What's up errone! Haven't been active on the forums here for a couple of years now, but I still see a few familiar names logged in.
My Build:
Height: 5'10"
Bodytype: Border Endomorph/Mesomorph
Since April, when I was just over 230 lbs, I've been trying to steadily cut weight. After reading the book "Cardio Strength Training", I decided to modify my old 5x5 cutting routine to see how it worked.
Back story:
When I first started coming to this forum in '08, I'd gotten up to 240 lbs and used a 5x5 routine to slowly cut my weight down to ~205 lbs, but my strength had gone up a TON. From what I can remember (for sets of 5), my bench was around 305, stiff leg deadlifts around 315, weighted dips with 90 lbs added, shoulder press 185, squatting around 315, and leg pressing ~800 on a 45 degree sled. This all took me about 14 months to accomplish. My diet was probably about 85% clean, and I was hitting the gym 4 days a week doing mainly upper/lower splits.
Current:
Again, in April, I was sitting just above 230 lbs, and I'd gotten down to 192 lbs as of 1 Jan of this year. My situation is very different now than before. The gym I've been using is a LOT more bare bones. No squat/bench racks aside from a Smith machine. The don't even have any full size olympic bars *facepalm*. It's at work, and I guess they don't want to deal with the liability of someone getting hurt with too many free weights.
I used two main exercise programs to cut this time. The main one was a full body circuit routine (Squat, Standing calve raises, Pullups, Dumbbell bench, Push Press, and jump rope) done in a 3x5 manner (3 sets of 5 reps, minus the calves and jumprope). I'd do a full circuit with no more than 15 secs rest between exercises, and then a 1:30 -2:00 minute break between sets. The second was an upper lower split that I would use for a month or so every two months just to give my body a break. I'd eat about 500 extra calories a day, and use it as more of a maintenance period. Doing this allowed my body a break from the calorie deficiency. I know my strength isn't nearly as good as it was from doing the 5x5, but the results were a lot faster and it still allowed me to do big compound movements.
It seems I've gotten carried away in this post, but I'm still decently proud of results I've seen from applying the cardio/circuit style training into my routine. I've just started a 2 month bulk, and I will be going back into a 2 month cut again starting in March. Woot
My Build:
Height: 5'10"
Bodytype: Border Endomorph/Mesomorph
Since April, when I was just over 230 lbs, I've been trying to steadily cut weight. After reading the book "Cardio Strength Training", I decided to modify my old 5x5 cutting routine to see how it worked.
Back story:
When I first started coming to this forum in '08, I'd gotten up to 240 lbs and used a 5x5 routine to slowly cut my weight down to ~205 lbs, but my strength had gone up a TON. From what I can remember (for sets of 5), my bench was around 305, stiff leg deadlifts around 315, weighted dips with 90 lbs added, shoulder press 185, squatting around 315, and leg pressing ~800 on a 45 degree sled. This all took me about 14 months to accomplish. My diet was probably about 85% clean, and I was hitting the gym 4 days a week doing mainly upper/lower splits.
Current:
Again, in April, I was sitting just above 230 lbs, and I'd gotten down to 192 lbs as of 1 Jan of this year. My situation is very different now than before. The gym I've been using is a LOT more bare bones. No squat/bench racks aside from a Smith machine. The don't even have any full size olympic bars *facepalm*. It's at work, and I guess they don't want to deal with the liability of someone getting hurt with too many free weights.
I used two main exercise programs to cut this time. The main one was a full body circuit routine (Squat, Standing calve raises, Pullups, Dumbbell bench, Push Press, and jump rope) done in a 3x5 manner (3 sets of 5 reps, minus the calves and jumprope). I'd do a full circuit with no more than 15 secs rest between exercises, and then a 1:30 -2:00 minute break between sets. The second was an upper lower split that I would use for a month or so every two months just to give my body a break. I'd eat about 500 extra calories a day, and use it as more of a maintenance period. Doing this allowed my body a break from the calorie deficiency. I know my strength isn't nearly as good as it was from doing the 5x5, but the results were a lot faster and it still allowed me to do big compound movements.
It seems I've gotten carried away in this post, but I'm still decently proud of results I've seen from applying the cardio/circuit style training into my routine. I've just started a 2 month bulk, and I will be going back into a 2 month cut again starting in March. Woot
