Forwards vs Backs, got dump tackled almost immediately as someone panicked and threw me the ball when I wasn’t moving. Took down someone and they landed on my wrist which is a bit swollen now, shouldn’t stop me doing weights though.
Donkey Kicks
2 x 20 x 2.5kg
SL Glute Bridge
2 x 20
Back Squats
6 x 128.5kg
5 x 128.5kg
4 x 128.5kg
Ab Wheel
4 x 18
Partly think rugby tired my legs out but mostly it’s been my time away from squats that led to the low number of reps. I won’t bother trying to fit hang cleans in again, the system wasn’t broken so why tamper with it. I think Sunday will be back to the 6-8 rep range and then i’ll build on it from there.
Eating slightly bigger meals as i’ve leaned out without losing weight so i’d like to pack on a kg or two just so i’m not knocked about quite so much in rugby, cos power:weight is good for speed but i’d like my raw strength up for contact situations.
The area around my left thumb has swollen up from rugby on Thursday and I realised I could do with a bit more strength and size on my wrist and forearms. I did the weight on a rope and roll it up the stick exercise, crazy pump as is expected by forearm exercises. It said it’s done by rugby players which is good to know. Shoulder press could’ve been 4 x 8 but I really struggled on the first set so stuck with 7 reps. Everything else was peachy.
Had another go at hang cleans but less heavy. The second set was much better as I worked the triple extension. Similar story in the squats, I was taking my time after the first set and hitting depth each time, making sure I was tensing glutes and holding the arch in my back firmly.
Side Bridge 2 x 80 secs
Front Bridge 105, 120 secs
Was NOT amused by my lack of strength in bench press, it wasn’t that I did 7 reps it’s how heavy the weight felt after 2 or 3 reps. I felt I redeemed myself in the press-up challenge as I got to 17 on the last set before needing a break and then I hit 2 mins on the last front bridge.
Happy with nearly every aspect of that session. I hit 4.06 with the heavier sled and I think a nice target would be to add weight every time I get under 4 secs. Box jumps were consistent, didn’t need much of a counter movement and going from greater depth seemed to help. Hard tempo, funnily enough, was hard. I eased off on the second rep and if you take that out I average under 15 secs which is a nice starting point. Currently hobbling about and I know tomorrow is going to be full of DOMS.
F**k are my calves sore from Tuesday. I can barely walk let alone attempt to squat, stairs are particularly difficult and handrails are used where available.
Mar 8
Alternate Shoulder Press
3 x 8 x 26.5kg
Inverted Rows
3 x 8
Bicep Curls
3 x 7 x 50kg
Decline Pushups
26, 26, 22
Pullups (Towel Grip)
7, 9, 7 and hang to failure
Tricep Kickbacks
2 x 8 x 13.5kg
1 x 8 x 14.5kg
Did Friday’s session as i’m hoping to squat tomorrow. I looked up forearm/hand strength and towel grip pullups were up there in terms of exercises which incorporate the right muscles and they were definitely worked. I was comfortable in shoulder press and kickbacks so both of those are set for an increase, not sure how as 26.5kg is a max. dumbbell plus a 2.5kg wrist weight.
Abbreviated session as my friend came over earlier than expected. My wrist injury from the other week got worse from hang cleans (surprise surprise) so that needs resting now. Was comfortable on the last rep of each of those but I wasn’t in the mood to squeeze out reps.
Bit hectic next week as i’ve got training for a new job on Thurs, then probably three full days of work Fri-Sun so will try my best to do the normal weekly workouts but move them to early morning. We’ll see.
Edit:
Mar 11
P90X - Ab Ripper
I was watching it this evening and thought i’d give the routine a go. I managed 8 of the 16 mins without missing a rep and then curled up in a heap.
Completed that bloody ab circuit during the day, it was pure torture and my hip flexors are in pieces. Did some massage with a tennis ball on my pec, shoulder and bicep before weights and I felt it improved my bench. Was comfortable with the increase in kickbacks but struggled with bicep curls again.
4.14, 4.05, 3.17 med sled + 10kg
3.99, 4.15, 3.18 up to med sled + 12.5kg after sub-4 run
4.26, 4.15, 3.15
4.11, 4.22, 3.08
Box Jumps
6 x 110cm
Tempo
4 x 300m (2.5 mins)
53.0, 52.3, 51.1, 51.9
Pleased to increase the sled, and more importantly to get my flat 20m time down. I will probably take this out to 25m and reduce the number of reps as it’s quite time consuming doing that off 4 mins rest. Box jumps went up to 115cm, found rocking my weight forward slightly prior to jumping made landing it easier. Changed up the tempo and although I was in trainers those were quite poor times as I expected to be in the 48-51 second range.
New job at a bar that’s just opening in town so I won’t have a huge amount of free time for a while, will do what I can in the gym.
Mar 17
Hang Power Cleans
3 x 10 x 58.5kg
Back Squats
3 x 10 x 108.5kg
Weighted Pressups
3 x 10 x 15kg
P90X - Ab Ripper
400 reps, three stops
Slightly new approach to legs (again!), i’m going to alternate between 3 x 10 and 3 x 5 to get the best of both rep ranges. 10 reps of hang cleans was the most taxing with squats a close second.
That ab workout is so challenging, I completed the reps but stopped a few times and then ‘caught up’ while he was changing exercises. I found leg climbers easier but then the twists at the end ruined me.
Side Bridge 120 secs PB!!
Front Bridge 150 secs =PB!!
First off i’m working all tomorrow so I did a double workout. Probably had the final rep of squats but I didn’t want to risk it. I’m slipping slightly on the floor when I do speed skaters so to avoid pulling my groin i’ll either do them on carpet or not at all.
Second workout of the day was standard upper body, aiming to do 3 x 5 and 3 x 10 on the big lifts, so bench today was (meant to be) 5 reps but I struggled at 91kg. Intended to do 80 second side bridge but I was listening to my training partner and went by 80 secs without even feeling fatigued, so I did 2 mins of that and then 2.5 mins of front bridge. I think P90X is doing wonders for my core and I will definitely be forcing my way through all 400 reps of it on a regular basis.
Thought i’d try speed endurance with long runs, short recovery. I felt great on the first run, ok on the second and I smashed the bend of the last run, technique fell apart and I was on the side of the track for about half an hour. I’m pretty sure this time last year I could do that without being anywhere near that tired so i’m determined to get my fitness back as there’s only a few more weeks left of the rugby season.
Upper body was easy, took out shrugs as i’m doing cleans 2-3x a week. Everything was comfortable today but I won’t rush to stick on weight as i’m adding in a speed session and another lower body session this week to see how I cope. I can’t believe that horrible track session was yesterday as my lifts weren’t hampered today.
Also didn’t stop once during abs, although it smashed my hip flexors I did the hard version of every exercise and had something left in the tank when the 15 minutes were up.
3 x 30m (16, 14, 14) - strides required to get over 30m line
Track Work
3 x 40m (5.56, 5.62, 5.55)
Sleds (no added weight)
4 x 40m (6.44, 6.40, 6.42, 6.33)
My right quad is aching. I maintained speed but if I didn’t have a set number of reps I wanted to do I would’ve stopped. Haven’t run 40m in ages, if I wanted to do around 7.0 HT for 60m then i should be going through 40m in 4.9-5.1 in training. The training load has increased this week so once I adapt to it I think I can take a tenth off today’s times. Feels good to sprint again
The whole session was done without being pushed to the limit, I was surprised that i’ve coped with the increase in training load so well and I will alter things next week to fit around my work but in general it will be the same as this week if not a little harder.
Yeh i’m noticing a more defined ridge at the sides of my six pack and my obliques have a nice V to them. I think with a cleaner diet i’d be on to a half decent torso.
Mar 26 - Part 1
Hang Power Cleans
5 x 78.5kg
4 x 81kg
3 x 83.5kg
2 x 86kg
1 x 88.5kg
Back Squats
5 x 131kg
4 x 133.5kg
3 x 136kg
2 x 138.5kg
1 x 138.5kg
Weighted Pressup (1)
3 x 5 x 25kg
Explosive Pushups (1)
3 x 8
Bit rushed, got a 2 hour break from work to fit in this workout then i’ll do upper body around midnight. Descending reps were a summer thing from previous years of track and I wanted to re-introduce them here. I didn’t hit the depth on the early reps of squats but that’s because I didn’t have time for the full warm up sets I usually do.
Part 2 - 1am
Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 45kg
Tricep Kickbacks
3 x 8 x 16kg
Chin Ups (Towel)
6, 7, 5
Side Bridge 90 sec
Front Bridge 120 sec
Enthusiasm died out quickly and I wanted to rush through it and get to bed.
So pissed off with my first rep I was fuming. Why turn up to the fucking track if you can’t even hit the first fucking rep. I think I pussied out in the acceleration phase and held a slower top speed all the way round. It got better and faster as the session progressed and I am happy to target a faster total time next week.
Good Workout, I upped hang cleans because although it’s meant to be explosive it feels so light I don’t feel like i’m trying at all to get the weight up. Could up the squats as well, will do that next week. Pushed myself in the pressups and didn’t lose form in any rep.
My training partners wanted to learn to deadlift so did a little session. Weight was too heavy for me to do 5/3/1 but it’s what I ended on last time I did them so gave it a go. Ended up making it an upper body session and a pretty good one at that. Increased curls and kickbacks, though I struggled a bit on the former. Found ab ripper ok, could probably cut out about 30 seconds of him talking to make it more challenging.
