Hey everyone sorry for the lack of activity of late, I’ve been away and generally a bit busy.
In this post I want to talk about something which I like to call Convenience Workouts. The name gives it an air of ‘softness’ as if it may be easy, but let me tell you that is not what I am getting at. What I mean by Convenience Workouts is finding a workout which you can fit around your life. For example, a workout which...
Which takes no space,
You can do sitting down,
You can do in just a few minutes,
Which won’t cost you any money,
Which no equipment is needed,
Which gets results fastest,
or any mix of the above, or anything else. A lot of novice trainers who seek to get fit may get the impression that the only way to do so is to spend huge amounts of money on gym membership. This can work, if you go regularly, use the equipment correctly and effectively, and most importantly if you stick at it, fairly indefinitely. However, having gym membership and even going to the gym isn’t necessarily going to make you fit, nor is it the only way to do it.
Here in the Northern Hemisphere it is summertime now, and so a lot of you will be going away. And even if you’re not going away, the chances are there is going to be some slight disruption from the norm, filling in hours for someone who is going away for example. One of the most important features of maintaining a successful workout or training programme is structure and regularity. By that I don’t mean doing the same workout, I mean if you have a busy life you need time set away every week which is devoted to working out. Otherwise you’ll find an excuse not to.
What Convenience Workouts do is allow you to fit the workout into your life. You can create a workout you can do in a hotel room on the other side of the world just as well as you can do it at home. You can create a workout you can do in 15 minutes. You can create a workout to do while driving (be careful with that one though, save it for traffic jams, or waiting if you’re a taxi driver). As long as you’ve set time to do workouts every week, be it daily, 3 times a week, or once a week, it will be easier to maintain.
One of the most effective, simple and notorious of what I would call Convenience Workouts would be Burpee training. You may have heard of burpees either from some PE lesson nightmare in school, or from the endless tales told of them on the net not long ago. It came about after a criminal went to prison looking skinny and unfit, came out in the best shape of his life, in great shape, and never set foot in the prison gym. One of his main ‘secrets’ was burpees.They provide a surprisingly complete workout, testing balance, coordination and speed along with explosive power, as well as workout muscles in your legs, core, chest, back and arms. Done well, they can be adapted to be a strength workout or incredibly effective and dynamic cardio workout.
For those of you unfamiliar with them, I’ll help you out. If you have room to do a press up (that’s push up to you Americans) then you have room to do a burpee. What I call a ‘full’ burpee is as follows:
Stand up straight, arms by your sides.
Drop down into a crouch, so your hands are on the ground but most of the weight is on your feet.
Jump back with your feet into press up position, transferring some weight to your hands as you do so.
Do a press up.
In one flowing movement, jump your feet back into the crouch, then launch straight up into the air in a jump.
The two simplest workouts you can do with these are as follows:
20 descending sets. This is a tough workout and you will complete 210 reps in a fairly short space of time, so work up to it slowly. Simply, do 20 burpees, catch your breath, then do 19 burpees, catch breath and do 18, continue downwards until you are doing just one burpee, and you’re done. Start at 5, 10, or 15 if 20 is too hard to start with. Try not to rest longer than 30 seconds between sets.
Maximum effort time attack. Set a timer for 5 minutes, and do as many burpees as you possibly can in the time.
These can both be turned into challenges against yourself, simply by recording your best score (time yourself for the descending sets, and count your reps throughout the 5 minutes), and strive to beat your records. Then challenge your friends, just to make yourself feel really tough when you crack out twice as many in half the time as them!
There is a lot of variations you can do on the burpee for easier or for worse.
Easier: Cut out the press up, and just go into the position then jump back
Just do the jump from crouch to press up position, no jump or press up. This can actually be a very challenging cardio workout.
Don’t jump at the end, just stand up.
Harder: Do more tricky variations of press up such as diamond press ups or super wide arm press ups.
Turn the jump at the end into a tuck jump
Turn the jump at the end into jumping onto a pull up bar and performing a pull up or chin up (this one is a brutal one)
I’ll get on with some more posts ASAP, until then... HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Football fever!... Continued
I've noted that the combination of (some) good weather and the World Cup have encouraged a bit more playing of football, just at a social level in a field with a few mates and a ball.
This is great! Health comes in three aspects: Social, Physical, and psychological, and by playing footie with your mates, you're improving at least two of them.
I'd like to bring up the issue of Suncream, or sun lotion, or whatever name you would like to give it. Its a bit of a love it/hate it thing, a lot of people see it as a pointless precaution (like, for example, you tan easily and don't burn), while others see it as a necessity. When you're out playing sport with ya mates in the sun there is a tendancy for guys to either go skins v shirts, or just... take their shirts off. This is all well and good if you've got the abs to show for it, but thats a whole lot more body thats gonna be in the sun.
If you don't wear suncream and are out in the sun for over an hour, there is still a chance you won't burn (those of you with certain skin types). What people seem to forget is that just because you don't burn doesn't mean you aren't killing your skin. You've all heard of UV rays, but could you tell the difference between UVA and UVB? UVB is what most suncreams protect against, so when its factor 30, say, that means it gives you 30 times the UVB protection that your skin would naturally. But recent studies suggest that they only provide 10% of that protection in UVA, that means factor 30 is only factor 3... 3 times your naturals skin protection. Thats still useful, and better than no cream.
A point that often comes to me when I'm thinking of sticking a bit of cream on before going out in the sun is this: Our ancestors never wore sun cream, and they never seemed to have a problem of burning, but they spent a lot longer outside.My responce goes something like this:
If you're playing football make sure you're actually playing football, not sitting in the goal. Get some sweat runing down your face, you'll feel much better for it.
I know these posts have been a little random, but thats how I think it should be. Back to 'normal' soon. probably.
This is great! Health comes in three aspects: Social, Physical, and psychological, and by playing footie with your mates, you're improving at least two of them.
I'd like to bring up the issue of Suncream, or sun lotion, or whatever name you would like to give it. Its a bit of a love it/hate it thing, a lot of people see it as a pointless precaution (like, for example, you tan easily and don't burn), while others see it as a necessity. When you're out playing sport with ya mates in the sun there is a tendancy for guys to either go skins v shirts, or just... take their shirts off. This is all well and good if you've got the abs to show for it, but thats a whole lot more body thats gonna be in the sun.
If you don't wear suncream and are out in the sun for over an hour, there is still a chance you won't burn (those of you with certain skin types). What people seem to forget is that just because you don't burn doesn't mean you aren't killing your skin. You've all heard of UV rays, but could you tell the difference between UVA and UVB? UVB is what most suncreams protect against, so when its factor 30, say, that means it gives you 30 times the UVB protection that your skin would naturally. But recent studies suggest that they only provide 10% of that protection in UVA, that means factor 30 is only factor 3... 3 times your naturals skin protection. Thats still useful, and better than no cream.
A point that often comes to me when I'm thinking of sticking a bit of cream on before going out in the sun is this: Our ancestors never wore sun cream, and they never seemed to have a problem of burning, but they spent a lot longer outside.My responce goes something like this:
- OzOnE! whether you believe in global warming or not, there is very little denial that our ozone layer is pretty buggered. that means more UV (both UVA and UVB) rays are comming through from the sun to our skin, that means you burn quicker.
- Sunbathing! They didn't do it! They had too much else to think about like eating, not getting eaten, eating, not gettin eaten, eating, not getting eaten... (you get the idea) to just lay about all day like nothing matters waiting for a beautiful tan to appear.
- Their times of activity were different. They would know that the sun is most dangerous around midday, and so they would be out at dawn and dusk. On the weekends, people tend these days to sleep in until at the very least 10am, and by 6pm it will be a wee bit too chilly for being outside.
- They were used to it! Spending every single day of your life outside gives you pretty tough skin.
If you're playing football make sure you're actually playing football, not sitting in the goal. Get some sweat runing down your face, you'll feel much better for it.
I know these posts have been a little random, but thats how I think it should be. Back to 'normal' soon. probably.
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Football fever!
Yes, its the World Cup. No, I'm not a fan of football, but I'm not afraid to support my country. At the time of writing, its 1 all in the England-USA match, and basically, USA are going DOWN!! Well, we'll see.
So, what am i getting at? Well, two things, firstly, the playing of football, and secondly, the watching of football.
I'd just like to point out to all you Americans, by football i mean 'soccer', the real football, not your fake version. Anyway, I loose track of myself. Onwards.
Here in the UK (I'm not sure I'm able to say for sure about the US or other countries, I've never been away during the world cup), there is a habit of mixing watching the footie with rather a large amount of beer. Now I am not going to be an annoying party pooper and say NAY yee must not driketh of beer, for two reasons, firstly you'll think I'm a dick, and secondly it just won't work, so why bother.
This goes for any kind of big event in which you feel the need to congregate around a tiny pub TV screen with a beer in hand watching tiny men on the screen running towards a net (reminds me of fishing...) and feeling the need to hold a beer (or other alcoholic beverage) in hand, probably accompanied by a large amount of finger food including barbecue, or nuts, (I don't mean you eat a barbecue, that would be silly, you eat whats cooked on it).
Basically, if you are drinking a lot of alcohol there are a few things you have to be aware of. Firstly is the calories in beer and other drinks. I'm not one for counting calories with military precision, but what I'm trying to get at is if you're tipping down you 6 beers plus fatty sausages off the barbie, there is more in it than perhaps you think. And very little in the way of nutrients or anything of any benefit. Now I'm hoping that if you're reading these blogs, you care about such things. If you don't care, keep buggering on, I don't care about you, either.
There is a fairly common rule among most (decent) diet guides which roughly equates to around 90/10. By that I mean, follow the diet 90% of the time, and do as you please for 10%. This is often very misinterpreted as follow it for 27 days a month then for the last 3 days PIG OUT every month. No, no, no, no, NO! It means follow the diet as well as you can all the time, be perfect, but then if your friend is throwing a party you won't feel guilty for having a second piece of cake, because you're good the rest of the time. This applies for communal sporting events also, if you maintain impeccable nutrition in the build up, you can reward yourself with a drink and some... urm... nuts. Just don't make a habit of it. I bet even the fittest people you know splash out occasionally on some sort of 'evil food'.
If you consider yourself a bit of a party animal, then your nutrition is going to have to be bloody amazing if you are hoping to maintain health to any degree, otherwise the excessive alcohol consumption and general lack of sleep is going to catch up with you rather quickly.
The second point is one you probably don't really want to read about because you know all about it yet you do it anyway. But for the benefit of those who don't know, alcohol is a poison!!!! It affects your brain, and tips a load of poison into your liver. Now its your liver's job to clear out poison, its pretty good at it. Its just not so keen on having huge amounts of the stuff poured on it all at once, or fairly consistently over a long period of time. And just because you haven't had liver failure and nearly died doesn't mean A) its not going to happen ever (people often get liver failure long after they stop drinking... be a bit forward thinking) B) mean you have a healthy liver. If you don't have a healthy liver, your body can't deal with other nasty stuff, so you're more likely to die.
Oh yeah, it also kills brain cells, so if you're hoping to be the next Einstein, don't drink (oh, and good luck). By the way please don't comment with some rubbish saying it was very likely that Einstein did drink... I will just laugh at your bad health. You may not feel the effect of it on your brain now, but I'd be willing to bet that if you get 2 people of identical intelligence at birth, one drinks and one doesn't, the one who never drank would perform significantly better on intelligence tests, from quite a young age (after the person starts drinking, obviously).
So yeh, I'm not going to be dumb and say don't do it, I just thought I'd make sure you know what you're doing. Have fun, enjoy life, its too short to be obsessed by fitness and well being, but don't make it shorter by being naive of it.
So, what am i getting at? Well, two things, firstly, the playing of football, and secondly, the watching of football.
I'd just like to point out to all you Americans, by football i mean 'soccer', the real football, not your fake version. Anyway, I loose track of myself. Onwards.
Here in the UK (I'm not sure I'm able to say for sure about the US or other countries, I've never been away during the world cup), there is a habit of mixing watching the footie with rather a large amount of beer. Now I am not going to be an annoying party pooper and say NAY yee must not driketh of beer, for two reasons, firstly you'll think I'm a dick, and secondly it just won't work, so why bother.
This goes for any kind of big event in which you feel the need to congregate around a tiny pub TV screen with a beer in hand watching tiny men on the screen running towards a net (reminds me of fishing...) and feeling the need to hold a beer (or other alcoholic beverage) in hand, probably accompanied by a large amount of finger food including barbecue, or nuts, (I don't mean you eat a barbecue, that would be silly, you eat whats cooked on it).
Basically, if you are drinking a lot of alcohol there are a few things you have to be aware of. Firstly is the calories in beer and other drinks. I'm not one for counting calories with military precision, but what I'm trying to get at is if you're tipping down you 6 beers plus fatty sausages off the barbie, there is more in it than perhaps you think. And very little in the way of nutrients or anything of any benefit. Now I'm hoping that if you're reading these blogs, you care about such things. If you don't care, keep buggering on, I don't care about you, either.
There is a fairly common rule among most (decent) diet guides which roughly equates to around 90/10. By that I mean, follow the diet 90% of the time, and do as you please for 10%. This is often very misinterpreted as follow it for 27 days a month then for the last 3 days PIG OUT every month. No, no, no, no, NO! It means follow the diet as well as you can all the time, be perfect, but then if your friend is throwing a party you won't feel guilty for having a second piece of cake, because you're good the rest of the time. This applies for communal sporting events also, if you maintain impeccable nutrition in the build up, you can reward yourself with a drink and some... urm... nuts. Just don't make a habit of it. I bet even the fittest people you know splash out occasionally on some sort of 'evil food'.
If you consider yourself a bit of a party animal, then your nutrition is going to have to be bloody amazing if you are hoping to maintain health to any degree, otherwise the excessive alcohol consumption and general lack of sleep is going to catch up with you rather quickly.
The second point is one you probably don't really want to read about because you know all about it yet you do it anyway. But for the benefit of those who don't know, alcohol is a poison!!!! It affects your brain, and tips a load of poison into your liver. Now its your liver's job to clear out poison, its pretty good at it. Its just not so keen on having huge amounts of the stuff poured on it all at once, or fairly consistently over a long period of time. And just because you haven't had liver failure and nearly died doesn't mean A) its not going to happen ever (people often get liver failure long after they stop drinking... be a bit forward thinking) B) mean you have a healthy liver. If you don't have a healthy liver, your body can't deal with other nasty stuff, so you're more likely to die.
Oh yeah, it also kills brain cells, so if you're hoping to be the next Einstein, don't drink (oh, and good luck). By the way please don't comment with some rubbish saying it was very likely that Einstein did drink... I will just laugh at your bad health. You may not feel the effect of it on your brain now, but I'd be willing to bet that if you get 2 people of identical intelligence at birth, one drinks and one doesn't, the one who never drank would perform significantly better on intelligence tests, from quite a young age (after the person starts drinking, obviously).
So yeh, I'm not going to be dumb and say don't do it, I just thought I'd make sure you know what you're doing. Have fun, enjoy life, its too short to be obsessed by fitness and well being, but don't make it shorter by being naive of it.
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
How Low Can You Go?
Its an interesting point brought up by a comment on my last post on how to look like a Hollywood actor. What I'll be addressing here is the potential health risks of low body fat.
For me, health comes before appearance, and so this is an important point. First off I'd like to get some things about body fat % cleared up.
Body fat percentage is not how much fat you have around your waist. It is not your BMI (body mass index). Body fat % is literally what percentage of your body is made up of fat. Just to give you an idea of what kind of numbers you'll be looking at, its generally considered that 7-10% is very low, 13-17% is average, and anything over 25% is very high.for the women its a little higher (not because they're fatter): Very low is around 13-17%, average is around 20-27%, and over around 30% is considered very high.
What, then, is too low? In my opinion, Guys will not be able to live in health bellow 4%, and ladies shouldn't go below 12%. However, to maintain health, it should probably be a little higher (lets say 5.5%-10% or 14-17%). In terms of which end you want to be of that tally depends on your goals, but I reckon you'll struggle to keep around the bottom end all year without sacrificing too much.
What happens if we go below that? Why do we need fat anyway, surely its a bad thing?
Fat has been shown in modern media as a very bad thing, but in fact, you need it to survive. Fat in excess is what is really bad. Pointless fat with no nutrients like McDonald's fries (if you can prove me wrong on that one, I'll take it back), are the problem. The body uses fat to store fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients, so if your body fat is too low, it doesn't matter how many multivitamins you take, its gonna just flush through you. People also seem to think that fat is only just beneath the surface of the skin (like stomach fat) when actually a lot of it is around your muscles and joints, providing cushioning, without which... well, its not pretty. So, if you go too low, your health will deteriorate rapidly, your sporting performance will plummet (some people think super low body fat reduces things such as reaction time and balance as well as bringing premature joint damage).
So, surely its not unhealthy to get that low body fat %?
The main problem with getting super lean low body fat is the way you do it. When a Hollywood actor goes through a complete body transformation, they are massively over-training. They will have some of the best personal trainers in the world who will keep them in health and avoid injury for the time required, but there is no way of denying it, rapid fat loss is not healthy. Programmes such as The Biggest Looser encourage people to loose up to 1lb of fat a day, and this is pretty dangerous (though probably better than just staying in their fatty frames forever). If you are trying to heavily loose body fat fast, the maximum you should be looking at is around 2/3lbs a week, as a max. As much as you feel comfortable with. That can still lead to a complete body transformation in a very short time. Personally I don't recommend dieting like that for more than a month (still 8-12lbs!), i recommend burning it slowly and steadily, then if you have a holiday in a month or so, intensify.
Also, remember that when you are starting an intense exercise regime to try and burn some of that fat, you will probably be adding muscle, which weighs 3x more than fat, so don't be disheartened when your weight doesn't change dramatically.
At some point I'll probably be writing an entire book about how to get as lean as you can while maintaining health, and get unbelievably physically fit in the process. I do this because having read a lot of books on fat loss and fitness, they all seem miss out maintaining health.
As usual, any questions or comments are welcome, and the ask a question feature is still available.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
What it takes to have the body of the stars...
Taylor Lautner, Ryan Reynolds, Gerard Butler, Christian Bale, Will Smith... I could go on. All Hollywood actors who underwent a massive transformation of their bodies for a film. On camera, they look cut, ripped and lean as if chiseled out of stone. You wanna look like that too, right? Who really wouldn't?
Can it be done?
The media has put into our minds the ideal image of man: Well muscles (but not over-muscles, that was the '80s), incredibly lean (usually around or under 5% body fat), and a rack of abs you could great cheese on. But is this a realistic image for an average guy?
My answer is, it depends. It depends on a few things:
Another quick note is if you're looking into fitness modeling, a similar principle applies, however you will often be given very little notice before a shoot, and they will probably be more regular, so you should be maintaining a healthy diet much more of the time, and resting around 7-10% body fat all year round.
Can it be done?
The media has put into our minds the ideal image of man: Well muscles (but not over-muscles, that was the '80s), incredibly lean (usually around or under 5% body fat), and a rack of abs you could great cheese on. But is this a realistic image for an average guy?
My answer is, it depends. It depends on a few things:
- Time: In the lead up to films, actors will easily train up to 4 hours a day, as well as their nutrition being constantly monitored (though, those who are already fit will have a lot less work to do, just getting rid of the last bit of fat). You can certainly do this over a longer period with less exercise, but you will need to be devoted to training, never skip a workout, and eat perfectly
- A Solid Plan: The thing most people when exercising fall up on is this. They just go to the gym, lift a few weights every week, and think that will do them. You need to have something solid: What kind of weights your going to lift, how many reps, what movement, how long, how often. If you're a novice, i recommend going to the gym and getting a good personal trainer, the best the gym has to offer. If you care enough, it will be worth the extra cash.
- Devotion: How many people do you know who make a new years resolution to go to the gym, or to get fit, and who 2weeks to 2months later are back to their old ways? That is partially to do with the other 2 above, but no workout plan, no matter how brilliant, will work if you are not devoted. Remember your motivation. Make it habit.
- It doesn't always come quickly. Generally if you are training intensely and correctly, your fat will disappear pretty quick, but muscle takes a long time to build (good quality muscle, that is). Be patient, Stick at it. remember your motivation.
- Actors in films don't always look like that. Firstly, the majority of them get 'pumped' for a scene when they've got their shirt off. By that I mean they'll do some quick intense exercise before shooting starts to get blood pumping into their muscles to make them look bigger and more defined. This is false and not permanent definition often used by bodybuilders.
- Following on from the last point, they will be at their absolute peak of fitness at the time of filming. Although for the duration of the film they will be around 5% body fat, for the rest of the year, they most likely sit around the 10-12% mark, exercising a lot, but enjoying the party lifestyle that probably comes with being an A-list celeb.
Another quick note is if you're looking into fitness modeling, a similar principle applies, however you will often be given very little notice before a shoot, and they will probably be more regular, so you should be maintaining a healthy diet much more of the time, and resting around 7-10% body fat all year round.
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