TESTING

Yesterday was a big day at Catalyst.  I put on the shortest shorts I could find and Chris put dish soap on my thighs.  Strangely though, that wasn't the highlight of my day.

We tested my deadlift in the morning.  I woke up yesterday feeling a bit sluggish.  Knowing what a big day I had ahead of me, I had a big breakfast and got my head ready to deadlift 460lbs.  Everything felt pretty good until we hit 460, then the wheels fell off. I took a couple of swings at it but couldn't get the bar to go any higher than midway up my quad.  Chris suggested that I put on my running shorts and use the soap to get past my sticking point, but I just couldn't get my quads to fire and my head to come up to lock it out.  I was angry, I felt like crap and I was hungry again, so I headed home for lunch and a quick nap.

The afternoon brought huge news and huge results!  I got a call from a client who had just weighed in and lost his 101st pound!   Amazing!  Motivated my his hard work and a large coffee I set out to test my bench. When we started out, I was pressing between 205 to 210lbs and to be honest, they weren't pretty.  Yesterday I kept nailing lift after lift without Chris even thinking about spotting me.  My new max bench press after 8 weeks is now 240lbs!  A 35 lbs increase! 

Body fat measurements brought great news as well.  We did the skinfold test on Tuesday morning.  Throughout the eight weeks, my body weight fluctuated between 185 and 190lbs.  On testing day I weighed in at 188 pounds and 11% body fat.  A huge 10% drop and several pounds of muscle gain!

Tomorrow we will test vertical and horizontal jumps and this phase of the Watson Project will be complete!

 

Catalyst Fitness Inc.
498 Queen St. East, 2nd Floor
Sault Ste. Marie
(705)253-0011
www.gocatalyst.ca
www.catalystfitness.ca

Am I awesome yet?

At the beginning of this little project I joked that my goal for the eight weeks was to become awesome.   Well, our eight weeks are up and testing will begin today.   Without doing any of the testing I know that I've made improvements in all of the categories we originally tested in.  The biggest success of the whole program was that I developed some great habits and an enjoyment for training that I feel like I had lost for a while.  I had been unmotivated and stale, but by making myself accountable to anyone that would listen and by training with the best in town I've made some huge gains in more ways than we set out to do.

If anyone wants to question my dedication to this project they should have a look at my shins. Just like George Costanza had his hopes of being a hand model dashed, I too have seen my shin modelling career killed before it had a chance to start.   I have literally lost my fair share of blood and sweat in my training.  Usually I scrape myself up pretty good deadlifting, but on Thursday I really nailed myself on the hight plyo box and took a chunk out of my right leg.  I had to clean some skin off the box and bandage up before I could finish my workout.

So, stay tuned for testing results over the next couple of days, as well as plans for what I'm up to next! 

 

Catalyst Fitness Inc.
498 Queen St. East, 2nd Floor
Sault Ste. Marie
(705)253-0011
www.gocatalyst.ca
www.catalystfitness.ca

Catalyst Fitness Go! Newsletter - March 2008

MORE GROUPS THAN EVER BEFORE!

BIGGER, BETTER PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING GROUPS!

KIDS' PROGRAMS O'PLENTY!

PLUS, BIG NEWS ON CATALYST GYM!

ALL IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE!

NEWSLETTER

 

Catalyst Fitness Inc.
498 Queen St. East, 2nd Floor
Sault Ste. Marie
(705)253-0011
www.gocatalyst.ca
www.catalystfitness.ca