Androo's fat-bustin' thread

[KromTromeggadom]

I just thought I'll bump this up.....

How's your progress so far Androo mate? Its been a while, just making sure you don't lose motivation. Stay strong mate!

[KromTromeggadom]

Here's a video from youtube that I think you might find useful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF5yTLzWyBU

Check out his many other vids too. I have a lot of respect for this bloke with his simple approach to bodybuilding. He believes you don't even need a gym membership and bodybuilding should be an inexpensive hobby that can be done from home or anywhere for that matter with minimal equipment.

Best of all, he ain't trying to sell anything (surprise, surprise). Good for something different that isn't surrounded by hype.

He's got a pretty good website too:

http://fitness.scoobysworkshop.com

[chris1983]

Thanks Krom - this is some great info (i was actually looking at killing gym for a while and taking home style approach as i have some basic equ since i now have a mortgage!)

Hows the progress Androo been quiet for a while mate - hope your getting through other things?

[2hot2handle]

(deep breath)

Ok, here goes.

I've been fighting the fat for ages - most of my life in fact....

I took before pics when I began. Starting weight was 112.1kg. I'm 5ft 8in so I look "really cuddly". I'll post my current weight when I weigh myself in the morning.

About same height as me

(deep breath)

Goal: Lose fat (primary), gain muscle

The BFL book talks about portions the size of your fist or palm of your hand and I've been working on that principle with good results (up until I crashed as per above).

Diet (times are approximate. minimum 2 hours, max three hours between meals):

I take fish oil tabs and vitamin C each day.

Breakfast (8am)
1/2 cup oats
1 whole egg plus 4 whites usually scrambled

More protein would keep away hunger and be better for lean-mass building. I'd make a shake like i:

1 banana, 1 apple, 1 kiwi-fruit or strawberries, 1 glass of milk, 30g rolled oats, 10g of blended linseed or walnuts, 2 raw eggs, 100g low-fat cottage cheese

(deep breath)

Meal 2 (10.00am)
small amount of veg (usually Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts)
Brown Rice, potato or pumpkin
1/2 chicken breast or Pork or Fish (Atlantic Salmon)

I'd keep carbs in each meal to 30g as a start.

(deep breath)

Meal 3 (12.00pm)
small amount of veg (usually Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts)
Brown Rice, potato or pumpkin
1/2 chicken breast or Pork or Fish (Atlantic Salmon)

Meal 3 (2.00pm)
small amount of veg (usually Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts)
Brown Rice, potato or pumpkin
1/2 chicken breast or Pork or Fish (Atlantic Salmon)

Meal 4 (4pm)
Yoghurt and Cottage cheese (mixed together it's a new taste sensation)

Meal 5 (6pm)
small amount of veg (usually Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts)
Brown Rice, potato or pumpkin
1/2 chicken breast or Pork or Fish (Atlantic Salmon)

Meal 6 (8pm) - (sometimes not needed depending on ho wlong between previous meals)
Yoghurt and Cottage cheese

I'd say you're getting quite above maintainance calories with the above. It would be ok for bulking, but i was able to bulk easily with less similar meals at 12pm, 3pm, and 6pm.

(deep breath)

Exercise plan:

Each exercise consists of 5 sets (12x, 10x, 8x, 6x, 12x). Weights start light and get heaviest at 6x then go basically repeat 1st 12x set. Each week has seen a steady increase in weight. Weight I was using when I started were truly embarrassing.

Monday
Dumb bench press
Incline flys (1 x 12x)
Shoulder Press
Shrugs or lat raises (1 x 12x)
Seated row
Lat pulldown (1 x 12x)
Bicep curl
Preachers (1 x 12x)
Tri pulldown

To be honest, sometimes some of the 1 x 12x's above get skipped due to me running out of time.

In my opinion (others may disagree), you're doing too many exercises that overlap the same muscles such biceps and triceps.

Try to minimize overlap, and preferably do a session that does a muscle only once. For a muscle that is used only lightly in a secondary role, it's ok to do a primary exercise for it.

That way, the muscle is well recovered each session and you can lift much harder. Later exercises don't feel fatigued either.

I do around 3 sets of 10 for each exercise, except where the weight would be very heavy. For shrugs, i do ~20 reps with 30kg dumbbells. For calves, i do 20-30 reps with 100-120kg.

(deep breath)

Tuesday (20 min HIIT style)
Cardio (can't begin to even put into words how much I f*cking hate cardio)
Usually treadmill but I'm getting shin splints so will need to switch to bike or cross-trainer.

Do only 5-10mins of cardio to warm up. Save real cardio for a cardio-only day such as riding a bike, running, or a team sport. You don't want to tire yourself in the gym before doing the weights.

With a decent workout, you feel your heart rate elevated for the rest of the day and night which burns calories.

I'm the same height and put fat on easily too. I went from 80kg on Jan 1st to 68kg around June/July.

(deep breath)

Wednesday
Incline leg press
Leg extensions (1 x 12x)
Calf raises
Squats (1 x 12x)
Hamstring curls
Crunches (which is good because by now I usually need a good lie-down)

Too much overlap of quads.

(deep breath)

Thursday
Cardio

Friday
Repeat Monday

Saturday
Cardio

Next week starts with legs and on we go.

I've been absolutely stuffed after each workout which feels good and my appetite is huge despite eating every couple of hours. I'm usually hungry for at least the last 30 min prior to the next meal.

Well that's it. It's out there now. I'll be reporting in I hope daily but at least every day post-weights.

In the end, the only thing between me and success is...me. It's all about attitude.

Any advice, tips, screwups in the above?

Be gentle

[/QUOTE]

How long is a typical gym session? Aim for less than an hour (i do 45-50mins) for the weight exercises.

Have a PWO shake with 80g Coopers brew-enhancer-1 sugar and 40g protein powder (i stacked mine with more BCAAs and glutamine), shaken in a 750mL water bottle.

Weigh yourself each night and write it down. Adjust your number of meals or carbs for 0.5kg/week increase in weight on average when bulking.

When you have too much fat, reduce carbs and increase cardio for 0.5kg/week decrease in weight on average.

You could aim for 0.0-0.5kg/week so that you lose fat and slowly gain lean mass too.

Keep meals less than 4 hours (i aim for 3) apart.

Drink water regularly, which keeps metabolism boosted.

[Androo]

Hey you lot.
First off, thanks heaps guys for the last few posts, really appreciated and sorry I didn't get back to you.

Well, I started off well and was kicking goals. Dropped almost 9kg in a couple of months and had almost broken through that magic 100kg barrier. That would have been a huge thing (no pun intended).

One of my main issues has been work. Before I started at the gym I determined that I needed to rid myself of some pressures. I was so damn busy and was taking on so damn much that I literally had no time. Then along comes someone at work to take the load off. Great! I started in earnest and I can tell you that I enjoyed it. Felt great.

As usually happens with me, when I find the smallest gap in my time, I try and fill it with something. That 'something' usually doesn't fit so well, so I have to make room elsewhere. Guess what? I suspended my gym membership after not being able to go regularly because I was too busy...again.

As if that wasn't enough, I am now in business for myself (another one) with an associate that I used to work with. It's booming along which of course means that I have to work harder :-)

You can see where I'm going here? Right now, I've successfully gained back those 9kg and added another 4kg just for good measure.

So here I am. Fatter. I no complain though. No one held a gun to my head and told me to quit the gym. We're not desparate for cash so I didn't HAVE to start this business either. I think the Mrs is just standing back, watching and waiting for this 5ft 8in lumbering cyclone to blow himself out :-) God bless her, that's all she can do, there's no getting in the way of a cyclone.

Of course, with the above you add a fairly reasonable helping of stress. What does stress make me do? That's right, eat. I'm not eating junk either (90% of the time), it's just the portions. Geez, I don't know when to stop. It's like I'm not satisfied with a normal meal. The 'eat' switch in my brain is stuck in the 'on' position.

Well, that's about it for the moment. Not sure there's anything more constructive I can add. Might blow the dust of the treadmill and the excecise bike soon, I just read what I wrote....yeech....

[Rusha]

Thanks for the update Andrew. sometimes we just have to step back and get other stuff done.

Ive been reading a little about cortisol levels and weight gain. Or not so much gain, but halted weight loss. Should start a thread if not one already and see what Belmont and CS have to say.

It takes NOTHING to gain a kilo but massive effort to get rid of it again.

Im kinda just rambling.

[Androo]

sometimes we just have to step back and get other stuff done.

Well yeah, that's kinda what I said to myself but it's getting beyond a joke. It's all about finding balance.

Oh...I didn't mention that the business is taking on contractors so potentially I could be left with a bit less to do myself. Soooooo...it's time to try and leave space unfilled :-)

[Rusha]

Thats your challenge. To leave that space unfilled so you can do this for yourself. We need a new SM challenge.

[gymbunny87]

I would just monitor your response to starch e.g. brown rice, potato or pumpkin.

Consider other vegetables such as asparagus, carrot, cauliflower, corn, beans, peas instead / or as alternatives.

Good luck :-)

Just noticed this comment.

Corn and peas are actually starchy vegetables also.
If you are trying to avoid starch, u must then avoid these as well.

[Onamiss]

Great thread and great work. I have just started back into it . I am going through same thing. Keep it up

[Androo]

Yeah, dropped the ball for a while but have hired a personal trainer for every gym visit. Costs me a bomb but it's worth every penny. Gained 4kg of muscle and lost 6kg fat so far.

[KromTromeggadom]

Yeah, dropped the ball for a while but have hired a personal trainer for every gym visit. Costs me a bomb but it's worth every penny. Gained 4kg of muscle and lost 6kg fat so far.

Good to hear mate, keep up the good work! You'll get there.