[Clare]

Today was the first session of the revised Upper Body part of my plan. We wanted to add some more volume to the areas I need to bring up during this off season. I feel I made some progress with my legs last year, but my delts and lats still lack the size I want to create the ‘V-taper’ that us figure girls are forever chasing, so myself and Jordan have agreed that more work is needed.

The session went well. Only time will tell as to whether I am still able to recovery adequately from the increase in volume, but the session itself felt good. Strength is holding nicely and the pump today was pretty ridiculous!

Here is an outline of today’s workout:

ROTATION 2 – UPPER A
Dual bicep curl – 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Seated side raise on the cables – 3 sets of 12-15 reps
High inc machine – 3 sets – 12 reps – increase the weight a go for 8 reps, stay on that weight fail again 
Narrow smith press – 2 sets of 10-12 
Single arm rope pushdown – 2 sets of 10-12 
Front cable raise – 1 set of 15-20 reps
STRETCH
High row pulldown – 3 sets – 12 reps – increase the weight a go for 8 reps, stay on that weight 
Seated row – 3 sets – 10 reps, up the weight 6-8 reps, then 15 rep 
Prone DB raise for rear delts – 1 set of 15-20 reps 
STRETCH
Abs – 3 sets of 10-12 rep

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[Clare]

Depends how soon after taking it that you train. I believe you’d still benefit just taking it on your rest days, yes. You could also take it on your training days if you wake during the early hours for the toilet.

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[Clare]

I would make sure you have a carb heavy meal the night before a training day. Then on wake if you have time, have a whey shake and a banana and an intra drink of carbs/Eaas to begin sipping on the way to the gym. If you don’t have time for the shake and banana, go straight for the intra and have a decent carb/pro meal post workout.

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[Clare]

I would add Boswellia Serrata and Cure-Coming by TrainedbyJPnutrition to your supplements (Both can be bought at http://www.supplementneeds.co.uk). I’d still stay active with walks and get back to training when you feel up to it.

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[Clare]

Get lean. Decrease input and/or Increase output and Train hard.

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[Clare]

Hope you’ve all had a lovely Bank Holiday. Muggins here agreed to cover for a mate at work who couldn’t make it back in time from Reading Festival, so I’ve been stuck indoors all day! Been nice and cool in the aircon though, so silver lining and all that. He owes me 😉

Today’s a rest day for me. Upper body tomorrow and the start of my revised plan to increase some volume to these upper sessions, so will update you all on that and how it went.

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[Clare]

A strong mindset is key as you know Oscar.. and you have that. Blinkered focus to the end 🙂

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[Clare]

Make small changes at a time, so a small reduction in calories or a small increase in output.
Don’t change things too frequently, ride it out for a week or so after a change has been made.
Keep your cardio away from training sessions and avoid on Leg days if possible.
Keep as many of your carbs around the training window if possible and chip away from meals away from here first.
MENTALITY – A lot of maintaining strength and performance in the gym when deep in a deficit, is the sheer determination to refuse to get weaker. You need to go into that gym believing you can beat your last numbers.

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[Clare]

I don’t think it’s worth it. Your blood sugar will likely already be low in a fasted state and will drop naturally as you get into your cardio. A strong GDA could potentially cause some hypo symptoms.

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[Clare]

Awesome hot and sweaty Lower Load Day.. Still training elsewhere until my regular gym opens again in a few days, but didn’t affect me today. Weights were up again on Hex Bar Deadlifts (If my maths calculating the different bar were correct!). Also got a PB on my 20 repper Leg Press 🙂

Seated hamstring curl – 1 x 10
Hex bar deadlift – 1 x 15, increase the weight and 1 x 9 – TOUCH AND GO REPS
Hex bar deadlift into a shrug– 1 set of 20, each rep moves into a shrug, 1 fluid movement, staying continuous
Hack squat – 1 x 12, 1 x 8
Dual Leg press – 1 x 20
GHR – 1 x 22 BW – hold at peak contraction for the count of 1,2, then very controlled eccentric
Abductor – 1 r/p 20, 12, 7
Leg raises – 2 x 15 BW
STRETCH
Standing Calf raise – 3 x 11, 11, 10

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[Clare]

If you’re prepping for a competition, you don’t unless structured refeeds are necessary. If this is for general fat loss and motivation levels are dipping, performance is taking a hit, you find yourself falling off the diet frequently and generally feel like you need a break, then it could be beneficial to bring calories back to maintenance for a week or so before going again. It really depends on your goal and if you have a timescale to hit, but there’s nothing wrong with diet breaks if you want to implement one.

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[Clare]

Just arrived back home after an 8 hour round trip to Brighton dropping my eldest girl back ahead of her second year at Uni.. definitely don’t envy her living in a shared house with a load of fellow students. I had to resist the urge to run a hoover over the place and get my rubber gloves on, but she’s happy!
We also didn’t think about the fact that this is a Bank Holiday weekend, combined with the Dorset Stream fair, so spent most of the journey crawling along in traffic.. oh and our car began to steam from the bonnet along with a few flashing warning signs on the dashboard, but we found the best thing to do was just ignore them and they’d go away.

Anyway home now, so time to relax. Deadlifts tomorrow.. OOOOHHHH Yeah!

Hope you’re all having a lovely weekend 🙂

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[Clare]

First port of call imo would be to clean up your diet, get some structure in place, commit to training and a routine, then decide where to go from there.

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[Clare]

Initially rest, then get looked at by a professional to see if you have any instability issues translating into unnecessary load on the joint. Avoid exercises that cause you pain, warm up thoroughly, reduce load and increase your rep range. TrainedbyjpNutrition has a new joint formula landing next week that will be very beneficial for you too.

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[Clare]

You can have any meal prepped the night before really and then just warm up or eat cold the following morning. Depends what you like to eat first thing.. sweet or savoury, warm or cold?
Chicken, beef, salmon and boiled eggs can all be cooked the night before and put into a Tupperware with veg or salad to grab and go.
Or have an omelette mix made up in the fridge with some chopped veg, then pan fry quickly when you wake up.
Or mix some whey into fat free Greek yoghurt and add some nut butter.
Or stick with the shake option.

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