Category: The Amazing 12 Program

KATHY GREEN is no ordinary 61-year-old woman. A native of Vancouver, Canada, she represented and captained her country at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as a volleyball player. She was on the rowing team to go to Moscow four years later until her country (amongst many) staged a boycott.

She reckons she peaked as a player around 1986, but by then had been competing at top level a long time and decided to retire.

Even today, she still regularly plays (and coaches) volleyball and tennis and had been doing CrossFit with me for 18 months before signing up for the Amazing 12.

When I first met her she couldn’t – and wouldn’t – squat below parallel for fear of it hurting her knees. And then she discovered that not only could she squat deep, but that it was, in fact, good for her.

When she started the A12 program, Kathy was coming off a period of inactivity after illness. Her personal bests before the layoff were as follows: shoulder press 35k for three reps; deadlift 100k for one rep; back squat 75k for three reps (but not deep). She couldn’t do a single pull-up or come even remotely close.

During her time doing CrossFit, Kathy’s body shape never changed much even though she moved better and her capacity for work increased.

I worked her hard on the A12, but always in accordance with the principles of Paul McIlroy’s program. Kathy, despite holding down a job as a solicitor, not being a great sleeper and often finishing her workouts at 10pm, didn’t miss a day of training. On some days she was plain exhausted. That’s commitment for you.

By the end, not only had Kathy shed 35lbs of bodyweight and was at her lightest in more than 13 years, but her strength had soared. I’m not a big fan of assisted pull-ups with a band, but for the sake of demonstrating her strength gains, I had Kathy retest it – and FOLLOWING a workout!

Kathy had never before managed a pull-up with anything less than a thick green and thin red band combined. She was astonished when she then proceeded to complete a STRICT chin-up using just a thin red band (for those who use bands this will be of more significant understanding, but take it from me that it is a BIG leap and one that many people struggle to achieve in years!)

Her shoulder press improved to the point that she was hitting close to 40 reps in a short period with her 3rm weight. Kathy was doing multiple reps with nearly 90% of her best deadlift weight and her back squat also improved to the point that she could hit high reps – and I mean HIGH – with 80% of what was her 3rm.

Kathy’s become a bit of an inspiration at the CrossFit gym where I trained her. She was back doing CrossFit and the week after finishing the A12 completed her first CrossFit workout at the RX (prescribed) weight.

She’s got a drive to win (that she has never lost from her competition days) and a zest for life. She is the proverbial energiser bunny and it was a pleasure to work with her – and listen to her compilation of eighties music every night – and unbelievably satisfying to see her achieve such great results.

READING testimonials from other Amazing 12 graduates, it’s apparent how everyone has their own reasons for embarking on what is a unique and often intense, testing and enriching journey.

For me, as a coach, the pleasure isn’t just about seeing the transformation taking place and delivering the results my clients have paid and trusted in me to bring about.

I am only a part of the process – the guide, motivator and coach. But the client has to do all the graft. They have to find the discipline, focus and motivation to keep striving and working to achieve their goal, which is to become the best version of themselves from the stimulus the program provides.

I had my doubts before starting about whether Adriano could apply himself with the dedication required.

His attendance in CrossFit classes had been erratic, he worked in London and therefore had a long daily commute there and back and to say he was fond of Italian food was putting it mildly.

But, thankfully, he proved those reservations were totally misplaced. His discipline was extraordinary. It’s deeply rewarding for me to see how the A12 has provided a platform for him to continue his physical development.

But he has grown beyond the improved physique and strength gains. Mentally, this has given Adriano the confidence he was before lacking.

What many don’t know is that several years ago he had a serious fight with cancer, which he overcame, and, quite understandably, has shaped his attitude to life, which is to make the most of all the opportunities that come his way.

Adriano, 40, does a great job of it.

“Doing the Amazing 12 has been a very emotional journey to say the least,” he told me. “It clearly exposed my physical weaknesses and it has been a huge challenge to overcome the idea I had of myself.

“Mental toughness – that was the biggest challenge. I had to apply to myself a very tough discipline as I’m the sort of person that can get easily distracted.

“Doing CrossFit, I was struggling with feeling like I was mentally weak. Since I started last year [2014], I saw all these amazing people around me that during the hardest of workouts would go through and overcome pain and fatigue!

“In these 12 weeks doing the Amazing 12 I’ve learned so much about myself and my body. After my illness [non-Hodgkin Lymphoma], I become a bit self-conscious about it [my body].

“I must say I could never thank you enough for pushing me and giving me an opportunity even though you had your doubts!”

JON is father of two and busy business owner. He had been training fairly regularly before beginning the program.

It’s fair to have described him as strong. He’d come through the CrossFit fundamentals program, but had, on and off, been training for years. He has his own equipment at home and was certainly no newcomer to lifting or training.

I put this information in here because people believe if they have a busy work and family life it’s impossible to commit to a program such as this. Most days Jon trained twice, once by himself and also in the gym with me.

To say his body responded well is an understatement. Early on in the program he would get comments from other gym members noticing his gains. He said he’d never ever been able to see his stomach muscles. Now he can.

Of course, there’s more to the Amazing 12 than revealing a six-pack. By the end Jon didn’t just look so much stronger, but he was, in fact, stronger and fitter.

Work demands meant he was forced to skip a session here and there, which wasn’t ideal, but Jon wanted to sign-up for an extra week to make up for it and that’s what we did.

He lost about a stone in weight and piled on muscle, as you can see from the photos. We didn’t use any crazy diet drinks or do any crash dieting. His transformation was achieved all with healthy eating (whole foods) and intelligent training.

Jon started off with a 1rm of 90k in the bench press and by the finish was doing multiple reps with that weight. He’d always struggled with pull-ups, but at the end was doing multiple chin-ups with 8k attached. He was genuinely amazed at the change. His shoulders got super-strong, too. He finished doing multiple reps with more than 85% of his previous 1rm. His deadlift went from a not-very-pretty 155kg 1rm to doing multiple reps and sets with 130kgs. Fitness-wise, he was warming up with 500m rows at a pace most members of my gym would regard as an all-out sprint.

If Jon can make it happen, anyone can. 

THIS is my beautiful wife, Jamie Abrams after she completed the Amazing 12 Body Transformation Program. As you can see, she was in pretty good shape to begin with. But she was not a typical gym-goer or someone with a long history of lifting weights (three years, off and on, doing CrossFit).

At 35, a vegan for more than half her life and a yoga teacher of 15 years (currently at Balanced Wellness and LANO Yoga, she’s aways been flexibleand mobile. Now, though, she is stronger and more toned than ever.

On this program her deadlifting, squatting and overall strength improved dramatically. By the end she was doing sets of multiple deadlifts with a weight close to what was her previous best for one repetition when she started.

Her A12 journey was a challenging one, however, not only because she was juggling having to play mother to two children and manage her yoga teaching or that she wasn’t able to do any running, but after completing 10 weeks on the program Jamie then sustained a rib injury (not from training I should add). This forced her to rest for four weeks. Then I started her again on a six-week program.

Though the result of her hard work was evident, Jamie still looked at her final photos in disbelief (maybe because we didn’t have many mirrors in our home). I’m tremendously proud of her achievement and dedication.

She rigidly followed all my instructions and never skipped a session.
Yet until the end, Jamie still doubted what she could achieve and I kept reminding her to trust and believe in Paul McIlroy‘s system and experience that is this program.

Then during the final few days she not only saw the magic of the A12 unveiled, but also the manifestation of all her efforts.

THE longer you’ve been training, the harder it is to bring about any physical change. So in terms of the Amazing 12 Body Transformation program, which I am now running, I saw myself as a good test case: 35 years of continuous training – the last four doing CrossFit, aged 47, on a vegan diet and a naturally lean (difficult to bulk) body type.

I followed the program to the letter and enjoyed every second of it – so much so that I was already looking forward to doing it again. Coming from a boxing background, it suited my mentality: the ritual of building to a peak over a prolonged period (in this case 12 weeks) in a constructive, dedicated manner.

I felt so much stronger at the end than when I started, gaining just 3lbs. I was shoulder-pressing and bench-pressing multiple repetitions with weights I could lift only for one rep when I began and doing multiple chin-ups (40-plus) with weights attached, in a relatively short time.

Not that I ever doubted it, but I discovered first-hand that the program works.

This wasn’t only a transformative experience, but it became an education in strength training and understanding better how to best utilise nutrients to fuel and build our bodies.

There’s no trick photography involved. My intention from the start was to carry out the program as honestly as is possible and that will always be the case.