The End of Project225

Well my foray into weight lifting has been fun, but it's time to get back to actual endurance training now. After recovering from the Umstead 100, the next goal became bench pressing 225 lbs. I'm calling it failed, with my current max bench at 200 lbs. I did add 15 lbs to my max bench in only 6 weeks, so that's really good. But I feel like my progress has stalled, it's not doing good things to this 40 year old body, and it's making it harder to run again.

I went out for a long run a few saturdays ago, and ended up cutting it short. 10 miles turned into 6, and my shoulders were in so much pain even that 6 wasn't fun. The shoulder is made up of 3 muscles, and the front one is used in the arm swing motion while running. That was the first thing to fatigue, and when that muscle went it seriously hurt. I decided then that it was time to just stop running until this project225 was over.

I know that over age 40 (well, really age 30) testosterone production begins to decline. That makes it harder to add muscle. Yet somehow I found it easy to put on weight. Regular strength training left me very hungry all the time, something I'm kind of used to in heavy swim, run, or triathlon training times. But this time instead of fueling my workouts, I just kept on adding bodyfat. Came in at 187.8 lbs this week, which is dangerously close to my breaking point. Usually by this point I'm down around 175 and ready for some hot summertime endurance training.

There were some good points about Project 225. I am really enjoying the extra strength. My leg press got up to 400 lbs. My dumbbell flat press got up to 60 lbs in each arm. I still hit some milestones that I've never been able to reach before. I love the extra muscle mass that is currently showing in my chest and shoulders. I was able to add a lot of weight to my bicep curl and the guns are ready for the beach. I am a very heavy sweater, and lifting doesn't make me sweat as much as running does, so that was really nice.

But overall, the belly fat and the way my pants are fitting just doesn't make this worth it. There is some extra stress that is also contributing to the increased waistline. My work contract has just wrapped up at the end of May, and I landed a contract-to-perm job that is kind of a dream. The new office is very close to the house, and I had a 4 day weekend of funemployment between the end of that contract and the start of the new job. Well then there was a timing problem with a background check so my 4 day weekend got extended. Every day after that was a 2 hour call-and-check to see if I can start the next day. I ended up missing 6 more days of work just waiting on the stupid background check and THAT was very stressful.

This time of year the heat has also made my summer depression kick in, so normally I throw myself into my work since I'm really good at what I do. That makes being unemployed really depressing. Not knowing if the dream job will disappear while we're waiting on the background check or not. ugh. so frustrating.

I also found some free marathon training plans available at PR Racer and loaded one into my spreadsheet. So it's time for marathon training to start again. My first triathlon of the year is on Saturday and I feel like I'm ready for a little sprint. Onward and upward folks! One door is closing, but you won't believe the door that's starting to open. If I can actually pull off my plans (to be revealed later) this is going to be really fun.

I been lifting, bro

Tonight's workout was worthy of documentation. My goal is to get my bench press 1 rep max up to 225 lbs. Monday and Thursday are chest days, but really Thursday is supposed to be an upper body circuit. Yesterday turned into a basketball and church day, and tomorrow is a holiday weekend friday, so it's time to drink beer. So that meant I went ahead and combined shoulders, upper body, and leg day tonight.

So this was my Thursday night strength training workout. Exercise - weight x sets x reps

Incline dumbbell press (chest) 40 x 4 x 8
Military press (shoulders) 25 x 3 x 8
Dumbbell hammer bicep curl 25 x 3 x 10
Flat dumbbell press (chest) 55 x 6 x 8
Deadlift (back/legs) 185 x 3 x 10
Squat 185 x 4 x 10
Calf raise 135 x 3 x 15
Barbell curl 50 x 3 x 10
Lateral dumbbell shoulder raise 15 x 3 x 10
Leg press 395 x 3 x 10

I've already worked abs several times this week, but I think this workout was worth skipping swim practice. Usually I can only get in 5 or 6 exercises. Getting 10 done in almost 2 hours is kind of insane.

My favorite day is chest day

The good news is that it's working! My first test for 1RM had my bench at 185. Last monday I got 195 up twice, so really less than 30 lbs to go. This Monday, I tried to work out with 185 on the bar and only got it up about 5 times. That still feels like some serious personal growth.

So officially I'm trying to lift 3 to 5 days a week, and still get in some yoga in the mornings, swim/bike/run twice a week (well, bike once a month) to get ready for summertime triathlon season. We'll just have to see how that all plays out.