#GeekFit – Three Weeks In

Well, we’re three weeks into our bodybuilding fitness project with Jeff and Todd. You guys have been asking so many questions, and I wish I had all of the answers, but these things take time. We did a live chat with the guys last week to go over a few questions so far and talk about the progress, but in case you missed it, here’s my summary of where I’m at so far.

A Brief History of Pain

The first week of the project was all about pain, detox and experimentation. Everything changed for me. My diet, my daily routine, exercise. I was perpetually exhausted, I was trying to figure out how to fit my life around this program, and I was in pain. My quality of life sucked.

Week two saw an easing of some of that pain, but I still had to will myself to do every part of the routine. Going to the gym, and every single repetition of every exercise, was a mental effort far more than a physical one. I did NOT want to be there.

But by week three things started to change. I’ve been able to adjust my schedule to mostly accommodate all of the eating and exercising, and I’m learning how hard I can push myself in the gym to maximize my ability to do work. On top of all that, we’re starting to see real gains that are both visible and measurable. Later, when we have more data we’ll publish it so we can all see a graph of the progress over time.

A Little About the Workouts

Our exercise project consists of six days of training per week. Two are upper body, two lower body, and two of cardio.

The interesting thing about our training program is that although there are a few machines we tend to use a little more often than others, it seems like every time we are doing different machines, or different exercises with the same machines.

I like that, because it means its never boring, and I’m always learning how to do new stuff. In fact, without Jeff and Todd I would definitely not be doing some of these things correctly. They always position me on a machine to do a particular exercise and the form is very important.

Machines aren’t the only way we do things. We also use free weights, and in some cases they are paired up with other exercises. For example, how about hoisting a 40 pound barbell onto your shoulders and then doing deep lunges up and down a parking lot ramp outside!

Anyway, my personal project is progressing. I’m beginning to feel like this is something I can do, and maybe for the first time, I’m having second thoughts of going back to my bad habits when this things is over. I wonder… is this really something I could do long term?

PS – Cali caught that pic up top of me trying to catch my breath, and Scott Kublin snapped the photo of me suffering on the ramp. Nice of them to document my pain, right? 🙂