Bench Press has to be one of everyones favourite exercises and one of the lifts I get asked to explain alot.

Most people get some sort of bench press plateua at some point in their training.

Discovering if you have a bench press sticking point and why this can occur is essential to keep you moving towards the maximum lift possible.

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Well today’s weight training session got a bit messed up. I ended up running out of time and trained with one of my clients – the only problem was I ended up doing what they were doing which repeated some of the same movement patterns as I did yesterday.

Any way here it is:

AM: Weight Training Session

A1 Squats with dumbbells – to sitting on bench (2×15)
A2 DB bench press with double leg stretch (2×15)
A3 Alternating Bent over Row – db’s (2×15LR)

B1 Walking Lunges with knee up and skip (2×10LR)
B2 Lat Pulldown – wide overhand (2×15)
B3 Push Press – barbell (2×15)

C Biceps rope curl – drop set (10,10,10)

D Triceps rope press down – drop set (10,10,10)

Ab circuit
E1 Supine 90 crunch with medicine ball (20)
E2 Squirms (20,20)
E3 Reverse Crunch (10)

PM: 45 minutes run

Steady paced run – training my wife to run a half marathon (it’s the longest she’s ever run for today…I’m very proud of her).

So not an ideal day of training but I made it work for me. It takes me back to my first rule of training – being consistent.

It’s been 10 years at the end of the month since I quit professional rugby and I have a desire to get back and play this September (all be it at an amateur rugby level……I’m getting on a bit!!)

I’ll be adding some of the above exercises to my weight training technique website that is undergoing some beta testing at the moment.

If you would like to see 4 of my videos for free and sign up to the early notification list **click here**

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Continuing on the theme of reporting my training (due to so many requests) here’s the weight training program and cardio session I did today:

AM: Weight Training

A1 Forward Lunge over hurdle with bar loaded in front squat position (3 x8LR)
A2 Seated Mid Row – neutral grip (1×10, 2×8)
A3 Incline Chest Press – db’s (1×10, 2×6)

B1 Step Ups with arms in over head position-locked out (3 x 6LR)
B2 Low Cable Row (3x 8 LR)
B3 Single Leg Cable Hamstring Curls (3×10LR)

C1 Prone Rear Delts (2×8)
C2 Glute Hamstroc Raise (2×8)
C3 Bent Leg Calf Raises (2×8 – eccentric tempo)

PM: Cardio session

25 minute interval run on the road.

So that was today, two sessions planned again tomorrow.

Look out for my video on Kettlebell swings, I’ll be putting it up later.

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The final question for the turbulence training manual questions was this:

3) Craig Ballantyne insists on a 1 minute rest between the supersets. As performance increases, and to increase the intensity of the workout, can these rest times be reduced to, say, 45 or 30 seconds?

It’s important that you follow the program as designed by the fitness expert. Whether that is a fat loss manual or a body building and muscle gaining program.

There is usually a reason he has given you that rest period and you would do best to stick to that.

Don’t mess with what we know already delivers results.

The only time I would recommend changing what is written originally is if you had completed the 8 weeks training and did not have any other equipment to use or access to a new program.

So dropping the rest down to 45 seconds for 8 weeks and then 30 seconds would make it a 24 week fitness program.

As I said if that’s all you can do then so be it, the best case would be to change your program completely, you’ll get more gains with the constant changing every 4 weeks (known in weight training as periodization) than you will with staying in the same program and just changing the rest.

For more information on the Turbulence Training Manual ** click here **

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Following on from yesterdays post…

I am working out with the TT DB-BW 8 week fat loss manual and I am unclear on a couple of points and could really do with your advice:

2) I have a real struggle with the ‘DB Rear Delt Raise’ weight training exercise, I find it extremely hard to push my arms up and out to the side, in the manner that Craig Ballantyne describes, with any weight in my hands – what can you suggest I do and will it improve?

The way Craig Ballantyne has described the exercise you need to make sure that you have a light enough weight. You really should not experience any pain when you do this exercise.

If you do not have access to light enough weights or find it painful or hard with the light weights then you should change the exercise slightly.

Try bending the elbows so that the load is reduced as there is less of a long lever pulling on the shoulder. It is quite easy to injure your shoulder with an exercise like that so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I’ll try and do a quick video to show the alternatives and post it up next week.

Tomorrow I’ll finish James’s questions by answering this one:

3) Craig insists on a 1 minute rest between the supersets. As performance increases, and to increase the intensity of the workout, can these rest times be reduced to, say, 45 or 30 seconds?

For more information on the Turbulence Training Manual ** click here **

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I need to ask you something about the Turbulence Training workouts you recommended to me to improve my conditioning for competitive Tae Kwon-Do fitness following a knee arthroscopy.

I am working out with the TT DB-BW 8 week fat loss manual and I am unclear on a couple of points and could really do with your advice:

1) Craig Ballantyne talks about ‘2-0-1′ or ‘2-1-1′ etc when completing the technique for individual weight training exercises, can you explain this further please?

The 2-0-1 relates to the tempo or speed of movement. The industry standard is to use the first number to explain the speed for the negative portion of the movement. The negative portion of the movement is different for different exercises.

As an example when squatting the negative portion (easiest part) is going down) where as with a lat pulldown it is opposite (going up).

Regardless of the exercise the first number always represents this, the easiest movement to perform.

The next relates to holding the movement in a contracted position, so for the squats it would be at the bottom and the lat pulldown at the bottom.

Finally the last number dictates the speed at which you move in the positive section of the lift (the hardest part of the movement) – up in the squat, down in the lat pulldown.

Therefore, 10 reps at 2-0-1 should take 30 seconds to complete and 10 reps at 2-1-1 should take you 40 seconds.

Tomorrow I’ll answer this question.

2) I have a real struggle with the ‘DB Rear Delt Raise’ exercise, I find it extremely hard to push my arms up and out to the side, in the manner that Craig describes, with any weight in my hands – what can you suggest I do and will it improve?

For more information on the Turbulence Training Manual ** click here **

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