This week, I had a lot of work so I concentrated on keeping a routine. I changed my workout schedule to 7-8pm (normally I used to workout 12h earlier so that’s a big change…) but I am getting good concentration levels and I have a training partner to motivate and help me when I need. That brought some good improvements in my workout form. He maintains another training program but we are there to help each other and that’s what matters.

About diet, I think I am accomplishing the recommended the protein intake. I weight some of my foods, or I use visualization. The hardest part is at lunch because my mother fills my dish with fish and I have to separate some…

Egg whites are my favourite protein source now, I use them in many ways. I do my egg whites burgers to an afternoon meal, or I do a egg white omelette for breakfast and yesterday I was hungry in pwo and instead of drinking whey protein I decided to do an omelette. Green beans and whites.

Cravings aren’t too much, yesterday I left subway one stop earlier to walk a bit and in the way home, there’s a MacDonald’s and I was thinking: "Oh my God, I could have a Big Mac, just the burger without the fries, I will walk more 10min to eat that…" and right away I thought "No, I don’t need the Big Mac, I will spend 4,50euros for a Big Mac? and how many calories is that? How many minutes I have to do in treadmill to burn them? No! Don’t have it"

That’s funny, fighting my thoughts, then I thought "but I will workout legs next" and finally "oh shut the f*** up and keep walking!!!". Anyway I will evaluate during today if I will need to eat an oatmeal bowl later in the day to keep my metabolism up. No carb diet is different so I have to keep it up!

Because of my last workout performances, I am still evaluating the need to use Super Pump so, I think I will wait some more workouts.

Something I am not having enough is formal cardio, I walk a lot everyday (more that 15min in a row I ensure) but I don’t have so much time to walk out the door when I arrive home. So I am betting on informal cardio and I do it a lot. Yesterday I did 15min to the subway and when I was coming back, as I said, I left one stop earlier to another 15-20min. Today I have to do something like that. Tomorrow is sunday so I will walk another hour with my mother because she walks it every single day!!!

Non training day, just cardio. I won’t lie, I did a 1hour walk because I wanted to. I walked near 6kms with my mother in a confortable pace, we were talk almost all the way without short breath symptoms.

It felt good so using consistency principle I will do that again on Saturday because it is a free day, Thursday is a busy day so I will do only 30min treadmill as well as sunday. I have to repeat it next week. When I feel ready I will run again but I think I have to loose some more weight or my knee will be in trouble.

About dieting, perfect, just perfect. The protein intake is controlled, as well as carb cravings and water intake. I am feeling hungry near meal time so it isn’t a issue for me. Now I am working mostly at home so my meals are quite controlled and I just have to bring the water to my office.

I have to go shopping now because some stuff are almost ending. I think I will bring some grapefruit and some avocados because I miss these wonderful foods!

I have to bring also a 3lt water bottle because 1,5 and 2lts are more expensive and I have to bring 2, that way I just have to drink the bottle and refill.

I loved the video about hydration. Normally I drink my water plain but sometimes, when I have some work to do I add xtend or when I feel some soreness.

 I ordered glutamine yesterday so I think I will have it by friday, I will add 5g to PWO and 5g on night shake. Workouts will be even harder now!

I am feeling some lost of strenght since November but it is normal, even so, when I make sure my diet and workouts are 100% syncronized I am thinking about adding a creatine supplement or a pre-workout like super pump that works well for me.

About yesterday, chest&triceps workout + abs. God my chest has not been so sore…

Warm-up: always complete - shoulders are always a weak point.

Incline Bench Press

1×15reps 12Kg

1×15reps 17Kg

2×12reps 27Kg

1×15reps 22Kg

I went too heavy but that way I reached failure in those 2 sets, I decided to lower the weight because I was afraid if I couldn’t complete 12reps on the last set.

Decline Bench Press

3×15reps 25Kg

Confortable, controlled and feeling sets!

DB Incline Bench Press

3×15reps with 8Kg DB’s

Perfect form.

Cable overhead extension

1×15reps 10Kg

3×15reps 15Kg

It is hard to stabilize elbows but I put my mind on that and I just ensure I am using perfect form.

Skullcrushers

3×15reps 12,5Kg

God, that position is far better than the normal skullcrushers. Behind the head we can have a greater ROM and a better elbow control.

Close Grip Bench Press

3×15reps 17,5Kg

I use a free EZ barbell, I feel a lot this exercise specially when I do a quick positive and a slow negative. It was a great tricep workout!

Planks

3sets to failure

20′ Treadmill in the end

Diet

20-25g Protein each meal -> 7 meals

5g Fat each meal (almonds or UDO’s)

2 veggie servings (asparagus and tomato)

2 fruit servings (apple and kiwi)

3.5lts water,I felt thirsty yesterday!

I am also controlling better the protein intake. Normally my mother fills my dish with fish or meat so I have to separate a portion equal to the palm of my hand and save the rest in a food container.

My diet also keeps going around whey, lean fish and lean beef with g beans or salad. It hasn’t been too hard to follow.

Anyway I am not anxious about the evaluation tomorrow, I have noticed some improvements in my midsection and my arms. My pants are larger too which is a good sign. When I follow the no carb principles 100% my body doesn’t take long to answer so let’s roll it.

About the workout today.

Legs&Shoulders + Abs 

Careful warm-up as always on leg training day.

Leg Curl

1×15reps with 10Kg

2×15reps with 15Kg

and last set 20reps with 20Kg

Barbell Squat (Narrow stance)

15reps/22Kg - I didn’t reach failure at all so I increased the weight

15reps/32Kg - ok it isn’t so easy

20reps/32Kg - 1 or 2 reps more I would reach failure, I have to choose better the weight

I am limited in this exercise because I don’t have a power rack neither a cage, and I can reach the dips support to handle the bar there so normally I do a clean&jerk to put the bar up. Today my friend helped me with that so I could put some more weight.

Leg Press feet together - unfortunately I also don’t have hack squat machine

2sets 15reps/90Kg + 20reps/90Kg

I decided to do 5 more reps in last set because I was using moderate weights, still testing my knee tolerance. I am now confortable to increase a little more next week.

DB Lateral Raise

1×15reps 2Kg DB’s

3×12reps 4Kg DB’s

DB Rear Raise

3×15reps 2Kg DB’s

DB Front Raise

3×15reps 4Kg DB’s

My shoulders are a weak link,maybe the muscle group where I lift less weight. I don’t have a extraordinary bench press but it’s fair enough. Shoulder training has been an issue, I had already tried to train them alone, I improve but then I don’t go further. Rotator cuff exercises are part of my warm-up and I have to keep going on this.

Knees to chest (but in a double crunch style)

3×20reps

20′ Treadmill PWO

I still feel some soreness in my calves!! It hurts a lot when I walk.

My cardio was quite well. I had some appointements in a clinic so instead of driving, I went walking. It was 12-13min in a moderate pace, with a few degrees inclined. Normally I do this a lot because parking in this city is almost impossible. So… I can walk all the city and never use the car. Today I increased a little bit the speed and I suppose I can count that as cardio.

Obviously I can’t sweat so much because it is too cold…

 About diet, I tasted for the first time beef jerky. I think it is a little bit salty but it’s a handy snack for who don’t eat carbs and need something easy to carry (even easier than whey) but because of the salt I will leave it for one emergency snack. If I could do my one but my oven can’t be turned on so much time and beef here is different so keep it simple.

I am also controlling better my protein intake. I am eating 21g each meal to ensure that I won’t discharge it and I am happy because my cravings didn’t appear yet. Neither for fruit. Normally when I go with only 1 fruit serving, I go crazy for apples. This time I am managing quite well.

Eating

1) 4 Egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1cup mushrooms

2) 1 beef burger (medium fat I suppose) grilled, 1 cup g beans, the beef fat was enough, ~130g kiwi fruit

3) 1 scoop whey protein, 6 almonds

4) 50g beef jerky

5) lean fish (around 3oz), 1 whole egg boiled, 1cup g beans

6) it will be beef jerky again because it’s handy and it tastes good

3,5lts water

Well, I was afraid of my performance today because I didn’t sleep well and I was feeling a little tired this morning. But some motivation gained instantly boost my energy levels and I was looking forward to workout in the afternoon.

It was back & biceps + calves day.

Warmup: rowing machine 5′, I am completing 1km with a focused and controlled movement.

Joint warm-up.

Wide grip front pulldown

2 warm-up sets 15repsx15Kg and 15repsx20Kg

3×15repsreps 30Kg

 The focus during the movement and the contractions were awesome, I was beting on my muscle-mind connection.

Close Reverse Grip Pulldown

1×12reps with 35Kg, well I went to failure so I decided to low the weight in order to be sure I would complete the reps in following sets

2×15reps with 30Kg

Next time I will add a 3kg DB to have a intermediate weight.

Reverse grip Bent over row

3×15reps 17,5Kg

I prefer this grip because I can control better my elbows.

Note: I use straps in back training because my grip strenght isn’t too much.

Standing EZ Barbell Curl

1×15reps with 10Kg

3×15reps with 12.5Kg

Controlled, focused and maximum contraction movement.

DB Alternate Hammer Curl

3×15reps 4Kg DB’s

Calf Raise no weight

3×20reps

My tip toes suffer a bit in this exercise.

Cardio PWO

20min Treadmill 5% inclined 5kmph

DIET

Empty stomach: 200mg caffeine, 1g Vit C

1) whey, p butter and berries. Calcium

2) salmon, whole egg and salad. Fish oils, calcium

3) whey, almonds. Calcium

4) the same. 1g vit C, elastamine

5) it will be tuna (boiled) with salad or green beans, I haven’t decide yet. Fish oils capsules

6) whey and almonds probably.

Before bed: ZMA

3lts water

My cravings aren’t that much. I am feeling quite good during workout. I feel a lot the muscle contraction and I put all my efforts in the program.

I prefer to workout in the morning but today I would fall asleep in the gym.

This week I started officialy the program guidelines.

• 3 weight-trainings + 20min cardio pwo, it includes 5′ cool down in the end but not the warm-up
• and 4 cardio-only sessions 20min in the other days, once more including some minutes for cool down (this normally takes 3-5min in these days), I slowly reduce the walking pace.

Today is back &biceps + calves, I will log it later.

8am

1 scoop Whey Protein

3/4 cup Berries

1tsp peanut butter (organic all natural)

11pm (PWO)

1 scoop Whey Protein

6 Almonds

1pm

3-4oz Chicken, Turkey or Fish

sometimes I add an whole egg boiled, I will evaluate the need now

Salad or Vegetables (g beans, broccoli or asparagus) - medium portion (2 cups normally)

On WO days I can have here a fruit serving - Orange, Apple or Papaya or at dinner.

On Non WO days (just cardio) sometimes I have here the only piece of fruit, other I add to dinner.

4pm

6 Egg whites, 3oz Tuna or 1scoop Whey. In some days I will have also Beef jerky (50g) low fat but I would prefer to do my one.

6 almonds or cashews, or 1tsp peanut butter

6pm 

the same normally

9pm

same as lunch at 1pm, I try to do a fish meal once a day in one of this meals

11.30pm

Normally I use whey instead of casein because casein is expensive in Portugal. I will search for a cheaper brand in order to have a casein shake at night.

When I have whites, I do my traditional 6 egg whites burgers (microwave whites 4min at 360w in a rounded container) with 1tsp peanut butter.

I drink around 3lt water a day.

I have my xtend during the workout (2 scoops)

And normally I have a cheat meal a week. I started with MacDonald’s but I am improving the nutritional quality of this meal every week. Probably the last resource will be a simple oatmeal bowl with almonds and raisins. I bet that you don’t believe that I can crave more that stuff rather then a junk food meal.

Monday - 45′ Cardio AM + Chest&Back PM

Tuesday - Hamstrings and Calves + 60′ Cardio PWO

Wednesday - 45′ Cardio AM

Thursday - Arms + 60′ Cardio PWO

Friday - 45′ Cardio AM + Shoulders & Traps PM

Saturday - Quads and Abs + 60′ Cardio PWO

On 45′ days I do eliptical, for 60′ I do treadmill and eliptical 30′ each