Priya works downtown with heavy weeks. Studio classes were the old default. The goal was recomposition: more muscle, a tighter look in clothes, stronger barbell work — without pretending she had five free evenings.
Numbers I track
Start height and weight: 5′5″ and 146 lb. That baseline lets waist measurements, scale trend, and training logs tell one coherent story instead of vibes alone.
Format
Hybrid coaching: two hands-on sessions a month at Fit Squad on squat, hinge, and heavy rows, plus weekly online programming, log review, and short technique clips when travel compressed the calendar. We ran this chapter for 16 weeks.
Nutrition and training load
I did not split fat loss and lifting into opposing camps. Daily protein lived at a fixed gram target. Calories averaged a modest deficit, with a maintenance-style week when sleep and stress stacked. Steps plus two short walks anchored sedentary workdays.
Training was three full sessions when the week allowed, two when work won. Volume flexed, but key lifts and progression rules stayed on one sheet. Check-ins paired scale trend, waist measurement, training numbers, and monthly photos.
Outcome
Waist dropped; shoulders and legs read fuller in the same poses. Pull-up work moved from assisted to controlled full reps. The win: hypertrophy stimulus and a sustainable deficit lived in the same weekly plan.
“Hybrid was the only honest fit for my job. The plan bent when I needed it — without losing the lifts that matter.”
Priya