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.

Comments

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 ke...

The Story so far...

It is now 2 months into 2013 and wanted to give a little update on the fat %. Just like the weight gain phase that ended with me unable to add any more weight after touching 138 lbs, the fat cutting phase is similarly causing problems. I was able to lose a bit more fat since the end of 2012, but not by much. The 3 site Jackson/Pollock method puts me at 7.02% about 0.5% less than my previous best at the end of 2012. Even so, I feel like I am somewhere between 9-10% by looking myself in the mirror. And here are some pictures to prove it (sorry about the grainy pictures, they were taken in low light). Since I was stuck at 7.02% for a while now, I decided to start the bulking phase again. This time with a twist. I will try and keep my body fat to less than 10% and see how much weight I can gain and how long it is going to take. More updates towards the end of the year :).

For an ectomorph, illness is always followed by weight loss

As I mentioned in my last post, I got sick last weekend. I have allergies which means from time to time the runny nose and sneezing can take a toll on the immune system. The scenario gets even worse if an antihistamine is taken right after a heavy bout of exercise during a season of flu. The antihistamines suppress the immune system further, allowing viruses to attack the human body. This is the sequence of events that took place last week and is usually the sequence that leads to me getting sick often during flu seasons. Anyway long story short, I contracted this flu from a co-worker when I was at my weakest on Thursday evening last week. I did not feel too bad on Friday morning, but come nightfall I was totally exhausted and running a slight fever. Matters got even worse on Saturday. I was only fully recovered by Wednesday. However the damage is already done. I worked hard forcing myself to overeat a couple of weeks ago which gave me an impressive 1.4 lbs gain (body weight is 124.6...

Skinny to Strong

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