You know it’s impossible……..but you still fall for it.

You want to BELIEVE that those AMAZING results can be achieved because you have simply left it too late – and you need it NOW….or yesterday!

Then there’s the other side.

You JUST DON’T BELIEVE ANYMORE.

Someone said to me recently that someone was just ‘born to be a good distance runner.’

That’s bull.

It’s very VERY rare that someone is ‘born’ superior than anyone else at anything.

More often than not – it’s the hours spent learning and improving that is the major deciding factor.

Michael Jordan wasn’t born the greatest ever basketball player.  He practiced and practiced until he was tired. Then, he would grab a drink….and then practice some more. He would practice long after the other players had left.

Similarly with David beckham – who just spoke about his time with now retiring Alex Ferguson

Same with Tiger Woods. (Click to read his 12 hour practice day!)

While I am nowhere in the same league as the above – I believe myself to be a great all-round athlete in that I can adapt to most sports. I’m fast, strong, and move pretty well.

Was I born that way?  NO!  I was fortunate enough for my parents to send me to various activities like football, gymnastics, athletics and badminton…and I was determined to work hard be good at these sports.  I am 100% sure it is down to practice.  I am equally really bad at things like practical DIY and anything to do with a car engine…..because I have not spent time on learning the skills!

It has been said that it takes 10,000 hours to be considered ‘an expert’ or ‘great’ at something.  (Malcolm gladwell)

If you didn’t have the opportunity to practice sporting activities when you were young – you may have a disadvantage than some who do…………BUT your journey is just starting in a different place.

You decide if you need or want more practice.

You decide where you stack the odds of getting better at whatever it is…… whether it is running a mile in a quicker time, bench pressing your bodyweight a number of times or playing the piano.

Our world is filled with ‘right now’ results……but it’s a lie.

The easiest way to make progress is to make some time for your activity every day (maybe 5-20minutes) and work hard in that short period of time.  If you miss a day – it’s not the end of the world……..but I firmly believe that 5 minutes 6-7 days a week is better than 6 days of nothing and then 1 day of 30minutes.

After all….you will lose track of feedback. You will have forgotten where you left off, what was difficult, what you were good at. What it felt like.

So take each day a step at a time – and make a commitment to be better than you were yesterday

John

Great weekend and weather all round!

Lose Fat

If you read my blog – you may know that I am giving away my Free E-Book

“Discover How to Fix the 7 Deadly Workout Sins to Achieve Metabolic Breakthrough”

If you want it straight away………then you should CLICK THE PICTURE BELOW.

If you want to know a bit more, then read on……!

The first part goes into a personal story of mine – and you may too have had a similar experience.  It’s where you first visit  a gym to see if it’s the place for you, and they’re like ” Hey Buddy!  You’re my best pal – you’re going to love it here!

Then you sign up.

You can’t wait.

The staff seemed so friendly, you’re buzzing to get started.

The next day – the sales guy doesn’t even remember your name

We then go into what METABOLISM is – and why you need to keep it high to get – or stay LEAN.

Then the 7 deadly workout sins are laid out for you.  

- Body part splits Vs Full Body workouts

- The amount of time you exercise MATTERS

- The TYPE of exercise you do is CRITICAL

- Sets and circuits – The Benefits and drawbacks

- How much rest is enough?

- Routine and how often to change it

- The FAT BURNING ZONE MYTH

This FREE E-BOOK is actually in 3 parts because there’s so much information in it !

If you want in (and also to get weekly tips to look and feel great) – then CLICK HERE.

This is the last chance to stay involved with my emails…. 

John

I have had THAT training session.

Where you ACHE FOR DAYS AND DAYS!

Yes, that FIRST TOUGH TRAINING SESSION.

Muscle Soreness or DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) – nearly always when you do something

a) New / different (eg type of training or a new exercise)

b) You haven’t done in a while ( going from doing no exercise to doing a full hour)

c) Harder (eg the same exercise but heavier….or for more total reps)

I have stated this many times that Muscle soreness doesn’t mean that whatever you were doing before wasn’t working!

It’s just from the reasons above!

This Weekend…..

So this happened to me this weekend.

I haven’t really run for more than 40 minutes in a few years!

That might surprise you as I am ‘into fitness’ ……..and fitness is nearly always associated with running.

The truth is that most of my training sessions……..(and also what I recommend to my clients) revolve around:

a) Getting stronger

b) Full body exercises that get the heart rate up quickly

c) High Intensity interval training in short bursts – that again speed up the heart rate quickly

d) 30-60minutes total – and theres probably more resting than working goes on as there is rest after each working set.

I do this because it’s more time efficient than doing most activities for an hour.

This Sunday – I fancied a challenge!

RUNNING

We have been doing the odd run to simply change training up as some of us are aiming to raise some money for charity this summer – you can click the link and donate if you wish….

…or you can wait till we do the TOTAL Warrior Challenge!

Either way – we simply need to get better at longer distance running!

Bootcamp client Ben asked about a run and I tagged along and it was actually nice to get out on a scenic run!

It was hard.

I managed to keep pace (or so Ben told me!) and I felt good that my normal training methods kept my fitness levels up. I think we ran 7.5 miles in something like an hour and a minute or so…..and it was humid too.

Come Monday morning…..OWWWW!

My thighs and calves were so sore!!! I was having trouble walking in the morning – but the more I walked….the better it got.

I was able to move around at bootcamp on Monday night – but there would be no chance of me being able to push the prowler or do lunges with dumbells. Nope. No way Jose.

I know next time I will be less sore – and I might even get a bit quicker!

Take home message

We all do that ONE training session which might be so painful afterwards that you don’t want to do it again in fear of that pain.

BUT(!) – the next time the pain will be less, and the time after that you will maybe have a dull ache. The more you do something – the better your body gets at it!

Did I mention that our ‘Bootcamp’ are not like other Bootcamps?  No army-style shouting – just motivation when needed and a great great atmosphere.

Most people don’t make it to the first session as they fear ‘being beasted’. …..when it’s not like that at all.

Are you going to be one of the few that tries it out?

Important!

If you want to keep receiving my emails to read my articles on how to:

- Lose fat

- Get fit

- Get strong

-Look and Feel Sexy

You need to CLICK HERE!!

John

I just want to add some things to it today that make it easier for you to lose fat, and to look and feel great for summer…..which is right around the corner!

Number 1 thing to make progress?

BE CONSISTENT.

It’s hard to stay consistent if you don’t feel healthy.   You KNOW you should go train, but you feel like you want to sleep…..or eat a massive bag of sweets – becauuse you had a taste of ONE.

How do you stay healthy?

1. Avoid junk food

(You don’t need me to tell you if it’s junk or not!)

2. Eat Vegetables.

Every day, wherever you can!

Organic is better – but any veggies is better than no veggies! (So don’t worry about organic too much if it means you won’t buy them)

3. Protein is your friend

If possible, Eat organic meat.  Organic meat should have less toxins stored in the fat – and therefore better for you!

Free range eggs. Try and buy the best eggs you can – it’s not that much more expensive.

Omlettes are your go-to breakfast

4. Quality fats

- nuts, olives, avocadoes, free range eggs again (quality fats in the yolk).

5. Hydration

Drink plenty of clean water.

If you don’t think that this helps – simply try drinking 500ml clean water first thing in a morning for a week and see how much better you feel in the following hour compared to normal

If you want – add a lemon or lime!

6. Exercise

Move your body in all directions, forwards, backwards, sideways.

Pull things more than you push things. (Better for posture)

Lift heavy so that you maintain mean muscle (as this drops as we age) and also to push yourself to be a badass…..

..don’t lift 1 rep maxes every week or you will burn out!

7. Surround yourself with other supportive people and Believe you can!

About 10 days ago I attended Fitpro.  A 1-day course in weightlifting, and a mixture of 11 lectures and practical training sessions.

Do you think having 80 other personal trainers around you makes you try a bit harder? You bet!

When you go out for a run, you might run a certain distance in a certain time. Try it with someone whos around your level of ability = I would bet 9 times out of 10 you cut time off that running time down a bit.

A supportive network can help you stay CONSISTENT

 SO in summary,

Consistency is key.

This is how you do it:

1. Avoid junk food

2. Eat Vegetables like your mamma said!

3. Eat protein regularly

4. Eat quality fats

5. Drink plenty of clean water.

6. Do Exercise that makes you feel healthy, strong and fit.

7. Surround yourself with other supportive people and Believe you can!

This past few days I have been blowing my mind up with some of the best coaches in the business. Names such as Pete Cohen, Lee Saxby (the barefoot running guy) and Michol dalcourt (he invented the Vipr) were all there.

As was Kevin Mclernon (the biggest loser winner)

even Steve Backley was there! (Remember him?! )

See of you can spot me in my Liverpool top in this 1min snapshot of some classes and lectures 

The hard part…..

A few times people have asked me why I attend seminars multiple times a year, read multiple books a year etc – when I already know a lot already??!!!

Well, I don’t know it all for one thing!  ’Never stop learning’ is something I know to be true if you wan to improve your life and others. 

Yes, I have helped many people lose weight (body fat specifically) and help people feel a lot better in themselves – but how can I help many more?

What happens when there is someone with a pain I am not familiar with, or some other problem (like not eating vegetables!)

Think about it this way.

There will be some people reading this that are older than me. They saw the 80′s aerobics and jogging activities boom beyond belief!  If we stopped trying to further our knowledge in 1989 – everyone would still be wearing lycra and be-bopping to Salt-N-Pepa!!

We would have just thought that marathons and aerobics and low fat were the answer. How much we learn with time eh?!

It applies everywhere

The search for knowledge and how to apply it – is important in any form of life.

If you want to get your child to do better at maths – you either try to coach them yourself (good luck!) or hire a tutor to get them better grades (for the record I know a great maths tutor client.)

You want to get out of debt – you learn from your mates who have done it – or you research what you can do (often it will be cut back on lavish outgoings that are barely used………why I don’t have SKY TV!  ) – I would love to watch 10 hours of football a week – but I just wouldn’t watch them. I would start off watching lots, then would struggle to watch them all…….or my training or my business or my family time would suffer.

You want to lose some weight – you speak to friends who have done it – or you look at what’s working for others….or Hire a coach (just like a maths coach).

This past weekend I learned loads  (and reminded) of things that we need to do.

1.Enjoy fitness more.  Yes, I said ENJOY!  The odd game, bit of fun can do wonders to someone who is not getting that elsewhere.

2. Sometimes a hard training session is NOT what is needed.  Sometimes, a good quality meal, some nice family time, some quiet time and an early night might be a better choice than breaking out into a killer training session

3. Like all knowledge – you need to apply it.  It’s all well and good to know that junk food won’t help, you lose fat, decrease your energy levels, increase your chance of dieases…..but if you don’t stop eating it……..it won’t matter at all!

To Summarise…..

If you want to change something – you have to change something……..and look to the best people for it.  You can learn it….or you can save time and money by consulting with an expert.

Always be learning – and try to do a small step today towards that

I asked the question:

“What would you say to someone who is thinking about joining our Bootcamp?”

Below are the responses!

So there you have it!   (I couldn’t have put it better If I tried!)

Purely unbiased, annonymous answers from our bootcampers.

Many success stories – Here are a few (Click to see) .  Many more have done equally well but are not on here too.

“You can’t compare Apples to Oranges”

- “You can’t compare a crappy class where they just do 80′s keep fit moves for an hour to one of our bootcamps…..the intensity is just too different, the atmosphere isn’t the same….the results aren’t the same! ”

Just have another look at our client’s comments.

Many (if not all) probably felt a bit apprehensive at the start.  They probably thought:

“What if it’s too hard?”

“What if I don’t like it?

“What if……(insert your own fear here) ”

It’s normal to be fearful of the unknown.

Which is why I offer a free trial session.

You can come, train, and see if it’s what you are looking for (An intense but do-able training session with other like-minded people)

Hey, If it’s not your thing, then you can keep looking for whatever it is you’re looking for

What now?

1) Call me on 07762772671 or email me at fitness@johncammish.co.uk

2) Get yourself ready for a challenging but do-able training session! Our bootcamps are on Monday and Wednesday evenings, and Tuesday and Saturday mornings.

John

I’m not religious – I just saw it as a challenge!

Below are my thoughts and feelings along the way……..with some lessons that I learned (or lessons that were re-enforced by my experience).

Day 1 – I did the 1^st workout of many! I broke it down into 10 sets:

5 pull ups

10 press ups     x 10

It took me just under 10 minutes and you can see it here (It’s not all that exciting! – And I was that overwhelmed I said the wrong exercise name at the end!)

INTRO http://youtu.be/GPmY5W5Bu08

TRAINING http://youtu.be/nMKFYC5G6U4

It was hard, but not the hardest thing I have done. It was both a good muscle and fitness blast.

If day 1 was anything to go by – Day 2 was EVEN WORSE!!!

Day 2 I was SO SORE!

 A quick note on soreness =  A client recently asked me at Bootcamp that she was really after one workout – was she doing other bootcamps right as she wasn’t sore after 80-90% of them?

My answer:  Soreness is not an indicator of a successful training session.  Soreness happens when you either haven’t done something before….or for a while.

My chest was SO sore on day 2 – as I haven’t done 100 press ups and 50 pull ups in 10 minutes before.

THE LESSON?  You will be sore when doing something new.

Day 2 was hard – it took me 20-25 mins as I read Feb/March Issue of FitPro magazine in between sets.  I was actually featured in the Feb/March Issue for helping a female rugby player/client to get into the England squad!  You can read her story HERE and if you want to read the FITPRO magazine article

Days 3 and 4 = Felt good.  Tired…… but good.

A funny thing happened in the 2^nd week.

I actually enjoyed my new training challenge!

I:

- Felt strong

- Felt fit

- Felt more muscular

Training sessions became easy – even though Day 1 and Day 2 had been so tough.  Your body adapts similar to any other – it’s just about keeping it up.

Unfortunately…

By 3^rd and 4^th weeks – this challenge was really starting to ‘grate’ on me.  I felt tired more and more – and it was getting in the way of other training, and I was just feeling NO FURTHER BENEFIT.  

I thought to myself….is this what people feel like in the gym?  IE They train hard, they put in the effort, but they probably do the same thing and don’t balance things out like recovery and neglecting other body parts?  Ok, maybe a knew this one already!

I got a bit of a cold, and thought to myself I have to keep going – Even if I felt like crap

The last 2 weeks it just started to feel like a chore.

So from doing 4800 press ups and 2400 pull ups in 48 days (!) – I learned the following:

 LESSONS

1. You will be sore when doing something new.

2. The body is highly adaptable. After 2 days I was thinking (and saying to clients!) “I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew….maybe I should’ve halved the number as 40+ days is a long time.”  A few days later, I felt great.

3. Following on, Doing the same thing over and over is not going to make your body adapt further.  I Think that the sheer volume of upper body work just wore me down in the later weeks too.

4. When it comes to your own training, it doesnt have to be EVERY DAY…..but make sure you structure your training so it fits your schedule.  Put your hardest session on a day you are going to have high carb or high fat meals or take-aways.  Saturday morning Bootcamps are IDEAL!!   …After all, most of us like to eat and drink on a weekend!

5. Don’t neglect other body parts, make sure you work your legs and also the back of your body – back, triceps, hamstrings, glutes as these will help your posture and keep you from injury.

6. It is important to test yourself once in a while. Then re-test yourself.  Then do it again.  You will be surprised at what you can do.

(To read any of the above transformations – CLICK HERE!)

We are not like other bootcamps – we don’t just get people tired. We aim to get them stronger, fitter and happier.

With body transformation, you need to address your food. Some think this is obvious, but I find it is more important than exercise……..tell these eggs that most people tend to eat chocolate eggs this Sunday……………….I will however be eating some REAL EGGS! 

Muhahahahaha!

Some good news for me!

I have been studying for my Precision Nutrition Certification since last March and finally took (and passed) the exam yesterday!!  The textbook is super thick full of  great real-world information……….It took so long but I got it done and have learned a lot .

It was 75% to pass – I got 91%.

Can I get a Woop Woop?!

I took me so long to study, but I needed to juggle a successful personal training business, and a potential growing family of mine

I’m happy that I took my time to go through all of the material in detail so that I could really take it in. I have been a supporter of the Precision Nutrition team and their methods for many years now – I have seen John Berardi present at about 7 or 8 lectures and think he’s a really clever guy who is almost wise beyond his years.

I love the theory behind everything that I’ve learned  - In fact, I re-learned a lot of what I did at Sheffield Hallam University in my Sport Science Degree and at Wolfreton with my A-Level Biology Qualification –   Can you say Kreb’s Cycle and  pyruvate and Acetyl Co-A? (Science geeks will understand this! )

What I found especially helpful was that the studying process looked at coaching and how to improve as a health coach. To be the best coach – you need to keep learning and assessing how clients are responding – and continue to evolve their eating and training programs. 

I will continue to share nutrition advice with my amazing clients on what I’ve learned in this course as well as I what I’ve learned (and will continue to learn) from experience, reading, researching!

So………Im REALLY glad to be a Precision Nutrition Coach!

(You might want to check out a lot of the info they already have)

Here’s to everyone getting better!

John

PS  I will be going over what I have learned by doing 50 pull ups and 100 press ups every day of Lent in next weeks blog post – Dont forget to check back here, or sign up to get reminders if not already a free member of the site.

http://www.johncammish.co.uk

1. Don’t trust the scales!  (The leaner you are the less you need to look at them)

2. Look:

a) At the mirror

b) At photos

c) At how clothes fit!

Muscle weighs more than fat, and takes up less space (because it is more dense).

This resource is something you really need to check out (CLICK). It shows you pictures of body fat percentages – and some bodies that are of similar body fat percentage but less muscle…..It really is the best thing you will probably read today!

Get informed with knowledge

So…..

You’re all set to reduce your body fat and look and feel better.

Don’t get confused and think you need to be running 2 hours a day every single day (like reading that aerobics are better than weights? – read this analysis of the recent headline )

Weights are crucial to your bodyshape – especially when you look at bodybuilders, bikini models, etc – they all use some form of resistance training to ‘get in shape’.

Don’t get sidetracked with your mission – You want to be training 3-5 hours a week, with a mix of weight training, some short high intensity interval training, and some longer low intensity stuff like swimming or jogging.

Don’t overcomplicate it!

……is what I say to myself when I am losing sight of the goal in mind

John

It’s been a dreary weekend with non-stop rain – but well done to the bootcampers who turned on the intensity when it mattered on Saturday morning!

One said that it’s the best way to start your weekend!

A Trusted Resource……….

I wanted to get this up a while ago, but I have simply been really busy helping people lose weight (fat) aswell as doing my own Lent challenge and oh yeah(!) doing some baby-making! (My wife is 12-13 weeks and we couldn’t be happier and excited about all the unknown things that will unfold)

There is a popular magazine out there that provides knowledge and tips to personal trainers in Hull, (in fact all over the UK) as well as your gym instructors and those that teach classes such as bodypump, spinning, body combat, body balance etc.

It’s called FITPRO Magazine and I happen to be featured in this month’s Feb /March centre pages!

In this February/March Issue – it helps trainers identify and try to help with topics like:

• Push-up variations
• Cellulite – what is it?
• Family Fitness
• Intermittent Fasting
• Safer Supplements
• ……And more!

If you want to read my article on how I helped Female Rugby Player Mags get stronger and fit enough to play for England – Click the Link below:

It goes through one of the sample plans (we did several training programs) – so if you are looking to get stronger and fitter…..check it out!

Fitpro – Rugby Fitness Trainer John Cammish

It just so happens that I use very similar training methods to achieve long-term fat loss for many of my clients.

I strongly believe in:

• Lifting resistance (weight)
• Short hard training
• Training in Groups

John

http://www.johncammish.co.uk