First, I'd like to thank all those who have answered my posts in the last two weeks. Combined with what Mehdi already has on here it's been a wealth of information, positive feedback and encouragement.
Height: 194cm (6'5")
Weight: 83kg (183lb) - weighed at last medical three months ago
Body Fat: Unknown
I've never had scales or calipers, so Santa might need to stick some in my stocking!
However, if you want to get some idea of where I'm at bodywise, check out these pictures of meat one of my first triathlons (I'm the foreigner in the blue shirt). I started doing these thinking the swimming would build my upper body, the cycling my legs and the running couldn't hurt. However, by Januay 2008, I realised nothing had changed, although I was a lot fitter than before. I enroled in a gym, and although I knew I needed to do compound exercises, I was still using the machines mainly and I was only increasing the weight by 5kg once a month. By August, not much progress had been made, and I set myself the goal of completing a marathon instead (I'll never do another!), so the next three months was taken up with running. By November of this year, I realised that another year had passed and I was nowhere nearer my goal of increasing my strength/body mass. I came across SL by chance and finally feel confident that I have found a program that will help me reach my goals.
GOALS - By Christmas 2009
Squat - 1.5xBW
Deadlift - 2xBW
Bench - 1xBW
Weight: - more than 94kg (using the guideline of 1kg for every cm over 1m)
NUTRITION
7:30am - Organic granola, mixed berries, 500cc milk, tea
9:30am - 3 eggs, 3 slices cheese, apple
12:00pm - sashimi/chicken, vegetables, geen tea
3:45pm - beef noodles
7:00pm - chicken/steak/ground beef, vegetables, pasta/potatoes, green tea/glass of red wine
10:00pm - mixed nuts, fruit, 500cc milk
I know I need to try to do GOMAD, and I'm planning to increase my milk intake by doing 500cc at every meal. This will get me up to 3 litres...
WORKOUT
Mon/Wed/Fri
Warm Up - 1000m on Rowing Machine @ 3mins/500m pace
5x5 - As per SL5x5, except that I have been doing Renegade Rows 5x5 every workout and increasing the weight on the dumbbells. These seem to combine the benefits of rows and prone bridges, and solve the problem that I have at my gym - no Power Rack, so hard to do Inverted Rows. My only worry is that I might be doing this too often and I'm not giving my muscles enough time to rest.
Post Weight Cardio - 16min interval running (3mins @ 8km/h, 10mins alternating 13km/h and 8km/h, 3mins @ 8km/h)
Sat - 1-1hr20m trail running through the jungles and mountains of Taiwan just because it's fun!
Renegade Rows (in case there's someone reading this who's not heard of them)
My biggest concern is around what is available in my gym. No Power Rack and no Squat Rack. At the moment, I'm lifting the bar off the Bench Press and over my head on to my back to do my squats, but as the weight increases, this is not going to be a viable option. I have tried getting under the bar on the Bench Press, but then I'm unable to get low enough because the bench is in the way. My gym membership is up for renewal on Feb 1st, and I think my only option is to use the money I would have spent on this to buy a Power Rack for home. My only concern here is that I live in an apartment and I'm wondering if I'm going to end up going through the floor to the apartment below!
) I had spent a week debating getting a home gym, because I know I'm leaving Taiwan in 18months. It's a pretty big piece of equipment, so I probably wouldn't ship it and I'd only get a short amount of use out of it. I finally bit the bullet and decided this goal was worth the money, but this final outcome is effing fantastic!! (And I know the other half is secretly pleased that one of the rooms in the apartment isn't going to be filled with a monolithic Power Rack!)
