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![]() By: Ryan Swan Week #3 NOTICE: This is article #3 of this series. Click HERE for the front page. Another week is over with. To tell you the truth it kind of went by fast. I feel alright, my carbs are fairly high still, and my timing so far is working out very well, I have just the perfect amount of energy for my workouts, with the help of my fat burners. One thing that is shitty about this is I am extremely moody. It's so funny how your body works. I'm sitting here one minute feeling great, then the next I want to cry over a can of tuna! Luckily I have some very understanding roommates and friends. One thing I've done to help this is surrounded myself with some positive motivators. For example above my bed on the ceiling, I have a piece of paper with W.I.N written. It's an acronym for What's Important Now? This way every time I want to hit the snooze button, or every time I want to lay down and procrastinate… I have to think… What IS important now? As well in front of my stepper which I use in the morning I have "One chance to sieze everything I've ever wanted" This way when I feel like hoping off at 30 minutes, I see that. It keeps me on there for the extra five minutes, and usually longer. I feel like it is very important to keep reminding yourself of why you are doing this to yourself, otherwise, I'd go crazy. Training
I know my body very well and can tell when I've had a good workout or a half decent workout. As mentioned last week I went to the orthopedic surgeon about my back.. I have spondylolysthesis which basically means one of my vertebra (L5) is shifted forward. But the surgeon said that I could go back to squatting and I won't risk shifting it further. So, I am adding squats back into my routine. Tanning I went tanning once. I felt better. With a little bit darker color the muscles show through even more. This was just more of a psychological thing than anything else. I really don't have to worry about tanning that much. Once I put that Pro Tan on, it doesn't matter anyway. That stuff is so dark it covers up everything. Diet So far everything has been going good. I am completely sick of tuna, but I've been putting a cut up pickle in with it, and it helps it go down. I have a new best friend as well... Diet Coke. This stuff has 1.2 Cal per can. I like to drink it flat, mostly because I don't drink pop, so carbonated drinks don't go down so easy. To curb my cravings, I also snack on pickles. They only have 3 cal each. For my "cheat" meal this week I went to dairy queen and had a grilled chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bun with mustard on it. It wasn't really much of a cheat, but just eating somewhere else was nice. Supplements:
Vitamin C - As an antioxidant to prevent muscle atrophy (muscle breakdown) Glutamine - To speed recovery by rebuilding muscle (Essential Amino Acid) Dymetadrine Xtreme - To increase my metabolism and give me much needed energy EFA oil - with such a low fat diet, I must supplement with some Essential Fatty Acids Optimum Protein - To rebuild and repair muscle tissues. I added Vitamin E as well, again for it's antioxidant effects. (Antioxidants neutralize free radicals which are produced mainly from aerobic exercise) Week 2 Diet
6:00 AM
6:30 AM
7:30 AM - Meal 1
Meal 2: 9:30AM
Meal 3: 11:30 AM
Meal 4: 2:00 PM
Meal 5: 4:00PM (pre-workout meal) Workout: 4:45PM
Meal 6: 7:00PM (post workout)
Meal 7: 9:00PM
Meal 8: 10:30PM Totals For Week One
Because there is 3500 Cal per lb of fat, I will be loosing approximately 2 lbs of fat per week, for a total of 18 lbs. However, time will tell, with cutting water, etc, how much I will loose exactly. I try not to use the scale as a judge of where I will be, rather, I use the mirror to judge where I am. What I Have Changed This Year Instead of having a protein shake before my workout, I've started having it after my workout. I switched this with the chicken breast previously after my workout. I am doing this because my workouts have been going a bit longer than expected due to the cardio. Therefore I am going 3 hours on average without a meal. I feel that the protein shake will be absorbed faster than the chicken breast. I cut my oatmeal down in the morning to 1.5 cups, rather than 2. I did this simply because I couldn't choke down the two cups. So basically it was a waste. It's not a big difference either, and to make up for the carbs missed, I added some raisins in which adds some taste to my oatmeal. I couldn't get my treadmill from my parents house, so I got a stepper instead. The only downfall is for 5 days after leg day it kills me. Other than that it's not too bad. And it's nice not having to go to the gym in the morning. My Training Monday - Chest and Shoulder
Flat Bench Press/Flat dumbbell press - 6 sets - 2 warm up - View Shoulders
Front raises - 4 sets - View
Leg Press - 12 sets - View Wednesday - Back
Chinups - 3 sets - View Thursday - Arms
Alternate Dumbbell curl - 6 sets (2 warm up) - View Friday - Only Morning cardio Saturday - Abs, calves and Forearms
Crunches - 4 sets - View Calves
Seated calf raise - 6 sets - View Forearm Forearm curls - 6 sets - View Sunday - Only Morning Cardio
Reps: I don't bother to put numbers on how many reps I do because it will change from exercise to exercise. I aim for what is called Total Positive Failure (TPF) this is when I can no longer complete one more repetition with proper form. After reaching TPF, I will use a spot to get 1-2 more reps out of each set. However, I use a weight in which I will reach TPF at around 10 reps. I never go below 5 though. Posing: I am really excited about my posing routine. I have been working on it since I found the song in September. I have decided to use the song "rock you like a hurricane" by The Scorpions. But it's a version with the Berlin Phil. Harmonic orchestra. It's an awesome song for posing, and my routine is pretty much down pat. Learn more about the importance of music, click here! I have included some starting pictures with this article. After week one, there isn't much change, but I will be posting some new pics every week. All in all, week one was pretty good. I lost about 6 pounds so far and am down to about 200 lbs. A lot of this is water, even though I am constantly drinking water, the caffeine in the fat burners is a natural diuretic. A few ups and downs, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I do this because it is hard. And I love it. Not anyone can do what we do as bodybuilders. You have to have extreme dedication and a love for the sport. Remember, this is not a game. Keep training hard. If you have any questions/comments, please email me at ryan_swan@hotmail.com. If I don't get back to you by chance it means I missed your email. Just keep sending them until you get an answer!
Week 3 Pics
Train hard, see you at the gym, Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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My training this week went really good. I kept my strength up in almost all of my exercises. As well, on Friday I trained shoulders for a second time. I just felt so weird not going into the gym, so I went in and did a 45 minute shoulder workout. I am not very strict on sticking to my exact training schedule. For example, on Monday I felt like I needed more of a pump in my chest so I threw in some negatives on the chest press machine.
Cardio: I do morning cardio every day. I do afternoon cardio on the days I strength train. My cardio will consist mostly of the stepper.










