Too fat to be a cyclist. Too skinny to be a weightlifter.

[Big Good Wolf]

40 press ups before work. I still can't get up as early as I would like. Maybe I could try going to bed earlier.

Thought I'd have a slightly easier session tonight, although still upping the weights where I think I've got more potential.

Skipping 250. Just enough to warm up.
Deadlift 5x5x85kg
Bench press 5x5x50kg
Squat 5x5x50kg
Overhead press 5x5x30kg
Dumb bell snatch 5x5x20kg

[Big Good Wolf]

Mountain biking today.
A short ride first thing with the dog, then back out on the bike again to watch the sled dog racing around the Wyre Forest. That was about 9km altogether.
After that I went out again for a long ride on my own and did another 32km.
For the first 10km or so I can easily get my heart rate over 170 on the climbs as I'm gasping for breath. After about 20km my heart rate doesn't go much over 140 and it feels like my legs would give way long before I get out of breath.
Incidently, the best "score" I have ever got on my HRM was 191 a couple of weeks ago. If you go for the basic HRM calculation of 220-age, I shouldn't be going above 176.

I'd already used 3000+ Kcal cycling according to me GPS, but I thought I had better do some weights anyway.

Another comparatively easy session then;

Deadlift
5x5x85kg

Squat (bearing in mind I had just cycled 41km)
1x5x35kg
4x5x45kg

Bench press
1x5x45kg
3x5x50kg
1x5x52.5kg

Overhead press (dinosaur training with my triceratops bar)
5x5x30kg

I think I'll stick with the 5x5 plan with increasing weights.
I always feel stiff when I start any exercise, the first five press up in the morning are a real struggle until I have loosened up a bit.
Whenever I try a 5x5 I find that as my flexibility increases, my strength is fading, the third set is always the easiest. If I treat the first one or two sets as a lighter warm up, I should be able to up the weights on the final set.

[^toby^]

I think I'll stick with the 5x5 plan with increasing weights.
I always feel stiff when I start any exercise, the first five press up in the morning are a real struggle until I have loosened up a bit.
Whenever I try a 5x5 I find that as my flexibility increases, my strength is fading, the third set is always the easiest. If I treat the first one or two sets as a lighter warm up, I should be able to up the weights on the final set.

5x5 is awesome.
I'm doing 5x5 but not really full on 5x5 (50% x 5, 75-80% x 5, 100% 3x5). I'm trying my best to do 2 lighter warm up sets and 5 working sets though.

[Big Good Wolf]

I don't have a precise plan of what weights I am going to lift before I start.
I know roughly how much of a struggle it was last time and how well I have recovered from my last lifting session or bike ride and I just go from there.

Cycle to work and back.
11.80km in 41.43 = 17.0km/h out.
12.00km in 50.25 = 14.3km/h home.

It was just getting light when I set out this morning,m it was dark before I left work. I'm going to buy some better lights soon so I can maintain a better speed in the dark.

[Big Good Wolf]

About 26km on the mountain bike in total.

Deadlift
5x85kg
5x95kg
5x95kg
5x105kg
5x105kg

Squat
5x45kg
5x55kg
5x65kg
5x65kg
5x70kg

Bench press
5x50kg
5x50kg
5x52.5kg
5x52.5kg
5x55kg

Overhead press (triceps bar)
5x30kg
5x30kg
5x32.5kg
5x32.5kg
5x32.5kg

Clean
5x35kg
5x45kg
5x45kg
5x45kg
5x45kg

Dumb bell snatch
5x20kg
5x20kg
5x20kg
5x22.5kg
5x22.5kg

[^toby^]

Nice Dumb bell snatch, mate

[Big Good Wolf]

Thanks. I like dumbbell snatch as I find it just the right combination of speed and strength.

About 25km on the bike again today to work and back.
About half an hour log splitting. Not exactly exercise, but near enough.

[Big Good Wolf]

Thursday; 24km round trip to work and back

Friday; Same again.

Saturday; Nothing

Sunday;
Concept 2 rower, 5000m in 20.41 PB
Push press 5x5x40kg

[Big Good Wolf]

Monday;
24km mountain biking

Tuesday;
24km mountain biking

Deadlift
5x85kg
5x95kg
5x105kg
5x105kg
5x110kg

Squat
5x65kg
5x65kg
5x65kg
5x65kg
5x65kg

Bench press
5x50kg
5x50kg
5x50kg
5x52.5kg
5x52.5kg

Overhead press (triceps bar)
5x25kg
5x25kg
5x30kg
5x30kg
5x30kg

Snatch
5x30kg
5x32.5kg
5x32.5kg
5x35kg
5x37.5kg

[Big Good Wolf]

Wednesday;
2 x 12km mountain biking

Thursday;
2 x 12km mountain biking

Friday;
5km mountain biking

Deadlift
5x90kg
5x95kg
5x105kg
5x105kg
5x110kg

Squat
5x55kg
5x60kg
5x65kg
5x65kg
5x70kg

Bench press
5x50kg
5x50kg
5x55kg
5x55kg
5x57.5kg

Snatch
5x35kg
5x40kg
5x40kg
5x40kg
5x40kg

[Big Good Wolf]

Saturday & Sunday at Moggy's;
Concept 2 rower, 5000m in 20.47
Also a couple of sprint rows, seeing how long I could maintain a 2.00/500m average speed. Not very long.

Thought I'd give overhead squat a go for a change. Started with a light weight to get the movement, but found it unbelievably difficult to keep my balance;
5x5x12kg

Monday & Tuesday;
Nothing much, not even cycling as I have had to carry stuff to work and used the Land Rover.

Wednesday;
Time for some PB attempts after a few weeks of almost regular training to see if there's been any improvement.

Deadlift;
125
135
145F (Current PB)
140F

Squat;
75
85
95 PB

Bench Press;
55
60
65
67.5 PB

Clean & push press;
45
50
52.5 PB

My short term goal is 1.5xbodyweight deadlift, bodyweight squat and .75xbodyweight bench press. I'm 97kg so I'm getting there. Longer term it's .75xbodyweight overhead by any means. I've got a bit further to go with that one.
I tried bench pressing with the bench set up inside the power rack so the safety bars would save me if I dropped the bar. I banged my elbows on the way down and gave up. I need a wider rack and 7' bar for that.

I changed a clutch on a lorry at work yesterday. After taking the gearbox out, I was warned that this type of lorry has a twin plate clutch which is too heavy to lift by hand so I should use the crane.
Sounds like a challenge to me.
A few minutes later the foreman and another fitter walked past, saw the clutch on the floor next to the lorry, saw the crane still rigged on the gearbox and said "Did you just lift that out ? "
They are already amazed at the way I cycle 12km home at 11pm, then, at break time they started asking about the food I eat, as they had noticed it's not the same as the McDonalds and Coke that they have, so I told them I'm vegan.

[JP]

hey looking pretty strong there mate, good progress!

[Big Good Wolf]

Thanks. Another short term acheivable goal I have set myself is to not update my figures on the strength table until I have increased my PB on all three lifts. I was a bit disappointed at failing on the DL because of that, but it means that when I do update I should jump up about 7 or 8 places.

[Big Good Wolf]

First day at the gym. I've gone for the 12 days for £12 offer. When that runs out I will probably take the No Joining Fee in December offer.

Mountain biking;
4.5km with the dog
No secure bike parking at the gym, so;
12km cycle to work.
2km run to the gym

Deadlift;
5x90kg
5x90kg
5x100kg
5x100kg
5x110kg

Squat;
5x70kg
5x60kg
5x60kg
5x60kg
5x60kg

Bench press
5x40kg
5x50kg
5x50kg
5x50kg
5x50kg

Clean & push press;
5x30kg
5x30kg
5x35kg
5x40kg
5x40kg

Dumbbell snatch;
5x15kg
5x20kg
5x20kg
5x22.5kg
5x22.5kg

Kneeling dumbbell rows;
5x25kg
5x25kg
5x25kg
5x25kg
5x30kg

2km walk back to work, then nine hours later;
12km cycle home.

[The Duke]

Squats coming up nicely.