Friday 23rd July

Welcome to the weekly wrap...

FTC 2010

A huge congratulations to the team here at Taylors for some fantastic results. Pete sent me a great text during the week about how good all the results were for our club. Well done to all trainers who did the hard yards to get their clients across the line.

A special congratulations of course goes to our Grand champion Glenn Stolzenberg taking home the $5000 with the help of his trainer Lisa. Great pictures and great results got Glenn across the line in a hotly contested voting environment.

And our Club Champion Sharon Smith had amazing results thanks to her trainer Catherine! We will see posters of the 2 champions from Taylors up and in the club very shortly!!

The next FTC (#3) kicks off in a few weeks beginning on September 13. Rev all your clients up as this challenge will be the one that gets them all the SUMMER body they have been striving for!!

WWWC

Deadline for handing in the at very least application forms with evidence of payment is JULY 30. Please do not be the one that I have to chase down or lock out.

This is government legislation and is a requirement for all staff. Don't forget that the money will be refunded if in 6 months time you still are working with us!

FITNESS AUSTRALIA

Can you all please check your current registration status as I know most of us that started here in 08 will be just about due. That goes for ALL certifications as well such as first aid.

I will be holding another First Aid in house in September. Dates will be announced closer...

SAD to see Slim leave us this week. Slim has been a great trainer and been with us right from the start. I personally wish him all the best and no doubt so does the rest of the team..

Monday sees us welcome Jamie to the team. Jamie has made the trek across from South Australia to join us. Make him feel welcome when you get the chance.

That's it for this week.

Have a great weekend!!

It's been a while...

Yes it has been a while since my last post. We have sold our house, moved and are about to build the new family home in about a months time. Everything has changed.

Including me!

The results are in and I officially lost 80cms and around the 7kg mark in weight. My body fat went from over 20% to just under 14% and I now have a 94cm waist.

My goals haven't changed too much. I am still aiming to be under 90cm around the waist and to be back in the 70's for my weight. The most important thing for me though is to get fitter and stronger.

I was told I looked more like 29 than 37 the other day! Gotta love it..

So two things that helped me achieve these fantastic results were 1. Crossfit and 2. Paleo diet.

I can go into these more with anyone who wants to know more...

If you want to see what it looks like, pop in and see Susan training with me over the coming 12 weeks as we again take on the Transformation Challenge.

Thanks for your support and thanks to my beautiful wife for keeping me on track throughout.

And yes I am on another 12 week challenge as we speak! I will let you know how it goes...

IS STRESS MAKING YOU FAT?

Is stress making you fat?

I was hoping to get this done as a seminar and would love the opportunity to have a few of you guys in to discuss the merits of this statement.

In brief though the answer is yes. Stress can make you fat.

I have struggled to varying degrees with my weight and I can track a lot of it back to the one real cause. Identifying it and dealing with it has been a key to my recent success. Stress presents itself in many ways. Food can be a stressor to the body as well. My stressor appears to have been dairy.

I am not suggesting that everyone give up another food group but I will get you to ask yourselves WHO it is that recommends that we have Dairy and cereals and grains and everything else on what I beleive is an UPSIDE DOWN food pyramid.

Trust your body.

Listen to your body.

The results will follow.

6 week results!

Hey guys.

The results are in. I can say that for the first 4 weeks I really had no loss to talk of and certainly was starting to doubt whether blogging the results was such a good idea!!

I stuck fast and true and with a few modifications to my diet the results are in and here they are...

START ........................... 17/2

WEIGHT 90.2 ........................ 87.0
SHOULDER 121 ....................... 113
CHEST EXPANDED 105 .................. 105
CHEST RELAXED 103.5 ................. 101
BICEP R 35.5 L 35 .................. R 33 L 34
WAIST NARROWEST 97 .................. 90
WAIST NAVAL 105.5 .................. 98.5
HIPS 114.4 ..................... 109.5
THIGH R 62.5 L 67 ................... R 61 L 62.5
CALF R 43 L 43 .................... R 42 L 42.5

SKINFOLDS
TRICEP 14 ....................... 12
SUPRAIILIAC 18 ....................... 18
UMBILICUS 40 ....................... 30
THIGH 8 ....................... 4

So as you can imagine I am pretty happy at losing 40cms in the 6 weeks so far.I need to get my waist measurement down to 90 so that will be the latest of the goals.

YAY!! Out for now..

I'm Back!

Well firstly thanks to Donna and Susan who have reminded me that I was supposed to be keeping you up to date! Once a week does not cut it.

I have told a few people that I have started a new eating plan as of last Monday. I am now dairy free, gluten and wheat free as well as knocking sugar out as well except for the occasional bit of fruit.

What is there left to eat?!!!

I have stripped back to an all natural diet which means eating as fresh as possible and CLEAN!
Mostly I have been eating good quality meats and vegetables for all meals. I am still having my omelette's in the morning as eggs are still one of the few complete foods from an amino acid point of view.

Yesterday I made myself a simple chicken laksa in the slow cooker. I used zucchini, carrot and spring onion with my 700gms chicken, one can of coconut milk and 2 teaspoons of Thai green curry paste, gluten free of course.

The smell of food cooking in a slow cooker is always a favorite of mine. It makes the end product so much worth the wait.

The result of the new way of eating for me over the last week or so has found me with a pair of looser pants this morning. These are the results I am trying to focus on this time around. I have a couple of clothing items that I don't quite fit into at the moment. I still will be checking my weight but the cms are falling off at the moment so I will be happy with that.

The list of foods so far that I am eating include:

Organic meats
Salmon
Lots of vegies
Chicken thighs
Some fruit mainly berries
nut butters(almond,brasil and cashew)
Coconut milk
Coconut oil


The Variety is there and coming up with interesting combos will be the hardest thing in the future but I need to stick this one out.

My measurements are due today so I will get them up on here tomorrow at some stage.

Out for now.

SLACK SLACK SLACK

Ok. So I have been pulled up a couple of times this week and for good reason. I started this blog to keep me honest and now I know that I really need it.

Yesterday I pulled off the double sweat session for the first time in ages. Cruised in to work and jumped straight on the cross trainers with Rodney for a 20 minute Body For Life workout. Most people know the drill of interval training and managed to burn around the 320 calorie mark. Finished the workout off with a practice session for some of my crossfit lifting.

Finished off in the arvo with the latest fenix force workout. Mother of a workout. 600 row, 50 squat below 90 degrees, 40 push ups, 30 sit ups, 20 burpees and 10 floors on the step mill. All for time.

Smashed it in just over 10 minutes.

Today was my final in my 3 initial Crossfit gym sessions. As of next week I will be joining in with the classes on a Tuesday and Thursday at 6am. The classes are a 1 hour workout with the fear of the unknown at this stage. I definitely will have more to report after those sessions.

Anyway that's it for now. The house is now up for sale on realestate.com.au for those of you looking for a new house! Wish us luck. A quick sale is what we wish for so that we can move on and build the family compound of our dreams..

Thanks for your support

THE WAGON

I fell off the wagon over the last week or so. Not so much on the food front but on the exercise side. I found that it was sometimes easier to just go home rather than stay at the gym and slog out the hard yards.

Back on course this week and you will find me on the treadmills before work tomorrow!

I have been to the Crossfit box in fitzroy twice now. I spent the last session realising that when you train when you are fatigued it all goes out the window. Rest and relaxation form an important part of any exercise regime and is evident in training intensity, recovery and even in body composition. Sleep is also a great way of making sure you don't eat that extra lot of calories that you don't really need.

I will try to make the blog a little more regular and interesting (susan!). I find that when I do, I can't make as many excuses!!

OUT...

NEW WEEK BECKONS...

Starting back on a Monday after what felt like a long weekend was always going to be hard. My brother got married on the weekend and thankfully we survived without eating up a storm. It was a cocktail reception which meant that the food was staggered over the evening. This in itself brings up a great point.

When we eat our primal instincts kick in and even though we are constantly surrounded by food, we think that this may be our last meal EVER! Next time you are eating, take the time to chew your food until it liquifies in your mouth and then swallow. The average person chews only 4 to 6 times before they swallow meaning great hunks of food are forced down our throats making digestion and nutrient absorption soooo much harder than it needs to be..
Chewing more also means that our bodies get a chance to realise that it has eaten. Once you re train yourself to eat in this manner, it will become very hard to over eat at all.

I managed to be trained today as part of an interview for a new trainer. I think I might get all the new trainers to train me as part of their learning process. It will give them all great feedback and I will train more so I see it as a win win for all!! Mainly for me I suspect..

Out for now..Glad to have the day off tomorrow. Hottest 100 party here we come!!

CROSSFIT FRIDAY

Finally I made the decision to venture into what is known as a Crossfit 'box'. These guys have specifically designed spaces that don't have the flashy features of regular gyms. Stripped back bare and raw.

I went down and met Scott who will be taking me through my intro sessions into Crossfit. One on one sessions first before I can graduate to the classes with the other guys.

Contrary to popular belief I was taken through a full movement assesment similar to the one I would take my clients through when I first train them. Passed almost all things no problem. Just needed to refine a couple of things.

After all the assesments were done we moved on to the WOD or work out of the day.
This is a benchmark workout which will measure my improvement over time.
The workout comprised of...

500 mt row
40 squats
30 sit ups
20 push ups
and 10 pull up

for time
I got around 5.45 I think. I really should write things down!

I have two more sessions left before the classes start. I need to get this time better again so expect to see me practising more in the gym this week!!

Check out Crossfit Victoria on their website!

PREPARATION...is everything!

I have given this week in to preparing for the upcoming Crossfit training I will be doing at Crossfit Victoria in Fitzroy this Friday. I have again done my 20 minute interval session on the treadmill tonight. Got the guts to go a little faster during the sprints, but boy do I still need some work!

Tanya once again has come through with the goods on the food front making it a lot easier for me to keep to the plan. Very little of the 'processed' foods have passed our lips in the last couple of weeks!

I can't emphasise enough the importance of keeping so called treat items to more than a minimun. We can't keep rewarding ourselves with food that actually sets us further back in our health and fitness goals.

There really is nothing rewarding in some of the poisons we fill our bellies with.

Onwards and upwards people!

THE CHANGES ARE A COMING!

OK. So they still may be still not quite visible but they are there. When i was running tonight I definitely noticed LESS wobble. And that for me is enough to keep me on track!

Tanya and I went to Canberra over the weekend for a wedding. Tanya's good friend Amanda married her sweetheart Justin in a great ceremony followed by a fun reception which ended in the biggest rain storm I have seen in years! I made it through the food part really well. Only had a couple of drinks and the smallest taste of cake. I still need to track all of my food. I am most guilty of not only not planning, but of not eating enough..

Tonight's training was a simple 20 minute interval session on the treadmill. Covered nearly 4km so not too bad.

I have booked in for my first real crossfit experience this Friday arvo. 3 sessions first up before I can join in with the main class.

Bring it!

THURSDAY..the day before Friday!

Thursdays can go either way. Sometimes you feel like you are so close to the weekend that if you miss a days workout, it will be ok. Of course that is a thought that crosses everyones mind, otherwise the gym would be as full every morning and not just on mondays and tuesdays.

I trained a few people today including Josh who I trained for the last time. With my new role, I am now changing my hours a little which means I have less time for actual training of clients. Josh and his wife Jody were great to train. Always ready for a challenge and striving for a healthier lifestyle. Jody lost over an amazing 30kgs in 2009 and Josh looks fantastic! Thanks for the opportunity of training you!

FOOD! I can't tell you enough about the importance of planning your food. Once again over the last few days I have fallen foul of all the rules I give to my clients. Except for the junk food.I know better than most the effect skipping meals has on blood sugar levels and anybody who tries to lose weight should know that skipping meals is a sure way of NEVER losing weight!!

I left the gym tonight without training so I will be doing it in a minute..

10 sets of . 15 sit ups
. 10 push ups

Not as much as planned but every bit counts!

I am off to Canberra in the morning for a wedding. I like the driving but the food again will be a challenge. I think all of the driving breaks will involve a couple of laps of an oval!!

Here is a 5 minute clip about why clean food is the way to go!!

GOTTA LOVE IT!

What a day. Today was the first time this year that I have done 6 sessions back to back. What a way to start the day!I love training you guys!
I also went to a funeral today. It was the father of a friend of mine who lost his battle with bowel cancer last week.
The thing that we all should learn from funerals is that we are only here for a short time and we should all learn how to LIVE!!!

I didn't think I would get to work out and by 4pm I had nearly talked myself out of it. I did however train and it was great!

Today was 15 Kettlebell swings (12kg x 1 set 16kg x 2 sets and 20kg for 3 sets)
100 skips x 6
20 jump lunges x 6

Done as a circuit, it was a smashing workout!

Stay tuned for the workout tomorrow...

OUCH!

Made it through another tortuous workout tonight. Today was sumo deadlift high pulls. i also did some interval running for 3 repeats.

Rep range for the sumo DLHP was 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 at 40kg,42.5kg,45kg and finally for 1 rep, 50kg.

The treadmill was better tonight although I am a bit worried about my knees. Getting a little sore, but probably just from adapting to the demands of exercising properly again!

If you want to know how sumo deadlift high pulls feel...Ask Moyra. She was my crash test dummy today!!

The changes have started to kick in too. I can feel them. Just can't quite see them yet!!

MOVEMENT

It's all about movement. You can not expect any changes in anything if you do not move. This is all about transforming myself and maybe a few others along the way. Over the weekend my energy levels were shot. Couldn't keep my eyes open most of Saturday. Start of the new week and 43 degree heat may not be inspiring, but without movement there is no change!!

I am off for a workout called 'CINDY'

5 chin ups
10 push ups
15 air squats

as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.

No weights required for this one, but as some of my clients already know.. It can still hurt!!

Weigh in day tomorrow for a progress score..

THE MEASUREMENTS

I let you know I would be putting up my measurements and so here they are. It's a big step for me doing this, as I really like to keep this sort of stuff to myself.

Let's go...

WEIGHT 90.2
SHOULDER 121
CHEST EXPANDED 105
CHEST RELAXED 103.5
BICEP R 35.5 L 35
WAIST NARROWEST 97
WAIST NAVAL 105.5
HIPS 114.4
THIGH R 62.5 L 67
CALF R 43 L 43

SKINFOLDS
TRICEP 14
SUPRAIILIAC 18
UMBILICUS 40
THIGH 8

I will be updating the measurements in 4 weeks so stay tuned for some changes!

Today's training session will be intense. Due for cardio, weights and gymnastic movements!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, here we go. This is week one and the first lesson I need to re learn for myself is to plan ahead. The saying goes "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.."
I keep telling all of my clients how to do it so it should be second nature. Maybe I had one or two to many beers over the festive season!

My Crossfit training will be a 5 day program with active weekends. A combination of Cardio, gymnastics and weights will see the transformation well and truly begin.

Tanya will be taking some technical measurements such as my pelvic tilt and Lisa will be subjected to doing the rest of them. I will post them all on here. As I said in my first blog, this will be all laid bare.

You can expect to see some photos of me training up here too. Blood, sweat and tears. Lots of tears!

Adelaide and the Eco tents and the perfect sunsets are behind us now...My new body is ahead...