Hi – I’m glad you are still with me – and the fact that you are here probably means that you are questioning (or at least have an open mind regarding) whether you can achieve better / faster results from your training. You may be wondering whether a PT who understands the AMP Your Workout system can not only speed up your results, but have you enjoying your workouts more and feeling more confident that you are training the right way for your physique and your goals.
There is nothing worse than heading on a long journey and having a big question mark sitting over you every day or every session, with doubt or uncertainty that your path is off course! It is an uncomfortable feeling that all that hard work may not be yielding the type of results that you could genetically achieve if your training was properly matched to your strengths.
It is common however to feel confused and uncertain with weight training as the process takes a long time to show results and there are many variables as well as a lot of confusing information in the market, not least of which might come from your friends!
We have seen in previous articles the complexity of the muscle systems that we are trying to develop and the many variations of all the training factors that can affect the load you place on your muscles (over 5,000 combinations – and as we saw in one article, 153 combinations alone in the simple example we used for the hypothetical clones and comparing their performance). Hence, we also saw that your adaptive response that is prompted by your training is reliant on many factors besides weights and reps and fast-twitch/slow-twitch fibers. It is more complex than that – But AMP Your Workout takes a complex problem and makes it easy with automated calculations and guidance.
The AMP Your Workout system, using its black-box analytical methods, learns more about all your muscles every time you train and guides your training to your genetic strengths. This it does each time you train, by recording your training characteristics to hundredths of a second and taking into account ALL the training factors that govern your results.
A PT who is well versed in the AMP Your Workout system, can effectively train you as if they have an Olympic coach or sports-scientist doing lengthy calculations each night before your training sessions, and whispering in your PT’s ear each session as they repeat the process and guide you to your ultimate workout.
These “Super-PT’s” (we have not yet thought of a name for them, so if you think of something suitable, please drop us a line) can, if they have good PT skills in the first place and the combine those skills with the AMP Your Workout system and methodology, guide you to amazing workouts and results.
Firstly, recapping the earlier articles on what makes a good PT, compared to an average PT – we identified the following factors (please see the relevant articles if you’d like more details)
We saw in the article “The mini Encyclopedia of choosing a PT to rocket you to success” (and the article “Could a Personal Trainer accelerate your results in one of these 5 ways?” ) – that there were several basic factors to address to ensure that you get the most benefit from your PT. Summarizing them again here;-
- Qualifications
- Insurance
- Experience
- Walking in your shoes
The 6 R’s
- Relevant skill sets
- References or proof
- Rapport
- Resources
- Rates
- Reliability
- Flexibility
- Holidays and breaks
- Contracts, trials, and exit
- Location, timing, and Convenience
This leads us to the “Super-PT”, with all the above “powers”, plus the ability to “see” into your muscles with the power of the AMP Your Workout system.
We concluded that:- Many of the benefits that come with a PT, as you will have noted from the article, require years of experience.
But does this mean you need to find a “mature” PT?
Not Necessarily – as mentioned in the “leverage” section, a PT can learn very quickly by leveraging the experience of mentors.
A PT can also “acquire” high-end skills quickly through powerful resources such as training equipment and monitoring devices – much like the mechanic using a modern dyno-tune with computerized feedback – or the accountant using a licensed accounting product that includes all the latest information and calculators, enabling the accountant to work for you more strategically rather than spending all his or her time doing the research or calculations manually!
AMP Your Workout empowers PT’s in much the same way. The computations within AMP Your Workout are well beyond the capacity of most PT’s (they would take hours to calculate for each workout) – and they provide scientific analysis of your training, instantly to the PT, empowering the PT to work with you much more effectively.
However, much the same way that a consultative accountant does not need to know all the inner workings of the tax calculators or the detailed laws on a particular investment strategy – a AMP Your Workout PT does not need to know all the algorithms in AMP Your Workout – just how to apply them to best effect wit your training. The AMP Your Workout system does the many hours worth of calculations in a fraction of a second.
By way of another analogy – you do not need to know how a GPS system works to get from A to B – you just have to know how to use it.
Following is an example of what it would be like to train with a PT who uses AMP Your Workout. Much of this is taken directly from my experiences of training our programmers and others as we test the App – as well as my experiences from the earlier years during the development and refinement of the system (circa 2009, 2010, 2011) and applying the prototype to my “test” clients.
Our programmers have been testing the system in order to check their coding as well as get a feel for the user experience. As a result, we have some of the best-built programmers in the country – all of them rather like David Bannister except for having permanently toned muscles after accidentally experiencing an overdose of AMP Your Workout. (that last bit is a joke I hope you realize – AMP Your Workout will guide you to your genetic strengths and thereby help accelerate your training progress, but you will not “accidentally” overdo it and end up like the hulk overnight! – I make this clarification for the many people, and ladies in particular, who seem to feel that there is a real danger of suddenly bulking up when training with weights!)
To get an idea of what it is like to train with AMP Your Workout, and in particular, with a PT who understands AMP Your Workout, here is an insight drawn from real experiences of our programmers and others who have had an introduction by me to AMP Your Workout. Firstly, like any good system or process aimed at making improvements, it is necessary to get a good indication of the starting point – the Baseline.
Whether you are someone with a goal to get into physical shape, or a business owner starting a business or taking over a existing one, or a consultant advising a person or business, it is imperative to firstly establish the starting point. Where are you “at” right now?. Until you know that, the goals have no meaning. You may know where you want to go, but if you do not know the starting point, you cannot determine the starting direction and activities! (try looking at a shopping mall map but don’t look at the “you are here” pointer – without that, the whole map is meaningless! – Alternatively, ask your GPS for directions to a destination – but do not give it a starting point – or give it the wrong starting point! – I should also add a disclaimer to that last one – if you try it and end up in Timbuktu, please do not send me a complaint email – I warned you!)
With AMP Your Workout, the baseline is determined by simply monitoring the training with NO changes from the “usual” training practices. I do not even try to alter a person’s splits or program, even if I do not agree with it. I have them train they way they normally would with their “usual” reps and weights and rest periods.
A AMP Your Workout PT would do the same – have you train the way you usually train, and record the workout. Note that there is an exception here – that if you are doing anything that is dangerous to yourself or others, then the PT will have to speak up and provide a safer alternative – this is just common sense. An example of this is just the other day I saw a PT teaching a client to do leg presses in a way that could potentially cause a lumbar disc injury. If the same client came to me and tried to do the style that they had just learnt, I would stop them immediately.
AMP Your Workout in the mean time is recording your workout to fractions of a second. The accelerometer in one of the smart-watches (Samsung Gear, Samsung Neo, Samsung Live, Google Wear, Pebble, and as of January, the iWatch) will record and transmit to the phone (Android, iOS, or Windows) the waveform from the repetitions and all the timing information. The Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithm in the AMP Your Workout system will “decode” the waveform to analyze the repetitions to hundredths of a second, noting all phases of every repetition. The system actually notes HOW you lift the weights, noting the time in each phase of each repetition; eccentric, eccentric pause, concentric, and concentric pause.
This repetition data is further processed with the data for that particular exercise from the exercise database and AMP Your Workout then performs its next miracle, processing the data via the patented algorithms that determine the effective “value” of the set in relation to the type of stresses placed on the working muscles. This is further computed after the last set for the entire exercise (i.e. all sets) such that AMP Your Workout knows the effective load you have placed on the working muscles.
In this initial baseline (or benchmark) phase, I do not care how long you rest – provided it is “typical” of your usual training. I try not to influence anything at all – since this information is very valuable to you – it will eventually tell you where you have opportunities to improve your training and better match it to your genetic strengths for that muscle – i.e. it will tell you where you have been going wrong and missing the chance for extra gains due to factors that, up till now, you have not been able to measure.
Once you have done one workout, the next workout on those exercises will be “predicted” for you. At this stage, the system only has data from one workout so it can really only replicate that workout, and increase the intensity slightly.
HOWEVER, we can do some magic at this point already if desired – the system will know your predicted reps for any given weight, or vice-versa, the weight you can handle for any desired rep range. It will also know what sort of rests you will need between sets for each rep range and for any given time under tension (TUT). It IS therefore possible to vary the training parameters at this early point, using the “change intensity” function.
I generally avoid this in the early days for the following reasons:
Many trainees do not like to change their training. This changes once they start to understand how the system works and that they may be holding back progress with their current training. More importantly, I want to get a better bench-mark. The first session gives precise stats on how you currently train – but generally it is not as intense as you can actually achieve. I like to therefore let the system intensify your training so we have a true bench-mark of what you are really capable of in your current “style”
Hence, the next phase is Intensification.
Without changing your basic training variables, let the system intensify the way you train. This then gives you a TRUE indication of the improvements you can achieve as you test different training styles with AMP Your Workout. i.e. we have to compare apples with apples – if you are not really training at your peak in your current style, you cannot compare it to your peak in other styles! When you see the change in scores as AMP Your Workout guides your training to suit your genetic strengths, you will then have a true indication of the improvements possible in your training, by incorporating the other techniques and factors that AMP Your Workout addresses in your training.
The previous paragraph hints at your next steps; – you have a good benchmark of your “old” training and you have intensified your efforts in that style. AMP Your Workout in the mean time, besides helping you intensify your training, now has data on the other variables that you have previously not been able to measure. You can now vary your training with the help of AMP Your Workout, measure those variables accurately, and assess the effect of the different combinations of those training variables.
Each time you train, AMP Your Workout “learns” more and more about you and stores all the relevant data in your own private database. The phase I have just described is called “Ranging” – i.e. you put your body through a range of different training styles. This is all done with the help of AMP Your Workout. You do not have to guess the ranging variations – AMP Your Workout can predict them for you from your first record of the exercise – you attempt the targets sets, and the system will learn more about you whether you hit the targets, exceed them, or fall short.
This is a very interesting phase for you as you get to not only try interesting changes to your training, predicted for you to still equate to your previous “baseline” – you get an evaluation of them which indicates whether you are more genetically “suited” to a particular style. And this is done for you for every body-part and every exercise.
If you have not read the article on all the elements in your muscle systems and the variable factors in your training and the effect on the muscle systems, as well as the black-box approach of AMP Your Workout that identifies the inner-workings of your muscle systems, then please refer to the relevant articles:
- Muscle Details – Factors That Could Be Holding Back Your Training and Your Ideal Physique
- A Scientific “Black-Box” Approach To Training – For Faster Results
As the system “learns” more about each of your muscle systems, it can better guide you to the training that suits your genetic strengths, for each muscle group and each exercise.
Each time you go to the gym, the predictions and guides are there for you. You can also vary them with the “change intensity” over-ride and the system will “know” for each parameter that you change, how the other parameters will also need to change. You can of course, if you are feeling really good that day and using a “style” that fits your really well, beat your predictions (i.e. cut the rests short a bit, or increase the TUT, or increase the reps) and you will then “teach” the system that the muscle you are training “likes” that style. The system will take this into account the next time you train. When this happens, it is as if the AMP Your Workout system says “ . .Oh . . you are better than I thought you were, provided you train this muscle in this fashion . . . . .” And it will take note of this for next time.
This brings us to the next phase – Optimization!
After the Benchmarking, Intensification, and Ranging phases, AMP Your Workout now has a good “understanding” of each of your muscles!
You will therefore now be guided by the system, in your “optimized” training for each muscle. Since you are training in the “zone” where each muscle performs at its best, you can expect to make good progress. All elements of your muscle (see earlier articles) are being stressed to their peak to promote adaptation. The system will continue to refine the optimization for you.
However, as you are now training at possibly the most intense you have ever trained, (like a car on a dyno with everything “set” right so it outputs 500Bhp) and that intensity will continue to escalate as you improve – you cannot do this continually. You would soon over-train.
This therefore is the point at which we introduce “Maintenance and Cycling”. You will select an appropriate micro-cycle or vary your intensity manually based on how you feel each session, i.e. intuitively. The micro-cycles will strategically alter your training intensity to try to prevent burn-out and to keep you progressing.
Each micro-cycle will bias your training according to what you want to achieve.
This is the subject of another article. The system will note where your genetic “strengths” lie, but will be biased by the micro-cycle that is applied, to adjust the guidance for the outcome that you want.
For instance, you might, if training to your genetic strengths, naturally develop good muscularity. However, you may only want a toned “beach-body”. The AMP Your Workout system will, under the influence of the “beach-body” micro-cycle, steer you away from your “peak” training and ensure that your training focuses on the parameters for toning and avoids, for most sessions, your peak overloads.
