Strong or Skinny?

Taz made an appearance on sports show Hyundai Code last week. She was asked by resident joker Matua Parkinson how strong she was, because, as he said "you don't look very chunky....."

Taz replied very nicely that she could manage 30 odd pullups without too much trouble, and that being strong does not need to mean being 'chunky'.

For too long women have avoided lifting weights - either because weights was just what the men did, or because of a fear of growing to resemble those men......

There are so many other benefits to weight training besides growing bigger muscles. But to address that concern first - muscle weighs more than fat. We just finished up a six week challenge at CrossFit New Zealand and many of our women (and men) have not budged the weight scales a bit in either direction, however they have lost kilos of fat and gained kilos of muscle. The results of this is a smaller clothing size as muscle takes up less ROOM than fat.

And it gets better - that extra muscle now burns more fat for energy every single day, both during exercise and even at rest.

Extra muscle means you are stronger - better able to deal with the rigours of everyday life, and better performance in your sport.

Extra muscle makes you look leaner, firmer and healthier.


Tennis star Daniela Hantuchova - formerly the 'Slovakian Skeleton', has improved her sports performance, her body and most importantly her health through weight training and good nutrition.

Skinny is not attractive!!

Attack of the FrankenFoods

Flicking through a cooking magazine my flatmate subscribes to, I came across a full page advert for healthy sugar.

I read with amazement the claims by Aussie company CSR that their new low GI sugar was better for you. Here's an article going into it further.

GI if you are not familiar with it means glycemic index and it’s basically the extent to which blood sugar levels are raised after eating that particular food. Less than 55 is considered to be a food that releases energy slowly while something in the 90’s releases energy very quickly

But just because a food is low GI, doesn't mean it is good for you. A chocolate bar is less than 50, but so is a bunch of grapes. Does that make them equally healthy? Of course not.

This crap was created in a lab with $5.4 million of government funding and is being marketed as “the sweetener for the health conscious”.

Those claims go nicely with margarine's claim to fix cholesterol and marshmallows 'fat free' boast. The creation of these Frankenfoods do nothing to increase our health, but they do increase the $$$ in food companies pockets.

To make matters worse we have nutritionists saying that this sort of thing is a good idea.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, broccoli doesn't have a healthy food claim written all over it because it doesn't need one - we KNOW it's good for us.

Be suspicious of any 'food' that sounds too good to be true.

Well farmed meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds will always be the key to a healthy life.

There are no shortcuts.

Focus

Driving to Victoria Park this morning to train our outdoor CrossFit NZ crew, I nearly side swiped a cyclist. It wasn't my fault, he had a pair of iPod headphones jammed in his ears and he was swerving sporadically all over the road without a care in the world.

Now besides the fact that this practice is downright dangerous, he is also in danger of a lack of progress in his fitness.

Why? No focus.

Although not competitive, back in the day I at least used to do a bit more cycling than I do now, so believe me, I know how boring it can be racking up the miles on the bike sometimes.

But with music blaring into your ears (don't deny it - it has to blare because of wind noise...), how can you focus on your workout, let alone avoid being killed my a speeding Auckland driver?

Headphones are even more common in gyms. It's crazy - the gym has its own soundsystem, and everyone else has their own music (again, blaring to overpower the outside noise) and is lost in their own worlds. I understand that some people argue that music HELPS with focus, but I also know many people who simply CAN'T workout without the help of music, and in my mind that creates a potential weakness.

This may sound a little neanderthal, but why not listen to the clank of the weight you are lifting over your head? The hiss of your breath, and even your final rep grunts. Listen to that 'music' for a while and then you might become more aware of the smell of the chalk and sweat, you will perhaps catch the eye of another person working as hard as you, and share a nod and mutual understanding of what it is to test your limits. Hey, feel free to share a look with yourself in the mirror if you need to - just don't hold the gaze for too long ya poser.....

Keeping fit during an economic downturn

With the local and global economy being somewhat depressed many well meaning authors are urging people who are feeling the pinch to, among other money saving ideas, quit their gym memberships. The alternative according to these money experts is to go for a walk instead. Well you and I both know how ineffective walking is for keeping fit and healthy. And unfortunately, you know that I think a gym membership isn't that great either - seeing as most people don't even use theirs, or waste their time with ineffective training programs.

I say do the opposite. If you are under a lot of stress you can either let yourself get out of shape, which will magnify the effect that stress has upon you, and let your now failing health become another problem to deal with, or you can meet the financial crisis head on and make sure that you are fit and strong enough to perform well at your job and maximise your earning power.

Personally I think that everyone has a responsibility to their families to be as healthy and fit as possible - anything less is unfair to your children, spouse or parents. Why should they have to see you die early from factors that are completely preventable?

Sure hiring a trainer for 3-4 sessions a week could cost a packet over time. If I was training you one-on-one you would have handed over about $1500 before the month was out. You’d be in bloody good shape mind you……….but as this post is about money – why not hire a personal trainer to just write you a good program and progression plan each month and meet up with them each month to have someone to answer to, get a review of your progress and a new plan. Now it’s looking more like $150 a month, and you should still get some decent results.

Or why not find a gym that offers semi-private (one instructor to 2, 3 or 4 clients) or group sessions? If it’s well run, you will find you get just as much attention from the coach and the extra people around will make you lift your game a notch. People tell me they’re not competitive, but once they’re side by side with someone else, they end up working harder than ever before.

The best news of all – small group fitness is more affordable than private training. So you get a more effective workout, a social interaction (which let’s face it, we all need if under a bit of pressure at work), for a bargain price. What are you waiting for?

Using a personal trainer this year?

There's no longer any point in 'what if-ing' about your health and fitness results from 2008. If things didn't go as well as you hoped, try to think back and identify what went wrong and why, and figure out strategies to deal with the roadblocks better this year.

Immersing yourself in the right environment is crucial. Exercising with friends, or around people who have achieved the kind of results you want is important to keep you accountable and focused. If you are using a personal trainer they need to do the same for you.

Do they have these qualities:

-A personality that works with yours.
If you don't get on with your coach, you will only grow to resent them. I'm not saying you need to be best friends, but at least be on the same wavelength.

-Knowledge about effective exercise.
If the programs your trainer prescribes you has less than 80% compound exercises, find a new trainer. A compound exercise is one which uses more than 1 joint. A bicep curl (elbow joint) is not a compound exercise, but a pull down or pullup (elbow, shoulder joints) is.
Multi-joint movements are neccessary to ensure the most bang for your exercise buck, and to prepare you for whatever life throws your way.

-Keeps records
Do you have any idea about how much improvement (if any) you've made with your trainer? If they aren't documenting your progress in some form or another, they are just lazy. At the least it's always motivating to achieve a new PB. But if you can see that progress has plateaued through accurate recording, your programming can be adjusted immediately.

Kick 2009 off well by getting the right people on your team. Your coach/PT is one of the most important ones, so keep the above qualities in mind.

Bang For Your Buck

I must have written hundreds of workout programs over the years. These programs were for people from all walks of life, and with many different goals, yet more often than not, the same few movements made up the bulk of all the programs.

• squatting
• pulling
• lifting
• pressing

Within those 4 movements and their variations is almost all that is needed to build muscle, burn fat and improve your athletic performance. Only a minimum of extra exercises are necessary to individualise it to a specific desired outcome. These movements give you the most bang for your buck - the biggest improvements for the smallest time investment.

It seems very hard for people to accept this though. The number of times I have spent valuable time putting a program together, only to find 2 weeks later that the client has added bicep curls, lateral raises and leg extensions, because they felt 'it wasn't enough work'. But on many occasions the very exercises I prescribed are getting left out.

Those above 4 movements are DEFINITELY enough work. Exercises derived from them should make up the bulk of your training program if you want it to be successful. I'm talking at least 80% ......and preferably 90%. If you have and energy and time left after training these 'money' movements, feel free to work your guns, or add in some crunches, but what ever you do, don't substitute squats for leg extensions, or pushups for pec deck, or pullups for bicep curls. You know you're just avoiding the real work that is necessary to achieve notable results in your physique.

How did 2008 treat you?

Did you gain the muscle you wanted?

Did you lose the fat you said you were going to lose this year?

Did you follow the sensible nutrition plan you stuck to your fridge?

If you made great initial progress at the start of the year, but lost momentum in the last 6 months, what was it that affected your progress?

Here are a couple of ideas of where you could have gone wrong. Fix these and get off to a better start in 2009 as well as maintain your progress through to 2010 and beyond.

1. Not enough emphasis on weight training. If fat loss was your goal, don't be fooled into thinking that that aerobic activity is the only route. You MUST stimulate your muscle mass through weight training, as muscle is the engine that fuel (your fat) is burned in. More muscle = more fat burned.

2. Long slow cardio. While we're talking about cardio, do you really think that reading a magazine while pedalling at 60rpms for half an hour will give you a six pack? Up the intensity with bursts of effort. High Intensity Interval Training has been shown to burn up to 9 times more fat than steady cardio. Try pedalling at >120rpm for a minute, followed by a minute at 70rpm for 10-15 rounds. Once you get fitter, increase the resistance, and decrease the rest period to maintain progress.

3. Keep a food diary
You may have thought that your diet was on track, but the proof is in the written word. Recording every bite suddenly highlights missed meals, poor snack choices, meals that lacked key nutrients such as protein or healthy fat.
Every month, write down your dietary intake for at least 5 days. It'll keep you alert to any slacking and serve as an often needed motivation booster.

With those 3 tools in your arsenal you will kick off 2009 in style and fast track yourself towards your goals. And hey, why not start NOW if you wanted to?