New to cutting - here's my diet and workout plan. Looking for comments

[Twist]

Don't ever try to work through back pain. If it hurts, skip it and move on. Back on track

[GoNoles99]

just took this



Think I gained some fat from messing up this weekend but not too concerned. Arms seem bigger. Think if I can cut bodyfat by 3-4% my abs will show a lot better

[GoNoles99]

Two weeks doing low reps complete now. Am I upping the reps this week?

[Twist]

Two weeks doing low reps complete now. Am I upping the reps this week?

How low were your reps? Did I set you up on a chest program yet?

[GoNoles99]

6 reps for upper body and 8 for lower body.

What you gave me for chest was -

This is what your chest workout should look like now:
Flat bench DB press
5 sets - warmup, 6 reps, 6 reps, 6 reps, 12 reps
Decline barbell Bench
5 sets - warmup, 6 reps, 6 reps, 6 reps, 16 reps
Flat cable flyes
4 sets - 12, 12, 12, 12 (each set you should be fighting so hard for every rep past 8, have a spotter help you bang out what you can't, each set is slow and HUGE squeeze at the top, fill your muscles with blood)

[Twist]

OK good. Go another week on low reps then up it to upper body 8 reps and lower body 10.

Remember with a 6 rep program you should only be able to make 6 reps on the first set. After that your reps should be lower because you are already fatigued. Same with 8 reps. By the time we get to 14/16 those reps should be virtually impossible to reach. You should have to take breaks to breath in between the last reps. You should be literally failing doing all your exercises.

[GoNoles99]

got it.

[GoNoles99]

really liking this shoulder/arm day. entire upper body is pumped and full of blood by the end

any changes to the diet? Weighed in around 170 the other day. Right now it is:

630-
6 eggs
1 whole wheat bagel
1 banana

1200
chicken
broccoli

300
chicken
sweet potato

pwo
2 scoops whey
3/4 cup oats
25 blueberries
vitamin c

1 hr pwo
1/2 cup white rice (56g carb)
tuna

before bed
steak
broccoli

[Twist]

15lbs up is good bro. Granted some will be fat but that's ok. With your build it will come off easy later. Right now let's get some muscle on you. No diet changes for now. Good progress, updates are good too.

[GoNoles99]

Sorry, haven't updated in a while.

Did back today. Didn't do deadlifts again as I still feel something weird on my right hip.. I can do everything else including squats so not sure what the deal is. I have a doctors appointment in 2 weeks. I substituted in back extensions where I held plates to add weight, did those first.

After 4 weeks of back work I've seen good improvement in my bent-over row and seated row lifts but not with any of the lat movements. Think I should change that up or just keep at it? What's been happening is I do my first set of the SS and get a decent number of pullups and behind-neck pulldowns, but then on my second set I am completely fatigued and have almost nothing left in me. Was thinking my lats aren't strong enough for supersets at the moment.

[Twist]

Start your back workout with 30 pullups. As many as you can do in each set and as many sets as it takes to do all 30. 40 second rest max. Then go on to behind the neck pulldowns supersetted with regular pulldowns. Then with the rest of your exercises.

[GoNoles99]

alright I'll do that. couple of questions though

1. should I be doing each pullup set to failure or should I be focused on doing the 30 reps in as little time as possible? If that makes sense.

2. as far as broccoli/veggies go, is it important to eat them or are they more to fill me up? Like if I am not hungry for my final meal can I just eat steak or should I be eating broccoli as well.

[Twist]

1. Each set should be to failure. Even if you can do 16 without stopping then your first set has 16, rest for 40sec max then do as many as you can do again, rest and repeat until 30 reps is done. If 30 is done in 3 sets or less make it 40.

2. Eat your veggies for nutrients bro

[GoNoles99]

1. Each set should be to failure. Even if you can do 16 without stopping then your first set has 16, rest for 40sec max then do as many as you can do again, rest and repeat until 30 reps is done. If 30 is done in 3 sets or less make it 40.

2. Eat your veggies for nutrients bro

alright, thanks.

Did shoulder/biceps/triceps today. Went well, it was my first day on a new PWO supplement which had me bouncing off the walls. I've seen good progress in all three muscle groups so I am very pleased. I bumped the reps up to 8, should I make any changes to the exercises or keep it as is? My preacher curl performance wasn't great as I did 8 reps, then 3, then 2, 2 and 2. Either way, arms felt huge when I was leaving the gym due to the pump

[Twist]

Keep things the same just change rep ranges every so often. If there is something you want to bring up let me know and we can change things easily

[GoNoles99]

took this an hour and a half after I finished my leg workout



Only thing I was thinking about changing was adding a carb to meal #2. I'm usually pretty tired by the time I get home from work which is right before I workout as the only carbs I've had all day came 8 hours before. I was wondering if you had any thoughts to adding even just a small amount of carbs like 5oz of sweet potato or a small portion of brown rice for my 12:00 meal.

[GoNoles99]

Worked out at a friends house and maxed out on the bench before my workout. curiosity got the best of me

240. I failed, barely, on 245. I got the bar a good 10 inches off my chest so I'm thinking it was my weak triceps that held me back. I had just done 240 a few minutes before and strained quite a bit so I believe if I hadn't done 240 I probably could have gotten 245. At ~168 pounds I guess I have to be happy with this. I think I maxed out around 250 a while back but that was when I was around 180 pounds with much higher BF%.

[Twist]

took this an hour and a half after I finished my leg workout


Looking good bro. We need to bring up your chest. Been doing the workout I gave you? No incline presses. Stretch after the workout and full range of motion with the weight. Decline bench should be your focus with flat coming after. You could do the slightest incline that the bench allows to eliminate any arching of the back (cuz that would just make it slight decline).

Only thing I was thinking about changing was adding a carb to meal #2. I'm usually pretty tired by the time I get home from work which is right before I workout as the only carbs I've had all day came 8 hours before. I was wondering if you had any thoughts to adding even just a small amount of carbs like 5oz of sweet potato or a small portion of brown rice for my 12:00 meal.

I thought you worked out after the 3pm meal? You can take the carbs out of that meal and add it to the other meal. You could add some sweet potato there but I want you a little hungry during the day.

Worked out at a friends house and maxed out on the bench before my workout. curiosity got the best of me

240. I failed, barely, on 245. I got the bar a good 10 inches off my chest so I'm thinking it was my weak triceps that held me back. I had just done 240 a few minutes before and strained quite a bit so I believe if I hadn't done 240 I probably could have gotten 245. At ~168 pounds I guess I have to be happy with this. I think I maxed out around 250 a while back but that was when I was around 180 pounds with much higher BF%.

That's heavy for your size bro. Not powerlifter status by any means but good job.

[GoNoles99]

I thought you worked out after the 3pm meal? You can take the carbs out of that meal and add it to the other meal. You could add some sweet potato there but I want you a little hungry during the day.

That's heavy for your size bro. Not powerlifter status by any means but good job.

Yes, other than today I've been doing the routine of flat bench, then decline, then flies. I'll try using decline first for now.

And I worded that post poorly, I do workout after the 3pm meal. What I meant was that when I come home from work at 3 I am very tired which is right before I workout so I thought eating some carbs a few hours earlier at 12 might help.


I'm hoping to get the max bench up to 1.5x my bodyweight. So if I get to 170 pounds that would be a 255 bench which I feel could be reached not too long from now.

[Twist]

Focus on your decline movements. Much more important than flat or incline imo. Chest (and calves) has always been my weakest point. You can always move around carbs, if you want to add some carbs you can do it in the form of oats or sweet potato. I'd like to stay away from rice for now. When/If you do, update your thread with the new diet so when people look back they can see instead of digging through posts looking for changes made.

[GoNoles99]

should I still be eating white rice pwo?

[Twist]

Yeah that is good. I just prefer if any extra carbs go in that they be veggies, sweet potato, and oats.

[GoNoles99]

Did legs today. Tired as all hell, could barely walk out to my car once I finished. Feels good.

I've got 5 more weeks until I'm back living on campus and on a meal plan eating terrible dining hall food so trying to make the best of what I've got left.

[GoNoles99]

To clarify, I make an attempt to eat as well as I can in the dining halls but it's not easy. Even something as innocent as scrambled egg whites is clearly not good for me... everything is heavily processed and looks artificial. Hardly ever any good carb sources, they serve sweet potato maybe once a month and it's usually for dinner. I can afford to buy SOME food to eat on my own but that would mostly just be for PWO shake and before bed.

[Twist]

buy a microwave and make your own food. George foreman grill and microwave and that's all you need for any meal

[GoNoles99]

i dont have the money. i have to live on campus and if you live on campus you have to use a meal plan. meal plans are real expensive too

[Twist]

You don't have the money for a microwave and foreman grill? That sucks bro. Campus food is really hard to work
With. Go for tuna and chicken bro.

[Twist]

What's your weight been like lately? I want to start adding in some running but not until your weight is high enough and the diet is sorted out.

[GoNoles99]

I have the money for a grill and I own a microwave, I don't have the money for food. I'm already paying to eat in the dining halls

Weight is around 170. I'll check when I get the chance

[GoNoles99]

not much to report. still making good strides with legs. thinking of adding something to my chest day... any thoughts on wide grip bench?

[Twist]

You can add decline flyes if you must but changing rep ranges should have you growing.