The Body Planner
Interview with Michael Bach, The Body Planner
Didsbury Life
Hi Mike and welcome to Didsbury Life. Could you give us a quick intro about who you are and what you do?
Mike Bach
Sure, well as you know I’m Mike Bach and I live in the local area and have done for about the last 12 years now after moving from Newcastle. I own a Personal Training business that is based around South Manchester and Cheshire called The Body Planner.
Didsbury Life
How long have you been working as a Personal Fitness Trainer for and what made you work in this field?
Mike Bach
I have worked as a Personal Trainer in Manchester for just over 2 years now on a professional basis, prior to that you could call say that it was my passion in life as I’ve been a bit of a sports nut since I could walk. You would have to be living in the North East! I played a number of sports such as football and cricket and competed in athletics. When I went to university at Sheffield I also played more rugby and developed a real passion for fitness especially in resistance training.
To cut a long story short my paid profession was as a Marketing analyst and then the same in IT while I continued my personal interest and studies in health and fitness. What I finally decided was that I could do a lot more good working full time in my passion that I ever could staying in a job where my abilities and expertise were not fully utilised and my passion was robbed. That is when I decided to make the change full time and The Body Planner was born into this world. This has enabled me to help lots more people that I ever could before and in doing something that I live, eat and breathe.
Didsbury Life
So what does The Body Planner actually do? Is it all about persobal training?
MB: Well, we are a Personal Training service as far as most people are concerned but I prefer to call it Personal Coaching for Health and Fitness. This ultimately means that we are there to achieve a result - the most popular being to hit a target weight and composition. Other targets could be to improve performance within work and sports or reduce the cost of sickness at work.
In all cases several areas will be taken into consideration such as prescribing effective physical activities, delivering nutritional advice, monitoring lifestyle, and serving as a motivator. All these aspects are delivered; it’s just that in each case more work can be identified as being required than others in order to get that result. That’s where each client or group is different and you have to coach them rather than train them.
Didsbury Life
As far as individuals go, their major requirement is weight loss. What do you think are the most important factors to consider here?
Mike Bach
I would always say that the most important feature of any weight loss program is nutrition because quite simply you cannot out train a lousy diet plan. I have come across those in the past, especially around the first couple months of the year when there is an increased enthusiasm for starting an exercise program. For now, forget about the merits of the program, but by continuing to eat as normal or not making sufficient change to diet usually leads to no progress.
One story of a more recent client of mine involved him being a member of a health club for the last 12 months and being trained each week yet he lost no weight. The main point of issue here was that his way of eating had not changed. Once we began, I got him on a way of eating that would reduce calories (though we never calorie count) and increase his metabolism whilst never starving himself or be at the mercy of being tired through lack of energy. The end result was in 5 weeks he lost 15 pounds, a great result and perhaps one better than average but shows that training alone makes it very hard to lose weight.
Didsbury Life
Does that mean I can cancel my gym subscription and stop my exercise regime?
Mike Bach
You would never be that lucky and you shouldn’t want to be either. On a serious note if there was a gun to my head and I had to choose nutrition or training, then nutrition would be the winner but it is safer and more effective to include an effective fitness program.
In practically all cases there comes a time when results will slow down or come to a halt as far as weight loss goes. As I mentioned our principle is not to calorie count but to some it would make sense to continue reducing intake of food but when do you stop? The answer is a lot sooner than before you become hungry and fatigued. The best way is to use effective activity to make the difference. Good activity will also have a bigger impact on body shape than dieting alone. The benefits will last longer and be far more maintainable as well.
Didsbury Life
We’ve talked a lot about weight loss but what else do you provide to help in the battle for better health & fitness?
Mike Bach
Yes, the attraction factor for most people is that they want to lose weight and by that lose fat; that is what improves your body shape and provides a better mechanism to lose excess weight in the future. What becomes apparent are the other areas that people want to improve but fall hand in hand with their weight loss.
It’s just that some may have several pounds or stone to lose and others have nothing to lose but want to improve shape. These areas are fitness and performance whether it is specifically for sport or life in general. That also includes resolving physical complaints and is a big part of our Kinetic Chain Assessment.
This assessment looks at the way your body holds itself and how it functions, linking between the muscles, joints and the neurological system. This is a vital part to understanding your body and how an exercise program should be constructed. By doing this your body will function better, reducing the conflict with existing conditions and preventing others from occurring. I’ve been using this assessment for the last month now and the results have been fantastic, in some cases drastically reducing any pain and improving functional movement in a week or two.
Didsbury Life
So for weight loss, fitness and performance what training methods do you use?
Mike Bach
I’m a big supporter of using larger movements that tax your system more than isolated movements. Apart from being more of a challenge, they just work the system harder and produce better results. That’s why I’m a big user of kettlebells, sandbags and bands; what you might call the not so traditional methods of getting fit but they are very effective.
There are other tools I use and that’s the key point here that in a lot of cases there is not one “best” piece of equipment but simply a range of tools that play a part. I’m also going to say that there is some rubbish out there as well and let’s just say the more bulky, expensive pieces of equipment tend to be them. I’m also a big fan of bodyweight exercise and use it a lot to get results regardless of the standard of the athlete (you’re all athletes once you start!). The changes you make are in the methods in which they are delivered as part of a program and how they are changed over a period of time (periodisation). That is why you can get good results whether you feel you are lacking the time to exercise or workout 4 times a week for an hour.
Combining the movements, tools and methods can make the most stubborn user progress if they have the commitment. In my own regime, I’m a big fan of quickie workouts that can last as little as 20 minutes when other commitments do not allow for longer sessions. If that’s the case then it’s all about planning ahead and bringing quality to the table.
Didsbury Life
Fantastic Mike, thanks for that, can you finally sum up your services?
Mike Bach
Sure. The Body Planner is a Personal Training service that encompasses Didsbury and the surrounding areas. We specialise in coaching to deliver fat loss and improve performance for busy lifestyles at home, the outdoors and places of work.
Coaching is provided in a 1:1 environment and small groups of up to four. All will receive a Kinetic Chain Assessment and it is also available as a standalone product. Other corporate services are provided to specification.
We are so confident in our coaching and expertise that we offer a full guarantee, details on this and all other services can be seen on the website at http://www.thebodyplanner.com. There is also a blog at http://www.thebodyplanner.com/blog
There will also be news on a new event to hit Manchester and a new online service that will be coming soon that I’ll keep you informed about in the next month.
Mike.
The Body Planner.
