So Here's How It's Going to Work

Instead of feeling like I'm spamming my own blog with an unnecessary amount of posts, I plan on consolidating multiple days into single posts, most likely I'll do two days for a log post.

In addition to this, I'll have a weekly "check in" going over some stats and such.

Monthly I'll try and do a "strength test" and check my 1RM in multiple lifts, to see if I've improved.

Scattered throughout this all there will occasionally be short topical articles.

I'll start with the log tonight! See you then!

Let the Torture Continue

Hey! Look! I'm doing it again, another "It's been a while since I last wrote something, I promise to do better this time" post.

Nope! No promises this time! Now, time to cut the chit-chat and get down to business.

Currently I'm taking a racquetball "class" on Mondays and Wednesdays.  This is part of my attempt to get back in shape as well as have a stress free (and relieving!) class.

But that's not all!

I'm also taking a weightlifting "class" on Tuesday's and Thursday's! Amazing, I know!

The reason I put "class" in quotes is because, to be honest, all we really do is play racquetball and lift weights.  Sure, we talk about things for about five minutes when we first show up, but after that, we're free to do our own thing.

It's fantastic!

Over the summer, I took several classes, and was able to lift fairly regularly.  Now though, I'm practically forced to train, and I love it!  I'm still not as strong as I used to be, but I'm coming back quickly and I plan to surpass the old me as soon as possible.

Now, there are lots of sites on the web where you can get information from people much smarter in this area than I am, so for the most part I won't be writing actual articles.  Instead, I'll be using this as more of a public training log.  As I can, though, I'll keep things interesting by posting information on topics that I want to learn more about myself, and learn about them through the writing.

That's all for now!

Getting Back Into a Rhythym

A common theme around my training blog seems to be departing from blogging and taking the time off of my training as well. This trend continued the last time I stopped blogging when Torture Training was hosted elsewhere.

Since the last time I blogged many things have changed, I've gained a lot of weight, lost a lot of muscle mass, and ended up a lot more busy with a lot less free time. Compound that with not working at the gym anymore, and well, I just haven't had an excuse to blog about my training, since it was nonexistent.

I'm working to change this though! This semester/year one of my new years resolutions was to get my health back under control. Last semester my health and everything else seemed to deteriorate at the same time. I have a workout partner this time around, so he's keeping me motivated, and I just got fed up with getting out of breath climbing the stairs to my room.

We're only on our second week of working out so far, but I feel we're off to a good start. I haven't kept track of weight or sets/reps the past three workouts, but here's a general rundown of where we stand:

After A Long Break, Time for the Resurrection

It's been a long while since I've done anything with this blog (not that much was done in the first place!), but it's also been a long time since I've blogged anything at all anywhere. Lately I've been mulling over in my head what to do, and decided I'd like to bring this one back and give it another shot. Seeing a post on Crackberry about the new Blackberry Wordpress Appication cemented for me that I wanted to start blogging again, especially since I can now blog on the go as well, which will make it much easier for me.
This blog started off strong in my mind, I was consistently receiving a few hits, spiking when I got mentioned on bigger blogs, and I had a vision for what I wanted it to be like. At the time I was also working out constantly, staying fit, getting stronger, and eating right. Since then, I, like the blog, have started drifting away. The blog was removed from Wordpress for a time, because I had posted some affiliate links, and while the site was dead also happened to be when I didn't work out for a few months straight.
I've gained weight, I've lost strength, and I don't feel near as healthy. This blog for the foreseen future will be chronicling my journey back to health, and hopefully I can help out some other people along the way.

Hard Work and Today's Workout

I spent the past two weeks without strength training due to quite a few factors, some of which I'll cover in later posts. This made me force myself to come home and put myself through a workout after work on Tuesday. It was hard to talk myself into it, it was hard to do, and it probably wasn't the smartest workout I've ever done, but the point is this:
I did it.
You have to work hard to get what you want, this applies to almost all areas of life, training, financial matters, your career, etc. There's some amount of work required for success in each one. The amount of work varies at times, but the best things come from hard work in my experience.
So, without further adieu, here's the lowdown on today's workout:
A1: Decline Dumbbell Bench Press 1x15 (40 lb dumbbells)/1x12 (45 lb)/1x20 (35 lb)
A2: Dumbbell Row 1x15 (40lb)/1x12 (45 lb)/1x20 (35lb)
B1: Dumbbell lateral raise 3x15 (15 lb dumbbells)
B2: Lat Pulldown 3x15 (not really sure how much weight we used, and also, in my experience, the weight on different machines seems to be a different amount of resistance)
C1: Preacher Curl 2x15 (45 lb first set, 35 lb second set felt like so much more though)
C2: Overhead Unilateral Dumbbell Extension 2x15 (15 lb dumbbells)
A buddy of mine from work wanted to train with me today, as he hasn't trained since the beginning of the summer. He plans on training with me more often, and we both plan on doing the training without the other if our shifts don't allow a joint workout, as we'll be pushing each other to improve each time.