Yesterday I went to the gym.... I'm still exhausted. I try to get there twice weak. It's not easy to manage it when you have a full-time job.
I'm starting to make some decent progress at the moment again after loosing some momentum over Christmas - am up to bench pressing 80kg for 5 sets of 3, 70kg for 5 sets of 5 and 60kg for 10 sets of 5 - my aim for this year is to cut my body weight down and be able to bench press my bodyweight for 5 sets of 5, and as I'm floating just over 100kg, I'm not that far off!
I generally bench press for sets of 8 or 9 reps. Maybe I should do fewer reps with more weight. I know I feel pretty tired after commuting and working all day (I'm away from home at least 12 hours a day Monday through Friday). But it's nice to hit the weights for an hour once I get home. Then I feel like a champ. Kor
It depends on what you're going for - heavier weights and lower reps for size, lower weights but more reps for endurance. If I've understood that right. So I have my ten sets of five at 60 to maintain a level of endurance, but then fewer reps at a higher weight for size.
My only gym membership is a rock climbing gym. Other than practicing the Spartan bucket carry I don't go over 60-70 lbs with weightlifting, but I can make it all the way up a salmon ladder and climb a rope with no legs. Two weeks until my half marathon. At the pace I'm going in tempo runs my time will probably be around 1:32-1:33. Last measurement of my resting heart rate was 42. This week was my hardest training week, will end with a 16 mile easy run. Next two weeks start on shorter runs but more race pace. I've started adding workouts where I set a treadmill to 4.5 mph and adjust the incline up and down. Every five minutes check my HR, if it's below 146 increase the incline, if it's above 149 decrease it. Do this for 60-90 minutes in a session. Last workout this left incline around 7-7.5% most of the time. Got this idea from Matt Novakovich, one of the top obstacle course racers, who does this at 15% incline for two hours a day. I'm sticking to once a week unless I decide to buy a treadmill. Also finally got my weight under 160 after being stuck in 161-164 range for a few months.
Off to another session with the PT - have been a bit sick this week, so hopefully it won't have wiped me out!
I got my deadlift up to 345 lbs the other day, a little sooner than I expected. I felt pretty beat-up for the next couple of days. In April, I'll go for 355. Kor
I tried to get my bench press up to 80kg. I've done it before, but always with my PT spotting. But I decided to give it a go on my own - did 3 sets of 5 at 60kg, then 2 sets of 5 at 70kg and was going to give one set of 5 at 80kg a go. Did two reps and then my arms just failed on the third rep and had to ask for help - will not be attempting 80kg on my own again until I can comfortably do 5 sets of 70kg and I probably fall JUST short of that. Mind you, this was after a load of dips and lat pulldowns. I think that was my mistake, doing the bench press in the middle of my session (it was busy when I got there) instead of right at the start - may have hit the 5 reps if I'd done it at the start.
Starting to make progress with leaning down, my injuries delayed things a bit but I tend to do this every year before summer. I'm down from 276 to 266lbs now. There won't be a lot of especially heavy lifting going though that's relative I suppose.
Got up to 85kg on bench press for one set - and brought my bodyweight down to 110kg. Was going to get my BFP measured too, but I ended up being sick yesterday and missing my PT session.
Four fitness milestones in the last four days for me. 1) Made it up a full size 14 ft warped wall for the first time. 2) Set half marathon PR of 1:32:59 3) Got up a V4 climb for the first time.
Ahhhh, a whole bunch of strong men here. My muscles are sore from just a little bit weight training....
Really trying to work the diet - eating enough protein and less carbs is really doing my head in, it's so difficult.