Here we are, four weeks into my 90 day effort. It has certainly been an interesting 28 days. I've made some progress, I've tired myself out, but there is still plenty of time to push for more fat loss, greater gains, and greater achievement. 

If we look back 4 weeks at June 22, we will see I had a busy day. I had three circuits in the gym, including a deadlift workout, a run in the morning, and the "Fitclub" launch for the eight week competition at my gym. 

Before we get into a status update, I want to define something. "Hypocaloric Diet". This essentially means you eat less calories than you burn. 

“Following a hypocaloric, or reduced-calorie, meal plan can help you shed unwanted body weight. Using this type of meal plan helps you lose weight based on calories, rather than having to consume special “diet” foods or avoid others.”

I think this is critical to remember that I am taking in less calories than I am burning off. I do this every day. This is basically how you shed unwanted fat. Some will say 3,500 calories equals 1 pound of "fat loss"; many will refute that. Regardless of where you fall in your opinions, it is a fact that calories and a calorie deficit play a huge role in fat loss.

What this also means is that when you are in a calorie deficit, your body relies on your "reserves" to get you through the day. This means that after, say, 3 hours of workouts, you will feel a greater amount of fatigue than someone ingesting a higher calorie count.

The Fitclub effort my gym is doing is tied to three core things: taking classes, performance changes, and body composition changes. I take three cardio classes a week, but will not change my strength training routine as I have goals that may be different than others for whom the classes may work well. 

Here are the results of the core metrics from the original check-in, as well as the current one from today.

• Body Fat - 28.9% (Using Handheld Impedance Device)
  • 4 Weeks Ago - Body Fat - 29.8% (Using Handheld Impedance Device)
• Body Weight - 243.1 (Based on Fitbit Aria Scale)
  • 4 Weeks Ago - 253.7 (Based on Fitbit Aria Scale)
• Waist Circumference - 44
  • 4 Weeks Ago - 47
• Hip Circumference - 49
  • 4 Weeks Ago - 51 1/2
• Push Ups in 1 Minute - 34
  • 4 Weeks Ago - 33
• Pull Ups in 1 Minute - 0
• Plank Hold - 2:25
  • 4 Weeks Ago - 2:15
• Rope Waves - 115
  • 4 Weeks Ago - 108

What we see from this result are some interesting changes. I've dropped 10.6 pounds in bodyweight in 4 weeks, dropped 0.9 points in body fat. I've also been able to improve the push up number slightly, as well as the plank hold. The rope waves were down, most likely driven by fatigue of multiple workouts in a single day as well as ropes not being part of my core workout lately. A pull-up is still well beyond my grasp at this point, but we're certainly working on that.

What we see from the results from the last four weeks is that I've improved body composition, I have made incremental improvements in performance, and I know for a fact my workout schedule is completely on point. Between 6/22/2016 and 7/20/2016 I had 41 visits to the gym, which is typically driven by multiple visits in a single day of a morning run and an after-work lifting session several times a week. 

This is only part of the story. The goals I have don't end with the "Fitclub" goals, but begin there. These aren't necessarily the most critical goals I have, especially those related to "performance testing" during these Fitclub sessions. The body composition goals are critical, of course, to my current effort to continue dropping my body fat and changing my overall body. 

The other part of the goals are my performance goals from my "regular" workouts. These are more critical to me than the testing performance goals. This month, the trainer and I have set goals related to weights for deficit deadlifts, diamond pushups, clapping pushups, squats, and the bench press. Each of these this round are focused on volume rather than weight to help improve form and base strength.

As I move forward over the remaining 9 weeks of the 90 day effort, I am focused on my workouts, my nutrition, and my body composition while trying to maintain as much muscle (or gain) as possible. This means being more active, including more activity during the days. This means ensuring I keep consistent with my workouts. This means driving myself hard towards the 90 day line to see what I can achieve during this time.

This gets me to the overall theme of the upcoming month. This is something that came up between my trainer and myself today. He said, "sometimes progression is a bitch." He's right. It's tough, especially on those negative pull-ups I am currently working on that (which will be the topic of another post to come). I then laughed and thought about it, "then you win." That's the truth... progression is a bitch. If you keep at it, you will win. Progression means moving forward. No matter what you do, if you are progressing you are winning.

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We'll close today's update with some updated photos. These were all taken today, and if we look back at the last photo set