Control upper

Spoto bench press
115lb x 4
120lb x 4
125lb x 4
130lb x 4
135lb x 4
140lb x 2

Bent over barbell row
115lb x 4, 4, 4
125lb x 4, 4, 4

Shoulder press
65lb x 10

Wide neutral grip pull-ups
10 reps

Angled dips
10, 10, 10

Control lower

Still exhausted from our trip to Toronto and late return. On Tuesday. Bloody old man!

Pause back squats
155lb x 4
165lb x 4
170lb x 4, 4
180lb x 4, 4

Pause deadlifts
195lb x 4, 4
210lb x 4

Barbell calf raises
135lb x 15
185lb x 15, 15

Heavy upper

Bench press
115lb x 6
130lb x 5 + 1
135lb x 4 + 1
125lb x 6

Pull-ups
30lb plate x 5
25lb x 5

Push press
85lb x 3
95lb x 3
105lb x 3

Pendlay row
135lb x 6, 6, 6

Dips
12, 10, 8

Heavy lower

Easing myself back into a heavy routine.

Back squats
185lb x 6
195lb x 6
205lb x 6

Deadlifts
255lb x 6
275lb x 6

Leg extensions
75lb x 12, 12, 12

While I was doing the squats and deadlifts, there was another guy in the gym - he looked a bit younger than me and was friggin' huge - doing some upper body work: bench presses, barbell rows and shoulder presses, all with some bloody serious weight. I could see he was looking over at me during some of my sets, and I thought he was probably thinking, "Meh - lightweight", especially as I used straps for the deadlifts. He came into the changing room as I was getting ready to leave and said, "That was some impressive leg work. I can't use that much weight." Really? The guy was massive! And these weren't even my max weights.

Biceps and triceps

Alternating dumbbell curls, each side
25s x 10, 30s x 10, 10

Bench dips, feet elevated
20, 20, 16

Incline hammer curls
20s x 12, 12, 12

Seated French press
30lb x 10, 10, 10

Underhand lateral pull-downs (Bowflex)
200 x 12, 12, 12 (no way that was 200lb, but I used two 50 rods on each side)

Heavy upper: Deloading

Bench press
115lb x 6, 6, 6, 6

Wide pull ups
10, 8, 8

Push press
85lb x 3, 3, 3

Rope lat cable rows
60lb x 10, 10, 10

Supersets
Incline dumbbell bench press
Incline dumbbell flies
25s x 12/12, 12/8, 12/5

Heavy lower: Deloading

Back squat
150lb x 6, 6, 6

Deadlifts
205lb x 6, 6, 6

Front squat
105lb x 6, 6, 6

Hang cleans
85lb x 10, 10, 10

Straight leg deadlifts
135lb x 6, 6, 6

Control upper: deloading

Spoto bench press
95lb x 4, 4
115lb x 4, 4, 4, 4

Pendlay row
95lb x 4, 4
115lb x 4, 4, 4, 4

Shoulder press
70lb x 7 + 2 + 1

Neutral grip pull-ups (squat rack)
10 reps

Angled dips
10, 10, 9

Tricep cable extensions
40lb x 10, 10, 9

Control lower: Deloading

This is the start of a week of deloading, following two months of heavy weight work. I'm using approximately 60% of my projected 1RM, based on last Friday's assessment.

Pause back squats
135lb x 4
145lb x 4
150lb x 4, 4, 4, 4

Pause deadlifts
135lb x 4
150lb x 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Standing calf raises
115lb x 10
135lb x 12, 12, 12

Leg raises
12, 12, 12

Cable crunches
40lb x 12, 12, 12

Assessment

Another trainer is doing a runner! I've only been training with Mitch for two months, and now he's heading off to university, so he won't have the time to workout with me any more. And what a two months it's been. I've made incredible progress due to Mitch teaching me ways to improve all of the big lifts, by using a series of cues for each one. That's done wonders for my confidence, too.

As this was Mitch's last day at ABsolute Fitness, he decided to do the same strength assessment that we did in our first session, to see if I'd improved. All of the following routines were to determine my 3 rep maxes for each movement.

Here's what I did on Monday, June 30:

3RM (projected 1RM)
Back squat; a2g: 215lb x 3 (245lb)
Bench press: 145lb x 3 (165lb)
Deadlift: 275lb x 3 (300lb)

And this is what I managed today:

3RM (projected 1RM)
Back squat; a2g: 225lb x 3 (250lb)
Bench press: 160lb x 3 (180lb)
Deadlift: 315lb x 3 (340lb)

That's solid progress. I'm particularly pleased with the bench press numbers, as I felt like I'd stalled with these. All three lifts are 3 rep PRs. I've squatted 225lb to parallel before, for one rep. Before I started training with Mitch, I'd only ever done a one rep bench press at 145lb, so that's a big improvement. My 1RM for deadlifts was 325lb, but 315lb for three reps is pretty good.

To finish off today's session I did:

Floor presses
3 sets of 115lb x 5

Weighted neutral grip pull-ups
2 sets of 6 x 25lb

Heavy upper

Bench press
125lb x 6
130lb x 6
135lb x 5 + 1

Neutral pull-ups
25lb plate x 6

Dumbbell shoulder press
35s x 10
42s x 6, 5

Wide cable row
110lb x 6
120lb x 6, 6

Feet elevated push-ups (Swiss ball)
18, 13, 11

Heavy lower

Not much time today, so just did the main lifts.

Back squat
205lb x 6
210lb x 6
218lb x 6

I did 215lb last week, but didn't want to push my luck. I wanted to get back my confidence after my spectacular fail-and-bail while doing pause squats with Mitch on Monday. A small increase today did just that. Plus it's still a 6-rep PR.

Deadlifts
280lb x 6
295lb x 5

Control upper

Much better than yesterday's PT session, when nothing seemed to click.

Spoto bench press
115lb x 4
120lb x 4
125lb x 4
130lb x 4
135lb x 4
140lb x 4

Bent over barbell row
95lb x 4
115lb x 4
125lb x 4, 4, 4, 4

Shoulder press
70lb x 10

Neutral grip pull-ups
10 reps

Angled dips
10, 10, 8

Tricep cable extensions
50lb x 7
40lb x 10, 8

Heavy lower

Back squat
200lb x 6
210lb x 6
215lb x 6

Deadlifts
275lb x 6
290lb x 6

Hang clean
85lb x 12, 11

Control upper

Spoto bench press
115lb x 4
120lb x 4
125lb x 4
130lb x 4
135lb x 4
140lb x 3 + 1

Pendlay row
135lb x 4, 4, 4, 4
140lb x 4, 4

Push press
95lb x 3, 3
100lb x 3

Wide grip pull-ups
12 reps

Control lower

Pause back squats
175lb x 4
185lb x 4
190lb x 4
200lb x 4, 4, 2+1

I failed pretty spectacularly with my last set. I got stuck in the hole attempting the third rep and had to bail, dropping the barbell noisily. Mitch helped me rack the bar, I rested a bit, then tried - successfully - for a third rep. I got stuck again attempting a fourth, but Mitch was spotting me and helped me back up. Ordinarily, I would have been disappointed at my failure, but this was a heavy routine, and a bit more ambitious than the last time I tried the same thing. At least I had the confidence to try, and also to try again after failing a rep.

Pause deadlifts
215lb x 4, 4
225lb x 4

Cable crunches
40lb x 12, 12, 12

I ran out of time because I'd spent so much time warming up and resting between squat sets. I was still tight from last week's heavy leg day with Mitch, so I really did need to warm up well.

Heavy upper

Felt a bit sluggish today, which meant I struggled to hit some of the same numbers as last time. I think it was just because I needed to eat closer to my workout.

Bench press
130lb x 6
133lb x 4 + 1 + 1
135lb x 3 + 1 + 1 + 1

One-arm dumbbell rows; per arm
60lb x 6, 6
65lb x 6

Shoulder press
85lb x 5 + 1

Pull-ups
47lb x 4 + 1 + 1

Decline bench press
85lb x 12
95lb x 12, 10

Machine rear delt rows
70lb x 12
80lb x 12
85lb x 12

Control upper

Spoto bench press
120lb x 4, 4
125lb x 4
130lb x 4, 4
133lb x 4

Barbell row from the ground
135lb x 4, 4, 4
140lb x 4
145lb x 4, 4

Shoulder press
70lb x 10

Parallel pull-ups
12 reps

Dips
12, 9, 7

Heavy lower

I had a busy work schedule today, so only had time for the two main lifts.

Back squat
190lb x 6
200lb x 6
205lb x 6

Deadlifts
260lb x 6
280lb x 5

I was going to attempt the sixth rep, but my back was so fatigued that I couldn't get my set up right. I didn't want to risk another lower back injury, like a couple of weeks ago, so decided to quit.

Heavy upper

Bench press
130lb x 6, 6
135lb x 5 + 1

Pull-ups
25lb plate x 6 (using belt)

Push press
85lb x 3
95lb x 3
105lb x 3
110lb x 3

Barbell shrugs
225lb x 12, 12, 10

Clapping push-ups
12, 10, 7