Before Vs After

So here I am after 12 weeks of gruelling hard work behind me and plenty more to come, I feels its only right to reflect on everything that has happened in the past 12 weeks.

Starting this programme I was pretty nervous, I thought I pushed myself quite hard in the gym and was relatively happy with where I was in terms of my body composition. After deciding that I was going to become a Natural Body Builder and set my sights on competing early next year I knew I had to step up my game, I needed to learn and grow at the same time.

 I felt this programme has taught me so much in terms of how my body works, what feels good, what needs improving, where I am weaker, where I am stronger etc. By using so many different training principles I think I have been able to deduce what is best for my body, what is best to promote growth and how I need to train some more specific muscle groups in order to actually get something out of them.But enough of all of that, lets show the before and after pictures, on the left is 12 weeks ago, the right is today after waking up, completely dry weight.

Relaxed Before

Relaxed After

Front Double Bicep Before

Front Double Bicep After

Lat Spread Before

Lat Spread After

Back Double Bicep Before

Back Double Bicep After

Quadriceps Before

Quadriceps After

Calves Before

Calves After

So look at the pictures the first thing I notice is that I am not as trim now as I was 12 weeks ago, which I totally understand and I know its due to my increased calorie intake over the past 12 weeks. I do feel that my muscles look a lot fuller in my after photos. My back for one I am very happy with, the width and thickness of it really shows up here, my Quadriceps and Biceps deserve and honourable mention too as they have beefed up very nicely too!


Now lets look at the numbers!

Before Measurements:

Chest-44inLat Spread -46.5inWaist-36inThigh-25inCalf-18inBicep- 16in

After Measurements:

Chest- 44in

Lat Spread- 47.5in

Waist- 35in

Thigh- 26.25in

Calf- 18.25in

Bicep- 17in

So after looking at the statistics I can see I was correct in saying my Back has grown! as well as my Biceps, also by taking in my Waist it will give the illusion of bigger/wider Back and Shoulders and smaller Waistline. I am not massively  impressed with my Chest, although I know my upper Pec development has come on my mid and lower development hasn't come across too much, but now I have time to work on it and develop it the way I need too for my personal look.

The past 12 Weeks have been a real pleasure! I am so incredibly happy with all the amazing support that I have been shown by my friends and family and really hope you continue to stand by me throughout my journey. 

I won't be completely stopping the Blogs, so don't worry! I will be trying to move my attention across to Vlogs, as it is nicer for me and easier viewing for you guys too, I can then better get across information in a fast effective way. 

Once again thank you everyone, I have loved every minute of this and really look forward to progressing further with my training!

Happy Lifting you bloody wonderful people!

Week 12 Day 2 - Poetry In Motion

16/06/15 Day 78 – Chest & Back

Keeping on the theme of Uni-Lateral training today I hit up a pretty epic chest and back session, but the twist was that I would be performing every exercise in a super set, working a chest exercise on each side quickly followed by a back exercise performed on each side. This session was all about intensity and being able to push every set to failure then moving on to the other exercise and pushing that to failure, big pumps and big pain. Lets do it!

Single Arm Leverage Chest Press – 10 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,10,15,20,25,30

SuperSet

Single Arm Chest Supported Dumbbell Row – 8 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10,10,15,20,25

Single Arm Lat Pulldown – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

SuperSet

Single Arm Cable Flyes – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Cardio- Interval Training 15mins Total

When working two large muscle groups in an alternating fashion like today I always make sure that I stretch out between sets, as there is just such ridiculously high levels of blood being forced around the muscles you will stiffen very quickly.

Starting with a singular set on the Single Arm Leverage Chest Press gave me a short chance to absolutely smash my chest before I had to move onto my back exercise. Making sure I really squeezed my peck as I pushed out my first reps to really enhance the level of blood in my chest, getting a really solid pump before I even got onto back. With my first two sets of 30 reps, as I work each set on each side of the body I moved to the Single Arm Chest Supported Dumbbell Row, here I think the hardest thing to do was just get well balanced, altering my foot placement so as I could produce a great pull without introducing twisting of the spine, which unfortunately I see a lot in the gym. When working back and fourth with these exercises I found that I was able to jump into the alternating exercise pretty quickly, due to not using the same muscle groups at all in the opposing movement actually means that your muscles are relaxing and giving you time to recover, admittedly its still hard, I felt very tired as they are big movements using and draining big muscle groups. I think I ate too early in the day as I didn't feel like I have bounds of energy as I usually do for my sessions. Getting down to the lower end of the repetition ranges on both exercises I felt like I was hitting some big weights, I was really really happy with how well I doing. After passing the 10 repetition mark I actually took it upon myself to up my weights on the way back up my repetition pyramid to the 30 reps. Some how I managed to up my weights every set on the way back up, getting to the 20 rep mark I started having to incorporate the rest pause principle to finish my sets as my muscles were really flagging by this point, the fact was that I managed to get every rep out so I was still stupidly happy with my performance!

With those two huge exercises done it was time to move onto the 2^nd super set of the session where I would be performing the Single Arm Lat Pulldown to start. Due to having stupidly long arms I actually had to sit on the floor to be at the correct level for this exercise, which meant I had to hold my bodyweight down and be incredibly controlled with Single Arm Cable Flyes I again found it quite difficult to balance myself to perform the movement, I felt as though the core did have a big contributing factor in this movement and think perhaps a single arm peck deck movement my have been slightly better suited. Making sure the elbow and the wrist tracked in the same line was probably one of the biggest focal points for me as this takes the stress out the shoulder and places it back on the peck, where it should be! As the reps got heavier with each exercise I really had to tighten up my core and really get slow and controlled with the movement, anyone can throw weights around and lift heavy, being effect and efficient is a whole different ball game, so leave your ego at the door and prepare to grow!

my movements. Taking an exercise I have only ever done with two hands and moving it to just one hand made a HUGE difference to me, firstly my weights rocketed down, much to my surprise. I also found it very hard to force my arm out more like a wide grip lat pulldown and not let my elbow gravitate toward my own body, when this happens it means the movement isn't as effective and makes it hard to spread the lats on the rising phase of the movement. With the

Working both Chest and Back in one workout was new for me, but needless to say I really really liked it! I didn't feel like my fatigue carried across to the opposing exercise which meant I was really able to continuously push hard throughout the whole workout. If you have never tried it, then get your kit together and get yo' ass to the gym now and DO IT!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 12 Day 1 - Fairwell Legs (1200 Rep Leg Day)

15/06/15 Day 77 – Legs & Calves

Here it is, the beginning of the end. Week 12 is upon me and boy do I know about it, finishing off just as hard as I started this weeks DTP training is in the form of Uni-Lateral training, basically working one limb in isolation, then followed by the opposing limb, going back and forth with as little rest time as possible, whilst working up and down pyramid, so yeah, it hurts. This style of training is fantastic for development of the individual limbs as you are actually able to produce more force! Enough of the preamble, lets take a look at the session:

Single Leg Leg Press – 10 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,10,15,20,25,30

Bulgarian Split Squat – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Close Stance Split Squat – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Single Leg Seated Calf Raise – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Single Leg Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Just looking at that session made me tired, let alone actually doing it! Well needless to say I made sure I performed a huge warm up and active stretch out before even attempting to start this session and rightly so because I needed it.

Starting with my Single Leg Leg Press, I was thrown in at the deep end. Starting my sets with the foot towards the bottom and centre of the foot plate allowed me to incorporate more of my Quadricep muscles, by isolating them I got to really work them to failure on each set. The nice thing (I guess) about this style of training is that whilst one side is working the other can rest, meaning that even through you aren't actually resting going up or down the pyramids you do get a small rest period in between sets. It was pretty damn brutal pushing out so many reps on only one leg but I really surprised myself with the amount of weight each leg was able to carry, as I have never really trained like this before it was a bit of a eye opener to how strong I have actually become, which I am really happy with. Once hitting the 10 rep mark in the middle of the exercise, I took the foot placement higher and wider, by doing so I meant I was able to incorporate more the Hamstring and Glute muscles now, so I could share the work load across the whole leg. With the fatigue starting to settle in working back up the pyramid was just as savage as coming down it! But rep after rep I pushed on, supporting the knees and making sure everything was tracking properly, until I finally finished my last 30 repetitions and I could move on.

Transitioning to a exercise like the Bulgarian Split Squat mean that my core and stabiliser muscles now had to work a little harder to support me in the exercise. By working like this I knew I was not going to be able to lift anywhere near as heavy as the last exercise, but that was completely fine. With a old knee injury still reaping havoc on my balance it also gave me a little bit more of a test, which I never shy away from! Starting with no weight at all I worked my way down the pyramid, bumping up the weights as I went to really fatigue the whole leg out before moving onto the Close Stance Split Squat. With the Close Stance Split Squat I used the exact same weights as I did going down the pyramid to come back up the pyramid, putting all sense of fatigue to the back of my mind I just kept pushing harder and harder as I progressed on. After set three I found that I had to rest pause my way to the end of the sets, my quads were just cooked to pieces by this point, I do also recall having to take a few minutes to go outside and take a breather in the cold air, as I could feel my breakfast coming to revisit me, thankfully I kept it down and was able to carry on with the sets until I hit my 30 reps again.

So all that was left now was the calves! To work these bad boys I started on the Single Leg Seated Calf Raise, this is simply because the Leg Press was being used and I needed to improvise. I was really surprised at how well the exercised worked, really squeezing out a deep contraction through the whole calf showed me that I had in fact made a good choice. As per usual I was working my way down the pyramid with the weight getting pushed up with every passing set, I really felt shot to pieces at the end of this, but needless to say this wasn't the end for me!

Single Leg Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise, this was the only thing standing in my way between finishing my last Leg Day of this 12 week muscle builder! Grabbing hold a big ass dumbbell I mounted a wooden block and prepared myself for the pyramid set from hell! Rep,rep,rep went by, one leg to the next, drop the weight and back on the block, it didn't stop I was a man possessed, nothing was going to get in my way. With my calves pumped full of blood it felt as though they could have exploded at any second, but with my final repetition, I placed my dumbbell down and in a state of complete relief gave myself a big pat on the back, waddled over to the mats and began my cool down and stretch. So there it is 12 Weeks, 12 Leg days, boy am I glad that's over, so much learnt and now its time to keep the progress going!

If you are stuck, feel like you aren't progressing and need a change, contact me at: mgonlinept@gmail.com for a 100% tailored programme, guaranteed for results!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 11 Day 4 - How To Get A V-Taper

11/09/15 Day 74 – Back & Biceps

Just from looking at today's session on paper I knew that this was going to be a hard session, with a huge amount of sets and reps being performed there was no way I was walking out the gym without a serious pump. Exactly like the previous day working chest, today was going to be structured with 3 exercises in each Giant Set, working up and down repetition pyramid to induce to serious fatigue and push my muscle to their absolute maximum!

So without further adieu here is today's session:

Giant Set 1

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Barbell Deadlift – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Giant Set 2

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Barbell Deadlift – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Giant Set 3

Barbell Curl – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Standing Bicep Cable Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

High Pully Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Giant Set 4

High Pulley Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Standing Bicep Cable Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Barbell Curl – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Starting with my first Giant set I really wanted to make sure I pushed myself as hard as I physically could, so taking myself out of my comfort zone (I seem to be out of it more than in it these days), I bumped up my weights higher than usual so my starting sets. With the Wide Grip Lat Pulldown I was only focusing on drawing my elbows down for the contraction, followed by flaring my lats out on the way up to get a massive pump in my back. As I made my way to the Barbell Deadlift I could already feel how well my back was engaging, feeling every muscle popping with every rep. As I have a rather weak lower back I cant always deadlift heavy, so I wanted to make sure I could keep my lower back as tight as possible, when deadlifting I always try to make sure to keep my hips below my chest. By opening out the chest and pulling my shoulder blades back I can always make sure my back is aligned and thus focus on the muscle contraction more. Last but not least in this gruelling Giant set was the Chest Supported Dumbbell Row, using two dumbbell for this exercise was a blast from the past, as I used to perform this a lot in my early teens for back development. As I worked my way down the repetition range I could feel the fatigue settling in fast, trying to fight it as much as I could as the weights got heavier and heavier, I slowly began using the rest pause principle for the final two exercises. As a whole body movement the deadlifts do tend to drain energy quite fast, so I did have to anticipate that in with my weight calculations, so as I didn't over exert myself too much too soon.

Working back up the pyramid on Giant Set 2, the exercise order once again was altered, this allowed me to go heavier and focus attention on the Chest Supported Dumbbell Row more now and less on the Wide Grip Lat Pulldown. Having a finishing exercise like the pulldown really did highlight how insane drained my lats had become though this first half of the work out, as a relatively isolated movement I could feel the massive burning sensation under the armpits. Unfortunately there wasn't much I could do to counter act this, apart from stretch out between sets, so when I was working all I would focus on was getting the best contraction out of the movement as possible, with one more week left of this programme I wanted it all to be about effectiveness!

With the lat burnt out and at bursting point I made my way on to the Biceps. As a synergistic muscle group the biceps had already had a bit of work through the Wide Grip Lat Pulldown & Chest Supported Dumbbell Row, but this wasn't going to stop me working them even harder! Starting the third Giant set with the Barbell Curl followed by the Standing Bicep Cable Curls and finishing with the High Pully Curls, this was a recipe for pain and I was the head chef. Hitting the barbell for my Curls I took a wide grip so as to hit the internal head of the bicep and work on that peak, then moving on to the Standing Bicep Cable Curls with a close grip to hit the outside head of the bicep which meant I could develop the entire bicep with two exercises which was awesome and then just to finish off I could burn out on the High Pully Curls with a medium grip and just smash out the reps.

With the heaviest set done and dusted it was time to reverse the exercise order and hit the biceps up in a completely different way, causing more muscle confusion and getting more effect results out of the session. Starting with the High Pully Curls I found I could go really heavy on these, but then when moving on the Standing Bicep Cable Curls I had hardly anything left in the tank and even less when I finished off on the standard Barbell Curls.

All in all I really loved this session, working in this giant set fashion has brought to light so areas for improvement for myself which I am very happy about, as I strongly believe that you are only as good as your weakest link. This is even more prominent in body building, where ever muscle is scrutinised.

I hope you gals and guys are working hard and smashing the gym today!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

 

Week 11 Day 2 - Big Chest To Be The Best

09/06/15 Day 71 – Chest & Triceps

With yesterdays leg DOMS starting to settle in nicely it was time to hit another big muscle group, today it was in the form of Chest! With yesterdays high volume training you might have noticed that you have been slightly more hungry than usual, that is completely normal. When training legs you are invariably working one half of your entire body in one day, which means your body is going to need lots of energy (aka food) to repair and resynthesise all the damaged muscle tissue in your body, so eat up and grow up! Moving on to today's session, today was following the same pattern as legs in the sense I was training three exercises in a Giant Set, if you didn't read yesterdaysession then check it out now before moving on. The Giant sets are all about volume, more reps, less rest, more stress and more gains! So here is the session:

Giant Set 1

Dumbbell Flat Bench Press – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Dumbbell Incline Flyes – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Cable Cross Overs – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Giant Set 2

Cable Cross Overs – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Dumbbell Incline Flyes – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Dumbbell Bench Press – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Giant Set 3

Tricep Pushdown (V Bar Attachment) – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Tricep Overhead Extensions (V Bar Attachment) – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Tricep Pushdown (Rope Attachment) – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Giant Set 4

Tricep Pushdown (Rope Attachment) – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Tricep Overhead Extensions (V Bar Attachment) – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Tricep Pushdown (V Bar Attachment) – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

With the warm up done and dusted and a big session ahead, I focused all my thought on my goals for today, which were, go heavy, go hard and don't stop for anything or anyone!

Starting the first Giant Set I began working my way down the repetition pyramid, with each set passing by the repetitions dropped down and thus the weights got heavier and heavier, after the first two sets I could really start feeling the blood forcing its way into my muscles. With the muscles under such strain and tension I always made sure I was stretching in between sets, just to manipulate the fascia around my muscles and help with the recovery from each set. Pushing my way down the pyramid I allowed slightly more rest time the closer I got to the final set, leaving around a 2 minute rest between the 15 rep set and the 10. My reasoning behind this was simple, I was already pumped up like mad, so there was no need to try pushing heavy weights under fatigue (that came next), so instead I went heavier then first intended and rewarded myself with a few extra seconds to insure that I smashed the last set as hard as I possible could.

After my final heavy set I altered my sequencing, making the Cable Cross Overs my first movement. This meant that I was able to focus more time and energy on this particular movement, that had subsequently suffered in the previous Giant Set, as I had been massively pre fatigued by the time I made it to the cables. So with the cable weights being bumped up I had to lower the final exercise in the new sequence, which was the Dumbbell Bench Press, just due to the fact I was going to be very fatigued before moving on the this exercise. None the less I resisted the urge to make it easy on myself and challenged the idea that I could keep the same weight on the final two exercises. I was able to do this for about 2 sets, then my muscles decided that they had had enough. With the muscles being so worn out by the 20 repetition mark I really had to start lowering the weight threshold quite rapidly, unfortunately for me I ended up finishing Giant Set 2 a lot lighter than I had hoped, but none the less I gave it my all and that is all I could ask for.

With the chest well and truly smoked out it was time for me to move onto a slightly smaller group of muscles, which was indeed the Triceps. With the triceps being used in 2 of the previous 3 exercise I knew they were already going to be pretty darn worn out, but “oh well” I told myself, gave myself a few “yeah buddy['s]” and cracked on with Giant Set 3. Hitting it off with the Tricep Pushdown (V Bar Attachment) really allowed me to shift a bit more weight than expected, I was pretty happy with that, that was until I moved onto the Tricep Overhead Extensions (V Bar Attachment), where I came to the very fast conclusion that I needed to learn to pace myself better. Shifting so much weight on the first exercise made it incredibly hard to fluently knock out the reps and thus I had to incorporate the rest pause principle from around rep 20. After what was a pretty steep learning curve I continued my way down the third pyramid of the day, getting heavy and harder with every set, the hardest thing about it was the fact I knew I was dropping the reps so I could go heavier, but my muscles were so burnt out that going heavier was sometimes just impossible! But after smashing out my last set, heavy as possible I gave myself a little smile as I knew the end of the session was in sight!

Now came the hardest part of all, which was fitting considering it was the only thing standing between me and my post workout protein shake. I now had to gather the strength, both mentally and physically to work my way back up the pyramid to the 30 repetition mark. Well,well,well, That was a bloody hard task! Thank Arnold (he is god here) that I could get those reps out. Many times I had to stop mid set and alter the weight it was hard to give in, but when I was hitting failure at 8 reps on a 20 rep set it would have been stupid of me to rest pause 12 reps, that would add another 3 hours on to my already lengthy session! Needless to say when I finish those last 30 reps on the Tricep Pushdown (V Bar Attachment) I shed a single tear of joy. It was done, done for another day, boy did I feel as though I had earned my rest day, when I have no doubt I would be achy like crazy.

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 11 Day 1 - In The Pump We Trust

08/06/15 Day 70 – Legs

The beginning of a new week means as always the beginning on a new style of training, still working within the confines of the DTP training. This week I will be training through Giant Sets, for those of you who don't know what a Giant Set is here is a definition:

“A series of 3 or more exercises performed in succession with no rest break between them”.

This style of training is perfect for the high volume nature of the DTP training and I must say, I achieved a stupidly hardcore pump from this leg session and put it all down to this type of training! So here is the session:

Giant Set 1

Leg Extension – 5 Sets x 30 Reps

Leg Press – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Hack Squat – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Giant Set 2

Lying Hamstring Curl – 5 Sets x 30 Reps

Leg Press – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Hack Squat – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

As had no steady build up, I had to make sure that going into the session I was really well warmed up, really well stretched out and most importantly incredibly focused for what I needed to achieve. With this style of training it isn't always easy being able to get on to every piece of a equipment, especially in very busy gyms and peak hour training, so remember to be thoughtful and let other people jump in between your working sets, it keeps everyone happy and you might even get a little rest break out of it!

As I began with the first Giant set I made sure the focus was entirely within my quads, knowing I was hitting my Hamstrings after allowed me to work to failure on every set without fear of not being able to complete the second half of the session. Keeping the Leg Extensions constantly at 30 reps meant that I was able to actively pre-fatigue the quads in an isolation movement before going on to the next two compound exercises that would be aided by other synergistic muscles. To keep the main focus on the Quadriceps I took my foot stance on the Leg Press low and narrow, meaning that the Glutes were not able to influence the movement, which simply allowed me to beast the Quadriceps even more! After the Leg Press came the Hack Squat, this was an insane way to finish off each set, which such a high muscular demand for the exercise I found the first two sets I wasn't able to use anything but my body weight as my legs had become so incredibly fatigued and pumped up. As spoken about previously, having such high levels of blood being forced into the muscle (such as “the pump”) allows the body to trigger, release and transfer higher levels of Human Growth Hormone into the cells, enhancing the size and strength of the muscles and thus allowing the body to grow. With each set that went by my legs felt heavier and heavier, not just due to the ridiculous levels of blood in them but due to the battering they were being put through. As the number of reps went down the weights went up, trying to constantly push the muscles to the brink of failure only means that they will come back bigger and stronger. As I am currently in the off season for my competitions I am only focused on getting some solid lean muscle mass on my frame, so pushing to failure is a key task in my method of madness.

With the Quadriceps utterly obliterated it was time to work back up the repetitions now, but taking the emphasis to the Hamstrings and Glutes. Taking on the same pre-fatigue style to Hamstrings that were used on the Quadriceps, although this time I started at the bottom of the rep range with the Leg Press & Hack Squat allowing me to smash those heavy weighted sets out to start with, then tapering down the weight whilst the repetition range increased. To take full advantage of the Hamstrings and Glutes I changed my stances around once again with the Leg Press & Hack Squat, taking my feet high up on the platform, taking my stance really wide and pointing the toes out very slightly, this then put the emphasis on the target muscles and did I know about it! Maybe it was due to already being fatigued but working through the Hamstring work was completely soul destroying, I was trying my hardest to constantly keep working through the reps but by the time I made it to the hack squat I was completely flagging and thus found myself rest pausing from around 15 repetitions on every set, which only added insult to injury in the sense that it took so much longer to finish each set.

With the final set of 30 reps done and tiny tear of joy I made my way to the mats to some my legs so TLC and have a great stretch out, with my protein shake in hand to feed the muscles I spent a solid 15 minutes stretching out what was left of my legs. Before the gym starting shutting down for the day and it was time to go home. All in all it was a wicked session and I loved it, none the less it was still incredibly testing.

Hope you are having a great day where ever you are!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 10 Day 5 - Insaiyn Workout!

05/06/15 Day 67 – Shoulders

After a very achy morning reflecting on the past 10 weeks I came to the conclusion that in the past 10 weeks I have learnt more about my mind and body then ever before, with the styles of training I have worked through: Y3T/FST-7/GVT/HIT/DTP Extreme I have been able to gather incredible amounts of knowledge about how my body responds to different styles of training and what suits me best. But enough of that for now, lets get into today's session!

Machine Shoulder Press – 12 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5,5,10,15,20,25,30

Reverse Fly – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Neutral Grip Reverse Fly – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Standing Dumbbell Lateral Raises – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raises – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Barbell Shrugs – 6 Sets, 1 x 25,15,5,5,15,25

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

With my warm up done and dusted I was already feeling incredibly focused for today's session. I knew I was in for a beasting as that seems to be the reoccurring theme for this week's training. I had to make sure my rotator cuffs well sufficiently oiled before I began with any weights, as I didn't need anything holding me back from performing at my best.

As the smith machine wasn't available I started my Machine Shoulder Press on the (isolated shoulder press machine) if anything I was incredibly happy with the decision, I felt as though it allowed me to perform heavier weights without risk of injury. Starting a session with 12 sets is one way of getting a serious pump, by set 9 just lifting my arms up was a luxury, so finishing the sets off was a bit of a battle. With my drop sets done it was time to move on to the next exercise.

After torching the anterior and lateral heads of the deltoids I moved on to the Reverse Fly, with this grip I was able to focus my attention on the posterior head of the delts. Working the posterior (back) head is just as important as the other heads if not more, without full development of the 3 heads the shoulders look uneven and disproportionate.

After ascending up the pyramid with the previous exercise I changed to the Neutral Grip Reverse Flys and began my way back down the pyramid in a drop set fashion. Trying to make sure I matched the weights from the last exercise put a massive demand on already fatigued muscles. Once again I found myself having to rest pause the final couple of sets to ensure I made it to the end of my set, the posterior heads were seriously on fire by this point and thankfully I had only the lateral heads and traps to work.

Now it was time to torch my lateral heads to round off the shoulders. I started the first pyramid set with the Standing Dumbbell Lateral Raises, performing the exercise standing up meant I was able to incorporate a bit of momentum to aid the concentric (lifting) phase of the movement, meaning I could go a little heavier than usual as I built up my weight across the six sets. Making sure I was lifting from the elbows up gives me a better contraction in the shoulders, now this may work for me and not you, so be sure to get a feel for how your body responds to certain exercise yourself! With the heaviest set done I knew I was halfway, now it was time for me to make my way back down the pyramid with the Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raises and I made sure I worked until I could work no more! To stay strict I cut out as much rest time as possible, running back and forth between the bench and the weight rack I wanted to push as much blood and nutrients into my shoulders as physically possible.

With my shoulders completely cooked it was time to move into the traps to round off what had been an awesome session. So with a few plates on the bar I began my Barbell Shrugs, drawing the shoulders up to the ears whilst keeping the back tight so as to create a stable base to work from. After getting some solid weights on the bar I began striping the plates of with each set, and finishing off just as strong as I started!

On reflection I loved the session today and felt as though it had tested me more than any shoulder session I have ever done! If you want to test your limits and go above and beyond all self expectations contact me at: mgonlinept@gmail.com today for your bespoke programmes!

Happy Lifting,

Matt