Payne

I've tried quinoa before and found it really bland and soggy. Probably more to do with how I cooked and prepared it! Maybe I should have a look into it again!

And cheers! A little disapointed with the drop in lean mass, but should be sorted fairly easily.

Sometimes just listening to your body really is the way to go!

I'll have to have a nose at that book sometime

I love cherry beer!

Update from Friday evening:

I've lost:

7cm off my waist

1cm off my hips

4kgs of fat

1kg of lean muscle

My body fat %age has stayed the same as at the start of the year but talking it through with Dan, I need to get more protein in my diet, so that's my mission for this week, get myself some protein!! He said with the amount and type of training that I'm doing, I'm probably fueling my body with my oats, but I'm not repairing it properly with the lack of protein. If I can get that protein up he expects to see my lean muscle increase easily. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

It was the first time I'd tried front squats so didn't want to overload it, plus I was told by my PT to go light on them when doing heavy deadlifts. Got a couple of bruises on my shoulders from the bar now and my back is still sore. Although Ive noticed its more to do with my right leg. I'm sure it'll be alright when I'm not sat at my work desk!

Thanks dude. Really appreciate that and will do. I've got a routine that I enjoy (even if I was a little effed off with it today because of my grip on my deadlifts) so have no problem going down the gym to do it.

Will update again later after I;ve seen my PT again as we're taking all my measurements so should give me an indication how things have changed since the start of the year.

Today felt a bit of a bust overall.

Warmup:

5 minutes light jog. 6mph on a slight incline.

Weights:

3 sets of 10 front squats - 50kg

3 sets of 5 deadlifts - 120kg (tried the weightlifters hook grip on this and just couldn't get it. Might be worth trying it on lighter days to get used to it perhaps?)

3 sets of 5 bench presses - 65kg

3 minute rest between each set for the deadlifts and bench presses. 1 minute between the front squats

Small circuit:

6x Body weight dips.

20x 24kg kettlebell swings

20x 20kg kettlebell cleans (10x on each hand)

Round this circuit three times.

50x sit ups

20x normal press ups

10x wide hand press ups

10x diamond hand press ups

37.5kg dumbell, in each hand, milk maid walks around the weights area twice

Cool down:

5 minute gentle walk on the treadmill.

My back is aching now and my hands are so effing sore!!

Yeah Dan was saying last night that is partly down to that and partly incorrect technique. He suggested just opening my knees out a little more just to keep my feet flat, and the pushing up through my feet keeping everything locked in place. He said what I'm currently doing is keeping my back nice and striaght but bending at the hips as I push up so the bar isn't really moving!

Makes much more sense after he showed me where I was going wrong!

Had a PT session last night and we went through front squats and wall squats to help my technique. So I'll start doing them I think.

Lookign at swapping around my lifting too. Looking at doing something like:

1:

Heavy deadlift

Light but fast front squat

2:

Light but fast deadlift

Heavy back squat.

We'll see how I get on with that. Was weird squating and only being a few inches from a wall! He also showed me the weightlifters hook for my grip. Not looking forward to the squashed thumb feeling!

The rest of the session was kettle bell or some club work with some animal movements in just to keep moving. Didn't manage to get my measurements done, but I'm popping in Friday evening to get those sorted.

Not sure when I'm going to get back in the gym as I'm getting my thigh and chest tattooed on Saturday so won't realistically be able to do much until the back end of next week. Might try and get in this Friday morning though as one last blow out before not being able to do anything.

My PT is a great guy. We're a similar age, get on real well, he's someone that listens to what my goals are and explains why we're doing things, instead of just doing them. This get's me interested in them and excited to do what potentially are horrendous activities that usually I'd not undertake. He's also really intelligent and likes to share interesting articles related to his field of expertise.

That's not the frustration, that's just a bit of background!

This morning he shared an article called "11 Things Wrong With The Modern Diet". I had a quick skim of it, but it got me thinking. The internet is an amazing tool. If someone from the 50's was to wake up from a coma/cryostasis I think it would be the one thing that would really astound them. But like any tool it has it's downsides.

There's a wealth of great information, and even more 'less great' information. A lot of the great information sights sources and studies to back up their claims, but then you get a plethora of contradicting articles. And the abundance of these studies and the "you should do this", "you shouldn't do this" slant on them can easily make your head spin. It even gets to a point where trying to monitor what you consume and do could become a full time job in itself!

Vegetable oils are bad, but butter is good. Modern wheat isn't as good as ye olde wheat. Sleeping on your back with your arms up can reduce wrinkles, sleeping on your side can squash your body. I like to think I'm intelligent and open minded and like to be informed of things so I can form good solid opinions, but with the abundance of all these articles it's putting me off reading up about a lot of things because of the constant contradictions.

That's it. I'm not going to start ranting on about 'internet celebrities' and the constant 'one-up-manship'. Maybe another day!

26 Feb 2014

Warmup:

5 minutes light jog. 6mph on a slight incline.

Weights:

3 sets of 5 squats - 100kg

3 sets of 5 deadlifts - 120kg

3 sets of 5 bench presses - 65kg

3 minute rest between each set.

Small circuit:

5x Body weight pull ups with assistance band.

6x Body weight dips.

5x inverted rows on the TRX, feet on box.

Round this circuit three times.

50x sit ups

20x normal press ups

10x wide hand press ups

10x diamond hand press ups

35kg dumbell, in each hand, milk maid walks around the weights area twice

Cool down:

5 minute gentle walk on the treadmill.

We do the wall squats at kickboxing from time to time. I should really start them on a regular basis as I can do them at home most days. Will give front squats a try too. I'm done for my heavy block for a few weeks so onto lighter weights and more reps from next week (in college all weekend so fitting the gym in will be tough this weekend). And come to think of it, I've got a PT session on Tuesday so probably wont get to lift again until the end of next week.

Dropped my weight down on my squats to 100kg and managed to keep my chest up and out a lot better so maybe I went up to 110kg too soon. Will try some more technique based exercises too get that better.

Cheers for the tips!

"Oh you must miss bacon sandwiches or a nice big fat juicy steak?!" If I had a penny for everytime I've heard that. I don't. I've not eaten meet now for half my life. I don't remember what it was like. I can't miss what I don't remember!

"Oh but it's so unhealthy!" Do I look unhealthy to you?

"But you fight!" Sorry I forgot the rule that if you fight, you eat meat exclusively.

Usually they get bored after a while. It doesn't really bother me too much. Just reminds me how ignorant a lot of people can be.

Yeah that's my plan. My squats are deep enough, I'm keeping my back straight the whole time and my balance is fine, it's just sometimes it feels like my chest isn't as forward facing as it should be as I'm bending a little at the hips.

Thanks very much.

I'm thinking I may have to ease off my squats a little as I'm feeling I'm not getting my technique as good as I'd like.

That's great thank you. Our blender seems to have an issue with frozen fruit or anything too hard. It manages to unclip the blades, but I've got a coffee grinder I can use to grind up my nuts. We usually have bananas and have almond milk instead of soya. So once I get a new plain protein powder, I'll give this receipe a go.

Will just have to play about with the quantities/ratios of each.

Thank you very much!!

Yeah the comic started at the back end of 2003 I think. I remember a couple of mates getting me to start it in about 2005 and it's the only comic series now that I manage to keep on top of really (even then I only pick the trades up, not an individual issue person). The comics are fantastic though and MUCH better than the TV series I feel. Believe me when I say that in the comics, NO ONE is safe! There have been moments where I've literally fetl sick with some of the stuff that's happened in them.

I'm usually in the gym for about 45-60 minutes. But I think I need to sit down a little longer before I shower and leave though if I'm going to go before work as this mornign I got showered and dressed and was still damp afterwards. Not a nice feeling.

PS. I shan't comment on what I think's going on with Rick right now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a spiderman press up is where you assume a normal press up position and then bring one leg up by your side and do a press up in that position, then swap legs.

Well that's what I call a spiderman push up. I get people doing them at kickboxing in our warm ups sometimes walking across the floor!

Also, The Walking Dead is great. Been reading the comics for years and am enjoying how they're adapting them to the TV.

Your exercises are crazy and look pretty intense!! I never seem tohave the time or the energy to do something as lengthy and as full on as them!

Hope the whole move and neighbourhood thing is settling down now too.

I had a quick look the other day before posting but was after something I coul dhave made for this morning and I didn't have access to all the seeds and such. I'll go back over those recipes now and stick some of the bits on my shopping list next time and give them a whirl!

Cheers!!

19 Feb 2014

Warmup:

5 minutes light jog. Usually 6mph on a slight incline.

Weights:

3 sets of 5 squats - 110kg

1 set of 5 deadlifts - 110kg

2 sets of 5 deadlifts - 120kg

3 sets of 5 bench presses - 65kg

3 minute rest between each set.

Small circuit:

Body weight pull ups with assistance band until failure. At present this is about five.

Body weight dips until failure. This is about five at the moment.

5x inverted rows on the TRX, usually with my feet up on a box

Round this circuit three times.

50x sit ups

50x press ups

35kg dumbell, in each hand, milk maid walks around the weights area twice

Cool down:

5 minute gentle walk on the treadmill.

Could have sat in the gym a little longer to cool down before getting ready for work though! Thought I'd cooled down enough, but I hadn't and by the time I'd got back to the car I was rather damp!

I'm thinking of starting to go to the gym first thing on a Wednesday morning before work (about 6.30am). If I eat before exercise I usually like to leave myself an hour, however I don't want to be up at 5.30 and I don't fancy working out on an empty stomach. My breakfast is usually overnight oats with sultanas, pumpkin seeds and cinnamon.

My thinking at the moment is to have a shake before the gym, work out, then go to work and have my normal breakfast when I get to the office.

With this in mind, does anyone have a decent shake recipe I can make the night before preferably, leave in the fridge and drink when I get up. Limitations on this are I don't have any plain protein powder and I don't have a ton of ingredients at the moment so any suggestions may be for future reference.

I have plenty of kale, spinach and bananas at home at the moment. I have some almond butter and some impact whey protein (apple pie and custard flavour!!!) I'm finishing off before I get a vegan powder. I also have some walnuts and pumpkin seeds. I appreciate this probably won't help much on this occasion, but you never know!

Cheers in advance.

I hadn't thought of it like that. I've been squatting and dead lifting for about five/six months I think. I also try and drop in 50x sit ups and press ups in my circuits every time too, forgot to add those.

I only really get chance to get down the gym twice a week and have just been reading about the 5x5 idea so not sure how they'd fit seeing as their plan is mainly based around three times a week. I've just started doing three/four week blocks of heavy and light weights since the start of this year on the recommendation of my PT.

I get the idea behind the progressive stuff so I may have a play around with it.

Thanks very much for the help.

Really? I thought it looked pathetic next to all these others! Haha, thank you though. I'll have a look at the 5x5 strength training.

Decided to drop in a little journal of my own.

I'm pretty poor are weighing things (food, not weights that clearly have their weight on the side!) and keeping up with making notes on what I do, so it may turn a little sporadic when the sheen wears off it!

Usually my week pans out as below, doing this as a basic summary, and then posts after will have the day's stuff in.

Monday:

An hour or so of kickboxing. Each session is different. Usually a 15 minute warm-up and then line work, pad work, fitness, sparring.

Tuesday:

Depending on the plan for the week this is usually a rest day. It will sometimes be a gym day if I can't make it on a Wednesday. Once a month this will be a PT session.

Wedensday:

Gym (see below for rough routine)

Thursday:

Kickboxing

Friday:

Day Off

Saturday:

Gym

Sunday:

Day Off

Gym Routine:

Warmup:

5 minutes light jog. Usually 6mph on a slight incline.

Weights:

Heavy weeks (three or four weeks):

3 sets of 5 or 6 bench presses - 65kg

3 sets of 5 or 6 squats - 110kg

3 sets of 5 or 6 deadlifts - 110kg

3 minute rest between each set.

Light weeks (three or four weeks):

3 sets of 5 or 6 bench presses - 50kg

3 sets of 5 or 6 squats - 80kg

3 sets of 5 or 6 deadlifts - 80kg

30 second rest between each set

Small circuit:

Body weight pull ups with assistance band until failure. At present this is about five. (always include)

Body weight dips until failure. This is about five at the moment. (always include)

10x sandbag slams 12kg

20x 20kg kettlebell singlehand swings

5x inverted rows on the TRX, usually with my feet up on a box

10x clean and presses with a 15kg core bag

(These in red are changed around depending on what I fancy and what I can get on/use. Sometimes I'll do something totally different not listed.)

35kg dumbell, in each hand, milk maid walks around the weights area

50x sit ups

50x press ups

Round this circuit three times.

Cool down:

5 minute gentle walk on the treadmill.

Food wise, I'll post that up another time. Really don't think I'm consuming enough calories really.

Aim:

To lose the gut and boobs, tone up and improve general fitness.

Body stats @ 8th Jan

Height 186cm

Weight 109kg

Waist 114cm

Hip 106cm

Fat %age 20.4

We're going to take a second set of measurements at my next PT session in two weeks, so I'll post those up.

Yeah it's ok. Back on my three/four weeks of heavier weights. Managed a 100kg deadlift for the first time on Saturday. Not sure when I'll be able to go lifting again though as I think I'm going to some weird class my PT runs which is meant to be quite intense and then I'm away at the weekend, although I may slip a quick session in before we leave on Friday, will see how sore I am from kickboxing the night before!

I want to have a chat with my PT about a routine for what I want to achieve when I see him tomorrow evening. He's the only person I've ever met at a gym who's job is to help, that's actually understood what I wanted and how's best for me to get the results. It's probably because he's from the same sort of background and he used to train kyokushin with the people i now kickbox with.

So had my first session at the new gym I signed up to last week. It's a brand new place and only opened on Saturday. An hour in and I'd bust the floor already!

Just doing some sandbag slams about the 5th or 6th rep I felt the floor go a little spongey. The guy working there who had given me the sandbag (I'd been using a medicine ball before) prodded the floor and suggested next time I do them, I do them up in the weight section because of the reenforced floor.

PAYNE SMASSSSHHHHH!

Yeah it probably would work out that way, but then its the motivation that I can't buy! This gym I'm looking at tonight is en-route home from work and then not very far from home. It also gives me the flexibility to do various different bits and have access to a pool too for those days when I just want to swim. Fingers crossed though as I'm sure it only works out an extra £2 a month.