When performing a complex set selection of weight is very important. I would always start with a light bar first, much lighter for some of the exercises compared to if you were just doing them on their own in straight set fashion. Focus first on being able to complete all the exercises without stopping or putting the bar down, using perfect technique. If at the end of the complex set it feels comfy then look at increasing the load. Check out the complex set below.

Warm up

Complex set: (Perform 10-12 reps of the following exercises)

Straight legged deadlift

Bent over rows

High pulls

Clean and press

Squat

Alternating front lunge

Alternating side lunge

Alternating reverse lunge

At the end of the set perform the below abdominal circuit using a stability ball.

Plank with arms on ball: 30-60 second hold

Lower back ext over ball x12 reps

Jack-knife x12 reps (Press up position with shins on the ball, pull your knees into your body).

At the end of the abdominal circuit rest for 1-2 minutes and then repeat the complex set. Aim to complete 3-4 sets of the above workout.

Exercises used:

Burpee with vertical jump

Barbell clean and press

Medicine ball crunch (Lie on your back and hold a medicine ball above your head. With your legs straight in the air, lift your shoulder blades off the floor and reach the ball towards your feet).

How to do the challenge:

Start off by performing 2 reps of each of the exercises and then 4 and 6 and so on all the way up to 12 reps. once you have finished 12 med ball crunches stop the clock and record your time.

Advanced version:

Perform the same challenge but for the burpee complete a press up at the bottom of the movement and a vertical jump at the top.

Tips:

For the barbell clean and press use a weight that would normally challenge you for 8-10 reps so by the end the last few reps will push you to your limits.

For clients I have been using 2-4kg medicine balls.

Warm up:

Perform the below as a circuit with no rest in between each exercise. Rest at the end for 1-2 minutes and then repeat completing 3 full circuits.

Press ups x20

Dumbbell step ups x20

Bench hops x30 seconds

Dumbbell bent over rows x12

Alternating leg dumbbell lunges x20

Alternating leg squat thrusts x30 seconds

Dumbbell Russian twists x10 each side

Aims:

For each of the resistance exercises use a weight that will allow you to perform correct technique but will challenge you over the 3 circuits.

If you would like to see a WBW that uses specific equipment then please get in touch and we can post one up for you.

For each of the following exercises use a very low step.

One hand on:

Place your left hand on the step and right hand on the floor in a press up position. Complete 10 reps and then repeat on the opposite side.

Walk over’s:

Start with both hands on the step, from here take one hand off and place it on the floor and perform a press up before pushing yourself back up and across the step and complete a press up on the other side.

Narrow press up:

Place both hands on the side of the step and perform a press up keeping your elbows in tight to the body.

Explosive press up:

Start with both hands either side of the step and perform a press up taking your chest all the way to the step. From here explode up and jump your hands onto the step before immediately jumping back off and straight back into the next press up.

If you want an even harder version then replace the step with a medicine ball.

So next time you want to train your chest why not dump the bench press and give this a try.

1 minute on, 1 minute off:

This workout involves mixing the focus pads with some bodyweight training to give you an effective session that lasts for 16 minutes which makes it excellent if you’re short of time or as part of a longer training session if you are feeling fighting fit!

Once you are warmed up you start round 1 on the pads. Each round lasts for 1 minute and the pad rounds consist of throwing a mixture of punch/knee/kick combinations to my command. Once the time is up you get a minutes rest but during this time you must complete a set number if reps of a bodyweight exercise. The quicker the reps are completed the more of the minute you get to rest. After this you start the next pad round and this continues over 8 pad rounds. Check out the example below.

Pad round 1:

1 minute pads

12x press ups (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

Pad round 2:

1 minute pads

12x sprinter sit-ups (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

Pad round 3:

1 minute pads

12x squats (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

Pad round 4:

1 minute pads

12x burpees (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

Complete these 4 rounds again for the 8 round workout.

Other exercises to try:

Lunges

Narrow press ups

Squat thrusts

V-ups

Jump squats

Burpee challenge:

This is something that I often do at the end of my client’s session, often after the above pad workout for a very gruelling cardio blast! The challenge follows the same time protocol as the above one. Perform 1 minute of pad work and then immediately complete 5 burpees and then rest for whatever time is left of the minute before starting the next pad round. The aim is to perform an extra 5 burpees each time up to 25 within the minute.

1 minute pads

5 burpees (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

1 minute pads

10 burpees (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

1 minute pads

15 burpees (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

1 minute pads

20 burpees (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

1 minute pads

25 burpees (once completed rest for the remaining minute)

If you fail to complete the burpees within the time then the challenge is over.

For this challenge you will be using a single dumbbell, for each of the resistance exercise try and pick a weight that allows you to complete the exercise with good technique whilst still challenging you. For this challenge I would normal do a couple of sets of each dumbbell exercise with my clients at the start using a slightly lighter weight to help learn correct technique and warm up the muscle groups that are about to be worked. The challenge is very taxing on the whole body especially the muscles of the legs, shoulders, chest and core.

Once the client is familiar with the technique and fully warmed up then the aim is simply complete the following 9 exercise circuit in your quickest time.

Circuit:

Single arm squat curl and press x20 per side

Basic Burpee x12

Lunge with reach x20 per side

Burpee to knee strike x12

Side lunge with overhead swing x20 per side

Burpee with Jump x12

Sprinter sit- up x20

Turkish get- up x12 per side

Burpee with press up and jump x20

I always like to catch any TV show that covers the health and fitness industry and especially those that cover my profession of personal training. It is a great way to see how the industry is portrayed and to maybe pick up some new training ideas from fellow fitness professionals.

The concept of “Fat fighters” for those who may not have seen it is that it follows 4 personal trainers who work out of a trendy health club in London. Each week they will help somebody towards their goal over a 3 month period. I was hopeful of a show that would help to promote personal training/trainers and inspire people to take up exercise; unfortunately I don’t feel this is the case.

 During my 15 years or so of working in the fitness industry I have come across many people who have told me the hardest part about joining a gym and starting an exercise regime is that first initial step. Walking into a gym for the first time can be a very daunting experience and even harder when many people still hold the view that gyms are just full of people with fantastic physiques and that all the men are muscle bound and the women are all slim and toned. Now of course in this day and age that is far from the truth since all types of people workout and you will find all shapes and sizes training together. This is why I find it disappointing that it seems that 95% of the people training at the gym featured in “Fat fighters” are already in great shape. From the trainers who walk around in little hot pants and skimpy leather outfits (the women!) to those ripping off their shirts during classes and training on the gym floor with their top off (the men!) to the members of the gym you see in the background during the course of the show. Now I am a firm believer that a personal trainer should be in good shape and look like they practice what they preach but is what I have mentioned above a true reflection of your average personal trainer or is it just going to help reinforce the stereotype that many people still hold which is that personal trainers are all vain and self obsessed? 

On the programme a few weeks ago we had one of the female trainers working with 2 ladies who were both overweight and self conscious of their bodies. At one point she had them training near the weights area which was full of muscle bound guys. Now I am sure this would motivate some women but for many I think it would have the complete opposite effect! To top it off the trainer then decided in her infinite wisdom to get the ladies to take part in an exercise class deigned to work the chest area (class was called boobercise!). She thought it would motivate them and show them what could be achieved. Well the class was like a scene from the “Call on me” music video with all the women wearing little crop tops to show off their flat stomachs and ample chests. Again is this a true indication of an exercise class or the kind of thing to motivate people who already have issues with their physiques? It came as no surprise to me that the 2 women hated it. 

In the latest “Fat fighters” we followed the exploits of a young lad who was again massively overweight and unfit and who had not trained for many years after suffering a shoulder injury from playing rugby. At the beginning we were shown him being put through his paces during his first session. Now if the cameras are to be believed then this first session included high impact exercises such as frog jumps and pushing a punch bag across an aerobic studio while his bodybuilding trainer pushed it back to add extra resistance along with other such gruelling drills which all contributed to the poor lad being sick into a bin. There was no talk of any exercises to help to strengthen the injured shoulder or if there were they were done as part of the training performed away from camera or ended up on the cutting room floor as they were not entertaining enough. Unfortunately most people will only go from what is presented to them on TV. In fact the shoulder was only really mentioned after the wannabe rugby player re-injured it during a fitness session on the pitch while doing a shuttle run into forward roll drill. Then it was only mentioned briefly with a quick demo of a simple exercise to help with posture of the shoulders. Now the workout that was presented as the first session would have been taxing for somebody with a good level of fitness let alone somebody who had not trained for years and had spent much of the time sitting on the couch eating junk food.  Now the problem I have with this is that is this really the type of session you would give somebody who was just starting out after leading a sedentary lifestyle. For me I would start of by easing people into training, work on imbalances and injuries (such as working on building up the guys shoulder so he could get back into rugby which was his overall goal) and gradually increase the workload over the coming weeks. I don’t want to scare a new client away after the first session and have them not being able to walk for days on end and not wanting to return. Many shows like “Fat fighters” seem to focus on these high intensity sessions and extreme training methods. For example the ITV show “The biggest loser” likes to get participants to run 5km almost immediately. Now whether this is all done for the cameras as it makes for better TV then showing the low impact, corrective type of training that could well be being done off camera who knows. I just feel that if people are sat at home thinking about starting a training programme  and are uneducated about this, do we really want them thinking that the best thing to do is to jump straight into a high intensity regime. For me this is what is being portrayed and it is slightly irresponsible of the programme makers. 

My last point from watching the show was how the trainers spoke about their clients. In last nights episode the rugby player’s American trainer said on camera that he had left the States to get away from overweight people and now had to train somebody who was fat. Again it may have been all for show and just a throw away comment but it came across as if he didn’t want to train anyone who was considerably overweight.  If this is really his attitude then I think he may be in the wrong job as many people go to a personal training wanting to lose weight. I think anybody who has decided to approach a trainer to help them change their bodies should be applauded and given respect both to their face and behind their backs.

Final thought:

While I understand that “Fat fighters” is there to entertain it is also aiming to be informative. Many of the facts about training and nutrition that are given out are very good but these are often sandwiched between very cheesy segments such as last night when the guy was made to train in front of a group of attractive girls to help boost his confidence with women! At the end of the show the participants have always dropped weight or achieved their goals so the trainers are obviously doing their jobs and getting results. And if the show helps people to get motivated, take up a fitness regime or lead a healthy lifestyle then it has been a success. I just hope it doesn’t reinforce a lot of people’s negative stereotypes towards gyms and personal trainers or put people off training. There is more to personal training than big muscles, skimpy outfits and lots of shouting!

Off centre press up 1 hand on Rocka

Elevated press up feet on Rocka

Upper body workout:

Warm up 5 minutes.

Bench press 3 sets 8-10 reps

Pull ups 3 sets 10-12 reps

Off centre press up on Body Rocka 10 reps per side x3 sets

Single arm Dumbbell row 3 sets 10 reps per arm

Barbell push press 3 sets 8-10 reps

Superset:

Barbell bicep curl

Close hand press up on Body Rocka 12 reps on both x3 sets

Bodyweight exercises:

Press up variations such as: Close hand, knees to chest, shoulder taps, feet elevated.

Abdominal exercises such as: Crunch, oblique twists, v-ups, plank, sprinter sit ups.

Lower body exercises such as: Lunge. Side lunge, reverse lunge, squats.

Cardio exercises such as: Burpee, squat thrusts, jumping jacks.

After this round and a short rest period it is time for a 5 minute powerbag round. You complete 30 seconds of the below exercises again resting for 10 seconds in between. The circuit is completed twice through.

Bent over row

Upright row

Walking lunge with shoulder press

Chest press

Press up position knees to chest

Check out a sample of this workout below.

After the powerbag round you complete another Focus pad round using a different set of bodyweight exercises followed by 1 more powerbag round. The workout is then finished with the below challenge.

Shuttle runs challenge:

This time we are mixing a 1 minute pad round with shuttle runs up and down the studio which is approximately 10 metres long. Again start out with your minutes pad work and then complete 2 shuttle runs (up and down the room counts as 1 lap). You have again 1 minute to complete the shuttles in so the faster you run the more time you get to recover. Once the minute is up start the next pad round, after each pad round increase the shuttles by 2 laps but keep the time to complete them in to 1 minute. This means less and less recovery time as you progress through. The maximum I would work up to given the length of a lap is 10 shuttle runs. This would mean 5 rounds on the pads. If the client fails to meet the target numbers of shuttle runs within the minute then stop the drill.

Perform the below exercises back to back with little or no rest in between each one.

Warm up: 5 minutes

Squat lifts with forward and backward walks. X3 Sets

Side crawl over VIPR with side shuffle and step back. X4 sets

Walking lunge with shoulder to shoulder press and Ice skater combo x3 sets

Burpee with drag through x3 laps (There and back counts as 1 lap)

Rest for 2 minutes and then repeat the circuit. Aim to complete 3 full circuits.