JB

Would love that to be true. I wouldn't be surprised to see us choke against Wales or Ireland again, though.

Can't wait. It's wide open this year IMO.

Just watched and very much enjoyed 'The Way, Way Back'.

Buzzing about my upper body session tonight... Managed to bench press the 65kg dumbbells for a comfortable 8 reps! Did not expect that!

Out of interest, how did you hear about Martin Rooney? Is he a name outside of MMA/BJJ? To be honest, I can't remember! It would probably either have been via his articles on T-Nation, the Fitcast or a video another trainer did with him. Yeah, I'd say he's a pretty massive name. I think I'd normally find someone like him quite cheesy but he's actually awesome. He cuts through a lot of bullshit with regards to training and most of his inspirational writing is very, well, inspirational!

Yeah that sounds familiar. Without wanting to sound like a dick and generalise too much (and I'm an aspiring trainer), the type of people that can be attracted to the fitness industry aren't necessarily the brightest or most selfless of people... Certainly in my experience, anyway. Some don't really give a shit about the clients. They know how to train themselves for their own goals but can't adapt. I know how to get myself bigger, leaner and stronger but the same approach wouldn't be appropriate/work for a middle-aged woman or a beginner. I've seen loads of trainers put clients on bodybuilding splits immediately and beast them with HIIT in their first session and others prescribe ridiculously complicated exercises to overweight clients, as if novelty value makes exercises more effective. I think there's a lot of dodgy information out there and if they don't make an effort (or care) to get educated it's easy to blindly follow it. That said, everybody makes mistakes and learns from them. It can be beneficial not to 'over-teach' beginners and just get them doing things naturally without overloading them with coaching cues and then fixing stuff as they get more comfortable with an exercise. There are also loads of awesome trainers about but finding them can be a bit tricky.

Yep HIIT is awesome. It's worth reading anything by Martin Rooney, who's a great writer and a massive proponent of sprinting over long-distance steady-state. His book 'Warrior Cardio' is fantastic. Agree with Stevo about looking at programmes like Starting Strength (and checking out the book by Mark Rippetoe). Even if you've been training for a number of years but not seeing great results, it would be worth a look as I'd wager that most beginners waste loads of time in the gym on isolation exercises, when they should focus on getting big and strong on the compound lifts. With regards to PTs, it's like any profession - you get awesome ones and really, really shit ones. When it comes to choosing one, I would look for one with some sort of strength and conditioning qualification. A good trainer would assess and teach movement patterns and mobility and ensure correct form on your lifts, whether it going to appropriate depth on squats, grooving the hip hinge for dead lifts and so on. I actually recently decided to get certified myself (and have got my UKSCA Foundation course booked for the summer) and I'm going to try and start training some people on the side and see if takes off.

In my experience, dizziness and slight nausea have been caused by an intense workout or dehydration. Very often people think that they're drinking enough but they aren't. Sometimes in the past if I haven't eaten enough or am getting over a big night out I've felt ropey, as well. But don't put too much stall in what some random guys on the internet say about what could well be a medical matter. If it continues, go and see a doctor.

You'd be better dropping the reps mate. Sounds like you've plateaued. Drop down to sets of 3 for a few weeks to mix it up. Don't be afraid of going even lower, too. Singles and doubles will both elicit strength gains. Nice, succinct summing up here from the legend that is Eric Cressey: http://www.ericcressey.com/why-i-dont-like-5x5

The deadlift is generally regarded as a lower-body, hip-dominant exercise but the beauty of it is that there aren't many muscles in the body that it doesn't recruit! It does indeed give all areas of the posterior chain a beating (in the best possible way!), though. I've certainly noticed the difference in my back (for the worse) since I had to stop doing them to rehab an unrelated injury. I genuinely can't wait to get back to them, though! I thoroughly recommend snatch-grip Deadlifts to mix things up a bit. Awesome.

Cheers fellas, much appreciated. Had a quick look online and that place does look pretty impressive. They've got a strongman room with lots of cool equipment by the looks of it. Found another one in Moseley called Rigs which looks pretty good as well. It's got sprint lanes with prowlers etc. but the free weights area maybe looks a bit small. Will check it out in more detail if the move materialises.

Yeah that gym looks awesome. Not too dissimilar to mine though if I'm honest. I'm lucky to train at a gym with an awesome owner who really knows his shit, so we've got loads of squat racks, bumper plates, benches and DBs up to 70kg, as well as two floors of AstroTurf for resisted sprints, tyres, prowlers, battle ropes etc. Best gym I've ever been to by about a million miles and it's only £30 per month! Really raises your game training in such a facility, too. Don't suppose anyone knows of anywhere similar in Birmingham as there's a chances I might be moving back closer to home in the next few months and would be gutted to leave all these toys behind!

A good programme for size, strength and athleticism is Joe DeFranco's WS4SB. Separates upper and lower body days with strength/max effort and hypertrophy/reps days for each. Lats are on fire after last night's sesh! 8 sets of 3 weighted pull-ups followed by some upper body posterior chain assistance work.

I agree with you. Massive Partridge fan - very disappointed by Alpha Papa. Don't get me wrong, I did laugh but there just weren't any 'classic' Partridge moments in it and it's probably the least funny thing he's been in. I think the whole heist storyline was unnecessary. He's at his funniest doing the mundane and being a total prick but he was almost too 'alright' in this.

This. And eat more. Absolutely. Prioritise protein and fats as much as possible, with carbs only really essential peri-workout. Earn your carbs .

It looks to me as if your volume isn't high enough to really promote growth. Also I don't see any hamstring exercises in there? I might be able to suggest a few short-term fixes for you to try (although be wary about taking advice off some nobody on the internet ). Squat reps and sets look good, make sure you're doing them to depth (i.e. past parallel). Warming up and stretching your hips, glutes, piriformis and groin will help range of motion. DeFranco's Agile 8 is awesome for this. After your last set, try dropping the weight to about 50-60%, resting for a minute and doing 15-20 more reps, even if you have to pause for a few deep breaths during. Follow squats up with some hack squats, Bulgarian split squats or lunges for slightly higher reps (8-12). Then hamstrings: stiff-leg dumbbell dead lifts or good mornings or reverse hypers (8-12 reps) followed by some leg curls (12-15), giving you exercises that work the hamstrings from the hip and the knee. Then depending on how you feel, add some high-volume/low intensity leg extensions (if your knee can tolerate them - going heavy can very bad for them) for a bit of a pump and then crack on with some calf work to finish off, maybe even some hip thrusts. Another good tip is to make sure you progress in some way every week, even if it's just by doing 1 extra rep or increasing the weight slightly. You could always try doing two upper and two lower body days, one focusing on building strength (high intensity/low volume) and one on volume (bodybuilding), sort of like Westside Barbell.

My leg plan is similar in substance to my upper body plan(s)z That said I, like a lot of beginners do, spent about 18 months focussed on upper body skipping leg days like a really bad person. I've not put much weight on anywhere over the last 6 months either, I'm 5"6 and 79kg, it's hard enough maintaining that. Maybe I need to sacrifice upper body size and strength? I wouldn't be too fussed losing some from my tits, I don't do this for the glamour. Glad to hear someone say it shouldn't be an issue long term. Haha I think we've all been guilty of under-training legs . Once I was encouraged/forced to do it properly I was hooked, though! You shouldn't have too much trouble gaining some size with the right training/diet as it's much easier for guys around your height. What does a typical lower body workout of yours look like (exercises, sets, reps etc.)?

He's not an advocate of intermittent fasting, far from it. From what I've read of his work, his conclusions, based on research, seems to be that it doesn't really matter. 1, 3, 7 meals a day doesn't matter. As long as you get enough calories in the right macronutrient ratios, basically do whatever works for you. If the high meal frequency works for you, go for it. Seems to be the conclusion of most big-cheeses (no pun intended) in the nutrition world. But like everything, there will always be someone claiming the contrary (Poliquin for example) so who knows . I'm personally sticking to frequent feeds as I know it works for me but at the same time I don't get too worried if I miss a meal or two.

How's your training plan looking? Specifically lower body. Diet? Calves I can believe (being 6'5" I have a similar problem myself) but I reckon early any male who trains hard enough and has the right diet should be able to get pretty chunky thighs and glutes.

Regarding protein intake, the latest thinking from people like Alan Aragon is that meal timing is largely unimportant and that you could consume all of your daily required calories in a short window of time if you were so inclined (think intermittent fasting) - it's basically down to personal preference, lifestyle etc. However, on the other side of the debate are people like Charles Poliquin who say that 6-7 meals per day is still the way to go in order to prevent muscle breakdown. One thing I think they all agree on is that it is a myth that an individual can only process around 30g protein in one go. There is probably an optimal intake but you can essentially eat as much as you want as long as you don't go into too much of a caloric surplus if trying to lose weight.

I'm wondering what's happened after such a positive (performance-wise) first few games of the season. I know we lost (thanks to the ref) but I thought we were awesome against Chelsea in particular and looked far from the hoofball, counter-attack-only, can't-pass-it-five-yards team that we seem to be lately. After getting our hopes up (again), we seem to be going backwards at an alarming rate and I can't see any evidence of Lambert's attempts to change it.

Doesn't matter who the opposition is, there is no excuse for complete incompetency and lack of effort. Pathetic. It seems to me that either Lambert doesn't know what he's doing or the players simply aren't listening to him (who knows, maybe it's both). Slightly concerned that we won't have the fight in us that we showed at the end of the last season to dig ourselves out of the trouble it seems we're heading for...

Michael Gove. Or Wayne Rooney. Mainly because he seems to think he's the hardest man in the world and I don't recall anyone ever standing up to him or kicking him back.

It was indeed. There is not a player in the world I enjoy watching anywhere near as much as an on his game Quade Cooper. I wish there were more players like him (only with less burglary).

Another "brave" defeat for Wales...