back to the grind

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

not on pc/forums as much as used to be but i remember last time i was lacking motivation i kept it together with log so lets try see if it works again. last thread was full of too much non lifting crap, aiming to keep this one clean.

 

peaked around july/august last year with the comp training and all then got bored as preoccupied chasing other hobbies for a while. stopped lifting seriously around november, had on and off relationship with gym in the new year and then became more consistent around june but mainly just machines. had first proper power lifting session for the year yesterday, it feels good to be back. was a bit surprised i could just go in and deadlift (in my opinion) a decent amount as if it were nothing.

 

wanna give myself a few training blocks this year build up strong foundation and try my hand again at some power lifting comps next year. no dates / comps in mind as yet.

 

body weight currently 62kg. still lean. not too concerned with gaining weight like i used to be, just wanna be the strongest that my frame allows me to be and still maintain some fitness for my other regular hobby (hiking).

 

05 August 2017

Deadlifts 2x5x60, 2x3x100, 1x120, 1x140, 1x160, 3x100

Shrugs

Pullups : 12, 8, 8

Arms

[gazza 79]

Welcome back buddy. The iron is always there no matter what life throws at us.

Look forward to your updates.

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

wooops so much for keeping a log and training consistently lol.

 

did deads again yesterday up to 160kg for  2 reps this time. didn't feel quite right, like i'm using my back too much and legs a lot less so will take it back to basics from the next session.

 

body weight consistently at 65kg over the last week. feeling of doms is quite overwhelming these days, reminds me of when i first started all those years ago lol.

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

looots of work been getting done to try balance out my posture and all that. too much sitting down noticing super tight hips and lazy glutes which lead to a pretty poor and painful squat in comparison to my deadlifts. last time my error was only stretching the hip flexors but not strengthening the glutes, so i'm focusing on that in isolation work for a bit on what would otherwise be squat days.  hope to see a more balanced squat : deadlift ratio come in soon!

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

working sets of 5x5x140kg deads easy as heck. need to improve grip tho figure that'll come back with more time on the bar as usual.

 

all that hip mobility i been doing recently along with the glute isolation has been having my glutes burn like a mofo on the daily, but seem it's worth it so far. using standing desks at work while keeping a regular check on my posture too.

 

bodyweight 66kg and not fat... it almost was too easy to regain my weight, just a matter of keeping consistent with eating and training to build the strength back.

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

couple sets of 1x180kg deads today.  easy, slow and controlled on the way down too. feeling pretty positive that my lower back feels almost nothing from this, so the glutes /hips are really coming in to play now.

 

hips getting better, so glad i finally understand the root cause of that dam hip pain thats been bugging me for so long. still not comfortable to squat yet as heaps more mobility to gain and glute medius has probably another month or two of strengthening before i'm happy with my external rotation goals.

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

woops fell off the wagon with my log again. not that my training history is in high demand but here it is anyway :P 

 

still training but i find myself just going in and doing whatever i feel like, way less discipline since i haven't committed to any program. been taking an interest in more of calisthenics since was experiencing far too many long term pains on lower body with power lifting. i should eventually settle on a structured program since haven't made any real progressions outside of the basics. been contemplating building a proper pullup bar in backyard, one thats fixed with concrete not shaky station like i made last time. kinda keen to get in to smashing more bodyweight strength work.

 

diet

weight has dropped down a bit but my latest excuse out of my bucket of many excuses is that i got bite stoppers with my braces (which will remain for atleast another 2 months before i can eat whole foods) so my teeth don't close hence can only have food that can be swallowed and digested easily without chewing etc. currently floating between 60.75-62.5 kg on gym scales. even though i don't eat as much as i should for how active i am, what i eat is 95% quality meals (mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs + greek yoghurt several times a day with no crap snacks making up empty cals) so i feel super energetic most of the time and probably can credit this back to being able to maintain strength in some areas.

 

deadlifts

i still seem to be able to deadlift quite easily compared to how it used to be when i was regularly training them.180kg is not heaps but right now is still 3x my bodyweight so in that regard i can sleep at night. i dunno what people in gym are doing but those new barbells are already without knurling and collars barely spin so finding less desirable to deadlift lately due to equipment  /rant.

 

bench

barely been doing this, dunno why but always was my least favourite exercise. strangely enough though since i stopped benching regularly, doing dips doesn't feel painful any more so i am smashing more of those than ever before. i wanna be able to do atleast holding planche, if not planche pushups so i will probably have to include bench in my routine again soon.

 

back

i seem to get stronger in this area without even training back that much.. can row as much now as i did when i was in bulk mode couple yrs ago and i can pretty easily do my first set of strict pullups with 20-25 reps, with drop set type workout like this: wide grip 20-25, 15-20, 12-15, switch to narrow grip: 10, 10, 10.  probably something to do with mind muscle connection improving significantly in this area hence it's so much easier to do. also seem to be able to buffer lactic acid way better than before, haven't been taking any supplment for that and not sure if related to clean diet or something?

 

squats

inexistant.  i kept triggering strong hip pains so i shy away from these now hence prob never get back in to proper powerlifting. pretty sure it's nothing major and all within my ability to fix as physios pointed out in past, i just need to be more proactive with hip strengthening / mobility work but since i find it boring i could never be consistent enough long term to reap the benefits.

[maccaz 1444]

are you still taking steroids or nah

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

[edit] deleted comment cos not meant to be a thread with rants or crap like in old thread. just lifting / progress.

 

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

went and trained yesterday with a mate. ended up being in gym lot longer than im generally comfortable with but i guess it was what was needed to snap out of recent 'going through the motions' type training. 

 

feeling sore af on back / chest, basically super high volume on bench / rows / pullups/dips.

 

remembered my weight drop is not fair comparison in training this time around due to always taking creatine in past which no doubt adds extra 2-3kg atleast. ordered creactor as was on sale 120 servings @ $29. my previous go to was creacore but can't seem to find that anymore, i know most ppl say creatine mono but from my own experience i seem to not notice anything from mono where as i do with hcl, or atleast it is so with the default servings. 

 

rest of current 'supplementation' stack is : 

mornings ; supermarket random branded 1 a day mens multi, vitamin c, iron tabs, l-arginine (just started on this stuff last week, absolutely love it lol, looking and feeling full/pumped through the day with this). 

nights ; zma, vit d3, fish oil

pre workout ; some unbranded pre workout supp from wheydeals.co.nz (i beleive this is sister site of nz muscle? ) @ 1 scoop + 1-2 tabs of larginine. 

 

i use ans n-mass lately for the extra cals , was hoping to be on real foods by now but yeh teeth haven't moved enough to remove bite stoppers. this product has some prioritary nootropic that works proper well to make me hungry, its called 'appellin' . got me started on the idea of researching further in to said nootropics to see if i can just purchase that active ingredient that has this effect as can imagine it would be super useful for bulk when i can eat again. 

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

kinda glad i take regular progress pics and keep them aside regardless of if i feel im making much progress or not lol.

 

i eat total less calories than when i was at my craziest bulk but funny enough due to the braces situation there is no more snacks, no more junk food at all (apart from ice cream desserts when i feel like im gonna crash). seem to be making the most progress and generally feeling better than ever, i finally get the hype about clean eating lol. introduced tuna in to diet lately also and just further mash it down with fork before i swallow it. looking for further meat ideas but haven't yet researched enough about what is and isn't highly bioavailable when there is lack of chewing/enzymes from saliva etc.

 

here is 1 yr comparison from last year and now. that vascularity / abs popping out a bit seems to have really come in strong from after a week of arginine. i highly recommend anyone who hasn't tried that supp to give it a go, pretty crazy but i guess you may have to be already slightly lean before it shows like that?

 

30 may 2017 62.5kg

 

25 april 2018 60.5kg

 

back 28 april 62kg. lot any traces of the ol thickness but width coming back in quick

 

got deadlifts / abs session coming up later today. my 'porta bars' arrived couple days ago not sure how i'll incorporate those in to my training routine now that i think about it.

 

[Pseudonym 1312]

On 26/04/2018 at 11:30 AM, FellowshipOfTheRon said:

not that my training history is in high demand but here it is anyway :P 

Don't sell yourself short, bro. Yours is an excellent journal.

 

Good to hear you're back on track and feeling positive.

[FellowshipOfTheRon 428]

On 4/30/2018 at 11:46 PM, Pseudonym said:

Don't sell yourself short, bro. Yours is an excellent journal.

 

Good to hear you're back on track and feeling positive.

cheers mate.

 

so my creatine hcl arrived couple weeks ago and have since stabilised at around 64.5kg, so i know the product is doing something i guess. with diet at present being so simple and consistent, it's really easy to now trial different supplements to find out what affects me / how and whether it's worth throwing hard earned money at it.

 

reintroduced benching in to my routine, though admittedly still haven't settled on a consistent program yet. currently haven't tested 1 RM yet but easy 3 sets of 3 reps for 70kg last session.. it feels a whole lot easier than i remember it so i guess there is a decent transfer in strength from the calisthenics stuff i'm doing

 

couple of guys were mentioning an interesting strength scale on FB, not sure if skeletor/quadzilla still visit these forums but i thought that was a fairly interesting topic... if anyones interested then the link is https://www.strongerbyscience.com/objective-strength-standards/

 

haven't got any hard deadlines for these goals in mind but wouldn't mind having something quantitative to progress towards with the big 3 so may end up using that..., i always ultimately wanted to end up with a 100kg bench which is both very close but very far away ;)

 

been ignoring lower body training a fair bit lately..