DAY 6 - 19th JUNE 2015
TRAINING - ARMS & CARDIO
WEIGHTS DURATION: 42mins CARDIO DURATION: 30mins
Usually, Friday would be my day off which I think I could have potentially done with as I am starting to get a bit tired. But, that wouldn't be a 33-Day-Cut so I decided to go and do a bit of arms and cardio to keep ticking over. Arms isn't something I would normally do by themselves but can be a relatively easy session if you do need to take it easy for a day. Normally, I would try and add in a bit of Biceps with my Back sessions and Triceps with a chest session.
THE WORKOUT
Todays workout was more of a rest day that an intense proper workout like I have been doing. Like I said, I wouldn't normally do both Biceps & Triceps together or as an individual workout. You get a good bicep workout when working your back and a good burn for your triceps when doing your chest. In saying this, I still felt the session was good and my arms certainly felt pumped.
EXERCISE ONE
I remember when I was younger I thought I had won life when I could do the full stack of weight. How very wrong I was! For me, this exercise doesn't need to be heavy. Form over weight will win every single time. I think the exercise is waaaay more beneficial when you can full extend out when you come to the bottom/end of a rep. I had to drop the weight to make sure my form was perfect on the third and fourth set.
EXERCISE TWO
Again, an exercise where for me you don't need much weight due to the amount of reps you're doing. I normally try and do this exercise at quite a fast pace to try and shock the muscle. Notice how I don't fully extend the arm when starting from the bottom - something about it makes the biceps and forearms really pumped.
An exercise that you can just as easily do with a free weight, but I thought I'd mix it up. I always try to keep the elbow locked in place and just use it as a pendulum to complete a rep. Try and hold it when your arm is fully extended and squeeze that tricep in to make the muscle work harder.
Again, an exercise that you can do with a free weight or any bar. But I thought I'd keep the consistency and finished the session on cables. I like to do this exercise as slow as possible and make sure a full extension is made at the bottom. Similarly to the tricep rope pulldown, I find this exercise is more about technique and not so much about how heavy you can do so make sure your form is spot on.
THE CARDIO
THE DIET
Perhaps its not much of an excuse, but 10 straight days at work doubled up with the gym every day is taking its toll on me and I'm starting to feel tired. So much so that I didn't have a proper breakfast this morning and only had time to wolf down a bowl of cereal and some rice cakes with organic peanut butter (a personal fav) before training. The lie in also meant that I didn't have time to cook any chicken breasts to take to work with me which isn't great because with Ramadan now being observed, there is no where I can get any food during the day. It might work out well as I'm starving myself, but this isn't what I signed up for and I hate not being able to eat!
Snacks
FINAL THOUGHTS
A session just to tie me over really and not take too much energy so I'm in good shape to finish week one strongly and lay the foundations for a hard week next week.
Do you do arms as their own workout? Do you prefer to go heavy or smash out the reps and concentrate on your form?
Let me know! Its ta-ta for now!
After day one of Ramadan, it is proving hard to find the extra motivation to make sure my diet is on point. Having had to work until 10pm last night, this morning I subsequently slept in and didn't have time to prepare meal 2 or a proper breakfast. This means that I'll probably overeat when Iftah Starts at around 6pm. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out - is it beneficial to starve myself for 5/6 hours and then stuff my face? Or is it better to keep ticking over as I have been doing? Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get the 30 mins on the ab plate in today but jeez that extra 30mins in bed was glorious!
Todays workout was more of a rest day that an intense proper workout like I have been doing. Like I said, I wouldn't normally do both Biceps & Triceps together or as an individual workout. You get a good bicep workout when working your back and a good burn for your triceps when doing your chest. In saying this, I still felt the session was good and my arms certainly felt pumped.
EXERCISE ONE
TRICEP ROPE PULL-DOWN - 4 SETS 20 REPS
I remember when I was younger I thought I had won life when I could do the full stack of weight. How very wrong I was! For me, this exercise doesn't need to be heavy. Form over weight will win every single time. I think the exercise is waaaay more beneficial when you can full extend out when you come to the bottom/end of a rep. I had to drop the weight to make sure my form was perfect on the third and fourth set.
EXERCISE TWO
OLYMPIC BAR HALF CURL - 3 SETS 20 REPS
Again, an exercise where for me you don't need much weight due to the amount of reps you're doing. I normally try and do this exercise at quite a fast pace to try and shock the muscle. Notice how I don't fully extend the arm when starting from the bottom - something about it makes the biceps and forearms really pumped.
EXERCISE THREE
FOREARM CURLS - 4 SETS - 15 REPS
My bad, I forgot to take photos of this exercise. School boy!
Everyone are often very quick to forget about forearms, but I figured if you're doing an arms workout, you might aswell do all of them. I find that the forearms only need one/two exercises on them max.
I guess someone elses photo is better than no photo because I'm finding it rather hard to explaining how to do it in words!
FOREARM CURLS - 4 SETS - 15 REPS
My bad, I forgot to take photos of this exercise. School boy!
Everyone are often very quick to forget about forearms, but I figured if you're doing an arms workout, you might aswell do all of them. I find that the forearms only need one/two exercises on them max.
I guess someone elses photo is better than no photo because I'm finding it rather hard to explaining how to do it in words!
EXERCISE FOUR
SUPER-SET; CABLE KICK-BACKS & SAT DOWN ISOLATED CAPLE BICEP CURLS - 3 SETS 12 REPS
Following the simple format of a 'super set', complete exercise A, followed by B to complete 1 set.
EXERCISE A - CABLE KICKBACKS
An exercise that you can just as easily do with a free weight, but I thought I'd mix it up. I always try to keep the elbow locked in place and just use it as a pendulum to complete a rep. Try and hold it when your arm is fully extended and squeeze that tricep in to make the muscle work harder.
EXERCISE B -SAT DOWN ISOLATED CAPLE BICEP CURLS
Again, an exercise that you can do with a free weight or any bar. But I thought I'd keep the consistency and finished the session on cables. I like to do this exercise as slow as possible and make sure a full extension is made at the bottom. Similarly to the tricep rope pulldown, I find this exercise is more about technique and not so much about how heavy you can do so make sure your form is spot on.
After my cycle ride on Day 4 - I managed to get 8.81km in 30 mins; a steady pace but nothing brilliant. It meant I was going between 17 - 18kmph which I felt I could do better than. So, I thought lets up the level and try and maintain a steady 20kmph. Even though it was only up one level, the sweat was dripping off me and was thoroughly enjoyable.
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| DAY 4 CARDIO |
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| DAY 6 CARDIO |
Perhaps its not much of an excuse, but 10 straight days at work doubled up with the gym every day is taking its toll on me and I'm starting to feel tired. So much so that I didn't have a proper breakfast this morning and only had time to wolf down a bowl of cereal and some rice cakes with organic peanut butter (a personal fav) before training. The lie in also meant that I didn't have time to cook any chicken breasts to take to work with me which isn't great because with Ramadan now being observed, there is no where I can get any food during the day. It might work out well as I'm starving myself, but this isn't what I signed up for and I hate not being able to eat!
Meal 1
 |
| Not the most nutritious breakfast I've had |
- 1 Bowl Fitness Cereal
- 2 Rice cakes with Organic Peanut Butter
Meal 2 & 3
- 4 Chicken skewers
- 2 beef skewers
- 50g pasta in a tomato sauce
- 1 chicken thigh
- greek salad
- 50g rice
- 1 tbsp hummus
- 50g mange tout
Meal 4
- 200g chicken
 |
| MEAL 2 & 3 COMBINED! |
- 20 Almonds
- 15 Almonds
- 1 Nature Valley Cereal Bar
- 1 Quest Protein Bar
FINAL THOUGHTS
A session just to tie me over really and not take too much energy so I'm in good shape to finish week one strongly and lay the foundations for a hard week next week.
Do you do arms as their own workout? Do you prefer to go heavy or smash out the reps and concentrate on your form?
Let me know! Its ta-ta for now!
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| DAY 6 |
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