Workout Progress – April ‘08

A little late in posting the workout progress for this month what with the trip and what all.

There has been a slight change in my workout program in April due to the fact that I’m finishing my PT sessions soon and I have been missing quite a few gym sessions due to my Indonesia trip. So instead of 3 PT sessions a week, I cut them down to 2 per week with one session concentrating on specific muscles groupings (alternating between chest-bicep-shoulders-abs groups and back-triceps-shoulders-abs group) and the other being a total body endurance workout using either dumbbells or barbells depending of which section of the body being emphasized (dumbbells for upper body endurance and barbell for lower body endurance).

I’ve also decided to drop one gym day from my schedule since I was not allowing for sufficient rest days for muscle recovery which led to the muscle loss that I’ve been seeing. So instead of my previous 5 days on - 2 days off schedule, I opted to do 4 days on – 3 days off schedule with the off days properly sandwiched between the workout days. Hopefully that would help reduce the rate of muscle mass loss from over training. Given that the 2 PT sessions per week are usually of medium or heavy intensity, I should give myself allowance for more recovery time.

On my 2 non-PT workout days, I primarily focus on attending the hour long RPM classes and a full body workout using a combination of the stack machine and free weight. Using what I’ve learned from my PT sessions, I’ve cobbled together a sequence of exercises that I’m comfortable doing alone without a spotter that works out my chest, back, biceps, triceps, shoulders and abs. I rarely do legs exercises much nowadays because I get leg workout mostly from my RPM classes and I wanted to develop the other parts to catch up to the progress that I’ve already accomplished for my leg muscles.

Diet plan in April

Breakfast (8 am)
- 1 sachet of Quaker Oats Flavored instant oatmeal
- 1 serving of low fat yogurt
- 1 serving of protein shake

Brunch (10 am)
- 1/2 serving of plan fried rice with tempeh goreng or greens
- 1 hardboiled egg (alternate working days – 2 whole eggs total per week)
- 1 serving of fruits

Lunch (12 pm)
- 1 Spirulina cereal 3 in 1 mix.

Snacks (4 pm)
- 1 Nature Valley Granola bar (Apple Crisps, Almond and Pecan have lowest calories)
- Japanese Green Tea

Dinner (7 pm)
– non workout days (Tues/Thurs/Sat)
- buy something roughly less than 300kcal

Workout Days (M/W/F: 8:30 – 11:30 pm, Sun: 3 – 6pm)
Pre workout
- buy something roughly less than 300kcal
Post workout
- 1 serving of protein shake

Supplements :
MuscleTech Nitro-Tech Hardcore Protein Shake – 2 servings per day
GNC Pro Performance Creatine Monohydrate – 2 servings per day
21st Century’s HerbalLipo Tea – 1 serving per week day
GNC MegaMen Dietary Supplement – 1 tablet per day
GNC Big 150 Vit B Complex – 1 tablet per day
GNC Fish Oils – 1 tablet per day

No changes with the diet plan for this month. Still sticking with what works when I can. I do still occasionally skip the plan especially when I’m out for meals with friends. I guess that’s the beauty of knowing what to eat and how much that you don’t have to feel so guilty about not sticking to a diet plan so strictly. I had to do the same while I was traveling as well since I couldn’t stick to having 5 meals that I normally do when I was away. It would have been silly of me to deprive myself all the wonderful food that I saw in my travels just because I wanted to stay on the diet. A little indulgences once in a while doesn’t hurt.

I’ve also decided to reduce my protein shakes to 2 servings a day partly because I’m going through them quite fast and they have been really working well on me. I’ve definitely bulked up quite a bit this past month that not only are my clothes that fitted nicely last month are feeling bit tight around the chests but I’ve also have had a few people who commented on me appearing more bulkier than before. Given that I have yet to develop a nicer muscle tone, I rather not bulk up too fast and end up being too top heavy.

For the coming May, I will only have 4 more PT sessions to go before I start working out on my own. 2 of those PT will be concentrating on specific muscle groups and the remaining 2 will be for total body endurance workouts. I will definitely miss working out with my PT but I feel that I’m ready now to workout on my own thanks to what he has taught me. I will be trying out new combinations of what I have learned from him after the end of the PT sessions and will be monitoring closely if there are continuous improvements from that point on. If I feel that I’m not making any progress, I definitely would still be able to talk to my PT to see if any part of my program needs to be tweaked. If needed, I can get more sessions later if I’m finding myself stuck in terms of new progress.

Still looking out for a workout partner/spotter if anyone out there working out at California Fitness, Sunway Pyramid is interested. Don’t let my obsessive documentation of my workout progress scare you, I’m not that much of a gym junkie … I think.