Drizzt is done with cutting for the year!

[emmzies]

:clap: You're the man, man. I SHIIT you not 8)

I have to admit, Wellington has no shortage of places to have a SHIIT. :grin:

I thought since the act of SHIIT'ing ( :pfft:) had a name, I should give the place I perform SHIIT ( :pfft: - I'm so mature) a name too.

Oh man, what have i started... :doh:

[drizzt]

Oh man, what have i started... :doh:

Would that be SHIIT stirring Emmzies?

Wow looking great Drizzt. All your hard work and dedication is really paying off.

Thankya VC

Day 22: 14/12/09

Weight fluctuations continue, up to 92.2 today.

Felt terrible today. Sluggish, unmotivated, tired, as well as some serious DOMS in my quads... maybe I've hit the proverbial wall? A lot of stress right now from various areas of life - including but not limited to; a funeral later this week, exam on Thursday (and studying leading up to it), the busiest time of year at work - adding it all together I think it's affecting my training/dieting On top of this, all of the christmasy food coming out while I've been eating "clean" for 3+ months now ain't helping :pfft: I haven't indulged yet, but boy oh boy am I close.

Mentally, I'm struggling at the moment.

Weights

With "the wall" in mind, I had Chest today. Limited it to 3 exercises (which was mainly due to lack of time) but primarily focused on BB Bench.

• 
  BB Bench Press* (sets, reps, weight)
  1 x 10 @ 20kg (warmup)
  1 x 6 @ 60kg (warmup)
  1 x 3 @ 100kg (warmup)
  1 x 4 @ 110kg
  1 x 2 @ 112.5kg**
  2 x 2 @ 115kg
  1 x 2 @ 110kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 10 @ 80kg (drop)
  1 x 15 @ 60kg (drop)
  1 x 20 @ 20kg (drop, fail)
  Incline BB Bench
  1 x 15 @ 60kg
  1 x 12 @ 70kg
  1 x 10 @ 70kg (failure)
  Decline BB Bench
  1 x 15 @ 60kg
  1 x 8 @ 80kg
  1 x 6 @ 80kg (failure)
  

Comments

• 
  *Again (like yesterday) just couldn't bring myself to push much, so upped the sets and dropped the reps.
  **HUGE mess up on my part on the 5th set - had 2 x 20kg plates, 1 x 5kg plate and thought I had loaded a 2.5kg on each side to give me 115 total... but nup, forgot about the left side. First rep I thought "Hang on, something's up here", and after the second rep I racked to check it out and sure enough, the plates on one side were 47.5, the other was 45 :roll: I've never made a mess up like that before, so I guess that says a lot about my frame of mind today. It also probably wasted a set for me, as I intended to do 3 sets @ 115 but didn't have the energy following that cock-up :roll:
  

I intended to do a set of pec deck or some sort of flyes exercise after decline bench, but with the long exercise first up I had already pushed my lunch break, so had to call it quits.

Edit - screw the excuses, boxing it is tonight 8)

[rose]

boxing it is tonight 8)

That's more like it :nod: Hang in there 8)

[Draft]

Felt terrible today. Sluggish, unmotivated, tired, as well as some serious DOMS in my quads... maybe I've hit the proverbial wall? A lot of stress right now from various areas of life - including but not limited to; a funeral later this week, exam on Thursday (and studying leading up to it), the busiest time of year at work - adding it all together I think it's affecting my training/dieting On top of this, all of the christmasy food coming out while I've been eating "clean" for 3+ months now ain't helping :pfft: I haven't indulged yet, but boy oh boy am I close.

I know what you mean dude, after a large weekend and a shit legs session Sunday motivation today was at an all time low, but once I got in and started lifting it picked up a, my chest workout was a little re-vamped this week which I think helped keep things interesting.

Good luck with boxing dude and keep at, your making awesome progress! :nod:

**HUGE mess up on my part on the 5th set - had 2 x 20kg plates, 1 x 5kg plate and thought I had loaded a 2.5kg on each side to give me 115 total... but nup, forgot about the left side. First rep I thought "Hang on, something's up here", and after the second rep I racked to check it out and sure enough, the plates on one side were 47.5, the other was 45 :roll:

Dude, my TP does this to me all the time :doh: I'd hit him if it didn't waste energy that could be used lifting big! :pfft:

[Peachy]

Ohhh drizz keep up the good work your looking smokin!! 8)

screw the excuses, boxing it is tonight 8)

Whoop!! I went to my first boxing class last week and am addicted!!

That will get the endorphins going again for ya :nod: I think thats the right thingys?? The happy ones anyways...

[drizzt]

That's more like it :nod: Hang in there 8)

Thanks, just needa keep telling myself it's the last week \:D/

I know what you mean dude, after a large weekend and a shit legs session Sunday motivation today was at an all time low, but once I got in and started lifting it picked up a, my chest workout was a little re-vamped this week which I think helped keep things interesting.

Good luck with boxing dude and keep at, your making awesome progress! :nod:

Thanks man Yeah good call on mixing it up. I try to do that anyway from session to session, but into the last week now so just need to get over the mental hurdle(s) and just smash it :nod:

Dude, my TP does this to me all the time :doh: I'd hit him if it didn't waste energy that could be used lifting big! :pfft:

Haha really? I wouldn't stand for that! I thought the point of a TP would be to catch stuff like that? :pfft: Surprised I haven't done it before, was just a tad distracted heh.

Ohhh drizz keep up the good work your looking smokin!! 8)

Whoop!! I went to my first boxing class last week and am addicted!!

That will get the endorphins going again for ya :nod: I think thats the right thingys?? The happy ones anyways...

Thanks Peach 8) You going to take up boxing now? It rocks huh :wink: I might be changing gyms soon and getting more into the competitive side of it... but we'll see.

[drizzt]

Diet

Pretty bog standard today:

• 
  0700 - Mito
  0730 - Oats (1/2 Cup), 6 egg whites/1 yolk, pear slices (half can)
  0900 - Coffee (will be cutting this out probably from tomorrow *sigh*), big handful sunflower seeds, multi vit, 4 x fish oil
  1030 - Natural yoghurt (with acidospoalophogus, 1 cup ish), peaches (half can), green tea
  1200 - 125g brown rice, small can of tuna*
  1300 - 30g WPI (pre-workout)
  1400 - 30g WPI (post-workout)
  1430 - Mito
  1500 - 125g rice, chicken breast (250g cooked weight)
  1700 - Apple (small-medium size)
  1830 - 350g (pre-cooked weight) sirloin steak
  2100 - 30g WPI
  2300 - Casein
  

Comments

• 
  *Didn't have any actual fruit handy today, so had to chuck a tuna can in there. Picked the one that was lowest in sodium. I think the diet intends to cut sodium down/out for the last few days rather than the whole diet, so not worried about a bit slipping in here and there. Still, I'm yet to decide whether or not to give up the eggs for the final few days :think:
  

So, as mentioned, pretty standard. Less fruit than I'd usually have (had the token apple because a workmate chucked it at me - I caught it quite spectacularly/ninja-like so felt I had to eat it :pfft:), and will try and drop carbs again tomorrow. Probably cut a serve of rice out.

Cardio

Boxing, fitness class. Actually told my mate I wasn't gonna go, but at 1920 I thought to heck with it and went. Glad I did because I got a great sweat out of it. Chest was pretty gassed which made the end push ups hard, but other than that it was a great session. As mentioned above, I may be looking at doing this competitively at another gym that's opening soon... will keep you lot posted.

TBH, I felt great during the session, but afterward I was back to being meh. Keep telling myself there isn't long to go, but I'm finding the will to do it harder and harder to come by :x Just needa keep pushing! :pray:

Weekly Update

Supariliac back up to 6 ish (7, 6, 6), bit disappointing but meh.

Pic:

Bit meh, honestly usually tense in the photos (if you couldn't tell :pfft:) but didn't have a lot of energy/desire to do it, so sorry bout the crapness. Even though the suprailiac has gone up a bit this week (along with the weight :roll:) I think it looks like I've leaned out a little.

So final pic will be next Wednesday rather than Monday, as that'll be the day after the last day on the cut. I'll post up a comparison from Day:1 to Day 31.

[drizzt]

Day 23: 15/12/09

Back down to 91.5 today, really need to stop weighing myself daily it's doing my head in :pfft: Suprailiac was 6mm (6, 6, 6) but that was post-dinner so meh. Improved on yesterday at least.

Felt a bit fresher mentally today, but god damn I'm beat up physically now! :pfft: My legs feel like they did after I last did 10 x 10 squats a month or two ago (i.e walking is granny-paced), my chest is punished from the bench session I did - especially the sides of my pecs which is odd because I didn't do any fly movements! - and my back is sore already after todays deadlifts.

SO glad I have tomorrow off work to study for my exam :pray: It'll give me a chance to rest my body up for a final assault on this cut.

Anyway, into it:

Weights

Back today.

• 
  Deadlifts* (sets, reps, weight)
  1 x 10 @ 100kg (warmup)
  1 x 3 @ 140kg (warmup)
  3 x 4 @ 150kg
  2 x 4 @ 160kg
  1 x 3 @ 165kg*
  1 x 5 @ 120kg (sumo)
  1 x 12 @ 60kg (sumo)
  Seated Pulley Rows (Hammer Strength Machine, Single-arm)
  1 x 15 @ 20kg
  1 x 10 @ 40kg
  1 x 10 @ 50kg
  Close-grip Pull-downs (Hammer Strength, Single-arm)
  1 x 10 @ 40kg
  2 x 8 @ 40kg
  1 x 10 @ 30kg*
  

Comments

• 
  *Used a belt for Deads, definitely helped. 165kg is a PB for the year, creeping ever closer to that 2x bodyweight mark. Was happy to get 3 of 'em up, and I reckon if my quads/glutes/hams weren't so sore I could've pulled 170, or got a few more reps out on 165. I don't seem to be slowing in improvement with deads either, which is great considering the stage of my cut. Back was hella thrashed immediately after it, especially feeling it in the hips too. The sumo cool downs I did were very tough.
  *For the last 2 exercises, form was a biggy. I felt it slipping on the 3rd set of pull downs (using my shoulders to pull the weight down when it got hard) so I dropped the weight and concentrated on getting it right again.
  

Again, the workout didn't include as many exercises as I would've liked due to the first compound exercise taking up so much of my lunch break. It's ok though, as it was my intention this week to just thrash the heck out of the major compounds and get 10+ sets, which I've achieved.

I'll be paying for it in DOMS for the rest of the week though, I'm sure :roll: 8)

No cardio today. Thank christ :pray: Diet to follow...

[drizzt]

Diet

Again, pretty standard, except I made a conscious effort to reduce carbs today to ~100g from ~150g yesterday. I don't intend to get it exact, but give or take 5-10g I can deal with.

• 
  0700 - Mito
  0730 - Oats (1/2 Cup), 6 egg whites/1 yolk, pear slices (half can), 3 x fish oil
  0900 - Coffee (black, eugh), almonds*, multi vit
  1030 - Natural yoghurt (1 cup ish), peaches (half can), green tea
  1200 - 125g brown rice, small can of tuna*
  1300 - 30g WPI (pre-workout)
  1400 - 42g WPI (post-workout)
  1430 - Mito
  1500 - Chicken breast (250g cooked weight), 3 x fish oil
  1700 - Almonds
  1900 - 350g (pre-cooked weight) sirloin steak, 3 x fish oil
  2100 - 30g WPI (with half a scoop choc casein, and a spoon of peanut butter to taste)
  2300 - Casein
  

Comments

• 
  *With the almonds, I bought 1 kilo yesterday and split it up into 100g lots. So what I'm going to do from now is have 100g over the course of the day - snack on it when I feel the need to. This way I won't get carried away and eat too many of them, but they'll still provide me with a good source of energy - especially when I'm cycling the carbs down.
  

I calculated my carbs to be around 89 up to Dinner, so I had milk with my WPI shake at 2100 which added approx 10g carbs again to take me to pretty much 100g for the day. I found cutting the carbs down - even just to 100 from my normal 150-170ish - to be pretty tough. I find a lot of my "snack" kind of food is fruit, and it's often what I reach for when I get hungry. Almonds - and portion controlling them - is going to be important in the last stages of this cut for energy intake.

50g carbs tomorrow and Thursday will be a challenge - and I spend more than half of that amount for breakfast in the morning. Let's hope studying distracts me from wanting to eat carbs.

[Chillicat]

I found cutting the carbs down - even just to 100 from my normal 150-170ish - to be pretty tough. I find a lot of my "snack" kind of food is fruit, and it's often what I reach for when I get hungry. Almonds - and portion controlling them - is going to be important in the last stages of this cut for energy intake.

50g carbs tomorrow and Thursday will be a challenge - and I spend more than half of that amount for breakfast in the morning. Let's hope studying distracts me from wanting to eat carbs.

Yeah, I found that hard too. Up til a couple of months ago, I had a permanent bowl of apples on my desk at work, and I'd munch my way through 3-4 a day without even really thinking.

Same with getting rid of breakfast carbs. But I switched from oats to an egg white omelette with sludge* and found that it worked out about the same in calories, drastically reduced the carbs and upped the protein, and kept me fuller for longer, so is now my normal breakfast.

*Egg white omelette made with 4 egg whites and made flat like a tortilla (I cook it with a lid on the pan so the top gets cooked without me having to flip it and break it completely!). Then I attempt to spread a portion of sludge on half the eggwhite tortilla and then fold in half and eat. Mostly ends up with small blobs of sludge on it - but it's really yum, and super healthy!

[drizzt]

Good idea CC :nod: I do already chuck 6 egg whites on my oats in the morning (pan fried to solidify em - not as neatly as you suggest though :pfft:) but I could maybe add a few more egg whites and turn em into an omelette, cutting the oats out :think: Maybe with a couple of yolks too?

I'll look into what that'll mean for calories... I think the carbs are minimal, well, compared to the oats at least.

May try that tomorrow morning, ta

Had another read of the Mito training guide, it suggests as the last week of carbs to go 50g per day throughout, then load up on the final day... not sure if I want to go that far. It was my intention starting out to test more how the pills perform without drastically changing the diet - that's evolved a little now to cycling carbs in the last week, but don't know if I want to go all the way down for the whole week. That method also had a month of carb cycling behind it... so I probably won't.

I'll watch carbs this week, and keep 'em as low as possible, but I'm not going to go all out. I'll save that for next time :nod:

[Grover]

Good stuff

One thing about reading these journals you sure do get a variety

Heres you trying to get down to 50!!! cals carbs and on other end of scale have steak eating 5000

:shock:

[drizzt]

Good stuff

One thing about reading these journals you sure do get a variety

Heres you trying to get down to 50!!! cals carbs and on other end of scale have steak eating 5000

:shock:

Heh, thanks man. 50g of carbs though not 50 calories from carbs I'm fairly certain steak's 5000 calories aren't just limited to carbs, so not quite the same comparison

But yep, Steak sure sounds like he could actually eat a horse :pfft: :salute:

Day 24: 16/12/09

Apologies for the late update, was actually studying for all of yesterday :shock: Surprised even myself, thought I went ok in my exam this morning, but will find out next week.

Diet was ok, won't list it out specifically. Didn't manage to drop to 50g carbs, I think it was closer to 75g all things considered - oats in the morning were the big one and I realize this, it's just such a great start to the day I find it hard to drop 'em. I'm fairly happy with 75g as long as it was a decrease from the previous couple of days.

So basically oats, one half can of fruit, eggs, sludge, chicken breast(s), 100g almonds, yoghurt and shakes made up my day. There was no cardio/weights - I studied from 9am-6pm (with food breaks when I remembered) and rarely left my study position for the day unless necessary :pfft: After dinner and a bit of TV, I studied again from 9pm-midnight before I started falling asleep so didn't have a lot of room for exercise unfortunatley.

Hope I pass the bloody exam after all of that effort! The length of time I studied for yesterday was probably the total amount of time I studied through my whole High School career, so I was impressed with myself 8)

Day 25: 17/12/09

Ok, including day 30 there is only 5 days left of this cut, the finish line is in sight!

Got up at 6am this morning for my exam because I had to catch an earlier train, and get to the exam at 8.30am (30mins before start time) which meant the meals I had were a bit more spaced out than I intended. Carbs were kept pretty low, but diet on the whole was quite light which could've been improved on from my pov.

Diet

• 
  0600 - Mito
  0630 - Oats, 7 x egg whites, 2 x yolks
  0745 - Almonds (roughly 25g), green tea, multi vit, fish oil (x3)
  0930 - Coffee, yoghurt (1 cup), half can of peaches
  1030 - 160g chopchop
  1215 - Almonds (roughly 50g)
  1300 - 30g WPI (pre-workout)
  1400 - 30g WPI (post-workout)
  1415 - Mito
  1500 - Chicken Breast (250g cooked weight), fish oil (x3)
  1630 - Sludge (half scoop casein, 2 x tablespoons pb)
  1800 - Rest of almonds (25g ish)
  1830 - Chicken breast (250g cooked weight), fish oil (x3)
  2130 - Casein shake
  

Ok, I haven't added it up but looking at the above I'm a bit closer to the 50g carbs today. I'll head back up tomorrow (maybe add some kumara in) but try and keep it around 100-120. I'm cutting canned food out from Saturday - which I've rarely been eating over the past week and a bit anyway - as well as eggs from Sunday, and I'll limit my water intake. Dunno if I'll take the Peak pills though... probably not. Not like it's a competition I'm going for or anything huh.

[drizzt]

Weights

90.7kg today.

Bis and Tris today. Actually wanted to do bis and shoulders today, and then tris and traps tomorrow (thought it'd be an interesting combo), but I started with bis and again, time seemed to be against me so I didn't think I could give shoulders a fair go. May do traps on Saturday and just do shoulders tomorrow. We'll see.

• 
  Weighted Chins (hammer grip) (sets, reps, weight)
  1 x 8 @ 10kg*
  1 x 6 @ 20kg (PB, failure)
  1 x 5 @ 20kg (failure)
  1 x 4 @ Bodyweight (drop set, failure)
  Alternate DB Curls (seated)
  1 x 10 @ 20kg
  1 x 9 @ 22kg
  1 x 10 @ 22kg
  1 x 20 @ 12kg (drop set, failure)
  Preacher Curls (weights in plates only, excl e-z bar weight)
  1 x 15 @ 20kg
  1 x 10 @ 30kg (failure)
  1 x 5 @ 35kg (failure)
  Seated DB Tri Press*
  1 x 20 @ 45kg
  1 x 14 @ 51kg (failure)
  1 x 11 @ 51kg (failure)
  1 x 9 @ 28kg (drop set, failure)
  Incline Skullcrushers (weights in plates only, excl e-z bar weight) superset with Tricep Dips (parallel bars)*
  1 x 15 @ 20kg & 1 x 10 @ Bodyweight (failure)
  1 x 15 @ 20kg & 1 x 7 @ Bodyweight (failure)
  1 x 21 @ 20kg (failure) & 1 x 6 @ Bodyweight (failure)
  

Comments

• 
  *First set of chins with a 10kg weight I could've pulled a few more reps out but wanted to see how I would go on 20kg so left some fuel in the tank. Had never attempted a 20kg weighted pull up before, so was pleasantly surprised when I found it fairly easy and got 6 reps out, so that's the best I've ever done. Suppose it goes with the territory when you're losing weight - your bodyweight exercises go up (or so I've found)
  *The seated DB tris press - I've done 65kg on it before, but only for <=6 reps, but I've never repped 50+ for more than 10, so in the sense of volume (14 reps @ 51kg as opposed to 6 reps @ 65kg) I think it's a PB. I might try to get as many as I can with this exercise next week on 65, see how that goes.
  *The last set was a pretty intense pace. I intended the incline skullcrushers to be "the movement", nice and controlled keeping the tris tight, and then just blast out on the dips to exhaust it. Man it worked! Was surprised at how much gas I had in the tank on the last set of skullcrushers, but I definitely emptied what I had which made the dips incredibly hard. Very good combination I thought!
  

Good workout I was in a really stressed mood beforehand due to the exam (did I do this question right? or was it this answer?) so I didn't really feel like going to the gym. But once I got it all out it was a great stress release.

[Chillicat]

What was your exam for? Hope you get good results!

[ohjoshua]

hey mate your looking very lean... have you had your bf% tested?

also how tall are you?

keep up the good diet/training.

[ohjoshua]

hey mate your looking very lean... have you had your bf% tested?

also how tall are you?

keep up the good diet/training.

[drizzt]

What was your exam for? Hope you get good results!

Thanks It was a qualification for my current role (IT Software/Systems testing)

hey mate your looking very lean... have you had your bf% tested?

also how tall are you?

keep up the good diet/training.

Thanks mate. I'm 183cm (or 6ft?).

Haven't had bf tested, but I do a suprailiac measurement often which is one of the last places I lose fat

[rose]

Weighted Chins... 1 x 6 @ 20kg (PB, failure)... But once I got it all out it was a great stress release.

Nice! :nod: \:D/

[drizzt]

Thankya Rose

OK sorry, been a bit slack, I'll cruise over the diet for the past couple days so it's not gonna be a novel of an update (not that it usually is or anything :oops: )

Day 26: 18/12/09

Diet

Diet was ok, lotsa chicken breast (3 throughout the day I think?), some steak, and normal breakfast about sums it up. Was probably around the 100g carb mark if I had to estimate.

I also had a (singular) low carb beer after lunch with my work colleagues for the end of year break up. I actually told them I didn't want anything but sure enough, first round someone brings out a low carber for me thinking it'd be ok (Spring tide :roll: it's the thought that counts though I guess), and I felt rude not drinking it - no one else would either :pfft: - so I had that and then left before I'd get sucked into any more.

Weights

OK, it was shoulders and traps to finish the week.

• 
  DB Shoulder Press* (sets, reps, weight)
  1 x 12 @ 12kg (warmup + rotator cuff warmup exercises)
  1 x 10 @ 22kg
  1 x 10 @ 28kg
  1 x 8 @ 30kg
  1 x 7 @ 15kg (Arnold press, drop set, failure)
  Rear Delt Raises
  1 x 15 @ 10kg
  2 x 10 @ 15kg
  Side DB Raises*
  1 x 9 @ 15kg
  1 x 8 @ 15kg
  1 x 10 @ 15kg (failure)
  1 x 6 @ 10kg (drop, failure)
  Front BB Shrugs*
  1 x 10 @ 100kg
  1 x 8 @ 140kg
  2 x 5 @ 180kg
  180kg hold 10 seconds (drop set, exhaustion/failure)
  DB Farmers Walk* (roughly 10meters away, then 10meters back)
  3 walks with 65kg DBs

Comments

• *DB Presses were on the incline part of an incline bench with knees below hips. Getting more and more comfortable with this and definitely noticing I'm more upright with better form on the lifts.
  *Side raises I put a little cheat in this week to load the muscles a bit more, starting from in front of my body with the DBs rather than from the sides like I usually do. No swing in the hips though, so was "proper" form otherwise, just thought I'd like to add a bit more weight to it.
  *FINALLY remembered to bring some straps for a session - well they're hooks actually, got them with a BB.com order ages ago. Hurt like a bastard on 180 because they were beginning to dig into my wrists, but definitely made the lift a bit easier. The exhaustion set at the end was good and I probably could've gone longer but with each passing second the hooks dug deeper into my wrists so I dropped it from pain rather than muscle exhaustion :oops: Might just get some real straps, just that they're a bit harder to do as a solo trainer whereas hooks are just strap 'em on and slip 'em round the bar
  *Farmers walk I also used the straps for which helped. I know it's an exercise that takes up a lot of room, but if you see a guy walking towards you with a 65kg DB strapped to each hand what do you do? No small, chubby man in the muscle shirt, you do not casually think about which BB you are going to select whilst standing in the course that you've seen said guy with heavy DBs walk 2 times already (I waited to start each set until I was sure everyone was clear of my path :roll:), it's courteous to step aside for 2 seconds while the man carrying what is equivalent to your bodyweight in each hand walks by
  

All in all, it was a pretty good workout. Haven't shrugged that much in a while, not this year at least, so was good to get that out.

[drizzt]

Day 27: 19/12/09

Diet

Made a bit of a stuff up today. Early on in the program, I split my mito pills into halves - so I'd have half at home and half at work - meaning I don't need to remember to take them with me each day, minimizing the risk that I'd miss out by accident because I forgot to bring 'em with me.

What I didn't think of though, was that I have to consume more pills at home on the weekend. So of course, coming to the end of the 30 days... I was faced with only 8 pills for the weekend - must have split them up wrong too because it should've been a multiple of 3. Couldn't get into work (they disable average joe-worker cards for afterhours, god knows why) to grab the other set of pills, and the only lot I saw while on my travels for the day was at a Health 2000 store... selling them for $140 Wasn't going to buy another lot just for that, so compromised a bit and split them into servings of 2 rather than servings of 3. This means I'll still get 4 x mito serves, I'll just be a few pills short.

Otherwise, diet was unspectacular again. Had nandos but didn't have any of their sauce (sodium) just had chicken tenderloins and flame grilled chicken breast steak =P~ The rest of the day was normal breakfast, chicken breasts, and steak.

Cardio

No weights today, but decided to SHIIT on the Lead Leg Highway. No warmup, just walked there and got straight into it.

Set 1: Sprint up, missing 2 steps at a time.

Set 2: Jump up with both feet together, 3 steps at a time - find it works the glutes/hammys a bit. This was VERY tiring!

Set 3: Sprint up, missing 2 steps at a time. Beginning to feel it but not too bad, made it to the top without too much trouble.

Set 4: Sprint up, missing 2 steps again. Conked out about 1.5 flights from the top so cue dragging legs up by the shorts. Then did the .5km run around the block.

Set 5: Jog up, 1 step at a time, slow walk on the landings (which are only 1-2m long so not much of a rest at all). Concentrating on explosiveness from the calves and hips.

Then walked home (1.5km)

Actually found it quite tough cardio-wise today, lungs were burning a bit. I've had a bit of a cough for a couple of days so I think I may have contracted man-flu, was hard in the chest.... not bad today though so I'm sure I'll be alright.

[drizzt]

Day 28: 20/12/09

Diet

Ok, so following on from cutting sodium etc I decided not to have any eggs this morning (as the hand book suggests) and cut the milk. So no coffee or egg whites on my oats Only for a couple of days though, so I'm sure I'll be fine Plus, my usual coffee shop is closed until late Jan so there's a bit of temptation gone!

I'm also going to keep an eye on water intake over the next couple of days, but not go too crazy with it - after all, I'm not following the diet and it's a bit silly IMHO to switch over to it completely at this late stage, but I think I can take a few tips leading into the final days. It recommends only consuming 1 gallon of water today (which is about 6 pump bottles)... and I've just finished my 2nd pump bottle However I may chew through that much on a weights day, and I'd definitely do so on a boxing day.

Tomorrow it recommends 8 ounces of water (about a normal sized drinking cup?) every 2 hours, that shouldn't be too bad I think.

Other than the above, no weights or cardio today. A bit of a walk around/shop with the Mrs, got hungry, stopped into Nandos again :pfft: Tenderloins/chicken steak for me with no sauce, so apart from the price I reckon it's a great place to eat.

Dinner is gonna be more chicken.

[teamfatboy]

Day 26: 18/12/09

*FINALLY remembered to bring some straps for a session. Hurt like a bastard on 180

Nice workout - yes, you can get a nice burn mark on the wrists after the straps chew their way in... takes some explaining back at the office :grin:

I know it's an exercise that takes up a lot of room, but if you see a guy walking towards you with a 65kg DB strapped to each hand what do you do? No small, chubby man in the muscle shirt, you do not casually think about which BB you are going to select whilst standing in the course that you've seen said guy with heavy DBs walk 2 times already (I waited to start each set until I was sure everyone was clear of my path :roll:), it's courteous to step aside for 2 seconds while the man carrying what is equivalent to your bodyweight in each hand walks by

[TFB checks the date], no it wasn't me getting in the way... was that at Bodyworks? I do my walking lunges down the long side... you'd think PTs would know better than to stand in the aisle while a man with a face the colour of raw beef, or beetroot, come to think of it, drags a pair of DB's to the top of the stairs and back!

[drizzt]

Nice workout - yes, you can get a nice burn mark on the wrists after the straps chew their way in... takes some explaining back at the office :grin:

Ha yeah, my strap/hook things are even worse than traditional ones, as they have a metal buckle kinda thing that straps onto your hand... and yep, when the weight goes on it, it drags the buckle down/into the wrist Gonna look at getting the traditional straps and getting better at wrapping 'em solo :nod:

[TFB checks the date], no it wasn't me getting in the way... was that at Bodyworks? I do my walking lunges down the long side... you'd think PTs would know better than to stand in the aisle while a man with a face the colour of raw beef, or beetroot, come to think of it, drags a pair of DB's to the top of the stairs and back!

Yeah at Cityfitness Thorndon ( :pfft:) I was starting by where those heavier DBs sit by the mirrors, and walking toward the rack of pre-weighted BBs. There was just the one guy there, but every time I'd come along he'd seem to magically spring up from the bench he was sitting on to do something in my path :x

TBH though, the guy may have thought the dude pointlessly moving those heavy DBs back and forth whilst taking up the path was being a douche :pfft: :-s

I get a tad annoyed at the people who do their lunges behind the treadmills. Its such a main thoroughfare and most of them take up a heck of a lot of room. I don't like to get in people's way so I generally dodge through the leg equipment to avoid 'em... but meh it's not that common really I guess.

On a high today, passed my exam Huge weight off my shoulders! Ready to celebrate with a chest session today :grin:

[drizzt]

Day 29: 21/12/09

Weights

Weighed in at 90.7 pre-workout.

Chest today. As previously mentioned, on a high after receiving my exam results, so was ready to hit a PB for the year on Bench :grin: Seem to be setting/equaling/nearing a few PBs for the year at the very end of a long cut, so I'm very happy with it - especially seeing as the consensus seems to be that you can't lose fat/gain muscle at the same time?

• BB Bench Press (sets, reps, weight)
  1 x 6 @ 20kg (warmup - technique focus, pause on chest)
  1 x 6 @ 60kg (warmup - technique focus, pause on chest)
  1 x 2 @ 100kg (warmup, pause on chest)
  1 x 2 @ 115kg
  1 x 2 @ 120kg (PB for the year)
  1 x 1 @ 122.5kg (new PB for the year )*
  1 x 6 @ 100kg (drop, pretty much failure)
  1 x 16 @ 60kg (drop, failure)
  Incline DB Press
  1 x 10 @ 33kg
  1 x 8 @ 40kg
  1 x 6 @ 40kg
  Decline DB Flyes
  1 x 10 @ 20kg
  1 x 10 @ 25kg
  1 x 10 @ 25kg*
  Dips*
  3 x 10 @ bodyweight

Comments

• *PB on bench (for the year). It's the most I've attempted all year at any (body)weight I've been at, so I'm very pleased - especially coming a day out from the end of my cut :grin: Nearing my highest press of 150kg set a couple years ago when I was weighing about 105ish - proportionate to my bodyweight, I'm not far off that I think? :think:
  To top it off, form was pretty much perfect especially on the 120 presses - touched chest both times. The 122.5 - because I didn't have a spot and didn't feel entirely comfortable - I got to within about an inch of my chest and back up, but didn't touch the chest. I'm pretty certain that with the confidence of a spot I could've stuck another 2.5-5kg on to it and got a good clean press out :nod:
  *Last set of DB Decline Flyes was a little sloppy, but wanted to push the 10 out so let myself have a bit of cheat-allowance.
  *Dips were fired out quite quickly, a) because I was almost out of time in my lunch break, and b) I wanted to make them explosive/exhaustive. 10 was pretty much failure point, but I also just set myself that as a target at which I'd stop, rest for about 20seconds, then jump back in for another set.
  

So, all in all a pretty damned good workout, very happy with it. Boxing class tonight for cardio (possibly final class of the year? Think the gym closes tomorrow for the break), and diet to follow later.