STRONG BODY. STRONG MIND.

I’m a big believer that healing starts with the body. We have physical bodies on this physical plane.. and it starts here. To get the most of of this life, we must look after our bodies. After fifteen years of face to face and online personal training I have seen many people transform their lives by getting physically fit and strong.

Please know that whilst doing something physical is part of the pneuma process, please do not feel like you have to exercise in a gym. I encourage everyone to find and do something that they enjoy. I do most of my exercise in a gym, but I know that a lot do not so feel free to explore other avenues of exercising. Just make sure you are committed to some form of exercise over the next six months.

I have found the most success to be had when you fully understand the method and my thought process behind why we do what we are doing, as this leads to more consistent adherence to the plan. You can refer back to this at any stage, to ensure you are not making errors.

GOALS

As you know clear goals are important in all apecsts of our lives as these set the direction in which we are headed. Right now, the imminent task is simply to get you on track with a new and effective diet and training regime if you are not already. Here we can set your body up to attain whatever future goals you may have, learning along the way.

Success is underpinned by your daily effort, adherence, and work capacity. There is no need to rush, as like all things there is no fast way to success. My goal is to always protect health and performance. You must enjoy this lifestyle too, or there is no merit in living it… if you can focus on doing what is required to nail your day, you’ll notice you achieve your goals quite quickly when you continue to show up for all that is important to you.

As your mentor I want you to succeed, and I will help all I can, but at the end of the day I cannot do it for you. This is your body and your goals. Not mine.

If you implement these new plans well, ask questions and adapt what you are learning to you, I know you will see a lot of progress. Time to focus.

TRAINING

Everyone has different lifestyles and goals. Here I have given you the most effective plans that I have used with myself and my clients over the years as a personal trainer. Have a look through and pick one that feels good for you, don’t over think this. There is no perfect training plan and this is simply a starting point. All of these set ups will allow us to re-establish a really solid base strength, get you moving, and help us shift into a new you.

All of my plans are written to hit the best frequency possible. Frequency is king when it comes to progress.

The aim with training is to increase strength, whilst maintaining perfect execution and form. Having a strong body creates a strong mind, because it requires a strong mind to create a strong body. The fundamentals of what it takes to get in shape - relentless commitment, getting uncomfortable, pushing yourself each workout to be better than the last are all relative to all other ares of your life.

The plan is to maintain focus and energy throughout. This does not mean you have to rush and take short rest periods, but it means that within every single rep and set you are training to full capacity, tuning into your body, visualising who you want to be and showing up as that person each time you train, leaving the old you well and truely behind. This intensity and accuracy will build quality tissue, get you very strong, help to improve body composition, as well as benefiting fitness and health which are paramount to success and transformation.

Rest is vital to your progress. Remember that recovery dictates our training capacity and that we grow outside of training. Recovery between sessions is super important as this allows you to step up to the challenge every session, gaining strength and hitting the necessary output to change your physique and mind.

Be mindful of how you feel physically and mentally. Signs to look out for include, feeling unusually beat up or fatigued (when an external factor cannot be the cause), demotivated to train, reduced appetite, or impaired digestion, lack of strength progression.

You must listen to your body and we will take rests or deloads from training when needed. These will be beneficial to the long-term goal and your overall progress. The body cannot infinitely progress without rest. These are person dependent but can be needed as often as every 5 weeks, or I think a max should be about 10 weeks if you are truly training with max intensity.

TRAINING PRINCIPLES

RECORD YOUR SESSIONS

This defines progressive overload.

There is no point training without a log book. Ensure you write out your sessions in whatever format is best for you. Each time you get back to that session you can then ensure you know your numbers to beat! Even small progress is progress, ie half a rep.

GOOD FORM

There is also no point in progressing if you have not standardised good form. Do not use momentum or cheat the weight/execution purely to satisfy the log book. Stay strict.

STALLING

It is ok to stall! You can’t progress forever and it is not linear. You will find some exercises stall much sooner than others, adjustments can and should be made.

REP RANGES

There are different rep ranges within these plans. This is to create adaptation via numerous methods and of different muscle fibres. It will also ensure longevity and to help you gauge where you are at progress wise.

WORK SETS

All the sets in your plans are ‘work sets’ which means they are should be take failure. So if the rep range is listed at 8-12 but on a good day you can go beyond that, then please do continue! Do not just stop because you reached 12. The next session you can just re assess the working weight to get back into the rep range.

TRAINING INTENSITY

With a low volume, high frequency approach, you must train to full capacity every single session. Intensity does not mean you work fast, but do not muck around and waste time. Intensity refers to hard work and working to failure.

REST PERIODS

There is no set rule or time (unless stated).

Give yourself a few minutes and enough time to fully recover and go at the next set with intensity. Better to recuperate for a minute longer and get those reps with good form then to rush.

TEMPO

On all exercises I want you to maintain tension, form and full control on both the eccentric (down) and concentric (up) phase of each movement.

Unless stated, use a tempo of 3010 on all exercises - 3 second eccentric (down), 0 pause, 1 second concentric (up), 0 pause.

WARM UPS

You must warm up to prepare the muscles for the session and prevent injury. Do not overwork to cause fatigue.

Below is a guide to how I warm up – this is person dependent, you may have injuries or limitations so of course maintain what works for you... but this may help.

Example: Lower Body

Get into the gym

Spend 5 minutes using light weights on a few of the exercises to increase heart rate and blood flow, ie: (leg extension, hamstring curls)

Lets say my working weight for my heavy set is 5 plates each side - so this is what I want to work unto.

Perform 6 reps on the empty machine

Add 1 plate – do 3-4 reps

Add 1 plate again – do 3-4 reps

Add the 3rd plate – do 2-3 reps

Add another, 4 plates – do 1-2 reps

Work Set…and the session begins

TRAINING PLANS

Please do not feel like you have to do one of these. These are here for you if you would like to try something new or structured, however doing something physical is a part of the pneuma process so if gym based training is not your thing, feel free to explore another avenue. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.

Click HERE to access training plans.