Training with a new born

My son has just turned 15 months. It has only really been the last few months that he has started to sleep through the night. Before he was born, I was training up to 4 days a week and this routine was working well. I knew I would be in for some sleepless nights but I was unsure on how this would affect my training. What I began to realise was how little sleep you could actually function on, compared to the regular 8 hours you may have had previously. Sleep deprivation will affect your exercise but don't get too dissapointed if you aren't as fired up for your gym sessions like before. You have to accept that some days you will feel good and others not so good. Sleep is also how we recover from a gym session. So if you used to train on consecutive days, or every other, you may need a couple of extra days to aid recovery. Go easy on yourself as well. When training, a general rule of thumb is to improve on your last session. Constant gradual improvement, will enable you to get closer to your goal. If you have had a tough night however, don't worry if you can't match your last session in regards to duration or intensity. The key is to praise yourself for exercising, even if you do less and you will always feel more energetic afterwards!

The next issue becomes time. If you are a full-time mum or dad, or if you both work, time to actually exercise probably becomes more of an issue than sleep. Life will be a juggling act at the best of times, and trying to squeeze a gym session in could be way down your list of priorities. If you are desperate to exercise but don't always have the time to get to the gym or a class, then a short power workout at home is a great way to keep you focused! I invested in a couple of Kettlebells. I fling these around in the bedroom (in a controlled way!), once my son had gone to bed. Although it wasn't the planned session I wanted to do at the gym, I was still getting my muscles working and my heart rate up. This kept my confidence up and didn't let my fitness drop too much before my next visit.



If you don't have dumbells or kit at home, then even body weight exercises are fantastic. Squats, lunges, jumping jacks, pushups, mountain climbers, planks, sprints, etc.



If you are struggling for time, come and see one of our instructors for a home workout. We can build this in to your weekly routine and provide you with some ideas to keep you exercising!

I am told the sleep and time situation improves....in about 15 years. Can't wait!

Oli.

Protein for FAT-LOSS

-Here at the sports centre I run a nutritional course called Revive. At Revive, people often join the course to lose weight. Losing weight isn't the term we like to use. Instead we promote 'fat-loss'. If people lose inches, they don't care about the scales. If you maintain your weight and drop body fat, the weight you have maintained will be muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, and it is important we build muscle for a number of reasons. This is something for a different post. The following are all reasons why you should up your protein intake for fat-loss:

Protein will fill you up.

Protein based foods take more time to break down and they therefore fill you up for longer. If a food is broken down quickly then you will feel hungry sooner. Satisfying your appetite is the key to any fat-loss programme.

Protein keeps your blood sugar levels steady.

Protein will also slow down the rate of digestion of other foods. If you eat certain carbohydrates, you get a rapid rise in blood sugar levels, followed by a dip or the 'sleepy' part of the day. However, combine any form of protein with this and you immediatiely slow down this absorbtion. If you often feel tired after lunch, reduce your carbohydrates and up your protein.

Protein is very low in calories.

Not only does protein fill you up, it is also lower than carbohydrates and fats, in regards to the calories it provides per gram:

Protein = 4
Cartbohydrates = 5
Fats = 9

For fat-loss you need to be reducing your overall calorie intake. If you are doing this without feeling too hungry then you are more likely to maintain your fat-loss goals.

Protein speeds up your metabolism.

A higher metabolism means we burn more calories at rest. Building muscle also raises our metabolism.

Protein promotes the release of the hormone Glucagon.

Glucagon promotes fat-burning. Carbohydrate promotes the release of Insulin, which is a fat-storing hormone. This doesn't mean that carbohydrates are bad for us, but it means you need to get the balance right.

Protein based food include the following:

Fish:

All fish is a fantastic source of protein. Fresh is best but tinned is great to have in the cupboard to add to meals or as a snack.





Meat.

Go for unprocessed natural meats. Organic/local produce is even better.

Dairy.

Eggs, cheese, Milk and yoghurt are all good examples. One of my favourites is cottage cheese for a quick and easy source of protein. Eggs are a great way to start the day. Try this simple recipe to combine both and add to a salad or small jacket potato:

Ingredients

2 hard boiled eggs
1/2 tub of cottage cheese
Sea salt
black pepper
(Add a little mustard for extra flavour) 

Directions

1. Hard boil eggs and chop.

2. Mix in cottage cheese, mustard and season to taste.

3. You will have a high protein low fat egg salad in no time

Vegetarian options:

Quorn
Beans
Lentils
Soya
Dairy again (if not a vegan).


Start increasing your protein intake to your 3 meals a day. If you can also start to incorporate protein based snacks into your day then you will feel even better. Follow this and see how much more energy you will have, simply through controlled blood sugar levels.

I will leave you with some protein based snacks:

· Nuts

· Seeds

· Natural yoghurt

· Cold meats – a fantastic snack for weight maintenance, blood sugar levels and these are low in calories. An example is a chicken drumsticks, slices of ham etc.

· Cottage cheese with oatcakes or rice cakes.

· Protein shake

· Glass of milk

· Celery and peanut butter

ENJOY!!

Oli

Learn Your...

Compound Fundamentals

 

Essential training regime to increase physical size and strength as well as enhance sporting performance.

 

Compound lifts utilise multiple large muscle groups and mimic similar ranges of movement to those commonly found in sports. Most professional athletes-particularly those whose disciplines require a particular level of strength or explosive power (i.e rugby players, sprinters) - will perform heavy compound lifts as part of their regime. The exercises shown below are the key foundations to compound lifting and should be perfected before moving on to more elabourate moves later on.

 

Deadlift

 

1. Stand with your feet under the barbell
2. Bend down without lowering the hips and grip the barbell with your preferred grip outside of either leg.
3. Bend your kness until your shins are touching the bar.
4. Lift your head and chest to straighten your spine before lifting.
5. From this position, continue the movement upwards, lifting with both your hips and knees simultaneously.
6. Finish in a strong position with shoulders pinned back and hips pushed forwards against the bar.
7. Return the bar to the floor through the reverse sequence taking care to keep the barbell as close to your body as possible.

 

 

 

Back Squat

 

1. Set up the squat rack with the bar racks set at shoulder height and the safety bars set to just above your hips.
2. Duck under the bar and rest it on your traps at the top of your shoulders, not your neck.
3. Have your feet slightly wider than hip width at approxiamately the distance apart they would be for performing a standing jump.
4. The squatting movement should resemble that of sitting on a stool, with the hips 'clearing' (moving backwards) as the knees begin to bend, this will also keep your back straight so try to use this as the catalyst for the whole movement.

 

 

 

Power Upright Row

 

1. Lift the bar from the floor as you would during a standard deadlift.
2. Once at the top, return the bar to approximately knee height maintaining spine angle as shown below.
3. From this position, complete the remainder of the upwards phase of the deadlift powerfully so that the bar can continue to move past its usual resting point.
4. Using your shoulders, keep the bar moving upwards, keep your elbows above your hands at all times to utilise your shoulders as much as possible.
5. Bring the bar as close to your collarbones as possible before allowing it to return to the rest position at the top of the deadlift.
6. As with all compound exercises, try to keep the weight close to your body throughout to avoid injury.

 

 

Push Press

 

1. Set the squat rack up as you would do for a squat, with the bar racks at shoulder height. The safety bars may not be required.
2. Lift the bar from the racks and hold it in a relaxed position across the front of the chest. (Clean hang).
3. Bend at the hips and knees slightly before each repetition.
4. As your legs straighten explosively, drive the bar overhead until your arms are straight.
5. Carefully lower the bar back to shoulder height, once again bending at the hips and knees to 'catch' the weight as it falls.
6. Repeat, remembering to use your legs throughout the entire set.

What to do....

Each of these exercise uses a key aspect of more advanced, dynamic compound lifts which can be learnt in due course. Establish a solid foundation by perfecting the exercises shown here with particular emphasis on form and fluidity of movement as opposed to weight.

To do this effectively, keep the weight the same for all four exercises-this will help you to improve strength in the areas you are weaker whilst developing  the explosive power and speed of movement required for compound lifting in elements such as the deadlift and squat.

Perform 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps of each exercise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does eating fat make you fat?

This may sound like an odd question, but does eating fat actually make you fat? Fat has always received bad press. Firstly, let’s have a look at the different forms of fat before we discuss this point further:

Mono-unsaturated Fat

This is the best of all fats, and should be included in your diet. It helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol.

Monounsaturated fat is believed to assist in the reduction of heart disease. It provides essential fatty acids for healthy skin and the development of body cells.

Monounsaturated fats are typically high in Vitamin E, the anti-oxidant vitamin which is usually in short supply in this country.

Mono-unsaturated fats we should include in our diet are Olive oil, nuts, seeds and avocados.

Poly-unsaturated fat

Polyunsaturated fat is also healthy. It is also an essential element in our diet because polyunsaturated fat includes essential fatty acids called omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. The body cannot produce this itself.

Ideally, look for poly-unsaturated fats that contain omega-3, like flax oil, hemp oil, pumpkin seeds, walnuts or oily fish.

Polyunsaturated fat is also found in vegetable oils like safflower and sunflower.

Polyunsaturated fats have the same benefit as mono-unsaturated fats in the lowering of bad cholesterol. However, they also lower total cholesterol, which means the reduction of good cholesterol too. This is why Mono-unsaturated fats are perceived as a better source.

Saturated fat

Common sources of saturated fat include animal fats, butter, lard, red meat, poultry skin, cheese, cream and milk. Certain vegetable oils, like coconut and palm oil are also high in saturated fat.

Saturated fat has received a lot of bad press over recent years. However, a lot of the above examples are natural foods and are good sources of protein.  Gaining some of this fat from natural sources, won't lead to bad health. You cannot compare saturated fat found from an organic grass fed cow to saturated fat found in a processed beef burger. It is the processing that causes the problem. We have been eating saturated fat in its natural forms for thousands of years. I think we will see a u-turn in the information we have received on the subject in the near future!

Trans fatty acids

These are the worst of all fats and should be avoided at all costs.

Trans fats are chemically altered vegetable oils. They are produced artificially in a process called hydrogenation which turns liquid oil into solid fat.
Trans fats can be found in thousands of processed foods from sweets and biscuits to ready meals. They are used because they are cheap, add bulk to certain foods and give products a longer shelf life. They have no nutritional value.

Trans fats have been linked to high cholesterol, which can lead to health conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and infertility. Some nutritionists say that eating foods containing trans fat is similar to eating plastic.

Avoiding trans fats doesn’t need to be hard. Reduce any processed or refined food. This will not only reduce Trans fats but overall calories. Avoid ready meals, fast food, baked goods e.g. doughnuts and biscuits, and avoid products that list 'hydrogenated', 'partially hydrogenated' or 'shortenings' on the label. This all means Trans fat.

If a food is natural and if it was around a 1000 years ago then it won't include these fats! This is a great way to look at how healthy your diet is. How much of what you eat was around 1000 years ago? A topic for another time!!

So, back to the big question!

Fat does include calories, whether it is from any of the above forms. It contains 9 calories per gram, unlike protein (4 calories) and Carbohydrates (5 calories).

However, consumption of a healthy amount of the good fats (mono and poly), won’t lead to weight gain. Healthy fat is proven to speed up our metabolism and improve weight loss.  These fats will provide you with so many quality nutrients , that you will feel less hungry. A recent study showed that having an egg in the morning led to people consuming 20% less calories over the course of the day.

Fish, nuts, seeds, avocados and olive oil are all important in your diet. Nuts and seeds are  fantastic for snacking on and for regulating blood sugar levels. Fish at meals times is fantastic and is actually one of the best ways to start the day.

An unhealthy lifestyle with over-consumption of high calorific foods and little exercise will lead to us storing fat. So the next time you go for the low-fat yogurt, ask yourself - what is wrong with the fat? Nothing.

KEY TARGETS:

→ Include healthy Fat in your diet.

→ Healthy fat will aid fat-loss by raising your metabolism and providing you with vital nutrients

→ Avoid man-made trans fats.

Posted by Oli

Lift Weight-Lose Weight

Fat burning is often approached in a very one-dimensional fashion. Hours spent on the CV (Cardiovascular) equipment and all manner of short-lived, counter-productive diets that allow the weight to return all too quickly once they have run their course. Gym equipment will often feature ‘Fat Burning’ programmes built-in to provide specific speeds and intensities at which body fat is the preferred energy source used by the body to complete the exercise. In reality this is a little bit of a false truth. Whilst your body does indeed favour fat at these low intensities, you still burn a percentage of fat at higher intensities and often expend more overall energy in the process. For example, walking on a treadmill for half an hour could burn 180 calories-102 calories (60%) of which are fat, whereas running for the same time could burn as much as 400 calories-120 calories of fat (30%). The key difference is the intensity at which the exercise is performed- the harder you work the more calories you will burn both during and after the session.    

The real secret to effective fat-loss is an improved Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), meaning the ability to burn calories even when you are no longer exercising.  The key factor in RMR is Lean Body Mass or the amount of fat-free mass an individual has. In other words-muscle. The more lean mass the higher the metabolic rate at rest and with this in mind weight training becomes a crucial element of fat-loss. This is not to say that aerobic exercise is no longer of use in the process however the two forms of training stimulate the metabolic system in different ways.

Aerobic exercise of a moderate intensity will stimulate the muscle metabolism during the exercise and for a short period afterwards, however, weight training (anaerobic activity) can result in an elevation in metabolic rate for as long as several hours or even days after the session! This reaction is known as After-burn. In order to achieve after-burn an individual must attain a heart rate of 75% or more of their maximum.  This can be achieved not just with weights but with high-intensity interval training and the effect will be the same, more calories burnt both during and after training. You can use several complex formulae to work out at exactly which point you enter this level of training however the simplest and most effective way is simply to pay attention to your breathing. As soon as you breathe harder than usual during exercise you encounter your aerobic training zone, burning glucose and oxygen as your primary energy sources. Once you become so short of breathe that talking normally is no longer possible you are firmly in an anaerobic state and using a different energy system altogether.  

Effective weight training means limiting the amount of repetitions completed to 1-20 in order to provide sufficient stress on the muscle to affect growth. There are many ways to train with weights but with regards to fat-loss Circuit Training is often favoured because of the high heart rate maintained due to short rest periods and consecutive exercises. The type of exercise will also play a part in how much energy is expended during any given workout. Generally speaking, compound exercises, those which use large groups of muscles working as a unit to perform an exercise (such as a Squat, Dead Lift or Clean and Press) are much more likely to trigger a higher heart rate than isolated moves (bicep curls or Triceps Extensions).  Muscle development occurs when you are at rest and therefore approximately 24-48 hours should be allowed between weights sessions to allow the muscle to repair and grow sufficiently in order to complete the next session. For those that attend the gym regularly (and for whom the thought of 48 hours of inactivity is simply unthinkable), this does not mean that other tasks cannot be completed in this resting period. On the contrary, the muscle metabolism will still be burning energy and this makes it the ideal time to be training aerobically.  This will tire the muscles in a different way and therefore any effective weight-loss programme should feature both aerobic and anaerobic activities.

In summary, fat-loss is a multi-faceted task and requires more than simply slogging away the hours on the treadmill and counting calories.  It requires a total fitness approach, allowing for not only the initial benefit of losing weight or body fat in the first place, but also providing a solid foundation for the continuation of a healthy lifestyle.

Top tips for improved sleep

Many of us struggle with a good nights sleep. Some people simply cannot drop off while others toss and turn all night. I have included some useful tips to help improve your sleep below. Try them and see if it helps you get your 8 hours!

1. Fill out a grateful log:

Right down a list of things you are grateful for in life. Do this while in bed and simply use a notepad. Start every sentence with "I am grateful for" or "Thank you for". This creates positivity and will help calm the mind. For many us, the mind will be racing while we try to get to sleep, with the list of things we need to do or general worries. This can make us very anxious. If you realise how much you appreciate in life, this can be a great relaxant. This technique can produce dramatic results.

2. Stay away from sugary foods before bed.

Consuming anything high in Carbohydrates just before bedtime will spike blood sugar levels and keep you awake.

3. Keep all lights off.

Turn off any night lights. Even the standby light on the T.V. Light stimulates the retina and can in turn disrupt your natural sleep patterns. If you have kids, turn off their night light 30 minutes after they fall asleep. This will improve the quality of their sleep too.

4. Supplement with magnesium.

A large number of people are deficient in magnesium due to poor soil quality. This is mainly due to fertilisers, pesticides etc. Magnesium is great to lower stress levels. My sleep levels have improved dramatically since supplementing in the recommended daily allowance.

5. Stretch in the evening.

Completing a series of stretches for all the major muscle groups is another form of relaxation for the body and mind.