Week 2 Day 5 - Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever

10/04/15 Day 12 – Biceps, Calves & Abs

Hello beautiful people of the Internet!

What an awesome day, just got back from another killer workout with special guest, Trevor Grant (aka Daddy Bear!) and we absolutely killed it. So super happy with both of our performances today, felt like I worked seriously hard, even on such a small set of much groups I honestly don't feel like I could have pushed out any more reps any harder if my life depended on it.

So what did we do I here you shout, lets take a look:

Seated Alternating Dumbbell Curls – 3 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Preacher Curls – 3 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Lying Cable Curls – 3 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Standing Calf Raises – 3 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Cable Crunches – 4 Sets x 18-20 Reps

Weighted Crunches – 4 Sets x 18-20 Reps

Cardio - Interval Training 15mins Total

When working smaller muscle groups such as Biceps and Calves, I don't find it quite as necessary to do a full blown cardio warm up, I tend to warm up the targeted muscle groups with lots of little light sets, still think about contractions and try to focus my mind into my muscles just as if I was in a working set.

Starting with the Seated Alternating Dumbbell Curls, I wanted to make sure I set the bench mark for the rest of the session, I had about 3 heavier warm up sets with this exercise, trying to find a weight that tested me well in my given rep range, but yet was sustainable for all 3 of my working sets. I tried to re-enforce both to myself and my father about the importance using your little finger during this exercise. Lots of people tend to let their little fingers fall toward the ground when they curl with dumbbells, but if you raise up the little finger, trying to actively think about pulling it across to the outside of the forearm you will activate the inner head of the Bicep. Activation of the inner head is paramount when developing the Bicep as it is the muscle that will give you the beautiful “peak” like a mountain.

My Preacher Curls were probably the exercise I was most happy with today. I felt like my will power and determination on this exercise was unbreakable, I squeezed out every rep on these sets like it was my last, and oh boy did I know it! It was like acid was being poured down my veins all throughout my arms, but I embraced it, had a little cry between each set, swallowed a spoonful of concrete, and toughened the “F” up! With this exercise, I used the closest hand grip, just to give those internal head muscles some time off before I hit them in the next exercise.

When doing the Lying Cable Curls I tried to actively push my triceps into the ground, by doing so I made sure I could created no momentum for myself, this isolates the biceps better, and of course means that they get more of a pounding. With my wide grip on a flat bar, I once again tried to target the internal heads of my Biceps. To make the muscles work harder, I made sure I held the contraction at the top of the movement for a second to pump some extra blood into those bad boys, then took 2 seconds to get to the bottom of the movement, working the biceps eccentricity as well. This gave both Dad and I a serious pump, both in the forearms and the biceps, and achieved exactly what I wanted from the session. “I'm so mean I make medicine sick”-Muhammad Ali

Leaving the Biceps to swell away for the rest of the session we moved onto our Calves and Abs. Standing Calf Raises was a particularly harrowing highlight of the session, but I have to say, after 1 set of 20 reps, I had the most insane calf pump I've ever experienced, Dad summed it up nicely as he related it to feeling like “walking on custard”, I mean it was like I had completely forgotten how to walk correctly. Somebody get these guys some crutches! Remember to push those toes into the machine, lift from the heel and drive up as hard as you can, through every rep, it will get hard, but I know you can push through it, because I did, which means you can too!

Cable Crunches & Weighted Crunches, two old school favourites. With my Cable Crunches I don't like to fully extend at the top of the motion, as I'm sure you may have realised by now, I'm trying to keep my muscles under tension for as long as possible, in order to work them as hard as possible, and thus, make them grow. So keep those abs tight as you rise up, breath through the whole exercise, and squeeze all the way down, till you pinch at the bottom, rise back up and repeat again.

I feel so blessed to have such incredible people around me, people that inspire me, drive me, and help me get through the hard days, week in and week out. A Special mention to my wonderful partner, for without her I wouldn't even be doing this today, and to my Father and Mother, for Constantly supporting me throughout every decision I make in my life, and fully giving me all the tools I need to succeed. Thank you.

I hope you are having a wonderful day where ever you are reading this from, and remember.

Happy Lifting,

Matt