Dragan's New Training Journal

Dragan

Right,

after about 1 year and 4 months ( or so ) without training AT ALL, and about 6 months before that of training rather sporatically i am back. Finally all ducks are in a row and i can make it back to the gym and wreck havoc on this frail and pasty body I know inhabit.

First day training yesterday (RAW Gym) and as you would imagine i am weak as ****. Thankfully i am not as weak as i was after my last break so it's not like all my hard work has been undone, i just gotta put the effort in and suffer having to move newb weight until i get back to where i was.

Yesterday was a mix of excercises ( power cleans, incline bench, push press, squats and rows) just to try and figure out where my strength currently is. All the weights were miserable, so i didn't pay a massive amount of attention to them. It will take me another couple of sessions to work out decent enough base numbers and then start applying various techniques to increase the strength, drop the BF % and get my VO2Max up a bit.

Training Plan : As of yet , none. I don't even know what i can and can't do right now and what has dropped off more than others, exactly how bad the imbalances in my left leg and right lower back are and various other ****. I'll think about it more when i have a grip on exactly where i am.

Diet Plan : None. Not that i will eat what i want, just that i am not following any bull**** beyound my old flower the Ana-Cat diet. I still think it makes sense and it's a good time to test it. Natural changes over the last few days have been cutting out junk and upping fruit, veg and protein counts and drinking more water.

Supplements : None. I'm just going to rock wholefoods for a while and see what i might need to fill in and where. I can't really see myself using a lot of supps though.

Aims: Right now, i miss being strong so i want to get my strength up but also keep the speed increase my lighter frame is currently allowing me ( at a guess i am down to about 15 to 15 and a half stone from the 18.5 i was when i stopped training ). Also the usual **** about losing some bodyfat etc etc, right now just want to feel a little better, stronger and fitter. I'll take it further from there.

That's about it. Next session tomorrow. I'll pay a bit more attention to the weights i move so you can all have a good laugh at me.

Peace.

BossArky

Welcome back. Good to see you logging again

Dragan

BossArky wrote: »

Welcome back. Good to see you logging again

Cheers man. I find the whole "publically commiting" to something really helps the old motivation.

Besides, there are still too many underserved Hulk references on boards, so i might as well make them right again.:pac:

FunkZ

YEAEEASSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!

Just putting that out there, now I@m gonna read your post.
I don't think you've had a log for over two years. It's been ages!

Welcome back!!!

brianthebard

Great to see you're back training D, well done. **** I weigh the same as you now...bet my belly is bigger though.

itsallaboutheL

Who's lookin to be re-modded!! Good to have you back

Dragan

There is something about doing your training at 7 in the morning that is kind of neat. Today was a run. Yeah, i know, i find the idea of me running to be just as ridiculous as you do. The actuality of it was far more horrible though. My knees felt good, thankfully. I couldn't tell you the distance or anything, but i put in a 30 minute run and then did 20 minutes of skipping, which was also sweet. I like running truthfully, it's just that after about the age of 16 when i quit Cross Country ( because i was **** at it ) i pretty much stopped doing it, even for a bus.

I've decided to follow the rough plan of weights 3 or 4 times a week, running twice and swimming twice.

The diet has been decent enough, pretty steady to the Anacat Protocol in that when i woke up at 6 this morning i ate a nice bowl of oats, fruit and yoghurt and then went for my run. Regardless of what anybody tells you, i maintain that running on an empty stomach is pointless unless you have been dieting to the point of using all stored glycogen while you sleep, which is unlikely.

Tomorrow is another weights day, but it's not as if i did a huge amount this morning, so i ate one more carb decent meal ( eggs with wholemeal bread ) and now i'm scaling back. It will be mostly veg and meat for the rest of the day, pound a big breakfast tomorrow morning and go lift some weights.

The funny thing is that lately my thoughts have been more based around syncopation than sets and reps, but the old rountines seem to snap back into place pretty quick. I was dreading the gym on Tuesday, wanted to go again for the last two days and can't wait to get in there tomorrow.

Cool.

amazingemmet

yay aido's back

Vegeta

Hey dude, great to see you at it again.

I started back in April after about 6-8 months off due to sheer inability to deal with stress in my life and training.

I just did 2 and a bit months on Stephan Korte program and it was good. Wish I had known a few things at the start that I know now but hey, you live and learn.

I have convinced one of my friends to start training too, he's 63kg and after about 4-5 weeks he is dead lifting 112kg and squatting bodyweight. Its sick. Very inspiring stuff.

So look forward to keeping up with this. I know you have no concrete plans but you should think about nailing some down. You don't really half ass anything but it can be easy at times to just drift and not improve unless you are working towards specific goals.

Transform

hey man good to have you back and hope your going to get in your best shape ever!!!

Must drop back into raw as have not been back in a few months now

Kinetic^

W00t!

There's an open day in there this weekend.......can't make it though.

GL with it!

Doodee

Well done Dragan.
I'll probably see ya in there at some point.

Dragan

Doodee wrote: »

Well done Dragan.
I'll probably see ya in there at some point.

Sweet man, didn't know you were training there. Must sort out a training time and meet up.

Dragan

Well, last week was definitely a lesson. The kind of thing that takes a while to cop as a newb but hits very quickly when you are a returning newb. Basically, plan your gym trips, and accomadate them. Fridays training went out the window due to things going in longer than i thought they would, and other things need attention sooner than they should have.

As such, this week is very much planned out. The only way to improve is to ensure you are making your gym sessions and your meals.

This is to be my mantra for the next four weeks. I have set upon a bit of a plan as well, i shall do a run of 5x5 as my return. I have always liked that program and feel it's a great way for people who have been out of training to build up a good base of strength and muscular endurance. This week will be mostly about finding my starting weights, with my first day of my 5x5 coming next Monday.

Today i was training with sometime boardsie Jayroc, my normal training partner for the last few years. It was ****ing awesome to be back in the gym with another person with a hardcore mentality. Plus the guy has gotten thick as hell in my absence so it's a good motivator. Anyway, todays session....

1) Flat bench : 40kilos x 12 to warm up, 50x5,55x5,60x5,70x3,60x10,60x9,60x9
2) Decline bench : 50kilosx10x2
3) Tire Flips x 6 (****ing awesome to be able to do this is my gym )
4) Low Cable Row : Plate 11x5 , Plate 8x12, Plate 8x12, Plate 8x11
5) Lat Pull downs : Plate 5x12x3

And that was it!

Notes:
1) Overall i felt good today, diet is pretty constant, a good source of wholefoods and energy levels were good.
2) I figure my starting weight on flat bench to be a fairly measly 62.5, 10 plates on the low row and 5 on the lats pull downs ( a gorgeous machine, the first time i have ever used on the left all the pain in my lats as opposed to my shoulder joints....will use it to build up the lats in conjunction with neg's on the pull/chin ups )
3) Training with a partner who is on the same page is awesome.
4) The music in Raw can be ****, so bring the MP3 player and see if they will stick on Far Too Loud while i am training.

So, thats about it. I have a swim planned for 12 tomorrow and depending on how i feel i might knock out some GPP in the evening in Raw. Wednesday is definitely a RAW day, bent over rows, front squats and some Push Pressing are all on the cards.

Oh yeah, this is ironic because i have said i won't really be using supplements but sure enough, i ran into my old friend and part owner of Nutrition X today and he had a very interesting present for me. I swear to ****, i have tasted nothing like this before. Seeing as it was being left into Raw i can only assume he has no issue with me mentioning it here. Basically a ZMA Pudding. That's right, a pudding for before bed than contains both ZMA and Caseinate. And it's taste ****ing unreal. How much can change in a year away from training? Plenty.

Musical Motivation on the walk to the gym provided by Far Too Loud.

Dragan

Ah swimming. You have to love it. Swam for an hour today. It's another one of those things i haven't done in donkeys years and it was tough going at first. By the end of the session i was managing lengths as my confidence in the water came back ( for some reason the deepend felt really deep ).

Anyway, great fun, tough as hell and something i'll be doing quite a bit of.

JayRoc

Like I said man, you're one of the best people I know to train with, and it's a pleasure to see you back in your natural habitat!


See you in the gym tomorrow. And for god's sake get a haircut.

celestial

Welcome back Dragan, good to see ya posting again.

How come such a long lay-off? I think you had finished up at the NTC around when ya stopped training - maybe you were all fitness-ed out?!

Dragan

celestial wrote: »

How come such a long lay-off? I think you had finished up at the NTC around when ya stopped training - maybe you were all fitness-ed out?!

Cheers! Basically i got sick, a rather odd disorder that hung around with me for a long time...then i was just lazy.:)

Dragan

Another session with JayRoc today.

1) Front Squats : 20x12 , 30x12, 40x8, 40x8, 45x5, 50x5, 50x5, 50x5
2) Chest Supported Dumbell Rows : 12.5x12 , 22.5x12, 27.5x8, 30x8, 35x5
3) Push Press , 20X12, 40x5,45x5,45x5,45x5
3) Bicep Curls/Preacher Curl Superset 20x12/6 twice.
4) Tricep Pushdowns 70lbs x 12, 90lbsx12, 120lbsx12

Thoughts:
Not a bad little session. Energy was good. I honestly expected to suffer a bit more getting back into things but the body seems to be responding well and the diet is good. Lots of food before and after training and then cutting down on carbs.

I'm eating plenty of chicken, red meat and fish. Lots of random fruit and veg too. Olive at the moment but i will hopefully pick up some sesame seed oil in the near future. I love that stuff.

Will be back in again tomorrow morning.

Dragan

Today was planned to be a training day but a shift in plans changed everything. First up i was supposed to be away this weekend but that is no longer the case. Secondly, i was aimless but now i have a plan.

From other logs and threads i have become very interested in the 5/3/1 training as put forward by Jim Wendler. Basically it looks like exactly my kind of plan, in that it will allow me to gain strength ( proper diet will take care of BF ) and appropriate size. It also makes you reign it in slightly and seems to aim itself at corrected most of the bad habits in my training history. It basic, simple and require no thought. It's centered around basic compounds which i love and it pretty much sets a daily challenge, which helps motivate.

I'll be running this exclusively for the next 12 months. Why? Because i am intrigued by what it offers and i reckon i am one of those lucky people who can dedicate a year to a plan as i don't have any other goals.

Sweet.

Anyway, i will be in the gym on Friday and Saturday finding out my 1RMS for the various compounds the program covers. Which should be good fun. Then i'll be stepping away from them as per the program which is also good, as foolish Dragan's tend to injure themselves on Heavy 1RMs.

I also have a couple of idea's that might make this log a bit more interesting, which i hope to implement next week.

Looking forward to tomorrow. It's Deadlifts and Shoulder Press, i'll be saving the Squats and Bench for Saturday when i have some folk around to spot.

It just seems prudent.

Dragan

Well at this point i am sold on the simplicity of Wendlers program. When i was last training i would say the various aspects of training took up about 40-50% of my thinking time. I can't really afford that these days so 10 minutes doing some maths every now and then seems perfect to me.

Was in the gym today testing my 1RM's (i'd rather go off actual 1RM's rather than estimates - overestimation is a poor human trait afterall ) and did Deads and Push Press.

1) bar x 12, 60x8,70x5,80x3,100x3,120x1,130x1,135x1,140 fail.

So, lets call that a 135k 1RM for deads.

2) Strict as **** Standing Push Press - barx12,30x8,40x3,50x3,55x1,57.5 fail.

And a nice 55k for Standing Push Press.

Tomorrow will be bench and squat, and whatever other random stuff the enters my head ( i will be training with some people tomorrow, so it always gets a bit "oh ****, that looks like fun".

Today was more fact finding than training, but it still felt good.

Hungry as hell for the last two days as well, hungrier than i remember being in years. Sounds like a good sign.

itsallaboutheL

Why did you decide to do a push press instead of a military???

Dragan

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

Why did you decide to do a push press instead of a military???

Basically they are the same thing, i'm emphasising the push press because of the split stance...that's about it.

Hanley

Dragan wrote: »

Basically they are the same thing, i'm emphasising the push press because of the split stance...that's about it.

I'd have thought push presses and military presses were seriously different? Leg drive and all that...?

Are you doing them with a jerk stance or something?

itsallaboutheL

Hanley wrote: »

I'd have thought push presses and military presses were seriously different? Leg drive and all that...?

Are you doing them with a jerk stance or something?

So would i, but i was afraid to say it!!

and split stance even more so??

Dragan

Hanley wrote: »

Are you doing them with a jerk stance or something?

Yip, jerk stance, it allowd my left shoulder to move slightly back and down when i am pressing. It's something i need to allow while i work on my shoulder flexibility. I'm not emphasising the leg drive, just allowing the shoulder a natural rolling plain as it's my left foot that is forward, allowing my shoulder to just naturally role a bit better than it would with the strict body of a military press.

If it makes people feel better i'll call it a military press for the sake of the journal, but it's not.

Then again, it's not really a "Push Press" either i guess.

Roper

I can't see how that will change the plane of motion at all. The ankle bone is connected to the kneebone, but the structure of the shoulder under heavy loading can't really change without losing the weight forward or backward if you split your stance. If you look at any split jerk the fundamental is the spread of the chest and the squeeze of the scapulae which evens the load across the shoulders.

You may well be doing yourself a disservice there as allowing the shoulder to roll further forward under load is going to place a shearing force on the girdle which won't cure your flexibility issue at all and will probably exacerbate any existing difficulties.

A vid for explanation might clear the confusion up.

Dragan

Roper wrote: »

I can't see how that will change the plane of motion at all. The ankle bone is connected to the kneebone, but the structure of the shoulder under heavy loading can't really change without losing the weight forward or backward if you split your stance. If you look at any split jerk the fundamental is the spread of the chest and the squeeze of the scapulae which evens the load across the shoulders.

You may well be doing yourself a disservice there as allowing the shoulder to roll further forward under load is going to place a shearing force on the girdle which won't cure your flexibility issue at all and will probably exacerbate any existing difficulties.

A vid for explanation might clear the confusion up.

I'm not exactly explaining this very well. The only way i can think of is to tape a straight, rigid stick to your upper shoulders/back and perform the two lifts. Watch how the end of the bar on the left side drops and rolls ever so slightly on that side. It's more the effect of the position on the biomechanics. That side is extended with no base, the other side is extended with a base, that side drops a small bit.

This is what i have noticed and i have noticed it also stop my shoulder from aching so much.

Dragan

More 1RM testing today.

Bench
1RM = 77.5 ( 80 was a fail )

Squat
1RM = 87.5 (90 was a fail )

Well, both those numbers are fairly pathetic, but this was all for maths. No more worrying about or talking about 1RM's for a while.

It was good training today, lots of the old heads seem to be down in RAW, so Saturday morning training will be a regular thing.The competition is good as well, all the lads seem to be bigger and stronger than when i last trained with them, which is good as it spurs me on.

Will do the maths for the 5/3/1 later and pop them up.

FunkZ

OMG nows my chance to get stronger than Dragan!!!

Keep it up dude, you're doing well

Dragan

FunkZ wrote: »

OMG nows my chance to get stronger than Dragan!!!

Keep it up dude, you're doing well

*grins* Wouldn't be too hard at the moment, although i am actually not as weak as i thought i would be.

Give me a year of this 5/3/1 and we'll see how i stand! lol