JOE’s resident videographer and Photoshop genius Peter Cooney wants to get ripped in eight weeks. With a lot of help from Raw Condition Gym, here’s how his fourth week is going.
You can check out Week 1 here, Week 2 here and Week 3 here
Four weeks down and the first phase of the challenge complete. Whilst I have seen a change in my body, I wasn't exactly sure of the exact breakdown of the progress I was making. So on Friday past, I went into Ant in Raw Condition Gym for a programme review and to have my body fat measured.
To be honest, I was quite nervous. I knew I was heading in the right direction, but I wasn't sure if I had driven myself far enough along that road. Ya know, Rippedville Avenue?
Out came the callipers and Ant done all his maths and formulas or whatever you do to calculate this stuff. Being the glass half empty person I am, I was expecting to be told, 'You did good, but not good enough'. To my astonishment, I had lost 5 per cent body fat, which far exceeded my expectations. So from 19 per cent when I started to 14 per cent in a matter of weeks. If I can achieve similar results between now and week eight, I think I might just be able to do this.
With the drop in body fat, came a welcome change in diet and workout. The new diet is a breath of fresh air. It's far less rigid and allows for far more flavour;
Meal 1: 50g Oats, 6 Eg Whites, 2 Omega 3 Eggs, 50g Blueberries
Meal 2: 50g Rice, 200g Turkey, Any Veg
Meal 3: 50g Rice, 200g Turkey, Any Veg
Meal 4: 150g Sweet Potato, 1 Cup Broccoli, 200-250g Cod/Steak
Meal 5: 300-400g Salmon, 100g Asparagus
The meal plan is to be adopted on workout days, whilst the previous low carb diet is to be maintained on non workout cardio days. It may not look too dissimilar to the previous meal plan, but let me tell you, the allowance of any vegetable and sweet potato is a first class ticket to flavour country.
After four weeks I have also finally figured out a way to stomach the breakfast... it only took four weeks. Make a pancake! Mix the oats and egg whites together and throw 'em onto a non-stick pan with blueberries. It's f**cking delicious, trust me. It's been a real eye opener and now I actually look forward to breakfast.
The workout has changed extensively and is far more gruelling than the one previous. The programme involves a two day split; Legs and Upper Body. So basically Monday: Legs, Tuesday: Upper Body, Wednesday: Cardio and repeat.
Leg Day:
Leg Extension (2x25)
Smith Machine Squat (4x10)
Smith Machine Lunge (4x10)
Leg Curl (3x12)
Leg Extension (3x12)
Calf Raise (3x15)
Rip 60 Jump Squats (3x10)
Upper Body:
Incline Bench Press (4x10)
Pull Ups (4x10)
Deadlift (4x10)
Superset Cable Upright Row (3x12) with Dumb Bell Shoulder Press (3x10)
Dips (4x10)
Superset Dumb Bell Bicep curl (4x10) with Lateral Raise (4x12)
After the first leg day, I could barely walk. Even now as I write this, I'm still feeling the impact. I also thought I was the big man on the bench press too. You see, I tried to lift far more than a man of my modest strength should and the result was me panicking under the weight of the bar until one of the lovely Raw members realised I was in trouble. So tip for the week? Start light and build on that.
The week was also beset with other challenges, some tougher than others. I had to attend a family gathering on Saturday night and just like the previous Saturday, I remained Johnny Sober, much to the disappointment of all. It was actually quite tough, but being this far along, I told myself to just persevere and not undo all my hard work.
The Sunday meant the Ireland v Turkey game. I do enjoy a beer or two going to matches and enduring the 90-odd minutes of that made me realise why. It was painfully boring. The highlight being Carlo Cudicini a few rows behind me. He's some looker...
With a bank holiday weekend on the horizon, delicious beery and foody temptations will be all over me I'm sure, but I need to stay strong and continue to look at photos of topless muscly men. I've pencilled in the gym for 2 of the 3 days so that should keep me going.
Again, thanks to the lovely folk at
Courtney Food Service for all the Turkey, Cod and Steaks. You don't get lean by eating all the wrong things so all their help is very much appreciated...
Right, that’s me done for another week. Thanks for reading!
Peter
(You can, and probably should,
follow Peter on Twitter here).
