5 mi route

had a great run today. my r. knee did feel a bit uncomfortable at first, but i guess the running eventually put it off. heres the route i did

time: 55:51

squats!!!

did squats today. they felt really easy - especially since my left knee has been acting up since last week (runner's knee maybe?). also, hiked with the club on sunday, so i wasn't really sure if id be up for it today.

also helped alvie out with her squat routine. she seems to be picking it up very well.

135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 5

box squat
95 x 10
95 x 10
95 x 15
95 x 15

leg curls
50 x 10 single leg
50 x 15 both legs
75 x 10 both legs
50 x 10 single leg

situps
2 x 10
2 x 15

also took some extra time to really stretch everything out. so: im not sore right now. that makes me happy. :)

bench press

gettin' pumped on friday

bp
115 x 3
135 x 3
145 x 5

75 x 10
75 x 10
75 x 10
75 x 10
75 x 10

db rows
35 x 10
35 x 10
35 x 10
35 x 10
35 x 10

"confunnit"

i tried to run, i mean really now.

my hamstrings were...meh. i tried putting on some icy hot about an hour before heading to ala moana beach park, but it didnt help much. i ran about a quarter mile before calling it a day. took a nice, long 15 minutes to really stretch it out.

ill talk to alvie tonight when i pick her up and plan a run tomorrow morning.

confunnit.

deadlifts again?!

lol so with the slight break in lifting (pt test) i visited the bloch arena at pearl harbor today. its a nice gym, and it wasn't too busy when alvie and i went so i didnt have to wait for any equipment. there was a deadlift platform with olympic plates and some other powerlifter-friendly equipment here, so i was very happy and content. on to the lifts:

 

deadlift
155 x 3
175 x 3
195 x 6

RDL
95 x 3 x 10

i stopped two sets early because the muscle fatigue was already setting in. like last week, i knew i was in for a sore two days ahead.

army fitness standards

took a PT test today so here are the results:

pushups: 55
situps: 45
2 mile run: 19:01

the pushups and situps are done in 2 minutes, and the two mile run passing time for my age group is something around 16:35. i passed on the pushups easy, but reached muscle failure way too early on the situps. i wasnt tired, sore, or anything like that. just complete cns breakdown where my abdominals werent firing. i was shocked.

the one thing i forgot to do with all the training ive been doing this past month is to do a diagnostic test by myself to see where i was. only then could i have picked out my current weaknesses and focused on them. oh well, lesson learned.

so with great amounts of weight loss also comes a price of losing some amount of strength and at times endurance as well. with all being said and done, im actually still very happy with where i'm at right now. i can feel myself improving and getting stronger, faster, and bigger with every training session i complete.

i know im not where i was last year, but getting there is just as fun, if not more, than i remember last. cant wait to look back at these numbers a month from now and compare the improvements.

6 Things You Aren't Doing

Six Things You Aren’t Doing

By Gregory Robins

  

No one person is the same, and no one client I’ve worked with has taken the same approach to reach his goals. Why? Many of my clients’ goals are similar—muscle gain, fat loss, strength gains, or some elusive combination of all these things. However, we always have a different mold to start from, which causes the need for a program tailored to that individual. In addition, different bodies react differently to varying training protocols, just as different bodies react differently to varying diet changes. Developing the body you want is an uphill battle for most of us. We have to learn to listen to our bodies and tweak our diet and training to adjust to what we feel and see. No program I write for a client is set in stone, and oftentimes, we switch approaches to see what their body responds to best. There is plenty of science that tells us what theoretically works “best.” Without a doubt, these studies are a great place to start when choosing an intelligent plan, but you will have to make adjustments and try many different approaches to find the perfect combination for you. With that said, some constants always remain. There are certain principles in the gym and the kitchen that must be adhered to.

Most importantly, these principles should always stay at the forefront of your approach, even through all the smoke and mirrors, shiny supplements, and magazine spreads guaranteeing three inches on your arms in two weeks or whatever other bull you might encounter. There aren’t any shortages of magic pills, revolutionary workouts, and fitness experts out there, but there does seem to be a shortage of common sense. On that note, let’s take a look at what you aren’t doing that’s holding you back from that 5.2 lbs of muscle your new protein powder said you would add.

 

 

You aren’t consistent.
Consistency is the key. You must be consistent, do the right things, and do them day in and day out. You can’t make a change in your body until you keep this as your number one priority. We have all heard that quote, “Ninety percent of life is showing up…” or something along those lines. You get the point. Training hard and eating well for three weeks before your vacation doesn’t get you anywhere. Hammering a daily elliptical session and eating chicken and celery all week before your first date with Julie you met online doesn’t get you any closer to lasting fat loss. Before you even take into account your goals, you need to be prepared to make a consistent effort toward them.

You aren’t working hard enough.
Mental intensity is everything in the gym. Sometimes how hard you lift gets you further than what you’re lifting. You could have a program and diet plan put in your hand that is perfectly tuned for you to transform your body, but without any intensity, the guy next to you, who is winging it and working harder than anyone in the gym, will always make better gains. Always. You have to go to the gym and work your tail off. If you don’t sweat when you lift, if you’ve never grunted (without trying), if you’ve never hit rep 15 of 30 on a set of squats and wondered how in the hell you were going to finish the next 15 reps, you aren’t bringing enough. Scrap your two-hour visits to the gym and get in and out in 45 minutes to an hour. Work your ass off the whole time. Sorry if you have to stop talking football with your friends, chatting up any female within ten yards of you, and flexing repeatedly in the mirrors. Get the picture?

Your nutrition isn’t close to good.
Enough said.

You aren’t sticking to an approach, protocol, idea, and program. Whatever you want to call it, you don’t have any defined goals.
Look around the gym floor and you will see ten different ideologies being put into practice at any given time. Moreover, you will see one guy following four of them in the same workout. Don’t get me wrong—I’m an advocate of using what works and scrapping what doesn’t, and for each person, that has proven to be different. However, some techniques just can’t usefully be combined. Furthermore, no technique will work when you use it for two weeks and then toss it for the latest idea you read about that morning just to switch again in two weeks when the new FLEX comes out with their newest super program. If you want to try a full body/AB split, go for it—for all 12 weeks of programming. By the same token, if you choose the full body/AB split for fat loss reasons, stop adding in the triple drop sets you heard were great for adding serious size to your arms. If you continually bounce around, the only thing you can be sure of is that you will surely never get any solid results.

This all plays into goal setting. Pick a goal. Pick a reasonable timeframe in which to reach that goal. Pick an intelligent approach/plan to get you there. Work harder than anyone else at achieving it.

You aren’t focused on recovery.
The day you realize that muscle is built while you aren’t at the gym is the day you start making some serious changes. Figuring out what volume of work your body responds to best can be a process. In general, most of us can handle quite a lot. There are the groups of people with fears of overtraining. I could make some harsh comments about this, especially when I think back on the physiques of these individuals, but I’ll refrain. Then there are the groups of people hitting the gym as hard as they can. They leave blood, sweat, and tears on the floor, and after some initial progress, are again and again coming up empty handed. In both cases, it isn’t the training that’s the issue. It’s the lack of any thought toward their recovery. Those who fear overtraining? The truth is it’s easier to not recover than it is to overtrain. Those who seem to put endless effort in? You aren’t recovering from the workload. You either need to do more on the recovery end or less on the training volume end. As you strive for bigger and better gains, both sides of that equation should be elevated. So what aids in recovery? Sleep, rest, food, nutrition, stretching, and soft tissue work. Those are all good places to start. Breaking muscle down isn’t that terribly challenging. Doing the proper things outside the gym can oftentimes be a bit tougher and require a little more devotion. Your workouts may last a total of seven or eight hours during the week, but eating well and sleeping enough demand your constant attention. If you want great results, you must focus on your recovery.

You aren’t focused on progression nor do you keep track of it.

I’ve alluded to this on numerous occasions. Progression is right up there with work ethic in the iron game. If you want to strip down the process of changing your body, what you’re really doing is giving the body a reason to adapt or change. I’ve seen it put a hundred different ways, but if you aren’t approaching each workout with the idea of trying to do a little more than the last time, you’re missing the point and giving your body no reason to adapt. Athletes are often concerned with increasing strength. A bodybuilder might play with volume and intensity. Joe Shmo, who needs to cut 20 lbs, might be focused on getting his workout done thirty seconds faster than last time. Either way, they’re all progressing. Oh and news flash—if you aren’t writing anything down, how are you focusing on your progression? Get a notebook and a pencil. A stopwatch is helpful, too. As you can see, many of these principles go hand in hand. They are the foundation of a solid approach to changing your body. Don’t lose sight of the basics and you won’t settle for crappy results.

 

Article posted can be found here. All credit to the author(s).

easy run

didnt run yesterday, hammies and groin were too sore/tight. not benching today either. had a run after picking alvie up from work.

3 miles, about 40 minutes.

cut through a condominium park area where the red line is.

big squat mondays

had a nice hard day at the gym. box squats killing me.

squat
135 x3
155 x 3
175 x 5

box squats
95 x 5 x 10

leg curls
30 x 10, 10
15 x 15, 15