Getting Cut Before Going PHAT

[ECWHY]

Shoutout to booneman77 for sharing his routine. That is what I will be using once I reach my desired bf%

Posted this on BB.com, but figured I might as well copy everything to AM as well since it's easy and can gain some additional insight on my progress.

-----

Background:

I took a year and change off lifting. Have been on and off for a while, and currently lifting 3x a week. I plan to add legs soon, but I am doing cardio 6-7x a week so have been taking time off from squatting. Also, have had some trouble fitting into slimmer fit jeans so wouldn't mind slightly smaller legs.

I started at 192lbs (dec 20 something), currently 160.2lbs (as of this morning, will update daily)

My current plan is to cut until I am very lean then slowly bulk up to around 165-170lbs. I would say that I can end this cut around 150, ideally.

Pictures:

Pictures:

Around 185-192 in this picture:

i.imgur.com/ooIauba. jpg

Around 172-175 in this picture:

i.imgur.com/qDnwOsC .jpg

163-164lbs:

i.imgur.com/fw8v6sJ. jpg


Gotta remove space in link since I can't post them yet.


I'm pretty small rn because of the year off. Main reason why I want to cut down first. Want to get a solid lean base so I have some additional room on my bulk and can take it slow and long.

Scale might be around 1lb off so all these weights could be +1lb. Have had some discrepancies by literally a lb with another scale.

Current Routine:

Monday: Cardio//ABS
Tuesday: Chest/Triceps//Abs//Cardio
Wednesday: Back/Biceps//Cardio
Thursday: Cardio//Abs
Friday: Cardio//Abs
Saturday: Shoulders/Misc.//Abs//Cardio
Sunday: Cardio (soon to be legs)

I am following my own routine currently. Doing 8 reps on compound movements, and 10-12 on accessories. Might lower compounds to 6-8.

Once I start to bulk, I plan to follow a 6 day modified PHAT routine. I still plan to do cardio because I like the conditioning that I am in and want to gain as little fat as possible on my bulk.


Current Diet:

I am following keto + IF (18/6 or 16/8 depending on the day) as it has kept me the fullest on this cut. Deficit is around 700-500 calories depending on how I feel. I plan to transition to a more balanced diet when I began my bulk, but am considering CKD. Still not 100% decided.

Macros: 5/25/70
Daily caloric and macro values: 2000-2300 calories depending on activity, 150-180 g of fat, 10-15 g of carbs, 110-120g of protein. Basically, hit protein macro (.8/lb of lbm), eat around 10-15g of carbs, rest is fat.


Supplements:

ON Whey Isolate
Creatine Monohydrate
Fish Oils
Glucosamine
BCAAs
Multivitamin
EC Stack (25mg bronkaid/200 caffeine 3x a day)

I use the BCAAs on days I train fasted. Cutting but threw in the Creatine b/c it's cheap and can help reduce some strength loss in the final stretch. Glucosamine because I've been having some aches and pains here and there in my joints so giving it a try. And, fish oils b/c they're just good and hopefully help my joints, too.

Goals:

Current - Lean out to 10-11%.

Bulk - Not very sure what numbers I want to hit. Will have to decide when I start lifting heavier. Have not done max efforts in quite a while.

 

[ECWHY]

Saturday:


DB Press Seated: 3 x 50lbs x 8-10 reps

Arnold Press Seated: 4 x 35lbs x 10-12 reps

Lateral Raises: 4 x 20lbs x 10-15 reps (slow negative)

Shrugs: Skipped today (sore asf from first deadlift day in a while recently)

Cable Rope Face Pulls: 4 x 45lbs x 12 reps

15 min of LISS Cardio + Abs to finish


Nutrition:

Calories: 1940
Carbs (net): 11g
Fat: 154g
Protein: 108g

 

[ECWHY]

Sunday:

Cardio: 35 min of 60-70% of max HR stationary cycling

Abs:

Hanging Leg Raises: 3 x BW x 5-8 (grip was limiting factor but I dont want to use sleeves)

Superset of:

V-Ups: 4 x BW x 12-20
Planks: 4 x 40-60 seconds

Nutrition for today:

Calories: 1995
Carbs (NET): 18g
Fat: 132g
Protein: 111g
Fiber: 7g

Burned around 2600 cals today

 

[ECWHY]

Chest - 4/3/2017

BB Bench Press:

WU - Bar
1 x 155 x 8
3 x 165 x 8/8/6

Notes: Felt good on the bench. Need to make sure I keep wrist straight because later in my workout I had some wrist pain.

DB Incline Bench:

3 x 60 x 8/9/9

Notes: Will up weight to 65lbs next week to aim for the 6-8 rep range.

DB Incline Chest Flyes:

3 x 25lbs x 12/13/13/13

Skullcrushers:

3 x 40 x 12-13

Notes: Went light to get form down. Haven't done this in a minute.

These 2 below were supersetted

1-Arm Reverse Grip Tricep Pulldowns:

3 x 15 x 12 reps
1 x 20 x 8 reps

1-Arm Tricep Pushdown:

3 x 15 x 12 reps

Notes: Got wrist pain around set 2 in my right wrist. Felt it in my hands too. Might just be from too much typing/gripping. Not sure.


Cardio:

20 minutes of walking on manual treadmill (170 cals burned)




I generally do chest tomorrow but decided to switch up my days.


Nutrition:

Calories: 2338
Carbs: 15g
Fat: 183g
Protein: 131g


Notes: Ate a bit more than usually today on accident. Probably ended in around a ~500 cal deficit

 

[ECWHY]

Cardio + Abs - 4/4/2017

Warm up:

5 min on Stationary Bike

Cardio:

30 min at 6.5 incline 3.9 speed on Treadmill


Abs:

Hanging Knee Raises:

2 x BW x 8-10

Hanging Leg Raises:

1 x BW x 8

Exercise Ball Crunches:

3 x BW + 35lbs (behind head) x 12-15 reps


Notes: Good work out. Solid sweat on the cardio and did some abs but didn't want to do too much to be fresh for deadlifts tomorrow.

Nutrition -

Cals: 1938
Carbs (NET): 12g
Fat: 149g
Protein: 110g
Fiber: 6g


Notes:

Ate in around a 600 cal deficit today. Also, drank almost 2 gallons of water today. I have been around 1.5gs most days, but am really trying to make sure I drink enough not to retain much water.

Plan to weigh-in officially most likely friday or Saturday morning. I've been sitting around 160 this week in most of my weigh-ins so hoping for a drop to 158 or so soon. Cardio felt good today and will probably only do around 20min after deads, and maybe 10 or so prior to warming up for deads to loosen up.

Lastly, ordered some APS Mesomorph with DMAA recently. Might consider taking it PWO with my ephedrine instead of using caffeine. Not sure though and will have to think about it. Might just save it for the time between the EC stack. I bought some today because I saw a sale for buy 1 get one 50 off so wanted to grab it.

 

[Mowglisml]

In to see progress

 

[BEAST73]

SUB!

 

[ECWHY]

Back/Biceps - 4/5/2017


Warm Up Cardio:

5 min on a manual treadmill

Deadlifts:

WU: 3 x 135lbs x 5
3 x 185lbs x 5
4 x 205lbs x 3/3/5/5

Rest time: ~2-2.5 min between each set.

Notes: A lot of form work today. Been watching the Alan Thrall videos so really making sure I get the concepts down before I move on. Light weight, wasn't hard to pull, just had a lot on my mind to make sure form was in check. Want to get it to be second nature before I move up. I sweated a ton from this, probably from the lower rest times.

Also, had some knee pain/soreness after each set. Made walking a bit weird. Might be foot position. Will try to flair it out more.

Pull ups:

3 x BW x 8/6/5

Rest Time: ~1.30 min

Notes: Grip was pretty dead since I do double over hand on the deadlifts. Went slow on the negative and got a nice stretch.


DB Bent Over Rows:

3 x 60lbs x 12

Rest Time: ~1.30-2min

Notes: Felt good. Got a good stretch, esp. in my right lat. I think I need to develop more mind muscle connection when using my left arm though.

Seated DB Curls:

3 x 30lbs x 8

Rest Time: 1.30 min

Notes: Shorter rest really helped this kick my ass. Had trouble contracting on a few of the final reps. Momentum is really stopped by sitting down.

Hammer Curls:

3 x 25lbs x 10-12
1 x 15lbs x 15 (left arm only)

Rest Time: 1.30min

Notes: Worked on getting a nice contraction. Felt good since I was fatigued from rest of the WO. Lower rest time made this a bit tougher but will probably move up to 30lbs next session and see if I can do it for 10 on the dot. Also, only did 1 set for left with the 15s because I am trying to fix an imbalance.

Cardio:

20 min of walking on a manual treadmill (~185 cals burned according to fitbit).

 

[ECWHY]

SUB!

In to see progress

Appreciate it guys. I will try to post pics often. Will either do one this saturday or next. Only been on 3 doses of EC a day for a week this thursday though so might give it another week to see more change.

 

[ECWHY]

Nutrition - 4/5/2017:

Cals: 1959
Carbs (net): 16g
Fat: 155g
Protein: 117g

Supplements:

Cod Liver Oil - 5 Capsules
NOW Glucosamine - 4 Capsules (usually do 2 but deadlifted today so upped it)
Calcium Supplement - 2 Capsules (1200mg supplemented)
Kirkland Multi - 1 Capsule
EC stack - 25mg+200mg/25mg+25mg/300mg(PWO)/25mg+200mg
Natural Calm Magnesium - 4 g (2tbsp)
NoSalt Potassium - 1200-1300mg

Notes:

Felt good today in terms of eating. Got an unwich because I got bored of the same meal every day. I am going to go look into TKD this weekend instead of straight keto.

Fitbit had me at around 2700 cals today, but I am assuming that it might slightly overestimate so I will say that I ate in a 500-700cal deficit.

 

[ECWHY]

Very sore legs from the deads and zero back pain so seems like my form work paid off


Too sore/tired for cardio/abs today. Had a late night and early morning so better to let myself rest. Will do 45-1hr of dat dere cardio time tmrw and finish off with a good amt of abs!

Will update nutrition later tn

 

[ECWHY]

Nutrition - 4/6/2017

Calories: 1620
Carbs (NET): 16g
Fat: 112g
Protein: 119g


Notes:


I think I am going to experiment with slightly lower fat, and higher protein. Also, will began TKD on Saturday to aid with my lifting. Will lower fat so I get around 110-120g and protein to 130-160g (~.9-1.2g of lbm)

Ate lower in cals today because didn't move much and only burned around ~2300 cals probably. Fitbit says around 2400 but will start going 100 cal under it to be safe on my tdee.

 

[ECWHY]

Cardio and Abs - 4/7/2017


Cardio:

30 min at 6.5 incline 3.7 speed

Notes: Got a good sweat going.


Abs:


Hanging Leg Raises:

3 x BW x 12

Supersetted with:

Exercise Ball Crunches:

3 x BW + 25lbs x 12-15

Rest Time: 1 minute

Notes: Superset paid off. This burned. Need to makes sure I don't swing on the leg raises. Brought them up to around 90 degrees.

These 3 below were supersetted as well.


Russian Twists:

3 x BW + 35/10/10 x 10/20/20

V-Ups:

3 x BW x 12-15

Planks:

3 x BW x 1min/36 seconds/40 seconds

Rest time: 1 minute between supersets

Notes: ....this hurt.


Also, weighed in at 159 today but my scale, again, might be a pound off so I think I'm probably around 160




Pics coming soon!

 

[ECWHY]

All 3 above are flexed.


Below is unflexed:

I was kind of bloated today. Ate 2 quest bars yesterday instead of having one of my meals and it must not have set well with me. Had insane cramps/stomach pain/bloating/gas in the middle of the night. Still managed to workout this morning, but I literally could not sleep. I might retake pictures tomorrow.

Guess that saves me a bunch of money never buying them again lol

 

[Mowglisml]

Yea man stay away from dem quest bars. That hidden sugar in there and they are pricey. Better off getting an extra protein and dumping it in your oats

 

[ECWHY]

Yea man stay away from dem quest bars. That hidden sugar in there and they are pricey. Better off getting an extra protein and dumping it in your oats

For sure. Not getting them again. Was curious how they tasted so grabbed 2 at a store but it was a mistake haha

 

[ECWHY]

Didn't log nutrition yesterday smh. Here it is:

Nutrition - 4/7/2017

Cals: 1880
Carbs (Net): 13g
Fat: 120g
Protein: 132g


Notes: Today (Saturday) is my first day of TKD and I plan to take APS Mesomorph PWO so big day!

Will be logging Mesomorph in the supplements forum if anyone is interested. Will keep this workout/nutrition related

 

[ECWHY]

Saturday - 4/8/2017:


DB Press Seated:

WU: 35lbs x 12
1 x 45lbs x 10
3 x 55lbs x 8/8(iffy last rep)/5
1 x 50lbs x 8

Notes: Mesomorph definitely got me in focus enough to want to jump up in weight, add an extra set, and actually succeed.

Rest time was around a 1min 30 to 2 min between sets (closer to 1min30)

Arnold Press Seated:

4 x 35lbs x 8 reps

Notes: Rest time was ~1min 20-30 secs. Last set I was around 1min45sec-2min which was much needed

Lateral Raises:

4 x 20lbs x 12/10/10 reps

Notes: Paused at top and slow negative. I'll feel it tommorrow

Rest Time: 1 min-1min15sec

Shrugs:

4 x 70lbs x 12/12/12/12

Notes: Paused at top, slow reps. Good burn. Will try 75lbs next session. Grip might be an issue but gotta man up

Rest time: 1min-1min30sec


Cable Rope Face Pulls:

4 x 45lbs x 12 reps

Notes: Slow negative and squeeze at top. Felt good

Rest Time: 1 min

 

[Mowglisml]

^awesome! Mesomorph is like crack.

 

[ECWHY]

^awesome! Mesomorph is like crack.

For sure. I felt great on just half a scoop

 

[ECWHY]

Nutrition - 4/8/2017


Calories: 1715
Carbs (Net): 28g
Fat: 99g
Protein: 130g


Ate in around a 600-700 cal deficit.

 

[ECWHY]

You're doing great work in here.
Great job with the nutrition as well.

Appreciate it!


Had a refeed and legs today.

Legs - 4/9/2017

DB Stationary Lunges:

4 x 35lbs x 8-10

Notes: ....ouch. All that time off legs did not help. Was going to start with squats but wanted to easy into legs.

Rest Time: 1min30sec-2min

Leg Press:

4 x 4 plates x 12

Notes: Slow, full range. Just easing back into legs. Didn't want to have too horrible DOMS right away.

Rest Time: ~2min

Hamstring Curls (1 leg):

3 x 45lbs x 8-10

Cardio:

20 Min on Treadmill



Sore...very sore today

 

[ECWHY]

Chest/Triceps - 4/10/2017


BB Bench Press:

2 x 135lbs x 12 (WU)
1 x 155lbs x 8 (WU)
3 x 170lbs x 7/6/5
1 x 155lbs x 6

Notes: Jumped up in weight. Felt good even though the bench I was using was crooked so the bar wasn't straight.

Rest Time: ~2 min

BB Incline Bench:

3 x 115lbs x 12 reps

Notes: Haven't done this in a while so went lighter. DB Bench was taken.

Rest Time: 1min-1min30

Incline Flyes:

4 x 30lbs x 12 reps

Notes: n/a

Rest Time: 1min

--> Was going to do CG Bench but all were taken so..

SkullCrushers:

4 x 70lbs x 8

Rest Time: 2 min

Dips:

4 x BW x 8-10

Tricep Pushdowns:

2 x 35lbs x 12 reps


Notes: Triceps were done at this point

 

[ECWHY]

Nutrition - 4/12/2017:

Calories: 1642
Carbs(net): 5g ---> bouncing back strong after the refeed fellas
Fat: 103g
Protein: 135g


Notes:

Not gonna lie, killed my macros today. Didn't workout (that day 2 DOMS from first leg workout in like 4 months) so no cardio or abs today.

Deadlifts tomorrow, really hoping I am fresh. Might drink some BCAA's tonight to hopefully aid recovery

 

[ECWHY]

Deads and back are a no-go today. Extremely sore still. Should've went easier Sunday lol

 

[ECWHY]

Back/Biceps - 4/13/2017:


Deadlifts:

2 x 135lbs x 5-6 (WU)
2 x 185lbs x 5 (WU)
4 x 225lbs x 5
1 x 135lbs x 8 reps (burn out)

Notes:

Great session of deadlifts. Form felt good and going up in weight definitely was felt more. Back/legs will be very sore tomorrow. I think back will be a normal soreness since I really felt solid on form but will keep monitoring it.

Rest Time: 2 min, 45 sec rest between last working set and burn out.


Pull ups:

3 x BW x 6/5/5/4

Notes:

Got a cramp in calves when I started first set. Had me really unfocused for rest of the sets since that **** hurt lol

Rest Time: 1min -1min30


1 Arm DB Rows:

3 x 65lbs x 12 reps

Notes:

Good contraction, slow negative

Rest Time: 1min

EZ Bar Curls:

4 x 60lbs x 8/12/12/12

Notes:
Pump was huge since I added 2g of sodium pre workout and a full scoop of Meso.

Hammer Curls:

3 x 30lbs x 8-12

Notes:

Rest Time: 1 min

DB Curls:

1 x 30lbs x 6-8
2 x 25lbs x 10-12

Notes:

Arms were pretty tired at this point

 

[Mowglisml]

Back/Biceps - 4/13/2017:


Deadlifts:

2 x 135lbs x 5-6 (WU)
2 x 185lbs x 5 (WU)
4 x 225lbs x 5
1 x 135lbs x 8 reps (burn out)

Notes:

Great session of deadlifts. Form felt good and going up in weight definitely was felt more. Back/legs will be very sore tomorrow. I think back will be a normal soreness since I really felt solid on form but will keep monitoring it.

Rest Time: 2 min, 45 sec rest between last working set and burn out.


Pull ups:

3 x BW x 6/5/5/4

Notes:

Got a cramp in calves when I started first set. Had me really unfocused for rest of the sets since that **** hurt lol

Rest Time: 1min -1min30


1 Arm DB Rows:

3 x 65lbs x 12 reps

Notes:

Good contraction, slow negative

Rest Time: 1min

EZ Bar Curls:

4 x 60lbs x 8/12/12/12

Notes:
Pump was huge since I added 2g of sodium pre workout and a full scoop of Meso.

Hammer Curls:

3 x 30lbs x 8-12

Notes:

Rest Time: 1 min

DB Curls:

1 x 30lbs x 6-8
2 x 25lbs x 10-12

Notes:

Arms were pretty tired at this point

Solid session!

 

[ECWHY]

Solid session!

Thanks!

Nutrition - 4/13/2017

Calories: 1891
Carbs (net): 23g (including PWO 15g of dextrose which should be gone by the end of my W/O)
Fat: 91g
Protein: 168g

Notes:

Higher total since I lifted today and want to recover well. Around 500-600 cal deficit.