Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
The Big Ten
1. How long have you been a PICP instructor? What got you interested in Poliquins system?
I took my first Poliquin course in 20 and have been studying Poliquin’s principles and training methods since then. I was first introduced to Poliquins system from a friend of mine. He encouraged me to incorporate prescribed tempos/ Time under tension (TUT) in my training programs. He mentioned Poliquin and the rest is history!
2. What other certifications and education do you hold in regards to your profession?
Besides being a PICP 2 instructor and BioSignature practitioner, I also have a bachelor degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotions. I am also a certified personal trainer trough American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
3. When did you start training in figure contests and how many have you done? What were your placings in those shows and do you have any in the future?
I started competing in figure competitions last year (2010)… I ended up doing FOUR competitions back to back that year (I DON’T suggest that haha). I placed okay in most of those shows (ranged from 1st in class to 8th in class, depending on the caliber and amount of competitors.
This year (2011) I have done one show: 2011 NPC Southern States; I won 1st place overall figure winner…. Ironically, this is the same show that I placed 8th in my class last year! ?
4. Have you moved into modeling? Or have you kept your focus on the sport side of the industry?
I have not done much modeling (only a few small things here and there), however I would LOVE to get more into it. I absolutely love the sports side of the industry… the training, diet, and entire competition prep is what I live for!
5. Having a long history of classical dance, do you find that it has influenced your figure or training career?
I think my ballet dance background definitely helps with figure competitions. I love being on stage!!
6. What are your current business goals and how would you describe yourself as a coach and trainer?
Currently, I am working on my new business 360 SHIFT (Strength, Health, Inspiration, Fitness, and Training) 360 SHIFT is all about increasing your inner strength! I offer health and wellness articles, inspirational stories of all kinds, fitness apparel (soon to come), fitness videos and tips, and personal training/nutritional counseling services. Another one of my main focuses with this business is to help, specifically, men and women who suffer from eating disorders. I battled anorexia for many many years, and would love to help others get healthy and fit!
As a coach I am very straight to the point. I like to acknowledge the issue at hand and fix it! Also, I am very goal oriented and encourage my clients to ALWAYS have some kind of goal. It makes training more enjoyable knowing that you are progressing each time you train and are getting closer to reaching that goal.
7. You have worked with a lot of clients, even having helped a number of them make it to the stage. How has your Biosig background helped you with your clients goals.
Yes, one of my clients (45years young, I must add) just won 1st overall in the bikini division at her very first competition. My BioSig background has helped tremendously with her and with all of my clients! Knowing the BioSig methods allows me to pin point the clients individual priority sites to target and correct body composition and even health issues; its great!
8. You currently live in Florida. Is that your home and if so how is Florida in regards to personal training and the private coaching industry?
Yes FL is my home, however I did live in NYC for 3 years. As far as training and coaching goes, FL is great. The clientele is very well rounded; ranges from young to old athletes, housewives, and weekend warriors.
9. What are three goals you have for yourself during the next 12months?
Three goals would be:
1.To receive my IFBB Figure Pro card at my next competition (May 2012)
2.To have my new company, 360 SHIFT, be known nation wide for clothing, training, and health awareness.
3.To appear in /model for a well known fitness magazine
10. Tell us a little about where you coach and is there a way to get in contact with you for consultations or training?
I currently coach in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, however I also do online training program design and nutritional consultations. I will also be selling clothing in the near future online and in stores… stay posted for that!! For now, best way to contact me is through email: tanyaetessam@mac.com
Thanks!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Sept - 15th 2011
I sit at my computer on the eve of the anniversary of loss, that impacted so many people related to the University of Wyoming and its track and field program. It has been ten years since we lost our Cowboy brother in a single horrific act on the part of one selfish individual. Over the last decade the thoughts of my lost teammates come and go from my mind as the chores of daily life takeover the most pressing thoughts of the day, but then they return. The faces of friends, the smiles of teammates and the stories of a great times in my life. Over the years I have struggled to speak about the friends that I lost that night, I think that it was that I lost so many at one time… I have struggled with the idea that the Universe could take eight young souls from us. Why did they have to leave us so soon? Why did they have to go all together? These are questions that I have asked the darkness when I lay alone, struggling to see the reasons that lay behind the actions of the conscious universe… There were even times that I lost faith in the whole plan because it just didn’t seem to make sense to me anymore. Ten years ago, I was with friends and family spending the day living life, enjoying a Sunday at an amusement park… it wasn’t until I was driving home that my girlfriend at the time got a hold of me, explaining the tragedy that happened…I felt empty and broken, how could I have been having such a great day when others that were so close to me could be broken and lost? I didn’t realize the impact of the guilt that I felt and the pain until years later…in fact it wasn’t until this year that I returned to a park…Ten years it took to get me back to something that others don’t give a second thought. Yet for me, it is an instant reminder of the loss of friends and brothers….
And today it was a crashing realization that it is this life that we are here to celebrate, there are questions that we can never answer during this existence and the plans that the Universe has for use will be explained when we are ready to understand. A friend spoke to me today about the importance of ‘being’ the importance of existing in this time, this life, this moment. We must always work for tomorrow but if there is one thing that we must understand, is that we must live for today. Love for today, enjoy for today… This flood of memories has given me a moment of reflection and a charge of strength. A sense that we are here to grow, to share, to experience to exist and this life is not to be taken for granted but rather it is to be celebrated. We spend so much of our time worried, wondering or afraid of a dozen different variables that we feel are going to affect us in a dozen ways, but in the end these fears and thoughts are the shackles that keep us tide down from reaching our greatest potential while we are here…and I really do mean while we are here because some things in this life are not designed for us to understand. I know so many people reading this today can understand the feeling that I have been dealing with for the past decade, and on some level I have lived shackled afraid to make moves in my life even if it is on a subconscious level. Decisions that you don’t even know you are making because, they are coming from such a deep part of your soul…From within the base of your existence.
It is often a topic I speak about when I talk about achieving personal greatness, and in doing so becoming a leader in your given world. Often people see me speaking of athletics because it is the medium that I often use the most but to be honest this applies to all areas of life. In an increasing world of scrutiny I see more and more people cowering away from the light of opportunity or potential because of falsely placed social constraints that they believe could negatively impact their life. So many people, good people, strong people often pass the torch of leadership on to someone less deserving because of the fear of judgment in this life, the fear of failure and the concern of negative social opinion. Being a leader is not an easy task, you become the point of focus for many. The decisions that you make are evaluated by numbers, where as when you are a face in the crowd you became percentage of the whole. If you are the leader of 10 people in your office you receive the evaluation of 10... If you are the leader of 100 you receive the attention of all 100 people, where as they the people in the crowd will maybe receive 1:100th of the attention of that leader. So as you can see this is a difficult place to sit, to be the focus of many… To have to stand before the crowd, to have to speak on behalf of those that cannot find the strength to speak for themselves, but I place this charge with you because there is no certainty in the plan that has been laid before you, there is no way to predict the length of your experience on this earth, only the quality of which you experience it.
We cannot undo the past and even though it can be hard to move past some of life’s most difficult challenges, it is important that we lift our heads every morning when the sun rises. We honor those that lived and shared this life with use by continuing to live ours with passion, drive, love, energy and furious gusto.
Cody this is for you….
- Derek
I sit at my computer on the eve of the anniversary of loss, that impacted so many people related to the University of Wyoming and its track and field program. It has been ten years since we lost our Cowboy brother in a single horrific act on the part of one selfish individual. Over the last decade the thoughts of my lost teammates come and go from my mind as the chores of daily life takeover the most pressing thoughts of the day, but then they return. The faces of friends, the smiles of teammates and the stories of a great times in my life. Over the years I have struggled to speak about the friends that I lost that night, I think that it was that I lost so many at one time… I have struggled with the idea that the Universe could take eight young souls from us. Why did they have to leave us so soon? Why did they have to go all together? These are questions that I have asked the darkness when I lay alone, struggling to see the reasons that lay behind the actions of the conscious universe… There were even times that I lost faith in the whole plan because it just didn’t seem to make sense to me anymore. Ten years ago, I was with friends and family spending the day living life, enjoying a Sunday at an amusement park… it wasn’t until I was driving home that my girlfriend at the time got a hold of me, explaining the tragedy that happened…I felt empty and broken, how could I have been having such a great day when others that were so close to me could be broken and lost? I didn’t realize the impact of the guilt that I felt and the pain until years later…in fact it wasn’t until this year that I returned to a park…Ten years it took to get me back to something that others don’t give a second thought. Yet for me, it is an instant reminder of the loss of friends and brothers….
And today it was a crashing realization that it is this life that we are here to celebrate, there are questions that we can never answer during this existence and the plans that the Universe has for use will be explained when we are ready to understand. A friend spoke to me today about the importance of ‘being’ the importance of existing in this time, this life, this moment. We must always work for tomorrow but if there is one thing that we must understand, is that we must live for today. Love for today, enjoy for today… This flood of memories has given me a moment of reflection and a charge of strength. A sense that we are here to grow, to share, to experience to exist and this life is not to be taken for granted but rather it is to be celebrated. We spend so much of our time worried, wondering or afraid of a dozen different variables that we feel are going to affect us in a dozen ways, but in the end these fears and thoughts are the shackles that keep us tide down from reaching our greatest potential while we are here…and I really do mean while we are here because some things in this life are not designed for us to understand. I know so many people reading this today can understand the feeling that I have been dealing with for the past decade, and on some level I have lived shackled afraid to make moves in my life even if it is on a subconscious level. Decisions that you don’t even know you are making because, they are coming from such a deep part of your soul…From within the base of your existence.
It is often a topic I speak about when I talk about achieving personal greatness, and in doing so becoming a leader in your given world. Often people see me speaking of athletics because it is the medium that I often use the most but to be honest this applies to all areas of life. In an increasing world of scrutiny I see more and more people cowering away from the light of opportunity or potential because of falsely placed social constraints that they believe could negatively impact their life. So many people, good people, strong people often pass the torch of leadership on to someone less deserving because of the fear of judgment in this life, the fear of failure and the concern of negative social opinion. Being a leader is not an easy task, you become the point of focus for many. The decisions that you make are evaluated by numbers, where as when you are a face in the crowd you became percentage of the whole. If you are the leader of 10 people in your office you receive the evaluation of 10... If you are the leader of 100 you receive the attention of all 100 people, where as they the people in the crowd will maybe receive 1:100th of the attention of that leader. So as you can see this is a difficult place to sit, to be the focus of many… To have to stand before the crowd, to have to speak on behalf of those that cannot find the strength to speak for themselves, but I place this charge with you because there is no certainty in the plan that has been laid before you, there is no way to predict the length of your experience on this earth, only the quality of which you experience it.
We cannot undo the past and even though it can be hard to move past some of life’s most difficult challenges, it is important that we lift our heads every morning when the sun rises. We honor those that lived and shared this life with use by continuing to live ours with passion, drive, love, energy and furious gusto.
Cody this is for you….
- Derek
Friday, September 16, 2011
04-24-2011
The bar sits loaded on the rack as the weight makes the center of it bow and you can hear the metal whine as the load tries to break its will. Steel, cold hard unforgiving steel…never failing never faulting just honest pure existence. If you are up or if you are down the steel never judges. The steel waits for you like an old dog on the porch dependable and quite. It doesn’t care if you are going to load 100kg on the bar or 300kg on the bar, it doesn’t care if you are strong or weak…it only cares about one thing. Pushing you into the fucking ground the first chance its gets…It is not personal, or emotional. It is the nature of steel to return to the earth from which it was born and it is your desire to prevent that from happening which determines the level of achievement unique to you. 
I can feel the pounding of the base…the music is driving me and the thump is intoxicating, the self talk has begun. In my mind I feel the world around
me as a giant energy source, I close my eyes and I pull from everything and anything that might be near. The words of encouragement…mine. The slaps on the back as I move around the room…taken. The eye contact from the animals on my level…acknowledged. The insecure dickhead guy in the corner arguing with his girlfriend… Stolen...and his girlfriend’s curious glances? Fire to my high octane male furnace and its boiling over and I can no longer sit still. I start moving around the weight room in circles, because that is the only way to guarantee that I will be back to where I need to be. I am not stalking or being aggressive…even though that is a very important step in the process, but that comes in time. No, I circle because it’s the only way to pull energy in from all around the room, taking from everywhere….and anything. When it is time to move into work mode…the circling stops the energy I have borrowed, I pull into me….I can feel the energy like electricity…its tangible…its more than a thought it is a physical existence and when I pull it in I can feel it fill the center of my body until I am full. I feel that if I didn’t use it I would become physically sick. I stand before the alter of iron and I look to the sky…always to the sky, and then I pull from the earth, asking for strength from both above and below physical and spiritual, I see myself as everything and everything is me. I can see with my mind the energy rushing into me and at that point I silent myself and harness the madness…reigning it in. As my hands make contact with the iron for the first time the world explodes, the safety is off and it is time to release it all back into the world…all the good all the bad, everything must go a total yard sale of emotion. For some it’s pretty….for me it’s ugly….100% mother**cker time and there is nothing that can stop it. It’s the first time that I see myself in the mirror and all the years of training all the days of work have come down to this one lift. A new standard a new level of excellence, and I look at myself long and hard in the eye. For me to flip the switch it’s simple. “Hey! Let’s go motherfucker!” This is what I use it is my switch and when it’s time to flip….I can turn it on like a light with one programmed highly aggressive challenge….I smash myself against the steel, I drive against it hard…I try to wake the iron, shake it from its passive slumber! This is one fight that I'm not going to lose and the steel needs to know who’s knocking. From this point forward it is nothing but effort…no thinking...no turning back…blank raw madness! Color, noise, pain effort and passion….raging out against the world, and when the lift is done I feel nothing…no adrenalin, no anger, no sadness, no happiness only completion and when I breath in again I feel my world return and the people around me become alive because if I have done my job correctly, I have given all of their energy back and in return shared with them some of my own, with exception to the dickhead in the corner I gave his energy back to his girlfriend… This is why great programs and great training groups are so powerful….that energy passes around the room again and again…and again.
Flipping the Switch!
You sit on a bench only feet away from the bar….the sounds of the weight room are still very present to your senses. The smells the sights the energy of other people in the room, some are positive some are negative some are indifferent but all present. You sit, your personality on your sleeve talking openly waiting allowing the future not to be known to the conscious mind, relying on others and other thing to prevent reality from becoming a part of your current and soon to be past. As the clock clicks closer and closer, one second at a time each stroke of the second hand begins to tune the mind like and instrument. Each tick on the clock and the world around you becomes smaller and smaller. No longer are you aware of the people on the other side of the weight room, no longer are you aware of the music playing in the background. Each continued moment in time the weight room becomes smaller and smaller and the people of importance become fewer and fewer. The smiles are gone, but not due to anger but because stillness requires focus and focus requires the internalization of passion. It is hard to remove yourself from the external universe when you carry a smile…. a smile is an open invitation from you to the world. It’s only moments now until the time to perform arrives, and it is now you, your training partners and your coach all thinking and breathing the same energy. All those that are still in your world at this point are here for one reason and that is to see you succeed over obstacles that lie in front of you. In a matter of minutes or perhaps seconds even those closest to you will become nothing more than sound bites in the movie of this moment. No longer are there conversations, no longer is there coaching. You begin to prepare your mind for what you need to do. You take a moment to draw upon the mental stimuli that you use to reach your inner world.
Allow me to let you in….
me as a giant energy source, I close my eyes and I pull from everything and anything that might be near. The words of encouragement…mine. The slaps on the back as I move around the room…taken. The eye contact from the animals on my level…acknowledged. The insecure dickhead guy in the corner arguing with his girlfriend… Stolen...and his girlfriend’s curious glances? Fire to my high octane male furnace and its boiling over and I can no longer sit still. I start moving around the weight room in circles, because that is the only way to guarantee that I will be back to where I need to be. I am not stalking or being aggressive…even though that is a very important step in the process, but that comes in time. No, I circle because it’s the only way to pull energy in from all around the room, taking from everywhere….and anything. When it is time to move into work mode…the circling stops the energy I have borrowed, I pull into me….I can feel the energy like electricity…its tangible…its more than a thought it is a physical existence and when I pull it in I can feel it fill the center of my body until I am full. I feel that if I didn’t use it I would become physically sick. I stand before the alter of iron and I look to the sky…always to the sky, and then I pull from the earth, asking for strength from both above and below physical and spiritual, I see myself as everything and everything is me. I can see with my mind the energy rushing into me and at that point I silent myself and harness the madness…reigning it in. As my hands make contact with the iron for the first time the world explodes, the safety is off and it is time to release it all back into the world…all the good all the bad, everything must go a total yard sale of emotion. For some it’s pretty….for me it’s ugly….100% mother**cker time and there is nothing that can stop it. It’s the first time that I see myself in the mirror and all the years of training all the days of work have come down to this one lift. A new standard a new level of excellence, and I look at myself long and hard in the eye. For me to flip the switch it’s simple. “Hey! Let’s go motherfucker!” This is what I use it is my switch and when it’s time to flip….I can turn it on like a light with one programmed highly aggressive challenge….I smash myself against the steel, I drive against it hard…I try to wake the iron, shake it from its passive slumber! This is one fight that I'm not going to lose and the steel needs to know who’s knocking. From this point forward it is nothing but effort…no thinking...no turning back…blank raw madness! Color, noise, pain effort and passion….raging out against the world, and when the lift is done I feel nothing…no adrenalin, no anger, no sadness, no happiness only completion and when I breath in again I feel my world return and the people around me become alive because if I have done my job correctly, I have given all of their energy back and in return shared with them some of my own, with exception to the dickhead in the corner I gave his energy back to his girlfriend… This is why great programs and great training groups are so powerful….that energy passes around the room again and again…and again.
There it sits….cold, hard steel. No emotion, no thoughts just steadfast steel waiting to return to the earth. “In time…in time, just not today.”
05-11-2011
I have been fortunate to have enjoyed some success as an athlete in the world of track and field and for that I would like to thank my parents for their complete support and my brother for being competitive to this day, but along the way I had to deal with some setbacks. I am not going to drum up how bad my injuries were or make drama of moments that happened, but I will write this tale in a clear honest depiction of what it is like to get smashed in the teeth when you are standing on top of the hill, and what ‘I’ experienced on the way back up…
During my second season at the University of Wyoming I was coming off a pretty decent previous year having been ranked number two in the world in the thirty-five pound weight throw and setting both a Canadian and school record. However, it was clear to me and to the people that I trained with that I needed to add some horsepower to overcome the top athletes in the NCAA and on my very own College team, Horsepower that would come in the form of the weight room and a little added size to my frame. At the end of May my current stats were as follows. 6’1” 229lbs with a vertical jump of 40.5”, bench press 365lbs, power clean 350lbs, snatch 235lbs and squat 565lbs x 4reps, I was hovering around 11% body fat and in retrospect I should have gotten my weight up to 240lbs and called it awesome for the year…but I was a good soldier and when my coach at the time told me that bigger was going to be better I dropped my head and pushed through commonsense until 240lbs was simply a memory in my rear view mirror. At the start of the summer I began my training June 1st with my Brother and Father which had become a summer tradition for the Woodske boys and this summer was going to be epic. The training that I was doing was very simple, growing to a max effort in the sixth week in both the squat and the bench press. During the sixth week I can remember achieving a body weight of 243lbs up about 14lbs from where I started when I got home and I felt fucking powerful. The first max effort of the week was the bench and I pressed for one rep 420lbs. The bench up 55lbs from the end of the season and I squatted 705lbs with a leather belt and knee wraps, also up around 100lbs for another personal record. This all occurred at the midpoint of the summer and I had another few weeks before I had to get back at it and start training for track and field. During the next four and half weeks my training went into what we would now call an accumulation phase and during this period I went from a hard 240lbs to a little softer 268lbs…and this was my mistake. When I arrived at school it was obvious that I had now achieved the horsepower to lay out some big throws in the weight and hopefully have the type of season that would put me close to a ‘B’ standard for the summer Olympics in Sydney. For the first month of training it was like I couldn’t do anything wrong my body weight started to harden up around 260lbs and my vertical jump had only dropped to 38” from the stand. In the weight room the weight kept moving and at the end of September I squatted 550lbs for ten reps and power cleaned 350lbs for five reps….At the end of October we had our inter squad meet and all things were going well…Following the last event on Sunday we went into the weight room and during that work out I put up 600lbs for six reps in the squat and still had to take second place to Jason Hammond who knocked out 660lbs for the equivalent reps! You have to understand I was always the second best squatter and even when I benched 480lbs I was at best third or fourth on our team list for that lift….thank God I could jump out of my shoes...or maybe not, but I will get to that in a minute. When we returned to training on Tuesday following that session things were going great and during a descent practice I heard the distinctive sound of a balloon bursting and then the next thing I knew my left foot was on fire….and I swear I could actually smell it! {I am going to skim this one because it wasn’t as important} But what happened was, I experienced a dancer’s fracture that was so sever I needed a metal plate and seven screws to correct. Best case scenario I would be out 10 weeks and then the foot would be healed….so I was put in a cast then a boot and after 10 weeks I was back to college around mid January. I had been cleared for activity and one week after being cleared I took over the 3rd spot in the country and things were looking up. In the weight room I squatted 500lbs for five reps only off by one rep and a hundred pounds but considering the circumstances it was ok. The next weekend at home I threw again taking over the early national lead in the event and even though I wasn’t 100% I was atop the NCAA leader board and I took a deep breath already forgetting the pain of surgery, injury and regret.
Breaking the pain of regret.
That next Tuesday, I was training with my team and during a very simple plyometric exercise jumping up and down off of six consecutive boxes at a height of 36” the question arouse. “Hey dude, do you think you could leap over all six boxes without touching them?” My response “Yep” and the first three were like cake…Landing before the fourth however; it was like my body exploded from the inside! I could sense my forearm making contact with the box but I couldn’t hear it and the pain was so blinding else where in my body I couldn’t feel it. I hit the box with such force that the top popped free even though it was held in place by 20 wood screws….But it is simple physics really, when your patella tendon ruptures so aggressively that the knee cap end up in your thigh…well shit, that energy has to go somewhere. I can remember hearing screams…and in a flash of a moment that I have never described to anyone I can remember seeing myself from above and in what seems like a blink of an eye I was back in myself staring at the ceiling of the field house. I realized immediately that it was me screaming and instantly I knew I needed to stop that shit…I wasn’t dead I was just in a lot of pain and my body was reacting to the shock and sensation. For the next 10 minutes the only thing that was going through my mind was vomiting…and how that would be so shitty if I did in front of everyone especially the girls on my team….God knows they already heard me scream…how much more respect could I lose in such a short period of time. I was transported to the training room and my Doctor was on sight in five minutes….oddly enough it was 12 weeks to the Tuesday of my broken foot and it looked like this one was going to take some time to heal. I remember my coach coming in after we heard that I would be out for six months to forever, and I apologizing to him while I was laying on the table for fucking up our run at a national title….Me…apologizing….what the fuck is wrong with this picture? The Surgery was on Friday and it took a little bit longer because of severe complications, but in the end I was casted from hip to ankle for the first 8 weeks… and then the shit really hit the fan…
When I was in a cast I was only expected to do one thing…heal, but when that cast came off the realization occurred that I was expected to do more than heal, I was expected to use my fucked up knee again… A knee so broken that I still had 16 gauge wires running through my tibia and around the back of my patella to hold it in place. The cast came off on Monday and my first therapy session started on Tuesday, after they closed an unexpected hole in my knee with eight sutures, but that story is better told in person…So this would be the routine for the next twelve weeks, and this is the part of the story that I think is most valuable. When I was going through the process of therapy and eventually two more surgeries, I had one thought and one thought only. Walking…followed by running….and eventually competing. During the therapy I would come into the center and make very little conversation with the therapist that I had…because the one thing you learn very quickly is that the next 90minutes is going to be rough. In fact the injury rehab was much more difficult than the injury itself. In the beginning I would come in and lay on my stomach and due to the wires in my knee I had a max range of knee flexion equal to 80 degrees…not a lot, so my therapist a former All-American offensive lineman would take me to end range and hold me there…Now you have to realize that I have never had therapy so the pain that I would experience from the wires cutting and moving inside my body was mistaken for normal in my mind and in retrospect I could have asked him to ease up. In fact he didn’t notice that I was turning pale during our sessions until I stopped talking one day because I had finally passed out. Yet I think the ability to move away from the pain in your mind for short periods allows you to come back from something like this, because you have to push through some stuff that really, is no damn good. When I arrived for the session I would always make sure to greet my therapist with a smile and I would always thank him for his time when I was finished. I would talk to my college provided physical therapist openly about how I was feeling and if I saw that she was fading or becoming tired from the sessions I always made sure that I let her know how awesome it was to have her on my side (It did help that I had a crush on her and her blonde locks)….even though there were nights when I would get into my house and when the door closed and the ears and eyes of the world were no longer on me. I would lose…my…fucking…mind…The Rage! The uncontrollable anger that would pour through my veins as I watched my entire life’s work to this point melting away one stomach turning mind breaking torture session after another. I wanted to scream at the sky until it bled, making the world around me know how unfair I thought this whole fucking deal was….But I knew this was not what gets you through, this is not what makes you pull yourself from your belly…Gripping onto the Earth with both fucking hands so that you don’t fall away into an endless pit of hopeless despair. From your belly you pull yourself to your knees and on your knees is where deep inside yourself you find faith, faith in the tools that you were given when you were placed on this planet, and faith in the people that have been placed around you. At this point you smash your fists into the Earth, driving your broken body and spirit up, not letting the overwhelming moment crush you down any further. Everybody is going to deal with pity and fear in moments of great adversity but you have to fight; you have to push to the best of your ability, not letting those around you absorb the hurt that is inside of you. It is not their place to take your grief… It is not their responsibility to carry you on their shoulders. So with that reality you force yourself to your feet and you stand tall every day at its start and you walk with a belief in yourself and you start everyday thankful for the people that you have been provided to help you on your path. At the end of each day you thank them for being on your journey. They don’t need to be reminded how fucking bad you’re hurting… Trust me they know how bad it is…
So I kept pushing through two more surgeries, hours of therapy and over the course of months not weeks, I came around. I pushed for the opportunities to compete again, I maintained a goal that would require me to heal to achieve. It took me five long years to achieve my goals following my surgeries, and the day that I did I remember feeling such intense relief that I began to cry… but not a sad boo-who cry, but it was like a tears of relief...not even joy. It was too soon for joy. Right after throwing the best throw of my life and breaking a Canadian National Record….I cried… tears and everything. And I thought vomiting in front of the ladies, five years earlier would be have made me seem soft… well I guess somethings are worth it.
~derek
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
05-11-2011
When I was in a cast I was only expected to do one thing…heal, but when that cast came off the realization occurred that I was expected to do more than heal, I was expected to use my fucked up knee again… A knee so broken that I still had 16 gauge wires running through my tibia and around the back of my patella to hold it in place. The cast came off on Monday and my first therapy session started on Tuesday, after they closed an unexpected hole in my knee with eight sutures, but that story is better told in person…So this would be the routine for the next twelve weeks, and this is the part of the story that I think is most valuable. When I was going through the process of therapy and eventually two more surgeries, I had one thought and one thought only. Walking…followed by running….and eventually competing. During the therapy I would come into the center and make very little conversation with the therapist that I had…because the one thing you learn very quickly is that the next 90minutes is going to be rough. In fact the injury rehab was much more difficult than the injury itself. In the beginning I would come in and lay on my stomach and due to the wires in my knee I had a max range of knee flexion equal to 80 degrees…not a lot, so my therapist a former All-American offensive lineman would take me to end range and hold me there…Now you have to realize that I have never had therapy so the pain that I would experience from the wires cutting and moving inside my body was mistaken for normal in my mind and in retrospect I could have asked him to ease up. In fact he didn’t notice that I was turning pale during our sessions until I stopped talking one day because I had finally passed out. Yet I think the ability to move away from the pain in your mind for short periods allows you to come back from something like this, because you have to push through some stuff that really, is no damn good. When I arrived for the session I would always make sure to greet my therapist
with a smile and I would always thank him for his time when I was finished. I would talk to my college provided physical therapist openly about how I was feeling and if I saw that she was fading or becoming tired from the sessions I always made sure that I let her know how awesome it was to have her on my side (It did help that I had a crush on her and her blonde locks)….even though there were nights when I would get into my house and when the door closed and the ears and eyes of the world were no longer on me. I would lose…my…fucking…mind…The Rage! The uncontrollable anger that would pour through my veins as I watched my entire life’s work to this point melting away one stomach turning mind breaking torture session after another. I wanted to scream at the sky until it bled, making the world around me know how unfair I thought this whole fucking deal was….But I knew this was not what gets you through, this is not what makes you pull yourself from your belly…Gripping onto the Earth with both fucking hands so that you don’t fall away into an endless pit of hopeless despair. From your belly you pull yourself to your knees and on your knees is where deep inside yourself you find faith, faith in the tools that you were given when you were placed on this planet, and faith in the people that have been placed around you. At this point you smash your fists into the Earth, driving your broken body and spirit up, not letting the overwhelming moment crush you down any further. Everybody is going to deal with pity and fear in moments of great adversity but you have to fight; you have to push to the best of your ability, not letting those around you absorb the hurt that is inside of you. It is not their place to take your grief… It is not their responsibility to carry you on their shoulders. So with that reality you force yourself to your feet and you stand tall every day at its start and you walk with a belief in yourself and you start everyday thankful for the people that you have been provided to help you on your path. At the end of each day you thank them for being on your journey. They don’t 
need to be reminded how fucking bad you’re hurting… Trust me they know how bad it is…
Breaking the pain of regret.
I have been fortunate to have enjoyed some success as an athlete in the world of track and field and for that I would like to thank my parents for their complete support and my brother for being competitive to this day, but along the way I had to deal with some setbacks. I am not going to drum up how bad my injuries were or make drama of moments that happened, but I will write this tale in a clear honest depiction of what it is like to get smashed in the teeth when you are standing on top of the hill, and what ‘I’ experienced on the way back up…
During my second season at the University of Wyoming I was coming off a pretty decent previous year having been ranked
number two in the world in the thirty-five pound weight throw and setting both a Canadian and school record. However, it was clear to me and to the people that I trained with that I needed to add some horsepower to overcome the top athletes in the NCAA and on my very own College team, Horsepower that would come in the form of the weight room and a little added size to my frame. At the end of May my current stats were as follows. 6’1” 229lbs with a vertical jump of 40.5”, bench press 365lbs, power clean 350lbs, snatch 235lbs and squat 565lbs x 4reps, I was hovering around 11% body fat and in retrospect I should have gotten my weight up to 240lbs and called it awesome for the year…but I was a good soldier and when my coach at the time told me that bigger was going to be better I dropped my head and pushed through commonsense until 240lbs was simply a memory in my rear view mirror. At the start of the summer I began my training June 1st with my Brother and Father which had become a summer tradition for the Woodske boys and this summer was going to be epic. The training that I was doing was very simple, growing to a max effort in the sixth week in both the squat and the bench press. During the sixth week I can remember achieving a body weight of 243lbs up about 14lbs from where I started when I got home and I felt fucking powerful. The first max effort of the week was the bench and I pressed for one rep 420lbs. The bench up 55lbs from the end of the season and I squatted 705lbs with a leather belt and knee wraps, also up around 100lbs for another personal record. This all occurred at the midpoint of the summer and I had another few weeks before I had to get back at it and start training for track and field. During the next four and half weeks my training went into what we would now call an accumulation phase and during this period I went from a hard 240lbs to a little softer 268lbs…and this was my mistake. When I arrived at school it was obvious that I had now achieved the horsepower to lay out some big throws in the weight and hopefully have the type of season that would put me close to a ‘B’ 
standard for the summer Olympics in Sydney. For the first month of training it was like I couldn’t do anything wrong my body weight started to harden up around 260lbs and my vertical jump had only dropped to 38” from the stand. In the weight room the weight kept moving and at the end of September I squatted 550lbs for ten reps and power cleaned 350lbs for five reps….At the end of October we had our inter squad meet and all things were going well…Following the last event on Sunday we went into the weight room and during that work out I put up 600lbs for six reps in the squat and still had to take second place to Jason Hammond who knocked out 660lbs for the equivalent reps! You have to understand I was always the second best squatter and even when I benched 480lbs I was at best third or fourth on our team list for that lift….thank God I could jump out of my shoes...or maybe not, but I will get to that in a minute. When we returned to training on Tuesday following that session things were going great and during a descent practice I heard the distinctive sound of a balloon bursting and then the next thing I knew my left foot was on fire….and I swear I could actually smell it! {I am going to skim this one because it wasn’t as important} But what happened was, I experienced a dancer’s fracture that was so sever I needed a metal plate and seven screws to correct. Best case scenario I would be out 10 weeks and then the foot would be healed….so I was put in a cast then a boot and after 10 weeks I was back to college around mid January. I had been cleared for activity and one week after being cleared I took over the 3rd spot in the country and things were looking up. In the weight room I squatted 500lbs for five reps only off by one rep and a hundred pounds but considering the circumstances it was ok. The next weekend at home I threw again taking over the early national lead in the event and even though I wasn’t 100% I was atop the NCAA leader board and I took a deep breath already forgetting the pain of surgery, injury and regret.
number two in the world in the thirty-five pound weight throw and setting both a Canadian and school record. However, it was clear to me and to the people that I trained with that I needed to add some horsepower to overcome the top athletes in the NCAA and on my very own College team, Horsepower that would come in the form of the weight room and a little added size to my frame. At the end of May my current stats were as follows. 6’1” 229lbs with a vertical jump of 40.5”, bench press 365lbs, power clean 350lbs, snatch 235lbs and squat 565lbs x 4reps, I was hovering around 11% body fat and in retrospect I should have gotten my weight up to 240lbs and called it awesome for the year…but I was a good soldier and when my coach at the time told me that bigger was going to be better I dropped my head and pushed through commonsense until 240lbs was simply a memory in my rear view mirror. At the start of the summer I began my training June 1st with my Brother and Father which had become a summer tradition for the Woodske boys and this summer was going to be epic. The training that I was doing was very simple, growing to a max effort in the sixth week in both the squat and the bench press. During the sixth week I can remember achieving a body weight of 243lbs up about 14lbs from where I started when I got home and I felt fucking powerful. The first max effort of the week was the bench and I pressed for one rep 420lbs. The bench up 55lbs from the end of the season and I squatted 705lbs with a leather belt and knee wraps, also up around 100lbs for another personal record. This all occurred at the midpoint of the summer and I had another few weeks before I had to get back at it and start training for track and field. During the next four and half weeks my training went into what we would now call an accumulation phase and during this period I went from a hard 240lbs to a little softer 268lbs…and this was my mistake. When I arrived at school it was obvious that I had now achieved the horsepower to lay out some big throws in the weight and hopefully have the type of season that would put me close to a ‘B’ standard for the summer Olympics in Sydney. For the first month of training it was like I couldn’t do anything wrong my body weight started to harden up around 260lbs and my vertical jump had only dropped to 38” from the stand. In the weight room the weight kept moving and at the end of September I squatted 550lbs for ten reps and power cleaned 350lbs for five reps….At the end of October we had our inter squad meet and all things were going well…Following the last event on Sunday we went into the weight room and during that work out I put up 600lbs for six reps in the squat and still had to take second place to Jason Hammond who knocked out 660lbs for the equivalent reps! You have to understand I was always the second best squatter and even when I benched 480lbs I was at best third or fourth on our team list for that lift….thank God I could jump out of my shoes...or maybe not, but I will get to that in a minute. When we returned to training on Tuesday following that session things were going great and during a descent practice I heard the distinctive sound of a balloon bursting and then the next thing I knew my left foot was on fire….and I swear I could actually smell it! {I am going to skim this one because it wasn’t as important} But what happened was, I experienced a dancer’s fracture that was so sever I needed a metal plate and seven screws to correct. Best case scenario I would be out 10 weeks and then the foot would be healed….so I was put in a cast then a boot and after 10 weeks I was back to college around mid January. I had been cleared for activity and one week after being cleared I took over the 3rd spot in the country and things were looking up. In the weight room I squatted 500lbs for five reps only off by one rep and a hundred pounds but considering the circumstances it was ok. The next weekend at home I threw again taking over the early national lead in the event and even though I wasn’t 100% I was atop the NCAA leader board and I took a deep breath already forgetting the pain of surgery, injury and regret. That next Tuesday, I was training with my team and during a very simple plyometric exercise jumping up and down off of six
consecutive boxes at a height of 36” the question arouse. “Hey dude, do you think you could leap over all six boxes without touching them?” My response “Yep” and the first three were like cake…Landing before the fourth however; it was like my body exploded from the inside! I could sense my forearm making contact with the box but I couldn’t hear it and the pain was so blinding else where in my body I couldn’t feel it. I hit the box with such force that the top popped free even though it was held in place by 20 wood screws….But it is simple physics really, when your patella tendon ruptures so aggressively that the knee cap end up in your thigh…well shit, that energy has to go somewhere. I can remember hearing screams…and in a flash of a moment that I have never described to anyone I can remember seeing myself from above and in what seems like a blink of an eye I was back in myself staring at the ceiling of the field house. I realized immediately that it was me screaming and instantly I knew I needed to stop that shit…I wasn’t dead I was just in a lot of pain and my body was reacting to the shock and sensation. For the next 10 minutes the only thing that was going through my mind was vomiting…and how that would be so shitty if I did in front of everyone especially the girls on my team….God knows they already heard me scream…how much more respect could I lose in such a short period of time. I was transported to the training room and my Doctor was on sight in five minutes….oddly enough it was 12 weeks to the Tuesday of my broken foot and it looked like this one was going to take some time to heal. I remember my coach coming in after we heard that I would be out for six months to forever, and I apologizing to him while I was laying on the table for fucking up our run at a national title….Me…apologizing….what the fuck is wrong with this picture? The Surgery was on Friday and it took a little bit longer because of severe complications, but in the end I was casted from hip to ankle for the first 8 weeks… and then the shit really hit the fan…
consecutive boxes at a height of 36” the question arouse. “Hey dude, do you think you could leap over all six boxes without touching them?” My response “Yep” and the first three were like cake…Landing before the fourth however; it was like my body exploded from the inside! I could sense my forearm making contact with the box but I couldn’t hear it and the pain was so blinding else where in my body I couldn’t feel it. I hit the box with such force that the top popped free even though it was held in place by 20 wood screws….But it is simple physics really, when your patella tendon ruptures so aggressively that the knee cap end up in your thigh…well shit, that energy has to go somewhere. I can remember hearing screams…and in a flash of a moment that I have never described to anyone I can remember seeing myself from above and in what seems like a blink of an eye I was back in myself staring at the ceiling of the field house. I realized immediately that it was me screaming and instantly I knew I needed to stop that shit…I wasn’t dead I was just in a lot of pain and my body was reacting to the shock and sensation. For the next 10 minutes the only thing that was going through my mind was vomiting…and how that would be so shitty if I did in front of everyone especially the girls on my team….God knows they already heard me scream…how much more respect could I lose in such a short period of time. I was transported to the training room and my Doctor was on sight in five minutes….oddly enough it was 12 weeks to the Tuesday of my broken foot and it looked like this one was going to take some time to heal. I remember my coach coming in after we heard that I would be out for six months to forever, and I apologizing to him while I was laying on the table for fucking up our run at a national title….Me…apologizing….what the fuck is wrong with this picture? The Surgery was on Friday and it took a little bit longer because of severe complications, but in the end I was casted from hip to ankle for the first 8 weeks… and then the shit really hit the fan…When I was in a cast I was only expected to do one thing…heal, but when that cast came off the realization occurred that I was expected to do more than heal, I was expected to use my fucked up knee again… A knee so broken that I still had 16 gauge wires running through my tibia and around the back of my patella to hold it in place. The cast came off on Monday and my first therapy session started on Tuesday, after they closed an unexpected hole in my knee with eight sutures, but that story is better told in person…So this would be the routine for the next twelve weeks, and this is the part of the story that I think is most valuable. When I was going through the process of therapy and eventually two more surgeries, I had one thought and one thought only. Walking…followed by running….and eventually competing. During the therapy I would come into the center and make very little conversation with the therapist that I had…because the one thing you learn very quickly is that the next 90minutes is going to be rough. In fact the injury rehab was much more difficult than the injury itself. In the beginning I would come in and lay on my stomach and due to the wires in my knee I had a max range of knee flexion equal to 80 degrees…not a lot, so my therapist a former All-American offensive lineman would take me to end range and hold me there…Now you have to realize that I have never had therapy so the pain that I would experience from the wires cutting and moving inside my body was mistaken for normal in my mind and in retrospect I could have asked him to ease up. In fact he didn’t notice that I was turning pale during our sessions until I stopped talking one day because I had finally passed out. Yet I think the ability to move away from the pain in your mind for short periods allows you to come back from something like this, because you have to push through some stuff that really, is no damn good. When I arrived for the session I would always make sure to greet my therapist with a smile and I would always thank him for his time when I was finished. I would talk to my college provided physical therapist openly about how I was feeling and if I saw that she was fading or becoming tired from the sessions I always made sure that I let her know how awesome it was to have her on my side (It did help that I had a crush on her and her blonde locks)….even though there were nights when I would get into my house and when the door closed and the ears and eyes of the world were no longer on me. I would lose…my…fucking…mind…The Rage! The uncontrollable anger that would pour through my veins as I watched my entire life’s work to this point melting away one stomach turning mind breaking torture session after another. I wanted to scream at the sky until it bled, making the world around me know how unfair I thought this whole fucking deal was….But I knew this was not what gets you through, this is not what makes you pull yourself from your belly…Gripping onto the Earth with both fucking hands so that you don’t fall away into an endless pit of hopeless despair. From your belly you pull yourself to your knees and on your knees is where deep inside yourself you find faith, faith in the tools that you were given when you were placed on this planet, and faith in the people that have been placed around you. At this point you smash your fists into the Earth, driving your broken body and spirit up, not letting the overwhelming moment crush you down any further. Everybody is going to deal with pity and fear in moments of great adversity but you have to fight; you have to push to the best of your ability, not letting those around you absorb the hurt that is inside of you. It is not their place to take your grief… It is not their responsibility to carry you on their shoulders. So with that reality you force yourself to your feet and you stand tall every day at its start and you walk with a belief in yourself and you start everyday thankful for the people that you have been provided to help you on your path. At the end of each day you thank them for being on your journey. They don’t need to be reminded how fucking bad you’re hurting… Trust me they know how bad it is…So I kept pushing through two more surgeries, hours of therapy and over the course of months not weeks, I came around. I pushed for the opportunities to compete again, I maintained a goal that would require me to heal to achieve. It took me five long years to achieve my goals following my surgeries, and the day that I did I remember feeling such intense relief that I began to cry… but not a sad boo-who cry, but it was like a tears of relief...not even joy. It was too soon for joy. Right after throwing the best throw of my life and breaking a Canadian National Record….I cried… tears and everything. And I thought vomiting in front of the ladies, five years earlier would be have made me seem soft… well I guess somethings are worth it.
~derek
LOCATION: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
1. How long have you been a PICP instructor? What got you interested in Poliquins system?
I first did Biosig back in 2007 when it first became a 5 day course in Australia. I learned more about training and real nutrition in those 5 days than the previous 5 years of university. From there I read all of Charles books and most of the others he mentioned during the course from training to functional medicine and beyond. I tried and tested many training protocols on myself before implementing them with clients. Nothing teaches you more than experience! I only officially did PICP 1 & 2 in November 2010 but I had used many of the Poliquin Principles of training, periodization and programming for several years prior. I like to learn from a wide base of trainers and coaches. Every course or textbook has something to make you grow professionally as a coach. It is important to seek out a range of mentors who are the best in their field. The Poliquin system is a constantly evolving program and does produce undeniable results for gains in strength, hypertrophy and fat loss. Melb PICP 1& 2, Nov 2010 – Tired and Sore at the end!
2. What other certifications and education do you hold in regards to your profession?
I graduated from the University of Birmingham, UK with a BSc(Hons) Physiotherapy. I moved quickly into musculoskeletal sports medicine and did a few minor courses on functional anatomy, dry needling and other physio courses. I moved to Sydney in 2007, and went back to University to do post grad study in Exercise and Sports Science. From there I managed to mesh together strength coaching and conditioning with my physical therapy skills. I have certifications with FMA Strength Training, Australian Strength and Conditioning Association, Active Release Technique (A.R.T), CHEK HLC and short courses on rehab. I am planning PICP3 this year along with another A.R.T Cert. Basically anything and everything I need to work with a variety of clients! I am a self-confessed nerd and obsessive reader! I try to keep as up to date with research as possible, yet the reality is no client is the same and therefore should not be trained or treated in the exact same way. Experience and intuition counts for a lot.
My love is S&C, yet I have a gift for rehab. I primarily consider myself a trainer and strength coach who also deals with injuries. I often refer out more serious injures to my network of chiros/physical therapists.
3. When did you start training in figure contests and how many have you done? What was your placing in those shows and do you have any in the future?
I switched to IFBB Bikini/Fitness Model last year as I prefer a slightly softer look. My last show was October 2010. It was the first IFBB Bikini show in Australia and with 32 girls on stage at once – tough competition. I didn’t place but with just 5 weeks of prep time due to a hospital admission I wasn’t too disappointed with my turnout. I was prepping for a show this year in May. I pulled out 10days before the show as I didn’t feel my condition as good enough. I actually had a valuable learning experience… I started a new pill – Yasmin / Yaz. Recommended by several Biosig practitioners and doctors to be the best of a bad bunch! I had a pretty bad reaction to it over the following 3-4 months - gained 4kg, became rather emotional and depressed, lost my appetite had sleep problems and became quite withdrawn. I basically became the polar opposite person to Rachel - the outgoing social butterfly! I also consider myself to me an emotionally stable chick! However, after running out of a training session in tears one day because I hurt my wrist, I decided that the pill had to go!! 2-3 weeks later I was feeling 100x better and right into show prep mode.
I was 3 weeks behind by this stage. I just couldn’t make up the lost time. However, not all was lost, I got my body back into shape to maintain for shoots. It was a good learning curve! As far as the rest of the competitive year goes, I have no plans to do another show this year. I stay within 2-3kg of my on-stage weight anyway due to shoots more or less year round. Work is also very busy, training is hard and we are opening a second gym – Platinum Extreme #2! I also like to enjoy life with a glass of red and dark chocolate! If I get a clean 4 week run to an October show this year I will do it but it is not a priority. I need to work on my MMA for grading in December. It’s hard to combine the two!
4. Was the modeling a natural extension to figure and training or was it something that you got involved in prior to lifting?
After my first show I fell into fitness modeling and had to learn fast!! I had the odd modeling gig prior to competing but it was all fashion or hair shows. I still do hair and make up shoots, but it is mainly gym wear/fitness gear, sports nutrition ads, occasionally bikinis or tv commercials needing a fitness chick. 5. With your MMA training that our viewers can watch online what other systems do you incorporate to meet your goals? Do you ever plan to fight or is the pursuit for personal reasons? For sure. I started my own YouTube channel as a way to encourage women to find other ways to train other than using a treadmill! I started a series called “This is How I Train” inspired by my friend and fellow trainer Kat Loterzo of Woman Incredible. Here are a few of my training sessions. I feel sick watching them they were so tough! THAT is conditioning!!
Sure this training is tough!! If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! Stepping out of your comfort zone ensures continual development. I have a fear of stagnation! No, I defiantly have no intention of ever setting foot in a cage other than in training! Frankly the idea terrifies me, however the training is fun! I am aiming for Level 2 grading in the Pro Mai MMA Submission Fighting Syllabus run at our club. I have a lot of work to do. My stand up is good. A neck injury put back my progress on the ground. Training varies depending on the phase I am in. Currently I do 3 tough conditioning sessions, two of which are bag work/standup skills. I lift 3x/week. Heavy. 2-5reps. Hit the mats 2x/week, that needs to be up
3-4x until December grading now. “Train to be strong, eat to be lean.” “Train like a Guy, Look Like a Girl”
6. What are your current business goals and how would you describe yourself as a coach and trainer?
Business Goals 2011: 1) Continue 1:1 training no more than 15hrs/week 2) Set up and launch Platinum Extreme #2 3) Launch my 2nd brand (which I can’t name yet!) 4) Continue to write in mainstream mags 5) Release a training DVD for women. – Open to requests and ideas on content. I am still drafting it! As a Trainer/Coach: - Everything I do with clients I have done myself. I know how hard to push and when to back off. I hate excuses! I have heard every excuse; don’t bore me with more. If you are unhappy with something, CHANGE IT!!! I like purposeful training, sensible, flexible nutrition and positive lifestyle changes. I hate bullshit and will often find myself having “direct” words with time-wasters. Nevertheless, training MUST remain enjoyable for the general population. I train some middle aged women who like to exercise and talk about Prada handbags. That’s fine! They still work very hard and lift some impressive weights! My only rule is no talking during the set and we stick to the given rest periods.
7. I know that you are going to the BioSig during the Australian tour; but clearly you already have a head start in body composition coaching. Is this an area that you are already working in to get your clients maximal results?
Looking forward to up skilling with BioSig! As a competitive dieter over the years I have tried and tested a countless eating patterns, meal timings, weighing foods, cutting out entire food groups, counting calories (YAWN!!), low fat this, no sugar that etc etc! I can speak from experience here and say that all of the above results in temporary weight loss while feeling utterly shit, tired, cranky, and piss-weak in training. It is also stressful and you feel mildly withdrawn from society and social occasions. In the long run, for a female in the general population to stay lean, curvy and healthy year round; my top 5 tips would be: 1) Have a solid breakfast! My favorite is slow cooked lamb shanks or a chicken broth! 2) Use butter, cream and coconut oil. 3) Base each meal on lean meat and heaps of veggies/salad. 4) Limit intake of grains. 5) Eat real food and watch your portion sizes! If I am dealing with an athlete or figure competitor of course I have to be more specific.
8. Your originally Welsh, and have made the transition to Australia. Do you find the two countries culturally different in regards to personal training and fitness?
Sydney has a lot more forward thinking smart trainers who want to learn and develop professionally. However
the general standard leaves a lot to be desired!! Wales has some awesome bodybuilding trainers but the over all standard of training and gyms is still behind Sydney. There are a handful of excellent coaches in Wales, the majority of which work in rugby teams. 9. What are three goals you have for yourself during the next 12months?
1) Training – 1RM Semi Supinated Chin Up + 15kg; 1RM Deadlift 90kg (my weakest lift despite my big butt!); receive level 2 ProMai MMA grading; arrive at BioSig in Dec at 10%.
2) Personal – Travel to the US, UK, Thailand and Dubai. Get a puppy called D’Arce or Gator; buy a house and a new car.
3) Professional – Continue to grow Platinum Extreme, work in the media and online, launch the new brand (the unnamed one!)
10. Tell us a little about where you coach and is there a way to get in contact with you for consultations or training?
I work at Platinum Extreme Gym in North Sydney. We are a Mixed Martial Arts facility catering for the corporate market, in addition to being the home of a successful competing fight squad. We have two studios, one of which has a cage, both matted and kitted out in Zebra and Fairtex gear. Platinum runs a full timetable of 40 classes a week from Muai Thai, MMA (technical); Open mat; Brazilian Jiu Jitsu; No-Gi; Boxing; MMA conditioning/fitness; yoga, spin and boot camp etc; in addition to having a full weights room.
My website can be found here:
You can find further information at the following sites: Business Page:
Thanks for having me Derek!!!!!
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