Progress feb 2012

Hello one and all, and welcome to another instalment of The Functional Muscle Blog.

It's been a busy but fruitful week; I have adapted the training programme that I posted last Friday, and it's awesome! I have dieted well I really don't like calling it dieting, let's say I have monitored what I have eaten correctly, that's better! Having said this, I have struggled to reach my calorie target on cardio days, just because I have been full and I don't like to eat If I'm not hungry. I have compensated by eating more on my weight training days though. I always look at the weekly calorie intake rather than a daily one, as it gives a clearer picture of how you're eating.

My training this week.
Monday/Wednesday/Friday -Weights 

Squats 1x10  (90kg)
stiff leg dead lift 2x10 (60kg)

Bench Press, slight incline 2x10 80kg
Dips 1x10  (body weight plus 20kg)

Chins 2x10 (wide grip)
Rows 2x10 (60kg)

High pulls 1x10 (60kg)

Shoulder Press 2 x 10 (40kg)
Front raise 1x10 (Olympic Bar ) I may swap these for Cleans

Barbell Curl 2x10 (30kg)
Over head Triceps extensions with barbell (40kg)

Seated calf raise 2x10 (50kg) will do alternate weeks seated and standing

Hanging leg raises (toes to bar) 4x10

I know what you're thinking,  how long does all that take?  Well, I smashed my last session in 40 minutes (the first one did take me an hour, but I needed to choose the right weights, and my transitions between exercises were really slow). I have very little rest in-between exercises; 30 seconds on the exercises that are 2x10, and then how ever long it takes me to set up the next exercise - as soon as its ready I'm straight into it. I have really enjoyed training like this, it's been a nice change. I will keep the amount of weight like this next week, then start to increase it every week after that. After 3 weeks of a increasing I will de-load (go light on all exercises) and double up on all the reps for one week.

Cardio -Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday

I ran between 3 and 3.5 miles on cardio days this week, and as soon as I arrived home I went straight into 100 press ups followed by 100 over head squats. The run has taken me an average of 26 minutes, and then the body weight exercises have varied in time; on Tuesday it took me 9 mins 55 secs. This was a big shock as I used to get through 100 press ups in under 3 minutes. I have never done a 100 over head squats before so I was unsure how long this would take; on Monday it took me less time to do the squats than it did the press ups.

Tuesday
Run 3.25 miles in   26:22 mins
100 Press ups 100 Overhead Squats   9:55 mins


Thursday
Run 3.27 miles in   25:39 mins
100 Press ups 100 Overhead squats  7:46mins



Saturday



I have definitely hit a good level of fitness at the moment. I really can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit now so I can start doing a bit more outside - there's no debating that running in the cold and rain is no fun - bring on the summer!  

I will have completed a month of intermittent fasting by the time I blog next so will give you my thoughts, feelings and results on how that has all turned out for me.

I now weigh 68.8kg /10st 11lb from 73.2/11st 7lb - a loss of 4.4kg or 10lb in 7 weeks

Progress picture.

This was my chest and ever decreasing waist line last night, I'm definitely getting leaner every week. The aim is a few more weeks of dieting then from there I should be able to maintain my weight and increase my calories on training days.

I'm also going to try and video the press ups and squats for next week , a little something to look forward to :-/


Ben
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