Hey guys, I'm on a mission to get to 10% body fat. I'll update this post later with measurements, weight and what now as I'm currently in a "training" session at work, bored off my skull!

Weight (14/10/09): 181lbs
Height: 5' 10"


Where I've failed before: After eating low carb, I'd go on a binge and never quite get on the wagon. Not this time. I also have an Achilles heel for chocolate which I'm gonna smack outta the water and if all else, I'll get a 60cal choco moose from tesco

Workout
Squat, Pull Ups, Deadlifts, Tricep Dips.

Circuit style: 10reps each exercise, 2 mins rest, 3 sets. Followed by kettle bell swings HIT if I'm not bollocksed.

Cardio rotuine: 8 50m sprint/walk intervals, 5 30s/30s work/rest kettlebell swings, swim.
The plan is that the number of sprint intervals will increase weekly where, as well as the kettlebell interavals. Over time I'll make the swim session a HIIT swim also but I'm going to build up to this. This routine is going to be performed twice a week initially, (Tues/Thurs or Tues/Sat), with the intention of it becoming 3x a week

So I've a pretty solid routine and thanks to work and a new training partner, I've been training pretty consistently 3 times a week for the last 7-8 weeks. It's the nutrition side that has been letting me down.

Diet:
I think I'm going to try a reasonably balanced diet and as they say "live by the sword, die by the sword!" I'm going to try and hit 2500cals a day and see what happens. Try, evaluate, change.

Breakfast 09.30: Eggs + Meat
Lunch 13.00: Meat + Salad/Veg
Protein Shake at some point...
Evening 20.00: Meat + Salad/Veg

I will also snack on 80g of nuts a day, as well as taking 2-4 fish oil caps per meal. I'll work out the cals later or update them daily. Hell, I may even throw in a bit of oily fish once or twice a week just for you guys On Saturdays or Sundays I'll carb up. I'll work out 5 days a week and rest on weekends. I might go for some active recovery and go for light swims on the weekend.

I tend to weight train first thing in the morning on an empty stomach Mon/Wed/Fri, It's just how I roll. I've a new cardio routine now that involves 50m sprint/walk back, kettlebell swings and swim that'll I'll initially do twice a week. Sometimes I play squash and I may go for a light swim 3 times a week or so. These swims are very light and tend to be PWO for a stretch out more than anything I will try and do front crawl sprints to get the heart rate up though!

Cheers for reading.

Any help/advice. Greatly appreciated.

Sparky wrote:sausages, salami & pepporoni

these are bad. they are full of bad fats and nitrates that will vastly increase the chances of you getting some nasty intestinal problems in a few years.

drink 3 litres of water a day; ideally with greens in it.

the 5x5 progs work, but are not ideal for fat loss. to be honest your training should try to match your goals esp with nutrition.

good luck

Cheers man

I drink like... 5 liters of water a day sometimes haha Point taken about the salami and pepporoni. If you guys think they should be scrapped I'll throw them out the window! I'll eat what I have at the minute though I'm not a man for throwing out food.

Why do you dislike 5x5 out of interest? I've been doing it for about 8 weeks now and have just added in workout B and have been seeing strenght gains on it so surely that's what's important providing I do enough cardio elsewhere!?

I don't dislike 5x5. It's just not effective for fat loss. My point is why not try to use the next 8 weeks to your advantage not just with food (as you trying to do) but also when at the gym. Fat loss is your priority you said, not strength.

Also, you've just done 8 weeks on 5x5. It's time to change imo. Do the same exercises if you like but, maybe try sets of 8-12 reps for 8 weeks. Decrease the rest slightly between sets. Also, it'll be good to throw in some metabolic training at the end of the sessions too. Just 10misn will do. 30s Kettlebell/DB Swings, 20-30s rest, 30s Goblet Squat / KB Squat Thrusters (squat then as you stand up press the KB/DB above your head). 10mins of that will ramp up your metabolism and help the fat burning process.

Throw them out mate.

You need more good fats - those alone will bump up your calorie intake. Fish oil is fine, but add some others too - avocados/avocado oil, walnut oil, good quality olive oil etc.

More veg is an absolute must - there's very little fibre in your diet at the moment. It looks pretty bad to be honest, mate.

This is the problem I have with the anabolic diet. It's all too easy to eat unhealthily on it, and therein seems to lie its appeal to a lot of people.

I think it's a terrible diet. It may give initial fast results, but medium/long term it's very unhealthy. Sorry.

I get 85% chocolate from aldi. It's cheap and really good! I actually prefer it to the expensive brands. Since eating this choc i get no cravings and haven't had sugary chocolate in months.

H4NI, the diet can be healthy as i pointed out in the other thread? You can still make good food choices, it's just that the author wrote the diet to appeal to the masses and make money. The concepts are nothing new, it's carb control plain and simple.

@Scott Cheers for the input guys. I meant to say that I was doing 3x8 for the most part for the last 6-8 weeks, not 5x5. I was only doing 4x5 on the deadlifts... So you recommend to go back to 3x8 and decrease the rest period? I think I'll stick to 4x5 with the deadlifts. Jays they're tight enough as it is to complete.

@Ollie Yeah while I might not eat a hell of alot of veg I try to get a good bit of salad on the place for every meal I eat. I have frozen veg but sure by the time you boil it the nutrition is killed I don't have a steamer btw. I suppose slightly boiled veg is better than no veg. Where can I get these oils btw?

I know it's a bad diet... That's why I'm here!

Sparky wrote:@Ollie Yeah while I might not eat a hell of alot of veg I try to get a good bit of salad on the place for every meal I eat. I have frozen veg but sure by the time you boil it the nutrition is killed I don't have a steamer btw. I suppose slightly boiled veg is better than no veg. Where can I get these oils btw?

You can get most of them in any supermarket easily enough. Hemp Oil (the Good Oil brand) is very easy to get hold of, as is avocado oil. When buying olive oil, go for cold pressed organic stuff, ideally unfiltered and in a tin or dark bottle.

Veg wise - you can eat lots of it raw. Here's what I had for lunch today, for example:

Spinach
Watercress
1 avocado
Tomato
Grated carrot
Cucumber
Mixed beans
Beetroot
Olive oil
Chicken
Quinoa

Take out the quinoa and beetroot and there's no reason why that sort of thing wouldn't fit in with your intended approach

Try to get a range of cruciferous (leafy) vegetables in. Some can be eaten raw, or you could steam or even stir-fry others.

I think is fat loss is your goal then higher reps is a better choice (<12 99% of the time though).

You should try changing deadlift reps too. Why stay at 5 reps? People don't know why, but they just do it. Doing more than 8 reps on deadlifts builds character as it's bloody hard. With all those muscles working for that many reps of lifting a heavy weight you're far more likely to help your fat burning process.

I think people worry about losing form with higher rep deads, but I don't see an issue provided you keep tabs on it.

Sparky wrote:I may go for a light swim 3 times a week or so. These swims are very light and tend to be PWO for a stretch out more than anything I will try and do front crawl sprints to get the heart rate up though!

A good way to get your heart rate up and to do a kind of interval training when swimming is to pick a length of time to swim for, say perhaps 5 minutes for you, then randomly sprint for 5 seconds, at least once a length. We get the whistle blown for us to do this, but you can just do it yourself. Our coach often (bastard!) throws this in as the first thing we do to get us going. It works. Deceptively painful, but something you can do no matter your level of swimming ability.

Cheers guys Much appreciated.

Right, My workout will be 3x8 for everything, including deadlifts (@Ollie, that's exactly the reason mate) What would be a reasonable rest time between sets? I'll throw in KB swings for 10 mins 30/30 work rest ratio too, as you suggest. Dedication and working out is not my problem. Nutrition is!

I'm trying to think of a typical day's diet now. By the way, I don't eat that every day as above That was just an example. I know you guys like to recommend fish but I really can't stomach the stuff that often

I'll drop the cured meat for sure. The meats I'll choose from will probably be: beef (burgers, mince, steaks), pork (sausages, chops, bacon), chicken, turkey... Then eggs, nuts... I'm quickly running out here

@Pingu I'd do a 25m sprint length of a front crawl then breast stroke back. Die. Then repeat. I may give your version a go though (I'm very inefficient and technique is poor)

Sparky wrote:@Pingu I'd do a 25m sprint length of a front crawl then breast stroke back. Die. Then repeat. I may give your version a go though (I'm very inefficient and technique is poor)

Don't worry about how inefficient you are. I prefer doing the heart rate stuff this way as it means you can sustain it for a longer period of time. I'm not saying its easier because it really isn't! And 5 seconds ALL OUT sprint once or twice a length for 5 minutes will be a killer. Trust me. It kills me and I do this as my sport!

I will also second the KB/DB Swings. They are awesome. Just make sure you have plenty of room or that there is someone you want to injure close by!

Cheers Pingu! I'll give that a go if I'm in the pool later

Just a quick thought. How do you guys feel about fruit and nut mixes? I mean, perhaps instead of anabolic I could go low carb with getting my carbs from fruits opposed to grains or otherwise? Or should I just commit to the anabolic diet?

Sparky, try to make a rep range rather than a defined rep to achieve. So 8-10 reps or 6-8 reps. That way you get more leeway and also a better way to make & see progress.

Example:
Week 1 : Deadlifts: 120x8 : 120x7 : 120x6
Week 2 : Deadlifts: 120x8 : 120x8 : 120x7
Week 3 : Deadlifts: 125x7 : 120x6 : 120x6

Each week you are progressing and beating the last session; even if it's just 1 rep it doesn't matter, you improved.

Regards to fruit you need to to look at the fruits with lower fructose levels.
Blueberrys are the best ones in my opinion.

avocados, tomatoes, limes, lemons, grapefruits. They're all fruits and are great.

Blueberries too and blackberries.

Had a great session last night. Went for some sprints and did 8 sprint/walk intervals, followed by 5 30s/30s work/rest Kettle Bell swings 16KG, followed by a light swim and a sauna sesh. I have to say, my heart was absolutely pumping. I thought I was going to keel over at one point! The area where I do my sprints is probably only about 50m though, but sure, If I work hard and bust my balls, that shouldn't be a problem. I'll just increase the amount of intervals over time.

Had to get up at 6.30 this morning to fit my gym session in.

Deadlifts 112.5kg 5 5 5 4 4 ~ 1 min rest between sets
OH Press 50kg 5 4 2 0 2
PullUps 5 5 5 4 3
Tricep Dips 8 8 8

The OH Press was 2.5kg up after hitting my targets last week. I got it very tight on it... I'm gonna see how it goes again next week. Usually I look at a number, and just focus on beating it for the next session. That's how I've been working (@Scott: Kind of like the thing you suggest with the rep range).

Pull Ups have been improving no end over the last 6-8 weeks. I started not being able to do 5x5 chins and now I'm approaching true WG Pull Ups, they're the next step up so I'm happy with them

The Deadlifts were so tough it was unbelievable. It's the first time I haven't hit my targets and I think it was due to the timed rest. Thought I was going to keel over... I actually collapsed against the wall and sat down at one point!

The dips were added in because my training buddy had to leave so getting the 30kg DB into my hands for the Chest Press would've been a bit of a problem. The only other people in the gym were the rowing girls, which wasn't all bad!

Diet:
I changed the thread title because upon reflection last night, I think I'm going to try a reasonably balanced diet and as they say "live by the sword, die by the sword!" I'm going to try and hit 2500cals a day and see what happens. Try, evaluate, change.

Breakfast 09.30: Scoop of Oats, 300ml SS-Milk, Protein shake, fruit
Lunch 13.00: Meat + Salad/Veg + fruit
Dinner 16.30: Meat + Salad/Veg + fruit
Evening 20.00: Meat + Salad/Veg

I will also snack on 80g of nuts a day, as well as taking 2 fish oil caps per meal. I'll work out the cals later or update them daily.

Also, checked my weight this morning, 3lbs lighter than the last time I checked 181lbs.

Glad to see you are enjoying it. If you have a look on members gallery and pics and look for coops cut progress and CDVs latest cut pick you can see my results from using this diet as well as sprint and weight work. Hopefully encourage you with it lol


coop-s-cut-progress-t3763.html

cdvs-latest-cut-pic-t4236.html

Jeez coop that's some going! Very impressive for 4-6 weeks and it's given some inspiration to work my balls off and see what happens! What would your typical day's diet have been like? I was going to try and get 3 pieces of fruit in a day... anything from apple, orange, pear, kiwi, tomato, bananas. Need to get some blue berries too!

I'll post some comparison pics up in about 4 weeks... Don't wanna have my fatty picture up without a nicer leaner one

Evening ballbag!

You always stick with the same poop! You should listen to Health and up the rep range so you hit 10-12, you never go that high so its bound to have a new and good effct on you. As well as this you know I think you don't work out with much speed (i.e. reduced rest times) may need to drop weight but dont worry you'll build it up again.

You cant stomach any fish? I thought you found salmon alright? At least get a bit of tuna in too. As for boiling the veg literally just put boiling water on it to thaw the ice and eat it, its still fairly raw so you aren't loosing too much nutrients.

For the oils you need to go to one of the big teskis or sainsburys, maybe the tesco's in town does it? Not sure if its big enough. You can also get good frozen fruit here (raspberries, blueberries, other shizzle) I just ate them frozen to avoid eating too much in one go. Oh and get the butcher to order some turkey mince for you, cheap and you can make decent burgers, check the diet section for decent recipes.

Also I dont think you should go work out completely on empty or am i alone in that? I'd get at least a shake and some fruit in you first.

Good luck dude, im currently aiming for your current weight...but not in muscle just fat/booze

Hola c*nt features! Gald to see you'll be keeping a check on me

I was always going to change my workout after health said to up the rep range but I was going to continue with my standard stuff for the rest of the week. I'm going to do this workout starting next week:

Squats
Pull Ups
Deadlifts
Tricep Dips

10reps each exercise circuit style, 2 mins rest after a "set" and go for 3 sets with the intention of increasing it to 4 over the next 4 weeks. Do that circuit 3 times a week along with my cardio routine as above for 4 weeks, and see what happens. The weekends are for rest!

Yeah, I can stomach salmon sometimes so I'll try and get it in twice a week... Empty stomach workout stays! I'm not getting up any earlier to have breakfast. Also, I've been doing it for weeks now and have had no detrimental effects. Strength has been going up. Anyway... My workout will be affected by the previous days nutrition, not a piece of fruit I ate 20min before.

Had my first go at my new routine this morning at the lovely hour of 07.30. It was tough. My deadlift form gradually got worse the more tired I got. I really need to sort that out. Even the pull ups, when it came round to the second set I was absolutely done in. Ah well, things to improve on I guess. Seriously, if that training this morning doesn't put you off eating shite nothing will

Squats 50kg 10 10 10
Pull Ups body 10 3 3
Deadlifts 80kg 10 6 5
Tricep Dips body 10 8 8

I've only started doing squats since last week so I'll be building them back up over the next few weeks. I finished of with 10mins on the cross trainer. I felt sick after then walked into the mens changing rooms... let's just say the smell didn't help much.

Yeah, you'll notice Deads will suffer as fatigue kicks in doinhg a circuit like that. What rest time are you taking between each exercise in the set?