ACutAbove06’s BodyBlog

2 weeks ago I stopped Ketosis.  It worked better than I could have imagined.  I felt great, I got lean, got stronger and kept all my muscle while lowering my body fat.  Currently I’m running a 4 week clean bulk.  I’m still running the same diet, but I’ve added small amounts of carbs to some of my meals along with Waxy Maize, BCAA’s and creatine post workout.  My weight has gone from 194lbs 2 weeks ago to about 204lbs now.  My body fat has remained the same while bulking.  My strength has gone through the roof. 
I’ve had a few specific goals this time around that I’ve really been focusing on.  My first goal was to not use wrist straps so much.  For the last 11 weeks I haven’t used straps at all.  I really wanted to build my forearm size and increase my grip strength.  It’s definitely worked.  I can wide grip or close grip row the entire stack at my gym without the use of straps.  Before I know I could not have done that.  So goal #1, accomplished! 
My second goal was to build my abs.  I wanted more defined abs with deeper cuts.  I’ve started hitting abs with a little more force.  I’m using weighted exercises a lot more now.  I’m doing more rope crunches and really focusing on the muscle with each rep.  Wednesday has been my day for really hitting abs hard.  Throughout the week I will do several different ab exercises in between sets of other exercises as well.  Abs are looking much better now and come show time I think my mid section will look pretty phenomenal.  Goal #2, accomplished!
My third goal is my legs.  In order for me to be a contender in any bodybuilding show I need to build on my legs.  That’s always been an area I’ve not given the most attention to and I definitely regret that.  This time around I’m really hitting legs hard.  I had to figure out the exercises that I felt most comfortable with and give them all I had.  I’m doing much better in my squats, hack squats, leg presses and front squats.  I’m feeling more confidence when I do legs.  For my hamstrings I’ve been doing a lot of heavy stiff legged dead lifts.  That’s really worked out well.  I usually finish with standing or lying hamstring curls.  Finally my calves….It’s been a problem area for me for years.  I think I’ve finally figured out how to make my calves grow.  I hit them with high intensity and good weight.  I take short breaks in between sets and really blast them.  Goal #3, in progress.  (Hey, 2 out of 3 isn’t bad)
So as of right now I have 12 weeks before my first of 3 shows.  I’m doing the Michigan Novice on March 28^th, the Kalamazoo show April 11^th and the Flint, MI show on April 25^th.  I figure if I’m working my butt off to get ready I might as well get the most out of it.  Wish me luck!

Ok, so I’ve been having carbs back in my diet now for a week.  I feel like I’m really filling out.  I got checked and I was 5.60% on the calipers @ 197lbs on Friday.  That means my body fat stayed the same, but my weight went up by 4 or 5lbs.  I’m bulking for another 3 weeks and ideally I would like to be sitting around 210lbs at no more than 7% on the calipers.  I did notice that the weights I’m lifting has been going up and doing things like legs is getting much easier.  I dieted pretty hard for 8 weeks to get the fat I had off and I think my body definitely needed a little 4 week break.  On January 12^th I will begin my contest diet.  For the first 3 weeks I will run a normal contest diet and let my body slowly start adapting to less and less carbs.  My last 4 weeks leading into the show will be done in Ketosis.  I plan to come in shredded.  I’m guessing my weight will be any where from 189-195lbs.  Just have to see how things go.  I would like to be around 3% on the calipers when it’s all said and done.  Looks like I have some work to do!

Yesterdays workout was pretty good.  Wednesdays are my Ab and cardio days.  I started off with hanging leg raises and did 4 sets of 15 with 30 seconds rest in between sets.  Next I went to the weighted Ab machine and did 4 sets of 30 @ 80lbs.  After that I did 4 sets of 30 crunches on the decline bench.  Lastly I did 4 sets of rope crunches.  2 sets at 60lbs and 2 sets at 80lbs.  After I was done I stretched out my abs on a swiss ball for a few minutes.  Today they are extremely sore! 
After abs I did bag drills for about 20 minutes.  I want to get in some upper body cardio along with lower body cardio.  My legs definitely need to have some size put on them and doing the treadmill all the time isn’t really going to help that.  So 2 or 3 times a week I’m going to be doing bag drills and running combos on the heavy bag in my gym.  The upper body cardio will help with oblique and core development and there is nothing wrong with that! 
Tonight is back and biceps.  I like to think that my back is one of my strong points.  Lately I’ve gotten away from using straps while doing back.  It’s helped a lot with my forearm strength, grip strength and forearm development.  I still use straps if I deadlift or do heavy shrugs.  Other than that, it’s all me. 

Yesterday I had yet another amazing workout.  Adding carbs back into my diet has worked out pretty well so far.  Yesterday I did chest, shoulders and tri’s.  I did flat db press with 125lb dumbbells for 10 and felt really good.  Thought I would need a spotter because I haven’t done heavy weight in a while, but I didn’t.  It was actually pretty easy.  I closed with 4 high rep sets of Cable Crossovers.  Burned out my chest really good and then stretched.  After that I did behind the head military presses.  Now I know there are people out there that say these are dangerous and you shouldn’t do them.  I agree with them totally, but I think it’s only dangerous if you use weights that are too heavy.  I did the presses with 225lbs for 10 reps.  I felt great!  Honestly I could have done more weight, but I didn’t want to risk injury.  I’ll gradually work up to more weight.  After that I did high rep standing upright rows.  After that I stretched.  My last exercise of the day was seated tricep extensions on the cable machine.  Normally I can do pretty good weight with most arm exercises.  This workout was no different.  I ended up doing the entire stack for 12 reps.  I think next time I will have to add additional weight.  I finished off triceps with rope press downs.  After that, I stretched.  I do a lot of stretching before, during and after my workouts.  I think it really helps a lot.  So far, so good. 
My assessment thus far is, adding carbs back it has really helped me tremendously.  I thought I hadn’t lost any strength before adding in carbs, but in reality I’ve gained strength.  It feels good to put up big weights for reps.  This week I’ve been leaving the gym feeling very accomplished.  Tonight is abs and cardio.  Can’t wait!

Ok, so as of late I’ve been having some really bad leg workouts.  2 weeks ago I did legs and my energy wasn’t very good.  Weeks of dieting will do that to you.  Then last week I took a pre-workout stimulant (bad idea).  But last night was a different story.  I felt a lot fuller and full of energy before my workout.  I started with leg extensions 7 sets.  I went heavy and it felt great.  Then I moved into squats.  I did 3 sets with 45 seconds rest in between each set.  After that I did 2 sets of 25 reps on the leg press to really finish my quads off.  I haven’t had a good quad workout like that in a long time.  After quads I moved on to hamstrings.  I started with a couple light sets of stiff legged dead lifts and then moved into 2 heavy sets.  I went up to 260lbs on sldl’s.  I burned hammies out by doing 50 reps of one legged hamstring curls.  After that I burned out calves.  I stretched and called it a day.  It was the first time in a few weeks that I felt accomplished as far as a leg workout is concerned.  Legs are definitely my weak point.  That is the area that needs the most attention and work.  My goal is to come into this show in March with some respectable wheels.  More to come…..

Today I started phase 2 of my program.  Phase 1 was all about losing body fat while retaining muscle.  I was able to go from 12.22% body fat @ 203lbs to 5.66% body fat @ 193lbs.  My strength basically either stayed the same or went up.  It depends which exercise I was doing.  It was 8 weeks out of my life and if you look at the big picture, that’s not too bad.  I feel good. I have to admit that in phase 2 I will miss the cardio.  I got accustomed to doing cardio every morning.  It energized me and got me ready for my day.  In phase 2 I will only do cardio twice a week.  I will do one session of treadmill cardio and one session of upper body cardio.  I’m going to be training abs 3 to 4 times per week.  My weight training will remain the same at 4 session per week.  I train Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  The only big changes in this diet compared to my phase 1 diet is adding some carbs in each meal.  In addition to that I will be taking ALA, Cissus, Waxy Maize, BCAA’s, NO2, and creatine.  Ideally I would like to gain 10lbs at least, while on this diet.  I’m running this for 4 weeks and then I have 7 weeks of contest dieting.  I will post some new pictures once the 4 weeks of clean bulking is over. 

Last night’s workout (Boy am I dumb!)–
Ok, so I’ve been on Ketosis for the last 8 weeks.  I’ve had amazing results while dieting this way.  I’ve lost a tremendous amount of body fat in a short time while maintaining my muscle and strength.  I’ve been doing low intensity cardio twice a day and everything has gone great.  To speed up the fat loss process I started doing fat/ no fat days.  Been doing 2 on and 2 off.  Then for the last 7 days I’ve been running no fats other than my cheat meal on Saturday.  Been trying to really rid my body of the excess fat surrounding my abdominals.  Well here is where I screwed up…..I was talking to a workout buddy before my workout yesterday and talked to him about what he takes pre-workout.  He said he takes Shock Therapy.  I told him I had a leg workout and he suggested I “try” some Shock Therapy for a little extra boost on leg day.  That was the dumbest thing I could have ever done.  Right now I’m basically running on 1200 calories a day until Monday of next week.  My body is fueling itself off of my own body’s fat so I have lots of energy.  By taking Shock Therapy I hurt myself.  After each set I did I felt like I was going to pass out.  I was pale, weak and tired.  I felt like crap!  When you’re on such a restricted diet you can’t add in stimulants like that.  Basically I took it on an empty stomach and it had negative effect on me and my workout.  Knowing I was such an idiot and made a mistake, I made myself finish my workout.  It was my punishment for my bad decision.  I’m sure Shock Therapy is a great product and has great effects if taken right and from now on I will only take products like that when I’m in the right position to do so.  Being on a restricted calorie diet isn’t the right time.  Lesson learned. 

8 weeks of hardcore dieting have flown by!  It’s nearly Christmas!  I can hardly believe this year has gone by so fast.  My body has made some amazing transformations in the last 52 weeks.  A year ago I was 240lbs @ 14% body fat and then I decided I could write my own diet and I cut down to around 210lbs.  I still wasn’t seeing the results I wanted.  I enjoyed my summer, I ate, I drank, but I still did cardio and worked out like I always do.  I think I was doing too much running.  I was running at lunch time for 30 minutes and then for another 30-45 minutes in the evening after my workout.  I think I may have sacrificed some muscle along the way.  BUT it’s all a learning process.  I’ve learned that running eats up all of your hard earned muscle.  LOL  So, about 8 weeks ago I went and saw my trainer.  He got me on a good fat loss, muscle saving program.  This has been the easiest dieting I’ve ever done and it’s worked better than any program I’ve ever been on.  I’m truly amazed at the results I’ve gotten in the last 8 weeks.  I went from 12.22% body fat down to 5.66%.  And in that time frame I lost only 10lbs.  I’ve gained muscle, increased strength and brought my abs back out.  All in all I think it’s been great. 
On Monday I start a 4 week bulking phase.  It’s set up to where I won’t gain much fat.  I’m really looking forward to eating some carbs again.  It’s been a while.  I do get my weekly “re-feed” and if it wasn’t for that I would lose my mind.  LOL  After my 4 week bulking phase I will go into contest mode and begin hardcore dieting all the way into March.  I’m really hoping that I’m able to come in around 195-197lbs for the March show.  It just depends how my body responds to this bulking phase.  I’m thinking I will really fill out and build some muscle.  Guess we will have to wait and see.  Once my 4 week bulk is over I will post new pictures showing my progress. 
 

So far so good.  I’ve been running fat, no fat days since last Thursday.  Been going 2 on, 2 off.  The results have been amazing.  I did notice a little bit of a lethargic feeling towards the end of my workout yesterday, but my strength was right on.  I’m really trying to burn off the little bit of fat on my mid section by the 7^th of December.  That being said, I will run fat, no fat days from now until then and see where I’m at.  I’m very pleased with my results thus far and I can’t imagine I won’t be ready by then.  On the 7^th, 8^th of December I will start phase 2 of my program and add some quality muscle and keep the fat off.  Right now I’m doing 35-45 minutes of cardio 5-6 days a week in the morning and then following my workout I do another 25-30 minutes.  Can’t wait to see how I look in another 10 days.  Hopefully it’ll be a night and day difference. 

Another few weeks have gone by.  My body fat is steadily decreasing.  Ketosis has been wonderful as far as dieting goes.  My food bills are half what I normally pay, food prep is easy, and I don’t have a problem following it.  Honestly I couldn’t be happier.  My body fat has dropped from 12.2% down to 6.79% in only 5 weeks and I’ve only lost 7 total pounds.  My workouts are still amazing.  I’m going up in weight on every exercise and I’ve even added muscle to my body.  Shortly I’ll begin phase 2 and start adding muscle while keeping the fat low.  I imagine I won’t have to diet too long or too hard for the March show.  I wish I had found out about this diet a long time ago.  I remember last time I dieted for over 16 weeks.  I feel like I came in a little stringy last time and I feel like I may have sacrificed some muscle.  I ended up coming in around 175lbs and this time my goal is more around 197lbs or so. 
Being over 6 foot tall, it’s a little hard to be competitive on stage against guys that are 5’9”ish.  So this time I really have to bring up my leg development, chest development.  Arms are good, shoulders are good, back is great, traps need work and my personal goal is my mid section.  I hold everything in my mid section.  If I let it go I end up being what you would call a “skinny fat guy”.  Not exactly the look I’m going for.  So in the next 16 weeks you can expect some significant changes in my appearance.  This is just the beginning.