"To see if I can" - 2010 starts p6

How tall are you mate?

6ft 1in, 185cm.
35yo.
Always been skinny, so probably just about "average" now.
In fact, my BMI has always been in the underweight category until last year.

Gah, the weather is playing havoc with my schedule!!

My gym is 1/2 mile from work, which is ~45 miles from home, so I can only train on a work day.

Trained "push" on Monday, first session of the new year.
Was snowed in on Wednesday, but managed to train "pull" on Thursday.
Decided to train "legs" at lunchtime rather than early morning today. Then was told that our building was closing early at 13:30 so I decided to go train then instead of lunchtime.
Then the weather clears up so my manager says "no reason to leave early" - which was true.
So no legs session this week.

Hope the weather clears up next week!

Back in the gym this morning after being snowed in again yesterday!

No great shakes - ditched bench press for the time being as I feel I can push myself harder with the chest press machine.
But also added DB bench press which I only managed to lift 2 x 20kg!!

First leg day since end of November today, due to routine being disrupted by the weather.
Took it easy - 70kg squats only. My gym seems to have got a nice cusioned pad for the squatting bar for xmas, so my neck was spared that pain.

Still, managed leg presses at previous weights and fitted in some calf raises and a bit of benching but was short on time as the bad weather made me late.

Hopefully, a proper full week of training next week as the weather seems to be improving.

Haven't updated this for a while because training has been disrupted by weather and work, but I have done 2 days per week most days since mid Jan.

Did push day this morning and I seem to have been stuck for a few weeks not able to up reps past 8-10 on many exercises so I just decided to up the weight and not worry about reps.

Seems to have worked quite well and will see how it goes building back up to 8 reps again.

Chest press machine: 74.8kg x 5/5/3 (upped weight from 68kg I was stuck on)
Shoulder press machine: 40.8kg x 8/5/4 (up from 36kg)
EZ skulls: 30kg x 8/7/6 (been on 25kg for ages)
DB bench press: 22.5kg x 5/4/3

Was pleased with this mornings session.
I went for upping all of my lifts because I got stuck with increasing reps.

Deadlift: 90kg x 8, 120kg x 6/5/5 (upped the weight by 10)
EZ-bar rows: 50kg x 8/7/6 (+5kg)
DB curls: 18kg x 8/7/5
Chin-ups: BW x 5/5/5/4 (first time BW)

Also had a girl walk in on me in the changing rooms when I had nowt on, lol!

Varg

Also had a girl walk in on me in the changing rooms when I had nowt on, lol!

What happened next?

If the roles had been reversed do you think reactions and consequences would have been different?

Haha - I had my back to the door and was just pulling my pants up.
I heard the door go and pulled them up.
Looked round and saw the back of someone disappearing out the door

If only she'd seen me from the front...

BTW, the door has a corner thing you have to come round - it's not like the door opens on the changing room.

EDIT: If the roles had been reversed maybe she would have complained to reception, I don't know. It's not like she hung around staring!

Cheers for dropping by the journal mate, if you can get some pics of said girl I will come by more regularly.
I am at work and being lazy so what is your prime goal at present?
Get in shape, get bigger, get stronger?

Thanks for the comments BROKEN.
At the moment I am mostly aiming for size, but I want to enjoy the lifting too, and watching the numbers go up on the weights is pleasing but not really a goal.

I've always been slim/skinny so hoping to get to a reasonable size before cutting into shape, which I might do early summer.

Although, I'll probably be 12st in shape, and at 185cm that's not exactly huge.
But it would be nice to have decent condition over the summer (unless it rains all summer, lol).

Did leg workout today, first time for a few weeks due to working away.
Squats were a bit disappointing, but I did a variation of James' calf workout using a seated press machine.
Except I was doing it from memory so did it slightly wrong.
Ah well, was probably the best hammering my calves have ever had, and the lactic acid was burning!

It is the set backs that always get me, like the 'you missing some legs due to work' bugs the hell out of me when it happens, just ends in frustration. I don't know what it would be like if I was huge, but when you are still miles from achieving your goals it fairly knocks you.

From looking at your pics you may be able to afford missing a season of cutting if you just continue the way you are you might have one summer (this one) where you feel slightly tubbier that you would ideally like but then this might set you up for 2011


Just a thought

Varg


Haha - I had my back to the door and was just pulling my pants up.
I heard the door go and pulled them up.
Looked round and saw the back of someone disappearing out the door

If only she'd seen me from the front...

BTW, the door has a corner thing you have to come round - it's not like the door opens on the changing room.

EDIT: If the roles had been reversed maybe she would have complained to reception, I don't know. It's not like she hung around staring!

Fair enough. I always find it interesting the dichotomy between how this is / would be perceived between the two genders. For example it seems to be generally accepted that it's ok for women to use the cubicles in the men's toilets for example, whereas if men were going into the ladies....

Maybe she is a secret admirer of yours ;-)

Not bad from the first pics mate, been a while since I looked at your journal. Keep it up , you will get there.

Thanks BB.
To be honest I don't think the pics do my progress justice.
I am going to have to throw out some shirts I bought last April because they stretch tight across the chest. Have a couple of t-shirts that cut under the arms since last summer too.
But I don't think it's that obvious from the pics.

Monday morning push session today.
Forgot to mention I got a twinge in left elbow after last week's pull session. Well the skullcrushers I did this morning really exacerbated it.
Might have to do legs on Wednesday this week and see how it goes for Friday. Elbow has a dull throb to it now

Have had bad DOMS all weekend due to leg workout, especially hamstrings.

Anyway:
Chest press: 59.0kg x 5, 74.8kg x 8, 77.1kg x 8/5/4 (nice progress since last week I think.
EZ-skulls: 30kg x 10/9 (stopped after this due to elbow twinge)
Shoulder press: 40.8kg x 6/6/4
DB Bench press: 22.5kg x 6/4/3 (poor, due to doing it last, and elbow problem)

Swapped pull for legs today due to sore elbow.

Squat: 70kg x 8, 80kg x 6/6/6 (made sure form was good - went very low)
Seated leg curls: 61.3kg x 10/9/8 (weight up slightly)
Calf raises (machine): 131.5kg x 10, step raises x 10, standing raises x 10, 77.1kg x 10, 10 steps, 10 standing, 40.8kg x 10, 10 step, 10 standing (with no rest in between - bit of a killer!)
Leg presses: 126.9kg x 9/8/7 (weight up a couple of kg)

Did pull session this morning with no elbow pains!
Started tentatively on the deadlifts, though.

Deads: 70kg x 5, 90kg x 8, 110kg x 8, 120kg x 5, 125kg x 4 (120kg is normal working weight, so pleased with last lift, will use 125 or 130 next week)
EZ-bar rows: 50kg x 10/8/7 (will up weight next week)
DB curls: 18kg x 10/8/7 (try 20 next week)
Lat pull downs: 61.3 x 8/7/6 (didn't want to risk chins with dodgy elbow)

Pretty pleased with that since I was half expecting to have to do cardio or one arm work instead!

More progress on push day now I've stopped trying to up reps all the time and just increase the weight.

Chest press: 68.0kg x 5, 77.1kg x 5, 79.4 kg x 8/6/4 (PB for reps)
Dips: BW x 12/10/9 (gonna have to start weighting these)
Shoulder press machine: 43.1kg x 7/5/4 (been stuck on 40kg for weeks, but just decided to up it - not much I admit - and managed a respectable amount of reps)
DB bench press: 22.5kg x 6/5/4 (did these last again, but felt a bit easier than last week - almost got an extra rep each time)

Hey Varg,

Not looked in here before, progress on the latest pics seems to have come on a fair  bit, def lost that skinny look now and looking much better.

Good luck bro!

Thanks ITman.
To be honest I need to get better lighting or better at taking pics, or just get someone else to do it!
I am starting to get comments about my size now, which is nice.
Although I am not "big" by the standards on here (funny how your perspective changes when you are used to seeing big guys), compared to what I was, people who know me definitely notice - and some are quite shocked since I was always known as a skinny barstard!