Why learning to coach is important for everyone?

By Pete Ryan

There are several stages to learning within the exercise sphere.

1.      You realise you know nothing
2.      You learn a little and believe you have the answer
3.      You learn a lot and most answers are “It depends”

This post will try to explain the reasons you should aim to reach level 3, why being a ‘guru’ with a definitive answer is not the goal (& why people are fooled by them). Also why, even if you only coach yourself, reaching the third level of understanding is desirable.

Firstly, let’s look at someone new to exercise or coaching. They will go and find figures of authorities to follow (magazines, youtube personalities, online coaches, books etc), they will learn a method or methods that prove most enjoyable or effective for themselves. This maybe after failing at several other protocols?

This moves them onto the second phase. They now know a little bit and have often found a protocol that is effective for them (for example HIT training, intermittent fasting, DC training, Paleo, Matrix training or whatever). They now become a zealot about this style or methodology and so tout this as THE method. When asked they have an exact protocol and a method that will fit everyone and suit every goal. People become generic and everyone reacts the same to the same stimuli. This is the realm of the ‘guru’, where they suggest one style of training or diet suits us all and one answer will be beneficial to everyone.

Many people stay at the second level throughout their training/coaching life. They have one system, and it works for a percentage of the population, but if you are lucky you will pass through that level and almost come full circle, you realise that the more you learn, the less you know, there are no definitive answers and experimenting is the best way to discover what works best for an individual. Eventually you will come to the conclusion that making one or 2 small changes and monitoring the effects is the ideal way to find the best working methods. Add to that the concept that often nothing works indefinitely and you get an interesting mix for a coach to digest and utilise.

There are definitely certain truths

1. You need to progress   
2. You need to exercise consistently   
3. You need to work all the relevant muscular systems
4. You need to avoid injury
5. You need to be motivated
6. You need to be able to recover

      These things and many more are proven facets of exercise, but within those foundations there is a world of diet and exercise protocols for you to explore. Most will be dead ends, either not enjoyable, or not as productive as other methodologies, but some will yield amazing results.

This is not to knock cookie-cutter programmes, such programmes can work and be tremendously effective, but ideally, a tailored routine will give you the biggest returns over time. Many people can reach a good level of health and fitness following many of the standard template systems out there, but if you have issues, or wish to reach higher, then moving towards a more tailored exercise, diet & recovery routine will improve results.

I promised to look at gurus and why you don’t want to fall into the trap of ‘one size fits all’. If you ask an actual expert, the answer “It depends” will often be their answer, often it will sound like they do not know anything, but the truth is they know enough to know that the answer is not simple. A guru however will sound immensely confident, “The answer is to do A, B & C!” this answer will be the same for everyone. Often a guru and an expert will offer similar starting points, but from there a guru continues to offer fixed methodologies whereas an expert will begin the tailoring process, so it is not always simple to weed the guru out from the experts. Your aim is to be able to start 2 people on the same programme and then work with them until those routines are tailored towards their goals and their preferences. So, you could start 2 people off with a routine based on 3 sets of 10, but after some time, one is doing 1 set of 20 reps, while the other is doing 5 sets of 5 reps, they may also be working out different amounts each week for different duration and be eating very different diets.

This should be your goal (even if you only train yourself). Learn to try small changes, monitor these changes and either discard that change or move on to the next small change. In time you will find a selection of protocols that work for yourself and others and you will understand why the term “It depends” is so common within the training world.

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Older trainees and exercise frequency

by Pete Ryan

This one is going to annoy you in some respects.  I will tell you right from the outset that there are not an ideal number of times per week, duration or intensity to train at.  A lot depends on things like exact age, outside stress, other activities that will affect how many times a week you train and how long those sessions last. I can sum up the ideal in one sentence though and from there we can look at options.

The amount of times a week you can stick to and the time you are willing to put in each session is the ideal...

That answer probably nearly made you throw your phone/laptop through the nearest wall! I know that is a really aggravating answer, but that is the stark truth.  I can give you the perfect workout for you, but if you are not willing to do it, then it is an inferior workout to hitting the whole body once for 45 minutes a week. If you can stick like glue to once a week, but do your ‘perfect’ workout for 2 weeks and then never do it again, which is the best?

Being honest with yourself

Let’s start with being honest. You may have decided that working out 4 times a week is perfect to maximise your muscle gains, but will you actually turn up for every session? I am not talking about now, but in 3 weeks, in 3 months or even in a year or more? What about when you have that room to decorate, what about when you need to get those tax returns done, what about when the stress at work means you are feeling burnt out?  If you can, then fine, but if you can definitely get 2 sessions in per week, but would struggle with 4, then 2 would be your ideal.

I will start with something many people will find very controversial, my opinions on age and training.

Age

Let’s cut to the chase on this one.  I find it hard listening to a young guy talking about how older people should exercise.  They may have some experience in that area, but they do not live with the issues getting older brings.  I am sure many younger people have insights, but I prefer to get the opinion of older coaches and personal trainers. For the record I am over 50 and have had injuries and issues that many older trainees have been through.

My belief is that older people need to do more than their younger equivalents.  I know, that is not the common view point.  In fact most coaches suggest that older athletes do less, but hear me out and make up your own mind.

Most older trainees are less interested in competition and more interested in training longevity, plus most older trainees have previous injuries (because we too were once young and very stupid!). So, our goals are often not maximum lifts, but heavy weights done for sets, encouraging hypertrophy (muscle growth) and fighting off old age. To do these lifts we need much more time warming up and doing mobility than the younger lifter doing the same exercises.  An older person may need to warm up and mobilise the shoulders and elbows for 10-15 minutes to hit a press, we may also need to move our bodies a lot more to maintain flexibility and strength throughout the range of motion of an exercise. So, we may spend a greater proportion of time doing mobility, bodyweight movements and preparing our bodies for the workout than a younger person. 

So whereas a younger person may have:

• ·         5 minute Warm-up
• ·         45 minute workout

An older person may have:

• ·         20 minute warm-up
• ·         40 minute workout

So as you can see, the older person will be moving their body for longer than the younger person.

As you age the whole idea of use it or lose it becomes much more immediate.  The older you become, the quicker it is to lose the ability to do an exercise and the harder it is to gain new skills or regain lost physical abilities.  If you do not practice skills regularly, then they will disappear, so if you are like most people who hit the gym and do not wish to lose any skills you have acquired over the years, then you will have to practice skills a lot more often than when you were younger.  The sheer mass of abilities you want to keep also force you to be doing physical activity a lot more.   Let me hasten to add that you may do these outside the gym.  You could practice a range of bodyweight movements at home (Planche, L-sit, pull-ups, push-ups, headstands, handstands, sprinting...the list goes on), but these all have to fit into your weekly/monthly, schedule if you wish to keep these abilities into really old age. Also most of these need some sort of warm-up to avoid injury.

So, as you can see an older trainee may need to spend more total time working out as they need to warm-up in a thorough fashion and practice physical abilities more often.

What this does not mean is working out balls to the wall every day, or anything like that.  I do believe that older people should do something physical everyday.  This can be as simple as some push-ups and pull-ups at home, or going out and sprinting for 10 minutes, rope jumping on the porch or 30 minutes mobility, but everyday something should be done.  Coach Dan John has a saying: 

If it is important, do it every day

For the older athlete this is especially true.  If you need to improve your squat, then squat every day.  This does not mean go to max every morning doing a back squat.  Simply add bodyweight squats into your warm-up, or just knock out some squats every day.  Even ditch your chairs and sit on a cushion on the floor, so if you want to get up or sit down, you are forced into a full squat. For the older athlete holding a barbell, a single kettlebell or dumbbell overhead and squatting adds unique challenges, using weights that stress the back a lot less, or get an Ironmind Hip Belt if the back is an issue.  As an older trainee you need to get creative working around the limitations your body imposes.

Movement (NEAT)

Non-exercise Activity thermogenesis is the fancy term used to describe things you do that burn calories, but are not part of your exercise routine. In keeping with my belief that older trainees need to workout more often, I also believe that the older you get the more important it is to move more often than younger people. Things like walking to the shops, spending 10 minutes after each meal walking (good for anyone who wants to improve insulin sensitivity), just doing physical things becomes more important for the older athlete.  You need to plan your life in such a way that you can be active outside of the gym. Think about it, no matter how hard you workout for 30-60 minutes, it will never, ever overcome being sedentary for 23-23.30 hours every day, how could it? So, plan on regular activity throughout the day.  Anyone can go for a walk for 10 minutes after each meal, just try it.  Eat a meal then walk 5 minutes one way, turn around and walk 5 minutes back, aim at a brisk pace.  If you sit for an hour, get up, stretch and do mobility for 10 minutes, then carry on.  In the long run this will help you achieve your goals.

Picking your movements

Most of the movements you choose should be things you enjoy.  If you hate everything then you will never succeed as you will find any excuse to avoid them.  However, there are some things you know need to be done, you will probably hate these.  These are things you need to do.  Add them at the start, not the end of a session, put the things you really enjoy at the end, so you are more likely to finish a session.  So, if you have a bad shoulder, doing band dislocates, band pull aparts and clubbell swings may be boring for you, but they may be very necessary.  You may need to add in 5-10% of things you do not enjoy doing, but mainly include things you enjoy doing.

Exactly what you do isn’t important. You need to include:

Upper body vertical pushing (overhead press, steep incline press are 2 examples)

Upper body vertical pulling (Pull-up, chin up)

Upper body horizontal pushing (Bench press, push-up)

Upper body horizontal pulling (bent over row, inverted row)

Hip hinge (deadlift variation, KB swing)

Legs (Squat variation, leg press)

You do not need to do these every session, or even every week. Simply rotate thing in and out as often as you like.

Wrap up

I could talk a lot about this, if you are interested comment below. I can discuss routines, methods, diets or go into more details about any related issue if those are of interest to you? 

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Veggie-style Protein

By Pete Ryan

Veggie-style are the new kids on the block in the supplement world.  Run by animal-advocates, veggie-style make a range of proteins, fat-burners, B12 and other products useful to vegan (and other) athletes, as well as those just into improving their health.

We were lucky enough to get two tubs of protein to try out and below I will give you my personal view of the proteins.  Before we go any further, protein powders are weird.  People vary hugely in their love/hate of them.  They seem to bring out extremes in people (or maybe the people who tend to take them are simply more extreme?).  So, if I love something, you may hate it.  Conversely, if I hate something you may love it. If possible, whenever you want to try a new protein powder see if you can get a sample or a small size to see how you will like it.  My personal preference is for a less sweet protein, which can be seen as lucky as recent studies have shown that the actual taste of sweetness, without extra calories, can cause insulin to spike and fat to be stored. However, you may have different taste buds, so just remember this is my opinion of the protein powders.  The final decision has to be yours.

With that said let’s take a general look at the proteins.  They are a mixture of proteins, blended with other ‘superfoods’ to give you around 30-40g of protein per serving and  loads of health boosting antioxidants and nutrients, with things like moringa, chlorella, maca and many others.  Both of the proteins tested are sweetened with stevia. I mixed both of these using the plant milk of my choice, I prefer powders mixed with plant milks compared to water, that is my personal choice, if you prefer water, fruit juice or whatever, then do that.

Power greens strawberry shake

Power greens is a blend of pea, rice, quinoa and hemp protein powders along with a selection of dried green plants and some other botanicals, sweetened with stevia.  It is not overly sweet and mixes fairly easily.  Like most protein powders it has a fairly strong taste, you could disguise it with fruit if necessary, but I found it palatable enough. The scoop is small.  They suggest 5 scoops for every serving.  This is a niggle, but as I usually have a shake in the morning I prefer just grabbing and doing one scoop.  Counting in the morning ....uuuggg! That is more me in the morning, than anything, but there is not too much wrong with the blend so I had to focus on some negative aspect.  Oh yea it is vaguely green as well.  You should probably expect that from a product called “Power greens”, but be warned if you aren’t expecting it. The taste wasn’t totally amazing, but nor was it awful.  I could down it no trouble first thing in the morning with zero issues.

 

Protein and moringa chocolate shake

The moringa tree has been used for 1000’s of years as a medicinal plant.  The leaves have been fed to pregnant and lactating woman to insure their babies get enough nutrients to grow and thrive. This is a blend of pea protein and rice protein with moringa and stevia to add a little sweet taste to the product. The chocolate taste is quite mild in this product.  I have tasted some very strong chocolate tasting shakes before, this one has a much milder taste. Unlike most green shakes this one can be taken by pregnant and lactating mothers (algaes have not yet been given the ok for use with these groups of people as the research into their safety isn’t finished yet).  As moringa has already been used for multiple generations in human communities with only beneficial effects, it is actually encouraged that mothers or mothers-to-be use morninga to increase their nutrient intake. This shake had the consistency of rice protein.  If you have had rice protein before, then you will know it does have a texture when mixed, not exactly powdery, but not as smooth as a pea or soya protein powder.  It is different, but not nasty.  Within a week it will become the normal texture of your shake.  You could easily add things to this shake.  The taste is not that strong, it has a mild taste, moringa doesn’t really taste at all, the chocolate is mild and the proteins are masked by the mild chocolate taste, so you could add fruit, nut butter, whatever taste you wanted if you wanted to experiment.

Overall view

These products take a different approach to protein powders than most manufacturers.  They are more ‘nutrient replacements’, than basic protein powders.  They include other botanicals that will boost your overall health and nutrient intake, so should be looked at a little differently to the average ‘off the shelf’ powder.  If you are looking for a raw product that contains lots of nutrients, if you are (or could become) a pregnant or lactating mother, or if you just want something a little bit different to the run of the mill protein shake, then these may be worth exploring.  Remember they are made with natural products so the taste may vary a little batch to batch as leaves can be picked at different times of the season, or algae harvested at different points in its growth cycle.

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