Old and New

I was meant to start the men's health workout on Monday and to tell the truth I was really looking forward to it, but when I got the workout plan I was disappointed as it was all gym based! In preparation for the new workouts I had increased my sets from three to four , which increased the length of my workout to 45-50 min's. I found that after my longer workouts I really felt it, sore muscles like in as a beginner again, and my body was shaking. Probably from low sugar levels.
   Yesterday I was thinking about what a friend of mine was saying a few weeks ago about doing 100 press ups a day for 6 weeks. At first I was thinking, 6 weeks! That's mad, but yesterday I decided to do a variation on it.
At the beginning of my workouts , after my warm up I do;
5x normal press ups.
5x diamond press ups
5x wide press ups
5x moving press ups
5x kettlebell press ups.
Rest in between as needed, but no more than 30 seconds.
Do normal extended workout and repeat at end.
Sound easy? try it. I did 50 press ups and my workout.
I can really feel it in my chest now.
#menshealth#jameswilson

3 hrs later

Wow amazing stuff seven seas, I'm now like a well oiled machine who feels like I could jump over the house in a single bound after taking the tablets . Well not really but I do have plenty of energy and no body parts have dropped off. First off I have to say that I HATE swallowing tablets but thank god these tablets are easy to swallow , even though one if them looks pretty big I had no bother. And compared to the wallmart specials that feel like your swallowing a bullet, they were a breeze. Good job Seven seas. 

Seven seas

Look what was waiting for me when I got home. New goodies to fill me full of energy goodness. I'll let you know if the make me super man, or even better Batman. Thanks to seven seas for sorting me out. 

6 months on

I was looking at the calendar today and I realized that I have been doing my current workout for six months! Now I have to say I have noticed a few changes in my physique, I'm bigger and stronger and I've been able to put on some weight and maintain It at a healthy 11 stone(I think).
I'm due to start the men's health workout in the next few weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. In the meantime I'm still plugging away with the 16 kg Kettlebells and working on the old routine until it starts.

I am still in the market to become a brand ambassador and I'm currently in talks with seven seas and D8 fitness in Dublin. If any of you guys out there are brand ambassadors any tips would be great.

Man Lego part two

Nearly there, hopefully I will have it ready for the meteor shower , I included a love seat as well

Plateau

Good afternoon, its been 3 weeks since my last confession.
Recently i have noticed that I have reached a sort of plateau  ( i think that's what it is) , I'm working out as normal but I'm not really seeing any more improvements. I have been considering for a while of increasing the amount of cardio. I was going to start back running but the physio has advised me not to. So I have decided to take part in an on line challenge
http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/get-big/sign-up-for-mens-health-total-body-challenge.
I was considering some sort of HIIT . Probably Tap out to do along with the kettlebells. so it would be Kettlebells in the morning and Tap out in the evening. The problem I am having at the moment is the dreaded middle age spread! you see like many men my age I have a slowing metabolism, and the belly is getting bigger and no matter what I do I just cant shift it. I have never once in all my 36 years been considered fat or overweight ( the complete opposite) and at the minute I am working out more than I ever did. In the past I worked as an outdoor instructor so I was active all the time, Hill walking, kayaking etc. So I was thinking that I'm not doing enough cardio to shift the excess fat that middle age spread is giving me. What do people think?
Will this be any good?
Should i just get bigger Kettlebells?

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/get-big/sign-up-for-mens-health-total-body-challenge
It might be a bit of craic. I have been doing my current workout since Christmas, so it might be time for a change.

Stop Farmer Stop!

Yesterday morning i went and had a chat with my physio about my chronic knee pain, after a few exercises and various twists and turns we have discovered that I have exactly the same issue with my right knee that i had with my left knee three years ago. When she measured my leg above the knee, my right leg is two cm smaller than my left, this is mostly because my Vastus medialis is smaller and weaker than it should be. this causes the foot to turn out a little which puts pressure on the outside of my leg and my IT band
As I said before this is the same problem I had on my left leg so i was a little confused about it.
Now if your a reader of my blog you will know that I have a  dedicated leg day and i do a fair bit of squats etc. and i have a long history of hill walking and cycling so I thought these muscles would be good and strong.
when I had the injury on the left side I didn't do anything to fix it, I just stopped running and it went away.
( after awhile).
The bottom line is at least six weeks of physio activities before i start back into long distance running. I'm going to try and do some shorter distances over the weekend and see how I get on.

Workout

Monday	Off
Tuesday	Upper body / kettle bell circuit
Wednesday	Abs and core.  first 30 min’s
Thursday	Off
Friday	Lower body
Saturday	Second part abs and core +38 min
Sunday	Kettle bell circuit

 most workouts are 30 mins long , using 2x 16 kg kettlebells.  what do ya think, any ideas?

The IT revolution.

After my recent discussion on Facebook with some of my readers we came to the conclusion that my chronic double knee injury could be as simple as my IT band. So on Wednesday morning I have an appointment with the physio. So that means tomorrow after a three month lay off I'm going for a run! Den den deeeennnnn!  Well there is no point going to the physio and not having an injury is there? Lol. Hopefully we will be able to sort it out once and for all. So if it is an IT band injury what are good exercises to get it back to normal? Any ideas ?

All week I have been keeping up with my kettlebells workouts, except I haven't been using weights. I have been doing the movements for each exercise and focusing on my form, and thinking about what muscles were engaged and why. I'm back to the weight today so I  hope it helps.

Why do we workout?

My recent exploding stomach syndrome got me thinking about a couple of things.

1. Why do I work out?
2. Am I working out correctly?


So why do I work out? For s few reasons, most of them the same as everyone else who works out. Becoming a father inspired me to sort my life style out. The thoughts of my kids losing their dad when they were young was something I couldn't live with. So I quit smoking , drinking , and all the other "fun" things I used to do and decided to become fit and healthy. Now I wasn't starting from scratch I as an outdoor instructor at the time and in the local mounting rescue team so running around the mountings of mayo had me as fit as a goat.
I also want to be bigger, stronger and look and feel good about myself.

But  the main reason why I and most men work out is to be able to defend our families from the upcoming ZOMBIE apocalypse !

 While I was doing a light upper body workout today I realized that this w's the first day in a long time that I had taken the time to really warm up. I was warming up because of my abdominal strain? This to me is the wrong reason. I should be warming up for every workout without fail. So I'm taking this as a lesson learned, warm up or face the double pain of an injury and not being able to workout. From now on I think I will get up earlier and instead of blasting through the workouts to get them out of the way I'm instead going to relax, take it easy, slow my workouts down and focus on the muscles that are being worked.
    Any thoughts or tips would be great.
    Hope this will make sense to some of you.

Pop goes the stomach!

Another weekend is here and another leg day missed!
The story so far: I got up yesterday and got ready . To save time I always set up my gear up the night before (I have to work out in the kitchen).  I was starting with 10 x double squats, So I set my feet, racked the Kettlebells, lowered down, I as coming back up and I felt a POP in my abs on the left side! First thoughts : Hernia SHIT! I put the kettlebells down and had a feel of my stomach, it felt the same, no problems. So I put everything away and started breakfast.
To today, first off I don't think its a hernia probably a strained or pulled muscle. I have a little bit of pain on the opposite side of where  I felt the pop. Off course today was abs and core so I'm going to give it a miss, and see how I feel tomorrow.
So how do you deal with a pulled abdominal muscle? RICE?(rest, ice, compression, elevation) I don't think that would work, I might try a heat pack.

I found this on the Interweb.

Treatment of Abdominal Strains
Treatment of an abdominal muscle injury is difficult--there is no way to splint the abdomen and it is nearly impossible to fully rest these muscles. That said, the most important step after sustaining an abdominal muscle strain is to allow the muscle to cool down and allow the inflammation to subside. Avoiding exercise to allow the injured muscle to heal is important. Activities that cause pain or spasm of the abdominal muscles should be avoided.
Gentle stretching is helpful, but it should not be painful. Stretching excessively can be harmful, and slow the healing process. Apply ice to the injured area in the acute phase (first 48 hours after injury), and then after activities. Before activities, gentle heating can help to loosen the muscle
What I'm wondering is why did it happen? Not enough warm up ? bad form? All of these?
 Your thought please.

Runners Knee ?

I came across this article today on Google +

http://www.bodyheal.com.au/blog/what-is-runners-knee-patellofemoral-pain-syndrome-symptoms-causes-treatment-options

               I had a similar injury that was more of a mystery. It started out in my left knee, on the outside of the joint area. the pain would start after about an hour of running with a dull pain in the area. the pain would increase to a sharp stabbing pain and I would have to stop running. I could not walk up or down stairs or over uneven ground. I had an MRI, loads of X rays , went to physio and all that jazz. No one could find a problem.
                   Two years later i started running again and the pain came back. This time in my right knee! Exactly the same. I went to the Dr and explained my symptoms etc and she said " your knee hurts when you run? Then stop running".

my pain is more to the outside of the knee

Its now got to the stage where i cant walk for any distance without getting pain.  It cant be as simple as this? Can it? I'm just wondering if anyone has anything similar happen to them ?

Sleepy workouts!

New baby + early mornings = Sleepy workouts.
As many of you know we have a new baby in the house and it got me to thinking , well actually yawning my way through my abs and core workout this morning got me thinking. How do people wake themselves up before a workout? You have to take into account that its seven am and that i have to stay quiet or i will wake the house and the workout would have to be abandoned for making breakfast, getting Lillie dressed and the dogs in and all the other stuff i have to do before leaving the house. I know what you're thinking, Why don't you just do it in the evening? Well the list of evening jobs is even longer than the morning list. so while yawning my way through my Turkish get ups this morning I was thinking, Is this safe ? what if i fall asleep with the kettlebell over my head? Lucky enough I didn't crack my head open.
              So what do people do ?

Missing days/Lazy ass!

Yesterday was lower body day and I missed it. For three reasons:
1. I was lazy.
2. I was lazy.
3. I was lazy!
Today was core day and after missing yesterday I found it really hard to motivate my self. Really hard. Missing days is a slippery slope. Its to easy to miss the next one and so on and so forth and then next thing you know is that your not even working out at all. So my advise to myself and others is GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND DO SOMETHING!  Because you feel great after you do. Now to ruin it all by watching three games of rugby in a row.

Are Pallets Lego for men?

We started the campsite today, then we ran out of pallets. What do you think of the view?

Good Morning World

Due to the new addition in our lives I'm a little behind in the blogs.  I'm sorry for this, but it might be a good thing, imagine the crap I would be putting up in my sleep deprived state.
Yesterday was upper body size and strength and I decided to increase the amount of reps until I get new Kettlebells. It worked out fine, I even did some abdominal work at the end of the session. As the weather is good I'm out working round the house every day catching up on things like splitting logs and moving pallets about the yard. Yesterday I did two good hours again splitting logs and I really feel it today in my abs and chest. Its some workout. Today I might get started on my project for the summer. I'm going to build a permanent camp site in the trees at the back of the house where I can take Lillie camping in the summer. I'm going to build walls from pallets on three sides and then floor it with more pallets, sort of like decking. I will make a frame for the roof that I can put a tarp over when its needed, stick in a fire pit of a home made stove and ill be done. I'll get some pictures up soon . enjoy the weather folks and stay classy.

Monday Monday!

This is my third fourth attempt at writing this blog? Well its been an eventful week, but its the start of a new one  and its my day off (thank god) even if I feel guilty for not doing anything?
  I have meant to put this up on Saturday but I am only getting round to it now, here is my Saturday core workout:
Low-hi windmill x 5 each side , 2 kettle bells.
Renegade row x 10.
Suitcase dead lift x 5 , 2 bells each side.
Double snatch x 5.
L sit , 30 sec.
1 leg dead lift x 5 each leg.
Double clean and press x 5.
2 x 16 Kg kettle bells
repeat x 3.
 I ended up feeling so guilty about not working out today that I split logs with a wedge and a 10 kg sledge hammer for two hours.

Welcome to the world Evie.

On Wednesday night , my self and my heavily pregnant wife made the 45 minute dash to Castlebar hospital, where 40 minutes later Evie Farmer was born. Both mother and daughter are fit and well, Evie was good enough to come the night before my rest day lol.

So back to the Kettlebells,  Today was lower body day, here is the break down:

10 x Front squats, 2 bells.

10 x good morning, 1 bell.

5 x 1 leg dead lift, each side.

5 x box squat, each side.

10 x racked lunge, 2 bells ( KILLER MOVE)

10 x Jump squat, 2 bells.

5 x Double swings, 2 bells.

Repeat x 3. 2 x 16 kg kettlebells.

Question Time

Which would be better for increasing my size and strength?
  1. Bigger weights? (20kg Kettlebells).
  2. Working out for longer? (doubling my workout time + 30 mins ).

Upper body workout breakdown.

Today was upper body size and strength. Here is a break down of the workout(hope you can understand it).
10 x press.
5 x each side bent row with double bells.
10 x alternating military press.
5 x each side bottoms up clean.
5 x each side seated snatch.
5 x seated double rack.
5 x double swings.
10 x pullover.
repeat x 3

Weight ; 2 x 16 kg D8 fitness competition bells.
This is from the Steve Cotter extreme series that I follow.
                After the motivation problems I had on Sunday I thought that I might have problems this morning getting out of bed. When the alarm went off I was already awake, I jumped out of bed and blasted through the workout without stopping. It took me twenty two minutes, when it normally takes me a half an hour. I think I might have been trying to prove something to myself.
                 I was reading an article lately about protein shakes and I was wondering, when do people take their shakes? Before? After? or both as the article suggested.

Monday! Shit!

So another week has rolled around and for me that means back to the start of my workout plan. Today is Rest day as all Mondays should be, then its upper body tomorrow, but that's not what I want to talk to you about, Yesterday was cardio day which usually means a forty min kettle bell workout but I couldn't manage it, after twenty minutes I was wreaked and I had a splitting headache, which proceeded to get worse as the day went on.  Normally I have no problem motivating myself but i just couldn't get going.  So to my question, how do people motivate themselves? What do you do to maintain the drive to get your lazy ass out of bed and workout?

Running For Two?

For all you girls out there who are pregnant, or thinking about having a baby in the future. or even guys looking for something comfortable to support the Man Belly, Check this out:http://seejaneyrunfast.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/for-two-fitness-im-an-ambassador-for-fitness-when-pregnant/

New Bells , Where to get them?

As I am thinking of getting new Kettle bells I was wondering if anyone knew of a good place to get them?  I got my first one in Tesco's in Dundalk ,( its the little red one in the progression picture on the right) the next one from Argos.  A friend of mine who I was in the Mayo Mountain Rescue With  got me the grey 12 kg one . And i bought the 16 kg Bells of d8 fitness in Dublin. I had a great experience with d8, ordered them online and they arrived within 4 days or so. (i had to carry them out of the post van for the poor post man). i cant fault them, they are competition size so i think ill stick with that size as opposed to regular ones. Does anyone know of anywhere else to get them?, had any good / bad experiences with shops, on-line or real? or even know someone selling any?

http://seejaneyrunfast.wordpress.com/

Progression

Bigger Bells?

While i was doing my workout yesterday i was thinking that i might get two bigger Kettle bells. At the minute i use two 16 kg bells. now they say that they weight that i should be using is 20 kg! i was in a sports shop and i lifted a 20 kg Beast, Jesus it was heavy! but then i remember it being the same when i got the 12 kg , and now im using the 16 kg every day. what do people think? in order to increase size and strength do i need to up my weight? should i be using 20 kg anyway? If so does anyone know where i can get two?

the post christmas rugby blues

I, like most of the Irish people in the world was left disappointed by the result in the 6 nations yesterday.  So much so that it kept me awake last night. I know , a grown man being kept awake by a rugby match, it doesn't make sense, but it makes as much sense as not washing the Ireland top that I was wearing when they won in case it give them bad luck!
   Anyway what i was wondering was do people think that Ireland are a one trick pony ? we have all marveled at the great performances that the rugby team has put in against the likes of new Zealand and Australia and even the welsh , but it seems that they can never repeat it. I think the current Irish team are the best I've seen. But yesterday they just didn't have the answers, Johnny sexton didn't seem to be on the same field. I know that it was a tough game , the toughest I've seen them play in a long time, but we should have beaten them. There was no spark , we were unable to deal with the speed and power of the English, who kept us on the back foot the whole game. To me it felt like we were just holding on since the first whistle.  Is it the teams fault? Are they too old? Was it the manager getting tactics wrong? Were they afraid of the English? Every time I see a brilliant Irish performance I'm left wondering when will I see another one. What do you think?

Happy valentines day baby

revised workout

Monday	Off
Tuesday	Upper body / kettle bell circuit
Wednesday	Abs and core.  first 30 min’s
Thursday	Off
Friday	Lower body
Saturday	Second part abs and core +38 min
Sunday	Kettle bell circuit

 most workouts are 30 mins long , using 2x 16 kg kettlebells.  what do ya think, any ideas?

back again damn knee.

its been awhile since i last posted, so i thought i would let you know how iv'e been getting on. At Christmas i went for my run up round the mountain at my mothers house. on the way back down i started getting the all to familiar twinge in my knee. at the time i was about 8 miles away from home so i still had that to run.  so i did what any man would do; i ran it.  it took 3 weeks to recover from it and i left if for another week before i went for a run.  the next run out i only manager 1 mile before i had to stop and come back, the pain only lasted about an hour but the next day i was having problems walking any distance and since then its been the same. i thought it might be time to see the dr , so last night i did just that , and the verdict;

 STOP RUNNING!