Workout principles
Get fit on a budget
You don’t have to spend a fortune to get fit. In fact, you don’t even have to spend a penny to start getting fitter and seeing an improvement in your physique.
Getting ‘fit’ is quite broad. Getting fit to one individual could be having their abs visible, whilst getting fit to another could be running a 10k. For me, getting fit is being happy with my physique whilst also not putting any strains on daily life. I enjoy my food, a drink and visiting places without having to think what my next meal must consist of or how many calories I’m burning. I think most people are like this.
When should you train?
As with most things in the fitness industry, everyone has their own opinion. Some people even seem to convince themselves that they have a degree in everything health and fitness related, if the argument gets heated enough.
There are a few things to cover off about when exactly you should train, with time being one of them.
Muscle building mistakes you are making
When you are in the pursuit of adding slabs of muscle to your frame, there’s no worse feeling than seeing no change in weight on the scale or lack of progress in the mirror. What are you to do? You’re still training hard and eating enough food for a small family, surely that’s the winning combo to muscle gain?
Best exercises for Quad Growth
We all want better quads, don't we? How many gym bros do you know who are completely top heavy? Great arms, but skinny little chicken legs?.. We all know that calves are notoriously difficult to grow, but many people also struggle to build sizeable quads, and paired with knobbly knees, it's an aesthetic disaster. But don't worry, i've got you covered. I'm a long distance runner myself, so my quads aren't the largest in the game, but they're well developed, and perfectly adapted for my sport.
Hypertrophy training for Powerlifting
Ok so before we begin, we may need to clear up what this article is even about. I admit it's a relatively niche genre for most readers, and you may be thinking that this information isn't necessary for you, but you should continue to read if you'd like to increase your strength along with your muscle size.
First of all let's explain this word Hypertrophy...
Simple gym etiquette
Believe it or not, there is a code of conduct that every member should be following when they step foot inside the gym. Some people will know all about it and adhere to the rules, some won't. Some don’t actually know about it but they are just decent human beings and do these things without thinking about them (these are my favourite kind of people).
Some of these may sound obvious, but you will be surprised at just how many people don’t adhere to them or even know about them!
Data – does it help you progress?
Now I never thought that I would say this, but I like data. I especially like data when I can see it moving in a positive direction and it is helping me get bigger, stronger and leaner.
I can’t remember how or why I started logging my workouts. I know I was at university at the time and training in an incredible, old school gym. Nearly everyone at that gym was bigger than me, and most likely enhanced. The easy thing would have been to jump on gear and grow to catch up with everyone, but I have always prided myself on researching anything that could potentially harm me if abused or done incorrectly, and I knew the time wasn’t right for me to run a cycle yet. I needed the next best thing.
Creating programs to suit your goals
I don’t think the ages of bro splits or full body workouts will ever end, and I don’t think they should either. They serve a great purpose for new trainers and those who are happy to just come to the gym and train to feel healthier and fitter.
I think it's fair to say the most popular programs are full body, push pull legs, lower upper and the bro split – chest and arms, back and shoulders, legs. For good reason as well, I have nothing against them. They are tested in time and you can gain a good amount of muscle from them. I have even gone back to many of these programs in pursuit of more muscle. It’s good to go back to basics every now and then, and I do think a lot of people forget that its relatively simple to build muscle or lose fat. We just like to complicate things.
Are you repping right?
Well, are you?
When it comes to reps, there are three things to consider.
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How many you do per set
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How many sets you do per exercise
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How you perform them
If you enter the gym and don’t think about any of these, you’re about to change your training game. All three can have a brilliant effect on your training outcome and its important to start thinking about each of the points for your programming. Let’s run through them.
How many reps and sets per set?
Add these cardio workouts to your arsenal
The dreaded word cardio. Unless I am trying to lose a little bit of fat (or a lot), I don’t ever want to hear my training partner ask me ‘shall we do some cardio’? That’s just me though, and I do understand some people enjoy cardio workouts. I feel like most people either enjoy cardio more or hitting the weights more. I haven’t ever met anybody that performs one as much as the other, although both are, in their own rights, as important as each other.