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 I'm quite proud of this back workout, I started off with deadlift.... and failed completely to achieve what I wanted. But I'm proud with myself for not giving up. I was hoping to do a few sets of 3reps on 200-220kg, but only just managed the same on 180kg. It may not sound like much, but from my perspective at the time it was terrible.  I tried several times to pull 200kg and it wasn't coming, and to add insult to injury, when I dropped back down to 180kg I only managed a single! Bombing out is always hard to handle. Especially as this has been the story of my deadlift for such a long time now. Only 2 years ago I did 20reps on 200kg in a single set! Perhaps now you can understand why I was upset - especially as I have no real answer, as to why? Yes I'm 30lb lighter than then - but I haven't lost any real strength on any other lift, so why just deadlifts? I walked out, angry and disappointed in myself, feeling like I'd been banging my head on a wall that just wo...

Roughly 3 weeks ago, I tested my strength on bench and I did really well. I did 155kg for a hard single and then tried 160kg, a brave attempt, but to be honest an absolute blowout. The bar touched the chest and then stayed there.  Since then I've done a couple of technical and specialised workouts, focused on building up my strength, especially at the mid point of the press, my weakspot. This part of the lift is where the front delts help the bar transition into the final lockout with the triceps. This hasn't always been a weak spot for me, and the reason it exists is because my cage is too narrow for me to place my hands as wide as I would like. As such, the shoulders are not able to distribute the weight as evenly as they would otherwise be able to, increasing the pressure they have to handle. It also increases the workload of the triceps.  So even though I have very strong front delts, being able to overhead seated press 145kg 320lb, I struggle more than I should. But a goo...

 #EverydayShouldBeLegDay Always happy when I'm squatting the bar. Last week was the first time handling heavy(ish) weights on squat, since I last peaked in strength roughly 10 months ago. It's always a shock at first, as even if the body has the strength, the shock of Weight on the structural parts of the body is still hard to overcome. As a result last week I only managed 1 rep on 200kg 400lb. However it doesn't take long for the body to be re-accustomed with its old iron friend. Today was the first major step in the right direction, with me managing to rep out 200kg for 6reps. This is good early heavy phase prep work - that will lay a good foundation for heavier work in 8-10weeks time. My hope was to do at most 3reps. So doubling that target was very encouraging, however it does mean next time I deffo need to put the weight up more, as ideally I should be doing sets of 3-4reps at the moment, with the idea of cutting the reps down to doubles and singles within a few weeks...

  Today's workout was biceps, which still remains a relatively novel thing for me, having gone the last ten or so years with probs a dozen arms workouts only to count. But becoming a regular occurance now, since I went back to training like a Bodybuilding roughly 6 months back. I still need to try and train arms a wee bit more regularly, but I'm averaging a workout once about every 2 weeks, so infinitely more than before when I was still powerlifting. Today my triceps are very much aching, from my shoulders workout 2 days ago, so just biceps today. Normally I like to open up with a heavier free weight based routine, such as EZ or olympic curls. Followed by preachers, but today I wanted to mix things up a bit. Variety is the spice of life. So I did some banded curls instead. This was a bit of an improvised routine as I don't have cables in my gym. But I love the feel of bands on movements like this. They dig in real deep into the muscle, and the pump is insane. I had no idea...

  And finally today was Leg day! My fave, and I opened up with abs and core work and then I did some leg extensions and leg curl to pre-exhaust my legs. When my legs started to get that wibbly wobbly feeling, I went onto squat. I have been doing sets of around 12reps for the last 6months, but as mentioned above, im now in my strength/heavy phase of training. So although i am still training for size and development, i am currently doing lower but heavier reps to prep for my pb attemlts in a couple of month. After that ill be back to higher volume work again. For today i started with First warming up on 150kg, then 180kg and finished my 1 rep sets with 200kg. My intention was to do 3 power reps on 200kg but it didn't feel comfortable, so I kept it as a single and moved on to the next part, of 3 HIT reps on 170kg. I was pleased with this set as I wasn't sure if I could do 3 reps under such control, but I felt like I had at least one more left in the tank. Obvs normally I train to ...

 .... more lat pull downs! Yesterdays back workout, I haven't been able to do as much as normal this last 6weeks or so because I had loads of dental wok (4 teeth out and 2 fillings) but all my treatment is over now so I should be more productive again soon. But as heavier work hurts my mouth (increase in pressure from straining) I decided to just do lat pull downs. This video is a bit on the repetive side but hopefully shows you the kind of work/volume I'm doing atm and the kind of HIT reps I'm doing from Mike Mentzer's teachings.

  So for those who don't know, I've been at the competive end of powerlifting/strongman for the last 10 or so years. Before that I was a (non competive) bodybuilder. I feel like I have achieved what I wanted in strength, I've got a couple of record lifts and trophies, but now that I'm getting older, the heavy weights are starting to wreck my body. I still have a passion for strength, but my dirty little secret love has always been Bodybuilding. I have no talent for it, hence why I went into powerlifting. But I enjoy it very much, and feel its more suited to my age and goals now - pursuing more health orientated goals. With that in mind I have now started to train more like my old Bodybuilding self. And I've started to shape up. I've been shaping up 6months now, with me beginning my Bodybuilding journey 3months prior to my wedding at the end of July. (Cuz everyone wants to look their best on the big day!) My peak size (my last comp) I weighed in at 308lb (22st) a...