For the first 5 months (Phase 1) of my body downsizing and recomposition I followed Michael Thurmond’s 6 Week Body Makeover program. The exercise in this program consisted of walking almost daily and resistance training which he called the Body Sculpting Program.
- Two workouts, A and B.
- Workout 3 times per week alternating workouts A & B.
- Most of the exercises were 2 sets of 15.
- Uses resistance bands.
- Supposed to only take 20 minutes but always took me longer.
For some of the exercises it took a couple of weeks before I could actually feel the target muscle working! Don’t know if it was because they were so small and weak or it just takes time and practice to learn to isolate/activate/whatever them.
In all that time not once did I have a sore muscle. Made me crave it! I started itching to lift weights. Around this time I started reading about nutrition, weightlifting, etc. on the internet. I came across an article by a guy named Alwyn Cosgrove. He said something along the lines of… someone who cannot even do 20 push-ups has no business getting under a bar to bench press. I agreed so I started working on my push-ups! I’d do them before the above program. Started doing body weight lunges, split squats and squats. I was about 50lbs overweight at the time which of course adds to the difficulty of bodyweight movements.
Continued reading more of Alwyn’s stuff. Found out he a new book coming out called The New Rules of Lifting for Women. How perfect! I placed my pre-order right away. That was around the beginning of December ‘07. I planned to be able to do those 20 push ups by the time I got the book so I’d be “worthy” of, and ready for, Alwyn’s training program. The book had been released but shipment was delayed. Decided to end Phase1 (using the 6 Week Body Makeover program) of my body recomposition and prepare for Phase 2 (New Rules of Lifting for Women) with a bodyweight program. I thought it was a logical transition from bands to bodyweight to free weights. I found Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne and followed that along with a High Intensity Interval Training program by Alwyn Cosgrove. I believe it is from his Afterburn program. Read it here http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alwyn8.htm
Long story short, I did Turbulence Training for 2 months from mid January to mid March. Lost only a few pounds but inches everywhere. Muscles were clearly tightening up and/or some fat was being lost. I then took a couple of weeks off to prepare for starting the Alwyn’s training program from the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women. Started looking for a gym. Had a nearby, windowless, smelly neigbourhood gym just a 15 min. walk away that would have been perfect but it was not to be. We’ll just say their professionalism left something to be desired. Ended up settling on Gold’s Gym. A 15 min. drive from home and about halfway between work and home. Now! On to Phase 2…….
http://www.brattland.com/training-log/training-phase-2/