Well that was a surprise...

Wow! What an awesome session today. Was really surprised with myself. I thought with only my belly growing and jack on everything else, I would be struggling today. However I blasted through my squats today at 70kg, which is approximately my bodyweight! Hooray for me. I did think i was cheating, the usual barbell wasn't in the rack today, which had knurling in the middle and looked well basically less knackered. Some other guys were using that one, so I was thinking in my head, maybe this is just 15kgs not 20kgs. Thats why i'm thinking i'm a hero today. After I finished my squats I got both of them, side by side. Both same length and size, lifted them up one by one and felt exactly the same. So yes, I was a hero. I love my little world in my head.

"How's your legs?", one of the regular gym goers asked after I finished one set. I laughed and said "Alright now, but after my last set probably need crutches mate!". We all laughed. Even his well built friend, who I swear was working out in his jeans. Nice.

God I hate bench press, why do I feel I suck at it big time. Although I got through the 5 sets, just, still think I'm not even working my chest, just m shoulders and triceps. I don't know, I think i'll carry on until I stall and then ask one of the PT's for a session to check my form.

Barbell rows were explosive, felt a bit on my lower back on some reps, nonetheless happy with the progress. Feels great lifting heavy off the ground. Reading a bit today, learnt I must fully reload after each rep, meaning I must release all tension after the I place the barbell back on the ground. Harder than you think as it doesn't feel natural, but as i'm a weakling comes easy to me!

But this wasn't the end. Oh no sir, no. There were still my 3 sets of dips. For me I dread doing dips, for the only reason because I am terrible at them. I mean seriously bad. Could not even complete 5 let alone a set of 10 reps. I headed to the dip station. Walking past the usual Chinese elderly couple that are doing their awesome exercises. These guys are what you would call couple goals. Without fail they come to the gym in the morning, ride the bike, walk on the treadmill, do ab workout, and the guy, hits the battle ropes, like he's Rocky. What a dude! And then theres me, trembling to push myself up on the dip bars, holding my breath, my face looking like, well thankfully not my sex face, more so my dump of the day face. Wait, what is this, five, six, seven, fuck me, eight, nine, come on you mother, 10. Fuck yes!! Got off, grabbed my drink, took a swag like it was whiskey drink and walked around the room like a lap of victory at the Olympics. Set Two. Ten 10 again. Oh the burn. The secret to bigger arms, get big triceps, do dips. Set Three. Yeah wasn't that guy today, only managed five. I was happy, actually I was ecstatic. Warmed down, did my stretches, smiling. Next time dude, next time! Ciao!

Standing Press Stall

Oh you mother! In my head I was wondering if I would get through the 5x5 of Standing Press at 35kgs. Lo and behold, I failed in my 4th set only managed 4 reps. A big part of me feels it was more psychological than ability, as I managed the 5th set no problem. But a failure remains a failure. So next time, keep positive and lets do this! On a plus note, managed to do one pull up. Pretty confident I can also get in some chin ups too. Really need to start being disciplined in actually doing both, including push ups in my workouts, not just when I feel like it. Got to make it happen dudes and dudettes!

Back to Iron...Again!

Oh hello stranger! It has been a while. What the fuck happened to you? You come here after 3 years thinking everything will be the same, you fucking weak bastard.

Yep, thats the conversation I have with myself as I logged into this site again. I eased myself into this by posting this on my other blog. But I cant hide from this one any longer. Need to face it. I promise I won't leave, give me another chance. Please!

So like a bitch, I'm back to the iron again, and back to placing regular updates of my progress. This is the last chance I have. If I give up after this, that's it, i'll be a fat bastard or just weak, more than likely both. However, let's remain positive right? Right??!!

Anyways, since my post on artofmanslife, I'm a couple of weeks into my routine. Back on the Stronglifts 5x5. Without resetting to zero completely I decided to start 5 weeks into the program, weight wise. I was fearing even that would be too much and would suffer extreme DOM, but I was sensible. Yes, rare, very rare. I warmed up and down properly, and felt good with the weights. Wasn't too light or heavy. 

Stronglifts app is awesome

So at this moment of writing, Squats are fast approaching 60kg, in a couple of weeks will be doing my body weight. Feel comfortable with the rest. I've also added some accessory exercises; dips, chin-ups, barbell curls, inverted rows. At the moment all bodyweight exercise, trying to do 3 sets of 10 reps. Once I hit that milestone which is amazingly shit that I haven't already, will add weight. I may add close grip bench press, I seriously need to build up tricep strength.

To prove I'm taking this shit seriously, its video time. I filmed myself, yes, fuck you, told you i'm being serious. The main reason was to check my form, and for my friends to laugh at my weakness. Have a look below and for sure, if anyone on this earth is reading this please feel free to comment on how I can improve my form. For me, and my research definitely areas of improvement in everything.

Squats:
On the whole, I think i'm doing great. What I need to do to improve, is keep my head up, chest up, and push on my heels a bit more.

Standing Press:
I always had a feeling my grip was too wide, and after seeing myself, and comparing it to some youtube clips need to narrow the grip a little more. Will be harder but so worth it.

Above wrong, below right. Thanks dude Omar!

Bench Press:
Wrong. All kinds of wrong, has always been my worst one. Elbows are way out, need to push shoulders back, not lock out arms. Hopefully will get this right next time. Will get a better video next time, as couldn't angle right.


Deadlift:
Need to keep legs further apart after seeing some videos on form. Other than that think I'm nearly there.

Pendlay Row:
Seems okay and cannot see anything immediately wrong, but lets see what happens with more weight.

So there you have it. Not perfect by any means, but for me doing these exercises correctly is hugely important for me. Not just for gains but also to avoid injury. The whole reason for getting back into the gym is to get stronger and avoid problems as I get older, not to fuck myself up now!!

As far as diet is concerned, ensuring I get my 3 meals a day, taking one supplement shake a day which is around 500-600 calories. Next month will increase to two shakes. Trying to avoid fizzy drinks. Not going to go crazy, but let's see what happens in a couple of months with this diet as its minimal change.

Next time lets some sexy hairy body pics up!! Let's do this shit!!

Back to the Iron and.....my first stall.....

Yeah, so, I didn't do anything during my time away for 2 weeks. Well apart from eat and work late. Couldn't have seen that happening right?!

Coming back and hitting the gym, I was actually very motivated to go. Wasn't a struggle, but I sure did feel the body ache afterwards, which lasted for a week. It was only today I felt normal again and breezed through my squats - 67.5kg.

BUT, overhead press i stalled AGAIN. Same thing, completed 3 sets of 5 reps, on the 4th set, could only manage 3 reps, and the the 5th, only 2 reps.

Was I not resting enough?

Well next workout is the last chance I will get to push through it before I de-load. In a way, perhaps its better to de-load, work on form a bit better, can only make me stronger. Reading around found stalling on OHP is quite common and at this weight, so that's a bit of a relief, but by 2 weeks I want to get past it.

I tried to do some dips, something wrong, can still only manage 3. Maybe I'm just too shattered, maybe its because I've increased weight slightly, or maybe I'm still a fucking weakling. But I think instead of doing dips/ chin ups/ push ups as if I feel like, I'm going to make it a part of my routine - no excuses. Do as many as I can to failure. No where near any form sets and reps for this shit yet.

So couple of new goals now to keep me going; OHP break through and body weight exercises.

Let's get it on.....

ps man my belly is getting bigger......this shit better work....

Travelling...

So just came back from a week of travelling for work, and back out again from Sunday for two weeks.

From my last session on Sunday to today, Friday, I thought I would be too weak and not able to complete the 5x5 on the workouts. However I was pleasantly surprised. Squats were good, no pain this time, think my form is getting better. Deadlift at 70kg for me was brutal but awesome. Overhead press I JUST about managed it. I have no idea how I will do it next time. Mostly due to the length of time between my next session.

Due to being back out again for two week, I have a few concerns. I highly doubt the hotel gym will have a power/ squat rack. So I'm pretty confident i won't be following my routine for two weeks. Which isn't the end of the world, but is a bit of downer since I feel making decent progress.

So what do I do? Do nothing, eat and get fat, and just hope when I get back all will be okay and carry on? Or i'm sure the gym will have some dumbbells. Considering my OHP was hard for me, I think i might do some shoulder and tricep DB exercises. Only to improve my OHP.

I think there's a pool also, so a nice swim might be good just to keep the heart rate up. If I can do that, try and keep a calorie surplus at least by body will keep thinking it's doing something and feed my muscles nutrients.

Let's see, all this talk and I just know I will be working till late and then having a kebab and belly getting fatter......

Week 4 - Weight gain Hooray!!!

So heading into Week 4, I decided to check my weight. I measure my weight first thing in the morning after my first dump of the day. I say first because drinking 2 litres of milk a day you end up in the toilet more than once. It is a literal pain in ass.

Hooray, my weight has increased from 69kg to 71.7kg, just shy of 3kg. Awesome. I measured the body fat, same measurement, so I hope the gain is more muscle than fat. Although it wouldn't surprise me if it was just fat. But at this stage I don't care. It's a huge motivation to keep going and keep working. I think if I can keep to the same consistency in calorie intake and working out following the routine, will see some really good gains in 3 months.

Week 2 and Week 3 Log

When increasing the weight by 2.5kgs each time especially on the squats 3 times a week, really is something seeing it in front of you. To think I started with just the bar 20kg and now coming up to 55kg. Each time I finish the 5th set, I think how am I going to it next time with more weight, but I'm actually surprised next time round that you can do it, your body is adapting. It is an amazing feeling and I can now see the addiction of this all.

Which is why now at this juncture I'm a bit upset, I need to travel for 3 weeks now. So my weekly regiment of Monday/Wednesday/Friday timetable goes out of whack slightly, as its highly doubtful hotel gyms will have a Power/Squat Rack, but lets see what happens.

Oh and got my first compliment from the office, "yeah I can see your arms are a bit bigger". Awesome.

Week 1

8th August, two days after my diabolical first day at the gym. I had some pain recovering from DOMs, which if you recall, I managed to achieve a world record of acquiring whilst still in the gym! However I remembered a line - no excuses. With the firm direction of following the plan, i walked back into the gym ready to do this.

First up squat, the power rack was free, awesome. So I did my 2 warm up sets with the empty bar. Now I should have added 2.5kg to the bar, but I added 10kgs. So total weight was 30kgs. I basically went to session 1 in Week 3 as per the plan. Was i going to make same mistake. Time may tell, but I knew how things would go later on with work so decided to bump it a little save some time. I managed to do full 5 sets of 5 reps easily and good form. I was happy.

Next up was the bench press. Along with squats, these are exercises I have never really done before and knew I would be rubbish at, but I had to get all of that out of my head and just do it. So this time I did 5x5 with just the bar. To get my form right. I didn't care I was only benching the empty bar. Being older, you care less what people think of you. Anyone reading this, forget the idea people are looking at you laughing, they're really not. Everyone starts somewhere, and with me, an empty bar.

Last exercise, Barbell Row - 30kgs, as the plan says, no deviation. Did them all decently. Hopefully form being okay, but with a light weight excellent way to practice and get used to it.

I had finished - 30 minutes in total. I felt good. Okay not the heavy session you'd expect, but I maintained discipline, followed the plan, did what I needed to do. I realised this all takes time. 30 minute workout done, get home, eat up, get to work. Awesome.

As I bumped up the squat weight, the other exercises weights' had to be balanced out to match the plan accordingly. So in effect the last session of Week 1 is basically the first session of Week 3. In essence a week was skipped. I ended the week well and was comfortable with the weight, they were not heavy at all but I felt decent compromise was made. Again time will tell how quickly I stall further down the line, but at least I wasn't making a drastic jump as I foolishly did in my first day.

Okay, now this is the fun bit, and for you all (myself included) to have a giggle. The pictures. The weight. The body fat. At the start of this epic journey we need pictures to show progress, otherwise whats the point!!

Handsome dude

So above, not a true ectomorph, but not muscular either. And hairy...wow. No chest, no biceps, no back muscles developed at all! Luckily I still had some shoulder definition from long ago, but in reality there is NO strength anyway. And I'm breathing in. Ha ha ha! You honestly think I'm going to put a picture up of a side profile of my pregnant belly. No chance!

Anyways, that's where i am now physically. My stats, 69kgs weight, 5'9", body fat apparently 13-14% using some fat callipers and measuring only the love handles. Muscular measurements, an unimpressive 12 inch arms (biceps), 22 inches legs (quads). Goal, lets be realistic, an inch increase in a years time? Fuck it, why not. That's my goal.  I have no idea what that translates to into weight increase, but lets see how it goes. The main thing at the moment, keep the calorie intake high, clean food, follow the work out plan, progressively increasing the weight each workout. Something has to happen right? Right????

Peace, need to drink my milk.