[Chimera]

Hey guys, didn't know where to post this (in either the Training, Nutrition, or Contest Preparation) so I figured here saying as well I am also introducing myself.

I have been training actively for almost a year now but my results aren't anywhere near as I would want them. It all started in May of 2007 when I looked at myself in the mirror being 315 pounds and told myself that this has got to change. At first I just started going to the gym three times a week, then more and more I got into it and currently I work out twice a day (HIIT in the morning between classes, weight training that night).

My current stats are:

- 27.7% Body fat as of 2/24/08 (Getting this remeasured in two weeks as I have "lost" 9 pounds since then)

- 239.8 Pounds as of 4/20/08

- 6'2'' tall

- 20 Years Old

- Endomorph Body (soft face, naturally fat, etc)

Despite how hard I train and diet I don't have the body that I feel I should have, but I don't let that keep me down I know it will take years to come I just need to know that I am doing "the right thing" into becoming "Brolic" as you guys call it. I know you guys are going to ask for my diet as well as training so I will post that here too, which basically makes this a fucking class assignment haha.

Training

-HIT for 15 minutes (not including 2 minutes of warming up and resting down) in the morning but not on an empty stomach, and not with my weight training

-Four Weight Training Days: 1) Chest + Triceps, 2) Back + Biceps, 3) Shoulders + Traps, 4) Legs

-5 Exercises for the primary muscle (Chest, Back, Shoulders, or Legs) and only 2 exercises for the secondary muscle (Triceps, Biceps, and Traps), the exercises are different each week other then the "Big Three" (Squat, Dead lift, Bench)

-After each weight training session which lasts betweens 60-90 minutes I finish it up with 30 minutes of Low Intensity Cardio that keeps my heart rate between 125-135 bpm

-I will workout two days in a row followed by one day of rest that still includes my session of HIT (i.e. Workout 1 Monday, Workout 2 Tuesday, Rest Wednesday)

-I sleep anywhere between 7 - 9 hours a night depending on my next day, I never skimp on sleep

If you caught everything I typed in that then this is what I do normally in a week for example just so you get it clear (I have been told that I overtrain but I feel like shit if I don't go into the gym atleast once a day to let out all of my frustrations that day):

-Monday: HIT in Morning, Work Out 1 later that night followed by 30 minutes of Low Intensity Cardio

-Tuesday: HIT in Morning, Work Out 2 later that night followed by 30 minutes of Low Intensity Cardio

-Wednesday: HIT in morning, No Workout this night because it is an off night

-Thursday: HIT in morning, Work Out 3 later that night followed by 30 minutes of Low Intensity Cardio

-Friday: HIT in morning, Work Out 4 later that night followed by 30 minutes of Low Intensity Cardio

-Saturday: HIT in morning, No Workout this night because it is an off night

-Sunday: Repeat Cycle

Diet:
This is where I believe I am lacking, I am a college student so I am way too busy with my studies to add up all my carbs, grams from protein, fats, etc but I will put in the "logistics" of what I do:

- Eat every 2-3 hours, 6-7 meals a day

- Get in most of my carbs in the morning with oatmeal and fruits

- I don't drink ANY alcohol and I don't smoke anything, I stay hard core clean

- I don't drink any soda, eat any greasy foods, candy, you name it; I eat clean. My only cheat meal of the week is Sunday, all of my other meals are clean as hell.

- Drink 1.5 - 2 Gallons of Water Per Day, half a gallon from that is easily during the workout

- Here is a typical meal for me: Medium Sized Salad, Medium Sized serving of Lean Protein (Most of the time its just chicken or beef)

Supplements:

I don't like mentioning supplements because most guys fall into the whole supplement lies where they can make you look like you are taking "roids" even if your training and diet has gone to hell, I make sure my training and diet are in check before taking supplements.

- Creatine Monohydrate

- Glutamine

- NO Explode

- Flax Seed Oils

- BCAA's

- Whey Protein

- ZMA

Goals:

It is important to have goals because I need to know what I am trying to accomplish, so here they are:

- 7% Body Fat, I act "Brolic" but I sure as hell don't look "Brolic"

- Not taking steroids, human growth hormones, or anything else to achieve this goal; I am not taking the easy way out

- To some day be able to enter body building competitions, I know I may not be able to enter this a year from now, but maybe 2? Hell 3? I know the road ahead of me will be long and hard towards achieving this but I believe in good ol' hardwork with sweat, blood, and tears every day into this and I will do it.

Anyways, tell me how that is and what I should do and should not do. I really appreciate for all the help you guys have given me in the past just when I read old articles and look foreword to your critiques into helping me becoming "Brolic".

[allstar]

Welcome to the dungeon bro, someone will help you out!

[Kaboom]

First off welcome to the dungeon and great information you gave there.
Your over plan doesnt seem to bad.You didnt quite go into enough detail about your diet though.How much protein are you getting in.Are you spreading it out through the day?
Watch the fruits they are high in natural sugar no more than one or 2 servings a day while on a serious cut.
Do not workout 7 days a week youll do more damage than good.
Dont quite understand the remarks about supps making you look like you on roids if that was the case everybody would be huge.
Please watch the negative remarks about roids.They are by no means the easy way out and we have all types of people on the site so you could offend someone easily.thanks
Feel free to ask any more questions.Get a little more specific with the questions and I might could help more.
Good luck man

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by Kaboom

First off welcome to the dungeon and great information you gave there.
Your over plan doesnt seem to bad.You didnt quite go into enough detail about your diet though.How much protein are you getting in.Are you spreading it out through the day?
Watch the fruits they are high in natural sugar no more than one or 2 servings a day while on a serious cut.
Do not workout 7 days a week youll do more damage than good.
Dont quite understand the remarks about supps making you look like you on roids if that was the case everybody would be huge.
Please watch the negative remarks about roids.They are by no means the easy way out and we have all types of people on the site so you could offend someone easily.thanks
Feel free to ask any more questions.Get a little more specific with the questions and I might could help more.
Good luck man

Well my diet is probably the thing that I need to fix the most, but saying I eat at a cafeteria 2 times a day for the 7 meals I eat it would be a little tough to get the exact information for the amount of protein, carbs, fats, etc that I consume.

How much protein am I getting in? Well its atleast 1g / lb of body weight, I was told it was better to over do it then to under do it because the body won't convert it to fat that easily. And yes I do spread it evenly throughout the day. My sources of protein are: Tuna, Chicken, Turkey, Beef, Egg Whites, Cottage Cheese, and Whey Protein.

I will greatly limit my amount of fruits now that you have told me, thank you Kaboom.

The remark about the supplements and comparing them to roids was that most guys expect supplements to do all the work for them. I use them as they are, supplements; that is to supplement my diet and training.

I apologize for the negative remarks towards the steroids, I didn't want to come off like an asshole. Alot of people think all you gotta do is take steroids and you will get huge in no time flat and ignore all the hard work and training that you put into, I falled under that fallacy as well.

A few questions I would like to ask if you would be so kind to answer them (or anyone else for that matter):

- I was told you can't really over do cardio, especially HIT (something with Cortisol never kicking in due to how short it is). So that while I am on a cut I am thinking "More is better" so I have definitely been doing alot of cardio, should I do less cardio? Remember I am trying to get "ripped" as people say, I definitely have the motivation.

- How many days a week should I weight train? Give out in a format like: "Monday- Chest and Triceps, Tuesday- Off..." etc.

- I am trying to go on a "Cutting" phase (too damn big to even consider bulking as it is), and I sure that someone will tell me to do a search on it to get redirected to a 7 page thread about it but if you could sum it up that would be superb.

I will ask more questions as they arise, thank you.

[Chimera]

And to make this post less of a novel to read, here are pictures of the 75+ pounds of weight that I lost.

315


245 (Best recent picture of myself, technically I "look" 5 pounds lighter if you can detect such a difference)

[Kaboom]

nice work bud.You seem to have read up on your stuff.You can tell you have done some research.
A great split while Im cutting is
Mon- chest,biceps
tues- legs
weds-shoulders,tris
thurs-back
fri-I do whatever i feel needs to be hit twice or maybe a light complete upperbody w/o
I also do cardio 5 days a week after my workout
sorry im at work Ill get back in a few

[Kaboom]

Oh yes you can over do cardio.30-45 mins a day is plenty.I guess upwards of 45 would be better for you righ now.5-6 times a week.I would do 5 your body needs time to rest.

[Frag Hag]

Welcome to the dungeon! That's some amazing progress right there! And you're taking a responsible approach to supplements, very admirable. For a lot of people, the first thing that comes to mind when they want to change their bodies, is what supplements they should take to do it... training and diet are almost afterthoughts to them. It's good to see you've done your research!

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by Kaboom

nice work bud.You seem to have read up on your stuff.You can tell you have done some research.
A great split while Im cutting is
Mon- chest,biceps
tues- legs
weds-shoulders,tris
thurs-back
fri-I do whatever i feel needs to be hit twice or maybe a light complete upperbody w/o
I also do cardio 5 days a week after my workout
sorry im at work Ill get back in a few

Originally Posted by Kaboom

Oh yes you can over do cardio.30-45 mins a day is plenty.I guess upwards of 45 would be better for you righ now.5-6 times a week.I would do 5 your body needs time to rest.

So according to both of these posts, Kaboom, then you would suggest this...

Monday - Chest & Biceps, followed by 45 minutes of low intensity cardio
Tuesday - Legs, followed by 45 minutes of low intensity cardio
Wednesday - Shoulders & Triceps, followed by 45 minutes of low intensity cardio
Thursday - Back, followed by 45 minutes of low intensity cardio
Friday - What ever is "lagging" behind or just a full body work out, followed by 45 minutes of low intensity cardio

Now recently you told me that my other workout schedule was overtraining, but if I was to follow this the only days I would have off would be Saturday and Sunday so you would think this would be over training.

Also I have been told HIT (High-intensity Interval Training) is one of the best for burning fat and perserving muscle mass in terms of cardio, but you didn't mention any of this in your suggested training plan. Should I just forget HIT and the only cardio I would do come from my post workout cardio (30-45 minutes)?

My goal is to get "ripped" (the most over used term on the face of the planet but it gives you guys the ideas of what I am trying to do) and one day be able to compete, time is not an issue I want to be efficient as possible and get results wicked fast, so that means if I have to wake up and do cardio in the morning 7 days a week so be it, I got the motivation and dedication.

Another question I have is about your split that you recommended me to do, my power lifting / body building buddy who I met in one of my classes at College suggested me to do my current split; that is a primary muscle and the secondary muscle that helps it. For examples; Chest and Triceps, Back and Biceps, etc. In the split you recommended me, it would be a primary muscle and a secondary muscle that does not help it, as you said, Chest and Biceps. Should I do it the way you mentioned or does it matter?

I don't want to over train but I definitely want to ride the line just before I get into what ever you can call "over training", I don't like rest days and being told that "For you to get Ripped, you can not work out; you must sit on your ass and play video games or something else along that line", because it feels like the biggest and most bad ass guys are constantly killing themselves at the gym they don't say "Oh I can't work out today I don't want to overtrain". The question is, how often and frequent can I work out so I don't "over train" but I definitly get results wicked fast and go to the gym alot?

Sorry for being unclear but I appreciate all the help you guys are giving me.

[Kaboom]

its all a preference really.The reason i dont like doing chest+tris.back+bis is the same reason your buddy suggested you do them.I dont like preexhausting my muscles which is basicallly what you would be doing.Doibng chest really can where out my tris so i dont feel like I get an effecient tri workout because they are already tired.
As far as HIIT training again thats personal choice.It works too.I do it to an extent.My workouts when Im cutting are quick.Higher reps very minimal rest time.Then my cardio is burst of high intensity with bouts of slower paced in between.