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

Kettlebells and their benefits

Kettlebells

What Are They?
Kettlebells are one of the most dynamic training tools going. Used by the Russian military among others, the kettlebell trains your body by fully loading and unloading your muscles with the use of controlled momentum focusing on your posterior chain and core muscles, as well as your proprioception. In other words they develop explosive power, cardio vascular fitness, balance and muscle tone in all of the right places. A combination of these elements being trained at the same time with each movement makes for a very effective and efficient way to work out.

So if you’re looking to get a ripped, toned, athletic physique then you should be incorporating kettlebells into your training regime!

Strengthening and Toning
Kettlebell exercises such as swings, snatches and dynamic cleans are explosive moves that allow you to recruit more fast twitch muscle fibres. These are the parts of the muscle responsible for strength and tone as well as speed and power.

Kettlebells in Sport
Think of the crossover to almost every sport out there. If you're playing a game which requires sprint speed alongside fast changes in direction (like football or rugby) then kettlebells are fantastic. Kettlebells are also ideal in training for tennis or swimming, which both require power through range and agility.

Just a Fashion Craze?
I'm not saying you should forsake all other training methods and solely train with kettlebells. But kettlebells are an amazing training tool that can be used by anyone to help them achieve almost any fitness goal. Fads come and go but I'm pleased to say that kettlebells have already stood the test of time and are here to stay!

For more information about training with kettlebells or if you want to get started now, speak to me or your trainer.

Regards,

Giuseppe

Are You In The Breakfast Club?

Sitting on the 8:05 train from London Euston - first class of course - it got me thinking about breakfast.

‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day' - fact or myth?

Well, as I was standing in the queue to order a nice morning cup of green tea, the guy in front was ordering a large coffee, a breakfast muffin, muesli with yoghurt and fruit and a bottle of orange juice. Not bad? Well a new statistic has just come out with the information that a bottle of fruit juice contains so much natural sugar that it can't be used as one of your '5 a day' - really?! (sarcastic) For those who are not aware, fruit juice contains natural sugar called fructose. So whilst 1 can of coke contains 10 tea spoons of sugar, a glass of orange juice contains around 8. Not the greatest way to start the day.

Two more topics to hit on before I leave you alone a sit back and watch a film.

1. Breakfast skippers. Don't do it!! We all live busy old lives but this is the biggest sin. Just think, your body has been at rest for roughly 8 hours over night (I wish!) and now it needs nutrients. If not fed, you will not only slow your metabolism but your body will say ‘ok then, I'll hold onto last nights’ meal as fat store!’

2. Breakfast cereal. Short rant: Special K contains roughly 17g sugar per 100g. And now they have added berries and chocolate to that!

All this is just a guide. Enjoy your breakfast, the odd juice or bowl of cereal won't kill you. It's like most things, have things in moderation.

Instead of cereal, why not try a cheeky bowl of porridge, or a couple of poached eggs and 1 bit of brown toast. Both slow release that will keep you fuller for longer!

That's me done, I can now enjoy my ham and cheese croissant. It is my day off, after all!!!

Will Cloke


If you liked this article and want to know any other information please get in touch or come and see us at Revolution

The Revolution team

Talking About A Revolution

Rob, John and Giuseppe in the Islington Gazette, 21 July 2005

A few days ago on 24th June we celebrated our sixth birthday and I thought it would be a great idea to share our story so far.

Giuseppe, John and I set up the business on 24th June 2005. We were young, incredibly enthusiastic and rather naive. Some have said stupid. We agreed a 5 year lease (seriously, 5 years?! what were we thinking!) at the Business Design Centre, and were armed with our start up funds. This included money scraped together from close friends and family, as well as personal loans since the banks thought that lending money to Revolution was too much of a risk. Bearing in mind that this was back in 2005, when banks were giving homeless people loans to buy a house.

None of us knew the first thing about running a business, but we knew that we didn’t want to work for a large gym chain anymore. We wanted to show clients that by setting goals, giving nutritional advice, taking measurements, assessing progress, and perhaps most importantly having fun, we could help anyone achieve what they wanted to physically.

The early days were exceptionally tough and the three of us worked 16-17 hour days regularly. John had boundless energy and Giuseppe had an unbreakable belief that we would succeed. I was just rather nervous and pensive, although after a while I realised that people mistook this for a savvy business brain.

It was tough getting clients through the door initially, as we hadn’t formulated any kind of marketing plan. So when people did try our free introductory offer, we had to be on top of our game. It wasn’t easy to convince people that they needed what we were offering when there was no-one else in the studio training. However, we did manage to convince people to train with us due to our real passion and desire to help them transform their bodies. This is part of the culture that is still at the core of Revolution today.

In those early days, we even heard on the grapevine that certain companies within the Business Design Centre were taking bets on how long it would be before we went bust. Fortunately, other businesses and people within the BDC gave us a chance.

Paul Morris, one of the five brothers who own the BDC, started training with us a few weeks after we opened. Paul is a fun guy and liked to take the mickey out of us, and I think it surprised and pleased him that we gave him just as much banter back. In some ways this set the tone for how things were to go forward at Revolution.

We made it to our first Christmas and invited all 12 of our clients to a party at the local pub in Camden passage. After a few drinks too many, one of my clients (an Irish girl who will remain nameless) started shadow boxing in the face of one of John’s clients, who it’s fair to say was no shrinking violet. After a bit of laughing and joking, they suddenly got serious and started swapping punches for real! We had to pull them apart and apologise to the pub manager who was understandably unimpressed.

In early 2007 we took on our first trainer, Peter ‘the cowboy’ Sullivan. Peter had built a personal website that included photos of him striking poses in cowboy outfits and other bizarre costumes, as well as some of his homespun philosophy. One piece of gold dust read “unless we have the right teacher in life we will forever crawl within the boundaries delimited by our own ignorance”. In May 2007, Peter hit the headlines in a big way. After chatting up a young lady who worked in a unit opposite Revolution, we asked her out on a date on his behalf. We emailed her a link to his website and said “before you decide if you want to go on a date with me, check out my website”. To cut a long story short, this website went global and within 24 hours Pete was being made fun of from Dubai to Australia to New York. His website received 100,000 hits and he found himself on page 3 of the Evening Standard, in centre page of Saturday’s Mail and featured in many other national publications.

Pete left us to become a world star and in November 2007 Aaron Brandon-Tyrrell replaced him. Aaron has a degree in Sports Science and played rugby for Scotland in the Under 19s Rugby World Cup, so obviously he came with a great reputation. He became a huge hit with the clients at Revolution due to his high standard of training and more importantly his willingness to get involved in the studio’s banter. After one night’s drinking with John, Giuseppe and me, Aaron missed the last train back to Essex, so proceeded to run the 12 miles home at 3am in the morning. This kind of legendry performance set the bench mark for all other trainers to follow.

Sometime towards the end of 2007 we stumbled across a way of advertising that was to prove successful beyond our expectations. Marc Morris, the son of Paul, lost an incredible 5 stone in 12 weeks and we felt we had to share this story with as many people as possible. After calling the local Angel magazine, they agreed to run a feature and for the first time our phone rang off the hook.

Our marketing plan then became very clear and simple – to help people transform their bodies in 12 weeks and advertise their results everywhere within a 1 mile radius of our studio. We displayed a succession of 12 week transformations on the huge billboard outside the Business Design Centre and we continued to increase our client base rapidly. One of our first 12 week transformation 'before and after' posters was of Jon Archer who lost 3 stone:



With the increase in clients came an obvious need to increase our number of trainers. In the summer of 2008 we brought on Will Cloke and Neil McGuigan, or as they are otherwise affectionately known “Bevis and Butthead”. Neil and Will continued the theme of helping clients achieve outstanding results whilst having fun, and they are an integral part of the success Revolution enjoys today as well as our plans for the future.

With a great team developing, in 2009 we doubled our working space by knocking through to the unit next door, and then our goal became to gain more clients and add more trainers. We found two top class trainers in Bex Maslin and Tim Wise. Bex and Tim both work an incredible amount of hours, and Bex I believe has become the best female personal trainer in London. At this point John, Giuseppe and I had the business we’d always dreamed of - happy clients achieving fantastic results in a studio with a buzzing atmosphere.

We continued to help more and more clients transform their bodies in 12 weeks and strived to improve our methods to do it better. Our personal training team was improved further when two cool customers joined our team - Ryan Pickard and Ollie Vandenburg. Ryan is one of the country’s top amateur boxers and has represented Great Britain on 48 occasions, winning a Junior Commonwealth gold medal and a Senior bronze medal at the European Championships. And Ollie is an absolute natural when it comes to personal training, and some of the results he has guided his clients to are truly exceptional. Here is a before and after picture of Ollie's client Sarah, who lost an incredible 5 stone whilst training with Ollie:




The team has been completed with the arrival of Alex Giannini, Anya Russell and Jay Copley, and the skill and enthusiasm that these guys have brought to the studio has been far more than we could have hoped for. Their story at Revolution is just starting, but they undoubtedly have the ability to achieve many great things.

The future at Revolution is bright. We regularly deliver over 400 hours of personal training per week, and are in plans to open our second site within the next 12 months. We’ve also set up a white collar boxing company in partnership with Tim Wise.

Revolution’s success has been built on clients achieving amazing results with 12 week transformations whilst having a lot of banter and fun. Just as importantly, we have happy and talented trainers. Our challenge is to continue to grow whilst maintaining the principles that make us unique.

Our latest 12 week transformation

Well done to Dan Larcey who achieved this amazing transformation in just 12 weeks.