THEME OF THE WEEK: #1- Family Cycling, #2- Return Of The DOMS & # Eyeing Up 200lbs 😬
Pretty good week. Feeling good. No dramas. Busy at work, but that’s just my MO… 🙄
#1 – Dusted Off The 19yo Mountain Bike!
It’s funny how you can get inspiration from the most random of places.
The Specialized Rockhopper Mountain Bike below is 19 years old! I bought it with my first University Student Loan on my 18th birthday.
The bike has been through the wars. It was sitting in an exposed shed in the garden for the last seven years. Gears busted. Both tyres flat. Spongy brakes. Broken Seat. Dirty. Now look at it – less than £100 later, some geeking out on youtube and tinkering in the garden for half a day and voila! It looks like a 2018 bike!
Oh, and spookily it’s in the AdapNation colours. It must have been my subconscious inspiration…
Why did I get the Bike out of retirement after all these years? It’s one answer but also many.
This year is turning out to be quite the journey of personal transformation. With the heaviness of corporate work and all the demands that comes with, I’ve simply not had the headspace or time to pick up new hobbies or be super proactive outside of just a few things.
Taking that away this year has allowed me to see my kids growing up and be much more active in their play time and fun. And if I can bring more fun to their lives, I’m game, especially now I can see it for myself. Be truly present. So when my eldest’s knees were banging into her chest on her small single-gear bike, it was time to give them both an upgrade.
But, how much fun can they have cycling around the garden? They need to get out! Now I HAVE to make something happen. New Bike or fix the old one? Where to take them? Well, I opted for the weird enjoyment of brining something old and broken back to life. The kids mucked in to.
And in terms of where, we have an amazing picturesque canal bike path behind out house. Why have we not taken advantage of this before! Crazy. Infatuation and the demands of prioritising crushing my corporate gig over seeing the obvious amazing things available to us right underneath our noses. Lesson learned.
#1 – Return Of The DOMS
For those who train on the regular, whether it be strength training, endurance activities, class-based workouts, sport or CrossFit, once your body adapts to the demands the next-day soreness drops in time to negligible.
DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is the achy tight and painful muscles after exercise. It’s muscle damage at an elevated level, which comes from surprising your body with intensity, exercise selection and work demand you’re not used to. It’s not a good thing or bad thing per se, it’s just an obvious signal from your body to leave it the fuck alone for a few days.
I don’t get DOMS that often to be honest, as my body is pretty well adapted to whatever I throw at it within the confines of my gym. And that’s a good thing for the most part, as it allows me to train frequently – 4-5 times a week, without being crippled from sore muscles. Still getting the muscle damage and growth, just without the downside.
That said, it’s a kinda weird masachistic thing most of us have to want to be in some pain after a workout. It’s almost like a badge of honour. Surefire evidence that you trained hard enough. Not gonna lie, I need this reminder every once in a while…
Well, that has definitely been happening last week!
Every eight weeks I change up my #HyperWorkouts training programme, for many reasons. Variety, keeping it fresh, strengthening different functional movements, breaking through plateaus, focussing on less-developed body parts etc. Last week I worked through JUN-18 #HyperWorkouts training programme (coming soon) and my quads, hamstrings, back, shoulders and chest have all been screaming at me – in a good old DOMS way. ☺
JUN-18 #HyperWorkouts Training Block is a fair shock on my system. DUP with both super six-set heavy 3 Rep Max Lifts for strength building combined with days where I focus on super-high volume classic bodybuilding sessions to promote hypertrophy and muscle growth. Loving the change, as always!
The DOMS response will likely only happen for the first week or two into this new programme. Let’s see. Even still, it’s a great feeling to surprise your body every 6-8 weeks with new programming that allows you to develop whole body strength, functionality and muscle growth.
#3 – Gearing Up For 200lbs Bodyweight
Weighed myself this morning, and the weighing scales are now at 197lbs. I’m currently averaging at 195-197lbs at the moment, with a bulk diet of 3,700 calories.
As per my 2018-2019 Body Goals, I need to pack on more lean mass. I’ve accepted the need to get heavier, and also go through periods of being less lean than I’d like. It is a difficult battle though, as psychologically most people don’t like to see the weighing scales and fat increase.
And for me, at my heaviest I was a out of shaped 205-210lbs. I dieting down to 176lbs! Since then, I’ve been on what is now a permanent health kick, and I am in complete control of my bodyweight. But it’s crazy to think that I am deliberately pushing for a weight that was my all-time heaviest and most out of shape…
That is kinda hard to get your head around, even though logically it completely makes sense given my goals. I’m in great shape and have a clear plan to achieve my goals. But still, it feel odd.
What’s going to be increasingly harder is this notion that I will need to hang around at the 200lbs mark for a couple of months, as opposed to go on immediate knee-jerk Cut as soon as I clicked into the mental milestone of 200lbs.
Many seasoned bodybuilders that have played around with their body composition explain that you need your body to get used to it’s new muscle mass. Let it know it’s here to stay and needed.
If you go into a cut to quickly, you may well lose a little more muscle than you’d like, as the body thinks it was a temporary demand, and clearly the extra muscle is no longer needed. After all, muscle mass is inefficient and expensive to maintain for the body. The goal is homeostasis – to hold on to as little muscle as is necessary to perform the tasks of your lifestyle.
Focus For This Week
In terms of Fitness, Nutrition, Wellness and Body Goals, here’s my focus for this week:
- Filming & Releasing the NEW Training Programme – The all-new JUN-18 #HyperWorkouts programme will be shared shortly. Train and film – it’s a bit distracting…
- Morale Support For My Wife – Michelle is dedicated to optimise her nutrition choices and correct her metabolism, versus always wanting to be on a diet. I’ll be there for her.
- Play around with Weightlifting Shoes – I think it’s time to get serious and buy some proper weightlifting shoes. Let’s see if they make a difference.
I’ll let you know how I get on next week… 🙂
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