Ok, so between work and coaching I haven’t been able to update this as much as I wanted to. Good news is I have some interesting updates to share.
Weight: 180.6 . Down another 1.5 lbs. This morning’s 180.6 reading is again the lowest I have been so far. The weight is still coming off and I have even added in another meal to my rest days.
Body Fat: 15.5% (2 weeks ago). Assuming Jamie’s reading from the end of Week 1 was accurate, This would bring me down about 2% from my starting point. Not bad but I was hoping for more. I have added some metabolic conditioning work in the my training now to see if that has any effect. I do feel like I look leaner than that when I look in the mirror but the numbers don’t lie.
Training: The PRs keep coming. In the last week I have set all-time PRs in 3 exercises. It is very hard to complain about that. One of the new elements I have added is creatine. I have had great success with creatine in the past and decided to take it because no matter what I am eating or not eating, my goal is to get stronger. Creatine makes you stronger. So I take it.
I have been doing a new style of training for me where I don’t stick to any specific programming but simply a rough template and train what I feel needs work. Depending on how I feel, I will choose the exercises for that day. For example, I will do power snatches from the blocks as the main exercise. After that, I will do accessory work like snatch deadlifts, snatch deadlifts with a pause, and behind the neck snatch grip push presses. These are all snatch related and help to build pure strength in the weak points. I will only do one of the lifts (or their variations) per training session and no longer snatch and clean and jerk on the same day. I feel this has greatly improved my overall strength and technique because I can focus on just that lift. I plan on taking a deload week every 6-8 weeks depending on feel.
I have also added in metabolic conditioning to the week. These go back and forth between Tabata intervals on the assault bike and 50 burpees for time. For most of you this is a breeze but for an out of shape son of a bitch like me, it stings and stings badly. The idea is to provide another stimulus for fat oxidation without dropping calories.
Diet: Nothing to report here as diet has continued to be consistent with previous entries. I am still eating 4 times per day no matter if I train or not.
The cheat meals have all been at Red Robin. I order the Royal Red Robin (burger with bacon and fried egg) with 2 patties and side of sweet potato fries. After that, I go to Sweet Frog and load up a nice bowl of frozen yogurt with a ton of toppings. I cant even imagine the calorie count for those two meals.
How I Feel: Feeling better than ever. Excessive hunger is a rarity now that my body has adjusted. I continue to drink coffee in the mornings which helps a lot. I haven’t had a single day where my training has been compromised due to energy levels which has shocked me to be honest. Most workouts are an hour long but some go into the 2 hour mark.
I have decided that I am going to keep doing this until it starts to negatively effect my gains. When that will happen is anyone’s guess. Goal now is to keep cutting body fat, mainly because Deanne told me I look fat in my tights.
Until next week…