turned out ok, as usual, heh. up reps on all. doing leg raises a bit different than before, hence the lower reps. situps still strain my neck. my goal is to work out every day.
Haven't been feeling super last couple of days. Stayed up all night Friday. Actually went to the gym Saturday but they were closing just as I got started. Note to self: closing time is 17 Saturdays. Went easy on the squats, all reps were pretty solid though. No back probs deadlifting, although it's been a little stiff last days. Weight is up, maybe 'cause I've been eating more salt than usual.
Did NOT feel good waking up. Considered not going but went. Felt pretty bad warming up. Considered not continuing but did. Almost felt like I was getting ill or something. Then it slowly turned out to be a pretty good session after all, and my body responded quite well even though I felt weak. Almost completed the second rep in the last set of pull ups. Just did one negative, though. Increased breast press from 16 kg to 17 kg. Almost didn't get the first rep but then ended up almost completing 4*5. Improved on shoulder presses as well.
Missed yesterday. Have been eating less than good the last few days and I can feel it. Too much fat and chocolate and maybe too much salt too. Not sure why, it just happened I guess, maybe it was the chocolate/dates thing that started it off a couple of days ago. Anyway good to be back. Had an appointment with the physiotherapist today but unfortunately it was cancelled :(. Leveled up to 32 kg kettlebell for the side bends and it felt right. Tried 28 kg first but that was too easy. Work up reps to 4*8 or 4*10 before increasing weight. In the third set of leg raises I tried to keep some tension at the bottom and not relax all the way down. Was harder obviously and I think it's a keeper. Situps strains neck, but think that's a matter of learning the exercise. Have started to jump some rope for 5-10 minutes after stretching. Practising crosses or whatever they're called, right hand over to start with. Starting to get the hang of them, did around 20 consecutive which makes a new PR :)
Squats were nice, better form than last time. Tried to remember to look up and not so much into the mirror. Mirrors are great sometimes, but not always. Back felt nice deadlifting, can try 50 kg next time and 8 something reps. Maybe I should add some reps to squats before adding weights, I'm not sure.
One level up on both pull-ups and dips. Did three negative reps on the pull-ups in last set after failure at 4 reps. Will stay att level 9 for at least one time. Level 3 is the last of the machine, so will have to jump from 3 to 0 on dips. Considering staying at 4 and increase reps a little, because shoulders feel a bit too tense. Failed last set of breast presses, so lowered to 14 kg and did 7 reps. All in all good.
Took yesterday off. Time to up weights on side bends. Either go for dumbbells or kettlebells. Try 30 kgs or so. Hanging leg raises are hardest on grip strength, so keep on adding reps. Doing the sit-ups with less range, not as far up as before. Can move arms further before adding weights. Holding neck steady takes most effort, it's like I'm tensing it too much.
Didn't feel super going but was OK. It seems to usually be that way. Did one more squat than last time. Can still work on wider stance and going deeper before adding weights though. Back is a little stiff but deadlift was no problem. Got some help with my technique, was not looking up enough; remember to look forward and slightly up instead of down in mirror. Add a few reps before adding weights. Calf press is getting pretty hard to rep to failure because of the higher reps. Up to 15 then add weight. Today marks one month!
Really close to not going or waiting until later, but put on the clothes and the rest followed. Made some progress on the pull-ups which was nice. Did three negatives too in last set. Failed first rep of breast press but then it was okay ... weird. Was pretty hard to to shoulder press after both pull-ups and breast press; but got same reps as last time which is OK. Up reps on all.
Back to situps on ball, doing them a little "lower". Can up reps on all. When is it time to up weights on side bends? Maybe go to 10 and then up weights.
Planned doing squats first, but rack occupied like last time. No back probs deadlifting, can up a few reps next time. Keep weights at 40 kg though. Did not go as deep as I can on squats because of the weight, will work on that and wider stance before increasing weights. Can up reps on calf raise as well. All in all pretty good.
Was in Stockholm over the weekend which gave a nice break. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the sushi saturday night though, and had a cup of coffee yesterday. An OK workout though. Hard to do the breast press after pull-ups and dips. Go for same level on pull-ups, one level up on dips and same for breast press.
Tired but OK. 4 more reps of side bends than last time, 6 more leg raises. Tried reg sit-ups instead of ball ones, was worse. Maybe try crunches or plank? Also found a nice ab program that I might try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8dWv0M1nNg ... want to keep doing the side bends and leg raises, though!
Planned doing squats, deadlifts and calf presses. Rack was occupied though. Back hurts on deadlifts. What to do? Stop doing them for a while? Lower weights to 20 kg or something and practise technique? Replace them with something else? I'll try to do like 15-20 reps with low weight next time to see how it feels. Realizing (again) that hip/inner thigh flexibility is stopping me from going wider on the squats. Need to work on that. Keep weights at 50 kg and try to go a little wider each time.
OK. Pull-ups not so good. Did two negatives after failing last set, which felt like a good thing. Should do the pull-ups first. 4 more reps of reverse flies than last time, and 4 more breast press reps as well. Add reps to breast press until at 4*8. Thinking about replacing reverse flies with shoulder press and adding breast press to the other upper body workout. Reverse flies don't feel as important as breast press. Pull-up, breast press, shoulder press. Other workout: pull-up, dips, breast press.
Such nice weather. Really miss running. Toe was okay but barely. Maybe if I get better shoes and use my inlays...
Side bends are good, and hanging leg raises are okay. But situps feels like they're not intensive enough. Stomach feels hard to work out good, it's not at all the same effort as the legs or upper body sessions. I'm gonna give it some time though, and then maybe find some other exercise to replace the situps with. Can up reps on all three.
Decent. Lowered weight on deadlift and felt less pressure on back. So will keep weight at 50 kg and up reps until at 8 or so. Same for squats I think. Need more flexibility for proper form. Calf presses I will up to about 15 reps before adding weight somehow. So anyway this is the start of week 4.
Missed yesterday because of party Friday night. Didn't think today would be very good but turned out very well. Did last set to failure on all three. Have some kind of vision of doing reps to failure all the time, but don't know if it's even possible. So last set is a great start. Did pull-ups narrower than before – think it's better to start out narrow and go wider as I get stronger. Felt like it worked biceps more. Can up weight on both pull-ups and dips. Was going for the 8 kg dumbbells on shoulder press, but they weren't free, so took the 9 kg. Given the result I might as well skip 8 kg and go with 9 kg next time too.
Did not feel good yesterday so took a day off. Still not 100, so went easy. Weight higher than I thought. Maybe I've been eating too much salt/fat/frozen spinach. Will go easy on the fat for a couple of days.
Woke up and realized I was dehydrated. Drank 1.2 liter of water and felt better. Deadlifts were OK, but should stay on 60 kg for at least one session to work on technique. Using more back than legs/hips with heavier weights, not sure if it's good for my back. Tried 45 kg for the squat, but it was too heavy. Weird, because 40 kg feels relatively easy. Need to work on hip/inner thigh flexibility though.
Tired. Need to take a rest day? Felt pretty good afterwards, though. Pull-ups feels very hard, but at least got 2 more reps in total than last time. Up reps at least one time on breast press before increasing weight.
Beginning week 3. Tired, maybe since yesterdays' legs. Need to watch out so I don't sacrifice form to hunting reps. Especially sit-ups on ball. Can up reps on at least side bends and leg raises though.
Didn't feel too good starting out, but turned out OK. Tried a much wider stance for the deadlifts, think I like it. Can up weights 5 kg next time. Calf raises up one rep. Tried 50 kg for the squat, but it was too heavy. Try up 5 kg next time. I'm counting calories today, 1030 so far in the banana/strawberry breakfast smoothie.
Pretty nice. Can up weights on all three. Upped the reps a bit on the knee/foot exercises too.
Up reps on sidebends. Will have to switch to dumbbells to increase weight. So up reps to 4*8 and then increase weight. Adding reps instead of hold to leg raise. Also adding reps to sit ups instead of moving arms. Same here, 4*8. Apropos goals, twice body weight is too much. 1.5 might be more reasonable.
Good. Deadlift too heavy, back did not feel good. Either go for 45 kg or up reps next time. I'll try 45 kg. Up calf raise to 7 reps. Up squat to 45 or 50 kg. Thinking I'll keep on this program for 8 weeks. This is week 2. Some medium term goals, ottomh: * Deadlift twice body weight, 5 reps. * Squat twice body weight, 5 reps. * Bench press body weight, 5 reps. * Chin-ups (underhand and overhand) with body weight, 5 reps.
OK. Up breast press to 16 kg next time.
Tired but managed to get to the gym. Find a good strategy is to just get up and put my workout clothes on, then it mostly follows from there. Up reps on side bends. Move arms higher on sit-ups. Add 1 sec hold on leg raise. Need to set some goals.
Felt weird first. All shaky. Ended up pretty good though. Trying to do wider squats. http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Squat_Videos. Louie Simmons says they do everyting narrow stance squats do and more. Think they will work on my flexibility as well. Up deadlifts next time, to 50 kg, but keep squats at 40 kg and work on stance. Need to work on driving with hips as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yha2XAc2qu8&feature=player_embedded
Good workout. Increase to level 7 on dips next time.
Still easy.
Ugh. Happy I went though.
Slept too little. Was sleepy but did not feel weak. Did knee/foot exercises for warmup as usual, and a good 20 mins of stretching after.
Back after xmas and new years' break. Pretty good.
Nice. Increase push-ups to 4*10 (or as close as I get ..).
Pretty easy. Did knee exercises for warm-up, as usual. Stretched for 25 minutes, good. Can up squats to 50 kg, and calf raises to 4*6 at least.
Too tired to hit the gym so took an easy jog instead.
Still not eating alright. I'm not getting hungry for real, only slightly nauseous. Smthg funny going on with my stomach. No appetite for fruit, only cooked food. Thought of dates makes me nauseous. Been having crawings for fries, pizza, sandwiches with cheese and veggies, boiled eggs (!) - fat, salt and carbs. Not giving in this time though, it's not gonna be worth it. Anyway. Besides the feeling of not having had enough food, my body does not feel weak, ill or stressed. If anything it feels calmer than usual and I haven't been sleeping worse than what I usually do. So I did an easy workout. Was OK. A little too "hungry" to have good energy though. But thinking it's better to go and go easy than not to go at all. Weight at an all-time low, not too worried though. Tomorrow will be legs.
Been sleeping like a dead man last days. Well not so deep but 10-12 hours and still feeling physically tired. Don't know if it's some kind of detox effect or my body reacting to (hopefully) getting Mg levels back up to normal and releasing tension/stress. Anyway realized I need to keep my gym sessions shorter. Like 1 hour max = 4-5 exercises. Warm up takes about 20 mins, and I want to spend at least as much time stretching, maybe more. Which leaves me with something like 20 minutes for the strength exercises. Also means I can up the tempo and go harder on each exercise, which probably is a good thing. More focus. So today I did upper body, tomorrow will be abs. Roughly I'm thinking one day legs, one day upper body and one day back/abs. Although, I'm thinking mixing it up a little as well might be a good idea. Less static, more dynamic. Also no isolated stuff, go with big muscle groups. Like push-ups, pull-ups, squats, dead-lift, sit-ups, lunges. Maybe stuff like burpees as well.
Getting back. Deadlift, calf raises and squats were all pretty easy actually. Haven't lost that much. Keeping weights down for a little while though, 'til my body has gotten used to working out again. Go for 4*10 on calf raises before adding weight. Is a lot stiffer though, need to work on stretching. Also planning on hitting a couple of yoga classes a week.
Getting back. Got new one-year membership. Did warmup/knee exercises and some stretching. Easing back into it ...
Same as Saturday. Toe feels a bit bigger, no pain though ... Will try again wednesday.
Actually didn't time it, but somewhere 'round 30 mins. Took a couple of walking breaks. My right toe still isn't OK, such a drag. Didn't hurt today though ... Thinking I'll try out short jogs every second day or so, and see how the toe responds. If it doesn't get worse, I'll keep on running. If it gets worse, I'll be depressed.
Cold. Need thicker gloves. Also something for the feet (toes). Otherwise it was pretty nice.
First in a long, long time. Superb weather but windy. I feel weak but optimistic.
Without Martin in Märsta.
With Martin in Märsta.
Just to get out a little.
Was gonna do an upper body workout, but didn't feel up to it, so just warmed up and stretched. New try tomorrow.
Legs failed me, otherwise OK.
Getting back. Squats were easy, but wanted to take it a bit easy. Deadlifts were easy too, could up both to 50 kg next time. Still planning on getting calf raises up to 4*10 before adding weights. Did the new set of knee/foot exercises. One legged sit-down on chair is pretty hard.
First in a long time. Not particularly strong but nice to get moving. A bit chilly.
Better still. Only warm-up + stretching though. Almost felt like working out after the warm-up, good thing! I'm splitting my upper body routine into two parts, too many exercises = too much time. I'm thinking doing pull-ups, dips, sit-ups with leg raise, breast-press, sit-ups to side and shoulder press one day. Pull-ups, some kind of push-up for triceps, pushups, hanging leg raise, side bend, sitting torso rotation, reverse flies one day. Back raise both. Not sure if it's optimal, but it's a start.
Better but not good. Warmup + stretching. Also did 10 minutes of statbike. Did new exercises for knee/foot. Balancing on mat 3*60 secs, no weight. One-legged squat, not deep, maybe 100-110 degrees, with mat to increase heel raise, 3*10. Step-ups on double boxes, 3*10. Ate cooked peas yesterday, ended up overeating and did not feel good at all. Sigh. Learning opportunity, I guess.
Still not good. Warmup + stretching. Making progress on the stretching, main focus is backside legs. Can reach floor with mid-knuckles. Doing some tense+relax stretching. About ten breaths per stretch = 30 secs something.
Still not feeling good. Warmup + stretching.
Still not 100. Had time w/ the physiotherapist, got some new exercises for knee/foot. Balance/stability. Will combine with old ones, six in total, three each day as warm-up. Had planned on doing leg workout afterwards, but didn't feel up to it :-/
Didn't feel too good. Went anyway. Warmed up. Decided not to work out. So I just stretched instead. Felt better afterwards. Feels like my body is stressed, tense. Might be primarily psychological stress. Then I went home and washed my hair with honey, lay down on the couch and rested. Interested in following bodily rhythms I learned from Eric - sunrise to mid day: cleaning, physical activity, water-rich food. Mid day - sunset (around 18:00 I guess): mental activity. Sunset - midnight: can't remember. So clean up and physical stuff before breakfast and between breakfast and lunch. Then lunch and work from around 12-18. Evening was something with cultural activities and breathing exercises before going to sleep. Meeting people also I guess.
Technique on deadlift OK, up to 50 kg. Keep squats at 50 kg and work on tech a couple of times more. Increase calf raise to 4*10. 6 was pretty easy.
Not so good. Failed breast press ttlly, even with 17 kg. Maybe need a days' rest. Skipped push-ups altogether. Lower breast press to 17 kg, work up to 4*10. Level-up on dips!
Leg day today. Also Sunday. Which means the gym doesn't open 'til 15:00. Wanted to work out before breakfast, so took a little run up to IKDC. Did some standard warming up skips and then did a little running/jumping up stairs and the standard knee exercises (one legged squat, leg raise sidewards & knee up front to back with leg extension) and some calf raises. A little tired, so pretty easy.
After breakfast. Didn't feel that strong, but numbers are OK, actually even better than last time. Except the push-ups. Prob'ly 'cause of the dips. Trying out not rotating head with torso rotation, feels better if going to add leg raise. Pull-ups felt pretty decent. Not going as far down as before, just until arms straight but keeping tension in shoulders. Increase to 4*10 hanging leg raise, then add 1-2 sec hold. Did a little timeplot of my weight.
At "hälsodagar i Ubbaboda", with Eric Nilsson. Got there the 17th, slept on a couch, not that well. Went out and did a little running and some basic leg stuff before watermelon breakfast: frog jumps, lunges, calf raises and some diffrn't skips followed by light stretching. Wonderful milieu. Did an hour of yoga the day before. Slower than the yoga I've done before = better. Later in the evening I did an hour of back training exercises with Eric. Learned a few new exercises and stretches (that I should write down before I forget).
Woke up. Had a conversation with myself on whether going or not. Came up with pretty good arguments to not go, but then went anyway. OK. Still not 100. Maybe 90. Skipped part of stretching because I was afraid I'd get a parking ticket. Increasing back raise until at 4*10. Added one set of hanging leg raise, sit-ups with leg raise and torso rotation. Breast press is too heavy at 18.5 kg, but 17 kg is too easy. Maybe try lowering reps to manage all sets. Torso rotation is way too easy, prob'ly should increase weight, but not sure of technique. Increasing side bends to 4*10 before increasing weight to 25 kg. For dips, I'll go to level 0 (body weight), then increase to around 4*10 before adding weights. One more push-up than last time. Keep this up, and I'll be at 100 in, let's see, a mere 320 days.
Been sick since Friday. Sucks. Sore throat. Not too bad, but bad enough to not work out. Still not 100, but OK. Did legs because not as hard as upper body. Felt OK. Can go deeper on the squats before increasing weight. Upper body tomorrow if I'm not worse.
Felt good. Adding a fourth set of 10 calf raises. Then I need to increase weight somehow. Reverse order of exercises each time. Keeping deadlifts at 50 kg until my technique is up to speed. Found a nice video on proper deadlift technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nRRlk6264I. I was using too much back this time, must remember to forward knees and lower hips.
Didn't feel too great waking up. Went anyway. Was pretty tough, not much energy, but managed to make it through pretty well. Took yesterday off, didn't feel too great. Ate dates and some raisins two days ago and maybe got a little dehydrated too. Coincidence? Also I've been working out pretty hard seven days in a row prior...
Woke up, juiced two oranges and headed for the gym. Slow start, tired legs since yesterday. Dips felt good, shoulder presses as well. Leg raises working grip more than abs at the moment. Couldn't complete the first rep on last two sets of breast presses. Somehow the first rep is heavier than the rest, and my left arm isn't strong enough. Stretching routine is working, getting more flexible especially backside of legs.
Felt faster than was. Good effort, almost too hard, but more or less under control. Legs are bottleneck.
Legs still sore, but good energy. Warmed up with jumping rope + statbike. Need to get a proper jump rope. Up weights next time + add one more set of 8 calf raises. Don't up weights too fast though, better to slow-start.
Sore legs from yestermorning. Need to work on grip strength for hanging leg raises. Switching back to 4*5 for most exercises, except for abs. Will increase load as soon as done 4*5 two times. Also need to work on resting less between exercises. Rep numbers slightly better but still too regular.
Tired legs for starters, worked out pretty decent tho'.
Mysteriously tired legs. Was gonna hit the bike, but it was raining. So took the opportunity to get going on my leg workout again. It's been half a year. Going for minimalism: calf raises, squats and deadlifts.
Tried 3 sets of 8 reps instead of normal 4*5. Started first step to hanging leg raise, 3*8 with bent knees. Maxed push-ups: 15. Rep numbers still too regular.
Metaphorical uphill towards Dalby, then things got a little better. May, June and July were deliberately low in intensity, now is time to up.
Back in Lund. Decided to merge my two upper body workouts. Tried to cut down resting time between exercises as much as I could by alternating to increase intensity. Am still doing fairly slow reps though. Will alternate between several sets of push-ups and dumbbell breast press + one set push-ups to failure. Rep numbers are way too regular – need to increase weights.