Skinny to Shredded

gramoph0neelegance:

mylifemymorals reblogged your photo

block

um but if he’s lost it in his house she calls it and it rings and he hears it and finds it. Not really dumb of her is…

THEN WHO WAS PHONE?

So I did a session on Monday and Wednesday, slowly increasing the weight and doing 2 sets of 10 reps. Feeling bigger and better already, can’t wait until this is in full swing.

Sticking with my full body routine and increasing the weights and doing 2 sets of 10 reps. Still haven’t reached 10 rep max on most exercises except probably the bench press. I will use the session today to increase the weight on all the other exercises, and I will add in another set. I hope by day 10 I will have reached 10 rep max on all exercises, and then on day 12 I’ll check if I have calculated 5 rep max correctly. Then in week three, if I have reached 5 rep max, I will start taking creatine and HMB.

I’m also going to do a core workout on Tuesdays and Thursday, which will include 2 sets of crunches, leg raises, side crunches, side planks and planks. 

Been trying pull ups, but food has still been a bit of an issue. Have decided to budget better, and spend £10 a week on real food, or where my parents fall short. Means I’ll have to go shopping myself, which will be a pin in the rain.

Today I am going to do a full body workout, but with about 25% of the weight I was lifting a few months ago. I really don’t want to rush into lifting heavy, and I feel baby steps are the best. It should also prevent me from getting bad DOMS.

Todays workout will aim to be: 

squat: 6kg 2x10
bench press 2.5kg 2x10
dumbbell row 3kg 2x10 
military press 1.25kg 2x10
calf raise 2kg 2x10 
deadlift 4kg 2x10  

I have just eaten a pre-workout snack (tuna and pasta) at 6:30pm and will start to warm up at 8pm and record the results here, followed by a meal of beef mince (burgers maybe?) and veg, and then later a bowl of porridge before bed, with almonds and walnuts.

Managed 10 hanging knee raises, 10 crunches, 4 pull-ups followed by another 3 pull-ups.

On Monday I will do one set of every exercise with very low weights, just to get used to the movements, followed by some more pull-ups and crunches.

Since my life plans have changed (again) I am now staying with my parents. I have decided to bring W-Day forward, and it will now be 29th of August. Still need a photo of me, and in the next 10 days I will be working out my routine, increasing the amount of food I eat, taking long walks daily and doing crunches, leg raises, pull-ups and chin-ups. 

On Tuesday 16th I managed 3 wide-grip pull-ups and 4 chin-ups. 

On Thursday 18th I managed 5 pull-ups and 5 chin-ups. 

Today I will do some crunches. Tomorrow I will try two sets of pull-ups, two sets of chin-ups and another set of wide-grip pull-ups. 

Well I’m moving out to another city soon, so I won’t have the temptation of drinking which in turn ruins any progress I make during that week. I think I’m going to set a date as 5th of September 2011 as ‘W-Day’ (Workout Day). This will be the day that I start my workout routine, and I will try my hardest to stick to it this time. It should be easier if I get a job and have a routine that’s not going to change frequently, as that always throws me off.

In the build up to W-Day I need to start getting my body ready for weight lifting. I’m going to gradually increase my food intake so that I’m used to consuming more than I am right now. I’m also going to start doing some core work, so things like crunches, side crunches, planks and hanging leg raises, along with sets of pull-ups and chin-ups and going on long walks. 

This should help create some foundations for later, as well as giving me a bit more energy and motivation.

Also, need a full length mirror so I can take a photo of how I look now. I would like to do that thing where you take a photo everyday for like a year so you can just see me explode.

So at first I wanted to leave out supplements as I wanted to gain as much as I could by myself, but then I thought that I wanted to make the most of ‘beginner gains’ so I have decided a couple of supps for the first few weeks won’t be too bad. 

I have decided to take whey protein, as this is easy to consume protein, easy to drink and can be made into a nice milkshake after a workout. Adding dextrose, a banana, blueberries and honey gives it a nice sweet taste and gives me much needed carbohydrates after a workout.

Also on the list is creatine, which has been shown to increase muscle size and energy supplies. This needs to be taken for 6 weeks, with a week off inbetween. I’ll probably only use this for a couple of months.

I have also purchased a tub of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are essential amino acids, and make up 35% of muscle protein, and help increase muscle synthesis.

The last supplement I will take is HMB, which may help with muscle synthesis, prevention of muscle breakdown, and is thought to be most beneficial in beginner weight lifters. 

I will only take the BCAAs and HMB until they run out, so a tub may last for the first month, which is when the biggest gains can be got from weight lifting. I will start taking them when I am lifting 100% weight. 

Eating well is only half the battle. To get big, I need to eat big and lift big. Compound exercises are the best for hypertrophy as they use more muscles in one movement and increase levels of testosterone which in turn increases protein synthesis.

Variety is also important, as it helps keep your body guessing, so how I lift will change. First I will start with a starting strength programme which uses five exercises: Squat, bench press, shoulder press, deadlift and pull-up. I will be following this using a weight about 50% of what I think I can lift, and add a little extra weight each sesison. This is so I don’t put my body into shock after spending the past few months doing fuck-all.

After I have been lifting at 100% weight for about 6 weeks, I will then move onto a hypertrophy-specific training (HST) for a couple of months which is a routine designed to increase the weight every session, but you are only lifting at 100% weight once every two weeks, and the number of reps changes throughout. 

I will repeat these two, switching between them every 6-10 weeks or so, until I feel I have made good progress and I am lifting respectable weights. Then, assuming I have the time, I will start lifting every day, but focussing on different body parts, maybe an upper/lower split. I will cycle through these until I have reached a physique I am happy with, and I will continue to lift weights to increase strength but not much more hypertrophy a long long time.

After a while I will also add in a running routine, to increase my stamina and cardiovascular health, but in the initial weeks the focus will be on gaining weight, and cardio may not be beneficial for this aim.