And unto this...RONIN

[morattigirl]

Have I missed something? What are you counting down to?????

[Grover]

was going to ask same thing.

Instead of concentrating on weight try tape measure.

maybe that the weight is relocating!

keep at it

[Ronin]

Have I missed something? What are you counting down to?????

NABBA South Islands, in Dunners on Sept 3. Assuming I can rid myself of this flab I figure putting a definite time limit on it, and letting it be known, should just give me the nudge I need :grin:

Instead of concentrating on weight try tape measure.

maybe that the weight is relocating!

keep at it

Yeah I'm relying more on pinch tests than strict numbers, and I'm pretty sure things are going in the right direction. Was initially worried about the weight because I was thinking of trying to drop far enough to get into Athletic class, but have given up on that idea. I was only contemplating it to avoid having to go head-to-head with a couple of bigger guys from my gym who've competed before. But then I realised that the only person I'm really competing against this time is myself. Oh yeah, and every c*nt out there that laughed at me :grin:

[Ronin]

94 sleeps

In

- Whey shake

- 100g Oats, 30g PP

- 100g Deli roast beef, 6 chicken nibbles (kids' leftovers, hate wasting food :grin: )

- 2 PB sammies

- 300g Thigh, 1/3cup (uncooked) brown rice, 100g onion, 3 rolls

- Frozen protein yoghurt

2399cal, 224P, 234C, 63F

Out

Row 1000m

Squats

10 x 60kg

2 x 10 x 80kg

Leg Press

12 x 200kg

5 x 12 x 320kg

12 x 400kg

Bike 20min

Bit of a bum day really. Lower back and hams were really tender from yesterday. On top of that I was under a bit of a time crunch, and was kinda struggling to get my head into it. Cut it short in time to avoid the lunchtime crowd, and went for breakfast :grin:

Shoulders tomorrow, my usual 2nd-favourite day of the week. Looking for a better day out tomorrow.

[morattigirl]

NABBA South Islands, in Dunners on Sept 3. Assuming I can rid myself of this flab I figure putting a definite time limit on it, and letting it be known, should just give me the nudge I need :grin:

Awesome dude!! Good on ya! :nod:

[HarryB]

Good work Ronin!!!

[Ronin]

Thanks folks, here's hoping eh

Slight change in circumstances means that web access will be intermittent for a bit, so although I won't be posting as often, training will be progressing. Gym was closed for some pommie chick to have a birthday, so I'm cramming 5 days training into 4 days, just in case I can't get in on Saturday. If I can, hey it's a bonus.

Bodyweight hasn't shifted appreciably, 89.15kg as of today, but I feel like I'm leaning out a bit. Shoulda taken some measurements before starting the cut, but didn't, so all I have to go by now is the ole Mk1 eyeball :grin: Haven't dropped the weights as yet, aiming to keep going as heavy as I can for as long as I can to try to hang on to as much muscle as I can.

Will update again in a few days.

[Ronin]

Quick update. Training still progressing nicely. Had a bit of a plateau, weight-wise, for about a week, but seem to have busted through that now. Less cals + more cardio = 1 Phucked Ronin

I'm currently trying a new split:

Mon: Chest, Bis, Quads

Tue: Back, Tris, Hams

Wed: Shoulders, calves, abs

Thurs - Sat: Repeat

And like the god I am, on the 7th day, I shall rest :pfft:

About 11 weeks to go, and I can't really say that I'm all that happy with where I'm at. Still feel I'm carrying way more fat than I should be...something drastic may be called for.

[Ronin]

This week so far...

Mon

1000m row

Inc Fly

3 x 8 x 21kg

10, 9, 9, x 18kg

3 x 10 x 16kg

Iron Cross

5 x 12 x 50lb

X- Under

5 x 12 x 40lb

Leg Press

5 x 12 x 320kg

5 x 10 x 400kg

Leg Ext

5 x 10 x 150lb

BB Curl

5 x 10 x 40kg

Rev Cable Curl

5 x 10 x 90lb

Dbl Bi Curl

2 x 12 x 70lb

3 x 10 x 70lb

Xtrainer 15min

Row 1000m

Tue

Row 1000m

Rack Pull (first time doing these ever)

10 x 100kg

10 x 120kg

3 x 10 x 140kg

T-Bar (CG)

5 x 10 x 60kg

WGPD

5 x 10 x 120lb

Rev X-Over

5 x 10 x 40lb

Dbl Pd

5 x 12 x 80lb

SLDL

10 x 60kg

4 x 10 x 80kg

Leg Curl

2 x 10 x 100lb

8 x 100lb

2 x 7 x 100lb

Rope Tri Pd

10, 10, 9 x 60lb

Tri Pd

5 x 10 x 60lb

1-Arm Pd

5 x 8 x 50lb

X-trainer 15min

Row 1000m

Wed

Row 1000m

BTN Press

12 x 40kg

10, 8 x 50kg

5 x 10 x 40kg

Upright Row

5 x 10 x 40kg

BO Raise

5 x 12 x 16kg

Lat Raise

12 x 16kg

4 x 10 x 16kg

Front Raise

5 x 10 x 16kg

Toe Press

12 x 200kg

4 x 12 x 240kg

Seated Calf Raise

5 x 12 x 75lb

Crunch Punch

5 x 12 x 6kg

Assorted other ab shit

X-trainer 15min

Row 1000m

Thurs

Row 1000m

Squat

10 x 10 x 100kg

Leg Extension

10 x 10 x 120lb

Decline Fly (first time ever)

3 x 10 x 16kg

Inc Fly

3 x 10 x 18kg

3 x 10 x 16kg

Iron Cross

5 x 10 x 50lb

Pec Deck

5 x 12 x 60lb

Hammers

5 x 10 x 18kg

Rope Curl

5 x 10 x 100lb

Dbl Bi Curl

10 x 70lb

12 x 70lb

3 x 10 x 70lb

X-trainer 15min

Row 1000m

Today

Row 1000m

H/S Row

5 x 10 x 20kg

Seated Row

5 x 12 x 120lb

SAPD

5 x 10 x 70lb

Dbl Pd

5 x 12 x 90lb

SLDL

5 x 10 x 80kg

Leg Curl

5 x 10 x 100lb

Lying Tri Ext

5 x 10 x 130lb

1-Arm Pd

5 x 10 x 50lb

X-trainer 20min

Row 1000m

Kinda running on empty today, so fewer sets than planned, and rests were getting a bit longer between sets. Hoping I can get in tomorrow to hit Shoulders/calves/abs again, but if not I'm not gonna get too stressed about it. Shoulders and calves probably need the least amount of work out of anything, and I can always do some ab work at home. Gotta make sure I keep up some cardio over the weekend though. I figure I must be doing something right, since Monday morning BW is down 2kg.

[poos_n_wees]

Nice rack pulls Ronin! And a nice lil weight drop there too

I'm currently trying a new split:

Mon: Chest, Bis, Quads

Tue: Back, Tris, Hams

Wed: Shoulders, calves, abs

Thurs - Sat: Repeat

And like the god I am, on the 7th day, I shall rest :pfft:

You're an egg :pfft:

How're you finding the new split?

[Ronin]

Nice rack pulls Ronin! And a nice lil weight drop there too

Thanks PnW. Today's weigh-in for the "official" weekly score showed a 2.75kg drop, which I'm pretty happy with. Still a ways to go though.

How're you finding the new split?

Loving it. Feels like a fair bit of volume at times (54 sets today across chest, quads & bis), but I really am enjoying hitting everything twice per week. The only negative I've come across so far is that from time to time my elbows are giving a little twinge. Nothing serious, though, not enough to make me wanna stop.

[Ronin]

Okay, time for another update. Training is progressing nicely, and weight is still coming down, although a bit more slowly now. And dare I say it, it does feel like I'm gaining some muscle at the same time. Wishful thinking? I guess time will tell.

I have to admit though, that I am beginning to doubt myself, with regard to whether I'll be able to make it to stage condition in time.

Anyway, this week's training has been thus...

All workouts start with a 1000m warmup row, and finish with 20min on the X-trainer and 2000m row.

Mon

Inc Fly

5 x 10 x 21kg

5 x 10 x 18kg

Iron X

5 x 10 x 60lb

X-Under

10 x 40lb

4 x 10 x 30lb

Leg Press

5 x 10 x 240kg

5 x 10 x 280kg

Leg Ext

5 x 10 x 150lb

Hammers

5 x 10 x 18kg

Rope Curl

5 x 10 x 100lb

Dbl Bi Curl

12, 12, 11, 12, 11 x 70lb

Tue

Deadlift (forgot belt)

5 x 100kg

4 x 5 x 140kg

WG T-Bar

5 x 10 x 60kg

NGPD

5 x 10 x 105lb

Seated Row

5 x 10 x 135lb

Dbl PD

5 x 12 x 100lb

SLDL

5 x 10 x 90kg

Rope Tri Pd

5 x 10 x 60lb

Tri Pd

5 x 10 x 60lb

Wed

BTN Press

5 x 10 x 45kg

Upright Row

5 x 10 x 40kg

BB Shrug

5 x 10 x 100kg

BO Raise

5 x 10 x 16kg

Lat Raise

5 x 10 x 16kg

Front Raise

5 x 10 x 16kg

Toe Press

10 x 12 x 240kg

Thurs

Flat Fly

3 x 8 x 21kg

5 x 10 x 18kg

Pec Deck

5 x 10 x 70lb

Iron X

5 x 10 x 70lb

X-Under

5 x 10 x 30lb

Leg Press

5 x 10 x 240

10 x 10 x 280kg

Rev Cable Curl

5 x 10 x 100lb

Rope Curl

5 x 10 x 100lb

Dbl Bi Curl

5 x 12 x 70lb

Fri

Rack Pulls

5 x 10 x 140lb

WG T-Bar

5 x 10 x 60kg

NGPD

5 x 10 x 105lb

H/S Row

5 x 10 x 40kg

Dbl PD

12 x 100lb

4 x 12 x 110lb

GMs

5 x 10 x 60kg

SLDL

5 x 10 x 80kg

Tri Pd

5 x 10 x 70lb

BO Cable Ext

5 x 10 x 100lb

1-Arm Pd

5 x 10 x 40lb

Now, I dunno whether that's a lot or not, but believe me when I say that sitting here typing just now, I'm feeling utterly shagged. And not in a good way Intake is currently sitting at about 1500cal/day, and I'm still following IF, so training takes place each morning on nothing more than 2 cups of black coffee. On the upside, it's pretty much impossible to puke in the gym this way

Finally bought some new straps, and then found out why they were so cheap...no padding on them. Consequently, my original intention of doing 10 x 10 for Racks and Stiff-legs today went out the window when my wrists started to bleed. Great, now I look like some sort of fucken emo :pfft:

I think that's it for now. I'm still hopeful that I'll make it to my goal, despite being plagued by these nagging self-doubts. My coach is confident for me, although in my quieter times I have to wonder whether that's sincere, or well-intentioned encouragement. All I know is that if I don't make it, I'm going to be severely pissed off at myself, I've come this far, I really don't want to fall at the last hurdle.

[mike27]

solid look sessions with only 1500cals!! and some cardio pwo to boot!

1500cal's is my pwo meal! :nod: :twisted:

[Phedder]

You've got to know you're putting in a decent effort when your wrists start bleeding though 9 weeks left right? still plenty of time mate, just keep doing what you're doing and let the coach steer you right :nod: Are we going to get any more progress pics? :poked:

[Ronin]

solid look sessions with only 1500cals!! and some cardio pwo to boot!

1500cal's is my pwo meal! :nod: :twisted:

Cheers dude, lookin forward to bein able to chow down like that again :grin:

You've got to know you're putting in a decent effort when your wrists start bleeding though

Wasn't like I'd opened an artery or anything, just rubbed raw by the straps, to the point there was a bit of claret seeping out. Now it just looks like I've been in for the hell B&D sesh :shock:

9 weeks left right? still plenty of time mate, just keep doing what you're doing and let the coach steer you right :nod:

Yup, 9 weeks + 1 sleep :grin: Sure doesn't feel like plenty of time, especially when I look at the guys at my gym that I'll be up against.

Are we going to get any more progress pics? :poked:

Nope. No more pics til show day

[Ronin]

This week has been mostly good, diet-wise, although I fucked up last weekend. Saturday I was feeling a major need for some mental-health food, so knocked back a 250g bag of roasty, salty, cashewy goodness. I didn't feel bad about that though, as it was a considered decision, and it beat the hell out of the jumbo bag of roast peanuts that was eye-fucking me . But Sunday, at the supermarket, the bastards put out fresh, hot cheese viennas (on special) just as I was walking past. I caved, and had inhaled 2/3 of it before I even left the carpark :oops: . That one, I did feel bad about.

Cals are remaining about 1500 per diem, and cardio is the same as last mentioned for each workout. Anyway, this weeks training...

Mon

Inc Fly

5 x 10 x 21kg

4 x 10 x 18kg

Iron X

4 x 10 x 70lb

X-under

5 x 10 x 30lb

Leg Ext

5 x 10 x 150lb

Leg Press

8 x 10 x 240kg

Hammers

5 x 10 x 18kg

Rope Curl

5 x 10 x 100lb

Dbl Bi Curl

5 x 10 x 70lb

Tue

Rack Pulls

10 x 140kg

4 x 10 x 160kg

T-Bar (WG/CG alternating sets)

10 x 10 x 60kg

NGPD

5 x 10 x 105lb

Dbl Pd

5 x 12 x 100lb

GM

5 x 10 x 60kg

SLDL

5 x 10 x 80kg

Tri Pd

5 x 10 x 70lb

B/O Cable Ext

5 x 10 x 100lb

1-Arm Pd

5 x 10 x 40lb

Wed

HC&P

5 x 10 x 40kg

B/O Raise

5 x 12 x 16kg

Lat Raise

5 x 10 x 16kg

Front Raise

5 x 10 x 16kg

DB Shrug

5 x 10 x 51kg

Rev X-Over

5 x 10 x 40lb

Toe Press

10 x 10 x 240kg

Thurs

Inc Fly

5 x 10 x 21kg

Iron X

5 x 10 x 70lb

Cable Curl

10 x 100lb

4 x 10 x 110lb

Rope Curl

2 x 10 x 100lb

3 x 10 x 110lb

Dbl Bi Curl

5 x 12 x 70lb

Fri

Rack Pulls

5 x 10 x 160kg

WG T-Bar

5 x 10 x 70kg

NGPD

5 x 10 x 105lb

Seated Row

5 x 10 x 135lb

Dbl Pd

5 x 12 x 110lb

GMs

5 x 10 x 60kg

SLDL

5 x 10 x 80kg

Tri Pd

5 x 10 x 70lb

1-Arm Pd

5 x 10 x 40lb

B/O Rope Ext

5 x 10 x 110lb

On Monday I decided to drop a set off each exercise to make some more time for extra cardio. Problem was, I just couldn't bring myself to finish on 4 sets, it just didn't feel right, so I shit-canned that plan.

Thursday I was pretty pushed for time, so had to cut the session down a bit. Consequently, quads dipped out a bit this week...I'll try to make it up to them next week :grin:

Hopefully tomorrow the weather will hold, as I'm planning to take the kids out for a bit of a hike in the bush, should make a nice change of cardio. Who knows, I might even bring them back home again...we'll see :pfft: And Sunday I'll hit Shoulders and abs again, with some bonus cardio time. That's the plan anyway.

[Ronin]

Ok, I figured it's probably time for an update.

Sadly, there's a bit of a question-mark over whether I'll be competing in the Dunedin NABBA show. Basically I'm not in the condition I wanted to be in, as of the start of this week. I've come to the realisation that while I did make some mistakes as far as not being strict enough with my diet in the last few weeks, my biggest mistake over a longer period of time was to listen to advice from too many sources. Instead of sticking to one source (eg my trainer), I took information (some good, some not so much) from various websites (including this one), reports, books, and Uni courses. I'm not saying anyone's opinions were necessarily wrong or bad, more that I tried to incorporate these opinions into my training & eating regimen, at the expense of consistently following one path. Live and learn, right?

So as of last Friday, the owner of my gym has put me on a new carb-cycling diet (H/M/L/L), and I've really stepped up my cardio.

High Carb

1605cal, 192P, 159C, 19F

Medium Carb

1282cal, 185P, 91C, 16F

Low Carb

1081cal, 178P, 54C, 14F

As an example of my training now, today kicked off with an hour of Chest & Bis, followed by:

X-trainer, 20min

Circuit of:

5min Spin Bike (30sec sprint, 30sec recover)

10kg DB lunges the length of the gym (usually 8 per leg, depending on length of stride)

10 x 10kgDB swissball squats

Stair run (1 floor, up & down x 10)

100 med ball twists

10kgDB lunges back down the gym

2min Grinder (15sec sprint, 15sec recover)

1000m row

2min rest, repeat

Then in the afternoon, come back for 15min on X-trainer then another 2 circuits.

This seems to be working, but it's still gonna be touch'n'go. I'm determined to get on stage, so if I don't get there this time, there's a NZIFBB show in Chch in October that I WILL be ready for in time. But I really really wanna do the show in front of a home crowd. There's a lot of reasons for doing the Chch one instead, but the main one in favor of the Dunedin show is just that "I wanna". Entries close on the 20th, so a final decision will be made, in consultation with trainer and gym owner, on the 19th.

I also want to take this opportunity to say a big thank-you to Poos'n'Wees and Muscle_NZ who came to my aid with regard to trunks and tan.

[sampsonaxehammer]

nice lifts and power on those lower cals mate, all the best with the comp.about how much tan do you need for a comp? i havent done one for a few years so ive forgotten..

[Ronin]

I've been told to get a spray-on base coat, then 2 tubs of mud. Dunno if that's standard, or just cos I'm rockin the southern man tan :pfft:

[hhhh1]

looks like youre putting a lot of hard work in, hope you do make it on stage in dunedin

[sampsonaxehammer]

thanks for that, yeah a base and two dream tan is all i want to spend, got the shts and threw the eftpos card in the cubbord hopefully to reduce all the spending involved in these things .have a good weekend mate.

[Ronin]

I think it's about time I resurrected this journal-thingy.

After making the decision to skip the NABBA show, I had a few days of "relaxed eating". Nothing too serious (the worst was a bag of corn chips), but allowed myself some bread, pasta etc. That combined with a snow-&-illness-enforced absence from the gym for a few days to hide some of the progress I'd made.

Anyway, back on track now.

Medium carb day

- 60g oats, PP shake

- 1 rice cake, PP shake

- 1 can tuna, 1/2 cup (cooked) brown rice

- 100g kumara, PP shake

- 150g chicken breast, 1.5 cups raw carrot

- PP shake

75min weights - quads, chest, bis.

10min X-trainer

Circuit

- 3min Spin bike (30sec sprint, 30sec recover)

- Walking lunges (10kg DBs)

- 10 S/B squats (10kg DBs)

- Stair run (1 flight, 10 x up & down)

- 100 med ball twists

- Walking lunges (10kg DBs)

- 2min Grinder (15sec sprint, 15sec recover)

- 500m row

2min rest, repeat.

I've still got my work cut out for me, but we're balls-to-the-wall. Next week, will be introducing a second cardio session in the afternoon.

[Ronin]

Low-carb day (1)

- 25g oats, PP Shake

- 1 Rice cake, PP shake

- 150g chicken breast, 100g kumera

- PP shake

- 150g chicken breast, 1.5 cups raw carrot

- PP shake

75 mins weights - back, hams, tris

Cardio same as yesterdy.

Kinda flat today.

[Ronin]

Low-carb day (2)

- 25g oats, PP Shake

- 1 Rice cake, PP shake

- 150g chicken breast, 100g kumera

- PP shake

- 150g chicken breast, 1.5 cups raw carrot

- PP shake

Just a bit of cardio today...

20min X-trainer

2 x circuits as above

Feeling a little drained today, roll on Hi-carb day tomorrow.

[Grover]

What is your total calorie intake per day?

Looks like you are still cutting?