With everything listed here I have just one wish – that I’d discovered them about 20 years earlier.

Supplements

I’ve tried quite a few different combinations over the last few years and have settled on the following as the essentials for me at the moment:

Pill popping Ammi

• Fish oil – If I leave this out for a while I find my hair getting less glossy and my joints get a bit creaky.  I even have a favourite brand – the strongest one on the UK market.
• Glucosamine condroitin – I can’t actually tell the difference with this one if I stop taking it, but the research supports the fact that, long-term I should be taking it.
• Vitamin D – I live in the UK and I do a desk job that keeps me indoor all day when the weak sun we have here is out and about.  Since I started taking this I’ve felt happier, healthier and when I’ve had colds they’ve been the kind that make my nose run without the fuggy head to go with it. (Except colds brought on by sudden removal of extreme stress which are still bad, but they aren’t really colds.)
• Magnesium – This has made an amazing change to my life.  I will never again go without a sack of Epsom Salts in the bathroom.
  

  Magnesium Epsom Salts

• Digestive supplements – When I am more stressed I take digestive enzymes, probiotics and hydrochloric acid tablets with my meals to aid with digestion.  I’ve found it reduces the digestion problems I otherwise get at times of stress and also seems to result in better nutrient extraction (I certainly seem to show less nutrient deficiency than I used to).

Mooncup

The mooncup is a brand of vaginal cup for collecting menstrual flow.  It’s made of silicone and sits inside the vagina unobtrusively collecting menstrual flow.

Mooncup

Thanks to this I haven’t bought tampons or other sanitary products for years now and the mooncup has more than paid for itself in the money I’ve saved and the peace of mind.  It is clean, quick and easy.

If I think my period might start while on holiday, I can just slip this into my washbag or rucksack.  I no longer have to worry that I might have a forgetful morning during my period week and fail to take sufficient sanitary products to get me through the work day – if I need to I can just empty it into the toilet and start again.

Every woman, without exception, should have one of these.  In fact, they should give one away to every girl as she reaches puberty.  It would solve so many financial and environmental problems.

Vibram FiveFingers

If I had the choice I’d live in these all the time.  As it is I tend to wear them for work if I’m not in my home office or with a client and am therefore with people who don’t know me so well.  In fact, in 14 months I’ve worn them so much, both indoors and on long-distance treks, that I’ve worn through the rubber soles in a few places, the sole is almost worn through elsewhere, the fabric has a hole on the top along one of the seams and I’m just counting the days until the next shipment of Vibrams arrives in the UK at the start of January (with plenty in my size again – currently there are none available in the UK in my size unless I’m prepared to trek to the other end of the country since I need to do a re-fit to a new size and want to look at the new designs and sole thicknesses).

My dying Vibrams

The rubber has completely worn through in places and it's so thin across the ball of the foot now that the ripple grip has all gone

Free weights

It might seem excessive to have your own free weights and, to be fair, we have two of us using them, which makes it more worthwhile.  Despite all of that I would strongly recommend people get their own free weights if they have a corner of a room where they can be fitted.

Just a few of our free weights plates (the rack would be full if they weren't scattered round the garage)

Free weights have done more for my body composition, health and well-being than anything else you’ll find in a gym and they aren’t that expensive to set yourself up with a basic collection.  We treated ourselves to a cheap squat rack from Decathlon, which was probably the most expensive bit (we’ve since had to upgrade to a proper Powerrack because Chris is now shifting weights that are at the upper-limit of the old rack’s range and it was getting dangerous having to walk backwards for big distances with a heavy bar on your back to squat and have no lower bar as a safety).

The old squat rack now rusting in the garden

Other than the rack, we got ourselves a bar for barbell work (again, cheap from Decathlon – it didn’t need to be Olympic style), a few dumbbell kits which came with 10kg of 2kg and 1kg plates already included, and then stocked up on some more iron plates (a few 20kg, 10kg, 5kg and 0.5kg plates).  On average the plates (again, Decathlon is the friend of UK lifters) cost £1 per 1kg so yes, there is a capital outlay, but neither of us has paid gym fees for at least 3 years now which, at about £45 per month (and not always having all the equipment you want available when you want it) means we’ve made a saving in the long run.

Having your own weights in-house also has some definite benefits although there are also problems.

Bar pad

This deserves a mention all of its own.  I don’t remember what exercise we originally got this for, but it was before we had discovered the hip thrust and I know it definitely wasn’t bought to “protect the back of the neck during squatting” which is what every shop assistant was describing it as when I was phoning round to find a replacement.

Bar pad - essential for hip thrusts

I quickly realised that some padding was needed to protect the pelvic and hip bones in the hip thrust since I had no muscular padding in those areas.  I had a moment of genius and started using the bar pad.  Imagine my disappointment a year later when Bret Contreras wrote in an article about the bar pad being an essential piece of equipment for hip thrusts when I thought I was the only person who had had this great idea.

My first bar pad lasted for a couple of years, seeing me from my early days of only being able to shift 35kg in glute bridges through to shifting 130kg in my hip thrusts about 3 months ago. Eventually the padding completely split along its length and I had to find a new pad.  I hip thrust twice a week, and the new pad has only been exposed to weights of 135kg and 140kg – it split at the ends about 3 weeks ago.  Fortunately I bought cheap ones (could explain why it is splitting already) and bought two.  When it gets too far split I’ll unwrap the new one since the pain on my pelvic bone and hips of hip thrusting without a bar pad is unbearable.

*****

So these are the things I would never want to be without now.  Do you use these too?  Is there anything else you have on your essentials list?

Related posts:

1. Celebrating female strength
2. Weight training women
3. Blog-watch: interaction of diet and exercise with the menstrual cycle – part one

Today I’ve got a collection of links on one of my favourite subjects – women who are busy being strong

Women can be strong (image courtesy of Greg Westfall)

• Women lifting big weights is not new.  They’ve been doing it in public for decades.  70s Big try to do something women-related most Mondays and they recently pulled together some images and information about lifters from the 1981 Women’s National Powerlifting Championships.  Given that I would hope to drop fat to have a competition weight of 56kg the numbers for Gayla Crain terrify me.  I have a very, very long way to go.
• Bret Contreras, the God of Glutes, is beloved by women across the globe for his revelations about training the glutes.  Glutes are not just an incredibly important muscle for functional purposes, especially for athletes, but an important part of building an attractive female figure.  Of course, they also become a preventative for fitting into the more cheaply available high street clothes, but you can’t win everything.  Bret put together a post with videos of thirteen different women doing their workouts.  I’m particularly interested in the deficit reverse lunges.  I’d not come across these before and I’m intrigued by the idea of combining a step up with a reverse lunge.  I may try these, along with elevated hip thrusts, in an effort to retain my glute strength and activation while I’m on holiday.
• Briefly staying with glutes, here’s an article on Reverse Magazine with some terrifying photos comparing an atrophied set of glutes with some nicely developed glutes.  Do you still not believe me that glutes are one of the keys to a feminine figure?
• I think I may have linked to Pretty Powerlifting before.  Sara and Vanessa have set up their own female powerlifting team, based in New York, and they are doing their best to bring attention to the sport of women’s powerlifting.  It’s well worth checking out their site and following their progress.  I’m looking forward to when their gear is released.
• Al Kavadlo recently did a post focussing on pull ups for women, including advice on how to get to your first full pull up.  It’s a nice piece and well worth reading if you want to get to the point of being able to knock out a few pull ups.  I still admit that there is nothing more satisfying as a woman than doing a few pull ups when there are men about.  For some reason, lots of men believe they are the sole domain of men which is absolutely not true.  If you’ve not mastered the pull up yet, I recommend it for the feel good factor and for showing off purposes.  And Al?  I see your challenge of a one-arm chin up by a woman and I’m sure I’ve heard of someone achieving it, but similarly have no record anywhere of it being true.  I might take you up on the challenge one day.  Ladies – if you’ve got a one-arm chin up in the bag, get it filmed and send me the film or a link to it.  I will gladly feature it!
• I’ve been following Rachel Guy since Bret brought her to public attention.  Rachel is a Brit who lives in Sydney working as a strength coach and physical therapist.  She knows what she’s doing and practises what she preaches – there are some impressive videos up on the internet from her, including some big hip thrusts.  Lift-Run-Bang.com did an interview with Rachel quite recently so you can find out a bit more about what she’s doing and what makes her tick.
• Back in 1996 a study was released which looked at estimated and actual strength performance among college men and women.  The focus of the study was the difference between perception and actual performance.  Across the board, people had a tendency to underestimate their performance, however there was a disturbing statistic which came out of the study.  They included 91 women and 74 men in the study.  Of the women, 44% indicated they should have strength and exhibit it.  46% felt they should neither have strength nor show it.  The remaining 10% felt they should have strength but shouldn’t exhibit it.  In comparison, 46% of the men felt they should have strength and exhibit it (similar to the women), 49% felt they should have strength but not exhibit it and only 5% felt they should neither have strength nor exhibit it.  I am very concerned by the huge proportion of women who feel they shouldn’t exhibit strength and, in fact, shouldn’t even possess it.  I would be interested to do this study again and see if these perceptions have changed in the last 15 years.

Hopefully you’re all feeling inspired now so get out there and show the world that women can and should be strong.  Spread the word and build beautiful bodies!

Related posts:

1. Blog-watch: female strength and conditioning blogs
2. Blog-watch: Bret’s female strength levels
3. Blog-watch: strength and conditioning blogs (non-female specific)

2010 proved to be the year when I really nailed my hip mobility, subsequently made massive increases on my squat and started to get a grip on the real weaknesses in my lifts (such as shoulder stability on my bench press). 

For 2011 my focus is on enhancing the figure which I worked hard on towards the end of 2010 and on getting my deadlift past the national qualifying standards.  I’ll also carry on hammering away at my shoulder stability issues with the intention of making bench press the lift of 2012.  Of course, I won’t abandon my squat.

I’m making a lot of use of Hepburn routines this year, giving me slower but steadier progress and trying to void my nemesis of mental burn-out.  For the main exercises it keeps me on the same weight for 9 workouts while I add 1 rep per workout from 8×2 to 8×3, immediately followed by a lighter back-off workout (3×6 rising to 3×9).  After 9 weeks I put the weight up by a slightly bigger step than I would have used when putting the weight up every workout.  It’s really reducing the mental exhaustion from having a weight increase at every session.

I’m recording my progress in this series: powerlifting progress.  It is serving as a journal and makes me a bit more accountable to my goals. 

This week

Mission accomplished!  This week I had my period and yet, for the first time in my lifting career, I was stronger this week while my period was happening than I had been in the previous few weeks.  Whether this was a reflection of how exhausted and stressed I was in the week before, so that I appeared stronger despite my period, or whether this was genuinely extra strength thanks to my period as the research on women (who don’t use contraceptive pills – which is a category I’m not in) suggests it should be, I can’t be certain.

Whatever the cause, it was a great way to complete my final week before I went away on holiday.  Going out on a high.

Deadlift

Action plan

• Maintain – leg strength and hip mobility
• Develop – ab strength and lower back strength

Progress this week

For my deadlifts, I am very much sold on the article written by Joe Mills in 1975 which I read on Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban last year.  This explained that the old time strongmen didn’t deadlift to improve their deadlift but instead increased deadlift strength through assistance exercises (eg. Olympic lifts, Good Mornings). 

The weakness in my deadlift was my lower back which “popped out” as soon as I got near a maximum effort lift.  For the last few months of 2010 I concentrated on Good Mornings which gave some improvement.  I am now spending 2011 working with Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs) to see if I can further improve my lower back strength.

I completed 90kg this week.  As expected it felt incredibly easy and I really felt my glutes working hard on my back-off sets (3 sets of 9 reps with 68kg).  I also started 95kg, going straight in at 2×3, 6×2, instead of 8×2, and doing a back-of with 71kg, doing 3×8 instead of 3×6 where I usually start my back-off.  It was my last workout before holiday so I was just pushing myself as far as I could go.

Squat

Action plan

• Maintain – hip mobility and glute strength
• Develop – ab and lower back strength

Progress this week

I’m quite happy to believe that the best way to improve my squat is to squat.  The abs and lower back strength comes partly from the squatting and the lower back strength will also be helped by the assistance exercises that I do for deadlift.

Last week I did 4×3 (and 4×2) with 78kg and it felt strong.  On Tuesday, knowing this was my last squat session before my holiday and fully aware that I will probably have to go back to the start with 78kg when I get back, I decided that I would push myself as far as possible.  Cue 6×3 (and 2×2) with 78kg.  Normally I’m struggling to get the extra set of three reps out, but this week I felt strong and knew I could get a bonus set out.  Hopefully I’ll get some extra strength gains out of it and I just might manage to avoid regressing right back to the start of 78kg.

Bench

Action plan

• Maintain – technique
• Develop – scapular stability and thoracic mobility

 Progress this week

My upper body strength is not the limiting factor on my bench press at the moment.  It’s my shoulder stability.  So I am only doing assistance exercises on my upper body and the upper body is never taking the position of primary exercise in my workouts.  That said, problems with putting the weight up on my row and overhead press early in the year meant I’m trying a five set Hepburn cycle and singles Hepburn for the pull and push (supersetting) after the squat, although I am temporarily doing some higher rep work with my push to improve my form again.  After RDLs I am pursuing a 3×5 system with pull ups and press ups (supersetting).

Here’s where I was by the end of this week:

• RDL day:  Weighted pull up (6.25kg – 3×4, recovering my lost rep on each set), weighted press up (17kg – 3×5, 4 extra reps on last week and completing the weight!)
• Squat day:  Pendlay row (57kg – 5×3, an extra bonus rep to complete the weight before I went on holiday), one-arm kettlebell overhead press (Sunday 16kg – Right: 1×2, 5×1, Left: 5×2, 1×1, lost a few reps on my right arm)

I also did a pull up 1RM test on my last workout and ended up squeezing out a rep with 12.5kg (nose over the bar but chin not quite there).

Figure development

My fat-stripping session at the end of 2010 revealed that my glutes were tiny, despite having a huge amount of strength (I was doing 5 sets of 4 reps hip thrusts with 102kg, doing a good 4-5 second hold at the top each time).  For 2011 I am therefore on a mission to get some serious hypertrophy in my glutes while retaining strength.

I made it!  130kg for 6 sets of 4 reps and it felt really easy (until my glutes started screaming from the effort after the fourth set)!  Video evidence to be created once I’m back from holiday though…

Related posts:

1. Powerlifting progress 2011: week twenty
2. Powerlifting progress 2011: week twenty-one
3. Powerlifting progress 2011: week twenty-two

While the first few weeks of the new programme with high reps of heavy hip thrusts got an instant reaction, my glutes stopped gaining size after the first few weeks and it started to get harder and harder to do the high reps with good form.  I think that part of my problem was the choice of exercise – Bret Contreras has said before that he doesn’t think hip thrusts are suited to high rep work.  However, I think part of the problem also comes from the fact that I’ve got strong glutes without necessarily having the muscle bulk.  After all, I was hip thrusting 100kg for 10 sets of 4 reps last December and I’m past the 110kg mark now for 10 sets of 4 reps.

If I take the approach that most “glute bulk” articles are aimed at women who don’t have a particularly long history of lifting and don’t have that much strength (essentially beginner lifters) then it is possible that the approaches I’ve taken so far have been inappropriate for my body.  Two possible approaches present themselves and I will be trying them over a few months after I’ve taken some time returning to a solely strength approach to get some base measurements of size pre-hypertrophy exercises.

1. Change the exercise every 3-4 weeks, never letting my body settle to one particular exercise.
2. Take a more bodybuilding approach to the work I do, using slower tempo, sometimes working to failure and using isolation exercises, working the range of the movement which needs the maximum use of glutes.  As a example of this, I’m thinking about doing box squats with a slow tempo, but restricting the range of motion to below parallel to just above parallel.

Anyway, with all this glute thinking I’ve been hypersensitive to articles about glutes that have been cropping up on my RSS feed.  Here’s a selection of the latest articles and videos I’ve seen.

• Nick Tumminello recently shared a video and accompanying article about a glute and back workout he’s developed for women.  The most interesting part of this workout is the contralateral training – the right arm working with the left leg and so on.  As he points out, the body usually moves with these opposing movements so it makes the exercises completely functional.
• Bret Contreras, the God of Glutes, was passed a question received by a fellow trainer about single leg hip thrusts and elevated single leg hip thrusts.  In his answer he not only talks about the varied benefits of many of the bodyweight variants (including single leg glute bridges) but also goes into some detail about the way to progress through the exercises to reach the elevated single leg hip thrust which is a much more advanced exercise.
• Mistress Krista has been having excellent success with her glutes and I would very much like a dose of whatever it is she has been doing.  Perhaps the 100 reps approach should work.
• Chris at Conditioning Research has been coming to terms with the importance of glute development to enable the maintenance of a healthy and functional body.  In a post from late March he pulled together some information about gluteal amnesia and poor glute activation – a good starting point for anyone who hasn’t thought about their glutes before.
• This formula is entertaining (if completely unsupported) for confirming whether you have a good set of glutes.
• JCD fitness had some pretty sound advice about what could be done to improve glute strength and, subsequently, size.  Having read through their suggestions I’d agree with most of the article, although I’m not sure about the high box squats since I notice most glute activation once I’m below parallel and the glutes have to do all the work to get me out of the first bit of the hole.
• Here’s a video of Rachel Guy doing some 100kg hip thrusts (thanks to Bret for flagging it up):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HRqqOgb7Kw

…and finally, here’s a home-workout video from Bret Contreras.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK7zIUBH6Z0

Related posts:

1. Blog-watch: All about the glutes
2. Blog-watch: recent glute news
3. Blog-watch: glute development

Alli McKee

NJAMW:  My principal goals are strength, rather than figure, but I’m still after an attractive set of glutes – as are many other women.  Do you have any advice on the exercises and set/rep schemes that you recommend for getting that really feminine posterior chain with a firm set of glute muscles?

AM:  First of all, I never skip my posterior prep work in my warm up.  For the last several years, I have been including a Hip Circuit in my warm up which consists of:

• Lying on my back and performing: 10 double leg hip bridges and 10 single leg hip bridges (left and right side).
• Flip over to all fours and perform:10 Fire Hydrants (left and right side), 10 forward leg / hip circles (left and right side), 10 reverse leg / hip circles (left and right side) and 10 super dogs (left and right side).  This ensures proper mobility and muscle activation.
• Tip: When performing the hip bridges, aim for full hip extension and drive your heels through the floor. When performing the hip movements on your hands and knees – avoid too much movement in the lumbar spine.

Many in the performance and physique industry are aware of the foundational exercises that are excellent for developing a great set of glutes.  Exercises such as squats, deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, lunges and step ups to name a few.  Two things to remember obviously for best results, implement proper form and intensity.  Another exercise specific to glutes that was in my latest program were cable donkey kickbacks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4blF321Gkgo

There are also a few exercises that have gained rapid recognition for contributing to a great set of glutes and have proven to be unbelievable glute activators.  These include bridging motions and are known as hip thrusts, barbell glute bridges, and single leg hip thrusts.  I love these and think they should be performed by every female who wants a nice butt. For more information, you can head over to my friend Bret Contreras’ website – he calls himself the Glute Guy, mentions these exercises quite often and has a reputation for sculpting women’s butts.  You can find Bret’s website at www.BretContreras.com.

As for sets and reps, I tend to keep reps lower (3 to 9) on the bigger exercises.  We went a little higher in reps with smaller movements such as the donkey kickback, but again, depending on the person, goals and needs – the programming volume is individual. 

NJAMW:  Thanks, there are some great ideas and reminders there for all of us.  Since we’re onto videos, I saw a brilliant video of you doing high explosive box jumps.  It’s an exercise which looks both fun and rewarding but can be incredibly daunting for anyone who hasn’t done them before.  What benefits do high box jumps provide, who do you recommend them to and how would you build them into a training programme?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyOQNGR7rc

AM:  Haha, thanks. Those are fun to train.  Nick and I actually incorporated them in two different training occasions.  One, in contrast training (a strength exercise immediately followed by a power exercise of similar movement) which was often done in my “off” season.  We also incorporated the box jumps at the beginning of a lower body training session in sets of 5 for power.  Nick and I aimed to keep my training athletic in style because it was important to me to maintain my athleticism.  Looking like a Figure Competitor was great, but never at the expense of losing my athletic abilities, so we never stopped training it.

Under Carter, I did not perform box jumps.  We did however achieve explosive movement through other exercises.

Ultimately, training for a physique show is quite demanding on the body.  An equally important component to achieving the lean, symmetrical shape is staying injury free.  If you’re going to perform explosive work, sprints, and plyos, you ought to consider “playing it safe – land softly, distribute stress efficiently, manage your fatigue, and periodize properly.” says Bret Contreras.  I agree.

What I DO like about the box jumps is that they offer a lower impact rather than a regular jump. Hence, a softer and more cushioned landing (hopefully).  If recommending them, they are beneficial for building concentric power in a very specific manner, and it is easy on the joints.  I would suggest starting with a height / level that doesn’t seem as “daunting / challenging” – build your confidence in the movement and of course, landing technique.

NJAMW:  I think I need to start trying to persuade Chris to obtain or build a nice big (and stable) plyo box so that I can get started on those now.

Time now for the all-important final question.  I’ve been really excited by your recent change of direction from Figure to Strength and Conditioning.  When you first agreed to do this interview you hadn’t yet announced (or perhaps even decided on) this change of direction and I was planning to ask you the classic “what’s next” question…  On your blog post announcing the change you explained some of the reasons behind that decision.  I particularly understood the need to take some time to enjoy a social life and the fact that your goals were starting to dictate your training to a format you weren’t enjoying as much.  Would you mind sharing a bit more behind this change of direction and, importantly tell us more about what will be coming up for you now with this new set of goals and challenges.

AM:  Thank you! I’m really excited about his change of direction too.  I feel like things are really starting to harmonize and I’m becoming better aligned with where my heart is.  It’s always been in training, but it’s dialing in.

As for what’s next, I am in the midst of completing my C.S.C.S.  I am ultimately interested in completing a level of education for a sports nutrition certification, but that will be down the road.  I have also had a strike of passion to write a book – but the exact topic, organization and strategy to complete it has yet to be determined.  (Another 5 year goal.)

At this time, I am taking action to create the things I want.  I am also paying attention to the people who come into my life and the opportunities that arise.  I am so grateful to have a passion that speaks so loudly to me.  I am open to where the chips fall but listening to my intuition for navigation.  I welcome challenges and things that are a little frightening because I think that is where courage, personal and professional growth to occur.

So at this time, I am making the decision to study the field of performance.  I would like to work with athletes of all ages and abilities, whether it be cultivating the talent or fine tuning it.  I would still like to have a foot in the fitness world too, not just limiting myself to the athletic scene.  I hope to be a face for strong women, both in character as well as in the gym or on the field.  Timing also plays a role in how things play out so for now, I am networking, studying and living what I preach. I too look forward to seeing how things unfold.

NJAMW:  Some fantastic goals and ambitions there.  I’ll be keeping an eye out to see how it goes and I’m sure many of my readers will too.  Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions and best of luck with your future challenges!

AM:  Thank YOU for taking the time to put such thoughtful questions together and highlighting my passion!!

 *****

Well that’s all folks!  I hope you’ve all gained as much from that interview series as I did.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Alli McKee (part 3)
2. Interview with Alli McKee (part 1)
3. Interview with Alli McKee (part 2)

Squat

I filmed the first four sets of my eight sets with 75kg on 4 May.  It was the second time I’d done this weight (so one set of three and seven sets of two reps) and I was concerned about my form.  I watched the film between each set and concluded the following:

• On the plus side, there is no tucking.  This is great news!
• I’m also really pleased with how much I’m sitting back, though there is certainly room to sit back even further if I want/need to.
• I’m not happy with the movement pattern between my upper and lower body.  It’s all a bit disjointed.  The upper body is dropping down in concertina far too quickly, finishing dropping long before I finish the squat with my glutes.  The glutes then start moving up again before the bar starts moving upwards, resulting in a bit of a mini Good Morning.  What I would like to happen is for my upper body to finish the squat movement at the same time as the lower body and for the two to move off from the bottom position together.  I was watching these four films between each set and you can see a slight improvement of this by set four but it wasn’t until set seven I started to get the feeling it was really improving.
• I’m not as upright in the upper body as I want to be, instead my upper body is almost parallel to the floor.  I know this is something which should improve as I get used to working with 75kg but it is definitely something I want to focus on over the rest of this weight.

 Set one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdeQ3iiKBAM

Set two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imNwVR7lAM8

Set three:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaQBCJAgitY

Set four:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBPRnWreZ20

RDL

This is the first set (of eight) from an 85kg workout back on 26 April.  Overall I’m pretty pleased with my form on these though perhaps the knees bend a bit too soon so that it has too much of a “squat” feel to it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vUtX1i7qgs

Hip thrusts

This was a 104kg workout which I did on 2 May.  The second and third sets of six.  I had asked Chris to film this because I was worried about my form.  With the weight going up 2kg every time I do this I was concerned that I would be extending from the lower back and not from the hips (using the lower back and quads/hamstrings rather than my glutes).  However the video of the third set (where Chris chose an angle which shows what is happening behind the plates at the hip joint) shows that I’m still getting a good hyperextension at the hip.

Set two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2xDFyvBS2k

Set three:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5gjoc03QuY

Pull ups

This isn’t from my actual workout.  With the reduction in my ability to do my pull ups I was concerned that my traps were taking over again rather than my lats doing the work, so Chris took a video of some unweighted pull ups afterwards for me to check my movement pattern.  He did it as a close up to show me my back muscles – a bit of gratuitous back muscle enjoyment!  I think he’s got fed up with me flexing in front of the mirror while simultaneously ruining the effect by looking over my shoulder and complaining that it doesn’t look as good as it used to.  It’s not true – I just can’t flex it effectively while looking over my shoulder.

I particularly like the fact that I do these with full range of movement.  That includes dropping right down out of the engaged lats position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plHSU8an8V8

Pendlay rows

I’m going to do a separate post about Pendlay rows but for completeness I thought I should include it.  The first is the first warm up set, taken for the Pendlay row post which I’m writing since, with the lighter weight of 40kg I could get good form. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UfIxRKldUg

The rest are the first couple of sets (of five sets) from my 55kg workout on 4 May. 

Set one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSey9vlZVTM

Set two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUmxAUOQP9E

As you can see, my form decays as I tire throughout the reps.  By the third rep I’m doing something closer to a bent over clean than a row and it leads from the upper back and traps rather than pulling through with the lats and rhomboids.  However I’m pleased with my form on the first rep and not too displeased with the second rep either.  By the time I complete this weight I will be keeping my back parallel to the floor throughout the reps for at least the first three sets (if my form decays on the final rep of the last couple of sets I’m less bothered).

So, what do you think?  Do you think I’ve missed any crucial points about areas I need to work on with my form?

Related posts:

1. Powerlifting progress 2011: week forty
2. Powerlifting progress 2011: week forty-one
3. Powerlifting progress 2011: week thirty-four

6. Natalia Muntean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylcy354a_9w

• Key exercises:  Wide stance deep squat, Horse stance, Skier squat, box jumps, lateral lunge, split squat, frog jumps – she is showing these as bodyweight exercises although she does suggest that you may choose to add some weight to some of them.
• Set/rep schemes:  7 exercises, 1 set, 20 reps.

7. Belinda Benn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvOcQxX3M4

• Key exercises:  Barbell squat to parallel, barbell lunge (without bringing the feet together between reps), leg press, extended leg calf press – there aren’t too many exercises here and good form seems important to her, but it’s a shame that the weights are so light.
• Set/rep schemes:  She’s not clear on the number of sets but recommends 15 reps on each leg for the barbell lunge, so it’s looking like a low set, high rep approach.

8. Diana Chaloux

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RbDfB2az5I

• Key exercises:  Lunges (without bringing the feet together between reps but with static holds at the bottom of the movement),step ups, high leg step ups (I’m not sure what else to call the step ups onto the bench), Romanian deadlifts (to the floor), box squats (but I’m not sure I like her form on these), lateral step ups with squat, box jumps (or what Aubrie Richeson and Lacey Lynn called plyometric bench hops, but to a much lower platform), leg press, extended leg calf press, leg extensions (I presume that’s what this is called), some sort of calf extension (we really are getting into the realms of things I don’t recognise now, given that I have never worked out in a commercial gym and avoid the machines in hotel gyms when I have to use them).
• Set/rep schemes:  There is no mention of the set and rep schemes but she seems to be doing millions of reps with everything so I’m guessing low sets (possibly even single sets, given the number of exercises she needs to fit into her workout) and very high reps.

Drawing some conclusions

So, what conclusions can we draw together from all of this?

• Everyone seems to be agreed that to get some bulk of muscle volume in the glute and hamstring area you need high rep work.
• I don’t know if some of the models were using lighter weights because these were example videos of the workout, but there appear to be mixed views on whether we should be going with heavy weight or not.
• That said, the ones who actually talk about the weight they recommend (eg. Liza Hughes or Matt Skeffington) certainly seem to be tending towards “the heaviest you can manage without form breaking down”.  In my own experience, it helps to build some base strength with lower rep work first so that the “heaviest you can manage” is still a significant weight.
• Deep squats and lunges seem to feature throughout with Romanian deadlifts, step ups, variations on box jumps and leg presses also featuring reasonably frequently.
• Matt Skeffington is the only one with a really strong emphasis on unilateral work, but most programmes have an element of unilateral work in them due to the inclusion of exercises like lunges and step ups.
• I was surprised to see that glute bridges and hip thrusts didn’t really get much air-time at all.  Given the fantastic results I’ve seen with them (they give a lot more bang for their buck than a lot of other exercises) is this just because they are less well-known, or are there form/strength issues behind not wanting to include them in these sort of higher rep programmes?  Though I do note that even Bret Contreras, the Glute God himself, only recently had a play with higher rep work on hip thrusts.  I’ve certainly found high rep hip thrusts a challenge, but then, I’m doing them with 90kg.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas of things you could do to achieve a bit of glute hypertrophy (if that’s what you are after).  Do you think there are any other key features which stand out in all these videos which I’ve missed and could make or break a successful glute/leg “toning” workout?

Of course, there is an alternative to the whole thing.  You could just get yourself a Flex Mini and then you don’t have to do all those pesky exercises at all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbQfTWV5Xx8

Related posts:

1. Video-watch: Bums, tums and thighs (part 1)
2. Blog-watch: introducing the Turkish Get-up
3. Blog-watch: Turkish Get-ups revisited

Be warned that I have split this out over two weeks so that you aren’t stuck watching videos for too long each week.  I’ll pull together my key points and conclusions from them at the end of next Thursday’s post.

1. Matt Skeffington

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrF27lPsGAo

This video is the “bad” example from an excellent post by Matt Skeffington in which he sets out what exercises we ought to be doing for a better set of glutes.  He has illustrated the entire post with videos so I recommend you check it out and part two is more of the same content.

• Key exercises:  Dumbbell sumo deadlift, split squat, dumbbell one-leg stiff-legged deadlift, single leg hip thrusts – emphasis on unilateral (single leg) work.
• Set/rep schemes:  low sets, high reps (typically 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps)

2. Aubrie Richeson and Lacey Lynn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX2kpHEUXk8

• Key exercises:  Bodyweight side lunge and jump squat combination, pendulum lunge and press, plyometric bench hop, single leg jump squats (I’m just loving the fact that she barely does a partial squat for this), kneeling cable kickback, Parillo lifts (also known a weighted glute bridges in a Smith machine, perhaps?) – emphasis on explosive moves (eg. the jumps) though not necessarily getting the best glute development out of their workout by making it a bit too much of a bodyweight/weighted cardio circuit and reducing the chance of building additional strength (and muscle size) in the glutes.
• Set/rep schemes:  they don’t say but it looks like high reps are the order of the day.

3. Liza Hughes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cReZhhF-rLc

• Key exercises:  Wide-stance squats to parallel, deep reverse lunge with barbell, Romanian deadlift (though it would be good if she went a bit deeper), lying leg curls – it’s a shame about the Smith machine for the first two exercises, however I like the combination of high rep and heavy(ish – I’m not convinced I’d really call it heavy) weight and there are some good compound exercises here.
• Set/rep schemes:  Liza refers to high reps, but only on the lying leg curls does she explain that she aims for 12-14 reps with the weight as heavy as possible before form deteriorates.

4. Project Swole

An article on Project Swole about the top five best glute exercises.

• Key exercises:  Squats, walking lunges, deadlifts, step ups and stiff legged deadlifts or Romanian deadlifts – all classic exercises for glute development, with a mix of unilateral and bilateral exercises and also mostly compound movements.  They are also all exercises which can be worked on with some heavy weights.
• Set/rep schemes:  No comment is made about this.

5. Article on Exercise Goals

This article defies analysis!

• Key exercises:  Lots of big compound classic exercises to choose from.
• Set/rep schemes:  Low set, high rep (typically 3 sets of 10-15 reps).

That’s it for this week.  More videos next week and a summary of what conclusions I think we can draw from all of this.

Related posts:

1. Video-watch: Bums, tums and thighs (part 2)
2. Blog-watch: pull ups
3. Core workouts (Part 1)

I found myself wondering if the original view wasn’t skewed by usually being aimed at men.  Men are generally prepared to give up the lean look for a brief period while they achieve their muscle-gaining goal.  In comparison, I don’t know many women who would comfortably pack on several pounds of fat to gain extra muscle bulk.

My muscle gain goal at the moment is figure related.  I want to build up a larger set of glutes which, despite plenty of strength (hip thrusting 10×4 with over 100kg and 5 second holds) are stubbornly petite. 

After so much success last year cutting off excess fat I am not prepared to pack on fat again to get those glutes.  I don’t feel as comfortable in my skin or as feminine when the fat is wobbling around on my thighs, hips and bottom (where it is sadly destined to go), I can’t imagine trying to explain planned weight gain to my friends or family and I’m not convinced the yo-yoing fat gain/loss is that good for my health.

When I was losing fat I managed to maintain my strength and I think I managed to maintain most, if not all, of the muscle.  I wondered if a slower approach, which was so successful during my fat loss programme, would get the muscle bulk without the fat.

Recipe for muscle gain

To gain muscle, you need the calories required for your usual daily living, enough to fuel some heavy, muscle-breaking lifting and then some spare to fuel the development of new muscle as your muscles recover from the work you put them through and apply additional muscle to make them more able to cope with that level of work next time.

This requirement is probably the biggest reason why people say you need to accept getting fat while packing on muscle.  It is pretty difficult to predict the extra calorie intake needed and it is generally safer to over-do it than to under-do it (and not get the real benefit from your workouts).

In the workout room, the bodybuilders swear by higher reps too.  However, if you watch something like Pumping Iron, the documentary put together by Arnold Schwarzenegger just before he retired from competitive bodybuilding, you’ll notice that this isn’t high reps with the pink dumbbells.  This is high reps with challengingly heavy weights.  The bodybuilders who aren’t pumped full of steroids (and even the elite ones who are) are working seriously hard to gain their muscle.

What I’m trying – the workout

From a workout perspective, I am only taking a bodybuilder approach to my glutes.  That’s the bit I want to enhance.  So I’m doing heavy hip thrusts at the end of every workout (currently 85kg) for high reps (eventually aiming for sets of 12-20 reps).  I’m still doing a static hold at the top of each rep though to get the most from the exercise.

Heavy hip thrusts for high reps and high volume

I start with four sets and add another set with each workout, until I am doing twelve sets.  I then increase the weight by a significant step up and drop back down to four sets.  This wave-loading approach is designed to give me volume while making workouts sustainable without causing me to suffer from burnout and need several weeks of rest every so often.  It certainly seems to be working so far.

I’ve also got a mix of fast and slow work on total body exercises in the form of RDLs and squats.  That’s all thanks to the Hepburn approach of high sets of low, heavy reps immediately followed by low sets of high, lighter reps (done more explosively).

What I’m trying – the diet

The diet is the crucial bit.  

I have retained my fat loss diet levels, with a fraction more calories and dietary fat in each day (so I’ve put my yolks back into my eggs, and I’m frying them instead of boiling them, but otherwise it is pretty much the tuna and broccoli/cabbage diet each day still).  Not enough to gain muscle, I’m sure you’ll say.

The difference is round my workouts.  Immediately before my workouts I have a pre-workout “snack” which is loaded with carbohydrates.  Currently I’m using bananas and yoghurt since they’re quick and easy.  That gives my muscles the fuel they need to work really hard in the gym and tax them.

Pre-workout fruit and yoghurt - delicious!

This moves my daily calorie-intake from the usual 970 calories to a hefty (for me) 1,500-1,800 on workout days.

Results?

I drafted this article a few weeks ago when I was already five weeks into the program.  A week later, the article by Elliot Hulse about Hybrid Muscle and an interview with Glenn Pendlay both landed in my inbox.  Both seemed to pick up on things that my approach includes, such as heavy weights, total body movements, varied speeds with the weights, partitioned food in my diet and timing of calorie bulking round workouts.  It seems I’ve accidentally (through trial, effort, failures and guesswork) landed on some of the crucial keys to getting this right.

At the moment I’m seeing a little fat gain early in the wave-load cycle and then a little fat loss again towards the end when the volume is much higher.  I’ve also definitely seen some increase in glute size, although muscles generally respond well to any new program so I don’t know if this will continue.  I also saw some increase in fat levels, but that was due to a week when I went off the wagon and ate everything in sight, even on the non-workout days.  I’ve paid the price for that.

I’m keeping track of my measurements and my weight and will let you know in a few months time if it looks like I may have cracked the muscle without fat gain conundrum.

Have you got any tips on what else I might do to try and achieve this goal?

Related posts:

1. Improving nutrition for muscle gain
2. Diet to gain muscle as a woman
3. Lessons learned: side-effects of building muscle

Heavy hip thrusts for high reps and high volume should achieve the derriere I'm after!

Since I’m working on some glute hypertrophy at the moment, I thought I would pull together a few recent links about glute work. 

Why hypertrophy for the glutes you may ask?  A good, firm, rounded set of glute muscles is the perfect completion of a female figure, lifting the figure and giving it that curvaceous appearance.  Just search through photos of the women used for Testosterone Nation articles (or on Tony Gentilcore’s blog…) and you’ll notice that the women with the fuller glutes are the ones that look most feminine and attractive.

I’m working on achieving my hypertrophy by using high volume hip thrusts at the end of each workout with the heaviest weight I can manage (I started the first cycle with 80kg).  I’m using sets of eight reps and am wave-loading (partly to stop me from burning out), starting with four sets and then adding a set with each workout until I reach twelve sets.  At that point I put the weight up and drop back down to four sets.

Within the first week I was already noticing a change in the shape of my glutes and it’s making me feel more feminine as I look at my figure in the mirror.  I can’t recommend a bit of heavy glute hypertrophy work for any woman reading this.  In fact, I’d recommend it for men too.  It’s certainly one of the first bits of a man that I find myself looking at when assessing their appearance.

I actually only have a couple of links on this, but I thought they were both well worth reading and it is a subject close to my heart at the moment.  I hope you find them worthwhile too.

• I found an interesting piece in IronMan Magazine about glutes and the importance of developing the glutes.  There is a lot of emphasis on the squats in this article, which I’m not entirely convinced by.  I completely agree that squats can be great for glute development, but the success of squats for glute development depends on how advanced several mobility areas are – not just hips but also thoracic spine and ankles, to name only two.  As a result I think there are plenty of other exercises which can work with squats (and can potentially work better than glutes depending on your limitations of mobility) to develop good glutes.  A couple of examples would be weighted hip thrusts or glute bridges.  However, something I really like about this IronMan article was the fact that it covers (briefly) the need to work on the lumbar spine as part of glute development.
• The second article is from Stevo in which he explains how he is now completely sold on the need to put some focus on the glutes, whether you are an athlete, figure performer, or just trying to maintain some general health.  Stevo has done a great job of explaining in simple readable language how the glutes function and why they are so important, but the article also helpfully includes some lists of key features about the glutes for different groups of people (eg. those after a physique enhancement goal).  Something particularly struck me from Stevo’s comments.  The article says that “Figure competitors typically lose their glutes when they diet down. They need extra glute mass to counteract this phenomenon”.  Something I noticed in the middle of last year was that I seemed to lose glute volume for no apparent reason, although with hindsight I wonder if it coincided with one of my diets.  I didn’t only lose volume to look at though, but also strength.  This could well explain the problem and has given both me and Chris something to think about as he struggles with squatting after walking holidays, and noticeably loses weight when we walk.  Are his glutes one of the first muscles to go when he walks, perhaps?

That’s it.  Just the two articles, but there’s some good meat to read behind that and for more information on glute work there is plenty more in older blog-watches I’ve done on the subject, here and here.  Does anyone else want to join me in making 2011 the year of glute development and hypertrophy?

Related posts:

1. Blog-watch: recent glute news
2. Blog-watch: exercise for mental health and brain development
3. Glute Guy workouts