Tanuki's journal - The road to being big & lean!

[Tanuki]

Hey guys, been away from the community for a long time! I'm impressed with the total re-vamp and exciting a new journal. I don't have much time right now, but either this evening or tomorrow I'm going to make an in-depth post regarding my current stats, goals, training, and hopefully figure out a workable nutrition plan. I have a digital camera as well, so if I can find all my cords I'd like to get some pics up as well.

[Tanuki]

Alright guys and gals, I'm back with a little more to add. First off, let me admit that I attempted to start up a journal a few months ago and failed to keep up with it; I can't let that happen again!

Without going to in-depth, my story is that I've been in the iron game since I was 17. I'm 23 now. Problem is that I only had true dedication and focus for the first couple of years, then I got lazier and lazier with my diet and workouts. Granted, I still workout harder and even eat better than a lot of people a lot of the time, but the bottom line is that I am NOT happy with my current physique or habits and it is up to me to fix that and get back to the old me.

As far as my stats, like I said I'm 23 years old, 6'1" and 225 pounds. My bodyfat I don't know, but I do know it is higher than I'd like. I have a pathetic spare tire and no real definition, though my chest, shoulders, and legs do pop out nicely. My main goal is to lean out by a good 10-15 pounds at least (whatever it takes to get some abs showing and dwindle down this spare tire), but I also believe that re-focusing on intense workouts and a high protein diet is going to result in some muscular gains as well.

With all that said, here is my proposed nutritional plan. Feel free to give me any advice. I'm going to keep it pretty darn simple for now, I can play with it more once I actually stick to it for a week or longer.

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*Meals 1-4*
Lean protein source (1 can tuna, 6 oz chicken, 5 oz flank steak, or 1 1/4 scoop whey protein)
2/3 cup oatmeal w/ generous cinnamon
20ml vinegar (to lower GI of meal)

*Meal 5*
Lean protein source
Mixed green veggies

*Meal 6 (when I inevitably wake up in the middle of the night)*
Whey or casein shake

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Okay, so there is my basic nutrition plan. The time of day I workout is going to be a little unstable for a bit, but I will also have the following meals around my workouts. (These meals are based off of Paul Cribb's Anabolic Nutrient Timing Factor that worked well for me in the past. All together I should consume 110g protein and 150ish grams of carbs during this 'window'.)

*Pre/during workout*
BCAA's
Gatorade (about 26g carbs)

*Post-workout*
Whey protein
Waxy maize, dextrose, or Gatorade powder (27.5g carbs is the goal)

*30 minutes later*
4 oz chicken breast
White rice

*30 minutes later*
Fat-free cottage cheese
Jam

*60 minutes later*
2 oz chicken breast
Whey protein
White rice

======================================

So there you have it, the whole shabang. All in all it should be around 330g of protein, 275g carbs, and fats... well I'm not sure about how much fat is there. I'm going to take 20g of fish oil spread throughout the day and perhaps down the road CLA if I can swing it, so hopefully that will have my health fats all covered. Basically I want to stick to this for a couple weeks and if I don't feel my body is responding the way I want I will most likely reduce the carbs a bit.

[Tanuki]

Okay, now onto the good stuff; training!

Well, a big thing for me when it comes to getting lean is cardio. I plan on performing 4-5 HIIT sessions per week, either on the treadmill or elliptical machine. Now I know some athletes that consume high-GI carbs around their intense cardio, but for now I'm not going to worry about that. I'll probably just time it so I have a normal meal approximately 30 minutes after my cardio.

As far as my weight training goes, I thrive off heavy lifting and basic movements. I rarely go above 8 reps with the exception of performing an extended strip-set on my very last exercise(s). I don't do a whole lot of sets, usually 6-9 sets for a large muscle group, 4-5 for a smaller muscle group. I like to train each body part once per week. I've experimented a fair bit in my day and this type of train is the most fun and productive for me.

My split it going to look like this for now:

Monday- Back, HIIT
Tuesday- Chest and calves
Wednesday- HIIT only
Thursday- Legs
Friday -Shoulders, traps HIIT
Saturday- Arms, abs (optional HIIT)
Sunday- HIIT only

[eclipse23]

I like the look of your split. I was on an almost identical spilt, ecept cardio only once or twice a week. But I found it to be a lot of fun actually and I like how the full week of recovery allows for INTENSE workouts every time.

[Tanuki]

Hey Eclipse, thanks so much for stopping in!

I wanted to also openly admit to everyone that in the past few years I've started and abandoned a few journals, so please stick with me folks and if you see me slacking get on my butt! Haha, but seriously I appreciate the encouragement. ;-)

A little more info on myself (without giving away my personal identity or anything); I'm a professional wrestler. Pretty new to the sport, but decently connected and I have a good head on my shoulders. I recently had a WWE tryout and was very close to landing a developmental contract, but they said they want me to get leaner because their going for the lean, athletic and muscular look these days. Now it wouldn't hurt me to get bigger either, but the main thing is a high definition body for high definition TV.

But in any case, my point is that the incentive to train hard in right is there, but I can still use any encouragement you guys and gals have to offer. Like I said, my first couple years of iron I was a mad men; no missed workouts, perfect diet, I lived and breathed for the bodybuilder lifestyle. Nowadays I maybe have a better rounded life, but the bottom line is I need get lean and stay lean if I'm going to have the opportunity to earn a living as a wrestler, so please help a brotha out!

[eclipse23]

I remember your posts from a ways back when I was more of a lurker than a poster and I remember you being a real thick dude(in a good way of course)!

I'll be watching your progress and I can't wait to see you on my high-def tv Bro!

[Commander]

Leg day after HIIT could be brutal! Hope to see you keep up with the log. Looks like you got your nutrition/lifting pretty well planned out.

[Tanuki]

Monday, Oct 27th.

TRAINING- Back
Pulldown 1 X 9 @ 160, 2 X 6 @ 175, 1 X 4 @ 190 followed by a quadruple drop set
Machine row 1 X 7 @ 175, 1 X6 @ 175, 1 x 5 @ 175, 1 X 4 @ 190 followed by quadruple drop set
Pullover 1 X 14 @ 55 followed by double drop set

CARDIO
Elliptical machine
30:00
4.9 distance
381 calories

Good weight training session today. Pretty basic and limited due to the fact that my left shoulder is strained from my wrestling tryout and I have to be careful with my exercise selection and poundages for now. I tried to add in more drop sets than usual to get in some more volume to make up for the decrease in weight/intensity.

Unfortunately my schedule was a little screwed up today and I had to my cardio immediately after lifting instead of a separate session. I was decently spent after my weights and ended up going for 30 minutes on the elliptical at a moderate pace. Quite frankly I know it isn't as effective as interval training, but I'm happy I pushed myself to do cardio at all because I did NOT want to haha.

NUTRITION
Nutrition wasn't to a T today by any means, but still decent. I had a meal of 3/4 cup oats and tuna twice, a lean pocket and whey shake, a low-carb protein bar before training, my post-workout shake, and since I wasn't on top of my grocery shopping I ended up have a large serving of a bodybuilder's lasagna I make (low fat, kinda high carb, high protein) following my post-workout shake.

I'll have to get my act together and follow the diet more closely. My eating today was okay, but okay won't really cut it if I'm gonna get lean. Tomorrow I need to stock up on groceries and get on the ball!

All in all not a bad first day though.

[Tanuki]

Tuesday, Oct. 28th

TRAINING- Chest
Machine press 1 x 9 @ 160, 1 x 8 @ 175, 1 x 6 @ 190, 1 x 6 @ 190 + weight add-on, 1 X6 @ 205, 1 X 4 @ 220 followed by quadruple drop set
Pec deck 1 X 11 @ 115 followed by double drop set

CARDIO
Elliptical machine
15:00
2.31 distance
192 calories

Treadmill
15:00
Forgot to take distance
209 calories

A pretty solid weight training session today, but again my left shoulder is tender so I was limited in the movements I could perform and I had to start of conservatively with the poundages. I managed to get decently heavy towards the end and again used a couple of extended dropsets.

Cardio wasn't planned for today, but more isn't going to hurt since I need to lean out. I did a moderate pace on the elliptical machine and treadmill for 30 minutes total. Tomorrow I have no weight training so I'll finally be able to perform an interval session and hopefully in the future I can get my schedule running a bit smoother so I have time/energy to do cardio and weight separately.

NUTRITION

Diet was kind of off again today. Nutritious food choices, but not following my plan properly. I had one meal of oatmeal and whey, then a lean pocket and whey. Had my workout shakes, then a large meal of rice and two chicken breasts. Also had some oatmeal and yogurt, I was really stuffed and I know I overate.

Speaking of my diet, I find that in the mornings I have a very small appetite that continues into the evening, then all of a sudden I want to EAT EAT EAT. Now, that could have a lot to do with not following a bodybuilding diet with frequent meals for a while, but for now I'm probably going to make my meals during the day a bit smaller (cut the oatmeal to 1/2 cup) and make my post-workout meals larger because that is when my appetite is the craziest and also probably the safest time to eat a lot (though ultimately I gotta get my portions under control). I'll still force myself to eat every 2-3 hours in the day, but for now the meals are going to be smaller.

[Tanuki]

TRAINING- Oct 29th-31st

Alright, first off I need to admit to missing my leg workout on Thursday and in fact it has been pushed back all the way until today (Saturday). No excuse, just laziness.

Cardio was performed on all days, however I have my doubts if much HIIT is going to occur honestly as I haven't done any yet. On Wednesday I did 40 minutes of the elliptical, then on Thursday and Friday I went for a long walk each day, about 90 minutes each day.

NUTRITION

Again kind of struggling. Eating well during the day isn't a problem, but I'm still overeating at night, even if it is on mostly clean foods. Had some pizza on Halloween, but no candy.