Every client is on a different phase of life. For some, they might be busy and need to optimize. Others, may be content with their lot and the two or three sessions a week they currently engage in already makes them feel how they want to feel. For others, they come out the shower, see their reflection and ask “who is that person?” Or they receive a quiet word from their doctor and the quiet word is GET HEALTHY NOW. Or, just curious. Curious to find out what their body-a magical, complex, fascinating constantly changing, living thing, always within us- can do with the application of effort, over a set period of time. For others, they might want to be the fitter, sharper and more agile and stronger in their sport.
TLA owner Jason Kyle get’s most excited by those who want to change, especially within a timeline. Whether it’s pre season or becoming healthy and fit, Jason will use all of his coaching experience to mentor and help direct the client in a direction that is best. Coaching involves developing relationships. Jason is fortunate enough to have developed coaching/training relationships lasting 10+ years. Clients for this length of time include national level athletes, high value business owners-doctors-professors-therapists-firefighters. This interesting list of clientele goes on. Moving forward for the client, ultimately, is based on successful coaching. As well as relationship building, the final coaching requirement is knowledge, instinct for an individuals needs, and infusing training sessions so they become optimal for the individual. This side of coaching is more of a craft and over time becomes established with over 10,000 hours of consistently training multiple body types over the last 20+ years, head coaching for BC Summer Games in 2016 & 2018 and head coach for the MF men’s team in the premiership. Founder of micro footie and throughout the league duration: leading clinics with over 2,000 volunteer coaches.
When clients go for a better car or higher quality products, they pay extra. TLA and our timeline service is no exception. Health is wealth and wealth is health. Appointments with a trainer, involving knowledge, intuition, time and presence is a high quality coaching service that will create intrinsic and extrinsic results. The extrinsic results are looking better naked – in clothes + seeing muscles that were previously unseeable. The intrinsic rewards are deeper. Here is just a few: clients will feel better inside, creativity and energy goes up—depression goes down, stress also drops,—balance + coordination improve—the heart pumps more blood, muscles get stronger, joints get tougher-and by applying effort, the client becomes a more resilient and robust individual. If a client does all this on their own they will see all these benefits, albeit over a longer period of time (as it will not be optimal and the client may stop as they have no one to adhere to). Alternatively, when you have a trainer there is appointments to attend and the appointments the client is attending to are maximized for results and inner motivation. Lastly, when someone is waiting for you, you have to go. This last line is worth it’s weight in gold, so I will say again. When someone is waiting for you, you have to go. In a nutshell this having to go is what coaching is. Let me give an example. I coach a quality men’s soccer team combined of 20 teenagers and young adult men. If we suggest on the team’s WhatsApp the upcoming training session is being led by one of the players and both coaches will not be attending: guess how many players would show up. A handful at best. If our studio was left open from 630 am to 830 am for clientele to work out by themselves every day. Again, guess how many clients would regularly show. Maybe 1, at best 2. With that kind of demand TLA would need to close down after a few months. Why? Regardless of age, to succeed, we need coaches. This has been proven and established throughout time. All those beautiful results mentioned earlier will rarely happen without a coach.
TLA is a coaching service. A coaching service that is always innovating. Adherence to our program is our gold standard. We show up with the background, ideas and plan, you-the client, signed up to train, change, and grow inwardly and outwardly.
March 2020 and like so many businesses TLA had to shut down.
Scotty kept many clients going with Zoom sessions and Jason took to Instagram.
During this time time was in abundance and $ in short supply.
Then belter…
We were given the green light to reopen mid June.
Again like so many businesses, we had to reopen w/restrictions.
These restrictions included sanitizing every piece of equipment after every session, mandatory masks, and limited # of clientele.
Things were tough, but we adapted as best as we could.
The bad news. Financially, we lost loads. Being closed for so long, limited attendance. Whew! Nightmare.
The good news. Well, there was a big silver lining. We kept 95% of clientele. Scotty found Zoom. Not one of our clientele has so far, fingers crossed, got Covid. and we survived. Flipping things, as trainers we also realized how important exercise + working out was/is to each clients well being. This became a huge mind shift. Sure, having a great body is magic but covid proved building a great body is more magic. For many, not having the opportunity to do this became a key absence in life. After all building a great body provides so many other things than a great body. Just to name a few: stress release, improved cognitive brain function, a feeling of presence + doing something for yourself, anti aging effects, the act of making an effort has been proven in creating a carryover to happiness, increased strength, power & hypertrophy, improved movement, greater overall fitness and a stronger immune system, the satisfaction of a coach trying to find the best version of yourself, confidence….) These factors are something easy to take for granted – yet covid proved- they are factors which hold value.
Covid also gave us back Personal Training (PT). In many respects PT was becoming a relic.
Not any more.
The world has changed.
Many clients see both intrinsic and extrinsic value in working out and being coached.
The value of quality coaching has gone up.
Way up.
Covid proved
wealth is health!
Weight training is here to stay and will never ever go away.
Never.
in fact, the more we stare at our screens and stay seated watching Netflix the more relevant weight training will become.
The only problem is the effort to train becomes more difficult as screens become more addictive and life becomes increasingly cosy.
Yet….
Every single athlete and adult should include weight training into their weekly routine.
I will repeat this again.
Every single athlete and adult should include weight training into their weekly routine.
Why?
Weight training is unique in that, done correctly, it immediately gives back. And the more you give, the more it gives back. This includes: increased muscle, fat loss, higher performance, better cardio, stronger bones, improved posture, constant feedback.
No other activity delivers like weight training which is why everyone should be doing.
I am a trainer and the next question is the important one because ultimately I want results for TLA clientele. How often should I lift for optimum results?
First of all, weight training is no different from any exercise and is a stress on the body.
An athlete who has multiple team training sessions and a game or event at weekends: one single lifting session will be perfect, while two sessions could easily be overboard and lead to fatigue. Meanwhile, an individual who is sleeping great, eating wonderfully and not experiencing much lifestyle stress then- regardless of age- can train multiple times per week. If you have heard someone older should train less than someone younger take with a grain of salt. In our experience how often someone trains is dependent on how experienced the trainee is, training intensity and how well they recover from each individual session. Someone 25 could be recovering inadequately, with poor nutrition choices and lousy sleep while someone 55 could have great recovery methods, and as a result, would be able to train more consistently than the 25 year old. Therefore, how often you lift, the intensity at which you lift, how busy you are in your day to day life, how well you eat and are you recovering properly from the intensity of the training session are relevant factors which must be considered and factors which we at TLA love to work with.
You are at a party and having a chat about so and so’s trainer. In that instance you may wonder “what exactly does a trainer do?”
Here is what trainers do. Or at least, good trainers do.
- We have relationships. I cannot think of any other occupation in the world where a client sees someone 1-3 x per week. Being good at relationships is important if you want this relationship to last. After all who wants to be trained by someone weekly they don’t like.
- We create sessions that provide results faster than you will ever achieve on your own. Just think, if you have been working out 4x per week for 10 years that’s 800 workouts. We hit that number in 3-4 months with all kinds of body types and ages. Not to beat around the bush, but with years of experience under our belt, we kinda know what works. Therefore, the relationship makes you want to train, the exercises get results.
- We are waiting for you. Yep you. If you book and don’t show up we get Rolling Stones angry. Plus we have muscles: so this also motivates clients to show up.
- We make the training environment for one thing: training. Everything is thought and laid out for a top notch session. This includes the exercises, the progressions, the training environment.
- We coach you. Do you know how nice it is to get coached: It’s super nice. You get to listen to our voices and as we speak will likely swoon into an exercise trance as we provide the most exquisite instructions.
- We want our clients to succeed and perform like Olympians, look hot, and turn heads everywhere they go. That is the honest truth. And when we design the TLA training sessions, we do our damndest to make this truism happen.
- We correct form. Clients are always doing stuff wrong. Doing stuff wrong repeatedly can lead to injuries. Remember we want you to look and feel good.
- We take the thinking part away of what to do when you come into the studio. Instead, the only thinking required is implementing the optimum technique of the exercise you are engaged in.
- We believe strongly in the benefits of client adherence and will create playful, engaging, cool methods to allow for adherence. Is this a good thing? We believe so. Look at our previous post (if there was a pill/) to see the benefits of regular consistent exercise. By being consistent, clients are giving themselves something truly wonderful.
That made you feel good.
That strengthened every muscle in your body.
That made body fat disappear.
That increased your sex drive.
That reduced stress.
That allowed you to sleep better.
That gave you energy.
That made your muscles appear more sexy.
That made you move with athleticism.
That had you fit into clothes better.
That improved your balance.
That gave the future you feelings of positivity instead of uncertainty.
That made you eat more nutritionally.
That allowed you to enjoy treats without all that guilt nonsense.
That, if a woman, or a lass, made you feel more empowered. (aye, #liftmetoo)
That, if a man, or a lad, made you feel like a dude.
That improved your mood.
That increased creativity.
That increased body confidence.
That made you happier.
That was good for your bones.
That could reduce chronic disease and increase the strength of your immune system.
That would help brain health, including memory.
That gave you power.
That strengthened your core.
That would aid in relaxation.
Would you take it.
Just twice a week Training like an Athlete and the pill is yours.
PS: Get ready for our new release package. In other words, the best pill on the planet.
.Quick story.
The scenario: I went to my hometown of Port Glasgow in Scotland for a month. Within a throwing distance was a fish & chip shop, pubs, cake and pastry shops, butchers that sold pies containing more fat than a ducks bum and dessert shops that sold double thick cream. I was buying so much Double Thick Cream I started to ask for it by DTC. DTC would go perfectly with meringues, ice cream topped with chocolate + caramel sauce, even my morning cereal. Oh yeah, on top of that there was the weekly scotch festivities and nightly drinks with the happy word of slainte being toasted every evening.
Wasn’t it Oscar Wilde who said “I can resist everything except temptation.” Decadent was in full force for that month and I did not hold back one bit when tempted.
When I came back, admittedly I was very happy, but in the process of all this happiness gained a lardy one pack and made even a simple venture like going upstairs making me out of breath.
This was not good: I was a trainer and needed to get back into shape more pronto than fast. A plan that made sense without sending my body and brain into shock had to implemented.
So the plan went something like this.
The first two weeks/
I would workout 1x per week and exercise 2-6 x per week. Please note, and the point of this whole post is there is a difference between working out and exercising. Working out is like the first slider in our web page or image below. Working out changes your body composition quickly and creates a stress response that needs recovering from. Exercising on the other hand is really not that hard and is actually quite kind to the body. Exercise might be a simple bike ride to work, a long walk, a mini circuit involving bodyweight exercises, even a swim. In other words things you feel you can do every day as they add only limited stress to the body while establishing new good habits.
Even though I am a self admitted lightweight I also cut alcoholic intake to weekends instead of my Scottish habit which was every day starting at lunch time.
Week 3
Added another workout day, cut an exercise day and started to dial in breakfasts(making them healthier.) I have a fondness for simple breakfasts including fruit, toast, and Greek yogurt.
Week 4
During this week added a third workout day and removed another exercise day. I cut weekend alcohol exclusively to scotch as my beverage of choice (tough life, eh). Also – even though it felt like I was back at school – created a routine where every day would make my own lunch that always included a very large salad. No exceptions. My dinners are usually always pretty light so didn’t need much adjustments. However, snacks had to change. Gone were treats replaced with apples and a daily protein shake.
By the end of the month
I was exercising 3x per week + working out out 3x per week, enjoying a great breakfast, lunches were sorted and eating a decent dinner became normal.. As a result, I was feeling smashing and well on the way to athleticism TLA style. The entire process was the opposite of a crash diet. Instead progress was gradual, sustainable and except for daily lunch making, didn’t feel too much of a struggle.
Remember, we are all athletes. When you have been out the exercise game and want to get back (regardless of your level) it just takes a plan of action to get there that does not involve a mentality of sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice and pain, pain, more pain.
Instead coaching, consistent workouts and exercise with a plan of gradual stress are key.
Fancying becoming a TLA client. Let me know.
Slainte Mhath! (cheers and to good health)
Exciting news for WOMAN on International Women’s Day.
We have been proudly and patiently waiting until
International Women’s Day to announce this fantastic new addition to our program.
Hurrah!
TLA clients no longer need to always text Jason to establish times.
We just started with Mind Body and now clients can just login and book a session.
We have semi private AM sessions for our terrific business clientele, we offer private customized sessions where clients can receive any type of athletic session they want, we have speed sessions for athletes and athletic and skill sessions for soccer players. We even have yoga.
As long as it’s athletic we have you covered.
Magic.