Well now that the important stuff is out of the way I'll get to the dull stuff. Been training very much on and off the past 18months or so, but its been fairly unsuccessful due to poor methods and inconsistency due to injury.

Now I find myself in the unfortunate state of:

Height - 5ft 6
Weight - 71kg
Body Fat - 16.1%

Body fat is a good % or 2 higher than I expected, I think this is due to me trying out a 'high carb' approach and simply not being active enough or able to take that amount of carbs easily. I think I can correct this quickly enough as long as im able to train consistently and will hopefully be below 12% in 3months time.

The good :
- I've found Scott (Health4NI) who knows his stuff and I can visit anytime to fix problems or get new ideas.
- Shoulder and knee feel healthy.
- Confident on almost all lifts.

The bad :
- My mate has convinced me to go on holiday to Croatia and London in 2 weeks or so, judging from last time, this will be messy.
- Groin issue is still playing up when squatting, can ignore it on fronts but is pretty painful on back and splits, couldnt push through it last session.

Will make additional posts on my last session and todays diet in a bit

Gotta say, thats abit of a feminine tush you got going on there. You need a big hairy man butt if you want to be respected on this forum mr!

Good luck. What are your aims? i assume lean up and look good?

Karlos wrote:Gotta say, thats abit of a feminine tush you got going on there. You need a big hairy man butt if you want to be respected on this forum mr!

Good luck. What are your aims? i assume lean up and look good?

Heh I know mate, its well weird as im a hairy sod all over otherwise. If its something to do with why I dont have back hair though, I thank it. Sporting a lovely two-tone black-ginger beard atm.

Yeah thats definately the current goal, 16% is a silly figure for someone my size and with as little lean mass, to put it in perspective I weigh around the same as Health4NI but his bodyfat is about 3%! Im not too concerned with reaching that state of leaness or anything close to it, I couldn't give a toss about a 6pack. Im just going for a reasonable level of bodyfat, probably 10-12% depending how quick it comes off, it basically all depends on how I look in the mirror as I do look fat currently. Once thats out of the way I reckon i'll jump onto strength work as I lift pitiful numbers.

The holiday throws a bit of a spanner in the works and im still considering not booking it but I figure I need a break and it'll give me the fresh feel for the start of uni so I can focus on lifting and not booze.

Other than that im considering going back to footy as I used to be very good but im wary due to injuries and thought I might do volleyball for a laugh and the ladies.

Now for the training bit:

Im going to follow German Body Comp, was recommended to me by Scott and is the protocol Gymbunny follows, seems its meant to be the dogs balls for fat loss. Im going to follow this up until the holiday and probably for 5-6weeks after depending on where Im at. I had two 'test' sessions last week to get used to high reps again and save me getting the weights completely wrong. Did the usual to my groin again when squatting, I assume from having my stance too wide.

Day 1 - Chest and Back

Warmup
Couple of stretches and 5mins on the X-trainer. I realise the stretching is frowned upon pre workout but I NEED to stretch my lower back before doing any sort of cardio as it gets extremely tight and painful if I dont.

DB Unrolling Flyes - 4second negs - 6reps - 10kg
Rest 10 secs
Incline DB press - 2second negs - 12reps - 15kg
Rest 10 secs
Flat DB press - 1second negs - 25reps - 10kg
Rest 2minutes

3 Full circuits completed, no failures.

Hammer Chins - 4second negs - 6reps - BW
Rest 10secs
Reverse lat pulldowns - 2second negs - 12reps - 50kg
Rest 10secs
Seated row - 1second negs - 25reps - 25kg

1st circuit - Full completion.
2nd circuit - Fail on last rep of chins, got up to eye level and just squeezed my back like a champion.
3rd circuit - Fail on 5th and 6th rep of chins, same as above.

Cooldown
five minutes on a bike and lower body stretching, really need to work out a proper upper body stretching routine.

The Good
- Flyes feel like the weight can go up a good bit without much trouble
- Same goes for the seated row
- Rest times were almost spot on, only needed to wait an extra 5seconds or so to get back on equipment people had jumped on while I was doing something else.
- Im easily fit enough to handle it

The Bad
- Failures on the chins was a bit weird, I managed these fine during my 'test' session.
- I clearly need a proper warmup and cooldown protocol

Thoughts
- Im a bit unsure on my flyes form, stupid considering Scott showed me the way the other week. However it felt quite easy, thats why im unsure.
- Im weirded out by the screw up on the chins since I usually feel pretty good on these and was doing 3sets of 8 previously. Perhaps the reverse pulldowns is taking away too much from the chins? Considering switching out for bent over rows but im not sure on form with these

Theres not a single hair on my upper back, but go any lower and there's hair everywhere starting at my lower back!

Defo go for the hols mate! Just tell yourself after the holiday you're starting afresh. limited booze. good diet. good training.

Tri-setting is going to eat at your strength without a doubt mate! but you're shooting for fat loss so don't sweat it if you lose a few reps here and there imo, just keep intensity high.

What are unrolling flyes? i cant find them on t'internet anywhere

From what I remember you start at the top with DB's positioned for a Press (longitudinal) and as you lower, you twist to a conventional hand position for Fly's (transverse) and back again - I think.

Marks1972 wrote:What are unrolling flyes? i cant find them on t'internet anywhere

I do them on an incline with the feet on the bench, so im sort of squatting while on the bench at a 30degree angle. Keep a 5-10degree bend in the arm at all times. Start with the DB's above the chest with your hands facing your feet (like benching a barbell) then lower slowly, i think Scott recommended to just at the ears. This is the point where you unroll by twisting so your palms face away from your feet. Then squeeze the chest and bring the DB's back above the chest, starting the inward rotation as soon as you start the movement back up.

If you do a search on the forums for unrolling flyes, scott mentions them in one of his posts with a t-nation link that describes a slightly less extreme version i believe. I'll dig it out later but I gotta run to work

Hey Shicky, good first go!

Hard isn't it? It's the shear and utter intensity that will have destroyed you for chins, but remember at least you can do them! I'm get to make a total tit out of myself with just doing the eccentric bit

Nice ass there Shicky, I'd hit it but you'll have to lose the beard first. I'm the same as Karlos - big hairy ass.

German Body Comp looks good, never done anything like that myself but if Scott recommends it then it must work.

GymBunny wrote:Hey Shicky, good first go!

Hard isn't it? It's the shear and utter intensity that will have destroyed you for chins, but remember at least you can do them! I'm get to make a total tit out of myself with just doing the eccentric bit

Thanks GB, just starting easy to make sure the rest times are spot on and the movements are correct. I dont think the intensity ruined my chins, i completed them fine in one of my trial runs. I just assume the pulldowns hit the same area and fooked me too much.

Richard wrote:Nice ass there Shicky

Quoted for truth.

Day 2 - Legs

Warmup
Just lower back and groin stretches then jogged a kilometer on the tread at a 2% incline. Felt fine in the lower back and legs.

Front Squats - 4second negs - 6reps - 30kg
Rest 10 secs
Back Squats - 2second negs - 12reps - 30kg
Rest 10 secs
Split Squats - 1second negs - 25reps (each side) - BW
Rest 2minutes

I threw in the towel at this point, my groin was killing me. Front squats are fine, feel great apart from the fact the bar rests on my out of place AC joint (not nice.) Form is great and I can easily knock up the weight.

Back squats remain the problem, can really feel my groin going mental here, I dont think I was even hitting parallel here, could just feel it grinding and to push past it I had to drop in a certain way and let my back round for a second. Not a huge problem with such a light weight but hardly a long term solution. Didn't use the ironworks today to see what happened, ze results are not good, those back squats were the sorest with poorest form ever.

Split squats were fine too, hurts mainly from the burn in the trailing leg more than pushing myself back up from the lead foot. When to my right side my left groin really struggled again. On about the 20th rep there was a callout for anyone looking to play indoor footy so I finished the set and went off.

So ended up playing 4v5 footy with a bunch of random 30-50 somethings. I have been told I am not invited back again due to skinning them rancid, plus in sport I get very abusive very quick, nothing pisses me off more than a complete retard on the ball standing still that doesnt react AT ALL to any movement or shout. My team were kack but I won it for them, weird considering im a centre back but scored some peaches. Played about 45-50minutes in all, tried to make sure I was running at all times but the retards made that pretty hard. Hung around to see if i could sneak in another random game but no one showed up Have superb blisters on both feet, white socks are now red.

Decided to jump in and do a short abs circuit of crunches, sit ups and planks. Mat was saturated in sweat, actually caused me problems with grip on the planks.

Thoughts
Pretty annoyed as expected with the groin trouble, this doesnt appear to be going away. Booked the chiropractor for tomorrow, will see about my lower back under running and get her to crack my groin (trust me, its the least sexual act ever and HURTS.) Booked my holiday also, very scared. Going to book another session with Scott as soon as hes back I reckon, I need to get these back squats corrected to a reasonable level and im sure i'll lose a stone doing a routine with him observing and making sure i dont cheat. Praying for a smooth sailing leg day but im glad I did something

Damn that's unlucky. I think you need to find an alternative for back squats drop them altogether, as there is ABSOLUTELY NO POINT in doing something that puts you in that much pain.

WIth GBC I made steady improvements and about the 3rd chest session it started to get incredibly tough, the intensity really does start to kick in on your body at that point.

Re the groin cracking, there is a sports medicine clinic at my gym complex and on occasion you can hear big men screaming when this is done to them.

GymBunny wrote:Damn that's unlucky. I think you need to find an alternative for back squats drop them altogether, as there is ABSOLUTELY NO POINT in doing something that puts you in that much pain.

WIth GBC I made steady improvements and about the 3rd chest session it started to get incredibly tough, the intensity really does start to kick in on your body at that point.

Re the groin cracking, there is a sports medicine clinic at my gym complex and on occasion you can hear big men screaming when this is done to them.

Aye had to have it done JUST before a rugby game once, was a quarter final too. The star player was injured so I was called up, then when we were running through moves in warmup i noticed it felt weird, couldnt hit anywhere near top pace and had no idea what was going on. Team physio was working on me for 15minutes before the game 'deep massaging' (causing imm.ense pain to you and me) the team talk was going on just to my right and just as he cracked it there was a silence and i yelled rude things very loud. Felt fecking great after though, played one of my best games. Im not sure if i need to drop back squats, the thing thats annoying is the fact I have done them and built up the weight a good bit but its happened again. If it doesnt work out tomorrow I think you're right though and they'll need dropped, in the short term at the very least

Saw the chiro on friday morning, she basically told me she can't help me. She reckoned it could be tendonitis so was far from keen to crack my groin. Was cool that she actually said she wouldn't be able to help me instead of dragging me along and wasting my money, she also referred me to a traditional chinise medicine person for proper accupunture but i dont know if i'll follow this up, i still feel that it just needs cracked so might see a physio. Tempted to leave it till after my holidays to see if it goes away again and just do sprints or play footy on leg days.

Arms and Shoulders

Warmup
Cracked the life outta my back and stretched my groin then just did a 6minute jog at 2% incline

Workout
Seated DB Press - 4second negs - 6reps - 20kg, (17.5kg 3rd circuit)
Rest 10 secs
Seated Lateral Raise - 2second negs - 12reps - 7kg
Rest 10 secs
Cable Lateral Raise - 1second negs - 25reps - 3.75kg
Rest 2minutes

3 Full circuits completed, no failures. Sort of... couldn't lift the 20's 3rd time so quickly grabbed 17.5's

Dips - 4second negs - 6reps - BW+10kg
Rest 10secs
Rope Pulldowns - 2second negs - 12reps - 17.5kg, 15kg, 12.5kg
Rest 10secs
Cable Pushdowns - 1second negs - 25reps - 15kg

1st circuit - Full completion.
2nd circuit - Full completion.
3rd circuit - Fail on 6th rep of dips. Quite gay as I can easily do it but my tri's were so battered.

Incline DB curls - 4second negs - 6reps - 12.5kg
Rest 10secs
Standing Wide-Grip BB curls - 2second negs - 12reps - 20kg
Rest 10secs
Cable curls - 1second negs - 25reps - 5kg

3 Full circuits completed

Cooldown
15 minutes on a bike and stretching

Thoughts
First go at arms and shoulders so a fair bit of guesswork was required, was fairly pleased with rest times, the only thing wrong was an extra min or so before the triceps supersets because some guys were on the dipping station. Lateral shoulder movements make my shoulder 'pop' it doesnt really hurt but feels very awkward and definately disrupts the movement. Decided to grit my teeth and see what happens, i havent done this movement in years and my shoulders are already wank so it was terribly light, i think im dropping both lateral movements for other options. Overhead press, upright row, any suggestions?

Loved the tricep superset, i think these are easily the strongest muscle in my body, im confident when im working them and can push through most hard fought reps, weak on the pull variations but will build that up. Cable curls were also very weird, might drop them or just see if i can workout why it doesnt seem to feel right, one rep would kill me, the next not feel so bad but i wasnt losing shape that I could feel

Nice one mate.

I know we didn't discuss the GBC routine but you've used GBs plan which I think is good as I helped tweak that for her too.

GBC for legs is hard esp if you have a problem. tbh it might be best to not do it for legs and leave GBC for upper body muscles groups. Then try to do more rehab type stuff for legs. Keep to front squats, splits squats and the peterson step up I showed you. Plus RDL & ham curls. Those will defo help you out. Concentrate on form not weight and hopefully things will get better.

--

Unrolling flyes: pretty much as you've described. Elbows should actually always have a bent but no more than 5degrees really. Flyes should be done like that and with palms facing away. The unrolling can be left out for an alternate flye.

Chest and Back

Was quite out of routine today, had to meet some old friends for lunch and ended up spending a few hours at their place. Didn't get working out till about 5.15 and of course the gym was packed. Getting the circuits done proved...interesting.

Warmup
Couple of stretches and 6mins on the treddy.

DB Unrolling Flyes - 4second negs - 6reps - 12.5kg [+2.5kg]
Rest 10 secs
Incline DB press - 2second negs - 12reps - 15kg
Rest 10 secs
Flat DB press - 1second negs - 25reps - 10kg
Rest 2minutes

3 Full circuits completed, no failures.

Hammer Chins - 4second negs - 6reps - BW
Rest 10secs
Reverse lat pulldowns - 2second negs - 12reps - 50kg
Rest 10secs
Seated row - 1second negs - 25reps - 27.5kg [+2.5kg]

1 and 2 fully completed.
3rd circuit I failed on the 6th rep of the hammer chins.

Cooldown
15 minutes on a bike and lower body stretching.

Thoughts
Not too happy I failed on the chins again, especially since I got more rest than planned between some sets due to how busy the gym was. Did an extra set of them at the very end just to rape my back to show it I wasnt best pleased. Chest was worse as well, although I completed there was the odd pause to shake off lactic but i guess I was out of routine. Tried adding Tyrosine to my pre-workout stuff, took 2grams, didnt really notice the effects too much but will keep trying. Also reckon I lost form on the unrolling flyes, definately had more than a 5-10degree bend at times, might try dropping back to the 10s to be sure of form. So all in all a complete workout...but not really progress on last week, in fairness i was playing footy the night before and was dead from it, scoring the most spectacular goal ever and ripping 50% of the skin off my legs from sliding, i will never learn.

Cheers Scott, hopefully I start beasting the GBC soon, looking for big improvements next week. I was simply going to replace back squats with the leg press, might be interesting keeping hold of a power rack and the machine. Then do 3 sets of 10-12 of the Peterson step after i've finished. Do you ever get complaints of trouble with Romanian deads after all the quad work? I cant stop my legs from seemingly 'shifting' so the weight seems to shift to the quads rather than stretching the hams, can never seem to stop it

I was going to say that 12.5kg for unrolling flyes is rather good. tbh the bend should be <5%. So drop the weight to 8-10kg.

Try this:
6 Fronts
12 Splits
25 Leg Press <-- big GH release from this one.

And yes I do get people having issues with leg stability on RDLs after all the quad work. It should get better the stronger you get.

Thanks mate, i'll try that out on thursday. Forgot to ask you on sunday, with regard to the split squats, im guessing each superset you should be doing the required reps for each leg? Me and GB were a bit unsure, I went for the 25 on each leg out of guesswork

Also you a footy man at all? Could give you a shout if you fancy some 5a side the odd time, usually play down at eddie irvines in bangor if you're interested

Shicky wrote:Thanks mate, i'll try that out on thursday. Forgot to ask you on sunday, with regard to the split squats, im guessing each superset you should be doing the required reps for each leg? Me and GB were a bit unsure, I went for the 25 on each leg but she uncharacteristicly pussied out and alternated.

Also you a footy man at all? Could give you a shout if you fancy some 5a side the odd time, usually play down at eddie irvines in bangor if you're interested

As far as I know, you always list the number of reps per limb when listing unilateral work. It would be so lame to do an odd number of split squats.

Shicky wrote:Thanks mate, i'll try that out on thursday. Forgot to ask you on sunday, with regard to the split squats, im guessing each superset you should be doing the required reps for each leg? Me and GB were a bit unsure, I went for the 25 on each leg but she uncharacteristicly pussied out and alternated.

Pussied out? F off!

Tell you what I'll come over to Ireland and train with you some time, then we can see who the pussy is. Pussied out? I ask you, disrespectful little children.

FYI - That is why I did 4 sets of each, and I still haven't recovered fully from destroying my foot/ankle, so 25 reps with either leg forward is about all it can handle. If that makes me a pussy so bloody be it.

lol

as Rilla said, it's 25 on EACH leg. So 4 sets means 100 splits on each leg... not easy by any means

health4ni wrote:lol

as Rilla said, it's 25 on EACH leg. So 4 sets means 100 splits on each leg... not easy by any means

Yeah I get that, I can't do that. The fact I can train at all constantly surprises me. What I do not appreciate is someone taking the piss out of me when I am trying my damnedest to actually improve myself. /rant ends

Keep it at 3 sets until you get 25 reps on each leg.

Or, first set do 25 reps on each, then 2nd do 20, then 3rd do as many as you can.

That'll soon allow you to get to 25 on each for all 3 sets.

I have a couple of female clients that do 4 sets of 25 reps on each leg.

Although I have no changed their routine to do 12 splits, then 25 leg presses. BUT I will change it back and keeping progs the same all the time is not ideal... but I know you know that

GymBunny wrote:Pussied out? F off!

Tell you what I'll come over to Ireland and train with you some time, then we can see who the pussy is. Pussied out? I ask you, disrespectful little children.

FYI - That is why I did 4 sets of each, and I still haven't recovered fully from destroying my foot/ankle, so 25 reps with either leg forward is about all it can handle. If that makes me a pussy so bloody be it.

Heh sorry GB, I wasn't slabbering or being disrespecful at all, was only messing around

I have no doubt if you trained with me I'd probably die judging from your recent journal entries, especially with the crazy huge superset you nutter. Apologies if I offended though, wasnt the intention