What Motivates Clients? Your Stories!

Sean

Wow, good question.  The immediate response for me is that I want to like what I see in the mirror each morning.  Having been overweight to some degree for most of my life being "in shape" represents a huge positive achievement, something tangible that says if I work hard and am consistent and dedicated, I can improve myself.   It is a revelation to go shopping and realise I can buy a tight fitting shirt to look good in when the baggy style has always been my friend.

I like the positive reinforcement when a friend or colleague I haven't seen for a while says "hey, you're looking good" and I can modestly reply "yeh, I've been trying to eat healthy" or "I've been working out".
Kara referred in another post to "social capital", and while I have never thought of it that way I think there is a definite respect amongst my friends/colleagues/peers when you can honestly say that you're trying to look after yourself when my peers are working long hours, eating bad food and drinking too much.

On a short term reward scale, I look forward to breaking old personal records and setting new PR's.  I've never consciously experienced that endorphin rush that people talk about from exercise but sometimes I will go home after a big session on a massive high that can last for days and feel incredibly enthused about working out - best two examples were after one particularly intense boxing cardio/HIIT workout and the first time I squatted 100kg.  I felt great!

So maybe it's about ego and self respect for me?  I like being fitter but my lifestyle has never really required much in the way of fitness and I haven't really spent much time worrying about long term health issues.

Eloise

Brutal honesty that will make me sound like a complete superficial prat to follow:

I figure if you're a girl with a fairly tight body, then you don't ALWAYS have to worry about how the rest looks (i.e. face and hair), because y'know, at least you have your hot body to fall back on (you can insert some discourse on superficial image-driven society here to make me sound more intelligent and like this has any scientific backing). Some days my hair looks crap, or I didn't get enough sleep. If I can still wear a tight dress and rock the bust-waist-hip measurement aspect, then it's better than nothing.

What else... Oh yeah, I like being able to outdo boys at things. It's fun when you can do more push-ups than them. It's a lame little quasi-feminist notion of mine, even though actual "fit" boys can kick my butt. I take what I can get.

Other dumb things: Sometimes my friends and I get a bit drunk and bitchy and rag on fat people (I know, I know...). If we get fat, we can no longer share this immature joy.

I'm better in bed when I'm working out more (or at least less lazy)

If I'm in better shape I have a better chance of running for the bus and ACTUALLY making it, instead of looking like a loser and running and NOT making it, and standing there hating life.

Yes, these are the things that consume my mind on a daily basis. A nice mix of vanity and concern for my overall health and wellbeing :) 

 And finally, and perhaps more frighteningly, Cherie!

Hmmmm....being strong enough to Javelin-launch a 50+kg barbell at your head when you call me "Chezza"?

Destination: Abs (Redux)- Wk5.

Hey guys, no training diary blogs for a couple of weeks now, sorry about that, but there has been very little to report. As far as my back goes, I've had no body issues at all, and now that I'm in this new phase, I'm lifting heavier weights which is nice. As you'll see below, I've basically stopped doing intervals in the conventional sense, as in boxing, X-Trainer etc, I've replaced them with sled pushes and pulls, with moderately heavy weight. Why? It's functional strength work which will keep more muscle mass than simply sprinting or boxing will. I actually walked out pumped after doing these, and they're hard as hell!

These were my measurements as of the 28/08/11, for my previous measurements, see here.

Height- 185cm                    
Weight- 92.1kg
Bodyfat Percentage (skin folds)
Tricep- 19mm
Bicep- 3mm
Subscapula- 16mm
Supraillium- 19mm
Total- 57mm
Bodyfat Percentage= 20.47%.
OMRON= 18%

Girths
Arms Relaxed- R- 35.3cm, L- 35.5cm
Thighs- R 60cm, L 62cm
Chest- 103.5cm
Waist- 91.5cm
Hips 103.5cm

As you can see, I'm down just under 2% BF, and 1.5kgs, with only slight decreases in girths, which is nice, not much I know, but if I keep this up for the next couple of months I should start to get to a place I'm pretty happy with. My goal is to get as close to 10% as possible, I've planned to do this for 6 months, but have no problems going over. I'm not doing anything drastic, I'm not crash dieting, I'm still eating 7-9 meals a day, eating all the time really.  I've just cut out the junk, kept my protein levels high, and focused my weight and interval training to a higher intensity. I'm feeling no fatigue, or over training symptoms, in fact, I feel great!

 Here are some comparison photos from my first week til now, as always, I report, you decide!
 

So hopefully from these few pictures you can see some modest change in appearance. True, it's only been 5 weeks, and my Calories have not been dropped to an extreme level (not yet anyway). As any of you who train at CBD would see, I'm always carrying a smoothy around with me (with my bottle of water, and my file, yes I'm a dork!)

Alternating Set System
Day 1- MRT- Phase 2	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk1
A1: Dynamic Lunge	3	8*ea	60	17.5kg,20kg,20kg
A2: BB Pushpress	3	8*	60	45kg,45kg,45kg
B1: SLDL	3	8*	30	45kg,45kg,45kg
B2: NG Chins	3	8*	30	BW,BW,BW
C1: Jacknife (Feet on Fitball)	2	10	0	1,1
C2: Hanging Knee Raise	2	12	30	1,1
Day 2- HIIT
5-10 min warm up				Sled Pushes/Pulls with 70kg
1 minute on	7			1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
90 seconds off	7
Cool down 3-5 mins
Day 3- MRT	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk1
A1: DB Reverse Lunge	3	8*ea	30	20kg,22.5kg,22.5kg
A2: BB BO Row	3	8*	30	60kg,70kg,80kg
B1: DB Jump Squat	3	8*	30	15kg,20kg,22.5kg
B2: DB Incline Press	3	8*	30	25kg,27.5kg,30kg
C1: Pallof Press	2	12ea	0	80kg,80kg
C2: Rollout	2	12	30	8,10
Day 4- HIIT
5-10 min warm up				Sled Pushes/Pulls with 70kg
1 minute on	7			1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
90 seconds off	7
Cool down 3-5 mins
Day 5- MRT	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk1
A1: Dynamic Lunge	3	8*ea	60	20kg,20kg,20kg
A2: BB Pushpress	3	8*	60	50kg,60kg,60kg
B1: SLDL	3	8*	30	45kg,45kg,45kg
B2: NG Chins	3	8*	30	BW,BW,BW
C1: Jacknife (Feet on Fitball)	2	10	0	1,1
C2: Hanging Knee Raise	2	12	30	1,1
Day 6- HIIT
5-10 min warm up				Sled Pushes/Pulls with 70kg
1 minute on	7			1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
90 seconds off	7
Cool down 3-5 mins

Diet's been good, I've been going pretty hard on the bacon and eggs, but apart from the fact that they're fried, they're not affecting my fat loss (hopefully), I only eat one piece of (low fat) bacon, one egg, and one sausage, it's about 3-400 Calories. Apart from that no deviations, no junk, no alcohol (apart from that one night out). Feeling good!

Diet
Monday- 3200 Cals	T-S- 2600 Cals	Sunday- 2100 Cals
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
Oats/milk/30g pro powdr	Egg/whites/Spinach	Smoothy
Protein- 39g	Protein- 32.5g	Protein-29g
Carbs- 41g	Carbs- 1.5	Carbs- 45g
Fat- 8.2g	Fat- 13.4g	Fat- 4g
Total- 415 Cals	Total- 260 Cals	Total- 429 Cals
Morning Tea	Morning Tea	Morning Tea
x2veg sausages	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables	Egg/whites/Spinach
x1 multigrain bread	Protein-46.5g	Protein- 32.5g
butter	Carbs- 13.5	Carbs- 1.6
glass hi-lo milk	Fat- 18.2	Fat- 13.4g
Protein- 43.3g	Total- 420 Cals	Total- 260 Cals
Carbs- 31.5
Fat- 18g
Total- 473 Cals
Post Sleep	Post Sleep	Lunch
Vegetable smoothy	Vegetable smoothy	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables
Protein- 46.6g	Protein- 46.6g	Protein-46.5g
Carbs- 37.9g	Carbs- 37.9g	Carbs- 13.5
Fat- 3g	Fat- 3g	Fat- 18.2
Total- 411 Cals	Total- 411 Cals	Total- 420 Cals
Before Work	Before Work	Afternoon Tea
Smoothy	Smoothy	Vegetable smoothy
Protein-29g	Protein-58g	Protein- 46.6g
Carbs- 45g	Carbs- 90g	Carbs- 37.9g
Fat- 4g	Fat- 8.2	Fat- 3g
Total- 429 Cals	Total- 429 Cals	Total- 411 Cals
Post Workout Shake	Post Workout Shake	Dinner
x2 up n go/30g protein	x2 up n go/30g pro	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables
Protein- 45.1g	Protein- 45.1g	Protein-46.5g
Carbs- 55.7g	Carbs- 55.7g	Carbs- 13.5
Fat- 8.3g	Fat- 8.3g	Fat- 18.2
Total- 517 Cals	Total- 517 Cals	Total- 420 Cals
Post Workout Meal	Dinner	Evening
tofu/glass hi-lo milk	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables	Bacon and Eggs
Protein- 39.2	Protein-46.5g	Protein- 42.7g
Carbs- 36.4	Carbs- 13.5	Carbs-3.9g
Fat- 22.7	Fat- 18.2	Fat-28.9g
Total- 432 Cals	Total- 420 Cals	Total- 404 Cals
Before Work
Smoothy
Protein-29g
Carbs- 45g
Fat- 4g
Total- 429 Cals
Protein-276.2g	Protein- 268.9g	Protein- 233.6g
Carbs- 292.5g	Carbs- 198.6g	Carbs- 113.1g
Fat- 68.2g	Fat- 73.6	Fat- 70.2g
Max Total- 3109 Cals	Max Total-2460 Cals	Max Total- 2200 Cals

What Motivates Me? A Guide To Finding Your Own Motivation.

In wondering how to motivate my clients, I asked myself: "what motivates me?", and it's an interesting question. What does, intrinsically motivate me, what basic assumptions am I working under, that make me go through the rigmarole of the training life, the difficulties of lifting weights, doing intervals and dieting?

For me, it comes down to 2 ideas; (a)  the first 25 years of my life, especially my teen and early 20's, were spent eating junk food, drinking and generally punishing my body, and mind. I used to eat, 6 meat pies over a day, and the only liquid I would drink, by the gallon, was soft drink. When I diverted from this, it was to eat McDonald's, KFC, and still when I diverted from this, I drank booze! I never exercised, I stayed up all night, I did nothing positive to and for my body. This has put a fear in me about my latter days, am I going to get bowel/esophageal/stomach etc cancer at age 40 because of the crap I've done to myself?

Maybe. It's on the cards.

(b) I also, from about age 12, went absolutely spastic for comics, I own a modest collection of about 10,000 (don't ask how much money I spent on them!). What does this have to do with motivation? I grew up, as a skinny little dweeb (no wonder why when you look at the above eh?) who emulated muscle, the power, confidence and general appeal I took from that made me want to get involved with weight training, but I didn't know how.  Fortunately I worked with a big guy, who took me under his wing, let me train with him, and immediately, my inner geek, fan boy was addicted.

Trying to look like an action hero? That was for me.

These 2 driving principles, the desire to avoid an early death, and the desire to emulate the action heroes I grew up with, are what, at my core, motivate me. Don't get me wrong, I want to be healthy for health's sake, I enjoy learning about training etc, this has become my life, but the reason I get up at 5am to come to work, to train you guys, and to train myself, and to get better at it, starts from those two basic, intrinsic desires, that I'm barely conscious of anymore.

If you're wondering how to motivate yourself- ask yourself- what motivates you? At your core, what basic assumptions keep you where you are, from your goals, and from the body you want.

If you feel like sharing, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A Night Out.

So I went out drinking Saturday night, a work thing, and it constituted my first consumption of alcohol in 2-2 and a half months, and I gotta say... I don't miss it.

And I don't see why it's such a big deal.

I don't want to seem indifferent, I've certainly had my share of boozy nights, but I wonder why this is a part time obsession for Australians. I'm not a moral arbitrator of course, ultimately I don't mind what you do with the body you inhabit, the only people I have to regulate on this issue are the people who pay me to do so (and family members and loved ones?).

Having a night out, I was very aware that I felt like shit, even when drunk, and I came to the conclusion that alcohol allows people to romanticise; they romanticize the booze itself, their feelings when on it, their own lives and the emotional angst they may feel. And I worry that's where the feedback loop is, the encouragement, the reward. Alcohol becomes about escapism, about flying free from the imprisonment of the day to day, of the mundane so to speak.

But it's fake, it's an illusion and you pay for it, with your liver, mind/brain and most importantly, to me as your trainer, your bodyfat percentage levels.

The crap I ate over the weekend is sickening, I put myself back a few weeks with my eating habits from that night out, I feel lethargic, tired, de-motivated.

Therein lies the self fulfilling nature for habitual drinkers, is it your life that's keeping you down? Or the alcohol? A vicious cycle of drink, feel like crap, feel depressed, drink to escape that.

I don't envy anyone in that cycle, but for anyone who is willing to admit they may just be, there is hope, and it's a hope I've offered throughout this blog. Training, focusing on self improvement, your diet, these yield positive results and positive self reinforcement. Change the cycle, from drinking, self sacrifice, emotional angst, helplessness, to; positivity, training, feeling invigorated (endorphins), seeing results (confidence), repeat!

The first step is the hardest, realising alcohol is a problem that keeps you down, the second step is easy, removing elements in your life that allow you to get into that comfort zone: friends, habits etc, the third step is easiest: get in the gym and make healthy choices with your food!

Wow, doesn't this sound like a sermon, coming from an atheist!

Dialogues Between Shmoopy's.

Here's an interesting dialogue (re: email exchange) between myself and my uber brain girl

Kara

"Interesting dialogues blog, wonder how much class and pop culture/conspicuous consumption issues play a part in these kinds of questions generally."

My reply

"Class- definitely, pop culture- hmmm I'm unconvinced (is this a media= action thing? Refer to the porn blog), conspicuous consumption (hiding your drinking habits?)- I'll wait to comment until I understand..."

Kara

"I think being on a 'weird' diet is definitely a form of capital in today's society. People are always following celebrity diets and I think that can become a form of status among the pop culture literate. People who are like that wouldn't feel their friends wont like them cause they eat crap."

My reply

"I do too, it seems not in these instances, or perhaps cause I'm not a celebrity?"

Kara

"Hehe maybe but still alot of people would value being on a diet whatever it is, in terms of the status it would give them in front of their friends."

My language is pretty simple but I find what Kara was saying an interesting insight into the psychology and group mentality by someone whose perspective is of the larger cultural kind. My big brain girl!

Destination: Abs (Redux)- Wk3.

Sorry I missed last week, I don't want to simply post week to week if I have nothing particular to say. With that mindset in, well, mind, how am I progressing? To be honest, the results are coming slow, I look better in the mirror than I do on the scales. I'm feeling leaner, the clothes are loose, but the scales say I've actually put on almost a kg (with a reduction in BF of about 1%), I haven't done any serious assessments, simple OMRON and scales at the moment. I've got a major assessment coming up next week. It's insane the weight difference I feel and see from high to lower carb days (sometimes a difference of 3kgs), which messes with your head, but my goal is ultimately to keep as much muscle as possible, so doing it slow is fine (after all I want to look good around December, a considerable amount of time away).

Training is solid, back is feeling good, no pain or discomfort. I've been semi regularly doing my foam rolling and stretching. I've been trying to increase the weight, but it's really f-ing hard doing 15 rep sets with any moderate weight, increasing it just makes you want to die! HIIT is fun as always, especially the boxing, I really like the way I feel during dieting phases, I like the diet restrictions (as much as I constantly crave Nandos and nachos), and I like how clean and healthy I feel. You enjoy food more when you're not just eating crap all the time. Psychologically, I get far more enjoyment out of a piece of chocolate now, than I did eating a whole bag of malteasers before, not hard to see why.

Assessment next week guys, complete with photos and measurements, eep!

Alternating Set System
Day 1- MRT- Phase 1	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk3
A1: Fr-Squat Psh Press Cmbo	3	15	30	40kg,40kg,40kg
A2: Seated Cable Row	3	15	30	65kg,65kg,70kg
B1: DB Step Up	3	15ea	30	10kg,10kg,10kg
B2: Pushup (on Fitball)	3	15	30	15,15,15
C1: Glute Bridge	2	15	0	1,1
C2: Plank	2	60s	30	30s,30s
Day 2- HIIT
5-10 min warm up				X-Trainer
1 minute on	5			1,1,1,1,1
2 mins off	5			5min cooldown
Cool down 3-5 mins
Day 3- MRT	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk3
A1: Deadlift	3	15	30	60kg,60kg,70kg
A2: DB Alt Military Press	3	15	30	15kg,15kg,15kg
B1: DB RFESS	3	15ea	30	12.5kg,12.5kg,12.5kg
B2: Wide Grip Pulldown	3	15	30	75kg,75kg,75kg
C1: Landmine	2	15ea	0	25kg,25kg
C2: Rollout	2	15	30	8,10
Day 4- HIIT
5-10 min warm up				Boxing
1 minute on	5			1,1,1,1,1
2 mins off	5			5mins cooldown
Cool down 3-5 mins
Day 5- MRT	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk1
A1: Fr-Squat Psh Press Cmbo	3	15	30	40kg,40kg,40kg
A2: Seated Cable Row	3	15	30	75kg,75kg,75kg
B1: DB Step Up	3	15ea	30	15kg,15kg,15kg
B2: Pushup (on Fitball)	3	15	30	15,15,15
C1: Glute Bridge	2	15	0	1,1
C2: Plank	2	60s	30	30,30
Day 6- HIIT
5-10 min warm up
1 minute on	5		-
2 mins off	5		-
Cool down 3-5 mins

Diet has been good, for days that I've been feeling a bit naughty, I've been having (low fat) bacon, sausage eggs (as in x1 strip of bacon, x1 egg and x1 sausage which comes to about 350Cals, all protein and a little fat). I would recommend this to my clients who are on high protein diets, I would advise, however, not to have this type of meal with any carbs at all, no bread, no drink (other than water), its just too high in fat.

The diet took a massive hit over the weekend, after my night out on Friday (some thoughts on that coming in another blog, prepare for a rant people!). Nachos, large meals, ugh! And I have an assessment this week! Grr!

You really do realise it's the large portion sizes that contribute so much to the excess bodyfat, since I've been keeping most of my meals at about 400 Cals I've noticed the belly fat drip off. That would be another piece of advice to my clients, get rid of those gorging, large meals, you want to feel satisfied by the end of the meal, not sick.

Other than this past weekend, I've been on track with diet, eating right, for the first time in a long time. There is some debate about counting Calories, I used to be against doing it, and many professional coaches are, but I think it's worth doing at least once in your life (and by counting calories I simply mean working out your daily intake X your Physical Activity Level -  500-1000 Cals to drop weight, not weigh all meals etc). This way you get to see, objectively what you need to be eating, people often think they've got a pretty good hold on the Calories they're supposed to ingest in a day, I've seen people get it so wrong it's crazy, on both ends of the scales (I've seen girls eating 1500 Cals over what they're supposed to and guys eat that much under!). This is what you see most often with so called "hard gainers", they think they're eating a lot when in actuality, they're eating nothing, or binging and starving. The point is to consistently meet Calorie targets, with the adequate mix of protein and carbs.

Diet
Monday- 3200 Cals	T-S- 2600 Cals	Sunday- 2100 Cals
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
Oats/milk/30g pro powdr	Egg/whites/Spinach	Smoothy
Protein- 39g	Protein- 32.5g	Protein-29g
Carbs- 41g	Carbs- 1.5	Carbs- 45g
Fat- 8.2g	Fat- 13.4g	Fat- 4g
Total- 415 Cals	Total- 260 Cals	Total- 429 Cals
Morning Tea	Morning Tea	Morning Tea
x2veg sausages	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables	Egg/whites/Spinach
x1 multigrain bread	Protein-46.5g	Protein- 32.5g
butter	Carbs- 13.5	Carbs- 1.6
glass hi-lo milk	Fat- 18.2	Fat- 13.4g
Protein- 43.3g	Total- 420 Cals	Total- 260 Cals
Carbs- 31.5
Fat- 18g
Total- 473 Cals
Post Sleep	Post Sleep	Lunch
Vegetable smoothy	Vegetable smoothy	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables
Protein- 46.6g	Protein- 46.6g	Protein-46.5g
Carbs- 37.9g	Carbs- 37.9g	Carbs- 13.5
Fat- 3g	Fat- 3g	Fat- 18.2
Total- 411 Cals	Total- 411 Cals	Total- 420 Cals
Before Work	Before Work	Afternoon Tea
Smoothy	Smoothy	Vegetable smoothy
Protein-29g	Protein-58g	Protein- 46.6g
Carbs- 45g	Carbs- 90g	Carbs- 37.9g
Fat- 4g	Fat- 8.2	Fat- 3g
Total- 429 Cals	Total- 429 Cals	Total- 411 Cals
Post Workout Shake	Post Workout Shake	Dinner
x2 up n go/30g protein	x2 up n go/30g pro	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables
Protein- 45.1g	Protein- 45.1g	Protein-46.5g
Carbs- 55.7g	Carbs- 55.7g	Carbs- 13.5
Fat- 8.3g	Fat- 8.3g	Fat- 18.2
Total- 517 Cals	Total- 517 Cals	Total- 420 Cals
Post Workout Meal	Dinner	Evening
tofu/glass hi-lo milk	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables	Bacon and Eggs
Protein- 39.2	Protein-46.5g	Protein- 42.7g
Carbs- 36.4	Carbs- 13.5	Carbs-3.9g
Fat- 22.7	Fat- 18.2	Fat-28.9g
Total- 432 Cals	Total- 420 Cals	Total- 404 Cals
Before Work
Smoothy
Protein-29g
Carbs- 45g
Fat- 4g
Total- 429 Cals
Protein-276.2g	Protein- 268.9g	Protein- 233.6g
Carbs- 292.5g	Carbs- 198.6g	Carbs- 113.1g
Fat- 68.2g	Fat- 73.6	Fat- 70.2g
Max Total- 3109 Cals	Max Total-2460 Cals	Max Total- 2200 Cals

Client Response To "The Dialogues".

Cherie

"Everyone has days when they crave stuff they shouldn't have-alcohol, carbs! (oh, I do miss carbs), but I don't go around counting every calorie or wishing I could have this or that. Most days I don't even think about it. I eat a colourful salad, sip a green smoothie, crack open a tin of tuna- and I enjoy it. Even look forward to it (ok sometimes not the tuna). Sometimes I will give into the craving on those days, noone is perfect 100% of the time but it often is a conscious decision to ensure that "sometimes" doesn’t morph into "regular" or "often".

I know lots of men/women who refuse certain foods and beverages etc because they are following a training regime at various times- they aren’t considered boring by anyone I know. But if I do get asked why I'm not partaking, my response is simply - I don't feel like it (said with a smile!) or if I'm in a particularly hyper mood- I don't NEED it! :-)  It doesn’t have to be a big deal, I don’t have to be a martyr, I don’t have to provide a detailed explanation as to why my training goals don’t support a drinking habit, or a kebab complete with sour cream at 3am. I don’t have to be "that" girl, and in the end, if my friends don’t respect my choices, then perhaps I need new friends!

I'm not going to lie, wine was difficult to give up for the first week/end but again, now I don't even think about it unless I have a day like yesterday. However, even then, do I miss it because I want the wine or because it was simply a habit to reach for the glass after one of those looooong days at the office? When I finally dragged myself through the door at 8pm- I decided to reach for a glass of sparkling water instead and have an early night- which meant I still made it to my 6am yoga class and I felt great all day. I know that would not have happened if I'd had the wine -even if it was only a glass or two.

That's not to say I wouldn't have enjoyed the vino but it's about recognizing other pleasures derived from living by "the rules".

I am a creature of habit. A lot of the time the pleasure I derive from my actions/choices is largely due to the comfort of the habit, not necessarily the act/food/beverage itself.

A training program is not just about training your body, it's about training your mind, too.

However, at the end of the day, it all comes down to what you are willing to accept and/or sacrifice, you have to decide what makes you happy.

I'm not getting results at warp speed either- but I'm learning to enjoy living by the rules rather than dreading them- and for me that makes the process a whole lot more bearable (I also like to think it makes the days that I do fall off the wagon more forgivable!) and I hope, more successful, in the long term."

See the insightful people I get to work with?

And another client response: 

"... I agree with both of you...cos that’s how I feel...but saying that I know I have to be strict to get the results hence why I’m doing lite and easy, but the downside to that is only when I can afford it which means for say 1 to 2 weeks a month..I decide and then the bad things come back in! I know that  I have to make drastic changes to get the results and know that i couldn’t maintain that way of living...think eventually most people will get to the place they want to go (physically and mentally) but it does take everyone different times?"

Killsession Musings Part 3.

I guess it's time for some general thoughts of mine, firstly, a comment on gym etiquette (for more see here), who do you notice in the gym, that erks your niblets? As I look around the gym/s I frequent there's always the usual suspects, may I list them for you?

1. Guy wearing sunglasses
2. Guy who stinks
3. Guy throwing weights
4. Guy dropping weights
5. Guy grunting (with his 7.5kg dumbbell)
6. Guy who spends all the time in the gym and never makes any progress
7. Guy with no towel
8. Tough guy (wannabe?)
9. Guy doing UFC style workouts (with his "Tapout" shirt on, looking suitably gruff)
10. Guy who half squats (and indeed half "everything's")

The list goes on and on, we see these people all the time, and largely they count as male, and largely they count as meatheads (a sexist term?), if we could list this as the foibles of men (?) what are, indeed, the foibles of women? Allow the Killsession muser to pontificate:

1. Cardio bunny girl
2. Girl suffering from "Skinny fat" syndrome
3. Class girl

(For more on this see here)
The so-called stereotypes of women appear to be far less common and far less offensive to the senses than the men, is this a function of testosterone? Or simply the fact that men proliferate the weight room, and women generally (although thankfully the paradigm is changing) the group fitness room.

Hmm what else does the muser wish to discuss today? What about "Calories in vs Calories out"? There is some discussion, usually amongst the ignorant (not used in a pejorative sense) that fat loss (or weight gain) is simply a matter of "Caloric intake is X, simply make sure you consume X (plus or minus X to lose/gain weight), no matter where the Calories come from". What is missed here is macronutrient distribution, we need to ask the question when designing fat loss diets "are carbs and fat and protein as metabolically active as each other (hence interchangeable)?" The answer to this is no, they're not. The reason we (I) push a focus on protein is for several reason, but not the least of which being, it's thermic or metabolism raising effects. Your body has to work (i.e- burn Calories) to digest protein (break down into composite amino acids for various functions in the body, for more see here), that requires energy, whereas fat and carbs can basically be seen as metabolically dead.

Moving on, let's discuss diet briefly. What do you need to do to get lean? Simply? Cut out the shit food and alcohol, as Dan John says, we're not children anymore, yet so many of us still eat like we are.  It's really that simple. Yet it is the hardest thing for people to do. Your results come from your diet, you can't out train that fact, the tips I've given on this blog (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) are what you need to do, yet I still see status updates on FB and receive emails from my clients about their drinking, junk food etc. What can I do as a trainer to motivate those who don't wish to be?

Destination: Abs (Redux)- Wk1.

Well, as of Wednesday night I hurt my back, quite intensely, but not to much actual damage, it was more a muscle "twang" with resulting soreness that actually, if you could look at it this way, was quite fortuitous as it alerted me (with the aid of the photo in this blog) to a problem I have, which is "anterior pelvic tilt" (for more see here). I've since been on a rehab program and addressing movement deficiencies and I gotta tell ya, I feel better, as in complete relief, I did HIIT on Thursday night, and thought I'd still be too sore to do my MRT on Friday, but after extensive foam roll, stretching and activation on my abs and glutes I felt good, so proceeded to do a light MRT workout, where I hurt my back even more... just joking. It was a really good workout, I focused on posteriorly tilting my pelvis by actively activating my glutes and abs, which helped "turn the lights on" (coupled with my prior activation drills) and make the exercises I was doing flow properly. I experienced almost no discomfort during training itself, felt fine afterwards and this morning.

I'd forgotten how bullshit hard MRT training is, and how much I have been getting on my clients backs for work that is really intense!

Alternating Set System
Day 1- MRT- Phase 1	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk1
A1: Fr-Squat Psh Press Cmbo	3	15	30	40kg, 40kg, 40kg
A2: Seated Cable Row	3	15	30	60kg, 65kg, 65kg
B1: DB Step Up	3	15ea	30	10kg, 10kg, 10kg
B2: Pushup (on Fitball)	3	15	30	BW, BW, BW
C1: Back Extension	2	15	0	BW, BW
C2: Plank	2	60s	30	60s, 50s,
Day 2- HIIT
5-10 min warm up				5 min run around GF room
1 minute on	5			1,1,1,1,1
2 mins off	5			Boxing Intervals
Cool down 3-5 mins				5min cooldown
Day 3- MRT	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk1
A1: Deadlift	3	15	30	60kg, 60kg, 60kg
A2: DB Alt Military Press	3	15	30	12.5kg, 15kg,15kg
B1: DB RFESS	3	15ea	30	12.5kg, 12.5kg, 2.5kg
B2: Wide Grip Pulldown	3	15	30	75kg, 75kg, 75kg
C1: Landmine	2	15ea	0	45kg,45kg
C2: Rollout	2	15	30	8, 6
Day 4- HIIT
5-10 min warm up				5min warm up
1 minute on	5			1,1,1,1,1
2 mins off	5			X-Trainer Intervals
Cool down 3-5 mins				5min cooldown
Day 5- MRT	Set	Rep	Rest	Wk1
A1: Fr-Squat Psh Press Cmbo	3	15	30	25kg, 25kg,30kg
A2: Seated Cable Row	3	15	30	55kg, 55kg, 60kg
B1: DB Step Up	3	15ea	30	7.5kg, 7.5kg, 10kg
B2: Pushup (on Fitball)	3	15	30	BW, BW, BW
C1: Glute Bridge	2	15	0	BW, BW
C2: Plank	2	60s	30	30s, 45s
Day 6- HIIT
5-10 min warm up
1 minute on	5
2 mins off	5
Cool down 3-5 mins

As far as diet goes, I've been strict this week, with "cheat" meals cming from 2 Quorn lasagnges on Wednesday night (650 Cals) which I subsitituted for half of my vegetable smoothy (211 Cals) and my post workout tofu mean (432 Cals), which put me even. I also had 4 vegtarian sausages on Friday night with 2 pieces of wholemeal bread which is about another 250 Cals on top, but I removed my last half of the vegetarian smoothy, so it came out close.

I've also removed the tofu and vegetarian sausages as of Thursday, and replaced it with chicken and veggies. I did this for several reasons (1) the incomplete protein, they say all your amino acids go into a "pool" where incomplete proteins get filled by the complete ones you ingest, still I don't think I'm getting the kind of thermic effect from the vegetarian proteins that a complete protein will give, (2) the sodium content of vewgetarian meals is ridiculous, I was consuming upwards of 1.5g a day (upper limit is less than that), I was getting headaches, this is not healthy.

Diet
Monday- 3200 Cals	T-S- 2600 Cals	Sunday- 2100 Cals
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
Oats/milk/30g pro powdr	Egg/whites/Spinach	Smoothy
Protein- 39g	Protein- 32.5g	Protein-29g
Carbs- 41g	Carbs- 1.5	Carbs- 45g
Fat- 8.2g	Fat- 13.4g	Fat- 4g
Total- 415 Cals	Total- 260 Cals	Total- 429 Cals
Morning Tea	Morning Tea	Morning Tea
x2veg sausages	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables	Egg/whites/Spinach
x1 multigrain bread	Protein-46.5g	Protein- 32.5g
butter	Carbs- 13.5	Carbs- 1.6
glass hi-lo milk	Fat- 18.2	Fat- 13.4g
Protein- 43.3g	Total- 420 Cals	Total- 260 Cals
Carbs- 31.5
Fat- 18g
Total- 473 Cals
Post Sleep	Post Sleep	Lunch
Vegetable smoothy	Vegetable smoothy	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables
Protein- 46.6g	Protein- 46.6g	Protein-46.5g
Carbs- 37.9g	Carbs- 37.9g	Carbs- 13.5
Fat- 3g	Fat- 3g	Fat- 18.2
Total- 411 Cals	Total- 411 Cals	Total- 420 Cals
Before Work	Before Work	Afternoon Tea
Smoothy	Smoothy	Vegetable smoothy
Protein-29g	Protein-58g	Protein- 46.6g
Carbs- 45g	Carbs- 90g	Carbs- 37.9g
Fat- 4g	Fat- 8.2	Fat- 3g
Total- 429 Cals	Total- 429 Cals	Total- 411 Cals
Post Workout Shake	Post Workout Shake	Dinner
x2 up n go/30g protein	x2 up n go/30g pro	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables
Protein- 45.1g	Protein- 45.1g	Protein-46.5g
Carbs- 55.7g	Carbs- 55.7g	Carbs- 13.5
Fat- 8.3g	Fat- 8.3g	Fat- 18.2
Total- 517 Cals	Total- 517 Cals	Total- 420 Cals
Post Workout Meal	Dinner	Evening
tofu/glass hi-lo milk	Chicken/Mixed Vegetables	Egg/whites/Spinach
Protein- 39.2	Protein-46.5g	Protein- 32.5g
Carbs- 36.4	Carbs- 13.5	Carbs- 1.6
Fat- 22.7	Fat- 18.2	Fat- 13.4g
Total- 432 Cals	Total- 420 Cals	Total- 260 Cals
Before Work
Smoothy
Protein-29g
Carbs- 45g
Fat- 4g
Total- 429 Cals
Protein-276.2g	Protein- 268.9g	Protein- 233.6g
Carbs- 292.5g	Carbs- 198.6g	Carbs- 113.1g
Fat- 68.2g	Fat- 73.6	Fat- 70.2g
Max Total- 3109 Cals	Max Total-2460 Cals	Max Total- 2200 Cals