How I train and what I eat

At the moment we seem to be getting asked how we (the Momentum coaches) train and what we eat. There are a number of answers…in my case I don’t train as much as I should and I eat anything put in front of me, Josh eats dead animals, Stretch eats ice cream, Jenna has a supplement for every occasion and you can follow Alice’s food adventures on instagram….Only messing (a little bit), we all take our training very seriously, as we should – it’s our job, our hobby and our passion and we all like looking good in speedos.

So we’ll put it out there in a series of blog posts so you too can live the dream. We’ll ask all the coaches to put together an explanation of what they do, why they do it and how they fuel it.

I’ll (Geoff) be first up as I’m obviously older, wiser and more hench in all things than the gang. Plus mine is simple, ish, so it’s easy to start with, then we can graduate on to Jenna’s epic periodisation plan and Stretch’s dream in excel.

There are a number of factors which dictate my plan and goals:

Time – I dont have a lot of it and when I do it’s normally pretty tightly framed. If I’m lucky I get 4 or 5 45-60 min sessions in a week (and it takes a good 15 minutes to get my vintage joints warmed up and moving).
Goals – I of course want to remain competitive with the boys n girls at Momentum and be the hottest OAP dad on the block.
Injuries – yes, I have a fine list and I fucking whinge about them at every opportunity.

I work on a simple cycling program – hypertrophy/strength for 4/6 weeks then conditioning/CF for 4/6 weeks. Saying that, in each phase I run a basic maintance program to try and maintain gains from the previous phase. I’m also always trying to work on some skills but this is dictated very much by time. Due to time I also program what I feel will give me the biggest bang for my buck in terms of exercise and also feel its really important to enjoy what I’m doing.

At the moment I am about halfway through my hypertrophy/strength cycle (more detail at the end of the post):
Day 1 lower – squats – quads – midline

Day 2 upper – pull – push – accessories

Day 3 metcon – conditioning (CF weapons or testing out heavy metcon)

Day 4 lower – DL – hamstrings – midline

Day 5 upper – push – pull – accessories

Day 6 metcon – conditioning (CF weapons or testing out heavy Metcon)
This cycle might take me 8 days or it might take me 12 depending on what chaos is reigning in the rest of my life or how my aches and pains are doing. I stick to a basic plan as outlined but I might adapt exercises a little, so squats might switch from front to back squat, dead stop squat might become hack squat, pull ups I’ll change grip, i’ll alternate between BB and DB etc. If I’m doing a hypertrophy phase my reps will go up, my sets will come down and I’ll reduce my rest periods. When I move into a strength phase my reps come down, my sets go up and I sit around even more than normal. My conditioning and CF phases generally follow the CF hackney programming because it’s great.
So how do I feed this machine? I feed it by eating a wide selection of product, some good some bad and some ugly (but tasty). I vaguely try and tailor my eating by what’s in the training plan – so if I’m pushing strength/hypertrophy I’ll eat even more steak than normal. I also eat what I enjoy and whatever my girls have left on their plates and I don’t worry about it too much any more. What I don’t do is drink any alcohol, smoke or diet. I always eat breakfast, every day, and as my wife has just pointed out I also each lunch, dinner and pretty much any other time food is available.

I aim for:

Breakfast – 4/5 x per week I try and have a combitation of eggs, salmon, avocado, sausage, bacon, rye bread and porridge 2/3 x per week

Lunch: a portion of protein with a green salad and some fruit

Dinner: a large piece of protein, salad and vegetables as well as my daughters’ leftovers. I’m also the owner of a very sweet tooth and am I wine gum bitch and a fairy cake slut. So I’m not going to be 8% BF until I sort that out. Can’t have everything.
I eat around training and always try and eat an hour before I train and always have a protein shake with either milk or water at least 1/2 hour after trainng.
Supplements: I cycle my supplements depending on what I’m training and how I’m feeling.  I have tried many cycles and stacks of supplements and feel some were a waste of time and others were spot on. My general supplements look like the below:
Fish oils, great, take lots – I take 5-10 grms per day

BCAA – I take 30 grams split before and after training

Beta alanine, I use it around strength and power based workouts

Co enzyme q10 – I really get a lot out of this and use it during big anaerobic/cardio workouts

Protein powders – I use a ON nutrition powder which tastes great with whole milk – I don’t have any stomach reaction to shakes, lots of people do.

Pre-workout supplements –  try them now and again and feel they work well but I don’t like the post workout come down I get from most so I avoid them.

As I said this is a basic outline and there’s a lot more detail and trial and error behind the scenes that has got me to this place. I have been tinkering with training programs and cycles for over 15 years – there are always varied opinions on what does and what doesn’t work and it’s good to give it a go and find out what works for you. What I have found is it has to be enjoyable, results based and manageable – if it isn’t, it aint going to happen.
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Day 1 squats – quads – midline
Basic mobility and activation drills / skills
A front squats 10×8,8,5,5,3,3,3,3,3 @ ? 40×1 90-120
B squat cleans – back squats 6×2+4 @? 15+60
C1 dead stop jump squats 3×5 @ ? 15

C2 air squats / pistols 3×20 @ ? 75
D leg  press 2×90 sec pressing 60
E weighted sit ups 2/3×15-20

Day 2 upper push – pull – accessories
Basic mobility and activation drills
A1 OH press /push press 10x,8,5,5,3,3,3,3,3 @ ? 40×1 60

A2 Neutral grip pull ups 10×6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6 @ BW 3111 60-90
B1 Klokov behind the neck press 4×6-8 4011 30

B2 cable  straight row 4×10-15  4×11 75
C1 seated Arnold press 2×20 2020 45

C2 supporters trap 3 raises 2×8-12 31×1 45
D1 db Zootman curls 2×10-12 5010

D2 cable curls 2×15-20 2020