Training Camp is about to begin.

An integration of power with movement with lean weight training athletically sequenced to the beat of a pounding heart rate.

I love Training Camp for  a variety of reasons.

*Training Camp means the weather has changed.

*Training Camp means the sessions take place both out & inside.

*Training Camp is a brilliant off season opportunity to fix compensations & increase range of motion.

*With the design of the programming training camp provides clients the opportunity to feel like athletes, not military personnel.

*The weekly sessions include dynamic movement– power & core outside, followed by a comprehensive progressive lean weight training program inside.

*Meanwhile, training camp allows clients to try new Spring- Summer Saturday programming including Black Swan ballet, beach running, & boxing.

Oh yes, this is how we love to train.


It’s not often I envy the work of researchers.

However, in this recent particular research project a team of British researchers may well have pulled off the best job in the world in pursuit of the perfect female bum.

To achieve the perfect bum according to Dr.David Holmes a psychology lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University this is what one needs. The perfect female derriere has firmness to the touch and a resilience that prevents undue wobble or bounce, yet looks soft with flawless skin,”

While it may look complicated, getting to the bottom of the formula is easy, Holmes insists.

First, a woman assesses her assets on a scale from 1 to 20 (1 being worst and 20 best) in the following categories:

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Spring/simmer is a great time at the TLA. Why? TLA soccer is soon to start. With TLA soccer we provide players with a complete athletic package. We teach players dynamic movement, develop strength, learn nutrition, & regenerate the players physical state from their previous season endeavors. TLA soccer happens in the best of weather & part of the overall package includes competitive player challenges with games like Footie tennis combined with a great atmosphere and the best environment for players to thrive so they can truly perform for the upcoming season.

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First we noticed Kim in those big round shoes that look like the bottom of a weeble wobble.

Then it was Scarlett running with gloves on her feet.

Both trying to lose lard way too hard.

As they try to lose their stubborn fat the TLA noticed that both body conscious celebrities had something in common.

This something could very well be the key in keeping their lard a continuous issue.

Girls! It ain’t your diet that’s making you fat, it’s your crazy shoes.

A wee recommendation: train like an athlete & keep it real.

A debate had started with a client. The client said, ” I need to lose weight. I have to do more cardio.”

I asked, “To lose weight, why do you have to do more slow, low intensive, longer duration activity that burns at best 600 calories/hour, is easy to plateau on and will comprimise strength?”

He said, “Because it makes me lose the fastest.”

Does it really? Not in my experience.

My job is to get results. Time period to achieve this: usually one to three months. Therefore, using what’s optimum is essential. This usually means progressive overload, recovery, positive nutritional changes & coaching.

On the other end of the spectrum most exercise programs have a different goal. They just want exercisers to exercise. So they entertain, amuse, keep clients busy, utilize programs that are idiotic in their overall design and create the illusion a work out is exhausting the client. This leads to a whole bunch of weird exercise myths which pursue. One is cardio will make you lose fat.

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The TLA is about training like an athlete for a set period of time with a defined purpose. This includes being more disciplined in your life than usual, challenging habits, monitoring progress, adding quality to your workouts and becoming nutritionally savvy. I did some research and checked out how a few of the hollywood stars prepare for roles, plus one celebrity chef. Judging by my research it seems the best way to reach your goal is to train like an athlete.

Anyway, you be the judge.

Jessica Biel

In order to build and maintain her lean, slender and toned body Jessica Biel combines various exercises into any given workout, constantly changing the exercises she does to keep her body guessing and building lean muscle to cope with the change in workload.

Jessica Biel’s favourite resistance exercises include:

  • Squats
  • Plyometric jumps
  • Walking lunges
  • Jumping lunges
  • Medicine ball throws
  • Chest flyes
  • Press ups
  • One leg stiff legged deadlifts

Nutrition

When getting ready for a movie Jessica Biel will eat 6 to 8 small meals a day to kick start her metabolism and provide the right fuel and energy for her workouts. The Jessica Biel diet will include a high level of quality protein – fish, chicken, some red meat – and a good source of complex carbohydrates, with most carbs eaten in the morning and straight after her workout. In the evening Jessica will reduce her carb intake to zero whilst still eating high protein meals (or substituting her protein meals for protein shakes)

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For men, a decade ago the body of the moment was about being super buff, super big. Now, things are changing. The narcissistic pumped up stiff look is falling by the wayside. For starters most women hated it. Secondly, to achieve the narcissistic look involved too many supplements, was too regimented to achieve, and if you actually managed to achieve the super big look you had no friends because let’s be honest, you were just no fun. Nowadays men want to look fit. They want to look athletic. They also want the goal to be achievable, engaging, and simple. Importantly, at the end of the week men want to be able to reach for a pint instead of a tub of cottage cheese, which is definitely more manly. Coincidentally this ideal is a look females appreciate. The body of the moment is lean muscles with legs and upper body in proportion and a stomach that juts. This look is best achieved with a combination of progressive weight training, heart rate intervals, recovery, nutrition, and here’s the wincer: female workouts. At the TLA we call our female workouts dynamic circuits. Female workouts are essentially body weight circuits that sculpt the long muscles and the small muscles of the body in a way that is highly dissimilar to weight training, but has a huge carryover to day to day life situations. These movements include jumping, twisting, and powerful movements coupled with finesse. Done properly your hamstrings scream, the back of your shoulders align while engaging the core and posterior chain. The best bit about these female workouts is the carryover effect to the other manly workouts. Suddenly squatting is done with better form, running feels more natural and faster, when you box you are more aware of the abs,and both the way you both move & lift improves. For the TLA Stephana Arnold is our dynamic circuit instructor. Stephana brings some of her torturous ballet routines which she would use while training as one of the top ballerinas in the country. These routines exquisitely define muscles and make the wee muscles squirm & work harder than you can ever imagine. For the TLA more men than women are now doing the dynamic circuits, including a couple of Vancouver Whitecaps. My advice. Do some woman workouts. They will help a great deal in getting the body of the moment.

The new Train Like an Athlete schedule is up and ready! Please check out our Programs and download schedule for the TLA Women, Men or Soccer.

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