The Journey Through the Ages

I have been a Sythe member for quite some time, but have lost interest due to time constraints and inability to game as much as I would like. This past weekend I noticed this Sports, Health, & Fitness Section and it actually sparked some interest and got me wanting to share what I have done in these past few months.

Caution: Some pictures are of me shirtless etc. I didn't want to post the images directly so I left them as spoilers and the links as links in order to make sure people are not caught off guard.

High School

I was weighing in around 170 lb Senior of High School. I wasn't really strong except for my legs. I ran a 4.4, 4.5 s 40 at the time and was looking to play football at different colleges.

Early College

I decided to pursue a more academic college life and decided not to play any sports competitively. However, with college came a lot of drinking. So after a very nice year of drinking with very little physical activity I had began to get quite large. I ended my Freshman year around 225 lbs.

Spoiler: Picture

Caution: I might be shirtless...
http://i.imgur.com/BX2w6Eo.jpg?2

That summer I decided to try and make a change and started working out and taking things a lot more seriously. Prior to this time, I had gone to the gym and "worked out", but I never really worked out with the intentions of any particular goal in my head other than just wanted to say I was going to the gym.

The Summer...and a little more

I worked out a lot... I did get noticeably stronger, but I never noticed any big changes to my body. I may have lost 10 lbs that summer (I didn't really think about changing my eating habits and just kind of said working out would do it all). I decided to take another semester off to do volunteer work and so I was able to keep a pretty solid workout routine going on. By the end of that semester off I had probably dropped another 10 pounds. My strength gains were decent.

Bench Press - 135 for 8-10 reps to a 1RM of 250
Squats - 135 for 3 sets of 8-10 to a 1RM of 305.
Pullups - 5 Pullups to around 20 unbroken.
Hang Cleans - Finished at around 185
Jerks - Finished at around 135.

I felt pretty strong and definitely was thrilled with my progress, but I still looked like a really "thick" guy.

...and Back to School

Alcohol....so much alcohol... This time around I did work out a lot more, but not nearly enough. I didn't eat as bad as my first year at the whole college thing so I ended that semester weighing it at around 215ish.

New School?

The following summer I worked out again, but I didn't make any significant progress. I was a little weaker and a tad bit larger than I had ended the previous summer and semester off. I ended up transferring to a new school and also decided I would play Rugby. I figured being active again, like I was in high school, might help me get back into shape.

BAM

First game of the season...I fractured 2 bones in my foot and severed tendons.
Out for the year and on crutches for 6 months.

Spoiler: Picture

Caution: I might be shirtless...
http://i.imgur.com/Z78fes4.jpg

I really was bummed and after about 3/4 of the semester doing nothing I decided to start working out again. Upper Body only and watching what I eat really got me to a decent place. I reached Christmas weighing in at around the 200 mark. This got me excited and I was ready to really hit things hard the coming semester.

Spoiler: Picture

Caution: I might be shirtless...
http://i.imgur.com/WU41Td0.jpg?1

Most Recent Semester

I worked out a lot and really noticed some good changes. However, I was not really able to do anything other than Upper Body (until end of April and throughout May) and my diet sucked so my gains weren't what they could have been. I also went through various times of terrible fast food binges. I ended the summer looking like this:

Spoiler: Pictures

Caution: I might be shirtless...
http://i.imgur.com/arRlKZA.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/nxCu8c4.jpg

This Summer

I am on a mission to cut and look ripped. I started tracking what I ate and followed a Keto diet (low carbs, high fats, normal protein) for a few weeks. I am now on my third week of a more balanced and generic diet. I have my ups and downs because I visit the beach regularly and drink a lot, but in these past 2 weeks on the new diet I really only have minor hickups where I go over 20g of something a day once a week. I will say...progress has been amazing!

Spoiler: Pictures

Caution: I might be shirtless...
http://i.imgur.com/eNW8V34.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/FK0ewAK.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/Q0FCF7D.jpg?1

I am 21 years old and 5 foot 11 inches (180 cm???)
My current weight is: 186 lbs (84ish kg?)

Work-out Routine:

Monday: Chest, Delts, Tris
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Back and Bis
Friday: Chest, Delts, Tris
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Rest

Cardio: 5 times a week in which I reach 425 calories burned.

Abs: 4ish times a week depending on how I feel. Routine varies.

Diet

Training Days: 60g Fat, 225g Carbs, 240g Protein
Rest Days: 60g Fat, 155g Carbs, 240g Protein
Re-feed Day (Saturday): 45g Fat, 350 Carbs, and 185g Protein

The diet is by far the biggest factor that has helped me reach my goals. I did not understand how big of an impact it had on my body until I actually started following a strict nutrition plan.

My Goals

I am thinking of continuing to cut down to the 180 lb mark. I may not even get down to that depending on my bf%. I really only want to go down no lower than 8% bf. From there, I will maintain for the rest of the summer and then around September I will begin a controlled, monitored bulk to begin adding to the frame.

Feel free to ask any questions at all and hopefully I will be able to answer them adequately.

 

Carb levels are too high for a cut. what is your caloric intake per day? You have really really high macros for cutting...

 

Calories are at around 2500ish. I only focus on hitting my macros. If I hit the macros then the calories follow. In 2 weeks I have lost around 4ish pounds which is pretty good. Seeing as the general rule is you can lose max about 2 lbs of fat per week (There are many factors going into it such as how much fat the person has and their weight blah blah blah...) 4 lbs is actually really nice in 2 weeks. Sure some of that might be slight fluctuations in water weight and slight muscle loss and recent bathroom trips. In order to eliminate as many of those factors as possible, I weigh myself every morning once i wake up after using the bathroom.

 

That's good but you should really focus on getting the best possible macros while at a 500 calorie deficit from whatever you need to maintain. Also your carbs are too high for a cut. You'll lose weight but not a lot of bodyfat because your body won't be burning as much fat due to a high intake of carbs.

 

I appreciate the advice! I am at around a calorie deficit for my diet, hints why I am losing weight. Expanding on what I said earlier, from what I've read you can only lose around 31 calories of pure fat per pound per day. So its not like you can drop an insane amount of pure body fat.

 

This is generally true. I would recommend calculating what your body needs to maintain as far as calories and eat at about 500 calories less. You can lose more fat than what you naturally could if you supplement Yohimbine HCL or run an ECA stack.

 

Good luck on your status! I know all about injuries, I have been injured for the past 2 years with different stuff.

Going to be having another surgery soon so I won't be able to do any physical activity. I want to do something like you're doing so good to see this!

 

Injuries are the worst thing in the world! The fact that they can destroy any progress you make really makes me never want to do anything other than be inside of a gym.

 

Might have to my new lifestyle as well. No longer able to play football which was my life. Sucks