This One Thing Makes A Big Difference

Sometimes we as fellas find it difficult to open up and reach out to a mate whenever times get tough. The last couple of months have been hectic and overwhelming for me, to say the least. So today I decided to reach out to one of my oldest friends to catch up over a good old gym session.

Easy.

Train with the day one, where it all started. What's going on everyone, welcome back. This should be a very nostalgic video. We're in Raw Gym Sandyford where it all started with Mr. Ben Keeley as well, my first ever videographer. We're back baby! So you all know the story, or maybe some of you don't. Ben was my first ever videographer and it's when I started taking YouTube seriously. It's always been an integral part of my journey and so with all the craziness that's been going on recently, moving into the house, I needed to just have a day where I just go back to raw. I hit a session with one of my oldest friends and just get a sick pump. So that's what we're gonna do today, then have a chat after it. So enjoy the video, keep it real, let's get into it. So starting off with a vertical pushing movement. When I'm doing a push day, I either do chest emphasis, so I'll start off with a chest movement such as a flat dumbbell press or incline barbell. When I wanna do shoulder emphasis, start off with a vertical pushing movement like the shoulder press, machine shoulder press, or OHP. So whatever you want to kind of focus on and grow, I would say, you know, begin your workout with, because you're the strongest, you're the freshest at the start of your workout. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Easy, come on, that's it, leave it there. So another little tip is when you're kind of finding your working set and you're still warming up is don't burn yourself out completely. You're tempted to, you know, if it's feeling good, I'll just go 15 reps and then you're actually kind of messing up your main working sets. So for example, there, I know I want to go heavier, so I just left it at 8 reps. I said, no, I'm going to go for another set of 20s on each side and then I'm going to begin my working set. So fight, fight the temptation to go all out. One more.

Easy.

Up! There you go. Oh my God. All right, so we smashed shoulders there. Pretty kind of fatigued, especially with the triceps. So we're moving on to a flat press. So we'll kind of see what we can do here. We're going to start off with 30s, see how it feels. Perfect.

Right.

Deeper. So bring the dumbbell— yeah, there you go. Perfect. Bring them in a little bit at the top. Yeah, not too much though. So I train on my own most days, but every now and then you do need to train with a bro. You need to train with another dude. You know, I train with Linda pretty much every day, but you need, you need your boys, I'm telling you, you know. And you need someone to push you and say like, let's get these reps, let's get this certain weight. Because usually you'd be like, no, you know, I don't want to do this, I'm only doing 5. You need someone to just tell you otherwise.

That's like that unwritten competition, even though like, if it's not like, you need to do this, in the back of your mind there is that competition, you have to push.

You gotta do it, exactly, yeah. All right guys, so we're gonna have a little chat and I also just want to say thank you so much to Movember for sponsoring this video. They're probably the biggest men's mental health charity in the world and the majority of the viewers on this channel are men and so I think it's such an important topic to talk about. Say, you know, guys, open up, you know, have a chat. And so it's like, it goes so hand in hand with fitness. You got to train your body and train your mind. So big love to Movember on that.

Like, obviously we all know there is a huge stigma about opening up. Well, like, have you been through any point in your life where like you're down in the dumps and you're beating yourself up and you feel down where opening up to your mates— how do you find that experience? Like, did it help you out of the situation?

Or yeah, talk about that. So I'm like, I really noticed it when I actually went to to Texas and I met Christian and Max at the start of the year and it would have been so long, especially in the pandemic. Like, we— I hadn't seen those guys for 2 years and like, you know, they're the people that motivate me, they're the people that are so good to be around, for me to be around. And so when I met them and even when I did a trip with Mike and Louie and all, it's when I go for a while without seeing like my guy friends and then I see them, I'm like, oh my God, this is just so necessary. Yeah, you need that bonding time, you need to be with other guys as well and just talking about everything, you know, not just how your mind is doing, absolutely everything. So maybe ask yourself, if you're watching this now, when's the last time I had some quality time with my close friends? And you'll realize that you're like, oftentimes with life it can get so hectic and you'd be like, oh my God, I actually haven't had a chat with the boys in so long. And it's like, we're always like texting into the group WhatsApp or whatever. Or we're in a group setting, but one-on-one is powerful as well. Even just to message someone one-on-one, you know, because when you send it into a group of like 30 people, you know, "Hey, anyone out this weekend?" It's not as personal as reaching out to someone who maybe you notice they're like just not acting themselves at the moment and reach out and be like, "Yo, what's up? You good? We get lifting!" Easy.

9 up.

Oh yeah, one more, one more.

You got 10, easy. And up, up, up. Jump!

Oh my God. All right, so we are pretty fried at this stage. So we're doing a solid 60 kg on the incline. But so this is our kind of third and final compound movement. So we're just going to go balls to the wall here. All right, let's go. It's a nice high rep. Easy. Okay.

Explode.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 15.

Up, 15.

Up. Oh, this is the easy stuff now. Got past the 3 main compounds. Now we're on some chest flies, a little bit of arms. It's plain sailing from here on out. When I open my palms like that as well, you're kind of taking your forearms out of it and concentrate a little bit better in your chest. So you know, I was planning this video, I was like, there's only one man for the job, you know, that like understands, you know, the YouTube world and being on camera and everything, and like who's always kind of down to jump into videos. You always want to jump into videos. You're always like, yo, you're gonna tag me in that? Yeah, yeah, I'm only here for the time. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So appreciate it, bro. Thank you. Got it, got it. All right, let's go. So again, kind of pin your shoulders back a little bit. So it's just pure chest. And even like, think about it as almost a pressing movement, like you're holding dumbbells in a way. Yeah, and again, palms open if it helps. Just completely focus on the chest. 3, that's it. 2, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. One more, come on, come on, squeeze. Perfect. Alright, so we're coming towards the end of the workout. We're finishing off with some triceps, which is actually a body part that I need to concentrate on more. So I'm gonna add some extra weekly volume to that, make a game plan for the coming months when I lock down my training. But anyways, we're doing a pushdown with this grip right here. It's kind of like a wide angle V-bar grip, feels amazing. I'm doing a pushdown movement, then finishing off with an overhead movement as well. So let's get it. So when you're doing these, right, grab here and you're allowed to twist that a little bit. So basically you want to end up with your knuckles facing towards the ground. Yeah, kind of like a curl. So instead of doing that, all right, we're locking it in like that. I'll make sure— I'm gonna stare at your triceps. Oh, that was happening to me. I'm gonna stare at your triceps to make sure they're engaged. So get a full grip on that, and then so keep your wrists straight and so end up with your knuckles facing the ground. That's it. That's it. Further back a little bit. Yeah, perfect. And a squeeze at the bottom. So hold. That's it. Hold. Hold. Yeah, that's it. Perfect. Yeah, exactly. So see the way you're kind of even using that extra space to get further on the contraction. Perfect. Easy. Hold. Yeah, nice. Yeah, I know. Yeah, you can go, you can go heavy on these.

Nice.

Yeah, yeah, just wanted to get the movement. Yeah. And so you kind of use that extra space, so you bring that touching your body, and then so that your arm ends up getting a few extra inches. You're up!

Longtime viewers of this channel know that this is what we did. This is our bread and butter, like coming together. And like, I know I'm going to walk away from this like with a pep in my step, like a little more up, just cuz like just getting a lift in, catching up with some friends. Like, it's— you can't beat it, honestly.

And I hope if you watch this, you know, viewer, puts a smile on your face as well. What— so I got a huge week ahead. I'm sure Ben does as well. So be sure to follow along for that. Hit the subscribe button. And again, thank you so much for watching. Keep it real. Right here, here's more adventures. Let's go!