Uploaded my B3-workout to youtube a while ago but forgot to add it to my blog. Here it is:
Yesterday I did my B1-workout again and I have completed two blocks of DC-training.
During my first week and the first couple of days of my second week I experienced muscle soreness. All those sets to muscular failure took their toll and my biceps and triceps were not conditioned for this kind of abuse. :)
That beeing said; everything feels good now and improvements in reps and weight is profound!
In my first B1-workout I did barbel curls with 30kg for 16, 5 and 4 reps, each set to absolute muscular failure. Yesterday I did 32.5kg for 21, 6 and 6 reps!
In my first A1-workout I did incline bench in the machine with 70kg for 14, 4, 3 reps and on Monday I did 90kg for 11, 4 and 3 reps!
The leg press machine is a fun addition to my strength training. Yesterday I did 260kg (572lbs) for 20 reps. I am supposed to do 4-8 reps first but there is not enough room for weight plates on the machine so I have only done the widowmaker set till now. Next time I am going to do leg presses I will do some heavy back squatting first. I do not look forward to that but it has to be done.
The weight is not moving so I will fast less and eat more the following weeks.
Also, I might ease up on the calf raises since I am getting some weird pains on the inside of my ankle..time will tell.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Submission wrestling
Me and some friends meet up every friday and grapple. They have been at it longer then me since I have about 10 balls in the air at any given moment in time..:)
We practice submission wrestling where the main objective is to gain positional dominance over your opponent and submit him with a lock or a choke. In competition you also get awarded points for sweeps, passes and throws.
This is, in my opinion, a great sport that gives you many challenges. You can practice full speed, full force against a non complient opponent since there are agreed upon rules that makes it safe. If you get trapped in a lock or a choke you simply "tap out" by clapping your hand or foot on the ground or on your opponent. You can also say; "tap", or something similar that you both have agreed upon before starting.
Some of the most important factors of sub.wrestling (again, in my opinion) is technical mastery, endurance (both cardiovascular and muscular) and strength.
The only thing I got going for me at the moment is strength. I have many hours of practice ahead of me before I can claim to be a good technical grappler. My endurance will creep up towards the summer (because of my bodybuilding project).
Here is a video clip of yestedays grappling session (the first guy I am grappling has about 10 kg on me):
We practice submission wrestling where the main objective is to gain positional dominance over your opponent and submit him with a lock or a choke. In competition you also get awarded points for sweeps, passes and throws.
This is, in my opinion, a great sport that gives you many challenges. You can practice full speed, full force against a non complient opponent since there are agreed upon rules that makes it safe. If you get trapped in a lock or a choke you simply "tap out" by clapping your hand or foot on the ground or on your opponent. You can also say; "tap", or something similar that you both have agreed upon before starting.
Some of the most important factors of sub.wrestling (again, in my opinion) is technical mastery, endurance (both cardiovascular and muscular) and strength.
The only thing I got going for me at the moment is strength. I have many hours of practice ahead of me before I can claim to be a good technical grappler. My endurance will creep up towards the summer (because of my bodybuilding project).
Here is a video clip of yestedays grappling session (the first guy I am grappling has about 10 kg on me):
Thursday, January 28, 2010
First week of DC-training done
First, here is my B2-workout:
This completes my first week of DC-training. It has been strange for me to use machines and to take each set to failure. The arm-focus is also unusual for me (never worked my biceps so much) and I have been sore 3/4 of my first week. I still need to eat more since my work week is packed with physical activity.
Everything feels good so far, the soreness is gone and my body is adapting well.
As some might have noticed, I do not go gung ho with my leg-work. This is to make sure I do not re-strain my back (hurt it a bit right before christmas).
Week two has started! Here is my A3-workout:
This completes my first week of DC-training. It has been strange for me to use machines and to take each set to failure. The arm-focus is also unusual for me (never worked my biceps so much) and I have been sore 3/4 of my first week. I still need to eat more since my work week is packed with physical activity.
Everything feels good so far, the soreness is gone and my body is adapting well.
As some might have noticed, I do not go gung ho with my leg-work. This is to make sure I do not re-strain my back (hurt it a bit right before christmas).
Week two has started! Here is my A3-workout:
Sunday, January 24, 2010
More DC
This Friday I went to the gym and did my A2-workout right after work;
Later in the evening me and some friends met up and did some grappling. Great fun but I need to work my cardio! Since I begun this muscle building project I have not focused much on cardio. Since I am doing intermittent fasting, getting enough callories to build muscle is hard enough without me doing 2-3 days of cardio in addition to the stuff I have to do at work.
For those of you that are wondering why I am calling my workouts A1, B1, A2 etc..; The program I am using now is a upper-/lower body split that is divided between 4 days (Mon, Wed, Fri, Mon) and has 3 different exercises for each muscle group. Tomorrow I will do my B2-workout, Wednesday will be my A3-workout and Friday will be my B3-workout. Guess what comes next Monday? :) That is correct! A1 and the circle begins again!
Took some stats today after 14 hours of fasting:
Later in the evening me and some friends met up and did some grappling. Great fun but I need to work my cardio! Since I begun this muscle building project I have not focused much on cardio. Since I am doing intermittent fasting, getting enough callories to build muscle is hard enough without me doing 2-3 days of cardio in addition to the stuff I have to do at work.
For those of you that are wondering why I am calling my workouts A1, B1, A2 etc..; The program I am using now is a upper-/lower body split that is divided between 4 days (Mon, Wed, Fri, Mon) and has 3 different exercises for each muscle group. Tomorrow I will do my B2-workout, Wednesday will be my A3-workout and Friday will be my B3-workout. Guess what comes next Monday? :) That is correct! A1 and the circle begins again!
Took some stats today after 14 hours of fasting:
- Weight - 75.1 kg
- Fat - 9 %
- Fat free body mass - 68.3 kg
- Fat - 6.8 kg
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Dogg crap training
I know, I know... I suck at updating this blog. Will do better, promise!
So, what is new.. Well, my back is all healed up and I have started lifting weights again. This period I decided to try out DC-training (dogg crap training) for bodybuilding. I have never gotten around to testing it before so this is a perfect opportunity.
For those of you that have never heard about DC, check out this link:
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_50_pounds_of_muscle_in_12_months&cr=
In short: it is a weight lifting program designed to give you as much muscle as possible as fast as possible. It is not a beginners routine and uses negatives, statics and extreme stretching. It also builds heaps of strength and is similar to some of the more "known" programs like 5x5.
Beating the log book (progression), variation (rotating 3 different upper/lower body workouts), rest pause sets, periods of progressive overload followed by a deload period, multi joint exercises but also isolation exercises. Machines are also frequently used because of safety reasons for when you work out alone (like I do).
Here is my first DC-workout (my A1-workout):
The chest exercise and the seated dumbell presses is something that I have almost never done so I started with a bit too little weight there (overshot my targeted RP-reps for the exercise).
My program is almost identical to the one in the article above (some sligth adjustment because of exercise machines and my fear of messing up my back again..:).
Here is my B1-workout:
So, what is new.. Well, my back is all healed up and I have started lifting weights again. This period I decided to try out DC-training (dogg crap training) for bodybuilding. I have never gotten around to testing it before so this is a perfect opportunity.
For those of you that have never heard about DC, check out this link:
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_50_pounds_of_muscle_in_12_months&cr=
In short: it is a weight lifting program designed to give you as much muscle as possible as fast as possible. It is not a beginners routine and uses negatives, statics and extreme stretching. It also builds heaps of strength and is similar to some of the more "known" programs like 5x5.
Beating the log book (progression), variation (rotating 3 different upper/lower body workouts), rest pause sets, periods of progressive overload followed by a deload period, multi joint exercises but also isolation exercises. Machines are also frequently used because of safety reasons for when you work out alone (like I do).
Here is my first DC-workout (my A1-workout):
The chest exercise and the seated dumbell presses is something that I have almost never done so I started with a bit too little weight there (overshot my targeted RP-reps for the exercise).
My program is almost identical to the one in the article above (some sligth adjustment because of exercise machines and my fear of messing up my back again..:).
Here is my B1-workout:
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy new year!
Seems like my back has healed well. Must have been a muscle pull.
Laying on my back for over 1 week is not something I am used to so it felt real good to lift some weights yesterday.
I started out with a good warm up, did some front squats, first without weights, then a progressive warm up followed by 3x5 with 60 kg. Everything felt good so I will stick with the front squat for at least one full period (8-12 weeks).
After that I felt like doing some bench pressing. I was a bit hesitant to bridge so I just kept a small arch in my low back. I should probably not have gone so heavy but like I said, I was messed up for laying on my back most of the holliday so I did some progressive warm up and did 1 x 5 with 100 kg. Felt great and I still had some power in the tank.
I was fairly tired after this so instead of doing weighted pullups I decided to see if I could do 20 strict pullups. Went well.
Finished off with 3 x 30 sec plank with the feet on a bosu ball.
In the following weeks I will be going back to the basics, focusing on; the front squat, bench press, trap bar deadlift (light weights, getting used to the exercise), weighted pullups, standing barbell press, weighted chinups and plank variations.
I will be going back to a starting strength type of routine but more on this later.
On the 13. April I will be 30 years old. One short term goal is to weigh 77 kg at around 9% body fat by then.
Laying on my back for over 1 week is not something I am used to so it felt real good to lift some weights yesterday.
I started out with a good warm up, did some front squats, first without weights, then a progressive warm up followed by 3x5 with 60 kg. Everything felt good so I will stick with the front squat for at least one full period (8-12 weeks).
After that I felt like doing some bench pressing. I was a bit hesitant to bridge so I just kept a small arch in my low back. I should probably not have gone so heavy but like I said, I was messed up for laying on my back most of the holliday so I did some progressive warm up and did 1 x 5 with 100 kg. Felt great and I still had some power in the tank.
I was fairly tired after this so instead of doing weighted pullups I decided to see if I could do 20 strict pullups. Went well.
Finished off with 3 x 30 sec plank with the feet on a bosu ball.
In the following weeks I will be going back to the basics, focusing on; the front squat, bench press, trap bar deadlift (light weights, getting used to the exercise), weighted pullups, standing barbell press, weighted chinups and plank variations.
I will be going back to a starting strength type of routine but more on this later.
On the 13. April I will be 30 years old. One short term goal is to weigh 77 kg at around 9% body fat by then.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas!
Short update from the land up north. It is Christmas, we have just devoured a huuge breakfast of rolls and home made garnityre, topping it off with a nice strong cup of coffee now.
Why the $%$ I am seated in front of my computer you think? Well, I hurt my back on Monday. Had to happen sooner or later. In my 29 years of roaming this earth I have never been injured because of a workout.
Here is the set that gave me a kink in my lower back:
As you can see, form was good. No rounding of the back, no shifting from side to side, no loss of tension. I blame my poor warm up. Too short warm up and too few progressive sets before hitting my work weight.
Enough of that. My back is getting better. Probably just a muscle pull.
Here is what I had planned for my Thursdays workouts:
The roll outs was overkill. Might have to add a workout dedicated for core-work on a separate day. Plan will change now. Will let my back heal, eat plenty during the Christmas holiday and create a rehab plan with a very competent friend of mine.
Fat caliper said that I have lost some fat lately. Down to 8-8.5% fat at around 74.5kg body weight.
Sorry for the short sentences and fact-heavy post but hey, it is Christmas morning here in the north of Norway and I have to play with my oldest so he survives the wait..:)
Have a wonderful Christmas and a motivating new year!
Love,
Bjorn Granum
Why the $%$ I am seated in front of my computer you think? Well, I hurt my back on Monday. Had to happen sooner or later. In my 29 years of roaming this earth I have never been injured because of a workout.
Here is the set that gave me a kink in my lower back:
As you can see, form was good. No rounding of the back, no shifting from side to side, no loss of tension. I blame my poor warm up. Too short warm up and too few progressive sets before hitting my work weight.
Enough of that. My back is getting better. Probably just a muscle pull.
Here is what I had planned for my Thursdays workouts:
The roll outs was overkill. Might have to add a workout dedicated for core-work on a separate day. Plan will change now. Will let my back heal, eat plenty during the Christmas holiday and create a rehab plan with a very competent friend of mine.
Fat caliper said that I have lost some fat lately. Down to 8-8.5% fat at around 74.5kg body weight.
Sorry for the short sentences and fact-heavy post but hey, it is Christmas morning here in the north of Norway and I have to play with my oldest so he survives the wait..:)
Have a wonderful Christmas and a motivating new year!
Love,
Bjorn Granum
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