Training in the heat

- Sumo Deadlift: 140/308 x 10 x 2 (1 minute rest)
- Row: 70/154 x 2 x 8
- Drag Curl: 30/66 x 3 x 10
- Core work
- Prowler: 10 x 20m trips with 180lbs in 10:00



Today was the first day deadlifting according to Steel’s Train Like An Athlete program. I had to tape my hands to cover my torn calluses, but they tore further anyway. Now the calluses are all but gone, which will allow me to start afresh and ensure that they don’t build up in the first place. Aside from my hand absolutely killing me, these deadlifts felt good and I like the repetition of setting up and pulling quality reps over and over again.

Didn’t do much else really, my hands were too fucking sore. I had my bone scan and will have the results by tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Torn calluses

- Conditioning: 180 KB Snatches in 10:00

I told myself to shave my calluses before doing the Kettlebell stuff. I didn’t listen. Tore two calluses. Currently applying salt to the wounds to toughen the raw skin.

Bone scan for foot tomorrow at 9AM.

The outlook is bleak

- Bench: 90/198 x 5 x 2, 68/150 x 10
- Seated Press: 71/156 x 6, 65/143 x 8
- Weighted Chin: 20/44 x 10, 8
- Core Work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x4x40
- Prowler: 10 x 20m trips with 180lbs in 10:00

I started Steel’s “Big Bench Program” today. I also plan to progress my deadlift according to the Train Like An Athlete program. I’m taking a break from squats to give my knee a bit of a rest.

It looks like I have a possible stress fracture in my left foot. Nothing came up on the x-ray, so now I am awaiting a bone scan. If the physiotherapist is correct and I do have a stress fracture, I’ll have to use crutches for several weeks, which means not only will I be unable to walk, run, sprint, jump, squat or deadlift, but I might not be able to go hiking and camping in Tasmania in January.

I’ve been looking forward to this Tasmania trip all year and words can describe how fucking disappointed I will be if I can’t go.

Morale wavering

- Press: 70.5/155 x 6, 62.5/138 x 8
- Box Squat: 132.5/292 x 6, 100/220 x 12
- Tricep Extension (from floor): 40/88 x 15, 15
- Core work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x2x40

I felt pretty flat today. Things didn’t go too badly in the gym really; I just didn’t feel very strong. Truth be told, I felt small and weak.

I weighed in at 84kg/185lbs this morning and my waist was about 33.25 inches. I also just fit into the 4th hole on my belt, which I have never done before.

A few more weeks of fat loss and then that’s it. I just have to stay the course and keep doing what I’m doing.

Small but significant progress

- GHR: BW x 2 x 10
- Bench: 97.5/215 x 8(+1), 92.5/204 x 8(+1)
- Rack Pull: 210/463 x 12
- EZ Curl: 42.5/94 x 12, 35/77 x 15
- Core Work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x2x40
- Wrist Roller


I bumped the bench down a bit, as I wanted to hit higher in the rep range and then microload from there. The first set was actually an equal rep PR, I hit this just before I went to NZ to visit Mitch when my bench was at its strongest, I was eating like a pig and was nearly 5lbs heavier then I am now. So this was a small but definite victory.

Absolutely crushed the rack pull and I had a couple more in me for sure. Looks like I’ll have to buy some more plates.

Got a wrist roller the other day. Talk about forearm burn, that thing kills.

In other not so good news, I’ve done something to my left foot, it’s all bruised and I can’t even walk or put any weight on it without experiencing some serious pain. I can only assume that it was caused by wearing shoes that I don’t normally wear on my AM cardio. Let’s hope it gets better soon.

Back to box squats

- Seated DB Press: 66/145 x 8, 60/132 x 12
- 12” Box Squat: 130/286 x 6, 120/264 x 8
- Steep Incline CGB: 60/132 x 8,8
- Weighted Chin: 25/55 x 8,6
- Prowler: 10 x 20m trips with 180lbs in 10:00

I did some AM steady-state this morning and will continue to do so over the next month to accelerate fat loss a bit more. I won’t bother logging it as it will be a given.

Seated DB press felt great.

I decided to box squat today so that my knee could have some time to recover. I also realised that if I can box squat without knee pain, then I should just box squat most of the time, especially if I end up playing football next year. I just can’t see any reason to continue fucking my knee up and most probably causing long term damage to my body. Obviously I understand that regular squats are superior for both general strength/mass and athleticism, however given my knee issues, box squats seem to be a perfectly suitable substitute that will still allow me to get stronger and carry over to athletic endeavours, ie football.

I am starting to get the hang of the steep incline close grip. Triceps were smoked after it.

I’m pretty sure the weighted chins were some kind of PR, I don’t think I have ever done that weight for that many reps.

Not so good

- DB Bench: 84/185 x 8, 75/165 x 10 (+2)
- Sumo Deadlift: 190/419 x 3, 140/308 x 15
- Seated Alternating DB Curl: 34/75 x 14, 10
- Core work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x2x40



The session started well when I smoked the DB bench on both sets.

Unfortunately I didn’t do so well on the deadlift. After I struggled on the lockout of rep 3, I knew the set was over. I’m strong off the floor but I get stuck just before lockout and my legs start to wobble and I can’t fully lock my legs out. Feeling pretty dejected I stripped some plates off and banged out an easy 15 with a little over 300.

I’ve had a damn good run with my deadlift over the last few months and I know I can’t expect to just continue marching on to 500 without any hiccups, especially while losing body fat. However I ‘m not exactly sure what I should do now. I can reset and work back up trying to break rep PRs on the way. Or I can try and progress my 3rm for a few weeks. I think I might get John’s opinion.

Another great session

- Seated Press: 70/154 x 8(PR), 62.5/138 x 9
- Squat: 152.5/336 x 8 (rep PR)
- Tricep Extension: 35/77 x 16, 13
- Weighted Chin: 22.5/49 x 8, 8
- Core work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x2x40
- Prowler: 11 x 20m trips with 180lbs in 10:00



Absolutely smashed the seated press. It seems that I’ve really found my groove with it and it just feels really strong.

I was supposed to squat in 4-6 rep range today, but I wanted to return to the weight that defeated me last time. It was a really solid set and I managed a 2 rep PR.

Weighted chins are obviously going up quickly as I get leaner.

The frequent prowler work is definitely paying dividends. We are getting stronger and fitter with it and it is having the desired metabolic effect and helping to improve body composition.

Making progress

- Shallow Incline Bench: 95/209 x 7 (+1), 85/187 x 11
- EZ Curl: 42.5/93 x 13, 35/77 x 15
- RDL: 92.5/204 x 8,8
- Core work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x4x40
- Prowler: 10 x 20m trips with 180lbs in 10:00

Pretty happy with today’s session. I bumped the 1st set of shallow incline up 5lbs and on the 2nd set I got three reps more than I did last time.
I absolutely trashed my biceps with the curls today.

Not sure if I’m flexing my knees too much on the RDLs. Will post video and ask John.

All in all everything is going well. My waist is down to 33.75” and I’m weighing in at about 187lbs. Another six weeks of leaning out and then I will get a DEXA scan and see where I’m at body fat wise.

Whatever

Conditioning: Kettlebell Situp, Swing, Goblet Squat 5/10/10 x 10 in 10:28

I ran up the back of an idiotic driver this morning and now I have to fork out the $1000 excess. Awesome. I could have purchased a pair of Powerblocks with that.

Press PR

- Press: 70/154 x 7(rep PR), 62.5/138 x 9
- Safety Squat: 120/264 x 15
- Weighted Chin: 20/45 x 8, 8
- Tricep Extension (from floor): 40/88 x 15, 12
- Core work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x4x40

Just as I was telling myself to accept a bit of strength loss while leaning out, I hit a nice little rep PR on the press. Pretty happy with this.

Safety squat bar was definitely a good purchase. At first I loaded up 3 plates and banged out a few reps but it felt significantly heavier than a regular low bar back squat with the same weight and it does pitch you forward a bit, so I took a bit off and completed the set above. After rep 12 or so I started to see stars, but in hindsight I probably wasn’t as close to failure as I initially thought and maybe could have gotten 20 reps or more if I had pushed myself. This was my first time ever using the SSB and now that I’ve used it I think you can really fucking push yourself and extend the set far beyond what you thought was possible. Next time I’m going to really destroy it.

I’ve decided that I just don’t like the FM approach to chins and would much rather smash two sets to failure once or twice a week. I know JP said if I was to do this it should be in lieu of one of my back variants, but I feel it should be alright and I’m willing to give it a go and find out for myself.

Bench plateau

- Bench: 100/220 x 6, 92.5/204 x 8 (+1)
- Rack Pull: 200/441 x 10
- Fat Gripz Barbell Curl: 30/66 x 15, 13
- Core work
- Neck Harness: 24/53x2x35
- Prowler: 8 x 20m trips in 10:00

It’s becoming quite frustrating benching 220 for 6 session after session. I’m not sure if it’s unrealistic to expect my bench to go up without my bodyweight going up, but I would be stoked if I just could just increase it 1 or 2 pounds a month, nothing crazy, just some small and consistent incremental gains.

First time doing the rack pull and it felt pretty good. Probably could have gone a bit heavier though.

Prowler was done with heavier weights today, up to about 280lbs I believe.

FM pushups and weighted chin ladders most days of the week, I don’t think I’ll bother logging them.

My safety squat bar was delivered today. I played around with it a bit this morning and am looking forward to hitting it properly on Friday.

Could have been better

- DB Seated Press: 64/141 x 9, 60/130 x 12
- Squat: 152.5/336 x 6, 110/242 x 20
- Steep Incline CGB: 50/110 x 12, 10
- Prowler: 8 x 40m trips in 10:00

I went a little too light on the DB seated press and smoked both sets.

Squats were a bit of a disaster. I was going for at least 8 but came way forward on my 7th rep and had to ditch the bar onto the rack. So I banged out a 20-rep set and accepted defeat. I just couldn’t really find my groove plus my erectors were still pretty fried from deadlifting on Friday. I also wonder if squatting 3 times a fortnight instead of twice a week is going to take some getting used to? I absolutely HATE not making my reps. It will be bugging me until I come back, make my reps and do what I should have done today.

Steep incline felt a bit weird.

Also I have been doing FM pushups and weighted chin up/pull up ladders throughout the week. I’ll start logging them from now on.

Monster fuelled

- DB Bench: 80/176 x 8 (+1), 70/154 x 10 (+2)
- Sumo Deadlift: 187.5/413 x 6 (PR)
- Seated Alternating DB Curl: 30/66 x 13, 11 (+3)
- Weighted Sit Up: 2 x 20
- Neck Harness: 24/53x2x35
- Prowler: 10 x 40m trips in 10:00



A good solid session. Wilso was back, I had my can of Monster and I was ready to give it hell.

Dumbbell bench felt good. I’m going to have to get several more pairs of smaller plates so I can do my best to microload these.

Deadlift was pretty good. The last two reps were legitimately fucking hard.

Prowler was, well, typical prowler - sickening and we managed to get a couple of extra trips in.

No sleep? No partner? No surplus?...No worries.

- Seated Press: 67.5/149 x 8, 60/132 x 10
- Squat: 165/364 x 5 (PR)
- Lying Tricep Extension: 40/88 x 12, 30/66 x 15
- Weighted Sit Up: 2 x 20
- Prowler: 8 x 40m trips



I really needed this today. I have been struggling with insomnia again and today’s session will go a long way in reminding me that I can still crush the weights despite not getting enough sleep; and that consequently does a lot to alleviate the sleep-anxiety responsible for the insomnia in the first place.

I am loving this powerbuilding stuff and I am excited to see what I can do when I'm eventually enjoying a caloric surplus again.

I'll say it again: fuck volume.