In Fitness and in Health
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More training today for the upcoming Bath half marathon, March 2017, where me and Jules ( @Black Orchid ) have pledged to raise a minimum of £300 each for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity .
Huge thanks to those IH forum members that have already sponsored us.
To read the backstory click; https://www.ironheart.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3976.msg474036#msg474036My Garmin GPS watch died before I finished my route so I used http://gb.mapometer.com/ to measure the full route. I did 11 miles and Jules did 5 miles. Today's training route and data;
To donate to this amazing charity, whilst supporting me and Jules, simply click on links below;
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/barcleyroberts
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/julesroberts -
I am trying to get some size back on at the moment. Since my son was born I have lost 16 kilos of which most was muscle. I have never stopped working out although less times a week as
I was before he was born. The main factor in this was the amount of food I have been eating. Or more importantly the lack of food.So as of 2 weeks ago I have begun to hit 3200-3500cals a day.
I can only get to the gym 3 times a week now. So I follow a 4 day split but only training 3 days a week. So everything gets trained every 10-12 days.
I feel the extra rest is definitely helping me. I can't say I wanna be back to my heaviest but if I can get a solid 5kg back I will be happy a man.This is interesting to me as it chimes with some of my experiences although you're coming at it from a different angle than I had to. My starting point back in April was that I was overweight and hadn't trained meaningfully for almost a year as a result of injury, then new baby etc. I was 105kg. I've been following the program posted here back in may but have doubled the amount of exercises (and therefore frequency) and increased volume. I've now hit my target weight of 95kg and I'm lifting at an acceptable level (1xRM squats = 145kg, 1xRM deadlifts =140kg, 1xRM bench = 90kg). All my gear fits me much better, with the exception of a couple of shirts and a pair of BB's that are now too big.
Progress has stalled here for two reasons (I think). Firstly I'm not eating enough to support any more muscle growth as I've kept myself in a deficit, and secondly I've been doing an alternating full body split three times a week, with about 9-10 exercises each day, so I'm probably not giving my body enough time to recover.
I'm now starting a classic upper/lower split four times a week (upper A/lower A/ rest day /upper B/lower B/weekend). I'm increasing volume but decreasing frequency. The scary part for me is increasing calorie intake. My primary goal is to build strength rather than mass, but I guess some muscle gain is secondary but necessary to this goal? Honestly I'm petrified of putting on too much. Anyone ( @Appfaff @spitfiredealer ) got any tips? I mean, muscle takes less place than fat in theory, no? Is there anyway to concentrate on increasing strength without putting on a lot of muscle?
Good luck with your goals @spitfiredealer ! I'll be interested to hear about your progress.
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@neph93 i would suggest adding 500 cals to your daily intake and log your progress for say a month. Use the scales and the mirror.
There is no way you are going to get stronger eating in a calorie deficit. I wouldn't worry about putting on too much, your aren't suddenly going to blow up with a extra 500 calories. Those extra calories will no doubt make you feel stronger almost straight away if you have been in a deficit for a while. -
@neph93 I'm also pursuing pure strength in my training, and as such have been concentrating on the big 3 compound movements (bench, squat, deadlift) along with selected accessory exercises for the past 12 months. During this time I found that I wasn't progressing quickly (or at all in some cases), and experiments with both deficit and keto diets didn't really work for me - I think if I'd pursued keto I might have started to see general improvements, but it requires a much more disciplined and organised life than I'm prepared to commit too, at least at the moment!
What I did find extremely useful was Andy Bolton & Pavel Tstatsouline's book "Deadlift Dynamite", which, although it primarily focuses on the deadlift, also examines the other compound movements, and how to develop an overall strategy for strength training. I bought the Kindle edition from Amazon, for about £7, since the paperback is priced at £60!
As a complimentary book, I'd also highly recommend "Becoming a Supple Leopard" by Dr Kelley Starrett which has helped improve my flexibility, taught me how to fix a lot of my aches/pains, and provided a great insight into biomechanics and how to apply it to strength training, i.e. how to not injure yourself through poor movement discipline and/or bad habits
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Huge thanks to @Max Power for your donation to Teenage Cancer Trust and your support
To donate to this amazing charity, whilst supporting me and Jules, simply click on links below;
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/barcleyroberts
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/julesroberts
Thanks in advance, Barcley, Jules & Teenage Cancer Trust -
Huge thanks to @Max Power for your donation to Teenage Cancer Trust and your support
To donate to this amazing charity, whilst supporting me and Jules, simply click on links below;
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/barcleyroberts
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/julesroberts
Thanks in advance, Barcley, Jules & Teenage Cancer Trust+1, thank you @Max Power from Jules
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@neph93 i would suggest adding 500 cals to your daily intake and log your progress for say a month. Use the scales and the mirror.
Thanks very much for the input. I've become a tracking nerd with calories, weight and workouts. Everything gets logged. It has helped tremendously. My deficit has been around 500 calories so 500 more puts me at maintenance level. I think that's a good plan and like you say I can see how that goes for a month. If I get stronger while staying around about 95kg then nothing's better.
@tmg:
@neph93 During this time I found that I wasn't progressing quickly (or at all in some cases), and experiments with both deficit and keto diets didn't really work for me - I think if I'd pursued keto I might have started to see general improvements, but it requires a much more disciplined and organised life than I'm prepared to commit too, at least at the moment!
Despite having had many more or less successful training periods behind me I started in May at a real low, essentially as a beginner in terms of physical condition if not knowhow. That meant I got to enjoy those noob gains of both building muscle, losing fat and getting stronger while still being in a calorific deficit. Those days have ended for me too!
I'm unfamiliar with keto and will look it up. Thanks also for the reading tips. I'll definitely look those up too. I do love doing deadlifts and squats. I feel they are natural lifts for me, while benching is really something I have to work at.
Thank you both for the advice. I'll post an update in a few weeks.
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Add in more fats mate. Peanut butter by the spoonful. Is a easy one.
Whole eggs.I use organic beef mince and lamb to make calorie high burgers.
Coconut oil is another one.
List what you are eating daily so we can see
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Some fun during today's training session. Hope everyone is having a blast working out this week! [emoji123]
https://instagram.com/p/BMFripkFFaE/
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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@TrickHell I started 5X5 a little over a month ago and I'm loving it also. At this point, every workout is a personal record.
@neph93 If you're looking to gain strength without really bulking you might want to check out stronglifts 5x5, especially if you enjoy squats and deadlifts. It could also help with the stall you were speaking of.
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Thank you gentlemen, for the advice.
@gratefulmelon that looks like a good workout. I've saved it for future reference. I've just completed the first week of my new workout which is a upper/lower split with two different workouts a week (so two upper bodies and two lower bodies). It incorporates my favourite moves as well as some new challenging isolation moves (Bulgarian Split Squats) and a couple of moves that I love to hate (Dumbbell Flyes, Pull-ups, I'm looking at you). I have a feeling it's going to work for me.
@tmg @spitfiredealer I dropped whole milk, cheese and some fatty fishes from my diet to achieve my deficit so I've re-introduced them. I've missed my mackerel in fact. Kingsize jars of peanut butter are purchased and I've just made, portioned and frozen a shitload of sweet potato/butter mash. I'm now hitting the calorie targets, so we'll see how things develop. Thanks again.
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Having looked at various bits and pieces of research, I'm not convinced that there's a huge difference from eating a low fat or low carb diet over the long run. In fact, where there are advantages, it's on the order of half a kilo (about a pound) over a year.
Similarly there's no real evidence as to whether eating a few or many meals per day has any benefit.
So my take on diet is that provided you're keeping calories in the right ballpark, and sufficient protein if you're building muscle (less than a lot of bodybuilding gurus suggest), it's more a case of finding what you can stick with over the long term.
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I broadly agree with that. Calories are calories wherever they come from. If weight loss or weight gain is a goal then the bottom line is that it's all about calories in minus calories out. You can eat dirty, clean, this that and the other but if your calories in are higher than calories out then you'll put on weight. If you're exposing your musculature to sufficient tension and fatigue with this calorie surplus some of that weight will be added as muscle. As you say, muscle building will also require a decent, but not ridiculous amount of protein. Apparently this is more true for those over us who have tipped 40.
Where high protein can help (especially when lumped in with lots of fibre) is in giving you better control of calories in. The thermic value of protein and fiber is much higher than that of carbs so you feel full for longer on the same amount of calories. Example: two pieces of bread with butter and cheese comes in at around 400cal. A decent bowl of oatmeal with whole milk, a little sugar and raisins comes in at about the same. The oatmeal has a higher thermic value and you will stay feeling full longer. This is great to take advantage of, especially if you're trying to achieve a deficit to go down in weight.
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I PRd my snatch at 245lbs/111kg and thought this would be an appropriate place to share. Old man strength kicking in.
Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk
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@DrBabyhorse - dang! Impressive!
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@TrickHell:
especially if you enjoy squats and deadlifts.
Seconded. My main complaint about SL5x5 is not enough deadlifts.
It'd be kinda tough on the body to do many more deadlifts per week while squatting 3X per week. I try to make the most out of my warm up sets, especially on deadlifts, since it's only 1X5.
