Tuesday, 3 December 2013

The Beginner's Guide to Mass Building for Men and Women


The Beginner's Guide To Mass Building

For Men and Women

One of the many problems when entering the gym or starting on a journey towards any goal is that there are so many different voices to listen to.

Who is right?

Who is wrong?

Especially with it being the internet age, information is more readily available, meaning clarity in the mind of the beginner trainer is often lacking.

Suddenly the individual is in the gym feeling completely lost, makes very little progress and ends up either quitting or remaining the same year upon year, month after month.

I don't feel this needs to be the case, so the purpose of this article is to lay down a basic, clear and specific guide or list of rules to follow in order to start you on the road to building the muscle and/or strength you want to acquire.

The rules:
  • Track your progress
  • Have a plan (with alternatives), set goals, know your goals- if you intend to stay natural, find some natural bodybuilders of a similar body type, join and checkout websites such as the NPA, the BNBF or the WNBF to look at what is realistically achieveable as a natural competitor
  • Progressively overload (gradually)
  • Use correct technique (overall, most men need to focus on anything requiring a straight back, bent-over row, good mornings and squats seem to be the worst culprits)
  • Focus on the task in hand
  • Train and eat like an athlete
  • Never under any circumstances text, ring or check Facebook on your phone during a work out
  • Be consistent and wherever possible do not skip work outs
  • Hire a reputed Personal Trainer at least every couple of months
  • EAT AND DRINK ENOUGH
  • Allow for recovery
Track your Progress

First of all- GET YOURSELF A JOURNAL. You're probably spending far more than you should on food, supplements, gym memberships and god knows what else, but without writing down or recording your measurements, the weights you are lifting and the things you are eating how on earth are you going to know if you are progressing?

Looking into the mirror just simply isn't going to cut it, not when you see yourself each and every day.

To continually build muscle you must increase the amount you are working gradually over time, ideally you'll be changing around your exercises every 4-8 weeks, so when you cycle back to old exercises how are you going to know what you were lifting if you don't record your progress?

If progress is actually the aim, quit being lazy, record everything you do in the gym and use the time productively.

Have a plan

Matt Argall
x2 time NPA British Lightweight Champion

100% Natural

And ultimately the physique I am aspiring to achieve/ content with


Andrew 'Mezza' Merrifield and Mark Oakes
These men are examples of what you can achieve naturally, without the use of anabolic steroids

When you enter the gym it is far too easy to just go in and 'do what you feel like' and for more advanced athletes this can be fine, they are far less likely to fall into the trap of 'let's train chest, biceps and traps again.'

The absence of a plan when in the gym equates to a lack of focus.

Know what you are going to do when you get into the gym.

Also, especially if you are someone who must train at the busiest times in the gym, you must have alternatives planned to every exercise on your plan, you never know when a piece of equipment is going to ruin your program, so by having some alternatives in your back pocket, you minimise the chance of a piece of equipment ruining your session.

This is such a big issue.

Look around your gym and see how many people seem to be following a structured plan, the chances are that the number isn't very high, and I'm willing to bet that very few of these people are making any progress whatsoever.

Get a plan, get your head down and get it done in the gym.

If your gym work is a social event then you aren't training hard enough and you're not going to make the progress you could.

Plan it, execute it, and get the hell out.

Setting Goals



Setting goals is also massively important in keeping yourself on track. Many of us have been indocrinated by pictures of absolutely monstrous bodybuilders on the front of protein supplements, in films and in the media, you must get the idea of being like this out of your head. I feel the best thing to aim for is the top physiques in natural bodybuilding, so to establish an attainable physique for you I would check out npabodybuilding.co.uk or bnbf.co.uk to see what the best natural bodybuilders in the country look like. These are not drug enhanced, and it is a much more attainable look to strive for.

Progressively Overload

In order to stimulate muscle growth/stack on some muscle (the adaptation you are striving for when aiming for muscle growth) you must continually increase the amount of tension and stress placed upon the individual muscle fibre over time.

Essentially this means that you must CONTINUALLY INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF WEIGHT YOU ARE LIFTING IN ANY GIVEN EXERCISE.
Progressive Overload

If you are lifting the same weights that you were a year ago, then the chances are that you are the same size as a year ago. You must increase the amount you are working, otherwise the body has no reason to adapt.

The body will not adapt because you want it to, you must place in under more and more stress.

The key point is, train HARD. You don't need to increase the amount of weight (or reps ) every single work out, but the key is to lift more and more gradually over time.

If you don't progressively overload, you won't grow to anywhere near your full potential.


REMEMBER the connective tissues in your body take a little longer than the muscles to recover, so increase the weight slightly every few work outs, otherwise not letting these tissues recover will result in injury, which isn't good for your work out goals!



Use Correct Technique

If you get injured, you are unable to train, or it makes training more difficult as you strive to train around the problem.

On average, men seem to have far worse postural control and have greater difficulty performing exercises such as the deadlift, squat and bent-over row than women. This is partly due to having a heavier skeleton than women and in general lifting heavier weights day to day, it is often extremely embarrassing for men to have to take the weights down and do an exercise correctly, which I think is a huge contributor to the “I'm going to train chest and arms every single work out” phenomenon.

Watch Youtube videos, hire a Personal Trainer, read articles and just make sure you are performing all exercises correctly! Don't just swing a dumbbell around and expect to know how to perform every exercise just because you are in a gym!



Good posture while training = Far less likely to get injured, the targeted muscles are activated correctly and you're going to be much more able to be consistent with your training!



Practice and straighten your back!

Focus on the Task at Hand

If mass building is your goal of choice then focus on it!

Research it away from the gym, think about what you want to achieve in the gym before you get in there, and when you do, let no one interupt your focus, you are there to cause your body to adapt, to make it think that it needs to build muscle in order to survive.

So if you're messing about, with no focus on the task at hand, then you're never going to get anywhere.

Put some headphones in, get the music on that gets you going, and go after that goal like a man possessed.

You have plenty of time to talk to people after the session, when you've earned it, and not before.

Eat and Train Like an Athlete

it's only about 5-10% of gym members who get anywhere near to training properly in order to progress towards their goals.

The rest may have good intentions, but they are probably resting too much, not training hard enough, not making their work outs harder over time, and will probably end up stagnating and falling short of where they want to be. Simply because they don't want to or don't know how to do the HARD WORK that is required to make progress.

Athletes live and breath the sports in which they play. When they train, they train with a purpose. They get the work done, striving each day to improve. 90% of the people in gyms don't train like athletes, and 90% of people don't reach any significant exercise goal. Gaining muscle from a skinny beginning seems to be a particularly difficult starting point for people, so my advice would be to get into the mindset that you are an athlete, or at least aim to train like one until you are one.

Train harder, smarter and more consistently than everyone else in the gym, and the odds are that you will make more progress towards your goals than 90% of the other gym users around you.

WORK HARD AND RESULTS HAPPEN.
    Never under any circumstances text, ring or check Facebook on your phone during a work out
I am sick to the back teeth of this. I see people texting away and posting on Facebook all the way through their work out, then rechecking after each and every set.

If you can check your phone during a session, then you aren't training hard enough, it's as simple as that.

How can you focus on a training session designed at pushing your body to the limit if you are thinking about what to reply to the latest text, or thinking about your next witty Facebook post.

Put your phone away. If you can't go without it for an hour or less then you aren't going to make any progress anyway. Put the phone away, get some work done and go back to it afterwards.

Just so it sinks in....IF YOU CHECK YOUR PHONE EVEN ONCE DURING A WORKOUT THEN YOU AREN'T WORKING HARD ENOUGH AND ARE WASTING YOUR TRAINING TIME.

SORT IT OUT!
 
Be Consistent

You must place your body under enough stress to make it adapt, but what about the progress you have made so far?

This is where consistency is key, in order to protect your gains and continue on the ladder of progress you must consistently train, consistently progress and consistently get the hard work done. Without consistently training 3-5 times a week (training hard at least 3 of those sessions) your body simply reverts to it's previous state, gets rid of all the gains you trained so hard to get, because the muscular adaptations are no longer needed. This effectively puts you back to square one. So without consistency, you really don't stand a chance of making those gains.

Hire a Personal Trainer

Ideally this would be a reputed Personal Trainer who knows what he or she is talking about. We all get lazy with our programming, exercise technique and progress tracking (amongst many other things.)
 
According to Malcolm Gladwell in the book Outliers it takes 10000 hours of practice to gain mastery of a particular skill. So when you first enter a gym, there is no doubting this, this is 100% correct, as little as you want to hear it, you are going to do at least 50-90% of your training wrongly, which is why you should hire a Personal Trainer at least for the first couple of sessions.

Failing that you should diligently practice your exercises, Youtube is a fantastic resource. Film yourself training and compare your form to the masters. These are the people who will aid you in getting to exactly where you need to be.

A good Personal Trainer should be able to point out exactly where you are going wrong and give you a plan of action for the future. And for the small investment you must make in order to hire a Personal Trainer, you are going to save SO MUCH time, confusion, effort and money in the long run due to not buying loads of ridiculous supplements you don't need, you will get a logical plan to follow over the weeks and if technique is lacking in any way, the Personal Trainer can help you out there too. Saving you much pain and frustration should you get injured.

Speak to a few Personal Trainers before deciding on who you would like to train with.

Remember, just because he's biggest, most ripped, most qualified doesn't mean he is a good Personal Trainer at all. Speak to their clients if possible and make an informed decision in terms of who you want to train with.
 
Never be too proud to ask. If you aren't making the progress you want, then a fitness professional such as a Personal Trainer is one of the surest ways to get you back on track.

Eat and drink enough to fuel growth





Supplements






Hydration




Micronutrients


Macronutrients

Total Calories

In the above pyramid, you'll notice supplements are placed at the top of the pyramid. This denotes that SUPPLEMENTS ARE THE LEAST IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER WHEN FIRST STARTING ON YOUR MASS BUILDING JOURNEY.
Just to clarify.
SUPPLEMENTS ARE THE LEAST IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER WHEN FIRST STARTING ON YOUR MASS BUILDING JOURNEY.
Again.
SUPPLEMENTS ARE THE LEAST IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER WHEN FIRST STARTING ON YOUR MASS BUILDING JOURNEY.
Just in case you missed it...
SUPPLEMENTS ARE THE LEAST IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER WHEN FIRST STARTING ON YOUR MASS BUILDING JOURNEY.
Supplement companies have played a clever trick in making you think they are needed to make any progress in the gym. This is because people aren't prepared to put in the work consistently and see the results. No supplements are needed to make progress and build a fantastic physique.

They won't even guarantee any progress at all, for example, you could have as many protein shakes in a day as you want, but if you aren't consuming more calories than you burn, you won't grow at all.
Supplements can be brought in when everything else is sorted out.

So it's the total amount of calories you need to consider first of all.
Fill out a food diary, and check how many calories you currently consume on the average day, if you haven't put on any weight for a while, the chances are that you need to increase your calorific intake by a couple of hundred. Do this each week until you start to see the weight going up nice and steadily, say .25-.50lbs a week and stick with that calorific intake until the increase in weight slows, at that point you can consider taking calories up again.
Now on to macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs.) I'm not going into massive detail for the beginners as the total amount of calories is likely to be the biggest issue (if you're really skinny, you probably massively under eat and massively overestimate the amount you eat) but in terms of how much of the macronutrients you need, I would initially concentrate on the amount of protein you require within the total amount of calories that you consume.

Aim for 1.2-1.5g of protein per lb of bodyweight.
For example a 150lb man consuming 1.5g per lb of bodyweight would be consuming 225g of protein per day.
1.5g per lb is on the high end for people to achieve at first, but given a couple of weeks practice to get used to the dietary changes, and you should be fine.
For those that want fats and carbs percentages, usually I recommend getting 25% of your calories from fat and the rest of your calories from carbs.
Micronutrients are next on the list. Simply make sure you are eating plenty of varied fruit and veg, try to vary the sources where you get your protein from and try not to neglect any of the major food groups.

If you're a baby and can't handle veg, you might want to take a multivitamin to make sure you aren't deficient in any vitamins. This is less important while in a calorie excess, but nutrient deficiencies will get in the way of your progress and are to be avoided wherever possible.
Hydration comes next in my pyramid. Personally I try to drink 5 litres every day, but for most people that simply isn't doable or convenient to drag around such a large bottle of water. The beginner mass gainer should be absolute fine regulating their hydration levels using thirst alone. Drink plenty of water whenever your thirsty, and perhaps add an extra glass of water per meal and you shouldn't have anything to worry about in terms of hydration.
To go back to a previous point.
SUPPLEMENTS ARE THE LEAST IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER WHEN FIRST STARTING ON YOUR MASS BUILDING JOURNEY.
Supplements are pretty much always the first things that people ask me about when starting to put on mass. But consider all of the above, and they aren't even needed for anything other than convenience.
For example when winning the Novice Lightweight Yorkshire Natural Bodybuilding title, the only supplement I used was a protein shake, and the only reason for that was to save myself energy not having to cook another meal per day.
But no doubt people are still going to ask anyway.

So the supplements I take:

A whey protein

Creatine
Branch Chain Amino Acids
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TurboNox

The only reason I now supplement is that I have been training for a number of years, and the additional 5-10% these supplements give me could potentially be the difference between 1st and 7th in my next show.
So before considering a supplement more than a protein shake, get everything else down first, then if you still feel you are lacking (please get a second opinion on this) you MIGHT consider taking some supplements similar to myself.
Recovery

Listen to your body. It needs to recover and can't lift heavy each and every day.

I usually have at least 2 days off a week from training, particularly after heavy leg days.
Some people need more recovery than others, others need far less. You'll probably need more rest as the weights you lift get heavier over time and as you progress up the ability ladder.

Eating the correct amount will certainly go a long way to help you optimize your recovery and subsequently grow in the way you want to grow. So without these days off your body simply will not have the time it needs to grow and get stronger for your next work out. Allow recovery. More work outs doesn't mean more gains.
 
What should I train and when?

At first you will make progress no matter how you split your training week. But for those wanting a more specific answer it seems best to train each body part twice a week, rather than the traditional 'smash each body part into the ground once a week.'
My training split is as follows:
(This seems to be working for me however it may not work for you)
Monday- Lower Body Hypertrophy (8-12 reps per exercise)

Tuesday- Off/ Some cardio

Wednesday- Back and Shoulders Hypertrophy (8-12 reps per exercise)

Thursday- Lower Body Power (3-6 reps per exercise)

Friday- Upper Body Power (3-6 reps per exercise)

Saturday- Off

Sunday- Chest and Arms
5 workouts a week certainly aren't needed.


A four workout week might look something like this:

Monday- Lower Body Hypertrophy (8-12 reps per exercise)

Tuesday- Upper Body Hypertrophy

Wednesday- Off

Thursday- Lower Body Power

Friday- Upper Body Power (3-6 reps per exercise)

Saturday- Off

Sunday- Off

Train hard, but not too much that you don't recover.

Eat more than you burn, but not so you pile a load of fat on.

Be smart, hire a professional or get the research done yourself.

Get in, get out, get the work done.

 



By Chris Kershaw and Jennifer Ward

Level 3 Advanced Personal Trainers

Call 07703679622 for your initial complimentary session while spaces are available!











Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Supplement Review: Mezza TurboMox Pre-workout


Mezza TurboNox in review By Christopher Kershaw



TurboNox is a slickly packaged pre-workout supplement, claiming to be “THE MOST EFFECTIVE PRE-WORKOUT PERFORMANCE PRODUCT ON THE PLANET”






A bold statement to say the least with tried and tested products out there such as Jack3d, NOXplode and Gaspari Superpump to name but three of the popular products reporting the same amazing effects and benefits, including:
  • Max Reps
  • Max Intensity
  • Maximal Muscle Pumps
  • Additional focus and drive
  • Providing the best workouts of your life
The dosage came in individually packaged sachets, making it very convenient to carry to the gym without having a smart shaker or separate Tupperware tub to carry around the powder. You could throw a few packs in your gym bag without taking up a great deal of space and therefore always having some to hand in case of emergencies!
So I sat this morning with my sachet of Cherry Bomb TurboNox, with my 200ml of cold water, ready to mix it, down it and get training 20 minutes later.
The powder mixed fairly well, with little powder remaining in the bottle afterwards, and the little that was remaining probably would have dissolved completely had I not been so keen to get the stuff down my neck!
The flavour was intense and although it did taste vaguely of cherry, the chemical taste was impossible to avoid, especially in regards to the after taste. This doesn't bother me whatsoever, with only 200ml to handle I can down it with no problems. People fussy with taste will probably find it difficult to handle, but I'd certainly suggest giving it a go, simply because of how intense the effects are (especially when you first partake of TurboNox or after having had a few days off it.)
On the packet, you are told to take it 20 minutes before your workout, but after around 15 minutes, my heart rate was racing and I was literally bouncing off the walls, so I sprinted into the gym, with fire in my heart and mind, ready and focused to smash an awesome chest and arms workout.
Mezza
I absolutely flew through my Primal Flow warm-up, which involved various press-up variations, a Bosu Ball and a forward roll, after 10 minutes the TurboNox had really hit home, and I literally couldn't keep still, I felt invincible.
My first exercise involved taking my speed-work up a weight with dumbbell press. The dumbbells were flying off my chest, and I simply didn't want to rest, I still felt strong as an ox. The dumbbells were still moving with the same speed on my 6th and last set.
Awesome so far.
The second exercise came and went in a flash. Incline barbell press, 3 sets of 12 with a minute in-between each set. During the previous week I had only indulged in a sugar-free Red Bull for my pre-workout and managed 12, 10 and 8 reps respectively with the same weight, this week, with the help of Turbonox I pushed through and managed 3 sets of 12.
I may have fist pumped after the last set.
I was buzzing okay!
During the 3rd exercise, (incline fly,) I hit a PB for 12 reps- a massive 12 rep PB at that, with TurboNox still fuelling me all the way to one of the best workouts I have had in a long time.
During the 4th exercise (which was a superset,) I actually went down by one rep on last week, but due to being absolutely buzzing, I had far less rest than the previous week, I literally couldn't sit still and resting just wasn't an option in this mental state, so I still felt my performance was improved on the previous week.
During my 5th exercise, unilateral chest press. The effects seemed to be dimming (at around the 35 minute mark) but once I smashed a PB on the first set, the fire was reignited and I was back to absolutely flying again, preceding to smash PB's during the next 3 exercises.
I did feel sick at points during the workout and my heart rate was certainly massively elevated, but no problems came of this.
As with any pre-workout product, I would certainly avoid this if you have a history of high-blood pressure or heart problems.
Quite simply....What a workout.
Post-workout I certainly felt a come-down. I was constantly wanting to nap and sleep and eat more calories throughout the day, whether this is due to the product itself, or the additional stress placed on the muscular and nervous systems due to working harder I am not sure. But when you train harder it is simply a matter of fact that you are going to need more recovery time.
When you take TurboNox over consecutive days, you definitely build up a tolerance very quickly to it's effects, having to double the serving size within a few days to get the same effects, however I found that using TurboNox for alternate workouts offset this effect massively.
In conclusion I would say that TurboNox is the best pre-workout product I have ever used, I smashed loads of PB's in the session, felt fantastic, massive, pumped and motivated thoughout 95% of the workout.

You do build up a tolerance very quickly, but this is easily rectified by not using it for every single work out, every single day.
It is great value for money, and most importantly it is a NATURAL PRODUCT SUITABLE FOR NATURAL BODYBUILDERS. Try it and have the workout of your life!

You can find TurboNox on Mezza's site: www.ultimate-natural.com
By Chris Kershaw

Call or text 07703679622 for your complimentary first training consultation

Or email cjkpersonaltraining@hotmail.co.uk

Monday, 9 September 2013

Binge-eating Disorder: Defeating the Binge- THe Journey Begins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binge_eating_disorder

Wikipedia's symptoms of Binge-eating Disorder

Symptoms[edit source | editbeta]

All of the following must be present to classify as binge eating disorder.[5]
  • Each binge consists of eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances, and is accompanied by a feeling of loss of control (i.e. they feel that they cannot stop eating and cannot control what they are eating and how much they are eating).
  • The binge eating occurs, on average, at least twice a week for 6 months.
  • The binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior and does not occur exclusively during the course Bulimia Nervosa or Anorexia Nervosa.
  • The person is seriously worried about the binge eating.
Also, an individual must have 3 or more of the following symptoms:
  • Eats an unusually large amount of food at one time, far more than a regular person would eat.
  • Eats much more quickly during binge episodes than during normal eating episodes.
  • Eats until physically uncomfortable and nauseated due to the amount of food consumed.
  • Eats when bored or depressed
  • Eats large amounts of food even when not really hungry.
  • Often eats alone during periods of normal eating, owing to feelings of embarrassment about food.
  • Feels disgusted, depressed, or guilty after binge eating.
So I've come to accept that I have given myself binge-eating disorder in the course of dieting for my bodybuilding show.

I felt I would share this and deal with this problem in public to show that it is ok to have a problem, and it is ok to struggle dealing with it.

Essentially, I completely lose control of my eating one to two times a week (without fail) and I will literally not stop eating until my stomach is in a great deal of pain.

What follows are feelings of massive guilt and even considerations of making myself sick.

The next day has recently become a fasting day where I eat practically no calories due to feeling so full and guilty from the night before.

So punishing myself by starving myself in effect.

This isn't right at all.

So I'm going to defeat the binge.
If I lose control again I give up bodybuilding, even if I have to drop out of the British Finals.

I CAN have cheat meals and go out and enjoy food.

I CANNOT lose control and eat until I feel ill (ok maybe at xmas) again.

No more rummaging through cupboards to eat absolutely everything in sight, hoarding food and midnight raids of the nearest 24 hour supermarket.

My first strategy is to stop using the scales to monitor my progress, and just use the mirror.

My girlfriend also now asks me if I am actually hungry before eating at night.

This is just step 1 in defeating the binge.

Many steps are to follow.

Setting an example to my clients is the most important thing in the world to me. I know this journey is going to enhance my ability to do just that.

Feeling very positive now!

CJK

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

How Clients Can Help a Personal Trainer #1

So this is a very business-minded post.

But one that I feel is of note because many of my clients have asked how they can help me out, and I haven't really come up with a satisfactory answer as yet...

So how can you help your Personal Trainer?

Facebook

This is where I get most of my clients from these days, and it is a very powerful tool when used effectively. Every time you do pretty much anything on Facebook, some of your friend list is going to know about or be able to find out about it in some fashion.

Some of the best ways to help using Facebook:
  • Checking into your Personal Training Sessions on Facebook
  • Checking into classes
  • Posting on the C & J Facebook group
  • Liking our status'
  • Sharing our articles
  • Liking and sharing our photos
  • Keeping an online record of your Personal Best Lifts
Basically each time you mention any of us on Facebook, it gives us a lot of free exposure.

So for those looking to help us out, this would be a good way to start. :)

CJK

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Chest and Bi's 04/08/13

Smashing chest workout! 4/08/13

Chained Bench Press 80kg on the bar
x10 x10 x10 x10 x10
Increase weight by 2.5 each side next week
...
Decline Dumbbell Press 30kg Dumbbells x10 reps/ Decline Flies 12.5kg Dumbbells x12 reps

x10-12 reps on the press next time
15kg Dumbbells for the flies next week.

10 Minute Chest Circuit
x6 Incline Dumbbells (20kgs)
x12 Press-ups on kettlebells
x18 Cable Flies (20lbs)

x4 Circuits were performed

Next week...
x8 Presses
x16 Press-ups
25lb Cable Flies
12 Mins

Biceps
Hammer Curls
5x10kgx10 reps
 
My shape is finally coming back!

Friday, 2 August 2013

Backs, Deadlifts and an Empowered Sumo

Back Session

Deadlifts
5x8 Reps as fast as possible off the floor (minimal eccentric work) 120kg 122.5kg next time- had to grind of a couple of reps at the end.

Seated Good-Mornings


60kg barbell 3 sets x10 reps 65kg next time

Pull-up x12 reps/ Scarecrow Row x12 reps Superset
1- Bodyweight x12 reps/ 15lbs x12
2- x4 Bodyweight x4 7.5 assisted x4 22.5 assisted/ 15lbs x12
3- 22.5 x12/ 15lbs x12

Scarecrow row will be taken up to 20-25lbs next week.
With the pull-ups next week I will attempt an extra rep or two before increasing the assistance.

Bent-over Row 60kg x12 reps/ Pullover 20kg x12 reps/ Rear Flies 5kg x12 reps Tri-set
I completed 3 sets with good form

Bent-over Rows will be with 62.5kg Next week.
Pullover's will be increased to 25kg
Rear Flies will be increased to the 7.5kg Dumbbells

Current Weight: 10st 8.8lbs

In other news...

A long-term client of mine was told he could come off statin's which he was taking to control cholesterol to prevent strokes and heart attacks. He has now been taken off them indefinitely.
He has achieved this by changing his training, smoking and dietary habits not to mention working bloody hard.

Well done Chris. Upon hearing the news from him I couldn't stop smiling for about an hour!

Another highlight of the week was when I had another client (Gillian Richardson, who has been mentioned before) attempt the Sumo Deadlift. At first we struggled massively with the technique, with speed off the floor and back alignment being the particular problems this time.

We were practicing with a 16kg kettlebell, an easy weight for Gill and it just wasn't quite there.
So we scrapped the rest of the session and focused on this lift.

Suddenly the back alignment problem was sorted.
She gripped the kettlebell as hard as she could to activate the triceps and lock out the arms.
The kettlebell flew off the floor and a set of 10 reps was performed perfectly!

We progressed the weight further and further until we reached the biggest kettlebell we had in the gym (a 40kg monster called Goliath.)

Goliath was tamed and Gill smashed the Sumo Deadlift with perfect form.
I have video proof of this, but won't be showing it off just yet.



 She came in to the session "feeling like crap" and left "feeling great."

It's these little things that make me very lucky to have the job I have, as well as being able to lift things all day!

CJK

Free Consultations are between 4-6pm on a Monday. Give me a message on facebook or a text on 07703679622 for more details.

We are looking for people new to exercise, who want to lose weight, improve their confidence and build up their self-esteem.

If clients know of anyone who would be interested in this then they are free to get in contact as well.

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Shoulders and Triceps 31/07/2013 Standing Up For Results

I have been telling everyone to "stand the fuck up" on every exercise and for as long as possible in every workout to maximise the effectiveness of workouts for fat and weight loss based on this guy's video.


So in the spirit of staying on one's feet...

Standing Barbell Press 65kg x5 reps until I couldn't do 5

This exercise is to be changed next week as it has been used progressively for the last 3 weeks.
On the set I failed I performed 10 push presses after a brief pause.

4 sets were performed in total including the final push press set.
I can increase the weight if I perform 5 sets next week.

Standing Alternate Dumbbell Press 15kg Dumbbells x20 reps Super-setted with Lateral Raises with 6kg chains in each hand x12 reps

If 5 sets were performed with good form then the weight could be increased next week.

5 Sets were performed. Like a BOSS.

Dumbbells will be taken up to 17.5kg next week!

JM Presses

7.5kg's each side 30 seconds between sets x12 reps- I managed 6 sets of 12 reps relatively comfortably. The weight will be taken up by 2.5kg's each side to 10kg's each side next week.

Weighted Dips
20kg attached to the dipping belt.
5x12 reps
The weight will be increased to a 24kg kettlebell next week.

A short chest, calf's and core workout will be performed in the evening to keep this chest growing!

My shoulder's are taking a battering through training at the moment so I must remember to do my mobility work, to focus on correct technique and endeavour not to get injured.

But I'm training harder, lifting heavier and training more than I ever have, so of course shit is going to get tender. Nothing is going to stop me.

Feeling and looking good!

CJK

P.S I'm running consultations between 4pm and 6pm on a Monday evening.
At the moment I am looking for clients who are looking to lose a substantial amount of weight but have no idea how to go about it.
If this applies to you, please feel free to get in touch about a free consultation.