Irish strength institute

tony stark

Hi. Been stuck in a rut for 2 years at same weight. Thinking of going to Irish strength institute to help with diet and form when lifting and a proper routine. Anyone used these guys, any opinions? They seem very professional

MightyMandarin

Maybe it's just me being snotty but I cannot understand how people find it hard to find any sort of a strength program on the internet for free, lift 3-4x a week and eat decently (not chicken and rice every meal, but not chippers either) and stick to it for longer than 6 months.

I had a look at this Irish Strength Institute (lol at calling themselves an 'Institute') and yeah the website is nice and their coaches had some famous clients- eg McGregor, Oakland Raiders, and most at least look like they lift, but ffs the average joe does not need them to squat 2x bw and look decent.

I know guys like Clarence Kennedy have unreal genetics and work ethic, but ffs the lad is one of the strongest guys in the world and he trains out of a flippin GAA hall by himself. I'm not saying anyone can be like him, but goals like I set above can easily be achieved by anyone in 1-2yrs, if he can get to the level he's gotten without any coach or 'Strength Institute'.

I know I'm ranting and I'm sorry I hijacked your post to **** on the fitness industry (which is a joke when I see the amount of PT's around charging ridiculous money for goals which anyone could achieve in the same time-frame for free), but look at some of the threads started by Hanley before he got banned and you'll have everything you'll get from this 'Institute' for the amazing price of €0.

tl;dr: You don't need this place. Keep your money, find a decent program on the internet, stick to it for 6 months, don't eat like a pig, and you'll make the same progress as you would with any PT.

Sorry for the rant, I just hate seeing people get ripped off.

tony stark

The last thing I want to do is fork out money for this.....but I need to block out the heaps of programs and diets I've found online that are beyond complex. I also want a program that is sports specific. Looking good is part of it but I also want power flexibility and cardio. I need a pro to check my form as I've several slipped discs in my back. I also need a proper measurement of body fat and progress as the scales has not been a good guide for me, constantly putting me off when I see no progress. So after years of the internet not giving me this I'm looking for a coach to help. It's probably a bit of accountability as well as I go off the diets so much but again I think that's down to not having found the correct one. It's a lot of money but I need to try it out.

Alf Veedersane

To be honest, I don't see any problem with anyone going to a professional for guidance. A generic programme is well and good and will take you to a point.

I went down that route and had technique improved which paid immediate dividends.

OP, where are you based?

MightyMandarin

tony stark wrote: »

The last thing I want to do is fork out money for this.....but I need to block out the heaps of programs and diets I've found online that are beyond complex. I also want a program that is sports specific.Looking good is part of it but I also want power flexibility and cardio.

There's plenty of simple programs, none more so than this one. Just add a simple stretching program like 'starting stretching' and some running, rowing or cycling afterwards and you've got your 'sport specific' program.

I need a pro to check my form as I've several slipped discs in my back. I also need a proper measurement of body fat and progress as the scales has not been a good guide for me, constantly putting me off when I see no progress.

Ok well there's where a PT might help and would be better than the internet, although form checks have been sufficient for me. There's a couple of solid PT's on this forum and I reckon they'd be cheaper than this 'Institute'. For analysing progress though, progress pictures are nearly always sufficient, provided you make the conditions similar (lighting, time of day).

So after years of the internet not giving me this I'm looking for a coach to help. It's probably a bit of accountability as well as I go off the diets so much but again I think that's down to not having found the correct one. It's a lot of money but I need to try it out.

A PT will help with form and programming but habit and consistency comes from within. There's no perfect diet, although increasing protein consumption and refraining from eating heaps of junk food nearly always results in physique improvements, and using a foodscale and myfitnesspal is the most effective way to track.

At the end of the day, I doubt your PT will be with you 24/7, so you'll end up tracking your diet the same way without a PT.

COH

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Maybe it's just me being snotty but I cannot understand how people find it hard to find any sort of a strength program on the internet for free, lift 3-4x a week and eat decently (not chicken and rice every meal, but not chippers either) and stick to it for longer than 6 months.

I had a look at this Irish Strength Institute (lol at calling themselves an 'Institute') and yeah the website is nice and their coaches had some famous clients- eg McGregor, Oakland Raiders, and most at least look like they lift, but ffs the average joe does not need them to squat 2x bw and look decent.

I know guys like Clarence Kennedy have unreal genetics and work ethic, but ffs the lad is one of the strongest guys in the world and he trains out of a flippin GAA hall by himself. I'm not saying anyone can be like him, but goals like I set above can easily be achieved by anyone in 1-2yrs, if he can get to the level he's gotten without any coach or 'Strength Institute'.

I know I'm ranting and I'm sorry I hijacked your post to **** on the fitness industry (which is a joke when I see the amount of PT's around charging ridiculous money for goals which anyone could achieve in the same time-frame for free), but look at some of the threads started by Hanley before he got banned and you'll have everything you'll get from this 'Institute' for the amazing price of €0.

tl;dr: You don't need this place. Keep your money, find a decent program on the internet, stick to it for 6 months, don't eat like a pig, and you'll make the same progress as you would with any PT.

Sorry for the rant, I just hate seeing people get ripped off.

On behalf of coaches everywhere I would like to officially apologise to you and people everywhere for our profession. We didn't realise that we should just tell people to 'google it'.

MightyMandarin

COH wrote: »

On behalf of coaches everywhere I would like to officially apologise to you and people everywhere for our profession. We didn't realise that we should just tell people to 'google it'.

No problem with you trying to earn a living, but there's just little need for general PT's imo. At the very least the market is saturated.

tony stark

Based in Artane

caviardreams

OP - I have heard good things about ISI. No personal experience but have heard the likes of Larry Doyle (who I follow on snapchat) mention them before so they must be reputable.

arybvtcw0eolkf

COH wrote: »

On behalf of coaches everywhere I would like to officially apologise to you and people everywhere for our profession. We didn't realise that we should just tell people to 'google it'.

Tbh I'm with him on a lot of what he says.

In my experience most PT's are earning money for old rope.

Again in my experience save for a competitive athlete the vast, vast majority of people don't need to go to the expense of paying for privates.

There ya go, I said it too.

But I'll add, if you are competitive and you're looking to up your game you won't be looking to spend your money on privates the young lads & lassies passing for instructors in most gyms anyway, you'll be paying top dollar for excellent coaching that's going to pay dividends.

But most people can make terrific progress with basic knowledge; KISS ~ Keep It Simple Stupid pretty much works.

Oh, sorry OP about ISI.. I've known a few competitive martial artists who've made great progress with them.

Alf Veedersane

Callie Fresh Rival wrote: »

Tbh I'm with him on a lot of what he says.

In my experience most PT's are earning money for old rope.

Again in my experience save for a competitive athlete the vast, vast majority of people don't need to go to the expense of paying for privates.

There ya go, I said it too.

But I'll add, if you are competitive and you're looking to up your game you won't be looking to spend your money on privates the young lads & lassies passing for instructors in most gyms anyway, you'll be paying top dollar for excellent coaching that's going to pay dividends.

But most people can make terrific progress with basic knowledge; KISS ~ Keep It Simple Stupid pretty much works.

Oh, sorry OP about ISI.. I've known a few competitive martial artists who've made great progress with them.

That's all well and good and yes it can work fine.

I'm not a competitive athlete and I won't be winning medals at meets anytime soon.

But what I've learned from coaching isn't something I could have Google or learned from videoing myself.

I read a lot about training, about movement and try to improve myself but I'm confident in saying the coaching got me on a better path to getting more out of my lifts because of knowledge and experience. Spotting small things that indicated a weakness, which working on contributed to a bigger improvement in numbers than I expected.

A good PT will make a difference. Some people need accountability, some people need to find where they need to improve.

I don't doubt that people can get strong without a coach. A good coach will help make them stronger again, for the most part.

Nervous Wreck

There's a reason many people employ PTs rather than googling programs and winging it.

It's the same reason many PTs employ accountants rather than googling tax law and winging it.

The same reason musicians go to expensive recording studios rather than downloading software and winging it.

The same reason theatre producers hire directors rather than googling how to direct and winging it.

It may sound simple but, bizarrely, the reason is that by hiring a reliable professional, you are more likely to get better results, faster, with less risk of making big mistakes along the way. Could the PT do his own taxes, the musician record her own songs, the producers direct their own plays? Sure! But why not get the help of someone who'll probably forget more than you'll ever know about their industry and make the most of your time and effort? It seems insane to me that anyone would want to use their time with such poor economy.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

There's a reason many people employ PTs rather than googling programs and winging it.

It's the same reason many PTs employ accountants rather than googling tax law and winging it.

The same reason musicians go to expensive recording studios rather than downloading software and winging it.

The same reason theatre producers hire directors rather than googling how to direct and winging it.

It may sound simple but, bizarrely, the reason is that by hiring a reliable professional, you are more likely to get better results, faster, with less risk of making big mistakes along the way. Could the PT do his own taxes, the musician record her own songs, the producers direct their own plays? Sure! But why not get the help of someone who'll probably forget more than you'll ever know about their industry and make the most of your time and effort? It seems insane to me that anyone would want to use their time with such poor economy.

Now if anything was going to sway me this rubbish wasn't.

I'll always maintain that for the vast majority of people there is absolutely no good reason to go to the added expense of employing a PT.

Competitive athletes, absolutely. A good PT can be vital, like I said I've known some who've trained with ISI and swear by them. But the average gym user is someone getting away from a sedentary lifestyle, and in my experience that's 90% of gym users.

The industry is awash with young lads who have no practical idea what they're teaching.

I pay for Judo coaching, if I was to wing it I'd never learn anything. I'm constantly looking to improve myself because I'm competitive. If I was a casual gym user I've absolutely no doubt I'd be making good progress without the expense of privates.

Money for old rope. But hey, some people are easily parted with their money and I won't be losing too much sleep over it.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Oh, what I will say is that a beginner taking instruction from a google search is fraught with all sorts of danger.

I see it on discussion forum all the time, someone asks for advice on 'ABC. Gets replies good and bad, you do a search for some users post history and you find that six months ago they were asking the same newbie questions then passing on advice like they've been training and making progress years.

Happens on all the sports forum which I use from forum like this (of course we're all experts here so this doesn't apply to boards.ie of course ) to cycling, swimming and martial arts.

But there is some very good advice out there too, and a lot of us made that progress long before the internet.

Alf Veedersane

Callie Fresh Rival wrote: »

Now if anything was going to sway me this rubbish wasn't.

I'll always maintain that for the vast majority of people there is absolutely no good reason to go to the added expense of employing a PT.

Competitive athletes, absolutely. A good PT can be vital, like I said I've known some who've trained with ISI and swear by them. But the average gym user is someone getting away from a sedentary lifestyle, and in my experience that's 90% of gym users.

The industry is awash with young lads who have no practical idea what they're teaching.

I pay for Judo coaching, if I was to wing it I'd never learn anything. I'm constantly looking to improve myself because I'm competitive. If I was a casual gym user I've absolutely no doubt I'd be making good progress without the expense of privates.

Money for old rope. But hey, some people are easily parted with their money and I won't be losing too much sleep over it.

I don't think level of ability of a lot of PTs is all that relevant. The OP is looking for a good PT - not some lad who shows abs on Instagram.

And yes there are plenty of people who just need to go do something.

But there are plenty of people who have made positive changes to their life by engaging a good PT. There's the accountability; there's having a good structure to what they want to achieve; there's experience of what works and how to motivate people.

There are also a lot of people who do a generic program they got online, plateau and jump to another program only to find they are still at the plateau and ultimately they don't know what to change. Sure, they can plod away and get minimal results by trying different programs that probably don't suit them and they don't actually need to get stronger or fitter. But why shouldn't they engage someone who can identify their issues and put them on track to get better results?

As an example, I had a 2.5 x bodyweight deadlift but I had developed bad habits that I couldn't seem to address or make the connection between what I was supposed to be doing and how it should feel. 4 weeks after starting with a good coach and doing remedial work, I set a beltless PR. 2 weeks later, I put 20kg on that PR and the following week I put 10kg on my belted PR. It had taken me over a year of training to add 10kg to my PR before that and form wasn't improving. 4 weeks after that 10kg PR came another 10kg PR. Big correlation between the coaching and the PRs. The latter came as a result of the former

Did I need a coach? You could say no - I'm not an elite level competitor and itndidn't ultimately matter if I got any PRs. But I love training and I was probably going to do more harm than good and getting very little onto my deadlift. So I would argue I did need one.

tony stark

The internet can't help you with form thou surely. Really don't want to part with cash for this but have had major problems with slipped discs. Need the form to be spot on. Asked were the Irish strength institute any use because it is so expensive! So hoping it's worth it. I have my own gym in the garage so believe me I'm not spending the money frivolously! I am questioning it. But plateaued with lifts and need more pro info on losing the fat. Only worry is its not o e of the main lads but I'm assuming they're all well trained in. Just a side note. Saw some clips of them training with time under tension. It's that level of training I'm interested in. Not a generic 3 by 12 or 5 by 5 program.

Alf Veedersane

tony stark wrote: »

The internet can't help you with form thou surely. Really don't want to part with cash for this but have had major problems with slipped discs. Need the form to be spot on. Asked were the Irish strength institute any use because it is so expensive! So hoping it's worth it. I have my own gym in the garage so believe me I'm not spending the money frivolously! I am questioning it. But plateaued with lifts and need more pro info on losing the fat. Only worry is its not o e of the main lads but I'm assuming they're all well trained in. Just a side note. Saw some clips of them training with time under tension. It's that level of training I'm interested in. Not a generic 3 by 12 or 5 by 5 program.

You can check to a degree by taking videos.

You don't need to go to ISI if their level of cost is an issue. Someone may be able to recommend a good trainer in your vicinity.

MightyMandarin

Nervous Wreck wrote:

Could the PT do his own taxes, the musician record her own songs, the producers direct their own plays? Sure! But why not get the help of someone who'll probably forget more than you'll ever know about their industry and make the most of your time and effort?

The average joe could do his taxes, record songs or direct plays and they'd be bad at it, my argument however is that the results between not employing a PT vs employing a PT would be far closer than those of the examples you stated, and the difference for most people is so negligible that I believe a PT is just not needed.

Now there absolutely are some people who need a coach but the vast majority of people don't.

Tbh save for a certain number of people who have zero positional awareness and/or underlying injuries, a PT is not needed to teach how to squat, bench or deadlift. I'm not saying anyone can perform the movements perfectly from day 1, but with the amount of resources available it's not difficult to become technically sound in basic strength movements within a number of weeks or months, and unless the person is slapping a ridiculous amount of weight on the bar, they won't get massively injured.

tony stark

Any other recommendations for the Artane area then?

tony stark

I've had a look around and can't see anyone near as professional as Irish strength institute. I've booked in and will let people know how I get on. Thanks for the opinions

Dtp1979

tony stark wrote: »

I've had a look around and can't see anyone near as professional as Irish strength institute. I've booked in and will let people know how I get on. Thanks for the opinions

How much are they charging

LuckyLloyd

The resistance to seeking professional expertise when it comes to things outside 'work' will never not be hilarious to me. I wonder if it's a specifically Irish phenomenon?

VW 1

tony stark wrote:

I've had a look around and can't see anyone near as professional as Irish strength institute. I've booked in and will let people know how I get on. Thanks for the opinions

Revolution fitness with James Hanley can't get enough recommendation from me, and based in Glasnevin on the ballyboggan road if that's not too far for you to get to from Artane.

You will specifically learn about the correct form for the three main compound lifts and work your training around that.