I am determined not to have a Marlon Brando moment

Sticking to my recent rash of Rocky references, have a look at Rocky's face. This was what my body was like up until a month ago:



In relative terms, this is what I feel like now:



I am obviously not like this superhero, but the comparison is notewrothy. I am able to lift weights again and it does not hurt. Oh, the joys of weightlifting and life in general. I missed lifting so badly. The legend Tommy Hayden is also coaching me and this has proven to be a winner so far. Tommy knows an awful lot about weightlifting and I know he will help me. I am just starting my third week of my first cycle and it is as basic as it comes. This is where the genius lies. It is basically progressive and it tells me exactly what to lift and how many times to do it. No silliness on my part and it takes me out of the equation.

My program is delightfully basic: There are four sessions and I alternate them each week:

Day 1/3

Snatch: 2X3@70%
1X3@75%
6x2@80% Week one
1x1@85% + 5x2@ 80% Week two
1x1@90% +4x2 @80% Week three
95%+ with no back off sets Week four

Power Clean and Power Jerk: follows the same progression as above.

Day 2/4 are the same progressions but with the Clean and Jerk coming first and the power Snatch coming after. I cannot squat because my ankle is still in jiblets, so I am doing 6x3 in the barbell split squat at the moment. I love this movement very much. it opens up my hips at the end of my sessions when I get really tight and I get some excellent squating movements done uniaterally which is a winner when you cannot squat bilaterally.

I train three times a week weightlifting and once a week doing an upper body strength session. Tommy wanted me to train four times a week, but in my first cycle back, I don't want to do this in case I aggravate me lower back. In my first week, I definitely could only have done three sessions because I was pretty sore at the third despite getting a massage and two soft tissue trreatments that week. I had to actually leave the final bit of my workout because my lower back started hurting again,

In my second week of training, I was able to get all three sessions in fully and also step up to 85% weights. I actually felt healthier at the end of the week than I did at the beginning of the third week. My hips are the most flexible they have ever been and are still improving slowly but surely. My hip flexors, quads and hamstrings are still relatively tight, but they are getting better also. I was lifting better in the second week and starting to get my feel back for the weights.

I am now two sessions into my third week and with the weights going up to 90%, I can definitely feel it in the body as a whole. It has been so long since I have lifted anything of note that it will take me a while to get used to the heavier weights again. I have faith in myself though. I have an Irish squad session this weekend and it is a week short in my program, but I will see what I can lift on the day anyway. I am basing this program off a conservative 110/140 so they will be my obvious targets.

It is really nice to be back in the weightlifting world again. I missed not being a participant in the sport and I can't wait to train with and hang around with the lads again.



One thing I know is that in my weightlifting and athletic career, I don't want to have one of these moments because I gave up:



It would be too easy to give up. A lot of people have told me to give up becuse of my hip, but that is not what I am about. I will find a way to lift the weights that I want to lift and I am very happy I am going about it the right way so far. I am getting more flexible and mobile in my joints and I will continue to get healthier and stronger. I will just have to go about it in a different way to most people! If i have not reached this guy's standard of movement in the next few months, I can officially be called a loser by Murph while he wears this guy's awesome pants: