Monday 14 December 2015
Saturday 12 December 2015
Monday 30 November 2015
Friday 27 November 2015
Tuesday 24 November 2015
Monday 23 November 2015
Saturday 21 November 2015
Friday 20 November 2015
Sunday 15 November 2015
Thursday 5 November 2015
Tuesday 3 November 2015
Wednesday 28 October 2015
Thursday 22 October 2015
Wednesday 21 October 2015
How to Bulk Without Sacrificing Health as a Natural Bodybuilder.
Before starting, lets just get one thing straight. As a natural bodybuilder/strength enthusiast excess calories need to be consumed to get stronger and bigger. Staying ultra lean all year round will not allow for you to continually put on muscle mass, unless your relatively new to training. Short terms gains in muscle mass/strength can occur whilst extremely lean if the trainee is perhaps switching from a very poor training methodology to a more efficient style with much greater intensity and time spent in the gym. No doubt this will lead to some impressive gains irrespective of leanness. However, for anyone who has been training for quite some time and training relatively hard/efficiently, excess calories will be essential in providing the fuel to train heavier/harder/longer and gain muscle tissue.
Bulking is essentially eating over-eating on purpose. Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is made up of your BMR (Basal metabolic rate - kcal your body burns at rest) and any extra calories used from daily activities. You will burn the least amount of calories sleeping. Of course this fluctuates constantly depending on your activities (the BMR will also fluctuate slightly). To bulk effectively, one must consume more calories than the amount of the calories utilised from the TDEE on a daily basis. This will cause weight gain, how much of it and how fast will be determined by how much the calories consumed exceeds the TDEE by. The type of activities completed on a daily basis will contribute to the sort of bodyweight gained (fat or muscle or both). Obviously laying in bed all day whilst overeating will cause fat gain and minimal, perhaps even negative muscle gain. Weight training whilst overeating will cause muscle gain and fat gain (inevitable as a natural). How much muscle one can gain will be determined the quality of training (routine/volume/intensity/rest/technique will all play a part) as well as genetics, age and gender. The amount of calories consumed over the TDEE will also decide the amount of fat gained. Inevitably, a 1000kcal surplus will cause substantial fat gain over a period of weeks. Try shooting for between 200-400 and adjust accordingly as you go.
This is more food than most people realise. Your not going to achieve this by eating chicken salad and weightwatchers meal replacement bars. Serious amounts of food need to be consumed on a DAILY basis. More often than not its easier to get to these calories by eating high calorie, processed junk food to supplement your daily intake. Its easy to eat and the kcal rack up quickly. However, if this is done for months on it can negatively effect health, which will of course only hinder you in the long term. The human body will not function as efficiently; its ability to produce muscle mass will be hindered. Not to mention ailments/disorders that can develop as a result of continued poor diet. To maintain good overall health whilst consuming high amounts of calories on a daily basis I would do the following:
Increase the portion of calories that will come from fat sources. Prioritise mostly unprocessed fats within this. Avocados, good quality olive oil, nuts and seeds, nut butters, oily and fatty fish, eggs and some read meat. This will help bulk the calories out without having to eat too much food volume (1g of fat contains 9 calories compared to only 4 in carb and protein sources). Fat macros should be much higher when bulking than cutting.
Protein shouldn't be excessively high. Copious amounts of meat consumed for long periods of time will not benefit the body's health. I don't think its as much meat, as the quality of meat and the health of the animal it comes from these days. Animals are pumped full of drugs to aid growth and stop diseases killing them before they reach full size. Dairy is much the same, try to limit the quantities consumed as it comes from the same, sick animals. I think 2-2.5g per kilo should be completely adequate. If money is no option buy organic and consume some lean sources and some fattier sources of meat, chicken thighs, red mince meat, oxtail, salmon and mackerel, eggs etc. Vegan protein powders can also be utilised to bulk up protein consumption without worrying about any more diary, sugars and chemicals in your system than what your already eating in your whole foods.
Carbohydrates should be high to fuel long and hard training sessions. Eat plenty of fresh fruit, bear in mind some will not give you many calories. Bananas are dense and stacked full of carbohydrates. Fresh fruit juice can help (not from concentrate or with added sugars). Utilise dried fruits, such as dates, figs and apricots (dates especially high in carbs) to really bulk up your carb consumption. Use processed bread sparingly, although easy to consume it can cause skin/digestive problems if its relied upon solely to bring in carbohydrate calories. Basics such as sweet potato, rice and oats work well. Vegetables should be eaten freely and often. This is imperative to maintain good overall health.
Example cutting/bulking macro structure:
Cutting -
200g carbohydrate
45g fat
185g protein
Bulking -
450g carbohydrate
90g fat
175g protein
This is just an example of how macros might look between cutting and bulking. Each person is different, a range of factors will influence the amount of each food source. In essence, increase unprocessed fat sources to help overall kcal intake, maintain a high vegetable, fruit intake and utilise dried fruits to help bulk out carbohydrates and keep water intake high (3litres+). Stay away from caffeinated, pre-workout supplements and anything promising you increased muscle gain/fat loss other than creatine. Nothing good will come from regular usage.
For more info on online coaching email me at rossi01@hotmail.co.uk
Bulking is essentially eating over-eating on purpose. Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is made up of your BMR (Basal metabolic rate - kcal your body burns at rest) and any extra calories used from daily activities. You will burn the least amount of calories sleeping. Of course this fluctuates constantly depending on your activities (the BMR will also fluctuate slightly). To bulk effectively, one must consume more calories than the amount of the calories utilised from the TDEE on a daily basis. This will cause weight gain, how much of it and how fast will be determined by how much the calories consumed exceeds the TDEE by. The type of activities completed on a daily basis will contribute to the sort of bodyweight gained (fat or muscle or both). Obviously laying in bed all day whilst overeating will cause fat gain and minimal, perhaps even negative muscle gain. Weight training whilst overeating will cause muscle gain and fat gain (inevitable as a natural). How much muscle one can gain will be determined the quality of training (routine/volume/intensity/rest/technique will all play a part) as well as genetics, age and gender. The amount of calories consumed over the TDEE will also decide the amount of fat gained. Inevitably, a 1000kcal surplus will cause substantial fat gain over a period of weeks. Try shooting for between 200-400 and adjust accordingly as you go.
This is more food than most people realise. Your not going to achieve this by eating chicken salad and weightwatchers meal replacement bars. Serious amounts of food need to be consumed on a DAILY basis. More often than not its easier to get to these calories by eating high calorie, processed junk food to supplement your daily intake. Its easy to eat and the kcal rack up quickly. However, if this is done for months on it can negatively effect health, which will of course only hinder you in the long term. The human body will not function as efficiently; its ability to produce muscle mass will be hindered. Not to mention ailments/disorders that can develop as a result of continued poor diet. To maintain good overall health whilst consuming high amounts of calories on a daily basis I would do the following:
Increase the portion of calories that will come from fat sources. Prioritise mostly unprocessed fats within this. Avocados, good quality olive oil, nuts and seeds, nut butters, oily and fatty fish, eggs and some read meat. This will help bulk the calories out without having to eat too much food volume (1g of fat contains 9 calories compared to only 4 in carb and protein sources). Fat macros should be much higher when bulking than cutting.
Protein shouldn't be excessively high. Copious amounts of meat consumed for long periods of time will not benefit the body's health. I don't think its as much meat, as the quality of meat and the health of the animal it comes from these days. Animals are pumped full of drugs to aid growth and stop diseases killing them before they reach full size. Dairy is much the same, try to limit the quantities consumed as it comes from the same, sick animals. I think 2-2.5g per kilo should be completely adequate. If money is no option buy organic and consume some lean sources and some fattier sources of meat, chicken thighs, red mince meat, oxtail, salmon and mackerel, eggs etc. Vegan protein powders can also be utilised to bulk up protein consumption without worrying about any more diary, sugars and chemicals in your system than what your already eating in your whole foods.
Carbohydrates should be high to fuel long and hard training sessions. Eat plenty of fresh fruit, bear in mind some will not give you many calories. Bananas are dense and stacked full of carbohydrates. Fresh fruit juice can help (not from concentrate or with added sugars). Utilise dried fruits, such as dates, figs and apricots (dates especially high in carbs) to really bulk up your carb consumption. Use processed bread sparingly, although easy to consume it can cause skin/digestive problems if its relied upon solely to bring in carbohydrate calories. Basics such as sweet potato, rice and oats work well. Vegetables should be eaten freely and often. This is imperative to maintain good overall health.
Example cutting/bulking macro structure:
Cutting -
200g carbohydrate
45g fat
185g protein
Bulking -
450g carbohydrate
90g fat
175g protein
This is just an example of how macros might look between cutting and bulking. Each person is different, a range of factors will influence the amount of each food source. In essence, increase unprocessed fat sources to help overall kcal intake, maintain a high vegetable, fruit intake and utilise dried fruits to help bulk out carbohydrates and keep water intake high (3litres+). Stay away from caffeinated, pre-workout supplements and anything promising you increased muscle gain/fat loss other than creatine. Nothing good will come from regular usage.
Check out www.youtube.com/naturalaesthet1cs for videos. For more info on online coaching email me at rossi01@hotmail.co.uk
Friday 16 October 2015
Thursday 8 October 2015
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Sunday 4 October 2015
Natural Aesthetics - Drug free bodybuilding: MAX - OT - Natural Aesthetics Excel Template
Click the link to go to the MAX - OT link page or simply navigate via the top page headers:
Natural Aesthetics - Drug free bodybuilding: MAX - OT - Natural Aesthetics Excel Template:
Natural Aesthetics - Drug free bodybuilding: MAX - OT - Natural Aesthetics Excel Template:
Thursday 1 October 2015
Monday 28 September 2015
Friday 25 September 2015
Saturday 19 September 2015
Tuesday 15 September 2015
Sunday 13 September 2015
Thursday 10 September 2015
The ONE thing you need if you want to get extremely lean.
No, its not a secret supplement or magic pill. Not even a special diet protocol or cardio regime. It's time and plenty of it! Give yourself adequate time to get in shape and allow for potential hiccups and plateaus in fat loss. The further away from your desired shape the longer you need to give yourself. You will always need to lose more body fat than expected to get to those extreme levels of conditioning. And it will always take longer than first anticipated, factor these in to your plan. Lets say you think you have roughly 10kg of body fat to lose, add 2 kg to this total straight away. So that's 12kg and you plan on loosing a steady 0.5 kg each week which works out at 24 weeks of dieting. Again, add 3 weeks to this at least to give yourself room for error.
2 PICTURES SHPWCASING CURRENT CONDITIONING.
CONDITIONING AHCIEVED IN 2013, albeit with tan and post carbohydrate increase.
I still have more body fat to lose, I underestimated how long it would take me to get into the conditioning I desire. I started the diet with too much bodyfat, I have been dieting steadily from January and still probably have another 1-2kg to drop. That's why I love natural bodybuilding, its one massive journey of trial and error. The process of getting shredded will never be perfected, but by giving yourself enough time you can substantially increase your chances!
For a helping hand along the way, contact me via Facebook or rossi01@hotmail.co.uk for online coaching enquiries.
Ross Newham - Natural Aesthetics
2 PICTURES SHPWCASING CURRENT CONDITIONING.
CONDITIONING AHCIEVED IN 2013, albeit with tan and post carbohydrate increase.
I still have more body fat to lose, I underestimated how long it would take me to get into the conditioning I desire. I started the diet with too much bodyfat, I have been dieting steadily from January and still probably have another 1-2kg to drop. That's why I love natural bodybuilding, its one massive journey of trial and error. The process of getting shredded will never be perfected, but by giving yourself enough time you can substantially increase your chances!
For a helping hand along the way, contact me via Facebook or rossi01@hotmail.co.uk for online coaching enquiries.
Ross Newham - Natural Aesthetics
Tuesday 8 September 2015
Monday 7 September 2015
Tuesday 1 September 2015
Sunday 23 August 2015
Friday 21 August 2015
Sunday 16 August 2015
Tuesday 11 August 2015
Wednesday 5 August 2015
Tuesday 28 July 2015
Saturday 25 July 2015
Friday 24 July 2015
Thursday 16 July 2015
Monday 13 July 2015
Building a better body.
There is a massive difference between having a good body and being muscular. Muscularity at the cost of aesthetics is pointless. Guys on the ifbb stage continue to get bigger and bigger, yet look less aesthetic with every 5lb gained. An extra inch on the arms at the price of an extra inch on the waist is simply not worth it in my eyes - and does little to improve the look of the physique as a whole.
Proportion is also something that is often neglegted. Common mistakes are forgoing triceps training for biceps. Shoulders being too large for arms and shoulders being too wide for chest/back thickness, as well as the legs being too wiry for the upper body. Of course this is a matter of opinion and also something that often seems to be exaggerated by steroid usage; where muscle growth is extremely fast in certain areas (shoulders,traps etc) which leads to disproportion is the trainee is not careful.
Posture is also often overlooked. Its extremely important for creating a visually impactful physique, something that is clearly seen and recognised by non-lifters. Posture can create vastly different quality aesthetics in equally muscled physiques. Two guys could have the same muscle mass; one with great posture, one with hunched shoulders, tight traps and a caved chest, the former will always look better. This also relates to proportion, as spending too much time training a certain area can cause postural imbalances. There are certain exercises that one can perform on a regular basis to help posture. Simply training the body with compound movements will drastically reduce the risk of postural problems. This teaches the body to move as a unit and can help to create a flowing, well - rounded physique.
Overhead press with full lockout is a must. The bar should travel upwards, arms fully straightened, to finish level with the back area of the head. This will sort a lot of upper body posture problems.
Wall pushes can help with developing the technique and mobility to perform the overhead press properly. Simply stand back facing a wall, heels, bum, shoulders and head touching and slide hands upwards against the wall to the overhead positions; keeping elbows and knuckles against the wall.
Simply practising keeping the back arched rather than rounded will improve posture. Learning to draw the shoulders back, keeping chest high and out - will create a more confident and attractive physique. Deadlifts, bent rows and low row will help with accentuating this.
We shouldn't just strive for muscularity in the gym. Muscularity doesn't equate to a nice physique, as seen by some of the monstrosities in your local gym. Rather, focus on attaining an aesthetic physique by keeping in mind the pointers I've just discussed.
Natural Aesthetics
Proportion is also something that is often neglegted. Common mistakes are forgoing triceps training for biceps. Shoulders being too large for arms and shoulders being too wide for chest/back thickness, as well as the legs being too wiry for the upper body. Of course this is a matter of opinion and also something that often seems to be exaggerated by steroid usage; where muscle growth is extremely fast in certain areas (shoulders,traps etc) which leads to disproportion is the trainee is not careful.
Posture is also often overlooked. Its extremely important for creating a visually impactful physique, something that is clearly seen and recognised by non-lifters. Posture can create vastly different quality aesthetics in equally muscled physiques. Two guys could have the same muscle mass; one with great posture, one with hunched shoulders, tight traps and a caved chest, the former will always look better. This also relates to proportion, as spending too much time training a certain area can cause postural imbalances. There are certain exercises that one can perform on a regular basis to help posture. Simply training the body with compound movements will drastically reduce the risk of postural problems. This teaches the body to move as a unit and can help to create a flowing, well - rounded physique.
Overhead press with full lockout is a must. The bar should travel upwards, arms fully straightened, to finish level with the back area of the head. This will sort a lot of upper body posture problems.
Wall pushes can help with developing the technique and mobility to perform the overhead press properly. Simply stand back facing a wall, heels, bum, shoulders and head touching and slide hands upwards against the wall to the overhead positions; keeping elbows and knuckles against the wall.
Simply practising keeping the back arched rather than rounded will improve posture. Learning to draw the shoulders back, keeping chest high and out - will create a more confident and attractive physique. Deadlifts, bent rows and low row will help with accentuating this.
We shouldn't just strive for muscularity in the gym. Muscularity doesn't equate to a nice physique, as seen by some of the monstrosities in your local gym. Rather, focus on attaining an aesthetic physique by keeping in mind the pointers I've just discussed.
Natural Aesthetics
Sunday 12 July 2015
Tuesday 7 July 2015
Tuesday 30 June 2015
Friday 26 June 2015
Monday 22 June 2015
Thursday 18 June 2015
Tuesday 16 June 2015
Monday 8 June 2015
Thursday 4 June 2015
Saturday 30 May 2015
Thursday 28 May 2015
Wednesday 20 May 2015
Tuesday 19 May 2015
Saturday 9 May 2015
Friday 8 May 2015
Saturday 2 May 2015
Monday 27 April 2015
Example Arm Session - Blasting through the 16 inch barrier!
My recent arm training video has spurred me on to write an example training program for you try out and boost your arm size. Attempt this whilst eating more kcal than your maintenance and train your entire body around these sessions.
So, you could schedule your weeks training as the following or at least something similar:
W1.
Day 1. Lower
Day 2. Upper
Day 3. Arms
Day 4. Rest
Day 5. Lower
Day 6. Arms
Day 7. Rest
W2.
Day 1. Upper
Day 2. Lower
Day 3. Arms
Day 4. Rest
Day 5. Upper
Day 6. Arms
Day 7. Rest
This way you can train each musclegroup at least once a week and continue to make progress, yet still prioritise your arm training.
The arm training would be split into 2 different sessions, each one focusing on slightly different parts of the arm musculature and training adaptations.
A.
BB cheat curls - 5x5
Tricep bar pushdowns - 5x5
Seated Incline DB - 3x12
Ez bar skull crushers - 3x12
DB Wrist curls - 3x12
B.
Close Grip Bench - 5x5
DB hammer curls - 5x5
Rope pushdown - 3x12
DB preacher curls - 3x12
DB overhead extensions - 3x12
Try this routine for 10 weeks, work on improving the weight used for each exercise using small increments. Mainly the 5x5 sets. Lift explosively on the positive phase of the movement, hold for half a second at peak contraction and then lower the negative phase for 2 seconds.
Natural Aesthetics
Sunday 26 April 2015
Tuesday 21 April 2015
Thursday 16 April 2015
Thursday 9 April 2015
Friday 3 April 2015
Thursday 26 March 2015
Friday 20 March 2015
Tuesday 17 March 2015
Friday 13 March 2015
Friday 6 March 2015
Tuesday 3 March 2015
Saturday 28 February 2015
Friday 27 February 2015
Bogus Health Supplements
Over the last decade or so there has been a large increase in the availability of 'health' products. Company's now have the opportunity to make a lot of money selling products aimed at health conscious buyers.
Most vitamin C effervescent tablets contain aspartame; the controversial sweetener. Other supplement tablets often contain bulking/caking agents/modified maize starch and a long list of ingredients that could potentially be doing more harm than good.
Do your research, read the ingredient list and buy high quality, organic supplements. Remember, even the highest quality supplements will do nothing for you if your diet is not what it should be. Your WHOLE lifestyle needs to be analysed, including food, water, sleep, stress, daily habits and environment before even considering supplements. Its moronic to expect results from health supplements whilst eating mostly processed food derived from GM crops, guzzling down sugar/caffeine/calorie free chemically enhanced laden drinks.
Products are cleanly packaged with rustic colours and advertised with buzz words such as 'natural, simple and organic'. Certain colours and words are now associated with a specific type of product and people buy into this without questioning wether or not the product is actually really doing any good.
Most vitamin C effervescent tablets contain aspartame; the controversial sweetener. Other supplement tablets often contain bulking/caking agents/modified maize starch and a long list of ingredients that could potentially be doing more harm than good.
Do your research, read the ingredient list and buy high quality, organic supplements. Remember, even the highest quality supplements will do nothing for you if your diet is not what it should be. Your WHOLE lifestyle needs to be analysed, including food, water, sleep, stress, daily habits and environment before even considering supplements. Its moronic to expect results from health supplements whilst eating mostly processed food derived from GM crops, guzzling down sugar/caffeine/calorie free chemically enhanced laden drinks.
Thursday 26 February 2015
Thursday 19 February 2015
Thursday 12 February 2015
Sunday 8 February 2015
Friday 30 January 2015
Saturday 24 January 2015
Thursday 22 January 2015
Friday 16 January 2015
Friday 9 January 2015
Monday 5 January 2015
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