Captain Badass

Save yourselves!

It's grim to wake up to. Just to note that London and Scotland voted remain - same with the young who'll have to live with this decision. Unfortunately we have a large older population. Pound has already plummeted and Farage retracted claim that EU money would be spent on NHS. However, it's not a general election, it's an opinion and the government don't have to act on it ... But yeah, it's a shitshow!

I was looking for a clip from Idiocracy to make a point the other day, and came across a vid where the guy pointed out that at least the people in power in the movie are benevolent in their stupidity!

Sorry about the useless comments on bench then! Yeah Pendlays kind of lock you into position, which sounds horrible, but isn't because it stops you rising up, shrugging, etc - well it sorted me out.

I was about to explain it all, but wasn't sure where to start. Here's 15 minutes of your life you'll never get back: At least it's entertaining (and accurate)! But yeah, it's pretty much Trump politics on the Exit side. Lots of lies being told, lots of mistrust of experts, lots of pandering to fear... In my opinion it's an attempt at a power grab by some of our scariest right wingers.

And good for not beating yourself up. Life's too short, etc... I haven't yet killed a plant, but it's not happy with me!

Squats - I saw the bar go up and down in a straight line at least. This is a good thing! Bench press - arms look great, are you going to arch your back and brace your legs at some point? I could be wrong, but it's what I've been doing anyway. Barbell row - this is exactly why I do Pendlay rows. I'm also a dirty, dirty cheater, but the form on Pendlays is really strict and relatively easy to stay in. Just my 0.13p

It was surprisingly pleasant, actually! It was a very fancy 30th wedding anniversary party at a Naval Club... People kept asking me what I did, so I evangelised about the charity I've been working for, and I may have some new people interested in hosting us! Welcome once again! I've found accessory exercises to be really helping, actually. With regard to Bench I managed more reps last time I did them, did all 5 sets and felt some burn in the pecs because my triceps weren't failing as early on as usual. Accessories are just assisted bodyweight dips and as many pushups as I can do (3x5 last time). Today was assisted chin ups and pull ups. Although I've deloaded for OHP, there were a couple of biscuits on the barbell and today's the first time it's ever felt easy. WOOT! And THEN, one of the fitness trainers came and complimented me on just turning up: "You see so few women doing barbell training, it's always great to see you in the free weights section - and you're lifting serious amounts too". Reader, I blushed. See also, "I love your set up for bench press". Made sure to spread the word of Alan Thrall's form vids and advice. Also mentioned the fact that a lot of A-lister actresses do compound lifts, which is rarely mentioned in fluffy "fitness regime" pieces in magazines, but all over their personal Instagram accounts... I replied "Shame I'm hardly benching anything" to which he said, "At least you're lifting something", and finished by shaking my hand and offering future assistance! Anyway, that little exchange made my week! @Emerald_Dragonfly I hope some of the above answers what you asked me ages ago! No, they don't have mini plates (or if they do they're not in the free weights section). Checked them out on eBay and I can't afford them right now. Perhaps when I scale down to the affordable, local gym... But yeah, accessories have been helping. The app seems to adapt reps to the weight I'm lifting - and I've only chosen two accessories for each workout. So far I've noticed a little bit more stability creeping in on OHP and bench. So this is good. I've enjoyed the deloads. The weights I'm revisiting seem much easier than when I first pushed through them, and I'm back to 90 seconds of rest between each set! I'm sorry I've been a terrible cheerleader for you guys. My work/life outside of lifting has been a disaster for a while, but for some reason I'm really feeling it right now. I'm also taking the nastier side of the EU referendum thing way too hard (as a British-born child of immigrants), but at least you Americans can laugh at us and our mad racists for a change!

Thanks for this @Alaysia - good old Alan Thrall! Seriously thinking about sticking a playlist together one of these (rest days) and just watching them all, he's so good. However, I'm not even 2 months into the programme, so I think what I'm going through is technically a stall and not a plateau... The worst has been the last few workouts when I've failed on all lifts on all sets. That, and suffering from TOM weakness has not been good for me, psychologically. The SL app has already got me to deload on a couple of lifts, and I've been able to fail less on the big compounds. OH Press and Bench have been Fail City, and I wonder if it's worth deloading after the first workout of serious failing - because I never see any improvement till I deload and work my way back up again. Could save myself a couple of hours of awkwardly hanging around in the free weights area. Had the privilege of 1980s Dave Gahan working in with me on the squat rack today. Pretty full at the gym, but people were actually being sensible. Deloaded by 7.5kg (to 50kg) on squats, really felt this strain in the adductors and had a difficult 5x5. Not sure if I should take some serious time off or something. Going away on Friday, so I'll have enforced rest till Monday anyhow. Bench press was rough - (reports of deloading were wrong, I did the same weight as last time) failed all but one set, but triceps weren't wobbling at least, so hopefully accessories have been working. Caught myself cheating on Pendlay rows (kind of using my legs for momentum) - form got better as sets progressed, strangely enough. Finished up with assisted dips and full push ups, then 15 mins on the spinning bike with zero resistance for the adductors. My own weight has slowly but steadily increased since I began in May. I've gained approx 2kg in 6 weeks. Can that all be newbie muscle?

You ou get a warning. Never overwatered it enough to kill it. On the rare days where I actually drink enough, I tend to stop logging past this minimum...

Yes mate!!!!!! Look at you kicking self-doubt in the balls! Set today's achievement firmly in the mind in case you ever doubt yourself again! This is also great to hear, as I've been struggling myself - stalling in all but one of my lifts at the same time has really sapped my motivation of late. So there you have it. You're inspiring. Thanks for sharing!

Hot boys in the gym certainly helps!

Thanks, buddy!

Argh! Squats! I think I must've been turning my feet out too much (as well as pushing for 'bounce') because both adductors feel awful and I've pretty much pulled my groin on the right side. Warmed up with the empty bar, then as soon as I added serious weight the pain was too much so I had to quit after a set and a half Usual fails on OH Press. Luckily a guy who looked exactly like Wolfgang from Sense8 asked to work in as I rested the mandatory 5 mins, which kept me distracted at least... New PR on deadlift - 1x5 75kg with mixed grip! Lots of (assisted) pull-ups and chin-ups. Tried running for the train after. Regretted it instantly. Luckily the app's told me to deload on squats so I hope that allows me to recover.

Do feel free to add to it! Started on May 5th, weighing 57.6kg. TOM-based water retention has me at 59kgs at the moment, so I'm hoping the whole recomp thing is working...