Building Muscles

Food - Day 16

Day 16

7:30  protein shake and coffee
8:00  water
9:50  coffee
10:00   protein shake with banana
13:30  roast beef, roast potato, roast vege
14:00   water and coffee
16:30  roast beef, roast potato, roast vege
17:00  coke zero
19:00  nuts and raisins and coke zero
21:00  oats

Not too bad considering I often over do the food and drinks especially on a Sunday. By drinks I mean coffee and coke zero, definitely not alcohol. I do not think having alcohol will help you to get a good looking body.

Day 15 - Food

Day 15

7:00  protein shake
7:15  coffee
9:45  water
10:30  cottage cheese and baked potato
11:00  water
12:00  coke zero
13:00  protein shake with a banana
14:00  water
15:20  oats with cottage cheese.
16:30  coke zero
18:00  tuna, baked potato and salad
18:30  coffee
21:00  cottage cheese and salad

Today was one of the best eating days I have had since I started. I had all my meals and quite small quantities. I had only healthy food and even drank a lot more water, over a full litre. If I can keep doing this my results are going to be amazing.

Body Building Muscle| How to train and build big legs| hamstrings

How to train and build your hamstrings so your legs looked balanced

I did Bulgarian split squats for my thighs/quads. They are a very good exercise as they also work the hamstrings. It is important to remember that because an exercise works a secondary muscle that does not mean you do not have to still focus on that muscle.

I like to do exercises that directly hit the muscle I want to train. For my hamstrings today I did simple good mornings. They are a wonderful exercise that requires a fair amount of mind control when you do them. If you are not focused on each rep it is easy to actually do part of the lifting with your back and not with the hamstrings. That means you will not get the required results that you are after.

I cannot emphasise how important the mind is with all your training. Make sure you do not have your mind on other things when you train. Ensure that you total focus is on the exercise and muscle that you are training for the quickest and best results. You will find doing this you will also avoid accidents and injury.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build big legs| Training quads/thighs

How to build great looking legs

I decided not to do traditional squats for the next few sessions but rather do Bulgarian split squats. They are an awesome exercise as they work all the major muscles in the legs. I like to do them slowly and try to keep perfect form with each rep. I go down till the front leg is parallel with the floor, hold for the count of 1 and then stand back up. You will not have to use heavy weights. You can even start with no weights at all and get a brilliant work out.

I did 5 sets of 8 reps. I always keep the rep range between 8-12reps when I build muscle. That is the range you need for muscle building. People often get confused as to how many reps they need to do. A simple way to work out what you need to do, which is normal common sense is; 1-5 reps heavy weights for strength training; 8-12 reps medium to heavy weights for muscle building and 15+ reps for muscle conditioning.

Body Building Muscles| How to train and build big legs| Calves

How to get balanced legs with big calves

There are no short cuts or simple ways of getting good looking legs. You have to train and work them properly. Calves are hard to build so you must be patient.

I am a strong believer in doing calf raises. Both standing and seated calf raises work well. You need to go as heavy as you can and do them slowly so you can get the most out of each rep. I know that I said the accepted rep range for building muscle is 8-12 reps however with calves I think they are different. I personally do an average of 15 reps per set. I find that under 15reps does not give me the burn I want. It might be different for you so you will have to work it out for yourself.

I had a wonderful workout.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build a killer 6 pack| Abs

The truth about abs.

There is so much rubbish put out on the internet about how to get amazing abs. People make all sorts of claims and promises mainly to make money from uninformed people. There is one simple rule to having abs - LOSE BODY FAT. You will have to do some exercise for your abs but you will never see them no matter how fantastic they are if you carry excess body fat. To claim that a certain type of exercise will give you abs is absolute rubbish. You can do almost any of the known abs exercises and they will strengthen your abs. The truth about abs is - if you want great looking abs get a great eating plan. Train them at least 2 times a week and you will look fantastic when the fat is gone.

I did normal crunches today 5 sets of 15 reps.  I am on a wonderful eating plan so I know within the next 120 days I will have those amazing abs I always wanted. To get them in 10 days or even 1 month will not happen for me. I can tell you that it will definitely not happen for you either unless you lose excess fat.

Food - Day 14

How to get a lean muscular body

Day 14. I decided to have a free day today as far as food goes. I had a business breakfast and I was quite hungry. I also decided to have takeaways (chips) in the evening. The rest of the day I had things like, dates, nuts and raisins. Steak egg and chips. Big full English breakfast. I had quite a bit of fruit and 2 protein drinks. You can see that that would be almost a normal day for a lot of people. Majority of the food is quite healthy. My measurements however this week are not so good. I have only lost a ½ lb in weight and the body sizes have stayed static. I do not see this as a negative but what it has done is given me a renewed energy to be a lot more strict.

I did some quick research and found out the in 1988 the US Surgeon General put out a statement that people should cut right back on dietary fats. The whole food industry then made massive changes and started to produce the famous “FAT FREE” products you can see in every shop around. Because it was endorsed by an authority the food industry have really gone to town with products and given us a licence to eat and drink all we can because we will not gain weight as the food is mostly” fat free”. Despite this wonderful thing that they have done there are more obese people now than there has ever been.  What we have not done is taken common sense into account. We have been bamboozled by science.

If it says fat free then it means you can eat all you want. NOT SO. The facts are if you put in more than you use you will gain weight. The body is an extremely efficient tool. It is designed for self-preservation. The minute there is any extra food, whether this is carbohydrates, protein or anything fat free it immediately takes this and turns it into fat for a rainy day.  In the early times food was not always available so many people had times of feast or famine. For this reason the body will always do the best it can to make sure we will survive.

 My greatest challenge now is the quantity and not so much what I eat. Common sense says put in less than you use and you will lose weight. I have decided when I do dish up a plate of food I am going to use a side plate so I can fill it which is pleasing to the eye but in reality I will be eating a much smaller quantity. I know this will work as I have done it before.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build huge Traps| Shrugs

How to get a lean great looking body

I normally do shrugs as a superset with back or when I do shoulders. Today I decided to train them on their own. Shrugs are about the very best for me to get the traps (Trapezius, big word hey. lol) muscles to grow. Some people prefer up right rowing which is also a very good exercise and I would love to do them but I feel a bit of pain in my right shoulder joint so I avoid them.

In order to have a great looking body you really need to have muscle that comes down from the neck to the shoulders. I don't like it when they are too big and bulge out like you see with some of the bodybuilders. Having a great slop down from the neck is great looking for me.

When you do not have any traps showing you actually look like quite a weakling.  I know I have used the term on my Train with Baz YouTube site “gutter shoulders”.

I did 5 sets of 15reps. The secret is to hold the weight for the count of 2 at the top. The trap will really burn when you do this.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build broad shoulders| Alternate dumbbell shoulder press

How to train and build shoulders so you can get that broad shoulder look

The shoulders are made up of 3 muscles. The front, middle and rear deltoid muscles. Most pressing exercises will train the front and middle deltoids. The rear deltoids do not get as good a workout when you do pressing exercises. You need to actually target them when you train.

There are a few different exercises you can do to train them. The main one I prefer is bent over side raises. Getting your shoulders bigger is not that easy. You see we are governed to a large degree by genetics. If you have a small frame then you certainly will not have shoulders like Arnold regardless of what you do. You will however make a massive difference to how they look if you train them no more than 2x a week and you train them hard.

Today I did seated dumbbell alternate shoulder press. They are a lovely exercise to do. My most favourite is barbell shoulder press but it is good to have a change for a few sessions just to stimulate muscle growth.

I did 5 sets of 10 reps medium to heavy dumbbells. My last set was a superset of 12 reps with bent over dumbbell side raises for the rear deltoids.

Body building Muscles| How to train and build V shaped Back| Front rowing

How to get a V shape for your build

Getting a V shape is all about making the shoulders and back look bigger and the waist smaller. Pull downs and rowing exercises all focus on the back. It is the lats (Latissimus dorsi) that you are training when you want to focus on building a big back. I dislike using the medical name for muscles as it makes it sound so complicated. Some people love that sort of thing as it makes them sound more intelligent.  I like to keep all things simple because the last thing I want is to carry a dictionary around so I know what I am talking about. LOL

I did seated rows which are a good exercise and a great alternative to my normal lat pull downs. Bent over rowing with a T bar or barbell are also really good exercises to do.

I did 5 sets of 12 reps medium to heavy weights. I did no super set with this muscle.