Making your training count

I frequently get people coming up to me and say they are doing everything they can to reach their goal but their body just does not seem to respond. They then seem to blame it on genetics! WRONG! You could see this as an extension from my Breaking Through Training Plateaus article but it is a little different. What most people get wrong is they begin to train inside their comfort zones, they train the muscles they like and neglect anything else. They stay on the same weight and same intensitys and try nothing new. So firstly get out of your comfort zone, you want to be able to feel the muscle pain, you want to sweat. This is how you progress. Alongside this, here's what the science says about the simple ways changing your training style could benefit you greatly. So here we go...

Add Eccentic Training

Hather et al (1991) found that the short term effects of eccentric training were superior to that of concentric training. They also found that optimal hypertrophy in response to weight training was not attained unless the eccentric muscle movement was performed. So what does this mean? Simply slow down your conrtactions on the way down and grow some more muscle! This is basically the easiest thing you can do within the exact same training plan as you were doing.

Add Interval Training

Gibala et al (2006) found that interval training provided the same results as continuous (long distance) training. This shows that you can have the same benefits with a shorter period of training simply be increasing the intensity. So grab the exact same benefits of training but just in a completly shorter period of time. So there you go, the 'I have no time' excuse goes straight out of the window.

Add Supersets

The strength training and anatomy book by Delavier & Gundill suggest that supersets save a lot of time, as you are putting two exercises into one, allowing you to train beyond failure thus increasing your strength and muscle endurance. BOOM, saving you time again! Plus while being in the hypertrophy range we are also pushing the muscles into an endurance zone meaning they wont adapt as quick making them change more and quicker.

Add Pyramid Sets

Delavier & Gundill also suggest that the beginning of a pyramid set is good for muscle endurance due to the light weights and high repetitions and good for hypertrophy when the weight is starting to increase. Thank me later... The Pyramid Set technique takes you through a lot of different muscles zones such as endurance, hypertrophy and strength. So you are working your muscles at a higher intensity for a shorter period of time but gaining so much more!

I hope this helps you save time and helps you reach your goals!

Breaking through platues

Breaking through plateaus can be difficult. A plateau is basically where your muscles stops growing or changing because it has adapted to the exercises/sets/reps/weight you are training with. You have to think about it logically. We were not always in this time of plentiful food and nourishment. There was a time where we would have to hunt for food straining day to day life. You're body still carries these instincts and your body still constantly strives to find the easiest way of doing something so you do not have to expend much energy.

It does this by adapting to what you do. You see that all athletes have different kinds of bodies due to the different sports they do - a marathon runner is an ectomorph so they don't have much weight to carry for the long distance events where as a 100m sprinter is heavily muscled as they are built for power and quick acceleration. With this in mind you'll be able to see if you do the same thing day in day out your body will adapt and you will no longer make any progress. So it's easy; we have to keep the muscles guessing in order for them to grow. Below are my top tips to avoiding plateaus or smashing out of them.

Up the Intensity

So this is the first thing you can do. It's a very easy one, it costs you no money and changes nothing in your schedule during the day. It's only going to cost you a lot more sweat and pain. There is no easy way about it but who needs the easy way, I personally think earning your dream body or performance is just as satisfying as actually having it. How do we exactly up the intensity though?

Reduce the Rest

You could start by reducing your rest. This is a simple step forward. Most people do not time their rests and they just sit around for a while until they feel comfortable. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but exercising isn't supposed to be comfortable. Start bringing a stop watch or using your phone to time rest periods. You can start with maybe a minute rest in-between sets and then gradually reduce it. If you go with a partner and he/she is wasting time after the times up give them a slap and tell them to work. By reducing the rest you are giving your muscle less time to recover. By doing this you are adding greater stress to the muscle in a shorter period of time which will promote it to grow/tighten up.

Change Your Reps & Sets / Upping or Lowering the Weight

This is easy once you have the knowledge to back you. You have to realise there will come a point where you can't lift anymore weight. There will always be a limit. You can't just keep going up and up and up or you're going to hurt yourself. I see people all the time who just constantly lift heavy weights and cannot move up any more because they have dug themselves into a plateau. It is important to change it up. To some extent it is right that heavy lifting = more muscle, and light lifting = more toning - but many people don't do it right.

So I'm trying to gain muscle but you do not see me lifting heavy all of the time. I change my sets between 4 and 6. Usually the higher the sets will be the lower my reps will be. I will start by lifting heavy weights so 6 reps for 5 sets and then after weeks of doing this I will up the reps and decrease the sets. By doing this I'm constantly keeping the muscle guessing while keeping the intensity high.

By changing reps/sets I don't just mean the numbers and weight. Start adding drop sets in, this will get that little bit more out of your muscle at the end of an exercise. Super sets are also a good way to go, take a chest workout for example; if you super set incline press (compound exercise) with an incline fly (stretch exercise) you will be putting a greater deal of stress on the muscle promoting it to grow. This is because you will be doing two exercises for one basically, which will cut your rest time.

You can also slow down the speed of you reps, little pulses can actually promote the muscle to grow as you are stimulating fast twitch muscle fibres. As you are pulsing your muscles power increases. Another way to change would be going slow down and powering back up. By doing this you are getting a full stretch which will tear the muscle fibres but when you power up contracting the muscle you are forcing it to work harder. The last thing you can do to change your reps is by doing negatives. This is one of my favourite things to do as it gets that last little bit out of you on your last rep.

Eating more food

By eating more food you are giving yourself more energy and by having more energy you are allowing yourself to up you intensity in the gym. It's quite simple, if your intake is not high your intensity won't be either, you have to fuel your body! So by eating more food and having more energy we will be able to lift more weight as our levels would have increased, we would also be able to get one more rep out which will promote muscle growth. Don't get me wrong though, I don't mean eat anything in sight or junk food. You have to have a well-balanced diet. A well balanced diet is the key thing towards unleashing what you are actually capable of.

This will hurt to do but it will be worth it in the long run. Remember to always change things up so you don't get yourself into the plateau in the first place. This way you will always be motivated to carry on as yourself and other will constantly seeing you getting in better shape.

8 habit changes to make some serious changes

Bad habits are the cause of stunted and slow progress towards your goals - be that losing weight, gaining muscle or shaving 5 seconds of that sprint time. This shows the importance of breaking them. As soon as you change your ways, you will be one step closer. Over the years I have found that many of these bad habits are the same for a lot of people so have a look below, see if any apply to you and learn to break them!

1) You skip breakfast!

I recommend that you need to have breakfast every day. You need a nutritionally balanced and use things like honey as a substitute for sugar if you have a sweet tooth. You can even start experimenting and adding protein powder to you oats! If you want to lose weight a black coffee (hold the milk!) in the morning will also wake you up and help burn fat due to the caffeine speeding up the metabolism.

2) You drink a lot of sugary, fizzy drinks!

You need to stop drinking fizzy drinks. Each fizzy drink you consume will likely have an alarming amount of sugar in it, spiking your blood sugar, affecting your training and your mood - while pre-disposigng the body towards fat storage. It's also thought that cutting fizzy drinks from your diet can secure a better night's sleep - supporting better recovery. It has been shown that also 8 hours of sleep a night can boost free fat weight loss. Switch to water!

3) You drink too much!

For most of us, sometimes going out is inevitable. I mean it's fun and important to let loose and enjoy yourself once in a while. Just learn that if you do go out, try not to overdo the usual binge, just take it easy. The usual binge can lead to a hangover where you will often crave junk food afterwards. Without even mentioning the fact that alcohol will take its toll on the liver and dehydrate the body. And rememeber, a dehydrated cell is not geared for efficient functioning for performance or fat burning.

4) You eat a lot of pizza and high salt ready meals!

Easy to cook meals such as pizzas and microwave ready-meals are easy and will be out of the oven quick and the food is done. However nutritionally they are not ideal - often far from it. If time is a common issue, a good solution to this is to precook a day's food the night before with things such as sweet potato, chicken, salmon, rice etc. This way the healthy food is all prepared and it just needs to be reheated. So no excuses!

5) You eat a lot of sugary, sweet snacks!

Hopefully as you start eating better quality food the snacking will subside but what I can do is provide healthy snacking alternatives. Dry fruit and nuts is a great way to keep the hands busy and keep the calories down. The nuts have good fats in and particularly almonds are good for filling up. Beef jerky is also brilliant and so tasty to snack on and gives you some extra protein to repair those muscles!

6) You miss meals!

By missing a meal you are denying the body the nutrients it needs to function, grow and repair. This is particularly true for anyone training regularly. When you train, the body will need more of these nutrients so if you don't eat you will be in a deficit and be in danger of losing weight rapidly and unhealthily. It is important that you stay in the recommended guidelines for your age.

7) You don't drink enough water!

Relating back to the fizzy drinks you need to increase your water intake so to keep the body in a constant hydrated state. This will allow you to perform and feel better. 2hr before exercise you should have up to 500ml of water, during you will need 200ml every 15 minutes and post 15% of BML (body mass levels) to keep yourself hydrated. 

8) You're not getting the your RDA of fruit & veg!

Here's the big one, you will need to up you veg and fruit intake. This is because these food items will provide yourself with nutrients and minerals. These foods are also low in fat and calories and will fill you up so can be used for snacking also. An easy way to hit the recommended daily allowance and take in a whole host of key vitamins and minerals would be to supplement with a greens powder such as SUPER GREENS.