Avast me hearties! My strongman training facility is finally OPEN! 'tis called THE STRONGHOLD and has everything you could possibly want and need to become POWERFUL! That isn't to say you need to be strong and mighty to come along: it's designed to increase your power no matter what point you are...
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Having completed five tough weeks of strongman training, it was finally time to test my progress at England’s Strongest Man Under 80kg Novice competition. A few weeks before, I learned that my Ghost Squad amigo, Hakon Fram Stokka, was flying from Norway to Edinburgh to do a 50+ km Spartan Ultra...
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After a LOT of consideration, I have decided to try Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 training program. It took a lot of thinking because, after 4-5 months of Faleev's 5x5 training (5 sets of 5: if you succeed, put the weight up 5kg next week), Wendler's approach seems ludicrously light. You see, traditiona...
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QUICK OPENING NOTE: I've been documenting some of this on Instagram at @edgamester, in case you're thinking about trying it out for yourself :) For the last 12 weeks I've been doing a strength-based routine designed by Alexander Faleev. It came to my attention via an article written by former Sov...
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The Good News My powerlifting raining is progressing slowly, but surely. At the end of week eight of dedicated training, my lifts currently stand somewhere around: Squat: 170kg (based on a 7 rep max of 140kg) Bench: 120kg (based on a 4 rep max of 110kg) Deadlift: 215kg (based on a 7 rep max of...
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Just a couple of bits from tonight's training at the London School of Lucha Libre! Special Luchadore Leg Whip, Monkey Flip and Head Scissors: Hip Toss Reverse to Springboard Arm Drag...Thing I'm running on about 2% energy at the moment, but I've got to keep it up! Somehow....
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I know, I know; I have been a bad blogger. Hitherto, I have posted thrice a week on average for a few years in a row. Recently, however, I have barely posted at all. "WHY, GODS, WHY?" I hear you type into the comments box. Normally adventure-silence is caused by me not getting up to much of i...
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For my final morning of the first phase of my screen combat training, I was given a spear. This was the culmination of many a childhood (and adult) dream and not an opportunity I was about to approach with anything less than full enthusiasm. My body, on the other hand, had different ideas. 9 hour...
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Today was my first day of training in screen combat with the British Action Academy. I booked the course months ago and have been ridiculously excited ever since. On the way to the venue, however, the exhaust fell off my car. Eventually, I managed to lash it back on using the cable that connects ...
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Aaaaaaaand, we're off! My 2014 training has started and, thus far, it isn't going too badly. After a trial run of DDP Yoga at Christmas, Vikki and I did our first 'official' session on Sunday: the Diamond Dozen followed by Energy. Honestly, it is excellent. I already feel more limber after doi...
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Hello there and happy new year! I decided to leave the blog alone entirely over the Christmas season and focus instead on getting fat. I am proud to announce that I have been rather successful; I have followed a strict two-week regime involving an excess of just about everything except exercise!...
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For some reason (possibly because I am a huge fan of theirs) I agreed to take part in the Genesis MMA Gym's December Fitness Challenge. What ensued was three hours of total madness. We started with a run through High Wycombe. Don't ask me how far we ran because I honestly have no idea. It t...
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Dear friends, Please excuse my recent lack of updates. Since arriving back in the UK in September, my adventuring has stalled somewhat - mainly due to the massive debt I have accumulated. I have sold my car (the infamous 1977 Datsun 260z) to pay off part of it, but still I am deeply in the red. ...
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Alongside the deadlift, there can be no argument that the squat is the King of Exercises (in weight lifting, anyway). Some even rate the squat higher than the deadlift, but that's a matter of much discussion. Simply put, squats rock. They ravage the majority of muscles in your entire body, burn...
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These are my trainers: Adidas Kanadia TRs. I bought them back in 2009 and they are starting to fall apart a bit, but that comes as no surprise. Excluding hundreds of training sessions, here are just some of things these bad boys have seen me through: Running 21km during Wycombe Half Mara...
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Today was nothing special - just a standard chest session at Immortals Gym in Sheffield. It is taking me a while to recover my chest strength, but this is nothing unusual - I tend to overcompensate using my arms and shoulders, which are disproportionately strong compared to my chest. The big lif...
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Today was my first dedicated leg session at Immortals Gym in Sheffield. I didn't go too overboard, however, because I have a gig later this week and I need my legs in order to leap around as pictured. With squats being my main big exercise for the day, I decided to go for a few sets at 100kg. At...
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In an attempt to get marginally stronger again, I have considered following this Guildsman's Strength routine. The problem, however, is that is starts out quite easy. Three sets of eight reps at 60% of my one-rep maximum doesn't feel like it is doing anything. I know it is, I know that I will w...
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I have not been squatting as I should. In fact, since I went travelling in March I may have only done two squat sessions... So it was that, after a mighty Volbeat gig the night before, I awoke in the same house as fellow Guildsman Simon Lowe and thus resolved to lift mightily after a fine breakf...
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My third session at Immortals Gym in Sheffield was quick morning chest session. Once again, I probably started too heavy to get through the number of sets I had in mind. Lacking any dip bars, I used chest press instead and finished the session with some extra work on my right side, which is lagg...
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