Thursday 13th June 2013
Press 62.5kg x5, 70kg x3, 80kg x1, then DB Lat Raise 12.5kg x16, 10kg x9 (Post Exhaust)
Weighted Chins 24kg x8x6 then Reverse Grip Pulldown (10) x15+6+5 RP – Struggled on the chins today, probably due to a back session yesterday! Got the same reps as last session so not all bad.
Weighted Dips 24kg x12+4+3 RP
Romanian Deadlift 40kg x10, 60kg x6, 80kg x4, 102.5kg x12
Lying Leg Curl (5) x10+6+4 RP – Replaced old machine, but still no markings on stack to know what weight it is! Sticking to my old method of number of plates in brackets 😉
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Thursday 6th June 2013
Press 57.5kg x3, 67.5kg x3, 75kg x3+1+1 RP followed up with 10kg DB Lat Raise x20
Weighted Chins 24kg x8x6
Dips x30x14x9 (30-60s rest)
Romanian Deadlift 100kg x12 – Felt much better at a lower weight, going to keep the reps high on these an work up slowly.
Had a few minutes left to waste so did some more dips on the way out x20x9x5 with approx 20s rest
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Thursday 23rd May 2013
Press 70kg x5x5x8 +1+1 RP, followed up with 10kg DB Lat Raise x20
Weighted Chins 24kg x7x6
Weighted Dips 24kg x10+4+2 RP
Romanian Deadlift 140kg x8 – Too much knee bend on these, going to lower weight next time and tighten up form.
Lying Hamstring Curl (7) x12+4+3 RP
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Friday 9th November 2012
Finally back online after the move! Busy old week, been increasing my training volume again as I’ve been keeping it simple lately. Did my core & stretch stretch on Tuesday night, I’m doing frequency chins & push-ups on my non-training days (currently sitting at 6 sets of 18 press-ups & 7 chins), previously I’d been forcing the reps out on these so I’m really trying hard to only do reps that feel easy. Once they start to feel like they’re slowing down or requiring more strength I stop the set. Double Spin last night so feeling it in the legs today as usual!
Press 73.5kg x6+1+1 – Decided to start doing some rest-pause training lately as feeling bored of the 3 sets with long rest that strength training usually calls for, and I’ve always enjoyed doing it in the past. I think I’ll take a re-set however, next press session – the two rest pause lifts were killers!
Had 1 minute rest then did 16 reps with 20kg DB’s
Weighted chins 23.75kg x5+2+2, then ‘V’ grip pulldown to chest 17 reps at level 10
Weighted dips 25kg x12+6+4, then unweighted x16
Romanian deadlifts as warm-up, up to 140kg x4
Lever deadlift (plate loaded) 160kg x10 – still feeling easy (compared to 160kg bar!) – going to go for 180kg next session
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Sunday 21st October 2012
A good session today, Sundays are typically quiet, was nice to have the gym pretty much to myself. I’ve decided to give deadlifts a break for a while, I did some Romanian deadlifts today to warm up for them, but when I went to the bar, my back felt a bit sore from Fridays squat session! As I’m desperately trying to cure my APT/hyper lordosis I think they’re better left anyway – May try some stiff legged next week to see how they feel?
Press 72.5kg x5x5x7 – followed up with a finisher set at 50kg x9 – excuse Simon vacuuming in the background!
Weighted chins 25kg x6, 20kg x7 – followed up with ‘V’ grip pulldown to chest (9) x15
Weighted dips 22.5kg x12x9x7x6, then 15 unweighted to failure
Romanian deadlift 135kg x5x5
Kneeling cable crunches (14) x15x15
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Monday 8th October 2012
Was good to get in the gym as missed usual Sunday session, however still seem to be struggling lately .. I think it’s down to not getting enough calories in alongside the extra classes I’m teaching so going to focus on eating enough, even if it means chugging down a few extra shakes! Also after reading a few of Paul’s posts on Lift-Run-Bang, I like the idea of back off sets, so been doing a few post-exhaust sets for hypertrophy. Changed my warm-up slightly as still trying to combat mild lordosis. So now doing increasing weight on bar (dependant on first lift) with chins, lying hamstring curls and weighted decline crunches/rev crunches.
Press 71kg x4x4x5, followed up with a seated military press 50kg x7 (next time will go a little lighter, I would prefer to be hitting 10+ reps on these follow up sets).
Weighted chins 25kg x5, 20kg x6, followed up with ‘V’ handle pulldown to chest (level 8) x15
Weighted dips 22.5kg x11x8x6x6
Romanian deadlift 100kg x8, 135kg x5x5 (still using these as more of a warm-up for deadlifts so don’t want to go too heavy – also kills the grip for deadlifts!)
Deadlift 150kg x5 – Technique seems to have completely gone lately, I’d love to be able to blame it on something like my tight hips/sway back situation, but mostly it’s just technique! I’m going to drop the weight again for a while and work a few higher rep sets and really focus on it for a while. It’s always been my weakest lift so it’s about time I sorted it!
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Friday 28th September 2012
A tough session this morning, legs and lower back are sore from yesterdays 2 hours of Spin 😦 Making more effort to stretch hip flexors as I’m sure they’re getting tighter every class! Deadlift form seems to have gone all over the place lately so I’m going to take a big re-set next session and really try and get my glutes/hammies working more on the pull. I’m definitely ‘squatting’ the weight up with my quads rather than pulling it. Ah well, Technique first and all that – the hip flexors are not helping!
Press 67.5kg x5x5x7 – definitely getting the hang of the new wrist position, felt stronger today than last session.
Extended chin set – 8,4,4,2 and 7,4,4,3
Weighted dips 21.25kg x12x9x7x6
Romanian Deadlift 135kg x5x5 – not going for max reps on these, just trying to get a good stretch and use posterior chain more to lift.
Deadlift 147.5kg x4 – put the bar down after 4 as I’m really not happy with how I’m pulling at the moment, going to drop to 120kg next session and focus on nailing it!
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Thursday 20th September 2012
More technique work on my lifts – tried out a new grip on my overhead press today. As opposed to holding the bar in a ‘rack’ position (i.e. after the catch in a clean or a front squat), tried Johnny Pain’s version where the wrists are locked. After several warm-up sets, I knew this was a much more difficult way of pressing so had to take a re-set from the last time I pressed. Started with 65kg to see how it went and it certainly feels like more shoulder work is being done! More work on my deadlift as well, really trying to pull more with my hamstrings and glutes and less with my quads as before. Again, even though I’ve taken a re-set, the bar still feels really heavy so I know I must be getting it right!
As always, warming up before my session with chins, pull-throughs and hanging knee raises. I’ve also started to log my conditioning work as a friend asked me if I did any as it wasn’t on my blog! At the moment I’m teaching a lot of fitness classes so these are my workouts!
Press 65kg x5x5x6 – with new wrists locked grip and keeping upper body tight as possible at the bottom of the lift. No more bouncing off the collarbone!
Extended chin set – 7,3,3,3 and 6,3,3,2
Weighted dips 21kg x12x9x7x6
Romanian deadlift 132.5kg x5x5 – these are really starting to tax my grip after the chins, so sticking with them! they also really help me to focus on my glutes/hams when deadlifting
Deadlift 145kg x7 – Although I’ve taken a re-set, my form is improving and so these feel harder than before as I’m using the long-ignored muscles I’m supposed to!
Got 2 hours of spin to teach tonight so going to have to give the hip flexors some serious stretching later!
BE HENCH 