PB DAY MINDSET

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So much time goes into physically preparing us for PB day. For transformation it has been a 10 week lead up, however, mental preparation is also an important part often overlooked.

Often people are physically capable of completing the lift but almost freak out with the thought of heavy weight on their shoulders or on top of them. Below are five key strategies to implement to take your lifting to the max.

1. Your first 2 lifts (this is for one-rep max lifters, you also get 3!) should be something you have done before and are comfortable with doing without too much stress. This makes you feel great and starts you off in a positive fashion.

2. Engrain Coaching cues: You know what and how to perform each lift, so don’t focus on too much. Pick 2 or 3 cues that you don’t struggle with or find really important and make sure you do these. (eg: My bench press cue is rolling the shoulders back and down)

3. Visualise the lift: Whilst you wait, visualize you successfully lifting your goal 1RM. Picture the entire lift (the weight on your shoulders, the gym around you, people cheering and you being successful)

4. Meditate: This is where you get yourself ready, a couple of secs/ minutes before, calm yourself. I like to close my eyes, count backward from 10, nice and slow, breathing on each count. When you’re done, open your eyes and say something positive (eg: I’ve got this) out loud!

5. Don’t approach until you’re ready: This has a part a and b. Part A: Don’t approach the bar until you’re ready. If something happens and you’re not ready, step away, reset and then come back. Don’t stand there hyping yourself up or waiting. Part B: Don’t lift until you’re set up is correct. You should have a routine on how you set up for a lift. (For a bench press, I cement my feet, and drive myself down using the rack. My Index finger is always on the knurling line and then I pull the shoulder back and down) if this isn’t done, the lift won’t be successful. TAKE YOUR TIME, there is no rush and make sure you are ready.
Follow these 5 steps to achieve your best lift!!

Coach Zac

PUT YOUR FEET UP

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HOW TO BEAT STALLS

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Stopped getting results?

Often you will come across a time where you find that progress stalls and you feel like you need to do something different. You’re not completely wrong.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Albert Einstein

Your body will adapt to training stimulus – to continue making progress the body needs more stimulus. Basically, this means if you come in every Monday and squat with a 12.5 kg DB your body will adapt to this and nothing will change until you reach for something harder like a 15kg DB.

Here are 3 ways to overcome stalls in strength, fat loss or muscle growth.

1. Increase training volume/ intensity and provide more overload: This can be done by lifting heavier, shorter rest periods, more reps/sets or more time under tension.

2. Allow enough recovery (SLEEP, NUTRITION, HYDRATION): Doing too much volume when training and not adequately recovering can hinder the ability to adapt.

3. Back to Basics: Sometimes you lose touch with quality technique. Taking a step back, dropping the weight (and your ego) and ensuring that you have good technique and using a full range of motion (eg: Squatting all the way down) can work wonders.

Coach
Zac

 

5 TIPS TO A BETTER DEADLIFT

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Here are 5 cues to a better deadlift:

 

  1. Start with the bar over your shoelace knot
  2. The bar (or handle kb…) should be directly under your shoulders, so that a straight line would be present from your collar bone to the bar (see image)
  3. Take the slack out of the bar: The bar is smaller than the hole in the plates and as such can move around without actually lifting the plates. Start by slightly building up pressure where you feel the bar hit the top of the plate and the clinking sound stops.
  4. Press the ground away: A common mistake is trying to lift the bar and compromising your back position. Instead,
    try to picture that you are leg pressing the ground away and just extending the knees.
  5. Finish with a strong lock out: There are two common types of mistakes here, the first is over locking out and hyperextending the back or not locking out at all. Think of this last bit like a glute bridge and that you are driving your hips into the bar.

Coach Zac

 

TIPS FOR OVER-EATERS AND BINGERS

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If you know you have a bad relationship with food and or have a habit of over-eating and binge eating here are my best 5 tips to build a strong relationship with food and yourself.

 

1.Mindful Eating: The first step in build a relationship with food is focusing on your body’s signs and signals. It involves recognizing when you’re hungry and when you are full and eating in accordance with these feelings. This will also develop into a sense for what your body requires in food, whether it’s carbs or more protein, the body will always tell you what it wants, you just need to listen.
This may be hard at the start, that’s okay! Aim to just focus on trying to feel these and it will become easier over time.

2.Regular Eating: A great strategy to employ is regular eating to combat binge eating episodes. If you are full it is very hard to continue eating compared to when you are limiting and hungry. So, the equal first step (step 1 and 2 should be done at the same time) is to eat with less than 4 hours between meals or snack.s The best method is to have 3 meals and 3 snacks a day spread out whilst being busy between and not eating outside of the meals and snacks.

3.Full Range of Food: This step is only for people who have a list of banned food which is unhealthy and considered bad. No food on its own is unhealthy, some better than others but a wide variety of food is healthier than a limited variety. It is also important to note that this does not include people who have a list of food that can’t eat due to allergies or intolerances.
Start by building a list of banned foods and ordering them from most okay to absolutely forbidden. Then aim to slowly reintroduce them starting at the top of the list and working down, this can be done at any pace you feel comfortable with and is determined by how you feel about each food, it might be one new food a fortnight or once a month it doesn’t matter.

4. Stop checking your weight:
Your weight does not stay the same over time, by drinking 1L of water you will in turn gain 1 kg of weight. People who consistently check weight can be caught riding a roller coaster of emotions.

Instead weigh yourself once a fortnight and the same time of day and the plot it on a graph (our Inbody machine does this for us) and track it over a longer period, doing this will show you real results, where you will see a constant gradual decline.

5.Mindset:
This step is the hardest to develop and as such is the last step, however, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try this with step 1. Whenever you feel the need to binge or find you are losing control of what you are eating (in a single meal) take a walk to the bathroom. Here try closing your eyes and counting backward from 20, take a deep breath and say out loud “I am finished” or “I am not going to binge” walk back refreshed and full of confidence!

Coach
Zac

 

THE DOWN LOW ON CORE TRAINING

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We often get asked about the best core training exercises, so I have decided to explain the different types of core exercises.

Core training can be broken into 3 main categories:

Bracing: This involves exercises such as Planking and Hollow holds, bracing is the foundation for core exercises

Flexion Based Movements: This includes movements typically seen in ab exercises like sit-ups and crunches.

Anti-Movements: This includes palof press (pictured here) and weighted carries and is the best type of core training for sports players or for everyday core strength. This is translatable to everyday life, like carrying a single bag of shopping to the car without arching over.

When training core movements it is important to use a variety of these different types of core movements, however, it is also important to understand that your “core” should be activated and therefore is training constantly. Using Bracing techniques in all exercises like squats and deadlifts will not only improve your technique and strength but also train your core.

Here is a bracing technique to try next session. Think of your rib cage and how it is currently sitting, whether it is tilted or straight and attempt to straighten it. Imagine that your bottom rib is tied to your pelvis and that it is getting pulled into your hips. You are then going to draw your belly button in and hold this tension. This is your brace position!

Coach
Zac

Protein, Fat & Carbs

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Macronutrients are the largest class of nutrients the body requires and include protein, carbohydrates, and fats. If you’ve heard anyone talking about “macros,” they’re referring to these major nutrients. The amounts and ratio of macronutrients a person needs every day vary by age, lifestyle (sedentary, active, or very active), gender, health status, and health goals.

What Are Carbohydrates?                                                                                                                              Carbohydrates include starches, sugars, and fiber. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories (kcal) per gram. Your body uses carbohydrates to fuel your body. Carbohydrates come in two forms: complex and simple. Simple carbohydrates include sugars like table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Technically, honey and maple syrup also fall into this category. Complex carbohydrates are usually only described as starches that contain fiber, but this simplistic definition includes foods like whole wheat pasta and white potatoes.

What Is Protein?
Protein is the building block responsible for the growth and maintenance of your eyes, skin, hair, nails, organs, and muscle tissue. During digestion, protein is broken down into smaller chains called peptides and individual units called amino acids for absorption.Protein contains 4 calories per gram.

What Is Fat?
Weighing in at 9 calories (kcal) per gram, fat is the densest source of energy in the diet. In the body, fats make up cell membranes, steroids, cholesterol, and 60% of your brain.[7] Fats support the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, cushion your organs, and act as your largest form of energy storage.
If you want to learn more about how to calculate your Macros ask your coach today.

BEING A PERFECTIONIST ISN’T PERFECT

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When moving towards a goal you will experience ups and downs, that is natural. Never giving up is the hard part, don't be too hard on yourself during the lows, no one is perfect.   

If you're making progress and moving in the right direction without being perfect, then that's perfect.

Why training hard isn’t the answer

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Training smarter and not training harder, longer and more often will keep you feeling fresh and reduce your risk of injuries and help keep muscle. Training harder, longer and more often will increase your risk of injury, make you fatigued and limit your gains. Instead here is a list of things to do inside and out of the gym that will have more benefit.

Preparation, activation and mobility: The first thing you should be doing before every session is a proper and adequate warm up. Follow the order of SMR, mobility and activation. Stretching and mobilising body parts that are about to be hit, activating the supporting and major muscles and raising your heart rate, getting you ready to go!

Train with Intent: Giving 120% of your focus and energy to every rep, every set and every exercise (yes, this includes burpees). Focusing on being inside each muscle, feel the stretch and contract, thinking about what you should be doing, what is your form like. Giving 120% will make each rep more valuable and become a key to getting results.

Track your weight: It doesn’t matter what type of training you do, tracking your weights is important. The theory of progressive overload (Look at Tegan’s post last week) suggests that something needs to become hard each workout to continue getting results, the easiest way is to go heavy. Even if it’s a small amount it is still more! So next time push yourself and go heavy, you will be surprised what you can lift.

Rest, Recovery then Repeat: Your results will only move at the same pace as you recover, so recovery is king and SLEEP is king of recovery. Ever heard the saying ‘gains are made while you sleep”? Well its 100% right, sleep is the most important recovery factor. So, try and aim for at least 8 hours sleep and you will be on your way to results!
Injury Rehab: First let’s clear this up, if you’re injured you can still train 99% of the time, so come talk to us for some help. If nursing an injury make sure you take care of it, get it assessed but then actually follow the rehab exercise they suggest. If you need help with strengthening from an injury or you currently having some issues come see us, we are here to help.

Mindset for fat loss

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You have a goal to lose a 10kg in 6 months and choose to do an extreme diet that is over-restrictive
and cuts out a food you love completely. You last the first week and have great success dropping 2kg however the second week comes and you are struggling to get motivated already! Now the chances of you completing the diet for 6 months is greatly diminished and therefore you are less likely to reach your goal

The goal to lose 10kg in 6 months is great and is possible however the choice of an extreme diet is the downfall and the mindset to which you decided to use it is the bigger problem. You were looking for quick results and something that is not sustainable. This is called a rigid mindset which leads you
to failure.
For success adopt a flexible mindset, one that understands the goal is a process and is more sustainable and better for your overall health. A flexible mindset has 3 important qualities:

1. Adaptability: Being able to adapt to different situations and obstacles in a consistent
manner is going to determine how long your diet will last and continue to maintain fat loss.

2. Habits: For fat loss to be achieve and maintain the program needs to become a lifestyle
change. There should be no “on and off switch” and the sooner you accept that this is a
habit the faster you will break through

3. Long-term perspective: Understand the process takes time and that a gradual approach is
more successful for habit formation. Understand why restrictive diets won’t last and that a
better approach will gradually build and will incorporate holidays, re-feeds and maintenance
blocks.