Creator / Lifter

Creator.

I'm a Dutch social scientist by training who enjoys helping people achieve their fitness goals. I'm in therapy for severe Body Dysmorphia. The gym is teaching me to have a better relationship with my body.

The front page here is me learning in public. I share notes, the stats I'm working with, and my exercise philosophy. I wish you well on your journey too.

Current training stats

Daily calories 2,949 kcal

Best lift 255kg Leg press ↑ from 70kg

Body weight 85kg ↑ from 72kg

Best growth +18.67% Arms

My weight has gone up too fast and I struggle to eat the carbs I need. Eating a lot of fast carbs seems to make me queasy. That said, I do notice a significant performance increase when the carbs hit just right.

Best lifts

Leg Press

I lift mostly with my glutes, not the quads. Feet high up on the pad. I go down as far as my spine allows. I'm very tall, which limits the range of motion a bit. I don't think I need to pursue higher numbers. Instead I'll focus on doing it more often and paying attention to different types of presses. For example, I recently started doing single-leg leg presses. I think they're great fun.

What caused the first dip?

I thought the weight was too high. I went down a bit.

What caused the second dip?

I injured my IT band and had to slow down.

What caused the third dip?

I was still in recovery for the IT band. I went up in weight too quickly.

Seated Shoulder Press

The weight recorded is per arm as they move independently on the machine. I'm most proud of this because not only is almost 40kg per arm an insane amount of weight, I'm also in active recovery for a very painful shoulder injury that has been with me for over a decade.

But what you should really pay attention to is how both numbers, for the leg press and shoulder press, go up week after week. That kind of consistency is what you should aim for. It's much harder than it looks.

Measurements

I meticulously track my measurements in a spreadsheet. This screenshot is best viewed on larger screens like iPads, laptops, or desktops.

The y-axis is in percentages. For example, 0,2 would mean 20%. My arms shot up in size quite a bit (see yellow line).

Periods are of indeterminate length. I sometimes let a month pass, other times only 2 weeks. The general trend is what I'm after.

I didn't start tracking chest size until much later. Period 6 is when I switched from doing home workouts to gym workouts.

As you can see, it's very clear that home workouts just aren't going to cut it. There is no replacement for the gym when it comes to body recomposition. You can surely stay fit at home and get a good workout in. But for real change the gym is superior in every way. I'm lucky to live near one.