Rugby shape-up 2012

Congrats on that PB dude, 100kgs C&P is superb work!!
 
I've been struggling with 75kgs for weeks, just can't get the tech right at all.

On The Flop


Congrats on that PB dude, 100kgs C&P is superb work!!

I've been struggling with 75kgs for weeks, just can't get the tech right at all.

 
I know what you mean, to be honest my downfall is my clean completely. At the moment I just man-handle it up a bit with my back, really need to get my technique right as I´m fairly sure my shoulders are good for a good bit more on the press.

Tuesday
 
Managed to get hold of a job after 2 weeks of looking. It´s only part time but pretty fantastic: I´m teaching rugby both at the club and in primary schools around Catalunya! Right place, right time.
 
Training was tiring, continuous ball drills and some sprints had me hanging out by the end, although I had to shy out of the last 5 minutes of contact at the end due to me ****ing my thumb up again.
 
Wednesday
 
Started with a lovely trip to the hospital to check my thumb out. The bone is unharmed, apparently some sort of tendon is a bit knackered and they wanted me to put it in an immobilising cast, but not really an option at the moment. Just going to keep strapping it up, plenty of ice and ibuprofen.
 
Gym:
 
Warmup
 
Squats:
10x60kg
8x100kg
2x5 150kg
1x5 160kg
Left the heavy triples as my back was complaining, and it´s taken a hammering this week already
 
Pullups:
4x7 reps
 
Bench Press:
10x60kg
8x100kg
3x5 125kg
Felt good and strong, 5x130kg is coming up!
 
Bent over row:
4x5 90kg
 
25 minutes on exercise bike, setting 5 uphill, managed 10km.
 
Generally feeling pretty good, cardio increasing every week and my lifts seem to still be going up. Ran out of money for food so might have to borrow 20 euros off the girlfriend which is embarassing, but looking forward to next month when I can actually eat real food!

Thursday
 
Exhausted. 4 hours of teaching rugby to 3 different age groups, then a 2 hour training session of my own.
 
Feeling tighter, firmer and just generally in better health than I did a couple of weeks ago! Getting comments about the definition coming through in my shoulders and arms so I guess I should be looking better in 10 weeks time!
 
Couple more job interviews next week, hoping to get I get one of them just for some stability.

Well, let´s just recap the last few days of skull****ery, shall we?
 
Friday was all good, light gym session preparing for Saturdays game.
 
Saturdays game saw me go off at half time with a back injury, 17 to 0 down and having to lie on the sideline getting physio whilst I watch my team, missing half our usual players, concede another 30 points.
 
Spent the entire of Sunday unconscious on muscle relaxants and sleeping tablets.
 
Had a job interview on Monday so roused myself from my zombie like state, hared across town only to discover that the directions I´d been given were incorrect by a street. When I arrived late, I was told that the interviews were over, so sorry.
 
So, for the moment I suppose I intend to keep living in a bunk bed with my little brother, in a room so small we can´t unpack a single bag, the floor space taken up by his large alsatian and just generally scrape by whilst my girlfriend barely conceals her disappointment on the few occasions I actually get to see her.
 
Going back to the gym today to see how my back is holding up, shifting Mondays session to today and see how heavy I can work up, not pushing it though.
 
Cardio is going up to 30 minutes a session this week, postboning the weigh in until next Monday for morale reasons.
 
On the plus side, at this rate I´ll be the most muscular homeless person in Barcelona in a few weeks!

Very brief one.
 
Light weights and cardio this week due to ****ed back, Away game to Majjorca this weekend who are unbeaten in the league.
 
Weigh in and better write up on Monday-

Sounds like you've been busy mate, how's your back today?
 

On The Flop


Sounds like you've been busy mate, how's your back today?

 
Strangely, better!
 
Ok, so tomorrow was meant to be the update but I don´t think I´ll get the chance. So last week was a full week of physiotherapy and rest in preparation for the game in Majjorca, in which I played a blinder! Thoroughly enjoyed myself and only lost by a couple of points to the unbeaten leaders of the league, so very happy there.
 
Next week will be more of a feeler week, entering back into training and generally whacking some weights on the bars and seeing what my back is comfortable with. My physio decided in the end that it was a trapped nerve rather than a muscular problem, something that seems to be confirmed by my rapid recovery!
 
Might weigh myself tomorrow, might not. Very drunk at the moment and tomorrow is a new day, so we´ll see!

Monday
 
So, my back is feeling a HELL of a lot better, however, my physio has forbidden me from Deadlifts, Clean and Press, Squats, basically all the lower back intensive exercises that I love. That means this week is likely to be a mish-mash of exercises in a total body style of thing per work out.
 
Gym:
 
Warm-up
 
Leg Press:
4 sets of 20 reps - Full stack (It´s not a lot, maybe 200kgish)
 
Hamstring Curls
4 sets of 12 reps - 90kg
 
Pull-ups
4 sets of 8 reps
 
45 minutes spinning class - First time I´ve tried this, pretty difficult! Lovely bit of cardio though, will definitely become my Monday post session cardio.
 
So, I forget what week we´re in now but I did my weigh in after my session yesterday, and I was.... 105.1kg, which is 6kg´s lost so far. Much more than I intended, or to be honest wanted at this stage, but with no money for food I guess it was always going to happen!

Still feeling pretty strong and my fitness is flying up, so I guess I´ll keep going until I hit a wall/get some money for some more food.

Onwards!

Great news on your back mate, bit of a bummer with all the restrictions on your training, but I'm sure you'll work round it, as you have with the above session.

Yep, just a case of cracking on with it and making the best of it. I can still do cardio and most of everything, so it´s not that much of an issue when you think about it, just frustrating.
 
Tuesday
 
Good rugby training session after a full day spent teaching. 2 hours of continous running to try and beat the cold weather, including an hour long contact match and sprints at the half time interval. Great cardio, and I noticed I´m getting noticeably faster!
 
Wednesday
 
Went to the gym at stupid O´clock this morning to do a spinning class simply because one of my team-mates bet me I wouldn´t. Oh the folly of being 23. Good session though!
 
Gym:
 
Warm up
 
Pull-ups
4x8 reps
Started to add a hold at the end of each set to really stress the negative.
 
Bench Press
10x60kg
8x100kg
4 sets of 16 reps at 100kg - Shoulder´s tweaking a bit, so thought I´d go lighter on the weight. Struggled to get the last few reps on the last two sets though!
 
Dips:
4x 20 reps
 
45 minutes spinning
 
IMPORTANT NEWS: I have some money for food! I can eat vegetables, fruit and meat once more! Might end up putting a little weight on this week just through indulging myself for a few days but I couldn´t care less, I´ve lost 6kg´s already and I need a bit of a treat! Then keep dropping the weight, but at a more reasonable rate.

Thursday
 
Well, very frustrating. Did my early classes at the school then headed over to the club for a couple more classes then my own training, just to be informed that due to the fact that the Catalan Educational Board THOUGHT IT MIGHT ****ING SNOW, the complex was closed. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Didn´t have my trainers with me either, so couldn´t go to the gym.Pansy-ass ****ing Spanish.
 
Friday
 
Normally I´d keep this day free due to the game tomorrow, but I decided that a small session would be ok, and I was feeling lazy thanks to yesterday, so to the gym! Decided to test my lower back with some lighter squats as well, see where I´m at.
 
Gym:
 
Warm-up
 
Squats:
10x60kg
4 sets of 12 reps at 100kg
Felt good on these, ass-to-grass with only a twinge of back pain, will work up a bit more next week but can´t risk undoing all the physio!
 
Pull-ups:
4 sets of 5 reps with +5kg
Never tried weighted pull-ups before, quite like them!
 
Dbell Chest Press:
4 sets of 15 reps with 35kg
 
Dips:
4 sets of 20 reps
 
Treadmill cardio:
15 minutes altogether, short but sweet, working on 3 minute continuous cycles:
 
1 minute at 10kmh
1 minute at 12kmh
1 minute at 14kmh
 
A lot harder than it looks on paper!
 
 
 
 
 
 

So hungover... so very, very hungover........

Fintan


So hungover... so very, very hungover........

haha ! back getting better still ?

Back is pretty much completely better thanks mate!
 
Saturday
 
Destroyed an understrength travelling Majjorca side 55-11 I think it was in the end. Terrible game filled with mistakes none-the-less, and after a few tries the opposition decided to stop playing rugby and start fighting. We had a good 4 blood injuries throughout the match, and they had 4 yellow cards, should have been a couple of reds but the ref was a bit of a girl. I myself was one of the blood injuries, got punched straight in the face in front of the ref whilst I was breaking up a fight. Ah well, **** them, thanks for the bonus point!

Naturally after that I went out and got annihilated drunk. This is something I actually intend to stop doing from now on, and I lose my whole Sunday and it prolongs my recovery by 1-2 days, not smart.
 
Sunday

Day of rest. However, ended up doing security for a bar for the superbowl until 4:30am and I had to be up early in the morning. 40 minutes of sleep. Christ, roll on Monday.
 
Monday
 
So, massively sleep deprived with a full day ahead of me. Fantastic.
 
Gym:
 
Warm-up
 
Clean and Press:
10x60kg
6x70kg
5 sets of 3 reps at 85kg
 
Wide-grip chinups
4 sets of 7 reps
 
Forward raises and hold with a 20kg plate
6 sets for 12 second holds at a time
 
Abs:
3x20 situps
3x30 second leg raises and hold at 40 degrees
3x30 second planks
 
45 minutes spinning
 
So. If I´m right, after this there are another 8 weeks to go. Now that my back is better I´ll be constructing a constant progressive weights system for 3 days a week, and sticking to it, barring more injuries of course. Just so I don´t always have this mish-mash of exercises that whilst work just fine, aren´t indicative of any improvement as I have nothing to compare them to! Will weigh myself in at the 6 week stage, where I should be around 103kg.

Tuesday
 
Filthy rugby training session, pure, wonderful hell! Started with our usual beasty warm-up of jogging, sprinting and ball skills followed be stretches, press-ups, abs etc. Then went on to do a 30 minute scrum machine session that destroyed my legs. Next were rolling rucks down the entire pitch AND back, 200m of constant sprinting, hitting bags, rucking etc. Finished with 20 minutes of sprints and a few laps of the pitch. Bleugh.
 
Wednesday
 
My early morning gym session of the week. Up at 5am to get to the gym for 6.
 
Gym:
 
Warm-up
 
Squats - My last "tester" session for my lower back:
10x60kg
10x100kg
4 sets of 12 reps at 120kg
Lower back felt great, legs on the other hand.... Still, my form was great and the weight isn´t that bad considering the 48 reps!
 
Bench Press:
10x60kg
4 sets of 15 reps at 100kg
 
Wide-grip chin-ups
4 sets of 7 reps - 1 set only managed 5, it was 6:30am afterall!
 
Abs:
3x20 sit-ups
3x30 second leg raise hold at 40 degrees
1x30 second plank -  Only one as I had to get to the spinning class
 
45 minutes spinning
 
Just realised that for the last 4 weeks I haven´t missed a single session in the gym or on the rugby pitch and I genuinely feel like I´m putting in the graft. Feeling good!

Certainly looks like your working hard mate, superb session, loads of heavy volume...love it!!

HAHA JINX.

Really, the day after I posted how well my training was going I had my first slip. Missed rugby training, got incredibly high, drunk and ate everything in sight. That would be my thursday. Having said that, one slip in 4 weeks ain´t too bad!
 
Friday
 
Well, woke up with a ganjover and went to teach my early morning class. Went to the gym at mid-day and ended up putting in a good session to help remedy yesterday!
 
Gym:
 
Warm-up
 
Leg Press
4 sets of full stack for 15 reps
 
Hamstring Curl
4 sets of 70kg for 12 reps
 
Close grip chins
4x7 reps
 
Front static hold with 20kg plate
6 sets of 12 second holds
 
Face-pulls
4 sets of 50kg for 12 reps
 
Dips
4 sets of 20 reps
 
30 minutes on a stepper machine. Whacked it onto interval setting on a high level and just gave it a shot. Much, much harder than expected, dripping with sweat by the end of it!
 
Tomorrow I have no game, so using the day off to test a new running route with a little circuit at the end. If I like it, it´ll be extra cardio for Tuesday and Thursday mornings!

MUST STOP GETTING HIGH. This is a big issue for me, all it takes is a small slip and the snowball starts gathering speed. Spent all last night tripping my tits off after eating a couple of carrot cakes loaded with hashish. The next two weeks are massively important for my rugby and for the SUC, so nipping it in the bud now, I have all summer to get high and party.
 
Saturday
 
Tested out this new little bit of extra cardio, planning on whacking it in Tuesday and Thursday mornings for a bit of extra oomph.
 
1.5 mile jog down to climbing frame stuff down on the beach
 
Circuit:
5 pull-ups
20 press-ups
10 burpees
40m sprint
 
4 sets of this, with a 90 second break inbetween sets. Hard to go 100% on the sprints so you have to really focus to get the best out of it.
 
1.5 mile jog back
 
The whole thing takes about 40 minutes, with time after the circuit to recover, get a sip of water etc.
 
Next weigh-in is on the 27th February. To be on track with my goal I should be 105kg, but planning to overshoot a little. Will be a bit disappointed if I´m more than 103kg.

My mistake. The halfway weighin is on the 20th February.
 
Monday
 
Gym:
 
Warmup
 
Deadlifts:
10x60kg
10x100kg
5x140kg
3 sets of 3 at 170kg
I think its safe to say that my lower back is fine!
 
Clean and Press:
10x50kg
8x70kg
4 sets of 3 at 85kg
 
Lunges:
4 sets of 12 reps each leg with a 50kg barbell
 
Abs:
3x 20 situps
3x30 second leg raises
3x30 second planks
 
45 minutes spinning