Yeeeeeeaaah Buddy- dave's log

ME Lower

Box squats- set to mean that the top of my leg is parallel to the floor

bar x loads
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 5
120kg x 3
120kg x 1
120kg x 1

- seriously weak squatting in anyones book

Dumbell split squat
15kg dumbells, 3 sets of 8 on each leg

Cable pull through 2x10

Leg curl 6, 6, 5

20kg to go.

Ive come to the conclusion that my hamstrings offer absolutely nothing at the moment. Therefore im aiming to make all lower body days very hamstring/glute focused. Im also going to make rack pulls me first exercise on ME upper day and increase the ROM on them for some extra hamstring focus.

20kg to go.

Dude - going by the DOMS in my glutes and slight tenderness to my hamstrings, I'd recommend Barbell over Dumbbell for lunges. My previous routine used dumbbells throughout but after my first session with the barbell I've got that nice stiff legged feeling again.
Next session I'm going to use a step for my front foot to land on for additional ROM.
Also, why split squats over dynamic lunges?

What's happening with the squat numbers? Are you really struggling with these or is this just an effect of illness and injuries?

I never thought I'd say this but I'd rather squat at the Taro than Cannons. After being a pUssy yesterday and the fear of getting stuck under the bar being greater than the pleasure I'd have had in makeing the squat, I need to squat with some kind of safety feature and the adjustable bars at the Taro seem like a good idea now. What I'd give for a power rack like at your place though

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

Im not doing any lunges at the moment- I think doing to exercises in a row which involve having a barbell on my back are more trouble than they re worth for me.

Doing split squats to try and get some more single leg action on the go- and surprisingly my right leg was a lot weaker than my left.

With regard to the box squatting I have no idea. On the bench at the taro I hit 160 for 3 but that was high. Im purposely setting the box at parallel to try and really hit my posterior chain- rapidly coming to the conclusion that my hamstrings and glutes dont actually do anything the amount my lower back feels squatting!

Havent done any heavy leg weights in ages and my knee is not 100% so hopefully we ll see a progression over the next few weeks. It is really irritating not making great progress on this lift- still havent hit 130 of my box- but hopefully it ll be worth sticking with.

20kg to go.

I thought a split squat was a lunge?
One foot in front of the other, lower the back knee down to the floor, return to start position, repeat, switch feet.


New project for Easter then re: Box Squatting @ Taro. We need a box with the width slighter larger than the depth that we can both squat onto and still hit parallel. How's your woodwork??

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

A split squat you have your back leg up on a bench jackass! Or is that a bulgarian reach around lunge? I get confused...

I wouldnt trust me to make one, but I would trust travis perkins if we asked them?

20kg to go.

Split Squat = what I said
Bulgarian Split Squat = what you said
Romanian Split Squat = nothing - I just made it up

I'm going out on a limb here but I reckon you got the idea of the BSS from DeFranco's site. There's a few pics in the gallery of the college kids BSS with decent weights.

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

Yeah I saw it there a while back. I decided to give them a go since I remember trying them once and just sacking them off as they were 2 hard! Bit of variety away from lunging 2. Im increasingly finding that I hate lunges to be honest! Also they re in the encyclopedia so if they re good enough for Arnie then they re good enough for everyone.

Ive sacked of any flat pressing for a while 2 since I feel my incline is disproportionatly weak. This means that rack pulling has become my primarly ME upper exercise.

20kg to go.

RE day:-

Incline close grip bench press- aiming for max reps over 3 sets with same weights

60kg x10, 8, 7 (25)

BW Neutral grip chin up, same rep scheme

10, 8, 7 (25)

Superset of Decline dumbell press and tbar row

35kg x10, 10 on press
25kgx15, 30kg x15 on row

Extensions, curl, shoulder health exercises

20kg to go.

ME Upper-

Weighted chin ups-

bw x 5
10kg x 5
15g x 5
17.5kg x 5
20kg x 5

Incline dumbell press-

32.5kg x 8
35kg x 6
32.5kg x 6

Bent over row / dumbell pullover superset

60kg x12, 12, 12, 12 row
25kg x 10, 10- 27.5kg x 10, 7

Curl and pushdown.

Sacked off rack pulls as ive had to move ME lower to tomorrow and I didnt want to be fatigued for squatting

20kg to go.

Nice work on the chins. Good to see you've still got quality strength there. Last time I tried chins I managed 5/5/4/3. And that was just BW

I'm expecting a decent squat session posted up tomorrow as you sacked off rack pulls. 3 plates would be good.

I've befriended this geeza at Cannons who I made box squat with me a couple of weeks ago. He's fairly strong and deadlifted 200kg last week so we're having a deadlift session tonight. The aim is 210kg/465lbs. I haven't done a 1RM since we were at the Taro so this might be interesting.

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

Another horribly wank ME lower:

Parallel box squats-
bar x loads
60kg x 6
80kg x 5
90kg x 5
100kg x 5
110kg x 5
115kg x 3
120kg x 3
122.5kg x 3- horrible,nearly passed out, last rep form wasnt the best.

Gassed after squatting and gym was packed so I couldnt do split squats- did a few full squat power cleans.

Im not looking for any excuses as to this ongoing weakness but we did do a lot of hill sprinting on sunday and my legs were a little sore still.

I really cant fathom how my squat is less than 60% of my deadlift and isnt improving at all. 120kg felt really heavy and it really isnt a heavy weight at all. Weird and annoying.

20kg to go.

I see what you mean about the squatting. Is the guy you train with a decent spotter or do you squat in the power rack?

Can't really offer any suggestions to why your squat is progressing so slowly. The weights are lower than the Taro because the bench there, for you, would be well above parallel. Is it just the squat where the weights are down or is it across the board?

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

I think everything else seems alright to be honest- rack pulled 180kg x 5 from 2/3 inches below the knee which I was fairly happy with. Im not benching at the moment since im trying to work on my incline so im not sure about that. Trying to get back into things still after the season so im not going crazy, just trying to get back to a reasonable level in order to make some gains over Easter.

As for the squatting im pretty much using bench press weights and really really struggling with it. This is weird, especially since during the summer I was front squatting more than that without to much trouble.

Pretty frustrating seeing as squatting has always gone fairly well for me in the past. Guess I ll just have to stick with it. Wondering whether more volume is the way to go seeing as in the summer I was squatting x2 per week? To be fair it could also just be the fact that my posterior chain is really weak and that when I deadlift I mostly involve my back?

20kg to go.

What are you trying to gain from using the box?
My aim for them is to basically find a squat variation I 'm comfortable with and that's working.
For you, your back and front squat are already decent so what do you hope to achieve from switching to the box?

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

Basically I wasnt hugely comfortable with back squats and I didnt really feel that I got a lot out of them.

As for front squats, I rate them a lot but sue to my weak performance last time we deadlifted I felt that an exercise that placed more empahsis upon the posterior chain would be appropriate. All im basing that on is that Im good for 250kg + once I get the bar to me knee, but off the floor I struggle with 200-210kg whilst deadlifting.

20kg to go.

Yesterday RE day

close grip incline press

60kg x 11, 9, 7- 27 in total

BW neutral grip chin up

10, 9, 7- 26 total

Dumbell Floor press

35kg x 10, 9, 8

Tbar row

30kg x 15, 15 ,15

Dumbell Power clean thingys- felt these a lot in my traps and my shoulders felt really good afterwards.

20kg to go.

Training this week has gone to the dogs a bit due to massive uni commitments, im still eating ok so training will resume thurs/fri with ME lower hopefully.

20kg to go.

RE upper back at home-

rack lockouts-

100kg x 10
120kg x 10

-started to hurt my elbows so sacked it off

pull ups ss dumbell floor press (40kg)-

chin- 12, 9, 8 (29)- press- 8, 7, 7

bent over rope row-

20kg x 12, 25kg x 12, 30kg x 12, 35kg x 6, 6, 6

Seated dumbell power cleans, reverse flys, hanging leg raises, goblet squats.

Good session.

20kg to go.

Those goblet squats were quality work for the lower quads so I think I ll add them in as a more regular assistance exercise. Did kicking practise today for about an hour, maybe a bit longer- nothing to hard, just enough to work up a sweat.

20kg to go.

ME Upper-

Deadlifts

60kg x 3
100kg x 3
140kg x 3
160kg x 3
170kg x 3
180kg x 3
190kg x 1
200kg x 0- no gas left

Weighted chin up, ss incline dumbell press

10kg x 8, 30kgx 10
12kg x 6, 30kg x 9+1
12kg x6, 30kg x 6, 2, 1

Self supported dumbell row

28kg x 10, 8

Weighted Press Ups

bw + 20kg x 9
bw +40kg x 3, strip set

Various cable stuff.

Good session.

20kg to go.

ME Lower-

box squat, 14 inch box

60kg x 5
100kg x 5
110kg x 3
120kg x 3
130kg x 3
140kg x 0, 1, 1, 1

18inch box, 140 kg x 10

Front Squat- I go, you go with 60kg reps- 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2

Calf raise-seated and donkey ss

80kg x1min, 40kgx1min- two rounds.

Leg curl machine 4x6.

Quality session.

20kg to go.

Quality session. You missed out - 16" box - 140kg x 1

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

lol true, couldnt be bothered to explain why we were changing the height of the box though!

20kg to go.

Went kicking today and ran touch for a game. Probably ran about a mile or two in total. Legs feeling ok, a little sore though. Definitely playing next saturday...

20kg to go.

My thighs are feeling a touch on the sore side. Like they've been worked hard - but in a good way.

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

RE Upper

LM's programe said rack pressing but since it killed my elbows last week we I elected to flat bench whilst he close gripped.

Flat bench-
bar x loads
60kg x 8
80kg x 12
100kg x 8, 5, 5, 3, 3 (aimed for 5x5 after the 8 but I havent done any flat pressing in a long while and was a little fatigued. Hopefully hit it without much trouble next week).

Neutral grip chin up-
aimed for 3x10 in that form this week (hit 12, 9, 8 for 29 total last week)
10, 10, 9 + 1 not best pleased with that.

This was supposed to be ss/w dumbell floor press but I was struggling massively with the pressing after benching so I left it out this week- will get on it again next week.

Tbar row w/ the rope

20kg x 15
25kg x 12
30kg x 10, 10
35kg x 6, 6, 6, 6

Dumbell Power cleans, cuban presses and a few curls to finish off. Average session really, looking forward to ME this week. Hopefully going to hit 170kg + for a 5 in the deadlift and 130kg x 5 in the box squat.

20kg to go.

Goal kicking again today, not the best by any stretch of the imagination. Achiles tendons feeling really tight for some reason so had a long warm up.
Feeling a bit sore in the chest and traps today, should be good to go on ME day tomorrow though.

20kg to go.

Some good lifting there matey, well done

Cheers mate, hopefully theres a lot more to come over the Easter hols!

20kg to go.

ME Upper-

Deadlift- the bar at the gym is bent and really smooth- so bascially useless!!
60kg x 5
100kg x 5
130kg x 5
160kg x 1
175kg x 5
190kg x 1
190kg x 1
190kg x knees

Incline dumbell press (supposed to be ss/w chins but the squat rack with the chinning bar attached was full of bench pressers)

30kg x 10
32kg x 10
32kg x 7+3

Chin up

10kg x 8
12kg x 6
14kg x 6

Various cable back stuff

Military press-

50kg x8, 8, 8

Happy with the deadlifting, hoping to make some ground back here now that I can squat again.

20kg to go.

ME Lower

Box squat- 14 inch box

bar x loads
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 5
120kg x 1
130kg x 5 - REP PR
140kg x 3 - REP PR
150kg x 1 - PR

RDL

60kg x 12
80kg x 8

Sumo Deadlift

60kg x 6
80kg x 3

Decided to leave it there, hit massive PR's in the squatting and Im ment to be playing rugby tomorrow so dont want to be too fatigued. Really good session, squats felt strong so hopefully theres a lot more to come there. I think next week I ll shoot for 140kg x 5 and 145kg x 3.

20kg to go.

Played rugby union for a local team yesterday, feeling pretty sore today and a little ill - probably due to the AWFUL weather so im going to give RE day a miss.

20kg to go.

After playing rugby and sometimes after deadlifting I get really really painful hips- to the extent that its quite nasty standing up! Anyone else ever had this?
Feeling quite a bit better today, shooting for some big weights tomorrow- going to move flat bench in from RE day and hit 5x5 at 100kg.

20kg to go.

Really bad session after a really bad day:

'ME upper'

Deadlift- no chance

Chin Up

bw x 15
bw x 10
16kg x 6
18kg x 3
20kg x 3
22kg x 3
24kg x 3
26kg x 3
30kg x 3

Flat bench- aimed for 5x5 with 100kg, got to 2 reps of set 1 and it was just not happening.

Still a bit ill from saturday and I could barely breath, ached all over and felt as weak as my gran. Been a really long day- was supposed to head up to the national archives at kew to get a couple more sources for my dissertation, so I hop in the car at 11 30, put the key in the ignition and...yeah you guessed it, car did not fancy turning on!
So i then had to walk to the station (25mins), get the train to Halsemere (20mins) and then get my mate who was coming with to pick me up and drive there (90mins). Had to do a load of photocopying there (25 quids worth at 30pence a sheet!!!!) which took a further 2 hours and then had to brave the traffic and train again on the way home. All in all a bloody annoying day.

While im on a rant I may as well carry on- the place where I train with Lord Monkcheese, and i think hes mentioned this on a number of occasions, is the most uninspiring dump in the entire world. Also, your more likely to meet a decent trainee at a Wham! concert than anywhere near that place. Row upon row of people on cross trainers who venture down for an occasional curl- on a fitball or preferably a wobble board on a fitball. This nutter strutted over to me today after I had finished training and he clapped his hands, told me to 'work' and then proceeded to pick up the 12kg dumbells and curl away in front of the footy on tv. I was lost for words. Perfectly sums up what peoples idea of work there really is. Its so depressing knowing that I could stop training for 6 months, come back, and still be one of the 2 strongest ppl in there along with LM. I hate everything about that place and I wish there was somewhere else decent to train within 45 mins drive. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhh! Think im done now.

20kg to go.

ME Lower

14 inch box squat-

60kg x 3
80kg x 3
100kg x 3
120kg x 3
130kg x 3
140kg x 4 REP PR
145kg x 0- no gas left, been ill all week so decided to leave the squats there.

Stiff legged deadlift

70kg x 8
90kg x 8
110kg x 8

Overhead lunge to the back

bar x 8 each leg
30kg x 8 each leg

Bar in front squat position lunges to the back

30kg x 8 each leg

Single leg RDL

30kg duumbell x10 each leg, 2 sets.

Pistol squats, single leg squat to box.

Not a bad session. I think the 14 inch box squats have run thee course now and I ll change up the exercise next week, im thinking either a slightly higher or lower box or possibly front squats to the box. Any thoughts from anyone?

20kg to go.

Played rugby yesterday and had a mates 21st last night so I didnt feel too hot today. Only went down to the gym to watch the blues game and spot LM, but some arsemuncher wanted to watch the FA cup so I figured I may as well do something!

High pulley pull downs, close grip

stack x 15
stack +20kg x 12
stack +30kg x 8
stack +40kg x 5
strip set.

rope tbar row with small plates

20kg x 2
30kg x 6, 6, 6
40kg x 6
45kg x 6, 6, 6, 6

20kg to go.

I'm having a little chuckle here reading the last few posts. You seem to be filled with rage Dave - you're not on the roids are you

Agree with you about the gym and there being more atmosphere on the moon than in there.

2 options:

1) Pool all our money together, buy an Oly bar, Power rack, a few 100 kg in plates, some other bits. And a place to house it all - probably not going to happen.

2) Join Fitness First down the road. Problem - you'll have to pay membership and only use it outside of term time so will be paying to use the place when at uni.

The Taro is the only feasible option in your current situation. I'm afraid to say it - it sucks but you're stuck with it.

If it's any consolation, this is my last week at Cannons then I have to use Taro full-time. A prospect I'm not relishing.

"They are quite possibly the most sorry bunch of socially challenged and boarderline mentally ill reprobates to have ever attracted such a like-minded following of keyboard warrior wannabes." Unknown

are you and Lm training partners i take it?

i have training partners and i must say i make much better gains because i can train harder

'i split with my gf because it made me feel sick when i saw her eat hi gi carbs'
- swordfish

Yeah we are. Coming up to what, 3 years now? Im all for setting up some kind of bar/rack arrangement, but it would mean still being a member of the taro if you wanted to use any dumbell/cable type stuff. There are too many problems to list down at the Taro, but Im going to try:
1)music- both surround and spinning
2)instructors- tonight *** trying to teach that poor guy to squat and deadlift nearly made me want to cry. Honestly I think they wouldnt be out of place if they were some kind of elite torture team whose intention was to give everyone they come across some kind of chronic injury
3)members- awful trainee's, bad attitudes, dont tidy up, dont replace weights, dont like loud banging, chalk, squats, deadlifts
4)equipment- too expensive, badly designed, lack of weight- they gym had a refurb about 18 months ago and the amount of money they spent they could have made an ideal facility. Insted we ended up with the wankbag that is the Taro. The oly bars cost £200 each- and LM and I have seriously bent both of them rack pulling.
5)managment- see the refurb. Also no deadlifting/squatting in socks please.

Its only advantage is its location. Id be prepared to go to Fitness First if I had enough money, but im not sure I do while Im at uni. I wouldnt mind the Taro so much if even one of the people that trained there took it seriously. Today for instance we had to wait to get the squat rack while two guys benched with 40kg in there. When we squat people literally look at us as if we had walked into their house on Christmas Day and taken a piss on their kids!

Todays session, ME Upper:

Chin up-
bw x 5
10kg x 5
20kg x 3
30kg x 3
40kg x 2
45kg x 0
45kg x 1

Flat bench press-
bar x loads
60kg x 6
80kg x 3
100kg 5x5

Bent over row-
60kg x 15
70kg x 12
70kg x 10

Dumbell power cleans, curls, pullovers.

Good little session.

20kg to go.