No seriously, i do need your help. It’s all very well me writing these posts, offering advice and giving opinions but it’s all coming from me. What i really want to know is what EXACTLY would you like to see on a site like this, what are your ideas. When you are scrolling Facebook or Twitter, rummaging around on the web, looking at other fitness, health or diet sites, what is it that really GRABS your attention.
Tell me, i really want to know. What are your interests and what would stop you in your tracks for 5 minutes from your busy days and make you read an article. Do you want more specific training routines? Tips on losing weight? Specific diets? Ways to incorporate health and fitness into your daily routine? I’m here to help and keen to provide the information that you want.
Would you be interested in my daily routine (what i eat – good and bad-, how i train, how much booze i drink etc? Do you want tips on equipment to use, training techniques, specific exercises? Do you want more focus on alternative health and fitness themes? Give me some ideas.
This is a call to action. Please, pretty please, tell me what that one thing you’d love to see is. If you could wave a magic wand and think “if only someone could show me how to….” or “If only someone would tell me….”. Just ask and it’s yours…….well maybe, depends on what you ask, but I’ll definitely try.
The whole purpose of this is to be interactive. It’s for ordinary guys and ordinary girls who are going about their daily lives and just want to improve, to be better, fitter, healthier, stronger BUT who also do have a life and need to work around that.
So come on, take 2 minutes, hit the comment button or email me. Tell me “what you want, what you really really want” (Ok no more song jokes i promise).
I’m sitting at my laptop waiting, DON’T disappoint me!
Ok so maybe we can’t all look like Arnold, but we can dream right? The summer is coming, T-Shirt season is upon us and most guys would love a little extra muscle in the parts that show. However it isn’t quite as easy as just grabbing a couple of dumbbells and doing curls until your arms fall off. There is some theory behind gaining muscle and particularly in trying to gain it quickly.
Firstly a little bit of science. In order to gain muscle or at least to shed some fat and show off the muscle underneath, you need to eat right AND get your body, it’s metabolism and hormones working the right way to produce that muscle. To do that you need to do a few things. Concentrate on eating high protein, lean foods such as Chicken, Turkey, Fish, lean red meat, nuts, beans and lots of vegetables as well as good carbs such as Sweet Potato and brown rice. Cut back on Acohol, ditch sweet/fizzy drinks and restrict white carbs such as bread, pasta, potatoes etc. Not only will eating this way provide your body with the right nutrients to build muscle but it will also help fire up one of the most important hormones in your body, Testosterone. If you can increase your Testosterone levels naturally it becomes far easier to both gain muscle size AND shed fat.
The second way to boost your T levels and therefore your muscle building potential is to do the RIGHT exercises, ones that will stimulate your entire nervous systems and FORCE your body to produce more testosterone and grow muscle. So what are those exercises? Well I have listed 6 of the best weight and body training exercises below that if you can hit hard 3 times a week for 2 to 3 months you should be in great speedo shape by the time the weather finally warms up. (This assumes you live in England like me).
They key thing here is to focus on “compound” exercises. Those are exercises that use multiple body parts at one time and force your nervous system, muscles and metabolism to respond. I know the temptation is to focus on your arms but believe me, if you follow these lifts and steer clear of isolation exercises like curls you will gain more muscle, more quickly than you thought possible. If you go to the Gym three times a week do all 6 exercises for only 3 sets of 8-10 reps at as heavy a weight as you can manage for that number of reps, you will gain strength and size very quickly. Don’t do more, you will only injure yourself or overload your system.
Click on the links highlighted in red for demo’s of the exercises. Forgive the cheesiness of a couple of these videos.
The Deadlift: One of the best exercises you can do. It works your entire back, your traps, Your legs, glutes (butt) and hip flexors. However, be careful. It is a complex exercise and if done wrongly can damage your lower back. Take it slowly, use strict form and use a weight that is heavy but manageable. You are not trying to break world records, just build some muscle.
The Squat: I love squats, no idea why, i just enjoy doing them. Squats will again work your entire lower body, thighs, glutes etc but will also actively engage your core muscles meaning you’ll improve your abs without even working them directly. Again focus on good form and use a weight that will allow you to squat as deeply as you can. The closer your arse gets to the floor the more muscles you will engage and it is also better for your knees. Squatting also gets you blowing and is great for cardio and your metabolism.
Bench Press: Everyone loves the bench press right? Well not necessarily. The bench is famed for building chest size and strength but actually that is not what it is best for. A barbell bench press actually works the triceps and deltoids (Shoulders) almost as much as the chest. However it is included here for precisely that reason, it is a compound movement that uses a number of muscles.
Military Press: This is a fantastic exercise to add shoulder size and width, grow your triceps and also builds great core strength which stabilises your body as you push the weight above your head.
Bent Over Row: This works your entire back as well as biceps and will help give you that deep wide looking back that fills T-shirts as well as promoting overall body strength. It will also work on bicep strength and size which I know you all want. You can use an overhand or underhand grip but do not go with too heavy a weight and keep strict form.
Pull Ups/Chin Ups: This is a fabulous but very tough exercise to conquer and build up any volume on. If you can use it correctly, do it regularly and start to do some decent numbers it will give you fabulous Lats to create that wide V-shaped, narrow waisted look that we all want. It is also one of the best exercises you can do for biceps but is often overlooked. Wide grip pull ups work best for a wide back and chin ups for your biceps. If you are new to this exercise a good way to do it is to do sets of just 2 to 3 reps and aim for 5 to 6 sets with only 30/40 seconds rest in between, then build up to longer sets and more reps as you become stronger.
That’s it. It seems too simple to you I’d imagine but believe me if you do this full routine 3 times a week and push yourself as hard as you can in every session as well as eating the right food you will shed fat and grow muscle like you wouldn’t believe. To finish each work out I’d add in 3 sets ofhanging leg/knee raisessuper setted with 3 x 45 secondplanks. Then do 5 minutes of HiiT (High Intensity Interval Training) on either the rowing machine or running machine. Basically go as fast as you can for 30 seconds then as slow as you can (or stop) for 30 seconds and repeat for 5 minutes.
The whole work out should take no more than an hour max. After 2 to three months you will probably get bored and need to add more variety into the routine but by then you will have added an inch to your arms, 2 inches to your chest, have a wider back and shoulders, jeans busting thighs and will have lost 2 to 3 inches from your waist.
Have fun, take care and remember i really would welcome any comments or questions,
John
PS: I realise that this is called Ordinary Guy Fitness and that many of the people in these video’s are very far from Ordinary guys or girls but that’s the nature of the internet and YouTube. It doesn’t change the fact that you, as an ordinary person can do all the same exercises that they can.
Why is it that so many ladies that want to get fit or lose weight run a mile when you suggest that they incorporate some weight training into their routine? You hear all sorts of excuses but the main one seems to be “i don’t do weights cos i don’t want to get too big or look manly”. At this point I haver to stifle a laugh. I lift weights at least three times a week and am continuously disappointed at my lack of progress in terms of building muscle so believe me girlies you just aint gonna get big and bulky just by throwing a few dumbbells around a couple of times a week.
It’s most likely that the few pictures you have seen of very muscular or bulky women are training their arses off 6 days a week, shifting poundages that a small elephant would be proud of and eating mountains of protein heavy food that would make the Man V Food guy turn white. Not only that but the really biggest ones are almost certainly on steroids or Human Growth Hormone.
I can’t say this with enough stress. Lifting some weights WILL NOT make you big and bulky.
So why I am I advocating that you SHOULD add some weights and resistance training into your programme. Well a few reasons really. Firstly Cardio does have its place and will help you a)get fitter and b) lose some weight. Cardio does burn calories and as part of an overall programme is great for your heart and overall fitness. However your body quickly adjusts to it and when it does adjust it starts to become less effective very quickly. Not only that but after a while it can start to burn not only calories but also muscle tissue (How many long distance runners have you seen with great figures?).
By contrast doing some resistance based weight training (It doesn’t have to be too heavy, don’t panic) will have a number of very positive effects. It will also burn calories just like cardio but if done in the right way and with some intensity and speed it will also light a fire under your bodies metabolism. What does that mean? Well with normal cardio you burn calories whilst you exercise but once you stop you almost immediately stop burning calories. With weight or resistance based intensity training you burn just as many calories but because of the muscular effort involved your metabolism lights up and your body actually continues to burn calories at a much higher rate for many hours afterwards. So when you are back on the sofa watching TV later that evening your body is still working hard shedding weight as a result of your earlier efforts, how cool is that. Metabolic training can be done in loads of ways and the variety is also fun and makes your training very enjoyable.
Another great effect of using weights is that it tones and shapes while you train. You won’t get hugely muscular arms but you WILL tone up your bat wings, get a more shapely butt, tone up your thighs, iron our some cellulite etc etc. ALL things that cardio alone just can’t do.
Finally shifting some weights now and then improves your over all strength. It makes your muscles, bones and joints stronger and more resilient. As we all get older that is key in preserving your mobility and physical health.
So ladies. Please don’t be afraid of or turn your nose up at picking up some heavy stuff now and then. It will do you the world of good, make your butt tighten up AND be far more effective at helping you lose weight than a boring hour on a cross trainer will.
If you have any questions please email and future posts will include more info on Matabolic training and weights for women.
So here is my first ever post on my new blog……….er……what the hell do i write now?? How about some ideas of the type of posts you’ll find on here going forward and what you can expect from me.
Firstly a little bit of honesty. Why am i doing this? There are a number of reasons actually. The main one is that i think I’m having a mid life crisis!! Seriously! My work bores the hell out of me and i want to do something I’m passionate about. Health, fitness, training is an area i genuinely am passionate about. I enjoy….no i love it, and hopefully if you come here regularly I can demonstrate some of that love and passion and more importantly can try to help you to improve your general levels of health, fitness, weight, body shape etc.
Secondly i want to show that ordinary people CAN make changes to their lives, get fitter, lose weight, become stronger better versions of their current selves AND still have fun, enjoy life and have a blow out now and then. You don’t have to live the life of a monk or starve yourselves to achieve your health and fitness goals, you CAN drink beer, eat Chocolate, have a Curry etc and STILL lose weight and gain muscle. REALLY??? I can hear the fitness guru’s out there dropping their Beetroot and Kale juices as i speak. Yes it’s true, you can have the best of both worlds and I hope to show you how.
Finally, and I’ll be really honest here. I hope to build this blog up as much as possible, gain many thousands (Hell why not be ambitious….millions) of regular readers and then if the wind is blowing in the right direction, maybe make some money from it. So at some point the site may contain some adverts, may promote some other sites or products and may even sell some stuff at some point (I have a book brewing!!). If that upsets you, offends you or you just don’t like commercialism that’s absolutely fine. I get it, really i do. Perhaps you’d better look elsewhere and I won’t be offended i promise. If you are still with me I hope you appreciate my honesty from the start and anyway, none of that is likely to happen for a while……
So here goes, hopefully you will enjoy the ride. Please feel free to post some comments. This is as new to me as it is you and I’m learning as we go so if I’m doing something wrong, tell me.
Hello from the other side…..
