Well, it's all over for me and to be honest the plan hasn't worked as well as I'd have liked in terms of measurements, although I think I look better than before, even if the pictures posted may not really show it. I'm not sure if I've lost any bodyfat, but one thing this plan has done for me and that's the fact it's got me eating better than ever before, and I feel a lot better than I did eight weeks ago which is a big plus.
At the end of the day it's got me off my arse and into the gym. I'm sure another eight weeks would see results, it's probably simply a case of tweaking the diet around a bit and maybe dropping more calories, but I'm running the London Marathon in April so now my focus turns to that and the training begins next week. I'm going to try to fit in two fb workouts a week still but realistically it may only be one.
It's going to be difficult changing my diet around again with a lot more focus on carbs now, but after the marathon I'll go back to weights and start again. I now just need to do a lot of research on how to amend my diet to fit around all the running.
So that's about it, if anyone's got any tips on distance running please let me know. I'm running for Macmillan Cancer Research which means a lot to me having lost my dad and nan to cancer, and if anyone wants to sponsor me a few quid then please go to www.justgiving.com/dnash
As for the plan, I'd still say it's worth every penny of the £7.50 spent on it, just for the advice and tips alone, not to mention the diet suggestions. I'll definitely use it again come the spring and just try a slightly different approach.
It's been a lot of fun!
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Friday, 23 November 2007
Week Seven
Not a good week really.
I ended up having a bit of a cheat weekend after all, good few beers on Friday with a fair bit of drunken eating after, followed by a good old portion of sausage and chips from the chippy on Saturday.
This week started off ok, good session down the gym Sunday followed by trips to the gym for some running on Monday and Tuesday morning, purely because I find out next week if I've won a place in the marathon and wanted to give my legs a stretch to see how I fared.
Wednesday, back down the gym for weights but not a good session at all, all over the place really and I probably didn't get anything out of it. That was followed by the mother of all benders on Wednesday afternoon before heading to Wembley, not much eaten at all that day but yesterday was hangover food all the way.
I've had the odd chunk of white bread in the evenings and other little things like that, basically my discipline has gone somewhat this week. However, a planned bender on Sunday has now been scrapped as I want to get myself back on track. So it's the gym tonight, hopefully a good weekend and then back to normal with any luck.
Technically this should be my final week before my first set of measurements, I may give it another week after that as I'll have a week off from the gym but I'll see how this week goes.
Another thing, my calfs are killing me, have been since Wednesday. I don't know if it's due to me getting too pissed and therefore too dehydrated, as I sometimes tend to cramp up in the calfs after a heavy drinking session, but I've not had this much aching before.
I ended up having a bit of a cheat weekend after all, good few beers on Friday with a fair bit of drunken eating after, followed by a good old portion of sausage and chips from the chippy on Saturday.
This week started off ok, good session down the gym Sunday followed by trips to the gym for some running on Monday and Tuesday morning, purely because I find out next week if I've won a place in the marathon and wanted to give my legs a stretch to see how I fared.
Wednesday, back down the gym for weights but not a good session at all, all over the place really and I probably didn't get anything out of it. That was followed by the mother of all benders on Wednesday afternoon before heading to Wembley, not much eaten at all that day but yesterday was hangover food all the way.
I've had the odd chunk of white bread in the evenings and other little things like that, basically my discipline has gone somewhat this week. However, a planned bender on Sunday has now been scrapped as I want to get myself back on track. So it's the gym tonight, hopefully a good weekend and then back to normal with any luck.
Technically this should be my final week before my first set of measurements, I may give it another week after that as I'll have a week off from the gym but I'll see how this week goes.
Another thing, my calfs are killing me, have been since Wednesday. I don't know if it's due to me getting too pissed and therefore too dehydrated, as I sometimes tend to cramp up in the calfs after a heavy drinking session, but I've not had this much aching before.
Friday, 16 November 2007
Week Six
Week six is now in the bag and another three workouts under my belt this week.
Neil recommended to me that I have a couple of blowout days and forget about the training but I think I'll hold off on that, I can't seem to tear myself away from the gym!
As far as my workouts go, I have ditched the smith machine in favour of the new rack they have at my gym. I started on Tuesday night with 65kg on the squats but on't think my form was that great. However my hamstrings were given a right seeing to, I've never had DOMS from the smith but I've only just recovered now from it after proper squats! I went back this morning and managed to do 4x8 with 80kg, much better form too, so I was really happy with that considering it's only 20kg off my smith squat weight.
I'm also doing a barbell press now instead of using dumbells, the first time I've ever done these as well and they seem to be going ok, although I'm still only on a total of about 45kg but I'm sure in time the weight will come.
In fact, I was so into my workout this morning that I came away feeling really good about myself. It only took me five hours to realise that I'd forgotten to do bent over rows! I still managed to get a dumbell shoulder press, lat pulldows and deadlifts in there as well but thinking I had a spare set to do I went for bicep curls instead of BOR's. Just totally forgot about them!
I'll have a few beers tonight and maybe tomorrow as well, I'll take advice given to me by Neil on board and rather than a whole blowout weekend maybe I'll just be carefree and eat a bit more than I usually would.
Two weeks to go until my measurements, will be interesting to see how I've done, although looking at some progress pics from people on the MH boards, I can tell it's going to take months and not weeks to get to where I want, now I fully appreciate that it's given me the motivation to carry it on over Christmas.
Neil recommended to me that I have a couple of blowout days and forget about the training but I think I'll hold off on that, I can't seem to tear myself away from the gym!
As far as my workouts go, I have ditched the smith machine in favour of the new rack they have at my gym. I started on Tuesday night with 65kg on the squats but on't think my form was that great. However my hamstrings were given a right seeing to, I've never had DOMS from the smith but I've only just recovered now from it after proper squats! I went back this morning and managed to do 4x8 with 80kg, much better form too, so I was really happy with that considering it's only 20kg off my smith squat weight.
I'm also doing a barbell press now instead of using dumbells, the first time I've ever done these as well and they seem to be going ok, although I'm still only on a total of about 45kg but I'm sure in time the weight will come.
In fact, I was so into my workout this morning that I came away feeling really good about myself. It only took me five hours to realise that I'd forgotten to do bent over rows! I still managed to get a dumbell shoulder press, lat pulldows and deadlifts in there as well but thinking I had a spare set to do I went for bicep curls instead of BOR's. Just totally forgot about them!
I'll have a few beers tonight and maybe tomorrow as well, I'll take advice given to me by Neil on board and rather than a whole blowout weekend maybe I'll just be carefree and eat a bit more than I usually would.
Two weeks to go until my measurements, will be interesting to see how I've done, although looking at some progress pics from people on the MH boards, I can tell it's going to take months and not weeks to get to where I want, now I fully appreciate that it's given me the motivation to carry it on over Christmas.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Wednesday 14th November
Well, I'm approaching the end of week six, so only two weeks to go, and I have to say I think I've failed in this challenge. Although I'm looking better tensed, relaxed there's absolutely no difference whatseoever, and there's been no weight loss whatsoever either.
I don't understand it, from my point of view my diet has been spot on, I haven't eaten any crap at all for the past six weeks and I've never been so disciplined, and I'm working out three times a week and every session pretty much leaves me feeling worked. I've basically done everything asked of me but have not seen any results.
My typical diet over the past weeks is as follows:
8am - Protein shake and 45g of oats with skimmed milk
11am - Protein shake, tuna salad
1pm - Mixed fruit
3pm - Chicken/Turkey breast with sliced pepper
4pm - Apple/fat free yogurt 150g
6pm - Mixed steamed veg with any one from tuna steak/steamed fish/sirloin/turkey/chicken
10pm - Fat free yogurt 150g
I've ben running on a calory deficit and I ensure I always get the right amount of protein every day, having two portions of turkey/chicken/tuna in the evening to make this up if I have to.
Carbs have pretty much been non existant in my diet other than a pre workout banana first thing in the morning on workout days plus the dextrose in my pwo shake.
So I'm at a loss as to why it hasn't worked for me. I suppose these things don't work for everyone but I'll see out the last couple of weeks and post my results up here.
On the weights side, I used a squat rack for the first time yesterday and also changed to a barbell chest press for the first time as well, so I'm looking to continue with those and see where I go. I'm still enjoying the exercise and the healthy eating, so overall I'm happy with the way I've lived for these past six weeks so it's been excellent in that respect. However I applied to do next years marathon back in the summer and I find out next month whether I've been accepted. Only a one in five chance but if I do get in my training will obviously have to change to cardio to prepare for that, otherwise I'll stick with the weights and maybe try a slow bulk over Christmas and winter and try the plan again next summer. The thing with weights is that now I really want to see how far I can go in terms of lifting and it's going to take a bulk to help me do that.
I don't understand it, from my point of view my diet has been spot on, I haven't eaten any crap at all for the past six weeks and I've never been so disciplined, and I'm working out three times a week and every session pretty much leaves me feeling worked. I've basically done everything asked of me but have not seen any results.
My typical diet over the past weeks is as follows:
8am - Protein shake and 45g of oats with skimmed milk
11am - Protein shake, tuna salad
1pm - Mixed fruit
3pm - Chicken/Turkey breast with sliced pepper
4pm - Apple/fat free yogurt 150g
6pm - Mixed steamed veg with any one from tuna steak/steamed fish/sirloin/turkey/chicken
10pm - Fat free yogurt 150g
I've ben running on a calory deficit and I ensure I always get the right amount of protein every day, having two portions of turkey/chicken/tuna in the evening to make this up if I have to.
Carbs have pretty much been non existant in my diet other than a pre workout banana first thing in the morning on workout days plus the dextrose in my pwo shake.
So I'm at a loss as to why it hasn't worked for me. I suppose these things don't work for everyone but I'll see out the last couple of weeks and post my results up here.
On the weights side, I used a squat rack for the first time yesterday and also changed to a barbell chest press for the first time as well, so I'm looking to continue with those and see where I go. I'm still enjoying the exercise and the healthy eating, so overall I'm happy with the way I've lived for these past six weeks so it's been excellent in that respect. However I applied to do next years marathon back in the summer and I find out next month whether I've been accepted. Only a one in five chance but if I do get in my training will obviously have to change to cardio to prepare for that, otherwise I'll stick with the weights and maybe try a slow bulk over Christmas and winter and try the plan again next summer. The thing with weights is that now I really want to see how far I can go in terms of lifting and it's going to take a bulk to help me do that.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Wednesday 7th November
A word of advice. Do NOT, under ANY circumstances join David Lloyd in Weybridge!
Having looked forward to this for the past couple of days, I had a bad start in that I've been up since 02:30 with an unwell son, but decided to go to the gym anyway. I got there nice and early at 05:45 ready for a 6 start, but then found out they only open at 6 on Tuesdays and Fridays! So I hung around and although the gym itself is very nice, the free weights section was abysmal!
NO squat rack
Only ONE Smith Machine which looked about 20 years old. It was an effort moving it without any weights on, let alone loaded up with 90kg!
The dumbells looked prehistoric
You had to walk all the way past the cardio equipment to get to the dips/chin ups
Very limited space in which to work
It was all so out of date it's unbelievable to think people pay £80 a month for that. Then the changing rooms - They had a grubby feel about them as well.
Cannons piss all over them. Think Rocky IV, Rocky trains out in the snow, Drago has a state of the art gym to train in. That's the difference we're talking here. So I had a half arsed workout making the best of what I had and now I cannot wait to get back to Cannons on Friday morning!
It's a shame because the rest of the gym was just what I want, but £80 a month? I'd be pissed off if I was paying half that.
Anyway, rant over, the show goes on.....
Having looked forward to this for the past couple of days, I had a bad start in that I've been up since 02:30 with an unwell son, but decided to go to the gym anyway. I got there nice and early at 05:45 ready for a 6 start, but then found out they only open at 6 on Tuesdays and Fridays! So I hung around and although the gym itself is very nice, the free weights section was abysmal!
NO squat rack
Only ONE Smith Machine which looked about 20 years old. It was an effort moving it without any weights on, let alone loaded up with 90kg!
The dumbells looked prehistoric
You had to walk all the way past the cardio equipment to get to the dips/chin ups
Very limited space in which to work
It was all so out of date it's unbelievable to think people pay £80 a month for that. Then the changing rooms - They had a grubby feel about them as well.
Cannons piss all over them. Think Rocky IV, Rocky trains out in the snow, Drago has a state of the art gym to train in. That's the difference we're talking here. So I had a half arsed workout making the best of what I had and now I cannot wait to get back to Cannons on Friday morning!
It's a shame because the rest of the gym was just what I want, but £80 a month? I'd be pissed off if I was paying half that.
Anyway, rant over, the show goes on.....
Monday, 5 November 2007
Monday 5th November
I'm definitely back on track!
The neck injury has all but cleared up and Friday night I had the best session I've had for months, I came away from the gym feeling drained but really happy. Thankfully as I'd hoped, the gym was pretty empty what with it being a Friday and I had more time to dedicate. It was a 3x12 session and it meant I managed to fit in all three sessions last week after all.
I only get 35 minutes in the mornings as I have to get showered and home in time to feed my son and get ready for work. The one thing I realised on Friday was that having more time really made a difference, I didn't feel rushed and could put more into it. David Lloyd couldn't have timed a leaflet drop any better as I was considering going to have a look anyway, but they're offering free membership until January so I went and had a look around on Saturday. I was slightly disappointed with the free weights section, no squat rack from what I could see and only one Smith machine as opposed to the three at Cannons, plus it looked a bit cramped compared to Cannons. The rest of the club though was a definite improvement, especially the baby pool which is quite important to me as I take my son regularly.
The problem is that with any gym you need to use the facilities before you can judge and it pissed me off that they were not prepared to give me a free guest pass, especially as I told them I was looking for a family membership. Who's going to sign up without knowing what they're getting into? Plus I wanted to know what it's like first thing in the morning, if it's busy then I'll stay where I am, but again I need to use it to find that out. Normally I'd have told them where to go but they open at 6 which is perfect for me, plus I have a mate who's a member there so it means every now and again I could have a training buddy. So I went onto ebay and bought a day pass for £7, which will hopefully come in time for me to use on Wednesday morning. At least then I'll know whether to stick with Cannons or take the plunge with David Lloyd. If it's not busy at 6am then I will, as this will give me an extra half an hour gym time, meaning I can put a lot more into it, especially on the 4x8 sessions as time seems to be very limited when doing these.
As far as the weekend went I had a few beers on Saturday night (well, more than a few) but resisted the hangover blowout and again ate well. I was up nice and early this morning again despite having a day off work and again had more time on my hands to complete a good 4x8 workout. It will be interesting to see my measurements in three and a half weeks, I swear my arms have got bigger, not sure about the rest of me though.
I'll hopefully be able to report back on Friday about David Lloyd at the end of what is week five. By the way, does anyone suffer with serious wind? I swear it's the protein, my guts are all over the place at the moment and it's far from pleasant!
The neck injury has all but cleared up and Friday night I had the best session I've had for months, I came away from the gym feeling drained but really happy. Thankfully as I'd hoped, the gym was pretty empty what with it being a Friday and I had more time to dedicate. It was a 3x12 session and it meant I managed to fit in all three sessions last week after all.
I only get 35 minutes in the mornings as I have to get showered and home in time to feed my son and get ready for work. The one thing I realised on Friday was that having more time really made a difference, I didn't feel rushed and could put more into it. David Lloyd couldn't have timed a leaflet drop any better as I was considering going to have a look anyway, but they're offering free membership until January so I went and had a look around on Saturday. I was slightly disappointed with the free weights section, no squat rack from what I could see and only one Smith machine as opposed to the three at Cannons, plus it looked a bit cramped compared to Cannons. The rest of the club though was a definite improvement, especially the baby pool which is quite important to me as I take my son regularly.
The problem is that with any gym you need to use the facilities before you can judge and it pissed me off that they were not prepared to give me a free guest pass, especially as I told them I was looking for a family membership. Who's going to sign up without knowing what they're getting into? Plus I wanted to know what it's like first thing in the morning, if it's busy then I'll stay where I am, but again I need to use it to find that out. Normally I'd have told them where to go but they open at 6 which is perfect for me, plus I have a mate who's a member there so it means every now and again I could have a training buddy. So I went onto ebay and bought a day pass for £7, which will hopefully come in time for me to use on Wednesday morning. At least then I'll know whether to stick with Cannons or take the plunge with David Lloyd. If it's not busy at 6am then I will, as this will give me an extra half an hour gym time, meaning I can put a lot more into it, especially on the 4x8 sessions as time seems to be very limited when doing these.
As far as the weekend went I had a few beers on Saturday night (well, more than a few) but resisted the hangover blowout and again ate well. I was up nice and early this morning again despite having a day off work and again had more time on my hands to complete a good 4x8 workout. It will be interesting to see my measurements in three and a half weeks, I swear my arms have got bigger, not sure about the rest of me though.
I'll hopefully be able to report back on Friday about David Lloyd at the end of what is week five. By the way, does anyone suffer with serious wind? I swear it's the protein, my guts are all over the place at the moment and it's far from pleasant!
Friday, 2 November 2007
Week Four
Well, I was back in the gym yesterday so I only missed one session. It was a risk because I was (and still am) feeling my neck but I left out the shoulder presses and lost 10kg from the deads and it held out fine, so I was happy with how it went. I'm going back to the gym tonight to make up the lost session, hopefully being a Friday night it won't be too busy.
I had seven pints on Tuesday, I hadn't had a drink for ten days and fancied a few, it doesn't worry me to do that though, my body doesn't seem to get affected too much by alcohol as long as it's not every night. I've got a birthday bash to go to tomorrow night but I'm planning on driving, whether I do or not remains to be seen but the fact I want to get up at 1am on Sunday morning to watch the Calzaghe fight might just help me out. Then hopefully I'll be back to normal from Monday.
I've decided that this is the halfway point to my first lot of measurements, eight weeks should hopefully be enough to allow me to get somewhere towards where I want to be and it's the week prior to me having to go into hospital for an operation to repair torn cartliage in my nose of all places, plus it's before all the Christmas festivities start. If I've made good progress it should be enough to keep me motivated towards what could be a disastrous month. If I haven't made any gains, well who knows whet December will be like, I just hope I don't blow it out and start all over again in January.
Anyway, the diet is still going absolutely fine so no problems there, plus I'm enjoying the gym sessions once again, which is something I lost a few months ago. Now I'm back to the stage where I get the hump if I miss a session which can only be a good thing.
I had seven pints on Tuesday, I hadn't had a drink for ten days and fancied a few, it doesn't worry me to do that though, my body doesn't seem to get affected too much by alcohol as long as it's not every night. I've got a birthday bash to go to tomorrow night but I'm planning on driving, whether I do or not remains to be seen but the fact I want to get up at 1am on Sunday morning to watch the Calzaghe fight might just help me out. Then hopefully I'll be back to normal from Monday.
I've decided that this is the halfway point to my first lot of measurements, eight weeks should hopefully be enough to allow me to get somewhere towards where I want to be and it's the week prior to me having to go into hospital for an operation to repair torn cartliage in my nose of all places, plus it's before all the Christmas festivities start. If I've made good progress it should be enough to keep me motivated towards what could be a disastrous month. If I haven't made any gains, well who knows whet December will be like, I just hope I don't blow it out and start all over again in January.
Anyway, the diet is still going absolutely fine so no problems there, plus I'm enjoying the gym sessions once again, which is something I lost a few months ago. Now I'm back to the stage where I get the hump if I miss a session which can only be a good thing.
Monday, 29 October 2007
Monday 29th October
My first setback!
Having pulled a muscle on Friday, I felt ok to hit the gym this morning and thought by laying off the shoulder presses I'd be fine. Wrong! I am now in absolute agony and may well have just put myself in a period of enforced lay off from the weights. I managed to do the rest of my routine ok but after my workout I really felt it and now I'm struggling to relive myself of the pain.
Just as I was really getting into the swing of things as well, I've just managed to go alcohol free for the first weekend in god knows how long, and my diet over the weekend was fantastic. Yesterday I was bored and knew I should give myself an extr day of rest as far as weights went so I actually went for a 7.5k run just for something to do and really enjoyed it, but then coming from a heavy cardio background I do miss it sometimes and enjoy the odd run or cycle.
If I end up losing a week to injury it will really get me down, I just hope I stay disciplined enough to keep my diet on track and don't fall behind on my targets. It's plenty of ibuprofen tablets and heat wraps for me over the next couple of days, my next workout was due to be Wednesday but it looks highly unlikely that will be the case, I just hope I can get back down the gym by the weekend.
Having pulled a muscle on Friday, I felt ok to hit the gym this morning and thought by laying off the shoulder presses I'd be fine. Wrong! I am now in absolute agony and may well have just put myself in a period of enforced lay off from the weights. I managed to do the rest of my routine ok but after my workout I really felt it and now I'm struggling to relive myself of the pain.
Just as I was really getting into the swing of things as well, I've just managed to go alcohol free for the first weekend in god knows how long, and my diet over the weekend was fantastic. Yesterday I was bored and knew I should give myself an extr day of rest as far as weights went so I actually went for a 7.5k run just for something to do and really enjoyed it, but then coming from a heavy cardio background I do miss it sometimes and enjoy the odd run or cycle.
If I end up losing a week to injury it will really get me down, I just hope I stay disciplined enough to keep my diet on track and don't fall behind on my targets. It's plenty of ibuprofen tablets and heat wraps for me over the next couple of days, my next workout was due to be Wednesday but it looks highly unlikely that will be the case, I just hope I can get back down the gym by the weekend.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Week Three
Well into the plan now and this week's been quite a good one if you discount my poor workout on Monday. I've managed to get through two birthday parties without touching any of the pizza, potatoes, bread, sausages etc. and I've eaten really well again this week. The longer I go the easier it seems to get, whereas I would usually had a blip by now, so everything seems to be going to plan.
Wednesday I went back to the gym and did a successful 12x3 workout and today I was back for some 4x8. I started off a bit sluggish and managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder doing the military press, so I had to lose the last set of those, but once I hit the squats, bent over rows and deads I really got into it and came away feeling very satisfied.
I've managed to increase the weight on the last three exercises slightly and my 4x8 now looks something like this.
Incline chest press (dumbells) - 44kg (22 each side)
Military press - 20kg (I hate this exercise!!)
Bent over rows - 50kg
Squats - 90kg
Deadlifts - 75kg
Ok, so I'm not going to tear up the record books with those weights but it's an improvement by about 20kg from three weeks ago on those last three sets so I'm happy with that, and hopefully I can get more out of it in the next three weeks. I might ditch the military press in favour of a dumbell press as I know I can lift at least 10kg more doing that.
Overall I'm fairly happy with the way things are going, I certainly feel more healthy and better about myself and I'd say I look a bit better when tensed, even if I'm still not happy with the way I look relaxed. The weight isn't coming off either but at 13 stone 2 and 6 foot 1 I'm happy with my weight anyway so it's not really an issue.
This weekend should be a healthy one, I'm not going out and unless I have a few beers at home it should be an alcohol free weekend, with plenty of chicken, fish, vegetables and of course protein to see me through!
Wednesday I went back to the gym and did a successful 12x3 workout and today I was back for some 4x8. I started off a bit sluggish and managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder doing the military press, so I had to lose the last set of those, but once I hit the squats, bent over rows and deads I really got into it and came away feeling very satisfied.
I've managed to increase the weight on the last three exercises slightly and my 4x8 now looks something like this.
Incline chest press (dumbells) - 44kg (22 each side)
Military press - 20kg (I hate this exercise!!)
Bent over rows - 50kg
Squats - 90kg
Deadlifts - 75kg
Ok, so I'm not going to tear up the record books with those weights but it's an improvement by about 20kg from three weeks ago on those last three sets so I'm happy with that, and hopefully I can get more out of it in the next three weeks. I might ditch the military press in favour of a dumbell press as I know I can lift at least 10kg more doing that.
Overall I'm fairly happy with the way things are going, I certainly feel more healthy and better about myself and I'd say I look a bit better when tensed, even if I'm still not happy with the way I look relaxed. The weight isn't coming off either but at 13 stone 2 and 6 foot 1 I'm happy with my weight anyway so it's not really an issue.
This weekend should be a healthy one, I'm not going out and unless I have a few beers at home it should be an alcohol free weekend, with plenty of chicken, fish, vegetables and of course protein to see me through!
Monday, 22 October 2007
Monday 22nd October
Well, into week three and I've hit a stumbling block. I had a terrible nights sleep last night due to my boy being up and down all night, but still dragged myself out of bed to go to the gym this morning as tomorrow is his birthday which means a gym free day, plus I knew I wouldn't have the energy tonight.
As soon as I got to the weights I realised I wasn't up for it at all but set out to do my 4x8 routine regardless. It was one of the worst workouts I've ever done, and although I increased the weight on the bent over rows and squats, my form wasn't up to scratch and I've ended up doing my back in. I've had a history of back problems but have found that deads and bent over rows have helped strengthen it, but I made the mistake of increasing weight when I knew I wasn't up to it.
So, I had nothing in my back to do the deads and called it a day. As it turned out the deads were the only things I didn't manage but it put a downer on the start of the week as I hate not coming out of the gym feeling I've achieved something. Now I'm just hoping that I get some decent sleep and rest under my belt and that my back sorts itself out ready for a fresh workout on Wednesday morning.
As far as the food plan goes, the one thing I have changed on Neils advice is now I won't eat mackerel after my workout, it's porridge all the way for me now in the mornings and on workout days the mackerel is now consumed in the afternoon instead.
I've done ok over the weekend, other than a £100 shop on fish, chicken etc! I resisted temptation of a bender for the rugby and stayed in and watched it instead. I had five cans to drown my sorrows but five cans has to be better than nine or ten pints! Then yesterday we had a party for our son and there was a buffet on offer, the usual crap, pork pies, sausages, everything you'd expect and everything that would usually have tempted me, especially the sausages. However we also had a whole salmon that had been cooked so I opted for that with some salad and felt very pleased with myself at the end of proceedings, so at least I've proved I can resist temptation when it's put in front of me.
I've just got to get a killer workout under my belt so I feel back to normal once again...
As soon as I got to the weights I realised I wasn't up for it at all but set out to do my 4x8 routine regardless. It was one of the worst workouts I've ever done, and although I increased the weight on the bent over rows and squats, my form wasn't up to scratch and I've ended up doing my back in. I've had a history of back problems but have found that deads and bent over rows have helped strengthen it, but I made the mistake of increasing weight when I knew I wasn't up to it.
So, I had nothing in my back to do the deads and called it a day. As it turned out the deads were the only things I didn't manage but it put a downer on the start of the week as I hate not coming out of the gym feeling I've achieved something. Now I'm just hoping that I get some decent sleep and rest under my belt and that my back sorts itself out ready for a fresh workout on Wednesday morning.
As far as the food plan goes, the one thing I have changed on Neils advice is now I won't eat mackerel after my workout, it's porridge all the way for me now in the mornings and on workout days the mackerel is now consumed in the afternoon instead.
I've done ok over the weekend, other than a £100 shop on fish, chicken etc! I resisted temptation of a bender for the rugby and stayed in and watched it instead. I had five cans to drown my sorrows but five cans has to be better than nine or ten pints! Then yesterday we had a party for our son and there was a buffet on offer, the usual crap, pork pies, sausages, everything you'd expect and everything that would usually have tempted me, especially the sausages. However we also had a whole salmon that had been cooked so I opted for that with some salad and felt very pleased with myself at the end of proceedings, so at least I've proved I can resist temptation when it's put in front of me.
I've just got to get a killer workout under my belt so I feel back to normal once again...
Friday, 19 October 2007
Week Two
Ok, so the second week is now out of the way and I've had a fairly successful week. A pretty heavy drinking session last Saturday was surprisingly followed by a healthy Sunday as far as eating went, no crap whatsoever, and I even managed to eat pretty well on the Saturday itself, just the alcohol let me down!
Three workouts followed, Monday, Wednesday and this morning. It's getting harder to get out of bed in the mornings, especially as the car's been iced over the past couple of mornings, but I'm proud that I've managed to motivate myself to get up and get out. This mornings workout was well worth it though, really took it out of me!
I'm alternating now between 4x8 and 3x12, so I'll do heavier weights on say Monday with 4x8, then Wednesday slightly lower weights but 3x12, so on and so forth. I know Neil suggests an even lighter session of 3x20 but I haven't got time to fit that in. Still managing to slightly increase the weight on the deads and squats, I'm about 15-20kg away from where I was a few months ago though before my enforced lay off so hopefully I'll be back there in a few weeks.
As far as the diet plan goes, well I've had fish every day this week, Mackerel fillets PWO and tuna steaks on non workout days. Plenty of chicken and turkey breasts as well, and I've ditched the pre-packed sandwich fillings in favour of ham and turkey off the bone from the deli counter. It's quite a bit more expensive but I feel healthier just buying it so it softens the blow on the wallet.
Carbs are well down as well, I have a food doctor bagel at 11am each morning and that's about it. Here's a rough idea of my diet each day as it stands.
Breakfast - Banana and a bowl of porridge (Mackerel instead of porridge if I've been to the gym)
11am - Food doctor bagel with ham/turkey off the bone, spinach and mixed salad, whey.
1pm - Mixed fruit.
3pm - John West tuna light lunch.
4pm - Fruit, 0% fat yogurt
6pm - Either chicken/turkey breasts, sirloin steak or tuna steak, with plenty of veg.
10pm - Whey, with a 0% fat yogurt
I know this could possibly be cleaned up a bit, especially around lunchtime but I feel good about myself and it's doing me good. The only blip I've had this week was Tuesday when I had a Nando's double chicken burger, but as it was chicken I didn't feel TOO bad about it! Any comments on this diet would be appreciated though, any tips or advise would be appreciated.
I stepped on the scales yesterday and must admit I was quite deflated to see that I'd lost absolutely nothing and had in fact gained a pound. However a quick trip to the MH forums and my mind was put at ease, after all it's all about how I look and I'm pleased with the way that's progressing, even after just one week. Another consideration is that this week I've naturally found my water intake increasing by about two litres a day to four and a half/five litres. So I've managed to get the scales out of my mind and will purely concentrate on the mirror from now on, along of course with measurements in a few weeks time.
So overall, other than the booze and the Nando's it's been a good week, hopefully this will be a drink free weekend and I'll have another good week!
Three workouts followed, Monday, Wednesday and this morning. It's getting harder to get out of bed in the mornings, especially as the car's been iced over the past couple of mornings, but I'm proud that I've managed to motivate myself to get up and get out. This mornings workout was well worth it though, really took it out of me!
I'm alternating now between 4x8 and 3x12, so I'll do heavier weights on say Monday with 4x8, then Wednesday slightly lower weights but 3x12, so on and so forth. I know Neil suggests an even lighter session of 3x20 but I haven't got time to fit that in. Still managing to slightly increase the weight on the deads and squats, I'm about 15-20kg away from where I was a few months ago though before my enforced lay off so hopefully I'll be back there in a few weeks.
As far as the diet plan goes, well I've had fish every day this week, Mackerel fillets PWO and tuna steaks on non workout days. Plenty of chicken and turkey breasts as well, and I've ditched the pre-packed sandwich fillings in favour of ham and turkey off the bone from the deli counter. It's quite a bit more expensive but I feel healthier just buying it so it softens the blow on the wallet.
Carbs are well down as well, I have a food doctor bagel at 11am each morning and that's about it. Here's a rough idea of my diet each day as it stands.
Breakfast - Banana and a bowl of porridge (Mackerel instead of porridge if I've been to the gym)
11am - Food doctor bagel with ham/turkey off the bone, spinach and mixed salad, whey.
1pm - Mixed fruit.
3pm - John West tuna light lunch.
4pm - Fruit, 0% fat yogurt
6pm - Either chicken/turkey breasts, sirloin steak or tuna steak, with plenty of veg.
10pm - Whey, with a 0% fat yogurt
I know this could possibly be cleaned up a bit, especially around lunchtime but I feel good about myself and it's doing me good. The only blip I've had this week was Tuesday when I had a Nando's double chicken burger, but as it was chicken I didn't feel TOO bad about it! Any comments on this diet would be appreciated though, any tips or advise would be appreciated.
I stepped on the scales yesterday and must admit I was quite deflated to see that I'd lost absolutely nothing and had in fact gained a pound. However a quick trip to the MH forums and my mind was put at ease, after all it's all about how I look and I'm pleased with the way that's progressing, even after just one week. Another consideration is that this week I've naturally found my water intake increasing by about two litres a day to four and a half/five litres. So I've managed to get the scales out of my mind and will purely concentrate on the mirror from now on, along of course with measurements in a few weeks time.
So overall, other than the booze and the Nando's it's been a good week, hopefully this will be a drink free weekend and I'll have another good week!
Friday, 12 October 2007
Week One
Having read Neil's plan it's fairly straightforward to follow. Putting into practice though could be another matter. You have to start somewhere though and I started on Tuesday. It's hard trying to revamp your whole diet and it can be quite expensive, but so far I've managed to do it. Before I couldn't be arsed to steam veg and therefore rarely ate it, but I've had it every day so far this week, along with fish every day, plenty of chicken and turkey and of course the obligatory sirloin!
So my diet's pretty much getting itself sorted, but that's the easy part. I put in an order for protein as I was due to run out any day, and now the hard work starts!
I went down the gym last week and they have brought in new machines and equipment all round, however this has led to a decrease in space around the free weights are, making it even harder to use the equipment you want at the time you want. The gym gets really busy of an evening and you can easily end up losing motivation or not doing the routine you want. There was only one thing for it, I'll have to do my workouts before work.
The gym opens at half 6 and this is what time I aim to get there. The one good thing about having a baby who's a year old (in my case anyway) is that he acts as my alarm clock. Every day between 5 and half 5, he wakes up without fail. On Tuesday he woke me at 5:40, the ideal time for getting up to get to the gym for when it opens. Today it was 5, a bit earlier than I'd have liked but I was up nonetheless. It's amazing how an early morning workout can put you in a good mood for the rest of the day, plus the gym is empty at that time so I've got the place to myself.
My workouts are still taking shape, on Tuesday it was Deads, Squats, Chest Press, Chin ups and dips (although I'm ashamed to admit the latter two are assisted at this time). Today it was Chest Presses, Deads, Military Press, Bent Over Rows and Bicep Curls. All 4 x 8.
Thirty five minutes, gives me time to shower, get home, feed the lad, get ready for work and get to work for 9. Perfect!
First week almost complete and so far so good. However I have a stumbling block tomorrow in that I'm off to Wembley for the football and then watching the rugby, so it will be a bit of a session. I'm not going to allow myself to get obsessive over this so I'll allow myself a good drink every now and then, but it's the hangover and the temptations to eat absolute shit that's the hardest part, so if I can get through Sunday with a minimum of fuss I'll be pretty chuffed with my first weeks work.
So my diet's pretty much getting itself sorted, but that's the easy part. I put in an order for protein as I was due to run out any day, and now the hard work starts!
I went down the gym last week and they have brought in new machines and equipment all round, however this has led to a decrease in space around the free weights are, making it even harder to use the equipment you want at the time you want. The gym gets really busy of an evening and you can easily end up losing motivation or not doing the routine you want. There was only one thing for it, I'll have to do my workouts before work.
The gym opens at half 6 and this is what time I aim to get there. The one good thing about having a baby who's a year old (in my case anyway) is that he acts as my alarm clock. Every day between 5 and half 5, he wakes up without fail. On Tuesday he woke me at 5:40, the ideal time for getting up to get to the gym for when it opens. Today it was 5, a bit earlier than I'd have liked but I was up nonetheless. It's amazing how an early morning workout can put you in a good mood for the rest of the day, plus the gym is empty at that time so I've got the place to myself.
My workouts are still taking shape, on Tuesday it was Deads, Squats, Chest Press, Chin ups and dips (although I'm ashamed to admit the latter two are assisted at this time). Today it was Chest Presses, Deads, Military Press, Bent Over Rows and Bicep Curls. All 4 x 8.
Thirty five minutes, gives me time to shower, get home, feed the lad, get ready for work and get to work for 9. Perfect!
First week almost complete and so far so good. However I have a stumbling block tomorrow in that I'm off to Wembley for the football and then watching the rugby, so it will be a bit of a session. I'm not going to allow myself to get obsessive over this so I'll allow myself a good drink every now and then, but it's the hangover and the temptations to eat absolute shit that's the hardest part, so if I can get through Sunday with a minimum of fuss I'll be pretty chuffed with my first weeks work.
An Introduction
Ok, I'll start by telling you a little bit more about me. I'm 30 and currently weigh 184lbs. This is the heaviest I've been for some time, I was 170lbs a couple of years ago.
I have always been of the mindset that cardio = fat and weight loss. I started reading the Mens Health forums about 10 months ago and used to read the comments on cardio being no good for fat loss and refused to take it in. My reasoning for this is that I used to be a very keen cyclist, 200+ miles a week, on the bike day in day out. Back in 2001 I weighed 198lbs until I found the bike, then the cycling helped me lose around four and a half stone, so I knew that cardio helped with weight loss.
Now because I'd done cardio near enough every day for five years, I was not prepared to listen to the arguments, although looking back I realise that I hardly had any muscle on me at all other than my legs. I started weight training back in February when I joined a gym and did four months of this, eating 'better' than I was and seeing some improvements to my physique. However, a series of events led to me being unable to train for over two months and now I realise that I was just plodding along, seeing some improvement but not enough for the work I was putting in.
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