Tag Archives: weights

Small Goals Lead to Great Things!

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Yes You Can!

Hey Everybody,
Firstly I owe you an apology. I’ve been missing in action for a week and no new posts so sorry to have let you down. I’m back now and hope you enjoy this one.

I read a post today by a really good friend of mine who also happens to be a fantastic personal trainer and the fittest guy I know. He talked about a small single goal that he set himself just two weeks ago that he wanted to achieve by tomorrow, 1st July, which is his birthday (Happy Birthday Mate). It revolved around wanting to get his personal best up to a certain amount of weight for a single specific lift……and it got me thinking.

To me what he did is a perfect example of what we should all be doing. Setting small, simple, very targeted, completely measurable goals over short time periods. He did it, and he achieved it, and so can you.

We all have big dreams: Building a great business, owning a Ferrari, getting a proper six pack (yep that’s mine, i own up!) or playing football for England. However realistically it’s very unlikely that you can just make the jump in one easy move from where you are now to that big ambition. In reality it will be a slow and gradual process with successes and failures along the way. We have all heard the sayings, sometimes clichés – “every journey starts with a single step”, “don’t run before you can walk” etc etc. We probably disregard them but you know what, they are 100% true.

If you set yourself unrealistic and possibly unachievable goals too early in your fitness and health process a couple of things will happen. 1) You won’t achieve them because they will be impossible without putting the building blocks in place first. 2) When you don’t achieve them you will dent your confidence, feel crap about yourself and that will make it so much harder mentally to get to where you want to go.

baby steps 1

Baby Steps:

It is a cliché but seriously, start with some Baby Steps. What do i mean by that? Well in reality it is actually really straightforward. Think about your lifestyle and think about what it is that you want to achieve. Do you want to lose a load of weight, run a marathon, build great bicep and chest muscles, or combinations of all of the above? Then think of some small, specifically measurable and definitely achievable goals. Now I don’t mean something so stupidly easy that actually it isn’t a goal at all. It needs to require some effort and at least a bit of willpower otherwise what’s the point. Try to think of a list of at least 10 things that you absolutely KNOW that if you did them and could achieve them, then you would be well on the path towards hitting some of your bigger targets and long term goals. Not only that but you will feel fantastic about yourself and that self confidence will really help push you further along that path.

So I am going to set you all a task, and you’d better bloody do it as I will be watching!!!

Pick a simple small goal that you can achieve tomorrow. It can be anything but it needs to be Health & Fitness related eg “I will eat no biscuits, sweets or fizzy drinks tomorrow whatsoever”. Or “I will walk back from the station rather than get the bus”. Or “I will ONLY drink water all day tomorrow”.

Then pick a similar but different goal that you set yourself for the next week eg “I will work out or go to the Gym 4 times”. “I will not drink any alcohol until this time next week”. “I will cut out ALL bread for the entire week”. Again it can be anything but it needs to be specific to health and fitness and it needs to be something you can do in a week or maintain for a week.

Then finally set yourself another small goal that you can achieve for a month. It has to be an action and it has to be specific, so saying “i want to lose half a stone” is not an action, it’s just a hope, an aim a dream. It needs to be something like “I will do a minimum of 20 workouts in the month”. Then keep a record and make sure you do them. Or, “I will increase my squats by 15kg by end of the month”. Or, “I will cut out sugar totally for the month” (That’s a real toughie but by all means give it a go).

You need to keep records of what you are doing. Write it down, put a sign up around the house, put it out there on Facebook…..by declaring things publicly you force yourself to avoid embarrassment by making sure you hit the goal. Do this as often as you can, set new ones on a regular basis. By setting these small, regular and most importantly achievable goals I promise you, you will transform your life.

Success is this way!You may think “how can these silly little goals” get me to where i want to be? I understand that thought process….but you’re wrong! They all add up. Daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals and lots of them… Very quickly over the matter of just 3 to 4 months all those small things that you have achieved will almost imperceptibly transform you. Just by doing these tiny little things you WILL lose weight, become healthier, become stronger, lift more, run faster, fit in those jeans. Your friends will notice, you’ll get compliments on your butt. You will BE on the road to success and it won’t feel like you have really had to work for it. Again another cliché for you “SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS!” It is a cliché, but it’s there for a reason……because it’s true!

So don’t hesitate and don’t let me down. Get off your arse, go and grab a pen and paper and start writing……”Tomorrow I WILL (or WON’T)……”, “For the next week i WILL……..” and finally “By the end of next Month or during the next month i WILL……..”

Please report back, let me know how you get on, i really do welcome your comments. Once again sorry for the lack of action but MY goal is to write more posts over the next month.

Take Care,

John

HiiT with Weights – My first Video!

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Hi Everybody,

I’m a shy retiring kind of guy at heart as my friends will tell you!! However I’m also on a mission to get my message on health, fitness, training and diet to as wide an audience as possible. So as a result I’ve had to bite the bullet and decide to start making YouTube video’s to post both on my website and other social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter etc. Believe me I find it slightly embarrassing at the moment but I guess I’ll get over that in time. Below is my first attempt and if I’m honest there are some mistakes in it. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of stick, especially from my friends, but I really would welcome your comments and thoughts, either on here or on the YouTube channel. If you like it then please like, share, subscribe etc.

HiiT with Weights:

This first video is an HiiT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout but with the added twist of using weights instead of just bodyweight exercises. I’m sure you all know the Body Coach Joe Wickes? He has done a fantastic job of getting the message out there about the positive benefits of HiiT, both in terms of fitness and weight loss or calorie burning. I want to take it up a gear by adding in some additional resistance in the form of weights. This will ensure that you still get that fabulous calorie burning metabolism boost from HiiT but at the same time get a little extra tweak in terms of toning and building some muscle. In this video I’m using 12.5kg/27.5lb dumbbells but you don’t have to do that. Anything from 1kg upwards is fine. This type of exercise would be perfect for all sorts of people from guys into building muscle who don’t want to do long boring cardio sessions on a treadmill or bike, to guys or girls who are looking to torch some fat, fire up their metabolism and tone up their thighs, butts, arms, shoulders and waists at the same time.

Here is the video, i hope you enjoy it and below are brief explanations of all of the exercises.

Dumbbell / Kettlebell Swings x 12: Traditionally this exercise is done with a kettlebell but a dumbbell is fine. Grip it firmly in both hands. Stand in a fairly wide (slightly more than shoulder width) stance. Swing down between your knees and at the same time bend your knees and at the waist slightly. Then swing your arms back up over head height and whilst doing that thrust up and forwards with your hips, concentrating on squeezing with your thighs and Glutes. Continue the same motion for 12 reps.

Shoulder Press x 12: This is pretty straightforward. Grasp both dumbbells firmly in your hands. Hold at shoulder height and push up above your head to full arm extension. Try to concentrate on lifting the weight with your shoulders rather than just using your triceps. The best way to do this is to concentrate on and think about mooving your shoulders up and towards your ears and initiating the movement from there rather than pushing through your elbows.

Goblet Squats x 12: Hold the weight at mid / upper chest level in both hands. Feet should be in a fairly wide (slightly wider than shoulder width) stance. Lower down into a deep squat (as deep as you can go) keeping the weight in front of you at chest level. Push back up by squeezing your thighs and glutes. Repeat 12 times.

Renegade Rows x 12: This is a tough exercise and some ladies unless pretty strong may struggle with it slightly. If that is the case just substitute in standard press ups or even knee press ups. Get down into a standard press up position using the dumbbells to support your weight. Lower down into a press up / push up. When you push back up and reach the top row (or pull up) one of the weights towards your arm pit, then lower back to the floor and repeat on the other side. This works your chest, arms, back and core muscles and will get you blowing.

Alternate Leg Lunges x 12: Most of you will have seen this before. Hold the weights at arm length by your sides. Take a large step forward with one leg and bend down towards the floor until your back knee touches or almost touches the ground. Then push firmly back up with your front leg and move back into a standing position. Then do the same on the other side. Do 12 reps or 6 on each side.

Bicep Curls x 12: This is usually a fairly easy exercise but by now you will be tired and blowing hard. Do not cheat the dumbbells up. Concentrate on keeping your body straight, do not lean back and swing them up. Curl the dumbbell upwards by squeezing your biceps hard.

That’s it. One circuit complete. Aim to do 3-6 sets depending how fit you are. It’s tougher than it looks especially as you start to up the weights. For most ladies I’d suggest starting with 1kg-4kg weights. For guys anything between 5kg and 10kg (unless of course you have been training for a while and are a strong, fit guy). The idea is not to shift massive amounts of weight but to train at high intensity burning lots of calories and firing up your metabolism for hours afterwards, by adding in the weights you will increase the workload and also tone and build muscle at the same time.

So that’s it. My first video. Feel free to poke fun (my friends) or make comments etc. As i said the videos will improve as i go along but it’s the content not the style that I’m more concerned with, after all this is “Ordinary Guy Fitness” and I’ve never claimed to be Stephen Spielberg. Above all I hope you enjoy and if you do then please like the posts, share the posts, comment on the posts and subscribe to my email list , Facebook page or YouTube channel.

Take care,

John

PS; The external link to the video is https://youtu.be/IXyi5Qr0yGk

 

How to Look & Feel Younger….Guaranteed!!

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Looking good older

We all want the secret of eternal youth right? We all want to know how to slow down the ageing process, look our best, and convince the world that we really are 21 and always will be. Not only that , but as well as Thursday being the new Friday, most of us believe that 65 is the new 45. I’m 47 years old now and still do most of the same things and behave the same way (sometimes stupidly) that i did when i was 25. I plan on growing old disgracefully and being as fit and youthful looking as possible for as long as I can manage. Below are some tips which i guarantee that if you follow as much as possible you will look, feel and act younger than you are.

Tips on Staying Young:

#1. Do Resistance Based Weight Training. I know a lot of people hate the idea of this, especially some women who associate weight training with big bulky muscles and a lack of femininity. Well forget that idea straight away. You’d have to train your arse off and eat like a horse to change your body that way. It has been proven that weight training, done correctly has all sorts of benefits that make you look and feel younger and as i said in a previous blog post on my facebook page on 24th March there have been various studies that confirm the anti ageing benefits of training with weights. For a start it strengthens and tones not only your muscles and ligaments but also helps to increase bone density and strength. We all know that bones can weaken and even start to crumble as we get older and regular resistance training fights this process. Even if you don’t have access to a gym, resistance training using body weight or bands can have a fantastic positive effect. As well as strengthening and maintaining muscle tone, regular resistance training will raise your metabolic rate, aiding fat loss. Not only that but muscle is more metabolically active than fat. What does that mean? Well it means that 1 kg of muscle uses up more calories to maintain it than 1kg of fat. This means that as you become stronger, leaner and more muscular it actually becomes easier to maintain that shape and keep the weight off as your body naturally burns more calories. Great eh? Being fitter, stronger and leaner is guaranteed to make you look younger.

Old bodybuilder

#2. Reduce traditional lengthy cardio sessions and do HiiT (High Intensity Interval Training) instead. Why? Lots of reasons. Firstly from a purely practical point of view it takes a lot less time. You can achieve in 15 minutes what traditional cardio would take 45 minutes or more to do. HiiT has been proven to build more muscle tone, give a more intense cardiovascular workout thus improving your heart and lung function, AND raises your metabolic rate allowing you to continue to burn calories and fat for much longer after your workout than a long slow cardio workout would. Also from a purely aesthetic point of view there seems to be a connection with how people look. Take a look at many (not all) endurance athletes, long distance runners, long distance cyclists, triathletes etc. They often have a somewhat taut, gaunt appearance and lean, loose, sometimes saggy muscle tone. Compare that with sports that tend to use shorter bursts of more intense exercise such as sprinters, boxers (3 mins on, 1 minute off), gymnasts etc. They look more toned, less gaunt and yes it’s true….younger.

#3. Drink lots of water….loads of it, as much as you can get down your neck (within reason). Our bodies are largely made up of water. Studies have shown that up to 75% of people walk around partially dehydrated for much of the time. It’s just plain logic that if you are fully hydrated your cells will be more full of this life giving substance. Full cells = plumper and healthier looking skin, more luscious hair, clearer eyes, fuller muscle tone. That’s aside from the longer term health benefits of better digestion, less gut issues, improved kidney function, improved vacscular performance etc. People often think tea, coffee, juices all count for hydration but it’s not the same thing. Tea and coffee are both diuretics which means they make you pee or expel water from your body and juices, all juices, contain sugars. Try to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water every single day. Do it for a month and i guarantee you will be shocked and amazed at the difference it makes to your skin and overall sense of well being. People make me laugh when they say “how hard it is to drink 6 glasses of water a day” then go to the pub and drink 5 pints of larger or 5 Gin & Tonics in 2 or 3 hours. Don’t make excuses, get to the tap and drink yourself younger.

#4. Eat natural and whole foods. Again you don’t need to be a genius to work out that what you put inside your body is going to have an effect on how the outside looks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a food facist that is going to dictate that you ONLY eat organic, never have a treat and never drink again for the rest of your life. God knows i have some bad habits and love a blow out now and then. However consistency is key. If you can eat well 75% of the time AND drink a lot of water it will 100% be reflected in how you look. What do i mean by eat well? Again it’s pretty simple. Try to eat loads of fresh foods. Fresh fish, meat, poultry, lots of veg, salads with 4 or 5 meals a week, lots of nuts, proper butter and dairy products, fruit, and DO NOT be afraid of fats as long as they are good fats eg fatty fish, lean meat and poultry, nuts, eggs avocado etc. A report came out in the UK press only yesterday  (see my facebook page) talking about the benefits of good fats and they aid not only muscle development and fat loss but keep your skin looking healthy, and some studies claim they even protect brain function longer term.

#5. Keep active. I’ve already talked about training and exercise so that is not what i mean. By keeping active I mean keep your mind and body active. Be passionate about life. Have hobbies, go to museums, eat out, travel, go on walks, read books, go to concerts, play golf or bowls, have a wide social circle, keep working even if part time once you reach retirement age. This mostly applies to older people who are perhaps at or beyond retirement age but the mindset also applied to the younger ones of us. I firmly believe (and I’m sure you can think of and name examples) that if you keep doing stuff (anything counts), stay active, keep your mind engaged and keep that verve for life, then it keeps you young in both mind and body.

#6. Act younger than you are. This one is very closely to linked to number 5 above. Some people use the phrase “act your age”. Well screw that. As soon as you start to do that you are on the slippery slope to doom. The world has changed, you are no longer middle aged as soon as you hit 50 and old when you hit 60. I’m not saying behave like an idiot the whole time, I’m saying that just because you get older that doesn’t mean you can’t do all or at least most of the things you always used to do. You may need to make some minor adjustments but just keep going for it. Laugh loudly, sing badly, dance embarrassingly (my friends will tell you I’m a world beater at this but I don’t care, i love it), take up hobbies that you enjoy and just generally try to seek out fun and big experiences wherever you can. The minute you start to think you are old, that’s what you will become. I think someone once said “I think therefore I am”…..or something like that. It’s true. You become what you believe you are. If you believe you will be successful in life, you will. If you believe you are invincible and will always stay young, you will, if you believe you are getting old and “can’t do that any more”…guess what, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

#7. Supplements. This is a very quick paragraph. I’m not really one for taking pills and potions. I take a protein shake and some creatine when I train, that’s it. What i mean by supplements are natural products that I believe, and there is a lot of evidence to back ity up, that are supremely healthy and have some amazing benefits for your body, fitness and skin. So just to briefly list some favourites. Ginger – add it to everything from tea to stir fries to salads. Honey – preferably a non mainstream organic honey. Green tea or other variations on herbal and green tea’s. Lemons – squeeze them into and onto everything, grate the skins, drink lemon water as often as you can. Chilli, again add to food as often as possible and put in salads, soups etc. Turmeric – add to food or make Turmeric milk, its has amazing properties. Cinnamon – the same as with Turmeric. Tomatoes – eat as often as possible. Avocado – eat almost every time you have anything cold. Nuts – all sorts and also spread nut butter everywhere and anywhere you want. There are others but if you can use these as often as possible you won’t go far wrong.

ginger-tea-with-lemon

#8.The obvious stuff – basic skin care, look after your teeth, dress well. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit slack here. I have never ever used a moisturiser or ANY sort of skin care product of any type ever. So I can’t really preach. All I’m really talking about are the basics. if you are covered in spots, have yellow teeth and wear baggy, shapeless clothes are you really going to look good and younger than you are? Probably not. So all I’m saying is to do whatever works for you to keep your skin looking moist and fresh, your teeth as white as possible (a 6 monthly dental hygienist appointment does wonders) and if possible choose some well coordinated, properly fitted clothes so that you look good when you go out. I bloody hate shopping and buy very very little, but when i do I like to buy a couple of things that are good quality, fit me well and show off my best qualities. Am I a vain overly egotistical sod….yeah probably, but you know what I don’t care. I embrace many of the tips I’ve given you above and am proud of it, i enjoy trying to look younger than I am. If people don’t like that, tough. In fact that may be my tip #9. Learn to not give a S***. Do things for you, because you want to and because they make you look and feel good. If some people don’t approve that is their problem. This is your life, grab it by the scruff of the neck, go out and live it.

Take Care,

John

PS: Click on the red links for access to extra info or other sites.

Weight Training: Volume or Time instead of Reps!

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Arnold 2We all would love a torso like Arnolds right? If you are into weight training then you’d have to be crazy not to think Mr Schwarzenegger looked incredible in his prime. However, genetics, an unbelievable amount of hard work and probably some illicit substances all went towards making him the icon he is.

If you are like me, a fairly ordinary guy, you’d be pretty happy looking even half as good as he did. However, even to achieve that, especially as you get a bit older, still takes a lot of hard work, clean eating and heavy lifting. You CAN achieve great things if you put your mind to it but even the most dedicated weight trainers will become a bit jaded from time to time. One of the reasons for this is repetition. You can mix up your exercises as much as possible but 90% of people will still end up doing a fixed number of reps and sets. Depending on if you are training for size and muscular growth, or just for strength, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll end up doing something like 4 or 5 sets of 6-12 reps on most exercises. Over a period of time, when you have been doing that for month after month it can become hard to stay motivated. So what do you do about it? Well below I’ve detailed two different methods which you may not have tried before but which can bring some variety and even new gains and improvement to your time worn routines.

Volume Training:

Initially this can be a slightly difficult concept to get your head around and the first thing you’ll need to take to the Gym with you is a small pen and pad. This is the way it works. Lets say you are training your Chest, you will need to count the total volume of weight that you lift across all your reps and sets for all your chest exercises. You can do it in pounds or kilograms, whatever floats your boat. So let me illustrate this for you with a full example and breakdown of a typical workout. I’ll use nice round figures on the weights to keep it simple.

Barbell Bench Press: 5 sets of 10 reps @ 80kg . So 10 reps would be 10 x 80kg = 800kg. 5 sets of that is 5 x 800 = 4000kg Lifted.

Barbell Incline Press: 5 sets of 10 @ 50kg. 10 reps would be 500kg. 5 sets of that is 2500kg.

Dumbbell Decline Press: 4 sets of 10 @ 60kg (30kg each hand). 10 x 60kg = 600kg. 4 sets of that 2400kg.

Dumbbell Flys: 4 sets of 10 @ 30kg (15kg each hand). 10 x 30kg = 300kg. 4 sets = 1200kg.

So in total for your chest you have lifted 10,100 kg for your chest. Keep a record of that and the next time you train your chest make sure you lift more total volume than that figure. You can do that by using exactly the same exercises but increasing the weight, doing more over all reps or simply by doing some extra sets or exercises. You can use this technique for all body parts. Keep your records to hand, make sure you document them and train this way for a couple of months. You will be amazed at the amount of extra volume you can add in a couple of months and if you work hard will be equally amazed at the gains in size and strength that you make using this method.

Stopwatch weights

Time:

By time i DO NOT mean the length of time you actually spend in the Gym and train for. I’m a big advocate of getting in and out of the Gym quickly, 60/70 minutes absolute max…..you do have a life after all. What i mean by time is “time under tension” for the muscle. The way you do this is to do an exercise for a fixed period of time such as 40 seconds. You need to use a weight that you can lift smoothly and continuously as the trick is to have the muscle constantly under tension for the entire 40 seconds. Don’t pause at the top or bottom of a rep, try to keep the weight moving the whole time. However do not rush, you need to maintain strict and correct form throughout the exercise. This is surprisingly hard and you may well need to lower the weight compared to what you would normally use when just doing a set number of reps. By the 3rd or 4th set you will be struggling by the time you get to 30 seconds but its important to keep pushing through to the end even if you end up doing half reps for the last few seconds.

The key here is the continuous time under tension for the muscle. By giving it no time to rest and being constantly under strain it forces the muscles into something called Hypertrophy which is the state that makes your muscles grow. You can use this technique for every exercise you do and it makes for a seriously intense workout when done properly. It will initially take some experimentation with the weights but once you get it right you will love the pump and growth you get from using this method. Again, try it for a couple of months and see what happens.

So if you use the standard Reps method, Volume method and Time under tension method you now have three different ways of training. By changing things up your body never knows what to expect and this in turn helps you to keep growing and improving. For any of these methods to really work you need to give them some time. It’s no good doing it once and then going back to reps. Trust me, pick one of the methods and do it for 4 times a week for all your body parts and see where you are after a month, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Take care,

John

Todays Training – Back & Legs….Sort of!

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Back TrainingSo here’s today’s training diary or log. I’ve spoken a few times about being flexible and able to change your plans at short notice. Today was a prime example. I had about 70 minutes and thought i could fit in a really good back and leg session + some cardio. As i got to the Gym i bumped into someone i used to work with and hadn’t seen for about 4 years. He kept me chatting for about 20 minutes. It was good to see him but my workout plans were blown. However it turned into a positive as i decided to really blast my back and finish with an intense HiiT style weighted circuit focusing on legs at the end. Here is the workout.

Deadlift: 1 x 8 warmup set @70kg, 2 x 5 @100kg, 2 x 3 at 110kg, 2 x 8 at 70kg. For me doing reps at 110kg is a big step up (i know it won’t be for some of you who smash that sort of weight) so i was delighted with that, although I’m a bit concerned as my lower/middle back is still shaking.

Then the Lat pulldown machine. 3 sets of 8 @ 50kg, 55kg and 60kg. Then across to a cable machine, fitted a straight handle and did 3 sets of straight arm lat pulldowns in front of the body. This is similar to a tricep pushdown but keep your arms straight oin front and squeeze down with your lats 3 x 8 at 40kg, 50kg and 55kg.

Then the cable seated row. 1 x 10 @50kg 2 x 10@60kg and 1 x 10 at 65kg.

I tried to finish by doing some wide grip pull ups but to be honest both my grip and my back had gone so managed a measly 4 sets of 3 and even then it was more like 2 and a bit on the last set.

Then onto the circuit. I wanted to focus on legs as i hadn’t done the session i wanted, but also wanted to incorporate some metabolic/cardio training and some abs. This was the circuit.

I grabbed 2 12kg kettle bells as extra’s and did the following, no rest between exercises.

12 squats (weight in each hand by my side), 12 Press ups, 12 reverse lunges (6 each side), 25 jumping jacks, 45 second plank, 12 alternate touch your ankle straight leg v sits, 12 goblet squats (with just one of the 12kg weights). Then rested for approx. 1 minute and repeated twice more for a total of 3 sets. By the end i was blowing smoke out of my backside and my legs were throbbing. Given the limited time i was really pleased.

That’s it. Not sure when the next workout will be but I’ll keep you posted. By the way my back feels 2 hours after finishing training it might be a few days.

Take Care,

John

My Daily Training Diary!

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No Pain No GainI’ve had a bad couple of weeks from a health and training perspective. I have lots of good excuses (I’m in the middle of getting a loft extension done, the kids are off school on Easter holidays, it was my birthday and we had a couple of days out to celebrate etc etc, but the truth is I’ve just neglected things a bit and not been training as much as i should. I’m only human, and very much the Ordinary Guy that this blog is about.

So I’m determined that for the next month or so I’m going to be very strict, get back on track and smash the training and healthy eating again. A few people have asked me how i train, what i do, how often etc? So i thought it might be an idea to do a quick daily post outlining what training i have done, what it involved, weights lifted etc. Hopefully some of you will be interested and I’d welcome any comments. It won’t be every day as i tend to do some sort of activity 4 to 5 days per week. If any of you would also be interested in what i eat and my diet then please let me know and maybe I can start to include that as well. So here is day 1.

Thursday: I only had about 50 minutes to squeeze a session in today so the aim was to hit shoulders and arms and maybe do some cardio/abs if i had time. My left shoulder is buggered (that’s a technical term) and as soon as i start to lift any heavyish weights in terms of shoulder press or bench press it becomes sore and stays that way so i have to work around it. Therefore i started with 5 minutes of shoulder joint stretches, muscle stretches, rotator cuff stretches to try to loosen it up as much as possible. Then here is the routine i hit.

1 x warm up set of 10 reps @ 14kg of seated dumbbell shoulder press

1 x 10 reps @ 20kg, followed by 2 x 8 reps@ 22.5kg, followed by 3 x 10 @ 16kg. Rest between all sets was approximately 50/60 seconds.

Then moved on to standing side lateral raises.

I took a 10kg dumbbell in each hand and did alternate reps for each side, 10 reps per side. Then immediately dropped those and picked up 7kg each side and with no rest went into a strict set of 10 reps (both sides at the same time). So effectively supersetted side lateral raises. Repeated 3 times. Rest between sets was about 1 minute max.

Then sat on a bench, leaned forward and went into bent over rear lateral raises. Again i did a superset style. So did 10 reps with 9kg, dropped them and straight into another 10 reps with 5kg. I realise the weight for these lat raises may sound light to some people but… a) I am trying to protect my shoulder and b) If you do them really strictly and only engage your deltoid muscle without “throwing” the weight up, it still gives you an amazing pump and is very effective.

Then picked up 2 x 30kg dumbbell and did 3 x 15 reps of shrugs, concentrating on shrugging my shoulders up and back to really work the traps (trapezius). That’s shoulders done.

For arms i normally work with free weights but i watched a video by a guy called Jeff Cavaliere from Athlean X who i rate very highly and would massively recommend his videos. The video is here and it is a cable machine workout that works both biceps and triceps at the same time and wow is it effective. Basically you set a flat handle on a cable machine. I was lucky as at my Gym i had two right next to each other. Have 1 handle up high to do Tricep push downs and one down low for bicep curls. You move from Biceps to Triceps with no rest and move the weights up or down after each set. So…..

1 x 10 reps@ 60kg Tricep push down, followed by 1 x 12 reps@20kg bicep curls. Then 1 x 10 reps@50kg Tricep push down, followed by 1 x 12 reps@30kg bicep curls.  Then 1 x 10 reps@40kg Tricep push down, followed by 1 x 12 reps@40kg bicep curls.  Then 1 x 12 reps@30kg Tricep push down, followed by 1 x 10 reps@50kg bicep curls. Then finally 1 x 12 reps@20kg Tricep push down, followed by 1 x 8 reps@60kg (That’s all i could manage). I rested for a few minutes then squeezed out 2 sets of 15kg hammer curls and 2 sets of 50kg overhead tricep extensions. My arms were fried by the end of it.

I was running out if time so couldn’t do any cardio but quickly did a little ab superset of 8 hanging leg raises, followed by 10 v-sits, followed by 45 second plank. Did it three times and then headed for the door.

Tomorrow I have slightly more time so plan to do back and legs + some cardio stuff.

I hope you like this and enjoy it over the next few days. Please let me know your thoughts.

Take Care,

John

 

 

Setting achievable Goals – 5 ways not to fail.

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Mountain GoalsWe all have dreams and aspirations of some sort. Every one of us at some stage has lain in bed at night and thought “if only” or “i wish i could…”. So why do some people seem to be able to achieve those aims and make them reality, and others just don’t.

Setting goals is a bit of a cliché. We have all worked at companies or in jobs where tired bosses sit us all in a room and we “brainstorm” a set of goals that we’d like to achieve. However the trick is to get away from that negative mindset around goals and bring them back into a sense of reality. What is a “goal”? Very simply it’s just something you’d like to do or an aim you’d like to achieve. So how can you turn that goal or dream into reality. Use the 5 tips below and by implementing these simple techniques you WILL achieve your health and fitness goals.

  1. Be Realistic: This is THE most critical point of all. We may all have dreams but look at yourself in the mirror and genuinely ask yourself “is this possible?”. I’m all for setting high standards and reaching the top of the mountain, but we do also have to look at our limitations and be real. If you currently get out of breath running 50 yards for the bus then setting yourself a goal of running the Marathon in under 3 hours is too big a leap. You have to make a realistic assessment of where you are now and set a challenging but achievable target of where you would like to get to. So if you are struggling to run to the bus stop, set a target of running 3 miles without stopping. If you are 6 stone overweight, don’t commit to losing all 6 stone immediately, set a target of losing half of that weight in a set period. That brings me onto the next point….
  2. Change and reset your goals regularly. People seem to think that if they set a goal it is cast in stone. Life isn’t like that. Life throws you curve balls all the time. Your circumstances change, your health, job, family situation may all change for the better or worse and you have to be flexible enough to accommodate those changes and the effect they may have on your goals. Similarly as you work towards the goal you may surprise yourself and need to reset the goal. If your aim is to run 3 miles and you suddenly find you have an aptitude for running then push it out to 5 miles or 10 miles. If the weight falls off of you very easily change the time period you are looking at. I’d also suggest that the best way to set goals is to take it in small chunks. If you do want to run a marathon you don’t go out and hit 26 miles on day one. You aim for 5 miles, then 10, then 15 and work your way towards the end goal. That should be the same in all areas of your health and fitness regime. Constantly appraise yourself, where are you at, what can you change and are you making progress towards the ultimate target?
  3. Make sure your goal is measurable in some way or that you can keep track of it. If it’s just about appearance then take a selfie in front of the mirror once a week. You will be amazed at how motivating it is to see and be able to detail those small incremental changes. Keeping a record of the improvements you are making whether that is more weight you are lifting, kilo’s you are losing, dress sizes you are dropping or just how much more toned you look in photo’s will inspire you to keep up the good work. Sometimes progress is slow or moves forward in almost unseen steps. if you can document it, however small, it will keep you on track and moving forward.
  4. However the flip side of point 3 is this. Don’t panic if you have a setback or it isn’t working. At some point in whatever it is that you are trying to achieve you will hit a plateau, a point where you get stuck and don’t seem able to make any more progress. You may stop losing weight, just can’t improve your running times or can’t get your bench press above 100kg no matter how hard you try. It’s really important at those points not to be become negative or demotivated. Cut yourself some slack, step back and take a look at a)how far you have come already and b) what you might be able to change to continue moving forward again. In many cases just taking a week off, recharging your batteries and giving your body and mind some time off is all you need. Start again after the week off and see what happens. If that doesn’t work you may just need to change your routine a bit. Your body is very clever and if you do the same thing all the time it adjusts and stops making progress. That’s why changing your approach and making small changes to your goals on a regular basis is so important.
  5. Make your goals public and put a time frame on them. That doesn’t mean you need to put an advert in the local newspaper, but DO tell a few of your loved ones and close friends what your aims are. “Why would i want to do that?” you ask, “that’s embarrassing!” Well for two reasons really. Firstly if you tell other people your aims then almost everyone i know will feel the same way. They feel that by publicly committing to something you are letting not only yourself down but other people as well if you stray away from your target, and that can be a very powerful motivator. Secondly however, those people can and will help you. If you have a bit of a blip, fall off the wagon or just start to struggle then those close to you can give you the support and help you need to pick yourself back up and keep going. They can push you towards your targets and give you the impetus to keep going even when it becomes tough.

So to summarise what i have said very briefly. Set realistic targets that are achievable based on where you are now. Set a time frame and a way of measuring your progress. Appraise and if need be change those goals on a regular basis and finally tell some of your closest friends and relatives so that they can help you out (and give you some friendly stick if you start to wilt).

Don’t hesitate, start now. Get a piece of paper, write down 5 things you’d like to achieve and then pick one that you want get started on. Set a date, figure out how you are going to go about it and get cracking. Climbing the biggest mountain starts with the very first small step, so do that RIGHT NOW!!

Take Care,

John