Day 125 - Old Friends, Old Habits

Well, I certainly enjoyed myself this weekend, but as I get back around to reading the shredder blogs, I'm starting to feel guilty. Yesterday I had a nice surprise and found out that a couple of my best friends who recently moved to California were in town for one night, and one night only. We had a lot of fun last night with them and other old friends from school. The bunch of us have been friends since our first days of University, which for a few of us is closing in on being 8 years ago. So what happens when old university friends get together? Eating out, lots of junk food, lots of beer, and very little sleep.

Of course, I had no regrest about enjoying mself, but I still feel like I have a responsibility to the rest of the shredders. I don't think I am as committed to an all out transformation, being 95% or greater compliant with a strict plan as many of you other shredders are at the moment. I've already made the biggest change, and I'm not that far away from my ideal body. I am confident that I possess the knowledge and ability to make small changes with as little as say 80% compliancy, and I know that I'm not going to allow myself to stray as far off the path as I have in the past.

So to the rest of you out there still shredding hard, I applaud you.

I think the 3-4 rest days/wk required for solid muscle gains is bumming me out. I want to do more. But less is more... Really looking forward to hitting the gym tomorrow hard, definitely going to up the intensity. I mean, today's photos really look like I had a rough night last night...I tried testing my push-ups today and I just had no energy. On top of that, my muscles were still sore from Friday's workout, and I only managed to push out 40 before I got tired. So it was LESS than last week!

This only means one thing, it's time to...
Get my game face on!

Cheers,
Raiden

M2 Day 7

Day 123 - CrossFit Total

Today I did my 1 rep max (1RM) testing. Doing this properly takes a fair amount of time, so I was actually only able to get it done for the big 3, the squat, deadlift, and the overhead press. Well, I don't know if these are usually considered the big 3, but they are the 3 lifts that factor into the CrossFit Total.

I threw in a new compound power lift sequence at the end of this to get my total workload up for the workout session, as doing heavy singles isn't a lot of total poundage moved. The CrossFitters call this one the "Bear Complex"



It works pretty much all the major muscle groups. Boy does it ever wear you out!

Anyway, here are my results from the 1RM testing:

Squat: 225 lbs
(Overhead) Press: 120 lbs (not in one fluid motion, did 115 with good form)
Deadlift: 275 lbs

At my current bodyweight (say 135 lbs), this gives ratios of

Squat: 1.67 x BW
Press: 0.89 (0.85 good form) x BW
Deadlift: 2.04 x BW

The deadlift probably surprised me the most. Getting over the 2xBW threshold was pretty good I think. I had an idea that I could squat 225 though and might have been able to push it further, but I underestimated my starting weights for it and ended up doing too many singles building up.

Comparing these results to strength standards table found here, I'm in between the ranges for intermediate and advanced, but closer to intermediate. Based on this, the goal I am setting for the end of this mission is to hit the advanced level for the press, bench press, squat, and deadlift. I will also practice my technique on the power clean and some other power lifts, but not go heavy on them just yet.

This would put my target 1RM at the following, assuming I finish at a bodyweight of around 140:

Press: 135 lbs (need to increase by 20 lbs)
Bench: 225 lbs (need to increase by ???)
Squat: 300 lbs (need to increase by 75 lbs)
DeadL: 365 lbs (need to increase by 90 lbs)

Out of these, realistically I might only be able to get the Press up to the advanced level, but it gives me something to shoot for. I know I'm going to have to make some jumps in added pounds on my 5x5 training! Gotta push myself!

That's all for today.

So until then,
Get your game face on!

Cheers,
Raiden

M2 Day 5

Day 122 - Feedings

Well, today is once again a muscle building rest day, so I didn't have much else to concentrate on other than my "feedings". I only managed 5.5 meals today rather than a full 6. I was just a little bit late with each of my first 4 meals which added up to me not having enough time fit the last 2 in without really stuffing myself. I decided against this as eating 2 regular meals only 1 hour apart is just like having a big feast since your body doesn't have enough time to digest the first one.

I'll have to work on my meal timings a bit more on my rest days since before I just had the 1 rest day and that was used as a "free" day where I wasn't so rigid with my meal times or plans.

Although I didn't quite get my 6 meals in, what I did eat was good quality clean food. I'm hoping it has me nice and fueled up for tomorrow's workout/strength test.

I'm excited to see how I do tomorrow!

So until then,
Get your game face on!

Cheers,
Raiden

M2 Day 4

Day 121 - Strength Goals

I've decided that my primary focus for my mission 2 will be to hit some specific strength goals. But in order to do so, I really need to figure out what I am capable of. Since I've started on the Stronglifts program, I haven't reached the point of failure in any of my exercises yet, and they've all been done as 5x5's. Especially since I started light and am slowly adding weight, concentrating on perfecting form. However, the best indicator of absolute strength is the 1 rep max (1RM). I have no idea what my 1RM's are for all of my lifts, so that's something I need to figure out.

This Friday, I will attempt to determine my 1RM weights for the squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, and maybe the barbell row. I may do the bench and barbell row on another day, as I'm not sure how many different 1RM I can truly figure out in one session as the combination of exercises may fatigure me. But maybe I'll just do them all and make sure I do it in the same order when I re-test again.

This will give me a starting point. I'll then re-test my 1RM's at least once in the middle of my mission, and at the end of my mission.

Well, I must say that starting this new mission has me all pumped up again. I couldn't get to sleep last night because I kept thinking of all the different exercises I wanted to do. I was doing squats and deadlifts in my sleep! I was so wound up with extra energy! I probably would have slept better if I worked out yesterday, but to build that muscle, I really need to try and get my rest! It's hard for me, I'm typically an all or nothing guy, so if I'm working out, it's all I want to do! I just have to remind myself to be patient though. The changes will come as long as I keep doing the right things.

Get your game face on!

Cheers,
Raiden

M2 Day 3

Day 120 - Rest to grow

I've decided to make Mission 2 purely a mass gaining phase. Well, I'll simply be focusing on strength and conditioning, but my nutrition and rest periods will be structured to allow for mass gains. This means caloric surplus, and more rest.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I may be a hard-gainer in disguise. Putting on muscle is a slow process and my tendancies in the past of doing more cardio than weights may have hindered any muscle gains I've tried to make. Working out only 3 times a week almost seems lazy to me now, but most of the info out there points to this frequency for maximal muscle gains. Before Christmas, when I increased my calorie intake, I was still working out at least 4-5 times a week and wasn't able to put on any weight.

Yes, I still believe in simply being strong for one's size and have no intentions of becoming a hulk, but I do think my frame will allow for a bit more muscle mass without sacrificing other aspects of my athleticism.

Basically, what I'm getting at is that today was a rest day for me. I sure needed it too! After two weeks of not being in the gym, I've got a large case of muscle soreness! Good to know I'm shocking my body and working it hard.

Anyway, apologies to all of you out there who thought I may have disappeared earlier, but as I stated yesterday, I'm back and on track, and on a new mission!

Get your game face on!

Cheers,
Raiden

M2 Day 2

Day 119 - Mission 2 Kickstart

Hello Fellow Shredders! I'm back and I'd thought I'd start off with my first video:

Return to Form - Mission 2 Kickstart Video

My final milestone of my first mission, playing in a charity hockey game went well and I surprised a lot of my old teammates in how well I played even after not being on the ice for 4 years. Also, over $6000 was raised for the local cancer society from proceeds and donations from the game. Not bad for a small town of about 1600 people. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures myself, but there was a team picture that was taken, but I'm not sure who has a copy.

However, I think I crawled across the mission 1 finish line rather than sprinted. I was starting to fade and get run down. Also, no matter how good shape you are in, there is no true exercise replacement for actually playing the sport, so my body found a lot of aches and pains from the game that it doesn't normally get from my regular exercise program. This shows the importance of changing up your program and cross-training. This meant that my scheduled vacation period really was a vacation rather than the "active" vacation that I initially planned.

Based on this, barring additional events that I can't control the date around, my future missions will be capped at 12 weeks before I allow myself a period of extended rest (at least 1 week).

I'm jumping in on Tea's push-up challenge. In my video I managed 47 in a row before I needed short rests in between. I reached failure at what I now count as 54 (I said 55 in the video, but I miscounted). But whether it is 47, 54, or 55, I think 110 is a good goal to aim for, so that is my pledge. Sounds ambitious, but I know I've been able to do in the 80-90 range before, so I should aim to surpass that. I'll also have to modify my form. After watching my video, I think I had my butt up a bit, and maybe my feet too far apart.

Over the break, without measureing myself, I felt like I gained a lot of fat, but based on the measurements I took today, I essentially maintained my physique. Weight was up a little bit, but out of my fat pinches, 2 were down, 1 was the same, and one went up which overall meant I was down for bodyfat.

My pledge for mission 2 is to continue on the StrongLifts 5x5 strength training program. On Sunday's I will test my push-up strength and post my results. I suspect that doing this weekly along with my other strength training should be sufficient to see gains. Regarding posting, I will post daily, except for possibly some Saturdays (rest days). I will post a daily photo, but have decided for this mission that I will keep it to a single front photo. Don't worry though, I've got a nice surprise lined up for making up for the lack of side/back photos.

Weekly I will post weight and bodyfat measurements. I have taken tape measurements as well, but I'm not sure how often I will post those, either bi-weekly, or just at the end as I'm not sure how much they will change.

My starting stats:
Weight: 135.2 lbs

BF pinches:
Suprailiac: 10 mm
Chest: 7 mm
Abdomen: 14 mm
Thigh: 11 mm

Bodyfat %:
AccuMeausure 1 site (suprailiac): 11.6%
Jackson/Pollock 3 site (chest/ab/thigh): 9.13%
Avg: 10.4%

Fat Mass: 14.1 lbs
Lean Mass: 121.1 lbs

Tape Measure (in.):
Neck: 13.25
Chest: 33.75
L Bicep: 12.5
R Bicep: 12.5
L forearm: 10.75
R forearm: 10.75
Waist: 28.75
Hips: 30
Butt: 35
L thigh: 20.25
R thigh: 20
L calf: 13.5
R calf: 13.5

I still have to work out my specific goals for this mission, but once I get them finalized I'll post them. This mission will run for 11 weeks from now until March 24th.

So, until then,
Get your game face on!

Cheers,
Raiden

M2 Day 1