Week 4 Review

Current body weight: 213.4 lbs

- 1.6 lbs

Made it to the gym twice this week.  Diet still rough

Week 3 Review

Current body weight: 215.0 lbs

+ 1.6 lbs

Did not go to the gym this week.   Feeling non-sick today, so tomorrow should get back on schedule

Week 2 Review

Current body weight: 213.4 lbs

+ 2.2 lbs

Did not go the gym this week.  Picked up something from the kids, and basically had a sick week.  

Week 1 Review

Current Body Weight: 211.2 lbs

+2.4lbs

This week started off with a low note… they gym attendant didn’t show up… I left at about quarter after five, and did a few things at home…

Tuesday and Wednesday went well, but Thursday and Friday fell apart.  

But hey, next week is a new week…

Week 0 Review

 

Current body weight: 208.8 lbs

This past week I tried out my new circuit-based routine.  I quickly found out that I really need to drop the poundage when not resting between sets!  

My diet wasn’t very solid this week, really need to hunker down and stick with my plan…no cheating!

Oct 2011–Jan 2012 Lifting Goal: Lose Body Fat

 

I've decided that the goal for my next cycle is to lose body fat.   I'm currently sporting a generous chunk of flab around my middle, with a current weight range of 210-215.   I'd like to cut that by about 20 lbs, to around 190-195.   To do this I will need to lose an average of 1lb - 2lbs a week, which seems reasonable with a solid program.  

Workout

Using a circuit training + cardio routine, 5 days a week

Monday - Gym - 5:00 AM

- Chest & arm circuit - 4x
    - DB Bench x12
    - DB Alternating Curls x12
    - Cable Pressdown x12
    - Dips x12
- 20 min, Treadmill

Tuesday - Home - 5:00 AM

- 30 min, Stationary Bike
- Ab Circuit (doing a PT circuit detailed in the November 2010 issue of Muscle & Fitness)

Wednesday - Gym - 5:00 AM

- Leg & Shoulder circuit - 4x
    - Front Squat x12
    - Standing DB Press x12
    - Calf Raises x12
    - DB Side Laterals x12
- 20min, Treadmill

Thursday - Home - 5:00 AM

- 30 min, Stationary Bike
- Ab Circuit

Friday - Gym - 5:00 AM

- Back Circuit - 4x
    - Deadlift x12
    - Lat Pulldown x12
    - DB Row x12
    - Seated Cable Row x12
- 20min, Treadmill

Diet

Going for general calorie reduction while keeping up protein levels.  Skipping meal before workout to help aid in fat burn.

• Meal #1 6:15 AM - Recovery - Orange Juice + 2 scoops whey protein + multi-vitamin
• Meal #2 8:AM - Oatmeal + Peanut Butter + brown sugar + 1 scoop whey protein
• Meal #3 12:00 PM - Rotating meal - protein + carbs + veg
• Meal #4 6:00 PM - Rotating meal - protein + veg
• Meal #5 9:00PM - Milk + casein protein + multi-vitamin

Moving to Three Month Workout Cycles

After a good run in July and August, September and October have been unfocused.   In early September, I was able to put up some decent numbers.  I did a back squat for 315x3, and a bench of 200x1.   Then I got sick for a week or so,and that derailed my progress.   That's OK though, because I’ve achieved my goal of “getting back into lifting”.

One of the difficult things about lifting long-term is having a steady supply of goals to achieve.   When starting out or re-starting, it is easy to see good progress in the first 3-6 months, but after that gains come more slowly.   In my last workouts, I've begun to approach the zone where I am lifting heavy all the time, and without proper goals, I don't believe there is a way to sustain this.  

So I've been thinking that 3 months / 12 weeks is a good time-frame to set workout goals, try new methods, supplements, etc.
- It gives you enough time to properly evaluate the effects of the program
- It keeps things fresh & helps with motivation
- It prevents overtraining
 
This is how it works

Week 1-2 - Plan new workouts, set goals, try new techniques

Weeks 2-14 - Workout using the plan, monitoring goals on a weekly basis

Week 15 - Off weeks - rest & evaluate plan

This basic system gives you about 3 months on a plan, and 1 month off / preparing for the next plan, so you get three major "cycles" a year.  

So what of the goals for each cycle?  The following are possibilities:

- Increase strength - Increase bench to 250, squat to 400, etc.  
- Lose Body fat - Drop from 215 to 190, etc.
- Increase endurance - 100 pushups in a minute, run 5 miles in 45 min
- Increase muscle definition / appearance - hard to measure, but this is basically what bodybuilding amounts to
- Prepare for a particular sport / event - prepare to run a marathon, hike up a mountain, etc.
- Maintain current levels - I suppose this is a possibility, but it's not very motivating.   I would make sense if you saw the next months as being impossible.  You could simply say you will do 1-2 workout per week, and try to eat sensibly.  

The best part of this type of planning is that you can set very big long-term goals without getting discouraged.   Dropping 100lbs of body fat is hard.   Benching 315lbs is hard.   You won't get there in 3 months, or even a year.   But with the right goals/ focus, dropping 10lbs is not hard, and neither is adding 20lbs to your bench.   The same could be said for virtually anything else in life...