Sunday 23 February 2014

Muscle Gains

I have been questioning whether or not I'm ready to enter another competition quite a bit.  Because I am still about 10-15lbs above my previous "off season" weight, it is incredibly hard to tell whether I've gained muscle, lost muscle, or maintained muscle.

So I've started looking at my previous weight training records and comparing them to now.  I use the app Gym Buddy to track my workouts, so I have a record of all my workouts in the last 3 years.  Just today I've discovered a handy "One Rep Max" graph in the history section of the app... here are a few results from major exercises:








So I may not be able to tell how my muscles look underneath that last layer of winter padding, but my strength gains certainly tell a story.  I'm looking forward to seeing some definition as I lean down!

Now I just have to learn to walk in heels...


Monday 3 February 2014

Cutting and Custom Diet Plans

I've been experimenting a bit with diet plans and am about to start a slow cut in preparation for the competition in June.

Basically, I'm planning on following the IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) plan for at least the first part of my cut and see how it goes.  It winds up being very close to the diet plan I was on in preparation for my last competition, but it a little easier to adjust myself as necessary.  I will also still be training under my previous (and only) trainer, although I'm trying to work toward being a bit more self-sufficient when it comes to doing these shows.  I do realize that I desperately need the advice, support and coaching of someone experienced with competitions, at least for now.

The website I used to find my starting macros is this one:

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/


I chose "suggested" fat loss as a goal and increased my protein intake to 1.25g per pound of body weight (as per this article on cutting:

http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-norton-the-most-effective-cutting-diet.html)  


I'm currently using MyFitnessPal to log all my meals and monitor my macros.  I basically messed around with the custom settings on MyFitnessPal to get my goal macros as close as possible to my results with the calculator (there is a hack to change macros by grams as opposed to percentage, but it doesn't work on a mac).


And my results?  I'm going to be shooting for:

95.5g of carbs
187.5g of protein
60g of fat
30g of fibre

For now, I am shooting for 4 weight training sessions per week and 3 cardio sessions.  Thankfully, roller derby starts again tomorrow, so that will count as 2 of my 3 cardio sessions.  For the third, I usually try to take my girls to the running track on Sundays (it's a real workout for me if I can persuade my toddler to get into the backpack-style Ergo carrier for at least a couple hard laps).

Looking forward to this new challenge!