Mitch's Log

[tescott]

Good stuff. You play Union or League? The kgs and the current offseason tell me that you're in the UK?

[Mitch]

That's right, I'm in London and play second row or #8 in Union. My club has an associated League team but there's no way I could play all year. By the end of the Union season I'm in real need of a break, then after not playing for a few weeks I can't wait for the season to start again.

[Mitch]

Monday 21st June

Squat: 5 x 5 @ 150kg
Felt good up until the last couple of reps which were hard, took about 3min between sets.

Press: 3 x 5 @ 60kg
Was planning on doing 57.5kg but was working in with a guy who was squatting so thought I might as well go for 60kg to avoid taking the 20s on and off each time. Got through them but last reps of the last set were very hard - I really noticed that my right arm is weaker. My left hand ends up higher than my right so there is even more weight on my right, have to really focus on pushing with my right and following with my left. Will start micro-loading on this now.

Deadlift: 1 x 5 x 130kg
Haven't deadlifted for a while and was hoping to lift around 170kg, but got to 130kg while warming up and it felt incredibly heavy so thought I'd stop there. This is the first time I've deadlifted after 5 x 5 squats, and the first time I've deadlifted in my squat shoes. I don't know if I need to eat something before I go to the gym, at the moment I wake up at 7, have some creatine with juice, cycle 15min to the gym, have some coffee and start lifting around 7.40 and I seemed to run out of energy today. I also can't seem to work out how to wear my belt for deadlifting: too low and it cuts into my hips, too high and I trap a spare tyre of fat below it which stops me getting low. I'll see how it goes next week but I may need to rethink when I'm deadlifting.

All in all a good session. My deadlift lags my squat but I have been neglecting it, I may need to tinker with the program a bit if I'm finding it too hard to deadlift after 5 x 5 squats.

[Mitch]

Wednesday 23rd June

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
Fine

Chins (neutral grip): 6, 4, 3
Supersetted these with the squats to try and save time. Will have to accept lower numbers if I'm going to continue to do that.

Back Extensions: 2 x 10 x BW, 3 x 10 @ 15kg
I do these on a 45 degree incline bench, hold a 15kg weight plate across my chest to add more weight. Really nail my back, probably should have done these last but the bench wasn't free

Bench: 3 x 5 @ 70kg
Was hoping to do 90kg, but 70 was quite painful in my right shoulder. On the last set I took a narrower grip and really focussed on keeping my elbows close to my body and that felt much better. Was thinking about pressing exclusively but I think I'll continue benching once a week, perhaps with lighter weight and more reps but with very strict form.

Rotator cuff work.

A good session, squats felt good but I still think there is something weird going on with where the bar is on my back, it feels good but looks (in the mirror) asymmetrical. Really need to get someone to video me some time.

Will be missing the 5RMs on Friday so will just go straight into volume on Monday again.

[Mitch]

Monday 28th June

Squat: 5 x 5 @ 152.5kg
Got them done

Press: 3 x 5 @ 60kg
Last session was wobbly at 60kg so decided to repeat, especially as I was in a different gym and would have to clean the weight up due to the ceiling being too low over the rack.

By the end of the press I was knackered and running late so stopped there. Was pretty pleased I got this session done seeing as it came on the back of a weekend of very little sleep and a very large amount of drinking. Felt shit going into the gym but felt better coming out again.

[Mitch]

Wednesday 30th June

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
Felt good, right knee a bit sore to start with but soon warmed up

Chins (neutral grip): 7, 5, 5
Better than last time, worked my squats around the chins rather than vice-versa

Bench: 2 x 5 x 60kg
Warmed up a lot and thought I was good for 80kg but still feeling too much pain. I'm away for the next two weeks so I'll see how it is when I'm back, otherwise I'll switch to exclusively pressing for a while

Back extensions: 2 x 10 @ BW, 3 x 10 @ 15kg
Much better than last time, felt it more in my hamstrings and back felt worked but not broken

Rotator cuff

Good session, thought I could perhaps have done more but sitting at my desk now and arms are feeling pretty heavy. Friday will be my last session for a couple of weeks so hope to put up some good numbers.

[Mitch]

Friday 2nd July

Squat: 1 x 5 @ 167.5kg
Missed last Intensity day so went for a 5kg jump on two weeks ago and was pleased to get it, felt like I could perhaps have done 170kg but 167.5 will do. I always feel with these 5RMs that as long as I get the first rep, the others will come. Also makes the weight on volume day seem a lot lighter.

Press: 5,5,4 @ 62.5kg
Got the last rep up to my forehead but couldn't get it any further, pushed it up with a slight knee bend. Will start microloading now

Power Clean: 1 x 3 @ 85kg, 4 x 3 @ 80kg
Missed last set of powercleans but 75kg felt very easy two weeks ago so went for 85kg on first set. Quickly realised this would be too much and dropped to 80kg. Some nice reps but quite a few where I'm spreading my feet wide to get under the weight - need to focus on bending my knees rather than moving to a wider stance.

This was the last time I will train for 2 weeks as I am going on holiday to Malaysia tomorrow and don't plan on doing any training except perhaps some bodyweight stuff. Was considering sacking off todays session but really glad I didn't. Will be interesting to see what my numbers drop to when I'm back. I think I'll also move to a more hybrid program incorporating conditioning and speed work as the rugby season approaches, but I've still got some work to do on my strength.

[Mitch]

Monday 19th July

Squat: 3 x 5 @ 150kg
First session in 2 weeks, was hoping to get 5 sets but ran out of energy

Press: 3 x 5 @ 60kg

Deadlift: 1 x 5 @ 150kg

Reasonably happy with this, didn't appear to have gone backwards too much in 2 weeks

[Mitch]

Wednesday 21st July

Bench: 3 x 5 @ 80kg
Moved this to the start of Wednesday's session as it's the movement I want to focus on.

Squat: 2 x 5 @ 120kg
Felt fine, quite sore after Monday but loosened up

Chin-ups: 6,5,5 @ BW
Took 3min rest between sets and did my squats in between

Conditioning: 30sec on, 30 sec off x 12 on the rowing machine
Net +17m on 150m target for each interval
I wanted to add in a conditioning session on my light day as I get closer to the start of the rugby season. This was hard.

[Mitch]

Friday 23rd July

Squat: 1 x 2 @ 165kg
Wanted to get 5 reps but couldn't get the third one up

Press: 3 x 5 @ 62.5kg
Need to microload now

Power clean: 5x 3 @ 82.5kg
Tiring