Guess who's back, back again.

Thanks. My gym closes at 4 pm on Saturdays but there is still 24 hour keycard access, so I prefer to go Saturday evenings when I can deadlift in peace. There is still usually another guy or two in there, and often they look at me like I'm crazy when I'm doing deadlifts, since I have to walk all over the gym to get enough plates.

I'm interested to see how you do when you eventually get to try for a PB on deadlifts from the top. There is definitely a neural learning curve and I think it might take a couple weeks to find your true 1 RM on them. I know the feeling you've got with the deadlifts. It is very satisfying to keep hitting bigger numbers on the DL. Definitely my favorite lift.

I'm doing Lyle's Rapid Fat Loss diet for the next 12 days or so and following that up with a 2 or 3 day UD2.0 style carb up. I've got another 10 lbs or so of fat to lose before I'm done cutting and I'm getting impatient, so I'm hoping to speed things up a bit. What sucks is that at almost 200 lbs of lean mass, I have to get around 250 - 400 grams of protein. That's hard to do when you aren't allowed carbs or fats. I'm cutting my lifting back to only twice a week for the next couple weeks and continuing cardio at 3 or 4 times a week, moderate intensity, no more intervals while I'm on such a restricted diet. My weight is fluctuating betweenn 225 and 230 the last week or so and I'm down to ~13% according to my calipers. I want to get under 10% so that's why I'm thinking about 10 lbs of fat to go. So far I have somehow maintained all my muscle mass and lost no strength at all (in fact gained some) but we will see what happens during the RFL diet. I'm assuming there will be some loss of lean mass, but no idea how much yet until I get through the next two weeks.
 
My waist size is dropping rapidly. I would like to get down to a 32 inch waist before I stop my diet.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Totentanz said:
I would like to get down to a 32 inch waist before I stop my diet.
Click to expand...
Heck, so would I, and I'm a hundred pounds lighter than you...!

I made two runs on Lyle's RFL diet this winter. I dropped a total of 15 pounds (just over a stone, Lol). I went from 147 lbs (which is heavy for me) in January, to 132 lbs in March.

I've recently had a forced SD. I haven't been able to do either weights or cardio. I kept my calories up, rather than risking hard won muscle, so I've edged back up to 137 lbs. I'll be starting the RFL diet again on May 1st. I manage about six weeks per shot before taking a diet break.

My 34" jeans are now my 'fat pants'. I can wear 32" jeans easily and can sque-e-e-e--eze into 30" inchers. Dag, at my age and on my small frame even a five pound difference really shows. I only wish I could do as well as you have.
 
Yeah, I think the RFL is a great diet for those who can handle it. I'm taking this week to get my body used to carbs again because I'm going to be in Vegas next week for a vacation I won at work - long story how I won it but basically it was a contest of knowledge and I beat out 900 some people. There is the final showdown where each person that one at each region has to go up against each other to see who the final victor is. If I win that, I'm not sure what I get but last year it was a $5000 vacation voucher to go wherever.

Anyway, since getting back on carbs after running RFL gives me problems the first few days, I'm just eating slightly under maintenance but with more normal amounts of carbs. I haven't decided whether to go back on RFL after I get back right away to get down under 9% or if I want to bulk up for a six to eight week run before cutting down again. I don't know, I'll think about it. I'm hovering right around 10% right now, and I'm liking the way I am looking as I get leaner. Everyone thinks I am getting bigger even though I'm actually getting smaller, haha, so that's kind of encouraging. Anyway, have to do some thinking about it before I decide.

TR - what are your typical food choices while you are on RFL? I'm curious. I tried a lot of different things this time around food-wise and found quite a decent amount of foods I can eat to prevent from going insane, but if you have more ideas I haven't tried yet, I'm all ears.
 
Totentanz said:
I haven't decided whether to go back on RFL after I get back right away to get down under 9%
Click to expand...
The trouble with getting lower than 10% is that it looks like there are bumps on your tummy...

Totentanz said:
TR - what are your typical food choices while you are on RFL? I'm curious.
Click to expand...
I'm a simple guy with simple tastes (wine, women, and song...).

On the RFL I primarily eat turkey, chicken, fat-free cottage cheese, fat free cheese, and Egg-Beaters fake eggs. I buy fish, but it winds up in the freezer -- I never get around to eating it. Occasionally I'll get a coupla pounds of low-fat ground sirloin and make hamburger patties with onions, tomatoes, and fat-free cheese. Oh, and lotsa frozen veggies to fill up with.

The most help I got was when Lyle said to "plump up" an omelet with onions and peppers. So I start the day with fake eggs, three different kinds of peppers, tomatoes, and onions, with a slice of fat-free cheese on top. I snack on celery. I use a lot of diet pop ("soda" for you out-of-staters, "co-cola" for you southern boys), and drink nearly a gallon of Crystal Lite.

I think the trick is never to let yourself get hungry. I eat a free meal on Mondays and do a humongous carb re-feed on Fridays.

My main problem with the RFL is that I am way out on the left end of the bell curve with regard to height and weight. So if I don't do at least some cardio, I don't lose weight very quickly.
 
Have you tried combining Lyle's Stubborn Fat Protocol with the RFL? It is pure hell, but I found that it made a huge difference. One of my stubborn fat areas has always been my legs for some reason (guess I'm part female in my fat storage) and my ass, but with the SFP, I found my thigh skin fold getting lower than it has in a very, very long time.

Your food choices are about the same as mine. I drank lots of diet pop, ate lots of turkey, chicken and fat free cottage cheese. Those omelets are great - I had one of those for breakfast each day and stayed full for hours. Fat free cheese is a savior. I bought a bunch of fish too but that stuff is so damn hard to eat without some calorie containing thing to dip them in or smother them in that I never got around to eating them. But I really don't like fish that much anyway.

I tried making a protein pudding a few times and it was pretty good but the consistency was a little more watery than I would have liked. Try blending fat free cottage cheese, add a couple scoops of whey, a little water, some vanilla extract, splenda, then whip it in the blender. Leave it in the fridge for a couple hours until it is cold and thickened up a bit. That was great for getting some sweetness to maintain my sanity.
What category were you? I was category one, but I still added in refeeds on Friday evening through the end of the day Saturday because my home life requires that I eat with the family at least a couple nights a week.

I tried making some protein cakes but they come out rather dry. The protein pudding I made above worked as a frosting to make them more palatable though.

How did it go maintaining lean mass for you? I maintained almost everything, my strength maintained or went up. All in all, I thought it was an awesome diet. I did cardio 3-4 x a week, 2 of those sessions being AM SFP cardio sessions, and the other two being steady state in the pm, then I lifted 2-3 times a week, basically just the 10s over and over. I think you were training pretty hardcore during that time, right?
 
Last edited:
Totentanz said:
How did it go maintaining lean mass for you? I maintained almost everything, my strength maintained or went up. All in all, I thought it was an awesome diet. I did cardio 3-4 x a week, 2 of those sessions being AM SFP cardio sessions, and the other two being steady state in the pm, then I lifted 2-3 times a week, basically just the 10s over and over. I think you were training pretty hardcore during that time, right?
Click to expand...
I think I managed to keep most of my lean mass. My protein intake was high and I was lifting heavy. In fact I kept setting new Personal Bests from January to March.

I dunno about "hardcore". My training was fairly hardcore for me, but I'm not in a class with the real crazies like _tim, Lol, Mikeynov, Bax, and others. [Your own 550+ deads are nothing to sneeze at!]

I mainly kept thrashing away at the big lifts: squats, deads, bench, row, chin, dip and the numbers kept coming up. A few times I got a little shaky, but I would remedy that with glucose tablets. I'd probably go nearly a week on less than a hundred grams of carbs -- and thought it was easy.

I've never done the Stubborn Fat Protocol. I've always thought that was a final step, once you get down past 10% body fat. I'm still working on my one blurry ab...
 
Last edited:
I just noticed that your bench PR is now 315. Big congrats from me cos I know you always struggled with bench. Are you belting up for benching heavy singles? I haven't bothered yet but I may try it just to see if it makes any difference for me.

So you now have surpassed the 300, 400, 500 bench mark that I've set for my bench, squat and deadlift. That's a great club to be a member of! :)

How is your strict press? Over 200lb? That's my target
 
Thanks, I didn't ever actually announce it, but yeah, I was pretty excited when I got the 315. I'd like to get up to 365 soon. The key for me was to stop worrying about getting fat, since in the past I always would bulk to probably around 15%, get scared that I would become a fat slob and then go on a cut. But it seems like I start to make my best gains once I am at that point and last time I just kept bulking... I estimated I was at around 22% based on my calipers but it could have been as much as 25% bodyfat before I quit my bulk. I think another key was spending some time at maintenance - around 3 weeks this time - before I started my cut. And I've been cutting for like three months now I think? So I've gone pretty slowly, lost 25 pounds and maintained my strength.

I actually haven't done much overhead work for a long time now, it seems to be aggravating my shoulders whenever I try, so I'm not really sure what my max on overhead press is. I'm going to start a bulk again soon and am considering adding overhead work back in, not sure yet. My flexibility is fairly good so I'm not sure what the trouble is with overhead work for me. As for belting up for bench, I still don't even own a belt though I am strapping up for deads most of the time now. I still pull with mixed grip now and then but it's just too tough on my hands when I am doing multiple reps/sets.

So next stop is to gain at least another 10 lbs of lean mass during this bulk, and ultimately I'd like to get a 365 bench, 495 squat and 600 dead.
 
Last edited:
Maybe in a couple more years I can hit 18.

For some reason the attached image won't show up in the thread. Oh well.
 
Thanks, arms and chest are my lagging body parts - the only ones that haven't reached what the max potential calculator says I should be able to attain, so finally reaching and starting to exceed 17 inches is a big deal to me.
 
Totentanz said:
Thanks, arms and chest are my lagging body parts - the only ones that haven't reached what the max potential calculator says I should be able to attain, so finally reaching and starting to exceed 17 inches is a big deal to me.
Click to expand...
Any particular calculator you prefer or are they all pretty much the same. From what I’ve read they are supposed to be pretty accurate predictions for natural lifters. One of the reasons I’m doing less leg work than upper body is because I’m already much closer to my theoretical limit on my legs.

I’m also wondering how you measure. I’ve seen different methods out there some saying un-flexed and un-pumped, some saying flexed but un-pumped and some saying flexed and pumped. Is there one particular body building standard?
 
I go by Casey Butt's calculator and I measure the ways he specified. So for instance, biceps I flex but do not measure when I am fully pumped. Thigh measurements can vary a lot depending on who you ask, I measure midway up and just track that for progress. Some measure higher up but I don't because I think it is misleading depending on how your thighs are built. If I measure up nearer to the top, I get just over 29 inches which sounds gigantic, but at the midway point it's only about 27. I think biceps are the only muscle that I flex when taking the measurement... pretty sure that is how everyone does it?

I have a spreadsheet that was based on his equations, not sure where I got it. But anyway, if you google Casey Butt I'm sure you can find his articles about max potential and how to take measurements.
 
Lol said:
I just noticed that your bench PR is now 315. Big congrats from me cos I know you always struggled with bench.
Click to expand...
Yeah, me, too. I'm gone a few days and miss all the good stuff.

I seem to remember you stuck back at a 280 lb bench press. 315 is a man's lift, sir (heck, I use that for a deadlift bench mark...)!

Good going.
 
Thank you very kindly. This has been a great last nine months or so for me, I feel like I am finally making serious progress again after years of stagnation. Of course my life changed drastically and I think I finally came to terms with everything a little while ago so that has probably helped. I honestly feel like I have so much more willpower now than I did even just a couple years ago. I just set goals and then go after them relentlessly until I get them. It's great. Maybe it's part of getting older, part of the maturing process?

Oh by the way, I did do a 595 deadlift from the top. Not from the floor yet though. But I can feel 600 getting close.
 
Great stuff, Tot. It's so good to hear that you feel like you're making progress again. Keep on keepin' on Big Man! A 600-pound dead single would make your 2011 - and there's not a single doubt in my head that you'll get there.
 
Guess whos back back again

I have bad lower back problems and have been told before to strangthen my core. I guess thats why I had to read this post for myself. Thank you for this info...
 
@ Tot – I’m looking at using straps for my Shrugs and Deadlifts until I can work through this tendonitis, maybe beyond for the Shrugs, so I was wondering if you have any recommendations on what to use or are all wrist straps pretty much created equal?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top