A quick bonus tip:

Originally coined by Chila, Peckham and Manheim, back in 1981 and used for the title of their course at Michigan State University: ‘‘Myofascial Release’’

What is fascia tissue?

Fascia is the body’s connective tissue. It's fibrous cobweb-like connective tissue found throughout the whole of the body runing from head to toe. Your fascia provides a framework that helps support and protect individual muscle groups, organs, and the entire body as a unit.

What is a strength curve?

A strength curve is a graphical representation of how a muscle generates and applies force in a specific direction. This force is then represented using three basic categories: ascending, descending and bell-shaped.

Eccentric contraction explained:

An eccentric contraction occurs when a muscle lengthens under load. An example of this would be when you're lowing yourself into a squatting position. Generally speaking, a muscle can be upto 150% stronger during an eccentric contraction than a concentric contraction. 

Concentric contraction explained:

A concentric contraction occurs when a muscle shortens. An example of this would be when you're coming up from a bottom of a squat.

What are muscle fascicles?

In anatomy, a muscle fascicle is a bundle of skeletal muscle fibers surrounded by perimysium, a type of connective tissue.

Who is Michael Goulden?

Michael Goulden is the founder of a training company and is a resistance training specialist in exercise mechanics. He has been integrating exercise mechanics with neuromuscular preparation to create a uniquely sustainable approach to health, fitness and performance.

Who is Charles Poliquin?

Charles Poliquin is recognised as one of the world’s most accomplished strength coaches, and has produced hundreds of medals, wins and personal bests for elite athletes in over 17 different sports, including athletes for both the summer and winter Olympics, the NHL, and NFL.

Who is Ben Pakulski?

Ben Pakulski, nicknamed the Pak-Man, holds an Honors Degree in Kinesiology and is an IFBB professional bodybuilder and winner of the 2008 Mr. Canada competition. In the IFBB, he finished 2nd twice in 2008.

What is a level 5 trainer?

Our level five trainers are our ‘elite’. They’re seriously experienced, and incredibly knowledgeable. They have all gone above and beyond, attending numerous industry events, clocking up multiple courses, and spending numerous hours learning through practical experience with clients. They have shown unparalleled dedication to becoming the best personal trainers possible, and have been recognised in the health and fitness industry for their level of excellence.

What is a level 4 trainer?

Our level four trainers have gone the extra mile. All of them have further industry qualifications, whether in nutrition, post-natal exercise, endurance or hypertrophy. They have attended workshops, webinars and courses to lift their learning above others in the area. They are likely to have been a personal trainer for several years, and be pushing to learn more about how they can offer the best possible advice to you.

What is a level 3 trainer?

Our level three trainers are fully qualified, with industry-recognised qualifications, but are relatively new to personal training. What they lack in experience, they will make up for in dedication and enthusiasm. All our level three trainers work closely with a more senior member of the team to ensure the Hall Training quality of service is maintained, and you make constant progress towards your goals.

Did you know?

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Jan 2017

Georgey's 12 week transformation - week 11

TAGS: 12 week transformation

 
So, I have one week of this diet and training plan left. I should really be done by now but I had a week off over Christmas so have tacked an extra week on the end. Half of me is really relieved it’s about to be over, the other half of me has got used to living like this. I am used to being hungry, I quite like going to the gym on my lunchbreak as it breaks up the day, I don’t mind getting up to train in the mornings as I’ve been doing that for three years anyway. 

Once next week is over, I won’t be able to spring straight back to what I was eating and how I was training before this. I will have to ‘reverse diet’, and gradually cut out the cardio and increase my calories. This basically translates to carrying on as usual but with a tiny bit more freedom. I think that will be a nice balance between the lifestyle I have now adapted to and the lifestyle I had before I started. 

Christmas wasn’t too much of a disaster. I managed to keep my training up to about 80% of what is usual/what was planned, but my eating wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped it would be. In all I think my training offset the damage but I didn’t make any progress, which is definitely not the worst case scenario. This is all down to my personality type. I am probably a bit too black and white for this kind of process. This is helpful when it comes to sticking to the diet, but I’m either ‘on’ with diet-mode or ‘off’, and Christmas was definitely off. I couldn’t get back into the swing of things until I came back to work this Tuesday.

So now it’s the final push. I am doing four weights sessions per week and at least three hours of cardio, and introducing some interval training. As well as that, Chris and I try to get out for a long walk every weekend, so physically I am quite drained. Mentally I’m feeling better than I have been for ages, and am quite tempted to say that this process, which started out feeling ridiculously tough, is actually okay once you’ve adapted to it. It’s just that the adaptation phase wasn’t very fun. 

One thing I’ve learned is that twelve weeks is too long to run this kind of programme for and stay 100% committed to it. It’s a quarter of the year and in that time you’re bound to have social events. I’ve had my birthday, Christmas, four Christmas parties, an anniversary, New Year’s Eve, etc. to contend with. For most of these events I managed to be really sensible, but planning a transformation over Christmas wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. My advice to anyone wanting to do something similar would be to gradually and sustainably diet down to a point at which their ideal weight/body fat percentage is in reach, and then absolutely blitz it for six to eight weeks. That’s a length of time you can plan around and stay committed for. If you try to diet for any longer then unless you’re a superhero or fitness model, or have a really specific purpose (i.e. stage competition) then you’d be wise to accept and expect a tiny bit of flexibility. Staying 100% motivated for quarter of the year is tough.

Going into next week I am feeling really positive. I know I won’t reach the goal I had set out to, but I have learned more about my body now, and know that once I get to a lower body fat percentage the rate of fat loss drops dramatically. I wasn’t realistic about that to begin with, and so am instead concentrating on the progress that I’ve made. We will be shaking up my training which I am looking forward to a lot – I can’t stand to do another deadlift – and just generally trying to take every opportunity available for exercise and good diet during the final push. So close now.

Until next week,
Georgey's signature