Alex_uk: I've got more, time to give more

You’ve changed!

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No, I mean, I reserve the right to mock you endlessly for anything and everything. It is just that I am casting my stones from the glassiest of houses.

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Haha, fair, who doesn’t like a glassy house!

31/10/24 - PM

45M - W3 B8 D40

Strength
Paused bench: 60, 80, 90, 100, 110, 115kg
S/s
Russian twist: 10kg x 10 e/s x 5 sets

Volume
Paused bench: 75kg X 5 x 10 sets EMOM

Finisher:
KB row: 24kg x 20 secs right, 20 secs left
DB Floor press: 25kg x 20 secs
60 secs rest

5 rounds

Top set was max effort, last rep was a little bum lift, but solid effort, thought 110kg was the top set and didn’t feel like I had much more to give, checked last time I did paused and it was 110kg x 4, well I couldn’t let that slide and who wants to use 1.25kg plates?! So hit up 5kg jump and made it.

Volume was solid by the end it pretty much closed max effort, surprising how cumulative fatigue and paused reps sneaky up from “I could do this all day long” to “help this light bar might end me”.

Finisher…nuff said.

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Pumped (and fluffier than I’d like right now):


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Thoughts for this morning:

209 this morning, seems arbitrary to push for 210 it’s just a number, but I like round numbers (it’s doubly round because it’s also 15 stone) so it’s a decent milestone for me and the fluff isn’t terrible. Still planning to hold that weight for a while - but tidy diet up, it’s got a little looser, more easy crap carbs, probably a bit less protein, just laziness that I can tidy up.

Woke up with stiff shoulders - never really had shoulder issues, this feels like a warning, I don’t feel like it’s from the heavy work, but the EMOM stuff, probably more important than that is the fact I’ve flat benched exclusively since August - with very little pulling in the horizontal plane.

With the above in mind I’m going to run 45M again, but now I’ve done a run through it’s time to modify to fit my demands:

Arms will feature twice per week in the assistance finisher slot, this will be a session focused on chin ups and dips, I’ll pyramid up and back down with weights, and will aim to be my “heavy” work for arms, then a session focused on just pumping them, stretch position and all that jazz, saw an interesting Dr Mike video that had some novel stuff I’ll incorporate for this run. Arms will feature on squat and dead days, because a) I don’t particularly feel like my legs ever need “finishing” after the strength and volume work, and b) I’d rather prioritise arms than legs right now, there I said it! In all seriousness I’ve never prioritised arms and it shows.

The other 2 session sessions assistance finisher will feature chest and back. I’ll be swapping out flat bench for other variations this run through I have plenty of options here, and this will probably help make these sessions a bit more chest focused anyway. The assistance finishers will likely be a lot of rows, of different varieties and DBs and cables for chest in a similar fashion to the above, one heavier and one lighter session.

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07/11/24 - PM

45M - W3 B9 D41

Strength
Deficit deads: 60, 100kg x 5, 120, 140, 160, 180kg x 2

S/s

Russian twists
10kg x 8 e/s x 5 sets

Volume:
Deficit deads: 130kg x 4 x 10 sets EMOM

Time limited all week, finally squeezed something in and it was glorious - a PR on deficits and it felt easy. Skipped finisher, no time and I feel very much finished after the deads.

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Gonna try to keep going up? You definitely have much more

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Yup, I was driving the kids to school this morning and thinking about this, my problem with deads seems largely in my head rather than physical, this wasn’t a great strain or battle it was a pretty easy lift, I think building up reps between 160kg and 180kg and keeping up with the deficits will help build the confidence in moving up, when you can rep 180kg for 5 or 8 reps, 190 or 200 should be a no problem.

I used to pull sumo and my best back then was 205kg I definitely want to surpass that and get to 5 plates (UK plates - 220kg/484lb instead of 495), in the not too distant future.

Ideally I’d like to get to a 2/3/4/5 plate OHP, bench, squat, dead. OHP and deads are the two bigger challenges there.

Now you’ve got me thinking about 2025’s goals, the above is definitely within reach, with the potential exception of OHP, the press might be more likely if I added some serious weight, but I’ve got a cruise coming up in May and I’ve not had a sunny holiday since pre-covid, and I’ve never gone on holiday looking ripped, so that’s also a goal, and it takes higher priority than the strength goals, because there’s a specific reason and time frame.

So in order to come in good for the cruise and not regress in strength, I’m thinking I need a longer, slow cut, history tells me I need to lose more than I think, I’m thinking I get and hold 210 for the rest of 2024 (currently 208, slipped eating wise this week), start cutting at the beginning of next year, that gives approximately 21 weeks till holiday and I’d guess that within that time frame I’d lose 20lbs pretty easily and still have a few weeks left to make some final adjustments if necessary.

Hopefully at that rate of fat loss, my strength won’t be significantly affected, then I’ll have the last 6 months of the year to chase strength and can gain weight to help the goal there.

That was a much longer answer than you were after there Konsu!

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With the speed of 180KG on your deficit dude I think your already there, personally. It’d be a big grind, probably would be a little sloppy.

Ideally I’d like to get to a 2/3/4/5 plate OHP, bench, squat, dead. OHP and deads are the two bigger challenges there.

What’s your numbers like for all 4? You got a plan to get there?

Same issue here. Getting a little more amped up usually helps but there’s a fine line because sometimes I get too crazy and my form gives because of the added adrenaline and fear. I feel like this is going to be something you’ll contend with for a bit., I haven’t found a way to get rid of that little doubt, so ive accepted it and try to use it to my advantage.

Imo I don’t think it will be an issue. Maybe a 10-15lb drop just from the leverage change. Your already pretty lean though, I’m surprised you’d want to shed another 20, your going to look diced bro.

No worries dude I like reading people’s rants/thoughts , it was interesting

Edit: my bad I hit delete post , was adding another note

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I got the 3/4/5, but 2 plate OHP is a tall order.

Are you trying to compete at any point?

No major plans to compete, I did a gym powerlifting comp, not massively interested in powerlifting, strongman would be more tempting but there isn’t much around where I live.

I’ve had the 4 plate squat before and pretty much been there on the bench, and yes 2 plate OHP is a significant way off, but I believe doable (wouldn’t put a date on that though!).

Probably, I think this:

Is probably why I don’t get it, I’ve injured myself more on deadlifts than any other lift and so it’s always in my head and I tend to ditch quick over attempting to grind, which is why I think building reps at the higher end will help get my head right.

Nothing specific, I’ll probably stick with programs by Brian Alsruhe from now until cruise (I gel well with the methodology and it’ll work for staying strong and getting lean in the new year).

I’m not great at the amp up, I think my head gets in the way of I deviate too much from normal set up, because it elevates the lift to something special or important then I know it must be big or hard and therefore my head gets me thinking about failing.

I try to keep it roughly the same from start to finish, might throw the music up a little higher or pick a more amped up song, but don’t do much else.

Good lighting and a pump, I’d love to think I’d get away with less, but the first 5lb+ will be water, not sure 10lbs of fat will get me where I want to be, which is this:

It’d be a first getting there.

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@rugby_lifting you asked about investing, feel free to throw any questions this way, obviously I’m not a professional so not financial advice, I’ve read the basics which help me to be comfortable investing and I’ve made some mistakes which have allowed me to learn a little.

What I do: invest monthly from my salary into a stocks and shares ISA, this allows up to £20k per year tax free investment (there’s capital gains on sale of shares and tax on dividends otherwise) - didn’t sounds like you’d be maxing out (I’m nowhere near), but if so that’s time to get your wife investing as well.

I use trading 212, for my S&S ISA (I also use it for a cash ISA it’s great for that instant access and interest is paid daily) there’s occasionally a referral code to get free shares on recommendation but not running at the moment and it’s not worth delaying investing for(made £20 from a referral, my friend made about the same for being referred).

What I buy, and more important what I shouldn’t buy:

I invest predominantly in the S&p500 via an index tracker - Vanguard’s (search “VUSA” in trading212), this fund has been around since 2012 - a £10k investment made and left untouched then would be worth £53k today, compared to approximately £18k if you managed to get 5% interest at a bank over that period (which we all know wasn’t happening for the last decade anyway). The benefits of the S&p500 are it’s track record of delivering very good average returns, longstanding history and diversification with the 500 biggest businesses in America, almost no professional traders beat the average S&P500 returns (when taking into account their fees) over a long enough time frame, the occasional Warren Buffet but they’re the exception not the rule.

I also invest in the nasdaq100, I do this monthly as well I invest using an auto invest feature on 212 called pies and invest 75/25% between the S&p500 and the Nasdaq100, the Nasdaq 100 has given higher returns but does so with less history, less diversification and more risk.

The other things I invest in, some small number of individual dividend paying UK shares, this is essentially a mistake (I’ve trimmed a lot of the individual holdings I had), I currently hold Lloyds, Triple Point Social Housing (a REIT - interesting investment type), Taylor Wimpy, Abrdn and Phoenix (almost certainly dividend traps). I’m thinking to sell this group and invest in a UK index either the FTSE 100/250 or 350 (which I almost guarantee will do pretty poorly on the longer term compared to the American investments, but something about not putting all your eggs in one basket…).

My mistakes: picking individual shares, I do not know enough, or have enough time or inclination to learn the details that matter, it’s far too risky and the potential rewards aren’t worth it, I’m investing for the long term, I’m almost guaranteed to make good solid returns with low risk, I don’t need to make high risk punts. My worst loss 75% on a single share (fortunately not huge sums of cash, I don’t have enough faith to invest large amounts in single shares).

Other mistake - listening to “experts”/timing the market. As mentioned in another thread I made my first investment - dumped a fairly large (for me) chunk into the s&p500, before Russia/Ukraine, my investments dropped and stayed below entry price for about a year. When it leveled back out I sold it because I’d read some opinion piece on how the market was going to collapse, and I thought I might need the money (I put that money into the cash ISA). The market didn’t collapse it grew, significantly, and I missed out on a few thousands in gains. You cannot time the market or predict with any great accuracy on the short term trends, and even if you could you’d still be worse off than someone who nailed perfect timing (How to Perfectly Time The Market – Personal Finance Club).

As long as you’re invested in reliable index funds, happy to and recognise you will hold through downturns (watching your funds “drop” by 20/30% in a day can be difficult to see, but recognise you still own the same assets and the value will almost certainly increase if you hold long enough) and only invest money you know you don’t need to access for I’d say at least 5+ but preferably 10+ years then you can ride out the volatility and reap the benefits.

Anyway that’s what I do.

Only got one session in this week, mostly because work was pretty full on and in the background the Mrs wanted to do the bathroom, she did a huge amount of work but still needed me a lot (plumbing, central heating, electrics and some lifting, shifting and some power tools).

Not quite finished but here’s a little before and after (well before ish - I’d already taken the toilet and sink out):

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The bathroom looks great! You guys did an awesome job!

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