* Please read - my training/diet/photos - comments please *

Nick500

I feel like i've hit a bit of a plateau.

Heres my story. I took some photos this morning/last night for you to look at too, here they are:

Full frontal tense:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/intenso/T...S/CIMG7574.JPG

Only abs tensed - u can see my fat here...
http://members.lycos.co.uk/intenso/T...S/CIMG7799.JPG

Right bicep tensed:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/intenso/T...S/CIMG7800.JPG

HERE WE GO:

My stats:

Height: 5'9"

Arms: not measured in a while but roughly 15 1/2" cold (close to 16 pumped) - although left one is a bit bigger just above 16

Neck: 16 - (not many people train neck but i want it bigger)

Weight: 13 stone = 182lbs = approx 82kgs

Bodyfat %: 15.4
BMI: 26.4
Fat Mass: 12.4kgs
FFM: 68.3kgs

Key Lifts PBS(1 rep max): Bench 121kgs
Dead 162kgs
Squat 100kgs (i have knee injuries)
Shoudler press dumbells approx 3 reps of 40kg dumbells (haven't 'been able to test higher as dumbells dont go any higher in my gym

!!)
Realistic at the moment key lifts (1rep): bench 110
dead 150
squat 90
shoulder press dumbell 40

This is a post that acts as a mini training diary, a summary of current diet/training and success, and looking for advice and possibly comments on anything

that you can think of. Please take the time to read, it'll take less than 5 minutes, and although the photos are quite shit, please feel free to totally rip

me apart in what you think.

I'm not looking for compliments, in fact, i'd appreciate some1 saying "your ****ing shit, sort yourself out" - but be honest, dont just be mean for no

reason.

First off, the reason i've put PB and current realistic key lifts is that I seem to fluctuate from being able to go to the gym and lift huge (for me) say 115

bench 2 reps and some days struggling at 100. So the realistic is what I could do on an average day, and PB perhaps on an ECA fueled super-****y day when I

feel like i'm the king of the world (a very rare occasion...)

Have a look at my photos. Although i dont think i look BAD.... i dont think i've got any real (a) definition or (b) size, just a small comprimise in both.

I have been training for years and have had most of my increases in the last 9 months due to partly this site and others helping me boost my knowledge,

dedication, diet and supplements.

I'm just not sure what to do next. Tom's(Tom84) been on pro-hormones but i'm not sure if I really want to dabble in it yet. If i'm really honest to myself,

the last few months i've not been training as hard as I would have liked (i've still been hitting the gym as often but just not been working as hard there !)

- there have been good weeks and bad weeks.

Generally I dont let my diet slip, well if I do not to any extreme circumstance, for example yesterday was a dreadful day in terms of diet because I probably

had 150grams of fat and 600 grams carbs (lots from shitty chocolately sugarey substances), but even on these bad days my protein never drops below 200grams,

so i suppose i'm not in danger of muscle catabolism.

I generally train 5 times a week, and TRY (but rarely do it perfectly) to stay in line with this regime:

day 1: chest (or chest with triceps)
day 2: back, or back and triceps if not done yesterday
day 3: shoulders (or shoulders and biceps)
day 4: rest/cardio only
day 5: legs (or legs/biceps)
day 6: rest or start back at day 1 and loop

every day I try and do what i call ab-attack which is pretty much intense ab training for about 5 minutes. I throw in some extra exercises here and there

too.

Thats an honest representation of what i do, although i do a lot of cardio as well when i'm in the mood, like at the moment i'm going swimming 4 days out of

7 in the mornings, then trainig 6 hours later or so.

Diet wise a quick round up: (and i'm in a weird mixture between eating enough and cutting - some of you will say eat more but ideally i'd like to lower my

bodyfat at the moment (and yes i do believe its possible to do that without losing muscle and even gaining - like jay cutler says))

9am wakeup: protein shake with creatine, glutamine. glucosamine, cod liver oil 2000mgs, ast tribulus 2 capsules and either 2 dymatize ignites (ephedra free

fat burner) or 1 eph25 from musclechat shop (depending on whether i (a) am feeling hardcore (b) value the size of my penis as I suffer major shrinkage and

sexual dysfunction on eca)

If its a swimming/morning cardio day i wouldnt eat anything else, perhaps an apple for some simple carbs, as cardio first thing on an empty stomach is

perfect for raising the bodys heart rate for the rest of the day (and protein supps etc is enough to ensure no muscle catabolism)

otherwise i would probably have 3 fried eggs(olive oil used sparingly) on 2 slices of brown toast with some low fat margarine, and 4/5 rashers of lean bacon

(fat cut off) grilled, so i would assume about 60-70grams protein 50 grams carbs 18 grams fat including the protein shake roughly.

after cardio i would come back have another protein shake and eat that meal aforementioned.

about 3 hours later either the healthy or healthy-ish option of either:
(a) a baguette from one of the local shops, fairly large with some humous (made from chickpeas but fatty coz made with sesame oil), and chicken with some

kinda of flavoured mayonnaise (yes,again a sin) and some lettuce - approx 25 grams protein 120grams carbs 25 grams fat in all honesty
(b) home made sandwich, chicken, brown bread, maybe some ham - about 25/50/12 prot/carb/fat split

+ protein shake so add another 22grams protein + glutamine and creatine

This would either be pre-training meal (about an hour before) or if i train a bit later i would have this meal:

300grams pasta with 2 large chicken breasts, 5 rashers bacon fat free, some kind of low carb option sauce like low carb bolognese from azda or somethin,

maybe some carrots to start (sometimes with humous... so tasty but fatty)

This is big enough to split over 2 meals so generally this is my after training and 8pm ish meal (or pre training 5pm and after training 8pm ish meal and

have the meal above about 3pm)

so each of these 2 meals from this pasta dish provides roughly 50/150/30 split, plus shake usually with each so add another 22/2/1.

TRAIN - usually have 1 or 2 isotonic litres of drink with me, approx 220 cals from 90% carb split isotonic sugars.

before bed, shake with glutamine, with milk (so digestion is slower throughout the night) and 3 x zmas.


So supps for the day:

4 - 7 protein shakes depending on natural protein intake
15 grams glutamine
15 grams creatine (ish...)
2 cod liver oils + multivit (but i'm out of stock atm)
tribulus in the morning
zma at night
plus isotonic drinks whilst training.

At a guess about 200/400/90 protein/carb/fat split per day but i guess some days the carbs/fat would be lower (especially if i'm going for a eca/"i'm gonna be really hardcore cut-man" sort of day), and some days protein would be higher (but no problem with that !) And i assume about 2600 - 3000 cals ish, my BMR

is 1970kcals resting so with training and cardio i think that would about hit it. when i take my cutting seriously i would have about 2000 cals total so

deficit of roughly 500cals (perfect?)

also some days the fat goes a bit out of control, maybe up to 200 in all honesty (and hurts myself to admit that.)

SO:

I just would like people's opinions on what I should do now. Diet is 90% perfect and I promise to knuckle down. Before anybody says " you need to decide what

your doing, cutting or bulking ", i would say then, that i'm on a cut.

I've lacked intensity in training in the last few months, and I want to feel the burn of yesterday's workout every following day from now on.

Its exam period at uni over the next 6 weeks so i'm gonna maybe have to cut gym training sessions to about 1 hour 1/4 max a day, but thats should be fine if

increasing intensity.

Also i'm researching the use of a 4AD or 1AD course (similar to toms) but not gonna think about that til about july time.

MY GOALS:
In the long term: To be a huge beast with 20" arms, benching 8 reps of 150kgs, deadlifting 220, with shredded abs, the strongest guy in the gym
In the realistic/short term: To lose my bodyfat, and increase cleanly to reps of 120kgs bench, approach 200kgs dead and pack on the mass (perhaps using prohormones.)

Let us know what you think guys,


Thanks in advance,


Nick

mma_badboy

its hard to pack on mass and cut @ the same time as you'll need calories to build mass but then you need to decrease calories (by food or cardio) to get cut. your lifting heavy @ the moment, why dont you change your lifting and lift lighter for a couple of weeks, you'll body wil be shocked by it and you may power through your plateau for your heavy lifts. i switch from heavy lifting to light lifting all the time, it works great for me. on light lifting try target rep training, say pick a weight which you can do about 15 reps with, and aim for 50 reps (you can set the numbers but 50 min). say if you get 15 on the 1st set, rest 1 min, and go again, say you get 12 on the 2nd set, thats 27 so far, rest another min and go until you reach 50. on each set you are going to failure and resting 1 min so intensity is high. you could also try some some preworkout supplement to help with intensity, like a fat burning stack or No-Exlode (note. both supplements have different goals, i'm just giving these as some examples).

exaktlywhat

well youre certainly a hell of a lot more ripped than i am so ill say good definition. your diet is good, if you can stick to that you should be fine there. as far as physique, the only thing i would suggest is decline bench to round out the bottom of your chest and fill it out, you have good center and top, just get them to curve under and youll be on your way to those monster guns!

Nick500

thanks for the comments so far.

mma_badboy I use EPH25+ as a pre-gym stack or dymatize ignites for a non ephedra based thing and I find that quite useful.

exakltywhat thanks for the compliments, I do do a lot of decline, and in fact I seem to have more strength that way than flat, good advice tho. I think the lack of definition on my chest is due to too much fat tbh.

again thanks for the comments keep em coming i appreciate them all !

nick

Nick500

bump

others reply cummon !

nick

Anonymous

hello nick

i dont think your carrying to much bodyfat, you can visably see your abs which is good.

how long have you been on this plateua for? i passed through many in my time.

i think what is coming down to, is you need a whole new training structure.

this will shock your body completely, and this is what you need.

cos you got your diet right already.

sometimes i have a whole week, i find this helps abit aswell, when you come back your hungry for the weights again.

Nick500

you may be right steve

saying that, the last 2 days have been good training, and i'm gonna knuckle down. I can't do anything too drastic coz need to concentrate on exams at the moment but will try some new stuff (training and supps) i think after exams if things haven't improved.

cheers