Let's be honest here, most New Years resolutions?

are abandoned by mid-March.

Because the majority of these New Years commitments to working out & eating kale salads all day? Are doomed from the outset (especially looking back at 2020, with gyms closing and opening every 15 minutes)

Regardless of pandemic related setbacks however, they historically tend to start off on the wrong foot...

No real goal setting and poor planning. Honestly, it's not a surprise the average 'diet' allegedly lasts around 5 weeks for most

Before you know it, the majority of people enthusiastically setting lofty 2021 aims? Are back chilling in their PJs vowing they'll do it next year, before everyone's even got their Christmas decorations down

"I want to lose weight" is a sentiment too often followed by an ineffective attempt at doing so

Don't get me wrong, it's a valuable starting point when setting a target, but if you'd like to avoid being in the exact same spot in 3 months time, then there's value in digging deeper...
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If you're driving from Milton Keynes to Glasgow, you might look at a map before setting off the decide the route you want to take. It might be based on time taken, scenery, or popping in to see old friends on the way.

Once you know the route, in order to successfully navigate your journey, what should you focus on when pulling out of your driveway: the final destination, or which direction to take at the end of the road?

This is where so many New Year Revolutionists get tripped up- an obsession with the outcome, without adequate attention paid to the process (or path) to getting there.

When we onboard new Armoury Athletes (clients) to our Personal Training studio in Milton Keynes, we have them fill in an in-depth lifestyle questionnaire

After their initial goal setting session they'll then sit down with our nutritionist, with current behaviours and ideal outcome to hand, and go through their habits with a fine tooth-comb

The Athlete and coach will then pinpoint 3-5 actions to begin that'll bring them from point A (where they are now), towards point Z (where they want to be)

It might, for example, be increasing water intake to help improve energy levels and curb cravings, hitting the Studio three days a week, and aiming for a long walk on days off. 

And until it's time to check in on the outcomes, those processes? Become the daily goal. 

(If you're thinking about what you could implement, this blog on the 3 diets we've seen be more successful for fat loss might help).

Being driven by processes is key to long term success. Especially if you've set a target with a "why", and are checking in on progress on regular intervals (in the studio we check performance in training every single session, but also have our 1-2-1 reflection consults for specific targets, that clients are able to book in when needed)

if you'd like to have a chat about how we might be able to help you in the New Year to achieve the same? Click Here, and grab your complimentary trial in the studio

if you'd rathe wait and go it alone- then take your time, set a target you actually care about THEN set your actions to get there. Because focusing on the journey one step at a time is the surest way to avoid getting tripped up

Higher protein breakfasts have been linked with decreased mid-morning snacks, more sustainable energy and greater recovery from training (via contributing to total daily protein intake)

The thing is, when you're waking up with exactly 45 minutes to get up, get showered, dressed and out the door? Making a full on omelette can feel like a Herculean task. And that's not even taking into account if you have kids...

Enter the breakfast muffin- the perfect morning recipe to batch cook on a Sunday then blitz in the microwave whilst your coffee's brewing, to get your day off the right start without the hassle of waking up any earlier

This has been a favourite in our household for years, and we've seen numerous clients at our Personal Training Studio in Milton Keynes find this exact tactic a godsend for navigating one of the most difficult meals of the day

(also with the concept of breakfast muffins in mind, get creative and add whatever ingredients you prefer! The recipe below is fantastic, but it all comes down to how you like your eggs in the morning (and yes, I do expect you're now singing that song in your head, I am too)

There are two general reactions to press ups when they're added to a Personal Training Programme for our clients...

"Gah, I suck at those", or an incredulous "aren't press ups for beginners"? 

The truth is, you can get in great shape with this upper body staple, which may or may not be the oldest exercise known to man (I have no idea if that's true, but it sounds good, doesn't it?). It can be a tough challenge if you've never trained before, or if you grew up pushing a dumbbell around in a pram and snacked on protein cookies instead of Oreos

and it's value as an exercise has sky rocketed due to it's accessibility in 2020, with so many gyms being closed 

So, the big question.... "How on earth can I programme press ups to get results?"

Research has shown that in order to sufficiently tax the body and cause it to make postive adaptions (build muscle and get stronger), it'll be most optimal to get to, or close to failure [1] (within 4 reps), hit 10+ weekly working sets [2], and slowly progress total volume load over time in order to stress your body enough to feel the need to change (known as progressive overload)

It's this exact, evidence-based approach we use with our clients at our Personal Training Studio in Milton Keynes, to ensure they continue to make strides in their physiques, strength and fitness week after week

The Press up gives us the perfect tool to stress the body in a way that will create sculpted and strong shoulders and chest muscles, and that 'James Bond walking out of the sea' look, when we don't have a full gym at our disposal- if we programme it correctly.

Luckily for you, the following write-up will provide the exact template you'll need to follow in order to make those changes, and build your physique without the need for fancy £2,000 equipment

Below we'll lay out the 3 different variations of press ups you can use to make it more challenging each week (with extra advanced techniques if needed) 

We'll then reveal the 2 shoulder drills you need to be doing alongside your press ups to ensure you don't end up with the posture of a cashew nut

Then we'll put it all into an easy to follow, 7 week programme that you could literally begin 20 seconds after you finish reading this blog (unless you're reading on your phone whilst queuing at the supermarket. That would be odd)

Once you can effectively hit 3 sets of 20 reps on the decline push ups, here are a few more ways you can make the movement even more challenging:

• Reduce Tempo: Increasing the time under tension of an exercise is a reliable way to reach failure faster- working your way up to a 5 second negative (lowering portion), and a 3 second concentric (pushing portion) will add a challenging element to your press
• Constant Tension: Often most effective in conjunction with your super slow reps- at the top of the movement, don't allow your arms to lock all the way out. The will keep more tension through the chest and increase the difficulty
• Pause: By pausing at the bottom of the movement for 3-5 seconds you take away the stretch-reflex, meaning you don't have the elastic advantage of the lowering to help power you up for the press (making it much more challenging to get started)
• Add external load: If you're able to complete decline, super slow, constant tension press ups with a 5 second pause for 3 sets of 20, you can think about adding external load. Adding either rucksack, or using a resistance band gripped in each hand and looped around the back is the most effective ways of doing this

The first thing you'll need to do, is work out which press up variation you'll be starting with. To work this out, you'll need to complete your Dynamic Blackburns, then drop and complete one set of 30 kneeling press ups. 

If you don't get to 30 reps? Great, that's the movement you'll start with. If you did, then rest 5 minutes, and do the same with normal press ups. If you hit 30 there, then repeat again with decline press ups, then if you manage those (you machine), you'll start adding on the advanced techniques until you find the variant you can't complete 30 reps with (if you can complete 30 straight reps of a slow tempo, decline paused press up with heavy band or backpack resistance you're a monster... or need a heavier band or backpack)

Once you know the correct set Press up to start with, we'll set up your training plan. On week one, your training plan looks like this:

• 10 Dynamic Blackburns
• 10 warm up reps of whichever press up is "easier" than the one you're doing (you can raise your hands onto a surface if you're doing kneeling push ups)
• Complete 3 sets of as many reps as possible on your chosen push up, with 10 T-Blackburns in between, and 60s rest between sets

Repeat this 3 times in the first week (ideally a Monday, Wednesday and Friday works best)

If you complete 20 reps on all 3 sets, then you need to move up a press up progression on your next workout (for example from kneeling to full, or from decline, to decline with slower tempo). We'll also increase your total working sets each week by one, like so:

Week one:

• Monday - 3 sets
• Wednesday - 3 sets
• Friday - 3 sets

Week Two

• Monday - 4 sets
• Wednesday - 3 sets
• Friday - 3 sets

​Week Three:

• Monday - 4 sets
• Wednesday - 4 sets
• Friday - 3 sets

​Week Four:

• Monday - 4 sets
• Wednesday - 4 sets
• Friday - 4 sets

​​Week Five:

• Monday - 5 sets
• Wednesday - 4 sets
• Friday - 4 sets

repeating that pattern until week 7, where you'll be completing 15 total sets each week (5 sets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday)

This programme has an in-built progress model to increase not only total load (via increasing the difficulty of the press up variation over time), but also total amount of sets you'll take close to failure (due to increasing total working sets each week by one)

It's not complicated, and it doesn't require a full gym set up in your spare room, but it works

If you'd like to have a chat about how to add in lower body and core movements for a complete workout, or just chat about possibly working together either online, or in our Personal Training Studio here in Milton Keynes, then just head over to our contact page and drop us a message, and we'll be happy to help out

Now if you don't mind, I've got some press ups to do

If there was a graph showing ease of cooking vs enjoyment, I reckon a well made stir fry would sit right at the apex between the two

any meal that only requires a single wok to cook in a winner in my book, and this recipe has become as household favourite for Gen & I, being as it not only tastes fantastic, but it also packs a solid protein punch & is chock full of veggies.

We add in stir fry noodles for the last few minutes of frying, and tend to cook in coconut oil, purely because for a stir fry I prefer the taste.

as always, this recipe has been lifted from 200+ collection that all of our clients at our Personal Training Studio in Milton Keynes get access to. If you'd like to discuss how we might be able to help you then drop us message- if not, then simply bookmark this page, and come back here when it's time to impress your friends and family with your fancy new dish

November 21st. 

That's when Gen & I erected our Christmas tree this year. A solid week prior to it being socially acceptable. 

Sure we got groans from family members when they glimpsed it in the corner of our Zoom screen, and when I mentioned it to the clients at our Personal Training Studio in Milton Keynes I honestly thought our inbox might be clogged with cancellations by the morning...

But you know what? I'd do it all again.

This year has been a kick in the nether-regions at times, and a little preemptive Christmas cheer has done our household the world of good. The decorations going up is also indicative of another, recurring yearly challenge though, that we're going to address today...

How on earth do you remain even remotely "healthy", whilst engulfed in the Christmas spirit?

The first step you need to successfully navigate your festive season, is to acknowledge a few key fitness facts.

These being:
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1. To achieve fat loss, I'll need to consume fewer calories than I'm expending
2. To achieve muscle growth, or fitness related goals, I'll need to make the time to train multiple times a week

In 2020 these might be a little different, but regardless have a think. For example mine are:
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1. I want to be able to eat mince pies whenever I want (not going crazy, but generally I like a mince pie a day)
2. When celebrating with friends and family (even if it's zoom this year), I want to be able to drink whatever I want to drink
3. Christmas morning I will start my day with chocolate biscuits, because I'm a child

Doing this correctly will wither make or break your relationship with the festive season (especially looking at it in the context on step one and two)

​If you ask the majority of people what their health goals are, universally "lose weight" is the top answer

Here at The Armoury we delve beneath the surface to understand the specific outcomes we're after (for example that might mean not having to second guess every single outfit choice before going out for a meal, or being able to keep up with your kids when playing footie in the garden after work)

But regardless, the first answer for many when it comes to goals, is weight loss.

Now if most people were successful with this target to a notable degree, every single month, year after year, do you know what would happen?

​They'd die.

This cultural focus on scale weight creates unhealthy relationships with outcome based goals.

To put it into perspective, aims outside of "weight loss" might be...

• Increasing our strength
• Improving our cardiovascular health
• Boosting our mobility
• Decreasing our daily lethargy
• Extending our life

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which respectively might mean...

• Being confident in carrying the weekly shopping inside on our own without having to sheepishly ask for help from our significant other
• Be able to run around after our toddler in the garden to create lasting memories rather than having to watch from a seat on the patio
• Avoid having to groan in pain from standing up after work each day
• Having the energy to take your wife or husband out on a date at the weekend, rather than sitting around waiting for Monday to roll around
• Meeting your great grandkids

Now this is the important part

Think through step one, two and three- what is achievable for you this festive season?

Do you want to double down and focus on shifting some lockdown weight? And if so, is that achievable with the acknowledgment of step one, and your non-negotiables for step two

For example your thought process might go like this...

• Overall I want to lose weight, and get stronger and fitter 
• Over the festive period I know that I want to drink wine with my partner most evenings, and enjoy baking and eating the Christmas treats that I make
• This will make it a struggle to reduce calories enough to lose weight in the period of time.
• I can however, still exercise 3 times a week.
• Therefore for all of December I will focus on improving my strength and fitness levels, and then return my focus to fat loss in January when it'll be easier to adjust my calorie intake

I will do this by:
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• Training 3 times a week 
• Going on 2 long walks at the weekend
• Eating protein with every meal
• Focusing on getting 7 hours sleep a night
• Drinking 2 litres of water a day​

My wife is a phenomenal cook.

Genuinely, it feels like I'm doing the household a disservice whenever I take to the stove.

The self-admitted issue she has when it comes to baking however, is that she very rarely weighs or measures anything out in the kitchen. She's more of those "got the ingredients, cook to taste" kind of gals, that can make magic out of the most mundane of shopping lists

which is why usually? Her cake-making isn't quite as jaw-dropping as her savoury standards

(please bear in mind we've had this conversation, and she's still far superior to me at both, I'm not just taking to the internet to insult my wife's culinary prowess, there's a point I'm making here)

The point I'm making, is that these bars? require zero baking.

Yup, no oven time at all, actually. Plus it takes all of 10 minutes prep time (then another frustrating 30 minutes waiting for it to set in the fridge, but we'll forget that bit...)

and they taste fan-flipping-tastic

as our clients over at our personal training studio in Milton Keynes will tell you (at least those that have chosen this treat out of the 200+ recipes they have available to them for added support).

Enjoy (& try not to eat them all at once. I mean you can, but you'll probably feel uncomfortably stuffed...)

We're well and truly into the comfort food months here in the UK, with the sun setting about 5 minutes after it rises, and scraping off ice your car windscreen returning as a regular part of the morning routine (unless you're working from home, then you can go ahead and leave that ice on there and grab a cuppa)

This Chicken Saag is a go-to in our household for not only packing a protein & nutrient dense punch, but also tasting phenomenal. I'd suggest adding some Naan bread personally (assuming your calories allow) 

​(remember, all the weekly recipes are lifted straight from the 240+ options our clients at our personal training studio in Milton Keynes have access to in their private membership site, The Armoury Academy. If you'd like to have a chat to see what we're all about, then head over to this page to grab yourself a trial session or consult call
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It's very rare, here at our Personal Training Studio in Milton Keynes, that we're the first solution our client's have tried when they come through the door

More often that not? They already have a laundry list of frustrations when it comes to previous health kicks. Whether it was the stint of low-carbdom that left them feeling comatose by midday, the four weeks eating low fat, and having to hide their pain watching as their family ate Bacon Sarnies on a Sunday without them, or the half a day they attempted full on keto, and quickly bailed on the idea after putting half a stick of butter in their coffee caused the bulk of their morning to be spent in a toilet cubicle at work

The bulk of the "weight loss" industry, truth be told, is built on an unstable pattern of overpromising, and underdelivering

​You only have to quickly peruse the magazine shelves at your local supermarket to see claims that you're one diet trick away from having abs in a fortnight- and if you take a hard left and end up in the supplement isle you'll see equally eye-catching promises on the sides of fat-loss pills, with impossibly sculpted models proclaiming the only difference between you and them? Is that £67 bottle of tablets they're promoting

After over a decade in the industry, helping men and women to overcome these inaccurate messages (and, when I was younger, falling for that same marketing myself), I've come to understand one fundamental truth when it comes to ditching the love handles, and building a body that reflects effort put in at the gym...

Allow me to explain...

on the simplest level, fat loss is dictated by consuming fewer calories than you're expending. Putting less energy in, than you're putting out.

Which seems obvious right, I mean if you think of your body fat as money in the bank- if you make large deposits each month, but have budgeted well and spend very little? You bank balance will grow. On the flip side, if you go on an Amazon Prime binge every weekend, and are playing catch up to keep up with juggling credit cards, then your bank balance will shrink.

Body fat storage is the same. If you're spending (burning calories) more than you're saving (eating), then you'll lose money (weight)

Like I say- it's simple. But not easy.

Here's a quick chart that explains exactly how the most popular diets can cause this effect:

The truth is, anything that causes you to reduce calories sustainably will produce fat loss. There's even been a man that lost over 100lbs by eating just potatoes for a year. Once again- it's not complex, but it shouldn't be confused with being easy (I love spuds, but that'd be too much even for me...)

This blog post however, isn't about the science of fat loss. If you were interested in how it all happens you'd probably be reading a textbook. This blog post, is designed to keep you a snapshot overview of the three methods of calorie restriction (read: dieting), that we at The Armoury Coaching Studio, have seen be most successful.

If you'd like an in-depth video on how to track calories, and a look at the weekly spreadsheet we use with our clients to make this method even more effective, then head over to the Contact Page and send us across a message simple reading "I'd like to track calories", I'll personally send you the resources you need

If you'd like a chat about what method of intermittent fasting might be right for you, and more in-depth look at your options, then head over to the Contact Page and send us across a message simple reading "I'd like to try intermittent fasting", I'll personally send you the resources you need

If you'd like a chat about how to implement hand portions as a calorie tracking tactic (and see a method we use to split your portions more realistically throughout your day) then head over to the Contact Page and send us across a message simple reading "I'd like to try hand tracking", I'll personally send you the resources you need

The method you use for calorie restriction is only as effective as your ability to adhere to it, these are just the framework for the three we've seen be the most effective over the years

Here at our Personal Training Studio in Milton Keynes, all clients are given an in-depth one to one habit and nutrition coaching session with all packages, where we'll sit down and descent which method would be the most effective (including others not on this blog), customise it for your lifestyle, then set you up with an accountability app to stay on track, and for us to check in on as you proceed through your journey

If you'd like to have a chat about how we can use that method with you, then you can head to this page and grab yourself a free trial or phone consult. Because with the right coaching on your side? everything gets a whole lot easier.

One of my all time favourite meals when people say it "takes too long to eat well"

This meal takes 10 minutes to prep, is nutrient dense, is high in both protein and omega 3, and tastes great. Here's exactly what you'll need to make your own this week

(also on a side note, all clients of our Personal Training Studio in Milton Keynes, and online, get access to over 240 recipes in their Armoury Athlete Academy membership site, this is just a glimpse at some of the content. If you'd like to learn more, then drop me a message and I'd be happy to have a chat)