muscle and fat loss Archives -

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.”

Week 1: Off and running…and crawling

WARM-UP: It never fails to get Rich’s heart rate soaring or hit Stacey’s arms and legs

WHAT’S the common thread with people wanting to do the Amazing 12?

The answer: they want results.

The Amazing 12 has a history of success stories going back for more than a decade and across the world. So on this round of the Amazing 12 Chichester I have one graduate coming back to pick up where she left off and another who’s tried everything but not achieved the results he is after.

Stacey finished the program last April. When she started last time, she hadn’t done any training for the best part of 18 months. She’d had a child (who is now over a year-old). She was carrying extra weight and didn’t feel good in herself.

NO PRESSURE: Stacey wants to achieve even better results this time

Yet she achieved tremendous results – as you can see from the photos and if you read the blog. Her weight dropped from 10st 2lbs to 8st 10lbs and she increased both her strength and fitness. But now her goal over the next 12 weeks is to see how far she can progress, not just with her body composition, but also in terms of maximising her strength.

Joining her on this wave at the Core Results Gym is Rich Evans, a personal trainer himself (he runs Playground Fitness) and someone I’ve trained previously. Rich is on a mission to get leaner. He’s tried everything, he says, but can’t find the secret sauce.

Seriously, he’s had blood tests, urine tests, hormone tests to discover why his body is holding on to body fat. There could be reasons he’s not considered, like stress, or even the possibility of how having the belief that your body won’t release fat can be the cause of it.

However, Rich has never done the Amazing 12 program, though first enquired about it several years ago. The timing wasn’t quite right back then in terms of finding a three-month window where he could devote himself fully to the training. But now is the time.

FORM: For someone who isn’t keen on weights, Rich has good technique

This is going to be an interesting journey. Rich, 48, is a vegan. He’s never been a big fan of weight-lifting either. He has knee issues from multiple operations that don’t stop him moving, but have to be managed carefully. His lower back is sensitive also.

For the past three months he’s been training mostly by himself, doing mainly bodyweight, high-intensity-style training and lots of cycling. As someone who records everything, Rich supplied me with the data – his diet, training, weight charts etc. He measures his food meticulously and monitors his heart rate.

FINISHER: to the session and a solid week

Many of the practices he is used to will be different from the Amazing 12, which will be a challenge in itself for him. His last three months saw him lose about 10lbs in weight and some body fat, but the biggest marker for me was the loss of muscle mass. Most of his workouts were cardio, which would partly explain why.

Effectively, he was burning muscle, which is the body’s best weapon for burning fat!

On the Amazing 12 the goal will be to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat. His weight will be whatever it will be. It’s not a key measurement. But this week his weight has increased and body fat remained the same, suggesting the process of muscle building has already started. Early days.

EASY START: Stacey back into her deadlifting groove

Stacey comes in at about 6lbs more than when she finished the last wave five months ago, which is impressive. We’ve trained almost weekly since then, but not with anywhere near the same intensity or frequency as on the Amazing 12. She even admitted that her diet hasn’t always been great. But Stacey’s retained much of her muscle and strength.

What she has achieved this week compared with the first five days of her initial round of the Amazing 12 is quite staggering. She’s a different beast – and I mean that in the nicest way possible. The soreness this time round – which is typical on the first week – isn’t as severe as it was last time either.

Her greatest challenge, though, will be to achieve quality sleep to help to recover from one workout to another. As I’ve written about previously, sleep is where all the magic happens. It’s when your body transforms. Little sleep equals less transformation.

It’s not easy with a young one in the family, but as Stacey has never been a good sleeper anyhow it makes the situation twice as hard.

Somehow, Stacey functions and looks great on little shut-eye. But if she can improve her sleeping patterns, her potential for change is going to be greater.

We had one session this week where I had to cut back the load as Stacey was pretty much a walking zombie. Three days later we tried again and, despite her telling me she thought the outcome was going to be the same, she actually did 120 reps more!

At the end of this first week she’s already dropped weight and body fat.

The workouts have been a bit irregular in terms of times, though – some in the morning, evening and early afternoon – which takes getting used to. Stacey and Rich both prefer training first thing. Rich, normally an ace sleeper, said his sleep had been unusually disrupted this week and there could be many reasons for that.

FIRED UP: Rich is giving his all every day

Rich had certainly put in a solid shift this week. As you can see from the photo, he’s a determined character. I couldn’t have asked for more and the thought did cross my mind on the last day of training whether he can sustain this level of commitment and intensity to the end.

He’s persevering with my nutritional guidelines even though it’s the opposite of what he’s been used to doing. He bombards me with dozens of questions daily, but that’s what I’m here for.

Rich likes to know the ‘why?’ in everything. So when I change something or suggest something he’s not used to, that’s the question that comes back. It keeps me on my toes, as I need to know my stuff. Plus, my father always taught me that ‘why’ was the most important question.

STEADY: getting the technique right before adding weight is vital

I may be the coach, but my clients are always teaching me, too. I learn through them. That’s just one thing I like about this job.

But it’s also possible to over-think things. Rich understands how it’s also essential to trust in the process and allow it to do its thing. That requires an element of surrender.

The week ended well. Both Rich and Stacey were a bit sore going into the final session. Rich was absolutely buzzing by the end of it. And his tenacity is unquestionably motivating Stacey to step it up a notch. It’s an exciting thought to see where we go from here.

Week 2: Why muscles aren’t just for show

WE need muscle. There can be no disputing that. The amount of muscle, however, is more open to debate.

When it comes to losing excess fat, which all of my current Amazing 12 Chichester crew are striving for, developing muscle is king.

We are led to believe is that if we exercise/train more and eat less we will lose weight. And to some extent it is true. But what often happens is that while we may shift some poundage, we also strip away muscle as well as fat and, more importantly, screw up our metabolism in the process (I’ll go into this in more detail later). Long-term, that’s a disaster.

Having muscle is therefore critical in the process of fat-burning. It is also vital for other functions, too.

Muscle enables us to express bodily strength and so much more. We have about 600 skeletal muscles. They help make us functional and efficient, to stay healthy and pull blood into the tissues that need it. Without movement, which requires muscular action, our hearts wind up doing too much work and, over time, become strained. Without movement, our cells starve, affecting our cardiovascular system, and the distribution of oxygen in our body falters.

When muscles are weak and injured and don’t work well, our joints become compromised.

Having too much body fat makes us more physically and mentally tired, releasing inflammatory hormones that cause us to want more food, which is why we get cravings. Fat wants to be fed.

The goal for everyone interested in being healthy should be to have and maintain lean muscle mass for as long as possible. Genetics and age will play a part, but much more so our lifestyle and dietary choices.

Josh Hillis, a respected and experienced nutrition and fitness coach who co-wrote Fat Loss Happens on Monday, said: “People who are lean are in the habit of being lean. They’ve practised eating lean – like a skill.”

We can’t do a great deal about our age and genetics, but we can about how we choose to live and what we eat.

The older we get, the harder it is for our bodies to retain muscle. Therefore, more effort needs to be put into holding on to it. What can we do? Choose to live in a way that helps support that.

Did you know that those who train or exercise for one hour daily but spend the rest of their time sitting and not moving are only 4% better off physically than those who lead a sedentary life?

“The research shows that you can stay younger, longer if you have more lean muscle on your body,” said Shawn Stevenson, an expert on sleep and fitness and author of Sleep Smarter.

Adriano hard at it on his final session of the week

“Lifting weights enables you to express your genetic potential. Your genes expect you to lift heavy things.”

That’s why on the Amazing 12 we do a lot of lifting.

Lifting and moving weights combined with eating the right foods, consuming sufficient protein and, critically, getting enough recovery and quality sleep is the path to success for my dedicated quartet.

Early riser Ben puts in another good evening shift

All of them want to get fitter and stronger – and they already are just two weeks into the program.

However, each of them is facing his or her own challenges. For Ben, Adriano and Stacey it’s sleep. For Jo it’s trying to avoid falling sick.

Jo had to skip several days training. On a few days Adriano and Stacey (who have a young baby) and Ben, who gets up for work each day at 5am, have been tired from not sleeping well enough. Lack of sleep not only makes finding the energy for training harder, but losing the all-important recovery time will reduce the chances of obtaining the best results and weaken the immune system.

There are measures we can take to help improve sleep, but you have to be prepared to implement them. What value is knowledge without application?

Muscle doesn’t repair and grow without quality sleep. Seeing as muscle makes us healthier and it’s opposite is fat, you don’t need to me to spell out what fat does.

What we need to ask ourselves is whether the choices (food, exercise/activity, sleep) we make each day are feeding our muscles or fat?

Willis added, “If you don’t constantly feed fat, you’ll lose it. If you keep feeding it, it will stick around forever.”

Crash diets don’t work! Let me repeat that: CRASH DIETS DON’T WORK! At least not in the long term, which is what matters.

Calorie-restricted diet v Amazing 12, aged 47, several years later

I’ve done crash diets. Actually, I’ve done what might seem an extreme crash diet – fasting for three weeks. I lost weight, but most of it muscle. Let me tell you, I felt as weak as a kitten. But when I started nourishing myself again, almost immediately my strength quickly returned. You can see the difference from the photos above. One is of me not eating or resistance training and the other, several years later, after completing the Amazing 12, aged 47.

Notice I said “nourish” and not “eating”? What we put into our bodies makes a massive difference. So on the Amazing 12, my team are not just training, but following a fitness and strength program that works in tandem with a healthy eating plan. I’m always on at them to eat foods that have nutritional value.

While crash diets nearly all work initially – our bodies inevitably adapt and, consequently, hit a plateau. And what can happen is that our metabolism becomes slower than it was before we started. The weight goes back on and often in excess of what was lost.

As a coach, I am always banging on about how each of us must take ownership of the problem – understand what you are putting into your body and, maybe most importantly, plan your meals ahead of time.

Learning about food and how to prepare it is a skill worth acquiring as it could greatly enhance the quality of your life.

Second time on the Amazing 12, Adriano has learned to prepare his food in advance

Adriano, for instance, travels to London to work a few times each week. He takes with him his food. When he gets hungry, he eats it. If he didn’t have everything organised, he’d be at the mercy of what’s available and that could compromise his results. Next week he has to travel to Africa for his job. If he doesn’t think ahead he will struggle to stick to the eating plan.

Committed Ben dialling in his lifting technique

Luckily for Ben, he has a mother who has his food prepared in advance for him. But, ultimately, Ben needs to take control of his own food. I’m trying to get him to drink more water, too. The more reliant you are on others, the greater the chances of slipping to failure.

As Hillis says, “Until you make the switch in your head that food preparation is the most important workout of the week, you’ll forever be caught in the trap of trying to get your results through workouts.”

Keep reading that paragraph until it sinks in!

So, to recap, muscles aren’t for show. And to develop lean muscle we need to train regularly and smartly, eat a nourishing diet and get sufficient rest.

Battle ropes: not Adriano’s favourite, but effective

Make gaining lean muscle a goal because muscle marshals our metabolism, which is critical in regulating our body weight.

Muscle, however, is high maintenance for our bodies. That means it’s the first thing the body releases whenever we follow eat-less-exercise-more diet plans. It also weighs more than fat, which is why the scales will often tell you lies. Don’t rely on bodyweight numbers as a marker for health, fitness and well-being.

More significant is what you can do with your body. I record the achievements of all the participants each week so I can monitor their progress. There will be some days and weeks that are tougher than others. That’s normal and to be expected. This is a journey that has its share of pot-holes. Reaching the end and learning enough from the experience to venture onwards better equipped is what it should be about.

All four of my prospective graduates were tired by the end of this week. When it’s cold outside – as it has been – and your body feels like it needs a rest it’s easy to want to put your feet up. But they all turned up and put in a brilliant final shift.

Worth remembering is a quote by Jason Lewis, the first man to circumnavigate the planet (over 13 years) by human power (walking, cycling, inline skating, kayaking, rowing and swimming).

He said, “Our bodies are capable of amazing feats if our minds agree to cooperate.”

Doing the Amazing 12 isn’t reserved for the elite. You just have to get your mind to cooperate. If you are interested in being a part of the next wave of the Amazing 12 Chichester or would like to know more about it, send me a message – Claude@intelligentstrength.co.uk