One Goal Achieved! Time to set a new one!

One Goal Achieved! Time to set a new one!

At the start of the year i set myself a challenge to get back up on stage after having a few years off to concentrate on other parts on my life and my business. 

I was initially aiming to compete in the Classics Category at the NABBA West show in Exeter and then on to the Hecules Olympia in Colchester in May. 

Plans changed slightly and i ended up actually competing 2 weeks earlier at the UKBFF South Coast in Porstmouth, it was one of the biggest shows i have been to and an amazing standard by everyone.

At 8 weeks out i felt great ans was coming down nicely and weight and fat was coming off. 

For my height i had to weight in at 84kg and at 8 weeks out i was sitting at 91kg .

I used a Carb cycling approach with a 2 low days followed by a high day then 4 low days and repeat. Steady State low intensity cardio was also added at 30 mins per day increasing every week up to 2 hours per dayat 2 weeks out. 

Body fat dropped at around 0.5-1% per week and weight dropped at a steady 1 kilo per week.

2 weeks out i was feeling great at 86kg and around 7%Bf 

1 week out my bodyweight was the same and the mind starts to play tricks on you, every bit of food, every bit of exercise, cardio and sleep is scrutanised and you constantly are battleing with yourself, everytime you look in the mirror you look different, one day you look dry and ripped, then waterey and smooth, then too heavy, then too light. 

I bought a new set of scales and over the next 7 days monitored my weight mutiple times day, each scales said different, one over weight, one under! I decided to aim at losing a bit more weight over the final days in a bit to make the weight for my class, to cut a long story and a horrible few days of training short! I weighed in at 86kg which put me in the open class above, Mr U90kg's. Our weigh in was at 10.30am and we stepped on stage at 8pm, because of the previous days of trying to lose extra weight i was flat and emtpy and spent the rest of the day trying to fill out the muscles a little and get some vascularity back. 

Overall i was still really happy with the condition i was able to get to and the improvements in shape that i have made over the past few years. 

By the time i stepped on stage i was around 89kg and 6 - 6.5% Bf. The best condition i have ever been. Learnt a massive amount about my body and will be aiming to compete at the higher weight next time as i dont think my body is suited to getting down too low.

Looking forward to a great off season and now on too some new goals!

Looking at a break of 18 months for getting on stage again, i am aiming to turn my training to powerlifting for the rest of the year. I will be setting a goal of a 700kg total raw which is the total weight lifted when you add your Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift together. I will look for a small local contest towards the end of the year so the my motivation stays high for my training.

Just being back in the gym after the competition and training heavier is feeling great and hitting PB's every week.

My goals for my lifts are:

Bench Press - 150kg

Deadlift - 300kg

Squat - 250kg

Lifts at the moment are:

Bench Press - 130kg x 5

Deadlift - 240 x 5

Squat - 200kg x 5

So there you have it, set some goals for the year, feeling great, achieved what i set out to to, now on to the next one! :)

Thanks for your support. I hope your smashing your goals !

See you all soon

Nick 

New Body Fitness and Nutrition

www.New-Body.co.uk

info@new-body.co.uk

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MOTIVATION BY INSPIRATION

Motivation By Inspiration

I read a story this morning about a guy who changed his and his children's life by hard work. I'll recite the story in a minute but first i want to talk a little bit about Motivation and Inspiration as that story is the Motivation behind this blog post.

I am a huge fan and believer in the fact that if you want something bad enough and you work hard enough then you can achieve anything.
The myth of talent is a contributing factor for alot of people not achieving or believing they can achieve something as they put these world class performers and business leaders success and put it down to their 'natural ability or genetic talent', well that is a load of CRAP. The fact of the matter is that the best in the world at whatever field you look in are at the top because of HARD WORK. They have worked harder and for longer than everybody else!

I'm a big fan of guy like Eric Thomas, Ray Lewis, Tiger Wood, Will Smith, Michael Jordan, Kai Greene, David Beckham and love listening to Motivational Speakers, these are the people who INSPIRE me. These guys are at the top of their games and if you read any of their stories they all have one thing in common and that is an insane work ethic. I urge you all to  look them up and check out their stories.

Back to Motivation...i am motivated by people and things i see that Inspire me. You have to have a goal, that is where your motivation should be, that is your MOTIVE, to achive your goal.... But sometimes you need a kick of Inspiration to get you back on track to achieve that goal.

Where you find your motivation and inspiration will be different from where i find mine as we will all have different goals but the essence of realizing your goal will only come when you accept that you have the POWER to achieve it.
We use these people, videos and pictures of superstars as Motivation but what we should be Inspired by is not their insane 'Talent' and 'Genetics' but their passion for their goals and the lengths that they went and still are going to achieve them and be where they are. These are the actions that INSPIRE.

Here is the short story i read this morning on Eric Thomas's App by one of his fan that have changed his life and it sums up Motivations and Inspiration really well and hopefully will inspire you to think about where you are going and what you can do to get there!....

"I've been doing security for about 7yrs, put my sons before myself and never finished college. This year i simply got sick of being broke. There were times when i couldn't see my sons cuz u was too broke to catch the bus, phone was off so i don't hear their voices...I got sick of it...I wasn't applying myself i was so focused on my struggle i was over looking my accomplishments. My boss was playing me, doing his job and getting my pay. I updated my resume after 2 hours of posting online i received 5 job offers. I am now studying for my state exam to be a licensed life insurance agent... But i opted to self tech, i wake up at 5am and start my studying  the class doesn't start at the site until 9...they stop at 4pm...i stop at 6pm...i don't want another day i cant speak to my sons, i wont accept not seeing them because i don't have the money to get them. I haven't got my first check yet and i have clients waiting, there's a one year plan...now a five year plan..."



We are all powerful enough to change our lives, all you have to do is accept it. Make a choice, are you just going through the motions day after day hoping for luck...or are you applying yourself every single day, making it happen, doing exactly what you want to do, having an effective day, every day!...


We all have that power, you just have to accept it...


Thanks for reading and i hope this have got you fired up to go out there and smash it, i know i will be!

Train the mind and the body will follow.

Nick Bell
New Body Fitness and Nutrition
www.New-Body.co.uk 

Road to Nabba West + Hercules Olympia 2013 2

Road to Nabba West + Hercules Olympia 2

7 1/2 Weeks to go!

Just finish a Back/Biceps and Cardio session and have a couple free hours before clients are back in tonight so a chance to update this.

Heres how the back session went:

Pull Downs - 4 sets, 20, 15, 12, 10 Reps building up to bout 95kg, pleased to be doing these again as i have been suffering with elbow pain during pull downs and pull ups so the lats are feeling under worked! But seemed to be good today :)

Wide Grip Seated Rows - 4 Sets, 15, 12, 12, 10 Reps building to about 70kg. Find this give a good squeze in the lower lats and stretch through the negative part of the motion.

Single arm dumbell rows - 3 Sets, 12, 12, 12 Reps building up to 45kg's. Great squeze in lower lats, like to do these like Kai Greene bringing your hips into it slightly with out to much arm movement.

Rack Pulls - 4 Sets, 10, 10, 10, 10 Reps building to 200kg Just focusing on the upper back and trap squese at the top of the rep.

Bicep Dumbell Curls - 3 Sets, 10, 10, 8 up to 20kg's, Starting to notice little veins and bumps come out now that haven't been showing in a while!

Standing Barbell Curl - 3 sets up to 35kg Getting a good squeese a keeping momentum out of it, hit a drop set on the last set.

Single Arm Preacher curl - 3 sets, 10, 10 , 10 reps low weight, get a great stretch which really blows the lower potion of the bicep up! Nice to finish off with.

Was pretty drained after this as was 3rd low carb day so just hit my 2nd 30 cardio on the treadmill and headed home for bcaa's and pwo shake.

Did my stats again this weekend and showed another slight decrease in bodyfat, weight was about the same which was good but have come down another kg since sunday.

Stats at 8 Weeks Out

Weight - 91kg

BodyFat - 9%

Neck - 42cm

Shoulders - 130

Chest - 114

Arms - 42.5

Waist - 89

Thigh - 64

Calf - 42.5

The class that i will be aiming for at the Nabba is Class 2 where there is no weight restriction and the class that im aiming for at the Hercules is the Physique where i believe my weight will have to be around 83/84kg so i think im going to lose a bit of muscle too during the last 7 weeks.

Happy with how it is going so far and feeling good, will be upping the cardio slightly next week depending on how the stats are looking on Sat.

Will chuck my details of diet and supps up later on with some progress pics.

Thanks for reading

Nick :)

New Body Fitness and Nutrition

www.New-Body.co.uk 

Any questions just post them underneath.

Road to Nabba West + Hercules Olympia 2013

Hi everyone so we are at 8 weeks out from completion at the Nabba west on May 5th and 9 weeks out from Hercules Olympia in Colchester on the 11th.

So I thought I'd start this blog tread detailing my prep so you can see what I have to hopefully come in at a ripped 5% body fat!

Writing this as Im out doing my morning cardio which is about 30 - 35mins (prob 35 this morn as I'm writing as I walk and may end up veering out in the road)

Morning cardio will be done 6xper week from now on empty stomach. Although before I start I will have bcaa's and 2 x Ripped Fat burners.

Today is weigh in day and progress pics so will get the stats up later on.

Thanks for reading and if you got any questions or support, please post below and will be greatly appreciated! :)

Nick

Calf Training Explained!

Calf Training Explained!

The lower leg is made up of 2 main muscles, the gastrocnemius and the soleus. But they are targeted with different exercises. 

The gastrocnemius is the bulk of the calf and is hit with exercises where the knee is extended like standing calf raise.

The soleus is the deeper under muscle and also adds to the width of the calf, these are hit with exercises where the knee is bent. 

Try the seated calf machine. If your gym dosent have a seated calf raise, sit on a bench with your toes on a weight plate and rest a barbell on your thighs, raise upto your tip toes to recreate the movement. 

Try these exercises in your next calf workout and be proud to where your shorts this summer!

For tips and advice on how to get the MOST out of your training visit www.new-body.co.uk 

Thanks for reading

Train hard, Win Easy!

Nick Bell

Personal Trainer

New Body Fitness and Nutrition

info@new-body.co.uk

www.new-body.co.uk 

The Power Of Having a Purpose

 

 

The power of having a purpose

Everything we do in life will have purpose, every meal you eat, every training session you do, every second you sleep. If you can manage the directions of these things and make sure the purpose to help you on your journey then you will without doubt reach your goal. So just ask yourself, ‘is this helping me move forward?’….

I believe the key to having success in achieving your goals is to have purpose in what you are doing. From the little things you do in the day to the big things you do, every bit is as important as each other in the journey to achieving what you want.

Every day I work with people who want to do achieve something in a physical capacity about themselves, whether it be loss weight, gain weight, decrease body fat, increase strength, become fitter, every one of them will start with the initial idea of how they would like their physical aspects of them to change.

But….

No matter how much training you do, and pushing you get from your trainer or how much you want to fit into that dress or bench that heavy weight, it won’t happen until you change one thing.

Mind-set.

How do you see training?... is it somewhere you go to go through the motions, have a chat, a way to stop feeling guilty form the lunch time donut?

Or do you go there with PURPOSE. Does every set, every rep, every minute blasting the cross trainer have a purpose and reason. When you go to train, make sure you are training for your goals, not for the goals of the people you are training with. Theirs will be different.

Be selfish, it’s your life and your goal. If your training to lose body fat and struggled with your weight for years, then you train with your best friend but they are training for a 10km race then one or probably both of you will end up compromising your training and meeting in the middle somewhere, leading to not really an efficient session for either of you. Making you feel further away from your goal than ever.

Be selfish. Make sure the purpose of your training is strong and heading in the right direction for YOU.

How do you see food?... is it breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks? Are you trying to eat something you see as healthy because you think that’s the best thing do you, and if not then you always have tomorrow to try a bit harder?

Or do you see every meal as an opportunity to help your body recover, do you make sure you put the best ingredients into your body as this is what will be fuelling it in your next workout and you want to smash that PB. Every meal should have a PURPOSE, it’s a way to boost metabolism, and a way to repair broken muscles and a way to fuel the ass kicking you’re going to give your body day after day until you reach your goal.

I always say to my clients to eat to be fit, not skinny. If your trying to increase your body weight then you also need to eat with purpose, this is even more important as you will be used to a maintainace level and you need to go beyond that. But think about it, if you are 90kg and your goal is to be 100kg then go and eat crap and you will make it, but put some purpose in there and be 100kg at 10% body fat then that’s where the hard work starts and the meals matter and what goes into your body matters.

Fuel your workout as you would fuel your car, or you will break down.

This is not just for health and fitness; it translates into all aspect of life, careers, socially, relationships etc. Set your goals, follow them with purpose and succeed.

I hope you reach your goals, whatever they may be, I will reach mine!

Believe in where you are going and don’t listen to people who don’t understand, as their journey will be different to yours.

‘At 1^st they will ask why you do it, after they will ask HOW you did it.’

Thanks for reading. 

Nick Bell
Personal Trainer

New Body Fitness and Nutrition
Official Pro Grips Dorset

 

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Burn Fat Fast!

Burn Fat Fast

When we hit the gym and our aim to lose weight, or FAT more precisely there are a number of paths the gym goer has. Initially the first reaction may be to jump straight on to the treadmill, cross trainer or bike and trash out 30 odd mins of moderate pace exercise, going through the motions and not really accomplishing anything except for depleting a bit of your glycogen stores and most probably making you quite bored an dishearten towards exercise in general. This may seem like the right path but it is not.

Don’t get me wrong, this exercise is good and if you are coming form an very sedentary lifestyle then anything is better than nothing and you will have some positive effects…but let me tell you the secret…Fat Loss is not that hard…J

First things first…Weight loss is not the answer…Body Composition is what will give you the lean, toned look you are after.

Take a look at this comparison of Body Fat vs Muscle Tissue.

  

So if you weight 12st with a Body Fat of 10% you will look a lot better than weighing 10st with a Body Fat of 20% !

***Muscle burns 4 TIMES as many calories as Fat just by being in your body***

Try adding these 5 guideline to you training to aid your Body Composition and start getting the results you what!

1.      Kick-start your day with 10-15 mins bodyweight exercises at home. Try this short routine to blast your metabolism and get your body stoked for the day!

·         30 Seconds Jogging on the spot with high knees

·         10-15 Press Ups

·         10-15 Squats

·         10-15 Tuck Jumps

·         10-15 Burpees

·         30 Seconds Skipping

*** Repeat this 5 times resting 30 seconds between cycles***

2.      Start your gym workout with Resistance Training. 

Aim to do at least 30 mins of resistance training targeting the whole body before you hit your cardio part of the workout. By doing this you are aiming to break down muscle fibres which then have to be repaired by the body. This recovery takes energy and the body will therefore be using excess energy for the next few days to do this.

With Cardio training the body is able to recover a lot quicker so although you may burn more calories in the session by hitting the treadmill, the resistance training will burn a lot more in total over the next 48 hours!

3. Stick to Compound or Multi Joint exercises over Isolation or single joint exercise.

A squat will use a lot more energy than a bicep curl and also break a lot more muscle fibres. Its all about getting the most Bang for your Buck in the more efficient way possible. 

Try this routine to hit all your major muscle groups a get that fat melting off you!

·         Warm Up 5-7 Mins Cross trainer

·         5 Sets of 10-15 Reps Squats with 30 seconds rest in between. If Bodyweight squats are too easy add some weight!

·         3 Sets of Weighted Burpees. Hold on to Dumbbells as you do these so you have to press them as you stand up. Remember to keep you head up and back straight. 30 Seconds rest between sets.

·         5 Sets of 10 Reps of Bent over rows, Barbell or Dumbbell. By doing this we are working  are back which is one of the biggest muscles in the back with a big Multi Joint move. 30 Seconds Rest between sets.

·         5 Sets of 10 – 15 Reps of Press Ups. These can be done on your knees or as a complete press up if you can. Keep the movement slow and don’t rush it, touch your chest on the floor and as it touches lift you hands of the floor and then push back up. No cheating allowed ;)

***This will be a great start to your workout routine, hit all your major muscles and really set your fat burning furnace on fire!***

4.      Follow your Resistance with cardio.

If you have hit your resistance with maximum intensity then by the time you come to your cardio, you will be primed to really start attacking you fat stores for energy.

·         Add 20 – 30 mins of Low intensity or High intensity interval training cardiovascular exercise in after your resistance work.

This will cause the body to take most of its energy needed from fat cells as the resistance training would of depleted the favoured energy source of glycogen.

***With the Low Intensity aim to keep your Heart rate at around 60 – 70 % of its maximum for the entire time. (Find out your heart rate zones on our Free heart rate calculator)***

5.      Protein is the Whey to go.

Add a source of Protein to every meal. Not only will this aid in the recovery of your muscles and body, it will also help decrease your appetite so that you don’t reach for that sugary treat and more importantly, minimises the insulin release so that your blood sugar levels remain more stable.

Try adding one of these sources of protein to your meals

·         Whey Protein Shakes

·         Chicken Breast

·         Turkey

·         Lean Beef

·         Salmon

·         Tuna

·         Eggs

·         Beans, peas and Lentils

·         Low Fat Dairy (e.g Cottage Cheese)

So there you have it.

Try adding a few or all of these guidelines to your training in your quest to Burn Fat Fast!

Eat Clean, Train Hard, Win Easy

Thanks for reading.

Nick Bell

Personal Trainer

New Body Fitness and Nutrition

Official Pro Grips Dorset

For more health and fitness tips visit our website and check out our FREE health and fitness downloads... New Body Health and Fitness Tips