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 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 1 - 2hrs 1140 Reps & One Stupidly Pumped Up Leg Session

01/06/15 Day 63 – Legs & Calves

Here I am! Week 10 of this 12 week muscle builder, coming into the last couple of sessions on each body component. With such little time left and such a great demand on results every single rep counts at this point and boy are there a lot of reps! Working with the DTP style of training once again, all about volume, all about size and it's certainly all about will power. I find that with such high rep ranges as the ones you will see today its 80% mental ability to concentrate and 20% of actual physical ability. Remember that your brain doesn't know how many plates you have on the bar, it only knows you are working against resistance, so follow in my foot steps and leave your ego at the door and get ready to get pumped up!

Box Squats – 12 Sets, 1x30,25,20,15,10,5,5,10,15,20,25,30

Leg Extension – 3 Sets x 50 Reps

Hack Squat - 12 Sets, 1x30,25,20,15,10,5,5,10,15,20,25,30

Lying Leg Curl – 3 Sets x 50 Reps

Cable Stiff Leg Deadlift – 12 Sets, 1x30,25,20,15,10,5,5,10,15,20,25,30

Single Leg Calf Press – 12 Sets, 1x30,25,20,15,10,5,5,10,15,20,25,30

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Needless to say a whopping great warm up was the only way to start off this Goliath of a training session, loosening up every joint, warming up all the muscles till they radiated heat. With my pre workout tingling my skin, the itches telling me it was time to start, so I plugged my ear phones in with the music blaring and the smell of sweat in the air and got ready to climb the mountain of a session ahead.

Box Squats were the first task at hand. Being so tall depth can sometimes be an issue for me when it comes around to squatting, I have never been a massive fan due to this, not to mention the torn ligaments in my right knee, but I pushed all that aside as this had to be done and I am not one to back down from a fight. With the lower back burning away, the quads filling with blood and my breath escaping me I soon realised that this wasn't going to get any easier (just the way I like it). Making it to the half way point seemed like an eternity had passed, but now it was time for a the Dtp drop set, hitting every rep I had previously done in reverse order with no rest apart from the time stripping the bar. Well bugger me that has to be one of the hardest sets of squats I have ever done! With basically nothing on the bar for the final two rounds I still felt like I was holding the world on my shoulders, the legs were stiff and the sweat was tickling down my skin, by the end all that was left of me was the pool around my feet.

With the squats all done and dusted (thankfully) I moved on to the Leg Extensions, here the idea was to continue the the stimulation of the quadriceps and allow even more naturally occurring human growth hormone to be flooded into the system. Trying battle against the machine with less weight then I had previously used even seemed like a bridge too far, I fought and fought until my mind surrendered, I dropped a plate off and honed in on the final set with all my might, making sure every rep was a tight as the last. I couldn't believe the struggle, I had never felt this beaten before, but then I realised that each week I have to try to better myself and this was just another test, of course its harder, that is how I will become the best, because I have no limits, only what is in my mind!

Moving on to the Hack Squat my only thought was that this was the last exercise for my quads, this was a land mark in the session and it was my job to push through it. Starting off light I wanted to drill good technique into my cranium, just trying to take my thoughts away from the rattling of my legs. Each set it got harder, the legs trembled more and I reached to my phone to turn up the music, anything to take away my focus from the burn, but alas the volume was all the way up, it was blaring and I didn't even realise over the screams of my quadriceps. It isn't meant to be easy I had to keep reminding myself, working like this will make me a champion and with that set in my sight I drove through to the end of the exercise. Thank Christ.

With my quadriceps completely cooked it was fitting that now I could move on to the hamstring section of the work out, starting with Lying Leg Curls. Here the emphasis was on high reps and low sets once again, trying to push myself to failure before I had even started, it seems all I know in the gym these days is failure but if that is what it takes then I am not one to argue. Between each set I sprang off the machine and stretching the burn out of the muscles, cursing under my breath it seemed like I couldn't stop myself. Hopping to and fro until I was finished, well only two exercises left. I knew I could do it, but it seemed like this session was never going to end!

The Cable Stiff Leg Deadlifts were a new one for me today and I must say I really enjoyed them, I have a tendency to lose the contraction in my left hamstring at some points usually, but due to the flexibility of this exercise I could tweak my movement to maintain an insane contraction that would later come back to haunt me. Working down the ladder to only crawl back up was a real chore, but I wasn't going to quit this close to the end and that is why I am barely able to walk now. But I LOVE IT!

I had done it, the final exercise was here and I managed to end the session on a real high. The Single Leg Calf Press was all about working each calf individually without rest, after one side was done it was on to the other straight away, with as little rest as possible. I pushed and pushed and pushed, with 2 sets left between me leaving all I could think about was my post workout shake. After draining my calcium deposit through the workout it was almost impossible to squeeze a good contraction out of my calves any more, feeling knackered I allowed some momentum to influence my final set. I was finished, the hard work had been completed.

Wanting to nap right now, but being 1pm its not really an acceptable time, plus my meal prep won't do itself!

To make a change to your body and your life, get in contact with me now at: mgonlinept@gmail.com for your bespoke gym plans and nutritional programmes!

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 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 1 - HIT Time

04/05/15 Day 36 – Legs & Calves

Today saw the start of a brand new week, with a brand new training method. This weeks I will be following in the foot steps of 6 x Mr Olympia the one and only Dorian Yates. His HIT style of training will be focusing on small 45min-1hr training sessions, packed with high intensity. The idea is pre fatiguing the muscles, followed by sets that are pushing your muscles to absolute failure and then going beyond that with the aid of forced reps and negative reps.

Starting the week with Legs allow us to focus our energy on the biggest group of muscles in the body. Here is what my session looked like:

Leg Extensions – 2 Sets x 15-20 Reps

Leg Press – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Hack Squat – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Dumbbell Laying Leg Curls – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Seated Leg Curls – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Seated Calf Raise – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Standing Calf Raise – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Cardio – Intervals 15mins Total

Starting off the session with some light leg work it allowed me to focus both my mind and muscles on the session ahead. I made sure there was plenty of stretching throughout the warm up, this was due to the fact the session ahead was designed to test the muscles more then they have been worked in previous weeks, so keeping the muscle nice and supple will mean I can get the most out of them without sustaining injury.

Leg Extensions began the working sets of the session, here we were seriously heavy. Making sure that we were failing before we hit the rep limit, meaning that my partner was having to aid me through the following reps, some times introducing negative reps can also promote serious levels of HGH release in the body and inhibit growth, which is exactly what we want.

From the extensions we moved onto the Leg Press, were we performed some nice light warm up sets to get ready for the failure that would follow. For myself my stance was slightly tighter to put more emphasis on the quadriceps, where as my partners stance was wider, with the foot placement higher as well to put more of an emphasis on the glutes. Trying to force yourself to failure is not an easy task, but made a lot easier with the knowledge that you have a partner with you to support you.

With our legs well and truly burning it was fair to say at this point we were not looking forward to the Hack Squat which followed. With this I was once again focusing on a smaller stance to put more strain though the quads, be careful with the hack squat as it can some times put strain through the knees if your foot base is too close, so don't be afraid to push those feet slightly more forward than you usually would.

With the quadriceps fully burnt out at this time, it coincided with the perfect transition to hamstring work. Starting with the Dumbbell Laying Leg Curls was a great start to the second half of the session. With a few light sets in the bag the hamstrings seemed amply warmed up by now and allow my partner and I to work into our two working sets. Due to the fact you have to pinch the dumbbell in between the feet you are also getting a secondary contraction in the adductor muscles, which just adds to the awesomeness of the this exercise, it now takes No.1 place as my favourite hamstring exercise.

With the dumbbells racked it was time to move onto the Seated Leg Curls. Where once again the need of a training partner was made even more prominent, due to me never really working my hamstrings to failure it made it very hard to push myself out of my comfort zone on this exercise, but I clicked a few extra plates in place and hooked myself into the machine and repped. With my partner standing by to help me achieve full range it felt like my legs were going to split in half and I loved it!

At this point our legs were feeling pretty damn swollen, which meant it was a good point to move across to the calf work. Starting with the Seated Calf Raises was slightly nicer as it meant we got to finish the calves with the Standing Calf Raises which allows you to utilise a little bit of momentum. With working to failure on the seated calf raises you partner will need to assess how to aid you, if you are using a leg press machine they will find it easier to aid the forced reps, where as on the seated machine there isn't always much room to hold, making it slightly harder for them. Remember – always assess the situation before you do anything, you must always know what you are doing and how to over come boundaries that can potentially stop you.

With the bank holiday coming to a close its back to normality for everyone, so wishing you all a fantastic week! I am now on a 7 day count down to my 21^st Birthday, which seems to be encroaching incredibly quickly!

Happy Lifting,

Matt 

Week 5 Day 1 - Everyday I'm Stronger, Everyday I'm Wiser

27/04/15 Day 29 –Legs

First of all I'd like to apologise for not posting yesterday, I was very busy and just did not have the time to fit everything in.

Today I started Week 5 of my 12 Week programme, which means a new style of training is upon me and this week the style of choice is the old school, classical German Volume Training (GVT). This uses the 10 x 10 rule, giving you a one minute rest interval between sets. GVT is designed to fatigue the muscles to incredible lengths, not only on one exercise but multiple machines and exercises with a range of different compound and isolation movements, which means one thing, pain. We are looking to once again flood our muscles with lots and lots of blood, achieve hypertrophy through micro fibre muscle tearing and get a bit hot and sweaty in the process. So lets get to it. Today's training is as follows:

Barbell Squats – 10 Sets x 10 Reps

Leg Extensions – 5 Sets x 15 Reps

Laying Leg Curls – 5 Sets x 15 Reps

Seated Calf Raises – 10 Sets x 10 Reps

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

I was training with Dad today, so if you don't usually train with a partner try it out for this session, with these high volume training you will need as much motivation as possible!

Beginning the session strong we started off with the traditional Barbell Squats, this is an exercise that requires a lot of mental focus and will power, so if you have it make sure you get your creatine and pre work boost in, you will need to be as mentally switched on as possible. Starting with a few warm up sets I gave myself a few minutes to really get “in the zone”, find my motivation and let the pre-works course through my veins, pulsating around my mind and body, I was ready to begin. With the first few sets behind me I was feeling on top of the world, my form was strong, the tempo was on point and I was set for gold. After 5 sets I think it's fair to say I was flagging slightly, I dropped the pace of each set, made sure each rep was low, strong and controlled. If you do have a weights belt it's always s good idea to have that extra safety precaution when you are starting to wear and fatigue. With only 60 seconds between each set it become very taxing on both your breathing, your mental focuses and most importantly your strength, so be prepared to maybe drop the weight for the last few sets!

After this it was onto the Leg Extension isolation machine. Here we were working in a higher rep range, but a lower set range, this meant we were able to take these sets a bit heavier as we were taking 90 second rests between sets. For me I hit a Pb on this machine which was a huge plus for the training. Remember – when you are training its about you and only you, you can't compare yourself to anyone else, because you aren't anyone else, you are you and you should be proud of that. My main focus here was to go heavy, be in control and try to squeeze the rep at the top of the motion, again looking to flood that muscle group as much as humanly possible to get all that naturally occurring HGH (human growth hormone) working its way around the body.

Jumping next door to the polar opposite machine: Laying Leg Curl, we again were working in that higher rep range with big breaks and lower sets, so don't be afraid to go a bit heavier and if you have a training partner standing by you may even want to perform some forced reps to finish off each set to really get the maximum benefit of this training. With my head 100% switch on I managed to blast through this exercise, making sure not to over extend my range and lose the contraction. Remember – if you can't feel the contraction then it probably isn't doing much, seek to learn how your chosen muscle contracts, focus on your mind-muscle connection. When you get your connection perfected you won't believe the results you can obtain.

To finish off the session we took a short stroll to the Seated Calf Raise machine. This wasn't favouring my fathers needs, so he moved onto the standing calf raise machine for this while I stuck with the intended programme. Once again I hit a new Pb on this exercise, which in all honesty is incredible when the sheer volume is taken into consideration, working 100 reps on one muscle group is taxing alone, but when coupled with such short resting periods you are seriously testing what you are made of. Admittedly my range started to reduce across the last two sets, but unfortunately I'm too damn stubborn to lower the weight, instead I just forced myself to try and work harder!

Couldn't really have been happier with this session, so leaving with a royal smile stamped across my face I find myself here talking to you wicked people.

So if you need help with your training and want to talk to a qualified personal trainer and fitness consultant send me an e-mail at : mgonlinept@gmail.com its free and easy and could change your life.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 4 Day 2 - Like Father, Like Son Pt.2

21/04/15 Day 23 – Legs

So continuing on with the FST-7 style of training I moved on to, what is for me, the hardest day of the week. Even though I have always found legs the harder muscle group to work I actually enjoy it more than most other muscles groups these days, maybe its because I'm actually getting some sick results from my training now!

The sessions today are meant to be spilt into 2, an Am workout targeting the Quadriceps and an Pm workout targeting the Hamstrings. Due to me working this even I have merged the two workouts together, which was INSANE!

AM

Leg Extension – 4 Sets x 10-15 Reps

Leg Press – 4 Sets x 10-15 Reps

Hack Squats – 4 Sets x 10-15 Reps

Smith Machine Squats – 7 Sets x 10-15 Reps

PM

Laying Hamstring Curl – 4 Sets x 10-15 Reps

Stiff Leg Barbell Deadlift – 4 Sets x 10-15 Reps

Seated Hamstring Curl – 7 Sets x 10-15 Reps

Cardio - Interval Training 15mins Total

Today was another father/son special, working legs big time with the big bear. We started off with our Leg Extensions, doing a few sets on a really light weight to get those joints all nice and lubricated before we really hammered the legs. If you are slightly older over have previous knee injuries I cannot stress enough how imperative a solid warm up and active stretch session is! It was nice working with my dad today, feeling like the competition was on we constantly tried to 1 up each other on weights throughout the session, which is great for me because it meant I pushed myself to pretty much complete failure. Remember in between each set I was doing a 10 second contraction on either the quads or hamstrings depending on the exercise, so if you are follow this, then you need to be following too. Stretch that fascia and grow.

Then, after getting some good amount of blood into those legs we moved onto the Leg Press. Here the focus was to get some real heavy reps out on each set, having a training partner is nice because it allows you to work harder than usual knowing you have a spotter there to help you out, so push your boundaries like we did today and get the results.

After a quick talk with my dad about the direct links between weighted muscular training and the effect on your breathing rate and heart rate increase we moved over to the Hack Squat, this is probably one of our favourite new exercises, not only due to the insane contraction in the quadriceps but also the tension you can create through your glutes as well, which obviously will help all pressing motions too. Here the main focus was slow and deep, so deep in fact that a few times I wasn't quite sure if I was ever going to come up, but that's the fun of it, push yourself to the limit and demand more of your body.

After this came our final exercise, the dreaded 7 Sets of Smith Machine Squats. Now as I have stated previously, I don't like the smith machine at the gym I use, not because it isn't good, its just that I moves both horizontally as well as vertically, which in my opinion is not the point of a smith machine? But anyway that is my opinion and you guys and girls may love that kind of machine. So I had to work seriously hard through these sets, as I have spoken about in a few of my leg days I don't feel like I have lots of endurance. So having 30 seconds rest between each set takes its toll by about the 4^th set, but “by thepower of grey skull (I HAVE THE POWER!)” I forced myself through it with some good encouragement from the chief and am now all the better for it.

Then with a pretty quick turn around it was on to Hamstrings. So as our gym doesn't have a Seated Leg Curl I had to improvise and instead did my first 4 sets on a decline bench and did some Laying Dumbbell Leg Curls, which I have never done before and thought were really, really good. Then I moved onto the standard Barbell Stiff Leg Deadlift, which was again awesome, I feel like my hamstrings respond fantastically well to training which is why I love training them so much. Finally for the 7 Sets I worked on the Laying Leg Curl with the aim of the game being, keep tension for as long as possible, so this means not coming all the way up, listen to your muscles, actively seek out where the contraction stops and starts then drop to the bottom of the motion before the contraction fades away and work in that range. This is going to give: more blood, more naturally occurring Human Growth Hormone (HGH), more nutrients for repair and also help us to stretchthatfascia. So work hard and reap the benefits!

Wishing you all the best day you could possibly have.

More than welcome to ideas of how to make this blog better, soon I will be starting a Vlog to accompany this, pretty excited about that! But for now,

Happy Lifting,

Matt