106 - is the days since I've eaten a piece of bread. It was a clear and sunny Australia Day when I had the yummiest great big burger at my beautiful friend's Aussie Day bbq. I can still smell the marinated steak and taste the cheese slices on that fat, big, white bun......
27,3645 - is the amount of times I've thought about eating bread since January 26, 2012. Impressive by any standards.
78 - is the kilos I managed to lift in my stiff-leg deadlifts last night. It's a personal best, and while Arnie might not blink an eyelid, I'm quietly (or clearly not so quietly!) happy.
4.5 - is the months until I hit that stage at the Darwin Entertainment Centre. Perhaps it is time to actually enter. Didn't want to look the geek who entered first!
6 - is the average number of coffees I've consumed in the last two weeks while attending a course. Cripes!! That's scary!
14 - is the average number of trips to the toilet in each day of training. Damn.
1 - is the number of green teas I have downed in the last week. Ashamed.
13 - is the number of vitamin & mineral tabs I'm supposed to take daily.
9 - is the number I normally swallow. The rest are put in the; "too peppery", "too big", "too annoying" "too green" basket.
19 - is the average number of times I complain about my food, supplements and vitamins in one day. It's actually much better than it used to be so my family are used to it.
Training Schedule
So, onto some serious stuff. My training is still on a strange road and, love it I don't. Why? Because it's a touch on the bland side and it's quite repetitive.
I've summarised before that I am on a series of compound exercises. Each training set consists of just two exercises, eg. deadlifts & chest press. The weight load is heavy and the form is as close to perfect as I can manage. The reps are 8-10, so as still to be in that muscle building zone (remember, low reps is strength building, not necessarily promoting muscle growth, and high reps is endurance training). The rest time is 3 days between sets and, in this time, I'm allowed to slip in some circuit training but no heavy weights.
The idea is that the training session itself is very intense in the weight side of things, but doesn't really produce the intense panting and sweating that I'm used to. However, in the next 72 hours the muscles are striving to recover to the stress by growing bigger. It really does work and I'm feeling quite bulky. Happy happy joy.
What's hard about that? Bulky isn't always a great feeling. The tape measure is going up. The scales are going up. I'm feeling a little on the big and bulky side, and I really miss the intense feeling of my other workouts.
What's the theory? Well firstly, both my training and complete common sense would say that, I can't reach peak condition and slim down and be in perfect form in May.....when the competition is in September. No one can maintain the sort of condition needed for that long. So that forces me to start tricking things up. Take a step up in body weight, change my training style, alter the food slightly. If done correctly it should produce a good result in the long run - mine being muscle building.
Then when things start slowing down, I imagine it will be time to cut some weight, increase the rep range, increase the exercises, look at isolating some muscles.
So to reach a goal, it may mean you need to take a big step forward, followed by a couple of sideways steps (that may just feel backward) and then launch forward again. It's hard on the mind and not always easy to swallow when your body changes in strange ways. But it really is the only way to make big changes.
So I'm chugging along, chest pressing, deadlifting, squatting and chin upping. Those four basic compounds hit just about each and every muscle that you'd want to hit. How old-school is that?!
I've resorted to a few props to help out with increasing weights.
1. Gloves - absolutely essential to prevent nasty, ugly callouses.
2. Belt - not so much to save an ailing back (though it helps to a point) but more to prevent too much core stimulation. Also a close second as a fashion accessory.
3. Wraps - much controversy over these however, when the goal is simply to lift a heavy enough weight to stress the muscles, whether my wrists are doing the work or not is irrelevant to me.
Here's the scary look I go for!!
And here's the most awful ab exercise I've done in a while. 20kg on a bar to stabilise, a 3kg med ball between feet. Drop legs to the right side, middle, left side, middle = 1, x 10 in total. Thanks Michelle "I read tons of magazines and find the worst exercises in the world to tempt you" Broughton.
So that's it from me for now. As we speak, I'm off to the gym for some more Chin Ups - YIPEEEEE!!!!
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