amazing 12 program Archives -

Sometimes we just need to jump

FOR all of us there will be situations and actions that make us anxious and uncomfortable. Some things we’re better at than others.

However, I understand also that I, like you, CAN do anything, that my potential is great. I believe that to be true for everyone.

Often, though, something is holding us back from moving towards that great thing we are capable of or the goal we want to achieve or the change we want to create. That something is usually fear or doubt or uncertainty.

TWO-TIMER: Adriano Satta after his second round of the Amazing 12

It’s like a wall that stands between where we are and where we want to be and, unfortunately, we can’t go around it.

When it comes to getting in shape and fit, many of us have the best intentions, especially at this time of year. Some of us don’t even make it to the starting blocks, while many will begin and then quickly fall back into old patterns of behaviour (habits).

SHORT VERSION: But Catriona, at 50 and new to weight-training, still made tremendous progress

It’s easier to stay in the relative comfort of what we know, even if it doesn’t serve us well.

But sometimes you have to look yourself in the eye, have that hard conversation and ask, ‘what’s going to happen if I do nothing or continue as I’ve been doing?’

With the Amazing 12 Chichester program, I help people get into better shape – shape their bodies, minds and the way their bodies can function by increasing strength, stability, flexibility, fitness and movement and, consequently, there’s a lot more that comes with it.

FIRST TIME: Jon, a father and business owner, has since gone on to the A12 Chichester another time

I’m advertising my next round of the Amazing 12 Chichester program for February 2018. For those who don’t know, it’s an outstanding training program.

There aren’t, to my knowledge, too many programs out there that can do so much in one hit and I’ve been training for more than 35 years.

You’ll learn about training, how to lift, how to eat optimally, the potential of your body and the workings of your mind. You’ll discover a lot more about yourself than you bargained for. And I think that’s a good thing.

TURNAROUND: Jemma lost 32lbs, gained confidence and strength and a new body

I love seeing the transformations happen. Sometimes it’s purely physical and at other times it’s everything. But it gives me massive satisfaction. I relish working with people and helping them to improve, develop and, ultimately, flourish.

Training – or working out – is my game. It’s what I love. I don’t require motivating. I’m driven every day to do it. Nutrition isn’t an obstacle for me either. I’ve been committed to lead by example most of my life. I find those habits simple to master.

I don’t say it to brag that, at 50, I’m in better shape than I was at 20. I’m stronger and fitter, too. I’m just consistent and have continued to make better lifestyle choices and habits.

But there are other areas of life that I’m hopeless at and challenge me more and where I’m not as motivated or committed or enthusiastic or confident. Sometimes I fail miserably.

We all favour doing what we excel at, but it’s the other stuff that we really need to focus our attention on.

DISAPPOINTED: This was Rich, a 49-year-old, who wanted to get leaner, but felt as if he didn’t

As a seeker – a seeker of self-development and constantly evolving – I seldom rest in my desire to go to the next level, but I play the avoidance game, too, and it’s usually when I face my old adversaries, fear and uncertainty.

And though I know on the other side of fear is all that is preventing us from staying small, I can be like anyone else and cower in the face of taking that step forwards.

I know the challenging stuff gets uncomfortable. I know it’s going to test me and that it could prove to be inconvenient. I know I may not even like the process. But I also recognise that once I get to the other side, I’m going to be much better for it – that the riches are in the experience and the relationships and the overcoming of doubts. And that is the nugget that helps me bite the bullet.

I recognise and respect also that sometimes I need help getting to the other side. I require the accountability that I provide to my clients on the Amazing 12. That help can be in the form of a nudge or encouragement or a kick up the backside or having to report to or work alongside someone. Whatever works.

MARVEL: Since having a son 18 months ago, Stacey has done the Amazing 12 twice

So this is where I am now. I’ve just finished taking Stacey Satta and Rich Evans through the Amazing 12 and am encouraging others who want to get into the best possible shape to sign up with me for the next one. At the same time, coincidentally or not, I had someone else (I won’t reveal who) banging in my ear, waving at me to sign up with them for an undisputedly world class program, like the Amazing 12 (though not fitness-related), that could, potentially, help me to conquer many of the inhibitions that for years have held me back.

Guess what? I started having the same insecurities that infect many of those who desperately would like to try the Amazing 12, but back off and can’t pull the trigger.

I kept putting it off, saying I’m not ready or that it would cost too much or questioning whether I could succeed. I basically started listing excuses.

The more I did so, the more I said to myself: “How can I expect people to commit to me on the Amazing 12 if I won’t take a chance on myself?”

I mulled this over for weeks, literally. I felt like a hypocrite. I reached a point where I believed that, to be fair, I couldn’t ask someone to take a step I wasn’t prepared to take myself.

GUILT: Sue, a mother of two, had to overcome the guilt of taking time out for herself

I asked myself also whether I wanted to be a 50 per cent version of myself. We only live once. I knew that I deserved better, my children deserved better, my clients deserved better…

“Do not die with the music still inside you!” is a quote that reverberated inside of me.

So what did I do?

Even without being properly able to afford it, I took the plunge. I thought, ‘this is an investment. This isn’t about money. This is about life. This is about freedom. This is about being yourself. This is about realising potential. This is about life experience, good or bad. This is about going to the next level, evolving. This is about living without regret, walking with your head held high. This is about eliminating what ifs. This is about speculating to accumulate’.

So I did it. I signed up. Done. I’m in. I’m going to do it. I made it happen. In an instant I made a decision. I took action. No turning back.

I jumped!

If you’re thinking about the Amazing 12, don’t think. Just do it. Get it done. Close your eyes, leap towards it, enjoy the ride, experience the change and, like all the graduates photographed on this page, realise what was always possible.

Contact me NOW – claude@intelligentstrength.co.uk – schedule a free consultation and let’s get the wheels in motion and transform you into that spectacular physical being you were born to be.

I’ve decided 2018 is going to be a year of change and massive progress. I’m tired of waiting because, to be blunt, waiting brings nothing. Just seize the opportunity!

Are you IN or are you not?

Week 11 & 12: When life doesn’t go according to plan

RAISING THE BAR: Rich and Stacey, in their own way, have made impressive progress

ANOTHER Amazing 12 Chichester is nearly complete. Stacey Satta, on her second circuit of the Amazing 12, completed her final week. Rich Evans has a few more days to go.

There’s a reason for the different schedule: Rich, 49, knew before he started that he was going to miss a few days here and there because of prior commitments and then he lost more days when his mother passed away, so we agreed to continue into another week to try to make up the difference.

It’s certainly been an extraordinary experience for me as a coach. Even the weeks passed by incredibly fast, I had a feeling it was going to be challenging and it proved to be so – in a good way.

As a coach, you have to think on your feet sometimes. Seldom does everything go exactly to plan and it’s how you respond in those instances that matters most.

GETTING A GRIP: it’s been tough-going for Stacey at times

My goal, as always with the Amazing 12, is to guide the participant to the finish. We can only do our utmost in the circumstances we are presented with. The finish is the destination and the program is the way. But this time we had to take many detours.

I wish I could say Rich and Stacey completed the program precisely how Paul McIlroy had designed it. But it didn’t go that way.

Things happen and over the past 12 weeks many things happened. I’ll perhaps elaborate more in future posts.

However, they each made it. And though finishing was never in doubt for either Stacey or Rich and they each modestly dilute the merits of staying the course, I consider it an achievement worth validating.

It requires commitment, discipline and dedication to apply oneself for three months straight as they have. And, particularly given the obstacles they each faced, the achievement is made more praiseworthy (in my opinion). It says a lot about their character that in the face of trying conditions they never bailed out.

As I’ve detailed practically every week for the past three months, Stacey coped with disturbed sleep to turn up at Core Results for training five days a week. She did miss a few sessions here and there. And some workouts were never fully completed because I had to scale her workouts appropriately. To push someone when they are obviously fatigued simply isn’t sensible and nor is it commendable.

It was always a case of trying to make progress while not adding to her exhaustion.

If anything, it highlights the importance of sleep for recovery and human function. That may sound obvious, but Stacey has simply got used to operating at a lower level than most of us would be prepared to tolerate or capable of dealing with. That doesn’t make it right or, more importantly, in any way healthy.

SLEEK AND SLENDER: Stacey hasn’t lost any strength

It’s partly because Stacey for so long has soldiered on through life half-awake that she often doesn’t bat a tired eyelid at training when her system is clearly running near to empty.

She had a good run through weeks 10 and 11 and then I jinxed her one night on week 12, saying how impressive it had been that she hadn’t missed a session for about two weeks straight. That night she came down with a sore throat and in the morning woke up feeling terrible.

But she was determined, being so close to the finish, not to be derailed. Somehow she recovered enough to train that evening and, as was often the case on nights like that, we played it by ear.

GET UP AND GO: some days have been better than others

Typically, Stacey performed. Sometimes she just defies logic or biological science. “Even when I feel terrible, I never feel worse by training,” she said.

In spite of the sleep problem, Stacey has made incredible progress. Looking so slender that some of the ladies in the gym were enviously eyeing her up, she stacked a heavy barbell on her back this week and squatted for reps beyond what I tested her as a maximum a week after her first Amazing 12.

The difference is that Stacey, a few days ago, was only warming up rather than trying to explore what her limits were!

And then on the deadlift, which had thwarted her on week 11 when her technique went awry and she lost confidence, Stacey nailed it relatively comfortably.

She admitted as she approached the bar for the first set that half her head was saying it was going to be hard, while the other half was urging her on and saying she could do it.

The weight went up quite effortlessly and I could see the expression on her face – that look of ‘that was easier than I thought it was going to be’.

WALKING A FINE LINE: it’s been a case of seeking progress without adding to Stacey’s tiredness

The next day, though, Stacey had hit rock bottom again. Again, there was no point pushing the envelope when what she needed – if she insisted on training (as she did) – was a session that helped her to tick over and nothing more.

Even in her depleted state, saying she was feeling weak, there were some positives to be found. She could still complete 47 bodyweight chin-ups in 15 minutes compared to the 38 she did at this very stage on her first Amazing 12 experience when feeling much better.

The next day, in what was her final session, Stacey again came in on only a few hours proper sleep and not having eaten well (feeling a little sick), but was able to grind her way through another session that I calculated wasn’t going to break her.

GAINS: injury has added focus to the upper body

For Rich it’s been a different story. He hasn’t been able to squat or deadlift from week 9, when he injured his knee. He also had to stop a crawling program I had him on. He’s moving much better now compared to when he sustained the injury, but we didn’t want to risk making it worse.

Not one to sit around and wait for miracles to happen, he got the knee checked out. He’s seen acupuncturist and specialists and physios, had scans etc. He has cartilage damage in one knee and, most likely, faces an operation sometime in the future.

From a training and results perspective, though, it wasn’t the best outcome. There’s no better total-body muscle-builder (in my opinion) than the back squat and no greater strength-builder than the deadlift.

But the show has to go on – even without my two trump cards. And, if there’s a silver lining in this dark cloud, Rich has consequently worked a lot more on his upper body and can at least still train.

DREADED: Rich didn’t enjoy this movement much

While it was clear from week to week (especially from the halfway stage) he was looking different – and Rich acknowledged the changes – his scales still recorded his overall body fat and muscle mass as the same!

“I know – I’m a freak,” he said.

There is no question he is stronger. Much stronger. For example, by the end of this week he was bench-pressing for repetitions more than he was back squatting at week 9. I keep upping the weight and Rich continues to hit the targets I have in mind for him.

“I’m streets ahead of where I’ve ever been, strength-wise,” he admitted. “I’ve never been this strong in my life.”

Of course, it’s easy to ask what difference it would have made had he not got injured, but in reality there’s no point. You can’t change what’s happened and, as in life, it’s about making the best of what you have at your disposal.

Rich knew going into the program that his body, for whatever reason, held on to body fat even when exposed to physical training. What we wanted to discover is how his body would respond to the Amazing 12.

Sure enough, the fat wasn’t dropping off him like it does for most on the program even though his strength and fitness was elevating. It was frustrating for him to see Stacey shrinking week by week while his fat loss remained consistent.

“What I need to find is someone who studies people like me,” said Rich. Trouble is, I’m not convinced there is anyone else like Rich.

NO ESCAPE: circuit day tests Rich’s resolve

Only part of the way through the program did we consider a visit to an acupuncturist Rich had visited previously for his knee and held in high regard. He diagnosed an issue with a valve that wasn’t functioning optimally and possibly held the key to the fat loss.

It certainly seems that since this treatment, Rich’s shape has changed more significantly, which bodes well for the future.

He now goes into the final week, which is all about reaching a peak. The protocol is different and especially for a vegan as compared to a meat-eater. And with Rich being Rich, it will be fascinating to discover what happens next with him in the remaining days.

Find out how Stacey and Rich finished by subscribing to these blog posts. And if you’d like to be next on the Amazing 12 – and think you have the commitment and drive to take yourself to the next level – apply by contacting Claude@intelligentstrength.co.uk.

Week 8: Over the hump

BREAKTHROUGH: progress comes with patience

SEVERAL weeks ago, almost at the beginning of the Amazing 12 Chichester and after Rich Evans had completed a set of back squats, I scribbled down a note that it was “challenging”.

Later, throughout weeks five, six and seven, Rich felt depleted, mentally and physically. Stacey Satta hit a wall during the same period.

We’re now at the end of week 8 at Core Results – three-quarters of the way through – and Rich and Stacey each appear to have gone over the hump.

How, you might ask, if the program is progressively more demanding, can they now feel better?

It’s called adaptation.

SKIP IN HER STEP: it’s amazing what Stacey can do with some sleep

Stacey even managed this week to get some sleep on successive nights – four hours or thereabouts – and it made the world of difference to her workout. For any normal person, that would be a crisis point. But for Stacey it was cause for celebration. She had bundles of energy.

Rich has had an added bounce to his step, too. When he did his squats, he looked as if he completed them more easily in week 8 than in week 2, when he felt it was testing. But now he has more weight on the bar. And there’s much more to come.

The signs of progress keep coming. Stacey has already equalled her deadlift weight from the first trip around the Amazing 12. In fact, when she did it in June, I recall the weight she is at now being significantly tougher. I remember how she couldn’t complete the workout as prescribed and we had to back-track to enable her to regain her confidence, which she quickly did.

Similarly, her back squat is now near to where she ended the first A12. Stacey can also walk lengths of the gym carrying a weight she once found difficult to deadlift for a single rep (on the first Amazing 12).

Stacey this week comfortably performed multiple Turkish Get-ups with a kettlebell she couldn’t complete a single rep with only a few weeks ago. And on one particular exercise she achieved a level beyond anyone I’ve previously taken through the program.

Yet by the final session of this week, with a few more sleepless nights thrown in and life being a little more stressful than usual away from the gym, Stacey was ready for some reprieve and much-needed recovery.

ENERGY: there was a noticeable difference in Rich

Rich, by contrast, was back to his normal self. “Generally, I feel so much better,” he said. He’d also dropped 5lbs in weight and was looking leaner. His recovery has improved. And, as someone who tracks everything, he observed how his heartrate had gone down, too – both when resting and training hard – indications his conditioning is getting better.

It’s always a nice feeling to get over the sticking points as they can cause a lot of self-doubt and knock confidence. But with experience, patience and know-how, you can break through.

FRIENDLY COMPETITION: bringing the best out of each other

As you go through a process like this, you come to understand just how magnificent the human body is and how limitless, when challenged intelligently, our potential for growth is.

Rich and Stacey have worked well alongside each other, too. You can see how one spurs on the other. Even though I don’t purposely make the Amazing 12 competitive, some personalities are that way inclined.

WORKING HARD: there’s a time and a place

If Rich achieves a certain amount of reps, Stacey will sometimes try to match or better it and vice versa. That’s all fine in my book, so long as quality of movement isn’t sacrificed. But it does reveal how our limitations are often a mental construct – that if training alone, perhaps Stacey or Rich, without a number to chase or standard to match, would possibly produce or settle for less.

As a coach, I’m always looking for the combination that brings out the best in people. If competition does that, I encourage it. If it doesn’t, I’ll say it doesn’t matter and to focus on themselves.

The conversations we have during training – when Rich and Stacey are resting (I don’t advocate talking while working) – are often on how much psychology plays a part in human performance. They’ve come to understand better that this is an area which requires as much attention as the training itself. And the same can be said for rest and recovery.

It’s easy to understand why the latter – the recovery – is underestimated and overlooked when the spotlight is always so brightly fixed on the training.

ADAPTING: getting used to his new rope

The emphasis these days is on the workout and the reps and the pain and the weight and the fancy gear or equipment that makes us look better. But none of it matters if our recovery isn’t sufficient to promote growth and repair. The adaptation happens when we stop training.

As respected and accomplished American strength and conditioning trainer Dan John said in his book Intervention, “We have this work ethic that somehow we are sinning unless we train at maximal effort each and every workout. That’s simply not how the body works.”

It’s not only about muscular recovery. Even when our muscles feel pain-free, continued stress from training coupled with a stressful lifestyle and poor food choices takes a wicked toll on the nervous system.

FOCUS: the TGU is a great way to slow down

The beauty of the Amazing 12 is that the program, when properly administered, has a defence system built into it. It’s designed in such a way that the participant often recovers at the rate needed in which to take on the next challenge.

It didn’t surprise me to see Rich and Stacey bounce back this week. And there may be another hump to navigate before the finish. But when all the boxes are ticked – training, rest, nutrition, stress, technique – it’s easier to succeed.

REFLECTION: finishing a more enduring workout

For some of us, the idea that physical success can be “easy” goes against what we’ve been led to believe or contradicts the commonly-marketed image – that results come purely from increased effort and repeatedly knocking through the pain barrier.

I’m not knocking effort. But I do question effort for the sake of effort and intensity to cause pain and exhaustion. I value efficiency over effort. Training smarter trumps training harder – in most cases.

The Amazing 12 requires hard work on many levels. But the goal is to make you greater, not weaker. The aim is to develop, not crush. The intention is to make you cleverer in your approach. The desired outcome is to create progress, not puddles of sweat.

If my training philosophy resonates with you and you have targets you want to achieve and need guidance on how to make it happen, why not sign up for some personal training? Alternatively, I run a boxing fitness class for women every Tuesday from 1-2pm at Core Results. From next January I start another round of the Amazing 12 and a women’s weight-lifting program on Sunday mornings. Email me at Claude@intelligentstrength.co.uk for more information or any questions.

Week 7: On the ropes

ANIMAL INSTINCT: crawling is a natural but forgotten movement

I GET asked frequently if everyone on the Amazing 12 does precisely the same thing. The answer is no. Not exactly.

As we’re all unique, a tailored approach is needed for each individual. That’s how effective training ought to be.

Not everyone going into a doctor’s surgery seeking health gets exactly the same prescription. But the healing process works in a particular way and, as with the Amazing 12, the principles for developing strength and fitness and losing or gaining weight are consistent.

There will always be occasions when, for one reason or another (usually because of injury or mobility restrictions or body composition or fitness levels or age), different exercises or movements or levels of intensity are necessary.

It’s happened on the Amazing 12 program many times previously when somebody simply can’t perform an exercise correctly and, rather than plug away and risk injury, I substitute the movement for another that can be executed with better technique.

FLOORED: pressing her way to a stronger body

Stacey, who along with Rich has now come to the end of week 7 on the Amazing 12 Chichester, has, for example, had a niggling pain in her rotator cuff. It’s not so painful that she screams in agony, but it’s restrictive and there’s enough discomfort to suggest we try an alternative.

We’ve experimented a lot the past four weeks with the goal being to continue making progress without worsening the injury.

What makes it undoubtedly tougher for Stacey is her lack of sleep as it’s during sleep that the body does its repair work.

Your training program is only as good as your ability to recover from it.

Having had rotator cuff injuries in the past – mainly from over-use and, when I was younger, not being shown how to lift weights properly (especially in the bench press) – I’m reluctant to take anyone down the path of let’s-push-it-and-see.

Pain in the body is like an internal alarm telling us something is wrong and that we should do it differently or not at all.

But we need to understand the difference between pain and discomfort.

GET-UP AND GO: one of the best movements going

I’ve modified some of Stacey’s program. And, given her sleep issues, I have to be careful not to push her over the edge when her energy levels are low.

On some days she’s brilliant and on others she is completely spent. I can’t expect her to excel on the latter.

But not a week passes when I don’t think what her potential could be if she were to get a good night’s rest every day.

One day this week at Core Results, after about the fifth consecutive night without any sleep, she came in looking wrecked, barely able to keep her eyes open.

Having had insomnia for the best part of 10 years, Stacey has grown used to it yet still looks amazing. She can function in situations where many of us who sleep well simply would fall apart.

SLEEPLESS: Yet Stacey can still crush the deadlift

So for Stacey to look tired, I knew she was seriously deprived of rest. And yet, in spite of the fact that most of our fat-burning takes place during sleep, Stacey still dropped more weight and fat.

Rich and I just looked at each other and wondered how it had happened. Overnight, Stacey looked as if half her body had disappeared. Whether it’s her magical watercress and pea soup she’s concocted that’s doing it or not, she had reached a point where she was as light as she’s been since she was 16!

The main difference, though, is that she couldn’t back squat 70kg comfortably when she was a teenager and can now.

However, having already missed a day this week (through tiredness), Stacey didn’t want to skip another. I was reluctant for her to train. She was keen to see what she could do. So we took it step by step. She got some work done and we agreed when it was time to wrap it up.

SHOPPING PRACTICE: functional training at its best

The important lesson here is to learn to listen to your body. Don’t wait until it breaks to take notice. The body continually feeds back information. There’s a difference between being in a state where you haven’t recovered and can barely stand up and just not being in the mood to move or work.

Understanding the difference requires experience. Some of us wake up with a runny nose and decide to put our feet up and stay in bed, while others put on the running shoes and head outside for some exercise and fresh air.

Rich has been ‘feeling it’ this week also. By contrast, he sleeps really well. But he’s been feeling physically tired from the training (fairly common at the halfway stage). He’s clearly getting stronger and fitter, but not yet as lean as he would like to be (there are still five weeks to go).

NEEDING A LIFT: remaining strong through a tough week

Rich is an interesting case – and this goes back to how we are all so unique. As I mentioned a few weeks back, Rich has had almost every test going to figure out why his body hangs on to fat. Some of his testing has revealed that, for whatever reason, his body clings to fat in circumstances where others will shed it. He has a “moderate fat-burning response to exercise” and a “susceptibility to carry more weight and lose weight slower”, all of which stems from a “severely limited ability to release fat from fat cells and into the blood for energy use.”

For Rich, who loves a question and, even more so, an answer, not knowing the cause is more frustrating than having tried so many different options without success.

Being vegan, he’s on a different diet to Stacey and we’re also experimenting with some other techniques which could accelerate the process of shifting body fat and improving his metabolism.

Training and diet, like life, is often a game of trial and error – working out what is the most effective way to do something. I’m adapting the Amazing 12 program to best suit someone like Rich.

Theoretically, as Rich increases his muscle mass – which he is doing – he should burn more fat. And as he continues to eat a wholefood diet with quality ingredients and in the right proportions, he should become leaner.

Over the next five weeks his strength is going to shoot up and so, too, should his muscle mass.

PREP WORK: getting the muscles ready for a workout

Rich, though, is concerned he won’t be able to maintain pace. He gives his all in every session and, consequently, has felt “battered” and as though he “running on empty”. He admits, though, that following his mum’s passing only a few weeks ago it’s been an emotionally tough time as well.

Although he “feels” like he’s running on fumes, what he’s actually achieving remains impressive.

It’s different for everyone. I’ve had participants feeling fantastic at the halfway point and bouncing with energy, while others feel completed wasted. The key remains to see it through to the end. The Amazing 12 journey isn’t complete at three, six or 1o weeks and there are many cases where the significant changes have happened from week 10 onwards.

What the participants often don’t see is the numbers – the data I collect from every session. Training sessions can feel tough and exhausting. And Rich’s tendency to search for his limits will contribute to that. But as someone’s strength and fitness increases so does the ability to extend themselves.

IMPROVED: Stacey’s way ahead of where she was last time at week 7

Stacey has already surpassed in most of the exercises on the program her performances from the first time she completed the Amazing 12. She’s not finding it any easier, though. The experience feels quite different.

These guys are going through a proverbial storm. If they were boxers, they’d be on the ropes. But they are still in the fight. That’s the main thing and for as long as they are standing they have a chance to share the spoils.

As author Brendon Burchard posted this week, “No-one who has ever achieved greatness avoided struggle. They met it, engaged with it. They knew it was necessary.”