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• Mar 4, 10

• Hi from Dubai!

  Hi from Dubai!

  I am currently in the United Arab Emirates, mostly Dubai and Abu Dhabi conducting a series of trainer and coach seminars during the month of March.

  

  Dubai Sports City

  The Dubai Sports City (www.dubaisportscity.com) pictured above is the training base of our Dubai based courses. This facility is a sight to see, and construction still is not complete!

  Trips like this provide me with a greater perspective on things (both professionally & personally) we often take for granted back home in Australia, these include:

  • The Australian Fitness Industry is truly at the forefront of training, education and business development and how important a regulating body is for the industry.
  • There are many Australian Personal trainers doing some great work around the world. Many of these trainers are getting paid very well to deliver training that the Australian consumer takes for granted, as there are so many great trainers in Australia.
  • A great coffee is hard to find!
  • Australia is truly the greatest country in the world to live in.

  

  Starbucks never tasted so good. Cheers!

  • Posted on the 04.03.2010, Permanent Link
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• A Question of Intensity

  A question of intensity: Aerobic Training Vs Anaerobic Training

  There is often debate over the topic of aerobic training Vs anaerobic training. Which method is best and when do you use each intensity within a training plan, for me the important aspect is the philosophy of quality over quantity.

  Very few athletes (at various levels of competition) are undertrained, many are over trained and more often than not it is due to the excessive amount of time training at a level of low/moderate aerobic type training in the pursuit of increase levels of fitness. This happens not only in the field of athletic performance but also in the fitness industry. You can walk into any commercial gym around the world and you will notice many individual, running, riding and rowing at low level intensities just accumulating time on their chosen machine in their quest for fitness or fat loss and many wonder why they don’t get the results they are after or why their body shape never changes.

  Basic exercise physiology tell us this:

  Anaerobic training improved the muscles capacity to tolerate the acid that accumulates within them during the process anaerobic glycolysis, which occurs when exercising at high intensities (simply stated is the break down of glucose or gycogen to generate energy which produces pyruvic acid which is converted to lactic acid).

  Lactic acid accumulation is considered a major cause of fatigue during sprint type activities because the H⁺ that dissociates from it is thought to interfere with both metabolism and the contractile process. Buffers (bicarbonate and muscle phosphates) combine with hydrogen to reduce the fibrer’s acidity: thus they can delay the onset of fatigue during anaerobic exercise.

  Some studies have shown that after an eight week anaerobic training program buffering capacity can increase by 12 to 50%. Aerobic training had no effect on buffering potential.

  Anaerobic training improves the ability to perform the task at a high intensity for longer (the muscle-buffering capacity), aerobic training does little to enhance the muscles capacity to tolerate sprint type-high intensity activities. Put simply if we can train at higher intensities for longer this will produce greater results. There are also many positive hormonal responses that contribute to increase results, these hormonal responses  are stimulated through anaerobic exercise.

  Anaerobic training does not only stress the anaerobic energy system, part of the energy needed for anaerobic efforts is derived from oxidative metabolism consequently improving aerobic capacity thus improving both our anaerobic threshold and aerobic capacity.

  Lower intensity exercise does have certain benefits and should not be totally excluded, benefits include; increased capillary density, increased circulation aiding in recovery (active recovery), increase in both size and number of mitochondria (providing a more efficient oxidative metabolism).

  The take home message is this:

  Successful programming requires prescribing the optimal levels of intensity for the individual’s needs and goals; this is the challenge for us as trainers and coaches as every individual responds differently to the same training stress. The ability to individualise training plans to suit the individual, monitor their response to the exercise and adjust program accordingly is what makes you valuable as a trainer and coach, and will guarantee your services are highly sort after.

  For me – Intensity (quality) followed by optimal recovery wins every time.

  • Posted on the 04.03.2010, Permanent Link
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• Feb 17, 10

• WAFIC 2010

  Recently PTI were invited to present at the Western Australia Fitness Industry Convention.

  The event was staged at Perth Convention Center and over 600 Fitness Professionals from W.A attended the 3 day event. Many of Australia’s leading educators conducted workshops in the areas of Personal Training, Business Development, Exercise Science and Group Fitness.

  PTI conducted three workshop during the event on; Kettlebell Training & Conditioning, Advanced Strength Training and High Performance Sports Conditioning.

  This clip is part of the mobility circuit/ movement preparation for the Advanced Strength Training workshop.

  The video is not the greatest quality, however you will see 50+ people attempting the drills. It is always interesting to see how we all move in different ways and often our movement quality as trainers is an area which we sometime overlook.

  In preparing our clients or atheletes to lift the following are general guidelines we recommend;

  • Foam Rolling SMR
  • Activation
  • Mobility / Movement Preparation
  • Lifting Specific Warm-Up

  Below is part of the mobility circuit from the WAFIC convention hope it gives you a few ideas.

  • Posted on the 17.02.2010, Permanent Link
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• Feb 3, 10

• Advanced Strength Training Progressions

  Power Clean Progressions

  A question I am often asked is, “how do you teach a client or athlete a Power Clean?”

  As we teach in the Advanced Strength Training course there are a series of progressions that you need to build upon to be able perform a Power Clean with the correct technique.

  The progressions are Deadlift –> Clean Pull –> Hang Clean –>  Power Clean

  Not only will these progressions enable your clients and athletes to perform these exercises correctly it gives you the coach/trainer the ability to break down a complex lift into easy teachable progressions. Also this approach will speed up the learning process, if you skip one of these steps (i.e. go from Deadlift straight to Power Clean) it often takes twice as long to master the lift.

  The video below will demonstrate each of the progressions, Rob is performing a few rep’s of each exercise.

  This brief video, illustrates the concept of the Power Clean progressions, similar progressions are used when teaching the Power Snatch, hope it helps you with your coaching.

  • Posted on the 03.02.2010, Permanent Link
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• Jan 20, 10

• 5 Pre-Requisites for Advance Strength Training and using the Olympic Style Lifts

  The Advanced Strength Training Exercises such as power cleans, power snatch, clean pulls and deadlifts are great exercises to develop strength power and size. So why do many trainers not use these Advanced lifts?

  

  All the way from Germany Candy Wergner - Sydney AST Course- Learning the Advanced Strength Training techniques

  I believe there are three main factors that often deter trainers from using these advanced lifts.

  1. Safety

  2. Sequencing, Progressions and regressions are not understood

  3. Limited exposed to these lifts

  1. Safety

  Many trainers believe that Olympic lifts are unsafe. At the Performance Training Institute we believe, have developed and teach the following five pre-requisites for trainers to understand and develop the confidence to use these extremely beneficial exercises, with suitable clients.

  Five Point Check List for Olympic Style Lifting

  Prior to conducting a program involving Advanced Strength Training the following screening process should be undertaken to ensure that the participant is ready to begin.

  Single Leg Squat – Participant should be efficient in performing 10 single leg squats, maintaining proper alignment through the ankle, hips and knees

  Thoracic Extension – With arms overhead the participant should be able to reverse their thoracic curve. This is particularly important in any overhead lift.

  Deadlift – The participant should be able to maintain optimal technique throughout the dead lift movement, also maintaining proper postural alignment.

  Isometric Back Strength Test – Have the subject lie prone over a swiss ball, arms outstretched holding onto a fixed object. The subject’s legs should then be raised into a position that places them parallel to the floor.  The participant needs to be able to hold this position for at least 2 minutes ideally between 3 to 4 minutes.

  Training Age – Only participants with a training age > 6 months should begin a training program that incorporates the Olympic lifts.

  If a person can not perform any of the Five Check list points they need to work on and develop the required ability before undertaking Olympic style lifts.

  Over the coming weeks we will go through each of these five Points in detail and outline why they are important, what to do if your client cannot achieve each of these components and how to progress your clients to achieve each of these pre-requisites for advanced lifting.

  • Posted on the 20.01.2010, Permanent Link
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