Merry Xmas to the fern clan. We got a baby girl for Xmas (2 days before) so this might be my last post for... how many years!!? Probably should be posting gibberish at some ridic hour of the morning!

@catogrande I feel that's not the first time you've trotted that scenario out...

@JC Bro!! I've just got my 23andMe results back and we are totally related! I mean, what are the chances!?

Now I've been thinking about going electric...

@Higgins don't worry, England will still do a few victory laps

@booboo maybe a virtual one!!

@RLx31 well there was this group of guys called the black caps, and one day they took the field against a scary yellow multi-headed monster!!

No one made it out alive.

The end.

Ugh, still gives me shivers!!

@rancid-schnitzel aw man, that must have been really tough mate. You are clearly all about your kids so hopefully you aren't feeling that they are lacking any attention or anything like that.

How soon is too soon? fark, that is a rough thing to face - but nothing in your future relationships means that what came before means any less. I am sure your wife wanted you and your boys to be happy, and live life to its fullest. Would also strongly suspect she wouldn't want you to feel guilty about finding someone, or that a certain timeline has to be followed etc

I know this sounds awful but perhaps a Tinder blitz or something could be cathartic? at least to separate the shorter term physical side of things from an immediate search for a relationship? Failing that (lol I am no help at all) keeping yourself well connected socially through kids (and your own) sport. training etc will mean you are meeting people.

Big ups for sharing this stuff too RS. Take care of yourself, and hollah if you ever need a yarn.

The sun actually shines OUT of my asshole... so I'm unsure if I need to set up in front of a mirror or something??

this grade is mental. As a larger fulla I played a few games and holy shit the pace and intensity was crazy. Full of guys 5-10kg away from being genuine prems players. Not quite full blown small man syndrome but...

I think this is great though - it'll be really interesting watching high level code where most players are a similar body shape/size.

@Mokey he's a cunning one aye! expecting you to pour yourself into it

It'd be cool if we had all our usernames making up a picture of NZ, similar to that earlier design. Do like the idea of having our banner as a statement across the shoulders on the back.

Have we got a thread going about Radio Sport not getting cricket rights for next year onward?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/119676729/radio-cricket-broadcasts-up-in-the-air-after-radio-sport-decides-not-to-renew-rights

@canefan I agree Tim is on the tail end of his career but he was good in Australia - and aside from the mare in the 20/20 series his form has been pretty solid. I think there's a wee bit of life in him yet, but fully agree we need new blood.

Bunch of overhead stuff this afternoon.

Y and Ts to warm up. Then a couple of sets of wide grip behind the head press with the bar. Then I was doing two sets of 5 at each weight as I got a feel for where the heavier sets would end up. So that was double sets at 30kg and 40kg.

Then I started my push pressing with doubles at 60kg, 70kg, 80kg. Then I moved to triples (but still 2 sets of each) at 90kg and 95kg. Was well pleased with that effort. Moved nicely and felt solid overhead.

Did 3 sets of 5 at 60kg on military press. Then 3 rounds of KB press (one armed). Sets of 8 each arm at 14kg then 16kg x2.

Knocked that off at a decent clip. Say a 90sec rest max between sets. It was humid af so I was drenched. Nasty lol.

Legs today. No chance of front squats as my triceps are still spicy af. Did manage to do some stretching though and did a bunch of digging yesterday so that helped too.

Continued with limited stretching. Just my hips and a bunch of body weight squats and lunges to fire things up. Quite like the new approach, and the extra time under the bar is always good. Warm up for my working sets was 2 sets of 5 with the bar only. Then two sets of 8 at 60kg and a set of 6 at 80kg. Working sets were 5 by 5 at 105kg. Weighed in at 104.7kg so wanted to be repping body weight
Felt like it wasn't till the 4th set that I really hit my stride. Just need to find a way to wrangle more volume. I did a strict 2min break between working sets to keep things focused. Trying to make each rep mint and keep everything activated. Zero niggles today too, so that is a good sign!

Finished with 2 more sets at 60kg with some pause reps thrown in. Did a bunch of reps with the bar on wide grip press. Trying to open things up a bit. Then it was 2 sets of 15 goblet squats with 32kg KB.

@JC or lady gaga!

Trained on sat morning but holy shit I was light on sleep. Double scooped on pre-workout but I crashed hard near the end of the workout - nada in the tank at that point.

Did some warm ups for biddies. Then into bench. Did a bunch of sets at 60kg and 80kg, then 4 working sets of 8-10 reps at 100kg. Wasn't keen to go any heavier. Ran into an old gym acquaintance and he distracted us with adding in some DB overheads and close grip pressing... as part of super sets with regular bench.

My triceps still hurt like a fucker today. Pure fire!! It was pretty funny actually, his training approach is pure broscience and based on what got him gains. So he was giving a lot of contrary cues to what we've been doing. Breathing during a lift, narrower set up for bench, not as worried about leg position etc. So a lot of uh huh and nodding as we all pretty did our usual stuff.

But it is cool to hear about what people have found successful.

Leg session today. Work has been intense and life is hectic anyway with bubs. Didn't make the gym yesterday and I was salty af. Made sure I had time today.

Legs. Tried out a new warm up. Body weight squats, a couple of hip activation movements (I think), and some more body weight squats with a band. Then I started with back squats at 60kg. Three sets of 5. Then I moved to front squats, opening with 60kg. Two sets of 60kg, then 5's at 70kg, and 80kg. Then triples at 90kg and 100kg x2. Finished up with two sets of back squats at 100kg - second set with 3 sec pauses in the hole.

Legs felt great after that. Left knee was a bit niggly around my kneecap, but I just focused on form and let things take care of themselves... oh, and not go too heavy and break myself.

Got a sat morning workout lined up with my bro. Can smell a big arms, back, chest monster incoming! tumeke!!

@Crucial I dropped a few hints but I didn't even find out where they are staying!

lol but one player had messaged three female PTs at Les Mills seeing if they were keen on a date... obviously didn't think they'd compare notes ha ha, he was busted well before any of them took the bait