D-Ballin
New Member
You should see much better satiety coming from increasing your protein. Those simple carbs add up really quickly for most, without leaving them satisfied. High protein makes all aspects of dieting easier IMO.
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- Thread starter D-max
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D-max
Member
Weighed 206 with 27%bf today. Don't know how accurate my scale is with the bf% though. Loss of 4lbs since last week.
D-Ballin
New Member
Killing it man. Keep that protein high, and plenty of resistance training. You won't need to worry too much about the scale's bf guesstimate, you won't be losing much lean mass at this point.
D-max
Member
Still working to get the protein higher, but will get there. Oddly, the diet part is harder than the workouts!
D-max
Member
Had a little spare time Sunday. Built this. Way better than picking them up off the floor. Best part. Free!
D-max
Member
How many sets/exercises should I be doing per body part?
For example today was back/biceps. I did...
Deadlifts, bent over rows, lat pulldowns, cable rows.
Dumbbell curls, preacher curls, standing concentration curls, hammer curls.
I'm doing 3 sets of 8-10 each, trying to go as heavy as I can. I'm pretty gassed at the end, but could do more but I'd have to lighten the weight.
For example today was back/biceps. I did...
Deadlifts, bent over rows, lat pulldowns, cable rows.
Dumbbell curls, preacher curls, standing concentration curls, hammer curls.
I'm doing 3 sets of 8-10 each, trying to go as heavy as I can. I'm pretty gassed at the end, but could do more but I'd have to lighten the weight.
UCSFmed
New Member
I would say that 3 sets of 8-10 reps of Lat pull is insufficient for back width development. I would cut out a biceps exercise and increase your Lat pull volume, or better yet, add pull ups. Notice that you have two exercises for back thickness (rows) but only one exercise for width.
D-max
Member
I can only do a couple pull ups at this point, so I'll hit the pulldowns harder. Hopefully another 10 lbs of weight loss will let me start doing more.
UCSFmed
New Member
As a personal trainer, it looks to me like you are serious about improving your body and I'm impressed with the data you have relayed in this thread. I have no doubt you will reach your goals.
D-max
Member
Up for review, tomorrow I do chest and triceps. These are the exercises I do. Let me know if I should add or subtract something. Trying to get this nailed down to the best exercises for me as a beginner again. I haven't tried dips yet, so I don't know if I can do them. I'll try tomorrow just to see.
Chest I do: Flat, incline db, decline db, and db flyes.
Triceps I do: Skull crusher, db one arm extensions, db kickbacks, standing db triceps extension, rope pushdowns. I've also done overhead cable extensions and a few others.
Nothing I don't like or not open to as long as I can physically do it. I love lifting weights, I'm just a fat ass(temporary).
Chest I do: Flat, incline db, decline db, and db flyes.
Triceps I do: Skull crusher, db one arm extensions, db kickbacks, standing db triceps extension, rope pushdowns. I've also done overhead cable extensions and a few others.
Nothing I don't like or not open to as long as I can physically do it. I love lifting weights, I'm just a fat ass(temporary).
That is a pretty good setup. I am personally a huge proponent of dips. I do them at end of chest work and they make a good lead in for triceps. If you have trouble with them just keep at it and focus as much as you can on the negatives. Once you can do 10-12 reps I would add weight.
D-max
Member
I'm up to 5 dips now. Down to 203 lbs.
Going to take a day or 2 off. I increased weight a lot and I think I may have not been quite ready. Having a fair amount of pain by some joints, from reading it sounds like tendonitis.
I assume from overtraining, tendons & ligaments not used to it.
Other than that, diet is a ton better, and getting easier. My fitness pal is a godsend and only gets better the more I use it.
Going to take a day or 2 off. I increased weight a lot and I think I may have not been quite ready. Having a fair amount of pain by some joints, from reading it sounds like tendonitis.
I assume from overtraining, tendons & ligaments not used to it.
Other than that, diet is a ton better, and getting easier. My fitness pal is a godsend and only gets better the more I use it.
Tracking your intake definitely gets easier as you go and helps take a ton of the guess work out of dropping the weight! Keep pushing forward man, progress not perfection.
D-max
Member
At 200lbs even now. Did 7 dips last time. Making progress. Don't look nearly as good at 200 as I thought I would.
Next goal is 195.
One thing I'm struggling with is my back days. It's really hard for me to feel like I'm engaging it in my lifts. I can feel it a lot more in my shoulders etc. Is that normal? I try to do slow, concentrated reps.
Next goal is 195.
One thing I'm struggling with is my back days. It's really hard for me to feel like I'm engaging it in my lifts. I can feel it a lot more in my shoulders etc. Is that normal? I try to do slow, concentrated reps.
UCSFmed
New Member
To really feel it in your lats, try stretching them in between sets. You can do this by pulling on a vertical piece, such as can be found on the Lat pull machine, with one arm at a time. (It's best to look up a pic of this kind of stretch on Google, since it's hard to describe.) Or, you can stretch the lats by hanging from a pull up bar, either with one arm at a time, or with both. This might help you to get the burn in your back muscles.
Also, check your form for the exercises you are doing, to make sure you're doing them properly. Keep your mental focus on the muscles you're working, and make it a point to deliberately squeeze them upon contraction.
When working the back muscles, it's always helpful to try to keep your back arched and your chest sticking out a bit. This will help full contraction in both rows and pull down motions. On the negative portion of the exercise, when the weight is going away from your body, your goal is to let the handles pull your arms and then the back muscles, stretching them, while keeping slight resistance with your muscles for some tension.
In short, the goal with back exercises is to get that stretch/squeeze alternation in there. If you can achieve that, then you should find that your shoulders are only minimally involved in the workout.
How the dropping weight coming along? Still getting that diet fine tuned?
D-max
Member
Diet is good now, weight is at 198. If I go over on something, it's usually fats. I've cut carbs way, way down.
My lifts aren't improving much, but I've been in a pretty big calorie deficit, so I'm happy to stay the same or improve a little while I get my bf% down.
I can actually do a couple pull ups now, and just did 8 dips today. Both up from 0.
Total weight loss so far is a shade over 30 lbs since last summer. 14 just since I joined here, and I hadn't worked out or exercised before I started here either.
My lifts aren't improving much, but I've been in a pretty big calorie deficit, so I'm happy to stay the same or improve a little while I get my bf% down.
I can actually do a couple pull ups now, and just did 8 dips today. Both up from 0.
Total weight loss so far is a shade over 30 lbs since last summer. 14 just since I joined here, and I hadn't worked out or exercised before I started here either.
Sounds like you're making awesome progress man! Keep up the good work.
Keep up the good work man!
Something that helped me in the past is when you're doing lat pulldowns - do your set as you normally would and after your last rep or stopping a rep early twist yourself to the side, trying to remain loose in your lat and rear delt region. Hang onto the bar and turn it and your upper body to the side and feel your lat tighten up as it stretches. Then do the other side. Afterwards, still hanging onto the bar, try and squeeze out a few extra reps. If this doesn't make sense I'll post up a video I know had this technique.
Something that helped me in the past is when you're doing lat pulldowns - do your set as you normally would and after your last rep or stopping a rep early twist yourself to the side, trying to remain loose in your lat and rear delt region. Hang onto the bar and turn it and your upper body to the side and feel your lat tighten up as it stretches. Then do the other side. Afterwards, still hanging onto the bar, try and squeeze out a few extra reps. If this doesn't make sense I'll post up a video I know had this technique.
