Hey guys, posted this in another thread but I think it also applied here. I also added a bunch of other info incased u guys saw it in the other thread.
DIET
6 months ago, I started with Tim Ferris' 4 hour body diet but then switched over to the Steak and Eggs diet because it was more convenient. 6 out of 7 days every week I would eat 4 eggs and 1 steak for breakfast and dinner, 2 meals a day only (as my lifts got better, I would add eggs or steak accordingly).
On the 7th day - my cheat day (Saturday) I would eat what ever I wanted, burgers, poutine, milkshakes, pizzas, etc. In-between, usually starting Thursdays - Saturday I would drink beer or liquor depending on if I went out.
Everyday I drink 3 protein shakes.
What I noticed on this diet was that:
1. My belly fat was disappearing
2. I wasn't hungry during lunch time so I saved time by not eating
3. The meals are really easy to make and shopping for groceries took absolutely no time
4. No mental fatigue at all, I actually felt more mentally sharp
5. After my cheat day, my body sometimes looked bigger. I think this was because the carbs acted like a sponge and kept water weight in
After 6 months of eating only steak and eggs though, the taste of steak started really turning me off so I stopped last week. Its important to note that I was also eating the cheapest steak I could find.
How I rationalized the results was that since I was only getting protein and fats, the only source of fuel my body could have used would have been fat.
WORKOUT
Since April, I started the Starting Strength, Monday/Wednesday/Friday program but with a Pull/Chin ups program (7 weeks to 40 Pull-ups SEE BELOW IN RESOURCES)
Day A
Squats
Press
Power Clean
Pull/Chin Ups
Day B
Squats
Bench Press
DeadLifts
Pull/Chin Ups
I started squatting around 120 pounds 3Sets 5 Reps and now I'm at 200 pounds 3 sets 5 reps, 3 months later. Other lifts:
Presses - 115
Power Clean - 115 (Can do 125 but not moving up because I'm focusing on form)
Bench Press - 165
Deadlift - 245
Unweighted Pull/Chin ups - on my first set I can do around 20 in a row with the following set, that number gets lower
I experienced my first plateau around 185 pounds. This frustrated me at first but how I solved my problem was that I ignored the amount of sets I was doing but instead focused on total weight lifted (I didn't read this anywhere, I just did it because it seemed intuitively right).
So 3 Sets of 5 Reps would be 15 Reps total. At 185 pounds, on my first set I could only do 4 Reps, 2nd Set 3 Reps, 3rd Set, 2 Reps, now I'd have 6 more reps to do [15-(4+3+2)=6] so then 4th set 1 rep, 5th set 1 rep...8th set 1 rep. After this I went back to the gym stronger and did the 3 Sets of 5 Reps at 185 pounds EASY.
I also changed the starting strength program by mixing it with Bill Star's The Strongest Shall Survive program so on Wednesdays, I'm only squatting 80% of my max 3Sets 5Reps to work on explosiveness by bringing the weight up as fast as I can while maintaining form. Every week now I'm adding 5 pounds to each workout if I can do all the reps with perfect form.
Incorporating Bill Stars routine into the Starting Strength routine made more sense to me as it gives your squats one day where the total weight lifted isn't as high so that your body has more time to recover and make new gains.
Bottom line, I'm getting stronger.
Tips
My workout Journal is essential in tracking my progress. I went to a dollar store, bought one of those 300 page journals and dedicate 1 page per day writing down the exercices, total weight lifted for each exercise, weight, rep, set, and any other notes for example, I fell while biking today so I might have lowered the weight for my presses or my form was bad, etc.
In terms of writing down the weight, instead of writing down Squats 200 pounds, I'll only write down the weight I'll load one side of the barbell with. So for 200 I would write in my journal 77.5 this makes loading up the barbell at the gym a lot quicker and to me, less room to accidentally fuck the weight up since I might be fatigued.
200 - 45 (bar) = 155
155/2 = 77.5 pounds per side
NOTES
After squatting 200, I noticed that my lower back was extremely sore. I looked into this and it turns out Mark Rippoetoe's squat form isn't exactly correct and might lead to injury from something called "butt wink" or where your lower back curves when your hips get below parallel. Heres a video explaining why it wrong and then gives you a solution to the program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GynDZgEB1U0
5 reasons why squatting is killing your LB:
http://stronglifts.com/squats-exercise-lower-back-pain
When I first started squatting past my bodyweight. I would also notice my hips getting really sore. Googled the solutions and the best results came from doing the "Agile 8." I usually do these stretches inbetween my warm up sets leading up to the work set.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=agile+8&a...e&ie=UTF-8
Something also interesting to look at would be doing stomach vacuum exercices which I'm currently trying out.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=stomach+v...80&bih=908
RESOURCES
Book - http://www.amazon.com/Weeks-Pull-Ups-Str...1569759219
Book - http://www.amazon.com/The-Strongest-Shal...B000GK2BLU
Diet - http://boldanddetermined.com/2011/11/15/...tosterone/
details about Bill Stars Program - http://www.manlycurls.com/2011/09/ask-ro...l-survive/
SS FAQ - http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program
Helpful youtube video channels
http://www.youtube.com/user/strengthcamp?feature=watch
http://www.youtube.com/user/CanditoTrain...ture=watch
Physique
Thighs bigger
Chest bigger (had the girl I was banging say if my chest gets bigger she wont be able to lay on it anymore)
Clothes fit more tight
Getting checked out more
My weight has remained the same though, I'm still 5'10, 165 pounds but a lot stronger than before. I like this because I dont need to buy new clothes.
DIET
6 months ago, I started with Tim Ferris' 4 hour body diet but then switched over to the Steak and Eggs diet because it was more convenient. 6 out of 7 days every week I would eat 4 eggs and 1 steak for breakfast and dinner, 2 meals a day only (as my lifts got better, I would add eggs or steak accordingly).
On the 7th day - my cheat day (Saturday) I would eat what ever I wanted, burgers, poutine, milkshakes, pizzas, etc. In-between, usually starting Thursdays - Saturday I would drink beer or liquor depending on if I went out.
Everyday I drink 3 protein shakes.
What I noticed on this diet was that:
1. My belly fat was disappearing
2. I wasn't hungry during lunch time so I saved time by not eating
3. The meals are really easy to make and shopping for groceries took absolutely no time
4. No mental fatigue at all, I actually felt more mentally sharp
5. After my cheat day, my body sometimes looked bigger. I think this was because the carbs acted like a sponge and kept water weight in
After 6 months of eating only steak and eggs though, the taste of steak started really turning me off so I stopped last week. Its important to note that I was also eating the cheapest steak I could find.
How I rationalized the results was that since I was only getting protein and fats, the only source of fuel my body could have used would have been fat.
WORKOUT
Since April, I started the Starting Strength, Monday/Wednesday/Friday program but with a Pull/Chin ups program (7 weeks to 40 Pull-ups SEE BELOW IN RESOURCES)
Day A
Squats
Press
Power Clean
Pull/Chin Ups
Day B
Squats
Bench Press
DeadLifts
Pull/Chin Ups
I started squatting around 120 pounds 3Sets 5 Reps and now I'm at 200 pounds 3 sets 5 reps, 3 months later. Other lifts:
Presses - 115
Power Clean - 115 (Can do 125 but not moving up because I'm focusing on form)
Bench Press - 165
Deadlift - 245
Unweighted Pull/Chin ups - on my first set I can do around 20 in a row with the following set, that number gets lower
I experienced my first plateau around 185 pounds. This frustrated me at first but how I solved my problem was that I ignored the amount of sets I was doing but instead focused on total weight lifted (I didn't read this anywhere, I just did it because it seemed intuitively right).
So 3 Sets of 5 Reps would be 15 Reps total. At 185 pounds, on my first set I could only do 4 Reps, 2nd Set 3 Reps, 3rd Set, 2 Reps, now I'd have 6 more reps to do [15-(4+3+2)=6] so then 4th set 1 rep, 5th set 1 rep...8th set 1 rep. After this I went back to the gym stronger and did the 3 Sets of 5 Reps at 185 pounds EASY.
I also changed the starting strength program by mixing it with Bill Star's The Strongest Shall Survive program so on Wednesdays, I'm only squatting 80% of my max 3Sets 5Reps to work on explosiveness by bringing the weight up as fast as I can while maintaining form. Every week now I'm adding 5 pounds to each workout if I can do all the reps with perfect form.
Incorporating Bill Stars routine into the Starting Strength routine made more sense to me as it gives your squats one day where the total weight lifted isn't as high so that your body has more time to recover and make new gains.
Bottom line, I'm getting stronger.
Tips
My workout Journal is essential in tracking my progress. I went to a dollar store, bought one of those 300 page journals and dedicate 1 page per day writing down the exercices, total weight lifted for each exercise, weight, rep, set, and any other notes for example, I fell while biking today so I might have lowered the weight for my presses or my form was bad, etc.
In terms of writing down the weight, instead of writing down Squats 200 pounds, I'll only write down the weight I'll load one side of the barbell with. So for 200 I would write in my journal 77.5 this makes loading up the barbell at the gym a lot quicker and to me, less room to accidentally fuck the weight up since I might be fatigued.
200 - 45 (bar) = 155
155/2 = 77.5 pounds per side
NOTES
After squatting 200, I noticed that my lower back was extremely sore. I looked into this and it turns out Mark Rippoetoe's squat form isn't exactly correct and might lead to injury from something called "butt wink" or where your lower back curves when your hips get below parallel. Heres a video explaining why it wrong and then gives you a solution to the program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GynDZgEB1U0
5 reasons why squatting is killing your LB:
http://stronglifts.com/squats-exercise-lower-back-pain
When I first started squatting past my bodyweight. I would also notice my hips getting really sore. Googled the solutions and the best results came from doing the "Agile 8." I usually do these stretches inbetween my warm up sets leading up to the work set.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=agile+8&a...e&ie=UTF-8
Something also interesting to look at would be doing stomach vacuum exercices which I'm currently trying out.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=stomach+v...80&bih=908
RESOURCES
Book - http://www.amazon.com/Weeks-Pull-Ups-Str...1569759219
Book - http://www.amazon.com/The-Strongest-Shal...B000GK2BLU
Diet - http://boldanddetermined.com/2011/11/15/...tosterone/
details about Bill Stars Program - http://www.manlycurls.com/2011/09/ask-ro...l-survive/
SS FAQ - http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Program
Helpful youtube video channels
http://www.youtube.com/user/strengthcamp?feature=watch
http://www.youtube.com/user/CanditoTrain...ture=watch
Physique
Thighs bigger
Chest bigger (had the girl I was banging say if my chest gets bigger she wont be able to lay on it anymore)
Clothes fit more tight
Getting checked out more
My weight has remained the same though, I'm still 5'10, 165 pounds but a lot stronger than before. I like this because I dont need to buy new clothes.