Performance Personal Training

Change it up & keep moving

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Are you avoiding exercise and active leisure time because of lower back pain? Well this sedentary option might actually bring you more pain instead of relief. There must might be a better option for you.

The first step you should take of course is to visit your Physiotherapist for diagnosis or at lease soft tissue management and advice.

So that being said and done, if there is a possibility that exercise can create more benefit then harm, then you should definitely keep moving. But how do you do this? Simply, we can modify the exercise selection for you and give lots of guidance to mitigate any ongoing pain.  

Here are a few tips to decrease unnecessary stress on your lower back while exercising:

  1. Weight Loss: If you are over-weight you should seek professional guidance to safely decrease your caloric intake and increase your daily movement. Decreasing your body weight while maintaining good hydration, and muscular strength will decrease stress and pain in your lower back. 
  2. Exercise choice: Knowing the correct way or seeking professional help to correctly modify exercises will keep you training with more benefit and less risk. 
Exercise alternatives for back pain
  • Decrease your lever length: When performing exercises that place your whole body in an extended position such as a push-up, planks and burpees etc. Either elevate your upper body or lower to your knees to decrease the length of your body (the lever) and decrease the stress placed on your lower back. 
  • Decrease your impact: Choose low impact cardio such as riding a stationary bike and avoid running, jumping, plyometrics or any explosive high impact movements. 
  • Avoid excessive flexion and rotation of the spine: This includes active and passive movements (like stretching). For strength of your core muscles (such as multifidus and abdominals) choose anti-rotational exercises, like a tall kneeling isometric pallof press for example. 
  • De-load: If you can perform the movement without the load, then it’s not the time to go for any strength PB’s but it is good news that you can keep training. Reduce your load for your lifts to point that you can perform good movement WITHOUT pain. This probably means you need to keep the barbell off your back for a little while. Heavy overhead pressing should also be avoided, particularly if you are tight through your upper back, because your poor range of movement may cause compensations through your lower back. 
  1. STOP right now, thank-you very much and perhaps seek out a little human touch: Let’s look at the big picture, you want to keep training long-term right? If one particular movement is causing you pain STOP. We don’t want to take one step forward and two steps back here. Choose activities that cause all benefit and no harm. For acute management of inflammation apply ice NOT a heat pack. Soft tissue treatment can be beneficial on recovery days to break up old muscle adhesions and have everything moving nicely again. 

In conclusion; seek professional advice if you are experiencing chronic lower back pain, exercise will be beneficial for you, but only if done correctly, training frequency and intensity should always be progressive and do NO HARM. 

HAVE YOU SEEN PPT TV yet? We covered this topic and gave some demonstrations too, be sure to have a watch as Simone & Jen help break it down.

For more professional advice or to find out about any of our coaching services, get in touch here.

5 key elements to a result based program

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With everything going on, we know a lot of people are jumping into training programs, which is awesome! To try to help out a little, we thought we would throw together the 5 key things to look for in a result based program. Keep in mind, these are concerning those of you looking for results out of your training. If you are in a situation where you are just looking to be a little more physically active due to all the screen time and change in circumstances, all the power to you and we definitely encourage the decision you are making! But, we know there are a lot of you out there missing the gym (we are also!) and are jumping into programs trying to get some results. So, this if for you! Hopefully it helps, and if not doesn’t help now, then hopefully it arms you with the tools necessary for when we are back in the gym so you can hit the ground running (or lifting)!

1- Individualised: I know what you’re all thinking – yeah, yeah, we know, based on what we want to achieve etc. we’ve heard it all before, but hear me out! For sure, you need to ensure the program is both appropriate for you and central to what you’re looking to do. In terms of what you’re looking to achieve, if you want to slab on some muscle, a progressive running program might not be optimal, and vice versa, so this is first port of call for a result based program and is likely the obvious one you’re all thinking. But, here’s the catch. Still within individualisation is the more ‘individual’ part of it all – is the program catered to you!? 15 squats will be too hard for some, too easy for others when the weight is a constant. What do I mean by that? Well, it’s easy enough when you have a barbell and can just change loads, but when the load is mostly constant (your bodyweight) we need to either tailor the reps a little more such as training in a certain proximity to failure, or we can increase the difficulty of the movement with things like pauses, slow eccentrics and all that fun stuff. It’s not quite as simple as do 15 squats, 15 push ups, and 10 lunges, that one size fits all approach is not going to cut it!

2- Progressive: after we know the program is individualised, we also need to acknowledge individualisation is a moving target! 3 sets of 12-15 squats could be right where it’s at in the first week of your program. But after doing that for a few weeks, it could very well be nowhere near enough! So, we need to look for a program that increases either intensity or the amount of work you are doing over time. Side note, this is also very true for things like running programs. If you’re doing the same distance in the same time for 6-weeks, after a while, that is no longer as challenging as it once was. This means time to increase one of the variables, either increase the distance or reduce the time you allow yourself to complete that distance. The great thing about the body is that it adapts super well. But, understanding this adaptation is key to progressing on a nice trajectory and as the title gave away – getting results!

3- Intensity: Having a progressive program leads nicely to this point.  As much as exercise is fantastic and enjoyable, it should be somewhat challenging if you’re looking for results and improvement! We spoke about progressing over time, but for that to apply at all, we need to be pushing the ticket a little! It’s pretty easy to do a home workout where you just fluff about a lot (and in a lot of ways, that’s definitely better than nothing, and we aren’t saying that’s a bad thing at all!). But, here we’re talking about what to look for in a program that will get RESULTS and let’s put it this way… nobody ever got accidentally jacked!

4- Balanced: Nobody wants to be an upside-down triangle, so we need to make sure the program is balanced. If you’ve got 4 chest days a week and one leg day a year, you’re probably missing the ball a little. We also need to make sure we are adding in some of that cardio stuff or just focusing on a healthy lifestyle like everyone is always going on about being good for you (yes, we are those people going on about being healthy, wouldn’t be doing our job if we weren’t!).

5- ADHERENCE: If you don’t actually do the program, none of these points matter! So, making sure the program is something you are able to fit in with your schedule, something you enjoy, and doesn’t feel like an absolute chore is pretty important!

Try putting all five of things into practice, and let us know how you go. If you need more assistance or looking for some guidance and direction, get in touch with our team. Want to hear PPT coaches Mitch and Bandoll talk more on this topic? Click here

5 Tips for Better Immunity

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Our body is naturally equipped with a self defence mechanism in our immunity system. To keep it running as best as possible here are 5 things you can do TODAY:

  1. Eat real food as much as you can. Think fruit, veggies, grains, legumes, and minimal to zero processed foods. Processed foods can be pro-inflammatory and that’s not what we’re after.
  2. Change up your bedtime routine to promote a better nights sleep. Some options here reduce device use, earlier bedtime, no coffee after midday, or do some meditation.
  1. Try and maintain a well balanced diet. Food group exclusion is pretty popular, but unless medically necessary, you might be doing more harm than good. If you don’t need to cut out/reduce your intake of certain vitamins, minerals, or reducing an entire macros, then don’t.
  2. Do some form of exercise daily as a way to keep your emotional/work stress at bay. While hard training sessions are a stressor on the body, the impact of life’s other environmental stresses can be quite potent. Movement really is medicine in the way it can promote positivity within one self, so get moving.
  1. Don’t fall for the quick fix in a bottle. This one is more of a Public Service Announcement, but one we feel really strongly about. If you don’t have the basics in place (steps 1 – 4) an “Immune Booster pill” will make a dent in your wallet and that’s about it. Look at your diet, get your exercise in , and make adjustments to your overall lifestyle first if you want maximum benefits.

Just improving one of these aspects of your lifestyle will make you feel great, put it all together and you will feel AMAZING!

If you’re thinking we sound like we would be the right type of coach for you, telling it to you straight and getting you results, then get in touch here. Keen to read more form our team, get more information on health and fitness, head to OUR BLOGS.

Why you need Vitamin D

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What exactly is Vitamin D? And why is it important? 

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning it’s stored in fatty tissue. It’s also known as the sunshine vitamin as it’s synthesised within the body when our skin is exposed to sunlight. This process is extremely important as we actually get very little Vitamin D from our diets in comparison to other vitamins. For example the Australian guidelines for Vitamin C for adults is 45mg/day. This can easily be achieved in a day by having 1 small orange or 50g of broccoli. Whereas to obtain 2500IU of Vitamin D from food you’ll need to consume 6250ml of whole milk or 143 large eggs. 

vitamin D facts

So why do we need Vitamin D? Vitamin D is needed for the following; 

  • Improves the immune system 
  • Improves bone health via supporting calcium absorption 
  • Reduces depressive symptoms 
  • Potentially improves strength
  • Potentially improves fat loss
  • Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with the development of CVD, cancer, IBD and AI disorders.

So how do you know if you have enough Vitamin D? The good news is that it can be tested quite easily with a simple blood test at your GP. From here if you are deficient, and many Australians are due to our diet, daily supplementation is recommended. For best absorption into your system, take it with a source of fat.

If your interested in reading more and for a great guide on Vitamin D supplementation please check out the info provided from Examine.com

Want help with getting your healthy lifestyle on track through exercise and healthy living, then get in touch with your team!

TOP 5 HEALTH BENEFITS OF EXERCISE

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health and exercise


We’re going to cut straight to the good stuff and list for you 5 reasons why it’s essential to get moving, stay active and exercise.

  1. Stress less and feel good – exercise is a positive mental distraction from all the daily stresses. During exercise our brain releases hormones that are responsible for us feeling happy (Endorphins) and these contribute to your mental wellbeing and positivity
  2. Metabolic boost – your body will burn more calories during a session of decent intensity and duration, in fact some sessions it will keep burning for up to 48 hours post session. Sure beats sitting on the lounge
  3. Better Carbohydrate handling – Post exercise we not only become more sensitive to insulin, but our body is also primed to take carbs for recovery as it has just used the carbohydrate stored within our muscles for energy during the session. The stars align in this moment for optimum utilisation of the carbs you’re consuming
  4. Improved brain function – this is not just us trying to tell you something to talk ourselves up, this has been researched. Off the back of as little as 15 minutes of cardiovascular activity, you can experience improvements in cognitive function, memory and reaction times. 
  5. Better nights sleep – the bodies number one and all natural recovery mechanism, sleep is improved with exercise. Most people will find that a tough exercise session should not only help you get to sleep easier, help set you up for a deeper sleep too. Just me mindful that training too close to bedtime might have you wired for a little while, before you’re ready to relax and chill.

BUT HERE’S THE BIG ONE  – we said 5 but we will throw in a bonus cause exercise is just so damn good for you

  1. Maintain a healthy immune system!! Exercise can reduce inflammation in the body as well as support infection fighting cells. Add that to the fact that most of the points above all point towards supporting a healthier human and we hands down have a better immune system.

We could go on….but we’re going to stop it here. There’s a heap of information on how to maintain good health in our FREE E-BOOK, PPT’s guide to Good Health. You can download it here, it even includes some great at home workouts so you can start to experience the benefits above too.

guide to good health

FREE – PPT’S GUIDE TO GOOD HEALTH

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Your best defence for strong immunity is to STAY HEALTHY!

There has never been a more important time for us to collectively focus on our health and wellbeing. We’ve been helping clients do this for years already through exercise and lifestyle changes, so we wanted to share some information with you too.

This FREE E-BOOK, “PPT’s Guide to Good Health” isn’t giving cures or quick fixes, nor are we trying to sell some obscure supplement that claims to cure everything. That’s not what we’re about. What we do have is a lot of information to share on how you can improve your overall health and therefore immunity through:

good health and immunity
  1. EXERCISE – yes! We have included a home based training guide, complete with links on the exercises to our video instructions
  2. NUTRITION BASICS – We’re talking real food here and how to maximise high nutritional quality ingredients in your diet
  3. LIFESTYLE – do you know what lifestyle habits you could change to increase your health and immunity? Read the book cause we do! 

To grab your FREE E-Book, simply CLICK HERE

If you enjoy the read and want to know more about how we can help you with some extra motivation to get the training done, CONTACT OUR TEAM. There’s a number on online services that are available for you.

10 Random Training Mistakes I’ve Made (that you can learn from)

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So we’re just about to hit a new decade and I’ve got to be honest. Sometimes I look back at my old work and cringe…..

Old training programs, nutrition recommendations, training recommendations, supplements! Sometimes I have to just laugh (or cry) and say “What the F were you thinking”!

What I’ve come to realize as time goes on in the gym, most of my best learning and progress has come about through failure.

Now even though we have plenty of great research, experience and knowledge around most of this stuff, I see people making the same mistakes I was 10 year ago, today.

So, for all you out there reading this, think of this as a New Years gift from me. A totally random list of thoughts, ideas and failures I’ve learnt from, leading you into the roaring 20’s!

1.MOST PEOPLE HAVE NO BUSINESS SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF

I used to worry about the dumbest shit.

I remember getting STRESSED about taking more than 20mins to down a protein shake after a strength workout, as I thought protein timing was pretty much the make or break when it came to results from that session.

Things like the supplements I was taking, how many meals I was eating each day (and the EXACT TIME I needed to eat them), even my training split when I was a flat-out beginner.

Now I’m not saying that none of this stuff matters. What I’m saying is that unless you’re elite, a professional athlete or so advanced that you need to be worrying about the 1% gains some of this stuff provides, you need to focus on the basics FOR YEARS before any of it matters.

2. CONSISTENCY IS KING!

One of the most important things (if not THE MOST IMPORTANT) that everyone should worry about in their training, nutrition or any healthy lifestyle practice is consistency. We’ve all seen people do really well on shitty programs and diets, as long as they’re consistent with it. Even the best program or diet in the world will do jack shit for you if you’re not actually doing it!

If you take nothing else from this blog, make sure it’s this. Whatever diet, training program or healthy lifestyle practice you’re looking to partake in is, always ensure it’s something you KNOW is realistic for you, and something you’ll be able to stay consistent with if you really want it to work.  

3. CARDIO WON’T MAKE YOUR MUSCLES FALL OFF

I know there’s some of you out there who still think cardio kills your muscle and strength gains.

In some ways this is actually true (not the muscles falling off part). Without getting too much into the science around it, much like our first point, most of us just don’t need to worry about it. Sure, if you’re looking to win both a marathon and a bodybuilding competition at the same time you’re going to run into trouble. But for average Janes and Joes out there, recreational bodybuilders and gym enthusiasts, we’re just not doing enough of either to warrant this kind of concern.

A good training program should be multifaceted and consider all aspects of performance and health.

4. TIMED REST IS AN UNDERRATED TRAINING VARIABLE

When people think about the training variables they can control, most think about weight selection, reps and sets, but no one thinks about REST intervals.

As far as results go, as long as your chosen rest interval is sufficient, the EXACT duration doesn’t seem to matter a great deal.

Personally, I like to time the rest intervals of both my own and my client’s workouts for two main reasons:

  1. Time efficiency – Most of the people I train are busy and time-poor. Most of my sessions go for an hour and I need to make each minute count. Having a timer go off when it’s time to work keeps conversations short, productive and get people more bang for their buck. Also limits any needless time in the gym.
  2. Comparison – If you truly want to gauge progress in the gym, how can you look at one set vs. another if you rested twice as long? You can’t! Timing rest intervals gives you an even playing field to compare workout to workout.

Now I don’t live and die by the stopwatch, but having one handy and sticking to it will go a long way to minimising distractions, improving your time efficiency in the gym, and in turn, getting you better results in the long run.

5. SUPPLEMENTS REALLY DON’T MATTER

This might come as a surprise to some, but there really isn’t a great deal of research-proven, results-producing products out there. There are even some supplements on shelves that are PROVEN to NOT WORK but are still sold like snake oil to hopeful consumers looking for the magic bullet.

Hate to say it, you won’t find one.

Sure, there are many supplements that do ‘work’, but they should be considered secondary (or dare I say, supplementary 🤪) to your chosen healthy diet, lifestyle practices and training plan. Think of supplements like this:

Good, research-proven supplements are like THE SPRINKLES on the icing, on the cake.

6. YOUR TECHNIQUE IS MOST IMPORTANT TRAINING VARIABLE

Write this down….

‘If it’s not right, it’s wrong’

I cannot think of a time that I’ve seen someone hurt in the gym when they were doing an exercise with perfect technique. Don’t settle for shitty technique or form breakdown.

You can’t make chicken salad with chicken shit!

7. FOR SOME PEOPLE, THERE ARE CERTAIN EXERCISES THEY SHOULDN’T DO

If you just hate doing a movement (and I mean really hate it) don’t do it. Look for an alternative you enjoy.

If doing a certain movement causes you pain, beats you up too much or seems to cause you injury, don’t do it. Look for one that doesn’t.

If you just don’t seem to have the mobility or structure to do a movement, don’t force it. Do something else and work on the things (like your mobility) that might make it happen down the line.

Making people do some movements can feel like trying to jam a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn’t seem to fit. At PPT, we’re lucky enough to have tons of equipment and exercise variations available to us. Good coaches know tons of tweaks and variations to help people along and find the best movements for them.

personal training and fat loss

If someone tells you that you ‘need’ to do X exercise to achieve Y result (like I used to), forgive them, they’re still learning….

8. CHANGING YOUR PROGRAM TO ‘KEEP THE BODY GUESSING’ DOESN’T WORK AND WILL PROBABLY HINDER PROGRESS

I used to be a ‘program hopper’.

One month, I’d be doing one thing, and then onto something else in the next. You’d never catch me doing the same exercises, rep ranges or methods program to program in an effort to avoid accommodation (my body getting used to it).

Now accommodation is a real thing. Over time, you will find that if you don’t change variables up you can run into issues like over-use injury, increased fatigue or even de-training (or going backwards in your result). What I’ve now since learnt is that it takes WAY longer than 4 weeks for someone to ‘get used’ to a program or exercise, and that you’re probably even better off keeping things similar for a time to allow you to really get the most out of it.

For many of my clients (and myself), I’ll now keep at least a few movements in their programs for what can be months to ensure that they’re really making the most of it, mastering the movement pattern and in turn, improving long term results.  

9. YOU CAN TOTALLY GET RESULTS ON A COUPLE OF STRUCTURED SESSIONS PER WEEK

Back in the day, I used to believe that if you weren’t in the gym for AT LEAST 3 sessions per week (and ideally 5 or more), you shouldn’t even bother.

After over 15 years of coaching, I’ve now realized that this really isn’t true. I’ve had many clients achieve better health by doing as little as 1-2 strength session per week, adjusting their lifestyle habits and just staying active throughout the week (like walking, etc).


Now don’t mistake this as me saying this is the best case, and applicable to all results and levels of experience, but as the old adage goes ‘something is better than nothing’. If that’s all you can do right now, it’s the perfect place to begin.

10. SLEEP IS A HUGE HANDBRAKE ON RESULTS

We’re learning more about this every day.

If your sleep is shitty, don’t expect to be your best (or even close). For years I thought of sleep, training and nutrition as the 3 pillars of health and fitness success. After reading a brilliant book called Why We Sleep – Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams by Dr Matthew Walker, I now think of Sleep as the bedrock that both training and nutrition sit upon. If it’s strong and stable, you’re good. If it’s weak and rocky, you’ll never be close to your best.

Moving into 2020, I know that sleep science will continue to improve and our job as health and fitness professionals will evolve. Improving sleep hygiene and habits will become a huge part of our role in helping people improve their health and fitness.

11. YOU DON’T NEED TO FAIL IN TRAINING TO GET RESULTS

I used to think that if you weren’t dead after a workout, you probably should’ve just stayed at home. How wrong I was!

Now make no mistake about it, you 100% have to train freaking hard, but you don’t have to die under the bar every session. The ability to reach ‘true failure’ in the gym is one that needs to be cultivated and grown over the years, just like physical strength. Some people never even get to this point and that’s all good!

You can totally make gains for a very long time in the gym and not have to kill yourself to make it happen. As a rule of thumb, as long as you find yourself somewhere between 1-4 reps from failure on a decent number of sets weekly you’re ALL GOOD!

Performance Personal Training - Squad, Sydney NSW

If any of these resonate with you, remember you’re not alone. These were things I’ve personally done and recommended in the past.

Luckily for you, I’ve been able to make those mistakes so you no longer have to! You’re now armed and ready to overcome and adjust your old habits and move into the new decade with a bang.

If you want to find out more about how we can assist in helping you learn from our mistakes, save you time, and get results faster, get in touch with our team

What’s the secret to fat loss?

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What do all of our best transformations have in common?
If you’re expecting to find out the big secret to fat loss, that magical training plan, exercise, miracle food or even better, the food you must never eat again, then sorry to disappoint you, but it just doesn’t work that way.

In fact, you might be surprised to learn our top 5 tips that we’ve identified in those who absolutely kill it with results and progress. So, here it goes, our list of common factors we see amongst those who get the changes they are after with us at PPT.

  • They are consistent. The changes that you make that you can stay consistent with are always going to give better results than a drastic change that is so hard that you dip in and out. There’s no point in doing something so drastic that you can’t sustain it. Progress over perfection every day of the week will also get you where you want to go.
  • These clients are compliant, by that we mean they are listening to what their PPT coaches are asking of them and doing it. An extension to the above point, but really these guys don’t pick and choose when they will listen, they just straight up do what is asked of them. Does that mean their getting it 100% right, 100% of the time? Hell NO! But they’re doing it the majority of the time and the times that it’s not all text book perfect, chances are they’ve chatted to their coach and have worked through some sort of revised plan to stay on top of their game.
  • They’re viewing this as a lifestyle change, it’s not just “I want to lose X kilos”. The best results have come from those who know and have identified within themselves that they can improve. Whatever they are currently do is just is not working, they’re not happy and they want better. 
  • They are utilising all resources available to them to get the job done. Team PPT is a great community of clients and coaches and everyone wants each other to succeed so there is so much help, guidance and support. Anyone who has done really well always seems to be the person who has either asked the most questions along the way, or shared the most with others about how they feel. This is huge, can be a little uncomfortable for some people, but it is a huge contributor
  • Stepping outside of their comfort zone and opening their mind up to try something. Now this might be anything training, nutrition or lifestyle related, but they’ve all been willing to at least try something different to what they usually do. Is it a new veggie, a different style of training, maybe its meditation to help them relax, whatever it is, they are giving it a go

The next PPT8 is around the corner, and if you know you want to change and are ready for 2020 to be the year in happens, then jump on and pre register NOW so you don’t miss out.

To read from some of these amazing clients head to our transformations & testimonials

20 Business Lessons Before 2020

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So I’m no expert.

I don’t have a business degree or formal education in business or finance.

I make mistakes daily….. Seriously, every single day.

I’ve worked to build a decently successful business, but I know there are others out there who you’d likely say are more successful than mine.

Aaaannnddddd, I’m not a business coach.

What I am is a Personal Trainer of over 15 years, the business owner here at Performance Personal Training and super passionate about what I get to do every day.

Now although PPT has been around for a little over 6 years now, I can honestly say that I’ve really only felt some progress as a business owner and team leader over the past few years. What’s different? I started investing time and effort into developing and evaluating myself in that space and hanging around people that were more successful than myself.

See, I’m a rep counter by trade. At a rough guess, I’d say I’ve done between 15-20,000 hours of PT and Group Training combined, as well as countless hours on the gym floor and working outside of my face to face stuff. So, when it came to starting and running a business, my knowledge was remedial, to say the least!

I’ve been super fortunate to be surrounded by a few of amazing leaders, business owners, and managers who’ve been nothing but generous with their time, feedback and guidance. Between their generous contributions to my development and the fact that we’ve never had better access to information and knowledge I’ve been able to learn a couple of things over the past decade and a bit that has helped me START (I’ve got a long way to go!) to develop and grow professionally as a business owner and leader myself.

I also have the world’s most supportive wife who puts up with me at my worst, my best and continues to support my dreams daily. Without her, I’d definitely be screwed.

As we start to approach a beginning of a new decade, I’d love to share with you all (in no particular order) 20 things I’ve learnt before 2020!

The Importance of Knowing Your Values (and finding others who have are similar)
Our values shape us. They highlight what we love and what pisses us off. When we find people who feel the same way we tend to gravitate to them, build positive relationships and grow. This goes for all relationships of course, but finding teammates and clients who have similar values to you and your business will make life HEAPS more enjoyable!

The Importance of having a Vision (and writing that shit down)
If you know WHAT you want and WHY you want it, you’ll work harder and focus more on the stuff that counts. On top of this, whenever you’re feeling a little off-track, having a written vision can be a great way to bring you back into alignment.

How you do ANYTHING is how you do EVERYTHING
Having standards around anything you put your name to and making sure you give it your best, no matter how small or unimportant something might seem builds confidence and reputation. People notice and you’ll start setting your own standards of excellence around everything you do. You don’t have to be the best, just give it your best.

woman squatting

Same goes when HIRING teammates
Further to the point above. If you see a trainer who continually shows up late, takes no pride in their appearance, or just seems like they don’t give a shit in one area of their job, chances are they do a load of other stuff that way as well. How they do ANYTHING is how they do EVERYTHING (you don’t want these guys around).

I’m fortunate enough to have a great team of hard-working, passionate coaches alongside me, who in turn pushes me to do my best daily!

The Importance of Having a Coach or Mentor
Now I’m not talking one of those B.S ‘Fitness Business Coaches’. You know the ones that had one PT studio do well, so they think that qualifies them to start a coaching business? Yeah, not those douches.

I’m talking about legitimate business owners or trained professionals who have experience and skills that transcend industry. Having the supportive voice of an impartial and knowledgeable coach or mentor will go a long way to skip mistakes or identify your business blind spots. I personally work with 3 people (coaches and mentors) right now and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for my professional development.

One of them is a great friend and long term client who is also a successful business owner and leader in his own right. He generously spends time with me regularly to chat about the business and help provide me direction.

Another is Justin Tamsett of Active Management. I take part in his Roundtable program by which I get to catch up with JT and other great Fitness Business owners regularly to shoot the shit, talk businesses and learn from all of JT’s experiences and knowledge.

Finally, I have a more formal business coaching arrangement with an online coach over in the U.S

Know Your Why
As one of my favourite authors, Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. Deeply knowing why you do what you do provides you with fuel and motivation through some of the tougher times and decisions business ownership throws at you.

Learners are Earners
I heard this one from one of my early mentors in the late Charles Poliquin. You don’t need to be a bookworm, and I also know HEAPS of successful business owners who aren’t readers so this one doesn’t go for everyone. Personally, though I’ve found that both as a coach and business owner, there’s been a direct link between the amount of time and effort I put into my own development, and my personal and business growth.

Manage your time, or others will do it for you
Time is the only resource you can’t MAKE more of, so it pays to be wise with how you’re spending it. If you’re not strategic with what you spend your time on, others will do it for you. Learn to say yes to the stuff you want to do, and feel good about saying no to the stuff that doesn’t align with your current goals or personal vision and values.

Regularly Schedule Time to Just THINK
This is a new one for me, but something I know will pay dividends in the long run. Running a business means you’ll be wearing tons of different ‘hats’ across your day. This recently led me to a state of overwhelm about all the things I felt I “had to” do. On recommendation from a mentor and friend, I started scheduling a regular time each week to think and plan. Stepping out of my own head for an hour a week allowed me to re-align with what was important, prioritize and even come up with new ideas and concepts that I know I’d never have done if I stayed in that state of overwhelm and anxiety. Looking forward to doing more of this in 2020!

Coaching people and running a business is not the same thing
Seems pretty straight forward as I write this, but it’s something that I’ve learnt the hard way. I fancied myself a pretty decent coach but when I moved over to running the business (and being less of a technician) I realized pretty quickly that the skillset that you need to be a great coach, and the skill set required to run a business aren’t even close to the same thing.

Set Goals and Track Them Regularly
Just like we do with our clients, I believe everyone (business owners or not) who are serious about what they do for a living should be spending time regularly setting goals around professional and personal development. Go one step better than that and align your goals with your personal vision and watch the magic happen.

Don’t Waste Time Worrying about your competitors
This is a futile endeavour! Although I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse and know what’s happening in the industry, there’s a difference between a little healthy competition and flat out worrying about what others are doing. Who gives a shit? They’re going to do it anyway and the time and energy you waste worrying is the time you could be spending making yourself and your business even better.

Plan out your time, and anything that takes more than 30mins to do needs to be scheduled
Loving the time management stuff at the moment and this is a rule I stole from someone (sorry can’t remember who) that was a game-changer for me. If I plan on doing something and it looks like it might take me more than 30mins to do, it lands in my calendar. If it’s not worth scheduling, it’s likely not worth your time. Drop it, or if you feel like you need to do it someday throw it on a to-do list and get it done when you get a spare moment down the line.

Create Systems for Everything!
The classic business book, “The E-Myth” got me started on systems, and now I try to find and create them everywhere. In the past, I thought systems were all about control, but I’ve since learned there is so much more to them. For one, they save you time and energy. They also give you benchmarks and way’s to assess and improve the way you do things in the future.

Of course, I have systems in my business, but I also have heaps of personal systems around things like my meal prep and how I learn. Seriously, if you plan on doing something over and over again, or even more importantly want someone else to do it for you, systemize it!

Don’t Post for your Peers, Post for your People
When it came to posting stuff on our business social media pages I used to really get caught up on what my peers might make of it. I found myself creating and judging content that was more geared and interesting to myself and other coaches, rather than my existing and prospective clients! Once I realized what I was doing and dropped that baggage, it gave me the freedom to create content that actually catered to people who are looking for my help, and not those who aren’t. Turn out no one really cares, and even if they do they’re probably not worth your time anyway.

*Note* I get this entire blog is contradictory to this point. This one more of a passion project than a business endeavour so whatever….

Making Mistakes and having difficult conversations are where the best growth lies
Although it feels shitty at the time, some of my best personal growth and development has come from making myself have tough conversations or making big mistakes. The only way you won’t learn, is if you don’t make a conscious effort to learn from the experience.


Make time to reflect
Kind of an extension to the point above. Whenever you find yourself having a difficult conversation or an event or project go the way you didn’t intend it, set yourself some personal reflective time. Go back, assess and learn from it in the future.

The importance of scheduling time to train yourself
I have a real issue with trainers or fitness industry professionals who don’t make an effort to train themselves.
Don’t get me wrong, we all go through ruts in the gym, we’re human too and I’m not saying that you need to look like an Olympic athlete or bodybuilder. What I’m saying is that if you’re truly passionate about what we do and feel it’s something others should be spending their time and money on, you better be putting your money where your mouth is!

There is no substitute for hard work and time
You may have noticed that I’m yet to include any ‘hacks’ or ‘hot tips’ to have rolling in the dough like Scrooge McDuck and that’s for good reason. There really aren’t any (at least I haven’t found them). Get ready to roll your sleeves up and get to work. Every successful business owner I’ve met that built something successful from scratch had one thing in common…. They’re all work-horses that are prepared to do the shit others aren’t.

Better yet, take pride in it and wear your work ethic as a badge of honour!

I work in the best industry in the world!
I wake up every single day so proud and grateful to be a part of the fitness industry. It’s really been the only thing I’ve ever done, and I consider myself very fortunate to be able to work with a community of amazing clients, passionate coaches and likeminded professionals.

I’m beyond excited for the challenges and opportunities that the future brings both myself and our amazing industry. Time to start looking forward to the challenges and learnings the next decade of fitness brings our way.

Got questions? Hit me up at sean@performance-pt.com.au. I’m happy to share!

1RM – What’s the point?

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Do I need to know my 1RM – alternative view for recreational lifters. 

Testing your 1 rep MAX might for a fun session, is great Instagram and could be a possible way to gauge your progress, but should you be doing it?

To weigh in, first you need to consider your training goals. If you’re training for strength development and you compete in barbell sport (like powerlifting or weightlifting), we believe there’s merit in testing. But if your goal is fat loss, muscle gain or just training to stay fit and healthy, this isn’t going to be your best measurement tool. 

squat

Second to goals, you need to think about your training experience. What a lot of people don’t realize is that training at super high loads (like your 1 rep max) is an actual skill. It takes years of practice and experience to do it safely and correctly. So if you’re somebody who doesn’t have a ton of time in the weight room, again, this probably isn’t your best bet to assess long term progress. 

So what can you do? 

 If you’re a recreational lifter, one of our favourite ways to measure strength is through AMRAP sets. Basically, sub-maximal strength assessments where you take either a given percentage of a lift, or even a % of your bodyweight and rep it out! You can then directly compare your results against previous AMRAP sets and see where things are at. Here’s a quick breakdown on how to get it done. 

woman deadlifting

GUIDE TO AMRAPS

  1. Select the lift you’re looking to assess – compound lifts like squats, bench press, pull ups, etc work great here
  2. Choose your intensity measure of assessment. Either:
    1. Given % of body weight (like 1 x BW Squat), or
    1. Given % of 1RM (like 85% your current estimated 1RM)
  3. Rep that bitch out!
  4. Record your results and compare again, the same way in the future. 

Remember, whether you’re testing your 1RM or going through an AMRAP set, technique is king, so don’t sacrifice this for anything. Good technique keeps you SAFE!

If you want to find out more about how we can assist in getting you STRONGER, lift with great form and get the results you are after, get in touch with our team