Blonde will make you STRONG

[iRaise]

Wanted some 6's on fronts today, but legs didn't agree so broke it down for some technique work at 80. Was pretty successful to be fair.

Accessory work went pretty well too.

Rack pulls on plan for tomorrow, I may go 2's, but likely to be 4x4.

[Steve Swift]

I think that is a plan, I want to keep doing a few so will now work on technique.

[Steve Swift]

Ok.   I want to do a good 50 now, so can some one direct me to an example of a good press up. I thought hands had to be closer to the body not wider?  I do accept the points raised but I would like to do it correctly if I am going to do it.  I will start by slowing it down and see where I get too, still expect it be late 30's early 40's but lets see

And no I want nothing from this, i.e., muscle, strength, etc. I just like small personal challenges. Maybe I will video a "Good" 10 and you guys can give me some feed back.

Steve

[iRaise]

Ok.   I want to do a good 50 now, so can some one direct me to an example of a good press up. I thought hands had to be closer to the body not wider?  I do accept the points raised but I would like to do it correctly if I am going to do it.  I will start by slowing it down and see where I get too, still expect it be late 30's early 40's but lets see

And no I want nothing from this, i.e., muscle, strength, etc. I just like small personal challenges. Maybe I will video a "Good" 10 and you guys can give me some feed back.

Steve

Doing a good press up/taxing the appropriate muscles to me would be the same thing. If you are in a cross fit competition, a good press up is probably just touching the floor (I have no idea if thats the case, they just get a little flexible with form at times).

I would class a good press up as whole body tension, under control, power up from the bottom.

[Steve Swift]

I know that their are a million of these but this guy seemed to know what he was doing, summarized at 8.30.

[iRaise]

I know that their are a million of these but this guy seemed to know what he was doing, summarized at 8.30.

Watched from 8.30 at yeah seems pretty legit. Just like the plank, IMO, so many people get press ups wrong and just worm around/not engage what the should be.

That seems a good start point though, go for it and see how many you can do. Without being to presumptuous, if you do more than ten, re watch the video. When people tell me they plank for a minute, alarm bells start to ring. I've seen guys that do front levers/handstand press ups etc. that struggle for a 1 minute plank.

[EvilPie]

Maintaining that straight body is going to be the hardest part for you looking at your 50. You were getting a bit floppy pretty quick so staying straight will be a huge challenge.

I think you need to strengthen your core before you try 50 with form. Can you plank for a minute? Looking at your press ups I think you probably can't. If you can't plank for a minute and your press ups take more than a minute to perform then there's obviously going to be a problem.

So your next challenge could be to get away from the press ups completely and try for a 2 minute plank. It doesn't sound a lot but trust me it's f**king hard!! If you can plank for two minutes then when you get back to press ups that part of it won't be too taxing at least.

I try to break mine up a bit so I'll do 1 minute normal plank straight in to 1 minute side, back in to normal, back in to other side and then finally back to normal to failure which is never a full minute in case you're wondering.

Try that same routine but for 30 seconds and see how you go. You might find it too difficult, it's taken me months to build up to what I now do and I don't find it easy at all.

Just make sure you tense everything up including that glute and quad squeeze to make sure you really feel it. Got to admit I don't always squeeze the glutes and that really makes them a lot easier. If you fully tense you'll notice a huge difference in difficulty.

[iRaise]

Felt the fire today:

4x4 Rack Pulls at 205, and handstand went really well.

5x8 MP at 47.5 then has to drop to 42.5 on the last set as only got 6/7 on the 4th.

Flicked in some inc DB today too for 3x8 at 28 which were actually really hard. But slowly trying to get more and more pressing in.

[Steve Swift]

Press ups, who knew   I started at 8 of these mofos and got to....cough, cough 50...  intrigued to perform now. 50 good ones seems to be a nice little challenge.. and a bit of planking thrown in the mix, ok I am your Huckleberry.

[iRaise]

Press ups, who knew   I started at 8 of these mofos and got to....cough, cough 50...  intrigued to perform now. 50 good ones seems to be a nice little challenge.. and a bit of planking thrown in the mix, ok I am your Huckleberry.

50 press ups is massive. Just like a 1 minute plank. One of our mentors has ridiculously high standards for training, and I am sure he was 50 press ups and 90 second planks for guys. 30 press ups and 1 minute plank for girls.

If someone gives me 10-20 good press ups and 30 seconds plank I am impressed.

[kukushkin88]

Well done Steve on the press ups. Sorry for the lack of updates, problem with my left shoulder. Seems to be healed now though, 100 press up video this side of Christmas.

[iRaise]

Little tight in the hip flexor today. Weekends are being pretty social at the minute, so I am lacking any decent movement for two days every week and I like to attack the week strong with legs. Might not be the best decision, but with every man and his dog wanting to train chest on Monday, it lets be have all the stuff to myself so it has its benefits.

4x4 Squats today at 115. First two set didn't have a spot so bailed on three as I was being a bit shaky. Last two sets got four out, and had the slightest of touches to keep me straight. It is really annoying because its such a small touch, but I couldn't complete the rep without it (safely that is) and I trust very few people to spot me. But we got it done, to a degree.

Leg press went up t some 5x8 at 230. Flying with this at the minute. Focusing on controlled reps and really engaging as much as my lower body as possible. Feel there is a lot more to come with that.

Through some conditioning in at the end, just to use up some of the extra energy intake from the weekend. Normal mix of mobility/strength/gymnastics, definitely leaves me sweating.

I find it so interesting how people behave. I pretty much see the same core people in there all the time. And have trained this way all year (shoeless, with bands, lots of mobility and BW stuff) and its only really now people are starting to ask questions/adding into their routine. Last week had someone come up and ask everyday some sort of question, and today some guy chewed my ear off for about 15 minutes. It is great to see, but its funny how long it takes to ask. Humans take so long to process things sometimes. Everyone starts out with funny looks and laughing and then asks you how to do it. Great lesson for me to try and stay as open minded to new practices as much as I can. Since I am fairly evidence based I am guilty of discarding anything thats faddy/cult like. But there are little bits of good in everything I guess. Whereas I don't practice yoga, I definitely take bits from it. (this guy asked me to describe how I train and I couldn't really find an answer, so I went with a bit of everything).

[iRaise]

Bench today

4x4 92.5, and each last one was touuuuuugh.

All accessory work was pretty good, and worked through a few new shoulder drills which I am really excited about.

[EvilPie]

I stayed away from the gym completely last week after Monday's session.

Back again this week but taking it VERY steady with the shoulder. OHP I managed an incredibly healthy 20kg for 4 x 8 just to feel the movement. Event that wasn't completely comfortable and physio has suggested machine press for a bit during rehab. Doesn't seem to have affected bench which I managed 6 at 100kg. Didn't push to 120kg because there really isn't any point.

Also went steady on squats today as my shoulder hurts a bit on those due to being super tight. Just 80kg for 6.

RDL still strong at 100kg for 6 and DL 100kg for 6. I finished with some grip/core work just holding a 60kg bar single arm one side at a time. That's an absolute killer!

All a bit of a come down after the previous weeks of flying up the number but these things happen.

Two more days of training then it's off to Vegas and I won't be back at the gym until probably Tuesday 29th. The lay off should actually be really good as it'll give the shoulder a bit more rest ready to get back on it when I return.

Hopefully I'll get back up to decent numbers to make our get together worthwhile.

[EvilPie]

Bench today

4x4 92.5, and each last one was touuuuuugh.

All accessory work was pretty good, and worked through a few new shoulder drills which I am really excited about.

Bench is coming on nicely mate. Really want to see you hit two plates soon.

Do you do any specific work on your hip flexors when you feel them tighten up? I find that they're quite easy to stretch off and 'fix' compared to other muscles. Few lunges and they're good as new