WE ARE WHAT WE ABSORB...

Sounds strange right? We have all grown up hearing the saying ‘we are what we eat’ but to be honest, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Remember being at school? I know I’m making you think way back now but I remember having 2 hour classes back to back but after about 30-40 minutes I would lose my concentration and start messing around in class. The remaining time in class was an utter waste because I didn’t really absorb or learn anything else after those 30-40 minutes had passed, instead I just became bored of the class and teacher teaching it.

So how does this apply to nutrition...........?

Say I cook a piece of chicken and in terms of protein it is worth 70g. An average male would adsorb between 25-30g. However if that person that trains a lot he can absorb from 35g maybe even 40g (Please put in mind this amounts are just so you guys can get a general picture). 

But what happens to the rest of that protein? 

It becomes waste, extra calories your body will have to get worked up to burn so there isn’t any real value in eating that amount. It would make sense to use that amount of protein to make 2 meals because otherwise you just making your body go under unnecessary strain in order for it can get rid of the protein that it won’t absorb.

The body likes things to get absorbed quickly and easily without a lot of stress. That is why the metabolism works faster when you eat small frequent meals, rather than bigger infrequent meals. I mean it’s pretty simple if you think about it for a sec and the best example is the Formula 1 cars.

Their tanks get filled up with fuel after a certain number of rounds, it is never filled up completely to begin with because if it was it would mean more weight for the car and the car would not go as fast. The same theory applies to our metabolism in a way. Therefore my advice is to keep meals small and spread throughout the day.

A typical male can have approximately 25g-40g of protein per meal, 150g to 250g per day. However this does depends on a number of factors such as body type/activity/needs/target.

A typical female can have approximately 15-25g per meal, 80 to 120g protein per day. This also depends on the female’s body type/activity/needs/target.

In terms of carbs and fat intake im not going to go there im just keeping things plain and simple.

If you guys want any advice, tips etc..... just drop me a message here or find me on Twitter or Facebook Nick Anthony

Love peace and big mucsles.

PROGRESS PICS 7 WEEKS IN MY PREP

Keeping you all up to date with my progress pics, will be also posting this weeks training routine and why i decided to train this way.......

Love peace and big muscles.

PROGRESS PICS 6 WEEKS IN MY PREP

Just came home after a great shoulder workout and I thought ill post something quick to keep you guys up to date with same progress 6th weeks in my preparation, still have a long way to go but enjoying every moment of this journey... 

 LOOKING AT THESE PICS AGAIN, I THINK I SHOULD START SMILING A BIT MORE BECAUSE I LOOK LIKE A REAL MOODY C**T HERE LOL...........

Love peace and big muscles.

HOW DO I GET MOTIVATION? EVEN SOMETIMES IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE....

How do I get the strength to get myself out of bed and train even though I sometimes feel like my body’s energy is on empty?

I’m not gonna lie, there’s day where the idea of having to go the gym is just so unappealing to me. Having to do that cardio is the last thing that I want to put myself through.

So what makes me push myself to do it?

Waking up in the morning, going on Facebook and seeing you guys liking and commenting on my pics, blog posts and statuses really gives me my morning boost to get up and do what I have to do. I feel that I am here not only to better myself but to inspire my fans. Just seeing some of the motivational pictures you guys post or the “likes” you have put is enough to get me out the house and down at the gym. I mean, the way I see it, I don’t really have an excuse to sit and whine and bitch when I can see that you guys are also pushing hard and working out.

What about when it comes down to pumping that iron? How do I manage to lift such heavy weights even though at times it could be considered almost impossible? For me, lifting weights is a type of therapy; I gather together all the negative thoughts, feelings and emotions I have, e.g. past mistakes I’ve made, failures in terms of not achieving a past goal and combine them together to create an intense energy which allows me to have the power to lift those weights.

For me, it’s all about using what you have experienced in your past to better your present.

Love peace and big muscles.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO THINK "OUT OF THE BOX" TO SEE BETTER RESULTS...

As I had mentioned on one of my previous video blogs, I was going to talk about how sometimes you have to trick your body in order for it to respond well. About 5 weeks ago, I began my contest preparation and everything was going great up until week 4. For some reason I felt that my body was not responding well to the cardio. During my training, I was looking and feeling more depleted and tired I began to wonder why.

I decided to take a moment and think about it from ‘outside the box’. To be honest, I hadn’t really stopped cardio, even from the off season, I would train 3 times a week, 30mins in the winter and as the summer was approaching, I would increase it to 5 times a week- I live in Cyprus so yes I wanted to look good for the beach.

 I slowly starting to come to the conclusion that the constant cardio had caught up with me and as a result, the training was refusing to show any signs of change; in terms of both burning more fat and decreasing body fat. Like it or not, our bodies are not made to be ultra lean with very little body fat. Our bodies are built to store fat this concept can be traced back to the Stone Age era where we had to hunt for food. Back in the day we did not know if we would have food from one day to the next, therefore our bodies needed to store that fat to survive. A bit similar to how camels store water in their humps.

Yet fast forward to today, we are now living in a time where we no longer need to stock up on our food intake. Instead, our main preoccupation is looking lean and fit by burning away any excess fat. However our bodies to a certain degree are still programmed to function the same way they functioned during the hunting/gathering era. Therefore if we are constantly exercising, at some point our bodies will react by not burning as much fat as one would desire. So what do you do when you reach this plateau?

 The answer is quite simple, do the opposite from what you were doing; if you were doing cardio 6x a week, decrease it to 3. If you were training heavy and with a slowish tempo, train fast with a fast tempo and even add a cheat meal to shock the body on the weekend. Do this practice for about 1-2 weeks and then jump back to your normal routine. I tried this tactic out myself and I must say, results can be definitely seen. I generally felt more relaxed and rested, both physically and psychologically.

At the end of the day, what is important is to always listen to your body and think outside the box. Both body and brain are highly advanced mechanisms, yet every now and again there needs to be a change-a shock-a stimulation in order for both to maintain their effective functionality.

Love peace and big muscles.

OVER-TRAINING: COULD TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING END UP BEING BAD?

Even the best of us will at one point or another be the victims of over-training. I guess it’s a bump on the road that we all have to go through, so that we can understand what it really means. The most common reason of over-training is letting ourselves get motivated by our feelings; then we stop thinking with our brain and we let our heart take over. The outcome is pushing yourself for that extra mile even though you have the gut feeling that you really should stop. It is just like the double bladed knife I mentioned in the earlier post.... leaning too much on either side and you could end up hurting yourself.

Another reason why people over-train is because they see advanced athletes and pro training like crazy; lifting heavy weights and doing long sessions of cardio with little difficulties. So they think they can do the same. But we forget that most of them have support which helps them recover faster than the average Joe, or that some of them are genetically gifted in such a way that over-training doesn’t really mean anything to them.

So what do you really have to do? You have to learn to start reading your body, and spotting the signs of over-training. There is no point in panicking, just take a step back, take that extra breath of air and think about:

1. How is your body reacting to the workout? Are there improvements or is it all going downhill?
2. Your strength; are you getting stronger or weaker?
3. How much recovery time do you take after workouts? Do you maybe need more?
4. Are you doing too much cardio?
5. How is your diet? Do you maybe need more calories or a more frequent re-feed?
6. What is your mental state like, are you feeling down?

7. Washed-put feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy?

8. Are you stressed?

9. Have you been sleeping well or are you walking around like a zombie?

10. How is your appetite? Has it decreased?
11. Are you bored of the same gym routine or diet?
12. When was the last time you really got away from the gym?

And yes, over-training has happened to me a number of times too. And I had to pay the price, as we all have to. Sometime this is a small price, but sometimes it can be a lot bigger. But hopefully this post will help some of you avoid over-training or at least be able to spot the signs of it before it happens!

Love, peace and big muscles.

SHOULDERS,TRAPS AND TRICEPS WORKOUT

Here is my yesterday’s workout which I did with Razmataaz. It was shoulders, traps and triceps. We were both in a rush so we had to improvise some exercises a little, but overall I think it’s an ok program. Enjoy!

FRONT DELTS

Exercise one: (heavy)
Hammer strength shoulder press
2-3 sets warm-up. 20 reps nice and light with a full range of motion
4 working sets:
• Set one 15 reps
• Set two 8-10 reps
• Set three 4-6 reps (heavy)
On these three sets increasing weight to failure.
• Set four 15+ reps with lightish weight just to get a nice pump. Finish with static 15 sec

Exercise two: (dropdowns)
Standing D/B lateral raises
3 working sets which each set consisting of 3 dropdowns of 10-12 reps

Exercise three: (medium/heavy)
Reverse grip z-bar raises
3 working sets
• Set one 12 reps
• Set two 12 reps
• Set three 10reps

REAR DELTS & TRAPS

Exercise one: (dropdowns)
Seated rear delt machine 3 working sets which each set consisting of 3 dropdowns of 10-12 reps

Exercise two:
Hammer strength shrug machine (heavy)
3 working sets
• Set one 10 reps
• Set two 10 reps

Use heavy weight to failure on each set. Also try to touch your ear lobes with your shoulder and bend slightly forwards while squeezing traps on the top on each set.

TRICEPS

Exercise one: (pre-exhaustion)
Seated one arm cable over head extension
3 working sets
• Set one 30 reps
• Set two 20 reps
• Set three 15-20 reps

I used lightish weights on these three sets as it is just a pre-exhaustion exercise but I did increase slightly the weight in each set. DON’T FORGET THE FULL RANGE OF MOTION GOING FOR THAT STRETCH.

Exercise two: (medium/heavy)
Straight bar cable push down
3 working sets
• Set one 12 reps
• Set two 10 reps
• Set three 10 reps

Nothing special on this exercise. Just remember full range of motion in each set and increasing weight. Don’t cheat.

Exercise three: (dropdowns)
Ropes push downs 3 working sets which each set consisting of 3 dropdowns of 10-12 reps

Love, peace and big muscles.

WELL I GUESS IT IS TIME TO STOP THE TALK, AND GET TO WORK.

Moving on from philosophising about the sport and how it affects our everyday lives, I am posting a programme that I did, and that I though worked quite well. Here is my leg work out from last week. I was real happy with it – though of course, I know some you guys out there may say ‘hey you over-did this’ or ‘that could have been better’... and that’s ok. Improvements could always be made.

Anyway, here it is, hope you enjoy it, and feel free to post comments about it if you have tried it out.

Warm-up

Stationary bike for about 3-5mins, nice and light to get the blood flowing.

Quads

Exercise one:

Barbell squats (heavy) - feet to be positioned a bit wider than shoulder width

A warm up set of 20 reps nice and light with a full range of motion

4 working sets

• Set one: 10 reps

• Set two: 8 to 10 reps

• Set three: 6 to 8 reps

On these three sets increasing weight to failure.

• Set four: 15 plus reps with lightish weight just to get a nice pump

Exercise two:

Leg extensions (dropdowns)

• 3 working sets which each set consisting of 3 dropdowns of 12 to 15 reps

Exercise three:

Leg press (heavy) – feet in closed position

3 working sets

• Set one: 10 reps

• Set two: 10 reps

• Set three: 6 reps

On these three sets increasing weight to failure.

Exercise four:

Hack squat (dropdowns) - feet to be positioned shoulder width

• 3 working sets which each set consisting of 3 dropdowns of 6 to 8 reps with heavyish weight

Hamstrings

Exercise five:

Stiff leg dead-lifts with Barbell

• 3 working sets of 12 to 15 reps

Full range of motions going down as much as you can to feel the hamstrings stretch. Stay on a good, comfortable weight.

Exercise six:

Laying down hamstring curls (dropdowns)

• 4 working sets which each set consisting of 3 dropdowns of 6 to 8 reps with heavyish weight

Love, peace and big muscles.