Started with a moderately-paced run and then tried to increase the pace with each subsequent run. I blew up on the home straight for my 41.3 but I reckon I went through 200 in under 26 so I was on for something serious. That left me jelly legged and I didn’t even try a fast final rep, could’ve gone under 45 but then again if I pushed it i’d be looking at a 50 something.
Overall i’m really pleased with that sequence and my only criticism would be holding my form in the final 100m as I was scrambling for the line instead of focussing on keeping my technique.
10 x 28.5kg
10 x 38.5kg
10 x 43.5kg
10 x 48.5kg PB
10 x 51kg PB
Dirty Back Squats
20 x 91kg PB
Rugby training cancelled, pitch flooded. Overhead squats were decent, forgot about shoulders up cue until the final set which annoyed me a bit, but I was pleased with more gains from last week. Back squats last week were too easy so instead of going up 5kg I went up 7.5kg, turns out that wasn’t enough. Definitely harder than last week, I was feeling it at 16 reps but at no point was I struggling.
I’m 73kg (160lbs) and pretty lean, would like to be 75kg by xmas, my t-shirts and jeans are still looser than i’m used to.
Chins are harder than dips, should do 12 and 18 next time. T-Bar Press was good, can really see it being good for shoving people out my way or off the pitch in rugby. I still want to fast forward 4-6 weeks to when my bench and DL are back to normal and the diet needs a tweak cos it’s getting quite boring.
Good to play again. Pitch was awful due to the rain, sank about 2 inches when I put a foot down and some parts of the pitch had half an inch of surface water. Played about 45 mins, first possession I ran round two people and set up a try, after that I was soaked and didn’t want to go flat out in case I tore a hamstring. Injury-free and think I made a good enough impression to warrant a place in the squad for next weeks game against the league leaders East Grinstead 3rds.
Oct 14
Deadlift
5 x 105kg
3 x 119kg
4 x 133kg
Seated Box Jumps
3 x 5 x 10kg
Step Ups
4 x 8 x 61kg
Dragon Flags
4 x 6
Trained with my friend which gave me a boost, deadlifts were decent and I bought new gloves and straps which I put to use for the first time today. Dragon Flags were better as a set of six as I was dying last week. Pleased with the session as the first rep at 133kg was nice and comfortable and all four reps were done with solid technique.
That was a good session, nice pump from curls as the BB curls I used to do didn’t feel like they were hitting my biceps much. Close grip was felt in the triceps and I upped my rotator cuff weight a touch as it was getting stronger. Last rep of bench was a real struggle and ideally i’d have liked the same number of reps but with a bit less of a struggle. Progress seems to be coming in waves rather than steadily so I know not to get down about a poor session or two.
Could not have been happier with those runs! I did agile 8 (thanks Bird) and then extra work on ankle mobility and rolled my chest beforehand. First run was no-nonsense, straight in at around 85-90% intensity and it felt good. I was tiring by 150m in each run but coming off the bend I was getting a second wind which i’m pretty sure you shouldn’t get in sprints. Second run felt faster but I was not expecting a time like that! Left a little something in the tank on the 3rd run to make sure the last one wasn’t super slow.
I wrote “HOLD YOUR FORM!!” on the sheet I write my times on and I did exactly that off the bend for the last 100m. Was reading my old workouts and came across something about strenghtening dorsiflexion so i’ve put in a little exercise after my 300s.
So my average is down from 43.45 secs to 41.8 secs in a week, if I can keep how I felt today as a baseline then I can’t ask for much more.
10 x 38.5kg
10 x 48.5kg
10 x 51kg
10 x 56kg
3 x 58.5kg (arms were having none of it)
Dirty Back Squats
20 x 101kg BOOOOOMMMMM!!!
Once again I increase my OH squats, 51 felt easier than 48.5 so I went up to 56 and could’ve done more than 10 of those. I should’ve stopped there but I wanted to at least feel what a heavier weight was like and it wasn’t long before my arms couldn’t stabilise it and I had to stop.
Then the squats…
I wrote down 98.5kg and thought ‘do I never learn?’ so I put it to something I thought was perhaps beyond my capability. First 12 reps were smooth and then came the resting and by 15 reps came the growling on the way up. I still didn’t know I had it at 19 and I did an extra deep final rep to make sure i’d earned it.
Legs are unusable right now, once i’ve written this I intend to fall off my chair and get some light recovery stretching going before I try walking.
The reason this is a day early is my legs were still not 100% when I played rugby on Sat, so these were now moved to Wed and tomorrow nights training can be active recovery.
Got the balance just right with the assistance exercises, everything was challenging but not overly so. Very pleased with my pressing, should’ve been 69kg but I put a little extra on to get a nice round number for reps. I had a really good stretch yesterday and was well rested for rugby so the whole session was above average.
Had a 10th rep in me but my first nine were very efficient and I didn’t want to grind an extra rep out for a weight that doesn’t matter. I’ve been finding step ups are easier if my foot is hovering slightly above the bench rather than firmly on it as I can get a slight acceleration into it… not sure if it’s cheating but I do it for a few reps, then the last two I focus on driving my heel into the bench so I get some hamstring usage.
Was looking at the last time I did split 400s as I know it included a 300m, best split 400 was a 250 150 in 50.5s which evenly run equates to 300m in 37.9s and my fastest actual 300 was 39.3, compared to last weeks 40.1 which was part of a set of runs. Basically I think my 400m time would be quite decent if I kept doing my Tuesday session through to May.
I really hope I can get this level of consistency when my body adjusts to these exercises and I have to switch them up because right now this is probably the best weekly routine i’ve had in a long time and i’m really enjoying it.
A little disappointed with bench, I had blood taken about an hour ago so i’d like to blame that but I felt fine, think the only thing wrong was my grip was a bit wider than normal.
I’ve changed up my diet, getting a bit more variety in my fat sources, less eggs and raw nuts, more oily fish and seeds, and once i’ve got to the end of my current loaf I will be eliminating bread and putting in sweet potatoes and rice.
If anyone’s interested i’m eating 2800-3000cals, 150g protein, 110g fat and the rest carbs, then 2600 on rest days, and that’s got me what i’d consider to be about 7lbs of relatively fat-free mass in 8 weeks.
I wrote recovery instead of rest because that’s what it is, a painful 10 or so minutes to stop breathing like you’re going to die, get your legs moving and get back to the start line. Whoever does lactic training on a regular basis is mentally unwell. I am going to do 200m next week as a little rester before trying this again as unlike 5/3/1 there’s no escaping the need to rest once in a while from this kind of physical self-abuse.
I added in an oblique twist that a sprint coach uses, did not think I could go from 0 to ruined in three seconds but the constant tension was killing me.
I’m taking out 20 rep squats and putting in 3 x 3 deadlifts (concentric only so i’m not too taxed), the squats were a cheeky check to see if I was getting stronger at back squatting without training it and i’m happy to leave out higher weights as I don’t have a safety rack or a spotter or floor mats I can drop the weight on.
Immediately after each set - Explosive Pushups x 5
Alternate DB Curls
3 x 8 x 17kg
This was a short and sweet workout added to my rest day, everything kept 90% and low volume. I read (rightly or wrongly) that benching to chest isn’t necessary for sprinters so I was benching approx. 2 inches off and used a plastic bottle rather than an actual board. Not sure whether to bench to chest for 5/3/1 and to just above on these days, will research more into it and probably ask my old coach. Curls were fine at the higher weight, could probably do 20’s but I can’t fit much more on my DB’s.
Trained with the better group today, much more like what i’m used to. Unfortunately I was a little dehydrated and my hamstring cramped (which at the time I thought was a minor pull) which meant I only gave about 60% effort in tackles. We did a lot of forward play so no running at all, definitely felt like more of a workout.
Oct 26
Overhead Squats
10 x 41kg
10 x 51kg
10 x 56kg =PB
10 x 61kg PB
Sumo Deadlift (concentric only)
3 x 3 x 128.5kg
Immediately after each set - 20 inch box jumps x 6 at speed
ISO HS Hold (resistance band)
3 x 10 secs
Seems that the 3rd set is where it all clicks and I was confident enough to attempt 61kg having failed at 58 last week. Not the smoothest of sets but i’d say 7 or 8 were to the right depth. Never done sumo deadlift, don’t know why, but when I read it was better for people with a long torso I gave it a go. Definitely happier with it although probably needed a warm up set before jumping in at 128kg.
As with Bench Press to explosive pushups I did a quick set of six jumps onto my weights bench after deadlifts just trying to tap my feet on and off, which ended up being harder than I thought and quite uncoordinated. My first jump took me about a foot too high as i’m a poor judge of effort after a set.
Finished with resistance band holds, I did them on and off the last few years. I poked my hamstring and was horrified to find it was untensed. It’s a prone exercise so I lifted my knee slightly off the ground and that did the trick, made sure to squeeze my glute throughout.
Took off a set in each of dips and chin ups, and some reps off T-Bar Press as it was hard to maintain the intensity for the whole session and it was getting a bit lengthy given that i’ve put in an extra upper and lower body workout in the week.
No real issues, did it a bit soon after breakfast as I have to rush off to work for the rest of the day so was a bit close to throwing up once or twice.
Reduced the assistance work in this session too. I found the lighter sets of sumo deadlift harder than normal ones and the heavier sets were easier, still expected more reps than six but i’m happy with that as my back was in a great position and my glutes felt more activated. Took a set of dragon flags out and really worked on the five second descent.
I’m not touching it to my chest but at the same time i’m not bouncing it off my chest so my bench press is probably only a little easier. I was measuring mid-bicep and mid-thighs yesterday and my non-dominant side is smaller so i’m adding a rep on my right side for the unilateral reps for a week or two. Close grip was easy, that needs to go up in weight.
Pretty much a 40-minute game, very little rest and I was dead by about halfway. Made a good few runs and warmed up fully beforehand which put my mind at ease, still only ran 95%.
Oct 31
Bench Press
3 x 91kg
3 x 92kg
3 x 93kg
Immediately followed by 5 Explosive Pushups
Alternate DB Curls
3 x 8 x 19kg
Overhead Squats
10 x 41kg
10 x 51kg
7 x 58.5kg
ISO Oblique Twist
3 x 3 x 3 secs
ISO HS Hold (resistance band)
3 x 15 secs
Dorsiflex Resistance Band
3 x 15
Right, where to start. I moved OH squats to today because if i’m training Tues & Thurs and playing Sat I can’t fit them in. I didn’t plan too well and my arms were tired from curls and thus I failed on the third set of squats and gave up. Oblique hold was better, still hard to do. My left hamstring cramped on me during the Resistance Band hold, entirely my fault for reducing the rest, increasing the duration and intensity and not fully warming them up before it. Can’t get much stupider than that really. Finished with dorsiflex which I meant to do yesterday.
I will have to do two versions of my weekly program, one where I work saturdays and one where I play rugby. I’m a bit worried my hamstrings are getting left behind my glutes and quads in terms of strength development and i’ll be looking at putting in a hamstring exercise on the Sunday session, possibly in place of step ups.
All forward play again, lots of pushing no running. The broad jumps were ok, didn’t feel half as warmed up as with the deadlifts though.
Nov 3
Rugby Match
League Game v Uckfield 2nd XV Won 13-0
I had to be a linesman the first half, played the second but wasn’t passed to ONCE. Only time I touched it was when they dropped it and I picked it up and passed it to someone. Basically 40 minutes watching us kick it and hopelessly chase, not what I call rugby. The other winger was equally frustrated and I hope this isn’t how they play every week. By the time I had to run it’d been about 80 minutes since i’d warmed up so I wasn’t risking my hamstrings and jogged everywhere, probably good I didn’t get the ball cos i’d have pulled something.
I’m really concerned about my hamstrings and i’m in tune with my body enough to know that if I went anywhere close to top speed I would have 100% pulled a muscle, so that needs to be addressed immediately. I’m going to miss Thursday rugby and do 5 x 200m at the track, it replaces my 4 x 300m with the intention of hitting a higher top speed. I’m also going to do an equivalent of GHR’s tomorrow and probably another hamstring exercise.
Overhead Press
3 x 53kg
3 x 61kg
6 x 68kg
Weighted Chin Ups
3 x 12 x 7.5kg
Weighted Dips
3 x 18 x 7.5kg
Alternate T-Bar Press
2 x 8 x 35kg
Overhead press was good, did not need to force the final rep and did myself some damage. Some part of my torso started hurting and it wasn’t until I got all the way to T-Bar press that it resurfaced and I called it a day there. It feels like left oblique muscle, don’t normally injure myself doing weights but my guess is it’ll be either a dull ache or gone by tomorrow as i don’t feel it now so no worries.
I was expecting a better broad jump tbh, I guess you’ve less to think about jumping into sand than on concrete but i’ve gone a foot further than that before. Deadlift was pretty difficult, I can’t get the repetition I have with conventional deadlifts but I was pleased to do it without straps just reverse grip.
GHR’s were technically more russian leg curls as I don’t have much padding in front of my knees but they are definitely better than my previous makeshift attempts. I knelt on the seat of the multi-gym I have and locked my ankles behind. Sliding leg curls were also makeshift, had to put my heels on the seat of a rowing machine and move the seat. Both exercises were definitely hitting the hammies and they are twitching now.
Tomorrow I bench 100kg for the first time in over a year.