Getting fit with SwordsMaster

[SwordsMaster]

I gotta change over to 5 small meals a day.

I am watching what I eat, I am spending 2.5 hours a day in the gym, and I am not losing any weight at all.

I realize my sleep and health issues do not help, but in the past I have had a system of being able to easily burn 20 pounds in a month with a drastic change of routine. Now, this is suddenly not working. I hate being old.

A few points - and as an army man I'm sure you're aware of them (btw, like your PI adventures, reminds me of some old times in west africa).

It isn't necessarily up to 5 small meals, but a couple of rules of thumb:
1 - have a protein heavy breakfast EARLY. As in within an hour of waking up, even better if it's a half hour.
2 - have your last big meal of the day 3 hours before sleep. The only thing you can have between then and sleep if you must have something is easily digestible protein (cottage cheese, tuna, lean chicken, you know the drill)

A little bodybuilding pro-tip: Have 2 double espressos just after waking up, before breakfast or any morning exercise.

As to exercise - most here know i'm a proponent of full body workouts as opposed to isolated exercises (think pull-ups vs bicep curls), but no matter what the approach, if you want to lose weight it is key to keep rest intervals between exercises short. In the 10-30 sec range.

Also, and I'm not sure whether this is an option - invest in a kettlebell. There are few things which are such a sure burner as 50 pre-breakfast KB deadlifts.

To help you sleep: include some cholesterol in your last meal of the day. Fat helps you sleep, plus cholesterol is needed to synthetise testosterone (which helps with your muscle development) and that also happens during your sleep.

So make your last meal of the day porkchops or not-so-lean steak.

And yes, giving up drinking for 3 months will definitely help. But hey, all it took was some pretty eyes and berry pie and my diet cave in, so I ain't judging.

[naut]

1 - have a protein heavy breakfast EARLY. As in within an hour of waking up, even better if it's a half hour.

This is the biggest problem I have, not being able to get a meal in early. I get super gassy in the morning and anything too substantial makes me gag and occasionally puke.

A little bodybuilding pro-tip: Have 2 double espressos just after waking up, before breakfast or any morning exercise.

Yeah, why's that?

[SwordsMaster]

It doesn't need to be BIG, just high on protein. Think about 40g of protein (take into account that, for example, chicken is about 15% protein, so you'd need jus tunder 300g of chicken to fit the bill, egg whites, however are higher, so you'd only need the equivalent of 3-4 egg whites, much lower volume).

I had a similar problem - not because I can't eat in the morning, but because i maximise sleep time usually in the detriment of cooking time, but I now stock up on frozen berries and protein shake, and find that with a bit of oatmeal and skim milk, all blended together it makes a good breakfast that is not too heavy.

Coffee speeds up your metabolism, so by the time you're done with the morning pushups, shower, and are having breakfast your body is already at full speed to digest it. Have another coffee after breakfast to ensure it goes on for half an hour longer.

[Strike For The South]

Yup

Coffee before workout
Breakfeast, sex, and alcohol after.
Then Lunch

[SwordsMaster]

Well, today:

Up at noon - for some reason can't go to bed early, so wake up at weird times,
then:
set pushups max effort
coffee
set pushups max effort
make breakfast
set pushups max effort
eat breakfast:

Total 130 pushups

Breakfast was the remains of yesterday's pie, more coffee, and 3 egg whites and a can of tuna.

3 hours later, pull-up pyramid, starting at 1 to 8 (total 36) with rest 10 sec per rep in the previous set.
then 1 set max effort dips (24)

Lunch: 4 chicken burgers (16% fat), salad, spinach, tomatoes, onion and garlic.

Then another coffee, and I got on a flight.

Dinner likely to be a burrito.

[Vladimir]

I don't know how you stay so motivated.

[Strike For The South]

I figure I will give a serious reply

After dropping down to 196lbs and graduating college, I promptly moved back home and blew up to about 220. I went into the gym yesterday and was able to work myself up to a 405 single on the dead lift, but it gassed me. Sadly, I think my days of competition are behind me. The lower back pain which plagued me before I lost the weight is starting to rear its ugly head again as I begin to creep back up the scale. I would love to drop down to about 160 and work my way back up to around 205.

I signed up to do a tough mudder in March and would love to be down to 170 by then.

Yesterdays workout

2 mile run 11:38

BB Rows

135X3X10

Lawnmowers
80X3X10

The lawnmowers are single handed

Deadlift
135X10
225X8
315X8
335X4
365x3
385x1
405x1
415x1 (fail)

[SwordsMaster]

I don't know how you stay so motivated.

I look at myself in the mirror, and ask myself if i look and feel they way i want. Willpower can be an issue, but if you realise that you work out for 1 h a day including showering, and realise that is 5% of your day, you really cannot justify not doing it.

Well done, Strike! That's some respectable deadlifting.

I had back problems since very young, hence my compulsive pullup obsession. Found that mid-weight higher reps and slow weight progressions really help. I used to warm up with 90kg, then (my 1rep max was around 180kg at 84kg bodyweight) stay in the 120-130kg range for most of the workout doing 10-12 rep sets instead of the usual 6-8 rep ones.

Also, lots of core stuff. Weighted windshield wipers, renegade man-makers, human flag approximations, planks, all that stuff. Good running for a guy your weight. How are your knees?

MRD: yep, joined a few yoga classes for similar reasons. Then realised i actually enjoyed it! Now i'm just staying away from membership-requiring activities, or organised exercise. Mostly because I'm flaky and don't know in advance whether i will be able to work out or not, and most gyms don't offer 'pay monthly' schemes, only long contracts.