Our 29th session was a bit of a disappointment – something which I have to take the blame for! With only a week to go, I was determined to push Ped to his limits over our last 3 or 4 sessions. This meant I planned a session that would push Ped more, both mentally and physically, than he had experienced previously.
Unfortunately, due to the dynamic and explosive nature of the third exercise of the triset, Ped pulled/tweaked a muscle in his neck/traps on the second round. I immediately said we should stop the session, get and ice pack and rest up. We did so, and with a few days of rest and ice, except for a spin class at a weekend spa on the Sunday, Ped was back to full action on the Monday for our 30th sessions.
Despite the short session, the lessons for Ped here was not missed:
- If you think you’ve pulled/tweaked something, stop. Don’t “train though it” – take it from someone who has; it always makes it worse and leads to far longer on the sidelines unable to train.
- Ice, ice, ice. I learned from a Royal Marines PTI Remedial Instructor who played football for the Navy. He twisted his ankle on a Tuesday and was down to play for the Navy on the Saturday. His ankle was noticeably swollen and he couldn’t walk properly. He swore he’d play. He iced his ankle for 10-15minutes every 2hours. He even set alarms through the night to keep this up. He played a full 90minutes on the Saturday with no problems. Ice works. And rest obviously.
So, not all bad for Ped. A lesson to take forward into his new fitness life beyond this Men’s Fitness Training.
The session looked like:
Warm-up/mobility
- Watt bike
- 30 seconds sprint, 30 seconds off x 4,
- 30 seconds sprint, 15 seconds off x 3,
- 10 seconds sprint, 20 off x 2
- Mobility
- Triset
- Eccentric pull-ups 7, 5
- Cable row 48kg 10, 10
- Med ball slam 6kg 20sec, 20sec
Ped worked extremely hard for the two sets we did complete. The eccentric pulls obviously completely pre-fatigued him before the cable row. However, he still managed the same weight he’d worked with previously for 10reps. A great effort. Ped openly disliked the med ball slams, but they are a great way to finish a back/lat triset when fat loss is a main training aim. They are tough, but tough for a reason. Another great effort from Ped, despite the short session.