Cookie's First log

C

cookieftm

New Member
Hello, newbie here. her's my back ground.
Been in and out of the gym for last 5 years, never serious, just fits and starts whenever I got the motivation. However this last year been regularly 2-3 per week but still ploding along with no goals. Decided to change this about 8 weeks ago when I found what out my BF really was.
At 6ft and weighing 234 lbs my body fat was approx 32%. I set myself the target of sub 15% bf by 9th june.
After stalking a few forums I learnt that no amount of exercise will drop my bf with whille eating rubbish.
Got my diet in check now, enjoying the high fat approach. sticking roughly to 50/15/35 f/c/p, had managed to cut down to 217 lbs and 25% in 1st 4 weeks, but kinda hit a wall here. and stuck there for about 3 weeks. Thought nows the time to sort my training out properly as I've preiously followed push/pull/legs but very loosly.
Stumbled across HST one day when bored at work and set it to motion.
Tonight I do my 6th and final on the 15reps and looking forward to starting the 10's.
This has pushed me past the 25% mark as I'm currently 23% and 210lbs.

Will post my routine up tonight when get back as on dinner break at work now and running out of time.

all advise and flaming welcome!!!
 
Cookie, nice progress! Now that you seem to have plateaued a little it's probably time to tweak the diet a little. Take down that fat number and increase your protein intake. I am currently at 60p/20c/20f and I am losing roughly 1/2 lb a week while increasing strength and muscle. The problem with the high fat approach is that fat is the most densely caloric food out there. You could probably reduce your calorie intake by replacing some of the fat with some clean protein.

If you eat 3 scrambled eggs in the morning, replace it with one whole egg and three to four egg whites. The taste will be the same but the food will be more macro proportionate.

Replace red meats with fish or chicken. If you eat ground beef, purchase the 92% fat free kind. Replace whole milk with skim milk. Replace bacon with ham....Etc......

The list is endless but with your current gains doing this should help you get through any barriers that you're currently at. Good luck!!!
 
cheers for the kind words rattle, u seem to be having some good progress your self

I forgot to mention, did re-vist my diet and found on non training days my cals had krept up. have currently got it running at 40p/20c/40f now and have edged passed my platuea. have cut the brekkie eggs from 4-2, and where i was having beef/lamb 7days a week, i know rotate from beef/chick/lamb/fish/beef.....
 
Sounds like your on the right track. You'll get there with that attitude. I started at 6'4" 218 10 weeks ago and now I am 209 and I've added 15 lbs to my bench max and 10 to my overhead press. I've tried a lot of things and high protein and consistency are the keys.
 
It seems like your diet is in check. I'll assume you are following HST principals in your training routine? Eight percent body fat is a lot to cut in five weeks. I wish you good luck!
 
When losing (or gaining) a lot of weight, remember to tweak the diet regularly because the BMR will variate a bit.
 
wow i'm knackered. just got back from my 6th session at 15reps. Never felt so tired but great at the same time before.

colby...yeah following hst principals. I know 8% in 5 weeks will be tuff but if i dont quite get there i wont be too gutted,as i'd rather aim for this but only reach 17 %instead of aiming for 20 and being pleased with getting there. This was a target I set my self 8 weeks back at 32%.

electric...that kinda dawned on me whille working out how to get past plateau and now going into the 10 rep phase will have another jiggle next week.

My routine
~~~~~~~

Squats (machine) 15rm= 155kg worked back in 10kg steps
Kneeling Leg Curl(machine) 47.5kg in 2.5kgs steps(per leg)
Bench/Incline bench (machine) 80/70kg in 5kg steps
seated rows/front pulldown(machine)90/100 in 10kg steps
Lateral raises(db) 14kgx2 12kgx2 10kgx2
Shrugs(db) 30kg in 2kg steps
Bi's(db) 16x2 14x2 12x2 (but 1 day hammer curl next day normal curl, then hammer again...)
Tricep cable push down 42.5kg in 2.5 kg steps
Ab's (Machine) 60kg in 2.5kg steps
Calve Extension(machine) 105kg in 10kg steps

Where I go can only be described as a new age 'disco gym' or fitness suite, all fancy new machines. The db's go from 2kg up to 40 kg in 2kg steps, hence why having to repeat weights every 2 days. To counter this I do 2 different curls for my bi's and take my 2nd day of same weight lat raises to 20reps.
There is no Barbell and only 1 smiths machine that is allways hogged by about 6 people and to use it you need to wait about 20 mins.
Unfortunatly this is all there is available that I can find for about a 15 mile radius.

Both weeks i've found have followed the same trend. Monday everything feels stupidly light but by end I do feel like i've just done a cardio set. Wednesdays are struggles and make me wonder if i'll even finish the session let alone up the weights by the friday, then the first friday it was if i found a new reserve of strenght and could go again, but today was my 1st ever full body at 15 rep max and boy did it hurt !!! but in a good way(u all know what i mean).

Sorry if it seems a bit of an essay but thats two weeks worth out in 1 post.

Anyone got any pointers ie. a way i could include a deadlift style exercise as I've heard so much about what sounds like a magical lift.
 
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(cookieftm @ May 02 2008,8:19)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> <div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">all advise and flaming welcome!!!</div></div>
Wow, you're a fat ***. (lol, kidding)

Good job on your efforts. You're headed in the right direction. If I were you I'd stick with the basic HST plan for at least two full cycles (which is a lot easier said than done for many people). Guys grow impatient and start trying to tweak HST or throwing things in which might not be appropriate yet.

Good luck
 
yeah cheers steve, i've never heard that b4!!! lol.

but seriously tho when i've had serious comments like that it's wots given me the motivation to do something with my body, cause ya right, i was a fat f*ck. But the way lifes dice role I 'm not going to see any of me mates for about 9-12 months, so my biggest goal and achievement is when i finaly see them I no longer will be the fat one, I'll be the one who they they look at and think 'blomin hell. he works out!'

Got every intention of seeing this thru for quite a few cycles, I like the thought of running it for 6 weeks then spending 2 beating my pb's then starting again. I couldn't of timed this cycle better, I finish the 1st 6 weeks, have a week of acctually establishing what my pb's are then i've 9 days holiday in turkey to look forward too, b4 staring again. Talk about an SD to look forward to!
 
Don't ya just love council ran gyms, Went yestaday, looking forward to starting my 10 reps, to find it's closed for bank holidays.
Looks like tues thurs sat for me now.
 
Knackered? Council run gyms?
Another lifter on the wrong side of the pond, huh?
As Steve said, try the program; let it work for you first. As for abs, consider what type trunk you have and if you want more muscle there or not. I'd keep the reps high for those at the least.
 
Depends which side of the pond ya think is the right side!!
tounge.gif

But yeah i'm from the UK, Darlington in the north east to be exact, but I'M NOT A GEORDIE!
At the moment I cudn't tell ya what type of trunk i got, it's been buried under layers of fat for that long, lol.
Definatly goin to run with the programme, I'm enjoying it for several reasons, mainly the fact it's structured, every rep of every set has it's purpose, I'm not just blindly banging reps out.

6th May 2008 day 1 of 10's 210lbs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
squats w/u +2x10@ 120kgs
leg curl 2x10@40kgs(per leg)
bench w/u+2x10@60
seated row 2x10@75
lat raises (db) 2x10@12
shrugs 2x10@48
bi's 2x10@25
tri's 2x10 @33
crunch machine 2x10@ 52.5
calve raises 2x10@90

Felt strange dropping the weights back down a bit from last of the 15's, but didnt dwell on it to much and consentrated on speed and form.

Quad, for my abs are you recomending I lower the weight but increase the reps, for example do 30's 20's and 10s instead of 15,10 and 5's??
 
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(quadancer @ May 06 2008,5:15)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">As for abs, consider what type trunk you have and if you want more muscle there or not. I'd keep the reps high for those at the least.</div>
I fully concur with Quad on this. If you develop your obliques too much, you can end up looking like a fireplug...  
sad.gif
 

[If they even have fireplugs in England...!]
 
<div>
(TunnelRat @ May 07 2008,10:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I fully concur with Quad on this. If you develop your obliques too much, you can end up looking like a fireplug...  
sad.gif
 

[If they even have fireplugs in England...!]</div>
am afraid ya got me stumped on that one, never heard of a fireplug.


on another note, does it look like i'm zigzagging too much, just there's not much difference between my 15 and 10rep max's?
 
zigzag is ok, but not have much difference between the maxes probably means you undercalculated your 10RM.
I stopped working my obliques to get a more V like shape. If I do direct abs work I only work the Rectus Abdominis.
 
Right have re-done my 10 rep max's, putting what i thought was my prev 10 rm to w/o 4 and working up and down from there. My god the new ones look scary compared to what I've lifted b4, especially what it's knocked my 5's onto look like. But then again I didnt think i wud hit the 15 rm i gave myself but was impressivly suprised with myself when i did.

Have also knocked the weight down on the abs but doubled reps so for 10's will do 20 and 5's will do 10

I think I've worked out i've made about 3 mistakes in planning this cycle.

Firstly.. Looking back at what I did on the 15's was what I've previously used when just doing a typical 3x10 p/p/l, so in the past I've clearly not pushed my self to my face popping/ball straining maximum

Secondly(ties in with first).. I havent worked out my rep max correctly, thinking back i just found what i was comfatable with and took that as a max.

Thirdly.. When working out my 15's the weights on sets 1&amp;2 looked pathetic so upped them a bit, which the knock on effect has been to raise my 15rm which in turn gives a bigger zigzag with 10's (although did manage to complete my 15rm so that proves my original planning was rubbish!!!)

I already can't wait to start my second cycle and do it properly, and will most definatly be asking on here for advise 1st.

If I have 1 peice of advise for any other newbies reading this thread it's this..Ensure you work your Rep Max's out correctly.
 
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(TunnelRat @ May 07 2008,10:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">
quadancer said:
http://www.hypertrophy-specific.info/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif[/img]

[If they even have fireplugs in England...!]</div>
I get ya now, a fire hydrant, ie I wont have the triangle from shoulders to waist!!
Click to expand...
 
I decided to change exercises midcycle so I also ended up without knowing my RMs, but as long as you have progressive load and the other HST principals it is still effective (unless of course you are using effortless weights).
 
To elaborate, I've never done many situps, crunches, or twists...I just squat. Having a straight trunk and preferring to stay a bit on the heavy side, I know that my abs won't show much, and growing them larger will only make me look fatter.
IMO, the only people who'd want to grow the ab muscle (did you know it's just one muscle?) larger are people with the wasp waist to begin with. Others, wanting the sixpack, are actually trying to get the rolls in the muscle, not size in six muscles. You can do all this with lower weights and higher reps. &quot;They&quot; show when the diet succeeds.
 
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