Roll on the lipids

Lipids, guys and girls is another word for fats if you didn’t know already. There are a few different types of fats such as phospholipids, sterols and triglycerides. Structurally they differ between each other and this in turn has different effects in the body.

So when we exercise what macro nutrient do you think gets metabolised? Carbohydrates, fats or proteins? Go on think …

They actually all play a part in metabolism! However, we are actually talking today about fats/lipids being metabolised! There are many people out there who still think that fat is bad for you, it causes this disease and that one and oh yes….makes you fat! Well fortunately that isn’t the truth about fat at all as fat is the second most abundant property in our body after water. Fat is a vital component of cell membranes, it helps with biochemical reactions and also acts as an energy source. It also acts as subcutaneous insulation too which helps us keep body temperature regulated.

During exercise, again lots of us think that only carbohydrates are the source of energy used for energy metabolism. However, there is a hell of a lot more fat stores than carbs. On average in an adult body there is something like 100,000 Kcal of fat stores which is around 50 times fore than carb stores! Guess we are all fat then ! But we know now that it doesn’t work like that – FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT! So now that’s cleared up, back to what I was going on about…if we have that many Kcal of fat then there is no way on this planet that we will not be using that for metabolism! There are different ways of achieving lipolysis. During exercise IMTG (intramuscular triglycerides) which are located within the muscle itself gets utilised. Type 1 fibers have more stores than type 2 which makes sense as these fibers are more fatigue resistant than type 2 bad boys!

Depending on intensity of exercise the body uses different amounts of fats and carbohydrates. During exercise our body can use up to 70% of IMTG to fuel our workouts. These IMTG stores have been proven to be important even during rest after exercise bouts to restore ATP sources and the structural integrity of our system. During rest and low intense exercise in trained and untrained individuals, fat is the most used source of fuel and as intensity increases the body switches to carbohydrate usage. This is why Forest Gump could run for 3 years at a slow pace because he was using his fat stores. If he was sprinting then that would mean carbs would be his main source and we already know now that our body doesn’t store that much of carbs, he would have burned out probably after 6 months! All I am getting at people is that if you want to do exercise at a low intensity then you will be using fat, mainly IMTG to fuel our workouts.

However fat stores are still  used during higher intensity workouts as well! Fat utilisation is a great way of extending workouts and producing ATP for energy. People only think of carbs and high sugar digestion prior to a workout but there have been studies and from personal experience that having a fatty meal a few hours before a workout can actually generate the same amount of energy as opposed to eating high sugary foods before a workout. The body uses short and medium chain fatty acids a lot quicker than long chain fatty acids, so having foods such as coconut and milk can benefit you in your workouts. The good thing with short chain fats are that they don’t need that much time being broken down in the intestines, they get absorbed by albumin and gets down straight to the job no messing about. If you are looking for more examples then look for foods high in butyric and caprilic acid and they’ll do the job! So guys and girls if you want to stuff your gob with good fats prior to a workout then that is fine. You will still perform well at your workouts. Howevverrrrr, remember people these are fats not sugary carbohydrates so that means it will still take the body a bit longer to digest so give it at least an hour or so prior to a workout. An example would be to have a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter and a glass of milk, now you could get away with having that 45 minutes before a workout just for a bit of energy as the body will store that in your muscles and use that essentially as energy for a BIG SESSION!

The rate of lipolysis increases significantly during mild to moderate intensity exercise meaning that the amount of fat used for energy increases exponentially. Usually when carrying out weight training sessions, VO2 max levels won’t really go up past 70% obviously depending on what you are doing  but in general VO2 max is between 55% – 75% which is prime time for fat utilisation. This is why lots of gym goers now have switched to fatty foods to improve their muscle tone, body composition and even strength! There have been times when even carrying out high intensity sessions such as boxing or cross fit, eating a fat meal 2 hours before can seriously benefit your energy levels in sustaining ATP sources for a prolonged period of time! Now guys before you bash me with things like carbs are the main source for high intense workouts, let me just reiterate – carbs are definitely beneficial for high intensity workouts and they will always be like that, that is just the way our body works. But I am offering an alternative especially for those who are looking for reducing body fat and maintaining muscle tone – eating fats especially short and medium chain fatty acids will definitely benefit your workouts!

So there above is a little about fat metabolism and why it can be beneficial for your workouts without going too much in to the sciency part which would bore you all! Have a read of this blog and it might some of you find other alternatives for fuel. Because let’s be honest how many of us are bored of eating the same foods? Probably most of us and this is why it is important to try new things and what better than trying other foods which will still benefit your workouts and metabolism. So get going and get some FAT!

 

Myth Buster – Carbohydrates are fattening

No the answer is they are not! Is there a point or writing anymore? Since I love to talk why not…

There are 3 types of macronutrients which our body makes use of: Carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Now these nutrients are primarily used for different roles in our body. You’ve heard the gym hunk talking about eating protein for muscle growth, due to the massive avocado craze these days people are talking more about eating healthy fats for fat loss and also people go on about eating bananas and drinking lucozade for energy for workouts. So in general, nowadays we kind of know what proteins, fats and carbs are used for within the body and they all have their importance. So why are carbohydrates fattening then?

Years ago in the Western world we moaned and groaned about fat being the culprit for the obesity epidemic and carbohydrates being our savior.  But now due to research and looking at other diets from across the World, predominantly the East, we now know that eating the right types of fats are extremely beneficial for our body and leads to fat LOSS. Now we have turned our attention to slating carbohydrates as being our enemy and causing us to turn round. Let’s try and sort this out shall we?

Now before we carry on I must stress that anything eaten or drank in excess will lead to extra calories and therefore you will gain more mass. A simple equation: Calories in should be less than calories burnt to shred fat.  People don’t realise that there are different types of carbohydrates: 1 being your simple sugars, 2^nd your complex carbohydrates or starches and 3^rd are your fibers. Your body uses these 3 in different ways again depending on the need. They all have their importance in their own way. When we workout, our body wants sugar to convert to energy as sugar is our primary source of fuel for exercise – so naturally you would want to opt for a banana or mixed berries, or honey or even a couple of squares or dark chocolate. Only reason is that they are sugar dense and your body will use it immediately for energy conversion for activity. Now our complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, yams and other grains are actually used for energy too but at a lower intensity level. They are also used for topping up our glycogen levels in the liver and muscles for future exercise. Now this is an important one especially for those who carry out a lot of exercise. Keeping glycogen levels stocked up is vital for future exercise bouts as your body will be able to utilize these stores. A good example is an early morning spin session or run, some people consume a potato the night before or a bowl of oats or even brown rice just because they might not have time to eat in the morning but at least their liver and muscles have stocked up on glycogen to use as glucose for when they workout. Also some people physically cannot eat in the mornings as they don’t feel hungry! I mean you can’t force someone to eat can you! Last of all, we have our fiber which is used primarily in the gastrointestinal tract or mostly in the intestines to keep your digestive tract strong and healthy and to break down any waste. This fiber also helps the body absorb vitamins such as K to be used in the body. This fiber helps get rid of excess cholesterol out of your body and helps waste bind to water to be excreted properly. Yeah not the best topic if you’re eating whilst reading this…

So you can see the importance of the different types of carbohydrates and how efficiently the body uses them.  So why are carbohydrates fattening then?

Nowhere in there is there evidence that carbohydrates are fattening, but like I said before, it’s the balance which has gone off on a tangent. People have succumbed to quantity as opposed to quality and this is the reason why we are gaining more weight. Remember one thing, whatever calories are left over after reactions have taken place will simply bind to a fatty acid molecule and become a triglyceride which will then with a little help from enzymes be transferred to our fat cells and chill there until our calorie balance has been restored! These days it’s so easy to over load on foods simply due to our busy lifestyles, we eat more fast foods, packet based foods and snacks and even eat on the run, never to sit down and actually appreciate the flavours.  It’s all about ‘go go go sonic’ these days and the faster you eat the more you will tend to eat too. Don’t get me wrong, I do it too, I am always running around, training people, studying, advertising, annoying others etc etc so I even sometimes don’t sit down and eat slowwwwlllyyyyy. However, what I do eat are the healthier options rather than the quick foods you see being advertised. Also, my work entails a lot of movement so it is a lot easier for me to burn off the calories as opposed to Joe Bloggs sitting at his desk playing pacman.

So again, being on a carbohydrate diet is not bad at all. Everyone out there just think what you are eating, vegetables are carbs, fruits are carbs and grains are carbs and they all come in different forms of carbohydrates. I know for a fact that South Koreans eat purple potatoes as a way for fat loss simply because of the high fiber and antioxidant content in them. Also lots of South East Asian people eat white rice with proteins and fats…eh white rice???  But look at how much they eat of it and again look at their whole diet as a whole too with their activity levels. Carbohydrates are not our enemy; it’s rather the fact that we have alienated ourselves from eating carbs due to our lifestyle and choices!  Carbohydrates are our primary fuel source then comes fats and then proteins, so if it is this order then why would carbs be fattening? It’s what we do with the carbs is the important aspect, are we eating potatoes or toast with honey and then having a siesta? Or are we blasting out a bootcamp or gym session after?

Our amazing planet has given us delicious ingredients to play around with and make the most amazing foods we can think off. But blaming carbohydrates being fattening is a very naive and gullible way of thinking.

It’s us who needs reevaluating and it’s our choices which ultimately decide our end goal.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

It’s that time of year again where everyone is winding down their fitness regime and enjoying indulging without feeling guilty! This is the time to really appreciate all the hard work you have put in whilst munching on cake, sweets and anything else whilst washing it down with the finest beer!

However, I know that in some people’s conscience even when doing well all year round, they feel guilty when indulging at this time of year. But don’t worry! I am literally sitting down, writing this whilst drinking a straffe hendrik beer from Bruges! It won’t harm you at all and that’s me saying it, a person who literally eats healthy and delicious meals all year round and trains twice a day on most weeks! So give up this conscience and enjoy it while it lasts because you still have the whole year ahead to train!

‘But drinking and eating junk means that you’re losing muscle’ Yeah if I had a pound for every time I heard that I’d be on the forbes list! You do not some how miraculously lose all of your muscle and look like humpty dumpty after eating and drinking for a few days! Fortunately the body doesn’t work like that and if that was the case then every time you had a cheat meal you would be going backwards and never achieve a better body. Sorry guys and girls – doesn’t happen like that. It’s all about having a balance, that 80/20 rule where 20% you can eat and drink what you want and this time of year is the best to embrace that (except for birthdays) and maybe a cheeky holiday every now and then….

Thanks to muscle being a very metabolic tissue, the more you have the more calories they need to eat and therefore your body composition even with junk foods won’t change that much! Now I’m not saying that you need not to exercise throughout this time – yeah why not you can work out too but do it because you want to not need to! Also even if you do exercise, don’t neglect the beers and foods which you have been looking forward to all year. The exercise part for me this time of year is important yes but that’s because I simply want to do it and I enjoy it to keep active but that doesn’t mean I am not going to have a beer …. or 5! Once this time of year is over then you head back to your routine and be disciplined again, at least psychologically you have fed your need and you won’t crave it through the year then.

But whatever you guys want to do this time of year, please enjoy yourselves and make the most of it as time doesn’t wait around! Whatever it is all of you are doing, enjoy it, take up any opportunity which comes your way, take all the free drinks people offer, eat as much as you can, if there’s mistletoe .. crack on !

This time of year is to enjoy everything and enjoy with everyone around you too! I also want to thank everybody who took the time out to read my blog. I am very passionate about this industry and try to share as much as I can on here without making it too boring (I hope)! I also want to thank everyone who has been on my facebook page, twitter and instagram pages and have liked and shared my comments/videos etc. It means a lot that you guys are supporting me and I do sincerely hope you can support me and one another in the following year too! This blog is for anybody and everybody from all walks of life so please feel free to join in and read a few articles if you have spare time. Also please feel free to leave any comments and suggestions and I will do my best to take every comment and suggestion on board and act on it!

Anyway enough of me now – go enjoy your new years with friends and family and hope you all had a great Christmas!

Once again …

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

😀

Myth Buster – Crunches for core

Maybe it’s the wrong time of year to talk about this kind of stuff but I’m going to run my mouth now for a good few minutes.

Now lots of you out there must think that doing crunches all the time is the best way of improving your core. I mean obviously, if your stomach is hurting after a million crunches then naturally you must think ‘yay I’m getting those abs of steel!’

I can tell you now that if you didn’t do all those crunches everyday you can still achieve a strong core! Your core is your foundation and doesn’t matter what shape you’re pulling whether sober or not your core will be working to stabilise body movements! This just means that your core is working in a multi directional way rather than constantly in a ‘bending’ manner as you would do in a crunch situation. Always carrying out flexion based exercises such as crunches can actually cause more damage than good as you are putting a lot of stress on to your spinal ligaments and eventually they will lose their elasticity and become a lot less efficient in their work. Basically what I’m saying is that if you annoy your tissues they’re going on strike – bye bye spine!

Like I said before your core is a multi directional system and it only makes sense that if you challenge it in different ways you will benefit a lot more. By carrying out big compound moves such as squats and press ups you will be stabilising and improving core strength and endurance. You’d be surprised that how much your foundation is functioning when carrying out press ups! Not only that, but by doing compound exercises you are working many other joint systems in tandem which all relate back to core stability. Lots of fitness experts strongly believe that your core stability ranges not only from your abs but to your upper and lower extremities. These peripherally active stabilisers all help your foundation and in turn your central foundation helps peripheral stabilisers. To put all this in 1 sentence – Your joints help each other to stabilise and carry out optimum functional movement. That would have been much easier to type!

So if you guys and girls are wondering now what kind of exercises you can do for improving the core then here are some:

1.Boxing or a form of martial arts
2. Compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats, chin ups, press ups,
3. Power based exercises such as clean and press, snatches, Kettle bell swings
4. Dynamic bodyweight movements such as hand walks, bear crawls, spider walks, burpees
5. Single leg exercises such as single leg deadlift, single leg shoulder press, and single leg jump squat

Now there is no excuse to try some of those exercises listed above out. Who knows you might enjoy some of these and progress on to more challenging exercises. Now don’t these exercises sound more interesting than doing lots of crunches again and again and again! Keep the workouts different and vary the exercises to keep tricking your body and you will find it a lot more beneficial.

All this talk about core and exercises is fun and interesting especially when you actually try them out but remember if you do suffer from chronic back pain with or without leg pain then you should adhere to an appropriate programme given by a trainer qualified in this area. Yeah don’t be going on and swinging kettle bells left right and centre if you do have back pain. Don’t worry you’ll get there after an appropriate programme. Like I said before having a strong core can be brought about with a variety of exercises but the most important part is to achieve this without any excess pain or discomfort!

Munchies before or after a workout ?

A lot of people ask the same question – ‘To lose fat do I eat before a workout or after?’  Now the most probable thing you guys must think is ‘Surely after a workout!’  But why think that?  Is it because you are consuming less ‘calories’ and working out on an empty stomach will shift more fat?  Well let’s find out 😀

I’ll get straight in to it … It does not matter if you eat before a workout or save it for after to lose fat.  So that should ideally answer your question but I will elaborate more, please don’t get bored…

Let’s look at both sides of the coin; Heads – Eating before and Tails – Eating after only

Heads – Now eating before a workout can have many advantages such as you stock up on more energy for your workout and therefore are able to workout for a greater intensity or a longer period of time. Also eating a snack consisting of fat such as coconut water will actually stimulate your fat cells from releasing glycerol in to your bloodstream to use as a fuel source. It’s great isn’t it – Eating fat to BURN fat! Saying that, even if you munch on a banana or a few dried raisins prior to a beasty session, the amazing sugar formulas within these foods will help not only stimulate the release of sugars in to your blood stream but also act as an alarm clock for your brain! Ever wondered that when you are tired you crave sugars?  Yea that is because your brain wants sugars to give it some energy, it may also need minerals such as chromium to help stimulate the organ. Chromium is extremely important for glucose metabolism, growth, insulin and cholesterol regulation.

Also if you are feeling hungry and thinking to yourself that you have a workout in an hour or so, please do eat something! Don’t think that starving yourself and then working out will make you lose fat as your body is more inclined to hold on to it as a safety mechanism. So this is a good time to eat so make sure you have a nice little snack, yea it can be a small bowl of oats, or a pot of Greek yoghurt, or even a scrumptious smoothie which I keep raving about. Remember people, when you are hungry it is your body telling you that you need food for energy, so listen to it and feed it. Just like a baby – You wouldn’t starve a baby (I hope not!) then why should you do it to yourselves. Go grab a snack and enjoy it and you will find that your workouts will not only be a lot more intense but more enjoyable too.

Tails – Eating after a workout can be as affective as eating before a workout. I find that if you don’t eat before a workout provided you have had a sufficient meal a couple of hours before you should have enough energy to fuel yourself through the workout. Advantages of eating after a workout is that if you are heading for an early morning class and just don’t feel hungry or haven’t got time to eat something then you can always drink a glass of water to help that feeling of fullness and then carry out your class. This way of working out is very common for the early risers or people who exercise in their lunch times as they don’t have time to eat prior to a session. Having a munch after a workout can be still as important as before because it’s this time period that you are actually feeding your muscles to make them grow and promoting fat stores to be used for this process. Ideally because you haven’t gobbled up any snacks prior to a workout, you would want to focus on sugars and protein. The protein is for obvious reasons and the sugars act as protein transporters and glucose storage in the liver and muscles for future bombardments!!

So from the 2 sides of the coin, we can see that it doesn’t really matter when you eat for fat loss. Think of it more of what you are eating on a general bases because that is what will really count for fat loss and not whether you eat before or not! You need to remember that muscles and the liver stores energy, vitamins and minerals. The liver can store more than 4 months of vitamin D and can house a lot of glycogen which can be utilised as energy. Also triglyceride within adipose tissues are present for another source of energy. Protein turnover and fat metabolism is dependent on the quality and quantity of your foods throughout the day. You need to eat clean before and after a workout to feel the effects so don’t feel pressurised and think which one works the best. Your body is like a skip – you keep chucking stuff in there like old carpets, bottles. computers, your siblings and then you call the skip people and they take it away to empty it, and then you can have it back to throw some more family members in there. Well your body is just like that except you can’t store family in there – You give it the right stuff throughout the day, week, month and year and your liver and muscles will store the essential ingredients for your workouts. That’s the beauty of your body, it is a storage system and it is this energy which will be used time and again.

So the answer to your question guys and girls – No it doesn’t matter whether you eat before or only after for fat loss, what matters is what are you eating throughout the rest of the day. Ooo one more thing to add for fat loss….

EXERCISE!!

Stability in the right direction

How many steps do you take a day?  10,000? 3895? 500?  Or are you not that sad and don’t keep count?  Maybe you guys have a fitbit or a pedometer which keeps count for you to see how many miles you have done.  Either way, if each one of us counts the amount we use our legs in a day to create functional movements, together we would rack up billions of steps!  Now why am I going on and on about walking and moving in general?

Let’s look at this question in another way…. How many of us carry out functional movements but in a correct manner or technique?  Does that question puzzle you guys a bit now?  You must think what is this guy talking about, he’s lost the plot! But this is a serious question, how many of you can carry out simple movements such as walking but with the correct technique?  This is what we will be jibba jabbing about today!

If you didn’t already know, in its simplest terms, your muscles can be divided in to 2 different groups; 1 group are the local or deep muscles which are stabilisers and the other group are global or superficial muscles which are responsible for carrying out movement patterns.  Obviously it’s a bit more complicated than this, but for the purpose of not boring you guys, just think that there are only 2 distinct groups of muscles.  We will focus on the superficial muscles as they are the ones which carry out movement patterns.

The global muscles attach from the pelvis and the rib cage to the upper and lower extremities (your upper and lower limbs).  They are responsible for the transfer of force from the core to the extremities and also responsible for equalising the external loads placed on the body.  In simple terms this just means that if a weight was thrown at you, you will have sufficient energy to efficiently control the weight and not let it injure you!  So knowing this, these muscles can further be divided in to sub groups – These are called sub systems.  At present, we have segregated certain muscle groups in to 4 sub systems; The deep longitudinal subsystem, Posterior oblique subsystem, Anterior oblique subsystem and the lateral subsystem.  I am not going to explain the role of each of these subsystems as it will take too long so if you boffins are interested then ‘google’ is the magic word!  Look it up 😀 But basically these subsystems work in order to keep our body in check and to produce optimum movement patterns without any issues.

There are a number of muscles which work in synergy (together) within these systems to provide pelvic stability and efficient movement.  Now if any of these systems are on strike then you will suffer the consequences, one of which is instability in the hips, back, shoulders, and lower extremities.  Muscles such as the gluteus medius/maximus, adductors, lats, quadratus lumborum and the obliques are some of the muscles involved in pelvic and sacroiliac joint stability.  Hope I just sounded clever naming muscles 😀 Now on an everyday bases you will not notice changes or instability in your back and hips because you are used to that way of movement.  Just because you are used to it, does not mean it is the right technique.  When you break down tissue, it grows back along the lines of stress that you subjected it to the previous time.  Eg: If you did BB squats with excessive forward lean for months and years then overtime that will be your ‘normal’ technique and without you realising you will develop tightness in the calves, hip flexors, piriformis and some of the abdominal muscles and weaknesses in the glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae and core stabilisers.  But you will not realise that this has happened because you have been carrying that technique out for a long time…unless somebody actually corrects your form.  When that actually happens then you will find it extremely difficult to perform the correct form of a squat.  Due to weaknesses in certain muscle groups, you will find it very challenging to perform the right technique even without any external weight!  I can use the same principle when I talk about everyday movements such as walking.  Another quick test – Have a good look in the mirror (not your face!) but look at your knees and ankles.  Have a look at which way the knees face, are the facing directly forward and in line with your 2^nd and 3^rd toe or do they cave in or move out?  Also look at your ankles – Do they flatten or have they got an extremely high arch?  If you do suffer from those 2 dysfunctions then this will cause an extreme amount of stress in everyday activities such as walking.  Knees caving in or feet flattening could suggest that your glutes, certain hamstrings, your quadriceps stabilisers, stabilisers on the front of the lower leg and certain muscles in the calves are under performing!  When we walk we can put 2 – 4 times our bodyweight through our limbs, now that is a hell of a lot of weight!  Imagine all that force radiating through our knees when they are at a mechanical disadvantage, It’s like forcing a normal person to fight Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan together!  Yeah not a good sight eh!

Every day, every week, every month and every year you are moving and creating potential injuries through your joints if you have incorrect movement patterns.  But this is reversible!  Finally some joy out of all this!  Firstly, you need to address the issues and find out which muscles are overactive and which are underactive and weak.  Secondly, you definitely need to stretch out the overactive muscles by using foam rollers, deep tissue masseuses, static stretches, golf balls or even rolling pins.  These strategies will reduce the over activity of these muscles.  Thirdly, you need to strengthen the underactive muscles and fourthly you need to integrate multiple muscle groups in full body movements.  Once all of these steps are carried out and the equilibrium between muscles groups are back to normal then you will find that simple movements such as walking will become pain free and a lot more efficient.  But you need to give this time and practise these steps everyday!

If you need further assistance, then speak to a qualified practitioner who deals with this and they will help you out.  Rectifying muscle imbalances is a vital aspect of not just gym goers but for every single person out there as we all fall in to bad habits.  For optimum movement and stability in our joints, we must take this matter head on and do something sooner than later.  There are too many people out there suffering from injuries which originate from improper movement patterns – This in turn leads to people missing work days, lacking performance in their sport or the gym and even pain on an everyday bases.

So if you want to see that perfect lunge, or the correct way of walking, dancing and face planting then you need to interrogate each subsystem and rectify the problem!  So get going and improve everyday stability!

A break down of a deadlift

Most of us know that deadlifts are a good test of strength.  This exercise is very common in the gym.  The guy in the corner shouting..yeah he’s the one doing a million kg deadlift !  Nevertheless, whatever weight you lift for the deadlift, you want to carry it out with the best possible technique.  Deadlifts are a fantastic exercise for lower body strength and stability.  They work practically all lower body muscles and also improve your grip and shoulder strength.  They can be used for strength gains, power lifting, building muscle mass and even for rehabilitation exercises.

Now if we dissect the actual move and look at each component of it, then you will see that there are many muscle groups that work in synergy (together) to help lift the weight with the best possible technique.  When you improve on this, you will find that you will be lifting more and more weight, provided that you carry this move out with good technique.  This is what we will be elaborating on in this blog, the different ways of improving your deadlift.  No need to thank me people…..

1. Strength for the upper body – Although the lower body muscles are the prime muscles which are being targeted, your upper body muscles such as your lats and traps help with stability, lifting and lowering phase of the exercise.  This is why it is vital to improve your strength of these muscles.  A lot of barbell shrugs and dumbbell shrugs will help improve strength in your shoulders and even forearms.  To help improve your lats, try doing chin ups and even weighted chin ups.  A lot of pulling motions will activate the lats and improve lower body stability.

2. Grip strength – This is a must!  You will notice that your grip plays a massive part when you start lifting heavy weights.  A lot of people think that they cannot lift a heavy weight because they think they haven’t got the strength in the legs but in fact your grip may be the main contributor to your inability to lift that weight.  So make sure to improve your grip strength by carrying out lots of static barbell and dumbbell holds and farmers walks.  This way you are training your arms and hands to deal with the movement of the weights in your hand and this will encourage you to hold the weight even tighter within your palms.

3. Core strength – During the actual lifting and lowering phase of the deadlift, your core muscles are constantly engaged in an isometric manner.  Yes granted there is the element of spinal flexion and extension in which your superficial core muscles play a huge role, but throughout the move your deep core muscles must be engaged efficiently to carry out this exercise.  This is why you see lots of guys in the gym wearing a weight belt, because this helps their core stabilise so they can lift heavier.  Personally, I don’t like these belts as I rather just let my core activate without the assistance.  But to help your deeper muscles engage try different variations of exercises such as 1 arm/1 leg planks, 1 leg bridges, hand walks, back extensions and even side plank walks.  All these variations will help improve core stability.

4. Flexibility – Flexibility plays a massive part in strength.  There are many receptors within your tissues which respond to external and internal stimuli such as muscle contraction, breathing rate, heart rate etc etc.  These receptors which are involved in muscle contraction and relaxation really have a vital part in orchestrating your performance in the gym!  They are like the traffic wardens, yes everyone has to listen to them whether you like it or not.  The same with these receptors, they determine how much and how fast a muscle will contract.  In order for muscles to contract, opposing muscle groups must relax and again there are receptors for controlling relaxation too.  Therefore, if these receptors don’t allow optimal relaxation, then you will not achieve optimal contraction of the muscles being worked as they will be fighting against each other.  In order for efficient contraction of muscles, you must keep these receptors happy to allow that smooth and efficient contraction and opposing relaxation.  This is where stretching comes in handy!  Try using the foam roller, carrying out static stretches, dynamic stretches, doing some yoga, pilates and even going to a deep tissue masseuse to alleviate any stiffness and knots.  With all these different types of stretching techniques, you will improve the elasticity of muscles and therefore improve their receptor signalling which in turn will help improve strength!  I hope you understand what I’m trying to say !

5. Corrective exercises – Now this is a big one to know!  Without going in to too much detail about this topic I will just try and explain what I mean in a few sentences.  Corrective exercise is a programme to improve the human movement system so that each move you carry out is done with the least amount of stress placed on passive structures such as cartilage, bones and tissues.  Any dysfunctions within your kinetic chain will cause muscle imbalances, injuries and other problems within your body.  This in turn will hamper your progression to lift heavier on the deadlift.  Therefore, it is very important to rule out any imbalances within your tissues and correct them as soon as possible.  If you feel that your posture or techniques are not up to scratch or are suffering from continuous injuries and joint immobility then I would suggest that you speak to a health professional who has knowledge in this area.  You can also look this up on the internet and carry out a few rehab and conditioning exercises yourself too to speed up your recovery.  Now remember, these programmes can take time to eliminate your faults, but give yourself that time and patience to do it!

6. Variation of a deadlift – Don’t just stick to the standard one!  There are many other variations which will improve your overall strength for the deadlift.  Try doing roman deadlfits from the rack position – this way you are just focussing on the lower back and hip area to improve synchronisation between the 2 to help with the lifting and lowering phase of the deadlift.  On these rack deadlifts you can load up and focus on that technique!

The steps above are a guide to a breakdown of a deadlift.  Now I can go on for a long period of time talking about a million other steps but frankly that’ll bore you reading about them all!  This is why, I have just put 6 steps for you to read through which I think are some of the most important ones to practise.  Yes there are exercise plans out there specifying to improve your deadlifts and usually they will come with ‘deadlift focus’ exercises too which will again help improve your strength.  Have a good read through these 6 steps and put them to practise.  If in any of these steps you don’t quite understand what I’m getting at or can’t get an idea of the specific exercises then please look them up on the internet or better yet ask a fitness professional for exercises!  So get in that gym and practise if you want to increase your strength on a deadlift.  In 12 months I want you deadlifting the front of cars!

Kill 2 birds with 1 stone…or more

Yeah don’t literally try to do this!  It probably won’t happen anyway…

So what do I mean with this statement ? Everyone has heard or used this saying (except the ‘or more’ bit) and it means to make your life easier and more efficient.  This can also be used within the fitness industry believe it or not.  All this means is that you do 2 or more exercises without having a rest in between, and no not supersets, tri sets, giant sets etc but I am talking about combinations!

Combination exercises are basically 2 or more exercises carried out without putting the weight down so the stress is always placed on your tissues.  Example of a combination is a clean and press.  If you break this move down you are in fact doing a deadlift in to an upright row in to an upward rotation of rotator cuffs then in to a squat and shoulder press.  So this is definitely a combination exercise, but people take it as 1 move.  Who would have thought a press up is a combination eh?  Well it is!  You push up which is basically a shoulder press and then let yourself almost hit the floor, almost remember not hit the floor, which is then your plank position.  See it is a combination!

So now you know what a combination exercise is, so why are they so damned good for you?

Stress – Well in order to build muscles and get those washboard abs you want to put your muscles under a lot of stress so they break down, release certain hormones, enzymes get to work bla bla bla and you get newer, bigger and better carved muscles.  Because in combinations you don’t put the weight down in between exercises, you are in fact using muscles continuously adding to the stress factor.

Grip strength – Believe it or not, you performing different exercises in 1 go really does improve your grip strength.  When you lift a weight up, that weight is always moving within your hands which causes tension in those little tendons and muscles within your palms and wrists and this in turn breaks grip.  So when you constantly train your muscles to hold a resistance for a longer period of time then you are in turn improving your grip for the heavier moves such as deadlifts and chin ups.  Remember improving grip strength is extremely important when exercising and even for everyday lives but please use it for good use and not to choke someone out….

Endurance – Let’s be honest, this one is a given.  YOU ARE PERFORMING LOTS OF EXERCISES IN 1 GO WITHOUT REST!  Your endurance levels will increase tremendously, need I say more?

Variety – Now this is a good one to talk about.  The good thing with combinations is that it you can vary whether you want it to be a full body exercise or not.  If you just want to target say your upper body then you can carry out a move such as shoulder press in to a bent over row, so 1 press then 1 row then 1 press 1 row etc etc.  Or you can be a machine and go from a press up to a deadlift to an upright row to a shoulder press to a back squat to a good morning to a lunge then back again !  I’ve just thought of this up on the spot so it doesn’t take a GENIUS to make these up!  That’s why these combinations are efficient because you can make them interesting.  Think of a salad, you don’t just chuck some leaves you found from trees on a plate, no no you make it interesting by adding lots of colours, herbs, flavours, oils, nuts etc.  So the same rule applies with these bad boys, you make them fun and gruelling especially if you’re a PT training your clients 😀  You can go from a press up in to a mountain climb in to a jump squat !  Good luck people 😀

Core – Yes yes this is a massive core workout.  Combinations are usually all free weights or bodyweight related exercises, all which need your core to be engaged so your core will be playing a massive part in this to improve strength, stability, proprioception, dynamic and static neuromuscular efficiency and the list goes on……..

Metabolic training – By killing 2 or more exercises in 1 go, there will be a massive build up of hydrogen ions which in turn causes cramping, inefficiency in muscle contraction and the rest.  Now this acidosis state is actually a good thing, meaning that you are pushing your body to its limits so next time you’ll be able to push further and heavier.  When you experience an accumulation of hydrogen ions, your liver and kidneys want to get rid of the waste products as quickly as possible to allow muscle contraction and when the build up overloads the excretion then you experience cramps, breathlessness and the inability to carry on.  But over time when practising this extremely painful method of training (emphasis on painful) your organs, enzymes etc will work more efficiently to excrete the waste and allow muscles to work for a longer period of time.  Caution though, please do not push yourself so far that you faint, start throwing up or looking white in the face, firstly it’s not a good look and secondly you don’t need to go that far to near death to improve your body!  So please be careful when pushing your limits.

Time saver – Well this is a given, you do lots of exercises in 1 go so you save lots and lots of time in the gym 😀  Don’t really need to elaborate much on this one either.  If you want a full body workout, yea crack on with your clean and press, floor to ceiling raises, etc etc.

Above are a few points why combination exercises are a good way to exercise.  You can either carry out a whole session with these or add them to your programmes.  They are very good ways of training and you can be creative with them.  Remember though guys, when performing these, you can only go as heavy as your weakest exercise, let’s be honest nobody will do a clean and press with 250Kg on the barbell if their max deadlift is 250Kg!  So you need to go lighter with combinations but this way you will be improving your strength and endurance and the rest of the pointers above.  Again with everything else, I am not saying that you all must switch to this type of training and all look like you’re pulling shapes in the gym, but I am saying it is a good method of training.  So if you haven’t tried them already, give them a go or if you have already, then mix it up and try varieties and maybe even go against the time to see how many reps you can do etc etc.  They are good tools to have !

I presume you all know what I mean by killing 2 or more birds now!  So get going and try some of these out!

Introduction to lower body Dysfunction – Say wahhhhhhh? !

Now what does lower dysfunction mean you ask?

Without indulging in too much science as that might bore most of you, the simple answer is….Problems with your lower body.  There I answered your question without complicating things!

The human body is an interlinked kinetic chain which relies on each component to function optimally in order to carry out everyday tasks such as walking, sitting, dancing and climbing trees without any stress.  Now when there is a problem at any section of that link, this issue will not be a localised issue but will radiate throughout the body causing irritations in order parts which then further alters movement patterns with the onset of pain.  So this is basically a simple term to describe dysfunction.  When we talk about lower body dysfunction we are just isolating issues from the hips down to the ankles.  The lower body is prime for delivering power to the rest of your body and also is the foundation for you.  Without a stable foundation you will just be a bag of potatoes!  Remember that story about the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf and the wolf kept blowing the house down?  Well that’s only because the pigs made a terrible bloody house which had no foundation!  Anyway moving along ..

Lots and lots of people ask me frequent questions of why they get pains either their outside of the leg, near the knee or hip, especially people who run a lot or do some sort of sport.  This is because they are not doing enough corrective exercises for their joints and connective tissues!  In this article we are just going to touch on some of the key points of doing corrective exercise for the lower body to prevent dysfunction.

So first of all you need to address the problem and the cause of it and stop that immediately as this could lead to further damage. Now when you carry some pain or inflammation in certain areas there is more likely than not over active muscles and under active muscles around that area. This is not ideal as having over active tissues will lead to dysfunctions and create muscle imbalances which will pull joints out of alignment leaving your under active muscles weak and unable to carry out their respected role. When you experience this, you need to inhibit (stop) these over active muscles by stretching them out and let them chillax a bit whilst activating the under active ones. Share the love people – you need to pay attention to all your muscles not just the few which help you lift cars over your heads. So remember, inhibit over active and activate under active. There are hundreds of exercises and stretches which you can carry out and one good way of stretching muscles is either to use a foam roller, golf ball, tennis ball etc or by asking a health practitioner or friend to help passively stretch tissues. Good ways of activating the less loved muscles is to stand in front of a mirror and carry out simple body weight exercises such as lateral leg raises or even using the cable machine to activate hamstrings.

Make sure you guys are carrying these corrective preliminaries out first prior to moving on to integrated movement patterns and your sport. You need to synchronise your muscles and allow them to work together as a family before you subject them to warrrr!! (War being heavy exercise not the other thing)

Do not rush back in to your exercise routines or sport as this will just increase inflammation and can potentially cause degenerative damages to your kinetic chain. If you want an example here goes … ‘Bobby is a keen runner and is the Ronaldo of 5 a side football.  However, he has been experiencing pain in the outer part of his right knee for a few weeks now. He goes to a health practitioner and they analyse him via a few steps and found out that he has under active glutes, weak lower back and hamstrings whilst his stabiliser muscles have taken charge and this is causing him severe pain which is affecting his running and football. His scans show a bit of inflammation and excess fluid in the knee. Also he overpronates too and this is causing foot issues such as shin splints and plantar fasciitis.’ These are only a few issues which can arise from muscle imbalances and dysfunction. Yes you may think Bobby is a real mess and should stick to his day job but believe it or not these issues are reversible! Patience is your friend so please rest up and be patient. Corrective exercise is put in place for a reason, to help you on your path to achieving your goals but if you neglect it then chronic changes will occur. Majority of tissue injuries due to exercise is temporary and you will heal provided you take precautionary measures.

This is only a brief article regarding lower body dysfunction and the importance of corrective exercise. I will be writing more in the future in further detail regarding specific dysfunctions and the steps to follow to prevent and reverse injuries associated with that issue. But for the purpose of this one it’s just to make you the readers understand what this is all about.

So if you guys and girls out there are experience issues and aren’t sure of what to do next, please consult a professional who has knowledge in this field to offer you a step by step strategic plan to amend your dysfunctions. Believe me, it will help you and you will be back in ship shape in no time at all!

The fat hormone?

You must be thinking – The fat hormone ?  Is there really a hormone called fat ?? Well the straight answer is – no.  But there are hormones out there which are contributors to fat deposition around our body.  In this blog we shall browse over 1 hormone in particular which leads to fat gain and some of you might have guessed it by now, yes it’s called insulin!

I won’t put you to sleep with the science of it all but insulin is produced in the pancreas by beta cells.  The pancreas is a double functioning organ meaning that it takes part in regulating digestion and controlling blood sugar.  Clever eh!  So anyway, the role of insulin is to stabilise blood sugar levels and how does it do this?  By piggy backing all the sugar which you have ingested and dumping it in your tissues, muscles and fat cells.  So let’s say you have a can of coke or a cake.  They are both high in sugars and this raises blood sugar levels.  The body dislikes this and wants to send it away asap so what it does is chuck it to the muscles and then fat cells.  This is where insulin plays its role and helps stabilise blood sugar levels.  This all sounds easy right?  You eat something sweet have happy hormones flying around for a short period of time and loved that brownie you just ate knowing that your body will take care of the damage.

But this is where it all goes a little lopsided.  The more sugars we eat the more the pancreas has to release insulin and dump it into the tissues and cells.  At first the sugars go in to the muscles and then the rest of the body.  But the problem is that the muscles can only store a limited amount of glucose (shame I know!) and then when they’ve been full up then the sugars head straight towards our fat cells.  This is the main issue with this hormone is that it is very good at taking sugars in to fat cells when you eat a carbohydrate meal.

There are more issues with insulin because once a lot is released, insulin can actually help the liver turn sugars in to fats too which are happily stored away and insulin can also prevent fat from fat cells being broken down and used as energy.  It does this by preventing hormone sensitive lipase from breaking down fat from fat cells and using as energy.  Triacylglyceride is the structure for fat.  It is made from 1 glycerol molecule with 3 fat molecules attached to the back bone of the glycerol.  Lots to take in but it’s worth it!  Before triacylglyceride (fat) enters fat cells, the glycerol (sugar part) has to break away from the fat part  and then when inside fat cells they rejoin.  The enzyme lipase helps this to occur.  However, when we carry out some exercise or do some activity our fat can be used and so they leave the fat cells and act as energy in the blood.  Insulin prevents this action from occurring which is a major downfall to fat loss.  Insulin also helps in the creation of more glycerol (sugar) to enter fat cells and join with other fat structures to make more fats and therefore adding to fat gain rather than the opposite ! Also eating high sugary foods causes an insulin spike meaning that your hunger levels start sooner than later.  Reason being is that insulin wants to get all that sugar out of your blood asap and rushes it to the muscles and then fat cells.  This leads to low blood sugar sooner than later and then you feel that you need to eat again and yes doing this day in and day out 365 days a year will lead to fat gain, insulin resistance and the rest!

These are major issues especially for people who lack physical exercise and eat a lot of sugary foods!  This leads to obesity, diabetes, strokes etc etc and again this is extremely dangerous for people’s health.  Numbers are rising in the Western world especially in places such as the US and the UK and we need to do something about it!  I’m not saying that insulin is evil and out there to get you fat but you need to control the secretion of it.  If we didn’t have insulin at all then we would all be subjected to type 2 diabetes so therefore insulin does have its benefits.  Also without insulin we wouldn’t be able to transport glucose in to our muscles to get big and strong.  Also the brain needs a hell of a lot of nutrients one being glucose to function properly!  So again to reiterate insulin is not Dr.Evil but it’s all about controlling its secretion.

To call if the fat hormone has some truth to it but we cannot rule out its advantages.  If it hadn’t any advantages then our body would not be making it – that’s plain and simple.  The human body is the most advanced out there and we do not make any substances for deliberate harm.  It is only when people take push their body’s to the limits and start to cause self harm !  Not the type where people draw on their skins but internal harm which is far more dangerous!

So the key to maintaining insulin is to have a good diet, ranging from fiber foods, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.  Try to avoid high sugar foods and implement lots of healthy proteins and fats.  Fats as I have said before (I think) does not raise insulin levels and although protein does it also raises another hormone called glucagon which maintains that even balance in the body.  So therefore you don’t have any insulin spikes.

I’ve gone on about insulin for sometime now but I do hope this helps you understand a little bit more about the hormone.  It is vital that we all take note of it’s uses and don’t take it for granted.  Too much of anything is bad just remember that and you do not want to agitate this hormone!