A WORK IN PROGRESS: end of the program, but the beginning of the road
TWO days after completing the Amazing 12 Chichester, Ian Barnett, 46, headed off to the Greek islands for a well-earned break with his three daughters and wife.
Shortly after returning, I had him in the gym again. Though he was refreshed, Ian admitted he was a little overstuffed with Greek bread.
I was about to put him through his paces at Core Results as I had done a week before he started the Amazing 12 – to see what strength gains, if any, had been achieved.
The obvious difference is that prior to the Amazing 12, Ian had been inactive for a number of years. Post-Amazing 12, he’d just completed three months training, turning up at the gym with me five days each week and doing some additional work by himself.
He did some calisthenic-type training while away on holiday, but hadn’t touched a weight in over a week.
Still, I was pretty confident he’d shine a positive light on his Amazing 12 efforts.
I wasn’t to be disappointed.
LEANED OUT: now it’s about keeping the momentum going
For example, his back squat went from a wobbly 70kg for two reps to 95kg. His deadlift best for two reps upped from 95kg to 120kg. His bench press improved from 62.5kg to 85kg. He could complete two chin-ups before he started, but now was able to do seven.
As a measure of his fitness, I had him run the prowler, a sort of heavy metal pushing device, up and down the gym 10 times without stopping. This we did in week 1 (2:52), again at week 6 (2:15) and then afterwards (2:01). That’s nearly a one-minute improvement in three months!
Those are the athletic achievements. But weighing in at 101.3kg (223lbs or 15st 12 3/4lbs) back in February, Ian wanted to shift some weight and, more specifically, the excess body fat that had accumulated from years of inactivity and a desk job lifestyle.
By the start of the final week that weight had dropped to 97.2kg (213 3/4lbs or 15st 3 3/4lbs). On the finishing session, Ian was down to 93kg (206lbs or 14st 10lbs), which is what he weighed on his wedding day over five years ago, but his body composition is now more muscular.
His body fat percentage had gone from 25.4% to 22.4% (week 8) to 20.7%. His body fat mass dropped from 4st to 3st 2 1/4lbs.
Ian’s metabolic age started at 51, went down to 41 at week 8 and then 36 by completion. Visceral fat went from 12 to 10 to 9, which is just below what is regarded as safe.
STRONGER: but Ian hasn’t reached his physical potential
“My results are incredible,” he admitted. “I may not have an Olympic swimmer’s physique – and, to be honest, from my starting point that was probably a bit ambitious – but I look more athletic.
“I feel so much more energised and want to improve from here. The internal results of visceral fat, body fat percentage and the changes in metabolic age were the best improvements.”
Even from week 1, Ian was revelling in the fact that this (doing the Amazing 12) was even possible. When we first discussed it and Ian saw the two advertised training times, he dismissed his participation. But I went back to him. We met for a cup of tea one chilly morning with no strings attached to see if there was a way to just find an opening for some training.
It was very clear to me that Ian wanted a change. But, being a father and business owner, it didn’t feel straightforward. However, where there’s a will there is a way. Ian proved that.
“I wanted to do the Amazing 12 to get back into shape,” he said. “It had been lingering for a while that I needed to do something.
“I’d looked at other personal training locally. But I felt your approach and the results I had seen, gave me the best chance of making the change I needed.”
HARD AT IT: those early-morning sessions
His journey was remarkably smooth sailing. There were some minor hitches. Ian had already committed, pre-A12, to a number of work-related courses that resulted in him missing some sessions, but, like Sue Crabtree, he wanted to make up for it and signed up for an extra week.
In total, Ian attended 89% of the gym sessions, which was even more impressive given we usually started at 6am and trained during what was a rather bitter British winter.
Commitment wasn’t a problem.
“Turning up for the training was easy,” he said. “We had structure, which suited home and work lives, and it was easy to stick to.”
As early as week 3, Ian was noticing the difference the program was making to his fitness. He would go cycling with friends some weekends and his body was excelling where usually he would struggle.
IN THE BAG: Ian was never out of his depth
Most mornings he’d walk in with a smile on his face. On the few days he didn’t – usually because he hadn’t slept enough – Ian would still walk out feeling better in himself.
There were so many times I noted at the end of training in my scribbled pencil “good session”.
Ian gave everything of himself. He had the support of his wife, which is always a fantastic help.
As Ian said to me at the start of week 9, “My wife’s happier, kids are happier. I’m getting a real buzz. I’m happier. And my clothes are fitting differently!”
I challenged Ian little by little with every session and he consistently rose to it.
“I really enjoyed the training,” he admitted. “Even, in retrospect, leg days [which he dreaded at the time]. We were also able to incorporate the [punch]bag work and chin-ups as a slight change. But I never found the training boring – it is what it needs to be. I like that anyway.
CONFIDENT: a new man, father and husband
“The feeling of lifting weights, of feeling stronger and fitter was great.”
Typically, at some point there is a blip or a setback. But Ian continued to grow in strength and fitness.
Even the nutrition side of things were embraced wholeheartedly, impressive considering Ian doesn’t like vegetables!
“The diet was good and obviously integral to the process,” he said. “It articulated probably what I already knew, but the portion sizing and staying away from processed food was the message that resonated the most.”
BACK IN CHARGE: now Ian knows he has better control over his physical future
There are three phases to the Amazing 12 diet and Ian found the final part, which lasted only a week, the toughest. For phase 2, he managed it by being organised.
At the end of 12 weeks I got him as fit and strong as I could for that period of time without breaking him. But he still has more to come.
That’s why he wants to continue training and he’s also bought into the understanding that lifting weights and training smartly is a vital part of growing older and remaining healthy.
“I enjoy feeling strong and looking stronger,” he said to me in week 10. By the final week he admitted he was fitter and stronger than he was on his wedding day 14 years ago. “And I wasn’t expecting to get as fit as I did,” he added.
And then I unleashed him on some chin-ups, which Ian was eager to try, and he knocked them out without much bother, nailing 42 in 15 minutes the first time we tried and then nearly 50 the time after. Given that before we started the A12, Ian managed only two -maximum! – that was pretty good going.
“I felt more confident and recognise my ability to work towards a goal,” he said. “That’s much more fun [for me] when applied to working the body. I am now trying to apply it to my work, too – organisation, structure, goals etc.
“To anyone thinking of doing it, I’d say ‘go for it!’ It was a brilliant experience all-round.”
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!
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.
GUN TRAINING: Rich feeling the burn
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.”
LOADED: time for the bigger dumbbells
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.
FOR all of us there will be situations and actions that make us anxious and uncomfortable. Some things we’re better at than others
