No Crust Racing

I'm not a "bad" eater but I do enjoy eating/ Today my meal breakdown was this. 2 scoops of oates with some light milk honey and LSA. A protien shake. An Apple, a Banana, a Carrot, Letf overs for lunch which was a pasta bake (mince and some cheese on top). 2 cups of tea, one sugar and light milk in each, and 2 arnotts assorted cream biscuits. Not the worst diet, not the greatest. Lunch is usually idnner left overs and a pasta bake is as unnutrious as it gets, the night before that was home made chicken and vegetable soup with some sourdough bread for dipping.

I don't enjoy either, running or eating less, but I can deal with running easier than eating less

It may just be a strain that needs time to rest.

Then you have the wrong Physio. Personally I don't rate them much at all, the only reason I persist with the Physio for my ankle is it's not costing me anything and we're making slow progress. I see my preferred Myo for everything else, a good therapist of any kind will tell you when they can't help you and recommend you on to the right person. It's a slow process though and can be costly =\

If it's causing you that much grief you need to avoid any exercise inflaming it, see someone and only do motions that are working towards improving it. Training on it will only prolong the recovery.

How'd you go with having a look for those plates Markos?

A real mixed bag last night. I thought being Monday I would crush it like a boss but not so. Squat low bar 3x8 80.5 90.5 104 (4 failed 5) I added the board under my heels and its completely changed the dynamics of the squat for me. 90 felt really good mechanically but at the same time I felt like I was lacking power, as I'm now relying on different muscles more to get out of the hole, I'm guessing I'm having to push from the heels more and by my own admissions was using the middle of my foot before. I couldn't believe I was struggling at 4 and took a few big breaths and went for 5 knowing I'd likely fail, I did and I dropped the bar off my shoulders onto the safety which I said I'd be doing more of, going to failure. The only thing I forgot to do was re-rack it and then go one more rep or so, but I don't have the strength to lift it off the safeties in a clean/jerk motion and put it back on the pins with out taking weight off it so I just put it on the next pins ready for bench. Bench 3x8 93 101.5 109 (6 failed 7) I actually went for this and came ever so close, maybe 30mm off the pins but I just didn't have it, a spotter would have been great. So I now know the safeties are only high enough at about my abdomen, I'm not sure what to do here as the next height up is too high. Anyway, after re-racking the failed 7th rep I jumped back on and pushed it out. DL barefoot 3x8 88 97.5 109 Got 8 reps on this, again struggle street on the last 2 reps but got it. Will get it again a few more times before adding. Row 3x8 78 88 97.5 Fail city on the rows, I managed to "do" the reps but they were ugly. I've been playing with bar location in terms of where I pull it up to. I may have to move these away from the DLs as the DL works so many of the same muscles that rows suffer. Chins 3x8 7.5 12.5 15 (7 failed 8) The 7th rep was hard again but easier than last time so I went for an 8th knowing I wouldn't make it, I would have maybe got half way back up. Dips 3x8 15 20 30 (6 failed 7) The increase in weight meant for the first time in ages I failed at this so now we know roughly the limits of my dip. So yeah a mixed bag all round but I'm committed to failing more and adding more where I can and we'll see how it goes. No walk or run this morning, such a shit sleep =\

What he said, well done

Good news about the acupuncture. It's an increase but it's not as I was doing more before but sets of 5 and I find 3x8s more challenging due to the added endurance. I get more "puffed" also so I equate that with being a higher load on the respiratory system. Injuries are so so, ankle is making slow progress and I have been really pushing the stretching on it recently which has shown gains on a test I have to do where I need to get my foot as far aware from the wall as possible while still being able to touch my knee cap to the wall. The hammy has not seen any improvement it still just lingers. I am still foam rolling and stretching but will book in to see my preferred Myo for a decent session and see if that helps.

Are you calling me fat kent? lol Yes I know but eating less is also counter productive to strength gains, I've always been the type that prefers more exercise to less eating

Forgot to update Friday night. Some progress. I've figured that to get anywhere weights wise I will have to just keep adding weight for a bit so if I can get a solid 6-7 out in the final set I'll do that for a week (3 sessions) then add some more slowly. So I added to a few things. Squat low bar 3x8 80.5 90.5 104 (5 pause 6) I was happy with that, my previous best was 5 reps at 105 so 6 reps at 104 wasn't bad, I had to really suck in some air after the 5th rep to get the 6th and I only just made it but I'm glad I backed myself to do it and got there. I'll be adding a board under my heels tonight which I'm hoping will help ankle rom. Bench 3x8 93 101.5 109 (6 pause 7) I wasn't sure if I had the 7th in me continuously so I just racked it for 10 seconds and grabbed another rep, this is something else I'll be doing more of on some things. DL barefoot 3x8 88 97.5 109 (7) Was pretty happy with 7 reps after a 5kg increase, the 7th rep was a ball breaker though. Will sit on that weight this week as the body adjusts. Row 3x8 78 93 97.5 Accidentally did 93 as the second set so went for some more on the final set, got'em but still unhappy with form so will keep playing. Chins 3x8 7.5 12.5 15 (7) Getting the 7th rep was real hard work, I really had to go for it and just scrapped it in. Dips 3x8 15 20 27.5 Getting harder to get them all now but still managed it. I'm finding that cardio is hurting me, as in when squatting I run out of breath/power and need to suck in more air. Getting back to running will help that I hope. Plus it's only been 3-4 sessions since moving back to 3x8s. I'm regularly weighing in at 88kg in the mornings and my legs have definitely gotten bigger but I'd like to trim up my mid section a bit, again hopefully running will help that a bit.

All you can do is keep practicing and seeking tuition when you're unsure. Every persons body moves differently so there are going to be cues that are unique to your mechanics.

Right. He must be on the cans tonight, I'm not used to seeing attempts at humour lol

Was there meant to be a vid or am I not seeing it on my phone?

Markos two questions. 1) Can you show me what you consider good bent row form. 2) Given the rom issues i'm having with my ankle and how it affects my squat mechanics, do you see issue with me using a 10mm or so board under my heels?

So I've ordered these, not for that price,m but not much cheaper either =\ Physio said it should help with squatting and running, We'll see if it helps. http://www.2xu.com.au/mens/compression/socks/compression-sock-for-recovery-ma1955e.html This morning I managed to jog 1.5k of the 2k run continuously, albeit at a slow pace. This was the view when I got back home, not a bad start to the day.

LOL

Yeah I do workout at home, and I don't smell that bad, it's more that over time the shirts build up a bit of odor. Singlets are the go for summer. Plus I'm thinking of this doubling as my running shirt and in the warmer weather I wear a shirt to protect me from sunburn (milky bar kid).

OK I might grab some socks then and see if it helps. Has anyone tried Under Armour gym shirts or any other specific gym shirts? At the moment I just use generic nike/everlast old cotton T's The moisture wicking and odor fighting factors is what appeals most.

Edited for you.

So Birds was right, only for the ladies...

Cool so personal preference then. Who's got some updated DL stats to impress me? Have you cracked your 200 yet Birds?

I see why they say don't use them, as the idea is to try and make the whole body strong and you're kind of working around a limitation. But realistically, for anyone not competing it makes 2 tenths of f**k all difference so do whatever you like. I'm guilty of this as well though, we all get caught up on specifics of things that probably don't matter that much to non competitive guys like us.

Hmm, do you wear them in the gym or running (or both). I'm in two minds about wanting to help support my ankle while I run, squat and DL, and not wanting to offer it too much assistance. The physio said I may need to come to terms with the fact that it will never be 100% and I'll always be making some form of compensation for it and that using things like socks or self massage etc may need to become part of my "routine" to manage it.