Hannah\’s Blog

The first of my new training programme started today.  Programme A - shoulder and arms.  Simon coached me through it.  I realised that my rest pauses may be a bit longer than his!  Most of my sets are in threes with one long, one short and heavy with two rest pauses and then one lighter set to finish of 20 reps to really pump up the muscle.  I had and am taking daily now my Arginine which help transport the blood and nutrients into my muscles to help give me a pump and make me stronger.  The standing military press was nice and heavy, then it was hard going into seated dumbell shoulder press and seated lateral raises.  I enjoyed the reverse flyes as this was done on the machine in the upstairs part of the gym, I used to think that Jenny Lynn (Miss Olympia had great rear delts, but I am thinking mine are better!)  Arms was good, it was a cable curl warm up with two sets and then into incline supination curls, same with the triceps, it was a two set warm up with pressdowns and then a really nice exercise called close grip push and press, which is a close grip press into a french press.  Really nice and hard and then dips!  Love my workout!  always have an inane grin on my face afterwards!  Then I trained three clients and home for lunch with client work and website work to do.  One of my clients has lost two stone, so have just been writing up her testimony in our next edition of winning times (29).   

I now have a new A B C split.  My legs are still a little sore today, so I am going to not train today but tomorrow instead.  A is going to be shoulders and arms, B is legs and ~C is chest and back.  This type of programme has worked well for me in the past.  My targets are that I need to get my weight up to 10 stone, so that when I diet I will still retain some newly gained size on my shoulders and arms.  I will weigh myself on Monday morning and see what I am starting from.  My food is going to be three meals and two shake and oats a day Monday to Friday, with the weekend not so regimented.  I am staying on the Arginine, which is NO2 Platinum and I am starting the MCT oil with my shake and oats, I have to build up and then I will be gaining more daily calories, contributing to my weight gain.  Looking forward to training shoulders and arms tomorrow. 

This morning I trained shoulders and arms with Dean and then chest and back on my own.  It was good to have a spot for military press and seated dumbell lateral raises.  Arms was good and got a good pump in my biceps and triceps, the press downs were a good exercise for me today.  I did straight arm pulldowns after heavy reverse grip pulldowns and for the first time, I seemed to connect with this particular exercise.  It has taken me a long time to get this and I finally did.  Like I tell my clients, you need to feel the exercise, know exactly where you are working and pump the blood into the muscle.  My legs are still incredibly sore from Tuesdays workout and I doubt I will train them on Saturday as it would be counter productive.  It looks like I am having a new programme designed by Simon and its going to start on Sunday, so this is the last of my A B split for a while.  today was along day with a client before training, then working a shift and then back for four clients in the evening.  Productive day and food was good.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope you all had a great christmas.  I am relieved and ready to get going into the new year.  The temptation of treats are now at last a thing of the past!  So January is now the month to get on track and for us all to make progress towards our personal, business and nutritional goals.  You can reach your fitness goals - you just have to set your mind to it.  But remember to keep all your goals SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based - deadline)  Stick with your goals and remember it takes 21 days to create a habit and then you have to work with it, often it can take longer to incorporate it into your daily routiine.  I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Fit New Year. 

LEGS 

Today I trained lower body and loved it!  The amazing feeling of having shaky legs after your workout is what it’s all about!  I am now in the mindset even more since working out my 2008 goals of being an IFBB Pro,  that’s why my workout was even more FANTASTIC.  Leg extensions, leg curls, hack squats, squats and leg press and 3/4 deadlifts off the rack with calves and abs.  I worked out with 2 prep sets and 1 work set and used today the rest pause.  I borrowed Simons IPOD and had some great tunes, so that’s next on my list to update my IPOD, motivational, inspiring and uplifting tunes to take you to the next level.  I am making notes of my sessions in my Fitness and Nutrition Journal that I bought at Winners 2000 and I will be able to track my progress and measurements of how much stronger I am getting.  Can’t wait as usual to when I next train which should be thursday- upper body.