Week 9 Day 5 - One Way Ticket To The Gun Show!

30/05/15 Day 61 – Arms

Today was a very short, simple and insanely effective gym session, with only 4 exercises in the entire session it was all about going heavy, hitting failure and pushing through my mental and physical barriers to complete every set.

Here is your ticket to the Gun Show:

Standing Over-Head Dumbbell Tricep Extension – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

SuperSet

Seated Dumbbell Curls – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

Decline Skull Crushers – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

SuperSet

Ez Bar Spider Curls – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

As usual I started my session with a really solid warm up, made sure I worked my rotator cuffs and did a lot of warm up work on the triceps, as religiously when doing overhead tricep work I tighten up very quickly. So some explosive active stretching followed during my warm up sets, the hoodie came off and it was game time.

With the first superset, it was 100% about trying to hit complete failure on every single set, so for me I looked at the dumbbell rack and asked myself what would I usually lift for those reps, then moved a few kilos up so I knew I had to really work hard to finish off the sets, I found this worked really well in my favour as I actually managed to lift stupidly heavier then I perceived I would be able to. Two or three sets in to the first super set and my arms where feeling seriously swollen, with the weights getting heavier and heavier I really had to draw all my attention in to my contractions, with my spotter standing by for a comfort blanket I pushed myself to the limit. Very happy with my new personal best of 40kg overhead dumbbell extension, if I look a few years back it was something only I dreamt of and now I'm living it, just goes to show that hard work pays off! The dumbbell curls felt really good today as well, with my focus on this exercise to twist the little finger up towards the ceiling to engage the inner head of the biceps I found it encouraged the pump nicely.

With my arms well fatigued and blood surging through my triceps and biceps I moved on to the final two exercises. The Decline Skull Crushers felt really awesome today, by taking the arms further back, past eyeline it meant that I could keep constant tension through the triceps. Keeping the tension through the target muscles for as long and possible will help to promote the release of human growth hormone by the body, so if you are not using performance enhancing drugs like myself this is a brilliant way to build that awesome thickness that makes the body look a lot fuller. The opposing exercise (Ez Bar Spider Curls) really helped to isolate the outer head of my biceps, taking the close grip on the Ez bar meant I couldn't recruit much of the inner head, allowing me to work the entire bicep through the duration of the session. As I started to fatigue in the later sets due to the higher reps I made sure that I was pushing the ticeps into the preacher machine to stop the temptation of swinging the bar up but instead forcing the biceps to contract harder to lift the weight. Remember: If you are going to do something, do it right.

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 9 Day 3 - Delts

27/05/15 Day 59 – Shoulders & Abs

Once again apologies for the lack of blog yesterday, very busy and simply didn't have time.

Today was day 59 of the 12 week muscle builder and today I hit delts, I hit them hard! Working with purely supersets today kept the work intensity high, the volume high and really gave me that insane pump I was craving after. Here is what my session looked like today:

Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

SuperSet

Weighted Plate Front Raise – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

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

SuperSet

Dumbbell Incline Bench Lying Front Raise – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Bent-Over Rear Delt Raise – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

SuperSet

Weighted Sit Ups – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

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

SuperSet

Bent Knee Hip Raises – 5 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25,30

Cardio- Interval Training 15mins Total

I started the session with a solid rotator cuff warm up, as I feel the rotator cuff is a bit of a weak point for me I wanted to make sure that during the workout they wouldn't hold me back. So with some mobility work and some light sets under my belt to oil up the joints and grease up the engine I was ready to get stuck in.

Working through the first superset of Dumbbell Lateral Raise & Weighted Plate Front Raises allowed me to target the lateral and anterior heads of my deltoids , giving the impression of a fuller deltoid. With a big frame having some large, full delts are imperative. With my Dumbbell Lateral Raises I like to keep the weight on the outside of my hand and draw up from the elbow, I feel this gives me a much stronger contractions on the lateral head of my delt, but what works for me may not work for you so make sure that you experiment a bit with some lighter weights and see what works for you. The Weighted Plate Front Raises started out quite easy with the lighter sets but I found as the plates only go up in increments of 5kg some times there was a big jump in the weights for the rep range I was working in, to get around this I used the same weight for a few sets before moving up, so I was in a range I could actually work in (rather than rest pausing every repetition).

With the delts feeling incredibly full already after those first two exercises I wanted to keep up the pump and hunt for that pump, so I quickly moved onto the next set of exercises, these were: Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press followed by the Dumbbell Incline Bench Lying Front Raises. With the press I wanted to make sure I was in a solid and stable position before each set as leaning back to far when overhead pressing can cause mass stress to the spine and I wanted to avoid that completely. The press was a powerful movement, making sure I didn't fully lock out in order to keep more tension within the delts and put them through me TUT (time under tension). The Dumbbell Incline Bench Lying Front Raises were a new one for me, trying them out I quickly found there is a huge tendency to swing a lot, this defeats the whole object of being in a isolative position such as this one. I made sure I was keeping the dumbbells under control the whole time, which did mean lowering the weights but I am not ego lifting but simply putting my muscles under strain. Remember: Your brain doesn't know how much you are lifting, it only knows that it is under stress and will thus increase the contraction intensity to combat this, so don't worry about going heavy all the time, because quite frankly your brain doesn't care.

Then I moved onto the penultimate superset of the session, this came in the form of the Bent-Over Rear Delt Raise combined with the Weighted Sit Ups. On the Rear Delt Raise I wanted to make sure my back was completely flat so as to not put tension through the spine but also to focus my mind muscle connection on the read delts, I made sure that with every rep I was squeezing them to start off the contraction, this helps me build the neuromuscular pathways and thus gives me a better result. Super setting the raises with Weighted Sit Ups really took it our of me, starting only with an Olympic bar on a decline bench I found my abs really burnt out quickly on this exercise, I don't know if it was due to me working so hard on the other exercises but I found this especially tough today!

By this point my shoulders were pumped, my abs were burning and I the end of the session was in plain view, the only thing in my way was Reverse Peck Deck Flyes with the Bent Knee Hip Raises to follow. The flyes were great today, I surprised myself in the first few set with the strength I have managed to gain in these small muscles, but when moving up the the longer sets of 25/30 reps I began to flag quite a lot, I think the muscles had burnt out and I really did have to rest pause the last 10 or so reps to finish of the sets. Luckily the Bent Knee Hip Raises didn't need any help from the delts which meant I could blast through these sets a bit easier, not saying it was easy those last few higher rep set had my abs on fire!

Tomorrow will be a rest day for me and if you are following this programme then it is for you too!

For customised meal plans and Gym routines, guaranteed to give you results e-mail me at:

mgonlinept@gmail.com

Change your future today.

Happy Lifting,

Matt

 

Week 9 Day 1 - Total Leg Annihilation (960 Reps)

25/05/15 Day 57 – Legs & Calves

Unfortunately I got hit pretty hard by a cold/virus on Friday and despite my best efforts it has whittled me down slightly, I worked pretty damn hard during my Arms session on Friday, but simply didn't have the mental or physical strength to get a Blog out to everyone, so sorry about that. Even though I have been feeling pretty shoddy I managed to get down the the gym yesterday to hit up some light cardio, hoping to sweat most of what ever I had out, luckily it worked a but and I am not feeling quite so lethargic today, although my lunges feel quite constricted and I have now adopted a wicked cough (not wicked as in cool!). But today was the beginning of Week 9, so I put everything to the back of my head and pulled my ass down the gym for a bank holiday training session, needless to say the gym was RAMMED but I didn't care because lots of people don't train legs (burn) so I had the upper hand on getting most pieces of equipment with easy.

If you feel like your usual leg sessions don't demand that much of you, then you have to try this out, the most intense hardcore session of the 12 week trainer so far! Here it is:

Leg Extension – 3 Sets, 1 x 50,40,30

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

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

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Leg Extension 3 Sets, 1 x 30,40,50

Lying Leg Curl – 3 Sets, 1 x 50,40,30

Stiff Leg Dumbbell Deadlift – 5 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10

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

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

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

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

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Starting with a very, very thorough warm up ensured that I wouldn't pull or damage any muscles during what was the most intense, energy sapping, mentally demanding session so far. With the pre-workout flooding my veins with energy, tingling away at my skin I began the session.

The Leg Extension warmed me up for what was to come, working with such a high volume requires a certain sense of mental endurance to make sure that you aren't simply going through the motions but instead you are making every single rep count for something. After the first few sets I could really feel the muscles beginning to pump and swell, it felt great, I knew that this volume of training would inhibit a high release of human growth hormone in my body, but feeling such a strong pump, so early on clarified that this was going to make me grow.

Moving swift on to the Leg Press next ensured that this pump wasn't going to waste. With the weights increasing with each set I made sure I pushed my legs to the absolute limit, using a rest pause to finish off the heavier sets determined that I would push myself as close to complete failure as possible, without creating long term damage. Remember: When using a leg press you keep the feet close together to focus on the contraction within the quadriceps, or take the feet high and wide to recruit more the glutes in the exercise.

Then came the first DTP XxTreme (see what I did there) set of the workout, which came in the form of the Hack Squat. Keeping the feet close together once again ensure I was beasting my quadriceps into a oblivion, working through the reps with the tiny rest breaks really did mean my legs became incredibly tight very fast, so in between the longer sets I made sure that I hopped off the machine and stretched out to ensure the muscles elasticity and prevent any long term harm to the knees (or anymore damage should I say).

Finishing the quadriceps off as I started I moved to the Leg Extension machine once again to well and truly cook them. This time I worked up in the repetitions and down in the weight, really really really fatiguing the muscles, breaking down the tissue and building me some quads that could hold up a small house. I have to say the last set completely recked me, even with a very light weight I felt as if my legs just wouldn't work anymore. I employed a rest pauses strategy to finish off the exercise, as I couldn't battle through 50 reps straight off, which annoyed me slightly, but I welcome failure as I know it will make me grow.

After I cooked the quadriceps it was time to move onto some fresh meat which meant it was time to jump on the Lying Leg Curl. Starting once again with huge amounts of volume really took it out of me, by this point in the work out I was very fatigued, I felt massively warn out and was worried that this session was going to get the best of me, so I put my headphones in, cranked the volume and awakened my inner beast. Smashing out reps like they were going out of fashion allowed me to warm up the hamstrings for some nice heavy weights on the next exercise.

Then I hit the Stiff Leg Dumbbell Deadlift for some heavy ass reps. Making sure the contractions was felt in both hamstrings was the main focus for me, even development of the body will help me when it comes round to competition time as I won't have to worry about the symmetry so much if both sides of the body are being worked equally. I took the last few reps incredibly slow on the final 2 sets, I wanted to feel every single contraction throughout the whole of the hamstring, squeezing the muscles till there was nothing left.

Working to failure meant going back to the Lying Leg Curl for the next DTP Xxtreme was going to be no walk in the park (in fact I don't actually think I could walk at this point). Using a weight I would perform for 20 reps I began the flogging, having to fight myself to carry on, to break through the pain barrier and to implore myself to finish the exercise. With the final reps getting the better of me I rested for a few seconds as I got too much, which aided my completion of this awesome, yet sickening set.

With the Quads and Hamstrings well and truly shot to piece it was time to finish off the legs, with some testing Seated Calf Raises & Standing Calf Raise. The seated raises were fantastic, working up to a really heavy weight had my motivation levels high and had me chomping at the bit to finish this session off. The only thing left for the session was the grand finale of DTP Xxtreme, the standing raises. The standing raises were done only with my body weight off a step, due to the intensity and already pre fatiguing them it was hard enough working through the short burst sets, squeezing both the Soleus and Gastrocnemius through each and every rep.

By now it was fair to say I was running on empty, after a wonderful stretch out to encourage the recovery of these beaten up muscles I grabbed my bag and went on my way.

Still feeling a little tired I find myself here sipping my BCAA's and typing this up. I hope you are having a wonderful bank holiday those of you in England and to everyone else Happy Monday!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

(No photo today, I feel and look far too awful for that)

Week 8 Day 4 - Serious Shoulder Session!

21/05/15 Day 53 – Shoulders

Today was day 4 of the 2^nd week on the DTP Extreme trainer, today session was created and designed to complete annihilate the deltoids and that is exactly what it did. Feeling pretty darn tight in the legs, chest and back I made sure my body was prepared for today's session. Last night I began visualising what I wanted to get out of the session today, creating a mental game plan, so as soon as I stepped foot in the gym I knew what was I was going to do.

So here it is, today's session:

Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

Cable Upright Rows – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Cable Shoulder Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cable Seated Front Raises – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

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

SuperSet

Cable Rear Delt Flyes – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Dumbbell Later Raises – 3 Sets , 1 x 10,20,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cable Rear Delt Flyes – 3 Sets , 1 x 10,20,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

I really had to make sure that I was thoroughly warmed up today, with the joints feeling a bit creaky and having quite hardcore DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) I wanted to be 100% sure in my own mind that I was ready for the session ahead, so worked through lots of rotator cuff work as well as some dynamic stretching to try and work some more blood into those tight muscles and aid their recovery.

Starting the session with a super set was pretty fun, jumping back and fourth between the Dumbbell Shoulder Press and the Cable Upright Rows really was a great introduction for the shoulder joints into the DTP Extreme massacre of the muscles. Working my way up the weights in these first sets was a nice eye opener for my strength, I sometimes lose track of how far I have come until I do a session like this where I am constantly going back to the rack to pick up heavier dumbbells because I am choosing to light a weight, which really felt fantastic. Working the front and lateral (outside) head of the deltoids in these two exercises allowed the muscles to share the work load, which was another contributing factor to the heavier reps.

Then came the first DTP Extreme exercise, moving on the the close cable system I lowered the handles, placed a bench down and began my journey on the Cable Shoulder Press. A bit of a bizarre exercise for me, as I have never really tired using the cables for any shoulder pressing movements, but I have to say it very much tested my ability and strength and will be something I come back to in the future. Really hitting the smaller fixation muscles in the shoulder as well as those big deltoid heads really allowed me to get a fantastic workout out of a very simple exercise.

With the deltoids screaming out after those presses it was only fair to work them a little bit harder, with around 1 ½ minutes rest I moved the bench out from the cables. With a relatively light weight on the stacks I set myself physically and mentally and began the next DTP Extreme set which was the Cable Seated Front Raises. Isolating the Anterior (front) head of the shoulder meant this already fatigued muscle group was being pushed to is complete limit, I loved every minute of this exercise but that isn't to say it was easy, I often found that I had to stop for a few seconds here and there because my shoulders were on fire, the build of of lactic acid really had me grunting out every single rep in the last few sets.

Giving the front portion of the should a bit of a break I moved over to the wide cable pulleys and set out on my second super set of the session, which was the Dumbbell Lateral Raises followed by the Cable Rear Delt Flyes. With a few minutes rest since the last DTP set I was ready to crack on, working with the high reps meant that I was working with quite light weights to start with, but as the sets went on I was slowly creeping up the weights and forcing my muscles to complete failure, this allowed me to breakdown more muscle tissue, which will then have to be resynthesised by the body to create larger and stronger muscles.

With the super set done and dusted it was time to move on to working the movements in isolation for the final two DTP Extreme sets! Starting with the Dumbbell Lateral Raises I worked with the same weight I performed for 20 reps in the previous exercise, to ensure I would reach failure on the 20 & 30 rep sets in this exercise. Remember: Do not be afraid of failure, working your body to its maximum is the only way it's going to grow.

With the end in sight I prepared the cable system for the last push through the soul shattering Cable Rear Delt Flyes. Here you may have noticed I was only working through a 10,20 and 30 rep range, keeping the duration shorter and thus the rest periods also dwindled, forcing more blood into the muscles, keeping them under tension for longer and if you have been following these blogs over the past 8 Weeks then you will know it is all about Time Under Tension (TUT). With the final set done and the weights completed, I ensured that I stretched out for a while, still having all the blood pumping around the delts made them tight and needed to be flushed out.

I hope you kill your session as hard as I murder mine today!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 8 Day 3 - Training To Go Saiyan

20/5/15 Day 52 – Chest & Calves

After destroying what was a humongous DTP Extreme leg session yesterday it is fair to say I am feeling incredibly sore and tight today. When I feel like tight like this I have to take special care to make sure I don't over do it when training, so a solid warm up and stretch is 100% necessary to make sure I don't pull or strain any muscles (which would be devastating). Although I push my body to it limits every day I do play it smart and listen to my body, if something doesn't feel right I will try and diagnose what this issue is and try to adapt so as to resolve the problem.

Today was a bit of a strange session, incorporating the calves that were not in yesterdays programme along with chest! So let's have a look at what my session looked like:

Incline Dumbbell Bench – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Decline Dumbbell Flyes – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Leverage Chest Press– 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

Single Leg Calf Press– 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Peck Deck Flyes – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Calf Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Cardio- Interval Training 15mins Total

With a nice warm up complete I hopped onto a bench where I preformed a few sets of 15 reps on a very light weight, this was just to loosen the chest muscles in partnership with some active stretching. I also want to make sure the joints were well oiled for the session ahead, as there is once again a huge emphasis on volume with this DTP Extreme training I want to be sure in myself that my joints can keep up with the work load.

With the warm up complete it was time to launch myself into my training I began with the Incline Dumbbell Bench, with this exercise I want my core focus to be keeping tension through the chest throughout the whole set, the way I achieved this was by keeping the elbows nice and soft and not locking out at the top of the movement, when I hit the peak of my contraction I lowered the weight back down in order to flush the muscles with lots and lots of blood, which will help me to increase muscle size.

With the final heavy sets completed on the incline bench I took the bench down to the floor and chose a weight I could perform around 15-20 reps on and prepared myself for the DTP Extreme set of Decline Dumbbell Flyes. When working with such great volume on one exercise its hard to keep focused on the contraction, so here I wanted my goal to keep solid and strict form and try not to pause during the set as much a possible. The fatigue kicked in around the 15 mark and really made it difficult to push through the sets, but with a few small brakes supplementing my rest between sets, it allowed me to finish the exercise strong.

Then came the one and only super set of the session, it was a bit of a strange one as the Leverage Chest Press really hits the chest and triceps well and then the Single Leg Calf Press works purely on the calves. With the big split between upper body and lower body it meant I could afford to go really heavy with both exercises as they were not having any direct impact on each other. I hit a new PB on the leverage press which I was really happy with, starting to feel a bit of tension through the triceps at this point I tried to think about contracting my pectorals as much as possible, being a bigger muscles group it aided me with the heavier weight more than the triceps ever could.

Down to the penultimate exercise, which was performed in the DTP Extreme style of training. The Peck Deck is a old school favourite for most, for me its not a machine I enjoy much as the range in the arms do not suit for people like me who are 6 foot 8 and have over a 2 metre wing span, but none the less I toughened up and pushed forward into the sets. Selecting a weight I would usually do for around 20 reps meant I knew when passing 20 reps I would be well and truly fatigued, this means the muscle breakdown will be greater in the targeted areas and thus meaning I can build more muscle onto that area. With some tension being put through the shoulders during the final sets I wanted to really emphasise the drawing together of my pectoral muscles, this meant I could get the most out of the movement.

On to the final exercise the Calf Press, at this stage the calves had been warmed and primed for this last set of DTP Extreme work for today. When several plates on the leg press machine I extended and locked the legs out and prepared for my working sets. Making sure the heel was dropping past the foot plate with every rep meant I was able to fully elongate the muscle before each contraction, working the whole length of both the soleus and gastrocnemius, for maximal effort under a large work load. The final few sets really did sear through my calves and it felt like they would never stop burning, but after a brisk walk around the gym I managed to shun the pain and enjoy a well deserved rest, as today's session was complete!

Felt very good about the effort I put into my session today, I do feel complete smashed and could do with a lay down, but fortunately work calls and I must stay awake, I know I am going to sleep like a baby tonight!

Hope everyone is having an AWESOME Wednesday I know I am!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 8 Day 1 - Baby Got Back!

18/05/15 Day 50 – Back & Ab

Here I am 8 weeks into this awesome and gruelling 12 week muscle gainer programme, feeling very confident with the massive progress I have in the past 8 weeks I can only imagine what another 4 weeks are going to do for me!

Week 8 marks the 2^nd week of this wicked form of DTP Training, if you haven't check out what DTP is all about check my blogs from last week. So this week will have another huge emphasis on volume, on fatigue and on massive pumps that will swell my muscles and make me grow.

Today we hit back and abs, lets check it out:

Chin Ups – 5 Sets, 1 x 20,15,10,10,5

Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown – 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,10,15,20

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Leverage Isolated Row – 5 Sets, 1 x 20,15,10,10,5

SuperSet

Laying Cable Crunches – 5 Sets, 1 x 20,15,10,10,5

Seated Cable Row– 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,10,15,20

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cable Crunches – 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,10,15,20

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Bent-Over Wide Grip Barbell Row – 5 Sets, 1 x 20,15,10,10,5

SuperSet

Seated Knee Tucks – 5 Sets x To Failure

Reverse Grip Bent-Over Barbell Row– 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,10,15,20

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cardio – Interval Training 15min Total

If you have read any of last weeks sessions you may notice that this session the reps are not quite as high, working between 5 and 20 means that the focus can be more around lifting heavy now, rather than having to factor in large amount of fatigue that would otherwise burn the muscles out.

Beginning the session with Chin Ups was nice, I haven't performed standard chin ups in quite a while and was shocked when I found out I could perform a lot my reps than I have previously done, this I put down to the large amount of lean muscle tissue I have gained throughout this programme. Starting with a big compound movement allows the whole body to start working, gets the bloody pushing around all the muscles and is a fantastic way to start a session. With the volume aspect you may find you can only just get the last few sets out, don't worry you can always hope on an assisted machine or get a spotted to help you. You maybe also find the final 5 reps are too easy, in which case I would suggesting stacking a weight belt and test yourself on how heavy you can go.

Moving on to the first DTP exercise of the day Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown looked to isolate the lat slightly more, although there is a tendency for the biceps to creep into the equation some times. Remember: Try to draw the elbows down, rather than pulling down from the hands, the shorter leaver system works the muscle more effectively and also triggers the contraction better too. The last few sets were a real struggle to perform, not just because the muscles were incredibly pumped, but also due to the forearms being fatigued on the chin ups, this meant gripping the bar was much tougher than usual.

With the first superset of Leverage Isolated Row & Laying Cable Crunches the idea was to fatigue the core muscles needed in the next DTP exercise. So when you are lowering the reps you need to up the weight, this is what will allow your muscles to breakdown more effectively (which strangely is exactly what we want). With the leverage row you isolate more the muscles in the upper back (traps, rhomboids etc) as suppose to the chin ups which are more lat focused.

From there we moved onto the DTP portion of the exercises, where we took those pre fatigued from the last exercise and worked them to the point of failure, the first exercise was the Seated Cable Row. Here you may find some bicep recruitment sneak in, so I always try to draw the elbows back and try to switch the focus into the back muscles. Trying to squeeze the reps at the top of the motion to get a better contraction became relatively hard, quick, so when this happened I made the conscious effort to draw the elbows as far back as possible to make it worth while. With the second exercise:Cable Crunches, the idea is to hold the rope attachment aside of the head, draw the abdominals down and try to focus the elbows towards the knees. That movement alone will make the abs contract, to get an even better contraction I like to hold and squeeze the abs at the bottom of the movement to make it slightly more challenging.

Then came the penultimate exercises: Bent-Over Wide Grip Barbell Row & Seated Knee Tucks. These two exercise allowed work of most muscles in the entire torso, which I really loved, the wide grip rows put more of a focus on the upper back once again. With the barbell being pulled to the chest rather than the naval it means the lower back is having to work increasingly hard to stabilise the movement, so expect to feel a little uncomfortable! The ab work to failure was a real kick in the teeth as will no rest you are moving from once massively draining exercise to another. I did have a tendency to want to give up, it was hard and i'll admit I was struggling slightly, but I made sure I gritted my teeth and just kept forcing the reps out until I had nothing left.

To finish off the session we performed the Reverse Grip Bent-Over Barbell Row, but in the DTP fashion. With this exercise the lower back was taking a bit of strain as it had been worked pretty hard before, but to compensate there was some bicep recruitment to even the playing field, all in all it was a really difficult exercise to finish. A few times I had to strip the bar down to try and get all the reps out, but by the hammer of Thor I did it, and I feel pretty good for it now.

I am looking forward to another week of awesome training, with awesome people! What are you guys and girls training today!?

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 7 Day 5 - Hard Work Will Always Pay Off

15/05/15 Day 47 – Triceps & Calves

Finishing off Week 7 of this Muscle Building Programme in pure DTP fashion with a massive session of both Triceps and Calves. Waking up this morning my traps were well are truly screaming at me, feeling pretty tight after a hardcore week of training, this meant I needed to have a solid warm up and hit some mandatory mobility exercises as well. For someone who as suffered with tennis elbow a few times it has become even more imperative for me to warm up the elbow joints thoroughly.

Enough of all that! Lets get into the session:

Close Grip Barbell Bench – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

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

Incline Close Grip Barbell Bench – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

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

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Tricep Pushdown – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Overhead Rope Tricep Extensions – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Starting the session as I meant to go on I jumped on the Close Grip Barbell Bench and began with a few warn up sets. When I felt adequately supple and mentally ready I began my working sets. With the close grip bench the aim was to keep the elbows in tight to the body and force my triceps to do all the work.  There is a tendency to flare the elbows out and start recruiting some of the pectorals which although means lifting heavier is possible you won't get the intended benefit from the exercise. As this was super setted with the Seated Calf Raises which did mean I was running to and from the machines and on the occasion I did have to boot someone off the calf raise machine. Ascending the pyramid meant I was able to get some pretty heavy sets out in the end,  which I was really happy about.  

When working down the pyramid in the traditional DTP fashion I moved from the flat bench to the Incline Close Grip Barbell Bench,  taking the emphasis more on the belly of the triceps, as I have found all this week the short rest periods really do take their toll pretty quick,  so with this I had to strip the bar down twice as the load was simply too much for my muscles to cope with over such extended reps. After I had  completed the tricep work I moved  on to the seated calf raise once more, this time it wasn't going to be quite so easy. Working in that DTP style I selected a weight I could perform around 20 reps on and began to ascend my way to gains city! Making sure I didn't cop out on my range made the later sets a bit of a struggle, as the muscles began to fatigue I encouraged a bit of explosive power from the bottom of the movement, this then meant I could squeeze out this last few reps to really get the calves fully pumped with blood and primed for growing!

With the calf work all done for this week it was time to move on to isolating the triceps, with the first exercise (Tricep Pushdown) I was working heavier with each set, working on the muscles capability to be powerful and strong,  again with the influence of fatigue (even with 1 minutes rest) it made each set progressively harder so I strapped up my elbows and stuck a few more plates on and made sure I worked my triceps till they had absolutely nothing left.

Finishing off the session strong I moved onto the cable machine for the Overhead Rope Tricep Extensions where I attached two rope extensions. The idea behind the double ropes means I am not limited I my range of motion  being so tall (6ft8) and having such long limbs means that I have a range that would be way above that of the average person and therefore need to accommodate my training as such,  if you have not used a double attachment I would really suggest trying it, personally I find that I get a much better contraction as well as feeling it through the whole length of the muscle. Using the DTP style on this final exercise really showed me how incredibly worn out my triceps had become,  struggle to shift half the weights I usually would only proved that I had worked really hard. With the final set finished I let out a sigh of relief my, week 1 of DTP was down, now for a weekend of light cardio to prep me for what I am sure will be another knackering week!

Hope everyone has had an awesome day and killed their session as hard as I did!

Happy lifting,

Matt

Week 7 Day 4 - Carnage

14/05/15 Day 46 – Shoulders

Coming to the end of Week 7 marks yet another muscle group I am currently loving to train, which is Shoulders. Still working on the style of DTP (Drastic Transformation Protocol) I have to say that I really really had to push hard throughout today's session. With this style of training my muscles are constantly screaming at me and due to its high volume nature you will probably find (if you try it) you will feel very drained, or at least this is what I have found. Here is what this brutal session looked like:

Seated Military Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

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

Seated Military Reverse Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Bent-Over Lateral Raise – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Barbell Shrugs – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

Wide Grip Upright Rows – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Barbell Behind The Back Shrugs – 3 Sets, 1 x 30, 20, 10

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Close Grip Upright Rows – 3 Sets, 1 x 30, 20, 10

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

With the emphasis of today's session purely focused on Deltoids I knew that I was going to have a pretty tough time, even when I opened my training book last night and saw the session I thought, “this isn't going to be a walk in the park”. So with a brisk walk on the treadmill, a few rotator cuff exercises and some reps under the belt I was ready to start the session.

Beginning the session with a Super set of Seated Military Press & Cable Lateral Raises was a recipe for fatigue. With the Military press I took the smith machine bar behind the head, I just feel more comfortable doing it this way and feel it actually puts less pressure through my shoulders, but everyone is different so try it out for yourself. With the ascending weight I found that I was not able to lift anywhere near as much as I normally would, which also went for the cable raises too, I found myself stuck on a pretty low weight for a few rounds. Because the volume is rather high with this style of training your muscles tend to fatigue quite quick, so then you add the increased weight to the equation and you are depleting store of both long term and short term based muscle fibres, so you break down the muscle at an astonishing rate.

With the DTP portion on the Seated Military Reverse Press I found that I was really having the strip the bar down very quickly, I had never really performed this exercise before which obviously made it that much harder. Targeting mainly the front head of the delts means that they will also fatigue a lot quicker, so as you can imagine it was pretty damn hard to say the least. With the next DTP exercise (Bent-Over Lateral Raise) the focus was on contracting the posterior delts, so the range of movement was slightly reduces but once again the joys of hitting such a small muscle group means that you will fatigue very quickly. So if you have to much like I did, take rest/pause breaks during the set, that doesn't mean give up it just means take a few seconds between reps to replenish some energy and then turn on that inner beast a power through the remaining reps.

With a nice break from the DTP I moved onto the 2^nd lot of Super sets, which this time was the Barbell Shrugs and the Wide Grip Upright Rows. With these two exercises the main groups being targeted were in the upper back, with both exercises being in the same muscle group there was obviously a cross over, so I knew that I would not be going as heavy as normal with the upright rows as the traps had already been fatigued, none the less I pushed myself really hard through these two exercises.

Then came the last portion of DTP, which perfectly finished off the session, this was in the form of Barbell Behind The Back Shrugs & Close Grip Upright Rows. These exercises were not in a superset but instead were worked in a DTP fashion only through the reps: 10,20,30 subsequently the rest periods were shorter so the frequency of work was actually increased. The behind the back shrugs target the upper traps and rhomboids more where as the close grip upright rows will be hitting more of the shoulder girdle, so this coupling works well as the fatigue from one exercise doesn't really carry across to the other.

All in all today's session was incredibly challenging both mentally and physically, I loved every minute and have found that I simply thrive to find testing workouts like these now. I adore working out and couldn't be happier with where I am right now, so thanks to all of you guys that have helped me out so far, simply by sharing these blogs, commenting and just being so damn accepting of what I am doing!

So thanks.

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 7 Day 3 - Barn Door Back

13/05/15 Day 45 – Back & Abs

Staying strong and really ploughing the way through the week has brought us once again to a favourite day of mine, back. Continuing on with the DTP style of training my partner and I were looking to work through a combination of heavy low rep sets as well as high rep sets to bring together and amalgamation of pain that will bring together some awesome results!

Here is what the session looked like for us:

Bent-Over Dumbbell Lat Row – 5 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10,5

Bent-Over Trap Row – 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

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

Straight-Arm Pulldown – 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Weighted Sit-Up – 5 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10,5

Reverse Crunch– 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

With a new exercise like the Bent-Over Dumbbell Lat Row, which is very different to a standard bent-over row, it took us a few warm up sets to really get into the movement and find our personal triggers to aid our mind muscle connection. Looking to really pull up through the elbows and squeeze and extending the lats repeatedly left us with not much breath, an elevated heart rate and a wicked intro for another awesome session!

Starting the DTP set next, in the form of the Bent-Over Trap Row was a very subtle yet substantial alteration that really put us through our paces. Looking to recruit more of the rhomboids and upper traps rather than the lats allowed us to work harder as we were using fresh muscles, for myself however I have a relatively weak back, which I think held me back (ironic). With the small amounts of rest between each set there is no way it will ever get easier, from the first set we both knew it was going to be a struggle, but if you want to have a back that resembles barn doors then you have to work hard for it. Remember- It is easy to get lost, so always keep track of what it is that you want to achieve and do everything you can to constantly push towards that goal.

After finishing our DTP set we pushed on with the Lat Pulldown getting a really good amount of weight on the stack, this kept me motivated as I was able to use some weights I had yet to try. Making sure the bar was coming down to chin height was paramount for us, I see a lot of people using less range than this and all it will mean is that they will have very undeveloped muscles as well as imbalanced, which will one day catch up with them. As the Lat Pulldown utilises the biceps as well as the lats it means going heavier on this exercise rather than the Straight-Arm Pulldown is easily achieved, so don't be scared get some weight on that stack.

The next DTP exercise Straight-Arm Pulldown I have to say was probably the hardest of the session. With the incredible isolation of purely the lats it meant there was a constant burn across the insertion point in the arm pit. My main focus through this exercise was to pull down from the elbow rather than the hand. Drawing down from the elbow creates a shorter leaver system for the lat to work through, which means its more efficient with heavy weight and/or fatigue, it also alleviates pressure unlike pulling down from the hand which puts the should girdle through huge amounts of stress.

With all of our back exercises done it was time to move onto some ab work, as the back session was relatively short it meant we still had a good amount of energy left to push out some really heavy weights on the Weighted Sit-Ups and as my partner and I are pretty competitive it meant we were constantly battling to keep up with each other, which made it a bit more fun. Then came the final round of DTP, this was pretty hardcore as the small rest breaks start to creep up on you slightly, with a searing burn coursing through my abdominals I was really starting to flog towards the end of the last two sets. But with my partner there to push me forward I dug deep and pulled it out of me, completing the exercise with a massive sense of achievement I could now relax!

If you are following this programme and have some questions, or you just want some help and advise, send me a message at: mgonlinept@gmail.com

Hope you are all having a wicked Wednesday!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 7 Day 2 - How to Build Your Chest (Extreme)

12/05/15 Day 44 – Chest & Biceps

Following on from a pretty intense day on legs, today's treat comes in the form of a DTP Extreme Chest and Bicep session. Training alone today which I must say was quite a struggle, no music, no distractions just 100% pure focus and determination. The idea behind this DTP Extreme training is to work up and down pyramid sets with a variation on weights and reps. Let me show you what today looked like for me:

Barbell Preacher Curl – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

Decline Dumbbell Bench – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Dumbbell Bench – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Barbell Standing Curl – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Standing Bicep Cable Curl – 3 Sets 1 x 30,20,10

SuperSet

Incline Dumbbell Bench – 3 Sets 1 x 30,20,10

Incline Dumbbell Bench – 3 Sets 1 x 10,20,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Standing Bicep Cable Curl – 3 Sets 1 x 10,20,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

With the knowledge gained from yesterdays session, I knew that today was going to be no walk in the park. With my pre-workout beginning to pump around my body I picked up some light dumbbells and began my warm up, focusing on what I needed to achieve during the session allowed me to home in my focus on my muscle contractions as much as possible.

Starting with the superset of Barbell Preacher Curl & Decline Dumbbell Bench allowed me to fully work the arm and chest without fatiguing the muscles needed for the opposing exercise. Working my way down the pyramid allowed me to really wear the muscles down for the DTP Extreme sets to follow. My main thought on the descend was to get my range and contractions right so I could get as much out of my muscles before I burnt them out. Once I had pumped out the last 5 Reps on each exercise with a nice heavy weight I rested for around a minute, during this time I moved to a flat bench where I picked a weight I could perform for 20 reps, then picked up another barbell which I could also curl for 20 reps. Then came the fun part, DTP Extreme! I was not super setting these two exercises but instead I worked through the rep ranges, with my tiny rest breaks (correlating with the amount of reps I had done) breaking down my muscles to complete failure. When I was hitting failure at around 15 reps I lowered the weight slightly so as I could keep good form and not risk injuring myself.

With the Chest and Biceps starting to swell really nicely I set up for what would be the 2^nd and last combo for my session today. This combo included the Standing Bicep Cable Curl and the Incline Dumbbell Bench. The idea behind these two is to make sure we are targeting the same muscle “group” but yet hitting muscles that had not been focused on the last two exercises, so for myself I took a wide grip on the cable curls as it targeted a different head of the bicep and of course the incline bench is targeting the upper chest region. Thankfully these exercises were only working through the rep ranges of 10,20 and 30, so although they are less endurance based, the small rest periods and completely sapped muscles made it really hard to even work through that. The descending rep range allowed me to push to some pretty heavy weights once again and really get those muscle fibres firing, but when it came down to the ascending rep range portion (or the DTP Extreme portion) I had very little left in the tank. To get the reps I needed to out I had to employ a rest/pause principle, whereby I put the weights down for a few seconds to give the muscles a very short rest in order to keep working through the reps all the way to completion.

With the session done and my body screaming it was time to get some fuel on board, so I chugged down my Whey Protein and had a nice upper body based stretch session. Now I find myself sat here drinking my water and talking to you beautiful people. Hope you are all having a fab day wherever you are!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 7 Day 1 - 840 Reps Later...

11/05/15 Day 43 – Legs & Calves

Today marks 2 things, the beginning of Week 7 and thus DTP Extreme Training, but also it is my 21^st Birthday today, so celebrating all weekend has lead to possibly one of if not the HARDEST training session of my life.

DTP stands for Dramatic Transformation Protocol and it draws from a Extreme version of pyramid training, there will be a shed load of reps and sets. You will discover a whole new meaning of the word volume. Lets see what my Birthday training looked like:

Leg Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Leg Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Leg Extension – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

Lay Leg Curl – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Leg Extension – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

Laying Leg Curl – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

(For each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)

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

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Starting today's with a really solid warm up was key, I knew that the session was going to be stupidly difficult so mental preparation was paramount. With several minutes on the bike it was time to crack on with stretching and some mobility work, when hitting such high volume you must,must,must warm up for a good amount of time otherwise you will tighten up to fast and render that whole session worthless.

After jumping on the Leg Press it became very apparent very quickly that this was going to be a very Extreme session. With two sets in (30 reps & 25 reps) my legs had already become fully swollen, with around a minute rest between each of the first 6 sets meant that going heavy was a easy possibility. Building the weight up with every sets merely helps to pre fatigue the muscle before getting into the “Extreme” portion of the exercise. For the next 6 sets the weight would be kept on whatever weight was used to do 20 reps in the previous sets, then I had to perform 5 reps, 10 reps, 15,20, etc. up to 30 reps. The number of reps I performed was the amount of time I was aloud to rest, 5 reps = 5 secs, 10 reps = 10 secs and we did this all the way up to 30 reps! Needless to say I was on the verge of crying through these 6 sets. If you want a challenge, you need to try this out.

We then moved from the Leg Press to a wonderful superset using both the Leg Extension & the Lay Leg Curl. Using the exact same method here as the last exercise we built up the weights as the rep range dropped. With the legs so heavily fatigued just adjusting the machine was a struggle enough let alone trying to actually do something, so I was not looking to achieve any personal bests here, but instead simply work my way through these sets, in wait for the horrendous pyramid sets to follow. Thankfully with these exercises we didn't have to superset them on the 2^nd lot of sets and work through the 5,10,15,20,25 and 30 reps on each machine separately. With such short rest periods between sets my legs were screaming at me for most of the session, I got used to the fact that it felt like my legs were on fire for the majority of the time, but what was really hard was how the muscles took such a beating, by the final few sets the muscles just didn't have the energy to contract fully. It was a very strange feeling having your legs just give up on you in such a way, but it certainly let me know they were being worked.

To finish off the lower body we used the Seated Calf Raise machine, using the same principle as the last 2 exercises we built up our weights through our first 6 sets, which by this point was so difficult. Even though it was a fresh muscle group our bodies just couldn't handle to beating it had taken, so we (my partner and I) had to try our best to encourage the other person one, counting out every rep and every rest interval allowed us to just get on with the actual exercise. As we got onto the final 6 pyramid sets it almost became a case of stretching in between every set, the calves as a muscle group for me like to tighten incredibly quickly and almost get a burning fizz running through them for the session, which really isn't ideal, so stretch and make the most of it!

I hope everyone has had an awesome weekend! I certainly have. Lots of new comics to wear and a bunch of new gym vests to show off to you guys!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 6 Day 5 - Chest 101

08/05/15 Day 40– Chest & Biceps

Today marks the end of Week 6 and rounded off the HIT style of training I was working on. Re-capping on the week I have to say its been a real test going in to every session knowing that my aim is to push my body to complete failure, both mentally and physically it's incredibly draining. With the added support of a training partner it tends to make it a bit easier, but none the less its not always possible to train with someone else, so then trying to get yourself out of that comfort zone needs to be the no.1 priority.

Enough of that, lets see what today had in store for me!

Incline Dumbbell Bench – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Leverage Chest Press – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Decline Dumbbell Bench Press – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Cable Cross-Over – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Dumbbell Alternating Bicep Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Barbell Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Preacher Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Starting the session off with some really thorough rotator cuff work and some big stretches allows me not only to get into my mind what I need to achieve through the session, but it also means I am able to loosen and lubricate the joints that are going to be given a serious thrashing, such as the shoulders and elbows. For me I like to use some elbow protection when going heavy with large pressing movements as it simply gives me a bit of added support and security against injury.

Beginning my working sets on the Incline Dumbbell Bench I decided to push myself a bit harder than I usually would and bumped up my weights, normally I would be very hesitant to do this but today I was feeling pretty damn good so I went for it. Driving all my force through the elbows to punch the weights up, keeping the elbows nice and soft and squeezing the contractions I surprisingly beasted my way through both sets, reaching failure at around 10 reps, then trying to pump out any remaining ½ reps I had left in the tank.

Moving on to the Leverage Chest Press was a whole new experience for me, if you don't have a leverage press at your gym then just use a fixed bench machine, its pretty much the same thing. Due to the fact you are not laying down (therefore not working against gravity) you will find you can bench more here then you can on a flat dumbbell/barbell press, so don't be afraid to go heavy! Keeping the elbows up nice and high to recruit as many of my pectoral muscles as possible left me with a serious pump. Remember: When doing such high intensity work you must make sure you are stretching between most sets, the chances of a Pec tear are very high when working with heavy weights over long periods of time, so take care of your body.

After working the upper and middle portion of the chest all that was left was to punch out some lower pectoral work, today I did this with Decline Dumbbell Bench Press. With a smaller range of motion than the other presses you can afford to go slightly heavier with this movement, just as I did. Keeping my wits about me I made sure with a few warm up sets that I was in fact able to lift the weights (fatigue will start creeping in at this point so be careful). After asking another member to help me get the weights up I was happily off repping my way though the sets, hitting failure at around 9-11 reps. It was pretty difficult pushing myself to failure and then trying to work out any further reps, but I know what I need to do to succeed and that is what keeps me going.

To really finish off the chest I moved onto the last exercise on the list: Cable Cross-Over. With this exercise make sure the elbows and hands are pointing in the exact direction of where you want the cables to finish, by doing so it means the pectoral is working by itself, if there is even a slight mismatch you will be hitting the rotator cuffs hard, which means you will not be able to go as heavy, for as many reps because the cuff is tiny in comparison and no where near as mechanically effective.

With chest done and dusted it was time to move on to the Biceps. Starting with Dumbbell Alternating Bicep Curls is a good way to introduce the tendons in the elbow to work. Starting with something like a preacher curl puts far too much strain though this joint and massively increases the risk of an injury. So after a few heavy warm ups I jumped into my working sets, trying to make sure I was failing just after 8 Reps, then I was encouraging the movement with some momentum, this allowed me to work on the negative to finish my 12 rep sets.

With the biceps nicely pumped up I moved onto the straight Barbell Curl, the intension with this exercise is to work on a different bicep head, making sure the whole bicep develops in unison with each session. For someone going into competing you must be symmetrical so to do so you must work every single muscle as hard as its opposing muscle, this gives the even look the judges will be looking for.

To round off the whole session I finished on and old school favourite, Preacher Curls. I did this with individual dumbbells to try to keep the muscles as even in strength (and thus size) as possible. When doing this exercise you want to make sure you don't fully extend the arm, by doing so it means the elbow joint is being subjected to insane amounts of strain and can very, very easily result in injury. So keeping the contractions slow and controlled I worked to failure at around 10 reps and then aided the weight back up with the other hand to complete the 12 reps with negatives. Man that was a sick pump.

Hope every is enjoying their training today!

Yesterdays session will be up tomorrow, have been busy and didn't have chance to put it up, so bare with me!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 6 Day 3 - How To: Eat Your Way To A Summer Body

06/05/15 Day 38 - Active Rest

With the intensity of the Week 6 HIT training coming into play this week will host a rest day in the middle of the week, splitting up the 4 days training. Today I wanted to take the opportunity to talk through some simple points that could help those of you looking to lose a weight of weight before beach season hits us, so here it is! 

5 simple points to help you lose that unwanted poundage 

Today I'm talking about a few easy tips that will help you shed some of that unwanted weight before come round without having to go on any outrageous detoxes or calories deficient diets!

1)Firstly thing I will mention is about the consumption of Protein, protein is a nutrient that is massively under consumed and under-rated. Its ability to resynthesise muscle tissues is remarkable, but it burns fat just consuming it! As the molecular structure make the protein so dense it effects something called our TEF=Thermogenic effect of food, this basically means our digestion system heats up (thermo) as a result of the breakdown of particles from the moment we put it in our mouth and our salivary amailase (saliva) starts to slowly digest our food, this happens right the way through our body. This process in itself will help us to burn fat. But surely you can do this with any food Matt?? Well quite simply yes! you can but the difference is quite scary. Per gram of fat consumed TEF accounts for 2% energy use, Carbohydrate is 5% and Protein is a country mile ahead with 25%! that's 5 x the amount that Carbohydrates use!

2)Next is food regulation, most people will eat 3 times a day, these meal will normally be rather large in the hope to keep the person full till right up to the next meal, which in real terms is around 4-6 hours without a meal. This quite frankly is a ridiculous ask of the body, the majority of us will start to feel hungry after around 2-3 hours after the meal, sometimes even quicker depend on your exercise routine. We feel hungry because we are getting a massive drop of insulin in our blood levels from our massive spike in our consumption of our big heavy meal. This means we are going to start getting some cravings now, and these cravings are going to be for the naughty things, quick fixes that satisfy our need so food, often unhealthy and most certainly not going to help us level out our blood sugar. So instead of having 3 big meals, start trying to eat 4-6 smaller meals throughout the day, this keeps our bloody sugar levels lower, and means no more cravings for naughty things that will mean we keep putting on the poundage! Also means our TEF can work more readily to keep that fat burning.

3)Which brings me on to the next point.Stay away from pre packaged meals. These microwave meals have had layers of there natural fibre coating removed in order to be heated up quick. This means your body has even less work to do when it comes to digestion, effecting our TEF and not to mention shovelling tones of artificial preservatives into our body that cant be used as fuel. Stick clean and eat raw, whole foods that packed with vitamins, minerals and natural fibre.

4)Do you drink enough water? not to mention the delivery of vitamins, minerals and essential   fats through our body water also increases our metabolism. Increasing our BMR (basal metabolic rate(the rate which we burn fat at rest) is vital to burning as much fat a possible. By increasing your intake of water by 1.5 litres a day for 1 year you can burn 2kgs alone, now this isn't much but for an easily sustainable act as simple as drink more water  you can lose 20kg of 10 years, that loads!!

5)The final topic I will talk about is stress, stress is the biggest cause of weight gaining and putting on fat. But now we have to go back to the first days of the cave-man. When cave-men were stressed out it would be over the fact they missed a kill and would now have to go without food for possibly days on end, what happens now is incredible! When the cave-man got stressed their bodies releases a hormone called Cortisol, cortisol breaks down muscles tissue in the body and  uses it as a energy source, as its denser than fat, and with a massively depleted fat store, death is imminent, so the cave-man allowed their own body's to eat their muscle tissue, as they had plenty of it in order to give them the energy for the next kill. Muscle is one of the biggest contributing factors of fat burning as the more muscle we have the more fat we burn, just look at top end body builders! So when you are getting angry because someone has cut you up, or your stuck in traffic, or your toast lands butter side down, just think that you can be releasing cortisol! So I recommend finding something you enjoy doing that is relaxing, such as yoga or reading a book or taking a nice long bath, or even some simple meditation and simple breathing to alleviate the stress in the body and keep you burning that fat all day long.


I hope you have found this article interesting, if so check out the rest of my posts.

If you are interested in some personalise Gym/Nutrition plans, guaranteed to get results send me an e-mail at: mgonlinept@gmail.com  and change your future today!

Happy Resting,

Matt