[Great stuff Stuart smashing the January goal.]

Great stuff Stuart smashing the January goal.

 Friday 14 Jan - 13:8:2

Good week overall, did a whole lot of exercise, averaged about 10.5k steps.

Food was mostly good with a sprinkling of not so good. Not so good = some chocolate orange + a take away lunch whilst pressed for time mid week. The temptation was a bit to much for a chicken burger and chips😁

F**k that. We can all smash goals when we set the bar like we're going for a world record limbo.

Was forced to do a barbell chest press session flat and incline for the first time in months as the January newbies had overcrowded the gym benches for dumbbells.  I have been using dumbbells only for the last few months.   Managed to bang out 8 reps at 80kg easily 3 x 90kg and a 1 rep max of 1 x 100kg which really surprised me even though the dumbbells have been going well i wasn't expecting to be that strong without a spotter.

Solid work mate and the dumbbells will definitely have contributed.

I've recently put DB inclines and seated DB shoulder press back in to my routine and I've seen an increase in bench since.

You tempted to give bench a shot now that you've had this pleasant result or back to DB when they're available?

I am going to stick with DB's until i have the 50s out hopefully in the summer.  Then i will do another bench trial.

Keep updating your progress, would love to see how quickly you can get there.

50s are so hard, even picking them up off the floor is a challenge but pressing the ba****ds is so challenging.

Best advice I could give is to do them often, at least 3 times per week and to vary rep ranges. You need to do heavy days where you're hitting 4 to 6 reps on your top set and light days when you hit 8 to 10 reps on your top set.

Every rep should be full range and you should be pausing at the bottom on some sessions. Doesn't have to be a long pause but you have to stop. If you don't do this whilst you're building up you'll end up doing shoddy reps on the 50s and risk injury.

Also you shouldn't ever 1rm on dumbbells. There's so many stabilising muscles involved you're just asking for trouble.

I'd throw in some heavy tricep work as well if you can. Do some narrow grip bench as part of your triceps work and it'll carry over really well to your dumbbells. It'll also keep your eye in for when you move on to bench in the future.

Was forced to do a barbell chest press session flat and incline for the first time in months as the January newbies had overcrowded the gym benches for dumbbells.  I have been using dumbbells only for the last few months.   Managed to bang out 8 reps at 80kg easily 3 x 90kg and a 1 rep max of 1 x 100kg which really surprised me even though the dumbbells have been going well i wasn't expecting to be that strong without a spotter.

Solid work mate and the dumbbells will definitely have contributed.

I've recently put DB inclines and seated DB shoulder press back in to my routine and I've seen an increase in bench since.

You tempted to give bench a shot now that you've had this pleasant result or back to DB when they're available?

It seems Boris Johnson has found a way to unite all sides of the Covid debate.

Watching PMQs earlier really was a prime example of them all at their worst. Disgusting.

Still jeering, heckling, point scoring, making jokes and not taking any of it seriously.

They all need to go.

Bunch of absolute twats.

Unfortunately if they all go they'll just get replaced with another bunch of absolute twats.

Maybe get someone in from a poorer background so that the £75k salary gets you a person with a functional brain rather than a complete turnip

Here's an amazing fact.

The 10th President of the USA was born in 1790. His grandson is still alive.

That really is amazing.

When you account for life expectancy between 1790 and now it just doesn't seem possible. The odds must be in the hundreds of millions to one.

Let's guess that the grandson is doing really well and has just hit 102 so was born in 1920. That's plausible today although obviously unlikely.

That means the father and grandfather had to have their respective children at an average age of 65.

That makes it seem more plausible although just surviving to 65 was hard enough then, never mind having a kid. The wives must've been significantly younger to have successfully conceived and given birth back then. Quick Google check shows the current record for a women giving birth is just under 67. Oldest known father at time of birth was 92 so no problems there.

Presidential life expectancy would obviously be higher than average but still.....

The average quartz watch is accurate to +/-1 second per day. Just how accurate is that when expressed as a percentage?

The answer, if correct, blew me away. Unfortunately I'm not clever enough to check it.


EDIT: I am clever enough to check my watch, just not clever enough to do the maths.

BTW- =/-1 second per day is 99.998% accuracy. (Apparently)

60 x 60 x 24 = 86400

100-(100x(1/86400)) = 99.9988

Story checks out

Do any of you use scales that do body fat and link to the samsung health app (or any app that works on android)?  Just went down a rabbit hole looking for some new scales.  I might just get the bog standard ones, as many of the fancy scales aren't compatible and am a bit dubious on the accuracy of the other stuff.  Just wanted to know if anyone does this and finds it worthwhile.

Bog standard digital scales and see what hole my belt is on to measure body fat changes.

Body fat measurement with scales will be incredibly inaccurate and also inconsistent.

I've got these one at £17

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salter-Digital-Bathroom-Scales-Toughened/dp/B007QM6O5A/ref=sxin_13_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?crid=O4EF1IV9LCTM&cv_ct_cx=bathroom+scales&keywords=bathroom+scales&pd_rd_i=B007QM6O5A&pd_rd_r=ddb55ed9-dbad-4d48-b940-4449859caee7&pd_rd_w=W31Ec&pd_rd_wg=hJXPi&pf_rd_p=ab821e58-ba6a-4eef-9efe-53415a3700a2&pf_rd_r=WY9YYXGY5GGXXVY3C44X&qid=1641559935&sprefix=bathroom+scales%2Caps%2C62&sr=1-2-8e68915f-140a-472d-a4a3-a7db7efc16f0-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzRklMWVBMSE1NNklaJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUExMDAxOTI0Mlk4OVBWTkdUTzZYUCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTU4NTU2UjhBU0hEU1RPN1JQJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3Bfc2VhcmNoX3RoZW1hdGljJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Served me very well for 5+ years

I'll take the overs on that 12 7

Wouldn't you put more of a curve in that chart too?  Easier to lose a few pounds at the start than in April?

Haven't got any working scales, so can't join in right now, but think I have lost quite a bit through just running and following my normal diet.  Could definitely make more effort on the food I eat though.

Not a curve, just make it horizontal.

He likes his junk food and his beers does our Stu.

Woah

The target line is fine, not saying it will go down like that but just got to stay below it

I take offence at that, I don't really like junk food.

I just love lots and lots and lots of really good food, and beers, and wines and whisky!

Born to be fat

I'll take the overs on that 12 7

Wouldn't you put more of a curve in that chart too?  Easier to lose a few pounds at the start than in April?

Haven't got any working scales, so can't join in right now, but think I have lost quite a bit through just running and following my normal diet.  Could definitely make more effort on the food I eat though.

Not a curve, just make it horizontal.

He likes his junk food and his beers does our Stu.

I'll take the overs on that 12 7

leg and lower back today and i did 3 sets x 8 deadlifts at 170kg.   My plan longer term is to get back to doing 200kg+ for 1 rep max but given the cardio i am doing i am doing high volume low weight leg sessions so i don't need huge recovery which affects my cardio.

I know I've already said it but I've completely given up on deadlifts. 170kg is actually my 1RM from when I was trying but even that caused an injury.

I can do them but just the slightest blip in form puts my hip or back out and I'm in a mess for weeks.

For me it's a high risk low reward exercise so best avoided. Squats are in the same category and also shrugs and sadly pull ups

I hope to get pull ups back in one day and it's definitely possible. I thought I was done with seated DB shoulder press but have started again after a good few years avoiding them so I know it can be done if I work on the right muscles slowly.

Fruit doesn't really fill me up plus I avoid it due to the amount of sugar...

Have you been reading some of those dumbass keto books?

At what point in history did the sugar in fruit become a problem? People will happily drink a can of coke but won't go near a banana because it's full of sugar.

Ffs if you don't like fruit don't eat it but don't avoid it because of the sugar.

No I haven't read any dumbass books. I'm just really physically addicted to sugar so been trying to cut it out including trying to minimise carbs also...

cheers

Apologies, I'm not a huge fan of keto.

Cutting it out completely seems a bit extreme unless a doctor has told you to. Fruit contains sugar but also has so many benefits.

I've just done a brief check on sugar addiction and quite a few sources recommend eating a piece of fruit to help curb cravings. Couldn't that be useful instead of going cold turkey? You could perhaps mix a few blackberries, blueberries and strawberries with low fat Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese to slow the sugar release?

Everything I've seen recommends snacking on healthy options rather than avoiding altogether. Obviously in your case you'd need to lean towards the lower calorie options as well wherever possible.

This looks a decent list:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-that-fight-sugar-cravings

Eggs and chickpeas make the list before you dismiss it by the way

For the mince either fry light or just cook it in its own juice. Put the pan on low heat to start and then use the fat from the mince to brown it off, before draining the excess fat.

I'm with Matt on the sugar in fruit thing. Totally unrefined in fruit, plus you get a ton of micro nutrients and fibre, which will make you feel fuller.

Yeah that sounds like it would work. I fry mince quite hot and like to be able to leave it for a minute so the water just saves any accidents.... It soon boils off as well so doesn't affect the finished article.

I use frozen veg a lot as well so the water also helps with that.

200g 5% mince
200g mixed mexican veg
125g mexican rice (half a packet)
170g tomato and chilli sauce

650 calories total, very filling and very healthy.

If I'm trying to gain weight I add 20g of oil and a couple of nan breads which takes it up to just over 1200 calories

If I'm trying to cut I have 150g mince, 200g veg, 125g rice and 200g tinned tomatoes instead of the sauce. That drops it to 560 calories.

Little tweaks can make big differences that all add up over the course of a few months.

give me 3 months to get through this training period and we can meet up at DL nottiingham in the summer for work out and have a few beers after in the sun around the pool outside.   would you be willing tto get to 115kg body weight if you could bench 150kg for 5 reps just out of interest?  Id like to meet up once  i have done the 50kgs and lost another 10kg+ then i won't look like a proper fat ***** next to you!

Sounds good to me mate, in for that. Happy to meet in the cold at my low rent gym to maybe push you towards the 50kg sooner.......

My main focus is aesthetics so unless I could hit 115kg lean (which I can't) I wouldn't want to get that big no matter how much I could lift. I like discussing the numbers but it's just a happy side effect of training for general hypertrophy and gives me a focus to make sure I'm always progressing.

My ideal weight for looking good (in my opinion) is pretty much bang on 100kg. Much less than that I start to look a bit gaunt as I lose fat off my face very early. The highest I can go without starting to get too fat is about 108kg so that's the range I stick to. Current weight is 102kg which is a nice balance between looking decent and eating loads.

Another of my goals is a 1.5x body weight bench and 150 at 100 feels a lot more attainable than 162 at 108.

Right now I think I'd be a slight favourite to hit 153kg without a pause. I've got 10 weeks to my next 1RM attempt so got to decide where to pitch my weight. That's going to be a paused rep though which would mean a 5.5kg PR which is huge and highly unlikely. Can't wait to find out though

Here's another one:



The guy makes loads of videos including loads on nutrition. He's a marmite character so you not be able to tolerate watching him but it's a small sacrifice for the level of information he gives out.