AX1 - back to the future ...

Hi Everyone,

So i've reached end of week 8. Definitely a lot of outstanding things have been done (at my level) recently, with a significant 14min09 at the 400 challenge.

This has been the highlight of week 8 ... Unfortunately, that was not enough ...

Last friday was the time of the "20 up 20 down" challenge. I attached it tired and not really feeling good as my wrist was a bit painful (for push-ups). However, i was not worried about that!

No, my worry was on the inverted rows. I decided i would go full the straight legs version. Gosh, what a pain ... 

... I desperately failed during the 4th minute.

I barely got 15s of rest after round 1, was down to 5s after round 2, and had to go straight for round 3 and 4.

I failed round 4 not for lack of time, but for i could not finish the inverted rows. Man, those were tough.

No excuse though, even at 100%, i would barely had reached round 6 i guess.

I finished up the session by as many inverted rows sets to failure as i could, and som push-ups.

Serious sore back muscles the next day! :-)

Back to week 5 this week. All weights have increased, so it is still positive.

Wait and see ...

Cheers,

Seb

AX1 - WEEK 06 - half way through

Hi Everyone,

Here we are ... this is the half way mark of my AX1 first round.

First of all, a confirmation of what I was mentioning in my first post about AX1, it is a very exiting program.

I have not been bored once over the past 7 weeks (yes, remember, I doubled-up the week 04, so 7 weeks).

Every day is different. There’s many ways to adapt the plan if you face issues with an exercise (like I did on the 11-11-11 challenge – see below).

It makes you feel like you wish the next training session to come faster.

I’m surely not the best at controlling my diet, so somehow, my weight has not decreased at all … still at 84kg.

However, looking at my overall dimensions, there’s clearly something happening. Might it be possible that I was so weak at the start that I could gain as much muscles as I loose fat these days? I doubt it, but I still can do more than I used to (like I start using 11kg DB for bicepts and stand-up press while I was struggling with 6-7kg at the very beginning.), and I get regular remarks that I look slimmer, fitter, more in shape … more ATHLEAN! ;-)

Also, there’s something you can’t beat. It is the feeling of self-satisfaction after a good training and the fact that you feel better in your body over the weeks.

With another 6 weeks of program to go, I just hope the result become a bit more visual, so the satisfaction gets bigger!

As for week 06 of the program, it was all about MMO!

Basics are over and so basically it is time to push harder. The highlight of the week was the 11-11-11 challenge. I introduce Jeff’s official video in my previous post. Here is mine … slight difference in the execution! :-)

Well, 14min. I fail the challenge by 3min.

There’s a bike burst training next week which I’m not really interested in. So I might take the 11-11-11 challenge again and see how.

I’m a bit frustrated that I have not passed any of the challenges so far (I’m still missing 1min++ on the 400 challenge. But this one will be in the program in week 08, so no rush). Taking the challenge again asap seems to be needed. Hopefully I’ll kick its ass.

The rest of the week was core on Wednesday (my abs literally burnt), an interval training on Thursday (always tough for me when running is on!) and full body work-out on Monday & Friday. Those were great.

I think I could have done slightly better this week in terms of performance, but I started with a non-resting week-end. We are moving and I had carton boxes to shuffle around (down 2 floors, up 4 with no elevator). It was a great addition to training, definitely an exhausting one.

I will take it easy this week-end. I want to get into week 08 strong, especially knowing there’s a new attempt at pull-ups on Monday! :-)

Right, that is it for this week.

My brother starts to be interested in my videos intensely. He might be the first one I drag in with me (well, he would start ahead of me for sure) … but it could be fun to challenge each other sometimes!

Alright, thanks for reading,

Cheers,

Seb

AX1 - WEEK 05 - A TOUGH ONE!!!

Hi All,

So it is end of week 05 ... it is now Saturday, i managed to complete each of the 5 trainings this week ... i can barely raise my arms today. Shoulders are sore, muscles are tired. It was a tough one.

In addition, i had tennis last Sunday and i managed 40min of badminton this Thursday after the burst training ... OUTCH! :-)


 Week 05 is the start of phase 2 of the AX1 camp. This is the phase called "Maximum Metabolic Overdrive" or MMO phase.
It's based on 2 intense full body workout, which really kill it, 1 core work-out and 2 burst training.

Really, This is challenging! This is great because you can see you are getting stronger despite the everyday change of exercise (i did all DB exercises this Friday with 11kg DB ... 6kg was my mark 5 weeks ago), but you also don't get bored, cause it is so full of variety.

I really enjoy this training program.

Now, i need to get some good rest today (well, that sounds foolish since i'm at work now! :).
Tennis again this Sunday ... then this is the last week of AX1 program first half. Tuesday will be time for 11-11-11 challenge ... i don't feel good about this one ... burpees are killers, and there are far too many to my taste! :)

Below is the public video of the 11-11-11 challenge ... mine will come next week.

Here is the link to my videos. Don't hesitate to watch them, green thumb them, subscribe to my channel. It is always nice to feel supported! :)

Till next week!

Cheers,
Seb

AX1 - WEEK 05 - strong start

Hi all,

My lousy week 04 turned out pretty tough in the end ... i did the Thursday core training on Saturday, and played tennis on Sunday (as cardio training). I was pretty exhausted Sunday night. Good Good!

And so today is Monday, first day of week 05 ... first day of step 2!

Nothing out of ordinary except some plyo push-ups ... never done one before ... never dared to try for i was worried about my left wrist.

But there's a first for everything, and so today was the day to try!
Honestly, the exercise came after another 3 or 4 others that just killed me (shoulders and bicepts) and made me week (squats) ... ha, the Sunday tennis was making some noise!

so here we go ...

So 10 at first try! I'm so proud!
Did another 6 then 3 to complete the round. Good!

That's it for today, just wanted to share that with you guys!

Tomorrow is burst training ... i think i'm going to be exhausted again!

Cheers,
Seb

AX1 - (WEEK 04)^2

Hi All,

Yeah, as the title says it all, week 04 is a bit complicated ... this is 400 challenge week, it was also my 32nd birthday last friday, and i must admit i have celebrated it without reason.

Well, last Monday i started well with my first attempt to the 400 challenge, as mentioned in my previous post ... 22min.

I did also the core training on Tuesday which was a killer after sunday football and Monday challenge.

Then the week turned short ... Wednesday, i skipped the burst training due to my injured ankle. I should done something else ... shame on me.
Thrusday core session was cancelled too as my MD visited the yard ... we ended partying till late, celebrating my 32nd ...
Needless to say that Friday was just a nightmare after a heavy party.
The week-end was then a succession of meals not AX approved ... :)

So I am on week 04 again ... tonight i went for the 400 challenge again ... i was, honestly, not expecting much from it ... and despite all effots, i turned out to be right. I had to give up after 75% of the challenge done under a miserable time. I felt dizzy and out of energy ... surely all the festivities were digested with difficulty.
Anyway, that was a good work out.
There's another 3 days before the next 400 challenge. Need to rest and work out seriously to succeed.

Ha, a positive point though ... this Saturday, i have been able to fit in a pair of pants i have not been able to wear in 5 years! needless to say that this is a major, motivating, achievement.

In the meantime, be strong!

Cheers,
Seb

AX1 - week 03

Hi All,

Week 03 is down.
As planned, i missed wednesday lower body strength workout and Thursday burst training.
I compensated with a football game on Sunday.
I played only the first half ... kind of strain my ancle on a high ball ... bit swollen today, but i will survive.

Monday and Friday upper body training have been great ... And amazing think, i completed my first real pull-up! A big day that was. ;-)

my inclined DB sit ...

Clearly the training is paying already ... i haven't played football for a while, a i just felt great at then end of the first half. The runs during the game were easy going, and recovery in between really fast. Clearly, something is happening.

Today i kicked-off week 04 with my first attempt to the 400 challenge ... i chose to follow a 5 reps x 20 sets routine. I was worried about the reverse curls and push-ups. Turned out the reverse curls were alright, but i got burnt by the abs.

I completed the challenge in 22min ... that's 5 min to save to access to week 05 ... let's see what happens on Friday ... i'll be celebrating my 32nd birthday ... good time for a perf! :-)

In the meantime, going to take care of my ankle, so probably no burst training this week, concentrate on abs on Tuesday and Thursday. Probably will do some arm workout on Wednesday.

Cheers,
Seb

AX-1 - Week 02 DONE!!

Hi everyone,

I'm right back from the gym and drying after a good shower.
Perfect timing for a week review.

First thing to go with is what i generally think of the program ... after two weeks, i begin to have a fair view of it, and I stand by my word. It is great. It is well balanced, with loads of different exercises allowing a proper rest between categorized sessions. Motivation is definitely there, which is a good point.

In a bit more details now, a quick walk through the week ...

Monday was upper body push ... that was a good tough one for me as upper body is definitely not my strong point.
I got hit right from the start with the Burpees push-up pyramid. Man, that was so hard at the end that i had to finish on my knees. But i went through all the exercises ... next day, pecs and triceps were sore! :)

Tuesday was burst training and core ... shadow boxing was the main part. I was worried it would be light ... but when you really go for it, shoulders get warm! Great thing here is that i stayed home and did it watching TV. Excellent.

Wednesday was lower body. Another killing one. :) But no major issue. Went ok.

Thursday was a bit disappointing for a burst training. That was agility work out on a cross. Much less challenging to me than the agility ladder. Probably cause it is shorter. Well, i could have added a few rounds for sure, but i did what was on the list and took advantage of a "light session" to get some rest ... Friday was around the corner! :)

Friday was about upper body pull and core.
And the exercise i was dreading pointed its nose ... pull-ups! To make it short, i can't pull a single one! In my past training, I trained to shin ups using the walk the plank method. But like i said, i kind of did not get the best out of it due to a lack of challenge/motivation. I tried once to work out a walk the plank session for pull-ups, but it was too early. I was not stable and pulled a muscle on my back.
So today was not going to be fun!
Anyway, i did not follow the "as many as you can. don't worry if you cannot do many at this point" otherwise i would have done nothing! ha ha!
So i tried a walk the plank ... and it went well. Managed 6 the first set, 5 the second and 4 (roughly controlled!) on the third. And to make it 4 sets, and worth it, i did a set at the pull-up machine ... 85kg, 10 reps. Man, i don't get it! can't be 85kg for real ... why couldn't I do a pull-up then?
Anyway, i was glad about this exercise result and moved on to the rest of the session.
All-in-all, a great one again.

So that's it for this week.

Indeed i don't see great changes yet, but i do feel tougher. That's a feeling indeed, but i believe training is already paying off. I can feel that muscles are under tension, which is a great feeling and prove something is happening.
I hope to see some light variation this week-end while checking up my weight ... I'll let you know about it.

Next week I'm affraid i'll be able to train 3 sessions max, so week 3 will be repeated entirely the week after in order to get the best of it. I'll target the 2 upper body workouts and 1 burst training (or maybe a 10km run).
That means the first 400 challenge will be in 2 weeks time. I think that is actually a good point. :)

Note: again, no editing, so please don't shoot! :)

Cheers,
Seb

AX-1 - Week 01 done

Hi Everyone,

This is week 02, day 01 ... well, Monday basically! :)
Just had lunch and thought i'd drop a line to give my impression on week 01.

First of, I am really happy about the fact that i managed to train 5 times last week. It had been one of my personal target for few weeks now, but boredom was not helping and so i was only managing 3 weekly training ... 4 at max.
It is therefore already an achievement. And looking at week 02 planning, I am more motivated than ever to proceed. :)

As for the training content, the variety of the exercises has been great. Well, whenever you're motivated, please head to Athlean-X website to know more about. I can't share details as it would defeat the purpose of signing-up.

But what i can say is that i've been hit all over ... Ended-up the week with sore muscles all over the legs, bicepts and abs.

Clearly week 01 is a leg killer. And it worked. I have been challenged like i haven't in a long time. So satisfied so far.
I was a bit worried at first on Day 01 as I had the feeling i was not so tired. But i figured that first, i was totally out of shape, second i was exited by the program so a rush of energy kicked in. And third, in Day 01, i guess we are all a bit low weight thinking we need to save some for later ... well, that's not the point, and as long as you don't overload yourself to injury level, just put on weights that allow you to reach the number of reps in a burning muscle status! :)

What went wrong ... well, this is personal ... I did not manage my sleeping time too well. So at the end of the week, i was completly flat out. I'll have to be better from this week onward, if i want to make it to week 12.

This week seems to go on with more upper work-out. That's good. Bring it on! :)

That's it for now. If you are following the AX1 program and putting your follow-up in writing, please let me know where. I'm interested.

Cheers,
Seb

AX-1 ... Kicked-off!

Hey, hi everyone,

Seb here.

Maybe you guys know me through my other blog, my2013marathonproject.blogspot.com , or not! :-)

Anyway, point is, for a bit more than a year, i have been focused on one target, and one only ... Running a marathon. If you go through my blog, you'll see that i partially succeeded.

Yeah, i did cross the line, but i can say it was not with flying colors! And i want to rectify that as soon as 2015.

Why am i re-directing myself on the gym now? ... Well that's a good question ... And there are 3 reasons to that ...

ONE, along the 14 months of running i have done, one aspect has definitely been highlighted, although i was kind of aware of it, it is the fact that my upper body is weak and unbalanced. It causes me to face exhaustion too quickly and pains here and there that are really annoying.

TWO, weight loss. It is a fact that i have lost 5kg over a year of practice (from 89 to 84kg). But not much toward the end. I guess this is link to the fact i "fell asleep" along the way. I mean, i kind of lost focus (and was also disturb by nasty feet pain) and so intensity in the training, leading to some kind of plateau which i have not been able to overcome.

THREE, here again ... Intensity, speed, agility. I am not the best athlete around here, but i have been practicing football and tennis for years, and i was amazed to not be tired after a game, but to be upset that explosive sequences had been such a pain ... So stamina in the pocket, but for the rest, not much.

So i decided to get back to the gym ... This is definitely an area where i get bored after few week, not because of the type of exercise it is, but because of the variety .... Hey, don't jump on me ... I'll explain.

Of course, you can do a million things ... But where to start, how often, how many time/reps and so on ...

I looked up for some body weight info on the net ... 

I first came across Scooby1951 ... Man, this guy is great. He has a free full of good tips website for training. I started to build-up a planning from there, and practiced for 3 weeks ... But again, boredom was around the corner.

So i continued my research and found P90X. I watch a whole bunch of videos about amazing results. But i have not been caught by it.

Anyway, i started to feel i needed something like this, pre-planned, to guide me.

Then i found, clicking by mistake on one of his video, Jeff Cavaliere program, Athlean-X.

And again, i spent some time watching videos ... But what caught me here is that the videos are mostly from him, giving tips to complement your own training, or the AX program you are following.

I found him motivating ... And after 2 weeks of temptation, i signed up.

This week is WEEK 01 for me.

As i write, i completed DAY 03, and i am laying on my bed with weak legs ... Man, the sequence burst session with agility ladder yesterday + strength training for lower body today has just done the job ... I'm going to sleep tight! :-)

Well, that's it for today ... I will not commit on how often i'll post cause i know i won't stick to it ... Madam, work and training are enough to make me busy. :-)

Any, i'll post updates for sure ... Most probably some videos of the challenges when time comes, and some pics for visual follow-up.

To conclude this short intro, below is a summary of my measurements taken on sunday 2 june. Let where we are after week 04.

Note: it is a bit late here ... So i did not edit the text ... Apologies for the mistakes you might have found.

Cheers,

Seb