My time to get fit - stage 1 - The beginning.

[RimBlock]

Hello.

Dont really have much to say, but as someone who is also getting into lifting weights and trying to drop fat, I always find your posts a good read.

Keep up the good work!!!
Sounds like your doing well.

Thanks TheCyberMonkey.

I often liken my life to a soap opera with some of the situations I find myself in like the massage example above. I also tend to look on the funnier side of things and hope the posts are at least a bit entertaining whilst still trying to maintain facts and motivation to help others and a record of my progress for myself and for others to compare against.

I am glad some people enjoy reading as much as I usually enjoy posting .

Now if I could just get my wife to stop watching her Japanese soap operas at midnight in bed, maybe I could get a good nights sleep as well, but that is another story .

Cheers
RB

 

[Participant]

I like the dumbell flyers much better. The upward stroke is a little 'all over the place' but hopefully the stabilisers will kick in when they strengthen up. I am doing 35Kg per arm on those but only because my left arm is definetaly weaker than my right. With the flyers I feel I could go another 5->10Kg on my right arm.

35Kg per arm is a massive amount for a dumbell fly! Very impressive. How far down do you go? Chest level?

Regarding right arm being much stronger than the left, I am having the same problem and it doesn't feel like they could ever become equal. When I fail, it's my left arm that fails and I feel like it's holding me back, but I must resist the temptation to increase the weight on the right arm as your body will end up looking very uneven.

The difference is such for me that when I've done 8 reps on the bench press and the left arm fails, I could do another 8 reps straight away with only the right arm. Quite annoying really.

 

[TheCybermonkey]

Now if I could just get my wife to stop watching her Japanese soap operas at midnight in bed, maybe I could get a good nights sleep as well, but that is another story .

Cheers
RB

HAHA....Had a moan at the misses this very morning as I was feeling a bit tired and Im getting quite precious about getting some good sleep.

She has a habit of watching the simpsons in bed while im trying to get to sleep...grrrrrrrrrr.

On earlies this week so wasnt best pleased.

 

[Buffman]

You can shoulder press 30kg dumbbells can also lat pulldown a bit more too also the dumbbell fly looks a bit off 35kg all in all though looks like good progress to me.

 

[A2Z]

Im assuming your 'Shoulder Dumbbells' is the TOTAL of the db's, ie 2 x 15kg?

Bit confusing, normal for BB to put the total INC bar, and for DB to put weight of each.

 

[RimBlock]

35Kg per arm is a massive amount for a dumbell fly! Very impressive. How far down do you go? Chest level?

I come down to about chest level. Form is a little shakey at the moment. I will check exrx for form but from what I remember, I believe I am doing it right.

Ah, just checked. Dumbbell press not flys...doh!. Arms too bent. Right, have to reassess that one, sorry . Meant to be flys not press.

Regarding right arm being much stronger than the left, I am having the same problem and it doesn't feel like they could ever become equal. When I fail, it's my left arm that fails and I feel like it's holding me back, but I must resist the temptation to increase the weight on the right arm as your body will end up looking very uneven.

The difference is such for me that when I've done 8 reps on the bench press and the left arm fails, I could do another 8 reps straight away with only the right arm. Quite annoying really.

I thought they evened out a bit but from Wednesday I was surprised how different they were especially with the flyers (press).

You can shoulder press 30kg dumbbells can also lat pulldown a bit more too also the dumbbell fly looks a bit off 35kg all in all though looks like good progress to me.

I am working on shoulder pressing 30Kg dumbbells. Just upped from 25Kg 3*8. Only manaaged 4,5,5 first attempt. Very hard and the left shoulder was really burning. The lat are very hard and I am at around 8,8,6. The grip is killing me . The fly as established is a dumbbell press. I will correct form (and weight) tomorrow when I go back for my 3rd weights session this week. Thanks. Nice to know the progress is reasonable. Means I am not doing too bad .

Im assuming your 'Shoulder Dumbbells' is the TOTAL of the db's, ie 2 x 15kg?

Bit confusing, normal for BB to put the total INC bar, and for DB to put weight of each.

Nope, the shoulder press with dumbbells is 30Kg per dumbbell. Not able to do 3*8 yes as noted above but have done 3*8 with 25Kg and that is after doing the 30Kg military press with the barbell.

The numbers are per dumbbell or extra weight with total weight in brackets for exercises using barbell or plate machines. Bench press is 40Kg extra weight (2*20Kg plates) or 60Kg total inc bar weight. Dumbbell shoulder press is 30Kg per dumbbell.

The order of exercises in the sheet is usually the order I do them in. I alternate between bench press / lats / military press / fly to give the muscle groups more time to recover whilst working on a different set. Doing my military press straight after the bench press sees much worse results for the military press for example.

HAHA....Had a moan at the misses this very morning as I was feeling a bit tired and Im getting quite precious about getting some good sleep.

She has a habit of watching the simpsons in bed while im trying to get to sleep...grrrrrrrrrr.

On earlies this week so wasnt best pleased.

Shift work can be a killer. I remember my time doing it.

My wife keeps coming home with Japanese / Korean / Taiwanese dramas and will quite happily sit there until 3 am watching them. She is almost as hooked as I can get with a great game on the PC or XBox. Ok she is worse. I usually stop at 1am .

I think I will re-asses my form on all the exercises just as a matter of course as I feel form can deviate if you don't check it every now and then but I am fairly sure the rest should be pretty good.

Oh and the 55Kg dumbbell rows are also getting hard, mainly on the hands again but although I can do 3*8, it is currently only 8,8,5 with good form (quick up, 2-3 second controlled lower. Up pull without body roll).

I like the bench presses, squats and leg presses best with the military press coming next if I could only just get past the 8,8,6 or 7 and then left arm failure.

One other thing. Grip for the bench press (barbell). Where should the bar be resting in the hand ?. Mine is resting in the curve between the bottom of the thumb and the first finger which is directly above the wrist to create a vertical line up the arm. Only problem is that on my left hand, moving m thumb around after a weights session is a little uncomfortable like the thumb had been pushed too far in a direction.

Cheers
RB

 

[TheCybermonkey]

That shoulder press is mahoooosive!
You shoulder pressing twice what I can ( i only use 16s)...I feel so week
Probably struggle swinging 30kg dumbells up to above my shoulder to even try it to be honest.

Nice work!!

 

[RimBlock]

That shoulder press is mahoooosive!
You shoulder pressing twice what I can ( i only use 16s)...I feel so week
Probably struggle swinging 30kg dumbells up to above my shoulder to even try it to be honest.

Nice work!!

Well with the 30Kg there is a bit of gerning TBH . 4,5,5 seemed very poor for the first try with the new weight but my left shoulder was burning nicely.

I did try doing the Arnold press with the dumbbells at one point a while ago but that just went all over the place .

I do find it odd that I can do the 25Kg dumbbells but not the 30Kg barbell. I am not sure if this is common or not. The dumbell grip is front to back whilst the barbell grip is obviously left to right. I am wondering if the barbells restricted movement due to the two handed grip makes it harder.

Will get the fly right tonight hopefully .

RB

 

[Freefaller]

I presume that's with the back rest up?

I struggle with the 30kgs I have to admit, so I'm impressed with that. I do have an old shoulder injury which does hold me back, but still, kudos to you. I push press over 80kg, but that's somewhat different to seated shoulder press.

Try it without the back rest though

 

[RimBlock]

I presume that's with the back rest up?

I struggle with the 30kgs I have to admit, so I'm impressed with that. I do have an old shoulder injury which does hold me back, but still, kudos to you. I push press over 80kg, but that's somewhat different to seated shoulder press.

Try it without the back rest though

err..... ahhhhh....

Welcome to Rimblocks face-palm post........

Good / bad and face-palm news.

The most embarrassing first.......

For some reason known only to them, Fitness First have decided to load up on plates for the barbell marked in Kg and, yep.... you guessed it..... dumbbells marked in ......errr........ lbs [where is the face-palm smiley].

All dumbbell exercises need the weight divided by 2.2 . Damn... I thought I was doing so well as well........ Oh well it makes a lot more sense now .

So dumbbell shoulder presses, flys done correctly) and rows are 13.6Kg, 9Kg and 25Kg dumbbells.

Ok, now for the good news.....

Bench press I upped to 70Kg (inc bar) and managed 7,4,3 on the first go. Military press finally squeezed out a 8,8,8 so can finally up the weight. Started the dumbbell fly at 20lbs and did it correctly this time. Hard but will up to 25lbs. Shoulder dumbbells at 30lbs went up to 8,7,7 from 4,5,5 last time. Weight after sauna, two shakes and shower was 102Kg dead. Whilst the weight measurement fluctuates, this is the lowest yet so pretty happy even if it is not really an accurate measure. It usually fluctuates between 103.4 and 102.8. It started at 106Kg.

Ok, bad news. I think the dumbbell rows with the new 55lbs has caused more pressure on the Achilles tendon which was feeling pretty good up until then. Now it seems to have come back as uncomfortable as ever. Nuts....... Think I may drop down to 50lbs again to avoid the strain.

Now to end on a good note.... when doing the rows I could feel my stomach muscles working which is the first time I have really felt them working hard. This is good news for me .

Apart from feeling like a complete idiot over the dumbbell weight, it was a pretty good session .

RB

 

[Freefaller]

Easy mistake to make. Eitherway, progress is progress - doesn't really matter what the weight is, if it's going up and you're getting stronger then that's all that counts.

 

[RimBlock]

Easy mistake to make. Eitherway, progress is progress - doesn't really matter what the weight is, if it's going up and you're getting stronger then that's all that counts.

Cheers FF.

Ok, some quick and dirty measurements (string and straight 24" ruler).
Neck: 17"
Chest: 43 1/4"
Biceps: 15 3/4"
Forearms: 12 3/4"
Waist: 40"
Thighs: 25 1/4"
Calves: 15 3/4"

So that is;
Chest down 1 3/4"
Waist down 1"
Bicep up 3/4"
Calves down 1/4"
Thighs down 3/4"
Forearms up 1/4"

based on figures from 4th week (posted with spreadsheet charts on post 41).

Measurements are tensed but not pumped . I really need to get a tape measure.....

Cheers

RB

 

[Buffman]

Good / bad and face-palm news.

The most embarrassing first.......

For some reason known only to them, Fitness First have decided to load up on plates for the barbell marked in Kg and, yep.... you guessed it..... dumbbells marked in ......errr........ lbs [where is the face-palm smiley].

Ah that makes sense, those shoulder presses and dumbbell rows where really heavy for a beginner in kg. Progress is still progress though .

 

[TheCybermonkey]

err..... ahhhhh....

For some reason known only to them, Fitness First have decided to load up on plates for the barbell marked in Kg and, yep.... you guessed it..... dumbbells marked in ......errr........ lbs [where is the face-palm smiley].

All dumbbell exercises need the weight divided by 2.2 . Damn... I thought I was doing so well as well........ Oh well it makes a lot more sense now .

RB

Gym I go too has a bad habit of having half the stuff in KG and the other half in lbs. I made the same mistake as you as well to be fare.

Getting quite sick of my gym actually (fit space).
Cheap as chips i.e. £120 all in for the year, but they just keep taking on more and more members and its getting to the point at which sometimes Im having to sacrifice doing things properly.
e.g. today I had to use the leg press instead of doing proper squats as there was someone using the rack and then someone else already waiting to get on it.

Guess thats where going to the gym during my lunch can be a bit tricky.
Time restrictive.
BAD TIMES!!!
I was looking forward to them as well...gutted.

Aaaaanyway...
as already stated by others. Progress is progress and your moving forward Rimblock, which has to be good especially as your restricting calories aswell. Thats how I look at it myself anyway.

Ill take any strength improvements while trying to shift my fat with open arms

 

[RimBlock]

I love my gym scales....

Today I weight 100.1 Kg......

Well had a bit of a problem with my breathing. Not serious but made th cross trainer difficult and since this is my sixth day in the gym this week I only did 15 minutes on it.

I also had a try on the assisted chinup / wide arm pull up / dips machine which is up with all the cardio machines.

Seems like 45Kg is a reasonable starting weight as that would mean I am lifting 55Kg in each of the exercises. I super setted them, wide arm pullups / chinup / dips for a couple of sets to get a feel for the machine.

I think I liked the dips best. Maybe a bitt with the assistance and then I will switch to unassisted when I have some baseline strength behind them.

Thank for all the comments as always guys.

Cheers
RB

 

[Mundu]

I had started to workout at the beginning of the year. I was keepig it up even though I was working 80 hours a week over 7 days. I suddenly stopped about 2 months ago. I suddenly realised my form had gone out of the window. I think I started increasing the weights to quickly as I wanted to start hitting at least 50. My diet was also all over the place. As I'm skinny fat atm I couldn't decided whether to bulk or cut. I have no real muscle on me and carry fat around my chest and middle but no where else.

I think I'm going to start again my with very low weights and really concentrate on form. I have my own weights in my house but the spotter on my bench is dead where my hands should be on my bar.

I think this thread in particular may help give me the extra motivation I need.

 

[RimBlock]

I had started to workout at the beginning of the year. I was keepig it up even though I was working 80 hours a week over 7 days. I suddenly stopped about 2 months ago. I suddenly realised my form had gone out of the window. I think I started increasing the weights to quickly as I wanted to start hitting at least 50. My diet was also all over the place. As I'm skinny fat atm I couldn't decided whether to bulk or cut. I have no real muscle on me and carry fat around my chest and middle but no where else.

Wow, 80 hour week and gym time. Pretty big commitment.

I have found that I need to check form every now and then as it can slip and sometimes dropping down to help with form can really help. All this and I have only been doing this for 3 months.

I think I'm going to start again my with very low weights and really concentrate on form. I have my own weights in my house but the spotter on my bench is dead where my hands should be on my bar.

I also find this for a couple of exercises. I tend to find I have to lift and adjust before I start the set. This is most common with the military press and bench press for me.

I think this thread in particular may help give me the extra motivation I need.

Glad it can help. Lots of good people providing lots of good info here and in the forums.

Cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

And then there was surgery....

A lesson from the past.

A number of years ago I started working out. I was working for the Corporation of London who has their head office in The Guild Hall in London's financial district. Under The Guild Hall there is a smallish room that is dedicated as a free gym which has a number of old exercise machines. The room was small but not used much so there was no problem getting to use the machines. It was a closely guarded secret .

Well one of my favorite machines was the calf raise machine. This was mainly a stack of weights against the wall with a couple of shoulder pads and a raised bar to stand on so you could get the full range of movements for up and down with the feet to exercise the calf. Well I really pushed hard with the exercise and especially with this machine. Having fairly strong legs, well compared to my upper half, I was stacking the weight higher and higher. I believe it went to over 150Kg and to the point I could only just stand up to get in to the starting position.

One day at home in the shower I noticed a bulge around the lower abdominals on one side. The bulge was small, about the size of half a large marble and soft. Well after a few days of uming and ahing I finally got myself to the doctors and was diagnosed with a hernia.

For those who do not know, simply put, the internal organs reside in a bag that separate them from the muscles. A hernia is where the bag develops a hole and part of an organ pushes out. The most common organ is the large intestine and in serious cases the intestine can get blocked requiring urgent surgery. My case was minor and caught at the beginning. People who do not get it checked out have had the bulges growing to fantastic sizes. Hernias are sometimes mistaken fro tumors but undiagnosed suffers.

The fix is to open you up and place a mesh over the hole, after pushing everything back through. The body then grows a fibrous material over the mesh which then dissolves. The surgery is considered minor but they put you fully out for it. The operation is day surgery so they do not keep you in after you wake up.

Well around a year later or so the NHS called me in and I went for the operation. My memory is a bit sketchy but, last thing I remember is counting to 1..2..3..4..... a coldness going up my arm and then ......gone.

I woke up in recovery and stinking of ether. It was not too pleasant. The worst parts of the experience were the plastic device they put in the back of your hand for adding drips etc. That was painful to take out.... and the fact that as I was still smoking at the time, and so was coughing regularly which hurt 'a lot'....

This all happened around 6 years ago and apart from a lack of feeling around the incision scar (around 3" long) I have not had any more issues.

The point of me telling you all this........

Take it slowly if you are just starting out especially if you are used to a sofa based life.

For the sake of taking a little longer to work up your fitness levels you can avoid all this. Suffering a little embarrassment showing the doctor if you have got a lump or bulge around the lower abdominals may not be the end of the world and if it is a hernia then it is easily fixed with what is considered minor surgery.

This is just based on my experience and is not to be considered as medical advice. Please see a doctor and do some internet research for more information.

Hopefully the mods will not consider this inappropriate. FF, Please let me know if it is.

Start slow, eat right, work hard, love & live your life.

Have a great weekend.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Oh and on a happier note.

I have just remembered I found a motivational pic on the internet which I saved at work.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Ok so it has been a weekend of temptations and some pretty bad eating......

Well you see it was my wifes birthday on Monday and she decided to celebrate on Sunday as she was working on Monday.

Birthday breakfast..... yep she wanted McDonalds big breakfast... so I ended up with a sausage & egg Mc Muffin and orange juice.

She then decided she wanted to go to the airport which is only about 20 minutes away and a fairly nice journey for our youngest who loves riding on trains. Then it is off to the food court for lunch. This was not so bad as it was half a chicken in herbal soup. Then it was down to the car park where there was a go-kart track setup to promote for the F1 race coming to Singapore. Sin$20 for what seemed like 2 minutes race. We didn't participate but got pics of the kids in a 'photo taking' go-Kart which was to one side.

Off to Starbucks for a much needed coffee but it was full of students so there were no free tables. We ended up back in McDonalds or McCafe with my wife prompting me to have a small apple crumble for her birthday and then she proceded to get nothing for her self.... I am starting to suspect she is trying to keep me fat. Well she went off to another shop to get a cake she may like and returned with cheese cake, my old favorite. She took one bite and screwed up her face. It was listed as marble cheesecake but turned out to be lemon cheese cake and my wife hates bitter stuff.

She then then patiently explained how much of a waste it would be to throw it away so I simply must eat it but she would finish the remaining half of my apple crumble. So I finish this cheesecake all apart from the base whick I really cannot bring myself to eat and she sits there just picking at the apple crumbel and ends up not eating that one either.

Then off home, chat with my folks over the webcam so they can see the kids and off to my Mother-in-laws for a birthday cake celebration. One slice of cake and cup of soft drink. There goes my cheat day.....

Along come Monday. I have it booked as leave from work as my wife was doing the same until we booked a long weekend holiday later in the year and she had to give up the monday leave. Well like any good husband I went and met her for lunch which consisited of.... yep you guessed it, she only wanted McDonalds. One double cheese burger fries and coke later (no upsize) and I have once again swarn to my wife that I will not touch McDonalds. Sitting there all these number just kept flashing up...... 400+ calories for the double cheese burger, 350+ calories for the fries, that is almost 1 1/2 hours on the cross trainer just to stay the same.

I cooked pasta with chicken soup for dinner. I believe I will survive with the cottage cheese and ham sandwiches for the thirt meal I believe I am still under requirements but really disliked ending up in McDonalds half the time.

Well, life sometimes throws big roadblocks in the way and you just have to take things as they come and realign when you are through the other side.

Back on the healthy food again

Back to the weights tonight.

Back to sanity

RB