Road to Wales strongest man 2013 ...........competing in not winning of :D

Cheers Si trying to follow your lead and increase my volume slightly mate.

17/1/2013

squats

Still avoiding deep squats for now and as my knee is feeling much better its obviously for the best.

Leg press

10 mins warmup/stretching

2 plates x 10

3 plates x 10

4 plates x 4

5 plates x 4

Squats to top of safety bars , dead stop each rep

60k x 10

100k x 4

140k x 4

160k x 4

170k x 4

160k x 4

140k x 10

Not much to write about but happy that my legs are getting some stimulus whilst avoiding too much stress on the dodgy knee , hopefully be back to deep squats next session - Also my daughter came down the gym for the first time and kicked my ass on the eliptical runner lol , I had just finished my leg session but she had just come off 25 mins on the treadmill so no excuses , def need to up my cardio before the Welsh as I wont get through a full comp day at my current level of fitness

19/1/2013

Events down Simons

Log

55k x 8 strict

55k x 3

85k x 3

105k x 2

120k x 2 -fail , timing all off so reset

120k x 2 - got 1 but much better and close to 2nd

105k x 2

85k x 2

55k x 3

Yoke - all 20m with drop and turn @ 10

125k

175k

225k

275k

325k - TOUGH! heaviest ive gone in a year , leg speed was good but back felt like it was gonna fold in 2 lol

Happy with what I did , Simon is just an animal no 2 ways about it , was already doing oly work when I got there and whilst I did log , did yoke together and he blitzed me , did 40m with 325k really fast and an extra set on 275k and finished off absolutely smashing the shield walk that I struggled just picking up lol , all whilst giving away 5 stone in bw to me ffs , really enjoying my events lately and def seeing improvements all round , good times

21/1/2013

Deadlifts

Left the house nice and early monday to be greeted with a semi flat tyre! No worries , obviously a slow so down tescos garage I go , only when I had pumped it up and ran my hand over to feel for screws/nails do I find the inside edge is down to the canvas! f**k f**k f**k!! Back home , F1 style wheel change and wash all the s**te off my hands meant me getting to the gym with 30 mins till closing!

Deads

5 min warmup/stretching

60k x 10

60k x 10

100k x 4

140k x 4

180k x 4

220k x 4

260k x 2

280k x 1

And out of there Ended up as a half decent session , limited time between sets but felt strong throughout and the 280k came up easy , reckon if I hadnt repped all the way up I could have pulled 300 unhitched but planning on a max session in a couple of weeks so will soon find out

22/1/2013

Overhead session

Another quick one last night

Pushpress

5 mins warmup/stretching

60k x 10

60k x 10

80k x 4

100k x 4

110k x 2

120k x 2

125k x 1 Fail but oh so close

100k x 4

100k x 4

Done , 125 was silly close , bit more rest before and it should go , on a negative note when lowering the failed rep to the rack Ive pulled something in my neck , bit of googling this morning and it seems to be my SCM , everything ive read so far points to it being knotted rather than anything worse as its just plain uncomfortable with no really bad pain , just feels a bit.....wrong lol

good training butt...

Cheers Nath

24/1/2013

Squats

After 3 weeks of avoiding deep squats my knee tendonitis has calmed right down so plan tonight was few light deep sets to test it out and then go for it

Squats -ATG + Thor knee sleeves on throughout

10 mins warmup/stretching

60k x 10 - really slow and zero pain

60k x 10 - nice and comfy - happy with knee so good to go

100k x 4 - fast and deep

140k x 4

180k x 2

200k x 2 - all deep and easy reps TF for that

150k x 8

Happy as a pig in muck Glad I bit the bullet and gave my knee a rest as it obviously needed it , felt great tonight and no loss of strength , back to high safety bar squats next week as I dont want it flaring up again , may just go deep every other session for the long term if its not affecting strength , sleep well tonight now

27/1/2012

Events down Simon Ts

Log

55k x 10

55k x 10

105k x 3

120k x 1 - just missed 2nd again but getting closer lol

55k x 6

Farmers

40k x 30m

90k x 30m

110k x 15m

130k x 15m

150k x 15m pb

Farmers pick up and hold

170k x 30 secs ( no stopwatch but I counted to 30 slowly )

Yoke

125k x 20m

175k x 20m

225k x 20m

275k x 20m

325k x 5m ( just bringing it back after one of the boys did 5m )

340k x 20m - Did about 3 meters and had a huge pain in my dodgy right knee so dropped it quick , tried to pick it up and same pain! Gave it 5 mins and tried again but really uncomfortable , did 20m with empty yoke at the end and it felt ok so hopefully just a twinge but that was me done for day , happy with everything else esp farmers , even though the beast that is Simon T actually walked with the 170k after I could only manage a hold lol , nevermind train with the best to be the best

28/1/2013

Deads

After sundays epic event session I was feeling pretty invincible as far as my back was concerned , been planning on hitting dead pbs every 5 weeks this year to hit 350k by xmas , last max effort was 24/12/2012 so went for it last night.

Max deads

10 mins warmup/stretching

60k x 10

60k x 10

100k x 4

100k x 4

140k x 1

180k x 1

220k x 1

260k x 1 - felt a lot tougher than when I hit last pb , kind of lost concentration between sets and mind started wandering

305k x 1 - Very mixed emotions over this one , got the lift locked out but prob the most horrible and hitched dead ive ever done , should have dumped it when it got to my knees , no speed off the floor and hitched to f**k , if it had been in a comp I would be happy but as a training lift I feel ive let myself down , on the plus side my back feels great today and held up really well but thats not the point , promised myself I would never lift like this in the gym again after last years injury and cant believe ive left myself so open to it happening again - Last time!!

Here it is in all its glory

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=414366318645665

31/1/2013

Catch up session Squats/overhead

Had 2 days off with toothache , as a result my eating was all over the place so just happy to get some maintenance work done tbh -on the up side all the ibuprofen Ive taken for the toothache has pretty much masked the pain from my knee so every cloud

Squats - Thor sleeves from start

10 mins warmup/stretching

60k x 10

60k x 4

100k x 4

140k x 4

180k x 2

200k x 2

140k x 4

Pushpress

60k x 10

60k x 10

80k x 4

100k x 4

110k x 2

120k x 1

60k x 10

60k x 10

Done , mouth was throbbing like fook by now so called it a night - since then pain has just about gone so should be back on track this week

Been really busy lately so havent updated on here , quick catch up from last weeks then back to normal posting this week

4/2/2013

Deadlifts/back

10 mins warmup/stretch

70k x 10

110k x 4

150k x 4

190k x 4

230k x 4

250k x 4

Seated rows on hammer lever machine/pull downs hammer lever machine supersets

1 plate (each side) x 10

2 plates x 10

3 plates x 6

4 plates x 4

5 plates x 4

5 plates x 4

4 plates x 4

3 plates x 10

2 plates x 10

Ruined after this lol

5/2/2013

overhead work

pushpress

Worked up to a double 115k then dropped weight to focus on form

C+J 60k for 5x5 again working on tech , power jerk not split

Muscle snatches 60k 5x5 first time doing these , bit of conditioning

7/2/2013

Squats

Worked up to 220k single with Thor wraps super tight , knee still not right so gonna keep wrapping for heavy sets from now on.

8/2/2013

Chest and arms gayboy session

Basically spent an hour down the gym getting swole and looking hench , went up to a 140k double on the bench , havent directly trained chest since december so happy enough that my strength hasnt dropped too much.

9/2/2013

Events down Simon Ts place

Just myself, Chris Jenkins and Simon T , bit of a subdued session tbh, I had done too much the night before , Chris was in the same boat having trained hard all week and Si was saving himself for Sunday.

Log

Worked up to 105kg for reps

Axle

Again up to 105 , think I got 5 good reps at this weight after Jenkins had popped an easy 8 up lol

Back to regular journal posts this week , also getting my log from Celtic strength next weekend so be able to do log in the week as well , cant wait

11/2/2013

Deadlifts/back

Dropped 5k bodyweight since xmas , another 2 weeks of dieting then back to bulking ready for the Welsh open , feeling good for the weight loss tbh , plan is to bulk up a lot cleaner this time , getting too old for dirty bulking , found it a lot harder shifting the excess this time round lol - right then_

Deads

10 mins warmup/stretching

60k x 10

60k x 10

100k x 2

140k x 2

180k x 2

220k x 2

260k x 2

280k x 2 - got 1 ,Bearings must be going in bar , kept locking up so when I was rolling it in it was breaking my grip , got 1st rep with fingertips so left it there , happy with a clean 280 tbh , came up fast and smooth so all good

Seated rows on hammer lever machine

1 plate x 10

2 plates x 10

3 plates x 4

4 plates x 4

5 plates x 4

4 plates x 4

Pull downs on hammer lever machine

2 plates x 10

3 plates x 10

4 plates x 4

5 plates x 4

3 plates x 10

3 plates x 10

Done , good session , deads felt strong and fitness is def better for weight loss.

Strong stuff big fella.