I’ve had such a lovely two weeks off with the family. First week we went to the Northumberland coast to Seahouses (near my beloved Bamburugh) and had a brilliant time. Beach every day, pub every night, loads of castles and zoos etc. just a lovely family time.
Then the second week we spent it at home just doing day trips and what not and loved it. Also got a load of remaining DIY done last week which makes me feel a whole lot less stressed about life. I also finished my temporary office which looks mint. I’ve got an old green leather top desk in there and its a nice place to work from home from.
Overall i needed the break, i got three workouts in last week, 2 full body gym sessions and one DB arm session at home.
I’ve started my diet as well though, weight loss is needed and i’m happy now is the correct time.
I checked some picture locations when we drove up that way en route to Scotland a couple of years ago and we stopped in Seahouses, remember it being nice. Did you go up to Bamburugh? I thought it was pretty awesome to go
Diet wise i was planning to use something that i’ve managed to use successfully before. Basically having 50-60 grams of protein in 4 sittings in the day and then a big family meal in the evening with the family. Sample day would be:
Breakfast - 2 eggs, 4 egg whites, 1 pint skimmed milk & a banana
Snack - 2 scoops protein, 1 pint skimmed milk & an apple
Lunch - 250g of chicken or lean beef (possibly some veg when i remember)
Dinner - normal dinner, meat, veg and potatoes or rice
Supper - Greek yogurt if needing more protein
Days when i’ve got an evening meal out with work or something i usually just have shakes all day to keep the calories lower.
Alcohol is stopped completely for a bit.
Training wise i was going to keep the same plan that i’ve just started in an amended version of PHUL. For some reason i realised that i want to be a bit fitter and more mobile and that fits at the moment with my rugby training as well.
I’ve starting at 105.5kg in the morning fasted. Its my go to happy and relaxed weight that my body seems to like.
On my first working rep of my RDL my back went. Am absolutely gutted as I’ve been making so much progress on these and squats.
So i spent 15 minutes stretching, then did some bike sprints.
10 seconds sprint, 50 seconds rest. Only managed 6 sets today, will increase these each week.
As for my back this week my whole back and hips have felt really tight, i almost sacked off the leg session today because i felt so tight but wanted to get the reps in. I need to find a solution to my back being constantly tight in the mid area as that’s causing these issues and causing it to pull on my hips/ hamstring all the time.
I need to strengthen or get an exercise to release it as stretching doesn’t’ seem to work long term compared to strength training.
Maybe supermans or something that hits my mid back to strengthen that. Need to think.
Been doing a lot of hip mobility stuff as i thought that was the issue and while my hips have been feeling better my mid back (especially twisting left to right or doing the iron cross on the floor) has actually been getting worse.
If i stick my chest out and kind twist my back spasms, its that tight and i really want to find something to work it weight wise to solve the issue.
I’d look at doing some glute work, sounds similar to the back pain I was having. Foam roll the glutes and do some glute bridges daily and see how you get on. Do bodyweight glute bridges to start with and then look to progress using bands.
So i’m going to be doing (have been doing since yesterday), 3 sets of glute bridge raises in the morning and three in the evening. Doing 15 reps with a 2 second squeeze at the top of each rep.
Went to the gym and did some warm up single leg kettle bell deadlift and goblet squats. Back was still sketchy so i went and did 6 minutes of bike sprints (10 seconds sprint, 50 seconds slow pace/rest) and then about 30 minutes of stretching, foam rollering etc.
Hopefully my back is better by next week to keep up my squad at RDL progress.
Pull Ups (palms facing away)
x 5 x 5 x 4 (plus 1 lower) x 4 (plus 1 lower)
HS Machine Press
40kg each side
x 8 x 8 x 7
Seated cable row
84kg
x 8 x 8 x 8
Viking Press
58.5kg
x 8 x 8 x 8
DB Bicep Curls
14kg DBs
x 12 x 11 x 7
Cable Tricep extension OH/ body bent over
10 on weight
x 10 x 10 x 8
Annoyed that my incline BB press isn’t moving forward at the moment. Might remove it and add inlcine DB press back in. I@ve had some really bad sleep for about a week now which is probably effecting my recovery but nearly everything is else is improving.
I’ve noticed that my reps have got grindy on the press motion but i’m still getting a good pause in there.
BB Squats - well i shouldn’t really have done these
95kg
x 8
x 4 Back went again!!!
Probably should ahve waited another week after my previous back spasms but was feeling good and going my extra glute work.
RDL - missed these due to injury
Cable ab crunches
14 weight
4 sets of 10
Sprints - 7 sets of 10 second sprints with 50 seconds rest
Gutted about my back again. I’ve posted in the main chat about getting a programme to try and fix all my back issues. Need a full rehab programme in some way.
I know you have posted somewhere else about your back and it looks like you are getting some advice there so I wont add to that. Just thinking out loud though. Given your back and hip issues and your longer term goal which i don’t think includes competing in powerlifting, is there any real reason for you to keep squatting ? There are lots of other options to hit the legs without loading the spine and most are probably more effective at building muscle anyway. If you wanted to train the legs for rugby then some sort of prowler push or sled drag would make more sense and would trash the legs without the spinal loading. Just a thought.
I guess i ended up squatting and trying RDLs again due to the lack of anything else at my gym. The hack squat at my gym isn’t a good one, there’s no prowler or belt squat. There is a squatting machine thing but that does still load the spine.
I’d be happy to give up both squatting and BB RDLs if i had real alternatives that build strength and power and also got me good range of motion to ensure as i age i’m still keeping strong. Happy if you have suggestions.
We have a glute thrust machine and heavy DBs for lunges. There is also a TBDL although there is no space to set it up (unless there is no one by the DBs which is rare). We have the usual leg machine etc.