Strength / Weight Training

Deadlift infinity.

😂

GOALZ. Given I've just wrecked my ankle and I'm looking at eight to twelve months of recovery, this is a good time to change focus from trail running and bouldering to pushing/pulling heavy things. Some of these goals are climbing specific...

BW: 73kg

Bench: 90kg. Current 1 rep max: 65kg
Pull-Up: BW+40KG. Current 1 rep max: BW+24kg
20mm 7sec open hand (two arms) BW+20kg. Current: BW
20mm 7sec hang three-finger drag (two arms) BW+30kg. Current: BW+6kg
Pistol squats on the good leg. 5 reps with good form. Current: One rep with appalling form, need to re-learn these...

Deadlift: 120kg. Could do 95kg before the accident, three weeks ago. This is a bit recovery-dependent.
Front Squat: 70kg. No idea why this is so woeful but could do 45kg before the accident. Again, recovery-dependent...

Jesus man - leave some plates for the rest of us!

😂

I had a really shitty gym session yesterday, the cherry on top was forgetting a 1.25kg plate on my squat, I wonder if the the bar being off balance was why I struggled so much (excuses). Overhead press is getting very hard, first time I've moved the safety bars right up! Deadlift with 2 plates is no joke, which brings me on to my next point.

I've come to realise I'm not eating enough to be able to shift all this weight and recover in time. Something in my brain makes tracking impossible, I can hardly keep track of anything else in life. My new tactic is to record one day then replicate, so something like: breakfast (Skyr, Avo, toast, cottage cheese), lunch (eggs!), dinner (chicken/salmon/steak, lots of veg), desert/snacks (peanut butter, nuts)

repeat that x7

I usually have my creatine and clear whey daily.

Eating similarly every day is a good way to maintain a diet imo. I eat similarly most days at the moment. Often prep multiple variants of meals that amount to similar macros and switch them in and out.

FWIW your diet looks very low carb (unless you're just not mentioning them). Unless you're low enough carb to go into ketosis, carbs are very important for feeling fuelled for your workouts.

Just my opinion but your gainz will be limited on that amount of food.

Ideally you have the breakfast you’re having. Then the dinner x3. Finish with an egg white omelette before bed.

This is my current plan. But ill at the moment so that’s fine out the window. I’m trying to do a slow cut hence not carb heavy.

Pre workout shake: 6 egg whites, amino acids, creatine
Meal 1: fruit smoothie with protein, amino acids, creatine
Meal 2: chicken breast, 2xpoched eggs
Meal 3: porridge 80g
Meal 4: chicken breast with rice
Meal 5: homemade burger 5% mince, low fat chips and salad.
Meal 6: 6 egg white omelette

Haha, let's see if I actually hit them first!

Bit of a light bulb moment this, have started tracking as was curious and I was nowhere near eating enough.

Daily goal of 3300 calories with a 30/35/35 macro ratio. 270 grams of protein! Just trying to ease in but I actually do feel better!

Amazing! That’s great news.

You should see some progress over time now.

I’ve just had a week off ill. Did some very light chest today with a view to do the rest of the week this way. Hopefully go a bit higher next week.

Tracking helped me more than anything else I tried.
I write everything down and calculate macros later. I work at an airport and am surrounded by food, yummy delicious fast food.
Some people take pictures and calculate at the end of the day.

First leg session after illness. I went super light but it was hard work

I see meal stuff like the above and I wonder how on Earth people can pack in 5/6 decent sized meals a day. I've started to improve my own diet, particularly when it comes to breakfast and lunches and meal prepping, but not sure if I can pack much more in without just feeling ill

Anyway, decided to stick with Stronglifts for now, but only squatting the once every week - my hip has certainly eased off. Now reaching that point where I am starting to struggle with stuff like OHP and barbell rows; have always found the former in particular pretty brutal and I'm still down the lower end at 30kg

Often doing some low intensity steady state cardio (best example, a 10 minute walk) soon after eating helps with digestion and stops you feeling too full, allowing you to pack in more food.

Also OHP is hard, especially if you've got long arms.

I work from home, which helps with being able to pack in food.

OHP is my favourite move but as you say its brutal. I had to move safety bars up for the first time the other day.

Can someone just tell me what supplements to take, going onto bulk/myprotein or equivalent is giving me a headache with the amount of variety.

Currently taking;
Creatine
Whey protein

But I'm sure there is a few I'm missing. I'm particularly concerned about recovery , especially with the amount of squats I'm doing.

assuming your micronutrient intake is decent from your diet, then you should be fine. If not, take a multivitamin, maybe omega3, and a vitamin D tablet assuming you also live in "sunny" Britain. you don't "need" anything really though.

The most important things for recovery are overall calorie intake and sleep. Whey / protein powder isn't even necessary if you can get your protein goals in without it. Creatine works and is a nice to have, but not needed.

pulled 200kg deadlift for 2 sets of 3 today. Smoothest it's ever moved and first time I've done 200 for more than a single. There were definitely more reps in the tank but I managed to fight my ego / I must max out mentality and stick to the triples.

While writing that I remembered this website: https://whatanimaldoyoulift.herokuapp.com/

which is a fun way to give context to your lifts to your friends.

Nice!

I also take amino acids and Ashwagandha

Afternoon, what is a good alternative for the leg press machine?*

Whatever way the one in our gym is, it annoys our back somewhat and has now kicked off a sciatica episode for my husband (bad genetics, his dad gets them too). It be good to have an exercise where we can hit the legs hard.

*we already squat & deadlift but squat is kinda weak so it may not hit the muscles that much...

Lunges

Could try smith machine squats. Close stance, heels elevated will hit the quads hard.

Alternatively, if your gym has them, belt squat or hack squat.

Split squats with dumbbells / kettlebells.
Slow ones.

Hah, that's pretty funny - dunno how accurate the animal measurements are - it's telling me I can bench a goddamn bear 😅

(I'll take it)