Nice work :weights:

fri 18th april 2008
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Had a really crap day at work so turned a frown upside down and used how i felt to up my weights and really push through tonight, again have been concentrating a lot on getting my diet better, have started to exchange one of my protein shakes during the day for a tin of tuna and some cheese and pasta. slowly building up seems to be working i want to make sure im getting the calories in to support the weights im lifting as you have all suggested.

squats (not including warm ups)
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5reps x 57.5kgs
5reps x 60kgs (132lbs)
5reps x 60kgs (132lbs)

flat bench press (not including warm ups)
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5 x 47.5kgs
5 x 50 kgs (110lbs)
5 x 50 kgs (110lbs)

Rows (shoulder grip to chin) as couldnt get to the barbells for deads
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5 x 57kgs (125.5lbs)
5 x 57kgs (125.5lbs)
5 x 57kgs (125.5lbs)

chin ups
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8 x bodyweight
8 x bodyweight
8 x bodyweight


total training time 1 hour 15mins
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felt really good for upping the weights tonight i am goingt to experiment with a slightly larger jump in weights on the squats over next couple of weeks because going up to 60kgs wasnt as hard as i thought it might have felt and so i think i have more room for improvement with this. main thing was that form was kept strict for all sets and reps once again even had someone spot me on form to make sure that i wasnt slipping during the movement.

weighed myself today have put on 3 pounds with no shift in bodyfat percentage so looks like i must be doing something right :-)

cheers widdoes :-) im getting there i think the thing that the best thing i have established over the last 3 weeks is a routine, its not feeling like a chore to get to the gym after work in fact the thought of missing a session is quite depressing to be honest its my stress relief! hope your training is also going well at the moment?

You mention your diet. How is it ? Do you know you macro intake ? not sure if you use this but www.fitday.com helps.

Training looks good, man.

i have tried to use it but havent had the time to put all my stuff on there yet but i keep a journal of everything i eat over the day i have now got just over a months worth of food registered down in there. will work out the various amounts of what im getting and then jot it on here for you guys to comment on. but cheers talo for the comment appreciate it!

mon 21st April 2008
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felt good after refuelling and eating lots over the weekend still keeping up with the milk as well dont know if its just in my head but this seems to have really helped (i suppose it has upped my calorie intake over the day) any way thats a long way of saying that my weights jumped up again today have really noticed a big increase in strength over last couple of workouts.

squats (not including warm ups)
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5reps x 67.5kgs (149lbs)
5reps x 67.5kgs (149lbs)
5reps x 67.5kgs (149lbs)


standing military press (not including warm ups)
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5 x 30kgs (66lbs)
5 x 30kgs (66lbs)
5 x 30kgs (66lbs)

bent over barbell rows
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5 x 50kgs (110lbs)
5 x 50kgs (110lbs)
5 x 50kgs (110lbs)

chinups
-----------------
8 x bodyweight
8 x bodyweight
8 x bodyweight

total training time 1 hour 10 mins
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was really pleased with my increase in the squats i thought i could have gone up a bit more but thought that i would stick with this for now and then i would increase it later so as not to rush it too much. i was glad to get my weight up in my shoulder press as well.

question:
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I am really paranoid about doing dips as i had a really bad experience with them and i couldnt train for about 4 weeks so i was wondering what you guys would suggest as another replacement for the dips as an accessory lift for the triceps, would you receommend push downs or close grip bench? didnt know if was overdoing it with a close grip bench or not? i am finding that my biceps have been growing but my triceps have always been a stuborn point for me so something to help fill them out would be great! :-) thanks in advance

I like pushdowns for triceps. I tried using close grip as an accessory and it didn't work out very well for me, too much shoulder involvment and it affected my pressing on other days.

ill give the push downs a go then and see how i get on are these pretty good at bulking out the triceps? I have a lot of definition but i just find it so hard to build size in them? would you advise doing it as a rope pull down or with a bar keep hands parallel to the floor kind of thing kane?

I've had some decent tricep gains, but I can't say for sure it was from the pulldowns alone. I like them because I can use a decent weight and because it isolates the triceps completely. I like using the v-bar or a straight bar, not a real big fan of the rope to be honest.

good work nicky...keep 'er up :)