Showing posts with label Fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fitness. Show all posts

Advanced Kettlebell Session

Whilst challenging, this session is great to develop your technique and efficiency with the bell whilst being very endurance focused.

Equipment - 1 x kettlebell (20/24kg male - 12/16kg female)

Simply alternate the kettlebell drills below with a 500 meter run (just below race pace - use slight incline if on treadmill). Each kettlebell set will include the previous kettlebell exercises, as such works as an ascending pyramid. For example 1st sequence - alt KB swings, 2nd sequence - alt KB swing both sides and then alt high pull (repeat sequence for time set). The sequence becomes longer but the duration remains set.



1. Alternate kettlebell swing
2. Alternate high pulls
3. Alternate clean & reverse lunge (step back on opposite leg to loaded side)
4. Push press (as coming out of lunge)
5. Snatch (from top of push press)
6. Thruster (Deep squat to press - after the snatch)

Enjoy, have some water at hand and let us know how you get on

Short blast workout - Sunday 8th Jan 2012

Phill Wright, Director, Creating Chaos

My workout from yesterday. Why not give this a go and then maybe get a client on it (or something similar).

I had to put together a quick but effective session as the Manchester derby was looming - just a shame we lost.

20 minute AMRAP - 6 REPS

Take 5+ minutes to warm up and prep your 6 stations. AMRAP = as many rounds as possible. For 20 minutes, you'll complete as many rounds of the 6 exercises below as you can (6 repetitions per exercise) in the sequence listed. Break when necessary, have water at hand and challenge yourself. Decrease/increase the listed loads as necessary for yourself.

Back squats (60kg)
Drop squats (bodyweight)
Single arm shoulder press (32kg / 6 REPS each side)
Press ups (bodyweight)
Olympic cleans (50kg)
Sprawls (bodyweight)

Let me know how you or your clients get on. Done well, it should be slightly smarting in the abdominal area...or, as they say in the US - abtastic!!

False Grandeur of the Fitness Industry

They say love your job and love your life. Well, I do love working in the fitness industry having changed careers in 2007 and I most certainly love my life. It was a big step for myself and a huge leap of faith initially as I went straight into self employed Personal Training having never sold a thing previously.

My previous background was rather specialised in a very different direction as an Arabic Interpreter and Intelligence Operator for the Forces. My interviewer when I first stepped into PT was right when he said that the skills from my previous experience was going to prove highly useful although at the time, I didn't fully share that confidence. I just knew how to be me and have stuck with that ever since.

As an industry, fitness is relatively juvenile and still finding its feet with regulation only being fully in place for around 10 years. Research is constantly unwinding and rewriting our methods and practices. With such radical changes constantly hitting industry professionals, one of the most crucial fundamentals of maintaining our credibility is professionalism and integrity. Ensuring that our practices and guidance are honest, factual and proven. In my mind, one of the most frustrating observations is the over-glorification of specific trains of thought.

Of course to advertise and market effectively, there needs to be engagement that creates desire but there becomes a point when morally, a more factually based analysis would leave readers with a much clearer understanding and without false expectations. Making such grand statements can leave other commercial organisations feeling the need to equal or surpass their marketing promise resulting in a significant disparity between a customers perception and the reality.

A much more impartial reflection of innovations is key for clarity and an absolute must on the part of regulatory bodies and industry leaders.

Finally, to maintain industry-wide integrity, a level of professional respect is needed, I'll elaborate. There are methods of conditioning and practices within the industry that I don't fully agree with. In fact, there are some modes that I feel cause more damage than good. However, without clinical research to back my argument, I am merely expressing my opinion. Irrespectively, to maintain my own integrity, I should demonstrate a degree of respect and acknowledgement for the subject of my discussion. The number of times, blogs or articles begin with "I'll tell you the real truth about..." or go on to slate certain trains of thought is quite surprising. Especially with a clear absence of clinical back up. What they really mean is "here are my thoughts on..."

To progress the industry and demand the respect from our counter-industries, a certain decorum is vital from all parts, regulatory bodies, awarding bodies, training providers, fitness professionals and indeed anyone representing the fitness world.