Kev's Training Journal

Kev M

Squat, with belt
160kgs x 4

Incline db's
38s x 8

Db curl ss rolling triceps ext.
Light 3 x 12


Buried the squats and felt pretty strong, for me, but the 5th rep either would have been a failure or a horrible grinder good morning.
Incline presses felt pretty heavy, would be doing well to hit 40s for 8 next week.
I think that recent bit of dead lifting twice a week has helped my squat quite a bit, lower back/abs stability and shape feels good.

Kev M

Cg lat pulldown
Plate 90 x 10. Pretty strong

Speedy deads
140kgs few triples. Not so speedy tbh.

Bench
Paused 100kgs x 10 solid, tight reps.

Seated laterals ss seated hammers
10s 3 x 12. Light and easy



My bench touch and go reps pr with 100 is 17. That might seriously be under fire next session, might go a bit heavier for a single, basically just so 100 feels super light then. It's a plan.

Kev M

Saturday

Sumos
140kg triples for speed

Bench
120kgs x 1
100kgs x 18, tng PR

Curls ss side laterals
Light 3 x 12




Happy with the little bench pr, not exactly textbook reps, just banged them out fast, but that'll do, pig.




Tonight

Bench
Paused 100kgs 3 x 6

Face pulls ss rope curl
Light 3 x 20

Short on time so didn't squat or pull. Benched and curled though and that's what really matters.

Kev M

Lat pulldown
Plate 100 x 8.. Very heavy, crap form, possible PR or at least PR territory. Who counts this type of lift? Me.

Deadlift, no belt
170kgs x 5. First rep was mint, then just went back to my old ways of making it a 2 part lift. Need to set the hips on every rep and not get carried away just because I can get away with it. Had a few more reps in the tank.

Wanted to bench but out of time.

Kev M

Bench
102.5kgs paused 3 x 6

Kev M

Deadlift, no belt
175kgs x 5

Kev M

Bench
Pause 105kgs 3 x 6

Superset seated curls, rolling tri ext, lateral raises
3 x 12 super light

Sparred 5 x 3mins with my brother. Right wrist is not very happy, when I press my hand back or put it in a push up position it's pretty damn sore. Will just ignore it and hope it goes away. Usually works.
Bench was solid.
Still doing very little assistance stuff, I think the assistant stuff I benefit most from is leg and glute/adductor stuff. I think this is due to my build, in that benching alone will pretty much bring up all the big bench muscle groups, dead lifting aswell for that matter takes care of itself too. However I realise my squat will feel crap if I'm only squatting, whereas if I get a few sessions of leg isolation machines all of a sudden the squat starts to come together. Likewise I'll see it in other people; if they're built to deadlift then assistance lifts aren't really necessary, except maybe if they're very advanced and hitting their 'potential', but that same lifter could be really need loads of sets of flyes to put themself in a position to bench properly. Or maybe I haven't a breeze!

Edit; I mean that from a bodybuilding point of view aswell as a getting more weight on the bar sense.

Kev M

Bench
100kgs paused x 6
105kgs paused x 6
110kgs paused x 6

Hammer row machine
85kgs x 12,12,20

Face pulls
Light 3 x 20

Hammer curls
20s 2 x 12

Lay pulldown
Plate 75 x 12 super slow negatives for some reason


Pretty strong on the bench today, 110 felt very easy.
Light assistance just doing whatever I want for a pump.
My right hamstring/upper calf is in bits, spent two solid days at a desk and low and behold I get up with a messed up leg. Turning into an old man.

Kev M

Bench
Paused 115kgs x 5

Face pulls
Light 2 x 30

Oh db ext ss shrugs
25kgs 3 x 20 and 25s 3 x loads


Blasted the first 4 reps on bench up but fell apart a bit on 5, may have been good for a tough 6th, think 120 might be a bit optimistic for a decent paused set right now. So will either work up to a heavy paused single or start cranking up tng reps again, whatever feels good on the day.

Kev M

Bench
120kgs pause x 4

Machine hammer row
90kgs x 20,20

Seated hammers ss laterals
Light 3 x 12


Bench was crap, but when I did this for 5 I had wrist wraps and elbow sleeves versus nothing now, so I'll go ahead and believe that would have been 2 reps extra right there, plus it was early in the morning etc

Kev M

Bench
Pause 110kgs x 5

Face pulls
Db curls
Oh db ext
2 x 20+

Some abs


Easy bench sesh. Every session the warm ups just involve high reps with the bar, then plus 20kg every set to 100 for 8-10 reps. Leg is feeling a lot better, have been foam rolling a bit which has helped, might squat Friday and see how it holds up.

Kev M

Bench
100kgs 3 x 10

Hammer curls ss front raises
3 x 10

Abs



Nothing to report, standard issue.

Kev M

High Incline DB bench
32.5s 3 x 10

DB curls ss oh DB ext ss DB shrugs
3 x light weight high reps

Facepulls
plate20 x 30



Leg is feeling 99%, just gonna give it a few more days before abandoning my Jane Fonda upper body routine.

Kev M

Pretty busy the past week

few little push up, pull up, and abs sessions at home.

Got into the gym for half an hour last night:

Ham Curls
light 2 x 50

Leg press
200kgs x 20,20 Dodgy leg held up no bother.

DB press
40s x 10

Lateral raises
light x 12,12

Hammers
17.5s pause at top with slow negatives x 10,10




If I get up early in the morning I'll go gym and try some light deads, let's be honest its nearly 2am and that won't happen, it'll be Thurs night.

Kev M

Deads without the belt
160kgs x 5,5

Bench
100kgs paused x 5,5,5

Curls ss tri ext ss rear delt flye
Light 3 x 12


Good and fast, deads felt good considering I haven't done em in about a month, will see how squats feel Friday

Kev M

Ham curls
light x one million

Squat beltless
100kgs x 20

DB bench
40s x 12,12

DB hammers ss oh tri ext ss rear delts
light 3 x 12

abs
few planks, crunches etc.



Warming up on squats my dodgy leg got dodgy, lower ham/upper calf, felt like both. Just decided to do comfortable reps.
Couldn't get on the real bench so did some db's, good craic and all, pump up sesh, trying to work the negatives not just smash the reps out, think there's more gainz that way, or not because Branch Warren is all big and he only believes in positives.
Then I got the gun show on the road, bit of rear delts because you're supposed to for the bench and they're good for the traps too brah.

Kev M

Sumo beltless
160kgs x 5,5

Bench
105kgs x 5,paused 5,5

Db row
36kg db x 20,20

Bb shrug
60kgs x 50,50

Curls
14s. Right up, left up, left down, right down. Alternate in that fashion Til failure. Makes 14 feel heavy fast.

Kev M

Squat
105kgs x 20

Leg Press
210kgs x 20

Ham curls
light x loads

Incline DB press
32.5s x 12,12

Assisted pullups neutral grip
3 x 12

Cable curl s/s rope pressdown s/s rear delt flyes
light 3 x 12


Good little session, just going by feel really.
Have it in my head that 120 x 20 squat would be a good goal for the next few sessions. PB would be 17 now, and with a belt. Today's set wasn't so bad, and was beltless, so should be on the cards.
Did DB's because I wasn't bothered waiting for the bench.
Did assisted pullups with 3 or 4 plates because I can be strict basically, not that I can do many unassisted in any case, but this lets me get decent reps without momentum and ripping my shoulders up.

Kev M

Abs
crunches, planks, leg raises

Ham Curls
very light x 50+

Deadlift, no belt
200kgs x 1
110kgs few sets messing about with form

Bench
105kgs x 10.. pretty weak benching today, no pop

Assisted pussy boy chins
3 x 10

DB curls
3 x 10


Watched a video on deads from Richard Hawthorne, made me realise how soft my knees can be locking out, so was trying to address that. The bar was getting a bit too far in front of me in the last 3 or 4 inches before lockout however. Hamstrings really got engaged. Treated the lift more like a 'push'. Watch his technique vids. Some good stuff and a different way of looking at things.
I need to be benching more than once a week to keep my strength up, or more so keep the technique super familiar.
Gonna start every session with a few sets of abs, basically because Kai Green does.

Kev M

Ham curls and abs warmup

Squat beltless
110kgs x 20

Bench
107.5kgs x 10

Assisted Chins
3 x 10

Hammer strength bench
100kgs x 10,10



Trying to do more weight for 20 next time will be more mental than anything. Just need to do it, no thinking necessary.
Benching went alright, nearly failed rep 9, then for some reason paused the 10th and needed the spotter to finish. I think if I repped a bit faster I'd have more reps, but we're after the gainz.
Hammer bench is good for the pec pump, bad for the shoulder health.

Kev M

Abs warmup

Squat beltless
115kgs x 20

Deadlift
120kgs x 10

Snatch grip row to upper chest
40kgs x 12,12,20

Assisted chins
3 x 10

Rope pressdowns ss 20kg KB swing
3 x 12

Machine shoulder press
light 2 x 20



Shut my brain off for squats and made it happen, was very tough tbh. Also popped the bar quite a bit off balance on my traps and killed my right wrist mid set which didn't help. 120 may not happen, to be real about the situation.
Light deads for some form work.
Pulled the rows from a kai greene video. If you watch the train with kai back video you'll see.
20kg KB is the heaviest in the gym

Kev M

Ham curls and abs warmup

Squat beltless
120kgs x 20.. Reps PR

Assisted chins
3 x 10 @ 7.5kgs

Bench
100kgs paused x 5,5

Hammer strength bench
100kgs x 12

DB preacher
3 x 12



That 15 - 20 range was defo the danger zone.
Now, I think it's about time to up the bench volume and work towards getting crushed by 160

Kev M

Lat pulldown ham curl warmup

Bench
100kgs x 10
110kgs x 8
100kgs x 10

Deadlift
130kgs x 10

Assisted parallel grip chins
@ 10 kgs x 10,10,10

Db rows
36kg db x 12,12

DB preachers
15kg db 3 x 12


Went well, had more in the tank on the bench but no spot so played safe.
Easy deads just building up and trying to get hard knees technique improved.

Kev M

Ham curls and abs

Deads beltless
130kgs x 10,10,10

Bench
85kgs x 10,10,10

Db row
30kg bell x 10,10,10

Parallel grip chins
An assortment of terrible reps



Kind of a deload sesh I guess

Kev M

Wide lat pulldown
Plate 13 x 12,12

Strict press 40kgs 7 x 10

Incline curls ss oh db ext
17.5s ss 30kg db 3 x 10

Abs



Haven't done proper wide grip lats in years, felt good.
Went for a fst7 style strict press routine, just as fast as I could, few breaths between sets then off again. 7 sets is key in fst7, it stretches the fascia and makes your muscles grow. 6 sets is not enough, and 8 is just too much. 7 is the scientifically perfect number. Because Phil Heath. You're supposed to do it with isolation exercises, so maybe I won't make any gains.
Gotta keep doing the arms and abs, that'll pay big dividends come summer, when I'm at work in my suit.

Kev M

Deads beltless
140kgs x 10,10

Bench
90kgs paused 5 x 5

Snatch grip upright row
30kgs 7 x 10

Pec dec
4 x 12

Abs



Still somewhat of a deload, working the bench back up.
Fst7'd the upright rows, felt good, almost did 8 sets but stopped myself because that would be too much, in fact you'd have to do another 3 sets for it to be gvt.. So 8 or 9 sets are no use, but at 7 or 10 there's gains to be had.
Great pec dec in this gym, one of those free motion ones, saves the shoulders and still allows the pump.
Will need to mix up the abs routine a bit now as the standard planks and crunches are getting easy.

Kev M

Parallel grip lat pulldown
Up to plate 14 x 12

Seated cable row
Up to plate 14 x 10

Db row
25kg db 3 x 12

Bench
95kgs paused 4 x 5

DB preachers
17.5 kg 3 x 10

Hammers
17.5kg x 12,12

Kev M

Squat beltless oly atg etc
110kgs x 10,10

Leg press
140,180,220,260 kgs x 12 standard squat stance, then 20 straight away super close high on board stance.

Leg ext
Plate 9 x 12,12

Seated calves
50kgs x 20,20

Standing calves
50kgs x 20,20



Squats felt godawful, but gave the lower back lots of work none the less ��.
Leg press was brutal. Had to hover my head over a bucket a few minutes after. You want to go up to a weight where 10-12 reps will be very tough with textbook deep form, then when you're about to fail put your feet together at the top of the board and pump out 20 shorter rom reps. My skinny legs need this carry on.
Was fried and couldn't manage anything on ext's or even really calves. Elite stuff.

Kev M

Was in bits this morning doms-wise, kinda knew that was coming, but had the time to train so did.

Abs warmup

Wide grip lat pulldown
Up to plate 14 x 12

Wide grip t bar rows
Up to 75kgs x 12

Seated cable row
Up to plate 14 x 12

Bench
Paused 100kgs about 6/7 triples



Bodybuilding the back kind of hit style throwing the last 1/2 reps and getting negatives, working up bench pauses. All good.

Kev M

Paused bench
87.5kgs 4 x 6

Pec dec
3 x 12+ negatives slow control feel the deep burn etc

Strict press
45kgs 7 x 10

Snatch grip upright row
32.5kgs 7 x 10

Tri pressdowns
4 x 12