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Progress over four months, all while losing weight. Pointers moving forward?
- Thread starter davidcrb
- Start date
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- bodyweight fitness
andershusmann
New member
rosannarmiller
New member
@rosannarmiller I'm taking about 45 seconds to a minute rest between sets. If I'm really on the ball with my timings it takes just over an hour, but if I stop to top up my drink, etc. then it can take 5-10 minutes longer.
I'm not sure if maybe my sets are a bit fast, but I have been conciously trying to slow down my movements to work on form, so I don't think so. I think the recommendation that I've found is to keep a steady rhythm, so something like two seconds on the downward motion of a pushup and then more explosive on the way back. I try to apply this to most of the exercises, or squeeze a little more on things like crunches or pull-ups. I might be wrong but I hope that helps!
I'm not sure if maybe my sets are a bit fast, but I have been conciously trying to slow down my movements to work on form, so I don't think so. I think the recommendation that I've found is to keep a steady rhythm, so something like two seconds on the downward motion of a pushup and then more explosive on the way back. I try to apply this to most of the exercises, or squeeze a little more on things like crunches or pull-ups. I might be wrong but I hope that helps!
@davidcrb This is awesome! Your journey sounds very similar to mine, except I’m about 3 months behind. Starting weight of 175, hoping to get down to 140-145 (10-15% BF). Also targeting about 1,700 net calories per day, and a focus on similar body weight exercises and running.
Very encouraged by your inspiration! I’m looking forward to sharing my victories in a few months also!
Very encouraged by your inspiration! I’m looking forward to sharing my victories in a few months also!
@mrswright Nice one! I hope it goes well! I have no idea what BF% I am - still a little fatty in parts but I can tell there's a big difference to my starting size so that's all that matters to me. If I can work it off in the process then brilliant!
danielhart
New member
@davidcrb Hey man, first of all good job, i would like to know how long it took you to manage to do pull-ups? you are saying that you do 3 sets of 6 while you said you didn't do strength training before, i mean this is surprising, i am 25 years old and weight 67kg for 182cm, and i cannot do a single pull-up.. do you have any tips?
thanks
thanks
@danielhart Thanks! I was able to do a number of pull-ups from the beginning but I've gotten slowly better. I could maybe do 3 x 3 at the start comfortably. I'm not an expert but maybe it's easier for me as I'm shorter so the same weight is packed into a smaller lever, essentially. I've never found pull-ups particularly difficult to start with, but I've experimented with ways to make them more effective.
I found out part-way through that above all else pull-ups engage the core muscles more than the arms, and this is when I began to make sure I was making an effort to tense my core muscles when I was doing the pull-ups. That helped a lot.
I guess my only other advice would be to make sure you can really wrap your hands around the bar, and keep them far enough apart. If you're only just barely grabbing on then maybe the bar needs to be lower, and spread your hands out a little further. I found that crossing my ankles helped control swinging too as my core developed.
I found out part-way through that above all else pull-ups engage the core muscles more than the arms, and this is when I began to make sure I was making an effort to tense my core muscles when I was doing the pull-ups. That helped a lot.
I guess my only other advice would be to make sure you can really wrap your hands around the bar, and keep them far enough apart. If you're only just barely grabbing on then maybe the bar needs to be lower, and spread your hands out a little further. I found that crossing my ankles helped control swinging too as my core developed.
danielhart
New member
christlike1982
New member
@christlike1982 Thanks! and happy cake day!
@davidcrb Don’t focus on weight. BMI scales are pointless in my head. They just give you a rough estimate of where weak people should probably weigh, not athletic or those focused on building lots of muscle. Focus on the look of your body composition and how you feel. I fluctuated a lot I weight over the years depending on my routine and goals. Your body will too. Seek a physical look goal or an ability/performance goal rather than just looking at a number on a scale. I’m ~210 now and have less fat and more muscle all around now than I did when I was 190-195 a few years ago. (I’ve had multiple BMI measurements over the years)
When working out focus on putting all your effort into each rep into the muscles. No strain in your joints. Perfect form, each and every rep you do. It’s what gives you thick and full looking muscles. Also, vary your rep ranges and rep timing. You’re doing 2 seconds down and 1ish/explode up on a lot of stuff, try doing things for double the time one or two weeks every now and then too. Stretch daily and in between each set and do some body flows before and after your workout to. Find some you like. This will help your build the neurological connections to contract even tighter/in more control when you workout.
To keep developing, change the routine a bit every few months if you start to not progress. I like doing fully body workouts a lot too, and fall into them often. I suggest keeping up your every other day workout routine to ensure you recover fully before the next workout, but I usually you can progress to daily body part focused routines after a bit. I did heavy lifting and would wait 2 or 3 days at times too. Rest = growth. be sure to change it up every month or two now. I suggest cross training. Like I do a sprinting focused strength and speed building routines for a month or two each year and that usually gets me into the best shape all around. Then the next few months I do a body part or function/form routine and get some nice strength gains. Single leg jumps and over head pushups have been game changers for me. Play with it and see what you like.
Also, don’t be afraid to bulk and cut a little. I usually do 30-50lbs bulls and cuts each year or two and it helps me attain my goals faster. Think about maybe doing it for a bit yourself, at your weight maybe gain 10 lbs and then drop after a few weeks/months of heavier workouts. Just monitor your progress and adjust as you feel fit based on your goals.
When working out focus on putting all your effort into each rep into the muscles. No strain in your joints. Perfect form, each and every rep you do. It’s what gives you thick and full looking muscles. Also, vary your rep ranges and rep timing. You’re doing 2 seconds down and 1ish/explode up on a lot of stuff, try doing things for double the time one or two weeks every now and then too. Stretch daily and in between each set and do some body flows before and after your workout to. Find some you like. This will help your build the neurological connections to contract even tighter/in more control when you workout.
To keep developing, change the routine a bit every few months if you start to not progress. I like doing fully body workouts a lot too, and fall into them often. I suggest keeping up your every other day workout routine to ensure you recover fully before the next workout, but I usually you can progress to daily body part focused routines after a bit. I did heavy lifting and would wait 2 or 3 days at times too. Rest = growth. be sure to change it up every month or two now. I suggest cross training. Like I do a sprinting focused strength and speed building routines for a month or two each year and that usually gets me into the best shape all around. Then the next few months I do a body part or function/form routine and get some nice strength gains. Single leg jumps and over head pushups have been game changers for me. Play with it and see what you like.
Also, don’t be afraid to bulk and cut a little. I usually do 30-50lbs bulls and cuts each year or two and it helps me attain my goals faster. Think about maybe doing it for a bit yourself, at your weight maybe gain 10 lbs and then drop after a few weeks/months of heavier workouts. Just monitor your progress and adjust as you feel fit based on your goals.
@mwj Thanks, that's really interesting actually. I do try to focus on form as much as possible, slowing down the movement and I could look to try and do that even more.
I didn't realise that bulking and cutting could be as vast as 30-50lbs, so maybe that's where I'm a little out of tune. It's difficult to focus on weight gain when my main focus has been weight loss so far, but I'm really interested to see if I could get into a bulk/cut routine.
When you do switch from bulk to cut, and vice versa, how do you phase in your calorie changes?
I didn't realise that bulking and cutting could be as vast as 30-50lbs, so maybe that's where I'm a little out of tune. It's difficult to focus on weight gain when my main focus has been weight loss so far, but I'm really interested to see if I could get into a bulk/cut routine.
When you do switch from bulk to cut, and vice versa, how do you phase in your calorie changes?
@davidcrb Basically you just want to confuse the muscle and nervous system so that it is less efficient at a movement. (each time we workout, we get more efficent, so you have to fight that for more gains) That is why you change your pace and vary the workouts you do to hit the muscle at different angles to continuously promote growth at the various points on the muscle. Just changing your hand grip/foot position angle or width can have a big effect on many movements for specific muscle targeting.
I find isometrics help me a lot with this as it makes me find weak spots in my muscle groups and fix them. Also, don't be afraid to explore your muscle/joint mobility within your movements. I wasn't doing that for a long time when I was younger and now I have to specifically train my flexibility in somethings I didn't know I lacked lol. Static posing/flexing helps a lot with my body control too. Time under tension of about 45 seconds to a minute is optimal for tearing muscle. You can go more to like 1:30 to 2min with some too, just gotta rest enough if you are doing sets of whatever iso you are doing. Too much muscle fiber break down at once will set you back if you don't rest enough, but with what you do and how you are resting, it shouldn't be an issue at all for you.
As for bulking and cutting, I'm almost double your size and muscle mass at 6ft and ~210lbs. Going up and down 20lbs each direction isn't all that much of a change around this size but is a drastic change on your smaller 5'5" 140lbs frame. (no offense intended) You just lost ~45lbs, I would never recommend you gain it back lol. That's why I suggest about 10lbs to start and see how it goes for you personally, plus it makes body workouts harder...increasing your intensity. Just a few pounds can make a big difference. I spend months bulking and months cutting slowly. Some body builders go at a faster pace. You adjust as you feel.
I hate losing weight, but that's because it is really hard for me. I have to starve and kill myself with workouts to lose weight, eating about 1600-1800cal keeps me around 200-220lbs with no exercise. Add in 1hr exercise and I start dropping 1lb a week at most. Add in my extra weight loss routines and more veggies and lower carbs it becomes around 3-4lbs a week. If you count calories, also align it with your workout routine and be sure to adjust your intake depending on the intensity of that day too. Look at weekly/monthly calorie intake too, not just daily.
I was 189lbs in 3rd grade. Dropped to ~130lbs by 5th-grade summer. Increased to about 170-180 in middle school with some muscle starting to form from doing way less than you are doing now. In high school, I started weight lifting and wrestling and grew some more. I went from ~190 - 210 in my first year in high school. Then down to about 170lbs before that summer. Then started the next year at about 200, went to 210, wrestling started and I went to 180lbs and next year bulked again to ~215 and dropped to 185lbs before summer. I had to maintain about 190lbs in the wrestling season for my weight class. I would jump between the 189lb and 215lb classes. I did this another year and then sustained some spinal injuries and stopped lifting for two years. Hit college and was at about 230lbs and not so great shape as I was. Started weights again, it was like starting from scratch.
Spent a few months just warming up everything and trying to keep healing, then after that, I got into lifting high intensity and working out 2-3hrs every other day. (warmup was mostly jogged 10-20min, 3-4 sets of pullups for 10-15 reps, and some other mobility routine)
I fluctuated between 195 and 225 mostly, until I got into a car accident. Another spinal injury about 4 years ago and gained up to 236lbs I think was my heaviest. I did a lot of rehab that year but got down to 190 again...then I screwed up my rotator cuff on my left shoulder do to a showing off incident. Rehabbed it but then injured my right rotator cuff a few months after that and my back was still very bad. Now a few years later most of my injuries are patched up. I was about 220lbs until about a month ago. Now I'm almost finally healed up and have been getting back into things since the end of last year. My goal now is to fill out about 220lbs with about 10-13% body fat in about 5-7yrs...short term 195lbs.
As for diet, it was just clean. I didn't worry about calories that much except for when I was a child and learning about things at the beginning. You tend to get a feel for what you need and don't need after a few years. I cut sodas and juice when I was in 4th grade, so water is all I drank most of my life. If it didn't benefit my body, I would not eat it...unless I was out partying which was like maybe 1-2x a month. Usually, I ate 4 meals a day. And have a fruit or two between meals.
I always have a bowl of oatmeal (1/2 - 1 cup) with a banana/berries and two eggs to start my day. Sometimes I change it from oatmeal to a slice of toast with a good helping of spinach and the two eggs on top with a banana too. That is my go-to breakfast since I was in high school and gives me all the energy I need to go through at least a 1.5hr workout, an hour after I eat it. Sometimes I had to eat extra eggs or bring an extra meal or snack to the gym tho for my 3hr sessions. Often times I would drink a protein shake before or after my workouts - when just depended on my hunger. Since weight lifting was my second class of the day in high school I always had to drink my shake before or during my workouts because I would be starving then. In college, I drank my shakes more so after the workouts because I was starving after since I could plan out my workout timing better.
After breakfast was lunch around 10am-12pm, then lunch 2 around 2-4pm, and dinner around 5-7pm. In these meals they were basically 2x the veggies to each oz of meat/protein I ate, at least, and half the weight of the meat/protien in carb-loaded food like sweet potatoes or rice or quinoa or something. (vary your proteins to gain more nutrition) I always ate at least one piece of fish, bacon, beef, beans, chicken, etc each week. Mostly chicken tho, I'm fantasizing about going full veggies soon now though, it's just a lot tougher to figure out that diet for me since I'm so used to eating meats. I would also just cut carb-loaded foods completely and only eat proteins and veggies and fruits some days. But I would also add on a cheat day and sometimes I would fast for 16-24hrs once or twice a month. I also took B12 for more energy, ensured I ran in the sunlight shirtless for Vitamin D, took glucosamine often for my joints, and a vitamin C daily. Maybe a multivitamin here and there, but not often, I made sure my diet covered most of my main nutrition needs.
I find isometrics help me a lot with this as it makes me find weak spots in my muscle groups and fix them. Also, don't be afraid to explore your muscle/joint mobility within your movements. I wasn't doing that for a long time when I was younger and now I have to specifically train my flexibility in somethings I didn't know I lacked lol. Static posing/flexing helps a lot with my body control too. Time under tension of about 45 seconds to a minute is optimal for tearing muscle. You can go more to like 1:30 to 2min with some too, just gotta rest enough if you are doing sets of whatever iso you are doing. Too much muscle fiber break down at once will set you back if you don't rest enough, but with what you do and how you are resting, it shouldn't be an issue at all for you.
As for bulking and cutting, I'm almost double your size and muscle mass at 6ft and ~210lbs. Going up and down 20lbs each direction isn't all that much of a change around this size but is a drastic change on your smaller 5'5" 140lbs frame. (no offense intended) You just lost ~45lbs, I would never recommend you gain it back lol. That's why I suggest about 10lbs to start and see how it goes for you personally, plus it makes body workouts harder...increasing your intensity. Just a few pounds can make a big difference. I spend months bulking and months cutting slowly. Some body builders go at a faster pace. You adjust as you feel.
I hate losing weight, but that's because it is really hard for me. I have to starve and kill myself with workouts to lose weight, eating about 1600-1800cal keeps me around 200-220lbs with no exercise. Add in 1hr exercise and I start dropping 1lb a week at most. Add in my extra weight loss routines and more veggies and lower carbs it becomes around 3-4lbs a week. If you count calories, also align it with your workout routine and be sure to adjust your intake depending on the intensity of that day too. Look at weekly/monthly calorie intake too, not just daily.
I was 189lbs in 3rd grade. Dropped to ~130lbs by 5th-grade summer. Increased to about 170-180 in middle school with some muscle starting to form from doing way less than you are doing now. In high school, I started weight lifting and wrestling and grew some more. I went from ~190 - 210 in my first year in high school. Then down to about 170lbs before that summer. Then started the next year at about 200, went to 210, wrestling started and I went to 180lbs and next year bulked again to ~215 and dropped to 185lbs before summer. I had to maintain about 190lbs in the wrestling season for my weight class. I would jump between the 189lb and 215lb classes. I did this another year and then sustained some spinal injuries and stopped lifting for two years. Hit college and was at about 230lbs and not so great shape as I was. Started weights again, it was like starting from scratch.
Spent a few months just warming up everything and trying to keep healing, then after that, I got into lifting high intensity and working out 2-3hrs every other day. (warmup was mostly jogged 10-20min, 3-4 sets of pullups for 10-15 reps, and some other mobility routine)
- Back/Deadlift focused routine day one
- Cardio/abs/core/rest day - I would often rest two/three days depending on loads - spinal injury would flare up often and I would not even be able to get out of bed the next day sometimes my discs healed enough.
- Crest/tris/bis focus
- Cardio/abs/core/rest day
- Legs/shoulders focus
- One day rest and then start over
I fluctuated between 195 and 225 mostly, until I got into a car accident. Another spinal injury about 4 years ago and gained up to 236lbs I think was my heaviest. I did a lot of rehab that year but got down to 190 again...then I screwed up my rotator cuff on my left shoulder do to a showing off incident. Rehabbed it but then injured my right rotator cuff a few months after that and my back was still very bad. Now a few years later most of my injuries are patched up. I was about 220lbs until about a month ago. Now I'm almost finally healed up and have been getting back into things since the end of last year. My goal now is to fill out about 220lbs with about 10-13% body fat in about 5-7yrs...short term 195lbs.
As for diet, it was just clean. I didn't worry about calories that much except for when I was a child and learning about things at the beginning. You tend to get a feel for what you need and don't need after a few years. I cut sodas and juice when I was in 4th grade, so water is all I drank most of my life. If it didn't benefit my body, I would not eat it...unless I was out partying which was like maybe 1-2x a month. Usually, I ate 4 meals a day. And have a fruit or two between meals.
I always have a bowl of oatmeal (1/2 - 1 cup) with a banana/berries and two eggs to start my day. Sometimes I change it from oatmeal to a slice of toast with a good helping of spinach and the two eggs on top with a banana too. That is my go-to breakfast since I was in high school and gives me all the energy I need to go through at least a 1.5hr workout, an hour after I eat it. Sometimes I had to eat extra eggs or bring an extra meal or snack to the gym tho for my 3hr sessions. Often times I would drink a protein shake before or after my workouts - when just depended on my hunger. Since weight lifting was my second class of the day in high school I always had to drink my shake before or during my workouts because I would be starving then. In college, I drank my shakes more so after the workouts because I was starving after since I could plan out my workout timing better.
After breakfast was lunch around 10am-12pm, then lunch 2 around 2-4pm, and dinner around 5-7pm. In these meals they were basically 2x the veggies to each oz of meat/protein I ate, at least, and half the weight of the meat/protien in carb-loaded food like sweet potatoes or rice or quinoa or something. (vary your proteins to gain more nutrition) I always ate at least one piece of fish, bacon, beef, beans, chicken, etc each week. Mostly chicken tho, I'm fantasizing about going full veggies soon now though, it's just a lot tougher to figure out that diet for me since I'm so used to eating meats. I would also just cut carb-loaded foods completely and only eat proteins and veggies and fruits some days. But I would also add on a cheat day and sometimes I would fast for 16-24hrs once or twice a month. I also took B12 for more energy, ensured I ran in the sunlight shirtless for Vitamin D, took glucosamine often for my joints, and a vitamin C daily. Maybe a multivitamin here and there, but not often, I made sure my diet covered most of my main nutrition needs.
@mwj Wow this is the mother of all helpful posts! You have no idea how helpful it is but I’m definitely getting a good idea from all that info. I think I’ve got plenty to work on (which keeps me engaged and interested!)
Definitely got some googling to do on some of those terms but I’m glad to have some proper direction. Sounds like I’ve got plenty to think about, thanks so much!
Definitely got some googling to do on some of those terms but I’m glad to have some proper direction. Sounds like I’ve got plenty to think about, thanks so much!
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