HST Cutting Journal
 

Well the time has come for me to lock down and cut up. I'm going to start competing in grappling real soon, June 17, and what better ways to start then by cutting to a weight were I will dominate.

Ok a little back story to get you guys up to speed. Starting in the beginning of May I got real sick for about 2 weeks and I've just got over the cold. 3 days out of this I was just about stuck in bed and could only hold down 2 bowls of chicken soup. So I've lost some well earned muscle because of this and not being able to go to the gym. But in an attempt to try and do a quick gain, I gain a little from fat, I’m up to 217 @ ~15% bf on a 7 point clapper test.

Also, I've been doing DFHT, and I got to tell ya I'm not a fan. The first month on the routine was ok but after that I def. think I was over training with the loading. I was way over worked on the days I went to MMA and I could barely keep up.

Now, on to the stats, diet, supplement and routine.

Stats, diet, training and other stuff.
 

I'm about 5'11.5" and weigh 217 with ~15% bf.

Training is HST style and will be done the same way hdrgain's was using 15, 12, 10, 8 rep ranges, 2 weeks at each range.

The workout looks a little like this:
Squats
Lunges
Stiff Leg Deads
Inc. BB Press
Cable Flies
JS Rows
Pulldowns
Close Grip Pulldowns (chinup grip)
Arnold Press
DB Side Raises
Rear Delt Raises
Skulls
1 Arm Press Down
DB Curls
Reverse EZ Curls
Standing Smithy Calf Raise
Seated Calf Raises
Shrugs

I will give the rep ranges when I post my workout for the day.
Rest is only a minute in-between sets.

Cardio: I do MMA on Tuesdays for 3hrs, Thursdays for 3hrs, and Sundays for 1hr. I will also be doing cardio Monday-Friday like treadmill stuff or Complexes. It will start off with only 15 minute at a slow jog and be built up every other week or so. More will be done on Tuesdays and Thursdays then Mon, Wed, Fri. Which brings me to…

Diet.
The way I calculate my calorie intake can be found in my other journal.

I like the mind set of starting at maintenance cals. and adding cardio first before taking away cals. My reasoning being is if you’re using up more calories working out, you need to eat more so your metabolism stays high. Look at Olympic swimmers, runners and such. They eat almost 5000cals a day and they are cut. It's because their training is very aerobic and they eat often.

My goal is to lose 1.5-2 lbs. a week. I will weigh myself at on Mondays in the morning. If I lose less than a pound a week I will first up the cardio and then when it happens again I will take 250-350 calories away. I don't want to make the jumps too high because I don't want to lose muscle.

I'm starting off at 3100 cals. a day and eat most of my carbs after cardio in the morning and around lifting and MMA. The breakdown will be: 266 grams pro, 285 grams carbs and 104 grams fat. When I take away Cals. it will be from fat and carbs. I will be striving for a 40% pro/35% carb/25% fat split when I start taking away calories.

Looks good to me Dave. The carbs seem a little on the high side, but you know your body better then anybody, and i'm sure you will adjust as you go too.

good luck and stay strong bro.

Thanks man. Yeah, they will be a little high at first but this is about my base line and by adding the cardio I should lose some pounds. After the first week I will most likely take out 300 cals.

05/29/2006
 

Monday's Workout

WORKOUT:

A2G Squats: 2x15 @ 170lbs.
DB Lunges: 1x15 @ 25lbs.
Stiff Leg Deads: 2x15 @ 115lbs.
Inc. BB Press: 2x15 @ 120lbs.
Cable Flies: 2x15 @ 25lbs.
JS Rows: 2x15 @ 100lbs.
Pulldowns: 1x15 @ 75lbs.
Close Grip Pulldowns : 1x15 @ 75lbs.
Arnold Press: 2x15 @ 20lbs.
DB Side Raises: 1x15 @ 10lbs.
Rear Delt Raises: 1x15 @ 10lbs.
Skulls EZ Curl Bar: 1x15 @ 55lbs.
1 Arm Press Down: 1x15 @ 35lbs.
DB Curls: 1x15 @ 20lbs.
Reverse EZ Curls: 1x15 @ 50lbs.
Standing Smithy Calf Raise: 1x15 @ 200lbs.
Seated Calf Raises: 1x15 @ 110lbs.
Shrugs: 1x15 @ 200lbs.
Abs: 2x15 Hanging Leg Raises


SUPPLEMENTS
Look at my Pure Virtago Log to find out.

DIET
For the first day I didn't do to well because of the Holiday. Oh well.

OVERVIEW
WOW this was painful. My muscles burned real bad. I underestimated the weight on a lot of these because I have never done this routine and I didn't want to burn out too fast. All compound movements, calf and shrugs will be increased by 10lbs. while the others will be 5lbs. every workout as suggested on the HST site. But because of the under shot of a lot of these I will be upping a little more sooner. Once I get into the 12/10/8 rep ranges I won't be upping the weight every time but I will start at a higher weight and use that for more than one day to prevent too much zig-zag.

Overall I liked it. It was definitely different. More to come.

05/31/2006
 

Wednesday Workout

WORKOUT:

A2G Squats: 2x15 @ 185lbs.
DB Lunges: 1x15 @ 30lbs.
Stiff Leg Deads: 2x15 @ 120lbs.
Inc. BB Press: 2x15 @ 135lbs.
Cable Flies: 2x15 @ 30lbs.
JS Rows: 2x15 @ 135lbs.
Pulldowns: 1x15 @ 80lbs.
Close Grip Pulldowns : 1x15 @ 80lbs.
Arnold Press: 2x15 @ 30lbs.
DB Side Raises: 1x15 @ 15lbs.
Rear Delt Raises: 1x15 @ 15lbs.
Skulls EZ Curl Bar: 1x15 @ 60lbs.
1 Arm Press Down: 1x15 @ 40lbs.
DB Curls: 1x15 @ 25lbs.
Reverse EZ Curls: 1x15 @ 60lbs.
Standing Smithy Calf Raise: 1x15 @ 210lbs.
Seated Calf Raises: 1x15 @ 140lbs.
Shrugs: 1x15 @ 210lbs.
Abs: 2x15 Hanging Leg Raises


DIET
The diet is on track and it feels good.

OVERVIEW
Evened out a lot of numbers and I think I'll go with these numbers and progress accordingly. Cardio was only 15 mins at a light jog.

Grappling Competition Training
 

So as you may or may not know I will be competing on June 17 in most likely the GI and No-GI grappling tournaments.

Today’s class was awesome. We had to grapple a new guy ever 30 seconds without a break. Man I was pumped and my strength played a big role in staying in the game and taking people out. We had 8 guys in the class so it was 7 rounds. I thought I was going to puke. I've never done cardio like that before. It was amazing.

I didn't get a chance to do cardio this morning but I think tonight made up for it.

06/2/2006
 

Friday's Workout

WORKOUT:

Cardio: Treadmill 15 mins. light jog.

A2G Squats: 2x15 @ 195lbs.
DB Lunges: 1x15 @ 35lbs.
Stiff Leg Deads: 2x15 @ 125lbs.
Inc. BB Press: 2x15 @ 145lbs.
Cable Flies: 2x15 @ 30lbs.
JS Rows: 2x15 @ 135lbs.
Pulldowns: 1x15 @ 85lbs.
Close Grip Pulldowns : 1x15 @ 85lbs.
Arnold Press: 2x15 @ 35lbs.
DB Side Raises: 1x15 @ 20lbs.
Rear Delt Raises: 1x15 @ 20lbs.
Skulls EZ Curl Bar: 1x15 @ 65lbs.
1 Arm Press Down: 1x15 @ 45lbs.
DB Curls: 1x15 @ 30lbs.
Reverse EZ Curls: 1x15 @ 65lbs.
Standing Smithy Calf Raise: 1x15 @ 220lbs.
Seated Calf Raises: 1x15 @ 150lbs.
Shrugs: 1x15 @ 220lbs.
Abs: 2x15 Hanging Leg Raises


OVERVIEW
Cardio was fine, I like to start out light and see where I'm at after the week. I felt like crap working out. I was just tired. Right after rows I really started to feel it. Some of the numbers I kept the same most were increases. I chugged the P.V. and Whey down and after 30 mins I felt a lot better. I think I was just feeling carb depleted.

06/05/2006
 

Monday's Workout

WORKOUT:

A2G Squats: 2x15 @ 205lbs.
DB Lunges: 1x15 @ 40lbs.
Stiff Leg Deads: 2x15 @ 135lbs.
Inc. BB Press: 2x15 @ 155lbs.
Cable Flies: 2x15 @ 30lbs. :thumbsdown:
JS Rows: 2x15 @ 140lbs.
Pulldowns: 1x15 @ 90lbs.
Close Grip Pulldowns : 1x15 @ 90lbs.
Arnold Press: 2x15 @ 35lbs.
DB Side Raises: 1x15 @ 25lbs.
Rear Delt Raises: 1x15 @ 25lbs.
Skulls EZ Curl Bar: 1x15 @ 70lbs.
1 Arm Press Down: 1x15 @ 50lbs.
DB Curls: 1x15 @ 35lbs.
Reverse EZ Curls: 1x15 @ 65lbs.
Standing Smithy Calf Raise: 1x15 @ 230lbs.
Seated Calf Raises: 1x15 @ 160lbs.
Shrugs: 1x15 @ 230lbs.
Abs: 2x15 Hanging Leg Raises


OVERVIEW
Today was rough. I'm starting to level off on some exercises, Arnold Press, DB side raises and cable flies. I'm going to stick with these numbers for one more day and then up them accordingly. Everything else is going good. Lunges and Rows are also kicking my butt, but I'm still sticking the numbers.

Up date on weight loss. I always weigh myself on Monday morning in shorts so everything is constant. Today after the first week I weighed in at 214 lbs. That's 3 lbs. loss :hbang:. What does this mean? I'm sticking to the diet and cardio till I don't lose 2 lbs. So well see what this week brings.

06/07/2006
 

Wednesday Workout

WORKOUT:

Cardio: Treadmill 15 mins. HIIT

A2G Squats: 2x15 @ 215lbs.
DB Lunges: 1x15 @ 40lbs.
Stiff Leg Deads: 1x15 @ 140lbs.
Inc. BB Press: 2x15 @ 165lbs.
Cable Flies: 2x15 @ 30lbs.
JS Rows: 2x15 @ 150lbs.
Pulldowns: 1x15 @ 95lbs.
Close Grip Pulldowns : 1x15 @ 95lbs.
Arnold Press: 2x15 @ 40lbs.
DB Side Raises: 1x15 @ 25lbs.
Rear Delt Raises: 1x15 @ 25lbs.
Skulls EZ Curl Bar: 1x15 @ 75lbs.
1 Arm Press Down: 1x15 @ 55lbs.
DB Curls: 1x15 @ 40lbs.
Reverse EZ Curls: 1x15 @ 70lbs.
Standing Smithy Calf Raise: 1x15 @ 240lbs.
Seated Calf Raises: 1x15 @ 170lbs.
Shrugs: 1x15 @ 240lbs.
Abs: 2x15 Hanging Leg Raises


OVERVIEW
Cardio was great I love doing HIIT to Lamb Of God :hbang:.
I'm cutting out one set of Stiff Leg Deads because I feel that the lunges I do are taking alot out of me and I'd rather keep the lunges because it works on level changing for kickboxing. Everything else stays. One more day of 15's.... I can't wait. :biglaugh: