Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Morning Cardio/Abs Blast & Chest & Triceps & Gold's Gym, Venice

Woke up on time today. I was determined to. I made a promise to myself before going to sleep that I would be up and out of bed and get down to the gym to ensure I stay on track. It's so easy to hit that snooze button, and grab another 30+ minutes of sleep, but then that not only pushes my whole eating schedule back (by more than 30 minutes!), but also mean's I'm then rushing to get my morning workout in, and more likely to miss my final few sets, so it's important to stick to your schedule with as fewer deviations as possible if you want to succeed at your goal. Trust me - the pay off far outshines those moments of weakness or cravings, that it you can just get past them, will soon leave you, and you'll be all the more happier that you managed to stay on track!

Ok, so today I opted for 40-minutes of steady pace cardio on the upright bike. (I sometimes alternate 20 minutes on the bike, and 20 minutes brisk walking on an incline treadmill, but recently have been reading up on many of my old nutrition notes, books, and journals to refresh my knowledge and understanding of nutrition and how everything responds to certain stimuli. I mean, at this level, you really need to be aware that if you do this, that might happen, or if this isn't happening, then if you do that, you'll change the balance and see greater results - if you get what I mean. Only when you have a solid understanding of nutrition, kinseology, and a little experience I find helps, can you then start to really see the type of changes that I know we all wish for when were putting in the countless hours of training, and dedication and commitment to the lifestyle that must entail.

I'll soon be compiling many of my notes into several topic-repated articles available for all to see on my website - www.robrichesfitness.com as well as eventually writing my book on progressive cycles and core nutrition, which I am getting close too each month. Once the competition is over, I will have a lot more time to dedicate to other projects that I am working on.

After 40-minutes of pretty intense cardio (level 12-14 @ 70+ RPM), I was determined to do my monster set of Abs (which is actually a reworked circuit of the ones that the great Frank Zane - an idol of mine, and with a good-will message from another one of my inspirations - Shawn Phillips I was determined to finish the 1,020 reps without unnecessary rests bewteen sets. If you haven't already - I urge you to read his book: ABSolution - a must for anyone wanting to achieve lean, tight abs, showing full definition and separation across the entire abdominal region. I've read it back to front, many times, and it continues to be a source of reference for me when I'm brining my abs back to their full competitive glory!

For the purpose of future blogs, I'm going to call this particular ab circuit as "Abs Circuit A", so that when I do them again, I can just refer to this page of my blog without having to write the full set each time.

I'll try and post a few pics shortly!

Superset 1:
Hanging Knee Crunches - 50:50:50
Cable Crunches - 50:50:50 (using 50-65lbs on the weight stack)

Superset 2:
Lying Leg Raises (of a bench) - 50:50:50
Crunches (25lb plate on chest) - 50:50:50

Superset 3: (triset)
Seated Twists (small barbbell across neck, arms out-stretched) - 50:50:50
Single Arm Cable Twists - 30*:30*:30* (*30 performed on each side)
Hyper-Extensions (Holding 25lb plate) - 30:30:30

Although my abs by now were feeling super tight, and somewhat fatigues, I was surprised to feel like I still had some energy left. A sign that I was conditioning my abs, as I can remember only a few weeks ago, when just one superset of 50 reps each seemed like that was all I can do. My advice to you is do whatever you can the best that you can do, and keep track of it. Each time you do it again, try and add 5-10 more reps on, and soon enough you'll be up there in the higher rep range. But remember - it's not just about the reps. As Shawn writes in his book - ABSolution, there are many factors that contribute towards a getting a solid six pack, and variation is perhaps your best weapon for fighting fat and chisiling those abs! Keep records, and when your progress slows, its time to change variables, and continue with your success! All you have to have is belief in yourself. The rest is in your hands!

By the way, I'll also be posting a full log sheet of my newly revised nutrition plan(s) over the following days, so stay tuned for those.

That wasn't the end of my training for the day though! No, I was heading back down the gym by 3pm to meet with my friend - a sexy hot new up'n'coming fitness model I'm helping to train (who really motivates me to train hard, plus she actually follows the same routine as I do, just a little lighter. After all, muscle is muscle, and if you want a certain muscle to grow, there's only real way to train - and thats heavy!).

We worked out Chest and Triceps, and as usual, you can see my training split at my Bodyspace.

Here's a quick overview though, and again, I'll try and post a few pics of the exercises soon enough so that you can see what I am talking about, as I know many of the same exercises have different names and slightly different areas of focus.

Bench Press: 4 x 12-6 reps
Incline Machine Press: 3 x 10-6 reps
Weighted Dips: 4 x 15-10 reps
Incline Dumbbell Flys: 2 x 9-6 reps
Dumbbell Pullovers: 2 x 8-10 reps
Lying French Press: 3 x 10-6 reps
Overhead Dumbbell Press: 2 x 9-6 reps
Tricep Pushdowns: 2 x 10 reps

Chest and arms felt as though they were on fire by the end of it. 9 out of 10 for the workout!

Stay tuned for tomorrow when I'm back at the gym early morning for cardio and abs - again, plus legs back at Gold's Gym. I'll be filming this workout, so make sure you don't miss it!

Stay strong and healthy.

Rob