Sunday 27 July 2014

Pre-exhaust past a plateau

Pre-exhaustion is a fantastic training protocol for stimulating new muscle growth whilst giving you a challenging workout. It involves starting with a single joint exercise to fatigue the targeted muscle, followed by a multi joint exercise that hits the same muscle group, plus a few others. This will increase the overall training effect for that muscle group. There are plenty of combinations you can try that will keep your workouts fresh and exciting, but how about this for a pre-exhaustion triceps routine....

1A: Lying ez bar skull crushers
4 x 10-12 reps
3010 tempo

1B: tricep dips
4 x 8-12
3011 tempo



Saturday 12 July 2014

Summer supplement essentials

One thing I've come to learn when it comes to supplements, is to see the best results your supplements should intentionally work to support the particular training regime you're on. For example - doing a strength phase? Take creatine. Using a high volume protocol? Take beta alanine to help reduce fatigue...etc.

This time of year many gym goers are trying to "shred" "rip-up" "cut" "slice" or whatever the latest fancy word is for reducing body fat whilst gaining or at least maintaining lean body mass for the beach. Here's my favourite 3 Supps that I would include in a summer "shred" plan to see the best results from your training and diet regime.....



Caffiene 

Why? Fires up the adrenal glands for fatloss, increased energy and focus (particularly important if you're about to smash a workout or are on a calorie deficit diet plan) and it can increase the metabolic rate.

How much?  Try 5-10mg per KG of body weight before your workout.

Omega 3 

Why? Joint health, faster recovery, fat loss, brain health, they're anabolic - sold!

How much? If you're really serious about your omega 3 intake you'll aim for as many grams per day as your body fat %. So if you're 14% body fat, aim for 14g per day! Sounds like a lot, but as your body fat drops off with this dose, drop your omega 3 intake to match.

L-arginine 

Why? 2 main reasons. Firstly arginine changes into nitric oxide, which causes vasodilation aka blood vessel relaxation. This is great for improved blood flow and incredible muscle pumps - exactly what you want during the beach season! Secondly, some studies have shown arginine to be very effective at increasing human growth hormone levels. Higher GH means less body fat and more muscle!

How much? Try 2-3g twice a day.


I'm sure there are many others you could include! But hopefully from my explanations you can see why I've chose these 3 as my favourites.

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