The Herfs log

[Kathy]

Congrats on the BW squats Herf - that is great!!

And OHP is pretty sweet too! Enjoy the weekend.

[mikii]

Currently 280lbs-33.5% BF. I take BF% measurements using an Omron fat loss monitor. Its said to be pretty damn accurate! I'm going to post in this log every Friday when I first wake up and see what my weight and BF% is. Going to get a tape measurement also for upper arms, neck, chest, waist and thighs. That is also going to be done weekly.

Pretty much my goal is to get to 15% body fat. I'm not really concerned with weight as long as I hit my BF% goal. Even if that weight range is 150-400 lbs. When I do hit my goal, I will take a look in the mirror and see if I want to go any lower or stay about the same. In order to get this, my first goal is 30% BF! If I can get to this in a relatively short amount of time, I know that what I'm doing is right and I can achieve what I really want to get to. It may only be 3.5% decrease, BUT a decrease is showing that I'm heading in the right direction. My next goal is 20% BF by mid/late summer time. If I could just hit this, I'd be ecstatic!

Just started the Metabolic Diet an hour ago. Sunday at midnight! Went to the store and stocked up on ground beef, colby jack cheese, italian sausage, bacon and sugar free jello. I need to get some more cans of Tuna and some flax seeds. Maybe some broccoli...but I hate the stuff and not sure a good way to prepare it.
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Hi Herf,
I'm starting out with 30% bodyfat and 73Kg at 5foot 8 inches.
My main aim is to lose the fat. Realistically and permanently. I have been adviced (elgon) that strength training in addition to diet is my best hope.
Metabolic diet is the same as anabolic diet? I ask because this is the diet I want to be on (by advice) though I know nearly nothing about it.
I would love to pick your brain and experiences.
will the Anabolic diet make strength training hard for me?
Should i start strenght 1st then the diet or vice versa or just have at both?
Thanks in advance.

[herf]

Ug. Back again. Its going to be a rough journey to back into the swing of things!! I could list all the reasons why I took so long off, but they are just reasons and any reason is as bad one! Going back to the gym tomorrow! I think I'll start off with 125lb squats and work from there. Need to work the DOMS out, that will take a few weeks. Not looking forward to that haha.

Yeah...going to start off 125lbs across the board and go from there. I'm sure the OHP will be less than that, unfortunately. Hopefully get back to 225lb squats by the end of the month and back up to the 315lb mark!!

Only problem with all of this planning is I may be taking on a new career in trucking. This will leave me little time to weight train.

[guru]

Hey Herf, where have you been? Good to see you will be getting back to the iron.

Good luck with the weight training & also the new career.

[jakemcmillan]

Hey Herf it's been a while!...I was hoping you'd come back and put up some huge squat numbers! You'll get up to that 315 squat in no time.

[Kathy]

Hey Herf~Glad to read your back. Congrats on the new career. Might have to get a bar and some plates and throw them in the back of the truck. You can work on a few things while you're on the road

Looking forward to reading about your big lifts.

[herf]

Thanks for the replies! Feels good to be back in the gym and nice to see some familiar faces!
Started off light and easy and didn't want to push it too hard first day back.

Squats
125lbs 1x5
225lbs 3x5

Felt like I could do more weight, but I'll wait a week and decide.. Might take it back up to 275lbs in a week. Might not. We'll see.

OHP
95lbs 4x5

These were always my weak spot. I struggled a little bit with the last set. To be expected though!

Assisted chins
160lbs 2x5

Push ups.
12,14

Man, these have slipped ALOT. I'll get back there. Hopefully won't take too long!

Almost forgot what DOMS felt like hahaha, man, its not fun! A swift kick in the pants to remind you not to overdo it too much starting out again.

[Barry06GT]

.
Great to see you back!

You know your body, so go have some fun and start where ever you like. You will know if it is too heavy/too light.
.

[atypical1]

Welcome back!

If you do get that new career then we'll have to figure out how to fit everything in...

james

[herf]

Doh! Have not posted my lifts cause they were the same. Pretty much take what I did a few days ago and repeat.

Buddy of mine wants to lift on mon-wed-fri.. He does not go the same gym I go to, I'll have to see if they have a squat rack there. If they do, then bonus! If they don't I'll squat tues and thurs. LIft with him on his days. Leave the weekends for kids and I!

[herf]

Back again. Hopefully to stay. No idea, need motivation or something. No new years resolution thing, just getting tire of putting on the wrong kind of weight.
Squats
125lbs 1x5
225lbs 2x5


Felt kind of heavy. Adductors were screaming at me after 2nd set. Don't want to push it too much after taking so much time off.

Bench
125lbs 3x5
I don't think I've ever wobbled so bad in my life hahaha, these were rough! I can't believe how weak I've gotten.

Assisted chins
170lbs 3x5

Again, rough. Going to do these 3x's a week I think. each week maybe take off 10lbs. See how it goes.

Hopefully, again, I can stick with this. I'm spending the money on gym. I think what got me out of the gym was that over the summer I had my kids ALOT. Nobody to watch them and they are not old enough to even be in the cardio room. Kept missing times and days. Lets see what happens now. Hopefully you guys will hear from me again haha

[jakemcmillan]

Hey herf, I expect you to stay this time! Is the job getting in the way?

[herf]

Ugh. The job. That is part of the reason I'm going to the gym. I drove from NY to Wisconsin...about 1700 miles round trip....and my heart rate went 2BPM over the rate. 2! And they failed me out of orientation. So off to get myself in better shape! Still not going to focus on cardio, but I'll start it back up once my 2 weeks of DOMS goes away. Still unemployed, so back to the gym! Thanks for checking in Jake!

[iLift5x5]

Hi Herf,

I've been following your progress over the past year with great interest as I started 5x5 around the same time, similar build and so on.

Don't lose heart and stick with it.... burn through the Doms, theres times when I still ache but you have to push through.

I've had some big challenges on my journey too. I started really well made good gains and realised my form wasn't good at all. Back rounding on squats (only just fixed!), pushing the weight on OHP at the expense of form also caused me issues. To cap it all I injured my Hamstring quite badly doing jump rope (Age 39 + 300lbs = Tendons going WTF!). Anyway, it took me nearly ten weeks to recover as I strained my Hamstring tendons badly this was over the Xmas period so food discipline was really really hard with no proper exercise. I also changed my job too in the same period I still have lots of travel and it's still just as challenging to eat well let alone 6 x a day!

I had to de-load massively, I practically went back to square one as I felt I lost a lot of the gains I made, I didn't but I still felt low and that I let myself down somehow. I'm now doing cardio again after each workout 16 mins HIIT on the bike. The fat is slowly going doing this oh and I'm still trying to eat clean whenever I can. However, I'm going to mix this up with some Heavy bag work and.... Jump rope again ... controlled this time - Post workout when I've warmed up fully!

We are both the wrong side of 30 and a lot of the guys on here are still young bucks and have nature with them.... for now As an older lifter you can forget that it can take a little longer to recover sometimes a little longer to break the plateaus and lows. The important thing is that you can still progress.

I guess what I'm trying to say is is hang on in there, it takes time and it takes patience. I've learned this the hard way by doing a reset on the 5x5 and taking it easy. This is a change for life and as such we have plenty of time to get to our goals.

When I get to April I'll be posting my year review of the 5x5, there won't be a massive difference.... however, there is a difference (not much bodily) but psychologically and health wise there are huge changes that only I see. That gives me heart and the determination to carry on. I've read that it takes around 2 years of hard work for guys who are 30%BF and past 30 to get proper shredded if I do great, if I don't... so what it's 3 or 4 years... either way it will happen at some point if I keep on going.

Yes there ups and downs but stick with it brother.... no matter how small the step forwards... it's still a step forward.

[herf]

Thanks for dropping by ilif! It is rough. I used to life when I was in my very early 20's. I had a bad/no routine and pretty much just walked around jumping to whatever machine I felt like. Since I first started 5x5 just squatting the bar was hell on my legs. DOMS was horrible and I could barely walk. I got up to squatting 315lbs with no pain whatsoever and felt great. I was not eating all that great and did cut some of the crap out but still gained 30lbs. Which is weird. My clothes still fit the same. Maybe I was getting more dense and not bigger? No idea.

If you have a log on here toss a link on your sig and I'll check on it whenever I can. Nice to meet one of the older lifters that is about the same body make up.

I won't let DOMS stop me, If I can survive a nasty marriage/divorce...I can survive a little leg/chest pain hahaha. As for it taking 3-4 years not working so hard or more like a more reasonable time period...well that just means I have something to look forward to and maybe meet some more people in the gym.

Not going to do cardio till the DOMS starts to subside a bit more...should be around 1.5 weeks or so. L-glutamine is a savior in that department for me.