Blonde will make you STRONG

[muckthenuts]

Thanks mate, i will aim to do 60 push ups every day and see how I get on. Thanks for the advice!

[iRaise]

No huge numbers but really enjoying training. Going through a volume phase, just to mix it up I guess. Still have some strength work in there and if I feel strong try not to let it go to waste.

Pyramid set on the OAR today

15-32
12-40
8-50
12-40
15-32

Pretty dam tough to be honest.

Then moved onto 4x10 floor DB press. Tried to keep constant tension and used 24s and thought I was going to lose my arms. Really tough.

Legs been going well too,

Fronts

3x5 100kg
3x5e 1 leg lunge 60kg
3x5 OH squats 60
4x8 RDL 110

[muckthenuts]

Thanks mate, i will aim to do 60 push ups every day and see how I get on. Thanks for the advice!

Man it's been a long time since i did these. It was surprisingly hard to do 3 sets of 20.

Looking forward to tomorrow! Main lift will be 3x5 92.5kg on the squat rack. Will be my highest ever if i can get it.

[muckthenuts]

No huge numbers but really enjoying training. Going through a volume phase, just to mix it up I guess. Still have some strength work in there and if I feel strong try not to let it go to waste.

Pyramid set on the OAR today

15-32
12-40
8-50
12-40
15-32

Pretty dam tough to be honest.

Then moved onto 4x10 floor DB press. Tried to keep constant tension and used 24s and thought I was going to lose my arms. Really tough.

Legs been going well too,

Fronts

3x5 100kg
3x5e 1 leg lunge 60kg
3x5 OH squats 60
4x8 RDL 110

Sounds like a lot of fun combined with a lot of hard work. You must be leaving the gym feeling incredible after getting through that.

[iRaise]

No huge numbers but really enjoying training. Going through a volume phase, just to mix it up I guess. Still have some strength work in there and if I feel strong try not to let it go to waste.

Pyramid set on the OAR today

15-32
12-40
8-50
12-40
15-32

Pretty dam tough to be honest.

Then moved onto 4x10 floor DB press. Tried to keep constant tension and used 24s and thought I was going to lose my arms. Really tough.

Legs been going well too,

Fronts

3x5 100kg
3x5e 1 leg lunge 60kg
3x5 OH squats 60
4x8 RDL 110

Sounds like a lot of fun combined with a lot of hard work. You must be leaving the gym feeling incredible after getting through that.

Training has been good lately, the more flexible i seem to take it the better I seem to perform. I still go in with a fairly rigid plan, but I am more easy with whats done on what day and reps/sets now. I still don't think I can go in and wing it yet.

On the flip side, I may go back to very rigid at some point too.

[iRaise]

Really good lower body session today

DL

120x8
140x5
160x5
170 2x3

All pain free

4x8 OH Squats at 50, shoeless and beltless, much harder I think but makes me drill down a better movement pattern.

Quite a bit of accessory work, this session takes about 90 mins. Tiring but good fun.

[EvilPie]

Really good lower body session today

DL

120x8
140x5
160x5
170 2x3

All pain free

4x8 OH Squats at 50, shoeless and beltless, much harder I think but makes me drill down a better movement pattern.

Quite a bit of accessory work, this session takes about 90 mins. Tiring but good fun.

Strong work there mate. 200kg got to be very close......

[EvilPie]

Another interesting couple of physio sessions for me this week. Firstly with the massage guy I had my first session in a good few years where there was literally nothing wrong. No arm, elbow or shoulder issues whatsoever.

I have a strong feeling that this is due to the new wrist wraps and he agrees. Wrist wraps lock the wrists so stop them getting in bother, no wrist bother stops elbow bother, no elbow bother stops shoulder bother and finally that stops anything moving down in to my back. Pretty good feeling and hopefully it'll continue.

The other physio who discovered my psoas issue has now found another weak area around my hips which I have to work on. Apparently you shouls be able to raise either foot off the ground without having to lean at all to compensate and I simply can't. There isn't enough strength in my hips and core to enable me to lift my knee to parallel without a lot of compensation from elsewhere and that is apparently bad. I literally can't even move my foot and it doesn't even feel like it's close to moving. I've tried working at it and it's honestly more taxing than doing a set of heavy deadlifts.

I mentioned to her that my deadlift and squat aren't as strong as I think they should be and she said that this will all be part of that. I think this is one that I'll have to work on for quite a while before I can get it sorted but hopefully at the end of it all I'll have a little bit more strength to work with.

Training wise it's been a lazy week. Only did Tuesday but going to go in tomorrow and Sunday fully refreshed and ready for some heavy lifts. Looking forward to it.

[EvilPie]

Fun bench session today.

5 x 5 at 100kg followed by 3 x 5 paused with the slingshot. Upped the last set to 110kg for a bit of extra overload.

Loads of accessory work, dumbbell press, single arm seated rows, flyes, seated shoulder press, some triceps work and a few other bits. Nothing overly strenuous but plenty of volume.

I'm hoping to keep the 100kg going up to my next shot at the 5 week programme to make that a bit easier. Just need to know when our next meet day is then I'll get to it working up to a decent PR attempt.

Yesterday's lower session was decent but nothing special. 5 x 5 squats up to 80kg and then deadlift up to 140kg doubles. Form felt good on everything but there was a slight back twinge preventing me going heavy. No issues now so all is well.

[Marky147]

Good stuff, Matt. Glad things are going so well again.

When I get my F1 controlled car, I'l have to do a DTD trip one weekend when you guys are training. Be a change from my gym, and a chance to get out of town for a couple days

Did 3 sessions last week, but didn't go all that heavy, and prob gonna do more volume at lighter weight next week, too.

Dead on 224 this morning, so will be under 16 stone for the first time in about 6 years soon.

[iRaise]

Fun bench session today.

5 x 5 at 100kg followed by 3 x 5 paused with the slingshot. Upped the last set to 110kg for a bit of extra overload.

Loads of accessory work, dumbbell press, single arm seated rows, flyes, seated shoulder press, some triceps work and a few other bits. Nothing overly strenuous but plenty of volume.

I'm hoping to keep the 100kg going up to my next shot at the 5 week programme to make that a bit easier. Just need to know when our next meet day is then I'll get to it working up to a decent PR attempt.

Yesterday's lower session was decent but nothing special. 5 x 5 squats up to 80kg and then deadlift up to 140kg doubles. Form felt good on everything but there was a slight back twinge preventing me going heavy. No issues now so all is well.

Will drop you a message this week onside possible days and see what we can do.

[iRaise]

Good stuff, Matt. Glad things are going so well again.

When I get my F1 controlled car, I'l have to do a DTD trip one weekend when you guys are training. Be a change from my gym, and a chance to get out of town for a couple days

Did 3 sessions last week, but didn't go all that heavy, and prob gonna do more volume at lighter weight next week, too.

Dead on 224 this morning, so will be under 16 stone for the first time in about 6 years soon.

Definitely come along if you can make it.

Great news scale wise too!

[EvilPie]

I've noticed that my belt is struggling to reach the second hole recently so thought I'd have a weigh in. Surprised to see 16st 11lb or just over 107kg.

Can't remember last time I was this heavy and not seriously out of shape so clearly my current diet has been going okay.

I think I'll have a bit of a trimming phase now as I really don't want to let it get out of control. Just cut out a few things and keep tabs on progress. Hopefully it won't affect my strength too much but I'll deal with that as and when.

No real targets in mind just cut back a bit rather than eat everything I see.

[EvilPie]

Had a good read through the thread going back to the start of the year and it made really interesting reading. I've put on over half a stone and also gained quite a lot of strength by the look of things although a lot of the strength is from recovering from injury.

I hadn't realised how quickly my deadlift had come on so that's really good to see. Squat has also improved quite a lot as has bench.

I really should keep a journal of the weights I move to look back on. It's quite difficult in the thread as there's a lot to go through and it would be so much easier in a diary of some sort.

I feel like I'm ready to push for something interesting soon and maybe develop a proper programme for DL and squat as well as the bench routine I've got going on. Saw a nice looking programme on youtube recently that I may copy. If I can find it again I'll link it here.

[EvilPie]

Fun bench session today.

5 x 5 at 100kg followed by 3 x 5 paused with the slingshot. Upped the last set to 110kg for a bit of extra overload.

Loads of accessory work, dumbbell press, single arm seated rows, flyes, seated shoulder press, some triceps work and a few other bits. Nothing overly strenuous but plenty of volume.

I'm hoping to keep the 100kg going up to my next shot at the 5 week programme to make that a bit easier. Just need to know when our next meet day is then I'll get to it working up to a decent PR attempt.

Yesterday's lower session was decent but nothing special. 5 x 5 squats up to 80kg and then deadlift up to 140kg doubles. Form felt good on everything but there was a slight back twinge preventing me going heavy. No issues now so all is well.

Will drop you a message this week onside possible days and see what we can do.

I can come to you this time if it helps. Just let me know.