Category: Exercise

In the past I have struggled to keep in shape year round.  In 7^th form at high school my weight ballooned to 95 kilos!! (This off-season I got up to 69 kilos) People who know me now can not imagine me being that heavy- however, I know if I don’t adhere to a number of dietary principles I could easily go back to that weight.  Here are the principles that have allowed me to stay in shape, add muscle and feel healthy and energetic as well.

 Eat 3-6 meals throughout the day.

 For most people eating regularly every 3-5 hours keeps energy levels constant.  Meals should have protein, carbohydrates and fats (These will be at different ratios based on; body type, body fat levels, metabolism, carbohydrate sensitivity, time of day, before and after workout and amount of exercise performed).  However, there is no exact formula for everyone- I know of people who get lean on only 3 meals a day, so you will need to do a bit of  experimentation on yourself!

 Eat 1- 2 grams of protein per kilo of lean muscle mass.

 I weigh 67-68kg @ 10% which equates to just over 60 kilos of lean mass.  I aim for 120+ grams a day.  If I don’t do this I get hungry! I don’t recover as well, I get weaker and my muscles look flat. My primary source of protein is whey protein concentrate (I prefer it to isolate, casein, egg or milk proteins) I only eat meat once a day. If you feel like you are not digesting protein adequately you can take a digestive enzyme supplement.  My favourite protein powder at the moment is Zealea whey.

 Drink 2-3 litres of water daily.

Water is important for so many functions in the body.  Performance mentally and physically can be affected dramatically when you are dehydrated.  Leading up to a competition my water intake can be more around 3-5 litres.  Also, for people following a body fat loss plan thirst can often be misconstrued as hunger so drink up!

Eat lots of vegetables

 Apart from the vitamins and minerals, the high fibre and low calorie content in most vegetables is great for keeping you full, satisfied, regular and lean!  I have at least 10-12 servings of vegetables everyday and aim for 30+ grams of fibre per day.

Supplement with fish oil

 As soon as I implemented fish oil in my diet I noticed a loss in body fat immediately.  Fish oil is good for reducing inflammation in the body, increases fat burning and reduces fat storage.

 Detoxify your body

 A lot of people think our bodies are capable of detoxing without any help.  I think in an age where pollution, pesticides, processed foods, food additives and a more stressful way of life is the norm we need to help our body do the job.  Our bodies not only store fat from excess calories, we can also store it so that there is a safer place to put all the toxins our body is unable to get rid of.  So have half the juice of lemon in warm water first thing in the morning, consider fasting after big social events, avoid processed foods, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and get good sources of protein and fat so your body can do its job properly.

Consider processed, junk food and takeaways as not even being food.

 Dietary choices are influenced by so many things; by nutritional experts, media, family, peers and personal likes and dislikes.  You have to realise there is no physiological reason to have that kind of food (is a lot of it really food anymore?), and in fact if you’ve eaten clean for any length of time eating processed crap makes you feel terrible!  I personally don’t even classify it as food.  I’m not saying that you should avoid junk food at all costs, because there are times when you just feel like having it, just realise it is what it is and that it will not lead to you being healthier or help you stay in shape.

 Eat slowly

 If we slow down and chew our food properly we will store less of it as body fat.  We will utilise the enzymes in our mouth better (beginning of carbohydrate digestion), also protein foods will be broken down into smaller pieces (increased surface area) to make protein digestion in the stomach easier.  The other important thing is that after 20 minutes of eating your body lets you know you are full.  If you gulp your food down you could be eating far more calories than you need to feel satisfied.

 Relax and be positive when you are eating

 Imagine rushing around eating on the run. Blood will be heading towards the extremities rather than the stomach for proper digestion, making the food you eat a toxic mess.  Also, food choices may be compromised.  You must sit down and relax.  Be positive and thankful for what you are eating- your body functions better when you are feeling good about things.  Also, If you think the food you are about to eat is going to make you have more muscle, get leaner, be healthier and feel good aren’t you going to enjoy it more compared to someone who knows that what they are putting in their bodies has no nutritional value and will make them fatter!

Plan and have meals ready for the day

 I know exactly what I am going to eat and when everyday.  If you have no plan then you will always have more chance of slipping up on your goal to stay in shape.  I organise my meals the night before (I enjoy what I eat too) while cooking tea.

Take supplements to enhance your diet.

 If your goal is to stay in shape while maintaining or adding muscle your body needs to be functioning as optimally as possible.  Supplements like whey protein, multi-vitamins, minerals and fish oil I feel would be the bare minimum to help with this goal.  If you can afford more and are looking to add mass while staying lean I would suggest: creatine, glutamine, digestive enzymes, a detox formula and a Nitric Oxide product.  Fat burners can also be effective for some people (especially if you are not sensitive to caffeine) and are especially useful leading up to competitions.  There are lots of other supplements out there and what works for one person may not work for you. Not all of them will give the results they promise, just be scientific with adding them into your diet.  If you add one at a time while being constant with everything else you will see (or not see) the benefits it has for you.

These principles have helped me to stay in shape year round, hopefully they help you too.

Last year when I was looking at pictures of my last contest I observed that my legs were definitely not up to par compared to my upper body.  I needed to improve mass around the knee and have more separation.  I also needed to have more mass in my calves and more separation in my hamstrings and glutes (I will discuss that at another time).  First thing I did was to split my legs into two workouts:  Quads and Calves / Hamstrings and Calves.  Coupled with principles of training like; positions of flexion, static holds, x-reps and rest pause (RP*) I felt confident I could improve in these areas.  This is what my Quad & gastrocnemius workouts have looked like this year.  I alternate these 2 workouts.

Quads & Calves A                 RR*=   rep range goal for both sets.              

RP*                 Squats                         2 sets              RR*=11-20

Hold               Leg Press                   2 sets              RR = 11-20

Front Squat                                        2 sets               RR = 11-20

X’s, hold          Leg ext                      2 sets               RR = 11-20

Hold                 Leg press kicks     2 sets               RR = 11-20

X’s, hold          Hack raise                2 sets              RR = 11-20

Quads & Calves B                                       

Hold                 Leg Press                    2 sets               RR = 11-20

RP*                 Squats                         2 sets:             RR = 11-20

X’s, hold          Leg ext                        2 sets               RR = 11-20

RP                   Sissy squat                 2 sets               RR = 11-20

SS 1 X’s, hold Leg press raise           2 sets               RR = 11-20

SS 1                Standing c-raise          2 sets              RR = 20-30

For years I have done squats and leg presses as my 2 main quad exercises.  However, training hard and lifting maximum weights on these lifts does not necessarily translate to proportioned quads for bodybuilding.  My best squat to parallel without a belt has been 160kg for 6-8 reps, (I weighed around 73-75kg at the time) but with most of the muscle growth occurring around my glutes and upper thigh with very little around the lower quads. I then began using a belt to help keep my torso more upright, with the goal of placing more torque or emphasis at the knee as opposed to the hip. It allowed me to use more weight but I still felt it in the same place and still no luck with extra mass above the knee.

How could I increase torque around the knee then? There are several things to consider: Firstly, I have a small waist; 28 inches in the off-season.  According to a number of experts this can be a disadvantage when lifting heavy weights as it is harder to maintain proper biomechanics in the lift.  I decided that continually lifting more weight would not be the sole goal- feeling the exercise in the right place would be.

Secondly, I have a long torso in relation to my leg length with a proportionately long femur bone to my tibia and fibula in the lower leg.  This meant that even with best intentions my hips are in the driving seat.  I tried hack squats as they emphasise vastus medialis, but no matter where I placed my feet or moved the foot plate they never felt right.  I looked at squats again and decided to put a small wedge/ plate (about ½ inch) under each heel.  (I have refrained from doing this in the past because of all the negative information out there in terms of doing this.) Guess what- I felt all the stress on my lower quads!!  Not on my joints like I expected.  Just be careful as it can cause injury if you have knee issues, use too much weight or use poor technique.

Thirdly, I now perform leg press with a narrower foot stance and higher on the platform which for me hits my vastus medialis hard (as well as my hamstrings).  If I go any lower on the platform I just feel it in my knees.  Adding a static hold on my last set near the contracted position provides a wicked burn and pump in my vastus medialis also.

I have also added front squats to the mix and again the emphasis on creating more torque around the knee in relation to the hip has helped my leg development.  If you find conventional front squats hard you can buy a front squat harness from getstrength.com (a NZ company!).

Leg extensions are always performed last if at all when my knees are thoroughly warmed up and my range of motion is only between full extension and slightly above 90 degrees at the bottom of the movement.  I find rest pause, drop sets, x-reps and static holds effective techniques with this exercise.

As a result of these changes my quads have definitely improved this year.  I advise all of you who have struggled to put mass on your quads to analyse your structure, experiment with exercise selection and techniques to find out what works best for you.  Also, research quad training from a wide range of sources, err on the side of caution, warm up properly, use correct technique and make sure you feel it in the quadriceps not the knee or hip joints.  There should be no excuses now- go and make those quads grow!!

 

Everyone I talk to wants bigger arms.  When designing an arm workout, you must consider a number of things like:

1. Arms are used in all upper body workouts (And some lower) so volume has to be low, especially if you train intensely.
2. Picking exercises that suit your body (when you perform them you feel it in the muscle and not your joints.)
3. They are small muscle groups, so you should use less sets than other muscle groups.
4. They need sufficient time to recover like other muscle groups.
5. Any muscle will eventually adapt to a certain way of training.
6. Exercises don’t necessarily need to be changed; other variables like number of reps, exercise techniques like rest pause, x’s, XTDers, drop sets, super sets and static holds can be enough to keep muscles guessing.

Here is my current arm workout 8 weeks out from the NZFBB Masterton show. I weigh approx 66 kg. I usually alternate arm workouts and complete after shoulders:

All exercises are super sets or rest pause/drop sets.

Workout 1

	P.O.F	Exercise	Weight	Sets	Rep range	New weight
1	(Midrange) SS 1	Weighted Dips	40kg	12, 6 = 18 + 15sstat hold*	11-15	42.5 kg
2	(Midrange) SS 1	DB Curls	20kg	10, 5+ 5 XTD**=15	11-15	20kg
3	(Contracted)	Cable kickbacks	2 x 2 plates	15, 6 + 6x’s =21	11-25	2 x 2 plates
4	(Contracted)	DB conc curl (seated)	11kg	11+ 5x’s*=11	11-25	11kg
5	(Stretch)	Kneeling overhead triceps extension	2 x 3 plates	12, 6=18	11-20	2 x 3 plates
6	(Stretch)	Cable Reverse curl	11p, 6p,3p	6, 6, 10*=22	11-20	11p,6p,4p

 Workout 2

	P.O.F	Exercise	Weight	Sets	Rep range
1	(Midrange) SS 1	Triceps pushdowns	2 x 7p	2	11-15
2	(Midrange) SS 1	Leaning DB curl/ drag curl	16kg/ x’s 30-40kg	2 + XTD	11-15
3	(Contracted)	Reverse cable kickbacks	2 x 2 plates	2	11-25
4	(Contracted)	DB concentration curl ( Db row position-arm hanging)	20-30kg XTD	2	11-25
5	(Stretch)	Cable 1 arm overhead tri-extension	3 plates	2	11-20
6	(Stretch)	Db incline curl	10kg	1  x’s	11-20

This has worked well for me this year. The idea is to hit the muscle with an exercise that works the belly of the muscle with maximum weight while using techniques to take the set beyond failure. Then get a maximum pump with slightly higher reps and a contracted exercise before using a stretch exercise to stretch out muscles and fascia. As a result my biceps have filled out more by the elbow and the long heads of my triceps look fuller also.  As you can see my arm workout is very brief; generally 6-7 sets for triceps and 5-6 for biceps (remembering arms are hit during other compound exercises for back, shoulders and chest- even during leg exercises like front squats).  I find anymore than this and my progress falls away.  If you haven’t had any progress for awhile give these workouts a try- you won’t know if it works for you unless you give it a go!!

*POF= positions of flexion an approach created by Steve Holman.

*X’s= when no more full reps can be completed perform partials in the stretch position of the exercise to fatigue muscle further.

This reminds me!-(On occasion I like to do DB/BB curl 21’s with 7 full reps first(mid-range), 7 top half partials(contracted) & then 7(or more) bottom half partials(stretch) as opposed the traditional way of bottom, top and full reps).

**XTDers= when curling I use a supinated grip, when I can no longer perform any more reps I rotate internally to a semi-supinated grip to further extend the set.

STATIC HOLD= after completing a normal set I hold weight in a static hold either in the contracted, mid range or stretch position (this depends on exercise).

 

My goal has always been to develop a classic physique.  However, trying to add muscle in the right places can be difficult and not everyone has the structure of a Frank Zane, Francis Benfatto or Flex Wheeler.  Here are some ways I try to attain a classic physique.

Keep in shape.

It is very hard to assess your body parts when you bulk up; the muscle bulk you think is there may be just body fat (it is amazing how some peoples’ body shape and proportions can change when they lose body fat).  It then makes sense to stay in shape so you can make adjustments based on what’s really there.

Prioritise certain parts of the body to create an x-frame.

 Larry Scott (the first Mr Olympia) often talked about pivot points or parts of the body that gave the wow factor to a bodybuilder to give them that classic look.   This has definitely influenced how I train.  Here are the body parts I emphasise in my training and the exercises I use to create a classic x-frame physique:

Side deltoids: Omni DB side rows, Leaning DB side raise, incline bench DB side raise.

Rear Deltoids: DB bent row, BB Behind the back shrug (emphasis on the rear deltoid) DB incline side raise.

Upper Pecs-Chest: BB Incline Bench, Omni Incline Db Bench, Bench press ups, Omni Db flyes.

Long head of the triceps: Seated 1-arm overhead triceps extension, kneeling triceps extension (Kneel facing away from weight stack with small triceps bar attachment, flex at hip (around 90 degrees so you can rest elbows on a bench to perform this version of overhead triceps extensions).

Latissimus dorsi (Lats or wings): Weighted chin ups (different grips), Db Row, Bent over row, Pullovers, Straight arm pull-down.

Lower Biceps & brachialis (between bicep & tricep): reverse curls, My XTD reps are in the semi-supinated position.

Forearms: BB off the end of the bench wrist curls. Standing cable wrist flexion.

Vastus medialis (teardrop-part of quad): Slightly raised heel Squat (to make sure emphasis is on the teardrop not glutes*), Front Squat, Leg press, Leg extension, sissy squats.

* be careful with this style of squatting- it could cause damage to the knee if done incorrectly.

 Hamstrings (Biceps Femoris): Leg curls, BB or DB Stiff legged deadlift, bent legged back extensions.

Calves: Leg press kicks, leg press raise, hack raise, seated calf raise

We all may not have the genetics to look like Frank Zane, however, with consistent effort we can slowly change our shape and proportion for the better if we assess our weaknesses and apply the appropriate exercises to accentuate the right muscle groups.

It is amazing how many people dream of achieving success without having any goals to achieve them.  For me dreams are really goals that need to be written down so that a plan can be devised to bring them to reality.   With bodybuilding and life I like to use the old acronym SMARTER as a way of helping me work through the goal setting process to achieve my dreams.

 

Your goals must be SPECIFIC.  For my bodybuilding goals I personally write down specific body weight, body measurements and structural improvements I aim to achieve and then devise a plan to reach those specific goals.  For 2008, one of my (many) goals was to improve my shoulder width by developing the side and rear aspects of the deltoids.  I researched and experimented with several ideas on how to do this and then went to work.

 

Your goals must be MEASURABLE.  A simple way to measure progress is to set small incremental increases in exercise intensity which you can do through several ways: lifting more weight, performing more reps or shortening rest periods.  My personal favourite is to set a rep range for a particular exercise and completing a total of, say 11-20 reps over 2 sets.  When I can perform more than 20 reps I add a small amount of weight and shoot for 20 reps again.

 

Your goals must be ACHIEVABLE & REALISTIC.  As a natural athlete you need to be realistic on what is possible.  I have always known that I have a relatively small bone structure with high muscle bellies in several areas.   I know I will never be competing in the Mr Olympia, but I can definitely make improvements to my physique with a dedicated approach to training, diet and supplementation.

 

Your goals must have a TIME-FRAME.  Having a set time or deadline is one of the best ways to motivate you to reach your goals.  There is nothing better than knowing in 4-5 months you are going to be up onstage in small posing trunks to motivate you to get into shape.  If that doesn’t work nothing will.

 

Your must be able to EVALUATE your goals and RESET them when necessary.  You can evaluate goals after each competition.  What worked well?  What do you need to work on?  Were you lean enough?  Why/ Why not?  I personally like to evaluate my training on a monthly basis.  This does several things for me; it keeps me motivated to keep pushing myself, it assures me that specific strategies I have put into place are working and it allows me to RESET goals if they are not.

 

SMARTER goals have allowed me to reach my dreams in bodybuilding and other areas of my life. If you apply these principles to your dreams/goals there is every chance you will too.