[Ross]

Monday again, where are the weeks going!? 86.7kg this morning, two days on the trot below 87kg for the first time!

Got in from work at a decent time, few hours sleep, not great but sleeping between nights isn’t my thing. Pull day again, very good session with bags of energy, good pump and finished off with cardio and some posing before a mad dash to get out the door for nightshift.
Tomorrow, we leg day ?

[Ross]

There’s a shop in town here that does a lot of herbal medicines etc, the gent in there told my girlfriend that 5HTP is an anti depressant so once it wears off I guess there’s potential for it to have a negative effect on your mood/mental state

[Ross]

Slipknot’s newest album is good for heavy, angry days, as is some deep techno! I like a lot of rap and find the usual classics like Eminem, DMX, biggie and Tupac to be the best but recently I’ve pumped up some classical stuff during my top sets, mainly two from Vivaldi, one is in a bad ass scene from John Wick 3 and gets me so fucking pumped haha!

[Ross]

Going to post two days worth of logging in one here due to not posting yesterday, my bad!
Woke today at a new low of 86.6kg, still hanging to most of the remaining fat around my mid section/hips!
Last night’s push session was pretty decent, finding myself maybe not recovering as quickly between sets, had a good chest pump last night though, noticing the pumps to be a bit more intense as body weight drops.
Session went as follows;
3 sets cuffed upper flies
3 sets incline dumbbells
3 sets flat chest press
3 sets cable chest press
3 sets lying cuffed lat raises
3 sets smith machine shoulder press
3 sets of tricep extensions
3 sets single D handle tricep pull downs

Today was spent mainly in the sun! It’s not often we see it here in the north of Scotland so I’ve gone for the T-shirt tan this time round haha! Did the weekly food shop too and now I’m on nightshift! Tomorrow, we pull!

[Ross]

Weight; 87.1kg
Day shift number 2 of 3 this week, getting enough sleep is never easy after 12 hour shifts then training, eating and showering but I’m doing what I can!
Session last night was ok, hanging on to my numbers as much as I can while body weight drops, Ally reckons we’ve only 4 weeks, max, left in a deficit.
Last nights session;
3 sets of crucifix cuffed lat raise
3 sets of cuffed upper chest fly
3 sets of high incline smith press
2 sets of low incline dumbbell press
2 sets of pec dec
3 sets of cable tricep crossovers
3 sets of overhead cuffed tricep extensions
3 sets of cuffed lat raises

Posterior session later! RDLs are always the big lift I think about all week!

[Ross]

As above, I’d not even be stressing about the gym right now, I know when the gym is a massive part of your life it’s hard but I’d definitely be focussing on the huge thing happening this week and put all your positive energy into supporting your wife. Just maybe fit a workout in when and where you can but try and not stress over that, the sessions won’t be beneficial if you’re all worked up and stressed about it amongst the birth of your kid

[Ross]

I’m not sure a full membership is worth it for a maximum of 3 times a month but travelling for the environment, if it’s practical for you, is definitely worth it. We live two and a half hours from a good gym and about 5 hours from a very good gym with a good atmosphere so if and when we want to go train somewhere better than what we have on our doorstep we have to travel, you just have to weigh up whether or not it’s worth it for you personally

[Ross]

Thursday is the day I take my check in pics to send over to Ally tonight, weighed 97.5kg which gives about a 0.5kg loss for the week which isn’t terrible.
Day shift today, training push after work, already excited to try out my NaughtyBoy pump (no stims after mid day you see) and for cereal post workout ?

[Ross]

I honestly think I could eat mushrooms and courgettes every day from now until I die and not get sick of them

[Ross]

Happy midweek rest day! And boy do I need it today, my legs are smashed!! Did legs yesterday morning, studied after that, collected my boy from school and the rest of the day was pretty chilled, days off from work are so good.
Legs;
2 sets of adductors, added a couple of reps here
3 sets of lying ham curls, weight up
3 sets of seated quad extensions, added a rep here
2 sets of smith machine squats, 2 reps up here in my top set, it was a mega set, really took everything from me
3 sets of leg press, reps stayed the same here, I was genuinely wrecked after squats ?
2 sets of single leg ham curls, small weigh increase
3 sets of calves, weight up across all 3 sets

I finished off with 2 ab exercises, something I’ve neglected and not done enough of and that’s showing today from the muscle soreness!!
The only thing on the cards today is cardio after the school run, meal prep for my coming shifts then the europa league final at 8!

[Ross]

Both today and yesterday I weighed in at 87kg, weekly average is down 0.5 so far so we’re moving well! Ally wanted some midweek pics to see where we’re at, just need the fat around my hips/lower abs to do one and we’re good to go!

Yesterday was pull at the gym, not much progression in numbers but feel I’m moving the weight better and more accurately than ever, I’m excited for the gaining phase!

Yesterday’s session;
3 sets lat pull down
3 sets single arm machine row
2 sets single arm dumbbell row
2 sets cable row
3 sets machine rear delt
3 sets upper back cable row
3 sets of cable curls
2 sets of hammer dumbbell curls

Did my bicep work occluded yesterday, had missed that tight pump feeling!
Off to train legs now, one scoop of MVPre and we’re off!

[Ross]

I’m convinced I wasn’t born with calf muscles, I’ve given up all hope of them ever growing ?

[Ross]

Juggling the many challenging aspects of life can be difficult enough before you throw in the lifestyle that comes with being committed to the gym and bettering your physique.
I’ve got a kid under 10, a girlfriend, I work shifts, I’m studying to become a PT and am hoping to get on stage next year, I’m not saying my lifestyle is any more challenging to juggle than yours or anyone else’s but I’ve made a commitment to getting my physique in shape for competing, to better myself professionally and I also am fully committed to being a good father and partner so I understand that these are choices I’ve made. Every day I have to figure out how to get better at each one and some days that means making sacrifices so I get to bed on time or miss out on gaming time with the boys or don’t get to watch that thing in the tv or figuring out when is the best time to meal prep so I’m not behind on meals later in the week. If you want it, you’ll always figure out a way to make it work mate. Cooking in bulk if you’re leading a busy life is the way to go, I often plan my meals on a Sunday before we do the weekly food shop and some of them will be the same across the whole week, it’s easy and convenient.
Hope you manage figure it out!

[Ross]

Do you feel like you’ve got all you can out of your current split? How long have you been following it for?
If you’ve got all you can from it, it might be worth going to a push pull legs split with maybe an arm day thrown in?

Your back is clearly quite lean and it’s hard to tell, since you’re vacuuming, if you could lose a bit more from your midsection, do you have any relaxed photos?

[Ross]

New low this morning, 86.7kg.

Rest day, nailed it! Long lie for nightshift, food shop, watched the football and now I’m at work.
Worked out all my food for the week that I’ll prep tomorrow too, other than that it’s been quiet and uneventful, perfect Sunday