So far so good, I’ve followed my routine as planned. I’m currently sitting at 171 lbs. I’d like to reach the goal of 150 lbs but I’m not sure how much muscle will impact my weight. I’m not sure if the build and muscle tone I have in mind can be achieved at 150 lbs, I guess we’ll find out as I get closer to my goals.

If I said this was easy for me, I’d be lying. Knowing exactly what must be done and actually doing it are two completely different things. A plan is nothing without good execution.

There’s a lot of moments when I feel like I want to give up. Why does it matter if you quit no one will know, I think to myself. And then I start to think about what kind of person that would make me. I don’t want to be the guy that only does the right thing when it’s convenient.

Determination, perseverance and sacrifice are traits I’ve always admired. In many ways developing myself physically has been a test of character. Each time I overcome my moments of weakness I gain more faith in myself.

“No man is ever whipped until he quits in his own mind.” — Napoleon Hill

Working out without a clear end goal has bothered me. So today I set out to find what my ideal form would be. Even before I began my research, I always wanted a body similar to a male gymnast. They weren’t overly muscular like body builders, or lanky like long distance runners, they were just right.

Turns out the world agrees with me. Regardless of culture or race, women from around the world found the V shape males to be the most attractive, these males had a very specific shoulder to waist ratio, 1.618 to be exact, also known as the golden ratio. And yes I realize my name is the symbol for the golden ratio.

Based on my calculations *pushes up nerd glasses* my ideal proportions are 48.5in shoulder and 30in waist.

I still have quite a ways to go before I reach my goal. Here’s where I currently stand.

So I need to gain about 3 inches on my shoulders and lose 5.5 inches on my waist. I’m currently sitting at 19% body fat, as I lose the body fat my waist should drop to 30 inches eventually. As for the shoulders, I’ll have to build more muscle in that area to gain the additional 3 inches.

Besides shoulder to waist ratio, the only other aspect I’m looking at is muscle tone. I don’t want to be ripped, just good definition. Besides trying to maintain a ripped body sounds like a nightmare, keeping yourself at 7% body fat is no trivial task.

After a week long fast, I lost about 12 lbs. When you lose weight at a rapid rate like that you end up losing muscle along with the fat. So in a way it was a small setback. I got my body fat percentage down to 20%, my goal is 10%. Just for reference when body builders compete they reach 7% body fat. They also drink gallons of water to flush out the sodium in their body, which in turn stops the body from retaining extra water weight.

There are many variations of the 20 squat program, I decided to start out with three key exercises.

Pull-ups
Push-ups
Sit-ups

The idea is to boost the testosterone levels in your body before performing the training circuit by executing 20 squats. The circuit is completed three times and that’s it. Definitely easier said than done. After the initial 20 squats I felt light headed and dizzy, squats are so demanding on the body. The only other exercise that matches the squats in that respect is the deadlift.

I’ll perform this routine 3 times a week for about 8 weeks. I’m expecting to plateau near the end of my 8 weeks then I’ll find another routine to perform.

I went a little fitness gadget crazy. I ended up buying a fat caliper, food scale and cup/spoon for measuring food.

It’ll definitely be challenging to stick with the workout routine, keep track of calories and eat healthy. I’ve done it before, I know I can do it again. The idea isn’t to live like this for ever, simply to reach your goal and go into maintenance mode, which is easy peasy.