Week 4

Once again, there isn't much visual difference showing up in the photos. I can say that I've gotten stronger on nearly all of my lifts, and I believe there is some muscle growth, but as far as bodyfat levels are concerned, there's no decrease. In fact, it may be nudging up a bit. No cause for concern yet, though.

My workouts are still primarily focused on building strength. Right now, I'm only lifting weights twice per week (and doing bodyweight exercises most other days). I've learned that my body needs time to both recover, then rebuild. As I approach cut-down time, I'll reduce the number of sets I do, but keep the intensity (weight and reps) high, much like a running program would be structured leading into a key race. The body needs less volume so it can recover, yet the intensity should be maintained so as to not lose sharpness (in this case, muscle size and definition). I've read a lot of well-informed articles stating that, despite old-school thinking, lifting lighter weights for more reps does NOT increase definition, but keeping the weights relatively high, but with shorter rest periods will help retain muscle size & definition during a "peak" phase. The definition and "cuts" come from slowly reducing the level of bodyfat.

As for cardio, I got the go-ahead to do some swimming and light spinning, but after doing an easy 20 minutes on Precor's version of the Lifecycle, my heel ached for two days. Once work lets up (crazy busy this week), I'll give the pool a try.

I did hit a milestone yesterday. For several weeks, I've been trying on and off to do 100 pushups in 4 minutes. I finally hit that goal yesterday by doing 102. My next goal is to do a single set of 20 pullups (I'm currently stuck at 17).

Enough blabber. Here are this week's photos: