Fitness Simplified with Anthony Trebble Training #07

Well this week I am writing whilst on my very rainy travels down to London for a course with one of the best in the industry Phil Learney all about hypertrophy training (muscle building.) If I want to be a better coach for my clients it is imperative that I continue to learn and understand the intricacies of training.

This week has been a big week for me as I announced that I will be moving gyms from Inspire to Complete Fitness. I’ve loved my time with Inspire, the team are brilliant as are the members but I miss the gym floor and also the wide range of equipment gives me more opportunity to help people who have gone to a commercial gym, looked at the equipment wondering what the fuck is going on and walked out. Well this gym fits the bill of having the equipment you’d fine plus more BUT without being overcrowded so I am super excited for 1^st April.

Right enough about me let’s help you..

7/14/28 day challenges.. do they have a place?

If you’ve followed me on Instagram for a while you’ll know that I am not the biggest fan of this kind of thing but with social media you never get time to explain in full as there are nuances to this.

So why the beef?

There are a lot of coaches who care more about what you look like at the end of the challenge rather than worrying about what’s next for the client. Starve you for a month, reduce carbs or remove completely and then you finish the challenge not really understanding what has happened and how to maintain. A lot of the time the weight comes back on because for the last 4 weeks you’ve not eaten carbs or salt both of which hold on to water weight so when you get back to eating normally you see a huge increase in weight leaving you feel demoralised

I also know that this is a marketing tool, to get you in to the business to sell you what you actually need long term. It feels a bit sleezy and dishonest in my opinion.

BUT

There can be a place for them, for example your wedding is in 4 weeks and you want to look a certain way for it (not that you have to but looking great is a completely normal goal). Or maybe, like a client of mine you have to be a certain BMI for a physical exam (despite being a poor metric) we have discussed fixing the system a little bit. Reducing carbs and salt so we lose that weight for the day then the day after we go back to normal with the knowledge that the weight will go back to normal.

Some things to look out for with these, are they being honest? I done a 6 week New Year kickstart and made it clear it was just that… the start and ultimately I was hoping they would stay with me.

Do they have anything that focuses on the long term – a great example of this (and I shouldn’t be promoting other PTs but hey ho) Rich Fisher. He’s an online coach who focuses on fat loss and does challenges however I have seen the library of learning he has for his clients focusing on short term and long term and that is exactly the type of people we want in the business.

On the flip side you have No1 Fitness Retreats who are promoting 1 stone of weight loss in 1 week… twats.

De-load weeks

We’re 2 months in to the year and if you’ve been lucky avoiding the 1000 bugs going around you’ve have a solid year training so it might be time to have a deload week.

So what is a deload week… Well it’s a week to give your body a chance to recover and rest.

Now we’re not stopping training but just easing the pressure a little bit. Reducing the weight used or the number of reps to still provide some stimulus but not to overwork. Maybe rating it around 5-6 out of 10 rather than the usual 8-9 out of 10. These weeks are great because you can really focus on technique, slowing down your reps and just enjoy each movement so you can go in to the next few weeks with the intensity needed.

What happens if you don’t deload every now and again? Burnout.. whether it’s the gym, life, work if you keep hammering it at 110% at some point it will come crashing down. That’s why companies give you holiday days

Easy recipe

So this week’s recipe is hardly even a recipe but it has been a staple for me over the last few weeks. At Christmas we got an air fryer, I’ve loved it and in my Instagram saved folder was this.

Now here is the simple recipe.

Chicken thighs (I cook up a kilo worth at a time)

Tomato puree – a generous amount

Seasoning – Cajun or BBQ seasoning have been my favourites so far.

The trick with this is don’t hold back with seasoning. Not just a little sprinkle, pack it full of flavour.

Mix it all together in a bowl, coating the chicken as much as possible and the simply pop in the air fryer for 20-25 minutes giving it a shake every 5 minutes to ensure cooking evenly.

And trust me this chicken is unbelievably tasty and juicy!

Norwich Fitness Festival

So as my newsletter followers you get to hear this first… tickets go on sale this week!

We are so excited and nervous about this. We are hugely passionate about this and now we find out if others are as well.

It’s a weird feeling, we know this could be great and people will enjoy it but there’s also the little bit in the corner of my brain constantly saying.. what if it flops. What if no one turns up. It’s a complete unknown and that’s scary but what is life without a bit of discomfort right?!

Make sure you are following @norwichfitnessfestival on social media for the announcement

Well until the next time when I hope to be full of new information to share with you all!