Eight week plan
June 3rd - July 26th
Template:
Lift
Stretch
Run
My emphasis is on running (conditioning/fat loss). I am in serious need to cut body fat down. I’ve gained a good chunk after transitioning from military to civilian life. The immediate absence of everyday PT (Physical Training i.e. death by running) in my life coupled with copious amounts of beer and a sedentary lifestyle for the last few months has packed it on.
I am fucking disgusted with myself.
For memorial day I decided to put on my Blues and go pay my respects to my brothers at the local memorials and veteran cemetery. I barely squeezed into them that is completely unacceptable.
I also realized that I have absolutely no idea how to eat. By that I mean that I have relied on the chow hall and restaurants for my sustenance my entire adult life. I know how to cook a few things, but I am absolutely lost on how to plan, prepare, and maintain a healthy diet. I mean I KNOW what to eat, but my current diet is basically a shit show. I’m just being completely honest here.
Height: 5’8
Weight: 220
Goals:
General-
Maintain as much strength as possible with a 5x5 scheme as I drop fat.
Improve conditioning through hill sprints, incline walking, and swimming.
Learn more about macro nutrients and how to effectively implement a healthier diet into my life.
Specific-
Swim one mile with flip turns without stopping.
Run 20 hill sprints in 30 minutes.
Plan and eat at least two meals at home a day.
Maintain Lifts:
DL 405 for 5x5
Squat 315 for 5x5
Bench 225 5x5
Press 150 5x5
Pullups BW for 5x5
Mon - Fri
AM- Hill Sprints/Swimming
PM- Lift 5x5 Scheme and Incline Walking
Late PM- Stretch and Foam Roll
I am open to any and all suggestions/advice/tips/criticism. I made this log so others could critique and help so please do.
June 3rd
AM - Hill Sprints - didn’t do. I need to work on getting better sleep so I don’t blow through my alarm like I did today.
PM - YMCA
DL 5x3- 135x10 225x3 275x3 315x3 350x3 405x3 -Felt solid, focused on neutral back and driving through my heels.
Press 5x5- 45x10 95x5 115x5 125x5 130x5 135x5 -Had to use alittle leg drive on last reps. Tired from DL.
Pullups 5x5- BWx10 -Only did one set. Tired from DL.
Ab Rollouts- BWx10
Incline Walking- 10 minutes 3 MPH 5.0 Incline
About to stretch and roll before bed.
Breakfast: Chocolate milk and cigarettes. (I know)
Lunch: Home cooked ground beef and rice. 1/2 pound.
Post Workout: 2 Scoops of Surge, creatine, multi-vitamin, and fish oil.
Dinner: 12 inch Chicken bacon ranch from Subway.
June 4th
AM- Swim Laps - Didn’t do. I’m a piece. An out of town ex wanted to get breakfast, so I caved and did that instead.
PM- Gym
5 min warm up on treadmill
Squat 5x5- 45x10 135x5 225x5 255x5 275x5 295x5 315x5 -I squat until my hamstrings make contact with my calves which is just at parallel for me because I’m short.
Bench Press 5x5- 45x10 135x5 185x5 195x5 205x5 215x5 -Too much of a jump on the early sets prevented me from hitting 225 like I wanted.
T-bar row 5x5- 90x20 -I had been at the gym for 45 minutes and just wanted to leave.
Ab rollouts- Didn’t do.
Incline walking- 10 min 3 mph 5.0 incline
PM- Full body stretch. 10 second holds. Already can tell its loosing me up.
Meals:
Breakfast- Country fried chicken, 2 eggs, and hashbrown from Cracker Barrel.
Lunch- Chicken club sandwhich with chili.
Post Workout- 2 Scoops Surge/creatine/multivitamin/fish oil.
Dinner- Homemade ground beef and rice.
I need to figure out my split better. I’m doing three compound movements a day and a full body routine. I’m really starting to phone in the last exercise.
My nutrition sucked today as well. I need to construct a meal plan and I’m going to start one meal at a time i.e. breakfast then lunch etc.
I’m trying to make small lifestyle changes instead of blowing my fuse by trying to change everything at once. That hasn’t worked in the past for me.
June 11th
Time flies when you’re having fun! I’ve been trying to figure out a sustainable diet and better training scheme over the last few days. Based on my body type, family health history, and what I know about my own food responses; I’ve decided to go with a modified Paleo diet. I did alot of reading on it and it seems like I would respond well to the low carb approach. I tried to eat as “Paleo” as possible last weekend. I didn’t drink any beer which is a great step forward for me. I only drank whiskey straight. (I had too much, but I’ll work on it.) Today I finally was able to go to the grocery store and pick up more low carb/paleo foods. I’ll only eat dairy in the mornings in the form of Greek yogurt and Vitamin D milk for a morning smoothie with flax seed, whey, and mixed berries. My lunches will be a meat with a vegetable. My dinners will be the same with the exception of a sweet potato after weight training. Tonight I had six scrambled eggs on a bed of baby spinach. It was delicious. I’m still going to tweak what I eat obviously and try to get closer to a true Paleo/low carb diet. Work in progress my friends.
For training I decided to go back to 5/3/1 instead of doing my own split. With my own split I always want to tinker with it and the 5/3/1 template takes the thinking out of it for me. I had a lot of success with 5/3/1 about a year ago. I got up to a 500lb Sumo DL with a much lower training max. I also leaned quite a bit but maintained what little muscle mass I had.
I’m starting light so I won’t burn out which is what ended my first 5/3/1 stint. I did 3 cycles back then.
Training Maxes
DL 425
Bench Press 225
Back Squat 325
Military Press 125
Tonight was the start of week 1 of my first cycle. It was a great workout.
Wk 1
DL
warm up
135x5
225x5
275x5
320x5
360x5 I hit eight reps no problem. I know I could have gone more, but my back tired out which leads me to believe I need to work more on form and flexibility. I know I have very tight hamstrings.
Back Squat - I used too much weight for this after my DL. I’ll drop it next week.
45x10
185x10
185x10
185x10
AB wheel rollouts
10
10
10
Face Pulls
40x10
40x10
40x10
My idea with the assistance is three exercises. Two will be true assistance exercises and the last one will kind of be a freebie.
10 min walk 3.0 mph 5.0 incline.
I’m going for sustainable and consistent change in my life here. Any and all advice/help/criticism would be much appreciated.
Are you for real?
What branch were you in?
It’s not your “split” it’s your horrendous diet.
Have some self control and knock off the crappy eating and stop drinking alcohol.
Ah some feed back! Unfortunately I am for real. I know my diet has been horrible and I’ve been changing it the last few days.
For example today’s meals were:
Breakfast - Homemade smoothie - 2 cups Vit D milk, 2 tbsp greek yogurt, flax seed, 2 scoops Metabolic Drive, and 1/2 cup mixed berries.
Lunch - Chicken bacon ranch with spinach and jalapenos
Pre-workout- A banana
Dinner - 6 eggs over spinach
I was in The Marine Corps. I wan infantry. I used to be a far cry physically from where I am now. After my second deployment I started drinking more, I did night classes and always ate shit afterwards, and I continued that horrible pattern after I got out. So here I am today!
I’m under no illusion that I can out train my shitty diet so I’m changing it.
July 12th
Bench
warm up
45x10
115x5
145x5
170x5
190x5+ I hit it 14 times. I was surprised.
Pullups -BW
10
10
5
Dips -BW
10
10
5
DB Flyes
30x10
25x10
25x10
10 minutes walking at 3 mph and 5.5 incline.
I did alittle better with my meals today. I had a homemade smoothie for breakfast, I slipped up a little by having a sandwhich at Subway for lunch, and I finished off the day with some scrambled eggs cooked in coconut oil over some spinach.
[quote]GOLDtree wrote:
Ah some feed back! Unfortunately I am for real. I know my diet has been horrible and I’ve been changing it the last few days.
For example today’s meals were:
Breakfast - Homemade smoothie - 2 cups Vit D milk, 2 tbsp greek yogurt, flax seed, 2 scoops Metabolic Drive, and 1/2 cup mixed berries.
Lunch - Chicken bacon ranch with spinach and jalapenos
Pre-workout- A banana
Dinner - 6 eggs over spinach
I was in The Marine Corps. I wan infantry. I used to be a far cry physically from where I am now. After my second deployment I started drinking more, I did night classes and always ate shit afterwards, and I continued that horrible pattern after I got out. So here I am today!
I’m under no illusion that I can out train my shitty diet so I’m changing it.
[/quote]
It seems like you’re cleaning things up a bit but knock off the subway.
Seriously, that food is crap.
If you HAVE to eat out, which you shouldn’t, get a burrito bowl from Chipotle or something.
You can also supplement a shake for food when you’re in a bind but I don’t recommend that for people who don’t have their nutrition for the most part under control.
You want to start establishing good habits and having a bunch of shakes really isn’t going to do that IMO.
Do you know how many calories you are having on a daily basis?
Do you know what your macro’s come out to?
[quote]Smashingweights wrote:
Are you for real?
What branch were you in?
It’s not your “split” it’s your horrendous diet.
Have some self control and knock off the crappy eating and stop drinking alcohol.
[/quote]
x2
I’m still like “Is this real life?”
What template are you using for your assistance work?
What are your goals with 5/3/1?
I want to help you out if you’re open to it?
That’s why I’m asking all of the questions.
[quote]Smashingweights wrote:
I want to help you out if you’re open to it?
That’s why I’m asking all of the questions.[/quote]
I am and I really appreciate your questions/input.
I have alot of school work I need to focus on today, but I’ll try to answer them in detail when I get a chance.
Thanks again.
