week 2, Monday

Calories - 2350 I think 'owch' pretty much covers it today. But I knew it was going to be hard though so I was ready. 5 sets of 8 deadlifts 70kg. This felt very difficult today. Last week felt quite easy at the same weight but I hadn't done any deadlifts for a number of weeks, so I think my body forgot what a challenge deadlifts can actually be. My back felt weak, and the last sets were done quite slowly and split into sets of 4 with a very short break in between. 5 sets of 8 bulgarian squats. I did 16 each set, so 8 for each leg. I did one set with 15kg but that was too easy so added an extra 5kg. 5 x 8 lunges with 20kg, again I did 16 each set. The workout then says '5 sets of 50: squat jumps...' But it does then say the 50 squat jumps should be done in as few sets as possible so I think it should only be the one lot of 50. I was open to the prospect that it may actually mean 5 sets of 50 squat jumps, so I cracked on. After my first set of 20 (I didn't manage to 50 in one set) I realised only the devil himself would ask someone to deadlift, squat, lunge and then jump 250 times. So I just did the one set of 50. I did the 50 in two sets of 20 and a 10. 50 calf raises with 15kg in sets of 20/15/15. They hurt, I'm not going to lie. I have a confession to make at this point. I spent the next few minutes on my knees, but only because it was the best position to stretch out my ankles after the calf raises. Anyone who has trained with Team Forge 54:16 (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61407337&ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Team-Forge-5416/143280055715698) will know that if you drop to your knees you get yelled at. To drop to your knees is a sign of surrender. Whilst Team Forge have ran off to greener pastures in Dubai, that sentiment stays with me. I do not drop to my damn knees! Anyway, I got a personal best for my plank, I did a 3 minute plank in two sets but the first set was 2 minutes. I've said it once, I'll say it again - hooray for small victories! 60 reverse crunches in sets of 30,20 then 10. Who knew reverse crunches were so hard?! I did 3 sets of 10 hanging knee raises. With this exercise, I met my first failure within this regime. I couldn't make it to 60 reps. My excuse is that I am hypermobile (Google it!), but in a nutshell my tendons or ligaments or whatever don't hold my joints in place quite as well as they should. It makes for some awesome party tricks, but it's not great when I'm trying to train. Basically I can't hang for very long because my shoulders dislocate. I attach the photographic evidence, just in case anyone suspects I'm fibbing...

As a forfeit I did another 3 minutes of planking. I'm not on board with making things easy for myself, so if I can't do an exercise I will swap it out for something just as hard, if not harder. Tomorrow I'm ready for my 60 minute HIIT cycling. I think.