Another article from the archives. Enjoy.​

​I have this client.  Let's call her Joanne Bending, a totally random name to protect her anonymity.

Joanne told me she wanted to lose weight and look better.  A lot of people come to me with these two goals and I always ask them which is more important, weighing less or looking better?  Most say looking better.  So it is fat loss they want appose to general weight loss.  It's easy to lose weight, just don't eat enough protein and your muscles will waste away leaving you, what I call "skinny fat".  People who do lots of cardio are at risk of being "skinny fat", they may be slim, but don't have a desirable body shape and are still wobbly around the middle with no definition on their arms due to lack of muscle.  Joanne does not desire this figure, so I don't make her jog.  She eats well and lifts heavy, perfect for promoting fat loss and looking good.

I met Joanne today, she told me how good she was feeling, her training had gone well and she was looking better.  She then asked to get weighed, personally I didn't see the need as she had already stated how she looked and felt better, which was her goal, but I obliged, also measuring her body fat and muscle mass.  The scales showed a gain of 0.3kg, not much but still a gain.  When we looked at body fat and muscle mass, it actually showed that she had actually lost 0.6kg fat and gained 0.9kg of muscle, probably the reason she was looking better.  When you haven't got a lot to lose 1lb of fat off and 2lb of muscle on can make a big difference.

Being the objectionable character she is, she was not pleased.
I was a bit bewildered and explained how she had lost fat and looked better, exactly what she wanted.  Joanne proceeded to tell me how she used to weigh less and wanted to get back to that weight.
"Did you look better at that weight?" I asked
"No, I was flabby" she replied

After banging my head against the wall and using a lot of language that my mother wouldn't have been proud of, I sat her down and tried to explain again.

The moral of this story is that you need to 'keep the goal, the goal'.  Losing weight may be a sign that you're looking better, but it also may not and it can become a distraction that starts to sabotage what you want to achieve.

A few years ago I used to write a blog about various things to do with health and strength and I've just been reading back through a few of them.  Some of them weren't half bad although my opinion on certain things has changed and I have definitely learnt more since then.  I thought I would share a few of few of the ones I enjoyed reading on a Thursday, partly because it will make me feel young and hip being able to hashtag 'TBT'

​3 Clean & Press each side on the first minute
3 Thrusters each side on the minute
Repeat 4-8 times 

​Suspension trainers are a great way to increase the difficulty of some exercises and get some variety in your training, but you should be able to hold a standard plank with correct tension for at least 40 seconds before progressing.

​A great warm up for the shoulders using a broom stick or PVC pipe:
- Figure 8's
- Reverse Pullovers
- External Rotation
- Disclocates

This week I am stealing a great complex from Dan John and butchering it by adding 10 swings.

- 2 Cleans
- 1 Press
- 3 Squat
​- 10 Swings

On the 28th October 2017 Hybrid Strength hosted the Tactical Strength Challenge, which is a worldwide strength competition hosted in 18 countries with over 100 competitors.

James Maude was kind enough to be the official photographer taking some great snaps in between his own lifts, you can enjoy his work and the funny faces below!

(Click to enlarge the picture)