Blonde will make you STRONG

[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?

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.

Not bad value at all there for what you get. I am £18 at pure for very little. I will come up to you, it makes me furious Pure charge £7 for a guest pass, I know its standard these days but with all the offers they do allowing a guest pass for members seems so obvious. On holiday this week from Thurs, but next week I am pretty free in the afternoon. Would love to come up and have a session if you are up for it.

[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.

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

Genuinely think I will hit the 50s this year, I think its my 'best' exercise right now. Feel like I execute it the best and most consistent out of them all. My fatigue is from my lats not my grip lately which is great news.

Late Nov/Early Dec I should be all good.

Bench is still pretty poverty,

3x5 95 today, generous five as well because every 5th was spotted.

[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.

Not bad value at all there for what you get. I am £18 at pure for very little. I will come up to you, it makes me furious Pure charge £7 for a guest pass, I know its standard these days but with all the offers they do allowing a guest pass for members seems so obvious. On holiday this week from Thurs, but next week I am pretty free in the afternoon. Would love to come up and have a session if you are up for it.

Sure.  I usually train early afternoon most days i train anyway so that suits.

[iRaise]

Deal, will drop you a PM early next week to sort something out! Looking forward to it.

[EvilPie]

Physio seems to have fixed my hip and shoulder. Had a decent shoulder session tonight with a reasonable OHP 4 x 3 at 60, 60, 62.5 & 62.5

Really going to give these a push over the next 6 to 8 weeks and try to get to 70+ for triples. Should be achievable if the shoulders stay free of injury. Just need to maintain tension throughout the movement and that should keep the tweaks at bay. Fingers crossed for a good run at it which will hopefully coincide with an improvement in bench as well.

[EvilPie]

Good chest session today which was very encouraging.

My shoulder wasn't feeling great so I did everything above 100kg with the slingshot just to protect it a bit. Managed to get up to 2 singles at 140kg which both moved much quicker than last week with no risk of needing a spot at all. Also got a 142.5kg unassisted then a 145kg with a slight spot.

Big improvement over the last few weeks so hopefully it'll continue.

Just had a weigh in and I'm currently a touch over 100kg so still a fair bit lighter than when I last moved this kind of weight.

It's definitely helping having a partner and he's really one who makes you work for your reps. The 145kg took ages to move but I had to do it pretty much all on my own which was really good work at my sticking point.

I made an adjustment with my set up today which I think has helped, I got quite a bit tighter in the shoulders and also improved my foot positioning which seemed to give me a little bit of leg drive, definitely want to keep working at that for a few extra kilos.

[iRaise]

Lost my voice all week which has been interesting. Made work a bit tough.

Training however has gone well, haven't felt ill so it's all been good.

Added pretty much 1.25/2.5 to every major lift. Squats still feel average, I think its because their on monday and my weekends have been quite social. But I like having them on a Monday. So they are going to stay there for the foreseeable. Love a tough start to the week.

Feel so stiff this week, recovery has been really tough with I think 2 days out of the week being poor food and sleep whys. And maybe I have a little bit of underlying virus/cold that doesn't effect me energy wise but recovery wise.

[Marky147]

Didn't train all last week, as I'd picked up a  pretty rough cough/chest infection from mother.

Back 4x this week, and all going well enough after being a zombie for the previous 7 days.

Still pretty lapse on my diet other than >200g protein, and weighed in at  215 this morning.

[EvilPie]

Didn't train all last week, as I'd picked up a  pretty rough cough/chest infection from mother.

Back 4x this week, and all going well enough after being a zombie for the previous 7 days.

Still pretty lapse on my diet other than >200g protein, and weighed in at  215 this morning.

Hate it when that happens, just got to take it steady though and let the body recover.

Nice to see the weight still steadily dropping. The diet might not be perfect but whilst you're heading in the right direction and not in a rush there's no real need to change anything. Keep it up mate.

[EvilPie]

Lost my voice all week which has been interesting. Made work a bit tough.

Training however has gone well, haven't felt ill so it's all been good.

Added pretty much 1.25/2.5 to every major lift. Squats still feel average, I think its because their on monday and my weekends have been quite social. But I like having them on a Monday. So they are going to stay there for the foreseeable. Love a tough start to the week.

Feel so stiff this week, recovery has been really tough with I think 2 days out of the week being poor food and sleep whys. And maybe I have a little bit of underlying virus/cold that doesn't effect me energy wise but recovery wise.

Think we both need some serious squat work although I wish I could class mine as 'average'. Mine are on a Friday evening. I always feel good. I'm always well fed and always ready to go but ultimately I'm still not very good at squats.

I'm still at 80kg although managed a full 5 x 5 this week which felt a reasonably comfortable. I'm just doing high bar now which makes things easier on my back but there's still an underlying pain in my right hip when I go much heavier than 80kg or put a belt on. I'm working on it and I'm patient so hopefully it'll improve.

Physio reckons my hip issue is coming from my knee which I think may have some potential. I've been working on some stretches and also foam rolling so maybe there's some improvements down the line. My right side is definitely very tight between the hip and knee so maybe when I push from the bottom of the squat that's what's causing discomfort. Even it doesn't turn out to be that it gives me a bit of hope that there's an end game so I'll stick at it.

[Marky147]

Didn't train all last week, as I'd picked up a  pretty rough cough/chest infection from mother.

Back 4x this week, and all going well enough after being a zombie for the previous 7 days.

Still pretty lapse on my diet other than >200g protein, and weighed in at  215 this morning.

Hate it when that happens, just got to take it steady though and let the body recover.

Nice to see the weight still steadily dropping. The diet might not be perfect but whilst you're heading in the right direction and not in a rush there's no real need to change anything. Keep it up mate.

I was more worried about infecting everyone else, but the week off won't have done me any real harm, and I've not lost any ground.

I'm just about to put 4-5lbs on, as I have a supersized curry on the way

[EvilPie]

I've been really struggling with my shoulders recently but I seem to have found a fix in an unlikely format.

After bench press last Saturday I followed up with DL on Sunday then Monday my shoulders were killing to the point I struggled to put a coat on. Not nice at all and I thought I'd have a long rehab ahead.

I was planning on doing some legs on the Monday night to rest the shoulder but then a couple of YouTube videos I was watching suggested the exact opposite and to actually train an area that hurts rather than rest it. One video was a starting strength video talking about back tweaks from deadlift and how you should get straight back in to it rather than rest. The other was a strongman competitor called Brian Alsruhe who said if you have pain you should continue to train that area because it gets blood to the area and "blood heals"

Both stressed that you have to know the difference between something hurting and something being genuinely injured. If you've got an injury you obviously need to be careful but if it just hurts because you've pulled or over worked a muscle then you should steadily work through it.

Anyway back to training and on the Monday I did two pull down variations which obviously work the shoulders and two OHP movements. Everything was pretty light but afterwards the shoulders felt good. Tuesday I did the same again and they felt even better.

I'm now planning to work my shoulders 4 or 5 times per week mixed in with other exercises and see how it goes because so far it's great.

Tonight I did 5 x 3 deadlift at 110kg then about 8 sets of OHP with peak being a 65kg triple. Not bad at all to say I thought I was looking at a couple of weeks off very recently.

It's early days with this new training block but if it continues as it's started then hopefully my shoulders will become stronger and they'll stop giving me so much grief.

Updates to follow.....

[EvilPie]

Shoulders seem to be behaving themselves with the new routine I'm working with.

Bench press on Saturday was great and I managed a 142.5kg double with the slingshot on. Not managed that for a while and the whole session felt good. Might have a shot at a PR reasonably soon if progress continues with those.

Nice session tonight. Cheat BoR up to 100kg for a triple, RDL up to 110kg for 4, deadlift 5 x 3 at 1110kg and finished with OHP up to 67.5kg for a triple.

Basically I'm seeing progress everywhere and loving it

[iRaise]

Nice few weeks training, 2.5 on all the big lifts.

Adding 20 mins cycling at the end is definitely helping fitness to building work capacity. Adding a few drop sets in for the extra volume and really helping recovery across the board.

4-5 days a week depending on the diary but really enjoying it. using the extra food/KCALs for good use right now.

Hows everyone else doing?

[Marky147]

Glad you boys are doing so well. Good stuff!

I'm already in full christmas mode, and hoovering up everything.

Managed 4 sessions each of the last two weeks, and still weighing 215.

Cold as hell down here, and might have to amazon myself an electric blanket up soon