cephissus
Can you provide a glimpse of what your diet looks like? stats? etc..I've seen your pics.
What does your training split looks like etc, sets, days a week etc.?
You said you think I don't train hard for fear of overtraining. This is almost true. Over the 7.5 years I've been lifting, probably about the last year I haven't trained very hard, because I physically couldn't. The rest of it I trained as hard as anyone.
Recently I took a step back, as you probably know if you've been following my posts. It was partially thanks to getbig. I was finally able to give up my bodybuilding neurosis and tone it down a little. And of course, since doing so, I've learned more than I had in the previous seven or so years I spent pointlessly abusing my body. I started dieting down, and cut my training to "maintenance" in an effort to lose weight. That was about three months ago and I've lost 30 lbs. So, with that said, I'll answer your question with what I'm currently doing.
Diet:
I eat 4 meals a day, about 40-60g protein, each meal, and the rest is somewhat balanced between carbs and fat. Probably more fat than carbs these days, but I started my diet with higher carb, lower fat. I don't think it matters much in the end. All my meals are between 600 and 800 calories, and I probably eat somewhere between 2800-3200 cals a day for the most part.
Meal 1: Cereal and milk with a scoop of protein in water.
Meal 2: Usually a banana/milk/peanut butter/protein powder shake. Lots of water.
Meal 3: Fish/Steak/Chicken tacos. This meal is somewhat high fat. Lots of water.
Meal 4: If it's a training day, this is 2c chocolate milk and 2 scoops protein powder. Otherwise it's usually two peanut butter english muffins and a scoop of protein in water.
So far this diet has worked like a charm, although my body feels empty and weak all the time. Anyway I haven't really lost any strength and I'm noticeably leaner.
Stats:
At my peak I was almost 260 at 6'3", very fat (you've seen the pics). This morning I was 226. Arms were 17.25 in, chest I don't know the highest was 49 in but that was years ago, thighs 26 in, calves 17.5 in, waist was 42 in!
Actually I'm going to go measure it tonight... I'm guessing low thirties now.
Squat: 315 x 10, never could squat.
Dead: 455 x 1 -- just did this last week for 2x bw.
Bench: 320 x 1 -- bench was always my best lift but I fucked my shoulders so this is as high as I ever got. I could probably beat this right now if I wanted.
Current Training:
Like I said before I'm just trying to maintain and take a step back as I re-evaluate my training and experiment like crazy. As such, I don't really have a solid routine for the first time in training history, but I usually end up doing something like this.
Monday -- Legs:
Squats: 10-15 sets. I work up in sets of less than 5 reps to a 3-5RM, then do another couple sets of high reps (10-20) to pump up.
Wide stance squats: I usually do RDLs for hamstrings, but I've been trying these out. Usually skip the heavy stuff and just do several sets of 10 or so.
Calf press (on leg press): I add a plate each set until I'm up to five plates a side, then I do about 3-4 sets of 10-20.
Wednesday -- Back / Biceps:
Deadlifts: 5-10 sets, usually less than 5 reps leading up to a 3-5RM.
Rows: A couple sets of ten or so.
Pullups: 3 sets wide grip, 2 sets neutral grip, 2 sets chins. Just whatever I can get.
Ez bar / BB / DB (whichever I feel like) curls: Ramp up a couple sets of 5-10 reps and then usually do a back off set of 10-20 reps at the end.
Friday -- Chest / Shoulders / Triceps:
Bench press: 10-15 sets, same as squats.
Overhead press: 10-15 sets, same as squats.
PJR press / EZ bar extensions / Close grip bench (whichever): couple sets of high rep sets.
Dips: 2-3 sets, whatever I can get
Overhead Rope extensions: Kind of hard to describe... just sort of a "finisher" movement with light weight and lots of reps.
Abs -- whatever, doesn't matter.
The thing is, only in the last couple of weeks have I really felt like I was able to squat / deadlift properly. I don't know if it's because I have minor scoliosis, a lower back injury from deadlifting, bad posture, weird nerves, just not knowing technique, or any of a dozen other problems but the neutral back position was never natural for me, and I've only just recently really learned it. This went on to affect EVERYTHING over the course of my training career, to the point where so many injuries piled up that I couldn't really train at all. I'm slowly reversing this though and climbing out of the abyss as I learn how to properly stabilize my back. My erectors and traps are pitifully underdeveloped... it's like they've never even been touched. But things are nevertheless starting to turn around for me.
