Week 6, Day 3 of my 12 Week Transformation

After a week’s holiday at Centre Parcs with the family, I’m now back and feeling great about the next stage of my 12 week transformation.

While I was away I didn’t put a single pound of weight on, which I have to say with plenty of temptation around wasn’t easy. I reminded myself of my goals and that’s how I was able to say no to the ice creams, beers and pancakes (apart from on Sunday of course!). That’s the thing I’ve said previously, will-power is not some magic formula blessed to a few. Anyone, and I mean anyone , can have incredible will-power and achieve amazing results if they have a goal which excites them and a clear plan of action.

Before I talk more about my next phase if training I’d like to show you a video of one of the exercises I recorded during the conditioning phase. It’s called a jockey row, and it’s a fantastic exercise to relieve tightness in the lower back and improve posture.



Second 4 weeks of training - hypertrophy (improved muscle tone)
The training phase changes at this point to give the body a new stimulus. This training phase is called hypertrophy, which means using resistance based exercises to increase the body’s lean muscle and also to increase muscular tone.

For women worried about ‘bulking up’ during this phase, there really isn’t any need as the building block of muscle is testosterone and 99% of women won’t produce enough testosterone to build significant muscle. You can read more about this in the article written by Rebecca Maslin in Revolution’s July newsletter.

By adding lean quality muscle to the body, the basal metabolic rate is increased. This is the rate at which you burn calories at rest. For every pound of muscle you have, you burn 16 calories at rest per hour. For every pound of fat you have, you only burn 2 calories at rest per hour.

What the above really means is that by lifting weights and eating right, you will inevitably reduce body fat whilst also shaping and sculpting the body. Although cardiovascular exercise should obviously be a key part of any training schedule, weight training should always play an important part too. And as I have already emphasised, this is for both men and women.

I can’t finish this post holiday blog without the mention of a few classic moments with my parents. As I explained in my last post, my parents follow their own set of nutritional rules, which aren’t entirely in line with the ones I am following during this 12 week transformation. The day after we arrived, I asked my Mum if she had brought any green tea bags. She replied with “no, but I can make you a latte if you like?” Another gem was when I told my dad I was off the beers, to which he replied “Alright. I’ll just pour you a whiskey then.”

Cheers,

Rob
Revolution