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
Morning routine: back - 20 minutes rowing / 6 * wide grip chins / 4* reverse grip chins / 4 * bent over rows / 4 * lat pull down / 4 * reverse grip pull downs / 10 minutes rowing / 30 minutes sauna
Evening routine: 40 minutes spinning bike
06:00 The alarm went at 06:00 and I jumped out of bed like a coiled spring. I'm going to make sure that I get up before sunrise every single day this month. I did well in March and probably only overslept maybe 5 or 6 days, but for early April the alarm is set for 06:00 on the dot. Halfway through the month it will move to 05:30!!
I have performed this training/diet regime in previous years and have been down to around 88kg in the a couple of times in the last 5 years. Unfortunately this always seems to co-incide with the start of Summer and the start of the professional beer drinking season. This has previously meant that I then proceed to drink myself silly throughout the Summer and end up back at 100kg by Xmas. However this year a few things have changed:
it's not quite Summer yet so I feel less inclined to go out on the piss
I'm more focussed on getting ripped this year and hitting that elusive sub 85kg mark
the last of my local boozers closed last year so my options for drinking locally have been severely diminished, plus the fact that the remaining pubs are shite-holes
I want to get super fit for my usual cycling/beer drinking trips down on the coast
I'm getting to that age where keeping myself in shape gets more and more important every year
I've always enjoyed training and going to the gym, so that part of the program is quite easy for me. The gym that I joined is fairly basic but has all of the necessary equipment and weights etc and also has the added advantage of being relatively cheap, local, having a good heavy bag and a sauna. So in April I'm going to make the most of it and make sure that I do the following:
train at least 5 days per week in the gym: I tend to warm-up on the heavy bag for at least 30 minutes and this gives a great cardio and shoulder workout without having to always do leg based work such as running or cycling. It's also a great stress reliever and I love punching stuff!
increase the cardio: I'll finish each session with around 15 minutes of cardio at a very low intensity to burn some extra calories and to act as a warm-down.
stretching: I have only just started to incorporate stretching into my routine. Way back in the day I did a bit of Kyokushinkai karate and was quite flexible so I need to get stretching again.
My diet was pretty good in March. I cut out biscuits, cakes, fatty foods such as egg/bacon/sausages/burgers/kebabs etc. I also dropped my carb intake and hardly touched bread or cereal. In April I'm going to go super strict and pretty much follow a pre-contest bodybuilders diet. This means:
almost zero carbs: no bread, no cereals, no sugar. My main weakness in this area is that I often wake-up in the middle of the night craving carbs. This is usually followed by a trip to the kitchen and a bowl of cereal ... well no more!
protein: my main sources of protein have been boiled chicken, tuna and egg whites. Now I normally eat tuna in oil which has a relatively high fat content, in fact over 10%, whereas tuna in spring water has less than 1% fat. Tuna in oil also has twice as many calories. Now I munch through quite a few cans of tuna every week so I'm going to substitute tuna in spring water for tuna in oil, although to be honest tuna in spring water tastes fucking horrible!
I do like a cup of tea every now and then, but this means that my milk intake can be quite high. I really like soya so I have switched to soya light which is 22 calories per 100 ml as opposed to 65 calories per 100 ml for milk.
Morning routine: quads - 20 minutes bike / hack squats (max 70kg) / lunges / leg extensions / 10 minutes bike / 20 minutes sauna
Evening routine: 30 minutes spinning bike
06:25 Both the diet and training were spot-on yesterday. I just need more of the same for the next 29 days!
I woke up at 03:00 and took the opportunity to dig into some tuna and broccoli before going back to bed ... oh yummy!
OK, let's get some insspirational videos stacked up for this month ...
Hit the gym at 08:00 and did a 20 minute warm-up on the bike followed by hack squats (maximum weight now 70kg), 4 sets of lunges and then a few sets of leg extensions to failure. Then warmed-down with 10 minutes on the bike followed by 20 minutes in and out of the sauna .... and I felt fucked!!
06:05. Had a great night's sleep. My biceps were aching from my back workout 01/03 so hit the gym and concentrated on chest, triceps and calves. Had a good workout, came home, ate and then had a great hour or so sleep.
06:15: boiled chicken & 1 egg white (try eating that shit at 06:15 = yuk!) 11:00: tuna & 1 egg white 14:15: tuna & peppers/chillis/onions/tomatoes (tastes like crap and starting to test my resolve) 17:45: boiled chicken and a few small pieces of potato
I just really do fancy a 1/2lb flame grilled juicy burger with lots of bacon, cheese and burger sauce.
04/04
Morning routine: hamstrings and abs -
20 minutes rowing / bent over hamstring raises / 5 sets
of lying hamstring curls / 4 * hanging leg raises / 4 * crunches / 4 * leg raises / 4 *
planks / 30 minutes sauna
Evening routine: 25 minutes spinning bike
06:02 It's nice to be able to roll out of bed and get the garden door open and enjoy the fresh air. OK, it's not a perfect morning weather or even smog-wise, but it's still nice and relaxing. Getting up this early also means that I can prepare my food (chicken is boiling) and get my gym stuff ready.
I did wake-up at around 02:30 and felt hungry, so had some tuna and even a slice if bread (as you do) but then had some of those weird dreams that you tend to have if you eat just before you sleep. Unfortunately none involved fit young woman prancing about without any clothes on ....
Hit the gym again this morning and trained hamstrings and abs. Finished with a go in the sauna, came home, ate and had a 90 minutes kip.
02:45: tuna & 1 slice of bread 10:45: boiled chicken & 1 egg white 13:00: tuna & 1 egg white 17:00: tuna & 1 egg white 23:00: boiled chicken & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast
My willpower with regards to my diet is now really being tested. My daughter is currently frying some chips and all that I can think about is kebabs and burgers .... arrrgghhhh!!
05:50 Sprang out of bed forgetting that I had reset my alarm for 05:45 ouch! I was in the gym by 07:20 and had a good back workout even though my energy levels were super low.
Journeyed down to my local Asda and bought myself some porridge and bananas which I think I'll take in a small quantities before my workouts. I also purchased 8 donuts, unfortunately not for me but for my grandkids who unsurprisingly love them! Other goodies that made their way into my trolley were Mars bars and chunky Kit Kats .... all for my youngest son who moves scaffolding around all day, so he needs the extra energy.
Now I would have weighed myself but my scales decided to completely fuck up. One minute I was around 89kg and then 2 seconds later I ws 87kg! Now I really wanted to know how much I weighed, and all this bollocking about started to fuck me off. I tried jumping up and down on them but this only made things worse. There was only one option left ... I took them out to my garden and beat the shit out of them with my sledgehammer and then threw the mangled remains in the bin. The missus seems to think that I have some sort of anger management issue? Suppose I'll have to pop down to Argos tomorrow and get some new ones!
06:00: tuna & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 11:30: boiled chicken & broccoli & 1 egg white 14:30: boiled chicken & broccoli 18:30: tuna & boiled cabbage & leeks yummy 21:30: boiled chicken & 1 egg white
I think that I need to get some low fat/low carb protein powder so that I can take on protein every 3 hours without having to force chicken and tuna down my throat at every meal time.
06/04
89.8kg
Morning routine: quads -
20 minutes bike / 4 * lunges / 6 * leg extensions / 4 *
25 bodyweight squats / 10 minutes bike /
15 minutes sauna
Evening routine: 50 minutes spinning bike
06:05 Felt pretty knackered this morning. Trained quads and there was no-one else in the gym!
Shot down to Argos to get my scales, got home and wieghed-in at 89.8kg, so finally under 90kg hurray!! Apparently the scales can also measure body fat percantage so I'll give that a go once I work out how to do it.
03:00: 8 tablespoons of porridge & 1/2 banana & 1/2 ring donut! 06:15: boiled chicken & 1 egg white & 1 slice of toast 07:15: 1/2 banana 10:00: tuna & boiled cabbage & leeks 13:00: boiled chicken & 3 egg whites & 1 slice of toast 16:45: tuna & 1/3 jacket potato 20:15: tuna & 1 slice of toast 21:00: 8 tablespoons of porridge & 1/2 banana
06:00 In terms of my diet I think that this is where it will start to get hard. I've let a few carbs creep back into my food intake over the last few days, but now I need to make a push over the next week or so to get down to sub 88.0kg as the last time that I was that low was over 15 years ago.
I purposely don't check my physique in the mirror every time that I go to the gym or bathroom as I think that it's harder to spot the gains. I always wear sweatpants and a sweat top while training (that's until I get ripped) and the last time that I checked my physique was last possibly last Tuesday. So I'll take a look after training today and see if I can afford to tighten-up my diet a little in terms of portion sizes. I'll also do my BMI and fat content on my new scales and maybe take a couple of update pics.
11:00 Just back from the gym and I think that my physique has definitely improved over the last week.
I jumped on my new scales and weighed-in at 89.1kg but I was shocked to see that my body fat was reading 28%. Now that seems well high as I'm getting fairly defined in the abs. I suppose that I will have to monitor this reading and even if it is incorrect at least it's a starting point and I'll obviously be looking to decrease this figure over the coming weeks. I'll also stick to my current diet as the weight seems to be coming off nicely, so I'll be looking to hit sub 88.0kg by 16/04.
Not too sure what my weight is at the moment. I'm possibly sub 94.0kg but I'll check tomorrow.
I have adjusted my scaffold for my heavy bag as it was a bit too low and it seems to be just about right now. I've probably had 3 sessions on it this week in between 30 minute sessions on the spinning bike and my diet has been good. I started by doing 30 minutes stints on the bag but upped that to 35 minutes this morning and felt like my arms were about to drop off!
09/03
I was up mega early this morning, 05:45 to be precise. I did 30 minutes on the bike and then some manual work in the garden. It's 13:35 now and I'm fucked!!
10/03
93.4kg
Up at 06:21, jumped on the bike for 30 minutes, had a nice hot soak in the bath and then weighed-in at 93.4kg so well happy.
11/03
Had a great 40 minutes session of boxing on the heavy bag in the morning and then jumped on the bike in the eveniong for a 30 minutes spin
12/03
Put the bag up and did 30 minutes in the morning followed by 30 minutes on the bike in the evening.
13/03
Did 20 minutes on the bike, took a nice hot bath and then weighed-in at 93.4kg! It looks like I'm going to have to lower my carb intake to practically zero for the next 2 weeks in order to go under 90kg by the end of March
14/03
92.0kg
Trained well yesterday and threw in some simple calisthenics to spice things up a bit. Diet was super strict ... tuna, chicken, broccoil and hardly any carbs.
Stumbled across this guy while looking a fitness stuff ...
Morning workout was 30 minutes on the heavy bag.
17/03
Routine: chest and triceps
I have trained the last couple of days but my last update was lost (think I switched the PC off before I saved it).
Joined my local gym this morning and had my first workout with weights for quite some time ... and everything felt super heavy! I'm looking to ease my way back into things over the next couple of weeks and I should be quite defined by the end of April ....especially as my diet means that I'm now sitting here eating boiled chicken and an egg white ... oh yummy.
18/03
Routine: calves and quads
Hit the gym again this morning. Did a nice warm-up on the heavy bag and then eased my way into some light calf and quadriceps exercises. They have a hack squat free-weight machine there ...
... and I know that these differ slightly in angle etc but back in the old days at my peak I could hack squat 280kg (7 * 20kg plates each side) ..... this morning I did 1 plate each side! Finished with 15 minutes in the sauna.
19/03
Routine: back and abs
06:02 Up and out of bed and made it to the gym well early this morning. Did another 30 minute warm-up on the heavy bag and then trained back (mostly chin-ups on the bar) and abs (leg raises), followed by a total of 20 minutes in the sauna and then back home for some lovely boiled chicken .... oh yummy!
20/03
Routine: hamstrings and abs
Hit the gym again and did another 30 minute warm-up on the heavy bag. Followed this with some hamstring exercises and a few ab exercises and then spent 30 minutes in and out of the sauna (mostly in).
21/03
91.6kg
Was on on the piss last night, and even had a Big Mac!!, and got home just before 02:00, so didn't feel up to going to the gym today.
22/03
Routine: chest and triceps
Back to the gym again this morning. Only managed 20 minutes of light work on the heavy bag as I felt like crap. I then did some incline bench press on the Smith machine (maxed out at 50kg), dumbell bench press (maxed out using 22lb dumbells), dips, triceps extensions and didn't feel too bad once I had finished. Obviously the weight that I am using is well below what I have done in the past (100kg+ bench, 100lb+ dumbells) but it's only my first week back and I'm also a lot older!. Spent some time in the sauna, come home and went to bed!
I haven't had a shoulder workout yet, but I'm finding that my shoulders are pretty much taken care of when I do the boxing.
23/03
Routine: quads and abs
Sunday morning and back down the gym. Did some more hack squats, lunges and leg extensions and totally fried my quads. Finished with 20 minutes in the sauna.
24/03
Routine: back and calves
Struggled out of bed and down to the gym this morning. I've decided to up my cardio slightly and drop my food intake in order to get to sub 90kg by the end of the month. My diet has consisted of tuna, boiled chicken, broccoli and the occasional slice of bread or small bowl of cereal. I'll try and drop the carbs completely and also slightly drop my protein intake.
So this morning I did 35 minutes on the heavy bag as a warm-up and then did some wide grip pull downs, reverse grip pulldowns, seated rows, upright rows and then some calf raises. I finished with 20 minutes in and out of the sauna and felt knackered, so tomoorrow might be a rest day.
25/03
Routine: hamstrings
I was just SO knackered last night that I went to bed at 19:30. Got back up at maybe 22:00 and then went back to bed at 01:00.
Felt OK this morning so hit the gym again. Did 30 minutes on the heavy bag mixed and my punch speed, footwork and head movement is already improving quite a bit. Also did some leg stretches (I really do need to focus on stretching as my flexibility is non-existant).
Hamstrings today so did some bent leg deadlift type exercises with light dumbells. I stand on an aerobics step platform and stretch down as if I'm touching my toes, hang loosely and then come up again about 3/4 of the way just by squeezing the hamstrings, it's a good one! I then did some normal lying hamstring curls. In the changing room I could hardly lift my legs when seated to take my socks off! Finished with 10 minutes in the sauna.
Paid a visit to Asda to buy some chicken, tuna and more broccoli and just finished some tuna and broccoli .... yummy.
I'll jump on the scales in the morning to see where I'm at ....
26/03
90.9kg
Jumped into a nice hot bath this morning and then onto the scales .... 90.9kg so well happy. That's a loss of almost 10kg since the start of the year
I'm going to have a rest day today and then smash into it again on Thursday.
27/03
Routine: quads and abs
Yep, back down to the gym this morning. Did some hack squats (max 60kg), lunges, leg extensions and some out of the seat work on the bike at maximum resistance. Finished with some crunches and 30 minutes in the sauna. My body is finally starting to take some sort of defined shape and I reckon that if I can continue with the same effort and keep to my diet then by the end of April I should be on my way to being ripped!
28/03
Routine: arms
Hit the gym again this morning and worked arms. This consisted of a 30 minute warm-up on the heavy bag followed by dips (max 10), barbell curls, tricep push-downs, narrow grip lat pulldowns, preacher curls and some exercises for my forearms (just hanging from a bar for as long as possible for 4 sets). Jumped in the sauna for 30 minutes and hey presto.
I think that my arms are possibly lagging behind the rest of my body, so in April I might blitz my arms as often as possible to see if I get get any gains.
PS Might even chance a home-made chicken curry tonight as I'm quite confident of reaching sub 90kg by 01/04.
29/03
Routine: calves and hamstrings
Saturday morning and back down to the gym. Had a quick warm-up on the bike and then did quite a few sets of calf raises followed by hamstring curls and dumbell hamstring raises, all finished off with 15 minutes in the sauna.
30/03
Routine: abs
Sunday morning, clocks forward and back down the gym. Heavy bag for 30 minutes followed by leg raises, crunches, 15 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes in the sauna. Now knackered ....
31/03
Felt knackered this morning so skipped the gym and stayed in bed. Did 30 minutes on the spinning bike when I eventually crawled out of bed. I'll jump on the scales tomorrow and take a few pics and then set some sort of schedule and target for April.
OK. I've finally managed to get my heavy bag back in action and I just did 30 minutes on it this morning. To be honest it was hard and I probably couldn't punch my way out of a paper bag at the moment!
Anyway, my current weight is 95.6kg and I'm now aiming to be well under 90kg by the end of March. I'll endeavour to do at least 60 minutes cardio each day, probably split into 2 lots of 30 minutes along with some press-ups etc and some light weights.
January was a month of eating curries and doing pretty much NO exercise. Things need to change quickly, so as a start I jumped on the bike for 30 minutes this morning. Time to get lean and mean, with a goal of sub 90kg by the end of march ... bring it on!
