Training with a new born

Some of you reading this may have heard that very recently I have become a father to a baby boy. The past year has been a whirlwind, last October I found out I was going to become a father and a month ago my son, Isaac, was born. A new-born has a huge impact on your life, and I knew my training would have to change with less sleep, less time to eat and generally less time to do anything! It's not about you anymore, you always have to put the baby first and so I am going to tell you how I've changed my training to keep myself fit and maintain the strength I have built up since starting to train 5 years ago, whilst raising a baby with my partner.

Previously before becoming a dad, I had enough time to train 5 times a week and play basketball once or twice a week. I love training and have come far since starting when I was 18. With a new-born, you will have less sleep and find it hard to keep your nutrition intact (I've tried my best!), therefore you will have less energy to train regularly. So I knew I wouldn't be able train as much as I used to. I've reduced my training frequency to 3 times a week and if I have time I add a 30 minute cardio session. It's built around compound lifts and is split into a push day, pull day and leg day, with abs at the end of 2 or 3 days for 10-15 minutes or so. Here is what I do:

Push day:

Flat/incline/decline bench press 4-6 reps x 4 sets -  change each week.

DB Shoulder press/barbell push press 6-10 reps x sets

Tricep extensions/skull crushers/narrow press ups - tri set 6-12-25 x3

Pull day:

Deadlifts/stiff legged 4-6 reps x 4 sets

Pull ups wide/narrow 6-10 reps x 3 sets

Lat pull down/one arm row 8-12 reps x 3 sets

Seated DB curls/Z bar curls/Cable curls - tri set 6-12-25 x3

Leg day:

Barbell front squat/back squat 4-6 reps x 4 sets

Good mornings/negative hamstring curls 6-10 reps x 3 sets

Walking DB lunges/leg extensions 8-12 reps x 3 sets

Sprints/Prowler sprints 25-50m x 5 sets

Cardio (optional):

Treadmill Interval training- 30 second sprint, 45 second rest. 10-15 minutes.

Keiser bike- 15 minutes.

So there it is, as you can see it's built around heavy compound lifts such as the bench press, shoulder press, deadlifts and squats. This is to maintain or even stimulate muscle growth and strength, depending on my sleep patterns and nutrition. The rest is a mix of strength and hypertrophy. With some exercises I will go to failure on the last set, on one arm rows or leg extensions for example. In terms of abs, I will set up a mini circuit of 3-4 ab exercises (e.g. hanging knee raises, leg raises, bicycle crunches, ab wheel rollouts) of 10-20 reps on each exercise and complete 3-4 times, with a rest time of 90 seconds in between circuits. I will do this 2-3 times a week at the end of a workout.

Not only do I think this is a great 3 day split for my situation and others in it too, but it's also a great training plan for newcomers to weight training. It gives you a full days rest in between each training day to recover, so you can put 100% into each workout without feeling too tired or over trained. E.g. Monday (push), Wednesday (pull), Friday (legs) and Sunday (optional cardio). Once you feel you have plateaued on this plan then add in another training day or come up with a new split, as there are tons of different ones out there. I have been doing this for 4 weeks now and feel great on it. I haven't lost much of what I have gained at all and I have even increased my deadlift weight. Once Isaac starts sleeping through the night and I finally get 8+ hours sleep then I will increase my training days again, but until then, this is working fine! 

Simon

Motivation

With the winter fast approaching, along with colder weather and darker days, we sometimes find it harder to motivate ourselves for training and proper nutrition. Understandably everyone at some point in the year will lose that motivation, which will affect their training levels. This can lead to a loss on motivation in other areas of your life, such as your job, or diet.

I certainly feel it’s the winter where most people struggle, especially when it comes to sticking to their training regime. Everyone likes to start training in the New Year, or start getting in shape a month before summer starts so they look good on the beach. But I’m going to talk about keeping on top of those motivation levels ALL year round, which will lead to better performance not only in the gym, but in your job and a better relationship with your friends and family too, which in the long run will help keep yourself and them happier and healthier.

Nutrition

Nutrition is key when it comes to training, mood and energy levels. Get your nutrition right and it’s a good start to getting that motivation back. I myself notice that when I go through a few days of poor nutrition, my mood becomes worse, energy levels drop and as a result my training isn’t as effective. I’m also generally a lot happier when I find myself eating right. When I mean eating right, I’m talking about foods that will benefit me in and out of the gym.

Animal protein such as chicken, beef, pork, turkey, lamb, fish and other foods rich in protein such as eggs, milk, yoghurt (Greek), beans, pulses, nuts and seeds. Unrefined carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, brown/basmati rice, wholegrain pasta/bread (avoid white/refined carbohydrates) and of course eat plenty of vegetables with the addition of some fruit. The more variety of colour in your diet the more vitamins and minerals you will get. 

Avoid foods high in sugar, processed foods and foods with trans-fats. Also avoid foods with artificial sweeteners. This ranges from fast food, cakes, biscuits, pastries, fruit juices, fizzy drinks and foods containing gluten. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients on the back then it’s probably a sign that it’s no good! And finally limit your alcohol intake, a couple of beers or a glass of red wine at the weekend won’t hurt, but if you're serious about your training and nutrition, alcohol will seriously hinder your progress in large quantities.

Finally drink plenty of water every day. Your body is 70% water. Every function of your body depends on it, digestion needs lots of it, your joints are cushioned with it. Your brain is more than 90% water. Even your bones are 5% water.

These are just some ideas of a good base understanding of nutrition. Always think food first before considering supplements, nail the diet and if you feel you would benefit from some supplements then think about investing in some to further enhance your training and nutrition. Remember there called supplements for a reason, because they supplement your diet. This is just scratching the surface when it comes to nutrition but hopefully I’ve given you a better understanding.

 

Goal setting

Set yourself goals, short-term and long-term. Where do you want to be next month, 6 months, a years’ time and so on? Make it specific, achievable, realistic and put a time frame on it. Hit those short term goals consistently, which will motivate you to build up for that long-term goal. Don’t quit, we're bound to regress from our goals from time to time, if you find yourself in that situation, re-focus and concentrate on your short-term goals. Get back on track. It’s cliché but think to yourself it’s going to be worth it in the end!

Motivational figures

If you find yourself low on motivation and all you need is a “pep” talk from someone to pick you up and get you going again, then look up to any sort of motivational figure in your life. This could be a professional sportsman/athlete, bodybuilder, personal trainer, actor, musician, mum, dad, brother, sister, whoever inspires you. We're all human, we can’t do everything on our own and we do need guidance from someone else whoever they are. Watch a motivational video, or listen to a song, speak to a family member. If it’s something small, look around, there’s tons of motivation out there, you just need to find it.

Motivational music

This ties in with the previous point, but music is a powerful motivator. It’s proven that the right music for the right individual before and during, will increase their sporting performance or in the gym by 20%. Create a playlist that you like, full of songs that will raise your intensity. Everyone is different and different songs motivate different people. But when you next go into the gym, have a playlist that will motivate and inspire you to get the best out of that gym session.

 

Rest

My final point is to get enough rest. There’s is no point in training every day and making yourself tired, this will affect your training and nutrition. Get at least 8 hours sleep a night to recover from a long day’s work or a training session. Your muscles need time to rest and regrow to come back stronger. Also enjoy yourself on your rest days, have something to look forward to at the weekend with your friends or family, for example, eat good food and forget about training. If your mind is constantly on working out and eating right non-stop, you’ll just create stress for yourself. It’s all about getting that balance right which can be hard at first, but once you get into that routine you’ll reap the rewards and the benefits of a balanced and healthy lifestyle. After a good day or two’s rest I always come back more energized, motivated, focused and ready to train hard!

Simon.

 

Fad Diets

Fad Diets do not work, full stop! Food is there to be enjoyed!


In today’s society everybody is looking for the quick fix. Everybody wants results instantly and in their search for these results they are swayed and persuaded to try many different weird and wonderful plans.

The key word is sustainability! Ask yourself this, the way you’re eating today, is that the way you can see yourself eating in the next 6-8 months? If the answer is No you really need to look at your nutritional habits.

I get asked all of the time, what do you think of this diet, or especially lately what do you think of Herbalife or Weight Watchers. My normal response is what do you think of whole foods?

Diets like Herbalife, Weight Watchers and Lighter Life are simply not sustainable for many and do not deliver long term results! The weight will drop off at first but believe me most of this will be lean muscle tissue. If you want to look gaunt, have no energy and not eat proper food then maybe these plans are for you. Some of the ingredients listed in a Herbalife shake I cannot even pronounce, that cannot be a good thing.


We are also missing the bigger picture. Surely in today’s climate, with obesity and type 2 diabetes on the rise, we should be looking to educate people. These companies send out completely the wrong message. "Drink this 3 times a day and you will lose weight". It’s just wrong! How about you eat some eggs for breakfast, a nice chicken salad full of dark leafy greens for lunch and a steak with sweet potato for dinner. Now what sounds better to you? 3 chemically ridden shakes a day, or a day packed full of good delicious whole food! I know what I would choose.

The point of this blog is not to tell you what you should be eating, but to try and open your eyes to these diets and schemes that are everywhere. They target people who are looking for quick results. But these results do not last.


If you start to make healthy nutrition a part of your lifestyle the results will be long term. Not to mention the fact you will look better, feel better and sleep better.

So put down the juice drink or the diet shake. Grab a steak, fry it in some coconut oil and wash it down with a green tea!

ENJOY!
Joe

 

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

A hot topic in the health and fitness arena is metabolic rate. You hear people say “I wish my metabolism was faster” or “why is my metabolism so slow”.  Everything we do in life can affect our metabolism including what we eat and drink, our sleep levels, stress, lifestyle and temperature.  A basic way to measure this is to find out our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the amount of calories required to keep our bodies functioning at a “rested” state. To determine the amount of calories you need daily, you will need to know your weight, height, age and activity level, which I will explain a bit later on in this post. There are two formulas to find out our BMR:

• BMR Calculation for Women: 655 + (4.35 × weight in pounds) + (4.7 × height in inches) – (4.7 × age in years)
• BMR Calculation for Men: 66 + (6.23 × weight in pounds) + (12.7 × height in inches) – (6.76 × age in years)
  Once you have found out your BMR from one of the above formulas, you then need to multiply your BMR by your “activity level”.

• Little/no exercise: BMR x 1.2 = Total Calorie Need
• Light exercise(1-3 days/wk): BMR x 1.375 = Total Calorie Need
• Moderate exercise (3-5 days/wk): BMR x 1.55 = Total Calorie Need
• Very active (6-7 days/wk): BMR x 1.725 = Total Calorie Need
• Extra active (very active & physical job): BMR x 1.9 = Total Calorie Need
  And there you have it, after doing these calculations, the results from these show you the amount of calories you need to either put on or lose weight. Now, if losing weight is your goal, then reduce the calories shown by 500, or if it’s to put on weight increase by 500 calories and see if your weight changes in the next few weeks. Obviously the results will all depend on your lifestyle, exercise and diet.
  Ways to Increase your metabolism
  Every time we eat and drink we can thank our metabolism for converting all those calories into energy. Our age, weight and height all factor into our metabolic rate, but there are ways to increase it. The faster our metabolic rate the faster we burn off calories in a rested state. Here are some things we can do to keep that metabolism firing and burning calories:

1. Sleep- Not getting enough sleep will seriously slow down your metabolism.
2. Drink green tea- Not only is this classed as a superfood that is high in antioxidants, but it also speeds up your metabolism. It’s also not too heavy on the caffeine at only around 50mg per cup, so by all means drink a few cups a day!
3. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) - High intensity interval training such as interval runs or circuits can jump start your metabolism and keep you burning calories long after the workout.
4. Don’t skip breakfast- Studies show the importance of quick-starting the metabolism with breakfast. Something high in protein such as eggs is a perfect way to start the day and will keep you fuller for longer.
5. Lift Weights- Not only does lifting weights help add lean muscle mass, but also increases our resting metabolic rate.
6. Add spice to meals- Next time you’re cooking up some chicken, eggs or other foods; add a dash of cayenne pepper. The heat from the pepper is thanks to capsaicin, which won’t only add a fiery kick, but it could help boost  the metabolism too.

Simon

Cardio to preserve muscle mass

There has been a lot of research lately into the best forms of cardio to maintain muscle mass and strength. Cardio is great for many reasons. We all need some form of conditioning, whether it be for sport or just for general health. However, for many people who find it difficult to gain muscle and keep it, adding cardio can be detrimental. Cardio can take much needed calories away from the muscle building process and can hamper strength if you do too much.

If you fall into this category, there are certain forms of cardio that can help you maintain muscle mass and strength whilst keeping the heart and lungs functioning well! A recent study shows that the two forms of cardio that are beneficial for this are cycling and sprints. The main reason for this is that both involve hip extension. Hip extension with resistance (sprinting hard, or cycling with a high gear) is the closest thing you will get to leg exercises like squats. Obviously cycling for hours on end will still not help but short sessions of 20-30 minutes with some intervals in between would work well. The same applies for sprints. Make sure they are maximal sprints and aim for 5 to 10 sets with walking in between for recovery.

Another form of cardio that is often overlooked is circuit training or even strongman training. Bodyweight exercises in a circuit or tire flipping, sled dragging, keg tossing etc, put in a back to back order, will have a big element of cardio but with added strength.

So if strength and muscle is key for you, the next time you do cardio maybe avoid the long run or hours on the cardio machines. Give a short intense burst on the exercise bike a go, a set of sprints in a local field or even  a strongman style circuit.

Oli.

Summer Circuits

With the British summertime beginning and the weather warming up, why not take advantage of this by doing some circuits outside? Let’s be honest it doesn’t last long!

All you need is an open space (i.e. the park, your garden, the TSC yard), a few bits of equipment and your imagination! Make up as many “stations” within your circuit and do as many “rounds” as you like, but around 30-45 minutes of circuit work is plenty of time. 

Here’s an example of a simple circuit:                                   Equipment needed:

Shuttle runs – 30-60 seconds                                                              Cones

Squats/Jump Squats- 20 reps                                                                 N/A

Press-ups- 20 reps                                                                        Exercise mat (optional)

Front Plank- 30-60 seconds                                                        Exercise mat (optional)

Lateral Raises – 20 reps                                                                 Pair of dumbbells

Burpees- 20 reps                                                                                        N/A

Star Jumps/Jumping Jacks- 30-60 seconds                                            N/A

20m Sprints- 30-60 seconds                                                                  Cones

 

Make sure you perform each station back to back without any rest in between, once you have completed all stations, have a 2-3 minute rest, have a drink and go again! 3-5 rounds should be enough, but it all depends on how far you want to push yourself. Play around with the amount of reps and or time on each station and feel free to come up with your own exercises.

Circuits are very flexible giving you a full body workout, which not only works your cardiovascular system but also gives you elements of strength training. So you will be improving your general fitness whilst increasing your strength at the same time. This is great for fat loss and better overall body definition.  Circuits are a form of HIIT training (high intense interval training). This will get your metabolism firing, burning more calories than a more casual 60 minute gym workout.

Also if you are stretched for time in the day then a quick circuit workout for 30 minutes would be extremely beneficial for you. Finally, get some friends involved to help you with that extra motivation, pushing each other to the very end! So give some circuits a go this summer (or whenever the weather is good) maybe once or twice a week and I’ll promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

Simon

Avoid these 'dieting' pitfalls

1 - AVOIDING FATS. If saturated fat was bad for us the human race would not have survived to this day. Can you imagine our ancestors catching a wild animal but not eating it because it was red meat? Or not eating the skin because it was too fatty? This is nonsense. Eat natural.

2 - CONSUMING TOO MANY LOW-FAT PRODUCTS. The market for low-fat products is massive. This is due to many of us being told that fat is bad. How do you make low-fat products taste nice? Add sugar and often lots of it. For example avoid low-fat yoghurts but buy normal ones like greek or natural yoghurt instead. You will eat less of the greek/natural yoghurt because it's more satisfying. Sugary yoghurts will often leave you wanting more.

3 - I MUST STARVE MYSELF - If you do this, any initial weightloss will be from both the loss of fat and muscle. The body will then composate by slowing down your metabolism and then your weightloss will stall, even if you are hardly eating. Eat lean and healthy on a constant basis. Feed your body the natural goodness it needs in reasonable quantities and do some exercise with this. Exercise will change your body shape and assist the fat-loss if the foods you eat are healthy. We are born to eat, don't deny yourself the pleasure of good food! Healthy food can be tasty too, you just need to take the time and effort to cook it.

4 - TAKING PILLS AND POTIONS - People often ask me about fat-loss pills. I have never taken them and never would. It is the quick fix culture that we now live in. Many of us want to avoid consistently applying ourselves to changing our eating and lifestyle habits. Taking a pill would be much easier. I'm affraid this doesnt work! If it did we would all be taking these pills and getting results! You need to make the lifestyle change a habit. Good habits take time but they will eventually feel normal. Then you can get to where you want to be for life, not just for a month.

5 - YOU'RE ALWAYS ON A DIET - Some people switch form diet to diet, getting a few results along the way but then generally returning to their normal shape/habits when the diet stops. Instead, try the 'don't diet, diet'. Find foods that you like, that help you with your fat-loss/muscle building goals. Variety is good but don't worry if you eat similar foods, especially if they are good for you and they are helping you acheive your goals. Being on a diet will promote negative thoughts about food. We often think more about the foods that we aren't allowed and want them even more when we restrict ourselves from having them!

6 - DON'T EAT CARBS AFTER 6PM - The issue for most people is making sure they eat carbs at the right times, in the right amounts and in the right forms! Reducing your carbs as a whole will improve fat-loss. Carbs actually release seretonin so therefore having some at night should help you settle before bed. Our body does not know what time it is. It doesn't start to store fat as soon as the clock hits 6pm! Back in the day we would have hunted all day and feasted at night! Try upping good fats and protein throughout the day and having some carbs in the evening.

Oli

Better carb choices

When choosing carbohydrates either on a daily basis or to support your training, there are some options that work better than others. Why not switch to some of the following and see if this helps you feel more energetic throughout the day:

SWAP cereal for porridge. Cereal is high in sugar and the energy it provides you won't last long. Oats however are more slow release. Try adding low sugar fruits like berries to the mix rather than sugar or dried fruit.

SWAP white potatoes or chips for sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are low in sugar and high in fibre.

SWAP cous cous for Quinoa. Quinoa is actually a seed whereas cous cous is made from wheat. Some of you may be intolerant to the gluten in wheat. Quinoa is also a good source of protein and healthy fats.

SWAP white bread for wholegrain bread. If bread isn't wholegrain, it has had part of the grain removed and replaced with starch to extend the shelf-life. If a food lasts a long time, then it means that even the bacteria won't eat it! Switch to wholegrain for better fibre and nutritional value.

SWAP high sugar fruits for low sugar fruits. I was once told if you can peel a fruit it's often higher in sugar (bananas, oranges, etc) than if you can eat a fruit without having to (berries, apples, pears,etc).

SWAP Pasta for brown rice pasta. Again for those of you who may react to gluten, switch to brown rice pasta for a healthy and fibre packed alternative.

SWAP white rice for brown rice or jasmin rice. Both of these are packed full of nutrients.

SWAP sugar for Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a great way to speed up the metabolism and add sweetness without the calories or sugar spike.

SWAP regular chocolate for Dark Chocolate. 85% plus dark chocolate is very low in sugar compared to your normal varieties. It also satisfies you quicker and you won't eat as much of it!
Oli.