Athlete X Performance Services

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Athlete X Performance Services

A one stop shop for improving performance - we provide everything you need to help from training and A bit about me:

I'm Chris Gardner, owner at Athlete X.

I'm a level 3 personal trainer, Crossfit Level 1 trainer and I'm in the process of obtaining my UKSCA accreditation. I strongly believe in the power of physical fitness to improve all facets of life - better body, prevention of illness, increased confidence, facilitating you to do any activity you want to do. The list is endless. For athletes looking to maximise their potential a structured approach to strength and conditioning is essential - it will be the difference between winning and losing at some point. The amount of potentially elite athletes missing out because their training is not effective is, in my opinion, huge. I want to correct that.

14/10/2021

PORTION DISTORTION

Not all teaspoons are created equal. Particularly when it comes to piling them high with peanut butter.

There is a distinctive human trait to increase your portion sizes over time. This is often done unintentionally or kind of knowingly but the brain just sweeps it under the carpet and you pretend like it’s not happening.

Then when your weight starts to creep up and impact your performance your like ‘no idea why that’s happening, I’m eating the same I always did.’

Except that teaspoon of peanut butter is now an iceberg-like mountain.

Or that cup of pasta has has crept up to two.

Or that bowl of cereal gets filled closer to the brim.

Small changes over time add up.

Moral of the story?

You don’t need to track calories/macros etc. all the time.

But sometimes a couple of weeks of tracking will allow you to recalibrate your intake and get you back on the right track towards whatever your goal is.

Might be worth trying.

Anyway, I have a peanut butter sandwich to get through.
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www.axps.live
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01/10/2021

This is my face when I read another nonsense nutritional article by the Daily Mail.

Top tip: any article with a click bait-ish title which reports on the finding of one study should be taken with a sizeable pinch of salt.

Individual studies vary greatly in quality but they will always be seized by newspapers/magazines and spun to get eyeballs on it.

Anyway, this study is saying avoid diet drinks as the sweeteners in them could cause you to overeat by ‘tricking the brain’.

But when you actually read the study, the participants only consumed an extra 70 calories after a dose of sweetener. And that was at an all you can buffet essentially!

The reason that diet drinks are often recommended for anyone looking to manage their weight is that they offer a calorie free replacement to their full sugar counterparts. This is a simple way of reducing caloric intake while still enjoying fizzy drinks - this potentially makes a persons diet more sustainable in the long run which will lead to more successful outcomes. The inclusion of diet drinks may also prevent you guzzling a gallon of full sugar coke from time to time because you get into a dangerous binge restrict cycle.

Also full sugar drinks typically contain about 140cals per can so even if you do eat an additional 70cals after a diet drink you’re still in a net better position. 🤷‍♂️

TL:DR - diet drinks can be a very effective way of reducing overall caloric intake and make your diet more sustainable in the long run. Include them if it helps you adhere to your diet.
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19/09/2021

Whey protein is great. It shouldn’t even be thought of as a supplement. It’s a fantastic way to increase protein intake and is very versatile.

Not all whey’s are the same though and each one brings different benefits so if you’re not sure which is the right one for you then take a gander and find the ‘whey’ forward.
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Want more detailed nutrition advice? DM with the word CONSULT or book through link in bio
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www.axps.live
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17/09/2021

Have you ever tried pi***ng in the wind? It’s not fun.

So why would you essentially do the same thing with your training? That’s what happens when you don’t eat the protein you need.

Adequate protein is a non negotiable when it comes to actually getting good results from your training.

Without enough protein the stimulus that you give your body through training is not acted on the way it should be.

You’re putting in the effort with your training so you don’t want to let your efforts to go waste.

So enough protein can often seem like quite a lot of protein. I get it. Protein is highly satiating, fills you up quick. It can be dry if your mainly chowing down chicken breast.

But more than that, it potentially takes effort to change your current habits. It’s easy to keep on eating low protein meals if that’s what you’re use to.

The way around this? Take it set by step.

✅Multiple protein feedings per day.

✅Utilise whey protein powder

✅Eat your protein first at each meal
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Want a hand designing your perfect diet and embedding new habits? DM with the word CONSULT and have a free chat or go through link in bio.
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www.axps.live
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14/09/2021

Nordic Update

Progress. Sums it up nicely.

How has this been achieved?

☑️consistency- every week, no excuses
☑️no sandbagging reps
☑️recognition it will take time
☑️structured progressions in line with what I need to improve

What I haven’t relied on:

❌motivation
❌high expectations
❌any ‘hacks’ to falsely speed up progress
❌following the program of someone else who is a genetic monster and can do these holding weight
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Can you relate to the ❌’s? Have you been hit by unrealistic expectations of progress, lack of a program structured for you, relying on fleeting motivation?

If yes, then I can help unlock performance and conditioning gains guaranteed by creating and implementing the framework that YOU need to make progress.

✅coaching
✅accountability
✅structure
✅intent

Add these to a world class training program and you can’t fail to make progress.
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Grab a free chat by DM’ing with the word CONSULT or click link in bio
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www.axps.live
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13/09/2021

“You can’t foam roll your way out of 3 hours sleep.”

I’ve never read this quote before so I’m going to claim it.

A key aspect of improving physical performance and condition is recovering. And it’s an area where a lot of folk feel like they struggle - they don’t feel like they can recover quick enough.

So they look for tools to speed things up.

And it doesn’t take much googling to find umpteen devices which claim to speed up recovery.

But let’s slam the brakes on before we get too far down that rabbit hole.

What is the point of recovery?

It’s to maximise the adaptations from your training.

It’s not to make the process of recovering as fast as possible.

So now that’s clear, let’s look at what promotes adaption:

Sleep, active recovery and nutrition.

Sleep obviously through its restorative impact on the body.

Likewise with aerobic recovery work.

And nutrition through giving your body the fuel it needs to actually adapt through macro and micro nutrients.

Everything else - massage guns, foam rollers, stretching, compression wear. It might make you feel better but is it increasing adaption from training?

No, in fact it may be inhibiting it by short circuiting the natural recovery process.

Is there a time and a place for these? Yes - if you need to recover quickly. For example having 2 competitive events back to back or a tournament weekend.

Other than that? Just let your body do it’s thing and give it the support it needs.

If you’re not progressing, always getting injured then something needs to change.
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For your free consult DM with the word RECOVERY or click link in bio.
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www.axps.live
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05/09/2021

Final final chance to get involved - extended until midday tomorrow, Monday 6th September.

Winner drawn at 9pm tomorrow evening

Free coaching, clothes, food, coffee and protein snacks could be yours
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www.axps.live
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31/08/2021

How many times have you seen a workout that claims to ‘torch fat’ or promise to be the short cut to getting shredded?

Fun fact though - there is no workout which specifically burns body fat.

Exercise burns calories - whether these calories are from stored body fat or your diet depends on how many calories you’re consuming relative to how many you’re burning.

If you are in a calorie deficit then all workouts will ultimately contribute to the reduction in body fat.

On the other hand, if you’re not in a calorie deficit, you can do all the ‘fat burning’ workouts you want - your body fat levels are going nowhere.
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30/08/2021

Protein before bed is exactly the sort of low hanging fruit (or meat!🤣) that you should be implementing in your diet.

Loads of benefits and no drawbacks - there used to be a theory that eating before bed slowed down fat burning. Needless to say this is nonsense.

So 30-40g is what you are after and this can through food, whey protein or casein protein.

17/08/2021

AXPS TRAINING GIVEAWAY

Have I mentioned the AXPS Training app?😀

To celebrate the launch of this fantastic online coaching app I’m offering 3 months free online coaching. On top of that I’ve teamed up with some great local companies to offer some goodies!

You can win:

🟢 3 months online training & nutrition coaching with AXPS Training
🟢 £30 OneFit clothing voucher
🟢 £30 Lean Supper Club meal prep voucher
🟢 Coffee package from the Belfast Coffee Company
🟢 2 boxes of Gr***de protein bars

What you need to do:

1️⃣Like: Chris Gardner]
2️⃣Tag: 3 friends who would love this package
3️⃣Share: this post to your stories and tag Chris Gardner]

Multiple entries alllowed!

May the force of the random name generator be with you.

15/08/2021

Tomorrow I’ll be moving all new and existing clients onto the new AXPS Training app.

This will undoubtedly make programming easier to follow and understand, allow for more comprehensive coaching, provide accountability and act as a platform to educate so that you’ll know the why behind anything that I ask you to do.

I think all of this is really important and to have it under one roof will be cool. But ultimately it’s about results and this is the best way I think of creating an environment and community to do that.

Keep tuned tomorrow night for a neat giveaway to mark the launch with prizes from a number of great local companies!
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www.axps.live
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11/08/2021

5 days out

From Monday anyone working with me will be able to access the AXPS Training app. This will act as your hub for everything you need to build a better you.

Workouts

Nutrition

Education

Recipes

Tracking/logging

Coaching (most importantly!)

It’s all there. Plus more.
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www.axps.live
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Lisburn

Website

http://www.axps.live/

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Athlete X Mission

Athlete X is built with one aim:

To improve athletic performance.

Whether this is performance on the sporting field or a requirement of your job, using athletic based training and true strength and conditioning we want to build people capable of performing when it matters most.