Time goes so fast. Two weeks of our twelve week Protein Project at the hands of Maximuscle has already gone. Despite the fact that we’ve only had two sessions, Ollie is doing so well.
I’ve always said to Personal Training clients, that it can take me three to six months worth of sessions to get to really know them when we train just once a week. Think about it, if you start a new job, your first day is how long? 8hours? How long does it take to get settled in? To get to know everyone, even just on the surface? A month? Three months?
Well then, consider that if I train someone once a week, it’ll take me eight weeks just to get a full 8hour working day with them. My point being, that Ollie and I are still getting to know each other, I’m still working out whether he means 8/10 difficulty when I ask him how hard an exercise is, or whether he really means 6/10, we just haven’t nailed that Commando Strength of Mind yet. We will by the way. In fact, this week showed, it’s already half there.
This week, news filtered across London from Clapham, where fellow trainer Rich Tidmarsh and fellow competitor James are both based, that 6 sessions a week at Rich’s gym were seeing great results already. Unable to see each other more than once a week, Ollie and I admitted our frustrations at the ease at which our competitors can not only train, but how unaffected their lives are by the Protein Project, especially in terms of travel. With his already uphill struggle now almost approaching vertical, Ollie admitted his morale had taken a dive on Thursday before his gruelling leg session as he again faced it alone. However, Ollie then shared how he could’ve got depressed and had a bad session, but instead he used his frustrations as a motivational tool to get down the gym and smash his legs as per my training programme. I couldn’t be happier, not only is Ollie training like a Demon, he’s developing such a high level of mental strength, that when he returns to rugby he will be a far better player than he’s ever been before.
On Friday we met to train in Isleworth near Richmond. A bit if a trek for both if us, but more of a middle ground. Traffic affected Ollie and trains got the better of me: our 3pm session became a 4.15pm! It didn’t deter us and we trained together to rid both our frustrations, smashing Ollie’s second upper body of the week, adding weight, reps, sets and even supersets of isolation exercises to the session we did last week. Ollie’s email the next day summed the session up completely:
“my biceps are very sore, everywhere else just aches! Feel like it was just enough yesterday, any more and I’d have been in trouble today!! I just feel like I could sleep at any point”
Two weeks in and we are well on track. My main aim with clients is to get them to their goal, which with Ollie’s heart, mental strength and dedication, shouldn’t be a problem. However, my secondary aim as a trainer is to educate. Just as I would when training Marine Recruits, I aim to supply reasons as to why we are doing what we are doing, this way, at the end of 12 weeks, Ollie has as much information as possible to take forward and train, feed, recover and improve without needing my help. I am pleased to say, we are also well on the way to achieving that goal. I send Ollie articles to read, books to read, give him info in the sessions and he is lapping it up. it’s great to see someone with such a thirst for fitness knowledge lapping it up.
A truly great week. Not only am I really pleased with Ollie’s physical progress, but his mental strength has astounded me. He is a great person to train; he listens, absorbs, asks and does what is asked of him. Furthermore, my fitness iPhone app Cut finally made it back to the appstore, hence the image for this post. Search CUT FITNESS to find it or click the link.
Role on our next session.