I think the title makes for a great comeback blog.. again.. hahah.
If you have got a program that you found online or bought or came up on your own, you have to stick to it. Changing up constantly won't end up serving you, it will hurt you. I try to preach consistency when it comes to training and that definitely applies to training programs. You don't need to adjust your own program just because you found a more scientific approach to engage your muscles better with a different split. Most likely, just focusing on each exercise and focusing on the muscles you're supposed to work on will be just fine.
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So my thoughts on Kizen Infinite Off-season
I think it's an excellent program. You definitely need some workout experience so that you know your body and limits. I would estimate 1 to even 3 years as you need to be certain whether you should slow down or push harder when the weeks pass by. I added some accessory work, mainly quads and calves. Calves because I enjoy the pain in them and quads because they are one of my weak points. I noticed that additional trapezius work was useless cause I couldn't go heavy on them due to deadlifts. Trapezius isn't one of my weak points so it's all good. I went from 100 kg bench to 115 120 kg Squat (estimate) to 150 150 kg Deadlift to 175 So all in all, excellent results in just 12 weeks that I can be really satisfied with. I think anyone who wants to get their feet wet with powerlifting should try this program. It costs absolutely nothing. It's been a while since the last blog for multiple reasons. Been focusing on work life and my goals. That lasted to pretty much the end of March or so.
Then I got sick early April and due to that sickness I hurt my ribs so that I felt quite severe pain when I tried to lift heavy weights. So to explain what that was like. I was sick for almost 2 weeks. Fever didn't rise, so I didn't get rid of the "disease" or so to say. I tend to believe that fever is what cures the body eventually. Then after all that coughing and sneezing I ended up aggravating my ribs, luckily on one side only. I've read stories that some people have broken rib bones with a cough, well, that didn't happen either. But I did end up taking an additional two weeks out of the gym. I tried training a bit after I was sick, but then this rib pain just made it impossible. So that brings us pretty much to this date. My goals are still the same but they might have to wait for next year. I am actually thinking of cutting again, even though that could be deemed detrimental to my weightlifting goals, I feel like it's something that I need to do to better my overall health. Not that I'm a lot heavier than last year, but recently I have been thinking of doing something different. Not fitness or music, but I'll get to it later if I actually start to delve into that world. It's quite exciting. You can wait for another update soon once I am in full-speed at the gym again. I've got 2 weeks left on my current program, Kizen Infinite Off-Season, after which I will test my one rep maxes. Those maxes don't need to be the ones I stated in last blog. I'm hoping for a 120 kg bench though ;) Short one for today.
As you know, I started powerlifting this year. Now, while I don't think I will become a full on powerlifter, I do intend to continue training with that style for a quite a long time. Possibly over half of this year. I would really like to reach these goals here listed below by the end of my powerlifting splits, but I have also put there (realistic) goals that I feel like I will achieve: Bench = 130 kg (115) Squat = 170 kg (140) Deadlift = 200 kg (170) So, now that they're up there and written.. I want to reach them even more! =D It's easy to say out loud your ultimate goal. I'm gonna earn 1 million euros, I'm gonna lose 30 kilos, I'm gonna increase my bench one rep max to 200 kilos etc. How you are going to achieve it can be easy to say out loud too. What you are missing are the important milestones, the baby steps. You need to imagine these before you're ready to get started with your ultimate goal.
Say I want to, hypothetically, earn 1 million euros. Earn, not win in a lottery or other things, that's different. I'm gonna start working on the side as an entrepreneur or another line of work and be ready to sacrifice other parts of my life. Before I would make such a drastic step, I would first try taking another hobby seriously and put 3 hours into it every day. In my case, that'd be playing guitar or composing music. Then see if I would actually want to spend that 3 hours doing something that I would consider work. If I could still do it and live with the sacrifice, I'm ready to get closer to that hallowed 1 million euros. I, however, actually don't want to badly earn 1 million euros. As of right now, I want to work in my full-time job I have as I really enjoy it, I want to go the gym and lift heavy weights and get closer to my weightlifting goals. So, my goal is to increase my one rep maxes. That's a lot easier than earning that amount of money. I have my plan and I am consistent with my lifting. I eat healthily and sleep as much as I can. If you want to improve yourself and reach your goal, all it takes is honest hard work and consistency. Trust me. If this sparked an idea inside your head, please share it in the comments below =) As I've shared in social media, I've changed my training style quite dramatically. I started powerlifting this very year and so far I'm 4 weeks in. Not that I can say quite much of the results of training, but I thought I'd share some massive differences I am already feeling.
I have a deload week now and I didn't feel like at all that I should deload. No muscles are telling me that or specific nerves around any muscle groups. This is very different from the bodybuilding style that I did where I knew that if I didn't deload every 4 weeks I would be in a bad place in terms of recovery. After the next "phase" and the next deload, I think I can touch on the actual recovery. Like if I feel any different after a deload compared to bodybuilding. The other thing is how I thought I would cope with the rest times. I thought I would be feeling annoyed by having to rest 2½ to even 4 minutes between sets but it turns out that after the first week, it feels quite natural. To some 4 minutes is nothing between sets as they have their phones with them all the time (shots fired), to me it is, as I don't want to have the phone with me if I'm not going to film or know that there isn't going to be anything that needs urgent attention. I have my phone in the locker and wireless headphones playing music. Simple and effective. I am going to continue with this style for a long time as things take time, especially building strength. I am currently running the Kizen Infinite Off-Season, that you can download for free from their website, kizentraining.com. So far, so good. I will share my complete thoughts on it when I've gone through 16 weeks of it, so in about 3 months or so. Thank you for reading this blog and do comment if something piqued your interest. You have a short-term and long-term goal and a plan to attack it. No? Maybe you could read two of my previous blogs and get started on that.
Now, this might be a bit biased, but I'll try to see things from both sides. Here are the top three pitfalls that cause resolutions to fail (from my point of view). We are still going to stay in the losing weight goal as it is one I can speak of the best. 1. The media - Now.. the media feeds the resolutions. Sometimes giving tips and tricks to get easy starts and for some people that might just be the thing to get started. However, the media also feeds the urge to quit. For example "overweight might not be the cause of your depression". OF COURSE IT'S NOT! But being overweight won't help you in other areas, especially physical health. You can work on your physical while you work on your mental. That's what I did and still do. I was really depressed a long time ago and actually felt like I was a bit depressed just last year, but it passed on. Do not follow trends to shape your goals, do not follow the media for your choices because of all the false science and stuff. You have your goal, you have your plan, you might even have a coach. You have no reason to quit. You are doing this to better yourself. 2. Lack of patience - Look, it didn't take just 6 weeks to get that extra 40 pounds so it definitely won't take just 6 weeks to lose it. Weight loss can definitely be fast, but it's something I don't believe in. I believe in changing body composition, losing extra weight for good and adding some muscle in place of the fat. If you have bought a plan from a respectable coach with authority (certified), give the plan a solid 12 weeks and stick to it with all it's points. 12 weeks is almost a fourth of a year, so not a long span of time. Yet it could change your life forever for the better. 3. Lack of motivation - It isn't easy to change your habits. Start slow (feeds into having patience) and find your motivation through small changes. You might want to start following some fitness influencers for daily dose of motivation. But ultimately, you need to change motivation to self-discipline, which I touched on a blog a while back. Only discipline will get you to the gym for the workout. Motivation is temporary, discipline is the drive. I hope you found this blog series helpful. Do comment if you have anything you'd like to share. Now that you have your goals set, you need a plan in order to achieve them.
Let's take being overweight for example here as it's what I have experience of. 1. Take things slowly. If you plan start going to the gym, start with figuring out your maintenance calories and use them. Don't start with a caloric deficit as it'll make the journey too hard. Your body will burn fat even if you are at a maintenance level because the gym exercise will be burning approximately 250 kcal and then any cardio you do on top of that. 2. Start from the basics. Unlike personal trainers or fads like to tell you, the exercise program and it's variety in exercises is not as important as quality sleep and quality food. Nutrition and rest come first. Stick to the compound lifts at the gym with some accessory work and make sure you have enough volume for each muscle group throughout the week. 3. Basic nutrition. If you're going to the gym and you've figured out your calories, I've used this scheme and found it working: carbs and proteins make up 4 kcals per 1g and fats 9 kcals per 1g. In my experience, you want at least 1.5 grams of protein per your bodyweight in kilograms. So for a 100 kg person that'd be 150 grams of protein. Then I would say that you figure out the fat to be 0.55 grams per kg so for a 100kg person at least 55g. Then rest of the calories would be as follows = 2300 kcal maintenance. 150 x 4 = 600 kcal from protein, 55 x 9 = 495 (500) kcal from fat. The rest could be carbs which would be 1200 kcal = 300 g of carbs. Of course I would then adjust this slightly so that I would make it in total 170g of protein, 280g of carbs and 55g of body fat and go with that. Depends on the person, you might want more fat, but remember that it is richer in calories than the other two macronutrients. 4. Basic supplementation. Make sure you get your vitamins. If you want to take other supplements, go ahead, but you need to supplement, not replace. Pre-workouts are only needed if you're feeling really tired and probably really not needed when you're starting your journey (I didn't take them in the beginning). Take protein shakes if you don't like to eat that much or it's impossible for your due to a busy schedule. And this is a good segway to the next. 5. Prioritize your workouts but also prioritize your life. Working out is great but there is a need for relaxation. Prioritize resting but also make sure that other parts of your life don't suffer. Make sure that you have a split that works for your schedule. If you don't have that much to do in your life at the time, maybe you could split your body more and do 5 or even 6 days a week in the gym. If you're really busy, you might enjoy a 4 or even a 3 day split. If you have got all of this figured out and still don't see results.. Well, I would maybe consult a personal trainer at that point. No cookie-cutter plan will work for everyone. A good personal trainer will find the obstacle that you're hitting. In the next blog I'm going to attack the many pitfalls that cause demotivation. As new year started just two weeks ago, you might have set yourself a resolution to lose weight, gain muscle, save money or start playing an instrument.
No matter what, one thing is common for all of these.. You need long- and short-term goals. A long term goal for playing an instrument, let's say piano, would be able to play with both hands with each hand playing something different for melodies and the bass. Losing weight can be tricky. For someone who has lots of extra weight, a pound/kilogram loss goal might be good, but for someone with less extra weight, it might not work. Let's say that a slightly overweight person that is around 110 kg and 180 centimeter height (male) wants to lose 20 kg. That is a ridiculous goal for one year, especially if the person goes to the gym. Weightlifting will give you a change in body composition through losing fat and gaining muscle, so a more realistic goal would be to lose around 10 kilograms or even better, just measuring that at the end of the year their chest is bigger than the waist. Goal accomplished. So let me straighten that long example. Have short-term goals, like losing a centimeter off of your waistline in 2 weeks. Have long-term goals like losing 10 kilograms. And have dreams, that might not be accomplished, like losing 20 or 30 kilograms, depending on how overweight you are. We all start from zero and we can go all the way to hero. In the next blog I will attack the most important thing: Game plan. I've tackled this subject here and there, but let's take another point of view.
Discipline, in my mind, overcomes stimulation and motivation. If you are disciplined and can go to the gym or for a walk or whatever you need to do without anyone telling you to or a picture urging you to or you looking yourself at the mirror telling you to, you're very good off and I'm happy to say that that is where I am. However, if you can go to the gym without constantly looking for more inspirational pictures and stories and just looking in the mirror, you are stimulating yourself. Stimulation is self-created (in my opinion) and is healthy in the beginning. I remember sometimes forcing myself going to the gym because I had packed a pre-workout with me. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have. Stimulation is sort of forcing yourself to do it and remembering why it's important and it can be turned into discipline. Motivation is important too, even I need it at times, but here's where I want to note a few things. If you constantly hit Instagram or any other social media platform of your choice to seek transformation pictures, new workouts or diet tips, you're a squirrel in a wheel. At some point these pictures won't be enough to spark you. They start looking the same and won't force you to do anything, to seek change. Motivation is the beginning and the constant when you feel like you're falling out. I would rather seek a personal trainer if I ever started skipping gym or cheating my diet than looking for Youtube videos with "best advice" or Instagram posts with heavily edited, good-looking and fit men or women. Learn discipline, understand stimulation and motivate others to grow and through that grow yourself. It's what I'm trying to do and so far it's working great. |
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I am a fitness enthusiast and on my own journey to get better. |