How I Transformed My Physique In Under A Year!

Progress Is Impossible Without Change.

By Peter Chown

While I was competing at the 2006 BNBF British I heard so many comments about how much size I had put on in only a few months. I also heard a few comments that was music to my ears and that was how balanced my physique was! No longer did I hear that my legs over power my upper body. I have been trying to achieve this balance for years and have finally done it!

So what are my secrets? Well, for years I was doing the same type of training, each body part once a week, low sets and heavy weight. My size had pretty much stayed the same for years, maybe the odd pound or two of muscle was added. I started to feel frustrated, surely I haven’t reached my size limit? I wanted to be bigger, better and no way was I going to accept the size I was. So I decided to go back to the drawingboard, and what I decided to do was go against everything that I believed in.

After the 2005 BNBF British I had a week off from the gym, then once back, hitting the weights hard. I started a 12 week strength training phase basing my workouts around the bench press, deadlift and squat. The sets were high and the reps were low, around six sets never going higher than 5 reps usually down to 2-3 reps. My strength increased dramatically, just what I wanted so once I enter my hypertrophy phase I would be able to do higher reps with a lot more weight than before which would equal more muscle mass.

This phase continued into a personal training course I was studying in Cyprus and once my strength training was over I ended up having six weeks off from training so Icould concentrate on my studies and enjoy my time there. I did feel a bit guilty about the long layoff but my studies were very important to me and it ended up being a blessing.

On my return from Cyprus I was so fired up and couldn’t wait to hit the gym and start adding the size I desperately wanted to improve my physique. A big change I made to my training was to increase my training from 3-4 times a week to 6 times, training each body part twice a week. But training each body part twice a week surely I would over train? You’ll be surprised. Once you increase your frequency and volume of your workouts the body will adapt and recover a lot quicker which means training body parts more often resulting in more muscle gains and we all want that right?

I split my body over 3 days, the first 3 days I trained heavy, keeping the reps in the 6-8 range. I then repeated my body split the following 3 days but training lighter and upping the reps to 20 and my rest down to 30-60 seconds.

I started this training in April 2006 and by July I had put on 7lbs of lean muscle. I was shocked. I hadn’t made that much progress since I first started training and here I was 17 years into my training and making gains like I was a beginner!

So I challenge you to radically change your training around and see what happens.

Good luck! 

Peter

Ah I'm too old for that!

You're Never Too Old For Fitness And Health! 

By Peter Chown

Ok, you've turned 40,  you've missed the boat right?  You've become overweight, have a good drink at the weekend, or have kids, obviously no time at all to look after yourself.   

You're now in your 50's, well that's it you're life is nearly over and no need to even think of looking after yourself! 

Well, you're in you're in your 60's, 70's or 80's, seriously, there really isn't any point now right?  

 Wrong wrong wrong!  

 Natural Physique client Randhir is in his forties, he started training just before his 40th birthday and wanted to be fit, healthy and in great shape in his 40's and beyond.  He's achieved that and keeps achieving more.  He's not a gym addict, he has great balance in his life with work, exercise and family.   

BE INSPIRED.

Hitting your 50's doesn't mean you can't look good, have great health and fitness.  Natural Physique  client Karen is 55 and in superb shape, a great level of fitness and health which a recent health check confirmed.  She is the equivalent to a 40 year old and keeps getting 'younger'!  Karen didn't start untilI she was in her forties.  She now exercises with her husband Paul too, who himself has run half marathons and marathons, he didn't start until in his forties.  

BE INSPIRED .

And beyond your 60's, well, it's never too late to start!  My mum, after many years of me nagging her to exercise to keep strength in her legs and for overall health, she started exercising in her mid 70's, we're not talking marathons and lifting tons of weight, but moving a lot more, using her body to strengthen her muscles with keep fit classes and using the outdoor gym over the local park,  she goes with her friends so it's become a great social time too, going for a tea and a gossip afterwards in the sports club in the park.  

My partner Michelle, her grandmother still does yoga everyday,  she's In her mid 80's and as bright as a button!  

BE INSPIRED.  

Age range 60's and well into the 70's, what's your excuse?  It's great fun and a great social event!

Our goal is if we can make people of any age think more about their health, fitness and wellbeing and start doing something about it then we'll be happy.  

Jump aboard and get the most out of your life and start inspiring others yourselves!

Peter and the Natural Physique Team.  

Welcome To Natural Physique And Fitness!

Well, its taken me long enough but the old outdated site has now gone, and in comes the new look natural physique.co.uk!  It's slimmed down a lot focusing on my business but over time it will be evolving,  featuring my new blog which you are reading now where I will be a lot more active with articles, tips and workouts, also Michelle will be blogging too.  Some of my old articles that were very popular from my old site and other sites will also be appearing in the future.  

I really want to use this site to help you,  help you to get moving, eating healthier and improving your mindset towards health and fitness.  My passion is bodybuilding, I'm still helping you all that are into that, I've taken on a handful of people this year for contest preparation,  but I know that's not for everyone,  not all of you want six packs and big guns,  some of you want to improve your health and fitness so I'll cover that.  

The personal training business has gone from strength to strength and I'm loving every minute of it, a few spaces have become available at  Muscle Limit Gym and are going fast, but naturalphysique.co.uk has now moved into online coaching.  It's a great opportunity to help you if you aren't in our area, prices and more info will be up on the site asap.  

Anyway I'm not going to make my first blog go on forever rambling so just a quick one today.  

So all there is to say now is get up and exercise!   

Peter