The Delicate Balance

One thing that drives me nuts — I’m sure others can relate — is the seemingly delicate balance between fat loss and muscle loss. In my zeal to lose weight — fast — for the Bodybuilding.com 2013 Transformation Challenge, I discovered that I’ve been engaging in the latter and it’s discouraging.

I’ve lost an inch off my arms (which weren’t “fat” to begin with) as I’ve dropped 17 pounds over the past month. Yeah, my waist has gotten smaller; yeah, my abs and chest look better, but an inch off the arms? Give me a break.

Of course, this shouldn’t have come as a great surprise, given that I’ve been living on a diet of less than 2,000 calories while exercising 2-3 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.

So, I’ve decided to modify my diet. Last night, I upped my calories to 2,200 and I’ll continue at that level. Obviously, I’d love to do well in the Challenge, but it’s not worth losing a ton of muscle for. After all, I lift weights for size and strength, not to be small and malnourished.

Understanding Dante

I had my first 30-minute cardio session today. On the plus side, I now better understand what Dante Alighieri was talking about; on the negative side… well, just about everything else.

To me, walking on the treadmill is b-o-r-i-n-g, although I did get a kick out of the closed captioning of the Dr. Oz show, which was playing on several TVs in the gym (coincidentally, his show was about weight loss and fitness). 

Now, I’m assuming that the good doctor said “concoction” or “concoct” and not “con cock” as the transcriber seemed to believe. But if he did, indeed, reference the latter I would urge his viewers to get a second opinion. I mean, I’ve heard of interval training, circuit training, weight training… I’ve yet to see any studies validating the benefits of con cock training. Honestly, I don't even know what that is.

Anyway, the rest of my workout went extremely well. I felt stronger than I have in months — even my ailing right shoulder wasn’t hurting as much as normal (although it is throbbing a bit now, two hours after the workout).

I focused on my chest today — cable crosses, incline bench press, flyes and cable chest presses.    

         

And tomorrow? Another chance to feel closer to Dante… legs.