So second to last week of training with Davy Jones Fitness.
I managed to fail to better my plank goal of hitting 6 minutes, managing a maximum hold of 3 minutes and 24 seconds before my shoulders gave up on me. It’s ok we go again! Everything else seems to be on the money though, with getting back running and lifting good weights.
It is quite a busy period with podcasts, rehearsals, training, soccer, and work. As long as I ca remember I struggle with fatigue, never getting a good night sleep. So I was delighted to get a call to see a sleep specialist. I went down to Waterford to collect the gear and slept with numerous wires and devices strapped to me, so I can get answers to my fatigue. As a vegetarian, it is always a worry that you are lacking in something, however, my last blood test showed everything was a-ok, so hopefully, I can finally get answers.
Wednesday:
I had a bit of time to kill before the session so decided to test the calf after a slow short run Monday. I tried to route it so I would be back about 5 minutes before the weight session began. Thankfully I managed to go a bit faster than anticipated, getting 7km in 35 minutes. After that, it was time for some iron, chest, and back days generally following the same routine, with a focus on medium weight with high reps. The change today though was the inclusion of a decline chest press. The purpose of the decline bench press is to work the lower pecs. In addition to lower pecs, this exercise also uses the: triceps brachii in the back side of your upper arm. biceps brachii on the front side of your upper arm. The session passed without any real thing of note, I kind of left not really remembering anything about the session, like when you are driving and just go blank.
Friday:
After last week’s disaster of a leg day, this week was much better. We began with the routine warm-up of squats, lunges, and banded side steps. The banded side steps really add a nice dynamic to training as they really activate your glutes & hip flexors while also involving calves and hamstrings and quadriceps. Vinnie was today’s trainer and he loves doing an exercise known as sissy squats. Sissy Squats are a quad isolation exercise. Your whole body weight is lifted by using knee extension with locked hips, thus making the quads work excessively more, as your glutes and hamstrings turn into a supporting role. With weight added, it really blows up, huffing and puffing for air. After this, we moved on to a machine known as the hack squat, which works the entire lower body — including the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves — as well as the core, while also super setting this with calf raises. An emphasis on the quads means the front of your legs will be feeling it afterward. The damage was not done as a progressive overload on the leg press proceeding hamstring curls and leg extensions. The whole session lasted 57 minutes but the DOMS last for days. I found my calf to be in good nick though afterward which gave me the confidence that they were strong enough to put some mileage on the legs in the final week.
Sunday:
With the gym opening at 10 am, I was a bit caught up for a time Sunday morning. I went over early, around 9.45 am, and decided to go for a small 3km run before the doors opened. once opened I got stuck into the shoulder warm-ups as I wanted to start adding weights to the log. I managed another 10 km (for fewer reps I may add), however, I was well-chuffed with myself after. Ian Farell was in today’s training, and like everyone working there, he is a beast. I have only worked with Ian once before, coincidently on shoulders, however, my injury really hampered me that day. The session this morning was a lot better with 10kg lateral raises for 50 reps. We then went onto shoulder pressing moving up 10 kg at a time, eventually maxing out on 60 kg. I was burnt out after the log but still delighted with the progress. Triceps and Biceps finished off a fun, fast session before I had to rush off to Knocktopher for a soccer match, before rushing back to work!
If you want to make a change, you can contact Davy on 0892528904 or email [email protected].
