I completed the target number of reps in both exercises, so both weights increased for this workout.

Chest Press

Seated Leg Press

I completed the target number of reps in both exercises, so both weights increased for this workout.

Close-grip Supinated Pull-down

Shoulder Press

Totals

Bioelectrical Measurements

Hydration was controlled by drinking 1500 mL (500 mL in Jess’s case) of water within 30 minutes of waking without food intake. Measurements were taken within the following 30 minutes.

Caliper Measurements

Measurements were taken on both sides this week, and averaged. Body fat percentage calculated using this calculator, provided by the ACE.

Tape Measurements

Measurements were taken at the widest location per body part, with the exception of the waist. Bicep measurements were taken with the arm held parallel to the ground, bent at a right angle. I took all measurements.

Progress

Chest Press

The only interesting element of this data is that last row – notice that the rapidity has changed to f/5 instead of 5/5. This, like the second set from my last Workout A, I introduced to try and eke a few more repetitions out of myself.

Seated Leg Press

If you’ll remember to the first Workout B, I cranked out what I consider to be an insane number of repetitions at 190 lbs. Assuming I must have been doing something wrong, I asked Jess what that could be. As a former powerlifter, she corrected what I considered to be a trivial part of my form: foot position. Previously, my feet were low enough on the platform that I was only flat-footed at the very bottom of the movement; most of the movement was performed while on the balls of my feet. Therefore, my calves were involved. This time, I shifted my feet towards the top of the platform, bettering the intended sense of “failure” reached at the end of the workout. Exhibit A: I could no longer lift the weight at the beginning of the 11th repetition, even after a brief rest.

Now that I have my target weights, all future workouts are based on a “target number of repetitions”. Simplified, the system is thus: if you hit the number of repetitions, you maintain the same target weight for the next workout of that exercise. If you surpass the target weight, you increase the weight by 10 lbs. However, if you don’t make the target number of repetitions, you leave the gym immediately to continue recovering.

Close-grip Supinated Pull-down

This workout was done with the revised target weight, as I miscalculated the target weight for the initial workout. To eke out a few more repetitions, the dashed line in the table was a short rest.

Shoulder Press

Same routine here: revised target weight, rest between “sets”.

Totals

Bioelectrical Measurements

Hydration was controlled by drinking 1500 mL (500 mL in Jess’s case) of water within 30 minutes of waking without food intake. Measurements were taken within the following 30 minutes.

Caliper Measurements

Measurements were only taken using the dominant hand (my right) and of the non-dominant side (my left). No averaging took place. Body fat percentage calculated using this calculator, provided by the ACE.

Tape Measurements

Measurements were taken at the widest location per body part, with the exception of the waist. Bicep measurements were taken with the arm held parallel to the ground, bent at a right angle. It’s important to note that Jess took her own tape measurements last week, while I took all measurements this week.

Progress

Remember: The first round of workouts in Occam’s Protocol are all about finding a “starting weight” for the Protocol.

Chest Press

As with the first Workout A, that last round is the “actual” workout. This time, however, my math is already correct. Since I didn’t complete a set of five repetitions at 150 lbs, I calculate my “starting weight” for the chest press at 70% of 130 lbs – 90 lbs.

Seated Leg Press

This exercise was a bit more interesting. If I had pushed myself, I could have made it through the initial repetitions at 270 lbs. Instead, though, I stopped myself because it was taking so long to break, and I was under a good deal of strain. Mind you, I’ve never done weight training before. Because of this, I took the 70% of 270, arriving at 190. Even still, I wound up pushing through 20 repetitions under 190 lbs before stopping myself for the same reason: while I might have been able to push through, I really needed to get to work.

The first round of workouts in Occam’s Protocol are all about finding a “starting weight” for the Protocol. This “starting weight” is calculated as 70% of the highest weight that can be lifted for five full repetitions.

Close-grip Supinated Pull-down

That last round is the “actual” workout. Notice, however, that 120 is 70% of 160 lbs. This is incorrect. Since I didn’t complete a set of five repetitions at 160 lbs, what I should have started with was 70% of 140 lbs — only 100 lbs.

NOTE: While the available machines do have fine adjustments in increments as small as five pounds, I’ve elected to start with only the gross adjustments, which have an increment of 15-20 lbs.

Shoulder Press

Here we have the same problem, which actually resulted in my inability to complete a single (5/5) repetition. While at the gym, I assumed it was exhaustion. It was only after reviewing this data that I found my error.

Bonus: Aftermath

After the workout, I decided to go to work for a few hours. While initially I felt fantastic, within two hours I had visited the bathroom several times due to digestive discomfort. I may have overdone it.

From then on, however, I have to admit to a large increase in well-being: I’ve been more productive and energetic, both at home and at work. My sleep hasn’t improved, but that’ll have to be another challenge…

Totals

Bioelectrical Measurements

Hydration was controlled by drinking 1500 mL of water (1000 mL in Jess’s case) within 30 minutes of waking without food intake. Measurements were taken within the following 30 minutes.

Caliper Measurements

Measurements were only taken using the dominant hand (my right) and of the non-dominant side (my left). No averaging took place. Body fat percentage calculated using this calculator, provided by the ACE.

Tape Measurements

Measurements were taken at the widest location per body part, with the exception of the waist. Bicep measurements were taken with the arm held parallel to the ground, bent at a right angle.

Before we discuss the initial “weigh-in”, I feel like clarifying an unfortunately common misconception: tracking changes in body weight is not enough. Sorry, Biggest Loser. If you’ll remember back to my previous post, a change in “body weight” is not a part of our goal: a body recomposition totaling 20 lbs. More specifically,

1. Jess wants to lose 20lbs of fat.
2. I want to gain 20 lbs of muscle.

Neither of these relies on the weight of the entire body. If I gain 10 lbs of muscle and gain 10 lbs of fat within the same period of time, my total body weight is the same. Therefore, we need to know a little more. We need to both define and know our “body composition”. For the sake of the wager, body composition can be tracked with two numbers:

Body Weight

It may not be conclusive, but it is useful.

Body Fat Percentage

The “special sauce”. This is the percentage of that weight that comes from fat and fat alone.

Using these two numbers we can, in turn, define “body composition” as Weight of Fat + Weight of Other Stuff. Since neither Jess nor I can be considered “growing” in any traditional sense, being in our twenties and all, odds are really good that the only “Other Stuff” that should be changing in any period of time shorter than several months is muscle. Therefore and finally, we can re-write our goals and get to measuring!

1. Jess wants to lower Body Fat Percentage. (Notice no mention of Body Weight. Other Stuff could get heavier, after all.)
2. I want to increase the weight of Other Stuff. Because of this, I want Body Fat Percentage to stay the same while increasing Body Weight.

Whew. After all that, on to business: Everyone knows how to measure Body Weight; how do we measure Body Fat Percentage?

For this, we used three tools:

Bioelectrical Impedance (BI) Scale

As long as our hydration is consistent from week, BI is useful for tracking changes in Body Fat Percentage. Perhaps obviously, this scale provides our Body Weight measurements as well.

Measuring Tape

While not directly related to either of our core metrics, we will be measuring “Total Inches” as an aside. “Total Inches” = Circumference of Upper Arms + Circumference of Waist + Circumference of Hips + Circumference of Thighs.

Calipers

These provide a second measurement for Body Fat Percentage. They give Jess the creeps, so this measurement will be strictly for Yours Truly.