Matt's training log

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1

Hi there, I’ve decided that I am going to take the plunge and begin logging my training on here, so figured I’d begin with a little bit of an introduction.

My name is Matt, I’m 37 years old and have quite a mixed sporting background. Although I began lifting weights back when I was 16/17, it was by no means organised in any sensible fashion but I did at least avoid the trap of just spending 90% of the time training arms! :slight_smile: Instead I’ve always had a decent focus on developing leg and back strength to support my sports. I played cricket to a good standard for a long time, being a fast bowler (if that means anything to anyone in North America…). However, due to the amount of cricket I was playing and studying for my accountancy qualification, I basically stopped weight training at 22.

As I approached 30 my longstanding kidney disease worsened considerably, to the extent that I began dialysis on my 30th birthday. After 3.5 months on dialysis I received the call for a kidney transplant, late in 2012. Whilst I was ill and just starting dialysis it was the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, and this reminded me that I was sure there was a transplant equivalent of the Paralympics - I duly researched it and found there was. There were annual Transplant Games held in the UK, and biennial World and European championships on alternating years. Immediately this became my goal and so I signed up for the British Transplant Games (we compete for our various hospitals where we had our transplants). A couple of months after I’d had my transplant, though, the realisation dawned that I really had committed to this thing, and that over the past few years, and particularly in the last year when my activity levels had reduced almost completely, my levels of fitness had declined significantly and that I needed to do something about it.

Anyway, fast forward a few years and I have now undergone quite a transformation. I took up track and field, competing in all sprint distances up to 400m and the javelin, and now have competed at multiple World and European championships, and over the last couple of years taken a bigger interest in the different aspects of training. Despite this my true barbell experience is very limited because my deadlifting had been with a trap bar (reasonable evidence of this being the lift that has best carry over to sprinting), I didn’t squat because I stuck mainly to machines (less fatiguing so I could concentrate more effort on sprinting/throwing), and didn’t bench at all (pretty much no direct benefit to sprinting). Eventually I bit the bullet and began to experiment a bit just around Christmas, so had been getting going for a couple of months before things closed down. Now, though, I’ve got my garage gym set up and am going to embark on following proper barbell programming, particularly as I will not be able to compete in track and field for another 12 months or so.

For posterity’s sake, here are my key stats going into this:
Height 178cm
Weight 74-75kg, very consistently - looking to use the next year to gain quality mass as I won’t be racing any time soon
Approx body fat (using the US Navy calculator set out by Greg Nuckols) 13.5% - not super interested in what my body fat levels are, but think it’s good to have a benchmark, if I’m successful in gaining mass then wanting to assess how much of it has been quality lean mass.

Current 1RM
Squat 130kg*
Bench 80kg
Deadlift 200kg

I’m going to begin with The Bridge (free version), and I am expecting the proper PL focused programming (at least to far more of an extent than I’ve done before) will see those 1RM/e1RM increase pretty well. The asterisk against the squat is because in fact I suspect my 1RM is already better than 130kg. 130 is the most I lifted in the couple of months pre-Covid shutdown, but since getting my garage gym set up a couple of weeks ago and getting re-acquainted with a barbell, my squats have been better than this. Yesterday I did 120kg for 4x5 @ what I thought were 7/7.5, but then finished with a AMRAP (stopping when form worsened rather than at failure) of 8 reps, which was at worst an RPE 9.

2

Whilst I’ve been waiting for the last remaining plates I order to be delivered (final delivery came on Friday), I’ve been running a pretty basic training split of push/pull/legs, but with a bit of extra bench and squat throw in, so that they were trained on 2 out of the 3 days.

13/6/20
Squat w/ belt
120 x 5 @ 7.5
120 x 5 @ 7
120 x 5 @ 7.5
120 x 5 @ 7.5
120 x 8 @ 9

Comp deadlift (which is sumo for me)
160 x 3 - 7 sets @ 7

BW pull ups
2 x 8 @ 7
1 x 10 @ 8.5

Finished with 3 sets of walking lunges and a couple of sets of crunches.

3

14/6/20
Comp bench
65 x 6 @ 6.5
65 x 7 @ 6.5
65 x 7 @ 6.5
65 x 7 @ 6.5
65 x 7 @ 6.5
65 x 7 @ 7
65 x 7 @ 7

Chin ups
BW 4 x 10 @ 6/6.5

Lateral raises
3 x 8 20kg @ 7

DB Skull crushers
3 x 15 20kg @ 6.5

Then also did farmer’s walks w/ 60kg, several lengths of my garden (~40m) whilst my niece and nephew were round, between messing around with them (only second time seeing them since March due to lockdown).

4

Will start The Bridge tomorrow, and lift Tue/Thu/Sat this week, as I need to cut the grass tonight - that’s nearly 2 hours of grass cutting counting as very easy GPP (will probably do 7 min AMRAPs for chin ups and weighted planks as well, as long as I have time).

5

After cutting the grass, first go at the 7 min AMRAP for chin ups (56) and ab work - weighted plank with 10kg (3:56). Main issue with the plank was how weak my upper arms felt holding the plank position, so that was the initial constraint, although my abs were feeling it more by the final minute. Thought it was apt that ‘Addicted to pain’ by Alter Bridge came on my Spotify during this…

6

16/6/20 - The Bridge, Week 1, Day 1
Squat w/ belt
120 x 5 @ 6
125 x 5 @ 7
130 x 5 @ 9 (should’ve been 8 but overshot a bit - not sure if I just nocebo’d myself a little when getting to the 5th rep and remembering that pre-Covid shutdown this was my, very shaky definitely @ 10, 1RM)

Happy with the progress my squat is showing, but pretty sure it’s simply the product of more practice being accumulated rather than getting stronger at the moment.

CGB
65 x 4 @ 7
67.5 x 4 @ 8
70 x 4 @ 9

Block pull (3", because that’s what I’ve got - and yes, block pull, not rack, because that’s what I’d prefer :slight_smile: )
140 x 7 @ 6
150 x 7 @ 7 (probably closer to 6 really)
162.5 x 7 @ 8 (at worst)

Never tried pulling from blocks before, but happy that it suggests I’d be on track to comfortably pull over 200kg, which even though it’s a new exercise for me, I would expect it to be better than my deadlift numbers.

Finished with a bit extra, so 3x10 BW pull ups, @ comfortable 8.

7

17/6/20
GPP day (not prescribed, moved earlier in the week to fit schedule)
Did 5 circuits of:
10 chin ups @ RPE 6 (final set 12 reps @ 7.5)
15 DB skull crushers w/ 20kg @ RPE 6-7
10 BW squat jumps (needing to maintain some explosivity for when I return to sprinting)
6 lengths of my garden, c50m, running (only 4 sets of this, as it started to rain heavily!)
Plus 2x30 crunches

8

18/6/20 - The Bridge, Week 1, Day 3
2ct paused squat
105 x 4 @ 7
110 x 4 @ 8
115 x 4 @ 9

First time trying pause squats, but enjoyed them. Had taken note of comments others made about working at ensuring staying tight whilst paused, and seemed like a good training exercise.

OHP
37.5 x 5 @ 6
40 x 5 @ 7
42.5 x 5 @ 8

Not a huge fan of OHP work really, and it shows!

BB rows
70 x 8 @ 6
72.5 x 8 @ 7
75 x 8 @ 8
72.5 x 8 @ 8

Whereas I have done a lot of rows in the past, but still not a fan. I may well sub these out for pull ups in the future.

Added in some supplementary TnG bench as well, as that hadn’t taken very long to get through: 60 x 8 @ 6, 65 x 8 @ 7/7.5 (3 sets of this).

9

20/6/20 - The Bridge, Week 1, Day 5
Comp deadlift (sumo)
150 x 5 @ 6
160 x 5 @ 7
170 x 5 @ 8

Nice to be back to proper deadlifting. Felt pretty comfortable on this, but looking forward to putting in some extra sets in future weeks!
Comp bench
67.5 x 5 @ 6
70 x 5 @ 7 72.5 x 5 @ 8
Some more solid practice on the bench, increasing my control over the bar path.

303 temp squats
80 x 8 @ 6
82.5 x 8 @ 7 85 x 8 @ 8
Played it very cautiously on these, having not done them before. Quickly learned in my warm ups there was no way I could literally count to 3 on the way down and back up again whilst also keeping counting of the reps! So just focused on it being nice and slow each way, probably was a tad quick on the ascent compared with the descent. Found the RPE very hard to judge on this, and felt like I could probably have done quite a few more reps at these weights but they were very tiring in a cardio kind of way rather than due to strength decreasing as the set went on. I also found my lower back being the one area of my body that was aching as I did them, which I think may possibly have been due to going deeper than necessary (and deeper than I can maintain best back position) because I was so focused on just descending very slowly. I’m intrigued to see how these progress over the coming weeks.

Finished with 3 sets of BW pull ups, 9 reps @ 8, in between beginning to encourage and coach my wife into doing some lifting :slight_smile:

10

23/6/20 - The Bridge, Week 2, Day1
Belt w/ squat
120 x 5 @ 6
125 x 5 @ 7
130 x 5 @ 8.5
125 x 5 @ 8.5
120 x 5 @ 8

Still couldn’t quite get the top set at the right @ 8 prescription, but certainly an improvement on last week’s effort. Then still found it a bit tough for the next set, so slightly higher RPE than the prescribed @ 8, but recovered for the final set. Good to get some more volume in again, though.

CGB
67.5 x 4 @ 7
70 x 4 @ 8
72.5 x 4 @ 8.5
72.5 x 4 @ 9

Formula in The Bridge spreadsheet recommended dropping the weight back to 70kg for the final set, but given it wasn’t a true RPE 9 I stuck with the same weight, and glad that I did. Bar path and speed felt more controlled tonight, so definitely progressing technically.

3" block pull
150 x 7 @ 6
160 x 7 @ 7
167.5 x 7 @ 8
160 x 7 @ 8

Had planned to jump up a bit more to 170 for the top set, but was feeling a little bit of fatigue in my lower back, so stuck with the recommended 7.5kg jump - important to continue to live to fight another day!

11

25/6/20 - The Bridge, Week 2, Day3
2ct paused squat 107.5 x 4 @ 7
112.5 x 4 @ 8
117.5 x 4 @ 9
112.5 x 4 @ 9
Once again felt nice doing these, added 2.5kg vs last week, and felt like I hit the RPEs fine, if anything a touch under and so may have been 8.5s to finish, but happy to continue progressing like this.

OHP
40 x 5 @ 6
42.5 x 5 @ 7
42.5 x 5 @ 7.5
42.5 x 5 @ 8
40 x 5 @ 8
37.5 x 5 @ 7.5

Cock up tonight…forgot to add the extra 2.5kg for the top set smh, hence it ended up also not being @ 8. Decided to treat the rest of the sets as if I had increased to 45kg, though, and so kept the weight unchanged for a 3rd consecutive set after that and then dropped it down. OHP work felt better tonight.

BB rows - ditched them, and instead did 3 sets of BW pull ups (8 reps each @ 7.5/8) and 3 sets of DB rows with my 30kg DB (3x10 - fairly low RPE, maybe 6?). Definitely felt like I got more from doing this than keeping the BB rows, though. Having considered why the BB rows might be a poor connection with me over this past week, I think it might be another consequence of my long arms, meaning that I end up doing a lot more of the movement from my arms rather than my back (a poor mind muscle connection in bodybuilding terms, I guess), whereas I get a much better feel from pull ups/chin ups and DB rows.

12

27/6/20 - The Bridge, Week 2, Day 5
Comp deadlift (sumo)

157.5 x 5 @ 6
165 x 5 @ 7
172.5 x 5 @ 8
165 x 5 @ 7.5
157.5 x 5 @ 7.5

Nice and smooth, just easing up the weight :slight_smile:

Comp bench

67.5 x 5 @ 6
70 x 5 @ 7
72.5 x 5 @ 8
70 x 5 @ 8
70 x 5 @ 8
70 x 5 @ 8

Decided to keep the weight at 70kg for the final couple of sets, as it felt like it was going quite well. As this is definitely my weakest of the big 3, it felt good to get some extra practice in. Given my absolute best, and quite a grind, in March was 80kg, this is feeling like some decent progress.

303 tempo squat

80 x 8 @ 6
87.5 x 8 @ 7
95 x 8 @ 8
90 x 8 @ 8

Better than last week, it certainly didn’t fatigue my back like last week. Still no real idea if these RPEs are really accurate - I suspect they’re really not, as I’m sure I could do more than I think. The main part here is just how out of breath I get when a few reps in…and then this is prescribed for 8 reps, oh boy. As the set progresses each time, I find it increasingly difficult to fully brace for each rep and so end up taking what feels like (to me anyway) quite long rests between each rep. Going to persevere with these, though, as I can sense the benefit it’s giving to grooving my technique.

13

28/6/20
GPP day
Just 5 rounds of BB curls, DB skull crushers, and lateral raises - time instead mainly spent on some more coaching of my wife getting into some lifting.

14

29/6/20
GPP / sprint training day

7 min AMRAP chin ups: 50 reps - 6 fewer than last week, but this time I tried a new approach. This time I went for an EMOM method, stopping a couple of reps from failure on the 1st couple of sets, so although the reps (and hence volume) reduced, I think the training effect was probably greater than splitting it up into smaller sets with roughly 20-30 sec rest between them.

7 min AMRAP for core work: Weighted plank with 10kg, total planking: 3:59 - an increase of 3 seconds on last time.

Sprint training: 4x250m uphill, 4 min recovery between reps. Pushed harder this time, as just 4 reps rather than 5. Previous 5x250 had average rep time of 40.8 seconds, but this time was 38.0. Again a ramping set of reps, increasing intensity with each rep and decreasing the time, finishing with a new PB of 34 seconds for this course.

15

30/6/20
The Bridge, Week 3, Day 1

Squat w/ belt 120 x 5 @ 6
125 x 5 @ 7
132.5 x 5 @ 8
125 x 5 @ 8
120 x 5 @ 8

Got the RPEs right this week, and given it was feeling good went with the suggested jump up to 132.5kg for the top set, rather than playing it a bit more cautious and sticking at 130kg. Pre-lockdown I had attempted, and failed, to achieve a single at 132.5kg, so this felt like finally properly putting that weight to bed and proving the progress I’ve made. All sets felt nice and controlled until the final rep of the final set, where my balance fell forward a bit as I think I just got a bit over-excited at the prospect of completing my best set of squats ever.
CGB
70 x 4 @ 7
72.5 x 4 @ 8
75 x 4 @ 9
72.5 x 4 @ 9
Possibly riding the crest of the wave from my squats these also went very well. I would even go as far as to suggest the final set, backing down to 72.5kg was an 8.5, but again the technique went a tiny bit awry and the pause was a bit quick really, so I don’t think I could truly rate it 8.5.

3" block pull

162.5 x 7 @ 7
170 x 7 @ 8

177.5 x 7 @ 9 170 x 7 @ 9
Continuing to just play the patient game with my deadlift and block pulls, adding 2.5kg per week and taking it fairly easy. I’m sure my RPEs are overrated on these sets, probably more like a range of sets @ 6-8, rather than 7-9, but happy to give more of the focus to my squat and bench currently, and just accumulate some volume on deadlift. Just going with small 2.5kg increments each week is still providing progressive overload anyway, so it’s no problem.

I’d say this was probably my best ever lifting session, and definitely the one I’ve come away feeling the most satisfied with :slight_smile:

16

2/7/20
The Bridge, Week 3, Day 2

2ct paused squat

110 x 4 @ 7
115 x 4 @ 8
120 x 4 @ 9
115 x 4 @ 9

Really enjoying these paused squats now, feel they are excellent technique practice for me. Just staying patient with the loads - I reckon the final set, backing off to 115kg, was an 8/8.5 rather than @ 9 really.

OHP

40 x 5 @ 6
42.5 x 5 @ 7
45 x 5 @ 8.5
42.5 x 5 @ 8
40 x 5 @ 7.5
40 x 5 @ 7.5

Top set at 45kg was a bit tougher than I hoped, but it was definitely the right decision to increase the weight from the 42.5kg (and successfully remembered to add the extra weight this week, unlike last week!). Final two sets back down at 40kg were only @ 7.5, at worst, hence didn’t decrease the weight again for the final set. Guess that’s the way when dealing with pretty small numbers, the % jumps are always going to be a bit off.

(Subbed in for BB rows again…)

2 sets of BW pull ups (8 reps @ 7, and 10 reps at 8.5), 4x10 DB single arm rows w/ 30kg, a couple of sets of leg curls with an exercise ball, just to get some blood flowing in my hamstrings (first sprint session back on the track scheduled for Sunday, so need to get them back into use!), and 2 sets of weighted planks with 10kg plate on my back, each 90 seconds.

17

4/7/20
The Bridge, Week 3, Day 3

Comp deadlift

160 x 5 @ 6
170 x 5 @ 7
177.5 x 5 @ 8
167.5 x 5 @ 8
160 x 5 @ 8

Nudged up the intensity a little more today, and it felt good to be pulling a weight that felt like a genuine @ 8. Suggests an e1RM now of 219kg, which would be great if I could hit something close to that currently.

Comp bench

70 x 5 @ 6
72.5 x 5 @ 7
75 x 5 @ 8.5 (should’ve been @ 8)
72.5 x 5 @ 8
70 x 5 @ 8
70 x 5 @ 8

Despite rating the top set as @ 8.5, I felt this went quite well. I touched down the bar too high up my chest on the 5th rep of that set and so was a bit out of sync. I’d like to think that I could still have got a couple more reps if focusing on my technique but decided to be fair and call it 8.5.

303 tempo squats

90 x 8 @ 7
95 x 8 @ 8
100 x 8 @ 9
95 x 8 @ 9

I still really struggle to truly rate the RPE on these, since the goal is to complete the concentric in 3 seconds. I guess that RPE goes beyond 10 when you can no longer maintain that even tempo? I still doubt that this is really @ 9, but (especially in sets of 8…) they gas me so badly that I have increasingly long breaks between reps (yes, reps, not sets - but sets as well!). This means it becomes so hard to set my brace well for each rep.

For a poor sprinter like me, these sets are absolutely murderous - but I do feel they are providing excellent technique practice and so I see the benefit of them, and clearly on the end of the comp deadlift and bench workout day, it is helpful to have something that’s significantly lower intensity but still providing good training effect.

Talking of sprinting, tomorrow is my first day back on the track for a session since 21 Jan, due to achilles issues and then lockdown. Really looking forward to it, but am conscious I will need to ease my way back in!

18

5/7/20
Sprinting day - first proper one in six months! :slight_smile:

Full session was 5x200m with 5 minutes recovery between reps, but I stuck to two pairs. First set in trainers, which takes significantly more effort, the rest in spikes, with a big old headwind right up the home straight (our track is perfectly positioned to run into the prevailing SW wind we have in the UK…so stupid).

28.5 and 28.9
28.7 and 28.3

Average time of 28.6

Aim was to set out at around 80% effort, ramping up for later reps to maintain the same times, so I probably overshot a bit at the start (esp given I was in trainers), as an 80% effort for me should be more like 30.5, so I was at something more like 85% effort per my usual times. However, came away from the session feeling pretty good. Calves felt it quite a lot as I have done so little running, never mind sprinting, in recent months, and I can also feel it in my hip flexors but otherwise all good currently. Certainly no lactic, so definitely didn’t go too hard, and my achilles feels okay.

Then when I got home I did some sets of curls and skullcrushers, as well as 3 sets of 10kg weighted planks (2x80 seconds and 1x100 seconds).

19

7/7/20
The Bridge, Week 4, Day 1

Comp squat

122.5 x 5 @ 6
127.5 x 5 @ 7
135 x 4 @ 8.5
127.5 x 5 @ 8
122.5 x 5 @ 8
117.5 x 5 @ 8

Think I was probably carrying extra fatigue this week due to the track session on Sunday, when I’ve usually had two entirely/relatively clear days from any lower body stress. Still the heaviest weight I’ve ever had on my back so far, so not too discouraged, but thought it better to cut off the top set after the 4th rep when the RPE had been reached (and breached!). Recovered well for the subsequent sets.

CGB

72.5 x 4 @ 7
75 x 4 @ 9
75 x 4 @ 8.5
75 x 4 @ 9
72.5 x 4 @ 8.5

Very variable sequence of sets, probably reflects my inconsistency with set up. Did focus more on getting in a good pause for these, which I possibly hadn’t done in previous weeks, which may also have contributed.

3" block pull (sumo)

165 x 7 @ 7
172.5 x 7 @ 8
180 x 7 @ 9
170 x 7 @ 9

More decent DL volume, again being very conservative with the RPEs, so could definitely push more if I wanted.

20

9/7/20
The Bridge, Week 4, Day 2

2ct paused squat

112.5 x 4 @ 7
117.5 x 4 @ 8
122.5 x 4 @ 9
117.5 x 4 @ 9
112.5 x 4 @ 9

Erred on the cautious side tonight, final sets probably not @ 9 again but happy to continue making small progress week on week.

OHP

40 x 5 @ 6
42.5 x 5 @ 7
45 x 5 @ 10
42.5 x 5 @ 8.5
40 x 5 @ 8
40 x 5 @ 8

2nd set was fine but then totally blew up on the top set and nearly bailed halfway through the attempt at the 5th rep. Not sure why it was so much harder than last week, possibly a technical thing meaning I put myself at more of a disadvantage trying to get the weight up.

Then same as before, instead of BB rows I subbed in 4 sets of BW pull ups, and some exercise ball leg curls.