Follow This 1 Rule to Lose All the Weight You Want

In the good old days it was fat that made you fat.

That lead us to eating more low fat foods, unaware that low fat foods are high in sugar.

Then it was decided that it was sugar was the enemy.

That lead us to eating more low sugar foods and then we were unaware that low sugar foods are high in fat.

In recent times we've had intermittent fasting, refeed days, cheat days, ketogenic diets and even the baby food diet (that was real by the way god help us).

Every diet, a word I don't really like to be honest because no one likes to be restricted, has 1 end goal - to lose weight.

The end goal is fine but you know what else us humans like?

The same.

Too much change does our heads in and it does not result in long term compliance.

Going back to all those diet types above, I came across this graphic some time back which went straight to my favourite graphics as soon as I saw it:

You want the same? Look at the last column 'how it works".

Weight loss cannot be attained without a calorie deficit whether that is exercise or eating induced, although a bit of both is always the best way to go for long term success.

The next time you decide to jump on the weight loss train then instead of trying to turn your life upside down with a diet that's destined to fail, take a minute or 2 and write out how little of a change you can make and still get a result.

It might be too cut your grog in half, cut out all night time treats or up your exercise by 60mins per week - it doesn't really matter.

What matters is getting the result you want and I think we can all agree that a method that does that, with minimal change in lifestyle, is the easiest and better long term option.

Need help with your diet coming into summer? Contact me today and we'll have you organised in as soon as 24hrs.

The Fountain of Youth Has Been Discovered

This article looks at neuroscientist Aga Burzynska and her work with Olga Kotelko, a woman she would never even meet, a run-of-the-mill 93 year old.

Olga took up track and field at age 77 and has since gone onto dominate international sports well into her 90's, but what gets Aga excited is her brain.

Although she died at age 95, her mind was ultra sharp and sh read the newspaper back to front daily, enjoyed Sudoku, sang complicated hymms and was working on her autobiography.

The typical brain shrinks over time as neural connections atrophy and thick brain matter thinning. High blood pressure and other heart related conditions may contribute and other heart related conditions may cause vascular dementia, the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's and dementia actually sets in in for 30% of us after age 85.

Aga's research has found that Olga's edge was not what she as born with, but what she did, which we mean we can all have a shot at this huge advantage.

Olga was your everyday grandmother until 1984 when she retired and she discovered he inner athlete.

She first joined a slow-pitch soft all team and played until she was 77 but after colliding with a teammate going for a catch, she decided to quit.

At a friends suggestion she took up track and field and went on to win 750 gold medals and setting 37 world records in events such as sprinting, long jump and javelin, to name a few.

She last competed in 2014 and even though there were events where she was the only competitor, she was doing things women far younger then her could not do.

When she was 93 she agreed to let scientists study her brain

They tested her memory, problem-solving abilities, processed speed and other cognitive skills and even placed her in an MRI machine ans scanned her brain where they found that white matter, that usually deteriorates with age muddling thinking and degrading memory, was found to be off the charts in Olga.

Olga's brain as not pristine - MRI'as revealed plenty of white dots (hyperintensities) in her white matter, rand her brain had appeared to shrink over time, both common age related changes in the elderly.

Aga has said that she had the brain of a 60 year old.

The suggestion is that yes exercise is great for the body and the mind, but more importantly never stop challenging yourself to learn no matter how old you get.

Aga was also most interested in her white matter.

Brain neurons communicate with on another via axons that are fibres that act as transmission lines. The axons are coated in a fatty substance called myelin and together they form white matter.

Myelin acts as an insulator, like the plastic coating on electrical wires, and greatly increases how quickly and efficiently nerve signals travel from one region of the brain to another which essentially defines cognitive abilities.

Those with intact white matter do best on all types of cognitive tests.

As myelin degrades and axons die off, signal transmission is deteriorates.

After months of researching Aga discovered what made Olga's brain so unique; the huge amount of white matter in her coprus callosum which is a thick swath of fibers that transfer nerve signals between the brain's left and right hemispheres transmitting thoughts, movements and memory - was so off the charts it was better then any of the younger women in the comparison study.

The unique movements of each of her track and field events required lots of communication between different muscle parts of the brain providing a greater challenge then simple movements, or movements you've perform repeatedly.

Mice that learn to run on wheels with irregularly placed rungs show an increase in white matter and  learning to juggle or play golf can increase grey brain matter which is related to processing information.

It's far from conformed, but it suggests that starting a new, challenging physical activity could lead to the preservation, and growth, of myelin and the continuation of that activity can help preserve white matter.

Here are some ways to grow your brain by altering your current routine.

If you walk, mix in intervals or walking on rocky trails.

If you swim, tackle new strokes or consider open water swimming.

If you bike, try new routes.

If you go gym classes, try one's you've never done before

If you any skill sports then sign up for lessons to new learn skills, play new courses and against new opponents.

If you haven't taken up sport before then:

Start slowly by preparing the body for the training through aqua-fit classes as well as bodyweight and wall exercises.

Break down each major movement of the sport and master each phase before moving to the next.

Relax your mind and muscles for greater learning.

Watch and learn from other, higher level athletes.

The full article can be found here.

WANTED - PEOPLE WANTING TO LOSE WEIGHT THE EASY WAY

Do you want, NEED, to lose weight?

Does it seem like too much time and effort?

Do you not want to set yourself up for failure once again?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you need to join this 4 week program.

We are after 10 - 15 people who would like to drop at least 1kg a week.

You will follow an iPhone app based nutritional program for the 4 weeks.

There will be a scheduled weekly meeting in our South Yarra studio so it will work best if you work or live in the South Yarra area as we want this program to be completely hassle free.

There is no training component in this program but if you currently train in some capacity then you will continue to do that.

If you don't currently exercise then it's your choice whether you want to start or not, but I would suggest holding it off and put all your efforts into the nutritional component, so not to overwhelm yourself with too many new initiatives at once.

The weekly meeting will run for 30mins where we will simply go through the week with each participant where you will have the opportunity to ask questions to me and the other group members, as well as exchanging on what to implement, and how best to actually implement different things, to optimise each and every day of the 4 weeks.

The 4 week meeting schedule will look like this:

Pre-Program: Weight In + Induction

Week 1: Check Up + Lifestyle Hacks + Weigh In

Week 2: Check Up + Exercise Hacks + Weigh In

Week 3: Check Up + Lifestyle Hacks + Weigh In

Week 4: Check Up + Weigh In

Post Program: Weigh In + Results

I've had clients use this program who have lost 1kg per week for up to 6 - 8 weeks straight.

The app is nothing special at all, it's your discipline and consistency that will get you the results you want.

The nutrition is also not restrictive in the sense that you don't have to eliminate anything completely, it's a portion and thus, calorie controlled nutritional program.

The program will cost $250 but for every kg you lose during the program,you'll get $25 back - is that incentive enough for you?

It should be.

I'm looking to run the induction meeting on Thursday June 1st at the moment and the program starting the next week.

If you have any questions on this then please let me know via email toorakroadtraining@gmail.com, call 0411 091 978 or via the Facebook page.

If you're happy to dive straight in then you can make payment below so get your friends in on this and finally make the lasting change that you want and need to.

SELF REGULATION FOR HEALTH MAINTENANCE

I've blogged about heart rate variability training a few times in this blog.

What tracking HRV can do is;

1 - Let you know how your body is reacting to the stressors you are placing on it

and;

2 - Let's you see how individual stressors affect you over the short and long term.

Through the use of daily rituals, increased planning and execution of daily behaviors, you can make some pretty interesting changes in your ability to self regulate.

Small, and what might look like insignificant but consistent habit alterations can result in critical health markers improving (resting heart rate, blood pressure etc), decreases in body fat and a dramatic increase in productivity in both your professional and personal lives.

As humans we love routine - our minds love it and our bodies love it - as it means we never really stray too far from our normal level of stress and thus never really stray too far from body's baseline position.

As humans we also can't control everything all the time and there are definitely times when routine falls to the way side such as work trips, deadlines and family issues.

This is also fine as the body needs to stress to adapt and build upon which the basis of any form of training.

What is not done by most people in these cases is to know just how much these times of routines, coinciding with an increase in stress, affects you mentally and physically.

I see it all the time in studio with clients and it actually happened last week. A client had deadlifted 103kgs for 6 reps, which was hard no doubt, but he still had some reps in the tank so as usual we increased the weight for the next session, with the aim of completing 6 reps again at 105.5kgs.

Not a huge jump at all but after a week of family issues, he could only manage 2 reps with the increased load.

That is exactly what mental and/or physical stress/fatigue can do.

The body feels this stress and then wants to become more efficient with what it decides to use energy on. With a greater proportion of energy now being required to deal with the increased stress, it leaves less energy to do what seems like insignificant stuff (such as lifting something heavy) at that time, and down regulates energy to do so - meaning you can't run as fast, lift as much or feel as energised.

Another example happened to me over the weekend.

I trained 4 days in row but got to bed slightly late on Friday night. Again Saturday night I had a really late one (2:30am) and was up at 8am. It was no suprise that my HRV dropped from 7.3 Thursday (a score representing when I am at my most freshest) to 6.1 Friday, 6.2 Saturday and 5.7 Sunday.

I didn't train Friday, Saturday, Sunday so there was no residual fatigue from that affecting my scores, it was simply my sleep pattern and duration was out of whack.

That's how easy you can stress the body. Now put on top of that long work hours, high physical stress and big night out and you can see why you can be worn out long before the week even begins.

Coincendtly, but not suprisingly, my resting heart rat went up each of those days to from 57, 58, 64 and 62, meaning my body was working pretty hard but not to do anything physically or mentally, it was purely doing a lot of work to regenerate my body.

So to start self regulating your body then start looking at the simple things such as sleep (consistent wake/sleep times), management of intensive stressors (high vs low stress, mentally and physically), blood sugar management and brain health/performance (nutrition/supplementation).

By regulating yourself diligently during consistently, the 1 off events that push your stress to the limit will not have as much affect on the body because:

a - You'll have more energy reserve to deal with the added stress

and;

b - You'll be far better equipped to deal with it

Just think about if I slept 5hrs every night  what my scores would be?

You know what?

That's probably you and it mans you;re health is degenerating a lot faster then you think it is and weight management would be a nightmare.

3 Important Protein Findings

Last week I received an email from strength coach Joel Jamieson featuring nutritionist coach Mike Rousell, one of the too many subscriptions I have, but this 1 was worth reading and it's obviously about protein.

I'm a meat eater from way back and do so 3 - 4 times a day, so for it to have far reaching and positive implications on me, besides simply being something to eat, makes me happy as I can continue to do something I already do, I like to do and want to do and simply soak all the goodness it provides me.

Decades ago RDA (recommended dietary allowances) was popularised which is the minimum level to prevent malnutrtion. This ball bursting recommendation results in an RDA of just 56 grams for protein requirement per day. 

I'm glad I wasn't around in those days.

When it comes to training, everyone heads straight to the protein shake isle because yes, training does breakdown protein in the body but any form of protein can regenerate it.

In the end as a general consensus we all came to the conclusion that you should take in 30 grams of animal protein every 4 hours, have a BCAA (the building blocks of protein) drink every 2hrs before or after a meal and eat protein after your workout (notice it didn't say drink...)

Let's look at what implications protein intake can have the brain.

• It Reduces Reward-Driven Eating

Eating a high protein breakfast can reduce activation of "reward' area's of the brain which means you'll stand a better chance of avoiding those treats later in the day. Another study found that those who eat less protein are more responsive to reward driven eating cues (e.g seeing pizza then wanting to eat pizza).

• It Increases Fullness and Satiety via Your Brain

When protein reaches your small intestine it causes a release of cholecystokinin (CCK) and CCK's primary job is to aids in the digestion of fat and protein but it also travels up your brain and acts as an appetite suppressant. The fullness you feel after eating protein is actually a brain derived signal to the body that you don't need to eat anymore.

Decreases Impulsive Urges There are a variety of hormones that mediate fullness and satiety, such as CCK mentioned above, but only on that can increase hunger and that's gherlin. Protein helps control gherlin as studies have shown that when you eat protein, gherlin levels decrease. When you are trying to drop fat and eating fewer calories then you actually need, then gherlin levels increase so upping your protein levels while dieting is a must to make you less hungry and impulsive - especially with food.

1 Simple Action to Take Today To get these benefits right now start eating 30 grams of protein at each meal.

Optimse Your Training Program - Energy Systems Training

The most important thing you need for training? Check. Mobility, Stability and Flexibility? Check.

Strength Training? Check.

That brings us to Energy Systems Training - which I called aerobic conditioning in yesterday's post.

Energy Systems Training can be broken into 2 parts:

1 - Anaerobic

2 - Aerobic

Anaerobic refers to bouts of intensive activity that are so short, they cannot use oxygen to generate energy. 

Aerobic refers to less intense bouts of activity that can use oxygen to generate energy.

They often thought of as sprints and jogging but it's not quite that simple.

Anaerobic can be broken again into 2 parts:

1 - Alactic

2 - Lactic

Now the difference here is the times that the activity is sustained for. 

Alactic is a duration of 1 - 10 seconds and lactic generally from 10 - 30 seconds. 

Another difference between the two is that alactic bouts of energy will induce the most powerful contractions but fatigue sets in and shuts down these maximal efforts within 10 seconds, hopefully before your performance decreases. 

If you stop within the 10 second range then you'll have only induced a moderate amount of fatigue and with a 3 - 5 minute rest, you should be pretty much ready to go again at a similar level of performance.

Things start to get a bit messy with the lactic work though - very messy if not performed correctly. 

Seeing as though you can only sustain a near-maximal effort for 10 seconds MAXIMUM, you keep pushing the envelope here to the 30 second mark.  

So even though you've ran through all your maximal energy you are still going and now fatigue is building up a rapid rate - and this is what is known as "the burn" and "lactic acid" which is not entirely correct either (read on but a potential future post in it self).

What is interesting is that your performance doesn't decrease because of lactic acid build up directly. 

Lactic acid is actually a defense mechanism to prevent permanent damage to your muscles by reducing it's ability to contract - much like your low back muscles going into spasm to make you all stiff and tight, which will prevent you from moving and potentially causing even more damage. 

Now when you have all this build up of fatigue, unless you rest at least 8 minutes between sets, you next bout of activity will not be as great as the previous one and this continues with each successive bout of exercise.

This means you then run the risk of building up so much fatigue that a great portion of your workout is performed at such a low quality that your building up far more fatigue (that you need to recover from) then actual positive benefits from your training.

Not to mention you then need to somehow make this session even harder the next time around! 

Aerobic activity refers to anything 2 minutes or longer of continuous effort.

So now we have this:

                  - Alactic

                  - Anaerobic

                  - Lactic

and;

                  - Aerobic

Trying not to make this too complicated each of the 3 systems (alactic, lactic and aerobic) can be each broken up into power and capacity components.

Power refers to a one-off, all-out effort of the particular energy system you are targeting for example:

Alactic - a 5 to 10 second sprint trying to get as far as you can

Lactic - a 20 to 30 second sprint trying to get as far as you can

Aerobic - a 2 minute run trying to get as far as you can 

Capacity refers to repeated efforts of the power component with the aim to complete each set as close to as fast as you can complete the power component.

For example, for alactic power you might reach 50 meters in 5 seconds. To build alactic capacity you're training will involve doing 50 meter sprints and aiming to do as many sets as you can at, or as close to 5 seconds as you.

Now with the popularity of interval training it's important to be aware of a few things.

1 - Like I mentioned above, hard intervals with incomplete rest, can result in a lot of fatigue but little quality of training so don't fall into this hole - I'll tell you how not to in a minute!

2 -  You need a mix of both anaerobic and aerobic work to increase just one of them over the long term. They both help each other.

3 - Getting back to interval training - the quality of each successive set will depend on your recovery ability, which is a primary action of the aerobic energy system. If you have a poor aerobic energy system then you'll get 1, maybe 2 quality intervals in and then you'll drop out pretty quickly as you just can't recovery enough in the rest period to go as hard as you want to or as long as you want to, again and again. If you continue on then again you just build up more fatigue each time and not much else, besides an injury risk!

4 - For every set of intervals you do, the more reliance on aerobic metabolism you'll have because you move further away from the power component with each repeated effort you do so again, making sure to include both types of training is crucial.

That's plenty of new stuff for you to ponder in regards to energy systems training so again if you have any questions then please let me know.

Train to Support the Prahran Mission

Each year, we try and do something as a studio to support the Prahran Mission.

We've done BBQ's and things like that in the past, but this year, we're going to try something a little different. Announcing the:

Train to Support the Prahran Mission Charity Day.

It simply involves you booking a spot to train in 1 of the 3 sessions available, and instead of paying us to train, we'll forward all payments onto the Prahran Mission.

You'll receive the best training in Melbourne, and help out a local charity that has had a huge portion of it's budget cut in recent years.

Here are the finer details:

• The charity training day will be held on the 13th of May, 2017
• It will be held at our personal training studio, located at Level 1 / 308 Toorak Road, South Yarra (look for the balloons).
• The session times will be 10:15am, 11:15am and 12:15am with the sessions running for 45 - 50mins each.
• You will need to book your spots PRIOR to May 13th.
• Right now I have 4 people per session as my capped number but numbers will decide this in the end.
• The sessions will consist of small group personal training so you will need to fill in and return a pre-exercise questionnaire prior to your session so we can tailor your session if you have any specifics we need to take into account. 
• Our regular small group personal training costs $43/session but on this day we'll leave it up to you to decide what you'd like to pay for your session and then we'll donate it to the Prahran Mission.
• We've got some other idea's in regards to competitions and added value that we'll let you know about as we lock them in early next week.

This a great opportunity for everyone to get involved and do something community based, get a solid training session in to add to your weekly activity, or maybe use it as a kick start to a healthier outlook this year.

You don't need to be a current member of the studio to participate in this event, so get your group together and book your spot NOW.

Email troyfullcirclefitness@gmail.com or call 0411 091 978.

Optimise Your Training Program - Strength Training

So far we've covered the huge need for a personalised program made especially for you as well as the best way to implement mobility, stability and flexibility training into your program.

Today is all about strength training.

Strength can be performed with or without external resistance (weights). 

Initially, it;s best to master bodyweight versions of exercises or movements before adding extra load to ensure safe and correct lifting mechanics over the long term.

For strength gains, beginners can get stronger from lifting relatively lights weights - as light as 40% - for up to 20 reps per set. 

Strength is the basis of all other strength and fitness qualities. 

The stronger you are, the more load you can use for a given movement to induce hypertrophy (muscle gain). 

Also, the stronger you are the more load you can use in your fat loss programs as it's going to require more calories to lift 80kgs x 10 reps then 60kgs x 10 reps isn't it?

The rest between strength sets should be at least 3 minutes to ensure you are as close to 100% recovered as you can be. 

As your training age and relative intensity (load being lifted) increases, then so should your rest periods between sets (up to 5 minutes).

The most important part of actual max strength training is progression. 

You HAVE to consistently add load to the exercise and once you plateau on loading, then you can start adding volume (more reps per set, sets per exercise or both).

So as a beginner you might do 3 x 8 each each session and increase the load the smallest loading you can each time you repeat the exercise. 

So week 1 might be 3 x 8 @ 25kgs, week 2 being 3 x 8 @ 27.5, week 3 being 30kgs and so on.

Once you get to a point where you don't think you'll get 3 x 8 the next session, decrease the reps per set (3 x 6) and continue with the load increases each week. 

So if you max out on 3 x 8 @ 40kgs then the next session will be 3 x 6 @ 42.5kgs and so on. 

Once you "out-train" 6 reps then move to 4 reps.

For fat loss you want to complete 30 - 50 total reps per exercise using sets of at least 6 reps per set using a mixture of set/rep schemes (6 x 6, 4 x 10, 3 x 15 etc). 

The most important part of fat loss training is density which can be performed in 2 ways.

The first way is to do more work in the same amount of time where you set a time limit and do as much work in that time limit as you can. 

For example you might be doing a circuit of squats and push ups x 10 reps each x 5 minutes. 

After 5 minutes you might get through 8 sets of squats and 7 sets of push ups equaling 150 total reps. 

Your goal next time is to beat that 150 reps in the same time limit.

The second way is do the same amount of work in less time so using our squats and push ups pairing again, you'd set a volume to each exercise which might be 7 x 10 reps of each. 

Simply alternate each set without rest and time it. 

Say you manage to do all 14 total sets in 4 minutes and 45 seconds, next time you do the same amount of work (14 sets), and perform it in a faster time.

This forces the body to draw from 'fat reserves" because you push further and further away from your "baseline" (your body fat set-point).

I want to touch again on progression as there's a saying in the PT game - "a program is only as good as it's progression."

If there is no progression, there is no program. 

What you have there is a workout. 

That means once you've done it then that's it, there's nothing more to gain from it.

There's a million ways to set up programs but there's only one way that they deliver results and that is through the progression of the program.

Please do not wait until "it's easy", by then you're already de-training by getting weaker and no longer forcing the body to draw on fat reserves for energy.

Increase the weight to get stronger and work faster or harder to get lean. 

As always I'd be happy to provide this service to you and if you have any questions please let me know.

Tomorrow - aerobic conditioning.

Optimise Your Program - Mobility/Stability

Hopefully you've took my advice from yesterday and made some steps to get yourself an actual training program to assist you in reaching your goals.

Today we'll start to look at things that should be included in every training program. starting with mobility and stability training. 

Flexibility has been the term that's been used to cover this for eons but I'd rather use mobility and stability because it better represents what is actually required by the muscles and joints. 

Flexibility usually refers to muscles only.  

Mobility can be thought of as the ability to move through a specific range of motion and is very task specific, meaning you can have adequate mobility for one movement but not for another.

Stability can be thought of the ability hold a specific position with or without other forces passing through you.

Using some real world examples, squatting down to talk to a 3 year old requires great mobility of the ankle, knee and hip joints.

Carrying a heavy bag of shopping on 1 side and a light bag on the other, but being able to keep your "heavy side' from dropping far lower then the light side, is a great example of trunk stability. 

If you didn't have adequate stability to handle the off-set loading then you'd probably tip right over!!

If you don't have adequate mobility or stability in the required joints and you need them for a specific task, you shift that stress to the joints that do not possess adequate mobility or stability, to get the job done. 

This can result in overuse injuries in the stronger joints leaving you with 1 side that doesn't want to do much work, and another side now that can't!!

Any training program should address these issues either directly or indirectly because this is probably what is going to keep you pain free.

Just touching on flexibility, I bet you've had an injury and immediately thought that stretching will help out somehow - it won't.

Why?

A lot of times you've sustained an injury because there is not enough stability strength and you've moved into a vulnerable position to do a specific task. 

All that stretching does is make this area even more vulnerable by trying to give it more mobility - it's like trying to fix your loose elastic band by stretching it more - it's already unstable because it's loose, and now making it looser makes it even more unstable!

With any injury comes tightness which is actually the nervous system making the muscles spasm and contract to protect the area, by making you unable to move it or yourself. 

The brain and nervous system perceives a danger and does this as a protective response.

The brain and nervous system control everything - yep even your level of mobility / flexibility - so if there is a perceived lack of stability through a given range of motion, then they will both send off messages telling the muscles/joints to not move through a greater range of motion, for a fear of an injury.

If you build stability in the area's that need it, then the brain and nervous system slowly recognise this and thus, gradually allow more messages to feed that area to say "it's strong and stable - it's safe to provide more range of motion".

So getting back to muscles spasms and tightness post injury, the best thing you can so is work out what needs to stabilised and what needs to be mobilised so that the brain and nervous system gradually releases the breaks from those contracted muscles, allowing you regain full movement through the injured site and the affected movements.

I have had clients come through with frozen shoulders who couldn't lift their arm over their head upon entering and leaving the session with pretty much full range of motion shoulder mobility. 

I've also had clients with chronic knee pain be able to walk stairs, squat and lunge pain free after avoiding those moves for years.

By knowing what to stabilise and what to mobilise, you CAN regain lost range of motion and increase movement efficiency at any age!

Tomorrow- strength training.

Optimise Your Training Program

I hope you have been ale to implement some of the perfect day tips from last week and hopefully you continue to move forward towards the perfect day as well.

Believe me you'll notice the difference if you can most of it down and the best part is that it will free up more energy for you to do things for yourself and with friends over the weekend without burning you out for the week to come before it even starts. 

I left off last week giving you a quick rundown for this weeks email series titled "optimising your training program."

Step 1 - Get Yourself a Program!

Yep, you need one. 

You cannot get a desired result without a plan to get there. 

Unfortunately results don't come that easily or we'd all be in high paying jobs that we don't need to actually be there for and spending 360 days of the year in the South of France.

Whether your goal is to get fit, get strong or to lean up, you need a program, a plan, to get you there.

The program needs to fit your capabilities, your time availability and your equipment availability.

Whether you train at home with your own equipment, at the park with nothing or in a chain gym with everything, it's not enough to just go in and do some stuff off the top of your head, thinking that will make the difference.

You've done that for years and it hasn't worked, so why will it now?

Now how do you make up a program?

You're best bet is to actually pay someone to do it for you - you might have a friend who's doing a program that seems good, or another friend who is a PT and can whip something up for you but I guarantee you won't get the program that's best for you, probably not even close.

Paying for this service will mean that you would actually sit down with the trainer and talk a little about goals, past experiences and the issues mentioned above. 

They will tend to put "more" into developing you program if you're a paying client then if they are doing it for free.

And you know what, if you invest in the program then you're more likely to invest in actually doing it.

I love making up programs. 

I program for every client I have in the studio and everyone has their very own program designed with them in mind, and them only.

If I have 6 clients at once then they will all do their own programs, that's how important I believe an individual program is (check the image above which is from 1 night in the studio). 

I won't just run a one-fits-all-class because it's easier to pull off, that's not personal training. 

You shouldn't pay for what is marketed as personal training and do the same thing as someone else.

Those 24 hour gyms and high intensity group training studios are very popular now and a bunch of them have popped up in our area in the last few years months. 

These can be a great option as they are open 24 hours, you can basically go at your own leisure and the groups provide support but with so many of them around now you can't probably find one that isn't very busy.

So use a personal trainer to maybe simply sit down with a you and develop a training program that you can do on your own, or with them. 

I train a bunch of female footballers like this right now and it an work no doubt.

I can do the same for general population clients as well where you might come in for a consultation chat, I'll then go away and develop a program for you, we'll have a PT session to go through everything and then you're off for 3 - 4 weeks before we repeat.

This is far cheaper then a full time PT and there's still some cost involved but remember, you get what you pay for so if you're forking out $10 for park training, then expect nothing more then $10 worth of results.

Tomorrow we'll look at mobility and flexibility training and how to optimise that aspect to get the most out of your training.

The Perfect Day Wrap Up

Click to be taken to your perfect week intro, your perfect morning, your perfect afternoon and your perfect evening.

Congratulations!

You've hopefully just put together the perfect day. 

It's not easy doing this for even one day and a lot of you might not have completed it 100%, but try as hard as you can to get as close to the perfect day, as you can. 

Give yourself the best chance to succeed.

Now there's an even bigger challenge ahead that you are now prepared for - the perfect weekend!

I have found that people tend to "behave' more during the week as they have a sense of routine with work but with the weekend it shifts dramatically to an "anything goes" approach. 

Think of it this way:

There's 168 hours in a week.

Sunday night at 10pm to Friday evening at 6pm accounts for 114 of those hours.

That means the weekend fills the other 54 hours which can easily undo your perfect 114 hours from earlier in the week.

Here are some rules to cover while you're "on your own":

1. If you're heading out for Friday night drinks then get some training in at lunchtime and make sure to have dinner. Don't be the talk of the office around the water cooler come Monday!
2. Make sure to train over the weekend sometime with Saturday morning being a great option if you went straight home Friday after work. If you had a few drinks then do something mid-afternoon Saturday, especially if you're catching up with friends again Saturday night
3. As much as you can, continue eating your prepared meals from earlier in the week so when you go out for dinner, you can anything you like - guilt free.
4. Remember you'll probably need to cook up another batch of food for the week on Sunday so make time to head to the supermarket and cook up another storm.

So there it is, the perfect week.

I can guarantee that if you follow this to the tee then you can see dramatic results in how you look, and how you feel, in no time.

Perfect Practice + Consistency = Perfectness!!

I hope you enjoyed "The Perfect Day" series and next week we'll look at how you can optimise your training sessions through strength, aerobic and mobility/flexibility training.

Have a great weekend and we'll catch up Monday morning.