Flyboy's Training Log

[flyboy]

Hey guys,

Been doing Stronglifts for a bit over a month now, so I thought I'd stop procrastinating and start a Training Log. First, a big thanks to Mehdi for a fantastic site, I only wish I'd found it sooner.

Background
About 2 years ago, I found out that my fasting blood sugar was high and I was on the road to diabetes. This was a big shock as I've always been a bit on the skinny side, only ate junk food occassionally and have generally been active. So I immediately went out and bought a multi-station gym machine and exercise bike which I've been using since then. While my blood sugar has improved, it's still not quite in the normal range. I've read a few studies which indicate that increasing muscle mass gives your body better control over blood sugar .... which is where Stronglifts comes in! While the gym machine increased my fitness, it didn't increase my size a whole lot. So I've built a power rack and am trying to convince the missus the gym wasn't a waste of money as we can hang pot plants from it.

Goals
My No. 1 priority is to reduce my fasting blood glucose. I'm not even sure if increasing muscle mass will help me with this, afterall everyone is different, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Short term goals - to lift 1.5xBW BP, 1.5xBW Squat and 2xBW DL within 6 months

Stats
Height 175 cm
Weight 72 kg
Age 40

Squat 72 kg 5x5
BP 75 kg 5x5
OHP 45 kg 5x5
DL 70 kg 1x5
Inv Row +10 kg 3x5
Dips +15 kg 3x5
P/C ups 10 10 9 (have done this for the last 5 sessions - very annoying )

So far everything's been chugging along nicely, but the squats are starting to be a bit of an effort.

The last month has been good as I've been on holidays so I've been able to workout regularly. When I'm at work, I usually spend about half my life away from home staying in hotels. So I'm expecting progress to slow down a bit as the hotel gyms leave a lot to be desired. I'll probably have to do the Road Warrior workout just to maintain strength.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I'll try and update once a week.

Cheers

[flyboy]

Struggled a bit today. Getting a cold ... yeah, I know, excuses, excuses

Squat 73 kg 5x5 Really struggled here.
OHP 47 kg 5x5
DL 77 kg 1x5
C ups BW 3x10 and about time! Had to lift my knees on the last 3 reps (is this cheating?)
single leg prone bridges 3x60 secs

Having a tendancy to lose concentration and forget hip drive when I start to struggle in the later sets of squats. I'm going to reduce weight increments to 1 kg until I get it sorted. What do you think?

[flyboy]

Remember last time I mentioned the flu was knocking on the door. Since then it's moved in, got its feet up on the lounge and helping itself to beer out of the fridge Lots of aches and pains today, especially in the legs. Hopefully they are flu related and not injury related.

Squat 74kg 5x5
BP 77kg 5x5
Inv Row +11kg 3x5
Dips +20kg 3x5
Reverse Crunches 3x12

Gave the cardio a miss.

Note to self:
Need to concentrate on 2 things with the squats
1. Push through the heels more than the front of the feet.
2. Imagine someone's got their hand on my arse (that would be a female someone ...) and push against the hand.
I found that when I did this I could power through the sets slightly easier.

[flyboy]

Not a great workout today ...

Squats
75 kg 5 5 5 4
Well ... now I know the safety bars on the home built power rack work

Overhead Press
50 kg 5 5 5 3 2
The extra 2.5 kg felt like 25 kg

Deadlift
80 kg 1x5

Pull ups
3x10

Single Leg Prone Bridges
3x60 secs
These feel pretty easy, maybe I'm not doing them right???

No cardio again today til I've knocked this cold on the head.

I've been doing SL for about 5 weeks, day on/day off, rather than 3 times a week. Does having the 2 day break once a week make much difference to your recovery/performance? Or do I just need to harden up?