Leg Day

This leg workout is a great way to hit all of the muscle groups in your legs, not only pumping them up and adding mass but also in chiselling some extra definition into the quads and hamstrings. Next time you are training legs give this a go!

Stretches - 10 minutes
Seated Calf Press - 5 sets of 30 reps (performed seated on a bench with plates on your knees and your feet on a low platform)
Leg Press Calf press - 5 sets of 20 reps
Bike - 5 mins at level 12
Pause Squats - 4 sets of 12 reps (pause for 3 seconds at the bottom of each rep)
Super Set: Walking lunges - 4 sets of 20 reps (10 reps each leg)
                  Leg extensions - 4 sets of 12 reps
Stiff leg dead lifts - 5 sets of 12-15 reps
Leg Curl machine - 4 sets of 15 reps
Body weight Squats - 1 set of 100 reps (no break just bash them out)
Bike - 5 mins level 12
Stretches - 5-10 minutes

Looking Back at 2014

Well it is almost the end of another year, just 9 days left to go and I thought |i would take some time to look back at this year and see just how far I have come. Because some times we can feel like we are standing still, not growing, not stretching, not pushing ourselves, stagnating in the dark. But, when we look back at our lives, our journey, you will see just how far the road has taken you.

So here is some of the stand out moments and achievements for me in 2014.

Body Building:
1 Competing - This year I made my first steps on tot eh body building stage, Placing 3rd and 5th in two big shows in Northern Ireland. 3rd Place at my first show with NABBA was a great feeling and a great memory, and the journey to IBFA Ireland was also extremely enjoyable but tough. Through both endeavours I have gained a lot of new skills, and learnt a lot about myself, how i respond to certain training styles, certain foods and I am looking forward to my next show and hopefully learning even more about my body and its abilities.
2. Training - This year I made some big jumps in training, from training twice a day for the 2 contest preps to general strength gains all year.
For example my normal back squat routine improved from:
15 reps of 120kg                  to                            15 reps of 140kg
12 reps of 130kg                                                 15 reps of 150kg
12 reps of 135kg                                                 12 reps of 160kg
10 reps of 140kg                                                  8 reps of 170kg
8 reps of  145kg                                                   4 reps of 180kg
3. Diet - This year i spent almost 50% of the time on a show prep diet, prepping for the two shows and that was a first for me, I also kept it very clean in the off season between shows I also learnt a lot about how my body reacts to certain foods and how to properly design a diet plan for myself when preparing for a show.
4. Working alone - I have always trained alone, I rarely had a training partner and so I meant pushing myself, but when it came to both show preps I had no coach, and no guidance, it was experiment and research and my own intuition and hard work. But it taught me a lot and there is still room for improvement and I am excited to see what 2015 brings to my physique.


Work:
This was the first year I worked in a gym, I had been personal training before this with outdoor sessions and classes as well as home visits, but having the chance to work in the Hanwood Centre gym taught me new skills, and really encouraged me to improve and work hard as a trainer, as well as providing great facilities to work with clients and really bring out results.
Working with clients, has also been great this year, you always have one or two who don;t want to put the work in, but I have to say this year has been a good crowd, working hard, and following my advice well. I'm not going to name names here, those that worked hard know it and saw the results, those that didn't well, they know it themselves.

All there is left to say is that 2014 was good, but 2015 will be even better. You ain't seen nothing yet!

Getting stronger

Well since the show 6 weeks ago I have been steadily working on improving my strength and size and it is starting to show some serious results. Yesterday I hit a new PB for squats and over the past weeks almost every exercise has improved. The plan from here is to continue with the bulk and strength programme until January first, and then begin to strip some of the fat off again and work on adding lean muscle and maintaining the improved strength.
The aim is to stay below 10% body fat from January right through to this time next year, adding quality muscle and looking at symmetry and proportion . But I will keep you posted on that aim throughout 2015.

Notable improvements since IBFA 2014:
Squat up from - 160kg for 8 - 180kg for 5
Front squat up from 75kg for 8 - 85kg for 8
Bench press up from 120kg for 8 - 127.5kg for 8
Bent over row up from 80kg for 12 - 95kg for 10
and a lot of other small gains as well

Protein Pancakes

Here is another tasty meal idea for you, and it is super easy to make.

These protein pancakes use 3, yes just 3 ingredients, oats, eggs, and protein powder. Simply blend together 4 egg whites, 2 scoops of oats and 1 scoop of whey in a blender and then pour into a pan and cook for a few minutes each side and your done.

It tastes good on its own, but if cooked too long it can be a bit dry so I usually add natural yogurt and some almonds or fruit to bring up the macros and make it a more complete meal. This morning I had the pancake with 50g almonds, blueberries and some black coffee. But try it for yourselves and see if you like it.

Ingredients:

1 scoop of whey protein

4 egg whites

2 scoops of oats

50g almonds

Nutritional Values:

Plain:   Protein - 42 grams

           Carbohydrates - 32 grams

           Fats - 3 grams

With almonds & blueberries:   Protein - 53 grams

                                            Carbohydrates - 36 grams

                                            Fats - 27 grams

2 Year Transformation

In the spirit of a throw back Thursday / transformation picture combo here is my personal progress shot from 2012 to 2014.
In 2012 I had finished kick boxing, after my club closed down and I turned my attention to a passion that had been growing in my mind for the last few months, body building. it took a long time to get the change from training for speed, explosive power and endurance into training for mass, shape and strength. I had been feeling different for a few months that my mind was wondering away from kickboxing and in the end the closure of the club i trained with was the perfect push to get into a new style of training and explore a new lifestyle, and I have to say I think I have found the one for me. In the last 2 years I have grown, both physically as well as mentally and spiritually, and a big part of that is down to the bodybuilding lifestyle and in particular this years two show preps.

So what has changed from 2012? Well for starters I have gained a lot of lean muscle mass, taking into account the body fat readings at the time I have gained over 31 pounds of muscle in those two years which always makes me laugh, because so many people told me I would never gain too much muscle because I had already been training for years and refused to take steroids, so now I can say, you do not need them, all you need is time, and dedication to training and your diet. Get those right and you will do just fine.

So where next? Well I am going to keep competing, and trying to improve my physique, focusing on adding size, and maintaining symmetry. Lets see what the next 2 years brings.

Individuality

There are so many competitors out there today, be it for bodybuilding, fitness, physique, bikini, so what sets you apart from the rest?
INDIVIDUALITY. It is key, not only to making an impact on stage, but also in life in general, no one wants to be just another number on a page, they want to stand out, and you should because we are all unique, the trick is showing your strengths and your individuality to the people.
When you prepare for a show, really prepare, work on the body you want not what your friends or you think the judges want, be yourself, build yourself. When you come on stage don;t just stick to the basic poses, and then repeat them in your routine, be different. Pick music you like, pick a style of posing you like to watch, poses that show your best features, your strengths and your talents, if you are flexible show it, if you are artistic show it, if you have a huge back, play up to it, and show it off, what ever makes you unique show it. You want to make the crowd and judges remember you, because sometimes in competition it is so close between competitors on stage that something a little different just sends you up a level in the judges mind, and can make the difference between being on the podium, or being an also ran, from being number 1 or 2.
It can also been seen how much it has faded when you look at the comparisons between the old and current class of athletes on the top stages of the sport. In the 70's 80's and early 90's you could almost tell right away who an athlete was by his or her silhouette, their individual hair styles, body shape, characteristic pose, stance, or taper made them stand out as an individual, where as today more and more athletes are opting for the short back and sides, with most having little difference between the structure and shape of their physiques. They have lost that individual edge.

What do I do?
I work on my posing, I work on building my ideal physique and I make sure to have a fun and impressive routine the way I want to pose and using poses I admire and like to look at. For me the compulsory poses are good because people know them and can appreciate them in a routine, but you need some spice and artistic expression to bring the art that is bodybuilding to completeness. I am a big fan of a good posing routine and I work hard at mine when getting ready for a contest, spending several hours each week organizing the poses I want to use into a flowing and impressive display in time with the music. I have always been quite flexible from kickboxing so I use slit like poses in my routine, I also pick music that builds from slow to a rousing crescendo and fit my poses in with that, using more artistic lunging poses first and building up to the back double biceps and most muscular the crowd loves. Also just be yourself, there is nothing better and no other way to have fun. Enjoy the process of working on yourself for yourself, and keep making those improvements. 

Stuffed Sweet Potato and Chicken

This is quite simply DELICIOUS. Seriously, it is awesome, and very clean and low fat at the same time.
packed with vitamins, minerals and lots of clean carbs and protein this is a great meal to sit down and enjoy after a tough workout. And that's just what I did last night.
Having blasted through an arm workout I came home and got to work. its pretty simple to prepare as well, just oven bake the chicken and the sweet potato, making sure to slice it down the centre to let you fill it when ready. Then when they are around 5 minutes from being ready you stir fry the veg and then put it all together. For veg I used sweet corn, broccoli, mixed peppers and red onion.

As I say it is packed with protein and it gives you a good boost towards hitting your daily intake of vegetables so its a win win.

Ingredients:
200g chicken breast
200g sweet potato
50g sweet corn
50g mixed peppers
1 portion of brocolli
1/3 of red onion sliced

Nutritional Values:
Protein - 46 grams
Carbohydrates - 64 grams
Fats - 9 grams