Thought I'd start a new journal to keep me on the straight and narrow for 8 weeks.

I've not bothered logging my training on here recently but have kept things quietly ticking over and knocking out the PBs regularly. Certainly haven't been slacking... Plan now is to get my conditioning sorted out over the next 6-8 weeks, then look to gain a little size/strength and maintain. I've gone off the dark side idea a little as I'm pretty happy with where my size/strength has got to naturally - it's just my conditioning that's lacking slightly at the moment.

8% b/f will be fine, I've no need or desire to get any leaner than that. My approach will be to introduce 30 mins cardio ED to start with, I'm not going to reduce cals drastically but will pull carbs in slightly. I've also been playing squash a couple of times a week which will substitute the cardio sessions as and when. I've come to the conclusion that keeping things simple and keeping your diet realistic and therefore consistent is definitely the best way.

Training at the moment is upper/lower, 4 times a week, although the 2nd lower session has been a conditioning session done 10x3 style with 1-2 upper body movements thrown in for good measure.

This week:

Monday 10th May - Upper A (1) - AM

A1: DB shoulder press: 20kg x 6 / 30kg x 6 / 38kg x 9 / 38kg x 8 / 38kg x 8
30s rest
A2: Chin up: BW x 6 / +20kg x 10 / +20kg x 9 / +20kg x 8
90s rest

B1: Flat DB Press: 30kg x 6 / 40kg x 6 / 50kg x 11 / 50kg x 10 / 50kg x 8
30s rest
B2: Bent over row: 60kg x 10 / 105kg x 10 / 105kg x 9 / 105kg x 8
90s rest

C1: Dip: BW x 6 / +25kg x 6 / +50kg x 8 / +50kg x 8 / +50kg x 7
30s rest
C2: Alternating DB curl: 24kg x 10 / 26kg x 8 / 26kg x 8 / 26kg x 8
90s rest

Monday 10th May - Upper A (1) - PM cardio: 30 mins x-trainer


Tuesday 11th May - Lower A (1) - AM

A1: Squat: 60kg x 10 / 100kg x 5 / 130kg x 5 / 140kg x 10 / 160kg x 7 / 160kg x 6 / 120kg x 12
120s rest

B1: SLDL: 60kg x 10 / 100kg x 10 / 120kg x 10 / 130kg x 8 / 130kg x 8
120s rest

C1: Unilateral leg extension: 35kg x 10 / 35kg x 10 / 35kg x 10
10s rest
C2: Leg curl: 75kg x 10 / 75kg x 10 / 75kg x 10
60s rest

D1: Standing calf raise: x 15 / x 13 / x 12 / x 12
90s rest

Tuesday 11th May - PM cardio: 30 mins x-trainer


Wednesday 12th May - PM cardio: 50 minutes squash (lost 4-3)

Your strength has gone up, so as you say it's just conditionning now,.

Best of luck with this Ollie

Get a pic or two up then tonight Ollie. see where you are ya wee hunk of powerhouse!

You're going to have to wait for that mate. Not putting pics up at the moment as I'm a bit on the soft side

ollie wrote:I've come to the conclusion that keeping things simple and keeping your diet realistic and therefore consistent is definitely the best way.

Definitely agree with that mate. Looks like a good plan.

Thursday 13th May - Upper B (1) - PM

A1: Incline DB Press: 30kg x 6 / 40kg x 6 / 50kg x 11 / 50kg x 10 / 50kg x 9 / 50kg x 7
30s rest
A2: DB row: 30kg x 6 / 40kg x 6 / 50kg x 12 / 50kg x 11 / 50kg x 10 / 50kg x 10
90s rest

B1: DB fly: 20kg x 6 / 26kg x 6 / 30kg x 10 / 30kg x 10 / 30kg x 8
30s rest
B2: T-bar row: +85kg x 10 / +90kg x 9 / +90kg x 8
90s rest

C1: CGBP: 60kg x 10 / 100kg x 10 / 105kg x 9 / 105kg x 8
30s rest
C2: EZ bar curl: +40kg x 9 / +40kg x 8 / +40kg x 8
90s rest

Sessions look good to me.

One thing you could try is to lay off any supplements and whey for a week or 2. I just ate whole foods for 2 weeks and made sure I had a decent protein based meal 90 mins pre and 60 mins post workout and supplemented with just a multivit, magnesium and zinc which is pretty much all I'm using at the moment now although I'm adding some fish oils back in.

That's virtually what I'm doing mate. Just having whey post workout with cinamon although I may drop that. Only supplements I'm using are a B-complex, magnesium, a good quality fish oil and BCAAs.

Training's going well, but my gym needs some bigger DBs. That or I need to find a new one, which given the butt banditry on display there means its an absolute no-brainer. There was a great moment last week though - got a face a of cameltoe whilst a stunning brunette did RDLs in front of me in a little slip dress and leggings. For 4 sets worth of RDLs... for the record, I'm not a massive perv, but I literally had nowhere else to look short of moving 170kg to other side of the gym.

Heh, that's gotta be worth a gym session in itself.

Would like to move gyms myself as DL is getting way too expensive but there's no where else with big DB's locally.

Frustrating isn't it...I've got a decent discount at mine through my new work and it's within a 5 minute walk of my flat so it's pretty ideal in many ways. What are DL charging now? Was never cheap...

Think they're up to £85 for a single membership now which is scary. Got a joint which works out a bit cheaper but still is £136 a month.

There's a Gold's about 12 miles away which is immense and £50 a month but would end up being an hour round trip and there's the petrol cost which would work out more costly than my current DL membership. 90kg DB's are tempting though.

Alex wrote:Think they're up to £85 for a single membership now which is scary. Got a joint which works out a bit cheaper but still is £136 a month.

There's a Gold's about 12 miles away which is immense and £50 a month but would end up being an hour round trip and there's the petrol cost which would work out more costly than my current DL membership. 90kg DB's are tempting though.

There's roy's gym in Hampton Wick and one in East Molesy that has huge db's but nothing close to where we live and work that I know of

Exactly. I've worked out the petrol costs and DL still works out cheaper overall for me as it's only a mile away. Even driving 4-5 miles into Woking works out ore per month.

Alex wrote:Exactly. I've worked out the petrol costs and DL still works out cheaper overall for me as it's only a mile away. Even driving 4-5 miles into Woking works out ore per month.

that's crap really!

That's why I've gone diesel as I was spending a fortune on petrol

Friday 14th May - Conditioning - AM

A1: Hang clean to push press: 70kg x 3 (x 10)
45s rest

B1: Front squat: 115kg x 3 (x10)
45s rest

C1: Pull up: +15kg x 3 (x10)
30s rest

D1: Standing calf raise: L17 x 12 / L17 x 12 / L17 x 11 / L17 x 10
60s rest

PWO cardio: 25 minutes X-trainer @ 155bpm

bloody tough work there

For sanity, i was advised to have a bit of something sweet post workout for sugars while dieting. Turkish delight or jelly babies was my thing. Worked a treat. Dunno if you are having any pwo sugars but it might be a shout to add something nice in?

Thanks mate, yeah if I feel like it then that's the time to do it . I don't tend to get sugar cravings too badly - for me it's more about controlling volume of food as I have a pretty big appetite.

Saturday 15th May - Cardio - AM

Intervals (running): 5 minute warm-up, 10 x 1 minute max effort with 1 minute recoveries, 5-minute cool-down

Monday 17th May - Upper A (2) - AM

A1: Military press: Bar x 10 / 40kg x 5 / 60kg x 12 / 65kg x 10 / 70kg x 8 / 70kg x 8
30s rest
A2: Pull up: BW x 6 / +15kg x 11 / +15kg x 10 / +15kg x 8 / +20kg x 6
90s rest

B1: DB lateral raise: 18kg x 10 / 18kg x 9 / 18kg x 8
30s rest
B2: BB curl: 40kg x 10 / 45kg x 10 / 45kg x 10
90s rest

C1: Dip: BW x 10 / +25kg x 5 / +50kg x 8 / +50kg x 9 / +50kg x 8
30s rest
C2: Alternating DB curl: 26kg x 10 / 26kg x 9 / 26kg x 8
90s rest

PWO cardio - x-trainer: 15 minutes @ 155bpm

Notes:

Good session this morning - pretty happy with everything.

Had a really stressful few days at work last week and was feeling pretty ropey all weekend as a result without sleeping much so it was good to get a decent session under my belt. On top of things again this week so hopefully it was just a one-off.

Good session Ollie. Dips look to have gone up a little? I'm looking to go back to Standing Military Press again for better real world strength gains.

Yeah, they have gone up a bit. Seems to depend what I do beforehand more than anything - can get away with 1 pushing/pressing movement but two leave my triceps and/or chest tired for them. Also dropping a couple of kgs doesn't do any harm.

Shit 3 sets with 50k is strong!

ollie wrote:Yeah, they have gone up a bit. Seems to depend what I do beforehand more than anything - can get away with 1 pushing/pressing movement but two leave my triceps and/or chest tired for them. Also dropping a couple of kgs doesn't do any harm.

I find the same so swapped a couple of movements around.

Tuesday 18th May - Fasted Cardio - AM

Running: 3 miles

Notes:

Gentle run home from the missus' house this morning. Nice day for it with plenty of talent on the common. Legs tonight.

Ollie is one strong fucker that's for sure!