First, pre-set the over to 350f/175c and grease a cup-cake tray with coconut oil. Set aside and start with the wet ingredients

Whisk 2 whole eggs in a jug, add a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of Stevia (natural sweetener), 50g unsweetened apple sauce, 10 oz organic almond milk. Put to one side while you focus on the dry ingredients: 250g gluten free oats (ground up in a blender), 40g of protein powder (I used RAW Protein from Garden of Life), 40g of chopped walnuts, a tablespoon of green match tea powder, a tablespoon of cinnamon, and a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and pinch of salt. Mix well with a fork.

Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add a tablespoon of natural peanut butter/almond butter and mix in 160g of fresh organic blueberries.

Divide the mixture into equal portions in the cup-cake tray and top with rolled oats. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until muffins begin to rise and brown.

Each muffin delivers 7.5g protein, 17g carbs, and 5g fat (112 calories each)

Meanwhile, you can also make a great tasting protein shake to drink with these muffins (great for post-workout, and to add a dose of powerful antioxidants from the green tea).

I used 40g of VEGA Sport chocolate protein with a full banana (130g), blended with a cup of organic almond milk (10 oz), plus a sprinkle of cinnamon, stevia, and vanilla extract, plus a handful of ice, and not for getting a teaspoon of matcha green tea powder. It blends nice and thick, and I swear is one of the best tasting protein shakes I’ve ever tasted.

The shake weighs in at 320 calories, 32g protein, 38g carbs, and 4g fat.

Combined with two muffins for a complete post workout meal (drink the shake immediately post workout, and the two muffins 30 minutes later), you’ll be getting 47g of protein, 72g of carbs, 14g of fat, (550 calories).

Give them a try and let me know what you think of them!

After the workout, I enjoyed my post workout nutrition, which consisted of an all-natural plant protein (VEGA Sport – 30g) with 25g Waxy Maize Starch (Glycomaize), to get a quick shot of fast acting proteins and sugars to help fuel the recovery and replenishment of my muscles. (I’ve been using beef and plant proteins for a few months now instead of whey, as I just feel I digest these proteins better than a milk-based protein). The other food is a mix of banana (120g) and pineapple (30g), plus a favorite mix of mine – quinoa (40g) mixed with a scoop of chocolate VEGA protein, 1 egg white (added when cooking), and 15g raisins, all mixed in with cinnamon, stevia, and a little vanilla essence. This may seem like a strange post workout meal, but it fits perfectly my desired ‘numbers’ of calories and macronutrient split, as calculate by using my daily meal planner .

I explode on the concentric (up movement), then squeeze the muscle at the top of the movement, and lower at half the speed of the concentric movement. Less weight than I can lift with free weights (partly due to a calorie deficit) but also due to more stabilizer muscles being involved with free weight movements. The t-shirt I was wearing (Every Rep Counts), can be ordered exclusively from my online store at: http://www.robrichesstore.com/tshirts.html An example of my full routine can be seen on my blog (www.robrichesfitness.com) under the page tab ‘About Rob’ (Taken with Instagram at Powerhouse Gym)

Machine Arm Curls: 4 sets x 10 reps

Seated Dumbbell Curls: 3 sets x 10 reps

Standing EZ-Bar Curl: 3 sets x 10 reps

Standing Straight Bar Cable Curl: 3 sets x 10 reps

V-Bar Tricep Pushdown: 4 sets x 15 reps

Seated Arm Extension: 3 sets x 15 reps

You can see the video I shot a few weeks ago below. It’s exactly the same run, just at night. I also take the same supplements before and after.. Except the whey for post-run is replaced with casein for slow, nighttime release.

There’s also 1 week left before the first orders of my new ‘Make Every Rep Count‘ T-shirts are sent out to those who have pre-ordered. If you’re one of the first 100 to tweet you wearing it and tag #doublereps you’ll be the first to access my brand new website and see all my training videos before anyone else: http://www.robrichesstore.com/double-reps-tshirt.html

Step 1: Boil two 2 lb.-packages lasagna noodles according to package instructions, or until al dente. Do not over cook. Rinse well with cold water and reserve cooked noodles.

Step 2: Combine ricotta cheese, eggs, spinach, basil and mozzarella together in a large bowl. Reserve.

The first exercise was squats, using a plyometric jump box to touch down on when my upper legs were parallel to the floor. This allowed me to perform the negative rep slow and controlled, pausing at the bottom without using any momentum, exploding upwards. Although I had to lower the weight, this really did hit my quads hard. I performed 5 sets, progressing the weight each time and shooting for 8-10 reps.

Next up it was hack squats, keeping my toes angled outwards and slightly lifted up, which fired up my hamstrings and well as targeting my teardrop. 5 sets again, each time adding another 45lb plate each side and aiming for 10 reps each set.

The 3rd exercise was an old-school, vertical leg press, and that I super-set in with the hack squats. By keeping my feet positioned to the top of the plate (more over my chest than my hips), it really worked my glutes and hamstrings. As this was a superset, I kept the weight a little lighter, and worked up to 20 reps.

Isolation exercises to work the hamstrings, stepping over the thigh pad to get a greater stretch on the hamstring in addition to keeping the toe pulled up towards the shin. 15 reps on each leg, 3 sets in total.

I like to finish off training legs with some high rep leg extensions, keeping my toes angled slighlty outwards, and my toes once again pulled in towards my shins to really engage the quads during the lift phase. 4 sets, 20+ reps.

You can see my full training split on my website here.

Sky High Training is anything but your average gym, and so I took this opportunity to switch up my workout from my regular weights session in favor of a more intense circuit based around plyometric and instability movements.

The first circuit consisted of TRX suspended push ups, whereby the TRX straps were around my feet, and I was using a home-made push up rack to press up and down on. The next exercise for this super-set was TRX flyes, with my feet up on a laddered-wall. (acting as a suspended decline fly). 3 sets of these, each time increasing the number of reps, finally pushing out 43 suspended push ups, before ending on rope pullups, which targeted my upper back, bicpes, and rear deltoids – the opposite muscles that were being hit during the TRX push ups and flyes.

The second circuit consisted of Twin Olympic Bar Chest Presses, where two olympic bars were pushed into the wall at one end, and weights loaded on the other, allowing me to lie on the ground and push one up in each hand, (this also makes a great flye movement), followed by Barrel push ups, whereby I had turned and oil drum on it’s side and started off with my feet on the ground (acting as an incline push up, targeting my upper chest, before moving on to a step box for my feet, and ending on a medicine ball). These two exercises really did hit my chest hard, and left me feeling as though I’d just done a full set on the bench press with maximum weight!

 

The last two exercises were a real test of strength – especially at altitude, where I was far less efficient at buffering lactic acid from my muscles. I built up from a jump box to a swiss ball for my feet, while holding on to a hoop in each hand, both attached to a suspened strap. This was an extremely hard exercise to perform inverted flyes on, but WOW, did it hit my inner chest. The next exercise was more for my lower chest and was a form of tricep dips, but learning slightly forwards while holding a dumbell between my knees.

This routine was anything but my normal workout, but definitely one that shocked my system and pushed me through a plateau. I can’t wait to get back into my regular gym and hit chest like I usually do. I’ll post the videos as soon as I have them edited over the next day or two.