Saturday & Sunday August 18/19th 2012
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Day 8 and 9 – Rest day, waxing and DTP Calfs and Abs

Well guys/gals, yesterday was a rest day, so wasnt a HUGE amount to update you on, so I’ve combined yesterdays blog and todays blog together into a super update for you

We are now 4 days away from the photoshoot and shit is now starting to get ‘real’!

Day 8 – Rest day and Waxing

A rest day is what it sounds like – total rest from any exercise. NO cardio and NO weights. I took the time to do some sun bathing and also did some chores etc. Resting is MORE important than workouts in some ways. Its the bodies time to heal the muscles and burn some fat. I like to think of the metabolism being supercharged from the workout week and a rest day, metaphorically, as a toy car. You know, the ones where you have to pull it back to let it zoom off. Well to me, the workout week, Sunday to Friday, is like pulling the car back and the rest day is letting the car zoom off. The workout week to me is so intensive, that when i rest its almost like the body says to itself “right, lets sort this shit out and repair what needs repairing!”. Without a rest day, you will never properly recover and will injure yourself. 1 step back, in order to take 5 steps forward!

Yesterday I also got a wax in preperation for my shoot. Havent seen the video blog on this yet? Well prepare to start laughing… it was quite painful! Video Blog 7 – Sneak preview – getting waxed for photoshoot

Today I’m itching like mad! Damn waxing has also given me a little skin rash on my chest and abs – I’ve been assured this will go in a few days, but its a little worrying I have to say! Fingers crossed!

I also went shopping to get my weeks food for my prep. A little top tip to save money! Buy all your veg from a local grocers. I managed to buy 10 days worth of veg for only £14 – check out how BIG all the veg is below. IT’S ALSO ALL ORGANIC!

Day 9 – Morning Cardio and Evening DTP Calfs and Abs

Today was back on track into terms of full exercise plan! Today is the last 110% session I’ll have now before the shoot. For the next 4 days, cardio is reduced to one last session tomorrow and then its heavy weights and NOT hitting failure. Will explain all tomorrow.

Morning Cardio session

LOW INTENSITY TREADMILL – FAST WALKING

40mins @125-130bpm heart rate

EVENING WEIGHTS – 5PM

DTP standing calf raises – I managed to whack on a bit of weight from last weeks session on this, so good improvements here: -

- 50 reps @ 40kg
rest 45 seconds
- 40 reps @ 50kg
rest 45 seconds
- 30 reps @ 60kg
rest 1 min
- 20 reps @ 80kg
rest 1 min 15 seconds
- 10 reps @ 100kg
rest 2 mins
- 10 reps @ 110kg
rest 1 min 15 seconds
- 20 reps @ 80kg
rest 1 min
- 30 reps @ 60kg
rest 45 seconds
- 40 reps @ 50kg
rest 45 seconds
- 50 reps @ 40kg

Then I moved onto my ab set….

WEIGHTED ABS

Here is what I did for my workout: -

30 second rest between ALL SETS unless stated otherwise

Hill climbers with floor sliders
- 20 seconds climbing
  rest
- 30 seconds climbing
  rest
- 40 seconds climbing
  rest
- 50 seconds climbing
  rest
- 60 seconds climbing
Hanging knee raisers
- 10 reps – no weights
  rest
- 12 reps – hold 2kg between feet
  rest
- 15 reps – hold 4kg between feet
  rest
- 17 reps – hold 6kg between feet
  rest
- 15 reps – hold 4kg between feet
  rest
- 12 reps – hold 2kg between feet
  rest
- 10 reps – no weights
Decline crunches
- 10 reps – no weight
  rest
- 12 reps – hold 5kg plate
  rest
- 15 reps – hold 10kg plate
  rest
- 15 reps – hold 20kg plate – SUPERSET with 15 reps without weight
  rest
- 15 reps – hold 10kg plate - SUPERSET with 15 reps without weight
  rest
- 12 reps – hold 5kg plate - SUPERSET with 12 reps without weight
  rest
- 10 reps – no weight
Oblique crunches SUPERSET with ab rollouts
- 10 reps on each side – 26kg dumbbell – SUPERSET with 10 rollouts
  rest
- 12 reps on each side – 30kg dumbbell - SUPERSET with 15 rollouts
  rest
- 15 reps on each side – 36kg dumbbell - SUPERSET with 20 rollouts
  rest
- 20 reps on each side – 40kg dumbbell - SUPERSET with 25 rollouts
  rest
- 15 reps on each side – 36kg dumbbell - SUPERSET with 20 rollouts
  rest
- 12 reps on each side – 30kg dumbbell - SUPERSET with 15 rollouts
  rest
- 10 reps on each side – 26kg dumbbell – SUPERSET with 10 rollouts
Planks
- 15 seconds right side plank
  30 second front plank
  15 seconds left side plank
  rest
- 20 seconds right side plank
  45 second front plank
  20 seconds left side plank
  rest
- 25 seconds right side plank
  60 second front plank
  25 seconds left side plank
  rest
- 20 seconds right side plank
  45 second front plank
  20 seconds left side plank
  rest
- 15 seconds right side plank
  30 second front plank
  15 seconds left side plank
Super slow crunches – full form, 4 seconds eccentric x 2 seconds concentric (4 seconds down, 2 seconds up)
- 5 reps
  rest
- 7 resps
  rest
- 10 reps
  rest
- 10 reps
  rest
- 7 reps
  rest
- 5 reps
  rest

This is low reps but the hardest set to do! Done right, and you should be in agony on the 10 reps. Thats the abs done…. well and truly done!

Some shots of my diet throughout my day

This was my meal 3 of 7 today! Turkey, mixed veg and brown rice! Was amazing!

This was my post workout meal too – Turkey stir-fry, with lots of veg and 2 extra hot chillies to raise the metabolism. Took my head off, but was delicious. The flavours were incredible….

Continued water manipulations

So the dandelion and vitamin C has continued to increase over the last two days. Water intake has stayed high also. Currently on 6 litres of water a day for yesterday and today. It goes up to 7 litres tomorrow! Pissing every 30 mins – literally.

Supplements leading up to shoot

Yesterday, on twitter, i posted a photo of what supplements i take in the morning at the moment: -

A few people mentioned that there were more supplements shown here than what I mentioned in my video blog on supplements – and they were right. So I want to take this chance to clear up any confusion.

The supplements have changed, temorarily, for the photoshoot. There are some additional supplements to change/tweak certain aspects of my appearance in the short term. These are NOT long term supplements, and as soon as my shoot is over, i will revert back to my normal supplement range.

So, what am I taking at the moment? Well listed above is: -

Omega 3 x 2
Vitamin C x 2
Dandelion x 2
Multi Vitamins x 3
Calcium x 2
50+ Multi vitamin (to get some additional vitamins which aren’t in the above multi vitamin) x 2
Creatine Alkaline x 3

Its important to note, that this is just my morning supplement list. There are also some more I take at mid-day and before bed. So dont look/read into the above and change your supplements based on mine. Mine and your goals are probably very different. The dosage is also relevant to my size/energy levels/diet.

Thats it for now people – tune in tomorrow for the day 10 update