DB Bench 4x6-32.5, 3x15-25
Hammer Bench machine on small incline 3x9-80
Barbell Curl/Hammer Curl ss 3x10/8-35/15kg
Dips - 18

interrupted mid session by new wife/ex wife revelations from my daughter and had to speak to wife/ex wife's sister for 10 mins during session. Didn't have the heart to finish up

Yikes, hopefully nothing too serious.

depends on your definition but it's been a ride and the surprises keep on coming.

I'm thinking about doing an AMA in OOT once it's all over.

Cliff Notes....don't marry an addict. If you didn't, but they become one...GTFO

Sat am session - last day of the week for me as I have a 50th birthday tonight that will be lavish and then I'm taking my parents out for lunch for Mother's Day tomorrow and will need a few drinks

Front Squat 3x4-70
Hack Squat 4x8-140
Leg Press 5x8 - 220
Leg Extension 3x9-36...each leg, alternating
1 legged KB RDL 3x8-24kg

rest day yesterday after a very big Saturday afternoon and evening. Backed it up with boozing and eating yesterday - felt good to have a blow out

seated DB Press 5x8-22.5
seated Machine Press 4x10/6-35/25kg drop sets
Shrug 4x12-90
Hammer wide grip seated row 4x12-130kg
seated close grip row 4x8/6 77/57kg drop set

am going to do a month of higher reps/hypertrophy type training and see how I enjoy it.

early am session - not easy doing chest and triceps 12 hours after doing shoulders. May need to change my splits and go to a push day and a pull day if I'm gonna be training 6 times a week

4x9 DB Bench 30kg
4x8 DB Incline 26kg
3x10 Flye 22kg
3x6 Preacher Curl 47.5kg
3x8 Hammer Curl 16kg
3x11 Dips ss with Wipers

trained at 5pm and my God, the difference training lower body in the afternoon is significant for me. Went up in weight and felt really good

leg extension - 3x8-19kg single legs, warm up
front squat 3x4-75
deadlift 4x5-150
hack squat 3x8-140
45 degree leg press 3x8-240
single leg KB RDL 3x8-24kg

felt all over body tired this morning, which isn't surprising really given the diet/3rd consecutive early start/4th day in a row and 12 hours after heavy lower body session combo but still...felt achy, lethargic and weak. We got her done though, but it was going through the motions and I had almost nothing left for my shoulders.

Am definitely gonna trial a push pull legs split for a few weeks

Seated Wide Grip hammer row 4x8-140kg
Wide Grip Pull Down 4x8-67
Close Grip seated Row 4x8-67
Back Extensions 2x6
Barbell Press 5x6-45

Gonna have a re-feed day today and then won't have to train til tomorrow night which will give me something of a rest

Fri night

DB Bench 4x10-30kg
Hammer Incline Bench 4x9-80kg
DB Flye 3x12-22.5
Skullcrushers/Close Grip Press ss 3x6/14-45kg
Dips 3x12


Sat am
leg extension warm up
Front Squat 4x3-75
Hack Squat 4x6-150
Power Clean 3x2-80
Deadlift 1x2-140

at this point, just totally lost energy - could hardly lift the deadlift and felt all over fatigue so just gave it up. Given I was doing 5 reps at 150 earlier in the week, it's clearly a recovery thing.

then did

leg extensions 3x8-40kg each leg singles
leg curls 3x8 very light each leg singles

first time doing prone leg curls in years and on my bad left leg, it was immediately clear that the left hamstring is a weakness. referred tightness up into my lower back. makes me realise I need to do more single leg work to fix the strength imbalance i have

the fatigue also has me thinking I should switch to an 6 sessions in 8 days cycle of 3 on 1 off, rather than what I'm currently doing which is 3,3,1 to muscle it into a week.

I just like doing something every day but it's clear that the second 3 day cycle in each week, the performance is always a lot worse. Maybe I'll just build in a 60min walk on the off day or do some kind of gym based cardio. IDK

drank alcohol 3 nights in a row to Sun and woke up feeling really flat and depressed today. bad sleeps and a total loss of mojo. also...surprise, surprise...I was eating salted snacks and more carbs given the alcohol

I've hardly drunk the past 3 months apart from a few blow out nights and really need to protect that habit both for health/weight reasons but also mental health stuff. I was up in the night for two hours with anxiety about separation/divorce/kids things and that just hasn't been happening nearly as much since I started really looking after myself

so I'm committing to nothing at all for the next 10 days and hopefully that makes a difference and gets me back into the groove.

first day of splitting the sessions up differently today - moving to a Push/Legs/Pull/Rest 4 day cycle which should hopefully leave me fresher and able to attack each session.

DB Bench 4x10-30kg
Hammer Bench Machine 4x10-80kg
DB Flye 3x12-22.5kg
Seated DB Press 5x8-22.5 (*these were more difficult post the benching)
Barbell Push Press 4x10-40kg. Basically did these for a pump with only 20 secs rest
Tricep Push Down/Extension super set 3x10/10-35/25 kg

shoulders felt a little more difficult given the work they'd already done and this session took about 70 mins, which is a little longer than usual. But I'm hopeful it's a good approach and I'll give it at least a month

I hear that about the booze; I drank maybe two too many Saturday night for the first time in quite a while and have two consecutive nights of bad sleep - moderation is hard. Pure abstinence is easier for me, it continues to seem.

Sad news is that I reckon it’ll only get worse.

Re abstinence/moderation, I have a ridiculous concession that doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny but actually helps me.
I will allow myself 1 beer two or three times a week and still define that as alcohol free!

I often don’t finish the beer but just having like 3 sips/half a bottle of beer is enough to take the edge off my day and it gets rid of the majority of the cravings. If I finish the first beer then it becomes a challenge not to open a second but the second is deadly and leads to more.

Yeah, we all need those tricks; I just found some decently tasty NA beer and that seems to hit the spot a few times a week. I "allow" myself "two" real drinks a week when I don't have anything other than a recovery run planned the following day, which basically means Friday or Saturday; "two" generally ends up being three or four, but that's generally reasonably easy to recover from the following. Saturday I had buddies over and it was probably six, so here we are on Monday and I'm hoping to get to sleep at 8:30.

well I hope you do better than I did last night. I have got some new gummies that are supposed to reduce anxiety and help sleep but...I lay awake for an hour while stoned and having hot flushes and then have been up since 3.15.

4 hours sleep last night and so modified my lifting a little to make it mentally more accessible. and actually enjoyed it

3 sets of light single leg leg extensions as warm up
5x10 leg press 210kg
5x8 deadlift 110kg
3x10 single leg KB RDLs 28kg KB

all fine.

sleeping pill and 9 hours sleep last night and woke up feeling a little groggy, but way more human

brain wasn't engaged so I went to the gym post dropping the kids to school.

wide grip pull downs 4x10-67kg
seated hammer wide grip rows 4x9-140kg
hammer high close grip rows 4x8-80kg
barbell shrugs 3x15-80kg - quick with only 30 secs rest
fixed bar curl 4x8-30kg ss with hammer curl 4x8-17.5kg

my first 3 day cycle of Push Pull Legs or...Push Legs Pull. I felt less joint soreness doing pull after a lower body day and I do think there'll be a benefit in doing all pushing and pulling together as opposed to doing chest one day and shoulders the next and similarly back one day and biceps the next. And then I hope that will be doubled by the extra rest day in 3 on 1 off vs 3,3,1 rest to get the cycle into a week

I also feel that there'll be an additional benefit in that I'll end up doing more back work - I'll probably start adding another 4x something back set onto pull day as otherwise I'll be done in 50 mins. either that or an additional bicep movement. idk. I wish I could do pull ups but those 3 weeks with 200-250 per week was dumb and I've got some tendonitis

rest day yesterday but did a 70 min walk in the evening with a fair number of hills in it.

it's only the first week of my 3 on 1 off, push leg, pull set but I did feel a lot fresher this morning in the gym and had no achy joints/muscles etc. am gonna do it for a month and see how I feel - am also on week 2 of higher reps, lower weights so I've changed a lot.

DB Bench 4x10-30kg
Hammer bench on slight incline 4x9-80kg
Incline DB Bench 3x12-25kg
Seated DB Press 3x12-22kg
Barbell Push Press 3x10-45kg, touch and go with very short rests
Tricep Push Downs ss with Tricep Extensions 3x10/10-35/24kg, drop set on last one

all pretty good.