Round 2 Wk1 of Operation Fat to Fit Dad

Round 1 of Operation Fat to Fit Dad is over and after a week break from strength training and "diet" it is time for Round 2.

If you haven't read my first post on why the hell I am doing this, you can read it here. Also here is my progress pic for Round 1

The 1 Week Break

To sum up my one week break from my initial 6 week strength training and dieting:  AWESOME. I ate a box of large pizza, carrot cake, leftover chocolates from Easter, drank liters of soda, devoured pancakes with a disgusting amount of syrup. I didn't get to eat some cheesecake /sadface as I planned but I'll get on that next time.

I was expecting to gain 1-2 lbs but I actually lost 1 lb of weight. One explanation could be that after 6 weeks of diet, my body was ready for a carb refeed.

Ok enough with that, let's get this operation fat to fit dad Round 2 rolling!

Physique Goals

Starting Stats:
Weight: 148 lbs (average between 3 days)
Waist size (Pelvic): 32", (Navel): 33.75"
Body Fat: 15.6% (I think this is too low to be honest but I'll stick with it to maintain consistent, albeit consistently wrong. Based on the internetz I think I'm close to 18-19%)

Goal in 6 weeks:
Weight: 143-144 lbs
Waist size (Pelvic): 30", (Navel): 30"-31"
Body Fat: 12-13%

The biggest thing for me here is improving my waist to height ratio. Before moving on I want to say that this ratio is not end all be all. You can actually get a good waist to height ratio and still have flabby waist line. Like all else, it is a tool that you can use.

For calculating body fat, I used this. I average it out in 3 days and take the measurement 2 hours after I eat dinner and just before going to bed. I also took the average between the settings of normal and athlete.

6 months - 1 year goal: Basically look good naked.  I want to work on getting a good waist to shoulder ratio(I am all about ratios) but I realize that I need to gain strength and add on lean mass before even thinking about that ratio. I'll be adding 6 week cycles focusing on muscle size later on but for now I just want to be stronger.

Long term goal:  Keep my BMI and waist to height ratio in line. I want to set myself up so when I get to the age of 50-60 I have a lot of room to work with by not changing my lifestyle too much and not worry about obesity related diseases.

Strength Goals

Starting Stats:

Chin ups: 5 - 4 - 3- 3 - 3
Dips: 12 - 12 - 10

Goal in 6 weeks:

Chin ups: 7 - 7 - 7 - 7 -7
Dips: BW + 45 lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets

I used this form for figuring out where I'm at and for calculating 1 rep max and comparing it to strength standards.

The Deadlift goal is going to be tough since I need to add 70lbs in a 6 week time frame. The overhead press is another concern since I really struggled with it stalling left and right. I ordered a pair of 1.25 lb plates and this should help in slowly moving up the weight in both the overhead press and bench press.

6-12 months goal: Reach intermediate level on strength training and go home and tell my wife that I am now a man. I think after a third 6 week cycle, I should be able to get out of beginner phase and transition to an intermediate one. From here, I'll do another intermediate strength cycle followed by a hypertrophy cycle(muscle size!) and then another strength cycle.

Long term goal: As mentioned before, Strength training is not an end goal. I view fitness as a tool to enjoy life with those who are important to you.  I want to have a good base strength and do other activities such as rock climbing, swimming, martial arts etc. That being said, I would still like to continue lifting weights after getting through the beginner phase maybe add a muscle size cycle there somewhere. When I'm 70 yrs old I would like to be a strong, lean, mean awesome grand pa.

THE PLAN

The Diet Structure

I'll still be using LeanGains as I it worked out for my lifestyle and had some pretty good results from it. I used this calculator for my protein/carb/fat goals.

Here is the plan

• Fast for 14-16 hours, eat around 1-2 pm till 9-10 pm
• Training days: eat about 148g of protein, 230g of carbs, 34g of fat - about 1840 calories
• Non training days: eat about 148g of protein, 110g of carbs, 49g of fat - about 1473 calories
• Sundays eat breakfast with the family as usual
• 1-2 cheat meals per week. Cheat meals will preferably be set on Training days if not no big deal. 

To monitor my calorie intake I used MyFitnessPal.

The Strength Program

I'll be continuing with my progression with StrongLifts lifting three times a week (MWF) focusing on progressive overloading with these workouts:

Workout A: Squats, Bench, Pendlay Rows, Dips/Weighted Dips
Workout B:  Squats, Overhead Press, Deadlift, Chin ups

For the first week I will reduce all the weights by 10% and focus on form and speed. From there I add weight after each workout until I stall then I deload as necessary.

Training Patch Notes:

1.) Squats will now be 3 sets of 5 reps instead of 5 x 5 AND it will not be first exercise of the day every time. This should address my issue with squats affecting my other lifts and should shorten my time in the gym.

2.) Add extra work for shoulders maybe add Arnold Press to bring OHP up there. Another alternative would be to do seated barbell press, db press, and seated db press.

3.) Really thinking about using Starting Strength's way of increasing of weight and deloading which is keep adding weights till you miss more than 3 reps and do a judgement call if I need a soft deload or an intense deload. Check out details here.

4.) Add more core workout, - I'm thinking planks, reverse crunches etc.

5.) Start sneaking in High Intensity Interval Training with sprints on off days and see how I feel about it. If starts getting in the way of recovery, I'll ditch it and just settle with steady state cardio.

Week 1 Progress

Monday
Squats: 205 lbs x 5 reps x 5 sets
Bench: 120 lbs x 5 reps x 5 sets
Pendlay Row: 115 lbs x 5 reps x 5 sets
Chest Dips: 12 - 12 - 12
Comments: Was actually feeling sick in the morning but decided to just go to the gym and see how I felt. I actually felt better after my workout.

Tuesday
Squats: 215 x 5 x 5
Overhead press: 70 x 5 x 5
Deadlift: 175 x 5, 155 x 7, 140 x 9 (pyramid training)
Arnold Press: 25 lb DBs - 10 - 8 - 6
Chin ups: 5 - 5 - 4
Comments: Deadlift at 175 felt heavy even though I have done this lift at 185 and 195. OHP at 70 felt heavy during the last 2 sets. Also focused on speed and form the whole time.

Friday
Squats: 225 x 5 x 5
Bench: 135 x 5 x 5
Pendlay Row: 120 x 5 x 5
Dips: BW + 5 lbs - 12 - 12 - 12
Comments: Bar speed of squat was not as fast as I would like, I'll still add weight for the next session IF bar speed is really slow then I'll stick to that weight.

Weekend
100 burpees: I did it to see how many minutes I can pull it off - 20 minutes
Couple of body weight exercise circuits (Spark circuits from Fitocracy)
Did some yard work but nothing too tough (Can't really afford fines right now)
Hopefully doing these won't hinder my recovery for next week's Monday workout.

W1 Diet thoughts:

• I am still struggling to meet my minimum protein requirements. Maybe buy more salmon and chicken breast?
• On non-training days I find myself eating too much of a caloric deficit.
• I had more carbs than I would have liked on training days (chocolates!). I'll pay special attention to my weight and body fat % this week. 
• I think 2-3 meal frequency might not work for me once I decide to starting gaining mass as it is tough as it is to consume my daily calories in 2-3 meals, this might change later on. 

Moving Forward

Round 2 Week 1 is in the books and I am really forward to how I will be progressing on my lifts in the next 5 weeks. There is a lot of stuff happening right now at work and at the house so working out is a nice escape where it's just me and the bar or as I would like to call it: MAN VS BAR.

I think for my case, having a lot of stuff happening and not spending too much time thinking and reading about fitness and working out is a good thing to avoid burn out in the long run. I should be doing less reading this time since I got most of the basics out of the way. That doesn't mean I won't expand my knowledge, what it means for me is I am now more selective of what I read and what I research on.

That's it for now. If you are still reading this then I would like to thank you for taking an interest of my quest  to becoming a better me. Here's to more strength and less body fat!