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.

Leg Day 29/07/2013 Train on. No matter what.

Squats- 150kg x3 (improved on last week by 1 rep)
140kg x5 (improved on last week by 1 rep)
130kg x8 x8 x8 x8

Front Squats- Walking Lunge Superset
102.5kg (2.5kg heavier than last week) x10 x8 x6 x6 12.5kg Dumbbells x20 x20 x20 x20

Split-squats 16kg Kettlebells x15 each side

Calf's, Hamstrings and Core will be trained later on in the day.

I'm having some trouble with my right shoulder, left and right hip flexor and lower back at the moment, but I am still feeling strong.

Time for some more mobility/flexibility work I think!

But when you are training this hard...shit is going to start hurting.

You just have to keep going and deal with it as you go.

Train on. No matter what.

CJK

Weight 10st 12.8lbs

13 Weeks Out Chest Workout 28/07/13

After full warm-up with bands, rowing, scapula mobilisation and anything else I fancied.

Bench Press 107.5kg x6 x5 x5 x5 x5- So can progress to 110kg next time or take strictly 2 minutes between each set with the same weight.

Incline Dumbbell Press with Rotation 27.5kg x12 x12 x10 x7
Incline Fly 12.5kg Superset x12 x12 x12 x12

Chest Circuit
Knee's up Dumbbell Press 20kg dumbbells x6
Hindu Press-ups x6
16kg Kettlebell Flies x6
3 Circuits

Bicep Tri-set
x12 Open Curls 7.5kg dumbbells
x12 Hammer Curls 7.5kg dumbbells
x12 Preacher Curls 5kg dumbbells

Very little weight destroys my biceps!

Metabolic strength training “From the window, To the wall…”

Warm up:
 Jog the length of the room. Narrow skip, Wide skip Lateral side straddles. Lateral side step, outside leg moving behind. Rotation of the hips adding a torso rotation. X 2 lengths. Lateral side step, outside leg moving forward. Full length karaoke.

Mobility/ stretching:
 ½ length pendulum walk (hamstring stretch) ½ length standing glute stretch ½ length quad stretch ½ length quad stretch + pendulum (stretching the quadriceps, hamstrings and hip flexors

Primal flow:
Great for warming up all muscles without over loading one specific muscle group. Also, allows people to work at their own pace as you are working for time, not repetitions.

Squat (10 sec) + 2 x front lunges (20 sec) + walkout and hip drop (30 sec) + Press up (40 sec) + Sprawl (50 sec) + Rolling get up (60 sec)

Circuit
7 exercises: 3 sets Rep range 5reps 10reps 15reps 1) Rollback, medball chest throw. 2) Over head KB swing 3) Jumping lunges 4) Single leg burpee 5) Rollback + KB shoulder press 6) Jump squats 7) Incline press up (chest to bench)

Staggered starts to avoid clashing Allowing 1 person to set the pace. All waiting in a squat position while the person in front moves to the next exercise. Between each completed set 1 x width of the room Burpee bunny hops 1x width of army crawl.

By Jen Ward
Level 3 Advanced Personal Trainer

Workout of the Day- Shoulders and Triceps 13.5 weeks out.

Standing Barbell Press- 62.5kg x6 Reps 90 seconds between sets (As Many Sets As Possible)
When you can't perform the Shoulder Press for 6 Reps perform as many Push Presses as you can until you have performed 20 reps- I did 5 sets in total

Kettlebell Arnold Press (10-14Reps) / Lateral Raise Iron Cross Superset (10 Reps)
(As Many Sets As Possible)- I did 4 sets in total

JM Presses 5KG each side x10 Reps 20 seconds between sets for as many sets as possible- I performed 5 sets

Triceps Pushdown's x10 reps/ Narrow Press x10 reps- perform sets until 10 narrow press-ups are impossible- I performed 5 Sets

I have to say I was looking jacked after this workout.

I'm starting to think I might turn up in half decent shape for the Britain's!

Gyms: The Misconceptions and the Reality

I've noticed that before a client has an induction or has an initial consultation with me, or even just walks into a gym for the very first time they are often (99.9% of the time) absolutely terrified and full of many misconceptions about the gym environment.

The purpose of this article is to lay out these misconceptions and explain what the real situation is.

The Misconceptions/ Reality

• Gyms are full of elite athletes who all know what they're doing

This seems to be one of the biggest and most powerful misconceptions in people that have never been into a gym before.

Fortunately it just isn't true.

There are probably more gyms than there are elite athletes.

The gym is full of people who have realised that it is populated mostly by people as clueless as the them in terms of training for any type of goal but are too proud, stubborn or shy to ask for help.

Men doing 'weights' seem to be the most clueless regular exercisers, followed by the treadmill walkers and bike plodders.

So to be clear...the gym is full of regular people, just like your regular supermarket or shop and this isn't about to change.

• You will be judged by everyone from the moment you step into the gym until the moment you leave

To further the point about 'regular' people, the gym is full of people feeling massively self-conscious  (after all, that is why many people start training in the first place.)
Most are far too worried about being judged themselves to even think about judging others.

• The gym is a sea of indifference! No one will help you if you're struggling. "HOW DARE YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO USE EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT ON YOUR VERY FIRST VISIT!!!!"

Gyms are populated by Personal Trainers and Fitness Instructors, and it is their business to help people out where it is appropriate.
You also get a decent amount of knowledgeable exercisers who, when seeing someone struggling, would be over straight away to help you out in any way they can.

Easy.

My advice would be to ask for an induction on your first visit to a gym, then to have an experienced Personal Trainer go through a couple of sessions with you to teach you some of the fundamental exercise's that you will gain the most benefit from (squat, deadlift, press-up, kettlebell swing etc.,) giving you the foundations to form endless amounts of work outs without having to rely on anyone else.

Failing that circuit classes or boot camps are an excellent way to get acquainted with many of the simple yet effective exercises you could take away and perform in your own workouts.

Most get frustrated when they can't perform an exercise on THE VERY FIRST ATTEMPT, HAVING NEVER EXERCISED BEFORE.

I'm willing to bet you couldn't drive perfectly when first getting into a car, or grasped every concept of molecular biology perfectly after the first reading of an advanced text.
Exercise done correctly is an acquired skill.


It's going to take time!

Chill out if you don't get a press-up correct on your first go!

Give yourself a break!

Chill out man. Even in the middle of a PT session!

CJK

P.S I'm running a free consultation service between 1700-1900 every Monday evening, this can be by phone, in person or by email/facebook.

This is designed to provide very basic advice in how to achieve specific exercise goals and to establish whether you would be a suitable candidate for Personal Training.

Should you be interested in learning more either call 07703679622, email me at cjkpersonaltraining@hotmail.co.uk or add me on facebook by typing in 'Chris Kershaw PT.'

13 Weeks 6 Days Out from THE BRITAINS Training Log...Legs

Monday Leg Session!
I take a number of warm-up sets and exercises before leg sessions in particular.
Make sure you stretch your hip flexors as well to facilitate and allow your glutes to fire more effectively.

 Squats (Choose your own appropriate weights)

150kg x2 Good Form x2 Sucky form (so I went too heavy)- Will be trying for x3-4 good form next week
140kg x4 Good form- x5 next week
130kg x6 x6 x6 x10 All good form- more reps on last set next week

Front Squat/ Walking Lunge Superset- heavier dumbbells next week!
100kg x12 10kg Dumbbell Walking Lunge x20
100kg x10 10kg Dumbbell Walking Lunge x20
100kg x8 10kg Dumbbell Walking Lunge x20
100kg x6 10kg Dumbbell Walking Lunge x20

Single-Leg Extension
15kg x20 Each Leg
15kg x20 Each Leg

 The single leg extension seemed to put a huge amount of pressure on my knee ligaments, and the weight was very light, so I wouldn't recommend including these in your leg workouts.

I won't be again.

The single-leg extension will be replaced by split-squats.

 Everything else was awesome!
Let's see if I can do more next week!

CJK

7 Steps to Hell

7 Steps to Hell

Everyone thinks to have a good workout, you need lots of reps and lots of weight.
I tried a full bodyweight session with my regular clients at my MST class and proved bodyweight exercise, even done in low repetitions when, done correctly can be very effective.
It begins.

Warm up:

Jog around the room
+ high knees
+ bum flicks
Into side straddles: 2 facing in; 2 facing
Shoulder rolls, forward and backwards
Exercise commands

1) L Hand to floor 2) R hand down 3) Both hands down
Then adding in:
4) Jump up 5) Burpee

In a line:
Front lunge and opposite ankle taps x 10 reps (slow and controlled)
Squat and overhead reach (standing on tip toes at the top)
Squat with woodchop x 10 each side. (rotation of the feet through the action)

Tabata Section:

1st set 45 sec work: 15 sec rest

2nd set 30 sec work: No rest
Bear
Crab
Caterpillar
Army crawl

Co-ordination:
Agility through the cones.
1) Running, weaving through the cones
2) Lateral running, weaving through cones
3) Jog, forward to cone, backwards jogging to next cone.

Circuit
Working in partners’, competing against the other person.
7 exercises: 7 sets of 7 reps. All bodyweight
1) Single leg burpee (7 each side)
2) Jump squats (against the wall,
trying to reach higher than partner)
3) Sprawl (hips to ground)
4) Single leg piston squats (off bench)
5) Box jumps ( keeping a bend in the knees
all the way through)
6) Press ups (incline for women, decline for men)
7) V sit

I feel this 'aftermath' image (taken shortly after the carnage) speaks for itself...

 JOB DONE!

By Jen Ward
Co-founder of C & J Personal Training and MST Training
Level 3 Advanced Personal Trainer

"Yeah I'm just going to jog on a treadmill, I'm going to get PROPER TONED!"

This is what I used to hear and see ALL the time when I worked for a certain large commercial gym in Wakefield.

"Yeah, I'm just going to do loads of cardio, that will work."

I didn't do a single piece of steady-state cardio for the Novice Yorkshire, and I won't be doing any for the Britains.

I don't see it so much now, because we don't encourage it at our new home, but it is certainly a common thing for people looking to lose weight, (whether it is for something as public as a bodybuilding show, or just to drop a couple of pounds to look nicer in a dress) to hammer STEADY-STATE CARDIO.

No! No! NO!

Okay, if you like running...I ain't going to stop you, but as I said in a facebook post earlier:

"Steady-state cardio is about as effective for achieving that 'toned' look as screwing for virginity."

All you are going to do is burn off what muscle you do have, see fat loss for maybe a couple of weeks, see a plateau, then people tend to either give up or lower their calories. Again more weight loss occurs (again, mostly muscle) and the cycle continues until the person inevitably eats normally again prompting massive weight gain because the bodies metabolism is holding on to every single calorie like the devil because:

IT DOESN'T WANT TO DIE.

This has ruined many a person's body image and their relationship with food and exercise. Starve, lose weight, pile on weight, hate yourself, starve, pile back on weight, feel terrible, binge and repeat. Year after year.

Sound familiar?

Steady-state cardio is just going to slow your metabolism even further if it is the staple part of your exercise program, but more importantly IT'S SO BORING!

Make your cardio as short and intense as possible.

Yeah, I know you feel bad because for some reason you think 10 minutes isn't enough.

But it is.

If you do it right.

Here's part of my cardio workout from today: Tyre Cardio!

I've got a feeling that link won't work so here's a breakdown of what I did:

• 5 Tyre flips
• 5 Tyre slams each side
• 5 Tyre slams in the middle
• Press-up in each tyre groove
• Tyre flip and jump through
• x2 Circuits
• 1 Min rest
• Repeat x2 more times

After this I was extremely tyred....
Yup. Tyre jokes. It's been a long day!

Have fun and plan ahead, or even better attend well-planned classes such as bootcamps, boxing and circuits.

(Definitely a coincidence that I mention just those classes, it isn't that my company and me take these classes...oh wait it isn't a coincidence at all.)

PUSH CARS AROUND!

FLIP THINGS OVER!

 And stop walking uphill, every time you walk uphill on a treadmill something cute and furry dies.
Horribly.
In a blender.
Seriously, now you know that, you're pretty much beyond redemption if you carry on really...

You have been warned!

By Chris Kershaw
Who isn't responsible for the death of any cute animals.