Martin's Powerlifting Journal...

Have a good birthday mate. Do you go to the Amsterdam every year?

Lol it seems that way

RE Upper

Bench Press + 3 Chains
Bar x 15
40kg x 5
60kg x 4 x 10

Close Grip + 3 Chains
40kg x 3 x 12

Military Press
Bar x 15
30kg x 3 x 15

+ a little stretching

Done. Pressing still feels a little alien and weak but it's feeling better.

Got my knee op on September 6th so another week of light training then I'm resting agian for a couple more weeks. Hopefully after that all will be good and I'll be back! Looking at getting ready for a push/pull in December as a target to get me back on track.

RE Upper

Bench Press
Bar x 20
40kg x 10
60kg x 10
90kg x 5 x 10

Ring Press Ups (feet elevated)
BW x 3 x 10

Ring Chin Ups
BW x 8
Bw x 2 x 5

Inverted Rows on Rings (feet elevated)
BW x 3 x 10


Good little session today using the rings. Good news was the bench pressing felt ok on the pec so I think it's almost better- the bad news was that 90kg felt pretty hard work!

Good news re. pic, and if the ring pressups didn't hurt that's good cos they have a big range of motion. Don't worry about 90kg feeling heavy, it take long till your hitting 100+ mate!

Lol, everything feels heavy atm! Yeah I'm pleased that it doesn't seem to be bothered by them. SHould eb back to full speed (albeit rather weak) in no time!

RE Upper

Bench Press (using slingshot)
Bar x 20
40kg x 15
60kg x 10
100kg x 5
120kg x 5
140kg x 3 x 5

Ring Chin Ups
Bw x 5 x 5

Ring Press Ups
BW x 3 x 10

Ring Inverted Rows
BW x 3 x 10

+ some shoulder stabiltiy work


Last session today before my knee surgery tomorrow! Will be having at least a week off training on crutches and applying some recovery protocols which I will update as I go along. Hoping to maybe hit the gym for another upper body session towards the end of next week

Nice session! Good luck for tomorrow dude.

Good look with surgery. Would love to come and train with you guys again once you're back on your feet. I still say I owe were I am now to you giving me the confidence that what I was doing was on the right track. I took a full month off after my rugby season and I soon got back what I lost, I'm sure you'll do it even quicker.

As I mentioned in my email to you, good luck with everything tomorrow mate!

Tuesday 6th Sept

So I went in for my knee surgery. Arthroscopy of the right knee to confirm and trim two tears of my medial mensicus - one vertical through the tibia cartilage and anterior horn, one large horizontal bucket tear of the posterior horn continuing onto my femur cartilage.

I was in at 8am with no food and drink since the night before. Got all my checks done and waited around until about 11am when I was taken in to theatre.

I was under a general anathestic due to the position of the posterior tear and the possible difficulty involved getting to it. That was fine by me, although the risks are technically higher I'd much rather not be awake when my knee is being bent backwards!

I was back within about two hours and left to come round for a while. The pain was quite intense and my knee was huge and my leg fully bandaged.

When I had come round fully after a coffee and some toast I was set to go in a wheelchair and given crutches to use over the next couple of weeks. Getting into and out of the car (not to drive!) was painful as any firing of my quad muscles caused alot of pain. My leg was very heavy and my strength minimal.

Back home I kept the leg elevated and took the prescribed painkillers for some relief. Moving was rather difficult needing help to stand and sit, going up and down stairs on my bottom, and not being able to take my pants on or off myself.

The recovery plan starts now!

Thanks for the comments above guys. Fc - your welcome to come down whenever mate Probably better coming on a day when we're fit enough to train though!

Good luck with recovery dude! Is Mrs. Martin gonna be bringing you to the gym and carrying you over to the bench then?
See you soonish buddy!

Cheers Pete I hope so. I've been told I'm banned from driving until I go back and have all the stitches out in two weeks! So I'm relying on her to taxi for me.

Thats horrible news , wish you a safe and quick recovery mate , all the best !
P.S thank the lord for inventing the bench press !

Shame about his pec tear though!

The rest from massive lifts will do you good in the long run. Mark Clegg seems to come back stronger after his enforced layoffs!