Blonde will make you STRONG

[Ant040689]

Diet - Still whole foods plant based and the lean gains have been amazing. Still around 14st 4lbs at 6'4, so not exactly skinny.

I am pounding on the lentils more for the protein content when i make my meals, they take up most of the plate, and I am still winging it in terms of how much protein i take in exactly, but i will continue like this until I can be bothered to change.

I have dramatically increased the beans/lentils in my meals though and feel like there has been a difference, so I am not being a complete joke.

So all things good here. The new gym membership has got me off my arse and back into a routine, and I hope to be at my fittest/most poweful shortly. The deadlifts have been a God send in terms of freedom of movement and have made everything easier.

Protein powder.

Protein powder.

Protein powder.

If I was a wizard with quoting I would highlight all the parts where those two words are going to go a long way into solving the problem. You could argue protein in general, as one shake probably isn't the defining factor.

But yeah what Matt said, gotta chill. I don't want to be abrasive/rude/negative. But when a human is 16-20 stone. Losing weight is really easy. It is actually an effort to keep it there. You are actively smashing in KCALs to maintain that weight.

Where you are at now, progress is just slow. If it gets annoying, go down to your local race track and ask for some horse hormones. If you want to remain human, just enjoy the process

The process with me will be to gauge how much protein i am getting anyway in my diet, work out a standardised good number for me to reach for protein, see how far i am behind, see if it is possible to make that up with legumes. If not then I will find a suitable protein powder.

That process starts when i can be bothered to measure my food.

Don't take that as a slap in the face to your advice, I am grateful to it all and from others on here. But i know myself in this spot, and i am going to sit on doing this for a while. The diet I am on at the moment anyway is in the least okay for my goals. I will make the diet optimal towards my needs eventually and hopefully soon.

How do you know if you haven't tried the alternative yet?

You said that you hope to be at your fittest / most powerful soon. Well a huge part of that process is your nutrition so you to start measuring your food now and find out if you're low on protein or not.

"I hope to be at my fittest/most poweful shortly"

Is not going to happen whilst......

"I am still winging it in terms of how much protein i take in exactly, but i will continue like this until I can be bothered to change."

"That process starts when i can be bothered to measure my food."

Sorry mate but that's just how it is.

Ooops, should have read on.

As ever, Matt puts it better than me.

Thanks for the input from both of you, sometime next week I will have an update and an organised eating plan. I'm going to aim for 0.75g/lb body weight for protein as per the instruction of Bayesian bodybuilding.

It's on the low side but the studies he cites is enough to add legitimacy.

We have had this discussion before I recall. The advice was to go higher from Iraise I believe, but I am going to use it as starting point in the least.

Also I think it's clever to in the least use it as a next step before I raise it again if I do, because I'm probably getting nowhere near the 155g protein a day that 0.75/lb would be for me. So it will be a positive start.

[zerofive]

Been doing yoga lately and literally no gym. Calories around 2200kcal. Losing lots of weight both muscle and fat. The bulk was gna be fun, but too many health problems so just gna do what I can while I atrophy haha.

[Steve Swift]

Hi guys,
Started back to the press up last week and had a few gentle reps just to wake up the guns

This week did 4 session rahther than 3 i have ben doing

Supposed to do 14, 18,14,14 20+
Did                  14, 18,14,14 21

Supposed to do 14, 18,14,14 20+
Did                  14, 18,14,14 21

Supposed to do  20, 25,15,15 25+
Did                   20, 25,15,15 26

Supposed to do 14, 18,14,14 20+
Did                  20, 25,15,15 26



Triathalon training

Did a park run plus another, 2 swims and  2 cycles ( 1 x 20k.)
Looking for a good week this week.

GL all

[iRaise]

Been doing yoga lately and literally no gym. Calories around 2200kcal. Losing lots of weight both muscle and fat. The bulk was gna be fun, but too many health problems so just gna do what I can while I atrophy haha.

Who needs to DL when you can pike to handstand?

[iRaise]

Hi guys,
Started back to the press up last week and had a few gentle reps just to wake up the guns

This week did 4 session rahther than 3 i have ben doing

Supposed to do 14, 18,14,14 20+
Did                  14, 18,14,14 21

Supposed to do 14, 18,14,14 20+
Did                  14, 18,14,14 21

Supposed to do  20, 25,15,15 25+
Did                   20, 25,15,15 26

Supposed to do 14, 18,14,14 20+
Did                  20, 25,15,15 26



Triathalon training

Did a park run plus another, 2 swims and  2 cycles ( 1 x 20k.)
Looking for a good week this week.

GL all

That seems a pretty good week, how long do you spend triathlon training a week?

[iRaise]

Menno is on the lower side of protein than anyone else I know of, it will probably be fine. Sometimes chasing optimum isn't worth it. But I would be very concerned if you are regularly below his suggestions, knowing his is the lowest of them all. Plus, and I like him, he is only recently on the low hype. He built his physique and all his clients physiques on a higher range.

You don't even need to be that structured, just get 50g of protein in every meal if you are eating three times or 40g if you are eating 4 times a day. Add a shake onto that and you can't go too wrong.

Don't underestimate the power of nutrition though, i do feel very sorry for vegan athletes for many reason. Mostly though, most vegan 'role models' turned vegan after they 'got there'. Maintaining and gaining/progressing are very different stories.

[Steve Swift]

Brand spanking new to Tri, so still finding my feet. Still learning to swim and cycle and therefore getting a feel for what I need to focus on,

I have been doing about 7 or 8 session a week each of about 30/40 mins but will increase to something like 10 session a week building up to at least 10 hrs a week, including at least one full rest day.

I have 3/4 events lined up for next year the first one being in March, so have a good 6 months to get basic fitness on each discipline. My main event will be in my home town or Redcar in July and all training is aimed for that. It will be a sprint tri so 750m sea swim, 20k bike, 5k run.

I would look to be competitive so something like, 18m swim, 40 min bike, 22m run. This would put me top 3 age group wise and push on from there.

Still researching training programmes at the moment, know how to tackle running, but work to do on swim and bike, then off course combing all 3.  Just want to get some basic winter hard graft in the tank and learn/build on that.

Steve

[iRaise]

Brand spanking new to Tri, so still finding my feet. Still learning to swim and cycle and therefore getting a feel for what I need to focus on,

I have been doing about 7 or 8 session a week each of about 30/40 mins but will increase to something like 10 session a week building up to at least 10 hrs a week, including at least one full rest day.

I have 3/4 events lined up for next year the first one being in March, so have a good 6 months to get basic fitness on each discipline. My main event will be in my home town or Redcar in July and all training is aimed for that. It will be a sprint tri so 750m sea swim, 20k bike, 5k run.

I would look to be competitive so something like, 18m swim, 40 min bike, 22m run. This would put me top 3 age group wise and push on from there.

Still researching training programmes at the moment, know how to tackle running, but work to do on swim and bike, then off course combing all 3.  Just want to get some basic winter hard graft in the tank and learn/build on that.

Steve

Seems smart all rough. Winter is where all the hard work takes place!

[iRaise]

So on a day I woke up big Ray Williams squatting 456kg, i went in for 4x4 squats.


It has been annoying me for a while how poor my squat is in terms of numbers, then I see big Ray just take 456 for a ride no problems. I reckon I am around 95kg at the minute, so it is really annoying how poor it is in relation to that.

But took on 112.5 for 4's. Although it does really annoy me that its not that much, I am over the moon at my technique and ROM at the minute.

Upping the volume a bit over the next few weeks. Bday on Sunday and I have ordered everyone to get me cake. So will be putting those KCALs to good use through Nov.

I am leaning towards a diet in Dec again. Having only really got back up to strength post the last diet. But I am getting a nagging voice in my head being like 'take on the challenge again'. I'm sure/hope most of the people who read this know I have little interest in competitions and being shredded to the bone. But I do understand why they do it. Loved the power walks, manipulating KCALs and basically trying to fool my brain.

Plus losing 10kg would help the ring work so much. So I am heavily debating it. I am not too sure I am ready just yet to track/monitor. Nor give up the 'if I want it, I have it attitude'. But I am going further along the scale.

But for the next few weeks, really fancy getting some big weight in.

Re intro'd DLs post lower back episode. Was doing 3's at a 100kg. Felt far too heavy, but I am confident I can shoot up pretty quick if I want too. For my favourite lift, I am so pleased how I have coped with not having it in since July.

Going to re-intro some DB pressing post shoulder episode too. See where we get with that.

[EvilPie]

So on a day I woke up big Ray Williams squatting 456kg, i went in for 4x4 squats.


It has been annoying me for a while how poor my squat is in terms of numbers, then I see big Ray just take 456 for a ride no problems. I reckon I am around 95kg at the minute, so it is really annoying how poor it is in relation to that.

But took on 112.5 for 4's. Although it does really annoy me that its not that much, I am over the moon at my technique and ROM at the minute.

Upping the volume a bit over the next few weeks. Bday on Sunday and I have ordered everyone to get me cake. So will be putting those KCALs to good use through Nov.

I am leaning towards a diet in Dec again. Having only really got back up to strength post the last diet. But I am getting a nagging voice in my head being like 'take on the challenge again'. I'm sure/hope most of the people who read this know I have little interest in competitions and being shredded to the bone. But I do understand why they do it. Loved the power walks, manipulating KCALs and basically trying to fool my brain.

Plus losing 10kg would help the ring work so much. So I am heavily debating it. I am not too sure I am ready just yet to track/monitor. Nor give up the 'if I want it, I have it attitude'. But I am going further along the scale.

But for the next few weeks, really fancy getting some big weight in.

Re intro'd DLs post lower back episode. Was doing 3's at a 100kg. Felt far too heavy, but I am confident I can shoot up pretty quick if I want too. For my favourite lift, I am so pleased how I have coped with not having it in since July.

Going to re-intro some DB pressing post shoulder episode too. See where we get with that.

Are you equally annoyed at your 100m time compared to Usain Bolt? Or your marathon compared to Mo Farah?

Looking at your numbers and targets we could maybe get a challenge going?

Squat/DL in your favour, bench/DB press in my favour. Means me adding squats back inn and you adding bench.

I'm on a 5 week plan at the moment just seeing where I go. No specific target other than to do my best but I think I could maybe do.....

Squat - 120kg
DL - 140kg
Bench - 130kg
DB - 55kg (110kg combined)

for a 500kg total.

Thoughts? Guess we must be somewhere similar for the total if we double up on the DB? Think your DL would smash me up if we didn't double down on the DB.

Happy to wait 'til injuries subside or just crack on and see how it goes.

[iRaise]

As ever you are right.

I definitely need to push through with my squat more though. I know it may never be my strongest movement, but I need to gain some momentum with it.

I am happy to give that challenge a go for sure!

How about:

Squat
DL
Bench
OHP

Just because our gym only has 50s, and you will win if its DB

I think if we did it over the next five weeks (which will run perfectly along side my training) it will be close. Over 5 weeks don't expect to be much over 160/170 for DL. I may not even go for a true one, just stick to 3's so looking at 150/160.

I think it will be close, if I was doing 1s today I think I go:

130
140
90/100
55/60

If I had five weeks I think

135/140 (Squats I find so hard to progress)
160/170
105/110
65/70

Thats if I can stay niggle free. What you thinking? I am in. Video each of our attempts and can send on FB or something? Just to see how each other do it/pick up some tips.

[EvilPie]

So we get to do three of your favourites and one of mine..... Go on then I like a challenge.

I don't tend to do 1RM but at a guess if I did those exercises today for a number I feel comfortable at which is 3-4 I'd be at:

Squat - 80kg
DL - 100kg
Bench - 120kg
OHP - 50kg

I think I'd progress pretty quick at everything other than bench so after 5 weeks I reckon I could maybe achieve:

Squat - 110/120
DL - 130/140
Bench - 130/140
OHP - 70/80

This puts us really similar so definitely a good one for motivation.

Videos will be a struggle for me at my place but not really a problem. I know neither of us will be lying so happy to go on word. Perhaps get that session in at the end that we've been planning forever.....

[EvilPie]

So I'll be starting this tomorrow. I've been meaning to throw in a bit of a change for while so my method of choice will be to revert to upper/lower/upper/lower and then do arms on Saturday as per normal.

I'm thinking along the lines of:

Upper - Bench press, bent over row, OHP, chins
Lower - Squats, RDL, DL, Suitcase DL

The suitcase DL is a new one on me that I've recently discovered on youtube. Looks a good one for building stability in the core and should assist the OHP nicely as I'm a bit wobbly on those. I haven't tried them yet so will see what I think after tomorrow.

Tomorrow was supposed to be back day but it's now lower body instead. Quite looking forward to seeing how this works out

 

[EvilPie]

Just for clarity I've already ordered a load of protein, aminos, vitamins, creatine etc. which I was planning on taking for the next 5 weeks anyway. Hopefully that lot will help with the process but there's no way of knowing how I'd have done without it as I've nothing to compare it to.

Right then, going for a protein shake now then an early night ready for a big session tomorrow at 6.

[EvilPie]

Decent start for me. Squats at 90kg for 4 and DL at 120kg for 4.

My form didn't feel perfect for the DL but okay enough I think. It's surprising how much concentration it takes just to pick a bar up off the floor. Trying to make sure I go legs first without lifting the hips before locking out the hips gets much harder once I'm struggling a bit with the weight. Think I might have to get these recorded just for a form check or ask one of the decent dead lifters in there just to have a look. I see some people with awful form and I'd hate to be like that without even knowing it.

One thing that I definitely need to work on is that final lock out of the hips. When I watch YouTube vids they really have a thrust as they drive the hips through. Mine just feel like they're straightening out rather than locking if that makes sense. I guess it'll come with more practice and at least I'm conscious of it so it's something I can work on.

Bench and OHP tomorrow to give me a starting total to work from.