Association of progression

As most of you know, I have switched gyms to Bent Iron Gym. I am loving this decision to switch as it is allowing me to grow not only as a personal trainer, but as a business and a person too. check them out (and a link to everything about myself) @ http://www.bentirongym.com

So, this is going to be talking about how we associate things.

I have NUMEROUS clients whom either have or have had gyms in their house. some of these clients have fully stocked gyms, machines, dumbbells, the whole nine yards. yet, they don't want me to train them at their home gyms.

huh?

association.

I personally know this would definitely fail for me as well. why?

ITS NOT A GYM. IT IS YOUR HOME.

you smell food, you hear the TV, you just flat out know its in your house, not a gym.

as soon as you get into a gym, feel the gym setting, you will then know what I'm talking about.

then, you associate them gym with the gym. not home, not kids, not TV, not video games, not anything BUT the gym.

and so, what do I associate the gym with?

progression. intensity. limits broken. goals obtained. things along these lines.

so, what do you associate the things you do with?

As I have just switched gyms, I have finding it a LITTLE bit difficult to switch over my mentality/association of the things I just talked about with my new surroundings. even as much as I had to drop dumbbells from 100's down to 80's.

But, second time doing the workout, they're back up to the 100's.

so, this transfers over to mood, what I have discussed before, and goes back to also your social circle.

if you associate things with bad things, then they will be there.

we talked about food, and association of happiness (which is a big way how to fail)

so make sure that you find a gym that is great for you, NOT just because its seconds from your house.

find an environment to GROW.

NEW FAD 5: Plateau

ahh yes.

"I've hit a plateau, I should switch it up"
"my bench isn't going up, I should do more"
"I'm not losing weight, I should do more cardio and eat less"

yes, I have touched on these subjects in the past, but not only are they worth going over again, its maddening to see the amount of times I still hear this.

to me, this is what a plateau is:

once EVERYTHING IS IN CHECK, which means:
sleep is good.
mood is good.
meal plan is good.
training routine is good.
THEN, and ONLY THEN can you look at if you've hit a plateau.
so no that isn't my definition, BUT, providing all those factors are in order, then maybe you have.

plateau is when something has halted.

whether it be:
progressive resistance aka you aren't doing more weight or more reps in each workout.
fat loss has stopped - combination of skinfold calipers, photos, clothing, scale have ceased to go in the correct direction
if it is a sport, so as in still gassing out in the 3rd period for hockey for example.

THEN YES. something needs to change.

BUT DON'T GET ON YOUR BRAND NEW PROGRAM AND CHANGE IT.
I have done the same program for almost a year once.

why?

it wasn't broken. i was progressing.

BUT ALSO, to touch on this issue, as long as SOMETHING is progressing, that is still not a plateau.

for instance, if I am doing my program, and my leg exercises are still going up, then things are STILL progressing! (provided technique isn't being compromised)

it would seriously be a PERFECT world if EVERYTHING flew up, and fat FLEW off you!

having said all of this, and you're still following my writings hah,

this is generally geared towards the new person to the gym.

providing technique is there as i said, things should be flying up/down. everything. this is BRAND new stimulus! and the better you can slam dunk the weights and the nutrition, the more you'll set up for success. this is the most adaptation you'll EVER see in the gym (outside of some powerful illegal drugs.)

and don't be spinning your wheels scratching your head. get a second opinion (MEGA MARTY!) to go over everything with you to maybe point out something you may have missed.

good luck!

Cardio Update

So, I have been learning this more and more, and I've been enjoying playing around with it.

Cardio should be seen ONLY as a tool, an instrument and that is it.

so, lets give you an example, and this isn't mine, Skip Hill came up with this one.

if you drop weight too quickly, your metabolism WILL crash. so, depending on how lean you are, this could be anywhere from 1lb a week to 10 lbs a week (yes, it varies that much).

so, having someone assess you, and is able to determine a good rate of change for yourself/realistic goals, will help you vastly (to see not only what is realistic, but see someones educated opinion)

lets say if you have a weekly goal, using whatever method you are using (aka keto, high carb, low carb, etc) and you are hitting your weight on the scale (if that is your judge)

THEN DROP THE CARDIO.

aka

stop doing it for the rest of your week till your next assessment.

huh?

lets say you were 170 this week, and a "good" drop for you weekly is 2 lbs, and you have to be assessed every friday.

tuesday you hit 168.

perfect. stop the cardio and stay there. that raises what Skip called "the ceiling"

that means that NOW you have more tools, instead of continually doing the cardio, making your body get used to it, only having to do MORE cardio to keep going.

you don't want to get USED to cardio if physique is your goal. you want to be sweating and huffing at the end, that means its burning fat!

it gave myself and hopefully even more people out there more fuel that CARDIO IS NOT THE ANSWER, it a tool.


Nutrition always comes first.

good luck running that pizza off :)

Being an artist

I just recently heard that at least in Canada, tattoo artists, and every other form of artist I believe, gets a tax break, aka for the most part they don't have to pay taxes on their work.

Well, that made me laugh and I said

"well, I shouldn't have to pay taxes either"

why is that?

When someone in the fitness industry really gets a blank canvas aka. someone whom is coming in for no particular reason other than
a) wants some more "tone"
b) wants to "muscle up"
c) any one of those non-specific goals,

I get to have some real fun.

these people, regardless of how far along are they, are treated like marble slabs. obviously, some slabs are more dense/bigger/further away from finished product/easier to shape than others.

It really boils down to yes, I am an artist, especially when it comes to these clients.

the IDEAL marble slab is the figure competitor/bodybuilder, because that IS their sport, being sculpted into a masterpiece, and put on display hoping theirs (and mine) hard work pays off (not only financially, but in sheer recognition).

For example, if someone comes in to me, whom I believe is underweight, i need more marble aka. this person needs to put on muscle.

someone comes in with too much marble, we need to really chisel a lot off to get to the finish product.

it really is incredible to be able to have this ability to look and see what is needed. need more shoulders? we'll add more marble there. need less legs? we'll chisel off marble from there.

This is what keeps me going, knowing that everyone has the potential to become beautiful pieces of art.

Just how far are you willing to go to help me have the resources to do so? aka nutrition and adherence?