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HARRY LEATHERS TRANSFORMATION PROGRESS 5 WEEKS IN!
Big Changes After Only 5 Weeks!
18 year old Harry Leathers came to me to help him with his fat loss and bodybuilding goals. I’ve known Harry for a while now and he is super passionate about bodybuilding, especially more the old school so I knew he would do well.
Only 5 weeks into his training at Muscle Limit Gym Harry has made some amazing progress! I wouldn’t normally post progress pictures quite this early but i’m so chuffed at how well Harry has done I couldn’t resist. Harry is using resistance training 4 days per week using an upper body/lower body split and is combining the weights with cycling. Harry would commute to work by train but has swapped the train for his bike and now rides to work as much as possible. This has really helped him drop the lbs but also gain plenty of pounds in his pocket as commuting to work on his bike saves him £400 a month! Who said keeping fit costs a lot of money?
We still have a way to go but I have 100% faith in Harry as he is a hard worker and has that passion to succeed.
OLD SCHOOL QUAD BLAST! - SISSY SQUATS
NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED
The Sissy Squat doesn't sound like a tough exercise does it? Ok, its not quite as tough as a back squat, but it is tough, do not let the name fool you. It's named after a Greek mythical king called Sisyphus who was made to push a big rock up a hill only for it to roll back down again for eternity, as punishment for being a not very nice person. He ended up with big legs funnily enough.
This exercise is a great quad exercise for men and women to add to your leg training, or if you train at home and haven't got much equipment, then this will hit the quads hard. It isolates your quads really well as the hamstrings and glutes are mostly eliminated from the exercise.
It's also a great exercise to superset with a compound leg exercise like the squat or leg press, this will have your quads on fire!
To add size, shape and awesomeness to your legs then this is it, demonstrated by my buddy, of Diversity fame, former client and now owner of his own PT business Bodybox, Terry Smith -
-Stand Upright, feet shoulder width apart.
-Lean back until your body forms a straight line your neck to knees, supporting yourself by holding on to a piece of equipment.
- You can use just bodyweight or when you are stronger then hold a weight place across your chest.
- Descend as far down as you can to work through the full range
-Drive back up through the quads to the starting position.
Give it a go and let me know how you get on!
Peter Chown
Age Is But A Number
I'm Too Old To Do That!
As we get older we do like to make excuses to not do things, I know, I've tried a few of them! But age is just a number, ok as we age we do get a few aches and pains, Im now 45 and I definitely have a few of them due to my intense training for my sport, but that shouldn't stop us from doing things. I hear many excuses about being too old to exercise, too old to eat healthy, too old for this, too old for that, but it really hasn't got to be like that.
Over 40 and think you've missed the boat?
Being over 40 doesn't mean it's too late to be the best you've ever been. It's a great time to start a healthy exercise routine and start eating healthy. Being over 40 isn't old
Over 50? Why not look better than you've ever been!
Take my client Karen here, she started exercising at 40, she has been training with me since 2007. She's now 55, an inspiration to anyone over 50, it goes to show with a healthy and fit outlook you can be just as active as you were in your younger days.
Randhir Singh Transformation
A Natural Physique Success Story
Randhir Singh has been a client for a few years now and has made an awesome transformation over that time, his health has improved, he's changed physically and his strength has gone through the roof. This is a short video I made for my YouTube channel a while back. I hope you enjoy it. If you would like me to be more active on YouTube then let me know and what you would like me to film and I'll get on it.
Peter
My Mindset! By Peter Chown
Mr Natural Universe? My life? What was the mindset that I had to achieve what I have achieved in natural bodybuilding? Hey, its no secret, it was just the way I lived my life! But none the less I am more than happy to share with you my 'secrets'.
I started competing as a natural bodybuilder in 1991 after 2 and a half years of training and over the years have won several Under 21 Junior titles including the Junior Mr Britain and Junior Mr Europe. Later on in my career my achievements extending to winning the INBF World Heavyweight tile in 2005 in NYC and a year later winning the heavyweight title and overall champion at the INBA Natural Mr Universe in Los Angeles, California where I earned my natural bodybuilding professional status. Plenty of moments I will remember for the rest of my life.
ANB SOUTH EAST AGE 23, WINNING THE HEAVYWEIGHT CLASS AND OVERALL IN 1996.
Getting yourself into the mindset to train for a bodybuilding competition can be hard! You know you have many weeks, or even months if you have more than one competition lined up, of hard dieting, hard training, 24 hour commitment, tiredness. What the hell made me want to do this?! Well, it is a sport I love and luckily for me its a sport that I was encouraged to compete in from early on in my training as I was actually good at it! I'm not very good at many things so this was my opportunity to excel in a sport. When I'm passionate about something my drive towards my goals is intense. Even before I started training I knew I wanted to be a bodybuilder, I wanted to win the Junior Mr Britain title, to be one of the best in the world.
One other thing that drove me as well was that I was scared of losing! I wanted to win, I wanted to feel special, I wanted to inspire others to build a body that they want, if I can do it then so can others. I was a very shy teenager, I worked in retail where you get many customers look down at you, I wanted to prove that with drive, determination, consistency that this shy teenager in a dead end job could work hard and become a World Heavyweight Champion, a Mr Universe, who could train in Golds Gym in Venice California and be recognised for the physique he built.
What else drove me to have this intense mindset? It was seeing how much the body can take in the gym, as I have always been lifetime natural I didn't have the option of drugs helping me build my physique. I didn't want to limit myself either with the mindset that as I was natural then I'm limited to only building a smaller physique, a physique that could only lift a limited amount of weight. My goal was to build a physique that wouldn't of looked out of place amongst 1980's style physiques, as to me this was one of the best eras of bodybuilding. If I told myself that I can't do this because I'm natural, I can't do that because I'm natural then I would limit myself to what I could achieve. I was a bodybuilder, thats it. I trained harder than anyone else, I was known for crazy intense training sessions, especially leg workouts. I got the respect of high ranking non natural competitive bodybuilders. It's amazing how much punishment the human body can take. I'm not saying this is the way for everyone to train as everyones goals are different, but this was my mindset, every workout was a challenge, I trained intelligently, but like a nutter too!
A massive tool that helped me too was visualisation. I'll cover this inmate depth in a separate blog another time. In my mind I had what I wanted my body to look like. Every workout I trained my body, I could 'see' the fibres contracting, the muscle growing. My body just had grow into what was in my mind. Every time I ate a meal, every gram of protein was building my body, every step of cardio pre contest was turning my body into a fat burning furnace. Visualisation really works!
One other thing that is really important, and something I learned later in my competitive career is a balance in life. Even though I was very intense with it all I learnt to switch off as well. Pre contest I still made time for others in my life, not early in my career, but the last few years I did. In the early years I thought everyone should understand what I was going through. I didn't make much time for others pre contest. It was when an ex of mine competed I found it really hard to be the partner who wasn't competing, not going out, the arguments. This was coming from someone like me who had competed several times! I thought if I found it hard then what must people think who aren't into the sport who's other half is competing, it must be hell! From then on when I competed I always made time to do things with my other half, no matter how tired I was, my cool bag can come with me and we can have days out. It helped and I then had more of a balance, certainly not perfect, I did have competitions coming up but I made the effort. Now when competitors tell me their husbands or wives don't understand, its causing problems in their relationship, I can help. Competing certainly isn't worth losing a great relationship over and no-one forces us to go through this, we can stop at anytime.
This sport isn't for everyone, I've seen many people diet for a show and they've suffered badly mentally, they just haven't got the right mindset, they're almost losing their mind, they get angry with everyone, ranting, its really not worth it. Competing should be fun, seriously hard, but fun seeing the changes your body can make with hard work. If its not fun then take another sport or activity up, life too short!
Anyway, I waffled on enough I think but I'll cover more on mindset, visualisation etc. in the future. If you have anything you'd like me to cover then just let me know!
Peter Chown
London To Brighton Bike Ride 2016/2017
I never did do an update on the L2B bike ride last year! The ride was amazing, we all completed it and raised plenty of money for the MS Society UK. Michelle and I raised nearly £2000 between us to help people like Michelle, who herself has multiple sclerosis. Michelle completed it on her mountain bike and myself and my friend Nathan completed it on our BMXs. Thank you so much to everyone that donated.
It was such good fun that we have decided to do it again in September 2017, again raising money for the MS Society UK. We are aiming to get a good size team this year, so if you're up for it....
London To Brighton Bike Ride For The MS Society (Multiple Sclerosis)
I have had the 'bright' idea of doing this charity event on my BMX (my other passion). Some of you may know, some don't know, but my girlfriend Michell and Team Natural Physique member, was diagnosed with MS 3 years ago, a devastating time. The first thing I thought of was she will be in a wheelchair, Michelle knew nothing about MS! Did you know more than 100,000 people have MS in the UK? We are both doing this ride (Michelle has a separate fundraising page) to raise awareness of this awful condition and to raise money for the wonderful charity MS Society who not only help with care but also fund research to BEAT MS FOR GOOD! Treatment has advanced so much over the last few years that this needs to carry on to find a cure. My pain and discomfort will only last a few short hours where someone with MS their pain and discomfort will last for life.....or will it? PLEASE HELP AND DONATE - AND PLEASE COULD YOU SHARE, THANK YOU :-)
Congratulations!
I just wanted to say a big congratulations to my client Fanni for her recent success at the Pure Elite competition. Fanni's goal was to transform her body for her first bikini competition and that she did! Although she didn't place you have to admit that her transformation was fantastic! She put in the hard work, dieted hard but sensibly and naturally, no unnatural unhealthy fat burners, and the results show. She also enjoyed the whole prep ( so she tells me 😜).
Congratulations Fanni!
PETER CHOWN TRAINING TIPS
Chownie's Quick Tips - Parallel Grip Pulldown
To add variety to the pulldown movement, try various grips and bar attachments. You'll hit the muscles from different angles resulting in your progress moving forward. Here's the parallel grip, wide grip pulldown, filmed at Muscle Limit Gym. Work on that mind-muscle connection, focusing on the muscle working, feeling it stretch and contract.
Personal Training At Muscle Limit Gym, London
More Times Opening Up!
I have opened up more hours for personal training sessions at Muscle Limit Gym in North London, easy to reach if you are in North London or work in the city as it's only 20 minutes train/walk form Liverpool Street Station and only 5 minutes from Tottenham Hale Station.
I am now available Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Saturday afternoons, any other times then please enquire as I will have the odd slot on other days.
This is a great opportunity to train with me, Peter Chown, with over 25 years experience in the fitness industry, a former Natural Mr Universe and World Natural Bodybuilding champion in the gym where I won all my major titles.
Muscle Limit Gym has a unique atmosphere, very friendly, no clickyness at all, it's like a big happy family due to it being family owned and run. Once you hit the gym floor though it's all business, Packed with equipment it caters for all levels of training and goals wether fitness, health, bodybuilding or sports specific.
Click here to book your consultation!
Peter
Muscle Limit Gym