Christos

Deadlifts for Halloween. Of course. Loaded up 5 plates for the first time since March and got 3 nice pulls with a controlled descent. Save your soul. Do your deadlifts.

Single arm high rows. Turning into the movement allows you to milk every drop out of the contraction. Strap in to make sure the pull comes from the back, not the lower arm & tricep.

One man’s optimal is another man’s waste of time. Do what works for you, don’t worry about what the next guy is doing. Vive la différence.

Chuck some chains around your traps and live a little. It’s the weekend.

Happy forearm Friday. Thickening up nicely with a couple of months of winter surplus ahead still.

This ancient shoulder press is one of the best pieces in the gym. 100kg in selector plates plus the ability to stack another 4/5 plates per side. No idea who on earth could ever press that much though. Bench slides in between the handles to allow for a superb BTN setup. Elite.

Hack squats. Filmed from a couple of angles as I’m trying to cut the ROM and not go ATG on these but still feel like I’m going too low and shifting tension off of the quads. Work to be done here.

Single leg press. I go high volume, lower weight on these and put them towards the end of leg day, using partials to finish the set. You see people really loading these up and bouncing the weight back up but killing momentum at the bottom is the way to get the most from this.

Drank an energy drink in the gym this morning knowing full well it wouldn’t have any effect on my training. You can just do things.

Drank a 50g protein shake after gym this morning knowing full well that the body can’t synthesise more than 20g protein at once and that the anabolic window isn’t real. You can just do things. (May contain sarcasm)

RDLs. Cleaning up technique across the board. Dropped weight a bit and really focussing on ‘keep shins vertical’ cue. My hamstrings are super tight so this cue has been a big help to prevent my knees travelling forward. Do your deadlifts 🫡

Having a look into some Haney shrugs at home. Never done these before but it’s easy to see how effective they could be. Going to have a go on the smith machine next time I’m at the gym. Good to see a bit of back thickness coming…

Back to work today. Focussing on controlling the weight rather than just moving as much as possible. Still got plenty of grip and rip style lifts in the programme but I’m trying to keep form tight on these machines. 🫡

Sunday: Man flu. Man down. Rest body. Eat chicken soup. Check depth. ✅✅✅

Both weekly leg days include RDLs for me. First is using a barbell and second is using this machine. The stability beats a barbell hands down and allows full focus to be given to the target muscle. But hoisting a heavy barbell is badass so it stays. 🫡

30 second static hold after deadlifts. Highly recommend adding these at the end of the set. Superb for grip strength, forearm pump and general back stability. 🫡

Biohacking 101: 30 mins before workout. Bite the head off a jelly baby, dunk into salt flakes, devour. Repeat 5-10 times. Enjoy juicy pumps.

Deadlift for reps. 4 and a bit plates x 12. “JuNK voLuME!” Sure. Whatever. Do your deadlifts.

“Your traps are activated if you go past 40° on lateral raises bro!” Better stop at 39° in future. God forbid I get bigger traps.