re-test results

after weight training for about 7 or 7 1/2 weeks:

weight change: -1.5 pounds. whoopee.
but broken down as follows:
lean weight gained: 4.3 pounds
fat weight lost: 5.8 pounds
woo hoo!!!

my actual body fat % went down by 3 percentage points (a 12% improvement).

# pushups increased by 33% to the 90th percentile

max bench press improved by 22%, but is still in the 'average' category for my age / male.

blood pressure 119 / 77 from 127 / 85

total inches lost: 6.25, of which 48% was from waist (3"), and about 50% of the loss was in chest and hips combined (split about equally).

woo hoo! time to go eat some pizza and candy to celebrate, ha ha.

to review, i lifted 2-3x per week for 30 minutes, doing a full body routine w/minimal rest periods in between sets. each set was only repeated twice, and # reps per set was typically 20 - 15. to put it another way, i'll guess that i completed anywhere between 8-10 different exercises per session (so 16 - 20 total sets, with 15 to 20 reps / set). finally, they typically increased the weight a little bit on the second set (so 20 reps at 35 pounds for example, then 40 pounds for 15 reps).

in terms of my diet, on a scale of 1 - 10 i would roughly guess that it went from a 6.5 to a 7.5 over the course of the 7+ weeks. this really needs to be an area of focus if i want to see improved results going forward.

i had to go through one of my busy seasons during the middle of training so my sleeping patterns suffered on some nights. they really stress the importance of getting enough rest each night: 7-8 hours...they rattle off a lot of science about what happens when you fully rest but i can't remember the details. just make sure you get enough sleep.

finally on the aerobic front, i probably ran a little less over the past 7 weeks because i had to make time to lift. it was a trade off i knew would most likely bear fruit.

when i had my first test, the trainers set a goal for me to lost 6 - 8 pounds in 6 weeks, and i ended up losing 1.5 pounds in 7+ weeks. i think it is fair to say while i did make some nice improvements, i did not reach the goals they set for me. i have four letters for that......

d-i-e-t

how does that saying go... 90% of golf is mental? same holds true for changing body composition via weight lifiting: its 90% diet, 10% training.

i think i have completed about 20 sessions, so i have 20 add'l sessions left to complete before i'll have to quit (can't afford any more sessions this year!).

well that is all for now, have a good weekend everybody!