My road to 1500

Clint Darden is based in Cyprus. Just saying.

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If I bump into him i’ll let you know! :laughing:

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31-3-17
Bench

Band pullaparts

Bench with Band 60kg x3, 80kg x3, 100kg 3x3

Inc DB Press 40kg 4x10
Dec Spoto Press 80kg 3x10
BB Curls 35kg 5x10
Straight Bar Pressdown 4 plates 4x25
DB OHP seated 32.5kg x10, 35kg x8, 40kg x8
Side Laterals 12.5kg 3x15, 12.5kg / 10kg x15 (split reps)

Trained in Cyprus today, gym was pretty basic. Ut I made it work! Hex plates should make deadlifting interesting.

Dbs only go up to 40kgs so couldnt go as heavy as I usually would on DB Bench, so used 40s and made sure the reps were all good controlled reps!

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2-4-17
Lower

Leg swings / stretching

Front squat 60kg x3, 80kgx3, 100kg x3, 110kg x3, 120kg x3

Deadlift with band (slight deficit?) 60kg x5, 100kg x5, 140kg x5, 160kg x3, 180kg x3, 200kg x1
Deload set 200kg x1 > 180kg x2 > 160kg x3

BB Rows 100kg 4x10
WG Pulldowns 55kg 3x15
Straight bar pulldowns 20kg 3x12
Leg Ext toes neutral 40kg 3x10
Leg Ext toes out 40kg 3x10

Not sure about plate sizing, as they were hex plates. The bar felt at a slight deficit when I was pulling today but I cant be totally sure!

Training in this heat when your not used to it can be a real killer!

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4-4-17
Bench

Stretch shoulders / pecs / band pullaparts

Bench 60kg x10, 70kg x8, 80kg x6, 90kg x4, 100kg x2, 120kg x1, 130kg x1, 140kg x1

Inc DB Press 35kg 4x10
Flat DB Flys 17.5kg 3x15
Seated BB OHP 60kg 3x7
Side Laterals 5kg 3x25
BB Curls 17.5kg 3x25
Straight Bar Pressdowns 20kg 5x25

Had to get a hand off / unrack from 1 of the people who works at the gym, they didn’t really know what they were doing but it was manageable! 140kg is moving so easily now, really happy with it!

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This is awesome. Also, you bastard.

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Haha cheers man!!

I’ve got like 15lbs on you now your cutting, I’m sure once your back at maintenance / in a surplus your bench will fly :slight_smile:

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Lazing on a sun lounger has me thinking about training and stuff, and being the huge Dan Green fanboy I am, I’ve been trying to find articles on his training methods, but I’m not having much luck!

Anybody out there know of somewhere I could find some? @MarkKO you always seem to be in the know when it comes to articles and stuff, anyideas?

I know he’s done a Table Talk with Dave Tate that’s on YouTube. Apart from that, I’m not sure unfortunately. I think I came across something he wrote about training deadlifts but I can’t for the life of me remember where.

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I’ve seen the stuff hes done with Dave Tate, and the few articles hes got up on Boss Barbell website but thats all I’ve been able to find.

Thanks anyways man, I guess hes more of a seminar kind of guy!

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6-4-17
Lower

Stretch / leg swings

Front Squat 20kg 2x5, 60kg x5, 80kg x5, 100kg x5, 120kg x5, 130kg x5

Deadlifts** 100kg x2, 150kg x2, 180kg x2, 210kg x2, 230kg 2x1

Leg Press 250kg 3x10
WG Pulldown 60kg 3x15
BB Shrugs 120kg 3x10
BB Rows 100kg 2x12

**checked todays video against videos from my usual gym, and the hex plates definately leaves me pulling from a deficit.

Frustrating session today! Front squats felt really good, deadlifts on the other hand!! Got to my top set at 230kg, and was supposed to double it but the bars are shorter than normal bars, and 6 plates a side is the max that will fit! After the first rep, a plate fell off both sides and that was enough to screw up my set!! Pulled it for 2 singles instead!

As a positive, I pulled 230kg from a deficit, on a stiff bar (I always pulled with a DL bar) so thats what I’m taking from today! And although the rep wasn’t as fast as I would of liked, it didn’t feel hard!

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Not to mention front squatting before pulling. Talk about making life difficult for yourself. That looked very tidy.

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Cheers man! Extra points if you can guess what I said as the weights fell off :laughing:

The front squatting was pretty easy tbh, hips feeling very good lately, theres no pain what so ever… just working squatting back in!

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Octo-plates. Yikes. That’s all my gym has, and I take some comfort in believing that I will be rewarded when I finally get to pull with standard plates again. My DL may go from ‘really suck’ to ‘kinda suck.’

I have found that offsetting / mis-aligning the straight edges can get a few centimeters back from gravity. But then you may get a funky roll. Pick your poison.

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Thankfully that was the last time I’ll be pulling with them, got a Bench session today then I’ll be back home next time I train!

You have my sympathy, those plates are horrible and whoever designed them needs a slap!

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So I trained today against my better judgement, feeling kinda tired and a little dehydrated!! Usually I wouldnt have bothered but it was my only chance to train before Monday when I’ll be back home!

I hit bench for 55kg x8, 75kg x8, 95kg x8, 115kg x8, 125kg x6. Last set was supposed to be for 8 reps but I failed on the 7th rep! Its my own fault, I should have just left it until I was back home!

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10-4-17
Bench

Band pullaparts between warmups

Bench 20kg 2x6, 60kg x3, 80kg x3, 100kg x3, 120kg x3, 140kg x3

DB Floor Press 35kg x10, 40kg x10, 45kg x10, 50kg x10
BB OHP 50kg 4x10
Flys ss with Side Laterals 25kg / 10kg 3x15
Single arm Cable Curls 10kg 3x25
V Bar Pressdowns 4 plates 4x25

Its good to be back to training in my usual gym! Holiday was amazing, feeling very well rested, but its back to it now!!

Hit a new 3 rep PB on Bench with 140kg, confident I had another left in tank aswell, so I’m really happy with that!

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11-4-17
Lower

Stretch / foam roll / glute bridges

Squats 20kg 2x8, 60kg x10, 70kg x10, 80kg x10, 100kg x10

Deadlift 120kg x2, 140kg x2, 180kg x2, 210kg x2, 235kg x2

Block Pulls below knee 170kg x4, 200kg x4, 240kg x4

Pulldown Machine 50kg x12, 60kg x12, 70kg x12, 80kg x10
Double DB Rows 30kg 2x10, 35kg 2x10
Leg Press 120kg x15, 200kg x15, 280kg x15
Straight Bar Pulldowns 4 plates 3x15

Changed things up a bit tonight, did all my pulls on the stiff bar rather than the DL bar, definately felt harder! Don’t want to get too accustomed to the DL bar

Block pulls from just below the knee were hard, felt strange to get tight / into position, and to get the bar moving! Hopefully these will help reinforce getting my hips through!

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I like to do variation work with the stiff bar, paused, deficit. I use the Deadlift bar for speed work and banded deads. Helps keep the groove of the whip in my opinion.

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13-4-17
Bench

Band pullaparts / stretch chest and shoulders

Bench with light chains 40kg x7, 60kg x7, 80kg x7, 100kg x7, 120kg x7

Decline Press 35kg x10, 40kg x10, 45kg x10, 50kg x10
Flat Flys 20kg 3x20
DB Shoulder Press 25kg x10, 30kg x10, 35kg x10, 40kg x10
Side Laterals 7.5kg 3x20
Face Pulls 8 plates 4x20
Rope Pressdowns 3 plates 4x20
Cable Curls 6 plates 4x20

Got a lot of work done today, huge rep PR on bench aswell! Last time I hit 120kg with chains, I got 3 reps, I got 7 today but the last rep felt like a battle!!

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