Ultimate Body Construction

Back & Delts/Legs

2011-06-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

Here is my workouts from yesterday & today, which was Delts, Back & Calves yesterday & Legs today.

I am currently thinking about moving to a new gym, which is far better equipped, but some distance from where i live. As much as i like the fact my current gym is open 24hrs & is a stones throw from me, it really does not have the equipment that i want & can be very very busy a certain times.

I am also planning on including some occlusion training next week, just to increase the amount of lactic burn felt (sucker for punishment!)

Delts & Back w/calves

Leg Day w/calves

Brand New TBS Forum

2011-05-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a month since the launch of the Total Body Sculpture Forum, and already people are signing up to learn, teach & motivate!
This makes me really happy.
When it comes to fitness information & healthy living, surely it is better for us to all be in it together!!

If you haven't yet joined us, head over to www.totalbodysculpture.maxforum.org where you will find a growing family of like minded people connected by a motivation to grow.

Below are just 2 of the recipes that are now available on the forum, with the Muscle Stew recently updated on the totalbodysculpture website

MUSCLE BUILDER STEW

ERIZ HIGH PROTEIN SPANISH OMELETTE

I have been so busy setting up the forum, updating the website & other things that i have neglected the blog a little. So, as of Monday i'll be back on it, with the help of phone apps, motivation & a great desire to push on.

Today i filled my freezer with 10kg of chicken breasts, 2 kg of lean chicken mince & my cupboard & fridge with tuna, protein powders, eggs & cottage cheese. Check out the image below for what i mean by filled!

I have a few photoshoots booked for later in the year, however my goal is to be ready to step on stage next year, with FAME, WBFF & MuscleMania all competitions I am considering.

I will also definitely be heading to the BodyPower Expo next year, tickets will be bought as soon as they are on sale.

I've also entered to run the BUPA Great Manchester 10k run next year, after running it with my girlfriend this year. She achieved a great time of 1:00:00 exactly, & this was done with no real training for it, & the fact her knee nearly gave after 8k. At no point did she quit or even stop running, i was delighted & pleased of her to say the least.

Until next week, yours in fitness

Chocolate Protein Souffle

2011-03-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Training is only one part of the puzzle when it comes to constructing your ultimate physique. Rest and nutrition are equally, if not more important parts to consider.
What to eat, when to eat etc are all questions i hear regularly & depending on who you listen to & what you read, the answers can be equally confusing.
Even when you think you have all the answers, the questions keep coming.

For those that have already began to fully implement particular nutritional notions, keeping on top of it, & above all making changes that you wish to stick to because you enjoy them, not just because you feel you have to, can be challenging.

For many people, the daily cycle of protein shakes, chicken, tuna, rice cakes etc can very quickly become boring and for some a form of hell, particularly when former favourites are no longer on the menu!

Sometimes we have to think outside of the box & reproduce these favourites, but in a more streamlined version.

Even if its just to take the edge off!

So, instead of simply chucking 2 scoops of Banana Cream protein powder in a shaker with some Udo's, necking it & going to bed, i made the 'dessert' you see here.

(Note that like the original souffle, i can sink, but the taste is the same. Mine unfortunately sank between me placing on the counter, grabbing my camera & taking a picture.)

Now, i'm using the term dessert here loosely, as anyone that has had a real chocolate souffle knows just how good it can be & no end of quality chocolate protein powder is going to replace it. But it is an ideal alternative, when a shake has just become a little mundane & you fancy something a little different!

Here's how i made it!

INGREDIENTS

200g Egg Whites
1 scoop Optimum Nutrition Chocolate Supreme Casein Powder
20g Apple Sauce
1 teaspoon Splenda
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Allspice
5g Udo's Ultimate Blend Oil

METHOD

*Firstly whisk up the egg whites till they are frothy, before adding in the splenda.
*Whisk for a further minute or so before adding in the scoop of
protein powder.
*Continue to whisk until the mixture is like a very. very thick chocolate milkshake! (see image right)
*Add in the spices & the apple sauce & stir.
*Place into a microwaveable dish & cook uncovered for 90 seconds.
*Remove & add in the Udo's oil.
*At this point i placed the mixture in to the pot you see in the picture, however this was more for the 'souffle effect'.
*Return to the microwave & cook for a further 1 minute, keeping a close eye as the mixture begins to 'rise'.

NUTRITION

Energy - 268 kcal
Protein - 45 grams
Carbs - 4 grams
Fat - 6.3 grams

Enjoy!!!

Thursday 24th March 2011 - ARMS

2011-03-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

AND so on to todays session!
I actually trained earlier than i would normally, being in the gym for 11am.
This was because i had a chiropracter session earlier in the morning & thought it was crazy to take 2 trips into town in the space of a few hours. Plus training earlier gave the chance to get other things done, including my Facebook page, which if you haven't clicked 'LIKE' on already you can do so HERE!! ALSO for those that enjoy 140 characters or less of fitness, join me on twitter HERE!!

Anyway, after some brutal massage & clicks/pops in various places i was in the gym ready to do some damage to the 'pipes'!!!
With a quality tracklisting all ready to aid my arm destruction, i hit the Standing EZ Bar Bicep curls, going as heavy as i could manage, whilst maintaining strict form for 10 reps. I performed 4 sets of this, deciding against drop sets as i knew what else i had in store.
I then moved on to a Triceps exercise, again using the EZ bar. Skullcrushers, with the head slightly off the bench to enable me to get really deep with the negative portion of the exercise. Again, i went as heavy as i could manage whilst keeping form, which is important when you have a bar hovering above your forehead!!

From there i moved on to another combination of Biceps & Triceps exercises.
If you've been following the blog this week, you'll notice i like to do exercises in pairs. Well, i particularly enjoy doing that with arms, as all the blood flow is in this area, which gives a great pump.
On this particular occasion i utilised the cable station, with one side set up with a bar for lying cable bicep curls & the other side set up for Rope Pulldowns, 3 sets of each bouncing from one side to the other with the rest being the opposite exercise.
By this point i was definitely feeling the pump!
Next up was crucifix cable curls, again using the cable station. I may have to train at this time more often, as the gym was far less busy than the usual times i'm there!
The next triceps exercise for me was machine pushdowns, where on this occasion i used the drop set method to really accentuate the pump.
The final bicep exercise i performed was machine preacher curls. Unfortunately, my gym doesn't have a preacher bench, so i am unable to do the 'Deadman Bicep Curls' i like to do. However, i try to ensure as little momentum as possible, with no leaning back at all.
My final exerise was for the triceps & was machine pushdowns.
This is an exercise i am able to go really heavy on & i ensured that i pushed myself fully.
By the end, my arms were pumped up to beyond bursting point, with the vascularity on show for all to see!

Again, the Training Log is below, with my supplements no different to the rest of the week.

TRAINING LOG

Wednesday 23rd March 2011 - LEGS!!

2011-03-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

Despite the trouble i'm currently having with my lower back, i felt it was about time i hit some squats & deadlifts.
Now not being the kind of person that does things half-arsed, i approached my leg workout with a mixture of trepidation, optimism & realism. Yes, a complete contradictory in itself, but there you go.
I wondered if i would feel any beneficial effect from my chiropracter session earlier in the week (Yes, it may of been only one session, but you have to be positive!). I also wondered if what i had in store to smash my legs up, i was going to be able to minimise any stress on my lower back at all.
Initally, i had the idea of splitting the legs up into a quads day & a hamstrings day, however i decided instead to go witha complete legs day, twice in a week. Workout 1 consisting of strong, compound movements. Workout 2 will be later this week, with more isolation movements involved such as extensions & leg curls etc.

I had my Scheik Weight-Belt with me, for when i added a little more weight, however i did want to be sensible & was not going to try pushing any silly weights.
So after a serious warm up which consisted of the X-Trainer for 10 minutes, i hit a tripple whammy (Told you, nothing half-arsed..) Squat, Front-Squat, Wall-Squat.
This consisted of heavy, deep squats 10 to 12 reps, before reducing the weight & doing 'widowmakers' which is a set of 21 reps, before racking the weight, taking the bar on the front before dropping into a set of 12 front squats, again nice and deep, then again racking the bar & leaning against the wall, thighs parallel to the floor for as long as possible, usually 30-45 secs before the legs give.
I performed this 3 times, before moving onto Romanian Deadlifts which i performed in the usual, straight forward manner.

Obviously, this is the exercise i was most weary of as when form is poor, alot of stress can be placed on the lower back.
However, on this occasion everything was all good, hamstrings were well and truly torched, with no stress placed on my back at all.
I moved on to the Leg Press, where i performed drop-sets. I also performed Leg Presses with toes higher on the pad to focus on the hamstrings over the quads.

The final exercise(s) i performed was on the smith machine.
Using a bench & the ability to cheat gravity, i stood in the standard squat position, with the bench between my legs. I then moved my legs to the front of the bench, leaning into the bar at an angle of approximately 70-75-degrees, toes pointed out slightly & feet shoulder width apart. Lowering the bar down until i was almost seated on the bench, glutes lightly touching the bench before powering back up again.
Obviously this movement is impossible on a standard squat rack. You just can't lean like that without falling over.
This exercise really hits the upper quads too.
I performed this as a super-set, with leg presses performed on the same equipment, bar placed across the toes with the toes pointed out slightly.
It's very difficult to hurt yourself on this exercise, so i took the bar as low as i could before pushing up.

I threw in some calf presses for good measure as i had not performed them earlier that day as i didn't do any morning cardio to save myself for this workout.

Again, my supplement list & workout log are below!
Try the Squat-FrontSquat-WallSquat combo out, but be warned it is not for the faint hearted & you will scream like a little girl when your legs give out!

WORKOUT LOG

SUPPLEMENTS

Pre Workout - 40mins prior to workout; 1 Scoop Cell NOX plus 5g Creatine Monohydrate
During Workout - 4 scoops Sci-Vation Xtend
Post Workout - Optimum Nutrition Platinum HydroWhey S'Berry - 50g, MyProtein Dextrose - 70g, MP Glutamine - 10g, MP Creatine Monohydrate - 5g. All the above was mixed in water immediately postworkout & drank straight away to avoid any degradation of the creatine in liquid, as well as to create the anti-catabolic insulin spike to feed the hungry worked muscles!

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Chest Day

2011-03-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a hectic few days so i have been unable to update this as much as i should have, but i've kept hold of all my notes, workout sheets & i'm now putting up the past 3 days all in one go, just so you are able to keep up!

On Tuesday was chest day.
Now, when i returned to training last year, i was brought crashing back to Earth with just how much my strength had diminished. I was completely disheartened at the time & it felt a very long journey ahead of me.
Well, when you're in that situation you have 2 options.

1) Quit & take your sorry arse home feeling sorry for yourself or
2) Knuckle down & fight.

I'll be brutally honest, i flirted with the idea of just throwing in the towel & giving up on all the goals i'd set myself, blindly thinking that i'd find it easy to achieve them.
But when the dust settled, i put the work in & it's fair to say i'm glad i did, 'cos i feel great for it.

I'm now at a stage where i've outgrown the dumbbells available to me at the gym. Granted they may only go up to 88 lbs, but when you're doing sets of 15 reps +, you really want to move on to bigger things. This being the case i'm hoping to utilise a second gym a couple of times a week, basically for access to bigger weights.
Instead of the 'fitness orientated' place i currently use, this is a NHB, spit & sawdust gym, with posters of Dorian Yates on the wall & dumbbells the size of medium sized people on the rack!!
Just the fact i'm needing to look elsewhere its such a motivational boost for me, as at times i felt unsure whether i had it in me to really push on.
But i have invested serious sweat equity into myself over the past few weeks & i'm in a position to move on to the next level. By no means am i at my full capacity. I've been bigger, stronger & fitter in the past & right now i'm a little hampered by my current back problem (more on that later..) but it is getting better & the foundation is in place to be where i want to be, in a realistic time scale, maybe even ahead of schedule.

So back to Tuesday & Chest Day!

As i have problems with my right rotator cuff (right to left kink in upper vertabrae) my right side will fail before my left. This is not due to the pectoral failing, but more the shoulder joint as a whole.
However, it does get progressivly stronger too, so i keep at it. This also means i like to throroughly warm up before i start.
So after at least 4 sets of light dumbbell presses, machine presses & a couple of sets of light cable flys i was ready to hit exercise 1, which is always Incline Dumbbell Presses.
I performed 4 sets, with the last set also 'benefitting from a 'pre-exhaust' set of flys. I like to use a higher angle on my incline presses, around 45-50-degrees. However, i also keep my elbows relatively low, with my grip turned in slightly. I suppose you could say that it is the way dumbbell presses were performed by the greats such as Arnie, Yates etc. I just find that i am able to squeeze the chest harder during the movement. I also find it takes more of the front delt out of the movement, making it more an upper chest exercise.
From there i moved on to Dumbbell Flys, moving the bench down a little to a 35-degree angle. Again, i perform this slightly differently to other people, in that i like to twist my wrists on the upper portion, bringing the dumbbells just short of one another with my palms facing me & my thumbs pointing outwards. I find i am able to really squeeze the inner chest doing this, with the outer chest stretched at the bottom of the movement.
Again, 4 sets, with the last set an all pump-a-thon. Not entirely sure how many reps on the last set, maybe around 30, but the pump at the end was nothing short of 'Kelly Brooke esque'.
Anyway, from there i moved to the rear delt/pec fly machine to really follow up on the pump i'd developed. I utilised a drop set method on this exercise moving from as heavy as i could manage for a good 6 reps, then straight on to a further 10 reps, followed by 16, & 25, moving the pin up the stack as i went.
2 sets of this really blasted the pecs, but it felt great.
I was ready to move onto a last exercise of dumbbell pullovers, but instead threw in a 3 set, dropset style multi-angle cable crossover stint, just because i felt great.
The sweat coming off me by the end was like a river though!
With the pulleys set at the highest point, i brought the handles together at the bottom, around waist height, squeezing the pecs as i did. Taking the handles back out, i brought them back together a little further up the body, maybe around belly button height. Each rep i moved further up, with the 4th rep straight out infront, always squeezing the pecs with each rep, before moving back down the body again. This was done on the heaviest weight i could manage, performing 16 reps. Then i moved the pulleys to the bottom, going through the exact same method, again 16 reps, before moving the pulley to the middle to do it all again.
That was set 1, but set 2 kicked off straight after, with the weight dropped slightly & the pulleys back up to the top, then to the bottom, then the middle.
Set 3, again weight dropped, back at the top.
I suppose you could say that it was just 1 huge drop set, with the only rest being from moving the pulleys & stack pin.
But the pump, if anything was bigger, with my skin literally feeling stetched to bursting point.
I finished off with 3 sets of dumbbell pullovers to really stretch out the thoracic, keeping my elbows slightly bent & my hips low to accentuate the stretch*.
Below is a run through of the exercises, weights used & reps, as well as my supplements.

*I also added in some very low, very light dumbbell flys on a flat bench, literally touching the floor with the weights as a final stretch to make the best use of the pump i had!

WORKOUT SHEET

SUPPLEMENTS

Pre Workout - 40mins prior to workout; 1 Scoop Cell NOX plus 5g Creatine Monohydrate
During Workout - 4 scoops Sci-Vation Xtend
Post Workout - Optimum Nutrition Platinum HydroWhey S'Berry - 50g, MyProtein Dextrose - 70g, MP Glutamine - 10g, MP Creatine Monohydrate - 5g. All the above was mixed in water immediately postworkout & drank straight away to avoid any degradation of the creatine in liquid, as well as to create the anti-catabolic insulin spike to feed the hungry worked muscles!

Monday 21st March 2011 - Back (& Calves)

2011-03-21T08:59:00.001-07:00

Well after a long break, stop/starts & personal goal orientating, I'M BACK BABY!!!

After initial plans to compete at this years Fitness Britain & Musclemania etc, i've had to re-focus & sort a couple of small problems out before a bigger kick off.

Late November i unfortunately damaged my lower back, believing that i'd merely pulled a muscle.
However, come February, after taking the whole of December & January off, i was still feeling the full affect.
Now, i don't particularly like going to visit the Dr's. Nothing personal, just they tend to deliver nothing but bad, negative news right?? Being a person that likes to keep optimistic, i put it off, but finally bit the bullet & went through.
Turns out that 'muscle pull' was actually a slipped disc originating between L5 & S1 in the spine.

So today i had my first chiropractor session. Feel a bit better after some clicking, popping etc haha!

Hit the gym straight after (yes, no more excuses!!) & did back, which i'm loving right now!

After a thorough warm up, i hit chin ups, clearing the bar completely with each rep. Using a variety of grips to target various angles & areas of the back. Moved on to pull downs, using a heavy --> light multi-drop set method for 4 sets. Next i hit the middle back, for width using the pull down bar on the cable pulley machine, again for 4 sets. Last set was again, a drop set.
Last exercise was a superset of dumbbell rows, with moderate weight good mornings, to really engorge the back, which it really did.
Polished off a postworkout shake straight out of walking out the gym, which i will give details of, along with the full workout session below.

Tonight i will be able to do a 30 minute workout, which i intend to use to smash my abs & calves, 2 areas that i feel able to train everyday, without any problems.
I shall add details of this tomorrow though.

I'm also using a new training schedule, which i'll post more details of later in the week, along with every workout i perform.
Tomorrow see's a new & improved chest session, which i really, really, REALLY looking forward to, along with some abs & cardio in the morning at 6am & also some more calves.

I'm seriously considering competing at the Mr. Northern Ireland Fitness Model championships, as long as i can find some Irish blood somewhere in my heritage that it.
I will also be attending the British Expo in May, as well as the FAME Championships in June.

Finally, i have now launched an online store on the website, just go to WWW.TOTALBODYSCULPTURE.CO.UK and click on the shop icon. If you're not forwarded automatically to the site, just click the blue store icon & that will take you there. I will be selling my own PT services, as well as supplement products from leading brands such as CNP & Optimum Nutrition, so check it out!!

Until tomorrow!

Yours In Fitness!!!

*NOTES
Pre Workout - 40mins prior to workout; 1 Scoop Cell NOX plus 5g Creatine Monohydrate
During Workout - 4 scoops Sci-Vation Xtend
Post Workout - Optimum Nutrition Platinum HydroWhey S'Berry - 50g, MyProtein Dextrose - 70g, MP Glutamine - 10g, MP Creatine Monohydrate - 5g. All the above was mixed in water immediately postworkout & drank straight away to avoid any degradation of the creatine in liquid, as well as to create the anti-catabolic insulin spike to feed the hungry worked muscles!

Workout Sheet

YOURS IN FITNESS!!!

TOTAL BODY KITCHEN!!!

2010-08-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few of the meals i've had over the past few weeks.

Seared Tuna with Thai 7-Spice w/ Steamed Brown Rice, Courgette & Pepper.

Jerk Spiced Chicken w/ Steamed Brown Rice, Courgette & Pepper.

Rice Cakes with Cottage Cheese & Pepper Salsa

Rising From The Ashes - Day 19 (Week 3) : 2010-08-13

2010-08-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since i last updated the blog, so in a way i have a fair amount to get through.
After what was a busy set at work, i continued to ease myself back into my training, as the last thing i wanted to do was overtrain & set myself back again.

Yesterday i planned on hitting my hamstrings and my shoulders. Thursday is usually a rest day for me, however i chose to take Wednesday as my rest day and instead trained Thursday.
As i said, i had planned on doing shoulders and hamstrings, however as it turned out i was only able to train my hamstrings.

After pressing my heaviest weights yet for this area i was completely and utterly wiped out!!

I mean i barely had the energy to walk the 20 mins stroll back home!!
I literally left everything i had in the gym, which in a way makes me happy as there have been times over the last 3 weeks i know i haven't reached failure.
I was able to to 2 warm up sets for the shoulders and felt utterly wiped out.
Even though i was sipping BCAA & Waxy maize starch throughout the workout, i felt i was in need of refueling & an early night. Both of which i had.

I haven't yet written up this weeks training programmes, but as soon as i will i will add them.

I will also put up a few pics of todays meals, as well as my daily nutrition plan for today.

This is something i use to enable me to meet my ratios as well as plan my meal schedules & supplementation etc

Speaking of supplements, i will add the pics of supplements i'm using at the moment too.

The back end of this year will be very busy for me.
I am currently discussing some fitness modelling shoots, and was recently invited to compete at a fitness modelling contest in September.

Despite a drop of 4% in bodyfat, i feel the contest has come a little too soon for me and unfortunately i am working on the day of the contest.

Although it was still nice to get the invite!!

Today i am training Triceps & Biceps and tomorrow i am planning on fitting in a Quad & abs workout, as well as car shopping & picking up my new motorbike!

Busy times ahead, but it's much better to be busy then to be idle!!!

Rising From The Ashes - Day 8 (Week 2) : 2010-08-02

2010-08-03T03:29:00.000-07:00

Today was just one of those kind of days!!

I trained at a different gym to usual, and was unsure what equipment would be available to me prior to my workout which was Back & Calves for me today.

Unfortunately i'm still trying to get into the full swing of things regarding my preparation and although i am still easing myself into a regime of eating well & training hard, i am slightly concerned my progression has been a little hindered due to circumstances.

In a way it has made me even more determined and once i am home from my night shift, i will be sitting down for a couple of hours and planning as much as possible for the next 11 weeks and beyond.

As i am still in the 'habit forming stage, encouragment from others is a real help and i am lucky to have the love and support of some fantastic people, especially my better half and my brother.

Over the coming weeks they will be not only giving me moral support, but also helping me progress this blog with assistance in filming my workouts and as i have considered a return to fitness modelling, there will also be the opportunity to catch some behind-the-scenes footage of a fitness shoot.

My workout felt good, although i was disappointed by the equipment available to use, i was able to do a more than sufficient session and had progressed the weights i had used last week further, which is always a nice feeling.

I have attached the workout sheet below.

In future blog entries, i may include an image of a particular machine used, dependant on the exercise.

Rising From The Ashes - Day 5: 2010-07-30

2010-08-01T11:59:00.001-07:00

The last couple of days have been really hectic, which I kind of expected with a return to work. My day usually starts at 6am then I travel to work which takes around an hour to 1 1/2, then a 10 hour day shift. The demands and inconsistency of the day as a fire fighter can make following a diet and training schedule can be arduous and difficult. I had planned a rest day on Thursday and my body was telling me to do so. I wasn't suffering as much as I thought I would be, but I still welcomed the rest day. Friday was arms day for me with triceps and biceps on the agenda.
Due to the length of my day and also how late it would be before I was home I chose to utilise the fitness facilities on station, which although not exactly extensive, are sufficient enough to do a decent arm workout.
I will attach my complete work outs for Friday and Saturday which was quad day for me.

Tomorrow I will be starting week 2 using the results from week 1 as the foundation for my progression.
I have used this week really as a benchmark for where I need to go. I now also have an idea what preparations I need to make for my long day shifts and my night shifts.

Rising From The Ashes - Day 3: 2010-07-28

2010-07-29T04:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my 3rd day of training and in a way a new experience for me.
I have often used a training regime of 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 2 days off as my training split.
However for the next 12 weeks, in order to isolate muscle groups a little better & also to give sufficient rest to ancillary muscles i have adopted a 3 days on 1 day off pattern, meaning that i am training 6 days out of 7.
Although this may seem a much bigger workload then the method used at the outset, as i am training an extra day, i am actually doing less on each other day.

This means that i avoid training too long and catabolic hormones such as cortisol diminishing my results.

I have been asked what supplements i am using during the next 6 weeks so later on today i will attach an image of almost everything i am currently taking.
Some of these supplements will be cycled in and out over the next 3 months and others are staples.

I will add a label of each thing to avoid people needing to squint to read the labels!!

Back to the session...

Yesterday was a much happier workout for me than Tuesday chest workout.
Although i suffer the same weakness in my shoulder due to my rotator cuffs, i do actually enjoy training my legs & my traps are one of my strongest areas. This is a reason i have separated up the quadriceps and the hamstrings.

I also trained a little later in the day than i would usually.
The gym seems to suffer from being too warm in the summer months, especially when busy. This along with the fact i had taken some fat burners prior to the workout meant i did sweat quite heavily and plenty of fluid was taken on throughout the session.

I have separated each bodypart on to 2 forms as it would not fit on to 1 and attached them below.

Today is a rest day for me so i shall post an outline of my training with each day split as well as the supplements i'm using.

Next week i will also put up a few examples of my daily nutritional intake.

Rising From The Ashes - Day 2: 2010-07-27

2010-07-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was the first time i had trained my chest in well over 2 years.
To say it was an eye-opener is an under statement.
The workout was draining on both a physical, but in a particularly mentally.

The catabolism of muscle tissue i have endured has had a dramatic effect on my strength, which became all too apparent to me my first working set.

Below i have attached a print out of my workouts from both day 1 & day 2. I shall do the same after todays workout which will be shoulders and hamstrings.
Shoulders is an area i can have particular trouble with due to a weakness in my right rotator cuffs.

Therefore today i will push myself as hard as my cuffs will allow, whilst also incorporating rotator cuff specific exercises. This will not only help my shoulder strength, but will also aid my performance in many chest exercises, particularly as my so called stronger right side tends to fail before my weaker left due to this problem.

I'm finding this few days tough as i am still in the habit forming phase, but i will push on.

Yours in fitness

Rising From The Ashes - Day 1: 2010-07-26

2010-07-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

So today is the start of my own personal journey of evolution.
As i came off a night shift this morning, i have rested all morning, aiming to prepare my body for this afternoons workout which shall be Calves & Back.
I have utilised both the Nutritional planner & Workout planner used for my clients (strange filling one out for myself...) taking into account both my own level of fitness & my dietary requirements at this time.
I am using a 50/35/15 split of carbs/protein/fat for the first few weeks, however this will change at differing periods over the next 12 weeks.

Tonight i will be uploading both my measurements & images of the start of my programme, which in a way will make it official!

I will also upload both my completed training log for today & tomorrow i shall be uploading the nutritional plan from today.

Over the coming weeks i will be uploading videos of not only workouts, but also any recipes that anyone likes the look of.
I'll also be training at a few different gyms around the area, with a few special guests so don't miss out!!!

Rising From The Ashes - Prologue

2010-07-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

For the past 18 months, my own training & motivation has taken a dramatic dip, with excuses such as work, time & the occasional surgery all causing a lack of focus.
I have taken it upon myself to committ to a full 12-week Evolution Programme, starting on Monday 26th July 2010, ending on 17th October 2010.

My long term gains are simple; increase my lean muscle mass & decrease my bodyfat %.
Each of these are lower (in the case of my LBM) or higher (bf%) than they have been for a very, very long time.

Why start in 7 days?
This week i will be puttin together my programme, as well as taking all anthropometric measurements, pictures & nutritional programme. I will also be making sure i have access to a full range of equipment at my local gym.

All supplements, exercises, dietary intakes will be recorded to allow me to accurately measure what is working and what may not be.

Although this programme is for an initial 12 weeks, i may move straight into Stage II of my personal rebuild which will be to lay the foundations to competing in a Natural Bodybuilding competition next year.

As well as this blog, you will be able to keep up to date with more regular updates on our twitter site & of course on the website.

As well as my own personal ETS progression, i hope to bring you some special guest interviews & videos of not only my training sessions, but some of the leading fitness experts around the world.

Yours in fitness & health

CrZ