Month 3 completed, next phase begins!

I would call this a "full" 12 wrap up because technically, I didn't get started on my diet/fitness program until Monday the 14th of May. So, my month 3 program ended on Sunday. I ended up finishing at 187.6 which was nice, giving me around 16lbs lost in three months. I took a few days off from my training routine, had a nice cheat meal and got the body ready for month 4 which it needed.

Also, I'm a couple of days into my new routine for month 4 and I'm pretty excited about it. It is a little toned down as far as hard metabolic/conditioning work, and is more of a "traditional" strength/bodybuilding routine. I guess I can't talk smack about everybody's Monday "Chest and Back" routine anymore since that's what I did yesterday, for the first time in ever. It was refreshing and very cool though, it'll be a nice change up from the non-traditional workouts I've been doing (which really took it's toll on my body).

Cardio frequency overall is toned down a but, but I'm going to be doing HIIT Sprint sessions which are the toughest cardio I've ever done.

Nutritionally, I'm going down on calories a bit and am not going to have any cheat days (boo), though I will probably have a couple of mini-cheat meals where I have a frozen pizza or something but still stay within my macros for the day. Still doing the 16/8 IF thing which I honestly feel like I'm going to be doing some variation of for the rest of my life.

Here's to continuing to drop some fat and maybe build some muscle this month!

12-Week Wrap Up

Welp, here we are, at the end of the 12 weeks of Sorel Mizzi's Transformation Challenge. It's been an experience for sure! Here's my wrap-up. (FYI, I was going out of town during the contest entry deadline, so all of my stats are starting May 13th, ending August 2nd. Not quite a full 84 days but who cares :).

Before we get started on the stats, here's some quick links to the bigger/more interesting blog posts I wrote on various topics during the 12 weeks:

Intro/My Fitness Background
My Program/Thoughts On Coaching
Poker, Hormones, and Fitness
Month 1 Recap
Month 2 Program!
The "Neural Wake-Up Call"
Month 3 Program!
Sweet-ass Salad Recipe
Fitness Things I've Fallen In Love With: Part 1
Fitness Things I've Fallen In Love With: Part 2

Now on to the fun stuff!

Weight:
Starting: 204.2
Ending: 188.8
Change: -15.4

A loss of 15.4 pounds, or ~1.3lbs/week. A little lower than what is possible for pure weight loss, but I was focusing on recomposition rather than pure weight loss (see below), so I'm pretty happy with this. Here's a chart:

You'll notice a severe decline at the beginning for the first couple of weeks, which was the result of me going extremely low-carb initially, and then the weight loss goes into a less severe, but still steady drop. The spikes you see are cheat day spikes, which quickly disappear the following day.

Edit: On that note, my nutritional summary is relatively simple. I used a 16/8 Intermittent Fasting routine, with carb and nutrient cycling (more carbs on workout days and around my weight training sessions), and varying cheat days (and total fasting days). I think it worked pretty well, for the most part. I will say that I urge everyone to try a full day fast at some point in their life. I have been regularly training 36-40 hours fasted and it is amazing how good you feel the morning after a full fast day. Seriously, try it sometime!

What's interesting about this to me is that during this process I've always felt like I'm having plateaus followed by sudden drops of weight, but if you look at the chart above, my weight loss has been quite steady and even for the most part.

Body Fat % (by caliper measurements):

Starting: 19% (?)

Ending: ~11.5% (?)

Change: -7.5%

Lean Body Mass:

Starting: 165.4

Ending: 167.5

Change: +2.1

Overall composition change: 17.5lbs of fat lost, 2.1 pounds of muscle gained (?).

There's a reason I have question marks next to these numbers. Body Fat calculations are notoriously hard to do and they were pretty frustrating for me. I was doing BF% calculations with calipers, which seemed to be a bit all over the place for me. By my measurements originally, I had a body fat % of around 19-19.5%, and my current caliper readings come out to something under 12%. This equates to something around a 7-8% drop in body fat.

These are my strict numbers. However, when I compare my pictures to other pictures people post of their body fat %, I have trouble believing I am actually <12%. It's possible, as I do have a lot of muscle mass in my legs and posterior chain which can skew my frontal view a bit. Realistically, I think it's more likely that my body fat % is currently around 13%, and my original body fat % was more like 20%. I believe the relative change of around 7% or so is probably accurate, though, as relative caliper measurements are still pretty good. I also believe that I am probably carrying quite a bit less water weight than I was originally. So, in reality I would guess that my actual fat loss was a bit less, my muscle gain was a bit more, and my LBM numbers are too high overall.

Body Measurements:

                  Starting  -- Ending -- Change

Chest:          37.5"           39"           +1.5" 

Arms:           12"             13.2"         +1.2"

Hips:            39.5"           39.5"         N/A

Waist:          37.8"           33.8"        -4"

Thighs:        22"              22.5"        +.5"

Calves:        15"              15"           N/A

Forearms:    9.5"             10"          +.5"

Shoulders:   47.0"           49.2"       +2.2"

Neck:           15.5"          15.5"         N/A

I lost a full 4 inches around my waist, and had modest increase in size to my chest, shoulders, and arms, and negligible change elsewhere. This is about what I expected; while the majority of my training was fat-loss-centric training, I did incorporate a lot of training designed to bring up my lagging shoulders/chest/arms.

Overall, a level of re-composition that I am thrilled with, and I can't wait for the next 12-weeks (and beyond) worth of similar improvement :).

Pics before and after:

Here's my before pics:

Before pics, Front/Back/Side:

Now for the hopefully less cringe-worthy pictures :)

After pics, Front/Back/Side:

And, just for funzies, here's my original contest entry picture (May 10th) above a little flashier pose picture from August 2nd:

Not too shabby, eh? :).

You know, it's funny how slow progress can feel, until you go back and look at some before/after pics for comparison, and suddenly you really notice it.

Other Fitness Considerations:

Besides the normal stats, my overall fitness level has improved greatly. My strength training has varied considerably, so while I have increased strength on a monthly basis, I don't have any major lifts that I can see major strength increases to. Really, as I spent a good 9 months or so strength training almost exclusively, I wasn't too worried about increasing strength, just maintaining it. But, I have had profound improvements in other areas. Here are some of the more noticeable changes:

1) Posture: My posture, something I've been working on for about a year now, has continued to improve.

2) Flexibility/Mobility: My flexibility and mobility has also increased a ton over the last few months, thanks in part to a dynamic stretching/foam rolling routine, especially my daily "Neural Wake-Up Call" (see above). My hip flexor mobility has improved a ton, in particular.

3) Less joint pain: To be honest, when I set out to undertake the workout routine I started on, I was wary that my body would be able to handle it. Amazingly, it has, and my old trouble spots (knee/back) have gotten so much stronger and feel better than they ever have. Doing a set of single-leg squats every morning has done absolute wonders for my knee joints, and back pain that would flare up in various exercises is all but gone. For instance:

4) Back Squats: I have never been a very good back squatter, as my level of hip/ankle mobility was always poor, and my back has always had issue with the compressive forces of back squats. For month 3, I started back squatting regularly, and much to my surprise (and joy), I have had very little trouble with them, and have in fact enjoyed them a ton. Try a set of 20-rep "Breathing Squats" sometime and see for yourself!.

5) Jumping Rope/Sprinting: As part of my knee and back pain issues over the years, higher impact cardio like Jump Rope and Sprinting has always been (or seemed) off limits for me. As I mentioned in my "Things I've Fallen in Love With" post, I been pleasantly surprised by my ability to work up to doing both Sprints and regular Jump Rope routines. They were very tough at first, but by month 3 I was looking forward to Jumping Rope, and nothing gets my heart rate up quicker.

6) Overall Conditioning: This should probably be #1, as it's the most profound overall change. I did an HIIT Jump Rope routine the other day and couldn't believe how hard I was able to push myself. I kicked my ass with a bodyweight routine last weekend and think back to how impossible it would have been a few months ago.

Closing Thoughts:

Whew. To say it's been a ride is an understatement. While I've gone on fitness binges before, I have never done to near the level of commitment and dedication as this time around. In fact, I don't think I've done ANYTHING to this level of commitment and dedication. Working out 8-10 times a week, sticking to a diet to the T, has been a really great experience for me. It's also nice to know that this kind of progress can be had on a vegetarian diet (my diet was 99.9% Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian except for one Shrimp meal I had during Month 1). After writing this wrap-up, and actually seeing my before and after pictures back to back, I am really, really happy with my progress over these 12 weeks. And, as happy as I am about it, what I am REALLY looking forward to is the next 12 weeks and beyond. The idea that <10% body fat is actually on the horizon, and that I might actually reach a point in my life where "not being fat" is no longer my primary fitness goal, is an amazing feeling. I can't wait.

8/1 Check-In

A couple of days out from the end of my 12 weeks. Should have fun getting a wrap up together with stats, pics, etc. :)

Weight: 189.4

Exercise: Morning Variable Intensity Cardio session.

Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries

Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.

Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Almond Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil

Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563

Fat: 68.7g

Carbs: 83.3g

Protein: 164.5g

7/31 Check-In

Weight: 190.2 (sigh :).

Exercise: Morning treadmill walk, Evening Full Body weight session+treadmill walk. Pretty good day, this full body workout is one of my favorite workouts ever. Had my best ever Back Squat session by far.



Diet:

Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/30 Check-In

Weight: 189.6

Exercise: Morning HIIT Bike session, Evening Dynamic Upper Body Training. Really good day, my conditioning is killer right now.


Diet:

Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/29 Check-In

Weight: 188.8 (booyah.)

Exercise: Morning bodyweight complex + treadmill walk. Absolutely killer, this bodyweight workout is the toughest part of my entire routine. Felt pretty good though, doing it on about 34 hours without food :)


Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Almond Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/28 Check-In

Weight: 194.2 (sup cheat day)

Exercise: Evening light stretching/jump rope/treadmill walk/foam rolling.

Diet: Fast day!

7/27 Check-In

Weight: 189.6 (About freaking time, just in time to destroy it via a cheat day :).

Exercise: Morning GH Surge workout. Did a 25 rep set of squats that destroyed me.

Diet: Cheat day, which included mass shovelage of food into my mouth, including pizza lunch with my dad, a burrito, and ice cream. Wasn't really all that hungry, but still plenty of food in :).

7/26 Check-In

Weight: 190.6 (wee... here's hoping for a post-cheat day whoosh).

Exercise: Morning HIIT Bike session, Evening Full Body Training session.

Cheat day tomorrow, which is especially nice when they're only once every other week!


Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

(Fitness) Things I've Fallen In Love With, Part 2

Alright, time for part 2 of things I've fallen in love with the last several months, this time it'll be all nutritional/food stuff.

1) Avocados - Avocados are seriously the best food ever. Avocados really are a true superfood, packed with all kinds of nutritional goodness. They are easily one of the best ways to add healthy fats to your diet, and they've been part of my favorite staple meal for the last few months (Eggs/Egg Whites/Salsa/Avocado/Hot Sauce).

Tips: Not much to say other than eat avocados. If you've never tried them on eggs, you're missing out!

2) (Natural) Almond Butter - The other staple fat in my diet right now is homemade, natural Almond Butter. At the beginning of Month 1, I decided to give Almond Butter a shot, as an alternative to Peanut Butter. Ever since, Almond Butter has been a staple of my diet and I only eat Peanut Butter on cheat days and times when I'm out of Almond Butter. Competely natural Almond Butter tastes quite a but nuttier and not as sweet and rich as the Peanut Butter most people are used to, but I very quickly fell in love with it. Having a spoonful of peanut butter makes me crave more peanut butter, while almond butter leaves me very satiated, which is nice.

I've been eating Almond Butter mostly as part of my evening cottage cheese meals. Almond Butter goes great with cottage cheese, and maybe a little cinnamon and/or sugar free chocolate syrup. Try it!


Tips: Almond Butter tends to be really expensive in stores, so it makes sense to make your own. It's relatively easy to make, and there's plenty of "recipes" on the Internet. Here's a few hints from my experiences:


- Do yourself a favor and avoid the urge to add sweetener. which some recipes call for. I played around with both of these for awhile and ended up preferring completely natural almond butter with only a salt added (Lite Salt, in fact, which I highly recommend over regular salt to help counteract the potassium deficiency in most diets).
- Also, resist the urge to add oil to the mixture as you're making it. While it seems to help the almond butter turn into a creamy "butter", you just have to be really patient and it will get there on it's own. It seems to take forever but eventually the really dry Almond dust will suddenly turn into a very oily mixture.
- Buy pre-sliced Almonds instead of whole almonds, if you can. You would think it shouldn't make hardly any difference, but for some reason I get a lot better results (quicker mixing/creamier texture) with pre-sliced almonds over whole almonds. Shrug.


3) Intermittent Fasting -  I talked about this a bit when I mentioned my month 1 program, and I'd be lying if I said this is new as of the last few months, as it's something I've been experimenting with for awhile now. But, I can safely say that after the last few months (where I have practiced IF daily), that it's unlikely that I will ever go back to any kind of "normal" eating pattern. I am a complete believer in IF and all of it's purported benefits.

I can still remember my first true "fasted' training session, which was one of my best sessions ever, driving to the gym with an incredible amount of energy and focus. It is freaky. One of the interesting and most noticeable things is how good my vision is when I'm fasting.

In addition, since I have been adding cheat days for the last month and a half, I have been following them up with a complete fast day! Yes, that's right, I go an entire day without eating anything, and then follow it up with 6+ hours of fasting after I wake up the following day. So, I routinely go 38-40 hours without eating, and train during it. It is amazing how much energy and how great you can feel doing a hardcore session of sprints, having not eaten in 36 hours. I can say that the best I ever feel is the morning after my fast day; I almost always sleep great. It's surreal and I strongly urge everybody to give it a shot at least once. On top of my own experiences, the science behind it is pretty compelling.

Tips:


- Google Intermittent Fasting and have at it! A few of the better links off the top of my head: 


http://www.romanfitnesssystems.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-101/
http://www.leangains.com

- You may have some weird experiences at first, especially if your body is completely unaccustomed to it, so take it as easy as you need to, and give it an honest shot for a couple of weeks before making up your mind. I had very little trouble adjusting but I know people who have.
- Definitely give fasted training a try. A LOT of people find that they have their best workouts ever when training fasted, and I am no exception.


4) Blueberries - Blueberries are another food that gets called a "Superfood" and if you look at their health properties it's obvious why. And I love eating them. A cup of blueberries with a protein shake has become my standard breakfast on non-training days, and my post-workout meal on training days (though I sometimes op for Strawberries). They're so good!

Tips: Try not to eat the entire package.


5) Cinnamon - My diet during month 1 was very much tailored to try and improve my insulin sensitivity, which is probably somewhat wrecked from years of eating a lot of carbs. So, I was eating extremely low carb for awhile (which sucked). In doing research on insulin sensitivity, I discovered that regular supplementation of cinnamon has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity. And, I've always loved how it tastes. So, cinnamon has been a regular staple of my diet since, most notably as an addition to my normal cottage cheese meals. Cottage Cheese + Almond Butter + Cinnamon is a really, really great, and healthy evening snack. Oh, and I've even gone so far as to add Cinnamon directly to my almond butter mix, which actually tastes really good.

Tips: It takes a couple of teaspoons of Cinnamon daily to reap the benefits, so feel free to pile it on!


6) Cheat Days - I hope this doesn't take too much explanation. Cheat days rock. Being able to stuff my face once a week or once every other week makes it very easy to stick to my diet (although honestly, I don't have much trouble with that anyway). But, it's still a lot of fun!

Tips: Make sure your cheat days are truly a "cheat". A lot of people barely cheat, and it's almost a waste of time. Making sure your cheat days are "cheaty enough" is very important especially if you want to follow my other tip:
- Follow your cheat day with a fast day. I do this regularly now and I find it to be a great idea. As long as your cheat day involves enough shoveling of food, hunger/fatigue problems on the fast day are almost non-existent. It's a great way to take advantage of the hormonal benefits of the cheat day.

7/25 Check-In

Weight: 190.8 (annoying plateau city)

Exercise: Morning Bike session. Feel pretty good, a little sore but the day off from weights is nice. Looking a bit forward to my cheat day in 2 days :).


Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/24 Check-In

Weight: 190.6... I sense (as in wishful thinking) a whoosh coming on...

Exercise: Morning Stairmaster/Treadmill Walk, Evening Dynamic Upper Body session. Tough day, walking on a Stairmaster is tough. I know I said I love walking yesterday but 30 minutes on a treadmill still sucks!

Felt good though I had some middle back soreness and some anterior knee pain in my right knee today, definitely due to squats from the day before.


Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

(Fitness) Things I've Fallen In Love With, Part 1

I was thinking earlier, how much I've really started loving Jump Rope as a cardio, and it got me thinking about all of the fitness-related things I've fallen in love with over the past few months (or longer). So, I thought it would be cool to compile a list of things I've really come to love as well as some tips from my own experiences. I have a lot to write, so I'll start with cardio-related stuff:

1) Jumping Rope - Since this was the inspiration for this blog post, I might as well start here. Other than a few times in school as kid, I hadn't jumped rope in a long, long time. It was prescribed as a regular part of my program starting in month 1, and is currently a once-a-week addition to my HIIT cardio regimen. It's a standard old-school form of cardio but I think it's terribly underrated by the fitness crowd at large.

In month 1, I struggled to really jump rope consistently, and in order to get a good cardiovascular push from it, I was doing a jump rope/burpee combo, which is fantastic. FWIW, the routine was this:

50 Jumps + 2 Burpees, immediately followed by:
50 Jumps + 4 Burpees,
50 Jumps + 6 Burpees,
50 Jumps + 8 Burpees,
50 Jumps + 10 Burpees
50 Jumps + 8 Burpees
50 Jumps + 6 Burpees
50 Jumps + 4 Burpees
50 Jumps + 2 Burpees

Normally, this would take me about 15 minutes or so, and would absolutely kick my ass. At the time, I was lucky to get 50 jumps in in a row, so this was a good way to work around my lack of jump rope technique.

Over the last couple of months I've gotten a TON better at Jumping Rope, to the point where I absolutely destroy myself with a ~10 minute HIIT routine. As hard as it is, I really, really enjoy it.

Tips:
- Make sure you have a Jump Rope that fits you! I originally went down to the store and picked up the first rope I found, and realized after about a month that it was too short for me. Getting a proper-length rope has done wonders for me.
- Warm up properly, and take it easy the first few sessions.
- If your Jump Rope technique isn't too great at first, consider mixing it up with some kind of other exercise, like the Jump Rope/Burpee complex I posted above, until your jump rope technique is up to snuff.


2 - Sprinting - I started sprinting once a week as part of my cardio regimen during month 2. I'll be honest that I was pretty wary of sprinting as I  had/have a bit of a bum knee and running in general has never come very easy for me, but surprisingly my body handled it very well, and by the end of the month, I really began loving it. No other form of cardio has ever spiked my heart rate like a good old fashioned sprint session. It absolutely kicked my ass every time. I managed to go from a pretty-poor sprinter to a kinda-sorta-decent sprinter by the end of the month, and I look forward to doing more of it in the future.

I did a lot of reading/research on sprinting and it is amazing how great sprinting is as a full body exercise and as a form of fat loss. I honestly believe that for high-intensity cardio for fat loss, nothing beats jumping rope and sprinting when it comes to molding the type of physique most people want (just do a google image search for "sprinter" :).

Tips:


- Again, make sure you take it very easy if you haven't done much sprinting recently. You can REALLY injure yourself quickly if you do too much too fast.
- Make sure you warm up properly.
- Try to sprint on an incline. Sprinting on an incline has less eccentric stress, so it tends to be easier on your body, and you recover better (this is one of the reasons why hill sprints are so effective).
- Make sure your sprinting sessions are an effective part of your overall workout routine. Sprints are VERY taxing on your whole body, particularly your lower body. It is important to make sure that your body has adequate recovery for sprinting and any lower body weight training you do. For instance, although I was sprinting during Month 2, I am no longer sprinting during month 3 as my overall volume and frequency is really high, and sprinting would be overdoing it as a form of cardio at this point.
- Here's some great resources on the above:


The Six Week Sprinting Solution - Neat article about sprinting with a focus on programming.


Sprinting Towards Single Digit Body Fat - Another cool article about how badass sprinting is.


An EZ Guide to Sprinting - An easy guide to sprinting (duh.)


3 - Walking - Yes, I said walking. With HIIT now all the rage (rightfully so) in the fitness world, all other forms of cardio have gotten thrown under the bus, and while I think medium-intensity cardio is generally a bad idea, all forms of low intensity cardio (like walking) have gotten the shaft as well. Which, in my opinion is too bad. I'll admit, I've never been much of a walker, and I always laughed at the people walking on treadmills for 45 minutes. But, as I've had regular treadmill walks as part of my program, and as I've done research on a concept called "active recovery", I've learned to appreciate walking immensely.

I am a big believer in evolutionary fitness. That is, doing things that our bodies were designed to do. The fact is that the most major physical changes that separate us from our primate cousins is that we are designed very well to walk long distances, regularly. This includes the most well-known and obvious example of walking upright! Humans are some of, if not the best "walkers" in the animal world. So, it stands to reason that it is probably very good for us to walk regularly, even if it's not a very sexy form of cardio.

The "active recovery" stuff is really interesting. There have been some interesting studies done that show that low-intensity exercise both immediately following your workout and in the days following an intense workout actually aids in recovery. The usage of muscles immediately after intense exercise helps clear out the lactic acid in your muscles, and the increased blood flow in the days following helps in recovery/rebuilding of muscles. Makes sense, right?

Also, when you have a volume/frequency-heavy program that already has high intensity cardio, walking is a cheap way too burn a few more calories without adding too the overall load. And, since it helps with recovery, it's a really good addition to a hardcore fat-loss regimen.

Knowing that makes it a lot easier to talk myself into spending 20 minutes on a treadmill. Don't get me wrong, I still HATE walking on a treadmill, but I appreciate it a lot more, and I really enjoy walking outside. Going for a walk to the store, or to and from the gym is really enjoyable to me now, and I love randomly going for a walk around the neighborhood when I feel like it.

Tips: 
- You wouldn't think there'd be much of a "tip" to walking, but here's one: When walking on a treadmill, try walking at an incline. I like a 6 degree incline minimum, usually at 3.5-3.8mph. This is a good way to keep your heart rate up without having to go into a "jog". Other than that, walking is pretty self-explanatory :).

That was a little longer than I expected, which is why I'm splitting this up into a few parts. I'm thinking that Part 2 will probably be nutrition-centered, so stay tuned!

7/23 Check-In

Weight: 190.2

Exercise: Morning Jump Rope session, Evening Full Body Weight Training.

Had a GREAT day; taking a couple of days off from caffeine ended up working as well as I thought. I slept really really good last night, and had tons of energy and focus today. My Jump Rope session was the best yet.


Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Almond Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/22 Check-In

Weight: 190.6

Exercise: Day off! First true day off of month three, and I needed it.

As I mentioned earlier I was completely off of caffeine this weekend and I really started feeling it this afternoon. The overall withdrawal symptoms were actually pretty minor, but having to do a workout would've sucked! Looking forward to a good night's sleep and getting back on the horse this week.



Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Almond Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/21 Check-In

Weight: 190.6

Exercise: Morning Bodyweight session which was brutal. I was really lethargic and sluggish through the whole thing (no caffeine), and I cut it a little short.

I *did* sleep really well the night before though, so that was nice; I was just really tired and lethargic all day. I definitely can use the day off Sunday.


Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/20 Check-In

Weight: 190.2

Exercise: Morning Variable Intensity Bike session, evening GH Surge workout.

Unfortunately, my insomnia problems extended to a third day, which is pretty worrisome. I was pretty sluggish today too, although my evening workout went great. This weekend I just have a morning bodyweight session tomorrow, and I have Sunday completely off. I think I may be suffering a little from too much caffeine intake. In the past when that's happened usually taking a day or two off from it does wonders for me and I usually sleep great, etc. So, since I have a light weekend from a workout perspective I'm going to try cutting caffeine completely (or maybe a very small dose if I get bad headaches, etc.), and try to get my body ready for the last couple of weeks of this month. (And hopefully ship all of the big Sunday tourneys on Merge :).

Oh, and I've been coming up with a list in my head of all of the things I've fallen in love with the last few months or so re: fitness/diet, and I'm going to write a blog post this weekend about all of them, which should be fun.


Diet:

Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Almond Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/19 Check-In

Weight: 190.8. But, I did see this on the scale later in the afternoon:

Hope to see more of this :)

Unfortunately, my sleep problems from yesterday carried over another night. Very strange. What's even stranger is that I felt great today, and had two really good workouts. If the insomnia was an overtraining symptom I'd expect my workouts to be suffering too, *shrug*.

Exercise: Morning Jump Rope HIIT session, evening Dynamic Upper Body Weight session. Easily the best Jump Rope session I've had ever, much better than week 1, such an awesome workout. The evening workout went really well also, and I'm looking forward to bumping the weights up next week.

Made some more Almond Butter today (which I had been slacking on doing). Almond Butter is one of those things I've fallen in love with the last few months, in fact there's several things like that. Hmm, sounds like a blog post waiting to happen.

Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake

Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce

Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries

Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Homemade Almond Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil

Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908, 

Fat: 57.7g,

Carbs: 149.4g, 

Protein: 194.4g

7/18 Check-In

Weight 190.8

Exercise: N/A.

Really rough day today, probably my first "bad" day in a long time. My sleep was terrible last night, I woke up after an hour and then tossed and turned all night, which is not like me at all. I was also tired and hungry all day today, and ended up putting off my morning bike session until later in the day when I finally had some energy. Not sure if I'm starting to over-train or if it's just a random bump in the road; we'll see how tomorrow goes!

Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/17 Check-In

Weight: 190.8 (comeon 189... ffs).

Exercise: Morning 30 minute treadmill walk, Evening Full Body Weight Training + Treadmill walk.

Spent 50 minutes total walking on treadmills today, I never thought I'd see the day! I was really hungry today for some reason, and felt kind of lethargic and tired before my evening session. That being said, once I got there I had a really good workout. Looking forward to a semi-day off tomorrow (have a morning easy-ish bike session, but that's all).

Happy to report my back squatting went great today, the upper back pain I was having last week was non-existent and I was really able to go up on weight and push it today, so that's neat. Looking forward to killing myself with a 20-rep set on Thursday :).

Today I tortured myself stopping by the supermarket to pick up a head of lettuce, with my next cheat day being 10 days away :). But hey, lettuce was only 79 cents so it was worth it.

Meal 1: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 2: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/16 Check-In

Weight: 191.4

Exercise: Morning HIIT Bike session, Evening Dynamic Upper Body weights. Tough day, my quads were really sore after from yesterday's bodyweight session (which included 5 sets of 18 bulgarian split squats per leg!), so they were really aching during the bike session. Fortunately the evening session was mostly upper body and is relatively quick, but it's a fast-paced training circuit that is crazy tough.

That being said, it is incredible how good my conditioning has gotten in the last few months. It is a lot harder to get my heart rate up during the bike session, and my HR drops a bunch really quickly during rest periods (which is usually seen as an indicator of cardiovascular health. Also, the evening dynamic session is a workout I have done an easier version of months ago, and I was barely able to complete it back then, and the much harder version is doable for me now (though still very tough).

Tomorrow should be a little easier, with a morning treadmill walk and an evening traditional full body workout. Would *love* to see 189 this week :).

Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/15 Check-In

Weight: 191.6 (saw 190.2 before breaking my fast, 189 soon plz).

Exercise: Morning Bodyweight circuit + Treadmill walk. I've had a bodyweight circuit for the last couple of months, but this one is really difficult in comparison. It took me about a half hour + to get through 5 rotations of it, as opposed to ~20 minutes for my last circuit.

I'm a little sore but I feel okay. Hopefully I get a lot of rest tonight as I'm exercising 2x/day 4 of the next 5 days. Crazy!

You know, I have to say it's kinda funny laying in a pool of sweat trying not to vomit on yourself after 20 minutes of exercises using your own bodyweight, and looking over and seeing 8 people using $3000 machines to barely break a sweat. What's wrong with this picture?

Diet: Fasted for about 41 hours total before breaking my fast. Felt great the entire time, as usual.


Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/14 Check-In

Weight: 197.6 when I woke up... 191.8 at the time of this post (no kidding).

Exercise: Evening light jump rope/stretching session. I am pretty sore so I ended up going easy with some jump rope/stretch/foam rolling and a short walk.

Diet: Today was a full fast day. I ate so much freaking food yesterday I'm not even remotely hungry today, which is nice. Got an extremely tough and new bodyweight routine tomorrow morning, kinda looking forward to it though :).

7/13 Check-In

Weight: 191.4

Exercise: Morning "GH Workout". GH Workouts are intended to stimulate the release of growth hormone. Here's a brief summary of this type of workout from Mens Fitness: The Pain Workout.

My workout was different than that, but the basic methodology is the same. And yes, it was very painful.

The rest of the day was a cheat day, and I made it count and am currently sitting here hating life because I've probably eaten way too much. I'll live though, two weeks before my next cheat day!

7/12 Check-In

Weight: 192.0 (Saw 191.0 before breaking my fast, here's to hitting 189 soon...)

Exercise: Morning HIIT Bike session, Evening Full body traditional workout. First HIIT Bike session since month 1, really noticeable increase in my conditioning from then, my HR was much lower for the same intensity level. Also, my legs weren't getting nearly as tired working just as hard or harder.

The evening full body traditional workout is really fantastic. It's a very basic approach with the fundamental exercises, Squats, Dips, Chin Ups, etc, with some ab and posterior chain work. Really fun and effective workout to maintain strength this month. That being said, I had some upper back pain with back squats (which I've had in the past) and have some back pain right now. My workout tomorrow also includes back squats, we'll see how my body holds up to them and if I need to modify this program at all.

Cheat day tomorrow, I need to make it good as I'll only get one more this month!


Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter, 10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/11 Check-In

Weight: 192.0

Exercise: Morning 23 minute bike routine.

Really sore today which is usual for week 1, but especially sore this week because I just finished a string of three weight training sessions in a row. I'm also kind of hungry today (fasting after a non-cheat day probably), and tired, but it's that good kind of sore/hungry/tired feeling :).


Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

Salad Dressing Recipe

Anybody looking for a cheap, healthy, and tasty salad dressing, I highly recommend this recipe I got from The Nourishing Gourmet. I've been making/using this salad dressing for a few months ago and it's great. Apple Cider Vinegar is great stuff from a health perspective, and of course Olive Oil is too. I'd love to try this with Coconut Oil (if I could find some!). Try not to go overboard on it, a little goes a long way (and the fat calories can add up if you're not careful!

Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing

1 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of Apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of onion powder
2 tablespoon of whole grain mustard or djion type mustard
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried  basil
1 teaspoon salt

7/10 Check-In

Weight: 193.0. I didn't fast yesterday as I normally would (see below) so this was expected.

Exercise: Morning: Stairmaster+Treadmill walk, 45 minutes total, Evening High Speed Dynamic Upper Body Training.

I think this is the longest steady-state cardio I've ever done like this, and it wasn't as bad as I expected. Stairmasters are kinda tough!

The Evening session was really tough, it's a dynamic weight session using dumbells for a few upper body circuits, extremely tough but lots of fun.

Diet: Today was a full fast day. For this month I only have one cheat day every other week, which falls on a Friday, so Mondays are no longer fast days. Yesterday, however, came after a cheat day (ending last months program), and I ate a normal day's diet. Since I missed a fast day because of it, I decided to go ahead and make today a fast day. Training twice today, with one very intense weight workout completely fasted was interesting, but ultimately a breeze. Training in the fasted state is cake for me at this point, it's only the waves of hunger (outside of training) that make it tough at all.

7/9 Check-In

Day 1 of my Month 2 Program!

Weight: 196.0 Post cheat day.

Exercise: Morning Jump Rope HIIT session, Evening New Traditional Full Body session. Such a great workout, Squats, Dips, Chin-Ups, all the staples. Really enjoyed it and got through the back squats okay, although my intensity wasn't ideal. The morning Jump Rope session was a little rough, I did it in my garage and I didn't quite warm up like I should have so I was aching afterwards. This is going to be a very very tough month (see my program summary here).

Diet:

Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black

Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of

Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of

Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter,

10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Month 3 Program begins today!

Monday July 9th marks week 1, day 1 of my month three training program. My coach wrote that this entire month is targeted specifically for fat loss. After looking over the program, I am really excited to get going on it (if not a little scared). This program is very intense, and will have me training nearly every day, and often twice a day. It's a nice confidence boost having gotten through the last two months of high-frequency training, knowing I should be able to step it up a bit (and having my coach have the same confidence).

The weight training consists of a Dynamic Upper Body session, a "GH Surge" session, which is designed to elicit the maximum in Growth Hormone response, and a Traditional Full Body workout. All three look fantastic. I had to laugh/smile when I saw the Dynamic Upper Body session, because I have done an almost identical workout that was included as part of a program called "BodyComp Blitz". I vividly remember that workout as at the time it was the toughest workout I'd ever completed. Really looking forward to trying to get through it this month. Looking over the workouts my only real concerns are that I don't have a ton of Back Squat experience (and my form is a little suspect) and back squats are included in two of the workouts. We'll see how that goes!

Along with these sessions there are several cardio routines (including an HIIT Jump Rope routine which is very cool because I really have grown to love Jumping Rope for cardio in the last couple of months), and additional lower-intensity cardio both in the mornings and at the end of workouts.

From a dietary perspective, things stay mostly the same, except that I will have a cheat day every other week rather than once a week. On the surface that seems like it kinda sucks, but honestly I think this is probably a better fit for me at my current body fat level, etc. I am sticking to a very strict diet of nearly exactly the same foods for each days (one diet for my training days, and one for non-training days). I will also be upping the Fish Oil intake significantly this month.

Here's to seeing a big drop in body fat this month!

7/8 Check-In

Last day of my Month 2 Program! (Will have a wrap up blog up soon!)

Weight: 191.2

Exercise: Upper Body Density Session + Treadmill Walk. Happy to report the Rotator Cuff pain from last week was virtually non-existent, thank you foam rolling!

Diet: Today was a cheat day! Took another trip to the Taqueria for a Quesadilla/Chile Relleno Combo, and some evening Mac n' Cheese/Ice Cream: )

7/7 Check-In

Weight: 191.8 (Nice!)

Exercise: Morning HIIT Sprint Session

Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of 

Blueberries

Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, 

1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.

Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein 

46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of 

Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil

Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563

Fat: 68.7g

Carbs: 83.3g

Protein: 164.5g

7/6 Check-In

Weight: 192.4 (Seeing steady weight loss this week, possible "Woosh"?)

Exercise:  Evening Full Body Traditional Workout


Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black

Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of

Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of

Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter,

10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/5 Check-In

Weight: 193.4

Exercise: Evening Stretching/Light Rope routine


Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of

Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado,

1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein

46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of

Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/4 Check-In

Weight: 194.0

Exercise: Evening Lower Body Density Workout. went MUCH better than Sunday :)


Meal 1: Peri/Post Workout Shake
Calories: 302, 2g Fat, 26g Protein, 45g Carbs

Meal 2: 8 Egg whites scrambled, 1/2 Can of Black

Beans, 1/2 Cup of Salsa, Hot Sauce
Calories: 378, 0g Fat, 39.5 Carbs, 52.9 Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 Scoops), 2 Cups of

Strawberries
Calories: 398, 4.7g Fat, 39.9g Carbs, 51.5g Protein

Meal 4 (Split an hour or so apart): 2 Cups of

Cottage Cheese, 4 TBSP of Natural Peanut Butter,

10g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 830, 51g Fat, 30g Carbs, 64g Protein

Totals:

Calories: 1908,
Fat: 57.7g,
Carbs: 149.4g,
Protein: 194.4g

7/3 Check-In

Weight: 193.8

Exercise: Morning HIIT Sprint Session, Evening Stretching/Foam Rolling session. Really starting to enjoy sprinting, and my intensity is finally there.

Diet:



Meal 1: 2 Scoops of Low-Carb Whey Protein, 1 Cup of

Blueberries
Calories: 270, Fat 2.5g, Carbs 31g, Protein 61.1g

Meal 2: 3 Eggs/4 Eggwhites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado,

1/2 Can of Black Beans, Hot Sauce everywhere.
Calories: 540, Fat 28.2g, Carbs 27.3g, Protein

46.5g

Meal 3: 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese, 2 Tablespoons of

Peanut Butter, 13g of NOW Super EPA Fish Oil
Calories: 670, Fat 38g, Carbs 25g, Protein 57g

Daily Totals:

Calories: 1563
Fat: 68.7g
Carbs: 83.3g
Protein: 164.5g

7/2 Check-In

Weight: 198.0

Exercise: Morning Bodyweight Complex w/Treadmill walk

Diet: Complete fast day!

7/1 Check-In

Weight: 193.6

Exercise: Lower-Body Density workout. This may have been the worst workout I've had in a long, long time. I didn't get much sleep and had some nausea, but I got through it anyway.

Diet: Cheat day! Went to the Taqueria and had a bunch of Mexican food, had a couple PB&Js, and some ice cream :)

6/30 Check-In

Weight: 194.4

Exercise: Day off! Needed it. Spent the day grinding on Merge which was nice because I shipped the $3750 guarantee :).

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake w/Blueberries

Meal 2: 2 Eggs + Egg Whites, Avocado, salsa, small side of beans

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese + Peanut Butter, Cinnamon + Chocolate syrup

Really looked forward to the Sunday cheat day :)

6/29 Check-In

Weight: 194.8

Exercise: Morning HIIT Sprint session. Finally getting near full intensity in sprints, which is nice. Body is holding up nicely, my knee isn't bothering me like I thought it might.

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake + Blueberries

Meal 2: 2 Eggs + 5 Egg Whites, Avocado, Salsa, smallish side of beans, some grated cheese.

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese + Almond Butter, Cinnamon

6/28 Check-In

Weight: 195.0

Exercise: Full Body weight training session. Felt really good for this third week, really pushed myself.

Meal 1: 6 Egg Whites + 1/2 can of beans, salsa

Meal 2: Peri-workout shake

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake w/Watermelon and some grapes

Meal 4: Cottage Cheese w/Peanut Butter and Cinnamon

6/27 Check-In

Weight: 194.8

Exercise: Morning HIIT Sprint session. Evening Jump Rope session. Killer cardio day for sure. I got a new Jump Rope this week and love it (my old one was too short). I am starting to get decent enough at Jump Rope to really go after it. Previously, because I wasn't that great at jumping rope (and because my jump rope kinda sucked), I was doing a Jump Rope/Mountain Climbers complex to really kick my ass. But now I'm really able to go after it with just the jump rope and it's nice. Maybe some day I can perform like this :):

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake w/Blueberries

Meal 2: 2 Eggs + 5 Egg Whites, Avocado, beans and salsa

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese w/Almond Butter and Cinnamon

6/26 Check-In

Weight: 195.4. Really seeming to stall a bit on the weight loss front, but from a visual perspective I have no doubt that I'm recomping nicely. I look and feel leaner, and notice a ton of muscle gain.

Exercise: Upper-Body Density session w/Treadmill walk. I had a real amount of discomfort in my left shoulder during an incline bench press/bent over barbell row circuit. It seems like rotator cuff pain, which is not good obviously. I've been stretching/warming up that area and foam rolling the crap out of it since that workout. I noticed a little discomfort during the same workout two days ago but it was worse this day. Hopefully it will not be an issue during my last upper body density session for the month, which is 10+ days away.

Meal 1: Peri-workout shake

Meal 2: Whey Protein Shake w/Watermelon

Meal 3: Egg whites w/small side of beans, salsa

Meal 4: Cottage Cheese + Almond Butter + Cinnamon + sugar free chocolate syrup

6/25 Check-In

Weight: 194.8

Exercise: Upper Body Density Training session w/Treadmill walk.

Today was a Cheat day! I stuffed my face full of plenty of goodness including In N Out, Mac N' Cheese, Ice Cream and the like :)

6/24 Check-In

Weight: 199.2 (Normal Cheat-day swing)

Exercise: Bodyweight training session + Jump Rope. This was supposed to be done in the morning but I really felt like shit, and did it in the evening instead.

Meal-wise, this was a full fast day.

6/23 Check-In

Weight: 195.4

Exercise: Morning HIIT Sprint session.

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake + Strawberries

Meal 2: 2 Eggs + 5 Egg Whites, Avocado, Salsa, small side of pinto beans, some grated cheese

Meal 3: Smallish snack of Cottage Cheese + Peanut Butter, 3 Egg omelette a little later w/Avocado and Cheese

6/22 Check-In

Weight: 195.4

Exercise: Full Body Weight Training Session. Goblet Squats are tough!

Meal 1: 6 Eggwhites + small side of beans, salsa

Meal 2: Peri workout carb/protein shake

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake w/Strawberries and Watermelon

Meal 4: Cottage Cheese w/Peanut Butter , Cinnamon, and some chocolate syrup

6/21 Check-In

Weight: 195.6

Exercise: Evening light walk/jump rope session

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake w/Blueberries

Meal 2: 2 Eggs + 5 Egg Whites, Avocado, Salsa, small side of Black Beans

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese + Almond Butter + Cinnamon

6/20 Check-In

Weight: 196.2

Exercise: Lower-Body Density Workout

Meal 1: Peri-post workout shake

Meal 2: Whey Protein Shake w/Watermelon

Meal 3: 6 Egg whites + 1/2 can of Black Beans

Meal 4: Cottage Cheese w/Peanut Butter + Cinnamon

6/19 Check-In

Weight: 195.4 (after 32 hours of fasting). It is amazing how good you feel the morning after a 30+ hour fast. It literally is the best I ever feel. Everyone should try it some time!

Exercise: Morning HIIT Sprint session/stretching/walk, evening easy walk/Jump Rope session.

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake + 1 Cup of Blueberries, a couple fresh Strawberries :).

Meal 2: 2 Eggs, 5 Egg Whites, 1 Scoop of Peanut Butter (because I was craving it), 1/2 Avocado, Salsa, small side of Black Beans.

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese w/Almond Butter and Cinnamon. smallish salad with oil/vinegar.

6/18 Check-In

Weight: 199.6

Exercise: Morning bodyweight complex + treadmill walk.

Today was a complete fasting day, so I didn't eat anything. I feel pretty good! Should be interesting doing a morning Sprint session tomorrow on a ~34 hour or so fast, we'll see how that goes :)

6/17 Check-In

Weight: 195.0!

Exercise: Brutal Morning Lower Body Density session. I did this upon waking on poor sleep, so overall it was a pretty crappy workout, but I got through it.

Otherwise, this was a cheat day. Had a nice Father's Day lunch at Chili's with my dad and then spent the rest of the day shoving random crap in my face. Cheat days are tough when you've been following a restricted diet, my body really does not want to eat all that many calories anymore. Fasting day tomorrow!

The "Neural Wake-Up Call"

I thought I'd write a quick post about something that's been programmed into my current nutrition/fitness plan called a "Neural Wake-Up Call". I've been doing this for the last 5 weeks or so and it really is great. It's basically some combination of a morning dynamic stretching/warmup/bodyweight complex exercise that is done every day upon waking. After doing it for the last several weeks I can definitely attest to it's efficacy. It really gets the blood flowing and warms up up for any morning cardio session I have.

The guy I got it from, John Romaniello, just so happens to have a new article up in the Huffington Post about the Neural Wake Up Call, so instead of wasting any more time explaining it, I'll let him do it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-romaniello/summer-shape-up_b_1593368.html

His sample Neural Wake Up Call (from the above article) is below:


Sample Neural Wake Up Call

A1) Left Leg Single Leg Squat -- 12 reps

Description: Extend your right leg, and using your LEFT leg, lower yourself (squat down) onto a bed, chair or other platform slowly. Once you hit the platform, stand up using your left leg.

A2) Right Leg Single Leg Squat -- 12 reps

Description: Extend your right leg, and using your RIGHT leg, lower yourself (squat down) onto a bed, chair or other platform slowly. Once you hit the platform, stand up using your right leg.

B) Alternating Lateral Lunges -- 8 each side (DEEP)

C) Push-up Hold -- 30 seconds

Description: In push-up position, hold at the lock out point for 30 seconds, keeping your abs braced.

D1) Left Bulgarian Split Squat Hold -- 30 seconds

Description: With your right leg on a chair/bench, hold the bottom position of a Bulgarian Split Squat. For the last five seconds, perform two- to three-inch "pulses."

D2) Left Leg Spiderman Lunge -- 6-8 reps

Description: From a push-up position, bring your left leg up toward the left side of your body, aiming to plant it near your left hand. Hold this position for two seconds; drive the groin downward to allow for optimal stretch.

E1) Right Bulgarian Split Squat Hold -- 30 seconds

Description: With your right leg on a chair/bench, hold the bottom position of a Bulgarian Split Squat. For the last five seconds, perform two- to three-inch "pulses."

E2) Right Leg Spiderman Lunge -- 6-8 reps

Description: From a push-up position, bring your left leg up toward the left side of your body, aiming to plant it near your left hand. Hold this positing for two seconds; drive the groin downward to allow for optimal stretch. Perform 6-8 reps.

Perform this entire thing once on training days, and twice on days you don't hit the weights.

Like I said, I've been doing this for ~5 weeks now and I highly, highly recommend it.

P.S., My Poker/Fitness/Hormones Part 2 project got a lot more involved than I expected, I've been doing a pile of research on it and hope to have something up in the next week. Very interesting stuff!

6/16 Check-In

Weight: 195.4 (I actually saw 194.x later in the day before my first meal, but I'm sticking with morning weigh ins for now). Seeing encouraging weight loss this last week and a half. I am getting a hydrostatic BF test done on Tuesday, here's to shooting for <15%.

Exercise: Day off, except for my morning stretching routine (more on that in a bit). Definitely sore and can use the break. Tomorrow will be what should be a brutal morning Lower Body session followed by a Father's Day lunch w/Dad and a Cheat Day thereafter :).

Meal 1: Strawberry Protein Shake blended with 1cup of Blueberries.

Meal 2: My now standard Eggs meal of 2 Eggs, 4-5 Egg whites, Avocado, Salsa, and some Black Beans.

Meal 3: Another Protein Shake w/Almond Butter and some Cinnamon. Broccoli w/Cheese. Ran out of Cottage Cheese and forgot, whoops :)

6/15 Check-In

Weight: 195.6 (possible sub-195 soon?)

Exercise: Morning HIIT Sprint session. Felt pretty sore today, got through the Sprint session OK but it was tough. I may decide to start wearing knee-sleeves for my sprints just to keep them warm and support my knees a bit.

My sleep quality has gotten pretty bad lately, which sucks. Today is definitely the most sore I've felt since week 1, and I'm probably a bit more sore than then too. Looking forward to a day off tomorrow, and some grinding on Merge, before I finish off week 1 with a tough Sunday workout and Cheat Day!

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake, 1 Cup of Blueberries (I love Blueberries, one of the best things about this month is the re-introduction of regular carbs allowing me some fruit).

Meal 2: 2 Eggs, 4 Egg Whites, 1/4 can of Black Beans, 1/2 Avocado, Salsa, Tapatio, small amount of grated Pepper Jack Cheese.

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese w/Almond Butter & Peanut Butter, Cinnamon and a couple of drops of Sugar-free chocolate syrup.

6/14 Check-In

Weight: 196.0

BF % ~16%

Exercise: Evening "Traditional" Full Body weight training session. Very tough. I'm feeling significant soreness today from the new stimulus this week. That being said, I got through this workout without too much issue, and I still honestly feel great. Looking forward to a Sprint session tomorrow and then a couple of days off before my next session.

Meal 1: Peri-Workout Drink Carbs+Protein, Slice of Sourdough bread post-workout.

Meal 2: Smoothie of Crushed ice, Strawberry Whey Protein, 2 Cups of Watermelon, 2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon.

Meal 3: 1 Egg, 6 Eggwhites, Salsa, 1/2 can of Cuban style black beans, copious amounts of Tapatio :).

Meal 4: Cottage Cheese + Freshly made Almond Butter + Cinnamon, and a dollop of sugar free chocolate syrup. 5g/Fish Oil

6/13 Check-In

Weight: 195.4! (First weigh-in sub 196!, be interesting to see if I get a "woosh" over the next week).

Exercise: Morning Sprint HIIT Session. My first sprint session which is replacing my bike workouts for this month. Sprinting is fantastic cardio but my left knee can flare up sometimes when I do heavy running. I am happy to report that I got through this first session great, and my body felt great. I didn't push 100% as I didn't want to hurt myself but I still got a helluva workout.

Also, I did a late evening Jump Rope + Burpee session which kicked my ass too.

Definitely feeling some serious soreness after my first Upper Body Density session yesterday, but I feel really good. We'll see how I feel tomorrow evening when I have a pretty tough "traditional" weight training session.

Meal 1: Whey Protein Shake (Strawberry) + 2 Cups of Watermelon. Blended them together, tasted great though I should have put some ice in it I think.

Meal 2: 2 Eggs, 5 Egg Whites Scrambled, 1/2 Avocado, small side of Black Beans,
Salsa and some Pepper Jack Cheese shredded on top!

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese + Peanut Butter (out of Almond Butter right now) and Cinnamon, Salad w/Oil and Vinegar.

Oh, and I stocked up a bit for my next cheat day (Sunday):

And yes, a bunch of Whole Wheat bread :).

6/12 Check-In

Weight: 196.4 (After about 32 hours of fasting after my cheat day)

Exercise: My first Upper Body Density session in the evening + a treadmill walk. Brutal but I got through it okay.

A few more Carbs on my workout days than last month, my body is plenty happy with that:

Meal 1: 1 Egg + 5 Eggwhites + Black Beans, Salsa and Tapatio!

Meal 2: Peri-workout drink w/Carbs and Protein

Meal 3: Whey Protein Shake (2 scoops), 2 cups of blueberries (mmm)

Meal 4: Cottage Cheese w/Almond Butter and Cinnamon, Broccoli w/Cheese

6/11 Check-In

Weight: 199.2 (after a day of cheat meals, this is what happens, and is expected. It will be interesting to see how much weight I lose during the next 36 hours fasting :).

Exercise: Morning Bodyweight workout + Jump Rope/burpee complex. This Bodyweight complex is brutal, with everything you can imagine thrown together and done 5 times with very little rest. I had to rest a little more than I'd like to between circuits, but with the combination of new stimulus and the fact that I was training fasted for the first time in awhile I guess it was to be expected.

Diet: No food at all!

My Month 2 Program!

Welp, on to Month 2! For those who didn't read my blog post about my Month 1 Program, it was a custom program designed by Roman Fitness Systems. Month 2 is an extension of that program, but is significantly different in a few ways.

From an exercise perspective, this will likely be the toughest month of my life, and will be much tougher than before. All aspects of the training are tweaked to be more difficult than before. Is it wrong that I'm excited about it? I hope not.

The biggest change is that I will be incorporating something called "Density Training" into the majority of my weight training sessions. Here's a pretty detailed article over at T-Nation about it: Density Training for Fat Loss.

In short, it involves going multiple sets of circuit-type exercises, while increasing the difficulty (usually in the form of more weight), the second time through. I have done density training in the past, and they have been by FAR the toughest workouts I've done. I am both looking forward to it and dreading it.

I will be doing both an Upper Body, and Lower Body Density-style workout each week, as well as a more "Traditional" Full Body weight workout. I've looked them over and they are going to be ROUGH!

In addition, my weekly bodyweight circuit is more difficult, with more overall volume and some more intense exercises. I did my first one today and it was brutal. Finally, my pure Cardio routines are ramped up a bit, with pure Sprinting routines replacing my bike sessions, and additional Jump Rope work.

Like Month 1, I am a bit worried my body will begin to break down at some point, but Month 1 went very smooth so I'm hopeful Month 2 goes as smoothly. In particular, my knee has always had trouble with lots of running (or sprinting), and some of the density sessions will put more strain on my lower back than I had in Month 1. Here's to hoping for the best, hopefully I wont have to adjust things.

From a dietary perspective, the major change as I mentioned previously is that my diet now includes Cheat Days (Yay!) and Fasting Days (Boo! Well, not really). Having a Cheat Day is nice for multiple reasons, for instance seeing $2.99 specials on Tombstone pizza and not being able to take advantage was very painful last month :). It'll be nice to get to schedule some meals out with friends and such on my cheat day.

The science behind cheat days is very interesting, and there is some debate about them, but I am more than happy to put my faith in the program especially when that involves me shoveling a quesadilla in my mouth for the first time in a Month.

In addition to the Cheat Day, I will be following it with a Fasted Day, where I eat literally nothing for the entire day. In fact, I am doing that right now (currently about 22 hours fasted). I will be fasting until tomorrow afternoon and will break my fast before training. This sounds extreme, but is really not that big of a deal. Fortunately, it is something I have experimented with in the past, so it isn't much of a shock to me this time around. For those of you who haven't experimented with fasting, it is amazing how good you can feel while training in a fasted state.

Otherwise, I am still following a 16/8 Intermittent Fasting low-ish carbs strategy, with a bit of an increase in Carbs from Month 1 (which should help with the increased training volume and help build muscle). It'll also add some nice flexibility to my diet, as I'm mostly vegetarian so eating high protein and very low carb like Month 1 leads to some monotonous dieting (as you can see from my Month 1 updates :).

So, in summation, the diet should be a bit easier and more fun, the exercise should be much more difficult, but hopefully more fun as well :). I am looking forward to it and would be surprised if I didn't see some serious gains in my fitness this month.

6/10 Check-In, End of Month 1!

Today is the last day of my first Month's program. Starting tomorrow (6/11), I will be on an entirely new workout and nutrition program which I will detail later. Today was normally a scheduled Low-Carb day with a bodyweight workout, but I decided to take the day off for a couple of reasons, mainly A) I was very tired from lack of sleep the previous few days, and B) My upcoming exercise schedule is even more grueling than Month 1, so I decided to get an extra days rest in before what should be a very tough Week 1 of the new program.

Also, my Week 2 program includes Cheat and Fasting days (more on that later), so I went ahead and made this Cheat day. For the first month, my dietary discipline was rock solid, the only "cheating" I did was having beans AND rice with Shrimp and a couple of small pieces of pizza. So, having a cheat day was nice. I had a bunch of Ice Cream, Mexican Food, and even a Candy Bar :). I had phased out Peanut Butter in favor of Almond Butter this month, but I will be sure to get some Peanut Butter for my next cheat day (PB&J is probably my favorite cheat meal!).

Anyway, to summarize I think Month 1 went about as smoothly as I could have hoped. While my weight plateaued a bit the last couple of weeks, I continued to get leaner. My weight went from around ~204 to ~197, my BF went from ~18% to ~16% (based on pinch test). I'm going to get hydrostatic BF testing next week, I'm shooting to get around or under 15% by then, which would be nice :).

From an exercise perspective, things went great. My biggest fear for Month 1 was that my body would simply break down at some point, but that didn't happen at all. In fact, even though I worked harder with more volume and intensity than I ever have, my body felt fantastic the entire time.

In addition to losing weight, I have noticed a bunch of increased muscle, especially in my arms, chest and shoulders. That's not too surprising as my workout program was designed to help those muscles, but noticing that much muscle increase while losing fat and on a calorically restrictive diet is nice.

I'm not at home right now so I don't have access to my camera and tape measure, I'll update this with a full stats breakdown when I get a chance.

Can't wait for Month 2!