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Ok the trial of writing to the blog is over! Today was my last day of the allotted 30 days and I did an arm workout. I was at my grandmas so I used the rock in the garden with the 5 second up, 5 second down protocol. I got

• Bicep Curls – 15
• Push-Ups – 4

I actually did the push-ups 5 seconds up, 5 seconds down with my face nearly touching the floor on the decline today and so they are a more accurate reflection of my push-up skill! I would not allow myself rest and was really pushing for that 4th push-up.

Don’t be afraid to switch up the workout – to be honest, you need to. You do not want your body to mould itself and become comfortable with particular exercise or it will stop growing.

I’ve really enjoyed this trial and the boost in energy that has come with it but it has been difficult at times. It’s hard getting up at 5am, but you get used to it. One thing I would have done looking back is to have the whole month planned out. All I had at the start was my body weight and a big rock to exercise with. If I maxxed out on the rock (which I did!) what would I do next?

Tabata Intervals or 5 seconds up/5 seconds down are a great way to get fit whilst spending little time. The aim of me doing this all along was so that I could get up early, exercise and then go to work. I’m in the routine now and comfortably feel like I could do this.

Another thing I would add is do not be afraid to experiment. When I got towards the end of the trial and started doing the 5 second up / 5 second down approach I did not know if it would work but had a strong feeling it would. It has been working fantastic so far. I read somewhere that Bruce Lee was an advocate of this type of training.

I also noticed how much of an affect my diet has on my body and even more my mental clarity. If I don’t eat fruit and have a heavy lunch I feel terrible and remaining present is a huge struggle. This trial has spurred me on more than ever to try a Raw Diet. As soon as I have settled into my new lodgings and got a consistent income it will be the first thing I will do.

The one day where I went 100% Raw during the trial, I felt so strong and after a nap in the middle of the day woke up feeling amazingly refreshed. The thing is with a Raw food diet is that it is usually low in fat, but, keeps you strong and your stomach full  so I will be able to lift heavier and have low body fat percentage.

The concept of  unfitness feels so foreign to me now. I can’t even remember what it is like to get up at 1pm after staying up until 1:30am getting drunk. I’ve noticed that setting little trials like this help you get clarity in other areas of your life as well.

If you become fit you might notice that your social group is unfit and reforcing those old habits or that you do not enjoy drinking with them any more. I have found that getting healthy and getting up early has shown that I need to find a new group of friends with people more like me. This is another plan to come after I have started getting a solid income form my job.

The last few days since I have started my 5 second up, 5 second down routine I have started to eat a lot more. I think it’s about double what I was eating previously and I can feel myself putting on weight. I could do with an extra stone or two of weight so that’s fine. It just seemed to come out of nowhere though and I’ve gained 6 pounds during the trial.

The future is looking bright in terms of health and strength too. I am going to turn to a Raw food diet, I’m getting my own set of weights (11 days and counting), a JML Iron Gym, a full time income and my own place shared with my brother. Things are looking up.

During this trial I have maintained an exact replica of the trial over at Richards Tabata Log and I plan to maintain it with a weekly picture and my daily workout routine.

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Today was a fantastic workout and I really felt the strain towards the end of both rounds. I did a little mix up today and did 15 sit ups with 5 seconds up then 5 seconds down with no weight and no break and just about completed them all.  I get a little back pain and need to improve my form whilst doing sit-ups.

After than I did planks. I aimed for 20 seconds of doing a plank and then 10 seconds rest, similar to Tabata. I aimed to do 15 of these without rest in total but got through 4 mins 30 secs which is 9 planks.

Difficulty was 9/10. I actually felt my current physical limit and it felt great.

5 second planks – 9/15

5 second Sit-ups – 15/15

I really enjoyed this workout. Tomorrow is Arms.

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Today was a good workout. I’d give it difficulty of about 7/10. I did squats and calf raises whilst holding a 25kg barbell across the back of my shoulders and continued with the 5-second incline and decline and it felt great.

My form was

• Squats – 15
• Calf Raises – 15

It feels like a good workout and I think I’ll maintain this weight for leg workouts for a while until I get settled and get my own weights. Feeling pretty good today and my legs feel really tight and strong. I had an avocado, kiwi fruit and a large orange for breakfast with some toast. Tomorrow is an Abs workout, I predict good things for the 5 second incline/decline on the abs days.

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Today is the first time I did an arm Barbell workout at my brothers house. I used the 25kg weights again (including the bar itself) and decided I’d do 15 lifts of 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down. The problem was, I kept on resting. In the future I will pick a weight like 25kg and earn arm workout day, try for 15 reps of 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down repetitions. When I have done this, add another 5kg weight.

Todays form was

Bicep Curls with 25kg Barbell – 15 all complete

Pushups – 7

Difficulty of about 6.5/10

My push-ups were 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down too. I think I’m going to enjoy the 5 seconds routine because it really works your limits and makes more sense than pushing out 100 reps at just 1 second.

Tomorrow is legs workout, I think I’ll need a bit more than 25kg. 2 weeks today until I get my own weights. My brother has a workout bench and some more weights now too. We will have a little gym going before long enough.

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Today was a strange workout. I didn’t have the weights as I stayed at my grandmas so the sit-ups I did were easier. My form was the same as last week so it proves that I’m limited only by the 20 second limit and not the amount that I can put out.

I ate Raw for one day (except for 3 pieces of toast in the morning) and noticed a huge energy shift upwards and then crashing back down yesterday when I had a gateau and a sirlion steak, the shame!

But in all honesty, I’m going back to eating Raw in the near future, the energy is amazing. I just needed a bit more money to carry it through, and a bit more stability in others areas of my life. One good thing about the Raw diet is that when I get used to actually eating that much physical food and get enough fat, I can lift heavier, run further and it gets rid of all the excess fat on my body giving the amazing ripped effect.

My form today was

• Sit-ups – 13
• Planks – All Complete

Difficulty 6.5/10

I somehow need to add weight during the planks and considered putting a dumbbell plate on my back but this is inconvenient during a workout. Maybe I’ll look up some alternative abdominal exercises.

I’ve successfully switched to exercising at someone else’s house too. This is great because it shows the routine is engrained for life. I can now exercise for every day for the rest of my life without it feeling too tough. Barring illness and extreme circumstances of course.

I’m going to look into getting an apprenticeship for income. Whilst the money you get is quite low, I could get by on it not having to pay rent and could actually do something I like for a few years whilst doing this writing on the side and building an income from it.

I stayed at my brothers house last night and did my first workout there. My legs were killing me from the last 2 days of football running and all that bike riding. Adding todays workout and my legs are so heavy and clumsy at the moment. I only had 4 hours sleep and it’s catching up with me now.
I did my standard Legs workout of Calf Raises and Squats with a barbell across my shoulders which in total weighted 25kg in total. I’m gonna start small and add 5kg each time so that I don’t go overboard at the start and hurt myself. I did 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down which definitely added to the intensity of the workout. I plan to continue this 5 up, 5 down set of reps. It’s shorter and more high intensity than the Tabatas and I’ll still do the running on a Sunday.

Yesterday I deciede on a whim to go Raw for a couple of days and felt pretty decent when I did my workout this morning but I’m gonna give it up for now. I have too much going on in my life already. Maybe in April/May. Difficulty 5/10. I’m staying at my brothers from now on so will hopefully be able to use the weights every day in the morning and progressively add weight to the barbell. It’s also 16 days until I get my own weights too!

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OK today was a TOUGH workout. I’d give it a 9.5/10 difficulty. I played football yesterday for about 3 hours with all the lads on Lostock Park and was so tired before I went to bed that I just knew the run would kill me. I made decent time though. I completed the run in 15 min30s which is good considered I walked a lot more of the distance than usual. Had I not played football for 3 hours yesterday I’m sure my result would have been much better.

I slept in the back room for the first time last night and was thinking that my alarm wouldn’t wake me up as its a new set of surroundings but everything went fine. I’m so sore all over, especially the legs. My back has been giving me trouble for 2-3 days now and I’m going to look up some Yoga stretches on-line to fix it. It’s leg workouts again tomorrow. That’s like 3 days in a row! It took me about 2 hours to write this post on my Grans home computer. Really need to sort my laptop out!

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My form today was

• Sit-ups – 13
• Planks – all complete

Difficulty was about 7/10

In other news, I’m moving out to my brothers house as soon as I can. The person I live with is really ill and wants my bed for people to take care of her who want to stay over. This is fair enough and I agreed. I will likely move into my brothers house as this was the long-term plan anyway. One good thing about this is that I will still be able to come back here and use the internet and at my brothers he has a set of weights that I could borrow off him each day to improve my workout.

I usually take a picture straight away after my workout and upload it to this page so it might be a bit more difficult to do this whilst moving out and living elsewhere but I will try my best to get a picture uploaded everyday.

One thing that will come out of this is that I will be moving things to my brothers house and riding my bike a lot which will give me great exercise. I really could do with the use of weights too because like I’ve said in previous entries, my workout is becoming non-challenging and stale.

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Pretty average day today to be honest. I would give it difficulty of 6.5/10. I’m considering just doing this for 30 days as a 30 day trial instead of the original 6 weeks. Because if I continue at this rate I’m just wasting blog space. I’m not improving becase I haven’t got the equipment yet. The first 5 days, I woke up with physical pain the next day, the good type but since then it’s been easy coasting.  It’s just an idea at the moment anyways.

Todays form was

• Squats – 13
• Calf Raises – 35

Good form but it seems to have stagnated and I get those numbers pretty much consistently. I’ve got a job interview cleaning after hours at a school today too in Eccles.