I realise that there's been a serious lack of activity from this blog lately, so sorry for that. The reason for the radio silence is that I've been trying out a completely different angle to my training and its taken me a week or two to get used to the routine. One thing I'll say about the my new training is that its definitely paying off with regards to muscle gain and fat loss; however its a lot more intense than any other regime that I've done before. I've also intensified my approach to my nutrition along with this. In previous posts I mentioned that I was reducing my calorie intake to 500/600 on two days of the week, since starting my new routine I've opted to change those days into full fasting days. Needless to say, this routine has been completely different to me - so I thought that I'd share it with all of you.
As I said that I had planned to in previous posts, I've recently taken up boxing. For those of you are into the sport but haven't tried actually training - I'd highly recommend it, its the best workout that I've ever had. Its especially good for your core as that's where a lot of the movement/power comes from in boxing. Also as of today I've restarted playing hockey; I'm hoping that coupling this with boxing will allow me to partake in a huge amount of cardio and core activities which will allow me to focus more on building, toning and maintaining muscle whilst in the gym. I've decided to follow the Hodge Twins' training split with regard to muscle building and do one day that consists of Chest, arms and shoulders, one that consists of Back and arms, and one that consists of legs and compound movements. By compound movements I'm referring to exercises such as clean and press, pull ups etc. I threw compound movements into my leg day because I personally think that it increases your power output when it comes to other exercises. So bearing all of that in mind, this is how my week is set out.
Monday - Chest, Triceps and Arms. Boxing.
Tuesday - (Fasting Day) Hockey Training
Wednesday - Back and Arms. Boxing.
Thursday - Rest Day (Fasting Day)
Friday - Legs & Compound Movements.
Saturday & Sunday - Rest Days
As you can see from that breakdown, its a pretty intense week of training. I am considering moving a muscle building day into Thursday to reduce the workload on another day. However, the set up that I have now seems to be working, so why fix something that isn't broken? Also, here's a breakdown of my various routines for each gym session.
Chest, arms and shoulders -
Flat Bench Press - 4 sets, failure
Incline Bench Press - 2 sets, 10 reps
Tricep Dips - 3 sets, failure.
Chest Flyes (Machine) 4 Sets, Failure
Shoulder press (Dumbbells or machine) - 3 sets, failure
Bicep Curls - 3 sets, failure
Tricep Pulldowns - 4 Drop sets to failure
Back and Arms -
Wide Grip Pull Ups - 4 sets, failure.
Hammer Strength Row - 4 sets, failure
Prone Row - 3 sets, failure
Lat Pulldown - 3 sets, failure
Bicep Curls (EZ curl bar) - 3 sets, failure
Tricep Pulldowns - 3 sets, failure
Legs & Compound -
Barbell Squats - 4 sets, failure.
Clean and Press - 2 sets, failure
Bent Legged Deadlifts - 3 sets, failure
Calf Raises - 3 sets, failure
Pull ups - 3 sets, failure
From that you can all gather that my training in the gym now is focused on heavier lifts to gain muscle, and I've saved the cardio, core, stability and flexibility work for outside the gym with boxing and hockey. With regard to the supplements I'm taking, I'm still taking Warrior Blaze and its still doing an amazing job, I'm also now on a course of Syntha6 protein. Thanks to these two supplements and my training working together, I've seen a huge difference and decided that this regime is worth sticking to until it proves otherwise. I also said in an earlier post that I'd report back on syntha6 and its effectiveness - I have found it to be the most effective protein shake yet. Its helped me gain lean muscle pretty fast and its also reduced the amount that my muscles ache after intense workout days. Also, its pretty damn tasty. Basically its definitely worth a buy if you have 30-40 pounds to splash out with. I've also taken pictures to mark the start of my new training regime, I'll post them with what I'm hoping will be huge transformation pictures when the time comes.
If anyone's got any feedback on this post - any questions or comments etc. You can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wrightyx Twitter - @Wrighty__ or alternatively just post a comment under this thread. Don't hesitate to come to me with any feedback, I love hearing from people that read this blog. I'll try and get another post up as soon as possible but until then,
Keep Testing The Limits.
Alex.
ReplyDeleteMy sport is hockey and position right forward. I am looking to improve my drag flick (lower body) and aerial (upper body) technique and performance. I plan to do this in the gym and by choosing specific resistance training activities in the hope that this will develop the muscle/muscle groups. I was wondering if you could give me some advice and as much information as possible on what would be the most beneficial resistance activities and would it be possible if you could also advise me on a few progressions within the training. Hope this makes sense. Look forward to your reply. Thank you for taking the time to read this.