The CasinoApe's Rugby Training Journal

[xjado321]

keep up the good work man!

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 85kg 3x5
Bench - 75kg 3x5
Deadlift - 110kg 1x5

Realised i wasn't eating enough lately, started recording my cals/protein, going for around 3200 cals and 210+ protein, got 3.3k and 213 today

edit- just read some rippetoe stuff, he says 4000 cals is minimum, fml, i'm gonna have to eat a third bowl of cheerios and a pint of milk :/ gonna be one hell of a turd in the morning!

[CasinoApe]

keep up the good work man!

Cheers mate <3 <3 lol

[JT4Rugby]

I did Chemistry/biology/history and dropped english last year, how bout yourself?

Yeah still not playing unfortunately, i'm gonna add some light running to SS in a few weeks if it doesn't fuk with strength gains, will definitely be good for next season, undecided where i'll play at though.

How your rugby going? you play for sarries academy don't you?

Tough subjects there, I took Biology,Chemistry,History and PE

Good luck for next session mate.

Going well my club is really looking towards big things we got promoted every season for 4years now we are in an national league and have an ex international coach with over 60 players for are colts team 28 of them being part of an academy.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 90kg 3x5
OP - 50kg 3x5
Power clean - 60kg 5x3

[CasinoApe]

Some knee pain returning, hard to know why at this point, i'd guess that its becuase my VMO is fatigued from the workouts and so temporarily exacerbating the imbalance, i've also been slacking with the stretches so will do some tonight and a light warm down. i've got tommorow off aswell on SS, so hopefully by then it will be fine.

Going to approach this very tentatively from now on, even more so than before, i really don't want any more injuries particularly from training, reading lots of stuff on form etc and taping most of my lifts so i can watch them back.

Squats are the main concern at this point, 90 x 5 reps was probably my 5rep max when i started out so i'm thinking of lowering the increases to either 2.5/3.5kg down from 5kg. The sets yesterday were very heavy for me, and my flexibility was lacking somewhat so going very deep is still a bit of a problem. I was planning on keeping increases at 5kg for only another week anyway, i'll get a spotter and maybe try for 95/100/105 next week if i feel good. technique wise i feel as if i lean forward too much and even though i take a wide stance it feels like my VMO's aren't really hit.

Thinking of doing some sort of glute activation exercises aswell, i remember a few years ago just doing some 70m sprints worked very very well for me and they are defo something i could use, i think the short distance would make it easier to get back into running again and the speed work is always useful. Otherwise glute bridges should do the trick.

I also feel like my right leg may be doing more work during the squats than my left.

I'll monitor how my knees and legs are doing in a week or two from now before i consider making any serious training adjustments, adding in more bulgarian squats is definately something i'm looking in too, maybe even fully replacing squats in SS with them, i'll ask around to see if its possible.

Gonna go practice my technique and maybe try to fix up my bench, its a little wobbly, gonna stretch and use the foam roller and look into improving my flexibility for the deep squats and other general stuff.

Few of my mates want me to come out tonight but i'm not sure, feeling a little down i suppose and all i want to do is get stuck into training, the waiting and lack of exercise days is almost disconcerting to me at this point, i suppose i've just been taught to picture some rocky style montage as a proper training regime and it always feels like more should be done, like i'm not working hard enough, but from what i've read waiting, resting and going slow is the smart thing to do and will get my results quicker, but waiting patiently is one of the hardest things to do right now after so long out of training.

My goals so far then are to continue improving my knee and begin playing again next season, hopefully i'll be somewhat competitive by mid season, even if my strength improves and my knees good, i'll need a lot of work on my fitness. I just wanna go out and run as far as i can and do some more weights but afaik the best thing for now is to go slow. I'm young and i've got a while to improve yet, i'll take my time, glory will just have to wait a little longer:P

longpostislong

[brizzy24]

Dont get me started on injuries bro they have kept me off they field for 4 seasons!

Make sure your knee is 110% before you get back into squating.

Glute activation and hip flexibility are key in my opinion.


Glute Activation

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...the_glute_myth

I found kettle bell swings the easiest to activate the glutes


Hip Flexibility

I have the worst hip flexibilty ever! This program gave me the best results

http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask..._08-10-03.html

[CasinoApe]

Dont get me started on injuries bro they have kept me off they field for 4 seasons!

Make sure your knee is 110% before you get back into squating.

Glute activation and hip flexibility are key in my opinion.


Glute Activation

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...the_glute_myth

I found kettle bell swings the easiest to activate the glutes


Hip Flexibility

I have the worst hip flexibilty ever! This program gave me the best results

http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask..._08-10-03.html

Thanks alot man, wow 4 seasons is along time must've been pretty tough to handle.

I'll definitely use these articles, i spent a good few hours last night just reading articles, there was something about the IT band being strained if the VMO's are too weak to properly mechanise something called a 'home screw' or something, had me a little worried lol. I'll be cautious, i think i'm going to continue SS for a week or two and see how i'm feeling then.

Feeling a little better today, hopefully tommorow will go well. Will do some more stretches and practice with the bar. Thanks for your help.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 95kg 3x5
Bench - 80kg 2x5 1x4 - fail fml lol
Deadlift - 117.5kg 1x5

So i've done the hip flexor stretches on the previous two days, gonna try to do them everyday, they really helped, i did the glute activation before the session too. The squats were really easy, especially compared to last session my mind=blown at that, the bench failed becuase i've changed my technique a bit, trying to stop my elbows flaring out and i think it'll take a bit of time to get used to, i'll use 80kg for next session, and afterwards i'm going to start increasing it at 2kg per session rather than 5kg. Was odd becuase i did 80kg 4x5 a few weeks back, but meh, only just failed it, and was probably just the technique change.

So a good session

[CasinoApe]

So erm yeah i kind off dropped the weight today rofl!!!

I spent a bit long doing the warm up and strecthes and so on, and went for 100kg on the squat, got the first 2 reps nicely, then i was half way up the 3rd, and the bar slipped out of my hand and rolled off my back and made a huge ****ing bang.

That was my first set, i really don't know why it happened, i didn't sleep too well, my sleep is still ****ed up, i got up at like 3pm today and i've been tired all day, i think i just lost concentration due to this and and the length of the session, and my hands were particularly sweaty, i lost grip of the bar trying to do a low bar squat without bending too far forward which puts some pressure on my hands, and it just rolled down my back.

I was actually reacording when this happened, for my technique, but i don't think the vid saved it was quite lulzy and i'm fine. I saw a vid where a guy holds on to the bar when it starts to drop and it lands on his wrists and he snaps both of them. So as soon as i realised i was going backwards i just dropped the bar and got my hands and arms infront of my body before the bar hit the floor. It was basically like a controlled drop off the back and in reality i don't think there was alot of risk here.

The good news is that the weight didn't feel too heavy even though i felt quite tired. Bad news is that my dads pissed LOL!! It shook the house and he came downstairs, looks like i'm, gonna need to go to a gym.

I dunno what to do, i think i could do the weight, but i think instead i should try to fix my sleeping patterns, its really pissing me off, i did sleep enough but i was still tired, i've got melatonin to take, i've tried getting up early for 2 weeks in a row, i've tried staying up all night and going to bed early the next day, not exercising late etc etc. bit of a piss take.

I think this next week i'll make a concerted effort to be awake at 8am everday, if that fails i really don't know what to do after lol, i've tried it before but it didn't work too well, maybe now that my knees better it won't keep me awake so much.

So i might have to postpone the lifting for the week, otherwise nothing too bad. will continue stretching/glute activation

[CasinoApe]

failure failure failure..such a bad mood, just have to wait.. i want to record the constant pain atm for the future when i look back over this, although its not as bad, my knee hurts even now just sitting here, just as it has done for the whole of this year. The stress more than anything.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 100kg 3x5
OP - 55kg 3x5
Power clean - 65kg 5x3


Filmed the last set of squats, was satisfied with depth and my lower back didn't seem to be rounding too much, if at all.

[cmaiko]

zomg nice d00d

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 105kg 3x5
Bench press - 80kg 3x5
Deadlift - 125kg 1x5


Had my brother spotting me on the squats which was better then doing it alone like i usually do, felt safer pushing it to the max by going deeper than usual, filmed the deadlifts and my back was rounding a fair amount, so something to work on.

[CasinoApe]

SO now that i've got 105kg on the squat, which frankly i didn't think i would be able to do, i'm going to lower the increments on the lifts too:

Squat - 3.5kg
Deadlift - 4.5kg
Bench/OP/PC/ -2kg

I'm also going away on the 5th of september which gives me just under 6weeks of training, so for everything except the squat thats 9sessions or 18kg for bench/op/pc and 40.5kg for the deadlift, and 18 sessions for the squat, which is 63kg added

This means that when i leave i should be doing around:
Bench - 98kg
Power clean - 83kg
OP - 73kg
Deadlift - 165.5kg
Squat - 168kg

So that would leave me with a bigger squat than deadlift, which is odd.

I could lower the squat to 2.5kg which would be 45, that would give me a 150kg squat.

Alternatively i might try to keep the 5kg increase up on the pc/op for 1 more session which would leave me with a 88/78 lifts respectively.

I think i'm going to add in some wide grip chins after workout B's (power cleans) and i want to start some running in 2weeks from now, perhaps some short sprints after a workout and then a week or so after maybe start doing some longer distance stuff.

Weight - I think i'm gaining around 1.5/2lbs per week, so that should put me around 210lbs when i leave.

So those are the short term goals atm for the lifts, i'll be gone 3 weeks and i don't know what sort of training i will be able to do. When i get back should pretty much be rugby season, and i don't think strength will be a weakness for me if i achieve those lifts. I think then i'll focus on getting my endurance/speed/fitness up for rugby with alot more running and anaerobic circuits, and i will use the time to trim down some fat too.

Hopefully being a noob i will be able to carry on gaining strength after this phase, we'll see how it goes in the next 6 weeks, these are just some predictions.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 108.5kg 3x5
OP - 57.5kg 2x5 1x1
PC - 67.5kg 5x3

Had some trouble sleeping so i struggled with this and felt pretty weak, infact i havn't slept all night so far.

I filmed the last set of squats and wasn't satisfied with the depth, and i think i fuked my bak up a little somewhere tonight. To remedy this i think i may drop the squat weight to 105kg next session and try to go really deep.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 112kg - 3x5
Bench Press - 82kg - 3x5
Deadlift - 132.5kg 1x5 + 1 extra rep to film technique


Filmed the last set of squats, depth was satisfactory, all reps went below parallel, although not by much, however the camera was facing upwards so the angle makes my hips look a bit higher than they actually are. Some rounding on a few reps and leaning a bit too far forward, but nothing major.

Filmed the deads too, unfortunately it cut short so i only got 2 reps in, but those two looked alright. The reps were deteriorating as the set went on and i don't think they were too good. I recorded another rep after too see how it was when i was fatigued, and it seems as if the middle of my back round a little, with the lower back fine. I think perhaps rounding isn't the issue, i might just be initiating the lift at this point, i pretty much failed to imagine pushing instead of pulling the weight too so i think this is part of the problem.

However, i think this is fine so far because:
-The filmed reps weren't terrible
-I have no soreness in my spine, the muscles around feel a little fatigued and tight, but thats not neccessarily a huge concern afaik, and some of this was caused by leaning a little too far forward on the squats
-My technique on all the lifts is improving

So good session, no major worries, think i have to up my eating a little too, sleeping still ok, otherwise its gd gd.

Slacked off a little on the glute activation, will do that tommorow, been doing the hip flexor stretches most days.

[CasinoApe]

Had no spotter for the last 2 days so i havn't been able to do the squats, i havn't been feeling too good anyway due to my sleep so i thought it was better to be safe than sorry.

Instead today i practiced doing some squats with lighter weights, i used a 10 1/2" box to practice going deeper (they weren't box squats as i wasn't stopping on the box, just touching it), and its clear that i havn't been going too that depth in my previous sessions, with many of those squats barely below parallel i think. This is however a pretty deep squat for me, with the top of my knee being nearly 23" high touching the box means i'm going a full foot below parallel.

I did something like this:

45kg x5
55 x 5
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 3
95 x 3
100 x 2

I recorded the sets aswell and this seems to be my limit atm for depth without rounding my back, was just starting to get a hint of butt wink, although my back stayed straight throughout these squats.

I didn't want to do too much today to stop myself being tired out as i want to lift tommorow.

I think i'll try to do 115kg with the 10 1/2" box as a marker tommorow, i wouldn't be surprised if i fail it, however, if i have to use a lighter weight to hit the box i think this is preferable, squatting 105kg with a better ROM and more glute/ham use in a lower squat > 115kg barely below parallel.

[CasinoApe]

Well..yeah i failed rofl.

Squat - 115kg 1x4
- 110kg 2x5

OP - 57.5kg 1x5

I decided to call it quits becuase, starting the warm up at 8:30, it was 10:15 after the OP, the set felt like sh!t, squats went bad, and continuing any longer was just gonna become catabolic and not help.

I used the 10 1/2" box, and i even put a few things on top to raise it to 13", surprise surprise, my glutes had fuk all power at this depth, i had to lean forward so much i was basically just doing good mornings. I also cheated on just about every set, with half the reps not quite touching the box.

Another of the perhaps less dangerous aspects of these squats was that my right leg was feeling like it was doing more work than the left, i now have that fuking disconcerting feeling of one leg feeling slightly more tired than the other.

Most worringly of all, on the final set of squats, from about the last 3 reps on, my back started to round more and more to get the weight up.

I'm gonna put safety first for this reason, try to leave my ego behind, and drop the fuking weight to about 100/105kg.

When things don't go quite my way i feel as if its all a bit useless and get angry and a bit upset, and then i stop eating (why can't i be a comfort eater lol?)

I think i'm going to drop to 105kg and progress with 2.5-3kg per session now, and just focus on depth, i suppose this isn't neccesarily a failure or stall, if i squat the same weight with better form and greater depth than i have improved and got stronger.

I'm going to add in the sprints next week, i remember this made my glutes feel so much more powerful, and squatting felt more natural, i think it may not be so much technique that is so badly the problem, rather that i just lack strength in my posterior chain to match my quads.

I also have some rather obvious hyperlordosis, i've found a few articles on treating it, so that'll be a focus (weak posterior chain is a cause, what a coincidence)

I'm going to write up a general diet, not something to strictly follow with meals at specific times, but just a guide to make it easier to know what i should be eating at each time of day, rather than counting cals/macros at the end of the day.

On my off days i'm gonna squat with light weight to practice technique, and help with the whole neuromuscular functioning of the whole exercise.

I'm also thinking of upping glute activation to a few more days of the week, it doesn't seem to stressful, so i doubt i''d suffer any overtraining from it.

I've been an idiot i suppose, need to be more careful.

inafterwalloftext

/rant

[CasinoApe]

Ok my back was a little sore after the previous fuk up so i wanted to wait a few days before i did another workout. I also spent tuesday night gettin yucky with the boys lol, it was my bday, so i'm 18 now, although i've set the wrong date on my account.

Got completely hammered because some guy was buying free shots, i also met up with a pretty hot girl i used to go to school with, she's sexy as fuuuark and she's had a thing for me for a while now, although i never bothered trying to link with her as she used to have a bf, they split up a few weeks ago and i sent her a text and we met up on tuesday. Was going pretty well to start with, but then i got fuked off the free shots, was already pretty drunk going there, and then on the way to the second bar some fuarked up sh!t happened which i can't be bothered to explain, and we had to split up our groups which was the last i saw of her, so i didn't get to close anything lol /sadface.

Infact i was so drunk i apparently rugby tackled her after she wrestled a bunch of straws of me that i'd taken from Mcdonalds, Bish shouldn't steal my straws:P and just becuase i'm drunk, recovering from injury, its the off season and my bday, doesn't mean i can't get some extra practice in rofl.

Bit off topic i suppose lol, but i havn't bothered to text her since, probs gonna see her at a party on saturday though, wish me luck boys! lol

Anyway... i did a quick sesh on the weights today, i'm still recovering from tuesday a little, first time i've slept before 6:30am in quite a while, and last night i slept nearly 12hours straight lol. Built up to 95kg, did a few reps on the 10" box, felt quite tough, but i am a little tired, gonna go for 105kg on the box tommorow. Gonna add in sprints/running after the next two sessions, so this could turn out to be quite a good week

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 105kg 3x5
OP - 57.5 kg 2x5 1x4

Power clean - 70kg 5x3

So not sure what happened with the OP, 3rd time i failed it, really is a mindfuk as i've actually done 65kg for a few reps several months ago. I think theres a problem with my sleep, i'll try 57.5kg next time i really should be able to do it.

Squats were done on the box, felt fine.

[CasinoApe]

Squat- 107.5kg 3x5

Bench - 85kg - Did a few reps an failed, lowered to 82 didn't get 5 and i stopped.

I felt like sh!t as soon as the squats were over, i think i havn't been sleeping well enough and maybe not eating enough, either way it just didn't feel right, then i had to stop for a while and i felt even worse after, the dead wasn't gonna happen. Will repeat this next sesh, though with a 110kg squat.

[CasinoApe]

Well i nearly got shanked going to a friends house, had to run from 20-30 guys that just got off a bus and thats not a joke, sort of fuked my knee from doing it, but i got away fine, cba to type up everything but its mad out here, the whole shopping centre is on fire, the green behind is just a wasteland.

[CasinoApe]

Just worked up to 95kg on squats, but running away in my last post has definitely messed my legs up a little. Its frustrating waiting again but i'll have to, gonna write up the diet now, will workout tommorow.

[JT4Rugby]

Well i nearly got shanked going to a friends house, had to run from 20-30 guys that just got off a bus and thats not a joke, sort of fuked my knee from doing it, but i got away fine, cba to type up everything but its mad out here, the whole shopping centre is on fire, the green behind is just a wasteland.

Hope your alright man theres some crazy stuff going on at the moment my uncle is working in london at the moment and his house got attacked with petrol bombs.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 110kg 3x5
Bench press - 85kg x 2 83.5 x 3 80 x 4
Deadlift 137kg 1x4

Well squats went well, failed the bench and deds though. On the bench i think its becuase of a change in technique, my elbows flare alot less then they were before and it obviously stops me lifting as much weight. Other factors i think are not getting enough food in, and maybe taking too long to warm up, i usually get hungry near the end so clearly i'm starting too late after eating. I think if i sort out those basic problems then i should see my weights increase as they should be. I'll keep the bench at 80kg, i'm certain thats stalling due to the aforementioned problems.

[CasinoApe]

Hope your alright man theres some crazy stuff going on at the moment my uncle is working in london at the moment and his house got attacked with petrol bombs.

Wow hope he's alright, a guy round my area nearly got petrol bobmed i think, its calmed down now though, but i messed my leg up a little having to run for my fukking life lol.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 112.5kg 3x5
OP - 55kg 3x5
PC - 72.5kg 5x3

Felt good, could probs have done more on the OP, oh well lol.

[CasinoApe]

Squat - 115kg 3x5
Bench Press - 82kg 3x5
Deadlift - 137kg 1x5

Right i'm off to eat some milk and tuna tuna tuna! Also results day on Thursday, will have to prepare my angus becuase i missed alot of school so i don't think i did so well, History was alright, Bio was meeh and chem's gonna be an atrocity lol!

[CasinoApe]

Ok i've been away for the past few days havn't been able to lift, hoping to resume tommorow, one problem however is that i only have 142kg in my house, my dad won't let me buy more, that'd last me 1 more session pretty much for deads. I'm going away for 3 weeks in september so joining a gym now is a waste of money really.

I think i'll continue the program, hopefully i can continue to improve my lifts, and maybe i'll just replace deads with wide grip weighted pull ups for ym back, and some other leg exercise, maybe RDL's? If they other lifts stall i'll stop until i get back at the end of september and get in some more running.

My leg hasn't felt brilliant, when i walk/run i feel the outer muscle still pulling a bit too much, but the Dr. said i should start now and as long as there's no pain its fine to continue, just building it up slowly with short runs.

Pre season has started down at my local club, i was chatting to a few of my old team mates and they said i should come down sometime, i might pop down before i leave, otherwise it will be at the end of september, i might have to take 2 or so weeks break from SS to just build up some base level fitness and get back into running, hopefully its somethying i can do alongside the program though.