Weekly Weigh-In
252 lbs
As expected for this week’s weigh-in, there wasn’t any progress made. The week before was just too chock full of crazy.
I’m happy to report that I was more successful in all regards this week: workout sessions, sleep, and nutrition were all in pretty good shape.
I’m also seeing some noticeable changes in my energy levels, mood, and sleep patterns.
Details
My Sunday (Chest & Biceps), Monday (Legs & Shoulders), and Tuesday (Back & Triceps) sessions were fantastic. These are the Big Three gym sessions that need to be hit every week for me to feel good about my progress. This week was a light weight/high rep week and it was definitely felt by Wednesday.
I was held over at work Wednesday night (Circuit Training) and didn’t get into the gym as a result, but that’s okay. I have wiggle room. I rallied on Thursday and ended up with my best CT night ever. I was feeling good coming in. I have to clarify here a bit. While I prefer to do traditional circuit training, where you start with one exercise, do one set, then move to the next exercise, do one set, etc…given the time of day I hit the gym (between 4:30 and 5:00 pm) things get really crowded and I can end up being held up waiting for the next machine, which drops my heart rate, which is the antithesis to the core principle of circuit training, which is the keep that heart rate up while performing resistance training. So, to keep things moving, I do four sets per machine. I keep the weight set at the same weight throughout all four sets, versus the progressive method that I usually prefer. I set a goal of 10 reps per set, but actually hit 12 reps for all sets on all machines except for my final set of bicep curls (10 on the last set) and flyes (also 10 on the last set).
There are nine different machines involved: leg press, ab crunch, seated row, leg curl, leg extension, bicep curl, triceps extension, lateral shoulder raise, and flyes.
I shrunk my rest time between sets to 30 seconds vs one minute and was done with it all in 46 minutes, which is pretty smokin’ fast for me.
Afterwards, I hopped on the stationary bike for 20 minutes and kept my speed up around 16.5 miles an hour on a medium “incline”, which finished me off at 5.5 miles ridden.
Friday I got in an hour of yoga and a 40 minute core workout that left me gasping a bit and kind of sore today. Yeah…I stared doing actual sit-ups again. I’m sure it would have been hilarious to watch.
Nutrition wise I stayed in caloric deficit all week long and took in a minimum of 72 ozs of water daily. Even on Friday night, the start of my lazy sabbath and beginning of my cheat period, when I scarfed down a delicious meatball sub from Firehouse, at the end of the day, my intake was still less than my output.
My macros could be better. I need to bump up the protein and carve out some carbs and fats to make sure I lose what I want to lose (excess fat) and gain what I want to gain (more muscle), but all in all I’m happy with the week.
Bring on Week 4!