gym – Never Give Up PT

Run Your Own Race

When you want to begin a personal fitness journey it is a totally natural thought process to consider what the person next to you is doing.

For the past few months, you might have heard Janice in the office talk about how much weight she’s lost at Slimming World and, naturally, you become intrigued about what recipes she is using and you peek over her shoulder at lunch break to see what’s in her lunch box.

In the gym you notice that the guy who usually trains when you’re there has bulked up a bit and he is filling in his T with some decent looking pecs these days. You’re only on nodding terms so you don’t ask outright how he has managed it, but you keep glancing over to see what he is pushing on the bench press or see what protein shake he’s drinking.

It becomes a slight obsession. I’ve driven myself insane before by observing the Hulk Hogan of the gym bicep curl a couple of 8k dumbbells while I’m trying to squeeze out the 20k’s to look like him and I’ve seen a guy much slender than me deadlift 200k without breaking sweat.

That’s when it doesn’t become my race anymore. And, whilst running this race, in watching how everyone else is running I’m tripping up.

I begin to change my pace and my breathing technique. I’m not looking at my own path, instead I’m trying to keep up with somebody on their path. I am not running my own race.

It was a quote from a football manager that inspired me to write this article. Without boring those who do not follow the English Premier League, I will keep this background story short.

Ange Postecoglou is the manager of Spurs. He was employed by them to at least qualify for the Champions League this season. However, in the penultimate game of the season, a number of Spurs fans wanted to lose a game and celebrated once they had lost. This is because it meant that the winning team, Manchester City, could overtake Spurs’ bitter rival Arsenal to have a greater chance of winning the league, resulting in Arsenal missing out! City ended up as Champions, Arsenal came runners up and Spurs missed out on a Champions League place, meaning that they only qualify for the less attractive Europa League competition.

Postecoglou was pissed off as he saw pockets of supporters in the stadium celebrate their own team conceding goals. And he even eluded to Spurs staff members being desperate enough to see Spurs lose and Arsenal miss out on the title. How far down the chain did it go?! Did the players on the pitch really want to lose also?!

After the game an angry Postecoglou said,”…we have got to worry about ourselves. Don’t worry about anyone else. If you run your own race then when you get to the finish line, have a look around and see where you finish…. don’t be obsessed with what anyone else is doing…you want to stop another club winning the trophy? Then win it yourselves!”

As human beings we can often get distracted by ‘keeping up with the Jones’. With their neatly mowed lawn, new 4×4 that they take their exceptionally behaved children to school in and their exotic holidays that they go on a few times a year.

But maybe we’re not seeing the debts that they’re in, how Mr and Mrs Jones hardly speak to each other and how their son is about to get expelled from school for selling weed to his mates.

But people will rarely let you see that side to them. Do you think that Janice in the office will share her most vulnerable side on Facebook such as moments before a ‘weigh in’ or when she can’t enjoy a meal out with friends because it doesn’t fit in with her ‘points’ for the day?

And the Hulk Hogan of the gym wants to show Instagram his changing room flex after a workout, but he’ll never film himself injecting steroids or standing in front of the mirror feeling ‘bloated’.

My eldest boy, Jonas, is facing exams this year. He is understandably nervous about this but his teachers and my wife and I are telling him not to worry. It’s his first exams in Portugal and it will be in Portuguese. This in itself is a massive thing to overcome but also he didn’t face exams in England. Apart from a spelling test perhaps, this is his first experience of being graded on what he has learnt. His classmates are more advanced. Not only are most of them older, but their first language is Portuguese. He cannot allow himself to be compared to what they might achieve in their exam results. Jonas, simply, has to run his own race.

So ‘running your own race’ isn’t just something to remember when embarking on a fitness journey. It can be a good reminder of how to be in other aspects of our lives too. After all, it’s the difference between a glitzy Tuesday night at the Bernabeu or a drizzly Thursday night in Aberdeen.

The Forest

I get time to think when I’m ‘cleaning’ the forest. The cleaning has to be done. Take away the building plots and we have around 19,000 square metres of pine forest. In Portugal this is a tinderbox. A thoroughly cleaned forest will limit the chance of any wildfire and this week with the weather a little cooler is the time to do it. We moved into the property in January so we have missed out on a full winter to clean and, as first timers to these shenanigans, we have felt the pressure.

My sleepless nights had me wondering if I should brush cut the whole land and then rake the loose wood, heather etc at the end, or should I brush cut a bit and then collect little piles from time to time. Should I rake the cut pieces into piles or collect lots of the forest onto a tarpaulin to drag roadside for the tractor to collect? Maybe I could use the cart to bundle as much forest into it and then wheel it to the roadside?

My first day with the brush cutter. All the gear, no idea.

Today my method was the tarp. And it got me thinking, is this the best method? I dunno, I didn’t have an answer. It just felt like today it was.

I’m not unfamiliar with that question. “What is the best method?”

It is one of the most frequently asked questions given to me as a Personal Trainer. The best method for weight loss, the best method for muscle build, the best method for a certain injury.

I have answers, but there isn’t a defining one answer to give for each question. It’s a little bit more complicated than that and that’s why a good PT needs to charge what they do. Anybody can shout at someone and tell them to give them 50 pushups or run 5 miles. But a good PT will not only find the right method for you, but will adapt each day to fit your own personal needs.

Forest clearing, as I’ve discovered, is quite the same.

The forest has a goal. It doesn’t want to set on fire. My aforementioned methods of forest cleaning are all relevant, but I must not allow myself to become bogged down by which one is the best way just yet. After all, I’ve just met the forest. It has some wide, open spaces but some areas are dense with pine trees and woodland. Some areas are flat, some tiered and some sloped. Other characteristics of the forest are rocky, wet, dry, microclimatic, tall trees, short trees, fallen trees, sensitive areas due to wildlife and coloured with beautiful wild flowers.

Every square metre must be dealt with differently depending on these above characteristics but also on the weather, my mood, time and how strong my back feels at the time (it’s very physically demanding and if I put my back out then the forest won’t get cleaned at all).

But to know of any kind of method at all it is important to point out that I asked questions. I asked locals who had experience in dealing with this sort of land. The forest has an important goal. If I pretended to be Billy Big Bollocks who thinks he knows it all, the forest wouldn’t reach its goals and that has serious consequences.

People that I have worked with in the gym all had goals that they wanted to reach. And, just like the forest, us humans have complexities that cannot be dealt with by a ‘one size fits all’ method. We must approach our goals with an open mind and experience a variety of emotions, movements and outcomes to know what is best for us and our individual goals.

So I am convinced that structuring our lives around a healthy lifestyle with gym/fitness goals actually enables us to make better decisions in other aspects of life such as decision making and planning.

And the forest has just given me an example of that within my own life.

A part of the forest from the AL rental accommodation

What Is Your Motivation Today?

If there is one guarantee in life it is that the mainstream gyms will be buzzing with new members who have promised themselves a healthier start to the year. The new year’s resolutioners. And their journey, hopefully, is a great one. I know lots of people who started a successful journey based on a new year’s resolution. But there are many who don’t have the same success. They give up. This message is for anybody who has just begun their journey and how they can stay on track.

It is common knowledge between Personal Trainers that the gym looks like this every new year…

The January Rush

Especially in the mainstream gyms, it can be difficult to get onto any of the equipment due to the influx of new members mixed with the regulars. The PT can spot the new member immediately. They flit from one machine to the other with little direction. Form, especially in the free weight section, can be erratic. But for the most part the new member will stick to machines.

The PT will begin to plant the seed that you might need their help. They might offer an induction or consultation straight away if they are pushy, but also a good PT will simply just be present to answer questions.

The February Frustrations

Despite January being great for the gym, it is not necessarily the best month for a PT. A new member won’t generally just sign up with a PT they’ve just met. Also, most people think that they can do it by themselves. After all, how difficult can working a treadmill be? But new members can have unrealistic targets and in no way is a treadmill (or any machine) the best place to start. Frustrations arise. They’re not seeing the results they expected.

Their gym visits become less regular unless, and this is where the patient PT reaps the rewards, the member asks for help, tips, advice and a price list.

The March Sleepers

A sleeping membership is a reference to a gym member who pays for a membership but does not attend its services. By march and the dust has settled, according to statists, about 18% of people paying for a gym membership become sleepers. They have lost motivation, got bored, found other interests or just found life getting in the way.

What To Do Before You Get To March!

* Seriously consider a good PT. They’ll stick out a mile. Watch their interactions with their current clients. Approach them for advice. They should give free advice without being too pushy. If they’re too pushy then they’re desperate for custom. If they say that they’re really busy but will try to find a slot for you then they’re lying. There’s always room for a new client. Some trainers also work online with clients without the face to face sessions. This works out cheaper but can be a good option because of my next piece of advice…

* The biggest reason for people quitting the gym is their motivation (or lack of it). A good PT should be able to give you the determination and motivation that you need. Almost every day they should be asking ‘how do you feel today?’ and tracking your workout progress, offering challenges and fun targets. You don’t need to see them in person for them to do that.

* But if employing a PT is still something that you don’t want to do then consider this quote from author Zig Ziglar…”People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.”

You see, your motivation needs working on daily. Just because you ate the full box of Quality Streets on Christmas day and promised yourself a gym membership doesn’t mean you’ll give a shit come March. After all, there are 18% of gym members who don’t.

Every Sunday I would ask my clients to plan their meals and their gym visits for the week. Have they booked the classes they wish to attend? Do they have packed lunch ideas for work so that they don’t feel the need to stop off at Gregg’s or Maccy D’s?

Any of my clients who were having a tough time of it (everybody does, even professional athletes) I would ask them for their reasons why they came to me. In some way, it was a call for help. But why?

I’ve had just about every reason given to me over the ten years that I worked in mainstream gyms and online. From eating disorders, beating depression or self harm, a charity run and to making the next Olympics. Plus, there were many of my clients who simply wanted to feel better about themselves and feel that they were doing something proactive.

I would ask them to give themselves 5 minutes each morning as they open their eyes to think about these reasons. What would achieving their target for that day mean to them? How does it make them feel? What about not doing it? How does that affect their mood by the end of the day?

This ‘self assessment’ should be done daily. And with it we will find the reason why we do it. I love a workout, but I need my daily motivation too! I need to know my ‘why?’. I have two small children. I want to be healthy enough to see them grow up. I want to be active enough to play football with them and (in later life) my grandkids. My wife and I are starting up a new business in a different country. I need to be mentally strong for the challenges ahead and exercise keeps my focus. I want to look and feel good about myself and when I’m really old I want to be able to get out of a chair unaided. My motivation isn’t about staying alive so much as having a quality of life as I get older.

We will all have our reasons, but it’s remembering them and acting on it daily that will take you past March in the gym.

Good luck friends.

The Keys To Pinheiros Tranquilos

A bit of a whirlwind day today. This morning, unexpectedly, we were told that we could have the keys to our new property in Portugal!

The deal is to be finalised by the end of January but the current owners have kindly allowed us to have the keys to be able to begin making it our own.

And there’s no doubt, this will be a long process. We’ve been there today and it’s been tiring, so I’m a bit too knackered now to describe the work we need to do on the property but I did take a few pictures so I can put some bullet points attached to let you get an idea of what will be our home and our new wellbeing centre at Pinheiros Tranquilos.

As you approach the property you are met by sprawling fields. This particular piece of land will be used by us, mainly for the boys to be able to play sports.

A part of the property, beyond the field is forests of pine trees which will be ideal for several meditation sites and future glamping projects.

Back towards the buildings there are two houses with habitation licences. This enables us to live in one, which is already habitable, and the smaller building which will need renovation to become a rental accommodation.

The back of the rental accommodation shows some of the work needed to be carried out. The road nearby is very quiet and is mainly used by visitors to Trizio River beach and agricultural vehicles.

The patio area and the largest outbuilding will become the massage treatment room and also there’s potential for a bar and shop as a future project. Seating will be provided and also group exercise sessions can be done from here.

The smaller outbuilding is where my personal training equipment will be kept. It is possible to train inside as it will be equipped with weights, bench, pulleys and cables but I also imagine that much of the training will be done outdoors.

There are many fruit trees on the property to be picked at your leisure.

We went at around 6pm and it is late December so it doesn’t look as bright and sunny as we have seen it previously! Plus it’s all a bit untidy and overgrown after being left for a couple of months. But the hard work starts now regarding our new home and business. I’ll keep you updated on how we get on, plus our experiences on filming A New Life In The Sun!

The Sea Needs To be Sailed

As I was finishing my workout yesterday I reflected back on what I had achieved during the session. Using unconventional methods, breeze blocks, trees and bottles filled with sand I recognized that, despite not having the equipment I was used to, I had a damn good workout. Was it perfect? No. Was it effective? Yes.

Bob Marley, when asked about perfection, said it best. “The moon is not perfect. It is full of craters. The Sea is incredibly beautiful but salty and dark in depth. The sky is always infinite but often cloudy. Not everything that is beautiful has to be perfect.”

The Sea needs to be sailed, swam and viewed to be appreciated and admired. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Far too often as I watch fitness influencers I see a common theme. They aim to teach us the perfect form and the perfect diet. I also see many of them mock those who have poor gym form and much of their content becomes just a dig at their competitors or some poor random bloke performing lat raises.

Sure, poor form can lead to injuries, so practicing each day is very useful. But condemning those who don’t fall into the ‘gym bunny’ category with the perfect form with the perfect kit is not helpful.

I’m not a fitness influencer, but as a trainer who represents the industry I see my job as encouraging people to give it a go and discover activities that will help their health and fitness goals.

You don’t have to be the perfect runner, have the greatest knowledge or form in the gym, be the best swimmer or be able to walk for miles. You do, though, have to be open to trying out these things that make you move to find out what it is that you actually like to do.

There is no one method to get you healthier, fitter, stronger, faster etc (whatever your goal might be) apart from the method that you enjoy. The perfect routine doesn’t exist. The perfect gym form doesn’t even exist. There’s only a simple set of rules that can keep us safe from injury.

Stop looking for perfection and just find what you enjoy and work with it. It might not be right for the next person as long as it is right for you.

And now, in my moment, I think I’ve found what is right for me.

Here is my ‘gym’ that is working for my mental and physical health at the moment…

A wooden bench, a bar and two breeze blocks

A bar lodged between two branches for pull ups

A rickety old work stool to sit on for seated shoulder press

The weight rack AKA the detergent bottles filled with sand

Gym Or No Gym

When I think of being in the gym it reminds me of a happy place. It is where I have met friends, where I found my dream job as a PT and, quite frankly , where I found myself as a person. The gym helped mould me into becoming a more determined and disciplined person.

It has also been a place where I can forget my troubles for an hour or two or, in many cases, solved my troubles by talking to others. Indeed, I have heard many things being thrashed out in between sets of deadlifts from other members such as relationship troubles, work issues, politics, their team’s results from the weekend and health worries. All passionately expressed as much as the huff and puff of their heavy lift.

And of course as a person who is there quite a lot and who everyone knows, I seem to be the go-to person when it comes to news and gossip. I know where everyone goes on holiday. I know who has recently died. I know of everyone’s upcoming operations and I know what everyone eats each mealtime. Football is always a hot topic in the gym too, so whether it be Manchester City or The Nags Head, I know every score of every team in the country.

I love it, but that’s me. I don’t expect everyone to get this feeling when they enter the gym. In fact I know for some people it fills them with dread. And in this article I’m aiming to reach out to those who either don’t feel that they have the time to get to the gym, can’t afford a gym membership or just hate going.

This month I paid my final PT rent installment to the gym which means that in a few weeks time I won’t be associated with a gym, either as a member or a trainer, for the first time in 25 years. That thought would’ve scared me not so long ago. It’s played such a huge part of my life to the point that, during a time where I felt lost and without direction as a young man, the gym saved me. But my future plan doesn’t involve a gym. Not a commercial gym anyway. I’ll be creating my own space on my own property in Portugal. It won’t have the mod cons. I’ll be going back to basics.

In the coming months my wife and I will be developing a YouTube channel entitled The Road To Tranquility where it will document our lives creating our luxury wellbeing camping experience in Portugal. A part of our visitors experience will involve massage, yoga, meditation and personal training.

Whatever I create for my visitors will be what I have to work with too. I doubt the area or the funds will allow for treadmills, rowing machines, cables and attachments or a deadlifting platform. I’ll have to be inventive with a bench, a selection of dumbbell and kettlebell weights and a battle rope.

And this leads me onto my point of the article. You can absolutely develop a very successful workout routine at home, in the garden, in the park or just about anywhere you can find a bit of space. Also, you don’t even need weights. Body weight workouts are perfectly fine routines for most goals. But if, like me, you enjoy working with resistance and wish to maintain and increase your strength, then the ‘middle of Lidl’ will often sell relatively cheap weights, resistance bands and other useful equipment. Other places I’ve found to be handy for exercise equipment is TK-Max and online selling platforms such as Facebook market and eBay. It’s amazing what people are trying to sell since they no longer need it after lockdown!

I have said to many gym goers (to the despair of the gym manager) that exercise does not need to be restricted to the gym. And if you don’t enjoy formal exercise I would recommend taking up a new sport, joining a running group, taking up dance classes or just going for walks. The purpose here is to adopt a healthy lifestyle and remain motivated in reaching physical and mental health goals.

I’ll miss the gym banter, but my journey will still enable me to meet new and interesting people while achieving my fitness goals. Think about your own journey. Tailor it to meet your needs. Gym or no gym, you can become the healthier version of you.

Training Frequency And Doing It Correctly

A question I am often asked in the gym is how often do I train. I answered that I currently train 3 to 4 days a week and the lady was shocked that it wasn’t more.

My current lifestyle does not enable me to train myself in the gym as much as it used to. I have taken on a couple of different projects that have taken my time away from the gym, therefore when I do get the time it has to be time well spent.

Fortunately, even for busy lifestyles, training programmes can be created to fit into tight schedules. You just need to identify your goals and know what to do to achieve more ‘bang for your buck’. And unless it has been a seasoned athlete or bodybuilder in the gym I have never seen anybody execute this time management correctly without a good PT who will offer either 1-1 or programming.

It is often said that as long as you are moving in the gym you are doing something positive. Well, I have to disagree. I find it a cop out and a disservice to ourselves to have this attitude. Not only are we not going to achieve the best results in the best time, it can result in injury and a lack of motivation.

Moving is great. Going for walks and staying as active as possible doing sports you enjoy is very important. But once you are in the gym with a specific goal, it is a different game altogether.

In the last couple of years I’ve personally seen a big difference in the sort of person that now requires personal training. And this issue relates to a shift in lifestyle brought on by our time in lockdown. With gyms closing, we had to be inventive with how we exercised. During this time, many people felt that they either no longer needed a gym or that they didn’t need any help once they were in the gym. In fact, due to social distancing, the gym I train at cancelled inductions for new members and they aren’t mandatory anymore to this day.

During lockdown, we became self proclaimed professional bread makers, scientists, content creators, politicians and personal trainers.

I’m seeing the fall out of that in the gym now. Most people that approach me are asking how to fix injuries. Here are the most common examples…

Running became very popular over lockdown. But the correct footwear is vital if you are to run frequently. It can also create muscular imbalances and an overuse of certain muscle groups. Joints are also under pressure from the repetitive impact with the ground. Relying too heavily on running as your choice of exercise without the right precautions can also cause oxidative stress on the body, which will have a negative effect on your goals.

Home workouts became a staple for those wanting to continue their hypertrophy goals. Kettlebells and dumbbells are relatively cheap to buy at shops like Lidl and Aldi, who often stock them in their middle isles. But they don’t come with instructions. I have always been an advocate of the home workout, but it still has to be done correctly to get results and avoid injury. Lifting the wrong weights with the wrong equipment can easily do this. And a bench is useful. Sitting on the edge of your sofa to perform an overhead dumbbell press offers no protection to your spine. If repeated often enough, back pain will occur eventually. And deadlifts, bent over rows, kettlebell swing and squats are common exercises to get wrong and cause injury. Not a day goes by in the gym where I don’t wince at a deadlift technique. If this is gym technique, what are their home workouts looking like?

Personally, even if I’d looked up how to fix my car on YouTube and I gave it a go, if I were knackering up my car I would see a good mechanic. I need to get to work and get to social events. I can’t afford to go too long with my car being out of action. I have to swallow my pride and see a professional.

Now change the above statement from car to body and replace mechanic with personal trainer. You get the idea.

Joining a gym or embarking on any fitness goal doesn’t have to be 7 days a week, intense, gruelling or time consuming. But you do need to know how to use the time that you do have productively and safely.

Nike was almost right with their ‘Just Do It’ tag line. Mine is ‘Just Do It, But Do It Correctly.’

Overcoming A Training Plateau: Introducing The Mechanical Deload

I’m currently around 6 weeks away from beginning a new program. One which will see me add weight to the bar for shorter reps. Oh, and I’ll be eating in a slight calorie surplus again. Yesssss!

I’ve been keeping the reps high and the weights at around 50% of my 1 rep max since the ending of March which is a good time to be in a slight caloric deficit. This ensures that I look trim in my summer clothes without feeling heavy or bulky.

However, as winter kicks in I want some extra fat to keep me warm and, let’s face it, there’s no need to be going outside in shorts and a T in the UK winter so this is my usual ‘bulk’ season. It’s where I work on my strength and conditioning, put on a bit more size but expect that size to hit my belly too!

But this is still a few weeks away and, to be honest, repping out the low weights has become a little tedious. My body isn’t feeling the challenge and my mind is thinking about my pesto pasta for dinner during lat raises. I sense a plateau.

There are a number of ways to beat a plateau. The worst one is to quit your program and go straight into your next one or, even worse, quitting training altogether! And I have seen plateaus have this effect before. A trainee can become disillusioned by their progress stalling. They become bored. They give up.

Yet switching a program because of a plateau is also a form of giving up. To get the results you want, the process must be followed and completed. This will test your muscle, your mind and your attitude towards your goals. It’s character building. It’s satisfying. It works, as long as you know how.

Enter the mechanical deload.

There are several variations to a mechanical deload, but my current method to beat my plateau is to complete a triset (3 exercises in one set) or a quadraset (4 exercises in one set) which use the same muscle groups for each exercise. Here’s a step by step guide…

1. Choose a muscle group you would like to train.

2. Choose three exercises that use the same muscle group but which have varying levels of difficulty.

3. Choose a moderate weight for each exercise.

4. Begin with the most difficult exercise and rep for 12-15. Then go straight into the easier exercise for 12-15 and finish on the easiest for 12-15.

5. Then reflect on how you thought it would be fairly straightforward but seeing as you’re shaking like a shitting dog and have another 4 sets to go, you know this will break your plateau!

Today I incorporated a chest mechanical deload into a full body workout. Here’s what I did…

Barbell bench press 50% 1rm, 10 reps

Dumbbell bench press 50% 1rm, 10 reps

Smith press 45° bench 50% 1rm, 10 reps

Press up, 10 reps

And because a push workout is great for working the triceps I also added kickbacks, 10 reps, 5 sets in total.

Now, we know that DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) doesn’t necessarily mean muscle gain or a superior workout, but my pecs and triceps are satisfyingly throbbing. Something that I haven’t experienced for around ten days. My plateau, due to experiencing a new kind of stress but remaining within my set task of high reps at moderate weight, seems to have disappeared. I can now utilise this routine for my back, shoulders, legs and arms for the remainder of my program.

A tweak in your program can help you overcome a plateau. Maybe that tweak is a mechanical deload for yourself when you need it.

Fitness Auditing And Why We Need It

You have this cool programme that you developed/got off YouTube/received from a trainer about 6 months ago and it was fantastic.

It excited you, gave you a new purpose in the gym and got you some kick ass results. For the first time in a long time, you had a new belief in reaching your goals.

It was amazing. WAS.

But now, 6 months on, it all feels like a slog. The thought of going to the gym isn’t exciting you any more like it did. The results are slow if any at all and you’ve started to feel the injury niggles from repeating the same old exercises. Day in… Day out.

>sigh< “here we go again” you say as you enter the gym doors.

You start to blame yourself. Are you tired? Is your mind just not in the game anymore? Is it just an age thing? Are you eating right?

The odd day off creeps in where you would usually have gotten to the gym. A few mates are having a pint after work. It’s tempting. The gym bag gets thrown back into the boot of the car. Or the early morning start where you once jumped out of bed to get a workout in before work has gone. Now the snooze button seems like a better option.

If any of this sounds familiar then the chances are is that your programme has run its course. I’d estimate that it’s probably a good four months out of date.

Not only does a progressive programme last over months and in some cases years, but keeping a check on the finer details like rest periods, weights, reps and sets becomes essential to a trainees goals.

If you have a workout plan that you repeat every week without a direction beyond that plan then it will become stagnant. You become demoralised and you give up. Or you become demoralised and injury gives you little option but to give up.

Internet workouts perplex me. They appeal to people because they are free. I’ve been there. The free option was like finding a cheat sheet. A short cut that didn’t cost a penny. And the guy posting it was jacked. ‘That’ll be me soon,” I thought.

Programming isn’t a one size fits all. And if you are lucky enough to find something that works to begin with, then eventually, without auditing, you will be forever treading water. It will become a tired workout. You’ll become tired.

Assessing your progress every 6-8 weeks should be as much a part of your training as perfecting your squat or your bench. Knowing how and when to tweak your workouts is a skill. I only acquired this skill when I was studying for my PT qualifications. Since then I’ve written thousands of programmes.

If only I’d have known how to audit my fitness 20 years ago when I was at my physical prime. In truth, I didn’t have a clue back then.

I don’t blame myself or anyone else for not auditing and following a progressive programme. There’s so much confusing information out there and, as I say, it’s a skill. A skill that I learnt and became qualified in.

Why wouldn’t you try out free workouts online? After all, I wouldn’t trust most PT’s in mainstream gyms anyway. I honestly can’t tell if they’re giving the gym member an induction or a training session, such is the lack of passion in their approach.

But very good PT’s do exist. Ones who are fully self employed are generally 100% committed and knowledgeable to their clients. They have to be. If they fail then nobody will pay them. If they don’t get paid they don’t have a job. I literally go to sleep at night thinking about programmes or tomorrow’s sessions. I have to. I’m the one who will help my clients audit their workouts. I need to know every tweak for over 20 programmes at any one time.

The Bottom Line

Any new workout usually works for a time. They often work muscle groups that haven’t been worked before and muscle soreness feels intense but satisfying. But the body adapts and with it so must your programme. How you adapt it is what will keep getting you the results.

Resistance Machines

My usual gym routine is from Monday to Friday. The weekends are generally for family time and relaxing away from formal exercise. It works for me. There’s no set rule that works regarding a training plan. Perhaps my ideal plan would be having two rest days that aren’t together but personal circumstances have to be accounted for.

What training a full five days in a row allows me to do is have a definitive day in which I can begin a wind down in the intensity of my workouts. I can’t hammer my body every single day with heavy compounds. Indeed, I believe in my 420 reps workout that I have developed for others so much so that I am doing it myself. This means that once Thursday’s session is over I have completed over 1500 reps. By Friday, my body is telling me that I need a little assistance from machines!

And this is exactly what the resistance machines are perfect for. They provide much more relief for the body and it isn’t just the physical aspect that needs the respite. Neuromuscular Innovation, or more commonly known as the mind-muscle connection, takes its toll on the brain. The thought process of connecting with your target muscle in a bench press scenario is much greater than on a press machine.

Foot positioning, core engagement, time under tension, breathing and the contraction are all crucial components of a bench press. Sure, there’s still the necessary check list to go through on a machine but in no way is it as thorough. Therefore, instead of risking injury with sloppy end of the week technique, I still get to workout without breaking myself.

It does concern me, however, how overused these machines get. I get the impression that lots of gym goers use them because they haven’t been shown how to squat, deadlift, bench press or barbell row. Their inductions usually include a brisk talk through these machines, so why would they use anything else?!

When I did gym inductions I went through deadlift form as a priority. It is a free weight compounds that requires the whole body to move and work together as one. I can analyse the hip extensors and knee flexors of the participant and get an understanding of overall strength and fitness levels. Without it, I would struggle to know what machine or what type of exercises a new gym member should be doing. So I am perplexed as to how the gym staff know. Introducing them to an ab crunch machine is way way off of where most new gym members need to be.

And don’t get me started on an ab crunch machine. An over reliance on a resistance machine can cause injury, but an ab machine can be particularly dangerous. The deep abdominal muscles, together with the back muscles support and protects the spine. I cringe as I see yet another gym member rocking wildly like a wound up toy trying to work their abs. Back pain is the biggest reason for staff sickness in the UK and until we begin to train our lower backs correctly this statistic won’t change.

The Final Word

Resistance machines are a great way to supplement your workouts. A heavy session on the bench or in the dumbbell section takes a lot out of us physically and on the nervous system. Rounding off a session on the machines or cables can be a perfect finish. But we can’t rely on them to reach our goals, be it injury rehabilitation, weight control, muscle gain or movement. If you are completely new to the gym then I would recommend starting in the free weights area with a trainer who knows what they’re doing.

That you for reading this article. If you have any questions on this or any of my practices then do get in touch!

Shay PT.