What happened next?

I was thoroughly impressed with the results of the Six Day Shred, the next question was 'how long does it last'?

Well the simple answer is that within 24 hours I looked the same as I did on day 3. That is slightly leaner that the start, but nowhere near as defined as I was at the peak.
The 'pump' had gone from my muscles by the morning of day 7.

Say goodbye to your gains

So I went through 6 days testing my willpower and almost killing myself with water for less than 24 hours of improved physique.

Was it worth it: totally!

Would I do it again: no way!

As an experiment I've learned a lot and have kept some aspects of the diet in my regular life (reduced sugar intake, staying appropriately hydrated and cutting carbs slightly).

From a vanity point of view it's not worth putting yourself through all that for a day at the beach and pretty pointless for a holiday as it only lasts a day.

However, if you're a competitive bodybuilder, this method may be the difference between first place and tenth place. Alternatively if you're a fitness model, this method could land you that Calvin Klein underwear job. 

It really depends on how important 24 hours of improved physique is to you.

The dangers and difficulty of this method put me off trying it again unless I had a very good reason to.

Increase Vertical Jump & Learn to Muscle Up

These are probably the 2 most common requests I get when talking to people about training: "how can I jump further / higher?" and "I can do loads of pull ups, but I can't muscle up. How can I learn?"

I posted these videos earlier in the year and the feedback has been great! 

Big thanks to Will Wayland at Powering-Through.com and to Scramblog for sharing the videos. As always, big thanks to mi-gym.com for letting us experiment and film there.

I've since had emails from people all over the world asking further questions on the techniques and telling me what great progress they've made on their jump / pulling power.

So here's a quick reminder of the French Contrast method for increasing jumping power:

Remember, this type of training is suitable for no more than 6 weeks at a time. You may also want to work an eccentric phase and an isometric phase to increase your speed of movement (do I feel another couple of videos coming on?)

Being strong is great, but if 2 athletes are equal in strength, the one that is more reactive and can deliver the power faster and more efficiently will be the better performer.
Power is nothing without control; would you drive a Ferrari with ineffective brakes and suspension?


And so onto my pulling power video. Everyone seems to want to muscle up!
Again, I've had lots of feedback on this one with great positive comments on people's progress.

If you take nothing else from this video, remember this one thing: PULL HIGHER!
Most people train pull ups to get their chin above the bar, by the very nature of a muscle up we need to get the body higher (up into full front support really). So you need to train HIGH pull ups, pulling your elbows back and getting the bar to the bottom of your chest. If you can't do this yet then train the eccentric contraction; get yourself high on the bar (by jumping or standing on a box if necessary) then lower yourself down for the count of 5 or 6 seconds. Repeating this in 3 sets of 5 reps and you'll soon be very aware of your lats!

The other part of the muscle up that is often overlooked is the top phase. Remember the muscle up is a pulling and a pushing exercise.
So you need to train your dips, ideally ring dips. And as with the pull up, you need to increase your range of motion; try to get your thumbs to touch your shoulders then push up from there. You'll almost certainly find that you are weak at the bottom of the range. You can use a band to assist you initially, or train the eccentric phase (down).
If you find these dips are completely out of reach to begin with, you can also use push ups with the elbows tucked into your body to isolate the triceps.
Although to be brutally honest, if you can't perform a dip be aware that you may have a long way to go before you can muscle up.

The video touches on Isometric contractions to build strength too. It's worth training static holds for 15 - 30 seconds both at the top of your pull up and the bottom of your dip (or push up).

One last point on the muscle up; don't struggle up there one arm at a time or use your elbows on top of the bar.
A very good coach once told me:

"Practice makes permanent" 

That is to say that practice only makes 'perfect' if you practice perfect technique. Practice the wrong thing and bad habits will be hard to break.
When learning to muscle up always try to perform the transition (from pull up to dip) with both arms at the same time. Always aim to perform the movement correctly, don't teach your body bad habits just to get on top of the bar.

Good luck!

Photoshoot with William Wayland

William Wayland.

A selection of photos of William Wayland of www.powering-through.com taken at mi-gym.com in Chelmsford.

All images were taken on Canon EOS 7D with Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 and processed in Adobe Lightroom 4.4

These images were taken with a single off-camera flashgun.

Don't kip during pull ups. Just don't!

I wrote something on a whiteboard for the Crossfit group at mi-gym. It was supposed to be a light hearted joke for them but the image has been shared quite a lot and it got me thinking on why I wrote it in the first place...

Fishy opinion on kipping pull ups

The message reads:

"If you 'kip' then you are a 'kipper'

A kipper is a fish!

DON'T BE A FISH!!

Pull up properly"

For the uninitiated, many Crossfitters swing into their pull ups and muscle ups to add momentum, effectively reducing the work their muscles are doing (making the exercise less effective??)

It's a nice word for bad form.

Now Crossfit workouts can get very competitive, this side of things can be really motivating for those taking part. It's something about mi-gym that I absolutely love. I love recording the results of challenges and seeing how I did overall and how much I bettered myself from the last time, it motivates me.

The theory is that as you train, you'll get stronger and faster and will be able to perform more reps, or an allocated number of reps in a faster time than you could previously. 

For those that are new to Crossfit, or just aren't strong enough to keep up yet, all the exercises are scalable (something else I like about mi-gym). You can reduce the weight on resisted exercises or use bands to assist in bodyweight exercises (such as pull ups), so everyone can train together and you can adjust what you are doing as you get stronger over time. All sounds great!

Sadly the competitive side is a double-edged sword. As in any competition, people will look to win at any cost and will seek the competitive edge while staying within the rules. And so the 'kipping pull-up' was born. At some point, some people that were (presumably) strong enough to perform an actual pull up introduced the swing in order to do more pull ups faster and in doing so, not really performing a pull up at all.

My opinion on the matter (and it really is just my opinion) is that if you aren't strong enough to do XX number of pull ups as part of the prescribed workout, then use a band to assist for now, then train your ass off at pulling exercises until you are strong enough to do them unassisted (by band or by kip).

I'm starting to see fit people with very little pulling strength as a result of learning to kip and forgetting that it's an exercise not a race.

After all, surely if the exercise is pull ups and you start kipping then you're basically just cheating?

6 Week Project: End of Project

Well I have to say it's been an absolute pleasure working with my project for the past couple of months.

Here's a brief look at the changes made and the results:

Changes in nutrition:
We wanted to avoid making immediate, HUGE, drastic changes or creating a strict 'diet' to stick to. Instead we made subtle changes over time and taught her how to look after her own dietary requirements (instead of being reliant on an external source like Weight Watchers, Lighter Life, Slim Fast or a diet book).

Here's the changes we made over the course of our programme-
- Cutting portion sizes and not eating until uncomfortably full.
- Cutting processed sugars from her diet. Replacing sweets with fruit to tackle the sweet craving initially. Then removing snacks altogether over time.
Drinking more water. As we know, a hydrated body won't cling to water. By hydrating her effectively we were able to shed some water weight.
- Eating 3 meals per day and avoiding snacking (gradually replacing snacks with water)
- Cutting caffeine intake, again hoping to created a hydrated, efficient body.
- Reducing intake of starchy foods (pasta, bread, potato) We replaced potato with sweet potato, bread with pita or corn-based tortilla wraps and replaced pasta with rice. I also introduced simple recipe ideas like mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potato.
- Stopped her being scared of 'fat'. The body needs fats. So I looked to educate her and show that sugars were the problem with the current diet, not fats.
- Reducing intake of artificial nasties. This one was a tough one that requires some willpower. I asked that if she bought any item of food that was processed, prepared or packaged (ie, not a fresh, raw ingredient) to look at the list of ingredients, if there were more ingredients that she didn't recognise than she did recognise, then it was best to put it back on the shelf and find an alternative. Again looking ot educate and get her to understand what she's putting in her body.
- INcreade in fibre (from vegetables) and protein (from food, not supplements) and general reduction in carbohydrates (trying to source carbs from fruit and vegetables primarily)
- Planning meals and preparing in advance to avoid rushing for Gregs or Subway as a last resort.

The fitness side of the program was quite straightforward. We followed this basic plan with varied exercises and weights:
- Warmup and mobility
- Heavy compound lifts (Variations on squats and deadlifts as the main exercises)
- Accessory compound lifting (overhead press, rowing, pull ups etc.)
- Complex patterns with load (series of lifts at moderate weight with no rest between exercises)
- Specific strength work to assist with pole dancing strength goals (grip, shoulder strength etc.)
- Cardio (Usually High Intensity Interval incorporating bodyweight exercises.)


So, what were the results?

Firstly, and most importantly in this case, she FEELS better. She's happier and more confident. That's not something that can be measured, but it makes all the difference in the world to a client.

She doubled the load that we put on her back squat and deadlift. We created more muscle, therefore increasing her base metabolic rate - more calories burned per day before any exercise has been done.
This also had the added bonus of increasing core stability and completely removing lower back discomfort that she had blamed on her office chair at work.

There was a significant and noticeable drop in body fat and an increase in firmness and muscle tone.

Total weight lost in 6 weeks was 12lbs. But we have to take into account that she gained a significant amount of muscle during that time.

All things considered, the whole experiment has been a success. Now she can carry on living a healthy, happy life on her own.

Personal Progression

It's great that my project is making such superb progress, I'm so happy for her that she's making great gains every week.
With all of her improvement, gains and huge leaps this week I decided to test myself, see how far I can push my body and see what effect my training is having on my strength.
At present I weigh 83kg.

Well, it's been an amazing few days for personal bests!

In February 2013 I was squatting 100kg for 3 reps and I could deadlift 100kg (but it wasn't pretty)

On the 8th of April I set a new barbell squat personal best of 135kg.
Last week (19th April 2013) I achieved a new personal best deadlift of 185kg

19th April 2013 - 185kg deadlift

Yesterday (22nd of April 2013) I decided to have another crack at the deadlift. I lifted 195kg - that's just short of 2.5 times my bodyweight.

22nd April 2013 - 195kg deadlift

Today I was due to train legs as part of Phase 2 of my Jumping Power programme. I also wanted to have another try at maxing out my barbell squat. After my training I felt a little less than confident and decided not to go for a new personal best today. I started on some accessory training and decided that I would have a try after all, I didn't want any negativity in my training. The only thing holding me back was me.
I was especially fortunate that Will Wayland was in and training today.
After I'd worked my way up to 140kg Will offered to spot me if I needed him.
As I loaded up the bar with 145kg I felt nervous. I wasn't totally sure that I could lift this load.
I got under the bar and told myself that I could do it, I wouldn't let myself down.
I did it, lifted 145kg with no physical assistance.
So today I got a new personal best of 145kg on my barbell squat.

At this point I mentally slapped myself and decided I could do it.

22nd April 2013 - 145kg barbell squat

Thanks again to mi-gym for giving me a great place to train; somewhere full of positive and enthusiastic people and full of awesome equipment (thanks to Jordan Fitness)


Here's another little personal story:
Quite some time ago I worked for a major health club chain, we decided to have a 'Deadlift Challenge' on the gym floor to get more members involved in lifting weights and stepping away from the cardio machines (this mission of mine has been going on quite some time).
At this time my training was predominantly bodyweight so I had no idea what I could lift.
Over the course of the day all the 'big' guys came over to show off, they were generally starting to struggle at about 100kg. A few went over 100kg and got towards 150kg.
I'm not afraid to admit that at the time I felt intimidated by these 'big' guys and I didn't even attempt a lift of over 90kg for fear of appearing weak if I failed. After all, I only weighed a little over 80kg.
Funny thing is, I weigh the same today as I did back then.
You don't need to be huge to be strong, and a little confidence goes a long way.

The past few weeks have drummed home again and again that training is as much mental as it is physical. First believe that you can achieve your goals, then go out and smash them!

6 Week Project: End of Week 2

This week we trained twice as I'll be away for our usual Friday session. We met as usual on Friday, then again on Monday to touch base and train.

Once again we aimed to complete the same workout with the addition of a complex:

Pulling exercises for pole dancing strength:
3 x 3reps pull ups (unable to pull up, so jumped up and performed a slow descent)
3 x 5reps 12kg ball slams
3 x 3reps Band lat pull
3 x 5reps Assisted high pull up

At the start of the pulling section she proudly told me that her pole dancing manoeuvres are feeling easier and she's definitely increased her useful strength with regard to pole dancing. This was great to hear as I knew it'd boost her confidence and give her more faith in the programme.

Complex pattern:

Entire sequence performed with a barbell as one complex movement pattern without letting go of the bar

Bent over row, deadlift, hang clean, overhead press, front squat, put bar down and repeat x5.At this stage we used a 20kg bar with 2x 5kg plates on (30kg total weight)

She found the complex quite challenging, more challenging than she expected. Her technique is quite good and her form stayed good to the last rep.

This exercise will help increase her metabolism and therefore aid fat burning. 

Heavy Lifts:
3 x 5reps Barbell squat @ 45kg
3 x 5reps Deadlift @ 55kg
3 x 5reps Kettlebell bent over row @ 24kg (2x 12kg)
3 x 5reps Lateral raise @ 5kg
3 x 5 reps Front raise, straight arms @ 10kg (2x 5kg plates)

Once again, massive gains in this department. Further proof that she's still finding her groove, learning the exercises and getting confident. After the first set of squats it was clear that 45kg was too light to be challenging, so we added another 5kg. Barbell squat is now 50kg. That's a HUGE 10kg jump from 2 weeks ago. I think she's still got a little more in the tank too.

Deadlift we kept at 55kg for now.

She also mentioned that even though the lateral raise and front raise are still difficult, they are significantly easier than when she started.

Circuit to finish off
3 rounds of:
10 low bar pull ups (feet on floor in front)
10 press ups
10 Medicine ball squat & throw @ 6kg (Crossfit 'Wall Ball')
10 Kettlebell swings @ 16kg

Once again, amazing effort in the circuit this week! She completed the circuit in 3:38 (week 1 was 4:44) that's over 1 minute improvement!

At the end of this session she confided in me that she'd been having doubts as to her progress. Friends that have done 'crash diets' have seen rapid weight loss. 

Fortunately the progressive and productive session tonight restored her faith in the programme.

We're looking at healthy, sustainable results to produce a healthy, happy client at the end.

Up to 50kg squats now. Great work!

Our second session this week was only 3 days after the usual session, so for this additional session simply did the following:

Complex pattern:

Entire sequence performed with a barbell as one complex movement pattern without letting go of the bar

Bent over row, deadlift, hang clean, overhead press, front squat, put bar down and repeat x5.At this stage we used a 20kg bar with 2x 5kg plates on (30kg total weight)

This time after the complex had been completed, she rested for 60 seconds and repeated the complex once more.

She finished the second complex visibly out of breath and sweating. 

Even at this stage it was a surprise to her that short bursts of intense exercise can result in shortness of breath and perspiration.

Heavy Lifts:
3 x 5reps Barbell squat @ 45kg
3 x 5reps Deadlift @ 55kg
3 x 5reps Kettlebell bent over row @ 24kg (2x 12kg)
More gains! Clear evidence that a person become neurologically 'strong' before their muscles adapt. Simply learning the exercise and gaining confidence will help you work more efficiently.

We kept the squats at 50kg as this was still tough after increasing load on Friday. 

The 55kg deadlift looked a little easy tonight, so after the first set we added another 5kg to the bar. In 2 weeks her deadlift has gone from 50kg to 60kg. I'm so impressed and proud of her results.

As we won't see each other for another 10 days I've set some 'homework'. Not only will she be practicing our little circuit on her own, she'll also be using the Tabata Interval Protocol in her own time up to 5 times this week. I've told her that she can choose any bodyweight exercise she likes for this interval training.

The musical tracks in the link above are mixed by myself to give a 20 second 'work' phase followed by a 10 second 'rest' phase. This is repeated for 8 work phases. The whole workout is only 4 minutes long.

Once again, I can't express how proud I am of the gains and achievements she's made already.

She's a superstar!

One to one Parkour coaching

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when a 36yr old lady contacted me about learning Parkour.
This particular lady came to a couple of my Parkour classes earlier in the year, although she enjoyed the activity, she was conscious about training with a group that were all so much younger than her.

This week she called me up and asked about 1:1 training. I was glad that she still wanted to train and learn Parkour so we set it up.
So we agreed to meet at mi-gym to warm up, then onto some general movement and mobility work.
Once warm I took her through takeoff and landing techniques followed by some ground level jumps between lines we marked on the floor.
I was being especially careful in making sure she could jump and land correctly before we did anything outside.

After the basic technique drills I was very happy with how capable she was. We then jogged 1km to the training spot I had planned for the main portion of our session together.
Conscious that she might be nervous jumping around in public, I chose a spot that wasn't in the middle of town, but also wasn't too enclosed or secluded.

We began with quadrupedal movement forwards and backwards at a moderate height, then we repeated the precision jumps we had drilled earlier, only this time we were jumping between walls instead of between lines on the floor.
My lady student was perfectly comfortable and unfazed by the walls or the height (only around 3ft at this point) and was landing the jumps with grace and balance.
I then got her to link multiple movements together, foot placement and plyo jumps between obstacles.
Other than a little hesitation at the start, she took it all in her stride.

Finally we went for a small cat leap and some shimmy movements after landing the cat leap. The only thing that I threw at her during the outdoor training that she wasn't able to do was a climb up from cat leap position.
Even when I allowed he to use her elbows on top of the wall, she still was unable to get herself up.

The Parkour climb up and the muscle up are very similar movements. With a climb up you are able to use your legs to push your body upwards as you pull with your arms.

As it was almost the end of the session we went back to mi-gym and finished off with some of the pull up and muscle up exercises I posted about recently.
We'll be revisiting these exercises next week to help her get the strength required to complete a climb up.

All in all a great session and a great student.

Parkour 'Cat Leap'

mi-gym.com photoshoot

This week a very good friend of mine, Jamie Hammond, brought his studio setup along to mi-gym. We didn't really have a specific photographic agenda, just wanted to experiment with the lighting and the venue to see what we could create.

We shot everything on my Canon 550D and used 3 lights to get these shots.

Huge thanks to mi-gym.com for letting us use the space.
All the equipment featured is from Jordan Fitness
It goes without saying that the shoot was powered by Superlife Nutrition

Rachel from mi-gym

Train hard, play hard

Close up of Brad Wendes

William Wayland of www.powering-through.com

Jordan resistance band

All fun and games at mi-gym

Jamie the photographer trying to lift

Brad Wendes - gymnastic rings

Box fit

Brad Wendes barbell curl

Brad Wendes - Kettlebell goblet squat

Brad Wendes hanstand

Brad Wendes & Kelly Stevens

Loving the Superlife Nutrition Super Protein

Tips for pull ups & muscle ups

I've had a few requests for more exercises and tips on improving your pull up and training for the muscle up.

You can check out my recent article on my own training for Pulling Power as well as my recent post on Isometric Contractions for Strength.

This week I filmed a quick video at mi-gym on the specific exercises for high, strong pull ups as well as making the transition from pull up to muscle up. All of these exercises are relatively simple to perform and require very little equipment.
All the equipment in this video, including resistance bands, is available from Jordan Fitness: http://www.jordanfitness.co.uk/

Hopefully there's something here for people of all abilities, let me know what you think.

As always, let me know what you want help with, what articles you want to read and what videos you'd like to watch. Requests to: brad@bradwendes.com

6 Week Project: End of Week 1

The first thing I noticed this week was that my subject was not very happy when she arrived. I didn't want to pry so we just got on with the programme.
After an hour of intense exercise and some noticeable gains all round, she left with a big smile on her face.
Lesson learned: If training does nothing else, it will help you relieve stress!


Now on with the fitness side of things.

This week was the start of our training after last weeks introduction.
As it was the start of our project I took some measurements:
Waist: 35"
Thigh: 24.5"
Upper Arm: 13.5"

Now that she was more familiar and comfortable with the exercises I was able to push her out of her comfort zone a little more.

We aimed to simply complete the same workout as last week but push things a little harder:

Pulling exercises for pole dancing strength:

3 x 3reps pull ups (unable to pull up, so jumped up and performed a slow descent)

3 x 5reps 12kg ball slams

3 x 3reps Band lat pull

3 x 5reps Assisted high pull up

The pulling exercises are already a struggle for her, so we stayed as before on these. 

At week 3 I'll be asking for any feedback on how our training is reflecting in her pole dancing.

Heavy Lifts:

3 x 5reps Barbell squat @ 40kg

3 x 5reps Deadlift @ 50kg

3 x 5reps Kettlebell bent over row @ 24kg (2x 12kg)

3 x 5reps Lateral raise @ 5kg

3 x 5 reps Front raise, straight arms @ 10kg (2x 5kg plates)

Now here we made some superb gains. Simply by being more comfortable lifting weight, we were able to add 5kg to both the barbell squat (now 45kg) and the deadlift (now 55kg). 

Absolutely superb! But I can see that these exercises still aren't pushing her to overload, so we'll be making more small additions as we go. 

She'll have to be comfortable or she won't believe that she can make it, and at this stage there's a lot of it still in the mind. 

Circuit to finish off

3 rounds of:

10 low bar pull ups (feet on floor in front)

10 press ups

10 Medicine ball squat & throw @ 6kg (Crossfit 'Wall Ball')

10 Kettlebell swings @ 16kg

Superb effort on the circuits this week. Last week she finished in 4:44, this week in 4:18, massive improvement just from having the Eye of the Tiger.

After our main training we looked at the techniques involved in putting together one complex movement pattern that we will start to use next week.

The complex we'll be using is: Deadlift from floor, hang clean, overhead press, front squat, repeat X5 without letting go of the bar.

She easily picked up the hang clean technique and was able to put the movements together. 

Now I need to decide what weight will challenge her but be manageable.

It really goes to show that when you first start out your comfort and confidence in the exercise can hold you back.

Although I don't believe that she is any 'stronger' this week than last, I do think she's more comfortable and 'better' at the exercise and therefore able to push that little bit harder.

Starting out with a deadlift at 50kg

6 Week Transformation Project

The past few posts have generally been about my training and what methods I'm using to reach my own personal goals. This might be useful for those of you out there who have similar goals to me or just want to change up your current training.
But what about all the 'regular' people out there?
I know lots of people with gym memberships that don't make any significant progress over time. Worse still, I see people with gym memberships who have no specific goals (?!) or don't really know what they should be doing at the gym (fortunately this doesn't last long at mi-gym.com)

With that in mind I picked one of the members at mi-gym.com to use for a 6 week project.
This particular member is determined and trains hard but isn't very experienced in the gym, she also seems to lack confidence in the gym environment.
I've got a hard worker, with vague goals in need of some guidance, perfect client!

Who is the volunteer?
Female, 21yrs old, regular 9-5 office job, her main hobby is pole dancing.
Some gym experience but needs guidance.
Weight loss would be of benefit in pole dancing hobby and also to look and feel better.
Would like to increase upper body strength specific to pole dancing.

Start of the programme

Here's what she had to say about her goals:

"Well, as you know I pole dance and I've been doing it for over a year now. My strength has improved but what holds me back is my weight. I have started moving onto more advanced moves which involve a lot of holding positions. And by shifting the weight and gaining additional strength I will find the moves much easier. 

Dancing is my main goal for all of this. I'd like to get your advice on what would benefit me most for this as you already have an idea on what it involves from your circus and gymnastic experience. 

Exercises I really don't enjoy are running or cycling."

First things first, let's smarten up those goals:
SPECIFIC - Specific goal to work towards
MEASURABLE - Tangible results that we can measure
ACHIEVABLE - The goals should be possible for the individual to reach
REALISTIC - Make sure the goal is not only achievable, but also not too easy to reach.
TIMESCALE - Set a timescale for goals (can also set smaller goals with shorter timescales along the way)

S - Lose a significant and noticeable amount of body fat. Increase relative upper body strength for pole dancing manoeuvres. Increase confidence in the gym environment.
M - We'll measure upper arm, thigh and waist at the start and end of the programme. We'll also keep note of the weights and reps on the specific exercises given. We will also get feedback on performance in pole dancing and how she feels about herself.
A - Looking to lose at least 1" from each of the measured areas and see increased definition. Increase in time she is able to hold her body in a specific position (top of pull up) from 0 seconds currently to 5 seconds at the end of the programme.
R - Given that we will only have one hour per week together, with accessory work done without me present, I feel that these goals are realistic for the time we have.
T - Strictly 6 weeks for this project, 5th of April to the 17th of May 2013

For the record, I am deliberately not going to weigh this client. Weight and BMI are irrelevant here, we're looking for noticeable results in shape and size. Given that we are also training for strength gains, an increase in muscle could outweigh losses in body fat.


Where do we start?
We met on the 5th of April to discuss the programme and try out some exercises. I wanted to see how hard she worked when pushed, I was very impressed.

I put her through her paces with the following workout:

Skipping followed by some mobility drills to warm up.

Pulling exercises for pole dancing strength:
3 x 3reps pull ups (unable to pull up, so jumped up and performed a slow descent)
3 x 5reps 12kg ball slams
3 x 3reps Band lat pull
3 x 5reps Assisted high pull up

Heavy Lifts:
3 x 5reps Barbell squat @ 40kg
3 x 5reps Deadlift @ 50kg
3 x 5reps Kettlebell bent over row @ 24kg (2x 12kg)
3 x 5reps Lateral raise @ 5kg
3 x 5 reps Front raise, straight arms @ 10kg (2x 5kg plates)

Circuit to finish off
3 rounds of:
10 low bar pull ups (feet on floor in front)
10 press ups
10 Medicine ball squat & throw @ 6kg (Crossfit 'Wall Ball')
10 Kettlebell swings @ 16kg


As a starting point I was very happy with her performance.
Not only was she already able to correctly squat, deadlift and bent over row, she trained really hard.

We discussed basic diet changes, trying to make things as realistic and achievable as possible, I felt that drastic diet change would not be sustainable for her life, instead I wrote some rules and suggestions:

"- Above all else, cut down on consumption of processed sugars.

- Increase water intake. 5 litres over the course of the day would be of benefit.

- Don’t count calories.

- Don’t go out of your way to avoid fat.

- Don’t starve yourself.

- Diet should be higher in protein and fibre with fewer carbohydrates.

Where possible, avoid starchy or high sugar foods on non training days 

These foods include pasta, bread, white potatoes, pastry, sweets, chocolate & fizzy drinks

Eat as you like on training days, but try to stick to the suggestions below as best as possible

Alternatives to common starchy foods:

- Green veg, carrots and sweet potato instead of white potatoes.

- Mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potato

- Corn tortilla wraps as an alternative to bread

- Rice instead of pasta where possible

Fruit – Fruit is good for you, fruit is also packed full of fructose (natural fruit sugars).

Restrict fruit consumption to before lunch time. Avoid fruit in the evenings.

The feeling of hunger can often actually be thirst. A dehydrated body will cling to water therefore making you appear bloated. A dehydrated body will also no work as effectively and burn fewer calories.

When you feel like snacking, reach for a bottle of water.

If you drink caffeine in any form, increase your water intake to counter the diuretic effects of caffeine."

We may have some willpower obstacles to overcome.

The day after our first meeting, I spotted this on Instagram:

Caught red handed!

Next week we will be starting to train properly and take measurements. We'll also be looking at introducing some heavy complex movement patterns as she can already perform basic lifts adequately.

Increased Jumping Power Phase 2

After 5 weeks of the French Contrast for jumping power I have noticed significant gains in my leg strength and in my jumping power.

But sadly, all the strength in the world is no good if it's not transferrable to your sport of choice. In my case I am training for Parkour and powerful jumps.
As the saying goes; "Power is nothing without control" and strength is nothing if it's not accessible in your chosen activity.
Therefore the next phase of my leg training will look at transferring the strength into more familiar movements to Parkour.

As previously mentioned, I'm continuing with the French Contrast for another month but the exercises and weights are changing.
So the next 4 weeks looks like this:

3 reps - 80kg Barbell Squat FAST eccentric push (just under 70% 1RM)
5 reps - Standing broad jump
3 reps - 50kg Barbell half squat jump (just under 40% 1RM)
5 reps - Band assisted jumping lunge

The above exercises are performed as a circuit with no rest between exercises, followed by a 2-3 minute rest. The circuit is repeated 3 times.

In addition to the French Contrast circuit I will be performing the following exercises:
Kettlebell band-resisted swing - 3 sets of 6 reps
Lunge position to broad jump with 8kg in each hand - 3 sets of 6 reps (power from front foot)

To finish up I am performing the following unrelated exercises:
3 sets of 6 40kg barbell bicep curl
3 sets of 10 press ups
3 sets of 4 muscle up on rings


The above workout will be alongside my new Pulling Power workout for the next 4 weeks.
I'll keep you posted on how it's coming along.

Can't get enough of those squats!

Once again a massive thanks to mi-gym.com for use of facilities and for letting us film and photograph there. Huge thanks also to William Wayland for all his crazy ideas!

Increased Leg Strength

In February this year I started looking into the Hepburn Method to increase strength. I was looking at lifting heavy loads over a short rep range.
With regard to leg strength when I started this programme, I was performing barbell squats in sets of 2 reps at 100kg.
As I only weighed in at 85kg I was happy with this.
By the end of March I was performing sets of 3 reps at 100kg.

In March I started using the French Contrast method to start building power in my legs and increase my vertical jump.
I was performing 3 sets of 3 barbell squats at 105kg over a 5 week period. Now we're at the end of this phase and I've increased my vertical jump by 2.5" from 45" to 47.5"
Clearly my legs are now stronger and more powerful.

Interestingly, I also started squatting in my Vibram FiveFingers and found them to be much more comfortable in this range of motion than regular trainers. I felt grounded and stable. Definitely going to lift in them more often!

110kg barbell squat

So today I wanted to find my barbell squat 1RM, just out of curiosity. I warmed up with 80kg, then a couple of reps at 100kg, then loaded up the bar with 130kg (that's 20kg heaver than I had ever lifted).
I performed 2 comfortable reps at 130kg and decided to try 135kg.
With the bar loaded up to 135kg I went down comfortably, waited too long at the bottom then ditched the bar, feeling that I was unable to safely lift the load.
Determined to get that lift, I waited 10 minutes for my body to recover, staying warm and mobile while resting.
Then I got under the bar and performed one rep at 135kg.
Very pleased with myself and quite fatigued, I called it a day.

Using 3 weeks on the Hepburn Method followed by 5 weeks of French Contrast I have added 35kg to my squat and added 2.5" to my vertical jump.
I'd say that's some impressive gains in a relatively short time!

 130kg barbell squat

 135kg barbell squat

Isometrics for Strength

Firstly let's briefly go over the different ways in which our muscles contract:
Concentric Contraction - Where a muscle contracts as it shortens (eg. bicep while lifting a weight during bicep curl)
Eccentric Contraction - Where a muscle contracts as it gets longer (eg. bicep while lowering a weight during bicep curl)
Isometric Contraction - Where a muscle contracts without shortening, lengthening or moving any of the bones attached to the muscle (eg. pushing against a wall or trying to lift something too heavy for you to move)

Now I'm a big fan of Isometric Contractions (static holds) as part of my training, particularly holding at the top of a pull up movement and holding the bottom of a press up movement (chest off the ground obviously).
In fact I've been holding these positions as part of my general conditioning for as long as I can remember (having a Pilates instructor as a mother is partly to blame) so when I started introducing clients to these holds I was surprised at how difficult they found them.

When I recently read an article by Superlife Nutrition co-founder Stephen Kirlew, I was pleased to see that he was all for the use of Isometric contractions:

"Your muscles make up approximately 60 -70% of your body's power" says Stephen, "the rest comes from the tendons which are often neglected when training." Tendons are tough, flexible bands of tissue that connect muscles to bones and are extremely strong. "I weigh 176lbs and can lift more than guys double my size because my power comes from a combination of muscles and tendons and a lot of these huge guys don't realise that."

Stephen is British armwrestling champion, so he knows a thing or two about pushing against an immovable force.

A massive plus point in strengthening tendons is that you gain strength without adding any bulk.
I know this is definitely something that's of interest to my female clients.

So, in keeping with trying to increase your strength without adding bulk. Here's some challenges for you to train your tendons;
- Hold at the top of a pull up, at least chin above bar. Hold until failure or 20 seconds, whichever comes first.
- Hold at the bottom of a press up, chest 1" above the ground. Hold until failure or for 60 seconds,whichever comes first.
- Perform a barbell bicep curl with your usual weight (comfortable 6 - 8 reps) and hold the bar with your forearms parallel to the floor until failure or 30 seconds, whichever comes first.

You might be surprised at how difficult these challenges are.
If they're tough, try putting them into your regular workout to strengthen out these weaknesses.

Let me know how you get on.


Full article by Stephen Kirlew:
http://www.superlifenutrition.co.uk/blogs/news/7518902-tendon-titan

Pulling Power

It's getting towards the end of the month and time to start thinking about tweaks to my program for April.
For my legs I'm changing the French Contrast to focus on explosive power and increased velocity, this will involve lighter loads, faster movements and slightly modified exercises - more on this in a future blog post.

I am now looking to increase my explosive upper body pulling power, this prompted a discussion with Will Wayland (http://www.powering-through.com) about possibly using French Contrast for upper body pulling.

The French Contrast method is best used to increase ballistic power, so it lends itself to jumping or pressing very well.
But upper body pulls tend not to be ballistic or explosive. However I do want to develop explosive ballistic power in my upper body pulls. This power will make muscle ups and Parkour climb ups easier to perform.

The discussion then moved onto how it could be achieved by varying the exercises slightly so as not to completed destroy yourself. Will was of the opinion that weighted pulls ups and variations thereof would be a good start but was concerned that a lack of variation would fatigue the upper body. I wanted to take a slightly different approach and look at using barbell bent over row and kettlebell bent over row in addition to pull up variations to avoid excessive fatigue by just using one exercise.
After some further discussion and different ideas on exercises and contrasts, we settled on what we both think will be an efficient French Contrast method for building upper body pulling power, specifically with regard to the muscle up.

As much as I don't want to turn into a 'one trick pony' the increased power in my legs is phenomenal, so I am going to try French Contrast for upper body pulling during the month of April.

One session per week will be as follows.
3 sets of the following French Contrast circuit:
3x Weighted (high) pull up, 14.5kg
5x fast medicine ball slams (driven by lats)
3x Resistance band speed row
5x band assisted muscle up (on bar)
With 2-3 minutes recovery between sets

Each of the pulling exercises pull will involve taking the elbows back as far as possible, the pull ups will all be chest above bar (I hope)

After this circuit I'll then perform these additional exercises:
3 sets of 10reps 2x 20kg kettlebell bent over row
3 sets of 5reps Bulgarian dips on rings (must not forget top phase of the muscle up)
3 sets of 6 band pull/push (featured in this video)
3x 30 second static hold, chest to bar (top of pull up)
3 sets of 6reps 70kg Barbell overhead press 

That should be enough to blitz my upper body and increase ballistic pulling power.
I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

This is purely me experimenting on myself to see how it works out.

If you want to try it yourself please let me know how you get on

Barbell bent over row can wait until next month

Training Zoe Salmon

Following on nicely from my post on getting ladies to lift, I spent the afternoon yesterday with TV's Zoe Salmon.
Sadly I didn't have her in the gym lifting large loads, we were being filmed by Mars and I was teaching her the basics of Parkour as part of their newest initiative to get Britain active.

As expected, the former Blue Peter presenter was quite up for trying new things and was very competent for a complete beginner. Zoe got to grips with vaulting and swinging on bars very quickly, as well as adding a few inches to her standing jump by improving her technique over the afternoon. She even managed to put together a short run incorporating a selection of techniques.

Most interestingly was seeing an adult complete beginner face a technique at height, the 'height' involved here was around 3ft off the ground and was a precision jump between 2 walls with a distance of no more than 4ft between them.
Despite having made the distance on the floor and being absolutely fine standing or walking on the walls at that height, Zoe simply could not bring herself to make the jump.
Nothing else we tackled phased her at all, she literally threw herself into the more complicated techniques and movements (at greater heights I might add).
Given more time I would have liked to get her to make the jump by gradually building up to it, sadly we were pressed for time and had to leave that particular jump.

All in all Zoe was a joy to train, was up for (almost) everything and she didn't even mind being outside jumping around all afternoon!

I'll definitely be making sure that my regular Parkour students are pushing themselves to overcome fears and better themselves.

Zoe Salmon with Brad Wendes

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I was once again pleasantly surprised by my increased leg strength and power. 

The area we filmed in is one I am very familiar with and have trained Parkour there many many times over the past few years.

I have not trained there since starting my French Contrast training.

Jumps that were previously challenging were now easy, jumps that took some concentration were now much more achievable. It's a great feeling to see direct results of training and feel the benefits in context in my sport.

Just in case you missed it, here's the article on increasing jump power: http://bradwendes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/how-to-increase-your-vertical-jump.html

Ladies Who Lift

What women think vs. what actually happens

"women can't lift weights, it's dangerous", "if women lift weights they'll look like bodybuilders", "I just want to 'tone up' with cardio"... These statements are nonsense!

I'm quite pleased to say that I'm hearing more and more people ignoring the "ladies can't lift"myth, I even had a lady call out "strong is the new skinny" during one of my circuits classes. Quite a proud moment.

Becki bodyweight deadlift

I've been training a couple of ladies at Mi-gym.com recently and it's been great to see former traditional gym goers (studio class and 30mins on a cross trainer) having a go at Olympic Lifting as well as some large compound lifts. Not only are the ladies seeing gains and progress towards their goals, they're also quite enjoying themselves (having fun while training hard, surely not?!)

Rachel smiling with a barbell

For anyone that's still not convinced; please remember that the people who compete in bodybuilding contests train really really hard every day, they eat thousands more calories than any of us on a daily basis, and generally speaking they have genetic advantages. There is also a large recorded use of drugs to help achieve the correct aesthetic.
If it was as easy as lifting something heavy a couple of times per week at the gym, we'd ALL look like Mr or Mrs Universe.

Rachel squatting 80kg

I'm not sure who first started the myth that heavy weights will bulk you up, but it has stuck over the years and wrongly makes many people—both men and women—afraid of lifting heavy weights. While there is some truth to the idea that lifting lighter weights for more reps does a better job of increasing the muscular endurance, lighter weights will not help you "tone" better than heavy weights. In fact, because heavier weights build the strength of your muscles (and the size to a small degree—but not to the Hulk effect), thereby helping to increase your metabolism and burn fat, lifting heavier weights with lower reps (8 to 12 on average) and working until you're fatigued is more effective at helping you reach your toning goals than lifting lighter weights. Not to mention that it's more time efficient, too!

So ladies, get yourself to the gym and pick up something heavy.
Don't be intimidated by barbells and dumbells, firstly think of the least intelligent man you know at the gym, does he lift weights? How hard can it be then?
Get yourself booked in with a trainer to show you how to safely and correctly perform a few major lifts; deadlift, squat, bench press & bent over row would be a good start.
Anyone local to myself, drop me an email: brad@bradwendes.com and we'll get you down to mi-gym.com for some serious results-based training!

DO YOU EVEN LIFT?! Hopefully the answer will be 'yes'.

Lift like a man, look like a Goddess

On the left is 'diet skinny' on the right is a trained posterior 

Using more muscle will burn more calories. Simples...

For some further reading, here's a couple of great articles that explain in more depth about the 'Toning Myth':

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/goulet5.htm

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1662