Heavyweight #2

August 2024

Hello friends! Welcome to another edition of Heavyweight, a monthly report of my fitness journey.

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Movement

I front-loaded rowing this month. Concept2 posts challenges that people can participate in throughout the year, and this year being an Olympic year, they release a challenge called Rowlympics. The goal was to complete the following events between July 27th and August 3rd. The RowErg column shows my results for each event:

I rowed a total of 31,481 meters. I was really motivated to complete it, even though I lost three days of the challenge to a camping trip. The 10,000-meter row has been the most I have rowed in one session, and it totally kicked my butt, but I felt very accomplished afterward.

After completing the challenge, I logged another 12,082 meters in three sessions and then took a break from rowing. I was messing with the drag factor and rowed too hard for too long, which gave me sore forearms.

In the previous edition of Heavyweight, I mentioned I might throw in a kettlebell workout per week just for fun. I stumbled upon Dry Fighting Weight, a five-week double kettlebell program designed by Geoff Newport, which focuses on fat loss through strength. The program is straightforward; there are two movements: clean and press(C&P) and front squat(FS). In the first four weeks, you perform three 30-minute sessions with different sets and reps patterns, ladders, sets of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. And on the fifth week, you assess your one rep max for the press to measure how strong you got.

I started this program with 26-lb (12 kg) kettlebells, and it was challenging enough. As of August 30th, I’m on Week 4, Day 1, which was ladders 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I did 46 reps of the C&P and FS in 30 minutes. If we compare this with Week 1, Day 1, I did 30 reps of both movements back then. If my math is correct, I was able to do 50% more work in the same amount of time. I think that’s a good amount of progress. I feel stronger, and my C&P technique has improved. My knees still make noise when I squat, but they don’t hurt as much.

One of the indicators that I’ve gotten stronger is that it’s easier for me to get off the floor after my kids go to sleep—I usually sit in their room during bedtime—and holding my 3-year-old at Mass has become easier.

On the days I wasn’t doing kettlebells, I added treadmill walking for active recovery and did a few hikes.

Nutrition

This is probably my Achilles heel. I was trying to get back into intermittent fasting because fasting for 16 hours and having an 8-hour eating window is somewhat doable. Still, with the strength training program, I’ve been getting ravenously hungry afterward, and on those days, I eat breakfast.

I’ve had a handful of days without late-night snacking, but I haven’t been able to rid myself of this bad habit, which has affected my recovery. I want to return to consistently doing 16:8 and maybe build up to 18:6 or 20:4 (basically one meal a day, a.k.a. OMAD). My ultimate goal is to do Alternate-Day Fasting (ADF), where I fast for 36 hours three times a week. But we’ll see. I switch between fasting and eating for performance. Do I want to reduce body fat, build muscle, or both at the same time? I don’t know.

Results

I started at 324.8 lbs and closed the month at 329 lbs, which is not great if you just look at the number. However, my clothes fit better, and I feel stronger, so I’m not worried about getting the number down. I still haven’t figured out the best combination of diet and exercise, but I’ll keep experimenting in the following months.

I know that if I build more muscle, I will increase my basal metabolic rate, which will, in turn, burn more calories when I’m at rest. But I don’t know how long it’ll take for that to be significant. If anyone has any advice, I’m all ears.

Overall, I’ve been feeling great. I love training with kettlebells and noticing how my grip, core, and legs get stronger. I’m enjoying being active and look forward to hiking in the next few months when it’ll be less hot in Phoenix.

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Before you go

1. What’s your favorite healthy snack?

2. Have you ever rowed either indoors or in actual water?

3. Do you even lift?