Give me strength, or give me death!

[Kalidane]

Congrats on the achievements and good call on the third deadlift. Good listening.

It's pretty easy to imagine a lot of people would have gone for the heavy 3rd to reach their target on the day BRB 6 months off

[Phedder]

I saw that, most impressive curl I've ever seen

Will most likely be up for the CD champs, and possibly moving to Wellington in Feb if the mrs decides she wants to go straight back into study instead of taking a year off. We've agreed anywhere we live must be within a 15min walk of both Massey and The House

Congrats on the achievements and good call on the third deadlift. Good listening.

It's pretty easy to imagine a lot of people would have gone for the heavy 3rd to reach their target on the day BRB 6 months off

Cheers mate, funny thing is if I was actually close enough to my target I would have grinded the crap out of the 3rd deadlift to make the 600kg total, unfortunately I would have needed 272.5kg to reach it and that wasn't happening.

[red machine]

good stuff mate!! a solid productive year of training under the belt and some well earned gains across the board :clap:

[drizzt]

We've agreed anywhere we live must be within a 15min walk of both Massey and The House

Haha, that was my only criteria for the Mrs when we moved into the city (well, the House anyway). Ended up with 7.5mins for me from door to door! :grin:

[hjp]

We've agreed anywhere we live must be within a 15min walk of both Massey and The House

That is gold! :nod:

[Phedder]

good stuff mate!! a solid productive year of training under the belt and some well earned gains across the board :clap:

Cheers Rikki, not quite the total I was hoping to finish the year on but it's close enough Feeling a little better about the squat after comparing vids of 202.5 at Nats and 205 on the weekend, the 205 was much faster and much better form so the improvements are still there.

We've agreed anywhere we live must be within a 15min walk of both Massey and The House

Haha, that was my only criteria for the Mrs when we moved into the city (well, the House anyway). Ended up with 7.5mins for me from door to door! :grin:

Guess that's my target to beat haha, we can make it 7mins to The House and 15 min to Massey :pfft:

We've agreed anywhere we live must be within a 15min walk of both Massey and The House

That is gold! :nod:

Priorities aye :wink: Thanks again for running my cards on the weekend mate, always appreciated. I'll have to repay the favour one day :nod:

[Phedder]

Went in this evening for an easy upper body session, will do a lower session tomorrow then start 5/3/1 on monday.

Weigh in: 102.4kg - :shock: 3.3kg down from the last time I weighed myself on these scales last Tuesday...

Overhead Press

lots x bar

5x40kg

3x50kg

1x60kg

1x65kg - Yep, it's been a while :oops: Smooth, but hard. Max probably around 70-75kg.

3x5x50kg

CG chin ups

13

8

7

6

CG bench

lots x bar

10x60kg

3x8x80kg

DB curls

3x8x22.5kg

SS

Lateral Raises

3x10x10kg

Overhead Tricep Cable extensions

3x12x42kg

[Phedder]

Supposed to be an easy lower body session...

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg (B) - Feeling heavy...

1x160kg (B) - Yep, very heavy :oops: No idea why but this felt like 200kg, was out of the grove and just awkward and weak.

2x3x140kg

Lying leg curls

15x42kg

4x10x56kg

SS

Leg Press

4x30x1pps - Just getting some blood into the quads.

So pretty bad session, back is actually a little achey now, likely from the slow and poorly grooved 160 :doh: Hopefully things pick up next week with some more rest.

[Phedder]

First 5/3/1 session today, I was actually supposed to do deadlifts yesterday but I was totally exhausted so decided to skip it. Easy enough to pick it up next week.

C1W1D2 - Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x85kg

5x90kg

10x95kg - left a few in the tank but not as many as I'd hoped :shifty: I want 10 at 100kg next week.

Pull ups

3x8xbw

SS

OHP

3x8x40kg

DB rows - Strict

15x27.5kg

15x40kg

2x12x40kg

Tricep Pressdowns

15x48kg

3x12x66kg

[M.T]

5/3/1 nice bro, keen to hear how that goes. Tossing this up between another Russian strength cycle next year. Seemed to work for Drizzt anyway.

[Phedder]

5/3/1 nice bro, keen to hear how that goes. Tossing this up between another Russian strength cycle next year. Seemed to work for Drizzt anyway.

Yeah I'm honestly not expecting to make much progress on the main lifts over summer, just want some kind of structure to at least keep me on track but still allow me to be fairly casual with training. Working 6 days a week with a fairly physical job won't help, I'm used to being a lazy student :pfft:

Did squats tonight, after spending half my day rearranging stock in the containers, moving big boxes of bbqs and outdoor furniture etc. Kinda proud I shifted a bunch of 45kg bbqs where the box explicitly stated two people must be used... It was awkward as f*ck but I managed

C1W1D3 - Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

5x120kg

5x140kg (B)

5x160kg (B) - I really wanted 10 but I still can't handle this carpet, weight keeps shifting forward at the bottom of each rep. Felt light on my back though which is great because last week 160 scared me haha. They were popping up fast and easy once I was 1/3 of the way up, but positioning at the bottom was terrible.

Front Squats

4x8x60kg - Slowly building into more volume and weight.

Romanian Deadlifts

10x60kg

3x8x100kg

That was it, had to leave as I headed out to a remote gormet burger place and then onto a bar at the start of the Abel Tasman tracks. Ordered a pint of milk like a boss :pfft: Good sober driver I was.

[Phedder]

Saturday - W1D4 - OHP

I've decided I'm going to work in a different order to for the working sets. Warm ups, working set 1, then the AMRAP set, then working set 2 as a drop set. I feel it should give me more energy for the top set, and then let me dial in anything I felt was bad in the drop set.

OHP.

10xbar

10x30kg

5x45kg

8x52.5kg - Lol weak.

5x50kg

Pull ups

3x8xbw

Flat DB press

12x20kg

3x8x30kg

Seated Rows - Jimmied up on a cable station, very awkward probably won't do them again.

Something like 15xhalf stacks

12x3/4 stacks

10xfull stacks

Lateral raises

3x10x10kg

Todays session.

W2D1

Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg

3x160kg

4x200kg (B)

3x180kg (B)

Power Cleans

5x60kg

3x3x70kg

Squats

10x70kg

3x8x100kg

Lying leg curls

3x12x42kg

Ab wheel rollouts

10xbw

2x10xbw+10kg

8xbw+10kg with 5 second pauses at full extension. These were ridiculous, I was shaking from the 6th rep during the pauses.

I may have solved my carpet issue. Scored 2 sheets of MDF from work, have rough sanded one for grip to squat on and cut the other in half to help raise the plates for deadlifts. Felt great today, deadlifts were at the right height and during the squats though very light, balance was never an issue. Feels good standing on something solid again

[Phedder]

W2D2 - Bench

Weigh in: 101.6kg - Slowly heading down.

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

3x90kg

8x100kg

3x95kg

2x10x80kg

Pull ups

3x8xbw

Seated shoulder press

12x15kg

3x8x22.5kg

Inverted Rows

4x10xbw

Face Pulls

3x12x66kg

SS

Tri Pressdowns

3x12x66kg

[Phedder]

Squats today, and yet again after spending most of the day in the containers shifting things. It seems my workplace doesn't want me to perform at my best on squat days... :x

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

3x120kg

3x150kg (B&KW)

5x170kg (B&KW)

3x160kg (B)

Front squats

10x60kg

3x8x70kg

RDLs

12x70kg

2x10x100kg

Lying Leg Curls

12x42kg

2x10x54kg

15x42kg

So I tried knee wraps for the first time ever today (Titaniums kindly donated by MT, cheers mate) just used a basic spiral technique and not quite sure what to think yet, obviously need more time to get used to them. There was definitely a bit of support, the reps at 170 feeling a tad easier than my drop set without wraps of 160. However I found the wraps pulling me forward a bit at the bottom and thus my technique and positioning was far from desireable. I'm sure once I adjust to this pull I'll be able to stay in a much better position and get more from the wraps. Next week I'll be aiming for 180x5 and try get it on film.

[Phedder]

W2D4 - OHP

Weigh in: 101.4kg in the gym, 99.8kg nude at home. First time under 100kg since May I think?

OHP

barx10

5x40kg

3x50kg

8x55kg - PB, as sad as that is haha.

5x55kg - only meant to be 3 but feeling good.

Pull ups

3x8xbw - Will up reps to 9s or 10s now, then add weight.

Incline DB Press

15x15kg

3x10x25kg

DB Rows

15x25kg

2x12x40kg

Lateral Raises

12x10kg

2x12x12.5kg

Tricep Pressdowns

3x15x66kg

SS

Ezy bar curls

3x15x30kg

Feeling pretty good on OHP, don't think I've ever said that before. Would be nice to be repping 70kg by Feb, should hopefully help my bench out as well. Got a quick pump in the arms as well, been a while since I've done that. Always feels good Was a bit vain when I got home and measured them, 17.8 inches. So damn close to that 18 inch mark, should have done more sets :pfft:

[Monarchking]

sup man, haven't popped in 4 a while

Good to see the OHP in there, its fricken tough shit but if you stick with it I am sure you will benefit

[Phedder]

Cheers MK. Yeah, I've neglected my shoulders in general for far too long, getting them stronger can only help my lagging bench.

Todays session was really crap and I'm not sure why. I felt fine all day, energy levels okay etc, but I was just really weak in the gym tonight. Frustrating.

Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg

5x165kg (B)

1x210kg (B) - This was actually hard. 85% feeling like 95%.

3x190kg (B)

Squats

lots x 60kg

4x5x100kg - Yep, shit weak. Coming up pretty easy but couldn't hold my positioning in the hole well, hips kept biting despite a 15 min warm up while waiting for the rack in the first place.

Lying Leg Curls

5x12x42kg

Called it there. Hopefully I can put something decent together for tomorrows bench.

[Phedder]

Gym weigh in: 101.2kg.

Home weigh in nude: 99.6kg

W3D2 - Bench - flat back no leg drive today (wore a singlet + sweaty = very slippery :pfft: )

lotsx bar

2x5x60kg

5x85kg

3x95kg

5x105kg

2x1x110kg

2x5x80kg

Pull ups

3x9xbw

Seated DB Press

12x15kg

2x8x22.5kg

2x10x22.5kg

Cable rows

5-6 sets of 10-15 reps. Playing around with the double cable pulleys side by side trying to get a decent row going. 1 handle on each stack and I could max out each stack but hard to keep myself stable enough.

Face Pulls

3x12x66kg

SS

Tri Pressdowns

3x12x66kg

[Phedder]

Yet another crap squat day and another draining one at work. There's seriously a trend of heavy labour on squat day and F all else the rest of the week...

W3D3

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

5x140kg (B)

3x160kg (B&KW)

2x1x180kg (B&KW) - Seriously pissed off at this. A weight I could grind out 5 reps with 6 weeks ago raw I now struggle with for a single with knee wraps :doh: I'm guessing the 7cm off my waist doesn't help that, but I didn't expect to be that weak. The 5x170kg last week wasn't that much of a struggle so I'm hoping today was a really off day.

Front squats

3x60kg

2x60kg - Na, pinged something in my hip on my final back squat.

Lying Hamstring Curls

6x12

OHP tomorrow and then it's into a deload week for Xmas, probably muck around for a week after that and then get into a volume block using Reactive Training principles to get some practice using RPEs and Fatigue indicators to guide my training. Will try to up the calories again and keep the bodyweight hovering around 100kg instead of the decreasing like it has been.

[OnlyHuman]

Good luck with the RTS!

[Phedder]

Cheers OH, looking forward to putting it into practice.

W3D4 - OHP

Standing OHP

lots x bar

5x40kg

5x50kg

5x60kg - Rep PB I think.

5x55kg

Pull ups

3x9xbw

CG Bench

lots x bar

15x60kg

3x10x70kg

SS

Face Pulls

4x15x66kg

Ezy bar curls

15x30kg

3x10x40kg

SS

Lateral Raises

15x10kg

3x10x12.5kg

Flat mate was supposed to cook dinner but couldn't be bothered, said he'd just buy fish and chips and said to order whatever I wanted... So I took him up on that

'The Fish Fix'

2 pieces of fish

2 seafood kebabs

10 mussels

4 squid rings

1.5 scoops of chips.

Half a scoop of chips left and all I want is a head of broccolli or some beans or something green :pfft:

[Phedder]

New years eve 'Checking how weak I am' session :doh:

Hadn't been in the gym for 10 days, enjoyed a good break over the christmas period and thought I should roughly see where I'm at finishing the year/ entering the new year.

Weigh in: 98.8kg in the morning.

Squats - Hips still bothering me a bit, more stretching and mobility needed which I have been doing more of.

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

2x140kg (B) - Oh shit, that felt heavy :oops:

1x140kg (B)

1x150kg (B)

1x160kg (B) @8RPE

1x170kg (B) @9RPE. That was far enough, 180 was probably there but the 170 felt damn heavy and came up rather slowly. Smooth and form held together which was good, just no real power to it at all.

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x100kg

1x100kg

1x110kg @8

1x115kg @9. Felt better than the squat, didn't feel too heavy in my hands but still slow enough I didn't want to push it further, especially being alone in the gym.

Deads

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

2x140kg

1x180kg (B) @7

1x200kg (B) @9

I left my oly shoes on for deadlifts which I've only tried once or twice before. Just wanted to see how it felt with the changed technique. The 180 was fantastic, kept everything tight and was a speed weight. Not sure what went wrong on the 200kg but I couldn't keep everything together and it was a lot harder than it should have been. Decided not to push it any further with the oly shoes.

So I'm quite disappointed with how much weaker I've become with Squats and Deads in the last 5 or 6 weeks since the BBro. I am down almost 7kg from my peak and my waist is also down 7cm so that wouldn't help the strength, but I didn't think I'd have dropped this far. Next week I'm starting a 6 week RTS training template to try and bring me back up to where I was. I'm confident with some volume and time back into the competition lifts I should regain my strength fairly quickly. Going to put more effort back into the diet as well, aiming for 1-2kg gain a month.

Happy New Year everyone

[Phedder]

Mucking around with form and trying to find my groove again. Got a bit of light shooting pain in my lower back on some reps when I let go of my arch, not a good sign :?

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

2x5x100kg

8x5x120kg -Loose belt

Pull ups

4x8xbw

Ab wheel rollouts

15xbw

3x10xbw+10kg

SS

Face Pulls

15x56kg

3x15x66kg

[OnlyHuman]

Mucking around with form and trying to find my groove again. Got a bit of light shooting pain in my lower back on some reps when I let go of my arch, not a good sign :?

Bracing in the core and keeping core tight while maintaining a neatrally positioned hip/lumbar spine should avoid overloading facets (such as during excessive arch) or (disk such as butt tuck).

Be interested to hear about the location (refers anywhere?), intensity type (sharp, dull , electric in nature, well located or hard to locate to one area... etc of pain tho).

Anyways, hope you get better soon.

[Phedder]

Mucking around with form and trying to find my groove again. Got a bit of light shooting pain in my lower back on some reps when I let go of my arch, not a good sign :?

Bracing in the core and keeping core tight while maintaining a neatrally positioned hip/lumbar spine should avoid overloading facets (such as during excessive arch) or (disk such as butt tuck).

Be interested to hear about the location (refers anywhere?), intensity type (sharp, dull , electric in nature, well located or hard to locate to one area... etc of pain tho).

Anyways, hope you get better soon.

Cheers OH. It was definitely a bit of butt tuck as it happened on reps where I got lazy and did my typical dropping too deep into the hole instead of a more controlled decent to just below parallel. I think my back was just excessively tight as well, had no issues at all yesterday.

I made it in for a quick session Fri evening, strength looks to be coming back fairly quick which is pleasing.

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

5x120kg

3x140kg (B)

5x140kg (B)

2x160kg (B) @7.5RPE

3x140kg (B)

Bench

lots x bar

5x60kg

3x80kg

3x100kg

5x100kg

2x3x100kg

Face Pulls

3x20x56kg

Done in 30 mins. Beginning an RTS template on Monday, looking forward to it. Two types of squat, bench and deadlifts all twice a week, should help me rebuild my confidence under the bar and get some strength and technique back :nod: