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Milo of Croton was a wrestler of note who lived in the sixth Century BC. It is said that the great wrestler once lifted a 4-year-old bull on his shoulders, roasted it and ate it all in one day. Impressive, no? What I find most impressive about this story is how Milo was able to train and develop the strength to carry the bull. The tale goes that every day from when the calf was born, Milo would go out and lift the calf. As the calf grew so did Milo’s strength. Modern sport scientists would call this a perfect example of progressive overload in training. No doubt, modern day animal activists would probably have something to say as well! It is amazing what can be achieved when the sum of years of training is accumulated. Recently, the performance of two of my clients gave me pause to reconsider that we all have to start somewhere but eventually everyone can achieve great results over time.

I could not wait to write this blog post. It’s been a pretty exciting weekend:

One of the great perks of being a personal trainer is seeing people achieve something they never thought they could or would. This weekend I experienced that feeling no less than 3 times. Stavroola Anderson and Nigel Janson are two clients of mine who took part in the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon on Sunday Morning and Claire Moran has been working with me to improve her speed to increase her chances for selection in the NSW State Touch Football Team. Claire had her final trial on Friday and I received the first of my 3 excited text messages from her on Saturday:

This Saturday is the inaugural “Accidental Runners” 5km event. I have organised this event to provide a supportive and encouraging first step for inexperienced runners to move into social and perhaps, eventually, competitive running. It is targeted towards novice runners and clients who have never competed in a running event before. Some of my more talented clients will also be joining us to support and lead the newest of the “accidental runners”. This means there is no better time to write a blog with my top 10 tips for preparing for an event:

I don’t think I’ve ever had 2 more nervous clients in the week leading up to the inaugural Accidental Runners 5km – and understandably so. I have tremendous respect for anyone who is willing to step out of their comfort zone and to take on your first 5km race is no mean feat. I’m not sure if either of them thought when I first suggested that it was time to take on a challenge that we would actually follow through with it. So understandably, there were some very nervous conversations and training sessions in the final couple of weeks before the race.

As a trainer with a strong background in exercise science and exercise physiology I take a slightly different approach to exercise. Basically, I use exercise prescription to improve someone’s health. Through exercise prescription we can treat people of all ages and a variety of health ailments in a very specific way. In effect, exercise becomes medicine.

In this more medical approach the ‘dose’ of exercise is adjusted through it’s intensity, volume, duration, regularity and modality.

Here are my top five tips for clients regardless of whether they are exercising for weight loss, cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, mental health, to limit the effects of ageing to decrease stress or if they just want to be in better health then they currently are:

On the weekend I was invited to attend an Ocean Swim by my good friend, Chris Jonson. Chris is a member of the Coogee Surf Club and had been approached by the Club to gather some competent swimmers for an ocean swim to Wedding Cake Island in support of Triple M star Gus Worland.

Strength Training 101:

I’ve blogged before about the 4 sessions everyone should be doing to improve their cardiovascular fitness. This week I take a look at the basics of strength training and give my top tips for putting together an effective training program. First of all, I feel it is important to point out why strength training is important. Strength or resistance training promotes muscle cell growth (hypertrophy), increases bone density, prevents muscle wastage with age (sarcopenia) and bone loss with age (osteopenia and osteoporosis). Resistance training has been proven to be beneficial for people of all ages and genders. The difficult part is knowing what to do and how much of it to do. Here is a great starting guide:

Recently, one of my clients reached a BIG BIG milestone. Since beginning training in late November last year Belinda has lost 50kgs in 8 months. I’ve been waiting to blog about this for some time but the City 2 Surf has taken precedence, especially considering that Belinda was amongst my troupe of runners for this year’s race. You would have read last week that she completed the race in under 2 hours. A spectacular effort for someone who still weighs over 100kgs but she has come such a long way.

50kgs is the highest recorded weight loss for a female client that I have worked with. It’s a tremendous feat and along the way we have both learnt a lot about what other people’s perception is of you as you lose weight. Here are 10 of the best:

This week my focus is on dietary practices with many of my clients. More specifically, I am promoting a non-diet approach to your diet – what!! What I mean is that your diet should be based on regular healthy eating and not based on sensationalised programs that are not endorsed by professionals. One of the tough aspects of any kind of healthy practice is that it can wear you down. Self-discipline and will power are not a infinite commodities. To the contrary, it is finite, and when we run out we’re in BIG trouble. So here are two of my favourite fables revisited about maintaining your discipline. I want you to also remember that by providing your body with excellent fuel, then you are giving yourself the best chance to maintain your discipline. Just like good exercise breeds more energy, good eating breeds better decisions and a healthier psychological disposition. Enjoy the fables:

Throughout the Winter months, there is always a steady stream of members and clients of the gym that are suffering from colds, flus and various viruses. It’s often a difficult decision to make, whether or not to continue exercising, rest or modify your training in some way. I’m a believer in continuing to train where possible but modifying your session. Here is why: