Now seems like an ideal time for me to start one of these. I've been on a hiatus from training for the past few months, due to being too busy with work/relationship commitments, and then moving to cardiff. I have been running 5 k's about 2-3 times a week, and have fit in some occasional rock climbing, but now it is time for me to get back into proper shape. To acheive this, I will be starting a 5x5 weight routine three days a week, and will be training muay thai twice a week. The 5x5 routine will be cycled over a 12 week period, with progressive weights every week. My vital stats are: Height: 5'7 / 174cm Weight: 160lbs / 72.5kg Waist: 32 ins Chest: 39 ins Body fat %: approx 10% My 5x5 programme is as follows: Workout 1 Squat - 5x5 Bench Press - 5x5 Bent Over Barbell Row - 5x5 Abdominal Work Workout 2 Squat - 4x5 Overhead Press - 5x5 Deadlift - 5x5 Abdominal work Workout 3 Squat - 4x5, + 1x3, + 1x8. Chin Up - 3x10 Bench Press - 4x5, + 1x3, + 1x8. Bent Over Barbell Row - 4x5, + 1x3, + 1x8. Dips - 3x10 Tricep Pulldown - 2x12 My training week will look like this: Sunday - Gym (workout 1) Monday - Muay Thai Tuesday - Gym (workout 2) Wednesday - General cardio work Thursday - Muay Thai Friday - Gym (workout 3) Saturday - REST I will be putting in numbers when the time comes. During the first few weeks, the weight will be relativey light, to accostom my body to the programme. Later I will star to lift progressively heavier until I am hopefull lifting 115kg/258lbs in the squat, 90kg/198lbs in the bench, and 112.5kg/ 247.5lbs in the deadlift. My overall goal for this programme is quite general - mainly to lose some body fat and maintain my strength levels, to give me a good foundation to build on later in the year. Edit: I will post details of my diet soon
thanks guys. Actually had a minor hickup already - wasn't able to make it to the gym today as it closed earlier than I thought it did, so am going to have to start the first leg of this cycle on tuesday
Right just got back from my first Muay Thai class in a loong time. It wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be. My fitness isn't great, but it seems to be better than I thought it was. The class was mainly technique driven, but was fairly intensive with consistent 9 minute rounds of drilling techniques throughout. I have been invited to the fighters class this week as well, so will probably be dead by the end of the week.
First gym session yesterday. Exercise...........Set............Weight Bench Press........1x5................45kg ........................2x5................47.5kg ........................3x5................52.5kg ........................4x5................55kg ........................5x5................60kg ....................................................... Side Bend..........1x10...............10kg .......................2x10...............10kg .......................3x10...............10kg ........................................................ Bent Barbell Row..1x5................40kg ........................2x5................45kg ........................3x5................50kg ........................4x5................52.5kg ........................5x5................55kg ........................................................ Squat................1x5................60kg ........................2x5................65kg ........................3x5................70kg ........................4x5................77.5kg ........................5x5................85kg ......................................................... Abdominal Work.................................... I've started relatively light so as to reacustom my body to lifting weights, and refine my technique before I start lifting heavy again. Ordinarily, i would start with the squat, but it was occupied by some nutters who thought that jumping with a loaded oly bar on your shoulders was just a magical idea . The fractional increases will be quite difficult to acheive - this is the first time that i have used this gym, and it is not very well equiped. It has only two 2.5kg plates, and no 1.25kg plates, so i have had to improvise using bar colllars (each one equates roughly to 1.25kg I believe...). Technique wise, everything seems pretty okay. I am still quite sore from the workout, especially in my hamstrings. I may have to switch the bench press for dumbell presses, as the only place where I can realistically bench is on a smith machine, which is old and not particularly well balanced. I haven't quite organised a nutrition plan yet. Ordinarilly I record my pre-workout carb/protein intake as an indicator of how much I should load before going to the gym. I also record how much sleep I have had. In this case, I had had 6 hours, which isn't ideal.
Nice to see someone adding the amount of sleep into their programme. Such an important element in making gains.
Absolutely fundamental in my opinion. people often say that nutrition is more imprtant than exercise. I don't agree with this - In my opinion it is a fine balancing act between correct nutrition, correct exercise, and adaquate sleep. If you get one wrong, you can eliminate a lot of the benefit of the other two aspects. All three are important, and as you say, sleep and rest are so often overlooked.
Second workout of the week today. Exercise[/B]...........Set............Weight Squat................1x5................60kg ........................2x5................65kg ........................3x5................70kg ........................4x5................70kg ......................................................... Overhead Press...1x5................20kg ........................2x5................25kg ........................3x5................30kg ........................4x5................35kg ........................5x5................37.5kg ....................................................... Deadlift..............1x5................60kg ........................2x5................65kg ........................3x5................70kg ........................4x5................77.5kg ........................5x5................85kg ........................................................ Abdominal Work....................................
From Monday (Week 1 - Workout 3): Exercise[/B]...........Set............Weight Squat................1x5................60kg ........................2x5................65kg ........................3x5................70kg ........................4x5................77.5kg ........................5x3................87.5kg ........................6x8................70kg ......................................................... Chin Up..............1x10........................... ........................2x10........................... ........................3x10........................... Bench Press........1x5................45kg ........................2x5................47.5kg ........................3x5................52.5kg ........................4x5................55kg ........................5x3................62.5kg ........................6.8................52.5kg ....................................................... Bent Barbell Row..1x5................40kg ........................2x5................45kg ........................3x5................50kg ........................4x5................52.5kg ........................5x3................57.5kg ........................6x8................50kg ........................................................ Dips..................1x10.......................... ....................... 2x10......................... ........................3x10......................... Pretty happy with how it's all going so far. I've been mad busy this week, and have had problems with my sleeping pattern which has only now resolved itself, but the workouts have been pretty good, and I'm happy with my form.
I kind of lost track of my posting in this journal, as I had another hiatus in my training. Shortly after my last post I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (although I have had this for years, only now have I been diagnosed). In addition, I had to stop training Muay Thai, as the training was aggravating an old leg injury to a point where I’ve decided that I can no longer train in MT, or at least not for a while. So, at the moment, I am weight lifting 3 days a week, doing a 5/3/1 routine to try and build up some strength, and am doing boxing workouts in the boxing gym at my local gym (although I am not currently training in any formal class) once a week, and jogging once a week also. Although my actual poundages aren’t totally impressive, I’m just happy to be training, and so will continue to update this space with my progression. Currently I’m in week 3 of my current training cycle, and I have attached below my progress so far, taken from my training log. My training plan is based around four major lifts (Military Press, Deadlift, Bench Press, and Squat), and includes some assistance work, with the four workouts split 3 days a week, i.e. I train Military Press, Squat, and Bench press in week one, and the Squat, Military Press, Deadlift week 2, etc. As for my boxing workout, I cycle between skills training, fitness training, training speed, and training power. My session this week, for example, consisted of: 4x3minute rounds: Skipping 4x3 minute rounds: Shaddow Boxing Skills Drill - approximately 20 minutes straight on a heavy bag going through various movements and combinations, focussing on form and technique rather than tiring myself out. 4x3 minute rounds: Heavy Bag workout - primarily focussing on putting combinations together. 3 minutes Plyometrics 3 minutes shadow Boxing 3minutes Plyometrics 3 minutes shadow Boxing 3minutes Plyometrics 3 minutes shadow Boxing 3minutes Plyometrics 3 minutes shadow Boxing Cool Down. The whole workout took about an hour and a half. EDIT: I just realised that the images aren't entirely visible here. Is there a way to make them larger so that people can see them?
Okay it seems like I cant zoom in on the images, so I've typed the workout logs in so what I'm doing is visible :hat: WEEK 1 - WORKOUT 2 Overhead Press - 3x5 - 30kg DB Bench - 5x10 - 40kg Wide Grip Chin Ups - 4x12 Tricep Extension - 5x10-15kg WEEK 1 - WORKOUT 2 Deadlift - 3x5 - 70kg Stiff Leg Deadlift - 5x10 - 50kg Squat - 5x10 - 60kg Abdominal Work WEEK 1 - WORKOUT 3 Bench Press - 3x5 - 40kg DB Incline - 5X10 - 35KG Bent Over Rows- 5X10 - 40KG Dips - 4x12 WEEK 2 - WORKOUT 1 Squat - 3x5 - 70kg Glute Ham Raise - 5x10 Lunges - 5x10 - 35kg Abdominal Work WEEK 2 - WORKOUT 2 Overhead Press - 3x3 - 40kg DB Bench - 5x10 - 40kg Wide Grip Chin Ups - 4x12 Tricep Extension - 5x10-15kg WEEK 2 - WORKOUT 3 Deadlift - 3x3 - 80kg Stiff Leg Deadlift - 5x10 - 50kg Squat - 5x10 - 60kg Abdominal Work WEEK 3 - WORKOUT 1 Bench Press - 3x3 - 50kg DB Incline - 5X10 - 35KG Bent Over Rows- 5X10 - 40KG Dips - 4x12 WEEK 3 - WORKOUT 2 Squat - 3x3 - 80kg Glute Ham Raise - 5x10 Lunges - 5x10 - 35kg Abdominal Work WEEK 3 - WORKOUT 3 Overhead Press - 5/3/1 - 30kg, 40kg, 45kg DB Bench - 5x10 - 40kg Wide Grip Chin Ups - 4x12 Tricep Extension - 5x10-15kg
Boxing workout today. This was mainly a fitness based session: 6x3 minute rounds shaddow boxing, with various exercises inbetween rounds 6x3 minute rounds shaddow boxing with various exercises inbetween rounds 10 minute continuous HIIT session on the heavy bag - 30 seconds hard and fast, 15 seconds light After this, I performed a calisthenics workout trying to focus on some old exercises that I haven't done for a while. These include Plance - I can currently perform a tuck plance, although not very convincingly, and so this needs further improvement. DragonFlags - Although I could formerly perform full Dragonflags, I can currently only do partials (i.e. knees bent and negatives, but can throw a couple of full ones in for good effect) V-Sit - not too bad, although there is still some room for improvement These exercises were performed as well as various others not worth mentioning at this point. I think at some point in the future I'd like to focus far more on bodyweight exercises than weights. Although I don't want to completely erradicate weightlifting, I feel I need to include far more calisthenics to balance myself out somewhat.
Just played a game of ultimate frisbee with some friends, which turned into a four hour session. never played this before, but I gotta tell ya, it's one hell of a workout!
Week 4 weight training. Haven't started week 5 yet as my shoulder is feeling a little funny from sleeping on it awkwardly, but have just done some light cardio in the meantime. WEEK 4 - WORKOUT 1 Deadlift - 5/2/1 - 70kg, 80kg, 90kg Stiff Leg Deadlift - 5X10 - 50KG Squat - 5X10 - 60KG Abdominal Work WEEK 4 - WORKOUT 2 Bench Press - 5/3/1 - 40kg, 50kg, 60kg DB Incline - 5X10 - 35KG Bent Over Rows- 5X10 - 40KG Dips - 4x12 WEEK 4 - WORKOUT 3 Squat - 5/3/1 - 70kg, 80kg, 90kg Glute Ham Raise - 5x10 Lunges - 5x10 - 35kg Abdominal Work
UPDATE. I'm now three months into my 5/3/1 program. I have made variations here and there - I have completely removed dips, because of a niggling injry at my sternum, which feels like its on fire when I dip. I decided I wanted to really boost my pull up numbers, and so I started to include them at the end of every workout, and as a major component of the overhead press day, and can currently do 15 good ones in a single set. I'm still making good progress in every workout, apart from the overhead press which is beginning to decline, and the weights are getting gradually harder to push. I am currently lifting just under bodyweight. For the bench press, I have just managed to press bodyweight, and I have managed to squat and deadlift 1 1/2 times bodyweight, so I'm pretty happy about that, especially as I am currently working on a slight calorie deficit. I'm trying to cut fat, and so I am doing a fair bit of cardio, with the aim to get down to about 8% body fat. I'm currently at about 10%, although this is only an estimate, as I have misplaced my calipers. That's about it really. I think pretty soon I may replace the overhead press with a power clean and press, which is not something I've experimented with much, and so I may post a video for form correction at some point.