Day 69- Total body workout

Ok i thought would have a change today and did a total body workout. I exercised each muscle group once using my normal drop set technique. I did 11 different exercises in total and had no rest periods in between changing from exercise to exercise. The lack of breaks kept my heart rate at around 160BPM so the weights session doubled as a cardio workout also.

Whole session took just over 45 minutes including a warmup on the cross trainer and warm down of full body stretchess.

New workout plan starting from monday, will be high intensity but low volume, should be fun =).

Day 67- Legs, back, biceps and abs

YMCA session again today:

1. Legs-Leg PressRM
2. Back-PulldownRM and RowRM
3. Biceps-CurlRM
4. Abs=25 of the following-Jacknife on the balance ball, sit ups with weights and punches, standing side bends with 30kg, leg raises, oblique twists and plank on toes for one minute.

Finished with 30 minutes on the treadmill at 80% MHR.

Overall session 1 hour 15 minutes

Day 64- Chest, shoulders and triceps.

Had a busy days work which tired out my lower body. As such laid off the cardio a little and did 15 minutes of intervals on the treadmill, 30 seconds of 80% MHR and 90 seconds of 70% MHR.

Weight portion was as follows:

1. Chest-Press and FlyesR
2. Shoulders-Press and lat raiseRM
3. Triceps-DipsRM

Did stretches for the worked muscle groups, stretched my hamsting a bit more since was tight from walking around in mud all day.

Day 61- Chest, Shoulders, Triceps and abs/core

Ok gym session for the day, here it is:

Usual seps reps etc.

1. Chest-PressRM and flyesRM
2. Shoulders-Shoulder PressRM and Lateral RaiseDB
3. Triceps-Dip machineRM
4. Abs/core- 25 of the following- situps with weights and punches at end, crunches weighted, leg swings on machine, lying side bends with weights, oblique twists, knees in and out followed by 1 minute plank on toes.

Finished off with 30mins on the cycle at about 75-80% MHR so was a fast pace and burnt about 350 Kcals.

Full body stretch to finish with developmental on the hamstrings and erector spinae.

Product Review- Resistance Bands

Resistance bands are a piece of equipment that you should not be without. The sheer amount of different exercises you can do with them is vast and whats more they take up literally no room.

They come with clever door jams which allows you to work your triceps and biceps in upward and downward motions and also come with ankle straps which is great for working the adductor and abductor muscle groups (basically kicking).

The bands come in different colours which indicates the strength and how hard they are to pull. You can add as many or as little bands at any one time making it wholely versitile in how hard a workout you are aiming for.

I think anyone even slightly interested in getting fit should invest in a set.

There are a range of prices out there ranging from terribly overpriced to cautiously low. The best set i have found and which is also the one i use is at around £15 from amazon (reduced from like £30). So if like me you do plenty of home workouts or perhaps you travel a lot and want an easily transportable mode of fitness then i would highly recommend this bit of kit. 10/10 ( 10 being the highest and best mark possible =)  )

Banana Power

Theres a reason why bananas are termed power food and also why there was a cartoon show called Banana Man (maybe your too young to remember). In any case bananas are and will always be a main part of my diet.

So why bananas?

To start with they contain the following:

• Viatamin B6
• Vitamin E
• NSP (fibre)
• Potassium
• Natural Sugars
• GI 55

Bananas also boost energy, you can have it with a glass of water as an alternative to expensive sports drinks
and is great when made as a smoothie with other fruits.

They are packed with slow release energy, this makes them better than sugary drinks and confectionary for that quick energy boost.

As bananas are naturally sweet they are particulary useful to those of you who have a sweet tooth and also can be added to various dishes as a sweetener rather than using the usual white powdery sugar.

So if your craving that chocolate bar then how about swapping it for a banana instead?

Bagwork and Stretches/Yoga

Did 30 mins continuous bagwork on a 50KG punchbag followed by stetches and about 30 mins of yoga.

Practiced various combinations on the bag including jab, double jab, jab cross hook, front and rear elbow, front kick, side kick, turning kick, hook kick, outside cresent kick and back fist. At the moment i perform  each move 25 times on the left and right stance. There are no breaks and you work at a hard pace so you sweat like mad, great cardio workout and for me its very important so that i can develop the striking power and good technique in fighting.

The stretches were full body and held each one for 20 seconds. The yoga postions were aimed at the spine, hamstrings and also balance postures and these were held for 30 seconds.

Day 58-Chest, shoulders, triceps and abs core.

YMCA session, took about 25minutes. No cardio today, legs are like jelly so will do some later in the week.

Session was as follows.

2 sets 12 reps followed by 2 drop sets.

1. Chest- PressRM and FlyesRM
2. Shoulders-Front raise and lateral raiseRM
3. Triceps-DipsBW
4. Core/Abs-25 of the following- Sits with weights, crunches withweights, leg raises, knees in and out, lying side bends with weights, obliques twists with 10kg and 1 minute on level 3 plank.

Full body stretch but no developmental as muscles are tight and dont want to risk ay injury.

CV Training- Constant Pace

Ok i can imagine that everyone sometime in their lives has employed this method of training. As the name suggests the participant trains at a steady pace for a set amount of time.

This can be employed for any number of cardiovascular machines from upright cycles to the stepping machine. All you need to do is decide how hard your going to push yourself and also for how long.

The easiest ways to measure your intensity would be to measure your heart rate as beats per minute (heart rate monitor needed) or to measure the level on the machine, for example you may stick at a level 9 intensity on the bike and dont go over.

The advantages of this method is that it is suitable for everyone and by doing this method it improves your CV fitness and lays a foundation so that you can use more advanced workouts later on in your training programme. Another immediate advantage is that you can train yourself in the target zone relatively easy and for beginners this  method is easy to grasp.

Its also a simple and effective way to measure your progress. For example if on week one you are doing 15 minutes at 70% of your maximum heart rate (MHR) and then at week six you were doing 25 minutes at 75% it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that over the six weeks you have improved your time and also the intensity you are working at.

So there it is the Constant Pace Method (someties referred to as slow steady), good for beginners and intermediate alike.

Rest Day

Had a very busy weekend at david llyods gym at cheshire oaks. Over the weekend did a mixture of outdoor exercises, olypic lifting aswell as bodyweight and alternatives methods. To say the least my quads, hamstrings and glutes are wrecked so had a rest today and consumed plenty of protein, my muscles need it.

So this week im going to do today session tomorrow with tuesdays on thursdays (dependant on the pain of my legs.lol) and then todays again on friday aswell as fitting my cardio in and a session of yoga.

Day 54-Back, Legs, Biceps and Abs/Core

YMCA session

No cardio today as legs are little tired and im saving them for the weights session. Plus im planning on doing at least an hour or so of cardio over the weekend.

So here it is:

1. Back-PulldownRM and Seated RowRM
2. Legs-Sperset of extensionRM and Leg CurlRM
3. Biceps-Bicep CurlsRM
4. Core/Abs-25 of the following-crunches with 10kh, sit ups with 10kg, leg raises on machine, biceycle crunches, lying side raises, standing side raises and plank on toes for one minute.

Tiring workout, took about 30 minutes to do so pretty quick really, would have been quicker if it wasnt for the gym gorillas hogging the machines =)

Polar FT2 Heart Rate Monitor

Looking for a heart rate monitor for a cheap price? Check out the Polar FT2.

With so many monitors out there and with the big differences in prices its hard to pick the right one.

For £35 you cant go wrong with this watch. It has a chest strap which connects effortlessly to the watch and provides for an accurate and dependable reading, the chest strap also connects to the life fitness machines found at many gyms which is handy.

It also has a stop watch and built in file capability which allows you to store data. It also has the ability to set your minimum and maximum heart rate zones so as to easily show you what percentage you are working at.

Downsides to this watch include the exclusion of a back light which may be a problem if you like running at night and there arnt many lamp posts around. Id say the watch itself is of a plasticy build which some people may find a bit flimsy, i do think it will take the punishment of hard workouts though. Lastly its not really that waterproof and you should be aware of this fact when running in the rain, just dont press the button when its wet and you wont have a problem.

So for £35 im more than happy with what the watch offers. Il finish by saying that monitoring your heart rate is extremely important in exercise so that you know you are working in your target zone, you cant go wrong with a watch like this in your gym kit.

Day 53- Chest, Shouders and triceps

Home workout today consisting of the following:

2 sets 12 reps and two drop sets.

1. Chest-Decline pushupsBW and Wide grip pushupsBW
2. Shoulders-Shoulder PressDB and Lateral RaiseDB
3. Triceps- Overhead tricep extensionBB

Did 30 mins on the punchbag (50kg) keeping my heart rate around the 155BPM mark, basically practicing various combos, just wore 10oz gloves with no hand wraps as need to condition my knuckles (OUCH).

Full body stretch, 10-15 second hold on stretches from head to toe.

You may have noticed i only did one tricep workout, reason for this is am feeling a bit sore at the elbow joint so didnt want to put too much pressure in that area, will probably only do one bicep exercise tomorrow aswell.

Day 51-Back, legs, biceps and abs/core

YMCA session once again. Here it is:

2 sets of 12 reps with two drop sets at the end.

1. Back-PulldownRM and Seated RowRM 
2. Legs-CurlRM and ExtensionRM (super set)
3. Biceps-CurlsRM and Standing concentration curlsRM
4. 25 of the following-situps weighted with punches, curls with 10kg, bicycle crunches, lying side raises, standing side bends with 30k, leg raises on machine and plank on toes held for 60 seconds.

Finished with 33mins of cycling on the upright cycle at level 13 with my heart rate averaging 155BPM

Full body stretches to finish. Did some developmental on hamstrings and shoulders.

1800 calorie pizza

I read today that Icelan have brought out a new 1,800 calorie double decker pizza. Apparantly its only 9inch in diameter so a relatively small pizza and its relatively thin.

In simple terms that one pizza is pretty much the same as a womans daily calory amount. Its crazy isnt it, it also boasts the following statistics:

• 54.4g of fat (20.8g of saturated)
• 9.6g of salt

The doble decker pepporoni pizza only costs £3 and i can guarantee it will make you look and feel bloated, its no wonder with food like these why there are soo many obese people out there.

Beware of what you eat and dont be afraid to read the food label.

Day 50- Chest, Shoulders and triceps

YMCA session today. Here it is:

2 sets of 12 reps with two drop sets at the end.

1. Chest-FlyesRM and Chest pressRM
2. Shoulders- Shoulder PressRM and Lateral RaiseDM
3. Triceps-DipsRM and Cable pulldownRM.

Finished with 33mins of running on the treadmill at 1.0% incline with my heart rate averaging 163BPM

Full body stretches to finish. Did some developmental on the box stretch, got some looks but eed the flexibility for when i start my kickboxing.

Shadow Boxing

Good week of training. Put in about 45 minutes of shadow boxing today, used a rate monitor to make sure i was working in the 75% HR zone, shadow boxing gives a full body workout, make it harder by adding ankle and wrist weights. Shadow boxing is basically punching and kicking and any other defence or offence move you can think of, practice the moves with good form, vary the pace and it makes for a great workout.

Back to the weights tomorrow,cant wait to finish this next phase of my training so can drop some of the weight lifting, am itching to do some kickboxing specific training.

Delorme/ Light-to-Heavy Reps

Another great method for applying the priciple of progressive over. Firstly you decide how many reps you are going to perform in each set the you need to work out rep maximum for each of the sets you are going to do. The example below uses 12 reps with the three sets.

Leg extension assuming 12 rep max is 80kg

Set 1-12 reps-50% of 12 rep maximum-90 seconds rest-resistance 40KG
Set 2-12 reps-75% of 12 rep maximum-90 seconds rest-resistance 60KG
Set 3-12 reps-100% of 12 rep maximum-90 seconds rest-resistance 80KG

Once you are able to perform all the sets then with progression in mind you must increase your rep max.

This type of training is at intermediate level and for example could be used after simple or multiple sets.

Resistance Training- Pyrammid Sets

Want to try something new instead of your normal weights routine? Pyramid training is a good way of recruiting slow and fast twitch muscle fibres. The resistance you use increases as the reps decrease or you could reverse this and decrease the resistance as the reps increase. Heres an example below of an ascending pyramid set.

Set 4-6 Reps-Very Heavy
Set 3-8 Reps- heavy
Set 2-10 Reps-Moderate
Set 1-12 Reps-Light

To advance this you could do it acending (resistance getting higher) then do a decending (resistance getting lower), this would be very intense and only recommended for trained individuals.

Below is an example of a pyrammid set for bicep curls with dumb bells.

Set 1- 12 Reps- 20Kg
Set 2-10 Reps-30 Kg
Set 3-8 Reps-40 Kg
Set 4- 6 Reps-50 Kg

Day 47-Chest, shoulders, triceps and abs/core

Ymca session today and whole workout took 1 hour 15mins.

Heres the lowdown of what i did:

12 reps 2 sets 2 drop sets

1. Chest-Chest PressRm and flyesRM
2. Shoulders-Lateral raiseDB and Bent over lat raises
3. Triceps-DipsRM and Overhead tricep extension on balance ballDM
4. Abs/Core-Incline bench with weighted punches at the end, crunches, kness in and out, leg swings, lying side raises, Oblique twist on balance ball with medicine ball and plank on toes (1 minute).

I finished with 30 minutes on the cross trainer at about 75% of my MHR.

Full body stretch at the end, developmental on the hamstrings and erector spinae.

Saving of the Day

Check out maximuscle for all your nutrition needs they have got some great offers on at the moment. Got a new gym bag, bottle and training gloves for £15 instead of £40, very good offer. They have a load of savings on the nutrition products at the moment so check it out and who knows you may find something cheaper than what you usually buy.

Heres the link below:

http://www.maximuscle.com/ref/112606371

Since im a member of maximuscle and if your a new customer and sign in and purchase from the link above you will gain double points and receive a free shaker worth £5.

Day 44-Back, legs, biceps and core.

Was busy today so didnt manage to get to the gym. Didnt let the lack of time become an exscuse so did 45 minutes at home consisting of the following:

1. Legs-SquatsDB and side leg raises(lift your leg as high as possible and rotate clockwise for seconds then counter clockwise for 30 seconds then change legs and repeat)
2. Back-Bent over rowsDB and Chin upsBW
3. Biceps-CurlsDB and Chin UpsBW
4. Abs and core-25 of situps, V ups, crunches, knees in and out, lying side raises and 1 minute holding the plank position.

I kept recovery time down to a minimum and with the back exercises i did a super set to work the back and biceps more.

Im also performing reps to a 2:3 ratio, 2 seconds for concentric movement and 3 seconds for eccentric movement. Had very strict form throughout the movement and used my full range of motion so as to work the muscle to its fullest.

At home i use a door frame chinup bar and hex dumb bell weights, heres the cheapest i could find in the links below incase you are looking to buy any to add to your home gym.