Natural Aesthetics - Drug free bodybuilding: MAX - OT - Natural Aesthetics Excel Template

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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

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.

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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. 

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OPTIMIZING YOUR ARM TRAINING

1. Contrary to popular belief; arms have to be trained directly with good frequency (1-3 times per week) to grow to any appreciable size. Foregoing extremely good arm genetics, the triceps will not achieve great enough stimulus to grow adequately from just benching, nor will biceps from barbell rows. These are just examples of exercises, the same could be said of any primary chest/back exercise, other than perhaps dips which hit the triceps hard. Direct arm training must be included within your routine regularly if you want to surpass 16 inch lean guns.
2. Prioritise your arm training. Schedule in a day of only arm training once a week or even start sessions with arm movements if their really lagging. Yes this will hinder the performance of other movements and the subsequent development of other body parts, but if you REALLY want bigger arms then you must utilize the most amounts of energy training them. You will be strongest at the start of the workouts and bigger weights can therefore be used. Leaving just enough energy at the end of the session to squeeze out a couple of sets will not create outstanding arms. This is potentially one of the downfall's of 3x per week full body training.
3. Fine tune your form to accentuate certain movements and muscular contractions. Small tweaks to exercise technique can make a big difference over a long period of time. For instance on dumbbell curls, keeping the elbows close to the body and rotating the wrist outwards slightly (little finger towards outside of shoulder) towards the top of the movement will incur a far greater bicep stimulus than letting the elbows move outwards and bringing the wrists in towards inner shoulder/chest. Dumbbell kickback tricep stimulation varies massively dependant upon body position in relation to elbow position; allowing the chest to rise and the elbows drop will not tax the triceps anywhere near as efficiently as keeping the upper torso low and the elbows high.

3 quick tips there to help optimize arm growth and blast past those plateaus. Advanced arm training theories coming soon.




Natural Aesthetics

If I Could Only do 5 Exercises....

1. SQUAT - The best lower body exercise. Nuff said!
2. DEADLIFT - The best exercise for overall posterior development. Hamstrings/glutes/lower back/abs/lats, rhomboids and traps/forearms. Massive exercise, must be included.
3. INCLINE DUMBELLS - Hits the chest hard and shoulders (varies depending on the % of incline) therefore more bang for your buck. Much prefer this movement to decline work.
4. WEIGHTED CHINS (close grip) - Best exercise for the lats. Heavy chins gives you wings!!!...and a hefty pair of biceps to match.
5. CLOSE GRIP BENCH - BIG tricep exercise as well as hitting the chest. Large triceps will do more for arm thickness than biceps.

Natural Aesthetics - Dream and Achieve

IS SQUATTING AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY IN BODYBUILDING?

The question refers to whether or not the Barbell Back Squat is an absolute essential exercise for BODYBUILDING. Note the use of the word 'bodybuilding'; training purely for aesthetics. This is not in regards to strength training or powerlifting s the answer would be ENTIRELY the opposite. 

For aesthetic purposes only, the squat is not essential. If you were to train your lower body HARD, smart and consistently for years without touching the squat rack you would more than likely have a decent set of legs. Heavy leg press, extensions, curls and lunges are great tools to build thigh mass - do these for long enough and hard enough and results will come. Aesthetically, its not the end of the world if you don't squat.

However, results would be FAR greater if squats were trained (properly/full depth) regularly with other lower body exercises or even as a replacement to all other lower body exercises. That's how good an exercise it is. I know I sound like I'm contradicting myself, but bear in mind the question is wether they are an absolute necessity for leg development. Leg muscles grow without squats, but you would be foolish to leave squats out of your routine knowing that they would produce far greater results in overall leg mass than any other exercise. I had decent legs a few years ago and my squatting was poor, infrequent and the technique inadequate. My legs were muscular from training HARD on exercises like lunges, leg press and extensions. The last 2 1/2 years or so I have focused mainly on progressing the squat for lower body training and subsequently my legs are bigger than ever.  

As a natural trainee aiming to develop serious muscle mass - strength and it's progression must be considered. Simply pumping light weights with no regard to progression of reps, sets, weight or intensity variables will not yield the results commonly seen by trainers using steroids. The squat is the key exercise in the development of lower body strength and strength progression is the catalyst for any natural bodybuilders muscular development.

Although we can build lower body muscle without the back squat, progression will be far greater if heavy back squats are included in your routine regularly - especially for NATURAL trainers where strength progression is so key (but not the only way) to increased muscular development.  

Any questions, OR ONLINE TRAINING enquiry's email me at rossi01@hotmail.co.uk

Facebook - www.facebook.com/naturalaesthet1cs
Youtube - www.youtube.com/naturalaestheticstv

Natural Aesthetics - Dream and Achieve

NATURAL AESTHETICS Competition Training Program 2014



 



Day 1 [upper] 

Incline DB's - 5x5

BB row - 5x5

Military Press - 5x5

Low row - 3x10

Rear delt rows - 3x10

Close Grip bench - 5x5

DB hammer curls - 3x10

Day 2 [lower]

 

Back squat - 5x5

Leg Press - 5x12-->4

Hamstring curls - 5x5

Calves - 3x10

 +cardio (25min) 

 +Ab circuit

Day 3 [upper]

 

BB bench press - 5x5

Pull-ups - 5x5

DB Shoulder Press - 5x5

DB Flys - 3x10

DB Laterals/upright rows - 3x10

Cheat curls - 5x5

Bar Pushdowns - 3x10

Day 4 [lower]

Deadlift - 5x5

Front Squat - 5x5

Hamstring Curl - 3x10

Calves - 3x10

 +cardio (25min)

 +Ab circuit 

+ Cardio (HIIT) 8x30sec sprints/60sec recovery - on Day 5 

Notes - 

* 5x5 will usually indicate 5 sets of 5 including ramping sets, only last set will be a true 'working set'. 

* Occasionally, I may veer away from the layout of the program during a particular session and blast a compound exercise for more sets than prescribed.

* Attempting to increase, or at the very least fighting to maintain strength, in the big compound movements will be of the upmost importance. 

Aiming to beat the size achieved last year: 

Natural Aesthetics - Dream and Achieve

Ross

Are Isolation Exercises Worthwhile for Novices?

The first and probably hardest part of the question is to actually define a novice. I'm not going to give a definitive set of numbers for the major lifts as this can be misleading. Trainees can see massive improvements in musculature during their first few months without touching the big three lifts. Most weight bearing exercise is usually above and beyond what the trainer will have experienced thus far, illiciting rapid adaptations in musculature and strength. Instead I will simply define a novice as someone who has very little or no understanding about the general movement patterns needed to create changes to their physique. There is little or no understanding about training protocols such as volume or frequency or even how to train specific muscles appropriately. 

Onto the second part of the question: are isolation exercises worthwhile for novices? The novice should allocate most of their training time and energy to learning the basic training movements: push, pull, squat and lift. Learning these properly as early as possible will put them in good stead for future training. These exercises will also provide the most carryover in strength to other movements both in and out of the gym. 

However, I also believe that a lot of time should be spent on isolation exercises to further develop movement patterns and practise 'contracting' specific muscles. One of the key differences between a novice, intermediate and advanced trainer is the ability to focus on and prioritise certain muscles during both compound and isolation exercises. The quicker this 'mind to muscle' contraction is established the quicker the trainer can then potentially progress from novice to intermediate. Over-training becomes more important as the trainer becomes more advanced, it is not something to worry about in the novice stages. 

The novice trainer should first and foremost concern themselves with learning and improving technique in the main movements (push/pull/squat/lift). Weight should then be added in a mostly linear fashion to each main exercise, whilst dedicating perhaps a third of time in the gym to isolation exercises. The novice should use this time to learn which muscles contract during certain exercises and more importantly to reiterate the contraction or 'feel' of the muscle during certain movements rather then simply moving weight.

Ross Newham - Natural Aesthetics