Accelerate Health and Performance: Sifting BS

Last year I worked with a trainer who pushed all his clients to take Pre-Workouts, BCAA’s and Protein – None were body builders or athletes. They were very run of the mill general population clients who all wanted to lose a bit of weight, get a bit fitter, healthier and stronger.

Why did he push them toward supplementation? So he got a discount on all the shortcut bullshit he was doing because he wasn’t actually training or looking after his nutrition properly.
 
He won’t read this but I’d say it anyway...He was being a bit of a dick.
 
Not because he wanted to make a profit and not because he recommended supplements to his clients, but because he never really assessed or met their needs and never yielded tangible results. His clients generally liked him so they stayed a while but they often got jack of not getting the results they wanted and he didn’t stretch himself further to find out why.
 
You see, as a Personal Trainer, over time you develop a great bullshit detector. You also talk to a lot of different people and learn a lot about those people - Their heritage, their culture, their personality traits, their habits...whether they’re a folder or a scruncher.

But this guy didn’t talk to his clients and engage them...he never learned about them as people and never retained the knowledge that would join the dots and shed some light on the people he would meet in months and years to come.
 
One of his clients was a big English bloke. I’d estimate 120-140kg and 50% body fat plus...and he had him knocking back pre, intra and post workout amino acids at 5:30am.
 
Mitch: “Why have you got him on so many aminos? He isn’t lifting that much weight and that’s a lot of calories to take in before he even gets to breakfast.”
Trainer: “Nah, there’s no calories in aminos. The label says so.”
Dear oh, dear oh, dear.

Amino Acids make up protein molecules...1g of Protein yields four calories of energy...but what makes up protein molecules has no energy?

Layne Norton explains it very well here: https://www.biolayne.com/coaching/faq/part-e-bcaa/
 
So clearly there were some holes in this guy’s education. He was young and naive, and credit where credit is due, he took that on the chin and accepted the knowledge.
 
What else was there about that one client though that really, really stood out straight away, for me? He was English. A Pom. He was from the Mother Country, Guv’nah... And what do we know about the English diet? It’s pretty horrible.
 

* This actually looks delicious even if it gives me seven simultaneous heart attacks

Chips with every meal, even breakfast cereal. Sweet drinks on the regular. Highly processed bullshit as far as the eye can see. And I can say this...I married a pom.
When I met my wife her diet was shiiiit. My diet is by no means perfect but with a few simple changes my wife lost over 10kg in six months with a little bit of exercise and a shitload less Yorkshire Puddings.
 
Now I admit, I never actually analysed this guy’s diet but I’m willing to put a pineapple on it being pretty whack – a significant calorie surplus, a large amount of deep fried food and whole lot of processed sugar. That, plus a shit ton of calorie filled supplements...he didn’t lose weight. He gained weight. Fast.

When there’s no interaction and no engagement there is no bullshit detector. No little voice in the back of your head saying “This bloke isn’t telling pork pies, he is eating them!” and that is a HUGE pitfall for new, inexperienced trainers. Most trainers won’t become older, experienced trainers without this ability.
 
But it’s not just up to us...sure, you pay us to help you achieve your goals but we aren’t magicians. You see us maybe three or four hours per week tops...what are you doing in the other 160+ hours?
Are you actually eating really well or have you had salads with your Big Mac instead of fries? Are you really doing your hill sprints or are you doing a hill sprint and then taking selfies? #fitspo
Before you even try your bullshit with your trainer, be your own bullshit filter. Be your own bullshit filter every day!
 
Are you training as hard as you need to or as hard as you’re supposed to be? Are you keeping your macros and calories in check or are you mismeasuring to allow yourself some extra Ben & Jerry’s? Did you really eat pretty well this week or did the bottle of vodka, late night kebab and Large Popcorn Chicken Meal kind of fuck that up?
 
Trust me, the first answer that comes to mind is ALWAYS the right one and if it is second guessing yourself the answer to the questions above is “no”.
 
Not every has to be bodybuilder strict. The successful ones are disciplined as hell. Those guys and girls are freaks. But if you can become a lot more honest with yourself and a lot more honest with your trainer your results will go through the roof in a matter of weeks.
 
Trainers: Get to know your clients in detail. They may up and leave one day but you will be so much more prepared for the next one that comes along. Sift their bullshit!
Trainees: Sift your bullshit. Cut your bullshit. Be real with yourself and be real with your trainer. If you need someone to be your bullshit filter call me. I’ve got many bullshit filters that tell me to shut the fuck up constantly. It’s great – It helps – It is important.
 
Life is way easier and way more fun when we keep it real and own our choices and actions.
 
Please direct all hate mail to the owner of this website. 
She's the one to blame for me continuing to be published.

Mitchell Knight
Accelerate Health and Performance
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acceleratehealthandperformance/
Instagram: @mitchellknightpt @acceleratehealthandperformance

AWA Sunshine Coast: The 2nd AWA 13 Week Challenge is coming!

At Athletes with Attitude, we pride ourselves on educating the community about the importance of physical activity. Our mission is to reach out to the local community and teach people why physical activity is really worth the time and effort.

Increasing your physical activity is a great way to have fun, and an awesome way to make like minded friends. Not to mention the positive effects on your body and mind. Physical activity affects your mood and how good you feel.

The benefits of regular exercise include:

Reducing stress

Improving sleep

Boosting your energy

Reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression

Increasing your self-esteem

Not to mention it is great for your muscles, heart and lungs. Builds strong bones , prevent high blood pressure. Just a few of the benefits from a long long list.

Last year, we decided to run a 13 week challenge, free of charge. This was designed to give the community a taste of what we are trying to achieve, and the outcome was extremely successful. Athletes with Attitude is about to hold our 2nd challenge starting 10th February 2016. The Challenge runs for 13 weeks, and you have access to many boot camps, one on one’s with the Personal Trainers, events held throughout the challenge and lots more.

During the AWA 13 Week Challenge we promote a friendly atmosphere and provide an opportunity for the group to all 'get sweaty' together, making it easier to stay motivated. We create a warm family feel, where people can (and do) make new lasting friendships. As always, you can pop into the shop for the warm and fuzzy or the hard love (as required), these are the things that make the AWA Family unique. Our boot camp workouts are all about group camaraderie, not being shy about shouting encouragement and of course, having fun!

These group sessions focus on functional movements like push-ups, squats, sprints, and sit ups, providing killer workouts outside of the gym environment. Boot Camps provide a whole-body workout that builds strength, endurance and creates a sense of camaraderie among the participants. These high intensity workouts deliver results in a total body approach combining sprint intervals, bodyweight exercises, and high- intensity moves like kicking and punching. The key is limiting rest time in between each move to get the heart rate up and burning calories fast. A typical class last one hour and can burn around 600 calories, building strength and aerobic capacity all at the same time.

Athletes With Attitude’s aim is to have people from our community learning to love physical fitness and actively changing your lifestyle. We will support you all the way to achieve what goals you set yourselves.

You have everything to Gain and Nothing to lose (EXCEPT unwanted Kilos!)

AWA Sunshine Coast: Common Misconceptions About Whey Protein

 

Many women avoid using whey protein because they think it is going to make "me to big and make me bulk up going to turn me into a bodybuilder or she hulk " Whey protein alone will not make you bulk up Muscle is so much more difficult to build than that – especially for women because they lack the testosterone levels required to build big muscles. Whey protein will help you build lean muscle. Many people also think " I’m building up my muscles when i work out so I don’t need whey protein" When you work out, you’re actually breaking down your muscle tissue, this is a natural process which happens when you muscle tissue becomes depleted of its main energy source, glycogen. Protein, helps repair and build your muscle tissue back up, reducing the feeling of muscle soreness and fatigue after a workout. A high level of Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) in whey protein are especially important to this process. Protein supplement is in no way supposed to replace a meal, the purpose is to supplement your diet by making sure you’re getting the right nutrients by adding to existing meals.

Around the age of 40 even healthy adults can start to lose muscle mass. Th loss of muscle mass can impact your strength, flexibility, bone health and metabolism. Consuming high quality protein in conjunction with resistance exercise has been shown to help reduce age related muscle loss, and you do not need to wait till your 40 to add more protein to your diet, the earlier you start the better to prevent or reduce age related muscle loss.

So Protein powders are NOT only for bodybuilders, Whey Protein powders are for everyone of all ages, sizes and health and fitness goals.

The key benefits:
Fat loss
Protein helps stabilize blood glucose levels
Improves Athletic performance
Helps replenish depleted levels
Reduce Hunger
Helps keep heathly immune system
Improves wound healing
Healthy aging

　 Liam and Gary

AWA Supplements Sunshine Coast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/awasupplements/Instagram: @awa_sunshinecoast