Sitting in bed, scented candle lit, with a glass of wine and some cake. I’m not really sure what cliché I’ve become. But I am one.
Anyway – As I said earlier I felt that this could be a good forum to keep some sort of track of fitness and health goals. There are multiple reasons for this, but primary among them is that I was recently diagnosed as Type 1 Diabetic, and for someone who has spent as long as they can remember enjoying sport it has meant some fairly dramatic changes to my lifestyle.
During my time at uni the gym has been a fairly integral part of my routine and I have fluctuated from a 95kg Tight End in American Football down to about 79kg in the run up to the Varsity Boat Race during the first of my two years spent on the University Rowing squad. For me one of the key indicators that I was unwell came from the massive drop performance in the gym and in the sudden weight loss experienced (about 8kg over 2 months) and so it whilst it was helpful in diagnosing myself, it was massively frustrating to see years of work wasted.
In the last few weeks I have started an almost ‘from scratch’ approach to training and am beginning to build myself back up, mainly by following a slightly adapted version of the Stronglifts 5×5 program – which with its constant incremental changes in weight makes me feel like I am progressing at a reasonable rate, and can all be tracked via a very functional and efficient app which (although not free) I would genuinely recommend to anyone struggling for motivation or who needs some help starting out with weights. In addition to getting back in to weights I have also started back in to one of my favoured summer sports of cycling, and with the addition of a few rides and turbo training sessions a week I am finally getting back some of the cardio which up until fairly recently was a big part of my general rowing fitness.
Almost as a tracker of progress to myself I am going to post my current weight and work out stats so that hopefully I can gauge improvements over two week periods.
Height: 5’10 (unlikely to change 😥 )
Weight: 83kg
Squat: 90kg, Bench: 80kg, Overhead Press: 40kg, Dead Lift: 100kg, Bent Over Rows: 60kg
Although a bit different from the usual blog I’ve been going for I hope people aren’t too bored by my self-centered gym blogging and can appreciate it as a form of motivation.
More G, Less T 