Solo Workout Homework, Take 1

George left me some "gymwork" to do today, so I did that. It weirdly wasn't bad. I think on Monday (Session 3), I was burned out because of the stairs, because throughout the workout, I was struggling to catch my breath and my feet were throbbing (I think I need new shoes)....Mark let's go shopping Saturday.

Anyhow, the homework was basically a repeat of Monday's session, except I'm doing it alone, and there were 2 new things added:

Pre-stretches of Hip, quads on Foam Roller
--
1 mile elliptical run, resistance of 8
Goblet Squats, 25lb dumbbell, 3 sets, 10 reps
Seated Leg Curl, 65lbs, 3 sets, 10 reps
Inclined Chest Press, 50lbs, 3 sets 10 reps
Lateral Squats, 2 sets, 20 reps (my left hip really hurts when I did this)
Closed Grip Lat Pulldown, 85lbs, 3 sets, 10 reps
--
(the following 3 were done in a circuit fashion)
Shoulder Press, 2 dumbbells (15lbs/ea), 3 sets, 10 reps
Bicep Curl with Rope, 25lbs, 3 sets 12 reps
Tricep Extension with Rope, 25lbs, 3 sets, 12 reps
--
Then the painful 30 second elbow Planks (3 sets)
and Supermans...3 sets, 10 reps.

My arms were pretty tired, but didn't feel nausceous or anything. I'm questioning whether I took too much time between sets per exercise. I dont think I did, but I think the entire workout took me maybe 40 minutes (excluding the warmup)

Also, I would like to know my better half's thoughts on George's apparently philosophy of doing 10 reps per set, whereas Chris always said (cant find it on his website), but try and do between 12-15 per set.

Will have to ask George this on Friday.

Starting Strength: First Month

So since Raj is starting up training again and blogging as well, I figured I'd pick up my slack and keep him and me motivated to keep training and blogging. I've posted my first week of Starting Strength (SS) back in August, so here's the rest of the month along with any notes I took. Any notes I'm adding with this post that I didn't take then will be in [ ]. I started the program at about 159 lbs, which I arrived at after taking a mental break from trying to maintain a bodyweight in the 130s/140s.
I weighed in at 163 on 8/26/11.

Monday 8/8/11
Barbell Squat: 130 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Shoulder Press: 60 lbs 5, 5, 5
Power Clean: 70 lbs 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Wednesday 8/10/11
Barbell Squat: 135 lbs [1 45 plate each side, always exciting to get another 45] 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 85 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 165, 5

Friday 8/12/11
Barbell Squat: 140 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Shoulder Press: 65 lbs 5, 5, 5
Power Clean: 75 lbs, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Monday 8/15/11
Barbell Squat: 145 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 90 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 175 lbs 5

Wednesday 8/17/11
Barbell Squat: 150 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Shoulder Press: 70 lbs 5, 5, 5 - Really difficult getting through all reps in press.
Power Clean: 80 lbs 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Friday 8/19/11
Barbell Squat: 155 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 95 lbs [1 25 lb plate on each side, not exactly a big boy yet but feels a lot better for the ego] 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 185 lbs 5

Notes: Had to take 30 more seconds rest between sets of squats.330 vs 3 minutes usual. Felt a lot stronger than last time on bench press. Almost sure it was due to improved technical aspects. Felt on the verge of blackout after last deadlift but got it cleanly.

Monday 8/22/11
Barbell Squat: 160 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Shoulder Press: 75 lbs 4, 5, 3
Power Clean: 85 lbs 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Notes: Couldn't get 5 reps in first set of press. Only got 4. Rested 330 and got 5 in 2nd set. Rested 330 again and only got 3 reps in 3rd set. Elbows also hurt. Maybe a form problem. Will repeat weight on Friday.

Wednesday 8/24/11
Barbell Squat: 165 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 100 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 195 lbs 5

Notes: Felt really strong with squats. Bench was difficult near the end. Probably related to slow rep tempo. Deadlift was very mentally and physically challenging. Bar started moving away from shins in initial pull during the later reps but still managed to complete the reps.

Friday 8/26/11
Barbell Squat: 170 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Shoulder Press: 75 lbs 5, 5, 5
Power Clean: 90 lbs 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Notes: Squats felt medium to difficult. Press felt strong, but still challenging. Power cleans were difficult for technique, but not weight. Had some nice reps, but more sloppy ones than I care for.
Weighed in at around 163 lbs.

Monday 8/29/11
Barbell Squat: 175 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 105 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 205 lbs 5

Notes: Squats started out difficult; 4th rep onwards for first two sets were really challenging. Dug down and powered through 3rd set. Ready for next [weight] jump. Bench was difficult for first set, but also didn't keep upper back tight. Easier 2nd set. Good 3rd set. Ready for jump.

Wednesday 8/31/11
Barbell Squat: 180 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Shoulder Press: 80 lbs 5, 5, 5
Power Clean: 95 lbs 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Notes: [Got tired of retyping them instead for font consistency and just decided to copy and paste since I write more and more notes as I learned the importance of them.]

First set of squats was hard. Felt really heavy bar speed slowed. 2nd set was a bit faster, but had symmetry problems, I.e bar tilted to one side on way up. 3rd set was almost perfect. Ready for next jump. Just had to get used to weight today.

Had to rest close to 4 minutes between squat sets and press sets. almost didn't get 2nd set of press. 1st and 2nd were both good, but almost wiped me. 3rd set was about the same as first two sets, last rep barely making it. Will micro load next week.

Power cleans were crisp and relatively easy compared to squats and presses. Had an audience of two other gym goers and I didn't want to look foolish. Also had to make sure I didn't waste time as space was tight. Form was consistent and solid. Ready for next jump.

Friday 9/2/11
Barbell Squat: 185 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 110 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 215 lbs 3, 1, 1 [Couldn't get all 5 in one set, had to rest and break them up. Also, at this point I didn't realize what technically made a "set" of deadlifts, so even though I took breaks I thought it was still a set of 5 instead of a set of 3 followed by 2 singles]

Notes:

Had a sleep deficit going in to today as I've slept about 12 hours the last two nights. Took a full scoop of assault instead of a half scoop. Squats felt really strong and only rested about 3 minutes between sets. Ready for next jump.

I think I had the rack set too low from the start on the bench press. First set was tough with slower bar speed and barely getting last rep. Second and third sets were a bit less difficult. Ready for next jump.

The last rep of the deadlift was probably the most challenging rep of any exercise since I started the program. I think the sleep deficit affected me, but I'm still ready for next jump.

Day 3 of Fitness Training (exhaustion)

Oh man, I am exhausted. I wasn't actually sore after this weekend. My glutes and hip flexors were pretty sore, but I was pretty game for todays session.

All that changed after the first warmup...and went pretty downhill:

Session 3's routine:

On-My-Own "pre" warmup - Elliptical for 7 minutes at resistance of 8
--Start--
2x2 walking up 25 stairs, walkdown,  - 3 sets
Running up 25stairs, walking down, - 3 sets
Close Grip Lat Pulldown, 30lbs, 3 sets, 10 reps
Goblet Squat with 20lb weight, 3 sets, 10 reps
Low incline chest press, 3 sets, 60lbs, 12 reps
Leg curl, 70lbs, 3 sets 10 reps
Lateral squats, 2 sets, 20 reps (left hip flexor started tensing up)
Shoulder Press, 15lbs each arm, 3 sets, 10 reps (this was gruelling, my arms were so tired, I barely did the last set cleanly)
Tricep extension with rope weight, 27lbs, 3 sets 10 reps (again, very ugly 3rd set)
-lower back started tightening up
Bicep curl with rope weight, 25lbs, 3 sets, 10 reps (not too bad)

Then did a hip flexor stretch in what deemed as the "proposal stretch" except this time, George told me to point the toe that was on the leg on the floor inward and then pushing my hip forward to create a really sharp stretch (quick google search names this stretch the "kneeling hip flexor stretch)

Afterwards, got a foam roller to do a bunch of different rolls for the hip:

Hip flexor
(this other tender muscle thats right below the hip flexor) --- so painful
Quads - this was very excruciating.

Didn't feel nauseous but very exhausted. It may just have been a while, but I genuinely dont remember being so burnt out midworkout. I mean, I yield that it is due to the out of shape factor, so I'll lay optimistic in the fact that it will get better, but it just seems all my weights are super low and everything hurts so much.

WHY COULDNT THIS BE EASY STAN!

Tomorrow is just a cardio/stretching day.
George is going to write me up my own workout to do one my own (similiar to what I listed for above on Wednesday)
Friday is our next session.

Cheers

Day 2 of HPC

The week long pain after my initial training session ended pretty much a week later. It was pretty awful -- couldn't bend my arms properly and my lower back was killing me all week. Some stretching, a back-walk massage, some tylenol and a week of rest later and I was back in action.

I slacked off Monday thru Wednesday in terms of gym (absolutely unacceptable), but Thursday, I forced myself to do some Cardio like the old days in preparation for session 2 with the trainer today.

Thursday's cardio was 15 minutes on the elliptical (Resistance 7), 15 minutes on treadmill (speed walking at an incline while auto-maintaining a HR of 156) and then 7 minutes on the bike (legs just gave out). Finished with some foam rolling back stretches, and the tradition 4 hip flexor stretches.

Session 2


Took my baseline measurements. I'm at a 263lbs...pretty much 100lbs off my goal. Height and weight recorded. Then George (Trainer) took a measurement of my forward flexibility, sitting on floor and trying to push this tab on a machine (which gave a quantification of flexibility I guess), finished off by a body fat composition reading (34%) and a test to see how many push-ups I could do in proper form in 30 seconds (a pathetic 3).

We then got right into doing four pairs of 2-circuit exercises:

Circuit 1
3 sets of 12 reps of Single Leg Dead Lift (Each leg) with 20lb weight
3 sets of Chest Press (dunno what weight was) 12, 10 and 8 reps

Circuit 2:
3 sets of 12 reps of Stepping on Platform and lifting knee to chest and back down (both legs)
3 sets of 12 reps of shoulder press (12.5lb weights each arm)

Circuit 3:
3 sets of 12 reps of pulling weight - rows with rope
3 sets of 12 reps of bridge
3 sets of 8 reps of single leg bridge

Stretched back with foam roller
Stretched back with Sphinx pose

Circuit 4
3 sets of 12 reps of tricep pull down
3 sets of 15lbs of bicep curls (each arm)

--
Reviews: so the first half of the workout was geared to work on flexibility of my legs. George said everything is very, very weak and not firing properly. Exercises that are supposed to stretch my hamstring are instead working my lower back muscles (my lower back was KILLING me the first 2 circuits which is why I needed that random stretch in the middle). Exercises that are supposed to work my glutes are causing my hamstring to cramp. And then exercises for my hamstrings also cause my hip flexors to be really tight (Single leg dead lift).

I randomly asked him whether my lift (not that my weight has anything to do with it, cough) is affected by the weakness in leg muscles, particularly my glutes. He pointed out that the glutes are the strongest muscles in my body and if they dont fire with the strong fibers and fast twitch fibers, that you'll lose a lot of burst in jumping

Mark noticed and jokingly jested at how much of a challenge it is to simply get up and down from a seated position with the aid of my arms (we were at a sporting event where the stupid people in our row had to get out like 15 times...ugh). Well Mark, its cuz of my glutes-hamstrings-hip-flexors...NOTHING works!

Nog's (Former trainer) focused mainly on my hip flexors as that was the primary linkage to my patellar femoral syndrome. We did do a lot of the exercises I did with George today, but it seems George wants be more active on getting the muscles working better.

The next session (3) is on Monday evening where I hope I'm not dead (i'm starting to feel soreness in my upper legs, especially glutes right now). Also, he is going to give me a workout routine on my own so I won't get bored with just elliptical and treadmill.

I also want to look into swim lessons and yoga classes that they have their during the week.

Random note: I didn't vomit this time, but towards the end I kind of wanted to, but resisted. It definitely wasn't as high intensity as my first one (lots of breaks between sets), but I still had a nauseated feeling. I think its because of the random break I took to stretch...the whole lying down while my HR is high and then stretching and then getting back up makes me a little light headed....and then thats where it starts. Hopefully this will subside....

Cheers!

Fitness Life: Part 2 (Day 1)

Tonight was the beginning of my new personal training sessions at the Human Performance Center in Allentown (http://www.hpcfitness.com/). Exciting and dreadful at the same time. Due to schedule conflicts with work as well as coming down with a bad cold last 2 weeks, I finally got everything together and went in.

My trainer is George, a CSCS background trainer who is a soccer enthusiast. Pretty nice guy. He tore is ACL playing soccer, so he was on crutches the entire session and will be for next few weeks. We first talked about goals and what I had done with Nogiec. After my expectations from him, we got right into it and did some completely new things:

Using foam rollers:
Back stretches
IT band stretch

Then after that,
3 sets of side lunges (12 reps)
3 sets of body-resistance bench squats (12 reps)
3 sets of inclined push ups (10 reps)

After that circuit, went to
3 sets of Top-Down ball swing tricep extension (swinging medicine ball through legs and finishing up top above head with tricep extension) (12 reps)
4 sets of elbow planks (these used to be easy with Nog! but haveing not done them in over a year...) 20 second increments

I was pretty much fatigued after this

We tried to do glut stretches with foot crossed on thigh, but I couldnt reach my lower thigh to pull my leg back, so we ended up doing leg straight in the air stretches, which sort of stretched my glutes

During the top-down ball swing, my lower back was super tight (like it is after a pickup game of basketball), so George taught me a yoga-esque back stretch where you do a pushup but your pelvis down is glued to the floor (so you arch your back)

...and it was over. We talked about how the goal is to vary it up like this (a la Nog), but a little bit more emphasis with free weights and kettle weights (which I didnt do with Nog). As we were talking....I got super nauseous and then....ran to the bathroom and vomitted. Sigh. So close! At least it wasn't half way through like I did my first time with Nog.

I think our next session will be on Friday, March 2nd, so in the meantime, going to try to just go in (maybe Wednesday) to do some cardio and some foam stretches.

I know it was the first day, but as I was doing the Planks, 2 thoughts crossed my mind, one of which was pathetic:

1.) why the hell am i doing this to myself?
2.) The level of intensity of NBA workouts....I cant even fathom.

I know this stuff was super pale in comparison to the fit level I was at with Nog when I got down to 230. The next session, btw, will be weigh-in as well as BFat % composition level.

I also asked George about his thoughts on Swimming lessons as cardio workout. He said if I wanted to I could do it, but I dont really remember the rest of it because of hazyness/pre-vomit.

Re-Definition

I know it's been a while since we've started this whole thing, but with homeboy starting up personal training again soon I figure now is as good a time as any to restart blogging here. In the wake of Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic's monumental 5-setter today, I've been thinking about how Rafa's hit a point where he has to find a way to conquer his demons, where the same old shit that got him to where he is might have to change for him to find a way past Djoker, even if it is more mental than anything.

For me, a whole lot has changed both physically and mentally, but right now I'm just going to post some lifting logs since I started barbell training in August of 2011 to get us up to speed on where I am now and to hopefully help my friend keep grinding towards his own demon slaying.

The program is Starting Strength; here's the week of August 1st with the first 2 sessions trying to find my working weights. Exercise name is listed first, followed by working weight, and the number of reps in the first set, second set, and third set. All logs were entered using an app on my phone, and I've included any notes I took about a session.

Monday 8/1/11

Barbell Squat: 115 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 75 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 145 lbs 5

Might have burned a lot of energy just trying to find working weights for sets. Slept only 4.5 hours night before.


Wednesday 8/3/11

Barbell Squat: 120 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Shoulder Press: 55 lbs 5, 5, 5
Power Clean: 65 lbs 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Friday 8/5/11

Barbell Squat: 125 lbs 5, 5, 5
Barbell Bench Press: 80 5, 5, 5
Barbell Deadlift: 155 lbs 5

Inspirational Story

This guy weighed 370lbs after spinning out of control with emotional eating after his dad's death when he was 24. He finally had a self-intervention, picked up some hobbies (painting/art) and with a few times at a gym, dropped 95lbs in 5 months

Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/16/weight-loss-success-trevor-holland_n_1199364.html?ncid=webmail3