Back to Work

So today is the day I'm back in the gym again. Like I mentioned last time, I lost over 6lbs over the weekend due to a serious illness. I felt better so I went back to the gym today.

During the day, I kept pondering whether what I should do in the gym. Should I be lifting heavy? Should I be doing cardio or should I just do a full body workout? Then I realized, I should wait till I step into the gym and I'll know because my instincts have never lied to me.

So I decided to start of with some very light deadlifts to warm up my lower back and hamstrings:
2 x 10 @ 120lbs
Like I said, it was really light.
I maintained that weight and did some power cleans:
3 x 5 @ 120lbs

Wide-grip chin-ups:
3 x 6 @ body weight

Hyperextensions:
3 x 10 @ body weight (Super slow negatives)

Parallel-grip chin-ups:
3 x 6 @ body weight

Good mornings:
3 x 10 @ 40lbs (Bar only, super slow negatives)

Reverse-grip chin-ups:
3 x 6 @ body weight

I then went on to work on some abs:
Tri-sets (3 x 20 each):
1. Crunches
2. Raised-legged crunches
3. Double crunches
And I finished up with 3 x 15 of leg raises.

So that's about it. Like I said, this is just a light workout but because of not being fully recovered and trust me, with just these, they are already enough to suck the life outta me. But hey, when a man's gotta rest, a man's gotta rest.

Oh and yeah, I thought of rather than doing things randomly, I will begin to stick to certain plans like I used to do but this time, probably with a twist and I'll stay onto a single plan for a longer period. So the title will tell you what plan I'm roughly in with which week and day I'm into the plan.

So that's all for now. See ya next time.

I'm Coming Back

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything for more than a year but that doesn't mean I didn't do anything. I have gained quite a bit of mass but recently, I find myself a little aimless as I go through the workouts in the gym. It's not that I have no idea what I was doing, I wasn't as determined as before.
So, as advised by one of my biggest inspirations in bodybuilding, Big Kris, I've decided to come back to this blog. Oh yeah!

I'm gonna stick with what I have been doing last time, write down as much details of my training, feelings and thoughts of every workout and also certain bodybuilding articles that draws my attention.

Today's a rest day and it is only because that I have been very sick for the past 2 days. I have lost over 6 lbs for that. But what made my day was that I received a signed autograph by my favourite bodybuilder and current Mr. Olympia, Phil "The Gift" Heath! Check it out!

Yeah man, get jealous people.

So this motivates me even more. I can't even describe that thrill in me. So fellows, be sure to stay tuned and I will update as much onto this blog as I possibly can. As for now, ciao!

Traditional Cardio VS High Intensity Interval Training

Hi people, today, I decided to talk about the controversial way of losing fats, cardio against the more and more popular H.I.I.T. (High Intensity Interval Training). Why am I writing this article? Well, it's a tribute to my good friend in her preparation for her first stage appearance!

Well, I ain't no expert but I do know a thing or two when it comes to fat loss. It requires one to change one's entire lifestyle and not just the workout methodology. It also involves diet (the most important of all) and many other things. But we're now focusing only on the training methods here.

Before we start comparing both methods, let's first take a look at what is cardio all about. So what is cardio? Well, cardio is a form of low intensity aerobic exercise which is performed for a long period of time in one single session.

And when we talk about cardio exercises, usually the first few things that pops in our minds are running 40 minutes on a treadmill, a bike or on an elliptical machine. Hmm...This sounds pretty gruesome...Who would wanna run on a treadmill looking at the sweaty face of a 65 years old man for 40 minutes? Well, tell you something you already know, the mass public actually force their own body to do that everyday in order to help reduce the fats within their body.

So we're saying that cardio is the best way to reduce fats within the body huh...Is it? Let's take a look at the pros and cons of extensive cardiovascular exercises:

Pros:

• Improved cardiovascular functioning
• Increased maximal cardiac output
• Increased stroke volume
• Reduced resting heart rate
• Reduced heart rate during submaximal activity/exercise
• Reduced blood pressure
• Increased capillary density and circulation (increases oxygen and nutrient delivery to cells)
• Increased mitochondrial density
• Increased cardiovascular endurance
• Improved aerobic performance

Yay! Cardio seems good for the body...But wait...what about losing fats? It's not mentioned above...

It is widely assumed that low intensity exercise (cardio in this case) emphasizes on fat usage while high intensity (H.I.I.T. in particular over here) exercises emphasizes on carbs usage. Well, I can safely tell you that this assumption is very wrong. Think about it, how many aerobics instructors have you seen actually have really lean, muscular bodies?


Now let's take a look into H.I.I.T.

Assuming no fats were spent during a H.I.I.T. session, our bodies' glycogen level drops, forcing our body to focus on the fats that we have in our body for energy to function for the rest of the day.

Now what if we replenish our with carbs right after the training session? Will that cause our glycogen level to rise and result in deficiency to burn fats? The answer is no, let me tell you why.


Studies have shown that even after replenishing carbs into the body after an H.I.I.T. session, due to the fact that our bodies still need to function properly while glycogen is being replenished, our bodies will continue to burn fats.

During an H.I.I.T. session, our bodies induces metabolic acidosis which results in depleting our first two energy systems which are the ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) and the Glycolytic systems. And during our rest intervals, our bodies become very active in burning those fats at a high rate. And even when that period is over, energy is still being used but the glycolytic system picks up.

And when you're doing H.I.I.T., muscle fibres are broken down to build more lean mass in your body. Now think about it, simple logic. When your body is packed with muscles, your body is constantly hungry for energy to feed those muscle fibres. And if your body has an abundant amount of fats, what's gonna happen? It's obvious isn't it?


I don't think there's a need to go on any further. After that much being said, I believe you'll be able to decide for yourself, which method is a better way to burn those stubborn fats that you've been longing to shed off all these while.

FST-7: Officially The Favourite

Like I said, I won't be blogging about everything now due to my exams. However, I still hit the gym hard despite the busy schedule (actually there isn't a schedule, the plan was just to hide my face under books).

Tell you guys something really shitty, my cell phone and a whole lotta cash were stolen from the bag I left in the gym locker. DAMN! I should've gotten myself a padlock or something to lock it up. GOD DAMN IT!!!

Alright, I've been using the FST-7 program for almost 2 weeks now and it is by far, the best program I've used. Yes, you heard me, THE BEST!

With only 45~60 seconds rest in between sets, the rest time is minimum and while I was hitting 3~4 working sets, I wasn't able to go as heavy as I did with Dorian's HIT. Though not as heavy, I reached multiple failures for quite a number of exercises.


For most parts, I roughly follow what's on the sample workout designed by Hany Rambod but there are some parts where I just do it according to my own liking. As far as I'm concerned, as long as I understand the concept and idea behind the program, I can alter the exercises to suit my liking as long as I follow the same principle. So the important pointers in this program are:

1st exercise (F-portion) is usually a compound exercise that helps promote blood flow to the fascia of the muscles and break up the muscle fibre with heavy weight, i.e., barbell bench press, barbell military press, etc.

2nd exercise (S-portion)  is a stretching exercises which allows the fascia of the muscles to stretch and allow more room for the blood to flow in and also elongating the muscles, i.e., dumbbell flyes, leg extensions, etc.

3rd exercise (T-portion) is also a compound exercise but the movement of this exercise requires the lifter to squeeze at full contraction and usually have a better ROM than the exercise in the F-portion, i.e., dumbbell bench press, bench dips, etc.

4th exercise (7-portion) is an isolation exercise. Isolation exercises are usually much more difficult to execute but much safer in more occasion. Sometimes compound exercises that hits the targeted muscles a lot are also accepted for this portion, such as leg presses, barbell curls, etc. The high sets, low repetitions exercises push the muscles to failure with mid-heavy weight and promote blood flow into the muscles, creating an incredible pump to the muscles at the same time, i.e., cable crossovers, cable pullovers, etc.

And do note that biceps do not have a T-portion, as if it is included, it'll lead to overtraining. Small muscle groups such as rear delts and calves do not have both T & S-portion too.

I've written a lot and I don't I wanna bore you guys by going through every single detail of my workouts like I usually do (I don't remember them anyway). However, I'll be updating the blog soon with a sample workout I use for my FST-7 training. I'll also write down some of the obstacles I faced while doing them, etc. Don't worry, I'll definitely gonna change my blogging style to make sure not to bore you guys.

So for now, CIAOS!

FST-7: The Beginning

OK, I haven't been updating my blog for more than a week now. If you're wondering, yes, I didn't update my final session of DTP on chest & backs. And please don't ask me to do it because I forgot almost every single detail of the workout. What I can tell you is that I wasn't able to complete the whole routine. I cheated a couple of sets for my pecs and I did only the first couple of sets for my backs. I literally did not sleep the previous night but no excuses! SUPER DUPER FAIL!!! I did make it up the next day by doing some backs exercise though. My backs felt sore after that day so what the heck!

Another thing is that because I have to dedicated much more time on my studies for my exams, I may have to slow down on this bodybuilding blog thing and update after every 2~3 workouts. I'm not sure what I'll do though. Muahahaha!!!

I took a full week off after 3 weeks of grueling workouts with DTP. I was supposed to start off with legs on Sunday but after 3 nights of insufficient sleep, bringing my friends from York to run around Edinburgh, I was spent. I slept day and night for 2 freaking days and with my reports deadlines due on Monday AND Tuesday (with my kind of working habit, DUH! Of course), I wasn't able to find time to workout at all. So TODAY, I finally found the time and energy to tear the gym down. Though last minute, I decided to head on with the infamous FST-7 for arms.


I started off with tri's rather than bi's. Thought of switching things up a little.


I started with some messed up tri-set of v-bar pushdown then warmed up with triceps dips, 3 x 10, body-only. Just to get a decent pump in the beginning.

F-portion -- Close-grip bench press. It's because it's such a compound movement that hits all 3 heads of the tri's and promotes blood flow into the tri's.
12 x 40kg (88lbs)
10 x 45kg (99lbs)
11 x 40kg (88lbs)
10 x 40kg (88lbs)

S-portion -- Skull crushers. Since it's all about stretching the muscles, what better way to fully stretch the tri's than skull crushers?
12 x 20kg (44lbs)
12 x 20kg (44lbs)
11 x 25kg (55lbs)
10 x 25kg (55lbs)

T-portion -- Bench dips. Usually there isn't any T portion for arms but I decided to do a little more today since my body became pretty good at handling high stress now. But I figured a compound movement will be good.
12 x body only
12 x 10kg (22lbs)
10 x 20kg (44lbs)
10 x 20kg (44lbs)

7-portion -- Rope pushdown. Here comes the gruesome one. The weight isn't the point here, it's holding at full contraction while trying the best to forced the knuckles down and bring the hands as far apart as possible.
12 x 20.4kg (45lbs)
12 x 22.8kg (50lbs)
10 x 27.2kg (60lbs)
12 x 22.8kg (50lbs)
11 x 22.8kg (50lbs)
10 x 22.8kg (50lbs)
10 x 22.8kg (50lbs).


Now bi's. I didn't warm up and went straight into it.

F-portion -- Seated dumbbell curls. A compound movement like this is always good to be done first for bi's. I did simultaneous curls instead of alternating except for the last 3 reps of the last set. My bi's were really failing at that time.
12 x 8kg (18lbs)
12 x 10kg (22lbs)
10 x 12kg (26lbs)
10 x 12kg (26lbs)

S-portion -- Standing barbell curls. Yes, a little weird to choose this one for the S-portion but I did. My reason behind was that barbell curls allows me to go down to full extension because of the weight loaded on the bar, forcing my bi's to stretch in a way.
12 x 30kg (66lbs)
11 x 30kg (66lbs)
10 x 30kg (66lbs)
10 x 30kg (66lbs)

T-portion -- Dumbbell preacher curls. Instead of a compound movement like what I did for my tri's earlier on, I tried on something with a little more isolation. Just wanted to feel the difference at this stage. And since bi's is a much smaller muscle than tri's, I reckoned 3 sets was enough.
10 x 10kg (22lbs)
10 x 8kg (18lbs)
10 x 8kg (18lbs)

7-portion -- Dumbbell spider curls. I've always liked spider curls as an isolation exercise for my bi's. It never fails to give me the pump I love.I usually keep my hands supinated at all times, but because I was pounding so many sets with previous exercises bringing my bi's to near failure so many times, I had to pronate my hands a little on full extensions during the last 2 sets.
12 x 8kg (18lbs)
10 x 8kg (18lbs)
10 x 8kg (18lbs)
11 x 8kg (18lbs)
10 x 10kg (22lbs)
10 x 10kg (22lbs)
10 x 10kg (22lbs)

My most prized possession after 3 weeks of grueling & breathtaking (I know it's not used in these kinda situation) DTP sessions.

 


















 After FST-7 on my arms. I took pictures and posed a little. The CRAZIEST pumps since a very long time ago.

DTP Week 3 Day 3 -- Shoulders, calves & abs

Dumped in the API Rocked into my system before my workout again. Yes, the N.O. does kick in within 5~10 minutes which is pretty amazing BUT it wears off really quickly too. So if you're looking for a fast acting N.O. product with limited budget and you're not the kind that goes hardcore with every minute you have in the gym, then you can consider this SHIT! Yes, it's BULLSHIT!

OK, enough with all the shit. Back to my delts.

Feeling energized (I was fooled by API Rocked at that time), I went to do some machine side lateral raises with 3 x 15 on 18kg (40lbs). And then the most important warm up exercise before any delts workout, the rotator cuff movement exercise. I used 6kg (13lbs) dumbbell for 3 x 12, alternating between each hands, resting only when the other hand is moving. After that I did a quick tri-set on dumbbell side lateral raises, front raises and reverse flyes with the same weight for 20 reps each.

For my DTP on delts, I did the identical same stuffs as last week and the week before. The only difference was that I felt much stronger and I had significantly less rest-pauses and the best thing was that I had NO rest-pauses on my last set of 50!!! And for your information (for those who did not follow my blog or didn't read the last post on my delts workout for the past few weeks), I was doing dumbbell side lateral raises for my DTP this week, again:

1st set: 1st set: 50 x 5kg (11lbs)

2nd set: 40 x 6kg (13lbs)

3rd set: 30 x 8kg (18lbs)

4th set: 20 x 10kg (22lbs)

5th set: 10 x 12.5kg (28lbs)

6th set: 10 x 12.5kg (28lbs)

7th set: 20 x 10kg (22lbs)

8th set: 30 x 8kg (18lbs)

9th set: 40 x 6kg (13lbs)

10th set: 50 x 5kg (11lbs)

Like last week, I finished off my delts with barbell upright rows. Since I felt that the weights I used last week were a little light, hence I stuck with the same weight at 25kg (55lbs) for 3 x 10.

I took a 5 minutes break and continued with my calves. This time, rather than hammering a ton of weights, I focused more on holding on the peak contraction and concentrating more on the negatives with my seated calves raises:

1st set: 50 x 50kg (110lbs)

2nd set: 40 x 70kg (154lbs)

3rd set: 30 x 90kg (198lbs)

4th set: 20 x 110kg (243lbs)

5th set: 10 x 150kg (331lbs)

6th set: 10 x 150kg (331lbs)

7th set: 20 x 110kg (243lbs)

8th set: 30 x 90kg (198lbs)

9th set: 40 x 70kg (154lbs)

10th set: 50 x 50kg (110lbs)

And I swear to...Whatever higher being up there that my calves were about to cramp. Fortunately, they didn't. Thank goodness.

Last but not least, obviously, my abs and I did what I did last week as well but I really punished my abs with increased rep ranges. I supersetted crunches and raised-legged crunches for my abs, yes, again too:

1st set: 25 x body-only + 25 x body-only

2nd set: 20 x 5kg (11lbs) + 20 x 5kg (11lbs)

3rd set: 15 x 10kg (22lbs) + 15 x 10kg (22lbs)

4th set: 15 x 10kg (22lbs) + 15 x 10kg (22lbs)

5th set: 20 x 5kg (11lbs) + 20 x 5kg (11lbs)

6th set: 25 x body-only + 25 x body-only

Seriously, at the end of my abs workout, not only did my abs felt pumped and sore, my neck was pretty tight too...LOL!

DTP Week 3 Day 2 -- Arms

Few days ago, I received this sample N.O. product, API Rocked so I thought that since it's free, I should just try it. Tasted OK, not great and the effect was fairly good I would say. HOWEVER, it was not as good as naNo Vapor, not even close. But it did it's job so no complaints.

So with my pre-workout protein and N.O. kicked in, I warmed-up with machine preacher curls. I wanted to do a tri-set of 20 reps with 3 different variations of the grip. But when I was doing the 3rd part of the set, I stopped at 5 because my biceps were decently pumped and I figured that it was already 45 reps, no point going any further since I was gonna do DTP. For other routines, yes, I would've forced myself to finish it but hey...It's DTP after that, you can't blame me right?

And thank goodness that I reminded myself to go to the gym a little later today to avoid any classes in the circuit gym. With all the pre-fixed barbell there, free to use, I headed on with standing barbell curls,

I started with closed-grip to target my outter head of my bi's, since it has always been pretty weak:
1st set: 50 x 10kg (22lbs)
2nd set: 40 x 12.5kg (28lbs)
3rd set: 30 x 15kg (33lbs)
4th set: 20 x 17.5kg (39lbs)
5th set: 10 x 25kg (55lbs)

I felt strong and I wanted to do an extra 2 sets but the heaviest pre-fixed barbell we have was the 25kg (55lbs) barbell. Too bad...The only way to increase intensity in this case was to shorten the rest time and force myself to take shorter and significantly less rest-pauses in between reps.

After the first 5 sets, I changed my grip to shoulder-width apart:
6th set: 10 x 25kg (55lbs)
7th set: 20 x 17.5kg (39lbs)
8th set: 30 x 15kg (33lbs)
9th set: 40 x 12.5kg (28lbs)
10th set: 50 x 10kg (22lbs)

My forearm was seriously tight and I felt as if I flex for too long, my whole arm could've cramped. Hahaha!!!


5 minutes rest, sitting on the stepper on the pull-up/dips machine, I looked up to the TV and there it was...Rooney scored the first and only goal for Manchester United against Chelsea...LOL! The only 5 minutes on TV and I saw the moment of the goal. Hahaha!

OK, back to business, jokes aside. 3 x 12 dips, body-only to get my tri's going and all fired up. I thought of keeping the momentum going so I decided to do machine dips for my DTP:

1st set: 50 x 39kg (85lbs)
2nd set: 40 x 45kg (100lbs)
3rd set: 30 x 52kg (115lbs)
4th set: 20 x 59kg (130lbs)
5th set: 10 x 66kg (145lbs)

I had a hunch that it would be a bad idea to do machine dips and it really was. No doubt, my tri's were insanely pumped but I wasn't able to keep good form to do the reps unless I limit my ROM and that was not a good sign. Therefore I decided to change my exercise to straight bar cable pushdown to finish off the sets:

6th set: 10 x 50kg (110lbs)
7th set: 20 x 41kg (90lbs)
8th set: 30 x 32kg (70lbs)
9th set: 40 x 27kg (60lbs)
10th set: 50 x 25kg (55lbs)

So there you have it! The last arms workout for my DTP so far. IT IS the 3rd week now...



Oh yeah, I had a problem with food cravings recently, especially at night. But now, it's no longer a problem because I've got these!:

By the way, it's also my first time trying Cookies & Cream flavour for my Nitro-Tech. Pretty excited to taste it. Hope MuscleTech won't disappoint me. LOL!