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Some Interesting Stats

I was thinking about what all these bulking and leaning phases have done to me. Am I improving physically? I am sure I am getting stronger just by looking at the weights that I have been lifting. But what about size? Did I grow at all? The body weight is not very accurate because it depends a lot on water retention and the muscle and fat numbers vary a bit depending on your state when you took your readings and measurements. So to answer the question about physical size improvements I refer to my body measurement logs.

I take body measurements every month which allows me to look back at my gains. I typically measure chest, waist, hips, right and left biceps and right thigh. I improved in every measurement that I took. They are not huge improvements like they show on TV or internet, but they are good enough to keep me motivated. Here are the raw numbers at the end of last 2 leaning phases:
  • September 2009
    • Chest: 32.5 in.
    • Waist 27.25 in.
    • Right Bicep: 12.125 in.
    • Right thigh: 19.0 in.
  • March 2010
    • Chest: 34.5 in.
    • Waist: 26.75 in.
    • Right Bicep: 12.625 in.
    • Right thigh: 20.0 in.
Chest has increased by 2 inches, waist decreased by 0.5 inches, although I find it surprising that I lost waist size, because from the photos it looks like I had smaller waist in my first leaning phase. May be that was 26.25 inches and not 27.25 inches. Right bicep grew by 0.5 inches and right thigh grew a whole inch. All these are good on paper but barely noticeable physically. I have become stronger since my last leaning phase yet I see very little change in the measurements. This proves that you have to gain a lot of strength to have any noticeable physical change.

For posterity here are the September 2009 and March 2010 pictures. As you can see there is almost no visible change. But strength? That is altogether a different story.

September 2009                                  March 2010
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