Spring cleaning my diet

After indulging at Chritmas and then helping my son work his way through his Easter eggs on a daily basis, I decided my diet needed a bit of spring cleaning. Lots of foods had crept in, that aren't particularly healthy or patricularly beneficial to my training. Some foods that have found their way in because I haven't taken the time to plan ahead. The more sweet stuff I eat, the more of a sweet tooth I get. This then leads to worse choices on a daily basis.

Below are the swaps that I have made to get back into good habits:

• Out with the White Bread and in with the Wholemeal bread / Rye bread
• Out with the sugary cereal and in with the gluten free porridge
• Out with the pasta and rice and in with the brown rice pasta and sweet potato
• Out with any processed meats and in with the preferably organic/unprocessed meat
• Out with the tea and in with the filtered water
• Out with the chocolate and biscuits and in with the seed bars and apples

One thing I have added in, is so much more green veg and I have got back into the habit of eating a couple of avocados a week. My veggies have been consisting of mainly spinach, green beans, broccoli and sugar snap peas.



I must say, my sweet tooth has almost dissapeared. One week of cutting the processed food out and the sugar addiction virtually goes. My energy feels better, my training is going well and I feel less sluggish. When you start to eat a little leaner, your body will detox the rubbish that you have been putting into your system. It's only when you eat something like this again can you taste the added sugar. It is very easy to turn your taste buds off. Bring them back to life with real, natural food and feel the energy come flooding back.

Oli.

Boot Camp

Join in with the re-launch of the TSC's extremely popular Boot Camp.

Commencing 23/01/12

Mondays 6.00-6.45pm

Wednesday 6.30-7.30pm

A fun challenging class set outdoors come sun, rain or snow. The sessions’ will involve a wide variety of exercises with all abilities catered for.

Expect a tough workout for the whole body!

For more information please contact a member of the gym team or alternativley email djb@tonbridge-school.org

Pre-Fatigue/Pre-Exhaustion Training Follow Up

After incorporating the Pre-Fatigue/Pre-Exhaustion principles of training into my own weights session it is safe to say they have definitely shaken things up for me.

Week one

Week one left me feeling more motivated in my training, as you always should following any structured change in your routine. More importantly following the change I knew I had begun working hard again feeling physically challenged after the sessions. As expected, when training for Hypertrophy (development of muscular tissue), I have felt a little stiff/sore post training and I would definitely recommend allowing yourself time for a thorough stretch after your workouts. I also found a swim and a sauna substantially helped my recovery time in week one and two although not essential.

Week two

Week two is where the training really came into its own. I found that performing the two exercise back to back (totalling between 20-25 reps) much easier and although still pushing hard in my sessions the previously experienced stiffness was minute compared with week one. I modified the training routine slightly after working through week one as some exercise I had put together didn’t work quite as well as I had hoped. Whilst following a plan and Periodization of training are important when something isn’t working a simple substitute of exercise is far more beneficial.

Moving forward

Like anyone aiming to progress in there training, no matter what the goal, structured change is key! After another minimum of four to maximum of six weeks it will be time to refresh my routine and focus on the next stage of my training. Knowing this provides a great sense of focus and direction helping motivate me in every session I have. Whenever training I know I only have a maximum of four-six session left performing my current workout and always endeavour to make each session better than the last.

For any help/advice with training please feel free to contact me at djb@tonbridge-school.org.

Dan

Try this to speed up your metabolism

One of the best ways to get lean and stay lean is to speed up your BMR (basic metabolic rate). Your BMR is the rate at which you burn calories whilst resting. If you layed in bed all day, your body would still burn calories to exist. To simply have your organs working, for breathing, for digestion etc, all of these use calories in the energy process.

However, your basic metabolic rate can be altered so that your body burns more calories on a daily basis, even if you don't exercise. Imagine if you could burn 500 extra calories a day before even getting active! That would be the equivalent of a spin class or a long run.

Here are some top tips to rev up that rate and reap the rewards:

Train with weights

The more muscle you produce, the higher your metabolsim. For every pound of muscle you put on your body, you burn an extra 50 calories a day. So if you gain 5 pounds of muscle, you can burn an extra 250 calories before you even get going! Think about it, muscle is living tissue that needs to be fed. It uses up energy to exist. One of the best things you can do is lift weights. Big compound movements are the best. Squats, deadlifts, presses, dips, chinups, etc, anything where you use more than one muscle group in an exercise.

Eat more Protein

Protein is great. Not only is it low in calories, but your body can't easily store it as fat , using it for essential tasks including muscle repair and to rebuild cells. Protein itself is very complex. It takes a lot for your body to digest it. The process of digesting protein in itself increases your metabolic rate. Protein also releases fat burning hormones!

Eat little and often

If you snack on the wrong foods, you could pile on the pounds. But trying to consume 3 mini meals and 3 snacks, instead of three large meals is proven to boost your metabolism. It is like throwing a log into a fire. The more often you throw them in, the stronger the fire burns. Try and incorporate protein with every meal and snack:

Breakfast - Eggs and rye bread
Snack - Cottage cheese and Pineapple
Lunch - Fish and salad
Snack - Low calorie protein shake or Almonds
Dinner - Chicken and roasted veg
Snack - Natural yogurt

All the above meals and snacks include protein of some form, through meat, fish, dairy or supllementation.

Do interval training

This means instead of doing long cardio sessions, you crank up the intensity by adding short, sharp bursts of effort. For example, 1 minute of gentle rowing followed by a 30 second sprint repeated 5-8 times. An interval will elevate your heart rate to a level that will in turn boost your metabolic rate. You will also get what is called oxygen debt. After your workout, your body is still working hard to get the oxygen back into the sytem after periods of anaerobic activity. Anaerobic means not using oxygen for energy. A sprint would be an example. You only have to look at a sprinter to see what great physiques they have. They never do long cardio sessions. Sprint training and weight training are the biggest part of their programmes.

Add spice to your food

This doesn't mean a takeaway every night from the local Indian restaurant! But adding spices like chilli to your meals can speed things up.

Eat Breakfast

When you sleep, the metabolism slows down. The best thing to get it going is to eat first things. Keep breakfast protein based.

Drink milk

Recent studies have shown that a deffiency in calcium can slow the metabolic rate down. Drinking milk and low fat natural yoghurt has been proven to lift this.

Oli.

Pre-Fatigue/Pre-Exhaustion Training

If you have found yourself stuck doing a the same weights routine for over six weeks I would strongly recommend trying a few weeks of pre-fatigue/pre-exhaustion training. Not only will changing your routine provide a "fresh" stimuli causing your body to keep adapting but it'll also help  keep you motivated with your training.  

Pre-fatigue/pre-exhaustion is a tough way to train really overloading the muscles so expect to feel a little sore after the first one or two workouts. The principle involves performing one isolation (single joint) exercise directly before a compound (multi joint) exercise. This results in the agonist (main muscle) of the compound movement being thoroughly worked. 

Quads (leg) example:

Exercise 1: Leg extension 15reps

Exercise 2: Leg Press 10reps

The weight is set so that you work to failure for the 10 or 15 repetitions.

 The first exercise is followed directly by the second.

A rest period is taken only after both exercises have been completed.

For more information or help with alternative training routines please contact:

 Dan Byrne at djb@tonbridge-school.org

Heart Rate Training Zones - Time to get specific

The Aerobic Zone (maximum heart rate)

60-65% MHR- Helps develop economy and efficiency of cardiovascular system (the organs and tissues involved in circulating blood and lymph through the body) with very high volume, low stress work. Very long sessions are needed to improve the combustion and storage of fats.

65-75% MHR- Helps develop economy and efficiency of cardiovascular system with high volume, moderate stress work; an important intensity for establishing a firm cardiovascular base for most athletes.

75-80% MHR- Helps with development of aerobic capacity (the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use during a specified period, usually during intense exercise) and endurance with moderate volume work at a controlled moderate/challenging intensity.

Summary- Training within the aerobic zone will help develop your cardiovascular system and aerobic capacity. The 60-70% MHR zone should only be used on recovery days (recovery days incorporate a low intensity very long session useful during intense training regimes.) The majority of sessions completed should keep heart rate at between 70-80% MHR and last between 30 to 90 minutes. If new to exercise or training to reduce blood pressure/weight then regular 30 minute sessions at this intensity is essential.

The Anaerobic Zone

80-90% MHR- Helps develop the LT (lactic acid threshold: the exercise intensity at which lactic acid starts to accumulate in the blood stream) and the AT (anaerobic threshold: the point that lactate is produced faster than it can be metabolized) with low/moderate volume, challenging/high intensity work.

90-100% MHR- High intensity interval training which helps to increase maximum power and improve LT/AT this is achieved with low volume high intensity work. Should only be performed when completely recovered from previous work although 90-100% MHR is indicated heart rates are not the best way to gauge this level on intensity and a guide would be to increase intensity until work can be held just until the end of the interval.

Summary- Training within the anaerobic zone will help develop your LT and AT. The majority of sessions completed should keep heart rate at between 80-100% MHR. If new to exercise/training regular work within the aerobic zone should be completed before incorporating this sort of training. Session may last between 10-35 minutes.

Calculating your MHR: There are many formulae for calculating you MHR with the simplest being 220 – your age. This is not a good way to provide an accurate measurement however can be used to provide a simple very rough estimate. I would recommend using the karvonen formulae.

My 75%-80% MHR zone (using 220 – age method) = 148 - 158

My 75%-80% MHR zone (using Karvonen method) = 165 – 171

This example highlights how if relying on 220-age I could be working at 20 beats lower then my actual zone targets.

Factors causing Heart rate variations: Dehydration can increase heart rate by 7.5%, Heat and humidity can increase heart rate by 7.5%, Altitude can increase heart rate by 10-20% even when acclimatised and

Biological variation can mean the heart rate varies day to day by 2-4 BPM (beats per minute).

For more help/motivation with working out your own heart rate traiing zones please speak to or email

Daniel Byrne: djb@tonridge-school.org

Do we get fatter as we get older?

It is difficult to deny that as the years roll by, it's not as easy to stay as lean as when we were younger. As we get older, certain hormones decrease, making it harder to maintain muscle mass. Loss of muscle mass equals a lower metabolism and this will affect how many calories we burn when resting. It's very easy to blame age as the main reason for gaining weight. However, it may not be as simple as that when we look closely at how our lifestyle changes through the years.

I was thinking about this last week, when I realised how little walking I do. This led to me thinking about all the other general activity I used to do compared to now. I still exercise most days at a specific time. But the exercise I used to do on top of my sport or training was so much higher. I remember a day at the age of about 16 years old:

• Walk to the station  - 2-3miles
• Catch the train to school - walk half a mile to school
• General walking around school inbetweeen lessons
• School football match in the afternoon (90 minutes)
• Get the train to work after school - walk half a mile to station and then half a mile to work, once off the train
• Worked in a large warehouse for 4 hours, lots of heavy lifting, wrapping pallets, walking etc
• Walked to the sports centre - 2 miles
• Played 5-a-side football for an hour!

This day started at about 7am and finished at 11am. I was probably running on bread, crisps, chocolate and a homemade dinner at night. Not great nutrition, but the calories I burned compared to the calories I consumed left a massive gap. Hence me being pretty skinny! I must have walked about 8 miles on that day.

The above day wasn't a regular occurence, but at the time I didn't think much of it. I walked everywhere, played lots of sport, started hitting the gym, worked, etc. I didnt even class walking as exercise then! It just got me to where I needed to go! Nowadays, we seem to take the car everywhere. I often wonder how much leaner we would be if for 6 months we ditched all cars!

As we get older, more often than not we get more responsibility at work. This often leads to us giving more orders than taking them. A prime example was working in the warehouse, when I worked part time for a courier company. This was temporary whilst studying, but people would soon move from the warehouse to supervisor. From supervisor to the office. And from the office to a management role. Lots of lifting and moving would eventually turn into picking up the phone and sending emails.

If you feel you move less and less, the next step is to find ways to build activity into your lifestyle again. This can be the case for yourself and your kids. Lots of kids are active. Others spend their life living through social media sites. This is sad, because there will be a lot of time for computers when they are older. They should be enjoying the freedom of life and getting outside as much as possible.

For the rest of us, lets simply add more walking into our day. Walk as often as you can. Get off the tube one stop early, walk to work, walk to school, walk to the local shops instead of the supermarket and carry the bags home, etc. Saying to somebody, "try and do an hours walking a day" seems like a lot to build into a busy schedule. 4 blocks of 15 minutes however, doesn't.


If you are struggling with your weight, take a serious look at your lifestyle. When do you move and how often for?

Why not see one of our instructors for a lifestle consultation!

High Protein Quiche!

I am always looking to make protein and cottage cheese especially, more exciting. This low fat, high protien quiche definately did that.

Here is what I did:

• Mix up 2-3 tubs (1 tub = 250g) of cottage cheese and 5-6 eggs in a bowl
• Fry off any veggies of your choice. I used onion, garlic, red pepper and mushrooms, I also added some cooked and diced ham chunks. Once all these are cooked, add to the mix.
• Place the mix into a baking dish. I grated a small amount of cheddar on top and placed some chopped tomatoes on this.
• Bake at 180 degrees for 45-60 minutes.
• I then let it stand and put it in the fridge over night.

I had it the next morning and in the evening with salad. There were plenty of portions for the week. Eating healthy often means planning ahead. Cooking good meals ahead of schedule is one of the best ways to meet your training goals.

Oli.

Guidelines for Healthy Food Options

Food Group	Comments	Score
A	High in Vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals which act as antioxidants and help prevent diseases, especially heart disease and cancers. High in fibre low in fat	5 points each
B	High in Vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals which act as antioxidants and help prevent diseases, especially heart disease and cancers. High in fibre low in fat	4 points each
C	Reasonably Healthy, still offer a variety of nutrients, but not as much as A and B. These foods offer a higher fat content and less fibre.	3 points each
D	These foods are best eaten in moderation, they can be enjoyed as part of the diet and still contain some B vitamins and calcium. Higher in Calories, higher in fat, higher in sodium, lower in fibre.	2 points each
E	This group represents a poor choice. Can still be included in the diet, but with caution. Lower in vitamins and minerals and vital antioxidants. Lower in fibre, higher in Calories and saturated fat. Incre4ased association with disease.	1 point each



A

Citrus fruits, Cranberry juice, Kiwi Fruit, Mangoes, Nectarines, Cantaloupe Melon, Beetroot, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Onions, Peas, Peppers, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Pulses, Brown Rice, Tofu, Garlic, Sardines, Skimmed Milk, Low Fat yogurt

B

Apples, Bananas, Cherries, Honey Dew Melon, Water Melon, Strawberries, Raspberries, Pears, Plums, Peaches, Raisins, Asparagus, Celery, Sweet corn, Cucumbers, Aubergine, Leafy Green Lettuce,  Tomatoes, French Beans, Baked Beans, Wholemeal Bread, Whole Grain Breakfast cereal, Whole Meal Pasta, Chicken breast, White Fish, Oily Fish, Turkey breast, Shell Fish, Mushrooms

C

Avocadoes, Olives, Extra Lean Beef, Extra Lean Pork, Chicken Dark Meat, Almonds, Walnuts, Hazelnuts, Pine Nuts, Peanuts, Low Fat Muesli, Bagels, White Pasta, Pancakes, White Rice, Low Fat

Pretzels, Low Fat thick, Oven chips, Semi Skimmed Milk, Frozen yogurt, Poly unsaturated spreads,

D

Meat Lasagne, Barbecued beef, Sirloin, Bacon, Chilli, Duck, Game, Ham, Lamb chops, Spaghetti Bolognese, Pizza, Cheese, Macaroni Cheese, Low Fat Mayo, Peanut Butter, Tinned Creamy Soup, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad, Toasted cheese, Sandwiches, Whole Milk, Low Fat Crisps, Muesli Bars, Chocolate

E

Hot dogs, Chicken Nuggets, Chicken Wings, Roast Beef, Bacon & egg Sandwich, Fried

Chicken/fish, Spare ribs, Sausages, Salami, Hamburgers, Fast Food, Sugared Cereal, Biscuits, Chips, Crisps, Tortillas, Doughnuts, Pastries, Pies, Onion Rings, Mayonnaise, Butter, Gravy, Cream Cheese, Cakes, Sweets, Soft Drinks (full

sugar)