Start date / weight – 1st October 2014 / 10st
Current date / weight – 3rd March 2015 / 11st 10lbs
Hi, I’m Matt, a social media executive for Insure4Sport. This winter I’ve set myself the challenge of building my strength and general fitness with the aim to be 12kg heavier by April, the start of the 2015 cricket season.
After taking advice from a personal trainer at my gym, I have lessened my cardiovascular activity in the last month and focused predominantly on high intensity weight training. I believe this change has helped me reap rewards in the last month as I am now very close to reaching my 12 stone target in very good time, considering my first cricket match of the season isn’t for another 6 and a half weeks.
Weights
I have steadily increased the weight/time of each exercise throughout my training to make sure that progression takes place and I have pushed myself every session to achieve things I didn’t think were possible a few months ago. For example, I remember my first session in the gym back in October, I struggled to do 5 paltry press ups! Whereas now, I can quite easily do 50 press ups (in 5 sets of 10) and my starting effort of 20 sit ups every session has now been upgraded to 100 sit ups, whilst holding a 10kg dumbbell!
I am now comfortably lifting 40kg on the bench press which is actually big progress from the 20kg that I started lifting (not so comfortably) 5 months ago, I have focused mainly on my upper body strength in the past few weeks, and have seen big progress in the strength of my chest and shoulders.
Diet
I have significantly increased my protein portion sizes in the last month to help my muscles with recovery from the high intensity weight training I have been doing. So, for example, in a typical midweek meal of chicken, rice and vegetables, I would have one standard 100g fillet of chicken and averagely sized portion of rice and vegetables. Whereas now, I keep my rice and vegetables portion the same but I am now having 1.5/2 standard fillets of chicken to boost my protein levels.
I have also been drinking at least one 1250kcal protein shake a day on non-gym days, and two on days that I do a workout. The protein powder has been my best friend really in my weight gain challenge; it allows me to eat a normal balanced diet, whilst overloading on calories and protein which helps me put weight on even with all the exercise I’m doing with my already rapid metabolism.
I have also made a conscious effort to drink 2-3 litres of water every day, I’ve been told it is essential to keep hydrated whilst training but also keeping hydrated actually can make you feel better about yourself; improve your skin, help you think better and give you energy throughout the day, all of which I have definitely benefitted from in the last month or so.
Next Steps
With another 6 and a half weeks to go before my first cricket match of the season, I am now looking at setting myself a new target, firstly to get to my 12st target, and past it in the coming weeks, but I now want to switch my attention to the cardiovascular side of things and really push myself so that I can perform at my best by the time 18th April comes around.
New Target
I want to be 13 stone and supremely fit, cardiovascular wise, by 1st June.
If you would like to read the previous entries to ‘Matt’s 12 stone challenge’ click the below links:
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