Do I have to wait half an hour to cycle after eating a poached egg on toast, an apple, coffee and a kinder choco fresh?
Depends how hard you’re pushing. I’d just start and slow down/stop if my guts started acting up, but I’m also a fool
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Ugh - three weeks since I last ran a 5k, and when I was at the gym at lunchtime I only managed to run 4.5, and had to slow right down for the last 1/2 km
So pleased to be back on the bike after a litany of calf troubles. Still building up my strength and fitness again, but managed a 125km ride on my day off (in stunning weather) without any ill-effects. Still feeling a bit sore two days later, but in the DOMS sense rather than anything more sinister. Fingers crossed I’m past the last of the setbacks 
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What a picture
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And surprise surprise my legs are letting me know all about it today.
I still might try and do Parkrun on saturday (mainly because it’s Brighton Marathon on Sunday, so I get to run through the finish line of that)
Finding it really hard to improve on my deadlift. Can’t seem to get past the 50kg mark. What could I do? I think part of the problem is I have next to no grip strength so I’ve read that farmers carries help with that. Kinda hard to do in a busy(ish) gym and I don’t have weights at home, though. I’m trying to keep accessory exercises up (bent over rows, dumbell shoulder press). Should I dial it back a bit and up the reps for a while?
Conversely my back squat is improving every session. 60kg felt easy today, the heaviest I’ve done.
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For grip I’ve found doing slow relaxes on pull exercises really helps. So for lateral raises and rows trying to take 4 seconds to return the weight back on each rep. Absolutely murders your forearms but it’s good.
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Sorry if stating the obvious, but I started wearing gloves for certain gym things, and it really helped with deadlifts. Just used some old cycling ones initially. Really helps when doing multiple reps.
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Also might be worth experimenting with a mixed grip, assuming you’re using a double overhand grip atm. So like this
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yes, I was thinking about this. definitely going to give that a go!
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Yes! That plus gloves really helped me. Although I now no longer have calluses that I used to love picking at.
Not obvious at all. As you can maybe imagine I have about 10 pairs of cycling mitts (rarely worn these days), will definitely take some along next time I go to the gym!
Apparently you’re meant to switch which hand you’re using for each grip on each set BTW, to make sure you’re working the same muscle groups on both sides.
Need to get myself some lifting gloves soon I think
get some lifting straps. that way your grip isn’t the thing limiting your progress. still important to train your grip so i’d do all your warm ups and first couple of sets without them and only stick them on when you have to. you can try mixed grip as well if you’re double overhanding everything just now?
apparently grip is really specific. so like using one of those squeezy grip trainer things will help your crush strength but won’t help loads for holding onto a bar. so you want to do stuff that mimics what you’re trying to improve as close as possible. maybe on your last set just hold the bar as long as you can, or at the end of the workout grab some heavy dumbbells and just hold them for sets of 10-20s. dead hangs are also really good, ie just grap a pullup bar and hang there. you’ll be surprised how quickly you improve.
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Hi Japes
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hi aggpass
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Definitely try using a mixed grip if you’re trying to lift heavier, and try using chalk on your hands too if you haven’t already, it’s amazing how much it can help when you’re feeling weak
Maybe also have a go with a hex/trap bar? You’ll be able to lift much heavier than with a barbell as the weight is distributed more evenly
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If you’re smashing out 60kg back squats I bet you’ll be able to top that 50kg deadlift with any of these tips 
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