On Others' Convocation, Training Log for the Week

Tomorrow will be the convocation of several of my friends. It feels weird that as a medical student I'll be seeing my batchmates graduate earlier than me. I'll be seeing "juniors" graduate together with me, like Put-Put and Adnan (from the debating hey-days). And that doesn't compare with non-IIUM students who are my friends, as they've already started working 2 years ago for non-medical graduates, and the medical graduates (local) have already started housemanship.

Which brings me to a thought: does staying so long in a particular stage in life make you more matured to handle the next stages? Does staying in IIUM which equates to another year of studies make me a better mature houseman in the future? Or is the answer it doesn't really matter; maturity is gained by stepping into the next stage itself, not the preparation for it?

Thinking hard brings me to a conclusion: regardless of the period you stage you're in, your maturity comes from how much you've gone through itself. The IIUM graduate with 6-7 years of studies may just be only as much and can even be less mature than the UKM graduate with 5-6 years of studies.

What matters is how much you do. If you're just gonna be sitting on your ass while having an extra year of studies, that's just 1 year of free time you've just wasted.

The secondary school student will always miss the freedom of the primary school years. And the same will happen for the matric student, the undergraduate student, the worker, the postgraduate student, etc. By the time you have a lot of free time again in life, you're either 1) very lucky, or 2) old (which is likelier).

In any case, congratulations to all IIUM graduates for the year 2009.

Training:

Nothing much, but the conditioning and a stable diet has done it's job, in a pretty fast way: I weighed at 83 kg this morning, while being at 85 right after Raya holiday. Gaining strength while still being able to lose fat is a good thing, except when you accidentally show off your underwear when stretching. When you lose weight, adjust your belt accordingly.

Mon:

Deadlifts - Up to 106 kg for 7 reps

SLDL - 3 x 6 x 50 lb each leg

Front Plank with Salutes - 3 x 10

Top chinup holds - 5, 5, 11 secs

Tue:

Bench - Up to 65 kg for 7 reps

Paused pushup - 3 x 10

Inverted rows - 3 x 10

Conditioning - B'bell complexes

Thu:

Front Squat - Up to 73 kg for 3 + 2 + 2 reps. I have a problem with holding the bar for long reps, which I need to fix, as pushing the bar isn't a problem in itself. I'm still experimenting to find the right hand distance holding the bar.

Pistols - 3 x 6 each side

Pallof Presses - 3 x 29 kg for 5 reps with 1 sec hold each side

Face Pulls - 6 x 10 x 12 kg

Today:

Barbell shoulder press - Up to 39 for 7 reps.

DB Shoulder Press - 3 x 8 x 30 lb

Chinups - 3 x 5

Conditioning - B'bell complexes