the edge clontarf

Ted Crilly

Hi

Anyone have any dealings/opinions with the crowd above
With the pennies being tight i'd appreciate a heads up

Mods sorry if this has been dealt with elsewhere

Kind Regards
Ted:)

Roper

I've met and chatted to one of the lads who runs it. Nice bloke and knows his stuff. I also know a guy who is a client of theirs who is doing great. Other than that I can't tell you much but what I've heard has been positive.

53669

I've gotten several workout programs from one of the guys who works there and they're very good. They get alot of their ideas from Charles Poliquin who's one of the worlds best strength & conditioning coaches so they know what they're talking about. If you're serious about your training then these are the guys for you. James or Dave are probably the best to go to.

joey54

Where exactly is the gym in Clontarf?

flywheel

http://www.theedgeclontarf.com/

thet don't seem to have a map on the site, but there is contact details to call / email

Ted Crilly

Thanks for the input guys
I'll be giving them a bell soon
Kind Regards
Ted:D

Hanley

Another +1 for those guys. I'm good friends with Dave's brother and he certainly knows how to get results!!

itsallaboutheL

Hanley wrote: »

Another +1 for those guys. I'm good friends with Dave's brother and he certainly knows how to get results!!

I've met him, he's an impressive looking dude.

empirix

yeah Dave is cool - knows his **** i wasnt bashing anybody, if the guy James is a bit of a donk i think people should know it as theya are paying good money and well he should be more professional, its not bashing!

littleblondie55

Having been a long-time customer of James Swan i was delighted to discover that himself and and David Mulqueen were opening up a personal training gym locally in Clontarf! From my first trainng session in the edge i felt more determined than ever!

From day one, james has been fantastic! His knowledge in the personal training, health and diet area is above par so needless to say- you're in good hands with this guy!! By following his plan i reached my goal weight and now over one year on im still training with him and couldnt be happier.

Optimum

Best of luck with the new set up blondie44..sorry thats James..:D:D

corkcomp

cant believe the mods havnt already been in and closed this thread ... has anybody looked at the post count of most of the posters???

Hanley

corkcomp wrote: »

cant believe the mods havnt already been in and closed this thread ... has anybody looked at the post count of most of the posters???

Have YOU??

corkcomp

Hanley wrote: »

Have YOU??

yeah! littleblondie55 and ted crilly and 53669 ? hmm, although it is possible that people would sign up just to comment on a business venture I guess ...

littleblondie55

Just for the record...im not some guy trying to big up his business, im just being honest and giving praise where its due! Isnt that what this forums all about??!

Transform

god who really cares if it is bigging up their business - they deserve all the support rather than westwood who basically turfed them all out.

I have never met the guys and i am sure they can offer better support and training than the usual muck the inexperienced trainers i come across can and will give.

Best of luck to them

TommyKnocker

Hi All

I have looked at "The Edge" web site and am a little confused

Their site says no joining fee, no membership fee and no minimum contract. So is this a pay as you go gym and are you paying for a PT every visit?

Don't have much experience of paying for PT's but in my gym a session with a PT costs between €60-€80/hr. So giving a weight workout 3 times a week, I would need to wait until I will the Euro Millions before I could look at this gym.

Can anybody in the know let me know about the costs associated with this gym please? and whether you need to work with a PT at each visit?

While it would be nice to have access to good quality and knowledgeable PT's now and again, the kind of costs I am imagining would be a prohibiting factor. Also I don't need motivation to work out and push myself. I am quite good at that aspect. Though maybe someone to say "Enough" now and again wouldn't be a bad thing

Best Regards,

M

unga bunga

I took a series of PT sessions with these trainers while they were active in WW.
I came prepared with clear goals set out along with the time in which I had to dedicate to the cause.
This was all readily welcomed by the PT trainer who was very complementary & saying all the right things to me.
He made no secret that the program would be Poliquin-based, something I hadn’t heard of before.
Our first meet involved the trainer putting me through a rudimentary 15 minute strength & mobility assessment, comprising of me performing a few different stretch tests, and activites like stepping off a platform onto one foot (apparently designed to expose muscle imbalances based on the way my body reacted to the movements).
On the basis of my stated goals & the results of this test, I was then told I would be provided with a training program “specifically tailored to my requirements, designed to meet my training goals and address the weaknesses uncovered in the initial assessment”.
So far the PT trainer was doing a great job - I was loving the whole concept, everything was souding really good, it felt great to get a tailor made program, like I was finally applying some science & it made me feel every inch the pro.
The PT trainer took me through the program briefly demoing the exercises (these exercises were like nothing I had seen before. Definitely new to me & obviously new to everyone else in the gym judging by the looks I was drawing, but who cares right? It made me felt like a pro, if it made me look & perform as close to one as possible, then I would be happy!) and then getting me to imitate them to ensure my technique was ok.
Compared to your standard gym routine, the exercises were a step-up technique wise (hang pulls for instance, beginning to work towards Olympic snatch movements etc) the trainer blasted through these with me in double time. A lot to take in, but I was enthusiastic about it.
I was then presented with my training document which ran for 6 weeks, and told to go ff & work away & fill in the page.
6 weeks later, the next session involved me arriving down with my completed program. I had expected the trainer to review my first program, but instead he simply handed me a printout of a new program. He raced through a new set of unusual exercises in double quick time, asked me to hand over the cash & told to come back in 6 weeks for another one.
At this stage the alarm bells started ringing.
If this was a tailored program, how could the trainer be handing me a new program without first reviewing my progress on the initial program?
Surely a review of my initial program would be required to ID areas where I was progressing/not progressing, and tailoring my next program to meet those specific requirements?
I also found that there was no willingness of the PT to answer questions or correct technique outside of the PT appointment time.
I was unsure of my technique on some of the exercises, if I was performing them ok or not. Trainer wasn’t willing/avail to answer. I ended up wasting 6 weeks on some exercises by the time I found out my technique was out. Initially, I put this down to the helpfulness individual PT and not to the concept of the program itself.
At this stage, a colleague of mine also took up a PT program of the same type, in a different branch of the same gym.
We decided to compare our workout sheets, and lo behold!
Even though we had completely different training goals - our programs were virtually identical - save for the order of the exercises!
Something was starting to smell.
I ran with the program and followed it for about 18 weeks. During that time, I paid for 3 separate programs which the PT instructor promised, if I followed would result in me gaining in strength/power/speed while working towards a body fat level of 10-11% (I was around 13% when I started).
After 6 weeks it was clear to me that I was dropping weight fast – trainer said this was normal as my body fat reduced. I couldn’t see any reduction in body fat in the mirror, just evidence of muscle mass wasting.
After the second program finished, it was clear from looking at my workout sheets that my overall strength and power had actually reduced since I started. This was ignored by the PT as normal, he didn’t want to look at the previous sheets – when I questioned this he claimed he was working to get my body fat down to 10% prior to building muscle, and I was handed another printout (for a fee).
After running with the final print out, the evidence was there on the workout sheets in black & white - I was weaker, lighter and generating less power than I had done since I started. Also, my bodyfat had actually marginally increased since I started!
I was disgusted.
At this stage I decided to drop the Poliquin PT game and reverted to my original training methods in an effort to get back to where I had been.
Then I got some information from the inside….
Round about this same time, a friend of mine got a job as an instructor in another branch of the same chain of gyms, he filled me in on a few details about the Poliquin system he picked up from his job role.
The PT trainers pay to attend Poliquin courses and seminars, the more courses they attend the higher accreditation they receive in the Poliquin training system, level 1 trainer, level 2 trainer etc. In turn, the higher the trainer is ranked in the Poliquin system, the higher is the PT fee they can charge to clients within the gym.
Depending on their level of accreditation, the trainer is given access to an online Poliquin portal, where they have access to training collateral – including training programs to download, print out & sell on to their clients, the “tailor made” programs!
It’s now clear to me that my program was not a “custom” program, but simply a series of unusual looking exercises printed off a website.
This may explain why the PT instructor made no attempt to review my previous program, before handing me my new one. He just printed the next one off the website & charged me for it.
This also explains why my program mirrored that of my friends, even though we had given our respective PT trainers completely different goals, we had the same exercises! For me the evidence was there in black and white.
Overall, it gave me some good ideas on the new concepts of training on the market, definitely some little things that I could incorporate into my own program. But, as a complete service, my experience of the Poliquin PT training program is a complete rip-off and a con.
The Poliquin system appears to be something akin to a simple pyramid scheme. The more seminars an instructor attends, the higher their accreditation goes, the more they have access to online training programs, and the more they can charge on to their clients.
Poliquin hasn’t invented anything, hes simply coallated a lot of concepts into a marketable package. There are strength & conditioning coaches all over the world who teach this stuff for a fraction of the cost, many do for free.
I’m always keen to adopt new approaches to my training, but with this program - my advice is join any respectable athletics/track & field club with a decent trainer that can teach the Olympic lifts.
You will get taught these same concepts for a fraction of the cost!

Bodysmart

unga bunga wrote: »

Round about this same time, a friend of mine got a job as an instructor in another branch of the same chain of gyms, he filled me in on a few details about the Poliquin system he picked up from his job role.

You're not referring to The Fitness Dock, are you?

All of their trainers practically worship Poliquin. Every second sentence starts with the word "Charles says" and nothing he advocated is ever questioned. Ever.

Personally, I think he has a lot of very good information which he has simply collected from a number of sources over the years.

What annoys me though is the total lack of critical thinking amongst his followers. I once explained the concept of Crossfit to one of the trainers there and they totally dismissed it without giving any logical reasons as to why they disagreed with this style of training. Their "argument" was that no Olympic athletes use it (how would they know if they never heard about it before I told them about it) and Polaquin trains several Olympic athletes etc etc.

Since starting work in the fitness in 1998, I've come to realise that there are many, many different ways to get in shape and get great results. Crossfit, Power Plate training, Powerlifting, Stuart McRobert and many more. You can learn lots from each method and I believe it's vital to keep your mind open and not become a blinkered zealot of one particular style. Just because you prefer a certain method doesn't mean all the other methods are wrong and that there's no merit whatsoever to them.

Bottom line: Train your ass off, eat well, get plenty of rest and you'll get great results.

jblennon101

Well i have had multiple dealings with the lads both when they were in westwood and as of late the edge.

I continue to get PT sessions with James Swan and i find him very very good, being a rugby player, the strength training is all based on my weak points and where i am going to need it most on the pitch. The programs are regulary changed and he monitors my work, results, food and supplement intake.

I have never left his gym dissatisfied or left my own gym after repeating one of his sessions without feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Transform

Bodysmart wrote: »

You're not referring to The Fitness Dock, are you?

All of their trainers practically worship Poliquin. Every second sentence starts with the word "Charles says" and nothing he advocated is ever questioned. Ever.

Personally, I think he has a lot of very good information which he has simply collected from a number of sources over the years.

What annoys me though is the total lack of critical thinking amongst his followers. I once explained the concept of Crossfit to one of the trainers there and they totally dismissed it without giving any logical reasons as to why they disagreed with this style of training. Their "argument" was that no Olympic athletes use it (how would they know if they never heard about it before I told them about it) and Polaquin trains several Olympic athletes etc etc.

Since starting work in the fitness in 1998, I've come to realise that there are many, many different ways to get in shape and get great results. Crossfit, Power Plate training, Powerlifting, Stuart McRobert and many more. You can learn lots from each method and I believe it's vital to keep your mind open and not become a blinkered zealot of one particular style. Just because you prefer a certain method doesn't mean all the other methods are wrong and that there's no merit whatsoever to them.

Bottom line: Train your ass off, eat well, get plenty of rest and you'll get great results.

totally agree with this point.

Why is it that some trainers train clients the way they think is best (i.e. at times one size fits all) rather than training clients the way they want.

The perfect example is the trainer with a bodybuilder approach doing up a 3-4 day split program for a say 35yr old guy/woman that trains 3 days a week and looking mainly for fat loss.

This makes no sense to me and sometimes you do not have to have the most complicated program just because its available and think you have to use sleds, chains, kettlebells, boxjumps, tyre flips etc in a program.

Base the program on the ability and wishes of the client NOT on what new toys you have just seen (i am all for those toys when the client has a good base but not before).

d'Oracle

Rampantly off topic, sorry.

BraziliaNZ

is this place cheaper than westwood? does it have a steam room and sauna? what kind of weights does it have? Squat racks? dumbells?
thanks

jblennon101

its not a membership gym, you go there and organise a PT session with one of the trainers, he or she takes you in for a consultation which is free, goes through what your goals/targets are takes note of your weight height diet.....etc. then they take you through a program in their own gym "the edge clontarf" which has all the equipment then you go to your own gym and continue with the programs specified to you goals and needs, then the PT monitors your performance and changes the program accordingly,

Well that has been my experience anyway, sessions are usuallt about 60 euro
but i do them with a friend who is of the same training standard and were charged 35euro each per session

grainnemurphy

Just found this thread...very handy considering it's January and diet and fitness time! Had been looking into the Edge as it's near me and feel like I need to shake up my training a bit and get some accountability.
Has anybody else had more experiences in the meantime?
I have read a little about Charles Poliquin-while he does seem to have a lot of good points, his "followers" often seem to have a zeal usually more associated with scientology or something which is a bit worrying!