Hi, my name’s Ben and I’m exhausted. I’ve just completed week one of a 10-week challenge to both add muscle and cut fat, which is obviously a pretty daunting task. I’d consider myself a relatively healthy guy, I try to eat well and run quite a lot, but a love of beer and food has prevented me from achieving the body I’d like for some years now. I remember having a six-pack when I was 17… then I discovered the delights of boozing and end-of-the-night pizzas.

I met my PT, Terry Longmore, for the first time on Monday. I turned up at the gym for my assessment before Terry arrived and told the guy on reception who I was waiting for. He told me that I would hear Terry before I saw him, and he wasn’t wrong. As I sat waiting (reading an old copy of HFM from a pile of magazines), the door burst open and a booming, confident, American voice yelled, “BIG BEN!”.

You can’t help but like Terry, he’s such a character and is so incredibly knowledgeable about his trade. He pulled no punches in telling me about how hard this challenge is going to be as I was being weighed and measured but he also assured me that I can do it.

Diet

Terry asked me to email him that night with a day’s worth of my typical eating habits. It felt like when the doctor asks you how much you drink per week and you essentially halve the actual total, but I knew I had to be honest here. As I say, my diet isn’t all that bad, I hardly ever eat white bread or high GI foods but I felt I still had to include the fact that I tend to eat crisps with lunch etc.

At our first training session, after reading about my usual diet, Terry told me, “We gotta get some food in that body!”. Now, I can eat my Mum always brought me up to clear my plate (then get leftovers) but I guess I just don’t eat enough food on a more regular basis, I just have big meals as and when required. I’ve started to eat more often throughout the day now, smaller meals more regularly, and I find that I don’t get the usual pre-lunchtime hunger pangs that I’d normally get. Admittedly, preparing all your food for the next day is a bit of a pain but once you get into the swing of it it’s ok, I just make sure I cook enough to re-use over the next few days. The lovely people at Reflex Nutrition have also kindly provided me with a whole host of supplements to aid my growth and recovery and, given the intensity of my workouts, I can’t thank them enough!

Terry’s approach is to target certain muscle groups each session, so as I write this on my rest day, every bit of me aches. Each session ends with an ‘ab blasting’ workout, which is brutal and I apologise to Terry for the profanities shouted at him during these sets. I have done most of the kinds of exercises Terry is doing with me before, but what I didn’t realise is that my technique is not great. It’s not terrible but Terry is tweaking my lifts bit by bit. As he says, it’s all about control and if I lose control it’s pointless. I’ve found this out by being told to do five more reps because the first five didn’t count! It’s the little things you’d never know yourself, such as a video Terry took of me doing cable flies, for some reason my right
shoulder tightens up like I’m shrugging, which I had no idea about. Seeing a short clip of your lifts is really beneficial so I’d definitely recommend it if you can. Though  I’m not condoning gym selfies here.

It’s nice to have a weekend away from drinking too, I’m feeling good for it and have more hours in the day so I’m taking advantage of the chance for some sunshine and rest. Next week we’ll be getting heavier but I’m looking forward to it and to seeing how much I can progress. Nine weeks to go!