Cheers for the comments / advice guys.
Mon 11th Workout: Chest Shoulders Triceps Back
This Wk Last Wk
Incline Bench
45 * 7 r3 r5 r4 42.5 * 8 r4 r4
Seated Military Press
30 * 7 r5 r4 27.5 * 7 r6 r4
Dips
8 r5 r2 10 r6 r6
Rows
none done 42.5*8
Pulldowns
57.5 * 9 r5 r5 54 * 9 r5 r5
Quite happy with that workout. People were hogging the power racks so I had to do the incline bench just normal without support bars or a spotter, so quite happy i made progresss. The reason i did an extra "set" of rest pauses for the incline bench was because they felt really light, as if i wasn't taxing my chest muscles. Looking forward to making progress with that, especially as next time i should have the security of a power rack, which will enable me to go more all out.
Military press felt nice and light as well - I would like to reach 40 kg plus bar by Xmas time. We'll see.
Dunno what went wrong with dips - I either got my angle wrong (as i felt sore at the elbows), or I just pre exhausted them too much by powering through the previous two exercises, which obviously incorporate a fair bit of triceps.
As usual cos i'm a dumb*ss i didn't pace myself so missed out on my barbell rows due to time constraints. Think next time this workout cycles round, I might substitute them for dumbell rows, since i tend to cheat for normal rows.
Pulldowns this week isnt really comparable becuase i used a nautilus machine, rather than the more old school one.
I have decided to do a cut, because my love handles are just ridiculous. I started yesterday, (Monday). Since I'm eating so high above maintenance at the moment, I've decided to decrease cals gradually, so my body doesn't go into shock. At the moment i'm still eating the same stuff, but decreasing portion size.
I normally add 100 grams oats into each of my big shakes in the morning - now i've reduced that to 75 grams for breakfast and 50 grams for midmorning. Will reduce it to 50 grams in both, tomorrow, and stay at that probably til friday. Over the weekend I will half my soya milk so that instead of using 500 ml in each shake, it will just be 250 ml, topped up with water. Then next week it will be just water. Will keep carb cut offs at 6 - 7 pm.
It took a long time for me to decide whether to cut or not - I remember how I got really down during my last cut, feeling skinny and weak. However, I can't really go on like this - I look rubbish in my work shirts, and even my tighter casual t shirts aren't looking so good now cos although my shoulders are wider than they used to be, the V taper if offset by my ever increasing love handles. Also my face is getting too round. Just hope I don't lose much muscle mass - for that reason I'll be mega dosing cissus (supposedly anti catabolic properties), keeping protein 1.5 -2* bodyweight and doing steady rate cardio. In the past I've tried to create too much of a calorie defecit - this time i'll be relying more on cardio to burn the fat.
Ordered Nutrex Lipo 6 fatburner - got it fairly cheap from the US, £20 incl. postage. I know diet and cardio are most important during cutting though. If I do end up feeling too skinny (psychologically) I might take MD2 which I hear is quite good during a cut. I still have SD and PP, but SD would kill my cardio due to the shin pains i get from it, and I read that PP retains alot of water, so MD2 would be the best bet. However, I imagine I'm a good few weeks away from that hurdle, as I have a significant amount of flab that should be easy to burn off before my body thinks about going for the muscle.
I keep on reminding me of a quote that someone has in their sig, either here or over at Muscletalk. "Bodybuilding is a journey, not a destination." Who cares if I dont make 14 stone this year. Regardless, I'll be alot more cut up, healthier, better looking and feeling better about myself. No point being 14 stone with 4 stone of that being fat. All I need to do now is convince myself to go back to grilled f*ckin chicken! LOL |