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I haven’t written much in a while, and It’s getting to a point that that when I think about the stuff I want to write in this blog to bring everyone up to speed, I think, “Well that’ll take ages” and I shy away.
Anyway – here goes
So I’ve been really good at getting my fat arse down the gym for the last few weeks. I was away on a business trip which also was scheduled next to my partner’s birthday celebration so I did miss a few days – but this is essentially what I’ve been doing:
Mon, Wed, Fri – Strength Training
Tues, Thurs, Sat – Cardio
Sun – Rest.
And it’s not been that hard, now that it’s getting lighter in the morning, it is far easier to get up and go. Some mornings I still have to really push myself, but I have been in the gym before 7am. I am trying to make it earlier – at first I was on the gym floor at 6.45am, but that’s slipping. I really need to pull my finger out.
And what’s the secret to these early mornings? Going to bed early! Who knew it would be that simple?!
So, when last I wrote this I’d begun the training plan that was put together by the trainer in the gym. Rather than spend each day targeting certain body part, the plan was designed to do a bit of an overall workout, concentrating on compound exercises – because, and his logic is sound here, targeting exercises are best when you’re where you want to be as an overall package.
So I’ve been plodding away at his plan, and tweeking it a bit, so it now looks like this:
Exercise | Weight | Reps | Sets |
Romanian Deadlift | 50kg | 12 | 2 |
Sumo Dumbbell Squat | 24kg | 10 | 2 |
Dumbbell Lunges | 14kg | 18 (9 on each leg) | 3 |
Barbell Bench Press | 30kg | 8 | 4 |
Barbell Standing Military Press | 20kg | 12 | 4 |
Barbell Reverse Grip Bent over Row | 25kg | 12 | 4 |
Triceps pulldown | 17.5kg | 12 | 4 |
It’s going well – after the first week, I added the triceps pulldown as I was struggling with my bench presses, so I thought it would help put some strength in my arms. I also found that doing between 16 and 18 reps was stupid. I know I not a trainer or anything, but I’ve not read anywhere that those amount of reps is good for anyone, I should aim for 8-10 and if that’s easy, increase the weight. So I did. I went to 30kg and kept the reps ‘mid range’.
The barbell Standing military press was a nightmare to get to the 16 too, the first set was fine, but after that it was just downhill all the way so rather than decrease the weight so I could meet the number of reps, I decided to decrease the reps (again to mid range) and I’m able to meet them, I hope in a few weeks I’ll be able to increase the weight.
So this is what I’ll be doing for at least the month of march.
As I mentioned earlier I’ve been also doing cardio to supplement the resistance training and to help burn fat – I only have about 40-50mins in the gym in the morning, so I’ve been doing 5km on the rowing machine and his is taking about 22-23mins and then after getting my breath back, I jump onto the treadmill and do intervals. 1m15s at 8.3kph followed by 1m15s at 14.2 – this takes 15 mins, though this week, I will up this to the next level. I also supplement this with an extra spinning class (either on a Monday or Wednesday evening) and of course, I’m still cycling everywhere – so basically – I’m working my fucking tits off and with any luck I’ll start seeing some real differences in my body over the coming months. Watch this space.
Oh, and quickly before I go – I’ve been using that silly machine in the gym that takes weight, body fat %.. and I’ll use this every fortnight –
So as of 28.02.2014: Weight 15st 10lbs (100.2kg), Body fat – 22.9% – I’m not massively bothered about the weight, but I really would like to get my body fat down. That’s my primary goal – I don’t want to loose lean muscle though.
So, lets continue… until next time…