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:

• 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.

Sorry, a random point I just wanted to say. Back on the note of football in terms of fitness, if you are following a cardio regime, don't feel football replaces it. It enhances it. This is one of the reasons to do cardio early in the morning, so if something sporty comes up in the afternoon your muscles are partially recovered enough to join in. Going on a run at 6am and playing football at 2pm for one day is NOT overtraining, don't let anyone tell you different. If you are doing it every day, it will super speed your fat loss but it is overtraining: Your muscles don't have time to recover.

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. 

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.

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.

Final note: DO NOT CRASH DIET!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is unbelievably unhealthy, and more to the point it doesn't work (trust me, I know people who have and they've actually gained MORE weight!)

As usual, any questions or comments are welcome, and the ask a question feature is still available.

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:

• 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.  

 If you have all of this, then in my eyes there is no reason why you can't do it. But here are a few things you have to remember, that a lot of articles boasting a Hollywood workout forget:

• 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. 

What you should really be doing is getting to the point where you are around 8-12% body fat, your abs are showing, fairly ripped but not as ripped as you can be, then 3/4 weeks before say a holiday or whatever, burn off the last few bits. I highly recommend this free ebook on getting super lean for a holiday or whatever you want really. 

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.

New Ask A Question Feature

Thanks to my technical genius buddy there is now set up a Ask a Question system, So you now have the overwhelming choice to make: Do you leave a comment, or do you ask a question!?

You have the option of asking anonymously, so yes! that means all you cowardly abusers sitting at your computers (no doubt unbelievably unfit and unhealthy) can critisise my every word and slag me off, and I will never know who you are! Oh the wonders of the 21st century. Alternatively you could just... ask a question.

I will moderate it, so I will only answer actual questions related to the topic of health and fitness. Don't be affraid to ask. what have you got to lose?

Here it is, or just click 'ask a question' at the top of the page.

A casual walk is magical

I bet you never thought that just casually taking a stroll in the park or walking the dog in the nearest wood actually could benefit your health (and even burn fat)


The fitness world is generally quite negative towards this, there is an obsession when it comes to extended exercises that you must be dripping with sweat by the end of it otherwise its of no health benefit. And to an extent, I agree. My cardio routine is probably one of the most brutal and intense you would ever see. But here lies the problem. People seem to think that when they are trying to lose weight, every time they leave the house, they must run. This worsens the problem. 


Ok so this is probably not making any sense, let me try and make it simple for you: Do cardio, but also, just take a walk in the park every now and then. Why? Well. Stress for starters. I think a lot of people underestimate the effect of it. If you are working a full time job, taking your work home, and being on a diet all at the same time, those stress levels are gonna skyrocket. Stress slows your metabolism, so you get fatter. Stress, makes it harder to sleep, which slows your metabolism even more, which makes you even fatter still. Science has proven that just looking at nature can reduce heart pressure and relieve stress, imagine the benefits of actually taking a walk!




Its time to slow down

If you are leading your life at 1000 miles a minute, you really are gonna need to slow down. Its unbelievable how therapeutic just taking a stroll can be. I know you all live busy lives (this is the point), but just remember, say just every week, take half an hour out just to walk. Don't stick earphones in, just go, in silence. Its wonderful. If you've got a dog, you're onto a winner, bring them along. 

Bit of a weird post I know, but Its actually very important, getting a mix of intensity and calm in your life. 

There's nothing like a cold shower in the morning...

This is one that noone will be jumping out of their seat to do in a hurry, and for that reason I think its one of the most overlooked aspects of health. It takes next to no brain power, very little extra time and effort, yet has numerous health benifits:

• Increases blood circulation just beneath the skin, and throughout the body.
• It brings a flush of fresh blood throughout your circulatory system, clearing and cleaning it
• Reduces blood pressure
• Strengthens and reinforces nervous system
• It contracts all your muscles, helping clear them up (especially good post-workout for clearing lactic acid buildup)
• Helps resist the likes of  hay fever, allergies, colds and coughs. 
• Very refreshing and very energising
• Promotes self disipline and will power

 How I do this usually is have a normal shower with hot water in which i wash etc, then turn the heat off, so just cold water flows. I then leave it like that for around 5 minutes, ensuring everything is soaked in beautiful coldness. If you wimp out early, you won't get nearly as much of the benifites, because you won't get the fresh flush of blood to your system.

You will find that after a couple of times doing this, it will require an iron will to turn the lovely warm heat off, to the cold iceyness that awaits. But its good for you, you will feel great after, just do it.

A general comment people give when it comes to showers is don't do it if the room you're in is cold. This would mean that for people who live in temperate climates like me, wouldn't be able to do it for most of the winter months. My resolution: After spending your time in the cold, flip the heat back on, not too hot, and just for no more than 30 seconds, then out you pop.

Most people I know think I'm beyond nuts for doing this every morning, and a lot of you probably think the same. But hey, why don't you just try it for a couple of weeks. Replace your morning coffee with your morning ice cold shower. (Actually, if you do this, you'll think cold showers suck because you'll go into caffeine withdrawl and life will basically suck.)

The Simple Truth About Abs.

It seems to me like every other website and article online is about how to get the ripped 6pack abs look. Chances are, half the people writing these articles don't even have it themselves. There is endless information on diets, exersises etc, some of which will and do work, but you don't have the time to test them all out to find which one works for you. And the most important thing about any exersise/health plan is that you enjoy it. You won't stick at it if a) You see no results b) You don't enjoy doing it.

The secret to abs:  There is no secret!

There, i said it. I had to. To get abs you must loose the fat around the abdominals, by causing calorie deficit. That means eating less or differently, and doing some cardio fat burning exercise.

Believe it or not, even if you can't see it, you already have a 6pack, its just hiding behind the flab. And so, working out your abs before you can see them is pointless.

Build up to it, take it slow.

If you are desperate for 6pack abs in 60 seconds, this is not the site for you, there is plenty of others out there which can give that to you (probably to the detrement of everything else in your life). I keep going on about them but you must set hard but atainable goals. If you are serious about shifting the fat, swear today that you are going to give up a bad food: Chocolate, alcohol, Takeaway, fast food, whatever. One at a time. If your problem is snacking, replace the snack with fresh fruit (not these stupid health bars). Don't have seconds for your dinner. Small goals which you can build on week by week and you will soon be on your way to success.

In terms of Cardio, I will outline this in a later post, but my basic recommendation is do it first thing in the morning, before you eat. This will maximise fat loss. I do mine at 6am. If this is not possible for whatever reason (yeh, i know, you're lazy), try and do it at a time when you haven't eaten for around 3-4 hours, and you are not going to eat for an hour after.

In terms of type, I recommend interval training, which i will go into detail about soon.

If you take one thing out of this post, let it be this: Don't bother working out your abs until they are showing!

If your ab muscles grow, you will look fatter. You are wasting your time. Especially don't just do thousands of sit ups, ever seen a picture of the guy for the world record of sit ups? He doesn't have a 6pack... you work out the rest.

Clearing the Confusion on Resistance training

Resistance training is exercising against a resistance. That does not have to be weights, body weight exercises are also resistance training. Just to clear that one up.

Now in this area lies a huge amount of confusion. There still seems to be, less so than in the past, this idea that doing high rep, low weight will build you definition. This genuinely couldn't be more wrong. I will outline later how to get muscle definition.

What Resistance does what?

Right, Here is how it is, simple as i can make it:

• Heavy weight, low reps (2-6) builds muscle strength.  
• Medium weight, medium reps (8-15) Builds muscle size, but if you do much lower reps it will build strength too.
• Light Weights, high reps (over 20) Builds muscular endurance, and generally does not effect muscle size or definition. 

Each of these different weight groups have their good and bad bits, but PLEASE don't get confused.

Do the right weight to fit your goals!

If your goal is simply to add mass, then do medium weights. If you want to be super strong, but don't care much for size, then do heavy weight for low reps. If you want better muscular endurance (for example, rowers), then do light weights for high reps. SIMPLE.

Is Water the Miracle of Life?

Up until fairly recently, the good of water has been fairly black and white. The advocates of it claimed it to be a miracle cure, healing anything from headaches to acne. But then this came from the University of Pennsylvania.

Let me try and explain, for those who are confused, what that article is trying to say:

'Being dehydrated is bad for you, but there is no evidence to suggest that being hydrated is good for you, unless you do a lot of exersise'.

So basically, the most stupid post on the topic ever (in my opinion), for the following reasons:

• If being dehydrated is bad for you, surely being hydrated is good for you?
• Not doing exercise is bad for you, and so not needing to be hydrated is also a stupid point. 
• Something humongous like 80% of Europe and North America are chronically dehydrated, and so for the BBC to post an article about how water isn't important is stupid, because 80% of the readers need to get hydrated.

On the same point: from what i can gain from the evidence in the article, there is side effects to dehydration but no benefits to hydration, so in all likelihood, the 'benifits' of hydration should just be the norm, but so many people are dehydrated it is perceived as otherwise. (Did that make sense? It makes sense in my head!)

So, How much should I be drinking?

As you can probably guess I'm an advocate of water. Generally the daily recommended amount is between 1.2 and 2l a day, however it is best you understand what this actually means. 1.2-2l a day would be the minimum for someone who also completes their government recommended half hours moderate exercise a day, on an average day in a temperate climate.

If you are properly active, doing intense exercise regularly, and/or you want to be properly hydrated so you can see for yourself what benefits it brings, 3l is a good point to aim for. The only side effect: You will need the toilet more.

If it is an especially hot day, drink more. If you are doing a huge amount of exercise, drink more. If its a lazy day of doing nothing, drink less. 3l is not a set in stone absolute. Experiment. Find what works for you.

What should I drink?

I am aware that the western world has an obsession with tea, coffee and alcohol. Me, I dislike all 3, partially because of taste, partially for other reasons. Coffee is a mild diuretic, and so some of the water will not be used by your body fully, and just go straight out again. Same with alcohol, though to a greater extent. It should also be noted that most alcohol is unbelievably calorific: If you are trying to loose a bit of weight, then that is a pointless intake of energy which you can just stop. I heard somewhere that a pint of some beers is worth the same calories as a sandwich made of white bread. In terms of tea, for me it is just a taste thing. another BBC article claims its better than water, I disagree, but that's just because I don't like the taste.

Fizzy drinks! the skum of the earth. Yes, in this one post I'm making enemies with the BBC and with massive drinks companies. Great. Did you know 'Coke' is the 2nd most recognised word in the whole world ('OK' wins). I've got to hand it to them, that is incredibly successful branding. But does the fact everyone knows it, make it good? The company isn't exactly ethical, and the content is just foul. Again, a lot of these drinks are diuretics. The caffeine content is disgusting (I don't like caffeine). The non-diet options are packed with calories, the diet options are packed with additional chemicals. There is no good that can come out of the stuff. Avoid by all means necessary! Most of them don't even taste nice.

Fruit juice is a tricky one. Because, a lot of diet websites will say to keep away from it, because it does have a lot of calories in it. I believe in something called 'good calories', Drinking a lot of fruit juice may put a lot of sugar into your body, but its good for you, 150ml is one of your '5 fruits a day' (more on that in another post). However I don't believe you should drink it exclusively. And if your main goal is to just burn fat, you should probably stick to water.

I hope this helps clear a few things up, though it probably just makes it all more confusing.

Introduction

MY FIRST EVER POST! Although probably almost noone will ever read this, its still a happy moment for me, just allow me to have it.

Ok I'm done. Time to introduce this thing. Basically, My goal with Fitness Unleashed is to bring to you some real advise which will significantly benifit not only your fitness levels, but also your health. Sure, the ripped, 6-pack body is great, but I believe there is more to health and fitness than that. I'd like you to get the whole package. I want you to not just be an average fairly-fit member of society. I want you to stick out in a crowd not from the clothes you wear, or the car you drive, but by the fact that you are a perfect specimin of health and fitness. And yes, you WILL have a body to show for it. I want you to unleash your true potential.

Just to get a few things out of the way:

Principles of exersise: I believe very much in a more fundamental exersise programme. I've never set foot in a gym, and i've never needed to. I'm a big fan of bodyweight training (beyond push ups and sit ups, i'm not that primitive). There is VERY little in the way of equipment that i think you should buy, and most of that is cheap. I believe you can get a workout from no equipment at all. However equipment i would advise: Pull up bar, changable weights. You can find free alternatives to these, but it is somewhat impractical and often not too great for your workout experience.

I am a firm believer in hard work. While there will be some things posted here that require minimal effort, it is clear to me that to get real cutting edge fitness, you are going to need to work. Hard. That means not cutting corners, that means devotion, that means not giving up. That is up to you, I can give you the information, but you are the one who can choose how to use it. You have to set your own goals and targets, and you have to reach them.

Principles of Diet/Nutrition: A lot of my opinions are against the grain, but they don't come without reasoning. I draw from personal experience and scientific evidence. Besides, if you think what i've got to say is wrong, yet you are still the unfit and un healthy one, who are you to prove me wrong? Whats the harm in trying something a little different. I am generally against fast food, fatty foods and all that sort of stuff, but I am not obsessive. I will outline in future posts how you can eat pretty much however you want while still loosing fat.