Fatty's Blog To Lean And Mean

Training Logs
1

I decided to continue my fat loss journal and thought a fresh start in this forum to be a good way.

Here’s the first part: http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2066239&pageNo=3

It’s been sad, I’ve made many mistakes I shouldn’t have made given my training age and experience, but I guess: all brawn, no brain :wink:

Those mistakes set me back but I learned a few things. Still: idiocy hurts.

I ended up losing about 14 inches in a very short ammount of time (low cals, lots of varied training and yohimbine-hcl) but had a rebound since after I had to lay off training for a few weeks; the rebound wasn’t dramatic and was mostly attributed to using complex carbs (oatmeal) for breakfast and two small refeeds.

I’ve refined my exercise selection, training schedule and decided to lay off using yohimbine-hcl because I don’t like any kind of drug circulating in my system.

More details (stats, photos) to follow over the course of the weekend.

Now it’s cardio time. Thanks to my mate Joe Joseph who’s been very helpful with his PM’ed advice I’m now abstaining from doing my cardio on an empty stomach and use a tiny serving of whey instead. There. I can atone.

And so that you can hold be accountable, I’m showing you a few photos showing me in different shapes over the years so that you have something to check my progress against. I’ve always been big for a natural guy, but shreddedness has eluded me so far.

This is the buffest I ever got while staying relatively ‘lean’ (no visible abs): http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4599/buffla4.jpg

That’s slightly leaner, but with smaller arms since I had to stop training them due to some injuries: http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8637/leangc9.jpg

After wrist surgery and a few weeks in a cast:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/339/suckawl1.jpg

Five months post surgery, back into business (I did too much too soon and ended up pretty fucked - permanently; that’s what you get for going about bodyweight-ish on barbell curls):
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4333/armsnw9.jpg

'nuff said. Give me hell and let’s get it done.

2

Let’s talk training.

This time I’m taking an EDT-ish approach with a 2-split (A, B), done two days in a row followed by an off-day I perform soft-tissue work on.

A1: good-mornings + supinated chins (weighted)
A2: squats + neutral grip chins

B1: bench press + neutral grip behind-the-neck chins (weighted)
B2: behind-the-neck press + supinated close grip chins

Besides, everyday I’m doing a 40-50min steady state cardio session on my stationary bike on a quasi-empty stomach (~12g of whey before cardio); each lifting session is sandwiched between 15min steady state cycling sessions. If my sprained ankle permits me a second 40-50min cardio session in the evening, I’ll do it.

I’ve been doing this for about a week now and it’s just fine; it’s not too much, so I hopefully won’t aggravate my injuries, but it’s enough to make some progress.

My nutrition hasn’t changed so far: low-carb

-lots of veggies (I prefer lettuce, ruccola, cucumbers, a very moderate ammount of black olives and some onions)

-lots of lean dead animal (ground turkey, chicken breast, canned ‘cat food’ tuna, eggs)

-some low-fat feta (8% fat)

-whey protein (I just use it prior to my cardio and after my cardio and lifting sessions; after all, it’s a supplement and no MRP)

-fish oil (I don’t think I have to elaborate on that one)

-vitamin C

Calory-wise I’m shooting for 1500 kcal / day with a 60-30-10 protein-fat-carbs ratio. That’s about 225g of protein a day. Keep in mind, that the 10% carb-rule doesn’t take the veggie-fibers into account.

I’ll be doing carb-refeeds on a dynamic basis; not when I mentally feel like doing it, but when I’m noticing a continuing drop in body temperature within a representative time frame (say, 3 days).

Another good rule of thumb: I’ve noticed that I benefitted the most from refeeds I didn’t want to do, that I literally had to force myself to do. And I’m talking strictly low-fat, low-protein carbs here (pasta, rice, cereals, fruit-gums, bread - you name it).

On a side note: I love this kind of healthy low-carb nutrition; it’s not hard on me, I’ve been doing it for the past 2.5 years. The only reason I got fat (about 20 % body fat) again is my lazyness (sitting all day on my ass in front of the 'puter and writing and analyzing software) and my ridiculously big servings. Yep, even healthy low-carb food can make you fat.

-weight: 207 lbs
-height: 69 inches

More stats and photos to follow tomorrow.

3

Morning, y’all!

I promised pics, here they are: http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5079/w1cn1.jpg

As always unpumped and right after waking up and taking a leak.

Let’s get some cardio done.

edit: forgot the most important measurement

-belly (at its widest circumference): 36.4 inches

4

Got 53min in on my stationary bike.
That’s a good sign: my ankle is getting better.
Now it’s off to work.

5


That’s what I had for breakfast:

-some salad with black olives
-a sliced egg
-a low-fat burger
-sliced low-fat feta cheese

6

Today someone I know ICQ’ed me to tell me that he’s stumbled upon this very thread. He went on to question my attitude concerning fat loss and bodybuilding on account of me not doing the V-Diet. He even went so far as to imply that I’m a pansy because I don’t do the V-Diet. Granted, we usually throw banters and taunts at each other and it’s not too serious, but his mind was set: in his opinion I’m just not serious enough about fat loss.

So, although his accusation seemed asinine, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to elaborate a bit on my choice of dietary approach.

I’m very fond of identifying the requirements conducive to solving a problem. That’s what you do as a software engineer and I guess it’s a methodology that carries over to a lot of aspects of life. Yes, I’m a smart ass. Although no one has called me that to my face, since I’m known to randomly spaz out and smash puny slashers.

The V-Diet has been compared to a kind of sledge-hammer approach, to smash through plateaus and/or bad dietary and lifestyle habits. There’s this thing about changing the taste buds and thus eliminating the junk food cravings. Besides: it’s easy. So far I’ve just rehashed the most important aspects of it.

I’m 100 % convinced of its efficacy; just take a look at Physique Clinic’s Gus. But I’m also as sure that there are equivalent alternatives concerning the outcome. Again, just take a look at the PC: Bartl pretty much went from chub to stud.

The reasons I haven’t chosen to use the V-Diet are:

-I haven’t had cravings for unhealthy food in the past 2.5 years

-I’ve been pretty much eating stuff like today’s breakfast (see above) for this whole time (my first cuisine efforts had been very modest)

-rehash from my first post: I got fat because of my propensity for BIG and SUPER SIZE THE FUCK OUT OF ME! serving sizes (read: binge eating habit with healthy foods)

-if I follow some tight plan, I usually follow it to a T (Shugart went to great lengths to explain how important it is to follow his diet exactly as laid out); since I didn’t want to order from overseas (Biotest) and wasn’t willing to spend the money, I wouldn’t have been able to do the V-Diet anyway

-I actually enjoy my kitchen time; it’s somehow medidative to just let your fingers work and focus your mind at nothing and all at once

-I don’t drink alcohol; not for any religious reasons, but because I just don’t like it. Never in my life had. There. It’s out. Now I run the risk of being perceived as a fully fledged pansy.

So, why am I blathering and bloviating like I have nothing more important to do (damn, it’s lifting time!)?

I’m a bit (read: a lot) irked about people seeing the V-Diet as the one and only way out of their “my ass is so fat and I can’t even see my schlong anymore!” predicament.

While the V-Diet is a no-brainer, you still might run the risk of not exactly knowing WHY you wound up fat. So, instead of hopping on the next V-Diet train just get a bit introspective and retrospective and then decide which approach to take to get lean and mean and sexy and whatever.

Rant over.
I’m out.

7

Morning!

As is clearly obvious from yesterday’s photos my pecs are lagging behind big time. The primary reason for this is that I hadn’t been able to do bench pressing from July 2007 till April 2008. To give you a taste of things to come - sans that layer of fat - , have a look at the photo above from March 2007 showing how pecs capable of benching 352 lbs for reps look like (I hadn’t been training my arms at that time; that’s why it was them that lagged behind at that time).

Now: cardio.

8

Busy, busy, so only today’s training:

55 min (morning) + 50 min (evening) cardio on my stationary bike.

Night, y’all!

9

gobbles whey in water

This. Is. Cardiopolis.

10

Got in 56min.

11


Some action photos for a change: warming up on squats (yes, I’m training in my small home office).

12


Morning!

I didn’t get to catch enough shut-eye. As Shugs, I’m one of those guys that wake up very early, no matter how late I went to bed the night before. It’s even more annoying that I tried to fall asleep again for about 2 hours - all in vain.

At least the late-night work payd off: I had a major breakthrough in one of my projects.

Now I’m gonna swing my fat ass over to the living room to get some cardio done.

Shake it, babey!

13


FattyFat in hot sox, a bottle of water, a violin and a bike.
59 min.

14

Morning, y’all!

Going through the other logs (quite motivating, I have to admit) I’ve noticed that mine lacks some strength-related information, like, you know, current MAX lifts.

Am I a weak and lanky mofo?
Nah.

I just didn’t bother with determining my current strength levels on the 1RM. My training is clustered in the sense, that I do only as much reps as possible per set before I think fatigue sets in. I don’t go all out on each set. With that in mind, here are the weights I currently use:

squat: 198
good-mornings: 143
bench press: 198
behind-the-neck press: 154
supinated grip chins: 44
neutral grip chins: 33
narrow grip chins: 44
neutral grip chins behind the neck: 22

Am I such a weakling? The bodybuilding hater might be inclined to scream “YES! YES, YOU ARE!”

But I’m not. I just use the weights I know I can make some decent progress with right now. I’m afraid of reinjury and this slow and steady approach had proven to be right in the past when coming back from injuries. Suboptimal training is better than no training. Is it nagging me? Yes. But not training would nag me even more.

I’ll just add 10 lbs per exercise every third of fourth lifting session.

I could post some of my former max lifts, but they don’t matter anymore. Sadly. Besides, you wouldn’t believe me.

15

Cardio was cool. I logged 61 min; I could’ve gone far longer, but I want to give my ankle just minute increases in duration and resistance, so that it has a better chance to heal properly.

After showering up, I pretended to be Arnold for a moment ( http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/5214/foolingaroundml8.jpg ) and had to realize very fast that I ain’t: but it was fun while it lasted.

On a side note: I wish I could train my arms, because I know that I’d have a really good chance to get them to Arnold’s former size/level.

16

One week down, X more to go.

http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/6357/w2bw5.jpg

I finally managed to lose pec fat. Copious ammounts of steady state cardio are beneficial, after all.

See ya.

17

Just got back from my morning cardio: 61 min.

My ankle was bitching a bit, but that’s just temporary, I hope.

Forgot to give my stats:

-weight: 197 lbs
-belly (widest circumference): 35 inches

18

Tonight, I had a very nice training session.
Me doing squats:

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/7134/squatsch6.jpg

19

316×1366 186 KB

62 min.
Cardio: 'tis indeed the way to go.

20

Had another 61 min of cardio in the morning.

Now it’s my stationary bike that’s falling apart - can you believe it? Well, better the bike than my body. I gotta repair it ASAP, since I don’t want to miss out on cardio.

By the way: I can’t give high enough praise for “Trigger Point Therapy Workbook” by Clair Davies. It’s one of my best investments so far.