As newly self appointed Chairman of the Ben Loughrey Fan Club i thought i would create a new thread devoted to him, haha : )

No but on a serious note....nice guy, GREAT athlete and i wanted to create this thread so ben could post and we could all follow his progress to the world champs : )

BIG LOVE  x

Great idea Ross. I've been on Ben's profile and read his story. That is something truly motivational. Amazing progress.... I'll definitely check this thread for more advise and tips on training in the future.

First off, I'm really flattered and thanks to Ross for expressing an interest and making this thread for me! :D

I'm currently recovering from a lower back injury which I sustained in training last Thursday, so I'm eating everything in sight to make sure my body has all it needs to recover. I am planning to compete in the 110kg class at the WDFPF worlds in November and I may need to watch my weight closer to that time, but for now recovery is the priority and that means eat eat eat!

I've been supplementing my diet with more protein than usual and I've been taking LA Muscle IP4. I have to mention this product. I started it last week and my recovery has been extremely fast and tendinitis in my left wrist, which I've had for the last 4 months as a remnant of a previous injury has disappeared. I attribute this to my taking IP4 and eating plenty of protein.

I've also got to mention my coach, Paul Mc Ilroy, who's also an LA Muscle athlete, the guy is a genius and I know for a fact it's thanks to him that I've had success in strength sports. Hopefully there's more to come!

Thanks for reading and I'll post again very soon! :)

Thanks for the comment Adam. I hope you find something interesting somewhere in the garbage I write! lol

Well, feeling good today, my back is stiff, but not very sore. I'm going to hit the gym today and see what comes of it. Some light squats I think and maybe some hanging leg raises to stretch my back out a little. Nothing excessive. Will let you guys know how it goes!

Ben mate im squatting today aswell.....my thoughts will be with you : ) haha but to be fair your light squats might be my max lift, haha

BIG LOVE x

Hope the squats went well Ross! I'm just in the door from the gym. I'm pretty happy. Did some squatting, which was a bit tougher than usual because my core was weakened. I definitely felt my lower back getting tired there, so I reined myself in and decided it was wisest not to deadlift today.

Very basic workout, just squats followed by hanging leg raises to stretch out my lower back after compression from squatting. Nothing too exciting really, deadlifts will have to wait another few days unfortunately!

Just in from work here. Wrecked. Didn't train today, just took it easy since I knew I had an 8 hour shift to work.

I trained yesterday though and managed to fit in some deadlifting. I know it sounds like I'm ranting about deadlifting, but it's really just at the moment because of my back injury. I'm happy to say I got through the workout with no complications  I warmed up with 140kg and kept things light, finishing with a few easy sets to stretch my back out at 185kg. It felt good and I kept my form tight. Along with the deadlifting I did a few other bodyweight exercises (chins, dips etc etc) and benching. All moving along well

Right now, I'm trying to get back into a more rigid routine in terms of my diet and sleep pattern. The summer holidays are coming to a close soon. I'm back to uni towards the end of September and I know I can't afford to be sloppy with my time and diet or my training will suffer. Thanks for reading!

Ben mate quick question....whats your diet like at the minute, you have a rough plan?

Thanks buddy, hope you're good

Hey Ross, I have to admit, my diet is pretty shit at the moment. I'm working as much as possible in order to pay my way through driving lessons and to the worlds in the USA in November and so I just eat what I can. I try to keep it clean and prepare my meals, but sometimes that just doesn't happen.

I admit I can do better and I'm working on it. I don't have a set plan, though I should really get one, but generally I try and have at least two shakes a day, eat small meals 2-3 hours apart, clean carbs and chicken, turkey, eggs and fish. I rarely eat red meat. I don't have any sauces on my meals, 1 because they are more money and 2 they are bad calories  I also try to get in a decent amount of fruit and veg, bananas, apples, broccoli, salad etc

Now I'm thinking about it, I really need to get the finger out and get more organised. I am carrying some weight from back in April when I gorged to make a higher weight class and I'm no longer at the "sweet spot" that I was at in January, where I was lean and strong. I really want to get back there, it will just take some discipline.

I'm sure your diet would put me to shame!