Melbourne Personal Training

Here’s the first blog entry for 2012 and damn isn’t it a bit over due?

Things are changing. My schedule is jam packed and right now I only have sessions available starting between 7pm and 9pm Monday to Friday. I might start making myself available on weekends too though, I’m still trying to make up my mind.

Personally my training is going better than ever and I’m really happy with my progress. I’m pleased to report we had some great success last year with clients as well, whether weight loss / body composition success or strength gains, or most often a combination of the two.

Everyone out there… I’m sending you a challenge, it’s very clear! Decide right now to make 2012 YOUR year, to get healthier than you’ve been in the past, to be happier, to look and feel your best and to really get the most out of life.

It all starts with exercise and sensible nutritional habits.

I’ve been promising this for a long time so for all of you out there that have been pestering me waiting patiently for it, here it comes!

No program is ever going to be perfect. You gotta keep mixing it up, keep trying different things, and keeping the body from getting too used to what you’re doing. So every time I write a program, I get real excited and enthusiastic about it and think “this is my best program EVER”… and I get stuck into it and get results. But then I start to think “you know what would be even better?” and it’s back to the old drawing board.

So. I’ve gone back on to what I call a “double two day” program. That is, it’s a two day “push / pull” split program as you know I like to ultilise, but we’ll mix it up a little and do some different things every other time we go through it. Mainly just because, jeez… to REALLY hit up every body part & movement pattern we’d like to use, it’s just going to take too long in the gym and you’re going to run out of energy and enthusiasm before you finish. So, we’ll break it down into double two day format as follows.

Basically the idea is that we want to hit most movements as hard as possible twice per week. But since that’s not always possible, we’ll swap some things in and out so they get hit at least once a week.

Here’s the details:

Push Day is pretty simple. It’s all the pushing movements and we’re trying to hit the chest, quads, calves and triceps muscles. I’m going to throw the lateral / middle deltoid in as well for good measure.

• Pushing Movement, for example bench press, dumbbell press, incline press etc.
• Chest Isolation excercise, for example dumbbell flies, cable flies, cable cross overs etc.
• Lateral Deltoid, for example side lateral raises (dumbbell, cable, machine, whatever).
• Legs / Deep Knee Bend. Either;
  • Some variation of Squats. I like box squats at the moment. Or,
  • Machine Leg Press.
• Legs again. Either;
  • Calf Raise / Calf Press – if you did squats. Or,
  • Leg Extension – if you did Machine Leg Press.
• Either;
  • Another chest exercise of your choice… pushing or isolation. Mix it up.  Or,
  • Triceps exercise of your choice.

In case it’s not obvious, when I say “or” you’re supposed to do each opti0n once a week. Get it? Good!

Back day is a little more complicated because there’s so many movements you’ve got to hit! We’re talking vertical pulling, horizontal pulling, something for trapezius, rear deltoid, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and biceps! It’s too much for one day, probably too much for two days as well. But we’ll do our best, right?!

• Horizontal Pulling Movement. Aka some sort of rowing exercise. Seated Cable Row is my favourite.
• Trapezius, for example Shrugs, Upright Rows etc.
• Rear Deltoid, for example Bent Over Lateral Raises, Reverse Cable Flies etc. I want to hit my Rear Delts twice a week every week because they’re pesky little buggers and hard to develop.
• Lower body, either;
  • Hip Bend. Aka, Deadlifts or Rack Pulls once a week. Or.
  • Hamstrings. Usually Leg Curls but you could do something like Good Mornings or Stiff Leg Deadlifts if you like.
    My gym has a nice Glute Isolator / Kickback machine so I’ll superset this with Leg Curls once a week when I don’t do Deadlifts.
• Either,
  • Vertical Pulling Movement. Aka Pull Ups, Lat Pulldown etc. Or,
  • Biceps exercise of your choice, once a week.
    I would say Vertical Pulling is as important as anything else, so on your bicep day you might swap traps or horizontal pulls out instead.
    This way you are at least doing each movement twice every other week, ya follow?

So in summary you can see we are hitting most movements / muscle groups twice a week, with biceps and triceps once a week each which I think is plenty.

Get stuck into this.

I decided to write up my cardio routine and make it official.

Now, if you already know anything at all about me you’ll know that I’m far from a fan of cardio… it’s boring and horrible! Or at least… your typical “running laps of the park” style of cardio is, anyway. What’s more I don’t even think that stuff is very effective for most people.

So anyway… if you’re like me and won’t do anything that’s not enjoyable then this is for you. Make no mistake though, this is a hard, hardcore workout! But that’s what makes it fun.

So here we go:

Bodyweight Circuit:
10 Squats
10 Push Ups
10 Crunches
10 Pull Ups / Hanging Rows

Kickboxing Drill: 30 seconds – 1 minute.
Front foot inside thigh kick,
Left Jab, Right Cross combo,
(guard and breath!)
Back foot outside thigh kick,
Left Jab, Right Cross combo,
(repeat)

Burpees / Ultimate Burpees: 3 x 10, 1 minute rest in between.

Boxing: 3 minutes floor to ceiling ball.

I’m assuming you have a floor to ceiling ball for the boxing, and a punch / kick bag for the kickboxing. If not, shadow boxing will be fine, just keep the intensity up!

Rest for 30 seconds between each activity unless otherwise noted. If you’re really struggling, rest for a full minute.

This circuit combines resistance training, plyometrics and intervals… and I guarantee if you do it for 30 minutes every day (or even every other day) you are going to get some great results.

Stay tuned and maybe I’ll post some videos as well…

So next up in my “what’s better” series is this old favourite, perhaps the most frequently asked of all frequently asked questions;

Heavier weights, or more reps?

First off heavy is a subjective term. What’s heavy for you might not be so heavy for me. And what’s heavy for me is like a warm up for some of the big boys out in the world of body building and powerlifting!

So anyway. You should ALWAYS lift heavy. Utilise different rep ranges for different purposes but always lift as heavy as possible to complete the desired amount of reps with correct form. For example if your program calls for 10 – 12 reps, ideally you would choose a weight that would not allow you to perform a 13th rep if you tried.

Usually this question pops up when women don’t seem to want to lift heavy and would rather use a tiny weight for loads and loads of reps. Some girls have argued with me (yeah, argued! with me!) that this is better because it burns more calories. But… if the weight is so light that you can perform more than say 12 – 15 reps… it’s really not heavy enough to recruit the type II muscle fibres that you really want to be hitting to get the most benefit from weight training.

Higher rep ranges of say 18 to 25 reps are useful as a warm up or “pump” set, but for the most part it’s better to lift heavier for less reps.

I’m going to write some short and sweet entries covering some of the most frequently asked questions in relation to weight training.

I think they’ll all be “what’s better?” questions.

So, full body or split program?

I think most questions have the same answer of “it depends”. In this case though I’m going to go ahead and say “a split program is better”.

Why? Well… it gives you a chance to devote more time to each body part / muscle group / movement pattern. And of course, whatever parts you worked on one day get to rest the next day, even though you’re still in the gym training the next lot of parts.

But what’s the best split? 2 day? 4 day? 5 day?

Here’s an “it depends” question.

There’s pros and cons to every type of split.  Lets have a look at them.

Five Day Split.

On a five day split, you go in and spend an entire session just on chest, just on back, just on shoulders, just on legs, or just on arms. You can absolutely smash that muscle gr0up with a lot of sets of a lot of exercises, and completely exhaust it. And then of course that muscle group has a full week to recover.

I’ve gone off five day splits personally although I did utilise them for a hell of a long time and they are very popular. The main draw back (for me) with a 5 day split is having  a whole session dedicated to legs. Legs training is exhausting and really tests my resolve! I’d rather do a little bit each day rather than all in one hit.

4 day split.

If you’re familiar with my Progressive Power or Next Level programs you’ll know that they are both movement based programs on a four day split. So on a “push day” I would train pushing movements mostly targeting chest, quads, & triceps, perhaps with addition exercises for shoulders and calves as required. On a “pull day” I’d mostly be utilising back, glutes, hamstrings & biceps, and I’d sneak something in for traps and rear deltoids as well.

On the first 2 days of the split I focused on horizontal pushing and pulling movements, with vertical movements on the last 2 days.

So on a four day split you wouldn’t do as much for each muscle group in the one session, but on the other hand you would hit each muscle group twice a week instead of just once. And of course most importantly you get to spread all your leg work out across the 4 days.

2 day split.

Right now I am working with a 2 day, push / pull split. I like it a lot, BUT… it’s a lot to get through in each session. Basically it’s taking everything I would have done on my four day split program, and forcing it into just 2 sessions. On the plus side you get to hit your main exercises more often, but it’s hard work and you really want to make sure you are getting enough fuel & rest to be able to recover and adapt to it. I’m still fine tuning this program and I will post the details on the site as soon as I’m happy with it.

Bottom line, people.

I think you can take virtually any strategy, train as hard as you can, eat right (appropriate amount of calories suited to your objective) and you should be able to achieve good results. There’s pros and cons to each approach, but as long as your program has a balance of exercises for all muscle groups / movement patterns there is not much point in arguing over the finer details. Choose something that works for you, that is convenient and that you feel enthusiastic about. You still gotta bust your arse working as hard as you can though!

Brunswick and the surrounding area seems to be something of a mecca for vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. We’ve got vegan only grocery stores, a variety of vegetarian and vegan restaurants… the World Vegan Day celebrations are held not so far away as well.

But in case you didn’t know, Brunswick is also the home of vegetarian health & fitness; namely, ME.

Despite what those obnoxious ads on tv from the meat industry will try to tell you, there’s no reason why a vegetarian shouldn’t be just as strong and healthy as any other human being. Or, perhaps even more so. Have you seen that one where the woman was able to fight off a criminal home invasion with her wooden spoon due solely to eating sheep, when apparently a non carnivore would have been incapable? Puhlease! Where do they come up with this stuff? It’s ridiculous.

I should also add… no judgement here against those who do consume meat products, other than the clowns who come up with these ridiculous advertising campaigns of course! But I digress…

For those vegetarians and vegans out there, it’s entirely possible to follow a nutritionally balanced diet and achieve a lean, toned (even muscular) and attractive physique through a suitable training program.

If anything, the biggest difference between vegetarian (especially vegan) and non vegetarian exercise and nutrition programs is in actually increasing daily calorie intake to optimal levels, compared with reducing calories which is often required in less healthy diets comprising of less fresh fruit, vegetables and legumes.

So, for Vegetarian Health And Fitness In Brunswick… look no further.

I must have gone mad but here we go with a special offer to get you started on the road for a better body by Summer.

Here’s the deal;

Spring Starter Package: 5 x 30 Minute Personal Training Sessions for just $200.

So for all the busy people who want to be done in 30 minutes, or some of you commitment-phobes who are scared off by my 10 session packages, this is for you!

Your choice of either a gym program you can continue on your own after the five sessions are completed, OR a home program (body weight resistance based) you can carry on with where ever suits you.

I’m going to offer this insane deal until the end of this month, September 2011, so get in now while the getting is good!

I did a few blog entries and articles recently explaining (mostly for the ladies) where people go wrong in trying to lose weight. What about the rest of us though who actually want to get bigger?

So this one goes out to all my boys who are hitting the gym and doing their best, but not quite seeing the results that they want to. This is based on having trained for rather a long time and then suddenly over the past couple of years (since becoming qualified as a PT funnily enough) suddenly getting it together and thinking, “wow, why wasn’t I training like this all along?”. Also though some stuff I’ve never done, but have seen other people doing for inexplicable reasons.

Here. We. Go!

NUMBER ONE: Your program probably sucks.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a million ways to skin a cat and one GOOD program is probably as good as another… but that’s not to say you can just throw a random collection of exercises together in a random order and expect to get great results from it. You should have a good reason for doing whatever you’re doing, and “some guy told me and I thought it sounded hard core!” isn’t good enough!

Your program needs to be balanced, with enough attention on all the different body parts / muscle groups. Or the way I look at it, it needs to cover all of the natural human movement patterns. You should be utilising compound exercises (especially the “big three” aka squats, deadlifts and bench press) and supplementing with appropriate isolation exercises as needed.

NUMBER TWO: You’re not lifting heavy enough.

It’s just like the famous quote, “everyone wants to get big, but no one wants to lift no heavy ass weights”. Heavy is a subjective term though and what’s heavy for me might not be so heavy for you. The point is, you should be lifting as much as you possibly can, to the point that you struggle a little especially on the last few reps. You definitely shouldn’t be lazily pumping out reps without much effort while carrying on a conversation with someone! For muscle growth it is generally agreed that rep ranges of 8 – 12 reps are suitable, although you might want to mixing this up with periods of even heavier weight for less reps, to build strength. The theory of course is that when you come back to 8 – 12 rep ranges, you’re able to use a heavier weight than previously. I developed quite a nice little program called “Progressive Power” with this in mind. Maybe you’ve heard of it?

Oh also this is very important. You should be trying to increase the amount you lift regularly. If you just lift the same amount of weight every week, week after week… you’re not sending your body the message that it needs to get bigger and stronger. Every couple of weeks you should be trying to go just a little bit heavier.

Number Three: Stop getting your idiot mates to “spot” you.

Spots are a good idea when you want to really push yourself to the limit and still be safe. Just having someone there keeping an eye on you might help you get that last rep or two out, that you might not otherwise attempt. A good spotter can assist you for the last couple of reps to make sure you complete the full set too. BUT… that’s how it should work – “keep an eye on me and help me out on the last few reps if I need it”, NOT “lets use way too much weight and you can lift half of it for me from the first rep”.

Number Four: You aint eating enough.

This is probably the most important aspect that most people struggle with or ignore completely. Personally it is my own biggest stumbling block, physically consuming enough calories every day to grow bigger and bigger. It’s quite logical though right? You’ve gotta eat big to get big. Of course, you’re probably not going to build a great physique from just pigging out on junk for easy calories… so you have to make sensible food choices. I would say you need to be eating AT LEAST 500 calories a day above maintenance (1000 is probably better) to gain size and weight, and of course with a good balance of proteins, fats and carbs. I would say at least 40% protein, and at least 35% carbs or thereabouts. You NEED carbs to fuel your training session, and to recover from it.

Bottom line:

Train hard, lift heavy, eat right. Get big and strong.

If you’ve read my recent entries you’ll be well aware by now that I’ve had a pretty successful year in the gym so far. Using my “Progressive Power” and “Next Level” programs to increase in strength and size, without putting on too much fat in the process.

I think the movement based training systems I used in Progressive Power and Next Level have been by far the most effective training strategies I’ve used in all my years of weight training… but for now, those programs have run their course & served their purpose, and it is time to move on to something different.

SO, this year I’ve decided to continue trying to add size throughout the first two months of spring and then I’ll consider whether to keep going all the way until Summer, or start trimming up again in November. So, I’ve added a high calorie “mass gain” protein powder and basically I’ll just be eating as much as is humanly possible. Protein, carbs and fats! Potatoes are back on the menu!

As for the training program I will be back on to a 5 day split and doing quite a ridiculous amount of exercises, sets and reps. Of course it’s all based on high reps (8 – 12) as heavy as possible to promote hypertrophy (increase in size of muscle fibres) and hopefully hyperplasia (increase in number of muscle fibres). Really I’m talking about more work than I’d recommend for most other people, but I’ve prepared for it with my previous programs all year and will be consuming enough calories to fuel, recover from, and adapt to all this extra work.

The details are TOP SECRET this time but to summarise, here you have it:

Chest Day: Compound and isolation exercises, some pre-fatigue supersetting, and a variety of angles (flat, incline, decline).

Back Day: Includes deadlifts, horizontal & vertical rowing movements, and more.

Shoulders Day: Vertical / overhead pressing movements, and exercises for anterior, lateral and posterior deltoid as well as trapezius. It’s been a LONG time since I had a shoulders day. Shoulders day is always fun.

Leg Day: Squats or squatting variations, leg extensions, leg curls, leg press, calf press… anything and everything for legs. Torture!

Arms Day: Biceps and Triceps! Actually, I’m going to think about this some more and try to come up with tricep exercises that double up as chest exercises (close grip bench press, dips maybe?) as I think my chest needs the extra attention. Triceps are probably my best muscle as far as genetics goes so they don’t require as much direct attention, although they sure are fun to train with isolations.

Cardio: Boxing and burpees! I’ll make a new entry for this soon.

There you have it boys and girls. Spring is officially here so it’s time to really step it up and be in tremendous shape for Summer. That’s what I’ll be doing anyway.

Well if you just got here, you should go back and read from the beginning.

How to Gain 6kg Of Lean Muscle Mass In 6 Months, Part 1

So far I talked about my clean, dirty, and filthy bulking phases, and touched on the basics of the strength and hypertrophy training programs I used in the gym. On to the most common question I get asked about the bulking process…

Why put on all that weight, just to try to lose it again?

This part confuses people so I’ll try to explain as best I can.

As I said earlier, you need to give your body a chance to get used to carrying around all that extra mass. When trying to get bigger, you accept that you WILL add some body fat as well as muscle… although of course we try for as little fat as possible. I read somewhere that even people who don’t exercise and just eat junk food and get obese… according to what I read, 35% of their weight gain will still be muscle. Obviously that’s not a good ratio, but having added 8kg without much fat I wasn’t too fussed if there was a higher percentage of body fat in that final 2kg that I was determined to gain.

Mini-cutting Phase

I maintained my 78kgs (I’m pretty sure this is the most I’ve ever weighed, even more than when I was fat and lazy in my mid 20s) for a few weeks until I couldn’t stand it any more. The plan WAS to maintain it until the end of winter, but it’s tough when you’ve had reasonably nice flat stomach for most of the year, to not have it any more! I wasn’t happy, so like I said earlier, sometimes you have to alter your plans a little. And as it turns out, the amended plan is actually a much better strategy anyway.

Once I couldn’t stand being “fat” anymore, I made up a new nutrition plan at 500 calories below maintenance. So, I went from “bah, I have to go and eat AGAIN”, to “gah! WHEN do I get to eat some more?”… it’s tough, this stuff is! Also for the first time since the previous summer I added some cardio back into my routine. Early mornings after my first PT client, I’ll go and do about a 1/2 hour of boxing & burpees. The weight training program changed a little as well, but really just for variety. I added in some pre-fatigue supersets which I’ve always like, but haven’t used for a year or so. It’s good to put some different stuff into the mix to shock things up.

So over the long term, out strategy is as follows:

• Get Lean.
• Bulking + Strength Training Phase
• More Bulking + Hypertrophy Phase
• Mini Cutting Phase

I say “mini” cutting phase because the goal isn’t really to get fully down to your ripped Summer beach-body shape… it’s just enough to trim off the fat you’ve put on while bulking, and let the stomach flatten out a bit. For me this was just a month’s work on reduced calories and with an added cardio session each day… well, most days.

On this phase I’ve dropped back down to 76kg, but I’m definitely stronger and leaner than I was at 76kg the previous time.

What’s next?

I’ve covered everything from the start of the year up until today. Next week I will resume bulking!
However this time I’ll be keeping my cardio session in the mornings, and switching to a 5 day split program for the first time this year.

The goal from here is for a lean 80kg (hopefully more!) in time for the hot weather in January and February.