britonarius’s mindset blog

First post in a few days - i am not the most regular blogger ever and i probably are not likely to be. Picked up a nasty little blocked drainage duct on the left knee , the lymphatic region there is always prone to that. Now before anybody hobbles off to the doctors , you don’t need to. This problem is fairly easy to diagnose yourself and even easier to treat. The knee will be tight and sore at the back of the knee , straigthing the knee joint out will be painful also. Feel the back of the knee and you will feel a small lump , usually locally dead central , that folks is the lymphatic duct , a little drainage system. Exactly like your plumbing to the kitchen sink - it can become blocked. The doctor will prescribe Ibuprofen 600mg for it, you usually cannot buy 600mg over the counter but you can buy 400mg and 200mg. The 400mg will be strong enough to clear it , it takes a day or two longer thats all.

Training this week was handicapped by the blocked duct but i did managed 3 pbs , romanian deads and stiff legged deads at 250kilos for reps and supersets and deep hack squats at 200 kilos for reps. Had to reduce the cardio speed to limp action but did manage to limp at a 15 degree elevation. No trucks , tractors , atlas stones or fingals fingers this saturday to rest the knee but went back to the gym this morning and did a full session.

No i am not going to get all political , its a bodybuilding site , right. I haven’t woken up suffering from a self inflicted labotomy due to supps either. Given that , why then am i sending my thanks to the worlds best known madman? Its for this reason : the weakness of the dollar [ American green once so reliable ] and the strength of the Euro means that i can order via the site. Previously the shipping costs used to cripple any attempt at transaction , making it cheaper to pay the hiked up prices over here ; rather than the much cheaper prices at the site shop. Now with the ascendancy of the euro to world prominence its viable and its all thanks to Mr Bush - god bless the mad - as the world distrusts the American government and therefore the dollar suffers from this distrust. Its a pity as i would actually rather have it that the dollar is strong but there it is. Kind of figure that the world isn’t going to like the choice of the 3 presidential candidates anymore than dear old Georgie , but nobody ever said that a politican would be popular.

Apart from that , got my training tonight and its shoulder time.

Hit the lower body hard again , in the way that only us older guys can [ no disrespect to the young guys] and hit Romanian deads 6 X 235 kilo, 6 X 240 kilo ; 6 X 245 kilo and 6 X 250 kilo combi setting it with stiff leg deads at the same rate. Managed to hit deep hacks 3 X 6 X 200 and 1 set of 6 at 210 kilo along with leg press at same weight , did other exercises but not at the same weights.

Wouter felt i could possibly get another 25 kilo in time on deads and double that on hacks. The supersetting leaves me wasted and it takes time to recover from this. In actual fact i feel the leg exercises for 2 to 3 days after, such is the intensity of the programme.

I don’t normally do this but as everyone else plugs these designer supps , i felt i would add my 2 cents worth. For what its worth, if you are thinking of going on supps , Gaspari did as much for me as tap water ; it cost a bloody darn site more and tasted foul. i use Universal animal pump, pack and flex ; they work along with 2 pumped by Beast and Horsepower. I take Ultimate nutrition Whey and 2X per week Universal whey. Since being on Universal my liftuing has gone up in weight and my development also.

So i pulled the truck in 54 seconds , a full 5 seconds faster than my first attempt 3 weeks ago; in desperate cold hostile conditions on a wet surface. Felt rather pleased with myself until Wouter added his 2 cents worth that i could have pulled it in 50 seconds but came up too early. So today at the gym he punished me and i got totally wasted. I asked what he wanted and he said all of it. Its not personal he said but what ever you give , its never enough and that goes for anybody.

Good workout though , all giant, combi and supersetted at maximum weights. 28 exercises in all , all of 4 sets and 6 reps. Painful but good.Its never enough except on a blog.

So , end of the week and except for an hours fun tomorrow , there is no training until sunday. Wouter was telling me today that he began bodybuilding in 1953 at the age of 16, after going to the doctor and asking about a tonic to help him lift at work. The doctor told him to go to a gym as no such tonic existed, and he did. Now almost 55 years later he still goes to the gym , still trains hard and still lifts heavy. Have things changed i asked him? We rely too much on machines in the gym, thats what he believes. Our gym has just recently bought a back machine that replicates good mornings.Wouter pointed at it and said "ask yourself why someone in their right mind would invent such a piece of S**t. Better than that , question the mentality of thuis fargin’idiot buying it"cocking his thumb at the owner, "Thats the problem with life , people are too lazy to get off their fargin’arses. Modern life , the thumb gets exercise but nothing else."Thats what i call philosophy of life.

Training tonight [ back] and tomorrow morning [ mixed session ] and hitting the interval cardio on both sessions as well. I just know Wouter will make it as tough as possible. Latest joke is "shall i get this in pink? ‘if i seem hesitant pointing at my vest. But i have to admire his sheer grit and determination as he lifts very heavy for a 70 year old. I kid you not that most 20 to 30 something aged men would not lift at those weights or superset 28 exercises at meltdown pace but Wouter does and loves it. Now that man is truly inspiring.

I find the back to back sessions that i do since joining Wouters training programme very painful. He mashes the specific area on the evening and then next day , he pulverises another section. So does his madness work? Judging by recent comments , it does though my wife thinks i am getting more than a little vain in my pursuit of muscle. Wouters philosophy - if you go heavy , go heavier still. Slay the steel , take no prisoners , accept no excuse ; don’t ask yourself if thats enough: mash it bash it and thrash it until you can’t mash, bash or thrash.He is certainly a man of his word , 21 to 28 sets in giant, superset , combi-set and drop set formats , relentless pace and maximum weight for the ultimate pain. When i said how much it hurt - he said get used to it , welcome to my world!Good news is the strength has increased and so has the stamina. Wouter works the same and for those who don’t read my blogs [ 9.999% of members ] he is 70.

Wouter asked this today and said if you are a player , act like a wonka and do light stuff but if you are a slayer, load it and kill it. Kinda guess that for 99% of the time , i am a slayer. Today i had excuses in the ankle , so i did Romanian dead 4 X 6 X 200 kilos ; stiff legged dead 4 X 6 X 200 and deep hacks at 4 X 6 X 200. The hacks for me are a pb , did other exercises but at lighter levels , like leg press at 180 kilos and calf raises at 100 kilos. Still a good workout but next week when i have 2 ankles again i am gonna nail the deads at 250 kilos and become a slayer.

The ankle is slightly better than it was but it has affected the knee to a certain extent , so i will have to keep an eye on that. I am still not sure how heavy i can take the leg session on tuesday - i did want to attempt 250 kilos on Romanian deadlift for 6 reps but the last thing i want is to bugger the ankle or knee more than they are. Guess i will that decision up to Wouter! If i don’t go for the 250 this week , i will attempt it next week - ideally i wanted to crack 250 on both Romanian and stiff legged deads but patience is a virtue they say. I did manage a full workout on chest yesterday but still only 30 minutes of cardio.

This ankle is a problem , so today theres no pulling. My new friend the tractor will stay in its position or if it moves , it will be by its powerful diesel engine not by Brito power. I did train last night but 30 minutes cardio again was all the ankle could manage and that at only 15 degree elevation and ar less than 5 miles per hour [ 4.8 mph]. Foirtunately its not affecting my lifting, leastways not at this stage and i am hoping that it responds to the treatment. So its a boring day.