The new gym

My new gym is the sweatbox of sweatboxes.  Rough as it comes, it’s got all the good stuff like 45 degree leg press, squat rack, seated row and lots of Hammer Strength machines.  2 calf machines also.

Downsides – bad cardio equipment that needs to be binned.  No assisted chin up bar.

More upsides include 90s classic techno and lots of guys lifting heavy.  Good vibe.

Best upside is it’s £4 per visit!

Hammer strength for chest

I’ve had a bit of droopy pec syndrome for most of my lifting career.

Switching to decline benches helped a little but for the pure isolation, I found the decline hammer strength machine to really work the small lower outer pec.

I’m trying to hit the hammer strength twice a week  – once on chest day and once on leg day for only 4-6 sets each session.

Results so far are good, the hammer strength definitely squares off your pecs better.

WHat the hell am I going to do this year?

Having plateaed years ago, I can only work on seperation, fullness and muscle maturity – with conditioning.

Every year I get fuller, and deeper seperation….but it’s slight. 

I’m going to push hard every workout this year – but change the weight to suit my energy levels.

Tired? Need to train? What do I do…?

If you’re tired, best thing to do is to focus on cutting down sets.

For instance, you may decide to do 2 bench presses instead of 3 at maximum weight.

If you train your shoulders with chest you may wish to miss out shoulders and do them the following workout.

Benefits of training this way are

 (a) you do your workout

(b) if you try to do all sets, you will overtrain.  Cutting back on sets allows you not to overtrain and your body will recover quicker…so you’ll be back to the gym quicker to make up for the lost sets.

If you push on when you are tired, you end up overtrained and weaker/less muscle than before – remember YOU BREAK DOWN MUSCLE in the gym.

Weider protein bars…what a difference

I’ve been taking Weider protein bars.  Probably the best tasting bars I’ve tried.  32g of protein per bar.

 I take 2 bars after cardio (which I do on an empty stomach) or 2 bars post weights.  Very good results, feel stronger (surprisingly) than normal.  They basically work so I really can’t recommend them enough.

Train after your 2nd meal but before your 3rd

I admit it’s convienent for me to have breakfast, digest and then hit the gym.

But enough glycogen hasn’t hit the muscle by that point and it’s more benefitial to go after 2nd meal, once it has digested of course.

Then eat directly after training.  Protein first then carbs.

What to do on a tired day…

The other day I was just washed out.  Felt I had no energy.  The worst thing to do is to train on a day like this, best to take a day off and live to fight another day.

If you hit the gym and you’re tired, try pushing yourself, but I would lighten up the weight stack just a little and go by feel.  Maybe cut the workout short and recover faster.  That means you can hit the gym again sooner and make up for any loss.

 Kevin Levrone said a great thing….if you’re tired, just let your motor run on idle.  That way you get a workout and don’t over-train.

Cables and declines for better pec developemnt

My pecs are a bit drooping and not well shaped, so I’m working more on decline dumbell presses and also cable flies, really concentrating on the lower outer pectoral.  A machine at the end of the workout too for shape.

Seems to be working so far, and also I’m going to try more pumping movements than slow lock outs.

Hope to hit the Hammer Strength machines for better shape too.

Swelling up….

After watching a Porter Cottrell video, I think I’ll focus more on constant tension/pumping motion for chest.

 He really recommends this style of training and as my chest is a poor bodypart, I think it might give the stimulation that’s neccessary.

Not having the best pecs and suffering from drooping-tit syndrome, I’m going to focus more on machines like Hammer Strength.  I did 6 sets after my leg workout the other day and it seems to perk-them up already and give more shape.  I’ll probably go with my main barbell/dumbell work but with lighter Hammer Strength to carve out some shape.

Back training….

Well, I’ve lost shoulder mass, some overall size and put on fat round my waist.  Just shows you what holiday eating and not working out properly for a month can do to you.

Strength was good however, deadlifting 100kilos OK (record is 120 kilos).  I was deadlifting 100 kilos before I went on holiday so I am please with that.  In fact I am maybe 5-10% off my maximum strength on all exercises.

Now trying to shed the fat and drop the carbs, increase the protein also.  I feel a lot of muscle loss is down to my poor protein diet.  I can visibly see myself harden up when I hit the protein hard for a few days.