Bruce Lee Abs: Week 3

Week 3, Hardly Bruce Lee…more like Daniel San

Week 3 of the Bruce Lee Ab challenge is in the bag.   The half way point.  And let’s be honest, it’s frustrating.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and like Jon H said, “there are no short cuts.”  So half way means that there’s been a lot of effort and just the beginning results are peaking out.  Hardly Bruce Lee…more like Daniel San from the Karate Kid.

Don’t forget about the value of accountability partners!

I dropped 8 lbs so far, but much of that was the “easy” weight.  Running with my accountability partners Teddy Z, Jeremy Z, and Steve L have been big helps. Now the hard part is losing the bottom belly band fat and building muscle fast!  And as anyone who does this challenge can tell you, you cannot target which fat to lose.

Losing the belly band takes work.  You have to maintain high intensity cardio, be very vigilant with your diet, and build your metabolic muscle furnace.

Gerry M pointed out that muscle burns more calories, so especially working the legs, which is your largest muscles will help increase your metabolism.  I should also be building my upper body for more muscle and to “frame” the future abs, i.e. lose the 12 year old boy chest.  And no, Dr. Hsing, those were not manboobs, mreasts, or whatever they are technically called from Week 2!

Okay so, some may want to learn about workouts and apps.  The App Store has a ton of free ab workout apps.  Some have fancy videos or timers on them.  I use: Ab Workouts Free, #18 most popular app on the App Store…seems like many want to do this too…but do they succeed?  Let’s hope I do and you too!

Why I like this app is that it has workouts already laid-out from beginner to expert; and you can edit each workout to add repetitions or add an exercise.  At first, there are so many different exercises and they all seem the same.  I think watched the animated video of each exercise many times over just to make sure I understood the nuance of each.

I like the Boot Camp workout, which I modified:

Bicycle Crunches: 50 reps, 2 sets

Crunches: 50 reps, 2 sets

Hip Thrusts: 40 reps, 2 sets

Side Crunches: 25 reps each side, 2 reps

Long Arm Crunches: 40 reps, 2 sets

Sit Ups: 40 reps, 2 sets

Planks: 1.5 min, 2 sets

V Ups (modified with a bench and lowered leg lift then V Up): 40 reps, 2 sets

Cross Crunches: 50 reps, 2 sets

Now it’s taken me 3 weeks to get through this workout.  When I first started I could not do full reps or motions.  In fact, sit ups in this routine are killer.  The mid section burn comes on hard, but I have found the pain subsides in later reps as either you aren’t squeezing at the peak compression or the endorphins are kicking in, hallelujah!

Week 4-6 is where I hope to build definition.  The name of the game is intensity.  I can increase my reps and add weights where possible.  John K recommends adding ankle weights to hanging leg lifts for that added muscle breakdown.  Joe C reminds me of adding explosive motions like having someone throw your legs down in lying leg lifts or adding big jumps to Burpies to increase cardio intensity.  Gerry M reminds me I have to eat more protein than ever before.  Joe C also sent me a Men’s Health article in which Hugh Jackman said he ate 11 chicken breasts a day building muscle for Wolverine.  So there you have it eat more to build muscle but not enough to put on fat. *sigh*

The word of the week: Intensity.  Bruce certainly had intensity.