I have recently signed up to my coach, Andy McKenzie’s 100 Days to Strong Programme.
This might seem a bit strange – why would a coach pay for someone else to write their training programme.
I will save my reasoning for another article but this quote from Dan John explains it perfectly. It goes along the lines of…….
“If you coach yourself, you have an idiot as a client”
I always believe you get more from training and life if you have someone better and more experienced working with you. You will develop and learn so much more effectively than doing it on your own.
The first part of the programme, which I have just recently completed, was focusing on Bodyweight and Kettlebell work.
The object of this phase was designed to really prepare the body for what was to follow. Too many programmes will throw you straight into the barbell lifts before you are ready for these.
Even as an experienced trainer I found this phase of training highly rewarding and beneficial. Also, very humbling………
The programme itself was delivered through an online Ap called True Coach. Every single detail was explained along with in depth videos for each exercise, plus you have access to the FB group that you get support and guidance from Andy and the other guys on the programme.
I was very impressed with the level of quality from the programme from day 1 and I felt it was a steal at the investment I made.
Anyway, onto the workouts………
The initial week of training was used as an assessment where you would test various exercises. This is essential in all forms of training to ensure you are progressing.
Once the testing workouts were completed the real work began.
I would consider myself pretty strong in bodyweight exercises – I am competent with exercises such as muscle ups, back levers, pull ups, dips etc and at first glance I thought some of the workouts looked like they would be pretty comfortable for me.
I was wrong………
Despite my self proclaimed competency, these workouts were challenging. They exposed many weak points in my strength and fitness level and focused on improving these.
The Great thing about the programme, even with the bodyweight exercises, there was an opportunity to scale them depending on your current level.
Over the years I’ve worked with Andy, one lesson that has always stuck with me is to ‘meet the clients where they’re at’ and this programme does that very well.
The programme involved a great mix of upper body, lower body, core and conditioning work. Being a coach, I could tell this was designed to build strong foundations for the next part of the programme. There was a perfect blend of variety but also a clear path to progress from each session. It wasn’t just random workouts pur together for the sake of it. There was thought and attention to detail in every aspect of the programme.
After an ‘enjoyable’ 4 weeks (some workouts put you in a dark place) here is my results:
Pull Ups 13-16 (+3)
Press Ups 42-48(+5)
60s BW Squat 46-50(+4)
Active Hang 1:38-1:55(+17s)
Ring Support 40s-56s(+16s)
Feet Elevated Ring Rows 14-20(+6)
I was really pleased with these. I have been training for over 15 years and improvements become hard to achieve as your level of strength and fitness improves.
What was also interesting was that despite avoiding muscle ups and levers over the past 4 weeks (I followed the plan to the letter), I played around with these one day after the block of training and found myself much stronger on these exercises.
Really looking forward to the next phase of the programme and feel this phase of work will set me up well for it.
If you want more info on the programme check out:
Coach Milligan 