Ripped And Beyond

Day 29,30

2009-06-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

The weight is slowly coming down after my binge on the weekend, hopefully this keeps up.
Hit another PB for the deadlift yesterday but I'm starting to get worried about my form, I think I should get a personal trainer to give me a once-over to make so I don't break myself :)

End of week 4

2009-06-28T14:46:00.001-07:00

Well my binge drinking and eating on Saturday night had come back to haunt me big time. This morning I was 84.9kg! :( Almost 2 kg heavier than I was last week. There was so much salt in the bad food I ate, all I did on Sunday was drink water like I was dying.
Anyway, here are the progress pics and here’s hoping to a better week!
Some days I do look better tho, like here.

Day 27 and 28

2009-06-27T21:01:00.001-07:00

Got wasted last night, I gotta stop doing that! Nevertheless I managed an awesome shoulders and arms workout today. Skipped cardio tho, damn you vokda!
Yesterday had a great legs workout, starting to pile on the weight for my squats.

Day 25 and 26

2009-06-25T15:36:00.001-07:00

Chest workout wasn’t that great day before yesterday, nowhere near my PB, but my abs seemed a lot stronger.
Yesterday was an off day so no lifting

I won’t post about cardio anymore unless I skip, its kinda boring writing about it.
A few people said that my I look a lot better in real life than I do in the progress pics, and I have to admit, they are pretty unflattering.
Here’s a pic of me about 20 mins after a workout, taken with my crappy phone camera, I think I look a bit better here. Can you see the abs, there’re just peeking out I reckon!

Day 24

2009-06-23T15:35:00.001-07:00

Whoops, forgot to update yesterday! Never fear its been a good couple of days, cardio and eating wise.

Yesterday I did PB on the deadlift! Looking forward to hitting some big weights on the bench today.

End of week 3, starting week 4

2009-06-21T15:32:00.001-07:00

Different week, same weight :(
Its my fault really, since I got absolutely wasted on Thursday night and it took me a few days to recover.
On a positive note, my lifts are still getting stronger so my body fat percentage is hopefully changing.
Here’s a pic showing three weeks of work, not fantastic but there’s some evidence of progress.

Day 21

2009-06-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Oohh, gotta be careful or the wheels will fall off completely! Yesterday had some cake and over all the eating was way off track. I'm too old to party like I did on Thursday night.

And today didn't manage cardio.

On the upside I did a weights session in the morning instead and hit some new PBs (for this year) on my arms.

Day 20

2009-06-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

Still recovering from the huge night Thursday, slept in but managed to get to the gym for a combined weights and light cardio session

Day 19, FAIL

2009-06-18T23:21:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I got smashed last night, didn't get home till the wee hours of the morning. No cardio, no workout today.

Day 18

2009-06-17T15:21:00.001-07:00

Cardio was hard this morning. Not enough sleep really makes it a drag.

Yesterday I did chest and abs and was getting changed in the gym; there’s something about the lighting and mirrors there but I looked awesome, I could clearly see four abs!

You know how I said I wouldn’t cheat, well, tonight is a huge celebration for my work, lots of free drinks, we’ll see if I maintain discipline :)

Day 17

2009-06-16T15:20:00.001-07:00

Daydreaming during cardio definitely helps the time go past faster, but I really should hook up the TV in the spare room.

Yesterday had a great back workout, I have almost returned to my previous maximum deadlift.
Had my cheat meal yesterday, yes yes, I know its only a few days after the previous one but it shouldn’t matter as long as I don’t cheat again this week! I don’t intend to.

Day 16

2009-06-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

Whoops forgot to post this morning.
Increased the cardio by 5 minutes to 45 minutes today, I probably won't make it any more. For reference I started at about 30 minutes per day.

Yesterday wasn't that great in regards to sticking to the plan, non-workout days seem to hold some difficulty for me.

Week 3

2009-06-14T15:24:00.001-07:00

Ok so this is the start of week 3, and that means a progress report, and pics!
Disappointingly I actually weigh slightly more than last week, I’m thinking maybe i need a bit more fibre in my diet, if you know what I mean. Fixing that that today.
Yesterday’s arm workout was the best I’ve had since my injury a few months ago, looking forward to lifting some decent weights next week!

Day 14

2009-06-13T16:48:00.001-07:00

Two weeks straight of cardio, woah!

Yesterday was a mess for food and timings, but it’ll be alright I reckon.
Still went easy on the legs as well, slowly building up to the weights I was doing early this year.

Today is shoulders and arms, and tomorrow is progress pics!

Day 13

2009-06-12T17:28:00.001-07:00

13 days in a row of cardio, it gets pretty boring I assure you!

Yesterday was a rest day, and cheat day! Unfortunately the restaurant we went had changed management and the food wasn’t good. A bit of a waste of a cheat meal really.

Legs day today though, eep :)

Day 12

2009-06-11T16:25:00.001-07:00

Another day, another session of cardio.

Yesterday:
Stuck very well to the eating plan. Its amazing once I decide to follow a plan I have zero cravings for cheat stuff. There can can be a bag of chocolates on the table that I would have devoured in minutes that now seem as appetising as a block of wood.

Had quite a better chest workout yesterday, still don't feel i'm hitting the intensity required though. It will come back in time I'm sure.

Day 11

2009-06-10T16:07:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was great, did some light deadlifts, not going to go heavy just yet.
Cardio was a bit of a struggle, but got through it, now 11 days in a row of cardio.

Chest and Abs workout today, why are leg lifts so painful? :)

Waiting on my new digital scales to arrive, my current ones have decided to rebel and now gives random readings!

Day 10, 10 days straight of cardio!

2009-06-09T15:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a good day, last meal was about an hour late though. I
think I have may have eaten too much for meal 5 too but I wasn't at
home so I couldn't obsessively weigh it! Also my weight this morning is
83kg, not too worried though.
No-workout yesterday.

This morning 10 days in a row for cardio!

Later on today, its deadlifts day!

Day 9

2009-06-08T16:25:00.001-07:00

Ok from here on, I'll post the daily update after cardio and breakfast, so somewhere between 8 and 9. But of course, today I'm a bit late :)
Yesterday I had very close to perfect adherence, but this morning cardio ended up being around 25 min late, its a struggle sometimes to get up that early!

Planning your portions

2009-06-08T06:10:00.001-07:00

Ever wonder how many carbohydrates there are in 100 grams of rice, or how much fat there is in 2 eggs? I've found its pretty easy now with wolfram alpha, just enter the phrase and you get all sorts of good stuff.
For example you can go, “carbohydrates in 100 grams of rice” and it will tell you “27.4 grams” plus a bunch of other info.
You can even do comparisons, but be aware you have to specify the amount for both parts. To compare fibre in white rice to brown you would enter “fibre in 1 cup of white rice vs 1 cup of brown rice".

Give it a try! Wolfram|Alpha

Day 8 and start of week 2

2009-06-07T16:13:00.001-07:00

Weighed in at 82.3KG today, this week I have been as low as 81.4KG, my weight always loves to jump up on weigh in day :)

Here’s the progress pictures, don’t be alarmed about the different colours, I had to change where i took the photos so the lighting was very different and the angle is not the same either.

I see quite a bit of narrowing at the waist and reduction of fat on the pecs. A good start I think.

Previous Successes and Day 7

2009-06-07T02:41:00.001-07:00

Seven days of cardio in a row! Booya! Woke up a little late again, cause its Sunday, but managed to keep the timings good. PWO2 was a little late.

Workout: Legs
Still going easy on the weight for the squats, don’t want to injure my knees coming after not doing it for so long.

I promised progress pics of last time I did this program so here they are. Yes, I only had a crap webcam when I started. The first photo was 25 September 2006 final photo was taken mid December 2006.
My initial weight was 92.9KG (205lb) and final weight was 85.8KG (189lb). However my goal weight is around 75-77KG.
Since then I gained weight all the way back to 92KG and then gradually dropped it back and this current round started with me around 84.

Week 1 and 2 pics from this round will go up tomorrow.

Day 6

2009-06-06T02:33:00.001-07:00

Ok so went to the gym at 9:30 for cardio (instead of at 7:00). Fancied a little sleep in for Saturday, and thought I could just shift all my eating timings 2 1/2 hours later. Ended up going shopping and stuff and well, the timings were totally out of whack today, dammit. Its all about the timings.

I feel better than yesterday but still very lethargic and coughing a bit.

Workout: Non-workout day

Today is also cheat meal day so I'm off to the pub now! Won’t be having any beer though, that’s cheating a bit too much for me I think. And tomorrow is legs day…

Day 5

2009-06-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so last night it was all good but then I started coughing before bed. Today I feel quite sickly and have been coughing all morning. Still nailed the cardio though, I'm not sure I'm good for the workout though.

Update at 7:30pm: According to Wikipedia I have swine flu. Still managed to do my workout and have stuck to my diet perfectly. Will have to abandon this effort if symptoms persist or get worse tomorrow.

First post and day 4

2009-06-04T03:59:00.001-07:00

This blog is just here to keep track of my adherence to the my cutting program from a couple of years ago and to mark my progress. I hope to cut down enough to be able to use a bulking program later this year. The reason that I’m not repurchasing the program is that it work so well for me, I think I can just follow what I got from last time.

I’ll put some before/after shots from last time I did it in 2006.

So this is Day 4, started on Monday weighing 83.5KG. Its now 8pm and I have stuck almost perfectly to the plan for all 4 days except for some minor timing errors.