Week 2 – Workout #1

So I’m working myself into the routine nicely (sticking to my periodization plan), I’m past the stage of being crippled by DOMS the day after working out, and I’m starting to push myself more each session.

Today didn’t go so well. I came back from staying at my girlfriends in Surrey over night, when I arrived home I was so tired, I had to have a nap. After about 3 hours sleep and getting my bag together it was 3:30pm before I was in the gym, and I started work at 6pm! In order to make sure I get all of the exercises done, I had to do half of my workout today, and I’ll do the other half + a small bit extra tomorrow.

Anyway, after starting the session with a 5 minute warm up, here is how it went:

Squats

Warm up set: 12xbar
Set 1: 6x65kg
Set 2: 6x70kg
Set 3: 6x75kg

Squats are going up nicely, I’m looking to hit 80kg next session.

 

  Bench Press:

Warm up set: 15xbar
Set 1: 12×47.5kg
Set 2: 12×47.5kg
Set 3: 8×47.5kg
Set 4: 6×47.5kg

I’m not making as much progress as I would like on bench at the moment, its normally my fastest progress.

T bar row

Set 1: 12x30kg
Set 2: 12x30kg (one pause)
Set 3: 12x30kg (four rests)

 

This exercise is another one that is not increasing so fast, although I have decreased the rest time from this exercise on-wards throughout the rest of the workout.

  Military Press

Set 1: 12x25kg
Set 2: 12x30kg
Set 3: 8x30kg (one big rest)

Pushed the weight up for this exercise today, hopefully I will be able to get at least 2 sets of 12 next session.

Hamstring Curls

Set 1: 12x40kg
Set 2: 12x45kg
Set 3: 12x45kg

 

 

 

 

Anyway its getting late now, so I have got to get to bed and get myself some sleep before part 2 of the workout tomorrow!

Song of the workout:

Thanks for reading guys!

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Twitter: @SMsimplefitness

Week 1 – Workout #1

So today (actually yesterday now *yawn*) was my first day bag to blogging, but more importantly (controversial I know), my first day back in the gym!

Todays session introduced my new training routine.. A full body workout (FBW)! This particular FBW was one I put together myself, half asleep, during my last sports psychology lecture (oops).

Based on the principle of an increased rate of protein synthesis for up to 72 hours, alongside the fact that it’s a FBW, and that my body needs more recovery time than 48 hours, I will be doing this routine twice a week (if you want some help understanding scientific justification behind training frequency be sure to leave a comment and I’ll try to help you out).

Anyway to the workout:
As it was the first session, the weights used were estimated out using a % of my 1 rep max (1RM). This was the first session based on hypertrophy work I’ve done for a while, and my body was not keen!! To get things moving I smashed through a 5 minute run to get the heart rate (HR) up!

Squats
Today’s squats felt good, my technique has improved vastly over the past 6 months due to my Strength and Conditioning studies, all squats are now ass to grass (ATG)!!

Warm up set: 10xbar
Set 1: 6x60kg
Set 2: 6x65kg
Set 3: 6x70kg

I could have definitely added more weight for all of these sets, but its the first session, got to remember that periodization!

Bench Press
Now, I just mentioned taking it easy during the first session, but my bench press was so light and I still couldn’t reach the desired twelve reps for the third and fourth set, and I was too stubborn to drop the weight (this theme then actually continued for the rest of the session)

Warm up set: 15xbar
Set 1: 12×57.5kg
Set 2: 12×57.5kg
Set 3: 7×57.5kg
Set 4: 8×57.5kg

I was particularly happy with this, but hey, lots of room for improvement!

 

T bar row
One of my favorite exercises, still felt pretty weak though

Set 1: 12x30kg (one rest)
Set 2: 12x30kg (one rest)
Set 3: 12x30kg (three rests)

My goal for this exercise is definitely getting all the reps in each set out with now small rests, before putting the weight up further.

 

 

Military Press
This exercise is slowly becoming a favorite of mine, felt super strong doing this today.

Set 1: 12x25kg
Set 2: 12x25kg
Set 3: 12x25kg (one big rest)

I really didn’t expect to get 3 sets of 12 for this exercise, was really happy.

Hamstring Curls
Hate the burn with this exercise, but I need to train those hamstrings badly.

Set 1: 12x35kg
Set 2: 12x40kg
Set 3: 12x40kg

And at this point, my gym decided to let me know that its closing time has changed to half an hour earlier, so I had to call it a day there.

Missed exercises:

• Hammer curls/Tricep dips superset
• Calve raises

So today wasn’t such a bad first session! I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting back into the gym on Saturday or Sunday!

Song of the workout:

Thanks for reading guys!

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Twitter: @SMsimplefitness

The basics – My training and nutrition.

Hi guys! Here I go with my second post, and it has to be said I’m just as nervous about getting it right as I was with my first! This post is going to explain why, how, how long and how often I’m going to be training… But first of all..

My Goals

Everybody needs to set goals, whether it’s just one, or a number of goals, everybody needs something to work towards. Goals increase focus, they create routine, help to inspire, motivate and when you reach your goal you will be leaving with an unrivaled feeling of satisfaction! So to understand why I’m training the way I am, you need to know my goals, so here they are, and I want to achieve them by March 2014.

• Increase my strength (back squat 120Kg for 5 reps).
• Increase my speed (sprint 60M in 8.5 seconds).
• Reach 78Kg with under 20% body fat (23% at the moment)

So as you can see my goals are pretty simple, but they have a definite value, this means that you can get complete closure on a goal, and enjoy that beautiful satisfaction I described earlier! Remember, set some goals, long-term or short, pick your time scale and stick to it. Don’t give up.. Whats an hour of pain 3 times a week to achieve something you clearly value very highly? NOTHING!

My Normal Week

OK so with goals out-of-the-way, before I tell you exactly how I’m going to be training, you need to know what a normal week for me looks like! Because of my Rugby, I need to avoid over training, therefore I will only be in the gym twice a week, on a Monday and a Wednesday. So my tip to you is, make yourself a week planner, include all your work and 100% necessary activities, and work your workouts into those places you have an hour spare.

The program!

The program I’m going to be using is Mark Ripptoe’s Starting Strength (For a full explanation of the program, visit the link). This is a program for people who are just starting out in the gym or haven’t trained for a long time, It provides a sound workout routine worked three times a week, focusing on the basic compound movements. It is considered one of the best programs to follow for beginners, or anybody who hasn’t trained for a while and is looking to increase their strength and mass.

As shown in the link above, the program comprises of two workouts, workout A and workout B, the program suggests you workout three times a week, on non-consecutive days, for example a popular way of training is Monday/Wednesday/Friday, completing workout A twice and workout B once, the following week the workouts will be swapped so that workout A is worked once and workout B twice.

Workout A
Squat 3×5
Bench 3×5
Deadlift 1×5

Workout B
Squat 3×5
Press 3×5
Power Clean 5×3

Due to my rugby training, I’ll be training twice a week, workout A on Monday and workout B on Wednesday. Over the Christmas period, when I am not playing rugby, I will be doing a 6 week mass gain program as written by Dan John in his book Mass Made Simple.

I will be writing a workout journal as well as posting on this blog, and it would be wicked if you guys could follow my progress and post on there too!

Nutrition

Nutrition is a VITAL part of anybody trying to achieve any kind of goal within fitness. My nutrition is somewhat different to what many people’s will be, due to me being a Type 1 Diabetic. My diet is a lot higher in fats than many other people’s, this is to reduce the amount of injections I have to administer, giving me overall better control of my blood sugar levels (It’s also due to a lot of recent research on high fat vs low-fat diets, which I will explain in another post). I plan to be eating 350 calories over my daily maintenance, which leaves me eating 3000 Kcals a day, which is composed of 160 grams of protein, 183 grams of carbohydrates and 183 grams of fats. I will be making another post within the next few days explaining how you can work out your personal macro-nutrient requirements depending on your goal!

So there you have it! A very brief overview of my training and nutrition before I start to blog my progress! I apologize if there are some mistakes and my style of writing is hard to follow, this is something I know I need to work on!

Please don’t forget to follow SM  Simple fitness on twitter (SMsimplefitness) and subscribe to my channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/SMsimplefitness)

Thank-you for reading and I hope your having a great day!!