Ah yes back to shoulders traps and abs day. I feel the these three muscle groups actually have the biggest influence in determining your shape, if you can make your shoulders wide and your waist trim you can dramatically alter how you look! Traps n shoulders are my favourite muscles, you simply can not beat being well defined in these areas! For abs we are never going to look to do 100’s of crunches or rack up 1000 sit ups in a session as part of this gym programme, ask yourself, do you do 100 bicep curls? Take a rest and do another 100? I would suggest never! To get your abs to show you need to get your body fat % to around 10%-12% for women and 8-10% for men (an on stage bodybuilder is typically 7-8% for women, 3-4% for men). Now you get your body fat down to this range through diet and regular challenging cardiovascular activity, however when you get there you need to make sure you actually have built ab muscles for them to appear as a proper 6 pack, otherwise you’ll have more of a flat look! Remember we want to build the muscles first with a challenging residence programme, we can tone them with high reps later in the programme! As this is only week 2, sit ups with some small weight will do fine, but no matter where you start you need to keeps the reps short while making it incrementally difficult over the next few sessions.

Total Workout Time : 1 hr 7 mins

Cardio: 20 min intervals – Threadmill
Minute 1 – Walk
Minute 2 – Light Jog
Minute 3 – Jog
Minute 4 – Run
Minute 5 – Sprint
Repeat – 4 cycles in total: 20 mins
Cardio Mood: very tough, the incremental intervals are always tough, very good sweat. Happy

Weights Workout: Shoulders, Traps & Abs

Exercise 1: Dumbbell Front Raise
10 reps @ 10 Kg – Warm up
10 reps @ 17.5 Kg
10 reps @ 17.5 Kg
10 reps @ 17.5 Kg
Comment: Good warm up exercise, could probably lift more but don’t want to sacrifice form, chance upping weight next time but always maintain form! Good!

Exercise 2: Seated Dumbell Press
10 reps @ 20 Kg
10 reps @ 25 Kg
10 reps @ 25 Kg
Comment: Up weight, last few reps were challenging but could have managed more.

Exercise 3: Dumbell Side Raise – Pyramid set
This exercise is really a giant set performed in a pyramid fashion, I’m going to start with a light weight for 30 reps, with no rest take a heavier weight for 20 reps, and then take a heavier weight again for 10 reps. 1 minute rest and then I pyramid back down as below.
30 reps @ 5 Kg
20 reps @ 7.5 Kg
10 reps @ 12.5 Kg
Rest – 1 min
10 reps @ 12.5 Kg
20 reps @ 7.5 Kg
30 reps @ 5 Kg
Comment: My shoulders are on fire, I find this exercise extremely difficult and brilliant for shoulders and traps too, you can apply a short rest where needed but be sure to finish out every rep. Great exercise.

Exercise 4: Giant Set – Reverse Fly Dropsets/Dumbbell Shrugs/IYTWs – no rest
Set 1:
10 reps @ 35 Kg – reverse fly
10 reps @ 25 Kg – reverse fly
10 reps @ 15 Kg – reverse fly
10 reps @ 25 Kg – Dumbbell Shrugs
5 reps each @ 5 Kg – IYTW
Rest

Set 2:
10 reps @ 35 Kg – reverse fly
10 reps @ 25 Kg – reverse fly
10 reps @ 15 Kg – reverse fly
10 reps @ 25 Kg – Dumbbell Shrugs
5 reps each @ 5 Kg – IYTW
Comment: really really tough for my traps, great combination of exercises to really work then, brilliant.

Exercise 5: Abs
Set 1:
Weighted sit up: 20 reps @ + 15 Kg
Leg Up: 20 reps
Floor Crunch: 20 reps
Rest

Set 2:
Weighted Sit Up: 20 reps @ + 15 Kg
Dumbell Side Reach: 15 reps @ 20 Kg
Floor Crunch l: 20 reps

Set 3:
Russian Twist: 20 reps @ 15 Kg
Leg Up: 20 reps
Floor Crunch: 20 reps
Dumbbell side reach: 15 reps @ 20 kg
Quick Twists: 50 reps
Comment: Abs began to spasm on second set, nice!
Weights Mood: Very happy with tonight, some really good exercises on this gym programme put together in a good combination to really feel the burn.

Overall really felt I pushed myself tonight, in particular utilising the giant and Dropsets. Great workout, now home for a shake and my bed!

FacelessFitGuy
FacelessFitness