It's been a long time since I posted anything substantial on this blog, but I'm hoping that some people might still read this, so this one is for you guys. The last few months have been one crazy whirlwind of training, and for me it's been going from strength to strength and I'm seeing some real results. For anyone that's just starting out or maybe just lacking in motivation, I can honestly tell you that seeing those results is pretty much the greatest feeling in the world. Stick at it and those results will come; trust me when I say that when they do, you'll just want to push yourself even harder and even further.
With regard to my own training, I started experimenting with some pretty intense stuff in the form of Muscle and Fitness' 'Rock Hard' workout. In all honesty when I first looked at it, I doubted that I could even attempt to complete such a high level of workout, and worried that I wouldn't have enough energy to complete a full week. The first month consisted of a four day split of Legs, Chest, Back, and Shoulders. Two of those days also included an abs circuit at the end, with legs day also consisting of 30 minutes of steady state cardio post workout. I should also mention that I was averaging around 40 sets with reps 12+ in each of these workouts. At this point my diet wasn't quite on point, although I was eating healthily. So with such an intense plan I saw a considerable difference in my body, and my fitness skyrocketed thanks to the intense volume and the inclusion of cardio (I've never been a big cardio person, struggled to run for ten minutes straight around 18 months ago.
After the first month of this workout, I was pumped and ready for a new challenge; so I decided to progress to the more intense second month of the plan. This was structured with a five day split consisting of Quads and Hamstrings, Chest, Arms, Back, and Shoulders, Calves and Forearms. I suddenly found myself completing less sets overall each workout, but an element of German volume training had been dropped into the workouts, though the Muscle and Fitness variant was to perform 10 sets of 10 reps in 10 minutes, so each set and its rest time would be encapsulated in the same minute. Abs were also included three times a week, with three sessions of HIIT and two sessions of steady state cardio being split between the routines and performed post workout. As with the month before, I was eating healthily but my diet still could have done with a lot of tweaking.
Its safe to say that after completing that level of training over the course of the two months, I became much fitter, faster and stronger than ever before and I noticed a drastic change in my body. This continued up until Christmas last year, but in the New Year I was searching for a new challenge; I decided that I was ready to take my diet to the next level and to freshen up my workout formats. I'd noticed Icon Nutrition were advertising a 90 day challenge. All you had to do was purchase a pack which included a tailored nutrition and training plan, 2.2kg of whey protein, a large tub of their pre workout 'Ignite' (Which still remains my favourite pre workout), a t shirt and a bottle. They offered 10% off on this plan and I snapped it up straight away. Needless to say the training plan is an intense one, including three weights sessions all followed by an intense ab circuit, and three cardio sessions per week. They're all detailed and perfectly explained, there's also a home workout that you can complete which is pretty damn intense too. As for the nutrition plan, I'm finding it to be completely spot on, I've seen a huge change in my body and I'm really starting to shred fat. Plus, its a pretty cheap plan to follow and you can always chop and change some things to your liking, although the plan is varied with multiple options already. It's safe to say that since I've been on this 90 day challenge, I've been getting the perfect amount of nutrients and this is the best that I've ever felt. So anyone that's really interested in toning up and getting really healthy, the stack is definitely worth buying. I'd better also mention that they do other plans for specific goals too. I'll drop links at the end of this post for everything that I've mentioned so far.
The last thing that I want to focus on is the importance of choosing your environment very carefully. By this I mean that one of the most important things is to surround yourself with likeminded and/or wholly supportive people. Even if it's just through social networking sites like Twitter, find people that inspire you and let them continue to do so. Personally I've had endless support from my family and friends and I couldn't ask for any more from them, they're pretty damn amazing. However, there are so many people that I follow on Twitter that continue to inspire me and the fitness community is full of people that love to support eachother and you'll find that a lot of people will pass on their advice free of charge and with a hell of a lot of enthusiasm. For example, I've found that big communities and companies like BodyActive, Icon Nutrition and Machine Fitness are absolutely amazing for encouraging and recognising the people around them and they're in my opinion both at the pinnacle of the fitness community with regard to the effort that they show. You can find all of them on Twitter if you're interested in seeing what they have to say.
Here is the link to the Rock Hard workouts -
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/rock-hard-training-plans-build-serious-muscle
and of course the Icon Nutrition 90 day challenge -
http://www.iconnutrition.co.uk/ICON90
Hope you all found the stuff I had to say interesting, and I hope that I can at least help one person with the resources from this post.
Alex.
Health, Fitness, Sport; and everything in between.
