Church of Pain

So I get a call last week from my friend Joe asking if I fancy a session with IFBB pro bodybuilder Lee Powell, before he even finished his sentence I said “yes” as I thought it would be great experience. So after some other small talk we hang up and then I realised I never asked what we are going to be training. So I pick up the phone and ask what body part are we training? This is where my smile got turned into a frown!

Legs!

I hate training my legs I really do, don’t get me wrong I give them equal attention but it’s always been the one body part I never look forward to. Anyway I thought “this is going to be interesting and I’m going to learn something” so leading up to Saturday I was excited and ready for anything. I wake up Saturday morning around 7am to sort out my gym gear and make sure I have everything for the trip then all of a sudden I became really nervous about training, maybe due to the fact I was going to be in the presence of a pro, maybe the thought of training legs? Whatever it was it put me on edge!

After the drive to Gloucester I turn up at Joe’s and we catch up and put the gear in the car and then head to Severnside gym. We park up and start walking towards the gym, I have to admit the gym is in a beautiful location and the gym alone is a thing of beauty! It’s a church which has been converted to a gym and after speaking to some of the locals who train there it’s been called the Church of Pain!

How can something so beautiful cause so much pain? I was about to find out...............................

We get inside and I take a look around and the only way I can best describe it is that it’s a “man’s gym” no coloured weights, no fancy machines just the basic tools needed to pack on muscle. Lee then walks over and introduces himself we have a quick chat but that’s not what we were there for! He then explains that we are going to do warm up sets on the leg extension, so I hop on and ask “how many reps?” To which I get the response “I’ll tell you when to stop!” ok, fair enough your bigger than me, whatever you say!

I start the exercise strong and I’m on the 15th rep and he I hear “OK” I don’t even remember if the next set was heavier or lighter, I was just pushing and pushing until Lee said otherwise! Now the third set begins and as I’m at the top of the movement he tells me to squeeze and lower with control. At this point my quads were on fire and it was only the warm up! The weight changes again and after the last rep he shouts “give me 15 partial reps” the lactic acid was once again knocking on Mr Shaw’s door! We did another 3 sets and after I got off the machine after my final rep I could barely stand, I felt horrible, dizzy, fatigued, in a word “knackered”. This was only the beginning; this was only meant to be the warm up! I then realised I might of bit off more than I can chew but I was there and going to push on!

Next up was the hack squat, a machine which I haven’t used in years but was quickly reacquainted with. We started with no weight just to get used to the movement and speed of the reps, even with no weight I was finding it difficult! The key to this exercise is to get as low as you can while keeping the momentum slow enough so you can feel the muscles working and believe me I did! Lee was there to correct my footing and give me support but the legs were shaking already and I was feeling pretty grim! We did a few sets and added weight gradually but in all fairness, lifting my own body weight was hard enough and I felt every single rep!

After the hack squat we moved onto the leg press, I thought I would be ok with this one but my legs were on fire and the sweat was running down my face and I couldn’t stop drinking water as passing out was just moments away! I started off with a light weight which again was difficult at this point due to the shock that my legs had gone through. I think I managed to add two plates a side but in all fairness I wasn’t paying attention, I was more concerned about pushing the weight up and banging out the reps just so I could rest again! After this exercise I was really feeling it and I think the picture below tells you exactly how I felt!

We then moved on to squats with the Olympic bar, I’m not a fan of squats, never have been so I wasn’t looking forward to this. I started off squatting the bar just to get my technique right but frankly the bar was enough, my legs were starting to get tight and I had nothing left. I felt my manhood drift further and further away each time I attempted to squat! It’s my own fault though as I should squat more often.

Finally we come to dumbbell lunges; again my pride is ripped from me as Lee tells me to do them without weight to get my balance right as I was a bit wobbly. After the first set I’m handed weights and was told to do ten per leg. It was the longest ten reps of my life followed by another ten painful reps. Lee was telling me to get down further to get a good stretch but I physically couldn’t, I was thinking “if I get down further, I ain’t getting back up” I finally finish the last rep and drop the weights with a sigh of relief then stumble across to the nearest chair and collapse. I was done!

It was one of the most painful workouts I’ve ever had in my life, during the workout I was wishing it would end but I did enjoy it in a sadistic way, it was a great experience even though I was holding back the tears!

I asked my friend Joe to write a small segment about the session but from his point of view, this is all his own words and I haven’t edited anything just 100% truth!

“I grew up with Dave and we have known each other a long time. I enjoy training and I live in Gloucester. Gloucester just happens to be home to Lee Powell. Lee is an IFBB PRO and owns his own gym, Severnside, also known as - 'the church of pain'. Lee offers personal training sessions for a very reasonable price and I have been having these for a few months now. If you enjoy training, if you think you train hard, then try a session with Lee. This is what Dave did and this is how he took the session from my eyes.

We started with the leg extension and well, if I'm honest, I think Dave could have ended it here as well. Lee is all about the form, you don't need to pick up massive weights you need to have good form and control the negative. Once you can do that, then you start adding weight. By the end of these high rep drop sets I could see Dave was already in pain and it was only gonna get worse, much worse.

Onto the hack squat.

Lee makes you go ass to the floor, slow up, slow down. You can't lock out at the top either so the movement is constant, no rest for a set of 15. If done properly this hurts and Dave looked hurt. He was sweating pretty hard after the 3rd set and had only had to squat the frame. Like I said, good form over big weight. So now he was looking a bit pale, onto the leg press. First set was light, 100kgs for 12 reps. I had to laugh a bit when he couldn't lift it. He sat in the press legs shaking and we stripped it off to 50kg a side. Now if you’re reading this thinking - 'What, I could do that easy!' then you do not understand the intensity of this workout. IT IS HARD. So by the 3rd set, Dave managed that 100kg and it was onto some squats.

When you think of squatting you probably see the bar bending under all the plates. Not this time, Dave had to squat an empty bar and when he first tried to pick it up he couldn't. His legs just wouldn't do it. I laughed and said 'how’s it gonna look telling everyone on the blog you can’t squat the bar?!' This gave him a bit of motivation and he managed his sets.

It was the same story with the next exercise, dumb bell lunges. Just body weight reps, Now it might sound like I'm slating Dave but I'm not. I've done this workout with big Lee a few times now and I was the same as Dave first time round. Properly exhausted, I wouldn't say the workout gets any easier either, your body just gets better at coping with the pain. So now you know Dave isn't making all this stuff up. Now do what he did and get yourself to church!”

Joe

I get home around 5:30pm and I just crash on the sofa, I knew I was going to be feeling it but I had no idea of the pain waiting for me around the corner! Sunday I wake up feeling the pain in my quads, it was bad but bearable. I phone Joe and we joke about the pain and he then tells me “it’s only going to get worse” I take the comment with a pinch of salt and carry on with my day. So I wake up Monday and the pain is worse, walking was an effort and all I could think of was “I totally agree with this guy, I don’t like Monday”.

I struggle through the day and try to forget the pain, sleeping was also a nightmare as every time I moved the pain would resurface. Then I wake up today and yes the pain is still there and feeling somewhat worse than before, it felt like I was beaten in my sleep. I get up and sort myself out but every time I seen a step they stared back at me and I could almost hear them laughing, smug little bastards!

Even though the experience was painful I did leave satisfied, Lee knows his stuff and pushes people to get the best out of them and for that I’m grateful! If you’re ever in Gloucester I urge you to visit the Church of pain;

Severnside Gym (The Church of Pain)
Church Lane
Gloucester

I’m planning on going back and training other body parts in the future so when I do I’ll write about it.

I’d like to thank Lee for his time and Joe for sorting out the experience, it was a pleasure!

Introduction to intermittent fasting

After another 4 weeks of doing the Rapid Fat Loss diet I admit I wanted a change, not just for my benefit but for the readers benefit too. I had some great results over the 8 weeks or so and would happily do it again in the future to mix things up.

I had a week or so not worrying too much about what I ate but I’ve still been watching my carbohydrate intake during the week and indulging on the weekends, It’s hard to get out of the habit once you’ve been doing it for a while which I think is a good thing. Sunday was my refeed day and it involved me getting up at 9am cooking a pizza and enjoying it while watching the rugby then once it finished back to bed I went! Sunday clearly is my day of rest!

Over the week I had some time to think about what I’m going to do next and I decided to try intermittent fasting. For those of you who have never heard of intermittent fasting (IF) it is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting (usually meaning consumption of water only) and non-fasting. A specific form of IF is alternate day fasting (ADF), which is a 48-hour routine typically composed of a 24-hour fast followed by a 24-hour non-fasting period. The reason I choose IF as it claims to help get rid of stubborn body fat.

Stubborn body fat refers to areas of the body that hold onto fat the longest. Generally speaking, these areas include the lower abs and lower back in men, and the lower body in women. So that’s my goal, to get rid of the stubborn fat, I have no idea how this is going to go but I guess that’s the whole point of me doing this in the first place.

There are a few ways to carry out an IF diet but the one which got my attention the most is Martin Berkhan’s Lean gains. The Leangains protocol consists of two phases; 16 hours of fasting, followed by 8 hours of feeding. During this period, three meals are usually eaten. Depending on the day, the composition of those meals varies; on workout days, carbs are prioritized before fat, while on rest days fat intake is higher. Protein remains fairly high on all days.

So an example of the fast is as follows;

11.30-12 AM or 5-15 minutes pre-workout: 10 g BCAA or whey protein
12-1 PM: Training
1 PM: Post-workout meal (largest meal of the day).
4 PM: Second meal.
9 PM: Last meal before the fast.

Calories and carbs are tapered down throughout the day in the example above.

For me this is ideal as I normally train around 12:30pm most days and after a good session (behave) I always leave the gym famished so eating a big meal straight after is a god send!

I imagine some of you are thinking “16 hours without eating, that’s going to be hard” yes, 16 hours without food does seem daunting but if your last meal is around 8:30-9pm that means you’ll be asleep for most of the fasted phase. I’ve been trying it out this week to get an idea of what I can expect next week when I officially start the “experiment” and it’s pretty easy to get into. After the 2nd day I didn’t even think about food and my energy levels were pretty good, I was training at 100% and never felt drained once. One thing I will add is that when in the fasted phase you really have to stick to it, yesterday I had a bit too much milk in my tea and hunger pangs hit me hard, this happened because I consumed calories.

This is good time to list the key points to the 16/8 fast. Some of this information is from the lean gains site as I think it’s important to understand what to do to make the fast as successful as possible.


* No calories are to be ingested during the fasted phase, though coffee, calorie free sweeteners, diet soda and sugar free gum are ok (even though they might contain trace amount of calories). A tiny splash of milk in your coffee won’t affect anything either (½-1 teaspoon of milk per cup at the most - use sparingly and sensibly if you drink a lot of coffee). Neither will sugar free gum in moderation (~20 g).

* The fast is the perfect time to be productive and get things done. Don’t sit around, get bored and brood about food.

* Meal frequency during the feeding phase is irrelevant. However, most people, including me, prefer three meals.

* The majority of your daily calorie intake is consumed in the post-workout period. Depending on setup, this means that approximately 95-99% (fasted training), 80% (one pre-workout meal) or 60% (two pre-workout meals) of your daily calorie intake is consumed after training.

* The feeding window should be kept somewhat constant due to the hormonal entrainment of meal patterns. We tend to get hungry when we're used to eating and maintaining a regular pattern makes diet adherence easier. If you're used to breaking the fast at 12-2 PM and ending it at 8-10 PM, then try to maintain that pattern every day.

* On rest days, meal one should ideally be the largest meal, as opposed to training days where the post-workout meal is the largest meal. A good rule of thumb is to make meal one on rest days at least 35-40% of your daily calorie intake. This meal should be very high in protein; some of my clients consume more than 100 g of protein in this meal.

* If your preference is to eat a larger meal in the evening instead of noon, or whenever you break the fast, it's no great harm. Some people prefer to save the largest meal on rest days for dinner with their family instead of having a large lunch and that's fine by me if it makes them enjoy and adhere to their diet better.


There is a ton of information on the Lean Gains site and I highly recommend you take a look and soak up as much information as you can.


This is still a “free week” for me so any results that I’ve gained or lost will not be counted. This is just an introduction as if I posted everything next week the post would be huge!


I’ve been lazy lately with the posts as I’ve found it hard to find the time to sit down and write anything but I’ll change I swear! (Sounds familiar)


So until next time.................

You can’t just step into the ring and think you can box!

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Mo Nasir, a commonwealth boxing medallist. We talked for a while about what we both do for a living and I mentioned I wouldn’t mind doing some focus pad work for my cardio sessions as I hate doing cardio, I hate cardio so much if cardio was a person I’d punch him in the face! (Excuse the outburst) So I wanted to do something different and in the process learn a bit about boxing.

A few days later I get a phone call and its Mo asking if I want a one on one training session with him, I accepted and we arranged times etc and I was really looking forward to it as it’s a new experience and life’s all about trying new things and taking risks.

So it’s Wednesday and I’m doing my usual thing training with people with the appointment with Mo getting closer and closer and me feeling a bit anxious as I didn’t know what to expect but I thought how hard can it be? I’ve seen Rocky a number of times, I’ve got this!
I turn up a bit early and I catch Mo training someone else so I took some time to check out his wall that’s full of Newspaper articles, pictures with every boxer I could think of and his awards from the commonwealth games. It was impressive!

So we begin and we start with warming up which just consisted of jogging and stretching, then I gloved up! He picked up the focus pads and went through all the types of punches and more importantly getting my foot work right! We started slowly working on simple routines and making sure my hand positioning was correct and then went on to blocking different punches. At this point I was still feeling pretty fresh and thought it’s not as bad as I thought!

Then shit got serious..........................................

Movements started to get faster and faster, bobbing and weaving started to get thrown in and he started to hit me to keep me on my toes to make sure I was blocking. As we were training he would stop me and correct my stance and give me a few tips on how to punch with more power and it’s crazy, the slightest adjustments made a massive difference and when someone says “good now I can feel your knuckles” you know you’re doing something right!

I was banging out combos like a crazy person trying my hardest to listen to the next command over the sound of the gloves and pads connecting! We then did some work on body shots and again how to make each punch count. He told me to brace myself and block the incoming onslaught I was about to receive, well he gave me a left body shot so hard and fast I almost had to take a knee, for a small guy he hit’s hard, really hard!

The pad work lasted just over 30 minutes, we took a breather and chatted about things and I was quizzing him about his boxing career, we had stopped for about 5 minutes and I was under the impression we had finished but then I hear....................

”time for some conditioning work”

Words can’t really describe how shocked I was to hear this as I literally had nothing left in the tank, but this picture gives you a good idea!

We entered the weight room and I felt safe, this is what I excel at, “bring it” I thought. He picks up an Olympic bar and goes through a weight circuit routine which included bicep curls, shoulder press and upright rows, he says 30 reps each, so I start and it felt doable but I haven’t done any high rep work in a while and the burn soon found me and gave me a beat down!

After I did another circuit which involved fast step up work on a box, dips, tricep overhead presses and a overhead throw down with a medicine ball (why make a ball that doesn’t bounce, seriously!) I started doing 10 reps of each then 9 then 8 and so on until I got down to 1 rep. Then we do some ab work which again involved the medicine ball, normally my abs/core is pretty strong but after 40 minutes of training I could barely finish a full set, it hurt so bad I could feel each abdominal cramp up and begging me to stop to the point where I felt like I was going to be sick! It’s a horrible feeling!

We finally finished with some cool down stretches and at this point I was drenched and relieved that the session was over and all I wanted was a protein shake and a hug!

                                                  HARDEST WORKOUT EVER! FACT!


After the session we talked and he mentioned I should come along to the sparring night! I agreed and thought “Spar sounds good” So I go along with swimming shorts and towel in hand walk in and to say the least I was slightly disappointed!

When I arrived they already started so I just hung back with the other boxers and just watched from a distance. Now before I arrived I didn’t plan on staying too long as I had to meet someone and I’m not one for being late, so I’m talking to one of the boxers and ask

“Do you hold back when you spar regarding the power of your punches?”

He replies “yeah you’re meant to but sometimes you get carried away”

As he finished his sentence we watch one guy’s head fly back and a cloud of blood around his head! He turns and his nose is busted and he’s covered in blood, now they really had my attention and I get the phone out and text my friend explaining I was going to be running late. I was hooked (pardon the pun) and ended up there for an hour, I couldn’t look away!

I’m going for another one on one session this week as even though it was extremely difficult I really did enjoy it and think my fitness/conditioning will increase and you never know I might lose a few pounds in the process.

Mo is holding a charity boxing event on Friday 23rd September where local guys who train with Mo will step into the ring for the first time in front of a crowd and go toe to toe. The details are as follows: