Making The Game

[Word2Action]

Hey everybody i'm Alex and i've been reading posts on this site for hours and I figured its a great place to post some sort of journal cause I'd LOVE to hear feedback from you guys. Just bring it, positive and/or especially negative, I want as much knowledge as I can get to achieve whatever goal it is that i'm after. I'll be posting often, especially for this month. Lets see what happens....

[Word2Action]

Lets get started. To catch you up to speed with what i've been doing as quickly as possible i'll keep it short.

- Played 4 years of lacrosse which turned me from a fat pudge to a slimmer big man. At this time I was 207 lbs graduating high school.

- Really started going to the gym for strength training once I got to college. Only got serious about it for the last 6 months really.

- Went from 207 lbs at the end of high school to 250 bulked up by thanksgiving 2006.

- On my list of taken products are:
2 5lb buckets of Optimum's Whey Protein
2 1.81lb N.O. Xplode
1 NOXCG3
1 Generic L-Glutamine supplement
Many Mega Men Sport Multivitamin bottles
Currently testing Hydroxycut Hardcore

So as you can see I spent a couple of years really putting on a lot of muscle and for now i'm satisfied with the amount of muscle I have. I have a max bench of 255 2x reps right now.

Currently I'm on a cutting phase. I'm doing 70 minutes of cardio on the stationary bike in the morning keeping my heart rate at about an average of 155 for the entire time. In the evening I'll do a three day rotation of Shoulders and Abs, Back an Biceps, Chest and Triceps.

LOTS more to come including reviews on all the products I have taken/currently taken. I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can.

	Supps

	protein

[Word2Action]

Today was business as usual, stationary bike with moderate exertion, heart rate at about 150 bpm throughout the entire ordeal for 70 minutes in the morning on an empty stomach as soon as I wake up and take a serving of hydroxycut hardcore. Just finished working shoulders and abs in the afteroon. I'm working out of my room with a simple barbell and a set of plates.

For shoulders i'll do alternating front and back military presses for 4 sets of 12. For abs i'll do crossover crunches, usuall anywhere from the 100-150 range. I don't consider abs important to work out and don't mind skipping it simply because thats the stationary bike's job, to get rid of that fat covering the abs.

So yea, i'm your typical male body that stores fat right at the belly and as of now its my enemy and I want it gone by (almost) any means necessary. I'll post up my diet tomorrow. Feel free to chime in.

[Word2Action]

Complacency sucks...

[juiced_one]

Looks like you have the determination, lets just try to get you going in the right direction with it. If you've been training 6 months, there is something you are missing. Post your diet, exercise routine, sleep patterns, etc.

[Word2Action]

Originally Posted by juiced_one

Post your diet, exercise routine, sleep patterns, etc.

This was definitely going to be the topic for my post today and I think the best way to do this is my daily schedule from Monday - Saturday resting on Sunday.

11:30 a.m. - Wake up, come to senses, take one serving of Hydroxycut Hardcore

12:00 p.m. - Stationary bike for 70 minutes at moderate exertion. As long as my
heart rate stays in the 145 - 160 range the entire time, i'm happy.

1:30 p.m. - Breakfast:
4 egg whites,
2 slices of lean meat (ham or turkey)
2 slices of american cheese
1 Mega Mens Sport Multivitamin complete with BCAA's
2 cups Tropicana orange juice

3:30 p.m. - Lunch:
1 bowl of honey nut cheerios
1 cup of grapes or a pear
20 oz bottle of water

6:00 p.m. - 2nd serving of hydroxycut hardcore followed by evening workout
using barbell

Monday/Wednesday: Shoulders & Abs
4 sets 10-12x alternating front & back Shoulder barbell press
4 sets 15x shoulder shrugs
4 sets 20x alternating front & lateral dumbell raise (found an old pair)
100 cross-body crunches. 10 each side at a time

Tuesday/Thursday: Back n' Bi's
4 sets 12x Bent Over Barbell Row
2 sets 12x Deads
4 sets 12x Bent Over One-Arm Long Bar Row
Barbell curl. 15 reps with 1 min 30 sec rest. Subract 1 rep and 5
seconds of rest per set until you get to 1 rep 20 seconds rest. Good
challenge.

NOTE: The deadlifts aren't that important. The 15 sets of barbell curls
will take a toll on the lower back especially once you reach the
5,4,3,2,1 sets. Hence, those last sets really serve an equal purpose of
working the biceps and the lower back having to raise the barbell from
the floor to your waist every time.

Wednesday/Saturday: Chest n' Tri's
200 pushups in sets of 25. 2 min rest between sets. (will increase)
4 sets 10x skull crushers

6:45 p.m. - Dinner
1 medium sized bowl of Romaine Lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers
Reasonable portion of whatever meat is cooked for dinner. As long as
its either baked or steamed and not fried.
2 cups Tropicana orange juice
1 Mega Mens Sport Multivitamin complete with BCAA's

11:00 p.m. - Some sort of midnight snack if you will. It might be anything from a pear to a cup a grapes or a bowl of cheerios or a box of raisins.

WATER ALL DAY in 20 oz squirt bottle. 2 of em during cardio. 1 between breakfast and lunch/lunch and dinner (meaning half btwn each meal). 1 at lunch. 1 working out. 1 before sleep. Water is my best friend.

3-4 a.m. - Lights out.

That's pretty much all of it. My breakfast and lunch rarely if ever change. Dinner may take a hit depending on where I am if i'm not home. I don't freak about having an odd meal or two because I have somewhat of a life I have to live ya know? I love how many excercises I can get out of a set of plates and a barbell. All of these workouts are done out of my room. I have the luxury of working at home as well. I'm on winter break from college which allows me to have ultimate control over my diet and exercise regimen.

Tomorrow is the dreaded 6th day of the 6 day a week routine which means i'll be tired as balls and will procrastinate for at least a half hour before working out. I swear if it weren't for the rocky soundtrack I would never get a single cardio workout done. Peace.

[juiced_one]

Nice detail on that plan. Like I said before, good determination, just slightly misguided.

#1. Not enough protein, not enough meals.
#2. Need more exercises for each body part.
#3. Stop the hydroxycut for now.

Here's a revised plan:

11:30: Wake up
11:35: Meal#1 - 4 egg whites, 1 piece of plain wheat toast, and some fruit
12:00: 30 minutes of mild cardio, 20 minutes intense
1:30: Meal#2 - Baked/Grilled Chicken, sweet potato, veggies, water
4:00: Meal#3 - Protein shake w/ milk & oats, pb, and banana
6:30: Meal#4 - Lean beef, brown rice, veggies
7:00: Workout
8:00: Meal#5 - Protein shake w/ milk & oats, pb, and banana
10:30: Meal#6 - 3-4 egg whites
1:00: Meal #7 - Casein Protein shake w/ water

	protein

[Word2Action]

Maybe I didn't clarify that i'm trying to cut fat not gain muscle, but that kind of plan definitely sounds more like the one I used to gain muscle. I finished doing that around thanksgiving (thee big meal). I kept going up pretty steadily until i got to 250 lbs while getting much stronger than I was before. At this point I just felt bloated around the gut and got down to about a natural weight of 236 lbs between thanksgiving and christmas. Now i'm looking to go further down. The one time I went for cutting fat last year for about 3 weeks naturally I went from 230 lbs to 222 lbs.

I'm used to gaining muscle at college because of the state-of-the-art gym and cutting at home because all I need here is occasional jogging and a stationary bike. At home i'm limited to using one barbell with a set of plates to make due with for strength training. I use the barbell not necessarily for any sort of hypertrophy but to prevent atrophy and to keep burning a little more fat.

Tomorrow i'll chime my little two cents about hydroxycut so far...

Next year if I decide to go for more muscle I would tailor my schedule at college to suit a diet more like the one you posted. I'll admit it hard getting the right advice for the right foods to eat depending on your goals. Next year will be easier having a fully equipped kitchen. Dorm rooms right now suck. ADIOS.

[Word2Action]

Hydroxycut Hardcore
I'll list it as simply as possible:

Benefits:
- Increase in energy (well no duh tons of caffeine)
- Greater focus. Mind-muscle connection becomes more evident.
- Easier to get my heart rate in the 75%-80% max range for burning fat
- The ability to stay in that range for much much longer
- If you believe in it the placebo effect, it can have is only beneficial
- Extremely curbed apetite

Side Effects:
- Even if taking last serving 5 hours before sleep I am still restless at night sometimes.
- Thats it. Other than that I haven't experienced anything at all that i've heard reported. No red crap, no jitters, no acne.

So far I feel this stuff is doing exactly what its advertised to do at a healthy pace. Obviously its not safe to lose too much fat at once or your body will will pretty much panic and call for the production of more fat. Consistency seems to be the key here. I'm definitely getting results after a week and a half. I'll keep my current routine for the next 2 1/2 weeks. Then on the last workout week I can keep this routine up i'll change it up for more intensity. Until then, definition just keeps getting better and better.

I have about half a bottle left, if I don't feel this product gave me what I wanted, I'll try Lipo 6, but so far so good. If anybody has tried either, feedback would most definitely be beneficial. Peace.

	energy

[OCDan]

Where you at with the journal?