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.

Choosing the right training partner for you!

Everyone knows that when going to the gym, having a partner can either make you lazy or make you work harder. It's someone there that can spot you, someone to compete against and someone to generally push you that little bit harder. Sometimes this is not the case though, everyone has probably been put in that position where your partner is being lazy taking ages between sets and usually it rubs off on yourself, and for that one session, being 'lazy' results in not benefiting fully from that session. I'm in-between, sometimes I like being with a partner and sometimes I like my headphones and just keeping my head down. So know we have established that partners have their advantages and disadvantages why is choosing the right person key?

Your Goals

Choose someone with the same goals. What is the point of going with someone trying to lose weight while you're trying to gain muscle? This means that you can share your knowledge with one and other. Knowledge is power. With two minds going together to complete one task be that gaining muscle or losing weight, you will make less mistakes meaning you will get there quicker and more efficiently.

Your Training Level

Secondly, you need to find someone at the same level as you. I have been burdened time and time again with my friends asking me to help them. Now I don't mind helping out but it kills my work out because of the constant questions or even if they join I don't feel that push to lift more weight. If you want help in the gym hire a personal trainer. That's what they are there for. So for example I go with my friend Aaron. We are both at about the same strength and we push each other time and time again, if I put and extra 2.5kg on he'll put an extra 5kg on. If I get 1 more rep he'll go for 2 more. After we leave like we have been hit by a car, have a high five and say it was an ace workout. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT. You want that competition, you want to feel if you don't go for a while you may get left behind, it gives you that drive to go even if you are tired.

Your Mindset

Thirdly and lastly, you want someone with the same mind set as you. We all know what it's like to get bailed on. Not nice. If your partner is not driven and focused you're not going to be either. There is a good saying that is, your personality is comprised of the five people you hang around with the most - so make sure those five are not lazy! If you start going to the gym for 2 hours a day, 5 times a week with someone who is not driven, it will eventually rub off on you.

So, why is choosing the right person key? Choosing the right person is key, because it will determine how successful you will be at the gym or just working out in general. We can push ourselves harder, we can reach the same goals together and we can help each other out. Partners also help decrease rest times, if you are ready to work as soon as they have finished their set you will be pushing your muscles to the max! Choose wisely people, that person you decide to workout with may determine where you end up!

Losing “weight” effectively

Losing weight, well, that’s an ambiguous term. It doesn’t really specify your goals efficiently. What are you trying to do? Lose muscle mass? Not retain as much water? Lose fat free mass? It’s probably the end one isn’t it? So the correct terminology is losing fat free mass and not weight.

Why is this article here?

I have seen countless people losing weight incorrectly. They pile on everything at once and wonder why it doesn’t work. They throw in insane gym sessions lasting hours, long sessions of cardio, fat burners, cut carbs amongst other things in an attempt to shed the fat. At the time this seems the correct way to do it, until you burn out. As you are putting your body under this much stress at once it is inevitable that you will burn out and start binging again which is basically a yo yo diet. By doing something like this you will actually gain more weight than when you started because you’ve effectively slowed your metabolism down when you dieted and then during an unhealthy binge session you start piling on the weight as your body just stores all of the extra fat that’s going in. It’s a survival mechanism. You’ve basically starved your body so much that when you reefed it takes in everything it can as it thinks you may go through another stage like that.

On top of what was previously said you will be psychologically drained. If you’ve taken your sugars out and really downed your carbs there will not be much glycogen in your muscles so you will feel heavy and tired along with not being able to exercise at a good intensity. You will also lose strength so you’re muscles will start to decline in size which is very unhealthy. You may even start overtraining leading to actually hurting yourself also which will mean you would have to take time out. This is due to your body being in a very catabolic state putting you in a vulnerable position.

Why listen to what I have to say?

Now as you’re reading this article, you obviously want to lose some fat free mass, and I don’t know what your specific goals are but losing some of this fat will be within in it. You’ve probably read through hundreds of articles on how to do this, you’ve definitely seen fad diets around claiming you can get thin in 31 one days and blah blah blah. So with in this in mind why trust my opinion? Well I’m not going to bore you with my qualifications and all of that but I’m going to base everything you’re reading here on my personal experiences. So I’m not regurgitating information I’ve found from unreliable sources on the Internet but my actual first hand experience of my experience of weight loss. Now what works for me may not work for you, that’s a given but hopefully this insight on how to fat effectively and correctly will set you on the right road.

Last year I competed in a competition. It was imperative that got to a low percentage of body fat while at the same time keeping my strength and muscle size. This is possible, why do you think you see all of thee massive bodybuilders about with incredibly low percentages of body fat? It is mainly down to correct dieting and training. Leading in from my competition then… I had a certain time frame to compete this task so again it was at the up most importance that I didn’t do much wrong to hinder my results.

Now you know I was doing this for a competition. You may read this and take it on board for your competition or you may just want to fit into that next trouser size, or look better in a t-shirt for example. You need to understand that whatever the case we are manipulating our bodies and it will change. It will change as you’re going to be increasing your energy output while decreasing your energy input, in normal words you will be doing more exercise with eating less food.  So as we are changing our bodies through a diet it soon becomes the start of you changing your lifestyle. The diet is just a catalyst to get you started and then when you’re eating healthily its no longer a diet; it’s just a habit, a healthy habit.

Lets get started. The main steps.

 Step one: Macros

What we need to do is firstly calculate your macronutrient intake. By finding what we put into our bodies we can precisely cut things out so to reach out goals.

We need to know how much carbs, protein and fat we are putting into our bodies. This way we can weigh out food precisely as the calculation gives us exactly what our bodies need. Once the macros have been calculated you have to split these up into each meal you are going to have. It is good have meals little and often as you can always top yourself up. Remember this as it comes into play a lot more during the end weeks of your diet.  In issue 1 there was an article explaining macronutrients so give that a look to get started! It is very complicated to explain but essential to reaching your goals.

Step two: Timings

Secondly, what you need to get your head around is timings. Timings in this game are fundamental. Start you cardio to early you may hinder results. Cut your carbs to quickly and you may experience over training and negative psychological effects which will again slow down your progress. So what I mean by timings is when to have your meal within the day such as 2 or 3 hours separated alongside effectively planning when to cut things out and put things in.

Step three: Plan ahead

So now we have a grasp on timings what you need to do is plan ahead. You can’t plan the whole diet of course as you don’t know what your body will do as the weeks go on.  Make a little table for yourself to follow, something to follow is easier than making it up in your head as you go along. As we have already calculated our macros, as this was the first step you can write down the exact amount of grams for each meal meaning you just have to refer back to it if you ever get a bit lost.  Make sure you put your times in here too so for example: meal one at 8am meal two at 10am etc etc. You’ll soon remember the times you can have a meal but the initial change from eating what you want to actually setting out a timetable is a struggle.

These are my top tips. I know it’s only three but calculating your macros, timings and planning ahead is it really. It’s that simple. These are very broad statements, it’s obvious that you will need to exercise and eat good foods to help you lose weight and that is widely known which is why I haven’t talked about it. I’m addressing the issue of how people go about it to lose the most amount of weight in the safest way.

Example: Case study

Now we know all of this information lets put it into a little case study. Firstly we have calculated all of our macros and have decided to have 7 meals a day. We have set a plan out and decided on what times to eat. The first week into this cut and weight has been lost. As the weight is dropping nothing needs to change. Lets fast forward another week but the weight has stayed the same this time so now we add in a little low intensity cardio at the end of your work out as you will be in a fasted state which is optimal for burning fat.  When your weight stops going down again we will increase this cardio, not the intensity but the time. For example 20mins will increase to 30mins. Another stop in weight will result in some fasted cardio in the morning. Now can you see what is happening? You are eating the same amount of food but you are just increasing the exercise so weight will continue dropping off. Once cardio has reached around 45minutes to an hour for the morning and after training we will need to start looking at the food situation.

This is where the carbs will start to be cut BUT WE GRADUALLY TAKE THEM OUT.  In each meal I remember I had around 40g of carbs for each meal until 6pm (which was my carb cut off). So simply I took out 20g of out of one meal, which wasn’t my morning, pre or post training meal. After another decline in weight loss all of the carbs will come out of this meal. Further on from this I would start gradually taking carbs out of other meals until only my morning, pre and post work out carbs were left.  Another weight plateau would then lead to gradually pulling back these carbs too. This is where life gets a little hard.  Only because the decrease in food will result in you feeling hungry due to the exercise still staying at this high intensity. Now to give myself a little edge when I was losing weight I used fat burners on top of this just to spike my metabolism to get everything running a little quicker but this was only added in at the very end. 

Lets conclude

Can you see that from all of these steps we have lost fat in the most comfortable way? By doing this I got to low numbers of body fat while still retaining my strength and muscle size. I completed all of these steps in 12 weeks so don’t be mistaken; it’s not something you throw in all in a few weeks. By gradually doing this and pulling things back in your diet and gradually increasing your energy output you are allowing your body to adjust to what is happening to it.  This means you will not experience mind numbing hunger or insane tiredness as you are bringing everything back slowly. And by pulling things back step by step you are constantly changing what happens to your body so this means it cannot adapt fully to what you’re doing to it so you will keep losing weight.  I hope this helps you guys, try my tips out and see how it helps.

Client of mine who participated in my 8wk fat loss programme

GAINING MUSCLE PART 3:

This is the last part of my three part article. This is all about the supplements a take to gain muscle mass. When considering what supplements you should take you need to remember you need a balance between what builds muscle and what speeds up your recovery time. This is where the parts of the articles add up. If you start using the exercises in part one you will feel achy the next day which is obvious. By these supplements reducing your recovery time you will be able to lift more the next day due to the reduction in muscle soreness. So in short, taking a recovery supplement will help you build muscle as you will be more efficient each day at the gym or even training for a sport.

BCAA – recovery

Branch chain amino acids. It has actually been proven in a study that BCAA’s is one of the simplest ways to recover from heavy training sessions. This is because the supplement supports energy use in the body and decreases muscle soreness. Researchers found that to reach higher performance levels you need to take a large dose before and after training. This way there is an immediate source of amino acids which are required for proteinsynthesis. 5-10 grams would suffice depending on your body weight. 

Glutamine – recovery

I love this supplement. Glutamine is an amino acid. An amino acid is a molecule which creates protein. It is involved in the protein synthesis process, so after you’ve worked out and broken down muscle tissue, it will help to rebuild it back creating bigger, stronger and more efficient muscles. As it speeds up this process you will be able to work harder the next day due to your muscles not feeling as fatigued. There is some talk about creatine and glutamine using the same transport system in the body though. This means if you take both your body will only accept one. To combat this it is simple you just take them 2 hours apart.

The way I look at it is try and think of the transport cell as a car, and the glutamine and creatine as two different groups of friends that don’t get on. You are going to have to make two trips to separate them. If you try to cram them all in at once there will be a falling out and one group will be kicked out so they won’t make it to the end destination.

I recommend you take it in powder form, this will mean your body will absorb more and you will feel more of the benefits. 

Whey protein – build muscle

This supplement is an easy way to get your protein in. It’s a cheap option also as many fresh meat products cost alot these days. As whey protein comes in alot of different flavours people usually use them as something to settle the sweet tooth. It is also very versatile; you can have with water for a quick release or with milk for a slow release. You can add it too smoothies, cake mixtures, protein bar mixtures etc. If you are interested in making your own visit: http://mmillarnutrition.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Food. 

Another plus factor is that protein powders are usually low in fat and carbs. This makes them brilliant if you are cutting and want some more protein in your diet. Also if you are bulking it is easy just to chug a shake to get some extra calories in. Now the way this helps you build muscle is simple. When you train you tear your muscles (which is why you ache and feel pain afterwards) but when the tear heals the muscle grows bigger and stronger. The only way that the muscle can grow though it through proteinsynthesis. So an increase of protein in the diet will speed up the process meaning you’ll build muscle. 

Creatine – build muscle

Creatine monohydrate is widely used throughout the weighlifting/bodybuilding community, it is an amino acid which makes it a natural substance. It turns into creatine phosphate in the body which helps create a substance called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the only form of energy the muscles uses. Due to this supplement creating more ATP within the body it allows you to to have a more intense and longer work out, allowing you to get that one last rep out of an exercise.  This means this supplement will make you stronger and faster because of the increase of ATP production.

Scientific data suggests that it does in fact improve: muscular endurance and maximal strength. These data also indicate that there is an increase in anaerobic power and performance with activities such as jumping and knee extensions, so if you are wanting to improve your squat you know what to do.... It also does make you gain lean mass. 

Firstly you need to go through your loading phase. This is where you take 5g four times during the day for three days. Once you have taken this 20g a day your creatine levels have spiked so the maintenance phase kicks in. This is where you maintain the level of creatine in the body. You do this by taking 5g per day until your cycle is over.

Well, I hope this three part article has helped. I hope it has given you the knowledge to go out and start building muscle or even helped your correct some mistakes. Remember you need all to do all three parts to successfully gain mass. Think of it as a tripod, you kick out one leg the whole thing falls.

Ref:

Exercise induced muscle damage is reduced in resistance trained males by BCAA’s. Journal of the international society of sports nutrition (2012. 9(20))

GAINING MUSCLE PART 1:

This is a three part article on how to gain muscle.  Part 1: ‘my top 5 exercises for gaining muscle’. Part 2: ‘my top five foods for gaining muscle’. Lastly Part 3: ‘Supplements I take to gain muscle’.  I am currently trying to gain more muscle. With this sport you learn new things all the time. Stay tuned to each post, increase your knowledge and start gaining some serious mass.

Gaining muscle pretty much means you’re trying to gain weight.  Obviously as the muscles enlarges your weight increases. With this in mind we are going to target the larger muscles and exercises that use multiple muscles so there is a greater amount of growth quicker. 

1. Deadlifts

This is a great exercise. It includes your gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, your core muscles, lower back, latts, traps, rhomboids, all the little muscles in your back e.g. teres minor and major and your forearms.  As this exercise attacks each of these muscles it will transform your body in no time. Now this is not an exercise to be taken lightly, it can cause a lot of damage if it is done wrong. 

Make sure you keep your back straight throughout the movement, as it soon as it starts to barrel over you will be in danger of causing damage to it. Practice on an empty bar for a while before you put loads and loads of weight on.  I’ll let you in on a little secret that goes for every exercise; no one cares about how much weight you can lift, they judge you more on how good your form and technique is. So don’t be that guy or girl who puts loads of weight on and lifts wrong because people WILL talk behind your back and make fun.

2. Squats

SQUATS. All you girl’s wants that perky bum and tight legs now, while guys are getting judged a lot more on their lower bodies. This means it has to be neglected less in order to match your upper bodies. I know most people don’t like leg day but your biggest muscles are in your legs. This exercise will work you gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. Now this is another exercise that you must do correctly otherwise you will hurt yourself.  Keep your back straight and get nice and deep to ensure a greater range of movement which will work the muscle more.

I think everyone has heard the phrase ‘ass to grass’ which is a good phrase but it will damage your knees. Think about it, if your knee joint is closed completely you will have all that weight pushing down on that joint will cause damage due to the compression on these two small points. After talking to people and finding out the different techniques they use I have found that the best way to do a squat is to go down slowly until your knee angle is just below 90 degrees.

 

3. Bench Press

Everybody loves this exercise. Pectoral muscles when formed properly look amazing. A stronger chest makes the whole of your upper body more effective.  It works the pectoral minor and major and depending if you straighten your arm fully it will work your triceps as well. You have to mix things up when you bench, like switching between dumbbells and barbell press. This will confuse the muscles promoting them to grow. Now when benching with dumbbells there will be less stability so you won’t be able to push out much weight compared to a barbell press, but this is good as the added movement will strengthen the muscle.

People tend to neglect their upper chest. This is a very bad habit to get in. You need to train your chest equally so it looks in proportion and it also promote a stronger chest. This will allow you to add more weight which will lead to bigger muscles (more mass). One more thing, make sure you get low enough. The bar should touch your chest and if you are doing dumbbell press the inside of the dumbbell should touch your chest. This will make the muscle stretch to the fullest it can, making it tear more equaling in more growth.

4. Clean, Jerk & Press

This is a brilliant exercise. It is like a deadlift in the way as it hits a lot of muscles. It hits your gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, your core muscles, lower back, latts, traps, rhomboids, teres minor and major, triceps, each part of the deltoids and your forearms.  This exercise promotes growth in each muscle. All these muscles growing equal you becoming bigger obviously. This movement absolutely transforms your body and gives you these amazing rounded shoulders.

It is a complicated movement. It is imperative you do it right or you could throw your back out, dislocate your shoulder or even snap the elbow joint.  

I’ll try talking you through the movement. So go in for a deadlift, keep that back straight. Once the bar is at hip level you have to jerk it up.  That doesn’t sound nice but it’s the name. Bend your knees slightly and then pull the bar up towards your collar bone, once there your hands should be underneath the bar and you simply press and repeat. As this is complicated practice on an empty bar so you get the movement right. 

5. Wide grip pull up

I hate this exercise. It’s not for me but I force myself to do it. This is because it engages all of your upper back, mostly your latts. Not much to say about this exercise as you just pull yourself up, pretty straight forward. When you do this though make sure you go all the way down allowing your back to stretch out and then when you pull up make sure your chin is above the bar. This will allow for the greatest range of movement.

These are my top 5 exercises and I hope they become your top 5. Always remember that to gain muscle you need to lift heavy weights BUT KEEP YOUR FORM CORRECT. You also need to change the exercises up in order to confuse the muscle which promotes more growth.

 “Everybody wants be a bodybuilder but nobody wants to lift no heavy ass weights”

  - Ronnie Coleman

 Post two will be coming soon: My top 5 foods for gaining muscle. STAY TUNED.