Lean Bodies Consulting

One of the criticisms I’ve seen mentioned of personal trainers, online trainers or anything that might fall in between is the idea of “selling fish vs teaching someone how to fish”. That’s a cliche way of saying, telling someone what to do instead of teaching them how to do it themselves, so to speak.

I personally don’t think it’s necessarily an either/or case however.

While without clients I’d be out of business, the goal is still to hopefully impart some degree of knowledge into a client over time. Enough so that should they decide to, they can take over the reigns on their own, and continue to be successful in their fitness/physique endeavors. For some, the decision to go solo comes sooner and for others, who simply like not having to do any of the thinking themselves and enjoy the specific training and nutritional guidance, accountability, etc., it comes much later. (Note: I do however think competitors more often than not should have a coach/trainer for multiple reasons) It’s something that will vary from person to person. Take accounting - how many people do their own taxes? Some do, and that’s fine. Others, they simply don’t want to learn or be bothered and just want an established expert to handle it for them. And that’s fine too.

I received a really nice email from a former client of mine which is a testament to the fact that there’s learning (provided you’re paying attention) that comes with training with a professional. And that knowledge is something they can take with them, enabling them to stay in charge of their body, even help others with less knowledge and understanding.

Hi Erik! I just wanted to write you a note to thank you.

Thanks again,

I linked to these before and after pictures of LBC client Sunny Daye in the most recent newsletter, but I thought I’d also post them on the blog.

Sunny went on to win three classes at the Pacific USA Naturals Bodybuilding and Figure Championships, taking first in Figure Short, Figure Masters Short and Figure Masters Overall.

So, the 2008 IFBB North Americans have now come and gone. We just got home from Cleveland a short while ago and we actually made good time getting home in just over 4 hours.

Many of you already know the results from the forum updates, but in short we had two girls in the top 5 in their first national shows.

Lisa Peper ended up in 5th place in a good sized D Class and Jennie Hamilton came in at a solid 4th spot in a smaller, but very competitive F class. The overall goal for each was a Top 10 placing, so a final placing inside the Top 5 is icing on the cake.

All in all it was simply a really fun weekend. We stayed with Jennie and Will with was the icing on a great trip, as there was a lot of laughs over the weekend. Will, besides being HUGE, is hilarious. (watch out for the dark horse at the 2009 NPC Junior USAs).

Did you know that in Mississippi they say ole instead of oil? As in, “I think Jennie needs more ole” Or “I heard they had to eat boled chicken breast.” That latter one comes from Jennie … A CANADIAN who’s relocated to Mississippi. Hilarious.

Or the fact that they call every pop (some of you say soda), a COKE. Sprite, Orange Crush, Pepsi, Mountain Dew - it’s all Coke.

So Will relays a story relating to the above. I can’t remember where he was but clearly not in a place where they refer to pop as coke.

Paraphrasing …

Will: Can I get three cokes? Two diet and a Sprite.
Server: So you want six drinks?
Will: Huh? Three cokes - two diet and a sprite.
Sever: Yes, I know - so six drinks.
Will: THREE COKES!!!!!
Server: That’s six drinks!!!!!

And so on - that’s not verbatim but it sums it up. You can imagine Will thinking it’s clear as day that he wants three drinks - and then is telling the server what kind of cokes he wants. The server counts six - which is what I’d do as well. We laughed so hard at that over dinner.

Speaking of which, Friday night we hit the Hard Rock as a group of 10 and Neely, Jennie and Lisa went to town on steak and french fries and then some dessert goodies back at the hotel - the Friday Night Fat Load. Lots of fun. I had chicken - dumb.

Saturday night we went out for dinner and waited an hour for food that sucked.

All in all, a great time and I’m really glad I was there to share in the experience.

Here’s a few pictures:

Here’s a shot of me and Lisa, me and Jen and then the three of us after the Finals with their trophies.

Just a quick update here from Cleveland, Ohio at the North Americans. The prejudging rounds - both one and two piece are over and we’re just back chilling out in our room (myself, Laura, Jennie and Will).

Prejudging went pretty well overall.

Class C was Neely’s class, which had a whopping 35 girls in it (this is still my beef with these shows - the huge difference between class sizes - ranging from 9 to 16-20 all the way up to 35. Anyway, Neely was pulled out in the 16 or so range - 4th callout.

Class D has Lisa Peper. Lisa looked great, eclipsing last year’s conditioning. In the 2-piece round (which oddly enough was before the 1-piece here), Lisa was in the 2nd callout which was the 5-9 placing. In the 1-piece round, she got bumped up to the first call out which was the 1-5 placing, so it looks like a potential placing around 5th, which is awesome for her first shot at a National show.

Class F had Jennie Hamilton. Like Lisa, easily the best Jennie to date. In the 2-piece she was the first called out in a 5 person callout and then similar in the 1-piece, so it looks like a clear top 5 for Jennie as well - again at her first crack at a national-level show.

Keep your fingers crossed. Finals are in a couple hours. Here are a few pictures after Prejudging. We didn’t get many.

Here’s some pics of Jennie after the prejudging

Lisa posted some shots of her at two days out and nice and depleted.

In case you haven’t already seen them on her blog, here’s the link.

Lisa Peper Two Days Out

Have you ever watched a food advertisement on television and suddenly felt you were hungry? Have you ever heard someone cough and immediately felt the need to clear your throat? Ever watched someone release a big yawn and felt the urge to yawn yourself?

That is the power of suggestion. We naturally move toward whatever we focus our attention on. The more you think about something, the stronger it takes hold of you.

That is why repeating “I must stop eating too much . . . or stop thinking about pizza . . . or stop ‘insert activity here’ is a self-defeating strategy. It keeps you focused on what you don’t want. It’s like announcing, “I’m never going to do what my mom did.” You’re setting yourself up to repeat it.

At least one of the reasons people feel most diets don’t work is because they keep you thinking about food all the time, guaranteeing that you’ll be hungry. In the same way, a speaker who keeps repeating to herself, “Don’t be nervous!” sets herself up to be nervous! Instead she should focus on anything except her feelings – on the importance of her speech, or on the needs of those listening.

Temptation begins by capturing your attention. What gets your attention arouses your emotions. Then your emotions activate your behavior, and you act on what you felt. The more you focus on “I don’t want to do this,” the stronger it draws you into its web.

Ignoring a temptation is far more effective than fighting it. Once your mind is on something else, the temptation loses its power. So when temptation calls you on the phone, don’t argue with it, just hang up!

Sometimes this means physically leaving a tempting situation. This is one time it is okay to run away. To avoid being stung, stay away from the bees.

Do whatever is necessary to turn your attention to something else.

Last week I wrote up a post called Spotters: You Don’t Need One where I explained why 9.9 times out of 10, they’re a waste of time and how their biggest ‘use’ is to stroke your ego and somehow have you believing you actually lifted that weight - when they said “it’s all you, come on, it’s all you!”

Well, rather than just leave that as my opinion - a very sound a logical one at that, here’s some scientific support to go along with it.

Increased number of forced repetitions does not enhance strength development with resistance training.

Some research suggests that strength improvements are greater when resistance training continues to the point at which the individual cannot perform additional repetitions (i.e., repetition failure). Performing additional forced repetitions after the point of repetition failure and thus further increasing the set volume is a common resistance training practice. However, whether short-term use of this practice increases the magnitude of strength development with resistance training is unknown and was investigated here. Twelve basketball and 10 volleyball players trained 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks, completing either 4 x 6, 8 x 3, or 12 x 3 (sets x repetitions) of bench press per training session. Compared with the 8 x 3 group, the 4 x 6 protocol involved a longer work interval and the 12 x 3 protocol involved higher training volume, so each group was purposefully designed to elicit a different number of forced repetitions per training session. Subjects were tested on 3- and 6-repetition maximum (RM) bench press (81.5 +/- 9.8 and 75.9 +/- 9.0 kg, respectively, mean +/- SD), and 40-kg Smith Machine bench press throw power (589 +/- 100 W). The 4 x 6 and 12 x 3 groups had more forced repetitions per session (p < 0.01) than did the 8 x 3 group (4.1 +/- 2.6, 3.1 +/- 3.5, and 1.2 +/- 1.8 repetitions, respectively), whereas the 12 x 3 group performed approximately 40% greater work and had 30% greater concentric time. As expected, all groups improved 3RM (4.5 kg, 95% confidence limits, 3.1- 6.0), 6RM (4.7 kg, 3.1-6.3), bench press throw peak power (57 W, 22-92), and mean power (23 W, 4-42) (all p < or = 0.02). There were no significant differences in strength or power gains between groups. In conclusion, when repetition failure was reached, neither additional forced repetitions nor additional set volume further improved the magnitude of strength gains. This finding questions the efficacy of adding additional volume by use of forced repetitions in young athletes with moderate strength training experience.

Forced reps - don’t do them.

Today I’m posting a guest blog from LBC client Anca Saccaro, who wanted to share the stark contrast in her competition prep experience last year, relative to this year, with some photographic ‘proof’ of her progress. Anca is an example of someone who gets results because she works hard and works hard doing the right things and as a result, she’s progressed and looks better than last year. And that’s what it’s all about - making improvements. If you look the same as you did last year (and you’re trying to improve in some aesthetic sense) … chances are you’re doing something wrong.

This next month will mark two years since I started training with the specific purpose of becoming a figure competitor. At 30 years old, 25%+ bodyfat, with little muscle tone and plenty of “jiggle”, not being able to do 10 push-ups from the knees and (gasp) being a runner at heart- entering a competition was a scary decision. But I was tired of being “soft and squishy” and I was ready to do everything it took to change the way my body looked.

Thanks, Erik!

Ok, so this has absolutely nothing to do with fitness, working out, contest prep, or anything relevant for that matter - or rather, relevant to you. It’s very relevant to me.

Laura at 22 weeks and the new Nissan GTR.

Sweeeet!!!

I just received some two-weeks out pictures from from the always positive Jennie Hamilton. This is Jennie’s first crack at a National-level show and it will be her only one this year, due to the fact that as a US resident, yet Canadian citizen, she is only permitted to do one National show per year (outside of the CBBF shows).

Jen has made some great improvements in the last year - probably the most notable improvement in development is in her shoulders - a key muscle to have fully developed when you’re competing. Add to that, the fact that she’s on pace to far surpass her previous best condition.

Here’s some pictures.

We’re in the countdown. Great work Jennie.

And I’ll close off with a little nutritional wisdom from Jen.

Question:
Is it true that the only reason women get into figure competitions is for the after show meals?

Answer:
No. at least not for me. Sure the after show meal is yummy after weeks of dieting. I don’t ever eat fried food or stuff like that anyways even after a show. A good quality steak meal and dessert, and of course my dark chocolate reese pb cups. I think that those who get caught up during prep with FOOD - what they can and cannot have - and put too much focus on that, make it harder for themselves. I actually enjoy everything I eat for my prep, and while the portions aren’t large I’m happy with what I am eating. I don’t suffer from cravings or stuff. I know, call me weird. Nutrition is important to me so I’m not one that goes crazy after the competition is all over and gain a ton. It drives me crazy to see those girls that constantly talk about how torturous their diet is, how they caved in to cravings, etc. Diet IMO, is simply a tool we use to get us into competition condition; it is not the basis of why someone should compete or be the stronghold over prep. The mind needs to be prepared just as much. It’s a problem with not only competitors in general but society today having an addiction problem to food - people have forgotten the purpose of food - nutrition for our bodies. I believe if people would take the constant torturous focus OFF the food they cannot eat or day dreaming of bad stuff, there would be far less stress all around.

I love food. Yes, it’s very enjoyable, offers a sense of satisfaction, creativity in preparation of food, celebrations, etc. I guess the entire point of this ramble (coffee must have kicked in - hahaha) is that no, my focus is not on the food.