Five Reasons Fish Oil Will Make You Stronger, Leaner & Healthier
www.rebornpt.co.uk brings you an excellent article on fish oil from Charles Poliquin, 5 straight forward reasons why you should take more fish oil.
#1: Fish Oil Can Help You Lose Body Fat
Fish oil can help you lose body fat for a number of reasons, some of which are well known, while others are just emerging. First, fish oil provides essential fats because it is made up of omega-3 fatty acids. Essential fats are those which the body can’t produce on its own—they must be eaten—and it must have them for optimal function. Read more here
Want to train for MASS size in this summers packed gyms? Here’s how to..
This also works great for someone with a home gym with restricted surface area. It goes like this::
Monday
Equipment needed: Olympic bar and plates and dumbbells
A. Power cleans from mid-thigh 5 x 4-6, rest 3 minutes between sets. Tempo X0X0
Tuesday
Equipment needed: Chin up station and dumbbells
A-1 Wide Grip Pullups, 5 x 4-6, rest 100 seconds between sets. Tempo 30X0
B-2 One Arm Lean Away Lateral Raises 5 x 8-10, rest 90 seconds between sets. Tempo 30X0
Thursday
Equipment needed: Olympic bar and plates and Power Rack.
A. Paused Front Squats 5 x 4-6, rest 3 minutes between sets. Tempo 32X0
B. Cyclist squats, 5 x 8-10, rest 2 minutes between sets. Tempo 30X0. They are narrow heels elevated squats. Heels are 15 cm apart, and elevated 6-10 cm. Expect to decrease the weight every set.
C. Inertia squats 5 x 6-8, rest 2 minutes between sets. Tempo 22X0. Sent the pins so that are at solar plexus level when your heels are together. Work up in weight on this one. Only the last set should be challenging.
D. Back Squats 1 x 15-20. Tempo 20X0
Equipment needed: Adjustable Bench and Dumbbells
A-1 Incline Dumbbell Press, 5 x 4-6, rest 100 seconds between sets. Tempo 30X0
A-2 Incline Dumbbell Curls 5 x 4-6, rest 100 seconds between sets. Tempo 30X0
B-1 Flat Dumbbell Presses, 4 x 8-12, rest 90 seconds between sets. Tempo 30X0
B-2 Seated Dumbbell Zottmann Curls, 4 x 8-12, rest 90 seconds between sets. Tempo 30X0
Now this will only work if you do it….So stop reading, print it out, stick it on your wall and get TRAINING TODAY!!
Vary the tempo of your lifts for maximum fat burning and strength results.
Vary the tempo of your lifts to lose fat and get more powerful. Manipulating tempo is an easy way to modify the amount of time your muscles spend under a load, making it one of the best tools to help you break through plateaus and drop a few pounds of fat.
A fascinating new study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research shows how varying tempo and load will produce very diverse physiological results. This study compared the effect of performing the upright seated bench press on power, work output, exercise time, energy burned, and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) using the following four protocols performed to failure:
• Muscular endurance, 55 percent 1RM with a 4141 tempo
• Fast Force endurance, 55 percent 1RM with an explosive tempo
• Maximum Strength, 85 percent 1RM with an explosive tempo
• Hypertrophy, 70 percent 1RM with a 2121 tempo
(Here is a quick description of tempos :
The first and third are the amount of time it takes you to perform the eccentric and concentric portions of the exercise, respectively. The second and fourth are the number of seconds you are advised to pause after. So 2010 requires a 2 second eccentric portion (lowering the weight), no pause at the bottom, a one second concentric portion and no pause at the top.
the ‘X’ implies you perform the action as fast as possible with good form. You typically see this on the concentric (raising the weight) portion of an exercise. )
Results showed that the Fast Force protocol resulted in the greatest power output, followed by the Maximum Strength protocol—a finding that is not surprising since those exercise trials were performed explosively and the others used a controlled, deliberate tempo. Maximum possible velocity and loads in the 30 to 60 percent of the 1RM range will always produce greater output than restricted lifting speed or heavy loads. Still, the fact that the Maximum Strength trial produced the second greatest power output also supports the inclusion of heavy load training for power—it’s not that one tempo is always best, but that you must vary tempo to achieve optimal results.
The Fast Force protocol also resulted in much greater work to be performed than all other protocols. The Maximum Strength protocol was second in work output, but this protocol took the shortest amount of time to complete (only 30 seconds) compared to the Muscular Endurance, which was longest in 105 seconds. The Fast Force and Hypertrophy trials both took about 64 seconds.
Considering that energy is related to the ability to perform work, it can be concluded that the Fast Force protocol requires the highest energy cost, or for practical purposes, it results in the greatest calorie burn. However, the Maximum Strength protocol provides the greatest energy burn for the amount of time spent lifting, again highlighting the value of tempo variation.
One interesting point made by the researchers is that in the Hypertrophy protocol, the amount of work performed was similar to that of the Maximum Strength trial, but the Hypertrophy protocol took much longer to complete, indicating that building muscle is a result of longer exercise duration and the subsequent physiological and metabolic responses produced, rather than mechanical work.
The last thing you should be aware of is that all the tempo protocols produced similar EPOC, which refers to the amount of calories burned following the workout due to an elevated metabolism. Although EPOC was similar, you would achieve best fat loss and body composition by using similar time under tension as with the Fast Force and Maximum Strength protocols since these used the most energy during training, and EPOC can be maximized with higher loads or greater work.
Reference
Buitago, S., Wirtz, N., et al. Mechanical Load and Physiological Responses of Four Different Resistance Training Methods in Bench Press Exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2012. Published Ahead of Print.
Why the Calorie Approach to Weight Loss Doesn’t Work
Restricting calories to lose weight over the long term is more detrimental to your metabolism because it will turn your body into a hormone-induced hunger machine. A study in the New England Journal of Medicinefound that after putting overweight individuals on a ten-week calorie-restricted diet of 550 calories a day, they experienced elevated levels of the hormones ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, and gastric inhibitory polypeptide, which promotes fat storage. Leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and boosts fat burning, was profoundly reduced after the ten-week diet and stayed that way for the duration of the one-year study.Take note that after the ten-week diet, participants lost 30 pounds, but due to the way they had severely altered their metabolic hormone responses to food by restricting calories, they regained an average of 15 pounds in the next year.
The Thermic Effect of Food: Calories Are Stupid
A number of mainstream media outlets incorrectly (or stupidly) took the results of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association proclaiming, “It’s the calories, stupid” that dictate body composition and weight gain. A close look at the study clarifies the misinterpretation and tells us exactly the opposite: it’s primarily the macronutrient content of the food you eat that dictates body composition, but if you overeat every day, then you will get fat.
The study compared the effect of overeating on body composition and fat gain from diets with three different protein contents. The thermic effect of the different diets was also measured, which is the amount of calories required to break down food, synthesize enzymes, and perform metabolic processes.
Participants ate either 5, 15, or 25 percent of their diet from protein with a whopping extra 954 calories a day for eight weeks. All the diets consisted of well over 3,000 calories a day and the macronutrient content was as follows:
All three groups gained the same amount of fat from the overeating—about 3.5 kg. The normal- and high-protein diet groups actually gained 0.2 kgs less than the low-protein group, but this was not statistically significant. What was most interesting was that the low-protein diet group gained the least total body weight because along with the 3.5 kg of fat gain, they lost almost a kilogram of muscle mass. The lack of amino acid building blocks in the diet put them into a severely catabolic, fat-storing state.In comparison, the normal-protein diet group gained 2.9 kg of muscle mass and the high-protein diet group gained 3.4 kg of muscle. Therefore, along with the nearly 3.5 kg of fat they gained, the normal- and high-protein diets did produce more weight gain. But, from a body composition viewpoint, the normal- and high-protein diets were better even though participants gained more total weight than the low-protein group because their percentage of body fat went down.
Most significant, this study shows the extreme variation in the amount of calories burned on a daily basis from eating different proportions of macronutrients. The resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the amount of calories burned at rest during the day, and it’s highly influenced by dietary makeup and the thermic effect of food. The group that ate the low-protein diet experienced a 2 percent drop in their metabolic rate, meaning they burned less calories each day just from eating a low-protein diet.In contrast, the normal- and high-protein diets increased RMR by 11 percent in response to the higher protein intake. This meant that by eating more protein, more of the energy consumed was turned into lean mass, and only about 50 percent of the energy consumed was turned into fat. Researchers estimate that more than 90 percent of the energy consumed in the low-protein group was turned into fat.
Whole and Processed Calories Aren’t the Same Either
A second study shows that the RMR and the thermic effect of eating whole foods is much higher than if you ate the exact same amount of calories from processed foods. This study compared the effect of a whole foods meal with a processed foods meal that contained equal calories and equal macronutrient content.
The thermic effect of the whole food meal was almost double that of the processed food meal. Participants burned 50 percent more calories after eating whole foods! Equally significant is that the participants who ate the processed food meal had their metabolic rates drop below their average RMR during the fourth hour after eating, while the whole food meal group never fell below the RMR. Also the duration of elevated energy expenditure from digestion in the whole food meal group lasted an hour longer than the processed food group.
Still Not Convinced? Check Out What Happened to the Pima Indians
The Pima Indians, natives of Arizona, provide a classic example of how body composition is affected by much more than just the amount of calories ingested each day. The Pima Indians have genotypically evolved eating a low number of calories, primarily from fish, small game, and foods they gathered. As early as 1901, a new “obesity epidemic” was evident among the Pima.
Local scientists who lived in the region were stumped as to why this indigenous group that had previously been “tall and sinewy” were now plagued by widespread obesity. More recent analysis has shown that shortly after the Pima came in contact with white settlers and adopted their foods—both foods that they began to grow such as corn, beans, potatoes, and processed foods like sugar, bread, and eventually soda—obesity became very common as did type 2 diabetes.
Analysis of changes in the Pima diet shows that the Pima were not overeating or ingesting more calories than previously when they adopted the “white man’s” diet of sugar, bread, starchy foods, eggs, and beef rather than fish and small game. Nor was their caloric intake greater than the amount of energy they burned on a daily basis. Rather, the Pima were eating the wrong type of calories for their genotype and it was causing a hormonal response that led to fat gain and diabetes.
For optimal body composition, the solution to any remaining confusion about how to adopt a diet for fat loss is to understand the following:
Do Sprints and Traditional Strength Training for the Best Abs
If your primary goal is lean abs, a high volume total body program with sprints is the way to go. You’ll gain strength and muscle mass in the obliques, rectus abdominus, and erector spinae, giving you better trunk stabilization and a rock hard stomach.
Call us today on 01202 671783 for more amazing info to get you looking great by this summer.
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WHAT IS FAT LOSS?
We store fat in adipose tissue in our bodies — mostly under the skin (subcutaneous) or in the body cavity (visceral), with a small amount in our muscles (intramuscular).
Why is fat loss so important?
We need to lose fat…
As a group, people in most industrialized societies are likely to be over-fat.
This isn’t just a cosmetic problem. Excess body fat can negatively affect nearly every facet of life, including:
- decreased mobility
- poorer emotional health and self-esteem
- increased risk of organ failure
- poorer circulatory health
- increased risk of heart disease
- increased risk of stress fractures
- increased risk of strokes
- increased risk of cancers
- decreased sexual and reproductive health
Fat cells can act as endocrine factories and produce hormones that influence numerous processes in the body — most of which lead to more fat accumulation.
Beyond the health of it all, carrying a lower body fat is often considered more attractive and desirable as the underlying muscle tone is revealed.
Further, carrying a lower body fat is advantageous for many sport competitors (barring sumo wrestlers) as extra fat weight adds drag and additional resistance that must be overcome.
Bottom line: Carrying a lot of excessive body fat makes health, body composition, and athletic performance worse.
…but it’s hard.
Here’s the problem — collectively, we’re not very good at losing fat either.
About 95% of those who are overweight go on repeated diets, only to gain most or all of the weight back within one year. Nearly 70% of the United States is overweight or obese. The percentage of 12 to 17 year olds who are overweight has doubled since 1980.
We need a better solution. Knowing how fat loss works may be helpful.
What you should know
Fat cells are a major storage site for body fat, and are in a continuous state of turnover. Fat metabolism is regulated independently by nutritional, metabolic, and hormonal factors; the net effect determines levels of circulating fatty acids and the extent of body fat.
Fat loss and hormones
Fatty acid release and use requires lower insulin levels and an increase of the hormones glucagon, cortisol, epinephrine, and growth hormone. These “anti-insulin” hormones activate HSL. The other major hormone that influences fat metabolism is thyroxine (thyroid hormone).
After a large feeding, glycogen is synthesized until stores are replenished. If high blood sugar persists, glucose is converted to fatty acids. Amino acids can also be converted to fatty acids. The enzyme necessary for cells to accept triglycerides is lipoprotein lipase.
In the un-fed state, insulin concentrations fall, and the anti-insulin hormones increase. This accelerates fat use.
Fat loss and caloric deficit
When we decrease our caloric intake significantly, the body preserves fat stores very efficiently. Since insulin is low, thyroid hormone production is decreased. With this, resting metabolism is lowered. This can take place within 24 hours of starting an extreme diet.
The body’s response to calorie deprivation makes rebound weight gain all but definite once the diet is finished. Muscle is usually lost, so the body usually becomes fatter.
Fats are more than just a fuel source during rest and lower intensity exercise. Fats restore phosphagens that have been exhausted during high intensity exercise. After intense exercise sessions, oxygen uptake is increased, which allows restoration to pre-exercise conditions (the “afterburn” effect).
Stages of fuel use during fastingFat loss is a complex problem
With our focus on specific nutrients, intense nutrition counseling, dieting and processed food consumption over the past 30 years, body fat levels have also increased. In other words, more information, more dieting, more junk food has given us more fat.
While some of this may seem counter-intuitive, it illustrates the importance of body awareness, avoidance of processed foods, regular physical activity and influential food advertising.
Summary and recommendations
To maintain a low body fat and/or lower body fat:
- Exercise at least 5 hours per week
- Eat whole/unprocessed foods at regular intervals, while being aware of physical hunger/fullness cues
- Sleep 7-9 hours per night
- Don’t engage in extreme diets
- Stay consistent with your habits
- Incorporate non-exercise physical activity
- Ignore food advertising
For extra credit
Aspartame was approved for use in 1981, and while this non-caloric sweetener was hypothesized to help control body weight, since 1980, levels of body fat have increased….stop using, eating or drinking anything with this in.
Other factors associated with lower levels of body fat include:
- nuts
- green tea
- low energy-density foods
- dietary protein
- avoiding refined carbohydrates
- adequate hydration
- dietary fibre
- fruits and vegetables
- regular exercise
- adequate sleep
- a supportive social network
While cortisol can break down muscle tissue, it can also break down body fat.
If you increase physical activity and nutritious food intake, metabolism will increase.
Blaming weight gain on calories is like blaming wars on guns. The diet is not the cause of excessive body fat levels. Rather, it’s the entire lifestyle.
Severe calorie deprivation inhibits the production of serotonin, a brain chemical needed to control appetite and maintain harmony with food.
Christmas training advent calender: 4th Dec 2011, Day 3
Unleash the animal within.
No not the roast dinner you’ve just munched through, your primal animal….primal movements is where its at.
So lets combine a couple for a great all body workout.
This routine assumes some serious base strength, so here are a couple of easier options to the below circuit. Substitute a plyo pressups (any pop of the hands off the ground is awesome) for the Aztec. You can do handstand push ups instead of the handstand walking (or wall holds). If you can’t do one arm push ups than you can use a standard press up.
Most important aspect though, is to let go of all inhibitions…be an animal, go on ROAR!, i know you want to.
Warm up: 5 – 10 minutes, taking it easy (run, skip, stair climb, get in the sauna, move move move!!!)
Main Session:
Rest as little as possible between exercises and rest 30-60 seconds between sets.
A1: Sprint – 3 x 50ft
A2: Aztec Push Up – 3 x 10
A3: Handstand Walk – 3 x 20ft
A4: Burpee – 3 x 10
A5: Headstand – 3 x 30-60sec
A6: Alternating 1-Arm Push Up – 3 x 5-10 each side.
Please post your time below in comments.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 3rd Dec 2011, Day 2
Brrr…..its cold but its great to run in, so….
Get outside and enjoy!!
OK everyone its day two (of many).
Today its simple running, yes RUNNING, don’t be jogging on me now….jogging is so 1980′s.
All you need is some running shoes (barefoot style please Vibram fivefingers would be best), shorts, a hoody, a bottle of water, an iPod and a true belief that you can run and you can run fast.
Today’s workout:
Warm up: 5 – 10 minutes, taking it easy (run, skip, stair climb come on you know what to do to get warm!!)
Pre-stretch: give your quads, hamstring and calves a good old going over.
Main session :
4 x 400m (as fast as you possibly can……)
Rest for 1 minute between each 400m.
RUN Forest RUN!!!
Post workout deep stretch: Hold the following stretches for 90 seconds each.
Hamstrings, Glutes, Quads, Hip flexors, and calves.
……and now breath deeply and head home,
giving yourself a massive pat on the back for training hard today. oh yeah, good time now to grab a recovery drink.
Please post your time below in comments.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Alkaline or Acid, what PH is your body and does it really matter?
Well i guess many of you reading this, answer the above with a “Don’t know” answer, and I’m not surprised by this as many of us have know idea what is going on in our bodies, let alone know whether our body is Alkaline or Acid.
And frankly, do you know whether it matters or not to be Alkaline or Acid.
This is why i have put together this post to hopefully get across why it is essential for us to check out bodies PH levels.
Why acid – alkaline balance?
Please watch this video first:
Your body must stay alkaline for optimal health, energy and mental clarity. In order to do this your body has to eliminate the by-products of the normal processes of respiration, digestion and energy production, which are all acid. Your body has to work to ensure that it remains in this state of alkalinity.
Therefore in turn we will be able to automatically increase our energy levels, and as a by-product of this your body will become more energized and burn more Kcals!!
If you can detoxify and alkalize effectively, your body will also be able to absorb more oxygen!!
“An alkaline body can absorb up to 20 times more oxygen than an acidic body.” says Dr Otto Warburg, Nobel Prize Winner. He also found that diseased bodies are acidic bodies, which repel oxygen and attract the overgrowth of microorganisms.
As your body becomes acidic, your body’s oxygen levels begin to drop, leaving you too acidic and then you will begin to see the results that this stress causes in health-related symptoms including:
- Fatigue
- Poor digestion
- Weight gain
- Aches and pains in muscles and joints
- Excess mucous production causing nasal and sinus congestion
- Lowered immunity resulting in more frequent colds and flu
- Increased anxiety and irritability
If you already have certain health conditions this acidity can increase inflammation and the degeneration of soft tissues and bone, which in turn causes further damage. Particularly affected is your body’s ability to build bone. Bone is sacrificed to keep your body alkaline (generally at a pH of higher than 7.2) and this means that you lose vital minerals, not just calcium but other minerals, which make up the structure of bone. If this is happening to your bones what effect might it be having on all your vital organs?
What causes your system to become acid?
Here are some of the most acid-forming foods:
- A diet rich in processed foods, high in sugar and salt
- Red meat
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Wheat, white flour
- Biscuits and cakes
- Pasta
- Cheese
- Homogenised Milk
- Ice Cream
- Soft Drinks
- Beer
Which foods will encourage your system to become alkaline?
Here are some of the most alkaline-forming foods:
- Lemons (these are acid on the tongue but become alkaline)
- Watermelon
- Limes
- Grapefruit
- Mangoes
- Papayas
- Asparagus
- Onions
- Vegetable juices
- Parsley
- Raw spinach
- Broccoli
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Herb teas
- Lemon water
These are at the extremes of the acid-forming and alkaline-forming scales, so between the two there are degrees of each.
If you can include in your diet 250 gms of raw green leafy vegetables per day – say a generous salad with both lunch and dinner – then you will be changing your diet to be much more alkaline. You can, of course, do much more by eating more fruit and vegetables in general, and possibly including a green supplement like Green life, at great tasting GREEN drink.
What else can I do to help balance my body?
Drink good quality water
“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink” says the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. He was talking about seawater but in our world the quality of the water you drink and the quantity are vital to maintaining alkalinity through correct hydration, efficient elimination and mineral uptake.
Our advice at RE:Born Wellness is to certainly not drink tap water if you can avoid it. Drink at least two litres from a Mini Ioniser water filter to which you can add alkaline salts to is a good recommendation for daily consumption.
Organic food
Your body will become acidic if it is lacking in minerals. Most of us are mineral deficient as, in our modern world, fresh food is grown using chemical fertilizers which produce large glossy looking fruit and vegetables but which are mineral deficient – as the plants have taken up those fertilizers and not the minerals in the soil. So if you can, buy organic, or at least fruit and vegetables which have not been grown with those artificial fertilizers. Growing your own is, of course, an even better option. Not only do you know what you put into the soil, and hence your mouth, but you can pick and eat it immediately.
What to do next….
Our fully qualified trainers at RE:Born all have an in-depth knowledge of nutrition and how food can be your best medicine, so do come down to the RE:Born studio and they will be able to help you decide on your best strategies to develop a more Alkaline and healthier lifestyle.
The essential 6 steps to a better looking, feeling and performing body.
If you want to change the way you look, feel and perform then health is your first priority.
Following these detailed but simple steps will change you for the rest of your life. Don’t leave it to late!
“This is not just living better…This is a “Power Living” regime that will both transform your health, looks AND make your life so much more exciting and energizing.”
Andy: RE:Born client, Bournemouth
6 steps to success!!
1) Detoxify and Alkalize
2) Get your nutrition right
3) Supplement to combat the toxic environment
4) Get a training plan from a Personal trainer, who you trust and has the knowledge to help you achieve, then start to FEEL results.
5) Change the program constantly with your trainer and KEEP training so that you start to SEE results.
6) MAINTAIN all that hard work and live a much healthy, energized and exciting life!!!
Step 1
Detoxify and alkalize:
First please let us understand that the ENERGY which is creating by the body is dependent upon the complex system of cellular respiration that is dependent on oxygen availability. If we understand this then it makes perfect sense to increase the body’s cellular oxygenation?
Therefore in turn we will be able to automatically increase our energy levels, and as a by-product of this your body will become more energized and burn more Kcals!!
If you can detoxify and alkalize effectively, your body will be able to absorb more oxygen!!
“An alkaline body can absorb up to 20 times more oxygen than an acidic body.” says Dr Otto Warburg, Nobel Prize Winner. He also found that diseased bodies are acidic bodies, which repel oxygen and attract the overgrowth of microorganisms.
As your body becomes acidic, your body’s oxygen levels begin to drop, leaving you tired and fatigued. This is what allows fungus, mould, parasites, bad bacteria and viral infections to flourish and gain a hold throughout the body.
The biggest causes of acidity in the human organism are as follows:
•
Negative thinking
• Relationship and financial stress
• Tap water, tea, coffee and alcohol
• High animal protein diet
• Dairy foods (including those rubbish whey and casein drinks!)
• Processed sugar (especially carbonated drinks)
• Processed foods
• Cooked food
• Pharmaceutical drugs
• anaerobic exercise
This pretty much covers 99 % of people’s diets. To increase alkalinity in the body, you need the following:
• Positive thinking
• Happy relationship
• Drink alkalized water
• Adopt a 80% raw food diet
• Adopt a 80% alkaline diet e.g. vegetables, fruits
• Get the right dose of sunshine
• Aerobic exercise
At a pH slightly above 7.4 cancer cells become dormant and at pH 8.5 cancer cells will die while healthy cells will live.
Oxygen cannot stick to blood cells if the pH of the blood is too acidic. You can breathe pure oxygen, but if the blood pH is acidic, the oxygen will not be able to be picked up by the blood cells. It is chemically impossible.
Therefore in summary if we understand this then doesn’t it make perfect sense to detoxify and become more alkaline??
Step 2
Balance your Nutritional intake: start building better blood and cells.
“It all starts with what goes in your mouth!
Nutrition is the foundation in changing the way your body moves, feels, performs and looks. With bad nutrition you will create poor biological cells and poor performing hormones therefore giving you little chance of achieving your goals. Keep your intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.” James Rufus
Eat like our ancestors taught us to, not as the supermarkets direct us to. Try to eat a variety of foods, keeping as close to nature as possible. Stay away from anything packaged, canned, starchy (potatoes, pasta, rice etc unless you want your blood sugar levels going through the roof, making you produce more insulin and store fat) or freezed dried…etc
Making the change is a conscious effort, and only you can make for yourself.
Follow a diet that is balanced and based around a 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat. (but make sure you get your carbohydrates from vegetables and fruit).
or make it simple to the eye, 1/3 of your plate protein, 2/3 of your plate carbs and a dash of good fats (see below). this will allow you to control your insulin (storage hormone) from your carbs and the Glucagon (release hormone) from your proteins which stimulates the liver to release stored carbohydrates from its glycogen stores.
Barbara Cox, CEO and Nutritionalist for NUTRICHEF gives us these amazing top 10 tips!
1: Variety is the Spice of Life
Eating a wide variety of healthy food is essential for good health, so it’s no coincidence that the Japanese (who have the longest life expectancy) eat as many as 100 different foods per week compared to only around 30 for people in the UK. Why is variety so important? The answer is simple: we are complex creatures that have count-less processes going on inside us each and every day, and each of these processes requires a variety of different raw materials, which has to come from our food. Hence the saying, ‘You are what you eat’.
2: Love Your Fruit & Veg.
Fruit and vegetables are not only a great weight loss food and provider of fibre, they are easily the most important kind of food because they provide us with the greatest variety of nutrients.
3: Fish for Nutrients
They’re a great low-fat alternative to red meat and they’re a great source of essential fatty acids (EFA’s), especially omega-3, which are necessary for good brain health, for your cardiovascular system and for fighting illness. Oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, tuna and sardines are particularly good for providing EFA’s and also as a source of vitamin D, a very important disease-fighting antioxidant. Fish is also a good source of calcium.
4: Lose the Wheat and Starch
The problem with wheat is that its constituent protein – gluten – is difficult to digest, which can cause people considerable digestive problems and is also linked to depression.
5: Lose the Dairy
Did you grow up with the marketing slogan ‘Drink a pint of milk a day’? It really worked because millions of us took it as gospel that we couldn’t live a healthy life without dairy. What about calcium? Where do we get it if we don’t consume dairy products? By eating green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, asparagus and peas. Also by eating fish, nuts and seeds. Try dairy-free ‘milk’ made with oats, quinoa or rice.
6: Take Pride in Your Protein
Good quality protein is essential for growth and repair of cells. So we steer clear of fatty protein, choosing to use fish, lean cuts of lamb and chicken, nuts, seeds and beans.
7: Avoid Artificial Additives & Preservatives!
We believe strongly that 
manufacturers who use artificial colours or sweeteners such as aspartame are risking the health of their customers by expecting their bodies to process chemicals that are not naturally found in food. By and large if you don’t recognize it by name then don’t eat it!
8: Not All Fats are Bad
Good fats like omega-3 and omega-6. These are known as essential fatty acids (EFA’s) because we need them in our diet due to the fact that our bodies can’t actually make them. Omega-3 fatty acids in the oils from cold water fish such as mackerel, tuna, salmon, herring and sardines. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in cooking oils such as olive oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.
9: Mind Your Salt & Sugar
The problem with salt is that it raises blood pressure, increasing the likelihood of stroke and heart disease. Sugar acts differently because it is loaded with calories, which, if they aren’t burned off during the day, have to be stored away into fat cells, resulting in weight gain.
10: Seasonal, Local, Organic
Although not always possible in practice, strive to use locally produced, organic ingredients that are in season. Seasonal ingredients are considered best because they are bound to be fresher and, therefore, their nutrient content will be at their maximum levels.
Step 3
Supplement your life to combat the toxic environment we live in.
We live in a toxic world, where our food, water and environment are all polluted by toxic chemicals such as: PCBs, Parabens, Fertilisers, heavy metals (such as lead and arsenic), Pesticides, Nitrates/Nitrites, Fluoride, Oestrogen / Hormones, Cryptosporidium, Chlorine,, Sulphates, Aspartame / Neotame in most diet drinks, Other Artificial Sweeteners Olestra / Olean, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG, hydrolyzed proteins) found in take away chinese etc, Preservatives / Additives, Genetically-Engineered Foods (Many Non-Organic Foods), Non-Organic Foods (Pesticides, Contaminated Sewage Sludge, Hormones), Dairy Foods / rBGH, Alcoholic Beverages (beer, wine), Allergy-Producing Foods, Microwave Oven Cooking, mercury, palladium, Cigarette Smoking / Second-Hand Smoke, household cleaners, personal care products etc, the list goes on and we can’t get away from it all.
Ideally we need to move anyway from the products in the list above, go organic and drink water from a reverse osmosis, mineralising water filter. However for some of us this is not going to happen.
Therefore we must consider supplementing our diets to make sure we combat these toxins. There are a few essential supplements we suggest you look at very seriously:
(Before starting on a supplement plan, we suggest that you book in for a full health appraisal prior to ascertain what areas your body is lacking)
(More detailed blogs will come soon regarding the profound positive effects of the list below)
Alkalizing Salts: Disease thrives in acidity. Health thrives in alkalinity. Neutralise the toxic acidity in your body and re-oxygenate the body up to 20% more.
Vitamin C: Gives your heart and arteries the essential nutrients they need to support repair and regeneration and to fight degenerative disease.
Omega 3s and especially: Heart / Brain Oil: (see omega 3, blog)
Iodine and selenium and Tyrosine; these are powerful thyroid boosters that help maintain a healthy thyroid, boost the metabolism and raising energy levels.
A Probiotic: helping to support healthy digestive and immune systems particularly those affected by their hectic lifestyle.
A Green drink: Get one now!! Choose wisely, you want a powerhouse of natural greens: watercress, spinach, broccoli and kale. This is a phenomenal blend of health-promoting green vegetables for long-term health, energy and vitality.
An Antioxidant drink: A super fruit blend of juicy acai berries, blueberries and blackberries, would be great so its bursting with essential antioxidants to give your body a great defence against damaging free radicals.
A Mix of L – Arginine, L – Glutamine, L – Glycine, Potassium Ascorbate, B6, B12 & Folic acid and Niacin.
Why you ask? Well the good news is that your body must always product some minimal level of HGH or you would not be able to function. The bad news is that as you get past about 20 years old, your body produces less and less HGH each year. By age 60 you will probably have lost 75% of the HGH that your body produced.
If you are a numbers person, here are some average HGH secretion levels:
- At 20 years old we average 500 micrograms/day
- At 40 years old we average 200 micrograms/day
- At 80 years old we average 25 micrograms/day
Human growth hormone and IGF-1 have been shown to play a significant role in:
- Conversion of body fat to muscle mass
- Growth of all tissues
- Energy level
- Tissue repair
- Whole body healing
- Cell replacement
- Bone strength
- Brain function
- Sexual function
- Organ health and integrity
- Enzyme production
- Integrity of hair, nails, skin and vital organs
Basically, anything that goes on in your body is in some way tied to HGH. This is why HGH is often called the “fountain of youth”. Elevated HGH levels are what make you feel young again.
You may see this list as overkill, and state that you can get these essential nutrient from your diet, which I would agree with, IF and it’s a big IF you were eating organic, fresh and varied nutrients everyday, without using household cleaners, personal care products and drinking tap water etc. Unfortunately very few of us can actually achieve this!!
So supplementing should be seriously considered.
Steps 4,5 and 6:
Exercising and de-stressing:
Although the next 3 stages are all similar I hope you’ll read through and understand why I have broken them down into 3 separate stages.
A quick note beforehand we start to talk about the stages is that we must try to rid ourselves of stresses before we take on any exercise.
When you are mentally stressed and you keep trying to push your body physically during workouts (which is therefore applying more stress to your body), the straw that can break the camel’s back will eventually happen (please read drop a dress size re. Cortisol levels).
“Don’t train unless you can gain.”
This means that unless you can give 100% to your training session, you are wasting your time.
Remember this: you either get better or worse, you never stay the same. If this session is not going to make you better, then you need more rest and you should go for a massage, swim or walk along the beach, get fresh air and sunlight. I do anything to de-stress. Then when you arrive at your next session, you can then truly give it 100% and stimulate a result.
If you are going to be able to give 100% to the training session and get the results you deserve for your efforts, you must make sure you work at reducing stress in your life and improve your health.
In regards to the exercising, your plan should consist of the following elements:
(please make sure you book in with a qualified trainer and get signed off by your GP before entering any exercise regime)
Cardiovascular: Bike, run, swim, row, etc,
Make sure it’s done at a high intensity and do it for short periods of time, but do that multiple times. This will cause your body to adapt and change, making you fitter and leaner. NO more running for hours on that treadmill. Hooray I hear you say.
Resistance work: yes weights!!
Adding weights to your session will increase your metabolism, burn more calories, tone or build your muscles and make you look great. Make sure your weights work includes big lifts, such as squats, deadlifts, clean & jerks and bench presses to name just a few. Make sure you have a trainer to help you here.
Gymnastics: no not running round in a leotard,
But using your bodyweight as resistance, like press-ups, pulls ups, sit ups and maybe even a handstand. Making sure your body can move, lift and hold its own weight will make your daily life much easier.
To sum it up, get a personalized exercise programme from a personal trainer, it should be done 3 – 4 days per week, it needs to be constantly varied, and done at a high intensity including some functional exercises (exercises that mimic what you do in your daily life), cardiovascular work and gymnastic elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow.
This variety of exercise will not only sculpt the body that you desire, but make you ready for anything that life throws at you.
Remember routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense.
Step 4
Getting through the first few days of pain, with little change in body shape.
The first 1-30 Days, starting to FEEL different!
During the first 30 days you will notice your cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance & strength rapidly increase as your body adapts from an untrained state. This is especially the case if you haven’t exercised regularly in a while.
If improving flexibility was one of your primary goals and you have been working on it, expect it to slowly improve. While you will feel like you have more energy and are getting in shape, your body composition is likely not to significantly change in the first month of training because your body adapts neurologically first.
Step 5
Staying focused and motivated, with the help of others and a great plan.
The next 30-60 Days, starting to SEE change!
During the second month of training you will continue to make improvements in your cardiovascular endurance as well as muscular strength and endurance gains. Although the gains won’t be as rapid as the first month, your personal trainer should be adjusting your program to avoid plateau and keep making progress.
During the second month of training you can expect your body composition to slowly begin to improve provided you have been eating correctly and doing the prescribed exercise during the training sessions and on your own time. Your flexibility will slowly improve as long as you keep working on it by stretching the specific muscles you want to become more flexible.
Step 6
Maintaining the workload and achieving your desired result.
90+ Days onwards, change is here, now to MAINTAIN!
If you maintain your regular exercise with a personal trainer and exercise on your own time you can expect your body composition to continually improve.
From 90 days and beyond improving your fitness assessment results for muscular strength & endurance as well as cardiovascular endurance will gradually become more difficult as you are in a trained state.
If you have been working on flexibility you will start making noticeable progress. Your muscles will feel less tense and you will increase your range of motion about your joints.
The Most Important Thing to Consider: Persistence Pays Off
Achieving results in a fitness program will never be an overnight process. If you are exercising with a personal trainer, putting in exercise on your own time and attempting to eat right, results will come in time.
Basic Results Timeline
- In the first 30 days of training you will FEEL the difference.
- In the 2nd 30 Days of training you will be able to SEE the difference.
- For 60 days and beyond of training your colleagues, family & friends will see the difference. A good time to call up a friend who you haven’t seen in a while!! See what they say about you!
So there we are people, 6 steps to achieving the body, life and performance you desire.
1) Detoxify and Alkalize
2) Get your nutrition right
3) Supplement to combat the toxic environment
4) Get a training plan from a Personal trainer and start to FEEL results.
5) Change your program with your trainer and KEEP training and start to SEE results.
6) MAINTAIN all that hard work and live a much healthy, energized and exciting life!!!
Please feel free to contact RE:Born Wellness on info@rebornpt.co.uk or call 01202 671783 for more information or to book in for our full health appraisal and programming.
Low testosterone vs the BEER belly!!!
OK an article for you guys, or girls read it for your guy.
Are you struggling to lose weight, is your belly growing or have you developed moobs? well then please read on.
You’re a middle-aged man with an expanding waistline and cholesterol levels just edging into the danger zone. Your muscles are a little flabby and so is your sex drive. You’re probably blaming it all on lack of exercise and a little too much wine.
But the problem could be something more insidious – you could have too much of the female hormone oestrogen.
As Professor Richard Sharpe, a senior scientist with the Medial Research Council Human Reproductive Science Unit, explains: ‘Both sexes need to keep their levels of oestrogen and testosterone in balance for good health. There is no absolute level of either for men and women – it is the relative levels that are important.’
The problem is that the balance between our male and female hormones can change. And it seems that men are particularly affected – indeed, over his lifetime a man will have more oestrogen circulating in his body than a woman.
And too much oestrogen is not good – it raises men’s risk of blood clots, encourages middle-aged spread (bad for heart health and diabetes) and possibly even affects their prostate.
The balance between oestrogen and testosterone doesn’t usually cause problems in men until middle age. That’s when their testosterone levels go into a downward spiral.
‘First, you produce less because of general ageing, but to make things worse, more of what you do make is turned into oestrogen,’ explains Professor Ashley Grossman, an endocrinologist at Bart’s Hospital, London.
Too much oestrogen in the body is known to increase body fat. This body fat then pumps out more oestrogen!!! AGGHHH, not good news….plus it’s not just age-related changes in the testosteroneoestrogen balance that affect men – you will also be getting more oestrogen from the environment:
Oestrogen is found in parts per billion in UK waters, we become receptive to these hormones in parts per trillion!!! These hormones are also found along with every other chemical you could imagine, inc.
- Chlorine
- Fluorine compounds
- Trihalomethanes (THMs)
- arsenic
- radium
- aluminium
- copper
- lead
- mercury
- cadmium
- barium
- Hormones
- Nitrates
- Pesticides
‘We know that pesticides and other chemicals have oestrogen-like effects,’ says Professor Banks. ‘When you add it all up, it’s clear that men are being increasingly feminised.’
Below we look at a couple of adverse effects high levels of oestrogen have on men.
WEIGHT GAIN: Rising levels of oestrogen encourage the development of male beer bellies.‘Oestrogen encourages fat to accumulate around the central part of the body,’ explains Professor Grossman. ‘The problem is that the fat cells, in turn, produce an enzyme that encourages testosterone to be converted into oestrogen.’
So you end up with even more oestrogen and lower testosterone levels than normal – as well as weight gain, this can lead to tiredness, flabby muscles and reduced libido.
ENLARGED PROSTATE: It’s thought too much oestrogen might contribute to an enlarged prostate, an age related condition where the gland surrounding the man’s urethra grows, affecting urine flow and causing the need to use the lavatory more often at night.
MALE BREASTS: Male breasts are common in puberty, explains Professor Stafford Lightman, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at Bristol University.
‘At this time, young boys start to produce sex hormones in large quantities for the first time.
‘Normally, the body recovers from this and the breasts vanish without the need for treatment.’ However, in older men the change in hormone balance causes fatty deposits to settle in the breast area, creating ‘man boobs’ or ‘moobs’.
So what is the answer?
Get a personal trainer FAST, one that will prescribe you the correct exercises, not the ones you see the guys in the local gym doing, you know the ones doing the mirror muscle workouts, biceps curls and tricep kickbacks!!! starting training like a coached athlete.
Your programme needs to include:
- Compound weight-lifting exercises that train several large muscle groups, and not just one or two smaller muscles. For example squats, deadlifts, cleans and bench presses.
- Get the weight right, throwing around 2 kg dumbbells won’t help you effect a rise in testosterone. Start off by using a heavy weight that you can lift only five times. That weight is about 85 percent of your one-repetition maximum.
- Do more sets and less reps. Researchers at Penn State determined that this fosters greater increases in testosterone than just one or two sets. Rest a full minute between sets, so you can regain enough strength to continue lifting at least 70 percent of your one-rep maximum during the second, third and forth sets.
- Rest, going everyday to the gym, will break your body down. If you overtrain — meaning you don’t allow your body to recuperate adequately between training sessions — your circulating testosterone levels can plunge by as much as 40 percent, according to a study at the University of North Carolina.
Don’t starve yourself.
When you want to trim down quickly, you probably starve yourself. One of the many reasons this stops working in your 30s, when your natural testosterone levels start dropping, is pretty simple: Cutting your calorie intake by more than 15 percent makes your brain think you’re starving, so it shuts down testosterone production to wait out the famine. “There’s no need to reproduce if you’re starving,” explains Thomas Incledon of Human Performance Specialists in Plantation, Fla.
Skip the Atkins Fad
Research suggests that eating a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet can cramp your testosterone levels. High amounts of dietary protein in your blood can eventually lower the amount of testosterone produced in your testes, says Incledon, who observed this relationship in a Penn State study of 12 healthy, athletic men.
Your protein intake should be about 16 percent of your daily calories, Incledon says. So, if you’re the average 170-pound man who eats 2,900 calories a day, you should eat about 140 grams of protein daily, which is about the amount in two chicken breasts and a 6-ounce can of tuna.
Have Morning Sex
German scientists found that simply having an erection causes your circulating testosterone to rise significantly — and having one in the morning can goose your natural post-dawn testosterone surge. It’s a sure bet you’ll burn a little fat, too.
Make Nuts Your Midnight Snack
Nuts are good for your nuts. Research has found that men who ate diets rich in monounsaturated fat — the kind found in peanuts — had the highest testosterone levels. “It’s not known why this occurs, but some scientists believe that monounsaturated fats have a direct effect on the testes,” says Incledon. Nuts, olive oil, canola oil and peanut butter are good sources of monounsaturated fat.
Drive Home Sober
To maintain a healthy testosterone count — and titanium erections — cut yourself off after three drinks. “Binge drinking will kill your testosterone levels,” warns Incledon. getting drunk can reduce your testosterone by up to 25% for 48hrs!!
Have a Sandwich at 3 p.m.
As any sensible woman knows, the way to put hair on a man’s chest is to fill his stomach. Your body needs a ready supply of calories to make testosterone, so regularly skipping meals or going for long stretches without eating can cause your levels of the hormone to plummet.
Buy the Fried Tortilla Chips, no really you need some FAT!!
If you want to raise your testosterone score, eat a diet that includes about 30 percent fat, and not much less. Your body needs dietary fat to produce testosterone, so eating like a vegetarian aerobics instructor will cause your testosterone levels to sink drastically. This is bad, unless you actually are a vegetarian aerobics instructor.
Stop Surfing the internet at 2 a.m.
Sleeping less than seven to eight hours a night can screw up your circadian rhythm. That’s why it’s no wonder your testosterone levels are higher in the morning after a good night’s sleep.
For more info, or to book your anabolic drive consultation call 01202 671783 or email us on info@rebornpt.co.uk.
Alternatively click on this link and fill out the online form www.rebornpt.co.uk
Sun is out, not too late for that beach body!!
Come down to sandbanks, Poole today and get working on your beach body whilst this amazing weather lasts.