So. On Monday I had two exams. Passed one ;) and failed one :/. The first one was my priority since it was a very hard exam and took my time away from studying for the second one.
I'm semi satisfied with the results. I guess I'll have to make a better effort next time. Start preparing a bit earlier next time.
My next exam is on 14th March (Math). I'm starting tomorrow ;).
And now for the gym stuff. I was very ancious to return to the gym and I hit my back on Monday .. HARD! It still hurts today ;). On Tuesday I did legs. Damn.. that was very tiring. I was completly out of energy and still did the best I could that day. Went to the gym with a migrene. I'm not stopping. I'm on a mission ;).
Yesterday was a rest day. Today PHAT Hypertrophy Upper body.
Oh.. And a picture from 12th January 2012. It's blurry but I can't fix that ;).
... without going to the gym:/.
No. I'm not sick or injured.
It's a forced pause due to 2 exams coming up in three days. Paying the price for not studying when I had the chance. After doing 8weeks of PHAT it's a welcome pause though. Body will be rested so I can go harder when the pause is over.
Studying is so much harder now with job (8AM-5PM) and family. I can't go to any lectures and I STILL don't have any quality study material.
1st exam is at 8AM. Physics, Chemistry, Biology and ecology in one class.
2nd exam is at 12AM and is about database managament. OK.. it's my field of work, but what the profesor wants is in no way related to real life situations. COME ON.. i've been a DBA for 10years now and I failed the first time i took the exam. Imagine that ;). Ok.. I only studied for 2 hours and expected to fail, since I don't like theory.
Anyway. AGAIN I started with preparation for these exams too late :/. I knew for more then a month when the exams are due and only started preparing this Monday.. arggghhh.. Can I be more stupid. I just never seem to learn ;)
It's hard to concentrate on studying since my body and mind are calling for the IRON but I'm managing somehow.
I'm really busting them, and pushing the barrier every time I work on my legs.
I'm not only talking about the weight I'm lifting but the form/sets I'm doing with certain weight.
For instance. I can squat 170kg for 5-6 reps (with spotter) but I wouldn't really call them squats since they're not even to the parallel. So .. I rather lower the weight and go below the parallel.
A month ago I did 1 set of 160kg for 3 reps to the parallel. Three days ago I did 2 sets of 160kg for 5 reps below parallel. So I guess I'm improving on my strenght, my form and in size of my legs ;).
Another example of making progress. Usually when I work my quads I start with squats, then move to leg press, then to leg extenstions and hack squat machine.
Before I was max 140kg on squats and when I tried leg presses I maxed at about 6-8 reps of 320kg.
Now I max at 160kg on squats I can go up to 405kg on leg press and actually do 2 sets of 6 reps!
ROM (range of motion) is not quite what I'd like it to be ... YET! I'll get there eventually but in the mean while I'll jut hit them hard. Even if ROM and form aren't 100%, they still work for me.
Here's a vid of me doing 405kg leg press after busting my quads on squats and deadlifts.
I decided to finally incorporate some deadlifts into my routine. I just wish I did them before :/.
Oh.. and my quads one day before:
I've got to focus more on my hamstrings.. I'm kinda neglecting them since quad workout really takes most of my energy away. I'll either have to decrease the volume for the quads or train one more day in the gym. So that would make 6 days on, one day off. I'm not quite sure what to do. I think 6 days in the gym is a bit of an overkill for me. Can hardly make time for 5 days.
This was the Quads workout 3 days ago:
Some dynamic warmup before that. Squat: 20x20, 15x40, 10x60, 10x80, 10x100, 5x110, 5x120, 5x140, 2x5x160kg. Deadlift: 15x40kg, 10x80kg, 3x6x100kg
Leg press: 10x320kg, 2x6x405kg (PB)
So. 2011 is gone and I welcome 2012 ;).
Looking back at 2011 I'm very pleased with what I've achieved.
I set myself three goals:
- reach 8% body fat by August 2011 - Done
- reach 90 kg by the end of 2011 - Done
- look better then ever - Done
What will 2012 bring. Well first goal to reach is 92kg by the end of January. Then maybe go up to 95kg by the end of March while still trying to maintain low body fat %.
Second goal is to get prepped for my first BB competition ever. It should be in late spring so I guess if I start prepping in the beginning of April I should be fine. It depends though. The competition is still not confirmed so I don't know if it will take place or not.
After the competition (lets assume it will take place) I'll do bulking again until end of August and then start preparation for IBFF World championship in Koper, Slovenia.
I'll try to learn even more then I've learned thus far. 2011 was a real eye opener and I've learned A LOT about nutrition, exercising, rest, anatomy, ...
I've still gor a lot to learn and I'm looking forward to it.
