The group shred is heading into the 7th day and that's half way there for us! It is amazing to see the support that everyone is giving each other. It is even more amazing how much difference there is in everybody as they do this thing together. The accountability factor is huge!

Follow my own path on this at http://blog.michaelmahony.org.

Thanks!

Mike

I've joined a group of people who read Adam Water's blog, http://12weekphysique.blogspot.com, and we are doing what Adam refers to as a "Group Shred." Each of us is posting daily pictures of ourselves and working very hard to burn the fat. We have 14 days from October 26 to complete the group shred. I am chronicling the progress on my blog at http://blog.michaelmahony.org. If you haven't heard about Adam Waters, check out his blog at http://12weekphysique.blogspot.com. I think you will be amazed.

Mike

I finished the next workout in the series. It is a repeat of the one I did on Sunday. I focused on beating the previous workout on every exercise and was successful at that.

I also did alot of reading about refeeding and it is an interesting concept that I might try if Chad's "nutrition recipe" doesn't work for me. So far it is doing a great job for me!

Fat Loss III as it is called, is broken into an A workout and a B workout. I blogged about A already and now I'll tell you about B.

Yet again I am doing giant sets of 4 exercises, zero rest between exercises and 60 seconds rest between giant sets. The workout results:

Giant Set #1
------------------
Front Squat
175 x 2 x 10
155 x 2 x 10
Chin-ups (assisted)
(160) 4 x 10 [That's 160 pounds of assist for 4 sets)
Step ups
30 x 4 x 10
Dumbbell push press
40 x 4 x 10

Giant Set #2
------------------
Squat
65 x 2 x 20
Lat Pulldown
60 x 2 x 20
Step ups
10 x 2 x 15

Wow! I just completed Fat Loss III A1 and I am bushed! This phase involves doing what are known as giant sets--4 exercises in a row, zero rest between exercises, 60 seconds between sets. I can tell you that this was hell on earth!

Giant Set #1
---------------------

Deadlifts
185 x 2 x 10
175 x 2 x 10

Explosive push ups
BW x 4 x 10

Bulgarian split squats
20 x 4 x 10

2-point bent row
35 x 4 x 10

Giant Set #1
---------------------

Deadlift from a box
135 x 2 x 10

Dumbbell bench press
60 x 2 x 10

Walking lunges
20 x 2 x 10

Seated cable row

Today is the last day of my rest period. Tomorrow I start what is known as Fat Loss III of the New Rules of Lifting program. It involves giant sets of 4 exercises. The way it works is this:

Exercise A (no rest)
Exercise B (no rest)
Exercise C (no rest)
Exercise D

Rest 60 seconds and then repeat.

I'm excited because I really missed lifting this week.

PS: I added more insight to this topic at http://blog.michaelmahony.org

Yesterday was a cardio only day as I'm on my break from lifting. Felt funny going to the gym and doing just my cardio and leaving, but at the same time, I can already feel my body getting stronger. I don't have the same little aches that I was feeling during the lifting phase. It is nice to let the body recover and eliminate those nagging little aches!

I started the New Rules of Lifting program on July 29, 2007. At that time my measurements were as follows:

Weight: 237 lbs.
Body Fat %: 22.7% (modified measurement using FatTrack II)
LBM: 183.20 lbs

Chest: 44.5 inches
Left Bicep: 13.75 inches
Right Bicep: 14 inches
Abs: 44 inches
Left thigh: 25.25 inches
Right thigh: 25.25 inches
Left calf: 17.25 inches
Right calf: 17.25 inches

As of this morning, my new measurements are:

Weight: 234 lbs (down 3 pounds)
Body Fat %: 19.6% (down 3.1%)
LBM: 188.14 lbs (up 4.94 lbs)

As I've mentioned, I've been working through the New Rules of Lifting workouts. I've discovered, through this book, a wonderful hamstring workout that also engages the glutes. You can see a video by going to the following link and scrolling down past the "Glute Ham Raise" section:

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1546556

I strongly suggest giving it a try to add some variation to your hamstring exercises. You can make it harder by moving your hands in closer to your body, which engages more stabilizer muscles to keep your feet on the swiss ball.

Well, today was Monday and what a day it was. I did a cardio workout in the morning and will do my weights tomorrow. I have an employee in from out of town and he says to me "You look more muscular...have you been working out" so apparently the NROL program is working for me!!

Yesterday was a high carb day. I love the way Chad lays these things out. It makes it so much simpler for me to understand. All I do is this:

Lower carb day:

Meals 1 to 3 - Starchy carb, protein and possibly fruit
Meals 4 and 5 - Protein and fibrous carb

Higher carb day:

Meals 1 to 5 - Starchy carb, protein, fibrous carb and possibly fruit.

So I noticed an interesting thing yesterday while working out. I am doing the New Rules of Lifting Fat Loss II workout and yesterday was workout B day. This workout is really killer. It gets my heart rate up and forces me to push some moderately heavy weight. I work very hard during the workout and have always noticed (the past 4 weeks) that I feel really blah after the workout. I would get this feeling that I couldn't explain. Yesterday, as I got into my car and was experiencing that same feeling, I thought "Gee, I really want some oatmeal." So, I dug into my trusty food carrying pack that has a tupperware full of oatmeal in it, got some hot water and made some oatmeal.

As some of you will recall, several months ago (almost 5 now) I tore a calf muscle simply walking in my kitchen. Ever since then, I've had a problem with my right calf muscle. If I run, around 10 minutes in I get what feels like a cramp in the lower part of my right calf muscle. I've learned to stop what I'm doing immediately. However, the pain lingers for several days, but then goes away. It only seems to happen when I run. That brings up my question:

How can I get back into running while not experiencing this calf issue?

I've been using The Stick to rid myself of trigger points in my legs, but still the problem persists.

Why is it that when you are really focused on food and eating right that tons of temptations come up? I had an email conversation with Chad Tackett regarding nutrition and decided to get VERY strict with what I eat and drink. I've been pretty focused on this for months, but now I'm aiming to stay on a "clean" diet for at least 30 days without any cheat days. I know that sounds harsh, but for me, I need to establish the consistency. If I cheat at all, I will fall off the wagon. It is just how I am.

So I made the choice to do this and started it on Friday. Since then I've been tempted with pizza, ice cream and a whole host of other fattening foods. Thus far I've just turned my back on those foods. I have to keep up the willpower.

Today I got up at 6 a.m. and hit the gym. Before I went, I drank a protein shake with oatmeal in it for energy.

As I entered the gym I told myself to concentrate. My workout results (everything done with 45 seconds rest between sets):

Front Squat (ss)
140x10 140x10 140x10
Wide Grip Seated Row (ss)
135x11 135x11 135x11

Suppine Hip ext. w/leg curl (ss)
16 16 16
Barbell push press (ss)
95x10 95x10 95x10

Dynamic Lunge (ss)
32.5x10 32.5x10 32.5x10
Upper Body Russian Twist (ss)
11 11 11

I finished off with HIIT cardio -- 5 minutes of warm-up, 4 intervals of 3 minutes each, 5 minutes of cool down.

Honestly, I didn't "go anywhere" but nonetheless, I'm back. I'm kind of down because I'm not getting the results as fast as I'd like (who really is, right?). I read "The New Rules of Lifting" about 2 months ago and have been following the weightlifting program they have in that book. I must say, they are the most difficult trainings I've ever encountered. Nonetheless, I'm not seeing the types of results I'd like to see.

Recently I've done alot of soul searching and I know I MUST get my body under control. I feel like I eat right and I do enough exercise but I just can't crack the level I want to see in myself.

If you've been reading my stuff much, you know by now that I do alot of thinking about stuff. Some people say I think too much, but that's just how I am. I've always been a thinker. I guess that's why my other favorite pastime (besides exercising) is chess.

I was sitting on Sunday thinking about the word "intensity" and what it meant in relation to weightlifting. I started to think alot about how long a workout should take, etc. I read alot of advice that you should be done with the gym within 60 minutes. One thing in particular has stuck in my head. I was reading an eBook written by Jeff Anderson and he states:

Well, I have made some progress so far. I took some more pictures today and while the progress hasn't been as fast as I would like, there's progress and that's good. I did a self-examination on Friday and I feel I can do more to achieve my goals than I have already. Here are my photos:

Previous side view
Today's side view
Previous front view

I've continued on Chad's plan for my second week and lost another pound and 0.5% body fat. I'm finally used to the carb-cycling concept and handling it fine.

I was just looking at an amazing blog at http://www.rtp-blog.com. This guy did some amazing things in a short period of time. He's my new idol :-)

He has a great article in Tom Venuto's Inner Circle website about accountability. He says to hold yourself accountable use a blog (public declaration of our goals and intentions), a personal journal (for our thoughts and feelings as we go through the fat loss journey) and to take daily pictures. This is the formula he used (along with diet and exercise) to get where he got. Check out that site and you'll be amazed.

I completed my first week of carb cycling per Chad's recommendations and the results are definitely there. I dropped 3 more pounds and 0.5% body fat. I am still in the period where I have to adjust what I eat, etc. to meet the ratios we've set up for me, but I'm getting there. I have a few more tweaks and I think I'll be fine. I have learned to really pay attention to the tracking of my nutritional values so that I can make the right food choices later in the day.

Focus...it is a word I hear thrown around alot, but what does it mean and does it matter?

To me, focus is how I get things done. It is a state of mind. When I am focused I am very productive at whatever I am doing.

I recently read a newsletter article from Tom Venuto that got me thinking about this topic. The article was talking about how successful you can be with your nutrition and workout plans if you simply keep a log of both activities. I believe that this causes you to focus on the issues you have an therefore, you improve. If you share the logs with someone else you will also be holding yourself accountable.