Where have I ben?

Sorry everyone, I haven't been updating for some time and I apologise. The reason is because I've had a few things go wrong. I've been playing the odd game of rugby here and there for my old team which unfortunately has resulted in a number of injuries that have affected my training. The most recent happened just under two weeks ago. I was packing down in the scum and it collapsed. I landed on my left shoulder with the rest of the pack forcing their weight down on me. Luckily my neck was fine and everything else was fine but I couldn't raise my arm properly and was in pain. I left the field.

The following morning I was in so much pain that I went to hospital to have it checked for any breaks. After a few hours and xrays the diagnosis was that the injury was muscular and connective tissue damage and would take about 6 weeks to settle down. There was a big improvement in the arm / shoulder over the next few days in that the amount of pain reduced but it is far from being normal. I had just completed two run throughs of the 4 workouts in Strength III sessions of NROL (so was half way through). Unfortunately this forced break has thrown a very large spanner into my progress. The lack of training and an already relaxed eating approach to carbs in the previous weeks leading up to Christmas has meant considerable loss of progress. However, I am quite philosophical about this and always intended to have a splurge at Christmas. This has become a little out of hand now and I am eating excessively what ever I want.

The intention is to allow this to continue until the new year and then begin reorting back to TNT plan A eating (at least for 4 weeks). Once I've done that I can see about returning to begin the Strength III sessions again. Hopefully during the de-carb process in TNT plan A I can start to do some exercise in the gym and test the shoulder trying to get it working properly again. This unfortunately might be a bit painful as it will have tightened up even though I've been trying to keep it moving. No doubt I will have to be careful as I dont want to cause any more damage. I am under no illusions that it will be hard work but I'll just have to knuckle down and get on with it.

I'll try to keep a more regular update from now on and get some pictures taken as I'm aware the others on here will be presenting an inaccurate position. I know I'm not going to like what I see but at least I'll kow what I have to work with.

Cheers, Bustagut! (Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Everyone)

Halloween Splurge! - briefly off the wagon.

Hi everyone,

As you'll know from my previous post that I've been experiencing some knee problems this week. I've avoided the gym and actually took a day off riding the bike to work in order to help sort things out. Not sure whether or not this had much effect since it felt a tad worse for resting it fully - but hey that might just be a mental thing. Anyways, I made an effort and played rugby yesterday and the knee held up nicely (although I've got so many aches and pains this morning it's hard to say whether it's hurting or not).

Last night I had what is professionally known as an out and out splurge. By that I mean I went out and enjoyed myself had too much to drink (as I don't usually drink). I also ate quite a few carbs when I got back home as well (mainly sweet stuff that I had left from the trick or treaters) chocolate was very nice after not having any for a long time. Infact I had some jelly sweets as well but soon afterwards felt a little bit sick due to the sugar rush. Anyway that was yesterday and know we are determined to get back on track. I do think having a splurge every now and then is quite good for you and I plan to have another at my works Christmas Lunch. In the meantime however, I need to get back to eating low carb and hopefully begin the Strength III sessions very soon.

I'll have to let you know how things go!

Cheers, BustaGut!

Knee problem!

I've been experiencing some problems with my right knee. It feels like I've over extended it but I don't know how. It's been hurting so I think it's best to rest it from the tough gym work. I made a decisiom in the end to go for the Strength III sessions. I worked out a rough estimate of the weights I should be using based on previous exercises and rep ranges. I would have liked to have spent the next couple of weeks fine tuning this before beginning them properly and getting the most benefit from them. Unfortunately due to my knee I think it best to stay out of the gym for now and rest the knee the best I can. I am still cycling to and from work with the intention of playing rugby this weekend so I hope it recovers enough for that. I'll let you know. At the moment it's nowhere near normal so fingers crossed it gets better soon.

Cheers, BustaGut!

NROL Strength II: Week 9 The Final Session!

• Weight - 14st 3lb (no change from last week)
• Body Fat % - 6.1% (no change from last week)
• Waist - 34" (again no change from last week)
  

This week has been a strange one really. I had one remaining session of the Strength II program to complete and that was the focus. I did go circuit training at the beginning of the week which I enjoyed but was an obvious shock to the system and I could feel the effects in my muscles for the following 2 to 3 days. I have been cycling well this week although I have had the odd little twinge in my right knee but nothing to worry about. One thing I did forget to mention about the circuit training is that it placed a lot of pressure on my left ankle (the one I broke) and this was sore for the entire week. Though it didn't stop me from doing anything it was a niggling pain that I could have done without. That said I think I will do the odd circuit training session when the mood takes me.

I avoided the rugby this week although I do intend to play this coming weekend. We will be playing a club that I use to play for so that should be interesting. The only problem is that I only have moulded studs at the moment and as the pitch becomes more and more boggy with the autumn and winter weather I need a better grip especially as I'm much lighter than my opposition. I have some on order but with the postal strikes it may be a while before the get here and I doubt they'll be here in time for the next game.

So the end of Strength II and it's decision time. I think I'm going to progress on to Strength III and then see where we are at the end of that. I will then either go into fatloss sessions or move across to the Hypertrophy workouts for a brief period before the fatloss period begins. Well I have a lot of work to do prior to that so I first have to work out the weights etc for the Strength III sessions then have a quick trial before beginning them properly. Wish me luck.

Cheers, BustaGut!

Circuit Training

Just wanted to let you all know that I managed to get to circuit training yesterday. I've only been trying to get there for the last 4 or 5 weeks but something always seemed to crop up at work. Anyway it was pretty tough but in a good way. It way devised differently to when I last did it there. It had an outer circuit of steps against the sports hall wall that were exercise stations and 4 inner work areas that had a set of exercises per area with each exercise being done for 40 secs before changing to the next. In between these two circuits there was an area for running that was used in between each station exercise for 20 secs alternate. The outer circuit was done then the inner and then another circuit of the outer one going the opposite way to finish off. It was a total of 45mins of hard work but all god stuff. I intend to do this from time to time.

Cheers, BustaGut!

NROL Strength II: Week 8 pics as promised!

NROL Strength II: Week 8 update

I seem to be having a little trouble posting pictures onto the site at the moment. I'll try again later but thought I'd give you a quick update as to what's been happening and then provide the visuals afterwards.

• Weight - 14st 3lb (no change from last week)
• Body Fat % - 6.1% (no change from last week)
• Waist - 34" (again no change from last week)

I've been in London for a couple of days this week so that has interferred with my usual training schedule. That combined with me playing rugby the previous weekend (which we won by 60 odd points by the way) meant I only weight trained once this week. The reason for that is because the place we were staying was next to the train station and I didn't get much sleep so was a bit zonked by the time I got back and so needed an extra day to recover. This meant that I went training on Thursday. I did cycle to and from work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so that is a least something.

The coming week I hope to complete the last Strength II session and begin preparations for the next stage of my training, that is if I get enough time to work it out. I have been trying to get to circuit training at work for the last few weeks so work load permitting I will try to make tommorrow the first session I get to. I might also play rugby this coming weekend but I haven't made a final decision on that as yet. Basically the plan is to ensure I get plenty of exercise in this coming week to make up for the lack of it this week.

As you can see from the results there hasn't been any change this week. In fact there hasn't been much if any over the previous few weeks either. So I need something to push through the plataeu. Hopefully when I change programmes again it should have a noticable effect but we'll have to wait and see. Right, I have to go now but I will try and post the piccys later.

Cheers, BustaGut!