2 legs good, 2 arms bad

Quick update. Just after my last post I took a good shot at meeting my 5km in 22 minute goal... and smashed it out of the water. 5km in 19:57. That's on a treadmill with no incline, but still I'm very pleased with myself.

For the past 2 weeks I've been following Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength Program. Well, as much of it as I could gather from the internet, which is unsurprisingly scattered but sufficient. I think. It's a linear progression program, which means each workout you increase the weight, using "the novice effect" to build strength relatively quickly. (Again, thanks to Oti for suggesting I move into a linear progression weight training program.)

Catching up, setting sights

I got called out for not updating the blog -- thanks Oti. :) Am I still training? Yes!

Sunrise, as I was LEAVING the gym this morning.

I had a couple of weeks off training due to a week away for my birthday and a week of not getting to the gym for logistical reasons (combined with weak willpower).

Progress in the past 6 weeks.
1. I decided that weekdays in May I will get up at 5am and go to the gym. So far so good. This means I don't have an excuse to NOT get to the gym, and means I don't spend willpower during the day telling myself to get up from my desk and go.

2. At the climbing gym, I'm still on yellow bouldering routes, but smashed out a full overhang climb (about 25% angle all the way up) which I'm very proud of. I still have about 4 or 5 difficult yellow routes to conquer. I'm also practising on the campus board -- going up two rungs at a time (only 1 step, so far) and going up two hands at a time (again, only 1 step so far). Still, that's progress.

3. I did a 5km treadmill run in about 26 minutes (about 5m12s per km, or 8m22s per mile). I thought that was pretty good. Then I looked at the goal I'd set myself at the beginning of the year: 22 minutes. Wow, that's fast. To be honest, pretty unlikely. I thought I'd try to slowly improve, but next time I was on the treadmill I pushed myself and came in at 22m21s. So I guess I can push myself to hit that goal this month.

4. I've been doing my usual "first of the month" mini test to help measure progress. No surprise that the thing you don't work on doesn't improve -- burpees are my downfall! Well, I think willpower is my downfall -- hence the dip in max pushups in April. My goal is 100 in one set, which will all come down to willpower.

	Pullups	Pushups	Burpees	Plank
Feb	9	34	26	2:00
March	10	40	24	2:10
April	11	27	27	2:20
May	11	49	23	2:30

This month I'm aiming to increase strength. I've been at the gym for 4 full months this week, so my body is used to exercise. So it's time to start pushing. Given my lack of willpower for doing long sets, I actually expect to do quite well with heavier weights / fewer reps.

Next step is to record my current strength for weighted exercises and track that progress.