Increased Leg Strength

In February this year I started looking into the Hepburn Method to increase strength. I was looking at lifting heavy loads over a short rep range.
With regard to leg strength when I started this programme, I was performing barbell squats in sets of 2 reps at 100kg.
As I only weighed in at 85kg I was happy with this.
By the end of March I was performing sets of 3 reps at 100kg.

In March I started using the French Contrast method to start building power in my legs and increase my vertical jump.
I was performing 3 sets of 3 barbell squats at 105kg over a 5 week period. Now we're at the end of this phase and I've increased my vertical jump by 2.5" from 45" to 47.5"
Clearly my legs are now stronger and more powerful.

Interestingly, I also started squatting in my Vibram FiveFingers and found them to be much more comfortable in this range of motion than regular trainers. I felt grounded and stable. Definitely going to lift in them more often!

110kg barbell squat

So today I wanted to find my barbell squat 1RM, just out of curiosity. I warmed up with 80kg, then a couple of reps at 100kg, then loaded up the bar with 130kg (that's 20kg heaver than I had ever lifted).
I performed 2 comfortable reps at 130kg and decided to try 135kg.
With the bar loaded up to 135kg I went down comfortably, waited too long at the bottom then ditched the bar, feeling that I was unable to safely lift the load.
Determined to get that lift, I waited 10 minutes for my body to recover, staying warm and mobile while resting.
Then I got under the bar and performed one rep at 135kg.
Very pleased with myself and quite fatigued, I called it a day.

Using 3 weeks on the Hepburn Method followed by 5 weeks of French Contrast I have added 35kg to my squat and added 2.5" to my vertical jump.
I'd say that's some impressive gains in a relatively short time!

 130kg barbell squat

 135kg barbell squat

Training Zoe Salmon

Following on nicely from my post on getting ladies to lift, I spent the afternoon yesterday with TV's Zoe Salmon.
Sadly I didn't have her in the gym lifting large loads, we were being filmed by Mars and I was teaching her the basics of Parkour as part of their newest initiative to get Britain active.

As expected, the former Blue Peter presenter was quite up for trying new things and was very competent for a complete beginner. Zoe got to grips with vaulting and swinging on bars very quickly, as well as adding a few inches to her standing jump by improving her technique over the afternoon. She even managed to put together a short run incorporating a selection of techniques.

Most interestingly was seeing an adult complete beginner face a technique at height, the 'height' involved here was around 3ft off the ground and was a precision jump between 2 walls with a distance of no more than 4ft between them.
Despite having made the distance on the floor and being absolutely fine standing or walking on the walls at that height, Zoe simply could not bring herself to make the jump.
Nothing else we tackled phased her at all, she literally threw herself into the more complicated techniques and movements (at greater heights I might add).
Given more time I would have liked to get her to make the jump by gradually building up to it, sadly we were pressed for time and had to leave that particular jump.

All in all Zoe was a joy to train, was up for (almost) everything and she didn't even mind being outside jumping around all afternoon!

I'll definitely be making sure that my regular Parkour students are pushing themselves to overcome fears and better themselves.

Zoe Salmon with Brad Wendes

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I was once again pleasantly surprised by my increased leg strength and power. 

The area we filmed in is one I am very familiar with and have trained Parkour there many many times over the past few years.

I have not trained there since starting my French Contrast training.

Jumps that were previously challenging were now easy, jumps that took some concentration were now much more achievable. It's a great feeling to see direct results of training and feel the benefits in context in my sport.

Just in case you missed it, here's the article on increasing jump power: http://bradwendes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/how-to-increase-your-vertical-jump.html

How to increase your vertical jump

I know we discussed the French Contrast and how it fits into my current program earlier this week.
But I really feel the need to share the workout again as I've now added TWO INCHES to my vertical jump in two weeks.
I'm really impressed at how much of a difference this has made and how quickly I'm noticing gains.

If you want to give it a try yourself, here's a video tutorial I uploaded this evening:

Let me know how you all get on...

Brad Wendes 110kg barbell squat

Training with Will

Few pictures from a session at Mi-Gym today with Will Wayland

Brad Wendes 105kg squat

Front squats with chains

Will Wayland front squat with chains

Check out the guns!

In line RDL

In line RDL

40kg barbell curl with thick grips

40kg barbell curl with thick grips

40kg barbell curl with thick grips

Pretty face...

Will Wayland 40kg curl with thick grips

Thick grip curls

French Contrast

Now we're in March 2013 and I'm using a programme that's much much more fun!

My current goals are as follows:
Increase power and strength in legs (for jumping)
Increase upper body pulling power (for muscle-ups)
Acquire Aesthetics (don't judge me!)


I'm using a French contrast method for jumping power and I've added 5kg to my back squat in just 2 weeks!

This method is essentially 4 exercises performed consecutively, followed by a 2-3 minute rest, then repeat for 3 sets.
The exercises start with 3 reps of a heavy load, then 5 reps of minimal load, 3 reps of a moderate load and lastly 5 reps of an assisted exercise (accelerated eccentric)

For leg strength and jumping power I'm doing the following:
3 reps - 105kg Back Squat
5 reps - tuck jump
3 reps - 32kg kettlebell squat jump
5 reps - band assisted jump

I then rest and repeat this 'circuit' 3 times.

After the French Contrast (above) I'm performing 4 sets of 3 high pull ups (chest over bar) as fast and powerful as I can manage.
Then 3x 10reps bent over row with 32kg (2x 16kg kettlebells)
Lastly I barbell curl 35kg for 3 sets of 6reps.

I'm performing this workout twice per week.
In the first 2 weeks of this I have noticed significant increase in leg strength and hip mobility.


Once per week I've adding in an extra workout that's aimed more at upper body strength / maintenance and some glute / posterior chain exercises:

Ring Muscle Up - 4 sets of 4reps
35kg barbell curl - 4 sets of 5reps
press up - 4 sets of 10reps
70kg bench press - 3 sets of 6 reps
110kg deadlift - 3 sets of 6 reps
20kg Kettlebell swing with band resistance - 3 sets of 6 reps


I'll keep you posted on how this programme works out of the next few weeks....


Great article on contrast training:
http://www.musclemag.com/muscle-building/high-contrast-for-huge-gains/

Article on French Contrast method with regard to American Football:
http://www.stack.com/2012/04/04/build-power-for-football-with-french-contrast-workouts/

Hepburn Method

After training with Will Wayland in February this year, I decided to have a try at the Doug Hepburn method to get stronger. Will was using it for a month to change his training up.

This is a methodical grind to get progressively stronger using large compound lifts.

Essentially you start by lifting 80% of your 1RM for 8 sets of 2 reps (with 2 mins between sets) using 4 major lifts. 

I used:

Deadlift

Back Squat

Bent Over Row

Overhead Press  (in place of bench press due to lack of a bench)

You train four times per week, each session you add 1 rep to each lift.

So the sets on your programme will look like this for each exercise:

Day 1 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Day 2 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3

Day 3 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3

Day 4 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3

etc...

When you have performed 8 sets of 3 reps you add 5kg to the lift on your next session, go back to 8 sets of 2 and start over.

You can see that this is a really methodical 'grind' to increase your maximum lifts.

Every 8 workouts (2 weeks) you will add 5kg to each of these exercises.

Theoretically you'll add 130kg to each of these lifts in a year. That's quite some achievement! 

While this method is a great way (in theory) to build strength, it's incredibly dull. You perform 2 or 3 reps, then wait 2minutes before doing it again.

Every workout is the same and it leaves you exhausted.

I lasted 3 weeks before moving onto something more enjoyable - I was significantly stronger after just 3 weeks though....

Advice, information, assistance...

Now Mi-Gym is a great place to exchange ideas. There's myself with gymnastic and Parkour experience alongside traditional gym / fitness, there's a superb boxing coach, a competing Olympic Lifting Coach, a real life Triathlete / Watt Bike expert, the boss bear Rachel Young herself (if she don't know it about the fitness industry, it ain't worth knowing!) but best of all, another good friend of mine trains and coaches out of Mi-gym; William Wayland.

Although I'd never say it to his face, Will is a massive inspiration and influence on my training. Will is possibly the most knowledgable person I have ever had the pleasure of chatting with when it comes to health, fitness, anatomy & physiology, strength & conditioning or getting results.
As well as being a wealth of knowledge he's just about the most approachable and forthcoming person you'd ever hope to meet.
So if you want to educate your training then hit up his website and listen to this man!
Will Wayland's website is called Powering Through, go read it! http://www.powering-through.com/

William Wayland

New Year, New start?

So now we're in 2013, no better reason than a new year to start hitting the gym again.
Oh, and I'm turning 30 this year...

Although I've never been 'out of shape' I have been in a less than desirable shape for my own personal happiness.

For Christmas 2012 I asked my nearest and dearest for some training aids like Kettlebells and weights in order to train at home and get back on it hard!

From Christmas Day until mid-January 2013 I trained every single day in my living room at home.
Tabata intervals, kettlebell swings, squats, bent over row, crunches etc...
I was feeling good for training again, this was great.

Then something magical happened:
An old friend and UK Fitness veteran (who also donated a bed to me in my darkest hour) called me up and asked to meet so she could tell me about her new plan. This friend of mine was opening a training facility in Chelmsford, somewhere I could train, with good equipment, with other EDUCATED trainers. Best of all, she wants me to teach a class there and in return I can train any time I like and even take my own clients in there too.

My prayers had been answered, this was awesome!

In February 2013 mi-gym.com opened in Chelmsford, and this is what it looks like:

Incidently, the video was shot and edited by me. I love this gym!