Brains, Brawn and Bamboo

Since stopping for a recovery week after my 13 week Power to the People program, I’ve been utterly exhausted. Grossly tired, hardly any appetite and mentally fatigued. It’s taken all my effort to go to Kung Fu training. I really pushed it hard with the deadlift program and, while I made good gains, I think I may have pushed too hard, ran too much on adrenaline, and used up all my energy reserves, especially considering I was back at the weights the day after coming out of hospital…

As a result, I’ve needed two weeks to recover.

Oh well. I’ve got 6-7 weeks now until I’m off on a two week holiday, so I want to make the most of the time and still try and make my 13 stone / 182 Lbs target. I’m moving around at work again, so I definitely wont have time to go to the gym everyday and still get my martial arts training in as I had been doing.

I’m tempted to stick with home training for this next spell - back to Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell, perhaps? If so, I’ll start the 3 day-a-week program tommorrow. I’d dearly love to have a keg / barrell to lift, Steve Justa style. Anyone got any clues on where to acquire / purchase one? Bear in mind, I live in tea-sippin’ blighty.

Bring me your energy - I need it!

Three months ago, I started a Pavel’s Power to the People program. 2 x 5 Deadlift, 5 days a week. Heavy as you can with good technique, cycling the weight for steady progress. As things progressed, I added Squats and Bench Presses to this routine, utilising Pavel’s techniques to focus on strength and form.

In the last three months, I’ve been in confined to a hospital bed for a week due to an ongoing flare-up of my ulcerative colitis, which I was told had almost halved my haemoglobin index due to the excessive blood loss. I’ve been on increasing amounts and intensities of medication to deal with this aggressive condition. In spite of this condition, I’ve not missed a single day of work (my hospital stay occurred during annual leave!) or a single damn workout (excluding hospital time), no matter how weak or sickly I felt. My mind has allowed my body to triumph.

Speaking of triumph, let’s see what has changed in three months:

Before: 04/03/09 (NB: Squat and Bench Press didn’t start until 13/04/09)

Bodyweight: 154 Lbs

Bodyfat: 9.5%

Deadlift: 55KG / 121 Lbs x 5

Squat: 50KG / 110 Lbs x 5

Bench Press: 42.5KG / 93.5 Lbs

After: 07/06/09

Bodyweight: 174 Lbs (+20 Lbs)

Bodyfat: 9.5% (No change)

Deadlift: 105KG / 231 Lbs x 10 (+110 Lbs and +5 Reps!)

Squat: 85KG / 187 Lbs x 5 (+77 Lbs)

Bench Press: 65KG / 143 Lbs x 5 (+49.5 Lbs / 60KG or 132 Lbs x 10)

To sum up, I’ve put on 20Lbs of mostly muscle, increased my deadlift by 100+ pounds and substantially improved my Squat and Bench Press in 13 weeks.

There was no secret to this. Hard, consistent work - heavy lifting every weekday regardless of other chores or energy. Determination to improve the weights when needed and the wisdom to cycle the weights back when ego threatened to send things awry. Plenty of good food, a multi-vitamin, and at least two litres of water a day. Oh, and I’ve been doing my Kung Fu/Kickboxing training as well, so I’ve still got my conditioning and flexibility.

No magic formulas or ground-breaking super-supplements. Just hard graft and mental grit. I wouldn’t have wanted these results any other way.

I’m taking a week off for recovery at the moment, then I’ll be launching myself right back into training. But doing what? I don’t know yet - any ideas or advice will be greatly and gratefully received. Something strength based, for sure. Quick, brutal and effective. Old school. And still no super-supplements!

Train hard, friends. Your strength is equal to the measure of your desire.

Rarrrrrgh! I was an absolute beast in the gym today!

I’ve had the last couple of days off from the gym due to work and medical commitements. I decided that, as this week marks the end of my 12 week stint at Pavel’s ‘Power to the People’ program, that I’d use the impromptu break to prepare for an all out, balls to the wall, give it hell session today to finish the cycle in a proper way.

I stalked into the gym ready to do war - and I tore things up like a savage!

Basically, I took my previous 5-rep max on the Deadlift, and did it for 10 reps instead!

10 x 105KG / 231 Pounds. And with an overhand rather than a mixed grip! I usually only use an overhand grip on my second, lighter, 90%-weight set, so to hit a full 10 reps using the overhand grip with this weight was insane!

I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy, though I ripped through the reps up until rep number 8, and had to really grind out the last two. I was firing on all cylinders, my body was throbbing like…(wait, the analogy I’ve thought of isn’t appropriate before the watershed!!), and it felt like my forearms were going to rip through my skin because of the mad pump, but I did it! I then went on to set a new 10-rep max on the Bench, and consolidate my previous 5-rep max in the Squat (considering the effort I put into the deadlift, I’m pleased I managed to hit my 5-rep max in the squat afterwards - my legs were shaking before I started!)

Rarrrrgh! Good times.

Now I’ve put the figures into the Bodyspace 1-Rep Max calculator, it shows I have a 300+ deadlift 1-rep max. I doubt that’s true - just because I handled this weight at 10 reps doesn’t mean I could shift +70lbs for 1 rep. It makes my progress chart look insane, spiking up like that, but it’s just the differential between doing a weight for 5 reps at the beginning of the week and for 10 reps at the end of the same week. I swear it’s all genuine - I do this to better myself, not to look impressive, and I’m bloody proud of what I’ve done.

I’ll do a proper round-up of the entire 12 weeks on Sunday, detailing how much weight I’ve gained and how my lifts have improved over the last 3 months.

Next week will be a recovery week before the next program, so no strength training for 7 days now.

I think I’ve earned it!