Yeeeeeeaaah Buddy- dave's log

Difficult one to gauge. You've struggled for the past 2/3 weeks to get this elusive 212.5kg but previously you were able to add 20kg(?) if a matter of weeks.

I think deadlift is unlike any other lift as the numbers are so high, an increase of only 2.5kg is such a small % increase it shouldn't really have too much of a n impact. I'd imagine had you tried 215kg you may have made it, but 217.5kg would have been pushing it.

I think the race to 5 plates for me and you is still on, though if you stipulate it must be done naturally then I'll concede now.
I'll happily join you in that quest.



If I can be arsed.......

Wouldnt have tried 215kg, doubt it would have happened after 212.5kg. Im kinda unsure whether or not to do another week of pulling or not, I dont really want to fail at 215 next week.

I ll get in on the race, tenner says I ll beat you natural...

20kg to go.

If all natural I'll put my house on you reaching 220kg before me.

If we were to level the playing field and my assistance brought me in line with your youth and energy, I wouldn't like to predict which way it will go.

You can assist in which ever way you see fit...

20kg to go.

Plan for the next few weeks:

ME Lower-

Back to box squatting, 14'' box again looking for at least 160kg given that I got 142.5kg front squatting 4 weeks ago.

ME Upper-

This week hit the 50kg dumbells for 8 reps at least and hopefully 10 within another 2 weeks.

RE day-

Box squat off a low box, 12'' or less for 5x5 with a fairly low weight.

Im hoping that by the end of this 3 week box squatting cycle that I ll have at least 160kg in the bag and hopefully 150kg x 3. After that I will either front squat again or possibly deadlift in order to make an attempt at 5 plates asap.

20kg to go.

Good to see you with a plan. If you stick to it like you did with the deadlifts then in 4 weeks should see some decent progression.

It looks ambitious but knowing you, very achievable.

Id be pretty surprised if the squat doesnt shoot up again, purely because ive squatted 160kg raw before and at that stage I definitely wasnt deadlifting as much as I am now. Hopefully there will be some good carryover. Also im hoping that using the lower box on RE day will help with powering off the box and also make using the higher box seem easier.

Once my knee improves slightly more im going to start hitting full front squats with no box on RE day since over the summer these helped my deadlift a lot- probably due as much to the lower ab work as to the increased leg strength.

By leaving deadlifts here im also gambling on me being able to make 215 next week had I tried it. What I mean by this is that at the start of easter I pulled 190kg for singles, just barely, when I was box squatting in the 130's. So box squatting (front and back) in 6 weeks added around 20kg to my deadlift. Therefore 3 more weeks squatting as well as leaving a little in the tank now should add up to a 7.5 kg increase after those 3 weeks are over (also bearing in mind that it took 3 weeks of pulling to make 212.5kg so I may not get it right away).

20kg to go.

ME Upper

Dumbell press-

50kg x 8
55kg x 0
50kg x 5
50kg x 3

Power Snatch-

40kg x 6, 6, 6

Cable station row

'7' x 15
'10' x 12
'12' x 10

Dumbell power clean ss reverse fly

7kg dumbells 2 sets of 8.

Good little session, 50kg's x 8 wasnt too hard to I thought id try and make the jump up 2 he 55's and...they re ****ing heavy!

20kg to go.

Wierd that with the 55's. You'd think if you can press the 50's for 8 you should at least be able to get a rep or two from the 55's.

Try and get 10 reps with the 50's. You'll then surpass my PB on that exercise to add to your deads and really hammer home how well you're doing

Yeah next week im shooting for 9 and then 10 the week after. The last of the 8 this week wasnt a struggle but 9 wouldnt have come up, so I have high hopes for the next session. If your lookinf for a good conditioning exercise, those power snatches are really good fun. Massive shoulder pump.

20kg to go.

RE Day-

Got rugby today as well which I have to go 2 so kept it short

Front squat-

bar x 8
60kg x 8
80kg x 6
100kg 5x5

Power clean from the hang-

40kg x 3
50kg x 3
60kg x 3

20kg to go.

Had rugby training for 2 hours, nothing 2 hard, played Aussie Rules for an hour and then rugby golf. Knee felt fine throughout.

20kg to go.

Good news on the knee.
How's the elbow holding out now that you've dropped bench pressing?

It was fine the day after I stopped benching pretty much. Weird.

Earliest ever RE session today:

Military press ss chin up-

50kg x 10, bw x 10
50kg x 10, bw x 10
50kg x 10, bw x 10- (last 3 presses needed some leg drive)

Low row machine-

40kg x 10
60kg x 10
60kg x 10

Incline single arm dumbell bench-

30kg x8, 8

Crossovers-

'3' x 6- massive chest pump had 2 stop it hurt so much!

Press Ups.

20kg to go.

Really sore quads and glutes from the front squatting. Interestingly hamstrings seem totally fine. I guess the 'sitting back' part of the box squat really does put more of the work onto the posterior chain.

20kg to go.

Had rugby training tonight, played touch for about 2 hours. From a fitness perspective this probably ment around 20-30, 10-50 metre sprints plus a fair bit of jogging and a lot of stepping off each leg. Seems to have got rid of my leg doms for the minute though.

20kg to go.

ME Lower

Box squat to legal depth, low bar-

bar x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 5
120kg x 5
140kg x 1
150kg x 1
160kg x 1
165kg - got 2 guys to spot me just in case I couldnt slip out of the low bar position, got off the box fine, certain I had the rep,then one of the ****S grabbed the bar. Livid.
165kg x 0-no gas left.

Really happy with the session considering my knee hurt, my legs ached from front squatting and it was bloody hot in the gym. What made me most pleased was how tight and controlled everythign felt with the bar in a lower position. 165 easy next week, hopefully 170kg the week after.

20kg to go.

Forgot 2 mention, that squat was a 10kg PR

20kg to go.

You might want to edit that post above, maybe make the font size 6, bold and possibly flashing lights around it.

Quality lift. Shame about the 165kg. Decent spotters are hard to come. Were these just random gym users or people you knew?

Yeah I was not best pleased. They were randomers, although I did explicitly say 'dont touch the bar unless I say so' so I assumed that would give them all the info they needed. Clearly not...

20kg to go.

Unfortunately some trainers think that a heavily spotted lift is still deemed a valid lift so he probably thought he was doing you a favour by enabling you to get back up. Also many trainers don't push themselves anywhere near their own capabilities so seeing you struggle was probably something he'd only ever associated with a failed lift rather than someone grinding out a rep.

You can be as explicit and detailed as you like with your instructions but unfortunately there's no legislating for stupidity

Yeah your not wrong there. The place was full of idiots yesterday as it goes. The two power racks are placed side to side with about a metre or two between them, bothfacing the mirrors. As I started squatting this clown in a tiny white tshirt and short shorts rocked up and started squatting in the other rack. As I went 60kg he went 60kg, I went 80, he went 100, I went 120 he went 130 (all reps done with 5-6 inches ROM). He looked over after every set to see what weight I was putting on.

I quite enjoyed seeing him skulk off after 160!

20kg to go.

two power racks !!!

You've got it good there.

He wasn't one of the spotters was he getting his own back on you?

lol nah he wasnt. Yeah TWO power racks. And an oly platform. Really good set up in there. Makes coming back to the Taro even worse! Are we going to be stuck in there all summer?

20kg to go.

We only really have 2 other options:

1) See if we can score a good deal at Fitness First. They offered me a 12 month contract @ £25 a month. Don't know why I didn't bite their hand off then and take it. FF will possibly depend on how long you return for and what your future plans are re: going back to uni for a masters or getting a job. Also, I'm unlikely to be working in Newbury much longer (currently job hunting) so my work location and proximity of a gyms may be a mitigating factor in choosing somewhere.

2) Kings BBing gym. I don't know how well equipped it is but I know there's no shortage of weights nor decent trainers. Not open weekends but I've always struggled with getting myself in the mood for weekend sessions so not really a problem there.
I think you can PAYG so should be good for your part-time needs.
Maybe a trip over there one evening for a trial session and see how it is? Could even get you on the path to the dark side once you get amongst all the big fcukers there
(Not really )

Masters is around 95% on now, so I ll be around from July until mid-late September. FF was ok, but the only advantages which I saw over the Taro were

1). Heavier dumbells
2). Cable crossover
3). Massive roid man

I wouldnt be against training there, but whilst your still at Newbury it ll push back our training time to 7-30/8 untill 10 and I dont know how busy it is in the evenings. Also theres no way im committing myself to a 12 month contract when im not going to be around for 6 months of it.

Kings- I dont know what they re offering equipment wise but im not that keen for sitting around waiting for some bordon dickhead to finish curling in the squat rack. If the ppl are cool then I have no problem with it- pay as you go sounds good.

Theres a possibility that I may be joining you in the rat race for 6 weeks over the hols, working on a placement in Farnborough atm, so I may have a little money, but im hardly going to be flush!

20kg to go.

Reconnaissance trip to King's it is then

I wont wear my leg under armour if you dont wear your MT tshirt!lol. Did you ever decide on your extra 10 x 3 movements btw?

Also id just like to say how AWESOME myprotein are, ordered yesterday, delivered today, no extra cost! Legends.

20kg to go.

ME Upper

Dumbell press-

7.5kg's x 12
15kg's x 8
32.5kg's x 8
50kg x 8
50kg x 7
50kg x 6

Rack pull from the knee-

60kg x 3
100kg x 2
140kg x 1, 1
180kg 5x5

Cable row-

'10' x 15
'11' x 12
'12' x 10

DB power clean-

7kg's x 12, 12

20kg to go.

Rugby training tonight, played touch and aussie rules for about an hour. Surprisingly hot outside so got a good sweat on!

Got the 1st of my finals tomorrow, off to start revising...

20kg to go.

Good luck mate

Cheers mate, I think it went ok, so now just one more on Thursday and im done.

RE day 1-

Front squat-

bar x 7, 7
60kg x 8
80kg x 3
102.5kg 5x5

Dumbell press-

40kg's x 14, 10

Cable crossovers-

'3' x 12
'4' x 10

Alternating curl-

15kg's x 8

Hammer curl-

15kg's x 6

Going to do my pulling tomorrow since Ive got really really bad trap DOMS from ME Upper on friday.

20kg to go.

Had rugby training for an hour and a half this afternoon, lovely weather, good run around.

20kg to go.

RE day 2

Was supposed to me just a few pulling exercises today, but I got into the weights room and for some reason the need to overhead press overtook me...

Push Press-

40kg x 3
60kg x 3
80kg x 1
90kg x 1-PR
100kg x 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

100kg didnt feel 2 heavy, just a confidence issue. A Russian guy who was power cleaning on the other side of the hall gave me a few tips and then

100kg x 1- MASSIVE PR

Chest supported, elbows wide dumbell row-

17.5kg 3 sets of 10

Lat pull down-

84kg 3 sets of 8

Single arm self supported reverse fly-

10kg 2 sets of 10

Cuban press-

7kg 2 sets of 10.

Really happy with getting 100kg over my head. Wicked session.

20kg to go.

Push Press-

100kg x 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

100kg x 1- MASSIVE PR

Holy bejeebus

You strong fcuker!!!!

Was that really 7 fails before you made it?? I am more than slightly impressed. Sh1t I'd better pull my finger out of my arse and start getting into this weights lark properly or you're going to come back and I'm going to be struggling with your warm-ups weights......




















<did I mention that's one massive achievment >

Yeah 7 fails lol, hard to judge a fail though, the bar went 3/4 of the way up on all the attempts, just took some bollocks to get under it!

20kg to go.

Get your sig updated with your new PR.

Only the big 3 in the sig mate! Elbows feeling fine now, so I might try and make a final run at the 3 plate bench when im back at the Taro.

Hoping for a BIG PR on wednesday in the squatting. Given that I had 165kg last week until the PENIS spotting me touched the bar Im hoping for a 170kg...

20kg to go.

ORIGINAL: Dave284
Hoping for a BIG PR on wednesday in the squatting. Given that I had 165kg last week until the spotters PENIS touched the bar Im hoping for a 170kg...

Let's hope that doesn't happen again then eh

Im going to go sans spotter as I managed to wriggle out from the low bar position without 2 much trouble last week. If I hit the 170kg squat on Wed then i ll be under 10 kg from each of the 3/4/5 plate club on the bench/squat/dead.

20kg to go.