Blonde will make you STRONG

[EvilPie]

I'm off travelling from a couple of months. Let's say i wanted to be able to do the splits by the time i came back.

How would you recommend going about this?

Change 'couple' to 'six' would be a helpful starter.

[EvilPie]

Jeez, "Huston we got a problem". Rather than hit the 10 I hoped for I could only managed 5...  Arms were like lead weights and it was taking me 32/34 strokes per length rather than 24/26 a length I would normally take. I guess my arms are really weak I think I need .. .."Blonde to make me strong".

I am going to have to rethink this week so as to give my arms some recovery as I am not sure what else I can gain in 7/8 days.

Long term though guys I suspect lifting some weights is on the cards, I am sure you guys can give me some direction on how to tackle this?

Have a good week .

Steve

There's nothing you can do to fix this by the time of your event so all you can do is knuckle down and get it done.

Perhaps get in the pool every day but just do two lengths and then stop even if you know you can do more. Basically work your swimming but don't get anywhere near fatigue.

There's definitely no benefit to staying out of the pool completely to rest. All that means is that come the day you'll be super low on confidence and by length 5 you'll be f**ked.

Can you go swimming twice per day? you've got 8 days to build up so maybe:

2 - 2
2 - 3
3 - 3
3 - 4
Rest
4 - 4
4 - 5
Rest
16!!!!!

I'm no swimming expert, I doubt any of us on here are but this is how I'd go about it.

[Steve Swift]

Hi mate,

Yes could swim twice a day. Feel really confident with some rest I will get close to the mark, so perhaps you are right. Tick over swimming which will deffo help with recovery.

This is where insanity and t25 kick in,never give up attitude.

[GreekStein]

you're all girls

[EvilPie]

you're all girls

Seems fair.

[iRaise]

As an aside ..

opinions of gym selfies.. ok.. or loathsome..

How did I miss this, strongly dislike.

I think it makes people who go to the gym seem superior, when that is clearly not the case. And some who take them may even believe that.

It goes in line with all the motivational quotes. I'm like mate, you cut out some calories and went on a run. You did not hit rock bottom and came out fighting. It is incredibly frustrating and positions fitness in such a bad light in my opinion.

[iRaise]

Can't offer much swimming advice, or triathlon advice in general. Other than eat a lot of carbs the night/day before. Like 500-800g. If you need to use fluids/gels thats fine too. You don't wanna be flagging.

Not sure any meaningful physiological adaptions can be made in a week.

[iRaise]

Front Squats yesterday.

4x2 at 100.

I feel good for more but my fucking lats are too tight and I get into a bad position at the bottom. It is so so so annoying. I have to keep working on that. Good news is I can grip the bar with my entire hand. Little life goal right there.

I am meant to be in for 4x2 Rack pulls today/tomorrow. But feeling pretty tired this week. So will leave till Monday.

Food has been pretty bad too. Cant stop eating cake and drinking cider. Should probably address this.

[Marky147]

Agree 100%

Cake & Cider don't go together at all.

Coffee with Cake, and throw in some form of BBQ tucker with the Cider.

Finally an area I can advise on

[iRaise]

Agree 100%

Cake & Cider don't go together at all.

Coffee with Cake, and throw in some form of BBQ tucker with the Cider.

Finally an area I can advise on

No cake in the house as of today, so hopefully a more controlled week! Couldn't agree more with the combos there though! Unfortunately I have already done my dirty bulk and came to realise I just got fat. As fun as it was, those days are on the back shelf.

[iRaise]

Back to 4x8 this week.

Back squats coming in at 92.5 and felt really easy. Could have probably had 2.5-7.5kg more on there. Up to 200 on the LP and thats feeling pretty solid too.

Last few weeks has been a huge strength increase. I think a push in KCALs has helped, but other than that not too sure what has sparked it. Pleased with it though, it just makes me want to diet less and less. Don't want to lose the strength! May end up the same as last year and start dieting around Dec. time. But we shall see, may miss a year and just steadily increase til this time next year. But everything can change once you start to  .

Have to do my times/scores for our Olympics this week so will let everyone know how that got on.

[EvilPie]

You know when you do all of this 6 x 3, 5 x 5, 4 x 8 type stuff are you strict with the reps?

Surely if you're at 8 and not struggling at all you'd do a few more rather than waste a set?

Or is the 4 x 8 just a guide?

[muckthenuts]

Surely if you're at 8 and not struggling at all you'd do a few more rather than waste a set?

I can begin applying this logic for sure

[iRaise]

You know when you do all of this 6 x 3, 5 x 5, 4 x 8 type stuff are you strict with the reps?

Surely if you're at 8 and not struggling at all you'd do a few more rather than waste a set?

Or is the 4 x 8 just a guide?

It all depends how far I am in. I never or at least very very very rarely. So unless its the last set, I tend not to go over reps as I don't want to waste volume. There is no point going to 9 on the penultimate set then 5 on the final. So I tend to train to 8/10 fatigue. Mainly so I can recover for the next session, and for the rest of the session.

As I get further in my training life, I should definitely take advantage more of good days, but I also have the psychological. I get mad (stupidly and illogically) if I was doing 100 for 8 yesterday but next week 100 for 6 is hard. So I just like to be nice and steady. I am sure I miss out on progress in the short term, but in the long term I get the motivation to keep going if that makes sense? I don't want to be a hero for one session and let it affects others. Except on a DL maybe cos I love those guys. But on everything else, I just want to be a little bit better each week, if I have more left in the tank that gives me more confidence than peaking and going where do I go from here. So here I am really looking forward to the next 4x8, as I know I have room for improvement.

Nearly all my training is designed on keeping me interested and enjoying it. Hence adding in the mobility for gymnastics etc.

If I can look back in my books next year and see small progress I will be happy.

The caveat being in a few years that probably isn't applicable, I probably do have to push that bit harder and go for it more on good days. But my hope is by then my mental game is much stronger.

[iRaise]

You know when you do all of this 6 x 3, 5 x 5, 4 x 8 type stuff are you strict with the reps?

Surely if you're at 8 and not struggling at all you'd do a few more rather than waste a set?

Or is the 4 x 8 just a guide?

For hypertrophy too, its total volume. So if I am more KGs than last week, I will be growing. So its not a 'wasted' set. But it may be a less than optimal set.