weight-lifting Archives -

Strive for progress, not perfection

CONCENTRATION: Sue has her mind on the job

I THINK Sue Crabtree, back on her second week of the Amazing 12 Chichester after missing a week through being ill, is beginning to see why I enjoy and value lifting weights so much.

“I’m finding that, mentally, it’s fantastic,” she admitted.

Of course, weight-lifting and training is also working us in the physical realm, but it’s the thinking and concentration side that most people overlook or sell short.

As she’s new to working with the steel, Sue’s realising just how “switched-on” you need to be. While that may be frustrating and taxing for some of us, for me it’s one of the attractions.

LEANER: Ian’s dropped half a stone so far

Ian Barnett, also on his second week of the Amazing 12, has done weight-training previously and, especially as he’s trying to regain his fitness, appreciates the value of what it can do for him.

He missed a few days this week – one because he had a work conference in London pre-booked and the other because he felt really rough (onset of a cold). But Ian was itching to get back in the gym at Core Results even though he felt below par. And by the end that early morning (6am) session, he felt much better for it.

Lifting weights and exercising can be like meditation from the point of view it requires – for the best results and, more importantly, to avoid injury – that you focus your attention on the one thing you’re doing.

ADJUSTMENT: better technique this week on battle ropes

As an always-on-the-go-type person, Sue’s having to adjust to the different pace of training with weights and the way it’s done on the Amazing 12.

Runners often like to allow their minds to roam when they are out covering the miles and that’s one of the joys of running. But in the gym, with a weight on your back or in your hands, you can’t afford to go off into dreamland or admire your surroundings. That’s when you can get hurt.

Weight-training is great for Sue, in my opinion, because I believe we should choose movements and types of training that are the opposite of or offset the way we tend to live our lives and complement the strengths we already have.

HEAVIER: getting stronger means increased challenges

If your life is fast-paced, stressed and hectic, go take a yoga class or, if you prefer the gym, pick movements that are slower, more deliberate and require patience. Do what you need and not what you want.

Technique-wise, I recognise how Sue’s starting to find her groove. It was all alien to her when she started. She admits that she’s someone who needs continual reminding (and I oblige), but, as the process of practice dictates, Sue’s requiring fewer pointers as the days go by. Her body is beginning to remember the new patterns.

As someone who has continually had some back pain, Sue declared she’s felt nothing since lifting weights except the feeling you get from working your muscles. She’s particularly pleased about that.

I’m noticing her becoming stronger, engaging her core muscles better and understanding what movements are challenging what muscle parts.

NEW GEAR: Ian turns on the turbo with the prowler

It’s the same for Ian. While he has a good grasp of technique, with Ian it’s a case of removing the rust.

“I thought about what you said last week,” he said. “Doing this [the Amazing 12] is a return to fitness for me, but making progress is the way to go [long-term].”

Ian has already shed half a stone. There’s definitely a difference in him and his appearance. He’s growing in strength and confidence. He already has his sights on a challenging cycle ride later this year.

Progress is what the Amazing 12 is all about. And it is achieved through practice. Methodical practice. Intelligently-constructed practice. It’s not about being perfect. Perfection is the aspiration – the end of the rainbow that we try to find, but never can lay our hands on.

Perfection has an end date. Then what? Practice is infinite. Perfection can rouse in us a fear of failure. Practice encourages it.

So replace any frustration with patience and attention and dedication and trust.

Practice doesn’t just apply to technique. Sue, for example, likes to stay within her comfort zone. She called it “lazy”, I think I said she was “cautious”.

Our mindset receives far more practice than our body. If your thoughts are not in alignment with your intentions, you are most likely impeding your own progress.

So I challenged Sue to move closer to the discomfort zone. The more you venture there, the less daunting it seems. Stay in the comfort zone – the part that’s really easy – and you can feel like you’ve been treading water for years. Nothing much changes.

The beauty of having a trainer is that he or she not only tells you what to do and, if competent, helps you to do it correctly, but holds you accountable. In addition, being on a program like the Amazing 12 means that, when executed properly, adaptations happen naturally.

As far as I’m concerned, as the coach, these two are warming well to the task. For me, it’s always more about the progress than perfection. If you are feeling daunted by a challenge, I encourage you to move towards and not away from it. Real growth comes from taking and completing those brave steps.

Week 10: Are you giving away your greatest power?

Jo and Stacey on the bench press, one spotting and one lifting

YOU spend years in the gym and don’t get results. You ask yourself why and reach a conclusion: exercise doesn’t work.

You go on a diet, fail to lose weight and determine that diets aren’t effective.

Or you take up weight-lifting, pull a muscle and decide that weight-lifting causes injuries.

Those are real life situations and common reactions. But there’s some missing data. How many people regularly visit the gym and don’t actually follow or stick to a progressive resistance program?

Or how many people go on diets, but either adopt a diet that is fundamentally flawed (in the long term) or cheat on the details?

Pressed for time, Adriano working hard to make the most of the final weeks

And when it comes to getting injured lifting weights, how many of us have failed to listen to instructions or ‘switched off’ at that all-important moment? To then say weight-lifting is dangerous is as illogical as a parent who hurts their back picking up their children saying they will never lift their children again.

In each of these real examples – and there are thousands more – I’m highlighting how we, as people, outsource responsibility for our mishaps or lack of success. I’m as guilty of it as anyone else.

There is an often uncomfortable truth we are trying to avoid: we are where we are largely because of choices WE have made.

The day when we start to reverse this trend is when we take ownership of the problem. It means to admit the only way to achieve lasting results is to recognise fully we are the ones in charge.

One of the greatest powers we have as human beings is knowing we can change things and that we have choice, because in the absence of choice we have hopelessness. The moment we blame others or circumstances we relinquish our power.

An artistic (10 and 5-year-old) impression of transformation

If you keep blaming and looking outwards instead of inwards, you are developing a practice – the practice of becoming better at blaming and squandering your powers.

“The body becomes what you teach it.”

Simply put, if you don’t own the problem, you can’t change the problem.

Who is in control when you pick up your phone at bedtime and start scrolling through messages or social media? Does the phone control you?

Who buys the food that goes into your fridge and cupboards that, when consumed, cause your health issues?

The Amazing 12 is a unique program that offers the opportunity for change and, as you will know if you have been following my blogs, food and sleep should play an integral part of any healthy physical transformation.

You have to follow the program. That’s not a catch. It’s a requirement for it to work.

A reason people come to me or have personal training is because they want/need to be held accountable. They pay me to take them through the program, show and instruct them how to perform the movements, organise what weights to lift, how long to recover, watch their form etc.

Paying for my services and having me pull the strings helps motivate them to turn up when they don’t feel like it and do the exercise even if they dislike it.

So here we are, 10 weeks into the Amazing 12 Chichester at the Core Results Gym. The ‘end’ is in sight and some will be satisfied and some will not.

Whether the group are content or not at the end largely comes down to three things: mindset, expectations and honesty.

Are they a glass-is-half-empty or half-full type of person? How honest are they with themselves about what they have put into the program? How realistic were their expectations?

Adriano putting everything into the heavy battle ropes

Irrespective of the results, here’s the truth as I see it: this is just the beginning. Here’s another truth: what they do next and how successful they are going to be moving forwards is ALL down to them. We need to own that reality.

Stacey told me, “I don’t think I’d have got back into shape had I not done this [the Amazing 12].” She’s lost over a stone in weight and returned to her pre-pregnancy bodyweight.

I’d like to think, however, that Stacey is also much better equipped and informed now than when she started.

Still, Stacey feels disappointed whenever her scale weight hasn’t budged even if her strength and fitness has increased, which raises the question of what means of testing we are attached to for determining how well we are doing. Again, this is something we need to take ownership of by understanding it is a choice.

Finishing the week strongly with the prowler and kettlebells

Jo’s admitted she hasn’t been following the diet for weeks and that she’s really been struggling at times. But she was committed this week and, when she puts the work in and eats correctly, I’ve noticed big changes.

I can’t fault Adriano for commitment. Some days he gets stranded in London coming back from work yet busts a gut to make it to the gym on time. Occasionally, we’ve had to reschedule his sessions and started super-early.

The bottom line is he’s made his training a priority. If we can do the same with sleep and diet we have the winning ticket!

Ben, who is almost back to full fitness after a recent injury, has been working practically two jobs in recent weeks and after training in the evening has had to then do a night shift. Therefore his sleep has been massively disrupted and, as I’ve written about previously, it’s through quality sleep that the body does its restorative work, growth and majority of fat-burning. That’s a biological process that can’t be short-circuited.

At least Ben’s been following more rigidly the diet I gave him last week and has noticed almost immediately the difference (and I’ve seen it) which has made him – and me – wonder just what his results would have been had he nailed it from the beginning.

However, what these past 10 weeks has taught me (and I’m always learning from the people I coach) is that motivation only goes so far for some and that over the longer duration you need to have a plan for when the wheels come off.

Plans are systems or frameworks that help keep you on track with your goals. “Fail to plan, plan to fail” is how the saying goes.

Upping the stakes, Adriano, Ben and Jo going through a conditioning workout

Plans don’t magically appear. You have to create them. You have to foresee where you have gone wrong previously and determine what is necessary or helpful to avoid that bump if it comes up again.

If you don’t plan, you’ll wind up repeating the same actions and you know what Albert Einstein said about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome?

So the big lesson for this week is to recognise you – and no-one else – are in charge. Stop blaming anyone or anything. Take command. Make a plan. Stick with it. If you don’t like it, know that you can change it.

It requires discipline and discipline can be learned and practiced. As Aristotle once wrote, “Through discipline we find freedom.”

My next wave – an eight-week version – starts on May 8. If you’d like to be considered and think you have what it takes to commit to training, following a healthy nutritional plan, want to dramatically improve your strength and fitness, change your physical composition and learn how to lift and train efficiently and effectively, contact me at Claude@intelligentstrength.co.uk

Week 1: If you don’t use it, you lose it

TWO days into the first week of another wave of the Amazing 12 Chichester and Stacey Satta turned to me after I had her do a series of lifts and said, “I’m shocked. I can’t believe how much strength I have lost!”

In fairness to Stacey, she’s spent the best part of the last 18 months in pregnancy and, after a C-section, focusing on being mother to her child, now just seven months.

Therefore, the journey back to regaining fitness can be a long one. But the most important part is that Stacey is doing something about it, realising fully that when you stop using your body fully or become less active, those parts of the body will adapt to a more sedentary lifestyle.

The road back isn’t an easy one.

Stacey’s husband, Adriano, who graduated on the Amazing 12 nearly two years ago, is also on this wave. They are supporting each other through the experience.

Adriano, 41, continued to train after his graduation, working out a couple of times each week in London. He’s moved around to a few different gyms, but admits his diet hasn’t been strict and he’s lost some strength. He’s aiming to shed some weight, get fitter and regain the look he had in 2015. He knows, from experience, that the Amazing 12 works.

For Stacey, 37, it’s less about the aesthetics and more to do with regaining strength. She’s someone who not too long ago, when training regularly, was able to deadlift close to 90kgs for reps, power clean around 60kgs and always had a good squat.

It can be a tough mental space to be in at (what feels like) ground zero. But, on the positive side, there is only one direction to go – up.

“I’m not that bothered by my appearance,” said Stacey before she started the program. “I’m not happy about my physical fitness. I want it back. It’s a bonus if I look good at the end. I’m more unfit now than ever.”

Stacey and Jo Walsh, the third member of the group, used to train together in their CrossFit days. They were also part of a women’s lifting group. That’s what they each enjoy most.

I’ve worked with them both previously. Jo, a physio who specialises in older persons, has always been tenacious when training, but somewhat erratic in attendance – and she would be the first to admit it. Jo’s an all-or-nothing type.

“There’s two parts to me,” she explained. “There’s the very motivated and the one that hates myself and says, ‘why did I do that?’

“In the past I’d lose motivation and one day then goes to another.”

Jo’s not a morning person either and what I’ve prescribed her has meant rising while it’s dark. It will be a true test in developing her fortitude and discipline.

“As long as I’m up I’m fine, but it’s getting up that’s hard,” she said. I’m sure a lot of people can identify with that.

Having fun with battle ropes, though they won’t admit it

Jo, 32, hasn’t done any training for over a year, but she was always a good lifter. She’s 5st overweight according to the BMI (although I’m not a big fan of the BMI).

Jo wants to shed 2st as her goal. She also knows the benefits of training regularly.

“My mood becomes more regulated and I have more energy,” she said.

Diet is also a critical factor in achieving results. I don’t prescribe anything radical – it’s mostly about eating whole foods – but if your diet isn’t great and crammed with processed junk it can feel extreme.

“I’ll miss chocolate, pizza, ice cream, cookies and baked food,” admitted Jo before we started.

For me, as the coach, I want my group to experience and see for themselves how eating a healthier diet and combining it with training regularly, smartly and progressively can impact their lives.

So it’s vital on the Amazing 12 to stick to the script – not only for the best results, but to give themselves a fighting chance of succeeding and attaining the best possible results and getting value for their investment.

Unlike the others, Ben Brundle, a digger driver, has practically never set foot inside a gym in his life. He also loves his sugar, like Stacey loves her cakes.

But the results he’s achieved in a week are quite startling.

I gave Ben a few extra sessions the week before we started, to ensure his technique was where it needed to be and to allow his body to adjust to the sheer shock of training. Sure enough, he was sore. That was going to be unavoidable. But he now understands more how the process of adaptation works. Ben’s ability to learn and process new movements has been admirable and remarkable.

“My fitness was always letting me down,” said Ben, 31. “I was feeling a bit self-conscious about my belly, unhealthy and lacking stamina.

“I didn’t want to get to an age where I said, ‘I’m past it’ or say ‘I should have done that’, but didn’t.”

Since turning 30, Ben said he’s noticed himself standing out in the crowd as ‘the unfit one’. He does motocross and want to get fitter and stronger for that.

“Motocross made me realise just how unfit I am,” he admitted.

Ben’s been a revelation so far in the gym. He’s focused, turns up on time every day and is good at paying attention and understanding movements. The test week he couldn’t deadlift at all or perform a push-up. This week he’s nailed it.

The advantage Ben had as a complete novice was there were no poor habits to change.

So that’s my introduction to this current wave: four starters, all here in different circumstances but shooting for a goal and using programmed training and healthy eating to achieve it.

Check in next week to see how they’re getting on.

And if the Amazing 12 is something you’d be interested in signing up for, drop me a line at Claude@intelligentstrength.co.uk. I am aiming to run another wave in April or May.