JB

I did the advanced GVT because I fancied doing heavier weights for low reps. 10 sets of 5 one week, 4 the next and finally 3, repeated twice with increasing weights and very specific eccentric phases. Found that my strength increased while I was doing it. It was still a bit boring though. Drop sets are not part of the GVT program and training to failure isn't necessarily either.

It's always annoying to get lectured. Especially by someone who sounds like he's bullshitting! I really had to restrain myself from intervening today when I saw a completely incompetent trainer getting two very overweight guys to do double bench dips. It's a shit exercise that ruins the shoulder anyway but for fat guys it's 10x worse given the extra load and lack of fitness. One was even complaining about the pain but the trainer still made him carry on. Pisses me off beyond belief that he's getting paid for being so unbelievably crap!

Dead lifts a struggle today... Didn't get carried away after last time and played it safe by sticking on 140kg. Managed 5 sets of 6 but my grip was letting me down badly.

Tories second in some of the South Wales valleys?! Some people have very short memories (not that I was either alive at the time or old enough to remember).

Teachers who think that conditions are so bad they can't teach any more need to get a grip and spend some time in the real world. Just interested, are you speaking out of experience of working in education? Seems like a fairly gross oversimplification... Edit: beaten to it!

You disagree so it's clearly bullshit. Grow up champ.

What a load of sanctimonious patronising bollocks. Who are you to presume that anyone voting for any political party has done it out of ignorance simply on the basis that they disagree with you. I think he's right, though. I reckon that a lot of Tory voters don't have a clue how they've screwed themselves and more importantly, others. At least they have ignorance to blame. Anyone who voted Tory out of genuine shared ideology can go **** themselves in my opinion. Thoroughly depressing morning. Never thought I'd be one to spout such an exaggeration but I'm feeling pretty ashamed to be British right now.

I'd be very, very surprised if he was. He plays rugby to a pretty high level and is a prop so has leverages on his side. He's also been training hard, fair play. I reckon he might be exaggerating, though.

Fluke . They're awesome though aren't they? I picked up a few tips with regards to form from this video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dd9VoT1BPAY

My brother dead lifted 230 for a double last week. Or so he says, the little clearing in the woods. He's fatter and not as tall as me though so I've got an excuse for playing catch up .

Ah shit I didn't mean to come across as a dick. I meant relatively easy compared to what I expected and not big numbers compared to some of the guys in my gym. I also did sumo dead lift which decreases the range of motion. The point of my post was about maintaining relative overall strength and how carefully selected accessory exercises set you up to be strong on your big lifts.

After some pretty painful lumbar disc problems, I dead lifted for the first time in two years last night and totally surprised myself. Started with just 100kg on the bar, fully expecting to struggle but found myself flying up to sumo-ing 140kg for a really easy 8 reps. Not big numbers by any means but I was chuffed at how I'd maintained a lot more strength than I expected. Hoping to crack 200kg again by mid July. I'm guessing that the sheer volume of upper back, hamstring and glute work that I've been doing has helped me maintain a certain level of relative strength.

Holy **** shit I can't believe it! Yes! Yes! YES!!! Delph and Grealish MOTM.

YEEEESSSSS! What a bloody goal! Awesome by all involved!

****. So tentative from Okore. Really, really poor. COME ON VILLA!

For the first time in years I'm actually genuinely excited by the prospect of a Villa game. For the first time in equally as long I'll be making a concerted effort to sit down and watch it with a couple of beers (glory hunter obvs). However, years of supporting us has made me expect to be disappointed, either by us being shit and getting hammered or by us fighting bravely but not taking our chances and being cruelly denied! Here's hoping I'm wrong. UTV.

While he probably is on the juice, Triple H started being trained by Joe Defranco a couple of years ago, who is awesome.

Awesome back session tonight. Focused on vertical pulls and rear delts. Will do a more row-y session with my chest later in the week. 1 Wide/neutral grip pull-ups +15kg - 5x5 2A Lat pulldown 82.5kg x 11,11,10,10 2B Standing high row 50kg x 12,12,12,12 (Triple dropset after final set of each) 3A DB shrugs (5 second holds) 50kg x 8,8,8,8 3B Reverse flyes 20kg x 15,15,15,15 3C Reverse fly hold 12.5kg x 30 secs Finished off with a bit of cheeky biceps similar to what I posted a day or two ago.

Yeah, I regret it. Just round the corner from my house, too. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I trained in Esporta/Virgin Active in Wimbledon. It was convenient for work (at first) and pretty much the only place I could find with relatively heavy weight.

I lived in Putney actually and checked out Physical Culture when I first moved there. Not sure if they've upgraded things since but I thought it was just too small and there was barely enough room for one person to dead lift at a time.

Since moving to a more hardcore gym where the weights go much higher and I've seen what other guys are lifting..... Is this a hardcore gym in London? Sadly not. Had to move away. To bloody Cardiff. Struggled to find hardcore places in London but they do exist. Somewhere.

I've copied the sixth and final phase of the advanced GVT routine (and some thoughts on the program) below. I've put it in spoiler tags to save anyone who can't be arsed scrolling through it!

I honestly think that a lot of it is to do with your training environment. When I used to train at a commercial gym in London, I thought I was the world's strongest man, even though I'd rarely press the 50s and hadn't dead lifted 200, just because of the other people training there. Since moving to a more hardcore gym where the weights go much higher and I've seen what other guys are lifting and how hard they train, it's spurred me on I guess. And I suppose I've just learnt more about getting stronger, too. That said, I still can't say where DB press strength has come from. I didn't consciously work at it. One day everything just felt too light and I just kept ramping the weight. I started pressing on the GVT at 47.5kg. I finished it last week and happy to post my final phase log if anyone is interested.

I went off sweet potato for ages but have been enjoying it mashed with a bit of feta crumbled over it lately. Good old white potatoes are king for me though. So much nicer.

Shoulders and triceps can end up taking a disproportionate amount of the load during barbell bench. DBs go a long way towards correcting this. Machines are even better apparently...