Celine's Off Season

Very sad to hear that Celine! Hope you are fine very soon and can give it 110% as you said! I agree that it is important to know what is actually happening and what causes the headaches but I imagine you already contactet a specialist? if not please do so. And from there on you can adjust. But believe me you will always find a way to keep on with the sport and even in the worst cases there is always an option! Wish you all the best!!

That sounds very hard and I feel sorry for you, Celine. As people who absolutely love to train that's nothing you wanna experience. To me this sounds like a pretty severe and maybe even chronic "injury". It's probably worth getting the opinion of a specialist.. it would be so unfortunate if this gets worse over time and if it would hinder the longevity of your journey. All the best and please keep us up to date!

after a few weeks, it is time for a new update (this is going to be a big one, sorry):

the reason for why I was so quiet on here is because I had some really tough weeks. the last time I updated my blog, I was on a really good roll. a few days after the last update (during my Lower Body C session) I started to get an extreme headache on the last set of Leg Press.

I get this kind of headache 2-3 times per year; it is not a common headache, but some weird shitty headache which I only get during the last reps of an exercise (as soon as it starts getting hard); it hurts a LOT, it is the worst pain that I ever had. the headache doesn't stay, it goes away after the workout session. (in between sets, it starts fading away as well). And once I get this headache, there is no way to get rid of it except resting (training with very light weights or not training at all); if I don't rest, it will come back in all following sessions.

Anyway, so this kind of headache started on a Sunday during my Lower C session. At first I was like "fuck it, I'm gonna train hard again the next session", and I was still very hopeful that it wasn't this weird shitty kind of headache that I get 2-3 times per year and tried to convince myself that is was just a normal headache.

The next session (Tuesday), I started with Deadlifts and all sets went very well, no symptoms of the headache at all. Second exercise was Hip Thrusts...in the middle of the 3rd set, the headache kicked in (it comes very acutely, from one second to the other I had like this extreme pain in my neck and the sided of my head). This is when I started to panic a little and I knew that I had this weird shitty headache again.

I still completed the session but stayed away from failure and focussed on breathing normally during all sets (not taking a big breath, holding it while you execute and then breathing out).

The next day I thought "If I can do a Lower Body session with this headache, I can also do a Upper Body session). So, stupid as I am, I went to the gym (on Wednesday) and wanted to train as if nothing happened. During my first exercise (OHP), first set, the headache kicked in again...from that moment onwards I knew, that there is no other option than to rest and train with lighter weights, staying far far far away from failure. During this session I contacted Aj (he also already experienced this kind of headache once) and he suggested I do light sessions (75% of usual weights) until it goes completely away (if he wouldn't have said the words, I wouldn't have done it and I would have continued to try and train hard again and again).

So the following session (Friday, Lower B), I started with Squats and the headache came back...even though it was only 75% of my usual weights. I then decided to not follow the program and only do some leg extensions, leg curls, bw squats and abductor (as the headache is much more likely to kick in during compound lifts). My only goal was to get a pump and to not go to failure. As you can imagine, the session was extremely boring and I was frustrated af that I couldn't train normally.

Next day (Saturday, Upper B), I again trained with 75% of usual weights and I again got the headache. I still followed the program but trained even lighter.

On Sunday, my lower C session, I warmed up on the Hack Squat (which is my first exercise on that day) and the headache was so bad that I couldn't do anything at all. Not even leg extensions or calf raises. I was destroyed (mentally)...I knew that moment, that I couldn't even continue doing light sessions and that I had to rest. It really sucked...all I was thinking about was that I was finally (after 3 years since I started training) making some real progress for the first time and now I can't continue because of this fucking "injury". Why me??? 99% of gym goers don't give a shit if they give 80% or 100%, but I am not one of them. I want to give 110% all the time! I want to work hard, I want to grind, I want to train to failure, I want to grow muscle as fast as possible and I want to do everything that will help me reach my goals. I put all my effort into this sport. so why do I get this headache and not the people who don't care how hard they train, who don't take this sport seriously, who have other goals...I don't understand it...sometimes I have the strong feeling that I am not made for this sport and it really frustrates me.

So I skipped the following sessions (Lower A which I would have done on Tuesday 10.10) and postponed Wednesday's Upper A session to Thursday (so in total I had 4 days of rest, if you don't count Sunday's session which was essentially only a warmup).

On Thursday I trained with 50% of my usual weights (as per Aj's suggestion) and I fortunately didn't get the headache. The following day (Lower B), I decided to try out 75% of usual weights and all went well again. Saturday's Upper B session was completed with 85% of usual weights and again, no symptoms of the headache.

Today (Lower C), I decided to go 100% and hit it hard. My first exercise was the Hack Squat (1 Top set + 3 down sets), and I was very pleased with how this went. I focussed a lot on keeping my head straight (as my neck is still very stiff since this headache started) and on breathing normally.

Then on my third exercise (Leg Press), I started to get some symptoms again and from that moment onward I stayed shy from failure again for all following sets. I didn't get the full on headache but only the symptoms, so I was still able to complete the session. I am still very scared that it will come back again during the next session...I don't know what I should do anymore. I can't take another break from training; training is the only thing that keeps me sane atm.

So yeah this is the reason why I have been so quiet. I just needed some time for myself and some time to think about all of this. Because if this "injury" keeps on coming back, I don't know what I should do...

thanks Krissi and Niclas :D and yes, it is way more common for girls to first progress by reps and then by weight (unfortunately :( )

I try to limit eating out to max once per month, because I am "afraid" of eating meals out or anything like that but mostly because I don't want to spend the money lol and because I just love my consistency. In terms of meals off: yes I have them maybe 2-3x a month (just to clarify: meal off to me means that I still track it to the gram but it is a meal which I usually don't have); when I do have a meal "off", then it is always dinner which changes and most of the time I just have another carb source, for example (sweet) potato chippies or pasta (I know, still really boring).

Round up of the last 3 training days (Lower B, Upper B, Lower C) from last week:

All 3 sessions went pretty damn good, especially the lower body sessions! Progress or retention but with better execution across the board! I really don't have a lot to say, everything is just going superb atm. The only thing that annoys me a bit is that my Squats on the Lower body B day had a faster eccentric than my Squats with 2.5kg less. The eccentric is still VERY controlled and I am not bouncing in the slightest but it is still faster...and just knowing that kills me because I am always thinking: "Shit I didn't actually progress...". It REALLY kills me. Because for everyone who doesn't know: Squats are my favorite exercise and in the course of 1 year I got weaker on them by 15 f*cking kilos. And I still don't know the reason...believe me, I already went through EVERY single possibility....and I still don't know why...and it still messes with my head today...this is why I am so "sensible" when it comes to this exercise.

But other than it was a 👌 training week! I am really excited to finally deadlift the 70s tomorrow!

In regards to my BW and nutrition: weekly average was 122.4lbs which is .1lbs down from last week. Even though my weigh ins at the end of last week were not 121.88 but slighlty higher, I still upped my carbs by 12g because I felt WAY leaner and tighter. I know my body pretty well (at leas I'd like to think that lol) and I know when I need more or less.

Sleep is REALLY good atm, and I put this down to the blue light blocking glasses (start wearing them 2h pre sleeping) and not doing anything fitness related 1-1.5h pre bed (cause otherwise I'll think about that all the time and I won't be able to fall asleep). My pre bed routine currently goes like this: eat at 6-7pm, shower, check IG and Snapchat (around 8-8.30) for the last time (after this I turn off notifications and wifi), watch 1 episode of a TV show (currently GOT, for the second time💪), read a book (GOT of course again💪), sleep (@ around 10).

Stress is also really low, I am loving work and I love Mondays. Couldn't be happier with my life to be honest. The only thing I hate are rest days....

Have a nice week everyone✌️

Training sounds amazing!!! Guess its pretty common for girls to progress via reps instat of weight cause it's some how a mindfuck if you just add 2 kilos on the bar. It always blows my mind I saw girls struggling with a weight for 2 or 3 reps then you take of 2,5 kilos and they start to rep that shit for 6 - 8 reps^^

also thx for the insights of your meals looks like a really good baseline and consistency ;) do you sometimes have off plan meals? or eating out and such?

Great to see you're enjoying training that much :)

hahaha lol @Krissi I am sorry but I must disappoint you, I have not yet found any good tricks which make me look like a social person. But thanks for the nice comments!

I realized that I forgot to say which pictures are b4 and which are after: those with better quality are before and the others are after.

Today is rest day, which means MBM Forum update day:

BW is stable at 55.4kg (121.88lbs) and this since a little more than 1 week (except for the fluctuations which were all due to explainable reasons). The last few days I felt very tight and lean after waking up so I made the decision to up carbs by 12g for next week IF my weight stays the same for the rest of the week.

Also, since I stopped taking HBCD, I instead now add 30g of dried fruit to my protein mug cake in the morning as pre workout (I used to only have protein in the morning pre workout). Eventually I will try HBCD again (maybe in a week or two) but I will start with a much lower dose (~1/2 of recommended dose) and then incrementally up the dose so that my body has the time to "adapt" to this supplement.

As I am already on the topic of nutrition, I thought I'd go through a full day of eating. As my meals and food choices are relatively consistent, and as my macros are stable throughout the whole week, I will do this only once (if my meals change in the future, I will do it again):

Meal 1 (Pre Workout if training day) at about 7am: 30g Protein powder (+30g dried raisins or dried apricot IF training day)

Meal 2 (Post Workout if training day) at about 11am: 100g unsweetened Cornflakes (they are muuuuch better than the sweetened ones and much more crunchy), 250g Quark, 10g dark chocolate, 30g almond/peanut/cashew butter, 20g dried fruit

Meal 3 at about 3pm: 100g oats, 2 pieces of fruit (depending on what I fancy, most of the time bananas, kiwis or pear), 10-20g shredded coconut (depending on what I have in the evening), 10-15g honey

Meal 4 at about 6.30pm: 110-120g basmati rice, 2-3 different vegetables (most of the times broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans, tomatoes, bell pepper, spinach or carrots), 1 protein source (this alternates every day between chicken, eggs, tuna and salmon)

This is it! Simple but I love it and I never get bored of it!

On to my training: the first session of this week (Lower Body glute/ham focused day) was AMAZING! absolutely mindblowing! as the session went by I was asking myself more and more if this was actually me training lol. For the first time ever I was able to progress by adding load and NOT dropping reps! and this for the first 3 CONSECUTIVE exercises! For the following 4 exercises I also progressed by adding reps except for Calf Raises (retention). It is an absolute understatement to say that I was thrilled by this!

The second session was good as well (though not as good as the first one, but that one will be VERY hard to beat). In this session as well I progressed on every single exercise (but only via reps) except on EZ bar Curls (retention). But I was still very very very happy with the session. It seems like I am on a really good roll atm! I will do everything to keep this going!

I am enojy training more than ever before and I am so excited to see how far I can progress until the end of the year!

(I will not post my training sessions as the post is already long enoug)

Hope you all had a nice day✌️

Hey Celine! Really good progress has been made ;) IMO you look a lot sharper and things seem to role very well ;) keep it up and smash your goals! and BTW if you have any tipps to pretend that one has still a social life plz let me know ^^lol

thanks @Jevarne and @Niclas! I really appreciate your feedback!

this week training was AMAZING! probably best training week I have ever had!

BW average of this week was 122.5 which is 1lbs up by last week. I was aiming to gain 0.25lbs/week but this week's weigh ins fluctuated a lot (higher than usual weigh ins) due to higher sodium intake and having eaten higher volume foods pre bed. so I am not really worried by this increase in BW.

Meso 2, Week 1 - Friday - Lower B

Back Squat (4-6 rep range) 45 x 6/5

Back Squat (8-10 rep range) 40 x 9/8

DB SLDL 64 x 10/10/10/11

Narrow Stance Smith Machine Squat 20 x 15/15/12

Reverse BB Lunge 42.5 x 8/8/7

Leg Extension (triple drop set after last set) 25 x 20/15/13 (regression by 2 reps BUT better/stricter execution)

Abductor 57.5 x 15/15/15 (new machine so can't compare it to last meso's performance)

changes made from last meso:

- usually for Back Squat I would alternate the 4-6 and 8-10 rep range weekly and do 4 sets in one rep range; this meso I do 2 sets in the 4-6 rep range followed by 2 sets in the 8-10 rep range every week.

Meso 2, Week 1 - Saturday - Upper B

Lat Activation Drill: Cable Row + Cable Pullover (2 VERY light sets in the 10-20 rep range)

Chest supp. Row 27.5 x 8/8/8/8

Chin ups BW x 8/7/6

Bench Press 42.5 x 7/6/6

DB OHP 12 x 11/9/9

Upright BB Row 22.5 x 15/11/10

Cable Flye 7.5 x 15/15/15

Seated Lateral Raise (Myo Reps) 5 x 18

Cable Single Arm Hammer Curl 10 x 18/17/13

Dips BW x 8/7/5

changes from last meso:

- Pendlay Row OUT, Chest supp. Row IN (heavier rep range than last meso; why: no lower back involvement)

- Pull Ups OU, Chin ups IN

- Cable Curl OUT, Cable Single Arm Hammer Curl IN

- Close Grip DB Press OUT, Dips IN

Meso 2, Week 1 - Sunday - Lower C + Delts

Hack Squat (Top Set) x 23

Hack Squat (Down Sets) x 10/10/10

BB SLDL 67.5 x 10/10/7

Narrow Stance Leg Press 40 x 20/14/12/9 (<1 min rest)

Lying Leg Curl 5 x 15/14/12

DB Front Raise 6 x 15/15/15

Leaning Side Lateral Raise 4 x 20/19/14

changes:

- Front Squat OUT, Hack Squat IN (why: less lower back involvement)

- Low Bar Good Morning OUT, Lying Leg Curl IN (why: no lower back involvement)

As you can see, a lot of the changes which were made from the last meso to this one are to ensure that my lower back has enough/more time to recover, as my lower back was fatigued very quickly in the first meso.

I will also slightly change my macro targets up from next week:

from 120P, 355C, 50F to 125P, 355C, 48F (I know, the change is so small it is nearly not worth mentioning)

I tried taking HBCD intra for five days but it turns out that I can't digest it very well (as with all supplements except for creatine). It REALLY sucks to have such a sensible stomach...So I will stop taking intra workout carbs.

One last thing: I decided to go to Danny Lennon's Seminar about Nutrition in London on 18/19th November. Anyone else going?

Hope you all had a wonderful week✌️

looks like your mentally set to smash this meso very good lat development also

I think you've got some good potential to create a really impressive physique due to your structure. especially your delts make a nice X-shape. keep up the hard work and the results will come !

sooooo time for another update:) I will try updating my log at least twice per week as opposed to every day (which I did at the beginning).

I have quite a few news since my last update:

BW jumped up from Saturday to Sunday by .9kg...and it stayed there for 3 days...this fucked up my mind lol. but it is now back down at 55.2kg so all good ✌️

on monday I started my new meso and the first 2 workouts of this week have been ABSOLUTELY MINDBLOWING!! veeeerrry good sessions, huge PRs nearly everywhere (some excpetions BUT execution was better than previously)!! So deload successful 👌

Meso 2, Week 1 - Tuesday - Lower A:

Deadlift 62.5kg x 10/10/10/10 (feeling like 398232 Marathons)

Hip Thrust 65 x 15/15/15/15

Wide Stance Leg Press 62.5 x 12/12/12 (weirdly enough, this is the exercise during which I can feel my quads firing like crazy...way better than on any other exercise...anyone else have this?)

DB Bulgarian Split Squat 28 x 15/12/10

Lying Leg Curl 7.5 x 12/12/11

Single Leg Extension 10 x 20/15/11 (only exercise where I regressed by 2 reps but form was better)

Standing Calf Raise 37.5 x 15/12/9

no changes from the first meso to the second for this particular day

Meso 2, Week 1 - Wednesday - Upper B:

OHP 26 x 6/6/6/6

Incline DB Press 28 x 12/11/8/8

Hammer Strength High Row 25 x 11/9/9

DB Prone Row 10 x 15/15/15

Seated DB Lateral Raise 4 x 20/20/20/18 (regressed by 1 rep on last set but shorter rest between reps on all sets)

Facepulls 35 x 15/15/12

EZ Bar Curl 17.5 x 10/10/8

Tricep Pushdown (Myo Reps) 17.5 x 15/3/3/2 (regressed by 1 rep)

changes to this training day from last to this meso:

- Chest supported Machine Row OUT (moved to 2nd Upper Body day) and DB Prone Row IN

- Wide Grip Lat Pulldown OUT and Hammer Strength High Row IN

- Seated DB Hammer Curl OUT and EZ Bar Curl IN

My triceps was a little sore going into this session and this is something I also had at the end of my first meso. So Aj if you are reading this, maybe we need to scale down triceps volume just by a tiny little bit for the next meso.

Goals for this meso:

#1: work harder than anyone else, push myself further than any human being on this planet

#2: see nr. 1

#3: pretend I also have a life outside of the gym

As promised, here are the progress pics (I am sorry that I am a little late with these); I am a little pissed that I didn't use the same camera and lightning is therefore different but lesson learnt for next time:

Honest feedback is very much appreciated!!

Sounds great!!! That feeling alone that what you are currently doing is just hyper productive is amazaing IMO ;)

thank you all! yeah definitely, the not so optimal past weeks only motivate me even more to absolutely smash that next meso!!!

Deload week is FINALLY over, and I cannot wait to train intense again and hit PBs on as many exercises as I can! Also, I am really looking forward to experimenting with the stuff that I listed in my previous post. And last but not least, I am reeeally looking forward to comparing some pictures (which I will take tomorrow) to pictures I took when I started with Aj (7 weeks ago). I will post them here. But I can already say now, that even if it might seem on the pictures like I didn't gain a lot of muscle, this has without a single doubt been the most productive meso in my whole life! I did more progress than EVER before.

Have a nice weekend✌️

Get back on track soon and let us know how your changes worked out ;)

A little setback is normal in life.. think about it as a step back to take at least two steps forward :)

if you were still progressing whilst travelling and overreached, youll deffo crush your next meso!

Hi guys! It s been a little while since I last updated my blog, reasons being I was very busy and also didn't feel very well. If you already watched Aj's latest video on this site, then you will know that I always get severe symptoms of getting sick when I am overreached. This is what happened the last few days...and yday I actually was sick lol. I think my recovery was really hampered by my London holiday and all the stress that came with it...I am reeeeally pissed about this because I know 100000% that if I didn't have this holiday, I for sure could have continued another 1-2 weeks of hard training instead of now being in my deload week. but anyway, I am feeling better today but to be sure that I recover well, I decided to skip today's lower body B deload session :( I absolutely hate to skip sessions, but it is how it is...

Yesterday I also had my second Skype session with Aj, which was really nice and I am already excited af to start my next meso! From the next meso onwards I will also experiment with the following things in order to improve training performance/quality and recovery even more:

Intra workout carbs (Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrine)

Blue Light Blocking Glasses

Pre Bed Meditation

Lastly, I will also increase my calories by 50 and change my macros slightly to: 50F, 120P, 355C

Hope you all had a nice day!

yeah I will also tell them that next time

update 03.09.2017 - 10th and last day in London

BW: 55.2kg

Lower Body C + Delts

last day before my deload week, training was quite hard, the bar felt heavy and I was just feeling so beat up and overreached; I also felt slightly dizzy during my workout but not so bad that I couldn't train intensely. Nevertheless, I progressed by 1 rep on my first two exercises and on my last exercise (Front Squat, BB SLDL and Leanind Side Lateral Raises), by 6 reps (total) on Good Mornings. I regressed by quite a lot of reps on Narrow Stance Leg Press (<1 min rest intervals) BUT my ROM was longer than last time (used some thick "pillows" to put on the seat so that I was closer to the platform).

Front Squat Challenge Set/ Top Set 35kg 14

Front Squat Down Sets 32.5kg 10/10/10

BB SLDL 65kg 10/10/10

NArrow Stance Leg Press (<1 min rest) 50kg 20/14/11/8

Good Mornings 45kg 10/10/9

DB Front Raise 6kg 10/10/10 (form was not perfect so looking to first progress by using better form and then progress by adding reps for the next few weeks)

Leaning Side Lateral Raise 4kg 20/18/14

Very happy to go back home and get back to my usual routine. Progress pics will come after the deload, so in one week!

I can Imagine the frustration on the bench, normally saying help with the lift off means just that and no spot. I try to tell my spotter only touch the bar of it moves back down