Phant84

Ok, so heres the deal..... there is a question, i promise

A couple of other medics and myself signed up as a team for the 911 fitness challenge. The goal is not to see which team can lose the mot weight, but to see which tea can lose the most body fat and gain the most muscle mass. We started back in January and have until April, 16 weeks.

At our weigh in, I came in at 225 lbs even and 32% body fat. After going for a couple of weeks of trying the team diet and really struggling with it, we decided to re-weigh to see how we are doing and to see what areas we need to adjust as far as diet and training. After re-weighing, I came out at 226 and 25.1% body fat.

We are getting ready to start the cutting stage, where I'm going to need to almost completely cut carbs. (diet before was high protein with a moderate amount of healthy, complex carbs)

So here are my questions:

Any suggestions on getting through the stress of cutting out carbs?

Any suggestions on getting rid of man boobies?

Also I have some questions about steroids, if thats safe to ask

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Phant

Irrationality is the square root of all evil

Ch'i

Well, you could start smoking, but eventually you'll have to cut that too. There are foods that are both healthy and taste good, I promise. I will make a comprehensive list and post it at a later time.
Aside from duct tape, there is a mryad of different workout plans that could work. This plan would be a great start.
Most steriods have side-effects that I doubt you or your team would want. This includes: aggression, irritability, depression, acne, man boobs, elevated cholesterol, ect.. My suggestion would be Creatine. Its the the safest, most natural and benifitial steroid available. This Men's Health article should provide you with more information on Creatine.

Phant84

heres whats being done already

diet, variations of the following:
1) 6 hard boiled egg whites 3x per week
1 cup plain oatmeal
chicken breast

2) tuna w/ small salad

3) chicken breast w/ white or brown rice

4) 6oz sirloin with dry baked potatoe

5) tilapia w/ broccoli

6) salad w/ oil & vinager

i'll mix those things up so its not the same meals, but its those 6 meals every day. also 3-4 protein shakes a day (on protein)

also hitting the gym 2 a day MTTF and once on saturday

its a struggle to stick to the diet because i'm out of town MTTF.

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Phant

Irrationality is the square root of all evil

Hektore

First and foremost: creatine is not a steroid. It just isn't. Creatine is a molecule that stores energy in order to help maintain ATP balance in your muscles in the form of creatine phosphate. Most people know that ATP is the primary energy courier in cells, a few less people know that ATP is essential for nucleic acid sythesis as well. This means if you ever were to run out of ATP in a cell, that cell would no longer be able to synthesize proteins (no mRNA = no proteins) and you would be big damn trouble because that cell is going to die in a big damn hurry.

This is a problem in muscle cells because your muscles often have a high demand for ATP placed on them, since they require it to 're-cock' the myosin heads and continue to work. What your muscles do, so that they don't run out of ATP, is store energy to make more ATP in the form of creatine phosphate, as well as break down fats and/or carbs depending on the muscle type you are talking about(weight lifting is almost entirely anaerobic so the muscle breaks down carbs for more ATP). Creatine phosphate is actually higher in energy than ATP, so when your ATP starts to drop off there is an enzyme that transfers the phosphate group back from creatine phosphate to the used ATP(ADP) to make it ATP again. This is so your ATP levels stay high enough that the cell can continue to function. When both your ATP and creatine phosphate get too low your body won't let you use the muscle anymore so that you don't run entirely out of ATP.

This is the point where muscles fail, and won't contract anymore. Your body will need time now to regenerate it's ATP and creatine phosphate stores(Along with a slew of other things). So, think about it logically, more creatine means more creatine phosphate means you can lift weights longer. Correct to a certain degree, the degree we are talking about thought is maybe the difference between getting the last rep and not getting it, or getting one more rep. On the day. What it doesn't do is make you stronger, it may help you get stronger marginally faster(what you gain from that extra .5-1 rep), but the difference is negligible compared to if you just work out honestly, especially if you are already working out honestly. (Most people I know when they start taking any supplement slack off a bit because they somehow think the supplement will make up the difference, doesn't mean you will just a common phenomena I've noticed.)

Also there need to be two major problems with taking creatine that should be considered. First is that your body has mechanisms built in that will cause the storage of more creatine without any outside help. When you take creatine in supplement form you shortcut those mechanism so that your body doesn't get them rolling in high gear naturally, the way it should be. When you stop taking creatine you regress really quickly because your body hasn't had to make the creatine on it's own because the cellular machinery has been interfered with. It's the exact same problem that happens with steroids except steroids have all sorts of effects so everyone knows that they're terrible for you and should not be taken without supervision by a doctor. Also creatine is amazingly good at making your cells retain water, which makes you look bigger, but that goes away as soon as you stop taking it and can lead to dehydration if you aren't incredibly careful when you start.

Secondly, and most importantly it's easy to take too much creatine which is really bad for you. All the extra creatine has to be broken down then filtered out by your kidneys which can (and has at least once) lead to acute kidney failure. Bad news bears for you if that happens. As always, before you start taking any supplements, talk to your doctor, then maybe to a physiologist, then at least another doctor or two before you decide on taking anything. Don't ask a high school football coach, the big guy at the gym, the guy in charge of the gym or the guy at the GNC. They can't tell you with any more certainty than we can because don't know unless they also happen to be a doctor/physiologist (same as us).

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The advantage law is the best law in rugby, because it lets you ignore all the others for the good of the game.

Ch'i

Thank you, Hektore.
Brown rice is the healthier choice. For the sake of variety white rice would be fine, especially if it is whole grain.
Three to four protein shakes in addition to six meals a day is a bit excessive. Depending on the ingredients, a protein shake counts as a meal. Lower it to one/two shakes a day.
Could you be specific on what you mean by "hitting the gym?"

Phant84

they are using chest, abs, and thighs to do the BF%, so we focusing on those areas. still getting the other areas so we dont come out looking wierd.

i'll type out the workout when i have more time
(although not exactly sure how that ties in with my question)

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Phant

Irrationality is the square root of all evil

Ch'i

If you are weight training twice a day you are sabotaging your results. If you are able to preform a weight training session twice a day you are also not properly weight training. A good session should leave you unable to preform a second until at least the next day, though you should not preform another until the day after. I know that you are in a bit of a time crunch, but allowing your body the proper amount of time to recover is almost as important as the weight training.

Giving us a layout of what happens during your weight training, or anything else, allows us to give tips on what you could change and how to improve it.

Phant84

remember to tie my job as a factor for twice a day.

(copied from journal)
Morning:
10min bike cardio
3 sets of 6 bench press @ 170lbs
10 sets of 12 bench press @ 100lbs
8 sets of 10 row @ 130lbs
10 sets of 6 lat @ 140lbs
6 sets of 10 pec fly @ 60lbs
100 ab crunch @ 60lbs
10 min bike cool down

late afternoon
40 min bike cardio
10 sets of 12 bicep curl @ 70lbs
8 sets of 10 shrugs @ 200 lbs
10 of 10 tricep extension @ 65lbs
12 of 12 squats @ 260lbs


thats from yesterday. work doesnt allow for everything to be done at once, thus the reason for twice a day. (paramedic, work 96hrs a week, out of town for those 96hrs.)

also toss in 400-600 crunches at night

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Phant

Irrationality is the square root of all evil

Ch'i

Alright. The split is fine; I was under the impression you meant two full workout sessions a day. Thank you for clarifying.

About those 400-600 crunches...

There are five parts to your abdominals that deserve equal attention, and you will see greater results by working all of them. Instead of pushing out hundreds of repititions do this: preform the crunch very slowly, when you have reached the apex of the crunch breathe out as hard as you can, lower slowly and repeat. The crunch works out your upper abdominals which leaves the four other parts to your midsection; lower abdominals, obliques, transverse abdomis and the lower back. Choose an exercise for each of the four parts and do around 15-20 repititions of each exercise. Following the breathing/slow repitition technique described earlier. Strengthening your abdominals is almost entirely about quality, not quantity.

Here are a few exercises you could use:
Russian Twist (obliques)
Leg Lift (lower abs)
Vacuum Bridge (transverse abs)
Back Raises (lower back)