The Bodyfat Chronicles

I've been doing more and more thinking & research into the theory
behind the composition of your body and whether it's made up of mostly muscle or fat? I used to think that weight was weight; 230 pounds was the same across the board. However, it's become obvious to me that this is not the case. You can be a soft and fatty 230 or a firm and trim 230. So, I've been fousing less on my weight scale and looking more at my bodyfat percentage.

I had my bodyfat tested in June for the first time in a long time and
I came in at 17.7% when I was 220 pounds. I had it tested again
yesterday (almost 2 months later) and I am now 234 and my bodyfat is
down to 15.5%. That means that while I've gone up in weight, I've
actually lost 1 pound of bodyfat and gained 14 pounds of muscle. I'm
also happy with this progress because I know that my trunk & waist
have never been this firm and even though I've put on 14 pounds, my
waist size is the same - I'm wearing the same jeans!

Finally, the increases in strength have been very welcome. I know that
I've been 234 before and I did NOT have the same strength that I do
now. I'm able to do proper push-ups, bench press so much more than
before and can do a few ab exercises that I could simply not do
before. Needless to say, I'm very happy that my training is paying
off!

Push-Ups

It has been one of my greatest embarassments in life to admit that I have never been able to do a proper push-up. I just have never had the strength to support my body weight in that way. My shoulder ache, my elbows shake and my core has never been strong enough to support my back & stomach while in the push-up position.

So, in all my recent weight-training and with the help of a personal trainer, I've been focusing on building my core strength and building up to a push-up. I recently reached a point where I finally felt comfortable trying them again.

There I was last Thursday and I was feeling pretty good about the set of bench presses that I had just finished. Feeling determined I went to a secluded corner of the gym and got down on all fours and into the push-up position. At this point, I didn't really think about it, I just went for it. I dipped down and before I knew it, my nose was on the gym floor! While I still felt some shaking in my elbows, I pushed back up. I went down again, this time I turned my head to the side to check my elbows and, sure enough, they wer at 90-degree angles at the bottom and I managed to get back up again.

I could only manage to do 2 push-ups, so on Friday, I was pretty anxious to try again just to make sure that my previous effort was not a fluke. I did the same thing and checked my position at the bottom and felt pretty good. This time, I was able to do a couple of "sets" with my longest set being 4 repetitions. Definitely not the most impressive numbers, but for someone that is just starting with push-ups, this makes me very happy.

I'm now a few days removed from that and I'm at the point where I can do some good reps and focus on my form. I'm incorporating some push-ups into my daily routine and feeling really strong. This is yet another step forward in all of the hard work that I've been putting in at the gym and building my overall strength.