Stay close to the toilet

I'm now 2 days into my cutting process and I'm not ashamed to say that it's proving to be really REALLY difficult!
I'm also glad that I've been reasonably close to a toilet at every stage of the day. All this water is going straight through me!

Today was a relatively quiet day from a work perspective, so I was able to plan meals more effectively and train hard.

Started the day with a nice early breakfast of a banana and a Super Protein shake.

I met up with Sam at 9:00am at mi-gym.com to train. Today was mainly legs with some work on the guns for good measure (holiday next week!)
- 3 sets of 5 back squat @ 110kg
- 3 sets of 5 deadlift @ 120kg
- 3 sets of 5 Zercher Good Morning @ 60kg
- 3 sets of 5 neutral grip pull ups
- 3 sets of 10 bent over row @ 16kg per arm
- Superset 3 sets of 8 barbell curl @ 40kg with 10 press ups

 Straight after training I had another Super Protein.

I then spent an hour filming Will Wayland training some of his pro athletes for a piece we'll be putting out later this month.

After filming the athletes I went to a meeting at a coffee shop about a forthcoming Halloween event we're running the performance side of: http://www.thecursed.co.uk/
Meeting in a coffee shop was a mistake! So much cake, so many biscuits, so many sweet beverages!
I looked at the nutrition information on a pack of 2 biscuits; 30g carbs per biscuit. I put the biscuit down and ordered a black coffee.

After the meeting it was back to mi-gym to eat my lunch before filming an eccentric tutorial with Will.

Lunch was 150g steak with cracked black pepper, 100g chicken breast, lettuce, an avocado and 2 large mushrooms. Very tasty, very satisfying.

During filming I had to demonstrate a 6 second eccentric squat, so my legs took a further pounding.
Further depleting the glycogen can only be good.

Home at 3:30pm for another 100g of steak with cracked black pepper, garlic and red chilli, a red bell pepper and more lettuce.

By 5:00pm I had only consumed 7 litres of water, it's going to be along night!

Over the course of the day I have had to pee roughly every 30mins with no more than an hour between toilet stops. At least I know my body is in flushing mode now!

There was a scary moment on my way to teach this evening, I hit traffic in what is usually a 20 minute drive. I was preparing myself for the possibility of having to refill one of the water bottles.
Fortunately the traffic cleared quickly and I got to the centre before disaster struck.

All day!

Teaching my circuits class at 7:00pm kept me moving (and made me very aware of my legs). More water consumed there too.

Dinner was 300g of lamb chops with beetroot, lettuce and mushrooms, followed by another Super Protein shake.

Sadly the mint sauce I had in the cupboard contains more sugar than I dared to look at, so I made do with a drop of white wine vinegar to taste.

Bring on day 3, the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight!

Sugar Addiction

Day 1 of my SHREDDED FOR HOLIDAY programme. It's been an odd day and now I want chocolate.

Trying to get through 15 litres of water around normal life is tough enough, but eating less than 50grams of carbohydrate per day is a massive challenge.
I've also discovered that I'm seriously addicted to sugar, right now I'm pretty much going cold turkey.

Sugar Addiction Cycle

Monday was the first day on this. At first it was quite a novelty carrying big bottles of water around and going shopping for my meals. I bought a selection of meats, salad items and herbs & spices to make the high protein meals less dull. I also made sure I had enough Super Protein to last me the week. With very little added to it, Super Protein is a good source of protein for this experiment (it also uses Stevia as a sweetener).
Monday was a busy day for work. Between clients, teaching in schools and evening classes I didn't train.

- Breakfast was a Super Protein shake and a banana (half my carbohydrate for the day)
- Mid morning I had a chicken breast and 100g of sliced beef.
- Lunch was pork chops with red chilli, lettuce and an avocado (the other half of my carbs for the day)
- Mid afternoon I had another Super Protein shake.
- Evening meal was a small portion of homemade Bolognese meat sauce (carrots, tomatoes and mushrooms almost certainly put me over my carb allowance for the day)

What concerned me most was that for the whole afternoon and evening I was literally craving chocolate. I've never known anything like it; I didn't just fancy a chocolate bar, I NEEDED one.
It's a very uncomfortable feeling and took a lot of willpower not to give in.

Everywhere you go there's sugar and high carbohydrate foods, waiting to pay for my shopping there was chocolate and sweets everywhere. I stopped for petrol and there's sugary snacks, crisps, pastries and biscuits staring me in the face. No wonder so many people fail at diets, you can't go anywhere without being stared down by a Curly Wurly!

Chocolate cravings aside, I was pleasantly surprised at how satisfied my appetite was by such high protein / low carb meals. Drinking 3 gallons of water was a bit of a grind though. Just had to keep drinking and keep peeing.

15 litres of water is a LOT of water (2 litre bottle on left for reference)

I am now looking forward to loading up on carbs at the end of the week. This sugar craving is driving me mad!

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.

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!

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 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

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

How to increase your vertical jump

I know we discussed the French Contrast and how it fits into my current program earlier this week.
But I really feel the need to share the workout again as I've now added TWO INCHES to my vertical jump in two weeks.
I'm really impressed at how much of a difference this has made and how quickly I'm noticing gains.

If you want to give it a try yourself, here's a video tutorial I uploaded this evening:

Let me know how you all get on...

Brad Wendes 110kg barbell squat

Training with Will

Few pictures from a session at Mi-Gym today with Will Wayland

Brad Wendes 105kg squat

Front squats with chains

Will Wayland front squat with chains

Check out the guns!

In line RDL

In line RDL

40kg barbell curl with thick grips

40kg barbell curl with thick grips

40kg barbell curl with thick grips

Pretty face...

Will Wayland 40kg curl with thick grips

Thick grip curls

French Contrast

Now we're in March 2013 and I'm using a programme that's much much more fun!

My current goals are as follows:
Increase power and strength in legs (for jumping)
Increase upper body pulling power (for muscle-ups)
Acquire Aesthetics (don't judge me!)


I'm using a French contrast method for jumping power and I've added 5kg to my back squat in just 2 weeks!

This method is essentially 4 exercises performed consecutively, followed by a 2-3 minute rest, then repeat for 3 sets.
The exercises start with 3 reps of a heavy load, then 5 reps of minimal load, 3 reps of a moderate load and lastly 5 reps of an assisted exercise (accelerated eccentric)

For leg strength and jumping power I'm doing the following:
3 reps - 105kg Back Squat
5 reps - tuck jump
3 reps - 32kg kettlebell squat jump
5 reps - band assisted jump

I then rest and repeat this 'circuit' 3 times.

After the French Contrast (above) I'm performing 4 sets of 3 high pull ups (chest over bar) as fast and powerful as I can manage.
Then 3x 10reps bent over row with 32kg (2x 16kg kettlebells)
Lastly I barbell curl 35kg for 3 sets of 6reps.

I'm performing this workout twice per week.
In the first 2 weeks of this I have noticed significant increase in leg strength and hip mobility.


Once per week I've adding in an extra workout that's aimed more at upper body strength / maintenance and some glute / posterior chain exercises:

Ring Muscle Up - 4 sets of 4reps
35kg barbell curl - 4 sets of 5reps
press up - 4 sets of 10reps
70kg bench press - 3 sets of 6 reps
110kg deadlift - 3 sets of 6 reps
20kg Kettlebell swing with band resistance - 3 sets of 6 reps


I'll keep you posted on how this programme works out of the next few weeks....


Great article on contrast training:
http://www.musclemag.com/muscle-building/high-contrast-for-huge-gains/

Article on French Contrast method with regard to American Football:
http://www.stack.com/2012/04/04/build-power-for-football-with-french-contrast-workouts/

Hepburn Method

After training with Will Wayland in February this year, I decided to have a try at the Doug Hepburn method to get stronger. Will was using it for a month to change his training up.

This is a methodical grind to get progressively stronger using large compound lifts.

Essentially you start by lifting 80% of your 1RM for 8 sets of 2 reps (with 2 mins between sets) using 4 major lifts. 

I used:

Deadlift

Back Squat

Bent Over Row

Overhead Press  (in place of bench press due to lack of a bench)

You train four times per week, each session you add 1 rep to each lift.

So the sets on your programme will look like this for each exercise:

Day 1 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Day 2 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3

Day 3 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3

Day 4 - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3

etc...

When you have performed 8 sets of 3 reps you add 5kg to the lift on your next session, go back to 8 sets of 2 and start over.

You can see that this is a really methodical 'grind' to increase your maximum lifts.

Every 8 workouts (2 weeks) you will add 5kg to each of these exercises.

Theoretically you'll add 130kg to each of these lifts in a year. That's quite some achievement! 

While this method is a great way (in theory) to build strength, it's incredibly dull. You perform 2 or 3 reps, then wait 2minutes before doing it again.

Every workout is the same and it leaves you exhausted.

I lasted 3 weeks before moving onto something more enjoyable - I was significantly stronger after just 3 weeks though....

Advice, information, assistance...

Now Mi-Gym is a great place to exchange ideas. There's myself with gymnastic and Parkour experience alongside traditional gym / fitness, there's a superb boxing coach, a competing Olympic Lifting Coach, a real life Triathlete / Watt Bike expert, the boss bear Rachel Young herself (if she don't know it about the fitness industry, it ain't worth knowing!) but best of all, another good friend of mine trains and coaches out of Mi-gym; William Wayland.

Although I'd never say it to his face, Will is a massive inspiration and influence on my training. Will is possibly the most knowledgable person I have ever had the pleasure of chatting with when it comes to health, fitness, anatomy & physiology, strength & conditioning or getting results.
As well as being a wealth of knowledge he's just about the most approachable and forthcoming person you'd ever hope to meet.
So if you want to educate your training then hit up his website and listen to this man!
Will Wayland's website is called Powering Through, go read it! http://www.powering-through.com/

William Wayland

New Year, New start?

So now we're in 2013, no better reason than a new year to start hitting the gym again.
Oh, and I'm turning 30 this year...

Although I've never been 'out of shape' I have been in a less than desirable shape for my own personal happiness.

For Christmas 2012 I asked my nearest and dearest for some training aids like Kettlebells and weights in order to train at home and get back on it hard!

From Christmas Day until mid-January 2013 I trained every single day in my living room at home.
Tabata intervals, kettlebell swings, squats, bent over row, crunches etc...
I was feeling good for training again, this was great.

Then something magical happened:
An old friend and UK Fitness veteran (who also donated a bed to me in my darkest hour) called me up and asked to meet so she could tell me about her new plan. This friend of mine was opening a training facility in Chelmsford, somewhere I could train, with good equipment, with other EDUCATED trainers. Best of all, she wants me to teach a class there and in return I can train any time I like and even take my own clients in there too.

My prayers had been answered, this was awesome!

In February 2013 mi-gym.com opened in Chelmsford, and this is what it looks like:

Incidently, the video was shot and edited by me. I love this gym!

Who the hell is Brad Wendes?

Brad Wendes

Here's a little background on the author of this blog.

Brad Wendes on a photoshoot

I am currently aged 29 (and never going to have another birthday). I started gymnastics at the age of 10, and during my gymnastic career I have had the honour of performing in front of the British Royal Family and held 3 Guinness World Records. (I currently still hold the World Record for most vaults in one hour). I have worked in an around the Fitness industry since taking my first part time job in a gym at the age of 16 and being inspired by a number trainers and instructors.
From here I gained as many coaching qualifications as possible and trained under as many coaches as I could. This huge variety of influences helped shape me into a very well-rounded coach.

Over the years I have worked for a number of large fitness chains in a variety of roles, this really helped give me an insight into the fitness industry. I really found my feet by pursuing a dream of performing Parkour, Free Running and Acrobatics professionally (follow your dreams kids!)
I now run Team Kinetix, a coaching and performance team.

As a performer I have travelled around the world, performed on stage, television and film, even spent some time having literally run away with the circus. I led 'The Free Runners' to the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent in 2007. At present I still perform professionally as well as coaching future stunt performers at a top London Drama School.

In 2009 I purchased a Canon 550D DSLR to take pictures for my website and generally get nice images for promotional purposes. I fell head over heels in love with photography and now have a full studio lighting setup, backdrops and a wide selection of lenses for all situation.
All the time I've spent in front of the camera has really helped develop my skill behind the camera.

I am available for 1:1 coaching, small group training or seminars; I use my wide and varied experience in my own unique approach to training and coaching. Make it fun, make it challenging, make it relevant and make it work!
I am also available for general photographic work, portraiture, actors headshots, family portraits, fitness photography or event photography.

Brad Wendes on Britain's Got Talent 2007

Performing at Newquay Boardmasters 2010

Performing at British Fashion Awards 2008

Brad Wendes 2011

Parkour Training

Performing at Sex & The City World Premiere 2008

Where to start..?

At the end of 2010 I had to start fresh, finding somewhere to live, running Kinetix on my own. I won't go over old ground but in brief I was alone and completely unsure what the week ahead had in store, let alone the more distant future. Very dark times.
Having nothing to do (and feel most significantly NO INTERNET ACCESS!) I was kept sane by training every day, I had one 14kg Dumbbell and nothing else.

Every day I would do the following at least once:
100 Press Ups (minimum sets)
100 bodyweight Squats (2x 50reps)
100 Crunches (2x 50reps)
18 bicep curls with 14kg (3x 6reps)
30 bent over row with 14kg (3x 10reps)

Most days I would do this workout twice.

There was no method or thought behind this workout, it was simply something to occupy me and keep me sane while the world around me was crumbling.
During this time I was generally taking in 3 protein shakes per day as well as a portion of berries each morning.
Aside from the Maximuscle Promax 3 times per day and the berries, there was no diet plan.

In the space of 3 weeks I had acquired 16" upper arms and had less than 7% body fat, i could see every muscle and had visible veins where I didn't know veins existed.
My biggest regret about this time was that I have no photos of myself from it, I had the physique of a cover model!

By February 2011 there was light at the end of the tunnel, I had a new flat, I had a new car, work was coming in and I was dating a lovely girl.

I got content, I got complacent and priorities changed.

Don't get me wrong, I was much happier when my life started to come back together. But I no longer had the time or inclination to carry on my obsessive training regimen.

Over the course of 2011 I trained less and got on with life.

February 2011

Anti-Progress 2011