BeckieA’s BodyBlog

Today I did mega volume on shoulders and boy am I tired!!! You should have seen the pump I got,wow,like nothing I’ve seen for a loooong time

Superset of Standing Smith Mil Press(6 x 7) and standing Lat raises (6 x

incline 3/4 raises 4 x 8

Reverse Pec dec flyes 4 x 12

then just for good measure 6 x 12 of tricep pressdowns!

I’m trialling out the periodised volume style of training,increased sets each week up to 6 sets then the next cycle is 6 reps 5 reps 4 reps 2 reps over 4 weeks. I definitely feel like I’m getting stronger with this type of training but I know at some point I’m going to have to level off to give my body a break because I am prone to ‘over-reaching’ or ‘over-training’ as its called.

I’m also finding the one serve of Xtend is no longer enough to satisfy my body during training,so from now on I will double the dose and see what happens. It really is an awesome supplement and I urge everyone to give it a go!

And the best thing about this training is this-

I am going up in weight but my measurements are dropping! Who said gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is impossible? Not for me it isn’t!!

Well I got so busy I forgot to post my leg workout the other day so here it is now:

Friday 4 Jan

Hammer Unilateral leg press 5 x 8 each leg (I noticed I have a crunchy left knee,must be from all those old kneecap dislocations from years ago so I’ve gone back to the liquid glucosamine which is awesome!)

Leg Extensions 5 x 8 (both legs together,right knee felt a bit strange so I changed my foot angle to pointed out and it came right)

Wide Stance DB deadlifts 5 x 8 these are one of my fave exercises as they really fry the inner hammies and goodness knows mine need that lol)

Swiss Ball Leg curls 4 x 12

I may not seem like I’m doing alot of volume right now but I’m getting results and thats what counts right!! The whole leg is looking tighter and I have lost a half inch from my hips YAY!!!

Today(Sunday) Back

Free BB T bar row(using rope handle) 5 x 8-I love the free T-bars,they really hit the core,mid traps and rear delts well,one of my favorite exercises

Close grip pulldowns(sitting on floor of cable machine) 5 x 8 these really hit the rear delts nicely too and of course gives the serratus a good stretch

DB row 4 x 6 then 1 x 6 with heavier weight

straight arm lat pressdown-4 x 10-I love how these BURN the tricep/lat insertions out,that must be why my triceps are looking tighter.

I don’t generally do alot of tricep training now because my triceps dwarf my biceps in size and I really just need to lean them out when I cut later in the year. They still get some workout just not the heavy CGBP like I used to do!

Boy can I feel my delts today! When I flex up it hurtssss….

Here’s the workout:

 Superset of DB lat raises and seated Smith Military presses

1 x warmup 12 of each

1 x 8(lat raises) and 5 (mil press)

3 x 8(lat raises) and 7 (mil press)

3/4 incline bench raises(seated with bench 2 from upright position,arms halfway between side and front raise)

3 x 8 (this is deceptively hard and you can’t use much weight at all)

DB row 1 x 10 (start with weakest side) 2 x 8 2 x 6 (PB with weight!! ) I did these pulling slightly higher up the ribcage than traditional rows so it hit my rear delts harder.

Reverse pec deck machine 3 x 12  I still can’t get the ‘feel’ of this machine right so I may end up going back to my old favorites,the Swiss Ball reverse flye or the reverse incline flye.

 Tomorrow is leg day-first time I’ll be hitting legs since my migraine last week-ouch!

Parallel bar cable row 12 10 3 x 8

high Pulley cable rope pulldown 4 x 8

straight arm pressdown 3 x 10

Underhand bent over cable bb row 4 x 8

DB row 3 x 8

My back felt good doing this-I seem to get the most benefit from rowing in terms of development so I’m going to stick with this mode for the meantime.

Christmas Day tomorrow so I’ll take the day off and be back in the gym Wednesday!

I ended up doing more than I intended but it was all good and my shoulders came through ok. Just felt a wee pinch in my neck towards the end so might just pull back on volume a wee bit next time.

Rack Military press 9 8 8 9

3/4 lat raises-this was done on an incline bench with my arms positioned halfway between the side and front raise,really hard 3 x 8

Machine shoulder press(facing in) 3 x 8

Reverse pec deck machine 3 x 12

Seated DB lat raises 3 x 10

My rear delts were quietly sore the next day-its good the gym has got some new machines because they really needed this one imo. I find cables a bit irritating and bent over raises on the ball are wearing a bit thin!

Happy Holidays everyone!

today I hit legs but for some reason my right quad failed completely on my last set so I had to strip off weight off the leg press and go to failure instead.

Hammer leg press (unilateral) 10 8 8 7 failure

Leg extension 4 x 10

DB wide stance deadlifts 10 3 x 8 (grip strength getting better)

Swiss ball leg curls 4 x 13

I did this workout at the end of the day when I was quite tired so that may be my my weaker leg failed on the leg press. Normally I train legs in the morning so I will endeavour to do that again next week.

Even though I didn’t get the PB’s like I did last time my legs are still tightening up nicely and quicker than what I expected. I think this is to do with me doing more ‘quality’ rather than ‘quantity’ and staying focused on my form rather than the weight I am lifting.

Having said that I managed 80kg(176lb) on each leg for the leg press and my goal is 200lb within 4-6 weeks  time

Cable row-close grip  10 8 10 ,then 4-3-4 rep drop set

Straight arm rope pressdown 4 x 10

 Machine low row 15,12 2 x 8

high pulley close grip pulldowns(seated on floor)

PB in weight! 1 x 10 3 x 8

Finished with cable curls 4 x 8

Need to focus on grip strength more-it is improving but if I’m going to pull some heavier rows my forearms need to catch up fast!!

My back generally responds faster than any other bodypart so I don’t want it to get too far ahead of everything else because as we all know,its not one bodypart that wins a show!

Since I need more shoulder mass I decided to add in an extra day of training this week:

Seated Military press 8 10 9 7

Standing lat raises 3 x 8

standing lat bar pressdown (really made the rear delt/lat insertion burn) 3 x 15

High pulley close grip cable pulldown 4 x 10 (really hit the rear delts nicely again!)

:)

I feel like my old strength is returning quite rapidly,which is pleasing and my time between sets is definitely helped by the Xtend!

PS got my friend to take some before shots todays so hopefully I will be able to get them up sometime this week. My back looks good for 9 months out and my lats have definitely added a bit of length which is pleasing

standing lat pulldown 10,3×8

DB row 6, 3 x8

Seated Military press 4 x 8

DB lat raises(standing) 4 x 8

straight arm rope pressdowns 3 x 10

It was really humid in the gym today but I added a little more Xtend to my water and was able to mostly power through my weights. Everything is going well so far and I will be taking some pics this weekend and hopefully getting my skinfolds done next week.

I did a great leg workout early this afternoon-despite the heat and humidity in the gym

Warmed up with pre-exhaust leg extensions 4 x 12

Unilateral Hammer strength leg press 65 kg each side (10 reps) followed by:

70 kg 10 reps(each side)

75 kg 8 reps(each side)

80kg 8 reps(each side)

My goal is 100kg each side and I KNOW that will help my quad conditioning immensely. I can really feel my quads working hard on this exercise..

DB wide stance Deadlifts 1 x 12 then 10,8,8

Followed my 4 x 12 Swiss ball leg curls

This was short but very intense!

The Xtend came in very handy and I can’t wait to try the new Apple flavor

70 kg