archepic’s BodyBlog

OK here is an update. I’m now 7 months into cutting while running on EC and doing occasionnal refeeds. My metabolism is still humming and I feel healthy. I’m now 180 @ 13% which is even better than what I aimed. That leaves me with 157 lbs LBM which I plan on raising once I reach 10% BF or so.

I am just lifting heavy with low cals and carbs. I haven’T done any HIIT or SSC for the whole summer but I look into introducing faster morning cardio with an ECY or CY stack.

Was sick last week but I’m starting to cut for next summer. I’ll try to drop at least 10 pounds while maintaining maximum muscle. I aim for 2 months cutting maximum. That would bring me to 6′1" 185pds @ 17%, which is not my ultimate goal but reasonable in this case.  

My nutrition strategy is a low carb nutrition except PWO that I take a 50g carbs shake. I will be using some occasionnal supps : a thermogenic and BCAA to support the process. My training strategy is HIIT 2x/w + SSC 2x/w and hit each muscle 1.5x/w in average

Please post any tips or question you might have.

Hi alls, I am having a hard time with recuperation and getting back to full strength ! I would like to train 4 or 5 days a week but I don’t think it is possible. I started Anabolic Diet 2 weeks ago and it didn’t helped yet. If anything, it is even worse !! I play volleyball in a league and do other sports couple days a week, I don’t know if it should help or not. Anyway, I am raising calories on my AD since I am gaining lot of weight right now and maintain fat. I hope those calories will help for recuperation !!!

I just finished my first week on AD. I feel really great and I have lot of energy through the days. I didn’t really liked my carb up this week end and I should have gone through the 12 days no carbs as suggested instead of 5 days no carbs.

I gained a couple of pounds this weekend, maybe 5 but I don’t know what will happen in the long term. I feel my waist more slim and my upper body and legs bigger. We’ll see next week.

The hardest thing on that diet is having supper with my girlfriend when she does that lasagna or pasta ! She is not quite happy with it but it is a temporary situation since eventually I will be able to affor a mid week carb loading !

 Feel free to post any experience you had with this diet !

I finished building my own squat power cage  ! I will be mostly training home now I do sports 5 days a week @ work. The cage is made of wood 4×4 and 2×4. I added extra structure for plates rack and accessories. I also added a chin up bar made from a 5′ standard barbell in the front. I also bought a 300 pounds olympic set that I plan to squat it all before the end of the year !

What’s odd is that I never did squat except with a smith machine but I knew that I would like it. Never again I’ll use a smith.

 I’ll post pics later !

I noticed recently that I had a bigger quads on my right side. That is a normal thing since nobody is perfectly symetric and we have a dominant side. The thing is that my right pec and bicep are also bigger than my left ones !! Moreover, I have lot of problem with my body alignment all along the body. I have some neck pain since 4 or 5 years and have sometimes difficulties to handle it. My neck is shifted a bit forward and my shoulders too. I had lot of shoulders problem while doing various sports (tennis, volley, etc…) over the year but I think I overcame that one in doing proper exercice in the last year.

That said, I am looking forward to improve my overall postural condition by doing less isolated exercice and more compound symetrical exercice. Also, I work a lot on flexibility and proper lifting technique.

If someone have any advice or have suffered from similar conditions, don’t hesitate do drop a line !

Hi all, for many reason I have re-evaluated my nutrition program. The first reason is that I don’t think I’m getting the most out of the protein I take. I often feel bloated and often end up skipping some meal. I will try to discipline myself and eat more often and spaced meal. I aim for 6 meals of around 30g of proteins per meal. That would make 1g of protein per pound. I have recently received my dextrose, maltodextrin and creatine package from bulkfoods.com and will incorporate it in my new program. I am not sure yet about creatine/caffeine combination and I will look into it. This is my option 1 :

• 07h00 Wake up : Whey + Fast acting sugar (grape or orange juice or pure dextrose if I have any flavored whey around)
• 07h30 B-fast : Oats or cereal (Low GI) + ground up flax seed (1 tblsp) + 1 banane
• 10h00 Snack 1 : Fruits and/or nuts + Coffee
• 11h25 Pre WO : Whey + Mixed sugar (gatorade scoop or maltodextrin). Drink in 1 shot or sipping during WO.
• 13h00 Post WO : Whey + Dextrose + Maltodextrin + Creatine
• 15h00 Snack 2 : Meal replacement bar (containing lots of vitamins and minerals)
• 18h00 Dinner : Meat, Vegetables + Low GI carbs (whole wheat pasta) + Dessert
• 22h00 Whey + Milk + Flax seed OR 3 big scoop of cottage cheese

As you see this makes like 8 meal …maybe this is too much !!! Maybe I could do just one shaketo drink during my workout and this would count both as the pre and the post and then I could have a full whole meal at 12h45 instead !! I would also change the meal replacement to a lighter snack since I am getting whole food for lunch. Option 2 would look like this :

• 07h00 Wake up : Whey + Fast acting sugar (grape or orange juice or pure dextrose if I have any flavored whey around)
• 07h30 B-fast : Oats or cereal (Low GI) + ground up flax seed (1 tblsp) + 1 banane
• 10h00 Snack 1 : Fruits and/or nuts + Coffee
• 11h25 Workout : Whey + Dextrose + Maltodextrin + Creatine and sip during workout
• 12h45 Lunch : Meat, Vegetables + Low GI carbs + Dessert
• 15h00 Snack 2 : Fruits and /or nuts
• 18h00 Dinner : Meat, Vegetables + Low GI carbs (whole wheat pasta) + Dessert
• 22h00 Whey + Milk + Flax seed OR 3 big scoop of cottage cheese

As you know I am hitting the gymn 3 or 4 times a week for lunch (around 1.25 hours). I used to do low reps, 3 sets and 2 or 3 exercice per muscle group. Normally I do 1 big muscle group, 1 small and fill it with one more from the following list : abs, forearms, traps, etc…

 I often read about programs and didn’t think it would give me an advantage but now I’m looking into it seriously. I’m changing my program to higher reps, less sets and less exercices. I will change my exercices to more compound movement and try to hit each big muscle group twice a week (I used to do it 1 time with my previous schedule).

With these changes i’m looking to get more strength, volume and feel less overtrain.

I have been using a bodyfat scale for a while now and I found it very unpredictible. I have risen from 16 to 19% in the last week or so while I was just trying to maintain. Now that I am tracking fat% in my bodyspace, I think I should get a better method to do it !! I have read about caliper and different methods, I might give it a try soon.

Let me know if you have a good product to suggest.

Hi, first welcome to my Blog. Im planning to use it to let everyone know about the program I am currently on and about various progress I am making.

I recently added a post to describe my nutrition program that I made.

I will be posting pics as soon as I have a chance !!!

I appreciate any comments or suggestion on any content I am posting.