Rambling First I want to say this is what worked for me. There may be things that people disagree with, or what I'm doing is totally wrong, but I don't really do my research like I did back in the day, I just do what works for me, broscience or not!
First pic 270ish, second 250ish, third 235ish. Height 6'3". Album
I wanted to do this as an inspiration to the average person. When I was younger looking good was one of my main priorities. I was in the gym all the time, eating the typical bodybuilder diet, taking supplements, etc etc. Now I'm in my 30s, with two kids, and the gym dropped way down the list as a priority. Health should have stayed at the top as a priority but it didn't. I was out of the gym for about five years when I started this transformation, coincidentally right around the time my first son was born.
So I'm posting this to be an inspiration to the average person that doesn't want to be 'hardcore' in the gym. The truth is, a lot of people don't, but they think that's what it takes. There's some amazing transformations in this sub, some amazing physiques, but the truth is most people can't change their life like that, or just can't stick with it. Some can, which is amazing (like the skinny guy turned beast from a few days ago), but for the average person it's not realistic, and that's the truth.
Though I want my kids to be healthy, I don't want them eating chicken breast and rice everyday, nor do I want them asking me why I'm eating it while they're eating something much tastier!
Now for my confession. I don't like the gym, I don't like being there. I want to go home or do something more enjoyable like being outside. And as I mentioned, I don't like bland 'healthy' food. And the reality is, most people feel this same way but they think they have to turn into the gym nut to get the results they want.
I too once was a believer in the typical bodybuilder diet, 'brown rice, chicken breast, tuna, etc.' I too once thought I had to be in the gym 1-1.5hrs per day 4-5 days per week. But as a lot of have learned, but some still refusing, it's not so much about what you eat but how much you are eating.
Eating I don't want to get into eating a lot because there are tons of guides out there. But I want to emphasize I still ate good food, I just cut back on how much I ate. Or if I ate a bit more, I would eat less of some of my other meals through out the day. I eat hamburgers, fries, pizza, tacos, potato chips, all in moderation. We don't have that all the time, but a couple times a week we will. Rather than eating six tacos, I'll have two. Say one meal I'll usually have a protein shake with oatmeal and frozen fruit, if I have some potato chips, I'll just have the chips and a protein drink with water. You have to learn and understand your body's calorie needs, and how much you're actually eating in a day. Years ago I tried really hard to get as lean as I could. I can't remember the numbers but all the calculators I used said I needed to be eating near 3000 calories per day. I couldn't lose weight. I thought maybe I needed more, didn't help. Tried less, didn't help. Oddly enough when I got down to around 2000 calories, at 6'3 255lbs (back then), that's what I needed to be at. So even if your calculations tell you one thing, it doesn't mean it's going to work for you. 2000 seems extremely low for someone my size, but that's what worked for me, and my strength stayed up. But my point of this is, if you've eaten junk for the past 10-30 years, the chances of you all the sudden switching to chicken breast, rice, tuna and sticking with it, aren't very good. Some do it, and all the power to them, but that's like getting someone to quit smoking cold turkey.
Working Out I hate being in the gym. Often my workouts are done in 20-25 mins but I stretch them out just to get my 'cardio' in for at least 30mins. I would go to the gym 3-4 times per week. If I missed a bodypart that week, it would start my next week.
I will circuit train or take short rests. I try to keep my heart rate up. I do 30-45 seconds rest between sets. I'm weak as hell, but I don't care at this point in my life. I try to do five sets and 12-20 reps at a fairly fast pace. I only do five sets because my workout would be done in 10-15mins. When I'm doing bench press I'm benching 185lbs. It sucks (for me at my size), people probably sit and wonder wtf when they see me lifting, but it worked, so who cares about how strong I am at this point in my life.
I don't have an arm day. Back day works the biceps a ton, and chest and shoulders work your tris a ton. I want to be efficient, I just eliminated one day in the gym a week.
Here is my sample week, and I'll do one day's workouts to show you what I would do.
Mon; Chest + Tris Tues: Back + Bis Thurs: Legs Fri: Shoulders + Abs (I only do abs to kill time. Same with arms you work abs quite a bit with many exercises. I will do something like shrugs and abs with almost no rest and be done in five minutes)
So chest day is like this: 1. Barbell flat bench press Set 1. One plate. Do 20-25 reps, pretty fast pace. Walk around the gym at a decent pace for 30-45 seconds. Set 2. One plate 10bs. 15-20 reps. If it's too easy I take the 10lb off and add 25lbs. Walk. Set 3-5 repeat. Now for the most part it's pretty light weight to me, but because I'm more fatigued than anything it gets hard as hell. But I will pause with the bar on my chest to catch my breath and pump out another 1-2 reps. This usually isn't the safest thing but because the weight isn't extremely heavy, do it. It's easier on machines and other exercises.
Exercise 2. Incline dumbell press. Same thing as above 4-5 sets.
Exercise 3. Cables. Same as above 4-5 sets.
So here we are 13-15 sets in and only 15-20mins into the workout. Chest is done. Sometimes I may do two more sets of another exercise if I was really quick.
Triceps. Five sets of skullcrushers. Same as above lighter weight, high rep, walk between sets. At this time your triceps have already been somewhat worked, so five sets is enough to get a decent workout in for them.
And that's it. I may be anywhere from 20-30mins into my workout. I will go onto the treadmill for 5-10mins to keep my heart rate up for a total time of 35-40mins.
I park at the back of the gym so I'm walking for a couple minutes when I get into the gym, change fast and get right to work. Efficienct! And those couple minutes of walk are better than sitting on the boring treadmill.
About once every 5-8 weeks I'll have a heavy week. I'll take more rest between sets and do lower reps, around 4-8 and do much heavier weight.
Active lifestyle.
This is the key to all of this. I'm on my feet a lot through out the day, and I try to be very active everyday. Whether you are going for walks with someone, walking the dog, bike riding, doing trails, swimming, etc., be active everyday. I try and do it at a fairly good pace as well. Especially on your days you're not going to the gym. Try to make it your workout outside the gym. Where I am I get a lot of snow, so I'm shoveling a lot of snow, one of the best exercises out there. I never thought I could ever lose more than 1-2lbs per week, but because of how active I was, I did. Did I lose some muscle? Probably, but I'll take a bit of muscle loss for the amount of fat I lost.
Supplements
As I get older I get cheaper and cheaper. Supplements I use are multivitamin, though I think if you eat a variety of foods this isn't extremely important (my opinion no research). Fish oil, green tea (only because it's cheap), whey protein powder. I will usually have 2-3 shakes per day with fruit and oatmeal blended up. Takes a minute to drink and it's done.
Progress
Here is my progress in three months. I'm 6'3". Started at 270lbs. About 250lbs in second pic and 235ish in third pic. I was losing 2-3 pounds per week. But I want to stress, I was very active outside the gym at this time. But I'd much rather be outside than in the gym. Say I went for a walk with the family, after that I may keep going on my own, or ride the bike some more.
Finally, I do, like most people have willpower problems. It's not easy to portion control. It's not easy to go from a bag of chips to a handful, or six tacos to two. But once you do it for a while it gets easier. I'm not going to lie, I've fallen off a few times. Something in life changes, work changes, family, etc, and you get out of your gym routine or eating routine and it's hard to get back on.
The point of this was to inspire the average person and show you don't have to be in the gym an hour and a half a day every day of the week. Find something you enjoy doing outside the gym. If you're like me and don't like the gym, use the gym for the building and maintaining muscle and be in and out as fast as you can.
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