2016 Mid-Year Clinic Results

Irrespective of what field you work in, it is very rare that any plan – from conceptualisation to implementation – comes off the way you’d expect and hope for. Now I am pretty average at statistics and try never to get too embroiled in such soul destroying activities of being on excel for countless hours. For the guys who do this as a job I pity you, you poor, poor bastards.

However, I have been adamant throughout my career as a coach that testing our clients is essential in seeing if; firstly, whether our programs are causing positive or negative adaptation and secondly, highlighting progression visually to our clients who invest a shitload of money in our facility. You might want to call it transparency, for lack of a better word.

Testing can be tricky, you don’t want to over-test the shit out of people, especially where it may not feel relevant to the average punter. The testing battery I have designed for our guys here at Hammer include the very important foundations of human movement – be it in the sporting field or in a lounge room. We test for fat loss, upper and lower body power, upper and lower body strength and fitness. Since our inception I have posted our results to be as transparent as possible to show our clients how we are going as a facility, but also to any outsider looking in. As a scientist I am extremely skeptical of everything, if you read my blogs you will find this almost all of our content. One of my pet peeves and one thing I cannot handle is fitness facilities claiming that “this challenge is this best in Australia” or that “this transformation program is unparalleled in its effectiveness” blah, blah, you get the idea. I always think “BASED ON WHAT?” None of these facilities take the time to measure and compare and see how they themselves can improve or if is it even working!

So without adieu, I will share with you the results that we have obtained from our first two clinics of 2016 – German Volume Training and Athlete Development Program. They are both 6 week programs where we have had participants on average from 25 – 35 people (the results are mean values).

These results tell us that we achieved improvement in almost every aspect we set out to improve. As mentioned earlier, it is rare to see actual accomplishments meet the planning and strategising. Every one of our clinics to date have been extremely successful. However, there are some results there that show a decrease in performance. Particularly, the German Volume results in strength. However, if you can think back to what German Volume was about – It was a clinic where we didn’t train at high intensities but rather, massive volumes. The goal was to reduce fat and build muscle not increase strength. It was done in order to provide a foundation for our year. So the decrease was actually expected in order to see our trend line for the rest of the year. The marginal decrease in GVT actually helped set up the dramatic increases seen in the ADP clinics.

So I sit here writing this little spiel with incredible pride as I am so impressed with my clients here at Hammer and what they have achieved so far this year. I cannot wait to see what the results of our next two big clinics are, especially our new Advanced Lifting Clinic where the fruits of this base provided in the results above can accentuate even more potential from our fantastic friends at Hammer.

By Matt Ham