Update
It's been a couple of weeks and since I have the luxury of sitting in front of a computer all day long, I am on information overload. I read about diet and nutrition all day long. I listen to podcasts, and I try different things. I have stuck with pretty much the same thing for a while and am not dropping weight. My family and friends all tell me I look great and getting more muscular, but if I am eating at a caloric deficit, I should be dropping the weight. So I am trying a few things differently for a couple of weeks and I have made a deal with myself.
First thing is I am going to carb cycle. I am going to eat the majority of my carb intake centered around weight training. This will give me the energy and recovery I need, but in the meals after that I will not be ingesting very many carbs. I will split this basically to 75 grams of carbs in the morning before workout and 75 grams after workout. Then at night very little. This seems to already be working as the scale is moving downward. I will not check my weight again until next week. I was down to 252 today.
Second thing that I am going to try is a different workout plan. I want to hit every muscle TWICE a week now. I have read and heard some research stating that those who work out body parts more often have better gains than those who don't. Frequency over quantity. Back in high school there were times where we would bench press three times in a week. Looking back on it, this seemed really stupid and unsafe. HOWEVER, that is when I was at my strongest. I could bench 300+ pounds, Squat 500+ and deadlift 400 pretty easily. So maybe they were onto something. So here is the plan I worked out.
Upper A (Heavy) (Tuesday)
Bench Press 3 x 6
Dips until failure
Bentover barbell rows 3 x 6
Lat pull downs 3 x 6
Shoulder Press 3 x 6
Standing Curls 4 x 8
Rope Pull downs 4 x 8
Upper B (Light) (Thursday)
Incline dumbbells 3 x 10
Machine Fly 3 x 10
1 armed dumbbel rows 3 x 10
seated cable rows 3 x10
Shoulder Press Dumbbells 3x10
Side Laterals 3 x10
1 arm hammer curls 4 x 8
1 arm tricep kick backs 4 x 8
Lower A (Heavy) (Wednesday)
Leg press 5 x 5
Straight leg deadlift 4 x 8
Donkey Calf machine 3 x 12
Lower B(Light) (Saturday)
Back Squats 3 x 12
Lunges 3 x 12
Leg Extensions 3 x 12
leg curls 3 x 12
Calf Raises on Leg press machine 3 x 12
I basically took my normal workouts, split them all in half and combined them into upper and lower workouts with the first of the week being heavy and the end of the week being light.
The deal I made with myself
I made a deal with myself. I watch a lot of fitness and bodybuilder youtube channels.Some of those guys offer coaching. I have never had a coach or a personal trainer or anything. If I am not back in the 240s by March 1st, I am going to hire a coach to get a different prospective on things to try to get my goal of 230 by April 28th. If I am in the 240s I will go ahead and keep doing what I am doing and probably lower carbs. I may be doing just fine right now, but I am such a scale junky that I want to see that lower number on the scale before I focus on physique and getting bigger. Lose fat first, then build muscle. It'll get done one way or the other.
This is a great post. It is always good to have a goal.
ReplyDeleteGreat Wootness