Simon’s BodyBlog

Since I did not manage to lose body fat without losing a lot of muscle tissue and strength, too, I am now shifting to powerlifting training since I experienced the greatest progress there; at least for the moment (for the off-season). I will combine this training with a nutrition that provides about 500 kcals above consumption. I will do cardio for 10 minutes warm up and 10 minutes cool down only.

After two years of amazing gains I made no real progress anymore in the past year. I think I reached a point where training and nutrition have to be changed more often to "shock" the body from time to time and to get it out of it’s habits. In 2008 I tried to eat smaller frequent meals (every 3 hours), which obviously did not work. So I will now eat only three big meals a day (plus pre and post workout nutrition) trying to generate larger insuline spikes leading to a higher anabolic boost. Additionally I will do 1-6 reps with heavy weights instead of 6-12 reps with "regular" weights. That’s the theory. Let’s see if it works out. Otherwise I might have to accept the genetic limit every natural athlete has and change my goal to fat loss. There I would definitely see the progress that I am training for….

As I did not write any blog entry throughout the summer, I want to summarize my achievements in this short wrap up.

After 12 weeks of dieting my weightloss slowed down, because I could not stick to the strict diet anymore. My body was begging for a daily calorie-balance. I hoped to get more shredded than I actually became in summer, but, however, looking at the stats I have to be satisfied:

At the end of Juli 2008 my weight was 102.2 kg (224.8 lb), which was 8.8 kg (15 lb) less than in Mid-February when my weight was 109.0 kg (239.8 lb).

Sure, there is some more potential, but for now, it is more important for me to restart mass gaining, as I have just trained for 2 years. I think the first goal should be to gain that mass grading definition down in the hierachy. Achieving maximum condition has to be a goal in a few years.

I will pause my low-calorie diet for 10 days, because I noticed, that my body weight does not drop anymore but showing a plateau effect. And while training I just feel drained and tired. Nothing to push for anymore. So I will try to kick-start my metabolism by eating enough calories (2500 / 3500 on training days) until March 5th. Then I will cut 300 - 500 calories again for another 6 weeks cycle.

I came back from the U.S. last week and was very busy with re-organising my life. So I didn’t have much time to work out. But starting tomorrow I will focus on my training again, beside my work of course. My waist came in to 89 cm which is now a good starting point for a continuing spring diet and meets my set goals for the last two months in the U.S. Now, in April, I will try to achieve a 87.7 cm waist admeasurement, because loosing 1.3cm/month has shown to be a realistic but still ambitious goal for me.

Just as my USA visit the deadline for my short-term waist goal is getting closer. Only two weeks left! As I my waist came in about 33 centimeters a week, there is a good chance that I will achieve the 89 centimeter mark until the end of March. This would be a very good basis or start for my summer diet. I hope to get ripped until Juli as an end result of a 4 month diet. May the endurance be with me!

My trainer told me to not immediately diet down again, but to hold that overweight over the winter and to train with it. Otherwise I could look the same as before the mass phase. So I will now try to not gain more extra body fat but to increase muscle tissue a bit more using my weight. And I think this makes sense. As the body always tries to generate a balance between everything, it might be a bit easier to gain muscle if there is a lot of body fat to supply the muscles with energy. But that is just a theorie from my side. Anyway, the body will absorb hard training sessions a bit better with overweight. It’s the same reason why powerlifters train with overweight in the off-season, too, before they diet down to their weight category for an upcoming competition.

I am really looking foward to Saturday when Markus Ruhl will step on stage maybe for the last time as a guest star at the qualification contest for the Germans here in Gießen, Hesse. It will be the first time that I will see him live and I am glad that I can take this last chance, before he resigns from professional bodybuilding. Only one thing left to say in this blog entry, which is "Ruuuuuuhl!"

I have a muscle arche in my quads like I seldom had before.  On Thursday I did five sets of squats going really heavy before hitting the leg press and the leg extensions. I could barely move already at the same evening. Now it’s Saturday and I am still walking like an old man. *g* But hey, next time they will be used to it. =)