Arvada, Colorado USA
Nick Andrade’s Body Transformation Log – Days 42 & 43 weight lifting routines
Objective: To Burn Fat Gain Muscle Mass And Transform My Body In 12 Weeks

Monday day I hit the gym pretty hard for one of my first weight lifting routines of the week.  While the structure of the Muscle Mass Advantage workouts has completely changed up again (from hard and heavy to lighter with more reps), this time my body feels like it could really use a lighter training week, so I’m actually looking forward to the weight lifting routine changes that I’m going to see throughout this week.

Now that I’m starting to get closer to my 12 week body transformation deadline, I’m starting to get anxious. This week I’m really going to focus on stripping off body fat and sort of take it easy on the muscle building front. In order to make this happen quicker, I’m going to lower my target calorie level just a bit and increase the amount of cardio I’m doing this week in conjunction with my normal weight lifting routines.  In order to spread out the calorie burn over the course of the day, I plan on hitting the gym 2 times each day for the next few weeks (1 time for cardio and 1 time for my weight lifting workout).

I’m hoping that by really focusing on stripping off body fat, that I’ll be able to get very close to my initial goal of 8% by the end of this week.  If I can make that happen, it’ll take a lot of pressure off of me and allow me to relax a bit and focus on building muscle mass for the duration of this training cycle. I really like to focus my efforts on building muscle mass and let the fat loss take care of itself naturally as I start to bulk up, but as far out of shape as I was when I started this program (over 23% body fat!), I’m a bit nervous that I won’t be able to reach my goals if I don’t try to do something about it right now!

The Weight Lifting Routines

Monday’s Weight Lifting Workout  – Chest & Back

Chest Warm-Up:
Incline Press: 1 x 10, 1 x 8
Work Sets: (rest interval 2 minutes)
Incline Press: 2 sets x 15 reps

Back Warm-Up:
Dumbbell Rows: 1 x 10, 1 x 8
Work Sets: (rest interval 2 minutes)
Dumbbell Rows: 2 sets x 15 reps

On Monday, I was able to crank out 2 sets of 15 reps of incline press with 185 lbs.  Definitely not record setting training weights, but it was a challenge to get through all 15 reps for sure. As far as dumbbell rows, I was able to pump out 2 sets of 15 reps with 85 lb dumbbells.  All in all, a decent workout – nothing too crazy but it was challenging working in the 15 rep training bracket.

Tuesday’s Weight Lifting Workout  – Biceps & Triceps

Bicep Warm-Up:
Barbell Curl: 1 x 10, 1 x 8
Work Sets: (rest interval 2 minutes)
Barbell Curl: 2 sets x 15 reps

Triceps Warm-Up:
Skull Crushers: 1 x 10, 1 x 8
Work Sets: (rest interval 2 minutes)
Skull Crushers: 2 sets x 15 reps

Today I performed 2 sets of 15 reps of barbell curls with 95 lbs and 2 sets of 15 reps of skull crushers with 115 lbs.  By the end of this workout, my arms felt like they were going to explode!

As far as my bodybuilding diet goes, I made a few small adjustments but nothing to write home about.  I’m really trying to focus my efforts over the course of the next few weeks on leaning out and stripping off body fat.  I know from past experience that there’s not too many things worse than having to strip off 2 -3 % body fat during the last week of a training cycle, so hopefully giving myself a few weeks to make it happen will allow me to avoid the misery of having to do too much too fast.

In order to strip off the body fat, I’ve decided to take a 2 headed approach and increase my energy expenditure by performing a few more cardio workouts during the week and lower my overall calorie intake just a bit. The potent combination of adding more cardio to my weight lifting routines and eating slightly less should be enough to get me over the hump as far as fat loss goes.

Here’s my modified bodybuilding nutrition outline for today (probably for the rest of the week as well)…

• 1 cup of cottage cheese
• 1 cup of cottage cheese
• 4 cups of green tea
• 2 cups of cooked ground beef
• 2 cups of cooked spinach (sauteed in a pat of butter)
• 2 cups of cooked ground beef
• 1/4 cup of walnuts
• 3 eggs fried in olive oil

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today’s body transformation journal entry.  If you’re in the market for a few decent weight lifting routines give the two listed above a shot – although they seem like they’d be easy to work through if you use a weight that’s challenging enough they’ll totally kick your butt.

Your Friend And Trainer,

Nick