Archives for May 2008

As I always say, planning is everything when it comes to hitting your goals.  I am going to lay out my plan for M3 today and then tomorrow Phase 1 of M3 gets under way. 

As mentioned in a previous post, I am splitting M3 into three phases.  Phase 1 begins today and will run from May 13, 2008 through May 31, 2008.  Phase 1 is a continuation of my cut phase as well as further experimentation with my nutrition just to get a few ideas dialed in.  Phase 2 will run from June 1, 2008 through July 30, 2008.  This will be a bulk stage and I will try to spend those entire 60 days packing on as much muscle as possible.  Phase 3 will run from July 31, 2008 through August 20, 2008 and will be another cut phase.  I expect to be ripped by August 20, 2008.

Getting Big:  The Plan!

Here is an outline of my plans.  The description will follow.

Phase 1

I am already 9 days into UDT training (Upside Down Training).  This is a fantastic program that is aimed at getting all my stabilizers in shape for the upcoming massive bulking training that will follow.  My goal during this time period is to spend 19 days cutting.  I will do cardio 4 times a week and will aim for maximum calorie days of 3400 calories.  As I have been doing, I will be mixing up my macronutrient ratios.  I am aiming to get down to 12% body fat during this period.  My goal weight is 205 pounds.  Should I hit this number, I will be carrying around 180.4 pounds of lean body mass and only 24.6 pounds of fat.  By contrast, I was carrying around 57 pounds of fat on the very first day I started blogging and daily accountability. 

Phase 2

During this phase I will be focused on the No Nonsense Muscle Building system of Vince Del Monte.  This program will have me pushing weights around 3 times a week, but going super heavy to gain mass.  I will be aiming for 4000 calories to do a clean bulk.  I will cut cardio back to 3 times a week.  My goal for this 60 day period is to keep my body fat percentage to 16% or less.  I aim to weigh 227 pounds at the end of this phase.  If I hit these goals I will be at 190.68 pounds of lean body mass with 36.32 pounds of fat.  No worries because Phase 3 will come into play to handle this issue.

Phase 3

This will be a 21 day phase in which I focus on cutting back down to 10% body fat.  Someone I know was looking at my plan and asked me why I expected to only lose 2% body fat in 19 days during Phase 1, but expected to cut down 6% body fat in Phase 3.  The answer is simple:  muscle mass!  By the end of Phase 2 I should be carrying 10 more pounds of lean body mass and all that muscle is going to help me cut the fat when I get to this phase.  My goal is to do cardio 5 times a week during this phase.  I will cut my body fat down to 10%.  My goal weight will be 215 pounds.  If I hit both of these goals I will be at 193.5 pounds of lean body mass and 21.5 pounds of fat.

Other Goals for M3

Squat 400 pounds 1 time
Deadlift 500 pounds 1 time
Bench Press 300 pounds 1 time

Accountability Log:

Workout Log:

Thought for the Day:

You have to eat big to get big!

Question of the Day:

What's the most important goal you currently have?  Answer by commenting this article.

Mission 1, Day 1: Group Shred Begins!

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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That's right!  Today was the last day of Mission 2 and it is also the reveal I promised.  I've got M3 plans coming out tomorrow.  The devil is in the details, so they say.  The details will be forthcoming in tomorrow's post.

I had an awesome leg workout today.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy working out my body in a split type of way.  I am able to go all out with my legs and later I can go all out with my upper body.  It is awesome!

I've been reflecting on several things today.  I cannot believe that I've finished 2 missions of 100 days in length each.  I've managed 200 straight days of blogging and picture posting.  I've learned that being disciplined about my blogging has made me disciplined about other things.  I've tried so many different ideas and studied the results.  It has taken me close to 200 days to figure out what works for me and now I'm forging ahead with the methods I believe will work the best for me.

There have been alot of wonderful connections made during the past 200 days.  I can't imagine what this journey would be like without the support of the following people:

Mike: Aussie Bodybuilder

Kali Lilla: My Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Christy: You Are Enough

Joni's: Nana Korobi Ya Oki

Lynda: 130 On My Way

Suzette: Quest for Success

Debbie: Can We Talk

and of course,

Adam: RTP Blog 2.0

While there are many of you who comment and lend your support, the people above have been here with me pretty much from the beginning.  I appreciate all the support and encouragement I've gotten from them throughout this journey.  There is no turning back now.  I am determined to finish the job I started 200 days ago.

Starting tomorrow I will have time machine entries.  These entries will help to show the progress I've had over the past 200 days.

To everyone who comments on this blog:  I love each and every one of you!  Thank you for your kind and generous support.

Accountability Log:

Workout Log:

Thought for the Day:

Consistency in accountability brings about consistency in action.

Question of the Day:

What's the toughest part of the transformation journey for you?  Please answer with a comment to this entry.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Today was a rest day and I enjoyed not doing anything at all.  I went to a hockey game in the morning.  That's always alot of fun.  I came home and watched the Lakers lose an exciting game to the Utah Jazz.  Next up was the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Philadelphia Flyers.  Pittsburgh won 4-2 (empty net goal at the end of the game).  That was a pretty good game.  Pittsburgh now leads the series 2-0, but they have to play the next 2 games in Philadelphia, so anything can happen.

I did some things for work and went through alot of old tasks to be sure they are closed out.  It was a basic organizational day.  I managed to enjoy the day thoroughly.

I enjoyed laying out my nutritional experiment earlier today (Mission 2, Day 99: Nutritional Secret Unveiled!) and hopefully it will help others to stay focused on their nutritional plans.  I found that the key to success was not having too many choices.  If the next meal was supposed to be a protein shake, that's what I ate.  It was easy to avoid temptation because I didn't ever have to consider what to eat next.  The amazing part to me was that even with such low carbs I managed to have very good energy throughout.  I think the careful insertion of carbs at strategic places really helped with that.  The major learning I've gotten from this is that everyone's body reacts differently to different stimuli.  Mine obviously does well on low carb with good fats for energy.

Accountability Log:

The above should be a hint at what I'm going to be doing for my nutrition during M3.  This is almost exactly the calorie and macronutrient ratio rotation that I'm looking for.  I will tweak according to the results I get now that I know what my body is capable of.

Nutriton Log:

I will no longer be posting exactly what I eat.  My accountability log will contain my calories for the day and my macronutrient ratios and that's as far as I'm going to reveal my nutrition from now on.  It was liberating not having to post what I eat and to avoid the questions that inevitably get emailed to me about how dull my menu is

Workout Log:

Today was a rest day.

Thought for the Day:

Excitement is a necessary component for intense training to take place.

Question of the Day:

What excites you the most about your training program?  Answer in the comments to this post.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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For the past several weeks I have had my nutritional plan under top secret status.  Today I am about to reveal exactly how I came upon this nutritional plan and what I did during the plan.

During the past 199 days of shredding (and probably even longer than that), I have paid careful attention to how different aspects of nutrition change my body.  My body tends to react violently to carbohydrates.  When I say “violently” I mean it tends to pack on the fat.  If I eat a moderate amount of carbohydrates (50%) and do alot of cardio, I tend to just remain the same body fat percentage.  However, if I do less than 5 days a week of cardio while at the 50% carb number, I increase in body fat percentage without fail.

My body's behavior was frustrating.  It lead me to a carb lowering plan that I worked for the majority of Mission 2, but this plan also lead to some major loss in lean body mass, another undesireable outcome for me.  Around the time of Mission 2: Day 72, Fasting Explored I was doing some research using the data that I had been collecting.  It was at this time that I came upon something that would become the basis for my new nutritional program.

The Velocity Diet – Not Quite

As I was searching the web for my issues, I found The Velocity Diet and I was intrigued.  I started to analyze what would happen if I followed the diet exactly as it was outlined.  For those of you wondering, this diet called for 28 days straight where you eat nothing but protein shakes.  The idea is to induce rapid fat loss.  As I considered what this meant I realized there would be no way for me to accomplish this without the fear that I would binge at some point. I just know my own limitations and 28 straight days of protein shakes wasn't on my list of fun things to try.  It was at this point that I applied the many things I've learned through reading, researching and data collection and came up with a new plan.

High Velocity Fat Burning Is Born!

Using the concepts in the Velocity Diet and everything else I knew about carb cycling, carb tapering and how my body reacts to all these things, I came up with what I call The High Velocity Fat Burning Machine Eating Plan and it worked from the start.  Here is how things panned out.

Important Notes:  It is extremely important for the reader to note a few things about this plan.  First, it was geared towards the short term, but with the idea being to figure out how to incorporate some of the fat burning ideas into my regular nutritional plan.  I ate every 3 hours like clockwork.  I averaged 2900 calories a day and my ratios of carbs/protein/fat averaged 10/70/20.  I threw in days where I was at 30/50/20 to keep my metabolism running at its highest point.  I never felt fatigued because I was getting good fat sources (Udos and peanut butter) for energy.  The high calories did wonders for my lean body mass and the low carbs really had me shedding the fat.  I took the following supplements daily:

Glutamine (5 g)
Magnesium (to avoid muscle cramps)
Calcium (to avoid muscle cramps)
Multi-vitamin
Inulin (5 g for digestion)
Papaya Extract (1 capsule for digestion)
Psylium husk (3 capsules twice a day for fiber)

The Final Stats for 19 Days on the Plan

That's right, I managed to burn 8.2 pounds of fat and added 2.2 pounds of LBM during my 19 day experiment.  This results have lead me to my final nutrition plan that will form the basis for M3's nutrition.  I am obviously going to tweak the food choices a bit to avoid monotony, but it won't be too much different than what I did the past 19 days.  I will reveal all on M3 : D1.

Warning to Readers

Do not attempt this nutritional experiment without consulting with your physician.  This is an extreme approach to losing fat and I do not recommend it for everyone.  If you'd like more information about how I came to this system, please comment me and include your email address in the form (it doesn't get shown to anyone but me) and I will contact you directly. 

Remember, you may think this was an awfully extreme approach, but the ratios match that of Metabolic Surge and my energy sources (EFAs) is higly recommended by Nick Nilsson, the author of Metabolic Surge.  Basically this is a combination of the Velocity Diet, Metabolic Surge, and BFFM (refeed approach).

I cannot argue with the results!

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