Learning and Lifting - A student's tale

[Cat in the rack]

I've decided it's about time I give this a go, rather than stick to my old routine, regardless of how much I change it in an attempt to bust some plateus.

To start off, I've reset my stats, so here are the weights I'll be starting with on my next workouts:

Deadlift: 100.0kg (by far my strongest lift)

Squat: 80.0kg (remember, legs are the most important part of the lower body)

Bench: 50.0kg (this, and rows, are where I'm most looking to improve)

Bent-over row: 50.0kg

Overhead press: 35.0kg

And here are my target weights by the end of Easter:

Deadlift: 140.0kg

Squat: 120.0kg

Bench: 70.0kg

Bent over row: 70.0kg

Overhead press: 55.0kg

I'd also like to get my max pull-ups from 6-10, my last "woot" was getting to 10 chin ups.

I've made some minor changes to stronglifts 5x5, but it is essentially the same but with pull-ups or dips added to the end of each session. On top of this I'll be continuing with 5 minutes of hand stand practice each day (possibly at the end of some gym sessions) and MMA sessions twice a week.

Here's to getting my squat into the triple digits and my bench and rows past bodyweight, wish me luck and have a nice day

[Rookiebeotch]

Solid.

Goodluck!

[Cat in the rack]

I took inspiration from an NF article (http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2015/01/26/why-you-need-to-be-selfish-and-put-fitness-first/) and at the start of this term about two weeks ago started making the shift to waking up earlier (gradually of course, by about 15 minutes each day). This post is coming to you shortly after 6am (where I am) so I've made it to what most students still classify as night time. I've also began trying intermittent fasting, with my 16 hour fast from 6pm to 10am, it would be different if my schedule allowed. Only thing is, normally I've for the gym first thing in the morning, so I'm now gonna spend the time on rest days studying, if only so I don't think about breakfast

My shoulders are really feeling yesterday's workout, which suggest to me that fewer exercises really is the way forward, making stronglifts seem even more ideal for me.

Thank you Rookiebeotch, have a nice day.

[Cat in the rack]

First stronglifts workout, got my squat, bench and rows down (or up) no problem, finished with a couple sets of push ups and some hand stand practice. Now Im enjoying my macronutrient packed homemade breakfast with a green tea before I get some reading done.

In less interesting news, going out to lunch with some relatives later, and boy do I hope we go somewhere that does a good steak.

Have a great-brilliant day everybody

 

EDIT: we did not go somewhere that does a good steak, but salmon, veg and a few boiled potatoes is always a delicious and healthy meal.

[Cat in the rack]

One thing I've found since I really started to enjoy my workouts (read: since I started weight training) is that on non-workout days I feel like I should be in the gym. Normally at 6am I get up, and by 7am I'm in the gym; but on rest days I'm up at 6, and keeping myself busy until breakfast. Luckily I've got a ton of work I should be doing, and luckier still, I actually do some of it

 

So mornings prior to breakfast are devoted to working, either in the gym or for uni; as well as posting my daily battle log (I figure if I don't post daily it defies the point of the name), checking if I've got any emails to reply to, and trying not to bash my head in with a statistics textbook (it's definitely heavy enough). This is where having a day on/day off workout schedule comes in handy, I always get 3-4 days a week where I spend two hours or so studying in the mornings, and I can always do with getting some more study time in. Depending on what time lectures start I get another hour or two before leaving for campus, and I usually get an hour or so in the afternoon to catch up on any revision I haven't done, plus half an hour of reading before I go to bed (if only to get my eyes focussed on anything that isn't a screen).

 

All in all it's a good system, if I keep adding weight to the bar and don't find myself scratching my head in the upcoming exams then I'll know it's a working one. Here's to student life, with all it's ups and downs.

 

In other "exciting" news, January exam results come in today, I'll make an edit to this post when I get them to let you know how I did; unless of course student loans drag me into the dark before I get a chance to do so. Have a good day everybody

[Cat in the rack]

Welcome to SB learns basic arithmetic, hosted by yours truly!

 

Let's start with something supposedly simple: 20 + 7.5+ 7.5 = 35; therefore, a 20kg bar + 7.5kg on either side is a total of 35kg, couldn't be simpler.

Now what is 20 + 12.5 +12.5? We can learn from the last example that it is certainly not 35; it is in fact 45, a whole 10 higher.

So if one were aiming to overhead press 5 sets of 5 reps for 35kg, but added 12.5kg to either end of the bar, that hypothetical person would be pressing 10kg higher than the target weight.

 

Unfortunately, that hypothetical person is me, and I only noticed this fact once I started to remove the weight at the end of my fifth set. I will accept any and all mockery for this as it is rightfully deserved. This was my first overhead press of the program, though I've done it plenty times before, so should I revert to a lower weight the next time I OHP (I was supposed to be lowering all my lifts to more manageable weight, though I did manage this without compromising form) so it's more proprortional to my current bench press weight, or continue as normal and OHP 47.5kg next time?

 

Aside from that one hiccup the workout went off without issue, nailed my deadlifts, no problem with squats, did 3 sets of 5 pull-ups and am gonna push for 3 sets of 6 next time.

 

I was disappointed not to receive exam results yesterday, but it's not surprising given the brilliance of the uni's computer system. Also I have a report due monday that I have yet to finish, which will be largely the focus of today. Gonna try and get some meditation into my day and get a haircut, though not at the same time, it'd be impossible with all the barber's smalltalk.

 

Good day everybody.

[Rookiebeotch]

Lifting brain does that sometimes. I could do all calculus in my head in school. But once I start picking up heavy things, I cant do simple arithmetic. 

 

Use the lighter weights to work on form, unless you think you are really far from stalling, I guess it wouldnt hurt to skip up a few weeks.

[Cat in the rack]

Lifting brain does that sometimes. I could do all calculus in my head in school. But once I start picking up heavy things, I cant do simple arithmetic. 

 

Use the lighter weights to work on form, unless you think you are really far from stalling, I guess it wouldnt hurt to skip up a few weeks.

I've done overhead press in previous programs prior to this one, so I don't have any issue with form for OHP, but I haven't done more than 50kg for it before. Stronglifts suggests dropping 10% of the weight if you stall, so I may continue pushing the weight, but cut more than 10% off if I do hit a stall before 55kg.

[Cat in the rack]

I guess I succeeded in improving my sleep schedule, as last night I was out until the early hours of the morning and then woke up at around 8 with a surprising lack of a feeling of dread. I'm sure it'll hit me a little later, but hopefully that should just ensure a long night's sleep later. One of the great thing's about an on day/off day schedule is that I can let it dictate whether I join in the night time festivities, if I have gym in the morning I get an early night's sleep, if I don't have gym in the morning then I am free to stay out late if I want to. Keeps me in line without depriving me of a social life. Plus, without gym in the morning I can find it a little difficult to stick to IF when I get up at 6, so that's a bonus

 

Today my schedule is pretty empty, all my work for the week is done, all my gym for the week is done, and aside from a couple of TV shows that I need to catch up on (Adventure Time, Arrow, Gotham; I'm sure you get it, I'm a nerd) I don't have anything I need to get done. So today's the perfect day to start up on the meditation again, think I'll take out half an hour around midday. Once the weather gets a little better I can finally meditate outside again, I've been missing it a lot over winter, so I'd better pick a tree because I'm gonna be spending a lot of time under it.

 

Aside from that, not much in the way of news. Exam results came in, did alright, two 2:1s and two firsts, not that it matters, being first year and all. Have a good day everybody

[Cat in the rack]

So the morning workout went off without a basic mathematical hitch, plus I'm feeling really strong on my bench press, though I'm sure that'll change once the weight gets upped a little more. Squats as the first part of a workout... damn, pretty much all I can say, they're always pretty brutal. Still, strong legs are important, can't ignore them and let them shrivel away like I did my first wife. Got a solid 9 hours of sleep last night, waking up at 5am, so damn did I feel rested.

 

Ordered some BCAAs to add to me pre-workout preparation (which includes creatine and a black coffee), and some more whey (went for chocolate orange flavour so fingers crossed it tastes good). Also I'm planning on replacing a casein shake before bed with some BCAAs, I get the strong feeling that whether I take whey or casein before bed doesn't make much difference in the long run, especially when my current schedule's point is to train fasted anyway. The amount I ordered should last around 50 days by my estimates, more than enough to make it to easter.

 

Some may have noticed my bodyweight went up by 0.6kg, I normally step on the scales every morning but I only compare monthly differences, and so far this year I've increased by 0.6kg each month, which from what I can tell is a promising amount as far as lean growth is concerned.

 

Yesterday I tried the protein pancake mix I got for free from myprotein, pretty good, could be worse, had it with peanut butter and greek yogurt, yum.

 

Nothing else to say really. Got a decent 10 minutes of meditation in yesterday, I'll go for 15 this week. Ended my workout today with a 500m sprint on the treadmill. Have a good day everyone

[Cat in the rack]

Sometimes I think I'm far too restless a person, I always feel like I need to be doing something, it's one of the reasons I don't meditate as much as I'd like. It's my biggest strength and my biggest weakness really, I spent 3 hours straight cooking and studying earlier and yet I still want to get more done. Take lecture notes for example: each week I have lectures during which I take rough notes, a few hours after a lecture I'll rewrite the notes more neatly, then before bed I'll read the relevant textbook chapters, the next day at some point I'll rewrite the notes into a mindmap, and because of this I have to find something to do over the weekend, usually it's not even particularly beneficial, I just have to do some work or I feel off all day. Heck, if spending 3 hours in the gym every day was more beneficial than just 1 every other day I'd do it, but it's not, so I don't.

 

So on the one hand I get a lot done, on the other hand I spend a lot of the time not getting stuff done wishing I could be getting something done. I finished all my work on Saturday so yesterday I was just so damn bored. On the plus side it means I've picked up a few totally useless skills during times I've just needed something to do. Over a couple of weekends some time a year or two ago I learned to pick handcuff locks, I once spent a day memorising an entire set of trivial pursuit.

 

Still, could be worse, it wasn't that long ago I had a terrible work ethic, goes to show how much your attitudes change when you start living healthy. Have a fantastic day everybody

[Cat in the rack]

As of this morning I have had this battle log for a week so I figured I may as well sum up what a week it's been.

 

Gym: Haven't missed a session The heaviest OHP I've done in the past was 45kg, and due to a mathematical error that's what I'll be working at now, so ya know, yay progress I guess. My highest deadlift in the past was 100kg, though I think the main reason I didn't push further was mental (by which I mean, in my mind, not crazy), so tomorrow I'd best be ready for a new PB, because I'm adding an extra 5 baby! Here's hoping I can manage 3 sets of 6 pull-ups, in the past I've gone for max and it usually comes out something like 6, 4, 3; I figure having worked an amount I can manage without without fatigue (5, 5, 5) I should now be able to manage at the very least 6, 5 ,5. Does anyone else find their pull-ups drop after one set to max?

 

MMA: Sadly I missed both sessions over the last week. The first I missed through no fault of my own, there was a family thing (I'll get to that later) that I couldn't not go to; the second was more my fault, I was completely wiped from going out the night before, my bad, I'll try to avoid it in the future.

 

Diet: Largely a good week diet-wise, one day I snacked on some protein pancakes (got a free mix from myprotein before pancake day) which I'm sure didn't hinder my progress too severely. Still stuck to my homemade porridge and protein cake breakfast (I love it) and my lean meat and veg dinners. If anybody knows of anything good for bulking out meals aside from tins of chopped tomatoes and legumes I'd be happy to hear it, I did consider buying regular tomatoes and pulsing them through my blender, gotta be healthier than the tinned stuff right?

 

Meditation: I did some. So that's an improvement over the last few months, as I've really been letting my spiritual side down lately. I've decided to set an amount of meditation each week with the rule that I have to get it done at some point, last week I did 10 minutes on Sunday, so this week I'm gonna do 15 minutes, probably also in one go.

 

University: Got my exam results, pretty good so I'm happy with them. Handed in a report on the cognitive view of facial processing and familiarity, so that was neat. Revision's been going swimmingly, if a little repetitive.

 

Personal life: Big news I'm surprised I neglected to mention here: I'm gonna have another brother or sister in about 8 months, and a nephew in about 2 months. With the babies slowly piling up I have never been more glad to live away from home

 

Goals: Here's something I've never mentioned here before, I have a phobia. Here's the thing about phobias, you know that they're weird when there isn't even a proper name for them (ie, arachnophobia, claustrophobia, etc). My phobia is... the fear of small hands, particularly those of children. Puts a bit of a damper on the aforementioned "big news". It's a difficult fear to confront without getting kicked out of a playground, but I did participate in a study on treating phobias that involved meditation, and it helped a little. Whereas before I could hardly be in the same room as a child, I can now have them sitting next to me without having to curl up into a ball and think happy thoughts. Essentially what I learned to do was open-eye meditation to calm myself, which allows me to not freak out, but also not really do much; when there is a child nearby I do go very quiet because I'm putting all my energy into remaining calm. If I can work on my meditation a little more, I might be able to give the impression of being a normally function human. So my goal is simple: improve in my tolerance of this stupid fear, preferably before my family has a ton of babies. Wish me luck I guess

 

Next time: With my next seven-day summary I want to be talking about the following: how great my two MMA sessions were; how great my last four gym sessions were, particularly how I got a new squat, deadlift, pull-up and OHP personal best, and how my rows and bench are coming along nicely; how well revision has been going; how I've stuck to my diet; and how great it is that I've been meditating more often.

 

Have a delightful week everybody

[Cat in the rack]

I've started on BCAAs and they seem to work fine, won't know until after a few weeks really though, here's hoping. Morning workout was good, new Deadlift max of 105, kept my overhead at 45, shame I couldn't bash out 3 sets of 6 pull-ups though, only managed 6,5,4. I'm currently eating my delicious and filling breakfast with a cup of tea, and gonna get some work done before I head off to lectures and then get a haircut. Have a good day everybody

[Cat in the rack]

Sorry mum and dad, but I'm caving into peer pressure and experimenting with strange substances. Specifically whole milk. I've been a skimmed or semi-skimmed guy my whole life, but it's time I give whole milk a shot. I've got about 5 pints of skimmed in the fridge, and when that's gone it's all or nothing baby. Gonna also chuck a couple of eggs and a banana in my porridge so that it can be a breakfast in itself, and the protein cake I make will be eaten separately around lunch time; I do have a lunch that I eat that consists of meat and veg, but my lectures always cut through lunch time (ranging from 11am-3pm) so I can't exactly pack a microwave in my bag and just reheat it during the 5 minute breaks.

 

I saw something peculiar yesterday in a lecture. The girl sitting next to me had packed a ham sandwich for lunch, there was no butter in it but I don't like butter either so I get that. What I don't get is that she hadn't actually packed a ham sandwich, what she had packed was two pieces of bread and a few slices of ham. She opened the tupperware box, took out one piece of bread, placed the ham on it, and then placed the other piece of bread on top. She assembled her sandwich then and there. Is this some sort of less interesting lunchable I'm not familiar with? Or does she just enjoy the DIY aspect of her food? Or maybe she has some major disagreement with cling film. Whatever the case, I wish her the best of luck. Besides, when I whip out a couple pieces of weird-looking greyish cake I'm sure she'll have more questions, people always do, they're weird like that.

 

Anyway, I got 3 hours 'til I leave for lectures and very little work that needs to get done before then, so I'd best get gradually started Good day everyone.

[Cat in the rack]

First thing's first I'm the realest I found something of a solution to my BCAA problem; I will try alternatives but this morning I settled for scooping it into my mouth and then downing some water like it's a pill. At least it's over quickly this way

 

I couldn't help myself in the gym today, I went from 52.5kg to 57.5kg on both bench and row, there was no issue with form so it probably can't hurt my progress to jump up 5kg instead of the suggested 2.5kg. I also got my squat up to 90kg, and I did 3 sets of 21 push-ups, so, yay me. I'm hoping to build up gradually to 40 which I hear is a test of upper body strength. Overall a good workout, did a little better in my handtands, managed to push myself off the wall and hold it ever so briefly before falling down.

 

On another note, I'm changing my diet a little. Given that I'm looking to gain more muscle and strength I'm altering my carbs:protein:fat ratio from around 35:40:25 to around 40:30:30 by replacing skimmed milk with whole, cutting a little back on protein powder and adding brown rice to my lunches and dinners. If anyone has any alternatives feel free to recommend. Though I'm up to 500g of veg a day, plus two pieces of fruit, also I have oats in the morning; I didn't want to add more oats, I shouldn't up my veg too much and fruit contains sugar, so I wanna be careful with that. Still, I'll see how this new system goes, my weight has been gradually increasing but having protein higher than carbs probably isn't the best idea for bulking.

 

Have a great day everybody

[Cat in the rack]

As you can see I've set goals in my signature to be completed by the end of the month, and every month I'll change them. Some are more challenging than others, but all of them are doable (in theory).

My squat goal is 100kg, currently I'm at 90kg which is equal to my prior PB, this would take 4 workouts and be completed by the 14th at best.

My deadlift goal is 120kg, currently I'm at 105kg which is a PB, this would take 3 workous and be completed by the 16th at best.

My bench press goal is 70kg, currently I'm at 57.5kg, my prior PB is 65 though with extreme difficulty, I've been slowly building back up to it in the hopes of busting the plateau, this would take 5 workouts and be completed by the 26th at best. Same goes for bent over rows.

My overhead press goal is 50kg, currently I'm at 45kg which is equal to my prior PB, this would take 2 workouts and be completed by the 12th at best.

My pull-up goal is 3 sets of 8, currently I'm at 3 sets of 5 (or a set of 6 5 and 4) which is a PB for me as I've been slowly building them up for some time, this would take 3 workouts and be completed by the 16th at best, though I doubt progression will be as linear here.

My push-up goal is 3 sets of 28, currently I'm at 3 sets of 21, a personal best I guess (haven't paid as much attention to these), this would take possibly 3 workouts and be completed by the 18th at best.

 

I've given myself some wiggle room here for 2 reasons: number 1, so that if I don't fail to make any sets I will surpass these amounts by far; and number 2, because if I stick to this rate I can make my end of easter goals (around the end of April).

 

Recently I've altered my diet so that the ratio of carbs:protein:fat is now 40:30:30 instead of 35:40:25 (give or take) by removing my post-workout shake (I just have breakfast which is high in all the macros) and my casein shake (as I train fasted) and adding rice to my lunches and dinners. This is more of a bulking diet than a cutting diet so I should be able to up all my lifts to PBs by the end of the month. Here's hoping.

 

I'll try to avoid increasing the weights more than I'm supposed to, but I can't promise anything, I do love to break the rules

[Cat in the rack]

Excellent workout this morning, new PB in squat (92.5), deadlift (110) and overhead press (47.5). At this rate I should hit most of my goals this month. It's a shame I couldn't manage 3 sets of 6 for pull-ups, but maybe next time. Looking forward to my next workout as my bench press and bent over row will both go into the 60s, slowly but surely I'm approaching my prior PB of 65 for those two.

 

As for the rest of today, I just finished breakfast and I've got a lot of studying planned, about a total of 9 chapters across 7 textbooks to read as well as some lecture note summaries and a couple of mindmaps. After that I was planning to update my gym playlists and chill out for the rest of the day, probably get a little meditation in before lunch, and an MMA session this evening.

 

Turns out that at 7.00am on a Sunday the gym is next to empty. For the first half an hour I had the whole free weights section to myself, and for the rest of it there was just a middle aged man doing floor presses and a guy that looks like Todd's uncle from Breaking Bad doing seated shoulder press. It feels good to be an early bird, it's 9 in the morning and I've got the whole day ahead of me to get shit done. Well, sayonara everybody, have a great day

[Cat in the rack]

I decided last night to give myself a morning routine so that I can get the bulk of work out of the way before everyone else is even out of bed. First off, 5am starts, this morning I got up at 5am and it feels good. Then the first thing I did when I got up was some stretching, before I dropped down and gave myself 20. After which I went to make myself a cup of coffee and a pint of water, returning to my room at about 5.10 to try some dead hangs and a single plank (only 1 minute 10, but I figured start small and build up, even though I did a 2 minute plank just a couple of weeks ago). At 5.20 I jumped in the shower and brushed my teeth before some light meditation (I went to 100 breaths which workout out to about 12 minutes). This was followed by 30-45 minutes of written work, which turned out to be some note summaries and a mindmap. Then at around 6.45 I fixed breakfast (a delicious bowl of protein-packed porridge and an apple) in time for 7, so that I could read a chapter of Stanley Milgram's 'Obedience To Authority', as over easter I have to write a review of it for my Conceptual and Historical Issues module. Here's a fun fact, if you took a shot every time Milgram refers to the second world war, you would need to have your stomach pumped by page 8. I would repeat that to some of the people on my course, but I might include it in the assignment so best not 'ey? It is now between 7.30 and 8.00, where I have a scheduled break so that I can check everything computer related (facebook notifications, messages, snapchat, here, etcetera), after which I will do any work that requires me to use the laptop, which today happens to be a statistics assignment due in two weeks (oh what fun).

 

Anyway, it's been a good and productive morning that still isn't over, and I'm glad I got some meditation in this morning, it'll be much better once the weather improves so that I can meditate outside again. I'm gonna do my best to make it a daily thing, though morning's where I have to go to the gym I may have to cut it out for time's sake (there's a brief period between 6.00-6.20 where the gym is mostly empty, but by 6.30 the earlybirds all start to arrive, so I try to get to the gym early enough to secure a rack), but I'll do my best not to.

 

Have a fantastic morning everybody

[Cat in the rack]

Aw yeah, 62.5kg on the bench and row, only 2.5kg away from my prior PB; plus I got a new PB on my squat and 3 sets of 23 for push-ups.

 

Strange scheduling today, because of a one-off workshop I'm having lunch at 9am and brunch at about 1, weird.

 

Feeling good about my new morning schedule, get some meditation in every day, gets me refreshed for the day.

 

Not much to say about today really, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Not much news since last post, had a rather relaxed morning after I got some work done and I'm gonna make a start on my statistics assignment today.

Move along, nothing to see here

[Cat in the rack]

So I struggled with 50kg on the overhead press and dropped it 10% down to 45kg, hopefully when I build back up to 50kg I'll manage it. I'm thinking next time I have pull-ups I'll try the whole laddering thing (1 rep, then 2, then 3... until I can't manage it), as I can't get past 3 sets of 5. No problem with squats, and next workout I'll finally get to 100kg. Deadlift's been going well, but I definitely need to stick with mixed grip from now on. Looking forward to my next workout as I'll be going for my prior PB on bench press and bent over row.

 

Busy day of lectures today, and plenty of reading to do, same old same old. Made a start on my statistics assignment yesterday, about a quarter of the way through and I'll do some more tomorrow.

 

I've found it strange switching brunch and lunch around, but I can't defrost a curry or a pork stew in the break between lectures so I've got no choice really.

 

Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay, so today, so little to do and so much time to do it in. I made the mistake of doing all the work I had available to me on Monday-Thursday, now it's Friday and I only have about a day's worth of work to do, if that; so come tomorrow and Sunday I'm not gonna have any work to do, plus I completed that pretty terrible Tomb Raider game so I haven't got anything fairly pointless to do. I might read some more chapters of Obedience to Authority, seeing as I have to write a review of it for my conceptual and historical issues module.

 

Tomorrow aught to be a good workout providing I can manage it (which I can, hells yeah! motivational yelling!), finally gonna go for that 100kg squat, plus I'll be back to my prior PB for bench press and bent over row. Also I've altered my program just a little. Instead of going for three sets of pull-ups, which isn't ideal as it's hard to choose the best rep range, I'm going to do the whole ladder thing (1 rep, then 2, then 3, etc), that way I'll hit the lower rep ranges but also be able to somewhat test my max, though it might take longer so I'll have to keep an eye on time a little more. Also I'm going to add chin-ups (on a different day to pull-ups for obvious reasons) because I'm starting to miss them.

 

Have a great day, all zero people reading this (just kidding, I know Larry the person who controls the voice inside my head pays close attention to everything I do)

[Rookiebeotch]

I read your updates. It serves as a reminder of what diligence looks like.

[Cat in the rack]

I read your updates. It serves as a reminder of what diligence looks like.

Diligence, how so?

[Rookiebeotch]

You work at it. You make changes, but never puss-out.