William Wallace of Weightlifting

[bigpapa2126]

Hey guys...i've been struggling on my cut lately. I've had guidance by several people that know what their talking about. I myself have previously lost 70 lbs about two years ago, before everything in my life went into a downward spiral. Since about August i've been back at it, because I always loved the weights, and I got ridiculously huge (bad away). Now to the important stuff

Started August: 387 (might have been higher, checked it after dieiting a few weeks)

Right now: 359

Height: 6'1

Body composition: big frame, big everything. But inhumanely week for size

Constraints: need right ankle surgery, somewhat limiting. Can squat all day, but no calves. Hard to run for prolonged period without brace. Back: had problems for all types of reasons, been strengthening it slowly for about 2 months...signifcant progress.

Knowledge: I know for the most part what to do, but the science behind it is muddled. I.e. Take protein shake in the morning. Why? SOmething to do with catabolic lol

So i'm here because initially i had a lot of results, as a guy my size would. The weight will melt off. But since then i've had a very knowledgeable friend of mine, Roberto...he will hereby be known as the Oracle, check out my diet and workout plan. Says its solid. Hes an old tymer on these forums, forgot his screen name. And a bodybuilder at vitamin shoppe also told me I was doing great. Has been assisting me. But still my results are off. I'm trying to find a way to post my diet breakdown up here without typing it all out. It's an excel file. If all else fails i'll just type it out here soon.

Program:
Cardio: I do cardio about 5 days a week, all types. More details coming soon.

Weights: 3-4 days a week, again more details coming.

[bigpapa2126]

Today was supposed to be tennis, but my partner can be unreliable, so I headed to the gym for some HITT. Lately i've been doing it on the eliptical, to take pressure off my ankle and also because i've gotten heavy enough that its **** near impossible for me to sprint for more than 20 seconds.

Warmed up for 10 minutes.
12 minutes of HITT.
Heart rate: mid 170's

[bigpapa2126]

Diet

6 a.m. 1 scoop whey, 1 cup oatmeal in skim milk

8 a.m. Post workout(cardio): 2 scoops of whey, 2 tablespoons honey

10 a.m. Breakfast: 4 egg omelete (1 yellow) with vegetables and 2 pieces of wheat bread

1 p.m. Lunch: Tuna sandwich

4 p.m. Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 2 scoops of whey in milk

6/7 p.m. Dinner: Large serving vegetable, 2 large chicken leg quarts

9:30 p.m. 1/2 cup cottage cheese

10:00 p.m. sleep

Changes: Some days I'll do two a days, with the second work out nullifying the snack and instead pre and post workout nutrition is followed. Generally at 3 p.m.

Totals:

Calories: 2368.3
Fat: 43.98
Sat: 10.659
Sugar: 59
Carbs: 178.554
Protein: 310.6
Fiber: 26.68

I feel as if my calories may be a little low, and also that my carbs are high. Even though they are all clean carbs, but the pre/postworkout nutrition (honey) makes these numbers pretty high.

This is also the probably 5th adjustment to my diet plan i've gone through. I've had it at 2700 calories with the same results, ive had carbs as low as 120 and no results. So I am trying out this plan.

Edit: Eliminated wheat pita at dinnertime for the last week. I've been reading about carbs being negative that late in the day.

[bigpapa2126]

Workout plan

3 main days and abs if I find time.

Day 1: Chest/Triceps
4 sets of barbell bench
3 sets of incline barbell
3 sets of dumbbell bench
3 sets of incline dumbbell bench
3 sets of flyes

Skull crushers/super set with close grip bench 4 sets
Weight plate extensions: 3 sets

Day 2: Biceps, forearms, back
4 sets with ez-curl bar
3 sets of seated dumbbell curls
3 sets of seated hammer curls
2 sets of concentration curls

barbell standing forearm shrugs (not sure what their called) 3 sets
Seated forearm concentration curls 3 sets
Plate pinches 4 sets
seated dumbbell palms-down wrist curls 3 sets

Good mornings 8 sets
*Because of the back tenderness, i'm still not doing a lot for back and ignoring upper back for now. Hopefully in a month or so i'll go back to the full routine. For now I do a light weight, many reps, many sets for lower back.

Day 3: Shoulders, lower body
Military press 4 sets
ez bar shrugs, superset backwards shrugs 4 sets
dumbbell shrugs 4 sets
raises 4 sets

Squats 7 sets

Day 4: abs
Crunches 4 sets
Super man pilates 4 sets
Lying leg raises 4 sets
Opposite toe plate side bends 3 sets
*Abs are usually done right before the days I box

Originally I was doing low reps (4-6) high weight, because as I was cutting I was trying to retain as much muscle as possible by firing my neurons optimally. But, after good strength results and slowed weight loss, I consulted the vitamin shoppe bodybuilder and we talked about how it would be better to get my heart rate moving while I lift. So now all my lifts are done with much lighter weight, 10-15 reps, with 20-30 seconds max break in-between sets.

[bigpapa2126]

Morning HITT

Ten minute warm up
15 minutes of HITT
Heart rate: mostly mid 160s, did get it into the 170s for a bit though

[bigpapa2126]

Biceps/Forearms/Back

Ez bar curls 25 on each side 3x10
seated dumbbell curls 20s 3x10
seated hammer curls 20s 3x10
concentration curls 20 2x8

ez bar forearm shrugs 35s each/side 20,15,10
seated dumbbell concentration shrug 50 3x20
walking plate pinches 45s 3 holds
seated dumbbell palms down wrist curls 10s 3x20

good mornings 6x10 90lbs

Notes:The new lighter weight, high reps routine is definitley different, but at times I feel like I can be more intense with pushing out extra reps. Took it easy on good mornings because the back felt done. Forearms went real well today. Still have to keep pushing out high reps...muscles are slow to adjust.

[bigpapa2126]

Also switching from a morning bar to oatmeal has been a plus. The extra carbs are helping me work out longer.

[bigpapa2126]

1 hour of tennis
heart rate was pretty good...probably 150-160 range

[bigpapa2126]

By far my worst lifting session in awhile...but out of the bad comes some good. Today was shoulders/squats. Two of my weaker areas. Shoulders becuase i've never consistently lifted them, and I haven't consistently squatted in a few years.

Shoulders
ez bar 100 lb shrugs 4x15
dumbbell shrugs 50's 3x15
lateral/side raises 10's 15,10,8

*My rotator hurt like hell during my first set of military presses, so the good out of this, is now I know that I need to take it slow with military presses and work in some rotator exercises.

With the squats, my second set after warm ups i felt my back about to pull, so i pulled out of the squat. I realized that my strange back problems are probably related to my over zealousness while squatting. I am way out of practice, but yet have my old mentality of going balls to the wall. My form is being compromised and i'm using a lot of back, which I think has led to the tenderness in my back. So now I know to take it easy until I get a good foundation on my quads. Hopefully this will eleviate my back problems. Gotta stay positive

[bigpapa2126]

Oh also i'm going to make a real effort to work in abs, since lower back and abs are part of the "core." It might help eleviate the pressure on my back.