Six Pack in Six Weeks (Feb 2018)

[Fraser_9to5]

As the name suggests, i’ll try to get the best Six Pack I can in the next 42 days, conveniently ending on my 31st birthday.

Diet: P150 C230 F73 Cals 2200

Lifestyle: Cold shower ~4x/week, use my standing desk more, Time-restricted eating (11 hours from first to last bit of food/drink in the day)

1 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 5 x 11 (these are spread across the day to minimise fatigue)
Max. BW Pullups in 3 mins – 29
Max. Prisoner Squats in 3 mins – 102
Max. BW Dips in 3 mins – 39
Max. Press Ups in 3 mins – 61
Stomach Vacuum – 5 x 10 secs

We do a “Fit February” at work and this was our Fitness Challenge. I have to re-do the numbers at the end of the month, hopefully having improved. My numbers are crummy because i’m just back from 10 days in India where there was minimal protein available (~40g/day).

2 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 5 x 11
Back Squat – 5 x 6 x 100kg RPE 7.9
OHP – 5 x 6 x 50kg RPE 7.8
Chin Ups – 5 x 6 x 5kg RPE 7
Leg Raise with Twist (P Bars) – 4 x 10
Otis Up – 12,10,8 x 8.5kg
Long Plank – 25s, 20s, 25s

3 Feb

TRX Atomic Push up – 3 x 10
V-Sit – 3 x 10
Ab Wheel (& Prone Pull in) – 3 x 6
10 mountain climber, 1 burpee x 25 – 9:09

5 Feb

Fasted A.M. Walking ~20 mins
Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 12
Back Squat – 5 x 6 x 100kg RPE 7.8
Dips – 3 x 6 x 10kg, 2 x 6 x 15kg RPE 6.3
OHP – 5 x 6 x 50kg RPE 7.8
Chin Ups – 5 x 6 x 7.5kg RPE 7.7
Seated Crunch (Bench) – 3 x 10 x 3.5kg
Stir The Pot – 30s, 30s, 25s
Arms Up Crunch – 3 x 20 x 2.5kg

6 Feb

Fasted A.M. Walking ~20 mins
Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 12

7 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 12
Bench Press – 5 x 6 x 85kg RPE 7.6
Hex DL – 5 x 6 x 110kg RPE 7.2
Chin Up Ladder (1 to 5) – 15 (i.e. completed), 13, 13, 12 reps
Dips – 5 x 6 x 20kg RPE 8.1
Leg Raise with Twist (P Bars) – 4 x 10
TRX Atomic Push up – 3 x 10
Long Plank – 25s, 25s, 25s
Conditioning – Run Length of Football Pitch, Walking Lunge Width
~68 lunges for the width, was 18 lunges short of 2 full laps

Good week. Diet is clean but not restrictive, the idea is to build up the ab muscles for a month or so and then taper off the carbs to reveal them a bit better.

Here’s a pic from Day One:

A post shared by 9to5 Strength (@9to5strength) on Feb 1, 2018 at 12:20pm PST

[Fraser_9to5]

8 Feb

Fasted A.M. Walking ~20 mins
Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 12

9 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 12
Back Squat – 5 x 6 x 100kg
OHP – 5 x 6 x 50kg
Chin Ups – 5 x 6 x 7.5kg
Seated Crunch (Bench) – 4 x 10 x 3.5kg
V-Sit – 3 x 10
Long Plank – 25s, 20s, 25s

10 Feb

L-Sit HOlds – 4 x 12 secs
Ab Wheel (& Prone Pull in) – 3 x 6
Plank (Feet on Wall) – 3 x 30 secs [no good]
15 tuck jumps/15 sit ups x 8 (10 min limit)

12 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 14
Back Squat – 5 x 6 x 100kg RPE 7.6
OHP – 5 x 6 x 50kg RPE 7.4
Chin Ups – 5 x 6 x 7.5kg RPE 7.5
Dips – 5 x 6 x 20kg RPE 7.9
Backward Tuck on P-Bars – 8, 6 x 6kg, 6 x 3.5kg
P Bar Leg Raise w Twist – 3 x 10
Stir The Pot – 25s, 25s, 25s

13 Feb

Fasted A.M. Walking ~40 mins
Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 14

14 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 5 x 14
Bench Press – 5 x 6 x 85kg
Hex DL – 5 x 6 x 110kg
Chin Up Ladder (1 to 5) – 15 (i.e. completed), 13, 9, 9 reps
Dips – 5 x 6 x 15kg (2 mins rest)
Otis Up – 3 x 10 x 8.5kg
V-Sit – 3 x 8
Ab Wheel (& Prone Pull in) – 3 x 6

Conditioning – (Hang Clean + 3x Push Press) – 5 x 20kg, 4 x 5 x 25kg (1 min rest)

[Fraser_9to5]

15 Feb

Fasted A.M. Walking ~30 mins
Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 14

16 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 14
Back Squat – 5 x 6 x 100kg
OHP – 5 x 6 x 50kg
Pull Ups – 5 x 6 x 5kg (2 mins rest)
Hanging Leg Raise – 3 x 10
TRX Push Up – 11, 9, 11, 10
Hollow Rock – 3 x 30 secs

17 Feb

L-Sit Holds – 4 x 12 secs
Hollow Rock – 3 x 30 secs
Long Plank – 3 x 30 secs
Rowing Machine 4 x 500m (2 mins rest) – 1:52.2, 1:53.6, 1:53.8, 1:55.9

19 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 16
Back Squat – 5 x 6 x 100kg
OHP – 5 x 6 x 52.5kg
Chin Ups – 5 x 6 x 5kg (2 mins)
Dips – 5 x 6 x 10kg (90 secs)
Hanging Leg Raise – 4 x 8
Stir The Pot – 3 x 30 secs
Arms Up Crunch – 10 x 10kg, 10,10,8 x 20kg

20 Feb

Fasted A.M. Walking ~30 mins
Frequency Push Ups – 6 x 16

21 Feb

Frequency Push Ups – 5 x 16
Power Clean – 3 x 3 x 80kg
Bench Press – 5 x 6 x 87.5kg
Hex DL – 5 x 6 x 112.5kg
Dips – 5 x 7 x 10kg (90 secs)
L-Sit Hold – 4 x 15 secs
Bwd Tuck Hold – 3 x 15 secs, 1 x 12 secs
Ab Wheel (& Prone Pull in) – 3 x 6

Conditioning – Sandbag Squat (alternate shoulder with ground touch between) x 50 in 8:50

Moved a few things around, I was doing too many chin ups so one has been scrapped and the other is now pull ups. I’m also switching to Front Squat, adding in Power Cleans and once i’ve done my work challenge of push ups and dips i’ll likely ditch the dips.

Nutrition has been:
Week 1 – P140 C260 F60 Cals 2150
Week 2 – P145 C230 F70 Cals 2150
Week 3 – P145 C190 F79 Cals 2050

This is a 7 day average as it saves me getting it spot on every day and allows for more carbs on workout days, carb cycling if you will. Week 4 is going to be 2000 cals, dropping carbs right down to 150 and moving fat up to 90.

Below is a set of my frequency push ups (cat attacked me halfway). These are tough the day after bench press and seem excessive sometimes when i’ve done TRX push ups or bench that day. I’ll either re-arrange the days I do them or cut one day out after my work challenge.

A post shared by 9to5 Strength (@9to5strength) on Feb 21, 2018 at 3:02am PST

[Fraser_9to5]

22 Feb

Fasted A.M. Walking ~30 mins
Frequency Push Ups – 3 x 16

23 Feb

Front Squat – 6 x 65kg, 4 x 6 x 70kg
OHP – 5 x 6 x 52.5kg
Pull Ups – 3 x 5 x 10kg, 2 x 5 x 15kg (2 mins rest)
Hanging Leg Raise w Twist – 4 x 10
TRX Push Up – 3 x 10
Long Plank – 3 x 30 secs, 1 x 20 secs

24 Feb

Rowing Machine 1km time trial – 3:41.2
V-Sit – 3 x 10
Hollow Rock – 3 x 30 secs

27 Feb

Max. BW Pullups in 3 mins – 29
Max. Prisoner Squats in 3 mins – 112
Max. BW Dips in 3 mins – 47
Max. Press Ups in 3 mins – 64

28 Feb

Hex DL – 5 x 100kg, 5 x 120kg, 7 x 130kg
Bench Press – 92.5kg x 5,5,7
Burpees – 6 x 10 (30 secs work, 60 secs rest)
Dbl Leg Crunch – 4 x 12 x 3.5kg
TRX Knee Tucks – 3 x 10
Res. Band Pallof Press – 3 x 10

I re-read the Greyskull and fat loss notes and I don’t know how I got to the program I was doing. I forgot to switch OHP and Bench on week 2 and my chin up volume was far too high. I’ve stripped it right down to the main lifts with a burpee protocol and ab work. On ‘rest’ days i’ll do 30 mins fasted walking and 10 mins conditioning in the afternoon.

I took a few days off as some of my gym work feels laboured and it’s clear my body isn’t recovering enough. My repeated attempt at max. BW exercises in 3 minutes was shocking. Particularly surprised that I couldn’t surpass my push ups by more than 3, given I did so many with the frequency method. It could be i’m still not fresh and another 48-72 hours would produce better results but I don’t care enough about it.

This week has been P140 C155 F85 Cals 1950. I think I can sit at that for another week and see what happens. I’m also cutting carbs pre- and during my workout but the load is coming down so I should be fine.

I haven’t got a picture to hand but I look almost identical to four weeks ago, which makes sense since i’ve been building the abs up without stripping any fat that covers them. I’m almost certain I need to extend this 6 week attempt to a full two months otherwise results are going to be barely visible.

My total weight has come down by around 1kg since I started, hard to say how much that is water weight but given I started at 260g/day carbs and i’m now down to 150g/day i’d say a decent amount.

[Fraser_9to5]

1 Mar

Fasted A.M. Walking ~35 mins
Jump Squats – 150 in 8:40

2 Mar

Front Squat – 80kg x 5, 5, 9
OHP – 3 x 5 x 57.5kg
Burpees – 5 x 10 (30 secs work, 50 rest)
Hanging Leg Raise w Twist – 4 x 10
TRX Tucks – 3 x 10
Long Plank – 3 x 30 secs

3 Mar

Rowing Machine – 3 x 500m (2 mins), 500m ~1:51, ~1:51, ~1:51, ~1:53

5 Mar

Front Squat – 82.5kg x 5, 5, 8
Bench Press – 92.5kg x 5, 5, 8
Burpees – 6 x 11 (33 secs work, 60 secs rest)
L-Sit ISO – 4 x 15 secs
TRX Tucks – 4 x 10
Hollow Rock – 3 x 30 secs
Vacuums – 4 x 10 secs

6 Mar

Fasted Walking ~35 mins
(10 mountain climber, 1 burpee) x 25 in 7:40

7 Mar

Hex DL – 5 x 100kg, 5 x 120kg, 7 x 132.5kg
OHP – 57.5kg x 5,5,6
Burpees – 6 x 11 (33 secs work, 57 secs rest)
Dbl Leg Crunch – 4 x 12 x 3.5kg
Ab Wheel – 3 x 6
Res. Band Pallof Press – 3 x 10

Much better week, this feels like how you burn fat. The weights sessions are over in a second but still challenging, and adding in burpees feels like the right thing to do. The ab workouts have increased in intensity now that i’m allowing a day recovery, I know they heal quickly but I feel the exercise working more with this setup.

Nutrition was P138 C154 F76 Cals 1850 on average over this week. Need to be careful not to drop protein much more and i’ll shoot for P150 next week and drop the carbs further. No idea how keto followers manage so much fat when 80g/day is an effort to me. I think multiple avocado feedings a week and lots of salmon will help as i’m relying too much on peanut butter and eggs.

I think Brad Pitt in Fight Club is a physique that’s not a realistic target for the average guy but one they visualise achieving one day. Reading up on it he went from 168 lbs to 155 lbs (76.5kg to 70.5kg) and he’s taller than me. I’m sitting around 72kg at the end of this week and if I held onto my muscle then I could drop down to 69-70kg and look quite good. If we said 2kg then I could lose 0.7kg/week and finish this project at the end of the month. I’ve purposefully dropped calories at a slow rate so it doesn’t feel like a diet, which is a strategy I picked up from the book Mindless Eating. Rather than go much lower than 1800kcal/day I can make an effort to up my activity level, perhaps getting off a stop early on the tube and walking or using my standing desk more.

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