It's time for ME to get back into shape for Spring and Summer

Did I mention I've started my own fat loss campaign last week after (strategically) gaining 8kg over the course of the year so far? My long term goal is to be a bit bigger than I am now, but also lean. So, in trying to build up over the winter you accept that you're likely to gain some fat in the process, which you trim off again in the spring with the goal of being as lean as last summer, but 4 or 5kg heavier.

This year I was coasting along not too worried about how much fat I put on because "hey, have a look at the ladies I coach and judge me on that... not on what I look like while in a bulking phase", right? Well... that's all well and good up to a point, but as of the week before last I decided it was time to dial in some tighter nutrition targets and exercise a little self control in the kitchen until I look a bit more like a trainer again.

This is quite standard practice for males and some females with the goal of increasing size. Now, some people at a highly advanced level will have it down to such a fine art (or should I say science?) that they can gain a significant amount of muscle without gaining a significant amount of fat... but for the most of us, well... the fat and bloat comes off quite quickly and easily as soon as the time comes to dial in a nutrition plan and perhaps make some necessary adjustments to training. For the record I haven't changed my training routine yet but I may do so in the future if I'm not satisfied with my progress back towards an appropriate physique for pool season.

This isn't really a post about my own progress and goals though. It's a little eye opener into some deceptive marketing tactics other trainers may use, and why you should be sceptical of trainers posting their own before and after "transformation" photos.

You've no double seem them before, along with the "I got so busy helping other people, I forgot to look after myself and suddenly realised I'd gotten quite badly out of shape" and maybe also "after trying different strategies for years I finally found the one method for amazing results in half the time"... some top secret thing only known to them and their fitness guru who learned it from the ghost of Bruce Lee while astral travelling or some shit no doubt. And then there's the photos of them starting out looking like your average out of shape office worker, and ending up looking like a pro athlete 6 weeks later.

And you're supposed to think "wow, I could look like that in 6 weeks too then!", right? What a load of bollocks.

That muscular physique they're showing in the "after" picture was already there, just hidden a little under some excess fat, some bloat and fluid retention. Maybe the lighting in the first picture was less flattering as well, and they're standing with slouched posture too. This stuff makes a big difference!

Now, the position I'm in right now and these other guys would be in is that you've been training a long time, and are able to perform at a level far above the capabilities of the average client, especially a new one. Having trained hard and eating at a surplus all year so far, the body is trained to build as much muscle as possible and use all of this to fuel, recover and adapt to training. What little it can't find a use for ends up stored as fat... but the point is, it wants to build muscle. Now, come spring time we reduce calories to an amount suitable to drop whatever weight we have added in fat stores... the body still wants to build muscle, still wants to use everything we give it to fuel, recover and adapt to training... BOOM, that little bit of fat is going to come off relatively quickly, not to mention any food bloat and fluid retention will drop off within the first week or two in my experience.

So... that's what's going on in most of those photos you may see from trainers marketing online. It is quite deceptive to imply that there is anything "special" going on because of how magical their program is, and very deceptive to imply that the average deconditioned new client will achieve the same sort of transformation in a similar amount of time.

You guys know by now that I don't go in for any of that sort of chicanery, so in other words; no new photos until I'm back in shape.

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I got some broscience theories of my own though

Broscience aint all bad. I mean... it's bad when people come up with a load of crap about "this is the only way you can do it because science, bro" and especially when it's relation to restrictive eating plans they're selling to vulnerable clients or (worse) to well intentioned trainers who think they're learning something that'll help their clients, but is actually just overcomplicating things and making it harder for people to succeed.

On the other hand though... we've all got different ways we prefer to do things, and if it's working - good. You don't necessarily need to be able to reference 16 different studies that confirm that it works. So sometimes it's more like "well I like to do it this way, and it seems to me that [this] is what's happening... anyway it is producing results so whatever that's the main thing".

So I came up with this broscience theory that's good enough for me, about my own training program. Some of you are familiar with my Power, Precision and Pump program which is a movement based program split into pushing movements one day, pulling movements the next, and then repeat with a different choice of exercises and so on. Also you've got both upper body and lower body movements each day.

Now, I've upgraded this and called it Ultimate Power, Precision & Pump and there's a new Push / Legs / Pull section early in the week. So the schedule now looks like this:

Day One: Push Day (upper body)
Day Two: Legs Day
Day Three: Pull Day (upper body)
Day Four: Push Day (full body, more upper body stuff with some legs in the middle)
Day Five: Pull Day (full body, more upper body stuff with some hip flexion & hamstrings in the middle)
Day Six: Push Day (big legs day with a little incline press or something in the middle)
Day Seven: Pull Day (deadlifts, a little upper back or traps stuff and then more hamstrings)

So to start with, it seemed like the first three days were going to the hard ones, since it's just smashing the same body parts over and over again. There's actually more exercises on those days as well. But I will tell you what, I am actually finding my traditional, full body PPP days harder to get through.

So.... and yep this is total broscience I admit... it feels like from Day Four onward, the body is used to just doing one section in a session, and when I switch from upper body to lower body half way through (and then back again) there's this confusion with the body trying to decide where it's supposed to send resources for recovery and refuelling before the next set or exercise.

Now that may or may not be a load of nonsense, but I like how it is working out so far so I'm gonna stick with it. Different amounts of work for each section per session, different angles of movements, different choices of apparatus, different rep ranges, different amounts of time between sets, different amounts of days between hitting the same body parts again... I believe all of this stuff contributes to an effective program. At the very least, it keeps it a bit more interesting than just going in and doing the same stuff every second or third day.

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Broscience Idiots Are Not As Stupid As You Think

Latest video rant.



Inspired by this load of nonsense on facebook.

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Calling people out on their bullshit and excuses

File under "how to make enemies and alienate people", right?

I mean... look, people DO need to be called out on their bullshit, but how does it usually go down when you try it? Better question, how does it go down when someone tries it with you? Not so smoothly am I right?

None of us are perfect in all aspects of life. Some of us might excel in one area while neglecting others... some people appear to be successful across the board, but still feel unfulfilled. There is no shortage of highly successful, respected people who've made it to the top of their field, only to reveal that they were battling depression the whole time.

This may seem like a pessimistic way to start an article but really it isn't. The point is that no one is perfect, but it is still possible to overcome whatever obstacles and be successful and content. The difference between the successful people and the rest of us is that they kept trying, failed, tried again, and didn't quit no matter how many times they had a good excuse to.

Here's the issue. You can't really just go about handing out reality checks to people, no matter how good your intentions are. You know all this already, I'm sure. If you want to do that, go study first, get a qualification, set your prices and even then, save it for the people who'll actually pay you to keep them accountable. The rest don't want to hear it, and from their perspective, why should they?

It works the same way with people trying to give you advice, and busting whatever bullshit excuse you're holding yourself back with. Most of the time, people won't do it. Either they don't want to hurt your feelings, they don't want an argument, or maybe they actually like that you're not quite getting there... and they like feeling like they're doing a little bit better than you are.

So, unless you're going to hire a good, no-nonsense style Personal Trainer or coach... you're going to have to do it yourself. You're going to have to call yourself out on whatever stories you've got going through your head about why you can't be successful. Like I said earlier, anyone who's ever been successful in anything has had to do this... and I'd go so far as to say that many of them have had to get up and do it over and over again, day after day.

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Online Personal Training Testimonial

Here's a brand new testimonial from the latest member of Team DaveHPT.

My FREE weight loss program is at close to 92,000 hits by now, which is amazing. Like I always say, the important part here is that it's A LOT of people who are NOT going to be sucked in to scam products or dangerous, restrictive diets.

Now, as to the paid program this testimonial refers to, you should check out this before and after transformation post over on wordpress. File under DHPT Online Coaching Testimonials.

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