That is the methodology that UP Fitness brings. And trust me, having tried their no-nonsense approach to training, it’s not hard to believe the amazing results that their clients achieve in three months or so.
I tried just one session with UP Fitness personal trainer Nathan Johnson and he absolutely almost killed me. And I mean that in the most positive complimentary way. With no exaggeration, I’ve never had to work that hard with light weight dumbbells in my hand. That’s because UP Fitness goes back to basics with what really matters during any workout — muscle stimulation.
“It’s about contraction of the muscle, stimulating the right muscle tissue and execution of the movement… the focus is on that certain aspect of the lift rather than the goal of moving weight from A to B,” Johnson says.
It seems like a no-brainer but many gym-goers miss the mark because oftentimes it becomes about ‘what’ weight is lifted, rather than ‘how’ the weight is lifted. Johnson was strict with me all throughout and had me sweating buckets. He emphasised keeping the muscles in constant tension, as they should be. Even experienced lifters are sometimes guilty of just going through the motions. UP Fitness uses body-building fundamentals to get the maximum benefit of any lift regardless of the weight.
Men’s Health UK calls their England facility as ‘The Best Personal Training Gym in London’ and celebrities such as Bollywood star Ranveer Singh and Hollywood actress Gwendoline Christie have all experienced body transformations with UP Fitness. It takes several weeks for clients to attain significant improvements in their bodies.
“Some people need 6 weeks, some need 12 weeks, some people need a little longer. But generally you can get some people that are between 20-25 per cent of body fat down to 10-15 per cent if they stick to everything that we prescribe… They will get a diet plan or whatever nutritional strategy that the client and coach have agreed and they will get supplement advice as well… Clients will have one coach each. They’ll come, for instance, 36 times over a 12-week period. The whole premise of the 12-week transformation is to do a body re-composition. So, it’s case of building muscle and losing fat simultaneously,” Johnson adds.
For a client to accomplish growth, a lot of things have to come together. Johnson explains, “A diet will take care of the fat loss, in a sense, and then your goal in the gym is to stimulate muscle tissue, so we look at execution of movements, contraction of muscles and also intensity of workouts, which is the main thing. And then making it progressive in terms of using heavier weights, using better speed at exercise, and then supersetting with a different exercise to create a metabolic effect.”
On the outside, UP Fitness looks like any other gym. But the kind of training that happens within its premises is something truly remarkable; just ask the dozens of clients whose pictures are up on their wall.
“It’s all about the goals, the results. No one does results like the way we do it. Everyone wants a personal trainer because they want to be healthy and fit, but ultimately everyone wants to be in the best shape that they can be in. People want to have a transformation, that’s what we do. We let the results speak for ourselves,” Johnson concludes.
*UP Fitness is located in Emirates Financial Towers, DIFC.
