Where to start…I’ll try somewhere in the middle…but towards the begining

I was standing in the gym this morning around 11am thinking about how happy I am with work…looking around at a tennis player, a mixed martial artist and rugby player…thinking firstly it’s great working with athletes looking to improve themselves and secondly it’s even better getting to work with so many top athletes from so many different sports.

The thing is…they are from completely different sports…can you think of many similarities between rugby, tennis and mma…despite this…I’m pretty much doing the same thing with all of them…just working on different elements…the tennis player was doing testing to find out what he needs to be doing next, the rugby player was doing strength endurance/conditioning work and the mixed martial artist was doing pure strength training….at different times they’ve pretty much done everything each of the other athletes were doing.

The reason that I am mentioning this is that I had another team in tonight for testing…and the results were intriguing…as they always are…I always find the funny thing is that ‘everyone’…that means you…thinks that they are normal…no one is normal…there is no one that is actually ‘average’ or ‘normal’….being able to do 45 push ups in 60 seconds and 5 inverted rows in 60 seconds…is not NORMAL…being able to do more pull ups than inverted rows…is not NORMAL.

Let me make something clear…

…these are not instructional videos.

Monkey see monkey do…this is why all my athletes have such great form and technique…how could they not with a role model like this!

I only say this because apparently some moron on an Irish fitness board was commenting on what a bad coach I apparently am…the reason I say that this particular individual is a moron is because his evidence for my lack of coaching prowess was apparently the following:

Judging by the form of some of the athletes in his videos, I wouldn’t be asking him for advice on weightlifting.

I know he uses the excuse that max outs don’t have to be pretty…. but if you’ve solid form to start with you’ll have it at any weight.

 

Edit: Does he even use oly lifts with his athletes?

1. I haven’t posted very many Oly lifting videos but I don’t think my athletes are too bad considering what I’ve seen elsewhere.

2. I tend to post videos that are ‘interesting’ rather than ‘instructional’ and to give people a ‘feel’ for what is going on in sessions.

3. I don’t ’set up’ videos…I post stuff as is…because I think most of the stuff that I see elsewhere on the web is absolutely a ’set up’…which is fine if you are posting videos as ‘instructional’ but I think it is pretty disingenuous if you are trying to present it as ‘ordinary’ training session or exercise.

4. I don’t actually make ‘excuses’ for form and don’t remember ever doing so…even when that other idiot TruthAxe was going on with that rubbish regarding ROK I agreed that her form was far from perfect…and that was why we were working on it.

5. I’d love to follow this individual around the gym and film him training…I bet every single exercise and session he did could be picked to pieces if he were training anywhere close to maximal…and that would be a stupid thing to do…as stupid as him saying I’m a poor coach because he’s seen my videos.

6. I can post plenty of videos of Olympic level weightlifters displaying poor form and missing lifts….what the hell would that mean? I have been lucky enough to train with and beside Olympic weightlifting medallists and have seen plenty of less than perfect form on display in training.

Anyway…I just wanted to pass on my thanks to all those people (you know who you are) that email me links to this sort of stuff whenever and wherever it appears on the internet in the hopes of baiting me into going and annoying these people out there on the interweb. I can tell you now though that I will never post on that site…the level of advice and discussion there generally is probably amongst the worst I’ve seen on the internet with regard fitness and training. My New Years resolution will be to resist arguing with idiots as they drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience! That site let me tell you has more experience than most.

As an aside…I don’t actually consider myself an Olympic lifting coach…mainly because it doesn’t play a huge part in my day to day coaching. I think to really coach it well like anything else you need to be exposed to it often and consistently. As well as that I don’t really think it provides the effects that people believe it does with regard to improving sports performance along with the fact that I think there are better ways to provide the performance returns that most people pursuing Olympic lifting are looking for in the first place.

I think this was a little harsh…

A concerned citizen left this comment on the blog yesterday:

Anonymous said…
I’ve been doing some research and have found that none of the rugby players that Will works with have aver achieved very much at club level let alone progressed while he has worked with them. In fact he has a history of damaging the careers of players. ask him what happend to Steven Gissing and why he is no longer coaching him? Bad coaching leads to bad injuries. Gissing won’t be the last opne to suffer either.

I think if they had actually done some research they would have found that the lads had done pretty well for themselves…I mean I can claim to have produced at least one international player this year…that’s something at least…well in all honesty I wouldn’t claim it because it is only Cookies…and I don’t think any coach would claim that rich knacker. I do have sympathy for him though as like him…my mother showed her love for me not only in affection but with copious amounts of food.

 

Cookies using his greatest athletic talent...his weight...to drag some poor bastard to the ground before falling on him...while playing for the good ole US of A.

I did get an email from one player who shall remain nameless…lets just call him Chops.

You can just tell that guy that I am your little success story!! I was a professional athlete for a number of years(I want you to use the word athlete it makes it seem like I was doing something better other then going on the piss and eating out of the “snack cabin” in Rotherham!)then after 12 weeks or whatever it was with you I got 8 chins……..video evidence available as well!! also just tell them to go fuck themselves!!!!!!!!!!
I STILL THINK YOU’RE A FAT WASTER THOUGH AND COOKIES IS GAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that pretty much sums up what most of the players would think. Below I have posted chops Pull Up progression.

Here is the first one…

Oh yeah…that’s right…he got 0…which was his all time personal best as a professional rugby player…at least he was consistent.

This was his second test

This was his last test

I think that’s a pretty good achievement. Now I know Chuck Poliquinn states that any decent strength coach should be able to get a girl up to 12 pull ups in 12 weeks but Chops isn’t any ordinary girl in fairness. He had also proved in the past that he was immune to all strength and conditioning techniques.

Want to say a few well dones

In no particular order…but well done to Chops…who managed to lock himself out of the gym even though he had the keys…I couldn’t believe I actually had to tell him to ‘push the door harder’ when he told me that apparently…according to him…’someone had bolted it from the inside’…must have been the security fairies then? Anyway with a little help over the phone he managed to get into the gym.

John also deserves a mention…he did a couple of months with me a while back then went solo for a couple of months with the program we put together and he’s come back pulling like a freight train. He’s come back in really great shape…in such good shape I’m actually surprised he came back at all. Any way I am glad he did…because I am going to have so much fun dialling his work up an extra notch. He’s built a fantastic endurance base and we are going to really work on his power production this month and see where it gets us…you guys who are interested in training and coaching should actually stop badgering me and start asking him questions because I think you’d get a good perspective on what training with me is all about.

I also want to give ‘The Rower’ a pat on the back as well…a little while back I told him he was an embarrassment to professional sportsmen the world over and was a fat mess. The Rower has basically never trained with me and he’s actually someone else’s athlete hence the assumed name but he took in and has taken on extra sessions with me. He’s done everything I’ve given and the only question he’s asked is how hard and how fast I wanted it…his training that is. He’s given it everything every session and I wish I had more athletes just like him….actually while I’m at it I wish I was more like him.

His session today went like this:

5×500m with 60 second recovery
5 mins at Level 5 on the bike
8×300m with 45 second recovery
5 mins at Level 5 on the bike
12×150m with 30 second recovery

These were his times.

Apparently Johnny’s fatness isn’t real?

I’ve been told that Johnny hasn’t really lost weight…that he was just sticking his gut out or being ‘fat on purpose’ whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

Here are the shots from the other side.

Before…maybe that is my problem…I’m not actually fat…I’m just being fat on purpose?

After

I’ve had other mails saying it is no big deal and from others saying that they could do a lot better and their athletes could lose heaps more…that’s great…I’d love to see it. Like I said…it is two weeks of training and ‘better’ nutrition not ultra strict dieting.

Chops tested yesterday. He banged out a 40kg PB on his trap bar deadlift improving from 180kg to 220kg…and as you can see in the video he had a heap more in him.

In his last test he pulled 180kg.

I actually stopped him from doing another as he had a full training session afterwards and I also want to ‘look’ like the coaching genius I am when he smashes his PB again at the end of August. He improved his bench from 110kg last test to 130kg and added 1 pull up over last test. Took his push ups from 30 ish to 49 (not 50…sorry Chops…you get what you get…I don’t make the rules….actually…wait a second….I do.) and his inverted rows from the mid teens I think to 26. I don’t know what more I’m supposed to do with athletes…making them leaner and stronger I thought was a pretty good start….apparently not. Have not had a single ‘well done’ or ‘great job’ and that’s cool because it is actually my job. Instead what I get is a dozen or so mails saying that ‘I’m not all that’ and that unnamed others could do much better….all this from people who ‘can’t be bothered’ to read my blog and have ‘no interest’ in what I have to say but still take the time to email me and tell me what they think? I don’t get it…I’m sure they won’t read this….seeing as they never bother reading the blog but I just thought those of you who actually do read it would think it was funny all the same.

The Fatathon went as well as I planned….naturally

I brought Steven Carroll in to put the Bodymetrix body composition ultra sound and software to the test…well I wanted to make sure of the lads body fat measurements as well as ensure none of the bellies they were sporting weren’t the result of an unplanned pregnancy.

There is no where to hide your fat from sound waves.

As you can see…some of us had more fat to try and hide than others.

I shouldn’t let some of my female athletes test with the lads…it’s bad for their confidence.

Before

After – I think you’ll agree that there has been a significant decrease in the amount of muffin top overhang?

Chops did well…the secret according to Chops is no carbs after 3pm except for the 2 nights a week at which time he gets completely plastered! Well…who am I to mess with success.

Day 1 – 120.9kg
Day 7 – 119.8kg
Day 14 – 117.6kg

So a loss of 3.3kg. I think that is 1.5kg off each love handle and 0.3kg of his neck.

Before

After – I know what you’re thinking…what has that fat bastard got to smile about…in fairness I think for two weeks work….10 training sessions and anything but strict dieting…he can afford a smile.

He’s got 3 weeks worth of strength work and field conditioning to do and if he isn’t under 115kg’s by then he’ll have another 2 weeks of fat camp…that’ll wipe the smile off his face. I intend to have him playing at a lean and hard 112-115kg come the start of the season.

Before

After – At least Johnny won’t need that girdle any more.

Day 1 – 122.5kg
Day 7 – 119.2kg
Day 14 – 117.9kg

So a loss of 4.6kg

Johnny’s program is going to be similar to Chops only he has a little more gym based conditioning to do as he is still continuing his rehab some recent knee surgery.

Before

After

Day 1 – 122.9kg
Day 7 – 117.8kg
Day 14 – 121.2kg

Did you see what happened there…Logi was the hot favourite to take the title after week 1…he was pretty mad about his 2nd week of dieting…actually….can it be called dieting when you actually put on more weight than the other guys lost? He was so mad at one stage I thought he was going to have a stroke. Then I saw this photo and thought he already had.

Logi was so mad that he gave himself a little bit of brain damage…or so it appears.

Just in case you didn’t see this in the comments section

Hugh said…

WARNING: CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Will,
You went on and on about how great your diet would be and what a great athletic specimen you’d be at a BW below 100kg but you lost interest and stopped after about a week and a half. I was actually pretty interested in the project and was disappointed to see you fall away from it. Unfortunately, it’s somewhat of a theme. I’ve heard you mention some great plans/projects you think up but they don’t get off the ground coz you lose interest due to a lack of day to day gratification. I’m sure you know this already and I doubt you mind my writing it but if there’s one thing holding you back from “greatness”, it’s this. Patience is a virtue…

Just been reading the comments.

Now you guys have made me feel bad for Hugh(I don’t really…but it makes me sound like a better person than I really am)because I am so much harsher than he is…and that is when I am trying to be nice.

I don’t actually think he’s that far off the mark…not necessarily for the reasons he stated but that really isn’t the issue…the issue is that I said I was going to do something and I didn’t…if I was one of my own athletes I would of kicked the crap out of myself…and all the lads…including Hugh know this.

I know it is a little off topic…but this is one of the reason that I think everyone needs a coach…or should I say does better with a coach…it is very difficult to coach yourself. I won’t go into a rant here and now…but if someone wants to argue with me or set me off feel free to disagree?

Anyway…enough about what a loser I am and back to more interesting topics…training.

When I told Chops that he’d have ‘cutz’ on his abs when he finished his preseason program I’m willing to bet he didn’t think this was what I meant.

Some of the lads have entered the ‘Fat Camp’ stage of their training.

Barnyard doing some circuit work…all he wanted to know was where ‘guns’ fitted in to this.

Basically it boils down to 5 sessions a week. 2 weights/conditioning sessions…2 strength orientated sessions and 1 pure conditioning training session.

Some guys do it for fatness and some for conditioning…I’ll let you guess which camp this lad fits into.

I got so excited this morning even I trained.

The 2 weights/conditioning sessions are essentially 2 15 minute blocks of circuit work with 3 bouts of high intensity intervals at the start, in between and at the end of the circuits.

…and no…before someone comments…that is not how you are allowed to do inverted rows in testing.

Fanj after his first 15min work block

The 2 strength sessions are a Squat & Pull Up day and Deadlift & Bench day.

The pure conditioning day will be just that…a tough 45 minutes of ‘work’ of my choosing and design.

Let the games begin

We started a Fatathon this evening…Logi, Chops, Jonny and myself are having a 2 week fat-off. I just want to get this out there…you guys may remember me mentioning going on a diet? Do you remember that? I’ll give you a little recap…I was 108kgs and wanted to get leaner…I dieted hard and stupid and got down to 104kgs…well I weighed in tonight…I was the slimmest of the 4 at 112kgs…now I’m not the greatest mathamatician but I think 112kg is approximately 8kgs heavier than 104kgs…one of you can do the maths for me. Anyway…Logi, Chops and Jonny all did their first session of their new program tonight…I’ll let them fill you in on the details….the fat is going to be flying over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned.

You can never be too safe…

…or can you?

Cookies has really taken my ’safety first’ message to heart…I couldn’t count on two hands the number of times I’ve been in the gym and seen the plates come off one side of a leg press and for the whole thing to topple over and crush an athlete using it. I’m actually thinking of getting a seatbelt attached to the leg press just so he doesn’t fall out of it and hurt himself.

I’m think of putting the leg press inside a squat cage just so Cookies can feel extra safe…that way he can use the safety pins.

On the issue of safety…I’m not sure but from the looks of the tread on Choppo’s back he might of been run over by a bus…and if he wasn’t…I bet after this mornings session he feels like he was.

Unlike a lot of coaches I’d never throw my athletes under a bus…even if it looks that way.

Jonathan was asking…well he didn’t exactly ask…he basically said I was either ignorant, stupid or too lazy to answer his question about lower mobility and stability work. He was basically referring to the fact that I was rambling on no doubt about the importance of joint control and stability in the expression of strength and I was obviously giving upper body examples in relation to benching and chinning/pull ups and he wanted to know what I do with regard to the lower body…as in with regard to squatting and deadlifting obviously…well this is one of the things.

Thunderbirds are go…and if I was training them they wouldn’t be getting around like they do in the show.

You know how at school you had ’show and tell’? Well this blog is like that…only I’m only doing the ’show’ bit…if you want the ‘tell’ bit then you need to ask questions like Jonathan, the Ian’s, Mimo, Anonymous and Joel.

I don’t even know where to start.

This week has been a nightmare technology wise. I’m sitting here with my laptop…which Damian thankfully tidied up…he thinks that it’s performance may have been hampered by the 3,000+ errors he found on it along with the 7000+ registry errors…I don’t know though…I still say that the problem was voodoo.

Anyway…so while the laptop is back up and running decently I’ll spend a bit of today catching up on the last weeks fun and games.

Fresh Meat
Firstly I want to welcome all the new recruits that started this week…the guys and the gals. I think after Wednesday’s testing and Friday’s training session the new guys may be spending the weekend wondering what they’ve got themselves into…don’t worry guys…it gets much much worse.

A new member of my family

As close as I’m planning on getting to having a baby.

I know you guys don’t care about this…but you just have to sit through it as the price you pay for reading the blog.

Testing
Every week I try to find some way to test/torture the guys for my own amusement…it is power, strength or endurance orientated. I tend to cycle the types of tests…mainly so they keep coming to the gym rather than laying at hope shaking and crying under their bed covers.

This week’s test was on the Concept II rower and has left some players in need of psychological counselling. Everyone who came through the door had to get on the rower and empty themselves…it was 6 efforts of 30 seconds endeavouring to cover maximum distance with each effort with 30 seconds of recovery between efforts….sounds easy enough?

I don’t think this guy thought it was easy?

What I look for here is the first time…I want to see a real expression of power…some have it and some don’t…if you don’t have it…you need to get it. Then I look at the forth time…to see the drop off and the total distance covered. I think a great score is around 200 on the first and over 1000m’s in total.

I won’t post all the times…but I’ll give you some of them.

Fanj and Damian set the standard…now I’ll get the excuses in for the boys before they start bitching and moaning…firstly…Fanj has red hair…enough said…and Damian is old and well past it…need I say more.

Fanj – 204, 181, fell out of the boat…he came off the rower…we considered giving him an adjusted time…I was happy with that…as the time chosen of 170 left him 2 metres short of my total, 166, 160, 163 for a total of 1040 metres.

Damian – 202, 187, 180, 176, 171, 175 for a 1091 metre total.

Just to give you an idea of the different type of athletes and their capabilities.

Power:
Chops – 197, 150, 151, 151, 152, 153 for 955 metre total.

Endurance:
David – 171, 168, 160, 159, 158, 155 for 972 metre total.

I don’t think these guys left much on the rower?

I’ll leave it to the guys and gals that did the testing to tell you what they thought of it. I’ve plenty to say about the testing but I’ll let you guys take a look at the results posted and see what you think yourselves.

Their a Concept II’s everywhere…have a go at it and let us know how you get on?

Random Questions and Comments
Adrienl said…
Hi will
I have been reading this blog for a few weeks now but just finished a review of it so i knew what was posted. Now the questioning will begin (i have quite literally a whole page full of questions, so you may want to set a daily limit or something)
Just so we know i am 18, live in Sydney and want your job, and yes i do train, myself and a cricket team in the summer.
So first question, why no straight bar deadlifts, as of this moment. What advantages does the trap bar dead have over the straight bar variations.

I think Hugh covered this question pretty well in the comments section but if you have any other questions fire away.

gmoney said…
aye bro, what kinda trainin do ya’ll use to get ya push-ups up real good like that? can ya post some video for me? i been tryin real hard to get em up but they’re stuck at 40 in 60 seconds and i just dont kno wat to do.

If you want to do improve your push ups we approach it in different ways…it is really dependent on an individuals strengths and weaknesses. To give you a practical example…ROK when she started only did push ups on her knees and when I got her to do a ‘proper’ push up she couldn’t do a single full chest to ground and a press to elbow lock out. What we did was work on her shoulder stability and control, improve her maximal strength, improve her upper body athletic balance and did a lot of push up variations…just about all of which were done sub maximally…I will email her and get her to tell you how she found her program…she’s 16 and a basketballer so has to overcome the disadvantage she has with regard to push up of her relatively long levers…she tested on Monday and banged out 52…she’s almost doubled her push up totals after each of her training cycles at each of her testing days. I’m not trying to be evasive when I say this but what we did is what coaching is all about…applying the appropriate methods, loads and variations at the right times in the right sequence. There isn’t actually a ‘best’ way to improve your push ups. If I was pressed I’d say improve your maximal strength, do a lot of shoulder stability, mobility and control work, do a heap of sub maximal push up variations to accrue some significant volume.