The Numbers: January 2010

I was so busy this month that I did not know when the month started and ended! Time just flew. As I mentioned in my previous blog this quarter I am trying to get rid of some of the fat that I gained during my bulking phase from October to December 2009. The goal was to lose 1 lb of fat while gaining 1 lb of muscle during the same time. Basically replace fat with muscle pound per pound.

Here are the raw numbers for the month of January

• Weight: 124.26 lbs
  
• Fat %: 10.99%
• Fat: 13.66 lbs
• Lean mass: 110.60 lbs
• Weight change: -1.34 lbs
• Fat % change: 1.51%
• Fat change: -2.04 lbs
  
• Muscle change: 0.7 lbs

The program did not go as planned. I lost 2 lbs of fat which is great! But on the flip side I was able to gain only 0.7 lbs of muscle instead of the planned 1 lb. The main reason is that I got very busy at work and could not give enough attention to my diet. I ate only when I felt hungry. However I did not miss a single workout during that very busy month.

I have to be more careful from next month. Eat a bit more yet be slightly below my daily calorific requirements so I can continue to lose fat.

Filed under: exercise, fat, lean mass, muscle, numbers, reps, stats, weigh

The Numbers: December 2009

Time for some numbers now that december 2009 has come to an end. Not just the month, but the year and decade as well have come to an end. In december again I have gained a lot of fat while I gained very little weight. The reason mainly is because I reduced the amount of calories to a more “maintain weight” level.

Body weight and fat gain for the month of December, 2009

• Weight: 126.00 lbs
  
• Fat %: 15.51%
  
• Lean mass: 106.46 lbs
  
• Weight gain: 1.46 lbs
  
• Fat % gain: 1.48%
  
• Lean mass gain: -0.61 lbs

It is indeed strange that I have lost muscle. Unfortunately since I am doing slow tempo reps I am using lower weights so I cannot be sure if I really lost muscle or it is just an error in the body fat analyzer. I have a theory that my body fat analyzer has a lag in noticing the fat% change. When I gain weight I usually don’t see a quick gain in fat. It comes after a few days of the weight increase. So I am assuming I will see the fat reduction will come a little later after the weight has remained constant for a while. Only time will tell.

Ever since I started using a slower tempo I am unable to lift a lot of weight for the same number of reps that I used to do. Here are the latest numbers.

Exercises

• Squats: 150 lbs, 9 reps
• Deadlift: 185 lbs, 8 reps
• Bench Press: 100 lbs, 7 reps
• Pull-ups: 120 lbs, 9 reps
  
• Overhead Press: 70 lbs, 6 reps
  

All the weights have gone down, but I am getting a better pump. I would like to continue this on for a few more weeks and then I will switch to strength training. That is it for this post. Not a lot of improvements but I am closer to my target than when I started three months ago.

Filed under: exercise, fat, lean mass, muscle, numbers, reps, stats, weight

The numbers: November 2009

It is past end of November and time for some more numbers. Over all this month went well. I did gain a lot of weight, however I far exceeded my fat % limit. I know for sure that I will reach my weight goal but at the same time I will fail miserably in my fat % goal. Anyway here are the numbers for my weight and fat % at the end of November

Body weight and fat gain in 1 month

• Weight: 124.54 lbs
• Fat %: 14.03 %
• Lean mass: 107.07 lbs
• Weight gain: 3.74 lbs
• Fat % gain: 1.83%
• Lean mass gain: 1.01 lb

I was able to put on 4 lbs of weight, but at what cost? I added 2.73 lbs of fat just to gain a mediocre 1 lb of muscle. At least my body does prove that a gain of 1 lb of muscle a month is about the right rate at which I can gain muscle. Not everything is gloomy though, I am very close to reaching my weight goal of 125 lbs by the end of December! I will have to do something about the fat % though.

My weights have also steadily increased, albeit very slowly. Here are the numbers for my lifts

Exercises

• Squats: 175 lbs, 7 reps (+5 lbs)
• Deadlifts: 190 lbs, 10 reps (+5 lbs)
• Bench Press: 115 lbs, 5 reps (+5 lbs)
• Pull ups: body weight + 27.5 lbs, 6 reps (+2.5 lbs)
• Overhead Press: 75 lbs, 9 reps (+0 lbs)

All the lifts have increased by a very slight amount. I was able to add 5 lbs to most of the exercises in 1 month. Actually I took 1 week off for recovery so it is really 3 weeks worth of progress. Not very impressive. I skipped doing pull-ups a couple of times last month because I already reached my goal, but I plan to do them again this month just to keep working those muscles. The overhead press seems to be the one with least amount of progress. All I could do was add a few reps to the same weight. The main reason is the pain in my left hand when I do overhead press. I think I recovered a bit now. We will see how it goes next week onwards.

I want to do better this month but I already lost 1 week in my business trip where I did not do any exercise. One good thing I did however, is to eat a lot of stuff, so at least my weight did not change much. Graphs in my next post.

Filed under: exercise, fat, numbers, stats, weight

Stats for Oct 2009

So it has been a month since I started bulking up. How am I doing so far? Here are the raw numbers

Exercises

• Squats: 170 lbs, 8 reps
• Deadlifts: 185 lbs, 10 reps
• Bench Press: 110 lbs, 4 reps
• Pull ups: Body weight + 25 lbs, 7 reps
• Overhead Press: 75 lbs, 6 reps

I am doing well in all exercises except bench press. The exercise that is already closest to my goal for end of december is my pull-ups. I can already do 7 reps with 25 lbs hanging off my waist! You can check out my previous post for the goals I have set.

Body weight and fat

• Weight: 120.8 lbs
• Fat %: 12.2%

I am able to add weight as expected. But my body fat % shot up too much. My goal for end of december was to weight 125 lbs at 12% body fat. But I am already over the limit for my body fat %. So I have to lower it and at the same time increase my weight. Very unlikely. I might have to revise my goals, but I will see how it goes and hope to make better predictions for my next bulking phase. It is not at all easy to keep the fat down while gaining weight. For my weight and fat goals check out my previous blog here.

Filed under: exercise, fat, stats, weight