Blonde will make you STRONG

[Marky147]

I'll be glad to get back to repping 80 again, 120 for 8 is stroooong!

My parents both had bronchitis/flu while I was away, and mum had been off work for over a week before I got home. Unfortunately she had passed it to Dad, and I picked it up as soon as I got back, so have spent most of the last week in bed.

Got a 3 day work meeting in the NY, as well as my first infusion, and have managed to chuck that in on the end of that week. Looking to get back in the gym on the 13th. I havent' really got any goals apart from train consistently, and keep a lid on the takeaways.

Maybe I'll try to get back down to my passing out weight (194), which I hit briefly in 2018 thanks to a stomach bug the last few days I was in Vegas

[Ledders]

After being injured and sad for nearly a year that my ankle is too fucked for running on consistently I joined a gym a couple of months ago and am really enjoying it. Been doing weights for about a month now and today I did;

Squat 60kg 3x5
Overhead Press 25kg 3x6
DB bench 16kg 4x6
Lat raises 6kg 3x10

I have been doing that followed by random core stuff, with a 6-10k run once per week at the weekend.

Goals:
Keep going to the gym
Learn to deadlift
Learn to bench press
Learn good form for compound movements
Get on nodding terms with the strong guys
Lose around 5-6kg

[the sicilian]

After being injured and sad for nearly a year that my ankle is too fucked for running on consistently I joined a gym a couple of months ago and am really enjoying it. Been doing weights for about a month now and today I did;

Squat 60kg 3x5
Overhead Press 25kg 3x6
DB bench 16kg 4x6
Lat raises 6kg 3x10

I have been doing that followed by random core stuff, with a 6-10k run once per week at the weekend.

Goals:
Keep going to the gym
Learn to deadlift
Learn to bench press
Learn good form for compound movements
Get on nodding terms with the strong guys
Lose around 5-6kg

Good start and the best of luck. The biggest challenge is motivation.. you have to view the whole thing as a lifestyle change ..diet as well.. doesnt mean you have to eat and live like a monk.. no one loves pizza and kebabs more than me.. just moderation and treats.. vary your routine as well.. dont do the same thing over over and again otherwise boredom will set in and it will be easy to pack it in. Im a crosfitter and the WODS are varied to keep you interested and competing against yourself.. better times more reps etc and is the perfect blend of strengh and fitness. All depends on what you are aiming for of course but what ever path you take just keep it different enough to make you want to train

[arbboy]

Maintain my strength is the main goal whilst i keep shedding the lard.   Down to sub 19 stone now and most of the loss has been fat according to the advanced scales.   Hopefully will be able to get down to 16.5 stone by April 1.   That is the short term goal.   Next three months will be weights down to 3 days a week from 4 and 3 hour long cardio sessions.   Doing dry January from tomorrrow onwards.   Think i am going to do it every 3rd month moving forward as i found it so much easier than i thought in October when i first started it.  Two days a week (non weight days) i have done the 16 hour extended fastiing like Matt was talking about as well and it doesn't seem too hard to do for a couple of days.

Good luck to everyone in their varied goals for 2020 and stay healthy.   All the best.

[EvilPie]

First update of the year and all positive so far.

Managed 135kg for 2 reps on bench and there was possibly a bit in the tank if I'd gone a touch heavier. 3 more weeks of low volume work to come and then a shot at a 1RM which I'm really looking forward to.

Even better than that though was a 100kg x 6 squat today which really surprised me. My target is 140kg which seems a long way off but today was a great boost to the confidence. I did doubles up to 105kg last week which I thought was reasonable but this is much better.

I'm been foam rolling a lot recently which seems to be helping my legs. Hopefully sticking to that will keep me injury free so I can push some reasonable numbers....

[EvilPie]

After being injured and sad for nearly a year that my ankle is too fucked for running on consistently I joined a gym a couple of months ago and am really enjoying it. Been doing weights for about a month now and today I did;

Squat 60kg 3x5
Overhead Press 25kg 3x6
DB bench 16kg 4x6
Lat raises 6kg 3x10

I have been doing that followed by random core stuff, with a 6-10k run once per week at the weekend.

Goals:
Keep going to the gym
Learn to deadlift
Learn to bench press
Learn good form for compound movements
Get on nodding terms with the strong guys
Lose around 5-6kg

Hi Ledders. Great stuff there and some very realistic goals. So many people want to run before they can walk so it's good to see that your goals initially are just to learn.

Have you made any diet changes to hit your weight loss goals? What you're doing in the gym will hardly burn any calories so you won't lose anything purely from that.

Would you happy with a body re-composition rather than just lose weight? You may find that you shift a few kgs of fat but gain the same amount in muscle.
 

[EvilPie]

Testing block started on Saturday so I've got 1, 2, 3 and 4 rep maxes.

Bench was good yesterday with a 130kg triple which felt really good and the third rep moved fast. Doubles next week and I'd love to get 137.5 or 140 to set me up for a shot at a PR attempt in 3 weeks.

Doubles for squats tomorrow with no set goal as they always depend how I feel on the day. I think I have 110kg there but will just play it by ear.

Should be an interesting 4 weeks to get some numbers and see how far I have to go to hit my optimistic goal.....

[Marky147]

Testing block started on Saturday so I've got 1, 2, 3 and 4 rep maxes.

Bench was good yesterday with a 130kg triple which felt really good and the third rep moved fast. Doubles next week and I'd love to get 137.5 or 140 to set me up for a shot at a PR attempt in 3 weeks.

Doubles for squats tomorrow with no set goal as they always depend how I feel on the day. I think I have 110kg there but will just play it by ear.

Should be an interesting 4 weeks to get some numbers and see how far I have to go to hit my optimistic goal.....

6 plates for reps coming!!

What's PR attempt 150?


I'm still suffering with this chest that makes me think I'm smoking 40 marlboro in my sleep every night... Think it's slowly dissipating now, and looking forward to getting back in there.

[iRaise]

Sorry for the absence, annoyingly I seem to take ages to recover from anything now, so a mix of a few hangovers then a mere cold and I have been in autopilot a bit few a few weeks. There's a few really annoying after effects, but recovery is definitely one of them. I now feel so blessed to have been able to recover from pretty much anything within a day or two. Even migraines I could get back up within 48 hours. Now everything seems to take 5/6/7 days. I am only 18 months post everything, so hopefully I can work back up and get close to where I was.

[EvilPie]

Testing block started on Saturday so I've got 1, 2, 3 and 4 rep maxes.

Bench was good yesterday with a 130kg triple which felt really good and the third rep moved fast. Doubles next week and I'd love to get 137.5 or 140 to set me up for a shot at a PR attempt in 3 weeks.

Doubles for squats tomorrow with no set goal as they always depend how I feel on the day. I think I have 110kg there but will just play it by ear.

Should be an interesting 4 weeks to get some numbers and see how far I have to go to hit my optimistic goal.....

6 plates for reps coming!!

What's PR attempt 150?


I'm still suffering with this chest that makes me think I'm smoking 40 marlboro in my sleep every night... Think it's slowly dissipating now, and looking forward to getting back in there.

Chest infections are the worst. Seem to take ages to shift and really take it out of you.

I don't have a specific target. I'll settle for consolidating 145kg and if that moves okay will probably whack 150 on for japes.

The extra 5kg doesn't sound a lot but it's really tough when you're close to a max. Last time I did heavy singles I think I failed 147.5 but then got 145. Hard to believe 25 made such a difference but the final straw is the final straw.

Managed a 110kg double on squats today which was nice. It's 2 weeks to a single on those so I think 115 or 120 could be possible. Deadlift 1RM is on Thursday. I've a feeling they're going to be a long way off my year target. I have 160kg written down for some bizarre reason. God knows what made me think I could do that given I haven't moved more than 130kg for as long as I can remember.

[iRaise]

2019 America's Strongest man on c5 tonight 7pm.

Love the strongman every year. Each year they get more and more athletic. I think nearly every world record will be beaten over the next 5-10 years and dare I saw by some way (DL potentially the exclusion here as Eddie did set that so incredibly high). But to see these guys do the medlays/stones/walks/carrys with such speed and such huge weight is just incredible. Its taken a while but they are finally following the science and training and eating way better. Glad to see them a touch lighter too! Fully aware you need to be heavy, but wouldn't be surprised one bit if the winner are around the 140-160kg mark over the next ten years. I guess it is events dependant but they seem to be realising you can be too fat for strongman.

[iRaise]

So I will try to keep the reintroduction as brief as I can, but firstly sorry for the sudden disappearance. I have no real reason why I haven't come in sooner for an update to be honest, and I am happy to talk about any part of it if anyone is interested (there's just some bits that are still a blur)

So July last year had a brain haemorrhage, luckily didn't die, and on the whole pretty well recovered.
Couldn't walk or move my legs for the first 6-7 days which was a little scary, but slowly and surely we managed to pace together a few steps at a time, and pretty much of all needed uses back.
My left eye wouldn't open for 1 month, and when it did it was lazy for 2 months. I was expecting to never have it return, and have to have a few operations to make it look somewhat cosmetic, but a trip to Lake Bled and 80,000 steps seem to have been the cure, as I got back to the next day, went for a nap and it pretty much came back.
Obviously with the eye, I didn't think life would remotely be the same again as I wouldn't be able to drive and do so many other things. I was genuinely worried I could never go to the gym again, and was warned off for 2 years by the surgeon (I may have not followed this rule too closely, but I'm still breathing).
For the first year I pretty much slept to try and recovery the best I could. My memory is still pretty shaky at times, and sometimes it takes me far to long to process things, but if you never met me before, you would have no idea.
Slowly but surely over the last 12 months I have been back in the gym, I can only really do 3 sessions a week now as my recovery takes a lot lot longer, which is annoying because right now my life is built for recovery.
I moved to London to be closer to all my friends and try and enjoy the fact i didn't die, and have had a pretty weird and amazing last few months.
2020 I have to try and figure out what I am going to do with my life now, I still love fitness, but don't quite have the drive and energy to do what I once did, and I am kinda looking forward to trying out something else. I still stay very close to the fitness world, and still read the research etc which even surprised me.

Happy to answer any questions anyone might have, nothing is really off limits if I remember it, and will try and post now and again with what I am doing. It will be less frequently as I don't do as much, and I am unsure if the numbers will get back to where they were (they are well on their way).

I will have a look through what I have missed to try and catch up

I don't open this thread too often but..

A - WOW!

B - Good luck to you. what an amazing story.

Ha, it is a bit of a weird story, speshly for those who saw me at different points. I think the eye made it much worse when that wasn't working. Since then I have been really lucky with recovery in comparison to what I was told could happen. I think I have my 'two year' assessment next month or the month after, which is ironic because its incredibly early but looking forward to having it. The Dr who I am seeing this time hasn't seen me since my eye came back and was convinced it wouldn't come back, to the point he booked me into see two separate eye surgeons after seeing him last time.

[iRaise]

Aye, what Tom said.

Welcome back.

Thank you!

[EvilPie]

Sorry for the absence, annoyingly I seem to take ages to recover from anything now, so a mix of a few hangovers then a mere cold and I have been in autopilot a bit few a few weeks. There's a few really annoying after effects, but recovery is definitely one of them. I now feel so blessed to have been able to recover from pretty much anything within a day or two. Even migraines I could get back up within 48 hours. Now everything seems to take 5/6/7 days. I am only 18 months post everything, so hopefully I can work back up and get close to where I was.

I imagine your body has a lot going on in the background at the moment and struggles to prioritise a bit of a sniffle.

It took me years to get over the bit of nerve damage I had in my leg so given the way you described your leg pain I can't see it being much quicker especially given everything else.

I guess you have age on your side but just because you can't see it doesn't mean your body hasn't been through an insane amount of trauma.

Give it another 18 months and you'll be completely different again.

[iRaise]

So I will try to keep the reintroduction as brief as I can, but firstly sorry for the sudden disappearance. I have no real reason why I haven't come in sooner for an update to be honest, and I am happy to talk about any part of it if anyone is interested (there's just some bits that are still a blur)

So July last year had a brain haemorrhage, luckily didn't die, and on the whole pretty well recovered.
Couldn't walk or move my legs for the first 6-7 days which was a little scary, but slowly and surely we managed to pace together a few steps at a time, and pretty much of all needed uses back.
My left eye wouldn't open for 1 month, and when it did it was lazy for 2 months. I was expecting to never have it return, and have to have a few operations to make it look somewhat cosmetic, but a trip to Lake Bled and 80,000 steps seem to have been the cure, as I got back to the next day, went for a nap and it pretty much came back.
Obviously with the eye, I didn't think life would remotely be the same again as I wouldn't be able to drive and do so many other things. I was genuinely worried I could never go to the gym again, and was warned off for 2 years by the surgeon (I may have not followed this rule too closely, but I'm still breathing).
For the first year I pretty much slept to try and recovery the best I could. My memory is still pretty shaky at times, and sometimes it takes me far to long to process things, but if you never met me before, you would have no idea.
Slowly but surely over the last 12 months I have been back in the gym, I can only really do 3 sessions a week now as my recovery takes a lot lot longer, which is annoying because right now my life is built for recovery.
I moved to London to be closer to all my friends and try and enjoy the fact i didn't die, and have had a pretty weird and amazing last few months.
2020 I have to try and figure out what I am going to do with my life now, I still love fitness, but don't quite have the drive and energy to do what I once did, and I am kinda looking forward to trying out something else. I still stay very close to the fitness world, and still read the research etc which even surprised me.

Happy to answer any questions anyone might have, nothing is really off limits if I remember it, and will try and post now and again with what I am doing. It will be less frequently as I don't do as much, and I am unsure if the numbers will get back to where they were (they are well on their way).

I will have a look through what I have missed to try and catch up

Hi Harvey

Glad to hear you are recovering after the hell you have been through. Certainly puts a perspective on how fragile life really is.
Training numbers you put up already put a lot of people to shame.
Good to have you back posting

Thank you! Yeah I do think about that sometimes when I hear people moan about genetics. I definitely don't have any great genetics from a muscle building point of view, and have terrible genetics from a vein point of view. But one thing I am grateful for is getting into such a rhythm in my early 20s. Obviously a bit early to call it, but I hope in my 50/60s I can look back on my early 20s and still be as proud and content I did it all.

I don't know if I will ever surpass my old numbers, but really really pleased I have gotten back to where I have as stress free as it's been so far.

And I definitely agree, I still have 2/3 moments a week where I kinda just sit there and think 'holy fuck how am I still here'. Still feels so surreal at times its hard to put into words.