Strength / Weight Training

Linus blanket

Sounds exactly like my gym. Dumbbell press is a great and safe alternative.

For the golfer's elbow, you might try what Mark Rippetoe recommends here:

https://youtu.be/77cCx1dZp70

or here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2MA5cRxyG0

Basically, do a lot of sets of bodyweight chinups with a submaximal number of reps. In the second video he recommends each set should be a third of your max. E.g. if you can do ten reps, then he suggests sets of 3 reps with a 1 minute break, with the goal to do twenty sets (but if it is too painful, then start with fewer sets and work up).

It seemed to work for me. I developed golfer's elbow just before the last time gyms were forced to close. It didn't seem to go away even when I was just doing some bodyweight stuff at home, so I tried the protocol he recommended, and it seemed to work (at least I no longer have golfer's elbow).

Dumbbell press is a great and safe alternative.

Especially for incline bench. There are those who claim a reverse dumbbell incline press is superior to the barbell kind.

Ta, will definitely check out that podcast. Lot of truth to the lifestyle and mentality thing, there's a clear correlation for me between stress/anxiety levels and my back health, if I can call it that.

Saw physio this morning, my hips are misaligned with left hip incredibly tight and effectively shortening my leg. The joint itself seems to be fine but all the connecting bits around it are super tight and that'll be causing a lot of the back aggro. Stretching and soft tissue work over the next 3-4 weeks and no cycling, running or putting any weighted load through it. Can do bodyweight squats and such, anything that encourages full range of motion.

Thanks for this- I’ll try it and if it works for me then I owe you one.

That’s a tidy squat!

Stronglifts 5x5

I have completely misread the spreadsheet, and have been doing 5x5 deadlifts, instead of 1x5.

Will I die?

Or shall I just carry on until the weight starts to rack up - I'm enjoying being able to really focus on form and feel the right muscles working.

I'd just switch to 1*5 now. Doing 5 heavy deadlifts is serious hard work.

You don't need to push harder than the program as it gets really hard pretty quickly.

I’ve always preferred 1x5, but if you’re still learning the movements maybe that works for you. I did 1x5 on Saturday and was fairly dead the day after. 5x5 would have smashed me to bits. And once it gets heavy you’re more likely to lose form doing more sets, which increases the chance of injury.

Does anyone have any goto/recommendations for books/videos/plans for kettlebells. The last 18 months has turned me into a 41 year old weakling and I need to address it. Thanks ~ Si

Focus on form. 1 x 5 is what you should be doing. It will get heavy soon enough!

IS there a spreadsheet for mad gainz? I'm looking for some routines that I can do 3 / 4 times a week focussing on different compound areas of the body - mainly as I never know what I'm doing and just use whatever weights are free at the time I'm there

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/newsletter/

Liftvault.com has millions. The search function is really useful for finding one that fits your timing/goals.

Steve Cotter is good - has plenty of videos etc on YouTube on form, there are loads of other 30min etc. workouts to follow too.

I always recommend going to a class & have some old school Russian kettlebell fanatic tear you up real good - I always found I done 10x the amount of work during a 45 minute class than an hour in the gym randomly flinging the bells around

I've used this for a few years in my garden. Very simple and easy to follow to start with.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Total-Kettlebell-Workout-Secrets-Personal/dp/1408832577

https://wolfbrigade.com/public-assistance-project-training-days/

https://wolfbrigade.com/movement-library/

I found this series of videos helpful: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy67jdMC9aYziLX9CDy1ENQ

Leg day and I’m really not feeling it.

Broken off my schedule and just doing feel good stuff.

You'll go blind

Hehe that cheered me right up. @Dammit can you switch your bench to dumb bells? Safer and could be argued more use for mtb

For the session that has the incline bench I then do a flat bench dumbell directly afterwards- 55kg on the incline bench with a barbell seems to equate to 28kg dumbbells on a flat bench. For me, so far, anyway.

It doesnt.

DBs are 'heavier'. Loads really. Thats normal. And i agree, needs must, swap to DBs when you need too.

(Ancedotally im now at 130 but my dbs are struggling at the 50s... I think ive torn something shifting the 50s or maybe it the OHP... something db has done it... Theyre hard)

Personally, I know youre cyclist, so stronger leg endurance and all, so, bigger pain cave, but i hope these epic rep sesh's you do arent across the board. (is it seshes? seshs? meh)