8 Steps to Improving Your Health - FIGHTWEIGHT Pilot Program

INTRODUCTION

I'm passionate about helping EVERYONE with their health and sharing the knowledge and experience I have working in this field for 15 years since graduating from University as a Human Movement student and PE Teaching graduate. As a Corporate Health Specialist, business owner of Taurus Trainer and full time working dad I don't really have a huge amount of time to give to friends or family in order to improve their health and fitness. As much I'd like to, I can only offer what I know now and what I believe is useful for my family, friends and new acquaintances.

In fact I really don't get much time myself these days and can find myself in the same space as many of the clients I have trained in the past by falling victim to the old 'No TIME' BS. At times its easier to just throw the towel in...
We all have such challenges including;

• Limited ME time
• Weather CONDITIONS
• Training LOCATION
• SHUFFLE work and family
• TRANSPORT issues
• NO EQUIPMENT
• MEMBERSHIP costs
• INTERNAL battle to find goals and so on...

If I have these challenges and am a lover of exercise, then what about the poor souls who DISLIKE:

• Exercise
• Gyms
• Cold mornings
• Paying gym fees
• Gym equipment
• Paying through the teeth for a PT (MOST are over qualified Beauty Babysitter's) who may not even deliver the goods and...
• Goalless outcomes

THE EMBRYO STAGE

After many requests to put together an online program so that my clients and friends can receive the same benefits I get from a structured program without actually having to commit to any of the mentioned challenges and dealing with what most dislike about fitness programs, I set about putting together a do-it yourself STEP-BY-STEP Program.

LESSONS FROM MY PROGRAM - The Original Guinea Pig

On the basis that I didn't want to fall victim to time or hear any of these so called excuses from my mouth, I underwent a personal CRUSADE to complete my own program before I shared it with my friends. 
I put together a program consisting of key basics to any successful program such as: baseline fitness and health testing and a structured exercise and nutrition program.
Putting this program together included using all the challenges faced versus what I could realistically do given I have similar challenges to many travelling and working dads.

What I knew and most others can do also is;

1. Spend 1 hour a day on ME
2. Train rain, hail or shine regardless of CONDITIONS
3. Not be limited by LOCATION
4. Be organised to SHUFFLE work and family
5. Not be limited by TRANSPORT
6. Train with NIL EQUIPMENT
7. Not have any MEMBERSHIP costs
8. Have an INTERNAL goal

BENCHMARK TO FIND STARTING POINT

I went to the OSCeR Centre & Body Composition Qld to be given a DEXA bodyscan. This provided the best solution to obtain a highly accurate body composition reading which assisted my fitness and weight loss program. 
One of the most important sources of information for me was to see the distribution and sum of Viceral (BAD) fat in my Android/Gynoid section i.e. Belly Fat/Muck.

INITIAL My Android/Gynoid Ratio score on 24 Jan 2014 =  0.83

I undertook my own fitness tests and designed a nutrition program that included many of my favorites foods, some that I knew I should have more of and new 'super foods'.

WEEK 1 - BEFORE

8 WEEKS LATER

Boom...I'm fitter, leaner and my energy is through the roof. 
Some major changes included:

• Reduced Body Fat by 1% (13.4 down to 12.4)
• Almost 5000g (5KG) of Muscle Mass.
• Improved routine in preparation of daily meals and enlightened taste buds

The muscle mass gain was what interested me the most as I did include more protein and green to my meals plus ate more regularly.

 Those who knew me best, asked what I had been doing in which I replied...by setting SMART goals and sticking to the plan.

1. Ate BETTER
2. Trained WELL
3. Had a TIME FRAME

AFTER: My Android/Gynoid Ratio score on 23 March 2014 =  0.69

SHARE SUCCESS

Following this success and being asked by some of the soon to be participants I structured a USER GUIDE called:

FIGHTWEIGHT

Outdoor fitness program To Increase Muscle Mass & Fitness levels in just 49 Days

This book was the definitive guide to getting participants to their fighting weight (healthy weight without losing large quantities of fat or muscle) by exercising outdoors and following simple meal plans.

CHAPTER BREAKDOWN

Each of the seven weekly chapters in this book followed the same pattern. Its starts with a one page-meal plan detailing what to eat over seven days. Then came the training sessions to complete in order, including detailed form images to ensure each exercise is performed correctly with references to reps/sets/tempo and rest.

This program required completion of five (5) workouts each week; three bodyweight training sessions and a separate short high intensity interval training session (HIIT) and a retest each week to monitor progress. The re-testing log at the back of the book was where results could be logged and assisted in motivation.

WORKOUTS

Each of the three bodyweight workouts each week concentrated on a different part of the body: the first was upper-body session, the second worked lower body and the third was whole body workout. At the end of each workout, I provided an option to do a kicker. A kicker was an extra DRILL in case the guys wanted an extra bit of training just to squeeze out some more energy.

INVITATION

A personal invitation was sent to my list of contacts who I thought would benefit.

STEP 1) INITIAL COMMITMENT

INDUCTION

This is one of the most important parts to any successful program. You must tell the universe and most importantly YOURSELF, that you are committed to the time period. Research has proven that routine is formed after 21 days of continuously revisiting the same stimulus. My program was based on setting a routine for the volunteers to achieve the same outcomes as studies have proven. I set the program up as 21 days on, with 7 off and 21 on again.
Volunteer participants signed up to eight weeks commitment by providing benchmark self testing and induction information to gauge their starting points including; 

1. Pre-exercise screening to determine previous and current medical history
2. Prioritize to understand what individual goal was most important
3. Style of training they liked e.g. running outdoors instead of treadmill
4. Training status - if any. e.g. Currently active vs. Sedentary
5. Motivation to commit to program e.g. Fit into a smaller suite or improve respect among peers.
6. Physical Activity Stages of Change - Questionnaire* to determine if they are ready for the challenge or not. * B. H. Marcus and L. H. Forsyth, 2003, Motivating People to Be Physically Active,  (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics), page 21.
7. Personal Health Behaviour Contract for goal setting
8. Diarize training and meal 
9. Photographic evidence to prove body image
10. Video agreeing to the challenge and goals

PERSONAL MISSION VIDEOS

Here is one of the first videos taken of a volunteer FIGHTWEIGHT member.
Future blogs will show individuals answering the questions as to why they wanted to do the program and give an in depth insight into their motivation.

CANDIDATE #1 - ED MOORE (AGED 39 yrs)