The Ultimate Home Workout Fat Burning Plan Part 3

This article is part 3 in a four part series of articles to work on a home workout plan for people that want to drop fat and get fit (DFGF). Please keep in mind that if you wish to do any of these workouts in a gym then set the equipment up that you need before starting.

If you have missed the essential reading in part 1 it is here – Home workout plan part 1 and building on from that is part 2 which is here.

Remember before all workouts – to foam roll, do strengthening work for weak areas and dynamic stretch.

In this part I am going to outline five varied workouts and again as previously mentioned please consider the five workouts as a 7-14 day work block that should be done 1 through to 5 and NOT picking workouts from the previous two articles and mixing them in as we don’t want excessive repetition of similar movements.

One more point before I give you the workouts and that comes from a question I got on the program. The question was “The program looks great but why have you not got in any direct arm work e.g. biceps curls, triceps kickbacks etc or lots of core work, does this really work?” The simple answer is that when deciding on what movements give you the biggest bang for your buck when your primary goal is to DFGF then I am not going to incorporate exercises that do not deliver a big metabolic/fat burning hit. If lateral rasies using a can of beans or water bottle as some trainers suggest worked better than kettlebell swings, inverted rows, box hops, deadlifts etc I would use them but they don’t so focus on what has been proven to work. This is a point that must be at the forefront of your mind even if you are not going to be training at home as when many people train they spend an excessive amount of time doing exericses that have little to no effect on their overall goal e.g. the guy that wants to put on more muscle and get bigger spending 30mins pumping up his arms with three different biceps exericses yet does not deadlift or can’t even do a couple of pull ups! On the final part of the question – “does this really work”, well I have plenty of clients to show that yes it does work and if you are one of them post up your comments in the comment section to encourage others as to the benefits of short, intense workouts.

Even if you are a guy looking to get more muscular you will derive massive benefit from doing these workouts on your non-strength focused days. They will boost your conditioning and keep you lean while gaining the muscle you want so long as the diet stays in track. If you are a guy and want to know what and how to eat in order to get bigger, leaner and stronger then why haven’t you read my maximum muscle nutrition 101 article?

Dominic mid-swing on the kettlebells - metcons have helped me get fitter, stonger and faster

Ok back to the workouts –

Workout 1 – Snatch and Cindy. This workout will take you over 10mins but another great mix of a www.crossfit.com classic metcon (Crossfit Cindy) and a single arm dumbbell snatch.

Workout 2 – Kettlebell swing and box hop ladder. Use a small step/box for the hops and if a kid can do this one so can you!

Workout 3 – Squat, band pulls and mountain climbers. It’s really important that you get a good strong band as the band pulls are such a great upper back exercise to help pull your shoudlers back.

Workout 4 – 200 double unders. Another great reason to use skipping in your workouts and getting good at doing double unders is a great skill to master and one that does not come without much practice. Do 400-500 single skips if you do not have double unders yet. Those press ups take their toll after a few rounds!

Workout 5 – 60secs metcon. This is a 4mins work block in which you have the first 60secs to do as many squats as possible and then take the number you get away from 60 and do that number of pull ups or inverted rows with 60secs to complete all reps. While keeping the clock running do 60secs of press ups and again minus the number you get from 60 and do that number of pull ups or inverted rows. Rest for 1mins and repeat 3-4 times or do a 400m run between each 4mins round. Love this workout and its been a while since I did it myself and it’s on the cards for me very soon.

There are another five workouts to be done over a week or a even repeated twice over a month period. It really is important to remember that the people that are successful in all that they do, whether it be business, getting in great shape etc are that way because they have high standards to stick to. If your standard is to now look in the mirror and say “oh I’ll start the training and diet tomorrow because I just have too much on today, I’m too tired (insert excuse here)” then you will forever be reading another one of my articles that gives you all the tools to DFGF but never hold yourself up to a higher standard. This is the whole reason why I have a motivation section on my blog.

Have you given your all today or are you going to swim in a sea of your own excuses?

It would serve you well to have a read of the articles there as no one got in great shape by accident and no one got fat without overeating. Keep reminding yourself that if it’s got to be it’s up to me and raise your bloody standards!

Want to fit into that little black dress?

As Christmas is rapidly approaching I know there are many women reading this that want to fit into their little black dress. The guys here at Crossfit Ireland are running a women only package to help you look your best before the New Year.

All the details are here – Project Little Black Dress

Her little black dress really turned heads at the xmas party

Your programme includes:

• Opening night consultation with goal setting and the course outline explained in detail.
• The CrossFit Ireland Success Journal.
• 12 coached classes in our purpose built premises.
• Nutritional guidelines that will set you up for healthier eating habits throughout the festive season and beyond.
• Phone coaching – unsure as to how things are going? Need a hand with something? Call us, we work for you now.

Starting: Tuesday 26th October @ 8:30pm
Ending: Thursday 2nd December @ 8:30pm just in the time for the first weekend of Christmas.

Simply call our office on 01-2063669 or email us – info@crossfit.ie to secure your place.

25kg weight loss and still more to come

As I mentioned in a previous post (warren’s testimonial) I received another success story. This one came from Joanne who has already been kind enough to send on a testimonial about her and her husbands progress some months ago which is here .

This was a bit of a surprise for me as I had both Joanne and her husband Maurice up for a review last saturday and both were making excellent progress but I was delighted to find the following in my inbox on monday morning –

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“It’s been a year now since I started with you, and I wanted to write to let you know the difference it has made to me.
I have lost just over 25kgs, and have gone down a couple of dress sizes. What amazes me is not only the weight loss, but the confidence I have gained in that time as well.
Over a year ago, if I had a wedding coming up or any occasion, I would spend endless hours trying on clothes, spending  lots of money on something I didn’t feel great in, and my confidence would always be low.

I went on a hen night last night, and felt absolutely fantastic about myself. I felt I looked great, and I had an amazing time, because I could be myself. I wasn’t holding myself back because of my size. I didn’t feel self conscious at all, and it made such a difference.

You see the bottom line is, when you feel good about yourself, everything else falls into place. I am really looking forward to the next year, and I know I will get to my ideal weight, because of you.
The weight is only one aspect of this process for me. I always thought I needed to lose weight, but I never had the proper tools to do it.  I never imagined even losing this much weight would make such a huge difference. I am more confident, have way more energy and am enjoying life so much more. I feel everything is possible now. I also feel that you need to know that you have made this possible. You have a fantastic approach to training, and you have never made me feel that anything was impossible for me, and having Maurice (her husband) encouraging me every step of the way has also been invaluable. We look forward to our training sessions with you, and we always feel motivated and positive afterwards (and sore!).

So after one year of training, thank you Dominic!
Joanne

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I have not edited that in any way and it was such a nice mail that I know there are many many people that could benefit from reading it. Please keep in mind that Joanne feels that she is half way there and is planning on making more progress over the next year so stay tuned. I might also add that her husband Maurice has made great progress and now not only maintains a sub-ten percent body fat but has improved his strength, flexibility and fitness in a massive way. They come up from Limerick to see me once every 6-8 weeks and as I have mentioned before it’s not more education they benefited from it was more understanding that made those life changes permanent.

Joanne was kind enough to provide a photo of where she was and where she has gotten to and I love the fact that the after shot has kettlebells in it!

The before and after - 25kg lighter in a year

You too can make these changes with the right attitude and consistent application. I recommend you read my fat loss 101 article here and as Joanne mentioned “get the right tools to lose weight now”.

Dramatic progress beyond your expectation

It’s been a few weeks since I have posted a nice testimonial from one of my clients so I was delighted to find my inbox with two when I checked it this morning.

Here is one of them and the other I will post up later in the week.

This is from Warren who I have been training for about 4-5months now (comes to me once every 6-7 weeks for a new program) and is such a delight to work with as he has a great attitude to both his traning and diet which have seen him make dramatic changes. I will let his words do the talking and hope you are inspired to make even just some of the positive changes he has made.

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“Injury after injury after injury followed by brutally poor advice and even worse direction from so called professionals. That is the only way to describe the journey I have been on for the last 20 months. After being injury free for the majority of my sporting life I ran into an injury associated with my pelvis/hip.

So when I first went to Dominic I was probably at one of the lowest points of my life sports wise. I went to Dominic more in hope than anything else, I had read his blog, seen his posts on boards etc but after the first session with him I knew if this guy couldn’t help me get back on track nobody could.

Dominic assessed my flexibility, base strength and fitness in the first session and not to my surprise he noted I had some major flexibility issues. In the first session, he laid out for me how he would get me back to where I wanted to be- playing and training competitively.

The program along with the stretching, foam rolling and trigger point release seemed to be working. I was pretty shocked after a couple of weeks that I hadn’t fallen back into my injured state again, but this time the muscles that were weak or tight were now getting more flexible and strong versus at previous stages where I was simply training myself into the ground with little or no stretching and foam rolling to recover.

(you need to foam roll more? Do all of this)

I was beginning to feel better and was simply enjoying being back training. I gave up drinking alcohol for the first 10 weeks of my training with Dominic once I realised I was starting to progress.  Along with the advice Dominic provided around my diet led to reducing my body fat by half, enabling me to begin to compete at competitive level in my sport once again.

After four months with Dominic I have made dramatic progress far beyond where I expected I would get to in such a short time frame. I think the key thing for me was the process Dominic provided, as with any process you can cut corners which will reduce the quality of the output/results.  The process means making changes and simply adapting, I found you have to want to make changes for yourself and the reason you are making these changes is to meet your goals!

I have got to say Dominic has adapted too, in the form of excellent METCONs and home work outs for them days you just can’t make the gym.

(here is an example of one of those home based type sessions)

Another key item was treating the gym session like a training session with my team, at training with my team the aim is to train hard for the duration of the session and get out of there, the key thing Dominic has thought me is to bring intensity to everything I do as this is what will really bring you on. 

As I sit here and type this I am also reading the goals which I first set when I went to see Dominic first, I am very happy to say I have met each and every one of them goals and now it’s time to raise the bar again!

I can safely say that without the guidance, advice and motivation provided by Dominic I would still be stuck in the same injured cycle wondering where ever am I going wrong.

Thanks Dominic!

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Thanks again Warren and I know you will continue to make progress for the future with the guidance and consistency in both your training and diet

Crossfit Invite September Fittest Man in Ireland

Crossfit held their invite again yesterday and for anyone that was there I think they just keep getting better every time.

The invite gives everyone at every level a chance to push their body to a new level and be competitive regarless of the outcome. The event looks to create a competition that tests many aspects of fitness (which is so hard to define) and I truly think this event did a great job at achieving this goal.

The events (just going to list the weights at the mens weights as the ladies did lift a little lighter just in case you were worried reading it) were as follows –

Event 1 (a two parter)

A) 5 rounds for time of 5 bupree pullups, 7 push press/push jerks 60kg, 9 box hops ( I came third in this by 8secs – 6.48mins). I knew it was unlikely I would win this event but wanted to get in the top 3-4 places to get me off to a good start.

B) The second you finished this you had 2mins to establish a 1rep max in a power clean – I opened with 100kg which I have done tired for reps for at least 2 months now and then jumped to 115kg which was a personal best for me even if it looked ugly as my heart rate was still pounding from the pervious event. I took first in this event and was quite pleased with the win but know my cleans need wayyy more work so it’s more fluid.

Event 2 –

This was another couplet with the first part being –

A) 60kg overhead squats and ring dips for 21,5,9reps – I won this event with about 2mins between me and second place. It was a really really tough event for many and there were lots that used a lighter weight which was a wise choice. I find the ring dips quite handy and all the 40kg weighted ring dips I had been doing paid off as I powered through this event with some excellent coaching from my spotter Will – got way to casual on some of those overhead squats! If I wanted to win the competition I really had to burn up the competition on that event so delighted it all went well.

This is a photo of my final rep in the last set and I was just feeling so stong I even paused at the bottom for a casual photo (well I did work my ass off on overhead squats and shoulder work in the last 3months).

B) 20secs after that event you had to run 400m as fast as possible.  Because I was quite strong on the ring dips and knowing my time would be quicker than most by quite some distance I had time to change out of the olympic lifting shoes and into a nice light pair of Nike lunar racers which are super for sprints.

Super light and fast

The run was the event I really wanted to win the most as I knew by winning it it would give me a nice cushion on points going into the last event. It was a 200m out and back with the out being slightly uphill so I decided to put the foot down on the way out knowing that the way back would force me to maintain speed. I got 1mins 4 secs for that event which gave me a 40 point pretty much uncatchable lead going into the final event which was about 2hrs later in the day.

Got to love ring dips

Event 3 –

The final event was 10 squat cleans 60kg, 20 wall balls to a 11-12ft high gurder (really accurate throwing necessary) and 30 kettlebell swings (24kg) x 3 rounds

This event was really frustrating for everyone as hitting the dam gurder with an 8kg ball was bloody hard when your legs and arms are screaming in pain.

So all i have to do is squat, throw the ball, hit the gurder then catch the ball - yes 20 times

I was chasing James (the guy in second place overall going into the final event) all the way on this event and it came down to a neck and neck race to the finish on the kettlebell swings. He was well into his round of 30reps before I got started and I decided to pick the bell up, close my eyes and just go for it. I got all 30reps done in a row on that final round but got beaten by a single second in the end.

Just keep swinging and do not stop

It was a great battle to the finish and it had everyone on their feet going crazy. Here is a video on that last event.

One of the single best aspects of crossfit is the camaraderie at every single level of ability and I think this photo says it all when the top two guys can finish an event and want to congratulate each other. A true example of the spirit of competition.

"Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow". ~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

I walked away the champion again this time but know I have more work to do and honestly am inspired to get better by my wife and daughter, the people I see that work so hard every week in the workouts that take place around me in www.crossfit.ie and in the one-to-one/group sessions I do with my own clients. Thanks for all your support, your effort and I will continue to raise the bar in the future.

What up shirt off!

Oh and one more thing watch this video its just so funny – what up shirt off is the new catch phrase.

Work your technique

Just a reminder that the guys I work with in www.crossfit.ie are running a mobility workshop on saturday the 4th september.

There has not been a single client I have worked with that could not benefit from doing this course as we all have tight areas that need loosening out and this will teach you all you need to know regarding stretching, mobility and foam rolling.

You just lie back there and we can see how we can add 50lbs to your squat and deadlift

On the 11th september they are also running an Olympic lifting course that they ran before for some of my clients and everyone got so much out of that day that I am sure it will fill up again.

Bookings/enquiries can be made by contacting the guys directly.

1-2hrs working on your weakensses means less practicing of little faults you are possibly making in your training.

Practice does NOT make perfect, practicing perfect makes perfect.

The Three Pillars to Maximal Strength

Pretty much every session I do with clients have a big emphasis on getting stronger. If you want to get in amazing shape you must must must get stronger. There is zero point in moaning about belly fat, chest definition or any area you feel you need more work in when you can’t do the basics well and are not constantly focused on getting a little bit stronger week on week, month on month.

For you to even ask the question – “I hate my fat stomach what exercises do I need to do?”, tells me so so much about your level of understanding of both training and nutrition. You see I have delt with lots of clients that want or wanted to get lean, fit and defined yet would not man or woman up to getting stronger so instead they went back to lifting the same weights, doing more cardio and then making half assed attempts on their diet. The end result is that they go around in circles looking for another method when the obvious one was staring them in the face – get bloody stronger, stop kidding yourself on your diet as it’s no where near as good as it needs to be and get your heart rate up from time to time.

These are the same people that when asked what training they are following they reply with – well I don’t really use a proper program as such or they are using a very complicated program with bugger all intensity. When a guy or girl comes to me and they can’t do full length press ups for 10-20reps, pull ups for even just 5+ reps (guys) inverted rows for 10+ reps (girls), squat well, deadlift with good form etc my response is always going to be – well what do you expect when you can’t do the basics.

For example, last week I did a deadlift workout with a sandbag carry pulling 145kg for 51 reps and a carrying a weight up and down the gym a few times all in under 10mins. Whether you are a guy or a girl you have to understand the kind of work that is involved in doing that.

To be honest if I got the vast majority of typical gym goers to put my weights away after that session it would be a tough workout for them! I mean when you see people in gyms faffing about with light dumbbells, lots of cardio, doing excessive amouns of biceps curls, bench press and core work it makes me think – could they even be strong enough to carry a bunch of 20kg plates back across the gym floor and do this safely without hurting their back?

Get stronger pleeeease

I no longer work in a typical gym and so at times I forget that people don’t follow set programs, don’t get any stronger, get shit#y guidance and generally train with less intensity than they display dancing at a wedding! For me it’s the norm to have guys and girls pulling well over body weight deadlifts, squatting well, banging out pull ups, chucking a kettlbell around, sprinting up and down a road and just generally going at it hard. I love it when I see my clients evolve from a body that is soft and flacid to one that is tight, toned and for then to stare at their reflection in the mirror and know they have worked their butt off to look that good.

If you really want to be in great shape you must get stonger and there are three ways you can do that –

1. Mental – watch any video of anyone that is in great shape and they is absolutely no question they they have supreme mental toughness. I believe this is NOT something that you are born with. Yes some can have better genetics than others but there are lots of examples of people that were brilliant at a junior level but let it all slide as they got older. I mean so what if you were great at rugby when you were 18yrs old. You are now possibly older, fatter, couldn’t run for a bus and please stop talking about your past like you were some kind of star. People only care about the impression you are making now.

Getting in superb shape requires that ability to turn off the part of your brain that says STOP when the going gets tough. This is something that clients of mine learn in every single group session as they do. When they see others around them pushing hard and keeping it going it makes them realise that they can too. It is a skill I have learned and still learn in all of my workouts and it is not something I have done on my own. I needed someone to tell me I could do one more rep, round etc.

If you want to become mentally tougher for your sessions then simply tell yourself to do one more rep when the going gets tough, set a target on what you want to achieve, train with others, watch something motivating before hand or simply get in there and attack the session. Without exception the people I know and train that have and will get in great shape are mentally tough and come back for more every time. You are not going to get stronger because you put in one really tough session, you need to be able to do that over and over again. I have stayed in great shape and continue to gain strength because I am more consistent than you are and I love the challenge.  So get mentally tough if you want to build more strength.

I am a massive fan of Female top level crossfitter Miranda Oldroyd and in this video just look at the section from 1mins to 1.30mins – THAT is showing mental toughness, concentration and dedication.

2. Pyhsical – No surprise here really as if you are to build more strength you must lift progressively heavier weights. You are a guy that would love to add 1-2stone of muscle to his frame? Well let me tell you that you aint never going to get there if you keep returning to your sessions lifting the same weights week in week out and you are avoiding the big compound movements like the squat, deadlift, pull up, bench, overhead press etc

I have lost count the number of skinny guys I have spoken to that could tell you the in’s and out’s of every supplement yet have rubbish numbers i.e. they don’t even deadlift, use the leg press all the time and have an ‘arms day’ when training. Come on guys, I have never seen a lean guy pull a double body weight deadlift and not look impressive!

I couldn’t care what program you use to get stronger. Use my programs, use

Jim Wendlers 5,3,1 – http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength

Starting strength – http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki

Westside for skinny bastards – http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/60-westside-for-skinny-bastards-part1.html

Hardgainer – http://www.hardgainer.com/

I just love Dan John http://danjohn.net/ also – 

“Oh, I know, everyone is an expert on weight gain. The Internet is flooded with 145 pound skinny-fat experts.

Here’s a summary of their mass-gaining methods: Stick a bunch of big words together in a row, or pull out a thesaurus and just jam synonyms into every sentence. Bam! Your audience will instantly grow bigger.”

There are any number of ways to gain strength but the rule should be always keep it simple, add weight slowly, change the exercises, reps, sets up every few weeks and finally STICK TO THE DAM PROGRAM. Do not or stop being a program hopper, stick to the program for a good 6-12 months and you will get strong.

Train with others or read up on people that you admire. It’s like the great Dave Tate said –

“That’s why there’s so few people who are doing this shit and why it helps to be around people with similar goals. They understand. It’s a rare breed, man”.

3. Technique – it amazes me the number for people that want to get stronger yet have never and I mean never had someone look at their form while lifting. Some people will spend hundreds of euro on gym membership fees, gym clothing, equipment etc yet waste increased strength potential because they won’t go to see somone that actually knows what they are talking about.

I was asked this week by the sales team in a gym I was a member of as to why I did not rejoin their massive, €800+ per year facility and the primary reason was being sick to the stomach seeing people all around me lift weights and train with such bad form or structure while their trainers looked on.

You can add a massive amount of strength by simply fixing simple aspects of any lift. At the very least you should video yourself doing the big compound lifts every now and again and learn to recognise good and bad form.

For example, the guys I work with in www.crossfit.ie have been putting together a great collection of videos on lifting form so have a look back over the workout section of the site for tips on the major lifts. This one is on the overhead squat –

The message is simple really you are either getting stronger or you are getting weaker. I am as proud of my female 50 something clients pulling a 40kg deadlift as I am of my male clients doing a double body weight deadlift but overall they all know they must lift heavy stuff with good form, put in the effort and repeat.

Lift, lower, repeat

Please work on this or forever be ignorant to what acutally works. I love this video by the founder of Crossfit Greg Glassman to emphasise invincible ignornace.

The winners approach

Just a few thoughts on the competition I did last weekend as in my last post.

1. I have much more to work on – I find it amazing that people do not set some goals for themselves in anything in life. You do find yourself at the top of Mount Everest by just wandering around so if you want to get in better shape stop making bloody excuses and put a plan together. This is what I did after doing the first ever crossfit invite in which I got a bit of an ass kicking but successful people are not afraid of loosing or failure as they know there is much learning to be gained from putting yourself and reputation on the line.

In the competition on saturday I realised I need to relax more before the event and I need to improve many of my exercises way more. Yes I know I did really well in some exercises on the day but so what if you have one good day in the gym or one good day on your diet – wooo hooo. Give yourself a clap on the back and get back to reality buddy. One day is just that so get right back up there and shoot for CAN I – continuous and never ending improvement!!

Focus man its only 70kg 30 times!

With that in mind I did the following today –

My session was a little different as I did 10 lateral burpees instead of 20 and added in a 200m run as it was nice out and wanted to loosen out my legs. Finished it in 9.40mins for 5 rounds.

2. Pain is temporary – when the going gets tough do you back off or realise that when you are 95% of the way there that’s just half way. It is the final 5% effort in anything that requires the biggest effort and if you are looking to get in better shape, build more muscle, strip away body fat then you better wise up to the fact that those that look the way you want are willing to go to that 5% zone more often than you are doing right now. Walk awy from your workouts with no regrets and I have to say that you will ot discover this level on your own – you need the pressure of a group to help you reach new heights or even timing/measuring your set workouts to help you reach new heights.

On my own but support from everyone

3. Dare to be great – Colm from www.crossfit.ie sent me the following video and it pretty much sums up how I feel regarding my desire to inspire people to be the best they can be.

Now do you want to look and feel your very best or are you just asking? if you really want it then get up off your butt and take action as I will do until the next competition.

Winners all of us

This is why you are skinny

From time to time I get guys that come to me for advice on how they can ‘bulk’ up and put on some muscle as they are just too skinny. The most common mistakes these guys are making are the following –

1. Not doing strength training using the compound lifts

2. Not getting stronger and lifting progressively heavier weights

3. Simply not eating enough

With this in mind I did the following video to help you get more out of yur training and get guys to stop following bodybuilder programs that produce very little results.

If you are NOT doing these basic exercises then you can’t possibly hope to build up pounds of muscle and get an impressive physique. As an example look at my before and after photos here – https://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/my-2009-transformation/

The second point is really simple – get bloody stronger, especially on the big compound lifts.

The eating part is where many guys fall down and that really comes down to eating every 3 hrs.

You have to eat big if you want to get big so keep getting the calories into you and do it daily. Post up to comments what has helped you gain muscle as it will help others.

I will try to flesh this article out a bit more. Just in a rush with a certain crossfit competition that is on tomorrow.

Am I contest ready?

I just got off a call from a client that wants to get in shape, shed body fat and generally be ready to play any sport at a recreational level when needed. He made one interesting point when we got to talking about his current training and that was when he went to his gym he was just bored of doing the same workouts and looking at all the other ‘meat heads’ (his words not mine) in the gym who prance about taking 5mins breaks between sets of bench press and biceps curls.

He came to me after looking at my youtube clips http://www.youtube.com/user/Transform1234 and loved the varied workouts I post and the fact that you can train like this, get better results in less time and generally be ready for all types of activity. For me bodybuilding is dead and my training philosophy is so far removed from the typical gym training approach.

How often do you see people do overhead squats in your gym?

The way I train is no different to the way I train others and what I tend to follow is exercise plans that emphasise –

1. Increased strength

2. Increased conditioning/fitness

3. Improved mobility/flexibility

4. Optimum nutrition for fat loss and muscle gain

5. Enjoyment through varied workouts

All that being said is the way I train any better than some other trainers? Maybe not and maybe it is but I really don’t care as I test clients and myself week in week out and can see the results first hand. I post up videos and success stories of my clients all the time as proof of how I train clients the results they achieve. I always find it funny how some trainers can use the same 1-2 photos of their success stories over and over again – for the love of god you got good results with 2 people in 5 years! Lets see 10 more recent ones if you are such an amazing trainer. Here is a video of Kimella doing part of her workout –

This new potential client may get the amazing results he is looking for just like all my other successful clients but there are plenty of clients I have worked with that have NOT achieved very significant results at all. Yes please read that again, lots of clients and little to no significant results!!! Am I crazy writing that as I am sure as a reader you want to hear more success stories etc but let me tell you that you can learn more from the unsuccessful clients than the successful ones. Simply put, those that get the results they are looking for get with the program and work hard. Those that don’t well all I can say to them is SORRY.

I am sorry I couldn’t walk around with you all day to stop you from eating junk or excessive carbs.

I am sorry I couldn’t sit at the table and get you to keep eating good healthy food you skinny guy.

I am sorry I was not able to pick up your barbell and help you get a few more reps.

Finally…

I am sorry I could not drag your ass off the sofa and go do a 20mins workout.

You see when I did a www.crossfit.ie competition for the first time almost a year ago I went way a little humbled and knew I had things to work on. I worked on some and did not work on others and entered another crossfit competition and AGAIN got punished for not working on really important stuff in my training.

The point I really want you to understand is that what I have learned from www.crossfit.ie has made me and my clients into leaner, stronger, fitter, more mobile and really happier people as a result of varied and performace based training. I have picked up some scrapes and bumps along the way

Hands that have done some work

but I guarantee ones you follow optimal programming you will always look forward to your training sessions and will get the results you are looking for. Anyway if you want to go really fast be prepared to crash every now and again.

All that being said the next crossfit competition is on this coming saturday (please come along to support if you can) and I nor my clients would not be in the shape we are in without crossfit. Here is a recent video of me working on two exercises that I had problems with 6 months ago –

Do you want to train like an athlete or train like all the other people in your gym who go in to put in time? Do you want to get in great shape from home or ask me to keep saying sorry for all the ways in which I would like to help you?

Am I contest ready?

Am I contest ready? I leave that for you to click on the photo above and decide……