Maf's progress log, mostly for personal track-keeping purposes

[ma_fighter]

Hey all!

After a year of loosing weight, I just got fed up with cutting, and decided to to a lean (Natural) bulk for 8 weeks, have a 2 week vacation, and then either cut or bulk depending on where I'm at
I also figured: why not start a progression log, with pictures, so I can track my progress (or lack thereof) for, hopefully, years to come!

I'll keep it simple and just edit in updates in the first post every now and then.

6 ft tall


I started at:

256lbs - still no pics of this.

These are me at roughly 220-225'ish lbs



Me as of Aug 8, 2012@ 195lbs


A bunch of em of me today, January 12th, 2013@ 170 lbs, thats -86lbs so far, and hopefully as low as I will ever go!
Abs
Biceps
Leg
Left Triceps
Not sure, some kind of posing going on ^^

I''m aiming on a surplus of no more then 200-300kcal, so progress should be slow, lean and steady.

Lifts are nigh pointless posting at this point, as I train at home and cant go heavy on deads, squats or bench, and my shoulder is still not 100% so that leaves biceps curls and skullcrushers :P
Also, when I get around to it I'll post a few measurements as well, but for now:

Measurements

Arms 36cm/14.2"

Ok, that's about it for now

Cheers!

/Maf



UPDATE #1, 2013-01-22

Ok, time for the first little update.

Weigh in today: 175 lbs +5 lbs (I was 173 yesterday, so this is probably a bit skewed)

Lifts: I've averaged about a +6-7 lbs increase in most lifts, but that's most likely just because I've been pushing harder. Biceps are weaker for some reason.

Been focusing mostly on shoulders and upper back, to sort out that friggin impingement caused by muscle imbalance, feels great to lift again though!


UPDATE #2, 2013-03-14
Small update on my progress, changes are coming, but not at the pace I'd hoped.
Got the stomach-flu (?) for a good week, which put me back a LOT, had lost 5 lbs when I had re-hydrated. I' just about where I were before I got ill now, so that's a big factor in why I've not been progressing as fast as I would like.

I would have been VERY happy with another 3-5lbs on what I've got now, so all things considered, its not too bad.
Not cycling or taking any supps at all, except for multi vits, either.

Weigh in today: 179 lbs +9 lbs Actually, I'm very happy with this!, Good thing I started a log, or I would have gotten way too impatient. Gains are so hard to notice, because they happen so gradually.

UPDATE #3, 2013-06-15

Weigh in today: 193 lbs +23 lbs
Lifts: Shoulderpress/Upright row, Dumbbell. +16/lbs on both
. Biceps curls +30/lb (Thats with a W-bar, so not per arm)

added +1"/2.5cm around my arms.

Feels like I'm getting somewhere, getting looks and comments from people I dont even know

New pics in a separate post further down.




Will keep starting stats as well as fresh ones in this first post, then do updates w pics in separate posts!

/Maf

[gbrice75]

Damn bro, awesome progress!!! Stick around, you'll be an inspiration to many!

Now just time to pack on some muscle, yes?

[Soar]

Nice work man! Almost time for a bulk?

[ma_fighter]

Damn bro, awesome progress!!! Stick around, you'll be an inspiration to many!

Now just time to pack on some muscle, yes?

Thank you!
Yeah, I do plan to stick around

Nice work man! Almost time for a bulk?

Thanks!
And yup, now its finally time to start working on getting some muscles on them bones! I'm so happy, yay!

/Maf

[snowman]

looking great bro... really good job, what was your diet like? time to put on some muscle...
why cover your eyes out? i understand why people do it, but in your case, with all the tattoos, you don't think people will recognize you...lol

[bcaasdirty]

great transformation bro!

[ma_fighter]

great transformation bro!

Thansk!

looking great bro... really good job, what was your diet like? time to put on some muscle...
why cover your eyes out? i understand why people do it, but in your case, with all the tattoos, you don't think people will recognize you...lol

Thank you!
Yeah, people who already know me will recognize me for sure, but people who I just run into probably wont

As far as the diet goes, I just slowly lowered carbs and fats. Started with cutting out the worst things I ate and went from there.
The last couple of lbs were REALLY stubborn, but Lunk, 405 and GBrice really helped me out there, thanks for that btw.

I did intermittent fasting a couple of days a week, and a very mild form of carb-cycling where I would eat less the days I didnt train or work out.

Also, just to keep sane, and just because I only did this to feel well, I've had 1 cheat day a week, where I ate just whatever I felt like, but still at least tried to keep kcals within reason. The day before this day I had a fast, so that most of the excess kcals from my cheat day would be used to refill glycogen stores. Without this day to look forward to, I'd never have made it.

Mostly I ate:

Chicken
Cottage cheese
Eggs
Omelettes
Pies (My own, macros came out "ok" most of the time)
Lean, red, meat
Rice
The occasional day with pasta
Potatoes
Veggies
Nuts
Panncakes and waffels, also my own recipes with TONS of eggwhites and cottage cheese.
Crepes (basically some kind of meat rolled up in a panncake) I had allot of trial and mostly error, but some came out very nice with 60+g of proteins per serving
Oatmeal
Berries in my cottage cheese

/Maf

[snowman]

You did a great job....

[energizer bunny]

hey man, excellent work!.......you look great!

[bdos]

Great work man whats your overall goal?

[ma_fighter]

hey man, excellent work!.......you look great!

You did a great job....

Great work man whats your overall goal?

Thanks

Overall goal.. Hmm.. Besides adding mass, I havent really gotten that far in my planning yet, first I just wanna try a short 8'ish weeks natural, lean, bulk and see what happens.
If I respond well to the training, and I have reason to believe that I will, as I've gotten pretty big before (albeit a long time ago) Then my goals (just thought em up this very second) will be in the following order:

#1 Keep BF low enough for ABS to be visible all year round, shouldn't be all that hard and will give me a visual indicator when its time to stop bulking, and start cutting again.
#2 Lean bulk till my vacation in March
#3 Hit 200lbs, below 15%BF
#4 Deadlift 400+ lbs for at least 3 reps, raw (belt, perhaps straps if grip fails)
#5 Squat 400+ lbs for at least 3 reps, raw, I'm guessing goal 3-5 will go pretty much hand in hand, I will almost certainly DL 400lbs x3 before I hit 200lbs, squats however I'm not so sure of.
#6 Deadlift 600 lbs, raw (belt, perhaps straps if grip fails)
#7 After that, just maintain a decent physique..

Honestly if all I ever achieve is staying active and not getting fat again, due to some unforseen events, then that'd still be fine by me

/Maf

[ironman1982]

great work, keep it up

[ma_fighter]

UPDATE #1, 2013-01-22

Ok, time for the first little update.

Weigh in today: 175 lbs +5 lbs (I was 173 yesterday, so this is probably a bit skewed)

Lifts: I've averaged about a +6-7 lbs increase in most lifts, but that's most likely just because I've been pushing harder. Biceps are weaker for some reason.

Been focusing mostly on shoulders and upper back, to sort out that friggin impingement caused by muscle imbalance, feels great to lift again though!







Anybody know if it's possible to edit the title of a thread btw?

Cheers!
/Maf

[twitz]

Quite a transformation! Awesome!

[ma_fighter]

UPDATE #2, 2013-03-14

Small update on my progress, changes are coming, but not at the pace I'd hoped.
Got the stomach-flu (?) for a good week, which put me back a LOT, had lost 5 lbs when I had re-hydrated. I' just about where I were before I got ill now, so that's a big factor in why I've not been progressing as fast as I would like.

I would have been VERY happy with another 3-5lbs on what I've got now, so all things considered, its not too bad.
Not cycling or taking any supps at all, except for multi vits, either.

Weigh in today: 179 lbs +9 lbs Actually, I'm very happy with this!, Good thing I started a log, or I would have gotten way too impatient. Gains are so hard to notice, because they happen so gradually.

I'm actually starting to HAVE delts for the first time in a long, long while!


Getting a little bit thicker, sorry for the blur, but I'd had 8 cups of coffee that morning, a bit hard to keep the phone still, lol :P


Also starting to get that V below the navel, never had that before, so thats nice


Quads are lagging, still training at home, so I cant really hit 'em very hard with the equipment I've got ATM. That'll hopefully change after my vacation though.



Going on vacation for two weeks with my girl now (thailand), yay!
But the hotel's got a gym so *hopefully* I'll be able to stay a bit active :P

[ma_fighter]

UPDATE #3, 2013-06-15

Weigh in today: 193 lbs +23 lbs
Lifts: Shoulderpress/Upright row, Dumbbell. +16/lbs on both
. Biceps curls +30/lb (Thats with a W-bar, so not per arm)

added +1"/2.5cm around my arms.

Feels like I'm getting somewhere, getting looks and comments from people I dont even know

[Back In Black]

Excellent work mate. 23lbs up and still have abs

The plan is to keep bulking yes?

[ma_fighter]

Thanks!
Yup, once my abs go away, thats when I'll stop, and do a short cut

I eat like an absolute maniac now, so we'll see how long it takes!

[ma_fighter]

Inbetween Updates, update

I figured I'd put some lifts here as well

Curls: W-bar - 110lbs 5x7 - Last set are almost all negatives, really hit failure there.
Flyes: Dumbbells - 49.6lbs 3x8 - not to failure
Shoulderpress: Dumbbells - 66lbs 3x8 - not to failure
Decline pushups, ~30 degrees - Bodyweight, 3x30, after doing shoulderpress, dips and flyes.
Dumbbell, 1 arm rows 90lbs 3x8 - not to failure
Dips - Bodyweight, 3x30
Front Squats - Limited by not having enough weights at home: 192lbs 3x15-20




Delts are starting to come along nicely, pecs less so but at least they're growing/shaping up
Really need to thicken up my arms though.
Vascularity is ok, could be better but I'd need to cut again, and dont wanna do that just yet.



Triceps long head def. needs some work!


/Maf