[Maddy]

Hello hello! So today did Infact end up being a rest day. I woke up still a little sore and tired. Also with some pretty funky migraine symptoms. For me this usually feels like I’m a bit detached and spaced out. Imagine you’re hungover and struggle a bit with coordination. To be fair I could have pushed through and trained but instead I took the day to rest and catch up with work. I’ve been on a very good run with my ongoing niggle/injury in my groin/adductor area so I’d rather not take any chances and just rest if needed!

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[Maddy]

Hiya Ryan,

I too agree with Ryan on this. I think it’s a great idea to remain training naturally for an extended period of time and get your variables in check. (food, stress/sleep, training and ultimately adherence) The use of testosterone (or anything for that matter) won’t necessarily facilitate the growth at the speed you may expect if these aren’t being met. If your foundations aren’t great, you’ll likely be dissapointed. It may also be an idea to switch your mindset around to be a little more performance and process orientated rather than just focusing on the outcome that you want to achieve. That ALWAYS makes any process more enjoyable (diet phase, or push up). Yes, it may take you a considerable amount of time to get back to where you were, but you’d be surprised what a solid plan and applied effort can do for a physique!

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[Maddy]

Hiya Tobi,

No one absolutely HAS to push up and gain muscle or diet and lose body fat. If you’re happy where you’re at with the amount of muscle you have on your frame then there’s no need to push up kcals. You can absolutely chill at maintenance and live your life! Same goes for body fat. If you’re happy with your look there’s no need to diet! If you’re looking to compete then that’s another story and you’ll most likely need to assess your physique and see what phase would be required to improve for whatever category you wish to compete in.

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[Maddy]

Hello hello!
Fairly busy day today, up early for a short walk then breakfast/pre and straight in for legs. Needed to be a fairly quick session as the rest of the day was to be focused around family. Unexpected workload came through today so feeling a little stressed. I rarely get doms let alone doms that stay for over two days. Hamstrings are still a touch sore from Wednesday’s session so focused this ‘full leg’ session mainly on quads and glutes again. In for hams and glutes tomorrow so depending on how recovered I feel, I may back off a touch or even rest and catch up with work. We shall see

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[Maddy]

Hello hello! Biggest check in day of the week ticked off! Today was a rest day so mainly check ins and laptop work. Standing up doing check ins makes a world of a difference for my back so feeling relatively fresh for tomorrow’s full leg day 👍🏼

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[Maddy]

Hi guys!

Another long day! Just finished watching the England match (waheeeey on to the finals) The usual morning routine and training analysis before going in for hams, glutes and delts. Had to make a few amendments due to availability in the gym. For some reason it’s been rammed for the past week. Subbed out RDLs (no available barbell) for Trap bar deficit RDLs – felt absolutely amazing. What a happy accident. I usually follow up with Good mornings on the Panatta Squat Machine however there seemed to be a queue for this, so instead of a good morning I grabbed a dumbbell and did single leg RDLs. It’s been a while since I’ve done this but again, felt amazing. Almost tempted to keep this in but we shall see. Followed up with hip thrusts, abductions, kickbacks, GHR, Calves, shoulder press, Lateral raises, rear delt fly and hanging leg raises. Job done. Popped round to see my lovely grandma (she’s soon to be 93!) and then back home to finish with a coaching call, boring admin and watch a bit of the match. Ready for bed!

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[Maddy]

Hi guys!

Today was a quiet but productive one! Up and out for a walk as usual (before the rain!) and then breakfast and work! Today’s a rest day so mainly focused around work and a lot of sitting! My back has been extremely tight today but has eased off loads just by prioritising standing and doing work over sitting (makeshift standing desk doing bits) in for hamstrings and glutes tomorrow with a lot of hinges so we’ll see how I manage!

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[Maddy]

Hiya Ben,

Peter makes a really good point! Doing things this way enables you to gather data as you bring your food up a touch between your weekend off and holiday. Again, Peter already mentioned it but If your main anxiety is around putting on unwanted body fat while on holiday, just know that you can always dip back into a diet after a relaxed 8 days and tidy up before reversing out. You can then have confidence moving into your reverse out and offseason, that you have a good runway to bring up kcals and improve. Drop us a message If you have any other questions!

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[Maddy]

Hello hello again,

It’s been a long Monday! Did the same routine as usual, up and out for a short walk and then breakfast and work. Then in for Quads, glutes and back. Today’s session was just fucking great. No pain, no discomfort. A part of me died somewhere in the gym doing the glute drive. Came away from this session feeling satisfied with my efforts and honestly ready for bed. Got back and got stuck into a bit of customer service work for MAD. and a short meeting. Then off to do a food shop and catch the end of the Rune vs Djokovic match. Now bed!

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[Maddy]

Hiya George,

I totally agree with Rhea! Usually if you see some people with drastic weight gain it can be because they’ve lost some control/routine with food after a diet phase and honestly that’s a whole other discussion! You’re right too though, increase kcals to get you out of a deficit and to your maintenance. From there do weekly check in pics with yourself so you can assess your visuals. Keep an eye on training performance too! From there you’ll be able to make further decisions on when to bump food up a little more or to keep it where it is. Drop us a message if you have any other questions!

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[Maddy]

Hello guys!

Had a lovely slow Sunday! Up early and out for a walk and then breakfast. Responded to clients and updated the rest of the programs I didn’t manage to finish yesterday as well as record voice over for some training videos for clients. Went out to central (London) for lunch and went to one of my absolute FAV sandwich places. Dal Fiorentino. (highly recommend) and then walked around for a couple hours people watching, having coffees and chilling! Back now and have started watching ‘Sprint’ on Netflix. When I was in school/college I used to love athletics and the 100m sprint. I absolutely love watching sport documentaries so we’ll see if this one’s good! Get me fired up for tomorrow’s Quad glute and back session 🔥

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[Maddy]

Heya Rich

I’m pretty much echoing what the guys above have mentioned! Loads of videos on YouTube from Jordan like this one https://youtu.be/ABArM5wqlLQ?si=GjPy30WV1gPzlMor And as Marc mentioned people have had discussions about full body splits in the forums so have a little scroll around but if you have any other specific questions about it let us know!

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[Maddy]

Hello hello! Had a lovely lie in today and faced a very busy gym session because of it. Defo worth the lie in. Hams and glutes today and it was pretty good. Hoping to look back at myself after a year and see some seriously improved hamstrings. Even if they’re slightly improved I’ll be happy!
Updated a few programs and I’ll do the rest tomorrow. Chilled for the rest of the day and had an off plan meal. This week was Dominoes purely because I haven’t had pizza for months! It was pretty good. Now, ready for bed!

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[Maddy]

Hiya Gonzalo,

For years I trained full body style training like Scott Stevenson’s fortitude training more so because I didn’t have time to be in the gym 5+ times a week. It’s a great and simple structure that can be suited to beginners OR people with lots of training experience. I absolutely loved it! I found it took a little time to adjust but as the guys above mentioned, as long as you know what you can recover from (this may take some time to figure out) I think it’s a really great setup. As you get into it you’ll also be able to optimise exercise selection too and see where a hinge may suit. In my experience you can absolutely make some solid progress to put on muscle but the key is to recover. For your Loading sessions e.g. Upper load and then lower pump, don’t be tempted to load up for the pump component! It’ll make the next Lower loading session feel wank and you’ll likely find it a little harder to progress movements in the long run. I think you should absolutely get stuck in! You don’t need to follow the strict template in fortitude either, have a look at your physique (or share pictures with us) and you can structure your movement order and exercise selection on what you want to improve on! Drop us a message If you have any more questions!

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[Maddy]

Hello hello again,
Today has been a fairly chill one, up and out for a short walk before breakfast and straight into work. Full leg session today and it was great. With my injury/niggle to my groin/adductor area I’m finding it pretty difficult to perform movements that require more pelvis stability. Today I tested that as things have been going pretty well! Gym was pretty busy and so I subbed in leg press for a bit of a challenge with the Panatta squat machine. Frankly… the ROM was wank, the machine pits out just before I hit parallel which is pretty shit but for now it’s probably to my benefit. Things felt fine! No pain more just very awkward feeling like I’m quarter squatting! Other than that the rest of the session was great and I left the gym feeling satisfied with my efforts. Ended up coming back and getting stuck back into work and lost track of time and so my meals were pushed back pretty late. Chilled in the evening playing god of war (still haven’t finished it) and now ready for bed! X

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