First day of changing it up!

So I hit 199 lb. and that brings The Defattening Project Phase 1 to an end (I’ll have a write-up on this soon). Today officially starts Phase 2. I didn’t really expect to have “phases”, but that’s how things are turning out. So what ends is the lengthy downward/losing cycle, and what starts now is move of a periodized and “waved” cycle, where I’ll gain a little muscle, lose a bunch of fat, and slowly go up and down to finally get me the body composition I’m after. It also starts transitioning me back to the sort of lifting I want to do: building size and strength.

So with that, Inception week 1 starts now.

For the first week, it’s supposed to be “easy”. What is “easy”? Paul doesn’t define it, but he does define “moderate” as “leaving 3 reps in the tank”, so gauge from there. And I figure a lot of this will be figuring out what weights to use and how to go, which is especially difficult because:

1. I’m so devoid of energy, this 8×8 scheme is likely going to fail from lack of fuel
2. I really don’t know where things lie for me because I haven’t had this sort of volume.

So I opted that I’d work up to 185, based on the numbers I have to date. Turns out that 175 was good enough; once I got there I opted to just stick there. I would deem it easy, but it also didn’t feel too easy because again, I’m just out of gas — tho the new diet starts today and there are more carbs in it — that food isn’t in me yet. 🙂 I reckon it’ll take me a week or two to get some energy back and not fail out because I’m out of gas. Getting the dizzy spells to stop will be great too.

On paper this is really simple: squat, extensions, curls, raises. What a basic leg program! But the basics work, and my numbers were a pretty fair guess for today. I do look forward to things getting heavier, and my body getting back to the swing of all of this. 🙂

One note: the calf raises. They hurt in the bad way. They put my ankle at a degree of flexion, with weight, that they did not like given my past injuries. I can make it work, but I just had to keep reducing the weight (and that 5-second pause really kills you). I’ll find a way to make this work.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 1

• Squats
  • bar x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 155 x 8
  • 175 x 8
  • 175 x 8
  • 175 x 8
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 8
  • 40 x 8
  • 40 x 8
  • 40 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 50 x 12
  • 55 x 12
  • 60 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 70 x 12
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 50 x 18
  • 35 x 17
  • 25 x 12
  • 10 x 15