About Me

 

Aged 14 I acquired my first real set of weights. I didn’t have a clue how to train other than by the suicidal exercise wall chart that came with the weights.
I gave up after a couple of months…

I woke up briefly at 24,dragged my weights out of the garage, dusted off the cobwebs and pounded away at lifting weights for another few months.
At first getting some results for the first time ever, but then as a result of over-training I basically burnt out.
I’d been following a ridiculous high volume training routine on an almost daily basis, my appetite went, I had continuous colds and the injuries started appearing .
so what did I do when results slowed down-I tried even harder.
after a month of this I gave up again-unsurprisingly.

It was around this time that my back, which had been stiff for several years already, started to become more of an issue. I started visiting osteopaths frequently over the next 10 years getting some temporary relief, but nothing long term.

Supplements
My lowest point during that time was dropping to 9 stone after an illness.

I then started my first semi successful attempt at achieving the physique I would like, well to be more truthful I tried to buy it. I bought every supplement under the sun-which worked to a degree because I bought so many supplements I didn’t want to waste them! That got me through the initial 3 months and due to a slightly reduced volume I didn’t over-train so much. the supplements did help to a degree, but 3 months later I was in the same place as before injured, over-trained and burnt out and with a major back problem.
I still hadn’t worked out what foods I should be eating and no amount of protein powder will make THE difference if the rest of you’re diet is full of junk food and by that I mean processed foods.

The best supplement you can’t buy is sleep-its free-and its forgotten.

I also hadn’t realised that working even harder didn’t mean more growth.

Reading an article one day a phrase stuck with me-“most back pain is caused by a weak and inflexible back. I started myself on a full body stretching routine, but focussed on my lower back and thighs, which has subsequently evolved into my current routine which progressed as my knowledge has grown.

I also discovered “trigger point therapy” and “the Alexander technique”.
All these little discoveries along with a sensible APPROPRIATE weight training routine to strengthen my back have changed my life and physique.

I’ve gone from being able to train occasionally with pretty much permanent injury and back pain, to adding 3 stone of muscle, injury free and having a partial dead lift of over 200kg.
All this as it turned out with a torn disc, which due to my daily stretching routine is bearable again. I’ve since been offered a replacement disc that involves highly invasive surgery… stretching works!

I’m not genetically gifted or afflicted I simply trained badly for years.
I believed the hype in muscle magazines, the ludicrous steroid based training and diet routines and most importantly the myth that I wasn’t training hard enough to achieve my goals.
I got radical!

I went back to basics using real training routines used by the greats from the pre-steroid era. I modified my training frequency and trained no more than 2 x week, sometimes once every fifth day!
You see there’s an important factor skimmed over in favour of a routine that blasts all the muscles from different angles, that changes every time or a diet that is balanced to the exact gramme.

Its rest.

Rest grows muscle.

Accompanied by an exercise routine based on solid multi-joint exercises with a volume and frequency that natural lifters can recover from.
I strengthened my back, made it more flexible and in doing so am getting the physique I desire.

Nowadays I get asked about my great genetics all the time.
How times change…