P&FLT - c2w3 (c2 redux) - summary
Amazing week: amazingly hard, amazingly productive. Hit all my lifts, and did so within the 45-minute time limit. Continued to progress chin-up and pull-up numbers (overall), smashed the extra conditioning. Already talked about the stress-eating this week, not going to dwell on that. So, yeah, it was a good week—not easy, but good.
This week also finished up the Prep & Fat Loss Training template. Really liked the structure (main/supplemental superset with assistance), and the 3/5/1 progression seemed to work for me. I definitely got stronger physically—e.g., hit all my lifts with TMs increased appropriately in Cycle 2, chin-up/pull-up reps were climbing, etc.—but mostly I got stronger mentally: I had spent a long time using high-intensity, low-volume routines in a (sometimes severe) calorie deficit prior to this, so the relatively high volume of this template meant I really had to push, which, in retrospect, was harder mentally than it was physically.
I also pushed my conditioning while running this template. Hard. I did JW’s recommended “hard conditioning” with my sled (16x50 yards at just less than bodyweight) two times a week and his “easy conditioning” with a mix of weighted vest walks (about 35 minutes), some running (just over a mile), and some biking (15 minutes, in place of AirDyne work) three times a week. On top of this recommended work, I supplemented with tons of burpees, swings, CrossFit-style WODs, direct calf work, and some extra pulling work (BPAs, really) to find out what else my body could handle. I was really pushing this extra stuff in Cycle 2, and I think I found my limit: I am ready for the 7th Week Deload, both physically and mentally.
The 5/3/1 lifting and pushing my conditioning forced me to eat like a beast. I didn’t always make great choices—that’s still a work-in-progress—but eating because I had to was a stark and refreshing change from my mindset prior to this. I understand why JW says, “many people have used this [template] as part of a fat loss program.” If I hadn’t been so loose with the junk food quite so often, I suspect I might have had noticeable fat loss as well. As it stands, though, I don’t think I gained (too) much fat: lost a little of whatever definition I may have had in my abs and love handles are a bit bigger, but overall I am not really any less happy about how I look than when I started, and maybe my upper back and lats have grown a bit. Either way, I’m coming around to JW’s “Get a Better Body in 36 Months!” approach.
Even though it’s a “prep” template, I’m definitely gonna run this one again in the future—I just like it that much, and even JW says, “if one were to take the principles of this six-week program and use it exclusively, you would be hard pressed to find a more complete training program.” FWIW, I totally agree.
Moving on to the 7th Week Protocol, Deload this week. Goals include:
- 35-minute weighted vest (20 kg) walks on Sun, Wed, and Sat
- 50 burpees + swings every day
- Begin cleaning up diet
- Mentally and physically recover to prep for anchor
The deload comes at a good time: some stressors from last week are settling down, but I am anticipating some new ones starting up. This week will be a good opportunity to reset before moving into the anchor cycle.
