Cloughies journal – getting stronger, leaner and fitter

Aw hell yeah now you're talking Cloughie. I've really got to get around to getting some massage done.

Wednesday 11th November

Man, I am KILLING it this week.

Let's start with the eating for yesterday.

• Calories - 2,513
• Fat - 86g (32%)
• Carbohydrate - 165g (27%)
• Protein - 248g (42%)

Full food breakdown here - http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJour...onth=10&Day=11

As I mentioned, my fat is down a bit now and my carbs are up a bit.

I'm going to try and keep calories at 2500 for weight training days and 2200 for non training days. See how that goes.

As for training, upper body workout went like this:

• Romanian Deadlifts - 3 x 8 @ 102.5KG (PR)
• Bench - 1 x 7(+1) @70KG, 1 x 7(+1) @ 65KG, 1 x 8 @ 60KG
• Dips + 7.5KG - 8, 6, 5
• Pull Ups 2 x 8, 1 x 6 (+2) on red band (PR)
• Dumbell Rows - 1 x 8 @ 32.5KG (PR), 2 x 6 (+2) @ 30KG

Not bad at all and a few PR's in there. Feeling a bit tired lately, definately need to address the sleep factor.

Lastly, I am gonna get onto a new routine in a week or so. At the moment I am doing 3 upper body workouts a week and it's too much. Now that I can train lower body again, I'm going to either go onto a 3 day full body routine or 4 upper/lower body split sessions. Aiming to start a week on Monday.

Good stuff. Also I'd be interested to see what 3 day program you pick ,as after i finish the +30lbs bench in 30days program ill need something to follow.

Also I checked your fitday and its showing you up for 24 hours a day? Add sleep in as an activity and it adjusts to show you how many cals you are using, unless you don't actually sleep lol

I'll post it here once I've got it laid out. I use a pretty sweet private gym in Cambridge and the coaches really know their stuff. Just gonna let them plan it out.

In general though I don't think you can go wrong with either a 3 day a week full body routine or an upper bodysplit (either ABA BAB) or 4 sessions a week (2 of each)

I kinda like doing full body now.

I am on fire - yesterday was another good training session and 100% on the diet.

In regards to eating, I am now using fitday to control everything I eat and once you get over the initial learning curve and also if you are eating roughly the same type of stuff each day, it takes literally a few minutes each day to ensure you hit the right calories and macro split.

I would even go as far to say it's essential for those who have a hard time shedding weight because it throws up stuff you just don't think about.

If I had not have tracked yesterday with Fitday I would have nailed 5 chicken drumsticks yesterday with rice and some yoghurt for dessert. And.. it woulda put me up to 3000+ calories. Fitday told me I was already at 2000 or so before that meal, so instead I chose to have 3 drumsticks, a small sweet potatoe cut into wedges and some salad leaves. Still tasty, still left me nicely satisfied and it fit with my overall plan.

Here are my macros for yesterday. (training day)

Calories - 2530
Fat - 89g (33%)
Carbs - 190g (30%)
Protein - 226g (37%)

As for training.... I had a great lowr body day. Starting to attack it with a bit of intensity now.

• Single leg squat to box - 3 x 8 on low box
• Weighted hip thrusts - 3 x 8,6,6 @ 80KG
• Deadlifts - 3 x 6 @ 80KG
• Squats - 3 x 8 @ 60KG
• Elevated SIngle Leg Squats - 3 x 8 @ BW

Considering I was not able to do a lower body workout 5 weeks ago, that's not bad going and in the right direction.

Weighed in at 193 today lol... grr.... but I gotta give this new level of dedication a few weeks to kick in and the great thing about it is even if I maintain, I know I can make a decision to reduce calories/increase cardio further and it WILL have an effect.

Awesome..

Seeing any change in body composition Dan? What about grabbing a set of calipers? Don't let the scale numbers rule your motivation mate.

Tom,

I am definately noticing a change... I got my bf taken with calipers about 3-4 months ago, so yeah I could get it done again.... I think I am learning to not get too caught up in the scales now though.

Something Paul said a while back really hit home with me. You REALLY notice the difference going from 14% to 10% rather than say 20% to 14%. Even though my shoulders and back appear more muscular and leaner, my chest and tummy still hangs onto the fat which makes it appear as if I am not changing, but I know that will change if I keep percerviering. Which I will!

Update for the last two days:

Friday 13th November

Another SMASH on both fronts.

Diet wise, here are the numbers....

Calories 2,515
Fat 102g (39%)
Carbs 108g (17%)
protein 260g (44%)

So I hit my calorie target which is the key thing, but it's proving a little harder to get the macros right every time. My last meal was quite high in fat and relatively low in carbs so that caused it to come out like the above (it was looking good till that point)

But, I think I need to not get too caught up in it, get the balance right and keep things in perspective.. The last meal was a meal that was cooked for my by the gf and I ate it with her and a mate so the fact that I planned the whole of my day leading up to it so that I could keep my calorie intake at 2,500 is pretty good going if you ask me. And then days where I have more control over the macro's in EVERY meal I will nail right.

Training was awesome too. Did some complexes/circuit type stuff for an hour or so. 3 different circuits with 3-4 exercises in each - 2 sets of each with the weight going up in the final set. Loads of stuff from cleans, rows, step ups, incline press, cross trainer, some core work etc.... An hour of hard work and it left me sweating like hell so I guess you can call it a good workout

Saturday 14th November

Ok, let's start with diet.... I had a meal planned with mates in the evening which was always going to be hard to plan for seeing as one of us was cooking the starter and I was cooking the main.. So I just made sure that I left a 1000 calories free for the evening which kinda worked.. ish lol

Here were the days numbers.

Calories: 2,560
Fat: 86g (30%)
Carbs: 140g (22%)
Protein: 195g (31%)
Alcohol 62g (17%)

As you can see, I had 3-4 glasses of wine which REALLY added up.

Also the calories were higher than I would want for a non traning day, but compared to my previous weekends of just eating a ton and not caring, this was 1000% better!!

Today (Sunday) I am not counting calories, just being mindful opf what I eat and I reckon it should roughly come out no more than 2,500.. No activity today apart from a couple of long walks with the dog.

Overall this week has been awesome..

I've trained 5 times (3 weights, 2 cardio) and I ate VERY well and tracked every calorie in fitday. The only thing I did not do was my mobility, which I will focus on for next week.

And today I stepped on the scales at 191 which is also very cool.

I can;t wait to see what the next few weeks bring with this level of dedication, particularly on the diet front. I think this is probably the first time I have truly believed that I will achieve a lean physique.

SOO. How are those pictures coming on?

Originally Posted by Risk10k

SOO. How are those pictures coming on?

I am actually taking pics this week, along with measurements and bf measurements. Whether I will post them here is another matter I'm just a bit self-concious about the whole thing, but I may..............

Main reason I am doing it is Paul is helping me on the diet front so i am getting them done so I can send them to him!

Monday November 17th

Brilliant day yesterday, things are really coming together and I am finding tracking everything I eat VERY easy now.

I actually planned everything and stuck it into fitday by 7am and then it was just a straight forward task to eat it.

Here are my calories and macros.

• Calories - 2,563
• Fat 98g (36%)
• Carbs 143 (23%)
• Protein 248 (41%)

Full breakdown of foods here - http://www.fitday.com/fitness/Public...onth=10&Day=16

Training also went pretty well. I felt a bit tired and flat when I turned up so it was a bit of an effort but I got through it all the same and hit some PRs.

• Flat BB Bench Press - 1 x 5 @ 82.5KG (PR), 2 x 4 @ 80KG
• DB Horizontal Rows - 1 x 5 @ 40KG DB (PR), 2 x 5 @ 37.5KG DB
• Standing Lateral Raises - 3 x 8 @ 12.5KG dumbells (good strict form)
• Standing DB Curls - 1 x 5 @ 20KG DBs, 2 x 5 @ 18KG DBs.
• Narrow Grip Bench Press - 1 x 8 @ 50KG, 2 x 7 @ 50KG. (should have been 5 reps but no spotter available)
• Chin Ups - 1 x 5, Pull Ups 1 x 4 (+1), Chin Ups 1 x 4 (+1)

All in all not bad.

And here is the AWESOME NEWS I stepped on the scales at 13 stone, 6.5lbs yesterday (that's 188.5lbs!) Thats a decent drop and a weight that I cannot even remember seeing before. Not going to get too carried away as it might come up a little as it is a big drop from one day to the next but I would like to think it is the start of the results that will come from tracking every calorie I eat.

Some changes to the diet from Weds too. Paul has helped me with my diet. I am sticking to 2500 on training days and 2200 on non training days as it seems to be giving me weight loss right now, but Paul has given me new macro percentages and also direction on nutrient timing. Essentially more carbs, less protein and a little less fat and some better timing of the carbs and fat. I am going to plan out Wednesday later on today!

Today is going to be a bit random. I am leaving for London late in the afternoon for a concert with friends. So it's not going to be 100% diet day for sure. i am just going to ensure I go with about 1250 quality cal's in me and that laves me 1250 for the rest of the day which allows me some food and a few beers lol.. Hey, I gotta find the right balance!

I'll be back on 100% from Weds!

Post the pictures you puss :P. If anyone bags you out you can just ban them ;-)

Hah, fair point

Tuesday November 17th

As I said on Monday, Tuesday was always going to be a bit of a funny day seeing as I was leaving about 4pm to travel to London to see a concert with a couple of friends.

So, all I did was eat 1600cals before leaving at half decent ratios. In London I had a bottle of beer, 2 pieces of fried chicken and chips Could have been a LOT worse and during the trip i resisted several chocolate and beer offerings!!! So overall I reckon my daily intake was just about in check.

Also had a tennis lesson in the morning which was great, getting much better and it's decent cardio!

Started planning out my new diet yesterday and it took much longer than I expected. Hitting the right macros and timing them also requires much more detailed planning, but I am up for it and should have some solid eating plans for both training and off days by today/tomorrow ready to start next week!

Not long now then till you can drop the "Formerly"

Daniel Clough
Formerly Hulk

done just hadnl;t ever changed it from when I changed my username last

Yesterday was a funny old day so I am not gonna go into much detail (I have some more interesting stuff to talk about instead)

Basically my training wasn't really a real training session, it was more testing out some 1 and 3 rep maxes to gauge workin weights for a new program.

And as for diet. Started off well (got to 1800 cals by 7pm at fairly decent ratios) but then went out with the girl for some food and gave in to quesidallas and fish/fries. Rubbish beahaviour. I was feeling a bit flat from not working out and I knew I was starting my new plan on monday so I just slipped.

Recovered today and even though I start a new plan on Monday, that's no excuse for acting like a schmuck for the next few days. Will make the next four days count.

Better update on training and food tomorrow.

Ok, so new program, new eating plan - starting on Monday.

My trainer worked out a new 4 day weights routine for me which is geared towards hypertrophy/bodybuilding. It's basically 2 x upper body and 2 x lower body and goes like this:

Mon - Lower body
Tues - Upper Body
Thurs - Lower Body
Fri - Upper Body

I'll also be doing 2 cardios (one light, one fairly intense - perhaps some bodyweight complexes) and several mobility workouts.

A tough schedule, but ready to rock it hard.

Basic exercises (dips, chins, squats, RDLs, bench, curl, row blah blah) and I have 8 weeks planned at 12 reps with varying volume in sets. All to failure.

Feels a pretty good approach. Only thing I am nervous about is over training or knee issues, but if I feel as if either are creeping in I will say.

As for eating, I have planned out 3 different eating plans for both training days and off days which all hit the same totals, macros and nutrient timing advice Paul has laid out for me.

So, all that is left is to end this week well on the trainng and eating front, buy a bunch of food and start smashing it from Monday

Yea buddy! Looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labor.