And unto this...RONIN

[Gym rat]

That is normal for most people to feel sick after they have had hard quad or leg train.I have come close at times to feeling sick after I have a hard quad train.For having sore ass after doing lunges that would be called TAS meaning tight ass sydrome which last for about two or three days

[Ronin]

Cardio day, typically my least favourite day of the week. Although to be honest, as time goes by, I'm starting to hate it less and less. Is that ok to say on a bodybuilding site?

M1 4 eggs, 2 streaky bacon

M2 Half a chicken

M3 200g roast beef, 100g cheese

M4 2 chicken breasts (skin on, nom nom nom)

M5 Sludge

M6 Jelly Fluff

Forgot to take my shaker to the gym today, and having once before tried to choke down the powder and wash it down (choke being the operative word), I just decided to do without. So I'm down on the protein intake today, but consoling myself with the fact that it was only cardio, no lifting.

Weighed in at 87.9kg

Bike, Warmup 10min, lvl6, 115 cal

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 20 min, 339 cal

Stepper, Manual, lvl12, 5 min, 31 cal

X-trainer, Manual, lvl9, 10 min, 168 cal

Bike, Cooldown, 5 min, 49 cal

So all up 50 minutes and a grand total of 702 calories (ish). Not too bad for a recovering fat-bastard, smoker, if I do say so myself lol. I think in future I'm gonna forget the stepper, and just spend more time on the X-trainer. It seems to be the most effective machine there, and I find on the stepper I just kinda bounce from one side to the other, which my poor ole knees don't seem to like too much.

[Ronin]

So, Saturday, the nippers were at the demon's place, so I managed to get in an extra gym session, and figured I should concentrate on some more cardio. Stuck to the high protein/fat, low carb cycle for Sat, but for the first time in months, went out for drinkies on Saturday night. Didn't emerge from bed til about midday on Sunday, so carb-loading was only a couple of meals this time round, we'll see how that affects the next week.

Saturday, weighed in at 87.4kg

Bike, Warmup 10min, lvl 6, 114cal

X-trainer, Manual, lvl 9, 30 min, 531cal

Bike, Cooldown, 5min, 55 cal

Monday

Remembering now why I don't drink very often any more. Plus, all I could think about was how much gym time each drink was costing me (at least, for the first few drinks, and after that, welllll, I don't know what I was thinking).

M1 4 eggs, 2 streaky bacon

M2 PWO Shake

M3 Half a chook

M4 200g Roast Beef

M5 2 chicken breasts

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 89.1kg

Chest & Bis

Warmup 1000m row

Bench Press

11 x 60kg

9 x 60kg

2 x 7 x 60kg

Inc DB Press

10 x 21kg

2 x 8 x 21kg

Cable X-overs

12 x 60lb

11 x 60lb

12 x 50lb

Super-set with

Cable X-unders

12 x 40lb

10 x 40lb

12 x 30lb

BB Curl

12 x 30kg

10 x 30kg

10 x 27.5kg

DB Curl

3 x 10 x 13kg

Cable Curl

3 x 15 x 50lb PB

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 20min, 334cal

Was all set to order some Eatme creatine today, but got an email from Nutratech advising they now have 500g packs of mono for $24, so went with that one. I haven't used mono before, but from what I've read on here, loading should be 4 doses, breakfast, pre-workout, post-workout, and evening. Given that I train about an hour after breakfast, is this a workable option for me, or would I be better to, say, have either pre- or post-workout, and another dose mid-afternoon?

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, 1 chicken breast

M2 PWO Shake

M3 200g shredded chicken

M4 200g shredded chicken

M5 400g mince, w avocado, jalapenos, sour cream

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 88.9kg

Back & Triceps

Warmup row 1000m

Lat Pulldown

3 x 10 x 150lb PB

Machine Pull

12 x 50kg

2 x 12 x 60kg PB

10 x 60kg

Seated Row

3 x 12 x 165lb PB

Hyper Flyes

with 6kg DBs

30, 25, 22 PB

Tricep Pressdown

3 x 12 x 70lb PB

8 x 70lb

Single-arm Cable Pull

3 x 12 x 40lb PB (although form was gettin pretty dodgy by the end)

Kickbacks

3 x 12 x 13kg PB

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 20min, 344cal

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO Shake

M3 200g chicken

M4 200g chicken

M5 500g roast hogget

M6 sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 88.5kg

Legs

Warmup row 1000m

Leg Press

12 x 240kg

3 x 12 x 250kg PB

Hack Squat

3 x 10 x 100kg

10 x 110kg

10 x 120kg

Think I've finally got my technique nailed

Leg Extension

2 x 12 x 130lb

12 x 140lb

Super Set with

Leg Curl

12 x 110lb

2 x 12 x 100lb

Walking DB Lunges

each set = 8 per leg

3 x 16kg

Standing Calf Raise

10 x 390lb+20kg

3 x 10 x 390lb+30kg PB

Seated Calf Raise

15 x 60lb

2 x 15 x 75lb PB

Stair 50s

50/50/50 PB

No way was I doing any time on the X-trainer after that.

I know it's only a matter of time til I puke in the gym, I came close today, then had reflux all day. Is it like a rite of passage? Hope so, cos then I won't feel like such a cock when I lose my bacon & eggs all over the weights :shifty:

[rose]

I know it's only a matter of time til I puke in the gym, I came close today, then had reflux all day. Is it like a rite of passage? Hope so, cos then I won't feel like such a cock when I lose my bacon & eggs all over the weights :shifty:

May depend what gym you go to? Can't imagine a shiny land being impressed, you might hurt their carpet :roll: I'd give you a smile and maybe a paper towel to wipe ya chin with 8)

[Ronin]

Haha, the gym I'm at now definitely isn't shiny land, just wall-to-wall iron and the smell of metal and sweat. The owner had a laugh when I asked him where it was ok to puke, so I don't think I'll get in trouble. Can't imagine him handing out paper towels either though :pfft:

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO Shake

M3 200g chicken

M4 300g Roast Hogget

M5 400g Roast Hogget

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 88.0kg

Shoulders & Traps

Warmup row 1000m

DB Press

2 x 12 x 16kg

9 x 16kg

8 x 16kg

Upright Row

3 x 12 x 40kg PB

Lateral Raise

3 x 12 x 11kg PB

Front Raise

3 x 12 x 16kg PB

Machine Shrugs

3 x 15 x 270lb

DB Shrugs

3 x 15 x 33kg PB

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 20min, 347cal (quads did NOT like me for this)

Torturer is doing measurements and BF% tomorrow, and I'm getting new progress pics. Let's see if it's been worth it.

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO Shake

M3 200g chicken

M4 400g Roast Hogget

M5 2 chicken thighs, skinless, boneless

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

And a crapload of water, as I'm loading on creatine. I'm pretty sure the bloating that people complain about on creatine is really a result of being waterlogged all day.

Cardio day was cut a bit short, due to time constraints

Weighed in at 87.8kg

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 20min, 362cal

Bike, cooldown, lvl 6, 5min, 50cal

So, did body comps today with PT. Definitely a step up from what was done at my last gym. The skinfolds were taken differently, eg bicep wasn't taken with arm bent and tensed, sub-scap was taken with arm hanging loose, rather than bent at 90degrees and held behind the back. And it felt like he was actually getting into the tissue, rather than just pinching the skin. So consequently my BF% is higher than before, but more likely to be accurate. Full range of measurements were taken, rather than just chest, stomach and arms.

And the results are in:

BMI 30.4 (Yay, I'm still obese :pfft: )

Waist 93cm

Hips 109cm

Chest 106cm

Left Bi 36cm

Right Bi 36cm

Abdomen 96cm

Left Thigh 57.5cm

Right Thigh 58cm

Left Calf 42cm

Right Calf 41.5cm

BF 24.3% (Loooooooong way to go)

So, has it been worth it to this point? I think so. There's definitely been some muscle growth, and I feel like I've shed a bit of fat. Despite being initially a bit disheartened that the number is actually higher than I first thought, I now see it as having a more accurate figure to work with. I'm definitely carrying less fat than I used to, I feel a lot better, my lifts are getting heavier, so all in all, It's been worth it. After all, in 3 months I've put 6cm on my chest and a cm on each arm. No idea about the rest of the bodyparts, but there has been growth there too.

So, onwards & upwards. I'm going to get bigger, no matter what it takes. The torturer is, over the weekend, putting the finishing touches on a new program which he promises will kill me, but will also get results. Here goes...

[rose]

Good stuff Sir 8) Interesting re your left thigh and right calf!

[Ronin]

Yeah, go figure. Is it normal to have a bit of variation form one side to the other? And if so, would it usually be that one side is bigger/smaller, rather than this? Or maybe I just tensed up one more than the other without realising it.

[Ronin]

Almost forgot the progress pics.

Just for shits and giggles, I thought I'd have a go at a posy shot. Hope everyone gets as good a laugh as I did :pfft:

[rose]

Nice one 8) I swear it's your right calf that looks bigger though! :-s Are you sticking with the anabolic diet?

[Ronin]

Yeah, I guess it does. Cant say I'd really noticed. Either way, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over 5mm difference in my calves, when there's still a whole lot of work to be done on the important body parts. Things like losing the gut, and building the quads, back & shoulders have to take priority.

Yes I will be sticking with the Anabolic Diet, although it's an on-going process of tweaking it to suit. Have received some good info from Optimass, and am in the process of working it in. My carb-up is now down to Sunday afternoon/evening, and will probably drop further to just Sunday dinner, as my body seems to like carbs too much. And it consists of oats & whey, and pasta.

[rose]

:-s But don't you know the road to awesomeness is paved with calf raises? Oh and bicep curls (momentum stylez, in the squat rack). Those two exes alone will ensure much success 8)

[Ronin]

Well duh, everyone knows that!! But I have to be careful not to get too oresum coz, well, y'know, like, I don't wanna turn into one of doze big muscly bodybuilders or anything ay. Besides, I prefer to do my curling with the comfortable plastic dumbells, in the mirrored corner, so I can admire my oresumness from all angles. :pfft:

[Ronin]

Right, back into it.

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO Shake

M3 2 chicken thighs, skinless

M4 2 chicken thighs, skinless

M5 2 chicken thighs, 4 eggs

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

First day of the new torture regime. I think senor PT is trying to disprove Nietzsche, and show that what does kill me can also make me stronger :grin:

Weighed in at 89.6kg

Chest, tris & bis

Warmup row 1000m

BB Inc Press

2 x 10 x 50kg

BB Inc Press

4 x 60kg

6 x 50kg

Superset with

Dips (b/w)

8,6

Dips (b/w)

10,5

Superset with

Cable X-overs

15 x 60lb

15 x 50lb

Cable X-overs

2 x 15 x 50lb

Superset with

Skullcrushers, into press

2 x 10 x ezy bar + 10kg

Skullcrushers, into press

2 x 10 x ezy bar + 10kg

Superset with

Reverse Grip Pulldowns

2 x 15 x 30lb

Reverse Grip Pulldowns

2 x 15 x 30lb

Superset with

Barbell Curls

2 x 10 x 27.5kg

Barbell Curls

10 x 27.5kg

6 x 27.5kg

Superset with

Rope Curls

2 x 12 x 40lb

Rope Curls

2 x 12 x 40lb

Superset with

Ezy Bar Preachers

5 x bar + 10kg

12 x bar + 5kg

Ezy Bar Preachers

12 x bar + 5kg

15 x bar + 5kg

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 20min, 340cal

Interesting day. Just rolled from one set to the next. The only breaks were moving between exercises and setting up weights, and a couple of times waiting for the cables to be free. Pretty much just one big superset. And I soooo didn't want to jump on the crosstrainer after that, but just had to. Is it just me or is there some sort of temporal anomoly involved in cardio? It just always seems that time passes a lot more slooooooowwwly on the X-trainer.

Legs tomorrow.

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO Shake

M3 200g chicken

M4 1.5 Chicken thighs, skinless

M5 Mutton Flap *mmmmm*

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

A wee bit DOMSy in the chest and tris today.

Weighed in at 88.4kg

Legs

Warmup row 1000m

Hacksquats

2 x 12 x 120kg

10 x 120kg

2 x 12 x 110kg

Triset

Jumpsquats

3 x 20 x 20kg

^^^

Leg Curls

20 x 100lb

20 x 90lb

20 x 80lb

^^^

Wall Squats

42 sec

44 sec

45 sec

Stair 50s

50/50/50

50/30/20

50/28/21

Calf Crunches

23

25

26

Decided against the X-trainer, as is my wont after legsday.

However, as much as it's a hobble down the stairs to the showers, by the time I've chucked back a shake and had a nice hot shower, I'm generally feeling pretty restored, and walk out of the gym wondering if maybe I haven't worked hard enough. I certainly don't resemble some old dude who's "lost his zimmer frame" :pfft: . On paper it certainly doesn't look like as much as I was doing, and I missed my leg presses today, although the triset took a fair bit. (BTW, should the wall squat be hitting my lower back before the quads give out?) I think next week I might play with some deadlifts. Never done them before, so it will take some playing to sort out the right weights.

Tomorrow's meant to be cardio day under the new regime. But Friday will see me playing parent help for the kindy, and school ends on Thurs, so there will be no gym time on Friday. So now I have to decide whether tomorrow should be Thursday's Back/Bi/Tri marathon, or give the arms another day off and make it Friday's Shoulders/Traps session. Decisions decisions, damn I have a stressful life lol.

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO shake

M3 200g Beef

M4 2 chook thighs

M5 The other 2 chook thighs

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Looking at this, there really doesn't seem to be a lot of variation in my eats does there. Yet it doesn't seem that boring when I'm eating it. Hmmmmm...

Weighed in at 88.7kg

Shoulders & Traps

Warmup row 1000m

Military Press (Smith Machine)

2 x 10 x 40kg

6 x 40kg

7 x 35kg

9 x 35kg

Single-arm Power Throw

8 x 30lb

2 x 8 x 35lb

Superset with

Lateral Raise

3 x 20 x 8kg (form was pretty dodgy by the end)

Bent-over Cable Pulls

12 x 20lb

2 x 12 x 30lb

DB Shrug & Swing

3 x 20 x 5kg

Superset with

Machine Shrugs

3 x 15 x 270lb

Had to skip the cardio again today due to time constraints. Really not looking forward to the next 7 weeks or so. Ankle biters are seriously gonna intrude on training time.

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO shake

M3 200g chicken

M4 Chilli Tuna melt

M5 350g Pepper Steak

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 88.2kg

Back, Bis & Tris

Warmup 1000m row

W/G Chins

2,2

W/G Chins (controlled negatives)

5,5

Superset with

Close Grip Pullups

3,3

Close Grip Pullups

2,2

Superset with

Seated Row

2 x 15 x 165lb

Seated Row

15 x 165lb

11 x 165lb

Superset with

Inc DB Curl

12 x 11kg

10 x 11kg

Inc DB Curl

2 x 10 x 11kg

Superset with

Hammer Curl

2 x 15 x 8kg

Hammer Curl

2 x 15 x 8kg

Superset with

Bench Dips

23, 23

Bench Dips

21,14

Superset with

Pressups

10,11

Pressups

12,14

Superset with

Pressdowns

12 x 60lb

10 x 60lb

Pressdowns

10 x 60lb

10 x 50lb

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 20min, 332cal

[Optimass]

Weights been level for a while > what are your measures like Ronin? must be seeing some change in composition. good cosistancy in your workouts and nutrition :nod:

[Ronin]

Hey Opti, yes bodyweight seems to have settled somewhat now, just minor fluctuations during the week. Eg, weight is up on Mondays, which isn't surprising given that the weekend is when I take carbs onboard, and generally don't get to train due to the little Ronins. So overall I'm not worried about the weight number.

Latest measures are on page 3. Overall fairly pleasing. Yes I'm definitely seeing (feeling) some changes in body comp. As mentioned earlier, BF% is now higher due to readings actually being taken correctly, but I feel as though bodyfat has dropped slightly. Can't really tell if the pics back this up or not. Definitely feeling more muscle mass in most areas, but of course it's early days yet, and there's a long road to go. Is good consistency in nutrition just a nice way of saying "boring menu"? :pfft:

Today

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 200g chicken

M3 Chilli Tuna melt, protein & creatine shake

M4 3 chook thighs

M5 Sludge

M6 Jelly Fluff

Didn't get to train today as I was busy playing Daddy Day Care at the kindy break-up picnic (mind you, I managed to get in about 200 reps of toddler presses ). Was kinda surprised how easy it was to not want to eat any of the christmassy treats on offer. None of the bikkies, sweets, chips, xmas cake offered any appeal, not even the sausage in bread with tomato sauce (although that did smell divine on the BBQ though). Had a few strange loooks from some of the other parents as I tucked into my cold chicken and bottle of water, even from the Dad who was proudly sporting his "Personal Trainer" Tshirt as he knocked back several helpings of sugar and fat :pfft: . Anyway, I've convinced the Demon to take the kids tomorrow for a couple of hours so I can make up for lost time. It'll probably just be the missed cardio session, although I'm tempted to experiment with some deads. I just hope there aren't too many in the weights area on the Saturday before Xmas, as I've never done deads before (Sorry Rose :shock: ) and don't want to appear too much of a muppet by either loading the bar too much and not getting it off the ground, or too light and looking like a pussy. We'll see.

On other news, I decided to try saving a wee bit of $ by not buying WW jelly for my usual pre-bed snack. Instead I figured I could use standard gelatine and some flavouring. Sounds like a plan, right? And then I thought what would be great with chocolate PP? Peppermint, yum. Let me advise against this...not good, not good at all. Maybe I should have used some sweetener with it, or something to add to the choc taste, I don't know. But it tasted like arse. Minty arse admittedly, but arse nonetheless. Might cowboy up at some stage and try again with a different flavour, but for now, it's back to WW.

[rose]

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/

Good work avoiding the sugar plague.

[Ronin]

Ok, so first, confession time. Saturday turned out to be cardio only, due to time constraints.

Weighed in at 88.6kg

Xtrainer, manual, lvl 9, 40min, 751cal

Was flooded with sweat after that one, best cardio session I've had yet.

Sunday's carb-up was in the pm only, and consisted of

1.5 cups of oats, with sultanas & protein powder, and whole milk

Chilli bread

Fish pie, with lots of potato

Today

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO shake

M3 200g chicken

M4 Chilli tuna melt

M5 Mince with cheese

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 88.1kg

Chest, Tris, Bis

Warmup row 1000m

BB Inc Press

10 x 60kg

8 x 60kg

BB Inc Press

6 x 60kg

2 x 60kg

Superset with

Dips (b/w)

6,6

Dips (b/w)

4,5

Superset with

Cable X-overs

15 x 60lb

15 x 50lb

Cable X-overs

2 x 15 x 50lb

Superset with

Skullcrushers, into press

2 x 10 x ezy bar + 15kg

Skullcrushers, into press

2 x 10 x ezy bar + 10kg

Superset with

Reverse Grip Pulldowns

2 x 15 x 30lb

Reverse Grip Pulldowns

2 x 15 x 40lb

Superset with

Barbell Curls

2 x 10 x 27.5kg

Barbell Curls

2 x 10 x 27.5kg

Superset with

Rope Curls

12 x 40lb

12 x 50lb

Rope Curls

2 x 12 x 50lb

Superset with

Ezy Bar Preachers

6 x bar + 10kg

15 x bar + 5kg

Ezy Bar Preachers

12 x bar + 5kg

15 x bar + 5kg

X-trainer, manual, lvl 9, 10min, 173cal

I'll have to check, but I think this was the first time that Monday's bodyweight was lower than Friday's. Could be that I've finally got the "below maintenance" level right.

Things were a bit messy today, by the time I could get the rugrats to their mum and then to the gym, it was about 3 hours since I'd eaten breakfast, instead of the usual hour. So I was running a bit lower than usual, hence the half length cardio. And I'm gonna blame the crappy dips on that too. Tomorrow should be better, although I can foresee quite a bit of upheaval in the future dammit.

[Ronin]

M1 4 eggs, bacon

M2 PWO shake

M3 Chilli tuna melt

M4 400g steak

M5 3 chicken thighs (with skin, nom nom nom)

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly Fluff

Today's journey in the iron room at Sky Fitness Dunedin took us to the land of legs (well, shit, with the demise of a Dunedin icon, I figure someone should pick up the slack :pfft: )

Weighed in at 87.7kg

Warmup row 1000m

Hacksquats

5 x 12 x 120kg PB

Triset

Jumpsquats

3 x 20 x 20kg

^^^

Leg Curls

20 x 100lb

15/5 x 100lb/90lb (Managed to squeeze out 15, then had to drop to 90 to finish the set)

16/4 x 90lb/80lb (As above)

^^^

Wall Squats

1 min

51 sec

1 min 2sec

Stair 50s

50/50/50

50/38/37

50/31/27

Calf Crunches

31

33

36

Not too sure about the jumpsquats. I've had a knee injury in the past (distant past, but still) so I'm a little nervous about jumping up and down with a bar on my shoulders. Apart from increasing explosive power, what are the benefits versus say, a standard squat?