I am back after my weeks break. I hadn’t quite finished my program (had about 3 days to go) but I came down with the flu (not swine) and decided to have my break then and there.It was a good break, had some alcohol for the first time in a month and it showed didn’t take much hehe. My body felt like it recovered. I felt a bit slack not working out, I feel instantly fatter. It’s funny how the mind can make you feel that way, yet when you sit down and be lazy when your fat, its the opposite, getting up and exercising is the horrible concept.

I’m fairly busy with work and study at the moment so I’m yet to put down all my workout plans on (digital) paper, but I will be doing that this weekend. Hence I won’t have any real updates on my blog until this weekend.

I will be changing the way I will be updating my blog as well, I will do a twitter update every day, just to save myself some time doing a detailed blog about my workout. I will then post a weekly summary of how the workouts went for the weeks in some more detail.

Also keep an eye out of an article on HIIT, I know Rob was looking forward to one, so I will have that done in the next few days as well.

So if you aren’t already, start following my Twitter Account!

I also appreciate everyone’s comments, keeps me motivated, so keep them up.

More info soon…

Workout 19

I completed “Workout Day 4” today. One more run through and its done. Ahh chest. I love doing chest. I increased the weight on the Peck Deck and High Peck deck. Was really struggling to get all the reps out but managed it. My chest was definantley feeling the pain on the weekend from pushing so hard. Chest and abs are the remaining muscles I want to put a lot of work into to shape them nicley. Leg raises as usual DESTROYS abs. After each set I do I feel as if im about to throw up. It’s strangley a good feeling… I did HIIT on the treadmill again, shins held up nicley.

• Workout Duration: 1hour 38 minutes
• Calories Burnt: 737
• Heart Rate Max: 179
• Heart Rate Average: 139

Workout 20

Ohhh I am so glad to be done with “Workout Day 1“. Legs and back, and the hardest workout on the list. I pushed the Squats up another 2.5kg, the calf raises up 2.5 kg and the Barbell over hand and underhand row up 5kg. I thought my calves were going to tear off, I could  barley walk after I did all my sets. I bet they will be sore tomorrow. Back is feeling a bit sore as well. The problem with working the back is hurting your back in a bad way feels very similar to working your back in a good way, you can’t really tell until a few days later if you hurt it or worked it. I didn’t do any cardio today, just was not in the mood for running and then destroying my legs through weights.

• Workout Duration: 1hour 17 minutes
• Calories Burnt: 602
• Heart Rate Max: 17
• Heart Rate Average: 141

Conclusion To “Day 1″ Workouts

Well I think I’ve made quite good progress on the weights I was using for these exercises. My girlfriend tells me she doesn’t want my legs any bigger than they are, so I will be easing off the legs when I do my new program, just try and maintain there size, and perhaps work on toning the calves a bit more. I won’t miss you though workout day 1. Your one hard bastard.

I am just an average guy that is trying to go from fat to fit. A long the way I have learned some things that have worked for me. Some of it is through personal experience and some of what I have ingested is advice and wisdom from my personal trainer. So here is my take on water retention and how it affects the body and your look as well.

We all need water in our body. That is a given fact.  Water retention is basically caused by excess sodium. What happens is that the water we ingest adheres to the sodium molecules in our body. This builds up fluid retention which locates itself under the skin which covers the muscles. Thus covering up the toned muscles and hiding the definition that is really there; while adding some extra weight as well.

So what needs to be done is that this excess water that is covering the toned muscles has to be eliminated by your body and this can be done in a number of ways that I have listed here:

• Drinking more water helps to release the water that is already there.
• Reduce the amount of sodium intake.
• Sweat it out through exercise or by sitting in a sauna or steam room. This also helps to release excess sodium form your body as well.

That’s why you’ll see a lot of professional body builders in there just before a competition.  By releasing the excess water they get a more defined look. This of course is only a temporary solution. What works for me is removing the excess sodium from your diet. I achieve it by:

• Reading labels and avoid foods with high sodium levels.
• Try not to consume processed foods because they use sodium to keep the food preserved. I make some foods from scratch, like my salsa.
• When snacking I eat raw and natural cashews or almonds and I stay away from chips.
• I don’t drink sodas. They contain sodium as well.
• Eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables.  The fiber in these help eliminate the excess fluid as well.
• When cooking replace salts with other spices like black or cayenne pepper or garlic.

I think by following these suggestions one can not only lose weight and get healthy as well, but they also can get a more toned look; the natural way.

On an added note I have to say that our bodies do need some sodium to function and to help with metabolism. So it’s not healthy to eliminate all sodium. I am just suggesting that one should try to avoid excess sodium in your diet. By trial and error you can see what levels work for you and what gives you the results you’re looking for.

Rob is author of the RobFitness Blog - http://robfitness.wordpress.com/

• Workout Duration: 1hour 29 minutes
• Calories Burnt: 670
• Heart Rate Max: 180
• Heart Rate Average: 139

Conclusion To Day 5 Workouts

Four weeks of arms and abs. I don’t feel my abs have really gotten anywhere, but that’s most likely due to diet and water retention. I will be working on my abs a lot more when I start on my cutting program in about 2 months time. My arms, on the other hand have seen big improvements. I actully had two people comment on my arms at the gym today, one guy I have chatted to quite a bit at the gym (who’s almost as big as Arnie), and a random girl I met today. She said “wow, your arms look amazing”. So that was a really good feeling / conclution to my arm workout program. Means a lot when some random chick comments on how good you are looking. Big confidence booster and it gives you a feeling that you have accomplished something.

So where to from here for my arms and abs? Find out when I do the write up on my next program when I finish of the rest of my workout days.

Again, I completed most of “Workout Day 3“. The cable pull down machine was in use AGAIN today. Every time I finished a set I would look up and try and grab it but for the whole time I was there it was taken. So I substituted pull ups for the cable pull down instead, works the same muscles anyway I guess. I didn’t increase any weights in this workout, they are all pretty difficult as they are.

• Workout Duration: 1hour 22 minutes
• Calories Burnt: 631
• Heart Rate Max: 181
• Heart Rate Average: 140

Just as a little side bar, Rob from RobFitness will be making a guest post on GroupFit reguarding Water Retention. Keep an eye out for it. I hadn’t really heard of this mentioned when it comes to working out and fitness so I am interested to see how I can drop the amount of water my body is holding and see If I can become more toned, after I finish my creatine of course.