Before Vs After

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

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

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

Relaxed Before

Relaxed After

Front Double Bicep Before

Front Double Bicep After

Lat Spread Before

Lat Spread After

Back Double Bicep Before

Back Double Bicep After

Quadriceps Before

Quadriceps After

Calves Before

Calves After

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


Now lets look at the numbers!

Before Measurements:

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

After Measurements:

Chest- 44in

Lat Spread- 47.5in

Waist- 35in

Thigh- 26.25in

Calf- 18.25in

Bicep- 17in

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting you bloody wonderful people!

Week 12 Day 2 - Poetry In Motion

16/06/15 Day 78 – Chest & Back

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

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

SuperSet

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

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

SuperSet

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

Cardio- Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 11 Day 2 - Big Chest To Be The Best

09/06/15 Day 71 – Chest & Triceps

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

Giant Set 1

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

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

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

Giant Set 2

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

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

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

Giant Set 3

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

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

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

Giant Set 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 11 Day 1 - In The Pump We Trust

08/06/15 Day 70 – Legs

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

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

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

Giant Set 1

Leg Extension – 5 Sets x 30 Reps

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

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

Giant Set 2

Lying Hamstring Curl – 5 Sets x 30 Reps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 10 Day 5 - Insaiyn Workout!

05/06/15 Day 67 – Shoulders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 10 Day 4 - Bringing Sexy Back!

04/06/15 Day 66 – Back & Biceps

Pushing though this 12 week muscle building programme with some pace now, only one more day until week 10 is done and dusted! Following on with this weeks previous two sessions it all about big numbers, big weights and some big results to follow! But enough of that, lets look at the session:

Neutral Grip Pull Ups – 3 Sets, 1 x 25,15,5

Superset

Chin Up – 2 Sets, 1 x 20, 10

Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down – 3 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15

Close Grip Lat Pull Down – 3 Sets, 1 x 20,25,30

Reverse Grip Bent Over Barbell Row – 5 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10,5

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

Single Arm Dumbbell Arc Row – 5 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10,5 per arm

Single Arm Dumbbell Row – 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25 per arm

Preach Curl – 5 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10,5

Single Arm Preacher Curl – 5 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25 per arm

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

After a short warm up and stretching session I was ready to get started with my session. With the first two exercises I went back and forth between the two differing grips, with the Neutral Grip Pull Ups I was trying to target the insertion of the lat across the armpit, with the standard Chin Up I was working the belly of the muscle more.  When starting the session with such a large compound movement I didn't want to attach any weight, as I don't feel as though I would have been strong enough the achieve full range of motion and thus be less effective during the movement. I found the body weight work a bit of a struggle at times so starting off my session like this allows me to focus all my attention and strength on getting good reps out.

From there I moved out to the Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down machine, as this was a better suited exercise to perform increasing weighted sets.  Starting with the lower reps my main focus was to go heavy and stay strong, thinking only about drawing the elbows down to the sides and not flexing the elbows too much, as this is what allows me to engage the lats more effectively.

Then to start targeting the upper traps I moved onto the Close Grip Lat Pull Down,  I used the v bar attachment for this exercise as i find it a lot easier to draw the scapular together and thus get a greater contraction out of the muscles. As the this was a drop set it became increasingly difficult as the sets went on, with the muscles already pre fatigued it made the final sets almost impossible! With every rep the lats were burning and I felt the biceps begin to start activating, this told me that I needed to drop the weight and focus more on the technique. With the last set done I was glad to be rid of the machine, until that is I went on to the next exercise.

The Reverse Grip Bent Over Barbell Row was up next, working in a pyramid fashion the results started off high and the weight nice and low, I was trying to make sure that I was hitting failure on each set regardless of the rep ranges. With a stable base and strong lower back I slowly worked my way through the sets, drawing the elbows up to my sides in order to actively engage the lasts. Then working back down the pyramid I changed the grip around to allow work through a different portion of the lats. Big compound movements like these tend to drain energy quite quickly, which why I am inclined to use pre workout formulas in order to sustain energy and concentration throughout these long,  intense sessions.

The Single Arm Dumbbell Arc Row was a new one for me, as a combination of the standards Dumbbell row and a reverse Dumbbell fly this movement was targeting the smaller rhomboid muscles as well as the posterior Delts. Trying to keep my firm strict I made sure to pause at the bottom of every movement, this denied me the possibility of swinging the weight up, but instead forces the muscles to work harder. So after hitting the smaller muscles around the shoulder and scapular what better way to really finish myself off then by some heavy ass Single Arm Dumbbell Row. The emphasis with this exercise was all about intensity, keeping as little rest break between sets as possible. The only rest I have myself was getting a new weight each set, then running back to strap up and get the reps done. This pushed masses of blood though my back and allowed me to flush the muscles with lots of growth hormone.

With the back fully cooked it was time to move on to working the synergistic muscles and every guys favourite, the biceps! Starting with the preacher curl I performed a few weightless sets on the ez bar before loading up for my working sets. With the lighter sets I wants to try and push lots of blood into the biceps, as I was only performing two different exercises I wanted to get the most out of them as possible. I found the heavier sets really took its toll on the  biceps, thoroughly burning even during the rest breaks, I put the pain to one side and made sure I finished strong!

Working the biceps individually on the last exercise (Single Arm Preacher Curl ) really bought to light how much stronger my right arm was in comparison to my left. I made sure I chose a weight that tested the weaker arm, but let the stronger arm go through the motions. By working the weaker arm more or allows that side to develop better, as it not constantly having to try and keep up with the stronger and more dominant arm, which will aid my symmetry when i step on stage next year.

With my body beaten and my energy levels through the floor it was time to get a protein shake down me. I like to use The Protein Works for my shakes,  which are a simple whey powder to aid my recovery and growth.

For nutritional advice and bespoke programmes come and have a chat with me at: mgonlinept@gmail.com and change your future, today.

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 10 Day 2 - Pectoral Punishment

02/06/15 Day 64 – Chest & Triceps

Feeling still shaky after yesterday's leg session it was time to draw my focus in on the next task, which came in the form of chest and triceps, looking at the session I knew it was going to be just as tough as yesterdays session, again looking at big volume, big weights and lots of work. So here is what the session looked like:

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

Flat Barbell Bench Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Decline Dumbbell Flyes – 12 Sets, 30,25,20,15,10,5,5,10,15,20,25,30

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

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

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

Close Grip Press Ups – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

With some much needed rotator cuff work being done and a certain buzz about me I started the session with the Incline Barbell Bench Press. Here my focus was to stretch out the chest at the bottom of the movement and squeeze the pecks together as I exploded out of the bottom of the movement. My first few sets were incredible, as if I had found a power within me that changed the whole dynamic of the exercise, but as quickly as it came it was gone, hitting set four I smashed into a mental wall, the pecks were now struggling to contract properly and I found myself fighting every single rep. Finally I finished the first exercise, swelling nicely I moved on to the Flat Barbell Bench Press for the DTP drop set to follow. With lots of smaller plates on the bar the intension was to complete the reps stated then strip a few plates, go for the reps again and continue the pattern until the sets were complete. Now on paper this seems fine, but after seriously pre fatiguing the chest this became very hard, very quickly. Pushing up through the palm of my hands I made it a game of quits, I wouldn't put the bar down till I finished, that meant I either crushed myself under the bar, or I pushed my limits out of the way and finished the set.

Now came the pain train. Working through 12 set on Decline Dumbbell Flyes was no walk in the park, as I was working with both maximal strength and endurance I had to really concentrate on the motion, I could have easily injured my self If I wasn't so switched on. Feeling for the tension through the pecs with every rep meant I could be as effective as possible during the workout. With only a few weeks left of this programme it is all about being as effective and efficient as possible to gain the best results I can for my body. With the final sets draining my energy like a punctured tire I was so happy with my determination to keep on pushing, always looking forward to the future and thinking about the body I am building is the motivation I need to carry on and this is exactly what allowed me to excel in this workout.

Onto the final exercise for the chest, the Incline Dumbbell Flyes, this was simply a burn out exercise. By pushing through heavy reps with a low set range meant I was able to go a lot heavier than the previous exercise, this meant more muscle fibre tears and promoting more HGH (human growth hormone) to be distributed into the muscles. Boy did I have an all mighty pump by the end of this exercise!

With the chest cooked to pieces it was time to turn the heat up a bit more and get my triceps sizzling away and what better way to do so than the Rope Tricep Extension! One of my go to exercises during my past training routines, I was no stranger to the burn I was about to feel. The great feeling of my triceps growing throughout the sets kept me focused on the work at hand, keeping the elbows tight allowed me to keep the focus on the triceps purely. When raising to the top of the motion I made sure I was incredibly slow and controlled, this meant I could put the triceps under tension for a longer period of time and thus allow the muscles to be worked more effectively.

I then found myself facing a new challenge in the form of the Seated Overhead Rope Tricep Extensions. This is a completely new exercise for me and with the added factor of burnt out triceps that I was meant to be burning out even more its needless to say this SUCKED (but was also awesome). Getting an insane contraction through the whole length of tricep meant this is a new exercise that will be put straight into my top 10 favourites for triceps!

By this time I couldn't fully lift my arms up, my chest was swollen and my triceps were burnt to pieces. I took myself to the matted area to finish off my session with Close Grip Press Ups & Bench Dips. The press ups were impossible to complete fully, so I went to my knees and even on the knees I couldn't fully support my body weight, which only proved that I had worked my triceps to their breaking point. The bench dips also had to be performed in a reduced range, with my feet on the floor I tried to keep the focus solely on my triceps, but when they wanted to give up I had to introduce a bit of force with the legs to just keep pushing myself through the final sets. The rest period between the sets were equal to the number of reps performed, much like the principles of previous DTP Extreme weeks.

Well it fair to say I am looking forward to tomorrow's rest day, I will be preforming some light abdominal work to keep ticking over as well as some light cardio to keep the metabolism up, but I will be checking in with you beautiful people on Thursday/Friday!

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 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 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