Week 3, Day 7 of my 12 Week Transformation

So the results of my first measurements are in, and I'm delighted with my progress so far. My starting weight was 88.9kg and my weight is now 85.7kg, which means I've lost just over 3kg - or in old money, half a stone.

I've lost 1 and a half inches from my waist and reduced my body fat from 17.7% down to 15.1%. It's also great to know that I've managed to lose weight but maintain and build muscle, as proven by my bicep measurement going up from 14 and 3 quarter inches to 15 inches and my chest measurement staying the same.

This has all happened in less than 3 weeks, and so I'm well on my way to my 12 week target of a weight of 82.7kg and body fat of under 10%.

Today was supposed to have been my cheat day where I get to eat whatever I want, but my wife and I were invited to a barbecue with friends yesterday and after about 30 seconds of resisting the crisps and dips on the table, I decided to switch my cheat day from Sunday to Saturday. I can safely say it was the right decision, as I wolfed down burgers, sausages and garlic bread. However, the crowning moment was when two 2 chocolate and cream desserts were brought out, and it's fair to say I didn't hold back. It can only be described as insanity on a plate.




When I first spoke about having a cheat day where you can eat whatever you want and still totally transform your body, it was all theory, but now my results prove that it works. Having said that, 6 days of having not much more than fish, chicken and veg can be tough so that's the time to keep your goal at the forefront of your mind. That's certainly what I'll be doing!

Week 3, Day 3 of my 12 week transformation

Don't make a Moussaka out of a molehill!

I said that my next post was going to be on the training I'm undertaking during my 12 week transformation, but at the studio clients keep asking me about nutrition. so with that in mind I'm going to do one more nutrition post before writing about the training.

Today I ate the following;

6am - 2 brazil nuts, 2 almonds and a yakult yogurt drink

7am - americano with a dash of milk

8am - half a banana, before a fast 6k run with the nut case that is Tim Wise

10.20am - porridge made with water, squeeze of honey and chopped banana

12 noon - black coffee

2.20pm - grilled chicken breast from Albanian cafe (almost certainly not organic chicken), rice and salad

4.30pm - half a banana (for some reason I couldn't stop eating bananas today)

7.30pm - home-made lamb Moussaka, made by my wife's fair hand, with carrots and broccoli

9.30pm - 10 squares of Green & Blacks dark chocolate

The point I made with my headline is to reiterate the point I've made previously. I like eating good, wholesome food and I'm not prepared to give it up for anyone, but I am prepared to eat well 80% of the time. There are times when you will need to say 'no' and make sacrifices, but the results will be worth it!

I'm taking my measurements on Friday, so will give full results then but I know from weighing myself earlier today that I've lost approximately half a stone. And I'll be perfectly honest, it's a lot harder to lose weight and reduce body fat when you're starting from a relatively low base.

If you've read the blog and have a question or comment, please leave one and also if you have any healthy recipes then we'd love you to share.

Cheers

Rob
Revolution

Week 3, Day 1 of My 12 Week Transformation.

I've spoken a lot about nutrition, so I wanted to take the chance to talk a little more about the training undertaken during Revolution's 12 week transformation programme:

First 4 weeks of training – conditioning (flexibility and core strength)
In the first 4 weeks of training, we focus on full body compound movements and flexibility training to enable the body to go through the required range of movement. We teach the body to squat, rotate, push, pull and twist. These movements have an immediate effect on changing the shape and composition of the body.

Second 4 weeks of training - hypertrophy (improved muscle tone)
The training phase changes at this point to give the body a new stimulus. This training phase is called hypertrophy, which means using resistance based exercises to increase the body’s lean muscle and also to increase muscular tone.

By adding lean quality muscle to the body, the basal metabolic rate is increased. This is the rate at which you burn calories at rest. For every pound of muscle you have, you burn 16 calories at rest per hour. For every pound of fat you have, you only burn 2 calories at rest per hour.

Third 4 weeks of training – circuit training
This training phase is where we ramp up the intensity, get the heart rate high and reduce rest periods. After 8 weeks of training, our clients will be ready for this and the body responds by burning fat fast! A lot of our clients are also put through boxing training at this stage, which not only allows them to take out life’s stresses with various punching and footwork drills, it’s also one of the most fun ways to get fit.

Today I was taken through a conditioning training session by my business partner Giuseppe, and it really was a fantastic session. Later this week I'm going to run through the exercises Giuseppe selected, and more importantly why he chose those particular exercises.

Cheers
Rob

Revolution in Men's Fitness Magazine

Revolution appears in the Sports Supplements section of September's edition of Men's Fitness, on page 106.


Here is the text from the article:

Q. Are supplements ever a good alternative to a proper meal?

A. 'Supplements and meal-replacement products, such as protein shakes and bars, can be a quick, easy and convenient way to take on quality nutrition - especially around training - when you don't have time to cook or prepare a proper meal,' says Rob Grim, director of Revolution Personal Training Studios (revolution-pts.com). 'Many products are also designed to be easily absorbed and used by your body, rather than sitting in your stomach awaiting digestion. However, these products are meant only to supplement your daily diet. Whole foods should form the basis of what you eat for optimal health.'

Week 2, day 3 of my 12 week transformation

I'm well into week 2 of my 12 week transformation and I'm feeling great. I've had several clients talk to me this week about conflicting information that they hear about nutrition.

Firstly, it's worth noting that adherence to a nutrition plan is the most important thing. My goal hasn't been to make my eating perfect, but to vastly improve upon how I was eating prior to starting my 12 week transformation. I once had a meeting with a well respected and highly qualified nutritionist, and she gave me food plans which included squeezing fresh pomegranate juice over salads and making vegetable juices and other incredibly healthy things. The problem is, I was never going to actually do any of what was in her plan - it made me think, if I'm a personal trainer and I'm not going to do it, then how is a busy working mum or a business person who works 15 -16 hour days going to implement what she was suggesting?!

So with that in mind, I would suggest that you keep it simple:

1. avoid biscuits, cakes, high calorie carbonated drinks, sweets etc

2. avoid white bread and white pasta

3. eat quality (complex) carbs such as brown rice and sweet potato

4. regularly eat fresh friut and vegetables, as well as beans and pulses

5. eat organic (where possible) lean quality proteins such as chicken and fish

6. include 'good fats' in your diet, such as avocados and nuts (a quick word on nuts - one portion is 2 brazil nuts or 4 hazelnuts, not 6 or 7 handfulls), sunflower seeds, natural yogurt etc

I mentioned on my last blog that with the Revolution 12 week transformation, on the 7th day each week we can eat whatever we want. I often hear trainers and nutritionalists say 'when you stop eating cakes and treats and drinking beer, after a while you won't want it anymore'. Well, I'm going to let you into a little secret here - they are bullshitters! No amount of green veg, salmon and postive thinking is going to stop me wanting to eat a caramel slice and drink a latte!

So, have whatever you really fancy on that 7th day. Just make sure that come day 1 of the next week, you are ready to get back to the healthy eating.

As I finish this blog on nutrition, I can hear my brother and business partner John saying three words: PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. To clarify what he means - on Sunday each week, write down and plan (and more importantly, go out and buy) the food you're going to eat over the next week!

Rob,
Revolution

Day 7 of my 12 week transformation

So the end of my first week has come to a close, and I'm really happy with my progress so far. I have my meal and training plans in place and I'm looking forward to next week.

At Revolution we design our food plans so we eat strictly for 6 days, then on the 7th day you can eat whatever you want - we call this 7th day a 'cheat day'. Today I have certainly enjoyed myself - I've had beers, ice creams, chocolate Weetabix and a pork roast dinner (not in that order).

The reason we do this two-fold; firstly after eating so well for 6 days, by having a splurge you are telling your body that it doesn't need to store fat as you are not going to starve it, thus having a positive effect on your metabolism.

Secondly - and I can can say this from personal experience -psychologically when you have one day where you eat whatever you want, you're so much more likley to eat well for the rest of the week. In fact, what I do on my cheat day is to eat as much junk as possible so I don't even want any for the next 6 days!

Lastly, I got to finish my week with a boxing session at the famous Repton boxing club in London's East End. It was such a great experience, and I got to share the ring for a sparring session with Commenwealth gold medalist Ryan Pickard. I've attached a photo of myself (left) and my brother John.

Day 4 of my 12 week transformation

Not my best day nutritionally, but certainly not a bad day. After a good chat with my brother John, who explained that often when we crave carbohydrate what we really need is good quality fats such as avocado and sunflower seeds, I'll be including them in my meal plans over the next couple of days. We also spoke about about the benefits of including coconut oil in my diet, which I'll be writing about in the next few days.

Here's what I ate today:

8am - porridge made with water and small squeeze of honey

9am - black coffee

12 noon - salmon with Greek salad and brown rice

2pm - English tea with protein bar

4pm - organic chicken breast with Greek salad and small portion of brown rice

8.30pm -1 chicken breast cooked in fajita spice mix with tomato, lettuce, avocado, natural yogurt and small handful of cheddar cheese

9.30pm - green tea with 8 squares of Green & Blacks dark chocolate

Just writing down what I have eaten today has made me realise that I've eaten too much volume of food. Particulary late in the day. Tomorrow I will do better!!

Day 3 of my 12 week transformation

Well, today has been a really tough day. Alarm went off at 5.00am after finishing late last night. Felt a little bit rough and not sure if that's a bug I'm carrying or just a reaction from my body due to the change in diet and a little more exercise.

In terms of the food I ate today, I pretty much stuck to the plan apart from a couple of rashers of bacon with my poached eggs. Today's nutrition I think is a good example of how to eat if you haven't had time to prepare your food the night before. Clients always tell me how busy they are - but guess what, I'm busy too! I have 2 businesses to run, a 1 hour commute and a 2-year-old daughter who has enough energy to exhaust both me and my wife. The point I'm trying to make is this - if you say you're too busy to eat properly, it's just an excuse.

Here's what I've eaten today:

5.25am - 2 walnuts, 4 hazelnuts, 2 almonds and yakult yogurt drink (35ml)

6.15am - black coffee, no sugar

9.30am - Micro whey protein shake straight after some boxing pad training with my brother John

10.30am - 1 slice of brown toast with 3 poached eggs, 2 rashers of crispy of bacon and mushrooms and a green tea

1.30pm - 180 grams of sliced chicken breast with 3 bean mixed salad (bought from M&S).

2.00pm - large handful of blueberries, a banana and a cup of English tea with a dash of milk

5.45pm - oven baked fillet of salmon with Greek salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion, olives, feta cheese and avocado) with brown rice

Lastly, a good tip is to stick to your eating plan but at the time you need to listen to your body. I had quite a large portion of brown rice with my evenng meal tonight as I felt that I needed the extra quality carbohydrate.

Cheers,
Rob
Revolution

Day 2 of my 12 week transformation

Today's workout was a full body kettlebell workout designed to build lean muscle and burn fat. Kettlebells are also great for conditioning the body by strengthening the often neglected muscles of the posterior, such as glutes, hamstrings and lower back. Kettlebells are also one of the most effective ways to improve core strength.

warm up - 5 mins on treadmill followed by dynamic stretching

2 handed kettlebell swing, 4 x15 - 32kg
Press ups (super set with above), 4 x 12 - n/a
Single arm kb clean + press, 4 x 10 - 24kg
Single arm kb snatch, 4 x 10 - 20kg
Double kb clean + press + hand walk and press ups, 4 x 6 - 20kg
Rower (270m as fast as possible with 1 min recovery) - my times recorded were 50.3 and 52.4 (level 7)

Cool down - light cycle with full body stretch

My nutrition was as follows:

7.30am - 4 hazelnuts, 2 almonds + 2 walnuts

8.30am - Black coffee, no sugar

9.30am - Porridge made with water and a small squeeze of honey

12 noon - 1 large banana + green tea

3.00pm - Micro Whey protein shake straight after training

4.30pm - 1 and a half organic chicken breast with sweet potato, carrots and broccoli

6.00pm - Cup of English tea with milk, no sugar

8.30pm - 4 egg omlette with salad of yellow peppers, spring onion, beetroot, tomato and avocado

Reflecting on my day's eating, I'm really happy with how it's gone, although one adjustment I'm going to make is to add some egg whites into my morning porridge to increase my protein intake. This will help to maintain muscle and aid recovery from training hard.

12 week transformation

Today I started my very own 12 week transformation. As the Director of Revoluiton, my company has helped so many people transform their bodies in12 weeks. I've now decided that it's time to take my own personal physique to the next level.

At 17% body fat, most people might feel happy with that but I work in an environment where all of the trainers who work at Revolution have body fat at 10% or below. So although my goal is for myself, I'd be lying if I said part of my motivation to improve my body wasn't to show the youngsters how it's done.

I've used Revolution's tried and tested formula to set my goal:

Specifically - I want to get my body fat down to between 7% and 10%, and I want to have a body as good as anyone on the cover of any fitness magazine. In fact, I want to be on the cover of a fitness magazine.

My goal excites me - It's so important that your goal excites you. That is where motivation comes from. At this point, goal setting can become slighty contradictory. I've written before about makimg a goal realistic, although if you set yourself a lame goal then you're never going to make the nutritional and lifestyle changes necessary. That's why I've really challanged myself. I've played pro football, I've fought at the York Hall in a boxing match and I've run a marathon, so why shouldn't I achieve this?

Visualise - I've used the front cover of Men's Fitness to help with my visualisation, and I'm targeting a physique as good as the guy in September's edition (incidently, I've written an article in that edition on page 106).

I'll be posting training videos and loads of helpful tips on how to transform your body in 12 weeks.

Here is what I've eaten today:

5.45am - 4 Hazelnuts, 2 Almonds, 2 Walnuts with a 35ml Yakult yogurt drink

10.00 - Micro Whey protein shake (straight after training)

11.15 - Porridge with water and small amount of honey

14.00 - 1 organic chicken breast, sweet potato, carrotts and brocolli

17.00 - a quarter of organic chicken breast with very small portion of veg from above

19.30 - Fillett of cod with stir fried green veg

Rob Grim, Director and personal trainer of Revolution