Training Log Steve's 2013 Log

[Steve-0]

Hey Guys and Girls!

Short Story: I was fat, I got Skinny, I got strong. 2012 didn't go so well due to injuries/work/personal life/excuses. I am now weak and a little more average looking but still a long way from where I was. I miss the feeling of lifting heavy ass weights.

My PR's: (All between 72-76kg)
Pushups: 35 Pullups: 18 Dips: 22 5km Run: 29:47 100 Burpees: 9:23 Bench: 95kg Squat: 125kg Deadlift: 180kg Military Press: 60kg. [PL Total: 400kg @ 75.5kg]

Right Now (1st Jan 2013)
Pushups: 20 Pullups: 8 Dips: 8 2km Run: 13:15 100 Burpees: N/A Bench: 70kg Squat: 80kg Deadlift: 120kg Military Press: 40kg. [PL Total: 400kg @ 75.5kg] (Rough Estimates Based on 3x10 Working sets in each lift)

My Body Stats:
Age: 22
Height: 174cm
Weight: 77.0kg
Chest: 98cm
Arms: 33cm
Legs: 59cm
Waist: 86cm

The Rough Plan:

The Hurdles:
I'm a Scale Technician and I can be sent out bush at any time for a day or a week. My new employer is pretty succesfull in this area and as such I've been working farkloads of overtime the last 3 months which makes it impossible to go to the gym on a routine basis. I was living off Service station food and pubs. Dinners were great, usually a nice big steak and veg but being in a pub, a handful of beers were consumed also. Servo food is usually alright these days with all the sandwhiches and healthy snacks but I get into a habbit of early morning Iced Coffees. Biggest problem I face appart from being away is that when I am away it's 12-16hr days working all day without stop. So nutrition and hydration is hard.

The Solution:
I got a big Fridge for my ute for Christmas! That means I can take food with me on away trips and I'll never have to eat shit again. It will be easier to track and life is great. My sessions in the gym will be full body workouts to compensate for the unknown time frame between visits. Hotel Workouts will need to happen more often.

The Rough Idea:
Gym 3 times per week, the usual FBW Plan, Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Military Press, Rows, Pullups, Dips and anything on top of that in a 3 Sets of 10 format. In between workouts, being active is the key... I have a sweet pullup bar in the back yard and olympic rings. I have a nice pair of runners (Lance Armstrong branded for maximum respect ). Burpees are back!!! I secretly love burpees...
Nutrition is fairly simple, Aiming for 2200 calories to start with and 160-180g of protein daily. The rest can be whatever. Going to try and kick all sugar as much as possible to stop cravings but I'm already drinking sugarless drinks so thats ok.

The GOAL:

Feel Strong, Feel Fit and be awesome. I want to Bench 100kg+ Squat 140kg+ Deadlift 200kg+ And be able to run 5km anytime. I also want to complete a 10km run and ride as much as possible.. which brings me to the next point.

BIKES:

I Ride a sweet as Santacruz Nomad and I love it. I recently purchased a Garmin Forerunner 110 to track calories and ride data so follow my

and

I will post updates every Sunday Night. The first step is to get into the routine! Feel free to talk shit in my thread :welcome::whoo:

For those that are interested in more of a background I have an [old log here] with old stats and a before picture on page 3 (after pic is December 2011)

 

[Steve-0]

First Question for you PHD Farkiners, How accurate is heart rate based calorie burning calculations in HRM's?

Also, What would be more accurate (if any difference), 1000 calories in 2.5hrs or 800 calories in 1hr?

I don't count weights or work in my calorie calculations, Instead I just up the overall intake but I will be tracking calories burnt riding or running on my HRM.

Googled that shit. Turns out they are pretty accurate and if anything, they underestimate. Also, 1000cal per hour is less accurate then 1000cal per 2 hours. This is based on Suunto watch but I am sure Garmin and Polar would use a similar equation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19593221

 

[Steve-0]

First update.

This week the food has been really good, lots of eggs, steak and veggies! Most days I had to eat a lot more then I wanted too.

Typical day was like 2eggs, 2toast and a protein shake for brekky, lunch was 1.5 foot of subway (turkey/roast chicken on wheat bread) and dinner was still like 300-400g of steak, veggies and a protein shake.

Weights in the gym were ok. On Wednesday I benched 65 3x10 squat 70 4x8 deadlift 120 3x5 and MP 16(db) 3x10. Pretty small weights but you have to start somewhere. I trained before work for the first time on Friday, got up at 5am, brekky-gym-work. I didn't feel as strong as I thought I would. Lifted the same as Wednesday though. Not sure if it was because I'm new again or early start.

I burnt 1050cal on the bike yesterday but also stacked hard. At first it was like mild concussion and scratches but later it turned into a sprained ankle I couldn't walk on and a bung shoulder. Ankle is ok now but shoulder will need more time.

Also, I'm heading away until Thursday so no gym until then. Probably a good time to heal up anyway.

At 2200 calories with a pretty even split of macros (>200g P) I went from 16.7 to 16.0 which is exactly what I was after. I might drop the calories to 2000 or 2100 this week due to no gym and then bump it back up to 2200 for one more week.

 

[adaib]

Also, 1000cal per hour is less accurate then 1000cal per 2 hours. This is based on Suunto watch but I am sure Garmin and Polar would use a similar equation.

Depends on the intensity. 1000cal per 2 hours is reasonable if your riding a enjoyable, social pace on a mtb. 1000cal an hour is reasonable if your flat out racing an xc race.

I assume your gathering these calorie data from your garmin or from strava? They base this off the HR and your weight. The reason they under-compensate is because they cannot get a 100% accurate calorie use out of those two bits of data. Its an estimate.
To get a accurate calorie consumption, tests are needed to be conducted to personal aspects of your body, such as Stroke volume of your heart and your power output range.
HR its self however is a great tool for measuring the intensity of a ride. HR is an individual thing, so you can't really compare your HR to your mates and make assumptions of effort from that.
If you can collect the average HR for a ride, and keep tabs on that, you can keep the calorie consumption of each ride the same (assuming each ride is the same length) and plan your meals around that.

 

[Steve-0]

Depends on the intensity. 1000cal per 2 hours is reasonable if your riding a enjoyable, social pace on a mtb. 1000cal an hour is reasonable if your flat out racing an xc race.

I assume your gathering these calorie data from your garmin or from strava? They base this off the HR and your weight. The reason they under-compensate is because they cannot get a 100% accurate calorie use out of those two bits of data. Its an estimate.
To get a accurate calorie consumption, tests are needed to be conducted to personal aspects of your body, such as Stroke volume of your heart and your power output range.
HR its self however is a great tool for measuring the intensity of a ride. HR is an individual thing, so you can't really compare your HR to your mates and make assumptions of effort from that.
If you can collect the average HR for a ride, and keep tabs on that, you can keep the calorie consumption of each ride the same (assuming each ride is the same length) and plan your meals around that.

Intensity is directly related to the calories per hour.

I'm gathering the data from my garmin HRM and was posing the question as to a) how accurate it was and b) are there any differences in intensity levels in regards to accuracy.

As I found out energy expenditure is tracked usually by measuring the oxygen consumed while your exercising. A HRM tracks your heart rate, weight and age to guess how hard you are working by comparing your current heart rate to a theoretical max heart rate. It then uses that data to guess how much air your sucking in and in turn, calories burnt.

I tend to ride a 160-180BPM, and funnily enough it only gets above 180 when going downhill. My riding and any cardio exercise I do is unplanned and is always different because I only do cardio for fun. That's why i'm tracking it and not just adding it to my base TDEE.

 

[Steve-0]

Update:

This week was another successful week of tracking food. If you're tracking calories and not using my fitness pal, I would downloaded it right now and save yourself the agony. MFP has got to be the number 1 best tool I have ever used as far as helping me lose/gain weight goes.

I crashed my bike real bad last Saturday and apart from a broken bike I also cracked my Bell Sweep xc helmet in 3 places. Unfortunately I also hurt my ankle and left shoulder and bruised some ribs. I couldn't walk until Sunday arvo and all this week I've had a mild sprained AC joint. I was also working away Mon-Wed which I was dreading but as I stated in my OP I was prepared! I set out 3 days of food and had a perfect diet for those days away so apart from eating well I also saved some ~$150 I would of otherwise spent at the pub and fast food.

Due to Injury and no gym until Friday I dropped my calories to 2000. Final Macro breakdown was 38%P 32%C 30%F. First 3 days were well over 200g of protein daily. I haven't weighed myself since Thursday morning but I was 75.4kg which was another 0.6kg loss and I feel awesome. My waist is down again to 83.5cm. Everything is goigng exactly as planned.

Weights in the gym went up slightly, Squatted 75kg 3x8 Benched 67.5kg 3x6 and was stronger on the machine row and other excercises. Didn't do deadlifts this week as there was only 1 session. I did however do a small "Rehab" session on Wednesday and busted out alot of pullups/pushups and stretches.

Motivation for you:

[video=youtube;eNkIgWEZvDc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNkIgWEZvDc[/video]

 

[Steve-0]

Sundays are the worst day for an update because I can't measure or record anything newer then Saturday mornings readings so updates will be Friday morning or Saturday morning.

Strength: Lifts went up! Squat: 80 3x8 Bench: 70 3x6 Absolutely hammered my legs this week, tomorrow will be good!

Diet: 2000 calories still. Had a great week, lost a little control over the weekend but nothing major. Down to 81cm waist! That's down from 86-87 on the 1st. All other measurements are the same/bigger.

Notes: Only two sessions this week due to work and arvo gym sessions suck so bad. Too many people. Training early before work is definitley a good change!


Losing fat, Same weight, getting stronger. Them Noob gains and "muscle memory" is so good.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

First Question for you PHD Farkiners, How accurate is heart rate based calorie burning calculations in HRM's?

Also, What would be more accurate (if any difference), 1000 calories in 2.5hrs or 800 calories in 1hr?

I don't count weights or work in my calorie calculations, Instead I just up the overall intake but I will be tracking calories burnt riding or running on my HRM.

Googled that shit. Turns out they are pretty accurate and if anything, they underestimate. Also, 1000cal per hour is less accurate then 1000cal per 2 hours. This is based on Suunto watch but I am sure Garmin and Polar would use a similar equation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19593221

Yeah, it's pretty reliable way of measuring energy expenditure, the only better way out side of a lab would be to wear a gas mask and backpack to analyse every breath.... not so flash.

I'm not sure about the time frame, I'd guess a short period would be more accurate as fatigue would start to change energy expenditure even at the same HR. For normal sustained exercise I would think it would make much difference - but from your google my guess seems to be wrong. Perhaps a longer duration allows a smaller deviation of the 'averages' thus attaining a more accurate score.

 

[Steve-0]

I think the longer less intense workout is more accurate because the max heart rate the HRM is basing everything off could be out from your real max.

The difference between 70% and 72% is probably much less then 95%-97% of max.

Works well so far. Each time I ride I have absolutely massive meals afterwards and didn't gain weight at all. Apart from water and bloating from excess sodium in fast food lol.

Thinking of doing the LeanGains version of intermittent fasting too. I've done it before with great results so I'm keen to try it again.

 

[Steve-0]

Update:

Unfortunately I haven't been home the past couple days some have no measurements or weights.

I am getting leaner, this is seen most in my legs, they are feeling way harder and defined and things like more veins in my forearms and less fat around my jaw is good.

I am still getting stronger too, at least in the legs. Today I squatted 90kg 3x8 in running shoes (horrible) so that's a great leap in strength again. My previous max was 100 3x8.

Bench is sucky, I did 60 4x10 today because 70kg I hardly can do 6. High reps and some chest flys really feel good though.

All other strengths seem to be going up. I deadlifted 120 3x5 which is shit but a start point.

Heading on a big long weekend right now, not tracking calories but I'll keep it civil. I've also been doing Martin Berkahns intermittent fasting this week with pretty great results. I'll run it for another 3-4weeks before passing judgement though.

 

[Joel O]

How are you finding the intermittent fasting as opposed to the "eat like it's your last day on earth" diet? do you think that longer term you will still be able to continue with the strength gains using IF?

 

[Steve-0]

How are you finding the intermittent fasting as opposed to the "eat like it's your last day on earth" diet? do you think that longer term you will still be able to continue with the strength gains using IF?

What do you mean by the eat everything diet? Dream bulk? That does work I guess but when I did that i just got fat. there's no need for that kind of diet IMO.

At the moment I'm cutting on IF so I can't really comment on strength gains as that's more controlled by my diet rather then timing. However I am still making strength (and hypertrophy) gains eating in a deficit (noob gains).

So far it's been awesome. I'm doing it by eating 12pm-8pm and doing early morning fasted training with BCAA's. My workouts haven't really suffered strength wise but they have to be kept to 45-60mins max. I've been adding 5-10kg a week to my 3x10 squats and all my other lifts have gone up, however my bench has stopped. But as I said, I think thats more to do with the low calories/low carbs rather then IF.

Eating everything in 8hrs is great too, this is why most people do it. I usually have 2 meals and snacks so each meal is nearly 1000calories! I'm not planning on bulking on IF or even maintaining because eating 2600-3000+ calories in 8 hours can be pretty hard.


Update while I'm here:

Australia day food wise was good, but the beer put me in surpluss. I didn't drink much but 6-12 beers at 100calories each isn't great. I enjoyed myself though and didn't think too much about diet. On Tuesday I detoxed abit and Wednesday I was back to normal. Woke up today skinny as ever at 80cm waist at 74.6kg.

Haven't been to the gym though, no gym over the weekend because I was on holiday at Noosa (shithouse weather :yell: ) and I didn't really gym this week which was pretty bad. I tried to go Friday morning but I felt shit and nearly injured myself so I stopped. Going to warm up and head there today.

I was still doing IF this week at 1800 calories. 1800 is too low I think. I'm going to bump it back upto 2000 and train harder. I don't think I did IF properly though as the coffee van guy uses like a whole cup of skim milk which is abit much for true IF. *Coffee is allowed on IF but only with a splash of skim milk.

Great video to watch:

[video=youtube;QHHzie6XRGk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QHHzie6XRGk[/video]

 

[Joel O]

I had typed out a decent follow up to my questions about IF but decided it was too off-topic for your training log so I'm starting my own which I will try and keep updated with my experiences as well as maintaining a training log.

 

[Steve-0]

Update:

Diet is not too bad, I went 1800cals this week which was about right. 0.6kg lost. Down to 74.60kg. Diet was pretty solid, Spent a night away and cooked up a massive butter chicken feast to re-heat. Last Sunday I had a massive lunch... 1700cal (97P/160C/66F) which consisted of a KFC potato & Gravy, chips, 3 wicked wings, zinger burger and two grilled chicken burgers from hungry jacks. Was a pretty epic cheat meal and I was still under my net calories. Woke up the next morning feeling skinny and lean!

No weights this week besides some pullups and pushups. Didn't have time to gym( out of town) and the day that I could, I didn't go. However my work schedule for the rest of Feb looks pretty light so I'll be hitting the weights often and hopefully finishing off this cut by March sometime.


Currently 80cm waist, 74.60kg. Down from 76.6kg & 86cm waist Jan 1. Watched all of Layne Nortons Vlogs @ Biolayne.com

 

[Steve-0]

Update:

Switched training a little to something more strength based because it's more fun. I'm also still weak so I need it. Doing FBW's still but doing everything 5x5. Squats/Bench/OHP/Rows at the heaviest I can 5x5 and then deadlift singles, pullups and dips.

Did these lifts yesterday(5x5), Squat: 85kg. Bench: 72.5kg. OHP: 40kg. Deadlift: 150kg (a sloppy single). I currently weigh 74.00kg so I'm down a half kilo.

Going to keep doing strength stuff until I'm back to 100+ squat, 80+bench 180+ deadlift. Diet is good, training roughly twice a week. Motivation is ok, just doing it to keep fit.

 

[Steve-0]

update: Everything still progressing!

Doing 5x5 is definitely right up my alley. I always see results doing it and this round is no different.
(all 5x5) Bench: 77.5kg Squat: 90kg (did a session at 95kg and got 2 sets of 5 before I had to drop back to 90) OHP: 40kg
Rows + Curls+ Dips + Pullups are all better too. I used to row "45" 3x8 and tonight I did "67" 4x8 (cable machine). Pullups are 3x12 same as dips.

Work was really quiet last week so I relaxed the diet and focused on the gym and it worked. This week work will be quiet again I hope so I'm really hoping for the milestone 80kg bench, 100kg squat. For reference my best effort ever would probably be 80 5x5. I don't think I ever did 80kg 3x8. Even when I maxed 95kg. I have squatted 100kg 3x8 before though. only once.

Getting closer to my old strength and for fucks sake I will keep it there this time. Repeating and "regaining" strength for the 3rd time is really shit.

Oh! I bought a new wheelset for the bike.. can't wait for it to arrive! Stoked.