Weight Lifting

Weights have been a hobby of mine for some time now. Below you'll see some progress through the years, some of my beliefs about weighttraning, some of the exercises I do, as well as other information.

Links/Resources

Be sure to check out the following places for weight training information and supplements:

• ExRx -- The definitive exercise and muscle directory.
• 1Fast400 -- The best supplement website on the Internet.
• misc.fitness.weights -- A bunch of idiots arguing about offtopic crap (-: And the occasional good tidbid of information.
• Discount Supplements -- Ahh the British...

My Energy Recipe

This is a recipe I developed to work as a strong workout ergogenic, hangover cure, and study-aid. It's a great healthier alternative to coffee and other stimulants. I usually mix this with some sugar free drink mix and drink it during tests and workouts.

• 1000mg Taurine.
• 500mg Glucuronolactone
• 100mg Caffeine Anhydrous
• 40mg niacinamide
• 20mg pantothenic acid
• 10mg Vitamin B6 (As Pyridoxine HCL)
• 10mg Vitamin B12 (As Cyanocobalmin)
• 25mg L-Carnitine
• 25mg Milk Thistle
• 150mg Gingko Biloba
  

Some Myths

1. Spot Reduction Myth
• Your body determines where to store fat. This is controlled hormonally. The fat that is converted to energy is not selected because it is close to the muscle requiring the energy. Fat doesn't only server as a source of stored energy, but also as an insulant. Therefor our bodies have evolved to store fat in locations that protect our organs and provide the overall greatest net positive effect.
2. High Reps Burn More Fat Myth
   • Why does everyone in the gym think that higher repitition sets will "tone" them and lower reps will "bulk" them. Some believe that this myth came from ignorant observers of bodybuilders. Bodybuilders are their leanest before a competition. To achieve this lean look they starve themselves, drink minimal amounts of water, and take laxatives. One can immagine how weak this makes a person. Thus a bodybuilder does high rep (easier) sets before a competition. An ignorant observer might assume that this correlation is actually causation.

    

My Progress

Here are pictures and statistics that follow my progress. I started this website in Nov. 2007, so statistics before that date are not present. I am a commuter cyclist and build enough lower body strength putting tons of miles on my bike, so I rarely hit this area in the gym. When I do, it's when I don't have to ride for a while.

Before Weights:

When I started I couldn't bench the bar! Here are some pics of what I used to look like before weights.

July, 2003. Yikes. I weighed like 100 lbs.

Early On:

Progress was slow early on. My regimen was not properly developed and I was overtraining. This is when I developed tendonitis affecting my wrist flexion.

November, 2004 and December 2004

After Some Progress:

June 2005 and Aug 2005

Some estimated stats:

• I reached 2 plates on the bench at this point, that's 225lbs.
• Standing bicep curls are 60lb dumbells by 5 reps (form not very good)
• I believe my weight was around 160 at this point.

Oct 2006

I couldn't find very many pictures for this year, Tijana's archives are very cryptic (-:

Oct, 2006. Not a very descriptive picture...

I beleive this is around the time my BP hit 315lb for 1RM max.

Sep. 2007:

I weigh about 180-190lbs here.

Nov 2007:

Current lift statistics:

• My heaviest shrug set is 585x5 on a good day
• I've been doing dumbel bench lately, 115lb dumbells x 5-8 reps
• Biceps have SLOWLY been improving. I usually rep 65lb dumbells x 8 reps standing on my heavy set
• I've hitting my lateral delts with alternating dumbell side raises at 55lb dumbells x 8reps or 60x5.
• I rep flies right now with 60lb dumbells. Reps vary by day (I do these almost last) between 5 and 15.
• Standing single arm dumbell preachers are at about 45lbs x 5-10reps per set.
• My front raises are sticking at aroung 75lb dumbells x 5-8 reps right now on my heavy set.
• I haven't powerlifted in a while, I'll get back into this when I switch gyms (-:

Sep 2008:

I still weigh about 180-190lbs here.

Dec 2008:

I still weigh about 180-190lbs here. I've been focusing on cutting my BF levels and recovering from injuries. The first image contains a very good view of my hernia :P

Jun 2009:

Still about 180-190 :(

Aug 2009:

Dropped below 180 for a cut. I'll plan a big bulk over winter.