Abdullah Alkanan- ‘influenced my lifestyle greatly to the better’

Abdullah reached out to me from Kuwait, having watched me on Youtube. He saw me as genuine and thought my advice followed suit and was in line with how he thought. Looking to move away from HITT and Crossfit all out failure type training to more resistance based work. Based on Abdullah’s pictures and questionnaire results I placed him on a programme to shed fat while retaining if not potentially building some muscle mass, to achieve his goal of a lean and muscular physique.

So far we have seen some great results, with Abdullah improving his form on all the main compound lifts and getting stronger, while losing fat in the process. So far a little over three months in, this is what Abdullah had to say:

‘I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Stephen. I was quite unsure when it came to online personal trainers because I tried it in the past and it wasn’t something I thought I would do again.

However, after much researching and using my common sense, I stumbled upon Stephen’s YouTube page and I was convinced that his way of thinking when it comes to nutrition, diet and exercise is something that appealed to me.

So I went ahead and singed up to start with him, and I can say that the last 3 months have been great. There was a sense of certainty, I know what I am eating and how much to eat and what to train. It has influenced my lifestyle greatly to the better. I do have a very busy work schedule but through the great weekly motivation from Stephen in conjunction with his weekly tweaks to my routine I have been pushing through.

I can email Stephen anytime and he is quick to respond, baring in-mind he has a very busy schedule as well. I think the decision to go ahead and join this service has been one I am delighted I made, and I can’t wait for the future.

I truly recommend Stephen to anyone who wants to make a positive change on how their body looks and feels and ultimately get healthy.’

I am truly honoured to have had such a positive impact on Abdullah, to have positively impacted his lifestyle to such a degree is more than I could have wished for. Here is how he is looking just two months on:

As you can see in just 2 months Abdullah lost a total of 10lbs, which was tremendous. He has gotten rid of any love handles and that in combination with increasing his shoulder and back muscle mass has achieved a much broader look. Great job Abdullah!

To learn more about my coaching services please click HERE!

Posture and Your Appearance – how to look more confident and attractive

Everyone wants quick fixes when it comes to changing their physique, whether it’s gaining muscle or losing fat, we want it now! Unfortunately this demand has spawned a vast number of supplements, diets, and products and sadly none of the promises come to fruition. However, I am going to share something you can implement today, that is cost free and can positively impact your appearance immediately.

The one quick and easy change you can make to improve your body composition is your posture. People bang on about how posture can impact your health, and that’s a completely separate topic itself, but something not often touched on is how it can dramatically change how you look. The best way for me to get the point across is via pictures, so please look below.

As you can see in both these images I have ‘poor’ posture. My shoulders are slouched forward, my head is poking forwards. Not only does this stance make me look less athletic, especially with a shirt on, but it also makes me appear less confident. Lets look from the front.

Again we can see my shoulders are slouched, my back is rounded, and this causes my upper body to collapse inwards, making me appear in worse shape. Now lets have a look at some good posture.

 

Here my ears, shoulders and hips are all in line, my chest is up and I am standing tall. When standing if I was to place a broomstick against my back you’d want to see three points of contact, at my head, upper back and buttocks, if not then I am not in neutral and neutral is our aim. This lengthens out my upper body and gives me a much more confident persona. When we look at the front you can clearly see I look broader, more athletic and seem confident.

Our posture is complicated, it is influenced by genetics, culture, social, economic and psychological factors, there is no ‘ideal’ posture, as any posture maintained for too long can cause problems. However, that being said there is correlation between pain and certain postures and as you can see above there is a clear and dramatic impact on our overall appearance.

Tips to Improve Posture

1. Keep changing your posture – as said above keeping within one posture for too long is going to lead to problems. So fidget, break up your postures during the day, as Eric Cressey says ‘the best posture is one that is constantly changing’.
2. Engage your core – this is something  Kelly Starrett calls the ‘bracing sequence’, in which the goal is to achieve a neutral spine and become mechanically stable. In brief; the key process of this is to get your feet hip width apart, engage your glutes and abdominals, keeping your shoulders and head back and in neutral. It is easy to over think it, and I don’t believe you should, with practice you will find a braced position that works for you.
3. Stand Tall– this is an easy one to implement and you have probably heard it before, but often just this small cue can get you out of a slouched posture and bring you into neutral alignment. Just don’t over exaggerate it or you may move into lordosis.

These adjustments have to be conscious before they will become subconscious, so keep practicing and eventually you will establish a better resting posture.

Summary

The way you look is something you should take pride in and posture is a big part of that. I am not just saying that because I keep myself fit and go to the gym. I am saying it because whether we like it or not we are judged by our appearance, a good appearance can make a dramatic difference to how people perceive you. A quick example is someone presenting in front of you, the words they may be saying could be brilliant, but if they are hunched over and look unconfident, their presentation won’t go down half as well compared to someone standing tall and looking confident.

So don’t slouch, stand tall and you’ll improve your appearance and how others perceive you.

Developing 3 Dimensional Deltoids

Shoulder development is key for the person seeking physical aesthetics. They provide the broad look, leading into a V-taper. Of course due to individual differences we may or may not be lacking in this department. I for one definitely was and probably still am, I would be what you call a blocky physique, and therefore I focus on my deltoids a lot during my training.

An example would be Daniel Craig and David Beckham, both have wide hips and overall quite a blocky appearance. However, Daniel unlike David has developed his shoulders to a greater degree, therefore giving him a broader look.

So if you are in the unfortunate position like me and have a large waist and narrow shoulders, then you are in luck. Here I am going to share my strategy to get maximal shoulder hypertrophy based on movements.

Deltoid Anatomy

• Anterior (top diagram)
• Middle (middle diagram)
• Posterior (bottom diagram)

As you can see these make up the majority of your shoulder musculature. There are important stabilisers as well but here I am focussing on muscle hypertrophy. Each of these can be somewhat isolated and are involved in different exercises to varying degrees. Depending on your past training history you may already have an imbalance between the three, and correcting that is not only essential for health but will also enhance your physique.

Anterior Deltoid

Main Roles:

• Shoulder Flexion- this is the act of lifting your upper arm in front of you towards your face e.g. front raises, vertical press.
• Transverse Flexion- this is the movement with your arms straight out in front of you closing them together e.g. chest fly.
• Arm Internal Rotation- this is the act of bending your arm at the elbow by your side with your hand to your side and then rotating it internally towards your front e.g. pec dec.
• Arm Abduction- this is the act of raising the upper arm outward from the side of your body e.g. lateral raise.
• Shoulder Stability- help maintain shoulder alignment.

The above might be about as clear as mud, but I am going to break it down for you. Due to the amount of pressing most of us do, the anterior deltoids are unlikely to be underdeveloped. When performing something like a chest press there is transverse flexion, internal rotation and shoulder flexion taking place. Horizontal pressing movements therefore are not solely a pectoral exercises, but should be considered a combined shoulder and chest movement. Research shows this to be especially true when we are using barbells or dumbbells over machine presses. Also, it’s interesting to note that as you move from decline through to a vertical press the activity of the anterior head increases. Furthermore, when performing vertical or incline presses a wide grip has been seen to illicit greater EMG when compared to a narrow grip. Therefore, I am going to assume you will be doing a variety of presses, and consequently you do not need any direct anterior deltoid work.

Middle Deltoid

Main Roles:

• Arm Abduction- this is the act of lifting your arm away from your body to your side with the arms internally rotated e.g. lateral raise.
• Shoulder Stability- help maintain shoulder alignment.

As you can see the middle deltoid is involved in far fewer movements, also there are no compound exercises that specifically abduct the arm. Therefore, I definitely see a case for middle deltoid isolation exercises, which I will come to later. Be aware that their is a caveat here that the arm needs to be internally rotated, that means you abduct the arm with your pinkies and elbows facing up. Furthermore, as you can see in the above diagram the middle deltoid is the prime part of the shoulder that will give you that aesthetic capped look.

Posterior Deltoid

Main Roles:

• Transverse Extension- this is the act of having your arms out in front of you and pulling back, bending your elbows and retracting your scapular e.g. face pull.
• Transverse Abduction- this is the act of having you arms straight out in front of you and bring them to your sides e.g. reverse fly.
• Arm External Rotation- this is the act of having your arm bent and elbow by your side and rotating your arm so your hand moves from your front to your side e.g. cable external rotations.
• Shoulder Hyperextension- this is the act of moving your arm from straight out in front and extending it behind you e.g. straight cable arm pull down.
• Shoulder Stability- help maintain shoulder alignment.

Therefore the posterior deltoid is involved when we are doing horizontal or vertical pulls, as transverse extension and abduction is taking place. So like the anterior deltoid they do get a fair amount of work, if you are doing back exercises. However, they are not involved to the degree the anterior deltoid is during presses, they get best utilised when strict transverse extension takes place, as the stronger muscles cannot take over.

Practical Application

Now we have an understanding of the movements that each head is involved in, there is a clear imbalance if we just relied on our compound push and pulls to dictate our shoulders development. Not only is an imbalance not a good look, but it can disrupt shoulder stability, and lead to deteriorating shoulder health. So how should one go about putting in some isolation work for the deltoids?

• Don’t isolate the anterior deltoid, as stated it gets enough stimulation already.
• As a general rule of thumb implement middle and posterior deltoid isolation work as assistance exercises.
• Don’t go below 6 reps. To maximise hypertrophy of any muscle, you want to use a range of reps and angles. However, you will find it very hard to work the deltoids in isolation with heavy work, because the larger muscles will take over.
• Really focus on the deltoid head that you are trying to isolate.

Exercises:

• Middle Deltoid: DB Lateral Raises, Banded Lateral Raises, Cable Lateral Raises, Side Lying Incline Bench Lateral Raises.
• Posterior Deltoid: Face Pulls, Cable Kneeling Reverse Fly, Standing Cross Cable Reverse Fly, Prone Fly, Bench Prone Fly.

Variety is the spice of life and to get the most growth out of your muscles you will want to alternate between the above exercises. By simply changing the body position we are able to continually create new training stimuli.

So if you want strong broad, healthy shoulders then I recommend you analyse your current workout regime and physique. See if they’re currently balanced and if not implement the above and get ready to get sexy as hell.

Resources:

1. Delavier F. Strength Training Anatomy (Third Edition). 2010
2. McCaw, Friday. A Comparison of Muscle Activity Between a Free Weight and Machine Bench Press. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 1994
3. Barnett, Kippers and Turner. Effects of Variations of the Bench Press Exercise on the EMG Activity of Five Shoulder Muscles. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 1995
4. De Araújo Rocha Júnior, Gentil, Oliveira and Carmo. Comparison among the EMG activity of the pectoralis major, anterior deltoidis and triceps brachii during the bench press and peck deck exercises. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte. 2007