It's 6:39am. I'm confused as to who owns those feet, they may well be mine. It has taken me about 30 minutes to simply get dressed. I have to leave for college in 6, no 5 minutes. The location of the camera is a total mystery and my camera man is dead or asleep. He looks angry when I try to talk to him, I suppose he's asleep. Right, so no pictures today. I'm all bloated from the sodium in the damn hot sauce anyway. I'll lay off the sauce and get the pictures tomorrow.
Weight: 59.4kg (+0.2kg since last week, - 7.3kg since beginning)
Waist: 64cm (-2cm since last week, -11cm since beginning)
Hips: 92cm (- 3cm since last week, - 8cm since beginning)
Thighs: 55cm (-0.5cm since last week, - 6cm since beginning)
I retested my 500m swim time today, came out with 13:15 (previously 17:25, that's 4 minutes and 10s better. I'm happy enough with that!) I'll get through the rest of the testing this week and will hopefully have some illustrative videos for y'all.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How to be awesome like me... or crazy!
1: Cook twice as much as you need to eat for one meal
What a car crash of a week! In a desperate attempt to gain meaningful employment, I have started yet another course in biochemistry. To cover my bases, I also started a pool lifeguard course and I had my final personal trainer exam. As if juggling three courses in one week wasn't enough, I also have my own oly training, coaching, chinchilla breeding, and work. Phew! If that didn't send me screaming for the drink or an ice-cream covered pizza, nothing will. Through the past few weeks I've kept healthy eating as my priority. This isn't always the easiest thing to do. The unexpected can always be expected to happen and I'm not the best at dealing with changing plans. I get grumpy when things don't go as I'd envisaged. However, no matter what life's been throwing at me lately, I've found it so much easier to deal with it knowing that I always have a lunchbox of yummy, nutritious food to hand. Somehow, nothing seems as bad when my tummy is taken care of. Cooking my food in advance has been the single best habit I've formed over the last few weeks. If you haven't tried it, get yourself a lunchbox and when you're cooking dinner, make a little extra for lunch the next day. Put some imagination and effort in, and a bit of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (The second best discovery of the last few weeks!).
2: Eat vegetables
What a car crash of a week! In a desperate attempt to gain meaningful employment, I have started yet another course in biochemistry. To cover my bases, I also started a pool lifeguard course and I had my final personal trainer exam. As if juggling three courses in one week wasn't enough, I also have my own oly training, coaching, chinchilla breeding, and work. Phew! If that didn't send me screaming for the drink or an ice-cream covered pizza, nothing will. Through the past few weeks I've kept healthy eating as my priority. This isn't always the easiest thing to do. The unexpected can always be expected to happen and I'm not the best at dealing with changing plans. I get grumpy when things don't go as I'd envisaged. However, no matter what life's been throwing at me lately, I've found it so much easier to deal with it knowing that I always have a lunchbox of yummy, nutritious food to hand. Somehow, nothing seems as bad when my tummy is taken care of. Cooking my food in advance has been the single best habit I've formed over the last few weeks. If you haven't tried it, get yourself a lunchbox and when you're cooking dinner, make a little extra for lunch the next day. Put some imagination and effort in, and a bit of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (The second best discovery of the last few weeks!).
2: Eat vegetables
Vegetables are disgusting. Anyone who disagrees is a liar or completely insane. Do not trust these people! Having said that, I'd definitely condone the use of vegetables at every meal but it's like mobility work. Eating veg and stretching and rolling all have to be done with a grumpy scrunched up face, so everyone knows that you're doing it because you have to and absolutely not because you want to. Both activities are crap and rubbish and 100% necessary. Frank's Red Hot Sauce can help here too.
I wish I was on commission.
3: Wear pink legwarmers.
4: Click here to DONATE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).
3: Wear pink legwarmers.
4: Click here to DONATE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).
Monday, February 21, 2011
Weigh in 7
Weight: 59.2kg (- 0.4kg since last week, - 7.5kg since beginning)
Waist: 66cm (0cm since last week, -9cm since beginning)
Hips: 95cm (+1cm since last week, - 5cm since beginning)
Thighs: 55.5cm (+1.5cm since last week, - 6cm since beginning)
DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).
Waist: 66cm (0cm since last week, -9cm since beginning)
Hips: 95cm (+1cm since last week, - 5cm since beginning)
Thighs: 55.5cm (+1.5cm since last week, - 6cm since beginning)
DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Max Week (warning: lots of boring oly lingo)
So I've been testing out my lifts all week, and I was very interested to see if the loss of ~7kg in ~6 weeks would make a difference to my lifts.
Previous lifts: Snatch- 52kg, clean and jerk- 61kg, front squat- 95kg (all at 67kg)
New lifts: Snatch- 53kg, clean and jerk- 62kg, front squat- 90kg (all at 60kg)
Day 1: Max snatch and max front squat
Snatched 25kg x 3, 30kg x 3, 35kg x 3, 38kg x 3, 40kg x 2, 42kg x 1, 45kg, 48kg, 51kg, 53kg (f), 53kg (pr +1kg), 55kg (f)
They started out good, hips into the bar and bar very close but somewhere around 48kg I felt it get away from me a bit and I just couldn't keep it close enough. Whenever I manage to get it in the groove, it feels infinitely easier and it just wasn't happening like that today. The plan for the next snatch max day (Thursday) was to arrive about 30 minutes early and drill correct technique with the bar, forget about the nerves of maxing and concentrate really hard on keeping it close from the beginning of the warmup.
Front squat felt fine and only started to slow down at 90kg but failed 95kg. I was very surprised at this as I was pretty cocky that I'd get 100kg. With three more days to attempt it, not too worried.
Day 2: Max clean and jerk and max front squat
Clean and jerked (reps on the jerk): 42kg x 3, 45kg x 3, 48kg x 2, 51kg, 54kg, 57kg, 62kg (f), 62kg (pr +1kg), 65kg (f x 2)
Again, started well but once the bar got a little heavy, I had trouble keeping good technique. As you can see from the video at the bottom, cleans were ridiculously easy. I need to work more on dialling in good jerk technique when the weight gets heavy.
The exact same thing happened with the front squat. I had to consider that I've lost a little bit of strength with the bodyweight and the reason my snatch and clean & jerk have gone up a little is down to improvements in technique.
Day 3: Max snatch
Snatched up to 48kg, failed 51kg three times. Same thing happened as Monday but even worse as in the bar just got away from me and felt very heavy. I suppose correcting this will come with practice but it's frustrating all the same. I shouldn't have such defined expectations because I get very disappointed when I don't meet them. I was very tired today in particular and called it a day on the front squat at 85kg even though I was supposed to go to 90kg. I just wasn't sure I would make it and I thought it best to stay away from failure. It wouldn't really add anything to my lifting, just tire me out.
Coach reckons I should not bother with day 4 of max week and take a rest instead and I'm inclined to agree.
Conclusion: losing 7kg in bodyweight is not all that good for my lifting. I'd be lying if I said I was awfully surprised but I'm still disappointed.
Have a look at my video from this week anyway which I'd imagined was going to be a document of triumph but instead turned into a blooper reel. At least it has a daysent soundtrack, with many thanks to a fantastic band called Calico Jak. The song is called "Tore Down" and you can hear more from them at www.calicojak.com
Here's the link to donate DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).
A few people have been asking me for help with their training goals lately and I'd happily talk about this stuff all day long but for the duration of project abs, if I help you out, please help my charity out. It's such a good cause. Thanks! :)
Previous lifts: Snatch- 52kg, clean and jerk- 61kg, front squat- 95kg (all at 67kg)
New lifts: Snatch- 53kg, clean and jerk- 62kg, front squat- 90kg (all at 60kg)
Day 1: Max snatch and max front squat
Snatched 25kg x 3, 30kg x 3, 35kg x 3, 38kg x 3, 40kg x 2, 42kg x 1, 45kg, 48kg, 51kg, 53kg (f), 53kg (pr +1kg), 55kg (f)
They started out good, hips into the bar and bar very close but somewhere around 48kg I felt it get away from me a bit and I just couldn't keep it close enough. Whenever I manage to get it in the groove, it feels infinitely easier and it just wasn't happening like that today. The plan for the next snatch max day (Thursday) was to arrive about 30 minutes early and drill correct technique with the bar, forget about the nerves of maxing and concentrate really hard on keeping it close from the beginning of the warmup.
Front squat felt fine and only started to slow down at 90kg but failed 95kg. I was very surprised at this as I was pretty cocky that I'd get 100kg. With three more days to attempt it, not too worried.
Day 2: Max clean and jerk and max front squat
Clean and jerked (reps on the jerk): 42kg x 3, 45kg x 3, 48kg x 2, 51kg, 54kg, 57kg, 62kg (f), 62kg (pr +1kg), 65kg (f x 2)
Again, started well but once the bar got a little heavy, I had trouble keeping good technique. As you can see from the video at the bottom, cleans were ridiculously easy. I need to work more on dialling in good jerk technique when the weight gets heavy.
The exact same thing happened with the front squat. I had to consider that I've lost a little bit of strength with the bodyweight and the reason my snatch and clean & jerk have gone up a little is down to improvements in technique.
Day 3: Max snatch
Snatched up to 48kg, failed 51kg three times. Same thing happened as Monday but even worse as in the bar just got away from me and felt very heavy. I suppose correcting this will come with practice but it's frustrating all the same. I shouldn't have such defined expectations because I get very disappointed when I don't meet them. I was very tired today in particular and called it a day on the front squat at 85kg even though I was supposed to go to 90kg. I just wasn't sure I would make it and I thought it best to stay away from failure. It wouldn't really add anything to my lifting, just tire me out.
Coach reckons I should not bother with day 4 of max week and take a rest instead and I'm inclined to agree.
Conclusion: losing 7kg in bodyweight is not all that good for my lifting. I'd be lying if I said I was awfully surprised but I'm still disappointed.
Have a look at my video from this week anyway which I'd imagined was going to be a document of triumph but instead turned into a blooper reel. At least it has a daysent soundtrack, with many thanks to a fantastic band called Calico Jak. The song is called "Tore Down" and you can hear more from them at www.calicojak.com
Here's the link to donate DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).
A few people have been asking me for help with their training goals lately and I'd happily talk about this stuff all day long but for the duration of project abs, if I help you out, please help my charity out. It's such a good cause. Thanks! :)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Week 6 update
Weight: 59.6kg (-1.4kg since last week, -7.1kg since the start)
Waist: 66cm (-4cm since last week, -9cm since the start)
Hips: 94cm (-1 cm since last week, -6cm since the start)
Thighs: 54cm (- 3cm since last week, -7.5cm since the start)
Training's been going quite well lately. I have max week all this week which just means I test out all my lifts to see how much improvement I've made. I normally do this every 4 weeks. The normal training schedule was interrupted by the squad session so the last max week was Christmas week and I was a good 7kg heavier. At that point, my snatch was 52kg, clean and jerk 65kg (both pretty ropey and the 65kg had a bit of a press out).
I'm pleased to report that day one of this max week went well. Stay tuned for a full progress report and details on Friday.
Waist: 66cm (-4cm since last week, -9cm since the start)
Hips: 94cm (-1 cm since last week, -6cm since the start)
Thighs: 54cm (- 3cm since last week, -7.5cm since the start)
 |
| 15th February |
 |
| 15th February |
Training's been going quite well lately. I have max week all this week which just means I test out all my lifts to see how much improvement I've made. I normally do this every 4 weeks. The normal training schedule was interrupted by the squad session so the last max week was Christmas week and I was a good 7kg heavier. At that point, my snatch was 52kg, clean and jerk 65kg (both pretty ropey and the 65kg had a bit of a press out).
I'm pleased to report that day one of this max week went well. Stay tuned for a full progress report and details on Friday.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Slip ups
My camera man is away on holidays today, weigh in with pictures will be tomorrow.
There have been a few things I've struggled with so far and I'd like to share them and how I went about overcoming them.
The most obvious is the sugar cravings at the start. Strangely, these took a couple of days to kick in but once they did, it was quite annoying. Coming off the mince pie diet was quite a shock to the system. I found that green tea can be very helpful. Mostly, when I notice that I'm craving sugar, it's out of boredom and going to the effort of making green tea can direct my attention enough that I'll get distracted by something shiny and forget about food for a little while.
For the inappropriate hunger pangs, (e.g. just 20 minutes after a meal when I know I couldn't possibly be hungry) I've been having a glass of soda water. For the first few weeks, I made sure I always had soda water with me everywhere I went. What I'd been mistaking for hunger a lot of the time was just excess acid in my stomach and the bicarbonate in the soda water can help neutralise that. After a few mouth fulls of the stuff, I'd usually find that I wasn't hungry at all.
I haven't counted calories at all during this challenge, just listened to my body and ate when I reckoned it was time to do so. Portion control for me meant eating very slowly. It takes awhile for the body to register it's been fed so by slowing down my eating, the amount I was eating was closer to what I needed.
Temptation wasn't too much of an issue for me this time because I'm doing this publicly and for charity. I've had a lot of support; no one's been trying to tempt me into hell with their homemade cheesecake. If there are some biscuits doing the rounds, they generally don't come my way and I've been careful to keep my kitchen sugar free. I've been in surprisingly few situations where my will has been tested.
That said, since the start I've had an almost obsessive craving for a slice of toast with marmalade which I finally succumbed to last night; one of two infractions since Beerlin (the other one was a single sneaky housewarming bottle of beer last week). I was disappointed and pleased at the same time to find that my taste buds have changed and it was tasteless and bland. I had a fillet of salmon soaked in lemon juice later and it was infinitely tastier. When I finish this challenge, I think I may continue with this way of eating save for the odd bottle of beer.
There is one thing that I'm still struggling with though and this is where my self restraint meets it's limit. COFFEE. It's not exactly going to damage the outcome, it'll just make me feel a bit crap along the way. I said I was going to give up coffee as I couldn't cope with the insulin spikes and dips but I lasted approximately 4 days. There was one morning I was up at 6am for work and used that as a justification for "just one cup" which the following day that became two cups and it's snowballed from there. Why does it taste so good and make me so happy only to bring me crashing into an abyss of grumpy crapiness?! I know it might be obvious that green tea could help here too, but sometimes I go in to the kitchen to make a cup of green tea and my hands suddenly get a mind of their own and completely without my permission, I leave the kitchen with a steaming cup of damn fine coffee, black as a moonless night and sure once I have it in my hand, with all those lovely smells, I have to drink it. I'd be interested to know if anyone has a solution for this heinous addiction.
P.S. I do not recognise decaf coffee as a viable alternative.
Mmmmmmmmmm.............. coffee..................
There have been a few things I've struggled with so far and I'd like to share them and how I went about overcoming them.
The most obvious is the sugar cravings at the start. Strangely, these took a couple of days to kick in but once they did, it was quite annoying. Coming off the mince pie diet was quite a shock to the system. I found that green tea can be very helpful. Mostly, when I notice that I'm craving sugar, it's out of boredom and going to the effort of making green tea can direct my attention enough that I'll get distracted by something shiny and forget about food for a little while.
For the inappropriate hunger pangs, (e.g. just 20 minutes after a meal when I know I couldn't possibly be hungry) I've been having a glass of soda water. For the first few weeks, I made sure I always had soda water with me everywhere I went. What I'd been mistaking for hunger a lot of the time was just excess acid in my stomach and the bicarbonate in the soda water can help neutralise that. After a few mouth fulls of the stuff, I'd usually find that I wasn't hungry at all.
I haven't counted calories at all during this challenge, just listened to my body and ate when I reckoned it was time to do so. Portion control for me meant eating very slowly. It takes awhile for the body to register it's been fed so by slowing down my eating, the amount I was eating was closer to what I needed.
Temptation wasn't too much of an issue for me this time because I'm doing this publicly and for charity. I've had a lot of support; no one's been trying to tempt me into hell with their homemade cheesecake. If there are some biscuits doing the rounds, they generally don't come my way and I've been careful to keep my kitchen sugar free. I've been in surprisingly few situations where my will has been tested.
That said, since the start I've had an almost obsessive craving for a slice of toast with marmalade which I finally succumbed to last night; one of two infractions since Beerlin (the other one was a single sneaky housewarming bottle of beer last week). I was disappointed and pleased at the same time to find that my taste buds have changed and it was tasteless and bland. I had a fillet of salmon soaked in lemon juice later and it was infinitely tastier. When I finish this challenge, I think I may continue with this way of eating save for the odd bottle of beer.
There is one thing that I'm still struggling with though and this is where my self restraint meets it's limit. COFFEE. It's not exactly going to damage the outcome, it'll just make me feel a bit crap along the way. I said I was going to give up coffee as I couldn't cope with the insulin spikes and dips but I lasted approximately 4 days. There was one morning I was up at 6am for work and used that as a justification for "just one cup" which the following day that became two cups and it's snowballed from there. Why does it taste so good and make me so happy only to bring me crashing into an abyss of grumpy crapiness?! I know it might be obvious that green tea could help here too, but sometimes I go in to the kitchen to make a cup of green tea and my hands suddenly get a mind of their own and completely without my permission, I leave the kitchen with a steaming cup of damn fine coffee, black as a moonless night and sure once I have it in my hand, with all those lovely smells, I have to drink it. I'd be interested to know if anyone has a solution for this heinous addiction.
P.S. I do not recognise decaf coffee as a viable alternative.
Mmmmmmmmmm.............. coffee..................
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Week 5. Home stretch!
It's been a manic week between working wonky hours and moving to a new apartment so weigh in has been delayed by a day and posting has been delayed by a couple more. Training took a minor hit but nutrition remained on track and all is going well.
Max week starts Monday which means I test my olympic lifts and my squat. Fingers crossed that the cut in weight won't result in a cut in lifts!
Progress update
Tuesday 8th February 2011: Weigh in for week 5
Weight: 61kg (-1.1kg since last week, -5.7kg since beginning)
Waist: 70cm (no change from last week, -5cm from beginning)
Hips: 95cm (3cm from last week, -5cm from beginning)
Thighs: 57cm (no change from last week, -4.5cm from beginning)
Max week starts Monday which means I test my olympic lifts and my squat. Fingers crossed that the cut in weight won't result in a cut in lifts!
Progress update
Tuesday 8th February 2011: Weigh in for week 5
Weight: 61kg (-1.1kg since last week, -5.7kg since beginning)
Waist: 70cm (no change from last week, -5cm from beginning)
Hips: 95cm (3cm from last week, -5cm from beginning)
Thighs: 57cm (no change from last week, -4.5cm from beginning)
 |
| 8th February |
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| 8th February |
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