A Great Blog

OC Fitness Top Reads This January 2012

2012-01-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

Top Reads of the Week

This just stood out to me:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=341045372591339&set=a.176458255716719.43494.164463900249488&type=1&theater

Commercial gyms are busy this time of year don’t let that ruin your plans, heres a great program for those that requires less space and often less kit:

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/623/On_the_Spot_Mass_Gaing_Program.aspx

A little self help in 2012:

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/18/30-things-to-start-doing-for-yourself/

For females looking to get lean and not ‘skinny fat’ have a read of this great blog:

http://womanincredible.com/most-popular-woman-incredible-blog-posts-of-2011/

Nice little review of the diet I suggest for most of my clients:

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/776/Poliquins_Bookshelf_The_Paleo_Answer.aspx

Alicia Transformation! Warning Amazing Results!

2011-10-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of our best transformations at OC Fitness, not just on the outside but mentally too, Alicia was compliant, worked hard, and she got the best results possible. Simply put it has changed her life for the healthier and I’m proud to say I helped her:

I'm Alicia and I'm 33 years old. I lived in Oxford for 5 years and of 4 1/2 of them I was a stressed out manager and obese. In the final 6 months of living in Oxfordshire I started working with Ollie, took his nutritional advice seriously and as a result got some serious results. I am very, very pleased with where my hard work has gotten me. The thing is, you can be a hard worker but you need experts to help you channel your efforts in the right places. And thats where Ollie comes in. He is an expert in reducing body fat %, radicalising body composition and optimising nutrition for health and fat loss.

Since the age of 16 I have yo-yoed in weight around 7 significant times. I've done all the diets and also done all the fitness classes (sporadically and not at the same time). At the age of 33 I realised that this is it, I need to do it right this time as it needs to be a life-long change. I didn't know what right was, but Ollie did. And I know that now I will always be the right size for me, for the rest of my life.

How long did it take me? Well, I was a size 22 and 14 stone in March 2011 and now I am 10 stone 2 in October 2011 and a UK size 10/12. 6 months to change not just how I move, feel, look - but 6 months to become the person I'll be for the next however many years.

I was very nervous about going to a personal trainer for the first time, but I did it. The best thing I've ever done. As an obese woman - going in to a weights room in a big commercial gym is the last thing you would do, but its not like that when you train with Ollie in Radley, Its a friendly environment where you can get on with training and not feel self conscious.

He inspired me so much, that I am now training to be a personal trainer in my hometown of Glasgow. This change is on the outside, the inside and in everyone that you meet. I now want to help as many people as possible feel amazing. You can too if you suck it up and do what Ollie says!! He is the perfect balance of approachable and no-nonsense. So if you bring your determination, he'll fast-track you to success.

Alicia Transformation! Warning Amazing Results!

2011-10-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm Alicia and I'm 33 years old. I lived in Oxford for 5 years and of 4 1/2 of them I was a stressed out manager and obese. In the final 6 months of living in Oxfordshire I started working with Ollie, took his nutritional advice seriously and as a result got some serious results. I am very, very pleased with where my hard work has gotten me. The thing is, you can be a hard worker but you need experts to help you channel your efforts in the right places. And thats where Ollie comes in. He is an expert in reducing body fat %, radicalising body composition and optimising nutrition for health and fat loss.

Since the age of 16 I have yo-yoed in weight around 7 significant times. I've done all the diets and also done all the fitness classes (sporadically and not at the same time). At the age of 33 I realised that this is it, I need to do it right this time as it needs to be a life-long change. I didn't know what right was, but Ollie did. And I know that now I will always be the right size for me, for the rest of my life.

How long did it take me? Well, I was a size 22 and 14 stone in March 2011 and now I am 10 stone 2 in October 2011 and a UK size 10/12. 6 months to change not just how I move, feel, look - but 6 months to become the person I'll be for the next however many years.

I was very nervous about going to a personal trainer for the first time, but I did it. The best thing I've ever done. As an obese woman - going in to a weights room in a big commercial gym is the last thing you would do, but its not like that when you train with Ollie in Radley, Its a friendly environment where you can get on with training and not feel self conscious.

He inspired me so much, that I am now training to be a personal trainer in my hometown of Glasgow. This change is on the outside, the inside and in everyone that you meet. I now want to help as many people as possible feel amazing. You can too if you suck it up and do what Ollie says!! He is the perfect balance of approachable and no-nonsense. So if you bring your determination, he'll fast-track you to success.

Biosignature not long to go!!!

2011-02-23T06:12:00.000-08:00

In April i do my first official Biosignature course with the infamous Charles Poliquin very excited at the prospect and cant wait to learn learn learn!!!

In a nutshell what it is:

Every caliper site in the body relates to a different hormone, they all interact but each site shows a certain hormone imbalance... so what does that mean? It means if a hormone is out of sync, you will store excess bodyfat in that area. I'll give you an example:

If you store fat on your hip, it means your insulin hormone levels are imbalanced, insulin is the hormone regulated by your carbohydrate intake, thus if you overeat on the simple carbs, you will develop insulin sensitivity issues and end up storing fat on your hip. Its a complex course but one of the most valuable investments i could make!

For more information on Biosig go to http://www.charlespoliquin.com/TheBiosignatureMethod/TheMethod.aspx

Dont forget to have a look at the new site too if you haven't already!

http://www.ocfitness.co.uk

Thanks

Sponsorship for Real Tennis British Under-24 Champion!

2010-10-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

OC Fitness Sponsored Athlete

Paul Knox- Real Tennis

Tournament	Round	Opponent	Result
The French Open Doubles 2010	Quarter Finalist	Seigneur, Marc, Woodman, David	4/6 6/5 6/5
The French Open Singles 2010	Quarter Finalist	Sayers, Bryn	6/2 6/2 6/1
Under 24 Open Singles 2010	Winner	Weaver, Tom	6/5 6/3
Under 24 Open Doubles 2010	Finalist	Dodgson, Josh, Weaver, Tom	6/3 6/3
The Taylor Cup 2009	Winner	Chapman, Chris	6/1 1/6 6/2
The IRTPA Championships 2009	Last 16	McNaughtan, Rod	3/6 4/6 6/2 4/2 ret.
The British Open Doubles 2009	Last 16	Woodman, David, Jones, Dan	6/2 6/4 0/6 6/5

OC Fitness is proud to announce they are officially sponsoring Real Tennis player Paul Knox. Some of you may not be familiar with the game of real tennis, or court tennis. For more information on the game please look at http://www.irtpa.com where you can find all the information about Paul and the other professionals of the game.

Paul started playing the game at school aged 13 but it was not until 16 when he started to take the game more seriously. He then went to University at Loughborough and turned professional after University where he took up his first post under Chris Ronaldson, 3-time world champion, at Radley College.

He stayed there for a year and since then Paul has been working in Bordeaux in his first head-professional post. An experience no one could turn down, he is now returning to the UK to concentrate on his playing career and will come under the training guidance of Ollie of OC Fitness and Chris Ronaldson

Paul is British Under 24 open champion who has also made it on numerous occasions into the top 8 in the men’s Open tournaments. In the coming 18 months his aim is to make it to his first senior Open final and to cement his place in the top 4 of the world rankings. In partnership with OC Fitness this dream could become a reality. Paul’s improvement in fitness levels and strength became apparent in 2009, when after 3 months of solid training with OC Fitness he made it to the quarterfinals of the US Professionals Singles 2009. He narrowly lost out on a place in the semi-finals. In that tournament everyone was commenting on his strength and fitness on court and how he looked ‘different’. His body had changed and his game had vastly improved.

Over the coming months Paul will be training with the World Championships in mind in 2012. He will focus on his strength and his ability to endure the sometimes 2 hour (often longer) games; it’s not an easy sport to train for due to the technical and mental elements which makes the game unique. As his training goes on we will update you on his progress and his tournament results. This exceptionally talented sportsman has big ambitions and with OC Fitness behind him he will succeed!

For more information on how you can become a sponsored athlete or for more information on sport specific training please contact OC Fitness:

Email: Ollie@ocfitness.co.uk

Mobile: 07779 991354

Landline: 01235 548565

For information on Sports Therapy at OC Fitness please contact:

Emily@ocfitness.co.uk

Poliquin International Certification Program Level 1

2010-09-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

So for the last 4 days i have been in Copenhagen, Denmark. I have not seen the city as i have been studying hard!

The Level 1 has been all upper body structural balance, that in basic terms means if your upper bodies ratio's of strength in different lifts is wrong there isnt a hope in hell of you reaching your potential 1 Rep Max in your upper body lifts.

Charles Poliquin has many examples of this on his website, including Adam Nelson increasing his Bench Press from around 300lbs up to 520lbs..... quite impressive huh!

We each has our structural balance tested and interestingly my limiting factor is not my pec power but actually my lower traps and scapula retractors that are limiting my bench press. This basically means for the next 4-8 weeks there is not a barbell in sight and im on a strict remedial program for my upper body to bring my 'trap 3' test score up! Once i have done this my bench press will make all sorts of gains. I was actually quite happy with my 1 Rep Max close grip bench press of 112.5kgs and Incline Bench Close Grip press of 97.5 kgs.

I passed my technical and practical exams on Lv 1 no problem and we started Level 2 today with a lower body structural balance assessment. Its complicated but makes perfect sense and luckily 'most' people have similar problems across the board, i think alot of these problems could potentially be solved with a good stretching and remedial program for the lower body. We went through a host of these remedial exercises for the lower body today and let me tell you it certainly doesnt feel like a remedial workout, Im gonna be sore tomorrow! And were training legs for 5 days in a row! Think i will need a wheel chair to the airport!

More info as it happens!

Tip 2: Eat Protein at Every Meal!

2010-05-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

Protein increases muscle mass, without you cant grow or get lean!

Heres a few reasons why you should be consuming it:

It keeps the insulin levels of the bloody regular. Erratic blood sugar level lead to energy dips...

It fills you up quicker and therefore prevents over eating...

It helps your gut regulate the speed at which food passes through it...

Most importantly it raises your metabolic rate, this then can lead to keeping your bodyfat LOW!!!!

So chow down that meat and fish, there a huge variety of different sources avaliable, make friends with your butcher and they can suggest unusual cuts to you...

Tip 1: Get your body fat measured often!

2010-05-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Weight loss in terms of pounds or kgs on the scales doesnt always reflect on progress!

On a very restricted calorie diet the initial losses are glycogen and water. Losing too much can have a negative effect. Bodyfat should be your preferred method of understanding your goals and challenges.

To accurately measure body fat % you should go and see a skilled practitioner with access to QUALITY calipers, not those white plastic things!

Make sure they take measurements from all over the body.... only take them from the 4 upper body sites and you dont get a true representation... you just have to look on the high street to see people with huge thighs and bums and a small upper body.... how would they score on a body fat % test that was only taken from the arm, back and hip?

The 10 sites OC Fitness test from are: tricep, bicep (the arm), subscapular (back), supra-illiac (hip), pec (chest), mid-auxillary (halfway between hip and armpit), umbilical (stomach), patella (knee), calf, quadriceps, hamstring (legs) and finally the cheek and chin. I think you'll agree thats alot more comprehensive and potentially more accurate...

Come and get your body fat measured and then remeasured regularly to see that the gains or losses you are making are the ones your after!

My Next Qualification- oh yes another one!!!

2010-05-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

Soooo its that time again, im craving something...

KNOWLEDGE!

So i decided its time to start forking out big money and getting myself on the best courses money can buy!

Ive researched high and low and came up with only one option:

Charles Poliquin. His CV speaks for itself, hes trained over 15 Olympic medal winners and has one of the most successful world wide training companies.

What am i doing? Im taking the Poliquin International Certification Program Levels 1 & 2 in Sweden in October. I simply cannot wait. Level one will concentrate on Upper Body and Level 2 Lower Body. The theory manuals have arrived and ive started the note taking already. Just by the way its written and the facts within the material i can tell that i will enjoy this course and will gain multiple skills from it. Already ive introduced pieces of it to my clients training and low and behold there results are showing it!

Look forward to telling you more about it the further into the theory i get!

Pics of my client 5 stone weight loss... so far!

2010-03-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

Follow this link to see the amazing transformation!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3677512&id=253283396374

Pics coming soon!

2010-01-25T10:35:00.001-08:00

One of my clients is on track to hit the unbelievable 5 stone mark! Pics will be put up soon! Amazing difference!

Testimonial from a client....

2009-11-24T10:25:00.000-08:00

I have the proud honour of being one of Ollie's biggest losers! Three stone in six months is incredible and I never would have been able to do it without his advice, guidance and bullying (in a good way). And all this despite the fact that I am not only a vegetarian but a Welsh one at that. I had been trying for years to build up the courage to go to the gym and had many false starts but I decided that enough was enough and I needed some help. I am so glad that I got in touch with Ollie, he started me off slowly with light exercises and not too much of anything (even though I still needed a lie down in a dark room afterwards) but by the end of six months I was doing a full hour of quite hard exercise, and enjoying it! I have gone from getting out of breathe doing 20 step ups to being able to do 100 squats (while moaning) ,15 minutes plus at high level on the rowing machine, cross trainer, cycle - take your pick - lifting weights and all sorts. And 45 minutes of spin class. Incredible. So I would fully recommend getting Ollie to help with the initial phase of any new health and fitness programme, if I hadn't left Oxford I would certainly still be seeing him 2/3 times per week. I am now putting what he taught me in to practice in another gym, it's amazing how much I have learnt in such a short period of time.

Wow!

Congratulations!

2009-10-23T02:47:00.001-07:00

Just want to congratulate 2 of my clients for their weightloss efforts so far....

Both of them have now lost over 3 stone! Thats around 20kgs! If fact one of the girls is closer to losing 4st than 3 st, she's lost nearly 25kgs!!!!

Find something that weighs around 20kgs and pick it up.... go on, feel how much weight they have lost and then think about how much you can lose!

Winter is kicking in, traditionally a time for weight gain so beat the bulge, get down here and start feeling better about yourself. In fact if you come down and start training with me before Christmas i will give you cash back for every pound you lose... just ask for details.

Thanks

Tuesday 6/10/09 Training

2009-10-06T07:19:00.001-07:00

Chest dominant training today!

A nice little chest tester...

Bench Press~ 4 x 5 reps

Bench Press~ 5 sets of 60kg max reps followed by max reps of 50kgs

Standing Barbell Military Press~ 4 sets x 12 reps

Stability Ball Dumbbell Press~ 4 sets x 12 reps

Dumbbell Flyes~ 4 sets x 12 reps

Smith Machine Incline Press~ 4 Sets x 12 reps

During all rest periods (1 min) 30 secs is spent skipping aim for 50+ skips.

As you can tell quite a high volume of reps but a little strength thrown in at the beginning.

Enjoy

Todays Training!

2009-10-01T02:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so i get asked some times, very occasionally, what i do for training. Well here's an example of my morning session today Thurs 1/10/09:

Sumo Deadlift: 4sets of 5 reps.... 120kg, 130kgs, 140kgs, 150kgs

superset with

Leg Press: 4 sets of 10 reps: 120kgs

Bent Over Rows: 10 sets of 10 reps: 60kgs

superset with

Kettlebell Swings: 10 sets of 15 reps: 32kgs

Walking Lunges: 3 sets of 40 lunges steps (length of the sports hall): 25kgs sandbag on back

Kettlebell Front Squats: 2 sets of 12 reps: 2 x 12kg KB's

Leg Curl: 3 sets of 8 reps: 60kgs

superset with

Stability Ball Hamstring Curls: 3 sets of 12 reps.

That's it, took 55mins-60mins

Was hard work but ready for this afternoons session with the boys and a bit of core work.

Enjoy!

Which sport do you think claims the fittest athletes?

2009-09-29T03:32:00.000-07:00

Generally i have an interest in most sports, i find the fitness within different sports quite interesting.

Is a sprinter for example fit? I mean they never go over 200m when training.. yet they are in phenomenal shape.. I would argue they are very fit.

Rowers would appear very fit wouldn't they? They can keep going and going and going... yet get them to do a sprint and they struggle...

I've recently taken up an interest in MMA, mixed martial arts. The fitness levels of these athletes it quite frankly ridiculous!! I mean they can sprint, have phenomenal power in each of their kicks or punches, they can go for 5 rounds of 5 mins. Have you ever seen the videos of Sean Sherk training, or Brock Lesnar training. The guy is 260 lbs and yet can move like a cat!

Sooo which sport do you think has the fittest players/ competitors? Boxers, MMA fighters, rugby players, rowers, footballers, golfers?

Ill tell you what i think, let me know what you think....

More Speed tips from across the pond!

2009-08-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

Interesting stuff from a strength and conditioning coach out in the states.

Id never thought of arms movement training!

Speed

2009-08-04T02:35:00.001-07:00

Check out this clip of the top NFL speeds!!!

Organic Food

2009-08-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

Dont believe everything you read in the papers!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8174482.stm

An article has just been realised saying that there in no benefit to eating organic foods..... rubbish!!

The study did not go into one of the main concerns which is how many chemicals end up going into your body with the mass produced commercial foods. All the pesticides and chemicals they spray on them end up in your body. Our bodies have not evolved enough to be bombarded by all these chemicals and pesticides!

The organic meats will not have been pumped full of antibiotics or medicines which will also be entering your digestive system. Antibiotics put a huge strain on your body.

I have been doing a trial for the last month only eating organic vegetables and i can honestly say that i have never felt better, im more alert and functioning so much better. I have also switched to organic fish and as much organic meat as i can afford. This is tho only thing i have changed, training schedule is the same and no other external factors have changed. In my opinion organic is worth every penny, and its not that much more expensive!

Thanks
Ollie

Hip Mobility!!

2009-07-31T03:35:00.000-07:00

Have a look at this video link from the guys at Synergy Athletic, great little routine for people to follow to unlock those hips!! Runners especially!

http://www.synergy-athletics.com

Thanks keep coming back!!

Ollie

New Qualification!!!

2009-07-30T04:26:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I did my MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) instructors course.

I have never been so stiff the day after a course EVER!!!

Honestly these are the ultimate workouts, just look at any of the guys or girls using this form of workout and the results speak for themselves.

Based around punches, kicks, knees and elbows. All pad work and large body movements to utilise as much of the body as possible giving you the best cardio/resistance workout ever!

Come down to the centre and try it out!!!

£15 for a 30 min kick ass session!

The new gym is now complete and memberships are going well, come and join its by far the cheapest gym in the area, and if you say you have read my blog i'll give you a free session!

Thanks
Ollie

A couple of workouts I put together.

2009-06-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here at OC Fitness I like to post workouts that i have tried and completed.

These 2 workouts are fairly exhausting on the muscles involved. Have a go and see what you think!

New Gym 6th July!!!!

2009-06-12T04:57:00.000-07:00

New gym will open 6th of July 09 @ Radley College!

The gym i work at is opening our new, fitness suite and free weights room in under a month, i will post pictures as soon as its done. Its looking great at the moment!

Also ive just come back from the USA, went to a couple of gyms over there. Loved the fact they had chains, bands and other things you dont find in the gyms over here unless there is a PT thats using them. Was really good to see how far ahead they are of us in terms of training. I watched a couple of trainers over there, they seem to know alot of the members, unlike over here where the PT's seem to be a bit reluctant to be sociable with the customers!

Anyway i may also in the future be bringing on a new string to OC Fitness, in the form of a physiotherapist so watch this space!!

My New Job That Runs Alongside My Business

2008-06-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

Its been around a month now since i started my new job at Radley College, a public school in Oxfordshire. Recently they have been upgrading their gym and sporting facilities. We now have the newest and frankly the best Real Tennis court in the country. Its a fantastic game and i urge you to come down and have a look at it.

We are also now starting on the new gym, complete overhaul of the gym facilities. A new free weights room, a new cardio and fixed weights suite. Its going to be amazing!!! No expense spared!

I have just ordered 22 Kettlebells and am starting up another new company called Oxfordkettlebell (http://www.oxfordkettlebell.co.uk) with another trainer called Janke who is another Oxford based trainer. We will be putting on workshops and 1-2-1 sessions in the coming months so watch out for us!

The real reason i am writing this today is to tell you about the awesome triathlon we organised for the school boys yesterday. There were around 36 entrants and because of the logistical nightmare of cycling we swapped it for the total body workout that is the rowing machine! Ouch! The format was as follows:
300m swim
2.5km run
2000m row

Kind of a sprint, but it was hard, lactic burning, lung busting hell. The winner was a guy called Fred Bolton who did it in 22 minutes 56 seconds, a pretty resonable time. I would have competed but i have had a bit of a cold in the last few days and need a few days to recover (no point in training when you are ill, you just make yourself worse!) We even had one of the masters come down and have a go, which was great!

I'll be posting more about the future dates for the kettlebell workshops in the next couple of weeks so check back soon!

Always improve, always evolve, never give up!

A Great Blog

OC Fitness Top Reads This January 2012

Alicia Transformation! Warning Amazing Results!

Alicia Transformation! Warning Amazing Results!

Biosignature not long to go!!!

Sponsorship for Real Tennis British Under-24 Champion!

Sponsored Athlete info coming today!

Poliquin International Certification Program Level 1

Tip 2: Eat Protein at Every Meal!

Tip 1: Get your body fat measured often!

My Next Qualification- oh yes another one!!!

Pics of my client 5 stone weight loss... so far!

Pics coming soon!

Testimonial from a client....

Congratulations!

Tuesday 6/10/09 Training

Todays Training!

Which sport do you think claims the fittest athletes?

More Speed tips from across the pond!

Speed

Organic Food

Hip Mobility!!

New Qualification!!!

A couple of workouts I put together.

New Gym 6th July!!!!

My New Job That Runs Alongside My Business