They’re new to me, first time tonight, felt good, looking forward to progressing them!
Rack pulls don’t agree with my lower back, not sure why, but these felt great with plenty of room to grow. The instructions were to attempt to hold at the top (fully recognising that you won’t be able to do).
This was the exact video i watched before commenting lol
27/02/25 - morning weight 198.5 (moving average below 200 for the first time now).
Got to delight in my morning walk did 1.2 miles to church at 6am, was late so jogged a mile of it, wasn’t out of breath or sweating, but walked the hills, to avoid sweating. Good sign on that front.
But the real delight was the more relaxed walk back, sun was up it was blue sky, cool breeze, walked through a wooded area, must have seen 10+ squirrels and the bird song was at points deafening, the little stream as a background noise - all so perfect. Also helped rescue someone’s dog, who’d gone down a bank into the stream, it got itself out in the end, but I’m really grateful for the physical abilities I have, not everyone is so fortunate - don’t want to take this for granted and I’ll celebrate it by continuing to push hard and improve it to the maximum I can!
Happy Thursday everyone!
27/02/25 - am
LP w1 W1 D2
Main GS:
DB row: 25kg x 8, 30kg x 8 x 3 sets
Bench: 60, 80, 90, 100kg x 8
Dragon flags: 8(ish), 4 x 3 sets
Face pulls: red band x 20 x 4 sets
DB rows were all properly paused at top of each rep, this kept the weight lower, but is in the instructions and also kept the shoulder a bit safer. Was cautious on the bench, because of the shoulder again. The face pulls weren’t on program but I’m confident that it’s not interfering negatively with the program.
Secondary GS
Gorilla rows: 30kg x 8 x 3 sets
Swiss bench: 70, 80, 85kg x 8
Dragon flag (thruster version): 4 x 3 sets
Assistance GS
KB pullovers: 24kg x 8 x 3 sets
KB press: 24kg x 8 x 3 sets
Cable tri pulldowns: 40kg x 12 x 3 sets
Shoulder is improved enough to press, but it affected my stability and felt uneasy at points, not sure how much to work through and how much to ease off, the pullovers were on to start with but by rep 6/7 not great. Was intending it go for more on both the bench and swiss, but played it safe today, which hopefully means recovering well and room to grow throughout the program.
My tris are absolutely fried.
01/03/25 - 200ish (scales were all over the place today)
430am wake up (baby)
-Reading bible, reading Knowing God by JI Packer, prayer (Value: I am a man who places the highest value in his faith in Jesus) and coffee
-Breakfast (porridge, 250g greek, 25g whey a load of blueberries)
-Walk
It’s very much in the minus degrees, but stunning:
Pictures never do it justice.
Just after 630am in the garage:
LP W1 W1 D2
Main GS
A1) KB jump squats: 24kg x 4 x 7 sets
A2) SSB* squat: 60, 80, 100, 110, 120, 130kg x 8 140kg x 2
A3) hanging leg raise: 8 x 7 sets
Second GS
B1) Sandbag squat: 50kg x 8 x 3 sets
B2) Zerchers: x
B3) hanging knee raises: 8 x 3 sets
Assistance giant set
C1) DB rev lunge: 10kg DBs x 8 e/s x 3 sets
C2) Cossack squats: 10kg DBs x 4 e/s x 3 sets
C3) DB RDL: 10kg DBs x 8 x 3 sets
I did not want to do this, at all, I’d semi accidentally found excuses/procrastinated yesterday, I’d got as far as the garage then ended up taking a 75 min phone call, then some urgent work, then needed to spend time with the Mrs, but really I was avoiding it.
So despite my dislike for training, particularly lower body, first thing, when the baby woke me up, I knew what I had to do.
Doing it in the morning and with zero desire probably contributed to the 140kg being a no go, I spent a couple of minutes arguing with myself before even attempting it, but rewatched 130kg and really despite my yelling it wasn’t slow, and I’ve done 140kg x 10 recently so this should have been easy, but after the second rep I knew I didn’t have a solid 8, the instructions are clear, only go after it if you know you’ve got it. Called it there.
Carrying a significant amount of core fatigue, confident there will some quick adaptations here, but it probably impacted the performance today, a whole lot of excuses there. Very satisfying chest, tri and DOMs.
*It was supposed to regular squats but shoulder said no, and honestly I’m happy to do SSB for the entire program, I think it’s a fantastic movement (I might actually prefer it overall to regular back squats).
I really kept the other 2 giant sets light and minimum standard, there’s definitely plenty of runway left but I’m absolutely ruined. The 10kg felt like it was going to be a hilarious undershooting, until the Cossacks, even the end of the lunges wasn’t pleasant.
This took an age, it’s certainly going to do what it says in this phase:
Videos from squats
130kg:
140kg:
I think gun to head I’d have had 8 reps, but wouldn’t have had anything left for the rest of the session and today was not the day to die on the top set.
4 trays of veg prep for the week:
Great start to Saturday, some family time and then some rugby coming up!
This is exactly the mindset you need for powerlifting.
Getting strong is simple but hard to execute. It’s doing just enough of the right type of work to get what you need out of it.
Yea don’t get me wrong I would have been happy to normally, as attested to by my last SSB outing which featured 140kg x 10 with back off sets ending in a 20 rep set, and the fact that I went for the 140kg this time round. But I knew this wasn’t worth it after the second rep, this is specifically a first week without the need to destroy myself or miss reps:
I definitely misread this first time round.
For the record, I also place a lot of faith in coffee
Haha I did not notice that, but that’s hilarious and yes I really do value coffee… a lot!
02/03/25 - 199.5
I’ve upped the food intake a little, intentionally, because of the new program, I’m also hungrier, which is definitely a sign of the program.
I went for an additional walk yesterday evening, helped to digest a meal that was a little too big and heavy. All still healthy single ingredient stuff, but just more of it (and maybe a little more on the cheese front, because cheese is freaking awesome).
From tomorrow I’ve got a week of driver training - blue lighting around in a fire engine, should be fun, but long days, not sure how disruptive it’ll be to training. I’ll do what I can and see how it shakes out, it’s only 5 days, but I’d like to keep momentum on LP having only just started.
Any eagle eyed observers and fans of British rugby will realise that I’m an idiot and 6 nations isn’t on this weekend. Still been a great weekend, but the real point of my post: my daughter made brownies, I ate one, it was freaking incredible - I’m so grateful someone had put them away after dishing mine up, I could do easily have undone 2 months of work with those. Sugar and fat in the right combo is just a wonderful mix of awesome and evil!
2.3 miles very casual pace walked, enjoying the sun, the fresh air and leg DOMs.
05/03/25 - evening (morning weight 199.5)
LP W1 W1 D4
Main GS
A1) NG pull-ups: bw x 5, 5kg x 5 x 4 sets
A2) Barbell strict press: 20, 40, 50, 55, 57.5kg x 8
A3) Plate halos: 10kg x 8 each direction x 5 sets
Secondary GS
B1) Push press: 57.5, 60, 65kg
B2) Wide grip pull-up: 7, 7, 11
B3) plate halos: 10kg x 8 e/d x 3 sets
Accessories GS:
C1) Lat raises: 7.5kg x 12 x 3 sets
C2) Rear Delt raises: 5kg x 12 x 3 sets
C3) Band Tri ext: red x 20 x 3 sets
First overhead pressing session since injury. I wasn’t able to press in my usual style (head through as entering lockout, all joints stacked), which meant I wasn’t able to rest at the top where I always do, so this was very awkward, pull ups beforehand wouldn’t normally be an issue, but not being able to catch breath on OHP made it really challenging. Went cautious but actually 57.5kg was only 7 reps, racked few breaths then the slowest rep I’ve ever done, rps 9.5, shame I didn’t record, I actually did pull-ups second on that set, just to reduce cardio demands and actually get the reps.
Push press wasn’t locked out fully didn’t attempt to, elbows were pretty much there then straight back down (controlled, slowing descent). Also hit the lungs. Not sure how I feel about plate halos, don’t love them.
Finisher was light, and finished me. I was going to do cable tri ext but shoulder wasn’t a fan, went light band, full stretch and really focused on contraction and MMC, went higher reps in place of this.
Pre-workout:
It was shrove Tuesday yesterday but missed the opportunity, took it tonight and cooked pancakes (English pancakes are closer to a crepe than American), sugar and lemon. Also ate a Pasty today for St Pirans day, balanced this by only having Greek Yogurt and protein for breakfast, dinner will be very lean (homemade hunters chicken - zero fat, with rice, PWO) and greek yogurt and protein before bed, shouldn’t cause any damage.
06/03/25 - morning weight 197.75 - new low, sub 90kg now.
I’ve kept up the daily walking apart from yesterday where I had enough time to train but not train and walk. Usually around 1.6-2 miles, don’t think I’ve done less than 1.5 miles. It’s a great discipline genuinely starting to value the walking for subtle mental health benefits, not that I’d have said I had any issues mental health wise, but there’s a great mood boost to being out moving in fresh air, nature and fresh air, with hopefully some blue light as well, but not the stuff that comes out of a screen. Probably another benefit - disconnecting from digital.
Weight continuing to come off, without any major sacrifices, good job as I’m still no where near as lean as I want to be though, but need to be patient, this is part of the plan, I don’t want to come into March completely leaned out and then have to maintain that until May. The weight loss average has slowed and did briefly reverse, but no concerns, slow and steady is the goal.
My breakfast looks like this most days:
Which is a lot of food, 250g FF greek yogurt with 25g whey mixed in and half a pack of blueberries, and some porridge made with water, mixed with Ceylon cinnamon. Weight of the yogurt and whey is roughly half a pot and scoop, still no scales involved.
This switch to single ingredient foods, makes it so clear to me that you cannot get accidentally obese on these foods, you’d have to very intentionally overeat them - or use a really significant amount of fat, neither of which you can do ignorantly. Yea you can probably eat enough of this to put on a little fat with a big appetite and a long time frame, but to really get obese that can surely only come from the stuff that comes with a long list of ingredients and a really long shelf life.
07/03/25 - evening
LP W1 W2 D5
Main GS
A1) Sandbag over shoulder: 50kg x 4 x 6 sets
A2) Deadlifts: 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 155kg x 8
A3) Long lever plank: a bit of time x 6 sets
Secondary GS
B1) Sandbag farmers: 50kg x 15 seconds x 3 sets
B2) Deficit Deadlifts: 110, 120, 130kg x 8
B3) Long lever plank: a bit of time x 3 sets
Assistance GS
C1) BB rows: 60, 70, 80kg x 8
C2) BB shrugs: 60, 70, 80kg x 8
C3) GHR: BW & hands assisting x 8
This was done in just under 50 minutes, absolutely blowing and pouring sweat the whole way through, just super short on time but determined to get this done. If I had a little more rest I might have pushed another set on the top set and probably gone 150, then 160kg, and a little heavier on the deficits, as well as the accessories.
All that said, I got the work done beat my last week’s work on the deads and busted this out whilst insanely tired (and over caffeinated, made an exception today).
Just finished my emergency response driving course, which the main reason for the tiredness, concentration of blue light driving for hours per day is intense, but I can now officially drive the big red bus with the blue lights on.
Celebrated with this:
Steak, cooked in the new cast iron griddle, was a first and nailed it:
Eating has been massive today, I woke up at 197 after having an almost zero fat day yesterday, like chicken breast, rice, whey and greek yogurt was the majority of my nutrition. In almost the exact opposite of that I’ve eaten 14 eggs, 10 slices of bacon, cheese, sirloin and cooked in butter. Tomorrow is a family day with homemade pizzas (base and all), and snacks with films, there will some damage limitation (bought popcorn instead of crisps/chips for me and the pizza won’t have an absurd amount of cheese) but I’m in a great spot, ahead of where I need to be and happy with the progress and still able to lift well.
Bench tomorrow, watch this space!
Much less heroic, but this week I actually saw this little jack Russel terrier just walking down the highway outside some suburbs. I pulled over and spent a solid 20 minutes chasing this dog, who thought I was playing and was absolutely having the time of his life with this new game. Eventually, I hear someone whistle, and this little dog just sprints towards a house and slides right under a little hole he dug in his fence…. I felt pretty stupid haha
Haha, good man for taking the time and effort though, I used to have a Jack years ago, they are absolute escape artists, mine was a short legged short body, small dog, could jump up on top of standard kitchen worktops, lost more than 1 full block of butter, intelligent, but stubborn to the absolute.
08/03/25 - morning
LP W1 W2 D6
Main GS
A1) Pendlay rows: 60, 70, 80, 90, 90kg x 8
A2) Bench: 60, 70, 80, 90, 105kg x 8
A3) Dragon flags(ish): 5 x 5 sets
Secondary GS
B1) DB head supported rows: 30, 32.5, 35kg x 8
B2) Pin press: 70, 80, 90kg x 8
B3) Shouldered sandbag squat: 50kg x 5 x 3 sets
Assistance GS
C1) DB inc: 27.5, 30kg x 8, 32.5kg x 5
C2) Push ups: 3 sets to failure
C3) over cable ext: 40kg x 8 x 3 sets
Performance was good, progress…linear. 105 was challenging, not sure if the next jump will be 107.5 or 110kg, shoulder and recovery will dictate.
Program calls for hollow rocks which I just don’t get as a core variety, so went dragon flags, then because I was training with someone else, on the second GS I didn’t have the bench, I was going to do ab roll outs but my shoulder gave me a firm no, I switched it up for the squats being on a shoulder means weight is awkward and offset, close enough to core work for my liking.
Had to switch out c2 and c3, program calls for dips, they were a no, and skull crushers, neither were feeling right at the shoulder, alternatives worked well.
Good session, now food, rugby and family time!
Don’t Rush The Deadlift!
Always do more than last time, but remember to save a little for next week. Every successful 5kg jump is like a “Lat and Glute Deadlift PR.” And if you can be patient and string together a few months of those you’ll be really strong.
Congratulations!!!
