So, I’ve been lurking in the Sports Arena for a while now and in particular the ‘*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread *** ‘ and ‘ OcUK Bodybuilders: Post your pics’ threads and have decided it’s about time I contribute to proceedings…
A bit about me
Let’s roll back to June 2011…
It was round about this time a year or so ago that I decided enough was enough and I should start running to get fitter and lose some weight. I wasn’t particularly fat or anything, I’m 6’2 and weighed about 98kg. Although I did have a belly and this was what I wanted to lose… So, after a couple of months of running me and a friend decided (Foolishly..) that we should enter ourselves into a marathon!?! I needed a target to aim at and it seemed like an awesome challenge!? So, after a few emails we were registered to run the Brighton marathon. At the time with less than 9 months to the race to get fit and prepared. During this time I went from not even being able to run a mile without stopping, to being able to run 2 miles with no stops to eventually being able to run 12 miles without so much as a hint of a break. At the same time I overhauled my diet. My diet wasn’t brilliant and there was a lot of processed rubbish entering my system. However, during my training I cut out nearly all sweet and sugary stuff, crisps, alcohol etc. (Other than the odd weekend drink/birthday/cinema visit with sweets etc etc.) So not perfect by any stretch, but a massive improvement none the less.
Marathon time finally comes round and I’m massively under prepared. The longest run I had done up to that point was about 13 miles and I wasn’t feeling particularly confident at all… Anyway, me and my friend turn up at Brighton the night before smash a massive pasta/chicken/garlic bread dinner and then get all the sleep we can before the next day. We wake up the next morning and it is absolutely freezing and we are both bricking it quite a lot. (My friend had done even less preparation than me due to injuries and such like..) To cut a long story short I managed to crack my estimated time of 4 hours 30 minutes. I had ran the marathon in a time of 4 hours 11 minutes and 10 seconds and I was over the moon!
A few days later and I’m sat on the beach in Jamaica recovering. Even though the resort was all inclusive and I was eating and drinking like a king, by this point I had still lost around 2 stone in weight since I started my fitness drive and marathon training and was much happier about the way I looked. But I needed a new challenge…
My newest challenge for myself was to be able to bench press my own bodyweight. I hadn’t done any real weight training in quite a few years but seeing a few of the beasts around here and some of the awesome success stories shared on these boards, I thought it was time to go for it…
Unfortunately earlier in the year in the excitement about signing up for the Brighton marathon I had also signed up to the Canterbury half marathon on the 27th August. (Next week..) Because of this I’ve had to keep my ability to run a fairly long way without destroying myself which consequently meant I’ve still been doing a lot of running still. Luckily I have tracked nearly all of my running/Cycling in the sportstracker app on my iPhone. Here are my stats going back to when I first started training:
Total workouts: 93
Total time: 103:52:32
Distance travelled: 701.86 miles
Energy burnt: 86663 kcal
Looking at these numbers makes me quite proud as before I started I probably hadn’t ran/cycled for a good few years and despite thinking to myself as being ‘fairly fit’. The beginning of the marathon training proved I really wasn’t! Lol!
But I digress… My new goal was to be able to bench press my own bodyweight. So after scouring the internet and this very forum I happened on the Stronglifts routine. It seemed to tick all the right boxes. Simple, compound lifts, easy to follow and it seemed to yield excellent results for others. So I downloaded the app, dusted off the weights and decided to get stuck in. Here are my stats from when I started, 20/06/2012 to the 6/08/2012.
Stronglifts 5x5
Stats as of 20/6/2012
Bench: 38Kg
Squats: 38Kg
Deadlift: 78kg
Barbell Row: 28.5Kg
Overhead Press: 30kg
Stats as of 06/8/2012
Bench: 50.5Kg
Squats: 55.5Kg
Deadlift: 103kg
Barbell Row: 48Kg
Overhead Press: 40kg
Unfortunately due to my commitment with the running and the half marathon the weightlifting has had to take a back seat to the cardio work for the last few weeks… But as from the beginning of September I shall be going all out with the weights carrying on with Stronglifts.
So, pictures? Well I haven’t got a semi naked one from the year ago so you’ll just have to deal with the before picture I do have…
It doesnt really help but you can see abulge around the stomach area. (Along with my rather camp drunken pose...)
Then @ 96Kg:
Now @ 77Kg:
So there you have it. Roll on the begining of September and the lifting of weights it brings.
