Andy
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I agree with Clare, try taking Unwind PWO so that is has it’s effects by the time you go to bed.
Also, are you basing how you good your sleep is purely from a sleep tracker, or is there any biofeedback added into your evaluation of your sleep? Do you feel rested in the morning, are you recovering well, is your training progress increasing?
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Last night’s chest dominant push was a great session, although I felt a few things suffered from being sat in a car for 4 hours, but it was still a good session with PBs in a few movements.
I haven’t seen my physio for 2 weeks, so my shoulders are feeling pretty tight and beat up, but nothing so extreme that it’s massively impairing me.
I mentioned a few blogs back that my strength was flying, and that it was climbing at a rate I’ve never seen before. . . well I think that’s starting to calm a little bit now, but the progression is still there, so that’s what matters.
Seated cuffed cable flys – 2x 8-12, 1x 12-15
Incline DB press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
HS incline PL chest press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
Standing cable flys – 1x 12-15
SA cable side raises – 3x 12-15
SA cable rear raises – 3x 12-15
High incline EZ-bar cable curls – 1x 12-15 (pyramiding up to the failure/working set)
Standing cable curls – 1x 12-15 (pyramiding up to the failure/working set)
Shallow decline sit-ups – 3 working sets, AMRAP
Legs today should be a great one, especially more so because I slept so well last night!
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I wouldn’t put definitive numbers on what is “best” week to week, month to month.
As the boys mentioned, visuals, BW, training performance are your 3 main progress markers. I, like Sas, feel and perform a bit better being a little bit softer, but over the years, I’ve kept things tighter and tighter, purely because the more muscle you have, the easier it is to stay leaner, plus, adherence tending to be better as you become more experienced.
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A great NTD wrapped here in Liverpool. I swapped out one of my meals for pancakes. It’s funny how mediocre off plan eating is in the offseason. I mean it was certainly better than turkey & rice, but when you’re packed to the rim, you don’t get the full enjoyment.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to another big week of training!
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As mentioned above, if you have a “lower” rep range of say 6-10, then using the same weight for that given exercise for a 2nd set probably isn’t feasible, dropping the weight and extending the range would allow for another set to failure to occur.
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A great session ticked off at Prophecy with my mates James and Fraser. It was only of those sessions where we just had a play around with kit we’ve not tried before, but as always it was a cracking session.
We stuck to the same structure of split, pulldown > lat bias row > upper back bias row > row > upper back bias row
I also got a look at James prior to ending his offseason. He’s away to step into the super heavies/class 1s for the first time and he’s looking insane!
A great day out with the team!
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I like to use a 1ml insulin pin and pin my weekly doses across Monday-Friday. I think I speak for everyone, but I fucking hate pining, so 2 days off at the weekend gives me a break – more mentally than anything else.
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A very hectic day wrapped up, with a morning full of 1-2-1 PT and then driving down to Liverpool to spend the weekend with the Mrs, and to also catch up with a few mates at Prophecy for a back session.
I checked in with Nick today, I’ve not heard back from him yet, but my weight has dipped by a pound, certainly nothing to worry about or feel the need to compensate. I’m delighted with my look – I’ll put some of my check-in shots up with my stories on Monday.
I would like to push the envelope with PEDs, but I think that’s just the “more is better” part of my personality that’s wanting me to do that, there is no need just now in my opinion.
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There are numerous strategies to finding where you should place NTD calories, and considerations around your NEAT on NTD compared to training days as well.
I’ve found a 750-500cal difference peak push is ample for my recovery, but also to keep my appetite in a semi-decent spot on the NTD without training. Some may decide to keep their NTD calories lower to keep the over weekly surplus lower, some may decide to have the TD calories more in line with NTD as some can see appetite dips from a training stimulus.
Moving through a prep or a contest prep I prefer to eventually get to a point where both the TD and NTD are the same, where recovery starts to wavier and pulling more and more from the NTD just isn’t feasible.
Your idea of pushing TD up until food volume too high is another strategy, but to keep appetite in a good spot, I think having a decent difference of say 500cals and then increasing both days by 150cals is maybe a better approach.
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A superb shoulder day logged today, I was really happy with the outcome of the session. Usually when I do mobility work the day before a push session, my numbers are slightly impacted, but today that didn’t happen. I also forgot to wrap up in the shoulder press, but I was too far gone in the set to go back and put the wraps on.
I’ve started taking MK677 just to push my appetite along a bit more, and it’s working brilliantly. I’m not using this as a stepping stone for more food, but to simply handle current levels a bit better. I’ll then remove it when my health phase starts.
Standing iso-lateral cuffed raises – 2 working sets, 12-15
Cuffed cable rear delt raises – 3 working sets, 15-20
High incline DB shoulder press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15
HS flat PL chest press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15
Behind the back cuffed cable side raises – 3 working sets, 12-15
Straight-bar cable triceps extensions – 1 working set, 12-15
Bent over rope triceps extensions – 3 working set, 12-15
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A busy NTD planned, but thankfully a massage from Ricky is included in that schedule, which is very much needed.
Recently, my Thursday push sessions have had a bit more chest focus to them, whereas before it was all shoulders. I’m seeing the positive change look/logbook wise, but my rotators have taken a bit of a beating, so it will be good to get them freed off.
I do 2 free weight presses per week, the rest being shoulders, so that does give me some rest bite.
The good thing about when I travel to Liverpool is that I get a NTD either side of my second push (due to training my last session on a Saturday) which is what I used to do years ago in order to give my shoulders as much recovery as possible, and that worked really well!
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The top number is your systolic BP which is the pressure your blood has on your artery walls during a heart beat, the lower number is the same, but when your heart is at rest.
Those readings aren’t bad at all, but like Nath said, try taking your readings first thing in the morning, I find those are the most accurate.
Sometimes it’s good to spot trends, so taking your BP throughout the week and seeing how external influences (that Nath also mentioned) impact your BP through the week.
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Legs complete today!
That was a frustrating one in the beginning as I just wanted to get the session going. I finished PT at 1:30 and it wasn’t until 2:15 we started, I then had to wait on almost every machine as well. However, it still proved a good one as the frustrations clearly provided the fuel to push on.
Prime PL lying leg curls – 1x 12-15 + a triple drop set
Prime PL leg extensions – 1x 12-15 + Tuor rest pause (I’ve outlined this in previous leg sessions)
HS horizontal leg press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
Pendulum squat – 1x 8-12
Cybex seated leg curls – 1x 12-15, 1x 15-20
Seated calve raises – 3x 20
Decline sit-ups – 3x AMRAP
Everything was up again, either in reps or weight, so that was class!
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Am excellent start to the week with chest at Future!
Last week I was down at the Shed, so I used a few different machines compared to my usual setup, but that only impacted the 1 exercise/machine. That tends to be the case with me, is that I will drop an pushing exercise for a week and I’ll then lose a handful of reps. That never really happens for lower or pull work.
Seated cuffed cable flys – 2x 8-12, 1x 12-15
Incline DB press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
HS incline PL chest press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
Standing cable flys – 1x 12-15
SA cable side raises – 3x 12-15
SA cable rear raises – 3x 12-15
High incline EZ-bar cable curls – 1x 12-15 (pyramiding up to the failure/working set)
Standing cable curls – 1x 12-15 (pyramiding up to the failure/working set)
Shallow decline sit-ups – 3 working sets, AMRAP
Every single exercise increased in some fashion, except the HS PL press, that dropped by 1 rep due to missing 1 week on it.
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A superb back day signed off yesterday! It’s the first time in a good while I’ve touched over 6 pps on deadlifts, granted it was on a 5kg plate per side on top, but I’m pretty delighted with that.
Every other lift seemed to either go up, or just feel more in control.
I’m back to DB rowing the 100s for 15 reps for 2 sets, it’s more my breathing that stops me getting more. If I could find a gym with 110s or even 120s Id’ seriously consider it.
I checked in with Nick yesterday at a new high of 292.8, so back into the 290 territory. We don’t have a weight goal, but a part of me thinks I’ll get to 300lbs without needing to add much else in the way of stimulus, but on the flip side of that, I really don’t care about reaching “X” weight.
I’ve got another insanely busy week of training coming up, along with another trip to Liverpool to see my other half.
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