[sublicon]

So I'm putting my hat into the ring and starting a training blog. I'm gonna keep this abbreviated for the most part. I know a lot of people like to record their diet for every hour of every day, but I'm going to refrain from that and just provide a basic template for my daily diet, which you can be sure will be the same every single day.

I will, however, record workouts and my thoughts and such. If you have any suggestions for my routine or diet, I'll be happy to hear them. I'm a very skeptical dude though, and tend to stick to what I know for the most part. In doing this stuff, too much advice can be a bad thing, and I'm trying to be gradual and not take repeated 180 degree turns on someone else's say so.

With that said...

Basics: 6'3, 210 lbs, BF% unknown but probably around 16-17%

Workout: (typical 3 sets of 8-10, 20 mins on Elliptical Crosstrainer each day):

Monday
Assisted Pull-Ups
Bent-Over Row
Lat Pull Down
Seated Cable Row
Barbell/Dumbell Curl (alternated week by week)
Close Grip Cable Curl
Dumbbell/Barbell Preacher Curl (alternated week by week)
Wrist Curls

Tuesday
Assisted Dips
Flat Bench/DB Press
Incline Bench/DB Press
Flyes/Pec Deck
Dumbbell Pullover
Skullcrushers
Tricep Cable Pressdown
Overhead Dumbbell Extension
Wrist Extension

Thursday
Squats
Leg Curl
45 degree Leg Press
Goodmornings
Lunges
Hyperextensions
Hip Abduction/Adduction (not too heavy)

Friday
Military Press
Sled Calf Raise
DB Lateral Raise
Seated Calf Raise
Upright Row
Rear Delt Row (reverse Pec Deck)
Shrugs

Abs (On Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
Bench Crunches
Decline Sit-ups
Leg Raise

Diet:

Breakfast/Pre-Workout

• 3 Scrambled Eggs
• Oatmeal or Eggo or Toast
• Juice
• ON Protein Shake (Double Serving, 48g Protein)
• Animal Pak + Omega3 Supplement

- workout, gatorade or another protein shake -

Postworkout

• ON Protein Shake (Double Serving, 48g Protein)
• Low Fat Yogurt
• Granola Bar

Lunch

• Chicken Breast or Tuna Sandwich (packed thick)
• Mixed Vegetables (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower - the frozen assortment, thawed)
• Apple Sauce
• Whole Wheat Macaroni w/ Meat Sauce
• Water, lots of it

Between Lunch/Dinner

• ON Protein Shake (Double Serving, 48g Protein)
• Low Fat Yogurt
• Granola Bar

Dinner

• Pasta, Chicken, Steak, Pork, who knows
• Vegetables or Mashed Potatoes
• Water or Juice

Before Bed

• ON Casein Protein Shake (Double Serving, 48g Protein)

As you can tell, I'm not a "1 cup of oatmeal, approximately 4.8 oz of Chicken Breast" kinda guy . . that's not really gonna change either, I've come this far, I'm not going to blow it by focusing more on the details because I'll end up losing my momentum. The total caloric intake is around 3200 give or take.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm eating clean and I'm supplementing properly. Correct me if I'm wrong! It's a far cry from what I was doing about a month ago. :)

Critique away...I'll keep you guys posted.

[sublicon]

So today was my off day - it was a bad day for my diet consistency, but that's what happens when the girlfriend unexpectedly asks you to stay over, and you're not prepared.

Breakfast - Low-Fat Yogurt Parfait, Coffee

Between - ON Whey Protein Shake (double serving)

Lunch - Rigatoni Bolognese, Coca-Cola (Champions League was on!)

Between - ON Whey Protein Shake (double serving)

Dinner (already cooked) - Chicken Breast/Pasta w/ Meat Sauce, Mixed Vegetables

Will drink a double serving of ON Casein Protein, before bed...

My triceps feel sufficiently sore just a say after working them hard. I think it's the hardest I've worked my triceps ever, as it's always been an underestimated body part, though now it's becoming one of my favorites. My chest doesn't feel the same way, maybe tomorrow will be different . . as the say, it's always "the day after the day after" where you're in the most pain.

I watched Milos Sarcev's Chest segment of "The Fit Show" and took a top to expand my chest whenever doing any Chest exercises so as to cause those muscles to do the work (as opposed to the deltoids), which I hope will increase the effectiveness and eventually progress of doing that workout. I always kept my chest relaxed, and now having gotten this information, I am paying a lot more attention to what I'm doing and how I'm feeling during and post-chest workout.

Tomorrow is Leg day (minus Calves), so I will be hitting it tomorrow morning. I forgot to mention that I'm undergoing physical therapy for a minor minor knee injury (I fell in the street on a rainy night, it's a dumb story, but right knee was swollen and effed for a bit) so I won't be lifting heavy and will be getting back into Squats for the first time in a long while.

I may get some "before" photos up at some point, if I can bring myself to do it. It isn't the worst thing you've ever seen, but still not a pretty sight. I'm very realistic about where I am in terms of progress, and am very much in my "Before" phase this time around . . I hope to have respectable progress to post by July, though.

Wish me luck...see you guys tomorrow.

[Blitzkrieg]

Log's looking good man, a couple quick questions.

What are your goals?

At what time do you workout? 9:00-10:00 a.m?

Do you have an estimate of how many grams of protein you're taking daily? I noticed you're having 6 scoops of whey a day + 2 of casein, more than 2 or 3 shakes per day can put a strain on your kidneys (thank you KM, lol).

[Swifty]

nice log bro looks great...just started one a couple days ago myself

can u post some pics with your log?
and yea what are your goals?
are you on a Cut, Bulk or just general training?

[sublicon]

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg

What are your goals?

To get my bodyfat percentage down and gain muscle. I'm not on a "bulking" phase or a "cutting" phase - I haven't got that scientific yet.

My plan is to train like this for 12 weeks, and see where I am with what I've been doing at that time.

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg

At what time do you workout? 9:00-10:00 a.m?

Typically around 8:30-10 . . I do whatever the day prescribes and 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical.

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg

Do you have an estimate of how many grams of protein you're taking daily? I noticed you're having 6 scoops of whey a day + 2 of casein, more than 2 or 3 shakes per day can put a strain on your kidneys.

The kidney problems are related animal protein, not whey protein, which is the type I'm consuming most of. Also, the high animal protein intake only messes you up if you have a pre-existing kidney condition, which I don't have, thank god.

In any case, theoretically, I'm taking in about 1.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight, but realistically it's less because I'm not getting as much meat in daily as I'd like to.

Also, I hate measuring and weighing food and all that so I pretty much eat a fist-sized hunk of meat when I can get it, and leave it at that. I'm lazy, as you can tell, but I think you'll agree my diet much more calculated than many people can say of their own.

This is the first time I've factored the nutrition part of the equation and really made a plan each week to maintain it. I've gone from getting take-out (decent take-out, mind you) every day at work, to maybe buying food once a week if that - not including weekends.

Bottom line, I've got everything down to a finer science than I ever have in my life, so I'm gonna see how this does for me for 12 weeks, and tweak and fine tune based on where I'm at then.

I always welcome more suggestions though, if anyone has them.

P.S. Does anyone else worship exrx.net as I do?

[sublicon]

So, today was the first day back doing squats . . it was sort of an abbreviated leg day, as it will be for the next week or two, but the key is not to come back too fast and act like you were never hurt.

Squats - 10x45 (no weight), 15x85
- I left it there, because I didn't want to push it too hard just yet.
Leg Press - 10x150, 10x170, 10x210
- did good on these
Walking Lunges - 2 laps for about 100 feet each, two 8lb dumbbells
- sounds like nothing, but you don't know until you've done them.
Leg Curl - 10x50, 10x70, 6x70
- the lunges killed me for this one, couldn't go as heavy as i'd have liked

Also went through the leg lift, abduction, adduction routine that I typically have to do while at therapy. Again, nothing to write home about but I'm not trying to come back from the injury too fast.

I felt good on the Squats, for the most part. I am not very flexible and can't get further than just above parallel, unfortunately. Practice makes perfect though, and I'll be adding weight as the weeks progress, no worries on that.

I just remembered what drove me to this forum, I was looking up info on the concept of putting 5 lb plates under your heels to get lower on doing squats. I'm gonna refrain for now, but it really sucks not being able to go as low as I'd like to go on these.

Diet is back to it's regularly scheduled program today (see first post) - will be doing Tuna for lunch today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Shoulders and Calves - stay tuned.

[sublicon]

Whew, so . . didn't get a solid breakfast in today because I stayed at Lauren's last night, but popped an Animal Pak and a ON Protein Shake (50g) before I headed to the gym. It was shoulders and calves day today . .


Overhead Machine Press - 10x30, 10x50, 10x55
- does the weight seem low? it didn't feel it . . i think i'm just weak, whatever.

Sled Calf Raise - 10x120, 10x130, 12x130
- first real calf workout in a while, slowly but surely.

EZ-Curl Upright Row - 10x35, 10x45, 10x45
- can do more weight on this, will do more next week.

Seated Calf Raise - 10x45, 10x70, 10x70
- unsure of this exercise, hard to get solid foot position, burned like a motha, though!

Dumbbell Lateral Raise - 10x10, 10x12.5, 10x12.5
- holy crap am I weak . . onward and upward, tho.

Shrugs - 10x90, 10x110, 10x110
- yup

Reverse Pec Deck (rear delts) - 10x30, 10x45, 10x45
- worried about form, left arm considerably weaker than right. i know thats normal but i need to focus on the right arm a bit next time.

20 mins Elliptical Crosstrainer

This is the first time I've done this shoulder workout, so I'm not really worried so much about the weights. Form will get better too, onward and upward always . . I felt weak today, wonder if it was lack of breakfast. I sure got enough sleep last night, though. Also had a couple beers last night as well, which I'm not so concerned about.

Diet should be standard today, with the exception of dinner. (I'm going to a Mets game tonight with Lauren and Captain (her dog) - yes, it's Dog Day at Shea, ladies and gentlemen) . This is my last day on creatine for 4 weeks, so believe it or not, I'm hoping to lose whatever water weight I've gained. I've considered taking Lipo6 or something, but I want to give myself a few weeks to lose what I have through my own work, not with the help of a drug. I really need to see progress on the fat-loss front soon though, though.

That's it . . . . MAN, I'm not getting many comments on my stuff. Am I just getting lost in the shuffle of other training logs, or is my routine and diet perfect??

C'mon guys.

[Swifty]

it's looking good to me man...you will def see a change when your done with the creatine as the water retention fades away

also how long do you rest between your sets?

[sublicon]

Originally Posted by Swifty

also how long do you rest between your sets?

Truthfully, anywhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute . . it depends on how I feel and gym traffic. Again, i don't have as many things down to a science as I should, I'm just jumping in head first. My rest time is pretty much instinctual at this point.

[sublicon]

So, for some reason I didn't notice this until later on Friday but these jeans I've been wearing without a belt for weeks and weeks without a problem, have been falling off my ass. Just when I was feeling like I wasn't seeing any results, this happens.

It's a small milestone, but a milestone nonetheless. Onward and upward.

[under construction]

actually things look good here Ill keep checking in from time to time to see your progression and if I can offer advice. In your place Id run this way for a while and see what happens through the log then tweaking ideas will become more apparent. Might also help if you can give us some history on your lifting experience thruoghout your life this far. I also love exrx I post links to it all the time for people. Best of luck-UC