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 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 5 - One Way Ticket To The Gun Show!

30/05/15 Day 61 – Arms

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

Here is your ticket to the Gun Show:

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

SuperSet

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

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

SuperSet

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

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

25/05/15 Day 57 – Legs & Calves

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

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

Leg Extension – 3 Sets, 1 x 50,40,30

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

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

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

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

Lying Leg Curl – 3 Sets, 1 x 50,40,30

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

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

Week 8 Day 3 - Training To Go Saiyan

20/5/15 Day 52 – Chest & Calves

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

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

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

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

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

SuperSet

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

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

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

Cardio- Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 8 Day 1 - Baby Got Back!

18/05/15 Day 50 – Back & Ab

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

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

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

Chin Ups – 5 Sets, 1 x 20,15,10,10,5

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

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

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

SuperSet

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

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

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

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

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

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

SuperSet

Seated Knee Tucks – 5 Sets x To Failure

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

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15min Total

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 7 Day 5 - Hard Work Will Always Pay Off

15/05/15 Day 47 – Triceps & Calves

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

Enough of all that! Lets get into the session:

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

SuperSet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

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

Happy lifting,

Matt

Week 7 Day 4 - Carnage

14/05/15 Day 46 – Shoulders

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

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

SuperSet

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

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

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

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

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

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

SuperSet

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

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

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

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

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

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

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

So thanks.

Happy Lifting,

Matt

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

12/05/15 Day 44 – Chest & Biceps

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

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

SuperSet

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

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

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

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

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

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

SuperSet

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

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

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

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

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

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

Week 6 Day 5 - Chest 101

08/05/15 Day 40– Chest & Biceps

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

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

Incline Dumbbell Bench – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Leverage Chest Press – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

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

Cable Cross-Over – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

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

Barbell Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Preacher Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope every is enjoying their training today!

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

Happy Lifting,

Matt

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

06/05/15 Day 38 - Active Rest

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

5 simple points to help you lose that unwanted poundage 

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Happy Resting,

Matt

Week 6 Day 2 - Failure Is Just Another Lesson

05/05/15 Day 37 – Shoulders & Triceps

Following on with the HIT style of training, made famous by Dorian Yates, we worked on some slightly smaller muscle groups today as we had such an intense Leg session yesterday. Following a small muscle group after a bigger one simply allows the muscle to repair better, rather than putting stress through the big muscles group every day we are splitting it, one day big group one day small group.

With the pre-workout pumping through my veins and my training partners standing by we got started on our warm ups. After we felt amply ready we got ourselves mentally prepared and ready for the workout. Here it is:

Seated Military Press – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Side Lateral Raises – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Bent-Over Reverse Delt Raise – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Reverse Peck Deck Fly – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Shrugs – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Tricep Pushdown – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Ez Bar Skull Crushers – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

One Arm Tricep Extension – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Beginning the session with the biggest compound movements allowed us to really fatigue the larger muscles quickly, meaning more effort has to utilised through them to complete the sets throughout the entire session. With the Seated Military Press I enjoy taking the barbell behind the head as I feel the engagement of the deltoids more, this is not to say this is the only way to do it, between sets my father was working with me and he found it better to take the bar in front of the body, so do what ever is more comfortable for yourself. Now with this style of High Intensity Training (HIT) your partner needs to be standing by to help you through your sets as your aim is to work to failure within your 8-12 rep ranges, so go heavy, go hard and make some noise because this is going to be tough!

With the shoulders amply pumped up it was time to move on to our first isolation exercise, today it was the Side Lateral Raises. With this exercise my aim was to work to complete failure before any help was given, to make it that little bit harder after the failure had set in, my partner would only give me a slight momentum boost at the bottom of the movement, as this is the hardest part of the exercise as you are completely stationary. Trying to work through failure was so difficult here, I really had to dig deep to draw out every bit of strength I had left, but with the positive encouragement of my partner I was able to put the pain aside and focus on the task at hand.

With the second isolation exercise Bent-Over Reverse Delt Raise the focus was to draw up from the elbow in order to engage the posterior delts. Normally the posterior delts are one of the hard muscles to engage, with not many exercises focusing on isolation them they do tend of be under developed on lots of people, so to get that full shoulder look try to add a few rear delt exercises in each session and you will be amazed at the difference.

After we beat up the read delts a bit it was time to move along to the 2^nd isolation exercise in the form of the Reverse Peck Deck Fly. I really began to struggle with this exercise, after fatiguing such a small muscle group its very hard to sustain such high weight exercises to failure, which means its very easy to fall in to a a comfortable weight zone and not demand more of yourself, this is where having a training partner also helps as they can tell you to stop being a wimp and pump up the weights!

To finish off the shoulder portion of the session we advanced onto the Barbell Shrugs. Now for my fathers sake we did this exercise on a smith machine, one as it is easier to spot/aid someone on a smith machine rather than a free weight, but was also a bit nicer on his back, with some pretty horrendous back injuries it is always imperative that we find an alternative when heavy amounts of lower back recruitment is needed. Drawing the shoulder up to the head to encourage a squeeze through the whole traps we also wanted the lowering of the bar to be under strict control as well, allowing us to get muscular strain through both portions of the movement.

With the shoulders all done and dusted we were feeling pretty good, with my other half (Amie) coming in to join for the Tricep portion of the workout we had an incredibly high level of comradeship and positive encouragement about us, giving us a pep up we moved onto the Tricep Pushdown. Keeping the elbows in tight to isolate the triceps it was proving difficult to get many reps out on the weight I had set for myself, this was probably due to the fatigue throughout the session, but with my partners there they aided me through my two sets with my forced reps past failure to really get that pump going.

After we had complete our cable work it was time to move on to the brutal exercise and a favourite of mine the Ez Bar Skull Crushers. Here I had incredibly over estimated how much strength I had left and needed help from around the 5^th rep of each set, so instead of letting my spotter do all the work I decided to use some negative reps to finish off my sets. The idea behind negative sets is that the spotter will lift the weight to the top portion of the exercise and then you will slowly lower the weight down, hitting the muscles in a different way, when you have reached the bottom they will raise it up once again and you continue to do this until every rep is completed. Brutal.

To round off the whole session we moved onto our separate benches and worked our way through our One Arm Tricep Extension. With the muscles pretty much unwilling to do anything we were having to aid ourselves to push the weight to the top portion of the movement and then performing negatives. This was very testing on the mind as I just wanted to keep giving up, but I knew deep down that giving up wasn't an option.

This was again an absolutely awesome session and really want to encourage people to try out this fantastic method of training. For me these first 6 weeks have been a massive learning curve, teaching me more about myself then I thought I could ever know on every scale possible, I am thankful for every day I can spend in the gym and I know this is something that will change me forever. I am ready.

Happy Lifting,

Matt