Athletic physique week 8

So 8 weeks in and time to update my progress on the athletic physique program :)

So what's been happening the last 4 weeks?

Well, I feel that in the first 4 weeks although I made great progress I may have rushed into the training program trying to lift too much too soon...I get a little exciteable that way sometimes.

I figured this was the case as an old shoulder injury was rearing its ugly head and causing me mild pain on some shoulder and chest exercises. Because of this I decided to change tact slightly as I was aware that the planned overtraining was only a few weeks away eeek.

So what changed?

I didn't veer away from the basic outline of the program...the main exercises remained but I regressed the weight back slightly and increased the repetitions to take some pressure off my shoulder joint. I also spent some extra time each session working on my back and rear shoulder muscles to see if improving the balance of my upper body strength would reduce the pain....

And?

Im pleased to say it has worked...or seems to have as the shoulder pain hasn't re-appeared in the last 2 weeks of training yay, so I will be maintaining this small change as I progress through the coming 4 weeks of the challenge.

Progress?

I definately feel progress has been made as I am gradually again increasing the weight I can lift for some exercises, particularly I am pleased with my weighted pull ups...not much weight added (upto 8kg now) but considering I struggled with bodyweight pull ups 8 weeks ago it feels good to be able to perform these. Body wise I feel my back has made the most change in the last few weeks, my chest is still improving and my arms are still lagging behind but getting better :)

Goals:

So 4 weeks to go....I am pretty pleased with progress however my only target was to get my body fat % below 10%...currently I'm at eleven....4 weeks hard work then to bring it down (even 9.9% will do haha). My diet has been clean throughout (beyond the two cheat meals) however the last few weeks have been more carb heavy with an attempt to up calories for development...the coming 4 weeks I will be again stripping the carbs back to push for this last drop in fat....I might even chuck in a fast or two for good measure.

Pictures :)

Day 1

Day 56