itsscience's log

[itsscience]

L3D1: 28 Rounds

Hello everyone. A little background: I'm 27 years old, 6'0" tall. For most of my adult life I have been 145 pounds with spaghetti arms and a pot belly. Right now I am 154 pounds, but that's after gaining muscle and losing fat, so I am in MUCH better shape than I've ever been before. Having never exercised on any regular basis, I moved into a new apartment last year that has a pullup bar and some machines, and I fell into the habit of using them. I had no aim and just kind of made up my own program, though, and I've hit a plateau. My body is not changing anymore. I feel I need to switch over to a set regimen that is constantly challenging. Also, I'm reading how working out on Nautilus machines is inefficient and can give you a lot of bad habits that need to be undone for a real strength training program. I don't have easy access to free weights, don't have a workout partner, and right now I don't have the time it would take to work out all the inevitable form issues of a complete beginner, so bodyweight training with a pullup bar is a good fit for me. I'm starting off on level 3 and working out on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

The workout I have been doing until recently has been two days on, one day off, consisting of:
Pullups: 4 sets to failure (typical numbers are 13, 8, 7, 7)
Pec Machine : warm up with light weights, then go to failure with 120 lbs.
Rows: warm up with light weights, then do 15 at 135 lbs.
Dips: 16
Sit ups: 60 at an incline
"Bench Presses" on a Nautilus machine: warm up with light weights, then go to failure at 90 lbs.

I also run between 1 and 4 miles 5 days a week, which I know is not advisable for someone who wants to gain weight, but it keeps me feeling good.

[itsscience]

L3D2:

56.5
54.5
57.1
57.6
55.0

I had never done a bodysquat before starting this program, so my legs are sore.

[itsscience]

L3D3:

I broke it down in this order:

11 pullups
33 squats
21 pushups
5 pullups
12 pushups

Overall time: 2:30

I was not expecting that kind of time. My groin is very sore but it didn't affect my range of motion on the squats. I need to resist the urge to go running over the next couple of days to get over my soreness for the next endurance workout.

[itsscience]

L4D1: 28 rounds.

I got 22 rounds done in the first 14 minutes and felt like I was going to vomit.

I think I have been holding my feet at too wide an angle when doing the squats. When I put them more parallel, the strain on my groin went away.

[itsscience]

L4D2:

1:11
1:11
1:09
1:10
1:08

5:49 Total

[itsscience]

L4D3:

4:14

I didn't realize last week that I am supposed to complete all the reps for one exercise before moving onto the next, but that was fixed for this week. Now on to level 5, where I have a feeling I will be for a while.

[KTG]

This is very impressive progress. Great job!

I'm in the same range on L4D1 and L4D2, but still 45 seconds over on L4D3.

[itsscience]

Thanks KTG! Pull-ups were my major focus even before I started the program, so I got through those on L4D3 in just a few sets.

L5D1: 22 rounds

[itsscience]

I decided to do this the night before I was scheduled to because of a lack of time tomorrow.

L5D2:

1:28
1:23
1:26
1:24
1:29

7:10 Total

I just weighed myself at 160 lbs, which is the heaviest I've ever been. I'm really liking the program so far.

[itsscience]

L5D3, attempt 1:

7:25

[itsscience]

L5D1: 24 rounds.
Change: +2 rounds

I'll stay on level 5 for one more week before taking my first easy week.

[itsscience]

L5D2, attempt 2:

1:19
1:13
1:12
1:06
1:09

5:59 Total
Change: -1:11

[itsscience]

L5D3, attempt 2:

6:21
Change: -1:04

[itsscience]

L2D1: 47 rounds

[itsscience]

L2D2:

43.9
46.5
47.0
46.4
49.6

3:53 Total