Weekly Progress Report- Week 23 of 26
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By Brandon Cook
May 3rd through May 9th, 2010
Progress Picture:
Week 23 of My Transformation Journey:
Hey there! This week I restarted the Triple Threat Muscle program. I’ve made a few alterations to the program, which were pretty minor… just moved a couple exercises around, but overall it’s the same thing. It’s an awesome program and I wish I would have created it myself, but I have to hand it to Jason Ferruggia for creating a solid program!
The first phase consists of three full body workouts a week. I start with a single leg exercise like One-Leg Bench Squats or One-Leg Romanian Deadlifts. I added my own shoulder/back pre-hab sequence that I super-set with my lower body work. Then I move on to an upper body super set. Usually, I like to superset vertical pushes and pulls together (ie. military press with chin-ups) and horizontal pushes and pulls together (ie. push-ups with inverted rows). So, this was a change I made to his program as mentioned above. After this, I finished up with an arm exercise and superset it with an ab/core exercise as he details in the progam.
The unique and fun part of his program is the “Triple Threat” rep sequence he utilizes. After your warm-up sets you go into your three work sets. The first work set has you hammer out 7-9 reps. Then for your second set you increase the weight and shoot for 4-6 heavy reps. After that you finish it off with 10-12 reps of a lower/moderate weight. This method allows you to hit all of your muscle fiber types and fully stimulate the muscle.
As mentioned last week I stopped doing the Finishers that Jason Ferruggia recommends at the end of the weight training workouts. Instead I simply do my own Combat Conditioning routine on the days in between my workouts (Tuesday and Thursday.) I had to drop the finishers because it was too much conditioning and the exercises were basically the same. I typically do circuits of various things like alternate jumping rope with sledgehammer swings and burpees to chin-ups. Then I move on to punching and kicking drills on my 100lb Thai Bag (6′ long heavy bag.)
My body is adapting nicely and I’ve definitely been getting stronger over the past few months. My recovery has also greatly improved. I think that by the time I finish Triple Threat Muscle I’ll be bigger, stronger, and more explosive than ever… only time will tell! 
Body Composition:
To determine my weight and body fat percentage I weigh myself four times at various intervals throughout the day on my weigh in day. I take the average of these and that becomes the numbers you see below.
This isn’t entirely necessary, but I’m trying to account for flucuations that occur in my bodyweight throughout the day. A simpler method would be to just weigh yourself on the same day and same time each week…. but that’s not as much fun!
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Weigh in Results:
Beginning Bodyweight: 157.3lbs
Beginning Body Fat: 11.0%
Beginning Lean Mass: 140.1lbs
Beginning Fat Mass: 17.2lbs
Current Bodyweight: 169.2lbs
Current Body Fat: 14.1%
Current Lean Mass: 145.3lbs
Current Fat Mass: 23.9lbs
Total Bodyweight Change: Gained 11.9lbs
Total Body Fat Change: Gained 3.1%
Total Lean Mass Change: Gained 5.2lbs
Total Fat Mass Change: Gained 6.7lbs
Summary:
Overall I have gained 5.2lbs of muscle and gained 6.7lbs of fat
(0.8 : 1 Ratio of Muscle:Fat).
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I will also be using the following charts to track my progress visually. The first chart represents my body compositional changes from week to week. My scale calulates muscle mass, bone mass, water percentage, and fat percentage. I’m not sure how accurate these results are so this represents my best guestimate based on the scales output.
This first chart uses this data to graph the changes in my body composition over the next 26 weeks. If all goes as planned you should notice the red sections (muscle mass) growing larger and the overall columns (total bodyweight) growing larger. If the yellow sections (fat mass) are growing too large… then we’ve got a problem!
This second chart simply shows my current body composition as a pie chart. Red (muscle) = 18%, Green (bone) = 5%, Blue (water) = 63%, and Yellow (fat) = 14%.
Maximum Muscular Bodyweight:
According to The Weight Trainer: Maximum Muscular Bodyweight and Measurements Calculator:
My estimated maximum muscular bodyweight at ~10% bodyfat is:
197.1 lbs
This calculator gives you an estimate of the maximum muscular bodyweight and measurements that a drug-free trainee of a similar skeletal structure is likely to attain. It is based on equations Casey Butt developed through over 6 years of research and analysis of data from drug-free champions both past and present. The article presenting the equations utilized by this calculator can be found here: Your Maximum Muscular Bodyweight and Measurements.
I’m using this calculator as a general guideline in determining my ideal body weight and measurements for what I can accomplish naturally. I’m not letting these calculations impose limits on what I can accomplish. The only limits are the ones we impose upon ourselves. Remember, limits were meant to be broken! I just think its a cool calculator.
Measurements:
As another means of tracking my progress I will be measuring my neck, chest, arms, forearms, waist, hips, thighs, and calves. My wrist and ankle measurements should stay pretty much the same.
I used The Weight Trainer calculator to determine my goal measurements and rounded up or down a little based on my own desires, but only buy a 1/4 inch or so.
More specifically I just made the goal for my neck, arm, and calves measurements to be the same. This is typical of the Classic Physique goals talked about by Steve Reeves and other bodybuilding legends.
| Body Measurements | 5/9/2010 | Goal | Difference |
| Neck | 15.25 | 16.50 | 1.25 |
| Chest | 42.00 | 46.00 | 4.00 |
| Biceps (flexed | 14 | 16.50 | 2.50 |
| Forearms | 11.75 | 13.50 | 1.75 |
| Wrist | 6.50 | 6.50 | 0.00 |
| Waist | 35.00 | 31.00 | -4.00 |
| Hips | 36.00 | 35.00 | -1.00 |
| Thighs | 20.00 | 24.50 | 4.50 |
| Calves | 14.50 | 16.50 | 2.00 |
| Ankles | 8.50 | 8.50 | 0.00 |
As you can see the biggest differences are apparently my chest, arms, and thighs, but everything will need to come up. Well except my waist, which should be slimmer. The ideal concept is to have wide shoulders tapering down to a thin waist to develop the classic V taper.
Of course these are more bodybuilding type goals and objectives and not necessarily a requirement for athletes or those who are more performance oriented. Personally, I desire form and function… so I’m aiming for the best of both worlds!
See you next week,
Brandon
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About the Author:
Brandon Cook is creator of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach hardgainers how to build muscle fast using the laws and scientific principles of body transformation.
HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com
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