[Sam King]

Morning morning

Last night was a horrendous night of sleep. Bed at 7:30 and woke up at 11:30 where I kept drifting in and out of sleep. In the end, got up around 1 and went for a stroll. The OH woke up and thought I was visiting my fancy lady or something haha. Got back and laid in bed for a bit, then got up half an hour before my alarm. Noticed on my walk the moon was bright as fook so maybe I’m sensitive to the lunar cycle? Do notice once a month I have an iffy night. If that’s the case, I’ll down a whole pot of JP’s Dream Sleep. That’ll do it ?

Fantastic leg session on Tuesday. Very, very happy with how everything felt. Main highlights:

Adductor: stack + 30kg x 14, 40kg x 10
Banded Gym shop leg press: 280kg x 13, 300kg x 9, 310kg x 7
Banded hack: 85kg x 18
Nautilus glute drive: 200kg x 8, 170kg x 14
Back extension: 2 x 24kg dbs x 16

Boy, oh boy are those quads working. Good to finally connect properly with them again. Even the worst hack squat in the world was alright.

So, check in day and sent over to the boss. Will await her feedback and go from there. I’m pretty happy with it this week and composition is a big step up from last week.

Anywho, push today and the saga for the 9th rep on the 50kg incline dB press continues…

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[Sam King]

Hey bud. There are no ‘you must’ splits. Everyone has their own goals, preferences and circumstances. It all depends on what you want. Can you specify what you’re looking for I.e. specific rest days like weekend, how many days you can train, time spent in the gym, level of experience, goals? Just makes it easier to roughly gauge.

I’m sure there are several resources in the Education section that will help you to find your ideal setup as well.

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[Sam King]

Not familiar with that model. Had a quick Google search and if it’s the one I saw it looks okayish. What’s the question for? Are you thinking of buying it or is it a piece in your gym you’re unsure of?

Now if you said what do you think of the Watson hack squat, well ??

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[Sam King]

Oscar’s nailed it and you’d be surprised how many people say they’re doing an RDL, but it’s a stiff legged variation or even a Dorian style.

Some would say the only difference is that SLDLs start and end from the floor, whereas RDLs stop at shin level which isn’t true. I’ve seen some incredible range of motions for RDLs with people on benches and the bar would go through the floor if on a standard flat surface. So that’s way past the shin level. I know Kuba was a big fan of RDLs from the floor as well recently.

Try both and you’ll soon feel the difference.

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[Sam King]

what’s your workout split?

Hey @sungmuki . Not even a hello? Usually like to be wined, dined and smoozed a little. Clearly skipping the foreplay and getting to the main event ?

Current split is push, pull,off,legs, off, repeat. Generally works out at 4 days training across a calendar week with every 6th week having 5 sessions.

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[Sam King]

Very motivating Sam, in my own off season for 2022 UKDFBA Scottish so will be stealing tips. Great work buddy ?

@mac1969 thanks for the kind feedback. Sounds great mate. Is this your first show or you a war torn veteran of the stage?

Hah, we all magpie in the world of bodybuilding. Part and parcel of the learning process

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[Sam King]

Absolutely unreal pull session the other day. Went in humouring myself that I could do the double paused SLDL with 180kg. The internal monologue throughout was a mixture of ‘patience Sam – softly, softly it will come’ versus just frickin do it if you’re feeling it’. As the warmups went on, everything was falling into place with adductors and a circuit of deadlift specific warm ups (abductors, ham curls, straight arm pulldown – all light to get the blood in and prime the big movers). By the time it was SLDL time I gathered up 8 20kg plates. Once I collect the plates and pop them by the platform, I’ve committed to the weight – the contract has been signed so to speak.

Warm ups felt nice and fluid. Lats held tight, glutes squeezed throughout, grip trying to rip the bar, core tight – everything was there. Last warmup with 160kg was nearly a disaster as forgot to load a 10kg plate on one side ? actually got it off the floor lopsided but it was apparent it was wrong. I argue that is more representative of a real world lift where the load is uneven… nah, can’t justify it. I was just being stoopid and rushing ?

180kg loaded on the bar, Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Hail to the King’ blaring from the speakers – it was time. First rep flew up, 2nd, 3rd, 4th – what’s going on!? I expected a few potentially. It came to rep 5 and it was extremely smooth. There was no hitching, no real breakdown of form and it actually looked better than my set of 7 with 173.5kg for 7 ten days ago.

Was absolutely destroyed after that set and completely dumbfounded. One of my training targets ticked off already. However, it quickly dawned on me that ‘shite, I have set a new benchmark and have to crush it in ten days ?’. That’s future Sam’s problem. Following set was 165kg for 9 so a 1.5kg increase and a rep gained. Love the double progression on a set with reps and weights increasing. Equally losing weight and reps is the ultimate backhander.

Rest of the session was on the money and everything fell into place. Very happy with pull sessions currently. It’s weird as although I don’t really get DOMS the following days, I get it during and after the workout for the rest of the day. Whole back feels pumped, it’s quite surreal.

Legs on the cards this morning and revisiting the banded leg press. Let’s see what happens!!

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[Sam King]

Had a great session yesterday. Clearly that different mindset worked, but I also took my time with the warm ups. Not that I rush them to get to the good stuff, just I don’t always connect mentally or physically. Just feels like a necessary box to tick but treating each warm up like a working set feels different. While not as intense as a working set, for obvious reasons, everything else is similar – hands in the spacing I require, brace hard, proper execution and smooth tempo. I guess you could compare it to a batter warming up their swings before the big game or a concert pianist practicing their scales before open night. They’re not exciting in the slightest, but these professionals know it’s necessary to mentally and physically warm up before the real work can flourish.

So yesterday’s session as follows:

Pec Dec: 15plates x 9, 15plates x 12. First set has a 2 sec pause at the peak. Great connection with this now and almost stacked it ?

Hammer Strength flat press: 160kg x 5, 140kg x 8. Finally getting closer to where it should be.

High incline Hammer press: 107.5kg x 5, 95kg x 7. Bad connection with this today , but still happy overall. Just waiting on the new Prime shoulder press to come in.

Close grip bench: 101.5kg x 6, 81.5kg x 14. Good stuff, but notice the set starts off very strong but suddenly disappears near the end. Most do find that with at least one exercise but it’s weird nonetheless.

Seated cable flye: 1x RP. An ok set but think the cable setup was slightly off.

Then the usual fluffy stuff to follow.
EZ press down
Overhead single arm cable extension
Arsenal side raise
Facing out cable side raise
Standing cable crunch

As much as I hate push, I enjoyed this session haha. Knew reading and writing my previous post would trigger something. Maybe along the lines of ‘oh yeah, that’s what you think? Well, f you – I’ll show you.’ Thank you stubborn brain, don’t ever change.

Ok, so check in. Weight is still around the same as it has been the last few weeks. I’m a bit miffed but Corinne is happy and as usual, reminds me weight is not the only factor. Not that I’m fixated to the scale or that there are other barometers of progress. However, when food is going down week by week I thought I’d see a tinsy drop. Anywho, Corinne’s the boss and I’m happy after we talked it through.

New diet as follows

Training Day – Legs
Pre workout – 50g whey, 70g ground rice, 70g blueberries,
Intra workout – 40g EAAs, 5g creatine, 50 HBCD
Post workout – 225g chicken, 2 wrap and 70g rice based cereal
Meal 3 – 200g extra lean beef, 300g white potato, 100g pineapple
Meal 4 – 200g chicken, 50g rice, 5g evoo
Meal 5 – 1 whole egg, 200g white fish, 25g sunflower seeds,100g orange
Meal 6 – 30g whey, 300g fat free Greek yoghurt, 20g almond butter, 20g pumpkin seeds

Training Day – Push and Pull
Pre workout – 50g whey, 60g ground rice, 70g blueberries
Intra workout – 40g JP EAAs, 5g creatine, 40G HBCD
Post workout – 225g chicken, 2 wrap/pitta bread and 50g rice based cereal
Meal 3 – 200g extra lean beef, 200g white potato, 100g pineapple, 5g hemp seed oil
Meal 4 – 200g chicken, 40g rice, 5g evoo
Meal 5 – 1 whole egg, 200g white fish, 25g sunflower seeds, 100g orange
Meal 6 – 30g whey, 300g fat free Greek yoghurt, 20g almond butter, 20g pumpkin seeds

Non training day
Meal 1 – 2 whole eggs, 6 egg whites, 15g whey, 20g walnuts
Meal 2 – 200g extra lean beef, 5 rice cakes, 200g pineapple
Meal 3 – 200g chicken, 40g cheddar, 1 wrap, 1 orange
Meal 4 – 240g white fish, 40g rice, 5g hemp seed oil
Meal 5 – 200g chicken, 100g sweet potato, 100g white potato, 20g walnuts
Meal 6 – 50g whey, 50g oats, 45g banana, 40g blueberries, 10g pumpkin seeds

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[Sam King]

Another week, another British pound… actually, not sure if the dollar’s doing better ? busy week at work and same with training as this week is seeing 5 days. Just how the split falls sometimes, believe it’s every 6 weeks or so but usually averages 4 days.

Last couple of sessions have been pretty good. The last pull session I managed 192.5kg for 6 on the paused RDL and 182.5kg for 8 on the standard execution. Those sets absolutely total me and I’m pretty much useless for 5-10 mins after. Always find the warm ups far more difficult than the first set. Get to 180kg and do 1 as the last warm up. After that I’m like ‘fack, that was hard and I’m about to do more weight and reps.’ However once I’m strapped in and set the music (Killswitch Engage, Avenged Sevenfold or Amity Affliction) it’s go time. That 200kg RDL is within sniffing distance but just need to carry on working up to it and not get carried away. Rest of the session was on the money as well.

Leg session was a good one for the books. Graduated to a single purple band on the reverse hack. The green just felt like it helped slightly too much. Literally just need the band to help out during the sticking point and keep the reps smooth throughout. Sets as follows:
150kg x 11
160kg x 6
145kg x 12
Felt fantastic and no niggles in the knee this time, so no complaints. Upright leg press saw 150kg for 22 reps and one sweaty mess of a man after. That first rep is disgusting. How many exercises do you start a movement in the bottom position? It’s like starting your first rep on the bench press from your chest or the squat from in the hole. Another exercises were solidly progressed as well.

Push session shortly and it’s time to revisit the flat hammer press. Out of all the sessions, I don’t like push and pressing the most. Just never been a fan of it, not sure why but just never developed that attachment to pressing exercises. Just need to make sure that I still give these sessions the attention they need, maybe consciously more to ensure progression. Personally just find push exercises hard to progress and sometimes go in with that defeatist attitude so I’ve lost before I’ve even touched a weight. Trying to develop a different mindset for these sessions.

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[Sam King]

Morning morning or whatever you’d like to refer to this time as,

Absolutely shattered and definitely going to be a tired week that’s for sure. Couldn’t of come at a worse time as 5 training sessions this week, extremely busy at work and this coming weekend. No complaints here, just acknowledgement but most is down to choice which I remind myself of.

Yesterday’s session was push and not my favourite rotation. Tbh I’ve always hated push as long arms and a shallow ribcage do not make a good presser. We press on regardless. Kicked off with a cable flye for a couple of sets to get the chest firing. Followed with the standard 50kg incline db press for 8.5 reps followed by a backoff of 45kg for 9. Definitely wish I had access to some 52s. but the next jump is 55kg and then 60kg. Waaayyy too much for a jump and with the stabilisation factored in. Tried ducktaping some 0.5kg plates to each side but they just fall off eventually as they don’t stick properly. Not ideal when these are hovering over your eyeline. Incline hammer press saw 143.5kg for 6 and 127.5kg for 9. Again, nothing major but up on last week. Last compound was dips with 51.25kg for 6 and 31.25kg for 13. Delightful stuff.

So current diet is as follows:

Training Day – Legs

Pre workout – 50g whey, 70g ground rice, 70g blueberries, 10g sunflower seeds

Intra workout – 40g EAAs, 5g creatine, 50 HBCD

Post workout – 225g chicken, 2 wrap and 70g rice based cereal

Meal 3 – 200g extra lean beef, 300g white potato, 100g pineapple, 5g hemp seed oil

Meal 4 – 200g chicken, 50g rice, 8g evoo

Meal 5 – 1 whole egg, 200g white fish, 35g sunflower seeds, 3 rice cakes, 100g orange

Meal 6 – 30g whey, 300g fat free Greek yoghurt, 30g almond butter, 20g pumpkin seeds

Training Day – Push and Pull

Pre workout – 50g whey, 60g ground rice, 70g blueberries, 10g sunflower seeds

Intra workout – 40g JP EAAs, 5g creatine, 40G HBCD

Post workout – 225g chicken, 2 wrap/pitta bread and 50g rice based cereal

Meal 3 – 200g extra lean beef, 200g white potato, 100g pineapple, 5g hemp seed oil

Meal 4 – 200g chicken, 40g rice, 8g evoo

Meal 5 – 1 whole egg, 200g white fish, 35g sunflower seeds, 100g orange

Meal 6 – 30g whey, 300g fat free Greek yoghurt, 30g almond butter, 20g pumpkin seeds

Non training day

Meal 1 – 2 whole eggs, 6 egg whites, 15g whey, 20g walnuts

Meal 2 – 200g extra lean beef, 5 rice cakes, 200g pineapple

Meal 3 – 200g chicken, 40g cheddar, 2 wraps

Meal 4 – 240g white fish, 40g rice, 10g hemp seed oil

Meal 5 – 200g chicken, 100g sweet potato, 200g white potato, 20g walnuts

Meal 6 – 50g whey, 70g oats, 65g banana, 40g blueberries, 10g pumpkin seeds

Supplements

Veggie Might

Join In

Glutamine

Creatine

Vitamin D

Curcumin

Omega 3

Multivitamin

Homemade preworkout – citrulline malate, beta-alanine, taurine, l-arginine

Inta – EAAs, HBCD, electrolytes

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[Sam King]

Just like that, another week down! Been another chocker blocked one and definitely feeling it today.

The last few training sessions have been great, especially yesterday’s leg workout. I have always struggled to engage my quads. They’re just not a muscle I can easily connect with, however since using a light band on the leg extension it’s made a world of difference. The model is the Hammer Strength plate loaded and the strength curve isn’t great, so tension drops off. The band however ensures the movement feels consistent throughout. It’s the same with the leg press. I can load it up but my hams and glutes chime in before my quads, even with low foot placement and full depth. Banding the movement just engages my quads more. I couldn’t tell you the exact science, but it works for me. Ditto for the hack – it just feels better and facks my quads up nicely. Thankfully the hack seemed ok with my knee this so hopefully just a blip last time. Look forward to progressing these movements.

So, time to talk about the current state of things and where we’re at. Previously mentioned that we have decided to pull food down a bit and improve composure, along with the other benefits a tidy up brings. I worked out my calories the other day and at the peak push up they stood at 4,500 calories on a training day. That’s not including a couple of hundred for veggies and some supplements, but these are constants so don’t include in the macros.

My body has been relatively resistant to dropping weight over the last couple of weeks, so we’ve been tapering food down. I know scale weight is not the be all and end all, however it does need to budge at some point so you know you are heading in the right direction. Checkin on Thursday was 88.3kg which is 0.3 up from the previous. Composition however is better. Food was lowered again as expected but not fussed in the slightest. Actually enjoying eating less at the moment. Will post up my diet and current supplements tomorrow, but need to wind down now as an early start tomorrow. 5 days of training and a busy week at work again. Definitely got to get that handsome sleep in ?

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[Sam King]

Morning morning

Halfway through another week already, blimey! Last few sessions haven’t been too bad at all.

Last push session saw me match my top sets, but progressed all of my back offs. A tad miffed but any progression is progression at the end of the day. Even if you match reps, was the set easier, smoother, better executed and was that final rep less of a grind? All these little markers add up over the weeks even if you’re stalling and eventually you’ll break that rep range.

Pull session and my 190kg for 7 on the paused RDL. Followed with 181kg for 9. That second set is brutal and arguably harder than the first set paused. Obviously that’s due to fatigue from the pauses, but it’s nuts how heavy it feels in comparison. Rest of that session was on point as well.

Legs was pretty good. Made some slight adjustments to my seated leg curl. I have moved the seat forwards and holding the fully shortened for a beat. Waaayyy better and that connection feels so good. Slight drop in weight obviously, but not concerned as the stress is exactly where I want it.

Also changed my setup on the adductor. Instead of sitting right back against the backrest, I’m sitting forwards and oh boy, does it feel different. With the old setup my hips could interfere whereas now it is just the adductors taking the brunt. With a fixed machine you just have to move around a bit to find the optimum fit for you.

Unfortunately in this session hacks didn’t feel 100% and my right knee made that known. Subbed in back squats for today to live another day. Hate the Watson hack so much!

Back to rotation 1 today and push is on the cards. Flat machine press, high incline press and close grip bench are the prime movements today. Let’s see what we’ve got.

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[Sam King]

Not sure how, but we’re another week down nearly already. What’s more is gyms have been open for 4 weeks. Training at home seems like a distant memory. Did it even happen ?

Legs the other day and a good session all round, however I never really feel the burn in my quads on the leg press. Feet low on the platform, quads to the chest – surely they should be screaming after 3 sets? Used to always get the ol DOMs in quads but can’t base it on what I used to do. Used to be drop sets involved and higher volume once a week so bound to be DOMs from that.

Primary lifts managed the following

Gym shop leg press: 335kg x 10, 350kg x 6, 305kg x 15.
Banded hack: 81kg x 20.5
Nautilus glute drive: 192.5kg x 9, 162.5kg x 14
Back extension: 20kg dbs x 20

Some great progression that’s for sure and getting used to the sled leg press now. So nice to be able to adjust the backrest as the old Cybex pivot press was fixed. Could be a tad uncomfortable.

Check in yesterday with the boss and we’re sitting at 88.2kg. Time for a bit of a tidy up for a bit and then we push again. Initial thoughts are get down to around the 84kg mark, but we’ll regulate and re-assess as we go along. Will post macros once I have worked them out.

Push session today and we’re back to the incline db press. Last time was 50kg x 8 for the top set so will see we can do today. Last push workout I did a bit more of a warmup and session was a cracker. Will implement again today and if that primes the shoulder girdle adequately.

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[Sam King]

Annnddd just like that, we’re on Wednesday. Weeks are absolutely flying by, not sure how to feel about that haha. Remember as a kid or teen days, weeks and months lasted forever whereas now it’s blink and a decade has gone by. Probably that your perspective of time is completely different when younger and your schedule is not packed to the brim every day. Definitely need to make the most of each day that’s for sure.

Big ol’ pull session on Monday and did he or didn’t he get that 172.5kg double paused SLDL!? Course I did and I have to say while it was still bladdy hard as fook, it felt the best it has in comparison to previous efforts. Managed a delightful 172.5kg for 7 on the double paused SLDL, followed by 162.5kg for 9 on a the single paused variation. That first set just absolutely destroys you so the thought of the next set sounds easy, but no… no it isn’t ?

Rest of the session went well with lots of delightful progression throughout. Still really consciously squeezing the lats throughout each lat focused exercise. My execution on a glance looks similar to last year, however you can’t obviously feel what I do and there’s a massive difference. It’s similar to when someone watches a pro train and they seem sloppy. Their connection with that muscle is second to none (mostly), but some may look at someone performing a row, pulldown or any other exercise and see it performed in a similar manner in which they themselves would. However, the internal stimuli and connection can’t always be seen by the onlooker.

Right, time for legs so let’s see what the ol’ pins are capable of this morning.

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[Sam King]

Well then, that was a delightful weekend – lots of time with friends and family but most importantly, some quality with the nephew. However Auntie and Uncle were solely responsible so no backup ? he made it back well fed, changed, moderately clean (purée is messy alright haha) and happy. He passed out from all the excitement when back home, so mum and dad were thrilled. Was just sooooo nice to actually spend some proper time with him.

Anywho, bodybuilding – one of the best push sessions I’ve had since returning to a gym environment. I have done this rotation twice before but both were ‘meh’. Don’t get me wrong, they were good but in comparison to what I know I’m capable of physically and mentally they paled.

To kick things off we prime the chest with the ol’ pec dec. Shoulders flush against the backrest, arms mentally kept in as much as possible to prevent the biceps trying to jump in and a big ol’ squeeze at the peak. @youngoscar gives a brilliant example of how to do the exercise properly. Has such a way with explaining things and getting him point across. Can listen to him for an age as he is extremely knowledgeable, articulately spoken and he’s a humble gent to boot.

Pecs primed it was time for the meat and potatoes or chicken and rice ala the big compound. So, this has felt iffy on my return which was disappointing. I think I was rushing the setup and not bracing myself before the first rep. What a difference and what feels so subtle was a game changer. Managed a delightful 160kg for 4 (+7.5kg, -1 rep) and back off of 135kg for 9 (+2.5kg, +1 rep). We heading on up in the right direction.

Over to the high incline press which is an unusual one for me. Due to my ‘average’ height, finding the right seat position has been a biatch. Annoyingly on my top set I was bracing through my tippy toes. Know some elite bench pressers may adopt this but not my cup of tea. Anywho, took 106kg for 6 and 93.5kg for 9 – just lovely.

Last biggie was close grip bench. Was originally Smith but not a fan of my gym’s model so will actively avoid where I can. I’m slightly stronger with a free bar as well so win win. Set of 101 for 5.5 and back off with 81kg for 13. Two great sets but want that 2pps set for an 8-10 soon.

Rest of the session was your usual chest, delt and tricep isolation. Really starting to connect better with my delt contractions now. Not that they’ve been completely absent, but was always searching for that bit more. In no way have I 100% nailed it, but a step towards what I want. Hopefully that’ll reflect in some slightly beefier delts, we’ll see.

Time for a pull session and it’s double paused SLDLs today. Can I take 172.5kg for a solid set? It’s soooo tempting.

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