Hi all,

Around a month ago I injured my back during a heavy deadlift session. I went to the Dr and he advised rest and prescribed naproxen.

I had a complete week off training then started again, avoiding anything that would stress my lower back.

My lower back is now feeling back to normal.
.
Long term I have decide to limit stress on the… Read more

Is that the bottom of your squat? You may benefit on going deeper for more leg emphasis overall.

The way your doing it, this is more of a posterior chain emphasis squat. It will help your hamstring and lower back tremendously for deadlift, rdl, SLDL. It also develops great upper back strength, as the bar is pushing your forward.

A more leg or… Read more

Pics

You’ll never know how good you can be, until you put in the work. Ie a decade of unrelenting work and striving to progress.

Some of the most genetically gifted people I know are lazy and unmotivated, this often happens when everything comes easy initially.

So really don’t worry about the genetics thing. Consistency and passion are what will… Read more

Thanks Marc really appreciate the reply.
It’s been a really tough pregnancy for my wife with HG/extreme sickness, Braxton Hicks and a few other things too.

Glad you managed to get through your wife’s challenging pregnancy!

I’m most worried about being away from my wife during the day when at work etc 😅 as we have limited family support.
With… Read more

Hi all,

I’m really happy that my wife is due soon. It’s been a tough pregnancy but we’ve all come together and I couldn’t be more excited!

My question is, how did you adapt training in the first stage after birth? And the following months?

100% my focus is on being there for my child and wife, but im planning in advance how to manage… Read more

Hi all,

Im currently down almost ten pounds on my diet.

Overall my numbers have been making either very slow progressions or keeping the same. Which I suppose is to be expected starting out a little chubby.

However, one or two exercises have now stalled completely ie, mid incline dumbell has been the same for three previous weeks and… Read more

Sounds like a nightmare. Basic gym etiquette is missing a lot currently in most gyms unfortunately.
Hope the new environment is better for you- seen a few YouTube’s filmed in that gym and looks great for strength training

Hi Clare, thanks for the reply.

Before the cut I wasn’t tracking calories accurately, I was just eating enough to maintain that body weight.

Since this diet started I have been very accurate with tracking. Everything gets weighted and logged on MFP.

Cardio is 30 mins after weights, and 7k steps on off days.

Apart from my training I am sedantary in honestyy

Hi all,

– 37
– natural
– 5’11
– training back 1 year following hiatus
– PPL routine

Ive been dieting for around 7 weeks and have gone from 94kg to 90kg.

However my calories are at rock bottom (2,200k/200 pro) and it’s starting to feel unsustainable. I do take some medication for depression and anxiety so maybe this is having an adverse… Read more

From an initial view looks like you’re trying to run a bodybuilding style split alongside BJJ training.

This is probably why you’re recovery is detrimentally affected.

As you’ve said you want to focus on BJJ I would do things a little differently.
If I was doing bjj or a combat sport, I would be adopting an approach more suited to that.. ie bang… Read more

Only slightly down in body weight this week, but I do feel I’m tightening up a little.

Strength continues to make very slow improvements which I’m happy with.

Genesis in West London is great too..

Some of the best shopping in the world in London too, have fun!

Pull

SLDL

185 x5 (good set)

197.5 x3 (little loose)

HS high row

X6, x9

Chest support t bar

X5, x10

DY Row

X5 (too heavy)

X7

Upper back row

X8

X11

Cybex preacher x10,8,7

Cable curl x10,8

NB

Overall today was good. Got a lot of personal stuff going on (good and bad/challenging)- found it hard to have a clear head.

First set of stiff leg were decent, second set… Read more

Push day

Slight incline dumbell

50 x6
45 x7

Neutral grip high incline db

35 x5
30 x7

Dips

BW x5
20 x5
40 x5
60 x5
40 x7

Pec Cable

X12,10,8

Lateral cable

X9, 7, 6

Incline dumbell ext

X6, x8, x8

Incline hammer

X8, x7, x6

Cardio: 20 mins fairly hard

NB:

Will switch out slight incline for mid incline, the progression has stalled… Read more

Thanks Asrar! Always good to read yours too 🙌

Thanks for the detailed reply @Kierajaston

Really grateful of all the feedback in this thread!!

Thanks Rich, appreciate that.

Won’t force myself into unnatural positions for sure.

Thanks for the replies! Much appreciated.

Hi all,

Recently put back safety bar squats into my plan.

However, I’m unsure about whether I’m hitting sufficient depth. I always try to go to parallel, preferably below.

But.. as I’ve got older mobility has become more of an issue.

I’ve attached a pic from today for reference- how does it look? I’m hoping to get some lifting shoes which… Read more

Things have been going ok! Weight steadily dropping.

Switched out the hack squat for paused safety bar today. Overall it felt strong, but I feel my depth could have been a little better. Going to try to get some squat shoes soon.

Hoping to break 91kg in my weight loss next week.

Depression is a horrible thing to experience, hope you feel better overall very soon.

In my experience SSRI’s can take a little while to work, so maybe you’re still lifting out of depression now?

When do you take them? I notice if I take things like this late at night it can make me feel groggy in the morning. Taking them earlier in the… Read more

Thanks Clare! Yes will definitely look to increase rep ranges.

Going to get some blood work done very soon

Defib by HR labs is a great all rounder

IMO the fact that many top bodybuilders use varying styles of training, training set up etc shows there is no ‘one’ way.

It’s really learning what works best for you, what you enjoy and what you can be consistent with and progress over a long period of time…

Real busy week coming up with the house move.

Will be looking for a new gym closer to home too.

May have to take a week off next week, but I have been training hard for 8/10 weeks with no deload so not a bad thing.

I’m in a similar position, upper lower is great.

I tried full body but even with intermediate levels of strength it was almost too much in terms of overall fatigue (although I am 37).

Upper lower is a split that can be used effectively regardless of level IMO, from beginner to higher level.

Upper today

Slight incline dumbell

50 x6
50 x5

High incline neutral dumbell

1×3 (misjudged) 1×6

Dips

Volume approach

Crucifix lateral

X12, x10, x8

Hammer strength high row

1×8, 1×9

Close grip mag pulldown

1×6, 1×8

Pullover machine

1×8, 1×6

Cable curl

X3 moderate

Overhead tricep

X2 moderate

Incline hammer… Read more

Fantastic news on the first day in the office. The lower stress will really help your progress

Hi Kiera,

Thanks for taking a look. It’s really appreciated.

I have started wearing straps more often, I already have some imbalances from when I was younger (and did powerlifting at the time).

Currently aiming to improve my overall physique- but I do enjoy lifting heavy too.

Thanks Rich. Really invaluable having feedback from top class people when navigating training alone.

Also pleased to be in that group too!! 💪

Excellent, thanks very much for the feedback Jordan…

I will now push at getting very strong at these!

To update this post,

Here’s a video of a top set on this the other day.

It’s definitely not perfect, but I’m trying, so would appreciate any feedback

Decent pull session today

SLDL

182.5 x5, 195 x3

Nautilus pulldown

1×6, 1×9

Chest support row

1×6, 1×8

DY Row (single arm)

1×6, 1×11

Upper back row

1×6, 1×8

Preacher machine curl

1×6, 1×7, 1x drop set

Incline hammer curl

1 x6, 1×7

Overall was a solid session. Technique improving all the time on the pulls.

Need to consistently… Read more

Will be interesting to see how you find this (different) high volume approach.

With your high dedication I’m sure gains will be crazy!

I think ‘power building’ is a marketing term.. what it means is getting stronger on basic lifts (akin to powerlifting) whilst also training hypetrophy/bodybuilding…

This is basically what any modern powerlifting or strength training routine does. Ie some element of periodisation/whatever form that may take across squat, bench, deadlift…… Read more

Push session today (shoulder focused)

Strict Press- high volume
Incline cybex. X2
Dips, x3
Single arm pec Dec, x3
DB skulls, x3
Single arm overhead, x2

Overall a good session. I treat the strict Press as a mainstay and hope to break new ground with it later this year.

Weight is down 1kg since Monday.

Ran a full body today, extremely taxing (maybe too much tbh as overall fatigue was high)…

After having trialled upper/lower and full body, I will probably go back to push/pull/legs, I feel I can manage in session fatigue better this way.

For me two leg days (quad and ham) may better than splitting them.

I think splitting quad and ham is best used for advanced people, no real science behind that opinion, just my intuition.

Wrestling boots are excellent. Build quality tends to be very high- had my Nike ones for 6 years with no issues.

Virtually no sole so similar to a barefoot type feel with excellent grip.

How’s your technique?- improving technique is important for handling heavier loads

What’s the rest of your training?- are you training and progressing on key bench press muscles like triceps and lats?

Are you gaining weight or cutting?- pressing strength is more directly correlated to body weight than other movements IMO

Looking back at the above, I feel I need to make changes for next week…I was a bit down with my tight/sore back so mentally turned off a little after pulls….

Next week, strong back providing, I will do heavy leg press and also add in linear hack squat.

The rest will remain the same.

I need to build up a better lower body to provide a stronger… Read more

Today’s session (lower) was semi successful.

My back however was feeling fairly stiff and a little painful after pulls, so I dropped the weight on leg press and focused on short rest and a tad higher volume.
Hopefully it’s nothing serious, will see how it feels tomorrow but it’s ok now.

Pulled a 180×5 and 190 x3 stiff leg, so things are not bad for… Read more

Hi all,

Currently:

92kg
5’11
Body fat to come down

Routine;

Upper/lower split done three times per week

History:

Lifting for a long time, with only limited periods of consistency due to illness and injuries.

Competed in powerlifting many years ago.

Aims are to ‘prime’ myself for a sustained long term gaining phase by dropping body fat… Read more

Practice retaining as much as possible. Will make a huge difference

If you’re 104kg at 10% body fat then personally I would do push/pull/legs over full body.

Are you still with your coach Asrar?

Looks like you’ve got a bit leaner recently!

Thanks Jordan- I agree, I try to be polite!

Thanks Meg, I actually hadn’t thought of people using the gym in a leisurely way (I often miss clear things like this 😂)

Appreciate the feedback and help with my question and overthinking 🙌