Update

First off - hope anyone reading this had a great Christmas.

We didn't squat on Friday as there were loads of protests and so getting anywhere would have been a nightmare. We had planned to take this Friday as a say off over Christmas but instead we just took last Friday as our day off.

So I haven't trained for a bit and I'm really missing it. My idea had been to enjoy a break over Christmas and have a few drinks and then be eager to get stuck in again come new year so that it's feeling like I'm more than ready to get back in the gym.

I'm thinking I will hit some delt work tomorrow then squats on Friday. Then if the rockpit is open on ny eve some pulls and upper back. After that it should be close to business as usual and I can look at starting to ramp the weights and my body weight up coming into the comp in April.

Thanks for reading

Training 19/12/12

Equipped bench and accessory

Raw bench up to 170kg x1 

I decided to just bench in my old single ply super katana as I really wanted to get some solid full range reps in. It gives me nothing at lockout and has much much less support than my double ply rage X so I should be expecting a good few more kg once I'm back in it.

Equipped bench

200kg to 3 board x1 then straight into 

200kg to 2 board x1

220kg to 2 board x1 then straight into

220kg to 1 board x1 

240kg to 1 board x1 then straight into

240kg to chest x1

240kg full range 3x1

Last single:

Press ups x20

superset with

Triceps band pushdowns x20

This superset was completed 3 times

Cable rows x15

superset with

Dumbbell lateral raise 7.5kg x15

superset with 

Band pull aparts x15

This circuit was completed 4 times

Wrecked after this workout. The extra weight in the shirt which I'm not used to took its toll. Gonna take a break over Christmas. Training should be back to normal in a couple of weeks

Thanks for reading

Training 18/12/12

Deadlift and high volume upper back

Today I decided I'd test my deadlift a bit. Went as follows:

Raw deadlift (no belt)
worked up to 250kg x2

Raw deadlift (belt)

270kg x1

300kg x1

317.5kg x1

This is a raw pb for me and really didn't feel too tough. It felt like there was a 330kg there. Especially if I were able to drop the bar. The gym I'm deadlifting in (Centaur) is like 5 floors up and so I can't drop my deadlifts.

I left out the speed sets as I felt that a heavy single was enough.

Rope climbs x10

Wide grip chest supported barbell rows 120lb x50, x30, x28 (These were 3 sets of max reps and there was about 2 minutes break between each set)

Barbell band resisted shrugs with straps 170kg bar weight with 12" mini band 4x12
Barbell band resisted shrugs with straps 120kg bar weight with 12" mini band x50

Bodyweight rows on gymnast rings x12
superset with
Hammer curls 30lb x12
This superset was completed 3 times

All in all a decent workout and also buzzing as I passed my written finals. One step closer to doctoring next year! :)

Thanks for reading

Training 14/12/12

Safety bar squat raw (belt and 2m knee wraps) worked up to

210kg x5

Safety bar squat equipped (briefs and belt) worked up to

270kg x3

All squats were absolutely buried. We're moving away from cutting squats just in and instead making sure all squats in training are well in. This was the first time all of us had tried safety bar squatting and it was tough. We set some decent markers to beat in the future though

Eccentric cambered bar goodmornings (no blet) 140kg 8x1

Kettlebell pistol squats 24kg 3x8

Glute ham raises x12
Superset with
Incline sit ups 20kg x15
This superset was completed 3 times

Reverse hypers 20kg 3x12

My legs are in pieces. My upper body is also sore and locked up so I'm gonna play it smart and leave training tomorrow to allow myself to recover. Next week I should be back to my standard 4 day set up.

Thanks for reading

Training 12/12/12

Bench and accessory

Updating this on the phone so it may be a little messy. I'll clean it up when I get on the PC if need be.

Reverse band 2 board press (these bands were lighter than a few weeks ago)

Worked up to

160kg x3

180kg x3

200kg x3 (wrist wraps on)

215kg x3

225kg x3 (this was balls to the wall! lol)

Close grip reverse band 2 board press 160kg 3x8

Incline dumbbell press 35kg x20, x20, x16

Superset with

Triceps band pushdowns 3x20

Seated cable row 52kg x15

Superset with

Lateral raises 7.5kg x15

Superset with

Chest supported dumbbell rear delt raises x15

This circuit was completed 4 times at a quick pace as there was only Andy, Mike and myself training together tonight. As expected I struggled through this workout having hit upper body on Monday and Tuesday. Glad to have got through it.

I also have a slight left anterior delt strain which I think I think I picked up during Monday's training. Thankfully I stayed tight during all bench reps tonight and kept it safe although it was sore during the bench. All in all a great workout. In theory it should be downhill the rest of the week now :)

Thanks for reading

Training 10/12/12

Delts and traps

So I didn't manage to get in on Saturday as the town was a mess cos of that rally. This week is gonna be tough - squeezing in 5 days. Today was as follows:

Kettlebell press 40kg 5x5

Dips +10kg 5x10 in 5 min

Arnold Press 70lb 5x5
superset
Swiss bar press 90lb x10, x12, x14, x16, x20

Inch dumbbell replica 1 arm power jerks 42kg 5x3

Barbell power shrugs (double overhand no straps) 150kg 5x10

Dumbbell shrugs with small size12" bands 55lb dumbbells

I then decided to throw in some extra stuff to hit my triceps a bit:

Neutral grip incline dumbbell press 60lb x20, x18, x16, x14, x12

Thanks for reading

Training 11/12/12

Deadlift and upper back accessory

Raw deadlift (no belt or suit) 232.5kg x5 (did an extra 3 reps just for some work)

Speed deadlift (no belt or suit) 190kg 8x3 (90 sec rest between sets permitted, I took 45)

Chins 5x5 10kg + 2 large chains

1 Arm dumbbell rows 62.5kg 4x8

Wide grip lat pull downs 130lb 3x15

An rollouts 40kg 2x8

Grip was hit pretty hard with the dumbbell rows and the pull downs were just fpr a bit of a burn out.

I was thinking of really hitting the volume hard today but seeing as I've to bench tomorrow I figured I'd give it a miss. I'll still be fairly fatigued tomorrow night while benching but I really need to get the workouts in. I'm really gonna try and keep the delt and trap day in my split as it's become very obvious to me that the stronger my overhead pressing is, the stronger my benching is.

Regarding my deadlifting - been doing some reading and I've seen that a lot of guys are saying that using bands on the deadlift became equivalent to using a smith machine for them. For this reason rather than band all my speed pulls in every workout I'm gonna band them every other week. I've also decreased my deadlift frequency to once a week as I want to dedicate a little more time to accessory on Fridays.

Time to eat! 

Thanks for reading

Training 07/12/12

Squat and accessory

Raw reverse band squat worked up to 230kg bar weight x6 (belt, no knee wraps)

Equipped reverse band squat (briefs no knee wraps)

300kg bar weight 5x2

Last set:

Snatch grip deadlifts 200kg max reps off 3" plates. Managed 15 reps:

Front squats paused at the bottom 80kg 2x5 1x10

Glute ham raise x12, x10, x8

superset with

Hanging ab twists x20, x16, x12

(first superset was 12 with 20 ab twists, second set 10 with 16 ab twists etc.)

Tonight's session was tough, really tough. There was just myself and Andy so we were kind of limited with how far we could go with the squatting for safety reasons. Hopefully this will change once we make the move to the RockPit. There should be a few more bodies about there.

The snatch grip pulls were just plain brutal. Glutes, upper back, lower back, hams etc were dead after them. This was my first time doing them so I was fairly happy with how I got on.

This was also the first time I've done front squats so we kept the weight light. Also bearing in mind we were pre-exhausted by all the work before it was wise. Because of this these still managed to hit my upper back and I could feel how they'll help me work on staying upright.

Overall a pretty grueling workout, but a real sense of achievement leaving the gym having soldiered through it.

Delts and traps tomorrow. I haven't done them for a few weeks so tomorrow may be more of a break in type session to get me back on the pace.

Thanks for reading

Training 05/12/12

Bench and accessory

Floor press 105kg bar weight + 60kg chain 5x5

Incline barbell press 80kg close grip x27

Incline barbell press 80kg max legal competition grip x21

Bench dips +25kg plate x15

superset with

Band push downs x20

This superset was completed 3 times

Band pull aparts x15

superset with 

Lateral raises 10kg x15

superset with

Pull downs 52kg x15

This circuit was completed 4 times

The pulley system on this lat pull down machine was really weird so I really have no idea if it was anything like 52kg. This were primarily for working scapular retraction.

I'd never done incline barbell presses before so these were messy as hell for me. Really struggled to find any sort of line and the bar was floating about everywhere :)

I was busted after this workout but felt great to have been back in the gym. Buzzing :) I'd say I'll be sore the next few days. I've lost a bit of weight as I'd gone off food as my throat was aching. Plan is to regain that weight quick enough and continue to increase the bodyweight steadily after that. It should be easier to stay on top of my diet now that I have my written exams over me. Plus a little Christmas bulk will help :)

We are making a move to a different gym soon - to the RockPit in Lisburn. Supposed to be an awesome facility and they have a new room refurbished with a load of strength and conditioning equipment. I'll have to see if I can get a few pictures of it once we get everything sorted up there.

Thanks for reading

Training on hold

Managed to pick up a chest infection and so have been completely drained by that. Hoping to get back in the gym tomorrow although if I'm still feeling rubbish I'll have to leave it as it will most likely do more harm than good to train through it.