OK I'm off to the coast for a couple of days from 01/05 so I'm going to have the best part of 4 days to train hard, eat clean, and see how much weight and bodyfat I can lose before I smash into the beers on 01/04. I'm going to cut out pretty much ALL carbs. My weight has actually increased slightly over the last few days and that is down to eating too much muesli and porridge. So for the next 72 hours it's going to be boiled chicken, tuna in water and protein shakes ... yummy!
Morning session : quads & cardio - 30 minutes heavy bag including 4 * 25 bodyweight squats / 4 * lunges / 6 * leg extensions / 4 * hack squat / 15 minutes heavy bag / 30 minutes sauna
Daily press-ups :210
I had a great morning workout and my shoulders feel fried from the heavy bag workout. I was watching Vladimir Klitschko last night and noticed how he plants himself on his front foot when he jabs and throws that straight right. I tried this and my punches were much stronger and I felt as though I was really smashing the fuck out of the bag.
07:30: protein shake 11:00: protein shake 13:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 16:45: protein shake 19:15: tuna in water & boiled carrot/broccoli/sweetcorn 21:00: protein shake
I'm going to try and do as many press-ups during the day today, probably 10 at a time and this will burn calories and mean that I don't have to jump on the bike tonight, which is good as my legs are fucked after this mornings workout
28/04
86.4kg / Bodyfat 26.3%
Morning routine : calves & abs
- 30 minutes heavy bag / 12 * calf raises /
6 * hanging leg raises / 4 * crunches / 4 * leg raises & planks superset / 15 minutes
sauna
Daily press-ups :100
Felt quite drained this morning, which is a good sign, and it took me a good 10 minutes to really get going on the heavy bag. My power had really dropped, due to the lack of carbs, although the session was a good one and I could only manage 15 minutes in the sauna before I felt completely fucked.
Shot to Asda to get some more chicken and tuna and then weighed-in at my best figures yet. If I persevere for today and tomorrow then I should easily get under 86.0kg and sub 26% bodyfat.
00:00: protein shake 04:00: protein shake 07:30: protein shake 09:30: protein shake 12:30: boiled chicken & runner beans 16:30: tuna & broccoli 19:30: protein shake 22:30: protein shake
My bodyweight stayed the same but my fat percentage dropped, which is exactly what I want, so good stuff.
00:00: boiled chicken & runner beans 04:00: protein shake 07:00: protein shake 09:00: protein shake 14:30: tuna & 1 cracker 18:00: boiled chicken & 2 egg whites 20:30: protein shake
I'm sat here eating my boiled chicken and egg whites and dreaming about the Double Sausage & Egg McMuffin that I'm going to absolutely destroy in approximately 36 hours time. If I'm really hungry then I might even have 2, and at 565 calories per muffin that's a fucking huge slab of fat that will go straight to my belly! It's a ritual that I have when I head for the coast. I partake of my local MacDonalds for some good old tasty greasy food before we hit the road and this acts as a great sponge for all of the beers that we consume once we get to the coast.
I'll make sure sure to keep a record of exactly what I eat and drink over and it'll be interesting so see exactly how much weight I will put on over a course of 2 days of binge eating and drinking. I'd guess that I'd balloon to 90kg maybe, but even if I did then I'd guess that I should be back to 96.0kg by the 07/05 at the latest, then it's onwards to sub 93.0kg by the end of May?
Weighed-in at 85.6kg so target achieved and I'm well happy. I'm thinking that a steady 80kg would be a good target weight, so I will see how much I weigh after my 2 days down on the coast and then set the end of May goal which I would imagine will be around the 83.0kg mark maybe?
04:00: protein shake 09:30: protein shake 12:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 14:00: protein shake & 1 banana & muesli 17:00: tuna & 1 egg white & slice of toast
A few little treats slipped into my diet today, including a couple of chocolate biscuits and a few small alphabet waffles ... and oh they tasted So nice!!
Evening routine - 60 minutes bike including 5 out of seat sprints
I
had a crack at lowering my 1000M time on the Concept II rower and
managed to get my time down from 4:36 to 4:20. I was probably rowing at
80% effort so I could possibly get down to nearer the 4:00 mark by the
end of the month.
07:00: tuna & 1 slice of bread 11:00: protein shake 13:45: boiled chicken & broccoli & small piece of potato 17:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 20:00: protein shake 23:00: protein shake
I can't believe that my bodyfat percentage is as high as 26.9%, but even so I'll be working and dieting REALLY hard over the next few days to get this as low as possible. I do find that my willpower can fade during the late evening and during the night were I often wake-up very hungry so I need to be super disciplined to stay away from the cereal at 02:00 in the morning, not matter how hungry I feel!
I woke-up this morning and really thought that maybe my calorie/food intake over the last 24 hours might have been a bit excessive. I had some carbs in the form of bananas and an apple and I thought that my weight would definitely increase ever so slightly, so I was amazed when I came back from the morning gym session and weighed-in at 86.7kg! It may be that the inclusion of the protein shakes and the evening cardio sessions on the bike are helping to gradually decrease my weight and bodyfat percentage? Really really pleased ....
It would be nice if I could stay at the same weight for the next 5 or 6 days and maybe decrease the bodyfat percentage. Maybe if I tried a very low carb diet combined with a more cardio focussed training routine then this might work?
00:00: protein shake 04:00: tuna & chopped onion/celery/apple & 1/2 slice of bread 07:00: protein shake & 1 banana & 1 scoop of porridge 09:15: protein shake 10:15: tuna & 1 egg white & 1/2 slice of bread 14:00: tuna & small potato & 1/2 slice of bread 17:00: protein shake & 1 banana 20:00: boiled chicken & 1 1/2 slices of toast
I'm just SO FUCKING HUNGRY! It's Monday tomorrow and the start of the week, so I really need to concentrate on being strict, just for 7 days, so that I can start looking a bit sharper at the end of the month .... easier said than done though as all I can think about is food!!
21/04
00:00: protein shake & bowl of cereal and porrridge & chocolate 04:00: protein shake & bowl of cereal and porrridge & chocolate 10:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg & 2 slices of toast 14:00: tuna & 2 slices of toast 16:00: protein shake & bowl of porridge & cereal 20:00: fried egg & bacon sandwich 23:00: 3 slices of bread & jam
Oh it all went pear shaped last night! My willpower completely evaporated and I had 2 big bowls of cereal and porridge and even a few bits of easter egg! It then went pear shaped again today. It got to about 20:00 n the evening and I just had to have a fried egg and bacon sandwich followed by a bacon sandwich. My guard was well and truly down and I followed this with 3 slices of bread and jam. I might even have had another bowl of porridge and cereal but I was too stuffed and too tired to remember!
Back down the gym and back on the diet wagon today. I had plenty of energy following the last 24 hours of stuffing my face and I tore into the heavy bag and probably had my best session. I gave it a damn good thrashing! I then managed to incline press 30kg dumbells which is my best effort so far, but way short of the 100lb+ boys that I could do when I was a much younger man!
09:30: protein shake 12:00: tuna & 1 egg white 15:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 18:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg & 1 slice of toast 21:30: protein shake & porridge
I dragged my heels a bit this morning so decided to have a bit of a push in the gym and improve my 1000M time on the rower. I managed to get my time down to 4:07 and I was probably rowing at 90+ effort and could just dip under 4:00 if I pushed towards a maximum effort. However the rest of my workout was pants! I just didn't have any stamina and kept running into a brick wall as far as number of reps was concerned so I did what I could and then hit the sauna for 20 minutes.
07:00: protein shake 09:30: protein shake 12:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 16:00: protein shake & muesli & 1 banana 19:00: tuna & 2 small slices of wholemeal toast 22:00: protein shake & musesli & porridge & 1 chocolate ring donut
My diet was going SO well I'm now finding it so hard to avoid carbs, especially in the afternoon and late evening when the cravings start to kick-in. I keep telling myself that I want to be under 86.0kg in less than 7 days time. My willpower is great in the morning but as the day progresses I can't helping thinking about cereal, bread, cakes, etc.
So OK, just seven more days and then I might pop down to the coast for a couple of days to celebrate my wedding anniversary. If I can get down to sub 86.0kg then that means I can let my hair down for 48 hours and if I come back weighing 89.0kg then I'll easily be able to shave that off in a few days , get back to sub 86.0kg and then head for the low eighties.
24/04
Morning routine : cardio & abs - 45 minutes heavy bag / 6 * hanging leg raises / 4 * crunches / 4 * leg raises / 30 minutes sauna (struggled with the heat/humidity this morning)
Evening routine : 60 minutes bike
Oh dear! I had a severe overnight relapse and steamed into the donuts that my grandchildren failed to eat!! My missus had also bought some muesli and I had to crack into that as well for a huge sugar overload.
So when I rolled out of bed this morning I didn't even reach for a proten shake. Nope, it was straight to the gym for a cracking cardio workout. No more muesli, donuts, porridge or carbs until I get to sub 86.0kg!!!
02:00: protein shake & 2 chocolate ring donuts 09:30: protein shake 13:45: 1/2 portion of tuna & broccoli 17:30: tuna & 2 lices of wholemeal toast 22:30: protein shake
06:30: tuna & broccoli & 1 slice of wholemeal toast 09:00: protein shake 11:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 14:30: protein shake & banana & 1 scoop of porridge 18:30: boiled chicken & 2 egg whites & 1 small slice of wholemeal bread 21:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg white
26/04
Evening routine : 40 minutes bike
Skipped the gym this morning as I felt quite tired and my body needed 24 hours rest.
00:00: protein shake & muesli & 1 scoop of porridge 10:00: protein shake 13:00: tuna & 1 small slice of wholemeal toast 14:30: small pieces of pear & clementine 16:30: tuna & 2 small slices of wholmeal toast 20:30: tuna & 1 egg white & 2 small slice of wholemeal toast
Over the last few days I have noticed that I have become more aggressive, on-edge and irritable. I can have a great morning workout where I literally fall out of the sauna at the end of the session, however, by mid-afternoon I seem to have more energy that wants to escape and I really fancy punching something! I might try to include some midday cycling into my routine but it coincides with the start of racing and I also think that it can hinder leg development by not giving the quads time to recover, especially in the 48 hours following a hard quad workout.
Now thinking about it I can put these emotions down to either having an increase in testosterone due to my quite intense routine or maybe it is caused by the recent small addition of carbs back into my diet? I suppose that I will have to monitor how I progress and I'll be keeping a close eye on my weight to see if I need to scale back on my carbs again. As mentioned previously I want to hit sub 88.0kg by 16/04 which will then allow me to get down to sub 86.0kg by the end of April..
05:30 In addition to the above I have found that my sleeping pattern has been somewhat haphazard. I'm experiencing tiredness mixed with a buzz that you get from hard training and this means that I'm not getting that deep, peaceful and refreshing sleep. The only time that I manage to get this is when I come back from the gym and immediately jump into bed and have a snooze of about 90 minutes at around 11:00 - 12:30. I think that I'll start listening to my Hemi Sync recordings again as these have worked wonders in the past and have been fantastic for getting me into that deep sleep mode.
Trained back and abs this morning. On my warm-down on the Concept II rower I timed myself over 1000M on level 10. I probably rowed at about 65% effort and clocked a time of 4:36. I had previously spoke to a rower there who mentioned that anything under 8 minutes for 2000M was OK (I'll check this the next time that I see him).
05:30: tuna & 1 slice of toast 11:00: tuna & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 15:00: boiled chicken & 1 boiled egg 18:45: tuna & 1 egg white & broccoli & 1 slice of toast 23:00: bowl of porridge and cereal and 1 banana
I felt so tired in the evening that I hit the sack at around 20:00. I probably overdone the carbs in the evening and overnight so I'll check my weight again after the gym tomorrow.
09/04
Morning routine: quads & hamstrings - 20
minutes bike / 4 * hack squats (max 80kg) / 6 * leg extensions / 6 *
hamstring curls / 15 minutes bike with 4 sprints / 15 minutes sauna
06:15 Struggled out of bed this morning and thought about having a day off but felt OK once I got going. I succumbed to a bowl of cereal in the early hours so now I have to work a bit harder and be a bit more strict on my diet in order to continue my progress.
Had a great leg workout and then popped to Asda for more chicken and broccoli.
03:00: 8 tablespoons of porridge 11:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 15:00: tuna & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 18:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg & 1 slice of toast 21:00: big bowl of porridge and friji milkshake and chunky kit-kat
I think that I might blitz my arms over the next week and just concentrate on biceps, triceps, forearms, calves and abs along with a super strict diet and cut out all the carbs again. I can combine this with light cardio such as rowing, boxing and cycling. I also think that time in the sauna really counts towards my cardio as it keeps my heart rate elevated. That should get me do down below 88.0kg by the 16/04 then I'll post some updated pics.
05:45 I ate some shite last night. I've been working hard and my weight is down so I let myself go for a few hours and munched some crap, including 2 Friji milkshakes and 2 chunky kit-kats. However, as mentioned above I'm now going to go ultra strict for the next few days, up the cardio and blast arms, calves and abs.
02:00: friji milkshake and chunky kit-kat 06:00: tuna & 1 slice of toast 10:30: small portion of tuna & 1 slice of toast 14:30: small portion of tuna & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 18:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white & broccoli 23:00: 8 tablespoons porridge
I'd love to be able to do a planche, but my wrists are very skinny, so I've started doing some exercises to improve my wrist flexibility and strength. These exercises also target the triceps, so I'll be doing some more of these this morning in the gym.
I ordered 6kg of whey protein yesterday, so that should ensure that I get take in protein every 3 hours and alleviate the boredom of chicken and tuna! I really need to be eating six meals per day in order to consume the 180g+ of protein that is recommended.
I've got 4 days to get to my next mark which is sub 88.0kg so I need to keep strict on my diet and avoid the Friji that is sitting in the fridge and the chunky Kit Kats in the cupboard! It's definitely a good test of self control.
I busted my bollox in the gym this morning yet when I jumped on the scales I had actually gained weight! Fuck .... I'll have to eat even less and train even more!
03:00: 8 tablespoons porridge 10:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 13:45: tuna & 1 slice of toast 17:15: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 21:00: tuna & 1 slice of toast
06:00: tuna & broccoli & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 09:45: boiled chicken & broccoli & 1 egg white 15:05: 1/2 normal portion of tuna & 1 egg white 21:00: tuna & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 23:00: bowl of porridge & cereal
So finally hit 88.0kg! I'll purposely keep my food intake to a bare minimum today so that I can shave a bit more off before the 16/04 and give myself 2 further weeks to lose 2kg and therefore hit sub 86.0kg by the end of April.
Don't you just love it when you're on a really strict diet and some fucker in a house nearby decides to crank-up the barbecue and start cooking delicious smelling burgers/sausages/steaks and God knows what else. What an inconsiderate BASTARD!!
14/04
Woke up this morning and my body felt shattered so I decided to have a lay in bed and skip the gym for today. I actually rolled out of bed at about 09:30 so definitely needed that extra sleep!
I couldn't help but launch into a bowl of porridge and cereal last night. I was tired and my willpower had been eroded and boy it tasted lovely. Luckily my protein arrived this morning so I slurped that down then headed to Asda for some more tuna, chicken, soy milk substitute and greens.
06:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 09:30: protein shake 12:30: tuna & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 15:15: protein shake & 2 scoops porridge 18:00: 4 pints of Carling 22:00: tuna & 1 slice of toast & some chips
I went out this evening with my wife, eldest son and his girlfriend (who is very nice indeed). I was a bit worried that I might be well pissed after one pint, but I indulged in four and felt remarkably fine. I did take the precaution of drinking Carling instead of Stella so that might have helped. I do like Stella Artois, but ten pints can cause some alarming side effects ....
I stretched the vocal cords on the karaoke and had an enjoyable evening. On the way home I was all set for a kebab and I was literally a few yards from the kebab house and then my willpower kicked-in and I decided to refrain (self-control or what eh?). Instead I went home and had some tuna fish, albeit with a few of the wife's chips.
I felt absolutely fucked in the gym this morning. I just had no power and I ended up just going through the motions using tiny weights. The missus and my eldest son are both under the weather so maybe I'm fighting the start of a bug? I'm going to have to make another good push in the next two weeks in order to drop another 2kg and get to sub 86.0kg by 01/05.
01:00: big bowl of porridge & cereal 06:30: protein shake 09:15: protein shake 12:30: tuna & 1 egg 17:30: tuna & cabbage & leeks 20:30: protein shake & 1 scoop of porridge
I timed myself again on the rower over 1000M and strangely clocked the exact same time as what I did on 08/04 which was 4:36. I was rowing at about the same effort so next time I'll push a bit harder and aim for sub 4:20 and maybe get down to somewhere nearer 4:00 by the end of April?
Weighed myself after the gym and didn't know what to expect so felt great when the scales showed sub 88.0kg!
02:00: protein shake 07:00: protein shake & 1 scoop porridge 10:15: tuna & 1 egg white (and honestly that tasted fucking fantastic!) 14:00: small portion of tuna & 1 egg white (springwater version tastes like shite) & protein shake 17:45: boiled chicken & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 22:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white
My weight had increased slightly this morning so now I know that I have to get back to a zero carb diet for the next 2 weeks and also monitor my intake of protein shake as it's easy to guzzle too much! I'll probably take it with water instead of soy milk in order to further lower the calorie intake. I will also have to avoid getting up during the night and heading straight for the protein powder.
03:00: protein shake & 2 scoops of porridge 07:00: protein shake 10:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 14:00: tuna & 1 egg white 17:30: protein shake
