Brian Finlays

Bent Over Barbell Rows-111pounds 5 reps

Flat Bench Dumbell Presses-44pounds in each hand 5 reps

Dumbbell Shoulder press 38.5 pounds in each hand 5 reps

I’ve decided that I’m going back to "old school". When I first started training about the age of 14, I had very limited equipment as I also mention on my profile. This meant that I could only do a certain number of exercises, BUT, with me only being able to do a few exercises, I was giving every set and every exercise my maximum fully blown intensity, balls to the walls until I couldn’t go any further.
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When I was aged about 16, I finally managed to make my way into a gym with pretty good equipment, so thanks to more equipment open to me, I decided to knock myself out on trying various exercises and trying machines and anything available to me. The bad thing was, since I joined the gym I never looked back.  My gains were not as good as they were when I was just training at home and I knew that my diet had changed as I mentioned in my previous blog which of course, hindered my gains but, I never looked at how my training changed until recently, I noticed that I didn’t have much "drive" in my workouts and I also realized I was doing a ton more exercises and a lot more time in the gym, sometimes even 2 and 3 hours and there is my mistake, took some time before I could notice.

I lowered the time I spent in the gym, used less exercises and sets, and stuck to all the compounds as well as isolation/machines etc…Since I did this, my intensity shot up, I had much more drive, much more power, and much more aggression. The weight I was training with increased, my muscle pain increased, and I felt that I worked every last little fiber I had in my muscles which is of course key to muscle gains rather than having longer time in the gym, more volume but with less intensity and not working my muscles to their full potential. I’m also going to be introducing more intensity techniques to my workout such as: forced reps, negative reps etc etc…..

Thanx

Take care

-Bri’s

Lately I have not been eating right or training right and now it’s gone just too far. I’ve been trying to get myself back on track once and for all but unfortunately things have been getting in my way such as not having scales to weigh my food, scales to weigh my body, the food I need, money (since my suspension from work) and trying to sort out what I’m gonna do with my career. Sleeping patterns have been way out of order, at the worst I’ve been going to bed very early hours in the morning (6-8 am) and waking up very late 5-6pm). I’ve been having problems with bodybuilding being on my mind almost 24-7 and causes me to stay awake most of the night thinking about it. Just as soon as I get myself settled in at college this September and a part-time job earning some money things will start to fall into place but until then, I’m just going to have to dig in and do best with what I have.

Now that I have the situation I’m in out of the way I can get to the point of what  I’m doing. Last summer 2006 I gained 20 lbs. I went from around 120 lbs to around 140 lbs but I realized my bulking strategy was bad and  I also gained some fat. I decided not to gain weight until I knew exactly how to gain muscle mass with no to min fat gain. 1 year later I’ve decided it’s time for me to get serious now that I’m 17.

The past 2 years I’ve spent with bodybuilding has mostly been on research, trying things out for myself, reading almost everyday from books, magazines, bodybuilding.com and experimenting for myself. My diet/training was not consistent and Like I said on my profile, I only started with one concrete dumbbell. In other words I’m not gonna class any of my past time spent on bodybuilding as bodybuilding. I started less than a 120 lbs with only 11 inch arms so I decided to delete all my progress on my profile and start "fresh" from now rather than then. I deleted all my lifting stats, body stats and most of my old pictures.

I’m going to think more positive and not entertain any of my negative thoughts what so ever and ignore negative people.

I’ve calculated a starting point as far as my diet goes.
1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
2.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight.
0.5 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight.

I’ve not yet tried this and I know it’s probably not going to be exactly what I need. It will take a little bit of adjusting to find my sweet spot. I hope to be gaining 1 pound of muscle per week. This way I’ll know that everything I’m gaining will be muscle and not fat-If you can’t flex it, why carry it?

The main thing I have really been trying to do is to get my friends and family positive rather than negative about me and my training.The encouragement would really help me a great deal.

I’m going to keep everything and everyone on body-space updated on everything I do. I’m gonna give everything my best shot no matter how bad it gets and most of all stay happy and positive with what I’m doing.

I also hope that people can learn from watching what I do/done and hopefully help people follow the right path.

Take care

-Bri’s