Fitness Update

This month's body fat test still had me about 15.4%, so I'm hoping to do better next month. I'm told it's pretty common to not change much over the course of a month but I'm hoping to drop some as it's more motivation for me to keep going.

I found something interesting. Below is the first lifting day that I did way back on January 16th of this year and where I am now on the same excercises. I removed the ones that I'm no longer doing, but the progression is interesting.

Monday, January 16, 2006

3 sets of each:
Seated Cable Rows 55
Bench 85
Dumbbell Shoulder Press 12
Barbell Curls 40
Lying Dumbbell Press 25
Seated Calf Raises 105


Currently

Sets of increasing weight, and lowering reps
Cable Rows 125, 135
Bench 100, 110, 120
DB Shoulder Press 20, 25
Barbell Curls 60, 65
Lying Dumbbell Press 35, 40
Calf Raises 115, 125, 135


I really feel like I'm at a plateau. My body fat is staying the same, and I don't seem to be gaining any muscle weight from the lifting I'm doing (although I am getting stronger). I'm trying very hard to stick to my 2500 calories a day to the point of tracking it on a spreadsheet again so that should help. I just think I will be excited to get to the next 8 week training cycle so that I can build some muscle bulk. Currently I am in a strength building phase and the plan is to do the bulking phase next. I just know that I am the type of person to get discouraged easily so I need to do the best I can to head that off.

It does help to think about how far I've come which was the reason for the info above. Based on my calculations (I didn't have it tested), I was about 25% body fat when I first started the calorie counting and I weighed in at 203. I'm 180.5 give or take these days at 15.4%. So it did take me 10 months to drop 10%, and the last bit is always the hardest. It will be cool this time next year to look at my numbers and compare them again.