How do i get started?
Contact me for the initial assessment. This includes being fat tested, setting a goal for what it is you’re trying to do. A background chat so I can see what you’ve done, how you’ve done it, what you’re doing now and anything else I need to know in order to customise your program and diet correctly for you. After the chat, we will do a strength test consisting of bench, squat and deadlift where we work up to your 1 rep max. This strength test together with the chat and goal setting gives me the numbers and information I need to build your personalised program and diet.
How do you build your training programs?
Training in general is about making progress. This is measured in the gym by an increase in weight lifted, resulting in increased strength which leads to more weight lifted and so on and so on. The by-product of strength is muscle. Every body composition goal has a muscle element. How much muscle you need, will determine exactly how much stronger you need to get. To begin building a program we need to find out how strong you currently are. This is done by conducting a three lift strength test, where a max is found on the bench, squat and deadlift. The focus is placed on these exercises because they are the three movements that will change your body the most. Now that we have a starting point, a couple of simple questions need to be answered: what is it you’re trying to do, and, what needs to be strengthened in order to achieve that goal? If the aim of the game is to get stronger, then basing a program on the weights lifted in the strength test would be waste of time. We know you can lift it. Why spend 4 weeks to only lift the same weight again? That’s not going to build any muscle. No one is going to put 60kg on their max deadlift in 4 weeks so setting a target that high would be pointless. Treating each client in a case by case basis, a realistic target for increased maxes is set. The strength test allows me to see where weaknesses are. Each of the three exercises can be broken down into stages, and smaller exercises are used in training to strengthen the weakness found in each stage. Depending on what needs to be strengthened will determine the exercises I include in your program. Every program is different because every program has a different goal.
what are weight targets and rep goals?
Bodybuilding 101 will have you doing rep ranges of something like 4-6 or 10-12. But why? What does that even mean? Powerlifting would have you doing no more than 5 reps on anything because, “whats the point of doing high reps? Strength gains come with low reps. Anything more is cardio.” When trying to measure performance, things need to be a little more specific. We set max weight targets because that is the true way of gauging progress and strength gains. If you bench 100kg at the start of the year as your max, and at the end of the year you’re still benching 100kg, you’ve gone no where. It doesn’t matter how pumped your chest gets or how red your face goes, you’ve gone no where. If at the start of the year you bench 100kg and 3 weeks later you bench 110kg, you’ve progressed. It doesn’t matter how ugly it was, you’ve still made progress. We set weight targets because it’s how we keep focused on progressing. It also keeps us honest. If you’re numbers haven’t gone anywhere in six months, make all the excuses you want, you’ve still wasted six months of training. Rep goals allow us to measure performance through a calculated max. The Recomposer software works out the weights and reps for every exercise and every set for the 4 week duration of the program. The weights for each set are a percentage breakdown of the targeted max. For example : if your bench press target max is 100kg. The first set on day 1 of the program might say 60kg – goal : 30 reps. 60kg is 60% of the target max. 60kg x 30 reps is the equivalent of doing 100kg x 1. Now you know that anything less than 30 reps, will calculate to worse than a 100kg bench, which would mean you failed to do the work to equal your training target. If on the other hand you were to do more than 30 reps, that would mean you have a calculated max higher than 100kg, and the program needs to be adjusted to account for your progression and new strength.
how do you customise a diet for me?
There is a rule out there that says something along the lines of every woman should consume 1200 calories and every man around 2000 calories per day. Because as we all know everyone is exactly the same height and weight, has the same strength, the same body goals and has the same level of daily activity. Everyone is exactly the same therefore we all should eat the same way. Uh huh? It’s this kind of stupid thinking and logic that has trainers giving clients essentially starvation diets. 80kg women on 500 calories per day. 120kg men on 1500 calories per day. Yes you’ll lose weight, but in the process you’ll lose a ton of muscle and screw your body and hormone levels completely resulting in long term damage. Performing a simple pinch test gives us your individual maintenance level of calories. Everyone is different. There is no set rule. This maintenance level is the minimum amount of food your body requires for you to simply exist. To tick over. Not perform. Not train. Not work. Just exist. If you want to do anything more than sit on your butt 24/7, then you’re going to need more food to fuel it. The maintenance calories, they’re spoken for. Seeing as though everyone is in fact different, every goal is also different. Which means, every diet needs to be built differently. Working with you we discuss the foods you’ll actually eat and exactly how much. How you’ll spread it across the day. What is best to have at what time of day. There is no thinking on your part. This is your diet for your body and your goal.
can i have cheat meals?
The occasional bad meal is not the end of the world. However, a weekly cheat meal can ruin an entire week and completely derail a diet. Many people run on very low calories just to give themselves the opportunity to eat a massive cheat meal on the weekend. While this may allow some to not get fat from the cheat meal, the low calories can prevent the body from having enough fuel to build muscle and can ultimately cause the body to adapt to running on lower amounts of food. You don’t want to look at it from the point of view that your calories and training volume are there to burn off the bad meal. You should be trying to build more muscle so the body naturally needs more energy, food, to run the muscle. The more used to food your body is, the less of a negative effect a bad meal will have. If in the pursuit of your goal you are constantly running on low calories to allow for the bad meals then you aren’t giving the body what it needs to build the muscle you need to achieve your goal. Set yourself a target. Achieve your goal and then teach your body to effectively use the food you put in it. At that point a bad meal every now and then will have little negative affect on your composition.
do you use supplements?
A select few. A lot of money can be, and is spent on supplements. Look how many supplement shops there are these days. The labels claim the world. Drug like results. But the truth is, the product does nothing. Not a thing! However, there are a few supplements available that are useful and compliment a well constructed diet. Not trying to replace the simple goodness of real food, the right supplements can fill the gaps where mother nature is slightly lacking.
do you do cardio?
No.
do i really need coaching?
In order to get your body doing what it has never done before it’s important to have someone there to show you what to do and how to do it correctly. Not someone who read it on a website or saw it on YouTube, but someone who has done it and experienced it first hand. Someone who can tell you the little things that make all the difference in an exercise. How the bar bends differently under certain weights, meaning you need to adjust how to lift it. How the weight can suddenly shift your balance forwards if your head is in the wrong position, potentially causing back or knee injuries. How as you bring a weight down, different muscles engage and if you don’t reach the right depth the muscle you’re targeting didn’t do anything. Coaching isn’t training. It’s teaching. It’s teaching you the things you need to know in order to make massive progress. I said on a previous page that “anyone can count numbers.” Well counting numbers isn’t teaching you anything. It’s going through the motions for the sake of doing reps. A coach breaks down the movement to make sure its done correctly. Teaching you how to continually push your body to places its never been before.
do i need to train with you?
Of course not. If you're an experienced trainer or feel that you are able to train at a high enough level to make consistent progress then there is no need to train with me. All I ask is that on a weekly basis you come and see me and get measured so we can make sure the diet and training is working correctly. If you are unable to see me, then simply find someone to take your measurements weekly and send them through so I can monitor your progress. At the end of the day, it is my job to teach you to train so you don't need me.