Personal Training update
May 23rd, 2008 by KenricSo it’s been 17 days since I got my personal trainer and I am pretty pleased with the progress. I was 147 lbs when I started and today I tipped the scale at slightly over 152 lbs. So I have gained 5 lbs in 17 days!
We used one of those scales that measures body fat when you stand on it and according to the scale my body fat percentage went up by 1.2%. So by the body fat and scale, it’s saying that I’ve gained 3.5 lbs of muscle. Whether this is true or not, I’m not sure. All I know is that I weigh 5 lbs heavier and that I don’t look any fatter. I don’t look any bigger either but that’s to be expected due to the type of workout I’ve been doing. So where is the 5 lbs hiding? Probably somewhere deep in my core and my legs.
When I first signed up for this, I figured I’d put some more muscle on my shoulders, chest, back and arms. It’s a guy thing to just wanna big those areas. But the training goals have dramatically changed since day one. It seems like the training goal now is to improve my posture, stabilize my core and strengthen my legs. Basically its all the things that I would never workout on my own. Which is why these muscles are dramatically undeveloped compared to my other muscles.
Yesterday, I was doing one arm barbell curls. The purpose of this curl was to see if I could keep the barbell horizontal while curling it up. If it keeps tilting to a side, you are overcompensating somewhere along the curl which is causing the wrist or arm to twist instead of coming straight up. Right arm, no problem. However my left arm just could not keep the bar straight. In fact, my left bicep was angled differently than my right one and I could not get it pointed right no matter how light the bar was.
The problem was that because I am right handed, my right shoulder is stronger than my left. To compensate, whenever I did a curl, the left shoulder was forward more than the right. Thus doing regular curls like this for years, I naturally got use to it and it became my form. So my trainer moved my shoulder further back (she had to push it back hard) and like magic my bicep was angled correctly. Now my curls looked correct in the mirror. However, I couldn’t hardly curl any weight that with my left arm. It was a whole new exercise and new muscles which had never been fired were being pushed.
This is just one example of things I’ve found out about myself in the past two weeks. I’ve learned that I’m pretty imbalanced in many muscles. Much of it stems from having a dominant arm or leg. I’m sure many of us are like this. So if after 2 months, I’m balanced, stand up straighter and have a stronger core, but look exactly the same muscle wise, I’d say that it was worth every penny.
Posted in Personal Development | 
Stumble it!
But is the personal trainer pretty?
:)
By Leon on May 23, 2008
Just a comment on the weight gain:
If you haven’t been working out/eating right for a while, your weight will shoot up the first two weeks of training as your muscles follow a two step process:
1. Get shocked from exertion from the first time they have been strained in a long time. They quickly deplete all the glycogen (what your muscle uses for energy) in the muscle cells.
2. Your body get continually hit with this new routine and in an attempt to compensate, starts storing higher amounts glycogen in the muscle cells.
This is why people’s lean bodymass shoots up so quickly during the first few weeks of weight training.
The reality is that eating and training right (and naturally) you should expect to gain 1-2 lbs of lean body mass per month once you have ramped.
If you are really serious about gaining muscle quickly and are a little less concerned about aesthetics, I would suggest a serious bulking phase for six months. This is where you eat the right amount of protein each day (1g/pound muscle) as well as everything else you can get your hands on. Its easier to gain muscle when you are gaining fat. Then you just diet once you have hit your muscle goals.
That’s what I do. :)
Real
By RealOG on May 28, 2008
I’d say my personal trainer is pretty. :)
Real, I’m just trying to put on 5-8 lbs of muscle. Any more and I’d start to hurt my mountain biking I think. Most cyclists have skinny arms and huge legs. I’m the opposite so I need to balance that out a little.
By Kenric on May 31, 2008
If your body fat percentage increased by 1.2%, wouldn’t that equate to a gain of 3.5lb of fat?
By Mindi on Jun 1, 2008
Hi Mindi, I’m not sure, unless I am calculating it wrong. If I weight 146 and gain 1.2% fat. Don’t I gain 147 * 0.012 = 1.76 lbs of fat?
By Kenric on Jun 1, 2008