I've been hitting the gym without any real progress or goal for a while now, maybe two or two and a half year. I guess most people in there are but this weekend was the final straw for me. I want to get stronger, buff up a bit, feel better about myself and atleast be able to squad, benchpress and maybe deadlift my own weight. :bb:
This means I'm going to have to start pushing myself more, eat better and start living a healthy life. The healthy life wont be that hard for me I guess, 3 gym visits a week, breakdance classes twice a week inline skating once a week in the season. The hard part will be controling the food I eat, making sure I dont freak out at the first signs of fat adding and keeping a reasonable calorie intake compared to what I burn without fluctuating alot.

Basicly the same as what everybody else is doing here.
To keep a check on myself I'm creating this journal wich I plan to write in on every active day, wich is 5 times a week and keep a FitDay journal.

Anways, first post rant is over. Time for action! Have fun reading.

I've been hitting the gym without any real progress or goal for a while now, maybe two or two and a half year. I guess most people in there are but this weekend was the final straw for me. I want to get stronger, buff up a bit, feel better about myself and atleast be able to squad, benchpress and maybe deadlift my own weight. :bb:
This means I'm going to have to start pushing myself more, eat better and start living a healthy life. The healthy life wont be that hard for me I guess, 3 gym visits a week, breakdance classes twice a week inline skating once a week in the season. The hard part will be controling the food I eat, making sure I dont freak out at the first signs of fat adding and keeping a reasonable calorie intake compared to what I burn without fluctuating alot.

Basicly the same as what everybody else is doing here.
To keep a check on myself I'm creating this journal wich I plan to write in on every active day, wich is 5 times a week and keep a FitDay journal.

Anways, first post rant is over. Time for action! Have fun reading.

Welcome to JSF Yu! Looking forward to your progress! Sounds like you live a pretty active lifestyle so as long as you are eating right you are getting plenty of excersize.

It would be cool to see some pictures or videos of you in action skating...or breakdancing. Sounds like fun hobbies! :tucool:

First of all, the dreaded starting pictures.. These where taken on 10-24-08 I will be making these weekly.
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/4702/241008voorkantkleinat5.jpg (http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=241008voorkantkleinat5.jpg) http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2469/241008zijkantkleinwp8.jpg (http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=241008zijkantkleinwp8.jpg)
Current: november 15 2008
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/1851/081115voorkantkleinru7.jpg http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/2539/081115zijkantkleinsr5.jpg http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6453/081115achterkleinyx8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

10-27-08:
I've started the day with peanutbutter sandwitches due to the fact my oatmeal was gone. It added a bit more fat to my meal then I wanted but overall I'm pretty happy.

I also went to the gym. I dont remember everything I did, but did up the weight on my benchpresses.

Squads: 3x12 with 40kg (88lbs)
Benchpress 3x12 with 40kg (88lbs)
Ropecrunches 4x12 on 50kg
Hanging leg raises 4x12 (could have better form, going to research it)
Reverse crunch 4x12 (going to de these on an inclined bench next time)
Weighted ball crunch 4x12 20kg / 44lbs (need to work on form I think, these dont feel right yet.)
I usualy do half an hour cardio at the end but the machines where taken for a long time so skipped that this time.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/171/voeding271008qx8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


10-28-08:
An inactive day. Been wanting to goto the gym all day but sticking to my schedule for now. Ate way to much raisins with my oatmeal today.. Was full till after noon but seeing it was not a workout day that wasn't such a bad thing. But still, less next time.

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/9518/voeding281008tb3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Welcome to JSF Yu! Looking forward to your progress! Sounds like you live a pretty active lifestyle so as long as you are eating right you are getting plenty of excersize.

It would be cool to see some pictures or videos of you in action skating...or breakdancing. Sounds like fun hobbies! :tucool:

Heh, my first reply already! :claphigh:

Ok, my skating. This was at The Paris Slalom World Cup, I was blown away by nerves due to this being my first competition. I can knock down less cones then this, I swear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYuTfewXd74
Is it possible to embed youtube movies here?

Pictures:
http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/7905/marcel3fy1.th.jpg (http://img111.imageshack.us/my.php?image=marcel3fy1.jpg)http://img111.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/4858/picture241ly7.th.jpg (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture241ly7.jpg)
http://rvs01.fotopic.net/c1260173.html <- Some more of me and friends.

Dont expect breakdancing shots to soon.. I still feel like rythm is totaly allien to me.

Welcome! This is an awesome place to keep track of progress. Keep eating and lifting and you'll get there!

Ok, my skating. This was at The Paris Slalom World Cup, I was blown away by nerves due to this being my first competition. I can knock down less cones then this, I swear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYuTfewXd74
Is it possible to embed youtube movies here?
Wow, that fantastic!!! I've never heard of that sport before. Sure looks tricky. Is it a freestyle program where you choose whatever you like, or they tell you certain things to do?

Bronze Supporters of the site and above can embed youtube videos. See How to Upgrade Your Membership (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/announcement.php?f=24&a=5)

How do you decide which exercises to do at the gym? Do you have a planned progression for reps and sets on your exercises? Are you lifting to failure? Figuring these things out can help you to get balanced growth and meet your goals more efficiently.

Ok, my skating. This was at The Paris Slalom World Cup, I was blown away by nerves due to this being my first competition. I can knock down less cones then this, I swear!
:bow: Wow. I'd faceplant for sure! Awesome skills, man!!

Wow, that fantastic!!! I've never heard of that sport before. Sure looks tricky. Is it a freestyle program where you choose whatever you like, or they tell you certain things to do?

The sport is freestyle but it does have difficultie and style scores. For example, doing a move on your toes scores alot more points unless you decrease your style while doing it. Its kind of like fitness, form is important. There are two major rulesets one being IFSA (http://www.ifsasports.org/) which is tighter then the battle style ruleset.

How do you decide which exercises to do at the gym? Do you have a planned progression for reps and sets on your exercises? Are you lifting to failure? Figuring these things out can help you to get balanced growth and meet your goals more efficiently.

I've posted my workout schedule below and working on lifting to failure now, haven't found my max yet. I'll be increasing weights tomorrow probely by another 10kg and decreasing my deadlift weight by 10kg to work on form, might not be neccecary but with my back I prefer to be sure.
My "planning" so far consists of being able to do my 3x12 sets and then upping the weight. I'll go read some more and check to see if there is a better way then this. I'm sure there is but this is the way my friend has been taught by his personal coach a while back. It made sense then.

The reason for all the Ab exercises for me is breakdance. I'm constantly sticking in my elbows in my stomach and placing my bodyweight on them for the freezes they teach me. There are times my abs dont support me well enough yet and some nasty stuff comes up. Might start following a split program in a while but I do need to talk to my friend about it because we both are doing the same exercises together. I prefer to keep it simple though, the same exercises everytime would do that but might not be as effective.


My workout schedule looks like this at the moment:

Monday:
2km rowing (warming up)
Stretching

I do this set 4 times with about 30 seconds break in between.
Hanging leg raises 12x
Rope crunch 12x
Reverse crunch 12x
Weighted ball crunch 12x

Superman back exercise
Machine lap working basically all the muscle groups (the weight room is packed on Mondays)
30 min cross trainer
Stretching


Wednesday:
2km rowing (warming up)
Stretching

I do this set 4 times with about 30 seconds break in between.
Hanging leg raises 12x
Rope crunch 12x
Reverse crunch 12x
Weighted ball crunch 12x

Superman back exercise
3x12 Squat
3x12 Bench press
3x12 Death lift
30 min cross trainer
Stretching


Thursday:
Break dance training


Friday:
2km rowing (warming up)
Stretching

I do this set 4 times with about 30 seconds break in between.
Side bends dumbbells overhead 12x
Oblique crunch 12
Side bends dumbbells overhead 12x
Lateral raises on back extension machine

Superman back exercise
3x12 squat
3x12 overhead press
3x12 barbell row technogym
30 min cross trainer
Stretching

Sunday:
Break dance training

[/Walloftext]

Some great news! Just learned the bars being used at my gym are olympic bars wich adds another 10kg to my weights. I always thought it was 10kg but its 20kg :D Some more good news is that I did my deadlifts and squads with propper form and even raised the weight on my squads with 10kg. Bad news is that I was unable to do the same with my benchpresses, more bad news. We had a friend join the session today wich added around 45 minutes to our routine meaning we where unable complete the cardio at the end.
This is what happend:

2km rowing (warming up)
Stretching

I do this set 4 times with about 30 seconds break in between.
Hanging leg raises 12x
Rope crunch 12x
Reverse crunch 12x <- I realy want to do these inclined next time.
Weighted ball crunch 12x

3x12 Squat 60kg (132lbs)
1x12 Bench press at 60kg (132lbs) 1x8 at 60kg (132lbs) 1x12 at 50kg (110 lbs)
3x12 Death lift 50kg (110 lbs)
12 min cross trainer
Stretching

Now I'm wondering about something. Should I do my benchpress at 60kg again next time and just do the 3x xx reps to failure each time (12max) or maybe lower the weight by 5kg and try to complete that?

Oh, more bad news.. I lost weight today when measurering.. At 67.1kg now (147.9lbs) wich is a bad thing when trying to bulk.. Need to check my food over a longer period though but I am finding it hard to intake over 3k calories.

Foodstuff:
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/592/voeding291008ui8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Yesterday was a pretty shitty day. Apearently I'm still doing something wrong with the deadlifts, my back was killing me and not from the normal muscle ackes and pains so breakdance was pretty much a disaster. Told my teacher about it and kept to myself at the back of the class doing the things I could do.
Seeing my techique still sucks and I realy want to do a lifting program that makes sense I'm going to start from scratch by doing Stronglift 5x5 Beginners Program (http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/). This program will give me goals and a routine that makes sense in my book, while there will be time to work on my technique. Its going to be a bit of a blow to the ego starting with 0 weight on most things but having a 107.3KG squad after 3 months apeals to me, especialy if I can get there safe.

There will be new pictures tonight for the first progress week, they will be edited into the first post. These will be without flash though. I'm not expecting much but who knows. :)
Saturday will probely be spend traveling to my girlfriend :dreamy: , meaning a 2.5 hour trainride to her and 2.5 hours back. Very little eating althought I'll try to bring something along for the ride and most probely a big cheatmeal somewhere along the road. :doh:

Foodstuff for yesterday:
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/6637/voeding301008jo5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Updated the 3rd post on the thread with new pictures. Might go back to using a flash again, pictures seem less clear this time.. Anyways:

Current: oktober 31 2008
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2315/311008voorkantkleinej4.jpg (http://imageshack.us/) http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/1292/311008zijkantkleinff8.jpg (http://imageshack.us/) http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/2479/311008achterkleinpc6.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)

Anyways, training and food:
2KM rowing
5x5 squads with 20kg
5x5 benchpress with 20kg
Inverted rows 3x to failure (writing these down next time. I think it was 10 7 6)
Pushups 3x to failure (writing them down next time, think it was 14, 15 10)
Reverse crunch 3x to failure (whoops, had to be 3x12.. my bad!)

All the "weights" where easy ofcourse and it felt a bit silly doing them but its for the greater good. Monday 2 tiny 1.25kg weights will be added to the Squad.

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/8858/voeding311008py3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I think peanutbutter is going to be one of my controle substances with which I can controle if there will be weight-loss or weight-gain. Only big change from normal was 8 pieces of bread with peanutbutter instad of chicken or tuna and 2 extra eggs wich resulted in alot more calories. :eat:

Aah, everthing I wrote, gone to waste.. :cry: People, please make sure you press post instead of preview. Here we go again.

Today was the first workout b of the stronglift 5x5 system meaning
5x5 Squads at 22.5KG
5x5 Overhead presses at barweight (20kg)
1x5 deadlifts at 40KG
Chin-ups 7-2-3
Prone bridges 3x30sec

Those overhead presses are going to be my first stall, I know it. The bar on its own feels heavy already. :bb: On a different note.. i thought my deadlifts where getting better but they are not. Fortunatly my friend spotted what is wrong with them and we are going to work on them next time we practice. I miight also goto the gym tomorrow and let one of the trainers there check my posture with the deadlift, squad benchpress and overheadpress.

Foodstuff have been going pretty good usualy getting well over 1 gram protine per LBS of bodyweight, all of it being clean only the # of callories vary alot because I cant seem to make up my mind emotinaly if I want to bulk or cut.

Sunday:
http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/6121/voeding081102um8.jpg
Monday:
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7223/voeding081103de7.jpg

Well I think this was all I wrote, lets try and not mess it up again! (copy / paste before pressing post )

Yesterday was one hell of a crappy day. Was in no mood at all to go to the gym and then my gym buddy called off as well. :mad: But after about 10 minutes of sulking I picked myself up and went anyways. Did the stuff and went home.

Workout A:
5x5 Squads at 25kg
5x5 Benchpress at 22.5kg
11/7/6 inverted rows
27/13/10 pushups

When I was home I bought 2 huge bags of candy, winegums and MnM's and cleared them in under an hour. :bang: Redbull BC One was to be watched at the website live though and that was pretty nice. :tucool:Getting stronger so breakdance moves like that will become easier is one of my main goals right now.
Also made a nice layout for at the gym so I can write down my workouts there. I realy like the get in and out within half an hour mindset of the stronglift 5x5 workout but right now with these low weights it does not feel like your doing something in there but I realy need the stepback for technique. Enough of the rant for now.. Time to eat and clean house. :cry:

No pictures this week, wouldn't show alot of progress anyways.

Yesterday was my first day of doing pull-ups and those are ALOT harder then chin-ups. 3/3/3 instead of 7/2/3. Weights are adding up on the exercises and I'm wondering if I'll get to 30kg before stalling on the overhead press, realy hope so. :bb: Damn those things are hard. It realy shows me my left arm is alot weaker then my right after breaking my wrist 2 years ago. The same goes for the benchpress only slightly less so.
No immidiate pain from the deadlifts so thats good. Form was alot better according to my training buddy but I still want to get some real advice my back is just to important to me to screw up.


Yesterdays workout:
5x5 27.5kg squad
1x5 42.5kg deadlift
5x5 22.5kg overhead press
3/3/3 pull-ups

And a nice picture of the thing comming out of my wrist about a year and a half ago. Always fun. Warning, some blood to be seen but not alot.

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/433/img2312ob2.th.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2312ob2.jpg)

Hey man, your frame looks good to me already, and I think if you start working out your progress should show quite quickly. You said you were maybe worried about adding calories to your intake? You have a similar frame to me and I can eat lots without gaining much weight.

Have you thought about perhaps cutting dairy from your diet and fatty meats? It's actually quite easy, and you can still eat just about everything in different forms, while improving your health at the same time. That's cool that you breakdance man, I'm 25 and I really want to learn some moves..ever heard of mr. wiggles?

Hey man, your frame looks good to me already, and I think if you start working out your progress should show quite quickly. You said you were maybe worried about adding calories to your intake? You have a similar frame to me and I can eat lots without gaining much weight.

Have you thought about perhaps cutting dairy from your diet and fatty meats? It's actually quite easy, and you can still eat just about everything in different forms, while improving your health at the same time. That's cool that you breakdance man, I'm 25 and I really want to learn some moves..ever heard of mr. wiggles?

Who hasn't heard of mr wiggles? The hip hop king himself, graffiti breakdance, poppin', locking and whatnot. If you want to break, or any other kind of dance realy, I'd realy recommend going to a school in your area it just helps so much. Ofcourse there is youtube wich has alot of people teaching you moves but a real class is so much better.

As for the food. I once did some calculations and it said I needed 3k cals a day to keep my current weight, I'm well below that now (usualy). Hardly any fatty meats in my dieet but I do drink up to two glasses of no fat milk a day. It helps keep my protine values up. I'll post up my usual eating habits in a bit. Its actualy not the adding calories to my eating habits that realy scares me, its more of a mental thing, eating more equals getting fat wich I need to break in my mind.

Just finished todays workout, still going up in numbers wich I realy hope to be doing for a long time to come ofcourse. Today was the first day I felt I had done a workout since starting this program and its realy nice to see all the weights and reps go up all the time, realy makes you feel like you are getting stronger. Now if my knee would stop bugging me I'd be in a fairly happy place.

Workout:
5x5 Squad 30kg (66lbs)
5x5 Bench press 25kg (55lbs)
13/8/7 inverted rows
24/14/12 pushups

Its weird how, with the pushups, the first number is lower then the last time I did workout A but the other 2 are higher, awell.

Confession time:
I also stepped on the scale friday and I'm up to 69kg wich mainly is fat I guess from cheating on the trick or treat candy :drool: we have lying around here. Been eating a bag or half a bag almost daily for almost a week now. Going to increase my normal food intake a bit more again and see if the munchies go away some more. Wanting to reach 70kg anyways so its not realy much of a problem. What is more of a problem is having to skip 3 breakdance lessons due to my knee acting up and me feeling totaly shitty in an emotional way. But I've promised myself to go again thursday so lets hope its a good one. :claphigh: :madpimp:

Back to eating healthier again from now on and new pictures on friday.

Today I've made an appointment with my dokter to check out my knee. Its been bugging me way to much. I'm hoping for some execises or something.. To be honest I have no idea how she might be able to help me. Been wearing one of those stetch braces around my knee for my workout wich went pretty well. Its no fair though to see my gym partner having a much easier time with the weights then I am but having 80 KG in muscle lying beneith the fat must be a great help I'm sure especialy versus my 60'ísh KG. I know its not a pissing match but I cant help but envy. I'm probely going to stall my overhead press at 30kg.

Workout B:
5x5 Squad 32.5 KG
1x5 Deadlift 45 KG
5x5 Overhead press 25KG (starting to get heavy :cry: )
8/6/5 Chinups
3x30 sec. Prone bridges

At first, no pics, I'll make and add them tomorrow. Forgot about a birthday party I had today.

Workout A:
5x5 Bench press 27.5 kg
13/8/8 inverted rows
25/15/8 pushups

You may notice that there are no squads today.. :( Thats because I went and see the dokter today about my knee and she said to stay away from things that make the squad movement for around 2 weeks. The muscle that runs over the kneecap is irritated and thats what is causing my pain. Two weeks no squads is going to set me back 15kg in those 2 weeks wich is annoying the crap out of me right now. Bodyweight squads (70kg is my first goal) feel so far away right now but I guess I just have to ride it out. Got some exercises for the knee and will be doing those as much as possible. 1 December I'll be good to go again!

I did skate for the first time in a while again. It felt pretty solid, might try and do that as much as possible while I cant bend its good for the legs so why not. :)

The third set of pushups realy broke my behind, felt so weak and had to stop at 8 but there is an overall improvement in numbers with most things so I'm happy about that. Its all about getting stronger and aslong as numbers are going up I'm doing just that. :bb::flex: :dreamy:

Night all, pictures in the morning.

New pictures added, updated 3rd post. I'm glad I chop off my head in those.. I was damn sleepy this morning and it showed. :P

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/1851/081115voorkantkleinru7.jpg http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/2539/081115zijkantkleinsr5.jpg http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6453/081115achterkleinyx8.jpg