basics

[startinfromscratch]

So how's the poundage going - both lifting and body weight?

How long have you been on low carb for now?

When you getting your BF% re-tested? Look forward to seeing how your bodys adjusted.

lifts are all down a bit, workout energy drops off pretty quick too, but thats no suprise. weight is dropping steady, low 80s now. will get retested once i dip below the 80 mark...

ben low carb for 3 weeks.

[startinfromscratch]

rested yesterday, and today. just work. shouldve done some cardio - but weather is shit, and really c.b.f.. todays eats..

M1 1/2 cup oats, banana,1.5 serve p.p, 15 almonds

m2 1/2 cup rice, 160g chopchop

m3 1/2 cup rice, 185g tuna

m4 1/2 cup rice, 160g chopchop

m5 1/2 cup oats, 1.5 serve p.p, 15-20 almonds

m6 185g tuna

m7 TREAT big trim steak,approx 250g, + stirfry veges

later serve isostack

first train at the new gym tommorow!! BOOM! \:D/

[startinfromscratch]

Today, fucken medlabs are useless wanker arseholes! its almost 3 weeks since i gave them my blood, yet they still havent done my tests! wtf!!

on a more positive note, first train in the new gym today! woot! was awesome. i think its gonna take me awhile to rework my training, now that i have such a huge array of new machines to choose from. well, todays train..

warmup - 2 sets bbell squats, then did 4 sets in the 10-12 rep range, a good start. onto a new machine! - the hack squat machine. will probly needa few trains to sort foot placement, but today felt most comfortable with feet quite far out in front. 4 sets here, same 10-12 rep range. after this i hobbled over to the lying curls, did a quick warm up set then onto 4 work sets, 10+ reps. then to the leg ext, 4 sets 8-12 reps, quads are now mashed. onto another new machine - a seated calf raise - 5 sets on here, havent hada calf pump for ages! unisports had no calf specific machines, so its awesome to see at least 3 diff calf machines here! \:D/

that was it, had my dex and p.p, then realised that the changing rooms are down a flight of stairs - something i didnt think of till AFTER legs lol.. roll on chest/tris tommorow, and likely some more new shiny machines to try!!

ps - LM is distracting with the amount of fluff passing through! i think i needa ipod :shifty:

[poos_n_wees]

Today, fucken medlabs are useless wanker arseholes!

But damnnn... does it usually take that long to get blood tests done? :-s

New gym sounds great! \:D/

[startinfromscratch]

Today, fucken medlabs are useless wanker arseholes!

But damnnn... does it usually take that long to get blood tests done? :-s

New gym sounds great! \:D/

thats the thing, a month before i got the same tests done plus more, and it took only 2 weeks :crazy: so f*ck knows..

todays eats

m1 1/2 cup oats,1.5 serve p.p, 15 almonds,banana

m2 1/2 cup rice, 185g tuna

m3 1/2 cup rice, 160-180g chicken

m4 1/2 cup oats, 1.5 serve p.p, 15-20 almonds

m5 1/2 cup rice, 185g tuna

workout, 40g dex, double shot whey

m7 180-200g chicken, lite mayo

now 200g lean beef, 1 cup veges.

later 30g iso-stack (casein)

[Gym rat]

You will like Les Mills Aucks plus there is lots of hot chicks swing :grin:

[startinfromscratch]

You will like Les Mills Aucks plus there is lots of hot chicks swing :grin:

youre not wrong GR!!

[startinfromscratch]

tooday was chest/tris, and again was a case of floating around and sussing out all the new options :grin: started off with some db benching to warmup, 2 sets, then into 4 working sets, reps went from 12 to 8 with the same dbs. next up was a new ex, closegrip tricep dips @ b.w, 4 sets reps goin from 10-6 over the sets. Next another new machine, the machine fly! ben wanting to have a crack at one of these for a while, 4 slow, controlled sets 10+ reps, chest swollen a bit by now. then i went over and did 4 sets of plain old tricep pushdowns, 8-12 rep range. after this was looking around, and thought id have a look upstairs, ended up doin some work on the hammer strength machines - 4 sets of the incline chest one, 6-10 rep range, then did 3 or 4 good sets on the 'wide chest' hammer strength machine. this ones a keeper for sure, really felt it in my tits. thats it! so not 100% efficient, but still a good train, i feel once im eventually settled into a good routine, il be away!

will post food later, have booked a measureup on friday cos weight is dropping - just to make sure its coming off the right way!

[TGD]

It should only take them like 3 business days tops for blood tests - what have they done with yours I wonder!

Both times i've had mine done it was about 24 hours for doc (including more complicated send aways) and the same for the basic ones I did myself...

Seems strange.

Ha, love your new sig mate.... Aint nuttin but a peanut!

[startinfromscratch]

It should only take them like 3 business days tops for blood tests - what have they done with yours I wonder!

Both times i've had mine done it was about 2 hours for doc (including more complicated send aways) and the same for the basic ones I did myself...

Seems strange.

Ha, love your new sig mate.... Aint nuttin but a peanut!

yeah, the standard tests were back in a few days (glucose, iron etc) but f*ck knows how they justify 3 weeks!

[startinfromscratch]

todays eats..

m1 1/2 cup oats, 1.5 serve p.p, banana, 15 almonds

m2 1/2 cup rice, 185g tuna

m3 1/2 cup rice, 180g chicken

m4 1/2 cup oats, 1.5 serve p.p, 15-20 almonds

m5 1/2 cup rice, 185g tuna

workout, 40g dex, double shot whey

m6 200g chicken

m7 1 piece hoki(150-200g?), cup veges

later serve isostack

weight is dropping on this diet, dont know how long it will be till i have to adjust it - also have no idea how i would adjust it! wouldnt want to lower the protein, but then again carbs are minimal, so are fats! if weight does stick, i guess the best option would be to up activity.. :shock:

tommorow is rest day, which should be a 5k road run, but because of this shite weather will go to the gym and do some cardio, and give my core a badly needed hit. just hope the core doms wont hinder my deads on back day thurs...

[TGD]

You must be flying through oats at the moment (although maybe not so much as when you were bulking?)...

How are you eating them? Or are you just straight drinking?

Sorry for all the Q's on your diet mate, just curious how other people organise their food - helps me think of other options for my boring diet lol.

[startinfromscratch]

You must be flying through oats at the moment (although maybe not so much as when you were bulking?)...

How are you eating them? Or are you just straight drinking?

Sorry for all the Q's on your diet mate, just curious how other people organise their food - helps me think of other options for my boring diet lol.

not really, only 1 cup a day, was 3 a day on bulk. just mix them with my p.p and cold water, spoon em in! quick and easy...

just did cardio, 30mins bike, and 6-7 sets of ab stuff, tried the machines etc..

[startinfromscratch]

before i write up my workout, i think ill provide yous with a laugh at my expense..

i had to call in sick today, cos i literally cant walk properly - my calfs are so tight and sore theyre even sore to touch. i havent done calf work in many months, and on monday was my first leg train at lesmills, i just had to try some calf work. those 5 sets on calves felt great, and the next day the calf doms were MODERATE. but then wednesday, stairs took max effort cos my calves were so tight. and at 3am this morning when i got up for work, i couldnt go downstairs, i was still wrecked! id even taken some glutamine, didnt dent the doms! feeling slightly better now, but still fucked. hence the deads in the workout below were almost stiff-leggeds, i was being wary of my poor calves. still havent had any cheat meals though..

todays back train

well as usual dont have much energy, first ex was assisted pullups, i know i can do some unassisted, but on low carb theryre just too draining, so did 2 low-assisted sets of palms-out wide grips, and then 4 sets of neutral-grip assisteds, felt good. next up, another new machine, a machine row that has individual hand grips that move independently, 4 sets on this were GREAT, changing grip at will for diff angles, could feel the lats doing the work. next up i did lat pulldowns, did 1 set on the machine version, but didnt like the feel, so just scrapped it and went to the traditional w/g pulldown machine 4 sets here. next up did some deads, goin light and didnt have straps, so my girly-glass wrists were an issue. felt light headed during these, was pretty spent. was gonna call it a day, but thought id regret it, so went over to free weights and did 3 sets of db rows, slow, controlled, just 20k dbs, with great form. left the gym glad id done them! roll on shoulders/bis tommorow, and no doubt more new machines. also tommorow morning have a re-measure, will be interesting as my weight is dropping quickly atm...

[startinfromscratch]

DIET UPDATE....

atm im eating the same levels of macros daily (high protein, low carb, low-mod fat). after alot of reading and youtubing, ive decided that its not the best approach. My carbs are low even by cycling standards, no wonder i feel like shit and strength is so fucked. so i am going to try carb cycling. i want to stick to my original intentions, and be bulking again in 6 weeks.

so heres the carb cycle ive come up with in relation to my split..

MON Legs high carb

TUE Chest/tri moderate carb

WED Abs/cardio low carb

THU Back high carb

FRI shoulder/bi moderate carb

SAT cardio low carb

SUN cardio low carb

by high carb, i dont mean cheating and splurging, though im yet to have a cheat meal, when i do itl be on leg or back day, before my workout. I also plan on getting some balance thermo ripped caps once my superpump runs out, should be a more fitting supp for my situation. My cardio is the slow steady type, im yet to attempt any interval training - but being at les mills i should utilise the modern equip, im sure the cardio machines probly have interval settings...

[startinfromscratch]

REMEASURE

Just had my remeasure, went very well! in under 4 weeks, ive dropped 4cm from waist, 5cm from hips, all skinfolds have dropped a little, callipers now put me on 16% bf, so all in all great stuff. if my new carb cycling goes well, should be 14% easy in 6 weeks. not too worried what b.w i end up at, will just be thge base for a bigger,better bulk than the first. also will ring medlabs again this avo, its been over 3 weeks so if my tests still arent back, ill do my nut....

tempting to celebrate this with a cheat meal, but im gonna resist....

[startinfromscratch]

Today just keeps getting better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

test results are back, and theyre VERY interesting.

so a recap, the 2 hormones of note are total testosterone and free testosterone. my original tests were:

test 10.8 (range 10-24)

free test 221 (range 250-800)

after 4 weeks of taking zma at night, and novedex-xt in the morning, my tests were:

test 20.6 (range 10-24)

free test 601 (range 250-800)

for the record, i did both tests on the same day, same time of day, no smoking/drinking etc, so results would be a good comparison. FTR, used ON zma. The results could explain why my strength was going up at the end of my bulk like it was, not sure what my levels are like now, but these results are very encouraging. il post them in my original thread in the st/ph section aswell...

todays train - shoulders and biceps. started off with a new machine, hammer strength shoulder press, 2 warmup sets and then 5 working sets, reps8-10. then downstairs to the cables, for 4 sets each arm of bent over rear delt raises. next up was 6 sets of db shrugs, done as 3 supersets with lighter db's. after these traps were aching good. was gonna do some side raises, but thought id put a few more sets onto bis, so tried 2 new machines - both seated curls, but with different grips. 1 warmup set, then 5 sets on each, playing with the weights to stay in the 8-12 range, slow controlled curls with squeezing at the top, not so easy on the last few sets when your bis are aching like f*ck!!

roll on cardio, calves still fucked but not as fucked as yesterday...

[Mr_Krabs]

Nice results man, good to hear the low test wasnt terminal.

Im just finishing off that same stack (Novedex with ON ZMA) and I really rate it as well, by the end of week 2 I was feeling like an animal :twisted:

[TGD]

Mate thats awesome news - congrats on both your measurements and tests.. Good to see that test come back to a nice healthy range!

I've been on similar Novedex/ZMA/Trib for 3 or 4 weeks now - just hit my top serving amount of 4 caps the last 2 days and I feel MUCH better thanI have to this point. Theres something there thats working a treat.

As for your BF%, 16% is getting there aye! What was your weight with that? WOuld be interesting to see how your lean body mass is sitting now after the last check up..

[startinfromscratch]

Nice results man, good to hear the low test wasnt terminal.

Im just finishing off that same stack (Novedex with ON ZMA) and I really rate it as well, by the end of week 2 I was feeling like an animal :twisted:

Cheers Krabs! yep the novadex/zma is a great combo - and blood tests dont lie!

Mate thats awesome news - congrats on both your measurements and tests.. Good to see that test come back to a nice healthy range!

I've been on similar Novedex/ZMA/Trib for 3 or 4 weeks now - just hit my top serving amount of 4 caps the last 2 days and I feel MUCH better thanI have to this point. Theres something there thats working a treat.

As for your BF%, 16% is getting there aye! What was your weight with that? WOuld be interesting to see how your lean body mass is sitting now after the last check up..

weights 80-81k, lbm i dunno, i dont bother with the tanitas after they gave such skewed results all the time - as long as my hips/waist keep going down, and i eat loads of protein, im happy to let the chips fall were they do. interestingly, the first,fattest pic i have of myself i was 76ks, so if i get down there il post the horrid thing up with a current one for compo. maybe...

[runveerun]

Yay good news with the blood tests! Great! Yay for LM too! It's the best gym ever!! I love it! SO many machines and weights!

[startinfromscratch]

Yay good news with the blood tests! Great! Yay for LM too! It's the best gym ever!! I love it! SO many machines and weights!

it is ay! i cant wait till im bulking again, and actually building some muscle - all that equipment, youd have to be a muppet to not grow! so many options, an hours just not enough..

[runveerun]

Did you know there's a special 'ladies' gym upstairs? If you're looking for fluff that's where they are stashed! :pfft:

[startinfromscratch]

Did you know there's a special 'ladies' gym upstairs? If you're looking for fluff that's where they are stashed! :pfft:

AHAHA!!! LMFAO!!!!!!!! i cant beleive youre tryna get me laid Vee!!!!!!

thing is, most of the 'fluff' at LM things that theyre 'all that and a bag of chips' lol. maybe il just hope some hottie floats into the weights area and offers me a spot... :grin: :grin:

your post is still crackin me up!

[teamfatboy]

Well done on the wicked re-measure, that's awesome work! :clap: \:D/