Skinny bastards aim to get a bit less skinny

i read through this and diddent understand it mate ?? whats FF

The FF gym I go to is a Fitness First gym... actually, are there any other gyms? Not in London at least..


Thursday - "Deload week"

Bench
20kg x30
40kg x10
60kg x5
70kg x4
80kg x3
90kg x2
95kg x1
100kg x1
102.5kg x1
105kg x1 "assisted"
100kg x1,1,1
92.5kg x3
90kg x3
87.5kg x3
Felt awsome benching today. Just wanted to work up to a top single, got to 102.5kg which flew up and hadn't bothered to ask someone to spot. 105kg I asked some idiot to spot me and evenm went through the hassle of explaining to him not to touch the bar unles it was down on my chest for a second time... i.e I failed... and explained that it will likely slow down to almost dead stop at th emiddle but not to touch the bar unless it got down to my chest again. f**k sake! The bar slows down a bit at my sticking point and the guys fingers are on the bar. Almost blew my top off but then I thought "what the f**k, it's a deload week anyway....". Idiots!

MP
40kg x12,10,10

Pullups
BW x20 PB for BW!
BW x10,10
Last time I hit 20 reps I was around 68-69kg so this is a 5+kg PB. Was just going to do sets of twelves but it was so damn easy that I thought 15 then, got there and thought "f**k it! 20 is going down today!" and all but the last one were close to the strictest pullups I've ever done. After this set I couldn't even keep my arms down by my sides without walking like either a monkey or a camel.

Finished off with.....
Tri rope 35# 3x20
DB Side raises 10kg 3x15

argh fitness first lol and never been to 1 mate is there much in there for powerlifting wouldent that be for more bodybuilders and loads ov tredmills and that where u live london?

good benching

we have a fitness first here in sunny old hartlepool and its full of treadmills and airwalkers , not much in the way of freeweights / bars. and the ones they have are full of arm freaks doing curls and oooh wait there , more curls haha

Cheers, Paul!



No, it's s**t for any PL lifts or lifting heavy. It's crowded as f**k but can go on quiet times most days.

I only go as I'm really skint now and I still have my FF employee card which they never cancelled when I stopped working there (another branch in the city). So at the moment I'm having a gym for free and it's just around the corner from where I live. Once I get a bit more work I'll spend the £50/month or so for a better gym, if I then have the time to travel to a good one.

There is actually a pretty decent gym very close to where I live in Catford that is both cheap and near and it's got all you need. More of a body building gym though with quite a few juiced up dudes. Good athmosphere and sometimes you see a few fitness chicks pumping away and posing with their massive fake boobs, tan and blonde hair. I think rule there is that you should stare

ha ha lol theres hardly any chicks at my gym and 50 quid i only pay 28 pound amonth and the free membership sounds cool i need 1 with this credit crunch and suppose if u can train ye 3 main lifts jobs a gooden really init and keep the good traing up bench looks on the up 2 good work happy days jakko

On a positive note I've so far been sneaking in my chalk with me and noone has complained about it so far. I make sure to tidy up though, so I won't give the management a reason to put up notices banning the use of chalk...

ha ha thats a bit petty isnt it sounds like too many rules and regualtions too me mate need a powerlifting gym and sure theres no fussing bout chalk mate.

Well, beggars can't be choosers and as long as i get to lift a bit I'll be fine for now...

Monday

MP
20kg x10
40kg x5
50kg x5
55kg x5
57.5kg x4,4,4
Ok, only second cycle and I'm already missing my minimum target in the MP. I guess I simply started off with a too high 1RM, which is my 1RM personal best of 72.5kg. I'll keep the weights as they are for this cycle but next one I'll drop the 1RM I'm deriving all my weights from down to 70kg and start over from there. To be honest I never got consecutive sets of 4 reps with 60kg when I did them more frequently some time back so it's not a biggie. But since I missed the target I thought I should just do a few more sets and was surprised that I got another two sets of 4 reps, considering how hard I pushed in the first top set.

Bench
72.5kg x10,10,10,9,10

Wide Parallel Grip Seated Row
84kg x10,10,10,10,10

Dips
BW x20,15,13

The poor performance today could also be because of the slight cold I'm recovering from.

Tuesday

Squats
125kg x5
135kg x5
142.5kg x8
142.5kg x6,4,4
Wanted 10 reps with my top set in order to beat my best 1tRM, but didn't have the fire in me. It got really hard after just the third rep. Was a bit disapointed but it really got to my legs, so I figured I'll try the idea of adding a few top sets by lowering the reps by 2 each set. Last set would have been 2 reps but felt pretty easy so I squeezed out another 2 to finish off.

Leg Press
100kg x5
150kg x5
200kg x10,10,10
Starting to get a good groove with these. Kind of starting to like them.

Power Shrugs
120kg x5
140kg x5
150kg x5,5,5
120kg x20,15+5
Done properly full ROM and from halfway up the thigh at the bottom. Think I'm pushing too much from my toes as my calfs go nuts in the high rep sets.

Leg Curls
40kg x15,15,15,15,15

Was so packed in the gym tonight that it got stinking hot and humid. Haven't been sweating so much in ages. Still a good workout though.

Thursday

Cycle 2 - week 1

Quick note: Today I decided to work up to a heavy single after the second set of the 5/3/1 set up. I.e I would warm up with 75% x5, 80% x5 and then do a single with 90kg, 95kg , 100kg and after this drop down again to my third work set and do 85% x5+ (target was 9 reps to beat my previous best theoretical 1RM).

The reason for me wanting to try this out was because so far whenever I've gotten to my top set and supposed to rep it out I still feel I haven't had enough warm up sets or practice and I simply don't feel "primed". I remember from past workouts when I've done back off sets and noticed how much easier it is top rep out with a relatively heavy rep weight. And this even after multiple singles at 95% of 1RM or more.

Funny enough when I got to 100kg today it felt piss easy and as I was lowering it down so slowly anyway I figured that I'll just pause it. Didn't have a spotter so wasn't the smartest... Anyway, paused it good and then just smoked it. Was so suprised that I decided to have a go at 102.5kg paused as that would give me a long lacking PB. Got a spotter this time and luckily he thought I would rep out so stayed away from the bar... imagine that! 102.5kg was very smooth as well, not as fast as the 100kg but much faster than 100kg usually is.

Happy with that I stripped the weight down to 85kg which I wanted 9 reps with but a minimum of 5. As I had hoped the first 5 reps were piss easy and I didn't even have to start to work until the 6th rep. The 9th rep I almost missed as the plates caught the rack because I had pushed the seat to the side (a coupld of screws missing on that bench). The lockout after it cought took me forever and ended up screaming like a b**ch to get it in the end. And to be honest, I've never felt so f**ked up after benching before... that was as close to the max that I've taken the bench before... ever.

Two PB's today, both a 1RM and a rep out one!

Bench
20kg x30
40kg x10
60kg x5
75kg x5
80kg x5
90kg x1
95kg x1
100kg x1 Paused!
102.5kg x1 Paused PB!!!!!!!!!!!!!
85kg x9 1tRM PB!
85kg x5,5,5

MP
40kg x10,10,10,10,10

Pullups
BW x12,12,12,12,10

Louies
15kg 8x8

DB Side raises
12.5kg x12,12,12,12,12

Smoking!!!!!!!

Congrats on the bench pb Jaako, nice one

Thanks, Mikey!

I love it when I get those PB's when I least expect to

Well done on the PB Jaako. But now get focusing on nailing that 180kg squat!

Paul