The Best Beach Body Builder of All Time.

With what you’ll find below you’ll never again struggle when the summer comes around.

All you need do is follow these 3 key bits of advice.

1 – Have a plan
2 – Be consistent
3 – Eat appropriately

All bluster aside, when it comes to looking good in the summer sun I’m going to level with you, it’s too late.

Unless you already look half decent with your clothes off then a quick 12 week, 90day or blast of training won’t do much for you.

True there might be a few small results due to shock.

Yet in the grand scheme of things you’ll not really look all that different, and on top of that you’ll rebound back to a place where you have higher body fat than you did initially because you feel that a treat is well deserved.

No, it’s not.

Being brutally honest if your body fat is excessive, and just for the sake of numbers we shall say about 16% in men and 26% in women then you’ve got problems.

No short term fix will ever provide that which you seek.

Self Confidence.

This is because you need to be willing to entirely change your lifestyle, make compromises and even remove some habits that are just not useful for you.

As such don;t work about getting beach or holiday ready this year because it’s too late, start planning what you’re going to achieve for next year and start working on it today.

If this is too much for you to do alone then hire a trainer.

Believe it or not being the bad guy isn’t the nicest way to live life, however as a trainer myself I’m not willing to lower myself to telling you wha you want to hear because it won’t help you.

Hurtful or not, there is little point in me lying to you.

I’ve come into contact with too many people that sit in front of me with tears in their eyes because their partner won’t touch them, can’t get aroused or just doesn’t find them attractive any more.

This is crippling and no amount of ‘body positivity’ will change that, only you can and that means changing your life.

So I guess the big question is this –

Do you want to change?

It’s okay to say no, just realise that eventually it will be too late to undo all the damage and like many you will blame the world & it’s dog for your owns elf created problems, then expect everyone else to accommodate to you and perhaps even fix them for you too.

Do me a favour, please, leave your thoughts below.

Has what I’ve written upset/offended you, if so why?

Does it strike a cord that makes you want to dry, if so why?

Finally, will you do something about it or just continue lying to yourself by saying “I’m not that bad.” or “It’s only a few pounds” and finally “Everyone gains weight as they get older.”.

By all means lie to everyone else, just don’t lie to yourself.

Oh before we go, the best Beach Body Builder of All Time is this – Better lifestyle choices.

Enjoy
Ross

Bad Good Messages

The negative narrative behind positive messages.

For example – body positivity.

It was meant to be about accepting yourself in a deep & meaningful way.

Not being ashamed of any differences of deviances from the assembly line models.

Essentially being happy to be an individual.

All while still striving to improve mentally, physically and ensuring your health is in good standing.

Sadly this is what many manipulated it to mean:

“It’s okay to be morbidly obese, or have unhealthy eating/drinking/substances habits.”

No… No.

This is bending a well intentioned message so that people can justify letting themselves go to shit.

Pure foolishness and it’s affected many a living generation.

Just take a look at the teens of this current world.

How many are carrying too much excess body-fat because of this message and the influence of Insta-famous people that spout the same nonsense that does nothing for health.

A lot, that’s the answer.

Obviously someone will jump up and down claiming that I’m trying to have all people be cove models of dangerously thin.

Not at all, however there is no need to be in poor health (unless for unfortunate accident or medical condition).

It’s just the result of poor choices and a world that allows, and even promotes it.

You’re not evil for wanting better health and a physique you’d be proud to show in the bedroom with the lights on.

You’ll find many messages have an underlying narrative that is negative.

Look at all the current Pandemic hyperbole.

It’s less about saving lives as it is about saving face and gaining control through fear.

That’s another topic though.

What messages have you seen recently, or over the years that started off well intentioned that got manipulated to serve a poor cause?

Please leave your thoughts below.

Enjoy,
Ross

Things get harder or you simply get better

“You’ve got it easy now, just you wait until you’re my age, then you’ll understand.” – Everyone over 30.

 

Since just watching a hilarious video on the difference between being 20 & 30 it got me thinking.

 

Once I’d stopped chuckling away that is.

 

A lot of people will say that your body slows down, this is often in reference to your metabolism.

 

Meaning you’ll gain fat easier and find it harder to lose.

 

Next is that you’re not a strong, building sucre take more time, and basically as you get older it all gets harder as opposed to when you’re young and seemingly invincible.

 

To be fair, this is true for ‘everyone else’.

 

What do I mean by ‘everyone else’, glad you asked, I shall explain.

 

Usually the people that chime on about the above, especially the topic of middle aged spread and finding it harder to lose fat build muscle etc.

 

These people are the ones who didn’t really give any though to looking after their bodies in their formative years.

 

Many didn’t build decent based of athleticism or strength.

 

In fact, personally I know a lot of people who peaked in high school, as the term goes.

 

You seem them now, out of shape, in poor health, often with a can of monster & some calorie laden snack in hand.

 

They wills top to have a chat, usually saying who ‘good’ at whatever they used to be. How they used to be ‘lean & muscular’ and any/all that other suff they used to be.

 

Essentially they’re trying to save their ego/pride.

 

Now speaking purely for myself and my experiences this is usually because as a kid/teen I didn’t peak in high school, or even sooner after that.

 

Nope, it took decades to work, now being in my 30’s there is only one truth – I’m still getting better with age.

 

Yep, even reading that I know how it sounds, yet it’s true.

 

While personally the physique, strength and athleticism possessed are nothing spectacular, it’s far beyond that of the average person in their 30’s.

 

While it’s easy to say it all gets harder as we get older.

 

(Which it can do, if we don’t prepared/adjust accordingly)

 

Usually the struggle is the result of you just making poor choices.

 

No if’s, but’s or excuses, you simply make bad choices.

 

Of course medical exceptions or crippling injuries & unfortunate events aside as those can cause quite the significant trouble and require a shift in priorities.

 

For those without legitimately andy of above, you just got lazy and made bad choices.

 

Will me writing this help or miraculously have people change their minds and se/find a better path?

 

Nope, not in the slightest.

 

Yet there is far too much positive smoke that gets blown up peoples bottoms these days, thus it doesn’t require me to do it as well.

 

How you are in life (exceptions above mentioned) is a result of the choices you make or choose not to make.

 

Take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror.

 

Are you happy with what is staring back at you?

 

Be honest, if you say yes then that’s awesome.

 

However it’s okay to say no.

 

The ‘body positive brigade’ may shame you into feeling that you need to accept not being physically at your best, or eating more nutritious food because that’s somehow shaming other people that don’t do the same, however you’re better off ignoring people like that truth be told.

 

There’s no shame in wanting to keep you body physically in shape and eat well for your health.

 

Give the above some deep thought.

 

In truth it doesn’t really get harder as you get older if you don’t let it, and it’s only the case for those that want it to be because it’s the prefect excuse to someone who ‘used to be’ something to cling on to that.

 

You don’t need to be one of them, remember that.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Nutritional Nightmare

“What sort of things should I be eating?” 

 

This has to be one of the most commonly asked nutrition questions.

 

Provided you’re over the age of 12 there is a high probability you understand that eating more natural foods, or what many call whole foods is the way to go.

 

What he question above is really asking is this:

 

“What can I do to still eat the way I currently do and make the progress/recomposition I require?”

 

Sadly in my old grumpiness I tend to have a blank expression on my face when this is asked.

 

Often followed by myself asking the persons if they ant the truth or what they want to hear.

 

Many get offended, as you can imagine.

 

There are literally hundreds of thousands of books on how you can make thousands of meals with minimal ingredients that you could literally grow/raise at home.

 

Our issue is that as a people we’ve gotten lazy and too used to convenience, which is also why many are now obese.

 

^ You waist wants to be ideally no bigger than half your height in inches as an absolute max, ideally it’s not near that.

 

So if you’re 70″ tall, then a 35″ waist is the largest yours would ver want to be, and ideally it could do with being a couple of inches shy of that.

 

Excess visceral fat is the worst kind for peoples health.

 

If you’ve got enough belly for multiple people then instead of asking what you should eat, you’d do well to ask yourself this – what do I currently eat?

 

^^ Make a list of all the things you consume, don’t lie to yourself either about it.

 

Once you’ve got the list, seek out any comfort/convenience foods and aim for their opposites.

 

Oh, this doesn’t mean making brownies at home, while that is a nice thing to do occasionally it’ll do little to save you from what was chasing those people in the old Nike adverts.

 

While I understand it’s tough for some.

 

The change won’t happen from being told what to eat, it has to come from within you because unless you really want to change or improve you life, well, you won’t.

 

A harsh truth people don’t want to hear, however that is my answer to the very first question.

 

You should investigate this thoroughly.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Your Excuse, Your Failure

“It gets harder as you get older.”

 

Well yes, but actually no.

 

This is something I’ve heard no less than a dozen times since January the 1st, and from people in their 30’s.

 

Okay, your 30, not dead and the reason you’ve gained fat, lost muscle and feel shit about yourself is because you allowed it to happen because life got comfortable.

 

Yep, it’s all on you, the universe or other cosmic entity just went with the choices you decide to make.

 

Age, like having kids or some phantom/elf diagnosed medical condition, is the perfect excuse for people to hide behind because to question it will have you almost burned at the steak.

 

In full candour, life it simply hard there are very few breaks given and the struggle is real.

 

In this knowledge you have two real choices:

 

1 – Do the best you can with what you’ve been given
2 – Hide behind excuses like everyone else

 

There isn’t much more to it really.

 

Yes barriers, unfortunate events and general shit will crop up, that is inevitable however it’s how you choose to deal with it that counts.

 

Excuse or effort, it’s your call.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from free of the above because so many excuses have come from my lips, so well thought out that I almost even convinced myself of their validity and who they truly stopped me moving forwards.

 

This of course was all bullshit, they were just excuses that gave me a reason to give up and not feel too bad about it when the truth of the matter was so much simpler.

 

It wasn’t important enough to me.

 

That is literally what it comes down to, and in addition to that I learned from a very young age that telling people this, that things or they didn’t matter went down like a lead ballon. So I started making excuses that would protect everyone and give me an out.

 

All bullshit really and as I got older and less worried about the world and the people in it I found my attitude evolved into what it is now –

 

‘I will tell you the truth regardless, you can choose to response or react because I’m done.’

 

Excuses come in may shapes and sizes, as do our legitimate barriers/obstacles.

 

There is one crucial difference between them though, a barrier/obstacle will have options to overcome it and still slow you to move forwards, even if slowly, essentially they simply slow you down and will eventually no longer be an issue/consideration.

 

An excuse on the other hand will be there forever because you’re allowing it to be there because you’ve created it and to remove it will involve you being 100% honest with yourself in the fact that you put it there to sabotage yourself and give you a reason to fail, quite, give up and stay weak or helpless.

 

Excuse or effort, your choice.

 

If it really means something to you then you’ll find a way, like life.

 

Life will always find a way to keep growing, you should too.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

9 Magical Methods to Physical Progress in 2020

Only kidding, these aren’t magical.

 

They will work though provided you put in the effort and stop making excuses like you have every year since you found out that excuses kept you safe.

 

Harsh as it sounds people fail all the time.

 

Mostly due to their own ineptitude and lack of willing.

 

You see if you need a reason to do something you’ll find it, regardless of how monumental the task you will find the exact means you need to justify the end.

 

Keeping this in mind here are your 9 Magical Methods 💪

 

1 – Public Shame

 

Make your intentions loud & clear for all to hear.

 

You’d also find that a very public penalty or forfeit may keep your head in the game, something like you will buy all your best friends clothing for an entire year.

 

^ Have this written up in a contract that is legally binding, honestly don’t fuck about, actually have a price to pay if you fail because talk of punishment is cheap, make it a real possibility.

 

2 – Hire a Professional

 

Pay someone to get you to your goal, and pay someone that is expensive, literally at the top end of the price scale.

 

So much so that it requires you to sacrifice various creature comforts and habits to pay for their services, make your sacrifice mean something so that if you fail you’ll know you’ve let yourself down.

 

3 – Ask children for their opinions

 

Yep, kids are the best critics because they tell the truth.

 

If you’re fat a child will tell you, same goes for being ugly, having bad hygiene or sucking at sport.

 

These unforgiving little buggers are the ones you want to listen to, not people your own age because chances they’re also in a sad state as well and will tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear.

 

4 – Get Upset/Offended

 

Yep, listen to all the things that evoke strong emotions and make you feel uncomfortable because you will always move away from pain.

 

Being fitness related of course, if people are talking lumps out of your character for no reason then high 5 them with a metal chair.

 

5 – Stop acting like a child

 

This means preparing meals from scratch, taking responsibility for yourself and admitting that it’s no one else fault except your own.

 

You’re not in control of everything in your life, yet one aspect you can take charge in is your physical state, so do it.

 

6 – Get new friends

 

Your old fiends are holding you back because you’re ‘one of them’.

 

Look at the 5 people closest to you, if they’re all carrying execs body fat, unhealthy, excuse making machine then chances are you will be as well.

 

Find people that make you better not hold you back.

 

7 – Remove all food temptations from your home

 

Secret eating is common.

 

I knew a chap who would always talk about how clean he was eating yet still held quite the impressive amount of belly fat.

 

Despite his bluster his partner found all his empty chocolate bar wrappers kidding down the side of the bed and made everyone aware in a hilarious social media shaming.

 

Don’t be the person that lies because you only hurt yourself in the long run by doing so.

 

If you genuinely struggle and need help them please ask for it.

 

8 – Find people to help

 

As mentioned above, asking for help is crucial in success.

 

It’s not weak, it’s not bad, it’s a bloody good idea.

 

Finding a group of people that will help pull you up to higher standards is the way forwards, it will be tough, you’ll mentally feel like the worst person in the room because you probably are.

 

Even if faced with this fact don’t crump like a wet richmond biscuit in tetley tea, you’re worth so much more than that.

 

Have the same level of faith in yourself that some of us have in you and take the leap, don’t wait and think, just take it.

 

9 – Listen to people that have been where you are

 

You’re not along you know.

 

A lot of people struggle mentally because of their physical state.

 

It is very much my belief that we live in a superficial world, and deep down I feel you know this too.

 

As such people need to find a place they’re physically happy before they can make any real progress mentally, this is also confirmed by the science too, physically healthier people suffer less mental strife (better balance hormones, neurotransmitters, etc).

 

Find people to talk to that have made the journey already.

 

Listen to their story, hear their struggle, how they got through it and what it meant to them in the end.

 

You see it’s not being a physical specimen that we truly desire, it’s what comes after that, this is the real goal.

 

Self confidence & knowing we’re okay.

 

^ That’s what people want.

 

None of the above is magical, it is however all relevant.

 

You should investigate this thoroughly.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Nothing = 2020

Consistency is troublesome for many people.

 

The idea of having to repeat something again and again and agin just doesn’t take well.

 

Given we’re two days away from reigning in a new year it’ll be time for all the –

 

“2018 broke me, 2019 taught me, 2020, let’s do this!”

 

😂😂😂

 

Such heroic nonsense.

 

In the words of Conner McGregor – “You’ll do nothin”

 

If it take the 1st of January for you to pull your finger out I’m not afraid to say that my friend you’ve all ready failed.

 

You see if you see a reason to become better and change your life, well you’d find it.

 

Regardless of that reason you’d find it because you want to.

 

So many need things to start on a Monday, the 1st of a month, after and event or whatever, it’s just not worth it, given how many millions fail what makes you think you’ll be any different?

 

True many other millions succeed, yet no one ever asks them about what made the succeeded, they merely admire from afar or write in envy.

 

Question for you, why will you be consistent this time around?

 

What makes 2020 so different from 2000, or 2010, or any other time you’ve talked a good game and not delivered on it because as much as seeing people do well is truly heart warming, there is so much hot air and bluster it’s just too tiresome to even pretend to care enough to support people these days.

 

I’m sure some will read the above and proclaim that people like me are the reason others fail, because obviously we have that much sway over the minds of the many.

 

In my experience change happens for these two reason:

 

– People become too uncomfortable to take anymore

– Heartbreak

 

Rarely do people change for positive reasons.

 

Sad as it is, many don’t change because they’re comfortable or happy, they do it because life has finally become too shit for them to stay in the place they’re in and it’s no longer giving them even and ounce of what they want anymore.

 

So my dear 6 readers, if I even have 6 😂

 

Why will 2020 be any different from all the year before it?

 

Please do leave your thoughts and motivations below.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

How to Keep Clients Motivated

A question from many a new and even seasoned trainer is this:

 

“How do you keep your clients accountable & motivated once external factors/events have ceased?”

 

*Skip to the bottom for 3 key point to this question*

 

A truly great question with only one answer –

 

You can’t.

 

Sad as it seems you personally can’t force extrinsic, internal or consistent desire/purpose onto a person, they must choose it for themselves.

 

Alas when a person no longer wants what they want, it’s over.

 

That ship has sailed and won’t returning to port anytime soon because they’ve gotten what they needed from that little endeavour.

 

One thing you can do as a trainer/coach is to find out what it did for them mentally and emotionally.

 

You see knowing a persons emotional triggers is key.

 

Very few have the mental capacity to do things for the long term or the the greater good at the sacrifice of current and even foreseeable comfort, people are just too weak.

 

Harsh as that sounds it’s more often the case than many would admit.

 

We give up on something because it no longer fulfils an emotional need that demands satiating.

 

Motivation is fleeting.

 

Delving into the realms of neurotransmitters you will find that people are saying it’s because of seeking a hit of dopamine, which might be true, however there could also be a serotonin hit, or GABA rise and perhaps it’s more along the lines of and adrenaline hit.

 

Truth is you just don’t know, we just don’t know.

 

It’s all educated guess work without having someones vitals, bloods and serum levels constantly checked after every smalls action.

 

The best we can do is observe a persons patterns.

 

Everyone has a pattern, one that follows the trigger-action-reward flow (or cue-craving-response-reward, it’s all the same thing essentially, just with different semantics).

 

This is one of inherent flaws with goal setting.

 

Often times it’s based on a short term reward and thus the suffering or perceived pain is minimal and outweighed for the time being, so people can stick to something until they get what they ‘want’.

 

Once that is gone though they will return to old habits because nothing has changed, they haven’t grown as a person, if anything they’ve simply reinforced a poor behaviour that means when they feel bad all they need to is a little of XY or Z to feel better, then they can return to the status quo for another few months of years.

 

Much like an abusive relationship that people stay in.

 

They’re choosing to be there, you can’t get them out because they don’t want to leave as there is something they’re getting from it, a feeling, something they will never admit they want/need/enjoy from it all.

 

^^Sick as that sounds it’s more true than I’d like it to be.

 

To help people stay motivated is not the key to change.

 

A desire to change is.

 

Obvious as it sounds it is.

 

Yet you’ll need to know why someone would want to change emotionally, this means delving into how bad they feel about a situation or themselves.

 

From here it will be about finding out how they want to feel, then way they don’t feel they deserve to feel that way and constantly self sabotage themselves.

 

You can even be direct and ask someone this –

 

Why don’t you want to feel better in yourself?

 

What keeps you in the place you’re currently in and why choose to stay here?

 

Obviously you’ll get all the excuses, some will be logical yet they’re still excuses at the end of the day, however they can all yield understanding and that is what you need to help people.

 

To keep someone ‘motivated/accountable’ is akin to trying to ice-skate up hill, not impossible just really difficult.

 

Instead of trying to create change with insignificant carrots you might needs a significant stick instead.

 

We are more likely to move away from great pain than towards small pleasure.

 

This doesn’t mean bullying people, it does however mean being strong enough in yourself to be honest with people and take the brunt of their resistance (it will be hostility towards you, and potentially even nasty personal attacks).

 

You see before you can help change people you’d first do well to know yourself, like really know yourself.

 

Would you be willing to air all your dirty laundry?

 

All those times you felt like absolute worthless shit?

 

Perhaps even the time you climbed a tree rope in hand and subsequently hand the branch snap and send you tumbling to the floor (yes, the impact and mud brought things into perspective).

 

When a new client comes to you you need to delve deeply.

 

Find out what is really going on mentally & emotionally.

 

Also remember that some people don’t want to change or help themselves, they just want a quick fix to not feel like shit for a while – basically this is 95% of PT and how PT’s run their business, it’s all about the short term.

 

Despite saying they care for people and want to help in reality they just want a pay cheque, and this is cool, however don’t claim benevolent words or to be something you’re not.

 

If money is your goal, be honest about it.

 

If people are what really matter then be prepared to be financially poor for quite a while, on the plus side you’ll be spiritually rich because helping would be your payment.

 

Anyway, that’s a little irrelevant and I’ve begun to ramble, again.

 

Here are three things to remember to keep people moving forwards:

 

1 – Their ‘motivation’ has to be deeply emotional.

2 – Long term change wants to be the focus.

3 – Don’t pander to their bullshit/excuses, nip those int he bud immediately otherwise you’ll lose any chance for real change.

 

Any further questions please leave them below.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Well that’s just not cricket

Misleading before and after photos.

Believe it or not you see these all the time.

The amazing results you see that are often claimed to have happened in such a short space of time can often be up to 10 years apart.

The same is true for the shots that people have angles the shit out of, filtered to within an inch of existence and sharpened so much that you’ll get cut just by gazing upon them.

Yep, after seeing plenty of colleagues/friends share their transformations photo’s to gain a nice hefty chunk of appreciation this elf us that have been in their lives for some years recognise the before picture, and it’s old.

These will of course pack the desired punch needed.

While the photos are all real, the story is misleading and that just bugs me.

If you’re going to compare a photo of yourself then 6-12months apart is a good idea as it will allow you to share the lessons you’ve learned in that time with your followers and fans with some honesty and for the purpose of helping them, not just boosting your likes.

This is of course not to say that a collage of your journey from day one isn’t worth of praise, oh no it is, so long as you exhaling how long the expanse of time covered from photo 1 to this present one is.

A year by year comparison will do many things:

1 – Show how progress is slow and change is gradual (for the most part)
2 – That consistency wins out in the end
3 – Change need applied effort (explained in lessons learned in each photo/reflection)
4 – Provide a true account of your journey, the progress/ & regress because that happens too
5 – Keeps you humble

We could list many more things here however I’d like to keep the one short for once.

In closing, be honest with your photos, your stories and worry less about trying to be impressive for the sake of it.

Share your knowledge, experience and let people know that you too struggled to get where you are and that one day, if that’s what they want, they can get there as well.

Enjoy,
Ross

What most PT’s don’t want you to know

I’m going to let you in on a secret held closely by those in the fitness industry.

The majority of us have no real clue what we’re doing.

Honestly, in the early days apart from knowing a few basics on from (even that is questionable) when it comes to putting together training programs we’re woefully underprepared.

This is speaking from experience.

Initially what got given to people was nothing more than copies of what had been found in books or learned in passing by those more experienced.

This wasn’t really programming, it was merely getting people to exercise and expend energy.

Don’t get me wrong, for the larger population of gym-goers all they want is to feel like they’ve done something, they care little for the details or even if what they’re doing is optimal for them.

So long as they enjoy it that’s all they care about.

Do you know what, that’s 100% cool because if it keeps people training then it doesn’t really matter if their coach/trainer doesn’t really know what’s going on, so long as the client is happy that’s the priority.

It took me years to really get a good grasp on programming.

Even then there was still a lot of gaps.

Of course, over time a deeper understanding has been gained and now more can be seen in each successful program/protocol that is out there.

Has this improved my ability to coach/plan?

Yep, without a doubt.

Has it been something I will share with my clients?

Nope, most don’t want to know. They just want to be told what to do, how hard to work and that’s it.

Sadly the only people care about the quality and details in training programs are the coaches (and a few unique clients).

Thus you don’t have to be good at the above to do well in fitness, you just have to give the people what they want, a solid business tactic.

One word of warning though, the approach of giving people methods without understanding will only really work on beginners.

This is why you rarely see a PT/Coach in a gym wh works with anyone at the intermediate level or higher (they lack the depth of knowledge to do so), and do you know what, this is a good thing because it’s almost more hassle than it’s worth.

Being someone who has gone through various stages of learning and coaching I can tell you this much, no one really cares how much you know.

No one cares that a decent program can take several hours to write, in fact, most will be just as happy with something you cut & paste from the internet (cookie cutter stuff).

The only person that will ever know is you.

If you want to delve this deep then these three books are good places to start:

– Super Training by Mel C. Siff and Yuri Verkhoshansky
– Periodisation by Tudor Bompa
– The Transfer of Training in Sport by A.P. Bondarchuk

You can also find a lot of great info online for free.

Another gem of a book is Viking Warrior Conditioning by Kenneth Jay.

The choice is yours, my friends.

Enjoy,
Ross