HIT Rob

Hi guys,

 

Its with a heavy heart that I say this, but Ill not be keeping a log here anymore, in the last several days Ive went back to including meat in my diet again, therefore I dont feel its right to post here anymore. I just want to take the opportunity to thank everyone and wish all here the very best of luck for the future.

 

Best wishes

Rob

 

It's been a pleasure rob, always nice chatting to you!

All the best my friend

Just seen this, thanks Ross. Ive actually went back to being a lacto ovo veggie, but ill still pop in to see them sweet gains yaz are making:)

Best

Rob

Hows it goin Holmes? Still worken dat sweet lat action I hope;)

Getting stronger my friend!!

Contest well be a blast, maybe me and Mike should go with bom-boms and be like cheerleaders "is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S, I said this shit - is bananas":)

To your sucuss:)

Hey Mike,

Pleasure my friend, and the same to yourself:)

Ive started a log on Dr Dardens HIT forum, would be great to see ya there:) Ive uploaded some photos for once, ill have videos up soon enough.

Best wishes

Rob

Hi guys,

Its with a heavy heart that I say this, but Ill not be keeping a log here anymore, in the last several days Ive went back to including meat in my diet again, therefore I dont feel its right to post here anymore. I just want to take the opportunity to thank everyone and wish all here the very best of luck for the future.

Best wishes

Rob

Hey Mike, thanks mate, I had one of the worst days of my life yesterday, had to have my wee cat put to sleep yesterday, she was 18 and had kidney failure, absolutely heart broken. But she had a great life and was treated like a queen, lots of great memories of her. I'll probably take some time away from the gym until my mindset returns.

Hope you have a great Easter too:)

Best Rob

Went for a 9 mile powerwalk last night, took the bus ul the coast line and walked back home round the coast line up into the country lines that lead to my home, had some Lisa Gerrard on my earphones to boot, bless. That woman's vocal range is off the chart!

Lunch time workout today...

1. Plate loaded iso shoulder press

60kg x 8

90kg x 6

120kg x 3

135kg x 1

150kg x 4 rest pause reps to failure (10-15 second rest pauses between reps)

2. Seated cable row (slight hold in peak contraction position)

80kg x 6

Stack x 3

stack + 20kg attached x 6 to failure

3. Leverage Leg Press (technogym)

250kg x 6

300kg x 4

350kg x 3

400kg x 2

450kg x 8 negative only reps to failure / several seconds to lower each rep. Pressed on knees and had training partner help with the lifting.

Strength continues to go up, eating well, sleeping well, staying stress free etc, ill probably continue with daily evening walks (for relaxation), shooting for 3-10miles depending on how I feel. Of to the silent vally tomorrow, beautiful place, so peaceful:)

Couldnt go keto mate, I still not about 100-150g of carbs daily, mostly around the workouts. Forgot to mention, the only time I have issues with my diet is when im switching from a high carb diet to a high fat diet, takes a week or so for the brain fog to clear, plus am peeing 15-20 times a day given that the water in leaving the muscles.

Sounds the business man, if I ever decide to go to Wales id be up for it. Moure mountain's here arent too bad, its more distance. You should try to get sponsored for Everst, used to work with a guy that 18,000ft base camp, he just got people to sponsor him. Are you watching the new show on about the rescue helicopters at Everest? Havent seen it as yet but looks good.

Did i hear someone say potatos??????????? i love spuds....... 4 baked potatos with avacado spread and hot rice with a veg oxo cube crumbled over it on a big plate, nothing stops me after that!

You monster!

Hey rob, I'm sitting at around 95kg body weight atm and had every intention of cutting down to 90kg to compete at that weight, but after a discussion with someone tonight who really knows his stuff I've been convinced to stay where I am and just stay in the 100kg weight class giving me 5kg of room to bulk up

Well I'm not vegan now as you may know already, just veggie, been knocking back those skyr yoghurts (50g of protein each!!!) but also going pretty high carb (loving my roast potatoes!)

 

Tonight was pretty cool! A group of really strong guys invited me to the gym for an evening deadlift session and I loved it! Didn't get much else done as I'm up at 5am tomorrow for work.... The atmosphere was incredible!! i can never go back to a commercial gym! Anywaysss here goes

 

DEADLIFTS!!

After warm ups

...

175kg/385lbs x 4 reps.. Missed the 5th

175kg/385lbs x 5 reps

175kg/385lbs x 6 reps! Grinded through those last two.

 

Then literally just some pull downs on the ISO machines they have, some guy was using the AstroTurf and after waiting for 20 minutes to do some medley stuff I just gave up and went home haha

Back in tomorrow afternoon for squats and logs

 

 

 

 

Ps Mike, I'm gonna start putting more strongman vids onto my Instagram, you don't need an account to have a browse so feel free to check it out just search rosscosgrove

Hey Ross, the 100kg sounds the ticket as with that extra weight will come more strength. Remember this tuna salad / chicken and sweet potato munching donut at work saying to me one time, my diet wasnt very good for a gym enthusiast, I laughed at him and say best of luck optimising strength and power eaten "clean", then took another bit of my king size mars bar washed with coke lol.

All joking aside, I lived in the same town as Glenn Ross and seen him about all the time, there's a well known cafe/bakery I seen him in once with his wife and child, he had 2 foot long rolls with chicken, cheese and slaw hanging out of them, a bowl of beef stew, 2 cream buns and a pint of coke, minis the meat thats my kinda eaten;)

Same here with the veggie mate, love Skyr, its 80% casein, 20% whey, good before bed:) I get the plain one and mix in vanilla powder or cacao, or sometimes just through a scoop of whey or rice protein in....umm umm;) Also loving the chocolate flavoured rice cakes with peanut or almond butter, and dont start me on spuds (remember were am from), I get baby spuds, slice them bitches up and boil em, then drain them of and fry them in the pan with butter

Right thats it....am off, hungry as fcuk now:)

Hey Mike, for me I find in fairly easy, gaining mass I go with higher carbs and 5-6 feeds a day, leaning out high fat / low carb with refeeds. I stick with Dr Dardens recommendation on protein of 0.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, that may seem pretty low, but I honestly dont believe we need a lot of protein.

Stones and now logs, lucky son of a....I bet it has a good atmosphere, no monkeys playing on their phones etc. Whats you food intake like this weather Ross? Have you to stay a certian weight[list=]

?

Good stuff, can take a little getting used to.

400ft cliffs, nooooo way would ya get me doing that, if I did id probably need a spare set of draws lol. I check that book out, like that kinda thing, recently watched a good doc again about a cave explorer that got lost for 40+ days back in the early 80s, it was about how is body went into survival mode, absolutely amazing. Think its on youtube, its called the ultimate machine, the brain episode. Theres another story in the same episode of a rock climber who had a 400lb slab of rock land on him and how he pressed it off to survive.

Hey Ross, not strong enough bud lol, gotta be careful though, nearly blackout on the second pulldown hold, blood pressure was way up...opps;)

Today's workout...

1. Low Incline Smith Machine Press (matrix - super smooth, best smith ive ever used)

80kg x 6

100kg x 4

120kg x 2

130kg x 1

150g x 5 rest pause reps to failure (10-15 second rest pauses between reps)

2. Plated loaded iso chest supported row (technogym)

100kg x 6

130kg x 3

170kg x 7 reps to failure + 2 more reps to failure after a 10 second rest pause

Job done!!

Again, workouts are short but brutal, I could add in laterals, curls, extensions etc, but I honestly dont believe I need to, excess is just that...EXCESS!

Bodyweight is back at 265lb / 120.2kg, ill probably bring that up to the 280lb / 127kg mark, then ill do a u-turn again and drop down to the 240 mark again, every time I do this I get leaner when in the higher numbers. Currently 4% leaner than the last time I was this weight am at now. Most people like to lean out for summer and clean bulk in the winter, but personally I prefer to bulk in the summer, I feel its also more congruent with our geno, I.,e store energy during times of abundance to get through lomg winters, of course lol, we now have abundance year round and store energy for winters that never come.

Oh btw, checked out crib goch, not much room for error there, wouldnt take ya to be afraid of heights lol

Good stuff Mike:)

Ever tried big Z lateral raises?

Watch how he performs them, bout a 3rd of the way into the video. Better for overloading the delts and shouldn't cause much discomfort.

Hey Mike, sorry for the late reply, was away on hols for a week celebrating my 20th anniversary with the misses:) Thanks man, am feeling a good bit better, and yes, this is my fav kind of weather, not too hot and not too cold:)

First workout in a week yesterday, its amazing what a little R&R can do....

1. Underhand cable pulldown

80kg, 100kg, 120kg warm up holds

150kg x 2 max static holds to failure (8-12 second range)

2. Plate loaded iso shoulder press

60kg x 8

90kg x 6

120kg x 2

130kg x 6 to failure

140kg x 4 to failure

Today...

1. Leverage Leg Press

250kg x 6

300kg x 4

350kg x 3

400kg x 2

450kg x 7 deadstart reps to failure

2. Concept 2 rower

3 x 500 metre sprints

Keeping the workouts max efforts and of course low volume, this is how i love to train, i.e., all out or not at all! Can't say my muscles are getting any bigger, i believe I've reached my genetic ceiling...by natural means, but their definitely becoming more and more dense and mature. Few days off now...to let nature take its course:)

19-3-17 PUSH

1. Low Incline Smith Machine Bench Press

80kg x 6

100kg x 4

120kg x 2

130kg x 6*

130kg x 5*

2. One Arm Chest Press Machine

85kg x 6*

85kg x 6*

21-3-17 PULL

1. Plate Loaded Iso Pulldown (shoulder width overhand grip)

80kg x 6

100kg x 4

120kg x 3

150kg x 6*

150kg x 5*

2. Seated Cable Row

Stack x 6*

Stack x 6*

23-3-17 LEGS

1. Leverage Leg Press

200kg x 6

300kg x 4

400kg x 2

430kg x 5*

430kg x 4*

2. Stiff Legged Deadlift

100kg x 3

130kg x 6*

130kg x 6*

*working sets to failure

Switched to a push, pull, legs split, purely so that intensity can be maximised. Workouts are in line with Paul Delia's Maximum overload training principles (popularised in the 00's by Skip LeCour and Jeff Willet), only a bit more abbreviated. Experimenting to see if direct arm and calf work makes any difference in terms of size. Am avioding forced reps and drop sets going forward, I feel they dont really make a difference in terms of stimulating any more additional growth, however they certainly do increase the need for longer recovery periods.

Feeling a good bit better this week, both mentally and physically, sleeping better, eating better, less stressed etc. Upwards and onwards, the show must go on:))

Solid lifting Ross, always wanted to have a rip af the stones, knowing my luck id snap ma shit up lol. Doing you find you get the must bang for you buck with your mains lifts, I, e., no assistance work?

Nothing like a bit of DOMS to brighten up the day:) Hows the neck injury doing?

Hey Mike, thanks man, yeah the training has kept me somewhat sane, think I would have killed dead things without it. Oh mate thats horrible, I sincerely hope hes ok and found safe and well. Stay positive bud. Best Rob

Hey y'all, have had a very tough week, my elderly uncle I looked after passed away last Sunday, he was the last family member I had on my dad's side, funeral was yesterday, my only consultation is hes no longer suffering. In spite of this, ive still been training, its helped take my mind of things. A week before my uncle passed, his home work burgled for the 5th time in 2 years by "cold calling" southern travellers / gypsy scumbags, theyve been targeting the elderly in South Belfast, so ive been busy creating awareness in the area by going to the local newspapers, authorities and unionists parties who've all been very supportive and on board. Hopefully it saves other people in the area from becoming a victim and hopefully these scumbags are caught and brought to justice theyve no place in a civilised caring society. Not only did they take money, they stole things of sentimental value like my grandfathers war medals and my grandmothers jewellery. Still, what goes around comes around, they'll get their comeuppance!

Training wise, its been heavy abbreviated workouts, today was....

1. Iso incline press (Plate loaded technogym)

160kg x 2 sets of 6, 5

120kg x 6 (drop set)

2. Seated chest supported row (plate loaded technogym)

150kg x 2 sets of 9, 8

120kg x 5 (drop set)

3. Leverage squat

200kg x 2 sets of 8

150kg x 7 (drop set)

6-3-17

Decided to go with an abbreviated full body workout of sorts...

1. Leverage leg press (technogym)

Warmed up with 200kg, then 300kg

400kg x static hold to failure, followed by a second hold to failure after a 30 rest pause**

2. Chest supported row (technogym)

140kg x 8 reps to failure + 3 more reps after a 30 second rest pause

3. Machine Dip (technogym)

160kg x 7 reps to failure + 2 more reps after a 30 second rest pause

** On the leverage leg press, I hold the resistance in the position on maximum motor arm, gifen my height, the starting position is perfect on this machine, when I fail the resistance only has a couple of inchs to drop.

8-3-17

1. Low Incline shoulder width grip smith machine press (technogym)

140kg x 5 rest pause reps to failure

2. Machine pullover (fortress)

Stack x 9 rep to failure (peak hold on each rep after a 30 second rest pause

3. Leverage leg press

450kg x 6 rest paused reps to failure

Very fatigued after this workout, went home and slept for 3 hours after, gonna take 2-3 full rest days after this one, give the body time to do its thing.

Hey Mike,

Think about this, back in the 40s, the likes of Peary Rader (founder of Ironman magazine and the "20 rep squat" program), was advocating abbreviated full body HIT workouts to be preformed just once or twice a week. At the same time, all the top guys like Reeves, Park, Grimick etc, were training no more than 3 days a week on full body workouts.

Enter the late 50s / early 60s, when drug use really came on the BB scene, BBers started using bro splits and began training 4, 5 and up to 6 days per week, by the "golden era", it was 4hrs a day, 6 days a week.

Essentially what am saying is, the "more is better" idea / notion was spunded by drug users. Now we have donuts like "Dr" Layne Norton and "Dr" Brad Schoenfeld aka Dr hypertrophy (who's biased work is largely funded by supplement companies) promoting the notion that a higher volume of work is required for growth to occur. I guess that pioneers of exercise physiology, such as Roux, Morpurgo, Arthur steinhuas (regarded as the godfather of western physiology -70 years of solid research), A E Muller & Hettinger (two of Germany and Europe's most reputable physiologists of all time), must be wrong lol.

People have said to me "oh oh, but thats not up to date research" and my stock response has become "neither is Albert Einstein's and Izac Newtons work, but what they found still holds true". There's a big differance being a theory and the irrefutable truth, and just like Einstein and Newton, the findings of the physiologists above are irrefutable, that is, results are indeed proportional to the intensity of effort, intensity and duration coexist on an inverse ratio, volume of work is without significance when it comes to hypertrophy.

Yes, such a high level of intensity will have you feeling like that, but its a necessary evil....

Is there any exercises I wish I could do? Nope, even if my back was in good nick, I still wouldnt free weight squat, deadlift, bent row etc, ive no emotional ties with any exercise lol. What I do wish, is if there was more equipment developed like Renex did for a while, which allow for truely maximal contractions and give feedback (stack machines are too easily maxed out). Kasier used to make air pressure machines, but again, they only produced a few hundred pounds of pressure. But if something like the Kaiser machine could produce literally thousands of pounds of force it would be great. Such equipment though would be very expensive to make and produce. Cant see it happening.

Sorry Mike, a very long answer to you points and question lol, hope ya didnt mind lol.

Things arent great here Mike, my 85yo uncle who has cancer and Parkinson's was burgled for the 5th time in two years on the weekend by "member's of the travelling community" aka free loading gypsy fuckers" from the south. It appears theyve been targeting the elderly in North Belfast for years, yet the police, who have a large station just a 2 minute walk from his house have yet to make a single arrest. Ive been at the local DUP office this last few days to start a campion for people in the area to more vigilant and for the police to be more pro active, cause all I keep hearing from them is "oh, theres nothing we can do".

Bad times mate:(