It's Clobbering Time - Phil Brooks becomes the Cult of Personality.

[Phil Brooks]

It's Clobbering Time - Phil Brooks becomes the Cult of Personality.

Massive thumbs up to everyone in the community and welcome to the fitness log. I hope to be posting here in years to come so hopefully all the less experienced readers can really learn something from this log like I have from many over the course of the last few months

A brief introduction: Having been a MyProtein customer for almost a year, I've been looking around the MP forum for a considerable amount of time before registering and I have finally decided to make the effort log my workouts and diet here after seeing some excellent progress from several members here.

Background: I've always been a sporty guy but always on the heavy side so I wouldn't have called myself athletic. I first entered a gym sometime around May 2010 weighing about 15 stones and made very good gains within just two months however I stopped training altogether due to a month of religious fasting. Fast forward to March 2011 and I weighed in at a not so light 16.5 stones at around 5"10 with a 40" waist. I believe my height has increased since then and was around 14 stone with a 34" waist with significantly improved lifts when I started uni in September. Now I'm around 13 stones and having to already buy new 32" jeans within less than three months of buying my last few pairs.

I am hoping to drop even more body fat in the first half of 2012 before starting my first (hopefully lean) bulk. To begin with I've given myself twelve weeks to do a little transformation till the end of March whereby I try and get myself down to 12-14% body fat having finally got rid of the little tyre that sits on the lower region of my stomach along with the handles at about 12 stones and hopefully I can get down to 10% by the end of May. If MP has a transformation contest after May then I would love to join too.

Current diet: Inspired by several members here, I too am a follower of the ever popular 'Leangains' approach to dieting by Martin Berkhan. It has been less than a week since I've started intermittent fasting and I have already seen some results so let's hope it goes well. It fits in very well with my lifestyle of work, university and the gym. Below is a sample training day (in fact one directly copied from Thursday 6th January 2012):
I trained at around 3 O'clock before having the post workout meal to break my fast.

500g chicken breast, 75g boiled broccoli, 2 scoops MP instant oats, 200ml whole milk, 1 teaspoon honey, 5g MP creatine monohydrate, 2 alpha men, 2 MP omega 3 fish oil, 75g impact whey protein.

I didn't train the day before yesterday therefore as I had pretty low carbs on Wednesday, I decided to add oats, honey and whole milk and this really filled me up so much so that I struggled to eat my next meal at 8:30.

This was two cans of tuna chunks in brine, drained weight would be around 240g even though quite a bit of that tends to go in the sink when being drained.

If you're really interested, here is a macronutrient profile for all food yesterday.

Milk: 200ml = 130k, 6.8P, 9.4C, 7.2F.
Oats: 100g = 388k, 8.5P, 70.7C, 7.9F.
Whey: 75g = 294.9k, 58.8P, 4.5C, 5.1F.
Fish oil: 2caps = 18k, 2F.
Broccoli: 80g = 23k, 2.5P, 0.9C, 0.6F.
Tuna: 2 cans = 252k, 60P, 0C, 1.2F.
Ketchup: 20ml = 24k, 0.13P, 6C, 0F.
Chicken: 500g = 690k, 145P, 0C, 12F.
Honey = 10g, 32k, 0.2P, 7.9C, 0F.

As part of leangains, I have now begun to cycle carbohydrates and fats. Basically this means that on training days, I consume more carbs and less fat to make up my calorie intake, whilst on rest days I consume more fats and less carbs. I tend to set myself a limit of bodyweight* 14 on training days and bodyweight* 10 on rest days to give me total calories for the day, with the vast majority of calories on a training day coming post workout. This gives me approximately 2500 and 1800 calories to play with on training and rest days respectively.

Adding the four calories of MP's ONE Blast gives a total of 1853.9 calories with 281.73 protein, 99.4 carbohydrates and 22.3 fats. This is pretty low on the part of calories, so I am looking to add more oats, Coconpure, MP almond butter and honey next time in addition to something else to my second and last meal.

Whilst may be highlighted above, rest days is where I aim to really lose all of this fat by seriously dropping the calories, keeping protein as high as possible - following a Protein Sparing Modified Fast or a 'PSMF' for short.

Today I ate the following:

14:00 - 4 medium free range eggs with salt and pepper, a forkful almond butter, 100g whey, 5g creatine, 2 alpha men, 2 omega 3 caps.

21:00 - 300g cream of spinach soup, maple plait, 6 crackers, 150g (assumed weight uncooked) lentils, 400g low fat natural yoghurt, 1 small red onion, 60g whey.

Almond butter: 20g = 125.4k, 5.1P, 1.3C, 11.1F.
Whey: 100g = 393.2k, 78.4P, 6C, 6.8F.
Eggs: 4 = 352k, 29.2P, 0C, 26F.
Fish oil: 2caps =18k, 2F.
Whey: 60g = 235.9k, 47.04P, 3.6C, 4.1F.
Soup: 300g = No idea really as it was homemade with lots of yoghurt
Crackers: 6 = 120k, 2.4P, 11.4C, 7.2F
Lentils: 150g = 539k, 38.25P, 88.8C, 3.3F.
Natural yoghurt: 400g = 152k, 16P, 19.2C, 1.2F.
Red onion: 1 (small) = 66k, 1.1P, 7C, 3.2F

Totals: 1482.9k, 217.49P, 137.3C, 64.9F.

This appears to be too high in calories and carbohydrates whilst being too low in fats for a rest day bearing in mind the soup and a maple plait are missing, so I look to be omitting the crackers which were just something I was trying out in addition to the lentils as they appear to be pretty carbohydrate dense plus the yoghurt too. Hopefully the yellow gram lentils were much less than 150g uncooked, but that's just a rough guess.

Enough talking, time for some work...

[Phil Brooks]

Current supplementation:
Creatine monohydrate
True Whey or Impact Whey Protein
Alpha Men
MP Omega 3 fish oil
MP ONE Blast
Caffeine Pro

I tend not to depend too much on protein supplements and only really ever have them when I feel I am going pretty low on protein for the day or if I am at work or uni with no time to prepare a meal. Impact Whey is the protein of choice most of the time as it has the biggest range of flavours, although I do like the taste of some flavours of the True Whey so use it at times too.

Creatine has been shown in many studies to have a positive impact on intra set training and I've always noticed a difference when I begin an eight week cycle of it. At the moment I am using MP's creatine mono though I do have some MP Creapure yet to use, this is taken with the first meal on a rest day or post workout on a training day.

Alpha men is taken in order to compensate for any deficit in essential minerals and vitamins that I may miss as a result of a calorie deficit and two (crushed ) tabs are taken with the creatine and the two caps of omega 3 fish oil, which has been added to improve the ratio of omega 3:6 in my diet for the vast health benefits and to help body recomposition a little. I also regularly have Coconpure from MP which is a very nice coconut oil with plenty of saturated fats along with their almond butter which tastes much better than the peanut butter I used to buy from supermarkets.
Both are not included in the current supplement list as I believe them not to be supplements but food stuffs.

Current routine:
I aim to follow a Reverse Pyramid Training (RPT) style of training where there is one max effort set at the start of the workout on a compound exercise (deadlift, bench press or the squat) before 5-10% of the weight is removed and a similar rep range to the first set is then attempted after a five or so minute break. However at the moment, I am trying to reach a PR on the bench press as it's relatively weaker than the other two lifts so that is being given more priority with more assistance. Training will be on alternate weekdays.

Here's what I plan to go along for next week, with a rough idea of how heavy I plan to go, the programming will be changed once a 1RM of 100kg is set on the bench press, current max is 90x2 - I am hoping this goes to 100x1 in two-three weeks:
Tuesday: Bench day
Flat bench press: 90x3, 85x4, 80x4.
Incline bench press: 80x5, 75x5, 70x8.
Dips: Bodyweight * failure *4, this is currently eight reps.
Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 3, this is currently six reps.
Incline DB flies: 22.5x8, 20x8, 15x10, 12.5x10.
Dips: Bodyweight * failure * 3.

Wednesday: Deadlift day
Deadlifts: 60x5, 100x3, 120x1, 140x1, 160x1
Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 4.
One arm bent-over DB rows: 45x10, 42.5x10x2, 37.5x12.
Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 4.
Seated row: 80x8, 60x8, 50x10.
Shrug machine: 20x10, 50x5, 40x8, 30x8.
Barbell curl: 40x8, 30x10, 30x10.

Friday: Squat day
Flat bench press: Same as Tuesday, but add a rep onto every set.
Incline: The same.
Back squats: Not done these in a long time so just will be finding out where I am, 60x5, 80x5, 100x5, 120x5.
Dips: Bodyweight * failure *4.
Chin ups: Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 4.
Leg extension: Again, not done in some time so, 12x5, 13x5, 14x5.

Cardio wise, I don't do as much as I have done in the past - mainly fasted brisk walks up a hill for around twenty minutes to university, and a fasted walk on the way down the hill for twenty minutes once university is over. This may well be more than challenging considering there will be some late finishes to uni this semester, on the other hand I could always break the fast with food I have taken into uni with me that day.

New routine:
Once the bench obsession is finally over, there will be a new regime in place as follows, where a 180kg deadlift by March will probably be the next thing:

Monday: Bench day

Flat bench press: 3 sets of 4-6 reps going down from around 90kg to 82.5.
Military press: 4 sets of 4-6 reps going down from around 50kg to 40. Will need to test how the press is going as I haven't done it for weeks.
Dips: Bodyweight * failure *4.
Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 3.
Incline DB press: From around 30kg in sets of 6-8 to 20kg for three sets.
Dips: Bodyweight * failure * 3.
Skullcrushers: From around 15kg in sets of 6-8 on each side to 10kg.

Wednesday: Deadlift day
Deadlift: Working up to six reps on an 8RM and then progressively doing 6 reps, taking 10kg off each set for three sets.
Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 4.
One arm bent-over DB rows: Will be over the 40kg weight hopefully for three sets of 8-10, per arm.
Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 3.
Seated shoulder DB press: Three heavy sets, 6-8 reps.
Shrugs: Slightly higher reps here, three sets of 10-12, going lighter if the tenth is a struggle.
DB curls: Three sets starting from around 15kg, 6-8 reps.

Friday: Squat day
Back squat: Five sets of five reps, in a 5*5 fashion, with the first two sets being warm ups to the max effort third set. Weight is then lowered by around 5% each set.
Leg extension: Quads will be fatigued after the squats so three heavy sets of 8-10 reps should suffice for these.
Chin ups: Chin ups: Bodyweight * failure * 3.
Dips: Bodyweight * failure * 3.
Seated cable row: Two heavy sets of 6-10 reps, with a slight warm up set beforehand.
Straight barbell curls: Four sets of 6-10 reps, deloading weight if seventh rep looks like it will be a struggle.

Goals for 31st March 2012:
120kg bench press, 150kg squat, 180kg deadlift, 60kg OHP, 3x10 chin-ups and dip and a 50kg one arm DB row at around 12 stone, with a body fat of 12-15% at approx. 6 foot tall.

Because hopefully one day I'll be the smiling face on your TV

[Phil Brooks]

Personal Bests:

Bench press: 90x2 (05/01/2012)
Deadlift: 150x1 (03/01/2012)
Squat: (05/01/2012) - Max will be set within seven days.
OHP: (05/01/2012) - Max will be set within seven days.
DB Row: 42.5x10(03/01/2012)
Incline bench: 80x5(05/01/2012)
Chin ups: 6 [unweighted] (05/01/2012)
Dips: 8 [unweighted] (05/01/2012)

Next session: Thursday 12th January 2012. Evening.

[Was_once_fat_dave]

welcome aboard. at a guess you're a CM Punk mark?

[Phil Brooks]

Quote

welcome aboard. at a guess you're a CM Punk mark?

Thanks and yeah although Taker's my favourite

[Phil Brooks]

A bit of a rubbish workout today to be honest, did not train yesterday as I planned as I went to sleep for 12 hours after uni due to an all-nighter on Wednesday so it was my first session since Thursday 5th Jan. Went for a back workout as my training partner had already trained chest on Wednesday so didn't want to do it again.

Deadlifts: 5x60 (A guy was already doing them so I just jumped in for a set)
Chin-ups: 9, 9, 7 - Huge PB - Will be aiming for 10,10,10 within a week.
Lat pulldown (wide grip): Been a couple of months since I've done these but they feel a bit easier than before. Can't remember the weight used but I did a warm up set plus three working sets upto about 6-8 reps, trying to keep my back upright as possible.
T-bar row: 40x8, 35x10, 20x10, 20x8.
Deadlifts again: 100x3, 140xf, 140xf (lost grip about 5cm from lockout both times, extremely annoyed at that - I'm sure 160x1 was do-able if I had done them first like initally planed) Will try 150 on Wednesday and see how that goes.
Bicep curls: 12kg on each side of a barbell (wasn't an Olympic one) x12, 12kg each side x10 - both sets with slow negative and positive.
DB curls: 12.5kg x6 each arm, 8x10 each arm.

Next session will be legs, traps, and abs (haven't done these in six months plus so will be going light, especially after squats) tommorow, and fasted too. May throw in a 20 min fasted walk before that too.

PB.

[davecpfc]

Very colourful journal Phil. All the best buddy! See if you can stick a current photo on here so we can compare a visual transformation as well as a transformation in numbers! which reminds me that I need to put a photo in my journal!

[Phil Brooks]

Quote

Very colourful journal Phil. All the best buddy! See if you can stick a current photo on here so we can compare a visual transformation as well as a transformation in numbers! which reminds me that I need to put a photo in my journal!

Thanks mate and I will get one up in two or so weeks as I'm not weighing myself till 1st Feb to see how much I've lost from my initial weight of 13 stones.

Today session was a mixed bag, very poor squats but still got a PB meaning I've got at least one PB in every one of the five sessions of 2012 so far, how I'd love for that to go upto 100

Chin-ups: 12, 12, 8 - So much for yesterday's PB on these, these may be a sign I'm getting lighter

Squats: Very dissapointing but first squatting session in like a month so I did some ATG ones with a wooden stick for ten reps and that killed my adductors as I had quite a wide stance. Then I did barx8, 60x5, 80x5, 100x5 (was with somebody behind me just to make sure I'd get them because I didn't want to fail on these). Anyone got any ideas on how I can get the bar out the rack easier as that seems to be my issue in addition to not being able to correctly placing the bar on the body so as a result the squat is very unstable.

Chin-ups: 7, 5, 4 - I'll keep doing bodyweight chins till next week so the 21st of Jan, weighted ones after hopefully.

Decline sit-ups: Not done in six months plus so I did them w/o any other weight for two sets of ten reps.

Standing calf raise: Again, stopped doing these in favour of seated ones but these give a very nice burn around the 12-16 rep mark. Did the machine setting of 11 for 15, 12 for 18 and 14 for 15 reps.
Leg extension: I have been able to get machine setting 13 out of a possible 15/16 on this before but was pretty tired as the session was a fasted one, after a 15 min fasted walk to the gym and 10x10 and 9x10 were almost burning my leg off as I was going superslow on the negative and positive.

Next session: Monday 16th January, evening session - chest and triceps, let's see if I can hit 90kg again.

[Phil Brooks]

Quote

Next session: Monday 16th January, evening session - chest and triceps, let's see if I can hit 90kg again.

Operation success.

Flat bench press: 20x8, 90x3 (all spotted - would have probably got one on myself), 90x1 (Decent form +2 spotted), 80x4, 70x5.
Incline bench press: 85x3, 80x5, 70x8. Great 3RM here with good formas expecting it to be a 1RM, may go 87.5/90 on Thursday if I'm feeling it.
Dips: 12, 6, 3, 2 The three reps were on the other side of the pull-up bar where I couldn't get a single rep a couple of weeks ago, I back to normal machine w/o a rest and only got two reps which I'm not too annoyed with considering 12 reps is 150% of my last PR so I'll going weighted on Thursday.
Chin ups: 9, 7 (Nice and slow)
Incline DB flies: 22.5x5
Flat DB flies: 17.5x8
Some rope pulldowns and some bar ones for three sets. Super-slow on whole movement.
Chin-ups: 8 (These were faster but I'll go weighted on these Thursday, aiming for two sets weighted + 5kg with the final two at bodyweight, after a new 1RM on the deadlift hopefully).

100kg on bench and 90kg on incline with 5 reps with bodyweight on dips and chins looking still looking possible for the end of the month - that'll give me two months to get 10kg on bench and an extra 5kg for 6 reps on chin ups and 8 reps on the dips. Really hope this new found ability on the bodyweight exercises means a lower bodyweight and more importantly a lower body fat. A friend of mine in the gym saw me today after a month said I had lost loads of weight which is always great to hear

Next session: Wednesday 18th January, evening session - back and biceps, 160kg 1RM deadlift and my first ever weighted chin up will be the main aims.

[Phil Brooks]

Deadlifts: 5x60, 100x3, 130x1, 160x0.9131 - very close but no lockout so does not count. Will get it next time, if not - will try 155kg.
Chin-ups (+5kg, PR): 6, 3 Superb, from a dead hang too, easier than I thought they would be. 6,6 would be great in a week, looks like the March 31st goal will not remain a goal for too long.
Chin-ups: 8, 5. 10,10 would be great in a week. Unweighted felt a lot easier than the weighted, obviously
1 arm DB row, PR: 45x8x2, 37.5x10x2. Exhaused at this point - felt core working overtime in these.
Chin-ups: 5, 3, 2, 2. These need to improve to 5,5,5,5.
T-bar row (top grip supersetted with middle grip): 30x10, 20x8 - Very slow positive here.
Seated row: Extremely slow negative and explosive positive on all of these, 10x10, 8x10, 6x10
Reverse delt DB flies: 6x10x3
Barbell curls: 12x10, 10x9 - Very slow negative and positive, as with the DB curls.
DB curls: 8x10x2