I though it might be good to get down on paper some goals that I would like to achieve.

Weight 110kg -30kg
Squat 200kg + 20kg
Deadlift 200kg + 40kg
Bench 140kg + 30kg
Row 500m 1.30 -7sec
Row 2k 7.20 - 42sec
Fran <5min
Chins 10 strict

This morning I had a private session with a rowing coach. We went through how to row effectively on the 'Erg'. I found the session very beneficial. One of the main themes of this morning session was learning how to slow down and with his become a lot more efficient in the stroke. I am quite good at the 500m sprint but if I ever want to become good at the standard 2000m I will really have take this on board. The other main theme for the morning was breaking the stroke down into its individual movements and isolating each component.

In the next two months I would like to take my 2000m time down to 7.20 minuets. This means that I would need to shave off 10sec off each 500m split. Sound easy but I know that it will take some hard work.

Just did some measurements, Some results good some not so good.

Changes

Waste 131cm +2cm :(
Thigh 75cm +1cm :)
Chest 133cm +2cm :)

Or an antidote to not being an axe murder.

I have really started to reel in the old eating. One of my biggest problems is i don't eat regularly enough. I am a man with a big girth so people obviously think that I am feeding that gut 24/7. That is not the case at all. I am a man that unfortunately finds sitting down to a couple of BIG meals a day more my thing, I have it down to almost an art. I aint making drastic changes yet but I am going to work on spreading it out. Consider it stage 1.

One thing I am going to try and cut out is carbonated drinks. I don't drink anywhere near what I used to but I still run down stairs for the occasional sugar fix. well at least I'm running :) Us here in Australia have not been stricken by the pandemic that is corn syrup, but still I am having to much of a sugar spike in the afternoon. The only exception to this will be if there is whiskey in my drink, cant give that away, that would just be stupid.

Lets see how we go.

Day 1

I got back under the bar for last nights workout. I limited the weight I was moving to stop aggravating my back. everything went well, I was able to really concentrate on technique and depth in the squat. For power cleans I just used the same wiehgt as my girlfriend. I worked a lot on the second pull. I must say it was good to get back into it. I never thought I would be some one that would miss exercising. On sunday when we do workout B I will return to my previous work load and not go up.

3x5 Squat 110kg
3x5 Press 60kg
5x3 P. Clean 50kg

"Well, I woke up this morning And I got myself a beer" that would have to be one of the best sing along lyrics of all time. unfortunately i woke up this morning and did nothing. Canceling this mornings to help give my back time to recover. The back is going well and i will try a light set tomorrow.

I was lifting 140kg when my back twinged. The latest video on crossfit.com made me feel very inadequate. It is a video of a very fit looking lady dead lifting 141kg to break a Canadian record.

the video can be found here

"know when to fold 'em," and yesterday i should have walked away. I was not feeling that well and didn't feel like working out. But unfortunately i had a shed full of people so decided to give it a go. During my second set of Deadlifts I tweaked my lower back a little. I just wasn't there and I have to admit it was hard to focus on technique. I rested up and it is feeling better but I am afraid that it will take me out for a week to recover. I have not been well for the last few days and last night slept for 13 hours straight. I will see how things go.

I have added my stats in the index. This is to help monitor my progress. Thigh and Bicep measurements are there more to see the difference between weight and waste measurement. The measurements were taken over a month ago. It will be interesting to see how then have changed. This was the first time my chest measurement was bigger than my waste in a long time.

here are my stats from 12 Jan

Weight 138kg
Waste 132cm
Chest 124cm
Thigh 65cm
Bi Cep 43cm

And he brought burpees with him. These are one of the worst exercise I have ever had the pleasure of preforming. Now I am going to make some excuses, being my height and weight definitely inhibits my performance on the exercise. Burpees are just harder for taller people. I was unable to get that full burning sensation due to my lack of intensity/speed but i still gave it my best shot. The burpees that we were doing this morning included a full chest to ground push up just to make it worse. Overall, this is the closest I have gotten to meeting pukie in a while.

Our work out this morning

10 reps for time
10 burpees
10 jumping chins

My time 19:40

Last night i hit the power rack again. Squats went well but I am unsure if I can increase again with the next work out, I will give it a go even if it has to be by 2.5kg. Felt strong with the first set of presses but during the second set I twinged my shoulder. I took it easy and moved on to power cleans. Again, these weren't the best for my shoulder so I only did three sets. I have been focusing on the second pull and my work weight was my previous 1rm weight, Cant weight to smash the 1rm later in the month.

This morning Doug and I did some snatch work. With the shoulder still a bit tender we took it easy. I moved up slowly with the weights as this is the first time of attempting heaver lifts. Doug who has a lot more experience with Olympic lifts made sure that he only just beat me on each attempt. Remember, you dont have to be fast than the lion, just faster than the other guy.

Now for the shoulder, for this I blame a good friend of mine, Buck. Buck dislocated my AC joint a few years back, he thought crash tackling me from behind was a good idea. And it would have been bloody funny if my arms wernt held in. My right shoulder just speared into the ground. There is video footage around, and I do squeal like a stuck pig when I hit the ground. I dont know if this is actually related to the discomfort but I will put the blame in him any way.

3x5 squat 125kg
2x5 press 65kg
3x3 P.clean 70kg

Tonight I will be hitting the squat rack again.

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press
5x3 Power cleans

This morning the workout was to be Elizabeth. But after the time it took to install the new chin up bar my workout partner and I decided to have a row challenge. Doug's previous best was 9.06 and I have never rowed that distance.

Over 500m I give Doug quite a beating with our times being 1:37 to Dougs 1:54. I really didn't think that it would give me an advantage over the full distance due to my lack of overall fitness.. But I was surprised. Doug went up first, he regulars does this distance at his works gym. This morning after a strong effort he beet his previous PB and set the time of 8:44. Calculating that all i needed to beat doug is 2:10 / 500m I sat down to give it my all. I actually found my pace sat much better at 2:00 / 500m and ended up recording a 8:02, not bad for my first go.

I will endeavour to hit the 2000km at least twice a week. A good friend of mine like to keep his pace to 7:40. Shaving the extra 5sec / 500m is going to be fun.

Yesterday I did my first unassisted chin up in what must be ten years. I was just waiting for my training partner to stops talking grabbed the bar above my head and up I went. Chins are an essential part of the crossfit program and something I have been working towards and to be honest it actually surprised me when it happened. Plus I was 30kg lighter last time I did it. Im guessing I have just passed that tipping point were the muscles are strong enough to beat the resistance. Next sets :(

My workout on Sunday was strength 3x5. To be honest my planned work sets also felt a bit easy. Maybe I was just having a strong day. The following was my work sets.

Back Squat 3x5 120
Bench Press 3x5 90
Deadlift 1x5 130

The day started with a beutiful spring morning and "Fight Gone Bad." FGB is a crossfit workout was designed for UFC competitors. It consist of 3 x 5min rounds with a one minute rest in between.

Each round consists of

1min Thrusters
1min Push Press
1min Box jump
1min Sumo Deadlift with high pull
1min Rowing (cal)

You then count up your reps for a total score. This morning was my best result with 232

Good news is that my calf is much better

Last night I did my second session of the Stating Strength beginner work out.

Work out B
3x5 Squat @ 115kg
3x5 Press @ 60 kg
3x3 Powerclean @ 60kg

I had some troubles the night before with my calfs cramping and they had been tight all day. With this in mind I took it easy on the powercleans thinking the explosive nature of the technique might cause them more strain.

After a massage and a good night sleep they feel a lot better so this morning I worked on my Ol Snatch technique. The workout just consisted of the Burgener warmup. Some snatch basics followed be some snatchs wih two 10kg plates on the bar.

The purpose of this blog is to detail my exercise and nutrition. Always an over weight guy I have found it hard to loose some pounds. The hardest obstacle to overcome is interference from friends, people that think they are helping but in the end just helping to ingrain the old habits.

On this blog I will be posting my workouts and meals plans and how close I am to my goals.

Since the beginning of the year i have been working out with a friend, this has been for the most a good experience but it is time to get serious. with out really measuring progress it is hard to keep the gains coming. The two of us have been following the Crossfit program and have recently decked my garage in the hopes of running classes in the near future.


As you can see, there is a bit to loose.

Some of the progress so far.
- A few years ago I had some surgery to my right knee. The surgery went well and I haven't had any serious problems since them. But I have to admit I have been taking in really easy with the knee, if not to easy. Using it for an excuse to not do some exercises. At the start of the year I found it hard to even squat to parallel from both lack of strength and flexibility. My one rep max now is 170kg.

On Saturday I started the Starting Strength beginners work out. The program is as follows.

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press
5x3 Power cleans

Workouts A and B alternate on 3 non-consecutive days per week. I will only be able to really hit this twice a week due to the other Crossfit commitments.

On the Sunday just past. I started the program. though the old memory had failed me and I had done it wrong. on the weekend I competed

5x5 @ 110kg Squat
5x5 @ 60kg Press
3x5 @ 120kg Deadlift.

I look forward to posting future results.

Here is a video of one of my Saturday sets.