Workout Plan - Jan/Feb 2018
My last visit with my trainer in December left me feeling confused and grasping for motivation. As January rolled around, I found myself reflecting on my goals and my progress towards them. When I started this part of my fitness journey last March, I confidently told people that my goals were to build muscle and be as healthy as can be. These were two of my many goals, but were they my true intentions as I re-joined the gym? If I am being honest (and I am), my real objectives were to change my body composition (gain muscle AND lose fat), lose a bit of weight overall, and morph the person that I saw in the mirror.
10 months have passed, and I am not satisfied. I have slightly altered my body composition, but my weight is identical. All of my clothes fit just as they did a year ago. I certainly do not kick my own ass at the gym 4 times per week to look exactly the same as I did after a years-long gym hiatus. Something needs to change.
I booked a longer session with my trainer and gave him a heads up that I needed a reset. I felt a bit ashamed as I described to him my aesthetic desires after we had worked so hard together to get me stronger. He assured me that I could reach these goals if I kept working, and he encouraged me to see a nutritionist. Losing body fat while maintaining/gaining muscle mass (on a vegetarian/vegan diet) was not something that I was going to achieve at the gym alone. I had to take a closer look at what I was eating.
I booked the nutritionist appointment. Leading up to appointment day, I diligently tracked every single bite of food that I ingested so that I could go into the appointment fully prepared. I warded off the psychological demons that brewed at the realization of how much I eat -- 2500 calories on most days, and just above 3000 calories on one lonely Friday (3000!). Wow. I thought back to days a lifetime ago when I was misinformed and would eat only 1200-1500 calories with two-a-day workouts (foolish). I had to remind myself that these were foods/quantities that I had been eating for a long time, and the knowledge of the actual numbers would not change anything. I am a really great example that intuitive eating works, assuming that your goal is maintenance.
One hour with a nutritionist is not very long. I had about a thousand questions for him, and tried not to break a sweat as he reviewed my food diary. We did a ton of calculations together to get those magical numbers: how much should I be eating for maintenance? How much should I be eating to lose weight? I will spare you the details of these calculations (but shout if you want them -- I could talk about this all day!), but the answer is that I can eat a LOT to maintain my weight. About 2400 calories on a normal day that I hit the gym. And to hit an arbitrary goal of 16% body fat over the next 3 months, I only need 170 calorie deficit. I actually laughed out loud at that, since it literally could just mean not having dessert after dinner every night. I could still eat my huge quinoa bowls and all the sauces I was used to, and I would lose weight. He told me I could even go as far as 300 calorie deficit some days, but beyond that I may see my performance at the gym start to suffer. Performance is important to me, so 170 it is!
That's where I am right now. I was hesitant to start regularly tracking my food again for fear of triggering bad habits, but a goal of ~2250 calories on most days really does not mean sacrificing much. I have actually just been taking about 10 minutes in the evenings to plan out what I will eat the next day to ensure that I hit my macros and calorie goals. It's only been 1 week, but I feel totally re-energized and I'm anxious to see how my body changes over the next 5 weeks. See my current workout plan below!
Day 1 (Monday, Friday):
Rowing, 10 minutes (2000 meters)
Superset:
Deadlift to goblet squat to shoulrder press - 4 sets, 10 reps
Lat pull-down on bosu ball - 4 sets, 10 repsSuperset:
Elevated lunge on bosu ball, with arm raise - 4 sets, 10 reps
Hip raise to shoulder press to pull over on swiss ball - 4 sets, 10 repsSuperset:
Walkout - 4 sets, 10 reps
Dumbbell jack knife - 4 sets, 10 repsPlank on wobble board - 3 sets, 1 minute each
Treadmill, 10-20 minutes at 75% intensity
Day 2 (Tuesday, Saturday):
Rowing, 10 minutes (2000 meters)
Superset:
Side step-up - 4 sets, 20 reps
Spider climber - 4 sets, 20 repsSuperset:
Butt kicks - 4 sets, 20 reps
One arm kettlebell swing - 4 sets, 20 repsSuperset:
Plank jacks - 4 sets, 20 reps
Jumping squat to sumo squat - 4 sets, 20 repsPlank on wobble board - 3 sets, 1 minute each
Treadmill speed intervals, 5 min on / 1 min off x 3 sets
