Longtime lurker- Beginning career as a PT

CM24

Just qualified from LIA as a Level 4 Personal Trainer, seeking employment in any gym I can get it for the time being (In Dublin). Thought I may as well start a log here seeing as it's pretty much part of my job now to be in exemplary shape at all times.

Current stats
Age=24
Height=5'10
Weight= 83kg
Squat= 145kg
Bench= 100kg
Deadlift= 200kg
Chin ups= 17

Current goal is to get bodyfat as low as possible by end of February.Then focus on maintaining that whilst shooting for
-2x bodyweight squat
-1.5x bw bench
-2.5x bw deadlift
-+.5xbw weighted chin up and over 25 consecutive bw.

Think I could get all of them except for bench within the next few months. I'v been in maintenance mode with my lower body lifts the last few months as I'd been playing a 5-a side astro league and training MMA several times a week and I couldn't handle much volume in the gym or my legs would just be feeling heavy during the sports.

The month of February is to be spent cutting to get my bodyfat as low as possible before commencing slow bulking. Currently doing 2 full body strength days per week and 2 conditioning days and usually a friendly game of 5 a side in there somewhere too. Most of my programs are based on the Informed Performance ones that Will used to have on his site. I trained there briefly before it closed.

Diet for this cut is mainly low carb, medium fat, high protein. Don't count calories but am pretty good at eyeballing them by now. Just have carbs during/after workouts and basically none on rest days. 2 weeks in now, going well so far. Have visibly lost fat whilst slightly gaining strength. Will post pics soon. Supplement with fish oil, vitamin d3, creatine, whey and lots of caffeine.

In the meantime, if anyone knows anywhere looking to hire a trainer, send me a PM please! Only working part-time in a shop at the mo. Need to get cracking on a proper career. I'm also Kettlebell certified, a UKSCA level 1 Novice Strength and Conditioning Coach and completed an internship at KG Elite Performance. Will be getting TRX Suspension training cert soon too.

CM24

Today's workout- Just made up a Metcon to do. 10 minutes AMRAP of 3 pull ups, 5 squats with 45kg,10 press ups. Did 10 rounds in 10 mins. Then did 10 mins of 30:30 intervals on the Rower. Then messed about for a while, doing some kettlebell complexes with 30 second breaks. Finished off with more intervals on the cross trainer. I'm currently just making up some of my conditioning workouts, such as the kettlebell complex. Want to have a lot of varied workouts to choose from so future clients don't get bored. That's also why I'm getting the suspension certification, just to be able to keep things interesting.

Dubdude

I know it might not be everyone's first choice for work but you could check out Ben Dunnes Gyms for employment

http://www.bendunnegyms.com/jobs.aspx

CM24

Thanks. I do live very close to the Carlisle. From what I hear, the PT's there get 25 euro an hour for training clients but also have to teach 11 unpaid classes per month aswell. As much as I would dislike teaching ''abs'' and ''zumba'' classes I would do it just to get my career going.

TheBellJar

Be interesting to see how you get on. Best of luck

CM24

Doing Reverse Pyramid Style training. Starting with the heaviest, lowest rep sets.Then going lighter for more reps on subsequent sets. Low volume, high intensity. One movement per bodypart, once a week. According to Martin Berkhan this is the best way of maintaining strength and size whilst cutting. Has given me good results in the past so not eager to change it.

Chins with 23.5kg x 5 /set 2= 20kg x 6,/set 3= 15kg x 8

Benched 90 x 6 then pyramided down for 2 more sets. Was happy because my bench is usually the first thing to go down on a cut. I'v been losing bodyfat visibly over the last 17 days. Was pleasantly surprised when I weighed myself the other day and found I hadn't lost much scale weight at all. I like to think I'm gaining some small amount of muscle during this cut thanks to cramming in the carbs in the evening after workouts, then keeping them low at all other times.

I'm combining IF/ carb backloading and it's working well. Coffee and a decent amount of fats and protein throughout the day keep hunger levels at bay. Haven't experienced any of the bad symptoms associated with dieting so far. Body temperature is fine, no moodiness or mental fatigue at all. I'v done Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Diet before and got great results but then learned the hard way what happens when you diet too hard for too long.

Handed in CV's to a few gyms today. Raw, Your Fitness Gym in Harold's Cross and the Carlisle. More tomorrow.