Little did I know going into week three that it would be my last week of the 3x full body workouts. There were a good amount of wins thinking back on the week. Here are some of those week three results.

Training:

Once again, I had no idea this was going to be last week doing 3x full body workouts. Here are some of the week three results/wins that I felt I had:

• Finally getting my Safety Bar Squats done in three or less sets. The program dictated 25 total reps in as few sets as possible. You only move up in weight if you get all reps in three or less sets. It took me three weeks but I finally got it.
• I got my Dips in less sets than the prior weeks. The program called for 60 total reps. In weeks one and two I did 5×12 (read: 5 sets of 12 reps). In week three I was able to get them in 4×15.
• Moving up in weight on bench press for three consecutive weeks. This was similar to the Safety Bar Squat mentioned above. The program said to only to move up in weight if I got all reps in three or less sets. I was always able to get them in three sets, so I was always able to move up in weight.
• Challenged myself by doing Pull-ups using the rings instead of a bar. It was a little more brutal since they aren’t as stable as a bar is, but I still nailed them all.
• Easily my best week for the Belt Squat. This is mostly due to the fact that it’s a little weird to get used to, but I also felt the strongest I have this week.

For the most part it was a really good week. There really wasn’t much I felt I was lagging on.

Nutrition

As I mentioned in my post for week two, I opted to lower my calories/macros just a little bit going into week three. I decided to cut 5g of fat and 5g of carbs putting me at 180c/70f/170p, or about 2,030 calories. My week three results for weight averaged 178.6lbs on the week.

I was a little looser than I should have been over the weekend. On Friday night we ordered Thai food and I had a beer – one of my favorites by local brewery City Barrel. It was their Pina Colada Rad AF (a hazy IPA with plenty of pineapple and coconut). So good. On Saturday I only woke up 0.4lbs higher than I did on Friday, so not too bad.

Later that day we went to a local spot in KC called Bier Station and had a few beers, a soft pretzel, and split a burger/fries. Everything outside of that on the day was fine. If I had to guess I stayed within my calorie limit. I woke up on Sunday 1lbs heavier than I did on Saturday. As of the time of me writing this blog (Monday 8/10), I’m already back down to 178.6.

I’m going to stick with the same calories/macros going into week four to see what happens. If I remain around the same weight I will likely do another slight cut to see if that moves the needle in week five.

Other Metrics

Stress

How much time do you have? I’ll provide my week three results in regards to stress with the best cliff notes I can.

Stress is incredibly high. I realized that my unemployment runs out completely in October. Translation: I will have absolutely zero income come October.

This puts me in a race against the clock to find some source of full time income. It’s inevitable that I’m going to have to find a job. I spent the week looking and applied for seven, but have already been rejected by two.

There’s a lot of frustration happening as well. I’m frustrated because I feel stuck growing my coaching business and I’m not entirely sure what I need to do to help grow it. I also feel frustrated at the lack of jobs I’m finding that fit my skillset/interests. I won’t lie – I’ve been applying to jobs both in and outside of KC. If/when I actually find something that’s a good fit, I’m not going to limit myself and find myself applying.

I also generally stay silent when I’m stressed and frustrated. I’ve learned over the years that my stress manifests itself outwardly as anger. From there I’ve learned that when I’m angry I tend to be mean-spirited, dismissive, snappy, and say things I don’t necessarily mean. That being said, I’ve learned to just stay silent because it’s better for everyone.

Mindset

See above.

Sleep

Sleep has still been good. I had a few days of sleep last week that were less than 8 hours, but were close enough.

I’m still averaging 8+ hours of sleep despite the two days where I got less than 8. My deep sleep has been good, my heart rate during sleep has been good, and my overall quality is good.

Progress Pics

One more week and I’ll post some comparisons. While it could just be my imagination I do feel like I’m starting to see some changes!

Measurements

Finally did my measurements. Granted, some of these could be off because it’s really hard to measure some of these areas accurately by yourself, but I did my best.

• Waist (above my belly button): 34in
• Stomach (right at belly button): 36.5in
• Chest: 38in
• Shoulders: 43in
• Neck: 15.5in
• Both biceps (unflexed): 14in
• Both thighs: 22.5in

Week Four Expectations

I had no idea my program was changing to what it was, but I feel ready for it. I’ll be doing four days a week and it’s now broken up by two upper body days and two lower body days.

One of the biggest switches is the lower body day that has me deadlifting. I haven’t deadlifted in probably close to a month. The first three weeks didn’t have me deadlifting – if you remember it was mostly hamstring isolation exercises like Lying Leg Curls and Glute Ham Raises. I’m sure it’ll be fine in the long run but this week might be tough.

I still expect these workouts to take between 60-80 minutes. I’ll also be dealing with some circuits with scary names like “Upper Body Hell” and “Death by Squat” so we’ll see how those go haha!

As always if you’ve got questions let me know! Happy to cover anything you’re curious about that I may not have talked about here.