30 Days of Fitness: Day 23 - A New Challenge

Had a PT session this morning. At 6:00am. Fortunately I had no problem getting up this time. Might have been because I knew someone was waiting for me. Maybe this is what the real purpose of a gym buddy is...

Anyway, had a chat with Nathan about wanting to gain 10kg and so we're doing a 3 day split cycle. Day 1; chest and biceps. Day 2; legs and shoulders and Day 3; back and triceps(?). So today we did chest and biceps and although I don't recall the names of all the things I did, I will attempt to describe them and post a copy of my routine when I do this next.

Started off with the bench press. Already felt the intimidation rise as I was suddenly in the weights 'corner' with all these muscly guys. First we did it with just the bar, which was a bit embarrassing but it weighed 20 kg. Did fine, so we upped it to 30kg. There I struggled. And there is where Nathan said is my starting point. Strangely, the thing I dread the most is having to ask someone to spot me when I am doing it. Do you just approach anyone? For some reason, I feel like this will be the hardest thing of the whole circuit. I think it's partly coz I am lifting such a piss-weak weight; will I be scoffed at or mocked? It's almost like being the new kid at school and trying to hang with the cool kids. Weird how this is what I think about though.

Moving on, we then did some biceps lifts and push ups - did a good set of ten. Had a pretty straight back - thank you yoga and plank position but my elbows come out too much when going down. Then we did some dumb bell bench presses went from 6 to 7.5 to 10kg. We're staying at 7.5-8 for the time being. Also had a go at some chin ups, did 2! Fuck yeah!!!

Overall, I am happy with the results I made today. I know I've got a lot to do but I am determined to make this become something good and it won't happen unless I struggle through it; but in a good way. I'm excited about this. Through the 23 days, I now have a goal and a reason to keep going to the gym after the challenge is over. I feel quite rejuvenated. And my high spirits continued when I got home and had a scrambled egg and fried mushroom toast concoction!

30 Days of Fitness: Day 21 - The Cracks Begin...

AAAAAAggggggghhhhhhhhhhh...another failed day, what's happening to me? I feel like it's a cross between tiredness, the heat and the fact that it may be doing things I don't like. In this instance, zumba. Not been a massive fan of zumba since I tried it two weeks ago, think it's a bit silly to be honest. So that might be another reason why I decided to skip it.

Still went to the gym though and did a full workout. Gym was virtually empty, which was weird. Everyone must be away because of the long weekend. It was nice, just because it gave me an opportunity to get more comfortable with the TRX training without an audience, not that people would be watching me but I do feel a little self conscious on it just because I've not used it before. But after today, I'm ready, haha...

Guess this is a short post today...

30 Days of Fitness: Day 20 - Sick of being Skinny

Confession time...I didn't go to my fencing class or my spin class today. BUT I have "valid" reasons for both of these. I think. I mean, who has a fencing class at 10am on a Saturday!?!?! Ok, so I went the two weeks before that but lat night I got to sleep at 4am; it's a Friday night! So to get up at 8am was never going to happen. It is a little annoying as I genuinely enjoy the classes but it would have killed me for the rest of the day.

And Spin...well I have decided to stop going to spin class mainly from due to my fitness goals. I have decided that I want to gain 10kg and by doing an hour of cardio I think it will make it a little more difficult for me to achieve this. I will still do a little cardio in my circuit but I won't do spin anymore. Which isn't a bad thing because I hated it and wanted to die by the end of it. I don't like the way I look, everyone keeps saying how lucky I am to be so skinny and eat what i want (funnily enough this is mainly from women) but I hate being skinny. I have hated being skinny for such a long time, possibly since puberty all those years ago and suddenly being aware of what a fit guy is "supposed" to look like. I know by putting on these extra kilos, I will feel more confident and happier with how I look. I also know it will not be that easy to put on 10kg and it's not just about doing weights but I finally have the clarity and the want to get this.

I spoke with my PT briefly on the phone and we're going to look at giving me a certain muscle to work on in each session from now on and to discuss this goal in more detail. Quite exciting to be mixing things up and now that I have a goal outside the 30 Days, I think it will continue to inspire me to go.

I started with the TRX training today, kept it simple and did some chest presses, squats and row. Wasn't too intense but I could definitely feel the weakness in my arms, especially my right arm. Had a look at the chart and there are so many exercises to choose from that help build the body for strength and flexibility. Shame the equipment is $200 otherwise I may have considered investing in it. But perhaps later down the track.

The 'new' circuit I have is this but I imagine it will change come Tuesday's PT session:

Some of the TRX exercises 

Warm Up

TRX - chest, squats and rows 3x15)
4kg medicine ball wall slam and floor slam 2x I min each
Cross Trainer fast/slow 4x30/30 = 8mins
Rowing fast/slow 5x30/30 = 5mins

Training

Lats Pulldown 3x15 at 30kg
Chest Press 3x15 at 30kg
Squats 3x20 with 4kg med ball
Hammy Curls 3x15 at 40kg
Shoulder Press 3x15 at 20kg
Standing Row 3x15 at 30kg

medicine ball floor slam

Core Exercises

Ab Curls 2x20

Russian Twists 2x40 with 4kg ball

Alt. Arm/Leg Raises 2x10

So pretty much the same as it used to be but not as much treadmill or rowing, which I always felt was a bit excessive as a warm up. 

Did quite well with it all, finding the squats the hardest thing at the moment but the ab curls are becoming easier - still struggle with the second set but it is that little bit easier and I can feel that I am making progress.

Ten days to go and it's been hard - the last two days along with this heat; i find it really demotivates me. Got another intense few days and then hopefully it will be a nice cool change before the end of it. Perhaps focusing less on the ten day left and more on the ultimate goal of being 80kg would help more too...

Apologies for the weird font towards the end, not sure how to get it to be the normal size I always use!