Only a month remains in this twenty-week training regime with Davy.
I have defiantly got stronger, and I can feel that in the gym, but also outside the gym as well. The shoulder still occasionally acts up, but when it isn’t, the going is good. However mentally, it can be damaging when ruled out with an injury, like I currently am with running. It is frustrating, but I a trying to supplement my lack of running by getting on the bike in the gym. It is not the same though, but hopefully, by week 18, I can get off the bike and back running the roads. I signed up for the Streets of Kilkenny 5km , so I definitely want a few weeks of training in the build-up to it. Diet-wise, my nutrition has been a bit lax, I intentionally increased my calorie intake, and it is hard to visually see this, weight has been added but is that a good thing? I do plan to cut soon, and increase my gym sessions from 3 times a week to 5 soon, for now though here is how I got on in week 17.
Wednesday:
Chest and back day once again always rolls around so quickly. Just as fast as my weekend (Monday and Tuesday) goes. While trying to get a 100kg club on my chest, I have rolled back to get more comfortable on high reps on higher weights, instead constantly going for a 1 rep max. With that in mind, I pushed up to 70kg for three sets and twelve reps. I definitely want to improve on my lat pull-downs, just so I can get more comfortable doing wide-grip pull-ups. On the incline bench press, I ended up failing on my last two sets, my muscles just giving up on me after the increase of weight in the flat bench. I then moved onto a single arm incline chest press, 20 on each side, supersetting that with rows, and doing it in almost a circuit-style workout, by immediately going into my next set.
Thursday:
Leg day is always a joyous occasion, isn’t it? Before we got going though I had to plank, previously I would struggle to get 40 seconds, and now I am trying to get to 6 minutes. In all honesty, I probably did not invest much training into getting to six minutes, however, this day I got 3 minutes and 24 seconds. Core wise I actually felt fine, it was my shoulders that gave way. So a positive start to the workout was welcome, a new personal best before I embarked on the power squat machine. The use of the machine is made to facilitate the performance of squats in the ideal form. 160kg, which was tested. From here we went onto leg press, with lighter weights and higher reps. 20 steps for four sets, it’s been awhile since I did this amount of reps and I could barely stand after. From here we did the power runner, but the big blowout was the prowler.
The prowler is a type of sled training, that works the muscles in the feet and lower legs, quads, hamstrings, glutes, shoulders, and core. I had previously managed 12 trips with 90kg on it, so I had to beat that for a personal best, the difficult thing is getting your breathing right. It is a proper gut-busting regime, that takes up a lot of mental fatigue along with physical, good job I had Davy and my partner Diane cheering me on. I managed a second personal best of the day, with 18 trips, jellied legged on the final few, but it was an accomplishment and thus created another target to beat.
Saturday:
Shoulders and arms day is always a fun day, especially when getting to work on the log. I absolutely love lifting the log, there is so much movement to it, and to be honest, it looks badass. there is something about putting on a weight belt and chalk on your hands. It was a good buzz being so comfortable with it, after all my shoulder problems. I got a few shoulders shrugs and walks while shrugging with some shoulder flies to boot. Triceps dips and a focused bicep workout completed Saturday’s workout. I left feeling good but wanted to get out for a run badly. It really gets to me having to wait for an injury to heal, after all that running in January, getting ruled out with another calf injury is becoming tiresome. I did manage to get out for a run in the grass down the castle park, encompassing some hill runs, which mad eme feel ten feet tall, so much so I celebrated with some Jack Daniels! I may have a look at abstaining from alcohol again, as my intending park run on Tuesday never happened!
If you want to make a change, you can contact Davy on 0892528904 or email [email protected].
