Progress: No Progress
May. 15th, 2012 07:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dennyHaven't updated for ages... nothing positive to report, but nothing particularly negative either - unless you class 'no results' as negative.
I've tried a few different dietary approaches to put on (muscle) weight, none has worked so far. I can only assume I'm either not eating enough (despite eating a LOT on some of the plans - 2,670 calories inc. 175g of protein, anybody?) or not working out enough, or both. I haven't put on any fat either, so it's probably the 'not eating enough' thing I guess.
Here are my numbers for today:
Weight: 67.5kg
Body fat: 16.3% (11kg)
Muscle: 40.0% (27kg)
In general I'm fluctuating between 16% and 17% fat, and 39% and 40% muscle (and between 67kg and 68kg). My original goals from this time last year were 15% fat and 42% muscle - it's frustrating to have got so close to them and stalled, although the difference between where I am and where I wanted to be is probably almost unnoticeable both in terms of appearance and fitness.
I've ordered some weights for at home, once they arrive I'm going to try piling in the food again and start lifting medium-rep medium-weight sets (10-15 reps) every other day and see how it goes. Currently I'm just eating whatever I feel like, and taking much the same attitude to exercise - a few chin-ups or whatever here and there (the rack for the weights arrived, so I have a real home pull-up bar at last), but my main exercise at present is probably just my circus class on Saturdays.
On the circus course I'm doing handstands at present - it's going fairly well other than my flexibility issues. I'm trying to work on stretching my shoulders every day now, as well as my hamstrings. It's very slow going, but there is some progress - I started the hamstring stretches first (mostly just trying to touch my toes every morning and night (if I remember), and I've gone from 'a few inches short' at night and 'a foot short' in the morning, to touching my toes most mornings, and being able to get my fingers under my toes (so second and third knuckles on the floor, but not first) on a good evening. Seems genuinely possible that I'll have my palms flat on the floor in the foreseeable future. Hopefully the shoulders will stretch out with similar success, because they're really important to the handstands and some other stuff I want to do (bridges, for example) - they're slower progress though, because I built up so much tight muscle around that area when I started lifting weights last year (and didn't stretch properly (i.e. at all) - bad Denny!)
In general my exercise goals have shifted quite a bit since I started last year. I'm now very focused on functional fitness - being able to Do Stuff with my body - acrobatics, freerunning, etc. This means that I want to be stronger, and it's really important to have a good strength to weight ratio for this stuff so I still want to be a bit leaner too, so my body recomposition aims haven't changed (bit more muscle, bit less fat) - but my motivation for them has. I'm no longer concentrating primarily on how I look, but on what I can do with my new level of fitness. I'm reasonably content with my visual appearance as it stands, and I'm confident that it will continue to improve more as my fitness does, so I'm no longer focused on it.
Also, handstands taste better than skinny feels ;) I'm really looking forward to learning tumbling in six weeks time, I just hope that my sprained ankle* is fully healed by then! In-between handstands (last class this weekend) and tumbling I have four weeks of acrobalance, which should be interesting too.
* Can't remember if I've actually mentioned this here - I sprained it freerunning mid-March. Failed a rail vault (hand slipped off the rail as I went up), clipped the top of the railing I was trying to jump over with the length of my leg and body, and landed in a heap on the floor on the other side. It's healing slowly, as these things do.
I've tried a few different dietary approaches to put on (muscle) weight, none has worked so far. I can only assume I'm either not eating enough (despite eating a LOT on some of the plans - 2,670 calories inc. 175g of protein, anybody?) or not working out enough, or both. I haven't put on any fat either, so it's probably the 'not eating enough' thing I guess.
Here are my numbers for today:
Weight: 67.5kg
Body fat: 16.3% (11kg)
Muscle: 40.0% (27kg)
In general I'm fluctuating between 16% and 17% fat, and 39% and 40% muscle (and between 67kg and 68kg). My original goals from this time last year were 15% fat and 42% muscle - it's frustrating to have got so close to them and stalled, although the difference between where I am and where I wanted to be is probably almost unnoticeable both in terms of appearance and fitness.
I've ordered some weights for at home, once they arrive I'm going to try piling in the food again and start lifting medium-rep medium-weight sets (10-15 reps) every other day and see how it goes. Currently I'm just eating whatever I feel like, and taking much the same attitude to exercise - a few chin-ups or whatever here and there (the rack for the weights arrived, so I have a real home pull-up bar at last), but my main exercise at present is probably just my circus class on Saturdays.
On the circus course I'm doing handstands at present - it's going fairly well other than my flexibility issues. I'm trying to work on stretching my shoulders every day now, as well as my hamstrings. It's very slow going, but there is some progress - I started the hamstring stretches first (mostly just trying to touch my toes every morning and night (if I remember), and I've gone from 'a few inches short' at night and 'a foot short' in the morning, to touching my toes most mornings, and being able to get my fingers under my toes (so second and third knuckles on the floor, but not first) on a good evening. Seems genuinely possible that I'll have my palms flat on the floor in the foreseeable future. Hopefully the shoulders will stretch out with similar success, because they're really important to the handstands and some other stuff I want to do (bridges, for example) - they're slower progress though, because I built up so much tight muscle around that area when I started lifting weights last year (and didn't stretch properly (i.e. at all) - bad Denny!)
In general my exercise goals have shifted quite a bit since I started last year. I'm now very focused on functional fitness - being able to Do Stuff with my body - acrobatics, freerunning, etc. This means that I want to be stronger, and it's really important to have a good strength to weight ratio for this stuff so I still want to be a bit leaner too, so my body recomposition aims haven't changed (bit more muscle, bit less fat) - but my motivation for them has. I'm no longer concentrating primarily on how I look, but on what I can do with my new level of fitness. I'm reasonably content with my visual appearance as it stands, and I'm confident that it will continue to improve more as my fitness does, so I'm no longer focused on it.
Also, handstands taste better than skinny feels ;) I'm really looking forward to learning tumbling in six weeks time, I just hope that my sprained ankle* is fully healed by then! In-between handstands (last class this weekend) and tumbling I have four weeks of acrobalance, which should be interesting too.
* Can't remember if I've actually mentioned this here - I sprained it freerunning mid-March. Failed a rail vault (hand slipped off the rail as I went up), clipped the top of the railing I was trying to jump over with the length of my leg and body, and landed in a heap on the floor on the other side. It's healing slowly, as these things do.
