Anyone who knows me knows how much I like analogies. One area that continues to frustrate me is talking to trainers about programming. Often the conversation goes something like this, “I use a little of your stuff, a little of Mark Verstegen’s stuff and mix in a little of …”. In trying to describe how this works or potentially doesn’t work I’ve decided that a food analogy may be the best route. Some people can really cook, others need cookbooks and recipes. Some people write cookbooks, others read cookbooks. Even in the restaurant world, there are cooks and there are chefs. Cooks follow the recipes, chefs create the recipes. Even those who know anything about cooking understand that every ingredient in a recipe has a purpose. You wouldn’t bake and simply leave out flour would you? The key is to figure out if you are a cook or a chef. Here are some basic guidelines.

If you are writing your first program, you are probably a cook. You should find a recipe and follow it exactly.

Think about it this way. If you were making something for the first time would you take two recipes from two different cookbooks and combine them? Would you add ingredients from one of the recipes while subtracting ingredients from the other? If you did this, would you expect the end product to taste good? What if you took two pancake recipes and both called for pancake mix and eggs but, you decided to double up on the pancake mix and simply omit the eggs. The end result would probably be pretty lousy pancakes, correct? What if you said, “I don’t like water, I’ll just put the dry powder in the pan and see if it will cook?” All of this seems foolish doesn’t it.

Unfortunately, when it comes to program design, this is exactly what many coaches do. I have athletes who have trained with me for years and then become coaches themselves. Instead of using the program that was so successful for them, they alter it. Then they email me the program and say “can you look this over?”. Invariably the program is a little of mine and a little of theirs, with maybe a touch of third party. A combination of recipes if you will. Also invariably the program is poor. These are not experienced “chefs” yet they have chosen to alter the recipe to suit their taste. The better choice is to choose a recipe designed by a chef and then do a great job of making the meal. In other words, coach the heck out of the program.

If you have been writing programs for few years, perhaps you are a sous-chef.

The sous-chef is the second in command in the kitchen. Many third and fourth year coaches are sous-chefs. They have developed the ability to alter the recipe without spoiling the meal. They understand that ingredients can be altered but that there should be a plan and it should be followed. The sous chef also understands that the ratio of ingredients matters and that you don’t simply cook to your own taste.

After five years of successful program design, you might now qualify as a chef.

At this point you can contemplate bold changes to the recipe because you have extensive experience “cooking”. Vern Gambetta used to say “it’s OK to break the rules, just make sure you understand the rules first”. After five years you should no longer be looking at a DVD and abandoning your whole program. Chefs don’t abandon their chosen cooking style after watching an episode of Hell’s Kitchen, instead you are now making small changes to what should be a system.

The purpose of the strengthcoach website is found in the saying “give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime”. However, what I am beginning to realize is that some readers need more direction. Figure out if you are a cook or a chef. Don’t be afraid to copy if you are a beginner. In fact, I would encourage you to copy rather than to mix. We are adding more programs so that many of you can in fact copy. I have said in previous writings that it is a mistake to copy programs. I guess what I should have said is it is a mistake to blindly copy programs. It is a mistake to copy bad programs. However, it may be very beneficial to copy good programs. I would rather you copy my program than attempt to add bits of my recipe to the recipes of others. If you are not confident yet in your ability to create a program, feel free to copy. I guess cookbooks were created for a reason.

The idea is that eventually we all can become chefs but, we all start out as cooks.

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AC
PS – for more articles from Michael – check out the Strengthcoach website.

By day 30 – you’ll have over $5 million saved (go ahead – do the math).

The idea is that major change starts with a small investment.

Now obviously it would be pretty difficult to find a bank that would double your money for you every day — but the point is that seemingly insignificant investments (at the time) can add up to something very significant over time.

Let’s put this another way. What if you improved your diet, and your exercise program by 1% per day…

Actually – let’s go even lower – 0.3% per day. 3 tenths of a percent.

Day two – another 3/10. Day three another — and so on.

At the end of one year – you’d have improved your diet and exercise program by over 100%

All success is – is just a few simple disciplines repeated over time.

Brian Tracy has said that reading one hour per day will make you an expert on the topic of your choice.

One hour is not a big investment. But when you add that up over the course of the year – that’s 365 hours. Or nine 40-hour work weeks.

Whether your goal is fat loss, muscle building or building your personal training business — Small investments compounded over time will add up to big results.

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AC

Recreational soccer is an effective health-promoting activity for untrained men
Krustrup et al.
British Journal of Sports Medicine 2009;43:825-831

36 healthy untrained men were randomised into a soccer group, a running group and a control group.

Training was performed for 1 hour two or three times per week for 12 weeks; at an average heart rate of 82% of HRmax for both training groups.

During the 12 week program, the soccer group improved maximal oxygen uptake (a measure of aerobic fitness) 62% more than the running group. The soccer group also lost an average of 50% more fat than the running group (6lbs vs 4lbs)

The soccer group had an increase in lean body mass of 3.75lbs, an increase in lower
extremity bone mass, a greater decrease in LDL-cholesterol and an increase in fat oxidation
during running at 9.5 km/h. The running group saw none of these changes.

The number of capillaries per muscle fibre was also almost 50% higher in the soccer training group than in running. Both groups reduced blood pressure equally.

The researchers concluded that participation in recreational soccer training, has significant beneficial effects on health profile and physical capacity and in some aspects it is superior
to frequent moderate-intensity running.

What does this tell us?

Well, think about soccer. The difference is more than adding a ball while running.

Soccer is essentially a form of interval training (although the work and recovery periods are randomized – CHAOS training as my friend Robert Dos Remedios calls it).

It’s also multi-directional, multi-movement (jumping, heading, running, sprinting, kicking, tackling, with contact) and multi-planar.

Basically this study shows that open interval training, using multiple movements and directions is superior for conditioning, muscle building and fat loss when compared to the same intensity of running.

I just wish they’d discovered that watching soccer was just as good…..

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AC
PS – I hate calling the game “soccer”…. it’s FOOT-ball. Played with your feet….

As Anthony Robbins would say – this is not to impress you – but to impress upon you that we are doing things right. As I often say – I am just a kid from a small town in Scotland that did a few things right….
One of those things, and probably what we are known for, is our training programs.

In April of this year, we’ll be running a two-day, no-holds-barred, everything revealed program design seminar – pulling back the curtain to reveal everything we do at Results Fitness to design and implement the best programs on the planet.

We get better results in less time than any of our competition.

And now we’re sharing that…

Results Fitness Biz Program Design Seminar

When: April 23rd and 24th
Where: Santa Clarita, CA

What will be covered?

• Learn the exact step by step method of program design used by Results Fitness.
• Learn what MUST be included in every single workout with your clients to get results and how to plan to fit it all in – including warm up and movement prep, prehab, activation, core, power training, resistance resistance, energy system development, and soft tissue regeneration.
• Learn about loading, progression/regression, intensity, recovery, periodization and how to include all of these in you program design.
• Be able to design a 16 week periodized training program that works. EVERY time. Guaranteed.
• Learn to write programs for various populations including obese, athletic, groups, and injured.
• Be able to write a program that you can absolutely guarantee results, charge a separate fee for program design and improve your business as a personal trainer. Make yourself more valuable!

Click Here to sign up NOW!

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AC

In an ongoing series to motivate everyone to keep their goals at the forefront and continue to take action — here we are again… I know I’m starting to freak you out….

But it’s Feb 24th. The 55th day of 2010 … 15% of 2009 is gone forever.

15% of your New Years Resolutions should have already been checked off…

So exactly how are they looking now?

Are you on track with those New Years Resolutions? Are you on track with your goals?

If you wanted to lose 30lbs this year – are you down fifteen percent – or 4.5lbs already?
If your goal was to do 250 workouts – have you completed 37?
If you wanted to make $10,000 more this year — are you on track?

It’s amazing how time passes so quickly. Actually it’s almost scary…

Don’t waste a single second.

If your goal is fat loss – start today
If your goal is muscle building – start today
If your goal is (insert anything here) – start TODAY !

If you’re just a little behind — adjust your plan – make up for it!

15% of this year is gone forever.

I meet a lot of people in my job, and get a lot of questions via email. I’ll talk to guys who track every single macronutrient that passes their lips, and have tried just about every program out there. When I ask them how things are going — they’ll tell me that it’s great, or that the program is working well.

But rarely do they quantify anything. How many pounds of muscle gained? How much of a strength increase have you seen in real terms?

Very few people actually measure and take stock of their efforts. If you are following a plan to lose fat – are you actually losing fat? And I mean at a rate that is acceptable for your efforts? Or are you blindly following a plan that doesn’t work, and essentially ignoring that?

I know where my progress towards my goals stand because I measure it.

When I was in the hospital for a stem cell transplant – the medical team took measurements of temperature, blood pressure and blood samples every 4 hours. Even if it meant the middle of the night (really!) – they knew exactly where we were in relation to our goal every 4 hours.

When we implement a marketing campaign at the gym — we track the results. We know, for example, how many direct mail pieces we send out, the cost of each mailing, how many inquiries we get, how many appointments are made, and how many people join the gym as a result. We know exactly how effective the plan is, and whether the return we are seeing is worth the investment.

We can see that for $X invested, we receive a return of $Y. This is important as we have expanded our gym by another 30% last year and completely remodeled the facility (after doing the same in 2008!)

We need to know where our membership stands – how many inquiries, how many new members, renewals etc and when our busiest times are – everything is measured and tracked so we can continue to grow and serve our members.

If you remember “SMART” goal setting — one of the keys is ‘M’ – Measurable. Measure your results.

As we enter the second half of 2009, it’s time to take stock of your efforts. Has your current return been worth the investment?

Again — 15% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another three months pass, then another six — and before you know it — it’s 2011…..

Don’t waste a single second. Start TODAY.

Where will you be at the 30% point – April 20th? That’s 8 weeks away. Will you be 8 weeks leaner – down 8, or even 16lbs of fat?
Will your business demonstrate 8 weeks further growth – will you be 8 weeks closer to your goals?

The time will pass anyway….

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AC

But the reality is that your abs have a more critical function than flexing your spine: Their main job is to stabilize it. In fact, your midsection muscles are the reason your torso stays upright instead of falling forward due to gravity. So your abs and lower back actually prevent your spine from flexing.

The upshot is that if you want better results from your core workout, you need to train your abs for stability.

The future of abdominal training is a focus on dynamic stabilization – not movement.

Our new DVD – Ultimate Core Training – 21st Century Torso Training is now available.

This DVD contains a multitude of exercises and progressions and non-traditional core training.

Pick it up here => Ultimate Core

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AC

I hate to tell anyone but, we are not nearly as indispensable as we think. If our athletes work out for one day without us, the world will not end. If the head coach sees you are not there for one workout he probably won’t fire you. Tell him or her that you need to take the time to get better. Think of it as practice.

Ask yourself how many conferences you go to per year? If it is one or less, you are too busy to get better. Ask yourself how many books you read a year in the field. If the answer is less than ten, perhaps you are too busy to get better. How many DVD’s have you purchased and watched this year? No time to get better?

Time spent coaching is one thing. I think that is what most of us like to do best. However if you are always too busy coaching to practice the fine art of self-improvement eventually your coaching will suffer.

Business experts and business coaches often talk about the difference between working in your business and working on your business. If you are always working in your business, you are no more than another employee. You need to spend time working on your business for your business to thrive. In coaching it is the same principle. If you are always coaching but never trying to learn, you eventually fall behind. It’s like playing game after game with no practice.

Don’t be too busy to get better. Set goals for yourself. Set a goal for the number of seminars you want to attend this year. Set a goal for the number of books you will read and DVD’s you will buy. Maybe even set a goal for the number of other coaches you intend to visit this year. I attend a lot of seminars as a speaker and ask anyone, I also sit and listen to the lectures. In addition I set a goal of attending at least one seminar a year as a participant, not as a speaker. Ask yourself honestly “have I been too busy to get better?”.

Supervised exercise versus non-supervised exercise for reducing weight in obese adults.
Nicolaï SP et al
J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2009 Mar;49(1):85-90.

This research study looked at the effects of training with supervision/instruction (ie a qualified trainer) versus “advice”

Two groups – Group one met a trainer twice a week for 4 months (as a group).
Group two received basic advice to increase physical activity and access to a fully equipped gym (any exercise they did was unsupervised).

The group with supervision lost on average 362% more fat over a 4-month period. (Total fat loss of 13.4lbs in the coached group – and only 3.7lbs in the advice only group)

Interesting side note -they made these improvements without ANY dietary advice given.

This is not a new finding, nor is it that surprising as a good coach or training partner/team can really help with your results. The fact that the group exercised together only served to improve those results further (as social support is one of the key variables in fat loss success) so I’m not sure that the supervision and instruction alone was entirely responsible for the enhanced results – or the social support was part of it. However, it’s clear that together it’s an unbeatable combination.

You’d also have to assume that there was more instruction in the supervised group as there was more contact with instructors.

Another study came out a few years ago showing that a participant would exercise 30% harder or more (can’t remember the exact number) with someone just watching them (i.e. not offering any instruction or encouragement). You can imagine how that could translate into much greater results, when added with a good program, great coaching, great social support and great instruction.

If you are serious about changing your body – hire a coach, or get a great training partner or team to help you.

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AC
www.alwyncosgrove.com

A: No you don’t have to. But it makes the whole process a lot tougher. Nothing magical happens when doing cardiovascular exercise – it just burns calories. High intensity ‘cardio’ burns more calories than low intensity ‘cardio’. And low intensity burns more calories than no cardio.

But remember – cardio is really a generic term to describe exercise that targets the cardiovascular system. That covers a lot of different things from steady state aerobic work to interval training to complexes and circuits.

I think most people don’t like walking on a treadmill and being completely bored. I understand that. But if it’s traditional cardio that you dislike – you can do some “non-traditional” cardio (as featured in the Metabolic Acceleration DVD) and burn even more calories.

If you are dieting down for a show or a photo-shoot and have a lot of time, I don’t usually add in any type of energy system work in the beginning – we work on creating a caloric deficit through diet only – adding in more calorie burning in the later stages. However if you need to drop fat as fast as possible – some extra energy system work is nesessary (we currently use the metabolic acceleration programs, or kettlebells and TRX routines).

But at the end of the day — is going for a walk for 30 mins each day really all that bad? Get your Ipod on, some good music or an audio book and head out the door.

Cardio is just a tool to burn calories when you’re trying to get lean. It makes no real difference in terms of fat loss whether you burn the calories off, or don’t eat them in the first place.

Q: Any new fat loss or cardio programs out there (my goal is fat loss)?

Besides the Metabolic Acceleration DVD we’ve been using the TRX and kettlebells to great use in our facility. The TRX is a great tool.
You can set up a simple metabolic circuit using a combination of bodyweight, the TRX and kettlebells. On Monday I did a countdown circuit of KB swings paired with burpees, starting at twenty reps of each and dropping one rep each round (so round two is 19 reps of each, round three is 18 reps of each), all the way down to one rep of each. It adds up to 40 sets and 210 total reps.

For more on the science of fat loss – (when you understand this – you can design your own fat loss programs – check out Fat Loss University )

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AC

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AC