Shankland’s BodyBlog

Things have been progressing really well recently. Been away at a professional cricket academy for Gauteng, and the guys push you so unbelievably hard. I am loving every minute of it because weight is falling off of me and my bodyfat has dropped incredibly. There has also been a slight shift in how i have to train now, with trying to turn professional in cricket. The weight is slightly reduced and i am pushing for 15 repititions a set. I think their focus is alot more on building strength endurance, pure strength and not huge amounts of agility inhibiting muscle. If this carries on that long sort after 6 pack might finally be in reach! Freaking awesome.

Hi guys

Something has changed within me from today. I have realised that no matter what i do in the gym, when i walk out of the gym i betyter not be able to use that body part. If i train legs, my legs better be shaking and i must not be able to walk. If i train chest it must feel like my chest is about to explode.

 I heard someone say recently, if you are not training to failure you are failing to train. How hectic is that comment.

 I walk into the gym everyday with a goal for each set, each speific excercise and i now know that the goal i have set is only a guide line. I must beat my goal, better it each week!

 I know this sounds so basic, but i guess when you get into something seriously its the basics one tends to forget.

I think it is time to forget about doing things half measures anymore, it is now about doing things at 150% and still trying to push further!!

Hi guys

I am quite dissappointed today. A week ago i had lost a couple kilo’s, and also lost some bodyfat. I have done nothing different, exercised just as much, ate just as well, and now today i have pcked up weight and the bodyfat has increased. I am trying to understand why it has changed so dramatically. I wonder if these scales in the gyms are very sensitive to how much liquid you have in your body, that could be my only explanation.

I can’t actually believe it. After a really crazy and emotional 6 months of my life, with so many family tradegies here in SA, I have finally found the determination once again to hit the gym. After a couple weeks of hard work things are finally starting to pay off! I am almost at my short term goal of 85kg, and here is my total surprise. Over the last couple months i have lost 4% bodyfat.

 Who knew i could do this? I certainly did not!!

This makes gym so much easier, so much more worthwhile. I can’t wait for my next session.

Hey there Guys

 2008 has arrived, and it sparks a new beginning for me! the end of 2007 did not end well in terms of my gyming goals, mainly because of the stress of exams and a family tragedy. But now 2008 is a new begining. I will be posting pics of how i look now, don’t let them scare you, because i will not be looking that way for long.

See ya guys soon

I am a little confused. My bodyfat readings are really inconsistent. Yesterday my bodyfat was 17.1%, and after a really good day both workout and nutrition wise it is back up ti 18.1%. I am not sure why??? Maybe it is the scale i have that measures the bodyfat ?? ( i think this is why, because if i retain any water from the day before it sky rockets) Its quite frustrating, because happiness of reaching the lowest ever is now overshadowed by been straight back to where i was before.

Man but i am seriously happy today. I have been discussing lately how i have been trying to eat so much cleaner and concentrate on nutrition. It is finally paying off. Today is officaially the lowest my bodyfat has ever been. It had dropped into the 17’s, as today my bodyfat is 17.1%.

It feels really good when hard work finally pays off.

During winter, well for me from about April to July i was training 2 bodyparts per day at seriously high intensity and at seriously heavy weight. Without knowing it i had pushed myself so far that i fell into that horrible state known as "overtrained". That is probably one of the worst feelings in the world, wanting to go outside and hit the weights but your mind just somehow will not let you do it. So for the past few months to combat that i have trained one bodypart a day, and i traied about 4 days a week.

I can’t say that it had any negative affects, i managed to keep all the muscle i had and i did manage to stay away from the state of been overtrained. But the one thing that became really difficult was keeping up strength. Each workout you always try to better yourself but becasue you have only done chest maybe 2 and a half weeks before hand its hard to maintain any sort of improvement!!

So i have taken a look at this and i am back to my two bodyparts per workout session, training 4 days a week, therefore each bodypart does get a workout each week, there is no lag between workouts.

My split is: chest & biceps, shoulders & triceps, legs , back & calves & abs

I must say that even though the workout takes me a bit longer, afterwards i feel stronger and more worked and satisfied with what i have done.

 Let me know what you guys think

Hey there Guys  Man but his journey of bettering yourself takes so much effort, lately i was becoming slightly demotivated, purely because i was not getting results like i wanted. I decied something had to change, i chatted to a friend on the weekend about Nutrition, and i found out that how i was eating was definately the cause of what was make my results so poor. I have been eating really clean this entire week, and i feel thinner, leaner, and stronger within 4 to 5 days. I know that things won’t change dramatically in such a short time, but i know i am heading down the right track at least, and that if i keep motivated and keep this discipline for a prolonged period of time, i am on my waqy to my goal of having a single digit bodyfat percentage.

Hey there Guys

 Man but his journey of bettering yourself takes so much effort, lately i was becoming slightly demotivated, purely because i was not getting results like i wanted. I decied something had to change, i chatted to a friend on the weekend about Nutrition, and i found out that how i was eating was definately the cause of what was make my results so poor. I have been eating really clean this entire week, and i feel thinner, leaner, and stronger within 4 to 5 days. I know that things won’t change dramatically in such a short time, but i know i am heading down the right track at least, and that if i keep motivated and keep this discipline for a prolonged period of time, i am on my waqy to my goal of having a single digit bodyfat percentage.