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iRaise
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« Reply #945 on: May 03, 2016, 10:33:28 PM »

So we're 1/3 of the way through the year and 1/3 of the way through my little press up challenge. Pleased to report that I'm slightly over 1/3 of the way there having just gone through the 9000 mark.

I'm currently doing 4 nights a week and approaching a total of 200 per night with my best so far being 193 over 6 sets. I'm sticking to 5 x 30 and then 1 x AMRAP for now. OCD won't allow me to do sets that don't end in a 0 or a 5 other than my final set so that's where I'm at for now.

I'll keep updating on these for the next 8 months........

PS: Arbboy said that this looked easy. He was wrong.


So impressed you are on track. I would suck at doing something like that so much unless it was in my program.

I've made it part of my evening routine whilst I'm cooking my dinner so now it's just something I do. I can't imagine not doing them now to be honest. Still seems a long slog but they're getting easier all the time and now it seems like all the previous niggling injuries have disappeared. Maybe it's the press ups that have helped make the injuries disappear...... Who knows.....

I'd highly recommend press ups as an assistance to your bench press. They've made a huge difference to mine and I reckon I'd be able to 1RM 140kg now.

I fancied a little change today for chest so did dumbbells for the first time in months. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular but I managed 28 x 8, 34 x 8, 42 x 6 and 46 x 6 without any problems. There's no way I'd have been doing that without a bit of build up and again I can only put it down to press ups.

Get on them!!


I will start doing them more, as hand stand press ups is obviously on the list of things I want to be able to do. I am sure they will help with OHP too as well as general shoulder health. Bench is the least interesting exercise for me at the minute. Will be interesting to see where I get with it. Much prefer DBs, but haven't done it for ages so really looking forward to giving it a go. Likewise with bent over row, haven't done that for the last few weeks/months.

I suck so bad at doing stuff at home. Don't finish work til 9, so after I am just like give me food and game of thrones. I obviously could fit them in, I am fitting yoga in now more and more into the day. I think when I stall on the bench I will throw them in more.

One handed press up also seems pretty cool!
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iRaise
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« Reply #946 on: May 03, 2016, 10:37:43 PM »

Read the last couple of pages, hope everyone is maintaining their pr0ogress!

Since my last post in late feb, I have been doing a lot less training, and just playing in goal twice a week, and doing the odd run. I think though i relaxed more with this, was less stressed and saw pretty good lean gains which had me baffled while maintaining the majority of muscle i have gained, still weighing in at around 15st. I think being much more relaxed helped me get more lean but that could be bollocks.

I would say i am benefitting from the hard work i put in earlier in the year with goalkeeping. I had a shaky return back from injury, mainly through lack of match practice which is understandable, costing my team a couple of games with terrible mistakes, but I am now really assured and through experience becoming a very potent player at this level and think a huge chunk of that is because I am more athletic. So thanks for the help there!

I left the thread confused about how to integrate all different training types and also avoidant to the notion of counting my protein intake and through the over complication of that I think i just gave up even trying to work it out and to put it into a routine. Definitely a mental game flaw there, but I return now primed to get a hang of it, have a good routine set up and blast it to see better and better results.

My last footie match for the season is tomorrow. After that I plan to go hard for pre pre season, and I want to know what i should be doing on the daily to achieve my goals, which are:

Have a longer goal kick: currently comes in at head height just inside my own half, when the better punters are reaching head height in the other half's end of the 'D'. This could be a technique problem but thats doubtful, defintiely more a power problem. Also my standing kick with my weaker foot needs to improve, so power in both legs would be helpful, this is definitely more a technique problem though, as most fotballers can attest to having a good foot and a "swinger" Smiley. Important note here is that before doing any plan my kicks were dreadful and there has been a marked improvement here. I can just see space for even more improvement because i haven't maximised my potential here at all.

Be more fleet of foot with sidestepping and jumping: I am quite quick already, but I don't feel i am maxing out my potential and that is annoying. This seems like plyometrics all day long to help with the agility but I never did put that into a previous plan.

Have a more powerful throw out: Seems a little tame at the moment, could do with more zip. Practicing the throw will help, plus building my power. Push ups seem like a great idea.

Have better lower back mobility: My squats are dreadful cannot go too far past parallel and i bend down or over quite slowly, im quite rigid here and it is affecting my ability to deal with low shots directly at me, and I have a couple of times lazily used my feet to save because i have no confidence with getting down as quickly as i need to. Flexibility work, squats, deadlifts, plyos (re enacting the saving motion) look good for this.

Currently I am without a gym having recently moved, and I am keen to work on body weights, hiit, plyos initially as a basis before then maybe building mass at a later date at the gym? I assume as power comes from speed and strength, if i work on the speed aspect with the non gym stuff i could be in a good position to add the strength at a later date, rather than merging everything. I think it would be better to bypass the gym initially, so i can get my head around the new training regime i will construct, but open to advice here i am unsure. Saying that i have dumbells at home i could be getting on with as well to help initially.

On the protein front I am going to ignore it for now, and I hope i don't get under people's skin with that. I really appreciate the advice away from diet. With the diet front I am first going to maximise what i can do physically, if i get the results i want then i maintain my way of eating. If i go all out and i don't get the results i want then i change up the diet. I quite like the idea that i will wait and see with it.

I tried some press ups after seeing Evilpie's antics, and i can string together 6 before i may start risking injury lol. I think with persistence that will get better, and i look forward to all the body weight stuff i will be doing.

So I guess, what would be a good basic starting plan for an hour a day, incorporating body weights, hiit, and plyos?

All i would like is a routine, that might be a 5 mins warm up, 5 mins dynamic stretching, ended with a 5 mins warm down and a 10 mins static stretch, then in between sets of body weight exercises like push ups, sit ups, squats, jacknives etc, maybe throw in some sets of intense sidesteps and jumps, maybe get some sprints on the go. I just don't know how to organise it into a routine to avoid overtraining and still get closer to my goals. Initially i am going to wing it until i know any better just to get up and running.

A hefty post to return with but oh well, I guess i was bottling it up Smiley

Skimmed that,

But every time I read a post by you I just think go and get a coach, it will save you a tonne of stress and time. It seems like you are willing to put the work in, so surely you want it to be the most efficient? Not sure where you are living, but I can try and recommend one if you want?

I am not sure if it is because I do it for a living but I have such an affinity to coaching. It speeds up the process so so quickly and you don't have to worry about gong wrong.

I like the idea of going hard pre season though. Been reading a bit about Leicester and there pre season/in season training. Pretty interesting.

Good to see you posting though!   
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vegaslover
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« Reply #947 on: May 04, 2016, 02:13:20 PM »

So we're 1/3 of the way through the year and 1/3 of the way through my little press up challenge. Pleased to report that I'm slightly over 1/3 of the way there having just gone through the 9000 mark.

I'm currently doing 4 nights a week and approaching a total of 200 per night with my best so far being 193 over 6 sets. I'm sticking to 5 x 30 and then 1 x AMRAP for now. OCD won't allow me to do sets that don't end in a 0 or a 5 other than my final set so that's where I'm at for now.

I'll keep updating on these for the next 8 months........

PS: Arbboy said that this looked easy. He was wrong.


So impressed you are on track. I would suck at doing something like that so much unless it was in my program.

I've made it part of my evening routine whilst I'm cooking my dinner so now it's just something I do. I can't imagine not doing them now to be honest. Still seems a long slog but they're getting easier all the time and now it seems like all the previous niggling injuries have disappeared. Maybe it's the press ups that have helped make the injuries disappear...... Who knows.....

I'd highly recommend press ups as an assistance to your bench press. They've made a huge difference to mine and I reckon I'd be able to 1RM 140kg now.

I fancied a little change today for chest so did dumbbells for the first time in months. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular but I managed 28 x 8, 34 x 8, 42 x 6 and 46 x 6 without any problems. There's no way I'd have been doing that without a bit of build up and again I can only put it down to press ups.

Get on them!!


Appears you are smashing it Matt. 46 x 6 sounds pretty good when you not been using dumbbells for months. My wrists are fk'ed so never do press ups but you have inspired me to start doing some
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EvilPie
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« Reply #948 on: May 04, 2016, 02:30:33 PM »

My wrists were pretty f**ked as well but they have improved since I've been doing press ups to the point where I now don't need to use straps when I'm lifting.

Don't know if it's just a coincidence but I seriously think my wrist strength has improved. Flexibility is definitely better.
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iRaise
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« Reply #949 on: May 04, 2016, 03:53:17 PM »

First time in bench for a long long time. I do wanna root through my training books to see, but I think it is about a year.

1x6 60kg
1x3 80kg
1x2 90kg
1x1 100kg

100 felt heavy, remember getting them for around 3-6 and not finding it too tough.

Dropped down to some pauses 3 seconds down, 3 second hold and up, 3x6 at 60kg. No idea how it is going to go over the next few weeks, but want to be really aggressive in the progress. If I fail a few so be it.

managed 3x8 one arm rows at 40 right at the end and was pretty easy, pleased with that. I have been doing it at the start for 8 with 46's and finding it quite tough. So glad to see strength isn't being too drained during the session.

Going to try and train a touch harder this month being a bit more relaxed on food.

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EvilPie
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« Reply #950 on: May 04, 2016, 05:14:23 PM »

First time in bench for a long long time. I do wanna root through my training books to see, but I think it is about a year.

1x6 60kg
1x3 80kg
1x2 90kg
1x1 100kg

100 felt heavy, remember getting them for around 3-6 and not finding it too tough.

Dropped down to some pauses 3 seconds down, 3 second hold and up, 3x6 at 60kg. No idea how it is going to go over the next few weeks, but want to be really aggressive in the progress. If I fail a few so be it.

managed 3x8 one arm rows at 40 right at the end and was pretty easy, pleased with that. I have been doing it at the start for 8 with 46's and finding it quite tough. So glad to see strength isn't being too drained during the session.

Going to try and train a touch harder this month being a bit more relaxed on food.



100kg felt heavy because it is f**king heavy! That's really impressive to say it's your first go for a year. It took me ages to get back to 100kg so you're way ahead of me.

Do you arch when you bench? I started arching a while ago and it really helps particularly with my shoulders as I'm also pinching my shoulder blades now as well. I put a lot of my strength gains down to press ups but I started arching at about the same time so there's a strong chance that some of it's down to that.
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« Reply #951 on: May 04, 2016, 05:45:36 PM »

First time in bench for a long long time. I do wanna root through my training books to see, but I think it is about a year.

1x6 60kg
1x3 80kg
1x2 90kg
1x1 100kg

100 felt heavy, remember getting them for around 3-6 and not finding it too tough.

Dropped down to some pauses 3 seconds down, 3 second hold and up, 3x6 at 60kg. No idea how it is going to go over the next few weeks, but want to be really aggressive in the progress. If I fail a few so be it.

managed 3x8 one arm rows at 40 right at the end and was pretty easy, pleased with that. I have been doing it at the start for 8 with 46's and finding it quite tough. So glad to see strength isn't being too drained during the session.

Going to try and train a touch harder this month being a bit more relaxed on food.



100kg felt heavy because it is f**king heavy! That's really impressive to say it's your first go for a year. It took me ages to get back to 100kg so you're way ahead of me.

Do you arch when you bench? I started arching a while ago and it really helps particularly with my shoulders as I'm also pinching my shoulder blades now as well. I put a lot of my strength gains down to press ups but I started arching at about the same time so there's a strong chance that some of it's down to that.


I've still been heavy OHP and DB so was expecting to be a touch stronger. Started arching today for the first time. Feel like it was ok but will get it videod and checked. It does shorten the distance slightly. But I'm guessing we both have crazily long arms so it's not as if it's a short distance.

Makes me mad that 60 pauses felt OK but squats felt tough. Legs just have to be the strongest part of a body. Need to do some serious work on the wheels the next few months.
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EvilPie
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« Reply #952 on: May 04, 2016, 06:21:41 PM »

It's not just the bar travel but the shoulder positioning that comes with the arch. I had about 4 sessions going no heavier than 60kg where I just focussed on setting up correctly. Couple of weeks later I was on 120kg.....

Main man Alan Thrall does it best as always:



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Motivational speeches at their best:

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iRaise
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« Reply #953 on: May 04, 2016, 10:08:13 PM »

It's not just the bar travel but the shoulder positioning that comes with the arch. I had about 4 sessions going no heavier than 60kg where I just focussed on setting up correctly. Couple of weeks later I was on 120kg.....

Main man Alan Thrall does it best as always:





He seems quite a smart guy and a very good coach. Might have a YouTube binge on his stuff.

100% agree with you through the theory behind it too.

What's your nutrition at the moment Matt?
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EvilPie
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« Reply #954 on: May 04, 2016, 10:27:46 PM »


He seems quite a smart guy and a very good coach. Might have a YouTube binge on his stuff.

100% agree with you through the theory behind it too.

What's your nutrition at the moment Matt?

He's the first person I've ever watched that made me think it would be worth having a few sessions with a coach. Only problem is finding a coach anywhere near the same sort of standard.....

Nutrition is really good at the moment. I'm not counting calories or macros accurately but I'm happy with my intake.

Generally it's:

5.30am - Breakfast shake. Spinach, banana, grapes, other fruit + scoop of protein powder.

7.30am - After training. Protein shake.

10.30am - 4 egg whites, 2 egg yolks, 2 wholemeal pittas

12.30pm - Tin of tuna + wholemeal rice

2.30pm - Protein bar

5.00pm - 30g peanut butter + shake similar to breakfast shake

7.00pm - Banana or protein bar

9.00 pm - 200g chicken, wholemeal rice, 3 wholemeal pittas

midnight - Protein shake

This would be the intake on training days. Non-training days I have a bit less and on Thursday night I have a few beers and a curry instead of the 7pm meal and midnight shake. Weekends are generally good but if I fancy going out and drinking 'til I can't stand up then eating as much Greggs as I can find I will.

Hmmm..... Seems a bloody lot when I write it down but I'm not gaining any fat so it can't be bad. Might work it out properly at some point but really not necessary as I don't have any goals that require careful diet planning. I've measured my intake accurately in the past so I know roughly what works depending on what exercise I'm doing.
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Motivational speeches at their best:

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« Reply #955 on: May 04, 2016, 10:31:49 PM »


He seems quite a smart guy and a very good coach. Might have a YouTube binge on his stuff.

100% agree with you through the theory behind it too.

What's your nutrition at the moment Matt?

He's the first person I've ever watched that made me think it would be worth having a few sessions with a coach. Only problem is finding a coach anywhere near the same sort of standard.....

Nutrition is really good at the moment. I'm not counting calories or macros accurately but I'm happy with my intake.

Generally it's:

5.30am - Breakfast shake. Spinach, banana, grapes, other fruit + scoop of protein powder.

7.30am - After training. Protein shake.

10.30am - 4 egg whites, 2 egg yolks, 2 wholemeal pittas

12.30pm - Tin of tuna + wholemeal rice

2.30pm - Protein bar

5.00pm - 30g peanut butter + shake similar to breakfast shake

7.00pm - Banana or protein bar

9.00 pm - 200g chicken, wholemeal rice, 3 wholemeal pittas

midnight - Protein shake

This would be the intake on training days. Non-training days I have a bit less and on Thursday night I have a few beers and a curry instead of the 7pm meal and midnight shake. Weekends are generally good but if I fancy going out and drinking 'til I can't stand up then eating as much Greggs as I can find I will.

Hmmm..... Seems a bloody lot when I write it down but I'm not gaining any fat so it can't be bad. Might work it out properly at some point but really not necessary as I don't have any goals that require careful diet planning. I've measured my intake accurately in the past so I know roughly what works depending on what exercise I'm doing.


You're a big guy, and shakes are low kcal. I reckon that is pretty bang on from just looking and knowing what most of the values are. Top that up with some high KCAL days through beer etc, and you probably evening out quite nicely. Bit of a Michael Owen statement there as you aren't getting fatter.

Yeah coaches to that standard are SO rare. I know there are good bodybuilding coaches in notts. M10 being one, but wouldn't really agree with his values/philosophies for the average person. But hits the result with BB. Still don't feel I could recommend them as I think we view health and fitness very differently. 

Must be some top ones in Loughborough although I don't know any to hand. If I can remember find anyone I will let you know.
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« Reply #956 on: May 05, 2016, 05:01:59 PM »

I fancied a bit of a change today and decided to go for a bit more volume on chest. I've been happy at low reps and pushing for heavier weights but it's definitely time to shake things up a touch.

I went to 100kg on bench but got 8 reps out reasonably easily. I did dumbbells as well as bench and managed 8 reps at 44kg for those which I was really happy with. Felt a really good pump after that little lot which was nice.

Mixed in the usual bent over row and wide grip chins to make an overall push, pull, push, pull session which seems to be working nicely. I think I might go with a chest/back day and then a shoulders/back day plus two lower body days where I do squats and deadlifts. I don't want to move away from the big compound movements just yet so I'll just experiment a bit more for now.

Main thing is I'm loving it and seem to get a little bit stronger all the time.
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« Reply #957 on: May 05, 2016, 09:41:59 PM »

I fancied a bit of a change today and decided to go for a bit more volume on chest. I've been happy at low reps and pushing for heavier weights but it's definitely time to shake things up a touch.

I went to 100kg on bench but got 8 reps out reasonably easily. I did dumbbells as well as bench and managed 8 reps at 44kg for those which I was really happy with. Felt a really good pump after that little lot which was nice.

Mixed in the usual bent over row and wide grip chins to make an overall push, pull, push, pull session which seems to be working nicely. I think I might go with a chest/back day and then a shoulders/back day plus two lower body days where I do squats and deadlifts. I don't want to move away from the big compound movements just yet so I'll just experiment a bit more for now.

Main thing is I'm loving it and seem to get a little bit stronger all the time.

\

Chest/Back Shoulders/Back is literally how I spent 2015, with two legs obv (I say obv, if you saw my legs you may question that).

Now I tend to just do, OH movement, incline movement then a flat movement. Then vertical/horizontal/wide/close pull movement.

Life is good when you keep getting stronger right?

Matt (or anyone else) what are your favourite movements (can be isolations) for shoulders/chest/back/quads and hams. Interested to see what people's opinions are. Doesn't have to be for results as such, just enjoyment.
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« Reply #958 on: May 07, 2016, 12:18:23 AM »

Chest/Back Shoulders/Back is literally how I spent 2015, with two legs obv (I say obv, if you saw my legs you may question that).

Now I tend to just do, OH movement, incline movement then a flat movement. Then vertical/horizontal/wide/close pull movement.

Life is good when you keep getting stronger right?

Matt (or anyone else) what are your favourite movements (can be isolations) for shoulders/chest/back/quads and hams. Interested to see what people's opinions are. Doesn't have to be for results as such, just enjoyment.

Face Pulls are probably my absolute favourite, dno if you'd call that shoulders or back.
Plate Press for chest. Love that feeling at the top of the movement, SO much recruitment.
Box Jumps or Sled Sprints for quads and hams. Don't really "enjoy" bodybuilding style leg stuff. I mean, heavy deadlifts and squats are cool and all, but I wayy prefer the plyo/athletic stuff.

What's your choice Butters?
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« Reply #959 on: May 07, 2016, 02:33:28 PM »

Shoulders- OHP
Back- Close grip cable row
Quads- Leg ext
Hams- RDL
Chest- Cable Flyes

Obviously top exercise is deadlift, but that's a lot of everything.

Love the plate press for chest too, always like to throw in a some of them.
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