Progress Log: Week 04

Weekly Weigh-In

251 lbs

I saw a one lb drop on the scale, which is encouraging.

I want to avoid losing weight too quickly however. There’s a lot going on inside my body right now…fat is being burned and muscle is being built. Weight can be a deceptive metric. I monitor it just as much to ensure it’s not dropping too quickly as to ensure it’s dropping in the first place.

Jonah week four progress shot. Shirtless.
Yep, there’s some work ahead. I have a six pack, it’s just tucked away in the fridge right now.

Details

My Day One (Chest & Biceps), Day Two (Legs & Shoulders), and Day Three (Back & Triceps) sessions were solid. This week was a heavy weight/low rep week. All three days had good gains across the board. I even saw some personal bests: one on Sunday, a whopping four on Tuesday, and two on Wednesday. It’s not too often that see four personal bests in one workout anymore, unless I have a series of brand new exercises that I’m introducing into the mix. In this particular case, one of those bests was the new Leverage Shoulder Shrug machine that I just started using.

I hit it hard on my Sunday workout – got in an hour of yoga, an hour and forty-five minutes with the weights, and twenty minutes on the bike. I was worn down pretty good by the time I got home.

I was held over at work Monday night and didn’t get into the gym as a result, but I did get a one hour yoga session in that morning. I finished out the rest of my Big Three on Tuesday and Wednesday.

My yoga and cycling time were spotty this week. I had some work related things crop up on Thursday and Friday that just left me in a sour mood. I was in no space to be in a crowded gym full of people so I hunkered down at home and was a couch potato. I felt guilty about slacking so today, on my scheduled rest day, I did an hour of yoga and got in a 37 minute core workout.

Today during my core workout, I bumped my sets up to 4 and started inching up on my reps. I hate sit-ups. I can do crunches all day, but sit-ups are painful and humbling. Last week, on my third set, I couldn’t get more than five. Today, I did four sets for 10 and am claiming a victory. I have to keep in mind that, at 251 lbs, about 150 of that is in my upper body. Things like sit-ups and push-ups, when I’m as burly as I am right now, are hard work.

I look forward to the day when these things are easy for me again and I actually have to add weight to keep it challenging.

I have a ways to go for that, tho.

This past week wasn’t my best showing, but it also wasn’t terrible. I was in caloric deficit the entire week. During a couple of days I was in deep deficit. I also met or exceeded my water intake goals for six out of the past seven days. I do need to get better about staying on track with my time, however. I also need to be better about getting my yoga in during the morning. Even tho sometimes it’s a real challenge for me to get motivated for movement at 5 am, I always feel better afterwards for it, both in my body and my head.

I’m seeing some more subtle changes in my body. I can see the puffiness in my face fading. My underwear feels looser around my waist. I can see shallow dents forming between my shoulder caps, biceps, and triceps. This morning, I pulled on one of my favorite t-shirts…the sleeves were really snug around my upper arms and looser around my midsection. So I know things are happening and I’m getting more and more excited about them as they do.

Bring on Week 05!

Published by Jonah Sheridan Fenn

Nerd herder, word wrangler, working on the next chapter...

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: