domers50’s BodyBlog

So yesterday I finished up my first week of high intensity workouts or "cardio in the weightroom". There’s definitly some experiences that I have to learn from in the future.

1. Doing 4 in 7 days is not smart (at least when the 3 other days were spent doing various cardio): Yesterday was extremly tiresome, and I’ve never been closer to quitting during a workout ever. And I seriously spent 30-40mins just getting back some kind of normal heartbeat afterwards. My head hurt and my whole body just felt like blowing up. Lesson learned: 2 (max 3) in 7 days is probably enough.

2. Only compound exercises demands extraordinay amounts of energy: I’m thinking I’ve got to force myself to put in some iso-exercises in my supersets. I think I can maintain a high heartrate throughout the workout with some iso-movements. Lesson learned: Revise my planned exercises and kind of calculate better how hard it will be to complete.

3. I’ve gone through my meals and calculated that I have an enormous calorie deficit. I’m eating the same as I did before I started doing just workouts with extremly high intensity. Lesson learned: Buy some protein and crank up the protein intake. I need at least 5-70g/day more protein to make sure my restitution is more optimal.

4. This is really hard and require lots of motivation just to get cracking with that day’s workout. Lesson learned: Set an end date for this. For my own motivation I have to put it into some kind of routine. That gives me something to look ahead for. I need some kind of end to the pain I’m forcing upon myself. So as a start I’ve decided 2 more weeks, then 2 weeks of normal workouts, then 3 more where I crank it up.

If there’s anyone out there who can give some advice on supersetting, I’m happy to hear them.

My plan for this week is: Monday/cardio, Tu/HI weights, We/ HI weights, Th/rest, Fr/Pilates, Weekend/Rest. This will be a little amputated workoutweek due to me travelling away Thursday-Monday.

Hope everyone gets a great week of workouts!

Just finished eating after getting back from the gym after day 2 of my new experiment. The way I’m doing these workouts is that I first select 2-3 exercises and do them in three cycles. Then I select 2-3 other exercises for another 3cycles. To finish of I do 2 exercises for 3 cycles. Very little rest in between sets, max 15 secs. And maybe 30 secs between the cycles. I try to do as many compound exercises as possible to make it even harder. Looking at the workout tracker here I’m astonished by the total amount of weight I have lifted the last couple of days, and I’ve spent so little time in gym. Yesterdays workout took me around 45mins, and todays workout took me 35mins.

I usually have one day of high intensity cardio on the threadmill, running hard 4×4mins with 2,5min jogging breaks. At the end of those I’m really shot, but after these last two workouts I’ve been totally crushed. It probably has something to do with it being new to me, but these sessions are definitly no joke. Right now I feel awesome though! Can feel this high of endorphins still flowing through my body

 I’m not going to do one of these until Friday just to rest up a little bit and I have to do some regular cardio tomorrow and Thursday. But I’m definitly looking forward to Friday’s workout

I’ll keep posting on my progress and what the results are!

So today I’ve started a new way of training. Intensity is going up, up, up and away. Did 27sets in 45mins with around 20-25 reps to failure per set. Almost no breaks, just the occational squirt of water! This is the first time I’ve done a routine like this, and I’m going to keep going with it for a while. I’m really curious of what the results are going to be.

I think I was ready to quit three times during the session, but I pushed through. Totally intense, very high pulse, and at more than one time I felt like puking. It’s a wonderful feeling to push the limits of what I’m able to do. Afterwards I took a long time to gain my composure, and probably more than one person wondered why the hell I was lying on the floor gasping for air. Maybe I looked stupid and most of the people at the gym didn’t understand the focus of my session, but I don’t care! The most satisfying workout in quite some time

This weekend I took an introduction course in Pilates. The course was 5hours on both Saturday and Sunday. The main focus in course was to learn what Pilates is, learn the basic "pillars" in Pilates and learn a range of different exercises. I have to say it was truly an enjoyable experience. For myself it was educational in the sense of my line of work as a physiotherapist. When I have patients who I want to do certain movements or get a hold of certain muscles, I very often have to figure out a "different way to explain the same". The instructor of the Pilates course explained movements in ways that made sense and was understandable, and I will surely use some of her "language" with patients in the future.

 On a more personal note, I also have to say that a lot of the Pilates movements will be used by myself in my own training. I’m not the most flexible guy in the world and I have never really thought stretching was any fun. A lot of the movements was new to me and I think I can make a little routine out of this experience that will help me with my flexibilty. I also liked the constant focus of core strength and stability. I will try to incorporate some of the breathing techniques and core focus into more "traditional" strength training. I’ve already started to modify some of the exercises I’ve done for years and this course in Pilates will help me with new ideas on how to do this.

Pilates is also something I can do after cardio or on my off days just to get a little sweat going and to work on my already mentioned poor flexibility. And with getting more experience with the movements I have no doubt that this is something that I can develop into a pretty intense workout session to do at home or as a change-up.

 I’ve been thinking about changes in my training for quite some time. I’ve been lifting heavy, heavy and heavy for years. I believe I have "enough" mass and brute strength. There really isn’t any good reasons for me to be bigger or stronger in the bench, deads and squats. I know other people want to gain mass and get stronger, and I’m not saying those are poor goals. Those are excellent goals, if that is what feels best for you. But for me personally I need change. This weekend of Pilates was a great way to kick off the new year and to give me some fresh ideas on how to change my training. Strengthtraining will always be a part of me, and in many ways strengthtraining is who I am.

 I had a really tough year in 2008 and 2009 is the year that I get back to being a happy guy and being proud of myself. I will allways make mistakes and I will allways experience defeats and tough times, and that’s just life. My way of handling those issues is to better myself, learn from mistakes and dare to make changes in my life. I was the only guy out of the 20 people in the course and some of my friends find it amusing that I’m doing Pilates. I can kind of understand them, because when you look at me there’s definitly nothing about me that screams Pilates! But by exploring new arenas and learning more and then making that newfound knowledge into something that’s mine, I think I will grow more as a person. Training or doing any kind of sports has allways been a way for me to channel my feelings and my thoughts, and at the same time doing something positive with myself. Now more than ever am I motivated to put in the hard work that needs to be done for me to be better body, mind and person.

 And by the way: the Pilates instructor was of course smoking hot and that’s allways inspiring

So the dreaded first workout of the new year is in the books! No gymwork, just an hour of hard sweating on a stationary bike. I have an extra job as an instructor for a spinning class, so getting paid to train is really a nice incentive and extra motivation. After two weeks of eating my mom’s food and way to much drinking with my buddies, it was kind of painful to get back on the horse. But it can only go up from here! Have another spinning class today, but I plan on getting in some shoulder work afterwards. Looking forward to it

So it’s 2009 already, and for me the new year this time is really a chance to flip pages in my life. 2008 was by far my hardest year so far. I had to deal with moving twice , changing jobs twice, getting new friends twice and see my relationship go down the drain. It’s been oh so rough the last three months of 2008 that I nearly lost my mind. Getting back home to my family and my friends for christmas was a lifesaver, at least it felt that way dec23 when I finaly got home. The place I live right now isn’t really such a bad place, but I moved there so that I could live with my girlfriend at the time. I have no friends there, I have no family there. Only a job, that the jury’s still out on. My realization for 2008 was that a job is only a job, being happy and around friends is so much more important. My plan for 2009 is to stay there for max 6 more months and then get out of there. I also plan to work my butt off in the gym, slowly getting leaner and healthier. Working out is now really my escape from the hardships in life and almost some kind of meditation and selfhealing of my mind. Being depressed is really not me, complaining about life in general is really not me, sitting alone watching tv is really not me. 2009 is about a newfound focus and hope. 2009 will for me be the year when I turn things around and become myself again.

 I have a newfound respect for people dealing with depression and who struggles with their lives. I hope you to set yourself goals and try to look forward. Nothing good comes out of moping, but I truely understand that it’s a phase you have to go through before looking forward.

I don’t know if anybody will ever read these words, but for me this blog’s going to be my release of frustrations and joys. Whoever wants to comment are free to do so, it’ll be greatly appreciated. Anybody who wants to PM me are also free to do so, it’ll also be greatly appreciated. May the new year be a great one!