Alastair Macdonald Strength And Conditioning

One thing that annoys me about many Personal Trainers today is the way they present themselves to the public.So many of them think that flashing their top halfs make them look great,and because of this people will come to them looking to train with them.In fact nothing could be further from the truth.Many people who join a gym and are looking for a trainer to help them feel shy and nervous about just stepping into a gym to begin with,and feel intimidated approaching a trainer... to begin with.Trainers exposing their naked torsos on their websites,and big bulky trainers wearing tight shirts and tank tops are a definate no no,and are sure to get most of your potential clients giving you a wide berth,or worse still giving up the gym altogether.Personal Trainers should be qualified fitness professionals,and as such should be clean tidy,and dressed smartly,with loose fit clothing if you are muscular rather than walking about in tight tops and tank tops and vests.
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220Kg lifted with a virtually perfect slow eccentric,no bounce and no momentum to help him push the weight back up.This is how heavy weights should be lifted.

A blast from the past.

I'm going to be posting over the next few days supplements you can buy which are a waste of money,and explaining my reasoning behind it.Todays one is CALCIUM SUPPLENTS. Many people take and are recommended Calcium supplementation to help stop and prevent osteoporosis,and to keep their bones strong.It is true that Calcium is an ingredient in bones,but it is just one of 12 essential minerals that we need to repair and rebuild our bones.Without the other 11,together with essenti...al vitamins D and K,then no matter how much Calcium we take,it won't do anything for our bones unless we get a balance of everything else.It's a bit like trying to build a whole car with tyres,no matter how many tyres we have,we will never build a car out of them alone.It also amazes me that so many GP's and fitness professionals still prescribe Calcium supplementation to patients and clients! So what do we need to do to make sure we get everything we need? Well firstly eat a balanced diet with plenty of natural wholefoods,and replace your refined table salt with natural Sea Salt. Sea salt contains all 12 essential minerals together with over 50 other trace minerals (some sea salts aka Himalayan types have over 70!).Sometimes the simple things are the most effective,and by following these simple steps you will look and feel better without having to waste your money on supplements which don't work! Our next useless supplement I will be talking about over the next few days will be Multi Vitamin pills,so watch this space!
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If you want to maximise your muscular strength and hypertrophy,then there are 6 essential key facts that must be followed to achieve best results.These are as follows. 1) Mechanical Tension 2) Mechanical Overload 3) Muscle Trauma (due to exercise) 4) Metabolic Stress (due to exercise)... 5) Adequate Rest and Recuperation 6) Balance of Hydration,Macro,and Micronutrients. In an ideal world you would want the above to be 100% on each count,but we must realise that for everyone this is impossible to do.However,what we can all do to improve is to look at the 6 points,and see what we can do ourselves to raise the percentage of each point.Knowledge also plays a big part in this,and this is where a fitness professional can advance somebody further by utilising his skills and experience in this field.
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Well done to Andy McAllister for completing the 100 rep Bench Press Challenge on Monday,doing 95Kg in a time of 19 minutes and 4 seconds.

The way I have been training myself for years,and training my advanced clients,and now one of my best kept secrets is now just seeping into the public eye.Thanks Adam Paterson for bringing this to my attention,another one of my clients who lifts silly amounts of weight by using this protocol I have taught him.

Thankfully I got an A+ how well do we know basic Human Anatomy?

Most people visualise Strength and Conditioning as relating to a person looking to build muscle and strength,but it actually covers anybody looking to improve their physical performance. Strength and Conditioning is broken up into 10 different components which are as follows... 1) Strength. 2) Power. 3)Speed. 4) Acceleration. 5) Direction Change. 6) Agility. 7) Aerobic Capacity, 8) Anaerobic Capacity 9) Mobility 10) Balance. As we can see from the above every pe...rson who has a specific exercise goal will be looking to improve at least one (most people are looking to improve several or even all) of the above factors.It is therefore important for fitness pros out there to make their clients aware that a safe and structured Strength and Conditioning programme covers everyone,and not just young athletes looking to build strength and size.
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Hey guys,if you are looking to do your Level 2 Gym,or Level 3 PT Course,give me a shout,as I will be running them at weekends at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh.

Alastair's December challenge is 100 reps with your bodyweight on Bench Press,followed by 100 close grip chin ups,again with your bodyweight.For the females,it is 100 reps with half your bodyweight for the bench press ,followed by 100 full push ups.Each exercise must be completed in 20 minutes or less.For the serious lifter,i still have to find someone else who can do the 100Kg bench press 100 times in less than 20 minutes!

Getting yourself fitter and stronger is actually very simple,but having the willpower to go ahead and do it is actually where most fail.

Apart from myself,with a time of 19 minutes 56 seconds,nobody else has yet succeded with the 100Kg for 100 reps Bench Press Challenge.However,in second place at the moment is Andy McAllister who completed 39 reps with 100Kg in 12mins 20 seconds,and third place goes to Scott Redhead who completed 61 reps with 90Kg in a time of 20mins and 5 seconds.

Saw one of these for sale today,and wondered if it would "Strength and Condition" your glutes better than a few sets of deep barbell Squats.