Mr Motivator

I’ll start next week. Thing is next week never comes does it? Its always a week away. Getting and staying motivated is something that many people really struggle with when wanting to get fit. I am not immune to this either, I must admit. There are plenty of occasions when I cannot face working out. The key is to minimise these days and to make working out your habit. That starts today.

What I have found is that once exercising becomes routine, you don’t have to “find” time for it, it is there, you just don’t spend as long slobbed in front of the TV, or you finish something a bit quicker so you can get to exercise.

Today I am pretty busy, I have got to paint a room, write this blog, meet a client at the gym for a 2 hour session, exercise myself and eat. 3 times. I am writing this in between coats of the paint, letting one dry. I knew what I was going to write about today, so it is just the task of getting it down. I will eat before I meet my client at 6pm, and I will probably train myself after that. I just hope the painting is done by then, these coats look a bit thin!

Waking up and seeing all that needed doing I could have been tempted to drop my own session, or move the blog to tomorrow. But I have found that I get things done, by giving myself little targets. Real achievable goals, when I hit them it makes me feel good, and gives me the will and the confidence to continue.

Lets take this away from my DIY, and move it into the fitness world. Lets take someone I have been currently working with since January. She had given birth 2 years ago, and had really not looked after herself since then, she was carrying the baby weight, and a bit extra. She was getting depressed at how she looked and how she perceived herself to be really unfit. She wanted a home exercise routine, and a diet (I hate that word), a nutritional eating plan. That’s better. I asked her what her goals were, something I ask all my clients, and she said she wanted to lose some weight and complete the Manchester 10k Run, which is the 17th of May this year. This is a big goal for someone unfit. Who hasn’t run for at the very least 2 or 3 years. So we broke it down. If we said ok you want to run 10k, so we’ll run 10k. She wouldn’t have been able to do it, lost interest with how difficult it is, and given up.

We started off with some circuit training to prepare her muscles for the stress of running. This involved some really good leg overload circuits, which she hated at the time. We did 2 sessions a week and a variety of circuits for 3 weeks. We then started a walk run program. We run for 1 min and then walk for 4. Slowly building it up with longer running and shorter walk periods.

I set the goal of running 1 mile non-stop by week 8.

We actually ran 1.4 miles. She looked really comfortable when we past the mile marker I had set so I carried on going. I only told her once we returned how far she had gone. She was impressed with herself, and eager to set a new goal. I worked out that from the speed we ran at, the 10k would take her approx 1hr 20 mins. Possibly a bit less. So instead of mileage, we set her next goal at running for 30 mins, again non-stop.

We were now doing one circuit, and one run a week. Her next goal was set for week 10. We smashed it. But we stopped at 30 mins this time. She has now really got the bug for getting fit, she has noticed a huge change in her appearance, and to me she seems very confident about herself. Tomorrow night the aim is to run for 45 mins nonstop. This is us at week 12. We have about 6 weeks left to until the Manchester 10k. I have no doubt she will manage it. This is down to setting goals which are achievable. Winning is a habit. Get in the habit. Set small goals, meet those goals and set more goals.

If you don’t exercise right now, then set your first goal as doing one session of physical activity a week for 4 weeks. It can be anything. When you have achieved this set another of having a more targeted session drawn up. Or become more serious. But the important thing is starting. Why are you waiting?

Thanks again for reading, and as ever if you want any help with ANYTHING fitness related, please get in touch with me at info@bootcampacademy.com

Now where did I put that roller?

Stephen Howson

OP Minimize

When I was in the Army operations had names, they still do, and there were also activities that the lads used to give an “operational” title to. Such as “Op Bronze”, this means getting a suntan, “Op Massive” which is hitting the weights and “Op Minimize” which is slimming down.

Op Minimize when undertaken by soldiers (usually after Christmas Leave), involves cutting down on the booze a bit, and getting some serious PT done. If we bring this into the civilian world, and use it more as a long term lifestyle choice as opposed to a quick-fix, then it is easily adapted to the general public. It involves a great deal of common sense, and what you all know already. Cutting out things that are overly fattening, eating more sensibly, and increasing the amount of exercise you do. No matter what your level of fitness this will help you lose body fat. Notice I didn’t mention weight there? Weight and BMI (Body Mass Indexing) is something I do not believe using in when it comes to training the body. When I was 16 years old I had to go to the doctors for a check up. I was 5”11, 13 stone and playing professional Rugby League. My BMI was 26.5, which is obese, according to the charts. I had a bodyfat % of 8.3%, which is very low. Under 10% is classed as “skinny”. The doctor laughed, and mentioned how useless the charts are, and since then I have never put any faith into them.

Body fat % and the mirror is now how I judge where I am at physically. Because muscle weighs more than body fat, some of the people I train see a fast weight loss followed by a plateau or possibly even a slight weight gain after 4-6 weeks. This is not because they are getting fatter, or because the training is not working. On the contrary, the rapid weight loss is down to the body burning pure fat, bye, it’s gone. The Plateau is where the body is burning up fat, but increasing muscle at the same time and the slight weight gain is down to increased musculature. Your body has adapted to the new demands of physical activity which it may not have experienced before.

My advice to you, and the purpose of this article, is do not get disheartened if this happens to you! You are not doing anything wrong, this is just how the body works. The increased physical demands require bigger and stronger muscles. Simple as that.

Use the mirror. You should be able to see the differences. I had a client gain two pounds but drop 2 inches off her waist, in two weeks! Do you think she was unhappy about “gaining” weight? Of course she wasn’t! Dramatic changes like this will not happen every time you do a workout, but continued sensible well thought out training coupled with a sensible diet, and that means actually eating to fuel the body, and you can make you body look however you want it to.

For any help with starting exercise, motivation, or if you just want someone to look over your training program. Then get in touch, I am happy to help – info@bootcampacademy.com

Thanks for reading
Stephen Howson

Grease Lightning

I often get asked about speed. How can I run faster, how can I be quicker, I used to be quick at school. I have heard them all. Well the answer is both simple and complex. To be fast(er) you have to train fast. As you grow older you do less running at maximum pace. As a youth I spent a lot of my teenage years getting chased, from one area of the city to another! Although not recommended, this is one reason I was so fast as a teen.

When training someone to improve their speed, there are 3 areas I concentrate on the most.

Strength. You have to have strong legs to run fast. Look at your average sprinter, they tend to have huge, muscle-bound legs, and sprinters know a thing or two about speed. Leg strength is is straight forward to develop. I use regular weight training techniques like squats, lunges, calf raises and leg presses. I also use body-weight plyometric training, such as bounding, static jumps and one legged hops. This type of exercise is very specific to sprinting, good form throughout will see huge improvements in your running speed.

Power. Power I have touched on with the plyometric drills. To increase power you need strength AND speed. Plyometrics are great for increasing power as they are explosive, fast movements which contract a lot of muscle fibres to perform. Resisted running, using parachutes, partner holds, tyres tied around the waist or bungee cord is an effective way to build powerful running, as it places demands on your strength reserves but also allows you to perform at 100% effort. A method which is seldom used in this country but one I favour enormously is over-speed. Forcing yourself to run faster than you can actually run will force the body to catch up. This is achieved by running downhill, or setting the treadmill to fast or having a partner pull you along on a bicycle. You may feel slightly self-conscious performing this one, but it certainly works.

Flexibility. This is a tough one to drum into the athletes I work with. They don't see the benefit of sitting or lying down and stretching. But good stretches will, in time, lengthen the muscle fibres and enable improved stride length and greater running efficiency. Another method for improving flexibility and co-ordination is ladder drill. Using a speed ladder and fast feet dance in and out of the squares of the ladder trying to keep looking up at all times and not tangle up your feet!

I hope that has helped you in your quest to catch Usain Bolt!

If you have any questions or would like me to develop you a specific training program email me at info@bootcampacademy.com