Fantastic !!

A very quick up date as I’ve just come in from the gym and it went very well.

It was a rehab day today and it went really well, the exercises are coming together and the movement feels a lot better.

The really big improvement came from my bonus round.  The lat pull downs are as heavy as I can go as there is a lot of pressure being placed on my collar bone but they are coming on well. 

The Squat was fabulous today and I managed a set of 10 at 80 kgs.  I want to see just how heavy I can go in a set of 10 before I start putting together a complex.  I’m hoping to get to at least 100kgs by the end of next week.

The Leg press was a massive improvement and I pressed out 10 reps on the 18 plate so I was very pleased with that and I want be making any predictions on this one, I went dizzy after 10 !

This is the best bit, I managed 5 Press ups today.  I know, I can hear some of you “Big Deal” well it is to me.  It’s a massive achievement and means I’m well on the road to mending and getting back to some real training.  The first one was really tentative but once out of the way I knew I could do more.

Because I thought it was going to be painful I could feel my elbows coming out and away from my Lats but after the first one was done I brought them in and kept good form.

Although it has been a short Blog it has been full of PB’s and a fantastic day.

I hope your day turns out as good as mine.

Ed.

http://www.edmilsom.com

www.ultimateperformancecentre.com

Bad eating day !!

It’s been a difficult few days not in the gym but trying to post anything on line.  For some reason my setting have all gone hay wire on me, I’m not even sure this is going to work.

Any way the gym work has been going very well and I’m very pleased with my efforts to date.  There is something very satisfying about getting an exercise right and not loosing form.  I have finally nailed the iron cross (no pun intended) and my squat is now 60 kgs.  My hand grip still isn’t perfect but it’s getting better each time, as for my leg press I’m now on 8 press’s on the 18 plate.

I did today’s session in 40 minutes and completed all the exercises in plenty of time.  On about the 4^th of August I will be retesting myself as I want to move some of the weights up.  I will be testing Tim on his return from leave so it will be the ideal time to redo my own weights.

Friday’s tea wasn’t great and there’s only so much carrot and cucumber you can eat with chicken, by 20.00 hrs I was starving so I went for some tea and toast.  It was really nice but I felt very guilty afterwards. 

Fridays is a bad eating day anyway but I try to stay close to the rule.  It’s just nice to be bad once in a while.   My water intake is still good and it’s no problem getting through 8-10 bottles of water a day.  Combine that with numerous cups of tea and my hydration levels are very good.

I’ve not done any serious Ab work since my return due to my injury and it is starting to show.  The dreaded beer belly has started to show.  It doesn’t take long for the Abs and TVA muscle to become slack and the extra pounds gather around the waist.  It’s not long now and I will be on leave and from there I’m hoping to be fit enough on my return to hit the Abs big time.

From next week I will be starting the boxing bag routine as well so that should be good for a change and I’m looking forward to hitting the bag again, it's been a while.  It has to be done in moderation and under control the last thing I need right now is an injury through a lack of self control.  Talking of self control, my mental visualisation has really come on over the last few weeks.  Although I use it mainly for my bike riding skills I seem to be a lot calmer these days.  Things that would normally adjutant me or wind me up no longer do.

 Just a short Blog today as I’m not sure if this is going to post.

It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do it to the best of your ability.

Ed.

http://www.edmilsom.com

www.ultimateperformancecentre.com

Next Time

I went at it like a bull in a china shop; in the back of my mind I was worried about not finishing the sets in time.  The warm up went well and I went straight into my first set.  It felt very strange at first doing 50% of my max.  The seated row felt as if there was no weight and that applied to all the first set.

The second set was 75% of my max and I went straight into it with no rest, now I was working, not massively hard but my breathing was getting harder as I went through the exercises.  By the end of set 2 I was ready for a rest but it wasn’t going to happen.

I moved onto set 3 at 100% of my max.  Straight away I felt as if I could have gone heavier.  It’s very easy to get carried away and start adding weight, now is the time to be patient and remember I have an injury.  Although it was going well and I felt great, it might be a different story in 3 hours time.

I completed the warm up, 3 sets of 15 reps and the cool down in 48 minutes.  I was happy with my effort and it was a great cardio session.  I still had plenty of time to get my bonus session done within the hour.

I did 2 of my bonus session exercises; I started off with the lat pull downs and I kept the weight the same.  I thought after my sets it would have been hardier so the next time through the weight will be going up.  I then moved on to the Leg Press machine and I started on Plate 18.  I had already decided to do 6 reps.  The first 4 were OK and the 5^th was a struggle, I started number 6 but I never really got it going.  I will next time. 

I’ve decided that I will do Lat Pull Downs on every bonus session followed by one of the other two exercises.  It all depends on what muscle group has been worked the hardest.

I was happy with my first time through the program and very happy with the time.  Day two session is by far the hardest so I think it will interesting to see how the time relates to session one and indeed if I can complete the full requirement of pistols and press ups.

Until next time, be good to yourself and train as hard as you can all the time.

Ed.

http://www.edmilsom.com

www.ultimateperformancecentre.com

Plate 18

Rehab went very well and I’m getting a bit quicker through the exercises now.  What that means is I get more time to play at the end in my bonus session.  The wall exercises are still giving me hassle and I think that’s because they are last in the session and my shoulders are isolated.  I’m not going through my pain indicator of 6 but its bloody close.

The Iron Cross is a hard exercise to get right.  The temptation is to lean forward on the balls of your feet and roll the shoulders forward to give that little bit more movement.  This allows you to get lower and bring the arms back further.  Not only is it the wrong thing to do, you are cheating the exercise.  It doesn’t matter if you are not getting the full movement straight away, what you are doing is training your muscles to move in the right way and gaining strength with the right movement.

My bonus session was a really good one.  I did 3 exercises in total the Lat Pull Down followed by Squats and to finish off I was on the Leg Press Machine.

It went very well and I have increased my Lat pull down weight from when I did my testing, so I will have to adjust my sheet, that will prove to be a difficult set.  The Squats were as I predicted, difficult but manageable.  I had 50 Kilos including the bar and the weight wasn’t the issue.  I could really feel it in my collar done.  I couldn’t hold onto the bar with a full grip, what that meant was I couldn’t squeeze the bar as hard as I could at the bottom of the lift to help me pop out.  I just did the ten reps and I think I’ll stay at this weight until I can master getting under the bar and a proper grip.  My final exercise was the Leg Press.

It was a double press (both legs) and I started at plate 12 in the middle.  No real great shakes so I moved up the plates with a press on each one.  I got to the last plate (18) and although it was a slow press I did it.  So from now on it will be how many I can push out on the 18 plate.

Today is the first day of my program and I’m looking forward to seeing if I can complete all 15 reps in all 3 sets.  The other factor is going to be, can I get them all done in the allotted time of 75 minutes.  There will be no time for resting or taking my time so it’s going to be a good cardio session as well as weight training.

I’ll keep you posted as to how I get on and where I found it difficult and indeed if I got it all done in time.

Be safe and enjoy what you are doing.

Ed

http://www.edmilsom.com

www.ultimateperformancecentre.com

Testing !!

It’s been a busy few days and today was the final day of testing to find my max weights.  My collar bone is holding up well but it reminds me every now and then to behave.  The press ups on day 2 of testing pushed me to my limit, not in the way that I couldn’t do them from a lack of strength but from the pain issue.  I got my 15 but it was with a struggle and my last 4 were touch and go.  I know when the pain level reaches 6 I need to stop and when I start to lose form I need to stop. 

But it’s easier said than done.  The exercises went well today and as usual there is always a set that I don’t like or push the pain boundaries to the limit.  The single leg press took me by surprise as I’ve always had good strength in my legs and I thought I would be able to press more than I did.  So that’s one I need to work on and improve over the next 4 weeks.

I was a little bit apprehensive in my approach to the Dumbbell Bench Press as it’s easy to get wrong and course damage to the Deltoid muscle and I wasn’t sure how my collar bone was going to act.  I think I could have gone heavier but by the time I got to rep 13 my collar bone was starting to complain, so I think I will be able to improve on that one quiet quickly.

Now that testing is done I’m looking forward to hitting the gym with 3 sets of 15 at 50, 75 & 100% weight ratios.  It will be interesting to see if I can complete all 3 sets and in 75 minutes.  The thing I must remember is to stop when I reach level 6 in the pain scale or when I start to lose form.  I’m hoping the pain comes in first as strange as that sounds.  Losing form means I’ve lost strength and muscle and I want be happy with that.  As for the pain, there’s nothing I can do about that so it’s very much out of my hands.

Today is rehab and that has taken on a whole new life of its own as I get better at the exercises and my strength increases.  Press ups are still a distant dream but I try one each day to see how close I am getting.  I did 15 full squats with 40 lbs yesterday and it felt very good.  Once I was under the bar and the weight was on my traps I was fine.  Getting out from under the bar was a bit strange but with practice it will get better.  I did the squats as a bonus to “grease the groove” as coach would say and I was very pleased with my effort, today I will have a blast at 50 lbs.  I think it’s very doable and with the right mind set there should be more in the bag.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and whatever it is you are doing be safe.

Ed.

http://www.edmilsom.com

www.ultimateperformancecentre.com

Magic

I wasn’t wrong and it was a warm one, as for my collar bone it held out well but I suffered the following day.  It’s been a few days now since my last Blog but I feel like I have come on in leaps and bounds.

All my rehab is now with weight and coach has added to my work outs, more to the point each of my workouts have been fined tuned and are now bang on the money.  I really appreciate all the time coach has spent working with me.  It just goes to show with a bit of hard work and guidance from an expert just how quickly you can mend and improve.  At the beginning of last week I tried a press up on the bench, under the guidance of coach and the pain was unbelievable.  I thought then that this was going to be a very long and boring road.

I couldn’t have got it more wrong if I had tried, the rehab has been great fun and now that I’m on the weights I feel like I am working hard in the gym.  The pain has finally subsided in my collar bone the only time it hurts now is when I try too hard or do too much.

Yesterday was the first of 3 days testing to find my max weights in my new training program.  I’m now doing 3 days rehab and 3 days weight training, on the last day I plan to do bag work and I’d really like to throw some kicks into the mix as well.  Time will tell and I’ll keep you posted.

My pectoral muscle was suffering the other day and coach had to do his magic on me, the scar tissue is better but every now and then it cramps up sending pins and needles into my bicep.  It can be very painful and very off putting.  So earlier this week coach got to grips with me and subjected me too even more pain and sorted out my scar tissue.  There’s probably a better way to say that but there you go. 

It was amazing what coach had done for me, not only was the pain gone but I had full movement in my shoulder.  Normally when you find a source of pain relief it doesn’t last long and you are back to normal, suffering and trying to protect the site by what ever means possible.  Not in this case, it’s been a few days and I worked hard in the gym today, I feel a bit tight around the shoulder and kneck but nothing worth writing home about.

Tomorrow is the second day of testing for my max weights in another 5 exercises and I’m looking forward to it.   Below is a quick table of the program that coach put together for me and can be found on his very easy to follow Blog “be fit for life”  http://steve-befitforlife.blogspot.com/2011/07/putting-beginner-weights-programme.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FEcgHy+%28Be+Fit+For+Life%29 

3 Day Work Out with Rehab x 3 for 6 Weeks

Warm Up

Wall Slide, Arms Up & Back L/R, Black Band Behind Back, Arm Lifts, Wall Press.

Day 1

Movement	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest Time	Weight
Locomotion	Lunge	3	15	60-90 Sec	10 lbs
Push	Press D/B	3	15	60-90 Sec	15 lbs
Pull	Seated Row	3	15	60-90 Sec	42.5
Changing Levels	Squats	3	15	60-90 Sec	25 lbs
Rotation	High Low Wood Chops	3	15	60-90 Sec	25
	60 Sec between sets	50/75/100%

Day 2

Movement	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest Time	Weight
Locomotion	Romanian Dead Lift	3	15	60-90 Sec
Push	Press Up (any version)	3	15	60-90 Sec
Pull	Lat Pull Down	3	15	60-90 Sec
Changing Levels	Pistol Progression	3	15	60-90 Sec
Rotation	Horizontal Wood Chops	3	15	60-90 Sec
	60 Sec between sets	50/75/100%

Day 3

Movement	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest Time	Weight
Locomotion	Single Leg Press (leg press Machine)	3	15	60-90 Sec
Push	Dumbbell Bench Press	3	15	60-90 Sec
Pull	Horizontal Row	3	15	60-90 Sec
Changing Levels	Barbell Back Squat	3	15	60-90 Sec
Rotation	Low High Wood Chop	3	15	60-90 Sec
	60 Sec between sets	50/75/100%

Cool Down

Arch Hands on Chest, Dog Piss, Supper Man elbow to knee, Iron Cross, Squat with pole.

In order to understand the sets (3) and how much weight to use you need to read the blog, it’s a very good read and easy to understand.

My mental visualisation has been going very well and it comes to me very easily now and I really enjoy it.  My water intake has been really good too this week so all in all it’s been a good week with lots of progress made.

Thanks’ coach.

http://www.edmilsom.com

www.ultimateperformancecentre.com