cathy521

1. Keep a Training Journal
What you write in your journal is up to you, but the idea is to document and record factors relevant to your bodybuilding, including non-tangibles like your thoughts and feelings. You might want to record the following:

Training routine you do each day
How you felt when you stuck to your diet or when you overate
Your mental attitude to you workout
The excuses you used to give yourself permission to sabotage your goal
The stories you noticed you said to yourself
When do you seem to be most energetic – morning or late afternoon?
Are you progressively lifting heavier weights?
What could be the reason why you didn’t work out 3x last week, or why you ate 4 cheat meals instead of just 1?
How did it feel when you tried running for 30 minutes instead of the usual 10?
Did you do something you’re really proud of this week?
If you do this long enough, you’ll notice patterns in your performances, or your way of thinking and doing that will give you an insight on how to keep changing for the better.

2. Measure Your Body Every Week
You may include your body measurements on your journal. I personally prefer to Keep an Excel Spreadsheet which I use to record my weekly results. I use a simple Tape measure (the type that tailors use) to measure my :

Left arm and Right arm
Chest
Waist
Hips
Left and Right Thigh
Left and Right Calf
You might want to measure these stats in centimeters (not inches) to make it easier to notice the slightest progress you make. You’ll find it motivating when you see your results, no matter how small.

Then of course weigh yourself, and then measure your body fat percentage. There are many tools you can use – there are body fat calipers, Body fat analyzers, or the body fat & body water scales. I myself use the AccuMeasure Personal Body Fat Tester, because it’s simple, inexpensive, accurate and easy to use.

We tend to think that most ATVs with 4WD and independent rear suspension fall into the wide-ranging sport utility class - the best combination of high-performance sport quads and the do-all, rugged work machines. Some manufacturers claim to offer a blend of the two genres, but those efforts can fall short, usually on the sporting end. Can-Am has put its best foot forward on this front with the Renegade line. After riding the Renegade 500 EFU and Renegade 800R EFI for two days in West Virginia’s prime ATV country, we can say that the BRP company definitely didn’t miss the performance boat! Engineers decided to make this bike a racing machine and they don’t pretend to offer a lot of utility work options. Rather, the Renegade models are dubbed as sport quads with a “blend of sport performance and 4x4 terrain ability.” This description is right on the money which means it’s perfectly suited to cross-country style racing, and we never felt the inclination to head out to the farm for some hard-nosed work or to test the 1300-pound towing capacity. Instead, the Renegade line is meant to play.

The bodywork definitely has sport-biased design, which we discovered at the first hint of West Virginia mud. Carrying aggressive lines but no racks, the rider protection is minimal and far less than Can-Am’s other 4WD machines, the Outlander and Outlander Max. That wasn’t really an issue, however, since we were too busy having fun shredding trails. After we finished our ride, we stopped off at the MotorcycleUSA.com Snowshoe GNCC to watch some of these impressive machines in action on the toughest race course of the series. All of our riders thought about what it would be like to compete, but imagining ourselves on the starting gate with anything other than the Renegade never crossed our minds.

We got the chance to hit some recently hammered race course from a local hare scramble, and riding across the stripped, slimy web of lateral roots often sends either end skating off track and towards some unpleasant trail feature – on our tight routes it was always a nearby tree. The Hatfield-McCoy trail system and Burning Rock Off-Road Park can both be described by their abundance of roots. Not only does the independent suspension front and rear help keep the machine in check, but the ability to switch to AWD on the fly meant that we rarely felt out of control, even at our amateur race pace. The Renegades really begin to shine in those high-intensity situations. Trail riding can make the suspension feel extra rigid, especially on the 800, but upping the pace brings the beasts to life. Fortunately, that’s exactly what the fuel-injected motors like to do.