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.
LOADED: walking the weights
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.
GETTING STARTED: Stacey warming up
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.
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.
GRIND: it’s been a tough week for Rich
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.”
OFTEN when we talk about making changes and improving health, the emphasis is on exercise and diet, both of which are important. But the much overlooked – and critical -ingredient is sleep.
More specifically, I refer to quality and quantity of sleep. The type of sleep that is uninterrupted and not induced by medication.
Few, if any, factors will accelerate ageing more than sleep deprivation.
I’m not a sleep expert by any means. But I’ve done my research and learned from those, like Shawn Stevenson (author of the outstanding book, Sleep Smarter), who know this subject inside out. I’ve struggled with sleep since the birth of my first child, more than 10 years ago. Up until that point I could sleep almost anywhere at any time.
The change to my circumstances makes me more determined to find a solution or, at the very least, stack the odds in my favour so I can make the best of a less-than-optimum situation.
Since I train/workout frequently – which means my body needs to recover in order to heal and grow – how well I sleep may determine whether I am living in a way that causes damage or promotes health.
But that’s not all. Poor sleep will affect your mood, productivity, creativity, movement, concentration, brain function, digestion, eating habits, body weight, hormone production…the list goes on.
It’s so important that it’s mind-boggling, really, how in order of significance sleep has been relegated down the pecking order for most of us.
Perhaps, like breathing, we don’t pay it attention because it is usually something that just happens naturally unless you are one of the relatively small percentage that truly has serious issues with it.
As Stevenson says, “Sleep is the force multiplier. It will magnify the results you get from your food and movement.”
In terms of physical training – and the Amazing 12 transformation program for example – getting a good night’s sleep is of paramount importance. On the Amazing 12, you train five days a week. To be able to do that, you must enable your body to recover in order to adapt. Without enough rest, your body won’t make it. It will break down. Your immune system will crumble also.
What many people don’t realise is that most of the benefits that come from training and exercise are manifested ONLY if we get the necessary sleep and rest.
So how do we start?
Firstly, let’s look at the important relationship between cortisol and melatonin. Then let’s look at another important hormone, serotonin.
Cortisol is what our body produces in response to stress, be it physical or mental. It’s vital for our survival, especially in this modern age. It generally peaks in the morning, when we rise, and diminishes as the day goes on, in readiness for the wind-down.
Our body is supposed to produce cortisol in short bursts, to deal with a stress situation. But when that stress is prolonged is when we can develop chronic illness.
The trouble is that nowadays, what with our busy lifestyles, high demands and electronic devices, we are nearly always ‘switched on’ and in stress mode.
Also, when cortisol levels are high, we eat more, consequently we store more body fat, our thyroid slows down, insulin functions less efficiently and our blood sugar goes up and down.
Conversely, melatonin, a natural hormone and regarded as the most powerful anti-cancer hormone our body can produce, increases later in the day, particularly when darkness sets in, reducing our alertness and helping us to sleep.
But here’s the crux: when cortisol is high, melatonin is low and vice versa.
So if we typically do activities at bed-time that increase stress levels, guess what that does to cortisol and our potential for sleeping well and, consequently, recovery from the demands of our lifestyles?
These ‘activities’ could range from hard exercise to, more commonly, watching television, using computers, being on our phones, eating stimulating foods and doing something that has us on high alert.
Because our bodies like to search for and adopt patterns of behaviour, breaking these habits then often proves challenging.
But a key starting point would be at pre-bedtime to slowly phase out any of these activities and replace them with actions which are less stimulating and/or more relaxing.
Read a book instead of going on social media. Meditate instead of watching television. Take a warm shower or bath. Go to bed earlier. Have sex. Get a massage. Blacken your room.
If you’re still awake at 11pm you have missed the boat that stops once every night delivering the best quality growth hormone – also known as the ‘youth hormone’ – which your body needs to repair and maintain muscle and decrease belly fat.
So where does serotonin come into the equation? Consider this: 95 per cent of serotonin is in our gut and affected by our diet. As serotonin is what helps create melatonin, the connection between diet and good sleep is obvious.
Sleep App display
The challenge of becoming healthy and staying healthy is essentially a three-pronged affair.
Avoid: excessive sitting; eating processed foods; using electronic devices at bed-time; alcohol and coffee late in the day.
Increase/introduce: movement/exercise/resistance training; consume more fresh produce, especially vegetables; cultivate better sleep habits; spend time outdoors and try to be in contact with the ground/earth for 10 minutes a day; have regular massages.
Start gradually and make small progress in order to stay on course. Try using a sleep app like Sleep Cycle to keep track of your sleeping patterns. Good luck and remember this quote from sleep researcher, Dr William Dement: “You’re not healthy until your sleep is healthy.”
OFTEN when we talk about making changes and improving health, the emphasis is on exercise and diet, both of which are important. But the much overlooked – and critical -ingredient is sleep.