24 sets in 70 mins...not bad..try to cut down the rest time...i`m resting 20 seconds nowadays(~20 sets each workout session)...and limiting my workout to 45 minutes. I am seeing some results though....

20s rest..that is very high intensity

but i found that if i rest too less, there is no enough for my strength recovery and cant lift well in next set

If I'm not wrong darkie has a special day just for deadlifts ...

But I thought he said to do deadlifts on alternate weeks, on back days?

I tried resting for shorter periods but it is just as yeah_guyz said, I won't be able to push out much in the next set. Somehow my muscles recover reaaaaaaaally slow... =(

Haha ... I count on sauna for recovery ... Plus the slimming effect .. wonderfulll

yeah i get what u mean. i have that problem too...i can push more for the next set if i rest 1min, but my workout will be stretched and my body will cool down easily after that ....

sauna? it is only to lose the water and not the fats isnt it?

Merry Christmas guys!

Today there is a drop in performance AND volume compared to the previous two workouts. Needless to say I sure as hell am unsatisfied with myself today. I need moarrr powah!

The only exercise with clear improvements is the dumbbell lateral raise.

For the smith shoulder presses and the machine presses, there is a jump in weight but a drop in reps (an especially huge one for the machine presses). In this case the weight increase does not really justify the lower reps.

On the bright side, my form felt perfect today. But that, in itself, does not justify the huge drop in performance as well... But its okay, next week will be better, I hope

I will be leaving for Taiping for a few days stay starting tomorrow morning so while I'm there, there will be no eggs, no milk and no powder for me to consume. I will be stuck to having only 3 or 4 meals per day. In other words, my diet is screwed. Big time.

To mitigate losses from the diet drawback, I will just have to try and stuff myself up to the max with every meal I get.


Thursday - Shoulder Day (25 December 2008)

Seated Smith Machine Shoulder Press
Warm Up
20 lbs x 10
20 lbs x 10

Workout
65 lbs x 11
65 lbs x 11
70 lbs x 8
60 lbs x 8
60 lbs x 4


Machine Shoulder Press (Hammer Grip)
20 kg x 10
20 kg x 10
20 kg x 10
20 kg x 11


Dumbbell Lateral Raise (Weight stated = per dumbbell)
4 kg x 12
4 kg x 12
4 kg x 12
5 kg x 8, 4 kg x 3


Reverse Dumbbell Flyes - Sucking D1ck Position (Weight stated = per dumbbell)
4 kg x 15
4 kg x 13
4 kg x 11
5 lbs x 13


Light Dumbbell Shoulder Press (Weight stated = per dumbbell) (done JustForFun)
8 kg x 10
8 kg x 12
7 kg x 12


-End of Workout-
Total Workout Time: 58 minutes
Average rest time in between sets: 70 secs


Diet

Preworkout: 4 eggs, 1 glass of Milo (25g protein, 20g carbs)
Postworkout: 2 scoops weight gainer + 350ml Dutch Lady milk (35g protein, 60g carbs)

Estimated meals for today:
Lunch: Turkey + Spaghetti (20g protein)
Tea-time: Fruits (anything in the fridge will do)
Dinner: Not confirmed yet (20g protein)
Supper: 300ml milk + Whey protein (35g protein)

Total estimated protein intake: 135g

Sauna = detoxification ... and many other benefits. The main reason I do sauna is for the muscle recovery ^^

This post has been edited by JustForFun: Dec 25 2008, 12:38 PM

Sauna does that? I wish I had the time for sauna too, but after my workouts I have to rush back to have my postworkout...

Yes sauna is definitely worth the time. Well .. I go back home to have my shake and then return to the sauna room to do sauna, no big deal because I'm working out at condominium gym so I can just walk there in few minutes time ..

Off to sauna now

After having a 5 hour sleep last night, I woke up in a hurry and rushed myself to the gym. I had to complete my leg day and leave for my hometown immediately. Basically, my workout session today was pretty much on fast forward. The entire thing lasted for only 40 mins -- that's record time for me.

The only reason why I'm still sitting here in front of the PC typing is because that pig of a sister of mine just woke up from her slumber. Explains everything, doesn't it?

Anyway I am very happy with today's achievement. If you will notice, there is a huge jump in volume and strength in all exercises (with the exception of calf raises). I'd say its thanks to what darklight calls the "muscle memory". I don't expect my future improvements to be so obvious and exaggerated.


Friday - Leg Day (26 December 2008)

Smith Squats
Warm Up
40 lbs x 10
40 lbs x 10

Workout
100 lbs x 13
110 lbs x 12
120 lbs x 11
90 lbs x 13


Leg Curls
47 kg x 15
47 kg x 15
47 kg x 15
40 kg x 15


Leg Extensions (At this point I felt like vomiting)
33 kg x 15
33 kg x 15
33 kg x 15
26 kg x 12


Standing Weighted Calf Raise Machine
43 kg x 15
43 kg x 15
34 kg x 15
(At this point I felt much too giddy to continue)


-End of Workout-

Total Workout Time: 40 minutes
Average rest time in between sets: 65 secs


Diet

Preworkout: 4 eggs, 1 glass of Milo (25g protein, 20g carbs)
Postworkout: 2 scoops weight gainer + 350ml Dutch Lady milk (35g protein, 60g carbs)

Estimated meals for today:
Lunch: ?? (??g protein)
Tea-time: ??
Dinner: ?? (??g protein)
Supper: ?? (??g protein)

Total estimated protein intake: ??g

I'm back from my vacation! Not a very eventful one, but a relaxing trip, that was. I swam on Sunday despite my leg still being sore from the workout. And it still is now T.T

Today is my chest day and frankly I am quite disappointed that there wasn't very much improvement from last week. In fact there is a decline in performance. This is especially obvious for the machine chest press - I couldn't seem to do what I could normally (easily) do, I wonder why? Volume for the incline and flat bench press has noticeably dropped as well but what the heck, I'm still glad that there is a chest day and I managed to kill my chest today.

When I was in Taiping btw, I had my weight measured on those 20 cent per go weight scale. The digital meter read 69.4kg. Fcuking 69.4kg, ONLY!! I would've expected to hit 71 kg or at the very least, 70 kg, but to still be stuck in the 69's was a huge letdown. Oh well, I'll measure it again at the end of this week. Probably the standard of the scales differ -- the scale from my gym might show a different result from which weight progress can be better judged.

For now, I'll be off to Mid Valley.


Tuesday - Chest Day (30 December 2008)

Smith Machine Flat Bench Press
Warm Up
20 lbs x 10
40 lbs x 10

Workout
90 lbs x 12
100 lbs x 11
100 lbs x 9
90 lbs x 8
100 lbs x 5


Smith Machine Incline Bench Press
60 lbs x 10
65 lbs x 10
65 lbs x 9
55 lbs x 9


Machine Chest Press
33 kg x 11
33 kg x 11
40 kg x 8
26 kg x 13


Cable Crossover (Weight stated = total weight)
10 kg x 16
10 kg x 16
10 kg x 16
10 kg x 16


Dumbbell Pullovers
10 kg x 25
10 kg x 20


Cable Crossover (Done as an extra)
10 kg x 15


-End of Workout-

Total Workout Time: 65 minutes
Average rest time in between sets: 90 secs


Diet

Preworkout: 4 eggs, 2 Bananas (22g protein, 40g carbs)
Postworkout: 2 scoops weight gainer + 350ml Dutch Lady milk (35g protein, 60g carbs)

Estimated meals for today:
Lunch: Anything edible in Mid Valley (20g protein)
Tea-time: Fruits (anything in the fridge will do)
Dinner: Rice + dishes (20g protein)
Supper: 300ml milk + Whey protein (35g protein)

Total estimated protein intake: 132g

This post has been edited by wallpaper89: Dec 30 2008, 11:40 AM

Welcome back !

No need worry. Ur a true blue 100% certified loyal to the core bodybuilder, so u'll b back to peak form real soon

I think ur diet not supplemented with ur usual protein etc, dats y weight gone down, n due to depleted energy store not enough nutrition for the workouts.

When i went for my 1wk vacation in thai, my weight gone 0.5kg though i ate non-stop at the roadside stalls.

There's nothing to worry about. Sometimes you feel like crap, just reduce the weight and grind out more reps. Go with the flow.

If you're already hitting hard enough which it seems to me that you did and you didn't get good growth ... It's time to check your diet :S ...

Weight ... is nothing to worry about. Maybe you have a lower body fat now but since you started with 10% ... lol.

Yeah. The commonest mistakes trainees do is they don't take in enough protein during a layoff.

I don't think the problem was you not gaining any weight at all. Because of the way you trained (high reps, very low rest periods), it probably resulted in you gaining muscle AND losing fat at the same time.

A better measure would of course be a bodyfat% measure for before and after, that way you can tell if you're gaining muscle or not.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the encouragement bro!

Actually I was considerably well-fed during my vacation. Lots of good Chinese-style seafood I managed to keep a healthy dose of fruit intake as well. I did not have 5/6 meals a day but I had instead bigger portions of meat for lunch/dinner. Protein intake might have dropped because of a lack of source of protein in between meals.

Yeah I thought of doing this but in the end I wanted to see if I really am under-performing or not by using the same, if not more, poundages as before to gauge myself. Wrong move. Lol. I was also worried that if I kept the reps high and the weights low I will 'lose touch' and be weaker in the next session. Can that possibly happen? I'm afraid of reducing the weights for fear that I may never get back there again

Yeah, you said it. The thing is I started with about 10% so it won't be easy for my BF% to witness a drop. Diet feels okay to me, so it might or might not be the problem. Overall I'm disappointed by the weight gain but I'm not too worried about it... yet. Lol. Physique have, however, definitely seen some slight improvement since I began HVT

I will measure my BF% and weight tomorrow at the gym if I can remember to. Otherwise I will just measure it at the end of this week. I think it would be more accurate for me to use the same scale to gauge my progress. It has been 4 weeks since I last measured my weight, and 3 weeks since I began HVT. Maybe I'm setting my expectations too high... I was aiming for 72kg by the end of 4 weeks of HVT. Now I think I'll have to lower the bar

My guess is that there has actually been an increase in weight but it is not obvious when comparing the measurement I got at Taiping with the measurement I got from the gym. Possible explanation would be that my gym's weighing scale is inaccurate, reading my weight higher than it actually is, and thus the seemingly low increment in weight when measured by a different scale. Either that, or I really did not gain much weight lol. Hopefully my BF% has decreased due to the higher reps workout but at 10% BF I think it will be quite difficult for it to drop. Especially since I consume carbs like water hahaha xD

One of my goals at the very beginning of bodybuilding was to hit 70kg. That was quite a few months ago and now I am finally on the brink of achieving it. Can't wait haha

This post has been edited by wallpaper89: Dec 30 2008, 08:44 PM

You're super duper Ecto man ... eating that little amount of things ... you can't grow ( I'd say your diet is kinda messed up with that little amount of calories ).

You need to eat a lot .. I mean A LOT ... You aren't even hitting 1g/lb of body weight man ... Just eat away. I'd suggest you at least 1.5g/lb of body weight .... optimally 2g. Eat whatever protein you can gain access to, peanut butter, almond, granola, EGGS ( though it sucks but I have to highlight it ... VERY good source of protein if not the best )

Remember calories intake > calories output too if you wanna gain ( Go for protein/fat calories )

Edit : Your estimation of protein intake might be wrong.

This post has been edited by JustForFun: Dec 30 2008, 09:16 PM

Back day today. I did deadlifts first this time. The last time I did this was a month or so ago. Grip felt great and improved. I used to have problems with my grip last time, but not today. Not until the second set, at least... The second set's 4th rep, the bar was literally spinning in my fingers. Left hand started to lose grip. Went for another rep. This time, while coming down, my left hand gave in, let the bar slip off, and I dropped the bar. As a result some skin peeled off my left hand. Now I can't even take a shower comfortably

I find deadlift annoying to do btw. The reason is because the weight plates at my gym are shaped in an octagon and hence during the lowering motion when the plates come in contact with the ground, the flat surfaces of the plates will obviously not be 100% parallel with the floor and thus the plates (and the bar) will start rolling slightly to adjust itself and as a result, its position will be slightly off for the next rep. Sometimes it rolls inwards and knocks me in the shin, too.

Btw for deadlifts I don't really feel I am working much of any of my muscles. I only feel that it hits my legs. Could be my form, I might take a video next time I do it. I keep my lower and upper back straight and chest out/shoulder blades squeezed when I execute the deadlift. Somewhat like a reverse squat.

As for the other exercises, there has been good improvement except for the wide-grip cable pulldowns (a huge, HUGE drop in volume). An explanation would be that I usually do that as my first exercise, but this time I do it as my last exercise, and also the addition of the deadlift at the start of my workout might have affected it as well. To compensate, there is a good increase in performance on the machine pulldowns.

I didn't time my rests in between sets today. Felt like following my instincts and my feel. Its probably better this way. My workout took a relatively shorter time today as compared to last week.

I also had my weight measured at the end of the workout. Surprise, surprise. Two measurements and I get an average of 67.4kg and 12.00% body fat. Analyzed, it means that there is a considerable decrease in muscle mass since I began HVT. This is puzzling becuase of the following factors:

Before HVT
I did cardio (jogging) in place of squats.
I did higher weights, with lower reps.

After HVT
I dropped cardio.
I started doing squats again.
I did more exercises/sets on an average-per-week basis.
I used lower weights with higher reps.
Strength has increased since I began HVT.
Physique has improved slightly (by my own judgement).
Food intake has definitely increased from before.


From the above, you can see that there should be no reason for a drop in body weight and an increase in body fat. It doesn't makes sense at all. In fact, things should work the other way around. But the fact is the fact -- my weight has dropped and my BF% has increased. Therefore there is definitely a problem somewhere. Diet-wise, my food intake has increased from before so it would be odd to deduce that it is my diet that is causing the decrease in weight.

However, I will listen to what JustForFun had said in his post before this. Since I am free today I will try to come up with an improved diet plan, but I will need some advice from you guys. I am thinking of dropping rice in my lunch and dinner, and replacing that with more meat/vege instead. Is that a viable change?

Btw JustForFun, thank you for the feedback. My estimates of protein intake for all meals should be quite accurate except for the lunch and dinner. Eitherway it does not hit 1g/lbs of BW, let alone 1.5g as you have recommended. I will ponder over this today and see what I can do to increase my protein intake.

On another note, my class time table has been released. And I must say it is completely crappy. My routines are screwed. The timing of the classes from day to day varies and is not consistent at all. I will have to be much, much more flexible in the coming days if I want to keep up with HVT -- diet-wise and workout-wise. The long classes might take a toll on me as well.


Wednesday - Back Day (31 December 2008)
Deadlift (Weight excluding bar)
Warm up
90 lbs x 5
90 lbs x 5

Workout
160 lbs x 6
160 lbs x 3


Seated Cable Row (Overhand Grip)
80 lbs x 15
80 lbs x 15
70 lbs x 16
70 lbs x 15


Lat Pulldown Machine
30 kg x 15
35 kg x 12
40 kg x 9
35 kg x 12


One-arm Dumbbell Row
30 lbs x 15
30 lbs x 13
10 kg x 16
10 kg x 15


Dumbbell Shrugs (Weight stated = per dumbbell)
25 lbs x 20
25 lbs x 20
25 lbs x 20
10 kg x 20


Wide-grip Lat Pulldown (Cable)
70 lbs x 12
60 lbs x 13
60 lbs x 13
60 lbs x 13


-End of Workout-

Total Workout Time: 70 minutes
Average rest time in between sets: Didn't bother to time, followed my instincts today


Diet

Preworkout: 4 eggs, 3 Bananas (23g protein, 50g carbs)
Postworkout: 2 scoops weight gainer + 350ml Dutch Lady milk (35g protein, 60g carbs)

Estimated meals for today:
Lunch: Rice + dishes (20g protein)
Tea-time: Fruits (anything in the fridge will do)
Dinner: Rice + dishes (20g protein)
Supper: 300ml milk + Whey protein (35g protein)

Total estimated protein intake: 133g

This post has been edited by wallpaper89: Dec 31 2008, 01:12 PM