The Avengers: Go big or Go Home!

So yesterday was my birthday and my beautiful Wife purchased tickets to take me to the Avengers.  Before sharing my thoughts with any readers (I think this blog currently has zero), youshould know I am a major comic book geek and even larger Joss Whedon (JW) geek.  It’s best not to go into too much detail of my history with these two mediums but sufficed to say I am the ideal audience for this film and I bloody loved it.

Pros:

Two superhero vs superhero fights, two;

bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam....”puny God”;

Agent Coulsen’s fanboy moment with Cap;

Helicarrier; and,

“clench legolas”

Cons:

Very simple plot (aliens invade, good guys fight the aliens);

Was there really no way to squeeze in a poignant moment for Steve seeing the now aged girl he left behind and for Hawkeye....well anything for him really; and,

Cap’s suit – sorry, it was better before.

Notes:

A perfect blockbuster and I don’t think many director/writers could’ve pulled this off with the aplomb that JW so clearly did.  The Dark Knight Rises will still be the best superhero film this year but this is the film that is the purer and just plain joyful comic book experience.  Also, techno space dragons!  How does one even begin pitching that to the studio:

Joss: “first we’ll get them all together but all unhappy and then we’ll make them fight a giant dragon...from space... oh and it’ll be wearing some sort of futuristic electric armour and covered in the alien dudes on flying saucers from the live action He Man film.   All I need is $300 million of your money and 2 years”

Studio: “You’re fired!”

Transformation Beginnings

You can't track a transformation with just words...well you can but that's a bit rubbish isn't it.  So here are some pictures of me prior to beginning starting strength the first time - sorry if they're a bit confronting.

Well, there I am in all my "glory"!  My own opinion is that there is a little muscle there but really it looks like I am just beginning the standard male journey from skinny to skinny-fat and maybe eventually just fat.  Actually I'm also quite pleased at the back shot as it seems like there is some kind of definition there and the beginings of a v type shape.

On second galnce you'll also see a pelvic imbalance/misalignment/tilt (I don't know what the technical term is), that is because I was just learning to walk again at the point those pictures were taken following 14 weeks non-weight bearing due to a broken leg.

I don't think there's much more to say here other than pictures of my current body composition will come soon and that 'holy cats' (obligatory Robb Wolf reference), gee posting these pictures online for the world to see is a great incentive to eat and exercise right and avoid general humiliation.

regards,

John

Birthday Blog

As a birthday present I finally managed 3*5 for the incline bench press at 50kg this morning. Woot! 

This was the fourth time of asking at 50kg for 3*5 and actually was really quite easy given my three previous attempts at this weight.  Under the starting strength (SS) protocol, I actually should have deloaded the weight by 10% for today as I had failed at 5 reps three workouts in a row.  However:

• it was my birthday;
• I had increased reps at each previous attempt; and,
• I really wanted it.

So I ignored the book and achieved.  Actual workout this morning was as follows:

Warm Up

Bench Press
1*10*20kg
1*5*30kg
1*3*40kg
1*1*45kg
3*5*50kg

Bent Over Row 
1*5*20kg

Power Clean
1*5*20kg
1*5*25kg
1*5*25kg
 
I am still avoiding lower body movements due to a torn quad muscle but still worked a few power cleans in for some technique and just to see how the quad responded. 

I also tried a bent over row for the first time since my previous and first go on SS. However,, my hamstrings are simply too tight to perform this movement strictly and my back was certainly not parallel to the floor.  I find this dissapointing but not unexpected.  It is something I would like to work on but think I should first prioritise fixing my quad and reaching my strength goals. 

I will comment on both my goals and intention for increasing hamstring flexibility in future posts.

Taking the Plunge

Welcome to my shiny new blog.

I am starting this blog to track my workouts, note any thoughts on programs and methods I try and generally help provide another feedback loop in my fitness regime for motivation. I will also post links that inform my thinking and my own non expert take on these articles/studies before and after I have tried their methodologies.  I guess we will see where things evolve from there.

I guess a first blog post should address my own history.  I first started to 'workout' shortly after realising the fairer sex were indeeed very fair, a second realisation then became that a good looking physique would help in the wooing process.  I think I just did the usual push ups, crunches and db curls at home until joining a gym at university.  I have no real idea what I did during this period as I did not track progress, I suspect I was a victim of fuckarounditis with some curls to finish.  Needless to say none of this was helpful in making any kind of physical improvement.  Being fortunate with my genes however, I did eat lot throughout all this period but stay sufficiently lean to have a varying level of 2-6 pack throughout uni (the then girlfriend, now wife still talks of that midsection with fondness).  To make it clear, this was due to extreme skinnyness, I was in no way muscular.

This kind of behaviour continued on and off (except with a slowly expanding girth – not to the point of skinny fat but certainly to the loss of a 2 pack), until I broke my leg playing indoor soccer.  During my rehabilitation period, I stumbled onto both Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution book and Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength, the die was cast and it was game on.  Four months later eating mostly paleo, following Starting Strength and drinking my milk.  I went from barely squatting/deadlifting the 20kg bar alone (definitely not overhead pressing it) to:

• 120kg deadlift for 5 reps
• 105 kg squat for a double
• 65kg bench press for 5 reps
• 45kg Overhead Press for 5  
• at a bodyweght of 80kg.

This was the biggest and strongest I have ever been.  Then my gym membership expired...  Rather than renewing it, my Wife and I saved our money until March 2012 where we could purchase our own basic home gym (a squat rack, barbell and plates).  During the downtime, I loosely followed convict conditioning but it was hard to stay motivated.

I guess this blog will follow my progress since restarting in the Garage.  I did find after all that downtime my strength was vastly reduced.  Again, using starting strength, I have since worked back up to:

• 90kg squat for 5 reps
• 97.5kg deadlift for 5 reps
• 50kg bench press for 5 reps
• and overhead pressing 40kg for 4 reps
• at a bodyweight of 73 kg. 

That is where I am today and that will do for now,

Warm regards to the internets,

Johnny.