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Well low and behold, I stayed in a Saturday night! Sheer exhaustion was the culprit, and I slept like a baby from when I got in from work until a brief spell in the night where I just lied in bed and read a book for hours before snoozing off again.

Having played football on Friday night after the gym, my body is aching everywhere like never before. It's that horrible sort of stiff DOMS where you've been maneuvering your body around in positions it forgot even existed. What great fun!

Despite this, I was feeling read for a workout and a productive workout this Sunday, so I hit the gym early and it ended up being a good choice.

*T-Bar rows

120lbs x 3, 140lbs x 3, 155lbs x 8, 112.5lbs x 5, 5, 5

*Incline barbell press

190lbs x 7, 7, 8

*Seated calf raises

120lbs x 10, 10, 8, drop-set to 90lbs x 6 with long static stretch

+loads of lateral squats and cossack squats without weight (no need as I was sore enough from football and just wanted to get some nice depth on them regardless).

Yesterday I hit squats hard and it was a fantastic workout. I feel good now as I've earned two days of rest and this works out nicely as I have a very hectic week at work running up until Friday.

I should mention that I've decided to diet a little bit to trim some fat. Recently I've put a few lbs on I'm not happy with and I'll just be reducing myself to 10% bodyfat again before continuing to eat around maintenance. My strategy for this is quite rapid but very simple: Monday, low calorie, high carbohydrates after workout (40% of day's total kcal intake) - Tuesday: very low carb / overall calorie, big deficit - Wednesday: maintenance calories; - Thursday: very low carb, big calorie deficit; Friday - carb up day; Saturday; very low carb, alcohol at night most likely; Sunday - 2 meals. 1 anything I like at a restaurant, and the other just a sensible meal with plenty of fruit and veg.

This is quite easy to adhere to and convenient for my lifestyle at the moment.

Oh, yesterday's workout!

*Squats

265lbs x 3, 300lbs x 3, 340lbs x 5, 235lbs x 5, 5, 5 (was very happy with everything on squats; these were hard work as well)

*Underhand cable rows

86kg x 8, 8, 8

*Incline d/b presses

85lbers x 12, 12, 12 (delighted with this as last week I thought I'd struggle)

+ 2 sets of 12 for bb rows with 100lbs (just some more pulling work)

well done on the squats,i need to drop some carbs too,v busy lately with work and doing up my garden so ive been hitting the museli as a filler,got a bit of carb bloat.

viking wrote:

well done on the squats,i need to drop some carbs too,v busy lately with work and doing up my garden so ive been hitting the museli as a filler,got a bit of carb bloat.

Unfortunately my food choices are a little worse than 'museli' when I've been working mate LOL. I start having insane binges and my physique responds very badly to copious amounts of junk food.

Last Friday's session is below. I've started playing football, 4 a side again of a Friday after the gym. Really enjoyed it and I'm actually considering changing my training round soon to incorporate more athletic training. Need to speak to Paul about this first though! He's inspired my curiosity as we recently did an interview to come out in the newsletter soon packed with a lot of good info.

Anyway, the workout!

*Bench press - followed by 3 sets of speed work

190lbs x 3, 215lbs x 3, 240lbs x 4, 145lbs x 3, 3, 3

*Kroc rows, rest paused

110lbs x 18, 8 each arm = 26 reps overall

*D/B stiff legged deadlifts

110lbs x 9, 9, 9

+ 1 set of d/b curls supersetted with tricep extensions

+ 2 sets of cable rows

Trained at 6am this morning. Couldn't believe it. I'm tired now but a new lifestyle change may be on the cards. Will explain more in depth later!

*T-bar rows

130lbs x 5, 150lbs x 3, 165lbs x 5

*Incline bb press supersetted with more t-bars

195lbs x 6, 6, 7 - 120lbs x 5, 5, 5

+ 2 sets of incline skullcrushers and plenty of cossack / lateral squats

Great workout!

Nice session Adz! Are you going to become a monk?

BMAN wrote:

Nice session Adz! Are you going to become a munk?

I think Steve could be on to something here! (edited by bman )

Some good work outs there mate and lol about becoming a monk!

Adam wrote:

I'm actually considering changing my training round soon to incorporate more athletic training

Similar situation with myself, looking at doing more plyometric moves for lower body plus sprints. Got a few ideas from defrancos website, will be interested to hear your take.

I've been doing weighted plyometric drills Adam and the explosiveness in my body from my legs to my traps has increased markedly. I highly recommend them if you want to incorporate some more sport/athletic movements into your routine.

hahahaha, not becoming one just yet mate. Still got a lot to accomplish that are forbidden to those guys

Alpha, I'm very interested to see what you have in mind. Please share it here - I'd love to see how you're tweaking things. What's got you inspired to do this?

I think as soon as my back / neck problem is close to being rehabilitated, I will start to incorporate a LOT of funky movements into my training! Muscle-ups, sprints, bodyweight stuff, plyo's, etc. I suppose a lot is dependant on the facilities you have available too, but next year when I move apartment I should be able to find an awesome gym (from what I've been told) that offers this sort of stuff.

Oh, today's training! Was at night (not morning) although I am seriously considering switching to mornings indefinitely for a few reasons. However, this will likely be in August when I make a big announcement about my working life (can't say too much now, never know who's watching!)...

*Squats (felt OK today. Was happy to hit targets and get 3 comfortable, albeit hard reps on the big set despite being low cals for me at the momen. I also made a schoolboy era and did a warm-up 10lbs too light which needlessly took a bit of energy. I could've went straight to 320, but I wanted to get the correct numbers in so I thought I'd just count it as more volume for my basic assistance work on squats)

275lbs x 5, 285lbs x 5, 320lbs x 3, 355lbs x 3, 240lbs x 5, 5

*Underhand rows

97kg + some stupid block (didn't notice it was on top... another stupid error messing my numbers on top ) x 7, 7, 7

*Incline d/b press (very happy with this)

90lbers x 10, 10, 10

...One more big session to hit targets for bench, and then it's deload time.

Today, I didn't train legs as my hamstrings / adductors were still quite sore from squats on Wednesday, and I was playing football immediately after I finished my session anyway. I'm becoming like those guys now who go "I don't need to train legs, because I play football / run".

Oh yeah, got a big ass delivery from bodybuilding.com of supplements too with a friend! Awesome that I finally have some protein powder again Just got the basics really: some Optimum Whey, Trutein (blend protein), vitamin D, micronized creatine from Optimum and some Omega-3's.

I think fitting three workouts into five days with 3 heavy presses has been difficult this week and the reason I struggled maybe on increasing my press substantially. It's all good though - finished his 5 / 3 / 1 cycle and now I can deload effectively next week, work on some things I'm trying to rehab (my neck especially), and concentrate on some other things in my life that need to take precedence. I have to say though I'm really enjoying this split at the moment (Power of 3 from T-Nation), and really don't have any desire to tweak it or make changes. However, this may change dependent on the facilities I have available in the future. Will elaborate on this at a later date.

*Bench press + speed bench

200lbs x 5, 230lbs x 3, 255lbs x 2 -- 145lbs x 3, 3, 3

*Kroc rows

110lbs x 19, 8 each arm (27 reps overall)

+ 2 sets of cable rows & 1 set of tricep extensions

Adam like myself you seem to be someone who is keen to continue learning and finding new ways to train and improve, what do you think has been the best exercise/tip etc you've come across so far this year?

Josh-Bodyactive-Manc wrote:

Adam like myself you seem to be someone who is keen to continue learning and finding new ways to train and improve, what do you think has been the best exercise/tip etc you've come across so far this year?

Making mobility and prehab work a permanent part of your routine. It takes a tiny amount of time, but the results are huge. You feel so much more mobile, flexible, healthier, and your performance increases hugely (no exaggeration). I can't reiterate how much stronger I feel for making movements like cossack squats and shoulder dislocations a permanent part of my routine / warm-ups. There are so many ways to integrate these, it's just a shame as it's an educational issue really and I don't think it's taught enough to bodybuilders in particular. Strength and athletes seem to have a better understanding of their importance, but I'd like to see them become ubiquitous among all trainees.

Yesterday's 6:30am session! This week is the official start of early training. It's like a new lease of life for me... Let's see if I'm still saying that after squats tomorrow though!

Felt strong and powerful yesterday thought. It was just an awesome feeling to get up, do some BA work, get the gym dusted, and after I'd finished teaching just have the evening to myself to relax. So productive and not daunting / draining having to return home to complete work / exercise in a lethargic state.

Last cycle of 5/3/1 before returning to the UK. Let's make it a big one!

*T-bar rows

115lbs x 5, 135lbs x 5, 150lbs x 10 (HUGE PB!), 110lbs x 5, 5, 5

*Incline d/b press (started too heavy on these - will readjust next week)

100lbers x 8, 6, 95lbers x 6

3 sets of cossack squats with 45lb x 6 each leg -- supersetted with

3 sets of seated calf raises (115lbs x 15, 12, 12 - drop-set to 90lbs x 12)

+ 1 sets of seated laterals as a finisher.

Great way to start the week.

Adam,

enjoyed reading your journal and you're posts everywhere else.

Sounds like we have a few of the same issues with shoulders etc.... plus been reading up on the cossack squatt which look awesome.

Wondered if you could document you're pre or post or everyday mobility/pre-hab work as I am going to get up 20 mins earlier and start the day with some YTI's and wanted to chuck some other things in each morning?

Thanks

Jarman wrote:

Adam,

enjoyed reading your journal and you're posts everywhere else.

Sounds like we have a few of the same issues with shoulders etc.... plus been reading up on the cossack squatt which look awesome.

Wondered if you could document you're pre or post or everyday mobility/pre-hab work as I am going to get up 20 mins earlier and start the day with some YTI's and wanted to chuck some other things in each morning?

Thanks

I will make something concrete for you mate but I posted some excellent links for you in your other thread that you should read. 10 minutes per day is sufficient and that's with foam rolling included. I usually do 5-10 minutes each day but bare in mind I have the luxury of getting 2 deep tissue massage a week, full body for 45 minutes.

To call it annoying, when you're in the gym at 6.45am in the morning, specifically having got up so early to squat before work, and then seeing some douchebag grunting with a squat pad, doing half-reps, and with 40kg on the bar timewasting is an understatement. I was enraged, but had to move my squat day to Friday immediately to make it to work on time. Anyway, that meant pressing power, so here's the results from today which I was reasonably pleased with.

*Incline bench press

150lbs x 5, 170lbs x 5, 195lbs x 9, 135lbs x 5, 5, 5

*Kroc rows

110lbs x 20, 8 each arm = 28 reps overall

*Stiff legged deadlifts

275lbs x 8, 8, 8

Great sessions and top PB mate!

Can you help me with your croc rows... you do: 110lbs x 20, 8 each arm = 28 reps overall

20 reps then 8 each arm = 28? I just don't get it lol I'm prob having a bald blonde moment

When you head back mate?