Tuesday 31th May - Deadlift (5)
no warm up
Sumo Pulls
60 x 10
100 x 2
120 x 1
140 x 5
160 x 3 (awful)
180 x 5 (awful)
GMs 2 sets 10 @ 60kg
felt shit - trained everything in 3 days w/o any rest. DL was awful so i jsut made sure i hit the top set and left it there. time to sleep and eat.
Sat 4 June - SQ/Bench (5)
stretching, PVC stuff for a while
Squat
60 x 10
80 x 5
100 x 3
115 x 5
130 x 5
145 x 5 (easy)
Bench (supersetted with pullups)
bar x 10
40 x 8
50 x 5
60 x 3
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5 (easy)
Rear delts 2 sets 20
had to squat and bench on the same day again as i was away thrusday and friday - this always fucks with my shoulder but it was ok today.
Mon 6 June - Press (5/3/1)
stretching, SMR etc
Press (ss w/ chins)
bar x 20
30 x 5
40 x 3
50 x 5
55 x 3
60 x 1
DB press 2 sets 10
face pulls 2 sets 20
EQI stretching for chest & lats
good session today - everything felt easy. Backed the assistance off even more and focussing more on stretching/mobility stuff.
Tues 7 June - DL (5/3/1)
last Deadlift session before the meet
supple leopard work
Sumo Pulls
60 x 5 (then 5 conventional)
100 x 5
140 x 1
165 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 1 (real fast and easy)
GMs 2 sets 10 @ 60kg
Ab rollouts 2 sets 10
strong session today, felt slower on the first couple sets but got it right at the end. Everything’s falling nicely into place for the meet on the 19th.
Thurs 9 June - Bench (5/3/1)
Super 6
Bench
bar x 10
40kg x 5
60 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 3
95 x 1 (easy)
pullups followed reps on bench
TRX pushups 2 sets x awful
face pulls 2 sets 20
pleased with today especially as i felt kinda shitty as a result of not getting enough sleep.
Saturday 11 June - Squat (5/3/1)
Agile 8 + other stretching
Squat
bar x a few
60 x 5
80 x 3
100 x 3
120 x 2
135 x 5
150 x 3
165 x 1 (wraps)
135:
150:
165:
Hamstring curls 2 sets
Abs 2 sets
felt awful today, but actually went pretty ok in the gym apart from nearly throwing on up on one set. This was my last real workout before the meet next sunday. From here on in it’s going to be mostly stretching.
Meet write up: Kent, Surrey & Sussex Power 19th June
Weighed in at 9 AM at 100.4kg little lighter than i would have wanted to, but i started lifting at around 3 PM so i was able to get in a few meals after the weigh in allowing me to get my weight up a bit.
Squat:
1)Opened at 170, got fucked up as they forgot to call my name and so the bar was pretty much unloaded before I was able to let the organisers know - so I spent around 10mins with my knees wrapped. All of this led to me rushing the squat and I fell backwards at lockout - 3 RED LIGHTS
2)So then i took 170 again - smokeshow - 3 WHITE LIGHTS
3)Next i went to 180, i wanted to go for 190 at least but the organiser said it wasn’t a good idea. 180 was a little easy but I was happy with it. 3 WHITE LIGHTS
Bench:
Deadlift:
All in all a good day I think. Would really like to have got 200ish on the squat and got my final attempts on bench and deadlift - but these all seem to be technical things and nerves, the strength is there i just need to be able to show it on the platform. So my goals for my upcoming meets will be to:
*pick sensible numbers to go for
*maybe open lighter to make sure i can get my first attempt no matter what
*not go mental/or get all nervous too early on.
*figure out the form and technique issues that fucked me on Bench and deadlift.
Bench meet on the 16th so I’ll start prepping for that pretty soon. but this week i’m taking off.
Friday 24 June - light lower work
no warm up
5 sets 8 on deadlift really light.
some light sets on the power squat.
proper training starts on monday
Saturday 25 June - light shitty training
A PE teacher at school wrote an offseason “strength and power” program for the rugby team. Although I probably won’t be playing (too old, injured still) I was given the program.
I noticed a few major problems with the program but having only been training for a little while I gave the teacher the benefit of the doubt and decided I wouldn’t write the program off as a complete mess until I’d tried it.
Today’s training was my test day for the program.
Incline bench (with slingshot because of shoulder injuries)
70kg x 12
80kg x 10
90kg x 10
Leg press
3 or 4 25 plates a side for 3 sets 10
Hammer curls
20kg 3 sets 12
DB seated press
28kg 3 sets 12
at this stage someone asked me to help them with their squat so i spent the next 20-30mins doing that. I’m definitely not an expert but i think I helped them out a little. at this stage training was so disrupted it was a write off. I didn’t really mind, I wasn’t enjoying it anyway.
*3 sets 8-12 = as boring as a bread sammich.
*the program called for 16 exercises - this would have taken me maybe 2 hours if not more. probably a combination of me being fat and out of shape and the program being poorly designed.
*there were a lot of problems I saw with the program: 3 types of curl, 6 pushing exercises : 1 pulling exercise, no squats, no pulls, about a million swiss ball circuits etc etc etc. I don’t want to be a snob and bitch about it. Some shit is important to argue about and devote time to, but I’m struggling to see this program finding it’s way into that category.
The embers of training are being stoked the fire will be burning strong on monday.
Monday 27 June - Press (3)
some stretching, some rolling out
Press
bar x a bunch
30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 5
65 x 2 - hopped on the crap train to suckville and played for team awful on this one.
(looking back on this i didn’t really have a clue what i was supposed to be doing so it’s inevitable)
Chins 4 sets 5
press 3 sets 10 @ 40kg
face pulls 3 sets 20
Wasn’t feeling too good on this one so i cut the volume down and went home early.
Tuesday 28 June - Deadlift (3)
Agile 4 (like the agile 8 but i got bored halfway through)
Sumo Pulls
60 x 5
100 x 5
140 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3
195 x 6 (PR) - this was awesome felt really strong today
Dimmel deadlift 3 sets 20 @ 60kg
Bent rows 3 sets 10 @ 60kg
Hamstring curls 3 sets 10 @ 30kg a side
Hanging leg raises 4 sets 12
Today kicked ass - really pleased with the PR and was so focussed the whole way through the assistance work.
Video from today’s training:
back was rounding a lot more than I’d like but on the whole not too awful. My back rounding has always been a problem for me so I’ll look to fix this with more low back and abs work.
Wed 29 July
got some light recovery stuff today as athletics was called off
Stiff legs 4 sets 10
neck work 4 sets 20 forward and back
hamstring curls 100 reps real light
5 mins on stationary bike
Thurs 30 July - Bench (3)
PVC for t spine, stretching for chest, lats and post. capsule
Bench
bar x 10
40 x 8
60 x 3
70 x 3
80 x 3
90 x 3
105 x 1
pullups 3 sets 7
facepulls 3 sets 20 at “21”
all easy today but my shoulders really hurt so i shut training down real early.
Friday 1 July - Squat (3)
PVC for IT band, adductors, t-spine and lower back
stretching for hamstrings, calves and hips
Squat
60 x 5
80 x 3
100 x 3
120 x 1
140 x 3
160 x 6 massive PR
felt really strong today but ran out of time in the gym so i left after the main work, I’ll do assistance today.
video of squats from friday
Saturday 2 July - squat assistance
Power squat/machine good mornings (getting in to the hack squat machine backwards)
1 plate a side x 10
2 plates x 10
3 plates x 10
4 plates x 10
5 plates x 10
Dumbbell stiff legs
32 x 10
50 x 3 sets 10
Hanging leg raises
4 sets 12
Really hard work today - got home and went straight to sleep. The machine GMs were quite hard to figure out but after I got them they were good and really hit mid and low back.
Monday 4 July - Press (5)
Threw discus and shot earlier in the day, but training went well considering.
warmed up - rolled T spine + upper back (upper back was still so jacked up from saturday)
stretched chest and lats
Press
bar x 5
30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 3
60 x 8 (didn’t count but it was somewhere around there)
Pullups 3 sets 7
Face pulls 5 sets 20
neck 2 sets
training was good today. nothing much to report really - I’ve started to back off the assistance now to get ready for the bench meet on 16th July.
Food for today (this is what a typical day looks like at the moment)
9 AM: apple (SWOLE!!!)
11.30 AM: 1 MacDonalds Mayo Chicken + 1 large Vanilla Shake + a few fries
12.30 PM (pre athletics): 1 “jumbo” chicken leg (the packet says there’s 40g protein per leg) + some tomatoes
2 PM: 1 pack starburst + 1 pack fruit pastilles
3 PM (post athletics): 2 more chicken legs + more tomatoes
4.30 PM(pre training): cous cous + olives + humous + herbs + olive oil (quite nice actually)
6 PM (midway through training): more cous cous mixture + 1 stack of oreos
7.30 PM (post training): chicken chowder + a few slices of bread + 1 chocolate pudding
10.15 PM: 2 more chicken legs + olive stuff + a cider
might grab some cookies before bed
Tuesday 5 July - Deadlift (5)
supple leopard work
Deadlift
60 x 5 conventional
60 x 5 sumo (sumo from here on in)
100 x 5
120 x 3
140 x 5
160 x 5
185 x 5 nothing much to report
Good Mornings 3 sets 10 @ 60kg going real low on these and using my deadlift stance
Bent Rows 3 sets 10 @ 70kg
Hamstring curls 1 warm up set then 3 sets 10 @ 35kg a side
Hanging leg raises 4 sets 12
Good training tonight, not much to report really. Wanted to back off the assistance today but ended up doing it all in the end. My shoulder’s still really pissed off with me and I don’t know why (I woke up with it hurting on saturday, but then it hurt during the “power squats” as well so maybe it’s the combination of those factors - I’ll carry on icing etc.
Food today:
11 AM: 1 chicken leg (standard size), 1 apple, 1 banana, 1 cookie some flapjacks and a teacake
1 PM: 1 chicken leg
1.45 PM: 1 protein bar (40g protein)
4.30 PM (pre training): some percy pigs + a toffee crisp + a mini chocolate brownie
6.30 PM (during training): 1 toffee crisp + an RTD shake (55g protein)
8 PM: 2 chicken breasts, some sausages, vegetables + potatoes (I threw some Olive oil on top as well)
from here on I’ll either eat another 2 chicken legs or another 2 chicken titties (depends if the other chicken tits are my dad’s dinner) I’ll have some candies and stuff and maybe a sammich as this doesn’t seem like enough food yet.
Wednesday 6 July - extra stuff
“Dropping out” of the bench meet is a poetic way of saying that I forgot to send off my entry form in time - so right now I feel like a bit of a dick for fucking up as well as i did for that. In some ways it’s a good thing though:
-I’ve reached the fat level that is my upper limit of what’s acceptable. I shouldn’t need to be around 25% bodyfat (if callipers can ever be trusted…) to weigh 105kg and lift what i lift.
-My shoulders + traps still feel fucked so this’ll allow me to back off from certain stuff without worrying about prepping for a meet.
-I’ve been itching to do some conditioning for over a year now and it should be awesome to add that back in to my training
-I’m not in good enough shape to outrun any rapey individuals that might wish to chase after my wobbling man tits. this is a big worry. Not getting ready for a meet will let me remedy this issue
-I think if I can getter in better shape I’ll kick more ass, it takes no talent to be in shape.
***
There will be no mention of cutting/stripping back to see what i’ve built; likewise no mention of the Jr Nats; even more so there will be nothing heard about getting my beach body ready for the bishes.
So today I’ve been pigging out on whatever for food.
I’ll start the “cut” tomorrow. I don’t know what my exact goals are as yet, they’ll get posted when I know.
Training today was teaching someone else how to squat (as far as the gym goes I’m seen as an authority on the matter but it’d be nice to refer people on to someone who knows a lot more than I do)
Box Squats
A whole bunch of triples @ 60, 80 and 100. Nothing majorly stressful + some mobility work.