Are We Just Talking Or Are We Talking Action?

Hello all and welcome to another...

Energy Bulletin

I gotta tell ya, people who tell me that they couldn't exercise
last week or last month or whatever because they didn't have time
to get to the gym really annoy me.

That's right, I actually get annoyed. Why? Because they're just having
an insubstantial whinge and frankly, I'm too busy and have too many
other non whinging friends and clients that I could be spending better
quality time with.

Now don't get me wrong, as a trainer and someone who has been
known to make grown men cry from frustration and pure exhaustion, I
have no problem with having a legitimate sook about something, as
long as it's relevant, cathartic and very, very quick.

Have a whinge and then 'Build That Bridge Soldier,' cause you
really are going to get over it!

Now, why does not being able to get to a gym really get my goat as an
excuse not to train? It's because you DON'T NEED A GYM!

When I told that to someone just last week he actually said to me,
"Yeah, but I want to train hard."

What a load of S%#@

It's just another excuse that people use when they're feeling too
lazy to do something about a particular problem they've developed.
I.e. Being physically and emotionally piss weak!

Now this may seem a little harsh, but ask any trainer in the
business and they'll tell you that there is nothing worse than
training someone who would rather make excuses why they didn't
achieve their fitness or nutritional objective, rather than pull out all
stops and say, "Right, I'm gonna do this, even if it kills me." and
actually mean it.

Ok, you probably shouldn't train so hard that you die, but a lot
of you, yes I mean you too, need to have a seriously hard look at
yourselves and ask, "Am I doing everything I can to be as healthy,
fit and lean as I keep telling everyone I want to be?"

Well, are you?

There are many people who couldn't care less about their fitness
or their health and that's fine, they've made a choice and will no
doubt live to regret it. I have little problem with that as these
people tend to have very little direct impact in my life and they
don't often waste my time.

What does annoy me, are those people who pretend to want a
result but are to lazy, scared, indifferent or feeble to actually do what
really needs to be done. They are the ones who tell me, I couldn't
exercise because I couldn't get to the gym... Sorry, but it's
pathetic.

Make a decision and then go for it. Don't be that person who talks,
talks, talks and never does, does, does. That's not how you earn
respect of others or more importantly, it's not how you learn to
respect yourself.

Basically what I'm saying is this, don't just go through the act of

making all the right noises just to make yourself feel better or look

better in front of your cafe friends. If you're going to train, do it properly

or give yourself a break and just head straight for lunch. Don't lie to
yourself if the truth is you just weren't that committed to your goals
in the first place. You'll save yourself a whole lot of emotional regret
and chastisement later on.

If you are ready to make some changes then make the commitment
to do the work. Train hard but smart and expect that if you're training
properly, then it's likely going to be a little uncomfortable from time to
time. Remember, this is precisely what gives you the sense of
achievement later on.

So for those of you who can dig what I'm getting at, here is a
program that you can do anywhere, anytime... How 'bout right now??

There's a beer commercial in there somewhere, lol.

Here she is...

15 Push ups (toes or knees)
15 Full sit ups
15 Squats (your bum should be level or below your knees at the
bottom.
15 Jumps (jump onto something, like a park bench or jump for
distance, your height is a good length.
100 meter sprint.

Do this 4 times as fast as you can.

If your feeling tuff enough, do 25 reps of everything ;o)

Time yourself and send me your results.

Train hard or shut up,

duncan

Thoughts on Vegetarianism

Welcome to another

Energy Bulletin

Howdy do everybody… If you read my last bulletin you would know that
among other things I had been overseas for a while. Yep, spent a good
long week in Tasmania where I attended my baby sisters wedding on a
beautiful island beach just outside of Hobart, a very beautiful part
of the world. Damn cold though!

One of the many great things about getting away of course, is getting
to meet new people and engage in new and interesting conversations.
Being a trainer I am often asked questions regarding nutrition and
exercise and if I'm not careful I can find myself in the middle of a
nutrition or fitness consultation and if they're not careful they
might ask me something about nutrition after I've had a couple beers…
Lol.

It does help if I have family around as they don't really let me talk
too much shop when on vacation and certainly not after beer.

Anyway, on this occasion I was chatting with a few of my sisters'
friends about the differences and difficulties that come along with
being vegetarian. It was an interesting conversation in that although
some of these young ladies knew a little bit about being vegetarian
they were just a little off the mark on a few things. To start with they
didn't quite know how to categorize themselves as to what type of
vegetarian they were.

So should you be at a dinner party or gathering and the subject of
vegetarianism comes up, here area few things that you should know.

Vegan
A vegan does not eat any fish, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products or
foods that contain any of these products. If they are true vegan then
they also do not use any non-food items that contain products from
animals, including wool from sheep, leather and silk. Vegans often do
not eat honey for example because bees may be killed while harvesting
it.

Duncan's 2 cents- Nutritionally speaking this is obviously the hardest
form of vegetarianism. As a vegan you have to check, double check and
then re-check most everything you eat and that's just at home, let's
not even consider the hassles of going out to a restaurant or a dinner
party.

True vegans also find it difficult to acquire the right amount of protein
throughout the day, especially if they are training at a moderate to
intense level.

I know, I know, a lot of vegans would, of course, disagree with
this but then they don't have a $2,500 body composition analysis
machine that they use to measure the rate at which we burn or
synthesis protein and well… I do!

In my 15 years of using this body composition computer I have probably
met less than a dozen vegetarians that seem to get enough protein from
their diets to support an active lifestyle.

The problem lies with the fact that we need 22 amino acids in our
diets to complete our protein profile. Any less and we will not have
the building blocks necessary to synthesis protein for muscle
recovery, repair and building. The problem with plant based protein
is that they are incomplete protein sources, meaning that you have to
combine plant based foods properly to complete the profile.

Although this isn't too difficult to do, it does take a reasonable amount
of time and diligence to do it properly and it has been my experience
that most people have a hard enough time trying to get in 3 meals and
2 snacks per day let alone making sure the foods are combined properly
to ensure that the 8 essential amino acids are present within the meal.

So the long and short of it is that it can be done but it's often far
too challenging for any but the truly dedicated.

Lacto Ovo Vegetarian
A lacto ovo vegetarian does not eat meat, fish or poultry, but will
eat eggs and milk. This of course includes products made with eggs and
dairy including; yogurt, cheese, milk and ice cream… Hmmm, ice cream
;o).

One could also separate this into those who eat eggs and not milk and
vice versa. For example a Lacto Vegetarian does not eat meat, fish,
poultry or eggs, but includes dairy products in their diet. They can
consume milk, ice cream (that does not include eggs), yogurt and
cheese. They would naturally avoid things like ice creams, baked goods,
pancakes and veggie burgers that contain eggs.

Duncan's 2 cents- This is a much easier method to work with as a
trainer. Eggs especially are a great source of protein because they
fulfill the complete amino acid profile. They are also full of other
healthy nutrients. (See March 08 E.B. The Truth About Eggs).

The down side of this, is that personally, I am not all that keen on too
much dairy. For starters, we are the only mammal that drinks the stuff
after we have been weaned off our mothers' milk let alone drinking the
milk of a completely different species. Secondly and I think more
importantly, I have read a reasonable amount of research showing how
milk, especially from cows treated with synthetic hormones, can and
do create all sorts of health issues. (I will talk more about the problems
with milk in another bulletin.)

My choice here would be as an Ovo Vegetarian. (Eggs but no dairy)

*Note- A small amount of milk probably won't hurt you, so a little
cheese and yogurt can be a good way to lift your protein profile
throughout the day, although it shouldn't be used as a sole source of
protein.

Pescatarian
A Pescatarian is a vegetarian who doesn't eat meat except for fish.
True vegetarians would say that this means that this isn't true
vegetarianism but I say it's pretty darn close. Of course this
individual may or may not eat eggs and or milk products.

Duncan's 2 cents- Some of the perceived health benefits of a
pescatarian diet lies in research that has been done over the years
showing that red meat may be detrimental to your health. An example
of this would be the link drawn between the consumption of red meat
and osteoporosis. The idea being that the phosphorous in red meat can
cause calcium to leech from our bones. (I have yet to see some really
conclusive evidence to this however).

*Note- A more likely reason for people who eat a lot of meat getting
certain illnesses is that a lot of 'meat eaters' tend to fill
themselves up on meat and empty calories such as pasta, bread, rice
and don't tend to eat enough fruit and veggies.

One of the big advantages of pescatarianism is that the fats from
fish, being mostly omega 3's, are generally viewed as much healthier
than the saturated fats found in red meat. Again, I feel that
moderation of these saturated fats is a better alternative than
abstinence. In fact, if one looks at a Mediterranean diet, which has
been shown to be one of the best diets in the world, you would quickly
see a lot of similarities to pescatarianism with a small amount of red
meat generally consumed.

In my experience, a lot of vegetarians don't eat meat because they
believe they are making a healthy choice and yet having read many
hundreds of food diary's over the years, I have found similarities to
our 'meat eating comrades' in that a majority of their nutrition ends
up coming from pasta's, bread, rice and cereal. No good at all.

Other vegetarians have a more philosophical reason for not eating
meat, such as the treatment of animals. I believe there is some
validity to this when one looks at the practice of giving growth
hormone treatments to animals to improve growth rates and indeed some
living conditions could certainly be improved especially with caged
hens.

For this reason, I simply choose to eat free range/grain fed
organic eggs and chicken while attempting to do the same with my meat
and fish while eating as much fruit and raw vegetables as I can.

duncan

Is Your Fitness Program Hindering Your Performance?

An Energy Bulletin


If you take your exercise seriously and/or if you have a personal trainer in your life, you would certainly have heard the term 'Functional Fitness Training'.

Functional Training originated with exercise rehabilitation but has been transformed in recent years by some of the world’s premier trainers and coaches into the most progressive form of athletic training available. Today it is used by all of the top trainers, therapists and coaches around the globe to maximise the performance of their clients, patients and athletes.

Body Building on the other hand is a method of training that has been used for many years to simply hypertrophy (grow) muscle. The unfortunate outcome of using a body building methodology to enhance your fitness is that you end up with large muscles that look great but don't have very much in the way of practical strength or performance value. Basically they look good but perform badly outside of a controlled environment, aka the gym.

These days, many people use gyms and trainers to develop better strength, lose body fat and of course improve movement performance, which incidentally isn't restricted to just athletes. In fact some non-athletes are actually more athletic than the athletes themselves. (Yes it's ok to re-read that one)

Let's look at the overall performance criteria of a rower for example. These guys and gals are in their own way great athletes. They develop great strength with both endurance and power output capabilities and of course have a high cardiovascular requirement to ensure they get their boat of choice across the finish line in a decent time.

Now let’s look at a carpenter as a non athletic example. A carpenter doesn’t need a high level of cardio fitness to perform his/her job and as I have a few good mates as nail pounders I know that a good majority would probably fall over dead if you asked them to run 5 km.

Carpenters do however perform great feats of strength, balance, coordination and agility every single work day. Imagine for example having to hammer in the frame work for a house for the next 5 days. Sounds like fun huh. Now add to that carrying long pieces of wood over uneven terrain and then having to nail it into place over your head… Hmmm. Now imagine that to get there you have to climb, with the 12 foot piece of wood, up a ladder and then balance on one leg over the frame work 15 feet in the air. Now add in a wet and windy day. Now do that ALL day long.

Both of these activities have their own aspects of athleticism and performance values that they need to develop. Unfortunately they are both more likely to try and achieve better performance from lifting weights like a body builder.

Listen to me people This training method is soooo last year.

Isolating your muscles during training and then putting them under increasing loads as in a bicep curl, triceps extension or a hamstring curl machine is a great way to make that muscle group bigger and stronger for that particular movement or exercise. Put yourself on a soccer field, up a ladder or in the garden pulling weeds and rest assured that all that work in the gym has very little functional benefit or carry over to your ‘real world’ activity.

In fact the lack of coordination, balance and agility development that occurs from isolating muscle groups will most likely create dysfunctional movement patterns, which in turn can cause both poor performance and injuries, both in and out of a competitive environment.

In basic terms functional training means adopting the movement patterns which are useful to you OUTSIDE of a gym environment and then adapting them into a controlled training routine. This can be done with dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls, band and pulley systems, step up blocks, pull up bars or rings and some cardio equipment.

Notice there is no fixed weight machines in that list. (I.e. Pec Deck or Leg Extension machine)

If you are interested in how your body works and performs while playing recreational or professional sport, performing ‘athletic’ work duties, playing with your grandchildren or backpacking around Europe then you should look at investing a little of your time into Functional Fitness Training. Not only will you feel and perform all manner of physical tasks better but it just also happens to be the best method I’ve come across with regards to changing the shape of my clients through sculpting muscle and burning excess body fat.

I call that a win, win and win again training method.


duncan