For those that dont know, this is basically the first time I've been serious about hitting the gym. I'm 28 years old, about 10kg overweight (around 17% bf) and whilst I've been going to gyms for years its been irregularly and with no real plan (read lots of isolation work, rarely a compound lift).
I've been doing HGM phase 1, but with work commitments I never got the 4 weeks of 12 reps done together. After about 7 weeks of on/off working out I decided this morning that I'd start the low rep/high wieght section. I've never really gone less than 12 reps before. I've never lifted my bodyweight in any lift before, and I've always been terrible at chin ups (one pre-season footy training I struggled to get out 3 at a training session).
Didnt feel too cold after getting changed so skipped the few minutes cardio I normally do to warm up the body temperature and decided to do some light lifting to warmup instead. Got to the chinup bar and pumped out 6 without trying (been doing them with HGM but at the end of a squat/db bench/deadlift/chinup circuit so always tired). Felt so strong and easy! I now consider myself a chinup doerer!
Wasnt sure how much to do on squats/deads so put 70 kg of weight on the squat bar and 60 on deadlift bar. Grabbed some 30kg dumbbells for incline presses. Got through the first circuit easy so upped both squats and deads to 80kg of weight. Since I figure the bar is an easy 7kg (I weigh 87 kg) I did the last 2 circuits lifting at least my bodyweight in both of these!
The 2nd circuit of HGM phase 1 always killed me, the lunges turn into a cardio exercise and its not weight but exhaustion that hurts me here. By dropping reps back to 6 I figured I could turn it back into a question of weight and jumped from a 20kg to a 40kg bar. Still did 12 reps of dips (circuit is dips/lunges/seated row/hanging leg raises) since I dont have a way to add weight yet, but lunges felt great and added 10kg to my rows (60kg on the cable machine thingy). I'm sure I can up the weight more on the lunges, the question now is actually getting it on/off my shoulders [img]tongue.gif[/img] . Will also need to load a bar since I think 40kg is the heaviest preloaded bar in the gym.
I know the weights are small for some, but they were significantly higher than I'd ever lifted before. It also occured to me today that I was lifting more than anyone else in the gym at the time, and theres only one other guy who normally lifts at my time that is stronger (ok, so I lift at quiet time and theres no doubt heaps of others a lot stronger, but if I dont see them, they dont count!).
I really liked moving to compound lifting from isolation lifts, and I LOVED lifting low reps/heavy weight in them today. It feels damn good to move the big weights around!
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