Halcyon Strength

Focus on the process , rather than the outcome and the results will come.

Athlete: Michael Wise
Coach: Colten Nall

Michael and I used to work together in person but switched to online coaching in March of 2023.
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Michael's Primary Goal when we started last March was to reach the 1,000 pound club amongst bench press, back squat, deadlift and overhead press.
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When I say "the 1,000 pound club", this means a sum of his 1 rep maximums of all of these 4 lifts.
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Slide 3 represents what his 1 rep maximum was for each lift during our 3 assessments up to this point.
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Slide 4 represents what his total volume was amongst those lifts during these same 3 assessments.
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It took 9 months, but goal one was accomplished!
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We are currently working towards his second goal of bench pressing 225 pounds for 1 rep. -
More to come!

When working through an exercise program, I believe the most overlooked factors are:

-Tempo
-Form
-Rest Periods

Let me explain…

Let’s say you are trying to improve on flat bench press. You’d probably be happy with just completing the rep scheme at the target load, right? While that may seem like the correct way to work through an exercise program, we cannot overlook the tempo of the rep, your form, and of course, the rest periods.

Why are these 3 factors equally as important as sets, reps and exercise selection?

Tempo: Teaches control, assists in time under tension and helps recruit more muscle fibers which will benefit the athlete in the long run by being able to lift more weight no matter if the goal is to improve a compound lift or build more muscle.

Form: I don’t necessarily needs to go too into detail here because obviously we want great form with every single rep to avoid injury. Cheating is ok from time to time, but the form needs to be perfect almost always.

Rest Periods: Whether you’re trying to build more muscle/ improve on a compound lift or improve your cardiovascular fitness, rest periods will differ. If you’re trying to improve your cardiovascular fitness, very short rest periods are the way to go. If you’re trying to improve on a compound lift or build muscle, longer rest periods are the way to go.

I will say, when it comes to building muscle and improving on a compound lift, a general rule of thumb for your rest periods: Rest long enough to catch your breathe before performing the next set.

Don’t just count the reps, make the reps count.

“Before you can win, you have to learn how not to lose.”

The 7 ways to inhibit your success in the fitness world:

- Missing your workouts
- Missing your meals
- Skipping your cardio
- Not giving maximum effort
- Inaccurate expectations
- Not getting enough sleep
- Not managing your stress

Some of these are self explanatory, so I am going to 2 that need more expansion.

Not giving maximum effort…
In the gym, are you following the program? If the intensity is too light, are you just going with it because you’re getting the reps? Or are you increasing the weight yourself or letting your coach know it’s too light? When you’re doing cardio, are you increasing the speed when doing HIIT training? Or are you just leaving the speed where it’s at because it’s not too hard and you’re getting your minutes in?

You need to push your limits to see a change. Nobody ever saw results by staying in their comfort zones. Comfort zones yield zero results. Give maximum effort.

Inaccurate expectations…
When you start a new program or begin working with a coach, don’t expect it to be easy unless you’re just working out to be healthy. If you seriously want to see change, you have to go into this understanding things are going to be tough, you’re not always going to be motivated, there are going to be setbacks, your personal life may get in the way, etc.

What’s important is how you respond to these adversities. There can be no great victory without tremendous adversity.

Be consistent, get your meals in, get your cardio in, set your expectations appropriately, work towards getting 7-8 hours of deep sleep per night, implement stress managing techniques, and give all out effort.

DISCIPLINE

When it comes to accomplishing anything in life (not just related to health and fitness), there is one aspect that (in my opinion) is the most important in mastering, and it’s not a talent, it’s discipline.

Discipline goes two ways and it is something we experience every single day in our lives. From going to work, to doing chores, to resisting the urge to chow down on late night snacks.

If you can master the skill of discipline, you’ve increased your chances of success dramatically. Anyone can get things done when they’re motivated, ANYONE can do that. But it takes a lot of mental toughness to get things done when you simply do not want to do it.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Athlete: Corey Wesson
Coach: Colten Nall
Current Phase: Growth (bulking)

Corey and I have been working together since April of 2022 with a goal of gaining weight and getting stronger on his compound lifts.

Below is a 14 week progress update:
Left photo: 2/12/2023 - 197.3 lbs // 15.6% BF
Right photo: 5/22/2023 - 214.1 // 17.1% BF

A 16.8 pound difference in 14 weeks.

We did gain some body fat in the process but if you want to MAXIMIZE hypertrophy, you are going to gain body fat.

The second photo is a chart displaying Corey’s progress since April of 2022.

The goal for Corey is to get to a consistent 220 lbs and then we’re going to move into a fat loss/cutting phase. So we’ve got more work to do 😈

The slower the results, the better.

The slower the results, the more sustainable they are as you progress through your health and fitness journey.

The slower the results, the harder they are to regress if you were to take time away from the gym or get sick.

The slower the results, the better.

Athlete: Jenna Roach
Coach: Colten Nall

Jenna and I worked together for 6 months starting back in March of 2022 up until September of 2022.

Jenna’s primary goal was to simply slim down over the summer and she did just that!

Here’s what she accomplished:

Starting Weight: 151.9 lbs
Ending Weight: 143.1 lbs

Starting BFM: 46.03 lbs
Ending BFM: 37.74 lbs

Starting BF%: 30.3
Ending BF%: 26.3

Down ⬇️ 8.29 pounds of BODY FAT
Down ⬇️ 4.0% of body fat

So we had both visual changes and changes to the scale (the latter being least important). All of this while maintaining her lean mass.

Now I know this may not seem like a lot of results in 6 months, but remember, THE SLOWER THE RESULTS THE BETTER. With the results coming in slowly, this gives Jenna a much greater chance that she will keep this weight off for the long term opposed to gaining it back.

STANDARD SETS - CONSTANT LOADING

Standard sets are as basic as basic gets when it comes to programming and there are 2 ways to go about loading these:

-Constant loading (200,200,200)
-Step Loading (195,200,205)

Today, we're going to focus on constant loading.

When we are loading for standard sets utilizing constant loading, we are keeping the load the same for every set (hence why we call it CONSTANT loading).

These are best utilized for accumulation phases because we generally start with a higher intensity (load) with these phases as the goal is to accumulate reps each week.

Pictured is an example you can utilize using standard sets - constant loading for a 12-week macrocycle.

If programmed properly, your performance should look similar to this:

Accumulation 1
Bench Press: 3 x 3-5 @ 200 lbs
Week 1: 5,3,2 (10)
Week 2: 5,4,3 (12)
Week 3: 5,5,4 (14)
Week 4: 5,5,5 (15)

And this does not have to be limited to 4 weeks, you may perform each rep scheme until you do achieve the target reps at the target loads. 4 weeks generally is a good point to switch it up to keep your CNS and muscles guessing.

Athlete: Logan Roach
Coach: Colten Nall

Left Picture: November 2021
Weight: 173.6

Right Picture: November 2022
Weight: 206.9

Logan and I have been working together since February of 2021 and he has made exceptional progress in the time we’ve been working together.

When we first started, Logan weighed 157 pounds. He now weighs over 200 pounds.

His original goal when we first started working together was to squat 315 lbs for 1 rep, bench 225 pounds for 1 rep and deadlift 405 pounds for 1 rep… here’s where he started with his maxes and what he achieved during our most recent assessment:

Back Squat:
2/10/2021: 185 for 2 reps (190)
12/3/2022: 385 for 1 rep (+195)

Bench Press:
2/10/2021: 135 for 1 rep (135)
12/3/2022: 260 for 1 rep (+125)

Deadlift:
2/10/2021: 185 for 2 reps (190)
12/3/2022: 405 for 1 rep (+215)

He has hit every single strength goal he set out for himself since he began his journey with me over 2 years ago. He not only hit those goals, he did it quicker than expected AND added some body weight in the process (he made this a goal after a few months in seeing he was getting heavier on the scale).

Even though all of his goals have been achieved, we’re not done yet.

This is one of my all time favorite quotes and it combats one of my least favorite quotes…. “All or nothing.”

I loathe the “all or nothing” quote because I believe it is saying that you can either give 100% or you can give 0%, and that’s it. I hate that.

Giving 1% is better than giving nothing. No matter what it may be, whether you’re working towards your fitness goals, studying for a test, cleaning the house, etc.

Just because you miss one meal or one workout, that does not mean you should CONTINUE to miss the meals/workouts that follow. Life is going to happen. You’re going to get sick and miss a workout occasionally, you’re going to have something important come up causing you to miss a meal, that is to be expected.

Always chase perfectionism knowing very well it is impossible to achieve… and in the process, you’ll catch excellence.

With the creation of this new page, I just want to take a moment to introduce myself and tell you about my back ground.

Most of you probably know me, but my name is Colten Nall and I am from Indianapolis, Indiana. I am a retired personal trainer turned online strength and hypertrophy coach. I am the head coach of Halcyon Strength.

I started personal training in July of 2019 for a small box gym in south eastern Indianapolis called Anytime Fitness/Results 1. After getting certified through ACE in January of 2020, I began working at a different (larger) box gym in north eastern Indianapolis called ‘Life Time Fitness’. I started there in February of 2020 up until my departure in August of 2022.

Rewind to April 9th of 2021, on this day, I officially started my own online hypertrophy and strength platform under the name ‘CN Fitness’ which was rebranded to ‘Halcyon Strength’ in December of 2022. I started this business with only 1 online client at the time!

Furthermore, as I stated earlier, I am certified through ACE with a few additional certifications as well, here’s the list of those and some additional experience:

Education:
- Manchester University - Exercise Science - 2015-2017 (degree unfinished)
-IUPUI - Exercise Science - 2017-2019 (degree unfinished)

Employment:
-Anytime Fitness/Results 1 - 07/19-01/20
-Life Time Fitness: 02/20-08/22

Certifications:
-ACE Certified - 2019
-KILO Online Program Design Course Certified - 2022
-KILO Fat Loss Program Design Course Certified - 2023

I won’t make this post too long because to be honest, I’d be surprised if you’ve made it this far! But if you have any questions what so ever with what we have to offer, feel free to send us a DM! Our services will be added to the page in the near future.

Thank you and welcome!