Rookie's road to becoming lean

[Rookie]

Hey folks, I'm currently doing the caveman diet and was suggested to do both training and diet logs on here.

I've been training consistently for 4 months (back in the gym after a serious shoulder injury)

Stats are:

5ft 7 inches or 170cm

84kg

23% BF

Training split is as follows:

Chest/Back

Tri's/Bi's and cardio

Legs (quad emphasis)

cardio

Legs (Hamstring emphasis)

cardio

Off

Goals are to first complete the caveman diet for 3 weeks and drop significant bf and maintain or increase strength. Possibly add some mass if I can

Diet is currently:

Meat

Fish

Nuts

Eggs

Fruit

Vege

I have the assistance of a coach, who was an ex bber.

Today's training: Chest/Back

Flat BB bench Wide grip chins

4sets of 45/10, 50/10, 55/10, 60/10 10 sets of 4

Incline Flyes Bent over rows

4sets of 12/10, 12/10, 16/10, 16/10 4 sets of 40/12, 40/12, 45/12,

45/12

Incline DB bench press DB rows

4sets of 12/10, 12/10, 16/10, 16/10 4sets of 20/10, 20/10, 25/10, 25/10

Felt alright today but strength feels like it dropped and wasnt pumped as much, most likely because of no carbs.

Diet today was:

Meal1: 150 gms steak and handful of walnuts

Meal2: 150gms steak, walnuts and 100gms broccoli,an apple

Meal3: 150gms chicken breast with walnuts and broccoli

Meal4: 160gms salmon and broccoli

Wasnt really prepared today as I do my shopping on Mondays however made do somehow.

Advice would be much appreciated thanks!!!

[startinfromscratch]

journal cherry=popped

[Ronin]

Hey man, welcome aboard. This should be an interesting one to watch, I've read up on paleo eating, but have failed to be entirely convinced. Having said that, I haven't been entirely willing to write it off either, so it's good to see someone else taking a crack at it. I'm generally pretty keen to experiment with different options.

We're of similar stats (same height, I'm up a couple of kg, down a couple of %) so I'll be watching your progress. Good luck with it mate. Although, I would recomend giving it more than 3 weeks for the trial. It'll probably take your body the first 2 weeks or sao to adjust to such a change in diet, so effectively you'd only be giving it a one week trial. I'd suggest setting yourself a goal of sticking it out for 2 months, unless you react badly to it and have to pull the pin. After 2 months, evaluate your progress and make a decision about continuing or not. Have you done body comp, measurements, photos etc? Doing so, and then posting them here can be a great way of motivating yourself when things get tough.

[Rookie]

Cheers man, yeah finding it alright well only day one haha. Had no pump during chest/back session which was a surprise but it makes sense because of there not being any glycogen present. Yeah bro I'll do it for longer than 2 months if I can but the three weeks was just more of a see how I'm doing and a mental thing. Mainly doing it because I want to get lean enough to be able to see my muscles like separation and what not. Yeah I'll take before pics this week and chuck them up. Want to get big and lean basically so with some trial and error hopefully will get there.

Rookie

[Rookie]

Today was arms day! Usually get the mad pump but can't be too fixated on it as I'm facing the fact that no carbs=f all pump.

Today looked like this:

Close grip bench 40/10, 45/10, 50/10, 55/10

superset with

DB curls 16/10, 16/10, 18/10, 18/10

Skullcrushers (BB) 20/10, 22/10, 25/10, 25/10

Tricep pushdowns 80/10, 80/10, 90/10, 90/10

Felt weaker today, still adjusting to the paleo. Usually I get 60/10 on close grip for the last set but was having a hard time with 55.

Diet was:

Meal1: 150g steak and handful of walnuts, 70g broccoli and 1 apple

Meal2: 150g chicken breast, 100g broccoli and 1 apple

Meal3: 150g steak and 100g broccoli

Meal4: 160g salmon and lettuce

Meal5: handful of nuts

Diet seems to be there, energy is there but must be because of calorie drop that my body is not performing as good in the gym.

Will add in some cardio next week and hopefully include a bit more variety of food in there. Anyone with Paleo friendly meals please post!

Hopefully I can stick it out these next couple of weeks!

Was considering on changing my split by swapping a leg session with a arm session, any thoughts?

Cheers, Rookie

[Rookie]

Ok today was legs, and it looked like:

Squats: 100/10, 100/10, 110/10, 110/10 and they were ass to grass, im 5ft 7

Hammy curls, 30/10, 30/10, 35/10, 35/10

Leg extensions: 40/12, 40/12, 45/12, 50/12

BB calf raises: 80/10, 80/10, 85/10, 90/10, 95/10

That was it, strength has dropped but pretty happy with what I squeezed out

Diet was:

Meal1: 150g steak, lettuce and handful of nuts

Meal2: 150g steak, 70g broccoli

Meal3: 150g chicken breasts and 70g broccoli

Meal4: 150g chicken breasts and 70g broccoli

Meal5: 170g salmon and 100g broccoli

Cheers Rookie

[Maximus]

Good stuff, keep it up.

[drizzt]

Looks as if you're going well mate, keep it up :nod: Nice work on the squats!

[Rookie]

Cheers guys,

Drizzt: That's the advantage of being 5ft7 haha ass to grass has always been normal. Just have to get my upper body strength to match my legs.

Today was just 30min light jog, quads are pretty sore.

Diet was the usual nothing new:

Meal1: 150g steak, handful of walnuts and 50g broccoli

Meal2: 150g steak, handful of walnuts, 1 small apple

Meal3: 150g chicken breast, 50 broccoli and 1 small apple

Meal4: 150g chicken breast, 100g broccoli

Meal5: Handful of walnuts

Energy was alright, was able to get through the day easily. Not too sure what to do for fibre intake though as bowels aren't functioning as well compared to when I was eating oats/beans.

Yeah buddy,

Rookie

[Rookie]

Today was legs again, my favourite bodypart :nod:

Hamstring emphasis:

Deadlifts- conventional

7sets of 70/5, 80/5, 90/5, 100/5, 100/5, 105/5, 110/5

Was gripping the bar like no tomorrow and sweating like a rapist :pfft:

Stiff legged deadlifts-

5sets of 60/10, 60/10, 65/10, 70/10, 80/10

Hamstring curls

4sets of 30/10, 30, 35/10, 35/10

DB lunges 12 each db/12 each leg, 12/12, 16/10, 16/10

That was it for legs, hoping to get my dead back up, forearms were pumped as f--k!!

Diet was:

M1: 150g steak, 50g broccoli, handful of walnuts

M2: 150g steak, 70g broccoli, handful of walnuts

M3: 150g chicken breast, 70g broccoli

M4: 150g chicken breast, 100g broccoli

M5: 150g salmon and lettuce

Felt alright today, training was awesome and pretty happy with my lifts, a good indication of where I'm at and where to aim.

Lesson of the week: to cook all meals except dinner in the morning, nothing worse than getting hungry at tech when nothing is paleo friendly :roll:

aint nothing to it!!

Rookie

[genetic freek]

Must be spending a bit on food?

[steak]

Must be spending a bit on food?

Must be taking the piss?

[Rookie]

Nah man only spending like 80 bucks a week, I get chicken breasts $5 a kg from a mate at tegel and everything else on special. Got a walnut tree at home so that solves that. What would make you think I'm taking the piss haha.

[Maximus]

How are you feeling with the change in the diet?. Do you find that your moods are swinging or are things pretty cool?

[Rookie]

Yeah things aren't too bad, I think I've adjusted well to it and most likely going to be a long term thing.

Energy levels seem to have adjusted well, I'll see how I do with my training next week, its changed to: Chest/Back, Legs, Arms. Basic cardio and/or abs in between. New style is more density training, produce as much lactate as possible within a given time between 45-50 minutes. It'll be 2-3 exercises per bodypart with 15 minute work intervals and barely any rest, and the use of supersets with higher reps and constant weights for each set.

Mood swings aren't too bad or anything compared to some stories I've heard when people are on keto diets.

The social adaption has to be the biggest hurdle, like when I'm town and at parties, not being able to eat what mates are eating, almost like I'm the odd one out but all good.

Cheers, Rookie

[steak]

Nah man only spending like 80 bucks a week, I get chicken breasts $5 a kg from a mate at tegel and everything else on special. Got a walnut tree at home so that solves that. What would make you think I'm taking the piss haha.

dont be serious...I quoted GF...You eat very litte so you cant be spending much on food ...like this guy

good luck with the diet...it looks like hard work but stick at it and rip up :grin:

[Rookie]

Haha all good man :pfft: , thought you were referring to me :doh: . Yeah its shit all compared to when I was bulking, but I was putting on unwanted fat so that's why I've chosen to do this one. This diets not too bad though, mental challenge, so is training on it, but can't wait to start density training next week! People say going low carb is expensive pfft 70-80 buck a week isnt much.

Cheers man, will keep on chugging.

Rookie

[Ronin]

The social adaption has to be the biggest hurdle, like when I'm town and at parties, not being able to eat what mates are eating, almost like I'm the odd one out but all good.

Cheers, Rookie

Lol, I hear ya, but after a while you get used to the weird looks and ignorance-based comments when you explain to people why you won't be joining them in a cream bun, or burger'n'fries. After a while you end up looking forward to telling people how you eat, just for the reaction :pfft:

[Rookie]

Haha yeah man, all my mates eat bk or maccas, and kfc in town, whenever someone offers to shout me a burger or a shake, I respond with "I'm gluten and lactose intolerant" and have had some really weird looks haha but it works. Looking forward to first carb meal after next week!!

Kumara or oatmeal, what to choose? Yesterday was just simple cardio and just chilled out pretty much, got some extra cardio on the d-floor in town.

My classmates always harass me coz they've always got pasta or sandwiches for lunch, pasta I miss, sandwiches not much.

Anyways cheers for the words of encouragement!!

Rookie

[genetic freek]

Is this rookie or usher?

[Rookie]

Haha Usher wtf? Aint that skinny.

Alright, today was day one of density training!

Basically the aim of this session was to build as much lactate as possible.

Pullups 40, Bench 40/100. I didn't count the exact reps but my training partner was keeping an eye on what I was doing.

I worked for 15minutes straight, only rest I got was walking from pull-up bar to the bench. The other 15mins looked like this

Flat db flyes 12/100, Bent rows 25/80

Today was a short one coz I just did it right before class, all the other density training sessions will be 40mins.

HIIT tomorrow or complexes, choices choices :pfft:

Diet was:

M1 150g steak and handful of walnuts

M2 200g steak and broccoli

M3 100g steak and broccoli

M4 100g chicken breast and handful of walnuts

M5 150g chicken breast and a cup of spinach with ground walnuts

Same shit different day. Started to add in spinach with helps curve the boredom.

Pics up soon, damn it always busy with reports, training and cooking!

Cheers guys

Rookie

[Rookie]

OK!! Today was one hell of a 40minutes!!!! Sweating like crazy, dizzy and panting hardout!! Density training you gotta love it.

Deadlifts + step ups

110/60 120reps each leg 20mins constant work

5mins rest

Squats + Farmers walks

120/60 6 rounds of 15/15/20/20/25/25 20min constant work

This has got to be one of the hardest things I've ever done!

Good to know I was working hard, the squat rack I was using had huge drops of sweat :pfft:

Hopefully the next 8-10 weeks will be good.

Eating was:

M1 150g steak, lettuce and walnuts

M2 150g steak and 70g broccoli

M3 150g chicken breast and 70g broccoli

M4 150g chicken breast and 100g broccoli

M5 150g salmon and broccoli

Got a funny look at the supermarket today and the guy said mate "thats a shitload of meat" haha is it me or do some people not know it doesnt last long

Cheers guys will keep you posted

[Rookie]

Ok so today was a rest day, just chilled.

Diet was the same as yesterday, less broccoli though

Tomorrow is 5x5 and HIIT, take me to the PAIN and back again!!! :twisted:

[Rookie]

Alright!! Today was 5x5 day.

Squats 100/5, 110/5, 110/5, 120/5, 130/5

Bench: 65/5, 70/5, 75/5, 80/5, 80/5

Deadlift: 110/5, 110/5, 115/5, 120/5, 120/5

Bent rows: 50/5, 55/5, 60/5, 65/5, 70/5

and 15mins HIIT at the park before dinner

Diet was:

M1: 150g steak and 70g broccoli

M2: 150g steak and 50g broccoli

M3: 150g chicken and 50g broccoli

M4: 240g salmon and 100g broccoli

Felt awesome today, was able to train hard and pretty satisfied with the effort.

Can't wait till next Wednesday!! First carb meal in 2 weeks, half a kumara \:D/

Down to 80kg now from 84 but I know scales aren't the best thing when going from carbs to no carbs (water weight etc)

Cheers

Rookie

[Beef]

im glad to see you're eating real food

do you find your gains are better than when you take supplements?