Training log, sort of

[Fjodo]

Basic guidelines for training:
-Workout EVERY second day, no compromises. I've got a goal, I want to reach that goal and if I am not man enough to put up with some so called inconveniences, I am not worth to achieve it.
-Full body workouts. Before I can concentrate on single muscle groups, I need to be able to live.
-Only small amounts of cardio to get warm. I don't want to get even skinnier.
-Do not exaggerate! If I get injured now, all progress already made will be wasted, and probably I would never get enough motivation and energy again.

...and for lifestyle:
-I eat 6 meals a day, each having around 400 kcal
-I go to bed at 10pm and get out of it at 7pm. I need sleep and rest.
-Walking in the forests is good, helps my metabolism and, even more important, makes me feel great and helps me bear everyday stress.

Goals:
-see my introduction thread
-becoming able to live like a normal man again
-short term target: gaining 30lbs
-long term dream target: gaining 80lbs

Equipment:
-28,5kg of weights for the long bar
-doorway pull-up bar
-two 5kg dumbbells

---Training today, 09.23.2009---

-4 minutes warm up: dancing like a weirdo, running around and moshing to heavy metal. Yeah, man!
-warming up muscles: 20 curls with low weight (5kg), 20 shoulder fly with 5kg, 20 push-ups, 20 squats and 10 pull-ups. 10 secs pause between each exercise.
-Drinking a glass of water
-8 curls with 26,5kg/58lbs. 10 secs pause
-8 pull overs with 26,5kg. 10 secs pause
-5 crunches with 8kg, pause
-5 pull ups with 26,5kg, pause
-15 squats with 26,5kg, pause
-Another glass of water.
-15 deadlifts with 26,5kg
-30 secs pause
-the above exercises again.
-30 secs pause
-3 curls with added 2kg
-all the other exercises with 2kg, 3 reps of each
-two glasses of water
-finish
-Eating food: quinoa with lentils and spinach

Current weight:
Around 101lbs


If you have any critique, ideas, recommendations, advices, or whatever, I would be glad to hear them.
Sincerely yours,
Fjodo

[Addai]

I love your motivation, it's awesome. I read your intro, and feel like I can really understand where you're coming from in more ways than one.

I'm no expert, but I'd suggest doing an upper/lower body split every other day, rather than a full body, at least to start off so you can build up a strong base. Your muscles are going to need more time to rebuild, so that you can properly put on strength and mass. You only get bigger, and stronger, when you're resting. Over training is a serious risk. Also, you should eat more than 2,400 calories a day! Somebody here gave me great advice: peanut butter. Also you might want to seriously consider mixing in some sort of protein shake, bar, etc. just to really help you gain some weight.

Injuries happen too man, and you can't let them discourage you if one happens. I really hurt my right calf a couple weeks back, was limping around, but I kept working out and just did what I could.

Also, do you have a gym around you? I ask because with the equipment you have, you're going to need heavier weights in a hurry to keep making gains.

[ralst]

I disagree with adopting a upper/lower split. You get bigger and stronger squatting/deadlifting and pressing every other day. Sounds like you've got that down. At this point in your training life, unless you're abusing your body in the gym every single day and not eating enough (lots of food being of the utmost importance), overtraining is about as much a risk as being hit by lightning.

But I 100% agree you should be eating more than 2,400 calories. At this point, and at your weight, you'll want to be eating as much as possible every single day. I understand health and financial concerns might impact this, but you should probably be looking at 3,000-4,000 calories per day, minimum. It takes lots of food to put on weight.

As far as your actual lifting program, I can't recommend enough checking out the starting strength program - http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs has an overview. If at all possible, get your hands on the book Better Barbell Training, by Mark Rippetoe. It's the only book I know with 30+ pages describing how to learn to squat properly, with similar treatments for bench, deadlift, press, and power clean. Worth it's weight in gold.

Good luck reaching your goals. Sounds like you've got the motivation, and that's most of the battle right there.

Oh, and as Addai said, you're going to need more weights. Lots more weights soon enough Any chance you could join a nearby gym?

[Fjodo]

Hi guys,

thank you very much for your support, you're great! Ok, I just read the introduction of this book and immediately bought it. Thank you for the tip!
Well, sadly, there is no Gym nearby. I have no car, so public transport would be the only option. Or I could get a buddy of mine into training. Thus, I would not only get free rides, but also a training partner, which would be a lot of fun, I guess.
3,000-4,000? Ok, now that's a huge amount. I will give it a try, though. I mean, I'm doing this because I want to gain weight, don't I?
I will try to keep a full body routine for the beginning. Although I can not lift very much, I recover quite quickly. I feel as if I could sometimes do workout two days in a row. I won't do this, though. My joints aren't used to being under such heavy pressure, as is my whole metabolism, I guess.
Yeah, the weights are quite a problem. I will try to gain a little bit of money. At the moment, I am already spending as few as possible. Does any of the Germans around here know cheap places to buy some?
Again, thank you guys. Which such strong support and believe, I would die because of shame if I wouldn't do my very best!
Greetings,

Fjodo


PS: If I don't write a log entry every second day, kick my butt.

[Addai]

I wonder if you have craigslist in Germany? You must at least have something similar, where people can post goods they want to sell for others. That's typically the cheapest way to get weights here, I've even seen some people post that they're leaving their plates out by the side of the road for free.

[lobsteriffic]

Good luck with your goals! I'm glad you started a training log to keep track of your progress.

In order to add calories you want to add calorie-dense foods...things like peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, avocado, etc. That will help you get your calories up there.

[robert]

Great to see you have a training journal going!

All the best with your goals!

Work hard and stay focused and you'll get there!

[Fjodo]

Thanks again, guys (and girl)!
Wow, a reply by Robert himself, what an honor!

Ok, let's take a look at today's eating:

Morning: Pancake made out of freshly ground oat floor, together with flax and amaranth. Yummy!
Later in the morning: 4 apples, some walnuts and almonds
Lunch: Beans and corn and squash and potatoes and hot sauce. Again, quite yummy.
--One hour of sleep--
Second "breakfast"/afternoon snack: Sweet potato and some amaranth popcorn
Supper: Vegetable stew, very colourful and yummy, indeed.
Dessert: 2 ears of corn on the cob
Bedtime snack: Oats cooked in a delicious broth.
~2700kcal

Kind of full now!

[Fjodo]

---Training today, 09.25.2009---

-8 minutes cardio to get warm; jumping around like a monkey
-warming up muscles: 20 curls with low weight (5kg), 20 shoulder fly with 5kg, 20 push-ups, 20 squats and 10 pull-ups.
-Drinking some glasses of water, resting for one minute
-9 curls with 26,5kg/58lbs. 10 secs pause. Pauses between reps shorter than last time
-8 pull overs with 26,5kg. 10 secs pause
-5 crunches with 8kg, pause
-5 pull ups with 26,5kg, pause
-15 squats with 26,5kg, pause
-Another glass of water.
-15 deadlifts with 26,5kg
-30 secs pause
-the above exercises again.
-30 secs pause
-3 curls with added 2kg, trying to do every rep in 5 seconds and with high concentration
-all the other exercises with 2kg extra, 4 reps of each
-finish
-Eating first lunch

Breaking news, guys! I managed to talk a former colleague into starting sports. Looks like I'll be able to get a free ride to a gym in the next town, not to mention the great time I will have when training together with that really funny guy. And higher weights, I come!
You can't believe how much this motivates me!

[Fjodo]

---Training today, 09.27.2009---

-15 minutes cardio: cycling
-one round with some kind of "circle" of machines to warm up big muscle groups
-Drinking 2 glasses of water, eating an apple
-10 curls with 26,5kg/58lbs. 10 secs pause. One rep more than last time!
-8 pull overs with 28kg. 10 secs pause
-5 crunches with 8kg, pause
-5 pull ups with 26,5kg, pause (don't manage to get up there with the chin, just with the eyes)
-16 squats with 28kg, pause
-Another glass of water.
-15 deadlifts with 28kg
-30 secs pause
-the above exercises again.
-30 secs pause
-5 curls with 29kg. It hurts.
-all the other exercises with 2kg extra, 5 reps of each
-another 1kg extra, 2 reps of each
-finish
-Polenta with french horn mushroom I harvested today. (Did I mention I love cultivating all kinds of mushroom?)
-Two baked sweet potatoes.

How I am: Great, but very tired. Right now, I ate, like, 2700kcal, which equals a surplus of somewhere between 500 and 600. Still hungry ==> snacking pine cernels and flax
Motivation: Great!

[Fjodo]

108lbs!

[Fjodo]

---Training yesterday, 09.29.2009---

-15 minutes cardio: cycling
-one round with some kind of "circle" of machines to warm up big muscle groups
-Drinking 2 glasses of water, eating an apple
-10 curls with 28kg. Weight up!
-8 pull overs with 28kg. 10 secs pause
-5 crunches with 8kg, pause
-5 pull ups with 26,5kg, pause
-20 squats with 28kg, pause. Ok, I manage too much reps, time to up the weight.
-Another glass of water.
-15 deadlifts with 28kg
-30 secs pause
-the above exercises again.
-30 secs pause
-5 curls with 30kg. It hurts.
-all the other exercises with 2kg extra, 5 reps of each
-another 1kg extra, 2 reps of each
-finish

[Fjodo]

---Training yesterday, 10.02.2009---

-10 minutes cardio: cycling
-one round with some kind of "circle" of machines to warm up big muscle groups
-Drinking 2 glasses of water, eating an apple
-10 curls with 29kg.
-8 pull overs with 28kg. 10 secs pause.
-10 reps on an ab machine against 28kg
-5 pull ups with 26,5kg, pause. Still not getting up there with my chin.
-20 squats with 19kg, pause.
-Another glass of water.
-15 deadlifts with 30kg
- bench press with 33kg, 15 reps
-30 secs pause
-the above exercises again.
-30 secs pause
-5 curls with 31kg.
-all the other exercises with 2kg extra, 5 reps of each
-another 1kg extra, 2 reps of each
-finish

[Fjodo]

Did the same routine two days ago and today, adding 1lbs to the curls, the bench and the squat each time. Who's rocking? I'M ROCKING!

[Fjodo]

Lost one pound.
Couldn't do a single rep today, I guess I became ill. Let's see the doctor and eat some more.