[Adam Bishop]

Hi Ethan

There will probably be a short period of adjustment while you get used to training earlier but physiologically there will be no reason that your training will be affected.

Once you get into the rhythm of your new routine you’ll be fine.

I had a period of training at 05:00 before starting a busy period at work and I actually really enjoyed it. If anything I felt more mentally alert and focused as it was my first task of the day and I felt fresh. Get yourself warmed up effectively and crack on your session and you’ll love the early morning training

[Adam Bishop]

Rapid events session today. Dropped the volume as much as I could and just worked on quality single sets where possible.

Bag toss – 20/20/25/27/20/20/25/27 all over 4.5m barrier
Fingals finger – couple of flips on the heavy finger then a set of 5 on the light finger
Conans wheel – 5 plates per side for 3 and a half revolutions
Loading – anvil, sandbag and tyre over 18m

Conans wheel was great, 3.5 turns is where I. Red to be on this bit of kit as I know that matches up to 2 turns on the larger comp kit.

[Adam Bishop]

I prefer to pause my reps rather than go from a deadstop, as others have stated that way you can keep tension and hold position much better.

There will be times where I would choose a deadstop – a good morning off the pins or a seated pin press but if I were using a technique to standardise form on Classic bodybuilding movements I would go for a pause where I’m staying tight and locked in rather than resting the bar at the bottom of the movement for example.

[Adam Bishop]

Bit of a different session today. Lowerbody volume has dropped further and I needed to add in some technical work on the log as I adapt my pressing technique to help my tricep lockout.

The new technique felt much better today and I hit a much more comfortable 160 which has given me some confidence going into next week. Also included some SA banded landmine presses on the recommendation of my physio as we look to get my elbow used to the faster velocity lockouts.

Finished up with the usual paused reps on the leg press up to 600kg plate weight.

Log press – up to 160
SA banded landmine press – 5×3
Banded Paused Leg Press – up to 600×5

Also got a big big Costco shop in as I’m going to prep all my meals for the next 3 weeks and freeze them so I don’t have to think about it. A big weekend of cooking ahead!

[Adam Bishop]

Recovery day today with my soft tissue work and physio session.

The usual work on my back, quads and adductors for massage then we treated my tricep and hip.

Didn’t get to grind down the stone today as it was pissing it down and electric grinders and buffers and water do not mix! I should have a good weather window over the weekend so I can get the stone ready for Monday

[Adam Bishop]

No training to report today. Body is pretty beat up so thankfully my rest day came at the right time.

Got my medical forms all sorted and sent off to the WSM doctor for review. Blood work came back great as did my ecg and physical.

Need to get over to once again try and make my 180 stone more user friendly and re seal it tomorrow.

[Adam Bishop]

Super heavy couple of training days for me which all kicked off with pulls and stones on Monday:

Deadlift – 380×4
Atlas stones – runs of 100-160 then a set of 6 and a set of 10 with the 160kg stone.

Finally got to use some clean stones so I made the most of it. Loads of reps with the 160, so much so that I ended up lifting 4140kg worth of stones in the session.

This made my erectors a little tender for me press session today:

Log press – up to 163×1 then 2 ladders of 103/123/143
Incline log press – 153×3
Circus DB – 100×1 then some reps with the Thomas Inch
Finished with my usual tricep isolation work.

Slow progress on the log with a couple of technical tweaks to help my lockout a bit. Body and brain need a rest tomorrow

[Adam Bishop]

Deadstop Goodmornings could be an option. SSB would be more comfortable on these going off the pins.

As close as you can get to a SLDL but a little tougher to perform. Very undervalued movement IMO.

[Adam Bishop]

Another tricep session today:

DB Rolling Extensions
SA Cable Pressdowns
SA Seated DB Extensions
Banded TEEs

All felt good and definitely making my tricep feel a lot better. Also went for a long walk with the dogs in the afternoon.

Got a lot of logistics tomorrow moving a couple of stones to a new training base for a couple of weeks. Loading the 180 and 210 stones onto a pallet then into my truck so I can use them in a clean environment tomorrow. Heavy deadlift set to do first though…

[Adam Bishop]

Big old events session today. 5 events in total with some great progress on all events.

Bag toss – 3 sets of 18/20/20/22/25/25/27 over a 4.5m barrier
Fingals finger – light finger x5 heavy finger x2
Conans wheel – up to 5 plates per side for 3 revolutions
Loading – anvil, sandbag and tyre
Stones – up to 180 for a single then a run of 100/120/140/160

Stones are now causing issues with training as the dust is a big problem. Looking at training them elsewhere next week, I need a couple of heavy sessions on them before WSM.

[Adam Bishop]

Lower session at physique warehouse today. Started with the leg curls and extensions to warm my legs up before some heavy banded leg presses and I preferred it.

Leg Extensions – 3×12
Prone Leg Curls – 3×12
Banded Leg Press – worked up to 550 plus doubled heavy black bands for 5
Reverse hypers 3×12
Calf raise 3×12

Using a low, narrow stance on the leg press with a lot of accommodating resistance to give the greatest carry over to my deadlift.

[Adam Bishop]

Without physically assessing you it’s always difficult to give straight recommendations so here’s what I would do if I was in your position:

Wait 10 days before for a significant loading however keep the lag moving with little to no resistance to promote blood flow.

When you recommence loading start light and use pain as your marker – if it hurts don’t do it!

Move a lat dominant pull to before your RDL (once again light) to aid in the warm up. I actually like performing a 45deg band Pulldown with the band over a power rack as a prep exercise. I have a video on my YouTube titled How to Deadlift where I show this movement.

Forget about training to failure until you are happy your lat strength matches up left to right – unilateral movements either machine or free weight will give you a gauge on where you’re at.

Keep the process slow and consistent.

[Adam Bishop]

A proper diagnosis is key here especially if you can’t pin point a certain moment where you believe you sustained an injury.

If it is currently pain free I would scale back movements and go higher volume on various movements to see if you can get some activation out of it at least until you are able to see a medic

[Adam Bishop]

Some isolated tricep work today. All for a bit more volume so 2 build up sets followed by a work set of 8 then a drop set straight after:

DB Rolling Extensions
SA Cable Pressdowns
Seated SA overhead DB Extensions

Then finished up with some banded terminal elbow extensions for 3×15. Tricep felt really good after these which is promising.

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day.

Had some calls to do this morning before I got out for my walk with the dogs in the afternoon.

Tricep wise I used the compex and game ready on It today and that was it.

I’ll be loading it again tomorrow as I really need to sort this lockout so a change is needed.