Project: Anything Is Possible

[L33SH]

I have a plan for today's workout, watch this space!

[L33SH]

28/09/13

Squats

35kg x 10

40kg x 10

45kg x 10

50kg x 5

50kg x 4

55kg x 3

55kg x 2

Pause Squat

40kg x 6

Bench Press

25kg x 10

45kg x 1

30kg x 10

35kg x 9

40kg x 4

45 Leg Press

80kg x 10

100kg x 10

120kg x 10

140kg x 10

150kg x 6

160kg x 7

Chin-ups

10

7

6

6

5

5

Shoulder Press

10kg x 10

10kg x 10

15kg x 10

15kg x 10

20kg x 5

20kg x 6

Seated Row

20kg x 10

30kg x 10

35kg x 10

40kg x 10

45kg x 10

50kg x 5

55kg x 4

Bicep Curl

15kg x 10

15kg x 10

15kg x 10

20kg x 6

20kg x 6

20kg x 4

25kg x 1

(Ran out of time for hamstrings and abs due to grand final)

60 min cardio @600 calories

[-FIGJAM-]

Well done Leesh

[L33SH]

Well done Leesh

Thanks Mitch, was pretty stoked at the time

[-FIGJAM-]

I bet!! You can do more pull ups then I can lol

Hard work pays off keep it up. Bet it takes your mind off some of the other things in your life

[L33SH]

I bet!! You can do more pull ups then I can lol

Hard work pays off keep it up. Bet it takes your mind off some of the other things in your life

If I didn't have gym right now I'd be very lost that's for sure

[L33SH]

01/10/13

Squats

35kg x 10

40kg x 10

45kg x 10

50kg x 6

55kg x 3

55kg x 2

55kg x 2

Bench Press

25kg x 10

30kg x 10

35kg x 10

40kg x 3

40kg x 2

45kg x 0

45 Leg Press

80kg x 10

100kg x 10

120kg x 10

140kg x 10

150kg x 6

Chin-ups

10

7

6

7

5

5

Shoulder Press

10kg x 10

10kg x 10

15kg x 10

15kg x 10

20kg x 7

20kg x 6

Seated Row

20kg x 10

30kg x 10

35kg x 10

40kg x 10

45kg x 10

50kg x 5

Hamstring Curl

20kg x 10

20kg x 10

27.5kg x 10

27.5kg x 10

30kg x 6

30kg x 6

Bicep Curl

15kg x 10

15kg x 10

15kg x 10

20kg x 7

20kg x 6

20kg x 5

Captains Chair Leg Raises

20

20

20

20

20

Knee Raises

20

60 min cardio @566 calories

I think I went a bit too hard on Saturday, plus I'm stressed and it's that time of month so I guess that's why I wasnt as strong tonight.

[-FIGJAM-]

Still a solid workout

[L33SH]

Still a solid workout

I'll be happy when I'm back to where I was in bench...

[rev210]

don't get why you do the heaviest sets last. It's actually counter productive and scientifically baseless. More importantly , you want to lift the heavier weight as opposed to not? I assume a 1x 45kg would be preferable to 0x45kg? You can do the same exact volume as well.

[Birds]

Birds is not going to agree with me, but if you liked the way you looked when you worked out a certain way.

Then that's what you should be doing.

Your goals are the most important reason for you to be training, nobody else's goals or thoughts matter.

Not saying ditch gym, just saying that if you know how to achieve the look you want, why would you do anything other than that, unless the look is only one of many goals, then it gets complicated.

Actually, Dan, that's exactly what I told her when she first complained about the program not working or her supposedly looking worse. I said if the short term sacrifice is too hard for you, then go back to your cardio heavy, 6 day a week routine...I won't hate you for it as long as you are doing what makes you happy.

The problem is, when Leesh first came to me she said she wanted less body fat and more noticeable abs. Now the way I see it there are 4 ways to achieve a lower body fat than what she had, given she is a vegetarian and was already eating fairly healthily.

1. You can starve yourself on a diet of only protein, with a severe calorie deficit that leaves you looking anorexic.

2. You can start training for marathons, running super long distances and losing both fat and muscle. You will look shredded and you will also look like a strong gust will make life difficult for you.

3. You can train heavy with HIIT, which will burn more calories than the cardio she was doing and build/retain muscle.

4. Birds will give you a program to build functional and body shaping muscle that burns the calories even when you're not gyming; that act as catalysts to dietary changes, where even cutting out one regular food item can make a difference to body fat.

Obviously I set Leesh up on the fourth path, informing her that she may gain some fat initially when we up her food intake to feed her progress and development of muscle. 6 months later, she had gained very little, if any fat, in spite of me docking her total exercise from 12 hours a week to 6; strength training is catabolic people!; I posted pictorial evidence of this. She was also twice as strong on nearly every exercise.

Now last I saw Leesh there are noticeable changes to her physique, particularly her legs which have some really nice quad shape to them now. She has definitely put on some muscle, which is a great thing, as it means more calories are going to get burned up both in the gym and in a resting state...so when she decides to hop onto a cutting diet...she will have less body fat than she's ever had before. Simples!

We are nowhere near finished yet, before I give her permission to start cutting. I want a fair bit more muscle on her before we look to restricting the diet in favour of losing body fat. For now I want the calories helping her in the gym and she is doing great on that front. From memory I wanted a 60kg bench, a 100kg squat and a 120-130kg deadlift out of her before I allow her first cut. We don't train for outright strength; volume is more important to us, but benchmarks are a good measure of anything.

[No Crust Racing]

Fair enough.

IMO, She's doing very very well. I think she might just be a bit too hard on herself.

Or, her goals are very high ones which do not come easy or soon, so it's just a matter of time and her maybe being impatient.

Sorry to talk about you like you're not here Leesh, but you get me.

[L33SH]

All good Dan

[Birds]

She is her own harshest critic, but she does notice some of the improvements physically and strength wise; she gets excited when she pushes out an extra chin up; things like this are always great for me as her offshore, 3000km away trainer. On the chin up note, I think she went from 2 to 10 in the space of a month!

But as we all agreed after seeing her pics, she really has nothing of substance to complain about. A very sexy lady indeed!

[-FIGJAM-]

how the hell did you two hook up?

also her workouts seem to be on the constant up and up so that's the main thing. Keep diggin the hard work it will come in the end.

the women on simplyshredded didn't get there overnight.

If you want some advice from a fitness model Melissa Darmawan is hot as all hell and also a lovely lady to talk with, very down to earth and approachable. But she trains her arse off year round and also has a off and on season. Off season for bulking and not as diet concerned and then comp season begins.

Add her on facey, she has always answered any questions that I have asked.

[Birds]

don't get why you do the heaviest sets last. It's actually counter productive and scientifically baseless. More importantly , you want to lift the heavier weight as opposed to not? I assume a 1x 45kg would be preferable to 0x45kg? You can do the same exact volume as well.

I'll field this one. That's a good question rev. We do it for three reasons, that some may not agree with, but we believe in:

1. Walking the talk at any time on any day. If we can lift our max at the end of our volume training, we can do it on any given time of any given day after a quick warm up, if you want the bragging rights. Leesh proved this by doing 45kg the other day after her warm up, because she wanted to know if she could still lift at that weight - she did it with ease because her volume training, despite lower weights, supports it. You can train to comfortably lift a given weight without ever having lifted it before - 1RM calculators are based on this. It's not always the most efficient way to get there, but it can't be said that it doesn't work.

2. Mental reward and preparedness for the lift. We "earn" our 1RMs by slogging through our volume first. To us, a 1RM is merely a few kg more on the bar for only a single repetition, rather than a huge step up from a warm up. Mentally, this makes the 1RM seem inconsequential and easy. If you haven't trained this way before, it can be difficult to grasp what this does for your fighting spirit at the end of your sets. We finish on the 1RM, because we don't step back in weight unless we miss a rep, and the next time we hit the weights for volume, they suddenly feel a hell of a lot lighter in comparison.

3. Our training is focused on volume and similar to GVT principles with regard to creating hypertrophy. Outright strength and 1RM are not our priority; we are there to damage muscle and burn a shitload of calories with our volume. Our 1RM serves as a benchmark and a plateau breaker when/if we need it to increase our volume weights.

I also disagree that you can do the exact same volume after attempting a 1RM straight up as you could if you left the 1RM til the end. If you can, then it likely wasn't your true 1RM, or your volume weights aren't anywhere near your 1RM weight. Muscles get tired!

To me, it's a logical fallacy to suggest that a 1RM at the end of volume training isn't your true 1RM, if you're going to maintain that volume training after a 1RM is your true potential for volume too.

Case in point: Leesh has made some great strength and physical gains training this way, as have I...and we continue to do so. People can knock it, but can they really say that it doesn't work for our goals if we are achieving them?

[-FIGJAM-]

Different workouts for different goals.

Birds, I am going to ask a question in the main thread regarding your top post so as to not flood Leesh's build.

[L33SH]

Just ask it here, I get people looking at my thread yay

And to answer your previous question Mitch about Birds and I, it was SAU

[-FIGJAM-]

thread attention whore

so SAU is good for more then just car and boob talk who knew

[L33SH]

thread attention whore

so SAU is good for more then just car and boob talk who knew

I know right, crazy hey