WAR - Power Body Building "Legs"

I've not been logging my daily workouts but I have been training like a beast.
Today was legs day and I went to war with the weights, no half reps, no light weights, just pure brutal no compromise lifting.

Here's what my power body building session went:
=Squats,5 reps all deep no half reps! - 2 set warm up sitting practically on the floor [40,50g] followed by working sets 60,70,90,80,100,110kg. All clean reps with no help from the spotter and plenty of grunt.
=Leg Press, deep full range of 10 reps 5 sets - 40,60,80,100,130kg
=Hamstring curls, 10 reps 3 sets - 40,50,60kg
=Quad curls, 5 sets 10 reps - 12plate,12plate,13plate,14plate,16plate(full stack over 100kg)
=Calf raises of leg press, 3 sets of 25 - 30,30,20kg
Abs
=Weighted knee raises with gravity boots - 5kg 15 reps than 7kg 15 reps
=Hanging wipers - 8.8.6 reps
=Weighted reverse crunches with ankle straps on the cables - 7kg 15 reps decline, 7kg 15 reps flat, 5kg 15 reps flat
=15kg ab crunch with gym ball, 3 sets of 15 reps

RECOVERY AND SUPPLEMENTS
My body went through war all this week so the recovery process is likely to be slow and painful but there are things that I can do to reduce DOMS and speed up recovery. Good nutrition is key which I have almost perfected already but more importantly effective supplementation especially when training incredibly hard 5 days a week.
Morning: 10g L-Glutamine, 4g Amino acids, breakfast - oats, eggs and whey protein
Pre-workout: 4g BCAA, 5g L-Glutamine with a whey protein shake
Post-workout: 4g Amino acids, 5g L-Glutamine with a whey protein shake
Bedtime: Casein protein, 10g L-Glutamine and 4g Amino acids#
I take more L-Glutamine due to my bowel disease (colitis), Rea search suggests that it helps to repair and keep digestive system healthy.

My legs workout

Super busy with university so I have been neglecting my blog. However I do post up on my Facebook page, Daily Mile (when I remember) and very often on Twitter. So feel free to follow me on Twitter for updates or add me as a friend on Daily Mile.

I will have more time once university is all said and done, so for the next few months I need to focus on studying and than I'm free to live life joyfully. Easier said than done since I have a memory of a goldfish and terrible attention span to sit and study or even get going. (Very frustrating)

Here's what my current legs workout regime looks like:

- Barbell squats (I go deep all the time. Warm up with light weights on higher reps than do max 5 reps or less on heavier weights, power lifting style)
- Stiff leg dead lifts (Start on 70kg than increments of 10kg. I maxed out at 120kg for 4 reps)
- Leg press (Deep! Start on 80kg than 120, 160kg)
- Hamstring curls (3 sets, 30,40,50kg)
- Quad curls (3 sets, heavy, heavier than the whole stack!)
- Calf's on leg press (15kg each side for 2 sets than 10kg each side, I try 25 reps or failure)
- Hip abductors superset (3 sets)

If time permits I stretch out on some pretty funky stretching machines and use a foam roller. This is by far the best routine for legs that I have had. The barbell squats and dead lifts are a definite mass gainer.

Chest Workout - Personal Best's Matched

Chest session today started off a little rough. Partner turned up late and was struggling all day, even with light weights. That really effected his moral so I spent most of the session trying to motivate him plus a fair bit of verbal abuse aimed with good intentions (later paid off, young ones these days).

Anyhow had time to warm up and was motivated by Rocky movies. I started doing my normal routine which is:
- 50 wide grip push ups (no rest)
- Than push ups towards each hand. Normal push than lean to left for push than center than lean to right for a push up.
- Next was tapers. Get as low as possible and lean left than right with opposite elbow straight.
- One handed dynamic push up to end
If you thought normal push ups were hard, these just take it to a whole new level. Really pleased that I have the strength to be able to even attempt some of these.
Workings sets for the chest workout:
1) Barbell bench press - 40kg (10 reps), 8 reps of 50kg 60kg 80kg. 80kg is my PB I struggled.
2) Incline bench press - 8 reps of 40kg 50kg 60kg. Struggling due to elbow tendonitis
3) Dumbbell bench press - 8 reps of 17.5kg 20kg 24kg 26kg than dropped the 28kg on rep 4. Lacking stability due to elbow.
4) Incline dumbbell bench press - 8 reps 17.5kg 20kg 22kg
5) Chest flys - 8 reps of 12.5kg 15kg 18kg. New PB with 18kg
6) Incline iso chest press - 12 reps of 30kg than 40kg to failure with negatives
7) Iso chest flys - 10 reps 2 sets to failure
8) Wide push ups with feet elevated to failure than 5 reps when in failure until I couldn't get myself of the floor

New personal best once again even with the elbow issues. I am taking care of my elbow guys, I do wish to return to rock climbing and I will have to lift heavier so I cannot afford to ignore the tendonitis.

Epic Legs Workout - Personal bests beaten

I haven't trained my legs properly in almost two months. The last time I trained my legs was in New York City but I didn't have a spotter to be able to squat heavy.
Today's training was absolutely epic. My new diet with increased carbohydrates is giving me plenty of energy. I feel as though I am making quick gains and the results are starting to show. (Note that I am still on creatine monohydrate)

Here's how my Legs Workout went:
Leg press - 50kg, 3 variations of 10 reps for a warm up.
Barbell squats - 60kg box squats 10 reps for warm up. Followed by 8 reps of 80kg,100kg,120kg and than 6 reps of 140kg to beat my personal best.
Smith machine squats with legs forward to activate the quadriceps - 8 reps of 70kg,100kg, 110kg. I believe that might be the heaviest I have lifted for this variation of squats.
Deadlifts - 60kg 10 reps, 100kg 8 reps, 120kg 3.5 reps matching my personal best.
Hamstring press - 3 sets 8 reps, 70-100kg range with 1 set of negatives - Personal best
Quad curls -  8 reps, 84kg - 110kg range - Personal best matched
Calf raises - 54kg 15 reps than 80kg to failure (I managed 12 reps)
Hip abductors and flexures - 4 sets of 20 with 30 second rest, 30kg for outer muscles and 35kg for inner

Abs Workout
15 rep wipers
30 reps leg raises on roman chair
50 rep bicycles


 This was not a pleasant experience!

15 minutes cardio on the stationary bike, keeping my rpm above 80.

Back Workout @ Muscle Mania

Back from my workout and I guess it went as well as it could on my own without assistance.


I was feeling weaker than normal but that is expected since I haven't worked my back muscle properly since I was in America the past 6 weeks.
Warm Up - 15 chin ups, 10 straight arm pull ups
Lat pull downs to chest - 3 sets,8-10 reps (8,10,12 plates)
Lat pull downs facing backwards to chest - 3 sets, 8 reps (6,8,10 plates)
Bent over rows with barbell (two grips)- 3 sets, 8-10 reps (20kg,40kg,50kg)
Dumbbell rows - 4 sets, 8-10 reps (20kg,26kg,28kg,30kg)
Close grips barbell pull ups to chin - 10reps 12.5kg and 15kg than went on cables for 30kg and 35kg
T-bar rows - 3 sets, 8-10reps (15kg,30kg,40kg)

Triceps - cable pull downs and dips
Abs - 10 reps wipers than 20 reps hanging knee lifts

Changing to a five day split

I need to change my training routine again. Can't seem to stick to one due to changes in my week. Last week I implemented my marathon into my weight lifting programme. I found that I spent a long time in the gym, almost 2 hours for two body parts and about an hour  of cardio, which includes my marathon training.
This was eating away at my day and I wasn't going to the gym at 7am and not sleeping as well as I used to.
I had no problem recovering from my weight lifting but recovery from the long run that I did on Sunday is slow, still sore today even with a high protein intake plus the L-Glutamine.

New routine will be a 5 day split working one body part per day and implementing cardio.
Monday: Chest + Light cardio
Tuesday: Back + 30 min training run
Wednesday: Arms + Light cardio
Thursday: Legs + 30 minute training run
Friday: Shoulders + Easy walking
Saturday: REST
Sunday: Long training run

I will use this programme this week and see how it goes. I am hoping that I see good muscle gains, recover faster, hopefully manage to have more time in my day and sleep better.

Weigh In: Increased weight, leaner body

FITNESS UPDATE
Forced myself to stay in bed for an extra hour today so I was out of bed by 7am today instead of 6am. It is my rest day after all and sleep is just as important as food and exercise.
I got on the scales, empty stomach and a flushed system, and the results were good. 59.2kg which is 130lbs.
That is an increase of 0.5kg since my last weigh in. It's definitely not fat since I am looking leaner around the abdominals.

I think by next week I will start to tailor my food intake more strictly once I receive my skinfold calliper to test my body fat percentage. The aim is still to reach 7-8% body fat and than try to maintain that or go down to 5% if possible. All in the process I still need to build lean muscle, so diet will remain high in protein and lifting at the gym will remain heavy.

Will go down to the gym at 10am to use the sauna but I'm not considering 30 minutes of running on the treadmill as part of my marathon training otherwise 45-60min of light cardio, possibly on the exercise bike.

Quick outline of morning food intake:
-Jordan organic oats with ground cinnamon and Alpro light
-400ml water, 1 teaspoon of organic forest honey, 2 scoop PhD Pharma Whey

Supplements for general health and well-being
-Multivitamin, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, ferrous sulphate, cod liver oil
Also 2g Pentasa Mesalazine for ulcerative colitis

Incredible legs workout at Muscle Mania Gym

As part of my marathon training and fitness goals, I have been going to the gym daily.

We have had four days straight of rain in London but today Mr Sun is out and I am charged up! Got up nice and early to hit the gym for my legs workout, and also a planned run for my cardio workout. Once again I beat two of my personal bests AND ran pain free afterwards!

Here's how it went, it's a little intense and I hit every muscle:
Warm up - spider push ups, torso twists, leg press, weighted jumps
Dead lifts - 80kg (10rep), 90kg (8 rep), 100kg (6 rep), 120kg (4 rep) [Personal best beaten, that was soooo heavyyyyy]
Barbell squats - 50kg (10 rep), 60kg (8 rep), 80kg (10 rep), 100kg (8 rep), 110kg (6 rep) [Personal best beaten]
Single leg press - 3 sets (each)
Leg press - 3 heavy sets
Hamstring curls - 3 slow cadence sets, squeeze those muscles!
Quad curls (single leg) - 3 sets
Quad curls - 80kg max 3 sets [Matched personal best]
Seated calf lifts - 3 sets, 50kg max
Calf raises -three sets from 55kg upwards
Hip abductors (flexion and abductors) - 3 supersets each

Injury and recovery - Aftermath of back and shoulder workout

My Workout = Injury
Went to the gym today to hit shoulders for the second time this week. Shoulders still the weakest area due to several years of issues with hypermobile joints and impingement.

For all my sets I started with heavier weights and than lowered the weight as I started to fatigue. Aimed for 6-8 reps and than 10-12, so reverse pyramid. Here's how it went:
3 sets - pull ups (warm up)
3 sets - pull downs behind head
3 sets - pull downs to chest
3 sets - 45 degree shoulder press with dumb bells
3 sets - smith machine shoulder press behind head
3 sets - dumb bell rows
3 sets - rear delt pull downs
drop set - shoulder press on machine
3 sets -  rear delt flys on machine
3 sets -bicep curls

Wow, just realised that I did an awful lot of sets in an hour. Well all of that resulted in injuring my right trapezius muscle. This is the most common injury that I suffer and have had this problems for 10 years. Hence why I have been going through shoulder rehabilitation for the past 4 years and only since January 2012 avoided the need for surgery.

Recovery
Best way to recover from a trapezius injury is REST and ICE. As simple as that! I cannot take any form of pain killers as it causes complications to due suffering from ulcerative colitis. I have applied ice to the affected area for about 15 minutes and will be sleeping like a vampire on my back for two nights. During the day I will try and avoid unnecessary movement and use of my right shoulder.

Recovery Supplement
Bedtime protein consisted of the usual: Optimum Nutrition Casein, 350ml Almond milk, almond butter and 5g of Reflex L-Glutamine. To aid in recovery I also added 3g of aminos (BCAA's). Hopefully when I wake up in the morning I won't be in much pain. Only one way to find out.

Good night

Overtraining? Time to reassess

I feel rough today. Bad night sleep. Pulled my neck muscle again yesterday whilst working on back and shoulders. Shoulders is one of my weakness' so I hit them twice, once on Tuesday and than again on Thursday. The BCAA's and L-Glutamine that I am currently supplementing seem to help muscle recovery but not preventing injury from muscular imbalances.

At the moment I am enjoying my pre-workout protein shake before I go to the gym to hit legs. Leg is sore so I might have to avoid dead-lifts and squats, but I shall see. I will however try to go for a run, still need to be training for my marathon and still need to work on knee rehabilitation.

Anyhow, here's my protein recipe for today (similar to others):
400ml water
2 scoop PhD Pharma Whey (Cookie dough)
5g L-Glutamine
Half banana
1 egg white
1 teaspoon organic honey
2 teaspoon organic almond butter
Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg

3g BCAA capsules upon awakening

For next week I am going to change my workout routine to this:
Monday - Chest and triceps
Tuesday - Legs
Wednesday - REST
Thursday - Back and biceps
Friday - Shoulders
Saturday - Badminton
Sunday - Marathon Run Training

I will have to include two runs during the week for marathon training but currently don't have the time and my knee has not improved enough for me to be able to run pain free.

BCAA Day Three - Chest & "Intensity to the next level"

OK....so I haven't been in the gym since Friday so this is session three on BCAA and L-Glutamine.
Just as a reminder, I took 6 capsules (3gram) of BCAA on an empty stomach when I woke up. Exactly 30 minutes after that, I consumed my pre-workout protein shake breakfast.

Here is what was in my breakfast protein shake:
400ml water
2  scoops of PhD Pharma HT Whey - Cookie Dough
5g L-Glutamine
2g Creatine
1 teaspoon of organic honey
2 teaspoon of organic almond butter
Handful of jumbo oats

I didn't have any bananas at home today so I added 1 teaspoon of honey for the simple sugar.
I added 2g of creatine to this shake as I have not had any creatine in my system since Friday, and was playing badminton on Saturday. Maybe a psychological top up although creatine can be taken at any time of the day (better to take it after a workout).

The Workout
Woke up motivated at 6.50am. I took intensity to another level with this chest workout. Muscular failure was what I was searching for with ever rep. Every set was a drop-set, so I started with a heavy enough weight that I could reach failure in within 8reps. I stayed in failure mode and pushed as many reps as possible and when I could no longer push, my gym buddy would assist on the pushing motion and let me do the negative actions until failure (normally 5 negatives). Every set was a drop set from heavy to light and all past beyond failure. I loved it!! My gym buddy hated every rep and dreaded every set.

What we did::
Barbell bench press - three variations with drop-sets, concentrating on pushing on failure on lighter weights
Smith bench press, flat and incline - heavy weights to start (60kg) than down to a drop set, 12sets in total with the drop-sets. Also did negatives during failure with an assist.
Decline barbell bench press - moderate weight followed by drop-set, wider grip than normal
ISO Chest press - 3 sets with drop sets, to failure with negatives
Tricep dips - to failure than negatives
Wide tricep dips - to failure than negatives

Cardio on the treadmill for my marathon training after this workout. You will have to check my running blog to find out how all my training is going.
http://spikertk.blogspot.co.uk/

Post-Workout Shake
2 organic dates (eaten before drinking protein)

400ml water
5g creatine
3g BCAA (capsule casing removed)
5g L-Glutamine
2 scoop PhD Pharma Blend HT Whey