Well, here we are again, another crash course in all things fitness with Kilkenny’s own strongman competitor Davy Jones.
If you are reading this for the first time, you may not know that I did a 20-week course with Davy previously at the start of 2022. You can read it here.
It was an enjoyable journey, but I’ll tell ya something, it was an enjoyable summer also. To be honest, maybe it was a bit too much fun, I can confirm that pints of the black stuff were consumed in various parts of the country and beyond. Concerts, weddings, surf trips, planes, trains and automobiles, lock, stock, and a few Guinness barrells later and here I am again. Back under the tutelage of Davy.
I kept up my training, but if I am being honest, my motivation to do so waned a bit. Between work, a bout of covid, injuries and medical issues, I felt my discipline slip. Not striving to run that extra KM or do those extra few reps that make a difference. Looking at the clock to get training out of the way before I had to go to something else I signed myself up for.
Coming up to Christmas, I thought, why not bust into another 10-week course and feel good and healthy over the holiday period? With that comes getting back into training and giving up the old alcohol *shock horror*. You see I like drinking, in fact, I probably liked it too much. It switches off the mind and allows me to just relax. However over the last six weeks, with the exception of one night on my holibobs in Croatia, I have abstained from all forms of alcohol. I finally realised at the age of 33, it is not conducive to a busy lifestyle. So here we are about to get into another training regime, fit and ready every day for whatever Davy and the rest of the trainers in Davy Jones have to offer.
Previous training:
Monday
The familiar starting point in Davys has always been chest and back, and this was no different. I explained to Davy that I am interested in cutting body fat (I added 3% body fat since I finished the last course), so Davy designed a high-intensity, low-weight workout for me to start with. I realised I had neglected a lot of the exercises since I went out on my lonesome, favoring ones I enjoyed a lot more. Leaving the bar down in favour of machines, doing ten reps and four sets generally. However, with Davy it was back to the bar, on the chest especially. Supersets, the concept of combining different exercises in one set, was on the card, jumping from a push motion (chest) to a pull one (back). It was a quick workout coming in at 35 minutes, however, in that 35 minutes, there was no real time to rest. I finished that off with a plank for good measure for the old abs.
Tuesday
Walking into the gym, my heart dropped to see the bowld head of Vinnie Taylor. A few reasons, 1. Because it was leg day 2. Because I had just done a 10 km run and leg day on the Friday and Saturday beforehand 3. Vinnie just loves putting clients through leg day. When I say he loves it, I mean he just relishes it. The delight in his eyes when I informed him that it was leg day, gave me a nervous laugh. I mentioned injuries earlier, and I had been nursing a calf injury for the last few weeks. I was trying to get back running the roads, making it worse, overloading my right leg, and hurting my knee in the process. I informed him of this and he was thankfully quick to think of a nice workaround along with strengthening my calf with a few exercises. It was as strenuous as I had remembered, low weight, high reps are always a killer on legs but needs, must.
Thursday
Thursday is shoulder and arm day, always a pleasure. Lee was training me today and after a quick warmup, we jumped into. The reps were high but no supersets today thankfully. Feeling muscles activate again for the first time in a few months. See the problem when you train as I did during most of my life, which is favouring certain routines over others, is it can lead to a deficiency in some parts. The shoulder has so many different components and overloading the “glamour” muscles, i.e. the traps has knock-on effects on things like mobility in other areas. I felt the strain, particularly around my rotator cuff but overall it was an enjoyable workout that was finished with some triceps and biceps exercises, and back to the plank for three one-minute rounds.
Saturday
Due to the fact I am taking it slow to get back into running, I decided an extra day in the gym was needed. I am still getting some runs in but nothing compared to what I was doing. Today I was informed I would be partaking in a hit class, with eight other people. Ian Farrell was on hand to put us through our paces, and to be honest I really enjoyed it. It felt nice to shock my body because I had no idea what I was doing when I walked through those gym doors. Genuinely I walked in, was told there was a hit class about to start, and said, “Sure, why not?”. It was a nine-exercise circuit, pretty much hitting every muscle group, times three. The heart rate was up, the breathing heavy, and the sweat flowing.
If you want to make a change, you can contact Davy on 0892528904 or email [email protected].
