Neil Deighton Personal Training

22/10/2022

Bruising has come out nicely now. Would have been nice to have done this under a heavy squat but nope, slipped over, fu**ed up my quad and landed in a pile of nettles.

Waiting on mri results hoping it's just the quad muscles torn and not the tendon.

Luckily I have a fcking amazing partner in who's managed to look after my crippled arse on top of sorting the kids, housework, decorating, and going to work!! I love you and appreciate you loads 😘

18/03/2021

In powerlifting and other strength sports it's common to increase training stress up to a competition followed by a taper, but is this the best approach?

If youd like to learn a little more on the concept of overreaching and what's actually going on then check out my article linked below.

On the same site I also write a new article 6 days per week so there's plenty of content to browse for anyone interested in strength training and nutrition 💪

Sign in or join now to see posts like this one and more.

27/12/2020

Started a blog on LinkedIn. Goal is a new short article each day based on some aspect of training. Will generally be fairly quick reads but hopefully useful to someone.

Todays is my thoughts on 'speed training' to drive up maximal strength.

More Effort Increases Strength
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/more-effort-increases-strength-neil-deighton

26/12/2020

If you're starting out at a high level of bodyfat and want to get lean and STAY fairly lean I think it helps to keep a couple of things in mind...

1) It's likely going to be harder. One you've experienced high/full fat cells you'll essentially be more primed to store fat in the future.

2) Calories often need to be kept low. Find ways to bring them up as high as possible however it's not uncommon to have to stay pretty damn low. Don't let this surprise you. Focus on high protein intake and foods with low calorie density.

3) Train hard with weights. Building muscle will have a little net positive effect on metabolism. Not huge impact but it helps, plus you'll look better in the mirror (and it's fun).

4) Keep energy expenditure high. This will help allow you to consume a little more food. Choose modes of exercise you enjoy and go hard, dont rely on the negligible effects of EPOC (or whatever its now known as) with general cardio based exercise.

5) Track your diet. Properly. It's so easy to consume more than you think you are, and not uncommon to miss things out when you do track (not necessarily on purpose).

6) If you're constantly yo yo-ing around then get some professional help. Figure out what's holding you back, learn the hows and whys, then you should be set up to keep it off in the future.

The main point is that yes it will likely be harder to keep the fat off, and it may be a hard slog, but it's definitely possible. Going into it with your eyes open should help.

24/12/2020

Please send any DMs to [email protected] or message me on Insta (my FB inbox keeps playing up).

Thanks, Neil.

20/12/2020

One of the most common things I'm hearing at the gym is "I cant get motivated with my diet". With sporadic training and all that's going on there's no wonder i dont think. I'd suggest the answer is to MAKE IT AS EASY AS POSSIBLE.

It doesnt have to be the best, it doesnt have to be what it previously was, it just needs to be better than it is. A step in the right direction.

Using shakes and smoothies as meal replacements is often a great idea. Use a good whey protein as a base and blend in other foods to make it taste good and change it from a snack to a meal replacement. Forget the "but it's better to eat whole food" attitude, when your whole foods are currently sausage rolls and pasties.

Easy to prep, can make them filling enough, taste good, more nutritious and quick to consume. Lots of wins there!

All you need is a blender and the ingredients. Google will give you literally thousands of smoothie combos.

18/12/2020

BENCH BUILDER!

Power fly variations are a great benchpress assistance exercise. These are a floor variation. Full upper arm is controlled down to the floor, short pause (stay tight!) and arc back up.

It's a fly as dbells are outside elbows BUT notice theres a pretty decent bend at the elbow. Why? It allows more loading and reduces shoulder issues often associated with stricter flys. Variations allowing heavier loading tend to transfer over better to bench strength.

As a marker 1/4 of your benchpress weight for 8 reps is around the average ime. So if you press 140kg I'd expect you to be using 35kg dbells or heavier for a set of 8 reps. Everyone's different but if you're going into them for the first time it's a good target. Building muscle on your chest with heavy hard sets will help increase your bench strength.

Excellent demo by Tom 'The Prowler' Copeland.

17/12/2020

LOVE A MACHINE....

Whilst I arent in any way advising anyone to focus on solely machine based exercises instead of free weights the fact that stabilisation isnt required can actually be a massive positive.

When fatigued loading and set quality with free weights is going to be limited by fatigue in the muscles that stabilise the movement or your coordination. Machines take these out of the equation (which is often the argument for them being inferior) but it can actually allow you to hit the target muscle(s) harder as the only focus is that contraction.

Say you want to add slabs of muscle to your quads. A hack squat allows you to focus on just squatting down and back up. A barbell squat requires much more focus and greater risk of getting out of position as fatigue, ie greater injury risk.

Building muscle also contributes to strength gains. It's pretty well established that gaining muscle drives the biggest strength gains aside from beginners and perhaps elite lifters (vast majority of people fall in the middle of those groups). Machines can help build more muscle. So they're v useful. Case closed.

14/12/2020

IF YOU KEEP FAILING AT WEIGHT LOSS STOP & TAKE A MINUTE...

Most people fail to stick to their diet due to trying extreme approaches such as cutting out all the 'nice food' and hammering chicken breast and broccoli.

My tips would be:

1) Dont go so extreme. Keep foods in that you enjoy but REDUCE PORTION SIZE. Such as going from eating a big pizza on a sat night to a smaller pizza. These changes build up.

2) Learn how to make healthy food taste nice! It's more than possible and doesnt actually take much effort at all.

When you enjoy the food you eat, arent too restrictive, and feel your energy levels improve you will have no problems at all in losing weight!!!

Tag someone who needs to hear this

13/12/2020

Let's figure out what the problem is with your training and figure out the best solution!!

If you feel like your progress isnt quite as fast as you'd like it to be and arent sure why, or if you know why but just cant nail down a solution then let's fix it to make 2021 a year of gains!!

I'm offering FREE 30min skype consultations over the next few weeks.

I know what you're thinking - nothing is for free what's the catch!?

Well there isnt one. I believe you'll be extremely happy with what we can come up with and make much bigger strides over the coming months.

That's why I do this job, I love helping people to achieve their goals and feel good about themselves!

Even so as a business surely there's more to it? Well when you get great results from a 30min chat I know it's far more likely that you'll recommend me or be more inclined to work with me in the future if you decided to hire a coach! Building trust is a worthwhile investment on my part that has always paid dividends!

10/12/2020

How to retain (or build) strength in a kcal deficit.

Keep heavy weights in. Leverages will change as your bw drops, keeping heavy weights in will allow you to adjust to the different leverage, keep coordination high, and ultimately work towards getting stronger at maximal weights.

Create a hypertrophy stimulus. Assistance work in a higher rep range will maximise muscle retention. More muscle at the end of the diet combined with high levels of skill goes a long way in determining max strength. Most work for strength athletes i prefer to be in a 6-10 rep range here (with some higher rep sets if needed but need to balance energy demand vs outcome).

Manage volume. As you get deeper into a deficit recovery ability will decrease as will energy levels in a workout. Focus on quality work and avoid throwing in extra 'fluff' without proper reasoning.

03/12/2020

It's not uncommon for people to spend years spinning their wheels or even going backwards. The main factor is often that there isnt enough pain associated with not fully committing to the goal....

You see it all the time, such as that person who wants to quit smoking and tries over and over again but fails each time. It reaches a point where they've completely had enough and dont give themselves the option of ever smoking again. Or the person who wants to lose weight but never succeeds until they reach a point where they're completely sick of how they look. The pain associated with continuing on the same path gets too much to bare.

From a training perspective if you're stuck in a bit of a rut then ask yourself what youd change if you had a gun pointed to your head and HAD to improve. Then look at the list of things you could improve on and start implementing what you see as viable. Maybe that's improving nutrition, or recovery variables, or mindset, or level of effort you put into each training session, or your program itself, or taking a new approach with your program....etc.

If you believe you have everything nailed and still arent improving then seek out advice as you're almost certainly falling down on some aspects.