[Andy]

Another successful shoulder session ticked off, and the 2nd last session of the maintenance phase and this reverse phase from my show the start of June.

There’s not much to report on this one, except the slight jiggling of exercises as per the rotation that I use for this particular day.

Iso-lateral cuffed side raises – 2 working sets, 15-20

Read delt cable cuffed raises – 2 working sets, 15-20

HS PL shoulder press – 1 working set, 8-12

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>Close grip BB bench press – 1 working set, 8-12

Straight-bar tricep extensions – 1 working set, 12-15

Standing rope extensions – 3 working sets, 15-20

I was a bit pushed for time so I missed abs and I’ll make up for it at the weekend. There’s room for a touch more volume to that session, but not much is needed in my opinion.

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[Andy]

The first NTD of the week boxed off and luckily it was quite a quiet one. I’ve share a Labrador with my ex, so steps were a lot higher today, and they will be for the rest of the week, but that doesn’t bother me – unless it’s pissing it down.

I had another appointment with Ricky today to try and get the last bits of tightness out of my neck and side quad. I feel the side quad is down to an old tear in my hip tendon, and this is causing the region over the IT band to just continually tighten up. Needless to say, I actually think about giving up BB when he goes through it with the force he applies, it’s that bad.

I do feel really good though.

I feel my digestion has been a bit off for a while, and I’m very in tune with it. I had Hilly look at my setup years ago and I still implement everything he showed me back then. Gut health is something that is as the forefront of my mind/setup as I dealt with awful digestion for almost a decade, just assuming that’s how you’re supposed to feel on a BB diet – news flash you’re not!

I’ll cover some things I done to correct it in future blogs!

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[Andy]

Leg day complete, and it was another phenomenal one, that way where everything clicked.

Now, my hip/left quad is still giving me a bit of bother, to the point where I can’t BB squat yet, but I can still bang out a great session and push numbers.

I thought we’d add in the leg extension now before the squatting movement, so we did exactly that. We also moved the lying leg curl to after the leg press, I feel it allowed me to connect more with my glutes in the SM hip thrust, no idea why haha.

Leg extensions – 1 working set, 12-15 reps

Pendulum squat – 1 working set, 8-12 reps

Horizontal leg press – 1 working set, 12-15 reps

SM hip thrusts – 1 working set, 12-15 reps

Prime PL lying leg curl – 1 working set, 12-15 reps

EZ-bar walking lunges – 1 working set, longest distance in the gym

Seated calve raises – 3 working sets, 20 reps

A superb session all round!

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[Andy]

I’m really looking forward to this week as training took another step forward last week.

It’s taken a while to get the cogs to turn post-show to get the training back up to a position where I feel I’m going all out. Although, there was a deliberate scaling back of training intensity off the back of that prep.

Now though, I think I’m ready to blast up to 100% training.

The visual goals remain, and that’s to bring up my shoulders and chest to match my back and legs. Despite having shoulder surgery at the end of 2022, I was still able to progress both pretty well in the 2nd half of 2023.

Speaking of which, here’s today’s chest/shoulder/bicep session;

Seated cuffed cable flys – 1 working set, 12-15, 1 back-off set, 15-20

Incline DB press – 1 working set, 8-12

Prime close grip PL chest press – 1 working set, 8-12

SA cable side raises – 3 working sets, 15-20

SA cable rear raises – 2 working sets, 15-20

EZ-bar cable curls – 1 working set, 12-15

Standing Iso-lateral cable curls – 1 working set, 12-15

Decline crunches – 3 working sets

Have a great week guys!

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[Andy]

The excitement for this offseason/push is through the roof now! Having checked in today, Nick and I agreed to keep everything the same, there’s really no need to make changes when my body is staying this stable and predictable.

It was mentioned that I don’t go above 275, I personally feel this is a bit light for an offseason, however, we’ll see how things play out.

That number might have just been thrown around for perspective, but if Nick feels we can get the tissue we need then I’m happy!

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[Andy]

1st NTD down of a 3 day NTD stint

Thankfully my neck is starting to ease off, after being brutalised on Wednesday.

My neck was getting so bad that it was starting to give me migraines and headaches.

1 more week of this health phase and I want to be tip top and not broken, so thankfully things are feeing good

I’ll be sure to share my bloodwork when I get it next week!

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[Andy]

Just finished off this week’s back session and what a session it was! Chris and I have really bumped up the intensity, Chris even spewed which is not like him at all. There is a satisfying feeling when your training partner has to head to the bog after the session is done.

We’ve drizzled a little more volume into the mix;

Prime close grip lat pulldowns – 1 working set, 8-12 reps + forced reps

Conventional t-bar row – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Chest supported t-bar row – 1 working set, 8-12 + forced reps

SA DB rows – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Conventional deadlifts – 1 working set, 8-12

Shallow decline crunches

It’s amazing how little that looks on paper, but it was fantastic!

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[Andy]

For 45 minutes Ricky went through my neck. I don’t think I’ve ever had him focus on the 1 body part like that before, that was horrendous. However, I literally came away from it being able to move my head.

If anyone has watched my Youtube video, you’ll get an insight into how Ricky does things. There’s a reason every good bodybuilder in Glasgow/Glasgow area go to him. If you’re going to destroy yourself in the gym, do you really think a tickle is going to do the job of opening you up?

Anyway, let’s see how I feel after a decent nights’ sleep!

Back day tomorrow and the last day the training week!

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[Andy]

That’s been 3 days on the trot I’ve trained which I haven’t done in a while, but it was an excellent reminder why I don’t do that, I’m in the bin.

Shoulders was a great session, but my neck is still giving me grief so my pressing felt a bit off – it didn’t look it from the video I put on Instagram, but it definitely felt wonky as hell! Granted, putting 70kg DBs above your head is never really pleasant but the past 2 times I’ve done the 70s it’s been fine’ish

There’s still been no changes to the shoulder session, my volume is still quite low, but that will start to rise soon. The visual changes I’m seeing are definitely proof in the pudding that it’s working.

Blood work panel has been ordered, so time to see how things are looking before we push the first week of September.

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[Andy]

Hi Andy, not sure if you’ve covered it already but how do you warm up to get to those working sets, especially on legs?

Hi Mark, for compounds I’ll use a 6-4-1, so 6 reps with a light weight, 4 reps with a medium to heavy weight, and then I’ll do 1 rep sets until I’ve found the weight I’m comfortable with or if I’m testing a new weight to beat my logbook then I’ll try it with a single just see how it feels.

For isolation, it maybe 1 or 2 sets of 15-12 and then the working sets.

Hope this helped!

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[Andy]

Legs today as I’ve had to move my days forward due to a wedding on Friday.

Last week’s leg session was a good one, with minimal pain through my hip, and judging how it feels just walking around, I’m going to say that today’s should be a full flight session (touch wood).

Just going off the visuals from my check-in on Saturday, I’m really happy with the look of my legs and how well they’ve come up doing little work. I was some body who would do a mad amount of volume/intensifiers etc just to look as hardcore as possible, but over time, and moving into contest prep phases it just made my legs look worse, not better, maybe something for some of you to take away.

There’s no change to the setup today;

BB squats (if the hip isn’t quite there I’ll use the pendulum again) – 1 working set, 8-12 reps

Horizontal leg press – 1 working set, 12-15 reps

SM hip thrusts – 1 working set, 12-15 reps

Prime PL lying leg curl – 1 working set, 12-15 reps

EZ-bar walking lunges – 1 working set, longest distance in the gym

Seated calve raises – 3 working sets, 20 reps

Have a great week guys!

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[Andy]

So today was a training day. I don’t remember the last time I trained on a Sunday, you’re going back over 10 years I’d say, but I’ve got a wedding on Friday and it’s easier to get the sessions done a day early than try and train the morning of the wedding as I’ll get to 4pm and be ruined!

Say that, I only trained after 1 meal today which was nice as I wasn’t carrying around as much food in my gut.

Strength was excellent, nothing much in the way of logbook progression, but everything simply felt strong and rigid.

There’s only been a slight addition to the setup and that’s an additional set of cuffed cable flys;

Seated cuffed cable flys – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Incline DB press – 1 working set, 8-12

Prime flat PL press – 1 working set, 8-12

SA standing cable side raises – 3 working sets, 20

SA standing rear cable raise – 2 working sets, 20

Iso-lateral cable curls – 1 working set, 15-20

Standing EZ-bar cable curls – 1 working set, 15-20

Job done!

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[Andy]

I woke up today in bits, but a good kind of bits.

I checked in with Nick, and being 266 and a little bit rounded and fuller, I’m feeling a lot better about myself. We’ve both agreed that there’s no need to push BW like we have in the past, there’s just no need for me to do so. If I can add 3lbs a year I’d be happy, and there’s no need to get fat int he process to do that. I’m a changed man from the days I used to get fat as f*ck.

We’re keeping things exactly the same, there’s no need to push things just yet.

I’ve mentioned a few times that, I’ll be putting the PEDs back in September.

Yesterday’s back session was unreal, I think it was on par with peak training in offseason.

It’s coming!

Have a great

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[Andy]

Yesterday’s shoulder session was superb. I pressed the 70s again for 6 + 1, and then I done a back-off set, which is something I’ve not done in a while. I said to my training partner that I think it’s time to start pushing the volume up a bit now. The novelty of doing quick fire sessions and getting them done in 45 minutes has worn off now and I’m ready to actually feel like I’ve done something when I’ve left the gym.

I keep forgetting to film my sessions, as much as I’m trying to keep everyone updated, I’ll find myself already in the set, and I can’t find it in myself to reset and go again.

I’m going to add a bit more volume for back today, my back can take an absolute doo’ing.

So the session is going to look like this;

Close grip lat pulldown, 1 working set, 8-12

Conventional t-bar rows, 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Chest supported t-bar rows, 1 working set, 8-12

SA DB rows, 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Conventional deadlift, 1 working set, 8-12

It’s been a cracking week, so I’m looking to finish on a high!

Have a great weekend guys!

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[Andy]

Would be good to see some videos of your shoulder training mate. I want to know how you perform those rear delt cable cuffed raises

Hi Mark,

Below is a link to my YouTube, I also post my session regularly on Instagram

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF3SeHa9GDk&t=751s

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