Sunday, November 17, 2013

my "bodybulding" training

In results:
Before / After
  

These are my results for my 3.5 months of training.
Bulk up: 3 months ( +4 kg, +2% fat, +900g of muscle)
Reduce fat: 2~3 weeks (- 2.5kg, -1% of fat, -50g of muscle).

If you're like me and want to look more like Arnold Schwarzenegger, rather than a simple thin guy, please keep reading. If not, please leave the page.


After drinking alcohol pretty much 3~4 times a week and having a super unhealthy diet and lifestyle after being dumped by fiance, I looked a lot worst that in the "before" pic.
I hit the bottom of the bottom of my life so far at least in self-destructive/depressively speaking.
Leaving aside "why" I began training, it was something I had been wanting to do a long time, but didn't have the money/time/will till now.
Apparently I have good genes for muscle development, which helps. After 2~3 years, I expect to look more like a real bodybuilder.

There are many stories out there around how a certain diet/fitness training can help you do this kind of change in your body. But most of it is sh*t. And believe me, the worst thing you can do is do a ketosis diet, like eating once a day, or having days without eating anything. You only do that kind of thing if you have some kind of trauma for being a f*cking fatso for long, and having no idea of how to change that and being totally desperate.

You'll basically need:
  1. a gym subcription / + optional sport or fitness recreational activity (me: capoeira/brazilian jujitsu and mountain biking) 
  2. a microwave, fridge, and basic cooking skills (you'll begin bodybuilding cooking)
  3. time to rest and sleep
  4. track recording tool (notebook, etc. I use a database in my computer)
  5. calories calculating tool (notebook, etc. I use a lisp program I made)
  6. the will to improve yourself or kill someone so much you'll stick with the plan

About one third of all is in the gym, and how you develop your musculature using the progressive overload principle. Go to youtube or something, and watch the Joe Weider's training tapes. If you want to look a bodybuilder, you gotta train like one.
The other two thirds are about the time you take to rest your body /sleep, and how you calculate your diet.
You can do the diet change gradually, having to better have about 40%, 50%, and 10% of protein, carbohydrates, and fat daily. With the amount of calories being higher than the amount you need --- get in an over calories diet --- (in the bulk up phase, where you generate the amount of muscle you want, fat will be generated too, don't worry about it you can get thin anytime, it's super easy when you begin understanding your body and how it uses the food you take).

The basic cooking skills part is nice too. Especially since you're like me and never cooked before, and think the best food you have had is whatever your ex-gf or her mom had made for you. Everything will taste better when knowing that's what your body requires, and how it be used by it. Read in sites like bodybuilding.com about simple/complex carbs, protein, fat, and experiment on yourself about what suits your body better. You'll probably be making your food in bulk ilke twice a week, and heating stuffs with a microwave everyday. (From my second month of training, I started eating 5~7 times a day, bringing packed food to the office). Oatmeal, non-stick-spray (cooking oil spray) and baked chicken breast, brown rice, (especially sweet) potatoes, eggs/milk, and of course protein shakes and supplements will be your strongest allies.

Weight yourself everyday to keep record, as well as write down everything you eat, and it's nutrition values so you can make sure you're having enough calories and carbs/protein, or if you get too fat, how much is too much for you.
Also take pics of yourself once every 2 weeks, which will help keep record of how your body changes (you really don't notice when looking yourself at the mirror everyday, although probably your friends do).
An occasional junk food/eating out meal is OK. But if possible, stay away from alcohol, that's not only for bodybuilders, if you want to stay healthy in general...

Some people say I look ripped/muscular enough now, but I want to get bigger, so I'll keep bulking up again for a while. Really, this changes your life in so many ways I wish I had started it long time ago. Now I can cook pretty good (which also makes your life cheaper if you were used to eat it out), look a lot better, and feel a lot more confident of martial arts skills as well... which can't hurt (me).