Weather, Wimbledon and Tennis

With Wimbledon currently all over our screens and with the heatwave we are currently in I thought I introduce you to a few tips for tennis you could do in the gym or outside. This will hopefully benefit your tennis skills and get your heart rate up, burning unwanted fat for the summer. 

For tennis the main focus are powerful legs along with strong shoulders. The recruitment of fast twitch muscles are crucial in tennis as every movement is of a explosive form. As a tennis player though you still want to remain light on your feet, great aerobic capacity for long rally's with flexibility to stretch for the short drop shots. Stability for when playing power shots and the ability to get to the shots along with pin point footwork are also aspects which are needed. However, firstly I'm going to start by how to improve the recruitment of fast twitch muscles.

Much like my recent blog on football the recruitment of fast twitch muscles are crucial to gain the explosive power to generate through the shots. Beginning with a compound exercise to recruit these muscle fibres in a high weight, low rep, explosive manner. Back squat is where I would begin. Warm up to a weight where you would normally perform 8-10 reps with. Use this weight to perform 3x5 of pause squats, pausing for a 6 second count at the bottom of the rep. Superset this with jump squats to failure. Next moving on to the posterior chain through deadlifts. Unlike the pause with the squats the attention needs to be paid to the eccentric phase, with the lowering of the weight and exploding out of the bottom. I read a recent article on Laura Robson's training and this is one of her  favourite exercises. Perform 5x5 superset with 8 tuck jumps. Both of these are aiming to increase your recruitment of fast twitch muscle fibres.

Mentioned in the article was how Laura uses a lot of pull ups in her routine to build up her upper strength. These can be performed assisted, normally or weighted all to improve strength. If you can't perform a pull up unassisted then jump up and lower yourself down under control, this will just build up the strength in the area. Press ups is the king of exercises to build the strength in the upper body. Clap press ups will suit tennis more due to the explosive manner in which they are performed. Lowering yourself down under control with a explosive press generating power, emulating an action when performing a shot. With these you can go as far as bring your whole body of the ground.

 

Movement around the court is the last aspect I'm going to address which is one of the most important. Movement can't just be backwards and forwards to and from the net as the game is mostly played across court meaning lateral movement must be efficient as well.  This is often improved through drills, such a shuttle runs, or death runs like in basketball but there are certain exercises which can help. Ice skaters where you jump laterally from one leg to the other will increase the single leg power on the plane of movement. All different types of sprints will aid with movement. Move laterally and then after 8-12 strides sprint forward. Jump 180 degrees then sprint forward. Move laterally, then backwards and sprint forwards. All these slight adjustments to just basic sprint will all help, read my football entry for more tips and advice. 

Gym based workout

1) Squats - 15,12.10,8 then 3x5 pause squats. Superset with jump squats.

2) Deadlifts - 15,12,10,8 then 5x5 deadlifts, focus on eccentric phases. Superset tuck jumps.

3) Pull ups 3 sets till failure. If exceeding 10 reps add additional weight.

4) Clap press ups, aim for 6-8 reps. 

5) Plank, 4x45 seconds.

Outdoors 

1) 5 burpees, 8 press ups, 10 jump squats. As many rounds in 20 minutes.

2) 10 Ice skaters, 5 broad jumps. 5 sets.

3) 50 m sprint

                      180 degree turn into sprint x5

                      Lateral, backwards into sprint x5

There we have a few little points that you could use to improve you strength and conditioning for when your next on the court, or you just fancy a different workout.

Jack

Killing Legs - Steve Cook style!!!!

Just a quick entry following my leg day yesterday. Now just before I trained I decided to watch a big inspiration of mine, Steve Cook on youtube, training legs. It was a video of him hitting legs aiming to put on size in a hypertrophy state. 8x8 on each exercise with only 30 seconds rest. As soon as I watched this I knew this was the principle i was going to work off of. Now to the workout out:

10 minute Watt Bike interval based warm up.

8x8 Leg Curl

8x8 Front Squat

8x8 Weight Walking Lunges - 8 on each leg.

8x8 Leg Extension/Dumbbell Sumo Squats/Wall Sit.

Leg Curl - I often neglect my hamstrings so begun with these today. Much like when your training your biceps for example ensure you get a full contraction, squeezing the hamstring. Increase the weight with each set however don't let the weight dictate tempo, keeping this 2240. The slow contraction, with a 2 second pause, followed by 4 second eccentric phase will build the muscle, not the amount of weight you can lift. 

Front Squat - This is my new favourite exercise!!! I’ve always loved squats but these at the minute are just hitting my quads so hard. Its predominantly a quad exercise hitting less of the posterior chain like in a back squat would. I took Steve Cook’s advice and put my heels on weight plates which aided my squat no end. This is simulating what it would be like to wear lifting shoes when squatting. Below is the link of me squatting using this method. Worth a watch to explain how this method can benefit your squat.

https://instagram.com/p/4jn67NnOK1/?taken-by=jacksfitnessforyou

Walking Lunges - With these make sure your always keeping a straight upper body and pushing through the movement. Keep your core engaged at all times. If you're slightly wobbly reduce the weight.

Leg Extension, Sumo Squat, Wall Sit. - This is the finisher to the leg workout. Make sure on the extension you get a full extension, pausing for a 2 second count, seeing the quads contract. Lower under control.  For the Sumo Squat hold a dumbbell with both hands in the centre of your body, with a wide squat stance. This is targeting your gluteus. Wall sit for a 20 second count or failure. Squat just above parallel. This tri-set will hurt, use light weight as the main purpose is just to push the muscle beyond the point of fatigue, forcing growth. 

Some might say this is a lot of volume, however your legs are the biggest muscle group so need to be hit hard. Ensure all exercises are done under control with particular attention paid to tempo and you wont be walking for days.

Good Luck

Jack

'Bend it like Beckham' inspired football blog.

Today I’m going to look at fitness from a different angle then what I normally write, but first a little bit of background on me. I am a qualified personal trainer living in London, however my main job is that of a musician, playing mainly all woodwind instruments and percussion. Being a musician in London I have a lot of interaction with the West End and most recently saw the new musical ‘Bend it Like Beckham’. Now this is a must watch musical if you either live or are visiting London. The musical is a adaptation of the film from 2002 and brings the issue of women’s football to light. The music composed by Howard Goodall has so many catchy numbers mainly due to the fusion of music from both cultures. As like the film, the musical outlines Jess’s, played excellently by Natalie Dew, battle against culture and dream in becoming a footballer. The team she plays for are based on the Hounslow Harries captained by Jules, played by Lauren Samuels. There are many demanding dance routines throughout the show for the team and boy are these girls in shape!!!! For any of my women follows be sure to check out Lauren Samuels on both twitter and Instagram as she is really into her fitness and is always posting useful little recipes, some of which I have nicked!! Along with the success of England's women football team thus more of my clients looking to them as inspiration I thought I’d write a few little tips for women on developing their fitness for football. 

The list goes on for the different types of fitness needed by footballers of today through speed, balance, agility, strength and power. Now all these areas can be easily covered through a structured programme, both in and out of the gym. First I’ll cover speed, strength and power. For football explosive power in the legs is crucial in whichever position you play. This could be though surging runs forward or in defence protecting from attacks and making those all important headers. The exercise that I would use to develop leg power for all of these is my favourite the squat, but with a slight twist. As oppose to performing it normally I would lower over a 4 second count pause at the bottom for a 4 second count then explode out of the squat. If using weight reduce it to something you would normally feel comfortable with performing 12 reps. Use the pause method through performing 4 sets of 6 reps. Back, front and sumo squats can all be used this way and will help in improving speed, strength and power in addition to a plyometric routine. 

Agility is a must for any football player. Below is the best drill for the job, named the x drill. This will help improve agility but also many areas such as hip mobility, speed, power and balance. Also movement both forward and laterally. Set up four cones in a square around 10 paces apart, then follow the steps below.

1. Run from the first cone laterally to the second.
2. Sprint diagonally across to the third cone. 
3. Move left laterally once more to the last cone.
4. Then turn and sprint to the cones you started at.

Mix the sequence up in which you run in order to move in all directions. Also you can also turn and run backwards in some. 

Another drill that can be performed for agility but which also involves balance are just basic sprint drills with a slight difference. Find a area 60m in length either flat or with a slight incline and set off running backwards. Count 15-20 paces in your head then turn your body 180 degrees sprinting to the end with max effort. This can be performed in groups as well with one member calling the turn, keeping the others alert and adding a bit of compeition. Turn both left and right on every other. This is great for explosive power but also the balance and agility required for a sudden change of movement on the pitch. Perform 12-15 of these with max effort, resting until your heart rate has fully recovered. These performed with max effort will sent your heart rate through the roof, thus improving on you anaerobic capacity. 

Sprints starting from different position will also aid all of the above. Starting on your back, exploding up and into a sprint or performing 10 jump squats/5 burpees into a sprint will all make you match ready. 

Match ready workout

• Run out to a park or area of choice to train. Easy 50-60% effort.
• Mobility of all lower body joint, specific attention paid to the hips. 
• Rest and pause bodyweight squats. Perform 6-8 reps, focus on tempo of 4410. 4 seconds lowering under control, 4 second pause exploding up and no rest at the top of the movement. 
• MINI HIIT CIRCUIT performing as many rounds in 15 minutes.
• 5 tuck jumps
• 8 press ups
• 10 jump squats
• 12 get ups. (Lay with your back on the floor and get up without using your arms).
• Sprint Drills
• 5x60m twist and sprint.
• 5x60m sprints starting with 3 burpees.
• 5x60m starting with a 20 second plank. 

• Run back,stretch and get ready for DOMS in your legs for days!!!

So there is a quick entry for all you ladies looking for little adjustments you could make to your workouts in order to develop your fitness for football or just your level of fitness in general. Remember to see in improve you must train hard, eat well and half the battle is done before you even step on the pitch.

Jack

Where is the nearest Vets as these swans are sick!!!- Chasing big arms

Everyone is chasing big arms for the summer, me being one of them. There is nothing like filling out you sleeves with bursting arms. However, arms is where so many people struggle to put on mass in the gym, even when they train theme week in week out yet still see no growth. I was one of these people until I looked more into what the muscles do and how you can then get the most out of it when training the upper arm. 

The muscles in your arms are used when training ever other upper body muscle group, this being through either pushing or pulling exercises. The secondary muscles (Bicep and Triceps) are used through the contraction phase. When perform a chin up for example and your back is at full contraction so are your biceps. The slower and more controlled you perform these reps the greater you hit the back but also the biceps. This applies exact the same to the tricep in a press ups. So use these workouts to your advantage hitting secondary muscles such as arms without perform a single isolated exercise. 

The make up of the upper arm is a third bicep to two thirds tricep, so pay more attention to the tricep. This particular muscle is used for the straightening of the below and as seen in the title is made up of three heads. These being the long, lateral and medial heads, hitting all these three are crucial in developing mass to this area. You're long head also referred to as the belly is the bigger part of the tricep and is where you should start, working down to the lateral head. Any movement over the head will hit the long head, with the other two parts will also be partially used. Skull crushers, tricep extensions and narrow push downs shall hit the long head, with these you can go heavier thus putting them at the beginning of the workout. The medial head is stimulated often when performing exercises for the long head but a reverse grip push down I feel really hits it. Greater isolated exercises such as kickbacks and drop extensions shall hit the lateral. I like to do these with high volume towards the end of the workout as a burnout, sometimes drop set. 

The bicep is formed of two head, the short which runs closed to your chest whilst the outer is the long head which forms the peak to the muscle. If you were genetically gifted then you may be able to see a clear different between the two. Anyway, hit both if these heads when training and you will notice a difference to the size of your bicep!!! A normal standing barbell curl is great for hitting the long head, these i like to perform heavy however never comprise form and like I mentioned earlier pay attention to the tempo. If done correctly your biceps shall be screaming at you, don’t just pile on the weight. The best exercise for this I have found is the preacher curl, I personally love this when performed single with a dumbbell into a slow bar curl each set, focusing on the contraction. These are two exercise I would perform at the beginning, the rest of the workout should really be looking at fatiguing the muscle and achieving the best contraction. Use drop sets, supersets to achieve this.

Lastly arms are one of the most visual muscles when training so use this to your advantage when training them. The contraction and squeeze of the muscle is what causes it to grow. So look at yourself when performing the exercise, making sure you get a full range of movement along with a full contraction of the muscle. The tempo of the rep, even more so when performing something with cables can also help in gaining the best contraction. Take the weight pin down and look at the muscle working, see how it recruits the fibres in order to perform the rep. Due to the constant tension on the muscle and with a slow tempo you won’t need a lot of weight but man will your arms be pumped at screaming in pain. The reverse arm push down for tricep is a killer for this along with the rope curl laying on your back to avoid your back lift the weight is a great demonstration of this. 

Check out Joe Donnellys' to use next time you want to train arms. 

1) Concentration curl warmup 4x15 each arm

2) EZ bar curls 4x8 last set dropset burnout 20 reps

3) Seated hammer curls 4x6, superset alternating dumbbell curls 4x10

4) Hammer strength preacher curl machine curls dropset 8 reps, dropset of 15 (4 rounds)

5) Reverse curls 4x10 thumb over grip, superset rope curls 4x15

6) Standing double front bicep cable curl 4x15, after last set do a cable 21’s

7) Strait bar curls 7x12 (45 seconds between sets

8) Heavy tricep pushdown dropsets 6-8 reps, dropset 15 reps (4 rounds0

9) Rope pushdowns 4x12, superset rope overhead extensions 4x10

10) Close grip press on smith machine 4x12 with a dropset of 8 reps on each set

11) Single armed rope kickbacks 4x15 each arm

12) Overhead dumbbell press 7x15

And next time the “suns out” I can guarantee so will the guns be out.

Jack

How many carbs do I need to eat??

The volume of carbohydrates in anyones diet has always been a massive worry for many people. So people believe that cutting all carbs whether it be high glycemic or also low glycemic carbs is what needed to become shredded and to look like all the time fitness models, well in many ways you'd be wrong.

For many years this was me, always thinking that cutting carbs out of my diet will allow me to lose what and look lean for the ever 6 pack to come out which is everyones desire. Carbohydrates are an essential macronutrient. They are your body's preferred energy source, and they're a great source of fuel for any physical activity you might do during the day. But, if you don't use carbs the right way at the right times, they can add an enormous amount of fat to your body. There are four easy ways to do this:

1 At breakfast you body is deprived of calories and energy due to you fasting throughout the night therefore, this is one of the best times to consume carbohydrates as your glucose tolerance is at its highest. For breakfast grab something that is full of slow glycemic carbs, best option being something like oats. This is slow releasing, keeping you fuller for longer.

2 Another great time to eat carbs and is where they are also essential is both pre and post workout. Pre workout carbs will give you the energy to sustain a high, intense rate throughout your workout however if you body is not use to consuming carbohydrates here be careful as it may make you feel tired and slow. Opt for a high glycemic carb like a banana to give you a quick energy burst, some time fitness models even go as far as krispy kreme donuts . Post workout is when your body is at one of its highest to consume carbs in order to gain recovery and energy. (I wont bore you with all the details). Again you want a fast absorbing carb which will get straight into the muscle. Fruits and honey are always a great source. I often make a shake with my whey protein along with kiwi and a banana. A little treat to look forward to. Here you want to be consuming around 40-60grams if you are monitoring your macro nutrients. 

3 Don’t eat all your carbs in one sitting, this will make you feel bloated and often very tired. Instead opt to break it up over the day, constantly feeding the muscles. This works the same for proteins and fats. This leads me onto how you need to mix up the carbs you're eating, don’t just eat rice all day. One you'll get bored and so will your body processing it. Instead opt for things so as bulgar wheat, sweet potato and VEGETABLES!!!

4 Eating carbohydrates late at night has always been a huge topic of conversation across the fitness world. Many people say that you should eat no carbs after 7pm as unless you train late  as you body no longer needs energy however I am some what against this. Don’t get me wrong I don’t eat a huge volume of carbs late a night but I don’t cut them completely out. If they fit into your macros for the day then go ahead and eat them. 

5 The best way I look at eating carbs in general is you must mix it up. Eat more carbs then you normally would and see if they give you more energy in the gym, if they don’t then taper them down slightly. Second to that is look in the mirror, this is a mans best friend in getting a good body even if slightly vein. If you're looking to fat, cut down on the volume food especially carbs you're eating. If you want to put some bulk on, up the food you're eating. Easy as that. Give it a week or so between changing this and you'll notice such a difference when comparing yourself in the mirror. This will help you understand what is best for your body as everyones body works differently and you can build on it from there. 

Therefore don't be afraid of eating carbohydrates just follow the five easy steps above and see how they work for you, however this isn't gospel. These are the foundation to test your body and understand how it reacts to this and adjust it to fit your individuals needs for the future. 

Remember 70% diet and 30% gym.

Jack

Chest Day!!!!

With Chest Day upon us I thought I would do a quick blog on training chest. I am one that prefers to train chest by itself then giving it the rest of the week off, however sometimes include press ups in my shoulder routine. The chest is used when to push and when wrapping your arms around an object, however you must remember that no muscles push but pull which is why the contraction of the muscle is one of the most vital aspects to training chest.

This leads me onto how when you're training chest, you're training chest not shoulders!!! Ensure when you are completing any pushing movement for chest that you keep your shoulders out of the movement. Pull your shoulder blades together and shrug into your traps without full extension of the arms which takes the tension away from the chest and more onto the triceps.

There are many different ways to train chest through the different training zones. Bench Press is the fundamental to building mass for the chest in strength sets of 5x5, this will help in building strength as well as mass. I am personally a favourite of Joe Donnelly ethos of a lot of volume for training chest. For those of you who don't know who Joe Donnelly is, you should. He is one of the biggest fitness models in the world and former NFL tight end. If you never heard of him you should definitely check him out, his methods are the way forward in the fitness industry. An example workout see below:

1) 5X20 CABLE FLY ACTIVE WARMUP PRE PUMP

2) INCLINE DUMBELL PRESS 8 REPS, SUPERSET FLAT DUMBELL PRESS 8 REPS (5 SETS)

3) INCLINE BENCH 5 REPS, SUPERSET FLAT BENCH 5 REPS (5 COUNT NEGATIVE/ FULL EXPLOSION ON POSITIVE, BOTH EXERCISES) 5 SETS

4) INCLINE DUMBELL POWER BENCH 8 REPS, SUPERSET FLAT BENCH DUMBELL POWER BENCH 8 REPS ( START WITH BOTH DUMBELLS IN UP POSITION, LOWER ONE ARM KEEPING OTHER STRAIT, THEN PRESS BACK TO START POSITION AND BEGIN TO LOWER THE OTHER, ALTERNATING) (5 SETS)

5) HEAVY WEIGHTED CHEST DIPS. 5 REPS TIL FAILURE, DROP WEIGHT, DIPS TIL FAILURE, DROP TO FLOOR CLAP PUSHUPS TIL FAILURE (5 SETS)

6) FLAT DUMBELL FLIES 8 REPS (4 COUNT NEGATIVE, 2 SECOND PAUSE, 3 SECOND POSITIVE), SUPERSET FEET ON BENCH HANDS ON FLOOR, UPPER CHEST PUSHUPS 30 REPS (5 SETS)

7) LOW TO HIGH CABLE FLY 15 REPS, SUPERSET HI TO LOW CABLE FLIES 15 REPS (3 SETS)

TOTAL=51 SETS

As you can see from above the volume is through the roof, 51 SETS!!!!! However the structure of the workout is the most crucial aspect. Beginning with very much power, mass builders finishing with totally fatiguing the muscle forcing growth into the muscle. My only point would be make sure you use the correct weight at the beginning so you don't max out way to early and end up not being to complete the workout.  Furthermore this is very much an advanced workout, so make regressions such as volume and exercises to you as a individual, just use this as a guideline.

Also for all you that want to look in great shape you should also check out his diet, it even includes donuts!!!

http://www.joedonnellyfitness.com

Enjoy

Jack

How can I stay healthy when at home with the parents?

How do I stay healthy even when I am at home?

With it being Father's Day this pass weekend along with a mates birthday and a few days off for me I decided to pop home. Now when you're under your parents roof it's very difficult to retain the same diet you would if you were cooking for yourself. Now I have quite an accommodating mother who will cook the food I want but still eating a certain timings is one of the hardest thing of all. 

My best advice and what I follow is just make sure that when you look at your plate it consists of 40% of a protein source, 30% carbs, 15% fat and then the rest vegetables. This will fall around the levels of macronutrients that you need and would regularly eat. Now some will say but I'm not eating my usual 5 meals a day. The easiest ways to meet this is through snacks in between the 3 main meals you will eat with the family. These need to be transportable, cooked and eaten with as little fuss as possible. Few idea below.

Boiled/scrambled eggs - easy, cheap and very little fuss to make. Great source of protein.

Chocolate Rice cakes - melt dark chocolate on rice cakes, you can make these in large quantities, lasting for a few days. Good fat and carb source. Great with a afternoon green tea. 

Fruit: everyone always neglects fruit, but it is a great source of carbs, just watch the volume you're eating. You can end up eating a lot of empty carbs, which are not always needed. 

Protein bars: it's always a great idea to have a few protein bars spare for a quick hit of protein when your levels are low.

Total 0% Greek Yoghurt: this is my top food to currently eat, I am obsessed with it. Per 100grams you get over 10 grams of protein. It doesn't sit heavy on your stomach and along with a handful of nuts you have a perfect meal, meeting all your macros. 

These are all great little snacks that you could eat at home, when most think it would be difficult to hit the 5 meals that you normally would.

Remember the diet is always crucial!!!!

Jack