Lots of people get good results with paleo, lots of people get good results with atkins/lo-carb, my personal eating style might be considered high carb but natural food. Like SoCal states, most diets work. You just need to find one you can stick to 90% and fvcking stick to it!

Today in the gym:
I've gone this far in the thread without mentioning that my default warmup is the concept II rower. This IMO is *THE* single best piece of cardio equipment ever made. Obviously it simulates rowing, so instead of a treadmill you use your arms, back and legs while doing cardio. Perfect warmup for *ANY* lift you plan on later doing.

I swear if I ever see one on craigslist I'm gonna snatch it up and do away with my spin bike.

Bench-145x5, 155x3, 165x1, 185x1, 205x1
One arm DB row-5x10 with 45
DB bench-5x15 with 45

 

Slacker, are you going to be able to attend any stages of the Tour of CA ?

 

I'm not really a roadie fan, but the first stage is right here in south lake this weekend. There are giant bike sculptures all over town. I might take the new camera down and do a few shots now that you mention it.

 

Excellent idea!

 

been taking it easy this past week, from fri to fri
i probably had 4 large frozen yogurts in between lol, i somehow managed to bs my way into believing that it's much more okay than icecream or any other dessert but i am of course just thinking that

the good: even with a not so strict diet on workout days, i have managed to use that to fuel more sets and weights to try and up the mass.
the bad: less vascularity obviously with the water retention of the carbs, and probably have a bit of glycogen i need to shake off since the calories the past 3 days going in have not been burnt because i am purposefully basing myself and setting a pace of 2kg/month to ensure this weight doesn't just crawl up the 1st time i eat a proper burger again.
the good of the bad: strength & alertness till the end of the workout as opposed to running on stamina

best of all is that the weight on scale did not exceed 1kg up, which is awesome given the amount of froyo i guzzled down (hooked on this stuff like a kid) and the huge portion of homemade pasta yesterday, and the 24" subway sandwiches
will definitely tweak the diet this week though to what it was 2 weeks ago and keep the carbs down along with the calories

it takes a LOT to keep your diet when you're out with the wife for dinner or meet up with some friends and have food at every corner

 

The trick is just eating meat when you go out. Mcdonalds? Order the burgers with a salad, throw away buns. Steakhouse? Filet + asparagus, they all serve it. Etc... Almost any restaurant from fine dining to fast food has options.

 

No excuses Boursachi...

 

so true on both counts, guys
but fear not, for i have still NOT been eating junk (no way!) nor have i binged. i was merely stating the fact that when you're zoned in, you start to realize how easy and available everything is!

having gone out pretty much every night of the last week + not being able to go to the gym everyday, i can take away from last week that both your inputs are absolutely true: there is ALWAYS a choice, and there is NEVER an excuse
i can also take comfort in the fact that post 7 days of "normal" dieting, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the scale is up only 1kg from the lowest i've been so far (85.8 last thursday i think to 86.8 a few minutes ago), which is absolutely normal given the amount of carbs/cals
meaning: i can maintain this for a pretty long time if i just keep on shedding off the fat + water for a few more months

i will just add that the most important thing, as you all know, is to have your food READY whenever you are back home.
whenever you have time to think about what you want to eat, you'll automatically be thinking of comfort food lol

i teach at university level, so i sometimes have 3 days off where i can really do some damage at the gym, and other days (like last week for example), i would get stuck at work till 6pm. however, that can also be a good thing since i am resting more and if i just control the cals and where the cals are coming from, then this can be a lot more efficient in the long run

thanks for the encouragement guys

 

I'm annoyed. I have to do 50+ sit ups in 60 seconds. I seem to be stuck in the 45-46 range. I start out at 8 sit ups per 10 seconds, so the slow down over time is not significant, at the same time I'm going as fast as I can. The only way for me to go faster is not with the "proper form" - i.e. shoulder blades not touching the ground on the way down. Also, I can't just let my body go to make it "drop" faster, it has to be all controlled and hands behind the head, fingers interlocked kinda thing...

So, how do I speed this up?..

As a side note, I'm not getting tired from doing these for one minute. I've done multiple sets with minimal rest in between to see if I can adjust something to be able to go faster, but it ins't happening. To me it's only about increasing speed at which I'm doing these.

 

tsar, while i admire the goal, may i ask why?
if you just take the negative going back then surely that is better for the muscle and it will
help grow and be more pronounced if you shed off the bf

in answer to your question:
i am guessing the key is with the secondary muscles, namely quads hamstrings and lower back? good luck!