Gamefreak501s Training Log

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2003
Posts
8,030
Location
Bedfordshire
Hi All,

I thought it was high time I stopped clogging up the main Gym Rats thread and started my own thread. Not to be blowing my own trumpet and not to be getting too full of myself, but to give myself an idea of where I have been and where I am going and perhaps help others along the way.

A few days ago - and some of you may know this already - I signed up to take part in the 13.1km half marathon in Exmoor in April next year. A web site of full details can be found here:

http://www.endurancelife.com/event-new.asp?series=70&location=178

I am also planning to add further lean mass, with an aim to go from my current 166lbs to 175lbs, or at least maintain my current weight (which is 11.8 stones). Combining this with marathon training is going to be a bit of a balancing act, but I think I can do it.

So today came my first day of training - the first proper bit of running I have done for 2-3 years...and it was disappointing:

Distance covered: 7.29km
Time taken: 50 minutes
Calories burned: 596

I did a bit of number crunching earlier today and I need 1973 calories to maintain my weight with no activity. I need an additional 110 calories for each mile I run. So combined with my weight lifting, I think I am looking at 3500kcal on weight training days, 3200kcal on rest days and 3430kcal on the days I run (assuming 13.1 miles). But I could probably keep it simple by sticking to 3500kcal on training days and 3200kcal on rest days.

Looking ahead, well, as far as tomorrow, I want to do 1 hour of running and I want to manage 10km, which if I maintain a treadmill speed of 10km/h, should be attainable.

But I will be using the canal by work to run in the mornings, 30 mins each way initially 3 times a week and increasing this slowly. Ideally I want to aim for 20 miles before the marathon so the actual 13.1 miles is easier.

But there is so much to consider, like all the numbers involved (carbs/protein/fats) and a specific diet. I will post the proposed diet tomorrow.

Thanks,

David
 
As promised, my diet and progress so far.

So as stated earlier, I ran 10km for 1 hour this morning. Workout stats as follows:

Calories burned: 861
Distance covered: 10.4km
Time: 65 minutes.

I'm aiming to be able to cover 13.1 miles in around 1 hour 50 minutes and I would love to be able to get that down to 1 and a half hours, but thats strong runner territory.

After my run this morning, my legs hurt, my feet are all painful and blistered and I feel mentally and physically tired, but I need to push on! I am going to try for a 1 and a half hour run tomorrow, with a view to increase this to a total of 1 hour 45 and from there increase my speed within this time, so that I can get sub 2 hours for a half marathon.

Next week, I am going to start on my weight lifting again, with my usual 3-day split - back & biceps, chest & triceps, legs & shoulders.

Starting my new diet tomorrow:

Breakfast: 6-7am

100g oats with semi skimmed milk (500kcal)
2 scoops pharma whey (272kcal)
1x Banana (105kcal)
Portion of almonds (157kcal)
2x slices of wholemeal toast with peanut butter (182kcal)

Total: 1216kcal

-----------------

Pre-Work out, 8:30am

2 scoop pharma whey, 350ml skimmed milk, 100g oats

Total: 876kcal

----------------

Lunch, 12:00

Roast chicken, veg

Total: 600kcal

----------------

Snack, 3pm

Portion of almonds

Total: 157kcal

---------------

Dinner, 6pm

Pack of fish, with veg

Total: 620kcal

---------------

Grand total: 3469kcal

I'm going to see how this diet goes for two weeks; but if I need to, I'll add a further meal or take off a further meal if I end up with results I don't want. The only difference between weekdays and weekends is that I will be eating earlier in the morning so I can do my run in the morning.

Thanks,

David
 
I failed dismally on Sunday...when I got up, my legs were in agony, I couldn't walk properly. I'm so disappointed in myself.

It's strange that it seems to hurt my calf muscles, rather than the rest of my legs. I didn't do any running at all on Sunday.

I'm going to give myself a rest for 2 days, with a plan to do my weight lifting tonight and Tuesday, running again on Wednesday and Thursday morning, Friday more weight lifting and Saturday & Sunday will be running again.

The diet isn't too bad, I can still chomp through the ~1200kcal in the morning, but it probably helps that when you get up, generally you are starving, so you can get away with a larger meal.

I had around 3200kcal on Sunday as it ended up being a rest day and when I weighed myself on Saturday evening I was 12.6 stone, or 80kg.

I'm going to weigh myself this evening; if I find myself getting a belly after giving my body a week or two to get used to this new diet and exercise regime, I can start gradually cutting down my calories (or perhaps changing the carb : protein ratio) although I will likely be increasing the carb : protein ratio leading up to the run on April.

I'm hopefully going to have better news tonight when I do my Chest/triceps. I plan to do Legs on Tuesday evening and Back/Biceps on Friday evening.

Running will take place Wednesday, Thursday morning, as well as Saturday and Sunday morning.

Thanks,

David
 
So yesterday was a Chest and triceps workout. Wasn't a great one, but here it is nonetheless:

Incline BB Press: 50kgx8, 60kgx8, 60kgx8;
BW Chest Dips: +15kg x8 for 3 sets;
DB Flyes: 2x14kgx8 for 2 sets;
DB Tricep Kickbacks: 10kgx8 for 2 sets, each arm;
Rope pushdowns: 21.25x8, 23.75x8, 23.75x8;

I wanted to do the close-grip bench press, but it was too busy and I couldn't get on any of the other bench presses after going off to do my dips...

On reflection, I could have done +20kg on the dips, I'll do that next time. Plus I appear to have lost some weight, I'm now 75kg apparently! I'll have to compare to the scales at home and if that shows a similar story, I will probably have to up my calorie intake.

Thanks,

David
 
That looks like a good exercise, thanks for the suggestion :)

So Legs and Shoulders today. The buzzword was form form form...so that I maintained throughout:

BB Squats: 70kgx5, 70kgx5, 80kgx5, 80kgx5, 90kgx5;
BB Shrugs: 70kgx8 for 3 sets;
BB Calf Raises: 70kgx5 for 5 sets;
BB SLDLs: 90kgx5 for 5 sets;
DB Goblet Squats: 50kgx5 for 5 sets;
DB Front Raises: 2x5kgx8 for 3 sets;
DB Side Raises 2x5kgx8 for 3 sets;
DB Shoulder press 2x16kgx8 for 3 sets;

And there we are!

So I wonder how tomorrows running will go!

Thanks,

David
 
So the running hasn't happened since Saturday. I just can't find the time in the morning and I don't do well waking up before 06:40 in the morning :(

What it does mean though is I can still do Saturday and Sunday mornings, still do my weight lifting on Monday, Tuesday and Friday and have Wednesday and Thursday as my break, having no rest days would more than likely increase my risk of injury and stagnate my progress dramatically.

I will aim to swap the weight lifting days for running days nearer to the time, I think that's probably the best way forwards, perhaps in the 2-3 weeks before the event, whilst at the same time carefully loading myself up with more carbohydrates gradually.

I've weighed myself on two different scales - on two different days which gave me a weight of 83kg and 81kg respectively; so it looks like I am putting on weight, but that could fall or rise all week, I was 75kg on my last post here.

Tonight is Back & Biceps and Saturday morning I will be aiming for 15km, which will be a 1 and a half hour run in total, a full half hour longer than my last run. I'll see how it goes and report back of course.

Thanks,

David
 
So I did Back and Biceps today, but no CV as I'm off out.

BB Deadlifts 100kgx5, 100kgx5, 120kgx5 (mixed grip), 120kgx5 (mixed grip), 120kgx5 (mixed grip);

Narrow-grip pullups BW+10kg x8, x5 x4;

BB Bors 60kgx8 for 3 sets;

Seated Rows 70kgx8 for 3 sets;

z-bar Preacher Curls 26.5kgx8, 29kgx8, 29kgx8;

Currently weigh in at 80kg which is a 2-3kg drop from last time I weighed myself. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow does, I'm going to try for 15km!

Thanks,

David
 
Narrow grip pull-ups and then preachers?

I personally don't get it, but I'm something of a neanderthal in that regard.

I'd junk the preachers and do heavier load pull-ups: same for the rowing (proper and heavy barbell rows are just awesome). :)
 
Thanks for your reply! I think I might drop the preachers for next time and do heavier pull-ups and barbell rows like you say - I seem to make very little progress with the preacher curls and I have been doing them for a couple of years now.

I did some long distance running today and will do the same tomorrow. Managed to do 12km in an hour, despite having had only 4.5 hours of sleep!

Plan is to do some running outside tomorrow, I'll make sure I get a decent sleep tonight though and make sure I have my breakfast in good time instead of wolfing it down and then going straight on a run like I did today. I'm going to plot a course for 15km around the grand union canal probably.

Thanks,

David
 
Slight difference in routine today, just to try new things out:

Chest & Triceps

BW Chest Dips: +20kgx8 for 3 sets;

BB Benchpress: 70kgx5, 70kgx5, 60kgx5, 60kgx5, 60kgx5;

BB CGBP: 50kgx5, 52.5kgx5, 52.5kgx5, 52.5kgx5, 52.5kgx5;

DB Overhead Tricep Extensions: 14kgx8, 20kgx8, 20kgx8;

DB Flyes: 2x18kgx8;

My benchpress went bad pretty quickly. I couldn't do more than 2 sets @70kg for 5 reps without struggling, so I dropped to a much more comfortable 60kg.

I'm hoping that this is a one-off and next week I can make some better progression. Got to say, the Tricep Extensions were pretty brutal, and I do prefer them to rope pushdowns it must be said.

Tomorrow evening will be Legs & Shoulders.

Thanks

David
 
So I had a very busy weekend, Saturday in London and Sunday in Alton Towers, so the training only happened on Friday:

Back & Biceps

BB Deadlifts: 90kgx5, 90kgx5, 100kgx5, 110kgx5, 120kgx5;

BW Narrow-grip pull-ups: +5kgx5, +10kgx5, +15kgx5, +10kgx5, +5kgx5;

BB Rows: 60kgx8 for 3 sets;

Seated Rows: 70kgx5x5;

The pull-ups were very difficult for me, considering I now weight between 78kg and 82kg now! I had to drop the weight otherwise I wasn't going to do the 5 reps. I might alternate between wide and narrow grips, on a weekly basis.

Thanks,

David
 
Looks like a good workout, but I'd throw another exercise in there, if you're only doing the one back day, you need some sort of width exercise, maybe pullovers or lat pulldowns (as you're already doing chins)
 
If you do lat pulldown, just make sure you're doing it right - sommat I didn't learn until the last meet, and having watched people since I've noticed not many do it right!
 
Cheers for your replies guys - it will be interesting to see how I am at Lat Pull-downs after all this time - an exercise I have always hated and not done for a good 1-2+ years.

I have read that it should be performed in front of the head, down to the top of the sternum whilst leaning back only a few degrees to maintain form.

When I was doing them, 52-55kg was about my limit for 3 sets of 8.

Tonight is Chest/Triceps, but I don't quite feel right, whether it's because of some of the rides in Alton Towers yesterday or because I am coming down with something - it was pretty wet but I did have a waterproof poncho on. If I don't feel any better by this evening, it will have to be an early night and maybe resuming play from Wednesday instead this week.

Fingers crossed I feel better soon, I seem to have a very woolly feeling head or some kind of head nausea.

Thanks,

David
 
So I gave my body some time to recover and did a leg & shoulder session..feel like my legs are going to collapse under the strain now!

BB Squats: 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 80kgx5, 80kgx5, 90kgx5;

BB SLDLS: 60kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 80kgx5, 90kgx5;

BB Calf Raises: 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 70kgx5, 70kgx5, 70kgx5;

BB Shrugs: 70kgx8, 70kgx8, 60kgx8;

DB Shoulder press: 16kgx2 x12 reps for 3 sets;

Front/Side Raises: 2x6kgx8, 2x5kgx8, 2x5kgx8;

Thanks,

David
 
I had a chest and triceps day. Seems to still be a drop in my Benchpress, but my grip has changed to a much wider one, focusing more on my chest muscles, which it never really did before.

BB Benchpress: 60kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 60kgx5, 60kgx5;

BW Chest Dips: +15kgx8, +20kgx8, +20kgx8;

DB Flyes: 2x14kgx8, 2x14kgx8;

BB CGBP: 55kgx8, 55kgx8, 55kgx8 superset with

Rope Pushdowns: 21kgx8, 18kgx8, 16kgx8;

Thanks,

David
 
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