Blonde will make you STRONG

[muckthenuts]

You know you went hard on squats yesterday when it hurts to go up the stairs today. Owwwwww.  I'm going to have to stretch harder in future cause I can't go on feeling like this after every single leg session!

Spoke to Sean lately about making workouts more enjoyable. I'll be honest - 5x5 strength training bores the shit out of me, but I do it because it fits in with my current schedule and hits my goals without taking too much of my time. It'd be great to go the gym and actually start enjoying myself though, perhaps  when I get more free time in summer.

[iRaise]

You know you went hard on squats yesterday when it hurts to go up the stairs today. Owwwwww.  I'm going to have to stretch harder in future cause I can't go on feeling like this after every single leg session!

Spoke to Sean lately about making workouts more enjoyable. I'll be honest - 5x5 strength training bores the shit out of me, but I do it because it fits in with my current schedule and hits my goals without taking too much of my time. It'd be great to go the gym and actually start enjoying myself though, perhaps  when I get more free time in summer.

It isn't just stretching, its eating sleeping and drinking. I am a huge supporter of mobility, but recovery is multi factoral. If you are stressed you aren't going to recover quickly. I am sure I have said this but I HATE DOMS, if I get it I am really disappointed, because I have gone just far too hard, and I can;t train properly again for a few days. Well done me that wasn't worth it.

5x5 bores me too lately, I love the old 3x3.

But at the minute I did 5x5, 4x5 + 1x10, 3x5 +2x10 etc.

If you aren't enjoying it you are going to stop. Fact, nobody can keep going when they are bored. Speshly if you aren't being paid to do it. I would be looking for recovery techniques and a change of program ASAP.

Try 3x3 with some accessory work, or even just full blow bro and his above the 10 reps.

[PokerBroker]

Absolutely love the debate and different viewpoints, so hopefully I am not coming across too confrontational. So please counter act me etc.

Not at all, and as I said I'd normally only iso with Joe Bloggs if they were doing a decent squat schedule and as you say most walk-ins guys/grls going to a PT in beginning do so because they are normally poor at gym and need that encouragement and getting them squatting is an achievement in itself. 

[iRaise]

Absolutely love the debate and different viewpoints, so hopefully I am not coming across too confrontational. So please counter act me etc.

Not at all, and as I said I'd normally only iso with Joe Bloggs if they were doing a decent squat schedule and as you say most walk-ins guys/grls going to a PT in beginning do so because they are normally poor at gym and need that encouragement and getting them squatting is an achievement in itself. 

Yeah for sure, some people just move really badly. Squatting is huge achievement. Do you use any resistance bands in your coaching/training?

[Eso Kral]

Week 2 session 1 completed at 6am and felt easier than week 1 so will try and up the reps to 17/18 for the 4 sets on Thursday

Ended up doing all 3 sessions this week on Tues/Weds/Thurs

Upper Body
Plyo Legs day
Upper Body

Have decided that I will just be doing a couple of press up and dip sessions in Slovakia for the next week as will be doing plenty of walking too and then am going to repeat week 2 on my return before we kick on.

[Ant040689]

10 mins cardio warm up
10 mins stretch (static and dynamic)

4x Leg press machine
            Leg extension machine
            Hamstring curls machine
            Calf machine

And 2x abductors machine
             adductors machine (please don't kill me Iraise lol. I like the machines currently only because free weights leg work is a little dodgy with my knee, so this is a stopgap, even squats omitted for this reason, despite a session recently.)

(15 mins cardio warm down, 10 mins dynamic and static stretching to end)

All sets to failure, (three of em at max machine weight at various reps for all with the first set being generally being around 15 then 12, 10, and it really was to failure for the first time too. Doing 4 to failure of something in a row is mental. It was fine enough because I'm a sick bastard and I knew because of the stretching, injury should be prevented and I need to just suck it up.

That was yesterday and I have a low level buzz going in my legs which feels good. My upper body feels good too after putting it through the ringer two days ago but there's no way I'm going 4x to failure in anything on that yet today, I'm just not ready lol.

Just realising that working hard with each set rather than having some powderpuff ones has changed the gear in the training and made everything just that bit harder, but oddly more enjoyable. Probably because I'm getting more value but it might be too I get more enjoyment from a bigger buzz from the muscles (that may just be me ha).

I can't believe I'm finding this workload tenable (only just lol) from where I started, but I'm riding this gravy train all the way to quality fitness. Nowhere near currently, but gains are being had.

It's 2x max of things today for the upper body, will write the routine later. It's a bit random, I just do what I fancy, definitely could do with some help there.

[iRaise]

Week 2 session 1 completed at 6am and felt easier than week 1 so will try and up the reps to 17/18 for the 4 sets on Thursday

Ended up doing all 3 sessions this week on Tues/Weds/Thurs

Upper Body
Plyo Legs day
Upper Body

Have decided that I will just be doing a couple of press up and dip sessions in Slovakia for the next week as will be doing plenty of walking too and then am going to repeat week 2 on my return before we kick on.

Sounds a plan, never under estimate the power of walking for KCAL burning.

[PokerBroker]

Absolutely love the debate and different viewpoints, so hopefully I am not coming across too confrontational. So please counter act me etc.

Not at all, and as I said I'd normally only iso with Joe Bloggs if they were doing a decent squat schedule and as you say most walk-ins guys/grls going to a PT in beginning do so because they are normally poor at gym and need that encouragement and getting them squatting is an achievement in itself. 

Yeah for sure, some people just move really badly. Squatting is huge achievement. Do you use any resistance bands in your coaching/training?

Only for recovery work following injury or setback.   We have a pretty old fashioned free weights gym.  We have an exercise bke though :-)

[EvilPie]

Absolutely love the debate and different viewpoints, so hopefully I am not coming across too confrontational. So please counter act me etc.

Not at all, and as I said I'd normally only iso with Joe Bloggs if they were doing a decent squat schedule and as you say most walk-ins guys/grls going to a PT in beginning do so because they are normally poor at gym and need that encouragement and getting them squatting is an achievement in itself.  

Yeah for sure, some people just move really badly. Squatting is huge achievement. Do you use any resistance bands in your coaching/training?

Only for recovery work following injury or setback.   We have a pretty old fashioned free weights gym.  We have an exercise bke though :-)

Lol. Sounds like my old gym from way back. Proper spit 'n' sawdust type place. I miss those days.....

It was the exercise bike that led to its downfall. Once you get one of those you start to get women and then it's only a matter of time before you've got pink 1kg dumbbells and a sunbed.

[PokerBroker]

@EvilPie - I scoured the net and most of the stuff was pretty terrible that I found, although I found this quite interesting for ankle mobility.   http://deansomerset.com/best-exercise-ever-cossack-squat/

If you have time search Dmitry Klokov, he visited the UK not so long ago and done a few training sessions in different gyms and put some videos together, sure he covered flexibility a fair bit.  He's a beast and no doubt on Roids but still super strong.  

[PokerBroker]

Absolutely love the debate and different viewpoints, so hopefully I am not coming across too confrontational. So please counter act me etc.

Not at all, and as I said I'd normally only iso with Joe Bloggs if they were doing a decent squat schedule and as you say most walk-ins guys/grls going to a PT in beginning do so because they are normally poor at gym and need that encouragement and getting them squatting is an achievement in itself.  

Yeah for sure, some people just move really badly. Squatting is huge achievement. Do you use any resistance bands in your coaching/training?

Only for recovery work following injury or setback.   We have a pretty old fashioned free weights gym.  We have an exercise bke though :-)

Lol. Sounds like my old gym from way back. Proper spit 'n' sawdust type place. I miss those days.....

It was the exercise bike that led to its downfall. Once you get one of those you start to get women and then it's only a matter of time before you've got pink 1kg dumbbells and a sunbed.

We actually have some girls come through our programme, frightening some of the weights they lift.  I am in awe sometimes.  We have a young girl Charlie, one of the most explosive and technically complete athletes I've seen.   She's only 14 but the last year she's been ravaged by injury.

Short clip here: 

[EvilPie]

@EvilPie - I scoured the net and most of the stuff was pretty terrible that I found, although I found this quite interesting for ankle mobility.   http://deansomerset.com/best-exercise-ever-cossack-squat/

If you have time search Dmitry Klokov, he visited the UK not so long ago and done a few training sessions in different gyms and put some videos together, sure he covered flexibility a fair bit.  He's a beast and no doubt on Roids but still super strong.  

Just added the four point Cossack squat to my evening stretching routine. This guy makes it look a lot easier than it is!!

Not sure how good it'll be for the ankle flexibility but it'll definitely open up the hips.

Good find 

[iRaise]

Watched a few drills by Dean Somerset, I would recommend going through a few others of his work and try and replicate.

[PokerBroker]

@EvilPie - I scoured the net and most of the stuff was pretty terrible that I found, although I found this quite interesting for ankle mobility.   http://deansomerset.com/best-exercise-ever-cossack-squat/

If you have time search Dmitry Klokov, he visited the UK not so long ago and done a few training sessions in different gyms and put some videos together, sure he covered flexibility a fair bit.  He's a beast and no doubt on Roids but still super strong.  

Just added the four point Cossack squat to my evening stretching routine. This guy makes it look a lot easier than it is!!

Not sure how good it'll be for the ankle flexibility but it'll definitely open up the hips.

Good find 

It will work the hips for definite, but will also work the ankles due to the dorsiflexion.   

Have you managed to find anything by Klokov?  everything I looked at other day was in Russian. 

[muckthenuts]

You know you went hard on squats yesterday when it hurts to go up the stairs today. Owwwwww.  I'm going to have to stretch harder in future cause I can't go on feeling like this after every single leg session!

Spoke to Sean lately about making workouts more enjoyable. I'll be honest - 5x5 strength training bores the shit out of me, but I do it because it fits in with my current schedule and hits my goals without taking too much of my time. It'd be great to go the gym and actually start enjoying myself though, perhaps  when I get more free time in summer.

It isn't just stretching, its eating sleeping and drinking. I am a huge supporter of mobility, but recovery is multi factoral. If you are stressed you aren't going to recover quickly. I am sure I have said this but I HATE DOMS, if I get it I am really disappointed, because I have gone just far too hard, and I can;t train properly again for a few days. Well done me that wasn't worth it.

5x5 bores me too lately, I love the old 3x3.

But at the minute I did 5x5, 4x5 + 1x10, 3x5 +2x10 etc.

If you aren't enjoying it you are going to stop. Fact, nobody can keep going when they are bored. Speshly if you aren't being paid to do it. I would be looking for recovery techniques and a change of program ASAP.

Try 3x3 with some accessory work, or even just full blow bro and his above the 10 reps.

In all honesty i think you're right. I mean i practically dread it sometimes when i come home from work or uni. I've been pretty consistent so far but feel myself beginning to slip for sure.