When I started out on my long and arduous body building journey, I built a training routine around exercises with a specified weight, set and rep scheme. I stuck to this religiously, simply executing the number of reps I had planned irrespective of whether I had more in me to push out a few extra. And, initially, this worked well for me. …read more
I was under a barbell some time last week, forcing out some shoulder presses and I suddenly realised that Id gone for one rep too many. With nobody in sight to help with a spot I had to use a little body English to force the bar up onto the rack. …read more
I was in the gym this morning, and a couple of pretty massive “Muscle heads” walked in, looking all psyched up for a training session. You know the type, XXXXL t-shirts, MC Hammer trousers, shaven heads and protruding bellies. They didn’t say much, simply walked over purposefully to the bench and started stacking on the weights. …read more
A question many people ask is “How often should you train abs?“. And this question gets a wide range of replies. Many people suggest that the abs benefit from being trained almost every day, whereas others don’t differentiate it from any other muscle group and suggest …read more
When I was new to the gym, I had no idea how to put together a training regime. A typical chest day would contain countless numbers of flat bench presses and flat dumbbell presses with a few sets on cables and the pec dec thrown in for good measure. However, as I have become more experienced I have learned to put a bit more planning into my exercise selections, ensuring that my routine contains enough variety. …read more
Having recently spent 6 months to get my body fat down to 5.7% (and feeling and
looking great for it), the last thing I’d want is to suddenly be putting the
weight back on. Well, you can imagine my anticipation when, having started a
lean bulk plan a couple of weeks ago, I got the old Harpenden skin fold
callipers out to see how things were progressing. And I’m sure you can also
imagine my panic when the reading came out at 7.4%. …read more
Until a while ago, I never used a training log book. I never thought that there was a need. I’ve been training for so long that I have quite a good memory when it comes to keeping track of weights and reps from workout to workout. …read more
In previous posts I have discussed how to use body weight and body fat measurements to ensure continued improvements in body composition. In this post I will discuss how the remaining measurements can help you work towards improving your physique.
Body building isn’t only about gaining lean muscle mass …read more
In previous posts I discussed the concept of taking regular measurements to track you’re progress. In this post I will discuss how to use these measurements to analyse changes to body composition and make the appropriate adjustments.
In order to be able to track your progress, you firstly have to define your expectations of what you think your progress should realistically be. …read more
In my previous posts Measuring Body Fat, I discussed the various measurements required to be able to chart your progress. In the remaining posts I will discuss how to use these measurements to tweak and adjust your training plan as required. …read more