Everything what is good,have to end one day.I am back from my holiday and hope to see you in my classes,especially my bootcamp at 10.30 am on Sunday-16.08.2015 (at Tooting Bec Athletic Track).
I am sorry ,some of you could not contact me during my break-I have a rule not too answer the phone or check emails during holidays.Not the best for business but great for recharging and peace of mind.
See you around…
Artur
It is this time of year when we all think or go on holiday,so do my family.I will be away from 23.07-11.08.2015.There will not be Sundays bootcamp on 26.07 ;02.08 ;09.08.2015.
We are back in action on 16.08.2015.
Probably,most of you will be on holiday,as well.
Just remember-whatever you do,keep active.
Stay in good health.
I am very happy for my ex-client, Andy Lee for doing extremely good job with winning national level BMX competitions and being a step nearer to qualifying to European championship.
It was completely different story when we met the first time, years ago. Andy was unmotivated, complaining all the time, expecting miracles, just nightmare. Our cooperation has not lasted very long.
However, he has returned to training with me. He was reborn by then-he has returned to his passion from many, many years before- riding and competing in BMX. He was very clear about his goals-increase explosive power and strength (mainly in legs and arms, which he has needed to ride faster and better).He was extremely focused, discipline and motivated. He was doing everything I asked him for. Results started showing very fast-he increased weight on box-squats from 40kg to 100kg in no time and from there things got only better. He has moved away from Balham after some time and started training with one of strength and conditioning coaches from London Olympics.
Andy’s story shows that sometimes you need something more than most common goal-,,I want to lose some weight”.You really need to want something very hard and fight for it to make things happen. It helps, as well, if you listen and take on board advice from person you hiring to achieve your goals.
Otherwise, it is a waste of time and money.
I am sorry but I have to attend security course this Sunday-28.06.2015 and I can’t teach bootcamp.I hope that you will be active and I will see you extra motivated and keen next week.
It has been 3 months since I have returned to training after my third operation (I wrote about overcoming disadvantages some time ago).It is still 5 weeks to my holiday but training and nutrition are going in the right direction, at least I think so.
This days is all about marketing and on every step many personal trainers or fitness gurus trying to sell us, amazing, bespoken (I have never understood this bull…) training programs, great new diets, equipment, which gives us fast and jaw dropping results in no time (do you remember when they promoted power plates with slogan –get result of 1h training in 10 min.-who is using them now?. I have seen people who maniacally attended power plate’s classes-they haven’t looked so great).
There is no magic program,equipment,diet(after present one there will come new once, on which somebody will earn a lot of money but will they be any better than previous, especial ,,old school’’ methods).
However, there are two simple and the most effective rules:
1) move more and eat right
2) understand and apply principle of overload in your training. Overload means that you have to push, challenge your body to allow adaptation and progress in training and look. Like, I always say-if feels nice, it doesn’t do anything.
It is very beneficial for many to hire personal trainer. Only problem is, these days almost everybody is personal trainer. In my opinion, it is good to look at your potential trainer and ask yourself-does he/she looks how I would like to look?
If they don’t- does it mean they lazy or they don’t know how to achieve changes by themselves.
Another thing, more difficult to do-it is to observe them training other clients. Do clients perform exercises with good technic or just trainer makes a lot of fuss and noise that everybody at the gym sees that PT trains somebody.
It is worth to check not only qualifications of trainer but sporting past and present of trainer. I will always trust more to somebody who has trained different sports than only have a long list of qualifications.
I will write more on subject on another occasion, meantime-train and eat
I am very proud to share with you great news.One of my clients and friends-Martin Lazarz has won world light-heavy weight title with the biggest MMA organisations in the UK during BAMMA 20.Martin has been putting 100% afford during our strength and conditioning sessions.It has been real honour and pleasure to work with the highest level athlete.I am looking forward to preparations to next fight.
You can still watch last fight on five*on demand or You Tube.
All the best Martin…
It was perfect weather last Sunday,everyone came with good fighting spirit and gave 100%.Well done.
No excuses-just results.Keep strong,keep coming-only 4 months to summer.
Please tell your friends about reach4fitness bootcamp,there is no reason to overpay and you will get a free class for yourself,if they come.
The spring is almost upon us, so naturally many of us starting preparing for summer (holidays, weddings, etc.).We increasing time spend in the GYM, outdoor classes and workouts in hope that we lose a few kilograms, tide up/shape up problematic parts of body. I would like to give you advice what to eat to make the most of your workouts and achieve summer goals.
Let’s start from beginning;
-the most common mistake with diet/nutrition is eating only 2-3 meals a day. Everyone who does it, automatically massively slow down their metabolism and contradict all hard work in the GYM (where we trying to speed up our resting metabolic rate).You should eat 5-6 meals/snack a day in regular 2-3h intervals.
-size matters-make sure that you eat a small portions, never eat to feel full and lazy
-try eat meals/snacks, which are made from fresh veg, fish, lean meat, fruits, etc., ideally by you (then you are sure what is inside), with short preparation time. I believe that any meal, which takes longer than 30 min. to make, is losing quite a lot of nutrients and probably is quite unhealthy because of cooking methods. Try to eat as much fresh salads as possible, avoid- processed food, fast foods, etc.
-try to limit your carbs intake to 2 meals a day. Most of my clients have sitting/office jobs and most likely don’t need as much calories as they deliver. Some time ago American trainers started forcing fashion of not eating carbs after 5pm, you can argue that it doesn’t matter when you deliver your calories as long you keep to your limits. Personally, I believe to eat your carbs in the morning and in the early afternoon.
-remember that, good fats’’ are better for you than carbs, they are making you feel fuller for longer and don’t give you sugar rush and mess up insulin levels
-drink plenty of water, more than 3l a day(tea and coffee don’t count as they make you dehydrated),if your training is intense or with big volume-drink more than 4,5l of water a day.30% of GYM users are dehydrated even before they start exercising. If you are feeling thirsty, you are already dehydrated.
-cut out from your diet:
1) alcohol (as much as you can manage, if you can’t at least limit it and/or replace wine and beer with white spirits-vodka, gin, which are less calorific) ,each glass of wine is about 200-300empty calories, pint is about 200-250 empty calories
2) Fizzy drinks and energy drinks (they usually full of sugar and you don’t need them if your training is shorter than 1.5h),
3) Fruit’s juices –again they full of sugar and messing up your insulin level,
4) Sweets, cakes, etc.
-don’t be afraid of supplements:
1) CLA, L-carnitine and green tea are natural supplements, which help you to burn fat. Black coffee drank 30min.before training helps you with keeping up with session as well as better fat burning
2)whey protein helps you to rebuild damage during training muscle fibres and makes you feel fuller for longer as protein are hard to digest
3) Glutamine, HMB, BCAA help you to regenerate your body faster
4) Creatine monohydrate and CEE creatine, ZMA helps you with strength and size, if you think of leaner look, rather use CEE which doesn’t absorbs so much water
5) Pre-workout NOs formulae, help you to have more energy/power during training, helps you not minimize negative impact of cortisol on your muscles during and after GYM session
6) Use proper fat burners, if you really want to help/speed up burning process.
Just remember all supplements in the world without hard training and good, clean diet won’t do anything for you and will be only waste of your money. This takes me to conclusion that most of us don’t realise how hard/often they have to work out and how strict diet have to be to get results they want.
Obstacle races have become very popular over last few years. The most famous, Tough Mudder or Survival of the Fittest (you can argue which one) is ultimate test of fitness for many. I see a lot men and women wearing t-shirts with logo of these races at the GYM. Races attract runners as well as weight lifters…
I believe that preparation to competition should be periodise and divided into four blocks:
1) General fitness training-this should be the longest period, during which you work on basic compound exercises (squats, dead-lifts, lat row, chest press, military press, etc.) and long slow distance aerobic training (mainly running but rowing, arm bike, X-Trainer should be included as well) to increase endurance of the muscles and prepare your body (joints, tendons, ligaments, muscles) to more specific lifts and training, and preventing injuries. You are mainly interested in using your own body weight, bars and DB/KB with occasional use of cables machines. A huge effort should be put on building strong core. to the race depends on background of participant, but some rules are the same.
Duration of this period depends on many factors. However the most obvious two are-how long do you have before competition and what is your background (this period will be slightly different for runner and weight -lifter but will have one thing in common- it will be endurance training).
The number of repetition should be above 1o in each set, performed to fatigue and aerobic training should be minimum 30min but quite often extended to 1-1.5h, performed with comfortable speed/intensity. You focus more on volume of training than intensity.
2)Building up strength-during this period number of reps gradually should be drop to 3-6 reps per set (some endurance training should be still included)during lifting and some more dynamic lifts should be introduced-for example- clean and press, KB swing, power squats-jumps (so some plyometric exercises)to develop strength and power. Functional equipment and exercises should be included-KB, Bulgarian bags, power bags, TRX, Vipers, ropes, etc. Lifts gradually should be performed to failure.
Interval and speed training should be included in aerobic training, as well as some circuit or bootcamp classes.
3) Specific training before race-depending how long is your preparation time; this period should be the shortes-3-4 weeks. It is the most intense time, where you pushing yourself 110% and apart from functional training and your strength- training ,aerobic training,bootcamps ,you doing exercises similar(as much as possible) to the once you will be performing on the day, in conditions similar to your race conditions. You must go out of the GYM!
For example-you or your trainer should put some obstacle exercises in the local park; you should get completely wet in the beginning of training and carry on tasks for 1-1.5h.
4) Active rest is time in last week before race, when training is limited to maximum and base manly around short/easy runs, some body-workout exercises and swimming. It is a time for a full recovery of your muscles and period in which you, get hungry ’’to compete.Don’t forget to carbs load during the last day before race.
There is many ways to prepare to obstacle races but they all have to be periodised and specific, focusing on improving your weak points (you only as strong as your weakest point) and strengthening areas in which you are good already.
P.S. Do you dare?-one of my clients during last year runs.
Keep training
Artur
I have always had mixed feelings about people selfies, are they proof of self-obsession of self –promotion?
However I think that sometimes, they are telling a story from which we can gain to learn.
I want to tell you about my comeback to training after two shoulder operations and finding a way to train around injuries.
In the autumn of 2013 I an operation on my left shoulder followed by my right should shortly afterwards. I spent months rehabilitating and returned to light training in the end of February 2014. However my left shoulder has always been in some level of pain, weaker and prone to limitations. To make matters worse, I then picked up two further injuries, a torn pectoral muscle and a hamstring tear. It was probably due to slight over training, compounded by lack of sleep / recovery time and age.
Some of you may agree with my wife at this point, that it may be time to give up! The problem is I am not ready to give up
When I was younger I was devastated mentally by any injuries, but as the time passes and the injuries heal, I have learnt that there are ways to work around limitations and disadvantages. When training clients, and myself I use my experience of training different sports (Olympic free style wrestling, cross country running, karate, basket ball, kick boxing body building, MMA) and overtaking my own injuries and limitations to help clients get result, faster and in a safe manner.
This is due to a passion; interest and almost 30 years of training and personal development and a keen interest in seeing my clients achieve their own personal goals and be the best that they can be.
You must want to do it, to make it happen, find your own small, measurable goals that that you want to achieve. This can be Improving your diet, losing a small amount of weight each week, increasing your running distances, lifting more weight, dropping a dress size. The most important is to visualise how you want to look and how you want to feel, in the new fitter you.
If you look for excuses, you will find plenty of reasons not to train. Just keep training and reaching your goals, keep going you will get there
P.S. I took this photo on my 40th Birthday 19/12/2014. You might say that it is nothing special, and without my history they are probably right, however training around various injuries including a bad shoulder, lack of sleep and being 40, I think this picture tells a good story.
I have just had my second operation on my left shoulder and I will come back stronger than before
Keep in good health! – Artur
