Ninja Overcomes Gravity!

So time to create a blog, else I have nobody to share my wonderful achievements with (/sarcasm).

Starting stats 28 May 2012
5’9.5”
13 stone / 82.5kg

All 5 RM maxes:
Squat 60kg
Deadlift 80kg
Bench 50kg
Seated Press 25kg
Pullups 0
Chinups 0
Cardio: Lap of my local park, 1.6miles: 14+ minutes (not flat and is on grass so I find it much tougher than treadmill)

Progress pics:
No start pics to show my large hanging belly and fat ass/legs.
3 months: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2101790&page=2&p=39360977#post39360977 (this is actually a MAJOR difference)
5.5 month: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2101790&page=10&p=40203580#post40203580
9.7 months: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2101790&page=23&p=41862037#post41862037
July 2013 random pics: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2101790&page=37&p=43705017#post43705017
Oct 2013 random bicep shots http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2101790&page=46&p=44884377#post44884377
[No more pics until after I finish my cut, beginning ~Feb 2014]

MY AIMS and TARGETS:
- good posture (to maintain) and balanced physique
- mobility & flexibility
- aesthetically below 12% fat
- get better at bodyweight exercises (pistols, one arm pushup, work toward one arm pullup)
- squat 140kgx5, bench 100kgx5

MY ROUTINE
Roughly 2 full body weightlifting sessions on non-consecutive days followed by 2 bodyweight & kettlebell sessions. Repeat.
Football twice per week.

DIET
No whey, no milk, minimal dairy (butter, tea in milk etc).
Weigh weekly and adjust. None of that calorie counting business.

Supplements: Omega 3 liquid, Vitamin D3 and the occasional multivitamin.

(edited 10 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

BMWM5

Check out the 5 x 5 workout. It actually works. I can squat upto 145kg so far. It really good.

Reply 2

AreebWithaHat

You finally got a blog? Nice one, shall be keeping a close eye on your progress :wink:

Reply 3

Mark85

Subbed.

Training is also similar to mine as well as stats. I'm basically doing upper/lower now but essentially SS workouts split in two plus some assistance (when I phrase it like that - everything is the pretty much the same ****ing program, lol). On the other hand, I'm about 11 1/2 stone at the moment and will probably drop down to just below 11 so it will be interesting to see if my lifts can keep up with yours.

Reply 4

silent ninja

Ha yeah. Accessory work. That's a nice way of summarising my workout: Major compound lifts + accessory work. I didn't need to write all that complicated jibberish.

Gonna do OHP before bench this week as I really need to bring that up to scratch. My bench feels great though, I can really get in to it lately. 70kg felt slightly lighter than 67.5. Maybe I'm getting the bounce back from fasting for a month? They do say that's an after effect.

No back work at the gym either for the next couple of months either. I'm doing the 20 pullups challenge.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

tooosh

In. Stats are dangerously close to what mine were before I stopped squatting and deadlifting! Except bench which was 20kg below but it's catching up now, and 64kg bw.

Reply 6

silent ninja

Oh don't worry Tooosh. I'm well aware you, Mark85, HFerguson and myself are lifting similar weights. There's a couple of others too but you three are on the hitlist :ninja:

Looks like I'm the fat one at 76kg.

Reply 7

tooosh

Haha. Well you have a bit of a headstart on me while I try and get squat depth and ham flexibility for deads. But... I'll be back.

Also are you low or high bar squatting?

Reply 8

silent ninja

I think it's low bar (below the pointy bone).

I've been doing great on squats until the last few weeks. I did 95x5x3 several weeks ago. It was good, below parallel squats. Then I aggravated an old knee injury doing lunges and now I got a bruised rib and probably won't squat this week :frown:

why did you stop squatting? Flexibility? Tbh my flexibility was rubbish and is now average. I stretch for a good 15 -20 minutes after every leg session. Seems to have worked.

Reply 9

tooosh

Lower back injury because of flexibility. Lunges are cool and easier on the back but yeah. I found they're a lot harder to keep balanced between quads and the PC. With squats you just have to go below parallel but with lunges, leaning, balance and loads of other stuff affects it.
I don't like static stretching before a workout. I do a quick foam roll and 5mins of dynamic stretching and loads of static after. Mine's average now haha, most people start of at parallel but I couldn't even get to parallel with a completely locked back. How did you get a bruised rib? Surely not from squatting :rolleyes:

Oh and this is parallel.. high bar. Low bar still wouldn't even be parallel yet :s-smilie:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 10

silent ninja

Not really sure how I did that. Think I did it unloading the bar on squats during warm up, I didn't tense enough and then it just got worse on heavier sets. Feels like I've squashed something lol but it's not a muscle pain, feels just like a rib pain you get if you're been punched hard enough.

Today:
20 Pull-ups challenge Day 2 complete (3 2 1 2 3)
Declined situps:
4 sets, (5kgx10 + bwx12)
5kgx10 + bwx10 to failure

Cardio:
1.5 mile treadmill run (can't remember time but it was 7.5mph then 9.5mph for last 2 minutes).
Not much of a cardio session today. I was supposed to do HIIT. I was tired from yesterday (aching calves and hamstrings) and 7am start at work took it out of me.

Reply 11

Arva

Read the title and so many cool images came to mind.

Shoulders and back routine - scaled a nearby palace wall. Cardio - fled the guards after completing the hit. :teehee:

Joking aside, in for this. Nice progression so far. :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12

silent ninja

Original post by Arva

Read the title and so many cool images came to mind.

Shoulders and back routine - scaled a nearby palace wall. Cardio - fled the guards after completing the hit. :teehee:

Joking aside, in for this. Nice progression so far. :smile:

haha

Well, that's my night job and we don't tell our secrets :ninja:

This My Protein Liquid Chalk stuff is awesome. Used it on chinups today and it feels just like real chalk! Can't wait to try it with deadlifts.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 13

Arva

Original post by silent ninja

haha

Well, that's my night job and we don't tell our secrets :ninja:

I value my life so I won't ask too many questions. :wink:

By the way, since you're doing the 20 pullup challenge are you cutting out all back? Or just upper? To be honest I'm confused if you're cutting lower back too. :tongue:

Reply 14

silent ninja

Original post by Arva

I value my life so I won't ask too many questions. :wink:

By the way, since you're doing the 20 pullup challenge are you cutting out all back? Or just upper? To be honest I'm confused if you're cutting lower back too. :tongue:

I'm cutting out all back exercises. I've never trained lower back... maybe once did hyperextensions. Deadlifts and squats hit my lower back hard enough. Should I be doing more? I could throw in a few hyperextensions after abs I guess.

Reply 15

Arva

Original post by silent ninja

If you've been deadlifting you've been training your lower back the best way possible :lol:

Though I quite like hyperextensions or good mornings at the end of a workout to get every last bit of effort out of the muscles.

My very unprofessional advice would be to keep deadlifting while you do the pullup challenge thing - the two don't overlap that much, and deads are a fantastic exercise for all round strength that you should keep up. :smile:

Reply 16

silent ninja

Original post by Arva

If you've been deadlifting you've been training your lower back the best way possible :lol:

Yeah thanks. I'm doing that. My deadlifts and bench are progressing pretty well. I do the odd set of good mornings, although I do them mainly to hit my hamstrings and glutes. I try not to overdo lower back as it gets hit quite hard and doesn't recover for my runs or next leg session if I'm not careful :smile:

Reply 17

silent ninja

Not a great session today. I missed training triceps. Went with a friend (who was benching 100kg!) and he needed to go and I was the lift home.

Bench
72.5kgx5x3 PB
Pec deck no.11, 2x8 (no idea what weight this is)

OHP
40kgx5x3 PB
Rear delt inclined bench raises, 2 sets

OHP was more of a push press today and not strict. Bench went well; the last rep was a bitch to get up, but thankfully my spotter wasn't an idiot and didn't help.

The main reason it was crap, despite setting PBs, is because I was grimacing through most of my reps. I think I've done some soft tissue damage on my back ribs, to the side of my back. Might need to rest a while :frown:

I'll see how the next 2 days go but it appears to be getting worse the more I lift. I was just finding my groove as well...

Reply 18

Mark85

How is my OHP better than yours (ok, only by about 2.5kg at best) but my bench is so far behind (like 15kg)? WTF.

Reply 19

silent ninja

Original post by Mark85

How is my OHP better than yours (ok, only by about 2.5kg at best) but my bench is so far behind (like 15kg)? WTF.

I don't know.
I FEEL my bench technique is awesome. I can really get my body in to it: tight grip, tight back, good coordination, but mainly it just feels good. My OHP on the other hand sucks. I've probably done it 6-7 sessions so far so my technique is not good (I was doing seated before). I'm not feeling it but that comes with time I guess.

The other reason is that I do bench before shoulder press-- I'm fresher on bench. I will experiment with switching this around because my shoulders are lagging.