Working, training and my plan to sleep more
Hey guys!
Over the last week I have been hard at work on my final year project, Playbook. An update is up over at the Playbook blog (check the blogroll to the right) so check that out. Getting some great momentum going on that, it's exciting.
Unfortunately, I have so many other assignments and projects to work on that I am going to have to start splitting time between Playbook and the other stuff in order to get everything done. Hopefully some things won't take too long, and the good progress on Playbook will continue. I can honestly say I think I'm ready for college to be over. I'd like to get out there and start working on some cool things in the real world, and a lot of the stuff that working on Playbook is teaching me will be very useful when it comes to that next step - perseverance, how to work consistently even when I'd rather give up, and how to really take responsibility for my work. That's not even mentioning the more practical things - JavaScript, web tech in general, animation and graphics manipulation, user experience design, etc.
Training-wise, I had a great week on 5/3/1. Deadlift day saw me pulling decent weight for the first 'week' of the first cycle and I followed up the deadlifts with my first experience of good mornings. An exercise surely designed by the devil, they smoked my lower back like nothing I've ever felt before as well as hitting the hams and glutes. My posterior chain was still sore on Friday!
Thursday was my overhead press day, and that went well (my shoulder is responding nicely to the rehab work). I did weighted dips for the first time in absolutely ages and that was great fun. Interspersed throughout the whole workout were sets of pull-ups - I've decided I need to take a stand against my poor pull-up ability and am now 'greasing the groove' with a few sets of pull-ups every day either at home or in the gym.
After letting a calf tweak heal up during the week, I had two great conditioning sessions, one on Saturday evening with my friend Darragh Kelly (henceforth known only as Kelly) where we worked on some DB footwork, practiced some route coverage and then met a few more friends and had an impromptu game of three-a-side rugby - try that if you ever want to gas yourself! The second session was football training this morning. We're having a serious dearth of numbers up there every week, but the few of us regularly coming at the moment are still hustling. Today was a day of running routes and covering them, and although my bad ankle and finger are sore after it, it was fantastic for both practice and conditioning.
I've made a promise to myself that I will sleep more, prompted both by this post and by my body. My goal is eight hours per night, minimum, and as many nights where I get to sleep early enough to not need an alarm in the morning, the better. Last night I got a solid, uninterrupted eight and a half hours and despite training hard today, instead of panning out on the couch napping for the afternoon, I am energetic and working on college stuff, as well as blogging. I really think that the biggest obstacle to my goals might be how little discipline I have around my sleep schedule, so I'm going to work hard on that and I'll keep you posted on the effects.
Apart from training, doing college work and seeing my girlfriend, I don't have the time to do a whole lot else at the moment, so blog post material is a little sparse except for these what-I-did-this-week entries. Bear with me if you can, I do plan to make the blog a little more subject driven and will have a lot more energy for it when college is over. I miss writing properly. Only two months to go!
Back to my blogs!
I have been away from all my blogs for a long time, and I must start off by apologising for that.
A lot has happened since my last post, some good and some bad. On the training front, I was derailed for the best part of two months by my exams, two bouts of illness and a shoulder injury. I know, there's no excuse, but in my defense, I really did get sicker than I have been in years and was bedridden for a full week. Unheard of for me since I went through a sickly phase in primary school (undiagnosed asthma a major contributor in that case).
The shoulder injury was picked up during a training session with the Dublin Dragons, along with a sprained finger that still hasn't healed either. They are both slowly getting better. For those interested, we beat the Dragons, our defence in particular having an outstanding game. I spent the match playing very physical bump coverage which is something I really enjoyed. Sprained my finger in the only play I messed up on, but no completions and my finger didn't affect me much so it was all good.
My exam results came through: I got a 1:1 for first semester! Absolutely delighted with that, and do honestly believe that without that completely single-minded final week, where I did almost nothing but study, sit exams, eat and sleep, it might not have been possible. Skipping training at that time was a necessary evil. As far as I'm concerned, I only want to have one shot at my final year, and I want to do very well in it.
During the last month I have also been very engaged with the Microsoft interview process. I ultimately fell at the last hurdle - the on-site interviews (in fact my last one of the day, where it appeared that fatigue caught up with me and I had a nightmare brain-freeze) - but it was a valuable experience. The study I did to prepare myself was extremely time-consuming, but I covered a lot of material that I hadn't properly soaked up my first time through when I encountered it in college, and it has made me a much better programmer and I'm glad to have gone through the process for that reason alone. Dare I say... I actually really enjoyed a lot of that study? I'm very grateful to Microsoft for the opportunity to interview for them. I may well try again in the future. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, after all, and I must set my sights on other jobs for now. Wish me luck!
The morning that I got very sick (the second bout, in late February), I managed to break the team record for the 40 yard dash in style. One of my teammates, Cian Minnock, an OLB pressed me hard for the record (it's long been a team argument which one of us is faster). I won all three rounds, but in the final one he stepped up and threw down a 4.69 time and I really felt the heat. Managed to pull a 4.68 out of somewhere to clinch the day, but it's clear I need to sprint more.
To that end, I have changed up my training a good bit. After hitting a lot of mental blocks and losing over 4 kg of hard earned weight while sick, I did some research and have begun to do a modified 5/3/1 program as described by the inventor, Jim Wendler, in an article here. I'm now running the #2 modification, as it incorporates a lot of sprinting and gives me more time to work on conditioning and more athletic skills outside of pure strength as well. I lost a lot of my conditioning while sick and need to get fitter quickly in readiness for a number of 11s games we have coming up. As well as that, as he says, when you are highly conditioned you feel a lot better, and I'd like to get there. It gives me more time to skip as well as sprint, and both will help me become a better athlete. On top of all that, following the program I should add 30 kg to my upper body lifts and 60 kg to my lower body lifts (without stalling, hopefully) and become a hell of a lot stronger!
I plan to stick with this program for the forseeable future. It's clear that I need to get stronger, but I also need to be faster and more agile, and lifting extremely heavy three times a week wasn't allowing me to work on anything outside of strength. I'm excited to see where this will take me, and optimistic for great results.
As a side note, my stomach appears to have returned to normal size and I am now able to eat more, so I should hopefully begin putting back on the weight I lost (although less extraneous fat, with the hill sprinting and skipping I'm doing).
For extra accountability on this front, I'm keeping a training log on the forum over at Stronglifts. I still recommend that program highly, and may well go back to it in time.
If nothing else, it will allow me to gain strength at a slightly reduced rate and conditioning at a higher rate while also affording me more time for college work, which I must always keep a high priority.
On that front, things are going well. Check out this blog for the news on my final year project (you can see I've been a little sporadic there too) or hit the link in my blogroll to the right. Just at the end of week seven of twelve, unbelievably, so it's coming up to assignment season again.
Deloading and Studying
Over the last week I have hit 120 kg for 5x5 on squats. This is pretty monumental, as it means I am two and a half months ahead of my squatting goal, which was to hit the same weight by the end of March. It felt great to do it, but there is no doubt in my mind that squatting is getting more and more daunting. Yesterday, I put 122.5 kg on the bar and in the last set I very nearly failed the fourth rep. I may well be nearing capacity.
In other, more worrying news, when I went to overhead press afterwards, I discovered a hitherto unheard of pain in my right shoulder when I reached full lock. It was bad enough to impair me from doing the exercise with any meaningful weight on the bar. I'm hoping that by Monday the pain will be gone and I can continue making progress in that lift.
As for my bench press - I've decided to deload, as though I got 4 sets of 5, 4, 4, and 3 respectively at 77.5 kg, my form was pretty terrible and they were very ground-out death-rep style movements. I'm thinking a drop to 65 kg might be a good plan, and to work back up from there.
It's becoming clear that the punishment my body takes in football training is causing hiccups in my strength training. As football is the overall goal, this means I can't drop football for the sake of my lifts, and so deloads like this are bound to happen. I'm not happy about it, but I think in the long run it's best. I suspect that the stealthy shoulder pain and a burgeoning pain in my left elbow are mainly down to strain on the bench press, combined with the impact I take on a regular basis in football.
It's also highly plausible that the lack of energy, slight injuries and general reluctance to get under the bar are due to the stress of my exams, the first of which I had today. I'm definitely getting more and more worn down as days spent studying sap the energy out of me. I'm hoping to bounce back quickly following the exams.
In fact, the day my exams finish, I am off to France to snowboard with the DCU Snowboarding Society. It will be fun to see the strength training pay off on the slopes, and I will get a much needed week of relaxation. That said, I am taking my project notebook with me to work on some PlayBook stuff... More on that in a future post.
Back to football, and some milestones
This morning's gym session saw me achieve a longtime goal and one of the markers of good relative strength - I bench pressed my bodyweight (as of the last measurement a week ago), 75 kg, for five full sets of five reps. Before getting on the bench, I'd completed 5x5 of 115 kg squats, had had little water and almost no food.
The first set of the bench press was awful. I was sure when I finished it that I would fail for the second time to get five full sets. The second and third sets were much the same, sheer willpower getting my arms to full lock on the final rep of the third. In the fourth and fifth sets however, something changed. I suddenly understood the importance of leg drive and explosive reps, driving the bar up as fast as possible, breathing hard and trying to stay in a positive, intense state. It worked. A longtime goal down.
Another good milestone occurred on Friday, when before failing on the bench press I squatted one and a half times my bodyweight (110 kg) for 5x5. The strange thing about squatting is that every session the weight is heavier, and every session I doubt I'll be able to make the next weight up without failing, yet here I am only two training days from achieving my 120 kg for 5x5 goal. I'd love to get there before having to deload. I've already blown one of my performance goals out of the water - I'm squatting well over 1.5 x my bodyweight less than two weeks into the new year!
Seeing this kind of progress is core to Stronglifts, and I'm still loving it. It takes real facing of fear to keep getting under the bar for these exercises - mainly fear of failure, but very real fear of injury too. I'm lucky to have a great training partner in my good friend Carberry, so I know I have a reliable spotter, and someone to watch my form. It's easy to get sloppy working in isolation - especially as the weights get large - without someone to yell at you to get your arse lower in the squats and level out the bar in your overhead press.
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Football training started again on Sunday, and we had to train on an icy pitch, in the small section that the sun had semi-thawed. There was sharp, stinging surface ice, but the ground had softened sufficiently to not be dangerous, bar its capacity to graze unmercifully.
I was wearing my new Schutt Air XP helmet, and it got plenty of admiration, with good reason I reckon. My sightlines in the helmet, particularly my peripheral vision, are much improved and as I result, I was able to perform very well in a receiving drill.
My coverage didn't feel as sharp as usual though I was assured it was still strong, and I didn't manage to be around the ball in running situations as much as I usually would, although whether that was down to the plays the offense were running or my own game I'm not sure. I definitely felt the rust of six weeks off, but it was great to be back and I'm already eagerly anticipating this Sunday's training.
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Studying continues unabated, and I'm picking up pace now, getting into my stride ahead of the exams that start next Thursday. I should be fine, though if I want to get the aimed-for 1.1 I'm going to have to find another gear.
If training has taught me anything, it's that I can reach that gear when needed. Time to get it done.
Eating, sleeping and studying
After another successful Stronglifts session this morning, it's time for me to talk about those other factors.
With a view to getting bigger and stronger and making those lifts (and with the overall goal of becoming a better athlete), I've dramatically increased the amount of food I'm eating and I'm tracking it with the help of the DailyBurn website and their associated iPhone app. I proved myself right when I quickly discovered that I'd developed the bad habit of not eating enough when I got back to college. After a summer in which I gained a significant amount of strength and muscle mass, I'd been treading water somewhat since, reaching 75 kg and not improving on that bodyweight at all. Now, with bigger food portions and about 2 litres of milk per day, I've increased my calorie intake to around the 3500-4000 per day range.
To keep the fat accumulation and loss of coordination associated with gaining weight at bay, I'm walking for half an hour each off-day morning at a brisk pace on an empty stomach, as recommended by Jason Ferruggia. I'm also skipping at a high intensity or sprinting twice a week, in the evenings on training days to try and allow for more recovery time (I'm at the gym usually about 6.30am in order to fit it in before college). Football training also starts again this Sunday so I will have that for conditioning too. I want to make sure I become more athletic as well as stronger, and try and maintain my sub-10% body fat level if I can. Primary goal right now is strength gain as it's the off-season, so a couple of percent of body-fat won't bother me for the time being.
I'm trying to get a solid 8 hours of sleep per night as my goals dictate, again, trying to give my body the chance to recover and grow stronger between the heavy gym sessions and taxing conditioning work. Along with this, I'm foam rolling regularly - briefly before the gym, and for an extended period on off days - and following that up with some light stretching. I take what I call James Bond showers to help with recovery too, but I'll post about them another time.
I feel great. I'm experiencing a lot of muscle soreness but that's to be expected with a new program, especially one so taxing. My appetite has increased enormously since I started Stronglifts last Wednesday and even with the increased intake, I still find myself ravenous for most of the day, so I'm not overly worried about fat gain - I think it's all my body can do right now just to repair itself.
Football training starts again on Sunday and I can't wait. Ordered a new helmet, the Schutt Air XP, along with a backplate attachment for my Riddell Anatom pads and a new facemask and gumshield a week ago from Football America UK, and it was shipped this morning with a courier service. With a bit of luck they'll arrive by Friday and I'll get to try them at the first session of the new year.
In other news, I am currently studying for my exams this January, the only thing I really have to complain about at all. When that's the case, it's easy to be happy. Life is good!
(Re)Starting Stronglifts 5×5
On Christmas Eve, Mehdi, over at Stronglifts released his annual 5x5 Report, beefed up with plenty of new information, a huge amount of inspiring, heartfelt testimonials, and most importantly, a paired down version of his hugely popular Stronglifts 5x5 program.
Stronglifts 5x5 is intended as a beginner program (and it's the program that got me into proper strength training in the first place, over a year ago), but it is perfectly applicable to more experienced lifters and it's all about getting stronger and faster rather than bodybuilding, which puts it right up my alley. The 5x5 in the name refers to the set and repetition (rep) counts for each exercise. Tying in nicely with the minimalist approach Jason Ferruggia has been extolling of late (an approach that resonates with me more and more the more I think about it and the longer I train), the entire program contains only 6 exercises split into two workouts, A and B.
Workout A consists of squats, the bench press and bent-over barbell rows, while B also begins with squats, and goes on to include the overhead press and a 1x5 set of deadlifts (5x5 would be overkill here with the amount of heavy squatting going on). I also have a couple of chin-up sets added to workout B because to be honest, I want to be able to do more chin-ups.
I'm now three sessions in to the program with another one coming up tomorrow. The core philosophy of the regime is big, compound, barbell lifting with progressive overload - adding more weight to the bar on a regular basis (in this case, each time I come to do a movement, I add 2.5 kg to the bar). It's bloody difficult getting used to heavy squatting on such a frequent schedule and I also have a suspicion that my training partner Carberry and I may have started on too high a weight for most of the exercises, inhibiting our ability to add more to the bar each time for much more than a couple of weeks. So far, we're okay - 107.5 kg squats tomorrow are the diciest thing on the menu as they're already getting extremely taxing - but Friday will be a massive challenge, attempting to bench 75 kg (my current bodyweight) for 5x5 as well as squatting 110 kg (1.5 x my bodyweight) for the same volume. I'd like to make those lifts before I have to deload.
As far as enjoyment goes, I don't think any other gym sessions have ever left me feeling as much of a man as these. Heavy squats alone put the kind of swagger in your step (once you can walk again) that few other exercises can match. In my limited experience, the only other exercises that can rival it are all included in this program, and all of the lifts are expertly broken down on Mehdi's site. Constantly adding more weight to the bar only compounds (forgive the pun) the feelings of satisfaction and achievement I'm currently getting after each session and are greater than I've experienced for a long time - I''m not a complete beginner anymore, so this is something to shout about.
It's brutal, and it can be disheartening at times when you seem to hit a wall mid-set, but even when you struggle you still feel manly in the process. Those hard reps forces you to dig deep and use all your reserves of determination to move that bar.
Based on this recent run and my experience way back when I first did it, this is the only recommendation I have for beginners, program wise and website wise. Read the lift technique descriptions (the best I've ever come across), read the success stories and workout logs in the forum, get out there and try it. Simple as that.
Tomorrow's session will tell a lot about the squats, but other factors outside of the gym will have to come into play I think. More on that tomorrow.
Some Current Numbers
Having laid out some goals here a few days ago, it's a good idea to put up my current numbers so that this time next year I can see exactly what my progress was during 2011.
Age: 21 (might increase by a bit...)
Height: 6'1 (and a bit, although can't say I'm expecting much of an increase here!)
Weight: 75 kg (hoping to increase this by at least 6kg of lean muscle to reach my current 180 lb goal)
Squat: 100 kg for 5x5 (aiming for 120 kg for 5x5 at least)
Deadlift: 140 kg for 3x2 is the most I've done so far (aiming for 180 kg for 1x5)
Overhead Press: 45 kg for 3x5 based on one attempt in the last year (with practice I'd like to get up around the 65 kg for 5x5 mark)
Bench Press: 85 kg for 1 rep is the most I've done, again not been doing much of that this year (with practice, I'd like to get more like 3 or 5x5 of that weight, if not closer to 90/95)
40 yard dash: 4.8 based on 1 attempt without a warm up, which is why by the end of March I'm confident of at least a .1 increase if not more like .25 or .3. We only recently started measuring such things on my team, but I'm one of the fastest players on it so I would expect with training and practice to get a much better time very quickly, once I'm used to the start and such.
Football stats: Not tracked this season, but I got three interceptions, with no return yards due to the circumstances of the picks. Tackle-wise, again not tracked, but widely thought to have led the team in tackles with our safety, Darragh Kelly and other corner, Peter Smyth, pretty damn close. No forced fumbles. No fumble recoveries.
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On a slightly related note, Jason Ferruggia's Renegade Recipe Guide is on sale until midnight tonight - great recipes for vegetarians or those of us who aspire to improve the healthiness of our diets.
In addition, access to Mehdi's new Stronglifts 5x5 Report is closing tonight, so get your email down to get access to this awesome resource. Worth it just for the success story inspiration!
And last link for today, Jim Smith over at Diesel Strength and Conditioning has been posting great one minute squat tips everyone should see, beginning with this one.
Have a good Christmas everyone, or just a nice holiday for those who don't celebrate Christmas. Eat as much as you can - you can always lose it afterwards!
Training Goals for 2011
As promised, in this post I'm going to share some of my training goals. First, a little note on how I'm structuring them.
There are three main types of goals. The first, outcome goals, are things like, "this year I will win the Rugby World Cup," or "I will win employee of the year." The problem with goals like these is that they are in large part out of a person's control. In the first example, you could train hard all year, practice with your team to the point where you are a well-oiled rugby machine, and play absolutely the best games of your life, but if another team manage to play better or get lucky, you could lose the final in the last minute of the game and fail to fulfil your goal.
Another problem with that kind of goal is that it is extremely long term, generally speaking, and it's hard to use such a long term goal to motivate yourself. They can also be counter-productive - if you're so worried about winning the world cup, how are you going to stay loose and play well?
Outcome goals are useful, but in order to work well, they have to be backed up by the other two types of goal.
The second type of goal is a performance goal. This could be something like "by the end of March, I will be able to squat twenty kilograms more than I can today," or "by the end of March I will have three completed short stories beyond the first draft stage." These goals are all about shorter term goals that focus on what you can achieve without relying on anyone else such as teammates to do well, or opposition to do badly. They are about personal improvement.
Finally, we come to the mortar for the performance goal bricks, process goals. Process goals are very important, and are small, taking perhaps a week or so at most. An example would be "I will add five kilograms to the squat bar each time I do them," or "I will focus on getting my pad level lower and popping my hips into a tackle." By continuously completing process goals, you will grow in skill and confidence, as well as making sure you stay on track to complete your performance goals and ultimately your outcome goals.
Process and performance goals should vastly outnumber your outcome goals, as they are goals that will improve your performance day on day, month on month, year on year and you can fulfill them with no reliance on other people to hold up their end of the bargain. You are competing with yourself.
With that said, here are some of my training goals for next year.
Outcome Goals
My team will win our league.
If Team Ireland is established this year, I will make the cut.
I will get the highest number of interceptions, pick sixes and tackles on my team this season.
Performance Goals
By the end of March, I will have improved my forty-yard dash by .1.
By the end of March, I will have improved my squat to over 1.5 x my bodyweight for five sets of five reps, and my deadlift to 2 x my bodyweight for three sets of five reps.
By the end of March, I will have learnt the hang clean and press, and reached at least forty kilograms.
By June, I will have increased my weight to 180lbs at 6'1", while maintaining my sub-8% body-fat level.
By the end of the year, I will be able to perform a planche, and handstand pushup without needing a wall for balance.
Process Goals
I will complete my training schedule each week, without missing a session.
I will pay attention to my eating, ensuring the right number of calories to reach my bodyweight goal.
I will sleep for at least 8 hours a night.
I will complete the Champion's Challenge, and continue to use the techniques within.
I will perform a full mobility regime before each training session.
I will spend at least three hours per week studying as much material as possible in order to improve my game.
I will work on the planche progressions in addition to my regular training, as well as working on my handstand balance and handstand pushups with a wall.
That's all I have for now, but I will add to them as I go along, and update on the blog when I reach my targets. Go and set your own goals, and review them constantly to ingrain them in your brain. Don't just think about them, write them down. It'll help. Post some of your goals in the comments!
Regular Scheduled Posting Will Return
Just a note to say I have not died, but I'm in serious crunch-time mode as regards college assignments running up to a few close deadlines, and have been this way for the last couple of weeks. Once they're done, I will post again. You'll be able to feel the jubilation through the screen, I'm sure.
P.S. Seven heavy deadlifting sets + three sets of Bulgarian split-squats and DB pullovers + some other smaller exercises = a seriously sore posterior chain, pair of hip flexors, and abs. Wow.
Training Schedule Accountability
At the end of what I can only call a great, snowy week (got to snowboard on actual snow - bliss) here in Ireland spent either in good company or in engaging PlayBook work (or both), I got some news that shook my confidence a little with regards to football.
The details aren't important although I spent enough time stewing over them. What's important now is how I move on from it and get better as a player, a teammate and a captain.
So what I'm doing here is concreting my training schedule in the public eye. If I'm not the only one holding myself accountable, I have even more motivation not to skip a session.
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The Schedule
Monday
Foam Roll, Gym Training, Stretching, Grip Work
Tuesday
Foam Roll, Flexibility Work, Quickness, Conditioning
Wednesday
Foam Roll, Gym Training, Stretching, Grip Work
Thursday
Foam Roll, Flexibility Work, Quickness
Friday
Foam Rolling, Gym Training, Stretching, Grip Work
Saturday
Foam Rolling, Flexibility Work, Quickness, Agility/Pickup sport
Sunday
Football Training
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Gym Training refers to in-gym mobility work as well as strength training.
For now, I'm using Eric Cressey's Show & Go System, and yesterday it pointed out a major flaw to me in my mobility/flexibility - I can't overhead squat at the moment, as a result of poor shoulder mobility and poor something else (possibly squat technique problems and possibly terrible squat-zone flexibility, but most likely a combination of the two). It's a great program in that it has introduced me to doing a proper mobility warm up before every workout (which has done wonders for my bad ankle) and keeps things very fresh, even giving me different rep ranges than I've used before. That is also a shortcoming, in that I feel I'm just about getting used to a set of exercises before they're pulled out from under me and I'm doing something new. The other problem I have with it is the length of a few of the sessions (at over an hour long in a few extreme cases I find them a touch overdone), but overall it's a great program.
Next, I plan to move in the opposite philosophical direction to one of Jason Ferruggia's Minimalist Workouts, as to be honest I'm looking forward to some good, honest, short and intense sessions once I'm done with Show & Go. I'll keep doing the mobility-based warm-up for sure, but other than that, I'm going to take things in another direction altogether, keeping the workouts to three big, compound exercises per session, with perhaps some lunges or one-legged deadlifts on the days I don't squat/deadlift respectively to keep the unilateral athletic work going. I can hardly wait for some 5x5 squatting like I used to do a year or more ago, and I could do with as much minimalism as possible in my day to day life.
On the quickness front, I'm doing the Truth About Quickness 2.0 program by Alex Maroko. It's nice and simple, and the sessions are short and punchy. I also do the flexibility training included in that, along with some band shoulder dislocations and ankle work.
For game knowledge (both for myself as a player and coach and for PlayBook), I spend a good chunk of time every week on Coach Huey, learning from the greatest bunch of coaches on the internet, at all levels of the game.
On top of all this, I'm also currently following the Champion's Challenge with Todd Herman. This is mental training - help in goal-setting, managing nerves, getting in the zone, and lots more - and it's helped me no small amount. After only a couple of weeks my outlook has changed immensely. Before our recent match against Cork, I was absolutely nerves-free where formerly I'd be tight and tense.
Just a note on the above links: they aren't some thinly veiled affiliate marketing attempt; I get no money for the referrals at all. They're there because these are programs I feel were totally worth my money and help me to do something every day to physically become a better athlete.
Two weeks ago I hit two personal bests - in my deadlift and in my bench press. I need a lot more of them if I'm going to become the kind of player I want to be, and I will.
Bring it on.
In the next post I'm going to make a few of my training goals public for even more accountability. In the meantime I highly recommend looking into the work of the guys above, as well as that of Mehdi at StrongLifts if you're at all interested in quality training. If you've read this far, I think that means you.