Seven workouts in my new gym, I pulled a muscle in my groin due to squats, and strained my left wrist due to the bench. Both are getting better, but these injuries rocked my view on how I was performing under the bar.
Coach Oscar has told me twice on different days that I was doing some lifts with improper technique, na sayang ang buhat. True enough, I never felt the soreness I felt the first time I lifted. I asked him what the proper way was, but the problem was that what he taught me wasn't exactly the lifts I'm following. With that, I decided to deload all the weight I'm working on the next time I hit the gym to practice solely on technique. It is disappointing, since I am looking forward to a deadlift of 130lbs, but it's better this way: a crippling injury would be far more regretful rather that going back to start to improve my form.
Writing this now, I found that tt was the typical me: jumping straight into the heat of the battle without pausing to look at how things were faring.
Showing posts with label Project Kratos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project Kratos. Show all posts
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Project Kratos: New Gym
For the past two weeks, I've started going to the gym again. I stopped for about three weeks because I unfortunately caught the flu which pinned me on my bed for at least two days, and then problems arose regarding the arrangement of my stay at Gold's. I also became very busy at work: double shifts were not unusual then (which caused my immune system to take a nosedive, hence the flu). Determined to meet my 170-lb-10%-BF goal in March 2013, I looked for a new gym and started to work out again. And I did find a gym, convenient enough for me to go to after work, along with some of my office mates as well.
Five workouts in my new gym, a coach told me that my form when squatting was poor -- I was arching my back way too much. He told me that the bar should only be on top of my shoulders and that I should not put out my buttocks way too far. I tried to follow his advice, but I found the style I was using, bar on the shoulder blades, more comfortable for me. Since I didn't want to look stubborn, so every time the coach passed by, I'd stop and do something else as a silly excuse for him not to watch.
Anyway, I feel my efforts are paying off. The fact that I'm sleeping early now is enough reason for me to keep working out. I'm looking forward to a deadlift of 130lbs -- about two or three weeks from now. Hopefully I can perfect my form so that when the heavier weights come along, I should be able to lift them without pulling a muscle.
Five workouts in my new gym, a coach told me that my form when squatting was poor -- I was arching my back way too much. He told me that the bar should only be on top of my shoulders and that I should not put out my buttocks way too far. I tried to follow his advice, but I found the style I was using, bar on the shoulder blades, more comfortable for me. Since I didn't want to look stubborn, so every time the coach passed by, I'd stop and do something else as a silly excuse for him not to watch.
Anyway, I feel my efforts are paying off. The fact that I'm sleeping early now is enough reason for me to keep working out. I'm looking forward to a deadlift of 130lbs -- about two or three weeks from now. Hopefully I can perfect my form so that when the heavier weights come along, I should be able to lift them without pulling a muscle.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Project Kratos (Phase I, 2/36)
Project Kratos is my effort to be stronger and lift heavy, with a better looking body only as a result. I'm following the Stronglifts 5x5 Workout: five sets of five reps each exercise, with the exception to the deadlift where it is done five sets of one rep each.
I decided to follow SL5x5 because I was never a fan of isolation exercises and I can't afford to stay for hours at the gym. SL5x5 focuses only on compound exercises, and it allows me to train in under an hour at the most. The core exercise of the workout is the squat, while it's core principle is to start light and progressively add weight each time I visit the gym.
Phase I of Project Kratos is 12 weeks: 36 workout sessions in total.
I started the program with the following stats:
Weight: 161lbs
Body Fat: 13.4%
Posts under this label will serve as my training journal to track my progress and as well thoughts about exercising and the gym for the next weeks to come.
---
Training Day 2 (06/16/12)
Workout B
SQUATS:
5x5 - 50lbs
(+5)
OVERHEAD PRESS:
5x5 - 45lbs
(base)
DEADLIFT:
1x5 - 90lbs
(base)
Training Day 1 (06/14/12):
Workout A
SQUATS:
45lbs, 5x5
(base)
BENCH PRESS:
45lbs, 5x5
(base)
BARBELL ROWS:
65lbs, 5x5
(base)
I was actually scared to go to gym for the very first time. I felt very conscious about other people looking at me while I squat an empty bar. But as soon as I entered the gym and did my business, I felt very relieved because people didn't pay too much attention on what other people were doing. It was like everybody at the gym had an agreement not to bother somebody else unless their form is putting them at great risk for injury. When I went to the gym today, I didn't have the uneasy feeling eating me inside out. I went, did my squats and lifts, took a shower, and left. The gym (at least my gym) was like a brotherhood where every individual values respect to another person's space and time. It was very different from what I had in mind: a place packing beefy men snickering at a thin person's attempt to lift weights as thin as he was.
As Napoleon Hill places it, "neglecting to broaden their view has kept some men doing one thing all their lives."
I decided to follow SL5x5 because I was never a fan of isolation exercises and I can't afford to stay for hours at the gym. SL5x5 focuses only on compound exercises, and it allows me to train in under an hour at the most. The core exercise of the workout is the squat, while it's core principle is to start light and progressively add weight each time I visit the gym.
Phase I of Project Kratos is 12 weeks: 36 workout sessions in total.
I started the program with the following stats:
Weight: 161lbs
Body Fat: 13.4%
Posts under this label will serve as my training journal to track my progress and as well thoughts about exercising and the gym for the next weeks to come.
---
Training Day 2 (06/16/12)
Workout B
SQUATS:
5x5 - 50lbs
(+5)
OVERHEAD PRESS:
5x5 - 45lbs
(base)
DEADLIFT:
1x5 - 90lbs
(base)
Training Day 1 (06/14/12):
Workout A
SQUATS:
45lbs, 5x5
(base)
BENCH PRESS:
45lbs, 5x5
(base)
BARBELL ROWS:
65lbs, 5x5
(base)
I was actually scared to go to gym for the very first time. I felt very conscious about other people looking at me while I squat an empty bar. But as soon as I entered the gym and did my business, I felt very relieved because people didn't pay too much attention on what other people were doing. It was like everybody at the gym had an agreement not to bother somebody else unless their form is putting them at great risk for injury. When I went to the gym today, I didn't have the uneasy feeling eating me inside out. I went, did my squats and lifts, took a shower, and left. The gym (at least my gym) was like a brotherhood where every individual values respect to another person's space and time. It was very different from what I had in mind: a place packing beefy men snickering at a thin person's attempt to lift weights as thin as he was.
As Napoleon Hill places it, "neglecting to broaden their view has kept some men doing one thing all their lives."
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