Brisbane Hosts Canadian Strength Coach

Krista Down Under!

I officially have the best job in the world as I sit here on the balacony of a flat in Brisbane Australia surrounding by a beautiful view of the city. The temperature is about 22 degrees, cooling down after an ultra bright sunny 27 degree day.

I arrived early yesterday morning (April 24th) and have met all three of my distance clients, only one of which I had met before (Lisa Stokes http://www.lisastokes.com.au/). My two other clients, one a powerlifter and personal trainer and the other an Aussie Rules Football player and personal trainer / director of training, I had never met personally.

I have trained twice with one of my clients as he does not compete in powerlifting so I can tap him phyiscally with no negative effects other than the obvious pain, torture and suffering. The other two have a poewrlifting contest tomorrow so no abuse for them. They are on rest and ensuring they are eating, drinking and supplementing properly to weigh in perfectly.

Here's what we did training wise thus far:

Yesterday - Arms

A1 - Powell Side Raise - 2 x 7/7

A2 - Trap 3 DB Raise - 2 x 7/7

B1 - DB L-Fly on Knee - 2 x 7/7

B2 - DB 90 degree roation (head supported) - 2 x 7/7

This really served as a quick little upper body structural balance assessment. His rotator cuff strength was worse than his trap 3 strength although that could be improved also. It is very very common to have structural imbalances in these areas... when Charles runs his level 1 PICP certification courses, 90% of participants fail the structural balance tests in the remedial lifts (trap 3 and rotator movements). The more specialized the athlete and the more one trains and has trained (improperly) the more significant the imbalance.

So his program will start with DB L-Fly and Trap 3 DB Raise as A1 / A2

Then we got into the meat of the workout...

C1 - 1 Arm Hammer Grip DB Scott Curl - 4 x 7,7,5,5 (9 to 10 kg)

C2 - 1 Arm Overhead DB Tricep Ext. (seated) - 4 x 7,7,5,5 (8 to 10 kg)

D1 - Close Grip BB Bench Press - 3 x 9 (115 to 135 lbs)

D2 - BB Overhand Curl - 3 x 9 (45 lbs)

D3 - Repeat D1 - 3 x 9 (little rest between each exercise)

We flipped the order of these the next set (BB curl then CG Bench and back to BB curl), and 3rd set was same as above.

E1 - Double DB Pullovers (lying) - 2 x 11 (this was for stretching out the scapulae tissue / flexibilty purposes... a great exercise to include in everyone and anyone's training program) these are not meant to be done heavy. It is about the stretch, increasing ROM and blood flow to the muscles. You must choose weights taht allow you to work under the pain here and really get your head in these.

E2 - Hammer Grip Chins with scapulae stretch / retraction at bottom - 2 x max - working to one rep under failure. The focus is on the stretch at the bottom... they are not meant to be grinded out.

Today was Legs... killer... awesome!

After some dynamic warmups...

A1 - BB 1 1/4 Front Squats - 6,6,4,4 (115 to 145 lbs)

A2 - BB Snatch Grip Deadlifts - 6,6,4,4 (185 t0 225 lbs)

Then for fun... "eye of the tiger!"... we added in finisher with the deadlift of 3 singles at 255 (we were using double overhand grip which affects how much weight you can pull). THEN... for even more "fun" a final set of 135 x 30... this was insane?! We were rolling around the floor after that.

B1 - DB Bulgarian Split Squats - 3 x 7/7 (20 to 35 lb DB's)

B2 - Seated 1 Legged Hamstring Curl (toe pointed / inward) - 3 x 7/7

C1 - Jumping Split Squat Finisher - 3 x 30 reps with 10 lb med ball

12 minutes walking on treadmill... this was absoluately neccessary as we could barely walk after this simple but killer workout.

My goal is to train every day... earning my PW carbs!

I am eating very clean "lean and green" and getting 150 grams of carbs in the form of 2 PW meals, one liquid immediate PW (pineapple juice based) and one meal 1.5 hours after. Today my PW meal was oatmeal with pea protein powder, quinoi milk and honey.

I am very fortunate as I am staying with Lisa and she lives directly beside a health food store that has organic meats, veggies ect... The quinoi milk is new and highly recommended. I saw oat milk too which I may try.

We are now preparing food for competition day tomorrow. Steaming some sweet potatoes and I have a batch of organic beef and chicken to cook up. I also bought some whole food protein bars like spurilina and barley flavour and ginger/chocolate.

Food wise, my goal is to eat Lean and Green 90% of the time here with my high carb PW feedings. Plus I will go out for dinner 1 or 2x while here and eat clean but a bit less lean and green. I am aiming to try kangeroo and crocodile. By eating quite clean, I can feel fine about airplane food on the way back. I always get the diabetic meals, but still much higher in carbs than I would normally prepare for myself. I will make sure to stock up on some high protein foods at the health food store also.

I have a busy agenda while here... the bulk of the BioSignature assessments are on Sunday with a Train the Trainers seminar in the middle of that day also (2 hours). I am doing 16 BioSigs in total while here with everyone from professional waterskiiers, powerlifters, marathon runners to everyday people aiming to improve health and body composition.

I love the gym that his hosting my stay here... Goodlife in Brisbane. A relatively new gym. The training energy and overall atmosphere is very good. The trainers are amazing. Way ahead of most public gyms. Some of the PT staff writes for some very well known publications like Ironman Australia. Some are strength coaches and exercise physiologists. All that I have met and talked to are not your average public gym PTs. Very impressed with this group overall.

I am very much looking forward to Lisa and Rod's competition tomorrow. They are going to kick some powerlifting ass and attain many new PR's. Lisa has dropped around 5% body fat while maintaining her lean mass since I started working with her in January. She has lost 10 lbs and was alreayd a lean 16% bodyfat when we started. She is the most compliant client I have ever worked with an a very inspiration lady herself with a big future both in strength coaching and competing. Look for more from her!

Well back to work for me... I think I need to eat soon too (what else is new!).

In strength down under!

Krista