Drizzt Lifts Things

[drizzt]

08/10/10 - Sheiko CW/D3

94.5 today! Woooooooohoooooo, 2kg in 2 days! Honestly not too worried though, as I messed up the fast today (work thing was on so moved the window forward) which likely affected it, and the body is feeling/looking fine so I'm ok with it.

• Bench (sets, reps, weight)
  Bar/40kg warmups
  1 x 5 @ 65kg
  2 x 4 @ 77.5kg
  3 x 3 @ 90kg
  
• Squats
  Bar/60/80kg warmups
  1 x 5 @ 90kg
  2 x 4 @ 107.5kg
  3 x 3 @ 125kg
  
• Flat DB Flies
  3 x 10 @ 12kg
  
• Dips
  3 x 8 @ +10kg
  
• Good Mornings
  Bar/40/60kg warmups
  5 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  

Comments

• Bench all good, technique adjustments are going well
  
• Squat is getting better, remembering where to breathe and trying to get a consistent walk out...
  
• Assistance exercises were all good, Good mornings felt great in particular.

That's it for the conditioning week, the "real" work to start on Monday Will hopefully be hitting a tyres session on Sunday for cardio.

[Big john]

good training bro...let the fun times roll for monday :nod:

[drizzt]

good training bro...let the fun times roll for monday :nod:

Chur big fulla. Call me crazy but I'm rearing to rip into it tomorrow! Had to burn off a little energy with the tyre training today...

Tyre Circuit - 10/10/10

Nice short session with a couple of mates to kick off the offseason and feel our way into it. All exercises were done with full energy, and roughly 2mins rest between sets.

*I've guesstimated my big tyre's weight as 230 after seeing the house's tyre

*Hill stuff was done up a driveway, roughly 30degree incline at a guess, and about 15meters up, 15meters back

• Set 1
  230kg tyre flips x 10
  Jumping in and out of tyre x 15
  Farmers walk with two small-med sized tyres (up/down hill)
  Hill sprints x 5
  
• Set 2
  230kg tyre flips x 10
  Hill sprints x 5
  Single tyre carry (up/down hill)
  Jumping in/out of big tyre x 15
  
• Set 3
  230kg tyre flips x 10
  Farmers walk with two small-med sized tyres (up/down hill)
  Single tyre carry (up/down hill)
  Hill sprints x 5
  
• Set 4
  Farmers walk with two small-med sized tyres (up/down hill)
  Single tyre carry (up/down hill)
  Jumping in/out of big tyre x 15
  230kg tyre flips x 10
  

Good blowout, fitness wasn't too bad, and found flipping the tyre wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be either (was a little tough into the strong winds though!). Lots to add in the coming weeks, including drags (didn't have a rope today), weighted pressups/prone holds, throws, and could even throw in SHIIT as the lead leg highway is only a couple minutes walk from where the tyres are.

Will be doing this each week on a Sunday, on top of hopefully one SHIIT, and 1-2 boxing sessions per week as my cardio

[morattigirl]

Good stuff Drizzt :nod: mean

[tinytraps]

Nice bro! you going to do the 13weeker? IMO you should leave the conditioning to 1day per week, this block of training is dedicated to getting stronger. Just do enough cardio to maintain your fitness, and keep the the bf% in check but once the accumulated fatigue starts to kick in your gonna need all the rest you can get! looking forward to seeing your numbers at the end of it bro 8)

[drizzt]

Good stuff Drizzt :nod: mean

Thanks MG 8)

Nice bro! you going to do the 13weeker? IMO you should leave the conditioning to 1day per week, this block of training is dedicated to getting stronger. Just do enough cardio to maintain your fitness, and keep the the bf% in check but once the accumulated fatigue starts to kick in your gonna need all the rest you can get! looking forward to seeing your numbers at the end of it bro 8)

Yeah bro on the 13 weeker. I did have the thought that it might be hard to keep up more than a couple of conditioning sessions per week... but I'll see what I can get away with. Would definitely like to keep the Sunday session, and at least one other during the week... anything else would be a bonus I reckon :nod:

[drizzt]

11/10/10 - Sheiko 13 weeker W1/D1

94 flat today, started creatine today too so expecting this to shoot up a couple kilo in the next week or two

• Bench (sets, reps, weights)
  Bar/40/60kg warmups
  1 x 4 @ 72.5kg
  1 x 3 @ 77.5kg
  1 x 3 @ 90kg
  4 x 3 @ 97.5kg
  
• Squats
  Bar/50/70kg warmups
  1 x 5 @ 90kg
  1 x 5 @ 107.5kg
  4 x 5 @ 125kg
  
• Bench
  1 x 4 @ 72.5kg
  2 x 4 @ 85kg
  4 x 4 @ 90kg
  
• Flat DB Flies
  5 x 10 @ 12kg
  
• Good Mornings
  Bar/40/60kg warmups
  5 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  
• Core/Stretches
  Weighted rope curls (kneeling)
  Stabilizing exercises
  Hyperextensions
  Dislocations
  Misc stretches
  

Comments

• Bench felt good, think I'm finally acclimatising to the IF, was very energetic pre-workout (and post for that matter). Felt slightly odd doing two bench sessions in the same day, but I'm sure I'll get used to that.
  
• Squats were good, working on the form. First couple of sets trying to remember to break with the hips first - this seems to strangely keep my knees more upright, allowing me to get deeper without having to bend so far forward, bonus :nod: But in doing this, I kinda forgot all about my breathing :pfft: So added that in for the last couple of sets, and I can see them coming together nicely. Weight felt decent, actually, think that may be because of the 5 reps. Once we drop down to 1-3 reps consistently that's where I'll hit my stride I reckon.
  
• Nothing to report on the other things really. Good mornings are feeling ok which is promising for the core/back health.

Day 1 over, not too bad. Took a little over an hour to complete this session incl the core/stretches. Will be starting work earlier each day so that I can take these extended lunch breaks, so can take my time if I want, but wanted to blast through it to work up a sweat, and I plan to be a bit calmer/rest a bit more between sets when the volume gets upped in a week or two.

Diet is feeling good, just ordered some ZMA, Tribulus and BCAA, will stack those together in the next wee while (BCAA because the diet recommends to do so before training). As mentioned above I'll also be doing creatine for the next month or so, hoping that'll give me a good boost to the workouts :nod:

Last week of altitude training as well.

[drizzt]

13/10/10 - Sheiko 13 Weeker W1/D2

94 flat again... expecting this to rise shortly as I'm a few days into creatine loading...

• Deads (sets, reps, weights)
  1 x 3 @ 115kg
  2 x 5 @ 137.5kg
  2 x 3 @ 160kg
  3 x 3 @ 172.5kg
  
• Bench
  1 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  1 x 5 @ 85kg
  4 x 4 @ 90kg
  
• Dips
  5 x 8 @ +10kg
  
• Deads from Knees
  1 x 3 @ 115kg
  2 x 4 @ 140kg
  2 x 3 @ 160kg
  3 x 3 @ 185kg
  
• Lunges
  5 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  

Comments

• Deads felt pretty good, overhanded most of them (+chalk), and for the top sets I used the alternate grip that I don't usually do (left under, right over) to strengthen that side. I do try to spread them evenly when I do alternate grip, but I have a habit of doing the stronger one (left over, right under) when I'm going heavy. So making an effort to bring up the other side. Haven't done this much volume on deads for quite some time so it took a bit out of me.
  
• Bench was all good, feeling really comfortable under the bar, and the setup is nice and consistent now.
  
• Deads from Knees were ok... set the pins at the top of the shin/bottom of kneecap (unsure if that's right, anybody?), seemed a bit too high otherwise... All reps overhand. The lower back started to feel it on the last set, so will be stretching up hard in the next few days.
  
• Lunges/Dips were all good, fired out quickly :nod:

And finished with some stretching just to loosen up the lower back. All done in about 1.5hours.

Feeling pretty good, looking forward to Friday :nod:

Happy with the IF diet, I think this is the hardest I've looked at 94kg before (might put up a pic, although that's not really the point of this journal :roll:), so pleased with the direction it's heading in. Need to start implementing more things, just waiting on Bodybuilding.com order to arrive, and I'll start throwing the BCAAs and stuff into the diet.

[teamfatboy]

13/10/10 - Sheiko 13 Weeker W1/D2

• Deads from Knees were ok... set the pins at the top of the shin/bottom of kneecap (unsure if that's right, anybody?), seemed a bit too high otherwise... All reps overhand.

Yep, I set them at top of shin/ top of bar below bottom of patella, so if you're wrong, I'm wrong :pfft: - I use that adjustable squat rack at the right-hand end, move up and down using the spare floor tiles to suit.

Good work, keep it up!

[drizzt]

Yep, I set them at top of shin/ top of bar below bottom of patella, so if you're wrong, I'm wrong :pfft: - I use that adjustable squat rack at the right-hand end, move up and down using the spare floor tiles to suit.

Good work, keep it up!

Cool, cheers TFB. At least if I'm wrong I won't be the only one :pfft: Figure it'd probably be the place I'd do the "to the knees" deads from, so it made sense to make it the "from the knees" deads as well.

[drizzt]

Sheiko 13 Weeker W1/D3

94.5 today - creatine bloat seems to be hitting going by the mirror

• Bench (sets, reps, weights)
  bar/40 warmups
  1 x 5 @ 65kg
  1 x 4 @ 77.5kg
  1 x 4 @ 90kg
  1 x 3 @ 97.5kg
  2 x 2 @ 105kg
  2 x 1 @ 110kg
  2 x 2 @ 105kg
  1 x 3 @ 97.5kg
  1 x 5 @ 85kg
  1 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  
• Flat DB Flies
  5 x 10 @ 12kg
  
• Squats
  bar/60 warmups
  1 x 5 @ 90kg
  2 x 3 @ 107.5kg
  2 x 3 @ 125kg
  4 x 3 @ 135kg
  
• Dips
  5 x 8 @ +10kg
  
• Good Mornings
  bar/40/60 warmups
  5 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  

Comments

• Bench was nice and easy, decided to try a 1sec pause on all reps, came off without too much effort. Might do this as much as I can on bench.
  
• Squats were TOUGH!! The back DOMS were (and still are) intense from Wednesday's deadlift session, and this severely impeded my squatting today. All of the reps and weights felt the same, just goddamned brutal. But still forced myself to go nice and deep, and on the plus side my routine is getting really consistent.
  
• Flies and Dips were done nice and quickly as expected. Good mornings were like Squats, bloody brutal. First rep of each set was a struggle due to the tightness, but the remaining 4 were generally pretty good.

Soooo yeah, DOMS had a massive effect on the workout today. Big shock for the body going from four-five sets of deads (incl warmups) each week, to smashing sixteen sets of the bastards at once (+warmups!). Will need to get used to the Weds deadlift sessions quickly, or I can see Fridays becoming my least favourite workout of the week..

A good sign, though, is the right side isn't any more sore than the left which used to be the case when I injured the right side (due to bias/muscular imbalance) earlier in the year. Also, the glutes are getting DOMS too - which I never used to get - which shows I'm activating 'em through the exercises now :nod:

I'm gonna throw a day of stretching and flexibility work in to see if that mitigates the DOMS, probably look at Thursdays. In the meantime, will be wearing the compression gear and having a couple of muscle soak baths :nod:

I suppose a positive is that I'm used to a bit more volume on bench and squats (particularly squats), so the volume on these exercises isn't as much of a shock, and the DOMS are pretty much non-existant for these muscle areas.

[drizzt]

17/10/10 - Tyre Session

Was crap ass weather, and didn't have any training partners today But still, needed to do this so ventured into the wilderness.

• Set 1
  Big tyre flips x 10
  Jumps in/out of big tyre x 15
  Overhead tyre throws x 8ish
  Tyre drags x 50m(ish)
  Incline pushups on big tyre x 10
  Decline pushups on big tyre x 10
  
• Set 2
  Big tyre flips x 10
  Jumps in/out of big tyre x 15
  Tyre drags x 50m(ish)
  
• Set 3
  Big tyre flips x 5
  Jumps in/out of big tyre x 10
  Tyre drags x 25m(ish)
  Big tyre flips x 5
  Jumps in/out of big tyre x 10
  Tyre drags x 25m(ish)
  

Comments

• Realized after the first set that the back probably hadn't recovered enough for an all out assault on the tyres, so took the next couple of sets fairly easy. Started doing the overhead throws with some smaller tyres that the tyre fairy had delivered ( :pfft:)... that is, until one tried to runaway from me down the hill, so I knocked that on the head after the first set.
  Also gave the pushups up after the first set, as the recently torn off callous wasn't terribly co-operative on the wet, stony ground.

After all that, got home and stretched. Tough session without someone there going through the pain with you! And also the weather didn't help, there was a lot of wind resistance when trying to flip the big tyre. Can't wait for the weather to improve :nod:

[drizzt]

18/10/10 - Sheiko 13 Weeker W2/D1

93.5kg today, unsure why the weight has come down 1kg from Friday, still on creatine (although loading has finished), have been sacking plenty of water, body looks and feels larger, cardio hasn't picked up, eating has been consistent... ah well, not complaining!

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  bar/50/70 warmups
  1 x 4 @ 90kg
  1 x 4 @ 107.5kg
  2 x 3 @ 125kg
  4 x 2 @ 145kg
  
• Bench
  bar/40 warmups
  1 x 3 @ 65kg
  1 x 3 @ 77.5kg
  2 x 3 @ 90kg
  4 x 2 @ 105kg
  
• Flat DB Flies
  5 x 10 @ 12kg
  
• Dips
  5 x 8 @ +10kg
  
• Squats
  1 x 3 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 117.5kg
  3 x 3 @ 135kg
  
• Good Mornings
  bar/60 warmups
  5 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  

Comments

• Squats felt great, good depth, set-up is feeling more natural. Second lot of squats were tough in a weird the-muscles-had-just-begun-recovering kinda way. Knocked them out nice and quick. Belt-less today which felt fine.
  
• Bench was easy as, 1sec pause on chest for each rep. Again the set-up is falling into place here. Love bench volume \:D/
  
• All assist exercises felt pretty good, banged them out nice and quick. Good mornings are SO much easier when there are little-no back DOMS :pray:

Done and dusted in about an hour and a half. Took some Jack3d before the workout and it hit me riiiiight before I left the office, seems using it sparingly (once a week) keeps the effects of it nice and constant. When I took it before each workout the effects diminished a bit over time, so will keep it as an every once in a while type of thing. Anyway had a fantastic "buzz" for most of the workout (started to wind down about the second lot of squats).

Also had a nice parcel arrive from Bodybuilding.com today :grin: Some tribulus (to stack with the ZMA), big tub of Casein (Vanilla, mmmm) and a BCAA/pre+intra workout supp (SciVation Xtend).

On top of that I have some more Jack3d arriving later in the week, thought I'd stock up a few punnets in case it gets banned like all of the other good supps (have been hearing murmurs that this is likely :roll:) Lucky the dollar is pretty good against the USD at the mo...

[drizzt]

:banging:

Very annoyed atm, started the workout today - after taking the BCAA + Jack3d preworkout - had just begun doing Deads to the knees, and the Kiwis walked in! 8)

Thought to myself oh that's cool (I'm a fan!), might even ask The Beast for a photo later...

My excitement soon wore off, however, because when I finished deads to the kness... all of a sudden the Kiwis team swarmed on almost every piece of free-weights gear in the place. Sat and waited for a bit (10mins or so) for some to free up, but they all seemed to be rotating as a team around the benches/squat racks :roll:

SO as awesome as it is to see these guys in person and train alongside them, it sucks when you're primed for a workout (my toughest one of the week), started work early to be able to take an extended lunch break, and have timed your fast-diet around the gym - to then not be able to complete your exercises.

/rant. Will be back in a couple of hours to finish the workout off :roll:

[Chillicat]

What time were you there? I was a little annoyed at them all being there right on on the lunchtime rush hour the other day. Nice to have some eye candy (mmmm Ruben Wiki =P~ ), but they also had all these hangers on that were sitting about on equipment and I had to keep asking people to please move so I could use stuff. It's not a biggie - they moved right away - but it's kind of silly when these guys have all day in which to do their workouts, and choose to go when it's obviously going to be a busy time at a commercial gym.

[teamfatboy]

They rocked-up around 1pm, and yep, it's like Drizzt said, once the support staff turned up, it was pretty much over for the rest of us.

Kinda intimidating, with a queue of fit young fellas in the 'jammer' next to us for the last few sets of rack pulls.

I'm as much a supporter as the next guy, but would it have killed them to avoid the lunch-time peak ?

Good luck with the rest of the workout - maybe you should hit 'em up for a serve of Jacked to make up for your inconvenience.

[drizzt]

I probably got there shortly after 1?

As I say, I'm a league/kiwis fan, and it is always cool to see guys like that in action, but I've trained at the same time as the Springboks, Lions, Hurricanes and a couple of netball teams before, and have never had to wait more than a couple of mins for some gear to free up - or just do something else in the meantime.

These guys had all 3 benches, eventually filled all of the squat racks up, and even 1 or 2 of the smith machines... and seemed to be rotating as a team around them. Very annoying! :evil: I push the boundaries of my lunch break as it is, so couldn't afford the time to wait around for it to free up.

Saw TFB there, I think he may have just been finishing up as they got there... lucky!

[drizzt]

Good luck with the rest of the workout - maybe you should hit 'em up for a serve of Jacked to make up for your inconvenience.

Cheers, I hope it hasn't ruined the day too much! That was my first dead to knees session (brutal!), so would've liked to have finished the workout in one sweep, instead of splitting it into two.

Ah well, what can ya do I guess.

[morattigirl]

Good luck with the rest of the workout - maybe you should hit 'em up for a serve of Jacked to make up for your inconvenience.

Cheers, I hope it hasn't ruined the day too much! That was my first dead to knees session (brutal!), so would've liked to have finished the workout in one sweep, instead of splitting it into two.

Ah well, what can ya do I guess.

I've gotta split my workout into two today too Drizzt, have got touch tonight & haven't got time to fit whole thing in before hand and also I don't think I'll be much help to my team after a full Deads sess :pfft: on the plus side our hands get a bit of a rest before Rack Pulls later :wink:

[Chillicat]

I've trained at the same time as the Springboks, Lions, Hurricanes and a couple of netball teams before, and have never had to wait more than a couple of mins for some gear to free up - or just do something else in the meantime.

These guys had all 3 benches, eventually filled all of the squat racks up, and even 1 or 2 of the smith machines... and seemed to be rotating as a team around them. Very annoying! :evil: I push the boundaries of my lunch break as it is, so couldn't afford the time to wait around for it to free up.

Yeah, this sounds familiar - I've also never had any probs with Springboks (mmmm Pierre Spies =P~ ) or even large numbers of Sevens teams in one hit. The Boks were extremely good at spreading themselves around and not getting in the way.

But some of the Kiwis looked slightly peeved when I jumped on a rower on Monday to do my warmup (doing upper body so the walk to the gym or a cycle warm up is no use to me) - they promptly jumped on the rest of the rowing machines, but I just feigned innocence at what I thought was a peeved look - I bloody well pay my membership there and I don't care how big and famous you are, it's my gym and I'll bloody well use a rowing machine if I want!!

[VampireChick]

Although not famous, we used to get the same sort of deal with the Sports Academy at Exodus. Every morning at 7am they'd pretty much take all the free weights for two hours. Several of us had to complain after a couple of weeks and luckily they changed their training hours.

[teamfatboy]

Sports Academy's everywhere... I trained at Exodus one day a few weeks back and recognised their training manager, tall dude with curly black hair.

Only consolation for me that day, the young cricketers stopped their smack talk when my deadlifts started :grin:

Hope Drizzt's second session goes better :pray: but one day's disruption won't impact the 4-week programme too much (or at least it didn't for me).

[drizzt]

Hope Drizzt's second session goes better :pray: but one day's disruption won't impact the 4-week programme too much (or at least it didn't for me).

Yeah in the scheme of the 13 weeker it shouldn't have too much effect, but it's more the way it's mucked up my whole day that's really annoyed me - diet + pre workout supps were screwed, had to work out (again) later which meant I got home later, fast window has to be shifted back etc... ah well I'll live! Can't wait for my CF contract to finish though...

20/10/10 - Sheiko 13 Weeker W2/D2

BW was 94.5, but that was between the two sessions, and after a large meal (about 40% of daily cals), + tonnes of water to ease a thumping headache I had :x So probably the same as Monday really.

• Deads (to Knees) (sets, reps, weights)
  1 x 4 @ 115kg
  1 x 4 @ 137.4kg
  3 x 4 @ 160kg
  
• Flat DB Flies
  5 x 10 @ 12kg
  Break for a couple of hours...
  
• Bench
  bar/60kg warmups
  1 x 4 @ 72.5kg
  1 x 5 @ 85kg
  3 x 4 @ 90kg
  
• Deads
  1 x 4 @ 115kg
  1 x 4 @ 137.5kg
  2 x 3 @ 160kg
  4 x 3 @ 172.5kg
  
• Lunges
  bar/60 warmups
  5 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  

Comments

• Deads to knees were ok, bit of a shock on the top set - I think the big strong point with my deads (IMHO) is I get pretty good bar speed... so it felt VERY foreign to me to pause not long after leaving the ground. Not getting that momentum on the way up made them pretty tough. Still, they weren't any tougher than I had expected. Although after the first set I did get a really bad headache :x No warmup sets except for a bit of bar work to get the pause point right. Had belt ready but didn't use it.
  
• Did the DB flies next (was supposed to be bench) because all of the bench press stations were in use by the Kiwis... thought surely after throwing 5 sets out they'll be done with at least one of them... but nope. Flies themselves were easy as usual, but was stink to have to do them before bench. Also looked to do lunges or deads when I had finished this set as an alternative to doing bench, but no dice as all of the squat racks were in use.
  
• So when I got back after a couple more hours at work, I hit the bench. This felt good, pause is starting to feel natural on the chest etc. Thankfully the Kiwis were done at this point, but there were two skinny fullas using two benches between them - they were mates training together, but it was obviously too much hassle to swap their plates around between sets and just use the one bench :roll:
  
• Deads felt great, concentrated a lot of my annoyance here and ripped them out quite easily. All double overhand grip + no belt. Pity I didn't get to do these in the same session as the "to the knees" deads, as I'm sure that would've made these a lot tougher.
  
• Lunges were all good, noticing these getting much easier.

SO today didn't go too smoothly, but I'm not going to dwell on it. Got the work done in the end and that's what matters :nod: (fingers crossed they aren't there the day before their game :pfft:)

Feeling a little off at the moment though (pounding headache + nausea), bit of rest tonight and possibly postpone tomorrow's planned core/flexibility session if it hasn't got any better.

[drizzt]

22/10/10 - Sheiko 13 Weeker W2/D3

BW was 94.8, pheeeew so kept some of that weight on from earlier in the week. As I say, not too fussed though. Legs in particular seem to be where a lot of the weight is going... and I'm liking the shape they're taking at the moment.

Back DOMS weren't as severe as last week, but still pretty bad today.

• Squats (sets, reps, weights)
  bar/60 warmups
  1 x 4 @ 90kg
  1 x 4 @ 107.5kg
  1 x 3 @ 125kg
  5 x 3 @ 135kg
  
• Bench
  bar/40 warmups
  1 x 5 @ 65kg
  1 x 4 @ 77.5kg
  1 x 4 @ 90kg
  3 x 3 @ 97.5kg
  1 x 2 @ 105kg
  2 x 1 @ 110kg
  1 x 2 @ 105kg
  1 x 4 @ 97.5kg
  1 x 5 @ 90kg
  1 x 5 @ 77.5kg
  1 x 6 @ 72.5kg
  
• Flat DB Flies
  5 x 10 @ 12kg
  
• Dips
  5 x 8 @ +10kg
  
• Squats
  1 x 3 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 117.5kg
  3 x 2 @ 137.5kg
  
• Good Mornings
  5 x 5 @ 72.5kg
  

Comments

• This was probably the toughest squat session I think I can remember ever doing :x Back DOMS weren't as bad in general as they were last week, but they seemed to affect my squat worse than they did last week. I knew when I was warming up on the bar and 60 that it was going to be a tough day at the office, and it proved to be. I've never failed a squat rep before, but god dammit I was close today! First two sets at 135 were pure grind the whole rep from unrack to rack. I took fair breaks between sets from there on out. Main issue was the back, as once I broke parallel and the back begins to round a little was exactly where my soreness was worst... which made it damned hard to get out of the hole.
  Second lot of squats was quite a bit better due to having stretched out that lower back soreness from the first lot of squats. Managed to knock these off pretty quick, and ahhh... accidentally did 137.5 instead of 132.5 as the program says :oops: Ah well was angry at how much I was struggling and I knocked them out fairly easily this time around.
  No belt used, probably should've, but have been carrying so much to the gym lately it's a pain in the arse to bring it, so might just use it on heavy-heavy sets, or days where back DOMS are bad (like today... in future).
  
• Bench was kinda tough too as getting the arch right was a bit tricky, but got through it. Paused on chest for most reps, touch and go'd for a lot of the reps in the 90's though.
  
• All assisstance exercises were tougher than usual, but got them all done. Was incredibly glad after racking the last rep of Good Mornings :dancing:

I was feeling good before I got to the gym today, the back soreness wasn't too bad in general so thought it might have been easier than last Friday's struggle... not so. Can see Friday being the day of the week I dread. May give cardio a rest on the weekend to let the back rest up a bit more.

Also playing a factor may be working out fasted... I know, I know... I said I wouldn't anymore, but the diet I'm following reccomends it (and here too), with BCCAs taken pre/intra-workout. I think not having food in me (as I'm used to) is effecting my energy output. Will try truck through it next week and see how it goes, but if it gets much tougher, I may have to shift back to how I was doing it last week - with one meal in the tank before working out.

In general though, I think the diet is going fantastically. I've gained a couple of kilo without sacrificing much definition at all - in fact, I think some areas are slightly more defined than they were before I started. I've got a feeling that a good chunk of the weight I've put on is due to creatine/water retention, but we'll see what drops when I come off it in a couple of weeks.

[drizzt]

Had a pretty good implement training session with OB and a few of the 'House boys today, good fun 8)

Had my first go on the yoke walk, awesome piece of equipment! And also had a blast on the log press, thumbs/hands are a little grazed up but well worth the experience :nod:

And had some tyre flips which were a good finisher Think this may be a fortnightly thing? If my back is still holding up well from the preceding week's Sheiko I'll dig into it for sure.

Next week will be back to my own little circuit, hopefully get a couple of numbers along from the mates this time :pfft: Have had a few mates ask me to train them, so I've offered the tyre circuit, but nobody has taken me up on it yet :roll:

Day off tomorrow for Labour day, if the weather is nice I may walk out to Thorndon for the session to add a bit of cardio, feel it starting to slip a bit...