I recently read a good post by Dante of DC Training fame, who presented a good analogy for executing a squat.  He described the execution as a similar movement to lifting up a swiss ball by squatting down (rather than bending over).  The legs would be shoulder width apart and feet facing out and you would drop your ass down between your feet, with your knees travelling out the way (and around the swiss ball, rather than your knees travelling forward into the ball).  This way, a lot of stress is taken off the knees and the back does not need to bend over as much.  It also allows you to go deeper.

The following youtube video is the best example Ive seen of executing a squat, with some heavy poundages:

The Perfect Squat голова болит секс голова болит секс голова болит секс

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However, 3 months into the routine I realised I wasn’t making much progress above what I had achieved previously. My strength and muscle wasn’t really increasing much, but my body fat was. Becoming a bit disillusioned with my training, I decided I had to take a completely new approach – at least to renew my interest if nothing else.

I looked at what I have been doing in recent times. Having worked out in the gym for a number of years I have utilised a number of different training routines. I’ve tried various splits. 3 days, 4 days, 5 days. I’ve tried a wide variety of exercises and I’ve paired various muscle groups together. Push/Pull/Legs, single muscle groups each day, chest and biceps, triceps and biceps……. Most combinations I’ve attempted.

However. during this time all my routines have had one thing in common: They have all been volume based routines. Each routine may have had differing splits, differing exercises and rep ranges but for each muscle group I have always executed a number of exercises over a large number of sets – anything from 10 – 20 sets in total per muscle group. голова болит секс

There have been 2 reasons I have always gone for a volume approach. Firstly, I’ve been a victim of the “more is better” attitude - the idea that performing more work on a muscle will make it grow quicker. Secondly, I’ve followed a general consensus. When you look at other people in the gym, when you hear about professional body builders and when you read magazines such as Flex and Muscle and Fitness, you mainly see volume-based routines. Seeing the masses perform these routines naturally makes you think that the same approach will best serve you.

And I’m not denying that volume training works – it had got me to where I was and has obviously developed great physiques for many people. However, being somewhat stuck in a rut, I needed a change from what I had been doing week in and week out for many years.

For me the answer was a Lower Volume / High Intensity Approach.

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Welcome to my blog….

Over the coming posts I hope to give you an insight into the monotonous world of a casually obsessed gym goer. I will be discussing my experiences, opinions and observations on a range of topics, from training routines and exercise techniques to diet planning, supplementation and lifestyle.

But first of all, as this is my first post, a good place to start would be a bit of background on me….

I’m pretty much your Average Joe. I’m in my late 20s, I work a 9-5 job, I’m not married and I don’t have any kids. But what I do have, and probably share in common with you if you’re reading this blog, is an unhealthy obsession with bodybuilding.

Since my days as a teenager, when I realised that the bean-pole look wasn’t actually a great look, I’ve spent years striving to look like I belong on the cover of Muscle and Fitness. It’s been a long and expensive hobby, taking me through copious amounts of chickens and tuna, mountains of protein powders and years of my life pushing a dead weight through a simple motion over and over and over and over…… (God knows how many bench presses I have actually done).

And now that I’m looking back and asking myself if all the hard work has paid off, I think of all the great things this sport has given me. I’ve become a great cook (dry grilled chicken and broccoli every day), have great will power (God, I need some chocolate), a healthy social life (bottles of water in the pub, in bed by 9) and am happy at what I see looking back at me in the mirror (which I seem to see very often – it’s not vanity, honest).

So, at the end of it all, is it worth it? Well, I aint appeared on a cover of Muscle and Fitness yet, but you know for sure I’ll be in the gym tomorrow morning.

Eat. Train. Sleep.

“I don’t train abs, I’m bulking up. I’ll train them when I’m on a diet.”

I hear this statement in the gym often. It’s said by people who believe that when they are bulking, they will inevitably be carrying a bit of fat, so there is no point in building up the abs as they won’t be visible. They may as well only concentrate on them when they get lean enough to actually be able to see them.

I have to admit, I’ve been guilty of this as well. Abs are always the muscle group to get missed out when you are concentrating on the heavy poundage. Use all that energy to push the big weights on the big muscles, why waste it on a few reps on the 6 pack which you won’t be able to see anyway.

But, having just come off a very successful 6 month diet phase, I can tell you, from experience, the flaws in this thinking.

Three reasons why train abs all year round

Firstly, we are body builders and body building involves equal development of overall muscle groups - whether they are small or big. Would you not train triceps, simply because you can’t see the separation between the tricep heads while your bulking?

Secondly, the abdominal muscle is like any other - it requires constant work over a long period of time to develop. You can’t simply hit them for a 3 month period and expect them to grow in proportion to the rest of the body. This is especially true when you are dieting - the fact that you are in a calorie deficit makes it extremely difficult to retain muscle, never mind put on any new muscle mass - point that I found out when attempting to develop my abdominals purely during the diet phase.

The third point, I found to be of particular importance. By developing your abdominals when you are “bulking”, they will quickly become increasingly visible as you shed the fat during a diet phase. This helps with the perception, from a mental aspect - that your diet is working - as the abdominal section is often people’s reference for how lean they are. However, if you attempt to try to develop abdominals during the diet, it may be a long time before you see any real definition in the mid section, even though you may be optimally shedding fat. Mentally, this can be disheartening and can lead to premature ends to diets or, worse yet, overly extreme diets which result in muscle loss. As everyone knows, being in the right mindset is half the battle when cutting.

My ab training advice

So, my advice: put together a quick and effective abdominal routine which you will happily and consistently perform whether you’re bulking or dieting. Perform this twice a week. If you can still put in the focus at the end of a workout, add it to the end of bigger muscle group routines. If you find it difficult to consistently stick to the abdominal routine at the end of these workouts, perform it on your “days off”. This may be in the house (get the appropriate equipment you need) or in the gym - by itself or with cardio.

Abs are for life, not just for diets.

Eat. Train. Sleep.

Let’s take a typical session on the treadmill for example. I’ll get on the machine, set my pace and start jogging happily. I’ll look around a bit, people watch in the gym, run through some thoughts in my head while happily jogging away. After a while, content I’ve ran a fair distance, I’ll look down at the clock expecting to be half way through my (modest) 25 minute session and get a shock realising only 2 minutes have past. The rest of the session then involves me forcing myself not to look at the clock, struggling to get through each following minute and wishing I hadn’t looked down so early in the first place.

If, like me, you don’t have a passion for cardio, you may find this little anecdote very familiar.

My cardio for weight loss routine

Well, a while ago I was chatting to a fellow gym-goer, who told me he swore by outdoor power walking performed first thing in the morning. So, I thought Id drag myself out of bed before work and give it a try. That was well over a year ago and now I wouldn’t perform any other form of cardio.

My routine started as simply a fast 30 minute walk. However, now a typical routine involves a jog over the duration of 45 minutes, broken into 4 stages. I jog each stage, and then take a 30 second walk to bring the heart rate back down a bit before embarking on the next stage. This helps break the session up a bit while ensuring a steady and moderate heart rate - important if you trying to lose fat and maintain the muscle.

Reasons why it works

And why do I prefer this over machine based cardio for weight loss? Well, it all comes down to the same rule that applies to anything in body building – consistency. You will only get somewhere if you perform any activity consistently over a period of time. And to be consistent in any activity, you must be happy to perform it day, in day out. For me, this form of cardio for weight loss is a lot easier to be consistent in, for the following reasons:

1. Progress through the session is visual – you can constantly tell by your surroundings how far you have progressed in your session. This is infinitely more satisfying than looking at a number on a clock.
2. By breaking a route into stages, you can use the divide and conquer approach to reach your end goal. Setting short term goals within a session makes it easier to manage and reach your end goal.
3. You can roll out of bed and straight into your workout – no need to travel to and from the gym.
4. The fact you are outdoors means you get fresh air and a change in scenery as you workout. You can even change routes to keep things interesting. Much better than being in a hot gym, looking at the same spot for 45 minutes.

Choose your cardio for weight loss routine

So, do I think that jogging outdoors is the only form of cardio that works? No. But my main point here is to definitely choose a cardio routine that you are happy to stick with until you reach yours goals. For you, this may be the rower, the treadmill or the cross trainer. But if like me, you dread the site of these machines - try hitting the streets in the mornings. You may find that cardio becomes as integral to your routine as the bench press.

Eat. Train. Sleep.

Most people would think that this is common sense, however I still see countless numbers of people doing practically the same exercise countless number of times in the same routine. The prime example is biceps. How many people do you see doing standing barbell curls followed by standing dumbbell curls? Quite a few, right? What’s the point in travelling down the same road twice? Both exercises practically work the muscle in the same way.

Add variety to your training routine

When devising a routine it is important to get enough variety. And when it comes to exercise selection, variety has everything to do with angles . You want to choose a selection of exercises that hit a muscle at different angles.

For chest, this is simple. You have incline, decline and flat as well as fly movements. Most people know this. But, when you come to biceps, how do you make your exercise selection.

With biceps, the variety comes from two factors - the supination of the hand and the stretch on the bicep. Supination can be altered by using a hammer style grip or a standard reverse grip. The stretch can be altered one of three ways. Either have your arm straight down by the side of your body (standing curl), stretched behind your body (lying on an incline bench) or in front of your body (concentration curl). By selecting exercises that place a different stretch on the muscle, it ensures that your routine has enough variety to hit the muscle at different angles and promote well rounded growth of the muscle.

So, whenever putting together a routine for a muscle group, look at the various angles that you can attack the muscle. By ensuring you don’t select two exercises that work the muscle in the same way, I’m sure your will see an improvement in development and growth.

In part two, I will go through each muscle group and detail how to make the appropriate selection of exercises to provide enough variety in your routine.

Eat.Train.Sleep.

Now, to many people 7.4% body fat may seem relatively lean, but to me, someone
who has spent 6 months losing 14% of my body fat – that’s 2% a month on average,
an increase of 1.4% in the space of one week is on the road to becoming obese.

A number of things ran through my mind.  I suddenly had the worry that my plans
for a lean bulk would be abruptly cut short.  The mere sight of a carbohydrate
was beginning to make me nervous.  What had I done wrong?  Had I wasted 6 months
of dieting with 1 simple week of carbohydrate consumption?    Did I still look
good?  Will I ever be able to put on size without turning into a tonne of lard?

Getting a grip of myself, I’ve realised that this is part of the process.  Just
as I did when I was dieting, I will have to learn what my body needs to build
muscle efficiently.  And I will only learn this through experimentation and
constant monitoring and tweaking of my routine.  At least I now have a baseline
to start making these adjustments. And after all, 7.4% is still lean, isn’t it?

So, what’s the plan now?  Well, it’s simple really.  I will drop my carbohydrate
consumption slightly – small quantities from each meal - continue as normal and
re-evaluate next week.  Now, if things continue the way they have been this
previous week, I might really start panicking………….

Eat. Train. Sleep.

Body building isn’t only about gaining lean muscle mass, it is also about developing a well balanced physique. Once you have established that your gaining muscle through monitoring of body weight and body fat, you want to ensure that the muscle is going to the right places.

3 simple methods to track body composition

This can be achieved by looking at your training log, taking size measurements and using the mirror. As long as your body composition is progressing optimally, you can be sure that any apparent increases in muscle size and strength are from quality muscle and not from body fat.

So, how do you use these three measurements? Well firstly, you need to sure you are taking them at regularly to allow comparisons after each interval. You then need to analyse them individually:

• Using a mirror to monitor body composition
  In this case, you are better off taking photos on your digital camera and uploading them to your PC. The photos should be taken at the same time of day and in the same lighting conditions, preferably in a harsh spotlight to show up muscle definition appropriately. Also, a number of poses should be chosen which are taken each time. For example, lat spread, double bicep etc.

  To analyse these, subsequent photos should be placed side by side and you should visually look for improvements. You can also get a second person’s impartial opinion. This should show up areas which are developing well and areas which are lacking.

• Complete a training log book
  A training log book should be filled out as you visit the gym. This not only allows you to set appropriate lifting targets for you next visit to the gym but allows you to profile how your strength is developing. Analysing sequential routines will show how a muscle is developing. Increases in strength should result in increases in size.
• Monitor body composition with a measuring tape
  The measuring tape gives precise results to increases in size for particular muscle groups. For example, if sequential measurements of the biceps show a growth of 1 inch in 2 months, it can be derived that there is a growth in lean muscle assuming that body composition is also developing as expected. Even a gradual loss in size can be fine if body fat is decreasing and strength is remaining the same.

Analysing and Tweaking Results

Mass building phase

While in a mass building phase, general trends should be towards increased strength and size. If a specific area shows stagnation, it points towards a need to change your routine for that muscle group. It may involve increasing intensity, using shocking techniques or even lowering volume.

Fat loss phase

While in a fat loss phase, strength should stay pretty constant even though body size measurements may decrease. This is natural as your body doesn’t have the calories to increase in strength. Drops in strength are warning signs that your calories are too low. In this phase, the mirror and the photos become important. Your physique should become more defined and your abdominals more apparent as the fat loss phase progresses. This should happen naturally when your body composition is changing appropriately and should be highlighted in the photos.

Make taking measurements a habit

The key point here is to use the measurements to highlight what isn’t working for you and then to adapt and learn how your body responds. It can be a long progress to get the formula right and understand your body. But, by taking measurements, you are able to work towards putting together your optimal routine and continue with optimal gains.

This concludes my 5 part post. So get the callipers out, stand on the scales, take some photos and start seeing some continued progress towards a lean, muscular physique.

Body fat is probably the most essential measurement that a body builder can use to chart their progress. Yet, having said this, it is probably the most underused measurement – how many people in the gym know their real body fat percentage compared to either their body weight, max bench press or bicep circumference. Not many, right?

This may come down to many reasons – one major reason being that measurements of size and strength seem to be more impressive and ego-friendly than measurements of leanness.

A second reason may be that measuring your body fat isn’t as easy as jumping on scales or picking up a weight. It requires some specific tools and in some cases, a bit of skill in using these tools.

So, how can the average person measure their body fat?

Professional Skinfold Callipers

The most accurate method is through the use of skinfold callipers. This involves taking measurements of skinfolds at various key points on the body and plugging the results into an equation to produce a body fat percentage. The points used vary between different techniques. The Jackson Pollock technique is one of the most common and utilises measurements taken from in and around the chest, tricep, back, abdomen and thigh.

Since a degree of skill is required, as well as a second person to perform the measurements, this is often best done via your local gym. However, if you can purchase your own callipers and have someone else capable of performing the measurements, this can also be done in the home.

Accumeasure Callipers

These are callipers that give a result based on a single measurement above the hip. Although not as accurate as professional skinfold callipers, they are known to provide decent results and also have the advantage of not requiring a second person to take the measurement.

Bioelectrical Impedance

This involves the use of machines that pass an electrical current through the body to calculate the percentage of body fat. These are notoriously inaccurate as results vary between person to person as well as being dependant on food and water consumed in the hours previous to measurement. However, if results are taken at the same time and state with the same equipment (eg. Every Sunday morning on an empty stomach), results can be used appropriately for comparison. These machines can be purchased or found in shops such as Boots and also have the benefit of not requiring a second person to take measurements.

The Pinch Test

If no equipment is available, a simple test is to pinch various areas of the body and feel, by hand, how much body fat lies under the skin. By doing this on a regular basis you should be able to judge when body fat is increasing.

The above gives four choices at measuring body fat. These have been listed in order of accuracy. Choose the method that is most convenient for you and start taking measurements on a regular basis. You may be surprised at how your body composition is changing, either better than you expect, or more likely, worse.

Now that you know what measurements are required and how to calculate your body fat, my next post A Scientific Approach To Chart Progress will discuss how to interpret these results to be able to adapt and tweak your routine to make continuous progress.

Eat.Train.Sleep.

Over the years, I’ve seen my weight go up and down like a yoyo. One minute, I’m “bulking up” to put on size (getting fat), the next I’m dieting to get shredded (losing all the hard earned muscle). And before I know it, its two years down the line and I basically look the same as I did before I started the whole cycle. At which point, I take a moment to question how things have seemed to be going well at the time, but, having trained so hard and put in so much work, I don’t look that much different. What a waste of time.

Well, having had the most successful 6 months of my body building life, I now know the answer – I’ve focussed on the immediate goal, let my ego get in the way and have not took the appropriate measurements to ensure that my body composition is changing appropriately to meet my goals.

Commonly used methods to measure training progress

Most people rely on 3 or 4 key measurements to gauge their progress:

1. The mirror to make sure they look different (I look MASSIVE!!!)
2. The weights to make sure they are getting stronger (more strength equals more muscle, right?)
3. The scales (I need to make it to 16 stone!!!)
4. The measuring tape (22″ pythons)

Don’t listen to your ego

The problem with simply using these four measurements is down to two key issues.

Firstly - the ego. In the constant quest to get bigger, the eyes can be deceiving and the brain may have a slight bias when it comes to analysing the data.

Bigger in the mirror may seem better when you wish to be packing on size, but is it really quality muscle? Pushing heavier weights may mean bigger muscles, but are you sure all that size is being used to push the weight? The needle may point to 16 stone, and you may think you have hit your target weight, but how much of that weight is down to pounding the iron and how much is down to pounding the kebabs? And is that really 44″ of oak like pectoral or 44″ of man boob?

Monitor your body fat

All these questions can be resolved by addressing the second issue – including the one missing key measurement – body fat. By applying a body fat measurement

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, a perspective can be placed on all of these other measurements and the ego can be removed from the equation. The weight on the scales can be validated, the effects of the kebabs can be quantified and the pectoral/man-boob debate put to rest.

So don’t be scared of the callipers – start measuring that body fat and make sure you stay on the path to progress.

In the next part I will discuss how to take body fat measurements, analyse my progress and tweak my routine.