Progress at the Gym :)

This time last year. Note: no muscle definition.

So, I’ve always had a problem with my strength – or lack of. When I got a job, my first vow (after buying a motorbike) was joining the gym, getting in shape, and bulking up.

The problem was that my body had consumed most of my muscle due to poor diet and so when I started I was barely able to lift, push, or pull anything (I’ll put the weights of the things I could lift/pull/push when I started compared to what I do now at the bottom). My trainer was shocked that I could do anything at all, with the lack of muscle and my general fitness level (it was low believe me)

The first thing I started on was protein – lots of, it was because of the lack of protein in my system that my body ate a lot of my muscle (obviously not all of it or I wouldn’t be able to move, but you get what I mean, right?) Well, all I can say is that protein is fantastic. It really changed the way that my body felt: no more aches after exercise, no more feeling sick all the time, and I found that I had a lot more energy in general.

I started the gym about two months ago, and I was terribly weak. I actually felt embarrassed working out at the gym with all of the muscle-men and gym bunnies, but they were all lovely and encouraging and they made me feel very welcome at the gym.

Not a lot, but it's progress :)

Now, although I’m not obviously more muscular, I clearly am stronger. I feel so much stronger and confident in myself and I’m no longer embarrassed to work out around people at the gym. Even people that I haven’t seen in a while have noticed a change. I’ve noticed big differences from getting healthy – I no longer have knee problems when I walk, I’ve noticed that I don’t get out of breath as easy when I exercise, and my hormones have sorted themselves out.

I had it explained to me that when a person gets too thin their hormones go all squiffy (so technical I know) which leads to major mood swings, times of major depression swiftly moving to anger etc. I have found that since working out more, I no longer feel depressed at times that I used to, and I feel like my moods are more regulated and predictable. This is because of endorphins (the happy hormone) and that’s about all I know. But it works… trust me.

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve learned a lot through going to the gym. I’ve learned that posture is SO important, salt is super bad for you, and it’s not all about doing stuff fast.

So at the beginning this was my routine: 

Exercises	Reps	Weight
Chest press	2 x 10	2.5 kg
Back lateral pull down	2 x 15	10 kg
Shoulder press	2 x 12	2.5 kg
Standing barbell curl - Biceps	1 x 10	10 kg
Triceps Dips	2 x 10	N/A
Squats	2 x 25	N/A
Stomach crunches	2 x 5	N/A

This is my routine now:  

Upper Body
Exercises	Reps	Weight
Frontal Lateral Pull Down (Cable)	3 x 15	25kg
Seated Cable Row	2x 12	20 kg
Chest Press	3 x 10	7.5 kg
Press ups	3 x 10	N/A
Standing Frontal Shoulder Lift	2 x 6	10 kg
Dumbbells Curl	2 x 10	4kg
Triceps Dips	3 x 15	N/A
Stomach Crunches	3 x 15	N/A

 

Lower Body
Exercises	Reps	Weight
Leg extension	3 x 15	20 kg
Squats	3 x 15	30 kg
Lunges	2 x 10	N/A
Leg Curl	3 x 15	20 kg
Leg Press	3 x 10	25 kg
Seated Calves	3 x 15	57.5 kg