PROGRAM DESIGN
A comprehensive systematic plan
When designing a program, there are many things to take into account and some things must come before others. For example, before we lift weights we must make sure the joints are stable and capable of handling the load, the muscles are capable of stretching and allowing the joints to get into the right position, and the nervous system is sending the proper signal to the right muscles.
If we have been sitting down, and not moving around much our body has adapted to that lifestyle and if we don't adequately prepare our body for exercise we are setting ourselves up for failure. I heard a good quote a long time ago and I forget who said it but was something like "don't run to get fit, get fit so that you can run." It left an impression on me because I had been working as a trainer for some time and I would see so many people come off the couch and into the gym, they would bust their ass trying to lose weight as quickly as possible and so many of them would end with injuries.
I believe the fitness industry is partly responsible for this, and take part of the blame myself. We glamorize the high intensity exercises like the olympic lifts, and for marketing purposes we say things like "lose 10 pounds in 10 days." If you have not been working out in a while, trying to do an olympic lift or drastically decrease body-fat is a horrible idea. I have also made the mistake of giving clients what they wanted as opposed to what they needed. I had a hard time in the past slowing things down and doing it the proper way. The intense drill sergeant trainers that did crazy circuit training always seems to get more clients than me and I would get frustrated by that and try to incorporate that into my training.
As I learned more and became more confident in my training I realized the importance of training people the right way, following a systematic comprehensive approach and staying true to myself and my beliefs.
In the beginning we focus on flexibility and mobility. This allows us to move more efficiently, allows our joints to get into the correct position, and enables us to re-train movement patterns.
Then we train the nervous system. This is done through balance exercises and bodyweight movements/positions. Training the nervous system is important because the nervous system is what controls the muscles, if we are sending a poor signal to the muscles how can we effectively train the muscles?
After we begin to move properly, then we can start adding a load, changing the speed, and combining movements. I think it is ridiculous to expect someone to perform a loaded back squat after many years of sedentary movement. I am a fan of crossfit, I love heavy deadlifts, I am amazed by what gymnasts can do, but I am also aware of how difficult that stuff is and the amount of training required to get to that stage. We must crawl before we can walk.
After that we can now begin doing circuits if we want to decrease body-fat, we can start loading up the weights if we want to gain muscle, we can begin jumping around on boxes to improve vertical leap, or we can begin running around for better cardio. I understand that the basics of flexibility and mobility are hard to market but it is a critically important step, and there is a reason we enjoy watching sports. And I believe that reason is we realize how incredible these athletes really are, how much time and effort they have spend getting to that level. I have had the pleasure of working with many top notch athletes and I found it interesting how in tune, and aware of their bodies they were, and they understood how important it was to follow the proper steps and take care of their body, because one mistake could result in a career ending injury.
CONTACT ME
COURSES & TRAINING
WHAT TYPE OF GOALS CAN I HELP YOU WITH
Who the training is for : anyone with a body
-Weight loss
-Toning
-Muscle Definition
-Hypertrophy (muscle gain)
-Posture correction
-Performance based goals
-Core strength
-Injury prevention
-Rehabilitation
-Balance
-Stability
-Mobility
-Strength
-Flexibility
WHY FOCUS ON MOVEMENT INSTEAD OF THE TRADITIONAL EXERCSIES
Discovery of movement
Over the years of training I began to notice a disconnect between what people were doing at the gym to get in shape and what athletes were doing to perfect their craft. I don't know many dancers that bench press. No disrespect to the bench press, for some goals it is important, but we need to be selective in our movements to produce the desired results. Long gone are the days where workouts copy the bodybuilders routine. If you want to look like a dancer, you should eat and move like a dancer. If you want to look like a gymnast, you should and eat and move like a gymnast, and if you want to look like a bodybuilder, you should eat and move like a bodybuilder.
The entire fitness industry was created by bodybuilders. I have a tremendous amount of respect for bodybuilders, and if they had not set the stage I would not be in this position. Bodybuilders train to put on as much muscle mass as humanly possible on to their frame. The exercise selection, diet, cardio, and supplements are all geared towards gaining as much muscle as possible. When the competition is around the corner they switch the program and turn it into an aggressive "cutting" phase. They stop eating carbs, increase cardio, decrease calories and go through emotional hell to decrease body-fat before stepping on stage. If you have ever talked to a body builder or physique competitor before they compete you know what I am talking about. I have worked with bodybuilders that would have to listen to heavy metal music before eating their bland chicken and broccoli meal.
They are extreme athletes and they have an insane amount of self discipline. Unless that is our goal we should not be following that style of programming. And I believe its important to be informed before copying their methods for reducing body-fat. UFC competitors will sometimes drop 10 pounds in 24 hours before a fight, but we don't copy them, so unless you are going to become a bodybuilder I would advise an alternative method.
My job is to teach you that method by discovering the movement patterns that are specific to your goal. The weight routine, cardio, flexibility and diet should be aligned properly with what you are looking to do. My job is to teach you these methods and movements.
"Our physique is a direct result of our movement patterns and diet."
As Gray Cook says "Move well and then move often."
Strong Foundations
WHO I AM
Hello Everybody,
My name is Grant Kennedy. I have worked in the fitness industry for 8 years now and have a variety of different certifications, which I will list below. 8 years ago I had very little knowledge about fitness, but was fascinated by the complexity of the human body. We are in control of this amazingly complex organism that has multiple systems all working together at the same time. I worry that we have created a society that does not require our bodies to work in an optimum state, and have lost appreciation for how complex and beautiful our bodies are. We are so good at moving that after we learn how to perform an action it becomes automatic and subconscious. We have so much control and potential with our bodies, we are capable of such extraordinary movements, we can change the shape of our body, we can increase our strength, we can become more aware, we can train to jump higher or run faster, we can teach our bodies to use oxygen more efficiently, and the best part is we have barely scratched the surface of whats possible.
We are creating a society that requires less and less movement, and we are quickly seeing the results . We are getting heavier, slower, weaker and less coordinated. Medications are enabling us to live a longer life, but they are also making us lazier and less proactive. I worry that we have forgotten the basics, and no longer appreciate what we have. We don't breathe well, we allow stress to eat away at our body, we have lost the flexibility and strength we once had.
I remember a time when I was 7 years old and playing outside my grandfathers house, I would run around jump, slide, and wrestle all day. Not once did I feel like my joints were going to give out or I was going to strain a muscle. I believe I was operating at my most optimum levels at that time and as I became more sedentary I not only lost some of those abilities but also forgot about them and didn't even realize that I had lost them. It was not until I started studying movement that I realized how much my body had suffered.
I have made it my personal mission to try and get back to that feeling of freedom and unrestricted movement I once had as a child. I want my muscles to be flexible yet strong, my joints to have mobility and stability, my respiratory system capable of sprints as well as endurance, I want to be able to add on muscle as well as decrease body fat. I work towards optimizing my body's capabilities and making the best use of this system, because it's only a matter of time before that is no longer an option.
I have begun to experience my quality of life improve as I have trained and would like to share that feeling with as many people as possible. When my body is operating well, my mind is also operating well. When I am helping other people improve their quality of life using the techniques that have worked for me, I am doing my job. The feeling I get when helping another person become more in control of their life, happier and more aware is a feeling that I have been unable to find anywhere else in life.
Grant Kennedy NASM-CPT, NASM-CES, NESTA, NCSF, CAFS, TRX
