After 6-months of training

[Shaedar]

I've decided to stop for a moment and see where am I. And while already at it, why not spread the word on TT to hear your comments. I took the first and the last page from my training log.

My daily training consists of bodyweight exercises, running and archery. I'm doing this 6 days a week, resting on Sunday. Because of shoulder injury and problems with achilles tendon, I wasn't doing anything for a month or so and there is basically only 5 months of training behind me.
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First Day, October 12th, 2007 :


Strenght (lack of it) :

Push-ups (wide placement) = 15, 12, 10
Sit-ups = 30, 30, 20
Squats (bodyweight) = 3x20
Back-extensions (on floor, hands on my ass) = 2x15
Bench dip without added weight (triceps) = 5, 4, 3
Jump rope = 50

Running :
Mostly on low heart-rate, 60min, roughly around 5km. Adaptation.


Today, April 12th, 2008 :


Strenght:

Push-ups (shoulder width, elbows at torso at any time) = 3x17
Crunches = 3x35
Twisting Sit-ups = 3x20
Back-extensions (on floor, hands behind neck) = 3x35
Pistols = 3x15 (each leg)
Triceps dip = 3x10
Jump rope = 3x100
Pull-ups (proper) = 3x7 (started about a month a ago, doing 3/set and with a small push off the ground)

Running :
Because of injury again on mostly low heart-rate, 60min, but now roughly around 9 km. I was doing 12 -13 km and sprints throughout the winter, before injury.

Archery :
I could tell you much about progress, but you wouldn't understand most of it, so I'll just put that way.
At the begining I had most arrows in a circle of diameter of 50 cm, shooting from 18 meters.
Now they are mostly arranged in a circle of diameter of less than 10cm and when I concentrate I can hit a 2cm spot, 4 times in a row, again from 18 meters. Getting somewhere, are we ? :smile:
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Weight gain and nutrition :

Height: 193cm
October 12th, 2007 - weight : 72 kg
April 12th, 2008 - weight : 78 kg

My diet is nothing special, just lots of home cooked and home produced food. I don't use any supplements, but I might start using them when and if things get hard to cope with. I try to eat 4 full meals a day as I'm clearly underweight. I'm aiming to get up to 88 - 90 kg.
I didn't gain any fat whatsoever, because veins on my arms are more visible and abs are clearly defined. I guess thanks goes to lots of cardio.
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That would be it for now.

[Jiyaomu]

Bench dip without added weight (triceps) = 5, 4, 3


Are you kidding me? Hahahahha

I'm a skinny rat and I can add like 3x45 plates and do dips forever.

[Aiden Bloodaxe]

Damn you're mesomorph body type! Yeah,me too,Jiyaomu!:good::smile:

[Shaedar]

Well I'm weak and skinny, what can I do ? At least I'm doing something against it and so far I think it's going pretty well.

One day I'm going to eat you all. For breakfast. :smile:

[Skippy]

Any progression pics to see your bodily changes shaedar?

Also man good job on your weight gains, how tall are you? =]

edit: nevermind, I am clearly blind. But if you have pics it'd be cool =]

[Rahf]

Bench dip without added weight (triceps) = 5, 4, 3


Are you kidding me? Hahahahha

I'm a skinny rat and I can add like 3x45 plates and do dips forever.

It is still progression and a feat for him. To rack down on the performance of others is really immature, mate. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. You should see me when I squat, that'd bring out a laugh as well.

[Shaedar]

I don't have any before pics, so this might be a problem. I looked pretty much like Kingneil then, maybe even more skinny.

I'll take some shots of current state and maybe post them.

[Kon-El]

Rahf is right. Good job on the progress. I think a good idea would be to set short-term goals on all your exercises, taking into account adding resistance and repetition. You may find you can progress faster than before with a reason to push yourself - even one as simple as reaching a set goal. Also I think you should research more difficult core exercises, in particlar somethin to replace the back extensions which seem like theyre getting easy for you. Good count on the pistols considering where you started!

[Skippy]

Yeah man, no worries its not urgent or 'owt, I just like seeing people progress over time =]

[Shaedar]

It is still progression and a feat for him. To rack down on the performance of others is really immature, mate. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. You should see me when I squat, that'd bring out a laugh as well.

Thanks for that, Rahf.

And just to make sure, now I'm doing proper triceps dips, feet hanging in the air.
Most repetitions of exercises I was doing at first got quite high and then I switched to harder version. Squats for instance. I was doing sets of 60 normal squats when I switched to pistols. I went to hundred per set with sit-ups, switched to v-ups and ended up with crunches.

[Shaedar]

Rahf is right. Good job on the progress. I think a good idea would be to set short-term goals on all your exercises, taking into account adding resistance and repetition. You may find you can progress faster than before with a reason to push yourself - even one as simple as reaching a set goal. Also I think you should research more difficult core exercises, in particlar somethin to replace the back extensions which seem like theyre getting easy for you. Good count on the pistols considering where you started!

I don't know how put this. I don't have any goals or numbers I think I should reach. I'm just doing it and pushing myself everytime. As soon as I think I could one rep more I try it and do it. Sometimes I can do 1,2 or 3, even 5 more, sometimes I fail and try next day.

[Honken]

Great to see that you're doing progress! Keep up the good work :smile:.

[compleks]

Awesome progress mate! Really good to hear.
The first 6 months are probably the hardest, just don't let yourself slip.

I used to do a little archery myself (only for a few months though). I was never much good though, and that was shooting from something like 10meters (I think).

[Shaedar]

Thanks for comments everyone. I really appreciate it.

Right, here are the pics.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u110/Shaedar_album/still.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u110/Shaedar_album/wild_flex.jpg

You can't expect much from my weight to height ratio, can you ? Now imagine me one year ago, with 10kg less :smile:

[Neil]

Haha i like how you use me as an example of you before.
Soon you wont be able to do that!:wicked:

You look like you are progressing, nice work.

[Shaedar]

Haha i like how you use me as an example of you before.
Soon you wont be able to do that!:wicked:

You look like you are progressing, nice work.

Yeah, sorry for that. :wink:

And do I smell a dare ?! :wicked:

[Skippy]

Nice abs man =] and I see a chest on the developpppp

edit: wicked lats too!

If you're more or less strictly on bodyweight exercises, try adding handstands into your routine =] I do weighted training but I have them in mine as part of a warm up and also at the end. Do them with your legs against a wall or door so its easier at first, but still push up as hard as you fucking can with your arms. If you don't, you'll definitely start feeling it in your wrists very quickly ;) I've just found them to help out with my triceps and upper chest quite a bit since I've started doing them.

You're on the uprise though man and clearly whatever you're doing is working :]

[Shaedar]

I was thinking of handstand push-ups too. I need to improve my handstands anyway, so I'll probably start with them this week.

[rock12]

Well done. Its good that you're planning to gain more weight, though. You look like you'd stay lean no matter how much you gain.
Are you interested in using weights?

[Shaedar]

I am in fact, but I'm still at the bodyweight routine because the coach says I need a solid base before he sends me to gym.

[anfeyd]

I am in fact, but I'm still at the bodyweight routine because the coach says I need a solid base before he sends me to gym.

Fire your coach.

[rock12]

what is the coach for, what sport?

[Shaedar]

It has crossed my mind but it's not that easy. He knows a lot about running and endurance training, plus he has connections everywhere. Gym, supplements, sport equipment and since he's a doctor, also in health care. He can arrange pretty much everything and he's filthy rich. He's a nice guy too :smile:

Firing him only for this would be stupid.

Edit:
He's coach for ski and run archery. Similiar to biathlon.

[rock12]

you should quit that, and everything else, and just get as huge as possible

[Shaedar]

you should quit that, and everything else, and just get as huge as possible

Haha, I beg to differ.
I'm enjoying myself and hypertrophy is not my priority but only a fortunate side effect of my training.

[540Ninja]

Dude, are you really 20 years old???

[Shaedar]

Yup. Is something wrong ?