Back and Inner Elbow gone from a bad clean last week. Fuck sake. Time for some mobility / recovery sessions. Diet is king when it comes to exercising. 

Protein powder will certainly help, but it really depends on your aims. If you want pure strength then eat A LOT but ideally avoid refined sugar.

You can take a pre workout supp (Vere what do you take, I use to take BCAAs but scrapped em) but I find a bit of caffeine helps.

Work out what you need for fat, protein and carbs and carve that up to suit your day.

Elmlea wrote:

difficult to eat multiple meals in a day when I’ve got to synchronise with the little one’s mealtimes

I'm assuming you can't do large meals?  I struggle with large meals so eat around 5 times a day, a couple of those being light snacks to ensure I get my protein intake.  Either a protein bar or protein shake.  Former costs more than latter.

Elmlea wrote:

Something to specifically help me get some pre-workout energy

For performance in the gym, caffeine is a good cheap 'un for a boost if you're not too sensitive - just have a quick black before your workout.  You want some good protein as well before a workout, if not BCAAs (supps can add up cost-wise).  Some carbs can also help if you're not watching calories too much, see Haak's suggestion (full-fat greek yoghurt is a daily for me).

Elmlea wrote:

and something to maximise recovery would be nice

Sleep.  You can eat as best you can, but if you don't get good quality sleep, you'll jeopardise both recovery and gains.
But food-wise, just get plenty of protein in and you will recover well.  Milk, eggs, chicken, fish, meat, rather than plant-based. So again, assuming you can't fit in what you need during meals, have a protein shake.

^that's me, others may/will know better.

MyProtein do some affordable stuff, but they can taste like dog-shit.

I've got like, 15 weeks till summer holiday and really want to sort out the ol' six pack. Need to pay a lot more attention to what I'm eating now.

Not that what I'm eating is bad really, but I'm not working out volumes/macros. So will get on that.

Oh - I've got some BCAA powder now which is great while working out.

High rep deadlifts are awful. One of these days I'm going to start crying in the gym (sat on the floor in my socks).

Also, I think I could cut down to a body weight over head press. That would mean I'd have to stop eating so many bowls of granola cereal. 

'cut' might be over glamorizing stopping being such a fat cnut.

I'm doing them to improve my work capacity, and also to help improve my grip. Having less weight on the bar for longer seems to be good for improving my grip, as several years ago when I was doing big but boring my overhand grip was 10kg better. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly. (I want to crush the shit out of everything).

I want to improve work capacity because my tested 1 rep max is a lot more than it should be based on my 5 rep max, and my 10 rep max is again much lower than might be expected. I haven't seen much to read on this, but my guess is I'm lacking fitness.

He is stupid strong.

Like the video haak, only problem is injuries. I can happily high bar 90kg for 8-10 reps, but 100kg nearly kills me due to my knee, so I can't make the jump any more. I was strongest on 5/3/1 and would go back to that if my knee and hip recovered. Also my good shoulder went pop on db press which had been shite

I've just tried to broaden my horizon where educating myself on mobility and technique is concerned. Some of what he's talking about makes sense but I get told varying different opinions every day of the week.

Front rack position with an actual grip instead of letting the bar rest on your fingers is a new idea for me. I've been trying to execute it this past week but it's difficult after years of the latter. 

@Skerret, you talking about high bar squats?

Now suck my dick

Hot xoxo

Speedhaak wrote:

That took a turn.

That’s what HE said!

Speedhaak wrote:

I've just tried to broaden my horizon where educating myself on mobility and technique is concerned. Some of what he's talking about makes sense but I get told varying different opinions every day of the week.

Front rack position with an actual grip instead of letting the bar rest on your fingers is a new idea for me. I've been trying to execute it this past week but it's difficult after years of the latter. 

@Skerret, you talking about high bar squats?

Yep.

Tell Vere I said have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up!

Woohoooo

+points for nonfat. What weight/reps and what bodyweight?

My squat is still rubbish and has been stuck at 90-105 for about 4 years, yessssss