bodybuilding

Sport like art, advances in various spheres to a point where technique replaces imagination and natural instinct. When this happens there has to be a return to basic principle. Alan Rose (quoted by Reg Park in his book- Strength and Bulk Training) “A ship in the harbour is safe-but that is not what ships are for” John A, Shed- quoted in Ed Coan’s book. In critical and baffling situations, it is always best to return to the first principle and simple action. – Sir Winston Churchill.

Hi to all, first I would like to say a big thank you to all those that took the time and effort to email me. I was overwhelmed by the response to my last post; I just could not believe that many people looked in on my articles. I feel that I have picked up more information from the trenches, so to speak, than I have ever done from reading countless books. I was also so inspired by the accounts of real world trainers, thank you again.

I have had two awesome workouts, since I have got it into my head that I do need to work harder. Now- as one of my emails stated, from a very knowledgeable chap who has trained for many years. Chalk the SS stuff up as training experience and move on. Another quoted a great line from Bruce Lee, I cannot remember it to the letter but it went something like this, “In training take that what is useful to you and discard the rest”. This is exactly what I have done, I don’t see the last three months of training as a waste of time. I feel that I have picked up many good points from SS, such as some great points on exercise style, turnaround on movements and points on momentum. I also found out that in order for me to keep what I have, in terms of muscle size, I have to train dammed hard and strive for those weights. If I did not train I would be very thin and weigh about 112lbs. It does take a lot for me to keep the 155 I have at 5 foot 3 inch, if I am ever ill, which is rare, I drop loads of muscle. So- although many think I have good potential for this came, I beg to differ. I have struggled for every ounce I have for twenty years. I always have to do things right, like eat my calories on the button, drink my water in the right amount and so on, or I do slide backwards. Which is exactly what I did; slide back a tad.

I have had two great workouts back at the hardcore stuff and I was surprised to note, how much strength I had dropped. Never mind I will soon have it back and more. The plan I have set out is some old faithful movements, moulded into the most productive training program I ever followed.

This is as follows;
• One set taken to fail, where another
• rep cannot be preformed in strict style.
• Train every 4-5 days.
• Use basic movements.
• Train in strict style using a steady rep • speed with no momentum.
• Move quickly between exercises and
• finish the workout as quick as I can.
• Add weight to the bar whenever the
• goal reps are achieved.
• Aim for twelve reps on upper body
• movements and twenty reps on squats • and calves.
• Keep the total exercises to around 6-8 • per workout.
• Make sure I replace the carbohydrates I have burned after the workout in order • to aid recovery.

The workouts.
Here are the two workout programs I settled on;

# 1
Squats in the power rack.
Starting off the pins in the bottom position.
Bench press in the rack, starting from the bottom position.
Chins Close grip press, thick bar- in the rack starting from mid position.
Bent over rows.
Standing press in rack top position, as explained in the last hard-gainer.
Calve raise.

# 2
Squats.
Bench press.
Dead lift from the floor.
Standing press thick bar.
Dips.
Curl thick bar.
Shrugs, with dumbbells.

I will run through the last one for you to give you an idea of how the workout went.
This one I preformed on the Saturday just gone the 21st. This I had to do at an odd time for me 8.30 pm, I must admit I do like mornings better, but I had so much on business wise. Also Jenny, a client of mine, was competing on the Sunday in the Central England figure class. She won by the way and has the British Finals to do in a couple of weeks. I have every faith in her doing well as she has some of the best genetics for figure and shape I have seen in a long time. Jenny also trains very hard on two all-body workouts a week and is the mother of two. She is true inspiration and looks ace, well done Jenny.

So it was an evening workout for me at home in the garage, I have a great set up in my garage.I have a power rack a bench, dip bars and about 700lbs in weight, dumbbells and bars. I have more than enough for a great workout. It was a nice evening so I spread things out into the yard setting up my bench, standing press and curl there. I started the workout off with some light warm-ups on the basic moves and then set all the weights on every exercise, ready for the battle to commence. With the thought in my mind of improving and gaining back lost strength I was well up for it.
Squats were first off the bat, 242lbs my aim was twenty reps. I preformed these in a steady speed of movement, going as deep as I could go and never locking out at the top. I had also set the pins in my rack just under my depth, this allowed me to go to fail; I could not get back up at the 16th rep. I went right on into my next movement with no rest, bench press. Louise my wife stood over me on these, I had 181lbs on and smoothly pushed out with no bounce and no lockout till fail set in. I dug deep into these and was very aggressive through the bar; I got 16 reps. Again with no rest I went right back into the garage, to a bar set on the floor with 297lbs, I quickly chalked my hands and went right into dead lifts. I was breathing heavy now but nothing was going to stop me giving these all I had. I pulled out 8 reps before the bar stuck to the floor, I stood up for two seconds, bent down and did 2 more very hard reps; I then knew that if I attempted another, my style would break down so I let it be at that. With no rest again and now feeling a bit out of it, I moved out into the yard again.

Standing press thick bar 92lbs, normally light but now it felt like a ton. I got 10 full deep, no back bend reps, before it would not budge off my chest. The self same bar, I went right into curls, I did these from full extension to full contraction; they absolutely killed me. My arms, shoulders and forearms were on fire, my legs shook but I was not going to let up. Hard work, kept running through my mind, I wanted to push myself as hard as I could possibly do; the bar would not move anymore after 8 and a load of half reps. I moved back into the garage for my last exercise, shrugs, these I did with two 110lb dumbbells picking them up was now hard enough. I did get them off the floor, just, and managed to get 10 full high reps and a few half and quarter ones. Workout done, I felt absolutely wasted, I felt sick minutes after and had to sit on my bench for at least five till I felt I could face standing and putting all the weights away. When I did stand I felt a bit shaky, good I thought it’s about time I worked hard, this is only the start of what is to come. Later on that evening when I had come round a bit I went through the program in my head, I was happy with my intensity, I felt I had got that animal back. Now it is time to get those weights up and grow. I am away for two weeks now guys so I will not be posting, but I will be on my emails as the old laptop is on it’s vacation with me, so speak soon.

Take care and be an animal in those workouts, may the next workout you have be your hardest ever and then the next better still.

Love to you all and be happy.