[Rich Ellis]

Hi Mohammed,

Just for clarity, you’re not restricted on number of days you can train, but your training window itself is? Is that right?

[Rich Ellis]

And that’s a wrap. Looking forward to a few days off work now for some much needed recharge time.

Rested from the gym today, with a pull session on the cards for tomorrow

One meal left this evening and then it’s sleep time, but finally got myself sat down so a bit of relax and trying not to fall asleep yet!

[Rich Ellis]

Take the rest man. It’s not going to hurt you, it’s only going to help you.

If you’re recovering that well and don’t feel battered at all I would question your training execution and intent behind your reps. Are you training the muscle to failure ?

Thanks for the guidance, I found if I train very heavy, form is generally ok but still lacks after a couple of reps, plus my joints/tissue cannot take it. So what I found was I do 4 sets per exercise, first set is c. 8 reps at at a warm up weight, then 2nd set slightly heavier but 12 reps, then 2 more sets at a relatively heavy weight but…for sets 2 – 4, I concentrate on the tension and negative. I do this for every single exercise.

A prime example of this was last night – leg extensions – sets 3 and 4 – 12 reps, I failed at 8 to 9, took 5-8 second rest then pushed again to hit the magic 12 number.

So whilst I appreciate what Adam is saying, I know my body I am pushing sustainably, it’s like when I deadlift near 2x bodyweight, sometimes when I start to lift the bar, the body gives me the finger, this way I know not to push it unless I want to be a new youtube star of gym/hospital fails!

It is hard I have to say without a coach, but costs are just mental to be honest and therefore I am always learning and teaching myself, which honestly can be quite tricky!

[/quote]

You’ve got an enormous resource of information available to you here – both in the education section, and then with the ability to pose questions to the community.

I would highly recommend that you invest some time working through the videos on the education section around the full body, upper lower, and push pull legs videos.

Even if that’s not how you train at the moment, and may not be how you choose to train going forwards, it will massively help your understanding of programme construction and the relationship between frequency and volume.[/quote]

Appreciate it Rich, I have been and am doing so, completely in agreement 🙂

[/quote]
Great to hear mate 🙌🏻

[Rich Ellis]

Take the rest man. It’s not going to hurt you, it’s only going to help you.

If you’re recovering that well and don’t feel battered at all I would question your training execution and intent behind your reps. Are you training the muscle to failure ?

Thanks for the guidance, I found if I train very heavy, form is generally ok but still lacks after a couple of reps, plus my joints/tissue cannot take it. So what I found was I do 4 sets per exercise, first set is c. 8 reps at at a warm up weight, then 2nd set slightly heavier but 12 reps, then 2 more sets at a relatively heavy weight but…for sets 2 – 4, I concentrate on the tension and negative. I do this for every single exercise.

A prime example of this was last night – leg extensions – sets 3 and 4 – 12 reps, I failed at 8 to 9, took 5-8 second rest then pushed again to hit the magic 12 number.

So whilst I appreciate what Adam is saying, I know my body I am pushing sustainably, it’s like when I deadlift near 2x bodyweight, sometimes when I start to lift the bar, the body gives me the finger, this way I know not to push it unless I want to be a new youtube star of gym/hospital fails!

It is hard I have to say without a coach, but costs are just mental to be honest and therefore I am always learning and teaching myself, which honestly can be quite tricky!

[/quote]
You’ve got an enormous resource of information available to you here – both in the education section, and then with the ability to pose questions to the community.

I would highly recommend that you invest some time working through the videos on the education section around the full body, upper lower, and push pull legs videos.

Even if that’s not how you train at the moment, and may not be how you choose to train going forwards, it will massively help your understanding of programme construction and the relationship between frequency and volume.

[Rich Ellis]

Hi Dan,

Firstly, don’t beat yourself up too much about the rebound. You’re clearly self aware, so take some learnings and understand how you can better manage the post period next time out.

Re training, as the gang have said, you might find you benefit from the double rest day. As an alternative and something that I think will keep you well refreshed, a nuance on that might be UL R U R L R then back to start of sequence.

It might be that you feel the two consecutive rest days give you something extra, my personal preference would be staggering them, but a good opportunity now for you to try and gain some understanding of how you respond.

[Rich Ellis]

Push done and dusted.

Good one this evening, elbow almost completely there, no longer inhibiting work which is happy.

Resting tomorrow but food prep is sorted

One meal left tonight and then sleep. Very much ready for a few days rest from work.

[Rich Ellis]

I completely agree with Oscar. I think a lot of people get hung up on losing strength as soon as they’re in a deficit when in reality you should be able to continue progressing lifts and at the very least right at the back end of prep, maintain strength and performance. The worst thing you can do is tell yourself you WILL get weaker and you WILL regress.

Regardless of split.

I totally agree that if you were doing full body in a surplus, continue that on into this deficit and ensure you’re structuring everything around proper recovery and performance.

Totally agree with this from Maddy.

If you’re prepared to concede performance before you’ve tried to do anything, let alone everything, to keep it moving in the right direction, you’ve lost it already.

[Rich Ellis]

Another decent leg session this evening, moved back to flat soles for leg press which actually felt really good.

Just on with food prep and last meal, then sleep

Got push tomorrow which I’m hoping to keep edging forwards, particularly on the pressing work.

[Rich Ellis]

Hi Jack,

Agree with Chloe, it would be helpful to see everything you’re doing, but my immediate thought is that you’re losing the benefit of the medium frequency a PPL split brings by the way your rest days are set up.

If you like having the EoD training approach, a full body set up would work really well.

[Rich Ellis]

Hi Beni,

Presumably you’ve done a good bit of research into who your coach is, who they work with, how they work etc… before you opted to entrust them with your progress and health, and of course before handing over a chunk of money.

With the outcome to all of that being that you have chosen to go forward with the coach, give them a chance.

Similarly to Oscar, there might be nuances that I prefer, but I know that because I have tried things that make sense.

You’re very young, you have a long way to go, and that means you have a whole host of opportunities to try things that work well for you.

Have a relationship with your coach where you can ask questions and learn along the way. I’m sure he/she has a rationale for the programme set up.

[Rich Ellis]

Monday which means rest day.

It’s been a long but good day, home and food prep all sorted for tomorrow

Bodyweight was up 1kg, which is more what I was expecting

Leg session tomorrow 💪🏻

[Rich Ellis]

You can do 2-3 sets of a single bicep movement, or you can split the volume.

You will have opportunity to pick different movements across the session variations.

[Rich Ellis]

Yes, no problem.

Now you’ve made the switch, stick with them, execute well, steadily progress 🙌🏻

[Rich Ellis]

Upper done.

Trained in the other gym today which was decent, enjoyed having a few different options in there but most notably I think I have a press to spend some time on now – time will tell!

Weekend has flown by, but a short week ahead with BH Friday so ready to roll.

About to get my last meal, then sleep time.

Resting tomorrow, then on legs on Tuesday 🙌🏻

[Rich Ellis]

Ok, well it’s a preference. I don’t know what you normally train in. Oversized tee instead of hoodie, shorts instead of joggers, both big shifts from a thermoregulation perspective.

Even if you stay in the more insulated gym wear, you’ve got the hydration improvements to make