<<UPDATE: this plan completely fell by the wayside due to too many conflicting priorities (Judo etc) >>
Last year I took on the challenge of becoming fluent in Japanese in 12 months, which was a game-changer. I did it because it had been a long term goal that I had neglected and procrastinated on, and I didn’t want to fast forward 8 years and “regret” that I was still not fluent in the language.
I’m now ready to address another aspect of my life that I’ve been less than happy about recently.
My physique.
Firstly, I’m usually one of the healthiest people you’ll find. I used to be the chubby fat kid all through school, before eventually cutting the weight through a plant-based lifestyle, making me look a decade younger all of a sudden. But I cut too much weight, and became one of the skinniest people around instead.
I started feeling weak and small. Which was way better than being weak and fat and slow, but doesn’t meet the standards I have in this life.
The reason why I want to go on this journey is to experience the full beauty and capability of my body. I want to be more loving and intimate with the physical shell that was gifted to me, which is worth more than any Ferrari or Lamborghini or private jet.
I’m 30. I’m going to die. This body is declining. If I don’t get serious and consistent now, I’ll be 35 and crying over having lost the prime of my youth.
So, here’s my plan. It started this week on Monday, November 13th 2023.
PHYSICAL TRAINING:
I’m following a predominantly bodyweight-based protocol based on Convict Conditioning, training one movement pattern per day. This method is called Veterano in the book, which is a great read.
The idea is to get progressively stronger over time, while keeping the movements “basic.”
Monday: Push ups
Tuesday: Squats
Wednesday: Chin ups
Thursday: Pike push ups
Friday: Abs
Saturday: Bridges
Sunday: Rest (Mandatory)
I will do a warm up, then 2 extremely hard work sets with a 3-5 minute rest in between. I’ll start with a hard exercise (<5 perfect reps), and then pick an exercise that I can do at least 5-10 reps of, and build myself up to ~20 perfect reps, before switching to the next exercise and start all over again. Usually it will be 2 sets, with the occasional third “drop set” with an easier exercise to exhaust my muscles.
NUTRITION:
Based on most calculators, I need to eat ~3000 calories of whole foods and veggies per day.
A tiny bit of junk shit is okay, once in a while. I will do a straightforward bulk, and then drop off the fat after 3 months.
SLEEP
I’ve started going to bed by 11pm and waking up by 7am. I don’t always succeed, but I’m working on it.
All the science seems to agree that high-quality sleep has tremendous benefits.
Why bodyweight focused?
First, it means I have no excuses and can do these on any day, even in my room.
Second, bodyweight mastery by default keeps your physique healthy well-balanced, and reduces the risk of becoming a fat powerlifter looking for a heart surgery down the road.
Take the humble push up, which is actually a difficult exercise but considered an “easy” one. I calculated this at home with a real scale, and it turns out that in a push up, I effectively “bench” 70-75% of my bodyweight (increases as I lower down, decreases as I go back up), which is around 45-49 kilos, or ~100 lbs. Taking half of that, it’s like pressing ~45 pound dumbells in each hand (this is a conservative estimate). How strong is a beginner who can press 45 lbs with each hand for 20-30 fluid, high-quality reps? Okay, pretty decent. Now, slowly progress this to one-arm push ups. Now this person is pressing 100 lb dumbells with each hand — for reps. Is this person strong? You bet.
“Hitting a body part once per week” is also a fairly standard practice that physical culturists have used for thousands of years with excellent results. This workout split is also called the “Bro Split” because it’s even used by top bodybuilders, but works well for novices and experts alike. It just works, and it keeps you feeling fresh after a hard workout. And it gives you 7 days of recovery time, so you’ll not only keep getting stronger in that movement without needing to deload, but also (allegedly) never get “bored,” since you’ll do each exercise only once a week.
GOALS:
Finally, let’s set some goals. Originally, this section was at the top of this codex entry — but I’ve decided that the actual goals here are not as important as the daily process itself.
I would describe myself as “skinny fat.”
I weigh around 63kg (138.6 lbs), at 5ft 10 (177 cm), but have a belly of around 86cm when I somewhat exaggerate my posture and letting my shoulders drop.
My ultimate goal is to trim down my belly to 79cm, while increasing my weight a little bit — 68 kg would be a wonderful accomplishment for the first year.
Now, progress on the above goals is really hard to track, so a subsection here is strength goals.
A great goal for the first year would be:
20 full, fluid, comfortable pushups (elbows tucked in, nose gently touches floor)
10 full, fluid, comfortable chin ups (dead hang -> chin above bar)
10+ deep, comfortable shrimp squats (on each leg)
15 full, comfortable pike push ups (leaning forward, butt over hands)
I’m still open to feedback regarding these goals — whether these are realistic, too optimistic or too pessimistic, etc.
