Max Tin had been hanging like a pregnant storm cloud over my transformation since my coach Pieter Vodden first mentioned – back in week three, if memory serves correctly – we were going to do it once we'd got to the back end of the programme.
Check out other inspiring transformation videos
In a nutshell, it's an hour-long workout comprising five lifts done in sets of ten reps. You pick the weight and moves and then have to bash through as many rounds in an hour as you can, taking as little rest as possible. The aim is to lift as much tin as you can with the weight of each rep being added together to gig you a total.
Sounds horrific, doesn't it? But wait, there's more – between every set you have to bash out five pull-ups. Every. Damn. Set. The good thing about Max Tin? In the couple of weeks leading up to it, I'd become so terrified of doing the workout that I had no mental room left to be nervous about our impending photo shoot.
When it came to doing it, I went for squats, bench presses, deadlifts and push presses and, weight-wise, stuck with 60% of my one rep max for each move.
The video does a lot more justice than my words to getting across the beautiful horror of lifting almost solidly for an hour so I'll stop typing and let you witness Max Tin in all its vicious glory.
I will have my revenge, Piete. In this life or the next.
