http://www.michaelcooktraining.com/

MCT - Strength Coach & Dietitian, Teesside County Borough (2025)

24/08/2023

The good OL fashioned push up 💪

SWIPE ACROSS

I combine my decade of experience ‘under the barbell’ my academic background in sports science and dietetics (registered dietitian) to help you achieve your goals.

If you have serious physique/strength goals reach out at info@michaelcooktraining.com or DM

Follow the link in bio or DM for more information OR to book your FREE consult call where we can discuss your goals.

26/06/2023

The cuffed cable lateral raise 💪👌

I combine my decade of experience ‘under the barbell’ with my academic background in sports science and dietetics (registered dietitian) to help you achieve your goals.

If you have serious physique/strength goals reach out at info@michaelcooktraining.com or DM

Follow the link in bio or DM for more information OR to book your FREE consult call where we can discuss your goals.

19/06/2023

Individualised approaches should go far beyond far beyond caloric and nutrient requirements based on a individuals height,weight and bodyfat %

The initial assessment should be a deep dive into the client’s lifestyle. This gives the coach an opportunity to seamlessly integrate the nutrition plan into the clients everyday routine.

As coaches/dietitians we all have our biases and our preferred way of doing things. However we have to be flexible and sometimes meet the client in the ‘middle’

Coaches that employ a ‘my way or the highway approach’ will end up feeling frustrated a lot of the time as clients will ‘jump on and off the program’

There should be some flexibility present within the plan, where the client has some autonomy. People travel, they go on holiday, they go out for family occasions etc etc. This requires the ability to make sensible, alternative food choices.

If all you are used to is a rigid plan from your coach you may not be learning the necessary skills to make the smart choices.

Couple that with the potential feeling of guilt that you have ‘gone off’ plan. This all or nothing type of thinking can be a recipe for disaster.

Research in 2015 (ref in comments) showed that this black and white thinking can impede people’s ability to maintain a healthy weight.

This makes perfect sense - You feel like you have ‘failed’ the plan, and become demotivated as a result.

This can result in going ‘off plan’ for weeks and months at a time before you get the itch to go back to the ‘all or nothing’ approach and the cycle continues. Sound familiar?

Allow yourself some more flexibility and realise that you don’t need machine-like precision and accuracy with your diet to get the results that you desire.

27/01/2023

The END

Of the mini cut.

18 lbs down in 4 weeks

Appetite is back in a good spot and general day to day\ energy feeling great - being 20+stone is no fun

One small gaining phase to go THEN that's the first bodybuilding offseason complete.

I combine my decade of experience ‘under the barbell’ with my academic background in sports science and dietetics (registered dietitian) to help you achieve your goals.

Follow the link in bio or DM for more information OR to book your FREE consult call

16/01/2023

The most commonly asked questions…

How do I know what calories I need to be on?
What calorie calculator should I use?

Follow the example above (using your own anthropometrics) and you should be pretty close to where you need to be after 2-3 weeks!

I combine my decade of experience ‘under the barbell’ with my academic background in sports science and dietetics (registered dietitian) to help you achieve your goals.

Follow the link in bio or DM for more information OR to book your FREE consult call

14/01/2023

Should you track your intake?

I combine my decade of experience ‘under the barbell’ with my academic background in sports science and dietetics (registered dietitian) to help you achieve your goals.

Follow the link in bio or DM for information.

11/01/2023

How to calculate your maintenance calories…

Link for the Harris Benedict calculator:

https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/bmr-harris-benedict-equation

Here is an hypothetical example: Andy
STEP 1:

Use the Harris-Benedict equation

Input weight – 100kg
Input height – 180cms
Input Age – 25

BMR = 2173. (remember to just take the BMR number. We add our own physical activity factor in step 2)

STEP 2:

Andy is a powerlifter works on a construction site. His job is quite physically demanding – he trains 5x per week with moderate training volumes – Andy also does one x 30 minute steady state cardio session per week on the treadmill and a 1x 15 minute weekly high intensity session on the bike.

Andy decides he fits into the very active category (BMR x 1.75)

2173x1.75= 3803 calories per day

STEP 3:

Andy’s goal is to hit 3803 kcals per day – The aim is to get as close to this figure as possible by being diligent with his food tracking.

Andy weighs himself first thing every morning, after using the toilet and before consuming any food and fluid.

After 2 weeks, Andy has solid data and can make any adjustments if necessary.

I combine my decade of experience ‘under the barbell’ with my academic background in sports science and dietetics (registered dietitian) to help you achieve your goals.

Follow the link in bio or DM for information.

10/01/2023

We live in a world where the voice of the qualified professional tends to be drowned out by the next influencer fad - just the way it is🤷🏼‍♂️

Keep your eyes out for these nutritional 🚩

I combine my decade of experience ‘under the barbell’ with my academic background in sports science and dietetics (registered dietitian) to help you achieve your goals.

Follow the link in bio or DM for information.

06/01/2023

THE BASICS

Lots of people seem to worry about the minutiae before consistently NAILING the basics.

The people who are making great strides with their physiques are just doing the boring, old basics over and over…

05/01/2023

Mindfulness meditation may help alleviate sport related performance anxiety

What is mindfulness?

There are numerous ways in which mindfulness can be defined. One of importance is "paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally" This definition was later developed by Bishop and colleagues (2004) with a two-part theory: The first aspect of mindfulness is that of being aware of the present moment and secondly treating those experiences with curiosity, openness and accepting the situation just how it is.

Definitions of mindfulness are important for a general understanding however it is impossible to explain what it is in full detail, much like it is impossible to comprehend what anxiety ‘feels' like without actually experiencing it. The phenomenon is largely subjective therefore feelings may differ from person to person.

The first step in cultivating mindfulness is performing regular formal meditation. This fundamental practice involves the meditator focusing solely on the sensations of the breath and body and non-judgementally bringing attention back to the breath when invasive thoughts and feelings arise. It is important to note that MM and mindfulness are two separate entities. Mindfulness is the psychological state and can be accessed in all areas of everyday life whether it be playing a sport or listening to music. Whereas MM is a specific practice that is designed to facilitate greater levels of mindfulness within the practice and in day to day situations .

MM is not a new innovative concept; it is believed that the practice originated in southwest India around 2500 years ago. Religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism valued MM as an integral part of day to day living. More recently MM has been adopted by western culture and has played an essential role of the psychological skill sets of major sporting stars such as Michael Jordan, who had the extraordinary ability to perform at a high level when the pressure was at an all-time high.

Why athletes should utilise psychological programmes

Most athletes have experienced moments of high expectation and pressure.

(CONTINUES IN COMMENTS)

24/03/2022

Nice little superset to keep the delts ticking over

Give it a try!

22/03/2022

Back Training: A couple of thoughts and considerations in my own training that could be beneficial for you...
The majority of my back volume over the last several years has been from deadlifting and its close variations (stiff leg deadlift etc) with minimal rowing, vertical pulling and shrug variations...
I think this has helped tremendously in terms of overall thickness in the erectors, rhomboids , traps but has left gaps, particularly in the lats...
So the first step was to actually include much more horizontal and vertical pulling in my program - groundbreaking!...
Due to lack of practice, I initially struggled with the ‘mind muscle connection’ with the lats, one thing that helped was doing a lot of higher rep work (15-20) range - this allows a lot of blood to be pushed into the lat, basically you get good feedback you are hitting the target area..
The lighter load also made it much easier to use less ‘body english’ during the set - you can really lock in that torso and drive the elbow deep into the hip...
As time went on it was much easier to replicate the same technique with heavier loads and connect well with the lats...
I think the most difficult aspect of transitioning from powerlifting to bodybuilding is focusing on putting as much tension on one area as possible - rather than distributing load to as many of the muscles as possible to create an efficient, powerful lift...
There is much more than lifting the weight from A-B, we have all seen someone ‘full stack’ the pull down whilst having very little lat development...

FREQUENCY: For me (and a lot of other people) the back can take an absolute battering in terms of volume compared to the legs for example. For that reason volume may need to be split into multiple sessions per week. I am currently running 3x a week frequency.

17/03/2022

5 important considerations to minimise muscle loss whilst in a ‘fat loss’ phase.

1 - Arguably the most important factor is to ensure the rate of weight loss is appropriate - somewhere between 0.5-1% bodyweight loss per week tends to be the sweet spot...
2 - Protein intake - somewhere between 1.9-2.2 grams per kg of bodyweight seems to be a good range to aim for - if getting extremely lean, increasing above 2.2g/kg/BW may have some slight benefits, particularly in minimising hunger. That being said, most people will fare just fine in the 1.9-2.2 range...

3 - Carbohydrates - Once fat has been set to cover minimum health requirements (usually between 15-25% of total calories) then allocating the rest of your total calories to carbs may be a good idea. Carbohydrates are the preferred macro to ‘fuel performance’ and also offer slight ‘muscle sparing’ benefits compared to fats.
4 - Hard, overloading resistance training: Many people drastically change how they train during a ‘cut’, granted you won't see the same rate of progress as a ‘maintenance’ or gaining’ phase and your ability to tolerate workload may drop slightly, however you should still be training HARD...
5 - increasing your Non exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) - Movement throughout the day that doesn't classify as specific exercise, e.g doing housework, walking to work...
We can significantly increase our total daily energy expenditure by increasing our NEAT - there are many ways we could increase this, for example:..
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator - break up your day with short trips/walks - walk to the local shop instead of driving - if you have a desk job take a 5-10 minute walk every hour or two, this will also provide you a psychological benefit. There's nothing more mind-numbing than sitting in the same place for hours on end...
There are countless ways we can increase NEAT, on paper it doesn't look like these suggestions would increase energy expenditure by a large amount, however when we start ‘stacking’ these methods over a consistent period of time, it makes a big, big difference. (Continues in comments)

16/03/2022

Prioritisation
…
As you become more advanced as a lifter it is inevitable that you will run into recovery issues if you go full steam ahead on all muscle groups...

This is where ‘specialisation phases’ come in handy - these are blocks of training where a large proportion of overall training volume is allocated to ‘weak or ‘lagging’ muscle groups...

As volume increases on these specific muscle groups it may also be a good idea to increase the weekly frequency of your ‘prioritised’ muscle groups. There quickly becomes a point of diminishing returns if you keep adding sets in a single session.

You know that feeling where just go through the motions, don’t feel much of a pump etc, you would be better suited moving those lacklustre sets to another day when you can put 100% focus into the ex*****on of the movement...

Another super simple suggestion is to prioritise the order of your movements. For me biceps used to be something I would do at the end of sessions, when physical and mental fatigue is at its peak. Positioning bicep within the first couple movements of a session has made a big,big difference...

Have a read of ‘the scientific principles of hypertrophy’ for an in depth write up on the topic - those guys can articulate it much better than I can...

However, If you want all the guesswork taken out of it, then hire a coach (like myself) to organise your training...

DM or head to my website www.michaelcooktraining.com for enquiries.

10/03/2022

255x25 leg press

So 8 weeks ago I hit this for 15 reps. Which is drastic progress! However week to week when you add one rep (sometimes 2 but very rarely) it can feel like you are moving at a snails pace.

It is useful and motivating to review the last block and even the last several blocks to see how far you have progressed.

Keep aiming for small,marginal wins each session and you will get the results you want.

There’s nothing like that sense of dread when you look at the logbook and release you have to beat 23 reps😂

Time to increase some load on this as 25 reps is taking the p***

Interested in online coaching- head over to my website www.Michaelcooktraining.com or DM for enquiries

21/02/2022

FREE EBOOK

Coming soon - learn how to calculate your calories/macros and how make adjustments along the way, how to set goals, how to monitor progress, peri workout nutrition etc.

Tried to create a good balance between the sciencey nerdy stuff whilst making sure the information is easily digestible (pun intended).

Hopefully there will be lots of ideas that you can implement right away, that will set you up for improved performance and body composition down the road.

20/02/2022

GOAL SETTING

Are your goals specific enough?

07/01/2022

Always worth repeating!

MCT - Strength Coach & Dietitian