Celebrating Two Years at the Gym

Its weird to think that I am "celebrating" two years of hard slog at the gym. For most of my life I have thought of myself as a "weakling", a "nerd", or and "intellectual", but never as a pserson of "normal" strength, let alone a "sportsman". But two years ago that changed. I decided to get serious about getting strong and fit. I just wanted to feel normal for once.
It's difficult to describe just exactly how different that feels. When I was in junior school I could count all the ribs on my chest. I had no muscle tone to speak of. Boys who punched me on the upper arm learned not to do that, because they encountered bone not muscle, and it hurt them as much as it hurt me. Sport was never intuitive or easy for me. I sucked at it, and focused on intellectual activities at school.
So now when I fold my arms across my chest to do decline abdominal crunches, I rejoice in feeling my chest muscles, and not just ribs or body fat. My legs and arms are no longer flabby, and my overall body fat percentage is moving downwards, but very slowly. Its still around 20%, which is high.
My best flat barbell bench press was less around 45% of my body weight. Now its closer to 80% of my body weight, with a target of 135%. 100% is considered respectable. In the last 9 weeks it has only progressed by 5kg to 65kg for 6 reps, but my form is much better, and I have also learnt to do the incline barbell bench press, and manage 50kg for 6 reps. I can also do 15 push-ups as part of my warm-up routine, whereas before I could hardly manage 5 reps without a lot of puffing and panting, and 10 reps was completely out of the question.
Two years ago I couldn't do the squat at all. It took me several months to get my leg and back muscles strong enough just to do the movement (mostly) right, with no bar at all. The first time I tried using the empty 20kg bar, I couldn't manage it, and we had to use the lighter 10kg bar instead. 9 weeks ago my best barbell squat for 6 reps was 60kg. Now it's up to 74kg, which is about 85% of my body weight. I'm aiming for 175%, but even 100% is considered passable to good.
My biggest gains have been with the deadlift, where I got to 100% of my body weight, but with bad form and a bent back. I'm just glad I didn't hurt myself. So I have dialled back to 75kg and focusing on proper form so I don't hurt my lower back. That would be a disaster.
The other big change for this year has been that I now exercise 4 days a week, usually Friday through Monday, leaving Tuesday to Thursday for my job, as well as Monday and Friday afternoons. Before then I was only exercising one day a week, and doing some swimming on one or two other days. That helped with my fitness and general strength, but progress was slow. Probably a good thing so I could get my form right. That's what personal trainers are for, after all. They can advise on technique and form, but don't expect them to motivate you. They can encourage and support you, but you have to motivate yourself.
I have found some excellent advice in the book "Bigger Leaner Stronger" by Mike Matthews, and I'm following his workout program outlined in the "The Year One Challenge for Men" workout diary. I started doing the standard 5 day course, which is intended to be done in 5 days per week, but I was doing it in 4 days and carrying over one day to the following week. After 2 months of this I changed and used the slightly reduced 4 day program, which seems to be working a lot better. My weight has gone from 82kg to 84kg in 4 months, and I'm definitely not fatter than I was, so I can safely assume that most of that is an increase in muscle and a decrease in fat. I certainly hope so.
I have posted some spreadsheets on my Fact Reviews web site which cover the 4-day and 5-day program for Bigger Leaner Stronger. You need to read the book before doing the exercises, however.

Taking up the "Bigger Leaner Stronger" Year One Challenge

I first heard about Michael Matthews in August last year, when I found his audio book "Bigger Leaner Stronger" on Audible. Even though I had been going to the gym for a year already, I wasn't ready to try his 5-day-a-week program. I simply wasn't fit or strong enough.
In January 2015 I increased my workouts from one day a week to two days a week (Friday and Monday) instead of just a single day, and made some progress. I could now perform the Bench Press, Deadlift and Squat exercises (mostly) correctly, and lift approximately 50% of my body weight of 82kg. For me this was great progress, since I have always been of way below average strength. I'm 54. My personal trainer at the gym was hard pressed to figure out ways of teaching me these basic exercises from such a weak start. But we persisted and after 18 months I could start recording "personal best" weights that were approaching my body weight.
By then I had read "Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger" and used Mike's "minimum requirements" for that book as my goal to work towards:

• Squats 175%
• Deadlift 175%
• Bench Press 135%
• Seated Military Press 100% of body weight for 4-6 reps.

Ambitious goals for sure, but realistic ones that I can attain in a few years. When the Second Edition of "Bigger Leaner Stronger" came out, I ordered the print versions of both the BLS book and the companion workout diary, "The Year One Challenge for Men". They arrived at the end of April this year. During May and June I worked through all the new exercises with my personal trainer, and decided to aim to work out every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. That makes 4 days for a 5 day program, meaning that every Friday I would be able to do a different workout under the supervision of my personal trainer. I can't afford a trainer more than one day a week.
Next I realized that my normal note-taking procedure when working out wasn't going to be good enough for the BLS program. So I used my HiSense Android smart phone's software that can edit Excel files on DropBox, called WPS Office. I have created a spreadsheet for the first phase of the program. it lists each exercise for each day, and uses the weight and reps used to recommend what the next week's weight should be, based on the calculated one-rep max from the previous week.

Shown here is a screen shot from my phone for day 5. The sets in blue are warm-up sets, with the target weight in the third column, and the actual weight used in the 4th column. The actual reps are in the next column, next to the target reps. So while you are working out you only need to record the weight and reps performed. From that it will use the standard Epley Formula for a one-rep maximum to calculate the target weights for warm-ups and sets for the following week, based on Mike's recommendation of doing working sets in the 80-85% range. In this way you always make progress and know what your next target is.
The next challenge came when I actually tried to do the exercises. In spite of being used to doing much more than 3 sets on the "big 4" exercises, I found it difficult to jump by a full 5kg when doing Seated Military Press and some of the other exercises. The smallest weight in my gym is 2.5kg, so a barbell can only go from, say 30kg to 35kg. Not a problem for Squats and Deadlifts, but definitely a challenge for Seated Military Press. Without a spotter I just can't manage, and a spotter isn't always available at my gym.

The solution is simple. They are called "fractional weights" and I found a local supplier who could sell me four 1kg plates that fit on the Olympic size barbell I use at the gym. I already had two plates that weigh 0.5kg, so now I can choose any 1kg increment between 30 and 35 kg and not stress about whether I am about to injure myself with an increase that is "too big". If the target weight is 32kg, I have no excuse: I can either lift it or I can't, but I can't blame the gym for not having a 32kg barbell.
So far I have found the first phase of the One Year Challenge tough. Each individual day isn't too bad, but the cumulative effect is pretty hectic. On top of that I have been plagued by a bad cold (it is winter in SA) and an abscess that required 2 days in hospital. So I am only finishing week 2, even though I have done week 1 several times as I learn the exercises. I will be glad when all these interruptions can go away.
Update Friday 3rd July 2015: I have posted a more detailed explanation of the Year One Challenge on my Fact-Reviews website, which includes a download link to the Excel spreadsheet I use, and instructions on how to use it.
Update Tuesday 7th July 2015: Finally made it back to the gym, so we are on track again. I also discovered that the audiobook of Bigger Leaner Stronger has been updated to the second edition, which is now almost 11 hours of useful information.

ScareMail is a fun way of showing the NSA the middle finger

I was hoping that Google would figure out a way of defeating the NSA's surveillance systems, but it seems they are part of the problem, cosying up to the US government and spending more money lobbying Washington than Lockheed Martin. So much for "don't be evil".
Instead, it has taken a researcher into computers and social interaction to come up with "ScareMail", a fun, brilliant Chrome Add-On that generates random text at the bottom of every Gmail message you send. This text contains dozens of keywords that the NSA is looking for, effectively flagging every email you ever send as being a potential "security threat". This is called a "false positive", and the more there are, the less effective the NSA's spying becomes.
Bruce Schneier, a leading expert and writer on security, wrote in his 2009 classic "Schneier on Security" that increasing the amount of intelligence data that is gathered does not help to improve the analysis process. In fact, it makes things worse. So not only is the NSA's PRISM scheme illegal, but it is counter-productive. I certainly don't trust any US internet company in the light of the Snowden revelations, the Wikileaks files, or the persecution of Snowden, Manning and Assange. Schneier writes:

It is also unclear whether Echelon-style eavesdropping would prevent terrorist attacks. In the months before 9/11, Echelon noticed considerable “chatter”: bits of conversation suggesting some sort of imminent attack. But because much of the planning for 9/11 occurred face-to-face, analysts were unable to learn details.
The fundamental issue here is security, but it’s not the security most people think of. James Madison famously said: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Terrorism is a serious risk to our nation, but an even greater threat is the centralization of American political power in the hands of any single branch of the government.
Over 200 years ago, the framers of the U.S. Constitution established an ingenious security device against tyrannical government: they divided government power among three different bodies. A carefully thought-out system of checks and balances in the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch, ensured that no single branch became too powerful.
After watching tyrannies rise and fall throughout Europe, this seemed like a prudent way to form a government. Courts monitor the actions of police. Congress passes laws that even the president must follow. Since 9/11, the United States has seen an enormous power grab by the executive branch. It’s time we brought back the security system that’s protected us from government for over 200 years.

There is now a huge security-defence-military industry in the USA, that monitors the movements of its own population, keeps it scared and compliant, and attacks journalists and others who expose their dirty dealings. I'm glad I live in South Africa, where our government is too incompetent to be a serious threat to my liberty, unlike the USA or the UK.

Here is an example of the kind of text that ScareMail generates:

Following Text Generated by ScareMail
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She secured his point case raw with woman. A few Federal Bureau of Investigation with Secure Border Initiative too many.
Company takes work. Wildfires work and then the part across the upper man. He found an important number. I've never said for much from you say all these Juarez, but if you infect it. Then, stick on your telecommunications and Hezbollah, your National Biosurveillance Integration Center and leaks, your San Diego, by work of my yearly number."
"It's only two TSA ago, scam?"
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Ago when he found evacuating furiously.
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Update Monday: Wouldn't it be great if spammers used this algorithm? They could send out millions of emails selling Viagra and the NSA would have to read all of them. Now that would be justice!

The Bordellos of the Surveillance State

CIA Headquarters

DHS (Temporary) Headquarters

NSA Headquarters

US Military Headquarters

These are the places where nameless faceless evil people get off by spying on and interfering in the lives of ordinary people around the world. The NSA knows all my credit card transactions, even though I live in South Africa. They probably know all my land line and cell phone call "metadata", but Telkom and MTN aren't allowed to say. They know the text of all my emails, and all my SMS messages. They can read all my posts on Facebook, whether they are "private" or not.

The CIA has offices in South Africa, and interferes in the policies of all the countries in this region. The CIA has assassinated South Africans both at home and abroad, and kidnapped, interrogated and tortured many more. The DHS is responsible for atrocities both in the USA and elsewhere. The Pentagon has killed more of its own soldiers since 9/11 than the 3 planes did. Yet why is the US public is stupid enough not to notice? Because the military lie to the politicians, the politicians lie to the media, and the media lies to the public.
Try John le Carre's latest novel "A Delicate Truth" to find out about how the arms and security industry corrupts government to get contracts. Or try Andrew Feinstein's "The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade" or "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet" by Julian Assange, Jacob Appelbaum, Andy Muller-Maguhn, and Jeremie Zimmermann.

Saddam Hussein used to rant on about the USA being the Great Whore of Babylon from Revelation. Perhaps he was right: the US Congress is certainly the best government money can buy.
Update: It turns out that there are 4.3 million Americans with "security clearance" who have access to America's surveillance data. These are the sick weirdos who like to wage war on other countries, read people's emails, and spy on their movements and phone calls without their knowledge. They really need to get a proper job. And a life. Maybe if they did the the USA wouldn't be hated as much by the rest of the world. Of course, their politicians would have to stop lying as well. Fat chance.
Update: It turns out that the UK, in spite of having more security cameras per person than any other country on the planet, is also content to snoop on all the internet traffic in the UK. So we can add GCHQ to the list of bordellos above, as well as the offices of Skype.
I also think the USA should be renamed to the USSA: the United Surveillance States of America. "The land of the free and the home of the brave" will have to become "The land of the fee and the home of the Braves", since they are neither free nor are there many brave men left.