AG’s public accountability challenge
Hey folks I thought that I would throw my challenge out to you leading in to the end of the year.
I have been recently inspired by stories of personal trainers who have put on weight on purpose and then lost it, using different methods to see what is most effective. Ah, sacrificing yourself for your job! Joe Fournier, the celebrity trainer I spoke about last month puts on weight regularly using cakes one year and beer the next, only to lose it all and reveal a 6 pack again each time. He said that fat gained by over eating cakes was the hardest to lose and even caused him to think he may stay fat forever when his usual training methods weren’t yeilding the results he expected. I imagine this was a bit worrying since his whole business is built on fitness and looking healthy. His success in being able to lose the fat each time is really quite impressive when you can see his natural body type is obviously ’heavy’ and his genes less than ideal. He described his mother as a ‘largish’ woman.
So it got me thinking…. What challenge could I set for myself as we hurtle towards Christmas? Then I found the ‘pants’.
See below for goofy first photo of my self imposed 12 week challenge. Stay tuned next week for mega embarrassing photo me trying to fit into the test piece of clothing (you saw in my email) that I want to fit in to (again), for no other reason than they were cool once and I may in fact be a little bored 
Week 1: October 1, 2009
‘They’ say that writing a goal down on paper is the first major step towards achievement. ‘They’ also say that being held accountable to somebody increases your chances of success considerably and then, exponentially so when you make yourself accountable to many. How do I know ‘they’ say so much? Because ‘they’ is us brother!
I would really love to see more movement towards the goals spoken about amongst you our clients. I strongly believe this begins when you set it down in writing. Some of you (hopefully all of you) have started to notice more encouragement in this direction in our monthly newsletter and ‘activity statement’ you should all receive and be filling in!
I invite you now to join with me in going a step further and making yourself more accountable and in a way where there are tangible consequences if you don’t. It is that pressure which makes all the difference. I have a bit at stake here myself so hop on board so I am not alone! Imagine if I don’t change or even worse go backwards? Not good for business I think you would agree.
I want to share a quick story with you first. I remember when I decided 6 years back that I was going to start a personal training business after my many many (did I say many?) years of study and cruising around not really committing to anything except adventure. I remember this well because it was one of those ‘ah ah’ experiences which can literally change the path of your life. I was on my old boat up in the Whitsundays and I told the guy who I was working with there my plans to start the PT business. He just laughed and laughed as he looked dismissively up and down at my physique. He said, ‘you are going to have to pump yourself up a bit!’ with more mirth than Santa. You see it was his impression, as it was a number of people at that time, that a personal trainer was supposed to be body builder like in stature. This was when I realised that perhaps there are a lot of people out there intimidated by this massive muscle bound ‘personal trainer’ anyway and that perhaps there was a need for someone less threatening. That was just as well I thought because nothing less than steroids and stilts was going to transform me in to anything resembling ‘arnie’.
So long story short, having less than an amazing set of pecs was ultimately to my advantage. HA! That doesn’t mean I had low self esteem, it just means I knew where I was at and that I might still get sand kicked in my face which I was reasonably comfortable with.
Don’t worry I am not thinking about going all captain beefcake on you. But you know just lately the word ‘maintenance’ in my training has started to bore me a little. I need a challenge and after some words with Jimmy decided that this public record of my training and what it was doing to my body was going to help me surge towards a goal I have spoken about for a bit but haven’t really taken seriously enough. Does it mean the world to me? Not really but I love a challenge if nothing else. So here is what I am aiming for – sub 80 cm waist, sub 12mm mid abdominal skinfold and 78 kg weight (i.e. an additional 3 kg of muscle). Will you see a difference? I admit that it may be hard to tell (unless if I oil up and pull out the spray tan!) which is why I am going to upload a photo of me trying to fit in to a test pair of pants that I spoke about earlier. I can tell you right now I don’t fit in to them and it is not even close. This WILL be an embarrassing photo believe me so look out for it next week. It is a pair of….wait for it – LEATHER pants I wore when I was 19 living in London 24 years ago with around a 30″ waist or 76cm. I don’t really (no really!) want to wear them again but you never know when a fancy dress event is coming up!
I have nice little wager with Jimmy to raise the stakes even higher – I will tell you more about that next week too.
Let me know what your challenge is. I really want to know!!! D day for me on this one is December 18. Look out each week for progress (hopefully) and comments about challenges etc. I expect a few!
1 st objective: October – No Alcohol …. OCSOBER!! 5 training sessions per week – 2 cardio sessions (kickbike and computrainer/or running) and 3 strength sessions. 23 sessions completed by November 1.
And so it begins……..
|
Week # |
Body Weight (kg) |
Waist measure (cm) |
Mid Ab Skinfold (mm) |
| 1 |
75.6 |
85.6 |
21.2 |
| 2 |
74.9 |
84.9 |
21.2 |
| 3 |
74.7 |
84.7 |
20.8 |
| 4 |
73.8 |
83.9 |
18.5 |
| 5 |
75.1 |
84.2 |
18.2 |
| 6 |
73.7 |
83.7 |
18.6 |
| 7 |
74.3 |
83.3 |
17.3 |
| 8 |
75.0 |
83.1 |
17.5 |
| 9 |
74.4 |
83.1 |
17.5 |
| 10 |
|
|
|
| 11 |
72.7 |
82.5 |
16.5 |
| 12 |
|
|
|
Week 2: October 8, 2009
As promised: (wha’t a male version of a cougar again???)
Suck that gut in boy! I am aghast that I have chosen to do this. Why oh why? Okay that’s right to create some motivation to take action. Believe me, if I didn’t want to improve my diet and up the ante, then I do NOW!
Well it was indeed a challenge this week:
I am writing to you from the south coast of NSW on a weekend celebrating my partner’s best friend’s 30th with about 25 people. I tell you it is not easy being the lone tea totaller. Australians really are a drinking nation! I thought I would need some innovative tactics to insulate myself from the inevitable ‘beer’ group pressure. But so far so good although Saturday night is still ahead so I shouldn’t get too cocky.
I guess a lot of people see the personal trainer as living a saint like existence putting only pure, natural and good stuff in to the temple that is our body. Sorry to break the illusion. We are in fact human. I do know that some personal trainer types are probably not of this planet but the majority of us are just normal people facing challenges and doing our best in dealing with them just like everybodye else. Whilst it may be true that we have an inherent advantage in that our work place and lives revolve around fitness and health, it doesn’t mean we are immuned to the temptations and attractions of the socialising world. It is a fact that good wine tastes good and sometimes it seems smart that if something is good, a hell of a lot of it MUST be better. We all (really do) know that more isn’t necessarily better and somtimes we need a cracker of a head ache to remind us of that truth (hopefully not too many times!)
It’s been a good week of exercise, alcohol restraint and improved focus thanks to the leather pants challenge. The results are little perplexing though to the uninitiated. The table above shows a loss of around half a kg down off the scales and half a centimetre off the waist but no skinfold change. The explanation is that this can be an inexact science even with professionals (like Jimmy) and there is (very slight!) measurer error to consider, besides one week never tells the full story anyway.
Look for trends over time. That is what I am telling myself ! Look out for the you tube time lapse photography of the whole 12 week experience around December 18. It will be set to a cracking 80′s track for sure.
Late to press: As of today, the 12th, OCSOBER still intact. Stay tuned for more progress. Some clients have indicated their own challenge. Let’s put something on the line folks, raise the stakes and get things moving! We have a ‘best body challenge’ coming up early in the new year where you will have another chance to make it happen. Look out for that! We will be using the best of science, psychology and good old fashion hard work to carve out results perhaps like you have never had before in your life. It will be fun.
Week 3: October 15
Small and certainly not earthshattering progress. Remember I am not trying to lose weight on the scales merely fat off the gut! Here is a good example of the body trying to hang on to what it’s got! It clearly needs more shock to get moving. Diet needs more focus (who said chocolate was off the list??? Oh yeah I did)
This past week – Alcohol free? check!, 5 workouts? check! 5 star diet approach – not exactly.
Measure, evaluate, adjust and let’s see how we go this week. I have to say the focus is helping give my training more meaning and I expect big results to come…..soon!
Not getting much easier…….In fact not sure how I got them done up last week?
I have been chatting lately a bit about building in a so called ‘buffer zone’. What I mean by this is a little expansion space before alarm bells sound and action needs to be notched up a level. You need to find out what your outer limit is. I am not just talking body fat either, I am talking mental, physical and nutritional boundaries. These are all inextricably tied together. Some people can get away with a bit more than others but as Clint Eastwood used to say ‘a man (insert woman here too, not so politically correct as Clint) has to know his limitations’. I see so many people who come to us when things have got WAY out of hand. It is indeed true that it is always possible to turn things around and we have many examples of that. The thing is it just gets harder and harder the longer you leave it and the chances of success diminish. It is far easier is to keep regular checks and adjust just like a Pilot does on a scheduled flight path. Awareness is the key, that way you will be able to be in control.
till next week….
Week 4, October 22
Not sure I can trust these measures this week as Jimmy my measurer is on holidays! Still alcohol free, exercise was frequent enough but not long enough sessions. There is always next week!
Week 5, November 2
5 workouts last week, 2 runs X 30 mins and 3 weight sessions X 30 mins.
No alcohol
Diet – not bad, not great
Result? check the table up the top
As for the rest of the team: Michelle has hit the lowest ever on our scales. I know that scales aren’t everything but nevertheless it is wise to measure on a weekly basis under consistent circumstances. Well done M.
Craig, with 2 weeks of no alcohol dropped a whopping 3 cms around the waist!
I will try not to let you down next week gang or these pants are going to need to be taken out. In an attempt to spark it up a bit – No coffee and no chocolate in November for me. Let’s see what that does? If you knew how much I look forward to my morning coffee you would know that this isn’t going to be heaps of fun. Oh well, the things we do in the name of leather!
You know it would be easy to get a bit discouraged here but the body works in mysterious ways at times and sometimes it needs more of a shock to get things moving not to mention CONSISTENCY and progressive overload. You just have to keep your head in the right place here folks and hold on to your lattes!
Week 6, November 9.
You can see from the table above that the weight has changed a bit and maybe even an up movement in the waist! I got 5 sessions last week and with the introduction of being ‘allowed’ to drink hit a bit of road bump on Melbournec Cup day. Such is life . One day doesn’t ruin a whole program but can certainly undermine results for one week. Okay so back in to it and I just need to go harder. Craig had a similar result with little movement last week even after a solid week of training and Michelle made some small progress with her usual training regime. She has selected her ‘leather pants’ which is a size 12 dress and Craig still has his sights set on ‘abs!’ More photos coming soon! Stay tuned.
Week 7. November 13.
Training this week has included 3 X 1 hour weight sessions, 2 cardio sessions one pretty full on 30 minute computrainer and another 40 jog/run. Not a bad training week, but again questioning my commitment by having a few foods and amber fluids that are not leather pants material! 5 weeks to go and Jimmy tells me I need to take a good hard long look at what I am doing as the business might be on the line! Never mind that! What about my self respect??!!! I had some small progress this week (no measurement error this time I am sure!) but I will take any positives and run with that. I am hoping to start the year off with some takers for our best body challenge. Come along to the nutrtion seminar to hear about more about that! Make sure you check out Craig and Michelles progress photos. They both had a very good week!
