Fitness can seem really confusing but when you know how to do it right, your entire life will take on whole new levels of energy and potential!

With infinite opinions and approaches online, ‘paralysis by analysis’ can be a real issue so let’s try to simplify a few things for you.

The simplest, fastest and safest solution is to employ a coach who knows what they’re doing and will build you up gradually. You just have to do the work!

We know that coming into a place like Storm Force Fitness can seem intimidating as you worry about what the people will be like, whether it will be too hard, if it even works and so on.

We get it – we’ve seen it all before and have helped hundreds and hundreds of people just like you so you’re in good hands and won’t be the odd one out!

When we talk about things like ‘strength and conditioning’ and ‘high intensity intervals’ some people are concerned it’s just for athletes.

This is understandable until you realise that what we’ve done is take the best science and physiology-based concepts and mould them into a complete method that works for anyone.

It doesn’t matter how fit or unfit you are because everything can be scaled up or down. For instance, a beginner might squat 10 reps with an 8kg kettlebell whilst their experienced friend squats a bar with 100kg on it! 

Here’s a brief guide to our ‘secret sauce’ and why it works so well.

You will always make better progress if you use your gym time to get stronger, fitter and add lean muscle – don’t try to ‘burn fat at the gym’ (this is a very common mistake).

If you want to shed body fat as a priority, you need to get your nutrition right whilst you do the right training and we provide everything you need with our support resources.

Back to the training methods for now…

If you want to look and feel your best you need to achieve five key things:

Increased Strength

You don’t need to become a powerlifter, but increased strength does so much for injury prevention, self-confidence and muscle tone.

To really improve strength you need to work with heavy weights (relative to your level) in a low rep range (3-6 reps per set).

It’s important to realise that you can get much stronger without gaining in body size. The two can come together but strength gains are largely a change in the function of your nervous system.

Increased Muscle Mass

When we talk about gaining lean muscle, it can conjure up images of big bodybuilders, but adding some lean muscle tissue is critical for every human on the planet.

More muscle will give you a more shapely, athletic body and also increase your metabolism, making it much easier to keep your body fat levels down.

You don’t need to get huge but you should look to add a few kilograms of muscle.

Now here’s a game changer for many people…

Muscle is more dense than fat which means 1kg of muscle takes up less space than 1kg of fat.

So, if you gained 5kg of muscle and lost 5kg of fat, you would weigh the same but actually be smaller and more compact with a much more impressive body shape.

Read that again if you’re worried about getting bulky lifting weights…

Increased V02max

This sounds super-sciencey but is simply the most amount of oxygen your body can consume during activity.

V02max is so important because it’s the most accurate indicator of longevity. In other words, if you improve this, not only will you be getting fitter but you’ll likely live longer, all else equal.

This can be measured with testing but simply working close to your maximum effort on circuits, conditioning challenges and cardio machines for 5-10 minutes at a time will develop your VO2max.

Building your maximum oxygen capability will simultaneously improve your cardiovascular capacity and heart strength, which is obviously vital for overall health.

Increased Work Capacity

Learning to do hard work in the gym for short bursts is great for adding another string to your fitness bow.

However, in terms of improving your daily life, being able to work at a high intensity makes everything else much more manageable and easier.

If you can push your cardio super hard for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, walking up stairs and all the daily activities that may seem tough right now become easy.

Improved Movement

Many people live in chronic pain and stiffness of varying degrees. 

By training the right way, you can increase your safe range of motion, reduce injury risk and improve your posture.

All in all, improving your movement will help you feel younger, more energetic and more able to do fun activities in your life!

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So What Does All Of This Actually Look Like?

Here is one sample session from our Total Fitness workouts (we’ll teach you exactly how to do everything and how to personalise all the exercises).

Warm Up: (BETTER MOVEMENT)

Cardio x 5 minutes

Full Body Mobility Exercises x 5 minutes

Strength Part 1a: (STRENGTH / POWER)

Deadlift x 3 reps

Vertical Jump x 3 reps

Complete 3 sets of each in 8 minutes

Strength Part 1b: (MUSCLE)

Dumbbell Strict Press x 10-12 reps

Dumbbell Row x 10-12 reps on each side

Active Plank x 30 seconds

Complete 3 sets of each in 8 minutes

Conditioning Part 1a:

Cardio Intervals (Row/Bike/Ski) 

4 x 30 seconds (90 seconds rest)

Conditioning Part 1b:

Kettlebell Swing x 20 reps

Push Up x 10 reps

Car Park Run x 50 metres

Complete as many rounds as possible In 8 minutes (Minimal rest)

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The key message for beginners is that well-designed fitness programming can be adapted to anybody without severe physical impairments.

These concepts are not things that ‘fit people do’ because they are fit. They are fit because they do these things and have improved their performance levels step-by-step over time.

We’ll always do our best to give you the right dose of the right medicine for whatever level you’re currently at! 

From there, how far you progress is entirely down to your goals and your willingness to keep showing up and doing your best.

So there’s no need to be scared! Be excited about your fresh start!

Jon Le Tocq

Owner and Head Coach