Male, Age 32
Weight: 104.3kg
Goal: ‘I have four weeks before leaving for a ski trip in France. I want to lose as much weight as possible and be as fit as I can possibly be. I want to be able to ski as much as possible and need to be as physically fit as I can.’[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Background:
Timmy is a working professional and spends the majority of his day at his desk. These long deskbound days, coupled with poor nutritional choices and injury has seen his weight creep up from 97kg in August 2013 to over 104kg in January 2015.
Up until his shoulder injury in mid 2013 Tim was relatively active, playing touch footy, and training in the gym a few times per week. Understandably this all stopped after the injury. His shoulder was operated on soon after and 6 months later he started some light exercise again… only to have it all shut down with a hernia in April 2014.
Since then he has not done much in a physical sense and his weight has crept up by more than 7kg, which isn’t all that bad considering all the setbacks.
What is going to change?
Tim came to me asking for help with his training and nutrition. He wanted to get his weight down as much as possible before embarking on his ski trip. With only four weeks to do it, a serious training and nutrition plan would be necessary. You can’t expect miracles in four weeks, but some serious results will be seen.
Tim and I have discussed his training schedule and nutritional choices that will get his weight below 95kg. Thats 9kg in 4 weeks! Whilst this may sound excessive, it is possible and safe to do so. Tim’s body fat is above 33%, and this excess will allow him to lose a bit more weight than what might be considered normal.
Tim is training with me 3 x per week leading up to his trip. He has joined one of my small group training classes at Rushcutters Bay at 6am, which has a HIIT focus (High Intensity Interval Training). Careful exercise selection is necessary to not only reduce impact through the shoulder and calves, but to also strengthen them for the ski trip ahead. Injury recovery and prevention is as important, if not more, than weight loss given the physical intensity of skiing, and likelihood of numerous tumbles. (Tim i have no doubt you are an excellent skier, but the better you are the harder you fall!)
Tim is also joining my Saturday Group class in Bondi, which makes 3 group sessions per week. I have asked that tim also complete 2 cardio sessions (bike or rower) on his own per week. Preferably morning cardio sessions before breakfast.
On the nutrition front we will be following a paleo style nutrition plan. I don’t particularly like branding nutrition plans as they get labelled ‘fads’ or ‘diets’. Its simply no nonsense nutrition, where only natural, whole foods are consumed. Due to the time constraint Tim has undertaken a 3 day carb cleanse to fast track his body into a state of ketosis (ones ability to utilise fat stores for energy). This means he can start burning body fat faster than someone wanting to lose 10kg over 3 months.
As usual, this is part of a lifestyle plan, and Tim does get some time off… on the weekends. He is allowed to let the breaks off a bit and enjoy some social beers with the boys – but in moderation!
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If any of the small group training is of interest please contact us below for more information.
Week 1:
Training:
Tim’s regime started off the best way possible… on a warm, sunny Tuesday morning at 5.30am with the A-team. The point of this session was to determine everyones fitness levels and give them an indication of their strengths/weaknesses and areas they could improve on. Testing took into account various cardiovascular and strength tests.
Here is breakdown of Timmy’s testing. Some areas were excellent, some need work, and some we had to be watchful and take our time due to previous injury.
Testing is pretty straightforward. test 2: plank is based on a maximum time hold. All other strength tests (3.-7.) are max number of perfect reps in 60 seconds.
Please contact me, if you would like a breakdown of poor|good|excellent benchmarks for this testing.
Our second session of training on Thursday morning was strength based training, and had our team working through a strength circuit of various movements and weights, based on their specific needs.
4 sets x 45 seconds bursts (15 seconds rest). Timmy’s exercises for the day were deadlifts, inverted TRX row, chest press, DB walking lunges, arm curls.
The final session for the week, Saturdays HIIT class, happened to be another day of testing with an entirely different group of people. Poor, sore Timmy had to do it all over again – the exact same testing. Some areas saw improvement, whilst some areas saw a minor drop in performance – ultimately due to fatigue from the previous sessions that week.
Tim was required to complete two other days of training to bring his weekly tally to 5 training sessions. This week was one light cardio session for 45 minutes and one swimming sessions to strengthen his shoulder and give his calf a break.
Nutrition:
Knowing he had a serious month ahead of him, Tim’s last weekend as a free man was spent indulging.
As of Sunday Tim was off to the supermarket and prepping his food for the week. This meant cooking most lunches and dinners on Sunday, and having them ready to go in the fridge. To anyone wanting to shred as much as possible, preparation is the key ingredient. By prepping clean, healthy, portioned meals, you are gguaranteedto eat cleaner, eat less food, and consume a much better macronutrient balance than someone who is figuring out what to eat at the last minute.
The first 3 days of this program had Tim on a carb detox, which saw him on a very high protein intake for 3 days. After this it was simply clean eating, with the removal of most sugars (including fruit), carbs and replacing them with an abundance of lean meats, vegetables and salads.
3 main meals per day which consisted of:
- 1x protein portion (size of open palm)
- 2x vegetable/salad portions (size of closed fist)
2-3 snacks per day consisted of:
- 1x protein portion (size of open palm)
Jack Recaps:
Tim came into this all guns blazing, a determined man willing to put his heart and soul into this regime to get the best possible results. He put everything into his training, in and out of our sessions. His nutrition was excellent, and he even enjoyed a bottle of vino or two on Saturday i believe, with some not so healthy food choices.
over the course of the week Tim dropped a whopping 2.9kg bringing his weight from 104.3kg – 101.4kg. Based on his training, nutritional efforts and weight loss he gets a perfect score of 10/10.
Tim recaps:
Week one training was interesting. The first session (Tuesday) to kick off the new year was testing. A beep test, push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, squats, 1km run.
I was hampered a little bit by my calf on the run and beep test, and can’t do too many push-ups before my shoulder gives me trouble.
Niggling injuries aside, the testing was definitely a reality check as to how fit I was, compared to what I thought I would be able to do.
I swam 10x 50m laps on the Wednesday night – I was swimming a lot as part of my shoulder recovery but I need to do more. It’s a good change to the normal training on land.
Saturday – another testing day with the bigger HIIT group. I performed a little better on most of them, mainly because I knew what I’d done earlier in the week and wanted to beat those numbers.
I was pretty sore after this week of training, but it was good to get it all underway, and see some pretty immediate results.
In terms of diet, after the initial three days of high protein, which admittedly got pretty boring. The next days of the week were fine, it’s great to be able get some veggies back into the diet.
Week 2:
Training:
Training this week started off as always… on a beautiful morning surrounded by the lushness of Rushcutters Bay Park.
However, this was not to be a walk in the park with an intense session of Tabatas planned. Not sure what Tabata consists of?? Find out more here.
In total we completed 5 rounds of tabatas with a 2 minute break between exercises to recoup. Everyone completed the same exercises simultaneously, giving them a chance to push that little bit harder with some friendly competition. The exercises were compound movements that utilised the greatest number of muscles through one movement. They were as follows: Squat jumps, burpees, Push ups, Frog jumps, and box jumps. Everyone was left feeling physically shattered but with a huge sense of accomplishment.
Day 2 of training in Rushcutters consisted of circuit training for the duration of the session. Once again, compound movements were used as much as possible. 45 seconds of exercise, followed by 15 seconds of rest (1 min per station). Todays circuit consisted of chin ups, push ups, squat press, walking lunges, inverted rows, burpees, and sprints. This circuit was completed 6 times with a 1 minute break between sets.
Saturdays HIIT club was a team-based session. These fanatics were teamed up into pairs and had the arduous task of completing a huge number of body-weight repetitions covering all the major muscle groups. A few intense cardio drills were thrown in for good measure. Teams were given three minutes to strategise and then allocated each other exercises and reps based on their specific strengths (or weaknesses). The aim: to be the first team to cross the line. Tim and his teammate, Mark, came in a close second! So good work lads.
Finally, Tim got in two swimming sessions and was diligent with some prescribed rehab work for his shoulder and calf (which he did daily).
Nutrition:
Timmy once again was very good with his nutrition. Despite the fact he had a bucks party this weekend he was on his best behaviour.
More food prepping for the week and clean eating! Loads of protein, salad and veg was the flavour of the week.
Similarly to last week here was the breakdown.
3 main meals per day which consisted of:
- 1x protein portion (size of open palm)
- 2x vegetable/salad portions (size of closed fist)
2-3 snacks per day consisted of:
- 1x protein portion (size of open palm)
Jack Recaps:
Tim is getting stronger through his shoulder but still having some concerns with his calf. Despite this, it’s not stopping him work as hard as he possibly can. He always puts in 100% to his sessions and it’s showing!
Its hard to keep a keen eye on exactly what my clients are eating, and I have to take their word for it. I also have the added benefit of the scales… they do not lie! Tim dropped another 1.6kg this week. Which brings his weight to 99.kg. Based on this and his effort in training another perfect score of score of 10/10.
Tim recaps:
Week two training was more enjoyable than the first week.
First session of the week was in the rain, but enjoyable nonetheless. A session of tabatas. I liked the variation on exercises, as well as the timed nature of the session. I was definitely buggered after it, but felt good….
Again, I swam on Wednesday night, this time got to 12x 50m laps.
I wasn’t feeling too flash on Thursday morning, I think a combination of the early starts and vastly different diet was beginning to take it’s toll – but the weights based session was a good one. Again the differing exercises, reps and set numbers was a great way to train. After the training session, I was feeling much better and ready to take on the day after the session.
Friday, I went to Bondi with my flatmate to run a few laps of the soft sand. We were doing it very regularly prior to Christmas, and were able to punch out 4 laps by the time the silly season took over… It was our first venture back to the beach and we busted out two laps – we probably could have done more… Will ramp it up a bit more next week.
The Saturday training session with HIIT group was the toughest so far… 200 push-ups, 300 squats, 200 lunges, 300 toe-taps, 4 laps of the park, 200 frog jumps and 7 hill sprints… Luckily we paired up and split the numbers, so it was a little more palatable… Still it was incredibly tough! Due to my shoulder, my partner took the bulk of the push-ups and in return, I took the bulk of the squats. I got through everything else which felt great – even the running parts. The hardest, was definitely the frog jumps, I stupidly left my full quota of those till the end.
My legs and body was really sore for the following couple of days, but it was a good sore!
Week 3:
Training:
Tuesday morning and it was just me and Timmy. It was pouring with rain, dark, cold and the conditions were bad enough for any poor soul to stay in bed another hour. I can’t blame the rest of the A-Team for not rocking up… i’d probably do the same in their position. Big bad Timmy though was up for it, like the true champ he is! We were the only ones training in these conditions, not another person in sight…. dedication!
I thought it was fair to offer Tim a specialised session..Teach him something he could take away and do on his own. So on this dirty morning, with a small awning sheltering us from the rain, I took him through a style of training named ‘complexes’. This involves the use of a set weight, completing a set number of reps, moving onto the next exercise/completing a set number of reps, and so on, so forth.
So we used 10kg dumbbells for this purpose of this mornings drill and each exercise required 10 repetitions before moving onto the next. here it is.
1. reverse flyes
2. push press
3. hack squats
4. deadlifts
5. lunges
6. push ups
7. mountain climbers
8. burpees
9. squat press
10. tuck jumps
Rest for 2 minutes and repeat. We completed this circuit 5 times in the time we had, and needless to say, Timmy was spent. Just writing that exercise breakdown brought on a sweat.
Day 2 of training was a mixed session of high intensity boxing and calisthenics with the A-TEAM back in full swing. Another very hard workout.
Saturdays Group class did not happen as I was away for the weekend. Sometimes even I need a weekend off! Fortunately Tim being the dedicated man he is, did his own training, and completed another session of ‘complexes’ and two long swims.
Nutrition:
Nutrition over this week wasn’t as strict as past weeks, and no real reason or excuse for this… but where he could, Tim stuck to his paleo style plan of
3 main meals per day:
- 1x protein portion (size of open palm)
- 2x vegetable/salad portions (size of closed fist)
2-3 snacks per day:
- 1x protein portion (size of open palm)
Jack Recaps:
The weight is coming off! His shoulder is much stronger now, and his push-up strength and range has improved dramatically. The calf is much stronger and not playing up nearly as much.
Whilst Tim fessed up to not being as diligent with his nutrition as previous weeks he lost another 800g this week. Which brings his weight to 98.2.kg. Based on the not so perfect nutrition it brings his score down slightly this week to a score of 7.5/10.
One week to go, you’re doing great mate, just need to get that nutrition spot on for this final week!
Week 4:
Jack Recaps:
So here we are. It’s been a full on 4 weeks for Mr Tim Gray. He trained extremely hard throughout, improving his fitness and strength tenfold. His shoulder, whilst still causing him some concern is now much stronger and as ready as it will ever be for the upcoming ski trip. His calf is also holding up much better. Unfortunately during some sprint work, Timmy pulled his right quad, however that mended well and everything is looking good!
Tim was dedicated to healthy eating options throughout the weeks, but weekend commitments made it difficult for him to stay clean. Do remember, this is the way we work at BodyTech, and expect that our clients have a life outside of training… therefore the challenge would not have been realistic without lifes usual curveballs.
So without further adieu, check out his marvellous efforts below. Timmy Gray in all his glory. A total of 7kg of body fat has been stripped. Its amazing what can be achieved in 4 weeks.
Tim recaps:
The last week has been a good one, although I had a bit of a blowout at a wedding on the weekend, not really being too strict on myself in terms of diet, which I think may have been unfortunately a bit detrimental to my final weigh in.
In saying that though, it’s been an interesting and really good 4-5 weeks from kick off. At the start it was much harder than anticipated, with the drastic change in diet and way of thinking about food, the 5.15am wake-ups every Tuesday and Thursday for training with the A-Team.
As the results began show those things got easier, the next challenge became complacency, making sure I kept my head in the right space.
To now, where I’ve got to ‘the end’ of the challenge and I’m certainly feeling much better about myself from a few different viewpoints.
First of all the weight loss, while I didn’t quite get to the original goal of 95kg, I feel a million times better than I did 4 weeks ago. It also gives me the impetus to keep going, to get to 95 and even lower.
My head also feels much clearer, as I’ve my body has got healthier, my head has become clearer at work and at home (I also think that has to do with drinking Fuchs less than I normally would have)
Dietary choices have also changed, eating less and eating better, without really trying. I was thinking about the things which I’ve cut out of my diet, without even thinking about it, I have basically cut out sugar, carbs and processed foods, (except for the cheat days).
I really think this has been the biggest part of the whole experience, and something I’ll definitely take away and continue with not only.
Overall, it’s been a great few weeks, and Jack has really been a phenomenal motivator and trainer. I can’t thank him enough for all his advice and help along the way, and I’m looking forward to getting to 95 and beyond…
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If you have any questions regarding training with us at BodyTech please contact us below, and we will get in touch to discuss your needs.
The team at BodyTech.