Month: September 2017

Well we finally made it to England late yesterday afternoon after 2 days of travelling and about 20 hours cooped up in 3 different planes. The good news is that Clare’s new travel sickness medication seemed to work pretty well and Emilia was far less of a handful than I expected so we arrived tired but in pretty good spirits.

Our accommodation isn’t quite as nice as our last two trips – but on the upside it’s cheaper, we have more space, and since it’s an apartment we can self cater. There’s also a gym right next door that’s free for hotel guests to use – I’ll train more than I thought I would.

We’ve had a pretty decent day today – did the hop on hop off bus tour, showed Emilia a lot of the sights including Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Westminster. She ran out of gas and fell asleep just before we arrived at Hamley’s which was a pretty incredible experience, a toy shop like something out of Harry Potter, with stuff going in everywhere you look! Part of me thinks it was a shame she missed it and part of me is glad as I don’t think we’d have been able to leave without a scene….

Anyway I’ve trained, been a tourist all day, cooked dinner and written a wedding speech tonight – so really it’s been a pretty decent day all round. Hope the rest of our trip goes like this! Photos later 🙂

So – in preparation for our holiday the blog has a new theme and I’ve given it a bit of a spruce up! Have got some more ideas for things I’d like to do with it, but will see if time permits.

Enjoy 🙂

I’m a forty-something bloke, who’s lucky enough to have married a lovely lady, and we’ve even managed to multiply and raise a daughter who is growing up very fast. I went through a bit of a metamorphosis in 2016, lost a lot of weight, and since then I spend a lot of time strength training and trying to improve myself.

This blog has been in existence for a very long time (since 2004) and obviously my views and attitudes to life have changed a fair bit over that time. It’s interesting to see how one evolves.

I’ll elaborate on this a bit more at some point in the future 🙂

Mon 25/09: Squat + Bench Press

Food yesterday: No idea. Did not track.

Activity yesterday: 12.7k steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 14 mins – 34 mins awake

AM BW: 72.8kg (up 0.1kg from yesterday)

Squat:
2×5 @ 20kg
1×5 @ 45kg
1×5 @ 65kg
— Belt on (5th hole) —
1×3 @ 85kg
1×2 @ 100kg
1×1 @ 115kg
3×1 @ 130kg (PR… +5kg!)
2×6 @ 110kg (big rep PR.. like 12.5kg I think!)

Bench Press
2×5 @ 20kg
1×5 @ 45kg
1×3 @ 60kg
1×2 @ 70kg
1xF @ 77.5kg nup
1xF @ 76kg double nup FFS
1×1 @ 65kg
2×6 @ 60kg (equal PR)

Incline Bench
2×5 @ 20kg
1×8, 1×10, 1×9 @ 40kg

Seated Dumbbell Curl:
3×12 @ 25lbs / side

Supersetted with

Dips:
3×10 @ BW

Big video today – still uploading:

It feels awfully weird to not be tracking and weighing food. But not bad. I am just scared to overeat and come back heaps heavier, as I am planning on a shortish cut when we get back.

Squeezed one more training session in, but we fly out tomorrow and I will be lucky if I get 2 sessions in in the next fortnight. So rather than starting another cycle of eights I decided to deviate from the programming, pull a bigger session and attempt some 1RMs. Basically a mish mash of whatever I felt like doing.

Session notes:
– Big squat PR. Was tough, but might have had another kilo or so in me. Back off work was exhausting (and a bit shallow, on video) but jubilant. Just wish I could stop the damn bar getting forward out of the hole! That’s what’s putting the extra work on my lower back for sure.
– Disappointed I missed any sort of 1 rep PR on bench. Thought I’d have at least had another kg in me the way things have been going, but probably a bit tired after squatting too. Even 65kg felt like too much to do for back off work (should’ve rested longer, fails are fatiguing) so I dropped weight even lower.
– Went a little lighter on the incline bench to allow for fatigue, glad I did. Bit below my best, but got some volume in.
– That pesky left forearm pain started showing up again during the curls. Got them done, slowly, stayed away from failure on dips especially.
– Pretty awesome session, took 104 minutes, and I was #rekt by the end. Could’ve so easily sat on my arse (or started packing, which is what the wife is doing) – gonna pack lifting shoes, hope I can find a decent gym in the UK!
– Have a great day/night all!

Sat 23/09: Back Assistance / Hypertrophy

Food yesterday: Target: 3361 kcal / Actual: 3381 kcal – macros bang on

Activity yesterday: 13.4k steps

Sleep last night: 6 hrs 26 mins – 43 mins awake

AM BW: 72.8kg (up 0.3kg from yesterday)

Pull Ups:
3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @ BW
All on maximum 2 min rests (mostly 60 seconds)

Dumbbell Rows:
4×12 @ 42.5lbs (PR)

Shrugs:
4×15, 1×12, 1×5 @ 70kg (PR)
(60 second rests)

No video today.

Weight keeps going up, but body fat is static. This, I like.

Session notes:
– I did this workout fasted first thing in the morning before the girls got out of bed. Also it had only been ~17 hours or so since the press work out and sleep was ordinary. Strength felt pretty down, not that I’m ever good with pull ups anyway.
– Took me half an hour to get through the pullups. Was hell.
– Rows and shrugs were OK. Probably should’ve used straps for the shrugs like Andy said, was struggling with grip by the end and forearms were rock hard, which is why I didn’t quite get sets across. Oh well.
– A nice 55 minute session to start the day. This might be my last lifting session for a while, we’ll see I guess. Have a fantastic day, lifters of the internet!

Fri 22/09: Press

Food yesterday: Target: 3267 kcal / Actual: 3169 kcal – macros fine

Activity yesterday: 12.2k steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 7 mins – 64 mins awake(!)

AM BW: 72.5kg (down 0.1kg from yesterday)

Overhead Press:
2×5 @ 20kg
1×5 @ 35kg
1×2 @ 42.5kg
1×2 @ 49kg (new PR, +1kg)
1×1+F @ 50kg overreached
2×2 @ 49kg
1xF @ 51.5kg ffffff
1×9 @ 38kg
1×9 @ 37.5kg
1×10 @ 36kg

Lateral Raises:
12.5lbs / side x 15, 12, 12, 12, 12, 15
60 second rests

Dumbbell LTEs:
20lbs / side x 20
22.5lbs / side x 15, 10
20lbs / side x 15, 12
17.5lbs / side x 15, 16
Also 60 second rests

Instagram: Click here
Video of work sets:

I’m now officially on leave from work. This is excellent.
Strangely, after sitting at 15% body fat consistently for the past few days, the scales started reading in the thirteens this morning. I haven’t grown tons of muscle overnight but there is definitely still plenty of lean mass gains occuring. Hate to stop training while progress is going so well, but the break will be nice and hopefully it will come back quick.

Session notes:
– Another little PR for doubles on the press. First one went up so easily I thought I’d try a little more, but that was wishful thinking 🙁
– Decided to try for a 1RM after doing the doubles, didn’t try very hard, to be fair. Should’ve probably jumped up a slightly smaller amount.
– The back off work was actually a bit of a regression over last time, did an extra set to compensate. Probably fatigue is all.
– The accessory work was just a mad pump. My shoulders and triceps were absolutely swole. First set of tricep exensions don’t look that great on video but form got a bit better as I went.
– Just a nice session for 69 minutes. Awesome sauce. Have a fantastic day/night all!