The Bird Cage 6: The Legend Returns

Tuesday, 12th March 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day One

•Walk to the gym and usual warm-up
•Front squats: 6 sets of (3 x 80kg), supersetted with 3 x pull-ups on bar
-dB incline bench: 4 sets of 10 x 22.5 kg
-finished off with 3 rounds of shoulder shocker, and 4 rounds (up, back and up) of Farmer walks holding 40kg dBs with 1 minute rest.

notes:
Squats were feeling a little awkward so I didn’t go up in weight. Left shoulder is still a bit niggling so I went light on the dB bench press. I omitted the dB rows as I didn’t feel like doing them. Good to get back into the Farmer walks which I have not done for awhile.

BJJ later tonight.

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Thursday, 14th March 2019


TRAINING


AM

Day Two

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up. Also included 3 x broad jumps.
•Trap bar deadlifts: 6 sets of (3 x 130kg)
•Superset 4 sets: Bulgarian split squats; 10 steps each leg holding a 15 kg dB, 8 x TRX feet elevated rows.
• Superset 4 sets of: pallof press 8 x orange band, with GHRs: 10 x bird (first 5 reps holding a 5kg dB to my chest) (last set of pallof press was done kneeling on one leg).
-Finished off 3 supersets of; db hammer curls: 10 x 15kg, with 6 cartweeel attempts

notes:
Deadlift was heavy but doable. Need to remember to brace hard as fuck and no jerking. Cartwheels are looking better.

Must remember: shoulders back into my back pockets, massive belly breath, tension in the hammies, chest up, “white knuckle grip” and pulling up with straight arms with tension just before the lift.

Next week I should be able to increase all weights!

BJJ most likely later tonight.

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Saturday, 17th March 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day Three

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up.
•Bench press 6 sets of 3 x 100kg, supersetted with 4pull-ups on the rings and 7 reps of deFrancos “one leg piriformis mobility squat drill”.
•Supersetted 4 sets of: landmine T-bar rows (12 x 40kg), with 12 x bodyweight feet elevated push-ups.
-Finished off with some rear debt raises and some cartwheels.

notes:
Standard session.

Felt a little tired this weekend, so no training on Sunday. Hopefully the extra rest will do me wonders.

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WEEKLY RECAP


Total weight lifted (total weight lifted from my main working sets): 5,580 kgs.

Martial arts: 2 BJJ session and 1 boxing session.

Diet: Fasted 20 hours on Monday. Cheat meals on the weekend: toasted grill cheese sammiches on Sat night. I have been a little loose with my eating this week, but feel stronger for it, and also a little heavier.

Recovery & Sleep: Standard.

General wellbeing mood: Pretty happy with my energy levels this week considering all of the training and a busy week with work.

Tuesday, 19th March 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day One

•Walk to the gym and usual warm-up
•Front squats: 5 sets of (5 x 80kg), supersetted with 3 x pull-ups on bar
•Four round of Farmer walks (up, down and up) holding 40 kg dBs, and then finished off with some cartwheels.

notes:
Woke up too early and then went back to sleep, and then I ended up sleeping in an extra 30 minutes, which is good as my sleep quality hasn’t been the best lately. Anyway, that left me with not much time in the gym so I omitted a bunch of stuff. Happy with the front squats, although I find it hard to brace when in the front squat position. Need to work on this. Should be able to increase the weight next week. Cartwheels are slowly improving, need to keep my legs straighter.

BJJ later tonight.

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Thursday, 21st March 2019


TRAINING


AM

Day Two

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up. Also included 3 x broad jumps.
•Trap bar deadlifts: 6 sets of (3 x 130kg)
•Superset 4 sets: Bulgarian split squats; 10 steps each leg holding a 15 kg dB, 10 x TRX feet elevated rows.
• Superset 3 sets of: pallof press 8 x orange band, with GHRs: 8 x bird holding a 5kg dB to my chest)
•Finished off hanging from the bar for time. 1’05. Could of held on for longer, but my calluses were hurting and I was getting bored lol.

notes:

Same weight this week for the traps. Lower back was feeling a little fragile and I didn’t want to push my luck. Was heavy, but I think on a good day I should be able to pull more weight. Im thinking I might have to move this session to a evening session so I can pull more and have more confidence it the lower back. Everything else was good. No cartwheels today.

As always must remember: shoulders back into my back pockets, massive belly breath, tension in the hammies, chest up, “white knuckle grip” and pulling up with straight arms with tension before the lift.

BJJ most likely later tonight. For the past 2 weeks we have been on working on out “back take” game.

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Saturday, 23rd March 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day Three

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up.
•Bench press 5 sets of 5 x 100kg, supersetted with 5 pull-ups on the rings and 7 reps of deFrancos “one leg piriformis mobility squat drill”. (last set on the bench I only managed 4 reps)
•Supersetted 4 sets of: landmine T-bar rows (10 x 40kg), with 15 x push-ups.
•Finished off with some incline hammer curls and rear delt raises

notes:
Feels like my bench press is forever stagnating. I suppose that’s the reality of lifting. Anyway, I got a good pump this morning and I was feeling strong. I really concentrated on “feeling the muscle” and squeezing my shoulder blades with the rows.

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last two sessions looked like fun

@bigpappafrance: hey buddy! How are you doing?

I always try to remember to have fun in the gym. If it wasn’t enjoyable, then why would we bother?

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Sunday, 24th March 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day Four

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up.
•Back squat to a box: 6 sets of (4 x 100kg).
•Supersetted 3 sets of: walking lunges (10 steps each leg holding 22.5 kg dBs), with single-hand band rows (12 x orange bands).
• finished off with 4 x prowler pushes with 85kg, 1’20 rest.

notes:
100kg squats felt heavy but doable. Usually I concentrate on keeping my weight on my heels, but this morning I also added the cue of “push your big toe into the floor”. It was something I saw on twitter, and this cue really made my squats feel a lot more natural.

At the end of this week I will be taking 3-4 days off to visit family in the city and attend a conference, so Im planning to train hard for the next week until then. And then after the mini-break I will be alternating my lifts around a bit.

BJJ later this afternoon. On Sundays we often put gloves on and add some light striking to our grappling to sharpen our self defence skills.

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WEEKLY RECAP


Total weight lifted (total weight lifted from my main working sets): 9,140kgs.

Martial arts: 3 BJJ sessions and 1 boxing session.

Diet: Fasted 20 hours on Monday. Cheat meals on the weekend: toasted grill cheese sammiches on Sat night.

Recovery & Sleep: Standard.

General wellbeing mood: Standard.

notes: 4 lifting sessions this week which game me my record “total weight lifted”. Missed out on my “track session” again for the second week… will try get a track session in sometime this week. Planning on getting some decent training in before next weekend as I plan to take a few days off for a conference and time in the city.

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Being a messed week for training but back on schedule

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Tuesday, 26th March 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day One

•Walk to the gym and usual warm-up
•Front squats: 6 sets of (6 x 90kg), supersetted with 4 x pull-ups on rings with an additional 10kg.
•4 sets of db incline press (12 x 25kg), supersetted with “DeFrancos one leg” mobility drill
•3 sets of dB rows (10 x 32.5kg)
•Four round of Farmer walks (up, down and up) holding 42.5 kg dBs (failed on the last round), and then finished off with some cartwheels.

notes: Squats were heavy, but I’m happy with todays effort although I’m sure my form could be better. I can feel my legs are growing… my work pants are now getting tight around my thighs. Not sure if I am doing the dB rows correctly as I don’t get much out of them.

BJJ later tonight, and then Im either leaving for a 3-4 day break down in the city either on Thursday or Friday for a mini-deload.

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And Im back!

Apologies for lack of updates. I had trained on Thursday and then immediately left for the city to catch up with family and attend a conference. Great too have the physical and mental break, but due to the nature of travelling and conferences etc, I had spent lots of time sitting in confined spaces, not moving and eating foods I normally don’t eat (ramen and bubble tea!). Will take a few days to get moving properly and feeling right again… new “cycle” starts today…

Tuesday, 2nd April 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day One

•Walk to the gym and usual warm-up
•Zercher Squats: 5 sets of (5 x 60kg), supersetted with 4 x pull-ups on rings with an additional 10kg.
•4 sets of db incline press (10 x 25kg).
•3 sets of dB rows (10 x 32.5kg)
•Three round of uneven Farmer walks (up, down, switch dBs, up, down) holding 25kg a and 32.5kg dBs, and then finished off with some cartwheels.

notes:
Took things easy as its my first session back and had spent lots of time sitting over the past 4 days. Everything went to plan. I really want to progress with my cartwheels and would like to learn how to “skin the cat” as well.

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Thursday, 4th April 2019


TRAINING


AM

Day Two

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up. Also included broad jumps.
•Sumo deadlifts: 6 sets of (3 x 140kg)
•Superset 3 sets: Sprinter step-ups; 8 steps each leg holding 20 kg dB’s, 10 x TRX feet elevated rows.
• Superset 3 sets of: pallof press 8 x orange band, with GHRs: 10 x bird (first 5 reps holding a 5kg dB to my chest)

notes:
First session back at sumo’s today. Felt good, although I’m sure my form could be improved on. 140kg was heavy, but doable. I think 160kg is reasonable intermediate goal, with the big 200kg as the ultimate goal.

Should be able to increase weight next week. BJJ later tonight.

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Saturday, 6th April 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day Three

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up.
•Floor press with fat bar using a false grip: 6 sets of 5 x 80kg, supersetted with 5 x “jumping pull-ups”
•Supersetted 4 sets of: landmine T-bar rows (10 x 40kg), with 12 x feet elevated push-ups.
•Finished off with some incline hammer curls and “shoulder shocker”

notes:
Was not feeling it this morning, so I dropped the weights a little. Not sure why. Just felt a little tired. Anyway I got the work done.

First time I used the fat bar, and I liked it.

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Sunday, 7th April 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day Four

•walked to the gym and the usual warm-up.
•SSB: 3 x (6 x 80kg), 2 x (5 x 80kg), 1 x (8 x 60kg), supersetted with hanging from the olympic rings (learning how to “skin the cat”)
•Supersetted 3 sets of: walking lunges (10 steps each leg holding 20 kg dBs), with single-hand band rows (12 x purple band).
• 4 x prowler pushes with 85kg, 1’20 rest.
• Finished off with some rear debt raises and cartwheel practice.

notes:
First time with the SSB… and I liked it. Feels like a front squat but with more posterior involvement. Not sure if that makes sense. Anyway, 80kg was surprisingly heavy, although I next week I should be able to go heavier… maybe 85, even maybe 90??

In other news I have decided to learn how to “skin the cat”. Today I practiced by hanging out in the starting position, which gave me a intense stretch across my chest and my arms. Looks easier than it is, but Im determined to work at this.

No BJJ this weekend.

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Good work Bird :stuck_out_tongue:

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WEEKLY RECAP


Total weight lifted (total weight lifted from my main working sets): 8, 820 kgs.

Martial arts: 2 BJJ sessions and 1 boxing session.

Diet: A little all over the place due t my weekend away. Slowly getting back into the groove with my nutrition. Cheat meal Saturday night was gnocchi and protein icecream.

Recovery & Sleep: A little disrupted due to my travels

General wellbeing mood: Standard.

notes:
Decent training week considering I had the weekend off which always disrupts my routine. This week had changed my main lifts around a little, so I did go a little lighter than usual. Once again I did no track work which I am finding had to schedule in. I will have to rethink how am I going to be more consistent with getting my track work in.

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Tuesday, 9th April 2019.


TRAINING


AM

Day One

•Walk to the gym and usual warm-up
•Zercher Squats: 5 sets of (6 x 70kg), supersetted with 4 x pull-ups on rings (no additional weights today)
•3 supersets of db incline press (10 x 27.5kg), dB rows (10 x 32.5kg)
•Four rounds of Farmer walks (up, down, switch dBs, up, down) holding 40kg dBs, with 1’10 break. Tried to finish off with so “skin the cat” work, but my grip was fried.

notes:
Good session. Should be able to increase the weight to 80kg next week and drop the reps to 5.

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