Two words sum up the last week for me in terms of body goals – DISTRACTED & IMBALANCE.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s been an amazing week. It was the week we launched AdapNation on the social media platforms, produced a ton of great content, engaged with our friends and supporters on the new venture, and also had our first Photo Shoot to help with PR (cringe). Plus holding down our other jobs, being there for our families and still managing to get in our workouts.
Net result being lots of hours, insufficient sleep, lots of first-time confusion and inefficiency, some nerves to battle, and generally burning the candle from both ends. An exhausting week mentally, emotionally and physically.
That said – no excuses! Health is number one. Without it I’d have less energy and resourcefulness to do all of this stuff. I got into the gym five times, working through the 5-Day eight-week programme (see Day1-5, e.g. Day 2). HOWEVER, I must admit I’ve been so distracted with business ideas, things to do, and the inundation of social media interaction, that it definitely was not my finest week of performance. No PR’s this week that’s for sure!
Flexing my Programme to work with Short-Term needs
I had a couple of realisations early in the week. It’s going to be a tough week to stay particularly focussed in the gym and perhaps I should adjust to benefit the photoshoot planned for the weekend.
I decided to make some tweaks:
- Do a mini Cut – that meant going from a surplus of 3,500 calories to a 600/day deficit of 2,800 calories. May as well looks a ‘shredded’ as possible for the shoot.
- Â Higher volume and lower weights – Higher volume favours muscle growth over strength gains, gives more of a pump, and allows for me to train safely considering being distracted.
- Carb Load the day before the shoot – With such a deficit, I wanted to add some water back into my muscles for the shoot, plus make sure I had mental and physical energy for the day.
The plan above actually worked out quite well. It was probably the easiest cut I’ve ever done. Because I’ve been so distracted, I kept forgetting to eat, and hunger generally was absent. I Intermittent Fasted a couple of days, and as I was so focussed on work, emotionally this was surprisingly easy.
Regarding the higher Hypertrophy-style volume (more reps and more sets than normal), it helped me feel productive whilst knowing I would be catabolic due to the cut and that generally I wouldn’t have the focus to dial it in this week.
However, there were some Downsides to this Week
Firstly, I completely disrespected sleep and recovery as I needed to push hard on the work front. Very late nights working to 1am+ or so, getting less than six hours every night (I normally aim for eight) and no mental or emotional downtime. The sleep I did get was distracted and uncomfortable – the discomfort coming from my body not getting enough calories or rest to fully heal itself from the damage done in the gym working out.
I also softened my commitment to optimal behaviours such as reading before bed, removing blue light after 9pm, having a cuddle or not fiddling with my phone just before going to bed (or when I first wake up). It has been a bit upside-down this week to be fair.
In Conclusion
I dropped 4lbs on the scales, which helped for the photoshoot – a combination of water loss, less food in my belly and a little body fat reduction. Also helped having less food for a week, to give my body a little rest from constant digestive work.
I kept to the gym. I knew I would. It’s now a habit, a positive addiction. I need no motivation to go to the gym, and not going takes motivation away from me on all other things.
Life and balance took a hit this week. Some of my effort in the gym would have been wasted due to the lack of rest and recovery, combined with not having enough calories to assist with protein synthesis (and muscle growth). Also, my strength and 2018 body goals took a little bit of a back seat, causing a little likely dip in overall strength. Definitely not a week that supported the growth of my muscles towards the goals I’ve outlined.
That said, I’m happy. It’s a marathon not a sprint, and a ton of life progress had been made this week. I’ve also benefited from a mini cut that stripped away a little fat as I train for size, which is best practice to ensure you don’t get store too much fat in the pursuit of getting more muscular.
NEXT WEEK – Back to the Bulk calories of 3,500. By mid-week I will also start a new eight-week programme with undulating strength and hypertrophy training modalities included, to help with my long term goals and ensure my body doesn’t get too efficient and stop adapting. New #HyperWorkouts will be shared over the next two weeks. 🙂
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