Healthy chocolate, Underwear workouts and HUGE strength gains!

Ok, let me get started by saying this is probably going to be a long post.. I first have some venting to do. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HEALTHY CHOCOLATE. I don't care what you hear, I don't care what you read. If you think chocolate can be healthy, you can't be helped. Sure it has anti-oxidants, sure it has some essential fatty acids... it also has an insane amount of sugar and fat per BITE. .
So please, if you see people selling healthy chocolates, for the love of god.. just come to the gym.

SECOND! I love my gym, do you know why? What would you do if you forgot your shorts at home.. you would probably turn around and leave right? Nope, just have a good old boxer workout. I was hesitant at first, but after the statment, "What? They look like biking shorts.." How can I argue that.

FINALLY! This is nuts. Michael Stevenson. I just started training him 16 days ago. He was on a very intense 14 day strength and growth program. I wouldn't recommend this program for everyone .. I haven't even tackled it yet. But after these results, I will be soon. I'm just going to post them.

Feb. 26/09 - Mar. 8/09

-Starting Bench Press - 4 reps - 145 lbs.
Final Bench - 3 reps - 175 lbs.
-Starting Squat - 4 reps - 175 lbs.
Final Squat - 6 reps - 225 lbs.
-Starting Deadlifts - 4 reps - 155 lbs.
Final Deadlifts - 3 reps - 185 lbs.
-Starting Lat Pulldown - 4 reps - 135 lbs.
Final Lat Pulldown - 6 reps - 170 lbs.
-Starting Bent Over Row - 4 reps - 130 lbs.
FinalBent Over Row - 1 rep - 155 lbs.
-Starting Military Press - 4 reps - 85 lbs.
Final Military Press - 5 reps - 110 lbs.

NOW! Even with minor grip problems, the bent over rows went up that much.. and he didn't even deadlift the last week due to a bit of low back pain.. LOOK at these numbers!

Fine, I'll do the addition.

Bench is up 30 lbs.
Squat is up 50 lbs.
Deadlift is up 30 lbs. - with no deadlifting the last week!
Lat Pulldown is up 35 lbs.
Bent Over Row is up 25 lbs. - with grip issues!
Military Press is up 25 lbs.

That's a total of 195 lbs in 2 weeks.. Think about that. And it's not like he was unconditioned before we started this, he still went to the gym 3 times a week on his own. This is where dedication can get you people, CHOCOLATE IS NOT THE ANSWER!

Michael 2 weeks ago ------------------------------------ Michael now

Stupid flesh joints..

So, the gym was awesome. There were quite a few guys out there who knew some things about stuff, and taught me to do some things that I never knew that I loved. Like front flips. Not that I am a front flip expert, but give me a mat, and I can pull a few out. But the negative is that I pulled something, or sprained something in my wrist. It makes work a bit harder, since I have little to no mobility at the moment, but hopefully it will be better in a few days.
Other than this, my body fat percentage is down to 9.8 and my mile is stuck at 6:04... Soon..

I have more than a few clients I am excited about at the moment and can hopefully get some updates up here soon about them...

KETTLEBELLS

Ok, so I could just set up a bed in the back room at the gym and live there now. We have kettlebells! I am very excited about our new equipment and am going to be implementing them shortly into many of my workouts, and some of my clients as well. I am a big advocate of kettlebell training, not solely kettlebells, but they definitely have their place in my heart. Now all we need is a sled and some astroturf outside and this will be my heaven... Am I weird?

Mile time - 6:07 . .. want to break 6 minutes.. But oh so vomity after sprinting 10mph for 6 minutes.

Also, I am heading to a gym in Burlington on Sunday to probably hurt myself doing some things I probably shouldn't be doing on trampolines and in foam pits. Must get back into Parkour, I've got the bug. Backflip by the end of the summer? Palm Spin? Time will tell..

Can you live in a toybox?

So, it's Monday - Family day! As I sit here and think about work, clients, and accomplishments, I think about what an awesome job I have. It's only been three months, but the difference I see in client attitudes, body composition and overall goals is amazing. It's incredible to see what people can do. I'm not taking any of the credit either.
I consider my job like a section specialist at Home Depot. . or somewhere like that. Say I worked in the lumber section and a man comes to me and says, "My wife has been on me to build my family an amazing house, I have no idea where to start, or what to buy, and I really need your help." Well, I could give him all the wood he would need and explain to him perfectly how to build that house. I could even draw out some plans based on how his wife (because we know she is in charge) wants the house to look. But if he took all of that wood home, threw my plans away and built a toybox, I think he would be a single guy, living in a toybox.. My point is that I can preach and preach about good nutrition, homework and resistance training, but if they don't execute it, it's not going to work. I can take credit for knowing ways to fix their problems, but ultimately it is in the hands of the client to push themselves to achieve their goals.
I only see them for 2, maybe 3 hours a week, and as much as I would like to follow them around and slap them every time they pick up a chocolate bar, or yell at them when they don't want to finish that last set at home, I just can't be in that many places at once. .. yet. .. (Hopefully, Bryan cloning will be available to the general public soon.)

Anyway, good job to my exceptional clients. . you know who you are. . and KEEP IT UP!

I Smell Spring..

Delicious!

The shorts are about to come back out of retirement, no more jackets to work, only sweaters. Spring is here! Ok, it's a New Brunswick spring, but still, -5 is good enough for me. Everything is beginning to thaw and trees are losing their "grey" look.
And everyone knows what that means.. It's time to start jumping over things again. Parkour is officially on the go March 1st. I'm calling it right now. I'm pretty pumped. I've noticed a strength increase over last year, and my endurance is better as well, so I'm excited to go out with a few people from last year and see how things look.

Have you ever listened to a song and thought, "This song makes me want to run as fast as humanly possible, and jump over everything that gets in my way. ." ? No? Just me?

Well, here are a few of my favorite Parkour songs, they aren't necessarily the fastest songs, or the most English, but I like them anyway.

- Asian Dub Foundation - Flyover.
- Massive Attack - Teardrop
- Soil - Halo
- Disturbed - Indestructible (Fitting eh?)
- Bush - Machine Head
- Five Finger Death Punch - Ashes

I'm getting antsy, I want to go jump over things right now.. Maybe i can set something up in the gym..

I see the summer of '09 being a summer where I conquer a lot of obstacles.. break a few personal records.. and possibly some bones. We will see..

Carrying the Torch

I have come to the conclusion that I want to carry the torch for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I saw an ad today on t.v that said for an average joe like me, that dream might not be that far away. Hmmm..

Anyway.. Everything else is good, training is going well, I'm getting back into things slowly, I've been a very busy guy for the last few weeks, so training has been twice a week at best. I decided last week that I should try to run a mile, and see what my time was. I was guessing about 7 minutes, but after a good warm up I hit 6:35. I think I will try again next week now that I know my limits.

My cat and I are doing a lot of bonding. She sleeps on me every night, even when I turn on my side, she will find a way to snuggle in there. Cats are relaxing...

Well, I should do something productive now. 3 random thoughts are good enough at the moment.

Holiday Indulgence

So, Christmas is over.. It is January and you know what that means. The countdown begins until I can undo the belt again and go wild for 2 weeks like this holiday season. I am not going to lie to you and say I had Christmas salads and water shooters over the holidays.
We trainers are only human, just like you. To be honest, I gained 7 pounds in those two weeks. But I know my metabolism, and if just sneeze 6 times, that will be gone.
I have given most of my clients a bit of leeway, there are boundaries that should not be crossed, like the "excessive gravy" boundary, and the "3rd glass of eggnog" boundary, but for the most part I don't want people moping around during Christmas being angry that they can't enjoy turkey.

Now, I'm not saying they didn't pay for their un-fitness sins the first day they got back to the gym, I had many clients raise their eyebrows at me while saying, "I don't think so." But threaten them with a scale, and they are more than ready to go.

I am back on track now, and much like everyone else, have a few body composition related resolutions that I plan to achieve before next year rolls around. I can only hope some of you come to me with new goals you would like to achieve, because I would be more than happy to be the one person that made a resolution stick.