My top five tips
MY TOP 5 TIPS
1 - Only YOU can make the change - Lots of people are consistently looking for that perfect nutrition plan, training programme, supplement, meal replacement shake or some magic potion that will give them the power of Hercules AKA steroids. The answer isn’t in the magic potion its within yourself (maybe going a bit deep now), but only you can make the start and make the change, nobody else or nothing else will give you the results you seek, only YOU!
2 - Prioritise protein - Protein will aid with recover and muscle development, the more muscle you have the more your body needs to fuel that new founded muscle, therefore you will increase your metabolic rate (if accompanied with resistance training).
3 - Lift heavy things - As previously mentioned, the more muscle you have the faster your metabolism will inevitably be, diets where you just keep eating less and less are massively soul destroying and not realistic long term. You can end up with metabolic adaptation and it will also inhibit performance.
4 - Prep food - This should be a must for anyone who has a busy schedule. If you’re new to this then maybe just prep 5 meals on a Sunday so you have at least got one meal for each working day of the week (put in the freezer) and just develop this over time.
5 - Stop drinking so much alcohol!! - Okay, everyone likes a drink, but if you’re drinking every single weekend with a jolly good hangover day filled with KFC, monster energy and sitting on your ass then this could be the one thing that is holding you back. You can still go out, still enjoy yourself, just maintain an element of self control…..YOU’RE AN ADULT!
Three mechanisms of hypertrophy
Three mechanisms of hypertrophy
Mechanical tension, metabolic stress and muscle damage.
1️⃣Mechanical tension - You want to generate the largest muscle force possible through a full range of motion.
2️⃣Metabolic stress ("the pump") - To optimise metabolic stress you need to maintain constant tension on the muscles. Focus on the pain building up in that muscle, stay with it and embrace it. This way, as blood gets pumped into the muscles by the arteries, the steady muscular contractions will prevent the veins from letting blood escape, resulting in high levels of metabolic stress and cell swelling.
3️⃣Muscle damage - This is focusing on the negatives. It happens with slow negatives, extended range of motion and high tension in the stretched position of the muscle. Doing a random exercise that you haven't done in a while also does the job.
The best lifts are those that can be manipulated to target each of the three mechanisms. The basic big lifts do the trick - squat, deadlift, hip thrust, bench press, military press, pull-up/pull-down and row. These exercises should feature highly in anyone's programming and tweaked accordingly to hit the three mechanisms.
In summary, you can use these three mechanisms in a single disgusting workout, or cycle through them over the course of a week
Superman
Superman
If you are anything like me then you might have grown up watching all the superheroes on TV kick some serious ass….
Now there is no superhero more super than Superman.
We all wanted to grow up to be strong and to look like a superhero, well I know I did. Maybe I just wanted to run around with my pants on the outside of my trousers……I was a confused child, but I defiantly wanted to be strong that’s for sure.
The problem is for us mere mortals we are not simply born with our strength, we need to work on it, consistently work on it. Day in and day out we need to work on it!!!!
Like Superman we all have our kryptonite…. unlike superman our kryptonite is not a mineral property from the planet Krypton, it’s actually the fact that we are lazy by nature. Most of us want to avoid pain, avoid pressure and stay in our comfort zone.
However, if you want to look like Superman or Superwomen then you’ll need to get outside your comfort zone!
Whether you want to build strength, build muscle or simple shred fat, this takes hard work, discipline, motivation and passion, all attributes Superman does have.
Your journey to have a superhero physique and reach your genetic potential starts with your mindset.
Think about what you want and why you want it, then get yourself in a motivated state and push yourself to reach heights you never thought possible.
Results driven?
Results driven?
Are you results-driven?
If you are anything like myself you might be driven by results.
Not all results are purely body composition, some are performance, others are purely mindset.
The problem we have is people don’t give themselves time to get the result they seek.
Having said all that, if you give both nutrition and training your absolute 100% best, then I can almost guarantee you will see results and see them fast.
Once you start to see results, this then motivates you to keep pushing forward and most importantly you then know that it WORKS!
I started training 13 years and I didn’t start seeing results until I really pushed it with both my training and nutrition.
What most people do is they kind of eat well and kind of exercise in the gym, they then get demotivated when they don’t see any results.
Yes genetics play a big part, but you will not get anywhere close to your genetic potential unless you give it 100%.
I personally have lower testosterone levels than my 4 year old daughter, but I’ve still managed to develop a decent amount of muscle tissue and come 2nd in a strongman competition (with questionable deadlift form), you can also reach your goals, all it takes is a lot of consistency and a bit of hard work!
“What do I need to do to lose fat?"
“What do I need to do to lose fat?
I don’t eat much or eat bad food, but I still don’t seem to lose any body fat!”
- Are you currently following a nutrition plan?
- Any foods in your diet making you feel lethargic?
- How active are you (including your job)?
- How many times a week are you training?
- How many of those sessions are you actually training?
- What are your weekends like?
- How many calories are you consuming each day?