Return of the King

BossArky

Tuesday November 24th: Bench at 8pm

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
77kg - 6x6 ... fine, but felt heavier than it should have
**add slingshot**
90kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3 ... felt heavier than it should

Barbell Row
20kg - 1x10
60kg - 6x6
---
Military Press
32kg - 3x10 ... fine

Rev Fly
6kg per arm - 5x10
---
Barbell Curl
30kg - 3x10

Tricep Ext
6kg per arm - 3x10
---
Run (Treadmill)
30 mins - incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 10.5 kmph. From 5 mins to 26 mins = run 1:30 / walk 2:00
---

Felt pretty weak.

Turns out I had food poisoning or something similar as I start vomiting around 10pm in the evening, just after getting out of gym. Up all night retching, etc.

BossArky

Friday November 27th:

Deadlift
70kg - 1x7
90kg - 2x10, 1x5... ouch mid set and dropped it

Split Squat (foot on bench, holding plates)
+5kg per arm - 3x5 per leg
+10kg per arm - 4 or 5x5 per leg
---
Abz
- Slight sit ups with DBs overhead ... cannot remember what these are called x10, x15, x20
- Dead Bugz - x10, x12, x14
---

Tweaked lower back on 3rd of planned 5 sets of 10. Dropped it and called it quits except for some Split Squats and Abs. There goes the Juggernaut Method 2.0. High reps and conventional deads not a good idea for me. Enjoyed finishing off the rest of the training session nonetheless. Split Squats feel functional, lol.

BossArky

Sunday November 29th: Bench

Bench (all paused, feet up)
20kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x5
70kg - 1x3
82kg - 1x3 then FAILED with feet up
50kg - x5, x5, x10
---
Lat Raise (DB)
6kg per arm - 3x10

DB Curl
6kg per arm - 3x10
---
Lat Pulldown
3x10

Low Pulley Row
3x10
---
Run (Treadmill)
30 mins - incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 10.6 kmph. From 5 mins to 22 mins = 2x[run 1:30 / walk 1:30 then run 3:00 / walk 3:00]
---

In a lot of pain due to injured lower back. Went in and tried to feet up benching but ended up getting stapled. Luckily had safetys set. Incredible how weak my bench is when I don't execute it powerlifting style. Forced myself into a run which is miraculous given that I can barely walk at the moment. The treadmill makes it easier.

BossArky

Wednesday December 2nd:

Squat
20kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x5
90kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x5
---
Military Press
33kg - 3x10

Split Squat
5kg plate per arm - 1x5
10kg plate per arm - 3x5
---
Run (Treadmill)
30 mins - incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 10.7 kmph. From 5 mins to 22 mins = 2x[run 1:30 / walk 1:30 then run 3:00 / walk 3:00]
--- 

Pretty happy to be able to Squat pain free. Lowerback pain down to about 10% of the peak it reached in past 5 days and wasn't aggravated by the above.

Day 8 of the "couch to 5km" program and that is going well too.

Good.

BossArky

Friday December 4th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5 ... heels on ground = sore slower back
60kg - 3x5 ... wide grip (index on rings), feet up on bench
40kg - 3x5 ... reverse grip, feet up on bench

Barbell Row
50kg - 3x10
---
Barbell Curls
20kg - 3x10

DB Curls
6kg per arm - 3x10
---

Barbell Rows and Bench with feet down didn't feel too good on back so improvised with some other Bench versions.

BossArky

Sunday December 6th: Squat @8pm

Squat (high bar)
20kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
70kg - 1x5
90kg - 1x5
110kg - 2x6 ... top sets
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
34kg - 3x10

Split Squat
15kg plate per arm - 3x5
---
Run (Treadmill)
30 mins - incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 10.8 kmph. From 5 mins to 23 mins = 2x[run 1:30 / walk 1:30 then run 3:00 / walk 3:00]
---

Squats felt pretty good. Worked up to two tops sets of 110kg for 6 reps each, then backed off with more high bar at 70kg for 12 reps. Feels nice coming back down with a drop set where everything is firing but weight is light. Then moved onto some split squats to get some other random leg muscle stimulation.

Overhead press was handy enough too.

Running felt pretty easy afterwards. Building up the distance and speed. There ends week 3 of the couch to 5km program.

BossArky

Tuesday December 9th: Bench

Floor Press (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5

Pull Up
3x5 ... palms away
3x5 ... palms to face
---
DB Bench
20kg per arm - x20, x15, x10

One Arm DB Row
20kg per arm - 3x10
---
Run (Treadmill)
30 mins - incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 10.9 kmph. From 5 mins to 26.5 mins = 2x[run 3:00 / walk 1:30 then run 5:00 / walk 2:30]
---

Jacked the Combo Rack up to the highest setting and experimented with Pull Ups/Chins.

Did some floor pressing off the safetys.

On to week 4 of Couch to 5km program.

Good.

BossArky

Friday December 11th: Squat @8pm

Squat (high bar)
20kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x5
120kg - 2x5 ... top set
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
35kg - 3x10

Split Squat
10kg plate per arm - 3x5
---


Happy with the Squats.

BossArky

Saturday December 12th: Bench

Bench (all paused, heels on bench)
20kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
70kg - 3x5 ... normal grip
60kg - 3x10 ... close grip
50kg - 3x8 ... wide grip, index on rings

Bench Row (i.e. bar under the bench)
20kg - 1x10
25kg - 1x10
29kg - 1x10
31kg - 1x10
32kg - 1x10
10kg DB per arm - 3x10
---
Barbell Curls
20kg - 3x10
---
Run (Treadmill)
30 mins - incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 11 kmph. From 5 mins to 23 mins = 2x[run 3:00 / walk 1:30 then run 5:00 / walk 2:30]
---

Messing around with various bench grips. Still keeping feet up to reduce strain on lower back until fully recovered.

Happy with the run too.

BossArky

Sunday December 13th

Bike: Cycled the ~30km Capital City Trail with an extra 40kg towed along behind my bike. Good cardio work.

BossArky

Tuesday December 15th: Squat

Squat (high bar)
20kg - 1x5
70kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
100kg - 2x8 ... top set
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
36kg - 3x10

Split Squat
15kg plate per arm - 3x6
---

Felt fine and got through the above in under an hour.

BossArky

Friday December 18th: Bench

Bench (all paused, feet on ground)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 1x1
100kg - 1x1 ... fine
80kg - 3x6 ... fine
60kg - 1x10 ... wide grip / feet up

DB Row
10kg DB per arm - 3x10
---
Barbell Curls
20kg - 3x10
---
Run (Treadmill)
incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 11.1 kmph. From 5 mins onwards = 2x[run 3:00 / walk 1:30 then run 5:00 / walk 2:30]
---

On the spur of the moment decided to go "heavy" and benched a handy enough 100kg paused. Probably the lightest bodyweight I've done that at, given the running I've introduced in recent weeks.

Finished off with the last day of week 4 of the "couch to 5km" program. Need to check what the plan is for week 5.

The week in general was a bit lack lustre in terms of training and diet due to various work / xmas parties and the associated hoo-haa.

Enjoying training at the moment, but will be happy once lower back injury clears up. Aggravated it again when benching with feet on ground. Wasn't ready for that - should have stuck with feet up for a few more weeks.

BossArky

Monday December 21st: Squat @5pm (yes - evening, not morning)

Squat (high bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
80kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x3
115kg - 2x6 ... top set. Video'd first set which was alright, if a bit lacking explosiveness
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
37kg - 3x10 ... handy enough

Split Squat
20kg plate per arm - 3x6 ... heavy
---

Legs are in bits as I write this the morning after the above ^^. The Split Squats were hard. Legs feel trashed now.

Happy with the Squats. Went back to low-bar for the first time since competition about 2 months ago. 115kg 2x6 felt good. Think I'll stick with low-bar now for a while again. Video'd the first top set which meant cutting out the music which I had been streaming from iphone as both camera and music app don't work together... so 5% heavier without blaring tunes.

The drop set of 70kg 1x12 was accidentally high-bar as I experimented with hand position/grip/thumb positioning.

Military Press at 37kg 3x10 was fine too.

Overall - good.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Monday December 21st: Squat @5pm

Squat (high bar)
115kg - 2x6 ... top set. Video'd first set which was alright, if a bit lacking
---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RDsI67Y5wg

BossArky

Thursday December 24th: Bench

Bench (all paused, feet up)
20kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x6
70kg - 3x7
40kg - 1x10 ... wide grip / feet up

One Arm Row
5kg plate per arm - 1x10
10kg plate per arm - 1x10
15kg plate per arm - 1x10
20kg plate per arm - 1x10
25kg plate per arm - 1x5
---
Inverted Row
3x10

Press Ups on top of Bar used for Inverted Row
3x10
---
Barbell Curls
20kg - 1x16
---
Run (Treadmill)
incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 11.2 kmph. From 5 mins onwards = 3x[run 5:00 / walk 3:00]
---

Kept feet up on Bench. Back feeling better but gonna avoid anything that aggravates it for a while (i.e excessive arching)

Plate rows are possible! Thought the size of the plate would interfere with ROM but didn't.

Run was good.

BossArky

Saturday December 26th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
90kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
125kg - 2x5 ... top set. Alrighty with music blaring
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
38kg - 3x10 ... handy enough

Split Squat
10kg plate per arm - 3x5 ... handy
---

125kg 2x5 was alrighty on the Squat, followed up with a handy drop set of 12 reps on 70kg. Need to take my belt in a notch as I've lost some flab around the waist from the running. Belt feels a bit loose and could be giving more support.

Added 1kg to the Military Press as per every session for the last 13, so working weight for 3x10 was 38kg. Felt fine.

BossArky

Sunday December 27th:

DB Bench
20kg per arm - 5x10

Lat Pulldown
increasing each set - 5x10
---
Run (Treadmill)
incline 2, intervals 6kmph to 11.3 kmph. From 5 mins onwards = 2x[run 8:00 / walk 5:00]
---

Locked myself out of home gym on Bench day by resetting padlock accidentally earlier in the day. Did the DB Bench and Lat Pulldown with lighter weights in complex gym. Finished with run which was ok.

BossArky

Wednesday December 30th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 1x2
105kg - 2x8 ... top set. Perfect low bar position found. Good groove
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
39kg - 3x10 ... alrighty

Split Squat
15kg plate per arm - 3x8 ... assistance
---

Happy with the low bar position I found. First really good feeling Squats for a good while. Feel like I've now gotten used to home gym setup and can start going heavier.

It was up around 36-37 degrees outside. Home gym setup has an open side with grills onto the outside world which gives lots of airflow so quite pleasant to train in there even on roasting hot days.

BossArky

Thursday December 31st: Bench & Run

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 3x3 ... fine
80kg - 1x6 ... drop set #1
70kg - 1x8 ... drop set #2
60kg - 1x10 ... drop set #3
---
Barbell Curls
20kg - 1x10
30kg - 1x8
20kg - 1x12
---
Run (Treadmill)
incline 2, 20 mins non stop run
---

Set up and started benching forgetting that I should have made my feet up. It felt fine with feet down as per normal, so I continued and went to a random 90kg 3x3 paused. Felt good to have moderately heavier weight in my paws again. Backed off with a few drop sets of ascending reps.

Run: Warmed up with 5 mins walk at 6kmph then from 5 mins onwards I ran 20 mins non stop. The first 12 mins were at 11.4kmph. Dropped down to 10kmph for a couple of mins and then started increasing by 0.1kmph each half minute until the 20th of the run... which nicely got me back up to 11.4kmph.

BossArky

Saturday Jan 2nd:

Climbed the highest mountain in Australia carrying a kid. Great views and fun experience once I blocked out the "Daddy I really want to go home!" in the pouring rain and howling wind. Summit was 2228m. It is classified as one of the 7 summits (the highest peaks on each of the 7 continents). The Australian peak is the lowest of the lot when compared to the likes of Mount Everest etc, but a satisfying achievement nonetheless.

BossArky

Monday January 4th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
85kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x2
125kg - 2x6 ... top sets
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
40kg - 3x10 ... PR. Probably

Split Squat
just bodyweight - 3x8 ... light assistance
---

Have been on the road the past 4 days driving ~1250km, during which I climbed the highest peak in Oz (see previous post). Wasn't sure how I'd feel Squatting tonight as I was home just a couple of hours.

Squats felt great though. 125kg for 2x6 felt good.

Achieved the target of 40kg 3x10 on Military Press. In the lead up to my comp last Oct I used to do 40kg 3x8 as assistance after bench, so had structured the down time after that comp with the intention of a deload and then building up to an extra couple of reps on the three sets, which culminated today in getting them after 15 sessions of increasing 1kg at a time (from 25kg 3x10 to 40kg 3x10).

Didn't use any weight on the Split Squats - to give my knees some respite after the mountain climb a few days ago.

Good.

BossArky

Checking back through my log to see how I went regarding New Years Goals set at beginning of 2015. As usual I had some high and lofty goals which I didn't quite hit. However, I'm liking the fact that year on year I have made incremental progress on all the lifts.

Below are the 2013/2014/2015 year end numbers from the Big 3 lifts in competition for each particular year. Interesting to note that my Bench was the biggest mover in 2015 (ie. 5kg increase on 2014: 112.5kg vs 107.5kg). All the below done in the 83kg bodyweight category.

Year: 2013/2014/2015
Squat: 150/157.5/160kg
Bench: 102.5/107.5/112.5kg
Deadlift: 165/175/180kg

Goals for 2016:
Reduce bodyfat and keep the incremental progress going on the Big 3 so I'll have another set of incremental numbers to add to the above in a years time.

BossArky

Tuesday January 5th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
70kg - 6x6 ... dawn of a new cycle
**add slingshot & wrist wraps**
90kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3 ... felt heavy

Barbell Row
50kg - 6x10
---
Sumo Deadlift
50kg - 3x3 ... just checking body won't implode
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 6 day 1
incline 2. From 5 mins onwards = [run 5:00 / walk 3:00 / run 8:00 / walk 3:00 / run 5:00]
---

Bench and Rows were fine. First time doing Barbell Rows in approx 1 month. Back felt fine, so all good. Same story with light sumo Deads. Felt fine.

Run was good.

First 5 mins: Started off at 10kmph and increased by 1kmph each minute for the first 5 minutes until I was huffing and puffing like Thomas the tank engine.

Middle 8 mins: Second stint I took a bit easier, starting at 10kmph and increasing by 0.5kmph each minute until somewhere in the last few where I went back down to 10kmph to avoid cardiac arrest

Final 5 mins: Started at 10kmph and increased by 0.2kmph each minute. Was knackered towards the end and waiting for clock to count down.

Writing this the morning after the above ^^ and the weighing scales tells me I'm 79.9kg. That is possibly the first time I"ve been under 80kg for 5.5 years. A lot of that weight loss is probably glycogen depletion given the weights and run last night.

BossArky

Friday January 8th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
90kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
130kg - 2x5 ... top sets. Good.
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
41kg - 3x9

Split Squat
5kg plate per arm - 3x8 ... light assistance
---

Pretty happy to have hit 130kg 2x5 Squat at <80kg bodyweight. Was alrighty. Haven't weighed myself since last log entry where I was 79.9kg but reckon I haven't gotten any fatter in a couple of days. Will be looking to hit 135kg 2x5 in a few weeks and then attempt 140kg 2x5 in the not too distant future.

Military Press: Added 1kg and subtracted a rep.

Split Squat: some nice light assistance.

Had second physio session this week on my neck. Right side has been a bit painful for the past 2.5 months. May have strained it training or sleeping and it never quite recovered, so using the private health insurance to get it sorted out. Physio reckons I may have strained a facet joint and loosed it up. Felt better after first session and is a bit tender now after second session this morning. Feels much improved in terms of lack of pain and increased ROM now.

Was absolutely shattered for the past couple of days following the last run. Had planned to Squat yesterday, but needed the extra day off. Went to bed last night around 7:30pm.

BossArky

Saturday January 9th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 7x5 ... alright. Finding groove again

Barbell Row
50kg - 7x10
---
Sumo Deadlift
65kg - 3x3
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 6 day 2
incline 2. From 5 mins onwards = [run 10:00 / walk 3:00 / run 10:00]. Started each run segment at 10kmph and increased by 0.1kmph each minute
---

Nothing exceptional to report. Doing the work in the early days of the bench program. Increasing sumo deads by 15kg to continue getting the feel of them again. Run felt good.

BossArky

Monday January 11th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 1x3
107.5kg - 2x8 ... top sets. Tired
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
42kg - 3x9

Split Squat
15kg plate per arm - 3x6
---

Felt fatigued / achey going into this one. Blaming the increased volume of running.

BossArky

Tuesday January 12th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 8x4 ... fine but felt heavier than expected
**add slingshot ... NO wrist wraps**
95kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x3

Barbell Row
50kg - 8x10
---
Sumo Deadlift
70kg - 1x5
80kg - 3x3
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 6 day 3
incline 2. Walk 5 mins, then run 25 mins. Started at 10kmph and increased by 0.1kmph every 2 minutes.. which brought me up to 11.2kmph at the end
---

Good.

BossArky

Thursday January 14th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
80kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x2
117kg - 2x6 ... top sets
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
43kg - 3x9

Split Squat
20kg plate per arm - 3x6
---

Felt a bit tired and achey going into the above but pulled through ok.

Military Press felt strong.

Split Squats really dependent on foot position. Got a good one on 2nd and 3rd sets and they felt pretty good compared to the first.

Squats were fine.

BossArky

Friday January 15th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 10x3 ... Fine & in general felt better than last bench session

Barbell Row
50kg - 7x10
---
Sumo Deadlift
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 3x3
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 7 day 1
- incline 2
- Walk 5 mins, then run 25 mins
- Started run at 10kmph and increased by 0.1kmph every 2 minutes.. which brought me up to 11.2kmph at the end
---

Kept the pace up on bench/row supersets and got through the work sets in 48 mins. Could get it down by 10 to 15 mins more I reckon as was doing some net surfage in between.

Run was fine. All the runs from here in couch to 5km weeks 7/8/9 are "long".... i.e. a week of 3 runs of 25 min length in week 7, 3x28 mins in week 8 and 3x30 mins in week 9.

BossArky

Saturday January 16th:

Had my second Dexa bodyfat scan today and the results since the first scan 8 weeks ago are pleasing. In summary I lost 2kg of fat in 8 weeks and put on 0.774kg of muscle. Factoring in the silly season of xmas where diet was less than optimal I see this as solid progress.

I've booked in the 3rd Dexa scan for 8 weeks time on March 12th and am motivated to keep the progress going. Particularly pleased given the conventional wisdom that it is tough to both lose fat and build muscle at the same time. Below follows a breakdown of the numbers and movement between the first and second scans over the course of 8 weeks

Dexa Scan:
- Bodyweight 81.0kg
- Skeleton: 3.102kg (up a couple of grams in both trunk and arms, but dropped slightly in legs)
- Bodyfat: 18.629kg @ 23% (down from 20.664kg @ 25.1%)
- Lean Mass (muscle & organs): 59.256kg (up from 58.479kg)

Trunk muscle: 25.883kg to 26.657kg for 0.774kg muscle gain
Trunk fat: 9.833kg to 9.247kg for 0.586kg fat loss

Leg muscle: 20.328kg to 20.435kg for 0.107kg muscle gain
Leg fat: 8.720kg to 7.597kg for 1.123kg fat loss

Arm muscle: 7.749kg to 7.688kg for 0.061kg muscle loss
Arm fat: 1.444kg to 1.154kg for 0.290kg fat loss

What does all this mean?

- cardio is helping burn off heaps of fat.
- dropping curls has caused my arms to loose a tiny bit of muscle mass. Combined with a lot of fat lost in that area it is no wonder that my slingshot has been feeling loose recently on the arms
- the addition of Military Press for the past couple of months is piling muscle on my upper body (0.774kg increase in 8 weeks)
- the injury to my lower back at beginning of Dec may have been a reason why the lower body muscle mass only increased slighty in the 8 weeks - i.e. I wasn't Deadlifting at all and Squats were out of the program for a while
- Bone density increased everywhere (trunk & arms) with the exception of legs. Possible impacts of running? I thought that would lead to increased bone density due to impact.

Interesting experience and looking forward to training for the next 8 weeks and the scan results thereafter. I have been taking weekly photos to document my progress since starting my body recomposition exercise in Nov. The fat loss is visible and encouraging, along with the increased muscle mass on the upper body (predominantly shoulders)

BossArky

Sunday January 17th

Bike: Cycled 31.9km Capital City Trail with the 2 kiddies in the back of bike trailer. That's about an extra 40kg. Wrecked after it but great cardio work.

BossArky

Monday January 18th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
**add belt & wrist wraps**
90kg - 1x3
110kg - 1x2
127kg - 2x5 ... top sets. Alrght
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
44kg - 3x8

Split Squat
5kg plate per arm - 3x8
---
Front Squat
44kg - 1x8
---

Legs wrecked after weighted cycle yesterday. Continued on with Squat program today and managed the 127kg 2x5 alright. Legs shaking afterwards in the shower due to the extreme cardio yesterday combined with Squats today.

Military Press increased by 1kg again. Dropped the reps from 3x9 to 3x8 so I don't burn out too early.

Added 1 set of Front Squats to get back into them and to hit legs a bit differently for additional muscle stimulus. Will increase these (sets & weights) in the coming while. All in the name of increasing the lower body muscle (see Dexa scan post above ^^).

BossArky

Tuesday January 19th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 6x6 ... fine
**add slingshot for all & wrist wraps for final set**
95kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3
112kg - 1x2 ... supposed to be 3

Barbell Row
50kg - 6x10
---
Sumo Deadlift (all double overhand)
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 3x3
---
BB Curl
30kg - 3x8

Plate Pinch (grip training)
5kg per arm - duration = count to 60
10kg per arm - duration = count to 60
15kg per arm - duration = count to 60
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 7 day 2
incline 2. Walk 5 mins, then run 25 mins. Started at 10kmph and increased by 0.1kmph every 2 minutes.. which brought me up to 11.2kmph at the end
---

Bench worksets easy as expected.

Slingshot Bench should have been 3 reps on 112kg but racked after 2 as it felt too close to failure.

Felt good to have some moderate weight in hands on Sumo Deadlift, as I haven't Deadlift much in the past 7 weeks.

Added dedicated curls so don't loose any more pipe size at next Dexa!

Added grip training in the form of plate pinching to work the forearms. My home gym plates are bumpers which means that as the weight gets heavier the plates gets wider so the effort goes up exponentially. 5kg and 10kg were fine. 15kg was getting a bit more awkward to hold on to but I'm sure this will build up nicely in the coming weeks.

Run was fine. Just burning fat.

BossArky

Thursday January 21st: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
82kg - 1x3
**add belt & wrist wraps**
102kg - 1x2
112kg - 2x8 ... top sets
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
45kg - 3x8

Split Squat
5kg plate per arm - 3x8
---
Front Squat
45kg - 1x8
---

Squats fine.

Military Press is now officially 5kg up on my standard working 3x8 sets from a couple of months ago when I used it as assistance comping into last Oct comp.

Split Squats & Front Squats for muscular leg variety - lol.

BossArky

Friday January 22nd: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 7x5 ... Fine

Barbell Row
50kg - 7x10
---
Sumo Deadlift
70kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x3
125kg - 3x3 ... double overhand
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 7 day 3
- incline 2
- Walk 5 mins, then run 25 mins
- Started run at 9kmph and increased by 0.2kmph every 2 minutes.. which brought me up to 11.4kmph at the end
---

Bench & Rows were fine. Just doing the work.

Grip was slipping on 125kg Deadlifts double overhand. Down to feeling pretty knackered in general. Probably shouldn't have tried to Deadlift heavy twice per week with the amount of Squatting & running I'm currently doing.

Started off at bit slower on the run but made bigger increments over the 25 mins.

BossArky

Tuesday January 26th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 1x3
**add belt & wrist wraps**
105kg - 1x2
122kg - 2x6 ... top sets. Fine
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
46kg - 3x8

Front Squat
46kg - 3x8
---

Was supposed to do this yesterday (Monday) but was feeling knackered from being slightly sniffly with mild cold & also home supervising 2 kiddies all day. Had the chance to train in the evening, but opted to go to bed at 6:30pm instead. Slept for 13+ hours which is the longest sleep I've had in ... years? Had some pretty vivid dreams too.

Got up today (which happens to be Australia day) and did a few family things before fitting the above training in mid afternoon.

Military Press is feeling good. Added 1kg and kept pushing the 3x8s. Would like to get this up to 50kg 3x8 in the next couple of weeks.

Squats felt a bit ropey when warming up. You know that ill feeling where your head feels under intense pressure and all the blood goes to your neck? The worksets were ok though.

Swapped Front Squats in instead of Split Squats for variety & to hit the quads more. The weight on Front Squats was particularly light - I just used what was on the bar from the Military Press - but will built this up over time. Using light weight is handy to get used to the motor pattern before ramping up anyway.

BossArky

Wednesday January 27th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 8x4 ... felt heavier than it should have
**add slingshot for all & wrist wraps for final set**
90kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3

Barbell Row
50kg - 8x10
---
BB Curl
40kg - 3x6
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 8 day 1
- incline 2
- walk 5 mins, then run 28 mins
- started at 10kmph and increased by 0.1kmph every 3 minutes.. which brought me up to 10.9kmph at the end
---

Got through it alright but can feel than Bench is taking a battering coming in the day after Military Pressing heavy & the twice a week runs.

Run is now up to 28 mins and I'm into the penultimate week. Each of the 3 runs this week is 28 mins. Next week, for the last week, will be 3 runs of 30 mins.

BossArky

Friday January 29th: Squat

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
**add belt & wrist wraps**
100kg - 1x2
120kg - 1x1
132kg - 2x5 ... top sets. Alrighty
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
47kg - 3x8

Front Squat
47kg - 3x8
---

Pretty happy to have Squat 132kg 2x5. Felt alright to be honest. Was expecting it to be harder and almost convinced myself to take another day of rest as still feeling mildly ill / nasally. Instead I got into the shed and got the work done. Having the in-laws here visiting helped with that extra rage factor necessary to move some heavy weight.

That is the end of this Squat cycle. Will be good to have a deload whilst the runs get longer for the next 5 sessions (over approx 2.5 weeks) before building up to Squatting 135kg 2x5 in 6-8 weeks. Need to plan it out over next couple of days taking into account what is going on outside of the gym life-wise.

Military Press still going strong. Another 1kg upwards. Felt easier than the last session - perhaps because I was coming off the heavy ass Squats and body was amped up.

Front Squats feeling nice on the quads too. Light stuff for blood circulation / pumpage / musle growth and working on form. Used a slightly wider grip than usual on the first couple of sets as I noticed that Brett Gibbs (IPF83kg world champion powerlifter) has a fairly wide Front Squat rack position.

In other good news - I'm back down into waist size 32 inch jeans and shorts. Bought two new pairs of each in past couple of days. Also was on the look out for formal trousers for work - but the brand I usually get have been discontinued apparently so need to try on another 10,000 pairs to find ones which fit my boo-tay. Have been up in the 34 waist size for the past 2 years so glad to be back down in 32 inch waistland/wasteland. Aim is to never leave/get fat again (but obviously put on a heap more muscle whilst staying svelte). Still got more fat to drop but pretty happy with how things are going at the mo-mo.

What else? Ummm - probably going to see the new Star Wars in a couple of hours.

Alf Veedersane

I'd say you notice a massive difference in terms of time and accessibility having your own gear to train with!

Do you miss training in a gym at all?

BossArky

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I'd say you notice a massive difference in terms of time and accessibility having your own gear to train with!

Definitely. It's an incredibly awesome time saver and aligns with my obsessive compulsive loner tendencies

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Do you miss training in a gym at all?

No.

Over the past 6 years in Australia I have been lucky enough to have trained in a number of high quality powerlifting gyms on both east and west coasts as I moved around on work assignments. I made a lot of good contacts and learned a heap.

On the other hand, I also learnt a heap training alone (early in morning / late at night) and following various youtubers (Mark Bell, Matt Vincent, Brett Gibbs, Brandon Lilly, etc, etc). It got to the stage where I don't need the backslapping/cheer leading of a group atmosphere anymore. I'm a self starter and bit of a loner when it comes down to it.

I also don't have time to spent 3 hours per session in some gym, no matter how good, for the sake of banter & back slapping/cheer leading.

For most of 2015 I trained four days per week. I would force myself to train at 6am three mornings a week in one gym (Mon/Tues/Fri or Sat), and then drive about 20-30 mins to another place for the 4th training session late Thursday evening.

The problem was that I was training too early and too late & spending my time in a great gym alone there either opening it or closing it (i.e. no team atmosphere)

The retort to the above from someone younger may be "why not just train when everyone else does?". Well, having a 4 year old at school & a 1 year old at daycare, combined with a working wifey means that there is lots of other logistical challenges to the family jigsaw and thus training time is like gold dust and typically falls in the red-eye hours. Both wifey & I train by the way - which adds another layer of complexity as we both have to train either early/late whilst the other is home on sentry duty.

BossArky

Saturday January 30th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 10x3

Barbell Row
50kg - 10x6
---
Barbell Curl
30kg - 3x8
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 8 day 2
- incline 2
- Run 28 mins
- Started run at 10kmph and increased by 0.1kmph every 3 minutes.. which brought me up to 10.9kmph at the end
---

Bench & row supersets took 1hr 15 mins in total. Pretty knackered getting through it to be honest. 90kg feels heavier than it should, but got it done.

Cut the reps per set on the barbell rows from the usual 10 to 6. The theory here is that each set of bench was 270kg volume (90kg x 3reps) so barbell rowing 50kg x6 (300kg volume) more than equalizes that. No point in going for 10 sets of 10 reps and being totally depleted before the run.

Curls were curls.

Run was a debacle. Prior to it I had been listenng to various podcasts whilst I did my bench/rows/curls. Towards the end a TED podcast on "the dying experience" (or similar) came on. It was incredibley morbid. It kicked in just as I was unracking the 10th set of bench and I most have made the set about 10% heavier. Funnily enough I had killed than podcast a few days before whilst Squatting as didn't want to listen to it, but the iphone was jumbling the order randomily and played that one next in the playlist.

This topic of death had me all melancholy and I was seriously almost in tears. I find this happens me a lot when I train alone (the melancholy bit), especially without driving music or if listening to something soothing such as a podcast/background music. I often end up thinking about my childhood/family/life experiences, etc.

Anyway I get out of the gym (my shed gym) and head to the treadmill (in the apt complex gym on another floor). I was so out of it after that podcast that I forgot to take off my elbow sleeves, plus forgot to set a walking warm up speed... so instead lunged straight into the run with no warm up at 10kmph.

Struggled on like this for about 1 minute wondering why everything felt so off, then realized I still had the hoody on, plus elbow sleeves and death podcast. Nearly tripped myself up taking them all off whilst still running. Got through the run in the end but was feeling very odd.

BossArky

Monday February 1st: Squat Deload

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 2x8 ... top deload sets.
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
48kg - 3x8

Front Squat
48kg - 3x8
---

The in-laws are still here. The one positive from this is that I trained together with wifey which must be the first time in about 4-5 years. It was good, if weird to see her Squatting / Deadlifting in person again after so long! Will hopefully be able to have a few more training sessions together in the next week or two.

Squats felt heavy, which is a good reason for the deload. The drop set was alright though.

Military Press felt ok. Thought it would be harder.

Front Squats fine too.

All in all a nice little quick session.

BossArky

Wednesday February 3rd: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 6x6 ... fine
**add slingshot**
90kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
105kg - 1x3

Barbell Row
60kg - 6x8
---
BB Curl
20kg - 3x12

Sumo Deadlift
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 3x3
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 8 day 3
- incline 2
- run 28 mins
- started at 10kmph and increased by 0.1kmph every 3 minutes.. until 20 mins when I started increasing by 0.1kmph every minute. This took me up to about 11.5kmph at the end and 4.9km total in distance
---

Bench felt better than usual. Probably because I took an extra day between the Military Press on Monday and Benching today (Wednesday).

Increased the Barbell Rows by 10kg to 60kg and choose the reps to equal exactly the Bench volume per set (i.e. 480kg)

Was just going through the motions on the run but decided after the half way point to try push it a bit faster at the end to break 5km. Just missed it by 100m, doing 4.9km instead. That is the furthest I've run in years. Will increase the pace a bit earlier next time.

As a reminder I have two running goals (treadmill vs. outdoors - who cares):
1) Run 5km distance in one go
2) Run 5km in 25 mins

Not too far off the first one now and will break it in the coming days when the time limit on the run goes from 28 mins to 30. The next challenge will be increasing the pace overall to get through the 5km in 25 mins..

BossArky

Friday February 5th: Squat Deload

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 2x6 ... top sets
70kg - 1x12 ... drop set
---
Military Press
49kg - 3x8

Front Squat
49kg - 3x8
---

Squats were all no sleeves, no belt, no weight, no problem. Well actually felt a bit achey & hence the deload sessions around now. Drop set was fine though as I was into it by then.

Military Press is 1kg away from a milestone number.

Front Squats were just working on form & building some muscle.

BossArky

Saturday February 6th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 7x5

Barbell Row
60kg - 7x8
---
Barbell Curl
30kg - 3x10
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 9 day 1
- incline 2
- Run 30 mins (broke 5km distance after 29:16)
---

Running goal #1 achieved: Run 5km.

Started run at 9kmph and increased by 0.1kmph every minute until 27 minutes where I was feeling a bit bit gassed and reduced from 11.6kmph to to 10kmph, then 9.5kmph at 28 minutes and finally 9kmph at 29 minutes.

Hit 5km distance at 29:16 so first running goal achieved with time to spare. Knew that I could ease off the pace in the last 3 mins and make it to 5km ok. Next time I'll try to keep pushing the pace for the last 3 mins also and see where that gets me. No point in totally going for broke today when I have 2 more run sessions left on this couch to 5km plan.

Bench felt pretty good groove-wise: 85kg - 7x5 paused was ok. Did lots of band pull aparts with scap retraction between each bench/row superset. Fatigued slightly from Military Press yesterday.

Rows were 480kg per set (60kg x8) to over compensate for the 425kg per bench set (85kg x5). Fine.

Threw in some curls as usual to prevent pipe wastage: 30kg - 3x10.

Weighed myself after breakfast and was 81.6kg on home scales (i.e. including breakfast & a few cups of tea in the belly). Probably lost a bit more fat and gained a bit more muscle in the past 3 weeks since Dexa scan #2 so will be interesting to see how the body recomp is going at next Dexa scan in 5 weeks at Dexa scan #3.

BossArky

Sunday February 7th

Bike: Cycled 16.4km along the beach and around the park with the 2 kiddies in the back of bike trailer. Think it's getting to the stage where the older one is outgrowing it. I can still pull them fine but it's probably getting to the stage where I'll need to spit them up and get rid of the double trailer.

BossArky

Monday February 8th: Squat Deload

Squat (low bar)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x5
---
Military Press
50kg - 3x8

Front Squat
50kg - 3x8
---
RDL
20kg - 1x8
30kg - 1x8
40kg - 1x8
---

Military Press hit the milestone of 50kg 3x8. Felt alright. Video'd first set - see below. 2nd and 3rd sets I was more concious of making sure I was setting up with shoulders even. I get the feeling that the right shoulder sits lower than the left and causes a bit of unevenness on both Bench & overhead pressing.

Squats: Did the first set of 60kg x5, then proceeded to unrack 80kg. Stood there with it for a few seconds before racking it and taking a super easy session by finishing off with another two sets of 60kg x5. Plan today was to go up to 100kg 2x5 but everything feeling a bit sluggish Squat wise so will take this final deload and then back to 100kg 2x8 as the first day of new program when I Squat on Thursday.

Front Squats fine. Video's first set. See below.

RDLs: adding these back in for a bit of hamstring destruction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzRyU77D6nw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1i2QUiIxK0

Hanley

Bumpers, Eleiko PL set and ER rack?

What's your address again.

...also, send airfare.

BossArky

Hanley wrote: »

Bumpers, Eleiko PL set and ER rack?

What's your address again.

...also, send airfare.

2 bars:
- 1 Eleiko (for mainly comp lifts). Got a 10% discount plus the 2014 price (vs 2015 when I bought it) as I had a pre-existing quote from the year before
- 1 good quality local Australian powerbar (for supersets/assistance)

Rack:
- ER Rack. Got a great deal on it new direct from Denmark.

Weight Plates/Bumpers
- Same brand as the local Australian powerbar above. Little difference between these and Eleiko bumpers except the branding which is stamped on them as they come out of a Chinese factory
- Full size bumper plates: 4x red 25kg, 2x blue 20kg, 2x yellow 15kg, 2x green 10kg, 2x black 5kg
- Fractional plates: 2x red 2.5kg, 2x blue 2kg, 2x green 1kg, 2x white 0.5kg

Weight Tree:
- Same brand as the local Australian powerbar above.

Gym Floor Mats (12.15 metres square):
- picked these up as one of my old gyms was doing a re-flooring exercise which happened to match up exactly with when I was setting up the home gym a few months back.
- Width 2.7m (3 x 0.9m mats) and Length 4.5m (5 x 0.9m mats)
- it's slightly inspiring to know that in the past some great lifters have trodden on these mats
- these would have ended up in the dump if I didn't take them
- most of the gym floor is double layered with these mats. Was just 1 short of getting total double coverage. That single layered square is by the entrance and not a lifting spot so dosen't matter really

Dumbbells:
- 2 adjustable ones which go up to 10kg each. Too light to be honest. Ok for rehab/prehab. Got these years ago in London and need to upgrade to get some additional plates to load on

Bands:
- Light mini band from local Australian supplier (as per powerbar)

Chalk:
- local Aussie as per above

Sound System:
- UE Megabook (the bigger version - v2.0?). Great sound and works with blue tooth connected to iphone for your music library or stream spotify. Recently I've gone off training with blaring music though and just listen to podcasts on my iphone headset. I find this distracts me nicely and I get through the workouts without some much need for adrenaline, or something.

What is missing?
- Pull up bar. Need to figure out which one would suit the shed wall/roof configuration
- Chalk bowl. Won't bother with one. Use a tupperware container on ground by Squat rack instead and does the job fine.
- A couple more 20kg and 5kg plates might make superset loading slighty less of a maths problem. Sometimes when supersetting Bench and Deadlifting/Rowing I realize that the one plate I need is the first one I loaded onto the other bar and couldn't be arsed unloading it to get at it. First world problems.
- Blocks for Rack pulls
- Straps for heavier rows / messing about
- Heavier Dumbbells

BossArky

Tuesday February 9th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 6x4 ... supposed to be 8x4 but had to cut workout down by a couple of sets due to other commitments

Barbell Row
40kg - 6x10
---
Barbell Curl
20kg - 3x10
---
Run (Treadmill) - Couch to 5k week 9 day 2
- incline 2
- Run 30 mins (broke 5km distance after 28:03)
---

Got a call just as I was warming up for Bench which required me to be somewhere else asap. Got through the Bench quickly and cut the total working set volume from 8 to 6. That was kinda what I was thinking of doing in general going forwards after the end of the this cycle. Too much volume when you start going above 6 working sets, especially if you want to get other stuff/assistance done.

Kept the rows nice and light to fly through them as well. 40kg 6x10 felt like nothing and I could just concentrate on feeling the muscle work.

Curls because they take seconds.

Run: Broke 5km in 28.03 which is 1 minute 13 seconds faster than a few days ago. Started off at 10kmph and increased speed by 0.1kmph each minute until I was up at 11.5kmph. The next increase took me to 12kmph for 1 minute before I ramped down to 10kmph.. and then increased again by 0.1kmph each minute. Once I hit 5km at 28:03 I ramped the speed down and didn't keep pushing. May have been able to keep going for the next couple of mins but no point at the moment. Saving if for the last run in a few days.