11 days ago I started on the Athlete Physique Training programme.

For those of you who are not familiar, it is the Training programme that Ian performed last year on the run up to his 1st and 2nd physique contests last year.

Ian in January 2009 and April 2009

Admittedly I was not starting from scratch and I have been lifting heavy and consistently all year so I took up on week 9 and let the pain begin

I am currently on day 4 of Week 10 and lets just say I feel like Bambi…On Ice…

The glute-ham raises are the most fun!

I can’t believe Ian actually went through this program, then again, looking at his pictures I guess he did…yes Ian that’s the one and ONLY time you will half get a compliment off me.

Seriously though its fun…it’s the first time I have followed a ‘program’ in years…Yes my training is structured but there has not been a set program and I guess my physique was suffering.

Besides that I have been getting comments from people saying that they can see the fat loss. I was surprised because in general I walk around at approximately 8% bodyfat so I didn’t think the 1.4 kg I have lost in 11 days would be that noticeable.

Sunday 28th February I was 82.6 kg and today I weighed in at 81.2

The structure of the programme allows you to hit multiple bodyparts in each session and then hit each bodypart numerous times in the week.

I know there are skeptics out there thinking that training each body-part once per week and isolating the crap out of it works well…good for you… it doesn’t work for most people, including me.

I have crap genetics and I am a naturally thin guy but going from 73 kg in September to 81.2 staying at the same or similar bodyfat % tells me I’m doing something right…

So screw the skeptics.

I usually preach to people that they need to ‘Earn the right to isolate’…

I.e. If you can only bench half your bodyweight, barely manage push ups and cannot do a single chin up then maybe…JUST MAYBE… you shouldn’t be farting around with little sissy dumbbells doing bicep curls and tricep kickbacks.

I have the luxury of being kind of strong (for my size) and i have been lifting heavy all year so it is okay for me to start throwing in some of the exercises in the ‘Gunshow’ manual.

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My arms grew almost immediately. Not necessarily because I isolated them with the supersets outlined in the manual but because i had built up strength doing big, compound lifts like the bench press, chin ups and deadlifts for months. I have literally done NO isolation exercises in the last 18 months, and in 3 weeks my arms have grew… I guess what I’m trying to explain is I could have done curls and extensions until the cows came home and nothing would have happened

OR

Build strength on the big lifts so that when I do isolate my arms and do curls and extensions, it actually works…

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I only really started tightening up on my nutrition since Sunday. Maybe that’s a bit late but I was willing to take the risk…

The athlete physique meal plans are simple enough to follow and are giving me a structure to follow… Can’t wait for my omelette in the morning.

Training-wise I have not done much conditioning stuff until the last few weeks so for a couple of days last week the workout finishers were proving a little challenging…

I will be blogging my skinfolds and picture updates here on the run up to  a competition I am doing in the Olympia Theatre on the 21st March…

There is a ‘Best Shape Personal Trainer’ category that I am going to enter for the craic.

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Make sure you sign up on http://athletephysique.com and check out the free videos and there will be a whole new video series coming in the next couple of days.

Keep your eye out for them…

Thanks for reading…

Bryan Kavanagh BSc. CSCS

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