Hi folks, Kilted coach Rab here with a little bit of rambling on recent events. Well, events in our world of the Kilted Coaches.
We have been launched now for a full two weeks but our broth has been brewing for a few months now. Upon reflection, it’s incredible how many hours we have put into this. Both Stephen and I have our own PT businesses that pay the bills and this is more of a side project for now, although it has possibly taken up the majority of our focus.
For those of you who have been watching, you may have noticed that we try to keep our videos lighthearted which I feel reflects our personalities towards the fitness industry. We ARE serious about our message but feel that you, as an individual, are being bombarded with enough body conscious material each day through advertising, social media and even celebrity filled magazines that we thought we would give you something a little different.
For me, personally, I prefer to be health conscious over body conscious. A good, strong and healthy ticker will hopefully keep me going until I reach the century (Yes that’s my goal, I want to hit the big 100,) but I understand the pressures of both young people, and also middle aged individuals who want to look better in the mirror. We would like to cater to both.
I guess only time will tell.
So the first video we launched with was “Who the heck are the kilted coaches?” and we had such a laugh filming this.
Click here for the link.
It was a challenge initially to coordinate the order of filming, since our beards had to grow progressively through the clip. We had to film a clip, most memorably the dodgy looking moustaches, then run back to shave a bit more and continue filming. It was the first time either of us had been clean shaven for quite some time and i’ll admit I missed my beard the second it was flushed down the bowl. Even my daughter took a few minutes to re-adjust to the now younger looking daddy.
One of my personal favourite scenes was the “suiting up,” part of the clip where we drew inspiration from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie “Commando,” albeit without the guns and ammo. I guess a carrot and kettle bell could be lethal weapons though?
Further on in the clip there is a scene where I am struck with a ball square in the chops and i’ll let you in on a funny story behind that.
Rewind slightly to earlier that morning where I called upon the help of a friend to do some of the filming (since we needed a third set of hands.) What I failed to mention to this friend was the location of the filming and the poor lad had a belly full of breakfast as he unwittingly followed us to the shoot site(up a pretty steep hill).
In our excitement, Stephen and I were powering onwards up this hill for the best part of ten minutes, anticipation for filming fuelling us onwards. Our camera man laboured behind, weighed down by his breakfast but doing well to keep up. What came next I won’t go into too many details, but lets just say he was feeling a little lighter by the time we hit the top. A little lighter but also a little bit annoyed at yours truly. I’m pretty sure I had mentioned the hill to be honest but I guess it’s his word against mine, and he was doing us a favour.
So on we come to the clip and as the cameraman is informed that “You get to hit Rab in the face with the ball,” his face filled with malicious delight. I’m not sure if its just my imagination adding arms and legs to the story or if this really happened but i’m pretty sure he started nibbling up with some stretches and even doing a little shadow boxing. He is a pretty big guy right, and I’m suddenly aware he is VERY motivated for the task at hand.
Gulping down some courage along with the soggy apple i’d dropped a few times previously, I began the walk, the green mile.
I knew the line that triggered the throw, I knew when it was coming, anxiety growing with every moment. “We believe fitness should be fun,” and like that our camera man went all Anakin Skywalker on us, virtually dropping the camera as he cocked his arm back to throw. Lucky for me it was raining heavily and the plastic surface slipped slightly in his hand, well that’s the excuse he used anyway. But basically he threw the ball with such ferocity that it nearly went into orbit. The guy was standing barely two foot away and MISSED! I mean What the F£$&?? That ball was massive and I’m a fair sized target!!! He won’t be getting picked for dodgeball anytime soon!!
Naturally we burst into a kink at the sheer impossibility of the action. It actually felt like that scene from Pulp fiction when the guy explodes out the kitchen with the hand cannon and unloads on Travolta and S.Jackson only for all six or eight bullets to miss.
Incredible!! We promise to try look out the footage and audio for that at some point in the future.
So the Next video release was the porridge episode “peanut butter and jam” and our goal here was to make a nice, short video on all the various and tasty ways you can have your porridge. Naturally, of course, we set about this with our usual approach and added a gimmick to the end of the video. To be fair, I don’t think either of us looked bad as hotshot pilots although I doubt our phones will be ringing off the hook if they remake Topgun.
And for anyone that’s interested, the spoon catch took us three attempts.
Ok maybe four.
Click here for the link.
Sticking strongly to our release schedule of Mondays and Thursday’s, we next launched “Planning your weight loss success” and this was truly the birthplace of our motto “Stick to the damn plan!!!” I guess this video was all about encouraging the individual to really get involved with their own success. Wanting something is one thing, but taking the time to break it all down and make a plan is a different thing altogether and we hope some of you felt encouraged by our methodical approach. And if you did make a plan, well, you know what to do 😉
The following week saw us revisit the porridge project with “crazy coconut porridge” Yes the name’s are probably going to have this reoccurring theme if Stephen has anything to do with it.
This particular porridge was surprisingly quite tasty. I’m neither take it/leave it when it comes to coconut but i’ll admit I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. I have made it twice since and have really enjoyed it to start my day.
Another revelation I’ve had since doing these porridge videos, is how surprisingly quick it is to make porridge in a pot. For years I used a microwave and ran the risk of potentially losing nutrition(if you believe the studies) all for the sake of quickness but WOW! IT IS JUST AS FAST in the pot and you don’t have to worry about it exploding if you get the timings wrong (yes that’s happened a few times to me.)
For some crazy coconut porridge click here.
This Thursday’s release is one of my favourites. “The stone of Destiny” Is the first of our month end ‘extended’ episodes and we aim to include a bit of everything in future episodes, sticking to our health and fitness along with all things Scottish.
I love my history and the story behind the stone of destiny is really quite fantastic. Our aim for this video, in keeping with our Scottish theme to our channel, was to educate everyone on what the stone actually was and the importance of getting it back to where it belongs. I hear the campaign has begun with the local council so we shall follow it closely and, of course, will offer our services to “carry” it back to perth 😉
For the filming of “the stone of destiny” piece, it was actually an eye opener going to the strongman unit and seeing first hand just how strong these men AND WOMEN are. I love the route that strongman has taken in recent years, gearing towards the more dynamic strength athlete with the inclusion of more relay-style events that force the competitor to their limits.
What was also very refreshing was just how friendly and encouraging each of the guys were. I guess from an outsider looking in, these tattooed bearded hulks ‘may’ look a bit intimidating but if you ever want to give it a go, these guys are more than helpful and welcoming to new guys and girls.
We gave a few of the events a go and my word it was tough. I thought my cardio was decent but bloody hell it was pushed!!! It was interesting that, after a few attempts, I could feel the bug settling in and I wanted to do more. It is easy to see how something as simple as achieving a movement with a slightly heavier weight can feel so rewarding. I imagine that, amongst the top guys present, there would be quite a bit of competitive rivalry between them but on the whole I got the sense that it was “you against you” and each of the guys spurred you on positively.
We were very grateful to my big mate Stephen Cherry for taking the time to accommodate us into his facility and to all the guys that helped us with tutorials.
Here is the link to the stone of destiny.
So that’s it for this week. It was an extra long ramble to cover the launch fortnight but I hope you got through it ok.
Next week we have something “chocolatey” coming along with the usual nonsense.
Yours in fitness
Kilted Coach Rab