Clients mention compliments they regularly receive. These compliments vary and come often. The soccer athletes usually suggest the speed they feel alongside game health and renewed confidence. TLA men talk about energy and new muscles. TLA woman mention how tall they are walking and the need to buy clothes to fit their new figures. This week I heard two more compliments. A woman client was hanging out with her (youthful looking 24 year old) daughter and asked twice over the course of the week “Are you two sisters.” Meanwhile, a client who has been training with us for a year was approached by a total stranger, “excuse me, I have not seen you walking these trails for ages and I can’t believe how amazing your body looks. What are you doing?”

These compliments are pretty good, right.

If someone looks into a TLA session they will see individuals in constant movement. Clients are either lifting, moving, or stretching. For an onlooker it must either be an absolutely fantastic sight or what on earth a these people doing sight. Regardless of how it looks, let’s examine briefly what this movement and lifting is doing for people’s spirits: because this is definitely worth mentioning. Clients leave a TLA session invigorated. They have worked on muscles they would not normally otherwise “fire” in their day to day lives. This includes tightening their wee bums, turning on their core, overloading muscles for leanness as well as making their hearts beat. As clients do this process their bodies and minds begin to change. Muscles develop. Sometimes it’s the small muscles, sometimes it’s the big ones. As these muscles change-they take on a new shape & look better-.With the right training clients hearts becomes stronger & posture improves. Body fat disintegrates as energy and feeling of well being increases. Sleeps are deeper, clothes start to fit nicer, and both the ability and desire to do new activities goes up: after all, now you can. Blood pressure goes down, bone density goes up, creativity goes up, resting heart rate goes down, and with this renewed vigor your real age goes down. In a nutshell you are turning back the clock. This is why the TLA loves training. The list of things two hours a week can do are radical. Not many investments or lifestyle adjustments can make such claims.

Oh yeah. And did I mention after all these great changes you will also get compliments.

Retox the freak in me.

Retox the freak in me.

Retox the freak in me.

Retox the freak in me.

Fat Boy Slim (Taken from the song Retox)

Sometimes we get emotionally knackered. Sometimes friends or relatives have been visiting and as a result of all the catching up and great conversations we end up eating the most rubbish a human being can eat. We usually combine this with drinking the most a human being can drink. Sometimes we ate loads over the festive season and need to create a ying from the yang. Sometimes our sleep levels have floundered, we’ve been running around in a zombie state and our diets and energy levels have gone way off. Guess what? It’s time for  a retox.

Not a detox. A TLA retox.

The difference between a retox and a detox is huge. A detox uses weird combinations which make no sense, limits calories to ridiculous levels, lasts too long, often relies on a single nutritional source (Can you eat grapefruit for that many days in a row, I mean really) and puts you in a bad mood.

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We have just entered week 5 of 12 weeks into the FAll 2011 TLA Challenge.

Now month 1 (the graduation period) is over we are gradually distancing ourselves from high reps and moving towards higher intensities, lower reps with a greater focus on technique, nutrition and recovery.

With the boxing, three minute rounds have just been introduced.

In month 1 every single person lost body fat and increased strength.

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The TLA Challenge is using twitter and it’s handy philosophy of 140 characters or less. Every day we post articles from around the web pertaining to fitness, health, conditioning, song of the day, New Yorker cartoons and anything else that is so very TLA.

Check us out on Twitter!

Some clever geek hacked the TLA Facebook page. The hacker sent clients dietary recommendations on how to lose body fat in “two weeks or less.” The recommendations were presented in such a way that it came across as being from the TLA. Luckily, clients who know me know I would never recommend supplements.

Rightly or wrongly I don’t even take a Tylenol when I have a headache. Therefore, there is no chance in recommending pills for fat loss.

I am a food guy. Always have been. Only when clients get the food bit right do we start contemplating supplements. However,food is always first. The reason I stand by this philosophy is because it’s worked pretty good so far.

As mentioned in a previous post I was watching a video of a trainer demonstrate the supplement protocol he recommends athletes take during a workout. You would think he was training junkies. At least 40 pills every workout. Each to their own! However, it just ain’t my thing.

Instead, I believe we need to keep it real. This includes balancing protein with carbohydrates, eating the right amount of calories that matches our expenditure, and not being afraid of things like bread, fruit, and the occasional sweet.

I am going to show you what a trainer eats. I will also show what a typical day cycle looks like, so one matches the other.

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The TLA is currently enjoying a renaissance of woman clients.

We believe this is a positive trend.

The shift took place last year as our TLA brand moved toward results integrated athletic program design matched with an atmosphere conducive with exercising.

We find women have one goal: they want to look damn good.

Looking damn good demands that many key components need to be in synch.

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Just finished watching a video of the supplement protocol some elite athletes follow in preparation of a workout.

In the video the athletes swallowed capsules to reduce release of cortisol, tablets to increase neural drive, BCAA & Beta Alanine capsules, electrolyte powder for mineral loss, etc. etc. Approximately forty capsules for one workout.

Last week’s episode of sixty minutes we had Tour de France rider Tyler Hamilton discuss his supplement program which included testosterone eye drops, EPO, & blood doping.

Rather than stimulating I find this information depressing.

Is this what it takes to become elite?

Are regular visits to the local pharmaceutical company with the goal of frequent pill popping a pre-requisite to achieving a high quality result.

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Sometimes I feel sorry for a client.

A few days ago was one of those instances.

It was the end of week 2 and I asked a client how things were going.

Nonchalantly he said to me “keeping fit is like a full time job.”

He was right.

When clients take part in the TLA Challenge we are often dealing with a list of symptoms including excess lard, high blood pressure, low energy levels, poor self motivation combined with far from optimum eating and sleeping habits, low awareness on recovery, nagging injuries and aches, and an “old school mentality” towards what is effective.

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Self motivation & discipline do not come naturally to most people.

In exercise, this is especially true.

We know exercise is good for us. We are fully aware of the plethora of health & esthetic benefits it provides including making us look better, feel better, increasing energy & focus, reducing stress,blah, blah, blah.

Despite these pretty amazing benefits having the motivation to “just do it” more often than not becomes a colossal endeavor.

Not enough time. Too busy. Boring. Too hard. Too much trouble. Not enough knowledge. The excuses are endless.

Perhaps this is why we feel disdain for the individual who seems to exercise with ease.

Individuals who always eat right & are motivated to forever go.

One thing is for sure. I am not that guy.

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Wee story.

Individual sees a physio for an injury.

After the assessment client asks the physio how long it will be before the injury is healed.

The physio says “it depends on whose the boss!”

The physio continues ” If I’m the boss it will take six weeks. If I’m the boss for some of the time and you are the boss for some of the time it will take twelve weeks. If you decide to be the boss for the whole time it may never heal.”

The TLA Challenge is very much like the physio story.

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