Johnstons Transformation Log

[johnstonvt]

Alright I decided to start a log of my progress. I have a long story posted in the diet section about how I got to where I am and what my current diet will be. Short story is this 2 years ago I was close to 280 lbs and now I'm at 179. I still have a quite a bit of fat around the middle. I will post pictures shortly once I figure out where to host the files.

Current Stats
28 year old male
5'8"
179 lbs

Goals
1. Build Strength
2. Lose my fat middle section

Diet will be around 2500-2700 calories a day, Macros approximately 40C-40P-20F. This is a rough estimate and depends on how much fat is my meat choices for the day. My diet plan is posted in the diet section of the forum

I began the 3x5 program from Rippetoe about two weeks ago. I decided on this program since even though I have been in the gym lifting for about a year I did very little big muscle exercises and only used hammer strength and things like that when I did do chest and I never did any big leg or back exercises.

So my program will be the 3x5 on MWF in the mornings. I will also be getting in at least 4 days of cardio. When I can cardio will be first thing in the morning on days I don't lift. Depending on schedule I may have to double up that cardio right after my lifting some days.

So here is my log for today:

Squats
1X10Xbar
1X10X85
1X5X115
1X5X155
3X5X195

Bench
1X20XBar
1X10X65
1X5X95
1X5X115
3X5X155

Deadlifts
1X5X115
1X5X135
1X5X175
1X5X215

Abs
hanging knee raises to each side hitting obliques 2 sets of 30
lifting leg crunches on a bench 2 sets of 50

Seated Incline Cable Curls
1X15X22.5
1X15X27.5

Tricep Rope Extensions
1X10X90
1X10X100

20 minutes ellipitcal machine, 150 bpm heart rate.

Today's workout was good. I usually hit some dips on bench/dead days but my right shoulder is really freakin sore and I was afraid of messing it up some more. I feel really stupid b/c I hurt it outside of the gym. I had to pick up cat litter and I pulled my shoulder lifting the 40 lb bucket too fast into the trunk of the car. Yeah its ok to laugh. What an idiot. So careful in the gym then I throw it out at the freaking pet store. Anyway the workout today was good. 155 is the most I have ever done on a bench press, period, much less 3 sets of 5. I'm adding weight every week to every exercise so I am pretty stoked. Oh and a quick note my squats are real swquats (ATG). Some for next time, My hands sweat bad, I need some chalk for deads!!! I also thing that since I have upped my weights that I can change up the warm-up sets. I don't think I need to do so many warm-up reps. Its working though so I may just leave it alone. I need to do some research on the site before next week.

I look forward to posting my progress and getting some feedback and encouragement. I am going to hit this program and diet for a couple weeks and see where I am and tweak the diet if need be.

Let the transformation begin!!!

 

[johnstonvt]

Here are a couple current pics as of today April 18, 2008

Putting these out on the world wide web will definitely motivate me to transform my body.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n5/johnstonvt/IMG_0326.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n5/johnstonvt/IMG_0322.jpg

 

[chaos13]

gl man. make sure you read the stickys, alot of great info in there.

 

[str8nubin]

Looks good sir, keep us posted & good luck.

 

[johnstonvt]

Alright..straight to today's workout

Squats
1XBarX5
1X95X5
1X115X5
1X135X3
1X165X3
3X200X3 (PR!!! 200lbs!!!)

Standing Press
1xBarX5
1X55X5
1X75X3
1X85X2
3X95X5

Rows
1XbarX5
1X65X5
1X75X5
1X95X3
1X105X5
3X125X5

Abs and two sets of pull-ups

Today squats were great, especially breaking the 200 mark. I'm pretty happy about that. The rest was just ok.

I was able to knock out the shoulder presses at 95 which is the second time at this weight. My form was crap last time so I needed to get this weight up cleanly. Well I realized my form is still crap. I've only been bringing the bar down far enough that elbows barely go below my shoulder. I was doing to research on the site and have seen videos taking the bar all the way to the top of the chest getting a full range of motion. So I think I have been doing them wrong. I will do full range next time but will probably have to bring the weight down.

Rows were also just ok. This is the second time at this weight and form is still breaking down pretty bad. I'm using a little swing to get the weight up. I will have to take the weight down a bit to get 3 full correct sets of 5.

Looking forward to Wednesday. If the body feels good i'm set to up the weight on both bench and deadlift which will both be PR's

Tomorrow is cardio, no need to post that. See you Wednesday

 

[johnstonvt]

Well here is today:

Squats
1XBarX5
1X95X5
1X115X5
1X135X3
1X175X2
3X205X5 (PR)

Bench
1XBarX10
1X65X10
1X95X5
1X115x3
1X135x2
1x160x5
1x160x3
1x155x4

Deads
1X115X5
1X135X3
1X185X2
1X225X4

Dips 2 sets of 8
Abs - knee raises, 2 sets of 25


Well today was kind of disappointing. The squats felt tough. Hopefully I can still add weight Friday.

Bench sucked. Friday's bench workout felt great but today I just couldn't put the weight up. It didn't feel good. I upped the weight by 5 pounds and I only got 3 weak reps on the second set. I lowered the weight 5 pounds back to Friday's weight and only pushed out 4. I pushed up 5 reps on each of these sets but all I got was 3 then 4 before my spotter had to help. I was trying to figure out what I did differently and I think a couple things are in play here. 1) I'm tired. Been kind of drained from work. 2) Too much volume and weight on the warm up. This was the first time I used 135 lbs in warm up. It was only 2 reps but it could have something to do with it.

Deads...So freaking close. I upped weight this week by 10 lbs to 225 and I could have gotten it but I lost my grip on the last rep and lost all momentum. I really need chalk. I can't find any locally so I need to order some...fast!!

My accessory exercises were ok. Abs are abs. Just knocked them out. The dips felt weak. Not surprising since bench was weak today. I think I am going to cut out the accessory work until I get back on track for a while.

Something else I have been contemplating. The past few days I have dropped my daily calories. Only slightly but daily average calories are now more like 2400 instead of 2700. This may have something to do with today's weakness as I might not be getting enough calories to keep progressing. I lowered my calories though because I desperately want to work towards losing my belly. Losing fat and gaining muscle and strength are two different things so I'm not sure what do. Since I really want to drop fat I may change up the workout routine and work towards that. What do you guys think? If I continue this workout routine and 2700 calorie days will that be counterproductive to fat loss?

Still pushing on. Tomorrow is AM cardio then Friday back in the weight room.