Andy
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The first back session of the year in the books, and it was a great one. I’ve always said back/pull is one of those sessions that creeps up on you. We all know legs is going to ruin you, so we brace for it, but pull does it slyly every single time.
I felt the number of exercises we slotted in towards the end of the year was overkill, I knew from how my back felt that my back was done. I sound like a broken record because I’ve done the exact same back workout for 10+ years.
Neutral grip lat pulldowns – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
T-bar rows – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
Chest supported t-bar rows – 1x 8-12
SA DB rows – 2x 8-12
Deadlifts – 1x 8-12
So I’ve pulled out the SA Nautilus row, and the rear delt work, because even they felt fried by the end.
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A big shoulder day on the cards at Flex Unit today. I know FU has a few machines that we don’t have at Future Fitness, so depending on what they have I may do a machine shoulder press instead of a DB press.
Y raises – 2 working sets, 12-15
Rear delt cuffed cable rear raises – 3 working sets, 15-20
High incline DB shoulder press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15
Incline SM chest press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15
Behind the back cuffed cable side raises – 3 working sets, 12-15
Straight-bar cable triceps extensions – 1 working set, 12-15
Bent over rope triceps extensions – 3 working set, 12-15
I’ll get a few snaps PWO when Nick is taking a look at me.
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Nothing really much to report, other than getting a banging sleep last night – helped by some Dream Sleep of course – and a nice chilled day to top the year out.
2024 has definitely been a memorable one for both good and bad reasons, but I’ve not let the bad over shadow the good.
There’s nothing wrong with treating a new year with a new slate, and I think 2025 is going to be a very good one!
Fantastic year for yourself Andy look forward to seeing how your 2025 goes. Have a good one[/quote]
Cheers Graeme!
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Happy new year everyone!
This is my last NTD of the week/deload so I’m dead excited to go into the gym tomorrow for a big shoulder session.
I’ll be training at Flex Unit and meeting up with Nick Vandal to get a look at me now that I’m half way through my offseason.
I’m excited to hear what he has to say, and hear his thoughts on competing this year, even though it is a bit premature to decide.
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Nothing really much to report, other than getting a banging sleep last night – helped by some Dream Sleep of course – and a nice chilled day to top the year out.
2024 has definitely been a memorable one for both good and bad reasons, but I’ve not let the bad over shadow the good.
There’s nothing wrong with treating a new year with a new slate, and I think 2025 is going to be a very good one!
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A nice relaxing weekend ticked off with plenty of steps and naps. As I mentioned, my neck has bene killing me from sleeping on a god awful bed at my mum’s for a week, so I’m looking forward to having that ironed as I currently feel like Batman.
I’m training on Thursday, so if I can get this ironed out before I go back to the gym then that would be ideal.
As much as it’s cliche, I’m looking forward to getting back into the gym on the 2nd and start the new year off right.
My other half is locked into prep now, so that will make me feel less guilty about being 10/10 myself. We’ve all experienced that selfishness when it comes to wanting to be as close to perfect as possible, but at the same time keeping our relationships healthy.
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Yesterday was great as it was the first day my Mrs was up from Liverpool for the week/NY, even if delays on the trains cause me to miss a meal, it’s all good, I’m not going to cry about it.
We went to Six by Nico as our Christmas present to each other, and then a few drinks in Glasgow which was nice as she only got 1 day off of prep, so that will be her until the end of April.
That works for me though as I’m looking to lock in until the day I decide with Nick if 2025 is going to be the debut year in the pro league.
As I mentioned, I feel a little more confident with the kind words/feedback from my mate Greg, but at the same time I know there’s plenty of work to be done.
I won’t be checking in this week due to the week of training, but I already look and feel better!
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That 2kg isn’t going to be fat, it will just be water and gut content.
If you’ve wiped the slate clean and you know you’re not going to eat anything else off plan, then I would move forward with whatever your plan was to increase food as part of your push up.
I’d be more concerned that a dropping back down to try and get rid of the 2kg may only spur on further binging episodes.
Even if you increase your food, that weight will most likely still fall off, assuming you’re not going for some mad increase in food right from the get go.
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So 2nd day of the week off, and I’m starting to notice usual indicators of fatigue fall off;
– I’m not falling asleep without warning as much.
– Concentration is much better.
– I’m not taking 3 hours to get out of a chair.
– I actually feel rested when I wake up from sleep.
– Appetite is slightly better, although, I am still consuming 6000cals so it’s nothing to shout home about.
– I look rounder and fuller.
I’ve said this a million times but I really do need to make the Christmas-NY week a week off, regardless of how I feel. There is something about waking up on the 2nd ready to go!
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Merry Christmas everyone!
A very chilled one today, I took meal out my plan for my Christmas dinner. I usually just see how I feel when I wake up in the morning, if I’m going to semi follow my plan or not, and today I just felt like not thinking and prepped 5/6 meals. Last year I didn’t, it just depends.
Also, my mum’s Christmas dinner isn’t the best haha, so I really don’t feel like I’m missing anything anyway.
I hope everyone had a great day!
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A brilliant push session with Greg Taylor at Warehouse in Aberdeen today. It’s always good training with guys on Greg’s level as you can bounce ideas and thoughts off of each other. Usually Greg rinses me in push sessions, but it was pretty close this time, which is good because I’ve worked damn hard to bring my chest/shoulders up!
I also got him to have a look at me PWO, even though he’s one of my best mates, he’s still very honest in what he see’s so it was good to get some really positive feedback from him today, it kind of put my mind at ease as I feel a bit like I’m in my head too much with the 2025 season, and I’m usually quite headstrong.
Anyway, class session all round!
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Now that the entire pro schedule has been released, Nick and I have picked the shows we’re going to go for IF I choose to compete, which we’ll decide on the 29th of March (P-day)
26/10 – EVLS Pro
09/11 – Romania
23/11 – Spain Pro
The spacing between all of these allows for travel disruptions etc, but those are the 3 I’m looking at.
I’m not naive, I know it’s going to be a long hard road to being pro winning standard, and I’m more than willing to climb that road, however, I also don’t want to get last call out in my pro debut.
I’ll be down at the shed late January, so hopefully I can get an honest bit of feedback from the big dogs that day.
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Fake Christmas completed with the family today. We tend to have a fake Christmas before the big day so that we can get everyone in the same room as most of us do our own thing on Christmas. I swapped out 1 meal for the Christmas lunch, and I didn’t go overboard. It’s just meat and veg at the end of the day the day. . .
I don’t see the fascination with Christmas dinner, it’s the stuff we eat every day with a bit of gravy on it, everyone needs to calm down haha.
Nick and I have agreed for me to take Christmas to NY off training, just to allow my body to be nice and fresh going into the new year.
The entire pro schedule is up, so I know exactly what I want to do IF I compete! I’ll touch on that tomorrow.
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I haven’t used EQ since 2018, for no reason really other than I like the test/primo/NPP combo.
I’ll only use EQ with a client if they like it/want it to use it, and I’ll start at 200mg.
However, like Sas said, I’d probably just increase your test and/or mast.
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Blood Work 13 weeks in to my push is in. I’ll just note markers that were out, everything bar the following results were in or above range (in a positive way).
CK – 3672 U/l which is about 1000 higher than it usually is, however, I did get my bloods done almost immediately post session as that was the only time I had available.
ALT – 79.2 U/l this always floats around the 70-80 range for me.
HDL – 0.72 mol/l this was actually in a good spot (1.2) after my health phase, and I usually see this drop when using primo, it never really gets lower than this.
Prolactin – 430.3 mU/L a touch higher than where it usually is mid-cycle, but I’m not seeing any prolactin sides.
Test is always through the roof, as is free test, but that’s a given.
There was nothing overly concerning though, so we press on. I’ll get them done again in 12 weeks time.
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