Archive for July, 2009

Here is part 1 of 3 of a small series of mind games for you…

How bad do you want it?

For many the summer months in Canberra ( which are not far away) bring with them a harsh reminder of unmet fitness goals.

While the toned men and slender women of the world put on their summer gear and proudly put themselves on display, whilst those that gave into temptation with food and a bit of hard work, are quite happy sweating in the jumper and tracky pants..

So why haven’t you met your fitness goals?

Why must you go through another summer, turning your head as you pass by the beaches showcasing buff bodies? You should be enjoying your summer days without wondering whether you look ok in this outfit.

The truth is that anyone can get the body of their dreams…even you! And wouldn’t it feel great to pull on your bathing suit without bracing yourself before looking in the mirror? Maybe look for a local Personal Trainer or Bootcamp Group in your area. Just make sure you do a bit of research and that they are well renowned and have been in the fitness industry for a while.

Well the truth is you can turn your fitness dreams (new years resolution) into reality-read on for a few things you need make happen to begin achieving the body you always new you could.

Your Mind

You may be wondering what your mind has to do with getting your body into great shape. In a single word, your mind has everything to do with getting the body you have always desired. Your mind will single handedly make or break your success.

How is this possible? Well, your mind works to reinforce the beliefs that you hold about yourself. If you think of yourself as a fat person, or an out-of-shape person, or just an average person then your subconscious mind will do everything in its power to manifest more of the same to keep you that way.

It’s like self-sabotage.

However, if you begin to think of yourself as fit, healthy and attractive, then your mind will do everything it can to make your belief a reality.

*Take time everyday to visualize your new body and how you want it to look.

Take Care,

Scott Williams, Succeed Canberra CEO and Personal Trainer

Well since I have talked myself into another month of this crazy cross fit training ( not sure why), here is my first session for the new month.

Made one of my Personal Training clients do this fitness program today as well on a modified scale, so I thought I would let him name it. He has multiple trainers in the Succeed organisation, and after what I put him through today, he tells me this is one of the hardest session he has ever done and tells me one of the other trainers is soft.

So he named the sessions “Soft Jesse”… It consisted of:

 30 x 30kg thrusters

400m run on the treadmill

x 4 laps for time

Here are my results for “Soft Jesse”

Time: 21.14

Avg HR: 165

Calories: 365

Rating: 9/10

My cardiovascular was insane, I was hurting more than you could ever imagine. It is now Tuesday night and I cannot walk properly at all. Muscular wise one of the toughest I have done.

Instead of Cross Fit this evening I actually participated in our evening Succeed Bootcamp Canberra at Stirling. We did a full hour of various body weight exercises. Not bad, I burnt 780 calories in 50 minutes of work out time. 

So second day on my change of eating habits and I already want to murder the Skinny Cow Ice Cream in the freezer ( has to wait for my binge on Friday night damn it)…

Scott the Personal Trainer

Well you will all be happy to know that my cross fit test has been a great success. I have not only lost weight but I have also managed to gain a bit of muscle and drop a bit of body fat, all without changing the way I have eaten or drank over the last month.

Results                        Before                                After

Weight                       92.8kg                               91.2kg

Chest                        39cm                                  41cm

Waist                        99cm                                   95cm

Arms (left)                 36cm                                  38cm

Leg (left)                   61cm                                    63cm

Haven’t had a chance to do the body fat measurements as yet, hopefully tomorrow. I will also redo some of the testing from week 1 and post up later this week.

Not great results by any stretch of the imagination, but not bad considering I haven’t changed the food intake.

Soooo after having over 200 people wanting to see me keep going and putting myself through this punishment ( you lot are so mean that you love the fact that I am hurting so much), I have decided ( this is a very bad idea) to go again for another month, but this time I will clean my food intake up and see what happens then.

To all those Canberra Bootcamp people and Personal Training clients that have posted up for me to continue with this insane fitness training, just remember who your Personal Trainer is!!!!!

You can be guaranteed that you will see some of the sessions creep into the Bootcamps in the coming weeks.

feel free to post any comments below.

Scott the Personal Trainer

Finished the week off with two great cross fit sessions this.

I will post both Friday & Saturday’s session in this one post.

On Friday i was on my own due to the boys heading away for a few days of R & R ( lucky buggers).

I headed straight to the gym after Bootcamp Canberra on Friday to take care of a few personal training sessions and then get straight into my cross fit session.

On Friday morning I did Nicole which consists of 400m run + max chins for a 20 min time limit.

Nicole

400m ( as fast as it can be done)

Max Chins each set 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4 ( yes low numbers i know, but I can actually do free weight chins now…)

Completed: 8 complete rounds

Avg HR: 161

Cals: 314

Rating: 7/10

I thought this session was ok, but I know I still have a long way to go on my fitness and chins, something that I will keep working on.

Saturday morning saw me heading out early on a cold Canberra morning to tackle our version of Fran. Basically it is picking three exercises and dropping reps each set from 21, 15, 9 for each exercise

Here is one of these ultra intense fitness sessions that is very short in time but really tests your strength and endurance to the limit.

Fran

Hand Stand Push Ups

Tricep Dips ( supposed to use ring bars but I haven’t got any so I used normal bars)

Push Ups

So for each exercise I did 21, 15, 9 reps. I am still having trouble getting my head around the fact that a fitness session can be over and done with in under 10 mins.. It is now Sunday evening and i am feeling great now. I was still sore this morning from this session.

Time: 6.35

Avg HR: 169

Calories: 81

Rating: 8.5 / 10

Two hours later I felt that good that I went in and participated in an RPM class with a few of my personal training clients, which was a great way to top off the week.

It is now Sunday evening and that is one month completed on my Cross Fit journey. I will do a re measure and weigh tomorrow and compare the results, so I will post them tomorrow evening for you all to see how I have done.

From a personal perspective I have had a fantastic time doing the cross fit training. I feel personally that I am not only fitter, but definitely stronger and I know that my body shape is starting to change shape also. I have had many people comment that I also look different to them, which is always reassuring as we are always our own worst enemy…

I will complete my wrap up in tomorrow’s blog.

Feel FREE to post any comments back let me know what you think??

Scott the Personal Trainer Canberra

Again another late day on the post, so I do apologise.

Gotta say the Canberra weather is not getting any warmer at the moment and it took me a while to defrost ( or should I say get the old bones moving)… for this mornings cross fit, fitness session.

I had thought I felt okay after the strength session yesterday, only feeling a bit of soreness in the back from the deadlifts.

It wasn’t until that we got into this mornings fitness session that I soon worked out I was sadly mistaken.

Yet again we made up our own session and obviously looking for a bit of lower body after a tough heavy upper body session yesterday. I have given it a name of course…

I have named this one KELLIEand I have to say she has broken me… Never thought a girl could do that to me, but it is going to take a few goes to get the better of her. I still need to work on my cardiovascular. I found today that my strength was ok ( I went up in weight on the overhead squats), but I am really struggling with getting oxygen to my lungs or anywhere in my body.

Kellie

10 x reps overhead full squat ( bum to calves)

10 x box squat jumps (onto 70cm block)

5 x hand stand push ups

Kellie has dominated me, the hardest session to date and i reckon I nearly cried this morning. If anyone could see me walk this afternoon you would see a broken man….

Here I am getting around beautifully this afternoon…

So the session we set at 20 minutes in duration to complete as many rounds as possible.

Complete Rounds: 7 ( just started on the eighth)

Avg HR: 170

Calories: 368

Rating: 9/10

Like I said I need to address my cardiovascular. I really believe that will assist my out put with the cross fit sessions and also cut down my times dramatically. I will keep working on that. I have a funny feeling though that one of the fitness sessions in the next two days will be a high intensity cardio session ( can’t wait). I really do suck at the running and the rower.

Until tomorrow…

Scott the Personal Trainer Canberra, Australia

Well I have to say it was nice to have a reduction in the intensity of training for a change this morning.

We did a strength cross fit session, and it was a nice relief from having my heart bursting out of my chest ( and NO burpees)…

So pretty straight forward today. We did five sets and building up to three max reps for flat bench, deadlifts and then we did one x set of max chin ups.

Flat Bench

60kg, 80kg, 90kg, 95kg, 100kg

Deadlift

90kg, 120kg, 140kg, 150kg, 160kg

I succeeded at all lifts this morning ( I think that is me on the left!!!!)

Chins

max reps - 6 ( yes i know bloody terrible, but better than i was three weeks ago when i couldn’t do any)

It felt good to do something a bit different today here in Canberra and it is still important I feel to keep some strength work in my training program. I am still undecided what style of fitness training I will do from next week. I will work that out during the week, but I am leaning towards a mix of cross fit Canberra, Bootcamp Canberra and a mix of high intensity weight sessions at one of the gyms/ health clubs we work out of.

A quick double post for the last two days of training so I can get back up to speed.

I decided stupidly to do a training sessions last night ( trying to make up for last week) as I had a few cancellations from a few of my Personal Training clients. I thought I would do another Tabata fitness session for fun very similar to the one we did last week.

So last night I did Mel made up of:

Bum to M/B Squats 6 sets x 12 reps, 2 sets x 10 reps

Push Ups: reps - 15, 12, 10, 12, 10, 8, 6, 6

Seated Row: 54kg 4 sets x 12 reps, 4 sets x 10 reps

Ab Crunches: 3 sets x 15 reps, 5 sets x 10 reps

Rower: metres each set 92, 92, 90, 88, 87, 88, 91, 93m

Time: 26 minutes

Avg Hr: 139

Caories:341

Rating: 6/10

Found this session to be quite tough yet, when finished I recovered in a few minutes and felt ok. It is hard to describe this cross fit session as it quite taxing and I find I get muscle fatigue, yet recovering much better than the first few weeks.

Made my way out early in the Canberra weather this morning. This mornings sessions was a complete different kettle of fish. Back to looking for the door to be sick again at the end ( but didn’t)…

Made our own  cross fit Canberra session up this morning. So this morning I did Berta… I got well and truly flogged this morning, not only did the boys run rings around me one of them did double my weights on one of the exercises ( he is only 71kg but he is bloody strong).

Berta

Clean & Press 40kg x 10 reps

Burpees x 10 reps

25kg D/B swings x 10 reps

run out and back ( basketball court)

x 4 sets for fastest time

To date this is the hardest fitness session we have done ( not one I will give to my Bootcamp Canberra or Personal Training clients)…

Time: 14.36

Avg HR:  175 ( yes the highest so far)

Calories: 288

Rating: 9/10

Really thought I was going to die this morning, and it is going to take a while to recover from this one ( not sure why I continue to do this to myself really???). It is nearly 4 hours later and my HR is still over 130bpm….

For my first attempt at the clean & press I thought I did ok. Yet again those damn burpees got the better of me and they ruined me. The other exercises felt ok, but I just ran out cardiovascular fitness this morning. When your heart is beating at 185 ( 100% for me) you don’t really have anywhere else to go to get oxygen to the lungs.

We were all spurred on by the fact that Commando Steve placed fourth in the Cross Fit games. You should see what they had to do fitness wise over two days ( would have taken me two weeks to complete the insane sessions they completed).

Anyway I am still alive for another day (just), so I better go and see if any of my Personal Training Clients have the guts to try out a session??

Scott the Succeed Personal Trainer Canberra, Australia

If you haven’t heard the Succeed & LJ Hooker Charity Ball is being held Sat 15th August at the Burns Club.

Tickets are selling fast, so BOOK NOWif you wish to come and help raise money for a very worthy cause - Camp Quality Kids with Cancer.

Come and help celebrate a great night out with our special guest - Sam Rouen ( Winner of the Biggest Loser 2008) Sam will be in attendance on the night to help us raise money for Camp Quality. A big thank you to Sam for making the trip down to Canberra for the event, which is set to huge. Last year we had 352 people in attendance and we are looking at making the 380 - 400 mark this year….

A few pics from last year:

Some of the Items that will be up for auction on the night are:

Jimmy Barnes signed Guitar

Lance Franklin GF Football Boot signed

Health Ledger Artwork

Lewis Hamilton signed Racing Shoe (2008 F1 world champion)

The Anzac’s full size print spirit of 1915

+ many more items up for auction on the night

Simply click on the camp Quality logos and it will take you to the Charity Page where you can download the flyer and also the registration form for the ball.

We hope to see you there to help raise valuable funds for Camp Quality

The Succeed Team

Sorry again for the lats post, but I had to go to Sydney to support the mighty Bombers belt the Sydney Swans over the weekend and enjoy the comfort of the Sheraton Hotel. Felt a bit out place being being called Mr & Sir all weekend, but I could definately get used to it…

Back to the cross fit training completed on Friday before I left Canberra.

I made up a new one on Friday, and i have named her Pammy.

Pammy

15 x 40kg Thrusters

20 x burpees

300m rower

25kg D/B swings

3 x sets for a total time

This session was one of the toughest to date. Not sure why but my Avg HR was lower than previous weeks ( hopefully getting a bit fitter?)…

I wish I had abs like these!!!!

Anyway it was a great session. Here are my results:

Time: 22.47

Avg HR: 153

Calories: 350

Rating: 9/10 ( one of the hardest sessions to date)

I didn’t train on Saturday due to running for the Hawks in Sydney, so I have only completed 4 fitness sessions this week. I will look to make it up this week by participating at one of our Bootcamps in Canberra, or with some of my Personal Training clients. I am really looking to step it up this week, as this is the last week of the fitness training cross fit style. In saying that I think I am going to keep doing some of them for a little while as I really enjoy the challenge of these sessions.

Also keep an eye out on the posts as I am going to have a FREE challenge day very soon for my Bootcamp & Personal Training clients or anyone wishing to come and have a go at the cross fit style of training. I will let you all know when soon.

Scott the Personal Trainer

As you can see it has been a very busy day and this is my first chance on the computer since 4.30am this morning….

I have a lot of work to do tonight so I will keep this brief.

Did my first Tabata fitness training session today. Had never heard of it so I had NO idea what it was or what to expect ( thank god or I wouldn’t have turned up…)

So you know Tabata consists of 20 seconds working/ 10 seconds rest x 8 sets of whatever you decide you are training on the day.

We selected four exercises. This session had no name so we have named it Laura.

Laura

chin ups x 8 sets

push ups x 8 sets

bum to m/b squats x 8 sets

sit ups x 8 sets

1 x minute rest between exercises

The idea of Tabata is to complete as many reps a possible in the 20 seconds of work time. On each exercise I went out way to hard and paid the price on each and every exercise today. Believe me 10 seconds rest was not enough to even scratch my arm let alone recover for another set. By the time I got to the 6 - 8th sets I was lucky to do 6 reps of any exercise today.

Calories: 288

Avg HR: 132

Total Work Time: 16 mins

For all those Succeed Bootcamp clients and Personal Training clients across Canberra, I can guarantee that you will be getting a Tabata in your training somewhere in the coming weeks.

Scott the Personal Trainer