Where were we last Friday?

Last Friday we were lost in the intensity & atmosphere in Grants Gym Darlington, all 3 of us in our Leg Day bubble where everyone else in the gym (& it was busy) just seemed to be invisible & the noise was just our 3 voices & breathing! We were all up for it, beginning with calves; seated calf raise then toe press on the leg press machine. They were on fire!! We then moved on to hammies with BB stiff legged deadlifts, lying leg curls where the boys can use the stack for reps on this machine so i had to come up with a way they were hurting too! It helped we did stiff leggs 1st. Then we moved on to extensions, toes on the negative part, going slow to feel the inner tear drop & oh we felt it ok!! Frog hack squats were next followed by 1 legged squats where our 1 foot was raised on a bench behind so its kind of like a lunge, gripping weight too. Spartan the freak he is thought he'd hold 40kg on his last set to failure, impressive to watch. Bodsters will to never give up was awesome too & by the end of sissy squats we were shot down!! Now next leg sesh is the last 1 all 3 of us will be together for a while as Spartans leave is up so i will conjure up something gruesome for the battlefield. Theses training sessions are fantastic & I love the way we push eachother to places where many wouldn't go. But we have to do things others don't to achieve things others won't.

THE A TEAM ARE IN BUSINESS!

Training right now is awesome! Bodster & Spartan make up the crazy team in the Gym. Spartan is on leave for 3 weeks (hes a Para) so the 3 of us bounce off eachother & motivation is through the roof. These guys are the best training partners ever & are priceless in my progress. Monday we switched to delts & tri's Tuesday back & calves. Records were broken & effort was maxed out in Grants Gym Darlington. Atmosphere is always brilliant & just what you need for a hardcore workout. Single hammer rows with 100kg a side; boom!! We finish with deadlifts rather than start with them. Hyperextensions 1st then 2 sets of heavy deadlifts to finish our backs with. We don't do the usual powerlifting style we keep constant tension on the target area, the lower back, so lower to mid-shin level & rather then hyperextending at the top we come straight back down with no rest, causing an extreme pump in the lower back. Roll on leg day on Thursday!

Bio-mechanics assessment at EVOLUTION GYM

Monday 1st August another trip to John Hodgsons EVOLUTION GYM in Rochdale. Had a great back & calf workout, high rep day & a great pump. Afterwards my 2nd appointment with Rachel France, a UK Bio-mechanics coach whom i first met at the British Grand Prix. Rachel assessed me back in June & not surprisingly the movement in my pelvis, lower back & shoulders was pretty rubbish. Without my pelvis functioning properly im not getting the maximum use from my body which affects training & development. A lot of my back pain has been a result of my dysfunctional pelvis & so i had been carrying out the recommended exercises on a 4x daily basis since my 1st assessment to improve this. I can categorically say that (touch wood) since ive been doing these exercises & freeing up the sciatic nerves in my back ive had no lower back pain since! Ive been able to deadlift & squat again.
So my 2nd assessment showed quite a bit of improvement but still more work needs to be done before i move onto the next stage. I strongly recommend a visit to their website at least, ive got a link on my site, go visit it & see what they do. Together with my deep tissue massage i swear by them, the results are fantastic & ive noticed a difference in 2 short months, imagine what a year could do! Thanks Rachel!!

Chest & bi's with the Mighty Spartan

Friday last session of the week with my bro Wayne the Mighty Spartan. As always we had a great battle; pity Bodster couldn't join us but wow what a sesh. Spartan is a para & is going to compete next year when he comes out the army after 14 years serving his country. Watch this space cos hes 1 strong warrior! I was hitting personal bests on a few things that day & despite my bad arm managed to incline db curl 17.5's in strict form yee ha! Not really about the weight for me im not a powerlifter but always nice to see them weights increase without sacrificing form. Chest growing nicely. Boom! The mighty spartan I salute you :)