One Hundred and Eighty!

Training has been iffy the last few weeks, but I've been making a conscious effort to listen to my body, undershooting the weight on the bar when needed to reduce fatigue, and reaped the rewards with a 180kg 2 rep deadlift PR as an early Christmas present to myself! I

Cardio Failure/Success

Fitness trackers are notoriously bad at determining your calorie burn, but they've been proven to be pretty accurate for step count and heart rate tracking. So, determined to increase my cardio output last year, I got myself one and have worn it every day since. But, like the best-laid plans

Stepping Up

Today marks a year since I started Low Fatigue Training. I've completed three 16wk cycles, and I'm getting better at the "less is more" approach, but still struggle to get the right balance. Ahead of the last cycle, I started adding a step-up set, which was the top-set minus 5%

Minimal Pain, Incremental Gain

Volume = Weight x Reps, but increasing volume can be done without increasing fatigue. The graph covers the last year and the three 16wk Low Fatigue Training cycles I've done. Each cycle starts at low volume, and slowly ramps up, before dropping the volume again in preparation for testing, so you

Training == Rehab

Typically when injured, hurt, or carrying a niggle the advice is to "rest" - but this could be prolonging recovery. The objective of training is to provide a stimulus that kicks off the body's repair processes - a degree of damage occurs that the body overcompensates for, which then makes

50 not out!

Take that 50 (birthday last week) - or rather, take 150kg (330lbs/23.6st) for 2 reps and a new squat PR, and 93kg (205lbs/14.6st) for 2 reps and a new bench press PR! There's the saying that "age is just a number", and as a number, it

Squat and Bench Press PRs

Test week has come and gone, and I'm delighted to report a 170kg (375lbs/26.7st) Squat PR! Up from 162.5kg set at the start of March. Over the last year that's 10kg added - I'll take that considering my recent back tweak and being (mostly!) in a calorie

Pivot, Pivot, Pivot!

Have been feeling a bit fatigued recently. For the past 12wks, I've been pushing a bit harder than I maybe should have. Top sets were as prescribed, but added 3% to the drop sets to make the weight more challenging - it's the volume in drop sets that drives a

Look Ma, No Hands!

The Hatfield squat moves the hands from the bar to the rack, so that the arms can be used in the movement. Requires the Safety Squat Bar (SSB) instead of a regular barbell, so it can be balanced hands-free. I got this SSB soon after starting barbell squats as just

Expect the Unexpected

Bit of an anniversary for me this month as it's 6yrs since I first picked up a barbell. So, when my last warmup of a 170kg deadlift felt fast today, I decided to throw on another 30kg and broke the 200kg (31.5st/441lbs) mark for the first time! Had