Jheft's Heftorium (for all your hefting needs)

Well, I guess I'd better start keeping one of these so you guys can harangue me if I start losing my motivation and disappear.

Summary:
Male, 29 years old, 5'11", about 185 lbs. Never seriously worked out before. I bike daily during the week to and from work, about 7-10 minutes each way (very low intensity), which is pretty much all the excercise I'd gotten regularly until now....

Goals:
Ultimate goal: To look good naked. I picture that happening at around 6-7% body fat at say, 180 lbs.
Shorter term: Gain 7 lbs lean mass by February 24th (7 weeks from start).
Medium term: Gain 14 lbs lean mass by April 14th (14 weeks after I started working out). I don't feel good about the idea of weighing over 200 at my current body fat %, so I'm gonna start cutting the day I hit 199.
Longer term: 9% body fat. Assuming everything goes well, and I've gained 14 lbs lean mass by April 14, I'll have to cut 16 lbs of fat to get to 9% at 173 lbs. At a pound a week, that works out to August 4th.

Nutrition plan:
2900 calories and 185 grams of protein daily, roughly 25% protein, 25% fat, 50% carbs in 6 meals. Multi-vitamin daily, and protein shake split between pre and post workout.

Training plan:
Sunday - Off/Cardio
Monday - Back, Bisceps, Abs
Tuesday - Off/Cardio
Wednesday - Shoulders, Legs
Thursday - Off/Cardio
Friday - Off
Saturday - Chest, Triceps, Abs

More detail and summary of week one (01/06 - 01/13) to follow...

Hey man, I think you should work out more your abs, why not trying on wednesday too?
 
 

Motivation comes by itself when improvement is seen!

i dont see why he should trains abs 3 times a week.. looks fine how it is IMO

215 lbs
5'10''

yep I agree, it's ok as it is, but since is a hard-to-overtrain muscle might as well wourk it out more than just 2 times a week
 
About your motivation, don't give up you're still young.  There are some 60 years old guys in this forum who are still working out

Motivation comes by itself when improvement is seen!

What will your cardio consist of?

The exercise program looks good!

You might add some fast-acting carbs right after your lifting workouts.

Looking forward to your journal!

"If there's nothing else that's relevant, I'll be leaving now"

"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground"

re: abs I've heard that it's not ideal to do abs on the same day as legs. Also, I don't like doing them enough to do them three times a week. I generally like the other parts of my routine, and I want to keep it that way so that I keep doing it. When my abs get stronger I may hate them less, and will want to add another day.

re: cardio Cardio will be me riding my bike 35-45 minutes (however hard it takes to get good and worn out after that amount of time.) There's a really nice bike path that I use. Also, I have a little bit of cardio almost every day since my bike is pretty much how I get around. I've been using the ride home from work as part of a warmup for my workouts on weekdays.

re: post-workout carbs I've been using a a MRP shake that has lots of carbs (mostly sugar) in addition to whey. It's a crappy brand though, so I'm gonna get something else in the future. Probably ON 100% Gold Standard, and I'll either mix in some fruit with it, or eat a banana with it or something for some fast carbs.

I've also been mixing in fresh ground flax seed with the shakes based on some info I've seen on various threads here. I may stop doing that, because the flax is revolting stuff. It doesn't taste terrible, but it gives me weird fishy burps, and makes me not want to eat for the rest of the day. Also, I usually mix up my post-workout shake at the same time as my pre-workout shake, then stick it in the fridge so I have it available immediately. When I do that, the flax gives it the texture of thick, raw, frothy egg-whites. It's horrifying. I've also seen conflicting info that says flax slows down digestion, which seems like the opposite of what I want post-workout.

About your motivation, don't give up you're still young.

Don't say that! "You're still young" is what people tell you when you're getting old. :-( I like to say that I'm young for my age, on occasion, I've had people ask me what grade I'm in. :-)

Anyhow, do the goals I've set so far seem like a reasonable expectation?

Training Details:
Here are the excercises I've been performing (split as described in original post.) The number in parenthesis is the number of sets. I'm shooting for 8-10 reps unless otherwise specified.

Back: bent over row (4), shrug (4), looking for third excercise
Bisceps: dumbbell curl (3), concentration curl (3), hammer curl (2)
Forearms: wrist curl (2)
Abs: cruches (3x15), oblique crunches (3x15)
Shoulders: dumbbell shoulder press (3), upright row (4), real delt row (3)
Legs: squat (4), straight leg deadlift (4), single leg calf raise (4)
Triceps: kickback (3), lying triceps extension (3), one arm triceps extension (2)
Chest: dumbbell bench press (4), dumbbell fly (3), dumbbell pullover (3)

My choices here are mostly based around what i can do with my equipment - dumbells and a flat bench. Where possible I've tried to choose compound over isolated excercies. I've mostly been using the exrx.net excercise directory for reference, but if there are other dumbbell excercises I should include in my routine, or some in this list I should drop for that matter, I'd be glad to take suggestions.

I'm looking for suggestions for a good third back excercise that can be performed with dumbells and a flat bench. My bench is too low for lying rows, unfortunately. In the mean time, I've been doing 4 more sets of bent over rows if my workout isn't running long.

I do bisceps and forearms together, and it kinda seems like that's too many excercises. I don't have trouble getting them all in, it's just that they are small muscles and it seems like too much attention to spend on them. Should I cut one of the excercises and go for greater intensity on the remainder? Also, the wrist curls make me nervous. I had a friend get carpal tunnel, and since my job involves lots of typing, I'm terrified of getting a similar injury. It doesn't hurt to do wrist curls, but it feels like a damn unnatural way to use your wrist... I mean, I could do my job with a broken leg, or a mangled ankle, or even a bad back, but I would be SOL with a painful wrist.

For the straight leg deadlift, I'm being very careful to start with very little weight and work up slowly to acclimate my back. Also, my hamstrings are appallingly inflexible. I was never able to touch my toes in gym class, but it's gotten worse. I don't even come close to reaching the floor without bending my knees. I'm working on stretching them every workout, but I don't know how much I'll be able to improve them.

Since I'm trying to break in gradually the first couple weeks, I'm not working to failure most of the time yet. Starting with week 3, I'm going to try to choose weights that max me out and reach failure at 8-10 reps. The exception will be deadlifts and wrist curls where I'm going to be increasing weight very gradually to avoid injury.

Week 1 Summary:

Start of Week Stats (Saturday, 2007-01-06):
5'11", 185.4 lbs (body fat unknown, no available measurements).

Saturday, 2007-01-06:
Weight: 185.4 lbs.

Had first workout in evening, triceps, chest and abs. Don't know the excercises, so it took over an hour, which is obviously not ideal. Once I get the hang of it, I think it'll be more like 45 minutes.

Was able to use a bit heavier weights than I expected. Not heavy by any means, but certainly heavier than my apparently low expectations.

Food: Didn't keep track yet, but I probably ate pizza all day.

Sunday, 2007-01-07:
Weight: 184.8 lbs

Feel whooped this morning, but not much pain. Triceps still feel pumped, espescially left. I can actually flex it and see it do stuff! Started diet today - light bike ride to the store and back to pick up some healthy junk. Had a more vigorous bike ride in the evening for cardio (37 minutes).

Discovered nuts and peanut butter have even more fat than I originally imagined. Unable to eat enough of this rabbit food to get in enough calories. Need more meat and heavy-duty carbs.

Left triceps seemed to get a pump for no reason around bedtime.

Food: 2295 calories, 153g protein. 35% of calories from fat. :-(

Monday, 2007-01-08:
Weight: 184.6 lbs

Slept very well. More sore than yesterday, but not bad. Left arm sorta seems bigger, but that just be my overactive imagination going. Got some protein powder stuff from store for post-workout shake.

Workout at 6:10 pm, abs, back, bisceps, forearms. The pump on my right arm pulled my skin tighter, and I could kinda see the shape of my triceps. Looks cool!

Was craving and eating beef jerky all day. Felt like diet went better overall...

Food: 3062 calories, 230 g protein, only 15% fat (too low!)

Tuesday, 2007-01-09:
Weight: 184.6 lbs

Slept not quite as well. Forgot mid-morning meal. Discovered that caesar salad is a waste of stomach space and has more fat than you'd think. Had a grilled cheese along with it for lunch, and that actually fit my diet better.

Had a couple slices of pizza and a beer, but they were OK because I had planned for them. :-)

Biked in evening.

Food: 2939 calories, 175 g protein, 30% of calories from fat

Wednesday, 2007-01-10:
Weight: 183.8 lbs (retaining water? calories too low?)

Workout at 6:22 pm, shoulders and legs. My hamstrings are disturbingly inflexible. I can't even come close to reaching the floor without bending my knees. I'll have to work extra hard on stretching them. I demanded more of my legs today than I have of my upper body because they're in much better shape than the rest of me. Plus big muscles = big workout! Go quads go! Got it in under an hour, but was COMPLETELY spent. Legs were like wet noodles.

Really hungry all day. Miscalculated somewhere and probably ate too much.

Food: 3324 calories, 212 g protein, 22% of calories from fat

Thursday, 2007-01-11:
Weight: 184.6 lbs

Big muscle = big pain! Not that bad really. I might be walking a little funny... Could proably have broken in more gently. Felt like I helped somebody move yesterday. Somebody who owns lots of pool tables.

Kept cardio very light with legs like this.

Food: 2975 calories, 163 g protein, 27% of calories from fat

Friday, 2007-01-12:
Weight: 185 lbs

Off day, and it's a good thing. Quads still feel really worn out and sore, but I can see some new shape in my calves. They started out in pretty decent shape to begin with, so I'm surprised. Is a visible improvement really possible with one workout?

Food: 3066 calories, 176 g protein, 25% of calories from fat

End of Week Stats (Saturday, 2007-01-13):
5'11", 185.2 lbs, ~22% body fat.

To get body fat, I tried both measurements with a Myotape measure and a fat caliper. I couldn't get consitent results with the caliper, so I'm not confident I'm going to be able to track that well with that, but both methods were pretty close to in the end. I am confident that I'll be able to get very accurate and consistent measurements with the tape, even though the fat estimates for that might not be as good generally.

Skin folds:
It was easy to get consistent results with bisceps, so I took that even though it's not used in the 3 site formula. Chest was also pretty easy to get to be consistent. It was very hard to get a consistent result with the abdomen measurement. Slightly different placement of the caliper gave me results that were up to 10 or more mm different. I took lots of measurements, then took an average of where the largest group of them seemed to be clustered. Thigh was hard because my skin is extremely tight there. I managed to give myself a nice bruise in the end, but I think the measurement is not too inaccurate.

Biscep: 9mm
Chest: 20mm
Abdomen: ~34mm
Thigh: 20mm

Body fat: 21.9% (3 site formula)

Measurements:
I feel that I am able to get very consistent measurements here.

L calf: 14"
R calf: 14 3/8"
L thigh: 23 1/4"
R thigh: 23 1/8"
waist: 38"
chest: 38 3/4"
neck: 15 7/8"
L forearm: 10 5/8"
R forearm: 10 3/4"
L biscep: 11 1/2"
R biscep: 12 1/4"

Body fat: 22.76% (http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/bodyfat.php)

Week 2 Summary (first half):

Start of Week Stats (Saturday, 2007-01-13):
5'11", 185.2 lbs, ~22% body fat.

Saturday, 2007-01-13:
Weight: 185.2 lbs

Workout (abs, triceps and chest) went well at first, increased most weights over last week, though I ended up exhausting myself a little too much and faded toward the end.

Food: 3017 calories, 156 g protein, 25% of calories from fat

Sunday, 2007-01-14:
Weight: 185.4 lbs

Hard to get motivated today. Kept cardio light.

Food: 2870 calories, 188 g protein, 24% of calories from fat

Monday, 2007-01-15:
Weight: 185.4 lbs

Workout (abs, back, forearm, bisceps) went really well. Kept it in down to a reasonable length, increased intensity everywhere over last week.

Food: 3148 calories, 185 g protein, 25% of calories from fat

Tuesday, 2007-01-16:
Weight: 185.2 lbs

Went out to dinner with friends. Got home tired, didn't want to do my cardio. Incredibly hard to get motivated on days like this, but I got off my ass and ended up biking harder and farther than I have before. Came home really whipped, but it felt good.

I'm not gaining weight, so I think if that holds out for the rest of the week, I'm going to up my calories by 500.

Food: 3002 calories, 186 g protein, 26% of calories from fat

Wednesday, 2007-01-17:
Weight: 185.6 lbs

I find myself craving chocolate, which I rarely have a craving for. I'm really, really craving butter, but I always want butter. I think I'll be able to find some room for it somewhere now and then, because my diet has been way below 30% of calories from fat, and I think I'll need to get closer to that, especially if I want to be able to get in 500 more calories. Quite frankly, I think my body is used to a very high portion of its diet being fat, and it's very unhappy with me now.

I think my testosterone has dropped since I changed my diet. I also might be getting sick, or maybe that's just all it is. Or maybe I'm just a little down. I haven't had a single cheat day, and maybe I need one.

My legs wouldn't cooperate in the workout. I've got this weird pain in the outsides of my thighs (possibly in the long tendon connecting my glutes to my knees) that kicks in when I get part way into my squats, even with very little weight. After the workout, I can even feel it some when getting into and out of chairs, though I don't notice it when standing, sitting or walking. So, I couldn't complete my squat sets.

Without squats, it felt like the whole workout was ruined, but I completed my other leg exercises just fine, and increased intensity over last week, and my shoulder routine, by all objective measure, was a big step up from last week. My shoulders are much stronger! Weights I thought were near my limit for 8-10 reps last week turned into light warm-ups this week, even though I did shoulders first last week and second this week. But to be hobbled this way when I'm still just getting started is really depressing. I'm going to give my legs the week off - no cardio - as much as it pains me. Hopefully, next week they'll be ready to go again.

Food: 2921 calories, 204 g of protein, 20% of calories from fat.

Thursday, 2007-01-18:
Weight: 185.0 lbs

Off day, skipped cardio to let legs rest. Got a new blender and some ON 100% Whey Gold Standard (double rich chocolate), so that's hopefully a lot better than the crap I've been using for pre/post-workout shakes. Soreness in thighs less than yesterday, and dimished throughout the day. DOMS settled into calves and shoulders later in the day, but it's mild. Just feels a little stiff. Still feel like I'm coming down with something, but I'm not actually sick yet...

Food: 2993 calories, 214 g protein, 26% of calories from fat

Friday, 2007-01-19:
Weight: 185.2 lbs

Today was a road trip, so I expected to fall over completely on the food situation and feared that I was going to have to resort to fast food. I had healthy snacks (jerky, granola), with me, so I avoided getting hungry on the road, and we ended up eating at a pretty fancy sushi place, so I was able to get sashimi and have a very healthy, high-protein, low-fat, very delicious meal! I wasn't able to record exact intake, but I'm fairly certain I fell 300-400 calories short. In particular, I got very little fat.

Food: ~2500-2600 calories, ~150 g protein, ~20% of calories from fat

Week 2 Summary:

Start of Week Stats (Saturday, 2007-01-13):
5'11", 185.2 lbs, ~22% body fat.

Week seemed mixed. Workouts were mostly good except for problems with my legs, which prevented me from doing squats and made me miss some cardio. I maintained some consitency in the diet, but it's clearly not enough calories, since I'm not gaining weight (and may be slighly losing weight). I'm gonna bump up to 3500 calories, but I don't know quite yet where I'm going to get them. :-) I've only been getting 20-26% of my calories so far from fat, so maybe I should try harder to hit the 25-30% range on that so that I don't have to eat such a large physical volume of food.

I can see some subtle improvement since when I started. Mostly, I see less flabbyness and saggyness in my chest and more definition in my arms. In my chest, instead of looking shapless and blobby, I can actually see the faintest of outlines of where my muscles ought to be. OK, it's still mostly shapless and blobby, but I can sorta flex my pecs some!

End of Week Stats (Saturday, 2007-01-20):
5'11", 184.8 lbs, ~22% body fat.

I was surprised to see I seem to have an actual measurable improvement over a single week. Assuming this is accurate (and realizing I'm working at the limits to the precision of my measuring), I've lost about 1.28 pounds of fat and gained about 0.88 pounds of lean mass!

Skin folds:
I averaged three measurements to get most these values. The fractional values are probably below the accuracy of my measuring, but I'm recording them anyway.

Biscep: 8.5mm
Chest: 19.33mm
Abdomen: 33.33mm
Thigh: 19mm

Body fat: 21.03% (3 site formula)

Measurements:
I feel like I was able to get consistent measurements, so I think these are pretty accurate.

L calf: 14 1/4"
R calf: 14 1/2"
L thigh: 22 7/8"
R thigh: 22 5/8"
waist: 37 3/4"
chest: 39"
neck: 15 7/8"
L forearm: 10 5/8"
R forearm: 10 7/8"
L biscep: 11 3/4"
R biscep: 12 1/4"

Body fat: 22.34% (http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/bodyfat.php)

Updated nutrition plan:
3500 calories, 25-30% of calories from fat, 185 g protein daily.

Saturday, 2007-01-20:
Weight: 184.8 lbs

Slept in really late, which threw off my eating somewhat. Fell short of my new calorie goals even though I was pigging out all day. Chest workout went well, but pushing myself on that (i.e. bench press) left my triceps pretty tired to get everything done in their routine. Still feel kinda like I'm getting sick, but not as bad as I was.

Food: 3319 calories, 207 g protein, 25% of calories from fat

Sunday, 2007-01-21:
Weight: 186.2 lbs

My food and sleep schedule are all befouled now, so I've got more food in the pipe at my morning weigh-ins. Getting in that extra weekend sleep seems to have cleared the fog some at least.

Food: 3504 calories, 188 g protein, 27% of calories from fat

Monday, 2007-01-22:
Weight: 186.6 lbs

Had to run some errands after work, so I ended up more worn out than I'd like to have been pre-workout. I ate and took a nap to try to recover, but then I slept longer than I wanted and started my workout in a post-too-long-nap daze. The workout didn't seem to be that good, and went on too long somehow. I cut out oblique crunches to keep it under an hour. The one exception was bent over dumbbell rows where my back is just kicking my ass. In the good way... I can't believe how much weight I can haul up in that exercise. During my workout I noticed that my shirt was tugging at my shoulders in a weird way - I actually had a big pump - in my back! I need to go out and buy some bigger weights.

The difference in both appearance and strength between my right and left sides is getting more pronounced I'm afraid. In exercises where arms are not worked at the same time, I've been working the left side first to give it the most energy, and then I've made sure not to do more reps or higher weight with the right. I've been pushing the left to its max, which is generally a fairly easy weight for my right. So I'm better able to concentrate on my form and pace with my right, which seems to be giving it a better workout. The difference is especially pronounced in my upper arm - the right flexes much better, is much larger, much stronger, has much nicer shape and gets much more dramatic pumps. My left back is also weaker, but the difference isn't as dramatic. On the other hand, I actually think the symmetry of my chest has improved slightly.

I'm gonna try not to worry about it too much, and just focus on adding the most possible bulk. I'll wait until the next phase before I start thinking about details.

I've found myself getting too much protein on workout days because I don't clearly think about how much protein is present in my pre and post workout shakes when figuring my other meals. I probably can use more protein on workout days, but today was too much.

Food: 3605 calories, 253 g protein, 22% of calories from fat