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Keto Calisthenics


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Hi all, for the first six months of this year I was a hardcore ketogenic dieter, after having eaten low carb for a year. There was actually one week when I only ate eggs, beef, chicken, butter and coconut oil, purposefully wanting to cut out fiber and try zero carb, although eggs do have carbs. However this eventually took it's toll on me and I decided change was needed. I switched to a fairly standard "healthy diet" coupled with IF. Essentially I modeled it on Jack Lalanne's diet. Now I have transferred to a vegetarian diet and am considering going full vegan after my whey protein runs out in a week.

 

My only concern is that soy protein isolate wont be digested as well as whey and I'll need to take more than usual. Is that true? It's going to be pretty much impossible for me to get 100-150g of protein a day without consuming several protein isolates a day. I'm really not sure I like the idea of that... so much processed protein. Right now it's easy to eat a good amount of protein with whey and egg whites. This video by Scooby really caught my attention...

 

Anyway, any advice would be welcome! Here's my training.

 

I follow the Convict Conditioning approach. I have been doing it for a year now and can finally progress to the bridge and handstand progressions. Right now I am trying to decide on a program in order to progress slowly and steady. As soon as I do I'll let you all know. If you're interested I have my latest training Vlog here!

 

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Hi Skeering,

 

Wow, zero carbs, that tough. Am a low carber myself, but I still shoot for 80-100 grams of carbs a day, plus I use simple sugars for performance and glycogen replenishment.

 

You can indeed ample protein from a varied whole food plant based diet, of course, you'll also clock up a lot of carbs and fiber with that....not a bad thing for some, but if your like me and dont have the insulin sensitivity you once had...not a good thing. Moreover, grains, beans, pluses etc can and cause a host of digestive issues for many...myself included. Ive personally brought fish, omega 3 enriched eggs and some full fat dairy back into my diet. But experiment for yourself and see how you good, may work very well for you:)

 

Just checked out convict conditioning, looks good. Ive been mulling over bodyweight resistance training for a while now, I recently got a copy of the HIT coach Drew Baye's project Kratos, its pretty good.

 

Best of luck, and will be following your journel.

Rob

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Hey Rob! Thanks so much for the awesome reply

 

My insulin etc is fine. The trouble was the amount of inflammation I was getting from cooking so much protein/fat at too high temperatures (among other factors). Currently I'm getting 70g fiber a day lol... I've never heard of that training program before, I've been single minded about Convict Conditioning now for a whole year and don't see myself stopping since it's so effective. Your program looks well thought out though!

 

I can't really get 100-150g protein from plants whilst staying at 2000 calories a day honestly. I need to use supplements. Right now all my protein is coming from whey, boiled egg whites and some tofu or Quorn. So far it's good, if it goes really well I might try ditch the dairy and eggs, but for now, it's nice knowing that no animal has to die for those foods

 

Still working on my new program, thinking about this...

 

Mon: Explosive push ups, Push Ups, leg raises, grip work

Tue: Rest

Wed: Pull ups, Explosive squats, squats, calf raises

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Explosive push ups, handstands, jumps, bridges

Sat: Rest

Sun: Rest

 

I usually do sprints on tues and thurs but my left foot is a little tender now. I actually think I'll take this week off (first time in two years) to recover and start fresh, fully recovered the following week.

 

PS. I was worried about being vegetarian on a vegan site, thanks for the welcome!

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Good stuff:)

 

The guys and gals here are open minded mate, your intentions are good and thats what matters:)

 

You could also try rice or hemp protein, lentils are another great source of protein aswell.

 

Best

Rob

 

Hey Rob, thanks for the kind words. I thought I'd share my diet strategy and intentions since I am taking a week off from training. I've got to put something in the diary lol.

 

Breakfast is...

Oats

Whey (changing to soy this week)

Almonds, flax, chia

Berries and some fruit

 

Dinner is...

Large salad with around 10 raw veg

Soup with 8 egg whites, salmon, beans, sweet potato, vegetables, olives.

 

Around 2000 calories a day, so far my cut is going quite well, I've lost around 20 pounds in the last few months and should have some progress photos in November. I'm healing up this week from inflammation in my wrists and left foot. I hope to be ready for next Monday, so far it's looking good. It feels nice to have a week off actually, I don't think I've ever done it before in two years :P

 

 

BTW if you're interested my diet is basically modeled off Jack Lalanne.

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Yeah I love that era too! Lalanne is definitely my favorite though, although Reeves was outstanding. They had such simple approaches to eating and working out. I basically follow Lalanne's diet with Reeve's exercise routine.

 

I have been experimenting with IF the last couple of months, with the Warrior diet most recently. However, just today I went back to two meals exactly as I wrote above. I already can feel it being so much better for me. I'm less hungry during the day, and not suffering from heartburn at night lol.

 

So yeah, Breakfast is around midday and dinner's around 6pm. I suppose it's a 6-7 hour feeding window, but I can just have dinner if I really need to. The thing is, I think fasting all day raises my blood pressure, so doing 2 even meals a day seems better I think. Heck, you can't argue with Lalanne's results, 2 meals a day IF seems to work really well.

 

But of course I just do bodyweight for now, although I still do 3 full body routines a week with different exercises each time.

 

Push ups, leg raise, grip

Pull ups, squats, calves

Handstands, bridges, neck

 

(I also want to work in horizontal rows, dips and sprints somehow too)

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Woo hoo! Good news.

 

My wrists are healed.

My Foot got a clean bill of health.

I weight in my lightest this morning.

I'm set to start my new routine next week.

Also, I got got rid of ALL dairy today. If it comes from a cow, I no longer consume or support it!

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I'm Back Baby!

Pop ups: 2, 2, 2

Uneven Push Ups: 5 (both sides)

Block Jumps, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Hanging frog raises: 10, 7

Fingertip push ups: 5, 5

One arm hangs: 38 seconds a side

 

Not a bad return to working out today. My left wrist was a little sore during the finger part but it eased out on set 2. I think working it a little actually helps it heal, anyway it was fine really. It was fun to progress to step 7 uneven push ups after 5 months of step 6, all I did today was "feel" out the exercise and focus on strength and stimulus. Next time it'll be for more reps. Have to go slow with it because I don't think my rotator cuff is used to the stimulus yet. If I'm going to work up to a OAHSP then I need a healthy shoulder lol!

 

Anyway, I started a fully vegan diet today, here's the menu if anyone's interested.

 

Breakfast: Oats, soy isolate, peanut butter, almonds, flax, chia, coco, 5 fruits

 

Dinner: Salad with 5 raw vegetables followed by...

Beans, rice, tofu, flax, chia, olives/avocado, kale/broccoli all in a home made tomato sauce.

 

Oh, and a b12/D/calcium fortified soy milk.

 

It comes to... 2150kcal with 130g protein, 20%p, 30%f, 50%c. That leaves me another 350kcal to play around with each day.

 

It's going to be real interesting to see what happens to my progress in exercise now.

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Resistance Day

Clapping Push Ups: 3, 3

Uneven Pull ups: 7, 7 (both sides)

 

Block Jumps: 1x6

Assisted Pistol Squats: 5 (both sides)

Straight Calf Raises: 50, 50, 50, 50

 

Good overall. I made intermediate standard on uneven pull ups and started pistols again. As soon as I build up to 20, 20 on the assisted version I'm currently doing (with two chairs) I'll make it harder until I get the proper pistol (with good form) without injury.

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Your volume looks too low to realize any progress

Yeah I know it looks that way, but I've been doing this approach for a year now and made progress nearly every single week.

 

Also, don't forget that I exclude warm ups. The whole workout takes an hour usually.

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youve been at this for a year and putting those numbers up proves my point. You do realize you're putting up numbers that most trainees can get to in a month or two. Unless you started seriously overweight and super weak.

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youve been at this for a year and putting those numbers up proves my point. You do realize you're putting up numbers that most trainees can get to in a month or two. Unless you started seriously overweight and super weak.

 

Most people build up to 28 strict uneven pull ups in 4 weeks? (chin above bar with a one second pause) - Unless the universe has flipped on it's head, most people take at least one month to get one normal pull up, sometimes 2 or 3. Please note I define strict form as 2-1-2 second timing (I use a metronome to ensure I don't cheat and measure progress properly).

 

Er, I don't think so mate. Thanks all the same.

 

Rest Day

Cardio & Trifecta workout.

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Resistance Day

Clapping Push ups: 3, 3

Headstand: 30sec (beginner standard reached)

Block Jumps: 1×6

Straight Bridges: 10 (beginner standard reached)

Bent dips: 40, 40, 40

Diagonal split clutch: 3sec a side

 

I just eased into headstands today, in two weeks I should be working on crow stands fairly easily. However, after a year break from inverted work I forgot the feeling of blood rushing to the head, I’m glad I’m easing into it slowly.

Block jumps feel better, the shorter run ups seem to work well for me I’ve noticed.

It’s kinda hard to keep my shoulders open in straight bridges, but I’ve a while to work away on this one anyway, I should get it.

Bent dips were pretty straight forward, but exhausting, I’ll do straight legs next week.

I was really careful about the clutch holds since I got wrist inflammation the past month from doing it previously. However I warmed up and cooled down thoroughly and only held it for 3sec as opposed to 10. I’ll up the time next week.

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Resistance/Rest Day

Sprints: 15mins

Horizontal Rows: 8, 4

Trifecta

 

It feels good to be running again after getting a clean bill of health from my doctor. My foot definitely felt a bit strained during the run, but I stretched out and it was fine. Again, I was told to exercise so I'm just going to keep it up.

 

My first time doing rows in nearly a year, not surprisingly my strength dropped quite a bit. It's really funny because I can do more uneven pull ups then these now lol! But they are essential for me to start doing again because...

My new (advanced) routine only does pull ups once a week.

This way I work pushing and pulling in both horizontal and vertical planes each week.

 

The trifecta went really well today! I advanced to "N Holds" and "Half Twists" which I'll picture below. This is such an awesome addition to any routine that I believe EVERYONE needs to do, regardless of what program you have. Half twists are on the bottom left.

 

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0_cupaRrY80/maxresdefault.jpg

 

http://www.warriorwomen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130809-194330.jpg

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This is my fat loss from the last few months. I am just going to maintain now for a while and see what happens. It'll be nice to eat more and concentrate on progress in strength and technique for a while.

 

http://s15.postimg.org/5k0ue5lff/Transformation.jpg

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good job on the fat loss. However, if your numbers are accurate, you're losing too much lean body mass too quickly. You've lost almost 5 pounds of lean body mass and about 15 pounds of fat. I think that's an unacceptable ratio, and you can do better. (evaluate your diet and make a correction)

 

FWIW, I think your actual BF percentages are higher than what you've indicated...I'm thinking you're more like 12% in your latest pic.

 

Nonetheless, good job on the fat loss...but definitely make a correction to prevent further muscle loss.

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good job on the fat loss. However, if your numbers are accurate, you're losing too much lean body mass too quickly. You've lost almost 5 pounds of lean body mass and about 15 pounds of fat. I think that's an unacceptable ratio, and you can do better. (evaluate your diet and make a correction)

 

FWIW, I think your actual BF percentages are higher than what you've indicated...I'm thinking you're more like 12% in your latest pic.

 

Nonetheless, good job on the fat loss...but definitely make a correction to prevent further muscle loss.

 

Yeah you're probably right about the body fat % being incorrect. Although I am very careful using my calipers. My carbs and salt intake are really high, so I reckon I could easily lose another 3-4 pounds of water if I cut them out, it might make the second photo appear closer to sub 10% fat.

 

Initially I lost an extra pound of lean mass the first week which was water. So that counted towards the "muscle" loss.

 

I'm not totally sure my measurements are accurate! The thing about bodyweight is you always improve whether you are loosing weight or gaining it (at TDEE or clean bulk). Since I'm not a bodybuilder, I don't care about loosing muscle as much as I care about improving my strength/weight ratio. I'm just enjoying the journey! Anyway, I'm going to eat at TDEE for a while and just concentrate on improving now

 

Anyway, it's a big improvement over before. Thanks for the advice! I reckon I lost around 2 pounds of muscle honestly, the thing is, it all happened in the last few weeks, the body doesn't really like getting cut does it? Lol it sucks being natural...

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Absolutely a big improvement. However, I'd say you're eating well under your TDEE since you have combined fat and muscle loss. If you want to clean bulk / lean gain, your calories definitely need to come up, and probably need to adjust your macro ratios. It's a slow process...but if done properly, your weight will typically stay unchanged while BF goes down and lean body mass (and absolute strength) goes up.

 

Since you're doing a lot of (if not mostly) BW exercises, you're gauging your strength relative to a lower bodyweight...which is not necessarily an absolute strength improvement...but improved endurance/stamina can often be mistaken for absolute strength gains...unlike weight training where you'll notice the lifted weight falling.

 

As for the BF measurement, the accuracy of the actual percentage is somewhat irrelevant...I pay more attention to my skinfold measurements to gauge progress.

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Absolutely a big improvement. However, I'd say you're eating well under your TDEE since you have combined fat and muscle loss. If you want to clean bulk / lean gain, your calories definitely need to come up, and probably need to adjust your macro ratios. It's a slow process...but if done properly, your weight will typically stay unchanged while BF goes down and lean body mass (and absolute strength) goes up.

 

As for the BF measurement, the accuracy of the actual percentage is somewhat irrelevant...I pay more attention to my skinfold measurements to gauge progress.

 

100% Agree, my goal now is to just eat at TDEE and stay lean whilst improving. Funny actually, I know you think this is a bad thing, but it's something I love about calisthenics, you improve constantly while you bulk and cut, as your strength/bodyweight ratio keeps improving. It makes cutting hard to gauge, but I hope to avoid the bulk/cut cycle now. I only gained that weight because of depression in my old job honestly.

 

Resistance Day

Clapping Push Ups: 3, 3

Uneven Push Ups: 10, 5 (both sides)

Jumps: Skipped

Hanging Frog Raises: 10, 10 (Intermediate Standard Reached yeah!!!)

Close Grip Fingertip Push Ups: 5, 5

One Arm Hangs: 45 sec each side.

 

The uneven push ups are surprisingly brilliant. They put huge work onto your wrist, rotator cuff and chest. My triceps are actually the strong link in the pushing chain for a change, probably because I just finished working on close grip push ups (which took 5 months!)

I made progress in one arm hangs also, the goal here is three sets of one minute.

 

The big news though… I’ve been eating vegan for over a week now and hanging frog raises have improved significantly! Since I started eating vegan this is the only exercise I’ve had a chance to push myself hard in and go for maximum reps, and I got WAY stronger! The next test will be pull ups on Wednesday. The increased calories (by 250) are also helping, but at least I know now that I can progress on the diet if I keep it up.

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