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Changing the resistance angle of an exercise to build more muscle. 2013

I have found that changing an exercises angle to manipulate when maximum resistance occurs during the exercise can have a positive effect in several ways, it can:

  • Improve motivation and enthusiasm for training by providing variation.
  • Stimulate muscle growth by overloading the muscle in a different way.
  • Allow you to keep training intensely when working around small recurring injuries.

Although I have never struggled much with having enthusiasm to train, nothing is more satisfying and motivating when you try a new variation of an exercise and BOOM, you feel it in a way you have never felt before, you get an awesome pump and you just know it will contribute to new growth (often a good dose of muscle soreness the next day too).

Of course there are multiple ways of changing the way that you train to get the above effect; however, using different variations of an exercise to provide another way to overload the muscle at different points along the range of motion can be used when all other methods such as lifting heavier, more volume, exercise order, different exercises etc, etc have been tapped out.

So how can you change where maximum resistance occurs during an exercise?

You can do this by changing the angle of the body and its levers in relation to gravity or by changing the angle of resistance by other external forces like cables or cam machines.  A good exercise to explain this is the dumbbell side raise for the side deltoids.  In a normal dumbbell side raise maximum resistance occurs at the top of the movement when the arm is parallel to the ground and perpendicular with gravity.  If you were to do side raises lying on a flat bench or on the floor sideways, maximum resistance would occur at the start of the movement when the arm is next to your side as this is where the arm is now perpendicular to gravity.  To get maximum resistance during the middle of a dumbbell lateral raise you would need to lie sideways on an inclined bench.  So when I train my side deltoids my “Omni DB side raises” looks like this:

Lying side raise 1 set (one arm at a time) -max resistance at beginning.

Incline side raise 1 set (one arm at a time) –max resistance near mid- point.

Seated side raises 1 set (both arms) -max resistance at the end (top).

The above approach has allowed me to overload the side deltoids in a productive and unique way with comparatively lighter weights while still using rep ranges conducive for muscle growth.

This leads me to my next benefit, working around injuries. I mentioned last article that I had some niggles with my elbows. This was occurring during elbow flexion of around ninety degrees, especially during dumbbell curls. In a normal dumbbell curl maximum resistance occurs when the arm is flexed at ninety degrees and the forearm is perpendicular to gravity.  So I have been using cable curls that are set up in such a way that maximum resistance occurs at the beginning of the movement with less resistance in the flexed position allowing me to continue to train intensely and productively without any pain or further damage.

So, if you have hit a plateau in your training or have a nagging injury that just won’t go away consider changing the angle of resistance to manipulate when maximum resistance occurs during your favourite exercises and watch your muscles start to grow again!

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Reduced meals for fat loss 2013

At the end of 2006 I began using a diet protocol based on the “The Warrior Diet” that involved under eating during the day and over eating at night.  It involved 6-7 meals spread evenly throughout the day with most of the calories eaten in one main meal at night.  Along with eating for my blood type (see: eating in line with your blood-type) it finally helped me to achieve the necessary leanness for bodybuilding competition.  Although it has been effective for me in the past I wanted to see if I could make dieting easier and to see if I could beat my previous best in terms of conditioning this year.  Like they say, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”, so I needed to keep learning and experimenting to keep progressing…….

So this year I decided to change things up.  From my experience using the Warrior Diet I had always found that I never felt like breakfast and I only really had it because I was scared that if I didn’t I would go into a catabolic state.   I decided to research this further and found some positive research supporting the idea of missing breakfast.  This led me to find Martin Berkhan’s website on (IF) intermittent fasting- (leangains.com) which is fasting 16 hours and eating 2-3 meals within an 8 hour window.   I decided to try this methodology with some minor adjustments to suit my lifestyle and goals; what followed was quite a revelation for me.  Immediately I found that I had more energy and began losing body fat at a faster rate than I had ever done before.  In less than one month without feeling hungry or losing any strength I have gone from 68.6 kg (1st February) to 64 kg by the 22nd February!  I normally lose anywhere between .25 and .5 kg per week so this has been exciting in the fact that; one, body fat loss has seemed effortless and two, it seemed like I wasn’t on a strict diet.  The jury is still out on whether I can gain muscle on this protocol so I will discuss my findings in a later article after I have tried manipulating macronutrient ratios and my training regime over a longer period of time.  Anyway, here is my current eating plan that I used over February this year;

First meal is around 10-11am, second meal is around 2-3 pm and final meal is around 6-7pm just after training.

Meal 1: 1-2 whey protein shakes+ can of lentils and carrot.

(40-65 grams of protein & 350-450 calories)

Meal 2: 2 x whey protein shakes with 8 caps of fish oil.

(50 grams of protein & 350 calories)

Meal 3: lamb or beef stir fry with heaps of veges!

(60-100 grams of protein and 1000 calories)

Although this goes against everything we normally think would be an ideal dietary plan for a bodybuilder my experience is that sometimes you need to go “outside of the box” to find ways to keep improving and move forward if the “normal” approach just isn’t doing it for you.   I am not saying this way of eating would work for everyone, however there may be others out there that have struggled to make progress with a traditional approach and find this way of eating to be right up their alley.  If you do decide to give this diet methodology a go ease yourself into it and make sure you are getting enough macro and micronutrients from your diet and supplementation so you can still train hard and function normally outside the gym.  At the end of the day if you try something a little different and it works for you then it doesn’t really matter whether it is the “norm” or not don’t you think?

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Pre-contest Prep 2013

Lat spread versus the best in the southern                                      hemisphere

It is only two weeks out from the NABBA/WFF Christchurch competition I am entering this year so I thought I would share my food and training log for the last week I have just completed to give you an idea of how I have been prepping for it.  The good thing is my strength is up on last year in all exercises which reflects my focus more on myofibrillar (muscle fibre) growth compared to working primarily on sarcoplasmic(muscle fluid) growth. (Whether this translates in a better look is another thing J). Posing practise is on days I train so rest days are for REST. I had been intermittent fasting 16 hours with an 8 hour eating window with only 3-4 meals, but after my body fat loss stalled I decided to revert back to the Warrior Diet (under eating and over eating at night). Straight away I saw progress!

DATE BW All weights are in kilos.  
Fri 26/4 63.4 Full body workout

1. Squat:  100x5, 140x5,120x6

2. Romanian D-lift: 100x10

3. 1-leg curl: 36x14,7

4. seated calf raise:  stackx25

5. chins: 20x10,5 BWx10

6. DB fly press: 41.5x10, 30x11,7

7. High Pull: 80x10,5

8. face pull: 45x11,11

9. reverse curl: 50x6,4

10. push downs: 40x11,10

 Meals

1. 60g unflavoured whey with natvia*5 tabs spirulina

2. 2 raw carrots with lemon juice and 240g lentils

3. 60g unflavoured whey with natvia*+5g glutamine

4. 180g lamb, head of broccoli, 500g green beans, whole onion, 3 cloves garlic, 2 courgettes, 2 carrots, seasoning(10g fish oil), 5g ghee

 

Supps: B-12, 300-450g magnesium, milk thistle, rhodiola rosea, 10g fish oil, NO supplement before training.
Sat

27/4

 Rest day Meals

1. 30g unflavoured whey with natvia*5 tabs spirulina

2. 30g unflavoured whey with natvia*(10g fish oil)

3.  2 raw carrots with lemon juice/ or 240g lentils

4. 30g unflavoured whey with natvia*+5g glutamine

5. 180g lamb, head of broccoli, 500g green beans, whole onion, 3 cloves garlic, 2 courgettes, 2 carrots, seasoning(10g fish oil), 5g ghee

6. 30g unflavoured whey with natvia*+5g glutamine

 

Supps: B-12, 300-450g magnesium, milk thistle, rhodiola rosea, 10g fish oil
Sun

28/4

 62.4 Upper body

1. DB row: 57x13, 45x13

2. DB fly press:  45x5, 30x13

3. Cable row: 75x12,8,5

4. DB decline press 35x15,10,10

5. Omni-cable raise: 12x16,10,10,8

6. Omni DB row: 35x13,12,11

 Meals

Same as day before except 180g monkfish with meal 5 instead of lamb.

 

Supps: B-12, 300-450g magnesium, milk thistle, rhodiola rosea, 10g fish oil, NO supplement before training.

 
Mon

29/4

 62.4 Rest day Same as day before except 180g lamb with meal 5 instead of monkfish.

 

Supps: B-12, 300-450g magnesium, milk thistle, rhodiola rosea, 10g fish oil
Tues

30/4

 62.6 Lower body

1. Deadlift:100x5,140x5,180x3,140x10

2. BB Hack squat: 120x11

3. 1-Leg curl: 40x11,7

4. calf raise: stack+35 x16,11

5. DB curl 26x8

6. Reverse curl 40x17,11

7. DB pullover ext: 45x8

8. Omni tri-pushdowns: 40x9,9

 Same as day before except 180g monkfish with meal 5 instead of lamb.

 

Supps: B-12, 300-450g magnesium, milk thistle, rhodiola rosea, 10g fish oil, NO supplement before training.

 
Wed

1 /5

 62.2 Rest day Same as day before.

 
Thurs2/5 62.6 Upper body

1. Cable row: 95x5, 85x5, 70x6

2. Omni DB fly press: 41.5x9,30x12,7

3. DB row: 57x14, 45x14

4. Decline Bench: 100x7, 90x6

5. Omni DB row: 35x17,12,11

6. Omni-cable raise: 12x10,10,8,6

 

 Same as day before except 180g lamb with meal 5 instead of monkfish.

 

Supps: B-12, 300-450g magnesium, milk thistle, rhodiola rosea, 10g fish oil, NO supplement before training.
Fri

3/5

 62.6 Rest day Same as day before except 2 rice cakes with meal 5.

*natvia is a natural sweetener containing stevia and erythritol.

This diet and training programme will carry on through until competition day. So:

Sat          4/5: Lower body

Mon      6/5: Upper Body

Wed      8/5: Lower Body

Fri           10/5: Upper Body

Sun        12/5: Lower Body

Tue        14/5: Upper Body

Thu        16/5: Lower Body

SATURDAY=competition!

 

The only changes diet wise will be rice cakes or lentils added when I look a little flat.  In the last week I will begin water loading: Wednesday and Thursday I will have 5 litres of water, Friday 4 litres and sip water when thirsty on the day (Drug free bodybuilders should never restrict water intake leading up to a show!)  I season my main food meal at night with my favourite spices and salt right up until show; just have a little less on Friday night before the comp.

So that’s my prep for 2013!  As you can see it is a pretty simple training and diet regime that has served me well in the past.  If you decide to take the plunge and compete find what works for you, believe in your training and diet, stick to the plan and give it your best!

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Why I say NO to cardio 2013

 

Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against Cardio.  Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise has been proven by research over the years to be a beneficial way of improving your health and well-being.  In fact in New Zealand we recommend performing a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity every day to maintain good health. There are many forms of cardio to suit your own preferences and if you enjoy it I say go for it- It will do so many positive things for you!  I also want you to consider that performing “Cardio” is not always necessary in reaching your health and fitness goals. It is obviously clear that if you want to be a marathon runner you will need to run, but if you are like me; a natural bodybuilder- does performing traditional cardio make a lot of sense?  Everyone does it right?  Well for me the answer is NO.
Before I tell you why I want to give you an insight into how the idea of getting rid of cardio evolved for me.  The first time I considered dropping cardio from my pre-contest bodybuilding phase was back in 2005, I had just competed in my last show of the year and was preparing students for a triathlon as part of their NCEA course at school. I had not achieved the level of leanness I wanted to during the shows, even with cardio, and thought I would do some extra training with the kids to see if it would augment fat loss and my weight training.  What happened was a huge surprise!  I gained body fat, lost strength and felt terrible.  Now you may be thinking that I was doing too much, but apart from 3 weight training sessions and 6 half hour cardio sessions- that was it.  In 2006 I competed in bodybuilding again and was unhappy with my results even with all the hard work I put in- I just wasn’t lean enough.

I decided that next time I competed I would follow the lifestyle recommendations offered by Peter D’Adamo for Blood type A and reduce the amount of exercise to lower cortisol levels. I also began to see my weight training sessions as more meditative than intense to further balance the stress created by weight training.  Excessive and prolonged cortisol levels within the body have clearly been shown to promote increased body fat levels through several different mechanisms. Also as a PE teacher I often tell my students that they need to train specifically for their sport.  How is cardio anywhere like a bodybuilding competition? You may be only up onstage for 10 minutes max and during that time you are posing as hard as possible, so it made sense to drop cardio and focus on weight training, diet and posing to improve my ability to get lean for competitions.
In 2008, along with some diet modifications I performed no traditional cardio. Instead I began using “rest-pause training” during weight training sessions and found I lost fat faster and achieved a level of leanness I was unable to achieve before with cardio. The other huge benefits were that I had more energy to put into my weight training (I only trained 3-4 times per week); I stayed stronger, recovered a lot faster between workouts and felt a million times better!

Since 2008 I have done no traditional cardio before a bodybuilding show; all I do is:

  • Weight training 3-4 times per week with sessions lasting less than 45 minutes.
  • Make sure my diet is on point (for me that is high protein, no processed carbohydrates, plenty of fresh vegetables, lots of good fats and whey protein so my macronutrients ratios are right for me to lose body fat and gain/maintain muscle).
  • Use a pre-workout supplement.
  • Posing practice for around 15-30 minutes on non-training days, slightly more as competition gets closer.

I have to say for some people this may not be enough exercise for them physically or emotionally before a bodybuilding contest but I have found training smarter for me, not harder has given me better results.  Also, genetics and other variables can influence how much you can train in terms of weight training and whether cardio ruins or augments your efforts in the gym.  For example Peter D’Adamo recommends that Blood type O’s generally benefit from more exercise as it reduces stress and lowers cortisol levels for them.
In any case you need to be aware that there are many different ways to achieve your health and fitness goals, just make sure you don’t blindly follow what others do and find what works best for you.  That is why I say NO to cardio!

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My journey to losing weight. 2013

84 kg to 67 kg in 2005

It would surprise many people probably that I have struggled with my weight for most of my life, so I thought I’d share my journey (in terms of diet as I feel this is the main factor) with you on how I have managed to not only lose the weight, but be in a position where I can get into contest level condition with little fuss.   As a young fella I was always the chubby kid, however, there was a window between the ages of 12-15 where I was reasonably lean.  I attribute this to the amount of exercise I did at the time -honestly I would have exercised at least 3-4 hours every day.  However after I turned 16 the weight began to pile back on regardless of how much exercise I did.  My diet which was mainly based around bread at that stage began to take its’ toll.

When I was 17 years of age I reached my heaviest body weight of 95 kilograms even though I was still quite active lifting weights, going for runs, playing rugby and touch.  Needless to say I was uncomfortable in my own skin, unhappy and had low self- esteem.   Something had to change and fortunately enough for me I have always enjoyed reading so I utilised information from books and muscle magazines and tried to eat as closely as I could to their recommendations on the limited budget that I had.  I began to exercise even more and with a determined effort I lost around 10 kilos in the first year.

By the time I was 21 I weighed around the 80 kilogram mark but the weight loss plateaued.  I wanted to lose more weight and compete in bodybuilding so I got some advice from my Uncle Al.  Since I was on a student allowance my diet consisted of a strict regime of tuna, mixed vege’s and SHAPE 2000-(a Horleys protein supplement).  Honestly it was tough going- I can remember being in such a state, endless amounts of cardio, my legs for weeks before the show feeling like lead and I had insomnia throughout.  Although I was in a terrible state mentally and physically I managed to win my first athletic bodybuilding title at 22 at a weight of 68 kg.  I was ecstatic about the weight loss, however, after the show my weight ballooned up to 78kg within a couple of weeks.

In 2002 at the age of 25 I began getting chronic fatigue syndrome and annoyed at the medical advice and help I received I decided to go to an alternative medical provider (The RIFE clinic in Albany).  They took blood tests and determined that I was Blood type A and that all the exercise I was doing and food I was eating was actually causing me more harm than good.  I immediately read the blood type diet, followed the lifestyle, training and diet advice and my weight dropped to 70 kg within months.  Even though I was armed with this great knowledge my weight still fluctuated between 70-85 kilograms (unless I was competing) until 2007.

At the end of 2007 I came across a book called the Warrior Diet where I under ate during the day and had one large meal at night.  I also utilised the Genotype diet which was Peter D’Adamo’s extension of the Blood type diet where he considers physical characteristics alongside blood type to determine optimum foods that suit unique individual needs. I decided that I would compete in the classic bodybuilding division in 2008 using these two protocols.  I started at a bodyweight of 79 kilos in February.  By competition time in October I weighed 64.7 kg.  The great thing about this diet was I was able to maintain all my strength, have a big meal once a day and there were none of the negative symptoms from previous attempts to get lean for competition.  The other thing was my weight never ballooned up again; the diet and lifestyle concepts had given me complete control over my weight.  I then decided that I would do the same the next year and sure enough I was able to come in even leaner at a weight of 63 kilograms to win my second classic title.  In 2012 I made slight changes to my macronutrient ratios and tried some different training ideas which allowed me to present the leanest physique I have achieved to date.  In 2013 I have adjusted things where I fast until 11 am and have only 3 meals within an “8 hour eating window” which has made getting and staying lean even easier for me.

As you can see my journey to losing weight and keeping it off has been a long and bumpy ride.   If someone had let me know what I know now twenty years ago I could have saved myself a whole lot of suffering and frustration.  All I hope is that the information I share with you here helps you on your own personal journey to achieve your fitness and health goals.