I’m three weeks into my transformation and this marks one quarter of my challenge completed. While this time last week I was feeling sore and disgruntled, this week I’m feeling sore and optimistic. While waking up early to hit the gym still sucks, hitting the gym immediately after work still sucks, and force feeding myself every few hours still really sucks, it’s all worth it when you start to see changes.
I started this challenge at a scrawny 63kg with 14.5% body fat. This week when I weighed myself in the evenings, I was consistently hitting 65-66kg. The problem? When I weighed myself in the mornings, my weight would plummet to 61-62kg. It’s quite deflating to commit to eating well and training hard and then realise you’ve actually lost weight.
Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I’m just destined to be skinny forever? Perhaps all of this work is going to be for nothing? These were some of the thoughts racing through my head at the start of the week. I discussed my concerns with Cato. Thankfully, he told me what I was experiencing was totally normal.
“As you start exercising and shocking your body, your body fat will drop and your muscle mass will increase. But as your body burns fat faster than it builds muscle, it may take a while for you to see results,” he says. Stick to the program, he tells me. Believe that if you put in the hard work, the results will come.
After two weeks of a structural balance program, Cato has redesigned my regimen to mimic that of an amateur bodybuilder. The morning sessions are now post-exhaustion sessions, meaning I superset one exercise with heavy weight and low reps (8-10), then immediately do another exercise working the same body part but with lighter weights and higher reps (12-15).
The evening sessions are now German Volume Training (GVT). My GVT program has consisted of 10 minutes of stretching followed by a superset of two exercises, 10 reps each for 10 sets. Only a week after adopting these new training techniques, I’ve already started to see results. My body weight in the mornings has bumped up to 65kg, I’m increasing my weights almost every session and I’m slowly but surely starting to enjoy looking at myself in the mirror.
A.M. Post Exhaustion Arms Workout
Superset of 4 Rounds
Standing Hammercurl Dumbbell | 8 reps | 10sec rest
55 Degree Incline Arm Curl | 15 reps | 120sec rest
Superset of 4 Rounds
V-Bar Dips | 8 reps | 10sec rest
Triceps Machine Supinated Grip | 15 reps | 120sec rest
Superset of 3 Rounds
Neck Extension Machine | 15 reps | 60sec rest
Seated External Rotation Dumbbell | 15 reps | 60sec rest
Powell Raises | 15 reps | 60sec rest
P.M. GVT Arms Workout
Superset of 10 Rounds
Decline Triceps Extension | 10 reps | 60sec rest
65 Degree Incline Seated Arm Curl | 10 reps | 60sec rest
