Friday 20 August 2010

GUEST BLOGGER James Lakin - "Exercise and Nutrition: Some of the MANY myths"



Personal Trainer, James Lakin looks at just SOME of the nutritional myths that circulate in most gyms.

James says,

"You may have been given good and bad advice from other gym freaks on how to build muscle or burn fat. My favourite piece of bad advice that was given to me when I first started out training was from a meat-head I chatted to; unbelievably he said,"

“To get big you should eat KFC!” "I nodded and thanked him for the advice. Thankfully, over the years I have decided to educate myself and not rely on such pearls of wisdom from gym members. Here are just a few myths that must be dismissed!"

1. “My muscle turned to fat” Fat and muscle are two separate tisues. You can increase or decrease muscle or fat but they can not turn into one another.

2. “After training I can eat what I want”After training your breathing and heart rate will remain elevated to return your body to a natural state. To do this you will continue to burn energy and this is what people often refer to as “the golden hour” and mistakenly scoff the things they shouldn’t. After Training your body is crying out for nutrients feed it the energy it needs to replenish your stores to support growth and recovery. Water, protein, minerals and vitamins and not muffins or ice cream.

3. “If I train in the morning without eating breakfast I will lose more weight”Our body needs fuel to perform, without energy your workout will suffer. Research has shown skipping meals can slow down your metabolism eat small meals regularly to avoid this. Allow between an hour and a half and two hours to give your body enough time for digestion.

4. “I eat lots of pasta”
There seems to be a bit of an obsession with pasta. Many athletes load up on the stuff because of its high calorific content but they are burning thousands of calories through training several hours a day. For the average person being in a seated position 8 hours or more a day these excess calories will result in fat being stored if not burnt up! In no way am I saying don’t eat pasta, just be careful it doesn’t cause you to exceed your targeted daily calorie consumption.

5. “Which diet should I go on?”
I hear this a lot, any diet where you are taking in less energy will cause you to lose weight. They may work short term but the dieter can often put it straight back on plus more weight very quickly. A healthier way is to aim to lose no more than 2lbs per week eating a healthy balance of 80% good and 20% a little more relaxed. Two pounds may not sound a lot but in just 7 weeks that’s a whole stone! You will be more likely to sustain healthy eating and lose fat rather than muscle. From experience, clients that have lost weight gradually as opposed to crash or yoyo dieting have been able to keep the weight off. If diets worked, there wouldn't be a diet industr; there would just be a diet that everyone follows?


For more information on James, or to contact him directly regarding nutritional advice and/or personal training, view his website: http://www.uxbridge-fitness.co.uk/

Sunday 8 August 2010

"WOW-WOW" 08/08/10: 1000 reps to make you a better person (or maybe just 800)




I'm forever telling people,
"You don't need any fancy equipment to have a worthwhile training session!"

Personally, I like traditional, old-fashioned, retro, old-school, minimal (call it what you will) training. No flashing lights, unecesary data, over-sized equipment or shiny things.

So.. I created my "10's workout". Here's the format:

- 2x 10Kg dumbells
- 10 exercises
- 10 reps on each
- 10 tmes through

Giving you 100 reps on each exercise and 1000 reps total.

I took a few minutes to scribble down 10 exercises that i could perform alone, in a studio with just me and my dumbells (and a swiss ball).

Here are the exercises that I went with (but not in this order)...

- Chest Press (on swiss ball)
- Squats
- Front raises / lateral raises (5 of each)
- Press ups on the dumbells
- Shoulder press
- Renegade row (5 each arm)
- Bicep curls (5 eacha arm)
- Skull crushers (on the swiss ball)
- Dynamic Lunges (5 on each leg)
- One leg Romanian deadlifts - 5 on each leg (straight leg deadlifts)

With a little peer pressure (thanks Matt), I stuck with it for 8 "laps" giving me 800 reps total. To be honest, I had one eye on the time, but the tiredness of my shoulders was becoming an issue. Looking back, I seriously regret cutting that corner.

This regret was amplified the next day when my friend Matt decided to try it out and pulled out the full 1000. FACT: He is a better man than me!

Review...
Personally, I wouldn't describe this workout as "enjoyable". It was hard work for sure. BUT, gave me a great pump! The veins were working overtime and I got a real sweat on. It wasn't particularly cardio-based but I gradually got more and more tired that day and slept like a trooper. If you try it you'll know exactly what I mean!

It's a very worthwhile workout, there are just a few things to consider.

Issues to consider...
I think the workout could do with a little re-think. The order needs adjusting and I'd chuck out a few of these exercises in exchange for some more core and to give the old shoulders a stretch out or rest.

Still, 40 something minutes that gave me an ace pump and all body workout! Try it, see how long it takes you.

NB: After Matt completed his 1000 we decided that we should try it again in a new format. I WILL join the gang!!.. further blogs, images and videos to follow...