Magical Monday.

Genuinely unsure what was magical about it, other than the alliteration.  And probably the fact that I didn't kill anyone at work.

Anyway - this was a big bench press session for me.  I'm into PB territory every time that I put weight on the bar, which is pleasing to say the least.

So...

• Bench press - 10 @ 60kg, 4 x 5 @ 105kg
• Close grip pulldown - 10 @ 60kg, 4 x 5 @ 85kg
• Cable pectoral flye - 10 @ 20kg, 4 x 5 @ 40kg
• Dips - 1 x 10 then my left tricep conked out and was on the verge of injury
• Rowing machine - 2km in 7:58.4 - a new PB
• Treadmill - 2km in 15:32

I was pleased to shift the 2 plates + 2.5kg each side.  I got that going and had to have a little bit of spotter assistance on the last couple of reps of the last sets.  So I'm not moving the weight up just yet.  I want at least 3 clean sets before I go to 110kg.

The dips disappointed me, but after the bench press, I found it difficult to do anything with my left arm.

Stupidly, we thought CV was a good idea.  So I attempted to beat a mate's 2k row time (around 7:40), but after 4 days hard training, my body wouldn't let me do anything other than beat my old PB by 1.5 seconds.  I was on the pace for the first km and just faded away.  Then I went for a bit of a plod on the treadmill - they're boring bastards, aren't they!

Squidgy Saturday

Saturday!   Leg day.  Legs shouldn't be ignored as either a rugby player, a weight trainer or any other kind of sportist.  You recruit more muscle fibres in your legs, you promote good posture through leg exercises.  It's important.  So, as I've not done a properly thorough leg session in quite some time, I thought I really ought to give it a go.

So...

• Squat - 20 x bodyweight, 20 @ 10kg, 20 @ 15kg, 2 x 20 @ 20kg
• Hamstring curl - 10 @ 40kg, 4 x 5 @ 56kg
• Calf raise - 10 @ 80kg, 4 x 5 @ 100kg
• Knee extension - 10 @ 35kg, 4 x 5 @ 45kg
• Leg press - 10 @ 180kg, 4 x 5 @ 220kg

Due to the long-standing knee injury, I used some weird shin trapping thing for my squats, the weights are weird, but they encourage you to sit back into the squat.

The rest of the session went well.  Knee extension was low weight because I did it single leg to avoid overcompensating with the good leg as I'm keen to avoid any imbalance.

Fantabulous Friday

After a good couple of 'rest' days, I was ready for another gym session.  By rest, I mean tip-toeing around the training pitch at rugby (it's slippery and I'm regaining confidence that my knee won't explode on a change of direction).  I was reasonably achy after that, but in a good way.  I like strength training.  But I love rugby training.  Running, at pace.  Beating an opposition with a perfectly timed and weighted pass.  Taking a good running line and cutting through defence.  Taking contact and winning the physical encounter.  For me, all greater thrills than pushing weight.  But... pushing weight makes me better at the above.

So... in my excitement to make myself better at running into/past people, I totally forget that it should have been a shoulder workout and I plough straight into my bench press session.

• Bench press - 10 @ 60kg, 4 x 5 @ 100kg
• Seated row - 10 @ 50kg, 4 x 5 @ 85kg
• Cable flye - 10 @ 30kg, 4 x 5 @ 40kg
• Incline bench press - 10 @ 60kg, 4 x 5 @ 70kg

My biggest ever bench press was 100kg for 3 x 5 and my spotter had to step in on the last couple of reps.  This was an improvement by 1 set AND there was no need for spotter intervention.  I was enormously pleased with this - just having an extra plate meant so much and helps prove to myself that I'm on the right track with my training - changing it up a little and going back.

Seated row was fairly standard and I'm still careful about my back.

Cable flye was up a weight and felt good.

Incline bench press was a change from the last bench session where I did narrow-grip, just to work the chest ever so slightly differently.


Overall a pleasing session and I celebrated with a jerk chicken pizza!  Nomalicious!

Tooting Tuesday...

So, the training continues with some bigger weights for lower reps.  It's all about power and strength.  Knickers to looks/bulking/whatever.  I quite simply want to get more weight pressed in the gym.  The rest will follow.

Tuesdays, over the last few weeks have been a little busy.  I have an hour's physio, followed by a gym session.  Physio is getting there and I'm sure that I'll get some more stability back in my knee.

So, on to the gym.  Tonight happens to be bench press night.  So...

• Bench press - 10 @ 60kg, 4 x 5 @ 95kg
• Narrow grip pulldown - 10 @ 60kg, 4 x 5 @ 80kg
• Cable flye - 10 @ 25kg, 4 x 5 @ 35kg
• Narrow grip bench press - 10 @ 50kg, 4 x 5 @ 70kg

Bench press was comfortable and I think I could have had a couple more reps out, but, the sessions will get a hell of a lot harder over the next few weeks, so it was pleasing to be just 5kg off 2 plates for 5 reps (4 times, too).

In fact, all of the weights were bordering on comfortable/easy, as per last night.  But, the sessions will get very difficult in the coming weeks, so it's important to have a couple of sessions that are slightly lighter weight and really concentrate on nailing the form.

Wednesday is a rest day.  Thursday there's half a possibility of a leg session in the morning.  I return to the shoulder session on Friday, followed by a bench press session on Saturday morning.  So far, it's looking like a good training week!

Another change to training...

I've decided that, I've had a good month to six weeks doing higher reps with lower weights.  Now it's time to flip that on it's head again and get some bigger weights pushed.

So, each exercise will be done as follows: 10 reps at a lower weight as a warm up and to rehearse the movement.  4 sets of 5 reps, aiming for the last set to be breaking form on the last rep.

Tonight's session was shoulders as that naturally followed from the bench press session on Saturday.

• Seated shoulder press - 10 @ 40kg, 4 x 5 @ 50kg
• Seated dumbbell curl - 10 @ 35lb, 4 x 5 @ 45lb
• Side dumbbell raise - 10 @ 25lb, 4 x 5 @ 30lb
• Deadlift - 10 @ 60kg, 4 x 5 @ 100kg
• Static bike 5k - 8:38

The aims for this session were to get a feel for a good range of motion on the shoulder press.  Recently, I've noticed that my form on the heavier weight was poor - I wasn't getting as low with the bar, therefore not recruiting as much muscle fibre.  So I concentrated on making sure that the bar touched the bottom of my neck before pressing the weight up.

Dumbbell curl was OK - fairly standard and will improve in the coming weeks.

Lateral raise was a range-finder as I can't remember the last time that I used this exercise, I think I can go heavier next week without much issue.

Deadlift was OK, bearing in mind that I hurt my back the other week.  I'll make sure that I take the progression easy.

Static bike - I have a new aim.  I need to knock 19 seconds off the time in the next 3 weeks, so this was a good benchmark.

Overall, this was my most enjoyable training session in some time.  Tomorrow is bench press day, so I'll look forward to that under the new set/rep protocol.