Tag Archives: bodybuilding

What body type are you?

12 Friday Sep 2014

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bodytypes

Body types

When it comes to building muscle i think its important you should know a bit about anatomy of the body instead of just going to the gym and lifting weights and thinking thats going to be enough to change it. Understanding your body and knowing how it works is crucial when it comes to any physical activity. Some of you may already know what the different body types are but for those who don’t I’m going to run through the 3 different types, You will need to decide which one most resembles you and then train and eat accordingly.

Ectomorph

  • skinny and lean
  • slightly muscled
  • Natural low body fat
  • Find it hard to gain weight
  • Ruler appearance
  • Fast metabolism

Mesomorph

  • Muscular
  • Square frame
  • naturally strong
  • respond well to exercise
  • Efficient metabolism
  • evenly distributed body fat
  • big boned

Endomorph

  • Muscle gain is easy but tend to bulk
  • puts on weight easy
  • big boned
  • Slow metabolism
  • Find it hard to keep fat of
  • naturally have more body fat
  • Fatigue faster

Now you know the 3 types you need to decide which one you are, knowing your body type is important because you need to specialise your training and diet plan depending on what one you are. For example a ectomorph will need to consume high amounts of calories/carbs/protein to put weight on and maybe have to cut down on cardio and focus on more weight lifting, and endomorph being the opposite.

Killer leg workout

07 Sunday Sep 2014

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Ive spent a little bit of time creating a new leg workout since the one i usually do was starting to get a little easier, so instead of just increasing the weight i decided to switch it up! Instead of just going heavy like a lot of people do, i decided to utalise drop sets and supersets to really increase the intensity and get a good pump. I tend to do my calfs on a different day so this workout is purely for your quads,hams and glutes. Make sure your warmed up and stretched of before you go into this workout.

 

Barbell squat drop sets 3 sets

– 1st set 12,10,8,6

– 2nd set 12,10,8

– 3rd set 10,8,6

Hack squat superset with dumbbell lunge 3 sets

– 1st set 12reps on each

– 2nd set 10reps on each

– 3rd set 10reps on each

Quad extensions drop sets 3 sets 

– 1st set 12,10,8,6

– 2nd set 10,8,6

– 3rd set 10,8,6

Hamstring curls 3 sets of 10 reps

 

 

Dumbbells or barbell?

05 Friday Sep 2014

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“Should i use a bar or a dumbbell?” 

This is something i hear quite a lot and I’m going to go through a few pros and cons to using both. I personally love the contraction i feel in my muscle when I’m using dumbbells, purely because it involves more muscle fibres to be recruited and other muscles having to work as stabilisers. For example when your performing the chest press exercise with a dumbbell your using a lot more of your core muscles to actually get the weight up, another thing is when your using dumbbells your actually isolating the muscle more than you would with a bar. On the other hand using a bar can great because the weight is distributed evenly therefore making it a little bit of an easier exercise to get the hang of. All that being said you weather you prefer using dumbbells or bars you need to make sure that you use BOTH. Spend a few weeks practising your technique using dumbbells then go on to the bar and then back to the dumbbells. Using one more than the other will result in an imbalance and your body will begin to get used to it and ultimately stop progressing.

Workout wednesday

03 Wednesday Sep 2014

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Tonight i managed to fit in a great workout which involved high intensity cardio mixed with some strength and conditioning exercises. This workout is a circuit which focuses on compound lifts and movements to improve all round strength. Aim to have as little rest as possible in-between the exercises. Tonight i did this 5 times but do whatever you feel comfortable and see how you get on!

Interval sprints on treadmill – Sprint for 30 seconds, walk for 30 seconds x 5 

Pull ups to failure x4

Bench press – 10×4

Deadlifts 10×4

Squats 10×4

 

Advanced shoulder workout

01 Monday Sep 2014

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I think for most people monday is the day to train chest but i find that the majority of benches and chest machines are always busy! So today instead i decided to train my delts, i love training shoulders because i always get a good pump and its a muscle that i notice burns out fast and i can always hit them hard. So here is my workout that i did tonight, its quite an advanced workout because i used drop sets/supersets which require some good strength and conditioning to be able to complete

Wall handstands:

3 sets to failure

Military press 3x drop sets:

  1. 12,10,8,6
  2. 10,8,6,6
  3. 10,8,6,6

*If your using dumbbells make sure you have your weights ready to save time.

Side raise superset with front raise (cable):

4×12 reps

Upright barbell rows:

3×12 reps 

Rear delt cables superset with front raise 7 reps, side raise 7 reps, rear dent raises (dumbbell) 

3×12 reps        * use a light weighted dumbbell for the superset exercise

Barbell shrugs:

4×12 reps

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complete 6 pack abs

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

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There are so many different views when it comes to how to actually get a perfect 6 pack.The other day i mentioned that abs are made in the kitchen which is completely true but I have also personally found that you need to train abs how you train the rest of your body, for example when you train deltoids you tend to hit every angle, when you train chest you also train every angle and perfrom different presses and movements that will in time will developed a well rounded muscle. So when it comes to abs why don’t you do the same? Another muscle that usually gets ignored are your internal and external obliques, well trained and ripped obliques gives you a great looking stomach and also helps the classic v line cut into your lower abs. I tend to hit abs with weight so I’m getting a rep range of 10-15 and then also mix it up with high rep exercises. Take this into consideration next time you hit your abs!

Train S.M.A.R.T

25 Monday Aug 2014

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 Aimlessly walking around your gym jumping from machine to machine and swinging a few dumbbells around or even doing half hearted cardio workouts over your local park or in your back garden will result in little to no progress. You need to be training S.M.A.R.T 

S – specific -Be specific on what you are actually trying to do, if your goal is weight loss you need to stop the muscle building exercises or vice versa.

M – measurable – Make sure your workout programme is measurable. Weigh yourself frequently and also up your workout intensity, how will you ever progress if you use the same weights or run at the same pace at the same time?

A – attainable -Your goals must be attainable! Not to difficult or to easy. Work at your own pace which you feel is best for you.

R – realistic – One of the most important things when it comes to muscle growth, weight loss, fitness improvement is being realistic, everyone is different and everyone make progress in their own time but thinking its possible to lose a stone in a week or put on 50lbs of muscle over night will result in massive dissapointment.

T – time-oriented – Everything takes time! make sure you have a schedule and you actually stick to it.

 

Now you know what SMART means make sure you remember it and you actually apply it.

Another way of training smart is to actually stop thinking about exercise as something physical and start actually using your brain when it comes to achieving your goals. I notice that people often lose track of how long they have been doing a certain workout for or how much weight they can lift. Start keeping track of what you do in the gym. By this i mean note down how much weight you are bench pressing, note down how you feel after doing 30 minutes on a cross trainer at a specific intensity. If something isn’t working you need to switch it up. This is how you make improvement!

 

 

 

 

Over training

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

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Over training is a subject that i think many people disregard and don’t even think about as they are to busy trying to improve their fitness or pack on as much muscle as possible. This is great, however the majority of people don’t actually realise that overtraining can massively effect your fitness goals or muscle gains or even result in injury. To improve on any aspect of fitness you need to overload your body to some extent for a fair amount of time, however you still need to have rest days to let your body completely recuperate and adjust to the physical demands A Typical week for me i probably train anywhere between 4-6 times but i always make sure i have one or two rest days where stock up on all the nutrients i need to prepare me for the up coming workouts.Overtraining will eventually result in your gains slowing down or stopping all together! Make sure you rest. i get it its hard for some people as if your like myself and you love training you feel lazy or agitated when your not in the gym but for your own sake be sure to have some chill time.

Some of you are probably not sure what the signs of over training are so here are a few common symptoms:

Constant muscle soreness

Trouble sleeping

Feeling weak and tired 

Weak immune system 

Lack of motivation

If you have any of these signs or your now thinking that your overtraining just have a few days of or if your a heavy weight lifter why not try and swap the weight sessions for a few light cardio sessions instead?

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BUILD A BIGGER CHEST

17 Sunday Aug 2014

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Training chest Is a favourite for me and I’m probably not speaking for myself when i say that, However i notice that a lot of people stop making progress when it comes to chest and the main reason for that is they use the same exercises week in week out for months and months. Your body eventually gets used to certain exercises and you need to change it up to carry on progressing. So here is my personal chest workout that i recently designed which i i love. This is an advanced chest routine so but its guaranteed to leave you with a great pump and you will be aching for days!

Flat bench dumbbell press drop sets 

12,10,8,6 X 4

Incline dumbbell press superset with incline push ups

10X4 and push ups to failure between every set

Decline dumbbell press superset with push ups

10X4 and push ups to failure between every set

Incline Dumbell fly superset with dips 

10×4 and dips to failure between every set 

High cable cross over drop sets 

12,10,8,6 X 4 

Low cable cross over drop sets 

12.10,8,6 X 4

 

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

16 Saturday Aug 2014

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For me training in the gym or exercising in general is a way of life and i find it easy to get up and workout but i know for so many of you getting started is probably the hardest thing.

Where do i start in the gym?

i know not everyone is super fit or has a muscular lean body so i find people asking me ” where do is start?” alot. Starting of in the gym can be confusing and a bit boring for most as to be honest they don’t really know what they are doing or how to exercise at all, So I’ve been thinking and here I’ve come up with a basic plan for the gym.

1.) Warm up – this is a must as you need to make sure you get the blood flowing and loosen up the joints you are going to be working. 

2. Stretch and joint mobilisation – So many people avoid stretching all together but please make sure you stretch of the muscles you are going to be working otherwise and also spend a couple of minutes preparing your joints. You are prone to injury if you don’t do this and I’m sure you’d agree that injuring yourself on your first outing to the gym is a bit embarrassing.

3. Cardio or weights – For a beginner i would advice to spend maybe 20-30 minutes using some cardiovascular machines at about 6-8 intensity and then move on to some resistance training and free weights also. You don’t need to be doing crazy amounts of sets or any fancy training just along as you ease into it at a relitively good intensity. I usually do between 3-5 sets of most free weight and resistance machine exercises but if your starting out i would recommend 1-3 sets with a rep range of 10-15

4.Warm down and post stretch – spend another 10 minutes just warming down and stretching of, again this will help prevent injury and stop blood pooling to your muscles. another good reason to do this is so you don’t ache as much which feels awful for most beginners. 

Relax – probably the most enjoyable part is that you need to relax after training! i don’t mean relax by eating a bar or chocolate or stuffing your face i mean just chilling out at home for a few hours.

If you use these tips next time you go to the gym without a clue what to do I’m sure your feel much more comfortable and confident. Training is fun and enjoyable when you know what your doing so please give this a go and let me know how you get on!

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