[Clare]

Don’t be in a rush to push things. You say that your strength is still progressing, but you’re in a place of feeling pretty beat up. Take a few days complete rest, let your body chill out for a bit, get some walks in, get plenty of quality sleep and then get back to it. Your digestion and appetite will probably be in a better place following a rest, so see how your body responds afterwards and go from there.

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[Clare]

I would switch it to Pull, Push, Legs to give you a break between Pull and Legs.

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[Clare]

The post show phase does need some will power to control any urges to binge. Hunger hormones aren’t signalling as they should, so you will feel very hungry and not satisfied. However you do also need to get calories back up, so it’s a fine balance between eating enough, but not piling on unnecessary bodyfat because of overeating. My advice would be to get a structured diet plan set out with a calorie and macro target and stick to it, keep an eye on body composition, ride it out for a couple of weeks then assess whether adjustments need to be made and go from there.

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[Clare]

I don’t think there are any problems drinking tap water in the UK. You could arguably say that it’s better due to the microplastics found in bottled water. If you are at all concerned though, investing in a water filter jug might be a good idea.

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[Clare]

Feeling good today. Training legs yesterday hasn’t aggravated or increased any pain at all and I’m still getting better by the day. I reckon now it’s just a case of building the weights back up in the gym steadily and listening to my body. I’ll be avoiding deadlifts for a little while until I feel comfortable again.

I’ve already trained a couple of clients this morning and have a busy afternoon/evening of work ahead, so just checking in with you all now. I’m due to train upper tomorrow, so I’ll be back to following my plan and will let you all know how that goes.

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[Clare]

Good to see you here Stefan!

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[Clare]

If it’s happening towards the end of a hard set, then it’s simply a sign that your muscle is fatiguing and you’re nearing failure.

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[Clare]

I went to a Remembrance service at the Royal Marine camp this morning to pay my respects. Our family have been touched ourselves losing close friends, so it’s always important to us as a family to remember those who have fallen and sacrificed their lives both past and more recent x.

This afternoon I attempted a Leg workout. It’s been a week now since I trained legs and I needed to get some kind of pump going and lift some weight. I was sensible and only chose a few carefully selected exercises and focused more on volume and lower weights, but I’m really glad I went. After this morning, I needed a bit of me time and to release some emotions. Obviously no ground breaking pbs, but to be in the gym again felt SO good 🙂

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[Clare]

I think you answered your own question. You are getting to a point of progression and then you notice yourself getting softer, so pull back and end up regressing. You need to mentally accept that in order to progress significantly that your body composition is going to be affected and that you’re going to look softer. Switch your focus to the log book and away from the mirror and make it your mission to get stronger and improve your lifts. Give your body a chance to build some decent muscle before cutting too soon.

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[Clare]

@kevinstuetz @clare I can say with confidence I’m doing what I can to ensure optimal recovery. As far as frequency I’ve actually stretched bodyparts further away from each other to ensure in training a rested muscle (which hasn’t really been the case). I’m sore to the point where I’m extremely stiff up to 2-3 days after training that muscle and upwards to 4-5 days of muscle soreness. I’ve trained a sore muscle and it doesn’t seem logical for the long term

Take a week of complete rest off training

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[Clare]

Depends how sore the muscle is. If it’s tender to touch I wouldn’t be too concerned, but if you’re sore for several days to the point where daily tasks and moving around becomes an issue, then something needs to change. De-loading or taking a few days off the gym every now and then is extremely beneficial for anyone training hard and it sounds like a short break would do you good.

Other points to consider would be whether or not you’re progressing in the gym, whether your nutrition is adequate for your recovery or whether you need an increase in calories and do you use any supplements to help support your recovery.

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[Clare]

Well.. I went to the gym this morning, so I guess I lift again.. kinda! I’ve still got an aching in the base of my spine, but nothing like it was, so did an upper body workout, picking exercises that were comfortable and didn’t take anything to complete failure. I went lighter than I normally would as I’m obviously still very protective of what I’ve done and need to build myself back up again carefully. So today was focused on slow, controlled reps with extremely strict form, only using straight sets. All and all it was a good session and felt SO GOOD to feel weight in my hands again! ..and I walked away without any further damage or pain, so can’t complain 🙂

This is what I did:

Standing Bicep Cable curls 4 sets of 10-12
Lying cable cuff lateral raises 3 sets of 12-15
Shoulder Press Machine 2 sets of 8-10, 1 set of 15
Chest Press Machine 2 sets of 10-12
Cable Chest flyes 2 sets of 10-12
Tricep rope press down 2 sets of 10-12
Wide Lat Pull down 2 sets of 8-10, 1 set of 15
Close cable row 2 sets of 10-12
Rear delt cable reverse flyes 2 sets of 10-12

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[Clare]

I don’t count from green leafy veg, but I keep the amounts fairly consistent. I would certainly count carbs from beans, pulses and root vegetables though.

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[Clare]

I echo what Corinne has said. More protein on training days due to the inclusion of an intra workout drink. I would count the fats from whole eggs and fattier cuts of meat and fish, but not incidental fats from leaner meats such as turkey and chicken breast.

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[Clare]

I think the priority during an off season should be focused on your training and recovery, so if your cardio disrupts either of these, then I would rethink when and if you do any. It’s all very well wanting to do it for health reasons, but if it causes you unnecessary stress worrying about getting it in or your sleep is affected, is it worth it?

If your day to day life is quite sedentary, then it could be beneficial and if you’re going to do cardio in the evening, then I would always eat afterwards and try to get some downtime in before going to bed otherwise your sleep will be disrupted.

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