I've realised lately (and it's been brought to my attention) that I've been particularly hard on my clients, not just hard, but cold. This has been suggested by some, and I've had strong reactions from others. I want to address that which may not be clear to my clients, my thought process and why I've been turning it up lately.
I know some basics of fat loss training, I've done it, I've seen others do it, I've managed to get clients to do it. When you train 25-30 people a week you see all kinds of clients, some who do exactly as you say, they get the best results, others who work with you, to find what works for them within the guidelines you show them, they get pretty good results. Then you have others who don't listen, who don't do what you ask, who train to stay the same weight. This is where a personal trainer has the hardest time. Clients who listen are a dream, clients who work with you are a dream, clients who, for whatever reason don't listen (and I'm not saying they don't listen because they're lazy or anything negative) are really hard to reach. As a trainer you try different strategies, you try to be their friend, you try to be their boss, you try to give them information, you try to let them learn themselves, you push them, you let them go their own pace. Each person presents a kind of Rubick's cube you have to figure out.
I have to admit, sometimes I get fed up, and that's one of my failings, I admit it. Lately I've tried a zero tolerance approach, a kind of: "don't waste my time if you're not committed" approach. Has it worked? I'd have to say on the whole, no, no it hasn't. The clients who struggle, they feel picked on, bullied, they don't understand why this nice person is now being, what they must perceive as, a jerk..
It's not about bullying or being a jerk though, it's about having enough respect for people to push them out of their comfort zone, to push them to their goals (goals they obviously want). Has it always come out like that? Well probably and obviously not. So I've taken a step back, relaxed a little, and the people who get results, continue to get them (perhaps because they're intrinsically motivated, goal oriented people, who simply need the training information, as opposed to the encouragement). The people who train to stay the same weight, have been less unhappy in their training.
That's the rub though isn't it? Perhaps I'm missing some important part of the equation, that the people who I label as "training to stay at the same weight" simply enjoy their training sessions, enjoy whatever benefits they're getting from them, and if they're happy, and more importantly happy with the results they're getting, then my desire to get them to X bodyfat % is ostensibly, irrelevant!
It feels like a juggling act, with 20 balls in the air and the balls have minds of their own. It can be frustrating, knowing what the text books say, seeing what the professional strength coaches can do (and have done), wanting to be just like that, but forgetting you're dealing with fluid, conscious people, with their own goals and desires and time frames. Isn't my job to simply support them, coach them, and move them forward at the pace they want to (and can) move at?
I guess my apologies go to the clients who have felt pushed and bullied, as apparently unforgivable as it might seem, it was only based on my desire to push you to the goals many of you claim you want, by showing how to get them and not cutting you any slack when you send your diet and it has KFC and booze in it.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Notes On 'Trick Or Treatment'- Introduction & Chapter 1 by Ernst & Singh.
This book, at the introduction sets itself up as a science based book, explaining why that it is:
"Science employs experiments, observations, trials, argument and discussion in order to arrive at an objective consensus on the truth. Even when a conclusion has been decided, science still probes and prods its own proclamations just in case it has made a mistake, In contrast opinions are subjective and conflicting, and whoever has the most persuasive PR campaign has the best chance of promoting their opinion, regardless of whether they are right or wrong." (Ernst & Singh, pg-1, 2008)They also define AM as follows:
"our definition of alternative medicine is any therapy that is not accepted by the majority of mainstream doctors, and typically this also means that the alternative therapies have mechanisms that lie outside the current understanding of modern medicine. In the language of science, alternative therapies are said to biologically implausible." (Ernst & Singh, pg-1, 2008)As we see, on the first page, much of what I was trying to say, admittedly less effectively in the Naturopathy blog, is discussed here, and is in fact their manifesto. The authors are trying to distinguish between what they later call "evidence based medicine" (hereafter "E-BM") and opinion based medicine (and the important differences between both). Ernst and Singh take quite a strong stance on science, but the authors justify this by establishing just what we have science to thank for, in the sense that, everything we know about the universe, medicine, antiseptics, eradication of disease are all built upon "scientific foundations" (pg 5), we can apply their meaning to these purposes only without getting bogged down in a discussion about worldviews (at least in the first chapter anyway). They go so far as to claim that "the scientific method is without a doubt the best mechanism for getting to truth" (pg 5), which I personally agree with (or at least admit it is at the top of a very short list of things), but can see others contending that issue (though it is hard to argue with its results!).
Chapter 1- How Do You Determine The Truth?
In this chapter Enrst and Singh begin to define what they mean by an E-BM approach:
"(evidence-based medicine) has revolutionized the medicine practice, transforming it from an industry of charlatans and incompetents into a system of health care that can deliver such miracles as transplanting kidneys, removing cataracts, combating childhood diseases, eradicating smallpox and saving literally millions of lives a year." (Ernst & Singh, pg-7, 2008)They go through several stories (including the apparent murder of George Washington [pg 11] due to the inaccuracy of his physicians) demonstrating some horrible techniques previously performed (bloodletting and leeching for example). Leading into the first uses around the time of Washington's death (1790's) of E-BM by Scottish Naval surgeon James Lind (pg 22-3), who Enrst and Singh accredit with being the first on record to perform clinical trials on the sailors of his ship who were dying from scurvy (discovered later to be caused by a lack of fruit on the boat), even if he failed to publish his accounts (which Enrst and Singh say is important as it gives others a chance to review, critique and test your methodology and conclusions pg 22).
The authors continue to weave a tale through history discussing the advances made in science and E-BM medicine by the lights of radical ideas (clinical trials, randomized trials etc), often those ideas pushed against the establishment and under opposition (as in the case of Hamilton who did the first randomized clinical trial to understand the mechanisms of bloodletting, pg 22). Enrst and Singh quote Alexander MacLean (who used medical trials in India in 1818 to test his treatments) in regards to those who practised medicine without any evidence as:
"a continued series of experiments upon the lives of our fellow creatures." (Ernst & Singh, pg-23, 2008)From this we can see that even almost 200 years ago there was resistance by some people to the concept of merely letting doctors and health care professionals simply have at their patients, or running their practices based on authority, tradition, ad hoc reasoning or confirmation bias, that a call to reason was apparent. As Ernst and Singh elaborate:
"Prior to the clinical trial a doctor decided his treatment for a particular patient by relying on his own prejudices, or on what he had been taught by his peers, or on his misremembered experiences dealing with a handful of patients with a similar condition. After the advent of the clinical trial, doctors could choose their treatment for a single patient by examining the evidence from several trials, perhaps involving thousands of patients." (Ernst & Singh, pg-23, 2008)This leads Enrst and Singh on to discussing the crux of this chapter, E-BM, how people outside of the medical establishment find it "cold, confusing and intimidating" (pg 24-5) which is something I've certainly noticed, I would also add that people tend to have an interesting distrust of E-BM (or perhaps pharmaceutical companies?). I think Ernst and Singh are referring more to proponents of AM, and how they perceive the E-BM crowd as trying to protect it's own members, their treatments and excluding outsiders (pg 26). They counter this by suggesting that E-BM actually works in an opposite fashion (pg 26) , that any remedy or cure, can be accepted by an E-BM advocate if it has adequate evidential support (more on exactly what that means later in the next chapter on Acupuncture where Ernst and Singh go into great depth on clinical trial methodology), as we will see below with the case of Florence Nightingale. They temper the response to E-BM with a reminder about how the world was before the widespread use of clinical trials (the examples of deaths in the book in a matter of 200 years runs into the millions, pg 25), the amount of unnecessary death was rampant.
An interesting story they tell is that of Florence Nightingale, who I knew in name only, (her story is an interesting one, for the full account see pages 26-31), she managed to show another benefit of E-BM and that is; in using it to disseminate the information gleaned from clinical trials. As Ernst and Singh elaborate:
"The results from scientific tests are so powerful that they even enable a relative unknown as Nightingale- a young woman, not part of the establishment, without great reputation- to prove that she is right and that those in power are wrong, Without medical testing, lone visionaries such as Nightingale would be ignored, while doctors would continue to operate according to a corrupt body of knowledge based merely on tradition, dogma, fashion, politics, marketing and anecdote." (Ernst & Singh, pg-31, 2008)This demonstrates at least one example, and a stark one it is, of how the apparent medical establishment, who according to some, don't listen to the advice of outsiders, had to listen and be convinced by the evidence provided to them. It seems evidence is all it takes to convince people, if AM could provide some, perhaps we would listen? I'm getting ahead of myself a bit though.
A final example of the benefits of E-BM and perhaps one of the greatest findings of all time is the work done in 1954 by Hill and Doll in regards to the dangers of smoking. They started a study in 1951 to investigate smoking's link with cancer, they used 30,000 British doctors, to study over 5 decades, yet a clear pattern emerged in 1954! The cigarette companies fought Doll and Hill but they fought back:
"and demonstrated that rigorous scientific research can establish the truth with such a level of authority that even the most powerful organizations cannot deny the facts for long. The link between smoking and lung cancer was proved beyond all reasonable doubt because of evidence emerging from several independent sources, each one confirming the results of the other." (Ernst & Singh, pg-32, 2008)Which leads Ernst and Singh into another salient point I think it worth mentioning about E-BM:
"It is worth re-iterating that progress in medicine requires independent replication- i.e similar studies by more than one research group showing similar findings. Any conclusion that emerges from such body of evidence is likely to be robust." (Ernst & Singh, pg-33, 2008)Conclusion
This chapter to me at least, really demonstrated some of the horrors that have been committed, quite innocently mind you, by faulty methodology, by not following the evidence where it leads and allowing tradition to run the schema by which a doctor operates. Thankfully there were multiple visionaries who saw ways to independently and objectively verify their methods, so as to base their medicine on the evidence. Millions (and more) lives have been saved due to the advances in E-BM, in treatment, vaccines, hygiene, cures etc, all based on sound evidence, testing, review and publication. If we continue to treat people with methods that don't pass evidential muster, then we are rolling the dice with the outcome, which is a regressive mindset, one we fought, with a major loss of life, to shed ourselves of.
From this we move onto an analysis of Acupuncture. Stay tuned for more.
Reference
Ernst E., Singh,. S. (2008). Trick Or Treatment. New York, New York. W.W Norton & Company. Pp- 1, 5, 7, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Training Diary- Maximum Mass Program- Phase 1- Wk 3.
Well I'm getting my finances sorted in anticipation of paying off my car loan, so the credit card has been removed from the wallet, subsequently I have not had any Nandos or Maya Masala this week (saving me about ($50). Unfortunately I had nachos 4 times, which cost me about ($40), so not a great saving there, will report next week with improvement though. This week though has seen me only able to spend enough on my food shooping (or next week) for the bare essentials so we should see a marked improvement in the diet.
It's occured to me, that it's going to take me about 6 months (at least) to get the kind of leanness I'm looking for, and if I want that leanness over summer, I'm going to have to start pretty soon, so after the end of this frst phase, which will be about the start of August, I'm going to begin the big lean up. I'm currecntly at 18.5% body fat and about 97kgs. I'll take bodyshots and extensive measuring at the outset of the dieting program, I'm hoping to reach lower than 14% this time, I'd love to keep going til I reached 10%, as I don't think I've been that since I was a little kid (I'll diet/maintain until about April/May I'm thinking)! I'm currently still deciding what program to do, I'm thinking Alwyn Cosgrove's "Alternating Set System" (diet will look like this, training will look like this) as it worked quite well for me last time (and here) followed by some of Craig Ballantyne's strategies, but I'm still working out the details on that one.
As far as the training itself, been feeling really good, no pain, no niggles, strength is going up, I'm almost sad to see the end of this type of training, but the sad reality is I have let myself go a little, my bodyfat % has gotten too high and it's time.
As mentioned above the diet has not been super tight, although I dropped the Nandos and Maya, I pretty much picked it up in nachos, otherwise it's been good. Have been good on the vegetarianism this week, only had a few pieces of Dion's fish on Saturday night at the movies. We went and saw Harry Potter, which pretty much sucked and sums up the entire series for me, it was boring.
I have to make a decision on whether I want to go off my semi vegetarianism when I start dieting again, as it'll be lots of protein and very little carbs, but what vegetarian foods are high in protein and low in carbs? The vegetarian sausages are ok, there's tofu, which is almost impossible to buy and store in bulk, there's eggs and egg white scambled eggs/omlettes. Maybe I could try some fish? On the days I have zero carb intake? Hmmmm....
Breakfast: I've been having my smoothies for breakfast this week (refer to meal before shift), just to try and get more veggies and fruit in.
Morning Tea: When I get home from work I've been having vegetarian sausages (x2 with one slice of wholemeal bread) or x2 eggs (with x2 slices of wholemeal bread).
Meal before afternoon shift: Smoothy- 1/2 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear/apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts/cashews, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the leftover one the next day.
Pre workout meal: I've been sipping an up n go about 20 mins before my training, which gives me just a little energy boost before training, as well as keeping my protein and glycogen levels primed.
Post workout shake: x2 up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500-700mL of water during training.
Post workout meal: This week, as I've been eating my post workout meal at night, I had x2 "Quorn" lasagne's for my post shake, post workout meals.
Pre bed snack (sometimes): A vegetable smoothy, otherwise nothing.
Supplements. 3-8 fish oil tabs with my afternoon smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin supplement once-twice a day.
It's occured to me, that it's going to take me about 6 months (at least) to get the kind of leanness I'm looking for, and if I want that leanness over summer, I'm going to have to start pretty soon, so after the end of this frst phase, which will be about the start of August, I'm going to begin the big lean up. I'm currecntly at 18.5% body fat and about 97kgs. I'll take bodyshots and extensive measuring at the outset of the dieting program, I'm hoping to reach lower than 14% this time, I'd love to keep going til I reached 10%, as I don't think I've been that since I was a little kid (I'll diet/maintain until about April/May I'm thinking)! I'm currently still deciding what program to do, I'm thinking Alwyn Cosgrove's "Alternating Set System" (diet will look like this, training will look like this) as it worked quite well for me last time (and here) followed by some of Craig Ballantyne's strategies, but I'm still working out the details on that one.
As far as the training itself, been feeling really good, no pain, no niggles, strength is going up, I'm almost sad to see the end of this type of training, but the sad reality is I have let myself go a little, my bodyfat % has gotten too high and it's time.
| Rob Max Mass | ||||
| Phase 1 | ||||
| Day 1 | Set | Rep | Rest | Wk3 |
| 1A: Dip | 3 | 8* | 90 | BW+22.5kg, BW+22.5kg, BW+25kg |
| 1B: Inverted Row | 3 | 8* | 90 | BW, BW+10kg, BW+10kg |
| 2A: DB Split Squat | 3 | 8* | 90 | 20kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg |
| 2B: Hammer Curl | 3 | 10* | 90 | 20kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg |
| Day 2 | S | R | R | Wk3 |
| 1A: 1 Arm DB Row | 3 | 6* | 75 | 32.5kg, 37.5kg, 40kg |
| 1B: DB Inc Press | 3 | 6* | 75 | 30kg, 35kg, 37.5kg |
| 2A: CG Bench Prss | 3 | 6* | 60 | 70kg, 80kg, 90kg |
| 2B: Rack Deadlift | 3 | 6* | 60 | 80kg, 100kg, 100kg |
| Day 3 | S | R | R | Wk3 |
| 1 Squat | 4 | 4* | 150 | 60kg, 80kg, 100kg, 110kg |
| 2A: Chin Up | 4 | 4* | 60 | BW, BW+15kg, BW+15kg, BW+15kg |
| 2B: DB Militry Prs* | 4 | 4* | 60 | 22.5kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg |
| 3 EZ Bar Curl | 3 | 7* | 90 | 47.5kg, 47.5kg, 47.5kg, 47.5kg |
| *+ 2 reps if possible | ||||
| * Military Press Palms In | ||||
As mentioned above the diet has not been super tight, although I dropped the Nandos and Maya, I pretty much picked it up in nachos, otherwise it's been good. Have been good on the vegetarianism this week, only had a few pieces of Dion's fish on Saturday night at the movies. We went and saw Harry Potter, which pretty much sucked and sums up the entire series for me, it was boring.
I have to make a decision on whether I want to go off my semi vegetarianism when I start dieting again, as it'll be lots of protein and very little carbs, but what vegetarian foods are high in protein and low in carbs? The vegetarian sausages are ok, there's tofu, which is almost impossible to buy and store in bulk, there's eggs and egg white scambled eggs/omlettes. Maybe I could try some fish? On the days I have zero carb intake? Hmmmm....
Breakfast: I've been having my smoothies for breakfast this week (refer to meal before shift), just to try and get more veggies and fruit in.
Morning Tea: When I get home from work I've been having vegetarian sausages (x2 with one slice of wholemeal bread) or x2 eggs (with x2 slices of wholemeal bread).
Meal before afternoon shift: Smoothy- 1/2 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear/apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts/cashews, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the leftover one the next day.
Pre workout meal: I've been sipping an up n go about 20 mins before my training, which gives me just a little energy boost before training, as well as keeping my protein and glycogen levels primed.
Post workout shake: x2 up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500-700mL of water during training.
Post workout meal: This week, as I've been eating my post workout meal at night, I had x2 "Quorn" lasagne's for my post shake, post workout meals.
Pre bed snack (sometimes): A vegetable smoothy, otherwise nothing.
Supplements. 3-8 fish oil tabs with my afternoon smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin supplement once-twice a day.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Time Management.
It's been brought to my attention that in all the blogs about what to eat and when (for more examples see here, here, here, here) I haven't really taught you how to organise yourselves to make sure you have the food to eat. What time management strategies are there that I and others use, to make sure, that when you're ready to start a fat loss program and get the results, that you have the skills to make sure you have the food to eat and the time to train, in your busy schedule? Well, lets look at that very conundrum.
Planning
This is obviously the main one, and from whence everything else falls. To start with, it's not unreasonable to purchase some kind of calender, that you can mark out, over a month perhaps, your upcoming late nights at work, deadlines, meetings etc, that will keep you from your meals, food preparation and training. Obviously you won't be able to foresee everything that you have coming, but it will certainly help you to pre plan and get organised. An ancillary benefit to all this planning is you can also set your goals, and check them off when you meet them, and re-adjust if you don't. Make sure you have your training program sorted, personal training sessions booked and have a dialogue with your trainer. Mark off each training session you do (with your trainer and by yourself). From this more macro perspective we take it down to a micro perspective, at the start of every week, make even simple mental notes then mark your calender, what unavoidable obligations do you have over the week (work, social events, errands etc), from this very small basis you can start to look at where you have time to do the 2 most important things in fat loss programs, cook/eat and train. Obviously things like sleep, recovery, relaxation, downtime are important too, and must be factored in to your weekly plan as they affect your results and your motivation, as long as you make sure you're getting to bed at a respectable time (about 8hours a night), you should be relatively fine.
If you can look at the outset where the pitfalls for your week are going to be, you can make sure you've accommodated easily.
What are some specific food strategies?
Plan your food week out
What meals can you take to work, what are you having pre-workout/during workout/post-workout, what for dinner, breakfast etc. Make sure you have emergency meals that you can keep or bring to work (smoothies/protein shakes make great options) for those unexpected late nights. Stick to this plan, make sure there's plenty of variation to keep you interested. Plan a cheat meal, as in something with carbs, not junk food, this will keep you sane.
Shopping
One important note, never shop when you're hungry, you will make bad choices. As you would already have a pretty good idea what you're meals are going to entail over the week, make sure you have a shopping list. Budget to include all and only what you pre planned to eat (as in leave credit cards at home) and only bring that amount of money, this will limit you from going overboard and buying junk.
Cooking
This is the fun part (or the most annoying), I like to cook and prepare in bulk. Buying a couple of kgs of chicken (or fish) and cooking with some kind of low fat, low sodium sauce and a mix of vegetables (at least I used to before this whole semi vegetarian thing), requires that you do one cook up per week (that also provides a meal for after the cooking itself) that you can store in your fridge. This has 2 great benefits, all your dinners are prepared for when you get home from a busy day at work, and they also provide meals for weekends or when you're just feeling lazy. If you're feeling adventurous dice and cook up the 2 kgs of chicken with 2 different sauces (a kg in each sauce), so you can keep it varied. Making things like smoothies which are healthy, quick and easily stored in your fridge (at home or work) and buying protein powders can eliminate the need to cook when you can't be bothered (and can be added to meals to increase your protein intake).
People around you
This is a difficult one, but are the people in your life supporting you, and your goals? Are your partners? Being teased for not eating crap, being bullied into drinking, these are not people who are (a) your friends or (b) good for you. I'm not saying cut these people out of your life, but make a note of who these people are, make sure you know the games they play, and do your best to avoid being around them when say eating or drinking. You could also calmly sit them down and explain to them how their berating and intimidation make you feel, you'd be surprised how often people don't know how their words affect you, or how much they're projecting their own insecurities on you. Don't be afraid to tell them, in a friendly tone of course.
Weekends
This is when people lose it. Work-a-day lives have one advantage, they keep you busy enough to distract you from junk. It's on the weekends I see my clients drink and eat crap, this is a hard one to solve. But it has a lot to do with what's already been mentioned. Planning, preparation, knowing who you're hanging out with and where, things of this nature. Don't go to dinners starving, don't go out clubbing with people who binge (and if you do, pace drinks with water, drink low carb
Dieting is all about breaking bad habits, we have our habitual nature, we get up go to work, follow the same routine day in and day out, this includes the junk we eat. The hardest part about dieting is breaking those habits. Try changing up your diet with healthy meals, try a variety of food sources, keep it interesting and keep interested. Boredom is when we sick into our bad habits.
This is what I expect from you guys, ultimately this is what you need to do, to get the results you want, the results you're paying money for. It may sound harsh for me to say, I may sound harsh when I say it, but it's not said in anger, it's a plain statement of fact. I'm here to help any and all who need it, use me, use my time, especially those who've paid for it. And try to lock down as many of these strategies as you can, they work.
Please give the articles below a read, they also include strategies you can employ to be as Nia Shanks would say: "a beautiful badass".
Strategy articles
http://www.romanfitnesssystems.com/blog/5-tips-to-make-any-program-more-effective
http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/nutrition/what-to-eat-when-ordering-out-at-work.html?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/grocery-store-seafood-what-to-eat-and-what-to-avoid/
http://nicktumminello.com/2011/05/the-performance-u-10-commandments-of-general-nutrition/
http://strengthcoachblog.com/2011/06/14/11-reason-why-you-arent-getting-results/
http://www.niashanks.com/blog/what-are-you-waiting-for
Planning
This is obviously the main one, and from whence everything else falls. To start with, it's not unreasonable to purchase some kind of calender, that you can mark out, over a month perhaps, your upcoming late nights at work, deadlines, meetings etc, that will keep you from your meals, food preparation and training. Obviously you won't be able to foresee everything that you have coming, but it will certainly help you to pre plan and get organised. An ancillary benefit to all this planning is you can also set your goals, and check them off when you meet them, and re-adjust if you don't. Make sure you have your training program sorted, personal training sessions booked and have a dialogue with your trainer. Mark off each training session you do (with your trainer and by yourself). From this more macro perspective we take it down to a micro perspective, at the start of every week, make even simple mental notes then mark your calender, what unavoidable obligations do you have over the week (work, social events, errands etc), from this very small basis you can start to look at where you have time to do the 2 most important things in fat loss programs, cook/eat and train. Obviously things like sleep, recovery, relaxation, downtime are important too, and must be factored in to your weekly plan as they affect your results and your motivation, as long as you make sure you're getting to bed at a respectable time (about 8hours a night), you should be relatively fine.
If you can look at the outset where the pitfalls for your week are going to be, you can make sure you've accommodated easily.
What are some specific food strategies?
Plan your food week out
What meals can you take to work, what are you having pre-workout/during workout/post-workout, what for dinner, breakfast etc. Make sure you have emergency meals that you can keep or bring to work (smoothies/protein shakes make great options) for those unexpected late nights. Stick to this plan, make sure there's plenty of variation to keep you interested. Plan a cheat meal, as in something with carbs, not junk food, this will keep you sane.
Shopping
One important note, never shop when you're hungry, you will make bad choices. As you would already have a pretty good idea what you're meals are going to entail over the week, make sure you have a shopping list. Budget to include all and only what you pre planned to eat (as in leave credit cards at home) and only bring that amount of money, this will limit you from going overboard and buying junk.
Cooking
This is the fun part (or the most annoying), I like to cook and prepare in bulk. Buying a couple of kgs of chicken (or fish) and cooking with some kind of low fat, low sodium sauce and a mix of vegetables (at least I used to before this whole semi vegetarian thing), requires that you do one cook up per week (that also provides a meal for after the cooking itself) that you can store in your fridge. This has 2 great benefits, all your dinners are prepared for when you get home from a busy day at work, and they also provide meals for weekends or when you're just feeling lazy. If you're feeling adventurous dice and cook up the 2 kgs of chicken with 2 different sauces (a kg in each sauce), so you can keep it varied. Making things like smoothies which are healthy, quick and easily stored in your fridge (at home or work) and buying protein powders can eliminate the need to cook when you can't be bothered (and can be added to meals to increase your protein intake).
People around you
This is a difficult one, but are the people in your life supporting you, and your goals? Are your partners? Being teased for not eating crap, being bullied into drinking, these are not people who are (a) your friends or (b) good for you. I'm not saying cut these people out of your life, but make a note of who these people are, make sure you know the games they play, and do your best to avoid being around them when say eating or drinking. You could also calmly sit them down and explain to them how their berating and intimidation make you feel, you'd be surprised how often people don't know how their words affect you, or how much they're projecting their own insecurities on you. Don't be afraid to tell them, in a friendly tone of course.
Weekends
This is when people lose it. Work-a-day lives have one advantage, they keep you busy enough to distract you from junk. It's on the weekends I see my clients drink and eat crap, this is a hard one to solve. But it has a lot to do with what's already been mentioned. Planning, preparation, knowing who you're hanging out with and where, things of this nature. Don't go to dinners starving, don't go out clubbing with people who binge (and if you do, pace drinks with water, drink low carb
Dieting is all about breaking bad habits, we have our habitual nature, we get up go to work, follow the same routine day in and day out, this includes the junk we eat. The hardest part about dieting is breaking those habits. Try changing up your diet with healthy meals, try a variety of food sources, keep it interesting and keep interested. Boredom is when we sick into our bad habits.
This is what I expect from you guys, ultimately this is what you need to do, to get the results you want, the results you're paying money for. It may sound harsh for me to say, I may sound harsh when I say it, but it's not said in anger, it's a plain statement of fact. I'm here to help any and all who need it, use me, use my time, especially those who've paid for it. And try to lock down as many of these strategies as you can, they work.
Please give the articles below a read, they also include strategies you can employ to be as Nia Shanks would say: "a beautiful badass".
Strategy articles
http://www.romanfitnesssystems.com/blog/5-tips-to-make-any-program-more-effective
http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/nutrition/what-to-eat-when-ordering-out-at-work.html?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/grocery-store-seafood-what-to-eat-and-what-to-avoid/
http://nicktumminello.com/2011/05/the-performance-u-10-commandments-of-general-nutrition/
http://strengthcoachblog.com/2011/06/14/11-reason-why-you-arent-getting-results/
http://www.niashanks.com/blog/what-are-you-waiting-for
Monday, July 11, 2011
Training Diary- Maximum Mass Program- Phase 1- Wk 2.
So this week is off and I'm doing fine, the training at night seems to be mitigating much of my back problems, even in seemingly unrelated ways. For example as I'm more awake, and alert I spend more time doing warm up sets, and generally getting myself into it, psychologically. I didn't do my lower body stretch and foam roll last night, but I did do some basic bodyweight movement stuff and some warm up sets, and I feel fine today. Obviously not a rule I should set, but things seems good.
Tried to make subtle increases in the weights this week, I'm not going crazy, simply trying to make small increases each week, make sure my body's strength levels are increasing. I've got about 4-5 more weeks with this first phase so there's no rush.
Nothing major to report at the moment otherwise.
Diet's been ok this week, as far as junk food goes, Nandos on Wednesday night, as far as meat? Nandos and a steak on Tuesday night (Claire had left it defrosted in the fridge and Dion's a strict vegetarian, so it was left to me to eat it). Otherwise I've been pretty good, keeping relatively in line.
As of this writing I'm sitting at 18.5% BF and 95kgs, overall that's not super great (the numbers have suffered primarily due to my 4 weeks off and Canberra trip). I think it might be time to start leaning up after this program, give myself a heap of time to look good for summer (I'm going for anything below 14% BF). I want to try to get really lean this summer, try and get to a respectable bf% so next I can try and get big without getting too fat. It always sucks to get so small though :(
Breakfast: I've been having my smoothies for breakfast this week (refer to meal before shift), just to try and get more veggies and fruit in.
Morning Tea: When I get home from work I've been having vegetarian sausages (x2 with one slice of wholemeal bread) or x2 eggs (with x2 slices of wholemeal bread).
Meal before afternoon shift: Smoothy- 1/2 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear/apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts/cashews, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the leftover one the next day.
Pre workout meal: I've been sipping an up n go about 20 mins before my training, which gives me just a little energy boost before training, as well as keeping my protein and glycogen levels primed.
Post workout shake: x2 up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500-700mL of water during training.
Post workout meal: This week, as I've been eating my post workout meal at night, I had x2 "Quorn" lasagne's on Monday and Nandos chicken on Wednesday night.
Pre bed snack (sometimes): A vegetable smoothy, otherwise nothing.
Supplements. 3-8 fish oil tabs with my afternoon smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin supplement once-twice a day.
Tried to make subtle increases in the weights this week, I'm not going crazy, simply trying to make small increases each week, make sure my body's strength levels are increasing. I've got about 4-5 more weeks with this first phase so there's no rush.
Nothing major to report at the moment otherwise.
| Rob Max Mass | ||||
| Phase 1 | ||||
| Day 1 | S | R | R | Wk2 |
| 1A: Dip | 3 | 8* | 90 | BW+22.5kg, BW+22.5kg, BW+22.5kg |
| 1B: Inverted Row | 3 | 8* | 90 | BW, BW, BW, BW |
| 2A: DB Split Squat | 3 | 8* | 90 | 20kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg |
| 2B: Hammer Curl | 3 | 10* | 90 | 20kg, 20kg, 22.5kg |
| Day 2 | S | R | R | Wk2 |
| 1A: 1 Arm DB Row | 3 | 6* | 75 | 30kg, 32.5kg, 35kg |
| 1B: DB Inc Press | 3 | 6* | 75 | 27.5kg, 30kg, 32.5kg |
| 2A: CG Bench Prss | 3 | 6* | 60 | 60kg, 80kg, 90kg |
| 2B: Rack Deadlift | 3 | 6* | 60 | 80kg, 100kg, 100kg |
| Day 3 | S | R | R | Wk2 |
| 1 Squat | 4 | 4* | 150 | 60kg, 80kg, 90kg, 100kg |
| 2A: Chin Up | 4 | 4* | 60 | BW, BW+15kg, BW+17.5kg, BW+17.5kg |
| 2B: DB Militry Prs* | 4 | 4* | 60 | 20kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg, 25kg |
| 3 EZ Bar Curl | 3 | 7* | 90 | 47.5kg, 47.5kg, 47.5kg, 47.5kg |
| *+ 2 reps if possible | ||||
| * Military Press Palms In | ||||
Diet's been ok this week, as far as junk food goes, Nandos on Wednesday night, as far as meat? Nandos and a steak on Tuesday night (Claire had left it defrosted in the fridge and Dion's a strict vegetarian, so it was left to me to eat it). Otherwise I've been pretty good, keeping relatively in line.
As of this writing I'm sitting at 18.5% BF and 95kgs, overall that's not super great (the numbers have suffered primarily due to my 4 weeks off and Canberra trip). I think it might be time to start leaning up after this program, give myself a heap of time to look good for summer (I'm going for anything below 14% BF). I want to try to get really lean this summer, try and get to a respectable bf% so next I can try and get big without getting too fat. It always sucks to get so small though :(
Breakfast: I've been having my smoothies for breakfast this week (refer to meal before shift), just to try and get more veggies and fruit in.
Morning Tea: When I get home from work I've been having vegetarian sausages (x2 with one slice of wholemeal bread) or x2 eggs (with x2 slices of wholemeal bread).
Meal before afternoon shift: Smoothy- 1/2 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear/apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts/cashews, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the leftover one the next day.
Pre workout meal: I've been sipping an up n go about 20 mins before my training, which gives me just a little energy boost before training, as well as keeping my protein and glycogen levels primed.
Post workout shake: x2 up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500-700mL of water during training.
Post workout meal: This week, as I've been eating my post workout meal at night, I had x2 "Quorn" lasagne's on Monday and Nandos chicken on Wednesday night.
Pre bed snack (sometimes): A vegetable smoothy, otherwise nothing.
Supplements. 3-8 fish oil tabs with my afternoon smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin supplement once-twice a day.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Alcohol.
I've been meaning to do something on alcohol for a while, and as I have many clients on fat loss programs it seems worthwhile to educate you on why I get so bent out of shape when you drink.
Whether you binge or not, there are serious problems with alcohol, not just in terms of your fat loss, firstly I'll consider the more technical health aspects then we'll consider the fat loss ones.
For example, what are the direct toxic affects of alcohol? Melvin H. Williams in his book Nutrition: for health, fitness and sport suggests:
As far as the mental processes (which many of my clients suffer from), Williams states alcohol is a depressant and that drinking from a young age can cause permanent brain damage (including diminished memory function), others have noted that women become dependant on alcohol quicker than men and suffer adverse effects such as brain atrophy faster as compared to men. Alcohol is also related to homicide, suicide and sexual abuse. Williams notes that the only way to avoid the aforementioned symptoms is to abstain from alcohol completely, as a trainer I know this to be a ridiculous request (particularly in Australia), so I would opt for moderation (Williams pg- 482 2007).
That's all well and good, but I admit, this won't be terribly moving for most, as many drink, either binging on the weekend or drinking socially, and they have had no negative consequences (or they rationalise those they do suffer). But what about your fat loss goals? If you're training for fat loss, it's all about calorie manipulation, if you're strict all week, then go out on the weekend and booze it up, you're effectively undoing your hard work during the week. In effect you're making it so you train to drink, you'll probably stay at the weight you are, fluctuating a kg or two up and down, but never making any real results, why? Williams explains:
It should be noted, however obvious this assumption should be, that this is not a moral blog, you are of course free to drink, in as much volume and frequency as you think is necessary. I am of course only trying to make a point to my fat loss clients, not trying to tell anyone who to live their life (outside of my clients, in which case I am trying to tell them how to live their life).
Conclusion
Most of you are on some form of a dieting program, that means no alcohol, how many of you stick to this? Well it's hard to say, but the point is, alcohol makes it all the more harder to achieve your goals. As I've likened it to some clients, due to the fact that calories from alcohol are essentially useless, every time you drink, think of it as drinking pure lard. I would and do recommend my clients give up the booze, in favour of presumably their more treasured fat loss goals.
I have said this to some, but allow me to elucidate one more time: I remove responsibility from myself, for your fat loss goals if you are consuming alcohol, semi regularly (most weekends/evenings). A little, a glass here and there, I can turn the other cheek, but more than that, and I find it hard to feel responsible. Keep that in mind guys, that's how serious this issue is.
Reference
Williams M. H., (2007). Nutrition for health, fitness and sport (8th edition). New York, New York. McGraw Hill.
Studies/Articles
Study Finds Alcohol and Tobacco More Harmful than Marijuana, LSD, or Ecstasy--Drug Reclassification Should Follow
http://rationallyspeaking.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmsctech/1031/1031.pdf
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-1/25-34.pdf
Whether you binge or not, there are serious problems with alcohol, not just in terms of your fat loss, firstly I'll consider the more technical health aspects then we'll consider the fat loss ones.
For example, what are the direct toxic affects of alcohol? Melvin H. Williams in his book Nutrition: for health, fitness and sport suggests:
"Alcohol effects all cells in the body, and many of these effects have significant health implications. Room and others noted that alcohol is causally related to more than 60 different medical conditions, and is a major challenge to public health. Drinking alcoholic beverages, particularly in large amounts, is associated with over 100,000 deaths per year." (Williams Pg-481, 2007)Which as a statistical analysis, is all well and fine, but what about direct toxic effects? Williams continues:
"Alcohol has a direct toxic effect on the intestinal walls; it tends to impair absorption of vitamins such as thiamin (B1). Individuals who drink alcohol also have a higher incidence of pharyngeal cancer and esophageal cancer, which may possibly be associated with the direct effect of alcohol as it contacts the tissues during ingestion."(Williams Pg-481-2, 2007)Williams also continues to discuss the dangerous effects of alcohol on the liver and the mental processes, for example in relation to the liver Williams states that consuming a high protein diet and plenty of water (6 glasses a day) is still not enough to counter the negative effects of alcohol consumption and it's resulting degradation of the liver. It begins to store fat, which causes the cells to degenerate and functioning liver cells reduce to non functioning scar tissue, a condition known as cirrhosis. Williams notes that this deregulates the metabolism of carbs, proteins and fats in the body which can have pathological consequences for the heart, pancreas and kidneys (Williams pg- 482 2007).
As far as the mental processes (which many of my clients suffer from), Williams states alcohol is a depressant and that drinking from a young age can cause permanent brain damage (including diminished memory function), others have noted that women become dependant on alcohol quicker than men and suffer adverse effects such as brain atrophy faster as compared to men. Alcohol is also related to homicide, suicide and sexual abuse. Williams notes that the only way to avoid the aforementioned symptoms is to abstain from alcohol completely, as a trainer I know this to be a ridiculous request (particularly in Australia), so I would opt for moderation (Williams pg- 482 2007).
That's all well and good, but I admit, this won't be terribly moving for most, as many drink, either binging on the weekend or drinking socially, and they have had no negative consequences (or they rationalise those they do suffer). But what about your fat loss goals? If you're training for fat loss, it's all about calorie manipulation, if you're strict all week, then go out on the weekend and booze it up, you're effectively undoing your hard work during the week. In effect you're making it so you train to drink, you'll probably stay at the weight you are, fluctuating a kg or two up and down, but never making any real results, why? Williams explains:
"Alcohol is a significant source of calories, about 7 per gram, somewhat comparable to the caloric content of fat... However Yeomans noted that alcohol stimulates appetite, increasing food intake, and alcohol contains energy. Angelo Tremblay, an esteemed scientist in weight control, and his colleagues recently found that alcohol has no inhibitory effect on food intake and it's energy content, and when consumed in conjunction with a high fat diet promotes over feeding, a primary determinate of obesity (emphasis added). Additionally, Jequier notes that alcohol ingestion reduces fat oxidation and favours a positive fat balance...higher alcohol consumption is positively associated with both overall and abdominal adiposity, irrespective of the type of drink or whether the drink is drunk with meals or not (emphasis added). (Williams pg- 483 2007)I want to repeat the take home message in that paragraph in layman's terms: alcohol consumption, any alcohol consumption increases the likelihood of ab fat and total body fat, it causes you to have an increased appetite and causes you to increase your food intake. Now, do these things sound like they would be conducive to a fat loss program?
It should be noted, however obvious this assumption should be, that this is not a moral blog, you are of course free to drink, in as much volume and frequency as you think is necessary. I am of course only trying to make a point to my fat loss clients, not trying to tell anyone who to live their life (outside of my clients, in which case I am trying to tell them how to live their life).
Conclusion
Most of you are on some form of a dieting program, that means no alcohol, how many of you stick to this? Well it's hard to say, but the point is, alcohol makes it all the more harder to achieve your goals. As I've likened it to some clients, due to the fact that calories from alcohol are essentially useless, every time you drink, think of it as drinking pure lard. I would and do recommend my clients give up the booze, in favour of presumably their more treasured fat loss goals.
I have said this to some, but allow me to elucidate one more time: I remove responsibility from myself, for your fat loss goals if you are consuming alcohol, semi regularly (most weekends/evenings). A little, a glass here and there, I can turn the other cheek, but more than that, and I find it hard to feel responsible. Keep that in mind guys, that's how serious this issue is.
Reference
Williams M. H., (2007). Nutrition for health, fitness and sport (8th edition). New York, New York. McGraw Hill.
Studies/Articles
Study Finds Alcohol and Tobacco More Harmful than Marijuana, LSD, or Ecstasy--Drug Reclassification Should Follow
http://rationallyspeaking.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmsctech/1031/1031.pdf
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-1/25-34.pdf
Articles.
Hey guys, sorry for the lack of actual articles lately, I've had my head back in the books, and have been spreading myself thin, with work on this blog too.
Excluding the Middle
Lyle McDonald jumps in with some pretty harsh words against much of what I say, which is fine, counter voices to your opinions are the ones we need to listen to the most. Unfortunately for McDonald my argument for HIIT involves not just the fat metabolism benefits of HIIT over Steady State but also (amongst other things) the time benefits of HIIT, which are paramount to my clients, most of which work 40+hrs a week. Why on earth would I prescribe them a longer training session than is necessary?
Steady State vs. Interval Training: Introduction
More from McDonald on the Steady State/HIIT issue, with links to other articles justifying his position. Enjoy.
Education Or Experience
I personally think both make for a good trainer, and as far as getting results and keeping clients are concerned you need both. Too much knowledge and too little experience and you don't know how to coach, or cue, visa versa and you don't know what you're doing, but you can be friendly, if not dangerous.
The Testosterone Principles:On Becoming Thor, Captain America, or Khal Drogo
Interesting stuff.
FREE Training Book Download
As mentioned in the article, you can't beat that price.
10 Secrets Of An Elite Fitness Business
Interesting post, I'd like to be able to tick off all these one day.
21 Days To A Better Fitness Business
More in the same vain as above.
The Key For Personal Training Business Growth
Not super relevant to me, as I don't run my own business, but there's nothing that says I can't implement these stretegies. Obviously this type and the other business articles are trainer oriented.
Training Clients with Obesity – Part IV (BMI under 35)
Something all trainers should at least be aware of, follow the links for more info.
Programming Core Exercises In Your Program
Again, ab training is another thing where the pendulum is being swung another way, this and the below article attempt to change your mind (away from crunches).
Pallof Presses/Belly Presses for Core Stability
A Rant About Exercises Being Difficult
This is something I've seen with a lot of trainers and it's why I try stick to structured programs, this blog may be called "Killsession Musings" but that doesn't mean I opt for unstructured "throw everything but the kitchen sink" at your client training. I'm all for hard training, but smashing your clients with unfocused intervals with zero progressions, isolation exercises and plyometrics (without proper progressions) can be dangerous.
Excluding the Middle
Lyle McDonald jumps in with some pretty harsh words against much of what I say, which is fine, counter voices to your opinions are the ones we need to listen to the most. Unfortunately for McDonald my argument for HIIT involves not just the fat metabolism benefits of HIIT over Steady State but also (amongst other things) the time benefits of HIIT, which are paramount to my clients, most of which work 40+hrs a week. Why on earth would I prescribe them a longer training session than is necessary?
Steady State vs. Interval Training: Introduction
More from McDonald on the Steady State/HIIT issue, with links to other articles justifying his position. Enjoy.
Education Or Experience
I personally think both make for a good trainer, and as far as getting results and keeping clients are concerned you need both. Too much knowledge and too little experience and you don't know how to coach, or cue, visa versa and you don't know what you're doing, but you can be friendly, if not dangerous.
The Testosterone Principles:On Becoming Thor, Captain America, or Khal Drogo
Interesting stuff.
FREE Training Book Download
As mentioned in the article, you can't beat that price.
10 Secrets Of An Elite Fitness Business
Interesting post, I'd like to be able to tick off all these one day.
21 Days To A Better Fitness Business
More in the same vain as above.
The Key For Personal Training Business Growth
Not super relevant to me, as I don't run my own business, but there's nothing that says I can't implement these stretegies. Obviously this type and the other business articles are trainer oriented.
Training Clients with Obesity – Part IV (BMI under 35)
Something all trainers should at least be aware of, follow the links for more info.
Programming Core Exercises In Your Program
Again, ab training is another thing where the pendulum is being swung another way, this and the below article attempt to change your mind (away from crunches).
Pallof Presses/Belly Presses for Core Stability
A Rant About Exercises Being Difficult
This is something I've seen with a lot of trainers and it's why I try stick to structured programs, this blog may be called "Killsession Musings" but that doesn't mean I opt for unstructured "throw everything but the kitchen sink" at your client training. I'm all for hard training, but smashing your clients with unfocused intervals with zero progressions, isolation exercises and plyometrics (without proper progressions) can be dangerous.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Articles.
Pushup Research
Ok, everyone's been going apey bout the below article, so it's my headliner for this week, read, enjoy, be shocked!
The Best Damn Push-Ups Article, Period!
Contreras went a little spastic with this. More references and journal sources than you can throw a cat at.. I'm glad the pushup is a mainstay in most of my programs.
Awesome Pullup Variation: Iso Holds
An interesting vid.
Good Reads for the Week
Check it out.
Popeye Eggs
Recipes guys.
Baby Steps for Better Health
Wealthy, Handsome, Strong, and with Endless Hard-Ons: Is Masculinity Impossible?
Part of the atheist/skeptic community Great Christina also writes a lot on sex and issues related to it. Something for the masculine man, gym crowd perhaps?
For Your Viewing Pleasure: Take 37
Bodyweight Redux
Apparently there's a bodyweight versus weight training debate going on. An interesting rundown on the subject, with more than a little opinion thrown in.
5 Exercises You Should Start Doing
I like this style of blog, usually it demonstrates the obvious, or as in this case, it shows you the value of exercises you might have considered and rejected, or have not considered at all.
In Defense of Cheat Days
Some interesting thoughts on cheating. As I'm not dieting at the moment I'm not having cheat meals, I tend to just eat. But dieters will definitely benefit from learning when to strategically intake a higher amount of calories and when it's OK to eat some "naughty" food.
Training Without Sleep
As most of my clients are doing 40+ hours a week of work plus dieting programs which are really intensive, we need to make sure recovery is made aware to the client, consider this my attempt to do so.
Do You Have Training ADD?
This is a common complaint with coaches and trainers. Working a program, trusting the program and giving the program the time to work, are all impassioned and calculated ways of training. This is hard for people, as they seem to train with their emotions, as opposed to their head (and there seems to be a general distrust of the science, as mentioned here)
5 Life Lessons from a New Dad
Pick Your Deadlifting Poison
With the deadlift being as important as it is, it's equally important that we do it right.
The 21 Best Fitness Business Tips
A good one for gym owners, PT's and clients.
10 Must-Read Fitness Blogs
Most of you receive stuff from these sites on my blog, if there's anything here I don't send you, please, chuck them in your blogroll.
Jack Up Your Strength the Right Way
Basic tips all my strength readers might want to master.
Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet and cancer risk
This is really interesting.
Strength for health in old age
As if there was any doubt, but still, trying to change the paradigm on the "aerobic" craze, is slow and steady.
Sleeping more means you get less fat
This is so my motto!
15 Nutrition Tips for a Healthy Summer
25 Ways to Make This Your Fittest Summer Ever
5 Things to Do After Every Workout
Q&A: Is It Better to Skip a Workout or Tone It Down When Tired?
Obesity As a Social Diagnosis
I'm not entirely sure where I stand on the obesity issue, and in particular the people who are obese, but I know building a culture of blame, is not going to help.
Are Tax Incentives Cost-Effective to Promote Physical Activity?
The Morality of Teenage Fast Food Consumption
Why Diet and Exercise is Not a Treatment for Obesity
I posted this on FB as it's an interesting meta analysis of the obesity problem and our role as trainers in that.
Preventing Weight Gain in Your Sleep?
Again, uh-huh!
I think this is enough for this week, there are still a tonne more I could put up, but at some point, I imagine you all just tune out, enjoy!
Ok, everyone's been going apey bout the below article, so it's my headliner for this week, read, enjoy, be shocked!
The Best Damn Push-Ups Article, Period!
Contreras went a little spastic with this. More references and journal sources than you can throw a cat at.. I'm glad the pushup is a mainstay in most of my programs.
Awesome Pullup Variation: Iso Holds
An interesting vid.
Good Reads for the Week
Check it out.
Popeye Eggs
Recipes guys.
Baby Steps for Better Health
Wealthy, Handsome, Strong, and with Endless Hard-Ons: Is Masculinity Impossible?
Part of the atheist/skeptic community Great Christina also writes a lot on sex and issues related to it. Something for the masculine man, gym crowd perhaps?
For Your Viewing Pleasure: Take 37
Bodyweight Redux
Apparently there's a bodyweight versus weight training debate going on. An interesting rundown on the subject, with more than a little opinion thrown in.
5 Exercises You Should Start Doing
I like this style of blog, usually it demonstrates the obvious, or as in this case, it shows you the value of exercises you might have considered and rejected, or have not considered at all.
In Defense of Cheat Days
Some interesting thoughts on cheating. As I'm not dieting at the moment I'm not having cheat meals, I tend to just eat. But dieters will definitely benefit from learning when to strategically intake a higher amount of calories and when it's OK to eat some "naughty" food.
Training Without Sleep
As most of my clients are doing 40+ hours a week of work plus dieting programs which are really intensive, we need to make sure recovery is made aware to the client, consider this my attempt to do so.
Do You Have Training ADD?
This is a common complaint with coaches and trainers. Working a program, trusting the program and giving the program the time to work, are all impassioned and calculated ways of training. This is hard for people, as they seem to train with their emotions, as opposed to their head (and there seems to be a general distrust of the science, as mentioned here)
5 Life Lessons from a New Dad
Pick Your Deadlifting Poison
With the deadlift being as important as it is, it's equally important that we do it right.
The 21 Best Fitness Business Tips
A good one for gym owners, PT's and clients.
10 Must-Read Fitness Blogs
Most of you receive stuff from these sites on my blog, if there's anything here I don't send you, please, chuck them in your blogroll.
Jack Up Your Strength the Right Way
Basic tips all my strength readers might want to master.
Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet and cancer risk
This is really interesting.
Strength for health in old age
As if there was any doubt, but still, trying to change the paradigm on the "aerobic" craze, is slow and steady.
Sleeping more means you get less fat
This is so my motto!
15 Nutrition Tips for a Healthy Summer
25 Ways to Make This Your Fittest Summer Ever
5 Things to Do After Every Workout
Q&A: Is It Better to Skip a Workout or Tone It Down When Tired?
Obesity As a Social Diagnosis
I'm not entirely sure where I stand on the obesity issue, and in particular the people who are obese, but I know building a culture of blame, is not going to help.
Are Tax Incentives Cost-Effective to Promote Physical Activity?
The Morality of Teenage Fast Food Consumption
Why Diet and Exercise is Not a Treatment for Obesity
I posted this on FB as it's an interesting meta analysis of the obesity problem and our role as trainers in that.
Preventing Weight Gain in Your Sleep?
Again, uh-huh!
I think this is enough for this week, there are still a tonne more I could put up, but at some point, I imagine you all just tune out, enjoy!
More Articles For Women.
Due to the overwhelming success of the first Articles For Women, I've decided to make it a mainstay, with a specific focus on training but with fringe articles on all things woman. Anything I come across on my blogroll that I think might interest the ladies, it shall make it's way here. So, consider this, my ongoing special tribute to all the ladies, and how awesome you are!
Nominalism
Interesting, a post by a women, on women's rights, when being hit on by guys.
Always name names!
Here we have a response to the above by the delectable P.Z Myers.
Oh, no, not again…once more unto the breach
And a follow up piece on the above.
Getting and not getting
Last article on this I promise.
The Best Foods for a Healthy Pregnancy
For those dedicated mothers who train and have babies, all at the same time!
Mothers’ Experience of Feeding Their Families
Some tips for those hard working mums.
South Africa's lesbians fear 'corrective rape'
This is bleak. I'm so glad I was lucky enough to be born in a place like Australia, could you imagine this being your life?
How to be a Beautiful Badass
And something on a slightly brighter note.
Why expectations matter
Ophelia Benson discussing women's issues.
"Bridesmaids" saves the chick flick. Now what?
Is this an issue for feminism, or a step in the wrong direction? Follow the links for more discussion (and check out the comments section).
Will Ireland Apologize to the Women of the Magdalene Laundries?
Seems there is more going on in the world in women's issues than women's training.
Myths of Women Lifting: Science and Practice of Strength Training
It seems much of the strength and conditioning work I read these days is based simply on changing the current paradigms, this article is not different.
Actual Real V-Diet Results of 4 Weeks
Wow, beautiful badass huh? I tell my female clients this all the time, the stick figure model look is not healthy (or appealing), and is only desirable due to the fashion industries standards, but those standards are based on people selling you things, not on what is actually good for you. There is a difference, but I understand what I'm doing is asking women to look outside their cultural milieu, which can understandably be difficult!
Pullthroughs to Reinforce Hip Hinge Pattern (Youth Athletes)
Why Jamie Leigh Jones Could Lose Her KBR Rape Case
Poor lady.
Rape in the Ranks
This is digusting.
PICP Success Story Luke Leaman
It's not just about dudes, ladies. Check out the results of the featured femme.
Southwestern Avocado Stuffed Burgers: Guest Post by Dawn
Vegan Health Bar Cookies: Guest Post by Amy
Nominalism
Interesting, a post by a women, on women's rights, when being hit on by guys.
Always name names!
Here we have a response to the above by the delectable P.Z Myers.
Oh, no, not again…once more unto the breach
And a follow up piece on the above.
Getting and not getting
Last article on this I promise.
The Best Foods for a Healthy Pregnancy
For those dedicated mothers who train and have babies, all at the same time!
Mothers’ Experience of Feeding Their Families
Some tips for those hard working mums.
South Africa's lesbians fear 'corrective rape'
This is bleak. I'm so glad I was lucky enough to be born in a place like Australia, could you imagine this being your life?
How to be a Beautiful Badass
And something on a slightly brighter note.
Why expectations matter
Ophelia Benson discussing women's issues.
"Bridesmaids" saves the chick flick. Now what?
Is this an issue for feminism, or a step in the wrong direction? Follow the links for more discussion (and check out the comments section).
Will Ireland Apologize to the Women of the Magdalene Laundries?
Seems there is more going on in the world in women's issues than women's training.
Myths of Women Lifting: Science and Practice of Strength Training
It seems much of the strength and conditioning work I read these days is based simply on changing the current paradigms, this article is not different.
Actual Real V-Diet Results of 4 Weeks
Wow, beautiful badass huh? I tell my female clients this all the time, the stick figure model look is not healthy (or appealing), and is only desirable due to the fashion industries standards, but those standards are based on people selling you things, not on what is actually good for you. There is a difference, but I understand what I'm doing is asking women to look outside their cultural milieu, which can understandably be difficult!
Pullthroughs to Reinforce Hip Hinge Pattern (Youth Athletes)
Why Jamie Leigh Jones Could Lose Her KBR Rape Case
Poor lady.
Rape in the Ranks
This is digusting.
PICP Success Story Luke Leaman
It's not just about dudes, ladies. Check out the results of the featured femme.
Southwestern Avocado Stuffed Burgers: Guest Post by Dawn
Vegan Health Bar Cookies: Guest Post by Amy
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Articles For Women.
This week I pay homage to the hard working women out there, to their efforts and to help, where I can, with some motivation, education and encouragement. In particular I pay homage to the lovely, the tenacious and beautiful Kara El, who makes me happier everyday than I thought I could be, who is the only women in the world who both infuriates me with her intellect and has a vice grip on my heart! We love you ladies, and I love you, Lady El!
Straight Bar Deadlift versus Hex Bar Deadlift
Contreras is on the women train this week, and I love it. I'm all for getting women into the weight room, showing them that there's nothing to fear from weights, see below.
Weighted Bridging and Beautiful Badasses
Again, with photo's of everyday people we see just what women can accomplish, I personally love the look of the women in both this and the above post.
Beautiful Badass Profile Part 1
Nia Shanks is fast becoming a house hold name, and for good reason, she's an insanely strong woman, who looks amazing, and is a working mum! A living example that hard work pays off.
What Are You Waiting For?
Yeh, this lady is awesome. Motivational blogs are always good for those who struggle with such, which is most clients.
Bro Badasses
And a little somesine somesine for the boys. I refer you to her attached articles my lady readers, to see what you could be achieving, without running!
Yes I Can Deadlift Over 300 Pounds
Um, yeh, I don't know too many guys doing that weight!
Yes, we are smothering our children
Something for the mothers.
Does everybody hate women?
Branching a little off training and more into women's issues, I thought I'd post some stuff on how women are treated in the world.
Outcry in America as pregnant women who lose babies face murder charges
Last article, as reproductive rights become a bigger and bigger issue and as I'm discussing women in general, I thought I'd chuck this in, enjoy!
I hope this isn't considered misogynistic of me, but here are some recipes for anyone really, but I figure the gals are going to be, either through stereotyping or simply more interest, more into cooking and varieties of such. Men are kind of "I put meat on pan and pan cook meat hot, me eat, eeerrg!"
Peach Blackberry Crisp - Guest Post by Brandi
Vegetable Rosti with Tomato-Corn Relish: Guest Post by Joanne
Tropical Butternut Squash Salad
Chicken, Artichoke and Grape Skewers with Tarragon-Yogurt Sauce
Peanut Butter and Jelly Loaf (Low-Carb, Sugar Free)
Spicy Mango Black Bean Turkey Burgers
Cookie Dough Cupcakes (Gluten Free, Sugar Free)
Smokey Eggplant Guacamole
Grilled Eggplant Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese
Chili-Peanut Squash Fries
Straight Bar Deadlift versus Hex Bar Deadlift
Contreras is on the women train this week, and I love it. I'm all for getting women into the weight room, showing them that there's nothing to fear from weights, see below.
Weighted Bridging and Beautiful Badasses
Again, with photo's of everyday people we see just what women can accomplish, I personally love the look of the women in both this and the above post.
Beautiful Badass Profile Part 1
Nia Shanks is fast becoming a house hold name, and for good reason, she's an insanely strong woman, who looks amazing, and is a working mum! A living example that hard work pays off.
What Are You Waiting For?
Yeh, this lady is awesome. Motivational blogs are always good for those who struggle with such, which is most clients.
Bro Badasses
And a little somesine somesine for the boys. I refer you to her attached articles my lady readers, to see what you could be achieving, without running!
Yes I Can Deadlift Over 300 Pounds
Um, yeh, I don't know too many guys doing that weight!
Yes, we are smothering our children
Something for the mothers.
Does everybody hate women?
Branching a little off training and more into women's issues, I thought I'd post some stuff on how women are treated in the world.
Outcry in America as pregnant women who lose babies face murder charges
Last article, as reproductive rights become a bigger and bigger issue and as I'm discussing women in general, I thought I'd chuck this in, enjoy!
I hope this isn't considered misogynistic of me, but here are some recipes for anyone really, but I figure the gals are going to be, either through stereotyping or simply more interest, more into cooking and varieties of such. Men are kind of "I put meat on pan and pan cook meat hot, me eat, eeerrg!"
Peach Blackberry Crisp - Guest Post by Brandi
Vegetable Rosti with Tomato-Corn Relish: Guest Post by Joanne
Tropical Butternut Squash Salad
Chicken, Artichoke and Grape Skewers with Tarragon-Yogurt Sauce
Peanut Butter and Jelly Loaf (Low-Carb, Sugar Free)
Spicy Mango Black Bean Turkey Burgers
Cookie Dough Cupcakes (Gluten Free, Sugar Free)
Smokey Eggplant Guacamole
Grilled Eggplant Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese
Chili-Peanut Squash Fries
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Training Diary- Maximum Mass Program- Phase 1- Wk 1.
So I'm finally back to training, I haven't lifted a piece of iron for just over 3 weeks. I did a week or 2 with the program mentioned here, just to keep some work going while my back was recovering. Speaking of, my back feels good, and I started back on Monday and it felt good. The program I'm following is from Jason Feruggia's book "Muscle Gaining Secrets", which is a pretty basic e-book, but solid in it's principles and justification for such. I thought I'd give it a try, as Feruggia's training philosophy is a little more on the functional side than Poloquin's was, which is personally, what I need.
I definitely felt the last few weeks off, I actually, almost vomited, hence why the last few sets of Split Squats and Hammer Curls were on the light side, I was literally doing reps and holding down vom! The people waiting for the "6 weeks to a 6 pack" course saw me after, I looked ratshite! But continue we must, I have another session tomorrow morning so hopefully I should feel better, and be able to lift heavier. *Addendum to that*- I had my session Wednesday morning and did fine. I'm cautious of my back, I'm protecting it. Ferrugia suggests taking it easy in the first week, so easy I shall go. No back tweaks yet, but my body just wants to lift heavier, it's hard to resist that urge!
I did a little warm up: some upper body mobility, some light stretching, and some basic bodyweight movement plus a warm up set, but I plan to get a big lower body stretch going tomorrow morning. Haven't felt any pain in the lower back at all, no discomfort of any kind, so that's good, this program should be good, as it's entirely reduced on the volume, and follows undulating periodization, which will be nice, and hopefully keep me from injury.
I have also done some extensive lower body and back stretching, continued my upper body mobility and have generally felt pretty good. I actually wonder if it isn't the early morning sessions that are causing me some problems. As in getting up at 4 am, getting to the gym by 5, doing a 15 minute warm up, then getting into some weight training might not be allowing my core enough time to activate (especially as I'm not doing any activation). This is pure laziness yes, but I might try and start training at night, after work for a while, see if that makes a difference.
As far as diet goes, well it's been horrible over the last couple of weeks, I basically dropped my vegetarianism in Canberra (and boy did I feel good!), but as I'm back into training it's been tightened up... somewhat. I've discovered these "Quorn" products so I've been having some of the lasagne and sausage rolls, it's crazy, they taste just like meat.They're not technically good, though they're not super horrible either (I'm sure there's a debate about that in there). I do wonder, if you're eating a vegetarian product, do you need to add vegetables? As in, of course, it'd be great to add them, but since you're consuming a vegetarian product, is it essential?
I've stopped the creatine for the moment, I was only at about 4 weeks when I was using it during the German Volume cycle, and I had pretty good results with both that program and the creatine. I've had about that time off, so I might start in a few weeks, I just wanted to get back into it, get back into a routine before I started supplementing to seriously.
Breakfast: I've been having my smoothies for breakfast this week (refer to meal before shift), just to try and get more veggies and fruit in.
Post workout shake: x2 up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500-700mL of water during training.
Post workout meal: This week, instead of eggs, I had some of the "Quorn" products, oh and nachos (once).
Meal before afternoon shift: Smoothy- 1/2 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear/apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts/cashews, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the leftover one the next day.
Dinner: Various vegetarian options such as vegetable sausages, bacon, "Quorn" products etc.
Pre bed snack (sometimes): Second vegetable smoothy, otherwise nothing.
Supplements. 3-8 fish oil tabs with my afternoon smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin supplement once-twice a day.
I definitely felt the last few weeks off, I actually, almost vomited, hence why the last few sets of Split Squats and Hammer Curls were on the light side, I was literally doing reps and holding down vom! The people waiting for the "6 weeks to a 6 pack" course saw me after, I looked ratshite! But continue we must, I have another session tomorrow morning so hopefully I should feel better, and be able to lift heavier. *Addendum to that*- I had my session Wednesday morning and did fine. I'm cautious of my back, I'm protecting it. Ferrugia suggests taking it easy in the first week, so easy I shall go. No back tweaks yet, but my body just wants to lift heavier, it's hard to resist that urge!
I did a little warm up: some upper body mobility, some light stretching, and some basic bodyweight movement plus a warm up set, but I plan to get a big lower body stretch going tomorrow morning. Haven't felt any pain in the lower back at all, no discomfort of any kind, so that's good, this program should be good, as it's entirely reduced on the volume, and follows undulating periodization, which will be nice, and hopefully keep me from injury.
I have also done some extensive lower body and back stretching, continued my upper body mobility and have generally felt pretty good. I actually wonder if it isn't the early morning sessions that are causing me some problems. As in getting up at 4 am, getting to the gym by 5, doing a 15 minute warm up, then getting into some weight training might not be allowing my core enough time to activate (especially as I'm not doing any activation). This is pure laziness yes, but I might try and start training at night, after work for a while, see if that makes a difference.
| Rob Max Mass | ||||
| Phase 1 | ||||
| Day 1 | S | R | R | Wk1 |
| 1A: Dip | 3 | 8* | 90 | BW+20kg, BW+20kg, BW+22.5kg |
| 1B: Inverted Row | 3 | 8* | 90 | BW, BW, BW, BW |
| 2A: DB Split Squat | 3 | 8* | 90 | 20kg, 20kg, 22.5kg |
| 2B: Hammer Curl | 3 | 10* | 90 | 17.5kg, 17.5kg, 17.5kg |
| Day 2 | S | R | R | Wk1 |
| 1A: 1 Arm DB Row | 3 | 6* | 75 | 30kg, 30kg, 32.5kg |
| 1B: DB Inc Press | 3 | 6* | 75 | 27.5kg, 30kg, 30kg |
| 2A: CG Bench Prss | 3 | 6* | 60 | 60kg, 80kg, 80kg |
| 2B: Rack Deadlift | 3 | 6* | 60 | 60kg, 80kg, 80kg |
| Day 3 | S | R | R | Wk1 |
| 1 Squat | 4 | 4* | 150 | 60kg, 80,kg, 80kg, 90kg |
| 2A: Chin Up | 4 | 4* | 60 | BW, BW+15kg, BW+15kg, BW+15kg |
| 2B: DB Militry Prs* | 4 | 4* | 60 | 17.5kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg |
| 3 EZ Bar Curl | 3 | 7* | 90 | 37.5kg, 42.5kg, 42.5kg, 42.5kg |
| *+ 2 reps if possible | ||||
| * Military Press Palms In | ||||
As far as diet goes, well it's been horrible over the last couple of weeks, I basically dropped my vegetarianism in Canberra (and boy did I feel good!), but as I'm back into training it's been tightened up... somewhat. I've discovered these "Quorn" products so I've been having some of the lasagne and sausage rolls, it's crazy, they taste just like meat.They're not technically good, though they're not super horrible either (I'm sure there's a debate about that in there). I do wonder, if you're eating a vegetarian product, do you need to add vegetables? As in, of course, it'd be great to add them, but since you're consuming a vegetarian product, is it essential?
I've stopped the creatine for the moment, I was only at about 4 weeks when I was using it during the German Volume cycle, and I had pretty good results with both that program and the creatine. I've had about that time off, so I might start in a few weeks, I just wanted to get back into it, get back into a routine before I started supplementing to seriously.
Breakfast: I've been having my smoothies for breakfast this week (refer to meal before shift), just to try and get more veggies and fruit in.
Post workout shake: x2 up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500-700mL of water during training.
Post workout meal: This week, instead of eggs, I had some of the "Quorn" products, oh and nachos (once).
Meal before afternoon shift: Smoothy- 1/2 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear/apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts/cashews, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the leftover one the next day.
Dinner: Various vegetarian options such as vegetable sausages, bacon, "Quorn" products etc.
Pre bed snack (sometimes): Second vegetable smoothy, otherwise nothing.
Supplements. 3-8 fish oil tabs with my afternoon smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin supplement once-twice a day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)