This was a good run, I took it a little slower and maintained the same speed throughout rather than starting fast and ending up a mess lol. I have really nice upper body DOMS, especially in my chest, but it’s not as bad as I thought it might be. Feels good. This coming week is going to be tough at work, so I’m glad that I’ve got all of the basic stuff out of the way already. I plan on hitting it really hard in terms of diet - I’ve bought all my stuff for packed lunches and dinners and it’s going to be spot on. I also plan on doing something short but intense every morning to really stoke up my metabolism - I’m thinking of tabata bodyweight squats.
It’s cool that Ronda Rousey was beaten last night! I really didn’t like the way she was over-hyped and how the UFC itself seemed to be on her side. A deeper 135lb division is a very good thing for the sport in my opinion. Also Holly Holm seems nicer lol.
I’ve stuck to my diet this week: I’ve been hitting 2,000kcal per day with 165g of protein. Certainly unsustainably low calories longterm but I wanted to kickstart things and it seems to be working. Starting tomorrow I’m going to aim for around 2,500kcal per day.
Tonight I fancied hitting the gym after my long shift, so I did this one at 22:00. As you can see I’ve already deviated from my push/pull/lower split, and have decided to go for upper/lower/upper/lower. The main reason for this is that I decided to stick with kettlebells alone for my lower body, and then thought that I should probably up the frequency to twice a week (i.e. push/lower/pull/lower) but then I thought that looked messy and anyway I’d probably progress more quickly with twice a week upper body frequency. So that’s how and why my plan has changed.
The only thing that bothers me with this routine is that I like to look far ahead and my longterm plan is to go back to full time kettlebell training as soon as I have the space at home (and maybe a couple of extra bits of equipment). So I don’t really like the idea of training in a way that I know I’m not going to sustain for longer than a year. But that’s a really dumb way to look at it.
Training: Really good. 2 runs and 3 weights sessions.
Nutrition: Excellent.
I’m really happy with this week, especially considering I had quite a lot of on-call shifts. Short term my main focus is on getting back into the 93-94kg range, but that feels quite manageable within a couple of weeks.
A good session today. Dumbbell chest press slightly down, but no matter. Generally feel good these days - my neck and knees have been behaving pretty well.
Watched the extended edition of the final Hobbit film the day before last. Feels pretty emotional - the last new Jackson/Tolkien footage ever. In my opinion the Hobbit films aren’t nearly as good as the Lord of the Rings ones, but the extended editions make a huge difference to them. I love the extra detail (and violence haha).
Warm-Up [/b]
Hip circles, goblet and bodyweight squats
Kettlebell Front Squats
2x28kg: 5-5-5-5-10
E2MOM
Kettlebell Swings
40kg: 5x10
E2MOM
Bodyweight: 95.6kg
I couldn’t be bothered with the run today, but that’s ok - so long as I run at least once a week. I hit a PR with the front squats - the first few sets felt pretty solid so I went for an all-out grinder on the final set and got 10 reps (not a PR in itself - that was 13 - but probably a PR considering the 4 sets prior).
The curls and dumbbell presses are definitely getting stronger. I much prefer dumbbell/kettlebell rows to barbell rows, but I fancied doing something slightly different today. Things are going well all round - I’m noticeably leaner than a couple of weeks ago (although I’ve eaten too much today), I don’t have any niggling injuries and my strength is steadily improving. Very happy.
Still out here checking in on you!! I’ve been more of a lurker on a few logs that have interest me for a while but just haven’t really commented on any of them (yours included). Overall seems like things have been quiet as far as comments in the log section with exception of a few. Other than you, my log has had crickets for a while but I enjoy putting my comments on my workout to go along with my spreadsheet that is just numbers. Cool to look back and see my thought process from a year ago to now. Glad things are going well for you and are staying injury free. Keep up the good work!!
Haha I thought I could count on you blues, thank you!
[b] Week 31: Lower Body
Warm-Up [/b]
Hip circles, goblet and bodyweight squats
Kettlebell Front Squats
2x28kg: 5-8-10
Kettlebell Swings
28kg: 25
Run
1 mile
Bodyweight: 95.5kg
I felt ridiculously tired today, so I didn’t push myself on the swings or run. I’m very happy with the squats though.
I’m starting work in a new department tomorrow, and I’m doing fewer on-call shifts which will be great. I want to see if I can go without energy drinks, while the shifts are a bit easier.
This was a pretty good session, the dumbbell presses are much stronger than they were and that first set of pull-ups felt really good. I’m pretty exhausted, I ended up sleeping at 19:45 yesterday which is outrageous lol. I also already failed on my no energy drink phase, and had one and a half zero calorie Rockstars - I feel pretty sick just now haha.
Training: On paper this wasn’t a great week - I only did one lower body session, and that included only 28kg swings and a 1 mile run. Having said that this week has felt really good, and I am getting stronger.
Nutrition: Pretty good, but not perfect.
I felt exhausted today, so decided to skip my lower body session so that I can hit things hard over the weekend. I’ve felt really tired all week.
I should amend the above - my nutrition hasn’t been pretty good. It’s been pretty bad overall. I’ve been really weak with cheating between meals. My fiancee has made a big gingerbread house and I’ve been tearing through it lol. Need to sort myself out.
Warm-Up [/b]
Static stretching, hip circles, goblet squats and bodyweight squats
Kettlebell Front Squats
2x28kg: 4x10
Kettlebell Swings
40kg: 4x10
E2MOM
Bodyweight: 95.5kg
This was a decent volume PR for the front squats. The rest periods were long - 5min between sets 1 and 2 and sets 3 and 4, but much longer between 2 and 3 because a delivery man came to the door. High rep kettlebell front squats feel like drowning.
This weather is absolutely horrible so I thought I’d do some indoors conditioning instead of going for a run. I would usually base my conditioning on 28kg swings but I really hurt my neck doing the front squats today so I thought lunges and SLDLs would be better.
200 total reps of lunges and 100 total reps of SLDLs - I predict ass DOMS tomorrow!!!
I felt like hitting it really hard today and I’m proud of this session. I was right about the ass DOMS, it’s next level haha. The weather is much better today so I might run later on.