Fatman's Progress

[dlewis7444]

I've been doing BodyForLife for a month and a half now but wanted to find something simpler I could do at home - I have a barbell and bench at home. (I've been going to the gym to do BFL.)

I did my first Stronglifts 5x5 workout this morning. I just couldn't bring myself to start out at zero, but I did drop my squat weight considerably and my bench press weight a bit.

weight 289 lbs

Squats 5x5 95lbs
Bench 5x5 95lbs
Inv Rows (feet flat, knees bent) 3x10
Rvrs Crunch 3x12
Pushups 1x10

I will try knees straight, heels on floor for the rows next time. I did 10 pushups, waited a couple minutes, and still couldn't do a single one more. I think I may be doing the reverse crunches wrong. I'll find a video to watch.

Ordered a fat caliper. I think it arrived but it's at the post office and they're closed today (isn't government-run mail wonderful?).

[dlewis7444]

I expect I should post my goals. By June 1st, I want to:

Break 17% body fat

Do 10 pullups in a row

Squat my bodyweight

Deadlift 1.5x my bodyweight

To get there, I'm doing SL5x5 and playing racquetball as often as I can on off days. I'm not worried about my weight right now - I figure if I build the muscle first, it should be a lot easier to reduce the body fat percentage later. When the time comes, if lifting and racquetball hasn't got me far enough, I'll add cardio.

Once I reach my current health goals, I look forward to going after my next one: improving my skill in martial arts (I'm just a yellow striper right now ). But I can't spare the time nor the focus to add that in right now. I have a big business goal for this year. With that and my lifting-related goals, I'm feeling enough pressure.

[dlewis7444]

Thursday, 2/19
Squats 5x5 95lbs
OHP 5x5 65lbs
Deadlift 5x5 115lbs
Negative Pullups 3,2,2
Prone Bridges 3x30secs

Squats, overhead press, and deadlifts are easy. The deadlifts did get my heart going a bit though. Prone bridges were easy. Thinking maybe I should just do pushups every day?

Negative pullups, however, are quite painful. I stand there and balk, like I'm jumping off a high dive board and it's scaring the heck out of me. I know it's going to hurt and, Mommy, I don't wanna do it! Anyway, I'll be happy for more than one reason when I can do normal pullups.

I just realized - I did 5x5 deadlifts instead of 1x5. Have to remember to correct that next time.

It feels good, but I'm not getting the endorphin rush I was starting to get with BFL. Hopefully that will come as I add weight.

[CaptainFatpants]

Once you are squatting BW or near -- you will get a "rush" alright.

I am just getting there and I always feel stoked after. I did cardio post-workout but I am now finding that is just too much to ask after I have spent myself on squats. That is quite the cardio workout in and of itself.

Just thought I would chime in....hope you don't mind.

[dlewis7444]

@CaptainFatpants
Mind? No way! On the contrary, thank you for the post.

That rush really adds to the motivation. Looking forward to finding it again.

[dlewis7444]

On Friday, right after breakfast, I did some HIIT. Was shooting for 8, 20-yard sprints with a 10 second rest in between each. Got to 6 and had to quit before my lungs burst. Still, I'm not unhappy with it. It should have done the job of raising my metabolism for the rest of the day (I suppose).

Saturday, 2/21/09
Squat 5x5, 115lbs
Bench Press 5x5, 100lbs
Inv. Row (knees bent) 5,6,6
Push-ups 6,4,6
Rvs Crunch 3x15

-The Good-
Squats felt good - though still easy. Been reading "Starting Strength" and tried to watch my form today. Bench is still easy, thinking about bumping it 10 lbs next time. 3x15 reverse crunches were a stretch: I felt the pain after the 2nd and 3rd set. Last time I pushed to get 10 pushups on the first set, then had no strength to do any more sets. This time I kept a little in reserve and got 16 total. Is that a better way to do it?

-The Bad-
Tried to do the inverted rows with my knees straight but I couldn't touch my chest to the bar so I went back to knees bent. Last time I did 3x10, this time I had difficulty getting 6. Not sure what changed.

--
I'm going to bump deadlifts up 40 lbs on Tuesday. Looking forward to that. Later today I'll get some light cardio by working on vehicles. Tomorrow some heavier cardio splitting wood.

[dlewis7444]

What a weekend!

Didn't get to split wood - instead I spent Sunday moving around 80lb corral panels by myself - repairing and redesigning. Then that night I climbed a tree to help my Dad break into his own house. My arms were SORE Monday!

Didn't do any HIIT Monday. Did work with my cattle in my newly redesigned corral that evening, however, so at least I got some exercise.

Tuesday, 2/24
Squats 5x5 125lbs
OHP 5x5 70lbs
Deadlift 5x5 155lbs
Lat Pulldowns 5x5 210lbs
Prone Bridges 3x30secs

I keep looking at my schedule and thinking, "I'm going to bump up squats, they're too easy." But then I think, "No, no - I need to work on my form before I start adding a lot of weight." I'm glad I've kept it low. I wish I had a trainer to confirm, but I think I'm doing pretty good on my form. Plan to stick with the schedule on the squats.

Overhead press is ridiculously easy - above set count is actually wrong. I really did 1x5, 3x15, and 1x5. But before I bump the weight much there, I'll doublecheck my form.

Deadlift at 155 is starting to feel good. I still have a ways to go before it begins to get really heavy but at least it's not nothing. On Sunday I did a couple power cleans at that weight. Those are fun! But that's just playing. I'll stick with the schedule on deadlifts until I get to 1.5x bw. Adding 20 lbs next time.

For lat and arm work, pullups are what I want to be doing. They're what would help most with any real world need. But, since I can't do a single pullup, and negatives feel so jarring, I looked for alternatives. I know lots of people say lat pulldown strength doesn't translate into pullup strength. But I've read some who claim it does - at least somewhat. So I'm on a fairly aggressive schedule to get lat pulldowns up to 320 lbs, then I will try to do pullups again. That should be in a month and a half. Of course, if I manage to do a single pullup somewhere before then, I'll switch sooner.

Prone bridges. Still 30 seconds and still quite easy. Next time I'll do 3x40 seconds and keep adding until I can easily do 3x60. Then I think I'll switch to pushups every workout. Unless someone has a different recommendation?

---
I've only been doing Stronglifts for 4 workouts but I was doing BodyForLife for over a month before that. I finally received 3 comments this past weekend on how I'm looking better. I actually haven't lost any weight to speak of, but I'm down a belt notch. That's fine with me: I'm happy to trade fat for muscle mass. When I walk I feel stronger; even kinda makes me feel taller. Don't know if that's psychological or I'm standing straighter. Maybe both. Looking forward to my fat percentage check this Saturday.

Looked at John Stone's "cutting" phase of his diet: http://www.johnstonefitness.com/menus/may_2008.html. I tried it for 3 days. I just love food too much and love to cook. I've laid out some guidelines similar to what he eats, trying to boost my protein. And, as I have been for a long time, I'm trying to eat healthier, stay away from the sugar and junk food. But eating the exact same thing day in and day out is not the road I want to take. And I think I can reach my goals without that. May take a little longer. But my goals are not as hard to hit as his are. All I want is to be stronger, be trim, and be healthy.

[nburge]

I've had the same feeling - been doing GOMAD to bulk up before trying to lose the fat (I don't look too bad, but have a gut and the lard seems to have spread thinly across my whole body...) but since doing this I feel as though I walk more upright, and that my body shape is changing. My gut is getting bigger (stretching my waistband now) but I'm hoping this is just bloating from the milk (the scales say my fat % is dropping). I don't care if the feeling is psychological or physical though really - what matters is I feel better and feel as though this programme is working, has benefits and is worth sticking to, and that's going to ensure I keep it up long enough to see ACTUAL physical rewards.

Anyway, just stopped by to check it out as you started about the same time as me. Keep up the good work pal and good luck!!!

Neil.

[dlewis7444]

Thanks Neil, appreciate the visit and the comments.

A short update. Yesterday I had my workout in the early morning (already posted details) then at noon I played some heavy racquetball with a co-worker. Both of us are quite competitive and are in about the same shape (round) so it was some serious intensity cardio. I won the first game, 16 to 14. He won the second, 15 to 8. Took about an hour. But I'm doing the weight lifting and HIIT (well, I'm supposed to be doing HIIT). He's just doing racquetball. Our games should start reflecting that soon.

Wiped me out though. I was daydreaming of hitting the sack the rest of the afternoon. When I got home, I watched TV (which I rarely do anymore) and dozed on the couch until about 8 - when I went to bed.

This morning I was still dragging. Went out to do my HIIT and did more like MIST (M for Moderate, S for Short). But I had a V-8 and took a shower and somewhere along the way started perking up. Very odd for me to have such a change in energy level in such a short period of time.

Workout is tomorrow and also scheduled for more racquetball. I shall prevail!
-Dave

[nburge]

Hey - no worries, thanks for dropping by on mine too. I used to feel tired just through cycling to work (only by the end of the week) - since doing this I have started to force myself to go to bed earlier. I used to stay up watching crap on tv just because I didn't want the day to end (I don't want my life to just be waking, eating, working then sleeping) but figure that if I'm spending this much effort in the gym (even if the weights aren't too hard yet, it's still an effort for me to make this my routine) then I shouldn't deny my body sleep. Especially as I LOVE SLEEP!

Also - totally understand what you're saying about the food - I don't want to eat the same food day in day out. I never want to be Brad Pitt, just want to get rid of the gut and feel healthier. My diet is nutritionally OK (aside from the beers on the weekend) - I just eat too much of it!!! Hopefully this extra exercise will redress that balance!

Good luck on the raquetball - I'll drop by from time to time to see how you're getting on!!!!

[dlewis7444]

Workout yesterday. Racquetball didn't happen but we rescheduled for today.

Thursday, 02/27/09
Squat 5x5, 135lbs
Inv. Row (knees bent) 3x7
Bench Press 5x5, 105lbs
Push-ups (knees) 2x7, (normal) 1x7
Rvs Crunch 3x15

I did the Rows before the bench presses, unintentionally. Then I tried to do push-ups right after bench press. Yeah, right. I should have just taken a longer rest, I suppose, because, while the first 2 sets were on my knees, I managed to do the last set normal.

Crunches were kind of tough. Next time I'm scheduled for 15 again. This is good - don't think I'm ready to go up yet.

The main exercises are still mostly pretty easy. What's hard is the assistance exercises - rows, pullups, and pushups; crunches to a lesser extent. I'm very impatient to get the squat weight up. Not going to push it though; form is more important.

Been "greasing the groove" with pullup negatives: just doing one everytime I walk by the bar I have in one of my doorways. I think in less than a month I'll be able to do at least one normal pullup.

Body weight still hasn't really changed; Saturday I check my body fat. Looking forward to it. Wife says I don't look as pregnant.

[dlewis7444]

Tuesday, 2/24
Squats 5x5 145lbs
OHP 5x5 75lbs
Deadlift 3x5 175lbs
Lat Pulldowns 5x5 230lbs
Prone Bridges 3x30secs

I don't feel good. I slept 11 hours last night and still felt tired. Workout was difficult and painful.

Squats were about the only "easy" exercise today. Relatively easy. Just walking around isn't fun today.

Deadlifts I once again did too many sets: forgetting that it's supposed to be 1x5, I did 3x5. Taking that into account, I guess they weren't too hard either.

Pretty much maxed on lat pulldowns - failed to touch my chest on a few. Besides that, my machine won't take any more weight for that exercise. Going to have to come up with another solution to get to pullups. Been greasing the groove with negatives and I feel like I'm getting close so maybe I'll be able to do a chinup sooner than I think.

I had been doing prone bridges wrong - going up on my hands instead of my elbows. Considerably more difficult on forearms. Still was able to do 3x30 but I don't think I'll be increasing the duration much next time.

Weigh in yesterday was 290lbs. I'm haven't lost any weight at all in 2 weeks of SL and 6 weeks of BFL. Again, that doesn't bother me - I'm interested in losing fat, not weight.

Speaking of fat. I find it hard to believe but I quadruple checked. It appears I've lost 3.5% body fat in one week. Maybe my readings were off last week but I was pretty careful about them as well. Hmm. Well, this is a good thing, I just don't feel it. Sure, my belt's down a notch and I have received some comments but it doesn't seem like 3.5% - that's losing more than 12% of my total body fat in one week.

I sure hope I feel better by the end of the weekend. Monday should be racquetball (my partner wimped out on me again yesterday!). Then weights on Tuesday. I wonder what my body fat calipers will say next week. I refuse to be happy about any fat loss until there's a definite pattern.

[dlewis7444]

CORRECTION - Date of above workout was Saturday, February 28th.

We played 3 games of racquetball yesterday. I lost! I hate losing! 2 games to 1. Didn't keep my head in the game. Before I noticed it, on the third game, I was down 12 to 2. I got serious and made a good come back but it wasn't enough. Final score on game 3 was 15 to 12.

He's more skilled than I am. When we started, he was in better shape too; now we're about equal shape. I expect to continue to improve my fitness faster than him since all he's doing is the RB. Sooner or later, I'll be beating him on fitness alone. But, my game will get better too. He's going down!

Tuesday, March 3rd
Squat 5x5, 155lbs
Bench Press 5x5, 115lbs
Inv. Row (knees bent) 3x8
Push-ups 3x7
Crunches 3x15

Felt much better with this workout. Squats are not heavy but they do make me work. Bench press was pretty easy and good bar speed. Inverted rows were kind of tough. Pushups were a challenge. I did them all normal but really had to drive through it on the second set. Took a 3 minute break and the 3rd set wasn't too bad. For the last 2 crunch workouts I've alternated doing reverse crunches and obliques. Somewhere under all this fat is a 6-pack waiting to come out.

This log idea is great. It makes my workouts more fun knowing that I get to share how it went with others. I'm really just having fun doing this program and this log. Thanks to the three people who read it!

LOL

[dlewis7444]

Racquetball

Nasty game of RB today. Again, I lost 2-1. I ache in my right arm, my knees hurt, my calves and lower back are quite unhappy with me.

In the second game I got my partner on the run - made him sprint to the front, sprint to the back, front, and back again before I demoralized him by putting in a kill shot. He was blowing as hard as I'm seen either one of us in any of our games. Yet he didn't back off. He was behind in that game and I won it in about 3 more points, but then he went straight in to the third game, no break. And promptly played well enough to earn 6 hard won, unanswered points.

It is a pleasure to play with someone that serious about winning. It will be a sad day when I begin beating him. But it must be so. And so it shall be.

[nburge]

We're all there in the gym with you man.... all 3 of us!

You'll get there with the raquetball. I was playing a significantly less physically exerting game of billiards last night and was thrashed about 8-1, so I know the feeling of losing. Sadly this guy is only marginally better than me, but just kept beating me at the end of the game. I also **HATE** losing. Took it out on the bike ride/tabatas this morning though. And technically the tabatas won that bout too, as I was laid out on the canvass afterwards......

Keep it up!