In our last blog post, we discussed what lactate threshold is, and the different terms you may come across when reading about it. We also discussed the different adaptations that occur in each of the training zones. In this post we will look at different ways of distributing your training time in each zone and how this might change over the course of a CrossFit season.

​​The graph above shows what’s known as the lactate threshold training model. In this model of training as you can see, most of your training is at or around your maximal lactate steady state (see our previous post for a recap on what this means). A small amount of time is spent below this exercise intensity and a small amount of time is spent above this exercise intensity. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages to this method of training distribution?

This is a great training model for a beginner athlete, or someone whose training time is more limited. There sessions may last for 40-60 minutes, and they are working at a level of intensity that allows them to maintain a consistent effort throughout the session, but they still feel like they are having to work hard. For beginners who have not spent time trying to develop their lactate threshold, this is an effective method to improve it. Their relatively low training volume means they can work at this level of intensity daily without running the risk of overtraining, and the level of intensity is sufficient to stimulate adaptation.


The second model of training distribution is known as the polarised model of training, and as you can see in the graph below, involves little to no time at maximal lactate steady state, with the majority of training below lactate threshold and above lactate turn point. This is model of training typically involves a 75-5-20% training split. This training model is normally what is seen in high level endurance athletes. Spending 75% of training time at or just below lactate threshold allows for the accumulation of large amounts of training volume with little accumulation of fatigue reducing the risk of overtraining. These sessions will last anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours, so a considerable amount of training time is needed for this model of training to be implemented.

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The 25% of training time above lactate turn point would look like repeated high intensity efforts lasting from 3-5 minutes in duration, with similar amounts of rest and repeated for multiple bouts. This level of training intensity stimulates adaptations that improve lactate clearance and the bodies ability to tolerate lactic acid without a decline in muscle function. These sessions lead to a much greater accumulation of fatigue, hence why they only make up 20% of the athletes training. This model of training is particularly common in athletes training multiple times a day, where training needs to stimulate adaptation but not lead to excessive fatigue. The interspersed low intensity activity also means the high intensity sessions can be performed at the desired intensity.

As we mentioned in our previous post different adaptations occur in different zones of training. Adopting a polarised training approach will allow exposure to the full range of training intensities and in theory allow the greatest range of adaptation to occur. However, the disadvantage to this method of training is that it requires quite a large amount of training time.

If you are a CrossFit athlete looking to implement this method of training then it can be done over the course of a season, as opposed to on a weekly basis, if your training time is limited. At the furthest point from competition, when the need for specificity is low and you are looking to develop a base level of aerobic fitness, is the time to be working at or below your lactate threshold and developing the adaptations that occur in this zone of training. Using the percentages mentioned above, up to 75% of your pre-competition period could be spent working at this intensity. As you get close to competition (the final 20-25% of your training period) you would then begin working at a training intensity above your lactate turn point. This allows you to develop the adaptations occur in zone 3 (see previous post) as well as increasing the specificity of your training to CrossFit competition performance where you would expect to be working at a level of intensity above your lactate turn point. The appropriate planning of the use of this training distribution will allow you to develop the full range of physiological adaptations to endurance training, help prevent you from becoming over trained, and allow you to effectively peak for competition. 

If you’ve participated in endurance sports in the past, lactate threshold is probably a term you’ve heard before. It is widely used in endurance sports as way of determining training intensity. In CrossFit it isn’t as widely used with people preferring the go hard or go home method of training. Whilst this is fine if your training is relatively low volume, as you get more serious as a CrossFit athlete and your training volume increases this isn’t necessarily the best way to go. Besides the accumulation of fatigue, there are also physiological adaptations that don’t occur when you go all out all the time, which are beneficial to improving your fitness capabilities.

At this point let me explain what lactate threshold is. There are three different terms you need to be familiar with and many different terms to explain essentially the same thing. Your lactate threshold is the point at which your blood lactate rises 1 mmol/l above your resting blood lactate levels. This point may also be referred to as the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) or your lactate turn point 1 and fuel dependant you should be able to maintain this level of intensity indefinitely.

Your maximal lactate steady state is a happy medium where your blood lactate is elevated but your body can buffer or remove the lactate at an equal rate, you can generally maintain this level of intensity for up to 90 minutes depending on your glycogen stores.

Finally, your lactate turn point is the point at which lactate production exceeds lactate removal. How long you can maintain this level of intensity depends on your bodies ability to tolerate the decrease in PH and the associated decline in muscle function, and how willing you are to tolerate the pain! This point is sometimes also referred to as lactate turn point 2. These three different levels of intensity are illustrated in the graph below.







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​Finding your lactate threshold, maximal lactate steady state and lactate turn point are ideally done in a lab setting, on either a rower, bike or treadmill depending on your sport, using blood sampling. Whilst we can do this easily enough, it involves you travelling to us which with remote clients isn’t the most practical. What we can do instead is gym based testing, and with CrossFit being a multidimensional sport we can do it on as many different pieces of equipment as you have available to you. This information, combined with your heart rate data from the tests will allow us to prescribe specific work intensities for each piece of equipment, as well as amalgamate the data to get a good idea of your training zones when we put you into a mixed modality workout aka CrossFit. Once we have this data, we can use it in your training programme to allow us to manipulate the intensity of your workouts to get the adaptations we are after.

As mentioned previously those adaptations are different depending on the zone of intensity you are working at. In zone 1, around your lactate threshold, the primary adaptations are increased glycogen storage and improved utilisation of both fat and glycogen as a fuel source. In zone 2, around your maximal lactate steady state, the main adaptations are improved metabolic efficiency, improved lactate clearance, an increase in capillarisation of muscle fibres and an increase in aerobic enzymes. The main adaptations that occur at or above your lactate turn point are improved lactate clearance, as well as an improved ability to tolerate acidosis – the decrease in Ph that occurs as muscle and blood lactate increases. Once we can identify where each point is for you, then we can tell you how hard you need to be working in each zone, so we can make sure your training covers the whole range of adaptations, making you as fit as possible.

This information is also useful when it comes to the time around competition or your periodic deload weeks. Knowing where these zones lie for you can allow us more specifically to determine what really is recovery pace for you, so when it comes to tapering and making sure your ready to compete we can do this as accurately as possible.

In the next post we will discuss what your training may look like in each of these zones, the different approaches to training distribution and how we periodise it over the course of a season.
 
 

​Over eating and cravings are often related to feelings of anxiety, boredom, sadness.

We feel with our gut and its easy to confuse hunger with other sensations, such as anxiety. Cravings feel different from true hunger.

Hunger = irritability, light headedness, growling stomach and it comes and goes often gradually.

Cravings = Very particular with very few signs of hunger but more of a strong urge sometimes felt in the back of the throat, coming on suddenly and feels like an immediate compulsion.

Some foods can become drugs of choice, making us feel better temporarily. Unlike true hunger, psychological hunger is MUCH harder to satisfy.

Reduce cravings with smart food choices.

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is one of the main divisions of the autonomic nervous system and consists of a mesh-like system of neurons that governs the function of the GI tract. The ENS is also called the second brain.

Unlike processed foods, whole foods nourish us without the intense hit of processed foods. Serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters in our brain, to some degree depend on protein, fat and micronutrient levels. If we eat plenty of protein and healthy fat along with a wide variety of vitamins and minerals from whole foods, our brains are happy.

Some people consider a “craving” to be something their body needs and in come cases this may be true, for instance, many women crave chocolate, which contains magnesium, often something women are deficient in (see blog around menstrual cycle/female physiology) but the thing is, most women you talk to that say they love chocolate, rarely reach for the 85% dark chocolate, or cocoa nibs because what they want is the chocolate full of processed sugars, which in fact isn’t going to provide the magnesium required anyway - so much for that theory!

Tips to help you deal with cravings:

1. understand they are normal - they come and they go!
2. if a craving is minor, ignore it. if it’s moderate, distract yourself, if it’s overwhelming, have a small portion of the craving, in a safe environment such s a restaurant where you can only get one portion of the food.
3. eat it slowly, stay in tune with he fullness signals from you body
4. keep a craving diary - write down what and when and also was you’re thinking and feeling at that time - over time look for patterns
5. keep track of your menstrual cycle on a calendar - and make a mental note that (2 weeks prior to your cycle ending - high hormone phase) to be on craving alert.
6. substitute something that gives you a similar texture (fancy something crunchy? chop up some raw veggies)
7. if you are craving warmth and comfort - do some self care - have a hot bath, get a massage, meditate.
8. distract yourself with going for a walk and drink plenty of water.
9. If the cravings become constant, this could be a clear indication of a nutrition deficiency or a hormone imbalance - consider talking to your health care provider and request some blood testing.

Craving check list:

What do I expect this food to do for me?
What story and I telling myself about this story?
What else is going on for me right now?

NB
Dopamine - Thrill hormone
Serotonin - Relaxed hormone. Lives in the GI tract, Levels increase as carbohydrates are eaten and can give the “butterflies in my stomach” effect when anxious and the feeling of wellbeing when happy.

There is no doubt that being able to quantify an athletes training load is important. Being able to do this allows us to modify the training load of an athlete at various points through the season, which is important when an athlete is targeting times of year where they want to peak. The frequency duration and intensity of training all contribute to the training effect, and as coaches we want to allow for overreaching to create positive adaptations to training, without causing overtraining which can have adverse effects on performance and lead to injury and/or chronic fatigue. To be able to allow athletes to have positive adaptation to training, and peak for competition, requires us to be able to accurately quantify training load.

The wide range of modalities of training that CrossFit incorporates can make this more complex than in single modalities sports. Quantifying the load of a strength training session is relatively straight forward (load x sets x reps), but as CrossFit incorporates conditioning sessions that vary greatly in duration and intensity, how can we accurately compare the two?

Rate of Perceived Exertion
A relatively simple method of doing this is using the athletes rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Simply asking the athlete to rate the difficulty of a training piece on a scale of either 1-10 or 6-20. We can also take this one step further to account for the duration of training, by multiplying the RPE score by the duration of the piece in minutes. Whilst this is easy to use it is dependent on an athlete’s understanding of the method, and the accuracy of their own perception of effort. Whilst this has been shown to be an effective measure during steady state exercise, there is less of a correlation between an athletes RPE and physiological measures of intensity as the intensity of exercise increases.

Heart Rate Monitoring
Heart rate monitoring is also popular method of measuring exercise intensity. It is important when using heart rate as a measurement tool that individual differences are taken into account due to the large individual differences in how people respond to exercise. A more accurate measure may be heart rate reserve, as this takes into account both resting and maximal heart rates, accounting for some of the individual difference.

Heart rate reserve (HRR) can be calculated as follows –
HRR = (HRex-HRrest) x100/HRmax-HRrest
HRex is the average heart rate of the session, HRrest is the individuals resting heart rate and HRmax is the individuals maximum heart rate.

The benefit of HRR reserve is that it takes into account the individuals resting and maximal heart rate. It also gives us a single number which can be easily used to compare training load between sessions. It is important to keep in mind though, that day to day heart rate variation is around 6 beats per minute, and can be further affected by environmental conditions.

Training Impulse
Training Impulse (TRIMP) is another method of quantifying a training session, again giving us a single number to work with. Like HRR, TRIMP uses average heart rate, maximal heart rate and resting heart rate, but also includes training duration. TRIMP can be calculated as follows –

TRIMP = duration of training (min) x ∆HR ratio x Y.
The ∆HR ratio value = (HRex-HRrest)/(HRmax-HRrest).
Y = 0.64e1.92x for males and Y=0.86e1.67x for females, e=2.712 and x=∆HR ratio

The Y value is a weighting factor that emphasizes high intensity activity and is used to avoid giving disproportionate importance to long duration, low intensity exercise compared with intense short duration activity.

The benefit of this equation is that it again allows for a training session to be quantified using a single value and it is adjusted to consider the effect of high intensity exercise, however the equation itself is a little long winded. It also requires steady state heart rate measurements, and its accuracy maybe reduced in interval type workouts.

Summated Heart Rate Zone Score.
The summated heart rate zone score is a modification to the calculation of training impulses that allows the quantification of interval training. The accumulated duration (mins) spent in each heart rate zone is calculated and then multiplied by a multiplier factor for each zone to account for the differences in intensity as show below.

​Whilst this method sounds appealing, the broad range of each zone may increase or decrease the calculated load disproportionately, and athletes who spend most of their training time doing high intensity exercise may find their training load is overestimated compared to the TRIMP method, and vice versa.
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Summary
As you can see there are a range of methods that can be used to quantify training load, dependant on the resources available to the coach. RPE is a simple way of quickly gathering data from your athlete but may lack accuracy, whilst the use of heart rate monitors can greatly increase the accuracy of calculating the training load of a session but is dependent on the availability of a heart rate monitor and the time to run the equations necessary to give a usable and accurate value. The answer is dependant on the time and resources available to you as a coach, and the willingness of the athlete to feedback the necessary values, particularly if the coaching is done remotely. Whichever method is used though, it is an important tool in the quantification of your athletes training load, and allows you to successfully manage your athlete through an increasingly long season.
 
 
 

Now that we have given you an overview of the different methods we use to develop an athletes all round conditioning, in this final post we will discuss how we fit it all together. Very few athletes have the time and energy to use every method of conditioning we have mentioned to develop aerobic and anaerobic conditioning all year round, and even if they did we wouldn’t advise it!

To fit the pieces together into a productive and non-exhausting jigsaw we must first think about when an athlete wants to peak for a competition. From here we can work backwards, and determine at which point we will focus on which aspect of their conditioning. Doing this is something which is commonly referred to as periodisation. Dividing the training period up into smaller blocks called meso and micro cycles with each block having a focus. There are two main methods of doing this, block periodisation and undulating periodisation.

Block periodisation involves an entire training block, usually 4-6 weeks, having a specific and consistent focus, for example spending 6 weeks developing your aerobic conditioning. Undulating periodisation is different, using this method the focus of the training may vary on a day to day basis, for example day 1 may be aerobic, day 2 may be HIIT and day 3 may be SMIIT. Both methods have their merits, and which one to use can vary depending on the athlete and their season.

As well as this we must also consider restitution periods. This is the period we would maintain a given level of a particular component of fitness if we were to stop training it, such as aerobic conditioning, before it would start to decline. The restitution period for aerobic conditioning is typically around 30 days with some individual variation. However, the restitution period for your most intense anaerobic conditioning is only 5 days. So already, bearing in mind on competition day you are going to be working at the highest intensity you are capable of, you can see how the pieces begin to fit together. At the furthest point from competition we would focus on aerobic conditioning, and as we get closer we would begin to focus more on anaerobic conditioning.

As opposed to using a classic block or undulating periodisation method, I like to use a hybrid of the two. By this I mean that whilst each block may have a focus, such as aerobic conditioning, that focus isn’t exclusive. Instead I use the 70/30 rule, whereby in an aerobic training block, 70% of the training is aerobic and 30% is anaerobic. As the athlete gets closer to competition that ratio will switch. Using this method, whilst the majority of the adaptation to training will be in favour of the predominant training method, it also prevents the non-predominant training method being left to decline, particularly when the length of the training period exceeds the restitution period of that adaptation to training.

Having said that, every athlete is different and knowing your athlete, their competition schedule and training schedule will influence how their training looks. It is important to plan in advance, determine when your athlete is looking to peak and work back from there, to effectively bring everything together when it really counts.
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In summary –

• Don’t try and develop everything all of the time.
• Look at your competition schedule and work back from there.
• Think about which method of periodisation works best for you.
• Bear in mind restitution periods and how this ties in with your season.

In this penultimate blog post on the subject of conditioning we will be building on what we have discussed in our last two blog posts by looking into the different methods of developing your Anaerobic conditioning.

As mentioned previously, CrossFit doesn’t rely solely on one energy system, and the way in which energy systems interact with each other means this is very rarely the case anyway. Your typical CrossFit “metcon”, is generally designed to be relatively short and intense, but how can we manipulate this to get the best results.

Your traditional short sharp AMRAP will improve your anaerobic conditioning, go into any CrossFit gym and speak to the members and they will all tell you how much their fitness has improved as a result of this kind of workout. The key to optimising these workouts is to ensure the intensity is right. Ideally you should be working around or above your lactate turn point – the point at which lactate production outweighs lactate removal. Why? Because the body’s ability to tolerate and remove lactic acid without any decrement in muscle function is a primary adaptation of anaerobic conditioning, and is a strong determinant of CrossFit performance.  If we were to quantify this in terms of heart rate, you would typically be looking at somewhere in the region of 80-85% of your maximum heart rate. So designing your workouts using movements or loads that allow you to reach this intensity is key to ensuring your workout is an effective use of your time.

Interval training is another method that can be used to develop your anaerobic conditioning and I like to split this into two different intensities. First, we have your high intensity intervals. These are performed for short periods normally ranging between 3 and 5 minutes with the intensity been slightly higher than your average metcon, typically closer to 85-90%. The benefit of these intervals isn’t necessarily that you are working at a higher intensity, but that these intervals can be repeated multiple times with equal rest periods in between, so the total time spent working at a higher intensity is greater. However, there isn’t a linear dose response and it will vary from person to person. One athlete may be able to maintain the given intensity for multiple rounds, where another may only be able to maintain that intensity for 1-2 rounds. Once the intensity drops too low the athlete will no longer be getting the intended stimulus at which point it would be advisable to stop. Over time, we would progress the athlete by increasing the number of rounds they perform, but only much as they are capable of maintaining the desired intensity.

Another method of interval training which can be used, that is particularly useful as the athlete gets close to competition and is in an intensification phase, or with team athletes, is supramaximal interval training. This is performed for a shorter duration (1-2 minutes) with a much longer rest period between intervals, anywhere between 2 and 4 times the work period. Naturally this means the intensity can be higher still (90-95% max heart rate), and again with the extended rest period can be repeated multiple times. Of course, this replicates team competition well, particularly competitions where there are 4 or more people in a team, but also replicates individual competition where it is only natural that athletes will push harder than they would on a regular training day. Conditioning your athletes to becoming accustomed to working at these intensities will allow them to work at higher intensities for longer come competition day, as well as recovering more effectively between workouts.
 
Each different method of anaerobic conditioning has its advantages and disadvantages, and should be used in conjunction with one another, not exclusively. And let’s not forget about your aerobic conditioning too! In our final blog post we will discuss when and why we use each different method of conditioning at different stages in the season, and the interaction between them.
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In summary –

• Anaerobic conditioning can be developed in one off efforts, or in intervals or varying duration and intensity.
• The intensity must be correct for the desired adaptations to occur.
• There isn’t a linear dose response, more isn’t always better.
• Know your athlete, learn what they can handle to optimise their training. 

As we eluded to in our previous post, aerobic conditioning is training performed using the body’s aerobic energy system, is typically performed at around 70% of your max heart rate, and is relatively long in duration. Aerobic conditioning is the base of your CrossFit pyramid, and the wider the base the higher that pyramid can go.

Long duration steady state (LDSS) training is a common method that is used to develop your aerobic conditioning. Long runs, rows or bike rides performed at around 70% of your max heart rate are examples of this. One of the benefits of LDSS training include developing cardiovascular efficiency, which can improve the delivery and utilisation of oxygen to working muscles. Whilst there aren’t many CrossFit workouts that require you to work continuously for a prolonged period of time, improving your cardiovascular efficiency can aid your recovery from training, and in a competition or double training day scenario will aid your recovery between workouts. There is also a line of research investigating the notion that LDSS training may also help to prevent soft tissue injury.

When your programming your LDSS training take into account two main variables. The intensity of this type of training should be around 70%. Ideally you can measure this using a heart rate monitor, if not you will have to go by feel a little bit. You should be working at an intensity you can maintain for the duration of the session, without any real drop off in pace. The duration of the session will depend on your current level of aerobic fitness. A beginner may be able to maintain this pace for 20-30 minutes, your seasoned competitor should be able to maintain this intensity for over an hour. Whilst this type of training may seem boring you can make it interesting, use a combination of cyclic exercises where you can control the intensity, and gradually increase the duration of your session over time to provide the overload needed to cause your body to adapt.

A second method of developing your aerobic conditioning is using something I like to call moderate intensity interval training (MIIT). In my opinion this is more specific to CrossFit, and allows for more variation in your training. This method also allows you to develop muscular endurance in movements that are often limited by muscular endurance rather than strength or skill, such as wall balls or kettlebell swings.

With the goal of aerobic conditioning in mind, I plan intervals that include working time of anywhere from 6-15 minutes, and a rest time of between 25 and 40% of the working time. The intensity of these intervals should be around 75%, although that number sometimes rises to around 80%. In these intervals I like to combine your typical cyclic exercises, running, rowing or biking, with CrossFit style movements such as wall balls, burpees, double unders, where the load is light and the athlete can move continuously throughout the interval. To control the intensity of these intervals, you can prescribe set paces for cyclic exercises such as row pace or RPM on the assault bike, and you can select exercises that only allow an athlete to move at a pace which keeps the intensity in the right place. For example, swapping burpee box jumps for burpee box step ups, can remove the temptation for the athlete to move too fast. The exercises or loads you choose should also allow an athlete to keep moving, and not have to break the reps or reach muscular failure – remember the goal here is aerobic conditioning.

As mentioned earlier I find that the variation in movements, the duration of the intervals and the focus you can place on specific muscular endurance makes this method of developing your aerobic fitness more specific to CrossFit. As with LDSS training, these sessions should gradually be progressed over time. When performing MIIT there should be little to no drop off in pace between rounds, so it is important that you work at an intensity that is appropriate for you, and allows this to be the case. I would also advise beginner athletes to start with sessions that last for around 20-30 minutes, and again you can gradually increase the length of these sessions over time to create overload.
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In summary –

• Aerobic conditioning can be developed using LDSS or MIIT, or both! Don’t be afraid to mix it up.
• The intensity of the work should range from 70-75%.
• The duration of the session should be specific to your current level of aerobic conditioning, and can be progressed over time.
• Remember the goal of the session, you may not have fran cough at the end, that’s ok!

In the next article we will look into different ways of developing your anaerobic conditioning, before pulling the two together and discussing how we develop both aerobic and anaerobic conditioning over the course of the season. 

This is the first in a series of blog post based around conditioning in CrossFit. Conditioning has become one of those words that gets thrown around a lot and is a very broad term that needs to be broken down in order to fully understand its components. This first blog post will break it down, and subsequent posts will go into more detail about how we develop it.

Conditioning is generally a term used to describe a training piece that is intended to develop either your aerobic or anaerobic capacity, and the key to designing programmes that develop conditioning is an understanding of the body’s energy systems. The primary function of all the body’s energy systems is to resynthesise ATP. ATP is essential for muscle contraction, and is finite, meaning it will run out if the body doesn’t reproduce it.

The aerobic energy system is the body’s primary source of energy, and uses readily available oxygen to resynthesise ATP within cells. This is a great continuous source of energy but it is a bit slow, so can only be used during low to moderate intensity exercise. What do we class as low intensity exercise? Any exercise that is below your lactate threshold, typically around 70% of your max heart rate, and is relatively long in duration. In CrossFit terms, think 10k row, triathlon style events or long runs.

The anaerobic energy system plays a big role in most CrossFit workouts, and can be split into the lactic or glycolytic energy system and ATP-PC system. For the time being we will focus only on the lactic energy system. This energy system uses blood glucose, and glucose stored in muscle cells to resynthesise ATP through a process called glycolysis. No oxygen is required making ATP production much faster, however oxygen is required to remove the waste product of glycolysis – pyruvic acid. Oxygen reacts with pyruvic acid to again resynthesise ATP and provide more energy, a by product of this second reaction is lactic acid, a build up of which can significantly impair muscle function. So it is the job of oxygen to break down lactic acid and reduce the decrement in muscle function, easier said than done! As ATP is resynthesised faster through the lactic energy system it can fuel workouts that are performed at a much higher intensity than the aerobic energy system, again in CrossFit terms think Fran or Grace.

Now it’s important not to think of these energy systems as stand-alone sources of energy. Your 15-minute AMRAP is too long to be performed using purely the lactic energy system, but your likely to be working at an intensity higher than 70% of you max heart rate. Energy systems are constantly interacting, as one becomes exhausted another takes over, therefore it is important not to focus solely on one or the other. To be a well-rounded CrossFit athlete you need to have well developed aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. Over the course of the next couple of articles we will first look at how to effectively develop each energy system, and then look at how we prioritise, integrate and maintain each energy system over the course of a season.
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In summary –

• Conditioning refers to training pieces that develop either aerobic or anaerobic capacity.
• ATP is essential for muscle function.
• ATP can be produced either via the aerobic, lactic or ATP-PC energy systems.
• The aerobic and lactic energy systems are primarily used in CrossFit.
• The two are constantly interacting, and should both looked to be developed for optimal CrossFit performance.

Hiring a Coach to reach your goals can be a tough choice to make so here is an insight to what I believe to be the “who, what, why, when”.

Before I go on to explain “The who, what, why, when” I just want to stress that all of the programmes we offer are NOT body transformation programmes, we do not promise that in 8-12 short weeks your fairy god mother will have waved her magic wand and you will be staring back at your dream body in the mirror. Adjusting your nutrition takes time and with steady and consistent improvements we will make your ideal shape long lasting. 

Who:

If you google search ‘nutrition coach” you will be inundated with links to all sorts of awesome, amazeballs, all singing all dancing options. So how do you choose the coach that is right for you? 

Get to know the coach.. At the end of the day this is an investment you are making, not just financially but timely. You are investing your time and energy into an idea of helping you feel more in control of your body through the power of food. At Tailor Made we are open about your plan, what is expected of you in order to be successful and allow you as much time or questions as you need to make sure this is the plan for you. 

Essentially the plan is tailored to your needs based on the information you provide, our main goal is to make the plan work for your lifestyle by tweaking little elements gradually to help you engrain new patterns that are easy to adjust too.


What

Basically the “what” here is going to be the plan that is most suited to you. 

Do I need a full meal plan? 
Do I need a macro plan with food timings?
Do I need just the macro’s?

The idea with our variety of options is that you start with a full nutrition plan, this is where your coach truly gets to know you, your lifestyle and your weaknesses. Your plan can be designed and adjusted for even the busiest of people with the most unpredictable schedule. You will have 24/7 access to your coach via email should you have a moment of panic where you are called into a business meeting, where lunch is provided and you are stuck there, a prisoner for 5 hours!!! Your coach will know when you are ready to proceed to making your own food choices based on your macronutrients given, and this will usually come at the end of your 3 month full plan. During this phase you will still be given suitable food choices with meal timings and still have 24/7 access to your coach should you encounter any difficult moments, this phase will really depend on each individual and how well you adapt to making your own choices, you may excel immediately and be ready for Tier 3… independance!! Tier 3 is all about having the independence to adjust your meals around training all by yourself, you will be provided with macronutrients based on your once weekly check-in with your coach. 

Why

Why sign up to have a coach?

There are many, many reasons why I believe it is important to have someone in your corner.

Some of these reasons are:

• Stop the guessing game
• Stop going around in circles
• Having answers
• Having reassurance
• Results
• Big picture solution

And what I believe to be most important….. ACCOUNTABILITY

It’s very hard to describe until you know for yourself.
If you are in a position where you know you want to make some changes, you did some research a while back and know what you should be eating, ask yourself this question, why am I not doing it? If you can think of a handful of reasons as to why you can’t make those changes, you are the person who would benefit from having the accountability of a coach.
 
Do you find yourself looking in the mirror after a “really good week” feeling like you have achieved something and feel like you need to reward yourself? This is where a coach will come in useful.

Do you find yourself spending Monday-Friday living on chicken salad and vegetables and coming to the weekend feeling exhausted and in need of something to make you full again?

When

If you have manage to read up to now and like what you see so far, send an email to [email protected] to express your interest.

You've taken the plunge and signed up for your new remote coaching programme. You've completed your test week, received your first week of programming and you are eager to get started. But how do you make the most of remote coaching? We have put together a few tips to help you make the most of your training programme and reach your full potential.

​1. Record your results.
​It goes without saying that recording your various lifts, WOD times and gymnastic benchmarks is important, but it is even more important when you are working with a coach remotely. Recording your results lets your coach know how each session went, which then allows them to adjust the following weeks training accordingly. The more information your coach has, the more they can make the plan specific to your needs.

​2. Video your lifts and gymnastic movements.
Weightlifting and gymnastics are technical sports. Raw strength will only get you so far before you start to plateau. By recording your movements and sending them to your coach, they can give you cues and technical drills to help improve your technique. The more videos your coach has to watch, the more effective the cues and technical drills will be, and the more your technique will improve.

​3. Talk to your coach.
​Recording your workout time is good, but giving your coach information about how the workout felt, which movements you may have struggled with or how you broke up the movements can give your coach valuable information about your weaknesses which can then be targeted.
​Letting your coach know if you have a niggle is also important. If you know there is something not right and you keep pushing through eventually you will get a far more serious injury. Your coach will be able to programme around any injuries you may have, keeping you moving and giving your niggles time to recover.
​And finally, if you are unsure about the direction your programme is heading or have any concerns, talk to your coach. They will be able to tell you exactly what stage you are at and their expectations for you. Communication really is key and the better the relationship between athlete and coach, the greater the success!