Alex_uk: 40 years in the making

Training Training Logs
4883

11/10/25 - 200.5

First time being over 200lbs for a while but I did have a takeaway last night so probably carrying a fair bit of water weight.

Was going to train yesterday, but during the space I went for a nap instead, feel like a freaking old man, but probably the right call.

Spent today working around the house, nothing strenuous, but jobs that needed doing (including clearing my treadmill to get post prandial walks in).

LP W2 W4 D13

GS1:
Sandbag over shoulder: 50kg x 5 x 5 sets
Deadlifts: 150, 152.5, 155, 157.5, 160kg x 5
RKC plank: 5 sets

GS2:
Deadlift row: 100, 110, 115kg x 5
RDL: 100, 110, 115kg x 5
RKC plank: 3 sets

Deads were done mixed grip from 150kg onwards, I just don’t like using straps, it throws my setup off. See how much my elbow complains about it over the next few days (it didn’t tonight.

Straps back on for GS2, and exertion headache, might be related to the strong pre-workout I took, but I’m going to chose to take it as a sign of hardwork! Didn’t put the bar down between those two exercises. Back was feeling fatigued and 110kg on the rdls wasn’t as easy as I’d have liked so only went up 5kg, that was hard enough.

Called it after GS2, got something more important to do, games night with the family!

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4884

No shame in naps. I took two today!

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4885

I take two every day, lol.

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4886

Sending you a great big hug and some extra prayers. My 94 year old Grandma died in March, it’s always tough, even if it’s expected. Regardless of age though, at home with Jesus is always a win. She didn’t die - she leveled up. :heart:

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4887

Haha love it, thanks.

Thanks for all the love everybody (and for the encouragement to take naps!). Speaking of which I bought a full black out eye mask and dug out my zma equivalent supplement, trying to make sure sleep really improves wherever it’s within my control - although the 2 babies had other ideas night before last but they’re generally very good, it’s more often than not my doing.

14/10/25 - 197.5
LP W2 W4 D14

GS1:
Chin ups: 21.25kg x 4 x 5 sets
OHP: 55, 57.5, 60, 62.5, 65kg x 5
Plate halos: 20kg x 8 x 5 sets

GS2:
Chin ups: 12, 12, 15
Push press: 65, 70, 75kg x 5
Plate halos: 20kg x 8 x 3 sets

Was going to do the accessories today but took a work call that went on for over an hour, so just ended up eating instead of going back out the garage!

Solid session opted to start back a little bit on ohp rather than jump in at 60kg, every increment has to be 2.5kg and on the OHP when going up over 5 sets that’s not going to leave a lot of runway if I start the first set at the same weight I finished the last set of the previous week. 65kg was a good effort, I’d like to think 67.5kg and 70kg are there for 5s, time will tell. Push press was fine.

Weight gaining isn’t going how I’d intended, but looking back I was 194.5 at the beginning of the program on the 6th September, so it’s trending upwards at slightly more than 0.5lb a week average, shouldn’t really complain about that.

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4888

16/10/25 - 199.5

LP W2 W4 D16 (out of sync)

GS1:
Single arm DB row: 35kg x 5 x 5 sets
Bench: 100, 102.5, 105, 107.5, 110kg x 5
Lying leg raises: 5 x 5 sets

GS2:
Gorilla row: 35kg x 5 x 3 sets
Swiss bench: 80, 90, 100kg x 5
Lying leg raises: 5 x 3 sets

GS3:
Cable pullover: 40kg x 8 x 3 sets
Dips: 12, 12 (5, 6, 1), 12 (7,
OH Cable ext: 40kg x 12 x 3 sets

Bench was solid, decided to knock it back further again on the suggestion, more runway and it was hard enough as it was, this is first thing in the morning though, hopefully next week and the week after will be stronger.

Still don’t think Gorilla rows work for me, definitely going to sub next wave. Swiss bench was good, shoulders a little cranky though.

GS3 I subbed KB pullovers for cable, knowing they work really well and KB ones felt awful. Also subbed KB bench press, because I wasn’t using a KB, dips got hard real quick, like 12 was no problem, then I pretty much got failure at 5 on the second set rest paused them and took a longer break for round 3.

Good session, in spite of being hectic and exhausted, in the last 24 hours two people have independently told me how tired I look.

On that note the eye mask is fantastic - the zma seems to be helping, just need to get a few more hours a night.

Was out of sync because it was supposed to be squats but I no longer risk squatting first thing and I had time pressures and that’s naturally a longer session, that should hopefully be tomorrow.

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4889

Time pressures got the best of me today, but ended up a) shaking hands on a van, picking it up Thursday hopefully and b) getting away for a long weekend, so instead of lifting I’ve eaten a ridiculous sized burger in a pub and about to jump into a hot tub with the kids, there are worse reasons to miss training.

The van was earlier than intended but the mrs car needed replacing sooner than expected and a van with 6 seats and a decent enough load capacity came up - this will be the project to do with my son as well as a family wagon, should be interesting! My son came to view the van with me, he’s very excited at the prospect.

On that note, still got the morning routine going on, karate is going well and we started listening to rich dad, poor dad in audiobook (free on Spotify).

He’s also got his first girlfriend who seems lovely and started coming to our church so things are generally going well on this front.

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4890

@dagill2 @rugby_lifting

Moving over here so not to detract from @simo74’s amazing work.

I’ve signed up for a comp in Exeter. Gone for the beginner class, as it will be a first for me.

Events are:

  • sandbag steeplechase
  • dinnie handle walk
  • axle press
  • car deadlift
  • stones to platform

Sandbags I’m good with, dinnies ummm yea… Axle good (depends on the weight), car deadlift no idea but I’ll use Kelley Beck’s rig up to train it, stones to platform never touched one, don’t know any local gyms that have them, so might just be a suck it an see on the day.

This will also change my stated goals for the year, getting super lean by 40 isn’t going to be on the cards. I know @T3hPwnisher manages it, but I’m just starting to gain again and want to keep that going for a long stretch, I was already considering dropping this rather than try too hard to gain in a short window and lose again quickly and just end up spinning my wheels. There’s a month between comp and 40th, if I’m happy with where I am gains wise by then I may consider cutting (probably timing it for a holiday in August).

I have a running goal on the list, which on investigation turned out to be stupidly ambitious, I still haven’t run since setting it, seems prudent to drop that, but some additional conditioning will be useful so running stays, whether I get anywhere near close to the goal remains to be seen.

Strength goals remain 5/4/3/2 for the big 4.

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4891

Looks like a great comp.

Sandbags you should be fine at.
Dinnie handles are a bit different to farmers. Pretty hard to walk with as they bang into your legs. Worth trying them before if you can.
Axle you can train at home
Deadlift you can train at home so should be fine.
Stones you can train with sandbag and then just wing it on the day. If they allow tacky then just borrow some off someone else.

Should be a fun comp.

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4892

Sounds awesome, I’d consider coming to watch but Exeter is a good 4 hours from me I’m afraid.
What weight is the car deadlift?

I’ve not done a comp btu i have done some previous strongman training with a mate of mine who used to compete in the police strongman comps. We trained stones and i found the technique really hard to master. For me it was the weight sitting on your chest and the way you have to use your body to hoist the stone. Will google to see if there any any gyms around (even a little further so its not your first time come the comp).

Sounds fun though.

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4893

Great!

I think it’s a good call considering it’s your first strongman competition. Less things to stress/focus on. Confidence and energy levels are important.

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4894

That looks like a pretty cool comp. I might have to find an excuse to make it down.

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4895

I know @T3hPwnisher manages it

Eh, “super lean” is a stretch. I can get stringy at this point, haha.

Big thing is for you to stay injury free through the training process. Try to focus on “enough” ala Dan John. Which, in that regard, @simo74 laid out some great parameters there. Don’t sweat stones: get good at sandbags. The carryover is good enough. Invest in some decent tacky: it’s a total gamechanger on stones.

You said you have some sort of car deadlift set-up to train with? That will be awesome. It’s a very different lift, but still a great one.

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4896

22/10/25 - 199.5

LP W2 W4 D15

GS1:
Jumping squat: 5kg x 4 x 5 sets
SSB to box: 130, 132.5, 135, 137.5, 140kg x 5
Hanging leg raises: 8 x 5 sets

GS2:
SSB Front squat: 60, 70, 80kg x 5
Sandbag squat: 75kg x 5 x 3 sets
HLR: 8 x 3 sets

GS3:
Reverse lunges: 20kg DBs x 5 e/s x 3 sets
Cossack squats: bw x 6 x 3 sets
RDL: 20kg DBs x 5 x 3 sets

Was tired coming in, bad sleep, but needed to get this done. Was harder than I’d have liked but I think in part it’s my lack of work capacity at volume, I’m fine when it’s a single set then increase and then back off, but these sets are all fairly close in weight and are approaching the higher end of my current strength, but hey that’s also the point right, push hard dig deep and recover harder. Took 5 mins between 137.5 and 140 plus put jumps second on that final set, just to make sure I really nailed the top set.

My knee was a bit cranky and wasn’t sure how it would do, but made it through, not sure jumps are helpful here, might sub jumps for some other explosive primer.

Thinking about my training and what I said about this being harder than I’d like, I have a genuine dislike of training, but I’m wondering whether part of that is fighting against programming I’m not enjoying? I can decide if it’s that or just that it’s just actually hard work and I’m seeking comfort rather than growth. How do you determine what’s really happening, how do you know when you’re pushing too hard or pushing unhelpfully, where it might actually be more productive to take a different path? For clarity I want to finish LP, I really don’t like leaving things part done, I want to see this through, but I’m not sure how keen I’d be to run through it again as per the recommendation.

My legs are smoked, almost injured myself on the front squat, missed racking the bar on one side and went to release it only to have one side drop, fortunately only 70kg so didn’t do any damage.

GS3 was light so rest was probably 30-45 secs per GS, blowing by the end.

I’ll come back to all the strongman comp talk once I’ve eaten and stopped sweating.

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4897

Did you ever pickup that 30 Minute Muscle book by Brian? I try not to comment on the training of folks stronger than I too often, but I look at your life circumstances and I don’t necessarily think “here’s a guy who needs to run a hard linear progression!”. For what it’s worth I’m kind of in the same boat as you - not quite as busy, but pursuing higher ed has added 15-20 extra hours of work and stress to my week and I just don’t have the same mental capacity for training lately. It sucks.

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4898

Thinking about my training and what I said about this being harder than I’d like, I have a genuine dislike of training, but I’m wondering whether part of that is fighting against programming I’m not enjoying? I can decide if it’s that or just that it’s just actually hard work and I’m seeking comfort rather than growth. How do you determine what’s really happening, how do you know when you’re pushing too hard or pushing unhelpfully, where it might actually be more productive to take a different path? For clarity I want to finish LP, I really don’t like leaving things part done, I want to see this through, but I’m not sure how keen I’d be to run through it again as per the recommendation.

This has been a very recent revelation of mine, but it’s something that, looking back over 25 years of training, the evidence was always there.

“You can’t fight fate”. Our psychology has specific leanings and tendencies, and when we try to exist outside of our nature, we create a harmonic dissonance. The longer we do this, the greater the dissonance, which creates a vacuum effect such that, when we finally reach our limit, we super compensate (effectively binge) to correct. Basically, when willpower is the only thing that compels compliance, eventually the willpower will exhaust and we’ll revert HARD back to our true nature.

Whereas, when we do things that ALIGN with our nature, we exist in a more harmonic state, are able to perpetuate this indefinitely, and do not exhaust our willpower. There is no counter binge or consequence: we just be.

You can still train hard AND in a way that aligns with your nature. In fact, I dare say that when you find something that truly aligns, you’ll train all the more harder, because you’ll have excitement to do so. BUT you MAY also train all the more SMARTER, not necessarily FORCING yourself to train harder, but giving yourself the grace to back down on the days you need to live to fight another day, because you aren’t on this program out of spite but out of joy.

It may be worth treating yourself to a program that genuinely excites you to partake in. Not the one that “always works” because YOU make it work through sheer force of will, but the one that fits like a comfortable pair of shoes or a favorite coat.

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4899

Thanks, I’ll see what’s around if nothing this will be the main tactic:

And this the main aim:

That’s a shame be nice to meet a few Brits off T-nation. No idea on weights yet. Thanks for heads up on the stones.

Thanks appreciate that, means I’m not chasing opposing goals as well.

If you do that’d be awesome; burgers and/or steaks afterwards!

Haha I know the feeling, stringy isn’t a place I like to be, but seems to be where I end up when I try and get lean, might be just not having enough muscle in my case! But you always do well on comp days no matter how you come in!

Thanks I’ll do that.

https://youtu.be/HEBi2bo8l4k?si=tOU4y1c3hTQnGpsi - this is the MacGyver option, I might go even more basic and just grab the barbell sleeves and go that route for the time being.

I like this entire post and the thoughts and have observed that transition in your training and mindset over the past few years.

I would broadly agree, where I currently struggle is trying to figure out - am I just trying to dodge hard work?

Training wise Brian’s programming has been something I’ve previously enjoyed (although thinking back to Dark Horse, the first one I ran, we hadn’t started foster caring, I had a way less stressful and busy job, and I whilst I still firefighting on call, I wasn’t managing teams or incidents, plus I was 5 years younger), so am I just not gelling with training because it’s another stressor or am I not gelling because I’ve just fallen out of love with it as a hobby and therefore I just don’t enjoy the hard work and process?

The other program I really gelled with was 531, whether I finish LP and then find a 531 program that fits the bill for comp prep?

I haven’t done yet, it’s definitely one I will get though.

It’s good to hear that I’m not alone in that, but yea it sucks, I want to want it, but it’s just not there and I guess that’s the mental capacity side of things.

On the positive side though, even through that we’re both still getting out there and doing work!

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4900

Something I’ve learned through working with various coaches and my competition is that anything that works against your goals (lowering your compliance or want/will to do what you need to do) needs to be changed in a way where you no longer dislike doing what you need to do.

Dont stick to a program you dont enjoy.

Some people are machines and will train however regardless of whether they enjoy the training or not. In times where you NEED to meet your goals and DONT have this level of discipline, dont push it.

This is one of the largest takeaways I’ve had in my prep so far.

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4901

If this works for you, find one that suits your goals.
As others have said, if a program means you dont want to train, its not worth it.
There are so many 531 options that are tried and proven you could go with.

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4902

Obviously I don’t know you, but based on what I’ve seen here I very much doubt this is the case. I don’t know about you, but I see lifting as an escape. It’s time that is completely mine. It lets me give my overworked brain a rest. If you current program is adding to your stress instead of helping to relieve it, finding something else would probably be a pretty good idea. It sounds like there is a lot happening in your life right now. Give yourself the kindness of finding something that you can enjoy.

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