Soon....

30/04

Ate something disagreeable yesterday, will spare you the details but now I feel good, refreshed and hydrated. Boring but squat, bench press tomorrow? Also logging.

Squat: 82.5KG * 5 * 3
Dumbbell Bench Press: 30KG * 9,12,10

Squats were easy.

Dumbbell sets were inconsistent, need to get reacquainted with that particular exercise.

01/05

Kcal: 1639
Protein: 116g

Pg,

Send me a longer tennis video!

Guys and girls - tomorrow which class should I take?

i) 45 minute spin
ii) 45 minute "fat burning" session - ambiguous but seems to be HIIT type stuff (blurb mentions "Tabata")

Pg,

If you haven't been doing HIIT already, take the spin class.

Lol @ 45 minute tabata protocol session.

It's not a 45 minute Tabata session (I think) but the blurb mentions Tabata. A member of staff told me today it involves doing reps of weights :/

Exercise update

02/05 - ~40-45 minute unsatisfying tennis session v. The Professor

03/05 - 85KG * 12 * 3 Squat, 67.5KG * 12, 12, 10 Bench Press

04/05 - ~41 minute spin class

Going to incorporate more dumbbell bench press, barbell is annoying sans spotter since I often have to stop when I probably have 1+ more reps in me.

My second spin class. First class, which was last year was pretty standard HIIT. Instructor would specify how many RPM to do (I could not always keep up). Today's class involved lots of stuff like quasi press-ups, lunging from one side to another and so on. Very little "sit in the bike and peddle". Only specific speed instruction given was "peddle as fast as you can". I sweated buckets but didn't find it particularly hard, perhaps because I paced myself. Class was 11 women + me, only a super alpha like myself could pull that off. All the women wanted me, they were mostly older but there were a couple of 6.5s who I'll probably invite round for a threesome next time. It was fun, nothing mindblowing but I'm interesting in taking the class again & pushing a little harder now I know what it entails.

Grim weather recently but forecast for the next week looks mostly decent.

Went to the gym today:

Squat: Did 3 warmups reps (~45KG), knees & lower back told me to take the day off so I did. A little surprising since I felt full of beans (which is good), I guess spin class yesterday + squat on Wednesday did it. No biggie.

Dumbbell bench press: Did something like 30KG * 8, 28KG * 9. A little disappointing. I think it's just a case of not being used to the dumbbell bench press, there's probably lots of small stabilisation type muscles that don't get as much of a workout using a barbell. Next time I'll aim for something like 24KG * however many I can do.

Tomorrow I'll play tennis if I can find a partner, if not some sort of workout at the gym.

104.4KG this morning which places me in the 220s for the first time in months. Now to get in the 210s as fast as reasonable.

This 105 year old does one hour of exercise per day and still works as a doctor! Amazing!

Tennis v. Zidane

45 minute free hit
5-4 (7-4)

- Zidane was not the best at tennis & I'm a little annoyed it took me until a tiebreaker to win (went to a tiebreaker at 4-4 for time reasons)

- Had a nice spell in free hitting when I hit a bunch of really nice consecutive top spin backhands

- Three of the games I lost were due to me double faulting a lot which I'm less worried about than getting outplayed.

- Had to rush the "set" due to time constraints. No break between games + less time between points, bigger rush to collect the balls. This was a disadvantage given my bad fitness (Zidane appears to be in the best shape of people I play)

- Fitness, fitness, fitness! Need to improve my fitness!

Tennis v. Professor on Tuesday. Will take it easy tomorrow, stretching, some walking + maybe a little stuff like bicep curls, lateral raises etc.

Tennis v. Professor

1-6 1-6

Started to play some decent tennis towards the end of the second set but the weather was **** so I called it a day.


Fitness improvements not immediately obvious when playing tennis but I seem to recover quicker post-tennis recently.

Probably going to squat/bench press tomorrow, will squat 90KG * 5 * 3 which is a nice psychological mark (roughly what I consider a basic benchmark of functional strength for a guy my size).

Most importantly, I need to resume logging tomorrow. I eat better when I log, that is indisputable.

10/05

Kcal: 1883
Protein: 148g

Walk ~ 3 miles.

Weather was amazing. First time getting some sustained sun for a couple of weeks.

Bench Press: 67.5KG * 12, 10
Squat: 90KG * 5 * 3

My right trapezius hurts around about this point



Not sure if it's strained or a spasm but it's painful especially when turning my head left. Started to feel the pain after the second bench press set.

Squat technique wasn't great. "Bounced" at the bottom on a couple and didn't go up in a straight line on a few others.

Supposed to tennis tomorrow but weather forecast is iffy.

Bought three of these



Anyone have experience? They are eddoes, which I had never heard of.

11/05

Kcal: 2210
Protein: 145g

Supposed to tennis tomorrow but weather forecast is bad. Will switch to spin or a class if no tennis. Neck thing, in the same spot I had trouble a year + ago, is not good. I don't know what happened, it suddenly started hurting after my second bench press set, but I didn't feel a sudden pain. I just went to get up and it hurt. Took a few weeks to full heal last time.

12/05

Kcal: 2950
Protein: 232g

Exercise was ~1 hr of walking, 2 sets of chest press machine & ~28 minutes of spin.

13/05

Completed six levels + three stages of level seven (each stage has nine to ten levels). VO2 max of 34.25 which my app says is 'poor'. Could have pushed for an extra couple of stages but don't think I could have complete level seven.

I was exhausted after five level last time but sailed through the same mark today. Whatever combination of improved fitness, asthma related medicine and other factors caused this it is good & I am happy (although keen to improve further). However, looking at my physique in the mirror at the gym - I need to lose weight! I was 105.2 KG this morning, up from last week. The recipe is well known, eat a balanced diet that I know is low in calories because I track them, and supplement with exercise. Catching myself in the mirror today was good motivation - my belly is way too big!

Tennis tomorrow v. someone new. Place we're playing has hard & grass courts, unfortunately he booked the former. I suspect I'd prefer hard to grass but I've never played on the latter (just artificial grass) & would like to give it a go at least once.

13/05

Kcal: 2202
Protein: 154g

Calorie count might be high since I chose the higher of options presented to me for calorie count of bone in skin on thighs (should go skinless). Ate clean, 23g of multigrain rice krispies which I guess counts as crap, otherwise great stuff.

Aiming for 2500 Kcal tomorrow which is solid for a tennis day.

Tennis v. Golders

1-6 0-6 3-2

- I totally lost it for the first few games of set two, pretty weird.

- We switched from hard court to grass at 0-4 in set two. Grass plays very different,
much faster, unfortunately the court wasn't maintained well & the bounce was erratic.
Not bad enough to make playing tennis unplayable, we had some good rallies but lining up to take a forehand only to see the ball bounce at ankle height is annoying. I'd prefer not to play on those courts again. Plus, the court sloped from forehand to backhand side.

- Wanted to finish out the third set but Golders had to go. I had 40-30 in the final game to go up 4-1 which would given me the moral victory in set three.

- My neck/shoulder gave me trouble, especially after the first set. Enough to affect my play.

- My fitness was good. Well, it's still bad, I lost a couple of longer rallies due to poor fitness. But it's much better. We played for ~90 minutes and I felt fresh. I could play another set now.

14/05

Kcal: 2503
Protein: 140g

Kcal is good but I didn't eat clean.

Tomorrow I want a workout which makes me sweat & leaves me with a post-workout endorphin high. That hasn't happened for a while, which is a good sign. Ideally something like bench press and squat to start & then farmer's walks + kettlebell swings until I'm tired. But, my neck still hurts so those plans may change.

15/05

Kcal: 2283
Protein: 153g

Sixty minutes tennis

All - yesterday was a bit wild, I had to stay up late giving a police statement & had lots of ice cream & sherry due to the drama! The ice cream is dairy free so a little less calorific than the real stuff. I had maybe ~300ml or a little less of sherry? Nothing I regret.

Back to logging today, I am a little fatigued overall so I am going to take exercise easy.

17/05

Kcal: 1883
Protein: 140g

Neck felt aggravated/worse earlier, I rested it all day and am eager to lift weights tomorrow.

18/05

Kcal: 2214
Protein: 194g

Based on 640 Kcal for a supermarket bought half chicken (On the high end for estimates on MFP).

Squat: 92.5KG * 5 * 3

Neck much improved but since the weather is **** (and depressing) I'll leave bench pressing until tomorrow before I spin (or whatever).

2+ miles walk
Bench Press: 65KG * 12, 9, 9
Stationary Bike: 20 mins @ 14.6 MPH

Easy workout, will go back tomorrow for squat, bench press & something cardio related.

Weight stationary for two weeks, back on steamed chicken breast and veggies.