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As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus. If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed I’ve started to become more active. And if you don’t, well then you should come show some love on Facebook and Instagram! My goal is to become more active there as well. I plan to bring back the monthly progress reports at first and by the start of 2022, I’m going to bring in an additional post every month, I just need some time to properly prepare for that.
How 2021 Has Gone
2021 has been interesting. As I mentioned in my previous post, I struggled to get back into the swing of things after Covid hit. I was pretty consistently staying in the 205-210 range. Well, that ended up sticking around longer than I planned. I started the year off at 210 and didn’t really start to make any progress until February. By the end of February I made it to 202 and in March is when I started to get into a groove, getting down to 192 by the end.
At the end of March, I left for a 15 week training out in Virginia that turned into 17 weeks because of a 2 week quarantine period. Luckily, I came prepared for not being able to leave my room for 2 weeks and had plenty of MRE Lite and MRE Bars to hold me through the day. The meals we were brought weren’t exactly the healthiest so I did my best to eat just the meat in the meal. After quarantine was over, I was placed into a 3rd shift class, meaning I had class from 1-9 am which, as you can imagine, took a bit to adjust to. I spent the majority of April trying to set a good routine, ending at 188.
I had a pretty good routine going, I’d out of class and get ready for platoon PT. After that, I would go to the gym for my own workout and finish off with a 1-mile run. Eventually, I started filling the empty space between working out and sleeping with walking. I’d run 1 mile and then just walk until about 1-2 pm, sometimes throwing in some more running or switching my initial run to 2 or 3 miles. I would say I averaged about 4-5 miles every day between running and walking. By the end of May, I was 183. June, I was 175 and in July, I got down to 172 before I let myself take a bit of a break to enjoy the last two weeks a bit more.
This routine did wonders for both weight and fitness. I took an ACFT on 5/25/21 and my results were as follows; Deadlift – 140lb, Standing Power Throw – 7.0m, Hand Release Push-ups – 15, Sprint Drag Carry – 1:49, Leg Tuck – 2:09 Plank, 2mi Run – 17:58. I took another one on 7/7/21 and here are those results; Deadlift – 140lb, Standing Power Throw – 7.5m, Hand Release Push-ups – 20, Sprint Drag Carry – 1:40, Leg Tuck – 1, 2mi Run – 17:10. Both times, I could have done more on the deadlift and push-ups but I went into it mostly just wanting to hit the minimums because I wanted to save energy for having to run after the plank. The first one, they did not allow us to try the leg tuck first, we had to pick one or the other so I went for the plank not knowing if I could get a leg tuck yet. The second, my grader allowed me to try first, and, much to my surprise, I managed to get my first leg tuck! It was extremely hot that day as well, I think I would have been able to get a faster run time if it hadn’t been but I was still very pleased with it. My fastest every 2mi was 17:05 in AIT so now, 6 years later, 17:10 isn’t bad at all.
Back at Home
I planned to get back into setting a new home routine right away when I got home. I took two weeks off work to try to help with this and, well, that didn’t fully go as planned. I’ve been back for a month now and have started to get into the flow of things but am going to be kicking it off this week. My biggest struggle has been food. I got used to not having to worry about food as much while at training because I was burning 1000+ calories every day. The working out part hasn’t been too bad, I’ve missed a couple of days but I’m back in it now with no plans to stop.
Just in time for Redcon1’s Fall 2021 Readiness Challenge, an 8-week transformation challenge, for some extra motivation! I’m super excited and extra motivated for this one. Not only do I want to kick it into high gear in general but this challenge has the chance to win $50k and a 1-year Athlete contract with Redcon1! The contract includes a monthly salary, supplements and apparel, and all-expense-paid trips to the biggest bodybuilding events! I’ve started a couple of other Readiness challenges but haven’t actually fully followed through with any of them yet. This time I am fully committed and ready to follow through with it!
That being said, here are my before pictures and stats!
- Current Weight: 187.0
- Readiness Challenge Goal: 171.0
- That’s a 2lb a week average
- 2021 Goal Weight: 150lb
- Readiness Challenge Goal: 171.0
- Current Body Fat: 27%
- Readiness Challenge Goal: 22%
- 2021 Goal Body Fat: 20%
- Current Tape
- Neck: 15in
- I would like to get my neck back up to 16in
- Waist: 38in
- Readiness Challenge Goal: 35.5
- 2021 Goal: 34
- Neck: 15in
September
This month, I’m going to really hammer down on getting back into the grove. I have a pretty nice schedule made up, I just have to actually start using my disciple to follow through with it and make it my normal everyday routine. It will be rough but I have a couple of friends helping me keep accountable and posting regularly on social media will help with accountability as well. Plus, $50k is a pretty good motivator!
That being said, here are my goals for September:
- Lose 2lb a week, putting me at 179lb
- Lose at least 2.5% body fat, putting me at 24.5%
- ACFT
- Deadlift: 180lb
- Standing Power Throw: 7.5m
- Push-ups: 20
- Sprint Drag Carry: 1:45
- Leg Tuck: 1
- 2mi Run: 18:00
Join me in the Readiness Challenge to see how much you can change in 8 weeks! Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for daily updates and to find out about all of Redcon1’s amazing deals!