redfury1977’s BodyBlog

I apologize for not posting our updating stats for past few weeks but I have had alot going on in my life outside of the gym. Me and my lifting buddy (DayxDay) have been plugging away with Lean Bulking after spending the summer cutting on the UD 2.0 diet.

I have to admit that I was completely burned out of the UD plan as it was very taxing on the body especially with such a limited diet of carbs. The new plan allows for plenty of carbs and good fats for growth. I have always kept my protein intake on the medium to high end of things for my BW.

After posting my latest pic since beginning the bulk POST Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Break (like how I worked that into break) I have recieved a few messages/emails asking how I have been going about the lean bulk as I haven’t packed on the fat too much yet have bulked up.

Well, I honestly just came back from Sturgis and ate too much carbs and fats, although I believe I kept my metabolism high by eating 8 meals daily even if I gorged out on a previous meal I made myself eat again, thus resulting in frequent bathroom breaks.

In the past several weeks I met with a nutritionist who has one state titles in bodybuilding, and got some good advice from her. After going over goal of puttting on Mass for next few months she told me she felt the carbs & fats were a little too high, and made some adjustments.

My diet is is gonna be about 300g carbs/ 85g Fats/ 250g Protein. I currently weight 183-185 depending on time of day. What I have noticed with the diet is that if you spread the carbs out over day you tend to bloat out and retain fat- but when eating pre and post workout carbs then cutting back on them for 6 remaining meals you see a leaner, harder look morning and night.

So my dietary goal is to eat majority of daily carbs in "the windows" before & after workouts.(for those w/experience you know what I mean)

Then the rest of the day I just eat 40-60 grams protein combined with Sesamin, Olive & Fish oils to keep my good fats high. I think a secret to bodybuilding is Sesamin and Fish Oils and they should be a staple of our diets as they help keep lipids,heart, in good health and inflammation of muscles down. I am NOT a nutritionist nor DR so this is just what I see working for me.

As for the lifts, me and buddy are tearing it up with Volume Training. We shoot for 4-6 reps & 4-6 reps on all lifts and DONT add weight until we finish with 6 clean reps on 6 sets. Then we add just 5 lbs so we don’t run into over training issues. This has proven very sucessful so far, both have consistently added 5 lbs weekly on major lifts.

Today we did LEGS:  Box Squats 3 sets of 6 @ 265, then did Free Deep Squats 3 sets of 6 @ 265 lbs.

we did 6 X 6 on remainders : Seated Calf Raises- 160, Gastro Calf Raises 335lbs.

Solo Leg Extension- 55 lbs, Abductors 145 lbs.

Leg Presses- 270 lbs supersetted w/Lunges 160 lbs.

It was a great leg day to say the least, I hope this sums up our plan and progress so far!

I have been a busy body this summer , just like everybody else I am sure, so I thought I should post….

Since last post I have gone back to solo training- My lifting buddies are staying the course with the UD 2.0 plan as they hope to shed some more fat. I chose to go solo after consulting with experienced lifting friends and researching online. My new goal is to add some size to my frame and eliminate overtraining issues I ran into in last plan- mostly my fault but program is problematic for anyone who wants to get competitive, as it is very hard if not impossible to add size and trim the fat away doing the UD 2.0 plan, the depletion workouts/diet is very taxing both on body and mind, but don’t get me wrong I will return to it down the road….

I am embarking on this Volume training and began with first 2 weeks doing high reps and adding sets while using light weights. The premise behind this was to acclimate with new plan and prep tendons/joints for upcoming heavy lifting volume training.

An example of my current plan is:  Bicep curls  55×6 reps, 4-6 sets. If I cleanly finish all six sets then next week I add 5 lbs…if I don’t finish out reps/sets completely I continue with same weight in following week. While this is humbling, I feel it is best to work on form over always forcing the "add more weight" issue.

I set my weights based on previous plans lifts so it was really easy to lock into the right weights.

I have also subscribed to 6 on - 1 off cardio plan, going for min 30 minutes on busy days with a goal of 1-1.5 on days that allow for it.

Here is a pic of me tonight prior to bloggin’

So we have been dieting and training like mad men for the past 6 weeks and thought some post depletion/pre carb refeed shots should be taken!

Here are some front and side looks….

So each week I get to do a carb refeed and am always looking for healthy ways to have fun snacks and carb up without having too much fats, which inhibit the carb up process.

My girlfriend gets credit for this idea- Low Fat Mozz sticks, so no worries like you would have at TGIF or Green Mill.

Ingredients:

Skim milk mozzarella sticks

Egg Beaters

Original Fiber One cereal

*Seasonings are optional, i.e. garlic, italian seasoning…

Recipe:   make half a cup of egg beaters, then cut mozz sticks in half. Roll the Sticks and let them sit in egg beaters for a bit.  Blend 1/2 cup of Fiber one cereal to finer grain. Now roll the sticks in the Fiber one then place them on a sheet of tin foil and Bake at 300 Degrees till the mozz sticks turn brown/or bubble a lil, trust me keep an close eye so they don’t explode!

Take them out , let cool and then dip in some tomato or spaghetti sauce and enjoy!

These are a nice 150 calorie snack, for those carb loading with liquids and needing that crunchy lil snack afterwards!

I haven’t posted for awhile as we were on a 9 day break from working out. We are well into the program and in week 2 of an very strict cut program designed for "beach ready" look.  Me and my buddy DayxDay have really had some heart to heart conversations about diet control (boring, technical talk) lately and it is inspiring me. Having a buddy who has gone from casual lifter , to serious lifter, to hardcore this shit is a hobby type lifter is very motivating!

There is nothing like having a buddy to push you when your dead tired and ready to vomit or pass out while lifting. We both feed off eachother and during the depletion workout days that is exactly what you need, support.

Today I was really feeling like not finishing my dreaded dead lifts (sets of 275 x 6) as my will power was gone but I could hear him through my headphones telling me to "Finish it!"  That is what I needed and I got it done.

After the workout both of us were in great moods- we kept talking about how great it would be to eat carbs!!

I have a really good feeling about this time through, I think we are going to see some really dramatic cuts!!

This was the last workout of the six week program, I felt pretty sore by end of the workout, but after all we have been going hard at it for four days-a-week for six weeks…on top of that, I have been doing an green apple a day for past two weeks during the days 1-3 depletion days, which makes life difficult to say the least. But I did it with determination and will power to burn the stubborn fat off my abs.

The highlight of the program was that my buddy- DaybyDay - hit some unreal marks! I was impressed that he stayed with the program and never let up on his squats and deadlifts, those are the bread and butter lifts of my program and IMO those are the most important lifts, since they provide a strong base, you can only be as strong as your base and core!  DaybyDay ended up squatting sets of 335 today on the box squat, he even paused well, which impressed the heck outta me.

I ended up box squatting 425 x 3 for four sets , which is a new PR for me as well…I actually didn’t think I would get that much since I have been cutting so much, but over the weekend I had a great carb refeed and I think that really contributed to today’s lifts.

My deads were somewhat dissapointing this time around- I have been battling a sore back for past few weeks which is messing up my progress..I ended lifting 335 x 3 for four sets today.

I am hoping that a nice Strategic Deconditioning of 9 days off from lifting will help heal me up and get me reinvigorated to repeat this program for the remainder of spring…

Here are my final measurements:

Weight: 188 lbs (post wo)

BF % :  8.5

Chest: 42.5

Legs: 24.5

Biceps: 15.25 (flexing)

Waist : 33.25

I took a few pics tonight, to show a final look…

So I wanted to get really leaned out this week and chose to eat 1 green apple after workout with a protein shake and normal BCAA’s…. yep just one apple a day to trim the fat away!

since I have been doing UD diet under 40 grams of carbs during depletion days this wasn’t all that hard to do….hunger pains really have disappeared. I like the green apple since it is loaded with fiber and sucks up toxins , a nice side benefit while cutting , working out.

 I went down about 4 lbs and ended up weighing in at 179 on today’s final depletion workout…really could see the abs coming in well post workout!!

 I am carb refeeding up on lotsa pasta this weekend and will give the apples another go next week….I am curious if anyone else has seen similiar results with apples?

A fitting end to this week in the gym was listening to "We Made It" by Linkin Park…that sums up our collective groups week. At the start of the week we really were working on depleting carbs the best we could, I dropped my carbs down to 35 grams for entire day from wed-sat afternoon and paid the price for it. I starting feeling ill on wednesday survived through friday then this weekend I didn’t get any sleep and bam got hit by seriously sore throat and achy muscles/joints. As I woke up today, I thought I should just let the guys know I was not going to make it…something inside me just pushed me to go- I drove and got myself some coffee and made it to the gym. I looked white as a ghost but somehow made it through the workout- my other buddy had similiar sickness and gutted out an intense power workout then went and worked- impressive!!

I got 405 lbs up on box squat once today, then finished up with 365 lbs- called it a day for squats as I felt like crap.

I did work up sets for Flat Bench of 135, 225 before attempting 315, a nice negative but just didn’t have it in me…there is next week!

I somehow got a set of 115, 120 lbs on Incline Bench  (5 reps).

I am gonna pump some fluids and try to sleep…

So my gym plays a loop of music, I swear some days it is jazz or light pop music only! How am I supposed to get motivated to workout intensely with soft, library-eque music playing!!  I am not asking for Heavy Metal but can we play some Classic Rock at minimum?

My Mp3 player broke so I was forced to listen to some U2 and Brittany Spears the other day- WTF…..

I am loading up playlists on my Iphone which I was hesitant to use for workout in fears that I may break it, but I am willing to risk it after the past few awful listening experiences….

Here is what I am cranking out for workouts:

Workout 1-

Slow Burn-   Atreyu
STUNTIN LIKE MY DADDY     BIRDMAN FT LIL WAYNE
Pour Some Sugar On Me       Def Leppard
gimme that nut                    Easy E
Purple Haze                        Jimi Hendrix
Come Baby Come                K7
Let It Rock (Dirty)               Kevin Rudolf Ft. Lil Wayne
Got Money (feat. T-Pain)       Lil Wayne
Get back                             Ludacris
for whom the bell tolls          Metalica
Saints of Los Angeles           Motley Crue
Party People (Dirty Version)  Nelly Feat. Fergie
Smells Like Teens Spirit        Nirvana
Culo Remix                          Pitbull
Smack My Bitch Up              Prodigy
breathe                              Prodigy
anthrax & public enemy -     Public Enemy
Ladies And Gentlemen          Saliva
Fake It                                Seether
Psychosocial                        Slipknot
Bad Girlfriend                      Theory of a Deadman
Keep Hope Alive                   Third Watch    Crystal Method
Let’s Start A Riot                  Three Days Grace
I gotta Stay fly                     Three Six Mafia
Across The Nation (RAW)       The Union Underground
zombie nation - sandstorm      Zombie Nation -Darude
Gematria (The Killing Name)   Slipknot
All Hope Is Gone                   Slipknot

So my buddy Jesse gets the credit for this idea! He sent me an awesome link to You tube showing how to make Protein brownies, cookie, pancakes….by Scivation’s Lobliner who is a hilarious guy! He shows how to make the low carb snacks while adding in some funny commentary….

So I just had to give this a shot, after all this cut has me going through serious cravings at times….

I went up to my local grocery store and picked up the following;  Almond Butter, and Smart Balance Flax Peanut Butter and water , j/k….

I returned back and grabbed my "All the Whey" chocolate protein and threw in 2 scoops (44g) into a bowl. I then scooped out 2 tablespoons of the Almond butter and mixed it all in, it starts out chunky, so just slowly add water and keep mixing. I added about a quarter of a cup water then threw it in my microwave and cooked it for about 1:20. It turned out pretty good for almonds…

I did exact same mixture in a separate bowl , this time adding in the Smart Balance peanut butter…MMMM Good, but I love peanut butter and chocolate , so I am bias!

When all is said and done, you end up with:

Protein: 44 grams

Carbs: 9

Fat: 18 (only 3 grams saturated w/peanut butter)

Total Calories is 374