Showing posts with label muscle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label muscle. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Want underwear model abs?




Of course you do. They're fun to look at, fun to play with, and I'm not going to lie, they are fun to own. I owe a lot to my abs. They've made me memorable, they've made me money, and I'm 99% sure that my wife wouldn't have married me unless all 8 were present and accounted for on the blessed day.
I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying, life is better with abs.

Here's a template of how I got mine, with variations underneath:


*walk dogs 20 mins

6am - Breakfast: 1 cup cooked brown rice, 1 scoop EPIQ Isolate Vanilla, Chia seeds, Raisins, Cinnamon, 250mL water

*walk 20 mins to gym

7:30am - Workout: Supersetted, 3 sets, 8-10 reps of: Back squats/Pullups, Deadlift/Bench Press, Db Shoulder Press/Any ab exercise (20 reps), EPIQ Rush w/500mL water

*walk 15 min to work

1:30pm - Lunch: 3 cups mixed greens, 1 fish fillet, Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower seeds, 1 handful grated cheddar cheese, 2 tbsp. dressing (vinaigrette), 1L water

*walk 20 mins to home

6pm - Dinner: Lettuce wrap chicken fajitas, 1 handful shredded cheddar cheese, oven baked yellow potatoe French fries w/vinegar, Green peas, 250mL water

7:30pm - 2 cups plain Greek yogurt, 1/3 scoop EPIQ Isolate Chocolate, 1 handful raisins, 1 tbsp raw honey, 250mL water

8pm - EPIQ green monster shake, 2 handfuls spinach, 1 scoop EPIQ Isolate Chocolate, 1 banana, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 500mL water

*walk dogs 30 mins


Variations
For the most part, my breakfast always remains the same. I wake up ravenous, and I not only look forward to breakfast...it is my favourite meal of the day. On occasion I may substitute steel cut oats for brown rice...but I'm not happy about it.

Lunch: Sometimes I skip lunch. There. I said it. I don't skip it so much because I am intentionally doing an intermittent fast (though I sometimes mark it down as much), but because I am too lazy to pack one (I regret it every time, but confounding enough, still choose laziness).

Dinner: 1) Turkey bacon, chicken cesar salad with a vinaigrette cesar dressing 2) Ground turkey, rice pasta penne with tomatoe sauce and green peas 3) Bass or Tilapia filet on Quinoa and Edamame beans 4) Iceberg lettuce salad bun, chicken burger with avocado, turkey bacon and grated cheese, and baked potatoe wedges 5) Shredded chicken pita with green peppers, cucumbers, spinach, vinaigrette, and carrots 6) the occasional pepperoni pizza or 7) salmon burger on sliders (2 or 3 times per month on a Friday).

Workouts: I workout 4 or 5 times per week in the gym and practice/play a sport once twice per week. My workouts involve as little rest as possible and are ALWAYS super-setted, but they rarely last more than 50 minutes in length.

Abs are about quality, not quantity: It's about the quality of your workout and about the quality of food you eat.

How do you get your abs?

@BrendanRolfe


Thursday, February 27, 2014

The 5 exercises every fitness model does

...Not a secret at all. You can take your hamstring curls and ab rollouts and shove 'em. Any trainer or knowledgeable body-builder worth a drop of sweat knows that there are 5 basic lifts, that, when done properly, are guaranteed to make your body aesthetically pleasing (look good). This applies to both men and women equally. Every other exercise is just a variation on these five, designed to decrease monotony, increase balance and stability, and perhaps add an element of functionality. Keep in mind, athletes, whose sport demands strength through all dimensions (unilateral, linear & and rotational) won't adhere to just these exercises strictly, but you can bet these are part of their foundational strength workout.

http://www.bottomlinefitness.com/2013/05/26/how-to-get-killer-abs-cooking-with-coconut-oil/

While heavier weights with low reps should be safely built up to, EVERYONE should lift heavy if their goal is aesthetics. What dictates your results, based on your goals, is how much you eat. There is a simple maxim in lifting:

You want to be big? Lift heavy and eat lots.

It's not rocket science. But guess what? As lifting heavy burns more calories (7-9 rep range) than light lifting at 15 reps (the common conception of how to "stay lean"). If you eat less and eat clean, you will burn fat, but also maintain muscle tone. That's not to say you won't burn muscle as well, that is unavoidable when at a calorie deficit, but you will maintain a baseline of muscle tone if you eat properly.

If you are trying to gain mass, eat plenty of lean protein, plenty of veggies, and plenty of grain and nut based carbs. You will need to eat at least 1000 more calories than you burn in a day to add noticeable muscle. (The carbs are vital, because carbs are your primary energy source. If the body burns through all of your carbs, it moves on to protein as a secondary macro-nutrient energy source (ie. burns your muscle as energy).

If you are trying to get lean, eat lean proteins as well, but consume most of your carbohydrates as veggies. You can incorporate grains and nuts as well, but to lean out, you will need to run a calorie deficit each day. Consider a deficit of 1000 calories to be a safe goal, depending on how quickly you want to cut weight (remembering that 3500 calories burnt is roughly equal to a pound of fat).

Without further ado, here are the Big 5 exercises...the only ones you need to do to look like a beach hero: Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Seated Row, Military Shoulder Press

1) Squats
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/07/08/why-you-need-squats-in-your-workout-and-how-to-do-them-right/
2) Deadlifts
http://fitness.makeupandbeauty.com/every-girl-needs-to-learn-to-dead-lift/
3) Bench Press
http://www.homeexercise.co/power-lifting/204/
4) Seated Rows
http://www.myfreckledlife.com/2013/10/03/bicep-blues/
5) Military Shoulder Press
http://fitfinity.net/2010/09/20/exercise-essentials-part-4-overhead-press/

Boom. That's it. 100 years of body building knowledge summed up into what every body builder already knows. If you are mindful of precise form, always actively engage your core in every exercise, and go until failure with heavy weight, you will get the results you want...guaranteed. Perform 4 sets of each, 7-9 reps, 4 days per week with one day of rest in between. You can even superset them for time-efficiency (Squats with Rows, Deadlifts with Bench, Military with Abs -- if you really want to -- although it's not necessary to isolate abs if you are doing the lifts right). Abs are a reflection of diet and form. If you absolutely must do cardio, do high intensity interval training. You will get far better results and a bigger bang for your buck then a standard jog.

So there it is...the secret is out! So you can continue to buy your body building and curve magazines and do those exercises (they are good to mix things up), but if you have the drive and commitment and don't easily get bored, the big 5 will get you the beach body you want.