The infamous 2021 35th edition of the Marathon des Sables - a completers perspective

Introduction: 8 months ago, I was contacted by a lady as follows: “I'm looking to find a suitable trainer for my best friend and husba nd who live locally in Reigate and are both new to exercise in their 40s, needing to lose weight, change their lifestyle and kickstart their fitness journeys. They would like to train as a couple as they have the same goals (weight loss, injury prevention, both totally new to any kind of exercise, need to protect dodgy knees). The lady turned out to be a very good friend of clients C and A who I subsequently contacted, and we went from there. 1. Goal Setting: I then met with C and A over a coffee to confirm their goals. Which were both to get to a healthy weight, then maintain that, build strength, gain some gym confidence, increase their energy levels, and to get a fitness habit going. Their most significant goal was the realisation that they needed improve their health so they could be around for their kids. 2. Assessment: To get started, I asked some more questions on their fitness background, lifestyle and nutrition habits. C use to do ballet as a child, and A has played rugby and football, and has had knee problems from two ACL injuries on the same leg, resulting in surgery. I took some basic measurements using body composition scales to set a baseline. I then completed a functional movement assessment in the gym, that use for all my new clients. Using Cook and Burtons Functional Movement Screen. This captures seven key fundamental movement tests that require a balance of mobility and stability. This is to observe their ability to perform basic mobility and stability movements by placing clients in positions were weakness, imbalances, limitations can be determined. 3. Training Plan: Fr om their assessment I designed their training program, phase 1 being to build a solid fitness foundation. We started with one in person strength and conditioning training session per week, starting with mobility work, then exercises to strengthen the full body, including core specific exercises, plus conditioning work (Including interval training) to improve cardiovascular health and power. Finishing with static stretching to improve their flexibility. The style of training was functional fitness that supports and mimics everyday life. It includes movements such as pushing, pulling, bending, squatting, twisting, reaching, lunging, and core. From phase 1, I continued to progress their program from a mixture of body weight exercises and free weights e.g. dumbbells, kettlebells, to where we are today and now comfortably using barbells. My training plans have a strong emphasis on progression, good form, and technique to ensure the client is safe and doesn’t encounter unnecessary soreness or worse injury. 4. Nutrition and lifestyle Plan: I provided a self-learning healthy lifestyle course. Comprised of four phases as below. The emphasis on eating a balanced healthy diet, taking an overall pragmatic approach, and in addition ensuring other key factors e.g. including daily movement, sufficient sleep, and water consumption. Phase 1: Calories and Tracking Phase 2: Nutritional Balance Phase 3: Good and bad Food? Phase 4: Movement, Sleep & Water I provided both C and A with daily calorie targets calculated based on their basal metabolic rate and average exercise activity, and finally a sensible calorie deficit. In addition, I also calculated a daily protein target. They used the user-friendly App. Nutracheck to help track calories. The emphasis being to reward good behaviour. In addition, C worked on her cardio fitness in spin classes and my run strong couch to 5k program. A worked on increasing his daily movement, patiently listening to me constantly talking about steps! 5. Implementation: I modified the program at the beginning to minimise the impact and stress on A’s knee, so for the lower body less squatting and lunging movements and more focus on hinge movements. My training sessions are based on 6-week cycles to ensure consistency and progress with the exercise. Then training sessions were updated based on their progress and my ongoing movement assessments during a session. Client feedback from regular reviews to discuss goals and progress was built into each training cycle e.g. both asked to go a bit heavier with their weights, which is feedback I love to hear, as its not me pushing the client, there pushing themselves. 6. Monitoring and Progress Tracking: I track the weekly training metrics such as sets, reps, weight, and time, to ensure gradual progression. We measured weight every 2 weeks, informally, and not obsessively to track progress. We discussed, defined, and tracked habits in our regular catch ups outside of the gym. 7. Challenges and Solutions: Time challenges were what you would expect for a busy professional couple with two children to care for. Personal Training is a partnership and collaboration between personal trainer and client, and flexibility on both sides ensured consistent training. Life events presented a challenge, for example during the Christmas period exercise and calorie counting was slightly put on hold, resulting in a slight increase in weight. I was not concerned about this at all and was pleased that they both relaxed with their family and enjoyed Christmas. Straight after this they had the discipline to get back on track. 8. Results: Results have been incredible! Both C and A are getting stronger and fitter every week. They’re now very comfortably performing advanced exercises. A’s strength has improved considerably, performing exercises with excellent form with barbells. He’s considerably more flexible, and his cardiovascular ability has gone from very out of breath to easily performing a 1000m row in under 5 mins. Consequently, he has much more energy in and out of the gym. C, like A has improved considerably in all areas of strength, flexibility, and cardio. She has fully embraced the exercise habit, as well as our sessions she attends spin and yoga classes, and is very confident in the gym. She also finds a notable difference in managing stress and sleeping much better than before she started. I’ve left weight loss to last because this is the positive side effect of a healthy fitness program. But it’s been amazing, A has lost 20kg and C 9kg . The below graphs shows how they have lost weight slowly but consistently over time. Taking this long-term approach means habits are fully formed, and are sustainable.