HOW TO LOSE 8 STONE IN 9 MONTHS

THIS WASN'T AS EASY AS IT LOOKED, IT TOOK ONE FAILED ATTEMPT 7 YEARS PREVIOUSLY WHERE CLIENT LOST INCHES ALL OVER BUT DIDN'T LOSE WEIGHT ON THE SCALES, IMPROVED LUNG CAPACITY, RESTING HEART RATE & FITNESS. MUSCLE WEIGHS HEAVIER THAN FAT & PSYCHOLOGICALLY THAT CAN DEMOTIVATE ANY INDIVIDUAL, YOU WOULD HAVE TO ASK HER IF I CHANGED HER LIFE, I DONT THINK SO, MAYBE IF I STAYED BUT I MOVED COUNTRY TO DO MY DEGREE.

I can't take all the credit for this, primarily the credit must go to the client who first of all had the bravery & courage to enter a gym full of mirrors, body builders & what can be an intimidating environment for obese people or non athletes & secondly a great attitude & listening skills. My manager Steve who had a Masters degree in physiology must take a lot of credit for his welcome as that first 15 30 min introduction can change a persons life forever positively or turn them off the gym for life.

I will never forget Steve telling us in his first meeting that we are not just giving out programs here, we are changing lives. I took that very seriously & studied my sport & exercise psychology hard during the week to help me in my program prescription at the weekend. I'd always seen the program prescription & first introduction as the most important part of the job as that's what changes lives & brings the memberships in, ultimately most customers join for your knowledge in teaching them how to lose weight & improve their health & fitness, everything else is important but secondary including classes.

I was very fortunate to get a job along side Steve and some of the most qualified instructors in the U.k most with a Degree, Masters or huge experience & qualifications the length of their strong arms with super equipment & other friendly staff.

Steve started the client off the best way possible which was only 10 mins on treadmill 2 to 3 times per week & I took over. It's not as easy as it looked, many conversations may look leisurly but are planned out in the mind of the instructor hours or days in advance. You have to create a rapport & trust with the client in order for them to trust & ultimately open up to you.

A food diary is imperative to get to the bottom of the problem where client & instructor see everything consumed 24/7 for at least 7 days & a diary of every movement done in 7 days as that's all weight loss is, energy in vs energy out. Many new instructors, me included when I first qualified at age 20 give new clients programs that they are totally incapable of in many cases to show off their own knowledge, however this is totally the wrong way to do things & isn't recommended in any credible fitness books or sports science journals.

While I had trained 2 teams to county titles at this stage I was fortunate I felt I'd nothing to prove & thought very analytically about every word I said. If you feel its not right to add to clients program in a certain week then don't, just smile & reassure them they're on right track.

ENJOYMENT & AVOIDING INJURY ARE FIRST AND FOREMOST

The key is enjoyment, a safe fun environment & helping the client understand the fundamentals of warm ups, cool downs & stretching to help lactic acid exit muscles, avoid delayed onset muscle soreness & ensure muscles fibres are brought back to normal length while recovering for next session with proper hydration & nutrition allowing the body to be fresh & ready for next session.

keep it simple:

If you ever come across a client who has never really exercised before just use the PRINCIPLE OF KEEPING IT SIMPLE, If it's not broke don't fix it, don't push too far, too quickly & only give exercise the client enjoys. The main goal at the beginning is to make them as comfortable as possible in this new intimidating environment, ensure they are enjoying the new routine & they know the stretches off by heart. Only when one is comfortable in gym, is used to warm up stretching & cooling down should you increase intensity.

GRADUAL PROGRESSIONS

Gradual progressions are key for physical education pupils & key for obese clients. Your goal is to get this loving trusting soul from walking 10 mins on treadmill twice a week to running one hour every morning by either increasing incline, duration or speed very, very gradually. Running is best exercise as it moves all major limbs & muscles for weight loss so doing this activity is key & most beneficial to clients, daily life, lungs & overall calorie loss.

Time management is everything

Incorporating the new routine gradually into daily life is imperative, taking the stairs & gradually walking everywhere any chance one gets is paramount to a total change in lifestyle which is the real goal. There is no point in running 30 mins every day if you get the lift, elevator, taxi everywhere & shopping, take away deliveries consistently. 60% of weight loss is in your in your daily routine, Think about all the times others make tea for you instead of the other way around, busy people keep their metabolisms high by constantly moving.

If you're in a sedentary job in an office where someone makes all the Coffee's you're in trouble & need to think very carefully & analytically about changing job or role in the office as metabolism decreases every 5 years. Personally I always try to do 2 things at once & many times I've advised first time mothers to go back working part time or full time to help lose the weight . No one is saying being a new mum is not hard however there are times where sitting down too much with baby is not conducive to your goal.

If your main goal is getting back to your best then you must prioritise and go back working part time or walk everywhere with buggy, consider joining a mother baby run group or exercise group, most gyms now have a nursery for certain aged children and swimming classes.

What the research says:

All the exercise & Exercise Psychology I was studying during the week suggests getting back to your favourite sport. For me that's Gaelic football & soccer, there's nothing like going for a run with your favourite ball & using all your major body parts to perform skill while running. It's what makes you jump out of bed in the morning to what you love as opposed to rolling out of bed to force yourself to do something you hate just because you wish to lose a few pounds of fat.

It's the reason why people try so many fad diets & easy exercises including vibration platforms which were invented by NASA to retain muscle, think about it and think analytically, ask yourself do I want to do what I love with people I like in a place I love or do I want to do exercise some stranger I've never met outside a gym is telling me to do just because he did a 12 week course on it & has muscles bursting though his lycra at 20 years of age ? Just because it works for him doesn't mean it will work for you or anyone else.

Every persons programme should be situation specific & tailored to the individual. Your metabolism decreases every 5 years & you have a different muscle fibre, mindset, physical education and life to the young man or woman promoting their program, you're starting from a completely different base line.

This clients favourite sport was swimming & therefore It was better to get them back swimming & loving the feel of pulling the water repeatedly than add too many weights or other exercises. Luckily I'm a qualified Swim teacher & therefore we hit the pool & added to to the program gradually, including some aqua aerobics chest presses, pulls with float if I remember correctly.

Swimming works every major body part & is therefore ideal but it has to be gradual & enjoyable. Aqua aerobics class was advised too although I can't remember how many times it was done exactly, not weekly only occasionally if it agreed with client time management as a bonus. The key was swimming with gradual progressions on lengths, time, days with recovery & stretching key .

As mentioned realistic goal setting, visualisation & positive self talk were the imperative parts of exercise psychology used & as long as we avoided injury we were on target to change a life forever. Sometimes coaches are guilty of of over training a client in excitement of results however mostly its key to bite your lip & analyse from a far, as long as the work is done, its done & one shouldn't forget the huge family sacrifices in time the client has already made especially the life style change overall.

Thank fully within 9 months 8 stone was lost averaging about 3 pound a week & gradual increases were from 10 mins twice a week to running 1 hour in morning & swimming 1 hour in evening 6 days a week with one rest day & only 2 major body parts worked through weights on certain days.

However if the client had of loved weight lifting, even salsa dancing or any other sport I'd of advised them to do that & go back to what they love gradually every night as that's what the exercise psychology advised. There's no need to overcomplicate it with new weights & never ask them to do something they hate. Get out your golf clubs, your basketball or bat & gradually return to your favourite sport even if you must train alone to join the over 60s 5 a side team.

The key to all of it was Exercise psychology, small realistic goal setting , gradual progressions & positive self talk, encouragement & reinforcement. Gradually reducing bad habits of diet, lifts, elevators & increasing good ones gradually was key whether that be in diet or movement & avoiding injuries with continuous stretching. Positive self talk can not be underestimated, when you're telling yourself daily " I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this" its amazing the positive energy that exudes from every cell of your being.

The general manager Nigel asked me at one point if this client would like to be highlighted for member of the month but keeping it simple was paramount, It did nothing extra for achieving the goal & the added publicity & attention from other members was just not wanted so we declined his offer & got on with the task at hand. 33% of people are extroverts, 33% introverts & 33% ambiverts so some people just don't want the extra conversations plus there was no reward so we felt it best for our goal to continue current path. Our main goal was weight loss, not publicity, our goal was to change a life forever not one month of pat's on back.

last exercise's added were weights kept to a minimum 6 sets with gradual progress on weight lifting as client didn't enjoy them or the intimidating environment they were kept (our weights stack was literally like pic above & had to be walked by to get to smaller weights with body builders there) and was already doing them lightly in a different way through 40 lengths of pool almost daily to 6 days a week, client enjoyed the same treadmill in same place at a specific quiet time of day. We had to keep it enjoyable & never give a client exercises they will dread as it can ruin their whole outlook on gym.

Do what you enjoy in a part of gym you enjoy, with people you like & ignore everyone else, just focus on yourself. I suppose I was also wary of pushing too many weights too soon as what happened 7 years previously where client put on too much muscle & although lost the inches all over, she looked amazing, in her mind it had to be on the scales, therefore you've got to go with client preferences not yours.

Just before I finished my Final assignment for my Degree the client stepped off the treadmill & said "8 stone in 9 months Declan". The next phase was to increase intensity & add more weights if agreed with client.

However one week later I returned to Ireland as my own mum had put on 4 stone & needed my help. I told my personal training clients I was off & would finish training my PT clients through email back then as sessions were already paid for, I offered money back but they refused. I had trained two teams in Ireland to county titles & I planned on doing that again but my mums dementia took over my life & ended up in meetings with government to change policies.

I'll take that though, it was the key point in my life when I was told 8 stone in 9 months & I realised if I teach full time PE I'd be wasting my knowledge. We had agreed client should take own measurements & update me weekly, it was the first time I'd ever allowed this to happen but I'd only once dealt with someone over 21 stone so it came down to making client comfortable & have nothing that wasn't looked forward to weekly in program & I could see the progress myself every week visually & physically.

It was around this time I had also done work experience with a premiership team where they were basically feeling like they were training in heaven with everything perfect so my philosophy was make everything as smooth & enjoyable as possible & as long as progress continued why change anything. Had I of stayed the next stage would of been adding muscular endurance at home through press ups, squats & then dumbbells as client hated weights areas, then cycling for long term goal of triathlon in 9-12 months time or duathlon without bike if client hated bike, however that would of taken training away from my own Mum who needed my help badly more than ever & to be quite honest I missed Ireland & my own sport.

My degree was completed & I'd done everything I could for client although the credit must go to them, I just nudged in right direction weekly. It was my job & I firmly believe every fitness instructor should still do this instead of always selling personal training to some that don't need it & others that cant afford it. I wasn't there to make sales, I was there to change lives. In many cases this is not Trainers fault as Gyms are taken over by new management who are hired for sales which is then pushed onto trainer or they're made redundant.

However I'm a man of principle & felt like it was like asking a brilliant Engineering or Math's Teacher not to teach properly, asking them to say to their students to book in a grind for extra knowledge. No look, this what I signed up for, this is what I'm born to do, I gave them my word, I'm not going to stop half way through & say if you want me to give you all my knowledge you'll have to pay me 65 an hour, it was 50 back then if I remember right, the new manager wasn't happy but I wasn't there to sell I was there to change lives, don't interrupt me in the middle of it. 6 or 7 Personal trainer's resigned or changed to a swimming role as we were being asked to sell Personal training to people who didn't need Personal training & would be perfectly fine continuing their favourite sport with gym 3 or 4 times a week. A former lawyer who retired & became a fitness instructor after 55 got a redundancy package & others changed to a swimming role or management role. 3 resigned including me as soon as I possibly could as it wasn't realistic to look for new role in midst of finishing my degree.

I'd fulfilled all my goals as a personal trainer so I got first ferry back to Ireland, earlier in life at 21 I trained a team of men, some more than 10 years older than me to a County hurling title & due to that I was offered a County job training Louth hurling team which I turned down to do a degree abroad & trained someone to lose 8 stone in 9 months plus got some experience learning how a Premiership team trains. I never trained groups in that gym as I was just there the weekend, it wasn't my goal, I'd already proved my competence so I never felt the need to prove myself.

I guess I could have but it wasn't what I was there for, I was there to get my degree & do my job, it's fair to say i did it well & ethically. However it's fair to say it was & is one of the best gyms in Britain & had/has some extremely competent trainers with huge experience & serious qualifications.

I realised I had to do a Masters in sport & exercise psychology to help as many as possible after that & I loved exercise psychology, everything about it. I got more pleasure from training an obese client than training 2 teams to County titles through the toughest training they ever had via muscular endurance of all major muscles, aerobic & anaerobic fitness. Training an obese client changes their life, their kids life and grandchildren for generations to come where as both my winning teams just went drinking for 2 months & undid my 3-7 months work.

Here we are now but I suppose with the younger one's at least it gives them the grit, resilience to win in future and in life & gave me great pleasure to see some form the back bone of first Senior winning team in almost 50 years, one captain Kenny of other adult team told me years later I had totally changed their club but I still got more pleasure in changing obese clients lives than teaching winning football fitness so here we are.

IF YOU CAN HELP 1 PERSON LOSE 8 STONE IN 9 MONTHS THEN YOU CAN HELP 5000 PEOPLE LOSE THE SAME AMOUNT IN THAT TIME PER WEEK ONLINE OR RADIO, YOUTUBE ETC. ONE WEEK LATER I MOVED BACK TO IRELAND & HELPED MY OWN RELATIVE LOSE 3 STONE THROUGH HOUSE WORK, LAPS OF LAKE AND HEALTHIER DIET DUE TO DEMENTIA. DEMENTIA PATIENTS ARE HARDEST PEOPLE TO TRAIN ON EARTH AS THEY DONT WANT TO EXERCISE SO HAD TO PUT A REWARD SYSTEM IN PLACE, YOU HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO SAVE THEIR LIFE OR PROLONG IT WITH QUALITY, SPOKE ON RADIO ABOUT MY THESIS "HOW AEROBIC FITNESS IMPROVES ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH AND MATHS" & CHANGED GOVERNMENT POLICY ON NURSING HOMES TO HOME CARE FOR 5000 PEOPLE ENSURING 60% OF THEIR HEALTH WAS KEPT BY THEIR DAILY ROUTINE (MORE TO COME ON THAT)

FOR CONFIDENTIALITY REASONS CLIENTS NAME & ARE NOT DISCLOSED, HOWEVER STEVE, NIGEL, OTHER STAFF AND GYM MEMBERS WHO ALREADY KNEW THROUGH OBSERVATION NOT CONFIDENTIALITY BREACH WILL CONFIRM THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND CORRECT & CLIENT SHOULD THEY CHOOSE TOO.

When I returned to Ireland I kind of wanted a break from fitness & I got a job within 3 weeks & actually resigned that on principle too, I made a mistake accepting a role selling 600 tv channels to people who were already overweight so after discussing with family it was felt best to resign to keep half eye on Mums dementia & Ronan will remember me as I'm the only person ever to do it. After literally saving my Mums life a 100 times due to 100 cigarette burns in her clothes & getting wooden floors put into house after 18 months, fire extinguishers & then outside fire alarms which notified neighbours due to dementia. I had to put my Masters on hold to save her life but I had no choice there were 3 major fires in house & no one would buy fire alarms. The 800 euro I SPENT ON THEM WAS BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT AS after 2 major fires they saved her life when bin went up on fire at 3am in morning. I got a job with a sales company prior to that & became one of best sales men in company due to preparing for work aerobically & social psychology, visualisation, positive self talk for a couple of years until I joined a Phone firm for a long period & injured intercostals arm-wrestling a 6 foot 6 Cork man which was called a draw after 25 mins but took muscle off the bone according to Doctor, set up a gym beside mothers Nursing home before her stroke which forced me to instigate agefriendlyhomes.ie with 2 Ministers of Irish government & change 2 nursing homes diabetic biscuit policies.

#RUNNINGCHANGESLIVES #SWIMMING CHANGESLIVES #EXPERIENCEDTEACHERS CHANGELIVES #

#KEEPITSIMPLE~ EXERCISE & PLAY THE SPORT YOU LOVE #GRADUAL PROGRESSIONS #POSITIVESELFTALK #EXERCISEPHSYCHOLOGY