Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani (Week 6)

Equipments for the day: 3kg medicine ball and the ever versatile Thera-Band.

The start of week 6


Current weight: 77.8kg


Just an update on Rabbani's strained quadriceps. It is not as bad as it was first expected and It is good that he kept on icing the injured muscle cause there is no longer the tenderness and the ache on it is almost gone (Yay!). So hopefully he can start running again by the end of the week (Need to assess on him again in a couple of days).


For today's workout, the emphasis was to work on his his back, primarily on his Latissimus Dorsi, as well as core and external obliques. To improve on pull ups, the most effective way is to do a negative only method whereby you will put your hands on the bar and jump up to the top position and lowering yourself down slowly. When you lower yourself down (negative), the lengthening muscle is under immense tension. It is at this point that your muscles are much stronger as compared to the lifting (positive) phase and thus working a lot on the negatives will stimulate the muscles deeper and will therefore grow bigger and stronger.

Trying his best on the negatives!

Rowing on air

Rowing on air (Part 2)

Side bends + Oblique twists

Rabbani completed sets of:-


Back
Pull ups (Negative) - 3x 10reps (5sec negative)
Hang to dry - 10x 10s (hanging)
Bent over row (Thera-Band) - 5x 30s
Seated row - 5x 30s


Core, Abs & Obliques
Elbow planks - 10x 30s
Side bends (Thera-Band) - 5x 30s
Seated oblique twists (Medicine Ball) - 5x 30s




Ended off with a full body stretch and a cold bottle of water ;)
Next training will be on Thursday so keep a lookout on our next post!




Keep fit and stay fit!
-fuad

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Track Series 5 - 23rd and 24th June 2012 Bishan Stadium

After a long break without competition, Team RP decided to take this opportunity to race and see where they rank. Despite having some minor pain from the shin, they team did their best in the Track Series 5.

The Series 5 was held in Bishan Stadium over the weekend 23rd and 24th of June. The blazing sun can easily melt an ice cream.. Although the turn out for this series wasn't as fantastic, we saw a few schools participated, only 2 of the polytechnic were ready to compete.

RP sent the senior sprints team for the competition because we've been training really hard and religiously! Sok Hong strained her back during her weights session and the rest of the sprinters having shin splints.. RP "never say die" spirit, kept them going till now.

Huzail getting ready for the 100m dash, pre-race expression

Post race expression

Super hot day, all thanks to Vitamin water to cool us down..

Terence after 100m dash

Race with RP best 400m sprinter? Zaki Sapari?

I'll take up the challenge!

 

 

 

Post-race expression

It was a real test for the team and for more information of the result in the Series 5, please visit the website with the link below:
http://www.singaporeathletics.org.sg/day-1-results-2012-saa-track-and-field-series-5
http://www.singaporeathletics.org.sg/day-2-results-2012-saa-track-and-field-series-5

Meanwhile, there is a lot more to work on, let's wait for the under 23 age group meet and wait for the improvement!

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Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani (Week 5)

Tragedy!

Injury. The word that every athlete and sports enthusiast squeals to upon hearing it.

Unfortunately for Rabbani, injury struck him during on this last training day for week 5. It happened on our 1st sprint when he strained his right quadriceps and was unable to continue further with the workout.

Skyline of Marina Bay Sands overlooking Rabbani while he was tightening his laces.

Many people don't know this but a strained muscle = torn muscle. Just like the fibers in a cloth would tear if you overstretch it, our muscles work the same way.

Classifying a strain is easy.

Mild Strain

Swollen, tenderness and it hurts when you stretch or contract the particular muscle.

Moderate Strain

Difficulty in moving the joints near the muscle strain.

E.g. If the strain on the quadriceps, you will face a difficulty in moving the knee joint (squatting, bending the knee etc)

Severe Strain

The most easiest to tell; this is when the athlete starts to scream! Literally.

This is when you will need to seek for a surgical repair of the completely torn muscle.

Down but not out!

For Rabbani, his strain is a mild one and he needs to continually ice his quads to reduce the swelling and also continue to gently stretch his quads. Although he is now injured, that does not mean that training has to stop! We will just have to avoid heavy weight bearing activities that requires the use of his quads.

Speedy recovery, Rabbani!

Get fit and stay fit!,

-fuad

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Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani (Week 5)

Current weight: 77.2kg (As of 23rd June 2011) WOOHOO!!


It has been a very busy week for me personally thus the delay on the posts.. but that doesn't mean that training has to stop! ;)


Rabbani has been doing well persevering through training as well as combating the aches and pains that has affected him from last week. 3 rest days from Saturday - Monday got him rejuvenated and raring to go for week 5!

Tuesday

High Intensity Training

Time for the dreaded slow repetition full body workout again. Weights were increased 1.25kg on each exercise this time round but the reps of '4sec +ve' and '4sec -ve' remains. 

Deltoids: Upright Row
Trapezius: Shoulder shrugs
Biceps: Bicep curls
Triceps: Skullcrushers

Hamstrings: Hamstring Curls
Quadriceps: Leg extensions
Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Core: Weighted squats on the Smith machine

Thursday

WE WENT HEAVY!

2 different exercises for each body part. Each exercise was performed for 3sets x 12reps.

Saturday

High Intensity Circuit Training

This was definitely a knockout! 

3 continuous sets of: -

Upper Body: Bicep curls (Thera-Band) + 20 Push Ups + 20 Dips

Lower Body: Walking lunges 20x per leg + Bodyweight squats 20x

Abs / Core: Knee sliders 20x + Alternate scissors 20x + Elbow planks 30s

Upper + Lower body: Forward + Backward Bear Walk.

Keep fit and stay fit!,

-fuad

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Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani (Week 4)

Current weight: 79kg


And so we have come to the last session for week 4.

For the last session for this week, we go easy. I decided not to push him too hard so that he can have a full recovery to start off afresh for week 5. For this last session, the concentration is on his lower body and core. Exercises were done in a controlled motion, as usual, but with a slightly lighter load.

Weight load were lowered down by 25% for weighted workouts: -

Squats 3x 12reps
Calf raises 3x 12reps
Mountain climbers 3x 12reps

Ended off with 5x 30secs of core stabilizers.


Training for week 5 starts tomorrow and the intensity will be upped a notch! Stay tuned ;)


Keep fit and stay fit!,
-fuad

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Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani (Week 4)

It's Fartlek training today!


and by the looks on my client's face, I know that he wasn't looking forward to this! I chose a more scenic and people populated route for us to actually do this so that my client will be more motivated to push himself, and push himself even harder whenever he sees a hot chick running by ;). We paved through the hustle and bustle of the CBD and made our way down south towards the Marina Bay Financial District where we really started pounding the concrete pavement.


For those of you who are wondering what Fartlek is:
Fartlek is a form of interval running programme that is usually unstructured. Runners & athletes can sprint/jog/run at any point of time that he/she wishes. Important thing to note for this training is that it has to be continuous and that means no stopping to take a break. Due to the demanding nature of Fartlek, a session usually last for at least 40 mins and will be even greater for runners/athletes who really want to push themselves to the limit. The great thing about fartlek is that it works on your aerobic and anaerobic systems so basically you're killing two birds with one stone!


For my client, besides the jog/run intervals, I set a target for him to complete 10x 20 - 30 meter sprints (I know, i'm evil). It proved to be too much for him to take, as I realized. He managed to complete 7/10 of it, which is a very commendable effort for a first timer! Well done, Rabbani! This session lasted for about 50 mins and we ended the session with 5sets of 20 tuck ins.

As you can see from his posture, he is beat. Nonetheless, great effort!

Keep fit and stay fit!,

-fuad

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Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani (Week 4)

Current weight: 78.6kg

2nd session for week 4. For Wednesday's training, the target was to do strength training for the upper body with different exercises per body part using only free weights. After 15 mins of warming up, it was time to pump some iron!

Started off with bench press followed by chest flys.

Dumbbell pullovers and bench pulls for the back.

 Workouts for the Deltoids & Trapezius: (Anti-clockwise) Barbell shoulder presses, lateral raises and barbell shoulder shrugs.

Tricep dips & dumbbell tricep pullovers.

Bicep curls + Concentration curls. He's already feeling the excitement in his muscles!

Ended off with Side bends for the obliques and tuck ins for the abdominals.

It is important that you start the workout from the biggest muscle group to the smallest group because by choosing to work your bigger muscles first will have a wide variety of implications on your workout. Overall, you will be able to achieve higher intensities throughout your workout because the largest muscle groups will have a chance to activate without your body already being fatigued from smaller muscle work.

Keep fit and stay fit!,

-fuad

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Metta Charity Run 2012

This is the first time Reactiv has been invited to be the official fitness partner for a Charity Run! 

I was really looking forward to it.

We put together two videos for the participants for their pre-run preparation - 

one for the warm up procedure and the other one for tips on running drills.

Please enjoy and share!

It was a beautiful morning on 2nd June and the Guest of honour

Dr Teo Ho Pin, Mayor of North West District was present to grace the Charity run. 

Upon the arrival of Dr Teo and all the participants, Fuad and myself led the mass warm up.

Arm swing!

Everybody look to the left!

Dr Teo enjoying his dynamic warm up

For more information on the run and the pictures, you can visit their facebook page at :

http://www.facebook.com/MettaWelfareAssociation

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Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani (Week 4)

Current weight: 79.8kg

Rabbani has just completed 3 weeks of training and have since moved on to start on his 4th.

He completed a total body HIT (High-Intensity Training) yesterday and I'm sure that behind all the muscle aches that he is having right now, the accomplishment of completing this workout will spur him on! Though tough, HIT is a great way for individuals to burn fat as well as build muscle that involves body weight + weight bearing equipments.

For this session, the amount of load was minused off by 50% as exercises was performed as a slow rate - 4sec +ve, 4sec -ve. We started off working on the biggest muscle group and ended with the smallest.

Squats, concentration is key.

Persevering through the leg extension machine!

Don't forget the hamstring curls.

Bench press.

Lat pulldowns for the back.

Enduring the pain!! Shoulder presses.

Concentration curls. Another form of exercise for the biceps.

Skullcrushers for the triceps.

Core stabilizers.

Throughout the past 3 weeks of training, Rabbani's form while doing exercises has improved but there is still more to improve on, especially on his posture. Hopefully, in the coming weeks to come, we can see a difference to it.


Keep fit and stay fit!,
-fuad

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Personal Training Blog | Featured client: Rabbani

Since May, I have been working hard trying to make my personal training client, Rabbani, to achieve his fitness goals and I think it is a good idea for me to blog it out to record his progression as well as getting people interested on what goes on when a PT meets his client.

A short Bio of himself: - 

Name: Rabbani Mubarak

Age: 24

Height: 172cm

Profession: Marketing Executive

Weight (before training programme): 81kg

Rabbani's desired outcome from training:

- Toned and developed thighs, hamstrings, calves and gluteus.

- To lose love handles, abdominal fat and achieve a narrower waist line.

- Stronger midsection and upper body.

I have designed a programme that is specifically made for him that includes a mix of HIT (High-Intensity Training), HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) and weight bearing resistance training; amongst other things. Do keep a lookout on his progression over these few months and don't forget to comment! :)

Keep fit and stay fit!,

-fuad

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