RCC 1 - Training with no equipment

Hello all,

It's a busy time for me with the 'soft' opening of RCC gym. Which basically means my PT clients, RGC golf members and Riffa Views residents are now allowed to use the gym without one-to-one training. A big part of me is relieved to have other people in the gym while the there is a small part of me that will miss the exclusive 1-to-1 atmosphere of a training studio. I have had some incredible results with people over the past year and i believe one of the reasons is that my clients genuinely relished the training environment - something i think is missing from modern day 'social' gyms.

Putting Shaun through his paces ...Could i train my guys like this in a modern gym?

Modern gyms target the social experience of training, not the work ethic

So with a heavy heart, RCC turns into a public gym - and I am committed to keeping it as 'kick-ass' as allowed. There have already been enquiries about the lack of TV screens on the cardio equipment, i will bite my tongue and soldier on!

In today's blog i'm going to actually write a training program. A few people had begin to notice that none of my blogs so far had actually been about exercises in the gym (well maybe one)

RCC-1

The first real training program i will give you is called RCC-1. As you can imagine i was up all night thinking of a title (not really) and came up with this. As it the first program, it shall be about the basics and will need little or no equipment to complete. So there are no excuses when it comes to doing it.

Warm up

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 20 years (or trotting away on a treadmill watching tv shows) you should know by now that you need to warm up before exercise. Im not talking about a "shrug of the shoulders, deep breathe and clap your hands" warm up... Im talking about a structured sequence that targets:

a) Every plane of motion (Frontal, Sagittal, Transverse)
b) The muscles you are going to use in the session
c) Corrective exercises for your individual issues
d) Pulse raising to prepare for rest of the session

Yes, thats a warm up ladies and gents... that may look and sound like a whole session, buts its not.

World Class athletes will spend 30-60 minutes preparing for top level matches

Go to any high level (or sometimes lower level) sporting contest and you will see the teams go through a planned, extensive warm up. These teams know that each person must be fully prepared to hit the field and perform from the first minute, you should be no different in your approach to gym training.

Since I cannot write an individual warm up for everyone that will read this blog, i will assume you have:

- A desk/office job, which leads to tight hip flexors and chest which means slumped posture

- Weak core muscles because you are always on strength machines, talking on you BBM

- Mild back ache because your glutes don't fire properly (and you sit on your ass a lot)

- Generally been doing the same 3 minute x-trainer warm up and need a change to stop going insane

By the way, I write this blog fully suspended for greater core activation and to avoid bad posture :)



Warm up

- Complete 500 skips (yeah, yeah... just do it)

Perform these exercises x 1 for the reps shown:
Skipping rope dislocations - 15 reps
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/1/XUiQiFD_nu0

Fire hydrants (prone hip circles) - 10reps/side
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/JxSqPK8q6CQ

Dynamic blackburns (prone butterfly movement) - 10 reps http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/YSjcNTrwSac

Kneeling warrior stretch - 20s/side
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11?feature=mhum

Plank - 30s (yes its in the warm up... it's too easy to be a normal session, get over it)

Supine scorpion (10reps/side)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkwBObP_SsA

Curtsy lunge (10reps/side)
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/u/3/CHc3XUkTpG8

Jumping jacks (50 reps)

Activation
Just think Shoulders, Glutes and Core.
Complete a continuous tri-set (3 exercises back-to-back) for 20 seconds each = 3 minutes.

A1) Sprinters crunch http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/fM-jwo9hiiE
A2) Supine glute bridge http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/kcHQ8QvJnYM
A3) Side-to-side hand walking http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/3/6V_41EDWrKs

Main session (perform A1/A2 x 3 before moving onto B1/B2 and so on...)

A1) Side plank - 20s/side http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/agrp2YvaSBc
A2) Swing lunge - 12/side http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/ZEYUuJ2ClcI

-50 Jumping jacks-

B1) Push up-side jumps 8/side
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/x6YQKYTEguw

B2) Garhammer raise - 12 reps
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/YB7NB1DHQxs

-50 Jumping jacks-

C1) Bear crawl - 20m forward and 20m backward
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/oXQd6ARwLxg

C2) Burpees - 10 reps http://www.youtube.com/user/Nathanbahrain11#p/search/0/BRc2tPxbPWc

Finisher

Alwyn cosgrove's 'Infamous' leg finisher is perfect for ending a bodyweight session, i put my own spin on it by including a maximum set of standard push before (because im a nice guy):

1 x Max. push ups
24 x speed squats
24 x speed lunges
24 x jump lunges
24 x jump squats

....Roll around on the floor for a minute (curse me) then you're done!

More of this kind of exercise can be found on www.youtube.com/nathanbahrain11

Im spending the rest of this week filming and uploading on all the mobility exercises we use at RCC on my YouTube channel, check them out for some good, no-equipment, exercise ideas.

If you like anything on this blog, please Facebook share and spread the word!

The habits of succesful clients

Hello all,

First off, well done again to my clients, friends, blog readers who took part in the GFD over the past month... in total we lost 31kg (11 people) in 3 weeks - pretty awesome. Special mention to my client DG who is down 40lbs since the summer, im  guessing another 15-20lbs to go and thats his long term goal done. bring it on!

Well done my golf team "Velvet Thunder" for retaining the Think Pink golf title this year, thats 4 competitions and 4 wins for the now legendary foursome (invite only). We also got some local press action for that! Haha.

Onto the blog... This is another one i have been waiting to write for a long time, so i will get right to it. For a while now i have been noticing trends in my clients and other gym members, trends for success. It has become very obvious to me that the clients/gym users i see getting amazing results all share common habits and characteristics.

So what am i saying?

Im saying that if you read the blog below and copy the habits of my most successful clients, you will have a great chance of sharing their successes in the gym.

Remember... "success leaves clues"

World class athletes like Rafael Nadal have a system for success

"Success leaves clues" I love this saying, its simple and spot on. Look at what the most succesful people do and copy it, simple right? So how come many of the people who step into gyms are not getting the results they want? I will highlight what i see as my top habits of my most succesful clients, let's see if you share any of them:

1) Having the foresight to learn and change

Time after time i get 'know-it-all' clients walk into the gym and tell me exactly what they want, when they want it, how they should do it (whilst being in terrible shape) blah blah blah. Fact: My very best clients come in to the gym with an open mind and a willingness to try something new. If i explain the training ahead will be hard, they don't complain or attempt to talk me into a new regime - they just DO.

Take home message - If you are a client, remember that the trainer (should) know the best exercises/strategies for you. Pay attention, focus on the session and listen to what the trainer is asking before offering your opinion. If you do not get the results you are after then change trainer/gym. There are good and bad fitness professionals out there - if you want a good one, come to our gym! (Shameless plug for RCC but im actually fully booked - get in the queue!)

Im a huge fan of salma hayek's.... focus and attention!

2) Attendance

I never realised this before and now it seems so simple. People who turn up when they should - usually get results. At the end of each month i total up my sessions and check each persons totals for accounting purposes. I started to notice a trend. My most succesful clients were not missing sessions.

Example unsuccessful client phonecall: "Hi Nathan, I think im starting to come down the flu, best leave it until next week, bye!"

Example Successful client: No phonecall, just turns up (looking terrible): "Hi Nathan, Ive been on the toilet all night, ive definately got some form of psneumonia and my right arm is broken, but there is absolutely NO WAY im missing deadlifting day today!".

My examples may be over the top, but you get my meaning, right? They just turn up. I can give you my top 5 clients of all-time right now and the stand-out attribute about them all (above talent/fitness) was they always turn up.

Take-home message - If you are always cancelling sessions, dont blame your trainer that you're still fat, blame yourself! Tough love 101, get used to it.

You are chubby... get over it.

3) A natural talent/work ethic

Surprisingly, this is not a compulsory attribute for gym success and some of my greatest clients successes have come from absolute beginners in the gym. Importantly, they had a great work ethic.

I will say however, that fitness is probably the biggest reason why people cant get into great shape... sounds pretty straight forward? Think about this... I can create the best training session ever in the world of fitness, people could travel all over to speak to me about, papers would print it, world-wide fame, etc... but what if nobody could do it? It becomes useless. Fitness and talent become the limiting factor.

I have created a program recently for one of my young clients who wants to be a fast bowler (cricket). I love the program, he thinks its awesome, every time we complete a session he seems to get stronger and fitter in all the areas we are targetting - its spot on. However, I cannot give this program to 60% people i train because they couldn't do it... so is it a great program?

Take home message - Talent/Fitness is not necessary for great results but it is a great starting place to achieve fast results.

It wouldn't be difficult to train Usain Bolt

Im guessing a session with Mr Blobby would be a f*cking nightmare!

Take home message - choose your parents wisely.

4) Nutritional adherence from the start (90% rule)

I can't begin to explain how important this is. If you have heard the saying "you can't out-train a bad diet" then you have heard correct. I won't elaborate too much on this point as its a whole blog in itself - it is vitally important that you live by the 90% rule of eating well to get good results.

Not only do crap foods affect the way you look but they affect the way you feel. We could both eat 3000 calories per day - mine could be all fresh produce, vegetables, lean protein, good fats, etc. and yours could be fast food, Latte's, doughnuts and cheese (not together obviously... thats gross) - it wouldn't take a genius to work out which one of us a) looks better b) performs better c) has better moods and d) is generally more intelligent about the way we look after of our bodies. (Me, if you weren't following)

The 90% rule

I realise that there are people reading this now thinking that fit people are boring, they dont eat any bad food, they dont drink alcohol and live like a monks to stay in shape. Your wrong. People who are in shape - know the rules of eating. 90% adherence to a healthy lifestyle, 10% anything you want.

Work your 10% out. average 4 meals/snacks per day x 7 days = 28 meals/snacks a week

Divide by 10 = 2.8. round up to 3 meals/snacks 'off plan' per week (roughly)

No need to get all anal about the numbers just know the rules, you can't eat shit all the time and look good. If you do look good im guessing that 'ole father time will catch up with you at some point. Probably something nasty and sudden, let's hope not eh?

G.W Bush was shocked when i told him about the 90% rule

This is not the end of the story, you must also exercise (5 hours per week is optimal - another blog). If you spent 6 hours a week in the gym (which you don't) that would still only be about 3% of your entire week.

Take home message - its what you do in the 97%+ time of your week that will dictate how successful you are in your fitness goals.I hope that's an 'A-ha' moment for some of you?!

I had written other attributes like Positive mental attitude, finishing sets/reps, etc. but they are pretty much covered in the first 3 headings of this blog.

Finally... another interesting habit to consider is training time. In one the gyms i used to work at, I tested the bodyfat of 10 random early morning trainers and 10 random late evening trainers. The results shown a significantly lower reading in the morning group than the evening. Is this valid? who knows... i may have been just trying to prove my own theory. But if you look at the people who are first to arrive in the gym each morning and the ones who are last at night - there is a definite difference in attitude, confidence and general approach to training at the gym. I always thought that the early crowd (6-8am) wanted to be there and had a system that they enjoyed where as the late evening crowd (7-9pm) seemed like they had to be there and had nothing else better to do (we used to call the friday night crowd "The lonely hearts club" - Im sorry if you were in that club - or indeed are still in it!)

I may be completely wrong and there are exceptions to every rule, what do you think?

All the above habits are things i have noticed from my own clients and the 1000's sessions i have done in the past 4 years. Do you share any with my best clients? It would be safe to say that if you do not (share any of the above) you will not get the results you're after. Realise that the limiting factor in your fitness quest is probably YOU and the reason why you actually train or Take PT sessions anyway. You are paying for a result not a friend. Friendship and respect will often come from a great result. Look at my clients they all hate me... but they are getting in great shape! (that was hopefully not true)

Share with Facebook friends if you like this blog, spread the word, comment, leave abuse!

Next blog i will actually write a training program!!! (that's new for me) :)

Green Faces Diet: The Results

Hi everyone,

First of all im tired of the term "green faces" so for the rest of my life i will refer to it as GF. Oddly enough if you type GF diet into google im right at the top of the list! Internet fame - Job done.

Todays blog will reveal all the results of my clients during the GFD and i will try to conclude what i feel the best and worst things are about the past 3 weeks.

Who did it?

3 weeks ago, 10 people started the GF challenge. Mostly they were PT clients of mine, some work colleagues and myself. PT sessions per week for each individual ranged from 1 to 3 sessions/week, i will put the number next to the weigh loss in (brackets).

RCC clients excited at start of the GFD

The results

The weigh loss results were as follows:

DG - 107.9 - 102.7 (3 per week)
PD - 106.3 - 102.2 (1 per week)
KB - 60.4 - 55.5 (2 per week)
SP - 56.0 - 54.8 (3 per week)
ES - no change
CD - down approx 4kg
NW - down approx 4kg
DB - down approx 2kg
SF - down 1 kg
LP - no change

It was very noticable that the first 7 days are the most potent for this plan and some people lost up to 4kgs (8.8lbs). The 2 biggest results came from those who had admittedly put on weight through poor eating during summer holidays, so it was expected they would drop back down. After day 8 this plan gets very tiring -  Its not the energy but the lack of options/tastes available. There is only so many times you can eat brussel sprouts for breakfast and not question your sanity!

The best and worst

The best thing about this diet is obviously the immediate weight loss and health kick. For those who are 'stuck' in their weight loss quest, this may be the plan to bust through a plataeu.

The worst thing is the boredom. It's not that you want to really eat things that are bad - its just the menu becomes very bland, very quickly. See my GFD solution in the conclusion.

Client Comments

During the last 3 weeks i was continually interviewing my clients on how they felt, below are some of the most important things said:

"After only one week i haven't any of my usual PMS symptoms! My husband is a big fan of this diet"

GFD can reduce PMS symptoms. Thats a pretty powerful statement!

"I'm sleeping much better"

"I don't feel hungry at all"

"I'm so much calmer around my husband and child, in situations where i would normally get stressed"

"I have more energy at the end of the day"

"I can't do this a day longer - i have to add fruit today or i will go insane (Day 2)"

"I feel like i'm turning f*cking green"

"I had a coffee today and couldn't sleep"

"For the whole 3 weeks all i was thinking about was eating Haribo jelly sweets" (That was me)

The Hulk. Possibly the best GFD client of all time?

Goals and behaviours

What i found is that those who did not have a goal of losing that much weight were not 100% into it. Their goals were different from those who lost a lot of weight and their behaviours were different.

What is your goal? if it is to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible then the GFD is for you. If you are happy with your current levels then i would suggest not doing it. You have to want to lose the weight or its just not worth it.

Conclusion

We only took 3 weeks out of our usual lives to do this diet plan and its a great exercise in discipline and understanding your own body. I think it is brave to decide to do this and would like to congratulate all my clients who had a go and made some progress. Brave? yes. The easiest thing in the world to do is remain the same and not try to change your health and live better. The amount of times in the past few weeks, the 'normal' life around me put me in situations where i would definately break the plan. The problem with most people's lives is that every 5 days a weekend rolls around which brings the inevitable influx of calories, alcohol and inactivity. As i mentioned above - what is your goal? I also found it bizaare that some of my clients' (so called) friends were negative about the 3 week challenge. I really hate people who are so insecure they need to de-rail those who are trying to make changes. Choose your goal and own it 100% - if someone tries to de-rail you... tell them to F*ck off... seriously.

Fact:  GFD is great for quick return to normal body weight after a period indulgence. I dont care what anyone says/thinks about the past 3 weeks, me and my clients lost a total of 24kg in less than a month - has anyone else in the region done that? probably not.

I found it useful in re-programming my green intake. As predicted in my article, i have eaten more green vegetables than ever and although i dont plan to eat that quantity again, but my body has been re-programmed to eat more from now on.

My GFD solution

For those people who think that doing this diet will leave them short on energy, i honestly believe that is rubbish. Anyone who cannot tolerate a lower carb diet after a week is either:

a) genetically a carb-type person (usually african and hot climate races)

b) Addicted to a steady supply of sugar (good and bad) for energy

Are you addicted to sugar?



I would suggest most people are option b) and are unwilling to be brave enough to lose some bodyfat and "tough out' a stricter diet for any period of time.

Final thought - During our PT course, i stayed off Carbs for 2 weeks and performed 2 bleep tests before and after - the results were the same. How would i be able to run the same time with absolutely 0 carbs in my body? A: Protein (4cals/g) and Fat (9cals/g) are energy sources too. Believe it. Fat will not make you fat, but sugar will.

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