Monday 24 May 2010

Changes

The weather finally broke last night with strong, strong winds and, eventually, heavy heavy rain fall.  I was having a "I can't sleep" night and didn't manage to get to sleep till 2am, so today was a late wake up and a chance to chill and relax and sit on the balcony and watch the rain come down.  I'm a little stiff from yesterday, so this is all good.

So, today's topic, my body.

This all comes about because of this pair of swimming trunks I have.  A good pair, when I got here they were tight on my waist and loose on my legs; currently, the opposite is true, they're loose on my waist and tight on my legs.

So, what's been happening to me?

Well, all the weight I deliberately gained before I came out here is gone, sort of.  I'm carrying less fat than before I decided to bulk up, but I'm carrying a lot more muscle.  But the muscle isn't bulky, slow moving muscle, it's explosive.  I can jump further than before; whereas before I'd clamber over things that were waist eight, I now idly jump over them.  So that's cool.

Obviously, I'm far stronger, hence the massively increased deadlift, but I'm also more fluid in my movements, if that makes sense.  I'm less stiff, less clumsy.  My throws are faster, easier, more explosive and my foot work is a little better.  My punching has gotten better too.

Visibly, apart from the fat loss and the change in skin tone (and the fact my hair is going blonde and I'm fuzzier..), my arms have gotten bigger; upper arms and lower arms (especially my forearms), my grip strength has improved massively.

My legs are bigger, I'm carrying more mass on them, although my bum has shrunk.  My shoulders are bigger, despite the fact that I'm doing no direct shoulder work (although squatting heavy is hard on the shoulders, as are pull ups, deadlifts, press ups, dips...).  My back seems wider, though this could just be because my waist is now smaller.  My chest remains the same as ever: wide; it just seems to be in my genes to have a big chest, even when I don't do any chest exercises, though I may introduce some this week.

The knuckles on my right hand are slowly changing shape from the makiwara, which is interesting.  I'm hitting the damn thing a few times every day and there is a difference.  If nothing else I'm getting used to the pain.

And this is at the half way point.  What will I look like in 6 more weeks?  Don't know, but it'll be interesting to find out.

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