As our last session before 3 days off we decided to hit Ped’s legs quite hard. As is the plan at the moment, we stuck around the intervals then supersets theme. Instead of the rower, we used a watt bike for the intervals seeing as NKD Ambition has one. As expected, Ped found the watt bike really hard on the legs (as it should be!) – a cruel way to start a leg session perhaps but at least he was nice and warm!

Of all the exercises, Ped found the front squats with a power bag the toughest. Even though the weight was considerably lighter than the weight he can back squat, the change in the position which affects his core stability and centre of gravity meant he really felt it in his core. The previous exercise of the superset being back squats thus pre-fatiguing his core and legs would have obviously also had an affect.

As expected, Ped didn’t let the session get the better of him, despite finding elements tough. I continue to be really impressed with his desire to push himself hard at every point. Whether this is just something in his character, or whether the fact that his progress will be made clear for all to see in the magazine we’ll never know. Regardless, his “will to win” is great to see.

What we did start to really see in this session was Ped’s hip playing up. It’s an issue that had me worried from the start seeing as Ped had an operation on his hip in the past, which was pretty serious and could’ve seen him have difficulties with some of the moves we’d like to do at any point. From the start Ped has been unable to squat or deadlift with parallel feet, having to turn his feet slightly outward to allow the hip to move in this plane.

Whether through the continued adding of extra weight to progress the sessions, or the volume we have now put through him over the last 7 weeks, Ped’s hip was now starting to niggle. Although we completed the session, it meant I couldn’t quite use the weight I wanted to use for squats, glute bridge oㄐ walking lunge. However, we still worked hard and completed a good session. The hip is something we’ll have to monitor.

The session looked like:

Warm-up/mobility

1. Watt bike sprints 1min fast, 30secs slow x 4. We really ensured Ped worked as hard as he could for the 1min reps.
2. Warm-up reps deadlift/hack squat, mobility and slowly increasing the weight
3. Supersets
   1. Deadlift 70kg 8, 8, 8, 8
   2. Hack squat 40kg 8, 8, 8, 8
4. Supersets
   1. Squats 60kg (hip) 10, 10, 10, 10
   2. Bag front squat 25kg 10, 10, 10,
5. Supersets
   1. Walking lunges 12kg 20, 20, 20, 20
   2. Glute raise on bench 40kg 10, 10, 10, 10