Thrashing

So back to the routine with a thrashing. I made sure that after a few consecutive rest days I came back with a boom and judging how I feel today, yesterdays session was fantastic. I reversed my routine so this time I started with my triceps followed by biceps, shoulders, back and finally chest. I complemented that with an abs workout today and my upper body is feeling tired but all the better for getting off my lasy butt and outting in the hard work.

I did a standard workout. 3 sets of 10 reps or untill failure on the last set so that I knew I had effectively worked out all groups of muscles. I am enjoying new exerises that I have only started since doing this such as the military press. If I can maintain this intensity this week I will measure myself at the start of next week to establish how my body develops over time.

The diet is going ok at the moment. It is a struggle to consume the required calories and water as I am not used to taking on board so much. Again what I will look at in future posts is my average day food intake and work out the exact calorie and water intake.

For now I am going to put my feet up, watch the football and hope that when it is over my muscles are not too battered otherwis I might have to stay on the sofa for the whole night!!!

Oh Dear

So I had a treat day on Saturday. After all all work and no play and all that. So I did not do any exercise and indulged on all the nasty things I had sacrificed recently. The result? Once you go off course it is hard to get back on it. It is now Monday and apart from some mild cardio I have done no weights. Not good.

So I have to be even more determined to get back on track. No one can get me the figure I want and it will not come from wishful thinnking alone. So tomorrow determination sweat and teers it is. Bring it on!!!!

Too much too soon?

So today I did another upper body work out. After my last workout which was an intense 3 sets of 5 reps using a larger than normal weight, it gave me the belief that I could push myself harder and lift more. But then as I was doing a chest exercise I felt an ache in my shoulder (to add to the pain in my foot and the bruises from dropping the fire place on my leg!!). I wonder if this is a case of trying to do much too soon.
I want to push myself as my desire is to get bigger and stronger. I do need to allow my body time to recover from the workouts as there has to be an ounce of common sense to be used here. I will not gain in size and strength by blasting through injury.

On the flip side I found a webiste that might be of interest. If you search for Christian Finn on Google he will come as one of the top hits. It seems to be an honest look at all aspects of fitness and a good dource of information.

Away from exercise my diet seems to be going well. The only down side is that the Whey Protien shake from Holland and Barratt. The choccolate flavour is awesome. Tastes great and has great texture. However the vanilla flavour does not seem to blend as well which results in it being a bit lumpy! Nice!!! In the past I have tried the Maximuscle Cyclone shake but I was not keen on the taste of them either. If anyone knows a tasty as well as a beneficial prtien shake please let me know!!!

1st week over

So I have come to the end of my first week and on reflection there have been some good points, some developmental points and some unexpected things also!

On a plus side my diet seems to be going well. At present for breakfast I have 2 eggs, 2 slices of brown bread and either a protien shake or yoghurt and granola. I have a mid morning snack consisting of either fruit or nuts. Lunch then which is usually rice based with tuna or quorn pieces. Again a mid afternoon snack of yoghurt with granola. I then tensd to do my exercise followed by a protien shake. Dinner follows. Again it is rice based with plenty of vegtables and meat such as quorn or steak. Lastly I have a break before a dessert which is usually fruit salad and a protien shake. WOW, now I have written it all down it sounds like a lot but from what I understand the body needs fuel to recover. This consists of calories and protien as the main two components. My calorie aim is to hit between 3000 to 3500 and protien in the region of 150 to 170g. This should give me the fuel to build the muscle I want. Over the next week I will do a count on calories and protien to see how close I am getting to my target.

As for the exercise. I have had a good week on my torso and upper body. My wife said she can see a difference already! I have managed two upper body days and two abs days which is what I wanted to achieve so on track there. However my legs have suffered. On my first scheduled legs day I dropped a fireplace on my foot .. agony! I was limping around and common sense prevailed to say rest! Unfortunatly you can not predict when you are going to get hurt. The best thing to do is to recover before continuing otherwise it will result in poor technique which in turn is a waste of time! THe second legs day started ok with some squats and I started static lunges on my left leg. However when I went ot lunge with my right leg my left ankle started to trouble me. Again I had to stop which was a shame.

All in all I am encourage by the start I have made. My upper body feels fantastic with the exercise it has recieved. My legs feel battered by injury but their time will come. I feel that I have a good basis for my diet so that I can tweek it appropriatly. Please if anyone has any suggestions or comments please let me know. Any encouragement or advice would be welcomed.

Cheers

James

1st real blast with my upper body

So I went for it as best as I could. Various exercises which all put together make me feel virtually crippled. Hopefully all this effort will all pay off in a few months time!

I tried to be methodical starting with chest exercises then shoulders, biceps, triceps and finishing with a forearm exercise. After researching a website filled with dumbell and bar exercises (as these are the only two types of weights I have!) I formed a plan which consisted of 3 exercises for each muscle group. On this occassion I completed 3 set of 10 reps or until failure! I say on this occasion as again in my research I read that by keeping exercise routines varied in terms of exercises, sets, reps and weights it will stop the body from getting used to routine and therefore prevents it reaching a plateau in growth. My next upper body routine will be with a heavier weight and compiled of 3 sets of 5 reps. If you don't think big you won't get big!!

As for the diet, it is harder than I thought to consume as much as I need. Especially to eat the healthy sort of things that will aid the body's recovery. Right now I want to stuff my face with chocolate but I know that it will not help me achieve my goal. Guess I'll tuck into a bowl of mixed nuts. Pumpkin seeds and cashew nuts which are hig in protien. Not as nice as chocolate and immensely more expensive but so much better for me. Oh well, the price of a healthy lifestyle!

Rest day + cooking disaster!

Not much to comment on today as it was a rest day. I know it sounds lazy as it is only my third day but I am sure I read somewhere that it is important to rest to allow the muscles to recover after a workout. Although I have not done a vast amount of exercise in the first two days it was enough to leave me feeling sore and achey so a rest is only a good thing.

Added a boiled egg to my breakfast with mixed results. The first one I tried came out so that both the white and the yolk were runny!! Not a great sucess. The next one I did was ... edible!! At least it added more calories and protien to the diet.

Also had some steak for dinner. Have not had a steak in ages so was like a nice treat but as well as that it carries a lot of protien in it to aid the recovery process.

All ready to have an intense workout tomorrow! Bring it on!!!!!

The Beginning

Technically this is day 2 of my new regieme but like a person in a dark room with no light it is not easy to find my way. Therefore I am using these first few days / weeks to get the building blocks in place so that I have solid foundations to achieve my goal.

My first aim to to start eating the right things. I believe that before the body can start to see the benefits of exercise, it needs the fuel to begin its journey. I have tried to cut out all processed food as much as possible and tried to keep it simple but tasty. This is where having an amazing wife who is creative in the kitchen and supportive of my aims comes in real handy!!!

The kind of things that I am starting to have include fish, quorn, brown rice, plenty of veg and salad. In addition to this I am eating nuts, yoghurt and supplementing it with a protien shake from Holland and Barrett.

I am constantly researching for new ideas all the time and decided to visit the Maximuscle website which I found useful. The first thing I realised was that to build the muscle that I wanted, I would have to eat a lot more than I thought!!

So after 2 days I have already changed my diet plan!!! But like I said earlier I would rather tinker now and get it right rather than just go headfirst into this and 2 months down the line see no change.

As for the exercise ....

I have got out the Wii and tried out Wii Fit for a bit of fun. It is not something I take too seriously but it has got me off the sofa. I have also tried out a fitness dvd - Billy Blanks Tae Bo for some cardio and also experimented with my dumbbells which have collected copious amounts of dust overthe last few years. As yet my exercise program is a work in progress. Again looking to get a routine that is managable and what I believe can also be effective. I will keep you posted as to how I get on.

Thanks for reading.