Friday Weights Routine (Recap Day)

This day as for the title of the blog is a recap day for me, there is no formal routine set. I take this day in a week to week basis due to the fact that each week I might want to work or improve on a certain area as opposed to another area (meaning muscle groups). At the moment, I am currently trying to build my legs and get them in overall better condition, so usually my Friday is going over legs, but other weeks it may be my chest or arms.

I find it beneficial to give me a day where I have free reign to select whatever I want to do as from the other days, all the major body parts have already been worked and covered. Throughout the week you will have an idea of what you specifically want to cover, this is very much subjective as no one knows you’re body more than yourself, so ultimately it is important to cover an area which you feel needs improvement on; as every workout is important on reaching or achieving your fitness goals.

Whichever body part you select on this day I wouldn’t do a full routine as this already has been done. However, I would go over it with key movements and exercises that you feel are the most beneficial in that muscle group and to maximise the pump without not getting the most out of your workout.

So for example, if I was to do chest recap I would do all the three benches, flat, incline and decline. I would move onto cable fly’s after that adjusting the cables at different angles to target different points in the chest. High point, mid-point and low point. To finish with after that I would aim to do push-ups to failure e.g. aim to last for 1 minute worth. At this point your chest will have a fantastic pump and doesn’t take ling, it is a fairly quick workout.

Moreover, you could after you've done chest cover arms, like do a quick triceps workout, which could consist of cable pull downs to failure, then do dips until failure to burn that muscle group and get all the blood flowing and leave with a good feeling that you've had a great workout and have a great pump, feeling good about yourself and, you’ve had a good training week and can look forward to you’re cheat meal at the weekend, which you have probably been planning throughout the week.

Thanks again for tuning in,

JSN.

Thursday Weights Routine (Shoulders and Traps)

As a continuation from my previous blogs this blog is another routine as part of the week’s weights routine, which has been getting covered day by day. This blog will be focused on the routine of shoulders and traps, this will provide an insight into the sort of routine that indeed I follow and allows you to implement something into you’re own routine and for a beginner as a starting pion in which to grow from. 

Workout Routine

Shoulder Workout

To begin with I would start with shoulder pressing, however before getting too involved within the set. It is good practice to warm the shoulders up first, so pick a light weight and take it easy with some reps. This gets the blood flowing and the muscle in preparation for heaver sets and minimises the risk of injury also.

Shoulder Press (Dumbbell)

This shoulder dumbbell exercise is essentially a mass and strengthening exercise to help achieve the term “shoulders like boulders”. This will build you’re lockout strength and endurance of heavy sets during your routine.  

3x 6-8 reps, with each set increasing weight. You’re last set you might only get 4 reps out of your maximum weight however, with each week you’re becoming stronger and you’re muscles are becoming more competent to allow to lift heaver and able to lift heaver for more reps.

Upright Row (Ez-Bar)

Again this is a good exercise to add some mass to the shoulders, this movement can be seen from the pictures provided. This will built the strength and stability in the shoulder to allow them to grow and develop.

3x 8-10 reps

Dumbbell Front Raise

A good exercise to squeeze the muscle and built the strength within it also. A moderate resistance and rep range is good to work the selected area.

3x 6-8 reps

Whilst doing this you could create a mini circuit, grab a 10kg, 15kg or 20kg free weight (Plate) and do front raises with them and then toward the end of your rep range, hold the weight in front of you and turn it side to side, kind of like a steering wheel in a car. This gets all the blood flowing and burns the muscle. I will provide an image for visualization purposes.

3 sets of this also, similar rep range to the above.

 

Bent-Over Rear-Delt Raises

This movement is good for working the area of the shoulders missed by previous exercises. This works the shoulder and promotes muscle mass.

 

3x 6-8 reps, increasing weight with each set here to one you are comfortable with.

Machine Lateral Raise

To end the shoulder workout, this is a good machine to do a pyramid set with, this will finish this routine with a great pump. A pyramid set is for example start with 10kg do 10 reps, then 8 reps at 15kg and then 6 reps at the max weight and in this case 20kg. Then do it working back to your start weight. Hence why it’s called a pyramid set as you do three different weights but work up and down them to whichever one you started with e.g. heavy to light, or light to heavy.

 

3x each set to failure and working within the weight amounts you are comfortable with.

Traps Workout

Shrugs

Shrugs is a very well-known and old workout that is an effective exercise to build you’re trapezius muscles. You can do this either with a barbell or dumbbell. I generally stick to the dumbbell version as I feel it more effective more myself.

1x 10-12 reps

1x 8-10 reps

1x 6-8 reps

Each set moving up weight also.

Low Cable Face Pulls

This is also a useful exercise to build the tall traps to match the boulder shoulders. Use the rope for this, you can see from the image how you expect to be lifting this. You should keep the form and reps flowing, this will get difficult toward the end of your set but dig deep and finish. In terms of weights you should challenge yourself by picking a weight that’s heavy enough for you to be begging for the end of the set but not so heavy that it requires cheating to get there.

4x 8-12 reps with alternating weight as you feel fit and go along the exercise.

Thank you for reading my blog and if you have been following my journey of my blogs thank for keeping tuned it. If you want to ask me anything feel free to comment and I will get back to you, if you want me to cover a specific topic again just drop me a comment or check out my social media platforms and contact me via that.

Thanks,

JSN.

 

 

Wednesday Weights Routine (Legs)

This particular blog will be focused on legs, which from my experience is a word that most people tread hearing, memories of hobbling around for days afterwards. This routine is focusing on the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus and calves. As a follow on from my previous blogs as I am covering a week’s weights routine, again this is a fairly basic workout, however will be an effective one to get you started otherwise implement something new into you’re current routine.

Workout Routine

Squats

Most commonly this routine starts with SQUATS. This is an effective exercise to start with as this is referred to as one of the king to all exercises. Simply due to the fact that it is a full body fitness staple that works from the hips, glutes, quads and hamstrings whilst strengthen the core. Moreover this also contributes to achieving better balance and coordination and surprisingly also bone density.

 

1x warm up set, low level weight e.g. 10kg per side, however lift what you’re comfortable with.

1x 10-12 reps, weight wise should be moderate resistance but lift the weight you are comfortable with.

1x 8-10 reps at a higher weight of your choice.

1x 4-6 reps at you’re max resistance weight.

Leg Press

Leg press is a good exercise due to the fact that it works all the lower body muscles and takes pressure of your spinal column. Hence a good exercise if you have a sore back.

 

1x 8-10 reps, weight should be manageable so you can feel the leg working without exerting yourself to much.

1x 8 reps at a higher weight, the weight you choose is of your choice, whatever you are comfortable lifting and then building up to with each set. 

1x 6 reps at you’re max weight of choice.

1x 8-10 reps for a burn set at a lower weight, this is good to take the leg until failure. However if you feel like it is not needed from you’re previous set then just skip it.

Leg Extension

This is a good thigh workout, it strengthens the quadriceps and is a focused exercise to work the muscle.

3x 10 reps, each set going up to a higher weight.

 

 

 

 

Hack Squat

This exercise targets the quadriceps muscle mainly, it is a good routine for pushing the muscle. Furthermore, can be used at any level from beginner to professional and works out effectively.

1x 8-10 reps

1x 6-8 reps

1x 4-6 reps

This exercise with each set you should increase the weight. Ultimately with each new set new resistance is being applied to further work the targeted muscle group.

Romanian Deadlift

This exercise is predominately aimed to work the hamstrings due to the nature of the exercise and the way you should hold the form with your legs straight and bent over back. This is can be seen from the image provided.

1x 10-12 reps

1x 8-10 reps

1x 6-8 reps

Lying Leg Curl

An effective exercise as the routine is begging to conclude, it works the back of your legs (hamstrings) very well and it is a focused exercise to intensity work this area which is generally neglected. This will surely finish you off and make walking down any stairs a difficult and painful experience.

1x 10-12 reps

1x 8-10 reps

1x 6-8 reps

Standing Calf Raise

The calf muscle is a small muscle group in which does not require a huge amount of weight like other exercises to be effective. However it is more in the repetition of this exercise to be effective. This should be moderate resistance with a high rep range to burn the muscle.

4x 12-15 reps

Overall, this is an overview of a leg routine, a fairly basic one but something that a beginner could use or even a regular gym goer could implement into their routine. As you go along you find out what works best for you, furthermore an important note is when working legs when beginning always warm up and lift within you’re means unless you have a spotter which can push you that bit further than you could working out individually.

Thanks for tuning into another blog with me, feel free to comment or if you want me ask me anything you can contact me via the comment section or check me out on social media and contact me via the platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. 

Thanks,

JSN.

Tuesday Weights Routine (Back and Biceps)

This blog will cover another weights routine as I previously stated I would blog a week’s worth of workouts that a beginner can follow or even someone who is looking to add something new into their routine. This is a fairly basic workout I will provide, but nonetheless an effective one.

Workout Routine

Back Workout

To begin with I think it is effective to start with pull up’s as your stretching your entire back and in the meantime also warming up your shoulders. This is a good exercise for warming up for a back session. It is important to be able to do exercises using your own body weight, as stretching you’re core is also as important as just adding muscle/mass to the body.

4x 6-8 reps, as you advance you can up the rep range from between 8-12 reps.

Deadlifting

Deadlifting is a good exercise to follow, as this takes a lot of energy; so it is useful to do them early in your workout session. In terms of weight that is completely subjective, lift what you feel that you can cope with and also increase the weight to an amount you’re comfortable with. Leave pride at the front door of the gym, don’t lift a lot of weight to show off or look good if you can’t lift it properly or you will give yourself an injury in which will be more damaging than your pride.

1x Warm-up set with low weight

1x 8 reps at your chosen weight

1x 6 reps with a higher weight

1x 4 reps at your maximum weight

Bent- Over Rows (Barbell)

This is a good movement to do as this works a large section of your back, but form is necessary here and in turn will produce good muscle mass.

3x 6-8 reps

Close-Grip Seated Cable Row

This is another good exercise to follow within the back session as this works a good section of your back and is an effective motion due to the close grip movement which works all the muscle fibres.

4x 6-8 reps moving up the weight with each set to something that you’re comfortable with.

Wide-Grip Cable Pull Down

This works a large section of the back again and can be a good to hit other parts of your back which may be missed out on other exercise. Cable exercises are good for when you’re workout is coming to a close.

4x 6-8 reps, moving up weight with each set

Biceps

Seated Curls (Single Arms)

Biceps are one of the muscle groups that doesn’t require a lot of weight to grow, it is more about repetition. So finding a good weight to work this muscle group with to provide good resistance combined with a good rep range will see you good results. Do this with individually e.g. work one arm at a time, don’t curl both at the same time.

4x 8-12 reps with a sufficient resistance weight.

 

 

 

 

 

Flat Bar under Cable Bicep Curls

I didn’t know the specific name for this as it is just part of my routine, but not something I researched when beginning working out. I will provide imagery so it can be visualised, if you want to implement it into your routine. This is an effective workout to finish off your workout and give you a killer pump. When doing this do a Pyramid set e.g.

Start with 10kg do 10 reps, then 8 reps at 15kg and then 6 reps at the max weight and in this case 20kg. Then do it working back to your start weight. Hence why it’s called a pyramid set as you do three different weights but work up and down them to whichever one you started with e.g. heavy to light, or light to heavy.

 

To conclude I hope you found this useful and if there is anything you want to ask or for me to write about comment below and thanks for tuning in,

JSN.

Monday Weights Routine (Chest and Triceps)

This blog will be focused on weight routines, if you follow the blogs you will be able to get a full weekly routine of my workout, which I hope you will find helpful. This will break down for each day and body part what to train. The easiest way for me to get that content out to you would be to do separate blogs for the separate routines from Monday to Friday. Chronologically starting with Monday, which is for regular gym goers (International chest day). This will be a fairly basic workout, however you can implement new exercises into you’re routine as you go along.

Workout Routine

Chest Workout

I start with the benches eg Flat Bench, Incline, and Decline as this gives you a comprehensive chest workout. Always do a warm up set first with light weight, just one set.

Benches

Flat Bench- 2x 8-10 reps (Move to bigger weight with each set, whatever you are comfortable with, the heavier you go the less reps you do e.g. heavy set maybe even do 4-6 reps).

Incline Bench- 3x 8-10 reps following the same way structure as above on the flat bench.

Decline Bench- 3x 8-10 reps, again going up weight with each set and decreasing repetitions.

Pec Deck

3x 6-8 reps using heavier weights

Cable Fly’s

Upper cables 3x 8 reps with alternating weights as the sets move on.

Lower cables 3x8 reps

Press Ups

To finish, do press ups until failure.

That’s you done chest, now let’s move onto the triceps.

Triceps Workout

Cable Pull-Downs

3x 8-10 reps

Skill Crushers

3x 6-8 reps (in case you didn’t know what that was)

Dips (Bodyweight)

3 sets of this exercise to failure every time. At this point due to doing chest and you work triceps whilst doing chest this will be enough to work that muscle group and overall feeling good about chest and triceps day.

 
Thanks for tuning in,

JSN.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT Training)

As from my previous blog, this is sort of a second part to it and the content of this blog will be on high intensity interval training otherwise known as HIIT training. For everyone trying to get summer ready, this is a routine which you should highly consider also for burning fat. For me weightlifting is a major factor in my training, so HIIT training works out well with this, not only for weightlifters, but for the normal person who doesn’t do weights, this is a good exercise to do.

So when is it a good time to do HIIT training you may ask, this is completely subjective on the person, when I do HIIT training I generally do it after my weights routine as my body is already at peak fat burning. HIIT training is also good because you’re heart rate fluctuates up and down all the time due to the nature of the exercise. Additionally, you sacrifice the least amount of muscle loss, but burn a lot of fat. So for the people out there worried about losing their muscles because of cardio. This misconception is simply not true, you just take a different approach to cardio.

I will briefly provide a routine, just in case you have not encountered HIIT training before, an example as seen below,

·        Running at a maximum effort for 20/30 seconds, then walk for 1 minute to give you sufficient recovery time. You can adapt the routine the more regularly you do it.

HIIT training and fasted cardio are my two favourite modes of doing cardio as I found them personally most effective for me. I would definitely recommend cardio, not only for the fat burning purposes to get you summer ready, but in medical terms it is good for your heart and internally to be more healthy as it pushes the blood all around your body, which in turn helps you’re circulation.

So cardio isn’t all that bad after all, and gets you in the summer shape you want to be in faster. Thanks for reading another blog,

JSN

Fasted Cardio

As winter is fading away and the prospect of summer is looming, we all start to think about our summer bodies, where it be for the holidays or just generally feeling better walking about with less clothing on.

Its 3 months now until June, which is ample time to start getting yourself ready for summer. I currently am coming out of my winter hibernation zone of much enjoyed bulking and its now I start to clean up my diet and implement sufficient cardiovascular activities into my routine.

This blog will be aimed at the topic of cardio, for most people an arduous, but necessary routine. I personally don’t do much cardio over winter, I spend those months consuming more calories and focusing on lifting heavy and gaining muscle. However now my cardio routine will be more of a regular occurrence.

I am a big believer in fasted cardio, this has gave me the best results and when I mention cardio, this is for me, using the treadmill. I will brush up on fasted cardio just in case you have not heard of this before, this is doing you’re cardiovascular activities first thing in the morning before breakfast. This may seem strange, however in the morning there is no food in your stomach, so all the sweating and hard work on the treadmill is more beneficial to you as you’re body doesn’t need to burn away the food first, it just burns away the fat.  

This is also a positive because you are kick-starting you’re metabolism first thing and also clearing away the impending need to do cardio over you the full day, getting it done in the morning allows you to think about and be prepared for the rest of your day.

This mode of cardio is my personal favourite, however the second mode which will be covered in the next blog is my second personal favourite when doing cardio and provides a fantastic and equally great way of getting rid of fat.

Thanks for tuning in,

JSN.

Welcome to my First Post

Hi and welcome all to my first blog, my name is Josh and I will be writing about fitness and healthy eating. I am at University studying Business, but weightlifting (general health and fitness) is something I actively have a passion for.

In my opinion; I feel it is important to combine both fitness and healthy eating as working out is as important as eating healthy. In my blog I will be going through various workout regimes that I currently do and provide advice. I will also go through my eating regime as mines is quite different from the traditional person, as I am a pescatarian (basically, I don’t eat meats apart from fish).

My background, I have kept healthy and fit my full life. I am 20 years old and started weightlifting when I was 16, so currently have been weightlifting for the last 4 years, before weightlifting I done boxing and kickboxing for 3 years (so from the age of 13-16). Previous to this I done a mixture of different sports like athletics, karate and football, however football was the most common sport in my younger years, I played with my friends locally and also for the local football team. I have always enjoyed competitive sports, that is the general appeal and I also enjoy a busy life and trying to achieve my personal best.

Growing up my mum always made me fantastic and healthy meals and this has carried me through different sports as I always have been fuelled with the right ingredients. That is my background in short.

Throughout my experience I wanted to share some of my knowledge that I feel has been useful to me and also effective in my workout routines. Hopefully you will be able to implement or try out parts of my routines and give me feedback to see if it benefited you as the blogs go on.

From my experience, I have realised there is no overnight method to getting into shape, you have to be dedicated and committed to it, furthermore what I have realised and the most important thing I can say is, figure out what works best for you. What I mean by this is, that everyone is different, so it is important for you to find out what works best for you and you’re body.

Hopefully you will find my blog interesting and from my further blogs, I will be going through different topics associated.

Thanks,

JSN