Barry's Body Transformation!

12 Days Later

2009-10-02T08:11:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo I took this morning after 12 days of Rapid Fat Loss. To see the before picture from 12 days ago, scroll down to the previous post.

Hey Kids!

2009-09-23T09:18:00.002-05:00

I'm still here, still working my ass off in pursuit of my goals.

I'm on a 12 day stint of Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss program right now. I'll be done on October 1st, and then I'll resume bulking.

This is my general approach to body transformation at this point. Bulk a little, cut a little. Repeat. Don't ever let yourself get too fat while adding muscle. For me I would say the upper end is 14% body fat and even that is pushing it.

Here's a photo I took on Day 1 of RFL (three days ago):

How Are Your Shoulders?

2009-07-22T16:07:00.002-05:00

If you're like me you have one (or maybe both) shoulders causing you a little discomfort, and possibly even pain in certain movements.

If not, you're interested in preventing shoulder problems. Have a look at this video. I've implemented it into my training to address the issues I've been having with my right shoulder. I'll be posting again in a week or two to report my progress.

What's your maximum muscle potential?

2009-06-19T18:10:00.001-05:00

Here's a very cool calculator that you can use to figure out your maximum muscle potential.

Here are my results:

Height: 72 in Wrist: 6.5 in
Ankle: 9 in

Your estimated maximum muscular bodyweight at ~10% bodyfat is: 204.8 lbs

Your estimated maximum muscular measurements (@ ~8%-10% bodyfat) are:

Chest: 47.2 in Biceps: 16.7 in
Forearms: 13.4 in Neck: 16.3 in
Thighs: 25.5 in Calves: 17.1 in

I found it reading Lyle McDonald's latest article.

Weird Video of the Day

2009-06-17T19:53:00.002-05:00

This is a video of deceased Japanese body builder Katsumi Kitamura drinking a bowl of egg whites and making a frozen chicken shake. And yeah, the guy was obviously taking lots and lots of steroids.

New Rules Of Lifting Fat Loss Routines Suck

2009-06-02T15:51:00.002-05:00

That's pretty much it. If you're using them you should stop now. They suck. Here's why.

Photos after 6 weeks of Ultimate Diet 2.0

2009-04-20T09:43:00.004-05:00

Progress Pic

2009-04-06T09:37:00.003-05:00

Week 5 of Ultimate Diet 2.0 begins today. Here's a quick photo I took this morning:

Neglect!

2009-03-23T19:52:00.002-05:00

I've been seriously neglecting this blog. So here's a brief update.

I've been training a minimum of three times a week for the last (almost) 2 years. Some people send me messages from time to time wondering if I've quit or given up. Never!!!

I'm in week 3 of Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0. It's challenging but it's also a lot of fun. You workout four times a week, and I do a morning cardio session on Thursdays. All told I'm spending about six hours in the gym each week which is the most I've ever done. Surprisingly it doesn't seem like any more than when I was only doing three hours a week.

I'm going to take some new photos this coming Monday and post them.

That's about it..

Taking a 2 week break.

2009-01-30T21:35:00.002-06:00

I have one week left of a two week break from dieting.

Look, let me speak clearly. If you want to lose fat and keep muscle, and not waste a lot of time doing it, you simply MUST get Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook.

It's hands down the best $40 dollars you will ever spend.

I actually hate having to take a break. The progress on Rapid Fat Loss is so amazing and so.. well, rapid, I hate to stop.

I'm going to start again in one week as a "category 1" dieter and do the diet for 12 days and then take another two week break, and then it's time for Lyle's Ultimate Diet 2.0.

I can actually say that my abs are almost visible. I'm honestly within a month or so of dieting before I have clearly defined abs and I could not be happier.

I'll update again later on.. hopefully some pics will be posted after I get ripped.

PSMF

2008-12-21T00:19:00.002-06:00

I have been doing a protein sparing modified fast since 12/07. It works wonders. In two weeks I have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of fat on my body. It is not a scientific measurement by any means but simply squeezing the fat on my abdomen makes it apparent that I have been shedding fat.

Tonight I am having some alcohol and for the next two weeks I will be eating maintenance calories.

After New Years I will be back to doing PSMF. I love it.. hunger is almost non-existent. Taking ephedrine and caffeine has made a huge difference too. I highly recommend Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook, even though Lyle is a big asshole.

Changes.

2008-09-01T01:10:00.001-05:00

I've decided I'm sick of doing Starting Strength. I've increased all my lifts substantially while my body has continued to look basically the same. This is to be expected. Strength training in the five rep range results in myofibrilar hypertrophy.

So starting tomorrow I will be starting Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST). I'll spend the next week figuring out my 15, 10 and 5 rep maxes on a variety of exercises and then I will take two weeks off from all lifting (I plan to continue some low intensity cardio during this time).

Afterward, I will begin an HST cycle. You can learn more here.

So that's it.. hopefully I will see some noticeable change in physique and in January I'll start cutting with Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0, a cyclical ketogenic diet. I will cut for four months and resume bulking in May of 2009.

Until next time.

Hello again

2008-08-14T10:12:00.002-05:00

I went back to eating for strength a few weeks ago, and now I am stuck with my lifts. I cannot get my squat back over 270 x 5.

Likewise, bench and press are stuck. Lots of room to improve my deadlift.

I've also started power cleaning instead of rowing but my form sucks so I have some learning to do there.

Tomorrow I'm going to cut volume and drop weights by 10%. On Monday I'm going to start an intermediate routine described by Mark Rippetoe in Practical Programming for Strength Training called The Texas Method.

Essentially you schedule progress weekly using Volume/Recovery/Intensity days.

Cut Begins Tomorrow

2008-07-11T21:35:00.004-05:00

Today I squatted 270 lbs. for 3 sets of 5 reps each. I think I'm at my physical limit for now because I can *barely* get the last rep in each set, and I have no choice but to let out a primal drawn out grunt as I drive up on the last rep. My face is beet red with veins popping out on the sides of my face. Not pretty. Then my heart is beating like a drum for a minute or two after each set. One technique I utilize is to pull the bar down against my back when I'm pushing up on that last rep. It's supposed to trigger some kind of fight or flight response and it works. You feel that bar dig into your delts and back and somehow squeeze out the last rep.

So, I'm going to stick with this weight for the next month or so. Hopefully as I cut some fat I can keep squatting this amount of weight.

It's funny to think of how difficult squatting 270 lbs. is for me when I watch videos like this one (50 seconds in) where the guy squats 215 lbs. for 40 reps in 90 seconds. "Holy shit" is about the only thing that comes to mind watching that.

Hydrostatic Weighing Results

2008-07-10T20:48:00.004-05:00

In November my hydrostatic weighing results were:

age: 31
height: 72
weight: 175

%fat 11.00353

Fat mass: 19.25618
Lean mass: 155.7438

I kept dieting down to 163 lbs. until February. Then I slowly raised calories until I eventually reached 3600 kcal some time in April.

Today my hydrostatic weighing results were:

age: 32
height: 72
weight: 187.7

%fat 12.9653

Fat mass: 24.33587
Lean mass: 163.3641

Gains:

%fat +1.96177

Fat mass: +5.07969
Lean mass: +7.6203

Ratio lean to fat gain: 1.5 (for every 1.5 lbs. of lean mass gained, I gained 1 pound of fat).

Total weight gain: +12.69999

Not too shabby for less than three months of work!

The beauty is that if I lost five pounds of fat and kept the lean mass I've gained I'd be at 10% body fat. Losing five pounds of fat is easy and can be done in a month. However, as mentioned in a previous post I'm easing back into dieting since this will be my first post-mass gain phase cut. My first cut was just post-fat ass. The point being, I don't want to lose any strength, so I'm easing calories down slowly. Next week I'll drop down to 2500 kcal and start watching the scale more closely. If I'm not seeing any movement after another week I'll add in thirty minutes of jump rope on my off days. I'm hoping I don't have to drop calories any lower but I probably will have to, so long as I keep all my strength gains.

Hopefully by September or so I can return to another mass gain phase. I'm going to do things differently with respect to my carbohydrate consumption next time, but I'll save all of that for a post some other time.

Easing back into fat loss mode

2008-07-07T19:59:00.002-05:00

So for the time being I'm done bulking. I've gained a lot of strength and presumably some muscle, as well as some fat. It's time to take out the blow torch and shed the fat and show off what I've created over these past few months.

I'm playing around with some ideas. Today I did an intermittent fast, so I didn't eat until 1:30 this afternoon. I'll stop eating in about thirty minutes, and tomorrow I'll do another 16 to 18 hour fast. Calories are still at 3000 but I'm going to lower them slowly while still attempting strength gains, or at least not losing any strength. I'm going to do cardio on my off days. I bought this high tech jump rope by Nike yesterday so tomorrow I'm going to give that a try. I have a heart rate monitor calorie counter so I'll be shooting for 400 to 500 calories in 30 to 45 minutes of work.

Goal will be to lose a pound a week, possibly more as long as I don't lose any strength. I'll be keeping protein high at around 250 grams per day.

I'm still doing starting strength but I'm going to reduce the volume to one work set instead of three.

I'll also be carb cycling.. so I'm excited to lose some fat and lean out.

On July 10th I'm going to be hydrostatically weighed so I'll report back with the results.. I'm 192 lbs. as of this morning.. quite a long way from my low of 163 pounds back in February.

Until next time!

-Barry

Still here

2008-06-25T21:48:00.004-05:00

I'm still here, still doing Starting Strength.

Some stats:

Weight: 190 lbs.

Squat: 235 x 5
Deadlift: 255 x 5
Bench: 167.5 x 5

So I should probably stop bulking up but I'm going to wait a while longer. I'd like to wait until I progress to an intermediate level before I go back to cutting some fat off my body but we'll see. On a related note I am drinking three to four gallons of skim milk a week. If you handle lactose then it's really a perfect food.

My deadlift should probably be higher than it is relative to my squat but I'm not worried about it. I imagine the squat will plateau before the deadlift anyway.

Here are two videos from this morning's workout:

Squatting 235 lbs. for 5 reps:

Deadlifting 255 lbs. for 5 reps:

I'm not thrilled with the execution of the deadlift. The first rep is good but my hips rise too quickly on the rest of the reps. I think I was unintentionally trying to avoid scraping my right shin which already has a scab on it from the last time I deadlifted. I must either learn to love bloody shins or buy a pair of skin tight track pants.

Proper Deadlift Set-Up

2008-06-10T08:46:00.003-05:00

Coach Mark Rippetoe demonstrates how to properly set up the deadlift:

The Case for Weighing Yourself Daily

2008-06-09T08:26:00.005-05:00

I believe that when you're in the process of transforming your body, whether it be fat loss or muscle gain, you should weigh yourself daily and keep a log of your body weight.

The reason is pretty simple. Your body weight fluctuates a lot from day to day depending on a number of factors including how many and what type of carbohydrates you ate the day before, how close to bed you ate your last serving of carbs, how much water you drank, how dry the air in your room where you sleep is, whether you consumed any diuretics like coffee, and on and on.

As an example: On June 3rd I weighed in at 186 lbs. Two days later on June 5th I weighed in at 183.3 lbs. Today, June 9th, I weighed in at 187.6 lbs. If I weighed myself weekly I'd have to conclude that I had gained almost three pounds! Of course that would cause me to reevaluate my weight gain diet and probably scale back on the calories I eat each day. The end result? I would wind up not eating enough calories to build muscle because I was scared off by what I didn't realize was merely water weight gain.

So, it's important to weigh yourself every day so that you can analyze the trend in your weight over time, and know when one day's weight gain is abnormally large.

The same thing applies to fat loss, especially if your fat loss diet includes reduced carbohydrates or periodic carbohydrate refeeds. You can experience a sudden drop in your body weight leading you to conclude that you're losing muscle when in fact you're just dropping water weight.

Once you've been weighing yourself daily and also logging all the food you eat, you'll get pretty good and predicting what your body will do. Last night I had some vanilla ice cream about an hour before bed. Just like clock work I "gained" a pound in one night. Today, I'll be drinking plenty of water all day at work and consuming a (relatively) reduced carbohydrate diet so that tomorrow I will have "lost" a pound or two. I would guess that within a few days I will weigh in at 184 lbs. or less.

Another fun trick you can try is to have no carbs with your last two meals (assuming you eat six meals a day which everyone should). You'll "lose" at least a pound, possibly more simply by going low carb for six to 8 hours before bed.

Weigh yourself daily and keep a log so that you don't fall victim to the sometimes wild swings of your body weight.

The Horror of Steroids

2008-06-09T08:25:00.002-05:00

Considering steroids?

Read this first.

One Year And Counting!

2008-06-02T07:47:00.002-05:00

It was in May of last year that I began my transformation. So I've now been lifting weights for just over a year. In that time I've only skipped three workouts. Yes I am bragging.

Starting Strength is going great.

Yesterday's workout stats:

Squat: 3 sets, 185 lbs. x 5
Bench: 3 sets, 145 lbs. x 5
Deadlift: 1 set, 220 lbs. x 5

So far so good, no missed reps. Weight gain is going slow and steady. Today I was 184.8 lbs.

Do Cholesterol Lowering Drugs Work?

2008-05-29T11:17:00.001-05:00

If your doctor has you on a statin to lower your cholesterol, you're wasting your money.

Squat - 170 x 5

2008-05-24T22:02:00.002-05:00

Video from today's workout. I posted it to my thread on Strengthmill (see the post below) and Mark Rippetoe said: "Much, much better set." So, obviously I'm pretty happy about that.

Mark Rippetoe's critique of my squat & deadlift form

2008-05-15T20:22:00.001-05:00

I'm honored to have Mark Rippetoe take a few moments from his busy day to watch my squat and deadlift videos and tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Check it out.

New Videos!

2008-05-13T20:37:00.003-05:00

These were taken tonight at my first Starting Strength workout. The weights are pretty light, so I'm excited for my upcoming workouts so I can begin to make progress. I'll be increasing all lifts five pounds at each workout so in a few weeks things should start to get fairly challenging.

First up, a side view of me squatting 145 lbs. for 5 reps:

Next, a rear-side view of the same weight and reps:

Next we have me deadlifting 205 lbs. for 5 reps:

Finally, here's me bench pressing 145 lbs. for 5 reps:

My squatting form still needs work but it's improving. The biggest flaw I can see is that my knee(s) track forward sometimes when I'm at the bottom.