Blonde will make you STRONG

[Marky147]

Glad everything going so well, Harvey!

I'm just about to have a week off, and then move gyms now my membership has run out at the old one.

Might see if I can blow MyFitnessPal up this week, then have a nice sensible 8 weeks before holiday

[iRaise]

Glad everything going so well, Harvey!

I'm just about to have a week off, and then move gyms now my membership has run out at the old one.

Might see if I can blow MyFitnessPal up this week, then have a nice sensible 8 weeks before holiday

I have been saying this a lot lately. I haven't used it for years, but I the time is edging ever closer.

[Marky147]

Glad everything going so well, Harvey!

I'm just about to have a week off, and then move gyms now my membership has run out at the old one.

Might see if I can blow MyFitnessPal up this week, then have a nice sensible 8 weeks before holiday

I have been saying this a lot lately. I haven't used it for years, but I the time is edging ever closer.

I use it, even though not very well at the moment

[the sicilian]

use the old calorie count on my fitness pal when in defecit ..... its pretty good TBF

[iRaise]

use the old calorie count on my fitness pal when in defecit ..... its pretty good TBF

I think its a great app, I do think everyone should use it at some point for a time to help understand and manage portion control.

[Marky147]

I like using it when not tracking really, so I'm in surplus, too.

Just to see how out of line I'm getting every day

[EvilPie]

Gym update my end, very surprised to get 2x12 140kg DL last week. I am mixing volume with pauses and speed work in for squats and DL's at the minute, and it seems to have worked really well on the volume deadlifts and pretty good on squat strength. Squat volume could be worse than lunges.

Training 4x a week at the minute, relatively consistently. Up to 90 for 3x8 on bench press so quite happy to just work on technique now, I can feel my shoulder lose positioning so just want to make sure thats ironed out before I stick anymore on. Started doing pull ups with an extra 10kg, for sets of 8, but neutral grip at the minute so a little easier.

I am training with one of my housemates pretty much every time at the minute and he sits around 70kg and is catching up to me quickly, I let my ego relax by saying it's because I coach well, but I think he is relatively stronger on early everything now, luckily I can still claim absolute on most, but probably not by the end fo summer.

All looking very solid mate especially those dead lifts. I've just started trying them again and managed 60kg for 3 x 6 conventional and the same for sumo. No pains at that weight so will leave the ego to one side and stick at that for a while trying to build slowly.

Could just be newbie gains with your partner, he'll hit a sticking point before too long I would imagine. I know my bench partner went from nothing to 165kg in such a short space of time he was convinced he'd hit 200kg by his 30th birthday just 18 months later. Anyway he's 31 now having finally broke the 180kg barrier about 4 months ago.

For natural lifters it's like a brick wall as you well know.

[iRaise]

Gym update my end, very surprised to get 2x12 140kg DL last week. I am mixing volume with pauses and speed work in for squats and DL's at the minute, and it seems to have worked really well on the volume deadlifts and pretty good on squat strength. Squat volume could be worse than lunges.

Training 4x a week at the minute, relatively consistently. Up to 90 for 3x8 on bench press so quite happy to just work on technique now, I can feel my shoulder lose positioning so just want to make sure thats ironed out before I stick anymore on. Started doing pull ups with an extra 10kg, for sets of 8, but neutral grip at the minute so a little easier.

I am training with one of my housemates pretty much every time at the minute and he sits around 70kg and is catching up to me quickly, I let my ego relax by saying it's because I coach well, but I think he is relatively stronger on early everything now, luckily I can still claim absolute on most, but probably not by the end fo summer.

All looking very solid mate especially those dead lifts. I've just started trying them again and managed 60kg for 3 x 6 conventional and the same for sumo. No pains at that weight so will leave the ego to one side and stick at that for a while trying to build slowly.

Could just be newbie gains with your partner, he'll hit a sticking point before too long I would imagine. I know my bench partner went from nothing to 165kg in such a short space of time he was convinced he'd hit 200kg by his 30th birthday just 18 months later. Anyway he's 31 now having finally broke the 180kg barrier about 4 months ago.

For natural lifters it's like a brick wall as you well know.

Progress is slow, but with the hemorrage and lockdowns the last three years feel like rapid progress starting back from the bench, but hopefully no more interruptions. Nice to see where things stand this time next year. I have to edit sessions a bit on the day brain depending. I have stepped back from the 6-8 stuff of squat and DL and gone for 3x3 pauses and speeds at a little lighter weight. Really helping recovery brain wise as I'm not too close to failure.

[EvilPie]

Tough few weeks for me with various issues.....

I went on holiday on Tuesday 6th but had picked up a bit of a cold prior to that so had missed training on the Saturday.

I got back on Friday 9th, went to the gym Saturday 10th for a decent session then Monday got a message from NHS saying I'd been in contact with a disease ridden fool on the plane and had to isolate.

My last normal routine session was Wednesday 30th June, freedom day is next Tuesday 20th so by the time I get back to the gym I'll have had one single session in 3 weeks.

One week off is actually pretty good for recovery, two weeks is about the limit and three weeks you're definitely looking at some muscle breakdown and strength loss.

I've had the option to train with the home set up but to be honest now I'm back at the gym I just couldn't be bothered.

I'd just started the new programme and was going pretty well.

Paused bench up to 120kg for 6, 110kg for 8 and 100kg for 10 are all numbers I'm really happy with.

3 days back on it before programme day on Saturday will probably help to be fair so hopefully I won;t have lost too much. At least with it being a 16 week programme by the end of it I'll definitely be back where I need to be.

[EvilPie]

Managed to get to the gym today for what was only my 2nd session in 3 weeks.

The hot weather didn't help at all but I've definitely lost some strength with even my 80kg bench warm up feeling tough and only managing 8, 8 and a tough 10 at 100kg. Didn't even dare try 120kg which has been a fairly standard weight for me recently.

Did a few incline dumbbells and 42kg felt really easy so had a go at 50kg and got 6 out without too much trouble. I was really pleased with that and it made up for the difficult bench somewhat. Might throw these in a few times per week for a bit of hypertrophy work and to build the upper chest a bit.

Good to be back but I think it'll be a couple of weeks before I'm back up to full strength.

[Marky147]

2 more than I've had in 3 weeks, lol. However, I did go and spend an hour signing up at the new gym, and got him to show me around etc.

Back to 4 days a week, and going to start trying to hit my macros on MFP again, rather than seeing how far over them I can go

[iRaise]

Managed to get to the gym today for what was only my 2nd session in 3 weeks.

The hot weather didn't help at all but I've definitely lost some strength with even my 80kg bench warm up feeling tough and only managing 8, 8 and a tough 10 at 100kg. Didn't even dare try 120kg which has been a fairly standard weight for me recently.

Did a few incline dumbbells and 42kg felt really easy so had a go at 50kg and got 6 out without too much trouble. I was really pleased with that and it made up for the difficult bench somewhat. Might throw these in a few times per week for a bit of hypertrophy work and to build the upper chest a bit.

Good to be back but I think it'll be a couple of weeks before I'm back up to full strength.

Even with air con its tough!

[iRaise]

Changed my program up a bit after the three month post lockdown mark. Moved slightly away from the strength based stuff and more towards reps. 4x10-12 pretty much across the board with main lifts but keeping DLs 3x5-8 because I dont wan't to do 4x12

Squats at 90 yesterday was tough. Would really love to get out 100 for 4x12 but seems a good distance away yet.

Training in the heat is tough too, but looking to push 10k steps in a day too, probably a bit late for this summer, but want to creep down to around 81-83kg again, currently around the 85-86 mark. As ever I maybe vastly underestimating how much fat I need to lose and probably need to be around 78-79 to be as lean as I would like. Not too sure how much muscle mass I am holding, my legs are notably smaller post haemorrhage as I really struggle to get the weekly volume in. So I probably need to lose a bit more than I think to be as lean as I was before, but we shall see.

[vegaslover]

Spent a few days away with the family last week, so no training and diet was poor. Countered with lots of walking.

Heat has been a killer for training this week. Use an exercise bike for intense cardio and leg workouts (knees are too fucked to squat) Last 5 mins yesterday was as bad as i've ever felt on the bike.

[Ledders]

Strange few weeks for me.

Gym membership expired and want to move flat/change jobs before committing to a new one

Having some trouble with work which has affected me and let myself take too long off and having to rebuild a routine.

In the meantime my shoulder hasn't got better and feels frozen/extremely tight - am seeing a physio early next week

On a positive note, back running and started playing squash with  friends twice a week. It's incredibly taxing and a lot of fun making lots of progress as a beginner.