From Dud to Stud

Ok, I'm excited because I KNOW that If I write down what I eat, avoid masturbation / limit it to once a week tops, and work hard in the gym I'll be on point.

this will be my fitness log.


I'm 5'7 185 pounds...mostly muscle. I'll be uploading photos of myself (does anyone know what I can use to upload images?)

My goal is to hit the sweet spot between huge / bulky and lean / jacked.
I'm not ashamed in admitting that I want a body girls will drool over; the more clearly I define my goals the better, plus maybe people who have reached that point can give me some advice.

Any eating / dieting tips would ESPECIALLY go a very long way. I'll be posting pictures in this thread, the better to help motivate me and cause others to offer tips

5'7" and 185? That's pretty jacked already.
Maybe you should work on reducing body fat (cutting).

Kinda ironic how we're at different extremes. You should be cutting, I should be bulking.

use imageshack.us to upload pictures online. good luck buddy, i know you have the tools to make it happen! look forward to hearing about your results here

Why no masturbation? That is so archaic. Enjoy yourself and your body. Why punish what God meant for you to do? I find jerking it after working out is a great treat.

HolyG said:

My goal is to hit the sweet spot between huge / bulky and lean / jacked.
I'm not ashamed in admitting that I want a body girls will drool over; the more clearly I define my goals the better, plus maybe people who have reached that point can give me some advice.

Any eating / dieting tips would ESPECIALLY go a very long way. I'll be posting pictures in this thread, the better to help motivate me and cause others to offer tips

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with wanting a body like that. But know that unless you have great genetics, you're in for a lot of brutal hard work and discipline. Lifting is a lifestyle choice. Its something I'll do as long as I am physically able, and you should approach it the same way.

I use photobucket.com to upload and post pics. Its a really user friendly site.

As far as dieting tips go. Plan your diet ahead of time, write it down, tape it up in your kitchen or some place where you can always see it. Succeeding in fitness is all about planning, execution and staying consistent. If you don't have a plan then you won't get anywhere. If you have a good plan, but can't implement and stick to it properly, then you won't get anywhere either.

First thing I would advise you to do is make clear short term (12-16 week) goals, and then plan on where you wanna be in a 1-2 years. Your diet and training will depend on what you wanna accomplish. Get your body composition checked. Most gyms can do it for a small fee. Stick with calipers. I'm not a huge proponent of bioelectrical impedance as there's way too many factors that affect the results.

Cutting down on jerking off will definitely help with your aggression in the gym. Aggression = intensity, and intensity = awesome!

You also need to post past exercise/sports history and your 1 rep maxes on deads, squats, and bench. Also post how many bodyweight pull ups and dips you can do. The more info you give the easier we can help you out.

novaknight said:

5'7" and 185? That's pretty jacked already.
Maybe you should work on reducing body fat (cutting).

Kinda ironic how we're at different extremes. You should be cutting, I should be bulking.

Click to expand...

It depends on his body composition. 5'7" - 185 at under 10% bf (w/ a clearly visible 6-pac) is definitely jacked. Weight means nothing for most normal people unless you factor in body composition.

Fuglydude said:

As far as dieting tips go. Plan your diet ahead of time, write it down, tape it up in your kitchen or some place where you can always see it. Succeeding in fitness is all about planning, execution and staying consistent. If you don't have a plan then you won't get anywhere. If you have a good plan, but can't implement and stick to it properly, then you won't get anywhere either.

First thing I would advise you to do is make clear short term (12-16 week) goals, and then plan on where you wanna be in a 1-2 years. Your diet and training will depend on what you wanna accomplish. Get your body composition checked. Most gyms can do it for a small fee. Stick with calipers. I'm not a huge proponent of bioelectrical impedance as there's way too many factors that affect the results.

Click to expand...

I found a place in my local town where I can go to get my body composition checked. I'll do that after I call in to see how expensive it is.

Clear short term goals? Could you elaborate? To lift more weight and to eat better I guess...

Does anyone know of any starting diets? I've been told the basics - complex carbs instead of simple carbs, lots of protein. No fried or fatty foods.

I am a complete noob when it comes to eating and will eat anything....I need to be told what to buy.

Fuglydude said:

Cutting down on jerking off will definitely help with your aggression in the gym. Aggression = intensity, and intensity = awesome!

You also need to post past exercise/sports history and your 1 rep maxes on deads, squats, and bench. Also post how many bodyweight pull ups and dips you can do. The more info you give the easier we can help you out.

Click to expand...

I do front squats. Current max = 150 lbs

Deadlift max = 190 lbs

Bench Press max = 140 lbs

Dips = 6 at a time

Pull ups = 5-6 at a time.

I'll be showing my workout as we go along.

Thanks for the info... the reason I was asking is to get an idea of your general fitness level.

At your level you need to spend 5-6 months getting conditioned... basically as you said, getting used to the lifting/eating good lifestyle. If you manage to stick to your diet 90% of the time and follow your training regimen, I promise you'll see positive changes.

Personally I'd recommend doing a 3 day split w/ 2 days of HIIT cardio and some low intensity cardio thrown in.

3 day split:

1. Squats and pull ups w/ accessory work.
2. Push/Pull (bench and rows) w/ accessory work.
3. Deads and Dips w/ accessory work.

I've used this system for years and its served me well. I think its a solid overall conditioning program. Throw in the 2 days of cardio in between lifting sessions. Its a lot lighter on your body and will help with your cardiovascular conditioning and help to rev your metabolic rate up. I'd go with 20 minutes of HIIT cardio and 10-15 minutes of warm up/cool down low intensity cardio. Alternately, take up a sport like soccer in a rec league, but beware of overtraining.

As far as diet goes. I'd recommend that standards 250 g protein 3000-3500 calorie diet to get you started. This diet may seem like its heavy, but it'll really help you to pack on muscle. Once you have a solid muscle base you'll have a much easier time burning fat.

To keep things simple I like to recommend 5 meals a day... so for you this would be an average of ~50 g protein/meal and around 600-700 calories. Basically you're eating every 3 hours. Don't do more than 3 cheat meals a week. A cheat meal is anything you want it to be... but its just for one meal. Some people would argue for a cheat day, but given how high your calories are, I really don't think your body needs to carb load that much.

Here's some meal ideas that have the aforementioned amounts of protein and calories:

* 1 cup oatmeal and 40 g whey isolate w/ 2 whole eggs.
* 6 oz of chicken/fish w/ 10 oz of yams and salad or some fruit.
* Mass gainer shake w/ 2 cups skim milk
* 1 cup cottage cheese w/ 2 oz almonds and 2 pieces of fruit.

You get the idea. Make sure to have a protein shake with some simple carbs like fruit juice following your workouts.

As far as supplements go. I advise everyone to have a good basic nutritional base so consider using a good multivitamin, omega 3 (I'd go with fish oil) and a good anti-oxidant formula. You'd also be smart to grab some good quality whey isolate and some weight gainer.

Hope this helps. Holla back with any questions. Remember putting diet, training together is a HUGE challenge for most people. You have to stay motivated and focused. It'll be tough and there'll be bumps along the road, but just stay consistent and I promise the world is a much much different place when you're in top 5% shape.

Keep it up man

Fuglydude said:

Personally I'd recommend doing a 3 day split w/ 2 days of HIIT cardio and some low intensity cardio thrown in.

3 day split:

1. Squats and pull ups w/ accessory work.
2. Push/Pull (bench and rows) w/ accessory work.
3. Deads and Dips w/ accessory work.

Click to expand...

I think I missunderstood you, did you mean

Day 1 - Lift
Day 2- HIIT
Day 3 - Lift
Day 4- HIIT
Day 5 - LIFT

or

Day 1 - Lift
Day 2- Lift
Day 3 - Lift
Day 4- HIIT
Day 5 - HIIT

HolyG said:

I think I missunderstood you, did you mean

Day 1 - Lift
Day 2- HIIT
Day 3 - Lift
Day 4- HIIT
Day 5 - LIFT

or

Day 1 - Lift
Day 2- Lift
Day 3 - Lift
Day 4- HIIT
Day 5 - HIIT

Click to expand...

The initial option would work better. 3 heavy duty days back to back to back would definitely lead to overtraining. So do your cardio in between lifting days. You can also take more days off in between if you think your body isn't fully recovered. Just try and do 3 strength sessions and some meaningful cardiovascular conditioning work every week.

HolyG said:

I think I missunderstood you, did you mean

Day 1 - Lift
Day 2- HIIT
Day 3 - Lift
Day 4- HIIT
Day 5 - LIFT

Click to expand...

That.

Personally, I learned a lot about weight-lifting and dieting by searching the internet. I'd recommend you to do the same, you get a much deeper understanding of what you're actually doing.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ is solid.

Why no masturbation? That is so archaic. Enjoy yourself and your body.

No, because it goes with self-control. It fits in well with discipline in eating and in working out.

Porn is psychologically bad for your brain anyway.

Cycle 1

Day 0 Photos
http://s1093.photobucket.com/albums/i422/holyg/

Now that you've wiped the drool off your keyboards.....:rockon:

The journey begins. I misunderstood Fuglydude and as a result...I LIFTED 3 DAYS in a row. That was ROUGH. I now know he meant space cardio throughout the days.

Day 1

DB Bench 2x5 (55 lb) 2x8 (50 lb)
Dips 2x8 (bodyweight)
DB OH Press 3x8 45 lb
Side Lats 2x10 30 lb
Skulls 2x10 30
Forearm exercise 2x10 30 lb
Abs machine 2x10 140 lb



Day 2

Curls 2x8 40 lb
Deadlifts 3x5 190 lb
Leg Press 2x10 310
Chins pullups 31 reps
DB Row 3x8 55 lb
Calves 3x10 90 lb
Abs machine 3x8 145 lb
Pull Down machine exercise 2x10 140 lb


Day 3

Bench Press 2x5 (140 lb) 2x8 (130 lb)
DB Flys 3x8 40lb
Military Press 3x12 (60 lb)
Side Lats 2x10 (35 lb)
Pulley Machine (Triceps) 2x10 120 then 130 lb
Abs machine 2x10 145 lbs
Iso Lateral Row 2x10 180
Super Pullover 2x10 160


Day 4

*dead*



Day 5

HIIT Training (25 min)


NOTE: if you're wondering where the squats are. That's in my day 4 lifting, which I have yet to do (until tomorrow that is)


ALSO - my lifting sessions usually run upwards of an hour. About 75 minutes at most

Diet

In Reverse order - Everything I ate each day

btw, i make whey shakes after i lift

2/8/11
cereal
lean cusine (fish and rice) and 1 chicken breast
oatmeal, pretzels
subway chicken breast sub
grapes

2/7/11

oatmeal
pretzels
buffalo chicken breast sub
(baked tortilla chips and salsa)
lean cusine chicken + chicken sandiwch

2/6/11
scrambled egg whites + cottage cheese+ chicken breast + potato soup (1 cup)

muscle milk (40 g protein)
lean cusine (rice+ chicken)
MORE chicken breasts
2 grilled chicken wraps
oatmeal and strawberries


2/5/11
cereal
cheat meal: gyro sanduwich w/ sauce, chicken fajita soup cup
carrot
oatmeal
lean cusine meal
2 chicken breasts



2/4/11

2 packs, instant oatmeal
sourdough pretzels
lunch: wendys (small chili, 2 grilled chicken wraps w/ slight cheese)
lean cusine = rice and chicken w/ sauce
lean cusine = honey chicken and peas/ pilaf
1 carrot
protein bar and shake

First of all, you're a crazy mofo for doing those 3 days back to back to back like that!!!! Day-um! At least you know better for next time though.

Thats' a lot of pushing work you're doing man... where did you get your work out from. There's nothing really wrong with it in principle, but you're probably gonna catch a lot of flack for it on this forum as a lot of guys here tend to lift more like powerlifters rather than bodybuilders. In my opinion, as a beginner, you should combine both methodologies.

The volume of stuff you're doing is kinda high. That's not to say that it won't be effective, but you're gonna have to pay really strict attention to your diet, supplementation and recuperation.

If you wanna see results fast you're gonna need to plan out your diet better and execute. Get rid of that processed lean cuisine crap and start making your lunch... ya subway sandwiches are convenient, and not a bad choice, but they're not economical and you can get a considerable amount of good whole food for that price. Overall you have a good start changing your diet and lifestyle, but you really need to focus more on the diet. Remember its' 75% of fitness. Tons of guys work out hard but fail to reproduce that effort in their diet, and consequently don't get as far as they could.

Good luck.

Fuglydude said:

Thats' a lot of pushing work you're doing man... where did you get your work out from. There's nothing really wrong with it in principle, but you're probably gonna catch a lot of flack for it on this forum as a lot of guys here tend to lift more like powerlifters rather than bodybuilders. In my opinion, as a beginner, you should combine both methodologies.

The volume of stuff you're doing is kinda high. That's not to say that it won't be effective, but you're gonna have to pay really strict attention to your diet, supplementation and recuperation.

Click to expand...

Fug, I got the workout from bb.com. Although, I did ad an exercise or 2 to each day because I'm not seeing results w/ my back muscles w/out it.

I don't really know the difference between powerlifting / bodybuilding....I suppose that means more squats, and compound movements?

I'm open to doing whatever gets results. If anyone here has any suggestions, I'm open to them.

Fuglydude said:

If you wanna see results fast you're gonna need to plan out your diet better and execute. Get rid of that processed lean cuisine crap and start making your lunch... ya subway sandwiches are convenient, and not a bad choice, but they're not economical and you can get a considerable amount of good whole food for that price. Overall you have a good start changing your diet and lifestyle, but you really need to focus more on the diet. Remember its' 75% of fitness. Tons of guys work out hard but fail to reproduce that effort in their diet, and consequently don't get as far as they could.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Wow, its that bad?

Gulp...okay, I need to learn simple recipes to start cooking. Duly noted. Anyone here have some basic beginner resources for diet and cooking that they can point me to?
Oooh boy

Your routine is very "bodybuilding-ish" as it does quite a bit of volume and does all sorts of exercises and mixes up both isolation and compound movements. If you wanna see a good strength training/powerlifting work out log check out Colossus's iron journal... I recommend using a hybrid training methodology for conditioning purposes. This basically means that you're gonna do both compound and isolation work, but focus more on the big compound movements.

Personally I'd recommend abbreviating the volume, training 3x/week with very high intensity and doing cardio 2x/week. As a beginner you gotta focus on the big compound movements. Squats, deads, Bench/bench variations, shoulder press, chins and dips should be the core of your program. The 3 day split I gave you is easy to follow and will reduce the likelihood of overtraining. Again, nothing wrong with your routine in principle, but in my opinion its a little too much volume for starters, and not enough emphasis on the big movements. I don't have time now, but I'll suggest a routine for you later.

Diet wise, get your carbs from sources such as:

- yams (boil em)
- oatmeal (add water and microwave it)
- brown rice (rice cooker)

Meats/Fish:

- Chicken (buy chicken breast or other cuts and just bake em... top/marinade as you prefer. Cover on a baking sheet and cook at 325 F for ~45 minutes)
- Lean Ground beef (heat in a frying pan and add spice as you want)
- Rotisserie chicken (just go out buy it from the deli)
- Fish (same as chicken above but less cook times depending on the cut)

Eggs:

- Scrambled eggs (easy and fast)

Veges/Fruits:

- fruits are obviously eaten raw and veges can be too
- Salads: I frequently buy family size greek or caesar salads and add in cooked chicken.
- Frozen vege packs are also great. Very convenient.

Other stuff:

- Skim milk
- Cottage cheese
- Almonds/cashews
- Macademia nut oil or extra virgin olive oil

Core supplements:

- Multi
- EFAs (fish oil supplement)
- whey isolate and/or mass gainer
- Anti-oxidant supplement

I've highlighted what it takes diet wise in a post above. I'd strongly advise you to invest in a food scale and know the protein/calorie content of foods that you are eating off the top of your head. Make up a diet and stick to it. Its tough at the start but you'll get used to it within a few days.

Hope this helps.

Fuglydude said:

As a beginner you gotta focus on the big compound movements. Squats, deads, Bench/bench variations, shoulder press, chins and dips should be the core of your program.

The 3 day split I gave you is easy to follow and will reduce the likelihood of overtraining. Again, nothing wrong with your routine in principle, but in my opinion its a little too much volume for starters, and not enough emphasis on the big movements. I don't have time now, but I'll suggest a routine for you later.

Click to expand...

Amazing. Thank you so much