Starting weight Jan 1 - 245lbs Morning weight after piss.
Update 1: Weight Jan 14th - 238lbs Thoughts: http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...=&pagenumber=4
Update 2: Weight Jan 28th - 236.5lbs Thoughts: http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...=&pagenumber=5
Mini-Update: Weight Feb 2nd - 232lbs
Update 3: Weight Feb 19th - 228lbs Thoughts: http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...83#post2825683
Update 4: Weight March 12th - 226lbs Thoughts on last post.
Mini-Update: Weight March 15th - 223lbs Sweet!
Update 5: Weight March 30th - 220.5lbs
Ok, maybe not 'ripped' but cut
Going to start a thread about my plans. This is not going to be a log, but hopefully some of you could take a thing or two from this and apply it your own plans.
So what have I been doing prior to this cut? I was simply lean-bulking and had a successful 6.5 months (June 15th-Dec25th). Body weight went from - 228lbs @17% body fat to 244lbs @18% body fat. The plan was simple 4500cals/day with a macro's of 425g pro, 250g carbs, and 200g fat.
Now, some of you might ask why was I bulking at 17% body fat in the first place? Well to put it simply, I had a crashed metabolism. I wasn't losing much fat, I was having mood swings (kept under control most of the time however), and my endocrine system was slowing down (Dropped test levels confirmed with blood tests).
This is a major problem among dieters who don't have much idea what they're doing. In my case although I knew what I was doing, I pushed my cut to long. I started my training journey quite large, and ended up losing around 70pounds. I could have pushed through but I was not making any new muscle and preserving what muscle I had was taking from the fat oxidization.
Anyway, on to the plan. I'm going to categorize this into Diet, Supplements, and Routine. The Routine part is going to be quite bland, I can't go into detail because of my Trainer.
Diet:
With a decent muscular base already what I'm looking to do is maintain muscle here. If I gain a pound or two of lean mass that's a bonus. As you become advanced it's more difficult to lose fat while building muscle.
So I've decided on this for the time being (Note: This is not my trainers guideline, it's something I'm going to run to ween off the higher cals)
Non training Days: 325g pro, 50g carbs, 150g fat = 2850 cals.
Training days: 350g pro, 100 g carbs, 150g fat = 3150 cals.
On non training days carbs are either consumed right in the morning, or if I happen to get the carbs strictly from veggies/nuts I tend to space them through out the day. I count nuts as a fat source and therefore don't worry about the carbs from them to much. I always eat the protein portion first, then the veggies, followed by the nuts or other fat source. Meals are split into 5-6/day depending if I'm on night shift, or day shift. If I'm on days off I'm hitting the gym and eat when it's convenient around the gym schedule.
Supplements: I know this will be everyone's Favorite so I'll go into depth here.
Some of you guys have probably read some stuff I posted when someone asks for Diet advice and I usually tell them to ignore "Fat burners" and thermos. Well I still stand by that, but this go around I've employed one for myself.
Biotest's Hot Rox Extreme. Info can be found here: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...hotrox_extreme
The primary reasoning behind this is for one simple ingredient, Forskolin. Biotest's version is Carbolin 19. Info for Carbolin can be found here: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...nabolic_bridge
Biotests Carbolin 19 is a pure version of Forskolin. Forskolin is usaully sold in a 10-20% purity version and can cause some digestion issues and leaky gut. So I opted for the ester.
Forskolin has been shown to burn fat while BUILDING new muscle. Sounds to good to be true? Perhaps, at least in an advanced athlete, but as an intermediate I still could see some of that.
So, here will be a list of Supps to aid me.
-Fish oil (Obviously, see here: http://forums.beyond.ca/st/218876/re...plementation-/) Going to intake 30g/day spread evenly through out my meals.
-Whey (Going to try post workout only. Lean meat is much more thermogenic and should work better for fat loss)
-BCAA's (These will be consumed probably everyday. 10g on non-workout days and 45G on workout days. I'll use 10g in the morning before my fasted Cardio and 35g during my work outs. More on this later)
-NAC (N-acytelcyeide or some shit like that lol. It's a powerful anti-oxident. 600mg/day) EDIT (Feb3rd): Almost done the bottle, gonna discontinue NAC use.
-Now brand Digestive enzymes (Mostly HCL in these bad boys to break down that meat!)
-Vit C (2000mg [2g]/day on top of my multi pak. Keep the immune system healthy)
-Hot Rox (see above)
-Super Pak multi's (Good multi Vit is crucial)
-ZMA (Zinc helps as an Aromatase inhibitor. Basically prevents androgen's from being converted to estrogen and supports testosterone production.)
-Tribulus (Although I'm almost out and might not get any more. Not convinced it works)EDIT(Feb 3rd)No longer using this
That's pretty much it there. The high fish oil dosage is primarily for insulin sensitivity, cortisol (stress) control, joint health and feel good factor. Helps alleviate seasonal depression. I'll throw in Green tea, about a liter a day.
I'll add to this section as I recall more.
Routine/Cardio
Gonna run a GVT (German Volume Training) 10x10 routine. Can't say much more than that.
For cardio I'll be doing it fasted for 30 min at a time. Fasted cardio is usually done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I will be @60-65% of max heart rate (120-125bpm) doing a swift walk. You don't want to be doing anything intense during fasted state as it will lead to muscle catabolization. So before my walk I'll down 2 Hot Rox, 10G BCAA boost and go. This will only be done on night shift and days off. During day shift I'll be doing cardio in the evening after work.
Good articles on Fasted cardio here: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...dio_roundtable
That's basically it for now. I'll add more as I see fit.
One more thing to touch on is my goals. I'm 6'3" and wouldn't mind hovering the 205-210 area. Doing some calculating 8% of 244 is roughly 20 pounds. I'm carrying 10 pounds of water at least, so mathematically I should end up in that area at 10% body fat. Although to tell the truth I think I'm about 20% body fat. I carry more fat in the estrogenic areas like upper chest, hips and back. But the calipers don't lie and I do have 2 upper abs sorta .
I also plan to have these as strength goals:
Bench - 275 1RM (Half second pause on chest powerlifting style. My arms are to long for me to be good at this lift lol)
Squat - 405 1RM (Going to use an 18" box for depth clarity)
Deadlift - Not sure. My herniated disc limits me here. I might do some Sumo deadlifts and wouldn't mind seeing mid 3's or a 405 by May.