On the flip side, what I am good at – creating brutal training programmes and then pushing trainees way beyond their comfort zones, is really how I made my name, and returning to it just feels so good and so right.  Where a lot of people miss the point with so-called “hard” exercise routines is that a series of exercises does not necessarily constitute an effective programme.  We can all throw a few ingredients into the cooking pot, but it doesnâ€t make us Gordon Ramsey!  On the other hand, if I am allowed to stick with cooking parlance for a wee while longer, it is possible to over-egg the pudding and make everything way too complicated for what is needed.  A pre-Olympic periodisation programme for example, is not required for the bread and butter of most personal trainers’ work – improving fat loss and conditioning.

The workout included in this blog is, I hope, a good example of both principles at work.  The primary thing one needs to do when writing a programme is look at the purpose.  This applies to ALL aspects of training, including what we are dealing with today, something that is most commonly referred to as energy systems training.  The purpose behind the “Jedward Get Fit workout” was simple – to create a brief, but tough, fat burning workout that mimicked our Viking & Valkyrie modified strongman sessions, whilst using the minimal of equipment so that it would be easy for you to try out / modify at home.  I also wanted to create a workout that most people could have a crack at, slightly differed from our weight training norm, and would **** ** the two key participants, James Langley and Eddie Baruta.  James and Eddie, better known to all of us as the famed instructor “Jeddie” from Viking & Valkyrie strongman training fame, are a pair of very fit men, but they are used to relatively complete recovery periods and straight anaerobic training.  So it was time to shake things, and them, up a bit!

 Jedward Baruta “resting” between sets…

The Jedward workout programme:

This is not a strength training session, nor is it hypertrophy oriented.  Certain limited strength and muscle gains could come from such a protocol, but these would be mere side effects and restricted .  The goal here is to promote fat loss by elevating the metabolism both during and after the workout, improve stamina and both anaerobic and aerobic fitness.

Exercise duration – 30 secs Time Under Tension /  minimal concern with tempo / simply unleash on each rep trying to get as much done as possible in the 30 second window.  Think of it as “sprinting” on each exercise.

I chose 7 exercises, which equate to 7 minutes “live training”.  Anything more and form would most likely go.  Plus I wanted them to able to go for each exercise with maximum focus.  Quality always beats quantity.   This strategy has a huge bearing on exercise selection and order, as the most neurologically complex and challenging movement (chin ups) needed to go first.

Yes, I know that the final exercise of “takedowns” could arguably be classed as neurologically complex in one respect but there is no extra resistance added, and it would not have challenged them as anaerobically as the more traditional resistance training movements.  In my opinion part of the effectiveness of this programme is built around an exercise order that structures the energy systems being used as moving from anaerobic to aerobic pathways.   Hence chin ups and lunges performed earlier in the circuit lend themselves more to being anaerobic (because they require something closer to maximal intensity) than our make-do version of the prowler or takedowns at the circuitâ€s end.

A1. Mixed Grip Chin Ups (changing the grip every fourth rep)

30 secs rest

A2. Walking Lunges (using chains around the neck to add load and save the grip)

30 secs rest

A3. Mirella Clark Press Ups

30 secs rest

A4. Sled Pull (moving backwards)

30 secs rest

A5. Dips

30 secs rest

A6. Prowler

30 secs rest

A7. “Takedowns”

120 secs rest, repeat 3 times in total.

PLEASE INSERT VIDEO HERE

A Word on Energy Systems Training

The type of metabolic resistance workout written up here is best described as an energy systems workout.  This is because the set work to recovery ratios suggest a focus on energy systems work over something such as hypertrophy or strength.  I will hold my hands up and say that I am not an expert on the nuances of energy systems training, and my research around the subject has led me to the conclusion that the only real experts who can define what exact energy pathways a specific workout might hit are probably exercise physiologists.

The Jeddie workout was written with no distinct energy systems parameters in mind, it was more about putting something together that would tax both aerobic and anaerobic systems and leave Jeddie as masses of quivering jelly on the ground.  It did its job!  And if I were putting together a conditioning workout for an athlete then Iâ€d pay far less attention to theories and definitions, and instead focus on replicating the very specific work to recovery ratios and attendant energy system demands of their given sport.

Normally James only looks like this after a long night out…

I asked a few bone fide professional Strength & Conditioning coaches about the Jeddie workout as I was unclear whether one energy system would dominate, my suspicion was that we would hit them all as the workout progressed from being anaerobic to aerobic.  One answer I received was that it works anaerobic lactic capacity (which upon further reading is the opinion I am inclined to follow IF all the exercises had been ones that allowed for maximal intensity), although other responses from highly credible sources suggested that the rest periods are too insignificant for the lactate system to predominate, and that aerobic contribution will kick in.  This would be especially true when performing movements such as the takedowns.

In all honesty I am not a sports scientist, and as fascinating a subject as energy pathways are to me, I suspect they are convoluted and overly detailed for many of my readers.  The fact of the matter is that having an understanding and appreciation of these things can only do you good when seeking to optimize conditioning and performance, but it is something that should concern the professional sports coach more than is my own forte – which is helping people to get into the best shape of their lives.

I will say that the resource I dug out that explains energy systems in a very clear and cogent fashion can be found at the broad ranging and extremely interesting website of UK Athletics Coach Brian Mackenzie www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm.

As ever, if you have any comments to add please feel free to speak / write up and I’ll do my best to respond as soon as possible.  Do bear in mind that there is no magic bullet when it comes to this type of training and many other exercises would have worked just as well as alternatives.  I was working with what we had at hand, circumventing pre-existing injuries, and wanting to showcase a quite different fat loss workout than that featured in the popular cardio training programme blog and it’s “weight training for women” video.  If you have liked this blog in anyway then I’d also be grateful if you can just click on the like / share buttons to your left so that more people can potentially learn that the right way too train is far less mystical than some would have you believe!

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“Morning is the best time to consume sweets because that’s when the body’s metabolism is most active – and we have the rest of the day to work off the calories, a new study shows.
Eating cookies or chocolate as part of breakfast that includes proteins and carbs also helps stem the craving for sweets later.”

For those who struggle with their weight / body fat when they start off the day eating sweet things it mentally sets them up to keep on eating them throughout the day.

After all, did they become overweight by only eating one piece of cake?

Your best solution is to eat your “sweet things” later in the day and have a breakfast that is protein and fat rich, and carbohydrate light.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9069276/Chocolate-cake-breakfast-could-help-you-lose-weight.html

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UP is hiring for a unique job in the fitness / personal training industry. As cliched as it sounds only top flight candidates should apply.

The Role: to work at the right hand of UP Founder Nick Mitchell to help deliver and execute the marketing strategy and campaigns for the global UP business.

The possible diversity of this position is both its strength and its weakness. The right candidate will be covering a huge amount of ground within both the existing UP businesses and on new ventures as we expand to new territories and experiment with innovative products.

This is not a Personal Training gym floor role, and you do not need to be a “fitness expert”.

But you do need to possess the following critical qualities:

1) A keen commercial brain with a track record in being able to think for yourself.

2) A buccaneering spirit. We are a rapidly growing company and we want a team who can grow in scope and responsibility with us. This also means that we don’t believe in micro-managing. We want you to add value. You also need to know how to take instructions and execute.  If you think “maverick” describes you, then being self-employed will suit you better than working for UP.

3) A strong work ethic. Everyone talks a good game when it comes to hard work, but in this job there really is nowhere to hide. Expectations are high, the intensity level is always cranked up to the maximum, and the rewards and goals are commensurate to that.  You would be reporting directly into Nick Mitchell which means there no real off days, you would need to be able to deal with pressure and a rapidly changing mandate, and you would be resilient in the face of constructive criticism. Perfection is not expected, but striving to be the very best and doing whatever it takes are the only approaches to adopt if you want to make this job your own.

4) A team player. We want you to want to be a star. But a star who is one part of a team, not a solo operator. You would need to be comfortable integrating with a marketing team, the global management team, and the Personal Training team.

5) Organised, numerate, and articulate. These are non-negotiable skills for this role. We need you to wear multiple hats and be comfortable with computers, spreadsheets and clients! And no, this doesn’t mean we expect you to be able to code software or write financial spreadsheets, we simply want you to be savvy and interested in the technology needed to efficiently run an international, client facing business.

6) Literate – if you enjoy writing and editing then this is a big plus.

7) Passion! Those who succeed within our company culture are diverse and very different characters, but they all have one thing in common – enormous passion for our goal of creating something that is special and unique within the fitness industry. This job advert either speaks your language or it is not for you. Half measures do not exist in our world.  This applies to every position within UP, but goes double for this job as it involves such a close working relationship with our Founder.
If you are a man / woman who doesn’t do thing by half, and want to grow a business focused career in the fitness industry then please email info@UPFitness.co.uk with a CV and a covering letter telling us why you think you are special.

We’d love to hear from you.

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The teaching trend seen lately of overcomplicating training in order to sound smart is very often done at the expense of results.

Program design and exercise selection are all things that require thought, precision and education, but disappearing up your own bottom in an attempt to reinvent the wheel means the point is almost always missed.

Did you know that almost all the best (in the context of ‘results producing for body composition’) trainers can explain what they are doing in simple terms that make the penny drop with an “aha” moment?

Standard gym exposure for a PT client is 3 hours a week, trust me when I tell you that in the grand scheme of important things (fat loss, muscle building, postural improvements, better overall “fitness”, improved CV, client value and retention) mastering the fundamentals and then milking them for all they are worth is the key to your success.

Of course, “mastering fundamentals” is something that is still sorely lacking in general and requires a book, or more like a bible, in itself, but don’t fall into the trap of overcomplicating every little thing. I’ve seen it happen many times, and it always makes for a less effective Personal Trainer.

Here’s a photo of our 48 year old client Rob, as trained by the always marvellous Sean Murphy.  Sean thinks about every little thing that he does, agonises over the detail that he gives to his client, but in the end the programs that he delivers and the thought processes behind it are filled with clarity, concision and a lack of jargon / overcomplexity / sweating of the small stuff at the expense of the fundamentals – 

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You may not agree with everything that this person tells you, and that’s no bad thing. After all how boring would life be if there was no such thing as debate?

Provoking thoughts and creative discussion is far more enlightening for all parties concerned than rote agreement, as I personally experience whenever I the pleasure of debating training principles with Dr Hassan Zaid.

I first encountered Hassan when I stumbled across an article that he had written questioning the commonly held view that most people suffer from “tight hamstrings”. He spoke my language and articulated my own thoughts in an erudite manner that told of education in the classroom and experience on the gym floor. I had to find out more and when I found out that he was a London based chiropractor with some world class powerlifting totals I sought him out to see if he could fix my broken body.

He helped me enough in the tiny amount of time that I had free when visiting London for me to bring him into UP to head up our new UP Therapy operation out of the Mayfair gym!

The qualities that helps set him apart from a “high street chiropractor” (and I mean this not in a pejorative manner at all) are not simply his thirst for knowledge and passion, but his years of weight training, specifically powerlifting, experience. For a therapist to resonate with any of us in the personal training / bodybuilding / gym game we need to find a specialist who appreciates the unique stresses that we put our bodies through, and just as critically one who understands that therabands and stretching just don’t cut it.

Not stretching is in fact one of the things that Hassan will be teaching at his upcoming London seminar. You may not wholly buy the theory, and I certainly value the benefits of stretching myself, but his ideas also have massive merit and enable us to have a better overall grasp of what the best exercise modalities are for both ourselves and our personal training clients.

I’ll add a quick word on what powerlifters learn and their advantage over bodybuilders. Almost always a powerlifter knows far less about diet than a bodybuilder. Yes there are exceptions in both camps, don’t flame me here as I am making generalisations over the internet. On the flip side, most intelligent and cerebral powerlifters I have met have spent a hell of a lot longer than their bodybuilding counterparts on breaking down movements and analyzing the ways to get stronger and more efficient in the gym.

What is great about Hassan’s approach is that he has coupled chiropractic with powerlifting, learning his gym craft at the legendary Genesis Gym of Dave Bulldog Beattie, to come up with his own unique philosophy and approach.

He has done wonders for my movement and pain, as I type these words is away working with the German athletics sprint team, and is fixing both clients and trainers left right and centre at UP Mayfair. So I thought it was time to help teach a wider audience some of his magic!

To that end we have a seminar (“How to rapidly improve your gym performance”) coming up on Sunday May 31^st at our London Mayfair gym. You can find all the details at the link below and for the next two weeks there is an early bird price of just £250 which is a bargain compared to what some other courses go for these days. We are not charging a lot because we think the widest possible audience needs to be challenged with some “Hassanisms”!

 CLICK HERE – HOW TO RAPIDLY IMPROVE YOUR GYM PERFORMANCE.

You will learn the following:

Is Stretching a Waste of Time? Muscle activation and applied reciprocal inhibition.

Box squatting – great tool or dangerous risk?

Bracing techniques – learn the correct way to perform the most important bracing technique to optimise maximal strength for both upper and lower body lifts.

Grip and muscle activation – learn how to selectively activate and de-activate different muscles of the upper body through the simple manipulation of your grip.

Principles of neurology and fascial bands – grasp the fundamental principles of the functionality of the nervous system.

Foot and ankle mechanics (the windlass effect) and Olympic lifting shoes.

CLICK HERE – HOW TO RAPIDLY IMPROVE YOUR GYM PERFORMANCE.

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In a good way.

(You can subscribe too if you follow this link.   I’ve started to send out emails regularly and so far haven’t tried to sell a single thing (I am sure that can’t last forever!)  so you won’t be spammed that’s for sure.)

I hadn’t thought of sharing the message but the email subs inbox has been so overwhelmed with responses I think putting it out there for debate might be a positive thing:

“Have you spent much time on Facebook lately?

I sincerely hope that the answer to this question is in the negative.

I think FB is the spawn of Satan. It sucks up time where we look at idealised presentations of other people’s lives and has even been proven to have a harmful impact on our state of mind.

And as a work / marketing tool, where I have always viewed it as a necessary evil, the harsh reality is that as a higher end Personal Training business social media has largely been an irrelevance. There are far better rewards to be reaped by focusing on other ways to share content and ideas. I am convinced that the same could be said for how you use social media.

And then of course we have the trolls… I actually find the trolls massively amusing but I can’t engage them in the manner that I really want to. If you’d like to see the art of troll baiting done to perfection then look up the singer James Blunt on twitter.

However I do get aggrieved with the idiots who accuse us of lying / faking results. To me that is disrespectful of the brilliant efforts put in by our clients and trainers and is the one way to guarantee to send me incendiary. The flak that we’ve received for the amazing efforts of Glenn Parker (picture below) always gets on my goat. I’ve always gone to great lengths to say that his 15 week program was the ultimate in extreme sacrifice and that it isn’t a realistic approach for the regular working man or woman (as opposed to Joe Warner’s 12 Week Body Plan transformation that was all about being accessible at just 4 hours a week of exercise).

All in all I think my own life would be better off without social media, and because it may not impact my business I am seriously thinking of dropping it all.

Would you believe one “fitness women” once suggested someone should abuse my daughter?!

Sticks and stones and all that, but there are lines that should never ever be crossed.

Rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater I am thinking that I should drop the lowest common denominator social media (FB and possibly twitter) and as a business just use LinkedIn. So this is a quick heads up that if you do follow UP / me I may drop them entirely because the defamation, threats, and general drama has just become too off putting.

I can promise though that we will start to update our LinkedIn page every single day – you can find thatHERE.

If you want to connect to me directly on LinkedIn you can also do that here – NM LinkedIn.

Yours without drama, Nick”

There have been an overwhelming number of messages of support for the work that we do and the help that we have given via social media, and for that I am enormously grateful and humbled.  I’ve tried to respond to as many as possible, but there have been several hundred emails back and it’s impossible to reply to everyone individually.

For me, this message was less about idiots getting to me / bringing me down and more about focusing my time on the positive so that I can maximise my time to help people (without the distraction of the idiots and trolls).

What are your thoughts on this?

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For the rest of us, New Year’s resolutions can be a fine opportunity for making a much needed change.

A lot of fitness professionals fall into the trap of getting all sniffy at the hordes of January gym goers, but to my mind everyone who seeks to make a positive change in their life should be applauded. Things like this do not help anybody:

So what if we always make the same resolutions year in and year out, and never quite get there. I always tell myself that I’ll get to and hold 8% body fat and it never happens. Getting there is always doable for me, keeping it, never. Because eventually I am not bothered enough and something else takes precedence, even if it is something as trivial seeming as satisfying my taste buds with more cheese and ham toasted sandwiches than are good for me.

I don’t want it badly enough and my “resolution” fades.

But even short term resolutions can have a positive impact. Spending six weeks on blasting yourself into shape, cramming for an exam, or smashing out the ever procrastinated home DIY jobs can all be beneficial once the initial impetus has gone. You’ve finally fixed the downstairs bathroom and the wife is off your case, you passed your exam at last, and whilst holding peak shape may not be possible it is a damn sight easier stay lean once you’re already there than it is drop the fat in the first place. So allowing the foot to come off the gas a little bit and resolutions to lose their bite is perfectly acceptable.

There is however a world of difference in my eyes between a resolution and making a “change”.

Using the New Year as a kickstart for a resolution is a great tool for all of us, but when it comes time to make a difference in your life and change something you should do it right now, regardless of the time of the year, your life circumstances, or the alignment of the stars your personal horoscope.

How Many Bullsh*t Excuses?! 

Do you know how many times I’ve heard people say “I want to start your / his / her program but I can’t because…(insert as many as you like of the following bullshit excuses) I am too busy with work / the kids take up too much of my time / I am studying too hard / I don’t have the money to sign up / there are no gyms near me / I can’t afford the food / I am waiting for my supplements to be delivered / I have a bad back and am waiting on… / my wife / husband doesn’t want me to go to the gym!!

I am sure that you can add a few extra to that but I’m going to stop here because I’ve irritated myself even writing this drivel out.

Here are the responses that you should give yourself if you feel one of these statements starts to slip inexorably into your weakened mind:

I am too busy with work

A valid excuse if you work 100 plus hours a week, but even then you have time to take some fast walks and do some home based HIIT exercise. Plus no one is forcing fast food down your mouth and healthy options are not so hard to access these days.

And my bigger question here is how many of you really work 100 hours a week?! Even I don’t do that and I am lunatic workaholic who is supported by a spouse who takes care of every single domestic need that I have.

The kids take up too much of my time

You are a role model to your children.

Whether you like it or not they WILL emulate you.

Make the time to exercise and be healthy and set the most important example possible to the most important people who will ever come into your life.

I started writing today’s post from a desk overlooking Disney in Florida. You may not be as bad as some of the childhood obesity cases I’ve seen here (what should only be called child abuse) but hopefully you get my point.

I am studying too hard

If you’re in the final two weeks of your Law or Medicine Finals then no big deal and study away. But if we are referring to long term studying then pulling your head out of your books for an hour of exercise three times a week is only ever going to benefit your mental capabilities.

And as for following a bad diet because of studies (or work) please allow me to put this excuse to bed right now.

You may not be able to eat for “maximum results in minimum time” because there is an effort, time cost, and mental and physical energy expenditure in a focused fat loss or even muscle gain. However, you cannot even come to the debating table with me on my statement that your focus should be on eating for enhanced productivity.

Eating for enhanced productivity is exactly what I do these days and it keeps my body fat levels in reasonable check, my muscle mass stays the same, and I feel both healthy and massively productive.

Guess what…that means no wild blood sugar fluctuations, controlling my carbs, and eating “food from the land” at regular intervals throughout the day. And if I succumb to a sugar binge, as is my own weakness, I do it at the right time, if such a thing exists, at the end of the day when it doesn’t negatively interfere with my work or training.

I don’t have the money to sign up

To be clear we are not talking about signing up for pricey personal training, although my (clearly hugely biased) view on personal training investment is that if you find the right PT you can learn more in six weeks than you will in years of spinning your wheels. And one look at the sort of results we achieve at UP also adds weight to the notion that 12 weeks (like Tariq’s photos below) with us equals 12-24 months standard gym membership / time / effort. Or even a lifetimes!

Do you have Sky TV? Do you go to Starbucks everyday? Do you eat out regularly? Do you spend funds on non-essentials that are not housing, health, education, travel related?

If you answered yes to any of those questions then stop bullshitting me that you can’t afford a gym! Especially when budget gyms now dominate the landscape and you can train in a not half bad gym for a tenner a month!

And if you really are so stretched that you can’t afford to join a gym then how about using your imagination and putting together a park / outdoor workout? Yes, I admit it won’t be as effective in the long run but it can still work, and work well!

There are no gyms near me

I refer you to my point above – train in your garden, the park or even your bedroom.

That’s where and how I started myself. And then when I was old enough I’d get a bus every Saturday and Sunday to take me to the nearest town, so that I could train in the closest thing that passed for a gym back in rural Yorkshire in the 1980s.

I can’t afford the food

Just because you cannot afford to eat two servings of grass fed steak, an abundance of organic fruit and veg, and free range eggs every day does not mean that you cannot afford to eat either healthily or “better” than you currently are.

It is not, and should never be an either / or situation.

Basic staples such as cheaper cuts of supermarket meat, frozen fish and chicken, tins of tuna, and “economy” fruit and vegetables are affordable for most of us. I sympathize with those who have genuine issues in putting food on their plate, but this isn’t a post aimed at people who are literally on the breadline. It is aimed at the excuse makers who whine about the cost of food but still can afford a six-pack of beer every Friday night and a pizza on a Saturday.

Where there is a will there is a way. An expression that really could be applied to addressing all these excuses and obstacles to change.

I am waiting for my supplements to be delivered

Quite honestly the lamest excuse in the history of all lame excuses.

Supplements can help don’t get me wrong. But they only ever really help body composition results a “little bit” unless they are products that help fix underlying health issues.

Remind yourself that an astonishing number of fantastic natural, non-drug assisted physiques were built long before there was ever such a thing as the supplement industry.

I have a bad back and am waiting to get better…

A slightly controversial point perhaps, but nonetheless the number of times I’ve heard feeble excuses because of injuries is staggering.

After 30 years of hard weight training and the inevitable wear and tear of middle age, I am full of niggling aches and pains and never a day goes by without my neck giving me issues. Yet I know people who won’t exercise if anything at all hurts them.

Firstly and most easily for everyone, we can work safely around most injuries.

Secondly, injuries are far more often than not helped by out exercising properly and keeping active. To use one very common example, you may want to rest because you have a bad back, but in many cases exercising by activating the glutes and stretching out the rectus femoris with full ROM movements can have a profoundly more positive effect than plain old bed rest.

My wife / husband doesn’t want me to go to the gym

My instinctive reaction to this statement is always the same – “find a new relationship”.

I appreciate that isn’t too realistic, but for those of you who are younger and not locked in with families please do heed my words of experience when I tell you that if you have a whining partner now, it is only going to get worse. And as you get older you will more and more crave a simple life free of moaning.

You should always but always find someone who supports your need to stay fit and healthy. I know that sounds kind of obvious, but I have encountered many men over the years who have had to stop going to the gym because of the shrew at home.

And a productive and constructive way around this issue? Exercise together. Again, home workouts may not be the paradigm but they are infinitely better than nothing.

The bottom line with all of these excuses is that you cannot ever try to seek out the perfect time to make a change. It will never ever happen. So jack in all of your excuses and if you want to change then do it right now.

And if the turning of the year makes you step back to look at ways to improve your life, then more power to you.

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Here’s a cheeky little hotel gym workout that I just completed that’s left me nice and wobbly without having to use heavy weights.

Of course that begs the question, do I have some objection to using heavy load? The answer of course is a resounding no. I have however just stepped off a ten hour plan journey 12 hours ago, am jet lagged, have had about ten hours sleep in three nights, and am neither properly nourished nor physically ready to put my spin through anything that will challenge it. But funnily enough I’m all fired up to train and if the mind is willing then there’s always a way to smash it up a bit!

Hotel Gym Workout – Legs!!

A1: Leg Curls – 6 reps, 4010 tempo, feet plantar flexed (toes pointed downwards) and pyramiding up in weight until I could no longer get 6 clean reps. This took about 6 sets and then I switched to the full stack and dorsi flexed (toes and foot angled up towards the shin bringing the calves into play). Two sets of 6 reps and then a final set where I went it failure on about four mini drop sets.

No Rest

A2: seated Calf Extensions – 2121 tempo, each set done for 60 seconds and the final 3 sets were done for two minutes each.

60 – 90 seconds rest

B: Hammer Leg Press – 3010 tempo, most of the reps were 60% range of motion as I would go as deep as possible whilst maintaining good form (hips down) but only go up to about 60% of full extension. Each set was timed for two minutes so you will appreciate that I am just not man enough to maintain that type of tension for two straight minutes and as the burn intensified the odd lockout was necessary.

2-3 minutes rest

C: Sissy Squats – 3110 tempo, 15 reps, same principle as with the leg presses this time only going up to about 75% of full extension until the burn necessitated a cop out and a quick leg shake!

1 minute rest

D: Leg Extensions – 2021, I didn’t count reps and instead focused on tension and continuous contraction. I did only two sets here but extended each set with two rest pauses when I hit concentric failure.

1 minute rest between sets

E: a 10 minute jelly legged walk home where all the women in the hotel thought “who is this strange man with the glassy eyed stare” and all the men thought “who is this drunk returning back so late to his hotel room”.

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This “muscle model” (I’m not taking the micky, this is really what they are called) has a superlative physique, so much so that even I was aware of his name and I really don’t follow the WBFF and any of its OTT social media legends at all.  The kindest thing I can say is that it just is not aimed or marketed at someone like me.

With a great physique doesn’t always come a great brain, but there’s usually a solid work ethic.  Mark that double for the Dutch South African stock that I assume he comes from.  In my experience South Africans have always been very hard workers.

It seems that the woefully misguided JDB has been caught plagiarising the work of John Meadows and selling Meadows’ programs as his own. Which isn’t just outright dishonest, but also so lazy and dumb that words fail me.  It is all too easy to “get away” with ripping someone’s plan just by tweaking exercise selection. It is still very much blurring the lines of ethics, but it won’t be illegal.

I don’t really want to single one man out in an industry that is rife with this problem, but he’s the most recent high profile incident of a combined hat trick of laziness, stupidity and dishonesty.

I know of so many cases of what we can loosely call fitness industry content theft that many of you would be shocked.  The book put out by “AC” with no reference to the mounds of lifted Lyle Mcdonald work is the worst example that I have seen (AC did the same to Ian King too), but every day we now hear of some online coach / guru being caught out.  I’ve suffered it as much as anybody, which is probably the reason I’m motivated to write today, and have even had the UP Personal Training website cloned no less that three times by idiots without even the brains / work ethic to paraphrase / reword me.  Amazingly enough one fool down Exeter way who was caught out (because they were so stupid as to leave the name of my business within their website copy that was an amateur attempt at cloning part of our site) tries to deny it and never apologised, but these things never leave you and he will be haunted by it should he ever leave his tiny fiefdom.

I do of course also own what might be the world’s most ripped off set of transformation photos.  So ripped off in fact that not just your common or garden trainer passes it off as his own, but even one of the most well known American “gurus” / trainers in the world.  Apparently he thought it was someone who had done his free online program off bodybuilding.com…you can make up your mind as to whether you believe that:

This result apparently slipped through the net and was assumed to be just one of many a trainer achieved via his free online program…”things that make you go hmm about current ethics in the fitness industry…”

Ethics in the fitness industry: what’s the moral of the story here?

1) Do your research before parting with any money and trust those with real life, bricks and mortar businesses more than those who can hide behind the smoke and mirrors of the internet.  This of course is no guarantee of quality but I’d argue that it helps.

2) The fitness industry is still a relatively small world and online reputations can be lost in a second.  So tread carefully and remember that emulating and being inspired by someone’s work (which we all have done) is a world away from the dishonesty of passing off another’s work as your own.

If you think a plan / article / program that you have written owes homage to one man then pay that homage and credit them.  You’ll be doing yourself a favour because reference to a third party / credible source will make you look like you’ve done your homework, you’ll be paying it back to the person who inspired you (who may see your reference and be grateful – always a good thing in business), and you’ll have the satisfaction of being an honest and decent person.  Something that seems to be sorely lacking in the current “every man for himself” environment of the fitness industry.

It is time for a change.

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The old me would have given you some tips to mitigate the damage of overindulging, so at the foot of this piece you’ll find some tips I’ve warmed up like old Boxing Day turkey, but the new me feels a bit torn. Should I take a stand against excess, or should I say “do what makes you happy”?

I can’t answer the question for you, but I can tell you that if you’ve had a healthy year and are physically where you’d like to be then a week or two off at Christmas isn’t going to make any real difference.

The time when we need to address caution comes if you fall into one of the following camps:

1)   You’ve already had a bad year. Piling cr*p on top of cr*p is a sure fire way to mess yourself up. The wiggle room that the body gives you when you are lean and functioning optimally, versus being fat and hormonally struggling, is immense. To really be able to get away with your so-called “bad food” you really do have to deserve it. This doesn’t mean that “Nick Mitchell says go Paleo on Christmas Day”, but if you measure your Quality Street consumption by the tin and not the sweet you will need to rein it in.

2)   You’re a competing physique athlete. Yes, you really should be lean enough to “get away” with splurging, but greatness never came to those with “what can I get away with” mindset. A few days off is to be encouraged, but don’t let it slip into being a few weeks off. You do not have normal goals, therefore the sacrifice that you must be willing to make is that you cannot quite live a normal life. The flexible dieting bullsh*tters will try to sell you that I am talking rubbish, but physique competition and self-sacrifice are inextricably linked. Get used to it buttercup.

3)   You make yourself neurotic worrying about the damage you are doing by coming off your normal diet. If Christmas is a time for worry and stress about how you’ll avoid all the seasonal pitfalls, then you need to make one of two very simple, but always easy to put into practice, shifts in your mindset. Either you get a grip and realise that life is for living, something that tends to come with age as we mature and become less obsessed with our abdominals, or you reconcile yourself to the fact that you are not comfortable with regular Christmas eating habits and you stick two fingers up at convention and please yourself.

I really do dislike all the dogma that comes with nutrition in the fitness world. There are the fools who look down on the “clean eaters”, and there are the morons who look down on people who eat regular foods. The former are usually much more present, rabid and obnoxious than the latter, represented as they are by some of the leading fitness industry Pied Pipers of juvenile antagonism.

If YOU feel happier sticking to your diet over any holiday period then do it! Christmas is a time when we relax and do more of what we want…and if you relax by eating your chicken and broccoli then knock yourself out and make yourself happy.

What am I going to do this Christmas?

I’ll be away on family holiday for all of Christmas and that means more meals out, hotel breakfasts, and ice cream treats.

The way I will manage it so that I feel energetic, healthy and active is that I expect to have one or two mega carb breakfasts and then after that the struggle to get going for the rest of the day will pull me into eating lower carb, higher fat during the day (mountains of bacon and eggs beats out muffins and muesli every time) and then when I put my feet up in the evening (all holidays with young children are active during the day) I will eat whatever I fancy.

I’ll get up extremely early every morning, because the time difference in the Bahamas / US makes that very easy, and train just on coffee and aminos every day. I am not going to stress about perfect workouts so it will be all about the reps and range of motion in order to get maximum blood flow, an elevated heart rate, and an attempt to keep my body as insulin sensitive as possible. I’ve noticed that as I get older this makes a huge impact on just how much I can get away with when away from my regular regime.

In fact as I write this I am getting a little bit excited thinking about what 1000 rep workout delights I can put myself through next week, and just how many weird looks I’ll get from Mr and Mrs Jones as they hold onto the treadmill and crank out a 3mph 2% gradient extravaganza!

Christmas Diet Tips: 

1) The primary rule of thumb for limiting festive damage to your diet at Christmas is to ensure that you drink plenty of water. I know this is a boring point, you have all heard it a hundred times before, and you are expecting me to pull a few new surprises out of my nutritional bag of tricks (patience Grasshopper), but it is of fundamental importance. Adequate hydration will enable your body to cope far better with the deleterious effects of alcohol, it will fill you up and prevent you stuffing your face all in one go, and it will allow you to process your inevitably high carbohydrate consumption far more effectively.

2) Overdosing on the Quality Streets will suck up your body’s available B vitamins, so keeping a few multi B vitamins handy is a smart way to enable your body to cope with an excess of sugar.

3) Something that I always recommend that our personal training clients do in “party circumstances” is to strike a balance between carbohydrates and protein consumption. You may not feel like doing it, but a quick protein shake will blunt any sugar high and its inevitable crash, and this in turn will help to keep you lean by limiting the insulin / cortisol seesaw syndrome caused by excessive swings in blood sugar levels. This trick really will help limit the damage and make dieting at Christmas far more bearable.

4) One less well known but highly effective Christmas diet tip is to supplement with the widely available amino acid glutamine. This product isn’t enhancing merely to the immune system, it also helps limit the desire for both alcohol and sugary foods! 5 to 10 grams in a glass of water before you go out should help, and for those of you with carbohydrate cravings that you can’t control try 10 grams of glutamine with 4oz of heavy cream. It sounds awful, but it kills sugar cravings stone cold dead in its tracks and makes dieting at Christmas an awful lot easier.

5) Another supplement that should be at the top of all our Christmas wish lists is a high quality fish oil product. Ignore the fact that fish oils have been proven to have a positive effect on all diseases known to man and woman (both physical and mental), a decent dose of fish oil (minimum of 3 grams daily) massively enhances stable blood sugar levels to the extent that 1-2 gramm=s taken with a “bad carb” meal can mitigate the negative impact of rapidly elevated insulin levels by up to 70%, and turns on the lipolytic gene whilst turning off the lipogenic gene (the former is fat burning, the latter fat storing). Furthermore, fish oil is also anti inflammatory so that it can help fight the swelling and oedema associated with seasonal over indulgencies.

6) Other quick tips that we can all put into action for effective dieting at Christmas include adding a high fibre snack (my personal favourite is a handful of organic nuts) to help stabilise blood sugar, and if you are going to drink alcohol remember that relatively moderate quantities (1-2 glasses) of red wine is unquestionably the way to go. The flavonoids and antioxidants in red wine (most notably Muscadine wines and to a slightly lesser extent Pinot Noir and Merlot) are so beneficial to your health that I like to prescribe a small glass very night to all my clients regardless of the time of year!

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