One week left...till the ninja turtles arch enemy comes to play!

What he say?

One week till this phase of my pupils training switches to shredding!

It's going to be intense.

The plan is to utilize les mills GRIT! Les mills RPM and my own mix session through the weeks leading up to his play!

My wife has done GRIT and upon her return, she was half dead...god help my pupil and I. 

We will have our work cut out for us.

The other side of the shred experience is going to be a supplement stack. 

Now I know I posted a scathing review in regards to weight loss supplements, but the combination that I want to use does have a weight loss supplement in it. 

What might be this supplement... You shall have to wait and see. 

Mwahahahhhahahahahaha. 

Don't worry, as usual I will post a review as I start and continue using it. 

Beta progress!

Well I’m finally into the off cycle of the Beta Alanine supplementation.

 

Wow!

 

For fear of sounding too much like a salesman, this stuff really seemed to work.

 

So let’s see, in 39 days I went from 85-86 kilos to 90 kilos and 12.7 body fat quite steady from the 12ish I was at before the beta supplementing.

 

Once the supplementation period stopped the next day was arms day… what was the outcome going to be?

 

I could still lift the same level of weights, but oh my did the pump come on strong. My arms began to swell and become bound up from the blood pump and lactic build up. This was never the case with beta. The beta did a very efficient job of clearing the lactic build up which in turn meant I could comfortably push further and more intensely, ergo creating more muscle growth from more hypertrophy.

 

Eventually the tingles subsided, but every now and then they could be felt momentarily, and there was never a crash at the end, no being awake to crazy hours of the night, but then this as a pre workout, lacked the high doses of caffeine that the others so crazily have.

 

I would recommend this supplement to those wanting to push past a plateau or for those who struggle to keep working out when they get bound up from the pump.

 

Don't Let Your Fitness Plan Slide When You Are Away - guest blog

I was contacted the other day to ask if I could share a blog post with you all. Always happy to motivate here is Mike's post to keep you active on a trip away!

Don't Let Your Fitness Plan Slide When You Are Away

If you are conscientious about staying in shape, being healthy, and maintaining an ideal body weight, you know that it is a way of life. Don't think that you have to forget about the program when you are going away. Whether you are going on a weekend getaway, traveling for business, or taking that dream vacation, make room for fitness. You'll thank yourself when you feel and look good. With a little thought and preparation, exercising while traveling is a simple as one plus one!

Take a Look Before You Book!

 

When you choose your accommodations, you'll be thinking about many factors. You'll want a good deal in a pleasant environment. The location should be close to the action for your business meetings or travel destinations. Don't forget to think about fitness when you make your reservations. Make sure there is an exercise room on the premises, with free access for all guests. On a recent trip to San Francisco I made sure to book a hotel with a 24-hour gym so I could workout whenever my schedule permitted. I used a travel site called Gogobot, which gave me a list of San Francisco hotels. From here I was able to scroll through and see which hotels had the right price and amenities. A pool is an added plus. Inquire about fitness classes and plan some of your schedule around those classes. Take a look here for some valuable tips on combining business and fitness with ease while in your hotel.

Spend Your Time Wisely

 

Be wise about your time, regardless of location. If you're on the road, stop the car at a park or rest stop. Take a quick jog or a brisk walk. Dressing in workout clothes will make that an easy goal to achieve, providing comfort as well. Heading off to the airport? Park as far away as possible and hike in. You're likely to have a long wait what with added security measures. Make the rounds as often as possible. If you happen to be at San Francisco International, you can pop in the yoga/zen room to exercise, meditate, and unwind. A trip to Minneapolis-St. Paul International offers a pleasant surprise with walking courses that are intended for busy people who want to be on the go.

When you get to your hotel room, take the stairs, rather than coasting in the elevator. Go for a walk around the area before turning in for the night. You'll find that your stress levels go down and you will sleep better.

Make Exercise Part of the Schedule

 

You'll be inspired with a load of practical ways to squeeze exercise into your schedule. Be diligent in the same way you would at home. If you work out every day, make sure you do some sort of physical activity every day of your trip. You could rent a bicycle, take a nature walk, or go for a swim. Set your alarm bright and early or ask for a wake up call. Get right to it and feel your best!

http://mikemanningmusings.blogspot.com/

 

This is the gym room at Excalibur Las Vegas, of which I frequented whilst holidaying in Vegas a couple of years back. As with most hotels it was free access to guest. (Kdawg!)

Tricked ya!

Are your limitations really just in your mind?

 

Does the placebo effect extend beyond some new wizz bang pre workout supplement?

 

I had an experience just recently that blew my mind and pushed my PB to a new level.

 

It all came down to poor re racking of the dumb bells in my gym.

 

Someone had re racked the 37.5 kg units into the spot for the 35’s. so when my training partner said, “Did you want to try for the 35’s today?” I was really heaving more then I really thought.

 

It wasn’t until the end of the third set that we both noticed that they were not the lower weight.

 

But I didn’t struggle too much, until the fourth set when I now knew that the weight was more… so I was tricked into lifting bigger.

 

The problem is that it’s hard to make a legitimate trick. You can’t just walk up to the weights rack and grab the next size up from where you last lifted and say to yourself, “I’m grabbing a 20” if you really know that you grabbed the 25’s instead. As a fitness coach for my pupil I often trick him into going further with his bridge holds. Because these are timed and he can’t see the clock, he’ll often ask me to count him down to a particular time. Often… I will give a 10 second countdown at the minute mark, this gets him beyond what his mind thinks he can achieve.

 

I’ll have to think of some more ways to trick the mind into doing more and post any ideas on this page.

 

Till then,

 

Trick for treat!

The hobbodybuilder

I don't consider myself a bodybuilder.
I'm not training for a marathon.
I'm not training to be the best at a sport.

No I'm a hobby bodybuilder, a hobbodybuilder!
Now I know that the hard core BB's will spout, you are either in it 100% or not at all. But, I'm talking about building my body to what I want, that's my body building.

I think everyone falls into this category in some way. You might want a firmer ass so you build a better butt with more squats. You might want bigger shoulders so you bust out more shoulder presses than you can count. You might want that tight flat stomach, so you sweat it out every chance you get, and crunch till the cows come home.

So if you look at it this way, if you work out to achieve something specific with your body, you are a hobBODY builder.

If you take your building skills to the stage and compete, then you are a bodybuilder!

So with this in mind, you can sculpt your workouts to assist with your body building goals. But remember, you cannot spot target fat loss, you CAN spot build on muscle (but there will always be an increase in the assist muscles).

What's your bodybuilding goal?

Variance is key!

No matter what you goal, you should pop a variance into your routine.
The variance can come in so many ways.
Reverse the order of your routine.
Change you standard number of reps to something different, alternate with a heavier lift for less reps with your normal. Or pyramid the set, ie do less weight but more reps and then start dropping the reps but increasing the weights.
If you are jogging, use intervals to break up the mundane one speed one time. Jog for 5 mins then step it up in speed for 2. Then go back to the jog pace for another 5 and so on...
Swap your workout days around ( if you always do something on a particular day)
Do your workouts somewhere else. (Another gym, outside)
But just don't keep it stale. You will plateau your results and start to find your workouts in inspiring and boring which will lead to... Dare I say it... A waining in your exercise and diet, which will cause you to fail at your goals.
Don't let this happen!
Talk to your gym owner/instructors or team up with someone who can help you vary your routine.
Make it happen and remember. Variety is the spice of life!

Absent from the keys

I know I've not been at the keys for a little while. But I have been working hard. And I assure you my pupil has been working hard as well.
No rest for the wicked!
But I have so much to comment on.
Where do I start.
Perhaps the fact that I have now had a few weeks to get my head around a new gym. Two times a week I go to the gym that my pupil belongs to and we smash out a targeted weights session.
It never ceases to amaze me that no matter where you go there are always people doing it all wrong. From half hearted attempts at exercise, to poor form and anything in between.
But that's not my only gripe, as good as the gym is...there are too many machines! And some of the machines that work the same things are not equal. So you could load 40kg on one and be at struggle town, the. Load 80 on the other and wonder why you are not struggling.
My final gripe surround the e-z bars that are not balanced. Using them makes you feel like the whole bar is trying to escape your grips!
However overall this gym is pretty well set up, heck there are thing that I think need changing or updating at my gym.
All of that aside my pupil has required a small break to allow for a knee injury incurred off the clock. But today he came back super saiyan for but day smashing out a final 100 prisoner squats at the end of a hard core session.
Next week we hit it all again and get closer to each of our goals.
Me, more mass to get ready for 2 months of shredding!
Pupil, adding selective form to 3 target areas before he too jumps on the shred wagon.
Bring
It
ON!