50th year PRs

Weds pm walk

Thurs pm Arms

Barbell curl 8,9,8-40kg
seated Hammer Curl 3x8-17.5kg DB
Cable Preacher curl 3x14-24kg
Tricep Push Downs 3x10-37.5kg
Rope Tricep Extensions 3x14-23.5kg
EZ bar close grip press 3x19-55kg

easy Leg day

leg extension 4x11-98kg
hack squat 3x10-100kg
leg curl 4x11-53kg
RDL 3x10-90kg

Sat 45min cross trainer

Sun 15km hill walk. Prolly the longest I'll do prior to NZ, albeit I fancy doing a similar length one next weekend too. I did 30 mins stretching and rolling at the gym in the afternoon and had an ocean swim...both of which prolly helped recovery, but the legs and joints are AOK this morning which is good

Mon Back

Wide grip pull downs 3x11-87kg
Close Grip Pull downs 3x9-87kg
Bent over DB rows 3x10-32.5kg
Chins 10,9
chest supported close grip row 3x9-140kg
Back Extensions 3x10-15kg

first time doing bent over db rows in years

DB Bench 8,8,6,7-35kg
DB high Incline Bench 12.10.10-27.5kg
Pec machine 3x11-61kg
Lat Raises 3x16-10kg
Front Raises 3x10-15kg

seated Hammer Curl 3x9-17.5kg DB
Barbell Curl 3x14-35kg
facing away Cable Curl 3x12-24.5kg
Tricep Push Downs 3x11-37.5kg ss with
Tricep Extensions 3x14-27kg
EZ Bar tricep press 3x22-55kg

50 min walk Weds night

Thurs am: wasn't feeling it this morning so cut my cardio down to 30 mins on cross trainer

Sun pm

wide grip pull downs 3x9-87kg
chest supported close grip row 3x10-140kg
chins 3x10
shrug 3x14-170kg
back extensions 3x10-15kg

Mon pm 40 min cross trainer then 40 min walk

How many people are going to be on this trek? What's the evening plan - libations? Chemicals? I assume you're all camping out?

It’s an organised, guided trek - the only way you can do the Milford Track is with these guys

https://www.ultimatehikes.co.nz/

Not sure how many people will be in our party. I’m going with the newish gf

It’s fairly luxe. You stay in very nice looking lodges and you get a 3 course meal at night and a hot breakfast in the morning. Guessing we’ll have to pay for booze, which I will of course be doing. While there in the morning there’s a whole buffet of salads, meats, fruits, wraps and breads etc and you make your own lunch. Then there’s a few huts along the way where you can go to the bathroom and they give you coffee, hot chocolate etc.

The trek itself is 4 nights with 3 long days walking and travel days either side. But we have two days either side at Queenstown which is a really cool mountain resort.
Also apparently about the gnarliest airport to land and take off from because it’s surrounded by mountains so descent and ascent are very steep

Is this where I am to look for pics of Nicholas in bucket hat and Adidas jerseys? I’m not seeing said pics in this thread

Narrator: the hero was about the only person in the 65000 crowd wearing neither

Tues pm

Incline DB Bench 13,12,10,11-30kg
High incline machine 3x10-60kg
Dips for chest 19,18,15
Lat Raise machine 3x15
DB Front Raises 3x11-15kg

frustrating session. couldn't get into the gym in the morning and the 5.30pm crowd was full of kids and tradies and everything until front raises was compromised in terms of the exercise or weight

Weds am

seated DB hammer curl 3x10-17.5kg
barbell curl 3x14-35kg
preacher curl 3x11-45kg
ezbar close grip press 3x21-55kg
DB rear extensions 1x12- 12.5kg
tricep rope extensions 3x12-28kg
tricep push downs 3x11-35kg

thurs pm

45 mins cross trainer. all i was good for. gonna do an all upper body workout tomorrow and then that'll be me in the gym for 10 days

Fri am did a bit of everything as I won’t be in the gym for 10 days

DB Bench 11,10,10-32.5kg
Seated DB Press 10.10.9-25kg
Chest supported close grip rows 3x11-140kg
Chins 3x10
Dips 19,18,15

back from 9 days in NZ

super cool trip. Queenstown is an incredible place - one of the capitals of adventure sports. Awesome ski fields and then in Summer months there's paragliding, rafting, mountain biking etc etc. I believe it's the home of the original bungee.

we did 2 days there and then 4 nights/4 days on a trek deep in the mountains on the South Island of NZ. basically 1st and 3rd day were going through valleys and then the second day we did a mountain pass. the scenery is stunning - it's where Lord of the Rings and a lot of Game of Thrones were filmed. Also one of the wettest places on earth - Milford Sound, where we finished gets approx 7 metres of rain per year.

we had a very wet first day with 160mm falling in 5 hours which was a problem because it's also Spring so the streams and rivers were already high due to melting snow and...there'd been some avalanches in the previous few weeks which meant a couple of bridges were out. We got across a few of the waterways but eventually needed to be choppered across an area where shin high water was running at waist high.

first chopper ever was cool. but we were so ****ing wet man - walking through trails and up and through ravines etc for over 10 miles while soaking. the bonus was all the waterfalls cascading down the mountainsides and walking next to a uuuuugely powerful river with some really cool rapids

day 2 was dry fortunately because the scenery was incredible. we did what's called the MacKinnon pass - about 1100m.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinnon_P...
The day was about 16.5km total and the pass was about 5k up but then 8km down. The descent was a real challenge - we had to use an emergency track because of avalanches and so it was 8km of rock hopping and jumping as well as some paths and a lot of mini bridges. Definitely the most challenging part. the day took 7.5 hours...probably an hour for stops and then the rest moving. I walked with the gf who was the fittest woman on the trek. I could have gone quicker but....not a race and the footing was pretty gnarly with different sized rocks puddles, sand etc for the entire descent so preserving ankles and knees was important. The slowest people came in after about 10.5 hours

super cool hearing the avalanches from around the mountain ranges....they basically sound like very loud thunder. only saw one across the valley but you were hearing them every 40 mins or so.

day 3 was the longest day - approx 22km on my iphone - a new steps record of 39000 for me. less challenging with quite a lot of relatively even paths, interspersed with stream crossing, rope bridges and a few hundred metres of rocks, rock faces/more challenging parts. and then we arrived at Milford Sound at about 2.30pm. waited for enough others to catch up and then caught a boat across the water to our lodge

really great fun. I was happy with my fitness and my knee held up. We were carrying a pack that was approx 10kg so....not too bad given we were being fed at the lodges each night and morning and only had to carry our clothes, lunch and water.

I think I'll definitely do another one. Talking about going to the Dolomites in Italy next Aug/Sept with the gf if we're still together.

will upload pictures if I can

Most of the mountains looked like this with rain and melting snow running down them all around us

a few easy sessions the past few days

DB Incline 4x9-32.5kg
DB Press 4x9-25kg
Wide Grip Pull Downs 3x11-77kg
Chest supported close grip rows 3x9-140kg
Chins 3x10

35 mins cross trainer

have been dealing with a weird kind of virus the past few days which has taken my appetite and all energy for training. This has no doubt contributed to a lowest weight of the year - 80.6kg this morning. The second lowest since I've started tracking my weight in 2006. (I hit 80.1 last year). I stopped taking testosterone before I went to NZ and that has definitely stripped some water (I think t holds approx 2kg of water in my body). As above, I do think the virus has contributed so I'm expecting to go up maybe 2kg once I'm fully recovered

Felt well enough this am to do a short arms workout this morning.

seated hammer curl 3x10-17.5kg
standing barbelll curl 3x10-40kg
tricep push downs 3x12-35kg ss with
tricep extensions 3x12-24kg
dips 3x17

Incline DB Bench 4x8-32.5kg
ss with Rope Face Pulls 4x15-21.5kg
very High Incline Db Bench 9,9,8-27.5kg
Machine Flye 3x12-61kg ss with
DB Lat Raise 3x12-10kg

still feeling some lethargy from my illness but coming back nicely

Forgot to post the past few days

Sat
wide grip pull downs 3x10-87kg
seated close grip rows 3x11-140kg
chins 3x11
shrugs 3x15-170kg

Sun
Barbell Curl 3x9-40kg
seated Hammer 3x9-17.5kg
Preacher curl 3x15-40kg
Rope Push Downs 3x11-34kg ss with
Roper Extensions 3x12-28kg
Machine Tricep Extensions 3x12

Feeling better I hope?

yep, all good thank you.

Mon night 45 min walk - my first since returning from the trek

Tues am

DB Bench 3x7-35kg
DB High Incline 3x9-30kg
Incline Machine press 1x12-60kg
Flye Machine 3x12-61kg
Lat Raises 3x15-12.5kg
Front Raises 3x10-17.5kg