Pre-season soccer conditioning

[*big D*]

Sweet workouts man...keep killin those muscles they will keep responding...congrats on all the PRs...

Thanks Joe, my chest is feeling really dead today from the drop sets etc, its not felt this sore in a long time! Below is todays leg workout, PR on deadlift? Oh ye!

[*big D*]

So its about 4 weeks since the last time I did deadlifts, I much prefer squatting so I do that more often however today I did deads and things went well! Did emphasize the quads after doing deads, most weeks I stick to mainly training hamstrings because it helps me most with improving my squat numbers (or so I believe)

(note my previous PR's on deadlifts from 4 weeks ago are 140x3, 145x1)
Deadlift: 140kgx3, 150kgx3 PR, 160kgx3 PR, 170x1 PR, 4 plates per side for 1 rep PR!!!!!!!

Leg extensions: 5x10. Started at 40kg per leg and finished on 60kg per leg.

Bench step ups: 4 sets of 8 on each leg only using 60kg. Last set was SS with 15 squats on same weight.

Light Front squats: 3sets of 5. 60kg, 70k, 80kg. Just trying these out again, allways have problems with them but felt more compfortable today than normal. Used a clean grip and hopefully it hasn't put any stress on my wrist.

Great workout! The 170 dead felt pretty easy and so I tried 180, form was really bad as my legs locked out pretty fast where as my back didn't. Nonetheless I did manage to grind it out! Next week my goal is to hit a PR of 150kgx3 on squats, can I do it? Course I can

[kimswollwilliams]

nice lookin workout D. switching things up on a weekly basis, ie. order of muscle group trained, barbell work one week, dumbell the next- that's the ticket man. glad the wrist is coming along as well...

[*big D*]

nice lookin workout D. switching things up on a weekly basis, ie. order of muscle group trained, barbell work one week, dumbell the next- that's the ticket man. glad the wrist is coming along as well...

Yer, It also makes things much more interesting. Il hit chest 2nd next week and use DBs instead of BB probably, then the week after ima get another PR on flat bench!

doing 3 or 4 more weeks training before I take a brake and completely change my routine...although my days of training will be changing as of next week and I can only make the gym 3 times a week so il do some skipping at home as cardio or I got a treadmill if I decide to use it. Got a new job as of yesterday so just planning things around it, can begin to save for some stuff including been able to buy some of AX's new products!

Probably change to:

Tuesday. Chest,back+bi's
Saturday Legs
Sunday Shoulders and tri's
20mins cardio on 1 or two mornings at home.

[*big D*]

Hey people! Its Thursday and this morning I hit shoulders and Tri's, workout felt good again and go a few PR's.

Shoulders:
Push press? Probably classed as a Push-Jerk press, I like to do these as they are explosive like Oly lifting style, my feet do stay next to each other throughout the movement unlike in weightlifting where one foot goes backwards.

Set 1: 70kgx5
Set 2: 80kgx5
Set 3: 90kgx3 (with belt) PR

1 set of Seated DB shoulder press's: 30kg DB'sx10 reps PR number of reps on this weight and it was done with the shoulders fatigued to an extent. Maybe Il be able to manage a set or 2 on 34's for 6 reps when fresh?

Shrugs: 10x100kg, 10x 120kg, 6x140kg
BB front raise: 3x8

Triceps:
Close grip benchpress: 15x60kg, 8x80kg, 10x90kg, 6x100kg PR
Skull crushers 3 sets of 8. Still can't get the hang of this exercise, deffinately not my favourite

Diet has been bad last few days, few junk meals on top of the creatine making my stomach bloated is making me feel like I need to do some cardio even-though I won't be at the gym again this week. Il try fit in some skipping for cardio on friday and saturday. Won't be at the gym untill Tuesday due to a change in my schedule.

[*big D*]

Cardio:

5mins treadmill, started at a brisk walk and upped pace untill I was doing a steady jog.

Jump rope intervals:

Round 1: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 press-ups. 1min rest
Round 2: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 sit-ups. 1min rest
Round 3: 30 seconds jump rope, 15burpees. 1min rest
Round 4: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 sit-ups. 1min rest
Round 5: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 burpees. 1min rest
Round 6: 30 seconds jump rope. 1min rest
Round 7,8,9,10: 30 seconds jump rope. 30 seconds rest

10 mins treadmill. varying speeds going up and down for 5 mins. 5mins cooldown walking.

[liljoe]

Cardio:

5mins treadmill, started at a brisk walk and upped pace untill I was doing a steady jog.

Jump rope intervals:

Round 1: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 press-ups. 1min rest
Round 2: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 sit-ups. 1min rest
Round 3: 30 seconds jump rope, 15burpees. 1min rest
Round 4: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 sit-ups. 1min rest
Round 5: 30 seconds jump rope, 15 burpees. 1min rest
Round 6: 30 seconds jump rope. 1min rest
Round 7,8,9,10: 30 seconds jump rope. 30 seconds rest

10 mins treadmill. varying speeds going up and down for 5 mins. 5mins cooldown walking.

Cardio, bah...I got in 3 sessions this week, after chest I felt like yacking anyway. Keep those weights coming.

[*big D*]

Cardio, bah...I got in 3 sessions this week, after chest I felt like yacking anyway. Keep those weights coming.

Try some HIIT its fun, i suggest on an off day though... Try hard with sprints or something and itl kick your ass!

Routine is changing to a Tuesday, sat+sunday I think... new job is changing my days around. Start tomorrow with an induction!

Was gunna hit back first and do DB's for chest on Tuesday... screw that im just gunna hit another PR on chest!

[*big D*]

Humm minor set-back today... Did cardio, read on:

Jump rope: 10 mins work. Balls to walls pace for 30 seconds, rest 30 secs= 1 set... repeated 10 times hence the fact that it lasted 10 mins.

8 mins on treadmill: random paces and inclines.

3 more mins/ 3 sets with jump rope doing same as previous.

Felt good, was short and had a bit of a swet on but the bad news...

My shins where hurting slightly the other day when I did jump rope but it went away once I stopped... must of aggravated it.

Today after the 3rd set of jump rope it came back and got worse and worse, went onto the treadmill and it felt slightly less irratable. Now around 8 hours later my left shin is still hurting quite badly. I was doing the jump rope on a concrete floor (palmface) and my shoes are pretty bad for this sorta thing as they don't absorb the impact with the floor very well. Basically my shins especially on the left hand side are irratated, Shin splints . I will be able to work out and bike but this jump rope which I enjoy will have to be dropped for a few weeks, its too damn cold to do it outside on the grass aswell and so this is why I was in the conservatory.

[*big D*]

Chest, back and a few sets on bi's.

Flat benchpress:
Set 1: 100kgx5
Set 2: 110kgx3
Set 3: 120kgx3 + 1 assisted rep. PR
Set 4: 100kgx8 (backdown set)

BB Rows:
Set 1: 60kgx8
Set 2: 80kgx5
Set 3: 90kgx3 PR "EASY like a Sunday morning"

DB Incline press:
Set 1: 40kg DB'sx8 PR
Set 2: 40kg DB'sx7
Set 3: 34kg DB'sx8

Bodyweight Pull-ups
2 set of 6

Hammerstrength rows:
2 Sets of 8, 40kg per side

Hammercurls
Set 1: 8reps per arm on 14kg DB's
Set 2: 8reps per arm on 16kg DB's
Set 3: 8reps per arm on 18kg DB's

A great workout, wasn't too sure on what to expect but the drop sets etc the other week seem to have worked very well for my strength... was only looking for about 1 rep on 120 so 3 on my own was awesome! Moved onto the 40 DB's (bout 88-90pounds) unfortunately these are the highest in my gym which completely sucks.

Next workout isn't untill Saturday which will be legs and then shoulders+tri's on Sunday.

[*big D*]

Despite the great workout posted above ^^^

Today is a very sad day, I took my last dose of aPCT this morning
I really do think its boosted my training and will be buying another bottle or the new hyper soon hopefully.

[*big D*]

Shoulders + Tri's

Shoulders

DB shoulder presses
Set1: 34kg DB'sx6 PR
Set2: 34kg DB'sx6 (with some help)
BB shoulder press (smyth machine)
Set1: 60kgx8
Set2: 80kgx3

Powercleans:
Set1: 60kg x8
Set2: 80kg x5
Set3: 80kg x3

Triceps

CG benchpress (index finger next to smooth bit)
60kgx10
80kgx8
90kgx5
100kgx? Few reps but can't remember
105kgx1 (paused) PR
110kgx2 PR

DB overhead extensions
30kg DB. 3x8

Was another great workout, very happy to negotiate with the 34's and get 6 reps out on them by myself... clean them onto my shoulders before sitting down. Another PR on CG bench, very happy with 110x2. Wrist is ok after doing powercleans thank god!

Legs tomorrow lads, lets see how the squatting goes.

[*big D*]

Legs
Today I hit legs, not everything went fully to plan but nontheless I did make a little bit of progress.

Squats
Warm-up sets: Barx10, 60kgx10,100kgx8,120kgx5

Work sets:
Set1: 140kgx3. Third rep was very bad, lost balance and started to lean forward but luckily I managed to recover it.
Set2: 150kgx3 PR, really struggled on the last rep, probably took alot out of me for the next set.
Set3: 160k (failure) Tried to get a single, got outta the hole but got stuck halfway, if id of just done 2 on 150 id of managed this im sure.

Leg press: 2 sets of 8. 1x5 reps on full stack. (as previously mentioned this is more of a hack squat machine)

Romanian deads: 60kgx12, 80kx10, 100kgx8

Front squats: 2 sets of 5. Last set was 90kgx3

Leg curls: 3 sets of 8 per leg. Tried to ss with leg extensions but got cramp in my calve on first set so just did these.

Was bit annoyed at missing the 160kg single on squats but oh well I guess. Next week il try do 150x3 a bit better followed by a drop set. 3 More strength leg sessions to go, would be nice to hit 170x1 on the last week.

[*big D*]

Well today I don't normall hit the gym, lessons got cancelled and so took a supprise trip their to waste a bit of time etc. Energy was low, was ready for my next meal but had to wait an extra hour due hitting the weights.

Just worked chest today, probably go in tomorrow and do some decent volume on back.

CHEST

Incline BB 3min rests between sets
Set 1: 80x8
Set 2: 90x5
Set 3: 100x3 (PR)
Set 4: Dropset 105x2(PR), 60x10. Both of these PR sets where quite a struggle to say the least but didn't have a spotter and managed to push them out.

Flat bench 90 seconds between sets
Set 1: 100kgx6
Set 2: 100kgx5
Set 3: 100kgx3

Incline flys
Set 1: 20kg DB'sx8
Set 2: 24kg DB'sx8 PR? Not done flies for a long time!
Set 3: 24kg DB'sx8

Random Flat bench set
105kgx4

Neutral grip BB curls: Found a triceps bar to do these with, didn't feel too bad
Set 1: 25kgx8
Set 2: 35kgx8
Set 3: Dropset 35kgx6+25kgx6

More like a BB workout today for chest but it was fun for a change. Nextweek back to the usual, might attempt 125x3 and then hopefully get 130x3 on my lastweek . Had no chalk and bar felt like it was slipping in my hands alot on bench, also had no wristwraps but my wrists didn't feel too bad, as I said didn't expect to hit the gym but had an extra shirt and some shorts because I was expecting to do some running.

[*big D*]

Back + Tri's (Yer i know I did chest yday but what the hek!)

Back:

Neutral grip pull-ups 1x8, 1x6
BB rows1x8, 1x5, 1x3, 1x8
DB rows 34kg DB 3x8
Straight arm pulldowns 3x10
Machine rows1x10, 1x8, 1x6

Triceps

CG bench:
60kgx10
80kgx8
100kgx5
110kgx3
Dropset: 115x2, 100x4,60x8 PR

Incline DB extensions2x8, 1x5

Pretty good workout, more volume than normal on back and I enjoyed it... wanted to finish it with some supersets but was pushed for time. PR on closegrip despite doing chest yesterday, awesome stuff!