An Active Workplace VS Working Out

Hi everyone,

It’s been a while since I last wrote to you all. I have been reasonably busy in my literary absence however, putting together a new home for The Energy Clinic and I’m happy to say, that we are very much up and running with only a few little odds and ends still on the building ‘To Do’ list. If anyone out there has ever renovated a house you’ll know what I’m on about.

The last few months have definitely seen me putting in some big hours and my own training has certainly suffered as a result. What would have been a reasonably difficult sweat session 4 months ago, has been leaving me lying in a pool of my own mental misery, especially after each hard Sunday Session. (My hard workout of the week with my team)

Anyway, this loss of overall fitness has got me to thinkin… Have you ever wondered why people who have a very active and physical job can and dare I say, often are, a little on the overweight or at least very unfit side? Surly working all day, banging nails into lumber, climbing ladders, rolling paint on walls, carrying heavy gyp-rock and all the other activities that make up being a trady, should be enough to keep someone flat of abs, fit as a fiddle and looking terrific.

One would think…

There are a few possible answers as to why so few of the tradesmen out there look like they do on a beer commercial. You know the ones; fit, bronzed and oozing sex appeal. Besides the obvious reason that they are hired actors and models, why doesn’t a typical trady, who works hard all day long, achieve the fitness or the look of an athlete like a football or even a tennis player?

As per usual, I believe there are a few important reasons for this.

Always, the first and foremost reason why people develop and/or can’t get rid of their ample figures is poor nutrition habits. The best scientifically designed program or workout in the world can’t make up for really poor nutritional choices and unfortunately, tradesman are well known for their questionable dietary practices. This is probably due to constantly changing work venues and too many trips to the corner deli where pies and chocolate ice coffees are the staple fare. Planning ahead and preparing your own lunch can be a great way to overcome the temptation to eat this sort of food too often.

After spending 3 plus months building our new gym, I can easily relate to the overwhelming desire to minimize any extra effort required to do… well just about anything other than sleep. Up for work at 6am then working through till lunch at 1pm and then again often to 9pm at night 6-7 days a week can leave little chores like laundry, cooking dinner or preparing lunch seem like mammoth tasks. This would often result in a short stroll on down to the local café for eats. I know how much my nutrition suffered over those three months.

All I can say is thank you modern science for high quality supplements like Juice Plus+ (www.energyclinicnutrition.net). Supplementing is a great way of taking a really bad nutritional scenario, that can occur when you’re over worked or even out of your normal routine, like being on holiday and turning it into something that just needs to be tweaked back into place when things settle back to normal. Remember though, like poor nutrition and exercise, supplements can only do so much.

Another key factor is what’s called adaptive response, where the body does its best, which in most cases can be really quite remarkable, to change and adapt to whatever external stresses are placed on it. For example, lifting heavy objects like gyp-rock or perhaps working your muscles for a long period of time such as framing a house with a hammer or heavy nail gun.

The problem with your body being so efficient at adapting to its stressor environment is that after a very short space of time, i.e. a few weeks or a couple months at the very most, your body stops adapting. It has reached an efficient enough level of strength or fitness to successfully accomplish all the tasks required of it. Your body is smart, efficient and effective, which is why we have to be a little tricksy if we want to really induce some physical adaptations or changes.

Now compare that to an athlete who regularly changes their program, often every week, in order that the body doesn’t ever get the chance to adapt fully or more to the point, is continually having to adapt. Constant adaptation means constant progression. Unfortunately, very few occupations need change their physical requirements consistently or significantly enough to keep the improvement curve moving upwards. Most of us work really hard at staying where we are, even with our gym programs.

There is another significant reason why adaptation doesn’t quite work as well on a construction site as it does with a specifically designed training session. Any ideas?

Duncan

Taking A Look At Average Nutrition

Another Energy Bulletin...

 The hardest thing about getting your nutrition right is just following

the basic rules, aka Compliance. I mean let's face it, nutrition isn't

difficult. Compliance to the relatively easy rules that govern good

nutritional practice however, seems to leave a whole lot to be... well,

improved on.

 Most of us would already know that we are an overfed yet under
nourished nation. In common speak, this means we consume tons of
energy rich foods but very few foods that are rich in vitamins,
minerals and other health providing antioxidants and
phytonutritents. 

 Pasta, rice, bread, and most cereals are prime examples of energy
rich foods that only contain a small amount of good quality nutrients

that our body's use to maintain us in good health or even repair us

from day to day damage and ageing. Foods like meat pies, pasta

meals, hot dogs, hamburgers, most fast food, most pizza, most pub

meals and a lot of canned food can be placed in this category as well,

even though there are a few exceptions. (I make a delicious gourmet

pizza that's actually quite healthy ;o)

 I've mentioned in previous bulletins that just because you're not
eating junk food doesn't make you a healthy eater. Cereal for
breakfast, bread bread and lunch meat for lunch and lasagna for
dinner is a classic example of how most people can get through a
day without any real 'junk food' but still not get any decent nutrients

at all, day after day after day. This lack on nutritional compliance to

what we know makes us healthy will inevitably make you sick and

most likely very, very sick in the end.

 Ok, so we need nutrients throughout the day and I'm sure most of
you again will know that it's pretty much all gotta come from plant
matter, namely fruits, vegetables and yes, whole grains too.

 So let's look at an average (real) food diary from a 43 year old
woman, who we'll call Sally and see where we're at.

 Sally weighs in at 66 kilos and stands approx 5'5. She trains twice

a week with a trainer and walks on the weekend with friends.  Her

basic goal in to lose body fat and tone up.

 Bk fst. 7am. 2x Weetbix, glass of OJ, x2 slices of wholemeal toast
with jam.

 Snack 1. 10:45am. Small tub of fruit yogurt. 240ml water.

 Lunch. 1pm. Turkey sandwich on wholemeal with marg, lettuce

and tomato.

 Snack 2. 3pm.  x3 Ryvita with cheese. 250 ml water.

 Dinner. 7pm. Lamb steak Dianne with potatoes, broccoli and

mushrooms with. 250ml water.

 Snack 4. 7:45pm. 2 glasses red wine, small chocolate mousse, x5

crackers with cheese.

 So the good thing with this diary is the regular eating schedule. This

will help to keep Sally's metabolism high and keep the fat storing

hormone Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) from kicking in throughout the

day.

 There are a few down sides with this nutrition day however.

 Bk fst. Lots of carbs in the morning. Sally's ca rb requirement per
meal for her height, weight and activity level would be about 120g
per day. So lets say 30 per meal and 10 for a snack. 

Wbx2 = 15g, OJ = 20, Toast x2 = 30, Jam = 10 for a grand total of
75g of Carbs FOR BREAKFAST!  

Do you think 75g will effect her hormones over the next 30 min? 
You betcha! Insulin will be introduced heavily into her system to
lower the rapidly elevating blood sugar. This will leave her
hypo-glycemic (low in blood sugar) tired and craving sweet food by
10am. It will also stimulate LPL for fat storage which means even
if she trains today, she is likely to burn very little in the way
of body fat. You'll also see there is no protein anywhere to be
seen.

 Snack 1. There really isn't much in the way of fruit here but at
least there is some. Protein also will be negligible but at least

present. Carbs for a small tub is usually pretty high, esp fruit yogurt,

so we'll generously say about 30g.

 Lunch. Yay... we have our first sourse of protein which has come
quite late in the day. Protein only resides in our blood serum for
a few hours at the most. Without protein you will have depressed

plasma levels of the hormone glucagon which is in part responsible

for increased fat metabolism. Protein also stimulates the hormones

responsible for muscle growth and repair. Two pieces of whole meal

bread = about 30g so that's actually not too bad and the addition of

lettuce and tomato while not great in amount, gives her at least

some vegetable nutrients for the first time today. The body will

need these to combat the free radicals racing through the body,

especially when adding exercise to the mix.

 Snack 2. x3 Ryvitas are probably about 8-10g each which puts us
close to 25-30g. Remember Sally only needed about 10g for a snack.
The cheese because of it's saturated fat will actually help a little by

slowing down the su ger absorption. Again, no real high end

nutrients.

 Dinner. The steak, while full of saturated fat and butter with the

sauce, is still Sally's first really good source of protein today. By now

her body is probably protein starved and she was probably eating

into her muscle stores for the required protein during the day. The

potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms are likewise her first really good

dose of micro-nutrients for the day besides the two slices of tomato

that she had for lunch... They've been a long time in coming.

 Snack 3. Sadly, Sally's training objective is to lose body fat. This

desert really seals the deal on a not so great day. x2 glasses of wine

is straggly not the issue with only about 3-4g of carbs per glass.

Not only that but the antioxidants at only 2 glasses is probably going

to do more good than harm considering the lack of nutrition through-

out the rest of the day. The chocolate mousse however, probably

contains about 40 grams of carbs with an additional 25g for the

crackers. This energy will not be stored in the liver or muscles as

glycogen but will in fact be transported tothe cells for storage as fat.

 So let's look at our summary.

 The minimum fruit intake per day is 2. Sally had... Well, none really,

except for the yogurt which doesn't really count. I'll graciously give

her 1/2 our of 2.

 The minimum Vegetable intake per day is 5. Sally had about 2.5
with a cup being a serve. So half her daily MINIMUM. If this is a
usual day (which it is) then Sally's risk of degenerative disease
and illness would be considered extreme.

 Protein was very low at about 1.5 serves. A minimum would be
about 4 for Sally. The low protein will not only inhibit growth and

development but it will also deprive Sally of essential hormones that

will encourage muscle development and improve fat metabolism.

 Fat intake wasn't too bad however, margarine is not food. It is
one molecule removed from being plastic. IT IS POISONOUS! So
don't eat it.

 Sally's water consumption was pretty low at 750mls. She also
drank 3 diuretic drinks being O.J. and x2 Wines. She would be
dehydrated by bed time which will keep her system toxic and slow. 
Dehydration will cause a dramatic reduction in performance and to
top it off, it will make you irritable and vague if not addressed
early.

 My 1st recommendation to Sally was to do another 7 day food diary.

Her goals were to increase her fruit and veg consumption to 2 fruit

and 5 veg per day, which remember is only the MINIMUM daily

requirement. I also put her on a high quality fruit and vegetable
supplement to bridge the remaining gap between adequate and
excellent.  

Sally's protein goal was to look for some vegetable sources of protein

as well as introduce more protein in the am hours. We also

introduced an A grade vegetable based meal replacement with high
quality vegetable proteins and low glycemic carbs to her first snack

or post workout drink.

There are several good supplements on the market today and many
thousands of garbage ones. Check out our web site for my
recommendations at www.energyclinic.net

 Her 3rd task was to limit the treat foods to one day. Pick a day,
any day and treat yourself. If you have it daily it's no longer a
treat but a nutritional component to your day.

 How does your food diary compare with Sally's?

 Yours in health,

 

Duncan

The Healthy Art of Ageing

Another...

Energy Bulletin

I've always had a keen interest in longevity. In fact one of my primary e mail addresses prefaces with longevityplus. But it's not just the idea of living for an extended period of time that has maintained my interest over these many years. Living a productive, happy existence from A all the way to Z, free of the illnesses and ailments that prevail our society has, even as a youngster, seemed a concept of choice rather than consequence.

What we do, how we act and even or especially the way we think should, to my way of thinking, dictate the state of our health even in extreme old age, rather than the idea that we are predisposed to illness and disease as a result of our genetics. Until very recently, science has told us that if your grandfather died of cancer, then you too have a significantly higher probability of spending your final days suffering with the ravages of sickness and morbidity. These days thankfully, science seems a whole lot less sure.

Welcome to the age of lifestyle diseases, where indeed your choice about what you eat, how much activity you subject yourself too and how well you handle the stresses of our modern world are far more likely to determine, not only the length of your life, but also and probably more importantly, the quality of your health throughout your journey in it.

Irrespective of whether or not you are practicing the art of maintaining a long and healthy life, if you are reading this post, then there is a good chance that you already know that our ability to maintain good health is in fact a choice. What is easily forgotten in our society is that we should be able to do this well into our 80's, 90's and yes, even our 100's.

So why is it that most of us living in a 'modern society' are labeled old a decrepit by the age of 70? Is it because by then we are 5 years into retirement and are no longer seen as a contributing member of our community? Perhaps it's because at 70, we are seen more and more as someone who has well and truly passed the best and most productive years and that the most we can hope for is that we don't become too much of a burden on our family's as we spend our final years at the mercy of doctors and nurses who battle vainly against, for the most part, incurable diseases. It is interesting to note that for many society's around the world, being of advanced age doesn't necessarily mean that your need end up dying of cancer, heart disease or stroke. How novel.

There are, I believe, two possible reason for this western mindset of aging. The first and foremost is a lack of good old family values that have possibly been lost in our quest for bigger, better and much, much more. The second reason could be that because of our poor lifestyle choices, it is unfortunately for the most part true, we have indeed passed our productive use by date well before the manufacturers warranty expires.

Let's tackle these one at a time.

There are a few universal truths that have been noted by researchers when they've examined the reasons why certain society's tend to be so much healthier and longer lived than our own western and often far more modern one. It may surprise you that an extremely positive view on ageing has been identified as one of the chief causes of a long, productive and healthy life. A great example of this is when we compare any of the worlds long lived society's, we can observe a universal reverence for the elderly.

In fact, in most countries, being old is seen as something to look forward to as it is used as a measure of respect and status. Compare that to our youth obsessed culture, where people would rather go under the knife and endure weeks of painful recovery while being fed only baby food or inject their face muscles with paralyzing toxins simply to defy the natural evolution of their existence.

Whether we look at the long lived Abkhasians in the old Soviet Union, the Vilcabambans is South America or the Okinawans in Japan, one thing remains universally enjoyed, and that is growing old. I read recently, (John Robbins: Healthy at 100) that when one researcher tried to explain to a group of Abkhasians that in the West, the aged are often put into retirement villages to be looked after by paid staff rather than kept at home with the family, his comments were met with incredulous disbelief to such an extent that nothing he could say could allow them to grasp such a barbaric practice. (John ro

In the West, our insistence that growing old means that you no longer have a rightful place in a productive society is often bought into by the aged themselves and who can blame them, we are surrounded by representations of the elderly being old, frail and senile. Characters like Grandpa Simpson, of the much loved cartoon series, is often used by the writers to express society's view of the seeming useless and decrepitness of those in their later years. Compare this to the Okinawans who don't even have a word for retirement and one can begin to see that our own concept of ageing is no doubt a self fulfilling view and one that isn't bought into by the longer lived society's of our planet.

Another great difference between our culture and of those who experience wonderful health into their later years is our choices. We are lazy! Perhaps not when it comes to our work ethic or how indeed how many hours in a week we spend aiming to achieve a little bit more than the year before, but next time you and a friend make plans to go to dinner, the pub or a movie, tell them you'd rather walk the 6km there and then back again and ... ? Well I'm sure you'd have no trouble imagining the response.

The problem is we where meant to move, not occasionally or for an hour before or after work but most of the day long. Another important commonality of the longer lived people is their lifelong devotion to movement and daily exertion. Now this may be because, for most of these people, having to toil all day in the field may be a necessity but be that as it may, most of the elderly, well into their 80's and 90's, can normally be found, not at home with the grandchildren, but in the field with their great-great-grandchild slung in a harness across their back while they hoe another patch of soil.

There are many more possible reasons for the lengthy and disease free existence enjoyed by these society's, such as diet and indeed good genetics, but while there is little we can do for now about our gene's, there are certainly better choices to be made when it comes to thinking ourselves into old age. For me, I personally like to emulate those actions that have been adopted by those who enjoy good health, long into their senior years. I have no intention of ever falling into the trap of feeling old because everyone else around me is determined to do so. I have chosen to surround myself with friends who enjoy physical activities and healthy lifestyles and who, most importantly, view family as an important aspect to living, not just a long life, but a rich and complete one too.

d.

The All or None Method

Welcome to another...

Energy Bulletin


Isn't it strange how many of us adhere to the all or none principle.
You know the one, we hear about it all the time whether it's to do
with diets, drinking, exercise or whatever. We see this mind set a
lot around any holiday time period. "I'll start my diet/exercise
program in the New Year." or "I know the drinking is a bit out of
control but it's the holidays, I'll do a detox when its all over."

So what makes this method of adhering to personal goals or
objectives so attractive? What's so difficult about maintaining that
middle ground of being good or staying dedicated most of the time?

I believe it has a lot to do with discipline or a lack there of.
I'm sure most of you would agree. So does this lack stem from not
having an action plan or a properly laid out set of goals? You know
the ones, written not spoken, time lined and achievable.

Maybe it's an inability to satiate our inner child. That naughty
little munchkin inside us that just doesn't want to do the right thing,
even though we know better. "It's the holidays, I'm sick of being an
adult, just let me be 10 again!"

Could it be that we are sabotaging our efforts as an easy out for
not being in the physical condition that we know is well within our
ability to achieve? "Yes I used to be fit but I keep having to do
these damn work dinners." (Like you can't find chicken/fish and veg
on the menu, "Hold the rich creamy sauce thanks." -Way too hard!!)

I'm sure all of us can relate to one or more of these examples and
can probably come up with a dozen more each. No doubt we do every-
day. So what to do about it. Should we keep putting off today what
could be done today with no better reason than "I'm an all or none
kinda guy/gal"?

Perhaps it's a lack of understanding that this all or none lifestyle
can have very damaging effects on our health. We have all heard
about the damage binge drinking can have on our health, yet most
will still justify our actions with "Yeah, but I don't drink all week."
HELLO !!!! That's what binge drinking is!

I see the effects of Yo-Yo dieting on a daily basis and I can tell
you that it is much, much harder to shift the fat off somebody who
has taught their bodies to conserve energy through years of dieting.

Imagine you have been exeercising and watching your nutrition through spring and you've managed to shed an amazing 8 kilos from Oct to Jan but you let yourself slide for 3 weeks and managed to put 4 kg back on. Most people would say "Yes, but I lost that 8 so quickly, i'll be able to shed this Christmas pudding in a few weeks. "WRONG!" You have turned your body from a fat burning furnace into a fat storage facility and it can take weeks, even months, for your body to reverse that need to conserve and store.

3 months to lose 8 kilos, put back on 4 kg in 3 weeks whilst enjoying
another 'None' phase and you'll likely need to add another 3 months
to this crazy merry-go-round just get back to where your inner child
kicked a tanty.

What a waste of our most precious commodity... Time.

Studies have confirmed this to be the case time and time again. Here
is an excerpt from a website newsletter I subscribe to, realage.com,
Published on 10/08/2008.

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Ever been tempted to take a little hiatus from your exercise routine?
Well, here's an unsettling fact that may help you stick with it, even
if you go with an abridged or lighter version.

Light exercisers who quit cold turkey for a bit, rather than just
scaling back, have a much harder time dropping the weight they gain
during the break.

Something is Better Than Nothing - Lighten up on exercise and
you may gain a bit. But do nothing, or close to it, and things get
much worse. When exercisers in a recent study slacked off, they
gained exponentially more weight the closer they got to zero
exercise. And here's the kicker: The research also suggested that
a prolonged hiatus produces weight gain that can't be reversed by
simply going back to your old routine. You have to do more.
Yikes. So even if it feels strange to do less, like training once a
week instead of 3 or 4x, remind yourself that it's infinitely better
than doing nothing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well that's it from me folks. Just do me a favour. Ask yourself
if your "Hard earned break" from your exercise routine, your good
nutritional habits or any good habit for that matter is really the
way you want to go about rewarding yourself. We all need a break
from time to time but it rarely behooves us to drift from all to
none. After all, we're not 10 anymore.

duncan

Surviving The Holidays

Welcome everyone to another...

Energy Bulletin


Ahhh holidays, don't you love em. Like Chistmas snow ball fights with the kids across the road, warm mulled cinamon egg-nog with a touch of rum, opening christmas presents by an open... Wait a second, forgot where I was. E'r hum, I meant shoeing the fly's away from the BBQ while cracking open a bottle of sparkling burgondy.. Ahh yes, Christmas is great.

Unless of course you're a personal trainer, which means you get to watch most of your clients not only slow or stop training but actually reverse a lot of the conditioning we've worked so hard for. It happens every year.

Now don't get me wrong, from a business and personal perspective it's not too bad as we trainers need a holiday as much as anyone, so the couple or weeks off is great and our clients usually come back extemely desperate to get back what they've lost in the way of conditioning
and good habits. So the fact is, is that it can actually be quite good for business.

Not bad then for us... Not so good for our clients though and here's why.

Firstly it seems really silly to blow out that badly over Christmas or any holiday for that matter when maintenance is so darn easy. It takes waaaay more effort to aquire a result than just having to maintain it. Where you needed 3-4 hard sessions of training a week in order to get that body fat shifted, it only takes 1 hard session and 2 light sessions to maintain what you have. If you don't feel like going hard then 3 light sessions will certainly get you through 3-4 weeks of holidays.

The difference between adding that hard session in each week or not will make itself known to you when you attempt to get back into that regular routine post holidays and believe me, the difference that that 1 sessions intensity will make is actually quite noticable. Especially
if your training at least at a moderately high intensity, which all of our clients at The Energy Clinic do.

So here are my 10 top tips for surviving the holidays.

#1 Do some exercise- Maintain a bare minimum of 2 training sessions a week. They need only be 20 minutes each but keep up the intensity. 3 is better.

#2 Watch your carb intake- If you know you're going to have a few drinks then keep carb intake from food very low to none leading up to your social event. Think veggies, veggies and meat.

#3 If you've had a really bad day/evening then don't dispair- 1 day of crappy food or too many drinks won't hurt, it's the 3-4 days in a row that nail your coffin. So, pick yourself up the next day and minimise the carbs again to try and reset your insulin sensitivity. Have another meat and veggies day.

#4 Remember that you have one opportunity to eat sugary food and not have it go straight to your waist line. That's right, 20-40 minutes post exercise is your window of pleasure to indulge that sweet tooth and actually have it do you some good. Use it wisely.

#5 Don't let your partner, friends or family con you into thinking you're a health nut just because you feel the need to go for a quick run before dinner- Even though they love you, people sometimes (I'm sorry for this but.. Especially Australians) tend to want you to perform at their level because your motivation unconsciously makes them feel guilty and it's not a nice feeling, so they will often 'jokingly' make fun of you and that's fine, smile, nod your head, make a comment about running down the road to visit your shrink and be on your way knowing that you are possibly more educated and motivated to do the right thing in this area of life than they.

#6 Drink lot's of water- This is especially true if you are having alcohol or planning a big dinner. A large majority of people will unconsciously use food or alcohol to replenish what is actually thirst. By staying well hydrated, you are far less likely to over consume these calorie rocketing nibbles and meals.

#7 If you're a beer drinker and you're watching your carb intake or if you should be watching your carb intake, then go Low Carb. There are some really good beers out these days that have virtually NO Carbs. That's right, none at all. I don't mind Pure Blonde's but that's me, there are a few out that you can try.

#8 Don't go hungry- We hear of/see this all the time when it comes to cooking that big family dinner and you or someone who's dear to you, is slaving over that hot stove all day, then the last thing they/ you generally want to do is eat. This is bad for two reasons. Firstly it sets up a fat storage response to the lack of incoming nutrients and secondly, it makes you really hungry, which most people will try and cure by either over-eating or getting blind drunk and abusing the
in-laws, which can be rather amusing as long as it's not you, in which case the apologies over the next few days can be quite embarrassing. So do yourself or your loved one a favour and make sure you/they eat.

#9 Buy small- We get our clients to do this all the time. Buy yourself something really cool or cute to wear, just before the silly season really kicks off, that is just a little bit too small. This
cool/cute piece of clothing has a tendency to stick in your mind a lot better than something like this bulletin when that extra beer or serve of ice-cream is being offered around. If you're already at your ideal weight or size then this won't work but you can always just measure your waist line on the 5th of December and promise yourself to do it again on the 5th of January. Your mind once again will remind you of this little self wager when it's most needed.

#10 Reality rears it's ugly head- Sometimes a little old fashioned research can help us stay on track during a break or holiday. A recent study I read found that if you lighten up on exercise for a while you may gain a kilo or two, but if you stop altogether or close to it, it get's much, much worse. The study showed that the closer the subjects got to no exercise the more weight they were likely to gain, no surprise there. But the kicker was that just returning to their regular routine was not enough to burn away the extra kilos gained. The reality was that they had to work nearly twice as hard to lose the weight the second time around than they did the first time!This means that the work done originally was more than twice undone. It makes me quite sad to think that all my... Er, I mean, all your hard work and possibly your money is gone, undone, reversed, squashed, wasted, thrown away and for what???

Hmmmm, you tell me!


duncan 

For Love of Movement

An Energy Bulletin


I hate to exercise, really it's true. For me, there is nothing more dull, boring and un-exciting as heading off to the gym to go and exercise, blah.

I do however enjoy learning and improving upon movement like; the timing of my clean and jerk, the balance of my handstands, the flow of my Olympic snatch, my posture and bio-mechanics of my sprint or running gait, the timing, balance, flow and posture required to deliver an effective combat strike and of course trying to improve the time in which it takes me to accomplish a set task or challenge. You see, despite its apparent simplicity, all these activities are incredibly challenging both physically and mentally. For me it's a lifelong and never ending quest for movement perfection.

It's interesting that the general public, including the media often consider endurance athlete's to be the fittest of the fit. How could anyone possibly be fitter than Robert de Costella in his prime? Well, that would probably be difficult if you only included cario/endurance capacity as your sole
measure of fitness. But what if you included other aspects of fitness like strength, co-ordination and agility? Where would Robert place on the list then I wonder.

It saddens me to see that skills concerning timing, agility, balance and co-ordination have been left out of most traditional gym programs over the past 20 years, even though all of these attributes are all obviously an important part of human movement and performance.

So what you say, I'm not interested in hand stands, forward rolls, kettle bell swings or what I look like running down the road. I just want to lose some body fat, tone up a little and keep healthy.

Well let me tell ya kids, there ain't a better method of achieving those weight management results than learning how to improve the efficiency and capacity of your movement. A better squat will mean the capacity to lift a heavier load. Improved efficiency will reduce the amount of time you need to accomplish a set number of repetitions or tasks and this all means that you would have dramatically increased your capacity to work.

And this is REALLY IMPORTANT!

Increased work means more energy burned = Fat loss! Increased work capacity means you are able accomplish more reps with a heavier weight = Muscle increase. Improved work capacity and efficiency also means that you have improved on your bio mechanics or movement
patterns = Far, far less injuries when you start to get this right.

But it's not just about being able to work harder and more effectively, although this is obviously of huge benefit. It's also about keeping training interesting. I simply couldn't stand it if I had to go back to the old days of Mon- Chest and Biceps, Wed- Legs and cardio, Fri- Back, Triceps and Abs. Seriously, I would rather become a Sherpa and haul other peoples luggage up Mt Everest.

Let me leave you with another of Coach Glassmans little gems. I've had this little number blue tacked beside my computer on the wall since 07 and I'm still not tired of reading it.

World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:

■ Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch
and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but
not body fat.

■ Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses,
C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups,
dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes,
flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.

■ Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations
and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep
workouts short and intense.

■ Regularly learn and play new sports.


These are words not only to live by, but words you can live very, very
well by.

duncan

Are You Training Frequently or Infrequently Training?

Welcome to another

Energy Bulletin

It never ceases to amaze me how often people want to do the absolute minimum in order to achieve a spectacular result. It's often reflected in all aspects of our lives from our relationships, to work and of course in our training.

Basically we are a lazy society. No surprises there. What is surprising, at least to me, is how many people will come to me, often spending a reasonable sum of money, to find out what the minimum amount of training they have to do to achieve a decent level of fitness or fat loss.

Where is the dedication?

When a client comes in and says, "I want you to design me a program that is easy for me to maintain with my busy lifestyle." What they are really saying is, "Look, I don't really want to be here, it's just that being a fat lazy sod isn't exactly cool or glamorous, so I need you to make me feel better about being lazy."

This is when I sit back take a long look at my prospective client and give them the real low down on what needs to happen to achieve a good result no matter what your goal. If you think that training with me once or twice a week without doing anything else is going to get you the body or the fitness level that you are probably aspiring to, then think again.

Once or twice a week is a maintenance program, nothing more. In fact training once a week won't be enough to maintain anything, even if you're fit already. It may slow your backward slide a little but not much more.

Training twice a week at intensity will keep those of you with a low to average level of fitness exactly where you are at, low to average. Forget about achieving any great standard of health, low body fat or level of fitness. Having said that, it can be a starting point for some people if they are completely new to moving. (It might astound you how little most people move)

Three times a week, again training at a reasonable intensity, will certainly maintain the standard of anyone with a low to mid level of fitness and, provided the training is sound and well designed, it may be enough for you to start achieving a reasonable return for your time and efforts. *It is important to note that I am not talking about jogging on a treadmill or sitting on a bike for 40 min 3 times a week. Although some of you may think that is training, it certainly isn't training smart. (See Energy Bulletin Cardio VS Strength Training, Friday, April 18, 2008)

Of course training three days a week is simply the minimum amount of time one should train when you are looking to achieve a particular result or goal rather than maintaining what you have. A competitive athlete for example would more than likely, depending on the discipline, find themselves losing ground after only a few weeks of training only three times per wk.

Four times a week is where we start making some serious gains. Although it's more than likely not enough for the elite among us, it is really where those who are looking to make substantial physiological gains and changes like body fat loss and improved movement performance should be aiming for.

Now some of you I'm sure are thinking "Damn, that's a lot of time to dedicate out of the week." or perhaps you're thinking that there is no way that you want to train that hard/often. But the reality is that we are actually designed to do a lot more.

The optimum training time to achieve your best fitness and health should be around five times a week, again provided the program is designed properly and that it is changed regularly to ensure proper recovery of your muscles, nervous system, lymphatic system, endocrine system, etc, etc. Do you need to do this all with a trainer... Of course not, you just need to do it. A trainer should be used to get that extra intensity out of your session and of course to learn better lifting techniques and exercises, not to baby sit you through a session. (Although you wouldn't know this to see most P.T. sessions.)

Understand that what you have to do to move forward and achieve results is completely different than maintaining once you are there. If you come to me saying that you want a nutrition program that you can do forever but you also need to lose 10 kilos then I'd have to tell ya, "Sorry, we don't sell fantasy's here."

duncan