I have been a long time lurker on here but very rarely post. I have finally decided to get in borderline competition lean condition after a year of cutting. I started out this time last year at 250lbs and currently sit at 202. It has been a long but steady process and the knowledge I have gained from the experience is priceless.
My goal is to reach around 185lbs and slowly bulk from that. I am going to attain this weight while retaining as much muscle mass and strength as possible in 10 weeks or less. This would put my fat loss at 1.5lbs a week which I feel is very attainable.
As far as training goes I mainly follow a Mountain dog style approach. My diet is basically an IIFYM approach with a focus on peri workout nutrition. By following this approach I eat about 500-100 calories more a day then I did at 50lbs heavier. I also have done virtually zero cardio which is changing.
I will update tomorrow with before and current pictures as well as a diet and training log. I just wanted to post this tonight to make sure I do not back out from doing this. I train at Orlando Barbell which is owned by Brian Schwab who is an Elitefts sponsered powerlifter so I have access to all the chains and bands a man could ask for.
Sounds like a great thread coming.
Are you a former permabulker?
Well sorta. Basically I thought I was gaining a lot of muscle but I turns out I was just being a fat ass.
Basically in high school I competed on the weight lifting team so I had the mentality that if I ate more I would get stronger. I went from roughly 215 to 250. Basically I just got fat. Then there was a transformation contest I did where there was a 10,000 dollar prize and I lost 45lbs in like 16 weeks. I didn’t count my macros and I was not aware of the future metabolic damage that I was setting myself up for. After the transformation which was about 2 years ago today I also graduated high school and went to the Orlando area for a week on vacation. I was so ravenous the whole vacation and easily gained like 20lbs. After that I came across John Kiefers work with carb backloading and basically used it as an excuse to be a bigger fat ass.
So after I got to the point where none of my pants fit anymore I decided to do Carb Nite which was also from Kiefer. I basically made progree with that for a month or two and basically remained stagnant for 6 months. I finally decided to give Layne Norton a chance and listen to his dieting advice. Ever since then I have made very good progress. Right now I unleash my inner fatty for somewhat of a “Skippload” but I think I am going to turn to a more structured refeeding plan to make continuous progress.
Yesterdays training was arms at my girlfriends apartment gym where they have dumbbells, a cable station, treadmills, and spin bikes.
Dumbell curls set 1)25lbsx 10
2)35lbs x10
3) 40lbs x 3 sets of 10,8,8
One arm rope pressdown Ben Pakulski style 4x12
dumbell hammer curls: 3x40lbsx12,10,9
One arm overhead dumbell ext 40lbs 3x15,12,10
One arm behind the head cable curl Ben Pakulski style 3x15
I was 206.4 this morning one day post skippload.
Todays training was absolutely brutal. I trained legs at Orlando Barbell this morning and I still can barely walk.
- Prowler push: 4x100lbsx25yds
2)Single leg leg press w/ 5 sec eccentric 3x20x90lbs
3)Squats set 1: 135x6
set 2: 185x6
set 3: 225x6
set 4: 275x6
set 5: 275x6
set 6: 315x6 dropset 225x10, dropset 135x15.
The volume was pretty low but the intensity was insane at the end.
This mornings weight was 204.4 and that is 2 days post “skippload” where i ate 800 carbs, 150g protein, and 150g of fat.
The fat was a lot higher than I wouldve liked but my weight only went up 4lbs instead of the usually eight so it wasn’t that bad.
[quote]Trainer29 wrote:
After that I came across John Kiefers work with carb backloading and basically used it as an excuse to be a bigger fat ass.[/quote]
lol, As much as I do give credit to some approaches out there (and there are some good, well thought out and scientifically sound ones available), often times, people who have bulked their way to excessive fatness don’t need any gimmick sounding stuff, just a sensible plan.
Now I’m not bashing any of the approaches you mentioned, and I do know very smart competitors who have used them successfully, but, they can be abused, especially by people who are in more need of structure in their eating.
Nice to hear that you pulled yourself back. Once you get a solid plan going (and Layne is one of those guys who will customize it for ya), everything just makes more sense, and it’s a lot easier to just play around a bit day to day and still make progress.
S
I really appreciate the reply Stu and you’re absolutely right. It was more like everything until a few months ago was blurry and now it is pretty clear honestly. As far as CBL goes I really think it would’ve worked better had I had a slight caloric surplus and actually had a plan. Instead of eating anything and everything. But besides that I really believed that if I ate carbs at any other time of the day I would hault fat burning all day.
Which obviously is not the case and my progress is better than ever since including them more spread out throughout the day. I have been very carbophobic through my past eight years of battling with my weight. But I honestly feel like I found the secret everyone is looking for. As far as diet and training goes I do all my own stuff I just lurk on people who are way smarter than me and implement there philosophies and observations.
Today’s Workout: Pump back
Medium grip pull-ups 5x5 w/3 sec negative
T bar row using 25lb plates 4x15
Stretchers supersetted with partial pulldowns 4x10
And I finished with 30 mins of incline walking inspired by John Meadows newest article.
My weight remained the same as yesterday at 204.4 but I am visibly leaner and more vascular than yesterday . Today’s macros were 187g protein, 258g carbs, and 75g of fat. This is a pretty average day for me and everything is feeling good so far. Tomorrow is a heavy chest and shoulder day.
Here are a upper body pics from today. The angle is pretty bad I will have to find a better way to take them.
Today’s workout was Chest and Shoulders
Decline BB Worked up to a top set of 265x5
Slight incline dumbell fly/press 3 sets of 12,10,9 @ 60lbs
Slight incline smith machine reverse band bench press 3x5 @ 245lbs
Flat bench press w/chains 3x5. Done very explosively
Lateral raise 3x12
partial lateral raise 2x30
one arm bent over fly 3x15
dumbell swings 2x30
Cardio: Incline treadmill 30 minutes
Today’s weight was 204.2 and it is a medium carb day @ 200g all pre, intra, and post workout.
I wouldnt worry about getting shredded (a condition that only contest prep people will ever want to achieve) , just think of being in a caloric deficit while losing weight and maintaining weight room performance.
That is my main goal as I am not planning on competing any time soon. I have a few main purposes for starting this thread
- I want to apply all the knowledge I have gained throughout the years and give myself a deadline to reach my goal.
- Reach a level of body fat that I feel happy with.
- Get to a low enough bodyfat where I can slowly add calories back in and focus on gaining more size.
I want to treat this as a mock prep and and as a way to test mental toughness.
I know this may sound like a troll question, but when you were in your “permabulker” phase, did you train hard? I’m asking mostly as an “in retrospect . . . [answer]” type of way.
As someone trying to bulk to 215 and eating a huge amount of (relatively “clean”) food to do so, I have a really hard time thinking that I could train really hard and get up to 250 without putting on some serious, serious muscle. And the sheer amount of food it would take is staggering.
Yes I was at my strongest ever then. My training was on average 5-6 times a week. My lifting stats were bench press 315x3 squat 1x455 and deadlift 1x445. I am also 6’1’’ if that explains things better too. I will post a picture from when I was 250.
These are pretty old but the look was the same just a little more upper back thickness. This was taken as a before picture for a BSN challenge on bb.com in 2012
I also do not like the term permabulker phase. I prefer ignorant of obvious fat gain but still consume 5-6,000 calories a day regardless of damaged metabolism due to extreme dieting phase . But regardless that phase is over and I have learned from it.
[quote]Trainer29 wrote:
That is my main goal as I am not planning on competing any time soon. I have a few main purposes for starting this thread
- I want to apply all the knowledge I have gained throughout the years and give myself a deadline to reach my goal.
- Reach a level of body fat that I feel happy with.
- Get to a low enough bodyfat where I can slowly add calories back in and focus on gaining more size.
I want to treat this as a mock prep and and as a way to test mental toughness. [/quote]
there is a huge difference between getting to about 10 percent bodyfat and getting below that 6 percent margin. I applaud you on yo being focussed on getting leaner but trying to get shredded too fast will hurt you. Id shoot for about 10 percent bodyfat if i were you
I see where you are coming from and honestly those pictures I posted were slightly misleading. Most of my body fat is stored in the hips so I have always found it somewhat difficult to accurately gauge my body fat %. Basically I just want to get as lean as possible without torturing myself and still be able to make improvements in the gym.
I just want to take my body where it has never been before. I realize there is a point of diminishing returns and I am going to keep the big picture in mind. I am using this cut to have a more productive and efficient mass gaining period. If that makes sense.
[quote]Trainer29 wrote:
I see where you are coming from and honestly those pictures I posted were slightly misleading. Most of my body fat is stored in the hips so I have always found it somewhat difficult to accurately gauge my body fat %. Basically I just want to get as lean as possible without torturing myself and still be able to make improvements in the gym.
I just want to take my body where it has never been before. I realize there is a point of diminishing returns and I am going to keep the big picture in mind. I am using this cut to have a more productive and efficient mass gaining period. If that makes sense.[/quote]
yes it makes sense, as much as getting very lean is hard im always glad that i did it because then you have “space” to gain slow and steady for a long time…best of luck to you, sir.
