My second session at Immortals Gym in Sheffield was a quick session, focusing on back and biceps. At the end, I did some leg curls out of sheer guilt. Once again, the lack of weight markings on the plate stacks means I have had to record the number of plates rather than the weight for some exercis...
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My first session at Immortals Gym in Sheffield was a chest and triceps affair. Then I threw in some squats at the end, for fun. Being one of my first sessions backs after months and months, I overestimated myself and started far too heavy. As a result, I failed to achieve the number of reps and...
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I need to get fit. Much as I have loved the last 5 months of adventuring, it has not been good for my health. Too much beer, too many cakes and too long sitting on long-haul transportation has done terrible things to my body. I am fatter than ever before, my muscle has shriveled to the point of u...
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Today, after dropping my brother at Gatwick airport to go adventuring, I had my first ever training session at Monster Gym in Cheshunt. One of my favourite things about Monster Gym is that, alongside its enormous weights room, dedicated cardio area and boxing/MMA gym (including bags, ring and...
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After months of good intentions, I finally made it down to Camberwell in South London to the This Is Progress wrestling school this morning. There, under the watchful eye Jimmy Havoc, I learned a huge amount about the things I am doing well and the things I am doing badly. This is just as wel...
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I haven't been here long, but I have come to love exercising and working out in Australia. I find it infinitely more energising than going to the gym in the UK, where even in the summer I have started waddling in stiff and aching from the cold, hunched over and dripping wet, wondering why I even bo...
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Today, I have come to Muscle and Fitenss in Townsville to meet Joel, the mastermind behind Adventurethon. In fact, it was his infectious enthusiasm for the event that got me to upgrade from simply volunteering to help out, to taking part in the Enduro race, being filmed for two TV shows and expan...
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In training for Adventurethon 2013, I decided I needed some help. Some advice. Some (dare I say it) training. You see, no matter what I do to train for my Enduro Adventurethon (14km of open sea kayaking, 21km of mountain biking and 12km of off-road running) I will be totally and utterly unprepare...
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Today was my first off-road run of 2013 and my first since a traumatic body-building workout with Robser Le Monster. I decided to try a 10km route my dad showed me before I ran the Wycombe Half Marathon in 2011. So, to the sounds of Apocalyptic Love by Slash, I headed out into the chilly February e...
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When it comes to exercise (and indeed life in general), I believe people can push themselves far harder than they think they can. I believe people - myself included - set their personal expectations too low, rarely try as hard as they think they are trying, and give up too easily. I believe pe...
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What's the first thing that pops to mind when you think "triathlon"? How about when you think "Adventurethon"? How about when you think about the individual sports of kayaking, mountain biking and off-road running? It's probably brute strength, right? Right. That's why, in preparation for my fo...
Continue reading ...My wonderfully talented friend introduced me to this video. It's friggin' amazing...apart from one thing...the music. Don't get me wrong, it's inoffensive... But when a man is performing feats of strength to this level, he really should be performing to some kind of EPIC HEAVY METAL! I hav...
Continue reading ...Today, I went back to my dojo for the first time in months, with one goal in mind - to figure out if my body can still move properly... The good news is that yes, it seems to be functioning just fine after weeks of booze and food and general inactivity. The bad news is that...erm...well, I sup...
Continue reading ...What better way to start a new year than with a personal best in the gym? How about THREE PERSONAL BESTS IN A ROW? That do anything for ya? That's levitation, Holmes. Nah, only kidding. I didn't fly. What I did, however, was perform my three best sets of squats ever, one after the other. Befor...
Continue reading ...Today's weapons of choice, in the war against...whatever it is I am trying to defeat by spending hours throwing around iron in a gym... ...
Continue reading ...[caption id="attachment_1541" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Squatting in the name of the Lord...[/caption]...
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Friends, I have done it! "Done what?", you ask? Why, nothing less than the TEN TON CHALLENGE! Sadly, this is simply something I invented myself and it isn't that hard. Still, it was something to work towards. Essentially, the goal is to shift ten tons of iron in one half-hour long squat session, c...
Continue reading ...FACT: Until you've ripped the ass from your cargo trousers mid-set, you have not squatted like a man. And until you have held in your laughter for long enough to finish the set, you have not learn the discipline necessary...to be a DRAGON SLAYER!! At the gym today, I squatted ten tons in half an h...
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When I got in last night, I sat down on the sofa...and did not get up again. So depleted of energy was my body that I half-sat half-lay in a state of near comatose until, eventually, I summoned up the testicular fortitude to turn on my Xbox...before falling asleep. What marathon of physical exert...
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Much as people who don't go to the gym like to think of working out as mindless pumping of iron (which it is for some) the reality is that, as with everything, once you progress beyond being a beginner, there is much more to the activity than perhaps meets the eye. It's the same feeling I get fro...
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