Sunday 24 February 2013

Guess who's baaack

Been dosed with a nasty flu for the majority of the week.

First session back today, personal training, was very successful =] Got a PR and close to a second! Lots of power cleaning (if only real cleaning were as fun) overhead presses, and deadlfting.

Last time I was at the gym I got C&P to 42.5kg, could clean 45kg, but assisted on the ohp.

Went to do the 45kg, kinda got a bit stuck (right at the last bit of the press) and could sense my pt was behind me (i thought that he was assisting) and got it over my head.  But it turns out he went to assist but didn't need to, I had managed to get it up myself. Yay!

Deadlifting was equally as good, did a lot of work on form today.  Seems like I've got a weird body structure, small femurs and a long back (I am quite tall) so I can't actually drag the bar against my legs like the ideal. The point behind doing that is that it takes any reliance on your back away, but I have zero reliance on my spine and can keep it straight despite being further forward than the natural.  Managed to pull a 90kg and got very very very close to a 95kg =]

woooohooo =D

Wednesday 13 February 2013

I am so bad at this eating caper. But I have done 5 days in a row and trashed myself in the gym. Someone said I looked like I had lost weight so I guess I'm not doing too bad. Hmph.


Monday 11 February 2013

Cut day #1

I think I didn't eat enough..... But I don't want to start eating now as its really late -_-

Eats today; a yoghurt, banana sandwich, bovril and butter on toast.  I'm getting so used to Int fasting that I can literally ignore my hunger when I put my mind to it.  I'm sure it will wear off within a few days.  

I also did a SIGNIFICANT gym session today, well over an hour and a half & it was speed work as well as weight work. I'm done. 

Elliptical Trainer:
0:04:00 || 0.75km

Two-Arm Kettlebell Swing:  20 kg x 15 / 20 kg x 15 / 20 kg x 15 / 20 kg x 15 / 12 kg x 15
Log Clean and Press: 20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10 / 24 kg x 10 / 30 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 5  
Dips - Triceps Version: 15 reps / 15 reps / 15 reps / 15 reps / 23 reps
One-Arm Kettlebell Swing:  20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10 / 12 kg x 12 
Kettlebell Deadlift:  24 kg x 15 / 24 kg x 15 / 24 kg x 15 / 24 kg x 15 

red items were the last sets, I did a lower weight to fail. 

Sunday 10 February 2013

RAWR

Jesus effing christ.  That BASTARD has joined my gym.  The guy who I was pretty much head over heels in love with.  Who generally treated me very poorly, turned me into a bitter angry person, then told me he would date me if I lost weight. >_<

He just better not come near me when I'm deadlifting (or any other time) or he may find a VERY heavy weight dropped on him. Gr. 

Anyway fuck that.  I had a fantastic day at the gym today.  PT session! 

Elliptical Trainer:  0:13:24 || 1.6km

Two-Arm Kettlebell Swing: 20 kg x 10 reps / 20 kg x 10
Power Clean and Press: 20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10 
(warm up - did 10 kb, 10 cp, 10 kb, 10 cp circuit style.)

Power clean & Press: 30 kg x 5 / 35 kg x 3 / 37.5 kg x 1 / 40 kg x 1 / 42.5 kg x 2 AST / 35 kg x 6 (last rep ast)
Power Snatch: 15 kg x 10 (snatch warm up - just the swing without the squatting part)
Overhead Barbell Squat:  15 kg x 5 (again snatch warm up - only did 5 cause my knees can't tolerate a lot of static squatting)
Snatch: 15 kg x 5 / 15 kg x 5 / 15 kg x 5 - my form is getting there but today I felt like it was horrendous! Haven't done snatches in a week so I'm a little out of practice! Or I feel it!
Barbell Deadlift:  60 kg x 5 / 65 kg x 5 / 70 kg x 3
Stretching:  0:05:00

Yes that's RIGHT.  I did a 70kg deadlift.  That's 11 stone, the weight of a relatively normal HUMAN BEING. POW.

PT was very pleased with my progress. I showed him my deadlifts from earlier in the week, and he was like deadlifts deadlifts lets go!  So we did the normal cleans/snatches and once I'd exhausted my overhead lifting we came to deadlifts. Yar.  LOVE LOVE deadlifts.  I told him I could do 60kg pretty easily (as I had done a few days ago) and he started with that.  Lifted it pretty easily for 3, 65 the same. The 70kg was tougher but managed it quite easily. He tells me I have amazing speed with deadlifts, and its likely because I train so much with the kettlebells (I do love them a lot) and they utilise a lot of common muscles.  This is most definitely *my* lift.  He also showed me the proper form (a wider stance than I had done, and closer to the bar) and I also tried the mixed grip (which helps a lot if you use the strong arm for the underhand to keep control) 

I'm starting a cut on monday as well, so gotta come up with a training plan thats not too hard on the weights, probably a lot of bodyweight work and light weights (bridges, press ups, light weights, kettlebells etc) and I'll be eating every single day instead of my normal IF.  Definitely no farmers lifts in the next two weeks lol 

Saturday 9 February 2013

Burning the candle at both ends

*Saturday Gym Session*
Elliptical Trainer: 0.4km 3 m 00
Two-Arm Kettlebell Swing: 20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10 / 20 kg x 10
Log Clean and Press:  20 kg x 10 / 26 kg x 10
Straight Bridge: 10
Tricep Dips - TRX:  10 / 10 / 10 / 10
Body Weight Lunge (vibrating plate): 20 / 20
Farmer's Walk: (18kg per hand)  7m x 4 / 7m x 4 / 7m x 4 / 7m x 4
Lat Pulldown: 35 kg x 8 / 40 kg x 5
Bicep Pulldown:  35 kg x 8 / 40 kg x 5 / 45 kg x 1
Foam Rolling: 0:02:00
Stretching: 0:03:00

zomg farmers walks are HARD. Wanna test your grip strength?  Do a good HEAVY ASS farmers walk as fast as you can.  (A farmers walk is basically holding a heavy weight in each hand, by the side of your hips, and running a distance with it, and running back.)  By the end of each 7m x 4 set I was pretty much throwing the dumbbells on the floor.  Doesn't look difficult but it really is >_< Its in strongman comps for a reason I guess!!  These people use frames which weigh more than the weights I carry at the moment, then they lay shitloads of plates on them!! Argh!

Think next time I'll be leaving the farmers walks to the end as my Lat/Bicep pulldowns really suffered from the fatigue.

I noticed recently that I'm starting to get the tiniest wee biceps too :3

PT tomorrow, i'm going to get my ass well and truly KICKED.  I've felt guilty about not going to the gym (even though I needed to give my knees space to work themselves out after the physio earlier in the week) so I did a workout at home on Thu, Fri and gym on Saturday. God help me, i'm going to die!!!  

Everything is ok knees wise, now I know to go easy on the skwatsss.  Was doing them 2/3 times a week but just keeping them to PT sessions (once a week) until things start to sort themselves out.  I'm having to really listen to my body now.  Not even just in training, I cannot sit with my legs crossed at all anymore as it is pulling the injured tissue. Silly things you wouldn't even think about like the way I sleep, and even the way I drive! Have to do stretches a lot to keep everything working properly.  

I'm feeling very positive about things.  

Starting a cut on Monday.  Dropping IF for a while (its great for bulking and maintenance) and going back to a weightwatchers style diet for about 10 days.  Monday 11/02 - Friday 22/02.  I expect I'll be a complete bitch by.... Monday evening? XD


Friday 8 February 2013

Bang bang bang

60kg deadlift DONE.

Coulda gone for 70kg!  Got up to 60kg, could pull out 5 reps with some left in the tank.  Had no more weights to add though =(

Stretching: 0:05:00 (quad stretching) 
Two-Arm Kettlebell Swing: 16 kg x 10 reps / 16 kg x 10 reps
Clean and Press: 20 kg x 10 reps / 25 kg x 8 reps / 30 kg x 5 reps / 35 kg x 4 reps / 40 kg x 3 reps
OHP:  20 kg x 5 reps / 25 kg x 4 reps / 30 kg x 2 reps
Barbell Deadlift: 50 kg x 10 reps / 55 kg x 8 reps / 60 kg x 5 reps 

POW

:)

Wednesday 6 February 2013

blahblahblah

My head feels like an elephant is sitting on it.  Gowai migraine.

No gym but managed to throw a few sets of squats n stuff out at home.  Did some kb swings with a 4kg (just testing the waters) and was very very close to firing the thing up on through the ceiling, haha.  Kinda nice though, just realising how strong I've become. Hell I'm swinging 5 times that as a warm up, and 6 times as a WORKOUT.  The gym doesn't hold kettlebells any bigger than 24kg! :)

Starting to get to the projectile vomiting stage, so I will bid you farewell for today.  Moar updates tomorrow.  Maybe.

Monday 4 February 2013

Knee troubles

So physio helped me shedloads today.  Apparently I've not got a meniscus issue like previously expected, I've got some really bad damage in my quads, where they go over my kneecap (patellar tendinitis) and it can be rehabbed!  Yay!  I am allowed to do squats but I have to be careful and not overload!  Kinda sad that I cannot go heavy, but its better than not being able to do any :)
Had food for dinner, realised that I actually won't be able to eat tomorrow night anyway as I'll be at the gym til late! So I had some dinner tonight.  

Got le physio tonight - that'll be a barrel o laughs I'm sure.

Intermittent fasting

As I type this, I am roughly half way through my first whole fasting day in a very long time.  When I first started the Alternate Day Diet / Alternate Day Fasting / Intermittent fasts, I was doing this type of fasting, which basically consists of 3 days of fasting per week.  (monday, wednesday and friday).  Then I started doing 5-5 splits as I found the whole days tough to stick to long term (maybe I got bored, maybe my body was getting used to the same routine) So now I've got into the same situation as before, where my split days are no longer working like they used to, so I'm switching back.  Kinda.

This week I intend to do the following:

Mon: Fasting all day
Tues: Eating all day - gym - 1 hr + weights, followed by 1hr Yoga class
Wed: Fasting all day
Thu: Eating until 5pm: Fasting after 5pm - Gym 1hr ish weights session
Fri: Fasting until 5pm
Sat: Eating all day
Sun: Eating all day (maybe a fast evening?)

(total 2 x whole days, 1 x 24hr)
I'm doing the split day on Thu evening/Friday morning as I've got plans on Friday night.  Sister's OH's birthday drinks in t'pub.  :) 

For my first whole day fast, I don't feel too bad at all, which is pretty unusual.. It's normally a bit of a shock to my system when I change my diet over. I'm surprised I haven't got a migraine yet!

I'm really struggling in my head re weight loss vs muscle gains.  As you can guess from the knee picture, I am substantially overweight.  Part of me wants to deal with the weight NOW.  Part of me is kicking ass and loving building muscles. It really is a pity that you can't do both at the same time lol. 

So Cut vs. Bulk?

Cutting has the desired effect weightloss wise
Bulking means not losing significant fat weight in the near future.
Cutting is miserable.
Bulking is freakin awesome fun. 
Cutting means eating less.
Bulking means eating more!

Bulking means I'll have moar muscles and it will make it easier in the long run to lose weight as my BMR will be considerably higher, cutting and maintaining *should* be a lot easier. 

I dont even know what is considered effective bulking/cutting times, like should I bulk for 3 months then cut for 3 months? Shorter? Longer?  Answers on a postcard!

Sunday 3 February 2013

Injuries



My knee is so angry. Sustained an injury years ago involving an escalator. Still got the puncture marks!

It's been giving me a *lot* of bother lately, especially when doing static squats.  The pushing up motion is giving me sharp pain.  I can do snatches with very little problem, probably because its not as isolated, and the snatch uses a lot more momentum, thus not relying on the knee joint itself.
  
Going to see a physio tomorrow to get advice on rehab. I'm feeling like its probably a meniscus tear as i've got all of the symptoms. Which may mean surgery... joy :(

Another day.....

....another session

xTrainer:
0.4km done in 3m00

Two-Arm Kettlebell Swing:
20 kg x 10 reps / 20 kg x 10 reps / 20 kg x 10 reps / 20 kg x 10 reps / 24 kg x 10 reps -PB-
pow pow pow kettlebell queen :) 

Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise:
12 kg x 10 reps / 12 kg x 10 reps -PB- / 12 kg x 8 reps / 12 kg x 8 reps

Not sure if I've got the form right on these, as my back was being worked as much as my calf muscles!  Used a pair of 12kg kettlebells in this exercise.   

Log Clean and Press:
20 kg x 8 reps / 24 kg x 6 reps / 26 kg x 6 reps / 28 kg x 2 reps / 30 kg x 1 reps -PB-

Wow.  Dem Viprs are hard man.  20kg is the highest weight my gym has. So the first one was the 20kg, then for the next ones I used a 20kg and put the smaller 4/6/8/10kg viprs inside the 20kg (they're hollow rubber logs) which also achieves a collosal grip workout as you have to hold and control two viprs, which by the way don't want to be good and stay where they are supposed to. Felt like I could've done a second 30kg but I decided to preserve what was left in my energy stores for the remainder of the session

Lat Pulldown:
35 kg x 8 reps / 40 kg x 5 reps / 45 kg x 3 reps / 50 kg x 1 reps -PB-

Holy hell this was hard ass.  50kg not for the weak minded.  Managed to get it about two thirds of the way down.
Close-Grip Front Lat Pulldown:
35 kg x 8 reps / 40 kg x 5 reps / 45 kg x 3 reps / 50 kg x 1 reps -PB-

struggled to get full ROM again, but got SO CLOSE. I do find the bicep pulldown a litttttle bit easier than the lat pulldown. 

Straight Bridge:
15 reps / 15 reps

my butt started cramping at the end of the second set... lol

Dips - Triceps Version:
10 reps / 10 reps 

Pain. pain. pain.  I hate these with a passion. I have terribly lazy (but correct) form on these, I don't do them with feet straight out because the sheer weight of my body would kill me.  So I do them with my knees bent taking a little of the weight off. Definitely my weakest exercise.  Will probably do these on the TRX suspension as I find standing is more efficient, I can directly target my triceps and I can pull out more sets before I get completely cream-crackered.
One-Arm Kettlebell Swing:
20 kg x 8 reps / 20 kg x 8 reps / 20 kg x 8 reps

Was going to do the same number of sets as I did for the 2 hand swing but by then my whole body was giving up and my form was really going to pot by the 3rd set. 



So I'm now sitting in front of a lovely warm fire, chilling the fuck out, after having eaten a lovely big ass bowl of post workout ice cream.  Nom. 

Saturday 2 February 2013

Weigh in #3

# - date :    weight  /  +/-    /   bf%    / lbs bodyfat / +/-
1 - 19/01:     251.9  /         /   50.1   /   126.2     /
2 - 26/01:     253.3  /  +1.4   /   49.4   /   125.1     / -1.1

3 - 02/02:     256.1  /  +2.8   /   49.5   /   126.7     / +1.6


Hmmmm. I had a bad bad eating week.  Didn't really follow my fasting schedule at all. -_-  But I am glad that the 2.8lb on isn't ALL fat. woooo.

Fasting will probably be all day Monday, all day Wednesday, then Thursday 5pm - Friday 5pm (friday night plans).  Havent done all day fasts in a long time, my normal schedule is 5-5 starting on sunday night, tuesday night and thursday night.  But lately I've just found i'm eating insane amounts at 5pm just for the hell of it.  Been dieting since July, so I think a flip around is needed to get back on track. I've got serious ADD when it comes to dieting...

Pow pow pow!

Personal training session today.

Elliptical Trainer:
0:15:00 || Intense! (+150 pts)
level 10 maintained av of 10kmph
------
Two-Arm Kettlebell Swing:
20 kg x 10 reps (+46 pts)
20 kg x 10 reps (+46 pts)
Clean:
20 kg x 10 reps (+52 pts)
20 kg x 10 reps (+52 pts)
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP):
20 kg x 10 reps (+75 pts)
20 kg x 10 reps (+75 pts)
(did the kb swing, clean, and press sets in circuit style.)
-----
Clean and Press:
25 kg x 8 reps (+114 pts)
30 kg x 5 reps (+108 pts)
35 kg x 2 reps (+78 pts)
35 kg x 2 reps (+78 pts)
Power Clean and Press:
20 kg x 20 reps (+91 pts)
deloaded oly bar to do this as I was struggling with c&p
------
Power Snatch:
10 kg x 10 reps (+53 pts)
15 kg x 10 reps (+57 pts)
Overhead Barbell Squat:
10 kg x 5 reps (+32 pts)
15 kg x 5 reps (+35 pts)
Struggled but PT helped me a lot with form here.
Snatch:
10 kg x 10 reps (+65 pts)
15 kg x 10 reps (+70 pts)

(quoted from my fitocracy.com account)

Getting the technique right on these lifts takes a bloody lot of time and patience.  The difference in the workout when done correctly and done incorrectly is staggering! I thought I was doing the clean & press ok until I started hitting the weights. Its really not just an arm movement, you gotta throw your entire self into it.  And the olympic bar rotates so you don't have the twist advantage in your wrist.  My PT knows how to ramp up the difficulty!  But I'll forgive him cause he's hellllllaaa cute :P

The snatch is just mindblowing, you have to have so much control of so many body parts all at once.  It confuses my little brain! I won't ever forget the first time I did a snatch with the correct form, it was completely mindblowing... Just feels like such an achievement!

Friday 1 February 2013

Lacking motivation

I'm a complete disaster eating and exercise wise at the mo... Need a shove in the right direction pronto.