More PRs

Friday I was pretty tired after a long week, but I got my butt to the gym and did my workout. I continued to test my maxes, and set two more small PRs.

Bench press - 70kg x 1 (maybe 75kg x 1,...I'm not sure how much help I got from my spotter, so I'm not counting it)
Squat - 115kg x1. (I did 2 attempts with 120kg, but couldn't get out of the hole).


This coming week will be a light week, in preparation for the new guinea pig program. I can't wait! Today we should be recieving the programs with details of what we need to do for the next 4 weeks :).

New personal records!

This week I have been testing my maxes before I start the Eric Cressey Guinea Pig program (for lack of a better name). My previous maxes were:

DL: 180kg (Oct. 2009)
FS: 95kg (Sept. 2009)
BS: 110kg (Oct. 2009)
BP: ~65kg (...long time ago..I hardly ever never bench press tbh.)
PR: 50kg (..also a long time ago..)
Chinpus: 3xBW + 25kg (Oct. 2009)

I have already tested my deadlift, press, and chinups:

Chinups: 3xBW + 27,5kg (February 1st, 2010)
Deadlift: 190kg (February 3rd, 2010)
Press: 50kg (February 3rd, 2010)

I'm really happy with my deadlift, 190kg is exactly 2,5 times my bodyweight!! I also thought I wouldn't be able to lift the 190kg, because since my last PR I never trained my deadlift with weights above 140kg. (Not to mention the fact that I didn't even workout for all of november and most of december..)

My press strength is disappointing though, I think it is because of technique and imbalance between my shoulders. With a slightly ligther weight I can press for several reps, but add a kilo or 2 and then I struggle to get one... I haven't focused on this enough and need to fix my problems.

"The best workout program is the one you aren't doing"

I'm sure any gym goer has experienced the title of this post. You start a workout program that you're convinced is 'the one'. Pumped full of enthusiasm you hit the weights the first 1-2, maybe 3 weeks. But after a while the routine becomes habit, and on an less than stellar day you get the feeling that you not making the progress you should be. You begin to doubt the program you selected and think that you need to be on a different 'better' program.

Today I had a day like that. But I have trick to deal with it that I want to share here.

It is important to capture the enthusiasm that motivated you at the start of the program. When you start a new exercise routine, the best thing you can do for yourself is write down convincing arguments about why you are picking said program. The moment you start doubting what you are doing, read what you wrote down to remind yourself of your thinking at the time.

Here is my example:

In the past I was always jumping back and forth between strength training and bodyweight training. I like doing both, but I was always doing one or the other, and jumping between the two convinced the other was better. So two months ago I started working out 3 times a week 2 times a day. In the mornings I do a 20 min high intensity bodyweight circuit, and in the evenings I do strength training (plus a little bit of bodybuilding).

What was my motivation to do this?

1. I like being athletic and doing high intensity cardio

2. I like doing bodyweight exercises and knowing I can do lots of pushups or pullups.

3. I like the combination of being small and strong. I'm smaller than most people at the gym, but it is great when you can impress the big guys with the weights you're lifting.

4. More than just be strong, I also want to look good.

So these factors motivated me to pick the program I described. And it has been going for almost 2 months now.

Today, however, I was feeling a bit tired and although I did my bodyweight workout I just felt like I wasn't doing the right thing. And to make matters worse a new goal popped into my head.

5. I want to bulk up a bit.

This new goal doesn't really fit into my current workouts since the bodyweight stuff is more like cardio and is keeping me lean. So this led me to feeling a bit demotivated today and made me think about just dropping the bodyweight stuff. But I didn't give up. I reread the reasons I had for picking the program and thought to myself, "Are all these things that I want still true?" .. Yes they are! And with that thought in mind I went to the gym, did my strength training, and I had a great workout (New chinup PR. 3x BW + 27,5kg)!

Well, what about the 5th goal? That can still be dealt with. On my current program I might not be able to bulk up as quickly as on other programs but I could still do it by adjusting my diet.

So as you can see, there is often less reason than you think to jump to a new workout program. Make sure to remember why you are doing what you are doing before you switch to the 100th program you do this year (and the year is only getting started..)

Diet goals for the coming weeks

As I mentioned in my previous post, I just finished a 30 day sugar free challenge. This went all right, but since I sport a lot I noticed during the 30 days that my body would be better off with some carbs. In the second half of the challenge I ate more fruit and legumes, which helped.

My goal is to gain lean mass, atm I weigh 78kg (172lbs) at a height of 1m80 (5'11''). Ideally I'd like to weight 85kg. To do this I would need to eat a lot more, but I find that difficult to do for long periods of time. Also, I have the feeling that if I simply increase my food intake my body will increase its metabolism and just keep my weight at what it is..Therefore I need a better strategy.

What I'm going to try is a simple form of carb cycling. My workout program is 3 days a week, on those days I'll eat carbs and on off days it'll be low carb. I will also try to add a day of fasting in the weekends if possible.

Workout days should look something like this:

06.30 - Super shake (spinach, berries, whey, flax seeds, water)

07.00 - AM Workout

07.30 - Protein shake with apple or banana

10.00 - Sandwich with meat

13.00 - Salad (spinach, chicken, cucumber, mushrooms, nuts), 1-2 pieces of fruit

16.00 - Fruit, nuts

18.30 - PM Workout

19.30 - Protein shake

20.00 - Dinner with rice/pasta/beans

22.00 - (if hungry, cottage cheese with berries, flax and nuts)

Non-workout days

07.00 - Super shake or omelette

10.00 - Fruit, nuts

13.00 - Salad and fruit

16.00 - Fruit, nuts or leftovers?

19.00 - Dinner: meat and veggies

20.00 - Cottage cheese with berries, flax, nuts

I can already tell that I'm going to run into a few obstacles:

1. Grocery shopping is a little more complicated.

2. I'll probably be hungry on non-workout days, and need to add more healthy fats.

3. ....

The 'before' post

So here goes, the first post:

About a week ago Eric Cressey (www.EricCressey.com) posted on his blog that he was looking for 12 guinea pigs to test his new training program. I sent a short email about my self and before I knew it, I had an answer and I was 'selected'!
The program hasn't started yet, so I don't know much about it but we can only assume that it'll deal with functional strength, so I'm looking forward to it. I also know that Eric has selected people from a wide range of backgrounds; fitness professionals to weekend warriors. This tells us that it'll be a well rounded program meant for anyone to be able to follow.

Here above you can see my 'before' pictures. I took these two day ago, after working out (so my muscles are a bit pumped). I also just finished 30 days of low carb dieting (no bread, rice, pasta, etc.) so I am slightly leaner than normal.

My body weight does not fluctuate much, so I will have to work my butt of on this new Eric Cressey program if I expect to make progress.

What do I expect to get out of it?

- I hope to learn how to incorporate corrective exercises in workouts

- I hope to learn a bit about programming, to understand how a program is put together

- I hope to be able to ask a lot of questions about fitness and diet specific to my situation and goals.

- I hope to make a lot of progress (haha, nice and vague). My ultimate goal is to gain lean muscle (7kg of it would be ideal!). But I don't want to start bulking up, because eating tons of food just isn't sustainable for me. I hope that if I significantly increase my strength that my body will naturally want to gain weight.

- I want to workout consistently for the next 4 months.