Not sure I am inspirational but glad I gave your an idea that worked. Now you get to have massive leg and ass gainz
The busy father of 3, who works full time, fosters puppies and still makes time to train harder than men half his age, and being stronger than 95% of them whilst he’s at it, and who puts himself out there by doing comps alongside being an active and very helpful member of this community, gee… I wonder what could possibly be inspirational there 
You freaking know it! Along side the lower body growth, a spontaneous purchase might be about to aid the upper body…50kg 13 inch log - made just this second, alongside two more sandbags - 90kg & 110kg.
Second order from Factory Weights (UK gym equipment company) I’ll review the kit when it arrives but I was impressed with the company (good customer service) and the first order (farmers handles) and the online reviews on the log and bags looks good, excited for those!
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Those purchases are going to be freaking good. After the comp in 3 weeks time I am going to start paying my dues with the sandbags. Can’t wait to see what gainz I can get.
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Gainz in sheer awesomeness!
Work for today:
Paused zombie squats: 60kg x 5, 80kg x 5 x 2 sets.
DB bench: 30, 35kg x 8, 40kg x 8 x 2 sets
Bent over bench DB row: 40kg x 10 x 3 sets
A1) Dips: BW, 10, 20, 30kg x 10
A2) Cable rows: 80kg x 15 x 4 sets
The zombie squats were cut short - my right glute felt tight coming in and just got more grumpy as I went through, I think the Bulgarians lit it up and now it’s awake and unhappy about it, doesn’t feel serious and if it was bilateral I’d say it was simply severe DOMs but it’s a little more “tweaked” than that. See how that plays out.
The rest of the session was just basic work, just hitting some unilateral stuff, the rest just trying to keep loads reasonable, trying not to tax my lower back this session (and shoulder and now glute 
) and not regress overall.
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I disagree, for all the reasons @alex_uk said above
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@alex_uk @dagill2 thanks for the kind words boys, I has a pretty tough day at work yesterday and reading this really helped.
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Just being honest with you, you do inspire and you are a top bloke!
This morning - 196.5
The rowing isn’t a response to the weight gain, I’d made that decision last night. I decided to start doing some conditioning and cardio for a few reasons:
- I’m coming up to another physical test that will involve running
- I have since I started this journal been saying how I need to make cardio part of my life, and whilst my training has incorporated a little more (Sandbags, giant sets etc) this sort of thing is low impact easy wins
- I’m just over 5 weeks out from the cruise and that seems a logical time to pull another lever, tighten up and knuckle down, I have lost a little momentum, this is not the time to do it, I haven’t reached the finish line yet.
- I want to build a little base line conditioning so that when I come to BtM a) the prescribed conditioning isn’t draining, but restorative b) I am able to really leave it all out there in the weight room and not have my lungs give out before my muscles.
The weight gain was unexpected, I ate nothing that wasn’t cooked by me, but I ate my usual breakfast, followed by chilli (no rice but kidney, garbanzo and haricot beans) twice, pretty large portions, then a pretty hefty curry (homemade, natural and no added fats) but that was a lot of rice and two chicken breasts. Honestly didn’t feel like I went overboard compared to normal, slightly larger portions in hindsight, the thing about daily weighing is I know that is an unusual reaction, but I’m not in my own head about it - if I don’t lose weight I just think maybe I’m building muscle, I’m certainly not gaining fat, so it’s all good.
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Rapid delivery!
This thing huge, was an effort to get it in the garage and unwrapped, did a few reps just to check it out (still in my shirt from being in the office). It’s awesome.
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Okay, I am legit jealous.
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yours is thicker but mine is heavier
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@alex_uk I missed out somewhere. Where is this cruise taking place?
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@simo74 and @Cyrrex - who doesn’t like massive new gym toys?!
@Friedrich - going to France and Spain, looking forward to it!
16/04/25 - 193
Work:
Log single clean, and strict presses: 50kg x 5, 70kg x 1, 60kg x 3
EMOM
Odd mins: Log clean & 3 strict presses: 60kg
Even mins: Wide grip pull-ups ups x 5
10 mins (5 rounds of each)
Bulgarians: 10, 20, 30kg x 5 e/s
A1) BB rows: 80, 90, 100kg x 5
A2) Floor press: 60, 80, 90, 100kg x 8
Bit of a mish mash session, I’m going away for a last minute break with the family over the Easter weekend, local staycation, should be good. I might squeeze a quick session in tomorrow, but if not no gym access for a few days. I might get a surf in with my daughter whilst I’m away and hoping if the weather is ok to get some badminton in with the kids, maybe some walking but other than that no training and that’s alright with me.
Still doing random stuff with my training, my back was a bit grumpy sitting for a long period today, but fine after I got up, and absolutely fine coming into this. Clean and press with a log is awkward (surprising absolutely no one here), my back coped well considering. I absent mindedly jumped from 50kg to 70kg, thinking it was 60kg and that messed me up, fought it and got it but once I’d finished and realised I decided to drop back to 60kg. The EMOM was perfect work/rest, that could be a really good EMOM to build up on, pushing the reps on both movements.
Kept the Bulgarians from being a max effort and just worked depth and form my glute was stretched and feeling it on the 30kg set but no issues.
Then just a fairly casual superset to finish.
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17/04/25 - 196 (made curry too hot for family so ended up eating a lot of leftovers - all good stuff, but probably a fair bit of salt and a very hefty dose of rice and chicken). I’m going to claim this is part of a new “maingaining” phase…
Sneaky session:
Inc CGBP (middle): 60, 70, 80kg x 8
Trap bar deadlifts: 68, 108, 148kg x 5
Sneaky because I didn’t tell the Mrs, change, or take water, or even get my converses on just hit it immediately after packing the car, quick, light and nothing hard, done in just over 10 mins.
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Absolutely cheat/binge fest tonight, first night of a short break away with the family and I very happily engaged in some serious debauchery: fish and chips (cheesy chips, which are very thick fries if you’re American) with curry sauce and mushy peas (because that’s how we roll in the UK), then crisps (crisps being chips if you’re American) and sweets (candies for the American’s).
All done round the table playing games and having a great laugh. My blood might be more glucose than haemoglobin and if I had scales they’d be reading very high tomorrow - but I don’t care - I’m happy.
The rest of the trip will feature no more evening snacking but we’ve got 2 meals out planned and whilst I’ll pick some healthier options I’m not missing out - family fun time with food and demonstrating that whilst I eat healthy 95% if the time I don’t have orthorexia, I’m just healthy and let my proverbial hair down at appropriate times, not all the time.
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I did some stuff like this with my CrossFit experiment and it turned out to just be a great pace for two or three exercises done in a circuit.
I did these Sunday and finished thinking “I could have gone heavier” and then I spent the next three days with awesome DOMS in my glutes. Hard or not, those things are no joke… And I think they’re very good for hip and knee health.
I’m a bit past this but hanging on. I know you’ve been lean, mean, and shredded in the past so you can relate. I accomplished the lean look but it wasn’t cheap. I was obsessive. I finally let go and I try to be a normal human. Splurge here and there. Eat something bad because a coworker brought it. Or in the case of today, eat a Gansito and drink some orange juice for breakfast because there’s an event at school for my kids. All sugar, only ok, but that was the event and I didn’t want them to feel left out.
I’m a little loose and sloppy with food (and it shows) but it’s worth it compared to being obsessive.
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Yea I definitely felt this was spot on, enough muscular recovery with 2 mins between each movement but a bit more of work for the lungs being an EMOM, without being absolutely blow out levels of work, feels like building a few of these, with intelligent pairing and building up volume & weight within the sets would be really solid (probably not far off escalating density training, but I never tried that).
Yup, I think all of us on here dislike unilateral work, but probably need more of it, Bulgarians definitely feel good for you and really do give you DOMs in some interesting places!
Definitely no desire to be obsessive, it’s why I’m logging things, make sure I’m where I want to be with everything, not just in the mirror and on the scale but life as a whole (it’s why my journal also includes my values and talks about so much more than did and exercise).
Letting go of obsessive is great. I can’t say I’ve ever been obsessive, I’ve gone through this phase loosing an average of 1lb per week, no calorie counting and not feeling deprived. I’ve really come to value eating good quality food and I still have the freedom to mix it up and enjoy the occasional treat, but I no longer reach for it out of habit, laze or compulsion, it’s a conscious choice and something I choose for the sake of pleasure enhancement and joy. As a species we’ve got this inbuilt hedonistic adaption and it’s helpful to be mindful and reset the baseline.
I think it all boils down to being cognizant of what we’re doing, without being obsessive, and being happy with your choices and the outcome of them.
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Quick update went for a meal yesterday for my dad’s 70th, had a blast and some really good food, it’s an old farm that has very limited numbers of people for meals, 3 rooms, each private, lovely home cooked food. Ate whatever I wanted, which included a significant amount of roast beef, and two desserts.
Despite all of that, I noticed a vein that’s appeared in my lower abs, I have pretty prominent veins in general, but it’s cool to see and encouraging that once I return my last 4 weeks should see me reach a respectable level of bf and a decent aesthetic.
Hit the surf today, was a chill session, waves weren’t big, but about 90 mins in the very cold water and some good activity.
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@alex_uk Ate whatever I wanted, which included a significant amount of roast beef, and two desserts.
Good for you!
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I’ve kind of gone the other way! I signed up for a lunch duty this year to make a few extra bucks and they put me out by the street with the food trucks. Our lunch is open so students are allowed to go out to the food trucks and buy whatever they want. They can also leave and go to a restaurant if they want. Unfortunately, the food is cheap (quality) and unhealthy, but the owners are incredibly nice. They always offer me leftovers in the form of fried chicken sandwiches or fries and chicken tenders. I’ve been eating way too much fried food lately. Even if I keep the calories in check, I fear what it may be doing to my insides.
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Very quick update, weekend away was great I lied here:
And went for it big time, fortunately my body’s massive disdain for gaining weight kicked in - 196.25 this morning. Back on the serious grind after a delightful break both physically and mentally.
I came straight back in to a couple of pieces of heavy news at work, and full on week, so we’ll see how the training shakes out, but no excuses for the diet.
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