I went around to my Dads yesterday and for my birthday he’s going to get me some dumbells/barbells. It’ll be a great present and this year is one of the few years I actually know what I want. If my mum asks me, I’m going to ask her to get me the JML Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar.  It can be bought on Amazon for £14.78 including delivery and is great for sit-ups, pushups, pull-ups, tricep dips etc.

My form in this workout was

• Squats – 12
• Calf Raises – 35

I’m definitely mastering this weight and need to ater my calf raise routine as its too easy. Maybe a slower decline and incline would work better?

In my last leg workouts on Days 4, 7, 11 & today respectively, I got…

Calf Raises – 21, 21, 28, 35

Squats – 6, 12, 13, 12

Definite progress on the calf raises. Part of this is down to improving my technique. The squats have improved a lot but maybe I’ve plateaued at this weight. I’m going to my Mums later tonight and will pick up some hand weights for holding when I go for my Sunday runs. That will be a killer!

Tomorrow is an Abs workout.

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Full-Body Shot

I would give todays workout a hefty difficulty of 8/10. Glad I got that out of the way .

My form was

• Rock Lifts – 17
• Pushups – 5

With the push-ups I always start with about 17 then down to 10 for round 2. That’s what I’m supposed to do. Maximum exertion from the start but the low scores in the later rounds are frustrating.  In other news my rock lifts are going really well. I’m loving that I did 68 rock lifts today. Much better than previously.

Day 2, 6, 9, 13 respectively so far (arm workouts) have given me

Rock Lifts (Bicep Curls) – 2, 6, 11, 17,

Push-ups – 8, 6, 4, 5.

Interesting results. Rock lifts have gone up rapidly. Push-ups not so much. I think it’s because I’m actually going 100% in the first few rounds. on push-ups now so my score suffers at the end.

A side note, I’m looking at a £100 dumbbells/barbells set from Argos. These York Chrome sets would rapidly increase my workout development. I’ll keep you updated. Tomorrow is “Legs Thursday”. I can’t believe it’s nearly been 2 weeks at this! I’m equal with when I gave up last time in July but I don’t feel like giving up at all now.

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Full-body shot

Difficulty today was about 7/10.

My form was

• Sit-ups – 10
• Planks – All complete

Because I was pretty fit before undertaking and I’m 20, I think that my body has adapted too quickly and I’ve plateaued. I plan to alter the workout at the end of this trial to include heavier weights so I can get stronger. I had a realization the other day…

I’m born to run!

And I’m really well co-ordinated. I’m gonna use this to my advantage and might encorporate some Parkour and Long distance running into my routine. I feel best after a long run compared to any exercise.  I could also put in some football playing for a team. That was its socializing and getting exercise.

I seem to have been eating less the last few days, probably due to my erratic sleeping pattern. It’s made me lose a bit of the bulk I’d gained. I actually got to bed for 9:30pm last night. Feel pretty great this morning. Maybe this is why I’ve been lacking consistency in my workouts. I’ve been sleeping from about 8-10am some days. We’ll see what happens today.

Tomorrow is an arms day. The hardest of them all.

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Full body shot (in boxers!)

Squats are a great workout for me. I was really shocked/surprised with my form today. It was a killer workout with difficulty of about 8/10.

My form was

• Squats -13
• Calf Raises – 28

I felt so tired when I’d finished that I know it was a good workout. To be honest I can still feel the strain now. I felt a little sick after this workout which is random as I ate nothing for hours before doing it. It feels like I have a tonne of liquid on my stomach. I had 1/3 of a cup of water before bed. Maybe it’s this. I won’t do it again. In my warm down walked 50 metres down the road and back to un-tense my leg muscles. Feeling good though.

Today I start applying for 3 jobs per day. I aim to have a job by March 31st 2010 (My 21st birthday) and will have applied for about 60 jobs by then. If it doesn’t go well for some reason I plan to apply for 5 jobs per weekday. Tomorrow is an Abs workout. In other news I have ordered

Walden – Thoreau

Ben Franklins Biography

A book on lucid dreaming

At least one should come today!

Cya later

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full body shot


I went out to Wetherspoons last night in Urmston and stayed out until about 1:30am and after drinking 4 cokes it took me forever to get to sleep as my mind was whirring. I still got up at 5am though and did my run. I feel pretty good after it too, maybe I’m still on the sugar high. I feel like I am. I am definitely going to cultivate more running into my routine as time goes on as I love the long natural high and alertness you get after one.

I ran the same track that I did last week. and would give this week a difficulty of 7.5/10. It cannot have a “form” measurement but it’s a definite improvement on last week. I exerted myself less and finished in 18% quicker time.

From my house to the Green Room (See day 3). It only took me 14 minutes this time though rather than about 17 last time and I did not feeel that exerted. Last week was pure hell running in the snow. I got to 100m from my home and full pace sprinted all the way. My lungs feel great at the moment too. I’m anticipating a really tired spell today.

On a side note, I’ve set a new goal to apply for 3 jobs every day and to get to sleep by 9:30pm at nights so I’m ready for the morning exercise and also so that I do not have to sleep during the day. It will also help me fully recover for exercise so I can test my limits. I was going to start yesterday but decided to go out instead and am glad I made the decision. Was partly a decent night. Tomorrow is legs aka the dreaded squats!

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Ok today was a pretty decent day to be honest. I’d give it about a 7/10 difficulty rating. I’m getting back to the high numbers again today. I realised how much stronger I’ve got lifting that rock though. I couldn’t believe my arms could do that much lifting I got about 16,15,11,11 so that’s about 53 lifts in total.

Form

• Bicep Curls – 11
• Pushups – 4

I have to say, push-ups are an absolute nightmare for me. I start off fine and then crumble towards the end. My legs start to shake and my knees give out from their position.  It’s an area where I’m going to get to grow a lot so it excites me more than seeing that I’ve done 53 bicep curls today. My arms are my weakest point and always have been. I’m gonna have to really push myself on the arm front.

I’m considering filming my workouts. Just one of each. Like film myself running, doing abs, doing arms and doing legs just once to show you what I do. It’d be a nice little memory too. I’m also gonna show you guys a picture of the rock I use and where I do situps.  Feeling pretty great to be honest today too. I had so much fruit yesterday that I felt on fire and has my first ever passion fruit. It was amazing!

Tomorrow is my second only running day. We’ll see how it goes. Last week I was really unfit and ran 1.65 miles in 15 minutes which is great. If I could put aside 1 hour 30 minutes daily in the future I could run 5 miles per day which would be nice. Once I get started running it’s easy but not planning too far ahead.

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Ok it’s the start of week 2 today. After yesterdays relatively easy workout I thought I’d go at it a bit harder today. I think I will have to increase weights or something because I’m finding this pretty easy at the moment. The difference in what I can do now compared to 8 days ago is so different. I don’t want to pile on the weight though because my body won’t like too much change in a month.

Maybe it’s just because I am fit now and will never feel that strain I did in the first few days under this workout again unless I stop it. Only time will tell.

Todays form was

• Planks – All Completed
• Situps – 10

My sit ups went pretty well actually. I did 13 every round until the last one. That’s 49 in total in 2 minutes. I am still feeling the burn now and the planks were reasonably hard but nothing compared to the first few days. They both strained me definitely though. I’ll give this workout a 4/10. It’s not through a lack of effort that I’m getting these low workout difficulty scores. My body can just take more weight now. I really did push myself today but had reserves available.

On a side note. I need to stop using my arms to proper me forwards when doing sit-ups. I should put my fingers interlocked between my head. If I have the money, in a couple of weeks I’ll but a dumbbell/barbell set for about £80-£100 which will allow me to work in weights rather than just randomly. Still enjoying my workouts though.

I am trying to motivate myself by just the challenge. Getting up at 5am and pushing myself to my limit which is thrilliing to me. I try not to get too obsessed with my body and looking at it. We all do it .

I’m one week into my Tabata Workout regime and am really pleased with the result. I’ve learned from the first week that I need more rest each night. If I’m up at 5am I need to be in bed by 10pm at the latest. I’ve also learned not to do Tabata and a weights workout midday as I’m not at that level yet.

I’m showing a full body picture today because I’m planning on doing this every 7 days for a zoomed out view of the changes.

Today was really easy for some reason. I think its partly because I’m getting stronger legs after running and squats. It’ not like I didn’t try. It just felt that I had lots of energy stored away prepared for this. My body must be adapting to the routine. Need to switch it up a little! I felt fine pretty much straight after the workout. Definitely noticing strength and muscle growth in my legs.

Overall Difficulty: 5/10 – No point in denying this. I will do the same leg workout in 3 days and if it’s too easy again I’ll make some changes to make it harder on my body.

My form was
Squats – 12
Calf Raises – 21

Good form but for some reason it was just too easy. Maybe it was just a fluke and I felt good this morning. We’ll have to see.  Really looking forwards to the next few weeks of this. I’ve grown so much already. It’s a tough workout most days but I love it. I’m just about getting into routine now. Some days I don’t feel like getting up but I’m getting there. Stay tuned!

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Tensed close ups from sides. I realised the far away shots weren’t doing me much good because you could hardly see the change!

Not a bad workout today. I murdered the first few rounds but struggled towards the end of both sets. It must be me rather than the exercises because I struggled in both. Saying that though, I couldn’t get a grip or equal weight on both sides on the rock I use for bicep curls so this made it a bi harder.

It was a reasonably tough workout though especially the last 2 rounds. Maybe a 6/10 Difficult. I didn’t feel knackered beyond repair like I have some other days. I actually feel pretty amazing already today. No super tension all over. I kinda massaged my own muscles yesterday before bed and they feel much better now. Will do this in the future too.

Here’s my form

1. Push-ups – 6
2. Bicep Curls – 6

I was getting 10-12 for the first round but declined rapidly. I really need to learn how to grip that rock. I think my push-up form will improve a lot in the next few weeks. It’s my weakest areas in my arms.

Feeling impressed with the pictures today. I feel like I’m finally getting over the first week which is the toughest and has growing pains and actually growing my muscles now. It feels great!

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OK yesterday I went around to my brothers and he’s got some dumbbells and barbells so we pumped them for about 45 minutes and listened to some music. Really good workout in addition to my morning one. Body was so tired last night. I got up this morning and did my situps/planks routine indoors downstairs so I could put my feet under the sofa and it really worked well. Feeling really good at the moment and my body is changing so quickly I can feel it and see it

Form was

• Sit-ups – 11 (about  50 in total)
• Planks – completed all. Was struggling in a good way towards the end though. Kept it together.

Today is a relaxation day . Still got some stuff to do but its minimal compared to yesterdays hellish routine. I’m just gonna clean up and chill out all day until 8pm. I’m going to see United vs West Ham with Rob. First time at a game in years!