Hello,

Week 4 is done, and this week has given me some useful lessons about training, recovery and what happens when my normal routine gets disrupted.

I’ve started properly tracking my strength training, recording the weights and reps to give myself a baseline. If I want real results, I need progressive overload: gradually increasing the demands I place on my muscles over time through more weight, reps or training volume. Up until now, turning up consistently has been enough. Now I want to start progressing.

Exercise didn’t completely go to plan. I missed Thursday and Friday through a mixture of meetings, my daughter’s football camps, not protecting the time and simply being tired from training earlier in the week.

Rather than forcing it, I’m adjusting the plan. I’m dropping to two cardio sessions and building in a flexible rest day on Wednesday or Thursday depending on how I feel.

I’ve also realised weekend mornings are probably my best training window. I have more energy and fewer competing demands, so Saturday morning has become a staple.

Nutrition continued to go well, although I went to a party and allowed myself a maximum of four beers. I had three and stayed within my nutrition principles, but I still felt rough the next day and slept badly.

What surprised me was the cravings on Sunday. Suddenly I wanted sweets, carbs and Coca-Cola. Alcohol can disrupt sleep, and poor sleep and tiredness can increase appetite and cravings for highly palatable foods.

For the first time during this reset, I genuinely had to use willpower.

I can’t remove all those foods from my kitchen because I live with other people, but having plenty of healthy alternatives available really helped. Your environment matters most when motivation and energy are low.

Steps have been another big success. I’ve managed over 10,000 every day, and I think simply wearing a pedometer and seeing the number has made the difference. Another example of self-monitoring changing behaviour.

So, my main lessons from Week 4:

Track what you want to improve. I now have a baseline for my strength training and can start progressively overloading.

Recovery matters. More exercise isn’t necessarily better if I can’t recover from it.

Work with your energy. Weekend mornings work well for me, so I’m going to use them.

Alcohol has a knock-on effect. Even three beers affected my sleep, energy and cravings the following day.

Design your environment. Healthy alternatives made sticking to my principles much easier when willpower was low.

Make movement visible. Tracking my steps has naturally encouraged me to walk more.

Going into Week 5, I’m going to push myself harder in the gym, keep cardio to two sessions a week and have a flexible midweek rest day.

The plan is becoming less about doing more and more about finding what I can progress with, recover from and sustain.

Dan