I started the Geek to Freak/Occam’s Protocol in late July. I’ll be tracking my progress here. Update: As of early September I have temporarily abandoned all but the workout regimen until I can consistently source the foods for SCD and other aspects of the test. That being said, between late July and early October I experienced gains of 20% on pull down and 40% on leg press strength in a total of 8 workouts. That’s less than one half-hour workout per week, or 4 hours in the gym over the course of more than two months. Chest and shoulder strength have not improved much however. I sleep on average about 4 hours a night and I’m sure this has had an impact. Trying to get to bed by 10 PM (failing but bedtime IS getting progressively earlier). If I can get to 6 hrs that will be a big improvement.
I’m in India, where a lot of people have a hard time getting enough food to subsist and children are typically below average weight, so I’m not going to complain about anything! That being said, it is hard to follow a Slow Carb Diet. I tried eating spinach, chicken and daal (lentils) 3 meals a day but there was so much oil included that I quickly became fat and bloated. I tried instead having 2 whole tandoori chickens per day and now I have a hard time even ordering chicken. So I’m drinking a few whey and soy protein shakes each day. Soon I hope to discover where canned vegetables are sold here.
OK, enough of my “guy from the developed world” problems.
There is a beautiful machine at the gym that is supposed to measure my body fat, lean muscle mass and more. In consecutive measurements seconds apart, I learn that I have gained a kilogram of fat just standing there. So be warned, my data is only somewhat accurate. So far I have been successful cajoling the managers into giving me two measurements, of which I will post the average (not today though).
I am taking the PAGG stack as well as NO-Xplode and BodyQuick, along with creatine. Consuming about 150 g of protein a day. If I can discipline myself to do it I will track my food intake here too.
As time goes by I expect my tracking to become more complete and relevant. I had worked out twice during the two weeks prior to starting Occam’s Protocol; otherwise very few workouts other than a few pullups/pushups during the previous 6 months. For my 4HB workouts I started at more or less the same weights I was using the last time I was in shape, so my starting point is not artificially low. My weight is measured in kg, while machine weights are measured in lbs. I can’t find the tracking for my first workout, so the tracking starts 5 days later. On my third workout I started providing muscle measurements in inches, so the starting point is artificially high.
I’m taking photos. You’ll probably have a hard time convincing me to post the Before photos. I have no idea how to pose. But whatever. I’ll come around. Maybe. One interesting thing will be to see whether my structural imbalance improves. I have a curve in my spine. From my pelvis it gradually veers out to the left about an inch before coming back nearly to center at the base of my skull. This is because of a oddly formed first vertebrae (at the bottom). My muscles compensate for this, and in compensating they compound the problem. We’ll see whether muscular development, stretching and possibly some yoga and massage help.
So far I have had a hard time consuming enough food for this to qualify as G2F but I’m working on that. Currently consuming 5-6 meals a day and still feeling ravenous, so something is working. My debit card, for example.
I’m doing a full-body workout (Workouts A & B back to back, 3 min between each exercise, one set of each, 5 count up and down)
08/02/12 (second workout)
Weight 70.2 kg
Leg Press 360×8
Overhead Press 90×8
Pulldown 140×8
Bench Press 150×5.5
08/09/12
Weight 71.5 kg
Leg Press 400×8
Overhead Press 100×7
Pulldown 155×6
Bench Press 150×5.5
Right Arm Flex/Unfl 13.8/12.6
Left Arm Flex/Unfl 13/12.2
Right Leg 20.0
Left Leg 21.3
Waist 34
Hips 38.3
Shoulders 42.5
Chest 38.2
Note the reverse imbalances in legs and arms. I’m right-handed, so it’s no surprise my right arm is bigger than my left. But my left leg is bigger than my right. Could be compensation for spine imbalance, or it could be that both are related to my days as a pole vaulter. Vaulters start the jump by leaping off the left foot and supporting most of their weight with the right arm.
8/16/2012
Leg Press 440×6
Overhead Press 100×6
Pull Down 155×7
Bench 150×7
9/3/2012
Loaded the leg press inaccurately and ended up working out with 40lbs less than intended
Leg Press 400×8
Overhead Press 100×6
Pull Down 155×7
Bench 150×6
9/11/2012
At this point I have stopped taking the supplements. The right diet is hard to maintain here and I don’t want to waste valuable supplements while on an inconsistent diet. Until further notice I’m just seeing what can be gained by 1 workout to fatigue each week.
Different gym, different machines… not much to be learned from this data, just logging it in case I switch gyms
Leg Press (machine instead of incline slide): 300×16
Overhead Press 100×7
Pull Down 235×12 (one reason I didn’t switch gyms… this was the entire stack at 5sec counts. No headroom for growth)
Bench 50kgx7
9-26-2012
After a 2-week break both legs and pull down are showing signs of a breakthrough. I started adding additional exercises this week, didn’t log all of them.
Leg Press 440×15
Overhead Press 100×6
Pull Down 155×8
Bench 150×7
Row 130×7
Tri not logged
Curl not logged
10-5-2012
Big jump in leg strength. I thought the 15 reps from last week might have been a clerical error (& they probably were) but I decided to add 10% anyway and see what I could do. Bench and incline seem to be stuck, but they may have suffered from the aftermath of a short-lived adrenaline spike during the leg exercise. Pull Down went up by 10% however.
Leg Press 485×8
Incline 100×6
Pull Down 170×6
Bench 150×5
Row 130×7
Tri 100×5
Curl 75×3
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