MarkKO's Training Log

We have Anytime Fitness here and it’s a franchise model. Anyone can pay buy into the franchise and essentially run their gym however they want, buy what they want, etc. It just depends on the owner and who they want to draw into their business.

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Woke at 240 lbs, bloating pretty much gone. Did my best to rehydrate last night so shouldn’t be too dehydrated.

@anon96032531 there are a bunch of Anytimes but they aren’t that great.

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I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary for the bar to touch the chest, in fact, isn’t it not only safer for your shoulders but keeps more tension on your muscles if you avoid going right to the bottom? I thought I read that or saw that in a video.

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Thought I’d found an elegant solution to keeping hydration and calories up (since hitting 235+ I’ve realised to stay hydrated I need one to two litres more than I used to): skim milk. A litre in and all was well. About an hour later, not so much. That’s what @kd13 calls bloated. Well, lesson learned.

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Woke at 240.5 lbs, looking similar to yesterday. Rubbed a bunch of Voltaren on my elbows and hands before bed last night and that seems to made quite a difference, especially to my hands.

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I’ve had lots of elbow issues, this is how I keep it in check, some of it may help you:

I finish each training session with either: high rep Axle or Fat Gripz Curls (think 100+), Hammer Curls or Reverse Curls. I try to get one of each of these in as every now and again one is painful when the other’s arent. I vary tempo, rep ranges, sometimes use fat gripz sometimes not on the hammer and reverse curls.

I stretch shoulders 3-4 times per week - especially internal rotation and lats

I use Iron Mind “Expand Your Hand” bands x4 per week for 3x12-20 on 3 bands (so 9 sets)x just while watching TV or during lunch. I wouldn’t recommend these particular bands as they slip a bit which is a pain in the ass but they still get the job done. There are ones with loops for your fingers to slip into which would get rid of that issue but I haven’t tried them so not sure how good they are.

I massage x2 per week for 10-15 minutes, after a hot shower or bath.

I stay away from heavy isolation biceps work (anything under 10 reps is asking my elbows for a fight)

My elbows were bad enough that I couldn’t do a pullup and this routine keeps them pretty happy.

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@strongmangoals that’s gold, thank you. I’ve been thinking about the hand expanding especially.

New gym. Jake kindly welcomed me to Ultra Fitness and Strength.

Todays training

45 degree back raises, air squats, planks

Squat, walked out
5xbar
5xplate/148 lbs - different bar, Goliath prototype so it weighs 60 lbs. It’s pretty nice, knurling from sleeve to sleeve but not overly aggressive. Handles weight well, because Eric Lilliebridge has been loading it up with 800+ lbs regularly. Not that line of bar, that actual bar. He trains at Ultra.
5x2 plates/236 lbs
8x3x291 lbs, 10 second rests between sets - ok, after set four longer than 10 seconds because of racking/unracking. All sets in three minutes and 25 seconds

This sucked, but it’s good to be back to accumulation.

Front squat
2x10x176 lbs

DB goblet squats
3x10x88 lbs - heaviest DB they’ve got ATM, but worked plenty good

Lower back pump was insane by now.

Walking lunges
2x10 m at bodyweight - didn’t say to do with DBs if you wanted so I just went with bodyweight. I wasn’t going to argue by this stage

Lat pulldowns
3x12x132 lbs

All up and hour and five minutes

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Thank you for clarifying this.

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The gym seems to have quite a few impressive lifters,
Definantly an upgrade

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Eric, then also Jez (Jeremy Wilson, Australian squat ATR in the 125s), Ariel Dencio (800+ kg total, Australian bench record in the 100s set in that total to boot), and Jake does OK too.

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Sounds like you found a “gym” of a place to workout

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Give that man a medal. Dad joke of the month right there.

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Woke at 243.1 lbs, looking similar to yesterday but with a definite bloat around lower ab - which tallies with having had a large, salty dinner. So awesome that I cracked 242 lbs, but in reality it’s due to salt and what I ate sitting there.

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Todays training

Band work, pull-ups (seven), had release push-ups (which were seriously fucking explosive today)

Bench press
5xbar
5xplate
3x176 lbs
3x3x214 lbs - took two sets to dial in my leg drive
5x214 lbs
13x214 lbs - I’d have been happy with 10, so yeah, pleased

Dead press - 10 second pause on chest
1x214 lbs - not as horrible as you’d think, also closer to 15 seconds because operator error

CGBP to a two-board
2x5x214 lbs

Tricep extensions
3x8x38 lbs - just a tad too heavy, but the 33s were in use, so…

Tricep pushdowns
3x15x33 lbs - only have a straight bar, but good pump

DB rows
3x10x88 lbs - heaviest DB available until I figure out how to set up my adjustable DBs so I focused on squeezing my lats hard at the top and really controlling the eccentric. Good pump. No need for extra weight. Higher reps would be brutal AF

Rear delt flys
2x15x38 lbs - hell of a burn

Done in an hour and 15 minutes

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Woke at 240.5 lbs, looking back to what is now normal I guess. Quads are pretty sore, lats are also feeling it.

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Woke at 241.8 lbs, looking very similar to yesterday.

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Todays training

45 degree back raises, planks, bodyweight reverse hypers, jumps

Deadlift, stiff bar
3x132 lbs - lower back pumped up to hell from work already, but not tight
3x220 lbs
2x308 lbs

All double overhand, no chalk and beltless up to hear. I could hear the RAW police creaming their SBDs

Belt on, mixed grip from hereon out

1x385 lbs because like a fuckwit I was 11 lbs short on the left side. Using calibrated plates is cool and all but makes the maths different. I think I’ll probably end up just adding 22 lbs to all my warmups and take bigger jumps.
3x1x495 lbs - by the third single it felt OK but one and two were so-so because I needed to set my belt height and dial in. My excuse is that this is around 150 lbs heavier than anything I’ve pulled for around two months
2x495 lbs - considerably less awful than I expected
5x495 lbs - fine. Fifth was work, but fine. Target was five in as few sets as possible so win.

Took a leaf out of @littlesleeper’s book because I didn’t want to drop Jake’s nice plates too hard.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnqP87EhEgD/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=o2ahi51vscma

DB split squats
2x10x44 lbs

BB row
8x176 lbs
2x8x198 lbs - probably a fair bit lighter than my lats could have used but by now my lower back was toast and holding strict position was borderline agony

Weighted 45 degree back raise
5x10x44 lbs - inner left knee starting to niggle but it’s fine now

Inverted rows
1x12

All up an hour and a half

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Ferns in the gym?!

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Strong deadlifting mate!

Do you know why exactly this happens? Especially since you haven’t even started on deadlifts.

Aren’t you using the metric system anyway down under?

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