Blonde will make you STRONG

[Marky147]

Yeah, my muscle wastage is a byproduct of MS related issues, rather than a direct result of the condition.

Yeah so muscle retention becomes key, obviously not saying eat protein get huge. But it feels like one of those things you would rather do than not do.

I think its fair, probably in your interest health wise to be lighter, but trying to do it slowly and keeping the habits seems a better way than going up and down.

I've always been heavy, ever since I was about 10, and I'm prob not far off the best shape I've been in since I finished basic @ 18.

I'm down 60lbs, and haven't lost any strength, so pretty happy with that, and I'm still eating lots of enjoyable grub.

That's fantastic work mate. If you're losing weight and enjoying the process then to be honest I'd ignore everything I said and just stick at what you're doing. There may be more optimal ways to lose weight but the best diet is always going to be the one you can stick to.

I don't enjoy it, but I enjoy lifting again, and I like being able to stand up

I'd imagine I'll have to be a little stricter after xmas, when I'm trying to get myself under 200, and will look at that in January.

I've got my car now, so can drive again, ánd had my first motorway spin the other week.

[iRaise]

Yeah, my muscle wastage is a byproduct of MS related issues, rather than a direct result of the condition.

Yeah so muscle retention becomes key, obviously not saying eat protein get huge. But it feels like one of those things you would rather do than not do.

I think its fair, probably in your interest health wise to be lighter, but trying to do it slowly and keeping the habits seems a better way than going up and down.

I've always been heavy, ever since I was about 10, and I'm prob not far off the best shape I've been in since I finished basic @ 18.

I'm down 60lbs, and haven't lost any strength, so pretty happy with that, and I'm still eating lots of enjoyable grub.

That's fantastic work mate. If you're losing weight and enjoying the process then to be honest I'd ignore everything I said and just stick at what you're doing. There may be more optimal ways to lose weight but the best diet is always going to be the one you can stick to.

I don't enjoy it, but I enjoy lifting again, and I like being able to stand up

I'd imagine I'll have to be a little stricter after xmas, when I'm trying to get myself under 200, and will look at that in January.

I've got my car now, so can drive again, ánd had my first motorway spin the other week.

100% I think we all just have penny drop moments where you realise something has to change. Around Xmas is definitely one for me, just don't eat like I used to around that time now, don't really miss it at all.

Always bits to improve though, good discussion to add ideas and critique. If we were all perfect we would be 85-90kg and shredded.

[Marky147]

Mine was when I realised I was less than 1/2 a stone from hitting 20... Been a lot harder to lose it this time, as I'm a lot more immobile etc.

I'm going to eat whatever I want over xmas, but as soon as I start back in the gym, I'll go back to a stricter routine, rather than mooching about into the year lol.

The mate who is my PT was out at the weekend, and some girl started saying to him he  is getting too big, and to be careful.

His response had me creased 'I'm 17 and a 1/2 stone with abs, so I'm not too worried, but thanks'

[arbboy]

Mine was when I realised I was less than 1/2 a stone from hitting 20... Been a lot harder to lose it this time, as I'm a lot more immobile etc.

I'm going to eat whatever I want over xmas, but as soon as I start back in the gym, I'll go back to a stricter routine, rather than mooching about into the year lol.

The mate who is my PT was out at the weekend, and some girl started saying to him he  is getting too big, and to be careful.

His response had me creased 'I'm 17 and a 1/2 stone with abs, so I'm not too worried, but thanks'

Great work Marky.  I had another 'my moment' when i got back to virtually 21 stone.  Back under 19 stone now and seem to have found the training/lifestyle balance now to hopefully last long term.  Nearly 3 months in now and going well.  Don't really want to post on here weekly as that never worked in the past.  Trying to do it quietly and get my head down and stay focused.

Still an avid reader of this thread even though i don't post so keep posting everyone.

If you have a 1 rep max meet up session around Stafford or anywhere in the Midlands would love to come along and have a go with some decent spotters.

Current weights for core exercises for 8-10 reps (without a spotter) are just for interest and review at later stage.  Training mon/tues/wed/fri every week.  Diet is pretty high protein and cut down a lot on carbs from previous attempts.  Cut out dairy totally which isn't an issue now.  Only thing i used to eat was too much cheese and not really missing that at all.

Flat bench 75kg
Incline bench 65kg
Dumbbell bench 30kg
Bicep barbell curl 40kg
Deadlift 120kg (taken this easy as suffered a lower back issue last year when i tried some 1-2 rep maxs)
Power cleans 65kg
Still legged deadlift 65kg
Bend over barbell row 65kg
Overhead tricep dumbbell presses 24kg dumbbell
Shoulder dumbbell press 24kg

[Marky147]

Cheers, it's all going ok, and feel much better now, too.

Ditching a couple stone in 3 months is good going, and those are some solid lifts, too.

I hate dairy, other than the worst ones - Milkshakes & Ice-Cream, obviously.

I've got hand controls now, so definitely up for a meet in the midlands with everyone at some point.

[iRaise]

Mine was when I realised I was less than 1/2 a stone from hitting 20... Been a lot harder to lose it this time, as I'm a lot more immobile etc.

I'm going to eat whatever I want over xmas, but as soon as I start back in the gym, I'll go back to a stricter routine, rather than mooching about into the year lol.

The mate who is my PT was out at the weekend, and some girl started saying to him he  is getting too big, and to be careful.

His response had me creased 'I'm 17 and a 1/2 stone with abs, so I'm not too worried, but thanks'

Great work Marky.  I had another 'my moment' when i got back to virtually 21 stone.  Back under 19 stone now and seem to have found the training/lifestyle balance now to hopefully last long term.  Nearly 3 months in now and going well.  Don't really want to post on here weekly as that never worked in the past.  Trying to do it quietly and get my head down and stay focused.

Still an avid reader of this thread even though i don't post so keep posting everyone.

If you have a 1 rep max meet up session around Stafford or anywhere in the Midlands would love to come along and have a go with some decent spotters.

Current weights for core exercises for 8-10 reps (without a spotter) are just for interest and review at later stage.  Training mon/tues/wed/fri every week.  Diet is pretty high protein and cut down a lot on carbs from previous attempts.  Cut out dairy totally which isn't an issue now.  Only thing i used to eat was too much cheese and not really missing that at all.

Flat bench 75kg
Incline bench 65kg
Dumbbell bench 30kg
Bicep barbell curl 40kg
Deadlift 120kg (taken this easy as suffered a lower back issue last year when i tried some 1-2 rep maxs)
Power cleans 65kg
Still legged deadlift 65kg
Bend over barbell row 65kg
Overhead tricep dumbbell presses 24kg dumbbell
Shoulder dumbbell press 24kg

Great stuff, very welcome to our next meet up or if you fancy a training session with me at some time let me know and we can organise!

[EvilPie]

Mine was when I realised I was less than 1/2 a stone from hitting 20... Been a lot harder to lose it this time, as I'm a lot more immobile etc.

I'm going to eat whatever I want over xmas, but as soon as I start back in the gym, I'll go back to a stricter routine, rather than mooching about into the year lol.

The mate who is my PT was out at the weekend, and some girl started saying to him he  is getting too big, and to be careful.

His response had me creased 'I'm 17 and a 1/2 stone with abs, so I'm not too worried, but thanks'

Great work Marky.  I had another 'my moment' when i got back to virtually 21 stone.  Back under 19 stone now and seem to have found the training/lifestyle balance now to hopefully last long term.  Nearly 3 months in now and going well.  Don't really want to post on here weekly as that never worked in the past.  Trying to do it quietly and get my head down and stay focused.

Still an avid reader of this thread even though i don't post so keep posting everyone.

If you have a 1 rep max meet up session around Stafford or anywhere in the Midlands would love to come along and have a go with some decent spotters.

Current weights for core exercises for 8-10 reps (without a spotter) are just for interest and review at later stage.  Training mon/tues/wed/fri every week.  Diet is pretty high protein and cut down a lot on carbs from previous attempts.  Cut out dairy totally which isn't an issue now.  Only thing i used to eat was too much cheese and not really missing that at all.

Flat bench 75kg
Incline bench 65kg
Dumbbell bench 30kg
Bicep barbell curl 40kg
Deadlift 120kg (taken this easy as suffered a lower back issue last year when i tried some 1-2 rep maxs)
Power cleans 65kg
Still legged deadlift 65kg
Bend over barbell row 65kg
Overhead tricep dumbbell presses 24kg dumbbell
Shoulder dumbbell press 24kg

Some great work there mate.  Nice to see you've found something you can stick to, really makes it easy if it's not a chore and you understand the final results aren't going to happen over night. Just think where you'll be a year from now? I would imagine that whatever you're doing will be good for another three/four stone without making any reductions. You'll probably get stronger in that time as well. Great isn't it

Solid numbers in those rep ranges as well. I'd definitely keep updating those every month or two just to look back on. I really enjoy going through this thread every now and then to see how I've progressed.

Deadlift seems really good if you're at 4 sets of 8 to 10 at 120kg. For perspective I'm doing 110kg fives at the moment. If I went 120kg I'd probably have to drop to fours or even threes to maintain form. I'm same as you with the 1 - 2 rep max stuff, whenever I've tried it I've got hurt so I avoid any max effort reps now until my back gets much stronger.

Definitely be good to get a session in with everyone. Happy to head over to Stafford for a get together sometime towards end of November.

[arbboy]

That's the key sticking to it for me and realising i am not going to look like i did at 25 in 6 weeks (maybe never look like that ever again who knows but it will be fun trying).  6 weeks was the time scale i used to give up previously having done all the intital groundwork to get back into it.    Now i am at 3 months i can start to feel and see some real changes and stuck to just doing what i enjoy mainly.  I am not doing any cardio at all at the minute as it bores me silly and i think that was an issue before in quitting trying to force myself to do that every week.

Although the diet is focused it isn't too strict.  Pretty much along the line of 3 meals a day and promax lean/creatine shake double portion which i make before bed each night and drink half after work out and the other half i sip throughout the day when i go to the fridge looking for food rather than eat shit like i used to.

Long term goals strength wise would be to get back to strength levels in my 20s.  I really want to get my chest strenght on a more level playing field with my strength levels elsewhere.  Deadlift 200kg, dumbbell bench 50kgs and power cleans 100kg.  Watching Eddie win WSM really motivated me to get back into it as i currently look like a mini eddie rather than a body builder!  STrength has always been why i trained for sport years agoo rather than to have the pretty boy himbo look.

Iraise.  I train at Nuffield in Stoke.  I assume you train at pure gym in Stafford right?   I live closer to pure but it has no sauna as a reward after.

[EvilPie]

Decent chest session yesterday although I've decided I'm definitely weaker than when I was weighing in a stone heavier. I managed 3 x 140kg singles with the slingshot on but they were really tough. Improvement on last week though. I've not been doing low volume stuff so that will also be a contributor and I'm hoping that over the next few weeks I can push out something close to a PR. It's definitely helping having a partner that's for sure and he trains hard. It goes against my recently methods of staying well within limits but I'm enjoying the challenge so will stick with it.

I decided to push deadlifts a bit today and got 3 doubles at 140kg. Felt really good although I don't know how much heavier I could go before there was a form breakdown. Perhaps another 20kg or so may be possible but more than that is going to need a bit of a strength increase. I think 140kg for a double is actually a PR but not 100% certain. I think my 1RM is 160kg and I really can't remember pulling 140 for two. I'll definitely be in PR territory in the next few weeks if things stay as they are so it doesn't matter either way.

I don't seem to be getting the hip problems that plagued me with previous heavy deadlifts so maybe the correct muscles are now starting to do the work. Maybe the recent posterior chain work is paying dividends. Just got to stay injury free and hopefully the numbers will improve soon.

[iRaise]

That's the key sticking to it for me and realising i am not going to look like i did at 25 in 6 weeks (maybe never look like that ever again who knows but it will be fun trying).  6 weeks was the time scale i used to give up previously having done all the intital groundwork to get back into it.    Now i am at 3 months i can start to feel and see some real changes and stuck to just doing what i enjoy mainly.  I am not doing any cardio at all at the minute as it bores me silly and i think that was an issue before in quitting trying to force myself to do that every week.

Although the diet is focused it isn't too strict.  Pretty much along the line of 3 meals a day and promax lean/creatine shake double portion which i make before bed each night and drink half after work out and the other half i sip throughout the day when i go to the fridge looking for food rather than eat shit like i used to.

Long term goals strength wise would be to get back to strength levels in my 20s.  I really want to get my chest strenght on a more level playing field with my strength levels elsewhere.  Deadlift 200kg, dumbbell bench 50kgs and power cleans 100kg.  Watching Eddie win WSM really motivated me to get back into it as i currently look like a mini eddie rather than a body builder!  STrength has always been why i trained for sport years agoo rather than to have the pretty boy himbo look.

Iraise.  I train at Nuffield in Stoke.  I assume you train at pure gym in Stafford right?   I live closer to pure but it has no sauna as a reward after.

I am Pure Stafford, the no sauna does hurt. They still have the rooms in the back too, I think they just close them off and let them rot. I never went when it was Virgin. Happy to meet you there if you ever fancied it. Whats the Nuffield there like?

[iRaise]

Decent chest session yesterday although I've decided I'm definitely weaker than when I was weighing in a stone heavier. I managed 3 x 140kg singles with the slingshot on but they were really tough. Improvement on last week though. I've not been doing low volume stuff so that will also be a contributor and I'm hoping that over the next few weeks I can push out something close to a PR. It's definitely helping having a partner that's for sure and he trains hard. It goes against my recently methods of staying well within limits but I'm enjoying the challenge so will stick with it.

I decided to push deadlifts a bit today and got 3 doubles at 140kg. Felt really good although I don't know how much heavier I could go before there was a form breakdown. Perhaps another 20kg or so may be possible but more than that is going to need a bit of a strength increase. I think 140kg for a double is actually a PR but not 100% certain. I think my 1RM is 160kg and I really can't remember pulling 140 for two. I'll definitely be in PR territory in the next few weeks if things stay as they are so it doesn't matter either way.

I don't seem to be getting the hip problems that plagued me with previous heavy deadlifts so maybe the correct muscles are now starting to do the work. Maybe the recent posterior chain work is paying dividends. Just got to stay injury free and hopefully the numbers will improve soon.

Oi oi with the DLs. Rumour has it Sean if moving mine and yours combined these days.

[iRaise]

Thought today was gonna be a tough one post Halloween, but actually went well. Just took a little longer but:

3x4 Squats at 100 which was weirdly easier than last week, still getting used to being back in the shoes.
3x8 RDLs at 100
3x10 Leg press 100kg. 3/4-1-2-1 meant for a very tough set.


First bit of headway with the DBs. 3x10 34s but finally felt there were reps left.
3x8 OAR 44, again reps left so looking forward to taking that one up too.

Bench tomorrow, so would like to nudge past 95.

[arbboy]

That's the key sticking to it for me and realising i am not going to look like i did at 25 in 6 weeks (maybe never look like that ever again who knows but it will be fun trying).  6 weeks was the time scale i used to give up previously having done all the intital groundwork to get back into it.    Now i am at 3 months i can start to feel and see some real changes and stuck to just doing what i enjoy mainly.  I am not doing any cardio at all at the minute as it bores me silly and i think that was an issue before in quitting trying to force myself to do that every week.

Although the diet is focused it isn't too strict.  Pretty much along the line of 3 meals a day and promax lean/creatine shake double portion which i make before bed each night and drink half after work out and the other half i sip throughout the day when i go to the fridge looking for food rather than eat shit like i used to.

Long term goals strength wise would be to get back to strength levels in my 20s.  I really want to get my chest strenght on a more level playing field with my strength levels elsewhere.  Deadlift 200kg, dumbbell bench 50kgs and power cleans 100kg.  Watching Eddie win WSM really motivated me to get back into it as i currently look like a mini eddie rather than a body builder!  STrength has always been why i trained for sport years agoo rather than to have the pretty boy himbo look.

Iraise.  I train at Nuffield in Stoke.  I assume you train at pure gym in Stafford right?   I live closer to pure but it has no sauna as a reward after.

I am Pure Stafford, the no sauna does hurt. They still have the rooms in the back too, I think they just close them off and let them rot. I never went when it was Virgin. Happy to meet you there if you ever fancied it. Whats the Nuffield there like?

Such a waste of a great health club turning Virgin into Pure.  I used to go when it was Virgin and was gutted when they sold it to Pure.  I could easily drive to Pure for a session.  You can buy day passes there right?  Nuffield is good value for £43 a month given the facilities.  The weights area is decent for a main stream gym.  Proper squat rack/smith machine and power lifting dedicated area which is good.  Dumbbells only to 40kg though which might be a problem further down the line.  25m pool, sauna steam 3 hot tubs of different temps which is nice in the pool area.  You can sign up for a free day pass if you fancy it any time online.

[EvilPie]

Decent chest session yesterday although I've decided I'm definitely weaker than when I was weighing in a stone heavier. I managed 3 x 140kg singles with the slingshot on but they were really tough. Improvement on last week though. I've not been doing low volume stuff so that will also be a contributor and I'm hoping that over the next few weeks I can push out something close to a PR. It's definitely helping having a partner that's for sure and he trains hard. It goes against my recently methods of staying well within limits but I'm enjoying the challenge so will stick with it.

I decided to push deadlifts a bit today and got 3 doubles at 140kg. Felt really good although I don't know how much heavier I could go before there was a form breakdown. Perhaps another 20kg or so may be possible but more than that is going to need a bit of a strength increase. I think 140kg for a double is actually a PR but not 100% certain. I think my 1RM is 160kg and I really can't remember pulling 140 for two. I'll definitely be in PR territory in the next few weeks if things stay as they are so it doesn't matter either way.

I don't seem to be getting the hip problems that plagued me with previous heavy deadlifts so maybe the correct muscles are now starting to do the work. Maybe the recent posterior chain work is paying dividends. Just got to stay injury free and hopefully the numbers will improve soon.

Oi oi with the DLs. Rumour has it Sean if moving mine and yours combined these days.

May have spoken a bit too soon. My hip was making some terrible crunching noises yesterday

I've got physio tomorrow so that'll soon get straightened out and I'll be back on track.

[EvilPie]

Thought today was gonna be a tough one post Halloween, but actually went well. Just took a little longer but:

3x4 Squats at 100 which was weirdly easier than last week, still getting used to being back in the shoes.
3x8 RDLs at 100
3x10 Leg press 100kg. 3/4-1-2-1 meant for a very tough set.


First bit of headway with the DBs. 3x10 34s but finally felt there were reps left.
3x8 OAR 44, again reps left so looking forward to taking that one up too.

Bench tomorrow, so would like to nudge past 95.

I've finally purchased a set of squat shoes so looking forward to trying those on Friday. 3 x 4 at 80kg would do me at the moment but no idea how the shoes will feel.

They're some strong RDLs, just emphasises how weak my back still is as I really struggle with RDL once they get above 80kg. Long game that one.....

You're going to have to come to my place again soon to try to improve those OAR. Won't be long before you're smashing the 50s. We'll have to do a OAR comparison when we next meet up, I've changed technique recently which has made them a lot more difficult and keeps me below 40kg for 5 reps whilst really working the lats.

I win at bench. I'm taking that one and hanging on to it with my dear life