journey to strongman

kaptainmarc

kaptainmarc

kaptainmarc

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Old in here:

Used to go the gym and did well

then

getting bored & medical issues, I fell back into feeling sorry for myself (not enjoying my job and being knackered) chucked a load of weight back on

started back at the gym 2 weeks in now. New job closer to home more time to exercise and feeling good in myself just no looking it!

First week:
went great boxing 3 times a week with 2 weight sessions on top felt brilliant

second week:
first session 20 minutes in and my knee subluxes causing me to have a limp for 3 days. Back to the doctors this Wednesday to try and get in with a specialist

now on week 3
went back to the gym leaving the classes for now as all the squats/burpees/mountain climbers are a bit risky until I get my knees looked at again.

I am currently weighing in around the 110kg mark at 6ft 1. I am a fairly stocky build anyway.

My Diet

Breakfast: 4 wheatabix with loads of milk, trying to stop this and cook bacon/ham omlettes and have it on brown toast


Lunch: same thing everyday. large white bap, tuna, ham, lettuce, cucumber, tomato.

Dinner: Varies A lot but I see to be a massive carb addict chips chips and more chips. Even when I do eat healthy I am terrible for having nutella on toast. To the point I don't like to buy bread now or I just rinse a loaf in a day or two.

I have my wedding day in 8 weeks in greece and I am no where near where I would like to be for it

So I need to get on it

When I first started going the gym before I failed miserably I was doing stronglifts 5x5 along side boxing

Unfortunately this isn't possible at the moment with the knee situation as I can not squat without a horrendous crunching noise and risk of dislocation even with unweighted squats

So I am sticking to machines for now, my upper body strength is ridiculous for my size!

struggling to bench 60kg only manage a couple of sets really pushing myself

For now I am using the weights machines I have no gym buddy. so seems the safest way to start


Had a good session last night

8x 3 minute rounds on the heavy bag
5 tricep dips between each round

4x10 shoulder press (cant remember the weight its on weight setting 10 it does have a conversion chart)
4x10 bicep curl machine @ 56kg
4x20 girly leg squeeze exercise (suppose to help my knee not so good for my ego)
4x 7 Pull machine (again cant remember weight)

I feel a bit lost in the gym and need some sort of training plan as without stronglifts I don't know what I should be doing.

any links to some good weight routines would be greatly appreciated. Not doing anything on my legs till I find out the main route of the problem

New goal:

Wedding was a success!

lost a whack of fat but kept my weight up with muscle.

now currently training strongman style and loving it!
hoping to one day be able to compete in some novice competitions for something to aim for

as of 21/6/15

1RM for Deadlift is 180kg after a session hoping I will get 200kg up in a few weeks time

Haven't tried 1RM on other movements yet. Need to build my upper body strength still. Coach says I will go along way with the training as i have the "beastmode" mentality.

Haven't felt this positive about getting big and tanked up since starting really glad I found this class, Lots of help with form/technique for when I am in the gym on my own.
 
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Good work for getting back into it. Is it mostly losing weight you want or bulking up?

Carbs wise I'm the same as you - could happily binge on bread, chips, potatoes all day long! These days I pretty much cut out bread accept for weekends, have replaced potatoes with sweet potatoes, and white rice and pasta with brown. I try to have carbs only in the morning and straight after working out too. Not sure how good all this advice is, but something's working and I'm in better shape than ever.
 
I want to be fitter but mainly get Tanky. Strong and big are my main goals but want to lose a bit of this wobbly fat first. I love doing weights and like lifting as big as I can and working the heavy bag for some cardio

I trimmed up rather quickly when I was boxing and the difference in just 6 weeks was pretty awesome.

I will always eat carbs I don't want to limit my life to much by not eating certain things, moderating I am happy with. I have bread everyday from the sandwich wagon as its just so convenient for me.
 
Given that your wedding is in 8 weeks it's probably best to get as lean as possible. You won't put on noticeable mass in 8 weeks but you could get slimmer, which would make you look more muscly. I'd hit cardio - boxing seems ideal as you're already into it - and maybe smash out big compounds for reps and body weight stuff.

Food wise I agree with you. My compromise is being good during the week and doing whatever on the weekend - you'll have to find something that works for you.

gl and grats on the wedding :)
 
yeah becoming a tank is the long term.

The short term is lose fat rapidly by hammering the bag and doing weights

my upper body strength is terrible so I am just targetting that for now alongside boxing

then once I have my knee looked at hopefully back onto the squats/deads.

I am right in thinking compound exercises are the stronglift ones?
 
kaptainmarc said:
I am right in thinking compound exercises are the stronglift ones?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but also stuff like burpees, pullups, circuits, sprints etc. Keep rest periods short and you'll be sweating buckets - which is how you can tell you're doing the right thing to lose weight!
 
Your main compound movements are:
Bench Press
Squats
Deadlifts
Pull Ups (or Bent Over Rows if Pull Ups are too tough)
Overhead Press

You're pretty much able to build a good physique with those alone, and certainly when as part of a circuit or high volume, will burn a lot more calories than other movements (Squats/Deadlifts obviously being the best calorie burners).
 
Warbie said:
Yeah, but also stuff like burpees, pullups, circuits, sprints etc. Keep rest periods short and you'll be sweating buckets - which is how you can tell you're doing the right thing to lose weight!
Click to expand...

certainly sweat when doing pad work or on the heavy bag can ring my tshirt out afterwards

MoNkeE said:
Your main compound movements are:
Bench Press
Squats
Deadlifts
Pull Ups (or Bent Over Rows if Pull Ups are too tough)
Overhead Press

You're pretty much able to build a good physique with those alone, and certainly when as part of a circuit or high volume, will burn a lot more calories than other movements (Squats/Deadlifts obviously being the best calorie burners).
Click to expand...

squats and deadlifts are a certain no go at the moment. which sucks as I love doing deadlifts.

I shall certainly make sure I keep doing the other 3 until I can do all of them.
 
Doctors appointment went well, I just need to build up my inner thigh muscles my outer thighs are pulling my knee caps to the right causing my problems

asked about squats and the like and he said to crack on with some decent knee supports

got some last night with knee cap placements with wire running around the knee cap and down the side of the knee

woke up early this morning got to the gym for 6:30 only me and 2 others there

5x5 squats 80kg
5x5 OHP 45kg
5x5 Barbell row 45kg
3 x 20 hip abductors 30kg

feeling good today

Breakfast: 4 egg omelette

Snack: 1 large carrot in sticks
 
Foam roll.

Lots and lots of foam rolling.

If your knees are like that, you really need to be hammering those legs with a foam roller and hitting those trigger points. Doctors advise of "build up one side" is often very short sighted, as they often seem oblivious to the difference between weak and shortened muscles, or weak and overactive muscles.
 
I do have quite an obvious muscle imbalance in the thighs. from reading up on my problem squats seem pretty key just not to push it to hard.

I have absolutely no idea what foam rolling is! I shall have a read up

Vatus Medialis

is what I need to strengthen
 
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You should probably avoid the hip adductor/abductors if you have knee problems dude, there are a lot of articles out there suggesting they can be particularly bad for the knee.

Its also not really a functional movement, so has very little real world benefit.
 
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Rids said:
You should probably avoid the hip adductor/abductors if you have knee problems dude, there are a lot of articles out there suggesting they can be particularly bad for the knee.

Its also not really a functional movement, so has very little real world benefit.
Click to expand...

Really?

It seems to be the main one for me to do
 
kaptainmarc said:
Really?

It seems to be the main one for me to do
Click to expand...

I'm no expert, and I'll admit I still do them myself.

However I was told by my PT if i started having any sign of knee problems I should drop them straight away, and there are plenty of articles online that seem to back that up.

Other guys here are a great deal more knowledgable than me, I'm just repeating what I've been told / have read!
 
Morning session done.

Mixed it up from doing the same stronglifts, Wasn't feeling squats legs were still hurting

bench press 5x5 55kg (gutted used to be at 70 easy)
Lat pulldown 5x5 63kg
deadlift 1x10 110kg
shoulder press free weights 20kg dumbells 3x10


Rids said:
I'm no expert, and I'll admit I still do them myself.

However I was told by my PT if i started having any sign of knee problems I should drop them straight away, and there are plenty of articles online that seem to back that up.

Other guys here are a great deal more knowledgable than me, I'm just repeating what I've been told / have read!
Click to expand...

I shall keep that In mind it seems to be helping me so far and I am already noticing improvements but that may just be down to a better level of exercise generally
 
Bear in mind knee supports do nothing if you are not injured, and if you are, they will be more problematic than without them.

As previously suggested, do all the foam rolling, go see a sports physio m and learn how to stretch properly.
 
Been keeping up the weights each day

not progressed much weight wise, focusing on form still and building some core strength

did a boot camp class this morning

45 minute of pure horror!
couldn't lift my arms struggled getting up the stairs, all worth it!
 
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