The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Thx I'm really peeled down so hopefully the judges like what they see. If they don't so be it, it's my last show of the season before I start hunting and eat a bunch of trash lol. After the show we are going to hit San Antonio hard and eat some great food and I might even have a goose and Red Bull. I haven't drank since January so It will be quick ha.

 

There’s a difference. I can talk shit with anyone all day but having conversations with value and learning can be just as cool. Nobody has ever offended me and I’ve never reported/narc on anyone but it can get annoying.

 

@PackCon feeling the fast this morning. Hungry and tired lol. Yesterday was tired as well. May go back to my normal routine as this might not be working with my work routine. Getting in 2,000 calories now as well

 

Gah damn. That’s a badass physique. Don’t look unhuman.

 

Never really got into fasting, I know some people love it. I’d rather eat 4 meals spaced out and end up around 2200 cals/day mostly protein and fat when dieting. Seems to help with satiation for me. Broccoli and riced cauliflower are my only carb sources when dieting. Carbs don’t do much for me other than make me hungry faster when dieting. About time for the gym jeez this site has it all.

Masher - looking peeled. I got shredded last year 176 from about 213. Sitting back up at 205 right now need to start dropping back down. I enjoy eating more and bending bars, but enjoy the look of being shredded no way to do both natty for me. Got my numbers back up to 405 squat, 515DL bench and OHP has sucked due to a shoulder issue so been treading carefully there. Probably drop down to 190 where I have visible abs and call it good for now. Most people have no idea of the sacrifices it takes to get lean. I just remember being so focused on food last year, lol I’d fukin dream about it then wake up like oh shit I blew my deficit.

 

I’m feelin pretty good on mine. My window is 12-8. Yesterday I was clock watching by 10:30. Last night I tried to get a high fat snack in a quarter to 8.

Even when I lift fasted I still feel plenty of energy. But I’m moving all my lifting to during the week. I’ll do fasted cardio on the weekends when I workout in my fasting window.

I notice more if a lack of recovery feeling more so than have energy.

 

That sacrifice to be lean is the whole reason I’m trying fasting lol. Dropping 10lbs should give me clearly visible abs but fuck it’s hard. Been doing it almost a week. Probably about to just quit and go back to eating meals all day.

Haven’t had a “cheat meal” in ~3 weeks.

btw welcome to the thread man!

 

IMO it gets easier after about 3 weeks when you get adjusted to the deficit and just embrace the suck that is dieting. I find it helpful to accurately track my intake and weigh everything I eat when dieting. I don't use MFP or anything just the notes on my phone and track calories, protein and fat. I don't do cheat meals either, I usually will have a few beers once in awhile but fit them into my macros/intake for the day. I don't have any real desire to get as lean as I got last year again. Once I got down to single digits I had zero sex drive, felt really "fragile" in the gym and started having a lot of minor injuries etc. Part of it was trying to maintain my lifts which stayed up until I started getting peeled then they started falling off. I had the energy to lift, that was never an issue, but I just couldn't move the weights like I can when I'm carrying a little more bodyfat. You can find a sweet spot though where you can look really good and still live somewhat "normal". I'm not much of a cardio fan, but I think adding an hour of LISS (usually a brisk walk at lunch) helped me a lot. If I do steady state or HIIT for cardio it just makes me hungrier lol. If you stick with your deficit for a few weeks it will get easier though, and once you get to visible abs, it takes a lot less actually weight loss to see big changes in the mirror.

 

Im still probably 20-21% BF. 177 this morning. 5’9-5’10. Started at 220.


Would love to get shredded just to see how it looks but this last cut is hard lol. Went to do squats this morning and just felt like ass.

what did you look like in single %’s? How long have you been at it? Any before and afters?

 

Nvm I see the pics now

 

Gah damn man. That’s lean.

 

Just out of curiosity, what was your fat intake?

I’ve noticed the opposite, personally. I can run, do pull ups, and push ups all day long.

 

I started back to training at a fat 246 about 5 years ago when I was 34 lol. I cut then ran small surpluses for the first 3 years mostly chasing numbers. When I finally started stalling hard on strength gains I started shifting to wanting to get lean. I cut last year for 9 months going from 213 to 176 (dry/depleted). Towards the end of a cut it is hard, you have to stay on point ALL THE TIME. Guys that compete are just a different breed, the level of dedication is pretty insane. Anybody that is motivated can go in and train, it takes something else to do it while running a controlled starvation diet. I'm a little fluffier right now than I'd like, but I was trying to gain back some lost ground on lifts. I run a pretty basic training regimen usually either full-body 3X per week, or an upper lower split (4 days per week). I was doing Jujitsu and Judo as well, but taking a break from that right now due to just being too busy with kids stuff (their Judo, wrestling, scouts etc etc).

 

Dang man that’s awesome. You look badass for only 3-4x/week. Also incredible for your age too.

 

I always try to stay at 90-110g/day when dieting since fat is a big part of Test production and an essential macro. I run my carbs in the "keto" range, but run my protein much higher than "keto" usually 1.2g/lb (200g/day avg) and when dieting I try to avoid drinking calories, I feel more satiated eating solid food than drinking whey.

 

What’s some of your daily meals? If you don’t mind me asking.

 

Weighed in at 227.5 this morning. Weighed 236 Sunday night after having two weddings this weekend . Wendlers still going strong, hit 450x3 squat, 340x4 bench and have deadlifts today. 3x3 week is probably my favorite week on this program.

 

Please tell me more about your macros.

I’m 28, 5’9’ 155-157lbs and sub 10%. My honest guess is 8%.

I lift and very much enjoy it but I’m an ex-long distance runner who’s getting back into it. I’m aiming to race the Chicago Marathon next year. So thats speed focused. The next year (2021) I’m looking to do a 50 mile Ultra in the CO mountains (not speed focused).
Goals are to be about 160, same body fat. Lifting and maintaining mass is still a big priority.

Preparing for road races are much more glycolysis focused while ultras are much more lipolysis focused. I wish you could turn keto on and off like a light switch depending on what you want but biophysics doesn’t work that way.

I’m low carb (<100g) a day. Thats been working pretty well but I’m thinking of going lower.
What keeps me from trying full keto at this point is... beer is like my most favorite thing... and I’m worried about just how realistic it is to train for speed in ketosis.

Curious what you do and what your experiences have been.

I am also in my 3rd week of 16:8 IF. Trying on getting my cals and macros so I can stop losing weight. I’ve dropped the last two weeks and that has not been the goal.

 

Meat and veg pretty much when dieting. I eat 3 eggs and lean turkey sausage for breakfast. Steak or 90% lean beef and broccoli for lunch, chicken is usually in there mid afternoon with a low carb wrap and lettuce or spinach, and a mountain of stirfired riced cauliflower for dinner with fish, lean pork etc. Typically 6oz raw weight for protein servings, but sometimes 8oz. About 1.5lbs of meat per day and 1.5lbs of broccoli and riced cauliflower and romaine lettuce or spinach. It varies, but not a lot when dieting, I find what works for hunger control and stick with it.

Solid numbers! Wendler has some good programming. I saw some significant hamstring growth running 5/3/1 BBB template but doing those 10 rep sets of squats and deads was fukin brutal.

 

I did keto for a awhile and used a blood meter doing experiments. For me, keto was okay for endurance but not good for explosive strength. Muscles being full of glycogen makes a bigger lever to move weight. My "normal" non-dieting macros have me around 100g CHO per day. The main thing is you cant ride two horses with one ass i.e. you are not going to excel at strength training and distance running at the same time. That said you can focus on distance running and strength train to enhance your running. Runners often have muscular imbalances so getting hammy work in will help offset the quad work from running. Macros are pretty simple though, without getting too technical the minimums are 1g protein/lb and about .5g fat/lb. Carbs can be adjusted as you see fit, protein and fat can be higher, carbs lower, or run the protein and fat at minimums and run carbs higher. There is a difference in how people respond to macro changes. My wife needs carbs, cannot function without a greater percentage. For me carbs usually make me somewhat lethargic and hungry, so I choose to run them lower. If I was doing more endurance type stuff that might be different and extra carbs might be beneficial I've never experimented with that though. I know there is some reports of endurance athletes excelling using keto, but keep in mind it is a pretty restrictive way to eat...