Blonde will make you STRONG

[Eso Kral]

Squats are looking good Rich. You can see a huge difference to the last videos and difficult to fault now.

PokerBroker obviously a bit fussier than me and I'm going to use his 'chest up' tip tomorrow for my next session.

Keeping the chest up and head up make a massive difference mate, helps keep the line through the whole exercise and also can help prevent any niggling back issues.  It will feel weird when you try it if your not used to doing so.  Keep the weight relatively light to start with and try adding in a few F/Squats if you feel you are struggling. 

Sorry meant to pop in here and say thanks for the feedback.

Week 1 of the final phase was all complete and it's pretty hard, harder than I thought especially at the end of upper body doing 8 sets of chins (4wide and 4 uh close) and week 1 I was just feeling for the weights on the different exercises so I knew where I was at.

Chins wise today I managed 4x5 on both wide and uh concentrating on good form and a couple of second drop before the pull so hope that will increase week by week.

[EvilPie]

Squats are looking good Rich. You can see a huge difference to the last videos and difficult to fault now.

PokerBroker obviously a bit fussier than me and I'm going to use his 'chest up' tip tomorrow for my next session.

Keeping the chest up and head up make a massive difference mate, helps keep the line through the whole exercise and also can help prevent any niggling back issues.  It will feel weird when you try it if your not used to doing so.  Keep the weight relatively light to start with and try adding in a few F/Squats if you feel you are struggling. 

I'm pretty sure I do it anyway but I'll focus on it tomorrow just to be sure. I always keep my head up and I guess that guarantees the chest will be too. I'm not going above 60kg at the moment while I'm perfecting my technique and working on ankle flexibility so no problem with the weight.

My depth has definitely improved in just two weeks as I've had to drop the safety bars down a notch and also I've been able to use thinner plates under my heels. I've been doing some ankle stretches in the evenings as well which is really helping. I'm almost at the point where my heels touch the floor at a full squat so all looking good.

[iRaise]

Slow start back, strength still not up there. Gonna be focussing on 3's over the next few weeks. Also gonna work on press ups and pull ups.

Quick point about front squats, I think it is a really difficult movement for most people due to shoulder flexibility. Seeing Rich's general mobility a few weeks ago (I would say he is just like any other person) front squats become difficult. But do agree they are a great way to help over leg strength, and squat technique.

[EvilPie]

Front squats focus mostly on the quads don't they? You break at the knee and drop straight down rather than the hip so it's mostly quads rather than hips/glutes?

I was planning on leaving these out until I've vastly improved my ankle flexibility. Currently trying to develop my quads, glutes and hamstrings so it's low bar squats and RDL at the moment hopefully progressing on to deadlifts once my RDL is looking good.

[iRaise]

Front squats focus mostly on the quads don't they? You break at the knee and drop straight down rather than the hip so it's mostly quads rather than hips/glutes?

I was planning on leaving these out until I've vastly improved my ankle flexibility. Currently trying to develop my quads, glutes and hamstrings so it's low bar squats and RDL at the moment hopefully progressing on to deadlifts once my RDL is looking good.

Its more quad dominant, but glutes are still used, and hamstrings are still used in the eccentric. I think where we are all at, it is just what we do best/enjoy the most. Elite athletes may want to be more subtle with their programming. But for us, most things help most things if done well.

[PokerBroker]

F/S do a combo of both you two lads are saying, but they also help with balance if done with a bare bar/mop pole etc.  In terms of helping other movements they are a great assistance exercise and they are good for all round strength.  It also adds in some variation and when you alternate them i think it feels easy going back to a standard back squat. 

You can also use the racks/blocks but even just with regular gym bods i like to add in a power clean and front squat or power clean/front squat into an overhead press.  It's hard going but does so much at one time. 

A question of of you guys might be able to help with.  I have a guy coming in to do a bit of work and he is looking to bulk up a bit but he's diabetic so got to be careful with his diet.  Although he can pretty much eat as much protein as he likes.  Any ideas on what i could get him doing?  I'm probably going to go down a generic strength based approach for the first couple of weeks to find a starting point and then add in volume to help him bulk.  But his diet is going to be key I feel. 

[iRaise]

Yeah agreed with front squats. I think they should be in most peoples program.

That is tough, cos protein becomes kinda irrelevant after 3g/kg. To bulk you just need lots of KCALs. So excess protein gets turned into glucose so it becomes a really expensive way to eat carbs. You just have to go down the higher fat route. So ram him with KCALs there. Or drugs, heard they help to

[EvilPie]

I'm no expert but I thought diabetics were supposed to avoid fat?

I'd imagine it's going to be really difficult as they're supposed to avoid carbs as well particularly high fat carbs.....

If protein turns to glucose at certain levels then I suppose that's one to be really careful of as well

A quick look on health.com shows that white rice is terrible but whole grain rice which contains loads of fibre is okay. That would be a good starter as well as other whole grain products like oatmeal.

Perhaps a couple of shakes a day made with kale, spinach, blueberries (or other low sugar fruit if you can think of any), scoop of protein powder and a cup of oatmeal on top of his regular daily intake could help.

Whatever he does he needs to do it slowly by the looks of things and accept that any weight gain is either going to be really bad for him or take a long time.

It's going to be really difficult without doubt although a shed loads of steroids could well provide the answer.
 

[iRaise]

I'm no expert but I thought diabetics were supposed to avoid fat?

I'd imagine it's going to be really difficult as they're supposed to avoid carbs as well particularly high fat carbs.....

If protein turns to glucose at certain levels then I suppose that's one to be really careful of as well

A quick look on health.com shows that white rice is terrible but whole grain rice which contains loads of fibre is okay. That would be a good starter as well as other whole grain products like oatmeal.

Perhaps a couple of shakes a day made with kale, spinach, blueberries (or other low sugar fruit if you can think of any), scoop of protein powder and a cup of oatmeal on top of his regular daily intake could help.

Whatever he does he needs to do it slowly by the looks of things and accept that any weight gain is either going to be really bad for him or take a long time.

It's going to be really difficult without doubt although a shed loads of steroids could well provide the answer.
 

Bulking is essentially KCALs so you have to work around it with him. I think a lot is dependant on type 1/2 to work out what foods as well as the individual. Everyone will react slightly differently, and exercise regulates blood sugar pretty well too.

You probably just have to go trial and error and see what works for him. Definitely makes it harder, so making sure he knows what is realistic and appropriate is probably the hardest part.

[the sicilian]

Finally got past the upper 14 stone mark last week and come in at 14'6 and looking to hit 14 dead for Vegas on the 21st...

PT has me doing lots of push pull super sets at the moment as well as intervals and I'm doing a fair bit of circuit stuff.. 3 x 100 rep circuits.

also single exercise

30 seconds rest between sets

10 box jumps 5 sets
10 press up with knee crunch 5 sets
10 20kg slam ball throw downs 5 sets
20 16kg viper shuttle runs 5 sets
20 60kg tyre flips 5 sets

also fitting in some swimming and a weekly spin class... body shape coming along nicely looking to be nice and lean for the Wynn pools

bit concerned as my left knee feels very sore and stiff... PT has had me doing quite a few leg machine squats at 250KG with a squat jump super set.. my legs abso burn to hell for the last few jumps.. i think he took it to heart when i told him i paid him to make me suffer.. he reckons i should hit 300kg no problem..ive a feeling my knee might disagree...

PT wants to do a before and after shot.. picked him a nice chubby one for the before but a bit apprehensive as it all seems a bit gay.. might stick it up here for japes if i get the bottle up

[EvilPie]

Get the pictures up you massive f**king homo!!

I suffer quite a bit with my knees and it's always tight quads that are the real cause. Might be worth a few quad stretches to see if it helps.

[iRaise]

Just found out we are having a talk on training with diabetes on the 5th of July. Can report back with some better info then!

[iRaise]

Managed a set of 3 at 70kg for OHP today, over the moon with that as I am about 10kg down from when I last tried. Was worried about that one but looking to push past where I was in Jan. Had ice cream everyday this week, so that's bascially the reason right?

[EvilPie]

Managed a set of 3 at 70kg for OHP today, over the moon with that as I am about 10kg down from when I last tried. Was worried about that one but looking to push past where I was in Jan. Had ice cream everyday this week, so that's bascially the reason right?

What are weighing in at currently?

I take it from the ice cream you're on a building phase?

[Marky147]

Get the pictures up you massive f**king homo!!

This

We know you're a homo, regardless of the pics, Dean

Thought I had some of me from when I started, but only have them from before I went to Tenerife in February, when I was about 18 stone.

Took another last night to compare, and still look like a bag of shit, but only look about 6m pregnant now.

Won't subject Blonde to them, as nobody wants to have to see that on a Friday