Re-birth.

E

Eric L

0
In short, I am going to test the human potential.

Given the fact that I know how to lose weight, grow muscle and how to manipulate nutrition to my advantage regarding this, I will make an experiment with how I can use my mindset and knowledge in order to achieve it in a way that is, what I deem to be, the most effective. In short, what this means, is that I want to see what 4 months of active dedication will accomplish.

My goal is is induce the single biggest physical change in myself in 4 months.

Pretty reasonable and easy, yes? Of course it it.

The beginning of this little test, will most likely start in February, I will use the time I have from here until then to come up with some sort of approach.

As we approach February, new posts will me written, detailing as many details regarding my list of criteria and initial body composition.

I will look at every post written in this thread with compassion and open mindedness. If you are not compassionate or open minded, show yourself out of my thread. If you beleive that something can be learned either by you or me I urge you to voice what ever you have to say as it will result in, what I beleive to be, intelligent responses by myself and others. Let us learn the human potential together. :jumping:

Advice, constructive criticism and comments are sincerely appreciated.

Anything else, is pure garbage and I leave garbage at the curb.

Thank you.
 
My sole objective for February is core strengthening and cardio.

The reason for this is because I have a desk job, I sit on my ass all day long, over the months, since I stopped working out (before December), my core atrophied. I can feel it, my back hurts and I am unstable and weak at the core.

As you all know, the spinal cord is the mother of all nerve systems. It's only protection aka stabilization is achieved through healthy core muscles. Without it you would snap your spine in half. Anyone beginning a new workout routine should keep this in mind. If you have a weak core, address it immediately - it is the only source of back problems and it is the only thing that is allowing you to exercise other muscles properly. A weak core will likely lead you to have pain in your back. No one, and I mean no one can possibly ignore their core and expect to have a good back nor health.

So I will address my own health in the proper order.

I shall go through February with a calorie deficit while doing the following routine:

-10 minute warm-up. Machine of choice. Bike, rower, crosstrainer, etc.

-1 to 2 sets of ab exercises. I pick whichever I feel like doing.

-1 to 2 sets of back hyperextensions with the glute/ham developper. Again in which ever way I feel like doing.

-Full body static stretching routine. This has proven to be very effective for me after I am warmed-up and after doing my workouts. I seem to get the maximum stretching effect right after these two. My flexibility is getting good gains so far this way. I also Do some high kicks on the punching bag after this routine.

10-20 minutes of interval cardio. Again, which ever way I feel like doing. If a machine is occupied and I don't get to use machine that makes my workout easy or convenient, I walk out of the gym and come back the next day or at the next session. There is no reason to put myself under pressure and make it an absolute obligation to get every second of every workout of every time I go to the gym, that's no fun and if it ain't fun I don't do it.

P.S. I don't need to maintain my other muscles since they are maintained through my job. I work my arms, chest, legs, and shoulders more than enough to stop them from atrophying while at work. unloading a skid of welding rods and rolling gas cylinders for an hour has proven to make me quite the strong young man. Therefore my only concern is my core...and now I come to think about it, I think my core should be my main focus for the entire 4 months...

I will base my calorie deficit solely on the activities I will do during the day, therefore I will get stronger at the core and lose fat one way or another.

Hope to hear from you all, I am going in detail in order to shed some light on how, according to my own knowledge, one should address his own fitness issues - if my knowledge is false or unwise, it's up to you all to keep me in line and question me :action8:

Hope you have the absolute best day of your life!
 
I talked the talk, now it's time to walk the walk.

Goals haven't changed and it's February, let's get this done.

I was off last Thursday and Friday, I feel re-charged and ready for this. Sadly I screwed up my back Saturday while putting some bottled water in the fridge, it really hurt but somehow, the day after there was nearly no pain. Still barely sore, but I know my own back well enough to know it's ready for a workout.

Today's workout.
-----------------

5-10min. warm-up.

Sit-ups 3xfail.
Back hyper extensions 3xfail.
Oblique machine 3xfail, lightweight.

Full body static stretching with the odd kick to the punching bag here and there to loosen up.

10-20 min. cardio.

Food intake will suck today and I don't really care to post it since it's not even worth it. Tonight, I will cook a **** load of meat and freeze it. I should have 2 weeks of meat ready to use whenever I want. This is going to save me some major time. Going to study my CFT course tonight as well.

I will keep this routine throughout February or until I feel like I have an indestructible core. :)

I will get some pictures tonight and from here on out, I shall not look at my own body in the mirror or otherwise until I have reached the end of month #4.

This is going to suck, but at month #4 it will feel so awesome looking in the mirror that it will have been worth it.

As mentioned previously, will log body composition once per week.
 
I just wanna wish you luck and tell you to be careful. I'll be looking forward to hearing about the progress as I can learn from your experiment.
 
Cool to see you've started. I'd like to see where this ends up.

But a word of advice, if you want to get the best out of your core work, exercises that train the visible muscles (eg rectus abdominis/6pack) aren't the 100% best way to go about it. The ultimate aim of core stability is to get the deeper traversus abdominis working. My two favourite exercises for this are Horse Stance and balancing on a fitball. Outside of the gym, you can practice activating it at work by sitting up straight in your seat, lowering your shoulders and puffing your chest up like a soldier, and lightly flattening your stomach.

Horse Stance is basically getting on your hands and knees and trying to keep your back straight, again by lightly flattening your stomach. To advance, take oppose hand and knee off the floor and try extending those limbs without comprimising your back position.

Balancing on a fitball is a bit more self-explanatory. You could start by just sitting on it, then take one foot off the ground, then both feet, then move up to kneeling on it, and when you're really good, catching and pasing a medicine ball while on it.

Not saying sit-ups and oblique work are bad, but they don't tend to get the deeper core muscles as effectively as focusing on the deep muscles does.
 
Sounds good.

I did my routine yesterday but didn't do sit-ups, they we're extremely sore to the point where I got on the decline bench and lowered myself I felt pain.

I also made my back worse while stretching, I was sure it was better but I seem to have fallen back even more on my workouts. Going to stick to cardio and light weights for now.

Also, now that you point this out, I remember reading that one of the best ways to active the transverse abdominals is to suck your tummy in with your muscles. I can do this at work all day long.

Any advice on how I can hit my core properly to make it stronger is appreciated, thanks for stopping by.

I plan on taking some body compositions and some photos tonight. I didn't yesterday, my back pissed me off and made me watch House MD instead.

;)

Oh, I have a very bad ankle, don't know how that would be with a fitball - going to try it with my brace and see how it goes.

Having a crappy day at work...I need to find how to develop the ability to split myself in half so I can keep up. :biggrinsanta:

Good day!
 
And so it has started...good luck, but how are you gonna go for 4 months without looking in a mirror?
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I noticed first hand how hard this was going to be. I need to cover all the mirrors in my room and also need to make sure I don't look at myself in the mirror when going in the bathroom. I've already cut back by 5 pounds since the holidays it seems. 202ish to 197ish...not going to make this official until the week ends.

I'm not going to tell anyone I am doing this, lol...

I ended up looking at myself when going in the shower at the gym yesterday and went: "Oops, ****."

The reason I am doing this is because I read a story somewhere that had a coach in it who inspired a young student to make himself strong and fit and told him not to look at himself for the entire year, at the end when he looked he got one of the biggest confidence boosts he could have wished for and it made him proud of his accomplishment in a most profane matter. I wanna see how this turns out for me. Perhaps I can go longer without looking at myself in the mirror?

As always, I appreciate any visitors and, don't be shy, if you have questions regarding myself or yourself ask and I'll be glad to help.

;)
 
Eric L said:
Sounds good.

I did my routine yesterday but didn't do sit-ups, they we're extremely sore to the point where I got on the decline bench and lowered myself I felt pain.

I also made my back worse while stretching, I was sure it was better but I seem to have fallen back even more on my workouts. Going to stick to cardio and light weights for now.

Also, now that you point this out, I remember reading that one of the best ways to active the transverse abdominals is to suck your tummy in with your muscles. I can do this at work all day long.

Any advice on how I can hit my core properly to make it stronger is appreciated, thanks for stopping by.

I plan on taking some body compositions and some photos tonight. I didn't yesterday, my back pissed me off and made me watch House MD instead.

;)

Oh, I have a very bad ankle, don't know how that would be with a fitball - going to try it with my brace and see how it goes.

Having a crappy day at work...I need to find how to develop the ability to split myself in half so I can keep up. :biggrinsanta:

Good day!
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Was there a particular stretch that aggrivated your back?

I don't think having a bad ankle would be much of a problem on the fitball unless you try standing on it. For most of the progressions I recommended there, your ankle would not be weight-bearing at all.
 
Was there a particular stretch that aggrivated your back?

I don't think having a bad ankle would be much of a problem on the fitball unless you try standing on it. For most of the progressions I recommended there, your ankle would not be weight-bearing at all.
Click to expand...

When I ended the ground portion of my stretches and started doing a lying ab stretch and some version of a cat stretch I noticed it...I am pretty sure one of those did it.

Wasn't sure what you meant with the fitball, but I get it now...I got one lying around somewhere that hasn't seen light in a bit.

Gym is off limits for a bit for me due to my back, my job will keep me in shape for now - that being said, this means I got lots of spare time tonight and will use it to catch up on a few things.
 
Before I go on, let me explain something. I get bored easily, I have a habit of changing things up VERY VERY often. For this reason, when I have spare time on my hands, I use it to change my routine, just to keep myself from getting bored.

Tonight I am re-writing my routines, the objective stays the same for the entire duration of the project->core work, but, I will add some compounds to make sure my whole body is being hit.

Going to review a couple of units from my CFT course tonight.

Good day.
 
IMHO the best core work is lifting heavy stuff: like squats (back, front, overhead, etc), deadlifts, good mornings, overhead presses, etc.
 
Agreed, can't do those right now though - my back is hurt.

My routine will undergo modification:

-10 minute warm-up. Machine of choice. Bike, rower, crosstrainer, etc.

-1 to 2 sets of ab exercises. I pick whichever I feel like doing.

-1 to 2 sets of back hyperextensions with the glute/ham developper. Again in which ever way I feel like doing.

-3 sets of flat bench press.

-3 sets of deadlifts.

-3 sets assisted chin ups.

-Stretching when the back gets better.

-10-20 min. cardio.

Will keep weights to a minimum until the back recovers.
 
Current weight: 198#
Height: 5' 11"
Belly: 41"
BMI: 27.6
Age: 26

Calorie intake on off days: 1943
Calorie intake on workout days: 2591

I will modify this later on, I want to take my BMR and add calories for each exercises individually and be as accurate as possible.

Will use a 40-40-20 macro ratio.

Photos are on an SD card - need to purchase a card reader.

Last summer's benchmarks:

560#x10 on leg press - maximum amount of plates on the machine.
225#x20 Deadlift. Nearly fainted on#20 :)

My legs are pretty strong, rest is craptastic.

I remember doing only 4-5x150# on flat BP...

Remember being able to do 7-8x35# on the bicep curls.

Flexibility is better than last summer...

I think I'm going to do a benchmark session next time I go into the gym - I will do isolations on all the major muscles and re-do the benchmark after 4 months.

Benchmarking will be done with these:
1 set of each

5min. warm-up
DB Shrugs.
DB Lateral raise.
Preacher curls.
Reverse flies.
Flat BP.
Back hyperextensions.
Sit ups
Leg presses
Hamstring curls
Calf raises.
Forearm grips. (for kicks)

Nutrition breakdown.
--------------------

Meal 1/2/3 calorie breakdown on off days:
580/480/380
Snacks in between meals will be approx. 150 cals. 3 snacks per day.
194g of carbs and protein with 43g of fat.

Meal 1/2/3 calorie breakdown on workout days:
770/640/518
Snack in between will be approx. 200 cals. 3 snacks per day.
259g of carbs and protein with 58g of fat.

I made myself a spreadsheet, it's quite a time saver. I have a page where it takse my age and body composition and calculates everything based on desired defecits, surpluses, macro ratios and breaks everything down per meal and whatnot. Also got a progress graph that interpolates from a body composition log founf on another page, also got a database of exercises in the works in it which tells us the muscles used per each exercise used, I have templates for scheduling my day with workout logs and a **** load of other things, got many hours put into it and everytime I change something, I just change a few numbers and voila.
 
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Having sold my Palm TX and made 200$ from that, I decided to get an Ipod touch to help me log my stuff. I am going to buy Flex Workout Log, it's basically perfect for what I need to do. Found a deal on 64gb model for 300$. Saves me 150$ from buying a new one.

Man, I love gadgets.

:sport2:
 
WOW Eric this is a great start, I have an office job too hahaha

Yeah one thing, I wanna see what your eating - write out your nutrition stuff

Have a great day!!!

Jackie xxxxxxx
 
Will do and thanks a bunch for stopping by.

Bought my Ipod touch, bought Flex Workout Log for it, my routines for the next 4 months are in it. All I have to do to log everything is keep my Ipod with me. I can export my workouts to excel/e-mail and post them here too.

All that's left to do is what jackie told me to do, my nutrition.

I better do it if I know whats good for me. :boxing_smiley:

Also, my back feels pretty good but I will wait some more and do my benchmarking workout on Monday.
 
Eric L said:
Will do and thanks a bunch for stopping by.

Bought my Ipod touch, bought Flex Workout Log for it, my routines for the next 4 months are in it. All I have to do to log everything is keep my Ipod with me. I can export my workouts to excel/e-mail and post them here too.

All that's left to do is what jackie told me to do, my nutrition.

I better do it if I know whats good for me. :boxing_smiley:

Also, my back feels pretty good but I will wait some more and do my benchmarking workout on Monday.
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kool, this sounds great, im excited for the both of us lol xxx
 
Today, I go on a 24 hour fast.

I been looking around and reading about it...there are many benefits in doing this.

-Detox effect.
-Allows the digestive system to take a break and heal itself allowing the body to concentrate on healing others organs and whatnot.
-Clearer thinking.

List goes on.

I will remain sedentary for the next 24 hours. I been writing up my plans some more for my project this last weekend. My back feels ready now. After I detox, I enter my new diet.
 
a fast hey lol, let me know how that goes, i can't seem to get very far without eating

rock the hell on haha xxxxxxxx
 
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