17/09/2011 Two steps forwards one step back...

Yesterday was gym day and it could not have come any sooner. My session was based primarily on resistance training, focusing on shoulders and arms. For the record, the perfect week for a full balanced workout for my body would be as follows:

Monday: Chest / Back / Abdominals

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Biceps / Triceps / Abdominals

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Full leg workout / Abdominals

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Shoulders / Abdominals

Monday: Rest

A days rest follows each session, why? Because your body needs sufficient time to repair, rebuild and recover. Ideally you should give your body a full 48hrs rest. For me 2 days away from working out is too long. So what do you do on rest days? This is where your diet plays a major role in achieving the results you want. Small frequent meals every 3 hours will give your body what it needs to keep building throughout the days you are not training. However this may not be possible and for most having this discipline may be daunting task. So eat as often as you can, make sure your choices are nutritious and healthy. Depending on what your goals are will play a major role on what you eat.

Yesterday’s session…

Began with a 5 minute warm up with a few minutes to stretch, this session was primarily focused on resistance training. I did say I would work on shoulders and normally I would do these alone working the frontal, lateral and posterior areas of the deltoids (shoulders). However on this occasion I was super setting with my triceps. Super sets are, one set followed immediately by another, however on an opposing or alternative muscle group with no rest period in between. Try to keep all your rest periods as brief as you can, the idea is to work a sweat. Do you want to be part of huge group of people in the gym that spend more time resting than working out. These people wonder why they do not achieve the results they want and this is why! I spent 45 minutes on my deltoids and triceps. To complete my session I decided to do 5 minutes running on the treadmill, 5 minutes on the upright bike and lastly 5 minutes on the cross trainer. Once completed finished off with maintenance and developmental stretches to ensure I allow my body the chance to fully recover appropriately.

Two steps forward one step back…

Last night during a drunken state, I almost fell over and in doing so pulled my hamstring which is very tender. I have been on a rehab programme for the last 2 weeks to sort out an already existing injury in my right leg. I find myself back to square one which is quite upsetting. Being one to try and overcome this I did as many lengths as I could in the swimming pool today. I forgot how much swimming can help condition injuries so will be doing that a lot more over the next few weeks as I look to overcome my injury.