Review of Week 5 Belly Off

Hi Everyone,

Slight delay in posting the review of Week 5 because I am currently on vacation in Vienna, Austria. Anyway, heres a fairly quick review!

Like most people I guess I had a big shock when I logged into the website on Saturday morning to watch the Week 5 videos only to see that everything had changed to this new Summer Special workout! Luckily the boys from Men’s Health didn’t forget about us lot still doing the old Belly Off programme and added the links to all the previous workout materials and videos! Phew!

So on Saturday 17th May I did the Bodyweight 350 and I did find it easier than the previous weeks challenge which was the Bodyweight 200 x 2. I was happy with the time as I managed to complete it in just under 27 mins. But must admit by the time I got to the last 15 chin ups I was struggling so had to do these in 3 sets or so. After week 4 I was a little bit disappointed that I only managed to loose a 1lb, but then on reflection I thought that was probably about right as I am definitely beginning to replace fat with Muscle, and seeing as muscle weighs more than fat you will naturally see a gradual decline in weight loss week by week. So I decided to take Craig’s advice and get a body fat test done. So I booked myself in with a personal trainer on Saturday after the Bodyweight challenge.

It’s the first time I have had a body fat test done and I wanted to get a feel for how much body fat I think I might have lost since starting the programme just over 5 weeks ago. I took some old pics with me that I took for my profile page and the trainer estimated that I had between 25%-27% bodyfat in week 1 (which sounded about right to me). I then did the body fat test and the result was I now have 19% body fat. So to go from 25%/27% to 19% in 5 weeks is very impressive. So I was pretty pleased and it shows how effective the programme can be if you stick to it.The best thing about week 5 was that I actually lost 3lbs, which is the most I have lost in a Week since starting the programme. (That's 10lbs in total in 5 Weeks which is pretty good!) Why? Well I did add a lot more additional training sessions in where I played football one day, went for a run and added some additional time on the interval training sessions. So that probably helped. I was also very careful about what I ate and since I started to keep a daily diary of all my food intake and nutritional values you can keep control far more easily.

The bad thing about Week 5 was that I did pick up a slight injury. On Thursday morning I went to work and literally as I was walking down a flight of stairs I felt a twinge in my right hamstring and since then its been pretty sore. The key lesson I learnt was not to overdo it! I did the week 4 bodyweight challenge on the Saturday, a 4km run on the Sunday, workout A on Monday, football on Tuesday, Workout B on Wednesday… So it’s no wonder I picked up a bit of an injury. Far too much in a short period of time and it was my body telling me to take it a bit easier!

Anyway, I have just finished Week 6 (sort of!). Because I am away in Vienna I don’t have access to my usual Gym facilities so in the Bodyweight challenge I had to substitute some of the excercises for others. So not being one for cheating or cutting corners I am going to do the Week 6 challenge again next week. So I will post my review of Week 6 next week.

Anyway, I hope all you guys are getting on well with your Belly Off challenges! Keep up the great work!

http://bellyoff.menshealth.com/SNC/ViewItem.aspx?pguid=...93-b76e-19d9c94defc3