The Latest....

I'm going to set up another training log and migrate this one over there soon, but in the mean time here's a few notes from the past year.

I initially was planning to compete in this years nationals bench champs, but my real target this year was to bench 200kgs. I was also planning to compete in the Rotorua tough guy challenge (12k course with obstacles and mud) but I sustained a torn calf pulling a heavy sled without warming up, then ended up with a secondary tear a couple of weeks later which f**ked me and put me out of full 3 lifts as well. Along with this I also reinjured my back due to poor mobility which set me up as a pure bench specialist for the rest of the year.

My raw target was 155 -160kg bench, but with the super katana arriving in march and things going so well I decided to focus as much as I could on that, with pleasing results when I pressed 205kgs successfully on my second attempt at the Eastside benchpress qualifier in September. I did manage a 150kg bench at an Eastside club lft as well which I also take a lot of pride in.

With the focus being on equipped benching I reduced the direct raw bench press training a bit, but I dint lose much (if any) strength. Tightness and my set up were a bit off though.

After benching the 205kgs I took some time off the shirt work. But my approach to the next competition was too relaxed. I only put the shirt on once, the week prior to the best of the south / sth island champs and lowered 205kgs only to a 1 board. The result was that on meet day the 205 felt heavier then a month earlier and I struggled to press it (although I did get the lift). A bad set up (combined with not actually practicing setting up on the ufammiliar comp bench) resulted in a nasty back spasm which knocked me out of the comp (I still managed first place in my group).

At the Eastside open a couple of weeks later I bombed on 205, then 207.5. I had not put the shirt on more then once (again) before this competition and it showed. Although I'm very happy with my results this year, I learned some very good lessons.

1. Respect the weight, and train with it leading up to a meet. Especially when there is such a big difference between my raw training loads and my equipped ones.
2. Practice the set up. Ask for feed back from others - Graham Cook noticed that I was dipping to one side at the Eastside open. This was from being loose on the chest and not having tight legs. I forgot to thank him for that because despite missing my next attempt, I came away knowing what happened.
3. Take note of variables and factor them in. The bench in Greymouth (best of the south) was higher then normal so when I set up my shoulders werent back enough. The effort it took to touch knocked me around and beat up my body. I knew it was high but I didnt get in and practice my set up before hand OR take notice of my body duing the comp. If I had, I would have felt my shoulders sitting in the wrong spot.
4. Drive with your legs the whole time you are on the bench.
5. It takes maturity and brains to deload. (I need to work on both

The rest of the year will just be a few weeks of building up volume with heavy weights,and gradually working my way back to heavy singles and plenty of speed work (I did some the other night and with longer then normal rests, got some really good feeling sets in).

I also got a tip that I believe may help my squat and reduce the pressure in my back. By pressing the floor away with my legs, rather then levering through with my hips and back (its hard to describe), I felt tge tension and pressure transfer from my back and hips into my legs and hips. It felt great and I banged out a bunch of reps without the normal tightness that comes in my lower back (which is ecsaserbated by arching in the bench). I hope a similar switch of thinking helps me protect my back in the deadlift as well.

I have also thown in some core work twice a week which I am enjoying a lot. The new method of progressing ( a simple sort of pyramid) seems to be going well too. I would like to shorten the time it takes complete further.

All in all a great year. A trip to Disneyland might make next years goals a bit weird looking but I think I'll be back doing some full 3 lifts next year which I am lookin forward to!

Back In The Bench Shirt

I meant to train posterior chain, but ended up jumping into the shirt instead. Actually felt pretty good and managed to work up to 215kgs of 2 boards and felt pretty comfortable. Hopefully this is a good sign for the Eastside Open next week.

Heavy shirt work was followed by triceps, which consisted of lots of close grip floor pressing, some dips, dumbell extensions and band work. I strung together a few good sessions this week, and the body is feeling a bit stiff and sore. I did some cardio at home - skipping, KB swings, and short runs for time (10mins) then went to Sumner for a swim. Good way to finish off, but also got in an easy stroll with Jonah in the evening.

Saturday morning was speed deadlifts - I still find I get so much more form these by approaching them as practice - camber bar goodmornings, only workign up to 80 kgs though as the back was feeling a bot rusty, and heaps of GHR. I keep the reps low on these as my knees start feeling it a bit much (in the range of 5-8). Then lo and behold I actually did some abs. Hanging straight leg raises up to the bar, and some roll outs. Definitely feel better for having done them.

Tomorrow might be a good day to swing the hammer and do some farmers walks.

Of Late

I've had a hard time trying to string together good training sessions over the last couple of weeks since my last post. It wasn't ideal as I was trying to get ready (in my head as well as my body) for the Best Of The South/South Island bench champs held in Greymouth last weekend.

I managed one rough shirt session the week prior to the meet, but that was the first time I had put it on since the meet in September. I didnt feel great about it, but after an ugly 1 board effort I figured I'd be able to mongrel it down if I had to. I was never going to touch with anything lighter then 205kgs, and although I certainly wasn't pressing as well as in September, I figured I'd probably be able to mongrel that up as well.

come the day of the meet and after a long drive I weighed in at 100.25kgs .05 heavier then Sept. We didnt have our comp bench, and the one we used was higher then normal. I stupidly didn't have any practice setups before my opener, which set me up for an ugly day of lifting.

On my opener I didnt get my shoulders back properly. This was due to the high bench and me not paying enough attention. I have to say that the hand out was rough too, but again that's something I should have accounted for and gone over with the spotter. While waiting for the start signal I could already feel the shirt tightening up, and it felt like it took 10 minutes to reach my chest. I got stuck for a bit at what felt like 2cm from touching and nearly decided to flag it and press it, miss the lift and go on to my 2nd attempt. But I decided to give it a bit extra and manged a touch. The press felt slow, wonky and ugly but I got 2 white lights.

All that time spent straining and arching caused a spasm in my right lat, low down about inline with my elbow. I couldn't stand up for a while so flagged my last 2 lifts. Luckily for me Alf (the guy who would have won) was reffing so I managed to win with my rude lift.

Craig (a close to 2x bodyweight raw bencher) and Alf (probably pound for pound the best bencher in NZ) both lifted in the Best of the South section (all the guys using bench shirts were in the Sth Is champs section that went first. Craig did 180, the 205, both quite easy, then got hurt (torn bicep I think) having a crack at 220kgs. He got the win though, and Alf cleaned up second with 140, 150 and 160, all of which looked easy.

There were a few giggles from the girls and frowns from the guys in greymouth when they saw me wearing my bench shirt, and the bloody shiny black softsuit that Alf lent me, but it was a good day and there were some good new lifters that had a go. Steve Barnes, a new comer who had to lift, then shoot off to fill in a grave (his job) managed to place 3rd in the Sth Is champs which was awesome. But all in all it was cool to see the Eastside guys dominate.

Training is feeling really good, and I think it has a lot to do with getting more sleep! And training more in the evenings. I think a few simple things like having water to drink on my work desk help as well.

I'll hopefully be able to make more consistent posts on here as well. In the mean time Craig has set up a blog at www.biggerstrongersmarter.wordpress.com which will be well worth looking at and Spida, a PT who works and trains out of Eastside has an up coming MMA fight. He's done some videos as he builds up - some training, some talking, - which are pretty cool too so look for him at www.ehpfitness.com.

Speed Deadlifts

Rather then root my back more then it already is I decided to stick to speed deads, and bring up my upper back. This saves me having to lift too heavy too often. I stick to sumo for speed deads as I get a lot more out of them even though they cause some pretty mean DOMS on the inside of my hamstrings. Followed this up with 4 sets of reverse hypers, single leg kettlebell deadlifts (I think they're gat but I defintely feel them) and added in some camber bar goodmornings. The GM's were an addition to last weeks workload as I a get healthier again (plus an extra set on the other movements).

Didnt go too hard but still had a hard time bending over the next day.

Did speed bench and shoulders the following day (Friday). I added an extra chain to the bar weight (of 50kgs) so was 50+4 chains at the top. I'm taking a break from the bands to give my elbows a rest, but I still feel like I'm getting plenty out of it (can't beat the bands for building the stretch reflex though - although I feel like dips might be a good alternative).
Shoulders was some military press, but my energy evaporated quicker then I expected and I only fit in 4 sets at 65kgs before following up with some presses in the machine. Followed 5 sets of that (which was tougher then I expected only 5 sets of 10 with 48kgs) with some lateral cable raises (not worth mentioning the weights and reps as these are all done light for the sake of getting a decent pump as well as some facepulls - 42 x 15 x 5 try and do a bit to counter all the benching I've been doing of late.

Still feels like a gradual process but I'm defintely heading back up to where I want to be. Might put the shirt on next saturday then make a descision about the best of the south. I feel like my might be at my best in the shirt, but I've also dropped a bit of size so that could factor in with how well the katana goes, although my triceps are feeling pretty good with my close grip being the best I've been for ages. Will wait and see next week. Looking forward to it.

Monday Chest

Managed to drag myself into the gym despite not feeling right up to it. Picked up where I left off yesterday and did a few sets of bench, dumbell incline bench, incline flyes and tricep rope push downs.

BP-100 x 10, 110 x 8, 130 x 5, 120 x 5, 110 x 8, 100 x 10
Incline Dbell Press- 30x10, 40x5, 32.5x10x2

Incline Flyes - 15x12, 17.5x12, 20x12, 25x10
Rope Push Downs - 42x15x3

Had some wicked pressure in my head due to a badly blocked nose, but reasonably happy with where everything is at the moment. Half thinking about putting on the shirt at the Eastside open, but not sure...

Sunday - Heavy Bench + Pause

Decided that while I'm nursing a bad head cold, that I wouldn't be doing much volume (or training for that matter). So I spent a few sets yesterday just working on pauses off the chest.

We can sometimes have suspect press calls so I was counting to 3, which showed me how loose on the chest I've been. I want to have a crack at 160 next month but at this stage I'll need to work hard to beat my 150 PR. But I'm sure the speed work will help as well as training in the pauses.

Bit of a slow boring session but by the end of it (I worked up to 140 for a single) I felt like I was tighter off the chest, especially when on the last double I did (130).

Just a ramble today really as I'm trying to get back into the habit of updating this log.

Numbers: 100 x 5, 110 x 4, 100 x 3, 110 x 3, 120 x 3, 130 x 2, 140 x 1 (no pause on the one 140 though).

Training Of Late

Since the bench meet a few weeks back I've been pretty lax about training and haven't had any real goals to focus on. Even though the Eastside Open is coming up in a few weeks I didn't set myself any targets for that day other then having a good time doing my first full 3 lift for ages.

I have been working on speed for the bench and deadlift though using bands and/or chains for 8 to 10 sets of 1 to 3 reps, followed up with work on either the triceps or hams n glutes. Nothing exciting, but it makes a good change from straight training, and I feel the difference. This time last year speed work made a huge difference to my bench.

I still feel slowish but when I manage to time my sets, the speed is building up gradually, and in the past couple of weeks, it's taken less sets to reach a good speed.

I've also been keeping tabs on my resting heart rate as I'm paying more attention to my fitness and overall health at the moment. Especially as I've had a pain in the ass head cold that has produced some of the greenist, most horrible gunk from my nostrils that I have ever cultivated.

I'll be looking to make the up coming week a good one in the gym.

205kg Bench

Thought I might as well chuck this up here. Once again I'll be trying to keep my log updated...

Shirt work building up to this meet was improving but definitely not where I was planning to be at this stage. I flagged the Nationals and hoped on ticking off the 200 bench I had as a goal this year at this qualifier/meet instead (nats were never my goal so it made sense to save the money and have a crack at it (200kgs) at Eastside instead, with the best of the south and Eastside open as back ups).

So basically I was a month ahead of where I'd planned to be ready (Oct 16 as was my original plan for being ready to compete). I was confident with 200 off 1 board but had yet to touch with any weight and press it successfully. I opened on 205kgs. I couldn't touch with anything lighter.

I weighed in heavy by 200gms (100.2kgs) but didnt bother losing the extra weight and Alf mentioned that the 110kg Canty record was 202.5 (bench only was actually 192.5). My first lift was no good as my feet moved. Cliffy (head ref) filled me in and told me they actually moved on the decent.

I spent the time before my next lift focused solely on what I'd do with my upper body and forgot to adjust my feet when I setup for the second attempt but fortunately I got the lift. I had a crack at 210kgs on my 3rd attempt but it was too heavy.

Not sure where I'll aim with the shirt from now. Will probably chuck it on for the Canty bench next year, but I have to work on my speed and control bringin the bar down, but for the rest of this year I'll probably focus on brining up my raw strength and speed (for all 3 lifts)

Here's the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7ffCCyVsNg

Tuesday -Chest

Went back to the flat bench today after having a few weeks away from it. I also reduced my range of motion to the bottom portion of the lift more so then I have been lately. Under the heavier loads I've been feeling slow and weak off the chest. Once I started putting more tension on it for longer periods of unbroken time, the training started to feel a lot better.

Just used today as a feeler for my 5-3-1 program which I'll begin next week. Jakes also going to be using it so hopefully he'll make some good gains as well.


3rd week of doing the arnold flyes (easiest way to describe them) and I seem to be getting better at maintaining tension with them (and "the squeeze"). More of a cross between a flye and a press really. I was more sore after these then the week before. Worked up to 2 heavy sets of 20kgs x 12 plus about 4 more with lighter weights.

Chucked in some machine pressing as well. Also kept the load off the tris as much as possible. Stuck to sets of 12 plus with these and only used 35-40kgs a side for short strokes.

Finished up with tris which seemed to feel better then they have for a while. I think emphasising the chest more has left me more in the tank for these at the end of the session. Got owned but felt really good. Also got through 4 exercises in record time. 60 mins.

Will jump straight in under the bar with 60kgs for a warm up next week rather then piss about with the bar.

Wednesday and Thursday

I ended up taking Tuesday off and doing my back session on Wed instead. The cold mornings make being a slack ass easy.

Back Session -
Started with deadlifts for the 5-3-1 program. I've been on this for a while now and enjoy it, but next week I plan to change the movement to snatch grip deadlifts to see if I can hit my back more. Last week I started doing rope pull downs on the lat pull down machine. I did 6 sets and my back was aching for a couple of days. This week feels the same. I'm just glad I wasn't dumb enough to do them the day before a shirt session. Followed these up with some Kroc rows. I only used 40kgs for 2 sets and 35 for the last, but these crush me.

Shoulders -
My shoulder strength is straight up disgraceful. I'm certain that I'd improve my bench a lot if I could just get the damn things to grow. Having said that, todays session was the best one I've ever done. Actually did less then I have in the past but was completely rooted by the end of it. Started out with the regular 5-3-1 for seated press - which I'm going to have to base off of 85% of my max because I too f**ken weak to use 90%. Then 8 sets of delt raises. We've also been playing around with something I call an incline scoop press. Its to hard to explain but it's like cross between a front barbell raise and an incline press. Only use the barbell without weight but its very tough and nails the shoulders. Ended with a lot of face pulls for the rear delts.

Hopefully I should feel alright come saturday afternoon when we have our weekly katana party. Lucky for me the Sth Is weightlifting champs are on this weekend so I get a few more hours to recover. Should be good. Aiming to do a few phantom board presses and see how close I can get to the chest.

Will try to start again...

Must be time to have another crack at this training log.

Targeting the national bench in Oct. Training of late has been bench twice a week with one session being in a shirt on Sat's.

The other is just the usual chest session. Still hitting shoulders, back and tris etc. Now my f**ked calf lets me squat and deadlift I'm also doing legs.

Decided I needed to change my schedule to mon-back, tues-chest, wed-off, thurs-shoulders, fri-legs, sat-shirt & arms sun-off.

Not too much focus on legs but still training with 5-3-1 to make sure I progress. All the benching and computer work has made my pecs tight, so I'm sticking to the giant camber bar.

Super Katana is still very much a work in progress but I got some good experience in it on Sat. realize now that from1-1.5 boards down is a whole new level that I need to treat like a new shirt. Will look to get close to the chest (low-no) boards sooner in each session so I can get more reps in nearer the bottom. Looking forward to it.

Alf is looking like he could well bench...ah I wont jinx him. But he's looking very strong.

Up til now

The main point of note in my training of late was the first session I had in my new super katana. Only went to 3 boards (after 3 reps on 4 boards with 180) with 185 but the fact that I actually touched 3 boards was very pleasing.

Alf gave me a bit of advice about my tuck and elbow position which took my elbows from being behind the bar, to under it. This made getting it down slightly tougher, but only really because I had to concentrate a bit more. Looking forward to the next few weeks although it'll be a gradual process. Also the 185 never felt heavy or hard. I kept it to 3 reps but could have done more on every set except probably the last one.

Started adding some supersets for tri's at the end of a few work outs, which means I'm hitting them 3x each week now with saturday beign a full session. I'm doing something similar with biceps as well but only 2x each week. Sounds gay, but has made the world of difference to the health of my elbows. I think we sometimes get carried away with stretching and massage when things are a bit rusty (which I like) but making it stronger can also help with durability and reducing wear and tear.

The Latest

Was stuck training solo a couple of times this week but ended up being a good thing. After Crobar made up for his lack of effort last week with a set of 41 squats followed by a set of 23 he needed a couple of days bed rest. So I hit chest and back on my own.

Was beneficial because I decided (after looking through a few old articles) that I would reduce my rest periods to no more then 90 seconds. Still too much fucken talking between sets but thats my fault. If I kept focused the people around me would have noticed and left me to it. Nevermind, though because the chest session was excellent and I cam out shaking. dont like doing incline with out a lift out though, or crazy bells for that matter.

The following session was lats, but this was where I fell down (only a bit) conversing with others. Seated rows were very tough and I ignored the warning signs today when doing shoulders, not warming up my back (at all) and so tweaked it picking up the log like a fuckwit. Still got through everything in the session plus a bit extra.

Dont feel like my shoulders are copping much of a hiding. I think I'll make sure to run a tighter ship with the other guys I train with in the morning next week. Too fucken social, not enough focus.

Hoping to start breaking in the super katana this sunday if I can get a few people to give me a hand.

Will hopefully

From last week til now....

Last week and the one before ended up being all over the place due to the trip over to Greymouth. My new Super Katana also arrived so training is going to look a bit different.

I've decided there's big gains to be made with my bench by getting my shoulders stronger. I suck right now since I've really put more of my energy into benching and tris for the last few weeks. I want a respectable seated military press which I reckon will help no end with my raw and shirted bench.

Still a long way off squatting or deadlifting as well so main focus is still upper body. Outlined the bulk of my training for the next 8 weeks or so last night, so keen to get into it. Incline bench first up tomorrow for chest.

Wednesday Back

I managed to cock up my first cycle of 5-3-1 by going too heavy too soon, but still happy with how it went. But I bought in the deload week early. I spent today doing light-moderate weights for 3 sets of 5-6 reps. Only did 3 exercises but surprised myself with how much I got from doing so little. I figured if I was only doing low reps I'd aim for as near perfect form as I could get which ended up feeling like I had done something alright.

Shoulders tomorrow, still deloading but not to the same extent as today. I'll use less weight but do more sets, plus I think I'll chuck in some machine work to finish.

From the last post to today

Had a fucker of a time in the past couple of weeks with a torn calf, which I managed to re-injure again on Good Friday (not good for me). Anyway training has consisted of everything as per program bar leg and post-chain work.

I managed a much better double with 140 today, missing the 3rd due to lack of leg drive, which also happened the Saturday before Easter when I went for 180 off the chest in one of Craig's old Furys. So frustrating to feel power drain through a soft arch. Also missed 150 because of the same reason. But still pleased with what I did do which was 130 x 6 (which didnt make the heavier sets any easier.

Crazy Bells have been feeling like they are due for a change, but had to do them today with my legs up and found them much more challenging again, so I think they'll last another few weeks.

Shoulders was a bit of a mess because I miscalculated my percentages. But I am still improving on where I was the last round of seated press.

Tri's are going better now I flagged the close grip board pressing for close grip declines.

Not too much else to report. I am going to map out my next cycle of 5-3-1 better and prepare each cycle in advance, instead of working it out in the gym on the day.

Wed Through Saturday

Wednesday - Back Solo Again

I recorded my numbers and what not but cant remember them off the top of my head so wont bother listing everything.

Started with a max effort test for chins. Deadlifts are going to be off the menu for a while so I'll use this for my 5-3-1 program. Ended up with 30kgs on the belt. Might have had more but was always going to be conservative anyway. Next week I'll work off that as my true max.

Dumbell Rows - I worked up to a couple of very heavy sets, but I want to change my form on these next week so I'll go a lot lighter.

Seated row - didnt expect to be able to do these but wnet alright. Stayed more up right after talking to Fry and felt it heaps more in my back. Dropped the weight as a result but that fits into the rest of my program right now anyway.

Still had a few hard reps/sets but for the most part felt good afterwards.

Thurs - Shoulders. Started with front seated press (5-3-1) but cocked up my numbers. Will fix them next month and keep progressing on what I did.

Behind the neck seated press. Pulled the bar apart more on these and felt it more in my shoulders. Haven't done these properly for a while so it felt good doing them again.

Lateral Dbell Raises - dropped the weights and focused on form again. Felt like I got a shitload more from them.

Bbell Shrugs with bands - These were good but I probably didnt compensate for the bands too well and went too heavy. I wanted to do a couple of high rep sets but only managed 1. Not too worried though.

Friday - Bi's and Speed bench. Started with face pulls for 6 sets then 11 sets of 60kgs on speed bench with bands. Decided to use a lighter weight and keep my elbows happy. Still went well and by then end I was real happy with my form.

1 arm cable curls, seated dumbell curls, ez bar curls. No one should log their bicep training online let alone talk about it so I'll leave it at that.

Saturday - bench Shirt and triceps. Worked up to 180 off the chest but missed it. I shouldn't have been so worried about my calf during the set up. It held up fine on the 1 board at 180 but I purposely kicked it out to the side when I went off the chest so I struggled to have any stability or purchase through the grind.

Dbell Extensions, Overhead Extentions, Push Downs. All new triceps session which felt real good. Managd to do some decent volume with good weight, and my elbows stayed happy.

Tuesday - Chest Solo

Started with the 5-3-1 program today. It's not too dissimilar to the aproach I've used since I start training with Mike and Craig last year. If I hadn't trained with those boys I'd probably still be in the habit of switching off after the first exercise (max effort) rather then being focused throughout the whole session.

One change from Wendler's examples is that all my assistance exercises are for the one body part. I find that I get more balance from training this way then by mixing up each session. I like to train 5-6 days each week, so that makes it easier although I found I had to be much smarter about things like exercise choices and recovery in order to make it work. Especially after I went back to training in the mornings.

Bench Press -

97.5 x 5, 105 x 5, 117.5 x 8 - I may have got the percentages a bit wrong but the principle of working with a sub-max weight still applies.

Crazy Bells - I kept this one in from the past few weeks because its still working very well for me (I originally only planned for 3 exercises total)
84 x 10, 94 x 10, 99 x 10, 9
the 2nd last set was easy so I was tempted to increase the final one but decided to stick with it for the sake of staying on the lighter side of things. The last few reps were hard, especially when I got a big bounce going through the bands.

Incline Flyes
25 x 10, 9 20 x 10, 10 - these are tough after crazy bells. I kept my arms wide to try and keep the tension on my chest the whole time. I might switch to cables

Mach Press - I like to finish with these for high reps
40 x 15, 50 x 15,15

Looking forward to coming up with something as a main lift for back day tomorrow (since I cant deadlift with my torn calf). Will probably use weighted chins so might end up doing a max effort test so I can tell where I'm at with them.

Back Into It

Couldn't be bothered keeping my log and updating this log for the past couple of months but decided today that I'll get back into keeping track of how I felt, ideas and stuff like that on here.

I'm at a very philosphical phase right now as I'm coping with a torn calf and a fucked back. The back injury was a real let down as it happened while I was stretching cold.

Up to that point my training had been going really well, but having said that I think I jumped too quick (like I always do) which meant I was carrying around more fatigue then usual.

The calf was a bit of accumulated fatigue and bad luck. Its a pretty nasty injury but healing quickly  so hopefully I'll be able to have a bit of a muck around in the 3 lift next month, although my squats and deadlifts will likely be rubbish.

So I'm even more of a bench specialist then I had first planned. Nevermind. Wont make any blold plans here for any of the other lifts (squats, deads or strongman) but will still be incorporating plenty of that training.

First session this week will be chest tomorrow. Still have to decide what I'm going to do and what comps to target. I'd like to lift something decent at an Eastside comp this year and have a crack at 200 at the National bench.

Catch Up Post - 3rd to the 13th Jan

Lots happened in the past week both training-wise and at home. My little girl turned 4 yesterday plus I'm really getting stuck into working from home for a living (sometimes "stuck" seems really appropriate!)

Have skipped a few sessions when the body or time hasn't allowed, but made up all but 2 of them. New goal for the next 4 weeks is to get in better shape (that means get leaner) for a trip to the islands in Feb (late 30th birthday present).

I've mapped out my eating plans and training. Strength work is pretty much as per program but with a bit more heavy stuff thrown in and an emphasis on explosiveness - will explain my theories on another post. Eating is basically just keeping to whole foods while minimizing refined carbs and even protein shakes to more useful times that compliment training.

Strength-wise my numbers are good, but still do better if I can train in the evening. It might take a while to get back into a full time morning routine but its just part of the process. Incline press with a wide grip (still "legal") has gone up, and my back is not screaming like it was at the end of 09. Both good signs. No intention of flat benching heavy until end of feb. But I might push that back depending on how my strength goes with me dropping some (unwanted) size.

Brought in some cardio 3 days each week with skipping, cycling, boxing. I'll keep posting on these to help me keep track as well. Just have to choose a good way to measure them. Will probably do density based training for time.

So next post will be my log for shoulders and core work (morning) along with boxing for cardio in the evening.

Saturday 2nd Jan -Arms with Mike & Craig

First session back after the holidays. Didnt take too much notice of the weights or reps and just focused on trying to get the right muscles into it.

Skull crushers
30 x 12 x 2
40 x 10, 9, 10

Push Downs
120 x 15
130 x 15 x 3

Rope Push Dwn superset with bent over overhead rope ext
36 x 12 + 15 x
36 x 12 + 12

Dumbell Curls
15 x 10
17.5 x 10 x 8
15 x 8

Close grip EZ curls
30 x 12
40 x 10 x 3

Barbell Curls
30 x 10 x 3