Training Like a beast yeah. . .

So Hello peeps of the iron rod I hope you are all back into schedule and working hard for those extra centimetres I am getting back to intensity I am cycling 15mins before every session to work out and getting fitter, I have more energy and I sweat more. The weight is being upped every session and I am just feeling great. Just if you still haven’t seen I am doing a small training course called Hypertrophy specific training or rather HST Check the link: http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com and I have also included some of the X-rep techniques, plus the old time favourite Strip Sets on the off days and I must say it is a bit of hard work but I love pushing myself further and harder and I can feel the changes in my body my mind and even my soul. I will post some pics from Monday’s session tonight It went well so far this week I am still on schedule yeah. . .

The week In review

Hello Iron peeps I hope it’s going well, sorry for not posting daily: but my private enterprise has taken off with an amazing swing and I am busy every night. That is good but I only get to sleep round about 1-2 at night and then back up at 6 So posting is a bit difficult. Today I am taking it slow.

So the week went well I did 2 full sessions again and is getting into the space again where I will doing more see attached my plan of muscle destruction (I will post the weight table for the last two weeks tomorrow I have dropped some weights after pulling my trap again)

I will start Monday the HST is obviously my 10 HST Based exercises and the In-between muscles I will take My HST 1 Rep Max and do a strip set until failure with each muscle group on that designated day just to get my muscles to have a little bit more endurance. I will post some pics as soon as I have worthy pics to post.

Tip for today:

Calves’

As we all know calves are a very hard gain muscle. It is definitely the hardest muscle that I have ever had to work with all my other muscles respond very well to training except my calves and they are quite strong but not showing. Do you suffer from the same problem? So what to do? Well what I have discovered training more sets isn’t going to do shit I listened to my soul and felt why does my chest get trained so well – because I really push heavy weight and take no bull. So when training your calves train heavier remember I weigh 90kg(198ponds) and my claves walk me everywhere so if I want to train them more that they carry when I am walking I would have to use more than 90kgs/198Pounds on seated calve raises and a lot more Maybe 140 -160Kgs will do it .

Your calves are strong and for them to grow hit them heavy.

Ok Guys Chat again soon keep watching this space for new updates Keep it real keep it heavy and keep pushing the iron. .

If you ever need some motivation go check out some Branch Warren’s Training on You tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnaevFTaFBU

Training again and feeling the difference

So Today will be the first day that I haven’t smoked anything Yesterday I had three and the day before I had 5. And today I shall not have any today. Wednesday I had quite a struggle it was like a emotional rollercoaster today is a lot better I just need to keep my mind busy again and I will be able to do it.

It is also part of my plan getting me mentally ready for hardcore Balls to the wall training again. And bulking up a bit. These things make the mind stronger.
So I trained a little last night and noticed the difference in capacity it is as if my lungs are actually breathing in more air just from smoking a lot less, unbelievable. So I am planning to do another little let’s get back into the program session tonight and then try and hit it very hard tomorrow morning with a full blown session (Hopefully I will get some photos as well.) I am very excited about this new level I have achieved now the trick is to stay up here and train extremely hard remembering my goals.

Training Tip of Today is about breathing

Never hold your breath when you lift. This could cause a heart attack, a hernia or a stroke. When you strain and hold your breath, your chest is put under so much pressure that the blood in your veins can’t return to your heart.
Exhale when you exert. On weight machines, any time the weight plates go up, you should be breathing out. The only exception to this is when you’re lifting something up over your head. Many weight trainers feel more comfortable inhale while doing shoulder presses and things like that. You can breathe either way you prefer, in this case.

No Pain No Gain

Hello there guys I just wanted to say thanks to the south African guys for being the first 100 visitors on this blog thanks guys.

Today I want to look at something that always boggles me a bit. A persons pain level on what level do you feel pain? In a training sense I try and push my pain level up but your mind sometimes has to interfere. No Today I am going to try and look at ways to stop your interfering mind from interfering with your growth. Obviously if you are reading my blog you are interested in growing bigger, same as I do. I have to say that a little bit of hard work has brought me in sight of my ultimate goal.

I train slightly building up again as mentioned yesterday as I am still recovering but this morning as I was training I had the strangest thing happening to me I did my pull ups and some push ups and some other exercises and whilst I’m doing my wrists my brain decided its done for and then I had a terrible time in getting just the normal done.

So I who believe in you have to listen to your body don’t like listening to the mind whilst training. Now how do you prevent your brain from copping out? In one of my previous posts about Bench-press I looked at doing max reps to make the connection between your muscles and your brain work out as well, But that only gets you used to lifting heavy I want to get used to training and training and training without my brain realising it. So I suppose that I would have to get fit (I started working on that this morning) so your endurance is better but I want you guys to try this next thing I will also try it I am focussed when I gym I control myself and concentrate very hard on what I am doing, Maybe I am Concentrating too much I am going to get aggressive with the weight in the weight room and put your mind in a life or death finish or die state to overcome the occasional cop out. I will let you know what my verdict is on aggression and using it in your training prepping yourself before hand to become a monster I could imagine is part of the process of being a monster. Well Thanks and keep reading.

Back to the training

Well hello guys sorry for the delay in my posts. I have had some amazing PC Problems the last few weeks I have also struggling with my stomach. So again I am starting below it seems like one cannot win. But I will win and so can you get your attitude right be a monster when it comes to the steel.
So I started slowly again only outside Pushups and pull ups and tomorrow I will start full on session again and as time goes by, I will be bringing the guerilla training back into play as well. So keep checking up and let’s get big together. . .

Training tip for this post:

A key mistake that a lot of people seem to make when performing bicep exercises is they tend to sacrifice good form and lifting technique in order to lift more weight.
Bad form with any exercises for your bicep muscles will not target your muscles properly which can result in not only not being able get big biceps but it can lead to serious injury as well.
Bad form while doing exercises for your bicep muscles for the most part refers to swinging the weights, rounding your shoulders, using your back, etc. But it also refers to not using a full range of motion on the exercises for your bicep muscles.
When performing any exercises for your bicep muscles you must lower the weight until your arms are fully stretched before raising the weight up again.

Power freaks and want to bee’s

So what are you do you train hard do you live yourself out in between the steel are you a hardcore muscle builder? I am and you know what I look like a wanna be My arms are small, my chest is skinny and I generally just aren’t happy with my size. So I have done extensive research and tested a lot of stuff trust me a lot of stuff. So for the last year or so I have seeing some good results (Just don’t tell me) I keep myself as small as possible in my mind so that I can keep pushing harder and keep pushing more. I think I do it in everything I do; it does sometimes cause some level of depression but, he, you got to be good and ready for this game. So I follow me and my progress and maybe you can learn something or you can post comments send me mail and I can learn from you.

So today I want to share a few little tip I have on the bench-press which has worked for me so far,

Doing it in full controll using your full range of motion does wonders. I Make sure to control my breathing and focusing on bringing the weight down slowly as well as actually pushing it up in the air, I also like to train two sets as heavy as possible and then do a third set where I take slightly lighter weight and making sure I work it good I roll the weight just above my chest in a circular motion just to kill the last little bit of pectoral muscle left. And then the most significant piece of advice from me is that I train my chest at least 3 or 4 times a week and it gets rock hard and starts pushing up.

A new thing I have also started trying out this week is doing a multi-rep for each rep I lower the weight down to my chest so it touches my chest then I just work it up about 7-10cm’s and bring it back down and complete the full range of motion. On this however I will only be able to let you know in 3 or 4 months what effect I get from this new little effort all I can say is it really burns you out. Quickly

Body Building fans what a last few days

My internet was down our servers at work were offline (Virus Scare) but everything slowly returning to normal well I have to tell you guys what a session. I missed a few day as you could see from the post’s. But last night I redeemed myself I decided to for the next two weeks just to get back into shape that I will do things the old way just hit the steel factory and do some heavy lifting the Hypertrophy specific way man I am sore tired and generally wasted from last night I really pushed myself.

I focused on doing as much as I could with the weight at hand one set for every body part and it was good. I was pumped as I haven’t been in a while and I can see the efforts I have put in the past month is already starting to show have a look at the pics and you tell me. I look thicker and slightly more cut (I haven’t done the cardio thing in a while).
It definitely looks like I have indeed packed on some muscle. I will post you guys the pics tonight after I repeat my insane training session. Tonight I will maybe just change a few things but will give you both sessions exercises and some pics.

Stomach Problems and some pain

So with all my enthusiasm from yesterday I was stumped here round about three yesterday afternoon I started feeling slightly different. And at ten when I wanted to train my stomach was burning so much I couldn’t even do two lifts. My stomach ran once or twice but I feel a lot better today so will then try and get it all in tonight. I will include some new pictures and one more week then we can do some measurements again.

Commitment here we come

The weekend has come and gone and now we are back to the normal routine of things. I hope you all had a good weekend; I had a good one with some BS at the end. Well today I need to look at something that really needs a lot of attention and it is also something I struggle with A LOT. Commitment, if you are committed enough you will not eat the wrong foods, smoke, drink, waste time or miss training sessions. The top of the crop sports people have commitment but we who does it for the fun of it and don’t want to turn professional we don’t have. I have decided that no more crap from now on its balls to the wall in every aspect either go hard or go home.

Tip for Today:
Keeping an accurate training journal, will guarantee that you are making progress, and if you are not the journal will have the answers to why you are not seeing any gains..

Hardcore training and attitude

Well my fellow members of the steel seduction, for me there is nothing better than waking up and your whole body feels like it has been smashed by a humongous rock.

I have trained hard last night my biceps feel like they have been cut in half and chunks were taken out of them. I can really feel I trained last night. This week I have lost a bit of focus on the training side but were back in action again. So from next week back to schedule but for now I train hard what I can.

Last Night I did just biceps I started out very heavy (For me currently) [going to change] I started my first set on 50Kg (110Pounds) and then two more sets with 45Kgs (97.9 Pounds) and after that I did a strip set of stripping the 2.5kg every six reps in succession all the way down until I was training with 5kgs (11 pounds) then I rested slightly. Blowing like a beast from the underworld and decided to pyramid it up all the way to 45Kg’s (97.9 Pounds) again. I tried to go some Hercules Cycle training but I was shaking so much I had to give up. I am still very unfit but getting closer.

And then again this morning I am still diligently doing my forearms every day day in and out and the results is astonishing they are actually hardening and getting really strong now, as well as bulking slightly. . .

Weekend blues

Well hello so the week ended terribly again. I can almost say except for the rest that I hate the weekends you don’t get done what you wanted to you always end up fighting some simple fact what ever you know. I just hate the weekends. I trained well for 5 days and then the bloody weekend happened again. Well so now with a new week ahead I am going to make all my training sessions stick. I hate being small no matter what and the only way to get bigger is eat right and train hard the heavier the better. So also my back is back to normal no more training around it. No more bull no more nonsense if I have to start training at 10 or even twelve at night why not. I feel that this year is the year.

So with that now lets look at another constant that needs to be worked at everyday…
Mentality for size, yep you need to be mentally ready for what you want to accomplish and breath eat sleep and do bodybuilding. You need to train your mentality to such an extent that you feel like a training monster and feel yourself big you have to. When I gym I release a lot of anger but luckily for me I also build up a lot of anger I use it to my advantage to push myself harder in the training room. When I have done my training tonight I will give you a short post on the outcome and look out for some notes on getting mentally ready for each session.

No, well lets fix it

So I was bad and didn’t train last night, We went to go visit some friends of ours and stayed till late one lucky thing is that I have a day off in my routine which I will just take as yesterday and continue on my stringent plan ahead to power and size. . .

Tonight back to the working plane carving a giant. My back is almost back to normal some other few stiff muscles but nothing else that would further hinder me I will slowly start to bring my back, back into working out as well. On the Diet side I ate breakfast this morning and I already feel better my energy levels is up by at least 20% so far today. So for next week I have the following planned. Early training sessions I have to wake up at four in the morning to get an early session but I will go to bed at about 9 or 10 o’clock.

And for training I have prepared this little session (now remember this is just after I finish my daily Hercules training.) Also Not that I havent put in the wieght I use what I will do is give you a complete breakdown of my Training weight and my 1 rep max weight and my body measurements again and then we will really be seeing the results I hope.

Monday Training (Chest and Triceps)

Push ups Warm Up
Bench Press 4 Sets
1 Rep Max Test
Bench Press Strip Set from 1 Rep max to 60Kg

Triceps Presses 5 Sets
Chair Dips 3 Sets

Tuesday Training (Biceps & Lats)

Concentration Curls 3 Sets
Bar Curls 3 Sets
Bicep Pull Ups 2 Sets

Lat Fly’s 5 Sets
Wide grip Pull Ups

Wednesday Training (Neck & Shoulders)

Shrug’s 5 Sets
Side shoulder Raises 3 Sets

Military Presses 5 Sets
Wide grip Pull ups 3 sets

Thursday Training (Lower back and Abs)

Dead Lifts 5 sets
Back stretches 3 Sets
Side raises 3 Sets

Sit Ups 400 or 8 sets of 50

Friday Training (Legs & Fore Arms)

Lunges 3 Sets
Squats 5 Sets

Calve raises 4 sets per angle (x3)

Wrist Curls 3 sets
Reverse grip bicep curls 3 sets

Saturday Training (Gorilla training Session x 2 and later 3)

Wellness, What a trip

Doesn’t it feel awesome if you awake and you feel you have worked out your body stiffly reminded that you are working on him to improve him? Well that is what I feel like today I am satisfied and refreshed for myself nothing relaxes me more than a hardcore balls to the wall training session, The sweat flowing and all your worries and pre conceptions of everything out the door for at least that hour. I am addicted to training. I said it. Well last nights training was great My Back unfortunately is still in a knot. But recovering well.

I have gotten injured a few times in the past all because of lazy muscles and unsafe training practices and definitely a few times because plain stupidity. What I have learned is listen to your body tune in to its rhythm when it says its done don’t push it over the edge. Just work around it. In the past I used to stop all training and physical activities and would stay off training for two or three weeks no! now all I do is listen to my body if my back is sore but I can train my Biceps, chest, triceps and shoulders without placing any strain on the sore muscle, Why not.

So tonight again I will train around my back I am going to do shoulders. Due to the back pain I will not be able to push any weight up in the air too much downward pressure. But I can pull my own body weight up in the air yes? So for tonight I will do shoulder pull ups that will work my Shoulders my lats and traps I am going to try and do 6 or seven sets of 10 reps. And as soon as my back is well again I will post you the general exercise routine I normally use with my shoulders. And then again as I said the general Hercules training again without the back touching exercises.

Great training day lets see tonight

Well Last night I officially got back into the whole training thing for good now. No more bull, Balls to the wall. Yesterday I was talking about weight goals for each exercise. So for last nights training I was doing bench press I know my 1 rep Max (the maximum you can lift once) is +/- 135-140Kgs( 286- 308 Pounds) so I want to lift at the end of this year at least 150Kgs( 330Pounds) with a one rep max of 165Kgs( 363 Pounds) that is on the bench press. My Ultimate goal is to eventually bench 500Kgs (1100 Pounds) and when I get there I will set a new goal.

So tonight I have to train biceps and lats. I hurt my back during the holiday so I am not going to do lats. I will do My general gorilla training just without the shoulder work and the back work (My back is really sore) So this morning I started with grip work, Every morning I take the grip and work my fore arms I do 3 sets of 100 grips and then go down doing 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 25, 20 and then I cannot feel my hands any more. When I get home tonight I will do Bicep concentration curls over a chair with 25Kgs (55pounds) per arm. I will do 5 sets of 12 each.

And tonight I will start doing sit ups(depends on my back) just start off with 200reps or 4 sets of 50.

Now for the Biceps I also have a goal my goal is to least train with 40Kgs (88pounds) per side so that is 80kgs (176pounds) on a bar. My big goal is to train eventually with 130Kgs (286pounds) on the bar.

Now that is the easy part the difficult part is the diet now for today I haven’t started eating breakfast yet. so tomorrow I will. I will have lunch at work (our office provides us with lunch) and then I will have dinner. Tonight I will start with my protein shake as well. I’ve had it now for a year.

My goal for the short term is to have my day accordingly, in the dietary sense.

Breakfast, then a snack for 10:00 (eggs or something), Lunch, protein shake, dinner, and a protein shake before bed.

Now that is harder than it sounds, it is not so much an issue of eating but rather the financial burden there off. But it is a goal and needs to be worked towards. My Supplement intake is truly horrendous, I take no supplements at all no vitamins, no amino acids compound nothing. My goal is to get to a financial point where I can spend at least R1500 (+/- $150) on Nutrition that will include the all famous Animal Stack, protein shakes, nitric oxide and some extras like more meat in the house and if possible a better quality breakfast. But for me R1500 a month is quite a bit.

Well lets work at it.

alternate Training Sessions

So today let’s start with my hulking up sessions that I do every day, like Hercules in my second post. so what I do is the following

I start with pushups on bricks I do 2 sets of 15 reps on about 4 bricks under each hand with the kids on my back. I concentrate on using only the lower half of my chest and my triceps I do the exercise slowly to feel the burn with every move. I do believe that it is the best way to do it.

My second exercise I do is Shrugs with 25 liter water cans. I do 15 reps with these I also focus on making the motion a smooth as possible and feeling the muscle work all the way through. That is one thing I try with all my exercises to make sure to feel the muscle working if I can feel it is not working then I doubt the exercise is working.

On the third exercise I use the same water cans and do bicep curls with these. I cannot complete full motion as it is slightly heavy but I can do half a contraction and with the training I will be able to do one full motion soon. I also use this water cans to train my lat’s and my shoulders all doing 15 reps only.

Then for my legs I use an old car in the back of the yard picking it up as sort of a squat exercise utilizing mostly my hamstrings but as with everything I can feel the burn through out and doing it slowly.

So that is my mornings I try and do this at least four to five times a week. As time progresses I will add more exercises as my fitness levels increases again. I really try and focus on doing it slowly to make sure the muscle gets the job done no jerking no shaking just purely focusing on the muscle in contact moving the weight. I also try and make the weight heavier and more.

So Training Day Starts's tomorrow

Welcome again Well tomorrow is training day everything is in place my chest is still slightly weary but no more.. So tomorrow morning I will start with my Muscle shaping training and tomorrow night I will do my hypertrophy training ( I will still explain hypertrophy if you do not understand).
I have started bumping up my diet again I go on the eat as much as you can as many times a day trying to keep it to the 40% Protein 60% Carbohydrates I am also using a protein shake and will go on the vitamins early in next year. I will give you a proper run down on some good days with what I’ve eaten during that day and my protein intake etc . . .
So what do I have planned for tomorrow, it is very simple Start light for the first week and build up from there until I get my confidence back and then go heavier and heavier.
So to start
Morning Session: 6 day Split concept (another body part each day for 5-6 sets 2-3 different exercises and some rest days after each six days
I will start with my neck and shoulders. I will keep it small
Shrugs for my neck 4 sets of 12 reps with 50Kg’s or 110poundsShoulder lifts 4 sets also 12 reps with 20kg’s or 45poundsthen some side raises 4 sets of 12 with 10kg’s Like I said start slowly and start small that’s the morning then the evening I would have my Hercules training again. I have tested it slightly during my sick time and taken some pictures for you all to see.
It is basic body weight training first I will do some sit ups and crunches about 50-200 and some Pushups three or four sets of 20. Then I do my biceps my shoulders and Lat’s with 2 x 25Litre water tanks filled with water doing only 15 reps. Unfortunately I don’t have any leg training equipment so I use an old car we have in the yard lifting its back end 15 time and for dead lift and general power I have a dustbin filled with bricks that I carry around to build extra strength so after tomorrow I will start placing some weight specs and more measurements.