Greeting Readers

I have no excuses at all for my latest blog posting gap as I’ve had the following ‘proper’ post sitting patiently on my desktop waiting for a closing paragraph for eons now Rather than scrap it and start over, with the inherent risk of delaying further posts for all eternity I thought I’d go ahead and post it anyway

The Almost Lost Proper Post

I’d like to start with some very exciting news It’s taken a wee while longer than we would have liked but I’m delighted to say that the Physique and Performance web site is now live! Go and have a look right away please and while you’re there do all the customary social media shenanigans too Thank you

Ok, on with my latest literary masterpiece Although technically it’s not been that long since I posted on here, my last couple of 2000AD love posts have been somewhat off topic so this time I thought I’d knock up a ‘proper’ post for you What ‘proper’ subject matter do I have in mind? Well, at the end of my last ‘proper’ post I did mention being inspired – clearly not that inspired or I’d have written this sooner – to write something about my latest training routine so I thought I’d rattle on about it now for you

What Mike Had Me Do Next

I’ve settled into a pretty consistent training pattern now – train hard for 6/8 weeks, ease off for 4 weeks, consolidate for 8 weeks, ease off for 12 weeks, rinse and repeat It’s working and slowly but surely I’m filling in the gaps in my physique. It’s taking a while as there are quite a lot of gaps but I’m loving my training and having lots of fun so who cares

The last 8 week block I’ve just done was the most intense so far. I trained 5 days a week for the first time in over a decade Outside of training, my personal training sessions, eating and sleeping I really didn’t have any energy for anything else but I was so immersed in what I was doing that I didn’t even notice this until I was out the other side Here’s what I did

The Routine

Day One – Chest

Pec Dec Flyes 3/4 x 25+ warm ups 3/4 x 15-20 working sets – these took me a while to get into but where well worth the effort

Incline Flyes 4 x 15,15,10,10 – these were fun as ever

Shallow Inc Smith Machine Press 3 x 15-25 – I was happily surprised by how much I could feel my upper pecs working at such a low incline

Day Two – Legs

Seated Calf Raise  100 reps in as few sets as possible. Minimum 30 reps on first set, 30 seconds between sets.

Toe Press  6 x 10-15   – this is the best calf routine I’ve ever done, period

Lunges 3 x 20 each leg – I hate Lunges

Single Leg Leg Press 3 x 20 each leg – I didn’t like these much either

Stiff Leg Deadlifts 3 x 10 – 15 – these were lots more fun

Leg Extensions 3 x 20 – apparently I have no words

Day Three – Arms

Triceps – I was going to be doing a lot of Dips but I blew my Shoulder out doing Pullovers in the second week (I really should know better by now) so had to do whatever didn’t aggravate it. This was usually Pushdowns, Skull Crushers and Single Arm Reverse Pushdowns.

Biceps – Incline DB Curl 4 x 15 – I like these

Cable Curl 4 x 15

Day Four – Shoulders

Rear Delt Machine 2 x 25, 2 x 12, 1 x 25 – great fun

Wide Grip Smith Machine Press to the Chin 3 x 15 – 25 – these were great

Military Press to Chest 3 x 12 – 15 – I thought about Branch Warren a lot doing these

Cable Laterals 3 x 12 – I thought about Dorian doing these

Day Five – Back

When I asked Mike why I was doing Back on a Friday he said something along the lines of ‘because you can murder yourself and you get 2 full days to recover’. I took this to heart and completely smashed myself every back workout

Pulldowns 5/6 x 10-20 short reps 1 x 10-20 full reps – the BEST back exercise I’ve ever done, period

Rack Deadlifts 4 x 10-6 – felt great

Bent Over Rows 4 x 15-10 – these were hard as I was usually totally battered by this point

Pulley Rows 4×20-12 – ditto

Dumbbell Rows 1×15 elbow back, 1×12 full reps, 1×20 short reps – I was delighted by how well I could do these despite being battered beyond words

 Old School Bodybuilding

My overall training style is still pretty much as I talked about in my Old School Bodybuilding post but Mike did give me his customary specific pointers

“Train harder” – he says this to me quite often I do as I am told, dig deeper and amazingly always find that I can train harder

“Up your game” – kinda ties in with the last one I also do it, every time

“Relax and contract” – again Mike says this to me quite often and this is the most important of the lot given my propensity for stress and anxiety I suspect that there may always be room for improvement here

There you go That’s what you would have read a couple of months ago if I’d got around to typing this bit I’m now in Week 5 of my next block and I’m having a ball I feel great, I’m stronger than I’ve been in years and I’ve even introduced some intervals a couple of times a week  (Mike told me to obviously) I’m starting to shed some body fat and tighten up a bit and as I type the thought of posting about this in more detail is quite exciting but please don’t hold your breath as I don’t want any manslaughter charges being brought against me

Would you now be so kind as to do do all the customary social media shenanigans again please

Until next time – there will be one, I’m just not committing to when it will be – train hard, have fun and be happy