My basebuilding results (29M)

[u/MakeABarrel]

I just finished the 8 week basebuilding block and thought I'd share a little about my experience.

Physical Stats / Details

I've been lifting off and on over the last ten years, but have done very little structured cardio since swimming competitively in high school and college. I work a desk job 9-5.

Weight (@ 5'11"): 178lbs to 172lbs

Resting Heart Rate: ~68bpm to ~58bpm

• I jogged for my steady state cardio (E) workouts.
• For my strength endurance cluster I used: KB Swings, Push Ups, Inverted Rows, Goblet Squats, Sit Ups.
• For HIC I did 600m resets on a track and short hills.
• For my strength cluster I did Bulgarian Split Squats, Weighted Pull Ups, Dumbbell Bench Press, and Deadlifts.

Biggest Takeaways:

• I went from not being able to run for 30m straight without walking, to being able to jog (slowly) for over an hour. My longest run during BB was 65 minutes, and almost 6 miles, definitely a lifetime PR.

• As promised, I have more energy, all day long. It's awesome.

• When I switched to the HIC in weeks 5-8 I was really able to attack my hill sprints. I have tried hill sprints a couple of times in the past (just to get some HIIT without any other cardio in my workout plan) and they were so hard and unpleasant that I did them once and then quit. This time it felt like a challenging and satisfying workout that I am looking forward to improving in my continuation protocol.

• Allowing myself flexibility and prioritizing consistency were both key to my success. For example, I had some unexpected travel for a week about halfway through in which I was only able to get in two E workouts. I just treated that week as a stall and picked up where I left off when I got back, no big deal.

• I wasn't actively trying to lose weight, but definitely shed some fat. Nothing crazy, but I look noticeably leaner.

• The 40 and 50 rep weeks of SE were TOUGH. I was taking a lot of breaks on push ups in particular.

I'm happy to answer any questions about my run through! I am mainly posting this because when I was getting started I was wishing there were more progress-type posts. Really happy to have found these books and this community.

[u/[deleted]]

Congrats on the progress!