My path to getting RIPPED

879311

AMAZING! That is where I want to be! Help me??????????????

osc79

great job!

dukes418

Here's where I started. Yo-yo for most of my late twenties but this about sums it up. October 2011 was enough for me,



One part exercise mixed with one part healthy diet decisions and my journey started.

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3DJtZ8kd4lc/T23zrtMMeVI/AAAAAAAAAFU/728oDdXdKDo/s288/1320436472623.jpg" height="288" width="162"[/img]

After a few weeks in, I started noticing some progress. The more I noticed progress, the more I became "hungry."

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-yVOMrWG_kCM/T23zr0DTffI/AAAAAAAAAFY/bDx8CAY7rc4/s144/1325844778693.jpg" height="288" width="205"[/img]

However my hunger was not for food . . .

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BX5VVFhbKi0/T23zskjkvPI/AAAAAAAAAFo/nA7wdVVrzDs/s288/P2070057.JPG" height="288" width="216"[/img]

I wanted more progress . . .

[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eU_K4AYZgoo/T23ztA9F7HI/AAAAAAAAAFw/hV-AoutnBxw/s288/2012-03-16_07-07-18_24.jpg" height="288" width="166"[/img]

And more . . .

[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V8paZwFsCxs/T23zt9GuSnI/AAAAAAAAAGI/tSvF8JknZ6I/s288/2012-03-23_00-21-49_956.jpg" height="288" width="197"[/img]

More . . .

[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JK-xX0Y-vjc/T23zuPaBNyI/AAAAAAAAAGE/7xUlNt3etB0/s288/2012-03-23_00-24-32_263.jpg" height="288" width="223"[/img]

Until . . .

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0pCrVFdYwUM/T23ztsOA1SI/AAAAAAAAAF8/C-RCwGOzFNo/s288/2012-03-21_23-43-004.jpg" height="288" width="280"[/img]

I reached my "sweetspot."

I'm not going to lie. It took a lot of hard work and days I just didn't feel like putting in the time or effort fitness-wise or diet-wise. I'm still a work in progress.
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0pCrVFdYwUM/T23ztsOA1SI/AAAAAAAAAF8/C-RCwGOzFNo/s288/2012-03-21_23-43-004.jpg" height="288" width="280"[/img]

But it all started with the caption just above the second picture. . . Trust me, it's out there for YOU.

Now go an GET IT!

Getting a lot of responses/feedback asking exactly what I did to get from where I was in October to the present. To put it all into perspective, I was a student athlete growing up so I'm used to training, eating right and maintaining a consistent regimen. As an adult, I'll admit, I just slacked off. I found that if I didn't have anything to train for, then why push myself as hard as I did when I was training for something.

The decision to alter this thought process began in October with really no real goal in mind other than I just want to purposefully condition myself to make my personal health part of my everyday lifestyle. Grant it, I work 8-12 hours a day. I just decided I wasn't going to allow my time in my office affect what I do to my body or my health.

Fortunately, I've always been in good health, but with age comes the decline. So instead of welcoming that decline, I made a decision to derail that decline as much as humanly possible.

So.... I started jogging in my neighborhood. My lunch breaks were spent jogging from my office down to the Lincoln Memorial (approximately 1 mile one way). When I began, I didn't care if I lost muscle in the process. I was mostly concerned with shedding pounds. So cardio was my best friend. But everyone gets tired of their best friend. So I added a few:
A little weight training. Not much but all compound exercises -- barbell bench, incline, decline presses, squats, pullups, chinups, deadlifts, clean/jerks, hack squats. Anything I could get my hands on I did.

From week to week, I would set mini goals. Used this site to log everything and as I saw progress, I raised the bar. I also did P90X in the past so I have the DVDs. So on days, I didn't feel like running or lifting, I pulled out a video and did the program. On days when I had it in me, I did two. On other days, I would do a program and then lift, or run. I am a fan of variety, so I mixed it.

As far as food goes, I just controlled my portions. I love my snacks, treats, etc like everyone else so that wasn't going to change for good... Instead, I just put the non-essentials in a "time out" on occassion and the best way to do that is once it is out of your house, don't buy it for awhile. Perhaps the one thing I completely cut out is table sugar and cream. I drink my coffee/tea straight and the taste is a non-factor, again for me. To each is own.

I also take my Vitamins. One-A-Day men's formula, a B-Complex.
As for supplementation, as little as possible, BUT, I will admit I make on occasion protein shakes, smootie with a couple scoops of Whey Isolate when I and deficient in my protein macros. Keeping with protein, I also will include Casein protein as a supplement before I go to bed, usually before an early AM workout. The thing with supplementation is that I don't use it to define my form but to compliment what the foods should naturally develop in my body.

Again, this is all a work in progress for me. A friend of mine who competes told me that trial and error are the only full proof ways to developing your body. That and your own due diligence will help you and also allow you to decide what works best for you individually.

Trust me, there is no one full-proof way to do this. What these six months taught me more than anything else is that time and practice, you will see results.

Hope this answers and helps!

Divagettinfitin2011

Well done!