NFL Picks for Week 4 and Fitness News

Week four of the NFL season is upon us! Let’s see what I have in store this week:

Already Played: Washington: 38; New York: 31- As you can see, I failed with this pick right here. Kirk Cousins had a rough outing, which at this point in his career, is a rarity. For Eli, it’s a rarity to see him rush for a touchdown.

Baltimore over Carolina: 24-17- Carolina struggled at home last week. It appears that their lack of talent on offense maybe catching up with them. This one may be even lower scoring here, with two very talented defenses taking the field.

NFL Rivalry of the Week: Chicago over Green Bay: 27-19- The Packers may very well be on their last chance at the division already, barring a complete meltdown by both Chicago and Detroit. If they lose here, then they sit at 0-2 in NFC North play. Not a good hole to be in.

Houston over Buffalo: 20-17- Houston has to take advantage of this situation. Buffalo is not as good as their record but Houston has the edge in talent, and the home crowd.

Indianapolis over Tennessee: 23-14- Just in, Charlie Whitehurst will get the gig in Tennessee. Like Houston, the Colts have to take advantage of this situation against the Titans. If they do that, they stand at 2-0 in the division. The problem? They’re already 0-2 against playoff teams.

Detroit over New York Jets: 21-16- The Lions Matt Stafford should have a field day here. Detroit’s offense hasn’t looked like what it should be, so look for a closer game. The Jets can score at any time but the offense is very inconsistent at times.

NFL Snoozer of the Week: Oakland over Miami: 13-9- Wow. Fans in London may see a touchdown scored in this one. Two teams with very laughable talent on the offensive side.

Pittsburgh over Tampa Bay: 31-10- The Steelers look to take their momentum in an upset win over Carolina over a struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. Shouldn’t be too hard.

Lock of the Week: San Diego over Jacksonville: 42-13- Blake Bortles era begins. Can he get a win this week? Not until he has more talent around him. He’s playing in real time now.

Atlanta over Minnesota: 20-19- Teddy Time begins in Minnesota. Can he hold it close? Recent history tells us that the Falcons might just be that very talented team to get upset this week, as their play on the road is meager.

Philadelphia over San Francisco: 34-21- The 49ers are struggling while the Eagles remain hot. Nick Foles and co. may not have much of a problem here.

NFC Game of the Week: Dallas over New Orleans: 34-28- The Cowboys and Saints have a little bit of animosity these days fueled by none other than Rob Ryan. In the end, the Cowboys put up just enough to upset the Saints.

AFC Game of the Week: New England over Kansas City: 21-13- The Patriots offense isn’t that hot this year but the defense is. That’s going to be big in this game.

Byes of the Week:

Seahawks- Still the number one team in the NFL according to most. I disagree (see below)

Bengals- The Bengals may be the only team in the NFL to have zero struggles on either side of the ball. Number one team.

Browns- Brian Hoyer has made it through three weeks as the starter. Don’t blame him for their 1-2 start.

Cardinals- My prediction in the pre-season was taking the NFC West. Through four weeks, they lead it.

Broncos- Still couldn’t beat the Seahawks. Maybe they just played a Super Bowl XLIX preview? Maybe one more shot.

Rams- The defense has to play up to their potential. If they do, they’re back in it.

Fitness news: Workouts

Cardio Sprint Workout:

Sprint workout coming up at six. I’ll call this upcoming workout The Go-To, since it’s becoming my recurring workout:

One Mile Run
10 Hill Sprints (jog back down the hill for rest)
10 20 yard Lunges
10 Ladder Sprints (going at least ten yards further with each set, jog back)
One Mile Run

Shoulder Centuries:

X amount of handstand push-ups (I’m on a wall, okay)
100 shoulder presses per arm
100 front plate raises
100 upright rows
100 shrugs per side (I rarely do these, but I’m in the mood)

Zero Cardio, 800 Reps, Fast As Possible:

100 Push-ups
100 Decline Push-ups
100 Two Point Rows per arm
100 Total Weighted Lunges (Weight on one side, this hits the obliques too)
100 Bicep Curls per arm
100 Suspended Dips
100 Upright Rows
100 Full Sit-ups plus about 20 straight minutes of ab work

By the way, use as little rest as possible, and get this done as fast as possible.

I sit two weeks out from the NPC Natural Pennsylvania. Time to take the carbs down just a little for these last two weeks, just a little. Still have a lot to do to get ready these days. Time to crush these final weeks.

My Next Event: Halloween Havoc! Nope, it’s not a show, it’s just Todd wanting to look good at Halloween. I’m dressing up as a Virant Knight, so I’ll def be posting some pics of that. Ordered yesterday, can’t wait to wear it.

Shoot Time: Hoping to get that last shoot of the year confirmed. If so, it’ll be around contest time too. Another event I can’t wait to get going with.

Hunt For October: In addition to the NFL and fitness, I love MLB. Prediction time, although my Rays (yes, the Rays) are missing out for the first time in a while:

Wildcard NL: Pittsburgh over San Francisco- Is anyone peaking at the right time more than the Pirates?

Wildcard AL: Kansas City over Oakland- The Royals? Yep, with the A’s faltering down the stretch, giving way to the Angels, it’s the Royals who get in.

ALCS: Los Angeles Angels over Baltimore Orioles- Hate to say it, but the O’s get eliminated here. LA is a big market but I’m a small market type. The Angels are just too good here. Hottest team in the AL.

NLCS: Los Angeles Dodgers over St. Louis Cardinals- The City of Angels reps the entire MLB in 2014. 2014 belongs to Los Angeles.

World Series: Angels over Dodgers. The Angels are just way too hot to be stopped. If one team can keep it up for one more month, one team that wants it, it’s the Los Angeles Angels. For the first time since 2002, Los Angeles gets a World Series, and it’s the “other” Los Angeles team that takes it.

Week 3 NFL Picks and Nifty Workouts

Brought to you by the King of Shredz:

First things first, guys, I have to take care of business. Week Three in the NFL is upon us, being played by great players who have yet to be tried or convicted for child abuse, murder, bounties, domestic violence, substance abuse, or just merely violating personal conduct. Remember the movie ‘Playmakers?’ It was a television show televised by ESPN about a decade ago that basically went over all of the problems that went on in the NFL, in a fictional league of course. There’s a reason why the show was pulled after about one season, and I’ll leave it at that.

The good news is that there are some very classy and talented NFL players who actually appreciate their opportunities. So, without further ado, here are my picks for the week:

Already Played: Atlanta over Tampa Bay: 35-7. This game was a snoozer. It was actually 56-0, Atlanta’s favor before T.J. Yates entered the game. That pretty much tells you that Tampa’s defense is overrated and Josh McCown is a backup.

AFC Game of the Week: San Diego over Buffalo: 27-24- Two weeks ago I would never have guessed that the Buffalo Bills would be in the conversation for anything except due to the fact that they gave Cleveland their first round pick. Now, they are being given a shot at 3-0. I’m still not sold on them yet.

Cincinnati over Tennessee: 28-10- If Jake Locker can be the Jake Locker of Week One and not the one we saw last week, then the Titans may just have a chance here. Why will this not happen? Because the Bengals have one of the best defensive units in the NFL. They’re just too good.

Cleveland over Baltimore: 16-9- I honestly thought Brian Hoyer would be on the bench by now, but he’s done a good enough job to keep Cleveland In contention for the AFC North. As for the Ravens, they’re on the road. The Ravens don’t play well on the road.

Green Bay over Detroit: 31-28- Here’s a shootout…..potentially. The Lions have to score more than a touchdown to beat Green Bay. They just aren’t good enough……..they’re playing the same old Packers and they’re the same old Lions.

Indianapolis over Jacksonville: 20-15- The 0-2 Colts vs. the 0-2 Jaguars. It sounds like a snoozer, but the Colts played against two of the top three teams in the NFL, and lost by a combined total of ten points. Just a tough schedule. Now, it’s smooth sailing. Why isn’t this higher than 20 points? The Colts like to play to the level of their competition.

Lock of the Week: New England over Oakland: 38-6- The Patriots are one of the best in the league at virtually everything. The Raiders are one of the worst at virtually everything. Not a good combo.

New Orleans over Minnesota: 34-17- Maybe the Saints can finally win a game without blowing it. If they can’t beat Minnesota in the Super Dome, then they aren’t beating anyone. That being said, Rob Ryan has to go if this happens. He’s the worst defensive coordinator of all time.

Houston over New York Giants: 28-17- Houston is the luckiest team in the NFL. No offensive talent, or old talent, and they still put up a lot of points, and allow very few. Why? Look at what they’ve played so far. Now they play the Giants and a washed up Eli Manning.

NFC Game of the Week: Philadelphia over Washington: 44-38- Like offense? Here’s one for all of us. Two 2012 draft picks going head to head. Kirk Cousins……yes, Kirk Cousins, vs. Nick Foles. Two high powered offenses, one shootout. If the Redskins put thirty plus points up again, they may as well trade RG3 to the Rams……that’s ironic.

Snoozer of the Week: Dallas over St. Louis: 21-16- I’m not one to bash America’s Team but I also am a fair person and the Cowboys still aren’t on my watch yet as a contender. But, Tony Romo is still way better than Austin Davis. Heck, half of Dallas’s fanbase probably has never even heard of Austin Davis. Who is Austin Davis?

Upset of the Week: Arizona over San Francisco: 23-21- No matter who plays quarterback, the Cardinals are not only the second best team in the conference, they have the second best coach in the NFL in Bruce Arians. He can make something out of nothing.

Miami over Kansas City: 17-16- Close game, but the Chiefs are 2-8 since their 9-0 start last season. Different coach, different quarterback, same sorry-ass Chiefs. But, you have to mention the Dolphins in the same breath. End of the day, the Chiefs always, always, always wear down.

Revenge of the Week: Denver over Seattle: 30-13- Call me crazy? Have you ever seen a vengeful Peyton Manning play in an NFL game? The results speak for themselves.

Carolina over Pittsburgh: 20-13- The Steelers are in danger of falling to 1-2. Remember when the Steelers were one of the NFL’s elite? Remember when the Panthers were a laughingstock? I only hope no Pittsburgh fan will wake up from a four year coma, because they’re in for a rude awakening……..literally.

Chicago over New York Jets: 31-24- Jay Cutler looked like an all-pro last week. Geno Smith is still in his second season and is still mistake prone. Not a good combo.

Nifty Workouts: So, I had a few good ones this week. Let me begin with my One Hundred Rep Nightmare:

100 reps of everything, as many sets as it takes. Rest time is how many reps you have remaining in seconds.

Decline Push-ups

Dumbbell Rows

Lunges

Crunches

Upright Rows

Suspended Dips

Plate Curls

Try it.

Also, before isolating any muscle group, try these before you workout:

Chest: 100 dumbbell fly

Back: 100 pull-ups

Triceps: 100 suspended dips

Biceps: 100 dumbbell curl

Legs: 100 lunges

Shoulders: 100 lateral raise

Abs: 100 full crunches

Before you workout the target muscle group, shock those muscles early.

Give me a weekly shoulder, ab, and cardio attack:

1,000 jump ropes for warm-up
10 minute non-stop ab work

4 sets of each and every movement, 8-12 reps unless specified.
Dumbbell Clean to Press
super-set: Inverted Barbell Presses

Dumbbell Lateral Raise
tri-set: Dumbbell Front Raise
tri-set: Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly

Battling Ropes for 50 reps
tri-set: Rope Face Pull
tri-set: Machine Rear Delt Fly

I’m out! Todd ‘King of Shredz’ Matthews.

Boulder Shoulder Workout and ETC

I have a challenge for all of you. See if you can survive me. See if you can keep up with me. See if you can beat me at my own game. All you have to do is the following: Two workouts a day, every day, eat zero cheat meals (I like to cycle my carbs and calories, it works, trust me), and repeat this for a consistent period of time. If you can remain consistent with my style, then it’s all good, because you just scored a new lifestyle. What? You say you don’t have time for a two-a-day. Then get up forty-five minutes earlier, it’s all you’ll probably need. Forty-five minutes is usually all I need to get in a killer workout. Then you may ask, “why don’t you just go an hour and a half to two hours in one session” My answer to that question is just that I don’t see two straight hours doing one workout feasible for anyone. Why would I wear myself down the first hour only to struggle through the second hour

All I need is forty-five minutes to an hour, and that’s it. My philosophy is to get in, get it in, and get out, get on with your day. Two hours in one workout is going to lead to a two and a half to three hour gym session. Why? Most people like to talk to their buddies when they workout. I usually workout with one workout partner, or alone. Lately, I’ve been going at it alone because it’s tough to mesh a schedule together.  And since 2014 has been my greatest year ever, only my main workout partner can workout with me. If I’m working out alone, I guess God becomes my workout partner, or perhaps my workout leader. But here’s the score, my workout buddy and I rarely talk during the workout, because we both have lives and we both have things to do. Want a list? Here:

Other things to do:

Keep house clean or get kicked out

School work (we’re both in school)

Work….don’t give me that we both work as trainers nonsense. Spend a day in my shoes and see how fun it is to train clients from 5:00am to 8:00pm with a few gaps during the day, but it’s no one way straight eight hour shift. You cater to your clients.

Pay numerous bills: school, phone, car, car insurance, rent (yeah, I get charged to live at home, thank God my dad’s tough on me)

Maintain my social networking, such as this wordpress, facebook, and instagram. I gain new followers everyday and I’m no longer a fledgling in this fitness community.

Practice my poses for both shows and shoots, I have both coming up in just over a month……Happy October.

Okay, so we both have lives way outside the fitness realm of things. So what if I don’t have a brat or two to spend my hard earned money on? I’m twenty-three and I’m fortunate to have never made THAT mistake in my life. Man, I hope I didn’t jinx myself!

Anyway, onto phase two of this lovely article. I like to work hard, work fast, and get it in. Currently, I’m experiencing some chronic knee issues, so my philosophy on cardio is getting reinforced through this too. “Lift weights really fast,” as one notable gym member puts it. That’s my philosophy, just go, fast, with each and every lift. From arm workouts to shoulder workouts to chest workouts. I like to literally fly through my workout, taking few breaks, under thirty seconds for the majority of the time, unless I need to take a water break, but I usually have some right beside me. 

Today I’m sharing my boulder shoulder workout from today. I went through roughly 36 sets of fast moving, fast paced shoulder exercises. This isn’t counting my cardio starter, which was a sledge hammer and tractor tire until I was completely winded, and a plank style ab workout, which rocked.

Four sets of every single movement shown here. For reps, just go heavy and go until you can’t get another rep, go to complete failure. What I mean by this is to go until you cannot move that weight another inch!

Tri-set: Arnold Press/Standing Barbell Press/Standing Dumbbell Clean into Press

Super-set: Lateral Raise/Front Barbell Raise

Super-set: Rope Face Pull/Seated Machine Rear Delt Fly

Super-set: Battle Ropes (50 reps as fast as possible)/Front Plate Steering Wheel Twist

 

Boulder Shoulder Workout and ETC

I have a challenge for all of you. See if you can survive me. See if you can keep up with me. See if you can beat me at my own game. All you have to do is the following: Two workouts a day, every day, eat zero cheat meals (I like to cycle my carbs and calories, it works, trust me), and repeat this for a consistent period of time. If you can remain consistent with my style, then it’s all good, because you just scored a new lifestyle. What? You say you don’t have time for a two-a-day. Then get up forty-five minutes earlier, it’s all you’ll probably need. Forty-five minutes is usually all I need to get in a killer workout. Then you may ask, “why don’t you just go an hour and a half to two hours in one session” My answer to that question is just that I don’t see two straight hours doing one workout feasible for anyone. Why would I wear myself down the first hour only to struggle through the second hour

All I need is forty-five minutes to an hour, and that’s it. My philosophy is to get in, get it in, and get out, get on with your day. Two hours in one workout is going to lead to a two and a half to three hour gym session. Why? Most people like to talk to their buddies when they workout. I usually workout with one workout partner, or alone. Lately, I’ve been going at it alone because it’s tough to mesh a schedule together.  And since 2014 has been my greatest year ever, only my main workout partner can workout with me. If I’m working out alone, I guess God becomes my workout partner, or perhaps my workout leader. But here’s the score, my workout buddy and I rarely talk during the workout, because we both have lives and we both have things to do. Want a list? Here:

Other things to do:

Keep house clean or get kicked out

School work (we’re both in school)

Work….don’t give me that we both work as trainers nonsense. Spend a day in my shoes and see how fun it is to train clients from 5:00am to 8:00pm with a few gaps during the day, but it’s no one way straight eight hour shift. You cater to your clients.

Pay numerous bills: school, phone, car, car insurance, rent (yeah, I get charged to live at home, thank God my dad’s tough on me)

Maintain my social networking, such as this wordpress, facebook, and instagram. I gain new followers everyday and I’m no longer a fledgling in this fitness community.

Practice my poses for both shows and shoots, I have both coming up in just over a month……Happy October.

Okay, so we both have lives way outside the fitness realm of things. So what if I don’t have a brat or two to spend my hard earned money on? I’m twenty-three and I’m fortunate to have never made THAT mistake in my life. Man, I hope I didn’t jinx myself!

Anyway, onto phase two of this lovely article. I like to work hard, work fast, and get it in. Currently, I’m experiencing some chronic knee issues, so my philosophy on cardio is getting reinforced through this too. “Lift weights really fast,” as one notable gym member puts it. That’s my philosophy, just go, fast, with each and every lift. From arm workouts to shoulder workouts to chest workouts. I like to literally fly through my workout, taking few breaks, under thirty seconds for the majority of the time, unless I need to take a water break, but I usually have some right beside me. 

Today I’m sharing my boulder shoulder workout from today. I went through roughly 36 sets of fast moving, fast paced shoulder exercises. This isn’t counting my cardio starter, which was a sledge hammer and tractor tire until I was completely winded, and a plank style ab workout, which rocked.

Four sets of every single movement shown here. For reps, just go heavy and go until you can’t get another rep, go to complete failure. What I mean by this is to go until you cannot move that weight another inch!

Tri-set: Arnold Press/Standing Barbell Press/Standing Dumbbell Clean into Press

Super-set: Lateral Raise/Front Barbell Raise

Super-set: Rope Face Pull/Seated Machine Rear Delt Fly

Super-set: Battle Ropes (50 reps as fast as possible)/Front Plate Steering Wheel Twist

 

The Big Weekend

Wow, what a weekend! First it was a day long photoshoot with bbpics photography and then it was on to Pittsburgh for the NPC Pittsburgh to compete with some of the best in the region. What a weekend, and what a fun time too! I had a blast doing this and I’m more than up to doing this again soon. This was by far the biggest weekend for me from a fitness standpoint, with shooting and showing occurring in the same weekend, and now its onto the summer but I have a lot of work yet to do for the final seven months of 2014. 

A few weeks after placing eighth out of fifteen at the NPC Natual Ohio, I received a call from bbpics photography to see if I were in contest shape, which I was, being only two and a half weeks out of the NPC Pittsburgh. I let them know immediately that I was interested in doing so. We were to shoot all day on Thursday, May 1st, and then I proceeded to take the captain to Morgantown, West Virginia where he was going to work with some local college students. 

 We went to work and immediately picked up where we left off last year, by visiting the Panhandle Trail in Weirton, West Virginia. Many of you may know of Weirton, which gained some fame after the movie Super 8 was filmed on many locations in this former steel mill town. The Trail itself has a history of its own, as it served as a railroad that led all the way to Maryland at some point, before being converted into the trail that it is today. 

We began to experience a light rain, so we decided to take a break and eat at Dee Jays, a place that is famed for its ribs, though I’m a Caesar salad guy when it comes to this place. After a one hour eating break, it was back out to the trail for another two hours to do some fitness shots. This was fun, and I had a great time getting into a hardcore junkyard look, all the while showing some love for my Indianapolis Colts, which I always like to show off during shoots.

 You can see the classic blue horseshoe on the hat in this snap, and it’s always fun to rep the city of Indy in anything I do. So for two more hours we snapped some fitness shots, and then it was onto Morgantown and back home where I did a light, but higher volume basement workout while watching my Memphis Grizzlies play the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sadly, we didn’t get the result we were looking for, and ended up losing by more than a few possessions.

Friday came and I traveled to Pittsburgh by myself for the first time. My dad was off, but sooner or later I have to learn how to handle myself in a large city, so I did just that, driving there and back twice in one day while hanging out at my gym over in Weirton for some of the time as well as eating my favorite day before show meal, a large Greek salad with ten ounces of chicken and ten ounces of gyro. It seems like a lot of calories, and it is, but remember that I only eat once a day when it comes to solid food and on top of that, I don’t like to peak before shows, as I feel I look my best if I don’t decide to peak. 

After checking in and getting a spray tan, I went back home and self tanned on two coats of tan, since the spray had not darkened me enough. I’m one of those unlucky few whose skin likes to repel any and all tanning products, the sun, and the lights inside the tanning beds. This has to stem from my Welsh, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry, since my Italian and Native American decided to confine itself to my facial features only and left the skin color out of the equation. 

Saturday came and it was showtime. This was a really cool part, because the Pittsburgh Pro is held at the same time, on the same day, at the same venue, and their classes split time with our classes. I was in Men’s Physique Class A, and I had never been part of such a large and competitive class, with twenty three of us looking to win this one. We waited in line for nearly a half hour and then finally filed onstage, where the seating area during pre-judging was half empty. 

Onstage, we each filed out one by one, went through our front, back, front turns with hands on hip or in pocket. Luckily, I had practiced my routine this time, and took as much time as I needed to to show the judges what I had. Then, they called us out in sets of six, where we were then to return back to the diagonal line. Now, came the actual call outs. I wasn’t called out in the first call out, something that is becoming a little too routine for me these days, but in a class like this, it didn’t phase me as much as it had in the past. I was the first one called out in the second and I spent time in the center, which was awesome, but was ultimately moved to the side. This meant that I wasn’t fated to land in the top five, but I was considered. Looking at the results later on, I learned that I had finished a solid eighth place (for the second time in 2014) out of twenty three hopefuls. 

At twenty three years and one week old, I’m not saying that I did great in the show, but I did good. Also, I did what many competitors did not do this past weekend, and that was to shoot before a show, which is usually something that pro competitors do. So, it’s a victory within itself, but there is much more to come. I’m taking a three month break from competition, as my next show is twelve weeks from now, the NGA Steel Valley Classic, taking place in the Youngstown, Ohio region. Here, I look to not only place high but to win my class and hopefully be compared with other class winners and take the overall. I will be shooting more during the summer and staying lean, as well as getting leaner!

Did I mention that my NHL team plays north of the border? We’re a hard luck team, but they got some younger talent. Let’s go, Jets!

Arm Day to Remember

It only took one hour. One hour of my time to just totally blast my arms out of the water. If there is one thing I love about training each muscle group only once a week (legs twice) during the summer months, it is the crazy, insane, unbelievable pump I can get off of some of my workouts. The intensity was high, the volume was even higher, and the sets were something in the fifty to sixty set range. Yeah, you read that right. Fifty to sixty sets. This was one of those workouts that one needs to see to believe, so without further ado:

8 sets/30 reps 

Suspended Dips came with eight solid sets for thirty reps apiece. I inserted dips (my personal favorite triceps exercise) in a super-set, and in a quad set. This exercise was rocking my triceps big!

 

Incline Curl, slow reps for a five count. As many reps as possible per set.

Both the exercise itself and the style rocked! Try a five count up and a three count back to the starting point and then take in the pump that it brought to the biceps. This was part of my quad set and it consisted of five sets for as many reps as I could go for.

 

Band Pressdowns. Five sets of thirty reps

Five sets and thirty reps of band pressdowns. The key here is once I couldn’t get a full extension, I would revert to a half rep method and go until I hit thirty reps. Talk about an exhausting, underrated movement. This was also part of the quad set!

 

Wide Grip Curl. 5 sets of 28 reps.

This was done in a half way up, halfway down, fourteen full variety, called the twenty eight method. It added a skin splitting pump to the biceps like none other! Also a part of my infamous quad set!

 

Three sets/Fifteen reps

The seated barbell curl may be the least common biceps exercise out there, but it works. I went for three sets and a total of fifteen reps per set. What I like about the seated barbell curl is the tension it keeps on the biceps throughout the entire movement. This was part of the seated biceps curls/suspended dips super-set. It’s a keeper in my book!

 

Eight sets/Variety of reps, between four and ten

Eight sets, four to ten reps, all until near or complete failure to add some shock into this arm workout. Super set with standing barbell curl.

 

Eight sets/four to ten reps

Part of the super-set with the push downs, the barbell curl rocked my arms like none other. Go heavy, heavy, heavy on this exercise and the push downs.

 

I also did a finisher of three sets and twenty reps each of the rope pressdown and machine curl. This ended my arms workout. By the time the workout was over, I felt like I had just done a leg workout. I fully recommend this complete workout as a way to shock the arms into oblivion. I’ll feel this one tomorrow.

 

 

 

Client Survivor!!

Today, I want to talk about getting your clients motivated to keep coming into the gym and working out. Now that it’s summer, I do admit that my clients do get a little bit of leeway as I do let them come in the gym less as long as they can prove to me that they are doing several fitness related events outside of the gym. For instance, I have clients that love doing 5ks or just running on the Panhandle Trail in our rust belt town of Weirton, West Virginia. I’m also guilty of this, although I do lift every single morning, I love getting outside and running during this time of the year. Now we need to ask ourselves the question: How do we keep these people, many of whom have many priorities over fitness, motivated from the months of September (fall comes early up here) to March (winter loves to hang around up here)?

My crew and I came up with a great solution at the gym that we all work/live at, Anytime Fitness, in Weirton. We have a very successful client base that has allowed us to hire six trainers plus our personal training manager within eighteen months…..this gives us seven trainers. Seven trainers trying to keep tabs on one hundred and seventy six people…..well, in actuality only about thirty five are mine, but I know nearly every single client at this place. Now that you have that kind of information in place, you can easily see that we have our work cut out for us, and we are constantly working around the clock, even as I write this, to keep our clients accountable for their actions.

Our solution? Anytime Fitness Survivor…..this really mimics the actual Survivor show, only that there are no Tribal Councils, but the game is points based……which pretty much means that once a client is mathematically eliminated, they have voted themselves out of the game. However, we don’t merge Tribes, so the Tribes compete as if they were a team, racking up points as the season goes on. 

For the first season, we only used four Tribes, with each trainer leading a tribe (when we started this early in the year, we only had three trainers plus the training manager, but the new trainers were able to observe as they got hired later on). I led the Matsing Tribe, another led Tandang, a third trainer led Kalabaw, and the manager led Dangrayne. If any of you guys are fans of the show, you know that these Tribes are from the actual show, Survivor. We held a draft/lottery in order to divide the Tribes, allowing us to protect five clients to have on our Tribes. The other clients were selected by lottery and any new client would go with Dangrayne, as they did not take part in the lottery process, but were added later on literally two weeks before Survivor began. 

We held a points based system, which allowed our clients to score points over a period of three months, March 1st to May 31st. Here is how the clients racked up points: Body fat percentage loss, gym visits, food log entries, and of course, individual challenges plus one Tribe Challenge, which was ultimately won by Kalabaw, who was awarded thirty bonus points to add on to their Tribe total. The second place Tribe in the challenge took twenty points, the Matsing Tribe, and the third place Tribe took ten bonus points, Dangrayne. 

We are currently in the process of adding up the points for our Tribes, my Matsing Tribe racked up a solid 491 points over the course of three months. We are awaiting word on Dangrayne, Kalabaw, and Tandang, although it is clear that Tandang is not going to be the victor, but it will boil down to Matsing, Kalabaw, and Dangrayne. 

The first season was really successful and we learned a ton. Now, I am currently planning the second season. Here are a few changes that I have made:

*We are going to court seven Tribes, each containing twenty five clients. They will be: Ulong, Savai’i, Koror, Pagong, Ogakor, Ometepe, and Zapetera…..with each trainer representing  a different tribe color. For instance, I will again be having my Tribe play in blue, so we will be Ulong. 

*I may even change the name to Survivor/Biggest Loser, because I came up with a concept of having two divisons, Warrior and Blast…..the clients that choose the Warrior Division will have the opportunity to earn challenge points while the Blast Division will focus on bodyfat loss. This is due to not every client being able to complete the rigorous challenges, although many who needed to lose fat did well during the first season. 

*Two divisions means two winners, so each division will be recognized, as well as an MVP for each, an MVP for each Tribe, a Breakout winner for each Tribe and each division, and the top 5 will also be recognized for each division and each Tribe. This will encourage competition til the end. 

Next week I’ll reveal the winner of Survivor, Season One. Until then, keep looking out for my posts!!