making some great progress | Goals and Motivation | Forum

I've been making some great progress in the past few weeks. Every lift (of The Big 7) has gone up for me noticibly in the past 6 weeks. Plus, I've gained about 5 pounds and I think it's all muscle – no fat (I say this because my abs look the same, but to be fair I haven't had my bodyfat tested).

How have I done this? I'm trying to put the pieces together but here are the keys, I think:

1) fasting 1 day a week; every other day eating like I usually do

2) cycling off creatine for 2 weeks, then resuming; this seemed to have a really big impact

3) using hypertrofreak2 as my "alternate" within the 6x6x6 macro routine (this only makes sense if you own 6x6x6)

4) continuing all my usual habits (especially keeping a training log)

5) moving to an 8-day week; allows better recovery times (more on that here)

6) setting very specific goals around lifts

7) intelligent use of "finishing moves"; increased activation and motivation

So much of physique and fitness comes down to having a good foundation of principles (the science) but then making subtle changes based on your situation (the art).

Are you seeing progress?