Starting Monday Podcast
Starting Monday Podcast
Cardio Conversations, Whats In, Whats Out and Building Gym Confidence
This episode centers around the importance of balancing strength and cardio training, examining personal fitness journeys and the realities of gym routines. Barry and Matthew share insights on overcoming gym intimidation, current trends in fitness, and the benefits of community in helping individuals adhere to their health goals.
• Discussing contrasting morning routines and their impact on daily productivity
• Sharing insights from tracking workout habits and accountability
• Detailed look into the benefits of incorporating cardio for overall health
• Current fitness trends: embracing hybrid training techniques
• Strategies for beginners to overcome gym intimidation
• Building community motivation through group workouts
• The importance of flexibility and mobility training in fitness routines
Hi guys and welcome back to the Starting Monday podcast. I'm Matthew Purcell and sadly, today I am with Barry Stephen hey guys. Yeah, welcome back to another episode, second time recording this month, so we're smashing it right now. We're smashing it. How are you Barry? How are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm good, thanks, matthew, and I am pleased that we haven't taken six months to get back in touch with each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was impressive, Although he did bail me already. We were going to do it last week and he was like oh, Matthew, I can't see you again. I was upset about that. It's fine.
Speaker 2:We did get a few people listening in, which was good. Yeah, it was nice, the numbers wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1:People spoke was good. Yeah, it was nice the numbers wasn't too bad.
Speaker 2:People spoke to me about it like they actually listened. It was good. Yeah, I got some positive and negative feedback from less football chat, less football.
Speaker 1:Let's not talk about football, um so how's your day? We've had polar opposite days there, haven't we, barry? How's? Your day been. You got up at six in the morning up at 6 am, started work at seven.
Speaker 2:Opened the gym at seven. Yeah, done a couple of boot camp classes. Yeah, coach not taking part, that is, em had a PT session and then I've been rushing about picking up kids, taking them places. Had a bit of food, em, and that's about it.
Speaker 1:Came here to see you yeah, nice, I got up at half nine, had breakfast, er chilled out. You know what? I played chess. This morning, I'm really into my chess. And um, then I watched a game of sports, which I will not name, of 11 versus 11, and I've come here to spend time with you. Actually, I had lunch as well. I had my lunch right.
Speaker 2:Talk to us about what you've had for breakfast and lunch.
Speaker 1:Breakfast. It's nothing exciting. I have two scoops of protein and a cereal bar. Usually I'm not a breakfast guy. Cool, you seem like you like a breakfast. You cook an egg or something, don't you?
Speaker 2:I do have breakfast yeah, yeah, sack that, so you wake up in the morning. You don't necessarily feel hungry, or how's it? I don't feel hungry in the morning at all. Has that been like for as long as you can remember?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, yeah, my brothers are the same, brothers are the same, whole family's the same, do you not get?
Speaker 2:breakfast people. Do you not get to like lunchtime? When did you first eat then? Well, no, I have.
Speaker 1:I have my protein shake so you do have breakfast then yeah, I have something quick and easy, but you probably sit there cooking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but having a protein shake for me is still better than nothing. Yeah, no, it's a good start today, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It's a good start, but I'm not a massive breakfast guy. Then I had lunch, went to Sainsbury's my standard Every Sainsbury's. People who know me if you work with me, they definitely know this. Every Saturday I go to the Sainsbury's and I get a pan of chocolate every Saturday and I had that as well. It was really nice, nice, yeah nice.
Speaker 2:My breakfast is usually pretty standard, similar. It's either poached eggs on toast porridge or a protein smoothie.
Speaker 1:One of the three yeah, I just don't have time to cook eggs in the morning what time are you getting up at?
Speaker 2:when do you start work?
Speaker 1:no, no time to cook eggs in the morning. What time are you getting up at? No, no, no. What time are?
Speaker 2:you getting up at to cook eggs. So this morning, saturday, when I start early, I don't have eggs, I don't have any breakfast actually.
Speaker 1:So when will you have poached eggs?
Speaker 2:Most mornings through the week I don't start work till nine o'clock.
Speaker 1:Ah, yeah, yeah, Then you're up for kids, etc.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, and then you're up for kids, et cetera, aren't you? So you've got a bit of time, so there's a bit of time to do a bit of cooking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm single, so I can just sleep in instead. It's much better.
Speaker 2:But on a Saturday I won't eat breakfast.
Speaker 1:I won't eat anything up until lunchtime, but I don't mind that I think it's a nice wee break from the world, although he is knacker today, aren't you Barry? He's saying that. He's like yeah, I haven't really eaten much on Saturday.
Speaker 2:This is nice and he's coming in today being like I'm not knacker.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm tired. Well, how's your week been?
Speaker 2:You been busy as a whole Been busy, been doing a fair bit of coaching. Quite a few new people have joined the gym, which has been good. It's been interesting working with different people from different backgrounds. It's always nice working with new people because you know there might be beginners, there might be people that have just never trained the way you know you train, and there's a lot of coaching involved and a lot of teaching, which has been good nice and then your training.
Speaker 1:You managed all your sessions this week, or do you know what, matthew?
Speaker 2:I've had a good month of training, so what I've been doing as well, and this might be quite helpful for some of the listeners. You might find it helpful, I don't know, but I've just been writing down in a little diary and just basically keeping tabs of every day, what exercise I've done that day through January, just so I can look back on the month and have a little bit of accountability to accountability to myself, um, and just see that. You know, was I consistent? Did I stick to what I said I was going to do? Was I one of these people that said I was going to train four times per week in January and didn't do it?
Speaker 1:Do you know?
Speaker 2:what I mean, so there.
Speaker 1:So there's 31 days in january, I trained 21 days out of 31. It's fair, that's good, because you need those recovery days. Yeah, um, that's what we'd be a weekend off for two days a week, 10 recovery days in there.
Speaker 2:So usually one of the weekend days, usually a saturday, I don't train um just just too busy. And sunday, sunday, I'll, I'll try and I'll try and train If possible. So out of those 21 sessions, matthew, how many were? Upper body Probably?
Speaker 1:You do a lot of like Boot camps and all that these days.
Speaker 2:Well, this month I did upper, lower and then a cardio session, so, like you, should have a nice.
Speaker 1:Three way split. You did 21 sessions so 7, what you did 21 sessions. I did 21 sessions, so 7, 4, 8, 21. So there should be seven. What was that you said there? 7, 4, 8, 21. Okay, divided by three, you should have seven sessions for upper body and seven sessions for lower and seven sessions for cardio. But I'm guessing you probably have 14 sessions for upper, like six for cardio and one for lower. How many did you do?
Speaker 1:ten for upper, okay, six for lower yeah and five for cardio that's not terrible, it's not bad. That's not bad, I think. I think that means you're guilty of occasionally being like I'm not doing that today. Well, oh sorry.
Speaker 2:I missed that. Six lower bodies in January works out as lower body every fifth day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's probably not as frequent as you.
Speaker 2:I do lower body every second day or something like that yeah that's why your legs are twice as big as mine yep, I'll take that compliment.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to take it. I'm just not going to argue with it at all, but I'm just being honest.
Speaker 2:That's what I've done, that's still good though that's, still good, that's still good.
Speaker 1:And you again? We'll probably get into this later, but you're more of like a hybrid sort of athlete these days, aren't you? So no, I'm not you are.
Speaker 2:I'm an old guy who likes to train mostly with weights and do a little bit of cardio, and maybe have done one or two little extreme things along the way extreme things, extreme things.
Speaker 1:So it leads on, leads on to our next point. We're going to chat about the benefits of cardio, like in your routine, which is interesting because I don't. I don't give cardio to a lot of my clients because a lot of my clients don't really need it for their goals. Um, whilst I think you probably put it in for quite a lot of my clients because a lot of my clients don't really need it for their goals, um, whilst I think you probably put it in for quite a lot of your clients.
Speaker 2:Well, most of the people I train are general population, yeah, middle-aged, looking for better, better lifestyle, better overall health. Yes, they want to lose weight, they want to get lean, they want to look their best generally, they want to, um, be stronger, build a bit of muscle and you know, get, get, get the all-around benefits of yeah fitness for life.
Speaker 2:Um, so yeah, I do incorporate cardio because I think obviously there's a lot of benefits to including cardiovascular training in your routine, and I also, if you are training, say, four or five times a week, it kind of gives you a little bit of a break away from yes, a little bit of a rest day, basically, isn't it like?
Speaker 1:yeah, and unless you're doing like super high intensity stuff. But I'm guessing you're more like well, as I've got older level.
Speaker 2:I find that training, you know, super, super hard, with like weights three or four times in a row, or three or four times a week, um, it becomes, it becomes more difficult. I feel like, yeah, you need those recovery days, but you can also have days where you're still training but maybe you're not putting the same sort of stress on your body, you're not getting under the bar and lifting squat and heavy weights, or maybe you know you're giving your elbows a rest or your shoulders a rest from the upper body work and a little bit of cardio, even if it's just continuous work on the bike or the, the, the treadmill or or whatever it is. You know. I mean just, yeah, it's good, sounds a bit boring, um can be, but you can spice it up a little bit.
Speaker 1:I tend to do a little bit here and there. I probably don't do as much as I should myself. But again, if clients are coming to me and they're like, oh, I'm gonna chuck in a cardio day, like low intensity stuff about, yeah, that's great because it can only be a benefit, I think I don't think it could really be a negative. If your goals do you have like cardio goals, it's different because you might have higher intensity days of cardio etc. But if you're doing lower intensity stuff just to get a bit fitter, get a bit healthier, I think it's great well, I think, first and foremost, you need to work with what people enjoy.
Speaker 2:So, like you know, if you're my client, matthew, you know we'll we'll try and find out what do you enjoy doing the most and we'll we'll build a program around.
Speaker 1:I enjoy leaving the gym. You build, build a program, no, but I get what you mean. Yeah, you gotta find things that work. But then if you're doing a, if you're in like an hour session as well with someone and you're putting a bit of cardio at the end, I'm guessing you're probably similar if I was going to do that for a client. It's usually a bit like 50 minutes, like maybe like a little circuit or something like that. Yeah, rather than like if someone's going to just come in for a day and like a session, sorry, and do cardio, I'd probably go to something low intensity for like steady state for a long period of time but if it's only 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:Of course, you're probably looking a bit more like a circuit or something. That's a bit funner, isn't it?
Speaker 2:yeah, there's. There's a lot of sessions we do where we'll leave maybe 10 minutes at the end to to do a little bit of cardiovascular training at a higher intensity, because it's a short period of time, so maybe might be pushing them a little bit over shorter distances or shorter periods on machines like the skier or the rowing machine. Yeah, I will say I bet your clients love that skier A lot of my clients want to leave the gym at 25 past the hour because they know the last five minutes is what's coming.
Speaker 1:But I love the skier A little bit spicy, I love the skier.
Speaker 2:Skier is my favourite. You're always posting videos of yourself on that skier. A little bit spicy, I love the skier. Skier is my favourite. You're always posting videos of yourself.
Speaker 1:I just enjoy it, like it's standing cardio and like rowers.
Speaker 2:Just don't agree with me at all get me on a rowing machine my lower back no, my lower back goes in like.
Speaker 1:I mean like a minute or two. I'm like oh my god, my lower back. I'm just not built for it at all knows me. I've got a bad back and bad hips anyway. So, uh the skier. I'm standing up the whole time so I can do it easy.
Speaker 2:Do 10k on there easy can be quite fatiguing the way on the like things and glutes after a while.
Speaker 1:No, I find it with it. People will say, oh, it's really hard and all that. But like the first, like 500 meters, I kind of start and stop the first a k. Like my triceps are sore. When you get about 1500 2k, you feel fine. You tend to like switch other things on. Maybe your techniques improves a little bit, like after 2k, you're just flying me and you should do a challenge.
Speaker 1:We should do a race on the skier don't know why it's got to be a race. We could just do something wholesome, like we both got to do 10k we've got.
Speaker 2:I'm not doing 10k skier for Jesus, come on my name's not Jesus. Maximum a K no a K, there's no need to swear says you a K yeah is that too long? No, I can do a K right, you do a kilometre, I'll do a kilometre. Yeah, see who's got the best time.
Speaker 1:I'll beat you because you don't clean the inside of your skier okay, I'll make that as a double challenge. I actually did that this week at the gym. I was cleaning the inside of all our rowing machines and all that was great fun, really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:So why don't you put cardio in your clients' routines, Matthew?
Speaker 1:Just their goals, just goals. Like again, a lot of their sessions are quite long anyway, you're talking like over an hour, so usually they're on quite strict programming but, like usually a lot of them are on like four, four day a week, sort of split, so there's a day in there. If they really want to, they could.
Speaker 2:I mean if you're promoting to your clients to get a lot of steps in and to get outside, get fresh air.
Speaker 1:I think steps and all that is also a great point, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Then that's your cardio. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean yeah.
Speaker 2:Because a lot of people aren't moving enough. Their step counts are quite low and I've got to admit I know my average step count for January as well. Good bad, it's not so good.
Speaker 1:Mine's not great these days. It's not so good Compared to what it used to be it's it's about.
Speaker 2:I think it's about 8,000.
Speaker 1:So it's not terrible, though.
Speaker 2:But I think, I think For us being personal trainers Harping on about what Our clients should do, we really should be getting over 10,000.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I think a lot of people Get dragged into like Just doing their sessions and coming to the gym and smashing those, and they forget about having like I'm guilty of as well and probably you're as well of like having some overall active lifestyle absolutely and getting outside and just enjoying life like why is, if you just go to the gym for an hour and 20 minutes and lift some weights, doesn't mean you can sit down the rest of the day and do nothing?
Speaker 1:no like no and I'm guilty of it, like this, today's not great.
Speaker 2:My steps today probably like 300 right now, especially if your goal is to drop a dress size, lose weight, you know, lose inches. You don't want to be, you know, absolutely smashing yourself in the gym to then sit down and do nothing. So, like you know, because you can't move, because your legs are too sore from the exercise you've done, that's counterproductive to the goals you're trying to achieve. So, generally, you want to be looking at your whole week as a whole. Great that you've got your standard gym sessions in your week, but what are you doing with that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's also a big point, for if you're listening and you do a lot of heavy stuff all the time, the fatigue from heavy stuff can be quite, quite big.
Speaker 2:so make sure you do get out and go stay active, get walking well, that was my point earlier, matthew because sometimes, after like a heavy day or a leg day, I do feel that fatigue, that mental fatigue, um, as well as physical, and it's sometimes nice just to to do something that's different to lifting weights. I kind of got to the point where you know I love exercise and I'm happy to do any form of exercise just to get the benefits of exercising, you know, feeling better about yourself, feeling mentally more switched on for the rest of the day, more productive, productive better sleep, all those, all those little things that we sort of miss out on and don't and don't don't talk about yeah, 100%, completely agree.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, put some cardio in your routine, why not? If you've got the time? Anyway, if you've got the time, it can only benefit you don't neglect it and then we've got to do what a kilometre each.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, we'll do it this week.
Speaker 1:I'll do it. I can do it tomorrow.
Speaker 2:There's no need to get on it right away.
Speaker 1:I'm training tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow.
Speaker 2:We'll set a deadline.
Speaker 1:It's not, it's got to be done before the next podcast.
Speaker 2:Okay, 1k as fast as you can. It's got to be videoed as fast as you can, or else you'll be lying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as fast as you can. You're not watching the I will. You just have to trust each other, barry, trust is a hell of a thing. Okay, you want me to actually film it, because if I film it and you don't watch the whole thing, I'll be disappointed. No, your battery won't last that long, fair, so you want to chat about? This is Barry's little topic of things that are in and out of the fitness industry.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to know what you think is in and out, and know what you think is in and out. And you know, do we agree with it? Or because what might be in for me might be out for you, or we could just discuss what is in right now that we can both agree on.
Speaker 1:What's that? You know what? You just say it muscles no I think muscles are kind of getting out. I think so yeah, I feel like I was just hybrid training. This is what we've mentioned off the podcast, uh, which is definitely in these days. And what is hybrid training? It's just anything where, where you do a bunch of stuff and you get, you're okay at all. That's what hybrid, isn't it like? Hybrid's such a large? What hybrid's? A blend of stuff yeah so you could be. I'm a hybrid athlete because I run and swim.
Speaker 2:That's come off the back of the that's probably come off the back of high rocks and things like that. People are people, are people like me that don't normally do cardio or doing a bit more cardio, and yeah, you're just taking a piss.
Speaker 1:You know what? I got absolutely fed up.
Speaker 2:People call me a crossfitter, so now I'm called a hybrid athlete and don't call me a crossfitter because I'm hybrid now but I think it's fair to say what we could say that's a little bit more in is the general population are combining strength and cardiovascular training Brings us back to our last topic within their own sessions, and they're doing that style of training more yeah nowadays than maybe they were previously, massively so. So does that mean that strength training is out then?
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say so, because I think powerlifting is kind of getting a bit bigger, don't you think?
Speaker 2:it's because that's well, it depends. It depends what gym you're in, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean, your gym is probably getting through the roof yeah, I see a lot of powerlifters, a lot um compared to prior, when god, I barely saw any, if like, if at all um.
Speaker 2:Strength training will never be out, matthew it'll just no, no, no no because more and more we're getting.
Speaker 1:But I feel like I feel like powerlifting is more in than it ever has been. I think when you did it there was a couple people sort of interested in it, especially in Aberdeen the area there was a couple people, but now I think obviously northerns are here. Now it's just got bigger and bigger. A lot of people are competing, even if they're maybe new to powerlifting, they're competing and they're getting hooked on it. So I I know what you mean like we have a lot in our gym but like I see, like other gyms in the area and even though, yeah, they are strength-based, but like loads of powerlifters now rather than just a couple, um, so I think that's more in than it's probably ever been. I won't say it's massively and compared to hybrid training, but it's all there.
Speaker 2:I think it's good if people are getting into powerlifting, into CrossFit and high rocks and all these different things, because you're obviously joining a community as well. You're not just joining a sport and training in a particular way. You're actually meeting like-minded people. You're probably improving your lifestyle.
Speaker 2:It keeps you motivated right and you're meeting people that you can. You can call friends at the end of the day, do you know what I mean? So, like it's, it's, if you're sitting at home and you're not doing any form of training, you're missing out on a lot of things that could be helping you improve your life.
Speaker 1:You know I mean it's improvement as a whole, though as well, isn't it like? Because you're like a crossfitter, you do a certain workout and you get a time, and then next time you maybe beat that yeah, some people get addicted to running their 10k times, improve their marathon times, improve powerlifting. You get stronger, so you get a sense of achievement. You know accomplishment from doing these things, which is great, so massive. Uh, what, what do you? Think's out, what's out it's a hard one.
Speaker 2:I think what might be out is that more and more people realise you don't need to absolutely smash yourself to bits in the gym so like super intense, like hit sessions, for example, you think hit is out, I think it's. I think it's out, I think it's on it's way. I think it's been, I think it out, I think it's out, I think it's on its way.
Speaker 1:I think it's on its fingertips and it has been for quite a while. It's still sort of there.
Speaker 2:I think most people that probably go to what we would call a hit class are not conditioned for it.
Speaker 1:I think traditional hit classes are out.
Speaker 2:They're kind of like slowly injuring themselves and making themselves less healthy.
Speaker 1:Yeah From it, it is very fatiguing as well. People don't realise like these high intensity cardio sessions. I think HIIT should be done.
Speaker 2:They fatigue you a lot. Hiit should be high intensity, which means it shouldn't. It can't really be done for that long a time. So if you've got a class that says they're high intensity and you're doing it for an hour, it's not, it's really not high intensity is it? You're not.
Speaker 1:You're working at a low intensity doing exercises but would you not think like traditional HIIT classes, say body weight routines and all that, they're gone.
Speaker 2:I think body weight training method will always be there, because press ups, pull ups, squats.
Speaker 1:I'm talking burpees into mountain climbers, into squat jumps. I would say that style of hit is gone, is out, but what's in is new styles of hit. When you have, like you know, like Barry's, boot Camp, those sort of classes where you have equipment at super high intensity but they're using movements that are less intense on the joints, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So, like you're using, like the skier, for example, which is different to jumping up and down continuously for the whole time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but still hit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, still hit, but it's less plyometrics Doing those plyometric exercises with general population trend of hits in. It's not really something that we should have. We should have got involved in and fitness.
Speaker 1:We shouldn't have got involved yeah, I feel like the fitness industry.
Speaker 2:Let no cell down there. Because, like, plyometric training is amazing, but it's for athletes, isn't it? It's for, oh yeah, yeah, developing your speed and your power, not for burning body fat and getting yourself.
Speaker 1:Hey Joe, nice to meet you. Mate, you want to lose three stone? Go jump up on there.
Speaker 2:Oh, oh, there goes your knee which is why strength training will always be, will always be in, because it's it's way less yeah damaging to the body. You're learning something. You're building muscle. You're you're building fitness through strength training as well. Yeah, when you say, do you put cardio routines and sometimes the, the weight sessions feel like cardio, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1:I would say you know, like um a bro split okay do you think they're out? Yeah, I still hear about people doing them, though weird for context, a bro split's like chest Monday back and biceps Tuesday shoulders, thursday legs. I don't think it's.
Speaker 2:Friday, or shoulders and arms. So probably 10 years ago I would have clients that I would have on those type of splits, as well as the sort of stuff that we do now, like upper and lower full bodies, that sort of thing. Yeah, I don't have anyone now that I train, but I train an older population now to when I was younger and also my knowledge is stronger and better. But I don't have anyone that's on a on a bro split anymore.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I would never put for me, for me. So yeah, in terms of pts, it's that, wasn't it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, big time you, I do, people, people do come to me like oh, I'm just my split, I'm like all right, just doing chest on one day, but also it it's not necessarily the most productive thing to do anyway, um it's really inefficient because when you know we talked about in our last, our last episode about frequency, yeah, and if the frequency of you doing a certain exercise or training a certain muscle group is low it's once a week then you're not allowing yourself that opportunity to grow.
Speaker 1:if you want to get good at anything, you wouldn't do it once a. If you want to get good at anything, you wouldn't do it once a week If you want to get good at running, swimming. So why would you train a muscle group once per week? Or train and exercise once per week?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the reason, matthew, I don't think I'm doing full bodies and I prefer to do upper and lower, which is kind of similar feel to doing a bro split, because you're still working. Yeah, I do upper lower yeah, yeah, you're still working your legs on your legs or only your legs in that session yeah and then another session. You're working upper body, but you're, you're using, you know, all muscle groups.
Speaker 2:You're pushing your press and you're pulling you're doing your arms, it's because I like the focus of just tuning into that part of my body. So maybe that's something I picked up from training, like I did in the past, and I've sort of continued that feeling, but in a slightly better way for gaining results.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but then you're technically doing like three days on, one day off, or something like that, aren't you? Well, it depends. You're an upper low in a cardio session, it's frequency, isn't it? So if you're an upper lower in a cardio session, it's frequency, isn't it? So if you want to be training four, five days a week, you can't be doing full bodies, you'll be dead yeah so that's why I do it I actually I do, I do four.
Speaker 1:I do four sessions like upper, lower, upper, lower, upper, lower, and I do a full body session and I do actually really like the full body session, although it takes forever. It's the one drawback.
Speaker 2:God, it takes forever, but great, great workout program less exercises, matthew the full body's like a lower intensity but higher volume day. So yeah, there's a lot of exercises generally, I try and not have a session last much longer than an hour. Yeah, because convenience, you know what I mean. You've got the rest of. You've got the rest of the day to consider. You've got the rest of the day to consider.
Speaker 1:You've got other things to do. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yesterday, my workout was two hours long it was, busy though it was busy.
Speaker 1:It's fine for you when you live in the gym, but for our clients they need something that they can do in an hour yeah yeah, well, because the curse they have is you've also got to get to the gym. Your travel time get changed, you know. So they have that drawback. Well, we don't.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't. It's quick for me Something that is out or could be out. Yeah, quick fix diets, or are they not out?
Speaker 1:I don't think they've ever been out or in. They were in, probably what 10, 15 years ago, but then they were out. They've been out for a while, but they're still there. I still have people come in and go, like I've just done I don't know the grapefruit diet or something I don't know. I'm just making that up, but people come in and tell you something You're like what he did, what he did, you did what. When did you read that? It all worked though?
Speaker 2:yeah, because you ate nothing for five months or something like that the reason I say it's out is Matthew is because maybe, like five years ago, if you were trying to preach sustainability to clients, it was landing on deaf ears a little bit. If you were saying you know, track your calories, get more into that, you know, have an understanding of your calorie deficit and macros, that sort of thing, you know, make sure you're eating a better quality of food fruits, vegetables, that sort of stuff Some people would be on board with it.
Speaker 2:A lot of people would be wanting that diet that just got them, got, them got the weight off ASAP, whereas nowadays, I think people are are I don't know if it's a society thing or you know you're reading better, better quality information or seeing better quality information. More and more people are dieting in a more sustainable way yeah, yeah, probably.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think people have a better education now. I think information is so much more well easily accessible for a lot of people so they kind of get past that sort of stuff. But on this topic, because it came to my mind, but like meal replacement, and then you think it's out because, like what happened to herbalife, like everyone's like, oh, herbalife's terrible, it's terrible and it's like h hush, hush now, but now we've just got Huel instead. You know what I mean. They do meal replacement and the shakes are stocked. Everywhere you go to Sainsbury's or Tesco, they've got Huel in there. You're like you thought they were out but, they Herbalife.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but rebranded. It's white and it's got black writing on it and you go Ooh, that looks cool, probably. Actually, on this topic, this is a massive overshare. I had one recently. It wasn't Huel, I got it from Morrison's and I think it's a MyProtein one and I will never have that, ever again in my life. You don't want to discuss why my stomach was wrecked and yeah, you know where I had to go and I was there for a hot minute.
Speaker 2:It was terrible.
Speaker 1:So if you go to Morrison's, don't get the drinks in there, they'll kill you. They'll kill you.
Speaker 2:Personally for me, matthew, I try as best as I possibly can. I'm trying especially as I'm getting a little bit older focus on getting good quality ingredients get good quality. Yeah, then blending them up and drinking them from a keel, but every now and then we need a little bit of convenience. Do you know what?
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, that's why I had it as well.
Speaker 2:So I'm as guilty as you are, and also I'm sometimes conscious that I'm not eating enough protein at certain meal times.
Speaker 1:I eat the breakfast, um where you're rushed, and something like that can be quite helpful, I think the one I had, though I checked and I was like, oh, like it looks good and all that, and I was eating as well as having other stuff with it, and I was like I'll just have it, I'll try it. Um, I got to the checkout. I looked at the back and I was like 500 calories and what 20 grams of fat. I was like what have you put in here? Like, what have you scooped in large just for a bit of banter at the end, just like let's get some fat in there, what? And it tasted horrible as well. It tasted horrendous.
Speaker 2:I remember Matthew, when I was a gym instructor and I you know, limited knowledge on most things, but definitely nutrition, and I would have protein shakes before my lunch, protein shakes before my dinner, protein shakes after work.
Speaker 1:How did you eat your dinner Exactly? I'd eat your dinner and go. This is so much food.
Speaker 2:And I didn't know why I was gaining weight, did you not?
Speaker 1:Were you, wham, though, building all that muscle mass? You drink them before dinner, yeah, but to be fair, that time, especially around like protein shakes, like I was guilty of the anabolic window I think everyone was back then like you have to drink your protein shake after a workout, otherwise you won't gain muscle and you find out actually some absolute nonsense.
Speaker 2:So I thought the information back then was was a lot poorer yeah, so we'll let you off you should be more concerned about the amount of protein you eat in the day as opposed to getting a certain amount of protein after your training session. It's no benefit it's like a two-hour window I remember reading about it ages ago and it makes no odds if you're not actually eating enough protein and in the rest of the day yeah, are we right?
Speaker 1:well, it's minutiae. So spacing out your protein timing can lead to more muscle mass, but like it's so minimal that really it's not worth worrying about.
Speaker 2:Just hit your numbers and you're pretty good yeah just hit them what about solo workouts people training on their own? Do you think that's on the rise or do you think people are doing that less and less nowadays?
Speaker 1:I'm sniffing. Well, you're asking a guy who works out on his own all the time yeah, but you're the last person. I worked out with. That's mad, but what?
Speaker 2:do you get a lot of people in your gym training solo, or yeah, do you still a lot of people come in and train?
Speaker 1:I think I think group sessions, I think pty's group sessions, group workouts, are on the rise, which is great. I think they're fantastic. Um, I think you'll agree, like, people bounce off each other really well in groups and they, when you're one-on-one, it's quite intense, you know. I mean, sometimes you can hold a conversation, so can I, but it's a it's more intense. You're trying to fill in the gaps, whilst if there's a group, everyone's just bouncing off each other and you get a really good vibe and it's it's much more interesting. I think, um, I think that's on the rise, um, definitely, but in terms of people coming into the gym and working out, I think solo working out is still the primary one for sure.
Speaker 2:I think it's good if people are training on their own, because and I'm not you might think it's funny me saying this, because- I want you to do groups and pt and things like that. But it's also good if you've got the the motivation and discipline to actually do some sessions on your own and actually learn on your own and understand your body. And you know there's an argument for that for sure.
Speaker 1:But there's an argument for working out with someone who's more motivating right.
Speaker 2:But there's nothing for me beats training with someone else. I think it pushes you on, it's more fun, you get through. Personally I would get through things quicker. I know some people won't because they'll chat away too much, but for me it's more motivating. Personally too much, but, um, for me it's more motivating and personally for training myself that versus training my own. Um, I mean, even when I train with you, at least then you've got a spotter and you're keeping it safer yeah you're maybe going on a slightly heavier weight than you normally.
Speaker 1:Why don't you try that and you go okay?
Speaker 2:well, I'll get a shot, bouncing ideas off each other. That sort of thing, um, group training, I think, is something that more and more people should do. One it's, if you're, if you're wanting to invest in a coaching service, it's cheaper, probably roughly half the price of a one-to-one session. And if it's a small group um, we do groups of maximum four to five you're still getting a very personal service. You You're getting personalized movements or personalized programming within the session for each person. But it's much more motivating and rewarding having you know people there. For example, I've got people that I've become like best friends for life. You know what I mean Through starting up group training, that.
Speaker 1:I've met like best friends for life.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean Through starting up group training and that I've met other people and you know sometimes you see, oh they're, they're out on a weekend away or a night out or something and you're like these guys would never have met if it wasn't for me.
Speaker 1:I love. Well, I love that Like we had a lot with, like my bootcamps et cetera out for nights out together and all that.
Speaker 2:So it's nice to see. So what?
Speaker 1:you're just making people more unhealthy by getting them go out in the piss. Yeah, they've got, they've got. They've got to deal with spending time with me somehow.
Speaker 2:So alcohol is usually a good, some people some people are much, much more preferred to train on their own, though, and that's just maybe a personality type. I get that no, I know.
Speaker 1:I would argue that at least a session with someone else is always a good thing. I think it pushes you yeah 100. So I think I get your point. I think people working out by their self, by themselves, is like a great thing. Um, they work hard, they're self-disciplined, but then they're all everyone's got that little bit of a devil in the middle like, oh, I'm just kind of scared to do that or push that weight. So I think having a someone with you can really help.
Speaker 2:What about flexibility training, Matthew? We don't speak about that. You can't touch your toes.
Speaker 1:I can't touch my toes. Is it in or out? Is it in or out? What do you mean by is it in or out? Oh right, Okay, so we're on the topic. We're still on Flexibility.
Speaker 2:Have you ever been to a yoga?
Speaker 1:class that's hard, isn't?
Speaker 2:it, yeah, me and you should go to yoga class. I did yoga over lockdown we should find if there's any yoga instructors listening, drop us a little message nah, I don't can me and Matthew come to a class I've been people trying to drag me along to that Pilates.
Speaker 1:Have you seen it?
Speaker 2:plates Pilates. Have you seen it? Plates Pilates. Yeah, Are you going? Which ones? The one where you?
Speaker 1:The reformer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, we knew you should do that.
Speaker 1:You know what, if you do it, I'll do it. Yeah, I was actually wanting to do that, just to see I've done Pilates once in my life and it was so hard I've done.
Speaker 2:Pilates once in my life, but it was so hard.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good. I was sweating and my hip flexors were on fire. But then you, the thing is, pilates is more popular with the older generation. Like my mum goes Pilates. So you're in a room and you're struggling, you're sweating, it's just tough. They're like, oh, just breathe and relax. And you and you have to look around the room and you see a bunch of 60 year olds making it look easy and you're sitting there going. I'm a dick, but it's really good. I remember yoga I did enjoy, but vinyasas, the flows are really hard, I think. Stretching back to your main point, stretching, I think, is in. Yeah, we do a stretch class actually, and it is picking up. So shout out to jack, she's probably listening. Um, but it took a while to build up. I think it's a hard, a hard sell, but I think it's a really beneficial thing to do, you know I really enjoy stretching um, whether it's just before a session.
Speaker 2:Generally don't do a lot after sessions I never stretch after a session yeah, but whether it's before a session or just when if I've got 30 minutes or an hour just to you know, pass a bit of time getting on the floor and doing doing some stretching really helps, uh, makes mentally, makes me feel better yeah, I always stretch before a session, like my hips and like my shoulders, etc.
Speaker 1:Try and get them moving, um. But I think stretching yes, in or out is a hard one. I think it's in or out, it's a hard one. I think it's probably middle ground as a whole. So what we've found is me and you are doing a 1k test on the skier and we want somebody and we're going to Pilates to get in touch about Pilates or yoga.
Speaker 2:What do you think?
Speaker 1:yeah defo the thing is you're going to be so much better at it than me, not the skier, because, skier, you're getting smashed Pilates. I'm going to go, I'm going to go home, go to my parents and I'm going to get my mum to teach me Do some pilates with her.
Speaker 2:How often do you get a massage? I had my first one. You should be getting a massage Quite frequently.
Speaker 1:I think I've asked you several times to massage me and you always put it off. I got a massage from our new guy, are you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, whoa hey.
Speaker 1:Barry, I'm not insured, that's okay, I won't sue you. We have a new guy starting at the gym and he was just giving out free ones to the staff and I went to him and that was about two months ago and that's when I first massaged for seven years no, I don't get massaged.
Speaker 2:I don't get massaged nearly enough either, but I do it a little bit more frequently. Yeah. I'm bad the thing is, you've got to find someone that you like you know, and you know and you're comfortable with who do a good job. And I.
Speaker 1:I just haven't got to that point. I used to have someone in the past and they were great, but then they moved on so I was like, oh, whatever.
Speaker 2:But get it involved before you get injured. Don't just go to these people once you get injured.
Speaker 1:Do you know?
Speaker 2:what I mean, like use it as part of your strategy to not get injured. Do you know what I mean? So you know, looking after yourself includes things like making sure you're sleeping well, keeping yourself hydrated, obviously focusing on your nutrition. It's not just about your training, but on on the flip side of that, it's, you know, getting some flexibility, working, not neglecting your mobility, not not neglecting your body, going for a massage, resting at the right times all these things that I feel like I'm getting in trouble right now.
Speaker 1:We don't really speak about a lot.
Speaker 2:Matthew.
Speaker 1:Yeah, matthew, they're quite important, but they only really come to Any great sports. Masseuses, masseuse, masseuses.
Speaker 2:Masseuses out there.
Speaker 1:Get in contact and help me out. Thanks, my hips are terrible Home gyms, home gyms.
Speaker 2:He put his hand up when he said that, yeah, but it's an interesting one. I'm obviously against home gyms because we want you to come to our gym, but are they in our? What's the benefits?
Speaker 1:and pluses. No, they're crap, aren't they? Unless you're going to spend a fortune, in which case you're spending a fortune. I have seen someone recently build their own gym and it looked great actually, but they got a lot of stuff second hand and I think a lot of people just buy things new. You're never going to have as much kit as a well like a good gym.
Speaker 2:It's always going to cost you more money, but you don't need much though. You only need a few things to get by. We've spoke about this before you've been enjoying.
Speaker 1:I think enjoying sessions is good as well. So, yeah, like you can just have a barbell on some dumbbells on a bench and you can have a great workout. You can. You can get strong if you want to build muscle, if you want to get fit, if you want to. But sometimes you just want variation, you want to change it up, have a new exercise in your program, like switch it up a little bit, like get some interest.
Speaker 2:I think the home gyms are for the extremely, extremely motivated and disciplined.
Speaker 1:Otherwise they're a waste of time because yeah, but like, if you want to do like a hip hinge, you know? Oh, I don't have a back extension, I'll do RDLs again. You know what I mean? It's a bit boring, isn't it?
Speaker 2:But I'm thinking more that it's more beneficial for you to get away from your home, go somewhere else, different scenery.
Speaker 1:What if they love their home Be?
Speaker 2:around different people. What are you implying? Meet other people I'm not implying anything and spend money at my gym that'd be way better but mentally, I think I, for mentally, for me that's uh, that's a good thing to do, whereas if you're at home, you work from home, you can. You just get yourself bogged down with being at home. You need to get get away from there, get out there. That's true. Yeah, go go somewhere else where you can listen to some crap music that's so valid. Do you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But if you're, a really motivated person you're very disciplined. Are you still in charge of the music there?
Speaker 2:We mix up, do you? It's not just 90s. I'm very much the 90s guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It. Yeah, it's 90s dance, though, isn't it Not always, basically always? I mean, it's 10 years worth of music there's a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I get your point there getting out and all that but I think, in terms of like value for money and all that, there's arguments. I think there's so many arguments against it. Unless you struggle for time, you can't get to the gym. You live in an area that's not very accessible. It makes sense, but you'll always find there's always stuff you want to use that you probably wouldn't have. Or if you wanted to use it, you'd have to spend a fortune. What if I wanted to use a T-bar row? You've got a T-bar row. You'd have to spend 1,500 quid to buy one yourself.
Speaker 2:If you've got a home gym and you're using it, then you know you're you're doing great. But if you've got a home gym and it's not getting touched, then you know you need to get yourself.
Speaker 1:I would use as an example my uh, my mate was, uh, he was a diver and he was super lean, loved working out. He got a home gym like he's got like a rack and stuff like that, and he, he became a powerlifter and got massive, like overweight, big as well, so fast. And then when he got rid of it, went back to normal gym, he got lean again. You know, it's easy to become late. He always said it's easy to become lazy because, like, I'll just do some low rep stuff and then, I'll jump back into living room.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. So it's easy to be lazy, it's hard to get like motivated I think, if're going to the gym you kind of get in that mindset of like, oh, let's go work out, you know it's workout time.
Speaker 2:Well, talking about going to the gym, last thing we want to cover being the end of January, a lot of people will have got into their fitness routines. Hopefully they're going to keep them up and continue through the next few months. Maybe some, maybe some people didn't get started. I don't know, let us know. But what do people do you think struggle with in the gym? Like you know, going into the gym for the first time, beginners or people who have not been for a while what are they feeling and how can we maybe help them get over whatever they're feeling Like, for example, intimidation.
Speaker 2:You know, is that still a thing? I don't know. In our gym, you know, it's very low, we don't have as many people come in. One of my big things is that we we definitely do not want people to feel intimidated. We want to make them feel welcome right from the get-go. So is that still a big thing in a commercial gym? Well, I've.
Speaker 1:We've got a whiteboard up right now and I wrote confidence on it, like gym confidence, and I I believe in this a lot because you say intimidation etc. But then that roots back to confidence and then we've off the podcast we spoke about like if you're like you know what you're doing, you're knowledgeable. But then it also comes back to confidence because the more you do things, the more knowledgeable you become, yeah, and so I really want to kind of talk about it, because just getting in and doing things and just like you know what, if you walk in a gym, you're a bit scared, like we're a commercial gym more than barriers, so we've got treadmills et cetera. So if you go up you can start a treadmill up. That's stage one. Like, fantastic, you smashed it. Fantastic, you smashed it. Like good job, just do that the first session, fine, come back next time. Oh, like pinload machines, like they've got qr codes on them. They've got like the exercise and what they're meant to do, the adjustable bits. They're all brightly colored. Just you know mess about give it a shot. And you're like, oh, look up a video. Okay, so that's how they're doing it. And like, okay, I'll do that. Like you can learn so much just being confident and getting out there. Don't be scared of exercises, don't let it bother you.
Speaker 1:A good example is I've I wouldn't say I've taken up golf because I haven't, I haven't played around yet, I just sold my clubs, have you? Yeah, uh, but I started going to the range and, like I'm in the past I've been so bad and I thought you know what I want to get into it, because a lot of friends do it now, and I was like it's a nice excuse for the guys to go out and you'll have a chat and just play, you know. So I go to the range. I'll be going tomorrow. Uh, I go with my mate scott, who's? He's not a great golfer, but to me he's amazing, compared to me, um, but I feel the same. I go to the range. I'm like, oh, it's me again. You know I'm terrible at this, but then just hit some balls and I'm intimidated. I, I'm not gonna lie, but it's not because the people are intimidating, it's not because the, the, the surroundings are intimidating, it's just because I'm a bit low confidence.
Speaker 2:I'm not very good at it yet, but I think keep going and you'll get better and better. That's a really good example the golf, by the way, because I can relate to that being pretty shy to golf as well. Yeah, whenever I've been into a golf course, for example, it's a level up from the driving range, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's like that's the next step for me.
Speaker 2:And I've already spoken in a previous episode about me throwing a club into the losing a club on the tee.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Not a ball. I lost a club. Interesting episode. I think it's like the fourth or fifth one. Yes, a while back but I can imagine that's what it would feel like for someone that has got a lack of knowledge. Going into a gym is similar to what we feel like going into the golf course, you know, because you feel like, oh, these people, they know what they're doing, the members, they've got all the kit they're good, they're good you know they, when I was there I rocked up and like I shank a lot of balls, like I'm getting better, my swing's getting better.
Speaker 2:I'm more consistent. You do what to balls? Shank them.
Speaker 1:I just heard something that's good okay, good, and like we got moved to this little area and there was like two young lads getting a lesson and you're like it's weird, because I'm like 120 kilograms.
Speaker 1:I'm like intimidated by these two young lads who are like screaming at like 350 yards. I'm like okay. But then I started chatting to them and people are so friendly. I think the gyms like that as well. People are genuinely quite friendly. Just get out there, just try things and just have a little chat. You know you're good, confidence will grow and grow, and grow and grow. But you have to put yourself in situations where you're going to allow it to grow.
Speaker 2:I love that little system that you just came up with there, Matthew. You know, day one jump on the treadmill, figure out how to use the treadmill. It's like the one place where you can be and not worry because you're on your own little section. You can just put the speed down low, you can look about, you can take in all the surroundings. Day two maybe try a fixed machine. Yes, move a bit further he's got lots of information on it.
Speaker 1:Day three maybe do a couple more machines and you slowly build it up before you know it oh, they're doing that, oh, that's how you do that, okay, yeah, and then don't forget, like gyms have staff like and we're happy to help. Um, I think people think like, for example, our staff, we do cleaning and all that as well. We do a bit of everything. So our staff in our gym would much rather teach you how to do a couple exercises than be cleaning. So just go ask people for help. Obviously, if you're coming in at peak times, it's going to be more intimidating, it's going to be busier, but everyone's there to help you.
Speaker 2:I think People think it's very intimidating, but also this you, you know, if you do work in a gym and you're a gym instructor and you're listening to this, you know, make that effort to go and actually speak to people. Um, you know, even even if they look like they don't want to be spoken to, just even a little hello, and how you do and how's your day can really really help make people feel at ease and and feel better about having made the effort to come in and and come.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean you know. So it's important for us as, as instructors to you know, play a role in that as well. I don't think you.
Speaker 1:You realize, as an instructor, like how influential you can be by just, yeah, by saying hello and things, that people, people come to me and they'll say my name, you know. I mean I'm like, oh, I'm matthew and I'm like I'd have actually never introduced myself to you ever. But can you help help me with this? Or where's this bit of it? Where's this attachment and things like that? So if you're out in the gym just saying hi, saying bye, simple things, people will have like a point of contact and come chat to you. And if you don't get that at your gym, just come to ours instead or Barry's, we're much better.
Speaker 2:Well, guys, we're going to wrap that up. I hope you've enjoyed that. It's the second episode of the year, so we've managed to get in two in a month, which isn't bad, really impressive in terms of content going forward.
Speaker 2:If you've got anything that you want us to speak about, all you need to do is get in touch with myself or Matthew. I'm sure you you'll find our socials or our emails somewhere, somewhere, um, but uh, we really appreciate everyone that is taking time to listen to us and listen to us rabbit on. Hopefully you've picked up one or two things. If you have, let us know. We'll see you in the next one, in the next episode.