According to Virgin Actives web site I’ve been to gym 62 times since 19 October when I started. I suppose when you go 5 times a week it adds up pretty quickly.

My gym situation has never really featured in this blog, and this trend probably won’t change much. I haven’t really bothered to document my progress apart from my own memory. I’ve put on almost 13kg since I started gyming, and yet I did take a break over my holidays where my weight remained static (more sleep, less time to eat), so thats a pretty rapid weight increase. Up from the 72kg when i started i’m now sitting between 84 and 85. Yet most people are trying to lose this amount of weight :/.

Due to my meal replacement shakes that I’ve been drinking to assist in the weight gain I’ve put on a lot of fat along with the muscle. This doesn’t really bother me as I will start losing it very soon when I do a lot of cardiovascular exercises along with my weight training. The main problem this presents though is the issue of clothes, I’ve quite literally grown out of everything I own and with my body changing as rapidly as it is I’m rather hesitant to buy more. Chances are that I’ll grow out of some of the new clothes that I buy. Considering that I’m aiming for 90kg of lean muscle this is quite a high possibility. Oh well… I guess I knew what I was getting into when I adopted this lifestyle, but it has certainly been a lot more costly than I had originally anticipated.

As a result I haven’t bought my race leathers yet; they’re going to set me back almost R7000 so growing out of them in a few months is *not* an option.

As for gym, I’ve pretty much doubled and in some cases tripled (or more) every weight and exercise that I’ve been doing. Being as thin as I was when I started I didn’t have much muscle mass and not much strength. I’m still not exactly strong (it’s only been 3 and a bit months) but the difference it’s made from my personal perspective is really quite amazing. Genetics unfortunately dictate your body type, so I’m still tall and relatively thin; I have no idea what will happen in a few months time, but I suspect that I’m predominantly an ectomorph.

Right now I’ve taken a week long break from gym to get some much needed rest and prepare for the intense cardio workouts I’m going to escalate to.