We’re now reaching the end of week one as a group and so far, from all of the feedback received, the whole group is feeling surprisingly upbeat. It has been mentioned by many that they are surprised that they are not in more pain. I’d have to agree with them.
When I decided to set up and take on this challenge, I definitely thought from the outset that improving my squat by 30 kilos was achievable. The concern for me, was how was I possibly going to be able to go again and again, day after day, with the aches and pains I would be feeling (I’ve always suffered terribly with DOMS in my legs). Yet each day I’ve felt fresh, and as soon as I begin my warm up I feel ready to go, almost as if I hadn’t gone through the exact same routine on the previous day.
This, along with the thoughts from the group, goes to show the power of a meticulous warm up routine, as well as a thorough and structured stretch/cool down programme.
It’s been preached to us over and over again throughout our lives, but up until you decide to take on something as ridiculous as this, I don’t think anyone, hand on heart could honestly say that they go through a planned and structured warm up and cool down each and every time they train.
Admittedly it is only week one, so this could all go to pot next week and you may be reading about me saying I feel like crap!!! Who knows? But for now….. Leading in to day 6, I feel fantastic!
Why do I feel so good?
At 7:30 this morning I had one of the gents taking part message me saying that he felt incredible and that the session today which included 3 sets of 3 reps of his max (which he hit on Monday) was EASY! Needless to say, I was a bit sceptical! I’d read about serious strength gains being achieved through daily repetition of heavy weights, but as he was the first one to train today, it did make me wonder.
So I went through my routine (which currently is taking roughly 35 mins) and started working my way up. 1 set 100kg x 6 Reps. 1 set 140kg x 5 Reps. Then it was GO TIME! I loaded the bar with 165kg going in to it thinking;
“Right, the first one will be okay, anything from there is a bonus”.
1 rep= easy, 2 reps= easy, 3 reps= easy. I stepped away from the bar to find my spotter didn’t spot me at all. It felt crazy, maybe the guy was right and results really were this quick.
Again though, scepticism set in and I didn’t allow myself to become complacent, because under that sort of weight, things can go very wrong…. VERY quickly. But then the second set of 3 went even smoother. So leading in to the final set I thought I’d push it and see. I managed to ease 4 reps in and definitely felt like 6 was achievable, but I remembered what I’ve been preaching to the whole group this whole time……
“Don’t overdo it! Go to the prescribed sets and rep ranges each time and no more, otherwise you will struggle tomorrow!”
Needless to say this gave me an incredible buzz and filled me with an amazing amount of confidence knowing that this weight only four days ago was a real struggle, and yet now…. not so much. Imagine what could be achieved with the other 20+ days we have left!!! It also left me desperate to get to next week to see if I can hit a new PB and see if I can make a huge jump up to 180. Who knows?
It also got me friggin’ pumped to here and feel like this programme is working! STRAIGHT AWAY FROM DAY 1! Could this programme possibly be better than the others on the market currently? Who knows for now, only time will tell!
Ben