UFC PT Challenge Diary – Day 1

I am going to suffer a lot of pain in July.

I joined THQ and MCV’s Ultimate Fighting Championship Personal Trainer fitness challenge last week. Approximately 40 gamers have signed up, competing to win a trip to Vegas and £1000 spending money. THQ have kindly set up a Twitter list – ufcptchallenge – where we can watch the boys alternately smack-talking each other and moaning about their muscles.

I’ve also decided to dabble in video. Here’s a diary I made yesterday.

The numbers again:

Height: 168cm
Weight: 58.8kg
Body fat: 22.9%
Muscle mass: 36.3%

You’ve obviously noticed from the video that I’m disappointed with the accuracy of the game’s motion detection (2:30 if you couldn’t be bothered to watch me wittering at my webcam). It’s incredibly easy to rack up false information, rendering the entire stats tracking system useless. Still, the game is great for training inspiration. I’m doing the 30-day strength challenge to build up muscle mass and it’s started me off with a huge workout – 19 exercises, mostly focused on lower body. The only parts of me that don’t ache are my forearms and my calves. Wouldn’t surprise me if today’s workout finishes those off.

The flip side to gaining muscle mass is to improve your diet. Mine is appalling. Here’s what I ate yesterday.

My calorie breakdown, UFC PT challenge day 1

The amount of calories I need each day to just keep living is around the 1,400 mark. According to FitDay, my mostly-seated lifestyle means I should be eating around 2,300 calories to maintain my current weight. For a proper muscle-building routine, you want at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight which translates to at least 130 grams per day for me. Even with the biltong snack and protein shake, I only managed 111 grams yesterday.

It’s time to step up. MEEEAAAAAAT!