The following is my evaluation of my training over
the last few months. IMO everyone should take time to reflect on their
training. This is something I lacked and didn't do frequently enough in
years past.
-for those that don’t feel like reading the whole
thing, the Cliff Notes version:
-made a decision in May to focus on body
composition with training.
- decided first thing first I wanted to get leaner.
- decided to let Mandy Skinner Fit handle my
nutrition.
- 2,300 calories a day with a refeed on Saturday.
Hit this about 53-54 days of 60.
-Arnold Bluprint to Cut, 8 week body building “cutting”
program.
- short conditioning finishers 3-4 times per week.
Occasional easy conditioning only sessions, as a 2nd workout in a day..
-attempted to get 5,000 steps a day in. Averaged about 6,100 a day during the time.
- The movements in this program were not difficult. No olympic lifts, no technically difficult gymnastic movements etc.,
- new program starting Sunday.
Before starting program
After week 8----->
For the last 6+ years or so I have generally done
CrossFit training as my primary source of training. Sometimes with a coach
writing my workouts, sometimes by following a workout blog, sometimes by doing
my own thing. The focus was always on performance. I didn't really care about
body composition as it generally followed with training at least 5 times a
week. The little secret with CrossFit training is that it is not the absolute best way to spend your time if your are looking to improve your body composition. I'm not saying it doesn't work, just that there is better ways.
This April, I really started to analyze what is it I hoped to get out of training. Why did I want to spend time in the gym, generally 5 -6 hours a week for? Was it to add 10 lbs to back squat or shave 5s from my " Fran" time? When I really got to the
bottom of it, when I really got honest with myself, I wanted to improve my body
composition. Chasing performance had run its course. For me, I wanted to get leaner and have
a more "athletic" look. For me, I wanted a better physique. To
some, this is a superficial, vain goal. It is not as noble as
training for performance or functional training. That's fine and
have at it, but please move away from the mirror so I can hit this double biceps pose! Kidding, but seriously, can you move?
I got honest with myself and said I want defined
abs, bigger arms, and a bigger chest. Getting honest about this was the
biggest hurdle. Once I got over that and could admit what I wanted out of my
training, I was ready to roll.
I read this really awesome blog post that just has
a ton of useful info: http://www.bryankrahn.com/eat-lift-jacked-40-beyond/
and it convinced me that my first step needed to be
getting leaner. Now, no I'm not 40, but I begrudgingly admit that one day
I will be. This article is just useful in general. So now I had even further direction with my goal. Get leaner. This didn't mean drop 10 lbs so the scale weight was lower. This meant lose fat and keep or gain muscle.
I then spoke with my wife (Mandy Skinner Fit) about this.
She has got on stage and rocked a Figure show, so she knows what it takes
to get really lean while still maintaining sanity. On top of that she is a
nutrition coach and is getting some excellent results with her clients. I
figured it wise to ask her for nutrition advice and put my nutrition in her
hands. Otherwise I would forever be justifying big huge meals to get
"gainz." My caveat when I started this was I didn't want to the weirdo bringing tupper ware to a party and I wanted to be able to have a drink or two when the occasion called for it.
For this leaning phase she set me up on 2300 calories a day.
This did not include a daily post workout shake of 35g protein and 35g carbs.
I had high protein, low fat. I had a "refeed" every Saturday
that included 300 grams of carbs, up from 175 during the week. My general
caloric intake prior to this was between 2,800 and 3,000 calories. I generally did this over 4 meals and an evening snack.
Two weeks
into the leaning phase I had a long weekend guys trip to Chicago planned. I did
what I could nutritionally but safe to say a guys weekend included some booze. And safe to say following the beer was some other poor
nutrition choices as it related to my leanness goal. No big deal, when I returned I got back
on track and was pretty sharp the remainder of the way. I would say I hit my numbers spot on about 53 of 60 days.
My third step was to choose a training program. I
decided I wanted to hit all body parts 2x a week and chose a workout program
that was 6 days a week. The program was http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/arnold-schwarzeneggers-blueprint-to-cut.html
Arnold's Blueprint to Cut.
What better
example to follow I figured. It was an 8 week program that I just finished. It
consisted of 2 phases with the volume increasing smartly in the 2nd
phase.
Day 1 and 4 were chest and back, day 2 and 5
was legs, day 3 and 6 was shoulders and arms and day 7 was rest. There
was a lot of volume involved. The workouts could be long if you let them be.
Everything was supersets, with 45s rest between supersets. Every workout
there was quite a "pump." It was a lot of fun and was
enjoyable. A few days a week I added a "conditioning finisher." This
usually included loaded carries, bike sprints, hill sprints, prowler pushes,
track intervals, or a short conditioning piece.
I did not always get to the 6 workouts
consecutively, exactly as the program was written. Things in life popped
up and some times in took me 8 days to get to the 6 workouts planned that week.
No worries I just continued. With all the volume an extra rest day sprinkled in
now and again was very likely a good thing. The first couple weeks the volume
was a bit tough but I adapted quickly. Some days I could not get to all the
sets so I chopped a set here and there. At the beginning I was a bit concerned
all the pressing would hurt my shoulder, but the opposite occurred. My shoulder
felt great, likely from all the horizontal pulling exercises and back
work.
My progress photos below show before I started the
program, after 4 weeks. After 7 weeks and after 8 weeks. I am happy with
the progress and am looking forward to rolling it into another body building
phase as I continue to try and get a bit bigger and leaner. I am taking a
de-load week this week and anticipate starting the new phase Sunday. I am going
to reverse diet (add some calories) and see if I can continue to get leaner. My
program is up in the air but I plan to drop to 5 days a week with a little less
overall volume and leave some room for more conditioning.
Things I would change or learned:
-plan the conditioning ahead of time. Each day I
kind of went as I pleased. Some logical progressions probably would make more
sense.
- choose an initial program with less volume. It
worked wonders for working quick but those legs days especially were tough.
Some of the toughest workouts I've ever done. At end of 8 weeks I don’t feel
crushed but 6 days a week with volume would not go well much longer.
- Legs were brutal. 2nd phase ex.)
A1. leg extensions x 12, rest 5 seconds,
A2. back squat x20, rest 45s X 5
sets.
By set 3 getting under the bar for the back squats was tough.
Also during the reload week, I decided to do max calories on the Airdyne in 5 minutes. I set a PR with 152 cals. And it wasn't even painful. Recovery was quick. Kind of interesting with minimal aerobic or Airdyne work. The big difference was in my legs. There was minimal lactic acid pain and I was able keep pushing. I surmise it was directly related to the leg sessions I referenced above. Just an interesting aside.
-In bodybuilding workouts with short rest you
really have to check your ego at the door. Much less weight than I would be
used to for the rep range, but that was understandable for the rest periods.
Things that worked
- -Nutrtion was
probably number 1. I had a few evenings that went off course but always
minimized this and got back on track the next day. Sticking to the calories and the macros for
53ish of the 60 days was a big deal.
- -Direct
chest, arm and ab work was new and helped.
Plan going forward:
-
Deload week this week.
-
s 1. Continue with a new program starting Sunday. Five days a week, lower rep range, less overall volume.
Workouts are shorter and will leave more time for conditioning play, to
continue to achieve a leaner physique. The conditioning will be focused on increasing performance on a few fronts. Again, simple things, Airdyne sprints, sprints, farmer's carries etc.,
- 2. Reverse diet.
Will slowly add calories over the next month and move some of the
protein calories to fat calories. This leaning phase was low on fat and low on calories. I need to add fat back in for health reasons and need to increase the calories as well. The goal will be to do this slowly and methodically and continue to lean out.
d
It's been a cool learning experience shifting from a performance based training program and goals to a body composition training program and goals. I look forward to the next block of training and to continue to make some body composition changes, while now incorporating just a bit of performance work in.
L
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