britonarius’s mindset blog

Friday is always day 6 of my training and is always a mixed schedule. Usually on a saturday i don’t train but i am now taking 1 hour to practice technique on strength moves. Last week i practised pulling a truck , this week i get to pull a tractor and then have a go at the Fingals fingers thing. A friend has a smaller set in his garden in Belgium that he uses. Should be interesting and a useful learning curve. So today i get to mix it up - supersetted of course and then pre shopping tomorrow , i get a tractor pull and the fingers. Man , i feel reborn ; like the kid in the candy store!

I am going to post new pics this weekend. I have to post 1 at least in the over 35 forum wearing the official tank top. The problem is that there is little noticable change as i have hit target and its only 10lbs less the last pics. I might get all posey and picture the bicep or back or other body parts - just have to see. I am not a posey person but maybe i will go that way. Going to try for the 1st time on saturday tipping the fingals fingers , so that should be fun. I am told that it is technique more than brute strength but i will find that out when i try it.

Or rather to superset or not! I was never a superset person , i never saw the value or the logic behind them , indeed until a few months ago : i only saw the value in the high rep , low to mid weight set exercise game plan. Now i see the logic and worth in supersetting. I am not saying that the high rep is bad , indeed i made steady progress using it and its value is well documented; many of my friends use it to good advantage. I switched to low rep , high to max weights and made more gains, better more marked changes - then i teamed up with the wily old fox Wouter and allowed him to take over, and that = supersets at high to max weights. Fast , furious and physically exhausting but the gains are so rapid and marked. Its the way to go for me!

Springs here at last or so i think. Buds on the trees and less of a chill. Trainings going fine , still under the mad one and still training at a rate that would do credit to looney tunes. What was the name of that mouse who sped about like a nutter - the Mexican one? Anyway if this rate continues i might as well call myself after him. Its not that Wouter doesn’t know a thing or two - its the unstoppable breakneck speed and sweat saturation - up to 5 exercises at the same time with only a 20 second rest phase between sets - certainly draining physically but enjoyable in a weird manner. people look in horror and try not to talk to him , in case they suffer the same fate no doubt! Thats life.

I wasn’t going to write a blog today but in a famous change of mind , i am writing. Over the last 7 days i have cause to report 12 "members "blogs for inappropriate content plus 4 forum threads. Before anyone says - Yeah Gods , hes prim and proper or what the f*** is up with him - these "members "were using the site illegally as a porn link and the threads were blatant advertising for Chinese manufacturing. These saddos need a job to do , blocking up our site with this crap , my children are members and these blog things are just a spew of writing with a porntube link [ and no - i didn’t watch them!]- so where is the bodyspace management and what are they doing? The site is a victim of its own relaxed attitude on membership, you need to put little info in to get membership and the bodyspace and blog management can do little as they saturate the blogs en masse. Now that stinks - so do all of us a favour and if you see one - report it.

Yes - its official, Wouter is stark raving mad! despite his age [ 70 ] , he tackles nothing unless its at ballistic speed and super / giant set moded. 1 Hour of this old wizard leaves the young gympunks jaw dropping and me drenched in a bath of sweat , while Wouter [ god bless him ] screams obscenities at me and any one else foolish or mad enough to attempt training with him.Still gotta love him though , when you work out with Wouter , you work out!

Yep - got a go at truck pulling courtesy of Wouter and big Henk. Strapped up , resined up and got the hiking boots on and fluffed up: first attempt. Got it better 2nd go and 3rd go , did a good time, that i can work on. Did the 50 metre pull in 59 seconds, so Henk reasons that i could nail closer to 40 seconds with the practice. So i am gonna practice pulling a tractor for a month every saturday and then get the truck and nail its wheels. Gives me a lot of confidence for the strongman comp.

So just today and tomorrow left of my cut phase. Its gone better than expected in that i made the target weight ahead of schedule. That being said , i stuck with the gameplan and continued purely because it called for 2 weeks of cutting and consolidation. So on sunday i take 2 weels for stablisation and then its bulk phase and hammer time. The muscles are gonna grow , Hammer time!

In October 2006 - i weighed in at close to 360lbs, failing health , walking stick , leg stockings, hand guard - in short the whole 9 yards. Officially i should be 6 feet under, worm chowder! Today i weigh 220lbs [ my target] , can run the 21 kilometres in 2 hours and can deadlift at 235 kilos for 2X6 reps. Saturday i will attempt to pull a truck with harness as part of my prep for strongman. What i wanted to say is if i can do this, so can anybody.

Last day of the phase 4 transition stage and just 2 days left. Whilst it is an unorthodox cut , it works as i hit the target of 220lbs this morning. That is as low as i want to go , at 6 foot 1 and a 48 inch chest, less would look silly. So now its finish this cut cycle , go to a 2 week consolidation phase and then try bulking. To my mentor in all of this : Wouter - a big thank you.