BennyC's Intermittent Fasting & HST Journal

[DanH84]

Good going. My fasting adherence got a bonus last night after I decided at 4am that I could cook pizza under the grill and then promptly passed out leaving someone else to find it slightly 'crisped' this morning.

The point of my ramble is that I notice you have a few drinks outside your eating window, do you treat them as largely free calories or do you use some of his feasting strategies before a night out? Personally I give myself a decent deficit and make sure what I eat before I go out is very protein heavy. Then I throw all my good work out the window for a few hours

 

[BennyC]

The point of my ramble is that I notice you have a few drinks outside your eating window, do you treat them as largely free calories or do you use some of his feasting strategies before a night out? Personally I give myself a decent deficit and make sure what I eat before I go out is very protein heavy. Then I throw all my good work out the window for a few hours

Whilst it is breaking the fast I only once broke it with food. However calories are still calories. I can't remember what his principles for fasting before a night out were. Normally I'll have my final meal, go out drink and then not eat again until I would normally break the fast

 

[toxic]

Benny..are you carrying on with weeks 7-8 of HST?
My last cycle i finshed week 7 of max lifts for 5's and hurt back so rested for a week..then started from 15's again. But I found the 7th week to be the most demanding of all previous weeks due to getting to max lifts for 5 and trying to better them constantly.
Im back on 2nd week of 10's again so fives next week..but I thought about just doing up to week 6 then going back to 15's again as I like the contant rep/exercise changes and not so enthusiastic about hammering max fives for weeks. Not sure how much this would affect the HST program in general.
My weights were pretty much excatly same as yours, but I did 4 sets of 5's, having done 3 sets of 10's and 2 sets 15's before.

 

[BennyC]

If you read a few posts above I mentioned about my shoulder niggle and feeling quite tired in that the frequency and the heavy workouts work beginning to tire me. I didn't want to risk worsening my injury so have started my deload/deconditioning coupled with some CV work. I think 6 weeks works quite well and is plenty enough at this time for me. I'm looking for property which is quite stressful in itself so I wouldn't want to be unable to train due to injury or exhausted because of it at the same time.

 

[BennyC]

I'm enjoying my week off however I'm having some difficulties getting to sleep lately. This could be due to a number of things like the lower energy expenditure however it's quite likely its the stress/anxiety/excitement of buying my first house and everything related to it.

As such my week of deconditioning couldn't have come at a better time as I'm preoccupied with other things. I have the time so I've still gone and done my cardio etc just I've been in a world of my own!

Feeling very rested and might do some bench before my cardio on Friday and see if I can beat my old PB

I'll be dropping pull ups from the next HST cycle as I have a feeling these might have aggravated my shoulder and replacing them with chins/weighted chins. I've not put much thought in to my next HST routine but will most likely sort it this weekend.

 

[icecold]

Congrats on the house (or potential house)!! Gym rats house party yeah? Awesome, just make sure there is suitable food for Steedie.

Pullups sometimes aggravate my shoulder too. I know it isn't the same but for some reason pull downs don't have the same effect.

 

[BennyC]

Congrats on the house (or potential house)!! Gym rats house party yeah? Awesome, just make sure there is suitable food for Steedie.

Thanks. You knows it. Planning on getting Maccy round and spending a week digging the garden up and setting foundations for a 20x10 ft log cabin for the home gym

Pullups sometimes aggravate my shoulder too. I know it isn't the same but for some reason pull downs don't have the same effect.

Yep it's the pulling myself up and in that irritates the inner front and top of the joint I find.

 

[T1Cybernetic]

Yep it's the pulling myself up and in that irritates the inner front and top of the joint I find.

I have not been able to do any more than 1-5 rep pull /chin ups for a couple of months for this exact reason It started ever since I damaged my shoulder back in October. It's not painful as such but annoying enough to not want to push myself and risk any injury.

 

[BennyC]

Little update with a PB that is no doubt due to HST:

Decided I'd have a stab at a new bench PB today before my cardio as I felt very strong (for me) at the end of the 6 week cycle. Currently on my decondtioning week from HST.

Joint mobilisation & RC warm up
OHP: 40KG x 8

Bench:
60KG x 9
80KG x 2
110KG x 1
120KG x 1
130KG x 1
132.5KG x 1, sort of. I'm discounting this as my spot said that he had literally just laid his fingers under the bar as I began to stall, I didn't feel him spot me and I did shout not to. I then battled it for a further 10 seconds and completed the rep. However I don't feel I accomplished it or that it was a smooth rep.

Warm Down: 100KG x 5

30 minutes SS cardio.

So that's 5KG on my previous of 125KG

Not a bad improvement in 6 weeks as I don't think I'd of gotten 120KG out if I hadn't have done HST.

3 plates aside will be mine before this year is out!

 

[BennyC]

Today was the final day of my first cycle of HST. This week has been a mini-cut however due to having my head in other places I didn't start dropping my carbs until Thursday as I'd completely forgotten! I did 4 or 5 sessions of Cardio one of which was fasted. 4 lots of 30 minutes on the xtrainer and one 25 minute row. Nothing to strenuous. I did however as mentioned do some benching on Friday and set a new PB.

I weighed in just now (last and first ate at 12 noon) 86.6KG. Which makes me 6KG lighter than when I first began HST & IF around 7/8 weeks ago. I'm also stronger and leaner. Here's how I looked just now on a low carb day with some fasted cardio this morning and having not trained (apart from bench on Friday) in a week:

I couldn't tense abs as it was blurring the images not that there's a great deal to see as my mid section is still carrying some fat.

Waist: a shade under 34 & 1/2 "
Legs: 25"

I'm very pleased with my progress over the last 6-8 weeks and have enjoyed the much more relaxed approach to meal timings and also HST in itself and not having to deal with crippling DOMS all week.

Very tempted to see how I'll respond after my next cycle of HST with a full on cutting diet for 3/4 weeks.

 

[BennyC]

Worked out my 15's and 10's for the second cycle so far. Changed a few exercises and widened my stance for SLDL and my hamstrings feel absolutely fried! Mega DOMS yesterday when working out the 10's!

Most of my weights have gone up 5KG which is good will post up the second cycle this weekend.

 

[BlackCoat2k10]

I've been reading this article quite a bit as I'm always interested in different ways of training and eating, and something along the lines of IF seem good as I get annoyed with having to think, prepare & cook several meals a day and take into consideration any thing extra such as when I go out with the missus or family dinner meals. Living with the parents while at uni means I am always cooked a dinner and I never know what it is until my father makes it. Which has been difficult especially with this low carb diet I'm on.

Just a quick question. Do you find just taking Bcaa's in the morning along with a good fasted cardio session difficult to cope with before you're able to take your first meal of the day? (which I would assume is a good couple of hours after)

 

[BennyC]

Just a quick question. Do you find just taking Bcaa's in the morning along with a good fasted cardio session difficult to cope with before you're able to take your first meal of the day? (which I would assume is a good couple of hours after)

Nope not at all really. Whenever I've done fasted cardio I've usually be in the position for a lye in. So I'd wake at 10, do my cardio at quarter past, then have an hour before I ate at around noon. So it's not quite the same as doing it at say 6 or 7 am.

However I have found there seems to be more leeway in regards to cheat snacks/meals. For example we often have left over sandwiches/crisps from meetings which I don't think twice about eating now due to how effective IF has been. Where as if I were eating 5/6 times per day I'd not be so keen as I was so diet conscious.

Improved nutrient partitioning and just the whole affect IF has on the body gives you more room to slack and enjoy life without feeling dismayed that the extra sandwich or slice of toast you've had has bloated you.

 

[BlackCoat2k10]

Thats pretty good then, and I can see how IF has its benefits especially to the more laid back approach. Like today, family had a meal that I hadn't even taken into consideration if I had of had it it would have added too much onto my cut diet. So instead I had to rustle up a chicken salad jobby. Even now I am planning my meals tomorrow, it gets annoying.

As for waking up early, hah Im a student, I get out of bed about half 8 / 9 so its not too bad for me.

 

[BennyC]

The only meals which change for me are my lunch which is one of three options that just rolls over throughout the week. And my evening meal which will be mixed veg with a lean meat/fish. Sometimes a roast dinner or a pasta based dish with added lean meat. So I don't really have to think a great deal about it just which option I'm going to have.

 

[Rico_UK]

Looking good pal, impressive legs! Have fallen off the wagon myself for the last month or so but just about sorting myself out now. Started training a celebrity for a film and its been manic!

Don't think I'll be hitting my size goals for this summer, but nevermind!

 

[Buffman]

Dem quads .

Great progress, Keep it up. I might try some HST in a 3 months time when I want to only hit the gym 3x a week (saves time walking/train to uni gym).

How much cardio do you do (i'll have a read again, just couldnt get an exact figure).

I'm slowly cutting down and doing ~20 minutes 4 times a week after a workout, I could increase the amount for a short period of time but I want to be able to keep to something I can maintain. I'm just curious is all.

 

[BennyC]

Thanks

From memory I did fasted cardio 4 times a week for the 15's, I think this was in the form of an incline hill walk? This was whilst I was off work for x-mas so it was easy to fit in.

I didn't schedule any for the 10's or 5's but I might have done the odd session on a Saturday or Sunday morning if I didn't have anything on. Then I did 4/5 sessions of half an hour each either on the x-trainer or rower on my deload week which I forgot to drop my carbs until half way through!

I've been in a calorie surplus this whole time though (except where cardio may have leveled to near BMR). I also chomped through a packet of finger biscuits one evening, quite often having sandwiches and the odd treats people bring in at work and very occasionally maybe some biscuits or cheese at home.

I don't think you really need to be doing a massive amount of cardio with IF & HST it seems to be a effective solution itself.

 

[BennyC]

Worked out my 15's, 10's and 5's for my next cycle starting Monday.

Pull ups have switched to chin ups.
Laterals for 10's & 5's are to be done on our lateral machine.
SLDL stance is now wider (as opposed to heels together).
Seated Row is now a low row as opposed to high.
I can't make sense of our crossover it has the option for dual cables so I assume I'm only lifting half the indicated weight.
I don't really quite know what I'm doing for calves, I did try some donkey calf raises but they don't seem to effective so I'll most probably just start toe pressing and work my way up the stack to finish above 150KG for the 5's.

Charts below with 15,10 & 5RM's. BP's highlighted in blue

Most PB's are up 5KG which I'm happy with!

 

[BennyC]

Some updates.

Started the second cycle today. I forgot how punishing 15's were. Came very close to another chunky yawn but kept it in. Didn't do calves today as i get very painful DOMS in them which were still present from Friday so I will start them on Wednesday. Got quite a good pump on so I am slightly pumped in these pictures.

Just to reiterate how 'unimportant' eating every 3 hours is for those who still have it drummed in to them. On Sunday my fast lasted 18 hours as I was busy and didn't get to eat my first meal until 2PM. I had no hunger pains and no desire to snack on crap. Also there was no change or 'loss' of mass that people tend to get paranoid about.

Weight is around the 86/87KG mark. Posing not great but my shoulders were cramping for back poses

Considering I haven't trained properly for 2 weeks due to the deconditioning period not looking too shabby! Very pleased with the progress I made over the last 8 weeks. Probably the biggest and quickest transformation I've seen in the 3 years I've been training.

Surprised how many views this has had!