Relying on Motivation is setting you up to fail. How to Create habits instead for long term success!

I get asked regularly by clients, friends and family how I stay motivated to both strength train and do cardio sessions every week without fail whilst still keeping my passion for fitness & nutrition, running a business and living in a busy household? 

How do I not miss out soft tissue work, mobility drills, cold water treatment and stretching either?

My answer is an example of an easy comparison that most people will understand. When you wake up in the morning, do you forget to brush your teeth? Hopefully everyone said no, of course I don't forget to do my teeth (fingers crossed 🤞🏻)! Well that's because you are in a habit of doing it. You don't need to be motivated to brush your teeth so if you can make training, nutrition and recovery from training a habit that's "Just something that you do", then you'll never miss a workout, recovery session or accidentally slip up on your diet again. 

What qualifies me to even talk about this topic? Perhaps a little background on me may help you to understand.

I have trained consistently now for more than 30 years through injuries, coughs, colds, multiple bereavements, when I've suffered from poor mental health and when I've been at my happiest in life. Training is part of my identity, it makes me who I am and it's one of the primary things that people that are close to me would say that I'm not willing to compromise on but what does all of that have to do with motivation?

Well, I'm glad that you ask!

Motivation is something that people look for to get started on a certain trajectory whether its a business idea, perhaps it's a new relationship/friendship with someone that you're wanting to start, reconnecting with someone that you've lost touch with or in the case of this article, to get started on your journey of health and wellbeing. 

To me health and wellbeing is a way of life. It's not a task or a chore to do. I choose to wake up even though I don't want to most days to have a cold shower in the morning (just for a few minutes) before I'll turn the hot water on because I know that it stops my joints from aching from years of wear and tear, it also makes me feel awake and ready to take on anything that the day is going to throw at me. I've learned that if you start the day with adversity (and let's face it, there's few things more adverse that getting in a freezing cold shower when you're half asleep). There is not many things that will be harder to deal with which puts you in a strong state of mind to tackle tasks ahead for the rest of the day. 

I also schedule into my diary training times so that I know not to book in clients, meetings or events at those designated times. If you dont schedule it, you are likely to miss it or tell yourself that you'll do it later and when life inevitably crops up, later never comes! 

With nutrition I have found that the best method for my family and I is to predominantly eat unprocessed foods 6½ days per week starting on a Monday so that way if we meet with friends or family on a Saturday evening or Sunday it then takes the pressure off of where we can go to eat or if we fancy an alcoholic drink then we allow ourselves the luxury of doing so. 

This method works for us because it's rigid and we don't break the mould. Our friends and family know that this is our routine and therefore accept that if we socialise during the week that we don't go to restaurants that don't serve healthy options and we wouldn't have alcohol either. You can still have a great time without blowing your nutrition schedule or drinking alcohol so there are no excuses not to stay on task. 

After you have made the decision to schedule your training, put a method of recovery into your schedule (mine is cold showers, mobility and soft tissue work during training sessions) and make a conscious decision to stick to your healthy eating method (of which there are many to choose from) you just have to start. You only need to start small and gradually build to the level that you are comfortable to maintain. 

I'll give you an example below;

Person 'X' wants to improve their health and wellbeing and has time to exercise twice per week but some weeks because of their work patterns they have time for four sessions. 

I would advise this person to do two sessions per week for the first six months of this new journey because this will guarantee them not to miss a training session therefore, building consistency and ingraining the habit of regular exercise.

Person 'X' also has never followed a planned nutrition program before either so I would simply ask them to not eat any food that has more than 1 ingredient (see my other articles for more information on this topic) for 4 days of the week and on the other days, they can relax a little by incorporating some of their 'normal foods'. I would again ask them to maintain this schedule for six months which will ingrain the habit and it allows the people which Person 'X' associates with to recognise that this new lifestyle choice can be worked around and allow Person 'X' to attend events and occasions as they would have before. 

Unfortunately the biggest pressure to break your bad habits comes from our friends and family. You will hear the sayings, "oh, just let your hair down", "it's only one drink" and "you could be dead tomorrow, just live a little"! 

These are normally all said with good intentions but you must stand firm against these comments. Another thing to keep in mind is that most people want you to do well but not better than them and if people start noticing your success because of the consistency that you have forged onto your lifestyle then the people that you would least expect can try to sabotage your new habits. This is a very important factor to remember and is key to your success.

So to wrap this article up, decide on an easily achievable number of days per week that you are able to exercise and schedule it in your diary, eat predominantly single ingredient foods for a minimum of four days per week and try to start your day with something adverse, whether it's a cold shower or you do your exercise session first thing it will make the rest of your day seemingly easier which will only produce a positive mindset.

Until the next article, start ingraining these habits and 

Real Core Training

Introduction

I have been requested to do a post today on core training.

Lets start by first understanding the definition of the "core."

The core is a group of muscles that stabilises the torso including the spine and the vital organs.

The core consists of the following muscles that work as a team to create stability; the transverse abdominis (TVA), the internal and external obliques, the intercostals, the errector spinae, the quadratus lumborium, the multifidis and the most popular muscle that most people know of in the torso, the rectus abdominis (otherwise known as your six pack).

The main role of the core group of muscles is to maintain a rigid torso whilst the limbs are moving an maximal or submaximal velocity.

A good example of this is a 100m sprinter. The sprinter moves their arms and legs at maximal speed, in order to finish the race in the fastest time. The function of the core is to remain tight during the whole race to stop excess movement and lost force production and lets not forget, protection of the vital organs which are also inside the torso.

Understanding the function of the core helps us gain a greater understanding about the most realistic/sports specific way that we should all train our core group of muscles.

Whilst doing variations of sit ups, crunches, leg raises and rotational exercises like russian twists are good for isolating individual areas of the core muscles the crossover to real life functionality is poor.

The Loaded Carry
The loaded carry is one of the best real core training exercises. There are many different variations of loaded carry but some of my favorites are as follows;
1-Single arm dumbbell carry
2-Farmers walk
3-Suitcase carry
4-Overhead carry
5-Yoke walk

Single Arm Carry
This exercise is great as you will be pulled to one side as your walking, forcing your core muscles down the opposite side to work as a group so that you aren't pulled over to the side your holding the DB on. These are great as a warm up to any workout as they dont necessarily have to be heavy and they get all of your limbs and torso working.

Farmers Walk
The farmers walk is another good warm up or metabolic finisher at the end of your workout depending on how heavy you want to go. You will hold a dumbbell or a kettlebell in each hand and walk for a set distance at speed. All of the core group of muscles will be engaged during this exercise.

Suitcase Carry
You will need slightly more room to perform this exercise than the others. For the suitcase carry you will stand between two barbells, before performing a deadlift and walking a set distance with them both in your hands. Because of the length of the barbells, it may be best to do this exercise outside or at a quite time in the gym. This exercise will challenge not only your core group of muscles but also your grip, forearms and trapezius too.

Overhead Carry
This is one of my favourite core exercises. It can be done single handed or with both hands overhead. If you have limited shoulder mobility you may want to avoid this exercise or try the single handed version. The placement of the object in hand must be held slightly behind your head and stacked directly over the shoulders. Walk for a set distance or time. This exercise engages all of the core group of muscles.

Yoke Walk
This is the version of a loaded carry that you can really overload. Place a barbell in a high bar potition on your back (ontop of your trapezius), unrack the bar from the rack and go for a walk for time or distance. Because of the amount of weight that you can load up and walk with, this exercise causes the greatest amount of stabilisation requirement. I would not reccomend that you did this when training alone and if you do train alone, always ask for a spotter when performing this exercise. This works not only every muscle within the core but it works every muscle in your body.

Summary
So now we understand that the core muscles work as a group to stabilise our torso whilst our limbs are moving. The faster we move our limbs, the more we need to  stabilise our core muscles. Sit ups, crunches, leg raises and other core isolation exercises are fine but the crossover to real core strength and stability is very minimal. Incorporate one or all of the above versions of loaded carry to see a huge boost in performance and asthetics.

Until next week, train hard, stay positive and never stop developing yourself in every aspect of life.

BC

There's more to Personal Training than Grueling Workouts

Introduction

When I first started Personal Training (Over 16 years ago) I wanted to help my clients to exercise safely, make their training more effective with the new knowledge that I had gained for my personal training courses and help them to improve thier lives in the fastest possible time. I had no idea at that time, the knowledge I had gained wouldn't come close to preparing me for the job that I had ahead of me. 

The lessons that I have learned over the last 16 years have completely changed the way that I think about training and life.

"The best way to learn is to teach." Frank Oppenheimer

When I qualified I passed all of my exams with the best possible grades, flying colours you might say. You could even say that at the time I was a little big headed about my latest achievement and even though on paper I was a qualified PT and had many years of training myself under my belt, in reality I was still an 18 year old young man who had no experience in working with the public or helping people achieve their personal goals.

Time to Grow

Over time I improved my people skills, my business skills and the ability to research newly released training data on the most effective methods to help my clients improve both safely and quickly. This personal growth turned into increased PT sales, improved relationships with current clients and an authenticity that can't be faked by just a good sales person. I have and always will practice what I preach meaning, if I ask you to do it, you can bet that I will have practiced the new exercise technique, intricate details of an exercise (a different way of doing the same exercise) or dietary method many times before I ever mention it. 

The clients that I train and the great results that my clients get, allowed my confidence to grow. I was no longer big headed about how good I thought I was. I have improved with the understanding that I will never have learned it all but the self-assurance that I can help the vast majority of clients to be physically more advanced and have a better education in nutritional techniques to achieve many different goals.

"The more you learn, the more you'll realise how little you know." Joe Abercrombie

I am always humble about the results my clients get and I make a point of giving them any credit for the results that they achieve. I am only a guide on their journey and the client is the person who must walk the path to the top of the mountain. I feel an overwhelming sense of pride when my clients break through their training, nutrition and self-development goals.

Training isn't always the answer!

Sometimes the right thing to do when trying to keep your clients on track, is to not train them (hear me out before you get out the torches). I have had many clients over the years that have come to their training session in no fit state to train down to personal circumstances (sometimes out of their control and sometimes within their control). 

It could be one of a many different reasons that prevent them from being able to train and in my sessions, if you aren't in the right frame of mind to train, you shouldn't train (risk vs reward must be in favour of reward). I have taken clients out for a walk or just found a quiet space for them to vent, cry or shout in these circumstances.

Short term, this may not contribute to a client achieving their goals on this given day but in the long term, if life situations gets ontop of them, this can hold back their training more than missing a day of training. Sometimes taking a small step backwards to allow for future steps forwards is a necessary action. 

Different Perspective

I have a different perspective on this subject to many trainers. Too many trainers believe that their job is simply to train and advise their clients and when the hour is up the client isn't thier problem until the next session. Sadly, this is all too common. The trainers I have known over the years with this attitude don't stay in this industry for long. I am fortunate to have been in the presence on a regular basis of a diverse and intelligent group of PT's that share similar views to myself (Iron sharpens Iron!).

More than a Personal Trainer

The thing that they don't teach you when you are learning to become a PT however, is that as a PT, you are obliged to do whatever it takes to get your clients to stay on track. This is where I believe many fall short on service to their clients.

Whether you like it or not, you will build up a relationship with each and every individual client that you train and on top of a trainer, you will become a friend, counselor, roll model and a pillar of support for some if not all of your clients. There is so much more to being PT than gruelling workouts, diet advice and a few scripted encouraging words.

Please feel free to add in anything that you feel I have missed out in the comments below. I would love to hear your comments on your own PT experiences.

Until next time, be healthy, stay strong and enjoy life.

BC

Resolutions- How to stay on track

Introduction

Setting your resolutions for new year is the easy part but staying on the right path to achieve them is slightly more challenging. I want to share with you an easy technique that will almost guarantee success in whatever you goals are.

This technique can be applied to almost every aspect of life from training to nutrition, business, friends and family. The technique is so simple that it almost doesn't seem worth talking about at first glance but if you read this article the whole way through, you'll see that it is worth your investment of time.

Staying on track

Take care of the day, don't look too far ahead at your end goal. Now this seems a very simplistic approach to achieving your goals and aspirations but it is very relevant. Most people will be so fixated on their long term goals that they don't look after today. In order to achieve your goals you will need to set yourself micro goals. Micro goals are daily tasks that you will need to complete in order to keep you moving forwards.

An example of this from a nutrition perspective is to concentrate on each individual meal. Yes, you have a certain number of calories and percentage of macros to achieve each day but the end figure is a result of each individual meal being on the right track.

A second example of taking care of the day from a business perspective is to know what individual tasks you need to do today that will help you to achieve your long term goals and success. It is no good concentrating on your long or medium term goals if you haven't addressed the tasks that need to be done today in order to get you to your medium and long term goals.

A third and final example from a family perspective is to make time in your schedule to do things together each day. If you have children and you are reading this then please don't miss the daily opportunities that are right in front of you slip away without enjoying them. You will already know that your children grow up so fast and before you know it they wont be dependant on you anymore. Nothing is as important as your relationships with each other because after all, life isn't all about how much money you earn (although money is relevant in this day and age), or the latest gadgets or designer clothes (which are a nice luxury but they aren't a necessity), it's about having a positive impact on the people that you really care about, it's about giving to others without the expectation of receiving anything back in return and its about showing your love for the people in your life that mean the most to you every single day.

Summary

In summary, you should create a list of daily tasks to complete that will help you to achieve your long and medium term goals. If you work on today, tomorrow will be a little brighter, you'll never lose momentum and you'll stay on track to not only achieve your goals but to surpass them. Make sure that you the take time to spend with the people who you care for the most each day.

Until next time, look after the day and each other.

BC

Alternatives to traditional cardio

Let's face it, if you want to have any decent level of fitness or athleticism you are going to have to perform some kind of cardiovascular exercise. There are however less boring/tedious ways do do cardio other than just going for a jog, up hill walk on the treadmill, a cycle or doing the x-trainer for 30-45mins three times per week.

I want to start by explaining the definition of cardiovascular exercise. Cardiovascular exercise has two different energy systems.

- Aerobic system... This refers to your body using oxygen to perform an exercise for a prolonged period of time at a generally light to moderate pace of around 60%-85% of your maximum heart rate. Aerobic exercise can be fuelled by glycogen reserves, fat reserves or a combination of both.

-Anerobic system... This refers to your body working for a short period of time at a high percentage of your maximum heart rate, usually over 85%, in which case your body is initially powered by glycogen which is the body's prefered source of energy. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles. Glycogen, when needed, reacts with oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and water to then produce energy for our body to use in short bursts.

Now the Science is out of the way lets get down to the good stuff...

3 ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO DO CARDIO

Sometimes it is hard work to get motivated to get on the treadmill, stationary bike or x-trainer with a goal of using up any excess glycogen and to burn some body fat.

What if I was to tell you that you could burn off that extra glycogen and fat without your joints taking the impact of pounding the treadmill or the tediousness of the stationary bike or x-trainer and get fitter at the same time! Interested?

CIRCUITS
Circuits are great because you can really elevate your heart rate for 30-45 mins with your heart rate in the 60%-85% range. This can be done on resistance machines or free weights or even just with your own bodyweight. That is why circuits are so good. You can tailor your workout to what equipment you have available to you.

I have provided a sample circuit below but feel free to create your own. You can add ANY exercise to this circuit and it will fit right in.

Start off by doing 3-5sets of the exercises below and build it up to 10 sets.

(1) Bodyweight Squats x10
(2) Press Ups x10
(3) Crunchies x10
(4) Burpees x10
(5) Alternate Leg Lunges x10 on each leg
(6) Plank for a 30 second count
(7) Back extensions x10
(8) Chin Ups or Horizontal Rows x10
(9) Hip thrusts x10
(10) Leg Raises x10

You will find this very challenging at first but your body will quickly adapt, gaining both aerobic fitness and muscular tone at the same time. Due to the variety of different exercises your mind is active and the time goes much faster than when you do traditional cardio.

TABATA
The Tabata protocol was created by a Japanese man named Izumi Tabata. The idea of this protocol is to quickly create an oxygen debt which you will recognise from the lack of breath that you have. This will quickly make your body use up your stored sugar (glycogen) which then forces your body to use stored fat (once your glycogen levels are low enough) for energy.

The Protocol
5 min warm up (a walk, cycle or gentile mobility would be fine)

Choose any cardio machine/bodyweight exercise (like a burpee or jump squat)/ weighted compound exercise (like a squat or deadlift) and do 8x20 seconds of work as fast as possible (with good technique) followed by 10 seconds of rest.

Do a 2 min cool down (a walk, gentile cycle or some stretches  )

The Tabata Protocol is intense and they are great at the end of a weights workout to burn off any excess glycogen and to start tapping into your fat storage cells.

COMPLEXES
Complexes are a combination of three or more compound exercises (an exercise that uses two or more joints and multiple muscle groups at once) done consecutively without rest, using the same peice of equipment (usually a barbell or dumbbells). Complexes are very good for increasing fitness and burning fat. They also have the added benefit of allowing you to tone up whilst doing something a bit more creative that standard steady state cardio.

An example complex routine would be as follows;

3-5 sets with a 1 min rest period:
X5 Power Cleans
X5 Front Squats
X5Push Press.
X5 Back Squat
X10 Press Ups

This will be very challenging both physically and mentally but the rewards gained from complexes are well worth the effort. Don't forget that this is just a sample routine. Please feel free to get as creative as you want with this.

So there we have it! Three alternatives to doing your traditional cardio that should keep your interest and get you burning stubborn fat in no time...

If you have any questions then please leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Until next time. Have fun, get creative and in the words of Mark Bell, Strength is never a weakness and weakness is never a strength.

BC

How does training develop valuable life skills?

In this article I'm going to present a comparison between the struggles that you'll face in your training sessions and how training should help you to prepare for the real world struggles that we all have to overcome each day. 

I have seen thousands of people come and go from many gyms/studios each week for the last 17 years and the contrast of people from all walks of life. Being in this environment has provided me with a unique perspective on both life, fitness and motivation that I may not have been subject to seeing in a regular 9-5 job.

The gym for me is a place where all of life's worries and concerns should be left at the door. The one thing that every person who steps through that door to train, regardless of their social status, race, wealth or lack thereof have in common is that we all want to be better versions of ourselves. Perhaps we may not all follow the same path or agree on what better is however, personal improvement is the objective when stepping into a wellness centre, gym, athletics club, swimming pool, sports club etc...

Why else would we come into an environment that causes physical hardship towards us and keep coming back week in, week out with no immediate results? 

The gym breeds the foundational values, beliefs and self-confidence required to be successful in every other aspect of life by teaching us about delayed gratification.

A great example of this is, when you are struggling to complete a set on a given exercise (the exact exercise isn't relevant) and you have 3 reps to complete the total set of 10 reps. You may manage to squeeze out 7 reps. At this point your mind is telling you to quit however, if you ignore this brain signal which is a mechanism for self preservation, continue to stick to the desired repetitions and succeed in achieving your goal, this is where you develop as a person both physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually!!! 

You get your mind in gear, focus your breathing, brace and grind with the weight for the last 3 reps. You simply "refuse to lose!" It takes a certain type of mind set and personality trait to grind through the toughest part of the set.

So, how does this relate to life outside of the gym?

In life you are going to be faced with challenges. It's inevitable! You are going to have to look within yourself and dig deep and have the same type of mind set we use to grind out the last few reps, to find that reason to carry on, even when you may want to just give up! Anything in life worth achieving is usually a challenge to come by and will require work, dedication, consistency and a can do attitude.

This is true of relationships, friendships, business, personal goals and even being a parent. 

"Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone." - Neale Donald Walsch

You must find a process (that's specific to you) to help you achieve what you want. When the steps of your process are followed in the correct order, your goals are achievable. If there is a link in the chain missing you may not achieve the outcome that you desired. 

I hope that you enjoyed this short article and have taken some positive information from it along with a little motivation to keep pushing through when you feel like giving up. 

Stay strong, be consistent, don't quit and success will be closer than you expect.

BC