The good news is I really enjoyed my first session, an upper body workout, with my coach Tim Chase. I walked in feeling fairly confident but I got a pretty rude awakening! I thought my form was solid but Tim would make corrections that made moves feel totally different. Those little shifts made me realise I wasn’t getting the most out of sessions and when I’d think I’d done my last rep Tim would get one or two more out of me. We worked at a two-up two-down tempo, which again was new to me. I’d typically just heave the weight as quickly as possible so slowing it down really shocked me with how different it felt.
With sessions we’d start with my weakest body part, in this case my shoulders, before moving onto my chest and arms which I’m much more confident with. It meant I could tackle the machine shoulder press at the start of the session feeling fresh. By the time we moved onto moves I do more often, like the barbell bench press and skull crushers I was tired enough to make them so much harder than normal. We weren’t focusing on trying to lift the biggest weight possible in the session. Tim was more concerned about perfecting form and working to the right tempo.
Above all the thing I found hardest was the rest periods. We’d rest 30secs between every set and between difference exercises. Typically I’d train quite socially, chatting with my friends between sets and it meant workouts would be much longer. Removing those lengthy breaks was a serious shock to the system. On the plus side it does mean I’m finished in an hour.
This might all make it sound like it wasn’t much fun but I really enjoyed myself. I feel really lucky that I have access to all this expert opinion and I feel as though I’ve got the perfect platform to achieve my goals
My biggest challenge at the moment is trying to hit my 3,100-calorie target for the day, which works out at about six meals when I’d normally have four. It’s mostly an issue of planning. When I’m home at the weekends I don’t find it a problem preparing and eating meals but when I’m out and about I’m still trying to perfect how I plan out my food. I found I wasn’t getting enough fat in my diet before, or at least the fat I was getting wasn’t necessarily good fat, so I’ve added a lot of nut butters to what I’m eating to help that. I’m trying to eat lots of clean whole-foods for the most part and I’ve not had any alcohol since I’ve started.
The good thing is that the food on my plan is varied and changes day to day. I’m not just carrying around endless Tupperware boxes of the same thing! On a typical training day my breakfast would be porridge with berries, flaxseeds and half a scoop of Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard whey protein. Around mid morning I’d then have a snack of wholegrain bread and peanut butter. On training days I’m aiming to have 30g of carbohydrate with lunch so I’d have sweet potato mash with salmon and vegetables. Before and after training I top of my protein with a shake. Dinner doesn’t have to be really restrictive, and on training days I’d have around 60g of carbohydrates in my meal. A typical dinner would be a small chicken breast with wholegrain rice, vegetables and chilli sauce. The chilli gives it a decent kick!
To make sure I’m getting enough vegetables I’m also having a green smoothie most afternoons, which is designed to help me recover from the tough sessions. I think it’s helping although I’m still getting used to the schedule at this point! Things don’t change too much on the rest days but there’s less carbs in my dinner.
Coach’s verdict
‘Not only is Ben getting stronger but he’s also feeling more energetic,’ says Tim Chase. ‘We’ve just arranged a date for our second session together so I’m looking forward to seeing the early results of Ben smashing the gym. I think at this stage it’s important to keep track of his body fat in case that gets out of control with the calories he’s consuming to put on muscle mass.’
