Monday, March 31, 2014
First encounter with a personal trainer
I've been training hard and have enjoyed the hell out of it. Having covered the theory part of lifting, I decided I needed some hands-on coaching to catch my mistakes before they turn into bad habits.
I booked in four sessions for me and Raquel, and it's been fantastic. We've enjoyed every hour and consider ourselves lucky to get such a great guy. Big shout-out to Charod at O2 fitness.
Having sorted out my dead lift and squat, while adding some more exercises, I feel pretty confident that I'm on the path to "beastliness". A program is starting to shape, and my legs are certainly getting stronger. Most of my life, I've been somewhat delusional, believing my legs to be strong, and thus mostly neglecting them. Am I the only one who believed sports was enough to build strong legs? I wish someone would have pointed me in the direction of the squat rack when (beach) volleyball was my favorite past time.
My numbers are slowly improving, and I don't know what the gym situation will from here on out as I will be going to Europe for about 7 weeks.
Latest numbers:
Squat: 5x194
Bench: 3x184 (No spotter around, could maybe have squeezed out one more)
Deadlift: 5x194
My weight: 190
I've been doing more split squats and I like the effect it has on my legs. I'm also working on the clean at the moment. Will include it over time but feel the need for some instruction at this point.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Starting strength
About me
People, myself included, enjoy asking questions like "how much can I gain in one year?", or "can I increase my bench press by 100 pounds in a year?". I've googled the shit out of these questions myself. So to avoid wasting any more time, I will simply just see how strong I can get while documenting it all for my own and others benefit. By publicly displaying my progress I hope that I can embarrass myself into some real gains and perhaps motivate others.
I tell my wife that I'm going to get big as a house, but that's mostly just a joke on the "jooced" up former body builder running the local gym in my teenage days. I lifted some weights as a teenager, ate a lot of crap and did it all wrong. Today, I'm 34 years old, motivated, and trying to figure it all out.
For the last 15 years, I've always stayed some-what active, but never lifted weights. This year I decided to take a break from BJJ and mountain biking, to get stronger. I bought a copy of "Starting Strength", and started lifting as best I can. I am now about 4 weeks into it and I will document everything on my journey.
Why now
"Any man under 200 pounds is a woman"
No, seriously, I have the following goals:
1. Get stronger to avoid getting injured.
2. Get stronger to better compete in BJJ.
Starting Out
I'm neither naturally strong nor weak, I've seen better and I've seen worse. I'm about 5'11", 185 pounds and I'm just learning my lifts. I lift raw, and will continue to do so. I take no "special" supplements nor protein, and will document any changes in diet. The following three lifts are my first established lifts where I have decent form (deep squat, hips not leaving bench, etc).
Squat: 5x 184 pounds
Bench: 5x 174 pounds
Dead-lift: 5x 189 pounds
Looking at these numbers, you could say that they're all pretty bad, and I would not disagree :). However, to me, my squat is especially weak, my bench is OK, and the dead lift is still a little new to me.
My goals are (1RM):
400 pounds squat
300 pounds bench press
450 pounds dead-lift
All without getting too fat.
Lofty? We shall see.
People, myself included, enjoy asking questions like "how much can I gain in one year?", or "can I increase my bench press by 100 pounds in a year?". I've googled the shit out of these questions myself. So to avoid wasting any more time, I will simply just see how strong I can get while documenting it all for my own and others benefit. By publicly displaying my progress I hope that I can embarrass myself into some real gains and perhaps motivate others.
I tell my wife that I'm going to get big as a house, but that's mostly just a joke on the "jooced" up former body builder running the local gym in my teenage days. I lifted some weights as a teenager, ate a lot of crap and did it all wrong. Today, I'm 34 years old, motivated, and trying to figure it all out.
For the last 15 years, I've always stayed some-what active, but never lifted weights. This year I decided to take a break from BJJ and mountain biking, to get stronger. I bought a copy of "Starting Strength", and started lifting as best I can. I am now about 4 weeks into it and I will document everything on my journey.
Why now
"Any man under 200 pounds is a woman"
No, seriously, I have the following goals:
1. Get stronger to avoid getting injured.
2. Get stronger to better compete in BJJ.
Starting Out
I'm neither naturally strong nor weak, I've seen better and I've seen worse. I'm about 5'11", 185 pounds and I'm just learning my lifts. I lift raw, and will continue to do so. I take no "special" supplements nor protein, and will document any changes in diet. The following three lifts are my first established lifts where I have decent form (deep squat, hips not leaving bench, etc).
Squat: 5x 184 pounds
Bench: 5x 174 pounds
Dead-lift: 5x 189 pounds
Looking at these numbers, you could say that they're all pretty bad, and I would not disagree :). However, to me, my squat is especially weak, my bench is OK, and the dead lift is still a little new to me.
My goals are (1RM):
400 pounds squat
300 pounds bench press
450 pounds dead-lift
All without getting too fat.
Lofty? We shall see.
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