One Rep Max.

Bugger, I have the bug. Oi oi! How do. Been a while again. Best part of a month or so.

I promise no more introspective melancholy sounding posts. Honest.

Summer got up and fucked off, winter is knocking on the door and the pumpkin spice brigade are rejoicing. Weirdos.

I have had (yet) another birthday, I am sure that I have had more than my fair share by now though. 54.

Fifty Fucking Four.

Fifty

Four I have seen 18 three times over.

Nope, no matter how many times or in varying styles I write it, it is still a big fucking number.

Dry Eye agrees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZjO2i5URWA

I know I have used this clip before, but I like it, superb film.

The TV Series is pretty good too, although I am not really into TV at the moment so am slowly getting through Series 1. Although, I have started to re-watch all of Doc Martin and yep, I am crying at nearly every episode. Anytime Martin and Louisa get close to actually getting a grip, and especially when Martin looks at her with total love, like she is the only person in the world. Doc Martin - Martin and Louisa - Just a love story (Part 1 of 2) - YouTube Sorry for the music, I didn't choose it. I did well up watching that though.

1 minute 56 in, oooosh. And lets be honest Caroline Catz is a total angel.

I don't think I will ever have that, well not again or at the level I had it with my wife or Katie.

Back up Getty, you promised no more melancholy! I am sure I have mentioned that I have taken up weight training, consistently, and if you know me and have my socials, you will know I tend to ram it down your throat with videos of me in tight t-shirts lifting heavy things, and for that, I am not even slightly apologetic. I am preparing my body for the next stage in life, I am keeping it as young as possible and hopefully ensuring that I am not reduced to a shell of the man I was in 21 years' time. There is some irony and fact in that sentence. Weight training is progressive, to 'gain' you need progressive overload amongst other factors, like a high protein diet, good sleep and reducing alcohol intake.

Ok, ok, two out of three ain't bad. Meat Loaf - Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad (PCM Stereo) - YouTube I do eat a lot of protein. Progressive overload is best defined by you completing an exercise, with correct form, at a weight you can manage to complete three sets of (yep, very aware that there is a current trend to reduce this to two sets, the word MARKETING comes to mind). Generally your first set will be eight to ten reps, second may be a clean ten reps and the last set maybe six or less.

When you are completing three sets of ten reps easily, you up the weight. It is that simple. You have progressed and need to up the overload.

If that carries on then you are going to eventually starting to grab some serious sized weights and move them around, you may even start to run out of dumbbell options for certain exercises. I am getting to that stage with chest workouts.

The dumbbells at my gym max out at 40kg (we have one random 42.5kg dumbbell) and I am using them for flat chest press now, it is early days and the reps are low, but I am moving them.

That is; 6 stone 6 lbs, 88lbs, 40 bags of sugar, for the tradies that is 1.6 bags of cement, or, an average 11 year old child, in each hand. Stelios, one of our gym PTIs ,has been nagging me for weeks to move to the bar and bench for chest and I have avoided as I have never needed or desired to know what my One Rep Max is. I have explained why in previous posts, the risk to reward is too high for me, an injury at 54 (did I mention my age, maybe) would mean two months away from training and that will lead to a large belly and skinny shoulders and nobody, especially me, wants that. This week, his nagging won and he coached me on the bench. I will say that it is a total different way of training chest and I was surprised at how the weight felt in my hands. How heavy it felt, how the range of motion differed, how my brain considered the weight and movement I could achieve in comparison to dumbbells.

100kg barbell bench is a mark, it is a target that many aim for. I was hopeful I could move at least 90kg, I mean I have been lifting 70kg at incline and 40kg flat for reps, so surely I can move 90kg. Well! I did. I hit 105kg as it stands and failed at 110kg. Twice And man did that piss me off. It is September 26th. I want 120kg One Rep Max on the bench by the end of the year. I am still skinny in the mirror though...