by Nick Mitchell, Level 4 PICP
When Charles asked me to contribute a guest blog on some of the things I have learned from him over the years, he knew that he’d get my unexpurgated version of the Poliquin experience. Not necessarily a warts-and-all story, but certainly not a sycophantic tale of celebrity-fitness-guru-inspired atrophy and limp vegetarianism until a road-to-Damascus conversion to all things French Canadian.
In my life Before Charles (BC!) whatever I knew about tempo training was from reading Mike Mentzer and training at Dorian Yates’ Temple Gym back when he was the reigning Mr. Olympia. Low-carb dieting was in vogue in bodybuilding long before most of you were even twinkles in your grandfathers’ eyes, and both Dan Duchaine and Mauro di Pasquale added “modern” twists in the 1990s. By the time I attended my first PICP course in 2007, I knew all about hard training and hard dieting, and I was, according to Charles, the only British guy to ever show up for a first-time course with lean, muscular legs! I probably weighed a shade under 240 pounds at about 7 percent bodyfat at the time, down 15 pounds from my bodybuilding competition peak of 1997/1998.
I remember that first course in Dublin very vividly. I’d expected to be blown away by the technical knowledge of my fellow students, and was anticipating some powerful guys to be in attendance. This was in the days when things were a little more strength coach oriented rather than personal trainer focused as they are now, and I was prepared to be pushed hard by my fellow students. I couldn’t have been more wrong. But I shouldn’t have been surprised, really; I’d been practicing the science and art of body composition control on myself for longer than many of the attendees had been alive, so let’s just say there was a fairly big gap between the junior and the more senior students like myself or the always-on-top-of-her-game Claire Rooney.
The course itself, a five-day version of what is now PICP Level 1, was great, and it is the one course alongside the BioSignature that I insist all my personal trainers take immediately, as its instruction of the practical application of personal training is unparalleled. Given my years in the gym and my practice of reading everything I could on weight training, it didn’t really teach me an abundance of new things. Rather, it crystallised all my years of gym experience into a ready-to-use format that will forevermore be at the heart of my overall periodisation and programme design, both for my own training and the work my team does at what I believe is the busiest personal training gym in the United Kingdom.
What blew me away, though, were the one-hour-parking-lot question-and-answer sessions Charles took at the end of each day. I’m afraid I probably dominated the proceedings more than was my fair share, but for me it was like being the proverbial kid in the candy store: getting to ask Charles anything I wanted on the subjects that have been the passion of my life. Those of you who have been fortunate enough to witness Charles hold forth will perfectly understand that his knowledge of how to optimize human performance and conditioning can only be described (without my adding an ounce of hyperbole) as encyclopaedic.
Knowing him as I do now, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise, although it still does because he seems to have an informed answer for everything. This is the natural side effect when a fierce intellect is added to dogged persistence and an unflinching work ethic, passion, and relentless quest to be the best.
Lesson #1: Work Harder Than Everyone Else
So, if I have to come up with the number-one thing I learned from Charles Poliquin, it would be that being the absolute best at what you do can’t be chalked up to a fluke or good fortune, or even the happy chance of Fate that makes you smarter than your peers. Charles is, in my opinion, the number-one icon in the world of strength and conditioning training. This is primarily due to the fact that he has worked harder at it, applied his thought processes to it more thoroughly, and lived his work with passion for longer than anyone else.
When you talk to Charles about the untold hours he has spent coaching athletes on the gym floor or the all-nighters he has had to pull to complete tight off-season training programme deadlines, or add up just how many hours he has spent reading to expand his knowledge base (say 16 hours a week for 50 weeks of the year, multiplied by a supremely conservative 20 years, which adds up to 16,000 hours of studying!), then you can really appreciate why he is the best and what it takes to try to emulate him in your own chosen niche. (If you devoted your life to reading and did eight hours solid every day without fail seven days a week come whatever, this would still take you five and a half years to emulate!) What Charles has accomplished is both inspirational and humbling.
Lesson #2: Uncompromising Excellence and Uniqueness Creates a “Tribe”
Taking the PICP and BioSignature courses, plus staying certified, doesn’t come cheap. Likewise, Poliquin supplements are amongst the most expensive I have encountered. This does limit the mass-market appeal of the brand, and I can’t ever envisage Oprah endorsing a multivitamin that is five times more expensive than her demographic normally buys, even though it may be one hundred times better! In my opinion, Charles isn’t about mass marketing, and never should be, and this is a model that I follow enthusiastically within my own business. Being uncompromising in one’s pursuit of excellence will make you more expensive, and being “unique” rather than an everyman will close certain doors on the High Street. But in my experience it also opens you up to a more discerning client base, whose appreciation and loyalty for your products and services will be both long lasting and far-reaching. To borrow a reference from Seth Godin, Charles has created a global tribe by focusing on the highest possible quality of output, and by being his inimitable self. A great lesson for all of us.
Lesson #3: Ditch the Pseudoscience!
Those of you who are familiar with bodybuilding will be aware of the tenets of High Intensity Training (capitals are, apparently, mandatory) and the eloquent and persuasive eulogies of its key advocates, Nautilus founder Arthur Jones and top professional bodybuilder Mike Mentzer. Mentzer, the first man to win the Mr. Universe with a perfect score way back in 1978, was seen as the “thinking man’s bodybuilder,” and although he was a bit before my time, I bought into his own brand of logic of High Intensity Training, which can be neatly summed up with just one analogy: It takes just one spark to light a stick of dynamite, so anything extra is just wasted effort. I look back on that even as I write these words, and I really do think “What the f***?!” – but at the time, it made perfect sense (and still does, to the sadly misinformed). Of course, this is quackery and pseudoscience at its most ridiculous – allusions to dynamite, or the other oft-quoted “hammering a nail into wood” parable, have as much relevance to the physiological stimulation of hypertrophy as Sarah Palin does to statesmanship and the best representations of the United States abroad!
It was via Charles’ principles and teachings that I finally grasped what really makes a muscle grow, aside from brutally hard work and consistency, which are the two things I think I did have right. Experimenting with Charles’ 10x10 GVT protocols was the real eye-opener, as it opened up a whole new world of points of stimulation instead of simply training to failure and crushing myself with heavy weights, forced reps, and rest pause. Ultimately this has provided me with so many different training tools to help my clients and my team, and because of Charles I realize that the variations we can provide are pretty much endless.
Lesson #4: Twice-a-Day Training; and When in Doubt, Charles Is Right!
I recall being in my mid 20s and training for a brief period at Dorian Yates’ Temple Gym in Birmingham as if I were a pro bodybuilder. I was young, had zero responsibilities compared to my life now, ate kilos of red meat every day, and lived and breathed bodybuilding. And I thought that all I could take in the gym was an absolute maximum of four 45-minute training sessions a week. These days I am nearly 40, weighed down with business responsibilities and bringing up a young family in a stressful city like London, and at times I am forced to skip meals and live on shakes – but thanks to Charles’ teachings, my work capacity in the gym is such that I can train 10 times in a week without catastrophic shutdown.
When I first encountered Charles’ twice-a-day training principles, I pretty much dismissed them as being suitable only for professional athletes, aimed at strength rather than hypertrophy, and way too much for my own recovery abilities. As with a few of Charles’ more left-field ideas, it took two or three years of osmosis and gradual exposure before I reached enlightenment! I am now a massive proponent of twice-a day training – because of it my work capacity has gone through the roof. I absolutely love the variety and “fun” it allows me to bring into my own training even after so many years in the gym. The ultimate proof of the pudding is in the eating – I don’t think I have ever been so big in my life (as of the time of writing I am 122 kg at sub-10 percent), and this is despite the fact that my quads are nowhere near their previous best due to injuries and an inability to squat anything more substantial than Britney Spears’ dignity.
Lesson #5: BioSignature Modulation
In 2007 I attended the five-day
BioSignature Modulation course for the first time. It isn’t hyperbolic to say that it totally blew me away and was the most enjoyable learning experience of my life. The explanations as to why our bodies react in certain ways, coupled with the solutions to individual problems, were a massive eye-opener and showed me just how much potential added value could be brought to the personal training table. I personally think that Charles stands above all others in his unparalleled knowledge of strength training, but I also think that his most important legacy will prove to be BioSignature Modulation; it is an assessment tool that will stand the test of time. As an initial diagnostic tool, both for health and cosmetic purposes, it is inexpensive, accessible, easy to use in 70 percent of cases, and extremely effective. Anything that removes the arbitrary from the decision-making process is a positive thing, and with BioSignature Modulation we have in our hands the ability to prescribe, quite easily, specific nutritional and supplementation advice for a given individual’s unique biochemistry. It is a tool that should enable any personal trainer to achieve real results fast.
In conclusion, I’d like to take the opportunity whilst writing on Charles’ own website to publicly thank him for his generous support, inspiration and education towards me personally. It is a measure of the man, as busy and so often on the road as he is, that he has repeatedly gone out of his way to help my business, my family and myself, and always makes himself available to give me the best of his advice and hard-earned wisdom. For this I feel truly privileged.