Dear Diary... my life on a cut

g'em

Alrighty then, I guess it's my turn now that Dragan has paved the way. Like himself, I've been around these parts for a while now, having been bitten by the lifting bug about 2 years ago. However, it wasn't until January of this year that things got a little more serious and organised, and I decided to properly educate myself on the physiology of lifting and the science behind it, and more importantly realised that you're only ever going to make gains if you feed yourself properly.

As time went on I made more and more adjustments to my training and my diet, and all along the way I toyed with the idea of getting into BBing competition. It wasn't until recently though, after humming and hawing for months, that I finally decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and planned out an 8 week trial pre-comp cut. I guess I have the advantage over some women in that I'm coming into this on the back of quite a bit of heavy lifting- my lean muscle mass is high and I'm very strong (for a guurrrl!!) so this cut is all about losing body fat and maintaining the muscle I've worked hard to build over the last 18 months or so.

Here I'll be posting an abridged version of my on-line journal as quite frankly, I talk a lot. No, I mean really an awful, awful lot One of the other posters on Team Test did a 4 week cut at the beginning of the summer and it was one of the inspirations behind me doing this. But Dragan and I decided that we wanted to look at more than just the physiology of such an extreme diet- we wanted to track the mental aspects of it too. So here I'll be giving the basics for my training, but if you really want to see whats going on in my head just check out the full journal on the Team Test website, linked in my sig.

One word of warning- I can't emphasis enough that this is not any old weight-loss diet. It's very, very extreme and not something that I would have embarked on had I not spent weeks planning it and set aside the time to do it. It is not a quick way to lose weight. It's expensive. It's all-consuming and it's pretty much taken over my life. It is not unhealthy, but it's not very pleasant either. As I sit here and type this I feel like my brain is in a permanent state of fart-ness. But it's necessry for me to do to find out if I have what it take to compete in the future, both physically and psychologically. See what I mean about talking a lot?!!! Alrighty then, time for me to get copying and pasting...

Bear in mind that I've been doing this for just over a week now so I'm going to have to go back in time a bit to give you all the full picture of whats happening...

Edit: oops, it'd probably help to give some stats from the beginning- 5'7", 164lbs, bf ~22-23%, 26yo

g'em

Sunday 27th August: The day before the cut begins...

For the next 8 weeks I’ll be following a cutting and shredding plan, designed to seriously reduce bodyfat levels whilst maintaining and hopefully increasing lean muscle mass. I’ll be following a macronutrient ratio of 40% protein, 50% fats and 10% carbs, with a daily calorie allowance of 10 cals per lb bodyweight (which means I start out at 1640 calories a day ± 50 cals- my normal daily calorie intake is anywhere from 1800-2100 cals/day). No, you’re not seeing things, that’s 50% of my daily calories coming from fat. This pretty much equates to four tablespoons of oil a day, with some avocado thrown in for good measure. It's pretty much based aroudn the Get Shredded Plan by Dr. John Berardi on t-nation, with a few of my own tweaks made based on what Ii know about how I react to certain macronutirent ratios and workouts.

The 8 weeks will be broken into 4 × 2 week progress blocks, at which stage I’ll be taking measurements, taking pictures, and taking weight accordingly. If the weight loss is too slow the calories go down to 9cals/lb, possibly even 8cals/lb, if it’s too fast (water loss notwithstanding) it’ll be pushed up to 11cals/lb.

There are three feed-up days allowed, during which I can eat 3-3.5 times normal amounts i.e. 4900-5700 calories but this is also to include a workout and cardio session. I start teaching again on 16th October at which stage I’ll be close enough to the end that I’ll be able to keep going and it won’t interfere too much with training (erm, that’s a bit sad really isn’t it? I’m more concerned with work interfering with lifting than the other way around… such a gym bunny).

Lifting will be four times a week, two leg days, one chest and one back maintaining heavy, compound lifts for the first four weeks in the 8-12 rep range with a reassessment of any possible strength losses at that stage. If I find my recovery times are too long I’ll lower the weights and work in the 10-15 rep range. Cardio is 5-7 times a week, mostly LIT.

Designing the diet was a nightmare in itself, and I got a headache just looking at the food spreadsheet. There is some MAJOR planning involved in this thing. Four meals a day with oodles of supplementation to keep me functioning properly (ZMA, CEE, BCAA, Green Tea Extract, Fish Oils, fibre capsules, multivitamin). It’s not going to be an easy diet by any means, and will get harsher over the weeks, eventually resulting in going completely ketogenic at the halfway mark. I will be relying extremely heavily on fat-burners for appetite suppression and an extra helping hand shifting the flubber. I’ve tried to include as many wholefoods as possible, owing to their thermogenic properties and slower digestion rates, but it’s hard when you’re working on such a tight macronutrient scale.

g'em

Monday 28th August Day 1:
Well, it’s started. Breakfast this morning was a very unusual combination of ¼ cup oats, one whole egg, one white and two spoons of oil. The oil stopped it from feeling altogether cardboardy and I get the feeling I’m going to enjoy having so much of the slimy stuff in my diet. I’m going to miss those carbs when they’re gone so I might as well make the most of them while I still can!

Head’s in a very, very good place. Strangely enough, even though I have plenty to waffle about today, I don’ have a very great need to write it. I think it’s the difference between the ‘have to’ and the ‘should do’ sides of training. Up until now all my training has been the latter. Up until this point its been a case of... oh, I’ve only worked out twice this week, I really should go to the gym tomorrow… ooh, I really should go for a walk this evening… um, I shouldn’t have another biscuit, but I’m going to anyway… Whereas now, it’s “I have to go to the gym four times a week, I have to do this much cardio, I have to eat this number of calories every day”. And I don’t want those ‘have to’s’ to sound negative, because they aren’t at all- I just mean that I’ve now accepted what needs to be done in order to reach my goal and I don’t question them in any way.

I know I have tough times ahead of me, but I don’t think about that. I’ll just have to deal with those moments as and when they appear. Took all my measurements this morning and did some pics- I should really use them as screensavers to remind me of how I don’t want to look anymore. Not training today, just spending today getting settled and organized. Oh, one thing though- my BCAA tablets aren’t so much tablets as horse-size servings of nastiness. 6 huge tablets three times a day… eugh.

So this is what I’m eating today and would be very typical for what my daily diet will consist of:

7.30am
oats 1/4 cup
olive oil 2 tablespoons
egg 1 whole
egg white 1 white

11.30am
whey 30g

2.30pm
chicken 3oz
cauliflower 1 cup
olive oil 1.5 tablespoons
broccoli 1 cup
spinach 2 cups

6.30pm
tuna 1 can
carrots 1 medium
olive oil 1 tablespoon
lettuce 3 cups
tomato 4 cherry

10pm
cottage cheese 50g
avocado half fruit
flax 1 tablespoon

Total calories: 1535.75
Total Protein: 130.2g
Total carbs: 55.24g
Total fat: 97.74g

Bear in mind that today I didn’t train, but on days when I am in the gym there’ll be a ½ serving of x-plode at 9.45am and the 11.30am whey serving is pushed back to 12.30pm so it’s taken after the gym.

And then the supplement plan looks like this:

7.30am Brekkie + BCAA
9.45am CEE
(10.30am Training)
12.30pm Supps: whey + BCAA
2.30pm Lunch
4pm Supps: BCAA + Green Tea Extract + Fish Oils + Fibre + Vit C
6.30 Dinner
10pm: Pre-Bed meal + ZMA

I’ve upped my fat-burners to 5 caps a day: 2 first thing, one mid-morning and two before lunch. They seem to be doing the job nicely, and I’m making sure I fill myself up with gallons of green tea and black regular tea. I’m peeing like a mofo!!!

g'em

Tuesday 29th August Day 2:

Righty-ho so, yesterday finished up fine. Dinner was actually quite easy- 3 cups of lettuce actually amounts to quite a lot so I was able to eat a big portion of salad and tuna for tea which satiated me nicely. And even better was my before bed feeding- avocado and cottage cheese?? Yummy!!! Slept like a baby, a much needed rest, and I’d say I’ll be needing my sleep more and more as the days and weeks go by. Going to bed at 9.30 or 10 will become the absolute norm for me I would imagine, maybe even earlier.

I can feel myself starting to ‘deflate’ now, as my belly is emptying. It’s a nice feeling actually, and one I know I’ll have to get used to. Breakfast this morning wasn’t quite as tasty as eggs n’ oats yesterday- low-fat yoghurt, whey and 2 tbsp oil... hmmm… artificially sweet oiliness . “Interesting” is probably the most appropriate word to use. Anyways, I was in quite a contemplative mood on the DART this morning (I’m allowing myself to use my brain as much as possible right now while it still functions) and I was trying to decide what it is that feels different this time round in my eternal quest for self-improvement that has me so convinced and determined to do this. Most times, when I start these things I find them hard, and I give up after a few days, because dealing with the difficulty and the nasty feelings it brings is just too hard. But then I thought, ok, well what if I just went straight to the shop a bought a bar of chocolate? How would that make me feel? Initially it’d be fantastic- all that cocoa-sugary-serotonin-inducing goodness. But no sooner had I finished licking the last melted crumbles off my fingertips and I’d feel like ****e again. Only this time it would be feeling guilt, which is probably the most lingering and difficult of all the nasty emotions, and remorse and utter- and a feeling of failure and self-loathing. Is momentary pleasure worth it? Hell no. So while the feelings may be tough over the course of the next few weeks (who am I kidding? Tough doesn’t even begin to describe it…) at least there’s an eventual goal in mind. At least those feeling won’t be in vain. And ffs, I get a re-feed every 2 weeks so I’m hardly completely denying myself for 8 weeks solidly now am I??!? And it’s because I’ve realised this that I think I should be able to get through my cravings. And that’s the difference between being able to do it and not. Sure everyone can spout motivational messages at you “nothing tastes as good as being slim feels”… “minute in the mouth, lifetime on the hips” yadda yadda yadda… but until you really, truly believe those things you won’t give yourself the strength to succeed. But I’m not saying someone who doesn’t believe them isn’t able to do it, because its just that they don’t believe it YET. And right now, I do.

I’m making no sense now am I? Meh, what’s new… feeling a bit groggy today. Possibly (probably?) the lack of carbs. And tired too. Will try and take it handy if I can. But off for some leg action in the gym now, should be interesting!!!!…

(A couple of hours and some heavy lifting later). It seems the newbs are starting to make a reappearance in the gym… Wonder how many of them will last til the beginning of term?!?!?


Squats: 4 × 15(60)
Leg Press: 3 × 20(50)
Hang ATG Squat Clean: 3 × 8(30)
Walking Lunges: 4 × 20 steps (15 DBs)

g'em

Wednesday 30th August Day 3


Chest day today…

DB Press: 4 × 10(17.5)
Superset
Incline DB press: 3 × 10(15)
Incline DB curl: 3 × 8(8 )
Superset
Cable fly: 3 × 8(13.5)
EZ bar bicep curl: 6(bar + 10) 10(bar + 5) 8(bar + 7.5)
Pec Fly Machine: 3 × 10(5pl)
Concentration curls: 8(9) 5(9) 8(7)

The gym is quickly becoming the one place where I feel at ease during the day. Working out means my appetite is non-existent and I can actually see the fruits of my labour. I’m still a narky cow even when I workout though … feeling better having lifted heavy stuff I have to admit.

g'em

Thursday 31st August Day 4
Oooh… it’s getting hard now.

Went for a run last night with my new running buddy. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed my run, it pretty much wiped me out and I was in bed within an hour of getting home. Sleep comes easily to me these days (thank fcuk) and in the mornings when I take the Lipo-6 it does a very good job of waking me up, so I don’t feel overly groggy. Having to swallow 6 horse-pills first thing after waking isn’t quite so pleasant though. Seriously, these babies are over an inch long, and nearly as thick. In fact the other day as I counted out my supplements for my 4pm dosing I realised there was enough of them to make a smiley face…

Every day I take:
12 Amino Acid (w/ BCAAs) capsules
2 BCAA
5 Lipo-6
1 multivitamin
2 Fish Oil
2 Vitamin C
3-4 Fibre tablets
2 Green Tea Extract… jeez, that’s a total of 29-30 capsules every single day.

Like I said, things are beginning to get significantly harder. I’ve entered space cadet territory and I feel as if I’m moving in slow-motion most of the time. I have no hunger pangs to speak of (honestly, that Lipo-6 is a wonder supplement, there is truly no way I could be doing this without it). This morning’s breakfast left me feeling rather queasy (two tablespoons of olive oil and a low-fat yoghurt anyone??) and it was taking much longer than normal for my brain to kick into gear. I left the house and got to the train station before realising I’d left my lunch at home, and nearly burst into tears on the DART when it took me 15 minutes to untangle my earphones!!!! But there’s no question of me quitting this, don’t get me wrong. I’m just adjusting to everything still. This same brain fog is also providing me with a wonderful sense of calmness, and my stress levels are pretty low.

g'em

Friday 1st September Day 5

It seems that I get pretty tired and groggy in the mornings but I perk up by lunch time, or at least that’s the pattern that’s settling in for now. Still feeling good, and had a few more moments of ‘acceptance’ about what I’m doing. Met up with Emmet last night to talk about a new training program to help me reserve as much strength as possible throughout the cut- he’s not just a bendy guy y’know, he’s pretty damn knowledgeable and could easily teach me a thing or three. We’ll play around with some new ideas over the next couple of weeks, which will be a good laugh, if even for no other reason that to stave off the boredom. Legs Day II today and I wanted to try something slightly different...

Monster-set
Leg curls: 12 (8pl) 12 (9pl) 12 (10pl) 12(11pl)
Leg extensions: 12 (7pl) 12 (8pl) 12(9pl) 12 (10pl)
Abductor: 12 (14pl) 12(15pl) 12 (15pl) 12(15pl)
Adductor: 12(16pl) 12(15pl) 11(14pl) 12(14)

DB Press: 6(17.5) 8(15) 8(15) 8(15)
Lat raises: 4 × 10(8 )
Rear-delt raises: 3 × 12(8 )
Calf-raises: 10(bar +)(60) 8(60) 8(70) 8(70)

(Oh btw, a monster set is when, after performing an exercise for one body part, instead of resting, you immediately perform an exercise for another body part, so in this case I did each of the four exercises one straight after another with a 1 minute rest between cycles). Heehee!!! Monster sets are… well, they’re interesting to say the least. That’s my kind of workout- hard and fast baby. This is more of a cardio leg day than anything. And yes, yes, I know I’m not usually a big fan of abductor and adductor machines, but this is isolation day it’s not like they’re replacing squats or anything crazy. Mind you, I must admit, it’s a very empowering feeling as a woman knowing you can squeeze that much solid iron between your thighs (or to quote babypink it's a "very, very, vey, very, very, very, very good thing" - yes there were seven "very's" he was quite adamant about his point!!) Of course by the time it came around to doing shoulders I was pretty tired, but I got it done anyways. My left shoulder is giving me ****e still though…

Energy levels are fine during the day, but I’m noticing that the evening cardio is really wiping me out. After going for a late walk last night I was totally bunched and literally fell into bed afterwards. But sure ‘tis all good for now. Still a member of the happy camperino brigade.

Edit: scratch the first sentence of that last paragraph. I think I'm gonna slip into a coma of tiredness any second now at 4pm... is it just end of the week tiredness? is it the cut? who knows. But I'm gonna have to go home and have a nap before I get my cardio-groove on tonight...

g'em

Saturday 2nd September Day 6

Another day, another gym session. Had a ‘lie-in’ this morning… didn’t get up until.. ooh, 8.30!!! Well in fairness I was asleep by about 11.30 last night so I got a flipping (and much needed) good rest. Back day today:

Deadlift: 10(60) 8(80) 6(100) 8(80)
Superset…
Bent over DB row: 3 × 15(10)
Dips: 3 × 10
Superset…
Lat Pull-down: 10(7pl) 8(8pl) 8(8pl)
Push-downs: 10(8pl) 8(9pl) 8(9pl)
Superset…
Narrow grip pull-downs: 8(8pl) 8(8pl) 7(8pl)
DB OH extensions: 10(15) 10(15) 8(15)

Oooh I was pooped after that. Couple of things to note- the small of my back was feeling really rather uncomfortable during the DL’s hence the reason why I didn’t go any further in weight. Dips though were significantly easier than normal- already I’m feeling the difference with the weight loss.

Still trying to maintain that ‘one day at a time’ mentality, and trying hard to view this ordeal in blocks, the first one finishing up with the re-feed this day next week. All in all feeling fine, much of which is thanks to a little help from my friends.

g'em

Monday 4th September Day 8

Anyhoodles, Saturday was naaaaasty. I didn't actually get any work done after the gym, and instead went home and had a complete brain and body meltdown. You know when you're so over-tired that you feel like you're existing as opposed to living? That you can sit in one place and just watch time going by? That no matter hard you try, your brain just will not allow itself to be used for anything other than the most basic of functions (breathe in, breathe out… blink, now once more… lift hand to shoulder and scratch…)? Well that's how I was early Saturday afternoon. A vegetable. I came home and crashed on the sofa and fell asleep, only to wake up in time to take my supplements, watch half an hour of telly and then go back to sleep until I had to great ready to go out. It was horrible. Doing cardio and training together wasn't a good idea at all, and isn't something I'll be doing again in a hurry. To be honest I've done cardio every day for the last seven days, and it might just be a bit too much. Maybe 4-5 times in the week is plenty. But hey, this is all a learning process and I'd rather have done too much than too little.

Legs day today, and given that I’m still suffering über-DOMS in my adductors after my monster-set on Friday- I swear it feels like I’ve been straddling an elephant all weekend- it was going to being kind of high on the interesting scale.

Squats: 4 × 15(60)
Leg Press: 4 × 25(40) high tempo
Walking Lunges: 4 × 20(15)
Bulgarian Split Squats: 8(15 DBs) each side… and then I gave in to exhaustion

High tempo leg presses and walking lunges together are an eeeevil combination!!! Session totally pooped me out, and even though I didn’t get a huge amount done it’s fine as I’ll have an isolation session later in the week. Groin DOMS were a beatch tying to do the walking lunges, but I’m getting a massage done tomorrow so hopefully that’ll ease them out a bit. Oh and I'm not doing any cardio today. Anyhoodles, that’s all for now!!!

g'em

Wednesday 6th September Day 10

Yesterday was an aboslutely awful day, really truly horrible. It was the first day I experienced any real negative effects of the cut and it knocked me for six. I spent most of the day totally spaced out and my mood swings were phenomenally bad, even by my standards. If it's a sign of things to come I may just have a rough ride ahead of me over the next 7 weeks.

Today though I feel fine, really grand, and back to normal in every sense. Chest and Biceps today, my most horriblific day. One of my TT boys was training alongside me and we had great fun checking out how my lumps and bumps are starting to really show through now that the bodyfat is getting stripped off…

DB Press: 4 × (20)
Superset
Pec Dec: 3 × 8(7pl)
EZ Bar curls: 3 × (bar + 10)
Superset
Lying cable curls: 3 × 8(13.5)
Hammer curls: 6(10) 6(8 ) 8(8 )
Superset
Cable cross-overs: 8(13.5) 8(18 ) 7(18 )
Cable crucifix curls: 3 × 8(9)

Nothing particularly exciting really, as always my bicep strength sucks bums, only difference is now my arms look good when they’re failing me

g'em

Thursday 7th September Day 11

It's getting to the stage where I can actually see my body changing on a daily basis, it’s really quite exciting. My upper body is coming on quicker than my lower half is, but I pretty much expected that. I would imagine it will take a good bit of hard work in the latter half of this cut to really see the changes I want to in the whole bum area tbh. Having gotten on the scales again this morning (I can’t help it!!!) I’ve found I’m now lighter than I was before I went to on holidays i.e. lighter than I’ve been in three years or so. And quite frankly some of my clothes are hanging off me. Depending on what my weight is on Saturday morning I’m going to have to re-jig some of my meal plans and drop the calories accordingly, probably sticking to sub-1500 cals/day (that’s ¼ of what babypink eats!!!) with four × 300 cal meals and the rest made up from whey, x-plode and supps.

Sleep isn’t coming as easily to me as I’d like which is a bit of a pain in the rear end, but there’s very little I can do about that. Mood-wise I seem fine, the evenings get a little difficult when the Lipo 6 has worn off, and sitting in front of the telly doesn’t provide much of a distraction, so I’ve taken to knitting again meh, you may laugh, but anything that keeps my head occupied and my hands busy is a definite bonus in my eyes. So knitting and walking are more oftn than not what I get up to on my evenings these days. It also negates the need for me to indulge in the ‘fasted cardio or not’ debate- quite simply walking for 60 minutes in the evening is a whole hour that I don’t have to worry about food and instead I sleep longer in the mornings. So you can spout all the scientific and anecdotal evidence you want at me and tell me that one method is better than the other, but logistics are dictating that an evening walk is the way to go for me, so that’s what I’m sticking to.

Legs Day II and shoulders today:

Monster set (all wts are plates)
Leg curls: 12(9) 12(10) 12(11) 10(12)
Leg extensions: 12(8 ) 12(9) 12(10) 12(11)
Abductors:12(13) 12(14) 12(15) 12 (16)
Adductors: 12(13) 12(14) 12(15) 12 (16)

Leg Press calf raises: 3 × 10(12 pl)
BB shoulder press: 6(35) 2×8(30) 6(30)
Lat raises: 3 × 8(10)
Hang squat clean: 4 × 10(30)
Rear delt DB raises: 3 × 10(10)

Wow, looooads done, but in no more time than usual (around the hour mark). For sheer time economy monster sets rock!! And hehe, I’m only 3 plates away from stacking out on the leg curl machine which gave me a giggle.. oh yeah, girls are sooo not strong . In fact got so much done by the end of the session I was getting dizzy every time I lifted something up so I called it a day. All in all, I’m happy. Yay!!

g'em

Saturday 9th September Day 13

Heeheehee!!! Food food food food food food!!! Yayayayayyayayay!!!

Yes, as you may have guessed today is feed-up day. Now this is quite possibly the most important day so far for me, for oodles of different reasons. It’s my reward for staying 100% clean since the beginning of the cut, it’s a swift kick up the arse for my metabolism to remind it what burning real food is all about, but it’s also going to test my resolve and my determination when the sun sets and ketogenesis begins.

Took all my meaurements and the news was good, very good. All the trouble areas are down but I'm maintaining size on my arms and calves and my weight is down from 164lbs to 155lbs. Waist is down by two inches. Callipers readings are all down too. Very, very happy with the results so far!!

Did back and triceps today and then followed it with 30min LIT- will be walking again later so didn’t want to go overboard.

Deadlifts: 10(60) 8(80) 6(100) 12(80)
Bent over DB row: 3×10(15)
Dips: 3×10
Narrow grip pull downs: 8(8pl) 8(9pl) 7(pl)
Push-downs: 10(8pl) 8(9pl) 7(10pl)
t-bar row: 8(40) 8(37.5) 8(35)
OH DB extension: 3×8(17.5)

Spent the evening with Dragan, eating pizza and burgers and generally filling my belly, which in reality didn't take very much seeings how my stomach has shrunk beyond belief. Felt pretty nasty after eating that much food, but it reminded me how unpleasant a feeling over-eating is and will just help to strengthen my resolve. Happy, happy days.

g'em

Monday 11th September Day 15
I guess today is the inevitably crash after the jubilance of the weekend. It’s also keto-rific. Brain fog has set in with great severity and I’m slowly muddling my way through the day. It’s not altogether unlike the feeling I had on my really nasty day last week, but I guess I’m not so freaked out by it this time because it was expected. Doesn’t make it any easier, just less scary. Multi-tasking is absolutely out of the question and concentration levels are coming and going in waves. Amazing how violently your moods can swing from being so high to so low in such a short space of time. Going training tonight with Emmet so he’s promised to show me some new fanciness to shake up my routine a little so looking forward to that (I think!!)…

Box squats: 5(80) 4(90) 2(100)
Back squats: 4(100) 1(110) [both PB’s!!]
3 sets of Ghironda (sp?) leg curls with isometric hold for 10 sec supersetted with leg extensions with 10sec isometric hold for 3 sets
One-arm DB snatches: warm up with 10kg then 3(17.5) each side for 2 sets and 3(20) each side
One-leg leg extensions with toes pointed out (stabilizer strength): 3 sets of 10 each side.

I have to admit, I’m well happy to have got the PB’s, and given that I’m on the third week of a cut, I think it’s a pretty damn good achievement. Yay!

g'em

Tuesday 12th September Day 16
Felt good this morning, still on a bit of a high after last night’s squatting fun and I was borderline hyper going into the gym. Chest and bicep days today:

DB Press: 10(17.5) 8(20) 8(22.5) [PB for reps] 5(25) [PB for wt]
Superset
DB fly: 3 × 8(12.5)
EZ bar curl (bar +): 8(10), 2× 8(12.5)
Superset
Cable cross-overs: 8(18 ) 10(18 ) 10(18 )
DB curl: 5(10) 6(10) 5(10)
3 sets push ups to failure

Erm.. yeah, more PB’s really quite confused about what’s going on here, delighted, but quite confused. Seems keto agrees with me quite well, at least in the short term. But anyways… YAY!!!

g'em

Friday 15th September Day 19
Wednesday and Thursday were cardio days, walk on Wed and a very angry run on Thursday which annihilated me and probably affected my training in the gym on subsequent days.

Went to the gym today quite fired up, but physically I couldn’t follow through. I know I’ll be grand in a couple of days, this is just another dip in the long road.

Monster set:
Walking lunges: 4 × 20(20 DB)
Adductor: 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl) 10(16pl)
Abductor: 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl) 10(16pl)

Superset:
Lat raise: 4 × 8(10)
Rear delt raise: 4 × 8(10)

BB push press: 5 × 5(30)

g'em

Saturday 16th September Day 20

(Day 20 ooh- feels like quite a milestone as I write it actually…). Nothing particularly remarkable about today. Went to a party last night, food everywhere, it was painful, but I didn’t succumb, just kept reminding myself that I had half an avocado and some cottage cheese waiting for me at home that would no doubt be infinitesimally tastier than the cocktail sausages, chicken goujons, garlic bread, deviled eggs, chocolate cake, cashews, pistachios and various crudités on offer… yes, much tastier

Back and Tri’s today…

Deadlift: 10(60) 5(100) 3(110) fail(120) 5(100)
Dips: 8(bw + 10) 6(bw +10) 8(bw) 8(bw)
Bent over DB row: 4 × 8(20)
Seated Row: 10(9pl) 8(10pl) 8(11pl)
Push downs: 10(9pl) 8(10pl) 6(11pl)
Lat pull downs: 6(10pl) 3 × 8(9pl)

25 mins LIT x-trainer
15 min incline walk

…and I’ll probably go for a 35 min saunter down the pier later too. After a late night last night and doing cardio and weights at the gym today I'm fully expecting to completely crash and burn this afternoon, just like I did two weeks ago, although this time I'm prepared for it. In fact an hour after leaving the gym I can already feel it coming on.

As I said, not a very strange or abnormal day, it’s funny how this has all just become my ‘normality’ now

g'em

Monday 18th September Day 22
Got a really nice surprise in the gym this morning when I noticed that the separations in my quads are starting to show through. My legs are by far and away my weak spot and to be finally seeing progress on them is very, very satisfying indeed. And my calf definition rocks which doesn’t hurt either . Tbh I sort of wanted to check on leg strength again today, being at the NABBA's last night and checking out the physiques of the female competitors reinforced just how much work I have to do on them, and as well I wanted to check how well my strength maintenance is going. I got the 110kg again (with a spot) so I’m happy enough. Plenty of dizzy spells and I was knackered by the end of the session. Happy days. Legs today:

Squats: 8(60) 6(70) 5(80) 3(100) 1(110) 10(60)
Leg Curl Isometric Hold supersetted with Leg Extension Iso Hold with increasing weight for four sets, 10 sec hold.
One Arm DB Snatch:5(12.5) 5(17.5) 2 × 5(20)
Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 × 8 each side (15)

g'em

Tuesday 19th September Day 22
Hmm, it seems I’m actually getting to grips with my mood swings. It’s not that they’re any easier or anything, but they’re just less scary these days as I know what to expect when one hits. Yesterday for example after doing heavy legs I was absolutley shattered and a hungry mofo, so from 12 til 1.30 (I’m not supposed to eat til 2 but I gave in early) I was in a naaaasty mood but had the impression that I’d be fine once I’d eaten, which was exactly the case. Very ordinary day otherwise, and cardio still sucks monkey balls.

Chest and biceps today:
DB Press: 8(17.5) 8(20) 5(22.5) 8(20)
Incline DB Fly: 3×12.5
EZ Bar Curl (bar +): 10(10) 8(10) 8(10)
Pec Deck:8(7pl) 8(6pl) 8(6pl)
Cable cross-over (with a nice squeeze at the contraction on each): 3×(18 )
BB Curl:3×8 (last two on each negatives)
Hang Clean: 5(40) This was just too heavy and so I dropped the weight and did a more explosive…
Hang ATG Clean: 3×8(30)

Needless to say quite exhausted and tired afterwards, chest is already sore, grip is completely shot, but je suis un happy camper. ‘tis all good.

g'em

Wednesday 20th September Day 23

Went for a run last night. Well, a staggered run split into four 8 minute stages with 1-2 min walking between. Didn’t feel the need to kill myself on the back of two days’ worth of heavy lifting.

I am FED... UP... with this cut. I am sleeping, eating, breathing and thinking training and it sucks ass. I'm angry and tired and hungry and ****ty. I don't want any answers or solutions. I'm going to snap any second. I don't want t be told "you'll be fine after feed up day". That's three days away. Right now that feels like a month. I'm bored of having no life. Exactly what am I going to do with myself once I've finished this? It's a fuggling waste. It's not like anyone’s actually going to see me. I'm frustrated to hell and I'm emotional and it sucks donkey cock. I'm sick of it, really, really sick of it. Frankly I don’t care anymore if I sound weak-willed or stupid, this is the ****tiest, hardest most unbelievably soul-numbing thing I have ever done and I’m not sure why I’m doing it any more. And I’m not even at halfway yet. Eugh. This is my normality? Ha! My oversized backside it is. This is living hell. I walked around all morning with tears pricking the back of my eyes. I feel awful What’s worse is that now there’s someone who could really do with my help at the moment and I just don’t have the energy or the strength to take care of them.

When these moods hit it’s like a sledgehammer to the head, or even worse, the heart. Every semblance of reason and sanity is thrown out the window and you’re left wondering how the hell putting your body through something like this could possibly be worth it.

And right now I’m not sure that it is. But like I said, my sanity has gone for a siesta and what’s left of me is too stubborn and pig-headed to entertain any notions of giving up. I just hope that side of me doesn’t prevail to the detriment of my health.

Nnnnrrgghhhhh…

Speaking of doing nasty things to my health, I went for a massage this morning. I’ve never had my legs seen to before.. Oh.. My.. GOD the pain. My calves have been at me a good bit over the last week or so and putting it simply I now know it’s because they’re in tatters. I thought getting back work done was bad? Pfft, walk in the park compared to calves.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to find a rock to crawl under and hide for the rest of the day.

g'em

Thursday 21st September Day 24
I’m doing much better today, thank GOD. Two days in a row like yesterday would surely have broken me. One thing that’s bothering me though is that it’s taking me a long time to get to sleep in the evenings- I’ll usually be lying awake for an hour or so before I nod off. I’m still getting 7 hours of sleep, but I don’t think its enough. Eight or eight and a half would suit me better right now I think.

Ok, legs day 2 and shoulders today.

Monster set:
Walking lunges: 4 × 20(20 DB)
Adductor: 12(13pl) 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl)
Abductor: 12(13pl) 10(14pl) 10(15pl) 10(16pl)

The Bear: 5 × 3 rounds (30) [damn you daveirl for putting that idea in my head ]

Monsterset:
DB Front raises: 6(8 ) 8(8 ) 8(8 )
DB Lat raises: 6(8 ) 8(8 ) 8(8 )
DB Rear Delt Raises: 8(8 ) 8(8 ) 8(8 ) [damn you Dragan for putting that idea in my head ]

BB Military Press: 10(bar) 8(bar + 5) 6(bar + 7.5)


Thoughts:
I think I’ve killed my shoulders :eek:

g'em

Saturday 23rd September Day 26
Well today did NOT get off to a very good start. After sleeping quite badly (and getting woken at 4am by my housemate falling through the front door) I woke up groggy and not feeling too hot. Lipo six down the throat, go for a pee, and then it was onto the scales to the fortnightly progress check. So up I get on the scales and… 154lbs.

What in the what now??? One friggin fugglin miserly stooped goddamn sucky assed lb lost in the last two weeks?? ONE POUND??? I know I put on five pounds after the last feed up but I thought that overall it’d have come down more than that…

Aftre a 40min pre-brekkie run it was back home and I filled my belly with oaty, yoghurty goodness then sat down and stuck the numbers of truth into my spreadsheet to see was progress really as slow as my 1lb weight-loss suggested…


Dang baby!!! Woohooo!!! And that would be the difference in size loss vs weight loss Three and a half inches around the chest (under the boob-line that it, the ladies haven’t just shrunk beyond redemption ) yay!! And were starting to see progress on the lower half too thank goodness: just over two inches gone from the hips and over an inch from the arse crease- no wonder my bum is getting lots of nice comments these days!! And as for the calliper readings… well, I don’t take the %bf as verbatim (well, maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but personally I think my bf is lwoer than the 20% the callipers would suggest...), but the readings are down enough for me to get tentatively excited, and the mm readings are looking great, big losses all round. So all in all- yayay!! It’s coming along nicely merci buckets

Needless to say that put me in a much better mood, and then it was off to the gym for some lifting action and yet more cardio (I ended up doing 80 minutes of cardio today, and it pooped me out big style).

Deadlift: 8(60) 8(80) 8(90) 8(100) [PB for reps]
On arm bent over row: 3 × 10(17.5)
Dips: 3 × 8(bw)
Seated row: 8(10pl) 8(11pl) 8(12pl)
Push down: 8(9pl) 8(10pl 8(10pl)
Assisted pull-ups: 8, 6, 8.

I’m reasonably happy with this. After my early morning shenanigans I was quite tired to be honest, and I just didn’t feel up to heavy DLs. But I was made up about repping out on the 100s.Feed up day #2 was a resounding success, and it was a lovely, lovely day. I once again got to feel that overly-bloated, full of gas, nasty feeling in my belly that’s just one of the most uncomfortable and rank feelings out there, again reminding me how flat tums are the only way forward. I got to eat some of my favourite foods, making the next two weeks of deprivation a little easier.

g'em

Monday 25th September Day 29
today heralds the beginning of the second half of the cut. I’m now officially over 50% of the way through. It sort of feels like I’m in unchartered territory or something. Knowing that someone else (t-ha) had already done a 4 week cut was something of a comfort blanket to me for the last few weeks, but now I’m out there on my own. Ooh, and it also means I only have one feed up day to go. Scary.

I’ve also figured out that so far, four weeks in, I’ve done 20 hours 25 minutes of cardio. How’s that for ass-suckiness???? I flew home from Hawaii in less time than that. Anyhoodles, ‘twas legs day in le gyme today:

Back squat: 5(80) 5(80) 4(90) 3(100) 2(110)
Leg curl + Leg Extension Isometric Holds: 3 × 10 sec holds supersetted
One-arm DB Snatch: 5(15) 4(20) 5(20) 3(22.5)
Bulgarian split squats: 3 × 8(15)
Weighted Cable Crunches: 3 × 8(6pl)

Oooh, I got an extra rep out @110kg- yay!! This workout doesn’t look like a lot on paper but it took quite a while to get done. But I like it, I really do. The heavy squats are fun to bang out at the beginning, and then the snatches and split squats make you work your ass off and get all sweaty and panty

g'em

Tuesday 27th September Day 31
Today I did chest as outlined for me by one of the other board members When I started the cut one of the things I was concerned about was huge amounts of strength loss (which thankfully don’t seem to be happening) but Amazing One kindly offered to put a few ideas down to give me some new training ideas. These mainly revolve around CNS training as opposed to a traditional split bodybuilding routine, but being completely honest he'd need to explain the ins and outs of it to you. The first one of these I tried was the leg plan, which resulted in me getting a new PB in week 3 of the cut, so needless to say I was quite impressed. My chest however, is by far and away my weakest of big bodyparts, and a different story altogether.

BB Press: [1(65) 5(50)] [1(60) 5(50)] [1(60) 5(50)] – I only realised once these were done I was supposed to do 6 reps not 5.. oops
Seated Row: 3 × 6(14pl)
One-arm alternating DB Press: 8(17.5) 10(15) 10(15) 10(15)
Cable crunches: 8(6pl) 8(7pl) 8(7pl)

Well first off my benching sucks ass, big time. Bleugh. Stoopid weak chest. And the alternating DB press is hard. Buuuut, I can say that after this workout my chest felt much more… activated? Primed? Energised? I’m trying to find the right word for it… well it just felt more ‘alive’ than it has done after doing my normal chest routine. After the usual sets of DB pressing and flies my chest tends to fell quite dead but today my pecs felt all tingly or something, it was pretty cool. I’ll be interested to see how I go with it over the next few weeks. The only drawback is that I absolutely have to have someone around to spot me when I’m doing it, so I’m gonna have to time this day right. It seemed to be quite a short workout, and I was sorely tempted to add in a few flyes but resisted. In fairness though I was in the gym for around 50 or 55 minutes- you need to take adequate rest time between sets so its not as dynamic a workout as I’m used to, but I’m putting my faith in Emmet for now

It was a good workout. I’m not going to lie and say I thoroughly enjoyed it, because I still hate benching, but it was less boring than my other chest days, so I’m content enough with that!!

Thursday 28th September Day 32
today was explosive day in the gym…

Deadlifts: 10(75) 10(70) 10(70) 10(70)
Depth Drops: 4 sets of 10
Box Jumps: 3 sets of 10
Shuffle Jumps: 4 sets of 10
One-arm DB Snatch: 3(15) 3(20) 3(22.5) 3(22.5)

Well this was very different. For the deadlifts I was meant to be working at a 60% of 1RM weight, which going on my last 1RM would be around 78kg, but when I tried with 75 I just couldn’t get any explosive power behind it so I dropped to 70 which I was able to move with enough speed that I could feel the fast drive in my hips properly. Depth drops were only done off a step aerobics step and don’t actually ‘feel’ like you’re doing much. I’m going to have to figure out how to get a secure higher platform to jump from. The box jumps (which I sorta threw in myself Emmet, hope that’s ok) felt pretty good, and the shuffle jumps pretty much made everyone in the gym stop what they were doing and stare at the blond eejit hopping from one side of the mat to the other in quick succession, but once I got into the swing o them they felt really good and I increased my jumping length at each set.

Originally the plan was to do one-arm DB cleans, but when I gave these a go I found I just couldn’t keep myself balanced with the DB at shoulder height and forfeited them for snatches instead. But I’m not sure about doing snatches twice in one week… may need to find an alternative.

It feels really strange doing a gym session without very much lifting in it, and at first I felt a bit hard done by, but as I left the gym I noticed that just like yesterday, my body didn’t feel anyway near as tired as it normally would and it felt much more primed for action, like as if my nerve endings were all on high alert or something?? I’m now genuinely curious to see how this programme progresses over the next few weeks. Happy days!!!

I'm now on about 900 calories of solid food a day, the rest made up of whey, pre-workout drink and oil. And yet I feel surprisingly normal. Which in itself is probably the most abnormal thing in the whole process

g'em

Saturday 30th September Day 34
Lack of sleep is my biggest bug-bear right now. It’s still taking me forever to nod off and I wake up at the slightest interruption. It means I’m slow and sluggish in the mornings and I’m crashing harder in the afternoons. My moods are for the most part ok, but when they're bad they're reeeeally bad. This is really one of the hardest things I've ever done. My daily calorie allowance is now what most of my guy friends eat for breakfast Today was (supposed to be) a small random clean up day to hit some of the parts that my new program don't devote as much attention to as I'd like.

Monsterset:
DB Front raises: 3 × 8(8 )
DB Lat raises: 3 × 8(8 )
DB Rear Delt Raises: 3 × 8(8 )

Military BB press: 8(bar) 8(bar + 5) 8(bar + 7.5)
Push-downs: 10(9pl) 8(10pl) 8(10pl)
EZ bar curls: 3 × 8(bar + 10)
One-arm DB OHS: 3 × 5 each side(15)
Superset:
Jack-knife push ups: 3 × 8
Chins: 5, 5, 4

Oooh- my ability to chin is back!!! yay!!

Tried to do cardio afterwards but my body was waaaay too pooped and ten minutes in I just had to give up. Seems I’m paying for the run I did last night. Oh and the calorie deficit probably has something to do with it too Looking back on it, that wasn't really a small session at all. Oops, no wonder I'm so knackered. And I still have cardio to do tonight. Hmm... Dear God let me sleep well tonight after all this exertion!!!

g'em

Monday 2nd October Day 36
The end is finally in sight. Only 5 sleeps left til my last feed up day and it’s plain sailing (well, probably with a few squalls thrown in) from there. But for now, take cover boys and girls, there’s a rant on the way…

Today reminded me why I’m not a fan of working out in the college gym in the evening- I’d spent all day at teaching training and by the time it was lifting hour I was tired and cranky and probably overstimulated after taking my Lipo-6 later than normal and a Spike on top of it to combat the exhaustion I was feeling (I woke at 5 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep… eugh).

Why is it so strange for guys to see a girl in the free weights area lifting something heavier than 5kg? In the same way I've suspected in the past (and been proven right) that people here on the board think that I'm some muscle-bound she-male going on the weights that I lift. I nearly lost it this evening when two guys came over and stood right in front of me when I was doing the snatches and started making big noises about how much they were going to bench, wihtout actually realising that I was lifting with one arm what they were about to put on the BB. ffs, each to their own and I'm not going to start claiming I'm hugely stronger than anyone, but leave the Testosterone and the ego's at the door boys, and use the energy to lift something heavy. I've resisted doing this until now, but just to show you that a girl can routinely lift twice her body weight and look pretty reasonable doing it, here's the most recent pictures of my back and my front- I have a 28 inch waist and am a size 12 in jeans. That's not big by anyones standards now is it? Ok, so I'm more muscular than most girls, but I like it that way, and anyone who doesn't like it... well I couldn't give a flying fart frankly

The only, and I mean only, saving grace of the influx of new people in the gym is that not one of them knows what a squat rack is for so I had it to myself. That and I’m snatching heavier. Oh and I racked out on both the leg curl and leg extension machines for my iso holds. So maybe three saving graces. Sweet.

Back squat: 5(80) 5(80) 4(90) 3(100) 3(100)
Leg curl + Leg Extension Isometric Holds: 4 × 10 sec holds supersetted
One-arm DB Snatch: 5(20) 3(22.5) 3(25) 3(25)
Bulgarian split squats: 3 × 8(15)
ATG Clean + pull: 5(30) 2(37.5) I got too tired/ dizzy to keep going at this stage.

Happy about some things, not so much about others. But it's still progress, which I genuinely wasn't expecting to happen while I was on such an extreme calorie deficit. Looking into a few different routes for my maintenance diet when I finish this up, and the less I'm eating them, the less important I think carbs are to me. Some well-planned starches and simple sugars at the right times of day should be enought to keeping me tip-top and it'll be proteins, fats, veg and fruit for the most part.

Vegeta

my god you are strong

I was going to say you are strong for a girl but no, you are just strong.

justsomebloke

Vegeta wrote:

my god you are strong

I was going to say you are strong for a girl but no, you are just strong.

and this is why the kids where looking at her like a freak, it just happened that she was a female lifiting the weight, if it was a guy lifting that much they still would of thought he was a freak for lifting that much

Vegeta

jsb wrote:

and this is why the kids where looking at her like a freak, it just happened that she was a female lifiting the weight, if it was a guy lifting that much they still would of thought he was a freak for lifting that much

I think it is class, all that power in a well maintained feminine body. She should be some form of spy or ninja.

Jumpy

Vegeta wrote:

I think it is class, all that power in a well maintained feminine body. She should be some form of spy or ninja.

Or ninja-spy.

Well done there g'em. Thats one hell of a set of shoulders. How much has the cut brought definition out? Were they as defined before you started?

g'em

@ Vegeta- lol, yeah, most people have dropped the "for a girl" by now, it's just the "you lift heavy" bit that applies

Jumpy wrote:

Or ninja-spy.

Well done there g'em. Thats one hell of a set of shoulders. How much has the cut brought definition out? Were they as defined before you started?

hmmm.. ninja-spy eh? I could work with that

I had reasonaby 'big' shoulders to start out with, they gained mass well over the last 18 months, especially since I introduced olympic lifts like cleans + push presses into my lifting. You could make out the three delt heads before I started the cut but they've come into their own since the body fat came down and striations are starting to appear, which I'm pretty made up with. And thanks!

justsomebloke

g'em wrote:

hmmm.. ninja-spy eh? I could work with that

sorry but no you couldn't, It would be worse then an austin powers sketch all they would have to do to catch you would be put a really nice pair of expensive shoes in a giant mouse trap and you'd be caught and even at that point you'd just be going, emmmm pretty shoes