Accelerate Health and Performance: How to Write Your Own Successful Training Program for Weight Loss

How many people do you know that go to a gym with the idea that 'a little bit of everything' or 'just doing my own thing' will help them achieve their goals?

How many people do you know that go to a gym with that plan and ultimately end up disappointed with the fact they have not achieved as much as they hoped to?

Programming can be the most challenging aspect of being a Personal Trainer. There are times when it is really hard. The right combination of exercises can provide a client with an experience they will shout about from the roof tops. The wrong combination can practically leave you scratching your arse in the unemployment line at Centrelink wondering where it all went wrong.

It's tough and I'm educated in this shit. I'm continually educating myself in this shit. It's one component of Personal Training that does not necessarily get easier. But there are ways that you can make it easier on yourself. By understanding a few of the basic principles, you can very easily write or adapt a program to suit you. Your needs, your goals, your experience.

Things to understand...

What Role Will Nutrition Play? 

To lose weight you have to be a calorie deficit. YOU HAVE TO BE. It's physics - the law of thermodynamics. Energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system. We are an isolated system. We consume energy (food) -  we either use it (action) or store it (love handles). If we consume more than we use we store the excess - not a calorie deficit.
One size does not fit all, but it's safe to say that a calorie deficit of up to 200 Calories per day is probably going to be easily sustainable and not overly aggressive for most. Add in some training on top of this and you're going to see the numbers on the scales start to shift and your pants are going to feel a bit looser within three or four weeks.

What is Progressive Overload and how do I Progressively Overload myself? 

Progressive Overload is a gradual increase of stress(work) placed upon the body. A slight increase in sets, reps and or load, potentially with a decrease in rest time. Hot Tip: Take 'Progressive' in a very literal sense - increase things gradually, don't try and be Mr or Mrs Olympia in Week One...you're probably going to fuck up your chances of success right up that way.
An increase of 1.25kg on either side of the barbell each week is nothing to be scoffed at! Over a year that's 130kg. If you can add 130kg to your Squat, Deadlift or Bench Press in that time you're an absolute freak and you need to start doing something more competitive A-Sap. Small steps forward are not steps backward.

How do I Choose Exercise and How Often Do I Train? 

Choose the ones that are fun. Done correctly, very few exercises are inherently bad for you. Try to hit each muscle group at least once every time you train. Train every two to three days.

'But when is Chest and Tri's Day?' NEVER. Virtually nobody (other than professional body builders) actually need a Chest and Tri's or Back and Bi's day.

'Do I have to do Cardio?' No. You can if you want to though. If you need to do cardio training because you have cardio goals then have at it. If you hate cardio and don't want to do it then don't do it.

The Basics of Programming...

Rep Ranges: 

1-5 Reps = Strength 

3-8 Reps = Strength Endurance

8-15 Reps = Hypertrophy

15+ = Conditioning.

* These are approximate and they cross over heaps. Sticking to 1-5 Reps will still result in Hypertrophy and sticking to 8-15 Reps will still result in some increased strength.

Sets: 3 to 6 Work Sets for any Rep Range will tick the box.

Load: As heavy as you can go with good technique and the ability to function in your daily life the next day. Using Warm Up Sets and Work Sets effectively will help this. If you're not sure, go light and have a trial run - if you don't feel like you exerted yourself much at all, go heavier.

Rest: As long as you need to do the same set again nearly as well as the last time. Nearly. You need to induce some fatigue or you're not overloading.

Programs: One program per week done well will get things moving, two programs per week will keep you entertained, three is our preferred sweet spot. The less you know and the more confidence you need to gain the less you should worry about variety and focus more on getting the basics locked and loaded.

  

Muscle Group	Synergist	Opposite
Quads, Calves and Glutes	Hamstrings and Glutes	Upper Body
Hamstrings and Glutes	Quads, Calves and Glutes	Upper Body
Chest, Triceps and Shoulder	Back, Biceps and Shoulder	Lower Body
Back, Biceps and Shoulders	Chest, Triceps and Shoulders	Lower Body

Program Structure...

1) Focus Muscle Group Compound Strength

2a) Same Muscle Group Compound Hypertrophy
2b) Accessory Muscle Group Hypertrophy

3a) Opposing Muscles Group Power
3b) Core/Glutes/Mobility or Opposing Muscle Group (One Program Per Week)

4) Synergist Hypertrophy/Conditioning

This structure can be used to write one, two, three or twelve day training programs. You just have to be mindful to give enough focus to your target muscle groups. If you just want to sort the whole rig out, spread the work load as evenly as possible.

One Program Per Week Program Example...

1) Goblet Squats (5x8)

2a) Alternate Lunges (4x10)
2b) Glute Bridge (4x15)

3a) Top Hold DB Chest Press (4x12)
3b) Lat Pulldown (4x15)

4) Seated Hamstring Curl (4x20)

Need some help with technique? Check these out. 

Goblet Squats: Instagram

Offset Walking Lunges: Instagram
Single Leg Glute Bridge: Instagram
Top Hold DB Press: Instagram
Lat Pulldown: YouTube - Instagram
Seated Hamstring Curl: YouTube - Instagram

If you have any doubts about your ability to train safely due to any health concerns you may have please seek medical advice prior to starting.

Mitchell Knight

Accelerate Health and Performance
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acceleratehealthandperformance/

Instagram: @mitchellknightpt @acceleratehealthandperformance

Jessica Leigh Yoga: How Strengthening Through Yoga Can Reflect Positively on Your Life

Have you ever noticed how capable you feel after a good workout? Admittedly, there may be a little touch of ‘jelly legs’ or the shakes (or inability to sit down or stand up without groaning). But there is also this sense of achievement and being capable. This sense only grows stronger with consistency of practice too. I’m convinced this is about more than just endorphins.

In yoga, I feel like it’s important sometimes to remind students of the big, fat giant metaphor our practice of yoga really is. How we show up on the mat reflects directly on how we handle ourselves in the ‘real world’. 

During our yoga practice, if we are able to approach each pose, stretch or transition with compassion towards where our body is at and capable of in any given moment, that automatically starts to form a neural pattern of how we treat ourselves at any point in the day.
It’s literally a matter of practice.

If you use your yoga practice as a way to flow through a series of strengthening poses with the breath, eventually your body will experience more strength and expression in your practice. When you have that gradual feeling of the body becoming stronger in a grounded way that comes through a yoga practice, you find yourself walking through your day feeling capable of more. Your ability to believe in yourself grows exponentially, as your confidence in your body’s strength grows. When we believe in ourselves from this sense of embodiment rather than outside image, our mental health takes leaps and bounds for the better.

Not only that, the practice of this strengthening and breathing helps us more easily counter situations we perceive as stressful. If you practice the ability to still breathe during a challenging pose or while you’ve come to complete stillness frequently enough, even if the mind is going all over the place, eventually your body will more easily remember how to breathe when you encounter stressful situations in your life, whether it’s at work, at home, or otherwise. This allows us to get through those stressful moments without taking on board as much of the stuff that weighs us down and keeps us feeling heavy and negative. It allows us to respond to things instead of react, which has an unsurprising carry on effect of positively influencing those closest to us. 

What we practice in our time on the mat in yoga, we carry our lessons with us into our lives. We get the chance to feel what it’s like to live with more confidence and compassion, and share the feelings that come along with that with others in our homes and communities.

Jess Jasch
Jessica Leigh Yoga
f: https://www.facebook.com/jessicaleighyoga/
i: @jessicaleighyoga
w: www.jlyoga.com.au/blog

GUEST BLOG: Why Pilates is for everyone?

Everyone’s heard of Pilates right? It’s been around for a while now (since the 1920’s). To be honest when I first heard about Pilates I thought it was just another one of the many fitness fads that would come and go. That was until my running obsession was interrupted by injury! I was forced to take a bit of my own Physiotherapy advice and give Pilates a try and from that day on I was hooked.

What is Pilates?
The most common answer I get to my question, ‘have you done pilates before?’ is no but I’ve done yoga. Well, that’s like comparing apples and oranges. Pilates focuses on core stability. It works all those small muscles that your body has forgotten we have but need to use. The ones that stabilise your joints and work to create a ‘powerhouse’ to take the load off your spine. While Pilates can be performed on a mat the rolls Royce of Pilates is the Reformer. This machine uses different spring resistance to challenge, strengthen, stretch and lengthen muscles.


Pilates is for EVERY-body
No Pilates is not just for women. I’m sure some people think that Pilates is airy-fairy just lying around the floor. I challenge anyone with that perception to a 1 hour reformer class! In fact Pilates was actually developed by a male, Joseph Pilates back in the 1920s for the army and athletes. 
Men, women, children, athletes, elderly people, pregnant women….. anyone can (and in my opinion SHOULD) do Pilates. The amazing reformer and it’s spring resistance mean endless exercise combinations and difficulty levels.

Injuries
All injuries can be accommodated which makes it the perfect mode of cross training. This low impact exercise is also the perfect way to rehabilitate post injury. Pilates is also the perfect way to prevent many injuries through addressing muscle imbalances, improving muscle strength, flexibility, balance and even body awareness. In the same way it can lead to improved athletic performance. 
Just want a solid workout

If it’s easy, it’s probably not pilates! Pilates should be challenging, you should feel that deep muscle burn. It works all those problem areas- abs, butt, inner thighs, love handles and backs of the arms. You think your squats are working your butt? Wait until you discover those deep glue muscles!
Like any type of exercise correct technique and expert instruction is critical. It’s often a good idea to do a one on one session with a Physiotherapist to teach you the basics and address your specific goals. Health fund rebates apply too!

If you haven’t tried it make 2017 the year of Pilates. Your body will love you for it

Kirsti Leeson
www.handsonalliedhealth.com.au
29 Ben Lexcen Drive Sunrise Beach
Ph: 0418885027
E: kristi@handsonalliedhealth.com.au
FB: www.facebook.com/physiopilatesmassage
Insta: @physiopilatesnoosa

Accelerate Health and Performance: Master Your Body Weight, Then Master The Weights Room (Part 1)

There has been an amazing shift in thinking when it comes to health and fitness over the last ten years or so. No longer do we see weight rooms completely dominated by only the biggest guys while the smaller males and females are left to slog it out on the treadmills.

HALLELUJAH! The internet has spread the gospel of the barbell.

More and more people are realising that weight training is the most effective weight loss/weight management training technique of all. Fewer ladies are approaching Personal Trainer saying "I don't want to get too bulky." because they already know that there is very little chance of that happening. Smaller guys are able to show up and deadlift 150% of their bodyweight in the comfort of knowing that pound for pound the gorilla shaped man beasts can't match him.

It's great...ish.
See here's the thing...with everyone having an iTelephone any Joe or Joanne can jump on the World Wide Interweb and download a training program from the Google Drive and upload it to their My Space account and head to the gym.
But should they? Are they ready for the program they got from NapsterBook?
Often, the answer is no.
See there is this amazing piece of equipment that we often forget to utilise!
Our own body.

A good Body Weight Squat is thoroughly under estimated being able to control a Paused Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat is undervalued, the ability to effectively hinge at the hip is paramount and the art of being to perform many clean push ups is slowly being lost.
And why is this so bad?
Because too many people are in the gym doing shallow squats, being unable to balance and stabilise unilaterally (on one leg), turning into a question mark doing deadlifts and doing nothing but bench press because "Babes don't care about legs!"

* Trust me...they definitely do care!

It might not get you 4000 likes on InstaMSN but it will get your body moving well and allow you to develop some serious athletic potential that will ultimately lead to more #gainz no matter what you're trying to achieve.

And this goes hand in hand with what we now know about the transference of work capacity from one movement to another or lack thereof...

Ever wondered why people can Lat Pulldown a whole stack which totals as much as or more than their bodyweight but they can't do as many reps on Chin Ups?
Ever wondered why people can Leg Press 400kg but they can often on Squat a quarter of that?
Ever wondered why people can Machine Press comfortably but their Push Up resembles someone doing The Worm on a dirty dance floor?
But on the flipside if they can Chin Up, Squat Heavy and perform a sick Push Up they can do the alternative (almost always) with ease?
Are you starting to see a pattern???

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Leg Press Machines or the people that use them. I use them with my clients every day...but not at the expense of the body's natural ability to Squat and Lunge, Hinge, Push and Pull Vertically or Push and Pull Horizontally as its own form of resistance.

Do it, trust me, you'll be better for it.

To Be Continued... In Part 2

As always, please forward all complaints and hate mail to the admin of Sunshine Coast Health and Fitness.

Mitch

Accelerate Health and Performance

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acceleratehealthandperformance/

Instagram: @mitchellknightpt and @acceleratehealthandperformance

　

Paul's Body Engineering: Volume Training

Across the fitness landscape a new movement is gaining traction....Volume Training.

Commonly referred to as high-rep training or hypertrophy, volume training is fast becoming the most affective and widely used form of training to lose weight.

Not only is this method of training proven to lose weight, in the same instance it also has the double affect of gaining lean muscle.

So what is volume training?

Imagine your next leg day. You may have planned to carry out something like this.....

- 5 x 8 squats

- 5 x 12 leg press

- 5 x 15 leg curls

- 5 x 12 leg extensions

- 5 x 15 calf raises

This is only an example but does cover all common leg exercises. Obviously everyone who does train legs uses different weight depending on strength and ability. However with volume training, you scale the weights back to approx. 60% of what you would normally lift. By doing this you are affectively allowing yourself to increase your rep output. So now we increase the reps and your new program would look something like this......

- 6 x 20 squats

- 6 x 25 leg press

- 6 x 20 leg curls

- 6 x 25 leg extensions

- 6 x 30 calf raises

The reps have dramatically increased but what you are now achieving is an increase in cardio output. The key to this style of training being affective is the rest periods between sets. Be sure to rest no longer than 60 seconds before you start again.

Why is it called volume training?

Here is another example now using weights. If I used to squat 5 sets of 8 reps at 100kg (round figures), this is a total volume of 4000kg. Now using the new volume training method of 6 sets of 20 reps at 60kg is a total of 7200kg. That's an increase of 3.2 tonne. If you trained legs twice a week that's an extra 6.4 tonne per week, 25.6 tonne per month and so on. 6.4 tonne is affectively the same weight as three cars.

These numbers are subjective as everyone doesn't lift this amount or could get through the same volume as this example however next time you are in the gym doing a regular session, try adding an extra set to each exercise or increase your target reps by an extra 2 or 3 three and note the difference. Make sure you keep an eye on the clock to not exceed that 60 second rest period between sets. You will notice your heart rate will increase, your breathing will be heavier and you will walk away from your session really feeling like you achieved a lot.

Plenty of us out there, myself included, are not fans of lengthy periods of cardio on the exercise bike, treadmill or cross trainer to burn those calories. High volume training is a proven affective method that will burn the required calories and also increase your lean muscle mass and strength over time.

Want to know more?

paul@paulsbodyengineering.com

0466 587 6430466 587 643

www.facebook.com/paulsbodyengineering

www.paulsbodyengineering.com

@paulsbodyengineering

Paul's Body Engineering: Train Them or Not- The Myth Behind Abdominals

Core training or 'abs' training is a constant across many gyms on the Sunshine Coast. Many times I have been asked whether, like other muscles, abdominals "need to be trained"?

I myself recently completed a successful Bodybuilding season, during which my abdominals were on display to be judged. So id like to share from my own personal experience.

During preperation for competitive body building, I transformed from 97kg to 78kg. It took 10 months to reach 'stage condition'... Want to know a secret? I never once trained my abdominal area!

The 'abs' are a muscle group, and like all muscles they can be trained. Sit ups, V-ups, mountain climbers, Russian twists and planking all form the craze that is abs training. Despite the popularity of such exercises, in my experience i have found that executing major compound weight training exercises correctly is just as affective. When you are doing weight training correctly, your abdominals are always in use and therefore are always strengthening.

Compound exercises are activities such as deadlifts, squats, lunges, bench press or leg press, and utilise more than one muscle group when added into your regime. Your core is used to stabilise the movement and ensure you correctly lift the attempted weight. In saying this, there is no harm, in fact possibly a benefit, to isolating your abdominals and training them independently.

There are many ways to shape and tone your body and everybody's body is different and responds differently to exercise. At the end of the day it is the decision of the individual to train 'abs' or not, after all they are a muscle group like any other.

As many memes across social media suggest, abs are trained the kitchen. A good diet along with training will get the results you desire.
Paul
Paul's Body Engineering
Mobile: 0466 587 643
Email: paul@paulsbodyengineering.com
Website: www.paulsbodyengineering.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulsBodyEngineering/
Instagram: @paulsbodyengineering