17 ways to Fight Fat

EAT MORE FREQUENTLY.
Eating 5-6 small meals a day as opposed to “three squares” causes your metabolism to work constantly. Eating larger meals, however, slows your metabolism and forces leftover calories to be stored as fat.

GET LEAFY.
Those who eat a salad before dinner tend to consume less calories overall during dinner. But don’t sabotage yourself - stay away from high-fat dressings like ranch, blue cheese and Caesar.

EAT PROTEIN.
Since muscle-building is the fastest route to slim down, make sure your protein consumption is enough to keep up with your weight training. Eat too little and your gains could be slower. Get 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day to help your muscle gains along. Use protein bars and shakes to supplement your whole-food consumption and stave off cravings.

CARB SMART.
Keep your carbohydrates low to moderate when trying to lose weight. If you rotate low- and high-carb days, you’ll be able to keep your energy levels up while running a caloric deficit. Good, clean, fibre-rich carbs include oats, potatoes, rice and whole-grain bread. Also, limit high-carb drinks like fruit juice to post workout, when your body needs carbs to speed recovery.

CUT OUT FIZZY DRINKS.
Instead, rely on water. If you drink one can of fizzy drink a day, you’re adding 1,750 calories per week to your diet. Also, studies have shown that those who regularly consume diet sodas tend to gain weight in the long run because of over-indulgences elsewhere.

SKIP HAPPY HOUR.
Alcohol consumption can temporarily blunt testosterone levels, hindering muscle repair and growth and blunting sexual drive. Also, the calories from alcoholic beverages - in the neighbourhood of 100-200 each without cocktail mixers - add up faster than you may think.

SLOW DOWN, TURBO!
Successful dieters and fitness buffs will tell you that fast eating and body fat go hand in hand because you end up overeating. It takes about 10 minutes for the food in your stomach to signal your brain that you’ve eaten enough.

OPERATION DINNER OUT.
Be diligent when ordering in a restaurant. Ask to have your meats grilled without oil or grease. Request steamed vegetables with no butter. Get a salad (no cheese) with either low-fat dressing or vinaigrette.

CALORIES OUT!
The goal in any fat- or weight-loss program should be to burn more calories than you consume. Aim to cut total calorie consumption by about 250 calories per day. That means you’ll have to figure out how many calories you eat in a normal day. The maths will pay big dividends later.

AVOID SIMPLE SUGARS.
Too much sugar in your diet can wreak havoc on your metabolism by spiking your insulin response and promoting the accumulation of body fat. Immediately after exercise, however, is an ideal time to ingest simple sugars; otherwise, steer clear.

TIMED CONSUMPTION.
When you eat is just as important as what you eat. Eat two-thirds of your daily calories before dinner to avoid overeating later.

EAT MORE FIBRE.
Fibre, both soluble and insoluble, is essential to health and helps decrease body fat. Adults should consume 35-40 grams of fibre per day, with about one-third coming from insoluble fibrous sources. Along with fibre-rich whole grains, consume large amounts of fibrous vegetables, such as broccoli, to attain your daily intake and promote satiety.

PREPARE.
If your workplace serves nothing healthy, take food or snacks along with you.

GET YOLKED.
Eating eggs for breakfast was found to reduce hunger and food intake for up to 24 hours.

DON’T BE SALTY.
Excess sodium consumption can make you look softer and cause you to burn less fat. To help you look leaner and strip sodium from your diet, drink more water, cut back on highly processed foods and use potassium chloride to season your foods.

GOT MILK?
Individuals who consumed high levels of dietary calcium in a 24-hour period had higher rates of fat oxidation that day than those who consumed lesser amounts. So stock up on low-fat versions of cheese, milk and yogurt; if you’re lactose intolerant, choose dark-green leafy vegetables, legumes and almonds.

GO NUTS!
Looking for a healthy snack? Eating a handful of almonds helped test subjects lose 62% more weight, 56% more fat and 50% more from their waistline after 24 weeks compared to those who followed the same diet without almonds.

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Sexuality and Power: Learn 6 Ways Body Image Affects Us

Are you satisfied with your body?

Wow, that question opens a big can of worms. If you're seriously into fitness, the answer "no, I'm not satisfied" may come more easily as most in this category accept constructive criticism as healthy and necessary to goal attainment of a more perfect body.

Others, however, may feel differently and may either shy away from critical physical assessments or may simply say they accept themselves as they are. However, some recent research suggests something much deeper going on.

We judge our bodies mostly by how we think we're viewed by the opposite sex, according to several recent studies. And although several factors contribute to our body self-image, foremost is the desire for power over the opposite sex. Following are six ways body image can affect us according to one survey:

1) Size - Men perceive large physical size as powerful, while women see being smaller and more petite as better for obtaining power and influence over the opposite sex.

2) Satisfaction - Men generally are more satisfied with their appearance and see themselves as attractive to women, even when they're not in great shape, while women were generally less satisfied with their appearance and desiring to improve it to gain power over men.

3) Social Pressure - Women feel social pressure to look attractive in order to gain power more than men do as popular culture tends to focus more on glorification of the perfect female body and appearance.

4) Motivation - Women are generally more motivated to change their appearance by what men think, while men are more motivated by what they think of themselves, suggesting that men tend to already see themselves with the inherent upper hand.

5) Height - Both men and women agree that the man should be taller than the woman in a relationship, and that the reverse has a negative impact on the relationship's power structure, i.e. both the taller woman and the shorter man would have less power over the opposite sex.

6) Physical Standards - Women are generally less concerned about physicality and more concerned about femininity as a power lever over the opposite sex, while men were more concerned a strong physical appearance and overall presence.

Agree or disagree?

7 Reasons Why Workouts Fail You

While literally millions of people workout, very few realize true workout success. Most dabble in the gym on and off, never getting results. They quit working out, usually under a myriad of excuses along the lines of being too busy or of disappointment that "they're just not seeing results".

Below are seven common reasons why workouts fail:

1) No clear goals -

If you can't measure it you can't manage it. Too many people head into the gym with either no thought of what they're trying to accomplish or vague goals of "losing weight" and "toning up".

What to do:

Be specific and write it down. If the goal is weight loss or body fat loss, identify how many pounds or the target weight, the time element, and what you'll do every day to make it happen. If it's muscle gain, identify things like desired bicep and chest measurements or one-rep max increases.

2) Motivation is missing -

Motivation has two key elements:

a) possessing a goal that is deeply meaningful to you, and

b) feeling mostly in control of the outcome.

If motivation is missing from your workouts, examine these two factors and identify what's missing. Why do you care about your goals? Do you feel you can make them happen or do you need help?

What to do:

Take stock of why you started working out and make sure the cause matters to you, and especially that you're doing it for yourself and not because someone else thinks you should.

Also, if you feel frustrated or even helpless about your ability to achieve the desired workout outcome, get help from a personal trainer and/or a nutritionist.

3) Fear of discomfort -

Let's face it, success in transforming your body requires some discomfort. This can be pushing weights until your muscles fail, upping cardio to uncharted heart rate territory, and dieting when the body tells you it must eat.

Many people fail in their workouts for the simple reason that they can't overcome discomfort.

What to do:

Discomfort is only a state of mind. Learn to recognize discomfort as only a mental barrier to your goal. Love your goal more than you dislike the discomfort.

4) Workout uncertainty -

In sports they say that a cloudy head makes for slow feet. With working out, especially in a gym, uncertainty about what exercise to do and about proper form can result in a tentative approach that lacks the intensity required for improvement and progression toward a goal.

What to do:

Don't go it alone, get the help of a professional trainer and then become a student of how to work out. Like anything else, the more you study it, understand it, and practice it, the better you'll become at it and the faster you'll improve. This usually results in increased enjoyment too.

5) No passion for results -

High achievers in the gym get jacked up about results that can be in the form of increased muscle strength, increased muscle size, and increased muscle endurance. Those that fail in the gym usually lack a vision of their future physical states and a burning desire to realize positive change

What to do:

Visual imagery can be a very powerful force. Look at fitness magazines or fitness sites and find examples of what you want to look like. One great site for this is BodySpace on Bodybuilding.com. Learn what it takes to achieve the look you're after, visualize yourself looking like that and then only do things that will get you there.

6) Missing the diet equation -

Whatever your reason for working out, you won't get there without the proper diet and nutrition. And absolutely don't make the mistake that "cardio" will effectively substitute for diet discipline because it won't. Depending on your goal you'll need a specific calorie target and the correct mix of lean protein, low-glycemic carbohydrates, and healthy fats.

What to do:

Study some good books on diet and nutrition, especially related to fitness. Better yet, to get jump started hire a nutritionist or a good personal trainer that can teach you the right ways to eat and strategies for managing you diet under the stress of every day life.

7) Making workouts drudgery instead of uplifting fun -

If it's not fun you won't do it. Too often people see their workouts as a kind of punishment for being out of shape, and that workouts are to be endured rather than celebrated.

What to do:

Make workouts your personal time to get away from life's stresses and to work up a great endorphin release. Workout in a place you like to be in. This could be in the gym or in the garage.

If you don't like your gym, shop around for one that feels like someplace you look forward to being at. View your workouts as a fun investment in yourself where you get to move closer to that future "you".

Lighten Up! Maximize Your Results Through Perfect Form, Not More Weight

With lifting, it's about how, not about how much....

We've all seen it, and guys are the worst, wildly swinging huge weights, bodies swaying all over the place, swayed back, half or even quarter reps, then banging the weights down hard, causing everyone in the gym to look over to see if an accident just occurred.

Yep, we're talking about what I call ego lifters. These are the guys who boost their self esteem and try to impress others by loading up as much weight as they can lift off the ground or off the rack, and then make a ridiculous mockery of themselves and the exercise they're trying to perform.

The whole intent of recreational weight lifting is to target specific muscles or muscle groups, to isolate them, and to make them work through their full range of motion to exhaustion that results in hypertrophy, or growth. To accomplish these goals we need to maximize the stress on our target muscles, getting the most possible from every single rep, and, like it or not, form is much more important than weight volume.

The important basics

When performing any given resistance training exercise, we basically have the following two muscle groups:

1) Prime Movers
2) Stabilizers

The prime movers are the muscles or muscle groups we're targeting for development, and the stabilizers are the muscles or muscle groups that hold everything else in place while we isolate the prime movers. A good example is the standing bicep curl because it's one of the most popular lifting exercises and also one of the most abused.

Clearly, in a bicep curl the bicep is our prime mover. The only intent of this exercise is to develop the bicep, which means it must be isolated, or more simply not receive help from any other source. This is much easier said than done, because our brain and our bodies are programmed only to achieve the end result, which is getting the weight from a low point to a higher point, and by nature we typically use our bodies as a system to get this done, using several muscle groups and also leveraging to get underneath the weight. To achieve muscle isolation we must re-program our body mechanics.

So first let's make an important distinction between isolation (or "iso") moves and compound moves.

In isolation moves we primarily target a single joint movement, and we isolate the muscle or muscles that move only that joint. So from our bicep example, we may think of the bicep as a single muscle, but it's actually a group of muscles that move the elbow joint to a closed position, like the quadriceps, a group of four leg muscles on the front thigh extending the leg at the knee. This helps us understand the role of "prime movers" by thinking of single joint movement.

Alternatively, compound moves involve several joints in a single movement, with the squat as a great example, involving joint movement of the knees, ankles, and hips, calling on all of the associated muscle groups that move those joints. In both isolation and in compound moves, we seek to isolate only the muscles in these joint movements as prime movers. It's the range of these prime movers that we're seeking to maximize throughout the full movement of the joint.

The important role of stabilizers

Think back to our bicep curl example. If we're to isolate the bicep complex, everything around it must be stable. And lifters must build form from the ground up just like golfers build their swing from the ground up, so with lifting it all starts with posture, balance, and core strength. To understand the importance of the ground up approach, try doing bicep curls with your back against a wall so that your body can't sway forward or backward. Notice how much harder this is. Without swaying momentum, the bicep becomes more isolated and must work harder, creating greater load and maximizing hypertrophy. Now stand away from the wall and do the curl, note the need for an upright posture, a balanced stance, and a strong core to keep from swaying. This is all part of the stabilization process.

In stabilizing, holding a strong core is critical, and we do this by pulling in our stomach and by squeezing our glutes together. This activates the torso core stabilizer muscles and will keep your body from moving at the waist and will also keep your spine and your back straight.

Now do the curl standing sideways next to a mirror and watch your elbow. Does it move forward and backward with each rep? If so, you need to engage your shoulder muscles to stabilize and stop the arm sway. Put a small piece of tape on your shirt at the bottom-most elbow position and watch to ensure the elbow does not move from this spot. If you've eliminated body sway and elbow movement, then you have successfully isolated the bicep complex and are maximizing muscle load with each rep.

Get your full range of motion and cadence

Another major sin we see created by ego lifters is limited range of motion. They load up with so much weight that their entire kinetic chain, much less their target muscles, can't handle the weight, and they compensate by shortening the muscle's range of motion, sometimes by over half. This misses the opportunity to develop the muscle's full strength and mobility potential. Worse yet, shortened reps lead to shortened muscles, creating imbalances that effect everything from symmetrical appearance to potentially causing injuries.

Additionally, ego lifters tend to rush their cadence and focus mostly on the reps concentric, or contracting portion. This leaves out two important aspects of the rep: the isometric portion where we freeze and hold the fully contracted muscle, and the eccentric portion, where the target muscle is used as brake against gravity. All three repetition aspects best mimic real life application and, when used in resistance training, can best maximize the muscle-building potential of each rep. Besides, rushing through jerky reps using too much weight puts tremendous stress on the joints and connective tissues, and who wants to be forced out for weeks while an inflamed tendon or torn muscle heals?

Conclusion

We only have so much time in the gym and we only perform so many reps per set. Using proper form can maximize the strength and muscle-building impact of each rep. So assuming an exercise targeting a specific muscle runs 4 sets of 10 reps, lighten the weight so you can use perfect form on every rep, even when fourth-set failure comes. Avoid the urge to force the rep by breaking form and watch your muscles grow. Remember, when it comes to lifting it's how, not how much!

Puncturing Popular Broscience Myths

Broscience [broh-sigh-en(t)s]: A branch of knowledge or study dealing with the human body's response to strength training, supplementation, or nutrition systematically arranged to explain why one doesn't appear in the mirror as they'd prefer to appear.
Origin: 1970s California, gym locker rooms, and backstage at fitness events.

Do you remember your first time? I surely do. It was in a changing room at the gym. Two guys, one slightly muscular and the other pleasantly round. The slightly muscular guy was telling our round friend to "lift weights for size and do cardio for cuts." I'm sure you've heard that line of reasoning before; it's the most popular type of broscience.

Gymlore, regardless of how much time has passed or how much contrary information has come out, is still widely accepted, practiced, and acknowledged as truth. So, let's deflate some of these hot air balloons, shall we?

"Yo Bro, Try This!"
Broscience Myth #1: Never Eat Carbohydrates and Fat in the Same Meal

The food combining theory states that you shouldn't mix carbohydrates and fat intentionally in the same meal. The reasoning behind this is that the insulin spike from the carbohydrates will increase the chances of dietary fat being stored as body fat.

In reality, this is a very myopic view of insulin that doesn't consider the entire meal. I'd never advise a client to consume a high-carbohydrate and high-fat meal together, but there's nothing wrong with having a moderate amount of both at the same time. There's little, if any, scientific evidence to support the theory, and humans have been combining carbohydrates, fat, and protein together for ages and we turned out all right. (Well, some of us at least.)

Most of us who mean business are eating every two to three hours, which means that our nutrients from meal one are still being absorbed when we start to eat meal two. So, the nutrients from our first two meals are acting together anyway, even if we don't intend on it.

Golay, et al. conducted a study looking at a mixed diet versus the food combining theory.

Here's what they stated in their results:

"There was no significant difference in the amount of weight loss in response to dissociated (6.2 ± 0.6 kg) or balanced (7.5 ± 0.4 kg) diets. Furthermore, significant decreases in total body fat and waist-to-hip circumference ratio was seen in both groups, and the magnitude of the changes did not vary as a function of the diet composition. Fasting plasma glucose, insulin, total cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentrations decreased significantly and similarly in patients receiving both diets."

There was actually a slight increase in fat loss in the subjects who used a mixed diet. Go figure, right? We tend to focus solely on the insulin response of carbohydrates, when really the insulin response of a carbohydrate and fat meal depends on how saturated the fat is. An unsaturated fat tends to actually lower the insulin response of the carbohydrate, or not affect it at all.

You also have to factor in your caloric intake. If you're in a lower caloric state, the insulin response from a carbohydrate and fat meal can be a glorious thing. If you're eating a ton of calories, then you might want to watch out.

Let me put the nail in the coffin by saying this: If you follow the food combining theory and its rules, you'll have a harder time maintaining stable insulin levels, which is the point of the whole theory to begin with.

Broscience Myth #2: You Have to Eat Different Foods for Different Goals

Bodybuilding is a fanatical sport because everything is done in extremes. So, it only makes sense that we'd eat different foods when we have different objectives, right? Wrong as the day is long. The line of "clean" and "dirty" foods is so blurred that many a physique has been ruined as a casualty of water.

From a physiological standpoint, there's no difference between "clean" or "dirty" eating, provided that your macronutrients are kept in line with your goals. It's why the cookie-cutter bodybuilding coach that advocates one diet to rule them all often fails. You can take five different dieting bodybuilders and give them five radically different diets and they can all get shredded. It's all about hitting your macronutrient numbers.

I'm not advocating that one should eat a pizza everyday to get ready for the beach — far from it. Let's say that the protein, carbohydrate, and fat amounts in the pizza fit in with your daily allotment. You eat the pizza, and then you're done. What about the rest of the day? You won't have much room left for more fat or carbs; thus, you'll end up wrecking your physique.

Now, I brought up pizza to serve as an example. You can freely eat white rice, white bread, bagels, and pasta daily, as long as they fit into your daily macronutrient numbers.

Broscience Myth #3: Depleting Water Will Make Your Midsection Tighter and Leaner

The most common type of broscience can be found in the days leading up to a bodybuilding event, or even a big day at the beach. Individuals looking to tighten up their midsection will often progressively drop water, while raising carbohydrates throughout the week, until they get to the day of their event when they'd have zero water and ultra-high amounts of carbohydrates.

The fact of the matter is that water is stored in two different areas in the body — intracellularly and extracellularly (inside the muscle and underneath the skin, respectively). The problem with following the cool kids is that the body strictly regulates the intracellular to extracellular balance at a seventy to thirty ratio. If you pull water out of one area (like people try to do with extracellular water), it'll also be pulled out of the other area to keep that seventy to thirty balance.

The ratios don't change; you just get flatter. That is until you have your post-event binge meal and take in copious amounts of carbohydrates and water. You end up looking better the day after the event that you've trained and dieted for during the previous sixteen weeks. Not cool.

Broscience Myth #4: Sodium Makes Your Body Hold Water

This goes hand-in-hand with our previous myth. For some reason, physique athletes are so afraid of what they think sodium might do to their bodies that they put themselves on a path of destruction.

It's true that sodium does make your body hold water. I'm not denying that fact. But that's a rather simplistic view. Your sodium balance affects both fluid and blood volume. Why does that matter? Well, aren't we after a harder and tighter look that depends on both fluid and blood volume? Like the water ratio we mentioned above, the body holds on to its normal range of sodium very strictly.

Your kidneys will either increase or decrease their sodium output depending on your intake. A Harvard study done by Rogacz showed what happens when sodium is restricted over the course of six days. For those who always scream that research studies don't apply to bodybuilders, six days is the typical amount of time that athletes manipulate their intake for a contest or event.

In the Rogacz study, sodium intake was eliminated, but the sodium in the subject's blood stayed the same. By the sixth day, the body had nearly stopped getting rid of sodium. What does this mean? All the sodium manipulations that you did the previous week did nothing! All it did was raise the hormone aldosterone, which causes increased water retention and re-absorption of sodium.

Don't try to trick the body; it's always smarter than we are.

"Hey Bro, It Really Works..."

As you can see from the above four myths, the fitness and bodybuilding insider is filled with crazy claims and ridiculous rationale. Your best bet is to stay on top of the information and by practicing and using each new method. That's the only way you'll truly find out what works.

Don't listen to some folklore because the biggest or leanest guy in the gym said so.

5 Foods You Should Be Eating To Build A Healthier And Muscular Physique

If you want to build a healthy, muscular physique, the quality of your food matters more than the quantity.

I see the diets of a lot of guys who want to get bigger and stronger. They run the spectrum from excellent to atrocious (mostly atrocious), but there's one commonality shared by almost all: every guys thinks his diet is perfect.

Every day I have guys tell me that they don't actually need any nutritional advice, because they "already eat really well."

Bullshit...

Talk with any good nutritionist, and they will tell you it's rare to find someone who consistently makes good food choices. In my mind, it's the true linchpin to body composition success—improving the quality of the foods you eat has just as big of an impact on your physique as the quantity you eat.

With that in mind, here are five foods that you can immediately add to your diet to improve the quality of your calories and take your physique to a whole new level


1. Sprouted Grains
Yeah, you've probably already switched to "whole-grains" instead of white bread. Unfortunately most whole-grain breads in supermarkets today are complete crap. They contain added sugar, fructose or high-fructose corn syrup to sweeten the product, as well as tons of dough conditioners to give it the mouth-feel of white bread.

While the glycemic index is overrated, it still reflects how quickly your blood sugar is raised by a food, and conventional whole-grain bread is barely any better than white. So really, you're not getting that much benefit from whole-grain bread.

This is where sprouted grains come in. Sprouting grains and seeds before baking them creates a vastly superior product. The sprouting causes the composition of the grains and seeds to change dramatically by increasing vitamin content and diminishing phytic acid content. (Phytic acid, by the way, binds to minerals and prevents their absorption. The sprouting process breaks down these bonds and increases the digestibility of the grain and its mineral content.)

Sprouted grain products are also a complete protein source, are higher in fibre, and have a much smaller impact on blood sugar than conventional whole-grains. Because these products are generally made with other grains and legumes, they have a lower gluten content, which is also a good thing.

Most sprouted-grain products don't contain any preservatives so you gotta stick these products in the fridge if you don't want to have a freaky science experiment in your cupboard.

I also suggest toasting them as it causes an enzymatic browning process that really brings out the flavour of the bread.


2. Pasture Butter
Butter, because of its high saturated fat content, generally gets a bad rap in health-conscious circles. Fortunately, we are here to enlighten you and we know that saturated is not nearly the enemy it has long been made out to be. From the right sources it's actually very beneficial.

As with all animal foods, not all butter is created equal. Conventional butter from factory-farmed animals is garbage and is to be avoided. You'll often see the ingredient annatto in the nutritional profile. This is because the beta-carotene content is so low the butter is hardly yellow at all, so annatto is added to give it some semblance of the rich yellow that real butter has.

However, butter from pasture-raised grass-fed cows is an excellent food choice. Pasture butter is high in fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K2. Butter is also the richest known source of the short-chain fatty acid butyrate. Butyrate was recently shown to reverse the effects of metabolic syndrome in rats. (It helped the rats lose bodyweight, decrease cholesterol, triglycerides, and fasting insulin while increasing insulin sensitivity.)

Butyrate is also the primary energy source for your large intestine and may have potent anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer benefits as well.

Pasture butter, unlike conventional, also contains a nice dose of omega-3's, as well as the cancer-fighting CLA. In fact, pastured dairy products are among the richest sources of CLA on the planet, containing 3-5 times more CLA than conventionally produced dairy products.

The best part about pasture butter, though, is that it tastes freakin' incredible.


3. Coconut Oil
Just like with butter, the source of the coconut oil is of utmost importance. I highly recommend the unrefined organic extra virgin type, as it has undergone the least amount of processing and should provide you with the most benefits.

Coconut oil is also very high in saturated fat, but it's made up of a unique saturated fat called medium-chain triglycerides, or MCT's. MCT's have some incredible unique properties: they do not need bile to be digested, they are digested and absorbed intact rather than broken down, and they're more likely to be oxidized as fuel rather than stored as fat.

One of these MCT's is a fatty acid called lauric acid. Lauric acid (which is also found in FA3 makes up about 44% of the fatty acid content of coconut oil. It's converted into monolaurin in the body, which has powerful antimicrobial and antiviral properties.

It makes an awesome addition to stir-fry's, omelette's, and smoothies.


4. Chia Seeds
A long time ago chia seeds were a staple food of some of the world's most dominant civilizations like the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans. It was so prized it was actually used as a currency. (Today it's made for people who apparently can't take care of real pets.)

Chia seeds are very similar to the more common flax seed and may even be better since chia contains more soluble fibre (6 grams), a higher antioxidant content, and roughly equal omega-3 content.

The great thing about soluble fibre is that it's fermented by the intestines and made into short chain fatty acids like butyrate, which as we learned earlier, may improve health and body composition.

Chia, mainly due to its soluble fibre content again, is considered highly hydrophilic. This means that the seeds can absorb up to 12 times their weight in water and form a viscous gel (much like glucommannan), greatly increasing satiety and creating long-lasting energy. It's also a source of iron, calcium, phosphorus, and manganese. Recent research has shown that chia seeds can be beneficial for diabetics, celiac's disease, and can lower cholesterol.

So toss a tablespoon or two into your next protein shake or Greek yogurt.


5. Cacao Nibs
This is dark chocolate for men. No pussy-footing around with a high-sugar "dark" chocolate. This is the real deal, 100% cacao dark chocolate, and nothing but.

Cacao nibs are a fiber heavy-weight, providing just under five grams in 2 tablespoons, which is as much as flax. Besides its high fibre content cacao nibs contain a boatload of magnesium, as well as some copper, iron, and manganese. But the antioxidant content is where cacao nibs really shine.

They're rich in powerful antioxidants such as catechins, like in tea, and polyphenols, like in red wine. These antioxidants help cacao to lower LDL cholesterol, decrease blood pressure, improve vascular and platelet function and decrease the risk of heart disease.

Cacao nibs are perfect to add to some Greek yogurt, a smoothie, or home-made protein bars.

By itself, 100% dark chocolate tends to be a little bitter, so make sure to add it to something a little sweet to knock down that bitterness and bring out the chocolate flavour.


Wrap-Up
Like I said earlier, it's not necessarily the quantity of calories you take in but the quality. These five foods have the ability to greatly impact your health and body composition since the added fibre, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants will all greatly contribute to improving your health and vitality.

And while I can't guarantee that adding these foods to your diet will make you jacked instantly, I can say that optimizing your health will always help you to maximize your performance and your physique.

So, go eat!

The 1-2-1 Fitness Pound for Pound Diet Plan goes LIVE !!!

9 Foods That Reduce Stress Levels

Reach for these items next time you're feeling under pressure, under the weather, or just too close to that breaking point. Munching on these stress-free foods will help pull you back into the game.

Oranges

A German study in Psychopharmacology found that vitamin C helps reduce stress and return blood pressure and cortisol to normal levels after a stressful situation. Vitamin C is also well-known for boosting your immune system.

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes can be particularly stress-reducing because they can satisfy the urge you get for carbohydrates and sweets when you are under a great deal of stress. They are packed full of beta-carotene and other vitamins, and the fiber helps your body process the carbohydrates in a slow and steady manner.

Dried apricots

Apricots are rich in magnesium, which is a stress-buster and a natural muscle relaxant as well.

Almonds, pistachios and walnuts

Almonds are packed with B and E vitamins, which help boost your immune system, and walnuts and pistachios help lower blood pressure.

Turkey

Turkey contains an amino acid called L-tryptophan. This amino acid triggers the release of serotonin, which is a feel-good brain chemical. This is the reason why many people who eat turkey feel relaxed, or even tired, after eating it. L-Tryptophan has a documented calming effect.

Spinach

A deficiency in magnesium can cause migraine headaches and a feeling of fatigue. One cup of spinach provides 40 percent of your daily needs for magnesium.

Salmon

Diets high in omega-3 fatty acids protect against heart disease. A study from Diabetes & Metabolism found that omega-3s keep the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline from peaking.

Avocados

The monounsaturated fats and potassium in avocados help lower blood pressure. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says that one of the best ways to lower blood pressure is to consume enough potassium (avocados have more than bananas).

Green vegetables

Broccoli, kale, and other dark green vegetables are powerhouses of vitamins that help replenish our bodies in times of stress.

More stress-busting tips:

Exercise reguarly.
Eat small meals throughout the day, which will keep your blood sugar stable (when blood sugar is low, mental, physical, and emotional energy decreases, and stress increases).

3 Fat Loss Nutrition Tips to Blast Fat

I was in the shop looking for some magazines when something caught my eye. The subtitle read Hot Bodies Best Diets. I can't remember exactly which magazine featured the subtitle but it was one of the popular tabloids. I had two questions immediately.

What do they mean by "Hot Bodies"?

What do they mean by "Best Diets"?

According to the magazine "Hot Bodies" means skinny and "Best Diets" means diets that make you skinny. I looked through the magazine and I found that celebrities use all kinds of different diets just like non-celebrities. There was a common factor with all the diets in the magazine, calorie deficit. A diet that results in calorie deficit does not necessarily mean a quality diet, but it does mean weight loss. In my opinion all quality diets share some characteristics.

The key factors in quality diets are:

Calorie intake (matters whether you're consciously counting or not).
Consumption of sufficient quantity of essential nutrients.
Consideration of individual likes and dislikes.
Consideration of metabolic abnormalities.
Occasional breaks from the diet.
Recognizing that you don't have to stick to the program 100% of the time to see the benefits.

1. Junk Food
Does consuming junk food (highly processed foods) make you fat? That depends on how much junk food you eat and your average daily metabolic rate. Isn't junk food bad for your health? That depends on how much junk food you eat, your energy expenditure and whether you have any metabolic abnormalities.

2. Do Calorie Sources Matter If A Calorie Is A Calorie?
A calorie is a unit of energy. It is the amount of energy or heat that it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). The energy derived from foods when they are oxidized in the body is measured in kilocalories (thousands of calories).

A kilocalorie is the amount of energy required to raise 1000 grams of water one degree Celsius. Kilocalorie is written as "Calorie" (with a capital C) or it may be abbreviated to "Kcalorie" or "Kcal." Therefore, whenever the word calorie is used in connection with food or nutrition, the meaning is always kilocalorie or calorie.

In terms of fat loss, a low calorie diet consisting of crisps will result in weight loss just like a low calorie diet consisting of fruits and vegetables. When considering which is more nutritious, fruits and vegetables wins hands down. Which is more filling? Fruits and vegetables win again. When considering issues other than energy content it's not just about calories.

We get calories from four sources including protein (4 Kcal per gram), fat (9 Kcal per gram), carbohydrate (4 Kcal per gram) and alcohol (7 Kcal per gram).

Are all calories the same? Yes and No.

Technically speaking a calorie is a calorie. The definition of a calorie does not change, but different calorie sources have different properties, and they affect the body in various ways. So, when considering nutrient value, affects on appetite, intolerances, and allergies, there are differences in calorie sources.

On a final note, some low-carb advocates claim that calories from fat are different than calories from carbohydrate. This assumption comes from the fact that short term weight loss is usually greater, even when eating the same amount of calories, with a low carbohydrate diet than a higher carbohydrate diet; however this occurs due to water loss.

3. Supplements
Do you really need to spend hundreds of pounds per month on supplements if your nutritional practices are optimal? I doubt it. Let me re-word that, no, you don't.

Supplements add to the program. They do not replace sound training and nutrition. Legendary protein researcher, Kevin Tipton, says, "There is no reason to recommend protein supplements per se because there is no evidence that supplements work better than foods." I am not anti-supplement, but I am anti-nonsense.

Coming Soon..... The Pound for Pound Diet Plan

The Pound for Pound Diet Plan is like no other !


There are no membership fees !


1-2-1 training sessions in our private studio are available at no extra charge, regardless of the number of sessions you require !


A bespoke service tailored to the individual !


Food plans are created for your use at no extra cost !


and much more.....


Further details to be announced soon.......

Are you considering taking part in the Standard Chartered Jersey Marathon this year?

Whether you are attempting to take-on the gruelling 26 mile course or are joining a relay team, 1-2-1 Fitness can help you with your training.

From exercise plans to 1-2-1 training sessions, we are able to assist you every step of the way.

If this is your first time running in the event, we will prepare you for the challenge.

If you are a regular runner, we will help you increase your pace and overall fitness.

For further information, call 1-2-1 Fitness on 07700 335 973

or send us an e-mail to onetoonefitness@hotmail.co.uk

How The Bodybuilding Supplement Whey Can Help You Drop Body Fat

Sleep, genetics, your training program, what you eat and stress all play a role in how your body looks and how you feel. If you've made changes to what, when and how much you eat as well as your training program but you still can't seem to drop that stubborn body fat, consider how the bodybuilding supplement whey protein may help.

What Is Whey Protein?

Whey protein is a milk protein that is the liquid by-product of cheese production. In supplement form, whey protein comes in three main forms:

Whey Protein Concentrate: Contains some fat and lactose and between 29% - 89% protein depending on the specific product. Whey protein concentrates often have more bioactive compounds.

Whey Protein Isolates: Contains minimal fat, cholesterol and lactose and 90% or more protein.

Whey Protein Hydrolysates: Are often used in clinical nutrition applications because they are predigested and partially broken and therefore easier to absorb.

Whey protein has the highest protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAA) - a measure of both how well a protein is digested and how well it supplies the amino acids needed by an adult. In addition, it is a complete protein meaning it contains all essential amino acids.

Whey also contains more branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) than any other source of protein and more leucine than other types of protein.

Several studies indicate that whey protein is beneficial for increasing muscle protein synthesis. Consume whey post-training and you'll tip the scale in favour of muscle growth and strength gains over time. But, there are a number of other benefits associated with whey protein.

How Bodybuilding Supplement Whey Protein Can Help You Shed Body Fat:

Add whey and drop weight? It sounds too good to be true but it may work.

Whey Protein Is Rich in Leucine: Leucine plays a key role in protein synthesis, a process that burns through quite a few calories. In addition, it stimulates fatty acid oxidation.

Whey Satiates Your Appetite: Studies show that whey may satiate your appetite better than some other types of protein. Milk proteins contain glycomacropeptide - a peptide that stimulates the cholecystokinin (CCK). CCK is an intestinal hormone that is released after eating a meal and it signals satiety.

Studies Show Supplemental Whey Helps People Drop Body Fat: There are at least two studies where scientists examined whey protein supplementation and weight loss. In one study at the University of Oklahoma, scientists told both groups of participants not to change their diet. However, one group was given a nutrition supplement containing whey (300 calories, 40 grams of protein) once per day for two weeks and twice a day for the remaining eight weeks of the study. Both groups engaged in a supervised resistance and endurance-training program for 10 weeks.

After the 10-week study, both groups decreased fat mass but the exercise + food supplement group showed a significantly greater decrease in fat mass (-9.3% versus -4.6% in the exercise-only group). The supplemented group also showed significant gains from pre- to post-test in muscle mass and significant decreases in total and LDL cholesterol.


A 2006 study found that adding 60 grams of whey protein per day, in comparison to 60 grams of soy protein or 60 grams of carbohydrate, led to significant decreases in body fat and weight after 6 months.

Additional Tips To Help Shed Body Fat:

Use a food journal and write down everything you eat. Studies show that people who log their food intake every day are more likely to lose weight than those who do not.

Seek the advice of a sports nutrition expert to help you.

If you are having problems losing weight yet you feel you are doing everything right, talk to your physician. Low levels of certain hormones, hypothyroidism and other conditions can make weight loss more difficult.


Conclusion:

If you want to shed body fat, it makes prudent sense to incorporate whey protein into your routine. As a bodybuilder, this is something you should already be doing. After all, why spend time in the gym trying to get a better body (health and physique) if you aren't going to eat the right foods to support the changes you are striving for? Try whey, if nothing else, you'll likely notice an increase in strength.

Quick and Easy Pea and Ham Soup

This recipe is so easy, I thought it was worth mentioning it here...

I was looking for something to snack on the other day so decided to make a soup.

I looked through the cupboards and nothing appealed to me. I then thought "I know, I will make a soup".

Within 10 minutes I had created a wonderful and healthy soup packed full of vitamins, protein and fibre.

Here is how it was made....


Chop 2 spring onions into a pan and gently fry in olive oil.

Once softened, add frozen peas to the pan (the amount depends on how many you are cooking for so you be the judge).

As soon as the peas are defrosted, add enough water to just cover the peas. Add a ham stock cube also (add 2 cubes if cooking for 2 people).

Stir until the stock cubes have dissolved.

Break 2 bay leaves into the soup (without stalks) and heat for 10 minutes.

Add pepper and then blend until smooth.

Serve and enjoy.

Stir in a spoon of yogurt if you want to be naughty...

3 Key Factors for Fat Loss – Part 3

Key #3:
Exercise

You will lose fat by dieting alone, but not as effectively as you would using a calorie controlled diet and exercise plan. If you just dieted, you would end up as a smaller version of yourself.

Exercise helps you to build muscle (which helps you to burn more calories and lose more fat in the process), as well as helping you feel good about yourself, and providing a way to destress. The FITT and SOAP principles should be applied to your exercise program.

The FIIT principle:

Frequency: The number of training sessions completed in a given time period.

Intensity: The level of exertion that you are training at - i.e. if you are training for basic strength you will be using 80-90% of your one repetition maximum.

Time: How long the session lasts for - i.e. resistance training should last no longer than 45-50 minutes.

Type: What mode of exercise is being performed - i.e. aerobic, anaerobic, strength, power, etc.

The SOAP principle:

Specificity: Training you in a manner specific to producing the training adaptation or goal achievement desired - i.e. you must be training for fat loss. "Specificity also relates to the athlete's sport season. As an athlete progresses through the pre-season, in-season, and postseason, all forms of training should gradually progress in an organized manner from generalized to sport specific" - i.e. if you are an athlete your off-season would be general conditioning, progressing to strength and power work, then speed, and eventually to sports specific exercises. "The more similar the training activity is to the sport movement, the greater the likelihood that there will be a positive transfer to that sport".

Overload: "Refers to assigning a workout or training regime of greater intensity than the athlete is accustomed to. Without the stimulus of overload, even an otherwise well-designed program greatly limits the athlete's ability to make improvements. Overload training principles ensure that the muscles involved in the selected exercises are those that the sport relies on and that the loads are sufficient to challenge the athlete to become stronger, larger, faster, and more resistant to fatigue" - i.e. if you are training for strength, then if you do not consistently increase weights lifted during resistance training, then you are not overloading the muscles enough to get stronger. It is only when the body is consistently pushed that gains are made.

Adaptation: Training must be continually progressing via overload; otherwise [positive] adaptations can be lost quickly and performance can begin to decline, with fitness and conditioning sometimes returning to its initial state - i.e. if there was no periodization to your training and you perpetually did the same thing, then your body would stop making adaptations and progressing.

Progression: "The intensity of the training must become progressively greater. Progression, when applied properly, promotes long-term training benefits" - i.e. this is why you must change your training program every 4-6 weeks, to ensure that you are providing new challenges and continually getting results.

The best exercise program for losing fat is one that includes weights, cardio (mostly in the form of high intensity training), and flexibility (to help your muscle flexibility and joints).

Resistance Training:

If you are a beginner, you can start off with 2-3 full-body workouts each week. Otherwise, I would recommend a 3 or 4 day split. Each muscle group should be rested for at least 1 day before training that muscle group again. This gives it plenty of time to recover before the next training session.

Exercises that you should be doing are multijoint, compound exercises, as they use more than one muscle, and are the most effective for not only building muscle, but also in burning fat, because they are recruiting more of your body to perform the exercise than isolation exercises (these are a waste of time unless you are a seasoned lifter and are looking to target specific muscle groups).

The best compound exercises that you can do are the squat and the deadlift, as they use pretty much every muscle in your body. Other compound exercises that are good to include are the bench press, shoulder press, pullups, dips, and calf raises (the only isolation exercise that's really good).

You should be performing between 25-40 repetitions per muscle group, consisting of 3 sets of 10 repetitions for example per exercise, with a 1 minute recovery in between the sets (the shorter the recovery, the lighter your weights will possibly be, which will give you a 'cardio' workout as well).

Be sure that you always use good form for every exercise; otherwise you are putting yourself at risk for injury. All reps should be controlled and with good form. It is not about how much you can lift, but how well you lift. You will get stronger as you keep at it (although maybe not so much when trying to lose fat, but this depends on the individual).

You should never spend longer than 45-50 minutes in total lifting (i.e. your session should take that long from the time you walk in to the time you walk out, excluding if you do a warm-up - and this is strictly your own preference); otherwise you become too catabolic and can end up losing muscle.

You also need to change your weights program around slightly every 4-6 weeks, just so that your body does not get used to it and stop adapting. This can be as little as changing the order of exercises in a session or the number of sets and/or reps that you do for an exercise (and it only needs to be one exercise changed at a time, small adjustments over the weeks).

Here's a sample circuit plan for a beginner. This is a very basic routine, designed to get you 'used' to resistance training and condition your body for it, building a base to work on, whilst also targeting your goals. After 4-6 weeks you will need to change your program.

Do an easy 10 minute warm-up. Select weights that you can do for said reps on each exercise (but not too much more), and use these for the entire session.

Complete exercises in order from 1-7, with minimal recovery (ideally it should be moving from one exercise to another; but if you are a beginner 30-60 seconds will be ok). At the end of one set (i.e. 1-10) rest for 1 minute, and then repeat. Stretch full-body for 5 minutes after your session. This should take ~45 minutes in total.

Every week your weights should increase (i.e. not on all sessions, but keep weights the same for a week, and increase as you can for the next week's sessions), so that you keep challenging your body.

Beginner Fat Loss Workout Program:

Barbell Squats: 2 sets of 15 reps
Romanian Deadlifts: 2 sets of 15 reps
Standing Calf Raises: 2 sets of 15 reps
Pullups: 2 sets to failure
Pushups: 2 sets to failure
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 15 reps
Crunches: 2 sets to failure

I highly recommend getting a personal trainer if you are a beginner, so that you can be shown the correct technique (very important) for each exercise.

Personal trainers can be there with you for your first few sessions, to determine starting weights, as you get acquainted with resistance training. They also provide motivation, support, and a source for accountability.

A personal trainer will also assist in creating a workout for you and should offer nutrition advice.

Cardio

Whilst long, slow cardio burns calories, you require long periods of time to do it. Some even recommend doing two hours of cardio a day, or double cardio sessions, to lose fat, but it's simply not necessary.

The most effective way to burn fat through cardio is to do either:

Interval training

Cardio at a higher intensity (i.e. just going out and running as fast as you can over a certain distance, instead of 45 minutes at a 60% max heart rate).

Forget about the 'Fat Burning Zone'; it does not matter what fuel you use during cardio, as your body will burn other substrates during the rest of the day (i.e. if you burn fat during cardio it will use carbs the rest of the day, and vice versa).

If you feel that you need to do more cardio, then you can do brisk walks every other day, or perhaps a run (but no more than 30 minutes; after 30 minutes of running you are very catabolic and are likely to lose muscle, which you do not want happening). Skipping, stair sprinting/running, or rowing, are the next highest calorie burners after sprinting.

Flexibility:

Stretch for 10-20 minutes per day, preferably after you have done either cardio or weights, while your muscles are still warm, as this decreases the risk of injury. Stretching makes sure that you can move more freely and easily and helps elongate the muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

Remember that when it comes to exercise more is not always best!

You want maximal results for minimal time. You also need to remember that some of this is experimental, and about finding what works best for you, since everyone is different and responds differently to different exercise programs.

Conclusion

The first step to successful fat loss is to set a goal. Your goal should follow the principles of SMART goal-setting. Once you have set your goal, then you need to look at your nutrition.

Your diet should be individualised for you, to ensure that you get the results that you want in the timeframe that you want them. Your diet should follow the principles of adequacy, balance, energy control, nutrient density, moderation, and variety.

The last piece of the fat loss puzzle is exercise. Your exercise program should follow the FITT and SOAP principles; and include resistance training (3-4 times weekly), cardio (predominantly in the form of high intensity sessions), and flexibility (to aid your joints and muscles).

As long as you are eating right for you for fat loss, doing weights 3-4 times per week, doing cardio 2-3 or more times per week for 12-30 minutes per day (depending on the intensity; the higher the intensity the shorter you do it for!), and allowing your body to recover (this is very important; if you do too much, then your body will not be able to recover properly and you will not get the results you want, since your body only adapts and gets results in the recovery time!), then you will successfully lose fat!

1-2-1 Fitness can help you start your journey to a leaner, fitter body.

Please contact me for further information.

3 Key Factors for Fat Loss – Part 2

Key #2:
Nutrition

When you look at your nutrition you should think "diet", as defined by a diet plan that can only be sustained for short periods of time (i.e. low calorie or low carbohydrate diets). When you think "diet", you should think lifestyle eating (i.e. your diet should be something that you can easily maintain all year round, with the only thing you change about it being the amount of calories consumed, based upon your body goal).

Your diet plan should incorporate 6 principles:

Adequacy: Your diet provides enough energy and nutrients to meet your needs.

Balance: Not over consuming any single type of food.

Energy Control: You need to know what your energy needs are (i.e. maintenance), and allow for that; to ensure that you get the nutrients that you require without going in excess of your required calories, use foods that have a high nutrient density.

Nutrient Density: Select foods that deliver the most nutrients for the least energy.

Moderation: Moderating portion sizes; and consuming foods that contain high fat and sugar in moderation.

Variety: Eating a variety of foods day-to-day.

Here are some tips on diet for fat loss:

Eat every 2-3 hours after waking. This helps keep the metabolism going throughout the day, as well as keeping insulin levels stable (you can see that 3 meals is simply not enough, even if they are in small portions).

Every meal should include quality lean protein (i.e. chicken breast, fish, tuna, salmon, lean beef, egg whites, etc.), and fibrous carbs (i.e. vegetables, green ones in particular). Complex carbohydrates (i.e. rice, oats, etc.), should be consumed mainly around your workouts.

Do not avoid fat (except saturated fat and trans fats). You need fat in your diet, as fat plays major roles in energy metabolism and other parts of your body. It is important to ensure that you consume your required amount of good fats (i.e. flaxseeds or flaxseed oil, fish oils, peanut butter, nuts - especially almonds and walnuts, hempseed oil, olive oil, etc.) each day.

Do not avoid carbs completely. You need a small amount of carbs each day for your body to burn fat effectively and to provide the energy requirements of your brain and central nervous system.

The only sugar needed on a regular basis is the natural sugar found in food; these are mostly found in fruit. Too much sugar plays havoc with insulin levels; you want these as stable as possible throughout the day. The best time to be having sugar is straight after a resistance workout, when the body is trying to replenish muscle glycogen stores. Therefore, make sure that you have a protein shake with some simple sugar (i.e. fruit smoothie with ice and protein powder is great here) as soon as possible after your resistance training, and then a proper meal (i.e. complex carbs, protein, fibrous carbs) about 60 minutes after your post-workout shake.

Consume adequate protein, to prevent muscle loss and maintain a relatively high thermic effect.

It has been proven that one or two servings of dairy per day help you lose more fat than if you avoid it altogether.

At a minimum your body requires 2 litres of water per day to cover its water needs. For those with higher energy outputs, good recommendation is to drink 4 litres of water per day. This will help keep your system clean.

Do not drink black tea or coffee. Try drinking green tea instead; it helps with thermogenesis, and is especially good if you take it one hour before doing cardio first thing in the morning.

Do not drink alcohol. Alcohol has no nutritional value and is full of calories.

Minimize salt addition to food. Instead, flavour meals with herbs and spices (i.e. ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper, curry powder, chilli powder, and garlic all help thermogenesis).

Eat most food as 'natural' as possible. This means fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, grains, etc. Try not to eat too much packaged food, as it is full of extra calories and sugar.


Most importantly, remember that it is OK to cheat every now and then. Actually the body needs cheat meals. By throwing all the guidelines just mentioned out of the way and having a day where you eat what you want it helps not only your mind, but also in preventing your body from going into starvation mode (i.e. where the body battles you to hold onto the fat as much as it can). If you prefer not to 'cheat', then add in 1-2 higher calorie days (i.e. go up to just above maintenance, or bulking, or even slightly higher), with the extra calories coming from quality complex carbs.

Supplements should not be a big deal, as most fat loss can be done through simply eating the right food at the right time; and unless everything that you are doing is already done to ensure the maximum results in the timeframe that you want to achieve it in, and then supplementation should not be the focus. However, there are a few supplements that I think are important to any regime.

Multivitamin: Although you should be eating as much of a variety of food as possible, in order to meet the RDI/AI of most nutrients from actual food.

Creatine Monohydrate: Creatine helps the body to recover faster, as well as indirectly aiding in increasing strength levels and lean body mass.

Flaxseed/Fish Oil: This is the good fats. Flaxseed or Hempseed oil is great with breakfast or in protein shakes.

Protein Powder: This just helps when you are struggling to fit a meal in, or after the gym, and to make sure that you get enough protein in.
Apart from these four 'staple' supplements, you do not need much else. You especially do not need fat-burners or thermogenics; they are a waste of time unless you are already lean and are looking for that 'extra edge' to lose the extra % BF (i.e. like a fitness competitor, etc.)

The 1-2-1 Fitness Diet is available at a very competitive rate. We will calculate your daily nutrient requirements for you, help you with meal plans and assist you all the way until you reach your goal.

Please contact me if you would like more information regarding the 1-2-1 Fitness Diet.


Part 3 of this article will be coming soon....

3 Key Factors for Fat Loss – Part 1

Many people have the desire to lose weight. More specifically, many people desire to lose body fat . However, most of those people do not know how to go about it. They see conflicting messages everywhere, from one fad diet to another, one person telling them one thing about training and someone else telling them differently.

Those who are successful at fat loss know their body well and how it responds to different aspects of nutrition and training manipulation. Those who do not know look to those who are successful and try to emulate their methods. What everyone needs to remember is that everything is individual. What works for one person may not work for another.

However, there are three keys to fat loss that apply to everyone:

1. Goal Setting
2. Nutrition
3. Exercise

Each key is important, and without one of those keys, whilst one may lose weight/bodyfat for a time, they are less likely to keep that weight/bodyfat off.

This article is going to discuss the first key, and make suggestions on how to utilize them effectively for fat loss.


Key #1:
Goal Setting

The first thing that you need to do, before you look at diet and exercise, is to set goals. Look at where you are now, and what you want to be. Your end goal can be whatever you want, because as long as you give yourself a realistic timeframe to achieve it in, you can achieve anything that you want!

Once you have set your long-term goal, then you need to set smaller goals - these are your short-term goals that will help you get to your long-term goal. Goals made should be SMART goals.

Specific: You must be specific in what your goals is - i.e. I want to lose 4% bodyfat in 8 weeks.

Measurable: You must be able to measure your progress towards achieving your goal - i.e. %bodyfat can be measured doing a 6-8 skinfold body composition test every week.

Adjustable: Your goals must be able to be adjusted if for whatever reason something happens and they no longer become realistic for the period that you have set yourself.

Realistic: Your goals must be realistic - i.e. losing 4% bodyfat in 8 weeks is realistic; losing 4% bodyfat in 2 weeks is NOT.

Time-Based: You must set a time frame over which you want to achieve your goal; have specific start and finish dates- i.e. I want to lose 4% bodyfat in the period 13 July to 6 September.


Part 2 (Nutrition) will be posted soon, so keep your eyes peeled for it....

Using a Foam Roller ? You should be !

A decade ago, strength coaches and athletic trainers would have looked quizzically at a 36-inch long cylindrical piece of foam and wondered, "What is that for?" Today, nearly every athletic training room and most strength and conditioning facilities contain an array of foam rollers of different lengths and consistencies.

What happened to bring foam rollers into prominence? The change has been in our attitude toward massage therapy. We have been slowly moving away from an injury care mode of isokinetics and electronics to more European-inspired processes that focus on hands-on soft tissue care. We now realize that techniques like massage, Muscle Activation (MAT), and Active Release Therapy (ART) can work wonders for sore or injured athlete.

In addition, the understanding at the elite athlete level is: If you want to stay healthy, get a good manual therapist in your corner. Thus, athletes at all levels are starting to ask for some form of soft tissue care.

What does all this have to do with foam rollers? As coaches and athletic trainers watched elite-level athletes experience success from various soft tissue techniques, the obvious question arose: How can I make massage available to large groups of athletes at a reasonable cost? Enter the foam roller.

National Academy of Sports Medicine President Michael Clark, DPT, MS, PT, NASM-PES, is credited by many-this author included-with exposing the sports medicine community to the foam roller. In one of Clarke's early manuals, he included a few photos of self-myofascial release using a foam roller. The technique illustrated was simple and self-explanatory: Get a foam roller and use your bodyweight to apply pressure to sore spots.

Since then, many of us have discovered more uses for foam rollers, including injury prevention and performance enhancement. We've also moved away from the accupressure concept and now use them more for self-massage. And we've come up with specific protocols for different situations.

Essentially, foam rollers are the poor man's massage therapist. They provide soft tissue work to the masses in any setting. But you need to know their nuances to get the most out of them.


What, How & When

A foam roller is simply a cylindrical piece of extruded hard-celled foam. Think swimming pool noodles, but a little more dense and larger in diameter. They usually come in one-foot or three-foot lengths. I find the three-foot model works better, but it obviously takes up more space.

They are also now available in a number of densities from relatively soft foam (slightly harder than a pool noodle), to newer high-density rollers that feel much more solid. The denser the athlete, the more dense the roller should be. Large, heavily-muscled athletes will do better with a very high density roller whereas a smaller, younger athlete should begin with a less dense product.

The application techniques are simple. Clarke's initial recommendation was based on an accupressure concept, in which pressure is placed on specific surfaces of the body. Athletes were instructed to use the roller to apply pressure to sensitive areas in their muscles-sometimes called trigger points, knots, or areas of increased muscle density. The idea was to allow athletes to apply pressure to injury-prone areas themselves.

The use of foam rollers has progressed in many circles from an accupressure approach to self-massage, which I've found to be more effective. The roller is now usually used to apply longer more sweeping strokes to the long muscle groups like the calves, adductors, and quadriceps, and small directed force to areas like the TFL, hip rotators, and glute medius.

Athletes are instructed to use the roller to search for tender areas or trigger points and to roll these areas to decrease density and over-activity of the muscle. With a little direction on where to look, most athletes easily find the tender spots on their own. However, they may need some instruction on the positioning of the roller, such as parallel, perpendicular, or 45 degrees, depending on the muscle.

The feel of the roller and intensity of the self-massage should be properly geared to the age, comfort, and fitness level of the athlete. This is one of the plusses of having the athlete roll themselves-they can control the intensity with their own body weight.

There is no universal agreement on when to roll, how often to roll, or how long to roll, but generally, techniques are used both before and after a workout. Foam rolling prior to a workout can help decrease muscle density and promote a better warmup. Rolling after a workout may help muscles recover from strenuous exercise.

My preference is to have athletes use the rollers before every workout. We also use them after a workout if athletes are sore.

One of the nice things about using the foam roller is that it can be done on a daily basis. In fact, in their book, The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, Clair Davies and Amber Davies recommend trigger point work up to 12 times a day in situations of acute pain.

How long an athlete rolls is also determined on a case-by-case basis. I usually allow five to 10 minutes for soft tissue activation work at the beginning of the session prior to warmup. If my athletes roll after their workout, it is done for the same length of time.


Some Specifics

While the foam roller can be used on almost any area of the body, I have found it works best on the lower extremities. There is not as much dense tissue in the upper body and our athletes are not prone to the same frequency of upper body strains as lower. The hamstrings and hip flexors seem to experience the most muscle strains, so we concentrate on those areas.

Here are some protocols I use:

Gluteus max and hip rotators: The athlete sits on the roller with a slight tilt and moves from the iliac crest to the hip joint to address the glute max. To address the hip rotators, the affected leg is crossed to place the hip rotator group in an elongated position. As a general rule of thumb, 10 slow rolls are done in each position (although there are no hard and fast rules for reps). Often athletes are simply encouraged to roll until the pain disappears.

TFL and Gluteus Medius: The tensor fasciae latae and gluteus medius, though small in size, are significant factors in anterior knee pain. To address the TFL, the athlete begins with the body prone and the edge of the roller placed over the TFL, just below the iliac crest

After working the TFL, the athlete turns 90 degrees to a side position (see Figure Three on page XX) and rolls from the hip joint to the iliac crest to address the gluteus medius.

Adductors: The adductors are probably the most neglected area of the lower body. A great deal of time and energy is focused on the quadriceps and hamstring groups and very little attention is paid to the adductors. There are two methods to roll the adductors. The first is a floor-based technique that works well for beginners. The user abducts the leg over the roller and places the roller at about a 60-degree angle to the leg. The rolling action begins just above the knee in the area of the vastus medialis and pes anserine, and should be done in three portions. To start, 10 short rolls are done covering about one third the length of the femur. Next, the roller is moved to the mid-point of the adductor group and again rolled 10 times in the middle third of the muscle. Last, the roller is positioned high into the groin almost to the pubic symphysis for a final set of 10 rolls.

The second technique for the adductors should be used after the athlete is comfortable with the first one. This exercise requires the athlete to sit on a training room table or the top of a plyometric box, which allows him or her to shift significantly more weight onto the roller and work deeper into the large adductor triangle. The athlete then performs the same rolling movements mentioned above.

Although I primarily use the rollers for athletes' legs, they can also be used with upper extremities. The same techniques can be used for pecs, lats, and rotator cuffs, although with a much smaller amplitude-making the movements closer to accupressure.


Assessing Effectiveness

Foam rolling is hard work that can even border on being painful. Good massage work, and correspondingly good self-massage work, may be uncomfortable, much like stretching. Therefore, it is important that athletes learn to distinguish between a moderate level of discomfort related to working a trigger point and a discomfort that can lead to injury.

When an athlete has completed foam rolling, he or she should feel better, not worse. And the rollers should never cause bruising. Ask the athlete how his or her muscles feel after each session to assess if the techniques are working.

I also judge whether foam rolling is working by monitoring compliance. If I don't have to tell athletes to get out the foam roller before a workout, I know the techniques are working. Most do it without prompting as they see the benefits.


Rolling vs. Massage

The question often arises: "Which is better, massage therapy or a foam roller?" To me the answer is obvious: Hands-on work is better than foam. Hands are directly connected to the brain and can feel. A foam roller cannot feel. If cost was not an issue I would have a team of massage therapists on call for my athletes at all times.

However, having an abundance of massage therapists on staff is not in most of our budgets. Therein lies the beauty of the foam rollers: They provide unlimited self-massage for around £20. Sounds like a solution to me.

Antioxidants: Twenty Of The Best Health-Boosting Foods

The US Department of Agriculture recently presented a Top 20 list, which provides a surprisingly helpful guide for picking out some of the healthiest foods the next time you go to the supermarket. (I say 'surprisingly' because these are the same people that brought us that famous food pyramid that was built on refined flour.)


Measuring up
Last month, a team of USDA nutritionists published a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The title: 'Lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidant capacities of common foods in the United States.'

Snappy title. But perhaps a more descriptive title would be 'Top 20 antioxidant-rich foods.'

The USDA nutritionists examined more than 100 different kinds of fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, cereals and other foods. Using an analysis method called the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), they were able to detect the lipid soluble (lipophilic) and water soluble (hydrophilic) antioxidant capacities of the food samples.

They also singled out certain foods to test the impact from two different processing methods: cooking and peeling.

Starting at the bottom...

The results weren't altogether surprising: Fruits, vegetables and beans claimed nearly all the spots in the Top 20. We'll start with the lower ten, counting backwards:

20. Gala apples
19. Plums
18. Black beans (dried)
17. Russet potatoes (cooked)
16. Black plums
15. Sweet cherries
14. Pecans
13. Granny Smith apples
12. Red delicious apples
11. Strawberries

If there's a surprise here, it's that strawberries - known for their high antioxidant content - just missed the top ten.

Cream of the crop....

When I began reading the USDA study, I tried to guess the number one antioxidant food before looking at the list. I guessed 'blueberries,' and I was close, but not quite on the money. Here's the Top 10:

10. Raspberries
9. Prunes
8. Blackberries
7. Artichokes (cooked)
6. Cranberries
5. Blueberries (cultivated)
4. Pinto beans
3. Red kidney beans
2. Blueberries (wild)

And the number one antioxidant-rich food:

1. Small red beans (dried)

Small red beans! Who knew? The small red bean looks like a kidney bean - same colour and shape - except that it's (you guessed it) smaller. It's sometimes identified as a Mexican red bean, but it's grown in Washington, Idaho, and Alberta, Canada.


To cook, or not to cook...
The USDA list is very useful, but it's important to remember that the best way to get your antioxidants is not to eat heaping bowls of dried small red beans each day, but rather to eat a wide variety of antioxidant-rich foods.

That way you'll also get other useful nutrients, such as ellagitannin; a substance that has been shown to help prevent the growth of cancerous cells and is found in raspberries and strawberries. And when you eat pecans you'll add copper and potassium to your diet.

Pinto and kidney beans are good sources of folate (sometimes called vitamin B-9), which may help lower homocysteine levels. And blueberries deliver a chemical called anthocyanis that has been shown to help protect brain cells.

As you might imagine, most antioxidant foods lose some of their antioxidant capacities in processing. (The most notable exception is the tomato; the antioxidant lycopene is enhanced by cooking.) Ronald L. Prior (one of the study co-authors) told HealthDayNews that 'fresh' is the unsurprising best choice over frozen, cooked or otherwise processed.

So while blueberry pie may seem like a somewhat healthy treat, it can't begin to compare with a bowl of blueberries, picked fresh from the meadow.

The Basics Of Bulking And Adding Lean Mass

While most of us are always trying to lose weight, there are some people who are interested in just bulking up; which in simple terms means eating more and training heavier in order to gain muscle weight.

There could be many reasons for this such as, a person has been dieting for a long period of time and wishes to increase size and muscle tone.

Or, a sports person that includes a vast amount of cardiovascular exercise into their routine and has suffered muscle atrophy.

Like everything, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. I see many people who in an attempt to gain weight just start eating everything in sight, and thus, either overtax their digestive systems, thus not being able to eat several times a day, and/or simply start gaining too much body fat, as the case is for those without a hardgainer metabolism.

In order to gain quality weight, the nutrients taken in have to be of a high quality nature. While some hardgainers have such a fast metabolism that they could benefit from also adding cheat meals to their nutrition plan, the best way to gain weight is through a planned and controlled increase in macronutrient intake. By ensuring that the quality of the nutrients is high (such as low glycemic index carbohydrates, low fat proteins and high quality fats) muscle weight gain is optimized and fat weight is minimized.

However, in order for a bulk up phase to be effective, it needs to be executed properly. Otherwise, you end up gaining way too much body fat, which at the end of the day, whether you just want to look good for the beach over the summer or participate at a bodybuilding competition, you will need to lose anyways. In this bulk up/weight gain guide I'll teach you the bulking up rules to gaining some solid muscle weight while minimizing fat gains.


When To Bulk Up
First of all, bulking up is not about eating everything in sight and trying to lift as heavy as possible hoping that all of the increased weight gain will come in the form of muscle. This old school strategy will only lead to excessive fat gain. The best time, in my opinion, to bulk up is after you have been dieting for a long period of time. At this time your body will act like a sponge and absorb all of the nutrients that you give it at peak efficiency in response to the fact that it has not been getting such an influx of nutrients for a while. Also, if you are above 10% body fat, in which case you cannot see your abs, then you need to concentrate on losing body fat up until the point (at the very least) where you can see the top two rows of abs (when you have a four pack). Your bulk up plan will work even better, however, if you get down to where you can easily see your full abdominal wall (which is around 6-7% body fat for most people) as when you increase calories in this state, your body will be more primed to gain most of the weight in the form of muscle mass in response to the low calorie period that came before it.


Bulking Up Basics
Having said that, know that while most of the weight that you will gain will be in the form of muscle, some of it will be in the form of fat no matter how good your diet is. The reason for that is the fact that on a state of caloric surplus (when you feed your body more calories than what is burned) some of those calories are stored as body fat. However, by bulking up on good foods, by training hard and by starting from a low percentage of body fat, you will minimize the fat gain and maximize the muscle mass gain.