In just over 3 years now I went from a consistent weight of 11st 6lbs at 5ft 11ins with a body fat to not my heaviest at 11st 8lbs but clearly out of shape. So if you look at the three images of me the left is what was my consistent shape at 11st 6-8lbs and the middle image is me at 11st 8lbs but clearly out of shape. So what happened why did I get so out of shape? Well the answer to that is LIFE. In 2015 was a huge year in my life and one I’ll never forget all the stresses and emotions you can have in life happened all in this one year. First my dad who was suffering with cancer at stage 4 with skin cancer took a turn for the worse in February that year. We had learnt about my dads cancer in February 2014 and which came as massive shock to us all in the family as my dad never got ill and to find out he had this horrible disease that unfortunately most people some way or another will be touched with if it’s family member or friend or worse yourself.
That was the beginning of shock that my dad who I had so much respect for and love was really ill and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Until one day I was asked to do a talk on the benefits of fitness at a talk event about prostate cancer and was asked to talk about how to keep fit and exercise which would be good for anyone suffering with prostate cancer. Now you may not be aware of is that most men that suffer with prostate cancer suffers this in later stage of life (not always) but in this room as was faced talking to an older generation of men. So which a lot of them detached from conversation of exercises as that was not for all but most men that were there not a big intreats.
There was also another guest speaker there a highly qualified nutritionalist from the NHS and she was talking about having a lot of fruit, vegetables, fibres foods, grains and beans. Very much a plant based diet. I was always on high protein diet i mean really high. I would recommend most my clients as personal trainer one that holds a nutritional certificate qualification that a high protein diet is the way to go like most trainers and fitness experts would say. After giving my talk and listening to the nutritionist I went to speak to her after the event and we chatted about nutrition and she told me about a book called “The China Study” and that I should give it a read. Anyway at the time I didn’t give too much of a thought. But with my dads health and the fact I couldn’t help him it was something when I could find the time I should look into. In August I did a bike ride for clatterbridge cancer centre with Ride of the Roses with my brother in-law and old school friend and they were telling me about this guy who is a vegan and a very keen cyclist. Well a few days after that bike ride for clatterbridge cancer centre my brother in-law sent me a video of YouTube about this Australian cyclist vegan guy explaining the benefits of going vegan. So I listened and he brought up some good statements of why a vegan diet is so good for you! So I thought why not lets have ago and I’m a very committed guy when it comes to committing to diet or anything in life. So for six months I followed a vegan diet and after reading plenty of books and one of them being the CHINA STUDY. I learnt of the benefits and especially the benefits of not eating animal products if you’re suffering with cancer. So obviously I got my dad on the diet and to be honest it was having a positive effect on him but sadly he didn’t win his battle and passed away on March the 4th of 2015. Even with this I was still convinced that my dad being at grade 4 skin cancer he was to far down the line to save no matter what his diet was and all treatment he went through and his age. So I kept to it well at vegetarian level. Also the year my dad past myself and my girlfriend of many years bought are first house the house I grew up in my mum and dad’s house. Which buying a house is stressful but happy time, it was more sad as my dad had passed and the joy of getting our own house was not the joy it should have been. And just after a couple of weeks we found out Emma my girlfriend Emma was pregnant which consider the loss of my dad was a big boost to myself and Emma plus my family. But we always discussed that we would get married before we had children and old fashion thing these days but thats what we wanted. So 7 weeks later we got married and in December we had a baby girl Yves Verite. So yes in one year I lost my dad, bought a house, got married and had a baby. So life changed dramatically for myself and Emma.
So fast forward 2017 August time my wife Emma got herself into training and strict nutrition plan as since giving birth to Yves she had not been training probably just like myself since my dads passing. And after trying to get into a training plan and seeing my wife doing so well I knew it was time for me to get back into it myself. So I put together a four day weight training plan together and committed to two 5k runs a week. I have kept to this for 13 weeks now with a small change to my weigh training program. I also decided to go back to eating meat as I had noticed loss of strength muscle and weight. Plus my shape had changed, don’t get me wrong I hadn’t trained properly for a very long time. So it wasn’t all down to not eating meat. But as you can see from the photos what a change my body has gone though in 12 weeks. But not saying its just down to eating meat its been down to myeline style and the fact I’ve stuck to eating the same type of foods in particular order part from weekends and things like weddings. But I have been very consistent with my diet and training programme. So the point of this blog post is all it comes down to is sticking closely as you can to a diet plan and a training plan and you can make big changes to your body and trust me it’s not that hard.
I will be posting my diet plan and training routine on my blog, so you can see if its something you introduce into your lifestyle and “BE WHAT YOU WERE BORN TO BE”
Christian
We all know about the physical benefits of exercise. Losing weight, increasing cardiovascular performance and building muscle are all things we associate with prolonged periods of consistent exercise.
We don’t often consider the psychological benefits of training and physical activity – We should do.
Most of us have very busy lives, whether that be with work, education, family or anything else that takes up our time. Occasionally, all of these factors lead us to become worried or anxious, and generally unhappy. This is completely normal.
Luckily help is at hand. Exercising regularly has many proven psychological benefits. These include:
– Improved mood
– Reduced stress
– Improved ability to deal with stress
– Improved self-esteem
– Increased self satisfaction
– Improved body image
– Increased confidence in physical abilities
– Reduce symptoms associated with depression
These factors, combined with the physical benefits of exercise all add up to making you feel better in yourself, and able to cope with the demands of every day life.
Nothing makes you feel better than a good training session. What are you waiting for?
Be all you can be!
Sean
Goal setting is important in all walks of life. In work, sport, education, or in our personal lives, we all have things we aspire to become or be able to do. It doesn’t matter what our particular goals are, if we know what we want to achieve, then we can work out the steps we need to take to get there, and ultimately succeed.
When it comes to our health, fitness and wellbeing, we should have the same view – goals are essential. Whether you want that summer beach body or you are training for a particular sporting event, having that goal in mind keeps you going when circumstances get tough and you want to stop (it happens to us all).
When it comes to actually setting a goal, try and follow the SMART principle. SMART stands for:
SPECIFIC: What is your goal?
MEASURABLE: Can you track your progress?
ACHIEVABLE: Do you have the knowledge, time or guidance to reach your goal?
RELEVANT: Is your training in sync with what you want to achieve?
TIME: When do you want to reach your goal (be realistic with this one, patience and consistency are key – Nothing worth working for is achieved over night).
You can put the SMART principle into practice by choosing your overall long term goal. Then break that end result down into shorter term goals. These are the steps we go through to reach our main goal. Reaching these short term goals helps keep your motivation up because they can provide quick feedback on your progress and show that you are moving forward towards where you want to be.
Remember, when you are setting a goal, make it challenging, but achievable. Easy goals are boring, and impossible goals are demotivating.
Next time you’re going through the motions in the gym, take a second and ask yourself “what’s the point?”. If you haven’t got an answer, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your goals and get back on track. Decide upon a goal, find your motivation and keep pushing towards it.
What is the purpose of Fat within foods?
It has one purpose and that is to help the body digest vitamins A, D, E and is an essential source of fatty acids of which the body cannot create itself.
In calorie strong point all fat is the same! Whether is saturated or unsaturated 1g of Fat is equal to 9 calories, like carbohydrates and Protein if too much of this is eaten it is stored as body Fat.
For a healthy lifestyle and diet you should be making a conscious effort to minimise your intake of Saturated and Trans fats, instead replace these with unsaturated fats.
This will help reduce your cholesterol and your risk of Heart Disease.
Examples of Food with high amounts of Saturated Fat: (Too much of these are what increases Cholesterol)
men shouldn’t have more than 30g of saturated fat a day
women shouldn’t have more than 20g of saturated fat a day
children should have less
Trans fats are often found in small amounts in Meat and Dairy foods, like Sat fats these can increase cholesterol.
The government daily guideline for Trans fats is no more than 5g a day for an adult, luckily there isn’t a large trace of such Fats in our foods in the UK.
As i said earlier if you want to bring down your Cholesterol and decrease your chance of Heart Disease your better having more Unsaturated fat rather than Saturated fat in your diet. These are primarily sound in Fish and Oils, they are commonly known as polyunsaturated or monounsaturated.
Examples of Foods which contain Unsaturated Fats are:
Olive oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil and other spreads
Avacardos
Certain nuts; Almonds, Brazil and Peanuts
Fish; mackerel, Kippers, Herring, Trout, Sardines, Salmon and Fresh Tuna
So watch your fat intake and what fats you’re eating! Something as simple as checking the Nutritional label on the back of the foods you buy will give you all the info you need!
Why is it important to build and strengthen your shoulder muscles?
Your shoulder is actually one of the least stable joints in your body and because of this you should make sure strengthening the shoulders (Deltoids) is part of your training regime.
There is one large muscle covering the shoulder socket with three heads these are:
Anterior Delt (front)
Lateral Delt (side)
Posterior Delt (back)
The rotator cuff is what stabilises the shoulder joint which has four smaller muscles which are:
subscapularis
supraspinatus
infraspinatus
teres minor
Strengthening these muscles will:
Improve posture
Strengthen the muscle surrounding the shoulder joint
Increase mobility
Decrease chances of injury due to instability
Improve everday tasks and activities
Where a lot of people go wrong who allready train is they neglect the back of the shoulder.
This can give instability, worsen your posture and lead to injury so below are some exercises for a well rounded shoulder workout:
Barbell Overhead press
Dumbbell Arnold press
Front raise
Lateral raise
Reverse fly
Upright row
Face cable pulls
So what’s your excuse?
Get training shoulders!
Alan Fitton-Head PT
DOMS stand for Delayed Onset Muscle Sorness. Why do we get this? It usually comes within 24 hours or 48 hours after a workout. Usually very common if you never trained before or been away from training for while, but even seasoned trainers can suffer with DOMS. This sometimes can put people off training if they have never experienced it before which I have in the past with new clients. But unfortunately if you never felt this specially at the beginning of training you probably not training hard or good enough. Don’t get me wrong you don’t need to feel DOMS after you’ve trained. But most likely you should feel them after a couple of training sessions. And if you have never felt delayed onset muscle soreness after training session and still not seeing results you’ve probably not training right or to your full potential to achieve the results you disire. For more help and info checkout what our Personal Training can do for you here
If you like myself and love running, you’ll always find that time in your day to put your trainers on and get out in the fresh air and smash some miles in. Tuning without a doubt is great for your fitness and burning calories, but most importantly getting your Endorphins (natural happy drug). But sometimes when we’re in are running zone ticking off 10k races and the odd half marathon or even a marathon. We start getting recurring injuries that stop are progress, put us some uncomfort and the worse having an effect on our loving passion as it’s not enjoyable anymore. At some stage we’ve all been there and then go and spend loads on physio‘ stock help your body to repair from injuries that had been caused by running. But in some case may mean a long lay off and that only brings on weight gain because of lack of calories being burnt and feeling down as no happy endorphins. We can help avoid this if we look at doing strength & conditioning. Most runners I talk to do none or little strength & conditioning training which always puzzles me on why not? As when you running and burning calories you breaking down muscle fibres and putting strain on your joints. All top athletes like Mo Farah do this training well all our Olympic athletes we look up to do this hence why they can put there body through so much Year in Year out. Also there is the nutrition side and recovery but there’s no underlining that strength & conditioning plays a big role on why they can starve through injuries as they constantly rebuilding muscle tissue and strengthening there tendons. So if you find you suffer with recurring injuries and not doing strength & conditioning I would highly recommend this type of training. More info on strength & conditioning training follow this link Strength & Conditioning
One of the most effective ways of losing weight is on a high protein diet, but how much should you be eating?
Most case studies on this subject online say on average between 0.8-1.5g per pound of bodyweight but from my experience it completely depends on your goal whether you’re dieting, maintaining or bulking.
If you’re dieting and you want to maintain as much muscle mass as possible id recommend on having your protein intake higher between 1-1.2 g per pound of bodyweight.
Example;
Say i weigh 180 pounds and i’m dieting so i choose i want to have an intake of 1 g of protein per pound of bodyweight, which will keep me fuller and assist holding onto as much muscle and strength as i can.
so to sum this up:
1g of Protein X 180 lbs Body Weight = 180g of Protein
Therefore for me to diet and keep hold of as much muscle as possible i need to be eating roughly 180g of protein a day because i’m on a caloric deficit, if my goals were to maintain weight of bulk i wouldn’t need as much protein as my body wouldn’t be losing fat and muscle from a calorie restriction.
Protein Supplements – Whey Protein/Diet Whey/Protein Bars
Note: I only recommend Protein supplements if you cannot get enough Protein through your diet alone, these are not a meal replacement and should only be used as a Supplement to assist your diet!
What are Carbs? They are sugars and starches which the body converts into Energy which then helps you function normally, you need a certain amount of carbs to maintain normal bodily functions.
If you starve the body you can experience fatigue, muscle cramps and a very tired/drained mental state. The body can survive of proteins and fats however this will eventually have a negative affect on your body.
You should be eating an amount of Carbohydrates to keep your body fuelled and working affectively.
There are two different types of carbs, Complex and Simple Carbs;
Simple Carbs: These are Processed carbs usually very high in sugar and often give you a quick influx of energy however doesn’t keep you full or energised for a long time, this is often where you get your “Sugar Rush” from.
Examples; sugar, white pasta and bread
Complex Carbs: These are slower digesting and will keep you fuller and energised for longer periods of time
Examples: unrefined grains, whole grain breads, rice and oats
How do you digest Carbs?
Your liver digests these into glucose, which then stimulates the production of insulin in the pancreas. The insulin functions to get the glucose into the body cells to be used as energy. Simple carbs create a higher level of insulin than complex carbs therefore the simple carbs are used faster where as the complex carbs are used slower resulting in longer lasting energy!
So in a nut shell the more complex carbs you eat the higher amount of energy your going to have for a longer period of time. However still with any type of carbohydrate if you eat more than what your body requires it is going to be stored as energy formally known as fat.
In just over 3 years now I went from a consistent weight of 11st 6lbs at 5ft 11ins with a body fat to not my heaviest at 11st 8lbs but clearly out of shape. So if you look at the three images of me the left is what was my consistent shape at 11st 6-8lbs and the middle image is me at 11st 8lbs but clearly out of shape. So what happened why did I get so out of shape? Well the answer to that is LIFE. In 2015 was a huge year in my life and one I’ll never forget all the stresses and emotions you can have in life happened all in this one year. First my dad who was suffering with cancer at stage 4 with skin cancer took a turn for the worse in February that year. We had learnt about my dads cancer in February 2014 and which came as massive shock to us all in the family as my dad never got ill and to find out he had this horrible disease that unfortunately most people some way or another will be touched with if it’s family member or friend or worse yourself.
That was the beginning of shock that my dad who I had so much respect for and love was really ill and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Until one day I was asked to do a talk on the benefits of fitness at a talk event about prostate cancer and was asked to talk about how to keep fit and exercise which would be good for anyone suffering with prostate cancer. Now you may not be aware of is that most men that suffer with prostate cancer suffers this in later stage of life (not always) but in this room as was faced talking to an older generation of men. So which a lot of them detached from conversation of exercises as that was not for all but most men that were there not a big intreats.
There was also another guest speaker there a highly qualified nutritionalist from the NHS and she was talking about having a lot of fruit, vegetables, fibres foods, grains and beans. Very much a plant based diet. I was always on high protein diet i mean really high. I would recommend most my clients as personal trainer one that holds a nutritional certificate qualification that a high protein diet is the way to go like most trainers and fitness experts would say. After giving my talk and listening to the nutritionist I went to speak to her after the event and we chatted about nutrition and she told me about a book called “The China Study” and that I should give it a read. Anyway at the time I didn’t give too much of a thought. But with my dads health and the fact I couldn’t help him it was something when I could find the time I should look into. In August I did a bike ride for clatterbridge cancer centre with Ride of the Roses with my brother in-law and old school friend and they were telling me about this guy who is a vegan and a very keen cyclist. Well a few days after that bike ride for clatterbridge cancer centre my brother in-law sent me a video of YouTube about this Australian cyclist vegan guy explaining the benefits of going vegan. So I listened and he brought up some good statements of why a vegan diet is so good for you! So I thought why not lets have ago and I’m a very committed guy when it comes to committing to diet or anything in life. So for six months I followed a vegan diet and after reading plenty of books and one of them being the CHINA STUDY. I learnt of the benefits and especially the benefits of not eating animal products if you’re suffering with cancer. So obviously I got my dad on the diet and to be honest it was having a positive effect on him but sadly he didn’t win his battle and passed away on March the 4th of 2015. Even with this I was still convinced that my dad being at grade 4 skin cancer he was to far down the line to save no matter what his diet was and all treatment he went through and his age. So I kept to it well at vegetarian level. Also the year my dad past myself and my girlfriend of many years bought are first house the house I grew up in my mum and dad’s house. Which buying a house is stressful but happy time, it was more sad as my dad had passed and the joy of getting our own house was not the joy it should have been. And just after a couple of weeks we found out Emma my girlfriend Emma was pregnant which consider the loss of my dad was a big boost to myself and Emma plus my family. But we always discussed that we would get married before we had children and old fashion thing these days but thats what we wanted. So 7 weeks later we got married and in December we had a baby girl Yves Verite. So yes in one year I lost my dad, bought a house, got married and had a baby. So life changed dramatically for myself and Emma.
So fast forward 2017 August time my wife Emma got herself into training and strict nutrition plan as since giving birth to Yves she had not been training probably just like myself since my dads passing. And after trying to get into a training plan and seeing my wife doing so well I knew it was time for me to get back into it myself. So I put together a four day weight training plan together and committed to two 5k runs a week. I have kept to this for 13 weeks now with a small change to my weigh training program. I also decided to go back to eating meat as I had noticed loss of strength muscle and weight. Plus my shape had changed, don’t get me wrong I hadn’t trained properly for a very long time. So it wasn’t all down to not eating meat. But as you can see from the photos what a change my body has gone though in 12 weeks. But not saying its just down to eating meat its been down to myeline style and the fact I’ve stuck to eating the same type of foods in particular order part from weekends and things like weddings. But I have been very consistent with my diet and training programme. So the point of this blog post is all it comes down to is sticking closely as you can to a diet plan and a training plan and you can make big changes to your body and trust me it’s not that hard.
I will be posting my diet plan and training routine on my blog, so you can see if its something you introduce into your lifestyle and “BE WHAT YOU WERE BORN TO BE”
Christian
One of the most effective ways of losing weight is on a high protein diet, but how much should you be eating?
What are Carbs? They are sugars and starches which the body converts into Energy which then helps you function normally, you need a certain amount of carbs to maintain normal bodily functions.
If you starve the body you can experience fatigue, muscle cramps and a very tired/drained mental state. The body can survive of proteins and fats however this will eventually have a negative affect on your body.
You should be eating an amount of Carbohydrates to keep your body fuelled and working affectively.
There are two different types of carbs, Complex and Simple Carbs;
Simple Carbs: These are Processed carbs usually very high in sugar and often give you a quick influx of energy however doesn’t keep you full or energised for a long time, this is often where you get your “Sugar Rush” from.
Examples; sugar, white pasta and bread
Complex Carbs: These are slower digesting and will keep you fuller and energised for longer periods of time
Examples: unrefined grains, whole grain breads, rice and oats
How do you digest Carbs?
Your liver digests these into glucose, which then stimulates the production of insulin in the pancreas. The insulin functions to get the glucose into the body cells to be used as energy. Simple carbs create a higher level of insulin than complex carbs therefore the simple carbs are used faster where as the complex carbs are used slower resulting in longer lasting energy!
So in a nut shell the more complex carbs you eat the higher amount of energy your going to have for a longer period of time. However still with any type of carbohydrate if you eat more than what your body requires it is going to be stored as energy formally known as fat.
