THE question of why I chose to be a coach for the Amazing 12 transformation program was posed to me recently. The thinking behind the question was that it’s all superficial and rather shallow, isn’t it?
Aren’t there more important things in life? Isn’t it just another training quick-fix in the fitness world and unsustainable anyway?
I’ve seen all the criticisms of the Amazing 12 and they usually originate from the doubters – those who cannot believe these types of results are possible. But the negative comments don’t come close in volume to the positive ones. And, having completed the program myself and taken individuals through it, I know all the results are absolutely authentic and that these transformations are achieved through effort, discipline, motivation and the application of masterful program design.
I’m not interested in pulling the wool over someone’s eyes or conning them out of money by providing false claims or promises I cannot deliver. How does that enhance my reputation or build trust or help spread the value of what the Amazing 12 offers?
What is superficial anyway? Here are two definitions: “existing or occurring at or on the surface” and “appearing to be true or real until examined more closely“. By those definitions the Amazing 12 is anything but superficial. In fact, the beauty of the Amazing 12 is much more than skin deep. What happens is a ripple effect: strength and fitness achieved through movement, progressive training and better eating habits leads to greater health, boosted confidence, enhanced brain activity, happiness, stronger immunity, a rise in self-esteem and self-worth, a sense of accomplishment, pride…
And there is more. There are the educational benefits, because I’m teaching not only about the importance of good nutrition and providing evidence of it when it is applied, but I also focus on skills – in lifting and movement – and striving for high standards. The Amazing 12 is not just the execution of a program designed, tested and perfected by one of the world’s foremost strength and conditioning coaches. For me, it’s the opportunity to repeatedly enforce how we can move weights safely and effectively so that in our daily activities we become more efficient in our actions and, effectively, less prone to injury and/or decay.
To complete the Amazing 12 one requires motivation – to drive yourself on to achieve your goal – and discipline – to show up on the days when your motivation is low. We all have good and bad days. That’s inevitable. But the Amazing 12 holds you accountable. It’s not a turn-up-when-you-feel-like-it program. It’s not to be tackled half-heartedly. But it will teach you what can be achieved if you keep showing up, no matter how you feel. You just have to trust it.
Adriano, one of my graduates, commuted each day by train several hours from Chichester to London. In fact, I wouldn’t let him on the program initially because I didn’t think he’d be able to stick to it and his success was more important to me than his money. I’d trained him previously and never seen him turn up more than two days in succession. So I set him a small challenge: come to training every day the following week and I would consider it. He did.
“I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t easy [doing the A12] initially,” he admitted. “I had to get up at 5.30am to get to London and I’d be back in Chichester for 7.30pm, then be at the gym from 8.30pm-10pm, go to sleep and repeat. Nevertheless, sooner than I thought, I adapted to the new routine. My body adapted and this became normality for the 12 weeks.”
To see Adriano’s face at the end was a gift. When I asked him about the experience, he quoted me a Kipling poem that best described how he felt.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them ‘Hold on!’
“The Amazing 12 gave me self-belief, body awareness and a mental toughness I didn’t realise I could have,” he told me.
So let’s not get hung up on the superficial notion, because superficial is worrying about how our hair looks or the style of our shoes (and Adriano loves shoes more than anyone I know) or the clothing we wear or make-up we put on or how fashion dictates our actions. What is real is who we are and that we have only one body to take us through this journey of life. What is important is our health and, because the Amazing 12 program insists on clean, wholesome eating, this program actively boosts our level of well-being which then spills over into every other quarter of our lives and those with whom we come into daily contact.
Is it sustainable? Of course not and that is why it runs for 12 weeks only. But, as I have already stated, those three months will teach you plenty and, because new habits are formed along the way, leave lasting impressions and build a formidable platform from which to develop further.
I chose the Amazing 12 (and, thankfully, it chose me) because it is empowering. There are few things more satisfying or rewarding in life than empowering others. I see it in the smiles on the faces of my graduates when they have finished the final session and reached the mountain top. I see it in the eyes of some of them before they have even started – that glint of excitement at the prospect of what lies ahead. And, of course, I hear it in the words of people like Adriano.
Each person has their own story and, as such, their motives for wanting to do the A12 differ. There are now hundreds of graduates around the globe who have successfully taken the journey and transformed their lives. I get individuals who come back a second time, because it works for them in a way that nothing else does. That’s a massive compliment for the Amazing 12.
And when someone who had been diagnosed with a rare form of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma and thought his body would never recover completes the program and says he feels fitter and stronger than ever before or a lady of over 60 returns to her fighting weight of 30 years previously and she’s beaming with delight, I know my job is worthwhile and way beyond superficial.
*Interested in the Amazing 12 in Chichester? Want to find out more? Please contact me and arrange for a free consultation where I’d be happy to talk you through what’s expected and answer your questions. My next phase starts on January 9, 2017 at Core Results.