Progressive Gains Fitness

Smith machine upright row 🏋️‍♂️

Lateral raise variations are great for targeting the side deltoids (side part of the large shoulder muscle), but so are upright row variations. 💯

The difference with an upright row is that you can lift more weight in comparison to a lateral raise. 💪

For the most optimal side delt gains, I’ll include both upright row and lateral raise variations in my training program. 👌

With upright row variations, if you use a wider grip, you should feel more side deltoids and fewer traps. 🔥

Choc-banana protein smoothie 🌱

This quick, simple, and delicious smoothie packs heaps of quality nutrients. 😋

All you need to do is blend a few ingredients, and it will be ready in less than 2 minutes! ✌️

It could be the perfect way to start off the day by giving you some energy in the morning and helping with your daily protein requirements. 💯

You could also have it post-workout for muscle growth and recovery! 💪

👉 1 medium banana
👉 1 tbsp of chia seeds
👉 1 cup of unsweetened soy milk
👉 1 tbsp of cacao powder
👉 1 scoop of unflavoured pea protein
👉 5 grams of creatine
👉 1 scoop of ice

This is only around 450 calories, but it’s got 40 grams of protein, 15 grams of healthy fats, 10 grams of fibre, and loads of micronutrients like potassium, magnesium, and calcium. 💚

Smith machine front foot elevated reverse lunge 🦵

This lower body exercise will fire up your glutes in no time! 🔥

The lunge is already a great glute exercise. Add in the elevation, and this really hits the glutes even harder! 🍑

Maximise this exercise by taking a nice big step back and lunging all the way down to put the glute in a deep stretch. 👌

The smith machine works well if your goal is hypertrophy, as you can simply focus on pushing the exercise close to failure without having to worry about balancing free weights. 💯

Ensure you make enough progress with regular reverse lunges first before giving this variation a try so that you’re ready to make even more gains! 💪

Post-workout meal 🌱

I’m on a muscle-gaining phase, and my meals are getting bigger and bigger along the way. 😅

👉 250g white rice
👉 225g firm tofu
👉 150g sweet potato
👉 150g mixed veggies
👉 2 nori sheets
👉 5g curry powder
👉 20g miso paste
👉 3 tbsps soy sauce

I air-fried the sweet potato and the tofu to make them nice and crispy without using oil, and I mixed the miso paste, soy sauce, and just a bit of water to go over the top along with the curry powder. 🔥

This meal gives me around 53 grams of quality protein and 127 grams of carbohydrates for muscle repair and recovery, as well as 19 grams of fat and 24 grams of fibre. 💪

It also gives me electrolytes like sodium and potassium that assist with recovery and hydration, as well as other essential nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin C, iodine, and iron. 💚

What’s awesome is how simple it is and how good it tastes. It’s a big meal, but I somehow still manage to smash it down when it’s ready after my workout. 🤣

What’s your go-to post-workout meal? 🏋🏼‍♀️

Barbell reverse curl 🏋️‍♂️

There are 3 muscles that bend the elbow joint called the elbow flexors. These include biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis. 💪

The reverse curl mainly targets the brachioradialis, a muscle located on the forearm below the biceps. It also hits the brachialis and biceps muscles. The pronated/overhand grip puts the biceps at a disadvantage, allowing the brachioradialis to do more of the work. 💯

If you're always doing regular bicep curls with a supinated/underhand grip, you might have good biceps, but you could be forgetting about your brachioradialis muscles. Give the reverse curls a go and watch your forearms grow! 🔥

Pre-workout toast 🍞

What’s better than peanut butter on toast? 🤔

Peanut butter on toast with banana and dates! 🤤

If you use natural peanut butter and a good whole grain/seed bread, you will get about 25 grams of protein from this meal. 👌

You’ll also get around 100 grams of carbs to fuel your workout, 30 grams of healthy fats, and 17 grams of fibre, along with plenty of micronutrients such as potassium and magnesium. 🏋🏼‍♀️

The best part? It’s seriously delicious and cruelty-free! 💚

Low to high cable chest fly 🏋️‍♂️

This is an excellent isolation exercise for the chest, with emphasis on the upper pecs. 👌

I am currently doing this exercise on one of my push workouts, and I like how it complements other compound exercises for the chest. 💪

You won’t need much weight for this exercise, with the cables providing heaps of tension throughout each rep. 💯

Control the eccentric (down) phase of each rep to stimulate the target muscle as much as possible. Moderate to high reps work best for this exercise. 🔥

Plant-based pizza 🌱

On Saturdays, I play tennis, so I need to consume HEAPS of calories to stay on track with my muscle-gaining goals. 💪

I had one pizza base left in my freezer to use up. I went with just a few simple toppings: tomato paste, mixed herbs, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, mushrooms, and zucchini. 👌

I already had plenty of protein in all of my other meals that day, and because the pizza base was so huge (yes, I had the whole thing for one meal), it actually had a fair amount of wheat protein. 😅

So, just by adding mushrooms and nutritional yeast, it ended up being a high-protein meal without having to use any common protein source. ✅

Being vegan isn’t hard when you consider the victims. It means choosing kindness and compassion for all sentient beings. You can enjoy your food and reject animal exploitation at the same time by going cruelty-free and not supporting the meat, egg, and dairy industries. 💚

Machine seated leg press 🦵

If you want to grow and strengthen your quadriceps, a group of muscles located in the front of the thighs, the leg press can do a great job. ✅

There are many benefits to including the leg press in your program, whether that is the horizontal or 45 degree leg press. 👌

You don't have to worry about balance or core stability, so this allows you to just focus on the target muscle. This also means that you can take each repetition through a greater range of motion by going as deep as possible, without the risk of safety being compromised like with a deep barbell squat. 🏋️‍♀️

Another benefit with the machine leg press is being able to safely push the target muscle to muscular failure, or at least close to it. Again, this is in comparison to a barbell squat where it can be unsafe to push the set to failure. 🔥

Lastly, the machine leg press is much less taxing on the central nervous system, making it suitable for higher reps and easier to recover from each set, which can reduce your rest times. This is the opposite for larger compound exercises like barbell squats which generally work better with lower reps and higher rest times. 💯

Choc-berry protein smoothie bowl 🍓

I love how the Bulk Nutrients chocolate-flavoured pea protein powder is flavoured naturally with monk fruit and stevia. 🌱

A scoop of that with a cup of mixed berries, a tablespoon of chia seeds, and 150ml of unsweetened soy milk makes this delicious protein treat. 😋

Over 30 grams of protein, natural sugars, healthy fats, fibre, vitamin C, and calcium for only just over 300 calories, making it a great option for a small meal or snack to help with the daily protein intake. 💪

Machine reverse fly 🏋️‍♂️

I liked using this machine to isolate the rear deltoids (back of the shoulders). 👌

I felt stable as I was seated with my chest supported on the pad, and there was plenty of tension on the target muscle throughout each rep. 🔥

The rear delts get plenty of work from compound pulling exercises like rows and pulldowns, but adding in an isolation exercise or 2 can really help them strengthen and grow further. 💪