Masons get lean log!

Mason- · 16 Oct 2025 at 13:35

Nice volume on deadlifts. But it knocks it out of you for the subsequent lifts. The incline sets were tough, flat bench with feet up were ok. But by the time I got to the assisted pull ups I was struggling a lot.
Still - happy that I'm not failing on any of the big movements yet.

mrthingyx · 17 Oct 2025 at 08:47

Thar is a lot of deadlift volume! Not necessarily a bad thing if you are getting enough sleep/etc.

And I will never understand "feet up" bench.

Mason- · 17 Oct 2025 at 08:51

mrthingyx said:
Thar is a lot of deadlift volume! Not necessarily a bad thing if you are getting enough sleep/etc.

And I will never understand "feet up" bench.

I know what you mean I don’t get it either really. I might replace incline with OHP and do dumbbell flat press as a mix up to the heavy barbell sets in workout A.

Mason- · Monday at 23:57

Wife went into labour on the 17th and gave birth to our lovely daughter. Today was my first time back since then, I’d been itching to go.

It was the session with lighter weights and pause reps. My plan was to see how things were going and if they felt tough to just do them as standard reps and treat it as a deload. But I actually felt great and did the session.

I’ve been having back pain lately though. On my right side under my shoulder blade, I suspect it’s my lat. Don’t know what I did, probably lifting up my 18 month old a lot more? Might have to post a form check for the toddler lift up in the gym rats thread.

It didn’t interfere with the gym though, and doesn’t seem to hurt any more at the moment… see how I feel when I wake up.

mrthingyx · Tuesday at 15:04

Mason- said:
Wife went into labour on the 17th and gave birth to our lovely daughter. Today was my first time back since then, I’d been itching to go.

It was the session with lighter weights and pause reps. My plan was to see how things were going and if they felt tough to just do them as standard reps and treat it as a deload. But I actually felt great and did the session.

I’ve been having back pain lately though. On my right side under my shoulder blade, I suspect it’s my lat. Don’t know what I did, probably lifting up my 18 month old a lot more? Might have to post a form check for the toddler lift up in the gym rats thread.

It didn’t interfere with the gym though, and doesn’t seem to hurt any more at the moment… see how I feel when I wake up.

Congratulations!

Mason- · Wednesday at 22:55

Well that was horrendous. I felt ok yesterday, but this morning my legs felt so stiff. It’s my upper groin, maybe adductors?

Even after my stretching routine they felt awful, tried the squats:

Could only manage 3 reps of the heavy weight and the reps probably weren’t to full depth. Then tried 3 of the lighter weight, felt rough. So I just stopped did not want to injure myself. It was weird, I couldn’t keep my knees open, they wanted to come in, not buckle, but be in line with my hips and feet. So I suspect it is adductors.

Any tips on stretches for these?

It was just tightness in my legs though, so bench went well and that’s a new 5 rep PR on bench. Creeping up on bodyweight bench for 5 reps. Should be there in a few weeks if I continue to lose weight too. I’m currently at 97kg.

mrthingyx · Friday at 00:15

Mason- said:
Well that was horrendous. I felt ok yesterday, but this morning my legs felt so stiff. It’s my upper groin, maybe adductors?

Even after my stretching routine they felt awful, tried the squats:

Could only manage 3 reps of the heavy weight and the reps probably weren’t to full depth. Then tried 3 of the lighter weight, felt rough. So I just stopped did not want to injure myself. It was weird, I couldn’t keep my knees open, they wanted to come in, not buckle, but be in line with my hips and feet. So I suspect it is adductors.

Any tips on stretches for these?

It was just tightness in my legs though, so bench went well and that’s a new 5 rep PR on bench. Creeping up on bodyweight bench for 5 reps. Should be there in a few weeks if I continue to lose weight too. I’m currently at 97kg.

There are a few, but it depends on how each feels and where it hits you.

Single leg grinders (dynamic)
Butterfly stretch (static)
Clamshells...

I find grinders are great for stabilising the external rotation, along with banded knees for the warmup squats, too (just to make sure glute med is happy to play).

Mason- · Friday at 09:40

mrthingyx said:
There are a few, but it depends on how each feels and where it hits you.

Single leg grinders (dynamic)
Butterfly stretch (static)
Clamshells...

I find grinders are great for stabilising the external rotation, along with banded knees for the warmup squats, too (just to make sure glute med is happy to play).

Thanks a lot. Tried them all and they feel good. I’m gonna add the butterfly to my stretch routine on squat and deadlift day.

mrthingyx · Friday at 18:17

Heh. Just realised my phone autocorrected to "grinders."

Hehehe.

Mason- · 2025-11-01T08:57:12+0000

I usually go to the gym after putting my boy down for bed. Which hopefully is around 7:20pm. But last night was one of those nights it dragged on until gone 8. My gym closes 10pm most nights and 9pm Fridays. So did I chill on the sofa? No I improvised adapted and overcame by trying out the 24hr gym on the same industrial estate.

I took note of what you said last time I did this workout @mrthingyx and replaced feet up bench with OHP. Although after incline and doing strict form down to my clavicle, I started with 50 at first and that was a nope. So did a humble 40.

The gym is great. I was at a bannatynes before, it has a pool and sauna and all those goodies but I haven’t used them once. There is only 2 squat racks (but the time I go and the type of people who go, I’ve only had to wait for one once in 5 months).

Conversely this new gym is a bit more of a gritty old school gym, tonnes of equipment and weights. Dedicated places to deadlift, 6 racks.

And it had this roller rack thing that I’ve never seen before. Shout out to the Kugelrollen it’s like a skateboard wheel. Felt orgasmic on my back.

One of the nicest things is I didn’t feel rushed. Usually I’m the last one there at bannatynes and have to rush sets to make sure I get it done in time. This place being 24hr there’s no issue. Considering what’s going on in my life it’s a no brainer so I’m going to join. It’s also £10 a month cheaper.