Why Whey!

Whey protein is the by product produced by the process of turning milk into cheese.

To help you to understand it more, I have attached a video which shows the process of turning milk into cheese:

There are 2 major types of whey protein, whey protein isolate and whey protein concentrate. Generally protein supplements fall into 3 categories.

Whey protein isolate -processed to remove lactose and fat so it is the purest form of whey protein. Typically isolate is around 85%+ pure protein. It also has the highest BV*, its great for both fat loss and muscle gin but comes with a bigger price tag.

Whey protein concentrate - is low in fat and has a high BV but is typically around 75% pure protein. This is great for those who are on a tight budget.

Whey protein blends - When it comes to protein powders this is the most popular type of protein. This combines the best of both types, isolate and concentrate to form a blend at an affordable cost.

Why do we need protein and what does whey protein do?

Protein provides the body with amino acid which helps to build muscle and aids the repair of cells in bones, body organs and muscles. For more details on what protein is and does, read: Protein Code and also the Rules of Protein.

The effect whey protein has on performance is:

• 
  
• Helps reduce post-workout muscle breakdown
• Decreases recovery times
• Repairs muscle faster and increases lean muscle mass
• Increases metabolic rate

Scientific studies have also shown that regular supplementation with whey protein actively encourage a strong immune system.

The benefits to you are?

Whey protein is traditionally used to promote muscel growth in bodybuilders, strength training, athletes, people new to weight training and vegetarians who find it hard to get the right amount of protein in their diets.

Studies have shown that whey protein helps with the repair of tissues and is used in the fields of weight loss plans, infant health, some cancer treatments and the elderly.

*Biological Value
The Biological Value (BV) refers to how well and how quickly your body can actually use the protein you consume.

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Gunnar Peterson in Muscle and Fitness Magazine

Hi everyone,

Just a quick something for you guys to check out.  I was just on Muscle and Fitness magazine website. Gunnar Peterson is a personal trainer who has 20 years of fitness experience and someone I like to follow.  Check out some for his videos at Muscle and Fitness website click here
C

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Last Quote of the Week for 2010

"Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it."

"No rest is worth anything except the rest that is earned."

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My Favorite and Biggest Sporting Moments in History.

Here so of my favorite and biggest sporting moments in history.  Things like Tony Hanks 900 and Travis Pastrana Double back-flip which I remember watching, to Roger Bannister 4 minute mile and Jesse Owens.  See what things you can remember and its just a nice way to show what can be done if you try and focus on a goal. Enjoy



Please comment below and send my any of your greatest sporting moment!

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Merry Christmas!

From Train4Fitness we like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Santa being you everything you wish for!  

Enjoy your weekend and relax!

Happy Christmas everyone................................

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December SUB issue!

Check here to see the new issue!

Workout out video from myself (some of you guys have already seen the workout, but it look good in the magazine) page 32 to 35

Also articles from

Deanne Berry - Beginning workout you can do at home page 64-67

Competition to win Ministry of Sound running trax 2 page 41

Read more »

Quote of the Week Muhammad Ali

"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision."

Muhammad Ali

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Leg workout for the cold winter season

LEG CIRCUIT WORKOUT

Workout and Video below

SQUAT 15 REPS


BACK LUNGE 10 REPS


WALKING LUNGES 20 REPS


SQUAT JUMPS 15 REPS


ONE TO TWO MINUTES REST AND REPECT TWO MORE TIMES

How to video:




Also maybe like to try out a 20mins total body circuit click here

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The why and when rules of protein

Protein is a very important nutrient whether your goal is to lose fat, gain muscle or just tone yourself up. It is the main structural nutrient in your body, is the building block of all of the body's muscles aside of water. Protein is essential for proper hormone function and immune system health. Most importantly, for our purposes, protein is used for building and repairing muscle tissue.

When you are trying to lose fat, you reduce your calories. Unfortunately, your body views fat stores as more precious than your muscle tissue and will tend to eat up muscle tissue before it goes to fat for energy. This physiological adaptation used to protect our ancestors from famine but works against us now.

Simply this means if you workout and replenish the energy you have used your body will start to break down your muscles for it. Needless to say your workout at this point has done more damage than good. You have probably heard that muscle tissue is a great calorie-burner. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when you're doing absolutely nothing! Protecting your muscle tissue makes fat loss so much easier, it will amaze you. Not only that, it will help you keep that fat off permanently!

In order to protect you muscle tissue the first thing to do is to exercise and especially resistance training where you put your muscles under serious tension and this will signal the body that you need to keep this muscle. The second thing is to eat protein, either from real foods or from supplements. Always choose food as the first option!
But food isnt always around and that is when the supplements comes into the picture. Supplements is a great way to get high quality protein without excess calories.The most popular and highest quality protein is whey protein. Whey is very digestable and is used efficiently in the body.

The big question often is when should you take your protein supplement? I have made a list for when you should take it to get maximum effect.

•  Immediately After A Workout 

This is the absolute best time to take it. Immediately after you finish your workout, your body needs raw materials to rebuild and recover with.

•  An Hour After A Workout

About an hour following a workout, your body has settled down and is ready to start rebuilding. The protein that you took in immediately following the workout has been metabolized and your body is looking for more. Another protein shake or a meal at this time is a good way to help speed recovery.

•  First Thing In The Morning

Immediately upon waking, or as soon after that as you can manage, take a scoop of protein powder. Your body has just been through an (approximately) 8 hour fast and is hungry for nutrients.
Protein powder is more quickly assimilated than solid food and gets into your muscles faster as the body breaks it down more quickly than natural food. Dont forget to eat breakfast though!

• Last Thing At Night

Prepare your body for the long overnight fast by giving it a little something to work with. A good combination for this purpose is to mix a scoop of whey protein in with a small glass of milk.

•  In-between Meals

A quick protein shake can be a great snack in between meals. It helps keep your body supplied with protein all day long. This is especially useful if you tend to have long periods of time in-between meals. It could mean the difference between losing muscle and building or keeping muscle!

Never drink a protein supplement immediately before working out!

Some people do this thinking that it will give them an energy boost or give them a head-start for post-workout recovery. Basically, all it does is sit in their stomach and bloat them up. Valuable blood that should be going to working muscles gets sent to the digestive system to try and digest it. The same warning goes for taking protein during a workout. Don't do it!

I hope this have opened your eyes for fact on how important protein is for our body and helped you to understand all the why, whats and when of protein.

If you still have any questions or thing that we missed to mention something please leave a message and we will come back to you.

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Keeping track of your Runs

Here a good website i start to use! Runkeeper.com

It allow you to find running routes in your area, plan new routes and keep personal progress records. Come with a apple apps which is free to download. Not a 100% sure if its right for you visit Runkeeper.com blog site click here

Good luck and enjoy your running maybe ill see you on the street's

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Flexibility in your Lat area!

Wall Lat Stretch



This exercise is to help improve your flexibility in you lat

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Quote of the Week Vince Lombardi

 13th of December Quote of the Week

“A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.” ~Vince Lombardi

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Upper body flexibility exercise

Some basic upper body stretches to help your flexibility and to improve your posture.  Try doing the exercise after your workout!

Posture exercise for rounded shoulders

 

Wall chest stretch

 

Also check out article on:

Bad posture when working out 

Leg Flexibility how to video!

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The Protein Code

You probably know you need to eat protein, but what is protein? Many foods contain protein but the best sources are beef, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, and lentils. Protein builds up, maintains, and replaces the tissues in your body. Your muscles, your organs, and your immune system are made up mostly of protein.


The body break down the protein in food into basic units, called amino acids. The amino acids then can be reused to make the proteins your body needs to maintain muscles, bones, blood, and body organs.
These amino acids can join together to make thousands of different proteins. Scientists have found many different amino acids in protein, but 22 of them are very important to human health.

Of those 22 amino acids, your body can make 13 of them without you ever thinking about it. Your body can't make the other nine amino acids, but you can get them by eating protein-rich foods.
The good news is that you don't have to eat all the essential amino acids in every meal. As long as you have a variety of protein sources throughout the day, your body will grab what it needs from each meal.

You can figure out how much protein you need if you know how much you weigh. Adults, for instance, need about 60 grams per day. To figure out your protein needs, multiply your weight in pounds times 0.5 or you can just take your weight and divide by 2. For instance, a 70-pound (or 32-kilogram) kid should have about 35 grams of protein every day. If you only know your weight in kilograms, you need about 1 gram of protein each day for every kilogram you weigh. If you are strength training and want to put on muscle mass you need to increase your protein intake to roughly 2 grams of protein for every kilogram you weight or in some cases even more.

Also article you should read are:

You become what you eat
Importance of understanding your energy balance
8 Different workout techniques

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Leg flexibility how to video!

Some basic leg stretches to help your flexibility.  Try doing the exercise after your workout!

HAMSTRING stretch video




QUAD stretch video

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Bad posture when working out is a NO,NO

This video is all about your posture when training! What to look out for and how your posture should be. 

New Video's come all this week on Stretching.

Article to check out to are:

Stretching (My First Article in Sports Urban Bible)
Most Common Gym Mistake
How to Video's

Read more »

Quotes of the week 7th of December!


What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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9 Gift ideas of Christmas

As Christmas is just around the corner, we would like to offer you some gift ideas.  All based around fitness and sport, starting from the simple and cheap to the crazy side! All the gift ideas are great for anyone who is involved in fitness or just starting out.

Gift for under £20

 

SmartShake

A gym bag must! The SmartShake™ has built-in canisters, where you store several servings of nutritional supplements for example, protein, creatine, vitamins, and capsules.  A great way to carry your pre/post-workout drinks in a container. Making it easy and fast to enjoy your workout drinks and also saving room in your gym bag.

£9.99

www.smartshake.co.uk

Gymboss

The GYMBOSS is a small, easy to use, repeating interval timer. This multi-use timer has many versatile functions that make it beneficial to virtually any type of exercise program. Great for MMA/Boxing, Tabata, Crossfit and more…..

£14.99

www.amazon.co.uk

Nike Dri-FIT Men's Running Gift Pack

You may be running and doing outdoor sports this winter. This running pack from Nike will help him/her to keep warm as they pick up the pace.

£18.00

www.store.nike.com

  

Gift for £20-£50
 

 Powerbar 2

The great thing about this Powerbar is it’s not permanently fixed to your doorframe and can be easily removed in seconds.  The design is wider than the doorframe, this enables you to do wide chin ups which you can’t do with some chin up bar.  Making this one of my favourite home chin up bars

£25

www.amazon.co.uk

 

Sigma PC15 Heart rate Monitor

I have not personally used this watch before but I see it’s has had some good reviews. I feel there may be better watches on the market but they cost more, so for the price this is a good buy! I would recommend that you read the functions and reviews first, to check it meets your personal requirements!

£36-£45

 

Personal Training Sessions

This is not a gift everyone will be thrilled to get at first; they may think you are trying to tell them something!  However if your recipient is into fitness or looking to get in shape then this is a great gift to get.  A personal trainer will push you to reach your goals, faster than you can reach them yourself.  This blog gives you the tools to get in shape but can’t push you in the gym, a personal trainer can!  In my opinion a personal trainer is and always will be the best way to reach a goal.

Each trainer will charge a different fee for sessions, but expect to pay around £30 to £50 per session. It is recommended that you check the trainer’s qualifications prior to booking a session

Gift for £50 and upwards

Kettlebell

You can have a good workout, which will get your heart pumping and exercise your whole body, in a very small space.  I love training with kettlebells as you can do hundreds of exercises with just one kettlebell. I would say the best weight to buy men 12kg-16kg and women 6kg-10kg based on beginners.

Price from £9.99 and upward

 http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk

 

Ipod Nano

I don’t need to talk too much about ipods as we all know what they are.  Ipods are a great tool for helping you push your workout to the next level.

Price around £130

www.apple.com/uk

 

TRX Suspension Training

This is for people who love trying new challenging workouts!  Great bit of equipment to work out your whole body, plus you can take it anywhere with you.  It allows the exerciser to leverage his/her own body weight for a variety of strength, endurance and power exercises.

Price £110-£260

www.trx-fitness.com

 

If you like any of the gifts, please read up a little on them before buying to ensure they meet your individual requirements! Please comment on this article and if you know any other gifts ideas, please comment, it may help your fellow readers out.

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High-Five To Fibre

Fibre

Fibre is an important component of a healthy balanced diet. We get fibre from plant-based foods, but it's not something the body can absorb. This means fibre is not a nutrient and contains no calories or vitamins.

• Fibre helps your digestive system to process food and absorb nutrients.

• Fibre lowers blood cholesterol.

• Fibre helps to control blood sugar levels, which in turn controls appetite.

There are two types of fibre: insoluble and soluble.

Insoluble fibre

Insoluble fibre contains cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. It helps your bowel to pass food by making stools soft and bulky. This type of fibre helps prevent constipation.

Insoluble fibre is found in the following foods:

• beans

• brown rice

• fruits with edible seeds

• lentils

• maize

• oats

• pulses

• wheat bran

• wholegrain/meal products

Soluble fibre

Soluble fibre contains gums and pectin. This type of fibre lowers cholesterol levels and controls blood sugar. It can be found in all fruit and vegetables, but the following are rich sources:

• apples

• barley

• citrus

• legumes

• oats

• pears

• strawberries

Knowing this its only to start eating those fibres.

Also check out article           What happens with all our carbs
                                             Carbohydrates
                                             What is an Isotonic Drink?

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Quotes on Fitness!

Quotes of the week!

Fitness - If it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body.

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BODY SHAPING 20 MINUTE WORKOUT

This is a short total body workout which will take around 20 min's, perfect for people with busy life's.  This workout is design to be done in your lunch break at work or to keep your workout time as short as possible in the gym.

Start off with a warm up on the treadmill for 5 mins just to get you warm up.  Then starting off with Static Lunge (10 reps on each leg).  Moving on to Sumo Sqaut with weight, Standing DB Shoulder Press, Seated Row,  DB Bench Press (all 15 reps of each). Then Back Extension (10 reps) and finish off with V-Sit holds (20 seconds). Rest for 1-2 minutes and repeat 2 more times.

This working is designed to get your heart rate moving and build great tone in your body! Set at a more a beginners pace so please check back your Youtube channel for more exercise's to add to your workout. Also Subscribe to get all the new workout posts which will be coming soon! Or Subscribe to your Youtube channel or Facebook page.

Below are the video's for How To do the exercise if you don't know them all ready.

Enjoy and please comments below on any workouts, exercise or tips you like to see on this blog.  Please we love feed back!!!

links for the exercise are:
---------------------------------
Static Lunge 10reps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSHa3b...

Sumo squat with weight 15 reps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNNY3...

Standing DB shoulder press 15 reps

Seated Row 15reps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQyc7s...

DB Bench Press 15 reps

Back Extension 10reps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTTKbR...

V-Sit hold 20 second
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4U7Cf...

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Competiton time at KITBAG.COM

KITBAG.com

It's time for another exclusive competition! If you fancy winning a football shirt and jacket of your choosing then simply 'Like' this post (link below)- the lucky winner will be selected at 3pm GMT tomorrow. If you're feeling lucky, mull over what you'll choose if you're a winner at http://www.facebook.com/kitbag?v=app_4949752878#!/kitbag

This was a post I got send by SUB Magazine.  And if you want more post like this please SUBSCRIBE in the top right hand corner so you will not miss out next time.

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Quote of the week 3

If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you'll achieve the same results. Tony Robbins

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November SUB article

Click here to see the November issue

page 26-29

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What happens with all our carbs?

When you eat carbs, the body breaks them down into simple sugars (glucose), which are absorbed into the bloodstream. As the sugar level rises in your body, the pancreas releases a hormone called insulin. Insulin is needed to move sugar from the blood into the muscles and the liver, where the sugar can be used as a source of energy.

The sugar beeing stored in the liver is called glycogen. Our body can only store about 1200 - 1600 kcal as glycogen. This amount is barley enough for our daily energy needs. When this is used the body start transforming fat and protein to  glucose and this is a much harder process for the body. if we dont choose to eat again. Glycogen is the first energy depot that is beeing used of the body if we dont supply new energy through food.

Our brain and organs are all depending of glucose to function properly. All the surplus glucose from Carbohydrates that isn´t beeing used by the body straight way or stored as glycogen is beeing stored as fat. This is could be a very important factor to the huge increase of obesity and overweight people in modern time. 

When the bloodsugar level goes below a crucial point the body gives the brain a signal that we are hungry and need to eat. If you eat alot of simple sugars you're more likely to feel hungry again soon. When it occurs more slowly, as with a whole-grain food, you'll be satisfied longer. These types of complex carbohydrates give you energy over a longer period of time.

The carbs in some foods (mostly those that contain a lot of simple sugars) cause the blood sugar level to rise more quickly than others. Scientists have been studying whether eating foods that cause big jumps in blood sugar may be related to health problems like diabetes and heart disease. You're probably already on the right track if you are limiting simple sugars (such as candy) and eating more complex carbohydrates (like vegetables, oatmeal, and whole-grain wheat bread)

This is why its important do know your carbs if you want to keep a healthy and fit body.

Also check out articles on       Carbohydrates
                                                High-five to fibre
                                                You become what you eat!

Read more »

Carbohydrates

-The major source of energy for the body


Most foods contain carbohydrates (carbs), which the body breaks down into simple sugars and use as energy. We all need to eat carbs for our body to function on the highest level it possibly can.


There are two types of Carbohydrates


To learn the difference in these two types is crucial if you for example want to loose weight or to get that longed for six-pack.
The two types are named: simple and complex.

Simple Carbohydrates:
Another name for these are simple sugars. Simple sugars are found in refined sugars, like the white sugar you put into your cup of tea. If you eat sweets, you're eating simple carbs or sugars. But you'll also find simple sugars are in more nutritious foods, such as fruit and milk. It's better to get your simple sugars from food like fruit and milk. Why? Because they contain vitamins, fiber, and important nutrients like calcium. Sweets does not.


You´ll find natural sugars in fruit and vegetables.


Refined sugars are found in:


• biscuits, cakes 

• chocolate

• Jams

• brown and white cane sugar

• Most fast food as pizza and hamburgers

• prepared foods and sauces

• soft drinks

• sweets and snack bars.  


Complex carbohydrates:

Another name is starches. Starches include grain products, such as bread, crackers, pasta, and rice. As with simple sugars, some complex carbohydrate foods are better choices than others. Refined grains, such as white flour and white rice, have been processed, which removes nutrients and fiber. But unrefined grains still contain these vitamins and minerals. Unrefined grains also are rich in fiber, which helps your digestive system work well. Fiber helps you feel full, so you are less likely to overeat these foods. That explains why a bowl of oatmeal fills you up better than sugary candy that has the same amount of calories as the oatmeal.


Complex carbohydrates as natural starches are found in:

• bananas

• brown rice

• chickpeas

• lentils

• nuts

• oats

• potatoes

• root vegetables

• wholegrain/meal products

Complex carbohydrates as refined starches are found in:

• biscuits and cakes

• Most fast food as pizzas and hamburgers

• sugary processed breakfast cereals

• white bread

• white flour

• white pasta

• white rice

Our next piece in these series will cover how the body uses carbs so you could get a deeper insight on the importance of knowing your carbs.

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Week 2 quote.....

“If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.” Anthony Robbins

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HOW GOOD IS YOUR RUNNING ENDURANCE

RUNNING, HOW DO YOU SCORE?

This is a test to work out how good your cardio fitness is when running.  This test also reveals how good your aerobic fitness is.  As you reach the maximum capacity that your body has for processing oxygen, your body will switch into it’s anaerobic system.  As the lactic acid builds up it will become hard for you to use the muscle power in your leg and you will have to stop.

REMEMBER

Arms, face and neck relax

Land on the middle of your foot

Stay in the middle of the treadmill

Arms should move forwards and backwards not across your body

Don’t stoop

TEST

Warm up for 5 minutes by walking then jogging on a treadmill.  Set the treadmill on 1.5% incline and lets begin: FOLLOW THE CHART BELOW until its not possible for you to increase the speed (every minute) When it not possible for you to keep going stop the treadmill, record your time and see how you score!

TIME	SPEED		TIME	INCLINE		TIME	INCLINE
			7	13		15	2
			8	13.5		16	2.5
1	8		9	14		17	3
2	9		10	14.5		18	3.5
3	10		11	15		19	4
4	11		12	15.5		20	4.5
5	12		13	16		21	5
6	12.5		14	16.5		22	5.5

YOUR SCORE

Check your score against the table and then come back to it again after a month or so and try the test again. Hopefully your endurance will be better!

TIME	LEVEL
Under 7 second	POOR
8 – 11 second	AVERAGE
12 – 14 second	GOOD
15 – 18 second	GREAT
19 second and over	ELITE

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New article quote of the week

 "The name of the game is taking care of yourself, because you're going to live long enough to wish you had."

Read more »

Straight Arm Lat Pulldown Video

How to video on Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns


Click here to see more, how to training video's

Please Comment and Subscribe to get more video's Workout coming very soon!!!

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What is an Isotonic Drink?

Isotonic drinks have two main roles -they replenish lost minerals and electrolytes and also top up our energy levels in the form of glucose, carbohydrate (sugar).  Plus like water they keep you hydrated. The market is full of isotonic drinks, ‘Lucozade Sport’, ‘Powerade’, ‘Gatorage Aid’ and ‘Taut’ to name a few.  But it’s important to know a little about them and how they work.

Should we drink them every time we exercise?

Your body has a good store of carbohydrate, enough to cope with 45 minutes normal exercise.  So in this case it’s best to just drink water to stay hydrated and eat a healthy meal after exercise to replenish your energy. Now I’m not saying that if you do more than 45 minutes of normal exercise you should have an isotonic drink.  As your store of carbohydrates depletes, your body has to find energy for some other place (more on this in the future). If you are going to be training for endurance or long distance events an isotonic drink may benefit you from hitting “the wall” or prevent cramping!  However isotonic drinks are no better than drinking water and eating a piece of fruit for normal everyday exercise.

Isotonic Drink Vs Water

Both hydrate you but the isotonic drinks have more minerals and electrolytes to keep your body working better during exercise, but the isotonic drink contains carbohydrates, and water is calorie free!  Also most isotonic drinks contain artificial colours, preservatives, sweeteners (Aspartame, more on this in the future) and additives.  So with all these additives I would say water is the best in my opinion whilst training! I do use Isotonic Drinks too but mainly when I am undertaking a hardcore training session. 

Make your own Isotonic Drink

Dissolve 50 to 70g glucose into a litre of water and then add a fifth teaspoon of natural unprocessed salt.

or

Mix 500ml of unsweetened fruit juice with 500ml of water and add a fifth teaspoon of natural salt (paralympics.org.uk)

Check out the article on Water and the Benefits

Read more »

Factors that affect our energy consumption

Our energy consumption is well connected with our body structure, metabolisim, our level of movement and being active during the day and our age, gender, length, weight. As you can see there are a lot of different factors that control our bodies consumption of energy.

Basal metabolic rate (500 - 1200kcal)

Its often shortened to BMR. This is the amount of energy our body needs to keep it alive. All our organs need energy, cells to be created or replaced etc. The BMR is responsible for roughly 50-70% of our total energy consumption. The more muscles you have, the higher the BMR is. In other words you can affect the BMR by weightlifting or strength training. A thing that decreases the BMR is age, and that explains why our bodies put on weight when we got older.

Thermogenesis (200-500kcal)

All food and drinks we put into our body cost us energy to break it down. This is what we call thermogenesis and its called this because it raises our body temperature. Roughly 10% of our total energy consumption goes to this process.
Overweight people usually have a lower rate of heat production. Different foods consumes more energy than others to break it down. Protein needs the most energy followed by carbohydrates and least energy is needed to break down fat.

Growth

Children and teenagers consumes a lot of energy when they grow. The same thing applies to people that workout by example strength training. This energy consumption is pretty low comparing to the other factors.

Physical Activity (500-6000kcal)

The level of physical activity can raise your energy consumption significantly. When you move around and especially train, your body burns of a lot of energy. The consumption increases with your weight, the hardness of your physical activity and the length of it.

If your work is demanding physically you could burn more than 1000kcal comparing to a work situation where you are required to sit down all day. Cardio raises the energy consumption substantially and is a great way to get hold of weight gain and obesity.

Muscles that you receive from physical activity as for example weightlifting raises the BMR roughly with 100kcal for every kg of muscles.

Other factors

Could be the use of medicine, nicotine, caffeine, the use of strong spices, stress, anxiety and heath & cold. All these factors could affect the consumption of energy even the composition of the food that you eat or hormone production could be a affecting factor. Even our genes could be playing a hand in our consumption of energy.

Read more »

The importance of understanding your energybalance

The first step to loose weight or to add on weight is to understand your energy intake levels

Most foods contain energy. The main source of energy is from fat, carbohydrates, protein and not to forget that even alcohol contains energy. Your energy requirement differs from person to person but its based on a couple of different factors such as:

Gender
Age
Length
Weight
If you are physically active or not
Do you train or not

Our daily diet have a big impact on how to maintain our energy balance. The relation of our energy intake and energy consumption its a crucial factor on how to maintain our health.

To make it more manageable we need to understand the difference between the different energy sources.
Energy is often mentioned as kilojoule (KJ) or the newer one kilocalories (kcal). Sometimes you could even find the unit megajoule (MJ), where 1 MJ is 1000kj.

The relations between Kj and Kcal is:

1Kj = 0,24 Kcal
1 kcal = 4,2 Kj

Below is a chart that shows how much energy Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fat and Alcohol gives:

Carbohydrates 17 kJ/gram = 4 kcal/gram
 
Proteins 17 kJ/gram = 4 kcal/gram
 
Alcohol 29 kJ/gram = 7 kcal/gram

Fat 37 kJ/gram = 9 kcal/gram

As you can see you receive twice the amount of energy from fat than from proteins or carbohydrates.

I know there has been a lot of figures in this post which makes it more complicated to understand. In order of keeping track on how much energy you give your body and how much you consume you must know your numbers.

The next post we will talk about different factors that affect our energy consumption.
Thank you for reading and because of nutrition being a complicated subject please feel free to ask questions.

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You become what you eat!

We will start a whole new section here in the blog named Nutrition. In this section we will talk and teach you the basic forms of nutrition and explain our thoughts on different diets.

The body is very complex in nature and there are several things that affect our health, without a good nutritious and specific food you decrease the opportunity to have a healthy functional body.

Where to begin?

If you want to make a change in dietary intake, fortunately you can always start of in a small scale and gradually try your way forward. Analyse your eating habits and start to encourage yourself to forthcoming change:

1. When do you eat, how often do you eat, what kind of diet do you follow and how much do you eat?

2. When do you feel satisfied after a meal, when do you become tired, when do you feel like its time for a new energy intake?

​3. What can you change based on your own experience on how your body reacts to food.?

4. Make the changes that's feels natural, it dose not matter if they are big or small just do them on your own terms.

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Water and the Benefits

There are good reasons to keep yourself hydrated with great benefits.

· Weight loss

· Healthy heart

· Energy

· Headache cure

· Healthy skin

· Digestive problems

· Cleansing

· Reducing risk of cancer

· Better exercise

· Regulate appetite

Now we are looking at the benefits of drinking water for weight loss and to aid your training program. The next time you are in the gym, work, shopping or in the bar, look around you, 7 out of 10 people in the room are ………… DEHYDRATED. To start with, for your body to function properly, the presence of water is needed.

For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

So if you have a dehydration problem, the body will not function efficiently. Water has no energy contained in it, but you will still, and this sounds strange, gain energy for being successfully hydrated. This gain in energy doesn’t come from the water itself, but being fully hydrated allows the chemical reaction between the cells to happen and the breakdown of the fats and sugars to occur more rapidly. This is why we feel more energized and refreshed for what we are about to face.

One of the functions of the liver is to convert stored fat to energy. The kidneys need plenty of water to function, if they are deprived of water the liver has to help which lowers the productivity of the liver. The liver will not convert fat to energy as efficiently so it will take longer to burn away the fat stores and you will feel lethargic.

Research shows being dehydrated by a few percent “athletes” lose up to 10 percent of their maximum potential. Many of you reading this would not call yourselves athletes but it still shows that dehydration can affect the overall results and goals in your training program. Being dehydrated and then working out may not be effective enough to burn off sufficient calories to lose weight in a relatively short time. It differs for every individual how much water you should drink each day, it depends on your diet, weight, health and how active you are. But a good rule is to drink around 8 glasses of clean water every water.

The Institute of Medicine advises that:

· Males: should drink roughly 3 litres a day (about 13 cups of total beverages)

· Females: should drink roughly 2.2 litres (about 9 cups of total beverages)

Yes drink lots of water, it may make you go to the bathroom more often. What is happening is the body is flushing itself of the water that has been stored through years of dehydration but in time this will stop and the bathroom breaks will return to normal again. What’s great about the body flushing itself of the stored water is that in time, the water stored around the hips, thighs, ankles and possible abdomen will also be removed.

Water makes up 50 to 70 per cent of an adult’s total body weight. We are all sweating and losing water though other ways and if we do not top-up regularly, our body’s survival time is limited to a matter of days. So your body function will slow down and not function well.

So staying hydrated will not just help you get the most out of your workout but also help you lose weight and get a better toned body!

Check out article on What is an Isotonic Drink?

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How to video Barbell Squat

Watch how to do Barbell Squat visit the youtube site for more videos
Click here

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October article in SUB Magazine

My new article in SUB Magazine for October

Do you ski much? All about pre season training for Skiing and Snowboarding

Page 26 to 29

Check here to read

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Sumo Squat with Weight instructional video

Watch this video on how to do the basic training on Sumo Squat.

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How to video

New Youtube site! with "how to" videos

click here

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First Article In SUB Magazine (page56-59)

My First Article in Sports Urban Bible (page 56-59)

Stretch Further - all about Stretching in your Training
Click here to check it out!

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Better Six Pack!

This 6 weeks work plan is to help you reach and build a better six- pack and overall core. So many people ask me week to week on how to strength their core or to get the abs to pop out like in all the fitness magazines. Sit-up and crunch alone will not do it for you!

Core Anatomy

When it come the your core (which is the Transversus abdominis, Internal obliques, External oblique’s, Rectus abdominis and also lower back muscles, diphone and pelvis floor muscles)

One of the best ways to increase the strength and size of your ABS is compound movements. Compound movement’s forces your body to release large amounts of growth hormone, which in turn will help you to build better abs. Compound movement’s exercise cause your core to base with the add pressure that the core comes under, which in turn will strength your core to become a stronger unit. Compound movement will also help you strip away at the layers of fat by helping you burn more calories. Performing compound exercise means you have to use a number of large muscle groups to complete the movement, and by placing a number of large muscle groups under tension the pressure, if force the body to burn more calories and in turn burn more fat. It also will increase your metaboilm rate which is why you burn more fat tissues.

Fat Tissues

As I said some many people do sit-up or crunch to build better abs, which is the wrong way of going about it. Its no good building great strength in the core and increase the size of your abs, if you or no-one else can see they because of the layer of fat above them. You will have to do hundred of thousand of sit –up to burn around one kilogram of fat. As I said compound movements are great way to burn calorie but you also have to do Cardio. Yes CARDIO!!!

Cardio

I know so many people who hate doing cardio and that also inclues me. But it something that need’s to be done. It’s a means to a end’s!! I’m not talking about running on a treadmill or outside of hours on end. No, I’m talking about short intense cardio workout 15-20 minutes. Its not long ……. to get bore, but just right amount of time to work around 80% or more of your max heart rate.

All Angles

As most people are looking for the wash-broad abs. We have to hit the core (abs) from every angle possible. Twisting movement as well as holds and leg raise movements will hit the core from all for every angle.



Lets begin!

If’s a six – week guide to a better six –pack. We are split the workout in to three parts. Each week exercise getting hard as you become stronger. Each week will include compound exercises, cardio fitness exercise and some form for abs base movement.

All I need to say now is work hard and good luck!!

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8 Different Workout Techniques

Have you ever been in the gym and heard people talk about different types of technique and not have a clue what they are talking about, or know the names of the technique but are not sure how to really do it. Then here is some help, below is 8 techniques that you can use in your workouts. Here are some of the best techniques used in the gym, a few that some people have never heard of before, ‘jump sets’ or ‘strip set’. Have a read and give some a try.

There are more techniques you can use like G.V.T and E.D.T which I will talk about at some other point. If you have any questions about techniques or style of training please drop me a message.

1. Drop sets

Do a set to failure with a weight, then straight away do another set to failure with a lighter weight.

· You can do this by double-drop (reduce the weight once)

· Triple-drop (twice reduce the weight)

· Down the rack (consecutive set moving down the rack after failure)

e. g: Doing Biceps curls with a weight you can get maybe 8-10 reps for (failure) then pick up the next lightest weight and repeat till you cant lift the weight with good form. Keep repeating the procedure until you get to the last weight on the rack. Each set has to be to failure!

· Variation Triple Drop Sets

This is when you do the same exercise or movement in a different position, e.g. incline bench press to flat bench press and finishing off with decline bench press.

2. Superset

Supersetting it a great way to save time in your workout, when time is limited. It also one of the most used methods of training in a gym.

· Same part supersets

This is the most common type. Two different exercises that work the same muscle, bench press into dumbbell fly’s (no rest between exercises).

· Antagonistic Supersets

Doing an exercise for one body part then immediately do an exercise for the antagonistic body part e. g. Biceps then triceps or quads and hamstrings.

· Upper body/Lower body supersets

As it says, exercise of upper body (shoulder press) then lower body (lunge)

3. Rest-Pause Training

This is a technique to allow you to force more reps out on the same weight. This is great for improving your lactic acid threshold, which will increase your muscle endurance threshold. Do the set to failure then rest 5-10 seconds and then try and force a few more reps out on the same weight. You can do this once or a few times depending if you can keep good form.

4. Giant Sets

Giant set are great for muscle endurance and to help weight loss. To do giant sets, you need to choose one body part and then do several exercises without rest for that body part. The same exercise can be done more than just once within the giant set, e. g chin-ups, pull downs, seated rows, bent over rows, pull downs etc.

5. Force Reps

The most popular and most used intensity technique that a personal trainer uses. This is when you use a spotter to help assist you to complete a set number of reps. So as you start to fail on an exercise the assistance will help you lift the weight and this will force out more reps.

6. Jump Set

Is a great way to build strength! To do jump set is very easy, it’s a way to do large number of heavy sets for different muscle groups without losing as much strength after each set. Say you are doing 5 sets of bench press and 5 sets of bent over row. You start with 3 sets of bench and then 3 sets of rows, and then do the remaining 2 sets of bench and 2 sets of rows. This rest will allow you to have more strength on the last 2 sets than you normally would doing 5 sets in a row.

7. Strip Sets

Strip sets are very like drop sets but can only be done with barbells. You need two spotters to do strip sets. Do a set of bench press and without racking the bar, get the two spotters to remove some of the weight then continue the set. Keep stripping the bar till you meet the desired weight or you fail. So this speak s for itself that you should use lots of light weight to make up your desired starting weight. This exercise is great to burn out a muscle at the end of a workout.

8. Negative

This technique focuses on the negative portion of the exercise (the lowering phase or eccentric phase). Rule of thumb for negative is to use 10% heavier than you 1 RM, you also need a spotter as well. Take bench press, lower the weight slowly taking about six second to lower it, then get the spotter to help lift the weight back up, the more help the spotter does the better. It your job to fight against the eccentric phase, lower the weight as slow as possible. This technique will help you increase your 1 RM.

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