I was at friend’s house the other day who invited a few people over. Some I’ve never met before. During the barbeque some people started to come out of their shells a bit and conversations were starting left right and centre.
I met this new guy. Let’s call him Jimmy for the sake of this article.
Jimmy asked me my favourite question in the world…
So what do you do?
I pause. Hoping that he can’t see me if I don’t move.
But Jimmy keeps continuing to stare at me with a ‘well I’m waiting’ kinda look.
I take a big deep breath and mumble “I’m a trainer.”
“What?” Jimmy replies.
“I’m a trainer and run my own private training facility.”
(The reason why I don’t like telling people I’m a trainer is because I get bombarded by the same questions over and over again… ‘how do I lose this? what do you think of that? Can you write me a program for free? Eat the whole egg?’. And even when I do give them advice they don’t take it on board. Most of the time I just lie and tell them I’m a pornstar and I call my self ‘Buck Naked’ to keep my sanity.)
“Oh really? I train too. I train down at such and such with Bobby B. He owns the gym and was ranked 97 in Australia’s So You Think You Can Bodybuild competition.”
“Awesome” I reply and also try to get off the topic.
2011 was a big year for me. I achieved some goals that I thought were unreachable such as moving to my new facility and also becoming a training adviser for a fitness magazine.
I can also admit that I didn’t achieve some things such as launching my first product to you guys.
The weird thing for me last year is that although I achieved so many things, I didn’t really have the drive. I wanted to do stuff but I didn’t really go after it. My attitude was if it happened, it happened. And if it didn’t, it didn’t and I would just accept it.
That turning point
At some stage in your life you have a turning point and you just think, man the fuck up and get to work.
For me that turning point was December the 1st last year at Eminem’s concert. It was my first concert that I had ever been to and it was a true eye opener.
I was just totally blown away from how 60,000 people would attend from all over Melbourne just to see one guy.
From little kids to adults were all there just to see one dude do his thing. Everyone knew his songs and most people were rapping along with him word for word. Unbelievable!
I dunno why but that kinda stuff sends chills down my back to think that he was just a normal average guy who brushed off critics and haters and hustled everyday to get after his dream.
This is a ‘I couldn’t be bothered typing so I thought I would do a video’ blog post by Grant Lofthouse Hey what’s up, hope are doing a’ ok’ It’s been about 4 months since the move to the new gym. And since I’ve been gettin’g tons of emails and comments about what the new [...]
This is a ‘clear up’ blog post by Grant Lofthouse
I was out with friends the other day for dinner, chowing down a ton of meat, chilli beans and salad. And of course training came up as one of our conversations. A friend asked me…
“How would your client’s go at the beep test?”
(The beep test is a V02 Max text that involves running from one end to the other back and forth until you can no longer continue. The goal is to get to the highest level possible)
I replied… “Probably shit house”.
He said… “So finishers aren’t all what they are cracked up to be.”
I said… “No, they just won’t make you a better runner.”
He looked at me kind of weird and utterly confused. Probably just like you right now. So let me explain…
Welcome back to part 2 of my next step in life. Just for this week I’m taking a step down from writing ‘how to’ fitness posts, and giving you an insight into what’s happening in my life right now.
Oh, by the way, if you missed part 1 you can check it out here > My Next Step in Life Part 1.
Anyways to pick up where I left off last time, I’m moving from a 60 odd meter squared building to a 215 meter squared building. Almost 3 and a half times the size of what I’m in right now.
The reason why I’m moving is due to my business growing so much that I actually cannot take on any more clients.
I currently train people in groups of 6 which I find is quite easy for me to handle and I think it’s the right ratio where I can provide enough attention to a client without leaving them in the dark or acting like a fly around dog poo.
When I move to my new facility I will be bumping up the groups from 6 to around 12 and also hiring another trainer.
By the way, if you are a female certified (or soon to be certified) trainer and you would like the opportunity to work with me at my new facility please send your enquires to cardiohaters (at) gmail.com
The motivation and atmosphere that oozes out of the group is unbelievable.
At that’s just from 6 people, can you imagine what it will be like when we add another 6 people. Holy crap that roof will be on fire.
You don’t get that kind of intensity, atmosphere and motivation when you train 1 on 1 or even at a gym. That’s why I don’t offer 1 on 1 training anymore; it’s just too boring for me.
Hey I hope you are kicking ass and having a great day,
At the end of this post I’m going to need your help which will require you to leave me a comment so you can help me solve my problem.
I’m actually in a bit of pain in the moment, it’s that good pain though – you know the feeling after a great training session. Since the knee surgery I’ve just started reintroducing some leg stuff back into my training so yesterday I did some single leg Romanian deadlifts and BB Glute bridges. Everything is going sweet but man it sucks every time I go to sit down and up and it’s going to really suck when I go to foam roll after this blog post, that’s when I’ll REALLY know about it.
Any way right now that’s the least of my worries, I’ve actually got a HUGE problem and I need your help.
At the moment I have so much going on in my head, I literally don’t have an off switch. I wish I did but I don’t, and I’m suffering for it too because most nights I’ll just lie there in bed and I’ll lose sleep from it. The only thing that elevates the pain is writing them down, so today I’m going to share some thoughts with you….
- So many gurus out there state that you shouldn’t train with music because ‘science’ shows:
1.) It affects your focus.
2.) It has no effect on energy or strength levels.
Then how come after a long day of training clients or whenever I’m in a real lethargic mood I chuck on Eminem’s new album recovery and bust out a kickass training session?
- The 2 most underrated exercises in the exercise dictionary are…
Hey there I hope you are doing great,
Today’s post is more about my life and some of the struggles I’ve been through but I promise you there will still be lessons in here to help you lose body fat without cardio and how to over come things when life doesn’t go the way it should.
(Please note that this is not a sob story, I’m not asking for sympathy. There are kids all over the world who have dealt with cancer,sickness and many other problems. This post is purely an insight into my life over the few years and the lessons I have learnt that I would like to share with you.)
Just under 2 weeks ago I went in for my 3rd knee operation, this operation was more of a clean up due to dislocating it in 2007 from playing football. So right now as I speak to you my knee is the size of a balloon.
I was the kind of kid who loved sports and always had a ball in my hand ever since I could well… walk. So to me sport was more important than anything – school, girls, and even sometimes family and friends.
Due to my love for sport I happened to pick up the art of AFL football pretty well. Anyways to cut a long story short I worked my absolute ass off to get into a representative football list in the TAC (remember that photo I showed you in the last post I did from training 2-3 hours a day, well that’s how badly I wanted to get into this team) – The TAC contains the best under 17 and 18 year old footballers in Victoria.
Anyways from pure hard work and determination I made the squad and played round one, and that was HUGE for me, I was one of about 4 sixteen year olds picked out of about 20 new kids to play round one. In fact it was pretty huge for the community. Teachers at school who I didn’t even know were coming up to me and wishing my well for my first game. I was even interviewed on a radio station about my story. I was literally living me dream!
Hey its Grant here, I need your opinion real quick. Do me a favour and read this post and let me know what you think?
What you WANT is super important to me.
About 3 months ago before I started this blog I sat down and thought about what sort of content I wanted to deliver that demonstrated what I stand for.
The way I see it is that the world is in an obesity crisis right now, yet thousand and thousands of trainers are getting certified every year. Something missing?
So when I was thinking of how I should start my blog I could do two things…
1. Be like the other 80+% of the personal trainers out there and put on a nice face and smile and tell everyone what they want to hear and say that you dont need to train hard, you can eat junk and be lazy for the rest of your life.
2. Or I can be a straight shooter and not deliever bull shit info which may offend some people along the way.
I think you know which path I took…
Anyways I got this message on facebook from a reader who has never been a client of mine, nor have I met or even spoken to her in my entire life. I’ve scratched her identity but left the most important part…
Please note: This post is not for the easily offendend and if your not a ‘true’ gym junkie…
Yesterday I was browsing through my Facebook and came across a page that was so true it made me laugh because I hear and see this stuff ALL the time. The page was “Sorry, a diet coke with your meal wont help you lose weight.” I instantly clicked the ‘like’ button and then couldnt but help make a blog post about this and add a few of my own.
You and I see these kind of people all the time, in fact you may even know them or even call them friends (I can deffinately think of a few). You know the ones that think they know everything, make every excuse in the book, wont take any advice yet they still look the same week in week out.
If you do any of the below, dont take it personally. Have a laugh and think of it as contructive criticism.
Now lets move onto 34 things that make you and I Laugh, Slightly Pissed Off and Amazed when it comes to training, diet and mindset…
1.) Sorry, but walking your dog at a nice slow, easy pace 3 times a week wont help you get into shape.
2.) Sorry, but a coffee with no milk but 3 teaspoons of sugar wont help you lose fat.
3.) Sorry, but eating oats with half the bowl filled with honey wont help you lose body fat.
4.) Sorry, but a pizza with no cheese wont help you lose weight.
5.) Sorry, but eating 99% fat free ice creame wont help you lose weight.
