of 10.
250mg twice a week of Test-E (Tues. and Friday). Week 1-10.
Anavar - 40 mg every day. Week 1-5.
AI - .25 every 3 days.
PCT planned - Nol. 40/40/20/20 starting on week 12.
Just to clarify the above statement “weak ass mental move”, this is a statement about me not users in general. I say this because I hit that plateau and instead of putting my head down and driving on, I turned to the above cycle. That is not to say I did not get stronger, but the bfs shows that mentally and physically, I was not where I should have been to even think about doing that. So, I sit here and am frustrated with myself. Accountability, right?
Anyways, I wanted to start this to have it somewhere. Somewhere where I am held accountable. Somewhere that will be a great place for advice and motivation. Seeing everyone else who has been through hell and back, and in the end came out better has motivated me even more.
Quote for this plan: “When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable —if there are no consequences—that poor performance becomes the new standard.” - Jocko Willink