Bigger Leaner Stronger 2.1

Michael Matthews is a prolific writer, and in July last year he updated his book Bigger Leaner Stronger to version 2.1, introducing the concept of a "Strength Week" every 4 weeks. For those of you who don't know, I have made a series of spreadsheets that follow the Bigger Leaner Stronger Year One Challenge program. These can be found at http://www.fact-reviews.com/bls.
I have now finally updated my website with the new spreadsheets. They cover all 6 phases (each phase is 8 weeks, followed by 1 week rest) for each of the 5-day, 4-day and 3-day per week programs.

The idea is that you create a shared dropbox folder on your PC and your phone. Then you store the current phase spreadsheet in this folder, so you can update it on your phone while you are at they gym, between sets. On my Android phone I use WPS Office, a free program that is compatible with Microsoft Office. It uses the .xls format, not the newer (and larger) .xlsx format, so this reduces the file size, and the data usage when you update it on Dropbox. I'm sure there are IOS apps that can edit these files too.
Then when you get home from the gym you can print out the page of today's exercises, and keep a record of your progress. There is also space at the bottom of each page where you can keep track of your progress over the 8 week period. I find that this helps me monitor my improvements over time, which encourages me to improve, even by a small amount each week.
I started the Year One Challenge two years ago, and am now on phase 5 week 3. This is partly because I started over after recovering from a repetitive strain injury, and also because I go to gym 3 days a week but do the 4-day program, to ensure that each Tuesday I am on a different day with my personal trainer. He helps me make sure my form is correct, so I don't waste my time or do anything stupid that might cause an injury.

My Before and After Pictures So Far

A quick glance at these "before" and "after" images shows no dramatic change to my body shape after 2 years of training using the Bigger Leaner Stronger program. Or so you would think. Certainly my body measurements haven't changed much, but that's not the only data that matters. At least for me. I am 5kg heavier, yet not fatter. I am stronger in all the main 4 exercises that matter.
I don't have a record of my efforts for 2014, but I was struggling to do a Squat properly, and hadn't even attempted the Seated Military Press until 2015. I started keeping records of my exercises at gym in January 2015. So my stats (for at least one set of 6 reps) are:

Jan 2015
Deadlift 40kg
Squat 40kg
Seated Military Press 25kg
Bench Press 40kg
Dec 2016
Deadlift 100kg (+60kg)
Squat 90kg (+50kg)
Seated Military Press 40kg (+15kg)
Bench Press 60kg (+20kg)

Next week is "Strength Week", so these numbers may improve further. Either way, I am achieving personal best results in many of the exercises every week. Progress has been slow but steady, especially considering I turned 55 this year, and only have the time and energy to go to gym 3 times a week.
I have been going to the gym regularly for over 3 years now, and my progress has been great, at least for me. In August 2013 I couldn't do any of the basic exercises. I could manage around 5 pushups if I was lucky. Now I do 12 pushups as part of a warm-up routine. For me that's great progress, and it has been worth the time and effort. This week I am starting my warmup exercises with the weights I was doing as working sets in January 2015, or heavier. And the warmup sets start with 12 reps, not 6.

Celebrating Two Years at the Gym

Its weird to think that I am "celebrating" two years of hard slog at the gym. For most of my life I have thought of myself as a "weakling", a "nerd", or and "intellectual", but never as a pserson of "normal" strength, let alone a "sportsman". But two years ago that changed. I decided to get serious about getting strong and fit. I just wanted to feel normal for once.
It's difficult to describe just exactly how different that feels. When I was in junior school I could count all the ribs on my chest. I had no muscle tone to speak of. Boys who punched me on the upper arm learned not to do that, because they encountered bone not muscle, and it hurt them as much as it hurt me. Sport was never intuitive or easy for me. I sucked at it, and focused on intellectual activities at school.
So now when I fold my arms across my chest to do decline abdominal crunches, I rejoice in feeling my chest muscles, and not just ribs or body fat. My legs and arms are no longer flabby, and my overall body fat percentage is moving downwards, but very slowly. Its still around 20%, which is high.
My best flat barbell bench press was less around 45% of my body weight. Now its closer to 80% of my body weight, with a target of 135%. 100% is considered respectable. In the last 9 weeks it has only progressed by 5kg to 65kg for 6 reps, but my form is much better, and I have also learnt to do the incline barbell bench press, and manage 50kg for 6 reps. I can also do 15 push-ups as part of my warm-up routine, whereas before I could hardly manage 5 reps without a lot of puffing and panting, and 10 reps was completely out of the question.
Two years ago I couldn't do the squat at all. It took me several months to get my leg and back muscles strong enough just to do the movement (mostly) right, with no bar at all. The first time I tried using the empty 20kg bar, I couldn't manage it, and we had to use the lighter 10kg bar instead. 9 weeks ago my best barbell squat for 6 reps was 60kg. Now it's up to 74kg, which is about 85% of my body weight. I'm aiming for 175%, but even 100% is considered passable to good.
My biggest gains have been with the deadlift, where I got to 100% of my body weight, but with bad form and a bent back. I'm just glad I didn't hurt myself. So I have dialled back to 75kg and focusing on proper form so I don't hurt my lower back. That would be a disaster.
The other big change for this year has been that I now exercise 4 days a week, usually Friday through Monday, leaving Tuesday to Thursday for my job, as well as Monday and Friday afternoons. Before then I was only exercising one day a week, and doing some swimming on one or two other days. That helped with my fitness and general strength, but progress was slow. Probably a good thing so I could get my form right. That's what personal trainers are for, after all. They can advise on technique and form, but don't expect them to motivate you. They can encourage and support you, but you have to motivate yourself.
I have found some excellent advice in the book "Bigger Leaner Stronger" by Mike Matthews, and I'm following his workout program outlined in the "The Year One Challenge for Men" workout diary. I started doing the standard 5 day course, which is intended to be done in 5 days per week, but I was doing it in 4 days and carrying over one day to the following week. After 2 months of this I changed and used the slightly reduced 4 day program, which seems to be working a lot better. My weight has gone from 82kg to 84kg in 4 months, and I'm definitely not fatter than I was, so I can safely assume that most of that is an increase in muscle and a decrease in fat. I certainly hope so.
I have posted some spreadsheets on my Fact Reviews web site which cover the 4-day and 5-day program for Bigger Leaner Stronger. You need to read the book before doing the exercises, however.

Taking up the "Bigger Leaner Stronger" Year One Challenge

I first heard about Michael Matthews in August last year, when I found his audio book "Bigger Leaner Stronger" on Audible. Even though I had been going to the gym for a year already, I wasn't ready to try his 5-day-a-week program. I simply wasn't fit or strong enough.
In January 2015 I increased my workouts from one day a week to two days a week (Friday and Monday) instead of just a single day, and made some progress. I could now perform the Bench Press, Deadlift and Squat exercises (mostly) correctly, and lift approximately 50% of my body weight of 82kg. For me this was great progress, since I have always been of way below average strength. I'm 54. My personal trainer at the gym was hard pressed to figure out ways of teaching me these basic exercises from such a weak start. But we persisted and after 18 months I could start recording "personal best" weights that were approaching my body weight.
By then I had read "Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger" and used Mike's "minimum requirements" for that book as my goal to work towards:

• Squats 175%
• Deadlift 175%
• Bench Press 135%
• Seated Military Press 100% of body weight for 4-6 reps.

Ambitious goals for sure, but realistic ones that I can attain in a few years. When the Second Edition of "Bigger Leaner Stronger" came out, I ordered the print versions of both the BLS book and the companion workout diary, "The Year One Challenge for Men". They arrived at the end of April this year. During May and June I worked through all the new exercises with my personal trainer, and decided to aim to work out every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. That makes 4 days for a 5 day program, meaning that every Friday I would be able to do a different workout under the supervision of my personal trainer. I can't afford a trainer more than one day a week.
Next I realized that my normal note-taking procedure when working out wasn't going to be good enough for the BLS program. So I used my HiSense Android smart phone's software that can edit Excel files on DropBox, called WPS Office. I have created a spreadsheet for the first phase of the program. it lists each exercise for each day, and uses the weight and reps used to recommend what the next week's weight should be, based on the calculated one-rep max from the previous week.

Shown here is a screen shot from my phone for day 5. The sets in blue are warm-up sets, with the target weight in the third column, and the actual weight used in the 4th column. The actual reps are in the next column, next to the target reps. So while you are working out you only need to record the weight and reps performed. From that it will use the standard Epley Formula for a one-rep maximum to calculate the target weights for warm-ups and sets for the following week, based on Mike's recommendation of doing working sets in the 80-85% range. In this way you always make progress and know what your next target is.
The next challenge came when I actually tried to do the exercises. In spite of being used to doing much more than 3 sets on the "big 4" exercises, I found it difficult to jump by a full 5kg when doing Seated Military Press and some of the other exercises. The smallest weight in my gym is 2.5kg, so a barbell can only go from, say 30kg to 35kg. Not a problem for Squats and Deadlifts, but definitely a challenge for Seated Military Press. Without a spotter I just can't manage, and a spotter isn't always available at my gym.

The solution is simple. They are called "fractional weights" and I found a local supplier who could sell me four 1kg plates that fit on the Olympic size barbell I use at the gym. I already had two plates that weigh 0.5kg, so now I can choose any 1kg increment between 30 and 35 kg and not stress about whether I am about to injure myself with an increase that is "too big". If the target weight is 32kg, I have no excuse: I can either lift it or I can't, but I can't blame the gym for not having a 32kg barbell.
So far I have found the first phase of the One Year Challenge tough. Each individual day isn't too bad, but the cumulative effect is pretty hectic. On top of that I have been plagued by a bad cold (it is winter in SA) and an abscess that required 2 days in hospital. So I am only finishing week 2, even though I have done week 1 several times as I learn the exercises. I will be glad when all these interruptions can go away.
Update Friday 3rd July 2015: I have posted a more detailed explanation of the Year One Challenge on my Fact-Reviews website, which includes a download link to the Excel spreadsheet I use, and instructions on how to use it.
Update Tuesday 7th July 2015: Finally made it back to the gym, so we are on track again. I also discovered that the audiobook of Bigger Leaner Stronger has been updated to the second edition, which is now almost 11 hours of useful information.