My previous heavy triple for squats was 105, and today had heavy 5 backsquats and got to 125. Nice to see progress like that over just two months or so. Wondering if I could get to my bodyweight with 1 rep (Approx 160). My next big event is an OCR that's very short, like <3 miles, but has a whole lot of grip obstacles. So I found an advanced 5k program online. This program has the general layout, Monday: Easy run Tuesday: Speed intervals Wednesday: Easy run Thursday: Tempo run Friday: Rest Saturday: Fast run Sunday: Long run What I'm going to do since it's an OCR I'm training for is make the following alterations. Monday: Add crossfit Wednesday: Add either crossfit or rock climbing gym trip, optional replacement of easy run with treadmill max incline fast walk for same amount of time easy run would have taken me Saturday: Replace fast run with 50# cardio sandbag stepups for 7:30 for every mile I was supposed to run, optional add rock climbing gym or obstacle technique training. Sunday: Add 45 mins to long runs, because I have much longer races coming up a month or so after the short one and need to establish a good base for distance training.
Today did heavy 5 deadlifts and got to 220#. Previously my one rep max was 205#. My strength is obviously increasing, but problem is all my running times are a couple percent slower than last year. Need to find a way to maybe alternate weeks adding muscle and burning fat so I can gain strength without gaining weight. Of course I am training for OCR, so 10-20% increases in strength with a 2% loss in speed might improve my OCR times on the balance, especially if we're talking about Spartan (The one with the most heavy carries). Just would be nice to find a way to gain strength without losing speed and also having a shot at new road race PRs.
I go five days a week in the morning, but I only spend about half an hour at the gym. I alternate between the recumbent bicycle and the treadmill, doing about 20 minutes pushing as hard as I can. This is about level 15 on the bike right now, and I need to take about a minute break after every 5 minutes. I only do that twice a week because it is brutal on my thighs. For the treadmill I go at a level 3 incline, and I start with 5 minutes at a higher speed, then slow down a bit for 5 minutes, then repeat that pattern. I get about 5 miles on the bike and about 3 on the treadmill, if the machines are accurate. After that workout I spend about 5 minutes on strength exercises, which I vary each day. I use the chest press, rowing machine, back extension, and the shoulder press. I can only do one about a total of 15-20 times before my arms feel like they're going to fall off. I am currently at about 85 lbs according to the machine weight. I have no idea what I am doing, and just made my routine up myself. Fortunately the machines all have instructions printed on them, so I think I am using them properly. I am not looking to lose weight, just to stay healthy. I don't have a trainer at my gym, it is more of just a casual membership. I have a sedentary job working at home, so I feel that I really need to get some kind of regular exercise. My physician highly recommended that I focus on cardio, but I read online that you get the best results if you mix cardio and strength. I feel pretty good after I get home, and feel a bit off if I miss my routine for a few days.
I can't speak for strength training but I can recommend how to train for running. Don't go hard every day, don't do the same workout every day. Add some variety, like do a speed workout on Tues and Thurs, long run on Sat, and easy recovery runs on Mon and Wed (For example). A good running training schedule is 80% slow, 20% fast. That way you get volume and maximize your benefit from the speed runs, giving yourself a chance to recover and avoid injury. There's more experienced weightlifters here than me so I'll defer to them for recs, but it helped me a lot to go to fitness bootcamps for a couple months to learn proper form for weightlifting and get ideas for what kind of weightlifting to do.
Update: down to bodyweight of 175, with increased definition in extremities and torso. I am aiming to maintain this level through summer, and then do a gaining routine, but cleaner and shorter than last time to focus on building lean muscle tissue without adding too much bodyfat. My lifting numbers are still close to my maximum, so I haven't lost a lost of strength in the cutting process. Kor
I started working out this year with my girlfriend's mom, who is a personal trainer at a gym. Really good deal for me -- I only have to pay the membership fee, not the trainer fee. Anyway, she's a great trainer. Has me doing a blend of strength and cardio. I'm apparently built like a T-rex lol (strong, muscular legs but nothin much going on in my upper body) so I'm working on that. I go to the gym twice a week but I hope to up that to 3 or 4 eventually. Also incorporating yoga into my schedule to increase my flexibility. I was starting to edge into overweight territory, but thankfully I'm beginning to slim down again. Changing my diet has helped too.
Today did heavy 5 backsquat and got up to 135, my previous high mark was 120. My weight bottomed out a year and a half ago at around 153, now I'm up to 166, and although I have been weight training and my muscle mass has gone up it's hard to tell how much is muscle and how much is fat because my scale's body fat percentage seems to only scale with weight and current hydration. I am slower than I was when I was 153, but only maybe 5-10 s/mile slower than the rule of thumb would suggest it should be 26s slower. I'm hoping over endurance race season I can keep muscle mass even and get down at least into the mid 150s. Hopefully by then I will have the muscle gains and be able to set running PRs again.
Yesterday I did 90 minutes of hot vinyasa yoga followed by another 90 minutes of strength and aerobic training at the gym. Definitely feeling it today, but not in a bad way. Will try to go for a quick jog after I get off work tonight.
In the last couple weeks I got my deadlift up to 435 lbs and my squat up to 315 lbs. Now to increase my bench press. Kor
Now going to yoga almost every day. It's addictive. Went to the gym the other day and was able to bench press 85 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets. With my weak-ass arms, that's a huge step for me. Much stronger in my legs -- able to leg press 145lbs now. My trainer says that eventually I'll get up to well over 200lbs. Looking forward to those days! Surprised by how motivated I still am to do all this. I feel amazing, physically, mentally, spiritually. It's been great.
Went to an OCR today and though I did okay with the running struggled on obstacles I was crushing last year. Need to get back to training strength to weight ratio.
Haven’t checked in in a while. Must be over a year since my last check in. Started ‘getting fit’ about 2 years ago might be 3 can’t remember gone from lifting 5kg weights to now lifting 20kg on arms and 80kg on legs. Cut my 5km run down by 7mins (now under half hour) and lost over 2 stone. One happy bunny over here
Pulling myself back on the bandwagon since my doctor advises that I join a diet group. I got a new yoga video, a new yoga mat and something to assist me with sit ups.
My training hasn't been the best this year. There was a big interruption in my last cycle when I had to go to England for work. My first good performance of the year was at my race this weekend. My next race, the Killington Beast is in five weeks, hopefully I can do a real long run training cycle leading up with some strength carries.
Tried the fully modified yoga workout. I got through it, falling in my butt twice, but I got through it!
I decided to do an Ironman next year. I've done a marathon but never raced swimming or biking. I started swimming this week just to build up the muscle groups, even though the race isn't for 11 months. My supposedly waterproof Garmin, minutes after I got out of the pool went glitchy. It was still functioning in every way except showing the display. Since then I have dried it, and the display is usable but still glitchy. What you see is, any time the display on screen changes, it looks perfectly normal. But anything left on screen for a minute or so without changing gets glitchy and shows lines. So I'm left in a weird position of balancing financial responsibility with aesthetics, the money it would take to replace something which technically, does everything I need it to do perfectly, but has become ugly.
Just came back from the gym. To find out how weak I still am. My current Avatar is fit - I'm not. But I'm getting used to work outs again. I don't have aching muscles anymore, I'm just tired. My weight is fine. Changed my nutrition a bit. Forgo alcoholic beverages at the moment as it hinders the buildup of muscles and reduction of body fat.