Are You Serious?

Ok, more ranting.

First and foremost, one of my clients told me something that has been bothering me now for a couple of days. One of her friends decided to go to a trainer at a big gym, so she decided she will go with her for a few weeks, to keep her company and to get some variation on her workout days on her own. Unfortunately, this trainer seems to be like so many others I have seen in my fitness journey.
She starts off by asking my client her goals. . Good! Everyone needs goals, we preach it all the time here at The Studio. But when my client tells this trainer her goals, the trainer begins to break them down. She asks her what her weight was, and of course my client tells her. This is where the mathematics genius comes out in this trainer.
"So, you want to be about 20 pounds less?"
"Well, to start that would be good, but ultimately, I would like to be down about 30-35."
"Oh, ok.. Well, based on your age (over 35) and your fitness level, expect to lose 20 in about 6 months. Then to get down that last 10, it's going to take another 6 or so."

.. . . That's a full year for 30 pounds - equalling about half a pound lost per week.

Where do these figures come from? Is it a strategy put forth by the facility to make clients sign up for at least a year? Really now. What's the point of a client having goals, if you TELL them it's going to take forever and and just throw out random numbers. I guess all of our clients are genetic freaks, as I have seen so much more than that lost in so much less time. Maybe it's the thermogenics we lace our water cooler with.. hmmm.

This brings me to my next point. Why do people assume that being a trainer is a stepping stone into a "real" job? At few parties in the last month, I have met quite a few new people. On 2 separate occasions, I have been talking to people about my profession and 1 of them said, "Oh yeah? I used to be a trainer when I was younger, now I'm a Phys. Ed teacher. What does your position lead into?"
Me - "Ummm. .This is it."
Her - "Really? You just want to be a trainer?"

Is there something wrong with that? You see, it's the trainers like the one I explained above that give us all a bad name. To people like her, it's her job. To me, this is a career choice, that I very much enjoy, and am constantly learning. I heard a statement recently that made me really think about certifications.

It takes more much more schooling to become a hairdresser, then it does to become a personal trainer.

Unfortunately, this is very true. Any idiot with 500 dollars and a week of free time can take the Can-Fit Pro course and be certified. This, of course, does not guarantee employment, but that is the main certification that gyms are looking for.

Also, personal training is the only situation in which a customer pays for a specific result and service, and even if the customer leaves injured, and more out of shape then when they first came in, they blame themselves and the gym's get to keep their money. How does that make sense? If you buy a shirt at a store, but as you are leaving the mall, the shirt spontaneously combusts.

Do you,

A) Go back to the store with the flaming bag, asking for your money back, or at the very least a new, less charred shirt.
Or
B) Stomp out the flames, and tell yourself it's your fault, you shouldn't have bought that shirt anyway because it made you look fat. You will try to buy another shirt next week and hope the same thing doesn't happen.

Ridiculous.

Intense Training at the Studio.

The last few weeks have been pretty ridiculous for me at All Canadian Fitness as I have been embarking on a new training adventure with a client of mine, Ivan.

We decided to start training together as we both are striving for the same goals at the moment which are to gain a few pounds while keeping as much fat off as possible. Which brings me to German Volume training. The one thing I have to say about this type of training is that it makes you constantly feel like you are 60 years old, as there is not one day that goes by that you are not sore from the muscle building (which goes away just in time for the next session) or just have no muscular endurance for even the most simple tasks.

GVT consists of 10 sets of 10 repititions for 2 muscle groups per day, the agonist and antagonist. And about a day of rest between workouts. So a typical week for us would look something like this:

Monday -Chest, Back 10 sets of 10 compound movements. Also, 3 sets of 10 for isolated chest and back movements.

Wed - Quad dominant, hip dominiant 10 sets of 10 compound movements. 3 sets of 10 calves and core.

Fri - Bicep, tricep 10 sets of 10. 3 sets of 10 for 2 deltoid exercises.

Sat - repeat.

We are now in the middle of week 4, and I think I have seen some gains already. We are supplementing with some BCAA's and whey protein, while taking in about 500 more calories/day on our workout days.

It is tough. But I really like it. The leg days I dread of course, but it's actually more fun that I thought it would be. It is supposed to be about a 2 month workout, the first four weeks being 10 sets of 10, with the last four more of a 10 sets of 5 sort of thing. We have both taken before picures and plan on taking some after ones as well.

Wait until you see Ivan's training. He started with me in April of '09, walking in the door at about 168, 9% body fat. We just weighed him before we started up the Volume training and he was already at 188. Now, 4 weeks in he is 193.

It is going to be ridiculous.

I know Rich has talked about this in his latest post, but we have recieved some new eco friendly stability balls from a company called "GreenLife" that I really enjoy using. They are a bit more firm than the old ones, and I find the surface texture to be a bit more comfortable than the older ones we were using. And hey, it doesn't hurt that they are good for the environment and PVC free as well. If you are looking for some new balls, let us know and we can get you in touch with the distributors.

Where to Start..

First and Foremost - Happy New Year!

2010 is going to be amazing, I can't begin to tell everyone how excited I am about this year. So many of my dreams are coming true, both professionally and outside of work, and I am only 25!! It's crazy. What a whirlwind 2009 was. I can't wait to see what happens in the next 12 months.


Second - My plan.. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. My initial plan was to gain as much as possible until next summer and make some considerable muscle gains by the beginning of May.
Then, I postponed that goal to get lean by my trip home, which I think I did pretty good for.

I spent 7 weeks doing at least 1 workout a day, sometimes 2, and increasing my eating frequency while decreasing portion sizes, which brought me from a "healthy" (haha) 13% body fat at 172 lbs, to a little under 7% at 164lbs in 7 weeks. It can be done, I had a couple of mishaps, and I'm pretty sure I could have gotten to 6%, but I am happy with what I accomplished. I did this mostly to show myself that I could do it, but also to show all of you that with a little hard work and dedication, you can completely change your body.

Needless to say, since I was on vacation in N.B, and since my return to Hamilton, I have put that back on and then some, and I believe I am now at 174lbs. I don't think I am going to test by body fat percentage until the end of this bulking phase, mostly because I know how much I CAN eat.. . and I am kind of scared to see that number. Unfortunately, my face always gets ridiculously fat when I bulk, much like a chipmunk, so you will all be able to make fun of me, don't worry.

So now, back to bulking. . which means for the next 2 months, I am going to be working out with one of my clients who also has some pretty intense goals over the next 4 months. We are taking on some intense volume training which has us doing 10 sets of 10 on opposing muscle groups for our sessions. It is going to be some of the hardest training I have ever done, but again, I love figuring out just how far the human body can be pushed, it is a LOT farther than we think.. .

I will keep you all updated, and I hope you have not gained as much as me this holiday season, although most of it was planned, the pounds and pounds of lobster and mussels (all dipped in healthy butter) couldn't have helped.

You can accomplish any of your goals if you figure out which kind of person you are and build your goals around that. If you told me that I could get big in 1 year, (which anybody definitely could) I would tell you that that would be a waste of my time. I love setting small goals, as I have incredibly severe ADHD (self diagnosed of course. . haha . . ha. . SHINY!) which makes me not be able to take more than about 2 months of training without dropping everything and switching up every aspect of my program.

If you don't already come to the Studio, get your asses down there, we can do things for you that you never thought possible.

I look forward to seeing the sweat in 2010!

N.B Bound!

Tis the Season!

---Christmas time is here. My girlfriend is kind of getting me into the spirit, listening to Gary Hoey - highly recommended if you like Christmas music, but don't like the gayness (I mean that literally) and would prefer some awesome guitar solos, and some sweet distortion.

---I pass the eggnog aisles in Fortinos all the time, and I can hear it calling me. There are 1100 calories in the 1litre bottles.. . Delicious.

---I found out from one of Sheila's former clients that my blog is RESTRICTED at her work! No one else's is.. I feel special. Must be all the words like "poop" and "booger" I so frequently use.

---I am going back to New Brunswick in a couple of weeks and I am excited to see my family and old friends. But the thing that excites me the most is a jar of pickled whelks from my girlfriend's hometown. Whelks are gigantic snails that taste amazing. Pickle them, and you have yourself a mighty treat.

---Training is going awesome, I will have the results posted before my trip.

Life is good.

Time for a rant.

My clients are all completely destroying their goals - which makes me happy and gives me faith in humanity. Unfortunately, not much else is. I was reading a post from one of my favorite fitness contributors, he writes for a website called tmuscle.com (which is an INCREDIBLE site for anyone interested in fitness, where some of the best minds get together and talk about EVERYTHING.) and he was talking about how he went to a certain pancake franchise in the United States to indulge a little bit. The man is about 6'2, 220 pounds and about 8% body fat. So cheat meals are ok. While he was waiting for his meal, he saw a family of 5, each weighing in at about 350 pounds, wheeling another woman, who was about 400 pounds, to a nice table in the corner. As they all wheezed into their seats, the woman in the wheelchair pulls out something and puts it beside her cutlery. Her favorite pancake eating fork maybe? Nope. A needle, full of insulin, that she can jab herself with when the juicy sugary pancake goodness hits her bloodstream.

Ok, maybe it's only me. .

#1 - If you are too large to successfully walk on yor own because your tiny bones cannot handle the immense weight you are focing upon them, maybe you shouldn't be at a pancake restaurant.
#2 - If you need a needle full of insulin to counteract the sugars that you are, for some reason, jamming into your gullet, maybe you shouldn't be at a pancake restaurant.
3# - There is no #3, you shouldn't be at a pancake restaurant.

Also, while I am ranting - I hate tiny dogs. I am talking about the useless, hairless, yippy, constantly urinating and trembling everytime there is a cold breeze, kind of tiny dog. Why did we engineer these things. We all know that there is no way these things would even survive one day outside in the wild. And if carrying them under your arm makes you feel somewhat like a celebrity, maybe you should move to Hollywood, because up here in Canada, you just look silly. I was at my groomers, getting my cat groomed because she had some neck knots, and I saw 2 of these dogs. My cat could fight these dogs at the same time and win... blindfolded.

I just don't get people. They are so caught up in fashion, television, FOOD, that they don't see the big picture. Maybe it's because their gigantic sunglasses are too big. Or maybe the be-dazzling on their Ed Hardy jeans is just too damn shiny. Either way, I'll stick with my comfortable shorts, t-shirts and runners, and when the flood or the locusts come, I'll be able to sprint and find the best place to hide. And you can only come in if you get rid of the dog...

Ok, I'm done. That felt good. Everyone needs a blog.

Short post today.

Just wanted to let everyone (ok, the 3 people that read this thing) know about m new goals. My girlfriend and I have decided we are headed to the east coast for Christmas and I have a lot of family and friends there who I haven't seen for a long time. so, instead of being one of those out of shape looking guys who is constantly in a "bulking" phase as they call it just so hey can eat whatever they want, I am going to lean out. So, watch out, after 6 weeks, nobody will recognize me.

Maybe pictures to come. I don't really want to post half naked pictures of myself on my blog, but we will see. You should just be able to tell by looking at my anyway.

Also, HUUUGE congrats to a client of mine, we will call her . . Tina. . .Tina Pinterle...

3 measurements

Hips, chest and waist and a total of 6 inches lost in all!

Now, Tina has been on the scale recently at home, checking to make sure this whole "gym" thing is working, with little to no results. She had only lost 2.3 pounds in 12 weeks. Terrible Tina, terrible...

But when she tried on clothes in her closet, they fit much better than they did 12 weeks ago.

But when we took her on the body fat tester, it turns out she lost 5% of her original body fat!!

RIDICULOUS!

Good job Tina, good job.

If you have 40 minutes to spare..

I think everyone should watch these videos. I call it the "Micheal Moore effect". Because this nun (former doctor) brings to light a few different things that we should all be aware of. Take it for what you will.

Start with 1/6. .. obviously.. and it's subtitled, so sorry all of you lazy folk like me, you are going to have to read. .. unless you are Spanish, maybe I should learn Spanish so I don't have to read subtitles.. yeah.. I'm going to learn Spanish, enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=1ALISH&annotation_id=annotation_405898&feature=iv#g/c/0A9CF58121EA80DA