A weekend with Strength Coach, Mark Roper
Being in the fitness industry it is of utmost importance to continue excelling with upskilling. Inner Strength places a big emphasis on continued learning, which is one of the reasons that have led to my recent move to Inner Strength. Upskilling is not just doing every course under the moon, it is making sure that what you do will integrate directly to your client, so when a man as knowledgeable as Mark Roper comes to the country, it wasn’t something I could turn down.
Myself and I.S Director Hayden Brown flew to Wellington on the friday to hear Mark speak about fatloss, program design and to tie it all together, nutrition. This was followed by the sunday morning discussing advanced hypertrophy methods. It is my pleasure to be able to hand on this information to you all, so here below are my & key things I learnt from Mark Roper.
1. Male and Female training is two very different things, a male will generally respond better to a more neurologically demanding exercises and lower rep ranges and greater rest periods. While females will respond better to a more metabolic stimulus, meaning higher reps with less rest period between sets.
2. If you are holding body fat in your lower body you could greatly benefit from increased detoxification of the body. You can do this by having a sauna 3 times a week for no less than 20 minutes, aim for 30. To maximise results, stay hydrated through a non plastic bottle (the plastic will heat up and you will be drinking more toxins), sweat before you go into the sauna (great post workout) and make sure that you wipe the sweat off as it comes.
3. During the weekend we spent didn’t just spend our time in the classroom, but also applying this newly acquired knowledge in a practical setting. During this session I learnt great pull up progression. Chin ups are one of my favorite exercises which are an end result for almost all my clients. They’re known as the squat for the upper body. So if you’re keen on getting a killer back I recommend adding this progression into your workout.
- 20 second dead hand.
- 30 second lowers from the top position to full hang.
- 30 second lowers from the top position to full hang + 20% body weight attached.
- 1 full chin up followed by 2 30 lowers (repeat this until you can get 6 then add load).
4. If you find you are getting uncomfortable lower back pain during a squat or deadlift, try adding in a 45 degrees back extension with a 2+ second pause at the top. This will strengthen your lower back during the top 15% and bottom 15% of the movement.
5. The final thing that I would like to share with you today is work ethic in the gym, after being pushed to the limit by one of the very best I learnt that the mind will try tell you to stop, but you can ALWAYS surpass this point and go beyond, and that is where you will get the greatest results.
This course came at a perfect time for me as I just started working at Inner Strength after previously working at another gym. This is a perfect time and opportunity for me to implement all this newly gained knowledge to see that my clients are getting the best results possible.
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