It's been a few days since I've posted but I've been reflecting on how I want to go about doing a controlled diet using the leangains methodology. But before I outline my plan I want to go into a little background history on my exercise and eating habits. I am now 22, and have been exercising for body composition since about 11th grade with average progress. I didn't lift weights in high school but I was a year round runner (track,xc,summer training, winter training). I did it because a couple friends of mine were into it (even though I hated running at the time due to being about 20-30 lbs overweight (170 lbs at about 5' 7", low muscle) ) I fell in love with the chemical rush, the competition, the idea of self improvement, the antidepressant effects and much more than I can list here,of exercise. However I was of course a noob at the time and had no concept of eating right. In fact I made the classic mistake of trying to lower calories while running a ton, everyday(at least 5 miles). It continuously gave me mediocre progress, and I continued to push harder in that direction. It was at least making mistakes in the right direction, I learned how to push myself very hard when the pain was high. Then I went to college, fell off the running kick a bit and picked up the iron (free gym). I was so amazed by the amount of muscle I was putting on so quickly, and I loved the post workout pump. I had found a new hobby, but I still was making the mistake of not eating right, or inconsistently eating right. I bought the protein, even creatine, and figured I was kickin ass enough in the weight room that unlike all other mortals I wouldn't be affected by plateaus, you can imagine how wrong I was. I once again had the right ideas and was moving in the right direction by focusing on form, switching up routines,and being consistent. Again I was not eating entirely right, and I was still doing cardio too much. I was also a gym rat, so I was certainly being affected by over-training. My majors in school were Human Biology and Psychology. Both of which involved understanding the scientific method to a high degree. This gave me enough background information to understand nutritional and workout books to a higher level. My two most influential books that I read were Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle by bodybuilder Tom Venuto and Eat Stop Eat by the former research analyst Brad Pilon. They both spoke to different sides of me, for Eat Stop Eat it was the scientific and rebellious side because it was a research based look at the controversial topic of fasting and how to implement it into a lifestyle, and Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle was my tenacious and hardworking side that really inspired me because of the real world results of his ideas and methods. This lead me to be more intelligent about my lifts and to be more open to new ideas about how to go about progress. Then I found leangains this summer which is basically 16 hour fasting period followed by an 8 hour eating window each day with high protein and resistance training and it was a game changer, mostly because of the success that i've seen with the originator of the program, Martin Berkhan and his many clients.
And to Tom, Brad and Martin if you ever get the chance to read this
Thank you.
My Plan
With all of the above in mind I have composed a diet plan that I believe will push my results to the next level (under 10%, easy)
Starting weight = 167.5, fairly lean 12-15% bf
So My plan is pretty much the same as the approach in leangains but with some tweaks (probably not as good but it works for me)
FASTING ROUTINE
-16/8 hour rotations everyday(stop eating around 8-10pm every day, break fast @ 10am-2pm following day.)
Lifting frequency, type, style, and cardio
-3 lift days, Machine- circuit style, 1 wildcard cardio day (sunday)
Note: The reason for machine (yes I know they are inferior to barbell or dumbbell, kettlebell etc) for functional strength but the reason I am doing it is because of the fact I never use them. This is going to be a 12 week diet, after I will switch back to db's and barbell. Another reason is because the gym that I go to has a compound circuit area, making it a convenient place to lift heavy, quickly (abs,biceps,triceps,lats,chest,seated rows,shoulder press,leg press). For tracking progress I am going to start with 8 reps/machine and try to increase 1 rep/week until 10 reps, then add weight). As for the cardio day I am going to do a random 60 minute cardio workout every sunday, because I like cardio and feel as though it would be a good switch and end to the week.
Calories on lift days, rest, cheat
Calculated Maintenance (conservative calculation = 2700)
-Calories 2100/lift days, 1600 rest days and 3000 "cheat day" (sunday, cardio day)
-High protein- 1g/lb body weight (160-200g(safe))
-1 cheat day, combined with cardio= sanity day, anything goes but protein has to be high)
So a successful week following the above guidelines
2100x3=6300
1600x3=4800 So: 14000 /7 = 2000 cals/day so with a calorie deficit of 700/day=4900/week
x1=3000 =58800/3500(aprx pound)= ~17 lbs
14000
Therefore goal weight is going to be about 150lbs. -12 weeks.
Also a side note.
-I am going to be doing leangains style strength training (double prog, top set) for biceps (preacher curls) for purely aesthetic purposes. Again, I usually don't do isolated body parts (such a huge fan of the compound lift) but due to never really doing them I should see some decent gains (hopefully)
-I also never do abs in isolation but I am going to 3 sets of planks after each exercise day, and add 5 seconds each day. Start- 60, 45,30.
I will most likely be keeping my own personal records for nutrition and exercise, but I will post a daily weigh in.
Excited to get busy, long road ahead of me 84 days and counting.
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