Well, it's been three months now. April, May, June.
I admit I have been lazy. In May I lost lots of time due to my first injury. Eating cooked food also made me feel tired and lazy, so I did not train much. In June I went back to training more seriously. It helped that I went back to almost raw. I had a lot more energy.
I didn't succeed in going 100% raw. I hereby publicly admit my sugar addiction. At the moment my diet is 100% vegan and raw except for milk chocolate.
Even though I trained more seriously in June, it still wasn't that seriously. I found strength training to be a lot like playing WoW: at the beginning it's exciting, then you level up, the mobs get stronger... but actually, it's always the same. How boring.
I will continue to train despite of this motivation crisis. As a scanner it's normal for me to lose interest once I understand how something works. I still have the image of strong me in my head. I can see her. She's turning her back to me and looking over her left shoulder with a tender and slightly ironic spark in her eyes. It's as if she were waiting for me. I can also feel this sensation of having a strong and hard body, as if I already had it. It's awesome. So, I know exactly what I want. This is enough to keep pushing me forward. Maybe I'll just need to make my training less boring in some way.
My sleep is still monophasic, long (about nine hours), and late (I go to sleep in the early morning).
Here are my current weights (June 30th):
Deadlift: 42kg | on April 1st: 28kg -> progress: +50%
Clean & Jerk: 22kg | start in May: 10kg -> progress: +120%
Behind the Neck Press: 18kg | on April 1st: 10kg -> progress: +80%
Military Press: 20kg | on April 1st: 10kg -> progress: +100%
Biceps: 10kg | on April 1st: 6kg -> progress: +66%
Triceps: 6kg | on April 1st: 4kg -> progress: +50%
When I feel disappointed about the small numbers, I just look at my progress in % instead, and feel consoled. ;-)
I still swing and clean my kettlebell as well. Maybe it's time to learn some new exercise.
I was planning on posting a picture of me wearing the same clothes and in the same position as last time to show off the brand new muscles... but unfortunately there are none. At least no visible ones. Maybe next time. :-)
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta strength training. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta strength training. Mostrar todas las entradas
viernes, 3 de julio de 2009
lunes, 6 de abril de 2009
Raw Vegan Strength Training
As you know, I dream of being very strong. The new habit I'm adopting this month is "at least five minutes of strength training every day". Things are going great so far!
The second project I have for my body is weight loss. I've had mixed feelings about both my overweight and the idea of losing weight in the past. I wanted to lose weight, but also refused to lose weight, thought I couldn't lose weight, but should lose weight, and simultaneously didn't care about my weight! Consequently, my weight has been going up and down in a quite chaotic way. But now that I'm befriending my body and getting to love it the (overweight) way it is, I find myself better able to formulate clear wishes and goals about it. One of them is to reach my ideal weight.
So I am now starting a challenging project: fat loss + muscle gain. I'm starting from zero (untrained and overweight), and want to end up with little fat and lots of muscle. The challenge will be to do it on a 100% raw, vegan diet.
I officially started on April 1st. Every month I will post a report about both the weight loss part and the muscle building part of the project.
April 1st report:
Weight: 68,4kg
BMI: 27,2
Weight loss report:
I have no target weight. I said I want to reach my ideal weight, but I have no clue what this ideal weight is. I've been overweight (even obese for a few years) for all of my adult life. Having never been thin as an adult, I have no clue what my weight should be. I do not even know what I look like as a thin adult. This is exciting but also scary.
What's going to be difficult for me on this journey is that I'll have to address a bunch of limiting beliefs and fears about weight loss. Losing weight definitely is a scary thing for me. When I went raw I lost so much weight initially that I had to take a break from the raw diet after three months, simply because I couldn't stand the quick melting away.
Now I am determined to lose weight, but I know I'll have to overcome serious blocks and probably a psycho-energetic reversal as well. Maybe I'll write about that in another post.
The weight loss part of the project won't be difficult from a physical viewpoint: I automatically lose weight when I'm 100% raw anyway, without having anything special to do about it. However, I expect it to be very challenging psychologically. I'll share what comes up.
Muscle building report:
Here it's the contrary: I expect it to be challenging physically, but very easy mentally. I love lifting weights! I feel so happy when I'm training. It just feels right. It feels like I'm doing what I'm meant to do. No problem.
I'm still in the input phase, learning a lot and randomly trying things out. What's sure is that I train daily, but with varying intensity (varying weight and/or varying numbers of reps). I tend to alternate "fit" days with maximal power and "lazy" days where I do about half as much or less. I don't try to progress every day. I also do not train to failure. Instead I focus more on being fully concentrated and on learning the proper technique. And on having fun. :-)
I do a few bodyweight exercises, but I admit that I prefer training with weights and with my kettlebell. Yesterday I bought a few new weights and have now a 28kg barbell. And a big problem! Because the barbell is both too light and too heavy. 28kg isn't heavy enough for squats or deadlifts. I could do much more. Unfortunately 28kg is also way too heavy for me to get the barbell on my shoulders! I have no problem with lifting it up to my waist. Once it's on my shoulders, I have no problem with squatting. But there's no way I can get it from my waist to my shoulders alone. Every time I want to squat, I have to ask my friend Tom, who's currently staying at my place, to first place the barbell on my shoulders. >:-(
From now on I will be keeping a training journal, just for the record. I won't put it online though, this would be boring for you. I'll just post my current weights in my monthly reports. It won't mean much to you, it's just to keep track of my progress. Here are they for April 1st:
Squat: 28kg
Deadlift: 28kg
Shoulders: 10kg
Triceps: 4kg
Biceps: 8kg
Back: 2kg
Kettlebell: 12kg (swing, one-handed swing, clean)
And since I said I'd post more pictures, here is what I looked like on April 1st:
Admire the soccer player legs. ;-)
The second project I have for my body is weight loss. I've had mixed feelings about both my overweight and the idea of losing weight in the past. I wanted to lose weight, but also refused to lose weight, thought I couldn't lose weight, but should lose weight, and simultaneously didn't care about my weight! Consequently, my weight has been going up and down in a quite chaotic way. But now that I'm befriending my body and getting to love it the (overweight) way it is, I find myself better able to formulate clear wishes and goals about it. One of them is to reach my ideal weight.
So I am now starting a challenging project: fat loss + muscle gain. I'm starting from zero (untrained and overweight), and want to end up with little fat and lots of muscle. The challenge will be to do it on a 100% raw, vegan diet.
I officially started on April 1st. Every month I will post a report about both the weight loss part and the muscle building part of the project.
April 1st report:
Weight: 68,4kg
BMI: 27,2
Weight loss report:
I have no target weight. I said I want to reach my ideal weight, but I have no clue what this ideal weight is. I've been overweight (even obese for a few years) for all of my adult life. Having never been thin as an adult, I have no clue what my weight should be. I do not even know what I look like as a thin adult. This is exciting but also scary.
What's going to be difficult for me on this journey is that I'll have to address a bunch of limiting beliefs and fears about weight loss. Losing weight definitely is a scary thing for me. When I went raw I lost so much weight initially that I had to take a break from the raw diet after three months, simply because I couldn't stand the quick melting away.
Now I am determined to lose weight, but I know I'll have to overcome serious blocks and probably a psycho-energetic reversal as well. Maybe I'll write about that in another post.
The weight loss part of the project won't be difficult from a physical viewpoint: I automatically lose weight when I'm 100% raw anyway, without having anything special to do about it. However, I expect it to be very challenging psychologically. I'll share what comes up.
Muscle building report:
Here it's the contrary: I expect it to be challenging physically, but very easy mentally. I love lifting weights! I feel so happy when I'm training. It just feels right. It feels like I'm doing what I'm meant to do. No problem.
I'm still in the input phase, learning a lot and randomly trying things out. What's sure is that I train daily, but with varying intensity (varying weight and/or varying numbers of reps). I tend to alternate "fit" days with maximal power and "lazy" days where I do about half as much or less. I don't try to progress every day. I also do not train to failure. Instead I focus more on being fully concentrated and on learning the proper technique. And on having fun. :-)
I do a few bodyweight exercises, but I admit that I prefer training with weights and with my kettlebell. Yesterday I bought a few new weights and have now a 28kg barbell. And a big problem! Because the barbell is both too light and too heavy. 28kg isn't heavy enough for squats or deadlifts. I could do much more. Unfortunately 28kg is also way too heavy for me to get the barbell on my shoulders! I have no problem with lifting it up to my waist. Once it's on my shoulders, I have no problem with squatting. But there's no way I can get it from my waist to my shoulders alone. Every time I want to squat, I have to ask my friend Tom, who's currently staying at my place, to first place the barbell on my shoulders. >:-(
From now on I will be keeping a training journal, just for the record. I won't put it online though, this would be boring for you. I'll just post my current weights in my monthly reports. It won't mean much to you, it's just to keep track of my progress. Here are they for April 1st:
Squat: 28kg
Deadlift: 28kg
Shoulders: 10kg
Triceps: 4kg
Biceps: 8kg
Back: 2kg
Kettlebell: 12kg (swing, one-handed swing, clean)
And since I said I'd post more pictures, here is what I looked like on April 1st:
Admire the soccer player legs. ;-)
domingo, 22 de marzo de 2009
One New Habit a Month Challenge #3: Building Muscle
Here's my monthly report on how I'm building new, empowering habits.
Since I failed miserably at adapting to a polyphasic sleep schedule, I did not learn any new habit this past month.
Month number three (March 20th to April 19th) will be about building muscle. One of my secret ( ;-) ) desires is to become a muscle beast. Not as much as professional bodybuilders, I don't like it when you can see every single muscle and tendon. But I definitely dream of having impressive muscles. Most of all, I don't only want to look strong, I want to actually be very strong.
Why?
I don't know why I want it. It seems quite irrational. I've long thought that big muscles are a useless thing to have and that all the effort put into growing them is a waste of time and energy. Nevertheless, I stubbornly keep having this desire for big muscles no matter what. I know deep down in my blood that it's the right path for me and that I want it. There aren't many things in my life which I am that sure about. So I have decided to go for it and to work towards this goal on a daily basis.
Making muscle training this month's habit was a difficult choice since I have so many awesome future habits on my list! But it makes sense to do it now. This way I'll be done with all health & fitness goals. Health & fitness was my main focus in 2008 but I didn't succeed in getting everything done. Now I want to finish what I have begun. I'd like to have all of my health & fitness habits run on auto-pilot as soon as possible, in order to focus on something else.
I'm still dancing and walking daily and I love it. It has become noticeably easier, which is a sign that my fitness has improved. I'm happy about it, however it's also a bit frustrating because I'm not getting as intensive a workout anymore. I think I will need something more tiring soon. For now I'll develop my musculature to begin with.
How?
I will start with five minutes a day, as the goal is predominantly to learn a new daily habit. Five minutes can make a huge difference for a beginner if the workout is really intensive, anyway.
I have no clue about muscle training. So even though I'll work out for only five minutes a day, I expect that I'll need to spend a lot of time educating myself about the whole thing.
I won't go to the gym. I already tried that in the past. Not my cup of tea. Working on machines and following a strict schedule soon became intolerably boring.
This time I'll train at home and I'll train with no fixed schedule. I will use a few tools like dumbbell, barbell, free weights, but also do bodyweight exercises, and of course play with my beloved kettlebell. I don't know the details of my workouts yet as I expect to learn a lot this coming month. One's for sure, I want it to be fun and playful, and not too organized.
What I already know is that I will definitely train for strength, not for endurance. Training for endurance would mean doing many reps (repetitions) of relatively light exercises or with relatively light weights. I won't do that. Instead I'll do only very few reps, but with the heaviest weights and hardest exercises I can manage to lift or do.
Wish me luck! :-)
Since I failed miserably at adapting to a polyphasic sleep schedule, I did not learn any new habit this past month.
Month number three (March 20th to April 19th) will be about building muscle. One of my secret ( ;-) ) desires is to become a muscle beast. Not as much as professional bodybuilders, I don't like it when you can see every single muscle and tendon. But I definitely dream of having impressive muscles. Most of all, I don't only want to look strong, I want to actually be very strong.
Why?
I don't know why I want it. It seems quite irrational. I've long thought that big muscles are a useless thing to have and that all the effort put into growing them is a waste of time and energy. Nevertheless, I stubbornly keep having this desire for big muscles no matter what. I know deep down in my blood that it's the right path for me and that I want it. There aren't many things in my life which I am that sure about. So I have decided to go for it and to work towards this goal on a daily basis.
Making muscle training this month's habit was a difficult choice since I have so many awesome future habits on my list! But it makes sense to do it now. This way I'll be done with all health & fitness goals. Health & fitness was my main focus in 2008 but I didn't succeed in getting everything done. Now I want to finish what I have begun. I'd like to have all of my health & fitness habits run on auto-pilot as soon as possible, in order to focus on something else.
I'm still dancing and walking daily and I love it. It has become noticeably easier, which is a sign that my fitness has improved. I'm happy about it, however it's also a bit frustrating because I'm not getting as intensive a workout anymore. I think I will need something more tiring soon. For now I'll develop my musculature to begin with.
How?
I will start with five minutes a day, as the goal is predominantly to learn a new daily habit. Five minutes can make a huge difference for a beginner if the workout is really intensive, anyway.
I have no clue about muscle training. So even though I'll work out for only five minutes a day, I expect that I'll need to spend a lot of time educating myself about the whole thing.
I won't go to the gym. I already tried that in the past. Not my cup of tea. Working on machines and following a strict schedule soon became intolerably boring.
This time I'll train at home and I'll train with no fixed schedule. I will use a few tools like dumbbell, barbell, free weights, but also do bodyweight exercises, and of course play with my beloved kettlebell. I don't know the details of my workouts yet as I expect to learn a lot this coming month. One's for sure, I want it to be fun and playful, and not too organized.
What I already know is that I will definitely train for strength, not for endurance. Training for endurance would mean doing many reps (repetitions) of relatively light exercises or with relatively light weights. I won't do that. Instead I'll do only very few reps, but with the heaviest weights and hardest exercises I can manage to lift or do.
Wish me luck! :-)
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