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Monday, 21st April

Some words that belong in the 70’s and 80’s but still prevail today are the words “toning”, “shaping” and “lengthening” your muscles to get a “sleek” look with your body.

Your muscles have a genetically pre-determined shape, so these adverts you see trying to sell you some kind of “lengthen your muscles in a sleek way in a ridiculously short period of time” and make your muscles “long and lean just like a dancers” are guilty not only of false advertising, they are SCIENTIFICALLY WRONG!

Each of you will end up with a different shape, the best shape your body can be, your muscles will look better if you use strength training, and your body fat will reduce considerably if you eat a lot better too. This is what gives you “a great look” and will make you look “sleek”.

Getting into a healthy range of body fat will make sure you look your best.

A lot of times I have measured several women in the same excellent range of body fat, but each of them have had a different shape but all looked great and they felt amazing.

By the way, they do look lean, they are NEVER bulky and look athletic and very feminine always.

The propaganda you often get from people promising longer, leaner muscles for your body don’t understand your body at all, and have definitely never studied it. How many times have you heard that pilates and yoga will give you that long, slender look and using WEIGHTS will just make you bulky?

This statement is one of the greatest LIES you will hear about exercise, this statement is always from people who don’t know a thing about exercise science, who have never trained a lot of people and shouldn’t comment on matters they have no real experience on. Pilates and yoga WILL be good for your body, but please don’t try to lie to me that weights are going to make you bulky and be a negative in some way!!!!

If you train your muscle, saying it’s going to become long and lean is like saying all of our workouts are going to make you several inches taller, absolutely impossible, your muscles cannot respond that way.

Men and women are guilty of trying to look like someone they never will. Getting a grip of reality is vital when you start an exercise programme, and choosing the best way to accomplish your goals always involves not only strength training, but our speed and agility work, balance and coordination work too.

This is really the way to look incredible, to perform at your best in training AND daily life, and feel fantastic on the inside and outside! Your muscles and shape are unique to you and you only, so celebrate the way your body looks.

Twitt
Posted on

Saturday, 19th April

Bumped into three individuals yesterday.

One has had two heart attacks by the time he was 35, now had a child and was unable to play with his child for any length of time because he would get out of breath. His partner confirmed this to be true.

The next has a severe bad back, and couldn’t stand for any length of time. She was a good sportswoman in her time, she is now 42. She couldn’t go anywhere anymore because of the embarrassment of not being able to walk far, and always needing to sit down. She had trouble keeping up with her kids and was depressed about her condition.

The third was 32 years of age, been a big drinker with the medals to prove it, and was suffering from very high blood pressure. He wouldn’t talk to anyone about it because he felt embarrassed, because his sporting past was so good, and he didn’t want his employer and his friends to find out about it.

They all asked for help due to their various ultimately unsuccessful ways of trying to solve these problems. All of these people could be classed a relatively young and in the prime of their lives.

They explained that they had been to gyms before, but the recurring theme of being shown around machines once, then they were left to their own devices. Their “programme” consisted of treadmill, bike, and rower IF they could do it.

They felt alone, and soon the feeling of hopelessness flooded their minds again, and led to them quitting their very limited “programme” almost before it started.

The big question has to be asked, all of these examples have been badly let down before and forgotten about in the “system”.

Their progress HAS NOT been followed up, their needs haven’t been considered, and proper care was not taken.

One of the most common questions we get is “do you look after us all of the time, EVEN after the first session?!! All of you who train with us now know we do of course we do. New members still ask us that question and we still have to keep giving the same answer of YES until they find out that we do ALL of the time. Yes we do measure all the time too, with several tests every month no matter what.

This will always make us the complete opposite of any other gym.

I like to answer it another way too, we like to DEVELOP everyone because you don’t really know how everyone will react to exercise, and ALL of you will improve and reach new standards and new highs and physical development, balance, coordination and mental concentration, plus significantly improving any health worries.

All of those three examples at the start can be helped enormously and their lives can be turned around, but a lot of care and attention must go into them first.

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 17th April

The results we keep having aren’t a coincidence, and it’s all our members feedback and reaction to our programmes that has led to it. We try to learn every single session, every single day and how and why everyone reacts differently to our huge variety of workouts now.

They are themselves a result of years of experience of the people we train giving us the feedback we need to tweak things and force a programme through even when the going gets tough.

Number one rule is to be cautious with everyone you train.

Push them only gradually in terms of intensity, and make sure you think that they are ready and capable of the next stage up.

Then always ask the person you train the next day how they feel.

If they can feel the workout the next day, then that’s good and if they enjoyed the workout then that’s even better.

Exercise sessions should be a small part of the big plan and where we want to be in one month’s time. Then it’s time to re-assess whether what we are doing is working or not, and this is why we always like to back it up with testing right across the board as you all know by now.

If your results are good, lets develop it some more and figure how we can make the results outstanding.

If your results are disappointing, let’s scrutinize what went wrong and change it around right then and there!
This system seems to be working very well and thanks for all of your continuing feedback!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 10th April

After coming out of a long dark and wet winter, it’s vital you come into the spring as fresh as possible.

Many of you train 5-6 times a week with us, and this will usually mean that you are in great shape, that you have improved substantially over the winter and there’s a very strong chance that your fitness is at its all-time best.

Sometimes though we all hit a wall and we don’t know really what to do about it.

Our motivation goes down a bit, we can’t get a constantly good performance out of ourselves, and we wonder whether we can hit the heights anymore.

We may see people who we have been training with pull slightly ahead of us, and we may lose our enthusiasm to stay with them. This is a sign that you need to step back a bit.

A great answer to these problems is to train LESS for a while in terms of days.

Cutting back to three days a week for a month or so can make all the difference.

On your days off, try doing different things, enjoy yourself whatever you want to do, and you will give your mind a good rest from your programme.

The result from this type of approach is that you start enjoying your training much more again.

When you hit those three sessions a week, they tend to be of much higher quality again because you will realise again what you are really capable of.

You will start to make gains again and your body will thank you for getting off a schedule that you needed a break from.

I usually find that a month is usually enough, and then most of those who have cut back feel ready to step it up again and hit extra days again.

You can feel the rest has done them good, and most people go on to reach new personal highs in their next cycle of training.

Training in different cycles is very common with professional athletes, who find it an absolute must to peak for their events.

Training smart and taking days off when you need them will always keep you close to your peak, and keep you mentally fresh just when you need it.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 9th April

Development in your programme can always happen quicker than you think as long as you are willing to buckle down and work at your fundamentals every day and not compromise.

If you don’t eat breakfast as within one hour of getting up, you are struggling from the very start of the day. This is an absolute must for all sorts of reasons.

If you try to run before you can walk in exercise terms, you are likely to get injured or lose interest in your exercise programme very early, or both things will happen.

If you have a back problem, and most of you do or will do in your lifetime, then you need to address that immediately before proceeding. Then you only advance with caution under supervision at all times but it can be sorted out gradually and for good.

If you are eating well 80% of the time, then that’s great.

If you are not eating well, then your workouts are always going to be a struggle, you won’t perform well, and you won’t recover from them anywhere near as well as you could do.

If you want to get into good shape, you have to accept that you need to make a lifestyle change full stop. It doesn’t have to be some kind of unachievable tough regime either, you have to fit it into your weekly schedule and anyone can do it.

All it needs is planning and tweaking your workouts to suit life’s everyday inevitable challenges.

Not one person I train has “all day to exercise”, we all live super fast lives now, so scheduling it in as part of your week is vital.

Twitt