Hey, new guy here. I’ve been reading the articles here for ages, but I finally decided to jump in and post. Like the man said, “if you want to be strong, hang around strong people”.
I’m 20 years old, 6 foot and I weigh 75kg. I realise that’s less than impressive, but I’m doing something about it.
Today, I did;
50kg/55 bench press
60kg/55 squat
3*5 pullups.
I’ve been stuck at about these weights for 2 years, but that’s probably more to do with my lack of consistency than the programs I’ve been following. In the past, I’ve done kayakking, karate, taekwondo and MMA and I’m currently trying to learn to breakdance.
A bit about me;I went through more jobs than I can easily remember in the last 3 years, but now I’m back in college (studying fine art), and my dad has agreed to let me work in his machine shop again. If anybody wants to talk about motorcycles (I have a jawa 350cc sports twin), punk rock or Tracy Emin at any point, consider me part of that discussion.
Oh, and the reason I’m here. I’ve never liked jocks or the way they talk to people. But after reading some of TC’s wilder articles, I’ve decided that here is where I want to be.
I mean a person who’s invested, either in sport- or just in hanging around with people who do sport- to such an extent that he thinks anybody who isn’t part of his group is beneath him. The word I’m really looking for is ‘asshole’, I suppose.
Training post; Rested today, seeing as I’m still slightly sore from the more serious workout I did over the weekend. I’m aiming to build up the intensity of these workouts over a period of a few months- The aim being to have at least a bodyweight 1rm on the bench (a 7Kg improvement) and to add 10kg to my squat. Should I possibly just do the Chad Waterbury total body routine?
Crappy day. Christine started OK, but she stopped about a mile outside my village. I had to push her home, and by then I was in no mood to walk to the next village to get the bus. Poked around for a bit trying to get her to work, but I’ve still got the best attendance record in the college, so I don’t feel too bad about staying home, drawing, and lifting all day.
I did the first day of total body training like this;
Bench press 55kg/35
Squat 60 Kg/35
Pullups 35
Deadlift 80kg 35
Standing mili. press 30kg 35
Frog kicks 35
I could’ve gone heavier on the deadlift, but my 100kg set didn’t go so well so I stripped it back down to a weight I could handle. A few thoughts I had while I was lifting;
Training;
The usual problem I have is tht I’ll do a routine, start doing really well and then quit- the longest I ever did a routine was renaissance body development for 3 months. It sucks, and I’d be lying if I didn’t realise there were psychological issues at work here (The psychiatric nurse said that there was nothing clinically wrong, but that he’d worked with psychopaths and murderers realeased from prison and some of the things I told him ‘genuinely scared him’.)
Life;
I’m fully aware that I come over as something of a knob, but I’m working on that. That thymos thing in the TC article explains a hell of a lot, but I don’t think life really boils down to a three-player game. Your life is as complicated as the stuff that you choose to get involved with. The trick is to find a way of living that works for you- for example, I have quite weak social skills and an unimpressive body. Until recently I thought all I wanted was a good social life and to be reasonably good at something- anything. But after getting my drawing and social life to a point where I’m satisfied with it, I’ve come to see that that’s not enough for me. Nothing like enough. I suppose I’ll just bust my everloving arse on this program, carry on working hard at college and get out more.
Good day yesterday.
Bench press 35 56kg
Squat 35 67kg
pullup 35
Deadlift 35 82kg
frog kicks 3*5
Oh, about T-Nations recent ‘prison thing’; Do people bitch when they put a load of programs about the same thing on TV for 3 months running, as they often do? It was only 3 sodding articles?
Crap week. Showed up late for college, didn’t lift ), screwed up in the workshop, etc. I’ll avoid doing that again, and that’s all I can say to be honest.
Good day. Met an old mate who is now in the army, to be more specific the royal electrical and mechanical engineers. He crashed out of the infantry after a broken leg, and does all the same halucinogens that I do (joke.)
35/60Kg squat
35 pullups
35/52.5Kg bench press
35/100kg deadlift- the technique SUCKED. Will reduce to a sane weight
35/30Kg standing mili.press
35/20Kg standing barbell curls.
Warmed up with shadowboxing and some lighter sets, shadowboxed in the 90s rests between sets.
Cooled up with shadowboxing, stretching and walking the dog.
Time to come clean about my ‘nutritional’ habits. They’re exactly what you would expect from a slightly autistic 20 year old with a large amount of self loathing. Today I had;
Breakfast; Triple fried egg sandwich
Lunch; Non existant
Tea; fish, chips, pizza and a kind of wierd beef couscous chilli with more than a hint of tabasco sauce
Also, 10 cigarettes and a stolen service station mug of black coffee. The first step of T-Nationing my diet I will need to quit smoking and eat lunch on a regular basis.
Strange day. Spent most of it with the kind of hangover that only house music gigs can truly provide.
Warmed up with a few light lifts
38 35kg bent over barbell row
38 40kg front squat
38 25kg standing mili.press
38 50kg bar rollout
38 70kg stiff legged deadlift
38 60kg full contact twist
Could have handled more on the full contact twists, deadlifts and rows.
Cooled down with a bath and static stretching
I ate; A plate of eggs, chili beans and tomatoes with tabasco and HP sauce
I shouldn’t have eaten; that dodgy burger last night
I should have eaten; breakfast and lunch
I smoked; a full 28 gram pouch of tobacco between me and about 20 other people.
Met a guy who was heavily into tai chi, had a surprising offer of girlfriendship with a person described as ‘30, black, with frizzy hair and very bubbly and wicked’. I’ll see what happens. I also wore a girls top, checked pyjamas, kaki shirts and JCB work boots to the gig. At one point I ended up swapping with pyjamas and shorts for a skirt. Some guy was encouraging me to strip naked in return for drugs. He couldn’t score me the drugs, so the clothes stayed on.
A good night, all considered.
I also became the first person to walk across the new footbridge in Carmarthen. And the first person to piss from it onto the river.
Oh, and I tested positive for schizophrenia. Not that I give a fuck.
Bad day. Stayed up all night for some strange reason and I accidentally stole my sister’s boyfriend’s shoes.
Strangely, he’s actually gone way up in my estimation. If I was staying at a girl’s house and her brother accidentally stole my shoes, I hope I’d deal with it in as mature a manner as he did.
Anway.
3*15 with 120 secs rest all exercises.
Barbell rows 25kg
Push press 25kg
Stiff legged deadlift 50kg
Front squat 35kg
Hammer curls 5kg
Sitting tricep presses 5kg
The big 15-rep sets showed me just how weak I really am. Fuck.
I ate; 2 eggs for breakfast, a load of cold meat, bread, veg and pickles for lunch and curry for tea.
I should have ate; more.
I smoked; Quite a lot. This needs to stop happening.
Plans for tomorrow are to get a load of A1 cartridge paper, sort out my portfolio for my interview at Goldsmiths , hopefully do some work on my major project and get my six step sorted out.
Bboying rocks, I have to say. I did all the stuff I’ve been practicing on friday night at the waterside, and I got a chorus of whistles and cheers which was kinda cool.
Bad day yesterday. I sorted out my six-step, did a load of drawing and caught up with my college work. However, I didn’t get the A1 cartridge paper and my dog shat on the floor several times. Stayed up all night drawing, writing and thinking. Not that I wanted to, I just couldn’t get to sleep for some reason.
Good day today, on balance.
Again, the cartridge paper eluded me, but I got a load of other stuff I needed. Transcribed all the randomly-scrawled entries in my sketchbooks onto the computer. There’s 13 of them for the half of the course I’ve done, and it took a while.
Lifted:
With 3*5 60s rest
Bench press/pullups 55/5 52.5/5 52/5 and 3 negatives
Back squats/deadlifts 62/75 62/75 62/75
Dumbell curls/Standing military press 10(Each side)/35 10/31.25 10/32.5
I think the problem is that I don’t really want to go to Goldsmiths. Which is bizarre, seeing as a prestigious london college would give me a much better shot at being a succesful artist than the one I’m going to at the moment. So far, every time I’ve started to get a life I’ve had to move on straight afterwards. Fuck it, I’ll give it my best shot, but I’d rather be the largest monkey in Carmarthen art college than an extremely small monkey at Goldsmiths. Maybe I’m just being a complete douchebag. Yes, that’s a real possibility.