Steve 'Mobster' Gardener keeps it nice n gritty training log

Friday pm session
Felt like it so...
2HP @ 44mm
equ x 6 reps, plus 30-kilos x 3 reps, plus 50-kilos x rep, plus 60-kilos x 1 rep, plus 70-kilos x 1 rep, plus 80-kilos x 1 rep, plus 85-kilos x 0, 0, dropped back to plus 80-kilos x 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2. All solid as a rock and me muttering 'bring it then!' for the last few ha ha.

Sunday am
I plan on stretching later
Torsion Grippers
B/H: usual warm-ups etc
L/H: BBE x VVN, VVN, VN, VVN, N (ps), VVN, VVN - all sitting down.
R/H: BBE x 1 rep, coC 3.5 x 1 rep, BBSE x 1 rep, MM7D x 1 rep (again all sitting to this point). Stood and CoC 4 (not sure which one it was) x VVN, RB365 (Paul's) x fail (monster to set so hardly moved it), RB330 x 1 easy rep, RB365 (a little better set) to (at best) a 1/2 rep. New 4 (donated some time back by Sam and with poor knurl) x 1/4". MM7D x N, VVN.

Orbi
B/H ACW55/CW55 brutal

Monster grippers being used these days mate. How does this #4 ( the one i donated) compare to the 205# one you smashed at Chad's?

Harder... for now. I wanna take things up one notch so watch this space.

Monday
I kicked off in the gym today. I had stepped out to get a drink when on coming back to the V-bench I found the small disc on the floor (6-inches away from a pin to put them on) and one plate per side missing. So, quietly and with no fuss, I sorted it. After set 4 of 5 I went out, got a breath of fresh air and it HAD HAPPENED AGAIN. So I threw my rattle out of the pram (a hulk out) and started shouting the odds to all and sundry and started pulling weights of this guys bar and that guys bar saying 'well if NO ONE WANTS TO OWN UP I'LL PLAY THE SAME GAME' and so on. Strangely enough no one owned up (although one lad complained about me nicking his weights so I put the right weight back on and explained what I was ranting about). The boost of adrenalin made the last set of pullovers and bench easy. Malcolm and Carol (gym instructors came in) but nothing happened.

V-Bench
40-kilos a side x 8 reps, 60-kilos a side x 8 reps, 80-kilos a side x 6 reps, 110-kilos (too heavy) x 5 reps, dropped to a more sensible 105-kilos x 4 x 5 reps (107.5 next time).

Pullovers
12p x 8 reps, 18p x 8 reps, stack plus 20-kilos x 3 x 6 reps

bwt still down even though I've been eating loads.

Tuesday
RT work
All are plate weights only not total weight.
NH
B/H: 60-kilos x 8 reps @, 85-kilos x 3 x 1 rep @
R/H: 100-kilos x 3 x 1 reps
L/H: tried 100kg and bombed so dropped to 95-kilos x 3 x 1 reps

OH
R/H: 115-kilos x 1 and then 130-kilos x 1, 0, 1 reps
L/H: 115-kilos x 3 x 1 reps

Blob work
Endurance work - tried farmers walking the 44lb's blob across the yard and also held for time.

Orbi work
ACW 55 / 55 CW hard as always

Wednesday
Stretched while drinking pre w/o coffee.

V/Gripper
Struggled on this today... perhaps a rest day is required. Make a note!!
usual warm ups
L/H: 5/5 x VVN, 0, VN, 1, 1, N, 0
R/H: 6/6 x 1, VVN, 1, VVN, VVN, 1, VN, N (1 too many)

2HP - rep w/o
Cocked this up a tad because instead of adding a set or reps I was adding weight. I'll stay on plan next time.
usual warm ups then plus 75-kilos (d'uh) x 3 reps and very tough. Dropped to 73.75-kilos x 3 reps then down again to plus 70-kilos x 3 reps.

you should farmer walk the inch an blob at the same time like brian shaw did - would make for a good video

i always felt like you needed more rest for grippers, if i did thickbar an blob training the day before grippers i would struggle to do my warm ups - i know you recover better than me but it has to have some effect

I seem to remember noting this before so you might well be right. I need to work on the distance thing first but yeah Inch and Blob sounds like a nice challenge.

Thursday
The stretching (more later) has been helping so...

Leg press
Put the seat back all the way down and was able to lock my legs out. I took each rep one at a time and was going deep Foot plate x 6 reps, 40-kilos x 6 reps, 80-kilos x 6 reps, 120-kilos x 6 reps, 160-kilos x 6 reps, 200-kilos x 6 reps, 240-kilos x 9 reps.

Leg Ext
60-kilos x 6 reps, 90-kilos x 6 reps, *125-kilos x 6 reps, 145-kilos (stack) x 6 reps

*Started super setting here

Squat!!
First time in years. Pulled over a preacher bench and with the seat at 18" did touch n go squats so depth would be ok. Bar x 8 reps, 60-kilos x 6 reps, **60-kilos (belt on) x 12 reps. I tried 90-kilos but should do this inside the rack. I'll do 70 or 80-kilos for reps next time (assuming I don't wreck back).

** supersetting with l/curls

Leg Curl
25-kilos x 6 reps, 35-kilos x 6 reps, 45-kilos x 6 reps (could have been a tad better).

I agree with Paul's comments. Even with the crazy amount of volume that i do, if i do heavy thick bar one day and try grippers the next they will be slightly off. Regarding the farmers walks, i have 2 inch DBs at the gym it would be great to see you walk them from the driveway all the way into the carpark of the pub opposite!

Just seen the squats - i remember discussing this with you in your gym last year. Very light squats are enough to get the benefit of them (as in squatting before gripper work) - infact i find that on DE squat day the gripper work is stronger than on ME squat day, reason being the CNS is not fried. How's the back feeling now?

Still iffy. I'm about to go stretch before lunch.

Squats! never thought I'd see the day. Like Sam I think light squats with good form might do you good. If you don't squat and deadlift regularly, it's hard to develop the hips and glutes, which protect the lower back in heavy pulls. I'd imagine you have the leg strength to move some decent weights, but if as today you've pre-exhausted the legs, you might get some of the benefits without needing to stress your back with big weights.

Indeed. One stretch which seems to help me somewhat is with the flat of the feet together then I lean forward and with my hands pull my upper body toward them. As well as the usual places I get a feeling of a stretch in the area of or just above my coccyx.