Training Longevity

Hi all,

Its been a crazy last month to say the least. One of my work colleagues mentioned today that i was looking tired. Apart from the fact i had just woken up (30 minutes earlier) and was in work only to pick something up, i suddenly felt it. During the past 28 days i have clocked an impressive 9 flights and visited 6 different places - 50% business 50% pleasure. So i think im entitled to look a bit tired.

To top all this travel off, i have returned to Bahrain as i left it - a war zone! I dont want to get involved in the politics of my most recent adopted country on this blog but the situation is looking more messy with the outbreaks of violence again this week. Its a shame to see a really friendly place break down as it has, which leads me to the biggest bombshell of them all - im leaving!

I have decided to take an opportunity to work in Singapore starting some time in the near future. I have been mulling over a new destination for about 6 months now and the chance to live in an exciting region like the Far East was too good to turn down. Recently, I have been moving further away from the 'gym floor' in my role as a manager and decided to return to what i love to do - train people.

Singapore... not too shabby, eh?

I will leave Bahrain with a heavy heart as i have made some good friends here who im sure i will remain in close contact with. There are honestly too many people to mention and i dont want to leave anyone out here by writing a list (so i wont bother). I must say thank you to every client i have trained over the last 3 years, even the ones that were absolutely rubbish (don't worry, they wont be reading this blog!). We have enjoyed great success together and i can honestly say my top 30% dont actually need me at all anymore - i guess that's the whole point of hiring a PT?

During the past 3 years, I had clients who:

- Climbed Mont Kilimanjaro

- Swam PB's in the Asian Games

- Knocked 30 minutes off marathon times in 12 months

- Became qualified TRX instructors within 6 months of starting training

- Returned from heart problems to be in their best condition ever after 12 months

- Lost 20+ kgs

- Too many 40+ housewives deadlifting bodyweight to mention

- (Female clients) performed proper pullups

- (Female clients) banged out 25+ push ups

- Learned to move their bodies at the ripe old age of 65

- 2 young brothers (aged 7 & 10) who lift, box, TRX and smile every minute doing it!

- Had 'incurable' back trouble that i helped to fix

- Added 20-30 yards to their golf shots

- turned up for a warm smoking a cigar (very funny)

The list goes on.....

I must however go on a short rant (my blog really wouldn't be complete without one short rant would it?). Although i think some days i have the greatest job in the world (honestly i do... look at the list above and tell me how many jobs can help achieve results?). But some days i have the most frustrating job too. People are generally... well, frustrating. My short rant is this...

"Buying PT sessions alone does not or will not help you lose weight/fat/get strong, etc".

After buying a block of PT sessions, the client then must commit to turning up every session and change eating habits. That means not cancelling for coffee mornings or because they have a sniffle or because the gardener didn't water the flowers today so the stress of the the whole day led them to arrange a coffee morning with other ladies of leisure (who think you've gone to skinny anyway since training with that damn welsh PT!)

Coffee mornings... All fun and games until one day you wake up with a massive ass!

I will go on record right now to say that there is a relationship between coffee mornings, missed training sessions and bodyfat. They all help each out in making people a little bit fatter each day.

Some people over the past 3 years have had the audacity to blame me for their short-comings in the gym, apart from being really annoyed with them - i found it quite funny at the same time. I meet all different kinds of people and i have come to recognize these individuals that dont take responsibility for their themselves. Ultimately, you decide what you look like by making a choice on the foods you eat and the activities you perform every day.

I have had clients who (on average) turned up 1 x week, often too sick or weak to train anywhere close vigorously. Who then also admitted to eating poorly and drinking alcohol every weekend. But still complained about me and was actively looking for another trainer to get the results they wanted.

Seriously? Im a trainer not a f*cking magician! Rant over.

Even Paul Daniels would struggle to get results for some of my most difficult PT clients!

Training Longevity

Today's blog will cover the topic of 'training longevity'. Personally i have found myself at the crossroads of my training in recent years. I used to love the 'balls-to-wall' training programs and the sessions where i would crawl out of the gym with my legs shaking. Don't get me wrong - i still do. Its just when you see new PT clients coming in who have been doing the same thing and their bodies are ready to break, i now wonder:

"Is it actually worth it?"

Take a moment to assess your personal goals for using the gym.

Done? Does any of the crazy, brutal training contribute to anything relevant in your life or move you towards your goals? If it does, I would be surprised.

Example: Client X wants to gain upper body mass to go out on the weekend to impress the ladies. Sorry, thats my goal! we'll use it anyway...

Client X is really getting into olympic lifts and wants to ramp up his clean and press (for reasons he is not clear about - maybe to drop some number in a conversation to impress fellow gym monkeys? as it certainly wouldn't impress the girls he would like to attract). Client X is getting strong and tries to lift 90kg. Client X tears his levator scapulae (neck) and his trap/shoulder wont be the same again.

Should client X have stuck with strict seated DB shoulder press for time under tension (TUT) of 60 seconds to elicit hypertrophy for his shoulders? After all, that was his goal... and he could have better avoided a major injury. Its the kind of crazy logic that is seen every minute of every day when you look around a gym. High risk moves that do not yield much reward.

In case your wondering Client X was me in 2006.

Making changes

I recently spoke to my friend and training mentor Patrick Dale about changes in his training and he was loving his new regime of TRX and flexibility work, saying that he was starting to feel better than ever and felt in great shape. That's an area where i see ex-sports people/athletes/heavy gym users moving towards - restorative training. If your smart about your own body then you need to look at the (training) big picture, look at the years ahead not just the months.

"Use training programs that manage stress not accumulate stress"

There will come a time in everyone's gym career where the  *1-Dimensional, repetitive training will actually start to hurt. My time has come and gone (shoulder problems for the past 4 years) and it has left me far smarter about what i would and would not do in the future.

*I had originally inserted the word "bodybuilding" here but that is completely unfair. Bodybuilding style training, when done correctly (balanced programming) and with adequate nutritional support can yield excellent results with minimal injuries. The main problem is that most guys using BB programs will target 'mirror muscles' which leads to inbalances and eventually pain and injury. I grew up and started my training love affair with bodybuilding - but unfortunately i didn't have the knowledge I do now regarding program design, nutrition and recovery so that i may have avoided some of the shoulder issues i have had to deal with over the past few years.

TRX seems to be a great training medium between strength and mobility

My short time at Cressey Performance in 2010 showed me that "corrective training to unlock performance" is the smartest way to train, and that is something i try to acheive with every single PT client i train. Identifying weak points and working on them towards a balanced physique is definately the best long-term goal for general fitness clients who want more muscle and less fat.

Common mistakes

I just recently had a 2 new clients who have similar goals and strengths, They:

1. Have a fundamental goal to lose bodyfat and look leaner

2. Have a great work ethic in the gym

3. Have a natural passion and talent for training

4. Have spent the last year annihilating themselves with 'Crossfit' style torture.
5. Have some of the worst flexibility issues i have seen in females since becoming a PT.

Point 4 is the most common problem with general gym goers - they think more is better and no pain is no gain! Yeah right. I wont go into the clients' individual details here but one of the recent new clients had stayed the same weight for the past 12 months, within 10 days of training with me she was down 3 kgs.... how?

History: Previously she had been weight training, quite heavy, sets of 10, eating moderately well with some cheats and occasional alcohol on weekends. So her behaviour was actually supporting weight gain or at the very least weight maintenance.

Whats the fundamental goal? I want to drop some weight.

Tactic: 3 x targeted full body metabolic session (light resistance/high reps) coupled with a strict GFD diet for 7 days.

Result: 3kg Weight loss. New behaviour to match the desired goal = result. After week 1 was done we started to use corrective training to unlock performance and the client is still consistently progressing both in strength and fat loss each week for the past 8 weeks. I believe this is a common case in most people who train without professional advice; muscles get too tight and stressed to recover and improve. Which leads to a lot of frustration, wasted time and could easily lead to serious injuries in the future.

Conclusion

Buying PT sessions from anyone is a 2-way commitment. I see too many people wasting their time in the gym and using PTs as accessories. There is nothing more annoying than turning up to a session (as a PT) with a great program planned out only for a client to no-show - not cool. In an ideal world, PTs should not be afraid to be honest and clear with clients who aren't keeping up with their side of the agreement. This, however (due to commision based industry) is quite rare and takes real courage.

Every person who trains and uses a gym needs to first write down their fundamental goals. Im not talking about "fat down/muscle up" you need to get more specific. E.g. I want to lose 20lbs of bodyfat in the next 12 weeks. Then work out what it will take to acheive that goal. Too many people are training towards results that they do not want. Take your average evening gym user who gets on the X-trainer for 45 minutes - they are doing that because they believe this is the best way to lose bodyfat and get in shape. As a fitness professional, im saying there are more efficient ways to burn bodyfat, cardio training is just one tool you would use... and not necessarily for that length of time. If you dont know what your doing, hire someone who does.  

Have a long-term training plan. If  your goal (like mine) is to train for the rest of your life then you need to get smarter with training intensity, plan recovery and take foot off the gas once in a while to increase your training longevity.

Lastly, I think moving on is healthy in life. In my job i really believe a good trainer should move gyms or location every 18-24 months to keep things fresh and aim to re-educate and spread the fitness message to another group of people. I am proud of my time in Bahrain and am excited about the future in Singapore. I hope my blog readers will follow me there :)

I hope Bahrain can bounce back from its current situation very soon.

Share with FB friends if you like this.

The Trainer Vs The Dietician

Hi all,

Before I start on todays blog, I want to mention my client Sarah Al Falaij, aged 15, who (during January)rowed an amazing 1:54:0 for the 500m row! A time which (according to concept 2 world rankings in 2010) would have placed 4th - very proud, well done sarah!

There must be something in the water recently, The concept 2 times have been flying down. I will post more results in another blog but 3 RCC gym records were broken in the space of 3 days!

500m - 1.26.9 (NW) -5 seconds
1000m - 3.20.2 (NW)  -6 seconds
1000m - 3.19.6 (ED) -8 seconds!!

Beaten by my client!!! Game on.

Current RCC staff member and my training protege, Lullu Muralli, has started his own blog. Lullu has spent the past 3 months learning lots of new stuff and is (at present) probably 'more read' than me. He has got some great ideas and i think you will like his blog a lot. I read this week that Mike Boyle once took a seminar and said "If you haven't done 10,000 PT hours then dont start a blog". I actually disagree with that. I started writing blogs for my clients so I could get basic messages/lessons across to everyone at one time and it gave me a chance to get ideas down and work on my writing. I have encouraged Lou to start it early on in his PT career and he has already written a great opening blog on glute training. Check it out on:

http://coachlullu.blogspot.com/ 

The RCC training group is now in Week 4 and things are going well. We have had a few drop off but it will provide good results against the main training group so im happy with that. The training is going well and early signs are that we are all getting bigger!!! the guys are getting used to the different diet strategies so overall im excited by the first 2 week results. If anything, at the end of this 6 weeks all my guys will be super fit and maintain all the muscle they took into the program - which cant be bad? The challenge now is managing fatigue over the next month, that is the main concern... more to follow.

Disclaimer: The following blog is mostly written with entertainment in mind. Over the past few months speaking with Elbha, she has definately influenced my own views on diet/nutrition in a positive way. The following 'interview' was done via email and the final version had 100% co-operation with Elbha before it went live. I hope that beyond the humour and banter, there is an important message to be learned here regarding different views on diet/health. I may turn out to be wrong in most things but it's been fun to go against a nutrition expert and see the difference of opinions from a professional point of view. I would 100% agree with the advice and suggestions that Elbha would give towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle and recommend her expert advice and services to anyone looking to eat and live a more healthy lifestyle.

Onto the blog. For the past month or so I have been talking, debating and basically arguing with my client, Elbha Purcell, on diets. I'm looking to pick a verbal fight with a nutrition expert, here it goes!

Ding... Ding... Round 1.

N: Hi Elbha, Can you tell my blog readers who you are and what you do day-to-day?

E: My name is Elbha Purcell and I am a UK trained and state registered dietitian. I have been living and working in Bahrain for the past 4 years. I work mainly in an out-patient setting, seeing various types of patients, both adults and children. My consultations include those who want to lose weight or have issues with cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, IBS, food intolerances and a few that require long-term artificial nutritional support.

N: Now for those of you who don't know you... you're female and you're Irish, so there is a massive possibility i may not get many words in from here on! Therefore, i'm going to attack with some questions to see if i can unsettle you! Hahaha.


N. Firstly, What is a dietician?

E: (Official answer) - Registered Dietitians (RDs) are the only qualified health professionals that assess, diagnose and treat diet and nutrition problems at an individual and wider public health level. Uniquely, dietitians use the most up to date public health and scientific research on food, health and disease, which they translate into practical guidance to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.
Dietitians are the only nutrition professionals to be statutorily regulated, and governed by an ethical code, to ensure that they always work to the highest standard. Dietitians work in the NHS, private practice, industry, education, research, sport, media, public relations, publishing, NGOs and government. Their advice influences food and health policy across the spectrum from government, local communities and individuals.


The title dietitian can only be used by those appropriately trained professionals who have registered with the Health Professions Council and whose details are on the HPC web site.

N: Call me ignorant but I feel that i have learned everything i need to know about healthy eating through reading different books and certain websites (Namely John Berardi's 'Precision Nutrition' system and the t-nation website). Do you think 4 years in university to study nutrition is a bit overkill?

 E: If you are referring to my qualification, I didn’t study nutrition for 4 years I studied dietetics, which includes biochemistry, physiology, clinical sciences, psychology, food sciences, to name but some of the modules and I also had to undertake 7 months of hospital placements.


So yes I would probably agree that 4 years of study of sole nutrition is a little over the top, however I also feel that someone needs to do alot more than read a few websites and 1 book before they can call themselves an expert in the field!!!!!!!!
 

"Ahhh... Feisty one you are!"

N: Ok, good points but i never said i was an expert, i said i feel i have learned 'everything I need to know', as a trainer i cannot claim to be a dietician (by UK law) and can only give nutritional recommendations. It has been said that to be an expert in a field you would need to complete 10,000 hours practise...?  I have not done that with nutrition but nearly half way with PT... anyway.

 
It’s rare that I have seen nutritionists or dieticians in really good shape, why do you think this is?

E: First of all, what are you trying to say about my shape???????? Second of all, how many dietitians or nutritionists have you actually met???? – I think you need to broaden your horizons before you come out with another statement like that!

N: Im saying nothing about you at all! I just said its 'rare' that i see nutrition experts in great shape - not impossible. Honestly, I have come across a lot of overweight "nutrition experts" and its difficult to take them seriously when they talk about food - if only they could turn their passion and knowledge into the practical habits of eating and training!

E: Maybe this is because most of these people have desk jobs and are not always exercise type people. I know this is completely wrong, but i'm guessing thats the case with the people you are talking about?

N: Yeah maybe, I believe this is probably the first glimpse of our main differences when talking about diet and exercise people. I think we (PT's and Dieticians) have 2 different versions of many things like lifestyle, habits, typical clients and ideal body composition. Regarding the last point (bodyfat %) I'm thinking ideal is more 10%, you're thinking more 20% +, our fields have different end goals in mind?

E: Interesting point. That could be true, but my field is fundamentally concerned with health and yours would probably be aesthetics then health second.

N: True i guess, but i would then argue that 10% is healthier than 20%?

Lets stick with Bodyfat %, One of the worlds top strength coaches Charles Poliquin has said something like “if you are over 25% bf, your body cannot handle carbohydrates and you need to restrict carbs to after training and early morning only”. Also, athletes under 10% can utilise Carbs better because their bodies are super efficient machines. I believe this is true, what would you say?

When we deplete CHOs...

N: Whoooaaa... Hold up there, Monica. Whats a CHO?

E: Carbohydrates. You're the self confessed "expert" remember? Dont call me Monica again!

N: Ok Monica, It was for my readers, i knew what that was (I was 95% sure.. can never be 100%)

E: Anyway, depleting CHO's generally leads to fatigue and erratic blood glucose levels. Once someone is fatigued it would be very difficult for them to achieve the kind of exercise they might require to reduce their body fat to below 25%, so this would be counter-productive. The easiest and most effective way to get skinfolds down is through exercise which would involve interval training made up of cardio and resistance training.

An erratic CHO intake such as early morning and after training only could potentially lead to insulin resistance through peaks and troughs of Blood Glucose Levels throughout the day. I understand including the CHOs after training would help to replenish glycogen stores lost through exercise, but if someone trained in the morning, then ate their CHOs directly after training and then weren't allowed any CHOs for the rest of the day until the next morning, glycogen stores would already be depleted and it would be very difficult to have enough energy to perform adequately at the next training session.

N: I agree and disagree here. You have stepped into my training world with that answer and i'm ready for you! I agree exercise is important but i have never met anyone (not already genetically lean) who got lean eating carbohdrates. In my experience, you have to drastically lower your CHO intake to get into the fat stores and achieve low bodyfat %. Otherwise you would have be a competitive athlete who trains 15+ hours per week Personally, I got down to around 3mm on the calipers after a 12 weeks intensive weight training (the last 3 weeks being almost zero carb). I would have never done it eating carbs to fuel my exercise? All bodybuilders the world over will tell you to get super lean you need to:

- Take steroids and/or
- Drastically lower or cycle carbs

You said "the easiest and most effective way to lower skinfold is through exercise?" Im going to disagree and say diet, metabolism and hormones are a bigger part of the equation.

E: You are probably talking about a field (bodybuilding) that I have no interest in personally or professionally. My clients, like you said earlier, have different goals. Its all about general health and good habits leading to positive physical change. What you just described sounds a bit extreme.

N: Extreme gets extreme results.

E: Maybe, but thats not what i do. To me, extreme will often go the other way and lead to Yo-Yo patterns in dieting. This is a common problem i see and my job is to enforce good, long terms habits not extreme, short term methods that will ultimately fail.

Branch Warren probably adopts extreme eating/training methods

N: fair enough. A great man called Ron Burgundy once said "Men have bigger brains than women, look it up, it's science", what do you think of that?

E: I've always thought you were a smart guy, so i guess if you believe it, it could be true.

Ron Burgundy has suits so fine they make Sinatra look like a hobo!

N: Good, im glad we are clear on that.

On to supplementation. I am currently aiming to consume 10 fish oils capsules per day, which gets me to about 3g DHA/EPA daily. What are your current thoughts on fish oil supplementation?

E: Most adults and children over 12 are advised to eat 2 portions of fish per week (1 portion is about 140g cooked), one of which should be oily. This is equal to about 450mg EPA/DHA per week. There are currently no UK Department of Health recommendations for fish oil supplement use. The British Dietetic Association recommends you stick to the amount in 2-4 portions of fish (450-900mg EPA/DHA).

So I think your intake may be a touch excessive!!!!!!

N: Lets stay with fish oil consumption. The following paragraph is taken from an article by "king of strength training" Charles Poliquin.

I was introduced to fish oil by a friend of mine Mauro Di Pasquale (author) about 20 years ago and even then he claimed this was the 'best supplement ever'. Humans used to consume 300-400g per week and if we now eat 2g per day it is deemed excessive. There was a study published four years ago that showed that if the US government issued three grams of fish oil per day to American citizens, then the amount of cancer and heart disease would go down by 50% within one year. Most readers don't care about cancer and heart disease, but they may care about this: the biggest limiting factor in naturally training people to getting lean and adding muscle is the consumption (or lack thereof) of omega-3s. Anyone who wants to put on muscle and lose fat should be on 30-45 grams of fish oil per day. That's just three tablespoons of fish oil. It would be a pain in the ass with capsules though because that's around 45 capsules per day, but it's easy with a straight oil.

According to King Charles, Fish oil is the 'best ever supplement'

N: Not my words, but the words of one of the most experienced Strength trainers in the world, Charles Poliquin.

E: .......................................


N: Silence is golden.

Onto a controversial topic now - fasting. You know we are doing an extreme diet/training regime at the moment which involves fasting periods. What are your thoughts on fasting?

E: I believe that sustained periods of fasting can slow down your metabolism in the long-term. Fasting also limits intake of energy and important nutrients that are needed for health and well-being. Rapid weight loss occurs when one fasts or severely restricts their dietary intake. However, the weight lost is mainly water, glycogen and muscle, rather than fat. While fasting, you may feel fatigued and dizzy and likely have less energy. At the end the programme, when you return to your old eating habits, any weight lost is likely to go back on!

N: So you wanna see what my guys look like after 8 weeks post training?

E: I would yes.

N: They'll still be ripped! I think again we need to recognise we deal with different animals. My guys all love to train, they love the gym, they love working hard. Im guessing (and this is no way a slur on your clients) its difficult to get your guys motivated, therefore its easier for them to go back into bad eating patterns and weight gain? Just a thought.

E: Lets see them after 8 weeks, then again after 6 months, then we can talk.

N: Deal. Sticking with the same subject - In our training plan we are using 3 days of Intermittent Fasting, where we are using eating windows (say 8 hours with 16 hour fasting periods) do you think this is healthy?

E: Since IM fasting is reasonably similar to a regular eating pattern, and if you are choosing to eat healthy, well balanced meals during your non-fasting periods, then IM fasting could be deemed healthy. However, if you eat 8000 kcals in one day consisting of junk food (as I believe you did last Sunday!!), it would not pass the healthy eating test.  

N: Aha, but all that calorie consumption is tactical hormone manipulation! What do you know about Leptin and its fat burning effects?

E: I know that Leptin plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including appetite and metabolism. The absence of Leptin leads to uncontrolled food intake and resulting diabetes.



Leptin circulates at levels proportional to body fat.


Although leptin is a circulating signal that reduces appetite, in general, obese people have an unusually high circulating concentration of leptin. These people are said to be resistant to the effects of leptin, in much the same way that people with type 2 diabetes are resistant to the effects of insulin. The high sustained concentrations of leptin from the enlarged adipose stores result in leptin desensitization.


There is also growing evidence that sleep is a powerful regulator of appetite, energy use and weight control. During sleep, the body’s production of leptin increases, and the appetite stimulant grehlin decreases. Studies have found that the less people sleep, the more likely they are to be overweight and obese and prefer eating foods higher in calories and carbohydrates.


That is my understanding of leptin, how it burns fat I am not sure.

N: Im totally with you on the sleep thing and i think thats an awesome topic for another blog.

Onto Leptin, according to best-selling author Joel Marion "By strategically cheating with high calorie foods (and yes, even stuff like pizza, ice cream, BBQ wings, cookies, burgers, fries, etc.), you can give leptin and metabolism a major boost mid-diet which sets you up for plenty of subsequent fat loss when you resume your reduced calorie eating regimen. This means greater net fat loss week after week, and ultimately, a much more realistic, maintainable way to bring you to your leanest condition".

For the most comprehensive article on leptin, click on the link below:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_science/the_leptin_manifesto

For all the nerds that read the blog... your welcome!

 

Cheat eating is used as a strategy not only as a mental break from the tortures of 'dieting' but it has been researched to have phisiological fat burning benefits too.

E: I have never heard of that to be honest but again it seems like extreme strategies which is totally the opposite to what we want our clients to do. We would never advise to gorge down junk foods as part of any plan, does that seem sensible?

N: Great point, but like we have discussed in the gym, all these guys are ripped and are getting great results so who cares?

E: To me that's the difference between sensible and stupid. Not that im saying your stupid!

N: Thanks (I think!). More on dieting, What do you think about “Warrior diet” eating 6-9pm only?

E: I think it sounds absolutely ridiculous and one that cannot be sustained in the long-term. One look at the warrior diet website, (which I confess to knowing nothing about till you brought it up!), shows that it is a complete money making scheme! Have you seen all the supplements you need to purchase to ensure your diet is nutritionally complete?? It is absolute craziness! Plus a diet high in meat consumption has been very clearly linked to colon cancer, not to mention higher cholesterol levels and other conditions.

N: I honestly have not looked at it from that angle before. I know these people are a movement, who practise this eating strategy and love it. They get great results and have excellent vital statistics/blood work, etc. I would not do it myself but it doesn't seem that bad/unhealthy at all?

E: Im not going to change my first answer. I saw the website and it looks like a scam to sell supplements.

Creator of 'The Warrior Diet', Ori Hofmekler - looks pretty healthy to me?

Lastly, a little birdie tells me your nickname is Monica, as in Monica Geller from friends. Care to explain?

Awali Hospital's very own... Elbha Purcell

E: No Comment. I told you not to mention that!

N: Anything to do with that character being really annoying?

E: You're a.....

INTERVIEW ENDS SUDDENLY.


Conclusion

I think it is clear from the above conversation that although Elbha and myself are both in the 'Health' Industry, we deal with totally different people. Elbha's job is focused on getting people into a sensible lifestyle. My focus is on body recomposition - getting people in good shape into great shape. I believe that a large majority of the clients that Elbha deals with will not great results in the gym because they are 'often' always the type of people who:

- Dislike gyms

- Have no work ethic

- Hate physical exercise/work

- Are looking for excuses for their weight gain/genetics

Generally, i feel that most people are scared to try things out on themselves, why is this? The last 15 years of my life has been like an experiment and its been fun. Some things worked, some things didn't. Sometimes I've eaten what i wanted for weeks/months, sometimes i've been on restrictive diets. However bad my diet or lifestyle in that time, i have never been over 18-20% bodyfat since the age of 14.

The main reason for this? I love physical activity.

I only give extreme diet strategies to the guys and girls that are willing to try them out - the top 5% who are willing to try things out. These guys have a great work ethic and the talent to give 110% in the gym that leads to great results. (excluding genetically lean folk and steroid users) I have never met anyone who was under 10% bodyfat who didn't either:

- Religiously eat and live clean

- Give 100% in the gym every time

- Lift 'heavy'

- Perform challenging Cardio like 500m row, Tabatas, Max efforts, etc.

By simply looking at the 2 different lists in this conclusion, you can see the attributes of those who believe 25% bodyfat is healthy and those that believe 25% is fat.

Im firmly in the 2nd group.

Again many thanks to Elbha for allowing the final draft of this blog go out, i hope it provided some fun and some value to everyone.

What diets have worked for you?

Do you fast?

Leave comments and share with FB friends :)

A week at a European Tour event...

Hi all,

As a bonus blog this week i decided to jot down all the happenings around the gym during the Volvo Golf Champions event @ The Royal Golf Club, Bahrain. There was a sudden burst of activity on tuesday evening so i had to get cracking right away!

The world-recognised European Tour logo

Some of the golfers who visited the gym this week:

Michael Campbell
Peter Hedblom
Oscar Henningsson
Michael Jonzon
Johan Edfors
Padraig Harrington
Alexander Noren
Soren Hansen
Jose Maria Olazabal
James Morrison
Richie Ramsey
Thomas Bjorn
Brett Rumford
Raphael Jacquelin
Gregory Bourdy
Ian Poulter
Andrew Marshall
Greame Storm
Thomas Bjorn
Oliver Wilson
Steven Gallacher
Jose Maria Olazabal
... and many more top names

Alexander Noren, Golfer and athlete

Monday

"Definately one of the best gyms we have seen at a golf club"   

IMG, International Golf Management

- Padraig Harrington seemed delighted we actually had kettlebells here! Yes, Paddy... we do.

- Pierre (a swedish physio who came to train his golfers at RCC) claims "There is only one better gym i can think of on the tour and that is Wentworth"

- Every golfer that walked in today was shocked at the quality of our gym. Personally, that is a really nice reward after the past 14 months work getting the gym space to where it is today. Very proud.

- Most of the golfers that came in on Day 1 were Scandinavian. Is that significant?

- Both (swedish) trainers I saw working were very 'hands on'. Close to the client with lots of floor and body weight exercises.

Tuesday

- The European Tour "physio unit' moved in to RCC today, great looking set up - 3 highly qualified guys

- Pierre worked some ART stuff on my shoulder, i think if i had him for a month he would cure me. Im starting to see a different level of trainers now who are more medical then physical. These guys rarely 'push' their athletes - its definately more Technique/Quality based. Again, Pierre is 'hands on' which to me is a great indicator of a high skill level.

- Watched Padraig Harrington on the range, he looked superb.

- Ian Poulter (possibly my tip for the title) arrives in high fashion, of course.

- Anthony Wall stole a Swiss ball from the gym, he promised to bring it back!

- Spoke to Cornel Dreissen (South African physio/trainer)... OMG am i suddenly feel like the 4th best trainer in this gym! feel like i know very little about corrective, movement patterns. Although we have a great system here (i used to think!) these guys are top-of-the-food-chain physical practitioners.

"The RCC gym is a great space for training. It is no way inferior to anything else I have seen in the region. The guys should be proud that they have a world class training space in which personal training clients/golfers can work effectively towards their goals"
                                                                                                                                           Cornel Dreissen

- Just watched a doctor try to diagnose a golfers injury by asking questions (not getting anywhere!) when there is a room full of practical 'hands on' trainers fixing problems in the gym without asking questions! Thats the difference between theory and practise.

- Spoke to Richie Ramsay about pre-tournament training. Interesting point he made was that he doesn't do anything new, in case he feels DOMS the next day, pretty straight forward thinking there.

- Brett Rumford attempting a 500m row and getting 1.38. good effort but that places 7th on our list! Best lightweight time though as he weighs 74kg. He also steals a foam roller and promises to return it!

RCC leightweight rowing king, Brett Rumford

- The swedish contingent are 100% more into the Strength and Conditioning side of golf than anyone else. They have set up camp from day 1 and basically took over. Its great to see golfers training like athletes and in a group who all seem to love it. Very very impressive, but expected really from professional sportsmen?

Wednesday

- Went over to see Alvaro Quiros drive off the 10th tee in the Pro Am, not a bad start.... 325 yard drive just off the green! He later pops into the gym and claims "it's too much hard work in here".

- Again it seemed to be the Scandinavian golfers who were in the gym prior to playing/warming up.

- Helped Andrew Marshall go through a basic gym program, showed him some basic corrective supersets involving Scapula retraction & Pec minor stretching to help his golfing posture.

- Showed Pierre some of the TRX and Valslide stuff we do and they he really liked it. I think maybe he will use these tools in the future, they are definatley effective for basic strength and even rehabilitation exercises.

Pierre going through some TRX progressions for VM/1 leg strength

Thursday

- Walked into the Royal Golf Club on its first tournament day and the place looks amazing! Well done to all the RGC staff and IMG guys who made this possible, a proud day for all im sure.

- 3 of the top 4 on the Day 1 leaderboard have been gym regulars this week. Now i'm not saying the gym is the answer to playing better golf - far from it - but i am saying that this group of guys have come into the gym as a group, each day and left as a group and have great camaraderie and rapport with each other. I think it makes a massive difference when you are walking around happy and positive rather than spending your time sulking, tweeting or moaning about greens. If was all about mindset then the Scandanavians have already won this competition, i really hope one of them goes onto to win this week.

- Took Mikkel Erikkson (Tour Director) through a Valslide sequence. It great to show these guys (who travel everywhere) new things that our clients and members get every day.

- More great testimonials from top level trainers and physios about our gym.

"This is probably the only gym we've been to on tour that has kettlebells and totally caters for golfers of the highest level, I can't think of another that is this good"

Shane, Tour Chiropractor

Markus, Taking Michael Campbell through a session

Friday



"The best gym on the tour"

Mikael Erikkson, European Tour Director

- As you can imagine, i'm a little bit ecstatic at the above testimonial. I knew that we had something really great here and this week's feedback has really cemented what we already knew about the RCC gym.

- Michael Campbell in the gym at 5.30am (before his coaches!) to go through his warm up routine, great to see.

- Ian Poulter comes into the gym for warm up and signs our gym shirt. After a quick chat he says he feels sorry for the members having to play on such a tough course. A lot of the pro's seem to be talking about the severity of the greens here - which makes me feel great about my own game!

Saturday

 - I had the chance to caddy for an amatuer, Kevin Aherne, in a Pro-Am competition alongside Paul Casey and Darren Clarke. It was an awesome experience and the 2 pro's couldn't have been better value. Apparently we got great coverage by Sky so look forward to seeing that. I had a few tactical differences to Darren Clarke! Even though i was right on both he was brilliant all day and gave Kevin a lot of great reads on the greens. Walking down the 18th, even as a caddy with a few thousand people watching is a great feeling, probably one i will never get again, so it was a really great day.

Ready for a great day, what an experience!

Sunday

- Tournament finishes with Paul Casey the eventual winner at -21

- Anders Hansen's caddie, Nick Mumford, Leaves me 24 ProV1 balls and 5 gloves for helping him out in the gym, nice.

- All the brilliant testimonials we got for our gym all week really made me realise how good a training environment we have here. Our clients will continue to get the best training as we are always looking to improve our knowledge. This week, rubbing shoulders with some top guys in the industry really helped us towards achieving that.

Volvo Golf Champions 2011 winner, Paul Casey

All in all it was a great week for us here at the gym, we learned a lot from the guys who passed through and im sure they learned some things from us too. For the Tour Director to say we have the best facility on the European Tour is an amazing accolade to go into 2011 with, our staff, members and training clients should be very proud of what we have here.

Thanks :)