THE FINAL PHOTOS & NUMBERS !!

I still can't believe the 28 days are up! Overall, I think I got great results despite some less than optimal workouts (logistical issues). Two new exercises were added to my resume, also...dead lifts and sissy squats. These were just what the doctor ordered for my skinny legs!

The DAY 1 and FINAL photos are shown here. Notable growth appears in my biceps, and legs (in my opinion), neck, and chest/back width. In general, I just feel "thicker" everywhere!

• Weight = 175.0 LBS (up 10.5 LBS!)
  
• Body Fat = 10.5% (Same...which is amazing!)
  
• Chest = 38.5" (up 0.75")
  
• Waist = 32.5" (up 0.75"...after reading this, I'm ok with it)
  
• Calves = 14.5" (up 0.75"!!)
  
• Neck = 14.25" (up 0.5")
  
• Arms = 12.75" (up 0.75"!!)
• Thighs = 19.0" (up 0.5")
  

DAY 27 - Low Fat, High Protein/Rest

WEIGHT = ???.? LBS (We were out of town and I didn't bring the scale to the hotel. Good thing, too! See "DIET" section of post)

WORKOUT

The last 2 days of the program (DAY 27 & 28) are scheduled days of rest. Interesting that the program ends with rest but it was well deserved!

Overall I was feeling pretty pumped today. My uncle kept harassing me about being a muscle man so I found myself flexing a lot in his presence just to push at him. :~)

Not much soreness today as my muscles seem to be in "heavy lifting mode" now. Just in time to change again! Keep that body confused!

DIET

Look out! With a big family event always comes a big meal. Today was no exception. I hope you enjoy the description as much as I enjoyed eating it! I find it hard to feel guilty, too, when the food's so good and the occasion so special. Here goes!

Breakfast: Things started off rather healthy. I had a smoothie with blueberries, protein powder, peaches, honey, and some yogurt.

Snack (a.m.): 2 string cheese sticks and an apple. Sounds good, right? It gets ugly from here. :)

Lunch: All sorts of raw veggies and fruit, salad with Italian dressing, some assorted nuts, and cole slaw to start. Several meatballs with red sauce, rigatoni, Italian sausage with peppers and onions, crusty bread with butter (and lots of it!!), one chicken breast. For dessert, several oatmeal raisin, M&M, and chocolate chip cookies, and a piece of cake.

Dinner: You would've thought I dinner wasn't necessary but oh, it was! I lightly microwaved some broccoli, cauliflower, and green peppers from the veggie tray that was left. On that I put some rigatoni and meat sauce with sausage and meatballs. That got sprinkled with some Parmesan cheese. On the side, a couple more pieces of that outstanding crusty bread with butter (or should I say butter with some bread? (~: ). For dessert, I had a couple more cookies and some mint chocolates. I knocked back a beer and a couple of glasses of wine for good measure.

Now that's some eatin'!!

DAY 28 - Low Fat, High Protein/Rest

WEIGHT = ???.? LBS (Same deal as DAY 27...no scale since we were out of town most of the day. Again, that most likely worked in my favor based on the amount of food I ate.)

WORKOUT

This was the last day of the program. In an anti-climatic fashion, it ended with a day of rest. No soreness at all today and I still felt really pumped. My muscles seemed to just soak up all the food I could feed them! I'm going to take this as a lesson when it comes time for the next round of the program (most likely between Thanksgiving and Christmas).

This was a true day of rest, too, as I sat on my butt nearly all day...and it felt good to do so! We hung out with my family all morning, drove about 45 minutes to see some friends and their new baby, sat around all afternoon with them, then drove back home (about 2-1/2 hours) to Columbus. At least I got the "workout" portion of the program correct today! (~:

All that remains is for me to record my final measurements, take some photos, and see how I did!

DIET

For the second straight day I made sure I filled my hollow leg. Here's how I went about it...

Breakfast: Protein shake with creatine early in the morning. The wife and I met up with the remaining family that was still in town around 8:30 at a buffet. Feed bag time! While I waited for a veggie omelet to get cooked, I had a small plate of scrambled eggs and 2 sausage links. After the omelet arrived, only about half of it got consumed...it was just sort of blah. I moved on to a fresh waffle with butter (no syrup for this guy) and polished the meal off with a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries. I probably could've eaten more but I didn't want to look like a pig in front of my family. :~D

Lunch: Home-cooked and home-grown stuffed peppers!! The wife's friend made up a fantastic Sunday lunch of her own green peppers stuffed with rice, sausage, and tomatoes. As a side dish, we were served lemon pepper squash (zucchini & summer squash sauteed with seasoning and butter). Outstanding! For dessert was homemade sour cream peach pie. Wow!

Dinner: After a long day we didn't feel like preparing or cleaning anything up. We needed a few things from Meijer which meant we'd be driving right past one of the best pizza joints in the City...Rotolos! I could have easily finished the whole thing but pulled up short since I was having ice cream, too. In my book, it doesn't get any better than pizza and ice cream!

There is no "DAY 29" on a 28 day program, but the wife and I plan to eat all fruit tomorrow. I found it to be very cleansing and my body reacted to it very well on DAY 7. I need it to balance out some of the indiscretions over the last few days!

DAY 26 - 40/30/30/Stretch-Pause, Part 8

WEIGHT = 178.0 LBS (Wow! Up 5.0 LBS! I guess the junk caught up with me today. Believe me, I feel it, too...all puffy)

WORKOUT

My hammies were shouting out today so those DAY 25 dead lifts must have done some good! The biceps were "buzzing" most of the day, too.

It's hard to believe, but this was the last workout of the program! Triceps were first followed by shoulders, hamstrings, thighs, and traps. I started with weighted dips and overhead tricep extensions. I got to liking those dips during Combat The Fat and doing them with weight is even better!

Shoulder presses were done with dumb bells. These muscles have shown tons of improvement during the course of the program despite the relatively short duration (28 days). I emphasized the stretch big time today at the bottom of the movement by trying to touch my elbows behind my back.

Moving on to legs it was first time for hamstrings. Leg curls and stiff-legged dead lifts were on tap and I hit them hard! Great squeezes and stretches today!

To work the thighs there's nothing better than the conventional squat...but I love to hate 'em! Phew! What a workout! I'm certain I hit them good since my legs were all rubbery afterward!

DIET

Breakfast: Repeat of the Hall of Fame b'fast from DAY 27! Homemade sausage and easy overnight oatmeal.

Snack (a.m.): 1 cup of yogurt with ground flax seed.

Lunch: The boss bought lunch today so that meant Italian...not good. :( The meal started with wedding soup (unbelievably good!) with mini meatballs and chicken. I should've just had a bowl of that! The main entree was lasagna and a couple of medium sized meatballs. At least I just had the lunch portion!

I wanted to get some fruit from the farmer's market and couldn't pass up a grass-fed milk ice cream cone. The kiddie size was chosen so it could've been worse. After sampling, I wanted the large bowl! :~)

Snack (p.m.): 1/2 can of tuna with EVOO and spices and 1 whole hard boiled egg on 2 slices of Ezekiel bread.

Dinner: Post workout protein shake with glutamine. My aunt and uncle sent us a "thank you" gift of Portillo's Italian beef from Chicago! I had a sandwhich with beef, au jus, green peppers, sport/hot peppers and a little bit of shredded mozzarella. Just to get *something* healthy, I ate a peach for dessert.

Pre-bed Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2 peaches with some almonds and cinnamon. YUM!

DAY 25 - 40/30/30/Stretch-Pause, Part 7

WEIGHT = 173.0 LBS (Same as DAY 23. A bit surprising considering the size of the steak I ate on DAY 24!)

WORKOUT

Pre-workout there wasn't too much to report other than feeling totally ready to hit the weights when it came time to workout. With only 2 workouts to go on the program, I was fired up and my muscles felt good!

Protocol today was chest, back, biceps, calves, and traps. I noticed a marked improvement in my chest strength as I was able to get more reps on the flat bench than I had previously. Very intense squeeze on the pecs, too!

For back, it was time for dead lifts, which...kicked my A$$! I think I could've ended the workout after the 2nd set! By the 3rd mini-set of the last cycle, I was spent and could only get 1 good rep and barely moved the bar attempting the 2nd! What a great exercise!

Thankfully biceps are less aerobic so I could catch my breath. Reverse curls were done as the contraction exercise and incline curls for the stretch. My arms are my best "workers" and really did some work tonight. I had veins popping out everywhere!

Once again, I just couldn't seem to work my calves hard enough with the equipment I have. The only thing I can figure is that they're stronger than I thought after all those sessions of jumping rope and jumping jacks during my Combat The Fat training. Before starting another cycle of the program, I need to figure out how to do calf raises more effectively.

To work the traps and finish out the workout it was shrugs. I've grown to like those a lot over the last 4 weeks. I'm pretty sure they did some good for rounding out my shoulders, too!

This workout lasted just short of an hour and I felt it! Good stuff!

DIET

Breakfast: Homemade sausage with leftover "easy overnight oatmeal". This should be in the breakfast Hall Of Fame! :)

Snack (a.m.): 1 cup of yogurt with ground flax seed

Lunch: Turkey meatloaf, 2 homegrown Roma tomatoes, sweet potato with coconut oil, cinnamon, and molasses, and 2 home grown peaches. All-American lunch right there!

Snack (p.m.): 1/2 can of tuna with some EVOO and spices on 2 slices of Ezekiel bread. One whole hard boiled egg. This snack seriously fuels my workout!

Dinner: Post-workout protein shake with glutamine. My oldest sister was in town from California so it was off to the newest, greatest Greek restaurant on the planet...Mykonos Greek Taverna & Bakery in Gahanna! Once again, I ordered the large gyro but ate only about half of the meat along with the veggies. The pita and balance of the meat came home for a dinner or lunch some time in the future. As an appetizer, the three of us (wife, sis, me) split the spanakopita which is spinach and feta cheese baked in a filo dough. Wow! The desserts are homemade there (excepting 2) so we each ordered a different one for sharing. I'm pretty sure heaven looks to this place for how to make pastries!

Pre-bed Snack: Yeah, no need for that tonight. I took my fiber and vitamins when we got back from dinner (after 9:00) and called it good.

All-in-all, nutrition was not the best but not the worst, either. Too much sugar, for sure, but at least it was post-workout when the muscles really suck it up!

DAY 24 - 40/30/30/Rest

WEIGHT = ???.? (No weigh in today...they didn't have a scale at the golf course! (~: )

WORKOUT

This is a scheduled day of rest away from the weights...which is good! My arms are pretty well shot from top to bottom and front to back! My shoulders and legs were surprisingly not heard from today, however. I must not have worked them hard enough!

Being out in the heat for a golf outing today was a good thing, I think. It kept my muscles loose, that's for sure!

DIET

We had a golf outing this afternoon so my nutrition wasn't the greatest. In fact, it was pretty awful. Thankfully this is a mass-building program so the extra calories are welcome...particularly when we're talking protein!

Breakfast: Protein shake with creatine right out of bed. Spelt (substituted for oats) pancakes with coconut oil, cocoa powder, and honey. I'll repeat ...mmmm... chocolate pancakes!

Snack (a.m.): 1 cup of yogurt with 4 tsp ground flax seed.

Lunch: From the menu at the club house, I chose a California wrap. This was grilled chicken with lettuce greens, cucumber, celery, and avocado on a tortilla wrap. I got the cottage cheese as a side and used that as a spread on the wrap instead of the ranch dressing. I left half of the wrap behind...the wrap itself that is, not the stuffing! For dessert, I brought that leftover chocolate cake from the Greek restaurant. Like I said, my nutrition was not the best today!

Snack (p.m.): I chose to skip this snack today due to the anticipated calorie intake at dinner.

Dinner: Steak! The outing we played in provided a damn fine dinner for us after a good day of golf. It started with a pretty standard salad of lettuce greens, red onion, black olives, parmesan cheese (if I had to guess), and Italian dressing. Then came the steaks! Bone-in ribeye, baby! On the side were some sauteed veggies (carrots, onions, and peppers) and seasoned mashed potatoes. I managed to skip the roll but helped Robin out with his veggies. Dessert was a chocolate brownie with walnuts which was actually very good. Just to reiterate...not the best nutrition day.

Snack: I was totally craving sweets and found myself finishing off the last of a batch of peach ice cream the wife and I had made a few weeks ago. Hey, at least I threw some ground flax seed on there! :~) Oh, and I had my glutamine supplement just before bed.

All-in-all, it wasn't the best day in the diet department. Hopefully the golfing burned some calories and the scale won't be too harsh tomorrow. DAY 25 is a big workout day so that should help!

DAY 23 - 40/30/30/Stretch-Pause, Part 6

WEIGHT = 173.0 (Back up 3.0 LBS!)

WORKOUT

Even though my upper body was noticeably worked-over from DAY 22's workout, I was looking forward to today's routine. The biceps must've really gotten punished yesterday since there is quite a bit of tension in those. The incline curls give a helluva stretch so I'm sure that's what I'm feeling there!

Today's schedule: triceps, shoulders, thighs, hamstrings, traps. For tri's, it was close-grip presses followed by overhead dumb bell extensions. Next was shoulder presses with dumb bells. My shoulders pumped out some great reps! Those might be throbbing tomorrow!

After shoulders, it was on to squats. AUGH! I've always hated squats but I know they are part of the way to widening out my stilt-legs so they must be done! I did ok on the first three mini-sets with 165 LBS on the bar but my legs (and back) tired out quickly. Next time, I'll probably drop the weight a little to concentrate more on form and get a few more reps deeper into the workout. This shows just how weak that part of my system is.

Leg curls and dead lifts were pretty tough after doing squats. Wow! I knocked out some nice reps on the leg curls, for sure! My hamstrings have shown some great improvement in the last 3 weeks!

The real question is...will I be able to swing a golf club tomorrow?!?! The 90°+ temps should help.

DIET

Breakfast: Leftover easy oatmeal (steel-cut oats, apples, figs, brown sugar, coconut oil, walnuts, milk) from last week with one home made sauasage patty. Very satisfying!

Snack (a.m.): 1 cup of yogurt with 4 tsp ground flax seed.

Lunch: Leftover gyro from Friday night's dinner out with the wife. Seriously...the best gyro meat on the planet! I added some red onion and home grown Roma tomatoes since I had eaten most of the veggies for dinner. For dessert I had a 1/4 cantaloupe and some blueberries. AWESOME!

Snack (p.m.): 1/2 can of tuna with EVOO and spices and 1 hard boiled egg on 2 slices of Ezekiel bread. Great pre-workout snack!

Dinner: Peach smoothie! 3 fresh peaches, 1 cup yogurt, 2 scoops of protein powder, glutamine, 1 T honey, 1 T EVOO, 1/2 oz walnuts. It turned out to be a masterpiece!

Pre-bed Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese with almonds and 1/2 cup grapes.

Good eatin' today!!

WEEK 3 - Ending Photos & Stats

The 3rd week of Nick Nilsson's 28-Day Muscle Explosion Program is behind me! It turned out to be a great training week despite an awkward start. Doing the same routine more than once definitely helped in terms of logistics and weight-change efficiencies. The question is, do the stats show I had a good week?? Let's see!

The stats below and the "start of week 4" photos shown were taken just prior to beginning my DAY 22 workout on Monday 9/1 around 5:00 PM.

Stats:

• Weight = 170.0 LBS (up 1.5 LBS Not bad but I did peak at 173.0 earlier in the week)
  
• Body Fat = 10.5% (Up 2% but that's ok. I'm keeping an eye on my abs and I still see them!)
  
• Chest = 38.5" (up 0.25"!)
  
• Waist = 32.0" (Same...I'm good with that!)
  
• Calves = 14.5" (up 0.25" Love to see growth ANYWHERE in the legs!)
  
• Neck = 14.75" (Same but had a big gain last week!)
  
• Arms = 12.5" (up 0.25"for the second straight week! Sweet!)
  

DAY 22 - 40/30/30/Strech-pause, Part 5

WEIGHT = 170.0LBS (Down 2.0 LBS. My metabolism must really like the lower fat, higher protein ratio)

WORKOUT

After 2 days of rest and knowing this is the last week of the program, I was ready to get back at it! WEEK 4 is a continuation of Stretch-Pause training. I was actually happy to see dead lifts back on the menu for today! Having done those for 5 days straight in WEEK 2, I now know what a great total-body workout those bad boys are! The balance of training for DAY 22 was chest, biceps, calves, and traps.

I effed up on the dead lifts right off the bat. I mis-read the program notes and did only one set instead of three. I still think I'm going to feel that tomorrow! The chest workout (press followed by flyes) was awesome today! Great focus and intensity! I still struggle a little bit with getting a good calf workout. I feel like I'm working the crap out of them but then they're hardly ever sore!

Overall, the body was in really good shape today and took the workout well. I'm all geeked up for DAY 23 already!

DIET

It was back to a more balanced diet after eating low fat and high protein for DAYS 20 & 21.

Breakfast: Since it was Labor Day, I got to get right to eating straight out of bed and didn't need a protein shake. A nice change! I cooked up some homemade sausage patties and had one of those with a serving of the spelt pancakes leftover from yesterday. The p'cakes got topped with coconut oil and coco powder along with honey. Mmmm...healthy chocolate pancakes! A little bit of watermelon, a few grapes, a few blueberries and some almonds rounded things off.

Snack: 1/2 can of tuna and 1 hard boiled egg mixed with EVOO and some spices on 2 slices of Ezekiel bread.

Lunch: I went the smoothie rout today since the wife and I were on the go this afternoon. To start, some iced coffee got blended with 2 scoops of protein powder and creatine. After that it was frozen banana, honey, cinnamon, cocoa powder, coconut oil and almond butter. This turned out to be quite a meal...very satisfying!

Dinner: Post-workout shake with glutamine. Then it was pizza time! Whole wheat crust topped with garlic sauteed in EVOO, homemade Italian sausage, Italian blend of cheese, red onion, home grown peppers, home grown Roma tomatoes, and mushrooms. Next up after the Chinese restaurant is a pizzeria! (~:

Pre-bed snack:

DAY 21 - Low fat, High protein/Rest

WEIGHT = 172.0 LBS (down 1.0 LBS...probably water loss from all the protein)

WORKOUT

It's hard to believe this is the end of WEEK 3 already! DAY 21 is a scheduled day of rest from the weights. I cut the grass today and what a difference a week makes! After The Structural Attack last week, I was really taking it easy while pushing the mower. Much different today. The only thing that slowed me down was the long grass!

Tomorrow starts WEEK 4 which is the last week of the program (already!).

DIET

Another day of low fat, high protein. I had a good menu planned out yesterday and today so the only times I really missed the fats were with my milk and yogurt snacks.

Breakfast: Protein shake right out of bed...then back to bed (again!). I made up new batches of spelt (substituted for the oatmeal) pancakes and had a serving of those with some honey. A cup of milk and a scoop of protein powder along with creatine rounded out the meal.

Snack: 1 can of tuna with some spices, 1 slice of Ezekiel bread, and some grapes.

Lunch: Pretty much the same as yesterday's breakfast. 6 egg whites with salsa topped with 1 oz of shredded mozzarella. 1 cup of oatmeal with cinnamon and a glass of milk with protein powder, glutamine, and 1-1/2 tablespoons of molasses. Oh yeah...I had a peach, too!

Dinner: Chicken stir fry! I heated up some garlic in coconut oil and threw in some more of that hot mustard sauce from the Chinese place. Mixed in with the sauce was green beans, broccoli, and leftover grilled chicken. Two desserts again! First was my new favorite...sweet potato with honey and cinnamon. Then I made up a choco-mint-java smoothie with milk, protein powder, cocoa powder, mint extract, and some iced coffee. That was good on a warm day!

Pre-bed Snack: 1 cup of yogurt with protein powder and glutamine.

The fat comes back tomorrow!

DAY 20 - Low fat, High Proten/Rest

WEIGHT = 173.0 LBS (Up 3 from yesterday! Was it the chocolate cake? (~: )

WORKOUT

DAY 20 is a scheduled day of rest on the program. Overall the body feels pretty good after doing some tough training through the week. I noticed a little soreness in my shoulders and a little more in my thighs. That's good for my chicken legs!

One more day of rest tomorrow.

DIET

The low-fat days have not been my favorite but I did ok today.

Breakfast: Protein shake right out of bed...then back to bed! Later, I had 6 egg whites with Fronterra salsa. Then I made up a new batch of oatmeal and had a bowl of that with some fresh peaches and cinnamon. I mixed up some milk with protein powder and molasses and put some of that into my oatmeal. Good stuff!

Snack: 1 cup of yogurt with a scoop of protein powder and creatine.

Lunch: Tuna stir fry! I heated up some garlic and coconut oil and then threw in some soy sauce and hot mustard sauce from the Chinese restaurant. In the meantime, I steamed up some broccoli and fresh green beans from the farmer's market then mixed it all together with 2 cans of tuna. Time to open a Chinese restaurant of my own! For dessert, I heated up some sweet potato and had that with honey and cinnamon.

Dinner: I made this one up on the fly and might just have to do it again! I heated up some leftover grilled chicken with some tomato sauce in a pan. I mixed in some home-grown tomatoes and peppers and then poured it all over a couple of torn up pieces of Ezekiel bread. That got topped with 1 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese. Yum! Two desserts tonight! First, I had a fruit salad of yellow watermelon, blueberries, and grapes. To top it off, I made up a mint chocolate protein shake with milk, protein powder, cocoa powder, and a little mint extract. Nice and refreshing!

Pre-bed snack: 1 cup of yogurt with a scoop of protein powder and glutamine. I added some vanilla extract and stevia tonight for some flavor. That was pretty good!

DAY 19 - 40/30/30/Stretch-Pause, Part 4

WEIGHT = 170.0 LBS (I guess I burned through that big bowl of oatmeal at breakfast!)

WORKOUT

Hardly any soreness to speak of...must have worked it all out last evening! My upper body muscles are feeling tight and big. The wife gave the bicep a glance and a "wow!" this morning while I was brushing my teeth. I guess it's not just my imagination!

Up on the board today was triceps, shoulders, thighs, hamstrings (work those chicken legs!!), and traps. Once again, I preset all the weights and had a great workout! Setting things up before hand really allows me to focus on each set and keeps my rest periods on schedule.

For tri's I did weighted dips by putting a 45 LB and 10 LB plate on my lap while stretching out between chairs and then followed that up with dumb bell extensions. Shoulders were done with barbell presses alternating front and back bottom positions. I really busted my butt on legs tonight doing split squats and sissy squats for my thighs and leg curls and stiff-legged dead lifts for my hammies. I did shrugs to hit the traps and then did some brief ab work to round out the week.

I'm looking forward to some good measurements come Monday! For now...it's time for a rest! Just in time for a holiday weekend!

DIET

The wife and I hosted my aunt and uncle from Kansas City last night on their way back from dropping their daughter off at Denison University. We hit First Watch for breakfast this morning before I headed in to the office.

Breakfast: Protein shake right out of bed. Three-egg veggie omelet, half an English muffin, bowl of oatmeal with some banana (probably about half) and butter. Coffee, coffee, and....coffee. To go? Coffee.

Snack: 1 can of tuna with EVOO and spices on 2 pieces of Ezekiel bread. With the late breakfast this morning, I only had one snack during the afternoon (workout fuel!!).

Lunch: I really wanted something from "the Polish guy" at North Market Poultry & Game but, as anticipated, the place was a zoo on Friday at lunch. Oh well. I headed up High Street and found that campus was surprisingly accessible despite there being a home Buckeye football game tomorrow. Classes don't start for another couple of weeks so I was able to get a meter with no problem. Since I missed having fruit at breakfast, I stopped in IntaJuice for an acai power smoothie. It was delicious! For some healthy fat, I had a handful of mixed nuts and called it good!

Dinner: Post workout protein shake with glutamine then we were off to Mykonos Taverna & Bakery that recently opened at Stoneridge in Gahanna. Let me just say...O.M.G.!! I had an outstanding gyro. Seriously, the best ever. Dessert? Oh yeah. They had all their desserts displayed in a refrigerated case and you could tell they were all made right at the shop so there was no passing that up. I had a chocolate cake that easily stood 12" high.

I was pretty proud of myself tonight, though. I brought half the gyro AND half the cake home! There was a time when I would've easily finished both AND polished off the wife's gyro salad (which was also to die for, by the way). As I type this, I'm not stuffed or feeling miserable at all. I'll take it!

Pre-bed Snack: Um, no need for that tonight.

For the weekend (DAY 20 & DAY 21), it's back to high protein and low fat. Not my favorite but it's only for a couple of days.

DAY 18 - 40/30/30/Stretch-Pause, Part 3

WEIGHT = 172.0 LBS (I guess yesterday's weight was legit)

WORKOUT

The structure was much the same as DAY 15...chest, back, biceps, calves, traps, abs. The only difference was that, ideally, you'd use a slight variation of the same movement from the previous workout. For instance, I did chin ups instead of barbell rows for my back muscles. I had gotten pretty good at those earlier this year while doing Combat The Fat so it felt comfortable to choose those.

Most of the soreness I experienced yesterday (which wasn't too bad) was gone today. I planned out each exercise and preset the weights and equipment based on my experience from DAY 15. All that said, the workout went really well! I only had one glitch in choosing a stiff-arm pull down weight. Other than that, I went bang-bang-bang from exercise to exercise. The entire workout was just under an hour.

DIET

Nothing too noteworthy today...just more great food! (~:

Breakfast: Protein shake followed by oatmeal pancakes with coconut oil and honey.

Snack (2): Can of tuna mixed up with some extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and spices on two pieces of Ezekiel bread. Can you say workout energy?!

Lunch: What a great week of lunches it's been! This meal was much like DAY 17's dinner...turkey meatloaf, grapes, and sweet potato with coconut oil and honey. For a little variation, I mashed up the sweet potato first then mixed it up with the honey and coconut oil in a small bowl. I hope I'm not tired of sweet potatoes when Thanksgiving rolls around!

Dinner: Post-workout protein shake with creatine. Left over stuffed zucchini with some tomato sauce, two home-grown Roma tomatoes and one home-grown green pepper. Having veggies right out of the garden makes you want to never buy another piece of produce from a chain grocery store ever again! For dessert...fruit. I had two fresh-picked peaches from our friends Joe & Leah's orchard, a plum, and an apple with Krema natural peanut butter.

Pre-bed snack: 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with blueberries and almonds (my fave!)

DAY 17 - 40/30/30/Rest

WEIGHT = 172.0 LBS (Up 3.0 LBS! Wow!)

WORKOUT

A day of rest...at least from the weights.

My chest is fairly sore but not to the point where it's killing me. I noticed my upper chest (just below my collar bones) is barking a little at me. This is cool since those muscles are hard to get to in a workout! Building those muscles really gives a great shape to that area of the body.

My shoulders must've gotten a good workout yesterday, too. By the end of the day they were fairly sore. I could feel that my hamstrings and thighs got some decent work also. They were showing signs of being a little tight.

Back to the gym tomorrow!!

DIET

Breakfast: Protein shake right out of bed. Leftover overnight oatmeal from DAY 15 and homemade breakfast sausage.

Snack (2): 1 cup of yogurt with 4 tsp of ground flax seed. 1 string cheese.

Lunch: Stir fry! Same as DAY 15 here...brown basmati rice with grilled chicken, green beans, broccoli and red onion all sauteed in coconut oil. What a great meal!

Dinner: Since no workout was scheduled for tonight there was no need for a shake...right to real food! I had 2 servings of leftover turkey meatloaf, some cantaloupe and grapes. Dessert was sweet potato with honey, cinnamon and coconut oil. That's good stuff!!

Pre-bed Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup blueberries, and some almonds.

DAY 16 - 40/30/30/Stretch-Pause, Part 2

WEIGHT = 169.0 LBS (Up 0.5!)

WORKOUT

The body today was a little stiff (not sore) in the chest and arms from yesterday's workout. My calves showed no sign that I had even worked them. Consideration needs to be made about how to engage those S.O.B.s to get them to grow!

This was the 2nd day of stretch-pause training that I described in DAY 15's blog. I haven't got the hang of it just yet (it's only the 2nd day so give me a break!) but I really like the method. Exercises today were shoulders (presses with dumb bells), triceps (close-grip bench & overhead extension), hamstrings (leg curls and stiff-legged dead lifts), thighs (split squats & sissy squats), and shrugs. This was followed by a quick ab workout.

I did pretty well choosing weights and getting all the exercises pre-set this go around, but got SO far ahead of myself I did hamstrings before thighs!! Whoops! Other than that, I was very pleased today and the workout was about 20 minutes shorter.

DIET

I backed off a little on the overall volume (but not calories) today which seemed to leave me less sluggish. Probably not good to eat a high volume of food the day after cramming in protein for 2 days. Noted.

Breakfast: Protein shake with creatine. Oatmeal pancakes with honey and coconut oil.

Snack (2): 1 cup yogurt with ground flax seed. 1 oz of cheese.

Lunch: Tuna salad...tuna, mayo, 1 hard boiled egg, green olives, and Scott's special blend of spices (~: I had the tuna salad on two slices of 3-seed bread along with some of our home-grown Roma tomatoes (best EVER!). For dessert, plenty of cantaloupe and watermelon from the farmer's market along with grapes and blueberries.

Dinner: Another round of stuffed zucchini! The wife's edition of this tonight was stellar! On the side I had a piece of 3-seed bread WITH BUTTER(!!) and for dessert some watermelon and grapes.

Pre-bed Snack: 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with 1 cup of blueberries and some almonds. Awesome!

DAY 15 - Back to 40/30/30/Stretch-Pause, Part 1

WEIGHT = 168.5 LBS (I actually thought it would be higher!)

WORKOUT

This was the first day of a new week which means things change again. That's to be expected, though, since this program is only 4 weeks long. Actually, the final 2 weeks are about the same implementing a routine called "stretch-pause" training. This is another unique training method I had not heard of before. The principle is that you do a "normal" set of a full-range contraction exercise (say bench press) to failure, follow that up with a stretch exercise (say chest flyes), and then jump right back to the first exercise (bench press) but...you only do partial reps to burnout. Rest 90 seconds and then do that again.

DAY 15's schedule called for following that routine for chest, back, biceps, calves, and traps. Learning something new is always a challenge so this was no different! I struggled a bit with weight selection and logistics. Since you're only supposed to rest 20 seconds between mini-sets (90 seconds between full sets), you don't have much time to make adjustments! This resulted in a pretty long workout. The time sure flew, though, since I was constantly changing exercises and weights. I had a good sweat worked up, too, which I felt good about.

Post workout, my muscles felt pumped all night! I hope that continues for the rest of the program.

DIET

After a couple of low fat, high protein days it was back to normal again. Damn those walnuts tasted good this morning!

Breakfast: Protein shake with creatine. 3 oz of homemade breakfast sausage and one serving of "overnight oatmeal" (the recipe link is not exact but pretty close).

Snack (2): 1 cup of blueberries, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 4 tsp ground flax with some cinnamon

Lunch: I made up a killer stir fry over the weekend to heat up for lunches a couple times this week. Grilled chicken, 1/2 cup red onion, 1 cup broccoli, 1-1/2 cups green beans (fresh from the farmer's market), brown basmati rice...all mixed up in a tablespoon of coconut oil with garlic.


Snack (2): 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with 1 cup of blueberries. 4 tsp ground flax seed.

Dinner: The wife is on a roll with dinners and tonight was no exception! Turkey meatloaf! After my workout, I had a protein shake with glutamine then it was time for meatloaf. On the side I had some sweet potato with coconut oil, molasses, and cinnamon. I followed that up with some fresh yellow watermelon from the farmer's market.

Pre-bed Snack: 1 cup of yogurt with almonds.

Today's food volume was pretty high so tomorrow I'll try to lighten things up tomorrow (DAY 16).

WEEK 2 - Ending Photos & Stats

The 2nd week of Nick Nilsson's 28-Day Muscle Explosion Program is behind me! It was a challenging week, that's for sure. Change sometimes requires stepping out of your comfort zone so for the 1st time I incorporated dead lifts into my workout. I had to learn quick, too, since I did set after set for upwards of 45 minutes for 5 straight days.

The stats below and the "start of week 3" photos shown were taken just prior to beginning my Day 15 workout on Monday 8/25 around 6:00 PM.

Stats:

• Weight = 168.5 LBS (up 4.5 LBS)
  
• Body Fat = 8.1% (down 2%! This is good if my weight it up!)
  
• Chest = 38.0" (up 1/4")
  
• Waist = 32.0" (up 3/4" Yikes!)
  
• Calves = 14.25" (down 0.25" Definitely not liking that!)
  
• Neck = 14.75" (up 0.75" Whoa!)
  
• Arms = 12.25" (up 0.25" Sweet!)
  

DAY 14 - Low fat, high protein/Rest

WEIGHT = ???.? LBS (Whoops! Forgot to weigh in today! I'm due for a full update with measurements and pictures tomorrow, anyway.)

WORKOUT

As advertised, this was a second day of much needed rest. I did have to mow the grass (just beat the thunderstorms!) today and noticed my lower back was a little stiff. I mowed slower than my normal pace just so to make sure I kept upright and used my legs instead of my back. No self-propelled laziness around this house! (~:

The end of week 2 promises an update on my stats and new photos. I'm VERY interested to see how it all turns out! I've been eating TONS of food (seemingly) and loading up on the protein. Quite honestly, I feel friggin' huge! The tape (and scale) will tell come tomorrow!

I'm ready to hit the weights again so I'm looking forward to what DAY 15 has to offer!

DIET

It was the 2nd day in a row of low fat, high protein and that's about enough of that until next Saturday and Sunday! I struggled with getting my protein in but I managed. Here's to protein powder!

Breakfast: Protein shake with glutamine and creatine. 6 egg whites with Frontera salsa and 2 oz of chicken. For "dessert" I made a batch of yogurt pancakes to split with the wife. Yum! I topped them off with a cup of blueberries that I mashed into a compote with some Stevia. Nice!

Snack: 1 cup of 1% milk with a scoop of protein powder (surprise!). Today I added some cocoa powder and some Stevia for a chocolate fix.

Lunch: 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of kale, 6 oz of chicken, balsamic vinegar, and tomato salad. On the side were some homemade potato chips left over from DAY 13. For dessert, 1 cup of watermelon and a 1/2 cup of grapes.

Snack: 1 cup of yogurt and, you guessed it, some protein powder.

Dinner: Stir fry! 3 cans of tuna (yes, THREE cans!!), 1-1/2 cups green beans, 3 cups of broccoli all sauteed in a little bit of coconut oil along with some garlic. For dessert, I had half a sweet potato with some cinnamon and raw honey. You better believe I wanted some butter on that!! Not today, though!

Pre-bed Snack: 1 cup of yogurt with a scoop of protein powder. Thankfully, the tummy smiles at yogurt!

I'm looking forward to including some fat in the diet again come tomorrow!! See you then!

DAY 13 - Low Fat, High Protein/Rest

WEIGHT = 169.0 LBS (up 2 LBS! This might be somewhat skewed since I had to weigh in shortly after eating lunch so we could scoot out to a gathering at a friend's house)

WORKOUT

This was a scheduled day away from the weights so rest I did! My back and legs were still noticeably tired and my back was just a little sore riding around in the car earlier. Overall, I feel pretty good despite a pretty solid pounding over the last few days.

My muscles definitely feel pumped up despite not lifting anything other than some groceries. My shorts felt tighter around my thighs so that's a good sign! Honestly, I'd like to keep going with the dead lifts, but those don't appear in the rotation again until WEEK 4. It's definitely a love/hate relationship!

DIET

The program called for this to be a low fat, moderate carb, and high protein nutritional day. Generally speaking, I tried to replace my fat calories with protein calories. This is a challenge when a gram of fat is more than twice as many calories as a gram of protein. What does this mean?? Eat TONS of lean protein...and that's just what I did!

Breakfast: Protein shake with glutamine and creatine. 6 egg whites with salsa and 1 oz of shredded mozzarella on top. To finish things off I had a cup of 1% milk with ANOTHER scoop of protein powder, some oatmeal (steel cut with cocoa powder, cinnamon and some of that milk), and a peach.

Snack: 1 cup of yogurt with ANOTHER scoop of protein powder

Lunch: Spinach salad with some tomato from Dad T's garden, balsamic vinegar and chicken breast. I roasted up some Chipotle seasoned potato chips and had those with a chicken and cheese sandwich on some 3 seed bread. Oh yeah...and 1 cup of milk with ANOTHER scoop of protein powder.

Snack: We were at a pot luck/cookout so I had some fresh veggies with yogurt dip, a couple of slices of cheese, and some chipotle-lime deviled eggs that the wife made. YUM! You'll have to check her blog for the recipe! :)

Dinner (still at cookout): Lots of grilled chicken breast with slices of tomato, corn/bean/pepper salad (nice job Reener's!), 3-bean salad, and some more fresh veggies. For dessert...Reener's "beanie brownies" and a piece of birthday cake (the host was turning 60).

Pre-bed snack: Yogurt with ANOTHER(!!) scoop of protein powder, glutamine, and creatine.

Tomorrow's another repeat of today. I'll be ready for some coconut oil and EVOO on Monday, that's for sure!

DAY 12 - Same Diet/Structural Attack, Part 5

Weight = 167.0 LBS (Despite being down 1.5 LBS, I think I can actually feel myself growing! I'm going to pop out of my skin like The Hulk pops out of his clothes! Today's weight is probably more of a true number. The volume of food I ate prior to weighing in was less today...but read on!)

WORKOUT

My legs were noticeably tired and my lower back was tired and a little sore today. I like it! Using the proper form despite having to drop my bar weight down made quite a difference in the way my legs feel. My back also felt like it had been worked but in a healthy way...not like I was headed for an injury. That would NOT be good since I still have two weeks to go on the program!

This was the last (finally!) workout of The Structural Attack (WEEK 2)...40 minutes of deadlifts! Mentally, I was just as tired as my muscles were. The past 5 days have been quite the after-work butt kicking! Next time I go through this program, I'll schedule the rest days (DAY 13 and DAY 14) to fall on Monday and Tuesday instead of on the weekend. It'd be nice to not have to cram the workouts and then a big meal into the evening.

Despite all that, the last installment of The Structural Attack went well. Maybe a little too well? I started with the same weight as yesterday (115 LBS) and cranked away at that for nearly 25 minutes. I dropped 10 LBS and then another 10 LBS on the last few sets. I did the burnout set with that weight for 16 solid reps.

I think my form must've held fairly true since my back doesn't feel like I've been bent over shoveling snow like it has the past couple of nights. I'm hoping for only a little discomfort tomorrow. Mostly, though, I'm looking forward to a couple days off of the weights!

DIET

It seemed like I was hungry quickly after my meals and snacks today. The metabolism must be cranking away!

Breakfast: Protein shake with creatine and glutamine. Next up was my heap of oatmeal pancakes with coconut oil and honey. I topped that off with some watermelon, grapes, and ground flax seed. This breakfast WILL be repeated next week! :~)

Snack: 1 cup yogurt with ground flax seed. 1 oz cheese.

Lunch: Two servings (oh yeah!) of chicken veggie skillet dish leftover from DAY 8's dinner. Mmmm good! For dessert...watermelon and grapes. You'd think that fruit combo would be getting old but you'd be wrong! I actually bought another watermelon at the farmer's market today!

Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, some protein powder, 1 cup blueberries, ground flax seed and cinnamon. This is my healthy substitute for cheese cake!

Dinner: Post workout protein shake with glutamine and creatine then...Pizza! Wonderful pizza! That's right! One bountiful pie was created by the wife and I. We started with a whole wheat crust which got topped first with sauteed garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Then we loaded it up with homemade Italian sausage (grass fed beef, of course, not pork), Italian cheese blend (from Meijer), red pepper, onion, mushrooms and our home grown Roma tomatoes I let it cook a little too long but it sure tasted good! I'm pretty sure I could survive on garlic and oil. :~)

Pre-bed Snack (yeah, this wound up being a midnight snack...whoops!): 1 cup yogurt with some walnuts.

DAY 11 - Same Diet/Structural Attack, Part 4

Weight = 168.5 LBS (Up 4.5!! I guess yesterday WAS the start of a trend!)

WORKOUT

If you think I'm sounding like a broken record, you're right. If you think I *feel* like a broken record, you'd be right again! DAY 11's workout called for 35 minutes (up from 30 yesterday) of dead lifts.

My lower back was fairly sore and tired last night and today which didn't sit right with me. I went on line to see what I could find about dead lifts. As it turns out, I think my technique has been off these past four days of The Structural Attack. It seems my legs are weaker than I even thought which was causing me to slouch over the bar...particularly on the way down. Not good for the lower back! Proper form is to keep your chest out, head up/forward, and your weight on your heels. My bodyweight was definitely leaning up on my toes.

Needless to say, I didn't bring my ego to the gym...I mean basement...tonight and started with just 115 LBS on the bar. You're not going to believe it, but I think that was probably even too heavy for proper form. I was able to do that weight for a little over 10 minutes then I dropped down to my ending weight of 95 LBS for the last 25 minutes or so.

Although having to use such a light weight is disappointing, I'm learning a lot about my body. I really need to focus on getting my legs stronger. This could be tough as I've always relied on my back to do a lot of work. Having stilts for legs doesn't help! Developing those support muscles is going to be critical.

DIET

Breakfast (pretty much the same as DAY 9): Protein shake with creatine and glutamine. 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 1 oz mozzarella with garlic and a little bit of tomato sauce (Italian omelet!). Then there was the chocolate peanut butter oatmeal with a banana, honey, cinnamon and walnuts. Makes my tummy all warm just thinking about it!

Snack (2): 1 cup yogurt with ground flax. 1 oz of cheese.

Lunch: Tortilla casserole leftover from dinner on DAY 10. I was *way* too excited in anticipation for this meal! It's worth repeating that the wife assembled one heck of a dish with this one!

Dinner: Post workout protein shake with glutamine and creatine. After that, it was time for round 2 of stuffed zucchini (see DAY 9). I think we could make a good living baking and selling this dish! I'm hoping we'll have one more round of this before the growing season comes to an end! For dessert, I had some watermelon and grapes with some almonds and walnuts.

Pre-bed Snack: 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, some almonds, and watermelon (yes, it was a big melon!)

DAY 10 - Same Diet/Structural Attack, Part 3

Weight = 164.0 LBS (Up 0.5 LBS...is this the start of a trend??)

WORKOUT

Ho hum...dead lifts for the 3rd straight day (yawn...or so you'd think!). Things are getting serious now! The schedule called for 30 minutes of lifting. 3 reps per set. Rest for 30 seconds between sets. I increased my starting weight on the bar today to 175 LBS (up 60 LBS from yesterdays start). This was pretty close, I think, to where I should've started. I was able to do that weight for a little over 6 minutes. I had two incremental weight drops and finished at 155 LBS. What a sweat I had going at the end of the session! This is unusual for me, as I typically don't sweat easily and the air conditioning has been on the last few days so it's fairly cool and less humid in the basement...I mean gym...than it has been. I'm thinking I worked pretty hard and now I'm pretty tired!

To finish things off, I did a little light stretching. The program says this is acceptable AFTER the workout and it felt good to do it. I might actually be noticeably stiff and sore tomorrow. Up until this point, I've only had minor discomfort during the day. Time will tell but I might be getting out of my chair a few less times tomorrow at the office! :~)

DIET

I'm totally loving this phase of the program since I'm all about the eating!

Breakfast (same as DAY 8): Right out of bed I had a scoop of protein and my glutamine and creatine supplement. A little while later it was a heap of oatmeal pancakes with coconut oil and honey. The pancakes were washed down with watermelon and some blueberries topped with ground flax. This is such the satisfying meal that I wasn't even hungry for my snack at 9:30!

Snacks (2): 1 cup of yogurt with ground flax and 1 oz of mozzarella cheese. Simple but oh so good for the body!

Lunch: Since I had to handle some business at lunch, I stopped for take out from Northstar Cafe on High Street in the Short North. I ordered their Korma Bowl and it was better than I remembered! Ingredients include chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, and red cabbage in a mild/medium curry sauce over brown rice. A muscle-builder's delight! The coffee is also outstanding there so I had to get a cup to go...dark roast, of course!

Dinner: I thought lunch was going to be the highlight of the nutrition today. WRONG! The wife banged out another gem...tortilla casserole. What's this? Think of it as Mexican lasagna. Seasoned (Christina's special blend so no MSG chemical crap!) ground beef (grass fed, of course), red kidney beans, diced tomatoes, green chilies, and sour cream stuffed between Ezekiel sprouted tortillas which were topped with cheese. Unbelievable goodness! Catch me at lunch tomorrow and you'll see me chomping down on the leftovers!

Pre-bed Snack: Protein shake with peaches and walnuts. This was a whipped, frothy masterpiece...guaranteed! (~:

Here's to being able to function on DAY 11!

DAY 9 - Good Eating/Structural Attack, Part 2

Weight = 163.5 LBS (down 0.5 LBS...I was surprised! I had pot roast yesterday!)

WORKOUT

Dead lifts were on the menu again...but for 25 minutes instead of yesterday's 20. I put 115 LBS on the bar since yesterday's starting weight was way too heavy for me. This turned out to be too light since I was able to do the sets of 3 reps for the entire 25 minutes with this weight. Picking the "right" weight has definitely been a challenge for me throughout the program so far...particularly since I've never done dead lifts in a gym setting.

Nevertheless, this was still a kick butt workout today! My legs were like rubber and I'm sure I looked like a cartoon character trying to get up the steps and out of the basement...I mean gym!

My legs were fairly sore but not too stiff and the same with my lower and middle back muscles. No, my back wasn't sore in an "I'm injured" fashion...just that it had been worked hard. Dead lifts are quite the ab workout, too, as it turns out. The wife commented on how they're really popping out in the photos. I'll take that!

DIET

Since the diet doesn't change too much from here on out, I won't be commenting so much as listing what I ate. Here's what I had today...

Breakfast: 2 egg whites, 2 whole eggs, 1 oz cheese and some salsa. Oatmeal (steel cut!) with raw honey, banana, and cinnamon and cocoa. Chocolate oatmeal, you say? Hell yes!

Snacks (2): 1 cup yogurt, 1 string cheese, 4 tsp ground flax

Lunch: Chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, onion left over from last night along with watermelon and grapes.

Dinner: Protein shake (after workout) with glutamine and creatine. About 45 minutes later...stuffed zucchini! The wife out did herself tonight with this dish! Zukes (from our garden!!!) stuffed with brown rice, Italian sausage (homemade by yours truly!), Parmesan cheese, peppers and onions topped with tomato sauce. Man is it awesome! Oh...and I had a slice of 3-seed bread (homemade) with some butter. I'm looking forward to those leftovers!!

Snack (before bed): Watermelon, cottage cheese and some almonds.

Good night!

DAY 8 - Time to eat!/Structural Attack Part 1

Weight = 164.0 LBS (up a half pound from yesterday but considering what I ate...)

WORKOUT

Wow! Day 1 of The Structural Attack was 20 minutes of doing dead lifts. Sets of 3 reps were done 30 seconds apart for the full duration. After a rest, then a final "burn out" set was performed with the weight I was using at the end of 20 minutes...just to be sure you worked hard enough! Boy was I a sweaty mess! I was impressed with how well my cardio held out, though.

As impressed as I was with my cardio, I was that much DEpressed with my leg strength. I knew my legs were scrawny but this was crazy. After starting with 225 LBS on the bar, I realized I was WAY out of my league and dropped weight down all the way to 65 LBS. This wound up being too light so I wound up back at 80 LBS. At that point, I got the hang of things and was in a good groove...which is just what Nick said would happen.

DAY 9 is the 2nd day of The Structural Attack and I'll need to add some weight to the bar? How much? We'll find out!

DIET

Yes! It was time to eat! At least it seemed like it after having been on a fat loss program earlier this year and eating around 1,200 calories last week.

For breakfast, I had a protein shake which included the supplements glutamine and creatine. I followed that up with a heap of oatmeal pancakes (quickly becoming a favorite around the Jerzyk household!!) with coconut oil, honey, and banana.

My snacks during the day consisted of cottage cheese with blueberries and ground flax seed and a little bit of protein powder for that muscle-building boost!

Lunch was awesome! A vendor took us to Tip Top in downtown C-town where I had the best beef pot roast E-V-E-R!! It was a nice chunk of meat with carrots, onion, celery, and potato and one heck of a good piece of dark, dark multi-grain bread. This is a perfect mass-building meal...lots of protein, some complex carbs, and a reasonable amount of fat. Oh yeah...I snuck in a few sweet potato fries, too!

My wife put together a GREAT dinner that consisted of chicken, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, etc. all crockpotted (is that a word?) together. Outstanding! I just had a small serving so I followed that up with a protein shake with pineapple.

Before bed, I had cheese and some of that to die for watermelon from last weeks Pearl Alley Farmer's Market. Damn that stuff is sweet and juicy!

See you tomorrow!!

WEEK 1 - Ending Photos & Stats

The first 7 days of Nick Nilsson's 28-Day Muscle Explosion Program are behind me! What an interesting week! Low-carb, low-cal, all protein, all fruit, circuits, tissue remodeling, oh my! I can't believe it's DAY 8 already!

The stats below and the "start of week 2" photos shown were taken just prior to beginning my Day 8 workout on Monday 8/18 around 6:00 PM.

Stats:

• Weight = 164.0 LBS (down 6.5 LBS)
  
• Body Fat = 10.5% (same as 1 week ago but somehow my abs are back in the pictures)
  
• Chest = 37.75" (down 1/4")
  
• Waist = 31.25" (down 1/4")
  
• Calves = 14.5" (down 0.5")
  
• Neck = 14.25" (down 0.25")
  
• Arms = 12" (same)
  

As you can see, pretty much everything was down. I'm hoping this was actually fat loss. Even if it wasn't, this should give me something to build off of which is the whole point, right?

DAY 7 - Rest/Fruit

Weight = 163.5 LBS (Down 3.5 LBS from yesterday. Did the all-protein day suck all the water out? This *should* be my lowest weight on the program)

WORKOUT

Today was a day away from the gym. Since I usually do some sort of physical activity, I'm ready to rock on The Structural Attack that starts on DAY 8!

I noticed some soreness in my back/shoulders, calves, and biceps but nothing too serious. Now whatever those muscles are that are just above your knees but on the side of your legs...yikes! Those are pretty sore from doing sissy-squats...a new exercise to this bod!

Tomorrow starts The Structural Attack! Bring on the dead lifts!

DIET

Hola fruita! After eating nothing but (or close to it) protein yesterday, DAY 7 switches things around again while you're resting and calls for nothing but fruit to be consumed. Not a problem as it turned out!

I had several fruit salads throughout the day that consisted of blueberries, grapes, watermelon, bananas, pineapple, peaches, and cantaloupe. I kept things mixed up enough that I never got bored and could go another day! My calories were probably in the 1,200 to 1,300 range but I definitely was not hungry at all today. All that fiber in the fruit kept me satisfied!

One downside...all that water in the fruit had me in the "little boys room" CONSTANTLY! It was almost comical!

DAY 8 I get to start packing it on...at least for me. I'm shooting for the calories to be up near what is supposed to be my maintenance level (2,700) plus a few more for muscle gain. 3,000-ish is probably where I'll end up. That's going to seem like a TON of food after eating in the 1,400 to 1,600 range during Combat The Fat and down around 1,200 for the last week.

WEEK 2 starts tomorrow!

DAY 6 - Interval Cardio/Protein

Weight = 167.0 LBS (Yes, up 2.5 LBS from yesterday)

WORKOUT

What a difference a day makes! After getting tossed all over the weight room (ok, the basement) for the last 2 days, it was back to familiar turf for me...cardio. The schedule called for 30 seconds of high intensity work followed by 30 seconds of easy work. These intervals were to be alternated for a total of 15 minutes.

Since WEEK 1 is the fat-burning portion of the program, I decided to do this workout right after getting out of bed. I started out by walking for 5 minutes and then increased my intensity to a light jog for another 5 minutes. Then it was time for the first 30 second high intensity interval! "Hey, what the hell is that!?" Yup, it was my hamstrings barking at me! Needless to say, the first few speed intervals were at less than a sprint. It was fairly cool (54°) this morning, too, so warming up took a while. As a runner, it felt good to lace 'em up and hit the pavement even if it was short-lived. This was the last true cardio session of the whole 28 days.

After the cardio, a short core strengthening session was on the agenda. I did 2 sets of curl squats (totally killer), 2 sets of trunk twists with the cables, and two sets of hyperextensions for the lower back. Lastly, the program has you do a 3-in-1 rotator cuff movement to help prepare for the heavy lifting ahead.

The wife says I'm already starting to "look more rounded and thicker"! The program promises quick results and it has delivered! My arms and shoulders definitely feel bigger and it's only DAY 6!

DAY 7 is a rest day then WEEK 2 starts what's termed "The Structural Attack". After reviewing the info, I'd say the term is accurate!

DIET

It was "Caveman Day"! Ok, not really but protein, protein, protein was the theme. The trick was that fat and carb levels were to be kept very low. Also, I kept my calories fairly low...1,400 to 1,500. That kept me from eating too much crap (like fatty meats and cheeses).

Right after my workout, I drank down about 25g of glutamine in water for a quick shot of protein since my body was on empty and I had to prepare my first meal. Breakfast was 6 egg whites and chicken with salsa followed by some cottage cheese. Late morning, I had some chicken, tuna, and hard boiled egg whites with some spinach and salsa. Mid-afternoon was chicken only with some hot sauce dripped on there for flavor. Perhaps I was living in what is now Mexico during my Caveman days?? Anyway, the wife and I went out for dinner at Outback where I had grilled salmon with an iceberg lettuce wedge (no dressing...red wine vinegar and a squeeze of lime only) and a few cherry tomatoes. My late snack will likely be some sort of smoothie with cottage cheese and protein powder.

I totally can feel my muscles soaking up the protein. They're almost buzzing! Plenty of sugar/sweet cravings today, for sure. Also, there was no doubt when it was time to eat again. My energy would just crash.

DAY 7 switches things up on the body again...fruit rules the day. No protein. No fat. Just fruit. I'm prepped and ready to go with lots of blueberries, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and bananas. Again, I'm going to try and keep my calories in check but the program says not to worry about it too much. All the sugar is going to be getting sucked up by the muscles after depleting my glycogen stores over the last 3 days. Cool, I says!

DAY 5 - Tissue Remodeling/Low Carb

Weight = 164.5 LBS (down another 1.5 LBS)

WORKOUT

Today's workout was structured the same as yesterday for "tissue remodeling". Once again, the exercises alternated between the contracted and stretched positions of each muscle group. First you work the contracted position, rest 20 seconds, then work the stretched position. After that, you do 2 burn-out sets with light weight and, ideally, upwards of 50 reps. As if you weren't already spent! On the schedule today was shoulders, hamstrings, triceps, and quads.

As promised in DAY 4's entry, I did much better at pre-setting the equipment for each exercise so things moved a little more efficiently. I chose poorly with starting weights on the shoulders (too heavy), stiff-legged dead lifts (too heavy), and squats (too light). Doing bodyweight dips for the triceps burnout set was not a wise choice, either. My triceps were like "um, yeah, right, dude!" when I got to that point!

All-in-all, this was a GREAT workout! I wasn't sure my legs were going to hold me up after I was done! The real question is, will I be able to do the DAY 6 cardio workout??

DIET

This is going to look remarkably like DAY 4. I like to keep things simple since I'm preparing meals for the day at 4:30 in the morning. (~:

Once again, I was around 1,200 calories for the day. I was only slightly hungry this morning so that was a relief...I'm not big on being hungry :) . Splitting my meals up so I eat something every 2 hours really helps in this area...it keeps your body from panicking and thinking there's nothing left in the tank and no more coming for a while.

To sum up, it was cottage cheese and almonds for breakfast and pre-bed snack. Two meals during the day were spinach and kale salads with olive oil, walnuts, and 3 oz of either chicken (pastured, of course) or tuna (change from yesterday). Mid-day snack was 1 C of egg whites with salsa and some wilted spinach. Post-workout, I had a shake that consisted of blueberries, a peach, protein powder, and about 30 g of glutamine (an amino acid).

DAY 6 gets interesting in the nutrition department. The menu is supposed to consist almost entirely of protein!

DAY 4 - Tissue Remodeling/Low Carb

Weight = 166.0 (Didn't see that coming...down 2.5 LBS from yesterday)

WORKOUT

Holy crap! What a workout today was! Honestly, I didn't do very well with it and I STILL managed to get my butt kicked. I found out I'm way out of practice with free weights. I had no clue what weight to use when beginning each exercise so it was definitely a guessing game. I also had a minor incident (which could've been major!) with weights and bar while trying to do calf raises. Almost broke a sanitary pipe in the basement!

The basic principle of the Day 4 (and 5) workout is to stretch your muscles to provide the room they're going to need to grow later in the program. To do this, within a particular muscle group (biceps, for example) you alternate doing high-rep sets with heavy weight between the contracted (top part of a curl) and the stretch (bottom part when your arms are fully stretched) and work just that small part of the movement...over and over. After that, you do two high-rep sets with a light weight to really pump blood through the muscles. Wow!

As I mentioned, I wasn't very good at picking a starting weight. I typically chose too light which forced me to do a lot of reps. Not really a problem but the workout lasted over an hour...not particularly good. I also fumbled around changing weights, too, which cost me time. On Day 5 I'll be much more diligent at planning ahead and pre-setting the exercises.

DIET

After eating moderate carbs on Day 3, it was back to low carb. I pretty much ate the same things as on Day 1 except that I cut the portions down to get the calories to come out around 1,200. Amazingly, I wasn't too hungry. I think the fiber supplement is helping with that along with the relatively high percentage of fat (olive oil, nuts, coconut oil) I'm consuming.

To sum up, it was cottage cheese and almonds for breakfast and pre-bed snack. Two meals during the day were spinach and arugula salads with olive oil, walnuts, and 3 oz of either chicken (pastured, of course) or beef (grass-fed, of course). Mid-day snack was 1 C of egg whites with salsa and some wilted spinach. Post-workout, I had a shake that consisted of blueberries, a peach, protein powder, and about 30 g of glutamine (an amino acid).

The diet on Day 5 gets interesting so stay tuned!

DAY 3 - Rest/Moderate Carb & Protein, Low Fat

Weight = 168.5 LBS (love those fat-burning circuits)

WORKOUT

Thankfully today was a day of rest! After not having much soreness yesterday, my hamstrings are all kinds of sore today! Riding in the car to and from Cincinnati didn't help much. Tomorrow's workout could be tough in the leg department! I'm going to try Nick's (program developer) advice and take about 1500 mg of Vitamin C pre-workout tomorrow and see if that helps.

I actually was hoping my calf muscles would be at least a little sore! I have scrawny legs so I'd like to see those chicken sticks grow during the next month.

Tomorrow's workout is going to be a blast with lots of high rep sets at low weights.

DIET

Today's diet suited me just fine since I got to eat what seemed like a ton of carbs. I dropped my calories down to around 1,200 today. I wasn't really hungry except for having to wait longer than normal for lunch due to field trip issues.

For breakfast I had 1 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup each of plain yogurt and blueberries, 1 whole egg, and 2 egg whites (with C's homemade salsa!).

Snacks today (2 each) were 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and 1 peach during the day. Before bed I'll have 4 egg whites and another peach. Can you tell we had a bunch (actually a 1/4 peck!) of peaches??

Lunch was a can of tuna mixed with brown mustard and lots of spices on one slice of Bob's Red Mill 3-seed bread. I also had a green pepper and tomato followed by a "dessert" of cantaloupe, blueberries and grapes.

Dinner was 3 oz of chicken, 1-1/2 cups of green beans, 3 cups broccoli, and 1 sweet potato with cinnamon for dessert. I loves me some veggies!

Tomorrow it's back to low-carb eating which I'm cool with. We'll see how I do with it being the 2nd day at 1,200 calories.

DAY 2 - Resistance Circuits/Low Carb Diet (Part 2)

Pre-workout body weight = 169.0 LBS (got rid of some of that ice cream!)

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday both in terms of workout and diet. In fact, if you read my Day 1 post, you'll know what I ate today. I was fortunate enough to receive an audio interview with the author of the program, Nick Nilsson, today. After listening as best I could to the MP3 file on my computer at the office, I found out I'm probably eating too much for this first week of the program. This is the fat-burning portion of the program so I'll be knocking the calories down from about 1,800 the past 2 days to about 1,200 for the next 5. I'm going to be hungry but that's the point...starve (this week) and then feed (next week). To give you a preview, next week I'll be close to 3,000 calories!

The only real changes in the workout were to add one set of weight training to each muscle group and knock the cardio interval down from 40 seconds to 20 seconds. This made a heck of a difference in the weight I could use...had to go lighter for endurance purposes and to account for the fact I worked the same muscles as yesterday. Total workout time was just over 45 minutes.

Thankfully, tomorrow is an off day. I was pretty sore in my butt and hammies from the stiff-legged dead lifts. Otherwise, my previous circuit training probably helped me get through these two days.

My diet tomorrow will include significantly more carbs to replenish the muscle sugars to aid in the recovery process. See you then!!

Before Photos & Stats - 8/11/2008

Thanks to Jeff Anderson's "Combat The Fat" leaning-out program that I followed this Spring and early Summer, my body fat is way down (though up a little since finishing on 6/27) and I'm pretty well toned all over. For the next 28 days, I'll be following Nick Nilsson's (Jeff's buddy, by the way) 28-Day Muscle Explosion Program.

The stats below and the "before photos" shown were taken just prior to beginning my Day 1 workout on Monday 8/11 around 6:45 PM.

Stats:

• Weight = 170.5 LBS
• Body Fat = 10.5%
  
• Chest = 38"
• Waist = 31.5"
• Calves = 15"
• Neck = 14.5"
• Arms = 12"

Enough of the preliminary fluff...it's time to get to work!!

DAY 1 - Resistance Circuits/Low Carb Diet

Here we go! Hopefully I'll get more interesting as I go through the program but for now I'm going to keep it simple. This should help me stay committed to posting.

Today's diet was, thankfully, low carb. After a day-and-a-half of pasta, bread, ice cream, pancakes, and pizza, I was ready. Breakfast was cottage cheese, ground flax, and almonds. I had a couple of spinach salads with olive oil, walnuts and grass fed beef or chicken in the middle of the day. A snack included 5 egg whites, 1 oz of cheese, and some wilted spinach with salsa. Post-workout was a shake with lots of protein powder, 25g of glutamine, a peach, blueberries, walnuts, and coconut oil. My last snack will be a repeat of breakfast.

The goal of the workout and diet today is fat-loss. This means a low carb diet combined with an intense resistance circuit. The intervals were weights followed by cardio. For example, after a brief warm up, I did 40 seconds of jumping jacks and then moved right to dumbbell bench press. Did a set of 10, got up to do 40 seconds of jumping jacks and then went right back to bench press. Lather, rinse, repeat. The entire workout lasted about 45 minutes. Oh yeah...I'll be sore tomorrow!