An Interview with Mike Mahler

There is a lot of buzz in the South African air at the moment with the news of Mike Mahler gracing our shores in August.  Whether you are a part of the fitness industry or just a grey man in the street who enjoys a fit and healthy lifestyle, Mike's teachings are something that cannot be missed.

Mike Mahler is a visionary and leader in the world of strength and conditioning and the development of modern kettlebell lifting.  Not only a coach in the world of lifting but also an active strength athlete.  Mike's focus when it comes to training is in the development of strong, fast and conditioned athletes that can transpire into everyday life activities as well as instilling mental fortitude into his students.

An exceptional strength coach but also an expert in hormone optimization, these two factors go hand in hand in the evolvement and reinforcing of ones lifestyle.  As an aspiring strength coach, this opportunity cannot be missed to learn from one of our industries greats.  I had the chance to pick Mike's brain for five minutes and this is what he had to say:

How did you get into kettlebell training?

Back in 2001 a really good friend of mine that does BJJ and Muay Thai told me about it.  It looked really interesting so I looked into it further.  I was doing some Olympic lifting and sandbag training at the time so kettlebell training seemed like a great addition to my regimen.  I like the focus on ballistic moves such as cleans, swings and snatches.  Once I started playing around with kettlebells I was hooked.  A few months later I took Pavel Tsatsouline's RKC certification.  It was only his second certification course so kettlebell training was still in its infancy in the US.  It was a fun weekend and I had a blast learning from him and the other students at the course.  I knew kettlebells would blow up in the US in a few years and I saw an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and also to enter the fitness industry with a unique selling point.  The rest as they say is history!  Ten years later it has been a great ride and I still love training with kettlebells and learn something new every year.

What makes a great kettlebell instructor?

Great question! First a great kettlebell instructor has to actually train with kettlebells. This may seem like an obvious point but you would be surprised how many trainers try to teach kettlebells to others when it is obvious that they have never taken any time to learn how to use kettlebells properly themselves!

Second, a great kettlebell instructor has to have an unquenchable desire to constantly keep improving. This is what exceptional kettlebell instructors such as: Steve Cotter, Ken Blackburn, and Jason Dolby all have in common. They all love kettlebell training and they’re always looking to learn more and keep improving. I love learning from these guys as their enthusiasm is contagious and they break down complicated concepts extremely well and make it accessible to everyone.

Third, a great kettlebell instructor has to keep the focus on the students. Sometimes as instructors we get distracted and want to show everyone what we can do instead of helping our students with their goals. I made this mistake early in my career when I felt I needed to teach every exercise with the heaviest kettlebells possible at my courses and show all kinds of complicated moves. I improved drastically as an instructor when I focused less on what I can do and more on helping the students. Sure, people like to see what you can do and it is important to lead form the front but if you overdo it, it becomes counterproductive.

You have great strength and great power, how do you personally apply kettlebell lifting to your program?

Thanks a lot! I use kettlebells for all kinds of applications. Sometimes, I use really heavy kettlebells and focus on lower reps (5-7) for strength and explosive power. At other times, I use kettlebells for strength endurance and work capacity and focus on moderate kettlebells for higher reps (15+). I like to use kettlebells as part of a metabolic circuit with box jumps, trapbar farmers walks, battling ropes, bodyweight exercises, etc. In addition, I use heavy kettlebell ballistic moves to prime the nervous system for heavy powerlifting work. For example, before doing heavy deadlifts, I will do fives sets of five on heavy double kettlebell swings outside the feet with 2 40kg to 44kg bells. I swing outside outside the feet as I can generate more power and the stance is similar to what I do for deadlifts. Check out the following clip to see what I mean at: 

Mikes Kettlebell Swing

Outside the knee swings and snatches are a blast and I will be teaching both moves at the August intermediate courses in South Africa. 

Finally, I like to use kettlebells as part of my joint mobility routine by doing complexes. I pick four to five moves and go from one move to the next with a light kettlebell without putting it down until I have done several rounds. Great way to wake up and get the day going. Also fun on training days where you don’t feel like putting in a maximum effort but still want to do something to speed up recovery and stay active. You can see a clip of this at: 

Mikes Kettlebell Training

A lot of martial artists, athletes and serious lifters have turned to kettlebells, what would you say makes them different to other resistance training methods?

Kettlebell ballistic moves such as clean and jerks, swings, snatches, clean and push presses etc all have a very strong athletic component so combat athletes see the application right away. When done for high reps or for high volume you develop serious conditioning as well as mental toughness.
While you can do just about every kettlebell exercises with a dumbbell, anyone that has done both will tell you it is just not the same. Kettlebells are really fluid for ballistic moves and by far the best weight training tool for building strength endurance and work capacity. You can rack kettlebells comfortably and the way they sit in the hand is very comfortable for long duration sets. Kettlebells are far more comfortable for swings and snatches than a dumbbell and have a shock absorption component which is very useful for any combat athlete. 

A lot of powerlifters like kettlebell training for warming up, active recovery, and endurance training. You don’t see too many bodybuilders doing kettlebell training, but I think more should as high rep kettlebell training is a perfect fit for cardio instead of doing boring activities like running on a treadmill or using an elliptical machine.

As great as kettlebells are, I think kettlebell only programs are not optimal either. Yes, the average person can get in great shape with just one kettlebell, but for trainees that want to be strong and powerful there is no need to be limited to one training tool. barbell work, bodyweight training, sprinting, sledgehammer tire strikes, box jumps etc all have a place and the variety keeps training fun and exciting. 

As a strength coach and in my opinion, expert in hormone optimization, what advice could you give to assist in achieving optimal hormone levels for both men and woman?

It will be different for everyone and I believe in a personalized approach for each person, but some general recommendations are: Focus on organic food, eliminate food sensitivities, address vitamin and mineral deficiencies, get a balance of protein, healthy fats, and low glycemic carbs at every meal, drink lots of water, get eight hours of deep quality sleep every night, avoid over training and balance adrenaline training with restoration training, take vacations, get a massage every two weeks, and most important find a career that gets you excited everyday to put in work and surround yourself with people that make you better not worse. if you hate your job and you’re in toxic relationships you will never be hormonally optimized no matter how hard you train, what supplements you take, or how perfect your diet is. 

I will get in to more detail at the SA courses in August. 

As a vegan, your choices are different, and you combine certain foods to make complete proteins, could you give us a better understanding of this and what this means?

Sure, I follow a vegan diet for ethical reasons meaning I want to avoid contributing to animal suffering as much as possible. This is part of my spiritual belief system. With a vegan diet it is important to get variety and combine foods such as nuts and seeds with legumes for a complete protein (all of the essential amino acids for health and optimal training). Some examples include: black beans and pumpkin seeds, pistachios and navy beans, garbanzo beans and hempseeds. Each of these combinations has a nice balance of protein, fat, and low glycemic carbohydrates. 

Your beliefs in eating patterns are quite unlike the average bits of advice people receive on a daily basis where you believe in longer stretches between meals, could you tell us why and what the benefits are?

Eating frequently trains the body to be inefficient and you will rely on constant feedings to perform at a high level. Miss one of those feedings and your blood sugar levels will crash big time. 

When you eat less frequently, some great things happen. One, three hours after a meal, the hormone insulin starts going down and another hormone called glucagon is released from the pancreas. Glucagon pulls energy from the liver and then goes to stored bodyfat for energy. Thus, you get a snack on stored bodyfat in between each meal. 

If you take six hours in between each meal, you get three hours of fat burning. Also mild hunger in between each meal releases a hormone called grehlin from the GI tract which is a growth hormone secretagogue. Growth hormone is a powerful fat burning hormone and also is important for workout recovery, skin health, lowering inflammation and many other healthy things.
Longer stretches in between meals also gives insulin and leptin receptors a much needed break so you avoid leptin and insulin resistance. Leptin and insulin sensitivity are critical for health and optimal hormone production. Byron Richards goes into great detail about the importance of leptin in his excellent book “Mastering Leptin.” 

Once you get used to the longer stretches you will find that your productivity goes way up as you don’t have to worry about eating every few hours and will also have more energy for other activities. Digestion is a huge expenditure of energy. You will eat more at each meal but will be more primed and ready to digest each meal optimally and pull as much energy as possible. 

I think a sign of a great meal, optimal digestion, and health is your ability to perform at a high level for many hours afterwards. When i teach a seminar, I often have a light breakfast and then teach for 6-8 hours without eating. This is not a problem for me at all and I can perform at a a high level all day long. Afterwards of course I feast which is also fun and rewarding after a hard days work. 

I will get into great detail on all of this at the SA courses. Just this info alone is worth 5x the price of admission. I wish someone taught hormones the way I teach it when I first started researching this stuff seven years ago.

Thank you so much for your insight into training, strength and nutrition, we look forward to hosting you and welcoming you to our country.

Mike will be hosting workshops on the following dates in Johannesburg and Durban

August 11th: Beginner kettlebell/hormone optimization workshop at Flux Fluid Motion Umhlanga.
August 12th: Intermediate kettlebell/hormone optimization workshop at Flux Fluid Motion Umhlanga



August 18th: Beginner kettlebell/hormone optimization workshop at Kettlebells SA Johannesburg
August 19th: Intermediate kettlebell/hormone optimization workshop at Kettlebells SA Johannesburg


Bookings are essential and more informaiton can be found on Mikes website www.mikemahler.com

Lessons from the greats

I remember sitting on my Nonno's lap, only knee high from a grasshopper, looking up at him in awe of his acumen and knowledge, at a man who had survived a war, sailed the seas and faced adversity, thinking to myself, with assurance that one day I too will tell a great story.


We are part of a generation that has been handed a life of ease, where everything is out there for the taking, our forefathers left us with great knowledge and great opportunity, where they have written the books and its up to us to read the writings, to learn from history while creating our own with simplicity.


Yet with all the information available to us, so many still fail to make the effort to learn. Everyday people claim to be impassioned by the work that they do, yet mention a great leader in their field who has accomplished so much for the industry, who has fathered methods and practice, and they have yet to read their books or follow their teachings.


If you want to be great at something, you need to be great at getting there.  As a trainer and a coach my life is encompassed by my passion.  People have often pointed out that I need balance and I need to let go and explore other interests.  I agree with this, yet I feel my time right now is for my development.  I spend hours a day researching top coaches theories, when I think of travel I think of destinations where I can spend time working with men and woman who have devoted their lives to coaching and training.

I have gained the basic "science" required to teach, yet that is just the tip of an iceberg of knowledge.  I strive to surround myself with coaches who have worked with the best, who have paid the price and who still  endeavour to keep learning.   In 2012, it seems that even the grey man in the street with no previous knowledge can spend two days acquiring a skill and practice it like its second nature.  Obama did not become president over night.  Chris Barnard did not just perform the first successful heart transplant.

Muhammad Ali spent countless hours in the ring training to be the best, Edson Pele spent thousands of hours attempting goals,  Nelson Mandela served time behind bars, the greats paid their dues to be the best.  The greats devoted their waking hours to giving their followers the optimum, their foremost, the ultimate of themselves.

I hate average, I hate mediocre, I will not settle for the boilerplate.  I will be unbalanced, devoted and dedicated to ensure that my clientele, my followers and myself get what is owed to them by their coach.

I remember walking down Bond Street in London one night when I came across Roosevelt and Churchill having a chat on a bench, I joined them for a moment.  At the time I was torn between two paths in my life, whether to continue along the road I had mapped out or to venture into the unknown. Just being in their presence, in the company of men who had given our generation so much, even the silence moved mountains within me.

Walking away from our silent conversation on that bench on Bond Street I learnt that, the greats, in whatever form or shape are there to be learnt from, Churchill was a veteran who wasn't afraid to to take on the big shots and Roosevelt said that the only people who ever fail are the ones who never try.  Fail quickly and fail forward to success.

Kettlebells for combat sport

I am certainly no expert when it comes to combat sports, I unsuccessfully spent a few years in a dojo practicing Judo and  dabbled for a couple months in Krav Maga. Turns out I'm not as hardcore as I thought and don't fancy getting my ass handed to me, in fact I was so shocking at both these disciplines that all I got was a bad memory and my body beaten by a bunch of tough chics.

However I do know a little bit about kettlebells and a little bit about simple mechanics.

As someone looking from outside of the cage in, and as someone who spends hours daily under the bells, putting the two practices together can definitely give you more pop for your punch.

Pavel once said that "The kettlebell swing is as close as you can get to fighting without the fight. Swinging a kettlebell helps your sparing as the swing builds explosive power and endurance while simultaneously improving the tense and relax (contract and expand) skills used by highly skilled fighters"

Kettlebell sport and MMA are two terms so loosely thrown around today, everyone is an MMA fighter and every local at every globo gym is painfully throwing around bells as they are the next big answer to strength and conditioning.

Kettlebells don't solve everything, there I said it. Power lifters, fighters, athletes, whatever your calling, you need to practice in your sport and you need to model your training around improving your output in your sport.

The word "sport specific" is the most commonly used catch phrase launched into sentences regarding lifting bells.  As a fighter, doing 100 jerks is doing little for your practice, yes its developing a synergy of strength, but fighters need to mimic their movements.  Integrating kettlebells wisely into your training, keeping your goals in mind is going to help you accomplish so much more.

Incorporating the high pull into your combat training characterizes the pulling and pushing motions promoting explosiveness, also this explosiveness makes it an anaerobic movement.  100 kettlebell jerks at a slow pace is not going to train your body for the short intervals of power required in a fight.

Packing a powerful punch drives energy from the ground up, not just from your arm and fist, the snatch is a total body exercise that generates force from below, fighters tend to live on the edge where efficiency is king,  the snatch bleeds efficiency.

If you cant fight, rest and recover, and fight, rest and recover for short intervals you may as well be lying on the ground masturbating the iron.  The long cycle trains you to contend with tension and recovery, thee most important attributes of fighting.  It builds endurance, leg drive, and total body conditioning, so when that clock ticks in those final moments on the mat, and under-conditioned fighters are exposed, you shine.

There are many tools that make up a good box of tricks for your training but if they are not applied in the right manner you may as well punch yourself in the face and hang up your gloves.

If you are working out in the gym with your douche-bag cage fighter t-shirt on throwing kettlebells around like a ninja with no coach to guide you, well then, that's where you will stay, on the sideline throwing comments to the real fighters.

As I said, I don't know much about fighting, I know a little about the mental fight and I know a little about the kettlebells that can help a fight.  With the right application, right methodology and right attitude in anything, you will come out on top, even if for your own personal fight.

The Yard Athletic

If you a resident of Jozi and you not a resident of The Yard Athletic, you should be.  That's it.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit this garage style, training facility in Fourways, Johannesburg. One thing came to mind, old school training meets new world science.

Scott MacIntosh, owner, strength coach, and slave to science welcomed me to his little piece of iron in the heart of the design district.  Scott bleeds raw knowledge, experience, passion and devotion to the world of strength and conditioning. Not only is this evident in his personality and attitude in his approach to his training but its distinct in every facet of this awesome facility.

The Yard leaks backbone, power, resolution and spirit.  You can learn a lot about a facilities trainers through their environment in this respect.  An owner run establishment, where there is the finest attention to detail.  Every corner of The Yard has been well thought out and structured with precision, from the hardcore equipment, classic kettlebells, and astro prowler track to the ladies change rooms, there was a touch of class to every aspect in amongst the street, deep city vibe.

This approach of course fuses into the coach in Scott, where training is not just picking up heavy things and putting them down again.  He dissects every movement, every technique, and every motion and teaches you how to apply these aspects in the safest and most result driven way.

His knowledge of the science of human movement and application to his clients training already sets his personal coaching a cut above the rest, before you have even walked through the doors.  The Yard boasts highly experienced coaches, having Joshua Capazario, Springbok powerlifter on his team of trainers speaks worlds for itself.

This facility is driven by energy and passion.  The urban feel and pimping tunes just makes you want to go out there and give your workout horns.  I truly felt at home.

It's establishments like these, with the approach to training as a culture and not just a workout,  where health and vitality is a way of life and not just an hour of sweat a few times a week, that makes me love my choices and embrace the world of fitness, strength and power.

A huge thank you to the team at The Yard Athletic for welcoming me to your city and your piece of training Eden.

To Scott for the hardstyle training, Josh for tweaking my deadlift weaknesses and Pretty for possibly thee most nutritious Pina Colada on the market.

Wishing you guys all the strength, and success in your venture - it was rocking.

Interview with David Cross

A couple months back, David Cross, owner and strength coach of Evo Fitness in Cape Town graced us with his presence.  We spoke training, strength, conditioning, old school, new school and who is too cool for school.

David is one of the few trainers in our country who believes in the methods that have always worked, the methods that have been tried and tested, with the approach that gets real men and woman out of their comfort zones, their spandex and off their fancy gadgets into serious traditional training that gives solid results.

David and his partner Dewaal opened up a training facility in the heart of Cape Town, that is and cannot be disputed as one of the finest strength addresses in the Cape.

I finally got down to having a one on one with the Cross himself on where it all started and how it all came about.  This is what he had to say:

As a strength coach in today's society, what is your approach at Evo to training that sets  yourselves apart from the pink fluff and the common market?

First off thank you for inviting me into this quick Q&A, nice to know there's an interest in the way Evo does things.

I'll start by saying that Evo isn't a gym, we’re a training facility, that in itself is already a big difference in how we set ourselves apart from the other crap out there. If you want to chat and grab a smoothie go to Virgin UnActive or Planet FATness, if you want honesty and no nonsense results get your ass to Evo.

For us there is no cookie cutter one size fits all approach  - we look at every client as an individual with differing needs, goals and lifestyle. Each of those aspects will have an influence on how they train and ultimately the results we can help them achieve. Having said that, the basics still apply no matter what their goals! With the exception of injuries and mobility issues, all clients work on the basic lifts as the prime components of their workout. Squats, deadlifts, military press, chin ups and bench press. These are the gold standard exercises, most bang for your buck and I can't understand any system that doesn't have these at the heart of it.

If you had the opportunity to dissect one of the worlds top strength coaches, who would you like on your operating table and why would you choose them over the many great coaches out there?

Jeez, just one?! There's a bunch of coaches out there who I have respect for, a small handful though who I would like to work with, but someone who has been round the block so many times and is still at the top of the game is Louie Simmons at Westside Barbell. This guy is one of the most honest, no bullshit, say it as it is coaches there has ever been. He has developed so many strong athletes over the years that there can't be any disputing his pedigree. He has helped pioneer so many methods and programs for getting people explosively strong, that you could spend everyday with him for a year and still not come close to learning all his secrets. People talk about how they've trained "blood, sweat and tears" - most haven't even had their first wet dream in comparison.

You were not always a man of strength and fitness, and spent many years in the corporate world.  What drove you to turn a passion into a successful business and what was the most defining moment for you?

That's being polite, I was a fat bastard hahahaha. After I lost all the weight and started my venture into Personal Training, I soon realised that I was going to come up against the same problems I faced in the corporate world. I wasn't my own boss. Yes, I was a franchised trainer, so technically I was my own boss, but I still had to abide by the rules of the gym, the shitty policies they had and deal with all the shit that came with it. I needed to be my own boss. I needed to do things the way I wanted, without compromising, without having to ask permission. I wanted to start something where people come because of the way I do things, because they are ready and want to finally get the results they've paid for.

As for a defining moment, it was probably sitting there at 6am on 2nd August 2010; opening day of Evo Fitness, and we had zero clients! I knew we were the best you could get in Cape Town, the problem was that nobody else did. It was at this point I realised my passion for this industry was not enough to bring the money in, I couldn't rely on my own self belief. This was going to be a hard slog and I needed to make everything I did count.

Nearly 2 years later and we are better than we've ever been, we're still the best Cape Town has to offer and we haven't once compromised on our principles, what we believe in, or sold out to gimmicks and fads just to fit the "mold". We still have a long hard slog to go, and that is the reality. As soon as you hit cruise control or start to slack, the shit will come down and you'll just be average. Average is shit. I don't have time for average, I don't ever want Evo to be average - it's that fear that will continue to drive Evo to new heights and achieve great things.

If you could give one bit of sound advice to the aspiring coaches out there in South Africa, what would be the most valuable bit of information you would pass on?

Stop being a pussy! I look back to when I first started out and although well meaning and passionate, I was a pussy. Doing stupid shit, no programming, no measurements, no monitored progression, no clue! I get mad when students come through the doors of Evo and have no clue whatsoever, it brings back memories of how shit I was. I had to learn the hard way, wasted a lot of time and money on a lot of shit. Get yourself an internship at a decent training facility, be it here in South Africa, UK, America - anywhere. You will learn more in your time there, than you will ever learn from some piss poor lecturer who can't even squat properly in a classroom.

Don't just think you can walk into an internship though, personal trainers are qualifying quicker than a virgin losing his load for the first time. Prepare, learn about the company, what they believe in, how they train, what sets them apart from the rest, why should they even consider you! Motivate your case, because rest assured if they're a decent facility, they'll already have a lot of people wanting the same thing as you.
Also - do not expect to be paid, if anything offer to pay them! You just paid for your shitty certificate that taught you how to squat terribly, but you aren't prepared to pay for the most valuable information out there, real world experience in the trenches! Stop being a pussy!

You are working on achieving people's personal goals on a daily basis, what is your ultimate strength goal?

I want to deadlift the world for reps!  hahahhaha sorry in house joke!  Strength is a funny thing, it can be defined in so many different forms.  I'm about to be a Dad on the 20th June, and I want to be as strong as I can for my daughter, wife and family in all facets of their lives.  This change in my life will undoubtedly have an impact on the way I view things, what my physical strength goals are and essentially what they mean to me.  Its a lifetime journey for me, and with the changes I want to remain healthy and strong.

Having said all that though, the gym head in me says 3 x bodyweight deadlift, 2 x bodyweight bench press, 1.5 times bodyweight military press and 2.5 x bodyweight squat.

Cheers Lil for the questions, ready to kick some more ass now.

Thanks David for the little insight into your piece of the strength world and wishing you and your wife all the best with the little one, and of course with those strength feats.

Time to get schooled

I am an ex professional student, if I could earn a living from studying, I would never have ended my career in Varsity hopping.  Matriculating at a ripe 16 was never easy, having to decide how to define your future whilst still shopping in the kiddies section leaves you as confused as a fat kid with a salad.

I am passionate about many things, first and fore most, the culinary world.  This took me through many years getting educated, chopping at the grindstone and sweating buckets for countless hours in hotels around the world.  I earned my place in the society of the industry, I put in the hours, I put in the cash and I earned the respect of my peers.

Having since then returning to get schooled in Sports Science, and again hitting the books for years, starting in the trenches, following another passion, it has been difficult to say the least, however what I did learn from my years in the culinary world is that experience is key but education opens the door.  This applies to everything, every game.

You need the fundamentals to cut through the surface.  You need the basic knowledge to challenge mastering the game.  Having put myself through the marrow and the outdated theory, I did learn that some things never change, the anatomy will always be the anatomy.

Bringing me to my point,  spending a couple months training in a discipline doesn't earn you a level of mastery and ability to now coach in that discipline, nor does a 2 day workshop, or an online certification from the same institution that sells doctorates. These workshops may give you the right to teach but you owe your clientele the foundation.  On that same note, I have however seen qualified trainers dishing out programs and exercise sequences that should never have left the figments of their imagination.

Education and experience goes hand in hand.

Passion gives you direction, but hard work, experience and education gives you permission.

I have researched a handful of institutions in our country offering certifications in the exercise world, as outdated as they may be they give you the basics, they give you the right.  With this knowledge and background the world is yours for the taking, those 2 day workshops now become applicable, those weekend seminars and trips around the world to learn from the best can now be readily applied because you have that basic knowledge, you have that key.

The people in this industry are driven by their sentiment for it, yet the enthusiasm doesn't earn them a roof over their heads.  Education is not just attending an academy for a piece of paper, its ongoing, its evolving, its never ending research.

Its dissecting techniques, its breaking down mechanics, its learning a science, its reading hundreds of books, its spending time with the experts, its late night programming, early morning teaching and all day learning.  Trips to Mauritius, nights on the town, holidays in Maui and social gatherings take a back seat.  Its working through the trenches, its starting at the bottom, its keeping your head above the water while you learning from the best.

Personally going from a life of high rolling entertainment, celebrities, Dom Perignon and designer shoes to counting pennies, cereals for dinner, early mornings, late nights and mountains of debt was not easy, it is still not easy.  The time and dedication it takes to build up a business, compete against the market and offer something that is based on theoretical knowledge, years of learning and working with the experts, I know will someday make me really good at what I do.  Not today, not tomorrow but someday.

It is not all about scoring the winning touchdown, its about hard work, education, dedication and commitment to that very passion and enthusiasm that drove you to it.

If you claim to be passionate about something you will devote your last hour and your last cent to being the best at it.

You have to learn to crawl before you can walk.

Get back in the kitchen

What a cliche.  I hate this picture.  Not because every Tom, Dick and Muppet has posted it at some point onto their walls, their tweets, their cars or their foreheads, I hate it because as much as its so very true, its out there in your face all the time, yet people still don't believe it.

As a trainer, and many trainers reading this can relate to the infamous "I've done 1 million crunches and I still don't have a six pack"  you can do a million more, but if you still going to shovel donuts and McDonald's every chance you get, that tyre around your waist is going to be used as a piece of gym equipment very soon.

It doesn't matter if you run every morning at the crack of dawn, hit the gym every afternoon and close the evening with a session in Pilate's, as long as you not watching what you eat, you not going to achieve those goals.  Exercise of course plays an all important role in weight loss, it burns calories.  If the exercise is right, the post oxygen consumption is going to have you burning calories right through the night.  You going to build muscle and the muscle mass will increase your resting metabolism. I am not going to elaborate on the degenerate comments of weight training for woman bulking you up.  Cakes and chocolate bulk you up. But how pointless this all is if you going to hit a case of beer on the weekend and fill your lunch boxes with processed rubbish.

I'm not going to go any further into either subject, as they are subjects that have been covered in over a million books and at least 3 times on my blog alone.

If you cant get back into the kitchen and preparing yourself healthy natural food, if you cannot replace the bad with the good, then you cant get rid of your excess weight.  The magic pill does not exist.  I know that it is not easy, I know that it will take time to lose the weight and the stigma that comes with being overweight, I know that diet and exercise may not work for everyone as each person is different and wadda wadda fish paste.  I am aware.

I am merely just saying that exercise is not the big answer to losing weight.

You need to eat foods that are as close to their natural state as possible, one should focus on their health, as being overweight is not the big problem, life expectancy is.

The big corporations will tell you whatever it is you want to hear to get you using and eating their products.  If you cannot pronounce an ingredient it is probably not food, acknowledge food labels.

It is all about your diet, it is all about your health.  I do not strive to get you being the best at exercise, I strive  to build your physical and mental strength, I strive to lengthen your life.

From 60 to 30: A letter to my younger self

- A guest post by Terence Mitchell

Dear Terence

At the time of reading this you will be 29 years old and in the process of building your business and establishing yourself as a strength coach and your gym , Mitchell Strength.  As you well know your 20's have not been easy, there have been many , many personal setbacks, foolish choices, irrational decisions and you have paid the price for all of these.  However the point of this letter is not for looking back into your past but for looking forward into your future, by handing you advice that is going to carry you through for the next 30 years.  Use this letter as a road map , a kind of manifesto for life that will pull you through the tough times and set you up for the better times.

Training.

After years of training and following various programmes which were not necessarily all bad, you now know what needs to be done.  For as long as you have trained you have always known that it is the basics that get real results in the gym.  You have never shyed away from good old fashioned hard work, over the many years you have squatted, dead lifted, paid your dues with pull ups and chin ups, heavy rows and presses.  You have had to overcome injuries and set backs which have derailed you, but that is life and the same thing has happened many times to many lifters far stronger than yourself. 

However this did not stop them and will never stop you.

I would like to impart more advice just to make sure you stay the course and walk the path less travelled.

Stick with your basic 5/3/1 template for your 4 big lifts and have faith in the long term process.  You are getting stronger week by week, yes, that does not mean that you hit one rep max PRs by the month, you know very well that in the real world things don't work like that.  It becomes a game of inches, 3 steps forward 2 steps back, another kg here, another rep there.  You need to continue doing the things that other people fear, hate or just don't have the mental or physical resolve to stick with.  You are different and this is what will set you apart from the crowd.

There is something I also want to share with you that I want you to always remember especially when it comes to training.  When it gets boring its working! 

Remember Terence you are living in a soft, weak metrosexual age were people always want the next best miracle program,  celebrity diet, supplement or fancy piece of 'advanced' equipment, you need to fight this and love and respect what is 'boring' .  Boring works every time in the gym and in life, especially when the going gets tough.  For example: Squats, deads, heavy sand bags walks, farmers walks and hill sprints are considered boring by 99% of people but these great exercises WILL ALWAYS work and they will always build brute raw strength , incredible conditioning and a dangerously strong mind.  Fall in love and commit to what is boring and simple.  Do this for the rest of your life and you will not be sorry.

Now that I have made sure to keep you on the right path as far as strength training goes I need to remind you how important it is to be conditioned.  Here once again you know the deal, you have never been one to skimp on real conditioning work.  All through your time at high school training for rugby and after school training in the Royal Marines you knew what needed to be done.  You sprinted hills, you sprinted hard and your sprinted often, you were always the last one standing at the end, wanting to do that extra hill just to make sure you were truly done.  You never cheated when the coach or PTI turned his back as you always knew you were only going to cheat yourself. This kind of attitude has given and will continue to give you the greatest gift of all.  The gift of self respect.

Remember Terence people will not understand your obsession with hard conditioning, you don't need to do it because you plan on sprinting in a race,  you sprint because the hill is a metaphor for everything life will throw at you. The hill is long, steep and uncomfortable, you will be breathing hard, your lungs will be burning, your legs will be aching but you will finish what you set out to do. You will continue to sprint hills for no other earthly reason than the fact that you can!  You will view all obstacles and set backs in your life the same way you view a long steep hill that needs to be sprinted: With a never relenting self belief, loads of aggression and plenty attitude!

Money.

Terence the world is obsessed with material things that only create disorder, confusion and clutter. People will literally sell their souls in order to live somebody else's dreams.  People you know will blow through money that they did not have to earn, people will try and maintain outrageous lifestyles while the global economies literally crumble and consumer debt sky rockets.  But you are not going to fall into this trap because you know better.  You need to understand right now that money without sacrifice and work is a very dangerous thing.  You see it all the time with people you know very well.  Easy come easy go.  Always remember that real people are attracted to real confidence and self-reliance not flashy material things that mean nothing.  Remember that looking cool and trendy is for insecure little boys with precious egos to protect. 

Save 20% of your income.  This goes without saying.  Live within your means and If you want something that you cannot afford right now remember that you don't need to have it RIGHT NOW, instead save up for it.  I advise you to always pay for things with cash you actually have instead of using or owning a credit card.  Your goal is to be fully debt free and OWN everything you own!

Health.

By the time you reach your mid 30's you will sadly see the effects of ill health in many people that you know.  It is a sad reality, but you always knew that people have a choice.  Alcohol and smoking will ruin the lives of many people, however what is more concerning is how poor nutritional habits will continue to increase despite all the warnings.

You know this well but I will nevertheless remind you.

1. Eat as much natural, free range, organic fruit and veg as you can.

2. Always buy hormone free or organic chicken, grass fed free range beef and lamb, organic eggs.

3. NEVER eat sugar, wheat, soy, corn, beans, processed dairy.

4. Don't waste your money on protein shakes.  Always opt for real food.  It wins hands down every time.

5. Drink filtered water.

6. Drink very high quality coffee ground from the bean, organic cocoa and rooibos tea.

7. Eat grains in moderation and when you do always opt for whole grain rice's and quinoa.

You are on the right path so just keep going.

Education.

Here I am not talking about formal education.  I want to remind you of your responsibility to always be educating yourself.  Terence education never ends.  You will never know it all and you will never know enough!  You need to read as much as you possibly can, here 2 books per month is really a minimum.  When you have free time on the net use it wisely, follow up on what the worlds top coaches and nutritionists have to say.  Also there is more to life that your world i.e.: training and nutrition.  Educate yourself on things you might not like or understand.  Arts, culture, religion, philosophy.  There is no excuse in your day and age to be an ignorant fool.  Get out there and expand your mind.  A lifetime of information is literally at your finger tips so please I implore you to consider everything in this regard.

Travel.

You have travelled quite a bit but you need to travel more.  When they ask people on their death beds what is one of their biggest regrets the answer often is that they did not travel more and see more of the world and learn more about its people.

Think about how much you learnt and gained from your few travels.  Learning just how different yet how similar people really are.  I know travelling is expensive and that is never going to change but you need to do what ever it takes to see and experience more of this world.

Attitude: Love, Life & Loss

Terence, my friend, life is not for the weak or the feint of heart.  You will lose people you love, special people will come into your life and they will leave.  Not all the people you are going to meet and spend time with are going to be with you forever.  This is the truth, as heart breaking as it is you need to accept it for what it is.

You will love many women and you will lose many women.  You will get your heart broken and you may very well break someones heart.

You will lose close friends, by distance or death.

But you need to understand it and be a man about it and strive on.

I cannot promise you that things are going to get easier, that your life is going to be obstacle and pain free.  But your attitude can determine so much.  You, as you are right now, as you read these words, have the choices and the tools to deal with anything life can throw at you.

Terence you know what needs to be done, now go and do it.

Regards

Your older self

* Inspired by Jim Wendlers Letters to my younger self

My animal diaries

We have progressed from animals.  That's my belief.  Evolution is how it came to be. I'm not going to go into that much further. Politics, religion and once being a close relative of an ape are things people don't like to agree on, so lets just leave it at that.

Keeping our heritage of natural animalistic instincts and movements in mind, let me introduce you to something that has hit the calisthenic (body weight training) world by storm over the last few years.

Enter 'Animal Flow'.  If you have heard of animal flow, you have heard of Mike Fitch, this beautiful specimen is the non traditionalist trainer that with a passion for body weight training has developed what we know as animal flow and taken over the globe with his unique methodologies and result driven approach.

I have written many articles on the awesomeness that is calisthenics, I practice bar tending, I coach in body weight techniques and I sleep, dreaming of physiques like Fitch.  There are multiple body weight disciplines and each contender needs to find their niche.  I have a thing for Mikes niche it seems.

Animal flow in a nutshell, is taking the disciplines of calisthenics and combining them with fluid and efficient movements, much like the movements of an animal.  These 2 methodologies hand in hand increases mobility, flexibility, endurance, stability, builds raw power and assists greatly in neuromascular development.

Personally I see animal flow as more of a discipline than a workout that requires practice, as any skill would.

To save you from the split second it takes on google, check out Mikes site http://www.globalbodyweighttraining.com/

I have seen the gains, I have seen the improved efficiency and I have seen the changes in my clients and in my body personally from body weight training.  Some hit the pec dec, some hit the treadmill, I combine calisthenics, hill sprints, kettlebells and lifting heavy shit to get me mastering my body.  I strongly believe with a combination like that there is only one way, and that's up.

Here's a list of things that I do not go a day without:

Chin Ups/Pull Ups:  I cannot express how vital this exercise is to your physical diet.  They build wings that will literally make you fly and in turn assist you in all your heavy lifts.

Handstand Push ups: Pressing your entire body weight is tough, I do not need to explain that.  This move builds shoulders like nothing else will and improves your overall athleticism.

Pistol Squats: The one legged squat is a serious feat of strength, it builds every muscle in the lower body whilst building co-ordination, balance and raw strength

Bridges: Purely for the health of your spine, we spend hours bent over our computers, reverse that call, for your body, for your health - everyday.

Push ups: This exercise is too often forgotten, its loathed in every variation it comes in but it builds your back, your shoulders, your arms, your core, your strength endurance, and it builds serious mental fortitude in high numbers.

Its your body, its your vehicle, master it.

My rules to eat by

I don't believe in diets, eating plans or fancy fluff.  I don't believe in any of the dribble that goes with it.  I am not a nutritionist or a dietitian and I do not proclaim to know any more than the average person.  There are millions of books out there, hundreds of different trends, a thousand opinions and even more approaches to these options.

With each different 'plan' comes an interpretation.  Old 'Noakes' and his Carte Blanche extravaganza sent this country into turmoil and a giant heap of confusion, should we eat animal fat, shouldn't we eat fat, should I cook like this or like that?  It makes me feel sick to the stomach.

I have a simple set of rules that I live by, and that's it.  I do not count calories, I do not weigh my celery sticks and I do not stand on my head while I eat chocolate to avoid it going to my hips.

If I got a buck for every stupid weight loss/weight gain technique I'd heard of, I would be suntanning on the deck of my house in the french riviera sipping a glass of Armand de Brignac.

It's simple, if it has come from the earth, I eat it.  I am also a meat eater, in fact there is very little I do not eat.  I'm not going to sit here and tell you how packed with protein and how low in saturated fats Impala and Kudu are because you cant just walk into your local and ask for 2kgs, so its pointless.  What I can tell you is to stop being fooled by the labels 'free range' and 'hormone free' the birds are about as free as a man on death row and hormone free just means that the hormones are out of the animals system.

All I can advise is to speak to your locals and find a good source, they are out there.  If you are serious about your meat source I can suggest you get your hands on a book by Jonathan Safran Foer called 'Eating Animals' http://www.eatinganimals.com/ (Not pro vegetarianism) but it will give you some fantastic direction and some great options.

Eat your salad and eat your vegetables,  support your locals and buy seasoned goods. The darker the produce, the better for you.  Beetroot and spinach outweigh button mushrooms and lettuce tenfold.

I try stick to non wheat wholegrain as in my opinion now a days the wheat available has been mutated to far along for safe human consumption.  In fact bread and its derivatives are an entire blog post on its own... yawn.

I am allergic to nuts, so if I cant have it, you cant hear about it.

Your body needs fat to survive, don't think for a moment that cutting every type of fat out of your diet is going to do you good, I live on olive oil, if I could order it on ice I would, olive oil goes everywhere, including my home made ice cream - try it, black pepper and a drizzle of good Italian olive oil, you will never look back.

Organic sugar, fruit sugar, date sugar, invert sugar...the operative word here being sugar, get rid of it.

I have a sweet tooth, I love chocolate, I can make love to chocolate, sometimes I wonder if my purpose here is for the chocolate, however I stick to 85% - 90% cocoa, the list of benefits are overwhelming - google it.

Salt is my weakness, I sometimes put it on my toothpaste to improve that taste.  If you share my sentiment get rid of the white salt its highly processed and coloured salts contain more trace minerals, I use Himalayan, its affordable and available almost everywhere.  Sodium is low in high protein users so the higher the protein intake the more salt you may need.

I don't drink calories, I drink water.  People are so quick to cut out what they perceive as bad in their diets but they'll quickly chug down an energy drink, a soft drink or a low fat milkshake.  Vital mistake.

I don't get too excited about fruit, the body converts fruit to fat if you eat to much of it.

My biggest rule of all, don't ever reward yourself with food - you are not lucky enough to be an animal.

What I've learnt in the last 6 months

A guest post by Terence Mitchell

1.   I love the prowler.  I think it's a great conditioning tool.  However after almost a year of combining hill sprints with prowler sprints, I've made up my mind.  Hill sprints are superior.  

They tax my body, my legs and more importantly my mind.  Yes, I know anyone can load a prowler to 200kg, push it for 25 meters, then collapse in a heap, but that will do little for them.  Hill sprinting builds champions. The history books have many examples so I don't need to go into them here.  I also really wish I could get more ladies into hill sprinting.  So far I have got one of my clients into sprinting hills consistently and her results are awesome.

2.  Pull-ups can mess up the shoulders.  Chin ups are more user friendly.  I get more carry over to my pressing movements and deadlifts via chin ups then pull ups.  Pull ups I suppose are more 'difficult' per se but they are just not as biomechanically awesome as chins.  Well, at least in my opinion and I have been doing both non stop since I was 12.  If I could go back in time I would have never done a single pull-up and focused all my efforts towards chins.

3.  I think an agility ladder is gay and a joke.  If you think hot stepping' through one of those things is going to make you a better athlete I pity you.

4.  Jumping is everything awesome.  A client of mine who is a pro boxer has done jumping specific training with me twice a week for almost 6 months and this guy is becoming a freak!!  If I could go back in time to when I was a young athlete, I would of jumped like my life depended on it.

5.  Medicine balls are awesome if you have the right weight for the right athlete AND you are not doing lame shit with them like over head presses or using them for push ups.  These things are meant to be thrown!  So make sure you throw them!

6.  If you can lift heavy stuff and jump and sprint, you are about as functional as you can be as a human.  Let this be the end of the debate!

7.  We are all more or less the same, so therefore all the basic principles of strength, speed, conditioning, mobility, nutrition and recovery apply to all of us.  Stop thinking that you are some special snowflake!

8.  It is possible to drop ten kilos and get back to your previous lifting maxes BUT it will be difficult and it will require tremendous patience and you will have an initial drop of strength by at least 20% if you are lucky.  It has taken me a full 10 months to do this.  I was expecting it to take a year because I am not naive about shit.  So I'm delighted it only took me 10 months.

9.  You become a better trainer by training people as individuals.  Weird hey.  It does not count if you train 50 people at once.  That just becomes a chaotic gang bang of a boot camp.  It counts when you program for over 50 people individually day in and day out for over 5 years.  Ten years being ideal.

10.  If you cannot save 10% of your salary when you earn peanuts what makes you think you will be able to save 10% of your salary when you are a high roller??  Shit is relative.  Another example:  If you can't get results with the the most simple bits of equipment, it will count for naught if you have the chance to train in the most perfectly equipped facility.

11.  When men pussy out on their responsibilities as men, women take over and step up.  This is serious and something that is happening more and more in the modern age in which we live.  With this comes a legion of estrogen dominant men who become full time child minders and casual joggers (relax, I just love taking the piss out of joggers) while their wives go out and take charge and make their decisions for them!  Remember Men were born to take charge and lead.  Countries, armies and families!!

12.  I urge you to write a training manifesto.  Something that keeps you aligned to your goals and more importantly your training values.  A manifesto is cool during the good times when you rollin' BUT when you become unstuck, hit that frustrating plateau and need some motivation to kick your own ass, this is when a manifesto becomes essential as it will remind you why you do what you do and what needs to be done in order to forge ahead and stop feeling sorry for yourself.  Remember a training manifesto is not a list of goals, that is also important and a good idea but a manifesto is more of a mission statement.  Goals can become loose and lofty without a detailed plan and a detailed manifesto will ingrain that plan into your mind-set.

13.  The better I eat and the more money I spend on quality foods the better I feel.  This is profound because the graph so to speak does not flat line after a period of time!  It continues to climb!  Better is better so much better is MUCH better!!

14.  Sex is a funny old thing.  The more sex I have the more natural testosterone I produce so therefore the better I feel, the faster I recover, the stronger I lift and more body fat I burn.  This is not me trying to be funny this is scientific fact so hate the game not the player.

Face Plant Syndrome

About three weeks ago I set myself a challenging physical goal.  I have had this goal stored in my bank for some time now as something long term. A 'one day when I grow up' kind of goal, and three weeks ago I decided to make a 'one day', a 'today'.

Once I have made a decision to achieve something, I give it my everything, all else begins to play second fiddle.

My goal requires solid, consistent training in its field.  Devotion, commitment and dedication, and hell I threw every aspect of my being at it without altering my current regiment around it.

My job is based around developing people, physically, yet the mental side of personal development goes along with it.  I program, I structure, I plan and I put people into action.  I have the methodology, the skill and the attitude yet I struggle to put the pieces together in my own personal puzzle.

Having an addictive personality, and having battled a dependence in the past the natural endorphins released by exercise can be an addiction, and have been.  I look past the science, I look past the signs and I look past the advice to my own detriment, every time.

Three weeks in and I have literally hit a wall. Game Over, do not pass begin, do not collect R200.

Enter the 'overtraining syndrome'.  As a professional, I know that as far as exercise goes, less is more.  I preach the importance of rest and recovery so often to my clients.  When your volume of exercise exceeds your recovery capacity you are going to lose strength and you are going to lose fitness.

Yet applying it to my own story was a different story all together.

The fact of the matter is that strength improvements occur after your rest period, and sometimes if you have been hitting it excessively hard it is going to take more than just one day to recover, it can take a few days depending on the intensity.

What most don't realize is that overtraining is a very real danger for those that are engaging in a physical culture.  It is no secret that in order to improve your performance in something you have to work hard at it.  Hell, in order to be the best, in order to beat your opponent you are going to need to put in the time.

Hard work will however break you down, putting in the time to be the best also means putting in the rest. Its the recovery period that makes us stronger, without it your performance will just plateau.

Not only have I repeated these very things to my clients, but I have instilled it into their way of thinking.  However, now actually experiencing the signs and symptoms from first hand experience can I better apply my teachings.

I have been personally HITTing it hard everyday, not having any down time, my rest days have been spent actively resting, where I should have had my feet up and allowed my body recovery, I have chosen to instead of shifting heavy objects around hit the hills at ridiculous hours in the morning, in the rain.

Before you burn yourself out, before you hit that wall, look out for any general aches and pains in your body,   signs of fatigue, drowsiness, decreased appetite, a notable drop in your performance, insomnia, and anything outside of your normal superhero capabilities, are generally signs of 'face plant syndrome'

Wise up, feet up and slow down.