Stryka’s BodyBlog

As I look back across the year that was 2008 I have had many victories and failures as well.

I started the year sitting around 82kg and 11-12% body fat. Initially my plan was to spend the first six months bulking back up to 90kg. I very quickly got to 86.5kg but at a very high cost. I had hit 17% body fat. If you work out the lean mass with those numbers I had actually managed to decrease muscle on a bulk! I started the year with some good gains strength wise, going from 110kg on Squats to 5-6 reps of 130kg as an example but after about 4 months hit a plateau and those gains stopped and by June was barely able to get 110kg up again. I specifically remember one leg day when I get the first rep up with 110kg but couldn’t get the second so that is exactly where my 1 rep max had dropped back too.

By this stage my weight had dropped back to 82kg and 12%. 6months work to be exactly where I had started. I think the main reason for the lack of progress was lack of nutrition. Cardio had picked up which had helped keep the bodyfat in check, but my lack of progress had disheartened me and when I don’t have anything to focus on then my diet gets lazy and the drivethru becomes more regular.

I took two weeks off in late June and this was my line in the sand. I learnt how to cook brown rice so that it tasted good and introduced sweet potato into the diet. I made sure that I had good sources of protein during the day and stopped going for a couple of drinks after work on a Friday night. I was running at least weekly now which had increased to 45 -60 minute runs. I also was riding to work 2-3 times a week which was giving me 4-6 extra 35minute cardio sessions a week. Pretty soon I went from barely getting through a Sunday morning run with the group from my gym to consistently beating them home every week.

By the end of July I had built myself to a point where I realised that if I was ever going to run the point to pinnacle then this was the ideal year. A good solid base of fitness to start with and training partners to keep me motivated.

August 15 I got my redundancy from my work. I was so pissed off that night I squatted 160kg for the first time. This was a 15kg increase on my previous efforts! Whilst at the time I was worried about where I was next going to get a paycheck from. The payout would have been enough to last me till Feb 09. For my fitness this meant that I had all the time in the world to get 6 good meals in a day and plenty of time to train as well.

This saw me shed bodyfat like it was going out of style (and it is), I cracked single figures for the first time ever and held onto most of my muscle for most of the half marathon training. It probably wasn’t until 4-5 weeks out that I dropped below 78kg at 8% and probably the most damage was done on race day where I dropped down to 74kg. I put most of the race day weight back on since and if you are a regular to my blog I started this bulking process at 77.4 @ 7.5%.

The race itself saw me finish 5 minutes faster than what I thought would be an outside best time. In a race limited to 400 runners and 800 walkers I came 144th with a time of 2:15:40. My lead-up training could have been better and more consistent but days immediately preceding the race couldn’t have been better. Post race left a little bit to be desired as I lacked food intake in a fairly big way.

I have had my ups and downs diet wise in the last couple of weeks but as I type this I am more focussed on succeeding than ever before! More of my food is going to come from fruit and veg. More lean protein. And more calories! I will not repeat last years efforts. I know better now. I have learnt a lot about what works in my body and what I can’t get away with.

2008 Goals:

Bulk up to 90kg - Not yet achieved

Get single digit Bodyfat - Achieved

Run the Point to Pinnacle under 2:30hrs - Achieved

Deadlift 200kg - Achieved (212.5 max) form is work in progress.

Squat – 150kg – Achieved (165 max lifted) Bench 120kg – Not yet achieved (sitting at 105kg)

Run 10km’s and feel no more worn out than after a good weights session – Achieved

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.